Gracie turned One!

So little Miss Grace turned one on February 27th! We had just a fun day at home playing and doing whatever she wanted. I wanted to do a photo shoot with her and came up with making a one out of cardboard and then wraping it in paper. It turned out really cute thanks to my awesome husband who did it all!

Me and my birthday buddy. 

With her Birthday money from Great Grandma Jones we got some wooden blocks and she has been having lots of fun with them. 

She's getting so big I can't hardly stand it. She is so smart and learning new things everyday. Justin does this thing where he squeezes his hands together and says "squeeze!" now whenever Justin comes in the room Grace does it back to him. She is great at playing peek a boo and just having a fun. 

I love this one! It shows her funny little personality and a little bit of her mischeivious side. She sure is getting into everything. The saying that goes kind of like this. " Trying to clean up after a toddler is like trying to plant flowers in a tornado " has been ringing true at our house lately. But it's all good as she is learning and exploring.

How we really feel about photo shoots. Mom happy and excited. Grace.....very upset. 

This girl LOVES books, especially the book of nursery rhymes that Great Grandma Jones got her. We could look at that book all day every day. She loves to turn the pages, look at the pictures and just sit and have fun with mom. 

I love this one and was so sad that she moved just enough to make it blurry but she's still cute.

Grace is a lot like me in the fact that she loves soft things. She loves her blanket and when she's tired she has started to snuggle her blankie and anything else soft. She has never been much of a snuggly baby even when she was tiny so it's kind of nice to have that now. 

My beautiful babe. I can't believe what a little girl she is starting to become. She is such a joy and a light in our lives. I reflected back on what was going on  year ago and I am so glad that everything went well and that she made it a year. We both survived with many more years to come. She is my best little buddy and we have so much fun with her. What a blessing and a challenge it is to be a mother but what a great reward when she snuggles me or comes to me when she's hurt or smiles and plays with me. No better love then the love of a child. I am so grateful that I get to share in her love and show her my love for her.  Nothing is better then family. 

A little bit of Grace

Our little miss is almost 3 months! I can't believe it. She is growing so much everyday and is so SO fun to play with. She is holding her head up amazingly well, she is wanting to sit up so bad. Everytime we have her in her chair that leans back she does a cruch to get herself to sitting. Such a strong kiddo.

She is starting to giggle. When she's in a good mood I can get her to do a couple of giggles, still super smiley and fun. She's starting to sleep better too, now that we've transisitoned her to her crib. Justin is just a noisy sleeper and I think he was waking her up a lot. =). Last night she fell asleep at 9:15, woke up a little at 5:00, ate then fell right back asleep till after 8! It was Sunday so I had to get her awake and ready for church. I was amazed and so happy. Granted I did wake up at 3 cause it's a habit and checked on her but still. Awesome! 

 

Looking more like a Messenger everyday!

Almost almost rolling over. She gets herself all high centered on her tummy and rocks back and forth till she gets mad. It's only a matter of days before she'll be moving around. AH! She loves to look at the ceiling fan in our bedroom so when I need to get ready I put her on the bed and let her look at it. Once she's mobile I can't do that anymore.

She hates to have her arms wrapped up in a blanket or contained really. So one day as I was getting her ready for bed I pulled her arms out of the sleeves and kept them in the shirt. Then obviously made it better by tying the sleeves. =) She didn't notice for a while then she started to get mad. I quickly took her out but it made me laugh. Yep, I'm an awesome mom. =) 

Justin made her a fun little play mobile thing and she loves to look at her toys in it. I love the look of concentration she has in this picture. She is also loving looking at books. She get so excited looking at the pages and will just stare at them. I love it! I love books. 

Getting some cousin love. 

This pictures cracks me up. I often caption Grace's nosies or facial expressions and this one has so many possibilities.

She is doing so great, weighing in at 11lbs, 9 oz at her Dr. visit and moving up to size 2 diapers. I am getting tired of all the poop laundry I've had to deal with lately. People are always remarking at how alert she is, other people also say how little she is. She doesn't seem so little to me but compared to the giant baby on their arm she is little. She is just the best baby and I tell her that everyday. She is just a joy and light in our life. I love her lots and lots. I worry about her at work that she won't remember me sometimes but then I come home and she smiles big for me and so far I get the most giggles out of her so that makes up for it. She also " talks" to most to me making lots of adorable baby nosies. 

We sure love our little miss!

Grace's Arrival

This is the story of Grace Elizabeth Messenger's grand entrance into the world. We apologize for length and if it is to graphic for you. =) 

It all started on the the 26th of February I was getting ready for work after taking a nap and all the sudden I felt like I had wet myself. Since my muscles haven't been the strongest down there I didn't think much of it. Went to work got going on stuff to do and every so often I would just feel awful. I kept leaking and finally figured out that it wasn't pee and was probably my water leaking. I didn't freak out because it was a small leak and nothing else was going on.

About 2 I think I realized that I was having contractions. They were about 30-40 minutes apart and not too bad. So I texted Justin at work and my mom saying I think something is happening. I continued at work. It was really hard to be happy and polite because I felt weird but I continued on. It actually was a busy day at work and went by really fast. At about 6:00pm my contractions started to get worse. I would get super nauseous after with hot flashes, then cold chills. In between them I was so tired. They started getting closer together and stronger. They were about 5 minutes apart. Thank goodness we were slow that night otherwise I may have delivered there. Then was about the time that I thought about going home. At 7:30, everyone was looking at me and making sure I was ok. So then I went home. 

At home Justin was in a slight panic getting things ready since I had been keeping him informed. I was so happy to be home. I didn't know what I wanted to do or what I wanted Justin to do. I sat in my rocker and continued to have contractions. I was still so tired so I just closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing through the contractions then tried to sleep in between them. I was aware of what was going on but had no energy or desire to respond. When the contractions got really hard I had Justin squeeze my legs and that helped so much. Justin was so good at doing whatever needed to be done. We had a neighbor come over and give me a blessing really quick. 

After a while they started coming 2-3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. It was around 11:30 that we made it to the hospital. We let my mom know and she started on her way to the hospital. We got all checked in and up in Labor and Delivery and I was at an 8. I was thinking in my head before going to the hospital that I could be an 8. The power of thought. They asked me if I wanted an epidural and when I realized how far I was I declined thinking hey if I made it this far, how much worse could it get. It was painful but not unbearable. By then I was doing a low moan during contractions which I had read helps open everything up. 

They were trying to get an IV in me to help with the baby and for precautions. I was a really hard stick, they had to try like 7 times. I am already a hard poke and then I hadn't eaten or drank much that day. So they finally got the IV and some fluid going and boom my Dr was there. I don't really know all that was going on because I was just focused inside and working through the contractions. 

The Dr and nurses were a little concerned about the baby because she kept doing some crazy dips during contractions so they thought that the cord had gone around her neck. They mentioned the possibility of a c-section, then I said a little prayer that everything goes well. By then my mom was there and I think her and Justin also said some prayers that that wouldn't happen. After a while I couldn't help it I had to push. During a contraction my stomach would just push- almost like the feeling of throwing up, you can't stop it from happening. 

I was then complete and they said ," If you want to push let's get going." They got me all ready and then I started pushing. This was probably one of the harder things because it was hard to know how much success my pushing actually did. My Dr. was awesome and said " You take your time and push when you feel ready." About this time my contractions slowed down so I had longer in between pushes. 

After 45 minutes of pushing she was well on her way. After her head came out she just slipped out and no problems with the cord. She took a while but then cried and cried for a while. She was amazing! They gave her to me for a minute and then went to check her out. I got finished with everything. I had tore a little bit and so my Dr. stitched me up. But it really went amazing. So on Feb 27th at 1:47 am. little Miss Grace Elizabeth Messenger came to us. 

After working on the mom/baby unit I knew what they were talking about and knew that everything was ok. By then I finally opened my eyes and could interact with everyone. I felt awesome! Tired but also very awake and energized. My mom asked if running a marathon hurt more then having a baby and I think the marathon was worse for pain. In running the pain doesn't ever stop but you get breaks with contractions. 

So there you go, I feel so extremely blessed to have such a great labor. I was very happy that she came on her own even though it was a bit of a surprise.

She's so perfect and petite. 

Weighing 7lbs 4oz. and measuring 20.5 in long. She is long but skinny.

We are both doing great! I still feel awesome, not very much pain and I am able to walk around and do whatever. I get a little tired quicker but not bad. Baby Grace is doing great. She is pooping and peeing and eating much better. We struggled with breastfeeding for a while but now we are doing good. She only gets up about twice in the night. Once around 1 or 2 then around 5 or 6. She pretty much sleeps or just looks around at you. Very content and we couldn't ask for anything more.

She is absolutely perfect and we love her to pieces.