Miller's birthday!

We are now a family of four!  I can hardly believe baby Miller is here and almost two weeks old.  It has been a CRAZY two weeks, that's for sure, but I still wanted to make sure I got a post in about his birthday before it became a distant memory.

I woke up on Sunday morning around 8:15 not feeling quite "right" but also not feeling like I was going to have a baby that day.  We'd had a busy weekend and spent most of the day Saturday recovering from Ellie's dance recital the night before. I was fully prepared to be at my doctor's appointment Monday afternoon.
 I took a shower at 9:30 and was 80% sure we were going to church!  Around 10 am, I started cramping but really didn't think too much about it until the pain went away, then came back again.  And again, and again and again, and they were getting stronger.  So I started timing them.  They were exactly 5-6 minutes apart!  I was in full denial because I didn't want to get my hopes up and be sent home from the hospital.  So I "labored" at home (not really knowing it at the time) until noon.  I called Holly, my midwife and left her a message telling her I was 90% sure this was it!  She was in church but texted me back telling me to go on to the hospital and get checked.  We called my parents and they decided to come on to Jackson and said even if it wasn't "baby time" that they would hang out with us and just see what happened.  Don's mom came over to watch Ellie and we hit the road!  We kissed her and told her we were going to the hospital and I showed Don's mom where her Big Sis outfit was just in case.  I didn't think they would be coming that day, but I am glad I showed here where it was anyway!  Looking back now, it all happened so fast that I didn't have time to really think about that being our last time as a family of three.  But she was SO sweet and SO excited that it made leaving her much easier.

So we left for the hospital right at noon.  That 50 minute drive to Jackson was NOT fun.  I am convinced we hit every red light on the way.  Every time I'd have another contraction Don would say "another one already?" They just kept getting closer and closer together. So we got there and up to L&D triage right around 1 pm.  They had a little lady volunteer come down to get us and take us back to L&D.  I remember with Ellie they had an orderly come down with a wheelchair.  I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to walk all the way up there, but no wheelchair came this time.  Now that I think about it I am not sure how I did it!  Once we got to our room I changed into my gown and was hooked up to the monitors.  Mrs. Terri, the best nurse ever walked in just as I was hoping she would and I was so relieved.  She decided to check me right away just to see where we were.   If I had not been in the bed already I would have fallen to the ground when she told me I was at a 7!  We were all in pure disbelief!  We were having a baby, that day, and SOON!!!!

After that, things moved super fast.  I was feeling all kinds of pain from the contractions and pressure.  The pain was bad, but not unbearable.  I knew I wanted an epidural, but really wasn't sure if there was time for one.  The anesthesiologist came pretty quick and after THREE TRIES and 20 CC's of lidocaine he finally got it in.  That was not fun.  I probably could have gone without it after that ordeal.  They started my penicillin for Group B, and we were ready to go!

Holly came in to say hi, break my water and check me after we got settled, probably around 2:15 or so.  There was meconium in my water but she said not to get worried.  I wanted SO badly to go without any problems or issues and this just tore me apart when she told me.  One of Ellie's issues was meconium aspiration and I really didn't want him to have to endure the same thing.  She assured me that she wasn't going to worry and just have the NICU come suction him after delivery. After she broke my water she checked me and said I was complete.  HOLY COW.  SO fast!  But she said she was going to come back in 45 minutes or so to wait for him to move down more on his own.  I told her I didn't want to push forever and she agreed.  Little did we know that he was moving down super quick and was ready to go about 15 minutes later.

After about 25 minutes, Miller Lee Pitt was born!  3:20 pm.  9 pounds even and 21 inches long.  I could hardly believe how fast and easy it all was compared to Ellie's birth.  He came out screaming, he turned pink, and he was BIG!  I was so relieved.

After the birth everyone got to come into the room and see us, hold the baby and just enjoy the time that I had wanted so bad when Ellie was born.  They took her to the NICU so soon after her birth that we didn't get to enjoy that special time. I was so grateful things were different this time around.

Ellie got there just in time to meet her brother and many of our family members were there waiting as well.  We were so happy he was here, healthy and PERFECT!  He looked so much like his sister and we fell in love immediately!!

I am so thankful for my little family.  My heart could just explode I love them so much!

Still here!

Still here, still pregnant.  Trying to be patient!

I have nothing new to report other than some updated pictures of big sister.  I have enjoyed my time with her SO much.  We've had some really good days together.  Some, longer than others but I know we will never get these days back so I am really trying to enjoy them.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!  On Saturday we went down to the nursery to pick out flowers and some new pots.  My little gardeners did a great job planting and I love all of my new flowers!  The sweet kiddos at church sang a few songs that almost made me cry (hello hormones) and we went to lunch.  We also knocked out the last few things on my never ending "before baby" to do list.  So not much relaxing happened but I was glad to get it all done!

The first "before baby" hurdle we had to get past this week was Don's spring football scrimmage.  It was pretty hectic before hand trying to get it all together but we all survived and Miller didn't come, although we thought we were close there for a minute.  Whew!

Tomorrow night is Ellie's dance recital, also known as the before baby hurdle #2!  If my water breaks while she's dancing we will just head to Jackson right after it's over.  I refuse to miss my baby dancing.  Ha!!

Story time has been fun for us.  She loves picking out books each week.  I am so glad we have this to look forward to each Tuesday!

Hello 39 week baby belly.  WHOA!  I can't wait to see how big this boy is going to be.  

That's it for now!

Lately

While we have been PATIENTLY waiting on baby Miller, 2 out of the 4 May babies (that we know of) have been born!

We got a text message early Sunday morning saying baby Evie, my niece, was on her way!  We just so happened to be heading to Memphis that day anyway for Don to take his Praxis test.  It worked out perfectly!  We got to be at the hospital for her birth and meet her shortly after.  She is so sweet and I just cannot get over how well it all worked out.  I really didn't think I was going to get to meet her until after Miller arrived, but she had other plans and I am so glad she did!!

Pretty proud grandparents!!

Ellie just "ooohed and aaahhhhd" over Evie.  She had no interest in holding her but was just fine with me holding and her looking.  She is going to be such a sweet big sister!!

Ellie got so excited about going to DeDe's that she packed her own suitcase.  She couldn't wait to go and meet her new baby cousin!

Sweet girl before bed.  She is looking more grown up everyday.  Makes my heart hurt!

 Before cousin Ginny's birthday party.  She requested a picture with Daddy before we left.

That's all for now, hopefully we will have a baby of our own VERY soon!!

Miller's Nursery

Our sweet baby boy finally has a room to call his own!  It was questionable there for a while if we would be able to pull it off, but it did happen and I am thrilled with how it turned out!

There was a TON of trim to be painted in this room since it was originally an office with a lot of shelving.  Don did most of it himself and Peeps helped the weekend they came to visit.  I feel like painting them made the biggest difference!

DeDe was my personal shopper throughout the process.  She made countless trips to HomeGoods, Tuesday Morning and Pottery Barn Kids scouting out rugs, lamps and accessories.  Thank goodness for picture text messaging:)

I ordered his bedding from Polka Tot Designs, the same people that made Ellie's bedding.  It took almost 10 weeks for it to come in, but it was worth the wait.  They do great work and make it really easy to pick out custom bedding.  To me it was much easier to let them do the fabric shopping, sewing and monogramming all in one place.  We stalked the UPS man earlier this week waiting for that big box to finally arrive.

Now, onto the pictures!

Now all we need is baby Miller.  The countdown is on!!

The final countdown!

We've made it to 36 weeks!  In the next month, we will have a new baby in our house.  That is SO crazy to me.  I've had a sudden spurt of energy lately which has been so nice.  We try to stay busy so we don't sit at home and go stir crazy.  Everyone is definitely much happier when we have places to go and things to do!

Ellie had dance pictures this past weekend.  Who is this teenager and where is my 3 year old??

She LOVED putting on makeup and having her hair rolled.  She is a girly girl for sure!

My babies.  We are so ready to meet you Miller!

The whole "pick your battles" saying could not be more true for us these days.  Ellie is probably getting away with more this last month than she has her whole life.  Princess dress to Wal-Mart?  Sure!  Why not.

She is SO busy, SO independent, and constantly on the GO GO GO.  I feel like I am accomplishing a lot these days just by keeping her clean, fed and happy.  Some days go better than others!

Miller's nursery is finally coming together.  We've still got curtains and blinds to hang, artwork for the walls, and a few finishing touches left to find.  I also need to get busy washing clothes and cleaning up all of our baby gear.

He will be here before we know it!!!

Lots of pictures

We are down to 5 weeks (maybe less!) until baby Miller's arrival.  Are we ready?  YES.  Are we ready?  NO.  Ha ha.  I am so ready for him to be here but there is still much to be done before he makes his debut.  Granted, if he showed up tomorrow we would be just fine.   Although I would love for the unorganized, cluttered mess that is still his nursery to be a little more put together before he gets here:)

BIG thanks to my parents for coming up last weekend and spending the entire weekend with us!  I don't think that has ever happened.  We loved having them here and we managed to get quite a bit of work done as well.  Of course Miss Priss wouldn't let them work too hard without giving her most of their attention while they were here.  Here's some proof:

This girl can convince anybody to do ANYTHING!  I think in the span of about an hour DeDe was a ring master, right rope walker, dance teacher, gymnast, and circus clown.  Hilarious!!!

After a long day of turkey hunting, painting and curtain sewing we headed out for Mexican.  Once again, she can even convince the boys to color with her in the middle of a restaurant.


Our sweet church hosted the nicest baby shower for us on Sunday afternoon!  It is still an overwhelming feeling to have people we (I) don't know very well host such a nice shower for our baby.  I am very grateful for them, our families and their generosity!!

Allergy season is among us.  BOO.  This poor girl has been miserable and had ANOTHER ear infection.

 

 With the final countdown until baby brother underway, we have been in search of some activities to occupy our days when I am home.  Hooray for story time!  It was a hit and we will be back!

 This week also marks the annual Fiddlestick Festival in town.  This girl waited VERY patiently for her Daddy to get home from work so we could go.  We had a lot of fun and she rode all the rides this year with no fear or hesitation!

 I guess you can tell she is in dance because all of her poses include a lovely pointed toe.  This just cracks me up!  I promise I do not prompt her to do this.

 Looking so sweet in matching PJ's with Bitty Baby.

"Big Sis" Weekend

Since Don has been on Spring Break and my traveling days are becoming numbered, we decided to take a little trip to St. Louis to do a few fun things before baby brother arrives.

We had the BEST time and I am so glad we were able to get away for a couple of days!  We pretty much did everything centered around Ellie's interests, but we had lots of fun and enjoyed our time just the three of us.

On our way up, we had to stop at the home of the "Throwed Rolls" and eat at Lambert's Cafe.  It never disappoints and I am pretty sure Ellie ate her weight in fried okra.  This girl doesn't eat much, but she LOVES fried okra.

Our first stop once we were in St. Louis was the AMERICAN GIRL STORE!!  I don't know who was more excited...me or Ellie.  It was little girl heaven.  She dragged me all over that store for over an hour and kept saying "let's shop some more Momma!".  Don just stood there shaking his head and checking the price tags.  Ha!!

Caroline's hair was in desperate need of a new do, so that was our first stop.  Ellie of course chose the "princess package" complete with tiara.  

We managed to make it out of there with a new outfit for Caroline, a replacement pair of glasses for Molly, a matching set of bitty baby pj's for E and a set of Caroline paper dolls.  I'd say this little girl had a BIG time!

 She insisted on carrying Caroline AND her shopping bag all by herself.  Such a big girl.

 We had planned on having lunch at the AG Bistro but there was a 90 minute wait.  So we walked next door to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Caroline came too, of course!

The AG store was connected to a great mall, and we couldn't go all the way to St. Louis without doing some shopping!  We also managed to ride the carousel and do the spider jump.  I still can't believe she did it!

Poor girl was worn out so we headed back to the hotel to rest.  

Our hotel was great and full of kids!  I am glad we packed her swimsuit last minute.  It was the perfect thing to do that night.  And for the record, I have nothing to do with the poses she has been coming up with lately. They are all her own.  Can we say MESS????

The next day took our time getting ready and made our way over to the Magic House Children's Museum.  We stayed over 3 hours and had a great time!

Future President?

She could have scooped ice cream for HOURS!

After Magic House, Don indulged me in a few more stores:)  Then we ate lunch, had a fro-yo treat, and headed home!

Nothing makes me happier than to spend quality time with these two!  I cannot believe we will soon be a family of four.  Ellie will always be my baby and I wanted to do something special for her before her little world is rocked upside down.  We cannot wait for Miller to be here but I am starting to feel a little sad about her "only child" days coming to an end.  I know she will be just fine and this is totally normal so I am glad we got to have a special weekend with just her!