6 Weeks Old

Our baby girl is a month and half old today!  And she is definitely looking more and more like a little baby and less like an infant.  She is absolutely wonderful!!

Her facial expressions are still developing, but she is using them more and more everyday.  We are even hearing her giggle on occasion now!  It is the cutest sound ever, especially when it comes along with her precious smile.  She is also gaining more eye focus.  She loves to watch the fans in the living room.  We can lay her on her back or put her in the swing or bouncer and she will just stare up at the fans with a big smile.  She also looks at us more... when we are changing her diaper or just playing with her; she will make eye contact with us and it is the best feeling ever to see her eyes looking into ours.

The only thing that is still tough right now is sleep.  To get more sleep we decided to try supplementing formula as needed at night; however, it has yet to gain us anymore sleep.  She has only had formula 3 times.  She takes it pretty well, but I do think she likes my milk much better.  We are trying to get her used to the formula though because when she goes into KinderCare, I want to make sure she has enough to eat between my milk and the formula.  I am having a hard time getting the stock of milk up; so we just would rather be safe than sorry.  Needless to say, she will stay on milk as long as we are able though.

With Grace getting older, more alert, and taking the bottle; Garrett and I decided that it was time for us to have a proper date night with just the two of us.  So, Friday evening Garrett and I dropped Grace off at Nana and Papi's house and then went out to Bonefish.  To say the least, they were very excited to babysit and we were very excited to have them babysit.  We were pretty tired because we still aren't getting much sleep at all, but the date was very worth it and I know I definitely enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait for our next date night out.

Nana babysitting

Prior to our date, Garrett and I went car shopping... yep, we decided that we needed a larger vehicle now with a baby and all that comes with a baby (car seat, stroller, etc.).  On top of this we would need room for luggage (for traveling), passengers, etc.  Garrett also wanted something with a larger towing capability so he can pull the trailer and all the things he needs for around the property.  We decided on a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee and we absolutely love it!!  It is much larger than my car and so much more practical all around.  Garrett still has his beater car to use around the house though and he will use my Caliber on a daily use to and from work.  Lucky me; I will get to use the Cherokee!

5 Weeks Old

Can't believe Grace is now 5 weeks old.  She had her month-old appointment last week and is absolutely perfect!  She weighed in at 9lb 4oz, 21.25 inches long, with a head circumference of 36.5.  She is in the 50th percentile in every category with each of those numbers.  She also received some topical cream to help with her baby acne and had a follow up appointment on Monday.  I am happy to say that her acne is now gone and that she gained about 8 more ounces in just those few days.  Our little girl is getting close to that 10lb mark.  I can't believe she is more than 3lbs heavier than at birth... wow does the time fly and is she growing fast.  I just love seeing how much she is changing... she is looking more and more like a little baby and less like a newborn.  I may be biased, but I believe she is beautiful!!

This last weekend Garrett had to go out of town again; this time for Bryan's wedding.  I must say I am pretty disappointed that I couldn't go, but Grace is still much too young to expect her to behave at a wedding and I definitely did not want to spoil Bryan and Sara's big day with a fussy baby.  Garrett was one of the groomsman and had an absolute wonderful time with the guys this weekend and said the wedding was wonderful (which I didn't doubt for a second!).  We are sooo happy for the newly married couple.  This has been a ways coming and we couldn't be more excited that their big day finally arrived.  Congratulations to you both!!!  Love you guys!

While Garrett was out of town, I spent much of the weekend with my family.  My mom, sister, and I spent Saturday together getting pedicures and lunch.  Then that evening we met up with my dad and all got dinner together and did a little shopping.  It was such a wonderful day!  Then Sunday, I went to church with my family and we were able to meet Garrett on his way home for lunch.  I couldn't have asked for a better time!  Also, my sister was able to come stay the night a couple nights and go with me to Grace's appointments since she is out of school right now.  She is definitely one incredible Aunt.  I know Grace is going to love her more and more as she grows up with her love :)

Boo (aka Aunt Goober to Grace) with Grace Lynn

Last night, we finally gave Grace a bottle for the first time and she did wonderful!  She had no hesitation whatsoever and took the bottle immediately.  That is great because now we can let Nana and Papi babysit while we have a date night or better yet, Garrett can feed her on occasion.  We are still going to keep up breastfeeding too though.  I just hope I can supply enough and get up a decent stock for when she goes to KinderCare.  We'll see... worst case, we mix in some formula if need be... hoping we don't have to do that too much though; would rather use the free food :)

She is doing great though and mommy is doing wonderful as well.  Grace is much more alert and has much better head control; so it is so great to actually spend time with her during the day and watch her personality develop.  I love it!!!  She definitely has a cute one too :)

Good Morning :) from my girl and I

4 Weeks Old

Today Grace is 4 weeks old... just about a month; where has the time gone?

This last week has been pretty busy.  Thursday Grace made her first appearance at our Gospel Community Group and did great.  Saturday, we made our first somewhat long road trip down to Tampa and again she was such a little trooper.  We went to meet up with my Aunt Sherry and Uncle Sonny so Garrett could go through some tools and pick out what he wanted; he is so grateful to them for the trailer and truck full of stuff he got to come home with.  While there, we also met up with my family (they were there for a dance competition) and with favorite and Mike.  We all went out to lunch and just had a wonderful time!  It is always so great getting to see family when we can.  Here's my girl and I and also Nana with her favorite grandbaby.

Sunday was then Mother's day... yep, my first mother's day!  So exciting!  I was very happy to get my first mother's day gift from my wonderful mama a couple days early since I wouldn't be able to see her on Mother's Day.  She got me a wonderful picture collage of Baby Grace, as well as a key chain with Grace's picture.  I was very excited!!  On Sunday, we got up after a lazy morning laying in bed and got ourselves ready for church.  Yes, I got my first ever Church Mother's Day gift; a beautiful potted pink flower.  It is the little things that make me happy and that definitely made me happy.  After a great church service, we then headed over to Chuck and Sandy's to spend the afternoon with them and the family and had a wonderful time.



Sunday morning; Like daddy like daughter :)



My girl and I on Mother's Day!

Monday I had my postpartum doctor's appointment.  I can't believe it's that time already.  All went great and I lost about 23lbs, yep... still got a little more to go, but I was so happy to be back to a manageable weight and look more like my pre-pregnancy self.  Here are my girl and I this weekend, just prior to the appt.  I am back in some of my normal clothes, but still trying to get into more... I will get there :)

I am curious to see how much weight Grace has gained... I'm losing weight and she is gaining it.  She has her month-old appointment this Thursday; so we'll know then.

Finally, today Grace and I ventured out to Garrett's work to meet him for lunch and to introduce Grace to his co-workers for the first time.  After lunch, I then drove over to my office to introduce my co-workers to her while I was on that side of town.  It was so nice to finally have all of them see her in person, after only seeing pictures.

All in all, what a wonderful week it's been.  Grace is sleeping about 4 to 4.5 hours a night, which is great!  We have gotten her on a nightly routine, which I think is slowly helping her to realize when bedtime is.  We love this little girl more than words can express.  She makes so many of the goofiest faces and makes the cutest little sounds.  I just love to watch her, whether she is sleeping or awake... it is the absolute best!  Here are a couple pictures from one of her many baths, that she LOVES!  She takes after mama in that.  She loves her bath and does not like getting out because she is not fond of the cold.

3 Weeks Old

Grace Lynn is 3 weeks old today!  Love the first picture of her, she's like "yep, that's me!" hehe.

Last Wednesday we had her two week appointment and Dr. Chabon said she looks great and beautiful!  Her head circumference is a little bit bigger and she has grown half an inch to 20" since her first appointment when she 3 days old.  She also has way surpassed her birth weight.  She went from 7lb 1oz on her birth date to 6lb 13oz at 3 days old to a whopping 8lbs at her 2 week appointment.  I cannot believe she gained over a pound in less than two weeks, but she did and the doctor said that was great.  It just means she is eating and eating well.

Here is a sneak peak of some of her newborn pictures that Jackie did... I still have not picked out a favorite, but here a few I do really love; heck, I love them all!  You can see some of Jackie's favorite on her blog, HERE.

Since her doctors appointment, we have been doing well.  My mama (Nana) came over Thursday and Friday to help me out during the day while Garrett was at work.  Then Friday she went with me to take Garrett to the airport; yep Garrett was headed out of town.  Garrett was off to Kentucky for Bryan's bachelor party and let me just say I was a little jealous.  You probably guessed it, yep, he got to go to the Kentucky Derby!  He had a wonderful time and Grace and I did pretty good this weekend until Sunday morning.  Grace did not sleep well at all Saturday evening, which means I did not sleep well and she was up most the day Saturday, so I didn't get a chance to eat all that much.  To say the least, I woke up feeling pretty crummy and mom had to come to the rescue.  She came and helped me feed the animals Sunday morning and then we went back to my parents house, so I could rest.  I ended up with a 102 fever and crazy headache.  Luckily, with my families help, I was able to finally get some sleep and have been doing much better since.

Passed out on Nana's lap at church

Later Sunday evening Garrett finally made it home.  It was so wonderful to see my husband and for Grace to see her daddy.  I know I sure did miss him!  I didn't think it would be that bad not having him here, but now with a daughter and myself getting sick, I really just wanted to have him home.  It was a good test for us though and I know now that we can do it, which is good because there may be one or two more weekends in this month that Garrett has to be out of town.  Again though, a lot of the credit goes to my family for stepping up and helping me out when I needed it.

Monday, Grace started to get a stuffy nose and it has since not gotten too much better.  We felt so bad for her and tried to get it out, but it just kept coming back.  So, she had to sleep in a carrier for the first time because that seemed to be the only way she'd sleep.  She couldn't breathe very well lying down.  We are hoping that tonight she will be able to sleep in her bassinet again and get a good nights rest.

All in all, this has been one crazy week, but again, just looking at this girls sweet face is all it takes to turn the week around and make it a great one!  She is our little angel or as Garrett likes to call her, his little "cowgirl".  She's a trooper and we love her so much!

2 Weeks Old

Today Grace Lynn is two weeks old and growing like a little weed.  It is amazing how much she has changed since the day we first met our little girl.  She is doing wonderful and such a little joy!  She is eating so well and her sleep schedule is getting somewhat better.  She still does not like going to sleep at night when we are ready to, but once she does fall asleep she sleeps for about 4 hours, which is much better than those first couple nights we had her.

2 Weeks Old!

For me, things are definitely tough sometimes, but worth every minute.  I'm not going to lie; there have been nights that I have just woke up crying because I'm just so overwhelmed and emotional.  I contribute most of that to lack of sleep, but like I said before, that is starting to get a little bit better.  Garrett has been such a huge supporter and motivator through those nights when I just felt like crying and even when he gets home from work, he does not hesitate to take over and change diapers, etc. so I can get a little rest.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and Grace is also very blessed to have such a great daddy!

This week has been a great one.  We took Grace Lynn out for the first time (which also means mama got to get out of the house!).  She did great!  Our first trip was to Target to pick up a couple things.  She was a trooper.  Luckily we didn't stay long because she wasn't having it there at the end.  Then that evening, we went out with some friends from church to dinner and to watch the magic game.  Grace was SO GOOD!  She slept the whole time and we were actually able to get dinner, lol.  And, finally, Grace made her first church appearance.  We were so excited to finally be able to take her to church and get back into our weekly routine.  Again, she did great.  She slept most the time until the very end.  And, then all it took was me picking her up to get her asleep again.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl that brings us so much joy.  She is one wonderful little miracle baby.  How any one could have a baby or witness the birth of a baby and not believe in God is incredible because for me, looking at her every day emphasises just how great our God is.  He is amazing and I am so thankful for this blessing that he provided us!

Love this little face!

1st Trip to Target

 And, here is our first trip to Chuch as a family of three :)

Such a little angel!!



Introducing Grace Lynn

We are so very happy to finally introduce you to Grace Lynn Myers, our sweet baby girl.  She was born Tuesday, April 17th at 4:56pm.  She weighed in at 7lbs 1.3ozs and was 21" long.  Needless to say, since then she has lost a little bit of weight, but only 4 ounces which the pediatrician said was actually best out of all the other babies in the nursery at that time.  He called her his little rockstar because she was so good and such a cutie.  Maybe he was just being nice, but I don't think so, because she is pretty darn cute!  Grace has blonde hair and beautiful dark blue eyes.  We still aren't sure where all her hair came from.  We thought for sure she'd be bald, but nope, she proved us wrong.

2 days old; Love those eyes!

In a matter of a week, we are already seeing our baby girl smile (with a cute little dimple on her left cheek), hiccup (a LOT!), and show so many expressions.  Her eye focus is also so good!  She is already looking at us and looks around the room, etc.  She rarely is cross eyed if ever.  She also has a vary strong grip and is already trying to hold her head up.  Other things; I have been breastfeeding and Grace has taken to it quite well.  She loves to eat, lol... she eats so fast that she almost always gets the hiccups right after.  It is too cute, but at the same time I feel bad for her for getting them so often.

4 days old; look at that cute dimple!

2 days old; Love our little family of three!

Well, all in all, it has been wonderful having Grace at home with us since Thursday evening.  I don't know what we would've done without having my mama over these last couple days since Garrett has had to go back to work.  She has stayed with us and helped any way she could since I haven't been able to move around too too much.  She is the BEST!  Thanks mama!!    I am starting to feel a little bit better today and am able to get around a little better.  I am still taking percocet, but only as needed.  I would not trade anything of this whole experience though.  It was all definitely worth it for the beautiful baby girl that God has gifted us with.  Today she is 1 week old.  HAPPY 1 WEEK BIRTHDAY GRACE LYNN! :)

The Delivery: skip this if you don't want to know any details of the delivery, lol.

Garrett, my mother, and I made it to the hospital at 11:45pm on Monday the 16th.  I was given fluids at about 2am and then was put on the Pitocin at about 2:30am.  Before putting me on petocin, they monitored my heart rate, the baby's heart rate, and any contractions I may have.  To my surprise, the nurse said that I was actually already having contractions, but I was just unaware of them.  Shortly after this, the nurses came running back in and asked me to turn over because Grace's heartbeat had dropped.  As soon as I turned, I felt a lovely gush of something and that's when I realized my water had broke.  Grace's heartbeat then quickly came back up to a healthy beat.  She was doing great.  Once I hit about 2cm, I asked when I could get the epidural and they said whenever I wanted, so I went ahead and asked for it.  Because I was only about 1-2cm dilated, they did not give me the full epidural.  However, the contractions started coming stronger and I was in pain.  So, they came in and checked me out.  To their surprise I had dilated to 4cm in a matter of just an hour or maybe even less than that.  So, they immediately bumped the dosage up and I started to feel MUCH BETTER!

From this point on, it was just a waiting game.  Once I hit 7cm, I made it 10cm in only an hour.  So, I began to start pushing.  This was where things started to really take their time and got really hard.  The pressure hurt so bad (one reason being my pea-size bladder; so they put a catheter in and released it); it got a little bit better, but soon thereafter starting hurting again really bad.  This is because Grace had finally made her way down and was "RIGHT THERE".  However, the nurse and doctor both confirmed that Grace was coming out OP (Occiput Posterior), which means she was coming out face up, as opposed to the normal "face down" position.  They tried several different pushing positions with me to try and help, but she was not turning.  So, two and a half hours later, they decided to get the vacuum since the pushing was not proving successful.  I begged to not have a C-section, so they did all they could to get her out  However, the vacuum wasn't really helping too much either.  That's when the doctor decided that I needed to have an episiotomy.  After that, they started the vacuum again.  Finally, to much of our joy, Grace made her arrival!

When Grace came out, her head was sooo cone shaped from being in the canal so long and the vacuum.  The nurses and doctor all said that she would very likely have at least one black eye and bruises on her face from the pelvic bone.  But, she was a trooper and showed no sign of bruising on her face the next day.  She was BEAUTIFUL!!  She did however still have a nice big circular bruise on her head from the vacuum.  It has finally started to go away though and today you can hardly see it.  She really is a "rockstar" and I love her so stinkin' much!!  Because I had the episiotomy, they had to keep me at the hospital an extra day.  It was wonderful though because it just gave us more time to ask questions and more time for me to somewhat recuperate.

Garrett and I and my mama were so impressed with our nurse Jessica and of course we loved Dr. Bevitz.  They were the absolute best and I only hope to have just as wonderful of a labor experience for any future children.  They both made the delivery so wonderful and their encouragement really kept our hopes high and helped to encourage me to continue pushing as hard as I possibly could, through the pain and troubles.  She was a stubborn little one, but certainly beautiful and worth every minute of labor.

The Countdown Begins

Less than 12 hours from now Garrett, my mother, and I will be at Winnie Palmer Hospital, if not sooner.  I am going in tonight at midnight for induction.  I cannot believe this day has finally come.  We are both so excited!  Today is my last day at work for several weeks... kind of bitter sweet, but I cannot wait to hold our sweet baby girl in my arms.  Here are the latest pictures of me taken today at work on the fly (thanks Erin!).  They aren't the best, but is kind of nice to have my last shots before baby Grace gets here.  The next pictures you all will see will include little Miss Grace Lynn.  Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts.  I cannot wait to introduce you all to Grace real soon!

As of today, theBump.com says:

Your baby's the size of a jackfruit!

In month nine, the average fetus is about 6.2 to 9.2 pounds and measures about 18.9 to 20.19 inches (wow!). But you really won't know exactly how big your baby is until his birth.

your baby at 40 weeks

• She's continuing to grow hair and nails.
• And she's keeping up that lung development, too.