Peyton's 1st Oklahoma Christmas!

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Its full of family, friends, laughter, good food, and of course our lord and savior! It just really doesn't get any better... or so I thought. I have always LOVED giving gifts... recieving is nice too but I am a gift giver. I spend weeks trying to pick the perfect gift for each person on my list because I want everyone to be super excited and happy! But this year it was a little different. I still wanted everyone to be happy and get good gifts but really all I cared about was having wonderful gifts for my little baby! And yes I know she won't remember it but I will and I have pictures to look back at for a lifetime! I am so excited for the years to come because I know Christmas morning will just get more and more fun! This year she may not have really been able to open gifts or really even know what was going on but she was sooo cute and attentive and happy! She would pull the paper if you put it in her hand just a little, she looked at every gift as you pulled it out and the ones that lit up and made noise she really watched. 

She was just so cute and happy all day and for that I am so very thankful... it was a day full of few naps so the fact that she was in a good mood is a blessing!

We started our day at the Jones' opening gifts with them which is always super fun! Their girls are older so they get super excited! Zoe Squealed so loud when she opened the gift from us... it was so cute! We love spending our holidays with our extra family :) I've been doing it for so long its really hard to remember a time when my christmas mornings didn't start out over there. Then we made our way to Grandma Hibbs house and spent the day surrounded by our family. Its funny to see how the famiy has come full circle. I'm the youngest out of the grandchildren so I dont remember seeing a bunch of kids all running around at grandmas but now that there are three great grandchildren that are that super fun age its funny to think how we went so long without little kids running around and now here we are again! Someone comments everytime were all together thats its so nice to see the little kids in the house again. One downside to this fact is that we are running out of living room space LOL!

 There was barely a walking path left once all the presents were under the tree it was crazy! But super fun! In our family if you under the age of 16 then you get gifts from the family but once you turn 16 then you go into the white elephant. This helps with the costs of christmas because it keeps people from feeling obligated to get each person a gift. Plus its a hilarious game when you're playing with my family! Although I will say it was a pretty calm year this year. So the kids open first and then go on their way and the adults play our white elephant game. Peyton was napping during the kids present opening so we did it all for her and then she of course woke up right as it was time for the white elephant and wanted to eat so Blaine had to help me out a bit LOL! It really was my idea of the perfect christmas! After it was all said and done we got all packed up to come home and now we are preparing for the trip to Nebraska to have yet another Christmas celebration with Blaine's side of the family. Just thinking about all the family we get to spend time with over the holidays makes me realize yet again how blessed we are and how blessed Peyton is to have all these people surrounding her, encouraging her, loving her, supporting her, and praying her from the very beginning of her life! I really couldn't ask for anything else! So I hope all of you had a wonderful and Merry Christmas full of family and friends and laughter like we did because it truly is the best gift of the season and its all because of what Jesus did for us that its even possible and that is the greatest blessing of all!!

3 months

I'm pretty sure I say this every month but it is so true... I can't believe she's already 3 months old! The time is flying by and I just want to slow it down so I can hold on to every precious second of her life!! So much has changed in the last 3 months... not neccessarily material things, or lifestyle changes but more like personality changes I guess. Everything is just different now that we have her and I wouldn't trade the world for it. She is growing so fast and changing a little everyday!! She roll from her belly to her back now which officially she means she rarely gets tummy time because if she doesn't want to be on her belly she just rolls over LOL! She is holding her head up SOO good... its still a little wobbly after she gets tired but she is getting really good at it! She is smiling up a storm, she really is just a happy little baby and she lets you know that with all her wonderful grins! She even laughed for us the other day! It was just a little laugh and we haven't been able to repeat it since but I was so excited and it was the cutest noise I have ever heard in my entire life! She really does amaze us everyday and can brighten any day with one little smile! People always tell you that you can't understand it until you have children of your own... and it turns out they were right... I've never loved anything or anyone as much as I love that little girl! I just can't get enough! So in honor of her being 3 months old and super cute here are some pictures that we took of her! 

How can you not just smile at that face!!! She is so funny! 

BIG Yawn!! 

She loves looking at the Christmas lights!

Trying to be artsy! I love the look of the Christmas light glow!

She loves her Bumbo!! So sweet!

Sweet baby girl!! 

I told you... cutest thing ever!! I just can't get enough! I can't believe that its already been 3 months since she came into my world! I look forward to the next 3 months even though I wish she could stay my little baby forever! 

Peytons 1st Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving! I am one of those people who refuses to think about anything Christmas before Thanksgiving! I think it is a very important time of year and it makes me sad that it always gets overlooked. I often say that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it has all the things I love... Great food, wonderful time with family, many blessing to be thankful for and unlike Christmas I dont have to spend a bunch of money on presents LOL! (Don't get me wrong I love Christmas and I love giving gifts) Anyways I am a big fan of Thanksgiving and I was very excited to have Ms. Peyton enjoy her first Thanksgiving this year. So we took our annual trip to Nebraska to spend the holiday with Blaine's side of the family and this year we were able to spend a week up there which was nice since Peyton hasn't gotten to spend a lot of time with his side of the family since she was born. So we drove up Friday and enjoy the week getting things ready for Thanksgiving, watching football, visiting with friends, and just enjoying sometime together as a family! We spent Thanksgiving at a church in Gretna with all of Blaine's family as well as his sister in law's family and had a wonderful time fellowshipping together and watching all the kids play together! It's so much fun to have so many little ones running around now! Then Friday we did our annual Black Friday shopping and it was a lot of fun as usual but man I was exhausted and so glad to drive home and sleep in my own bed after a week away! Once we got home a baked some Pumpkin pies to take to my family's thanksgiving which we had on Saturday! It was a wonderful day cooking and spending time with the family I love all the opportunities we have to get together. The highlight of my day though was the fact that my Dad finally held Peyton. He is not a holding babies kind of guy and likes to wait till they get a little bigger and can hold their heads up so when he came right in and took her I was so excited and grabbed my camera right away!! It was a wonderful moment! To sum it all up we had a wonderful thanksgiving filled with family, friends, love, and food and it really just doesn't get any better than that! So I'll leave you with a few pictures from our wonderful holiday! 

Papa Dee holding his girl for the first time! 

The older kiddos taking a picture while Peyton took a nap. We figured she'd probably get crawled on anyway!

The Finley clan... can you imagine just going out to dinner together! It is quite entertaining! 

Peyton and Tempey in their matching 1st Thanksgiving outfits with little Ethan peeking in the picture!

Month 2

Wow tomorrow my little girl will be 2 months old and I can not believe it has been 2 months already! So many things have changed in the last 2 months it just completely blows my mind whenever I think about it. She has grown so much and changed so much and learned so much just in the last 2 months! I feel like I'm going to miss something if I blink somedays! She smiles so big now and its my absolute favorite!! Just watching her grin brighten my days no matter what the rest of the day has been like and I love it! She is holding her head up so well now... its still a little wobbly and she gets tired after a little while but she is getting a little stronger everyday. We're still working on her being content just by herself and not being held all the time but its a work in progress... somedays she does great and others there is just no use LOL! We are also trying to work on the transition into her crib but again that is a work in progress. She is a stubborn little girl just like her momma but we'll get there. We started going back to church a couple weeks ago once she was old enough to go into the nursery... and man that was the longest hour of my life when we first took her. Its better now but that first time was very very hard for me. I finally understood what it was like to be the momma during drop off instead of being the teacher and let me tell ya... it's easier being the teacher LOL! But she has done wonderful in the nursery and all the volunteers in there are wonderful and just love her to pieces! And of course they do... why wouldn't they she is just amazing! I am absolutely amazed by this little person and the fact that she came from me. I like to think that she has the best of me and the best of her daddy and its just so amazing to think about the life that she has ahead of her. I promise her everyday that I'm going to give her the best life I possibly can and everyday I try to think of just how I'm going to do that. We are all super excited for all the holidays coming up and all the family time we're going to have. I am a holiday lover every year but this year it all just means so much more because these are her very first holidays and I just couldn't be more excited! We are going to be dedicating her at church in Decemeber and I'm excited to say that she is going to be dedicated right along side our best friends little girl who is just three months older. These little girls are going to give us a run for our money when they get older I'm sure but I'm so excited for her to have a little buddy to run around with right from the beginning! And I'm excited to stand in front of our church and our friends and family and dedicate our lives to raising her up the way God would want us to. Its just one of the many ways I know that I can fulfill my promise to giving her the best life possible. Well now that I've rambled on about a little bit of everything I will leave you  with some more adorable pictures of what we've been up to this month!

Just playing on my mat while daddy takes my picture!

She loves sitting in her bumbo chair

Our little owl all dressed up for Halloween

Our family photo!

Out enjoying so halloween festivities in Edmond!

A little update

Well I just figured I would write a little update about how life with our little princess is going since she is keeping me awake at the moment but refusing to fall asleep... at least she's happy in her swing... maybe it'll lull her to sleep but we shall see. She is a night owl it seems and I can't for the life of me figure out where she got that trait because both mommy and daddy greatly enjoy their sleep and are not night owls at all! Anyways... for the most part she is sleeping well (once she goes to sleep) and we took our first road trip with the little one this past weekend which was so fun! And I dont mean that sarcastically... we had a really great time and she did so well in the car. We went to Kansas City to visit Blaine's grandparents and aunts and uncles so they all could meet Ms. Peyton and they all were instantly in love with her of course! I think she got held pretty much all weekend and she wouldn't have wanted it any other way!

We didn't take a ton of pictures but here is one of four generations of women! I really can't say enough how blessed I am to have married into such a wonderful family and I'm so glad that Ms. Peyton will now have this wonderful family to enjoy as well!

Here is Peyton with Great Grandma Spencer. She has tremors but Peyton didn't seem to mind. In fact she seemed to really like it... go figure she loves being bounced and rocked and such! 

And of course we can't forget Great Grandpa Spencer!! This will be Peyton gets her height!

The day after we got back from our trip I underwent oral surgery and had my wisdom teeth removed plus another molar that needed to come out so Blaine stayed home with me and Peyton the past two days to help take care of her while I recovered but it has been a very easy recovery thus far and for that I am very grateful! Soon I'll be able to eat discomfort and pain free and I am so excited! It has been a long time coming! Peyton and I really have enjoyed having Daddy home though!!! We really try to do lots of different activities as a family! Tonight we carved a pumpkin all together (Peyton slept through most of it LOL). 

This weekend Blaine's sister and brother in law and our adorable little niece Tempey are coming to visit so they can finally meet Ms. Peyton and we have lots of fun things planned!! So excited to see them and get to spend sometime together and for Peyton to meet the last little bit of family. Especially her cousin who I'm sure will be a wonderful friend throughout the years to come! 

Well I think that about wraps up what we've been doing.... not too much but after this week hopefully I'll have another update to write about. But for now I'll leave you with some adorable pictures that our friend Joseph took when Peyton turned 1 month old! 

I really can't get enough of that beautiful little one!! I am so very blessed!! 

6 years and counting

Six years.... wow! I can't believe that we have been together for six years. It has been an amazing six years and looking back I wouldn't change a single moment! Now we have a beautiful little girl and a lifetime of memories still ahead of us and for that I am so very thankful! Here are a few photos from some special days in our six years together! 

This picture was taken the night we first met. We were friends from the day one and it has been an amazing journey right from the start. 

This picture was from our first date.... we had been together for about a month but had never gone on an official date until this night. We went to red lobster and I think we saw a movie although six years later I couldn't tell you what movie it was. 

 This was taken the night we got engaged. This is not the moment that he actually proposed but since he proposed on a carriage ride he got out of the whole getting down on one knee thing so I made him pose for a picture :)

And finally a picture from our wedding day! One of the most wonderful days of my life right next to the birth of our daughter! I've loved every moment and every memory we've made together and I can't wait to see what the rest of our lifetime together has in store.

1 Month.... slow down please!

This adorable little princess is one month old today and I just can't believe it!!! I'm going to need time to slow down and stop flying by so quickly! She is our whole world and we love her more than words can ever express and I just can't believe she's already been with us an entire month! She is growing and changing everyday and is just a bundle of joy and we are so so blessed! I don't really know what else to say except that I love my little princess even if she is growing too fast! And I'll leave you with one more adorable picture that is from after our evening bath!

3 Weeks already?

Your whole life you are told that the older you get the faster time goes by and when your younger you can't really imagine life going by any faster because you think it already flies by... but then you get older and you realize that they were telling you the truth all these years. I can't believe how much faster time has gone by in these last three weeks. Sometimes I swear I'll wake up and still be pregnant it just really blows my mind that Peyton is already three weeks old. She changes a little bit everyday and I love watching her changes but I sure do wish I could keep her small forever because I know these days are going to be just a memory the next time I blink. She is getting bigger every time I look at her I swear.  When she looks at me now I can tell she is actually looking at me...no more glazed over look LOL and she can follow things she sees with her eyes. She also makes faces at us and has even seemed to copy our faces a little. She is working on holding her head up a little bit each day and just keeps us laughing and smiling. She is sleeping pretty well at night for the most part and eats like crazy during the day but hey whatever she needs. It really just amazes me how much things change in such a short period of time.
Now as happy as I am I can honestly say that I've just never been more scared in my whole life. I want to protect her with every fiber of my being and I just can't imagine what I would do if something bad happened. Now I know I can't be paranoid and scared forever but its just such a new feeling for me. Some of this may be exacerbated by all the problems we had in the very beginning some of which we are still dealing with. Wednesday we take her to a physical therapist to see about getting the shape of her head fixed a bit... its not causing any neurological issues but I just really don't want her to be self conscious about it her whole life. So we're going to try this and see what happens. I can't help but feel like its somehow my fault and I have to do everything I can to fix it. Now I know in my heart that its not my fault but I just can't help but feel that way.
Well thats my little 3 weeks update... I will leave you with a picture of how we are spending our saturday evening.... watching football with daddy!

Mommy Fail #1

Well it only took two weeks for me to have my first mommy fail. And to say I was disappointed in myself would be an understatement (thanks hormones). Ok so here's the story. Blaine's brother and sister in law and two of their boys came down to visit us this weekend and meet sweet baby Peyton. Since the fair is still going on we thought it would be fun to take them and I've been feeling pretty good and Peyton has been doing great so off to the fair we went. It was smooth sailing for the first 3 hours or so, everyone was having fun walking through the buildings, seeing all the animals, and just enjoying being out and about. Ms. Peyton just snoozed away in the stroller and was the center of attention... everywhere we went someone stopped to look and tell us how beautiful she is (Proud Momma here). Well after about three hours as were in one of the buildings making our way through the aisles Peyton wakes up and is not a happy camper! So Blaine takes her out of the stroller and carries her through the last part of the building as we beeline for the doors so we can get her changed and I can figure out a place to sit and feed her (interesting thing to do at the fair). Well the line for the women's restroom was super long as usual so Blaine took her into the men's room to change her only to discover that little miss had had a blowout! She was in a disposable diaper that was given to us since we use cloth diapers but I figured I had them and it would be easier than the cloth while we were out... well these diapers just didn't fit her as well and so the blowout occured. Now to the mommy fail... since she had a blowout her entire outfit was ruined to wear and what did I have in the diaper bag for a change of clothes... a long sleeved and footed PJ outfit... WAY TO HOT for that! I mean we were all sweating it was hot even in the buildings! So she spent the rest of the time we were there (another couple hours) in nothing but a diaper and covered with a real light blanket. I felt terrible... then feeding was not super easy and it was hot and she was hot and I was hot and the nursing cover made it even more hot. I almost had a small breakdown at this point because I felt like a terrible momma and at this point I wanted nothing more than to just be able to give her a bottle! But I have a wonderful support team in my hubby and in my sister in law so I held it together without breaking down and we enjoyed the end of our fair trip. Lesson learned... ALWAYS have a onesie in the Diaper Bag! This will be a mistake I don't make again!

Life with a newborn

Well we have survived almost 2 weeks of life with a newborn and I can honestly say it is nothing like I expected... but contrary to what you may think... It is SO MUCH BETTER! Yes I am slightly sleep deprived (although the end of my pregnancy was that way anyway so I was prepared for it), yes I am still recovering physically although this is much easier than I anticipated and I am feeling closer to 100% a little more everyday... I mean I finally have normally looking feet and ankles again and for me it doesn't get better than that! But seriously taking care of my little girl is by far the best thing I have ever done in my life. She just lights up my world. I love all the faces she makes, the sounds... yes even the cries. I cherish the fact that I am the one who gives her food, that takes care of all her needs. And I am so so blessed to be able to do all of these things for this adorable little princess. Being a mom really is the best experience in the world even through all the sleep deprived nights of cluster feeding where daddy can't help a lick because all she wants to do is eat and since the feeding utensils are kind of attached to me I'm stuck but I dont mind. It just means more snuggle time for mommy! I know these days are going to fly by and that makes me sad just thinking about it but at the same time I can't wait to see what happens next, how she will grow and learn and do things on her own. Its just so exciting to be a part of something so special!
We haven't done a whole lot in the last two weeks besides just enjoy time as a family. We've made a couple trips out and about and they've all been successful so there really isn't any big story to tell there. We've had lots of visitors but lots of peaceful family times too... and having Blaine home with me as been wonderful... I kind of dread him going back to work because I just love being home as a family! But someone has to make some Money for us! We've been pretty productive in household projects the last couple of weeks which has been really nice and I've even managed to keep the house clean and the dishes and laundry done... all of these are pretty big successes in my book. Having this little girl just motivates me to makes things the best I possibly can in her environment.
Well I guess I'll stop rambling about how wonderful life is with my precious little girl and get back to loving on her since she's waking up now but I will leave you with one of her sneek peak newborn pictures so you can see just how adorable she is and why I am so in love with everything she does!

Ms. Peyton's Birth Story

Well I know its been a while since I've updated this but its been a little busy getting the last minute things ready and preparing for our sweet baby girl to arrive and now that she has we've been getting into the swing of things with a newborn. We have been very blessed with lots of help and encouragement throughout the entire journey and I can't thank our families enough for everything they've done for us.  But since it has been so long and I have a little down time this morning I thought I would update the blog and tell you all about Ms. Peyton's arrival into the world.

It was Thursday Sept 6 (my official due date) and we got up and around to go to my final doctor's appointment. We had everything packed and ready to go with us since we knew there was a pretty good chance we would be inducing that same day. So we loaded up the car took our "we're off to have a baby picture" in front of the house and off we went to the doctor. After getting all checked out, discovering I had made some progress but not much we began discussing the induction. I had researched a couple different methods that did not involve pitocin because I really wanted to try to do things naturally, however as my luck would have it I was just not a good candidate for those alternatives so pitocin it would be. This was a very emotional decision for me because I so badly wanted to meet my princess but I also knew all the risks that go along with being induced. And while we considered waiting a while longer they were still concerned she was going to be rather large and I just didn't want to risk anything happening to her all because I didn't want to use pitocin. So the doctor told us to get a light bite to eat and head to the hospital and we could get things started. I cried on and off through breakfast just thinking about everything... I was a bit overwhelmed to say the very least but I was so excited that it was finally happening.
We arrived at the hospital and got everything started at around 1130 that morning. I was pleasantly surprised that even after starting the pitocin I felt very little pain (for now). So I labored and visited with both Blaine and I's moms and Blaine for the next five hours. At 430 my doctor arrived and said it was time to go ahead and break my water to get things moving along because the pitocin alone was not progressing me very well. Now this is where the "fun" begins. So she broke my water and almost immediately the contractions became a lot less "fun". They were right on top of eachother with very little break between any of them. So after a little over an hour and lots of talk about how long my labor would probably be I decided to go ahead and get an epidural. Blaine was very supportive and tried to tell me that I could do it without but I just knew that I couldn't continue for an unkown amount of time in that much pain so epi it was and man oh man that was a great choice! Once that epi was in and working I was a whole new person and back to chatting and just enjoying the day... as much as one can stuck in a hospital bed getting ready to push out a baby LOL!!

After the epi I continued to labor for 12 hours! Lets just say I'm very glad I chose to get the epi! I progressed pretty slowly but finally at 2am it was time to start pushing... whew that is a lot of work! I pushed for 2 hours before she finally decided to arrive. She weighed 7lbs 12oz and was 21 inches long. I had a great nursing staff and doctor and wonderful husband who supported me through all the pushing and did a wonderful job encouraging me  while pushing. I don't know that I could have done it without them.
Now while most people would say all of that was the difficult part but in fact it was not. When she was finally born it was apparent that there was something wrong... she aspirated on meconium and the cord was around her neck and that was just the beginning. So they quickly put her on my chest let Blaine cut the cord very quickly and moved her over to the panda bed so they could get to work on her. They had to deep suction out her lungs (keep in mind that in all this time she still has not cried). She was very pale and while she was wide eyed she was not very responsive. Her Apgar score was very low and her respiration rate and heart rate were both very high. They worked for approx. 30 minutes (seemed like an eternity) to get her stablized all while trying to decide if she was going to have to go children's hospital downtown. This entire time I was still waiting to get cleaned up and everything. Once we finally got me all cleaned up ( and the color came back to my body... I lost a lot of blood) they had her stabalized enough that we were able to hold her for just a few moments and we were able to let our mom's (who had been waiting in the hall terrified) in to see her... only Blaine and I were allowed to hold her at this point because her head was so malformed from the birthing process they were concerned about neurological issues and she was very sore from it all. She also had one arm that she didn't want to move which added to their concerns. So after much debate they decided that she needed to go to the nursery to be monitored more closely but that at this point they didn't think she needed to go to children's hospital. I was relieved but still very scared for what could be wrong with my baby girl.

She spent the next 8 hours in the nursery being monitored, having labs done and receiving fluids . At around 1130 I was finally able to go to the nursery and see her, they had me meet with a lactation consultant and had me pump so i was able to go and give her what I had pumped. And I was able to be there for her first bath and finally get to hold her again. I can honestly say that was the longest 8 hours of my life not being able to be near her and hold her and know exactly what was going on but she was already improving and I knew that it was what was best for my little girl. After just a couple more hours they decided that her stats had improved enough that she could come back in room with Blaine and I and we couldn't have been happier! She has continued to improve and is just the most perfect little girl!

It was a very long day and a very emotional roller coaster but we are so very blessed to have our little girl home and healthy! I can honestly say that how this little girl was born was not anything like I had wanted or expected but I know that it all happens for a reason and I have been blessed beyond words just to have my little girl and that is all that matters. I mean just look how beautiful she is!

Just 6 weeks to go!

The last 8 months really have flown by but I can already tell that these next 6 weeks are going to creep along! Everything is ready for Baby Peyton to make her arrival all I need to do is finish packing the hospital bag and install the car seat. But other than that we are ready. I'm sure there will be lots of other little nesting projects I will do around the house in the next 6 weeks to keep me busy but as far as for preparing for the baby we are ready! Heck I've even done all my shower thank you cards and started filling out stuff in the baby book... I'm actually ahead of the game for once! But now that I'm all done I think i should have slowed down a little so that I could have more things to do in these next few weeks to help pass the time! oh well I'd rather be ready early than not ready when she decides to come ahead of time. My Dad had decided that she will be born on his birthday which is Aug 29 and that she will weight 8lbs 7ozs LOL! Now why this is funny that is so specific on his prediction its a bit scary because I kid you not from the day I told him I was pregnant he told me it was a girl. Even when we ALL thought it was boy he stuck by the fact that it would be a girl and he was right! So I guess we'll see how "physic" my dad really is LOL! But I asked him to change his weight prediction cause that just sounds like a big baby and a bit painful LOL! Well I don't really have anything else right now just wanted to update a little while I had the chance but I will leave you with the pictures of Ms. Peyton's finished nursery!

Looking into the room from the door. 

Look at the dresser and glider from the closet door.

Her Crib and Letters! 

Looking across the room from the glider. (picture is zoomed a little)

Prepared?

The closer I get to the due date of our sweet baby girl the more I wonder if I'll be as prepared as I would have hoped. Sure the nursery is almost finished, we have picked, toured, and preregistered at the hospital so when the day arrives we'll be ready to go and can skip a bunch of the paperwork! I already have a group in my phone of people to text when the time comes who will want to be informed of Baby Peyton's pending arrival. And I'm nesting a little more every day as far as the house is concerned. But I still just don't know that I'm going to be as prepared as I want to be. I know that I could never truly be completely prepared for the journey we're about to take, a newborn is a journey all its own and with every passing month it changes but I just want to be ready. I want to be the best mom I possibly can to this little life that I've had growing inside me for the past 7 months. I want to give her the best start in life that I possibly can and I want her to always know that she is loved beyond what any words can describe.
It's funny because I feel like at this point in pregnancy most women are becoming more fearful of the labor and delivery part of the journey, honestly that's the last thing on my mind. I know its going to hurt, I know I will have a few hours (hopefully thats all) of the most painful experience of my life, that doesn't scare me. Because I know when its done I will have my beautiful daughter in my arms and all that pain will go away and in just a few weeks time I won't remember how painful it was. All I'll remember is the prize I got at the finish line and she is worth every painful minute. I am more concerned about being prepared, being a good mom, hoping i can breastfeed the way I would like to, making sure she has everything possible to make her happy and comfortable. Teaching her as she grows, showing her how to live her life the way God would want her too. Showing her that there is so much more to life than just the everyday hustle and bustle. And all at the same time trying not to spoil her rotten so that she knows that the material things aren't what really matter. At this point it almost seems impossible!
Am I crazy? Surely I am not the only woman in the world who has these thoughts. I know I tend to be a little future orientated... its always been a flaw of mine. Why worry about today it's already here, I'd rather worry about tomorrow while I still feel like I have time to fix it if it needs it. But really am I the only one who does this?
I guess I just needed a little rant, clear my head of all the thoughts that have been building in them over the past few months as I prepare the best way I know for the arrival of our daughter. But I will say through it all I have had an amazing husband by my side. He may whine sometimes, he make joke when he probably shouldn't, but just the excitement he has at every appt., at each ultrasound when that first glimpse of her pops up on the screen. When he can feel her move and kick. He has already tried to have the two of them gang up on me. And man does his face light up each and every time we receive something that says anything about "I love daddy" or "Daddy's Girl" he is bound and determined that she is going to be a Daddy's girl and while I joke with him that she's totally going to be a mommy's girl it makes me soooo happy to see how much he loves her already and to know that he wants a Daddy's girl! I was never a Daddy's girl and honestly I dont know that my dad ever really cared one way or another (yes i know he loves me very much but thats not the point) so its just so fun to see Blaine's excitement. And I hope he does get his Daddy's girl but I hope she can be a bit of a Mommy's girl too!!!

Nebraska Trip and Peyton's first baby shower

We spent most of last week in Nebraska enjoy a wonderful time with family and friends! We drove up tuesday and enjoy a home run derby at the baseball park and then watched what would have been a wonderful firework display! LOL! I say would have been because we all learned that there is such a thing as sitting to close. There was so much smoke, they were so bright I couldn't hardly look at them and there was ash and debris falling on us. Yeah we were about as close as you could get but they were pretty! It was just fun to hang out with all Blaine's family and their kiddos! We don't often get to spend a lot of time with those Kiddos and they are growing soooo fast so we always enjoy the time we do have with them.
Wednesday was the 4th of July and we enjoyed a fairly relaxing day of hanging and doing a little bit of shopping (a trip to nebraska always includes shopping). Then of course in the evening we grilled out and went and shot off our own fireworks. I just watched the fireworks this time around but we still had a lot of fun. Had a few close calls which always seems to happen when we shoot off fireworks but no injuries so that is what is really important. I so understand why fireworks are illegal where we live!
Thursday the boys all worked very hard moving things for Blaine's sister Alyson and her husband. They are moving and are storing things at Blaine's parents house in the mean time so the boys got to enjoy a day of hard work! While Blaine was hard at work I spent the day with Aly and the precious little Tempey! We ran a few errands and just enjoyed our time together! I love spending time with them... Aly and I never run out of things to talk about... She truly is that sister I never had and I am so blessed by that! Thursday afternoon Blaine's Aunt Vicki and grandma and grandpa arrived for their visit and we enjoyed a wonderful family dinner. It felt like Thanksgiving! We had turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and carol even made pistachio salad which is always a holiday favorite. It was literally like we had fast forwarded to November! We were just missing Baby Peyton!
Friday we spent the day enjoying time with Blaine's grandparents. And of course had to get our fix of the classic Nebraska restaurants that we always visit. So it was Runza for lunch and then a yummy trip to Dairy Queen to follow! We also got to enjoy sometime with a few of Blaine's friends from high school/camp friday evening. And of course another evening of grilling out. It was a relaxing and enjoyable day just getting to spend time with family!
Saturday was the big day! We got up and around and off to Baby Peyton's first baby shower! It was so wonderful for so many wonderful ladies to gather together and celebrate Peyton's upcoming birth and she was spoiled for sure! It makes me feel very blessed to know that while I may not personally know a lot of these women their are so many of them praying for us and our little family! One of my favorite parts had to be when one of Blaine's mothers small group women read up a devotional she had written for Peyton based off of her name. It was so sweet, Blaine's mother Carol was crying by the end of it! But it really was so sweet and I plan to keep it in her Baby Book so that she can see it one day! Everything was just wonderful and we had such a great time just fellowshipping and celebrating baby Peyton!

I have seen these done before but I just love them and was so happy to see one at my shower!! 

This Cake was so cute! It matched the invitations! And my goodness it was Delicious! 

Aunt Vicki bought this outfit shortly after Blaine and I got married over two years ago and has been hanging on to it until we had a baby girl! So cute! Can't wait to put Peyton in it for football season! 

Well of course since I was surrounded by the Nebraska Fans I had to have some Nebraska gear for Peyton too! We'll be cheering on both teams this season!

Alyson and Thea enjoying the shower!

Probably one of my favorite gifts! Thea had these made for me because she knows how much I love John Deere! Its a super cute taggie blanket and she also had three really awesome burp rags made with the same material! 

Alyson made this quilt for baby Peyton! I plan to try my hand at this quilt myself one day but we shall see! 

Those are just a few of the pictures from the shower but I didn't want to completely overload you. LOL!!! After the shower on Saturday we said goodbye to Aunt Vicki and grandma and grandpa and just enjoyed the rest of the evening hanging out with the family. We went out for a wonderful dinner and all went to bed early because the week was finally catching up with us!! 

Sunday we spent 7 hours in the car and arrive home in the evening happy to have had such a wonderful trip but happy to be home! 

Sorry this post is so long but it was such a fun and wonderful trip to just spend time with family and its our last one before Peyton's arrival so I wanted to make sure and document it! Now its time to finish prepping the house and organize all the wonderful gifts we were blessed with and just patiently waiting for her arrival!!!