Sweet Sloane

My Sweet, sweet, little Sloane will be 6 months old tomorrow!  Can you believe it?  I cannot.  It seems just like yesterday that we were coming home with our baby from the hospital.  She got her shots this morning and handled them like a trooper!  She weighs 14 pounds 10 ounces and is 25 1/2 inches tall.  She is still on the same growth cure (the 25%) one.  She is super healthy and developmentally sound.  The Dr was impressed that she was sitting on her own so well.  That's my GIRL!!!  Now, we just need to work on getting her to sleep through the night.

Sloane

My sweet little Sloane sat for the first time by herself!  She is 5 1/2 months old and is growing up entirely too fast.  She is such a ham and she will chatter and smile at anyone who gives her the time of day!  She is quite the wiggle worm too, the other evening we found her under her swing (she was on the floor to begin with), she had scooted and/or rolled over to it and she was rocking the swing and talking to it.  It was the funniest thing!  We still are unsure what color her eyes are going to be, I think they're going to be brown, Todd thinks her eyes will be green or hazel.  Sloane also sits and watches Teagan with such intensity, she is learning so much from her "big" sister.  Sloane and Teagan now "fight" over toys - and so it has begun...dun dun dun.

Day 1

I did it, I did not die.  For a little longer comment, view the P90X page attached.

P90X Day -1

Day -1 meaning the day before I start.  I am giddy with excitement, yet terrified of what is to come.  I have heard that the next 90 days will be a true testament to stamina and will.  The pull up bar is installed, I just need to clean out the basement TV room tonight, take my measurements and take my "Before" photos.  Today I am a "Before", here is sweating to become the "After"!

P90X

I just tracked the shipment...I should have the DVD's this afternoon!  I'm stoked.  Gotta go get a tape measure and a pull up bar!  WooHoo!

Running Update

As the 4th of July nears, I am getting more anxious and excited; my first 5k in, gulp, 16 years is now 3 days away. The longest distance I have run to date is 2.5 miles. So, Sunday morning will prove to be my biggest test and my biggest challenge to day. I am excited to get out there with other people and run. I do hope to run the entire way, I can do it. I should be a Nike commercial...too bad my shoes are Aisics...*snicker**snicker*

I am on week 7 of the Couch to 5k plan, but I figure it is time to get my "race on". My goal is to finish the race, 3.1 miles in 45 minutes or less.

So far, this running has not helped me lose any weight, but, this month I will be more diligent in my eating habits. That should give me some positive results.

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July all!!!!

Photo Shoot 6-29-2010

On Tuesday I took the girls to get their pictures taken. Both of them were in such good moods on the way there, I was thinking to myself, "oh, this is a great day and time to be getting these pictures!" Boy was I WRONG!!!!

Teagan decided she wanted nothing to do with being in front of the camera....

But, the photographer got this picture of her before the next melt down...so, we decided to get Sloane's pictures and let Teagan get a little more comfortable there. And this is how Sloane's session started:

But, she quickly changed her attitude...







I love this photo of Sloane. It shows how much personality she has.
And in my infinite wisdom, I thought it would be a good time to get a picture of the two of the girls together...and this is what we got:

Yes, folks those are tears...

A little better, but, in the end there were no pictures of the two girls that were decent.

At least Teagan was trying to give Sloane a kiss...


Sweet Sloane's little feet


And her little hands


Oh, it would have been cute to get Teagan's hands too, but we instead got me gripping my daughter's hand.

Ah, but there was a silver lining. Toward the end, Uncle Matt had Teagan in a fairly good mood and there was a large flower for Teagan to play with and we got a couple of good shots of Teagan.

Memo to self: Don't do photos without Daddy.

My Running Journey

I have a goal, a dream, a vision or a bucket list item. I want to run in the New York City Marathon. Crazy? Yes! Doable? I sure hope so! OK, how do I make it so I can cross this item off of my list? Good question. I start with a less lofty goal, I decide to run an half marathon. Where better to do this than in Nashville? Why, you ask? Ah, my sister lives there, so I think, why not! Now, mind you that I have never run more than 5 miles continuously at any given time in my life; and that happened when I was in cross country, in HIGH SCHOOL. Oh, dear Lord, what was I thinking? I can do this, I see a 300 lb man on The Biggest Loser do a 5K...Surely, I can run 13.1 miles. And lose some weight while doing so.

I looked up a popular training method for running a 5K, it's the Couch to 5K, I'll be running 3.1 miles in 2 months. Fantastic. Then I will be doing the Marathon Rookie 10 week training method. No problem!

My first day of training was on May 4Th. The day we gave sweet Daisy away. Running was therapeutic. I could channel my emotions into that run. I needed that pain to help my motivation, and I completed the workout. What a huge sense of accomplishment that I felt. "I can do this", I thought proudly to myself. And so I continue on with my training. Last night I started week 3 of the program. Oh my, running on a treadmill, it has it's pros and cons. The pros, you can see how far you've gone and how fast you're going. The cons, you can see how far you haven't gone and how slow you're going. I kept looking at that darn distance reader, timer and speedometer...and then reality started to set in; I need to run at least 6 miles per hour in order to finish an half marathon in just over 2 hours. I was running 4.4 miles per hour, when I wasn't walking. But, I must remind myself that I have only just begun. I have to remind myself that I will eventually be able to run longer, farther and faster. I have to remind myself that I can do this...

I love this!

A MOTHER’S MIDNIGHT PRAYER
Lord,
Help me remember, when I feel it’s a chore,
The time will come when I’ll hold him no more
asleep on my chest (the crib refused, the
blanket, the pacifier, gone unused.)
What better place is there to lay his head
than against my heart, my arms his bed?
For infants grow up and leave us behind
with only memories left to remind
us of midnight walking and predawn rocking,
of soft helpless babies unable to sleep
So, Lord, make me patient and keep me awake
while I cradle this child, and don’t let me take
for granted the moments I spend in the night
with this baby-Your gift, my joy, my delight
-Jan Dunlap

Update

Sloane is now 2 months old, she weighs 9 pounds 5 ounces and is 21 1/4 inches long. She is starting to smile a lot and is generally a very happy baby.

Teagan is close to 18 months and is quite the conversationalist, I am even starting to understand her a little bit better. She heard a train yesterday and started saying, "choo choo". She's super smart.

No pictures right now, sorry. Our computer is on the fritz...hopefully we'll get that fixed soon.

1 Month Old...Sloane That Is

Sloane is 1 month old today. She has gotten a little bigger, but not much. She still has a lot of hair as you can see and she is just a sweetheart! It is so hard to imagine our lives before she arrived.

Still so serious.

My Blue Eyed Girl

The most beautiful eyes I've ever seen on a beautiful little girl!

The Thrill of the Hunt

On the Palm Sunday the church had an Easter egg hunt. So, Teagan and her cousins Leah and Nora got to find Easter eggs. We arrived very early, and it was difficult keeping the kids occupied before the hunt began. But, once it was time the girls were off and running. It didn't take Teagan too long to figure out what she was supposed to do. She was very interested in the colors.

Teagan had put the bag down on top of the egg.



There were a lot of children there! Teagan didn't get a prize egg, but she got some good candy and had a blast!

My favorite picture of 2 of my favorite people!

Sisters

This is the only picture we have of the girls together so far.

Teagan loves being a big sister. She loves giving Sloane kisses and rubbing her head. Teagan also loves to pull Sloane's socks off and tickle her toes!

Sloane Grace

Sloane Grace was born on March 16, 2010 at 11:05 am. She weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long.

Our day started at 5:30 am when I said to Todd, "I think my water broke". We called my mom to come over and watch Teagan while we went to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 6:30 am and the nurse did a test to see if it really was my water, and it was. I was taken to my room and the nurses tried to get an IV going for me. I had 4 veins blow before the IV worked, kind of a painful experience there. The Dr came in around 8:30 am and decided that some Pitocin needed to be started to get me going, at that point my contractions were about 7 minutes apart and not very strong. So, at 9:05 am the Pitocin was started, as did the contractions. At about 10:15-10:20 I requested the epidural as the contractions were getting stronger and closer together. At about 10:50 am the anesthesiologist walked in. I was holding on to the bed rail writhing in pain. The nurse, (my best friend that day) Trish, told me to tell her if I felt like pushing. 2 seconds later I told her that I didn't feel like pushing, I WAS pushing. Trish checked me and I was dialated to 9. At that point Todd and I both realized I was not getting the epidural. I was freaking out, I was going to have to deliver my daughter NATURALLY??? Are you kidding me? Well, my room was transformed into a delivery room really fast. The Dr. came running in, and the nurses got me into position. I asked the Dr. what he was doing to me and he said, "I'm not doing anything, that's the baby's head." Todd looked and said, "yeah, wow, that's her head." I'm thinking oh God, I can't do this! Well, it took 3 pushes to get her head out, and 4 pushes to get her shoulders out. Sloane was finally here! Todd and I joke that if we have another child, we're requesting the epidural when we call the Dr. to let them know we're coming in. I'm not sure I want another natural child birth...we'll see.

Sloane after her bath, I believe we have a sun baby on our hands!

The proud daddy and his newest girl.

A week old and so serious.

Sloane is a dream baby right now. She sleeps for long stretches at night, given she has a full belly and is wrapped up the right way. She is the perfect addition to our family.

I am a slacker...what's new?

Yes, I am fully aware that it has been almost 2 months since I have posted anything. I will try to get better with posting updates on the family. We will see how that goes.

Teagan is walking and talking "Teaganese" like crazy. She is definitely getting to the "I'll do it myself" stage. Which is rather funny to witness. I think she is aware that something is going to change in her life, but she is not sure what that is yet. She is a very adventurous little girl. It is very fun to watch her learn and experience new things. She has daddy and mommy wrapped around her little fingers. We are working on unraveling ourselves (it's not working out too well though.)

Sloane will be making her arrival, sooner than later (I hope). She is growing quite nicely in her little incubator. This past weekend my sister-in-law, Sarah, planned a nice ladies day that included lunch and a pedicure. I was hoping the pedi would get labor started, but it did not. I can hear Sloane saying she wants out, but neither one of our bodies are cooperating with that.

Right now our lives are preoccupied with Teagan and getting ready for Sloane. We are very excited that our family is growing and are extremely grateful that we are all happy and healthy. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures soon.

Teagan's 1st Birthday (Late)

Teagan celebrated her first birthday on 12/6. We let her open a few presents when she woke up, so she wouldn't be so overwhelmed. She liked tearing the wrapping paper.

Her birthday cakes.

When everyone started singing Happy Birthday, Teagan just was looking around trying to figure out what was going on, and I started to cry.

She was so funny, she wanted a fork to eat her cake, she wasn't really into using her hands.

Gigi gave the birthday girl a bath after cake.

Mommy and Teagan's cousins opened most of her presents.


It was a wonderful day, we had a blast. It is so hard to believe that Teagan has been a part of our lives for (over) a year now! We cannot imagine or remember what it was like with out her. She is a special little girl and she sure has quite a personality.