many thanks

Although Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we are well into the holiday season (sadly, you'd never know that if you walked into my house...smh), I am beyond thankful for so many things in my life right now.  Post partum life is full of unreasonable ups and downs.  So periodically I like to stop and remind myself of how truly amazing life is.

This little face says it all...

This sweet baby makes my heart melt.  He makes every day worth living to its fullest.  He is a constant reminder of God's love.  I still cannot believe He has blessed our lives and entrusted us with such a happy, healthy baby.  I thank God every day for letting me be Tyler's mom.  Many thanks.  

This time a year ago, we were finishing up our last appointment with the fertility doctor, 11 weeks pregnant.  I had the most wonderful experiences, watching our little peanut grow from week to week, overwhelming emotions.  I remember that last appointment in particular, Ty had hiccups in utero and we got to watch his tiny body jump.  He stretched during the ultrasound and it brought tears to my eyes.  I yearned to hold that wiggly, hiccupping baby in my arms.  And I prayed to stay pregnant long enough to get there.  I still thank God every day for helping us get through that.  What an incredible year it has been.  Many thanks.

I am unbelievably thankful that I can be a stay-at-home mom.  You ever feel like you were born to do something?  I was born to be a mom.  Seriously, I want nothing more than to take care of our baby and watch him grow and learn every single day.  I have loved every moment.  I remember staying up all night in the hospital, just so I could hold him while no one else was there.  Who needs sleep?!?  I love watching him hit developmental milestones and the process it takes him to get there.  His newest thing...he reaches out for me now.  Absolutely. In. Love.  Many thanks.

I have an extremely patient, understanding, and loving husband.  I am so thankful for him.  Not just any man can deal with a hormonal, crying, overly anxious wife on a daily basis.  He stands by me when I am feeling just a little bit crazy.  He thinks its okay when I'm crying over an episode of Dancing With the Stars and laughing hysterically the next.  He does his best to pick up my spirits when the baby blues have me down (which, by the way is SO frustrating!  I have NOTHING to be sad about in my life, yet still manage to get down from time to time...).  He lets me know that I'm doing a good job of raising our son.  That means the world to me.   I may stay at home, but I most definitely work.  He makes sure I know that my job is just as important as anyone else's, regardless if I bring home a paycheck or not.  Most importantly, he tries so hard to understand my anxiety since having Ty.  Post partum anxiety is something I have fought since the day he was born (I need to blog on that topic later...).  It is inexplainable as to how or why I get as anxious as I do when it comes to my son.  Over time, I have been able to pin point situations and circumstances that trigger or fuel my anxiety and that's made dealing with it much easier.  Bottom line...I couldn't have done it alone.  Cooter has supported me.  Many thanks.

Certainly not last on my list of thanks is our friends and family.  After 2 years of heartbreaking attempts to have a baby, our families were ecstatic with the birth of Tyler.  We are lucky enough to spend time with our families on a regular basis.  Cooter and I both have parents that have been married over 30 years.  What incredible role models they have been for us, and will be for Ty.  He is so lucky to have 4 grandparents and 3 great grandmas!  He has cousins close in age and I'm sure they will all be the best of friends!  I cannot imagine where we would be today without the love and support of our families.   Not only do we have incredible families, but quite the awesome bunch of friends as well (whom we consider family)!  Hours following Ty's arrival, our hospital room was surrounded by family.  We wouldn't have had it any other way! Many thanks.

Here's a few shots of our Thanksgiving family photo shoot...

5 months

Yet another month has come and gone...and our baby is FIVE months old!  Lots of happenings this past month!  Ty's first Halloween, my Pampered Chef come back, and most importantly, we welcome baby Addison Grace to the family!  I'll try to back track in chronological order (that seems to help my disheveled brain a bit).

Here's Ty's 5 month pics.  He no longer wants to sit back in the rocking chair, he wants to sit up!

Last month I dared to make a come back in the direct selling world.  Albeit, a small one, I was quite proud of myself for doing so.  I have just been taking small orders here and there, a catalog show as I pick them up, but I hadn't attempted to get back out in front of the crowd since Ty was born.  A couple things kept me separated from the Pampered pack...  I most definitely wasn't ready to leave my baby boy.  Who has more separation anxiety, me or Ty?!?  Either way, it was my prerogative to decide when I was ready to leave him.  My take is it took us two years to finally hold a baby in our arms and I was in no hurry to hand him off!  Nursing moms have a relatively short window of time to be away from their babies or pumps.  I do not have access to either during a cooking show, so I had to wait until his feedings spaced out enough to be gone and my supply could handle skipping a feeding.  Yes, I know full-time working women manage to breastfeed and leave their babies all day long, but their bodies grow accustomed to that.  My body believes it needs to feed my son every 3 hours.  I can't exactly leave the show to go pump in the car either, so I had to wait until I felt like I could pass up a feeding without leaking in front of everyone!  So, turns out my first show back was in a bar of all places!  A past host from LaGrange wanted to stock on free products again so her bar-owner friend allowed me to set up on the pool table during a Texans game.  It worked out wonderfully.  Cooter and I drove to LaGrange and Ty hung out with his daddy and Bobbie (Cooter's mom).  I ended up just doing a product demo as people came and left from the bar.  Not having to cook helped ease the transition back into the show routine.  I ended up with a $700 show in just a few hours time!  By the way, sales are great when people are drinking!  I have another show this Friday in LaGrange again and I'm the same nervous wreck I was a month ago...let you all know how it goes!

October 15th we had a baby shower for Nicole.  It was my first time planning a shower, and despite the fact that I left the stuff for the games at home, I think it went very well.  I had tons of help from friends and family.  Well, there we were thinking we'd see everyone in about a month or so since Nicole, 36 weeks pregnant would be due by then.  As most things with babies, the unexpected happened and Addison Grace was born on October 20 at 11:00pm!  She weighed 6lbs 1oz and was 19 1/4 inches long.  I was packing the house waiting for text messages and phone calls the night she was born.  I was so sad to have missed it, but with a sleepy baby at home it just wasn't feasible for us to be at the hospital at that time.  We were there the next morning though!  My mom has a pic that I took of her holding Addi in one arm and Ty in another...I need to get it and share, its priceless!  So, two babies in 4 months for the Edge family!

 Ty and Addi hanging out.  She is TINY...he is not near as huge as he looks!  

 Napping together at Pop and Cici's house.

Ty spent his first Halloween in a fussy mood!  All day he didn't sleep well and just wasn't a very happy baby in general.  I never made it back to the pumpkin patch to get better pics of him in his costume, which really bums me out.  I tried to take some that night, but he was so tired.  In fact, we had planned on trick-or-treating at the neighbors and coming home to pass out candy, but we never made it out of the garage before he was passed out.  So Ty spent his first Halloween asleep!

Carving pumpkins with the neighbors...

 ...but this is the face he made most of that night!

 my little lion

 how Ty spent his time trick-or-treating

No new stats this month since we haven't been to the doctor recently.  Two new milestones in the last couple of weeks though!  Ty has officially learned to sit up unassisted...and he caught his first cold.  For the last several weeks, Ty has been able to sit for a few seconds, leaning far forward trying to eat his toes.  When we were at my parent's house the first weekend of November, my dad had him sitting on the island in the kitchen and decided to let go.  Ty sat for a significant amount of time before teetering sideways!  Every day he improves!  He can sit for quite a while now, even longer if he is distracted with a toy.  The downside...he's not quite stable enough to be left sitting without someone there to catch him, but now that he can sit up, he'd rather not lay on the ground longer than a few seconds.  So I just lost some of my independent time that I used to clean dishes, etc.  Ty is also in the process of fighting his first cold.  It started with a dry cough, which was hard to tell if it was real or not. Ever since the wildfires, he has had allergies and periodically coughs.  By the second day he had a congested cough and runny nose, but never any fever.  You could tell he felt bad though.  The third day I called the pediatrician just to see if we needed to bring him in.  I'm terrified of RSV.  They said with no fever, I didn't need to bring him in.  So he's been sleeping a lot, using the humidifier, and constantly smells of Vick's vapo rub.  He's already getting better though.  No more boogers, still no fever, and his coughing is still present, but not as frequent.  It was inevitable and I know it won't be the last cold he'll catch!

First time sitting up!

Here's some of our favorite pics of Tyler this month!

Cooter went dove hunting and wanted a pic with Ty...and I LOVE it!

Tyler is 4 months old!

I cannot, for the life of me, keep up with this thing...and I so desperately want to!  Time spent in my office is so limited these days (and it shows).  What little time I am in here is spent keeping my Pampered Chef business alive and working on the thousands of pictures I have already accumulated of our sweet boy!  Speaking of...can you believe Tyler is already 4 months old?!?

I have never experienced a more joyful four months as these past few have been!  ...and FAST!  Wow, everyone says they grow up fast, but seriously wasn't I just pregnant the other day?!?  This little boy warms my heart in ways I only dreamed about.  There is nothing better than motherhood.  I'm about 10 days late with this post.  Ty had his four month appointment last week.  As we suspected, he's a growing boy!  He is now 14lbs 6oz (28th percentile), 24 1/2 inches long (23rd percentile, and his head is 16 1/2 (61st percentile).  I was a little concerned that his weight might not be up to par.  At his 2 month appointment, he was in the 48th percentile.  He is still exclusively breastfed (which I am damn proud of, by the way!) and I halfway expected the doctor to tell me I needed to supplement or start giving him cereal, but she said just the opposite!  Ty is still right in the middle of his growth curve, which is all that matters.  The percentiles compare him to all other 4 month old babies.  So, he's just a little peanut!  

Ty is a busy little man these days!  He loves to be on the floor.  He first rolled from tummy to back at 7wks, but went on rolling strike for a good 5wks after that.  Maybe it was an accident?!?  At 12wks, he mastered the back to tummy roll, which is supposed to be harder to do, but that's how he rolls (get it?!?...lol).  He has gotten really fast a rolling over now, but he gets frustrated very quickly on his tummy and prefers to be flipped back over as soon as possible.  He has wonderful head control, which he's had since very early on.  While on his tummy he can pick up his head and support his shoulders and upper back.  His balance is getting better every day too.  I think sitting independently is not too far away!  Ty grasps toys now, mostly his rings and an occasional stuffed animal.  He has a teether toy that honestly looks more like one of Laila's toys, it even squeaks like her toys, but he loves it!  Pretty much everything goes straight in the mouth now...hands, toys, blankets, etc.  He loves blankets!  He likes to be covered up (which is a no-no at his age), and has several little blankets that he hugs while he sleeps. In fact, he likes them on his face.  That really does a number on my ability to let him sleep on his own...since every time I check on him, he has a blanket over his head!  Ty also loves to hear his own voice.  He can make so many different sounds now.  He even has the most adorable facial expressions to go with his "conversations."  Recently he likes to see how loud he can make his voice.  

Our baby boy is growing and changing every day.  As much as I want to keep him little, its so neat to watch them achieve each milestone.  Especially to think that he's learned to do this all in a few months time!

Here's a few recent pics of little man...

Customer with Child Parking

You will soon learn that my blog topics will be as random as the thoughts scattered about in my head. I even have notes on my phone with future blog topics or things I plan to discuss. Seeing as I'm still suffering from the forgetful baby brain (that I was oh so hoping would be better by now), I must write everything down the moment it crosses my mind for fear that it disappear into the black hole inside my head! So at our HEB, there are several designated parking spots labeled "customer with child parking." Now, pre-baby (and even when I was pregnant) I swore I wouldn't need to use those parking spots. There was no reason I couldn't walk from the back of the parking lot as I always had before, with baby in tow. My mind soon changed after I learned how much work it is to get a baby in and out of the car, and safely in and out of the store (especially when he's asleep and I am determined to keep him that way). First of all, the bigger he got, the heavier he got in his carseat. I didn't brave the grocery store for a good six weeks, but even then I was still very sore. Finding a parking spot close to the door then began to excite me. Lately I've been using the Baby Bjorn sling and wearing him out and about, as being strapped down in a carseat doesn't suit my little nosy rosie boy (excuse the rosie connotation for lack of a more masculine name). Whichever mode of transport I choose, there is still the sunny walk from the car to the store that partially blinds my poor baby. So I justified another reason to utilize the convenient parking option. That all being said, I realized today that some people have no patience or consideration for those with babies and/or small children. You can expect, as a parent with child(ren) at the store, that things just take longer than the average Joe. I get all riled up when someone gets impatient with me while I'm trying to get Ty in or out of his carseat. Since he no longer likes to be stuck in his seat for the whole shopping trip, I have to buckle him back in every time as well. As luck would have it, the person parked next to me will show up as I'm in the middle of wrestling his carseat, so naturally I feel compelled to hurry. I am not purposely trying to waste their time. What gets under my skin is when the other car starts backing out or another attempts to pull in while I'm clearly trying to get my baby in or out of the car. I've had to quickly climb in the backseat before, to avoid having my door hit. Its amazing how inconsiderate the world can be at times. I've been honked at for being in the way (yes, honked at because my passenger door was open and I was removing my baby from the car). Then yesterday, as I'm loading groceries into the car (and wearing Ty in the sling), the woman next to me arrives and proceeds to load her groceries through the passenger side of her car. So Ty and I wait for her to finish because I need to put him in the same side. As soon as she pulls out I start loading him in. I'm in a hurry because, after all, I am in the "Customer with Child Parking" which means the open spot next to me is a prime spot for any other driver. As I expected, someone was already waiting on her spot and I hadn't even completely unstrapped the sling. The next car pulls halfway in and revs up their engine as if to speed me up?!? It is the middle of the day on a Monday so there are hundreds of other spots, but I get annoyed and easily anxious these days. So I pull the carseat out, and carry a dangling Ty around to the other side with the sling still attached to my body so these impatient people can get such a great parking spot with not so much as a thank you wave or nod in my direction. I load Ty and go to the drivers side to get in and find that the car next to me is still running and they are eating hamburgers. Really?!? Rush me and my baby because you need a great parking spot to eat your lunch?!? Oh and I couldn't even hardly open my door because in their mad dash for prime parking, they didn't have time to park between the lines! So I slither in and drive out. Rant over. Just wish it was easier to find a little patience and hospitality from total strangers. Sheesh!

the lost months...

Blogger MIA... Finding personal computer time with an infant demanding full-time care is far harder than I expected. He's just going to sleep all the time, right?!? Wrong! Or when he does, as do you! Hmmm...to blog or to sleep?!? Oh being a naive first time mom! I already feel so much more "mommy wise" since my initiaton 15 weeks ago, yet I've only just begun. I have dearly missed writing. I've said it before, but writing is my time in the zone...it's so refreshing to take thoughts and feelings out of your head and put them to paper (yeah, yeah it's 2011...put my thoughts on the computer, via blogging!). I seriously thought I'd come home from the hospital with this sleepy little baby, and spend hours staring at him while I blogged my every move to family and friends. I completely over estimated, not only the amount of time caring for a newborn takes, and most importantly the toll it took on my body! I didnt realize what nursing every 2-3hrs would do to me, or what it felt like to never get more than three consecutive hours of sleep at a time. I also had no idea what recovery would truly feel like. I pushed my limits all the time, and constantly had to be reminded by Cooter and my doctor that I had major abdominal surgery. I remember choosing to stay awake all night at the hospital, just so I could hold my baby and study his every feature, while Cooter slept, visitors halted, nurse visits slowed down, and time stood still. If I'd only understood the value of sleep! Or somehow bottled up that natural high I was on. Bottom line...I have missed blogging and vow to be better at keeping in touch! I need it for my own sanity... That being said..my family news updates are going to take a bit of a turn. Instead of my traditional journal entry of a significant event, with pictures and witty commentary, it's going to be more of a set of tales in the day in the life of me...mommy memoirs if you will. It takes a lot of time to upload the pics I want, and of course imbed them in the perfect places amongst my babble. Plus I'd say most of my readers are also on facebook, where my pictures are shared with the world (or world of people I deemed good enough to be my friend lol). Blame it on the fact that I chose to buy a desktop instead of a laptop...requires dedicated sit-down office time to blog. That's how the "lost months" were created. I wanted my first post-partum blog to be Tyler's birth story (nothing gross or inappropriately detailed, but I did plan to tug the heartstrings a bit). Way too time consuming. It will happen eventually, but for now daily (or maybe somewhat daily) me-isms will have to do! What little office time I do manage, during Ty's incredibly short catnaps (whole other blog topic in itself) or while he sits happily in his bouncy chair, barely leaves me enough time to take care of my Pampered Chef business (which I am so blessed to have kept afloat during this time) and constant downloading of the hundreds of pictures already in existence of our baby. Much of my time online is spent on my iPhone or iPad (thank you, Apple!) and most of it is done while I am nursing! So be forewarned, typos may run amuck as I am most likely typing one handed! Also, thanks to the phone, I no longer have the ability to separate my thoughts with proper paragraphs...drives me crazy! Hope you enjoy the return of the blog!

birth announcement

Birth announcements have been ordered and will soon be in the mail!  Check it out!

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

last pregnancy post

Well...its finally time!  Tomorrow morning our lives will forever change with the birth of our son, Tyler.  We have waited 2 long years for this day to arrive.  Its almost 2 years to the day that I found out that I was pregnant with our first angel back in 2009.  Who knew the journey God would send us on from that point?!?  We are such stronger, faithful people because of it.  I break down into tears all the time thanking God over and over for each day this baby has grown and thrived.  I cannot fathom the flood of feelings and gratitude I will feel tomorrow.  Hearing his cry for the first time, looking into his eyes, feeling his tiny fingers wrap around mine...

A flawless pregnancy comes to an end with our scheduled c-section tomorrow morning at 7:30am.  Baby Ty remains breech following 3 unsuccessful attempts to turn him otherwise.  His position was confirmed at my appointment on Tuesday, and since no changes had been made, we were given the go ahead to schedule my pre-op and make plans for Friday.  Its so surreal knowing that your baby is coming that day.  Although I've never been induced, even though you know what day you will go to the hospital, there's no guarantee you will have your baby that day.  Its so weird knowing that by the time most of our friends and family get to work, we'll be holding a baby in our arms.  I get more anxious about it everyday, but it still hasn't fully sunk in.  It probably won't until I'm walking myself through those hospital doors.

38 week belly

 hadn't given everyone a front shot in a while...so here's one last time

Last weekly belly shot taken at 38 weeks.  I won't get to use my 40wk sticker...and I will be 1 day shy of 39 weeks at delivery.  I will take one right before we leave tomorrow to document the belly one last time.  As uncomfortable as it can be now, I sure am going to miss it.  As much as I want him out, I want to keep him in.  Just a short few months were all mine...feeling him wiggle and move about as no one else in the world can.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my pregnancy.  I stated months ago that I didn't  LOVE being pregnant like some women, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

My anxiety got the best of my blood pressure this week.  The past two weeks it was slightly elevated compared to my norm around 128/80.  This time I was all over the place...139/88 and 148/88.  So I had to lay down while I waited for the doctor.  She checked again and I was 136/84...better, but still pretty high for me, so I had to lay back down on my left side and rest.  That did the trick...within 30 minutes it was back down to 114/80, so I got to go home!  Its really hard not to feel anxious when you are working with a deadline!  I was told to lay down on my side as much as possible to keep my blood pressure down.  So I spent the afternoon Tuesday running errands...LOL.  I want to clean the house, do laundry, wash sheets, etc. at the last minute today so everything is clean and ready to go.  I KNOW I will not feel like doing anything but hold my baby boy when I get home.

Our house has experienced a baby explosion...and I can only imagine it will get worse from here on out! Ty's room is all done...officially done this time.  After each shower I would spend days getting everything put exactly where I wanted it, exactly where I believed it would function the greatest.  Nesting at its best!  So here's the final pics of his room and other places baby necessities have settled amongst our house.

glider, crib and bookshelf

 chest

 window and toy basket I made 

 changing table/dresser

 laundry basket

 bookshelf

 master bedroom...Johnson family bassinet (Cooter's mom's family) and pack-n-play with changing table stocked and ready to go!

 living room now houses the swing and activity gym...

 ...and bouncy seat!

 another bassinet in the living room

 stroller stuck in the hallway until it makes it to the car, and the jumperoo temporarily in the dining room until he is big enough to play in it!

Dare I say...I think we're ready!  Next post will have pics of our sweet baby Ty!  Patience though...I will blog as soon as I can once we're home again.  And I'm sure I will have to sort through a few thousand pics before I can decide what to post!  SO excited!