Hayden's 1st Birthday Party!!

First of all, let me say - this party was months in the making! I literally poured everything I had into making this a special day for Hayden. It turned out exactly how I had imagined. I was so happy it was a success and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. My bestie Samantha made this precious birthday banner for him!

My mom was in charge of the food and she didn't disappoint! She ordered some platters from Publix and she made a hot spinach dip (so good it's almost sinful) that was a favorite. I made his smash cake and the pennant banner that is on top.

I made all of these decorations myself. So fun to do! The garland is made out of cupcake liners and hung by blue polka dot ribbon. I made tissue poms that we hung in the entry way. I also printed out a lot of pictures from his first year and hung them up. This was the most challenging! I didn't want to put a lot of holes into the wall, so I used double sided tape. It worked ok, but I had to tack up a few places. I got teeny tiny clothes pins at AC Moore and used those to attach the pictures to the ribbon.

I covered a wooden "H" with ribbon just using double sided tape (a God send.) It was a last minute I just need to use up this ribbon type of thing. It turned out pretty cute. I decorated his high chair using scraps of fabric and ribbon (and also double sided tape.)

I bought these chocolate mustaches as favors from Summerville Sweets. They were so cute!

When Hayden realized all the attention was solely on him, he was thrilled.

Loving his cake...

The aftermath.

I had so much fun putting his party together! Albeit, a little stressful trying to get it all done. I just love the look and feel of a homemade birthday party. It was the perfect first birthday party for my bug.

And a big, BIG thank you to Samantha for taking these pictures! So glad you captured all these sweet moments because there is no way I would have been able to!

My baby is ONE!

Holy canolli....my little tiny precious bundle of joy is a YEAR OLD. How did that happen?! Now, I'll be honest with ya'll.....when I was averaging 4 hours of sleep per 24 hour period - I fantasized about what life would be like when he was finally old enough to sleep through the night. Oh, I just couldn't wait. I could just picture it in my mind and that's what kept me hanging on. I'd stop myself sometimes and think Don't wish this away, you'll want these newborn days back (just like being a little kid, high school, ya know...every situation in life you wish you would have slowed down and appreciated more.) And I was right. Don't get me wrong, I love this age now. He is so fun and entertaining with his sweet little personality. But there are moments I wish I could just sit back and rock his itty bitty newborn self. I mean is there anything sweeter than a fresh from the heavens newborn baby?

Hayden, you have such a sweet spirit. You are -and have always been- so calm and peaceful. Mommy and Daddy (and everyone else!) love that about you. You are such a good boy. We can take you anywhere at any time with no problems. I still try to stick to your schedule, though. You take two naps a day and sleep from 8am-8pm in your crib. You are great at putting yourself to sleep, too. You aren't much of a crier unless something is really wrong. You are a social butterfly. You will go and try to chit chat with anyone! You are a picky eater like your Daddy. I know I have a challenge ahead of me in that department. You weigh 22 lbs and are taking steps, but not full-blown walking just yet. I can't remember life before you, sweet baby. We waited and prayed and waited and prayed some more for God to bless us with a little baby. You were so worth the wait.

He's (been) here!!!

Boy, to say I have been slacking on keeping this blog up-to-date would be an understatement. My only excuse is that I have been busy being a mommy. My best friend Samantha has inspired me to update this thing and try my very best to keep up with it. On that note, we have a lot to catch up on.

Hayden is NINE months old!! 9. Can you believe it? If I think about it for too long I will cry because I can't freeze time and it is flying by so quickly. Maybe we should start from the beginning...

After walking all over Charleston County, I finally started having some real contractions on my due date..January 16. If you saw a gigantic pregnant lady waddling around and occassionally bending over to catch her breath...that was me. Drew and I were determined to walk that baby right on out of me and we essentially did. Thank goodness Drew's parents decided to come into town the night before. I went to the hospital about 7 or so that night in labor.

I don't even know where to begin with my labor story. It was scary and painful. Those are my two choice words. Tip: when the doctor asks you if you want an epidurl or something to just take the edge off...take the epidural! I was not so smart. So when I woke up as the regular pain meds wore off, I was 7 cm with no pain meds on board and the pitocin cranked up. And when they told me I would have to wait for an epidural, it was like a scene from a horror movie.

As I was getting ready to start pushing, Hayden's heartrate started to drop. I had to have an emergency c section...my worst fear was a c section. But for him, I would have done anything they told me to and in a heartbeat.

Hayden Noah was born on January 17 at 3:34 am. They are not lying when they say a baby changes everthing. He has brought so much happiness and love and joy and everything good to our lives. Love for him just spills out of my heart and sometimes it is overwhelming how much I love this little person. He is the truest love of my life.

The first month was an interesting one. I thought I would never sleep again. I actually said to Drew in between sobs, "We're never gonna sleep again." But, he was sleeping through the night by the time he was 6 weeks and I started to feel human again.

We have been blessed by the happiest baby ever. He is so content and calm. I couldn't have asked for an better baby. He rarely cries and if he does, he always has a good reason. He likes a calm and quiet atomosphere and if that gets disturbed, he gets upset. He fits perfectly into our family and I don't even remember life before him.

These days he is crawling at lightning speed. He keeps me on my toes! He loves to smile and he giggles a lot, especially if he's tired. He absolutely adores my mom's dog and is always chasing after him. He has two teeth that he (and his mom and dad) has worked very hard for :) He gives kisses all the time, points at things and has learned to knock with his knucles instead of slapping at the window of door. He is such a loved child and I am so happy that he has so many people in our families that care about him. He is growing up around cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles that take an invested interest in him and that means so much to me.

I know I am missing some important milestones and stories, but I will save that for another post. I keep thinking they will cut me off for too many characters any second!

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Hello December!!!

Am I the only one that cannot believe it's already December?! I completely let November get away from me. Sorry for the lack of a single post! I have stayed busy with baby showers, Halloween, and Thanksgiving - all of which were so wonderful. My baby showers were both so great! We are so thankful for the wonderful family and friends that we have and made them both special. I ate way too much candy on Halloween...and Drew and I spent our first Thanksgiving together! Usually, he's working. Somehow we managed to get lucky this year! :) We had a lot of family over and it was great. December is my absolute favorite month of all. The weather and the holidays always make me beyond happy. Another thing that I cannot believe...that I am just about 34 weeks! Totally unbelievable. 6 weeks (tops!) until we meet our little guy. I, however, wouldn't complain if he decided to show up just a week or two early (as long as he's healthy, of course!)

People were not kidding me when they said the third trimester bring aches and pains. In fact, I don't think they exaggerated it enough to me. Back pain, rib pain, hip pain...it's no joke. Most nights I do sleep pretty well, though. I am very lucky. I'll take the occasional night of restlessness because I know lots of women that don't get any sleep at all during their third trimester.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. Hopefully she will at least be able to tell me if he's head down or what. I promise to do a better job updating this through the holidays and until he gets here. The next few weeks should be the most interesting!

Hayden at 28 weeks

We are so in love with him! Although, he did not make this easy on any of us. He was laying on my bladder with his feet in my ribs and his face pressed against my uterine wall. Always on my left side. I told the lady that his feet are always in my left ribs and he stays in my left side. Nothing we could do could make him change positions or move. He was just as happy as could be :)

This is his arm and his belly.

He's smiling here.

His arm, hand and knee

His left eye is open here! Can you see it?

I think he has my feet ha ha

T minus 13 weeks!

27 Weeks - How your baby's growing (from babycenter.com):

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

(Let me tell everyone...this boy can pack a punch! I've been watching him kick and punch my belly for weeks now. And I can't decide if he's being shy or a trickster - he will kick endlessly and as soon as I put Drew's hand on my belly to feel he will stop. I personally think he is playing with his Daddy :) Drew and I have been reading to him almost every night, hoping these things will comfort him once he's here.)

It has been a while since I've updated, so I figured I would take a minute during the last week of my second trimester (hallelujah!) Granted, I can already feel that third trimester. I've been so exhausted. And stressed. Hayden and I have had an interesting week. To explain all of this, I'll have to backtrack a little. At my past few doctor's appointments my blood pressure has been up. My doctor's were keeping a close eye on it. Well, this week the combination of exhausted, tension, and everything else caught up with me. I had a nagging tension headache and was seeing bright spots all day on Thursday. My doctor had told me to call if I ever experienced that. So, I did and they brought me in on Friday to check on my blood pressure. We had a long, long doctor's appointment yesterday. They checked my blood pressure, took blood to check for liver function, did a stress test on the baby (...which I loved hearing his heartbeat for twenty minutes straight :)) and told me I have to collect urine samples for 24 hours to check for preeclampsia. The baby's stress test was great, which was my main concern. The blood work will come back this coming week, but in the meantime he told me to stop working and keep my feet up as much as possible. As with any pregnancy, the less stress the better. Thankfully, I have an amazing and hardworking husband that will work endlessly so that I don't have to and can focus on taking care of Hayden. I am so blessed and lucky to have him and our families - who are also a great support system. So, I am doing exactly what he's telling me to (which is probably why I have time to update this blog!) But the baby is great, so I am great.

My doctor also finally convinced me (after two appointments..) to get my flu shot. The thought of it scared me beyond belief. I am a natural worrier, though. I went to Walgreens which was the only drug store here that offered a preservative free flu shot. In fact, they won't give pregnant women anything but a presevative free flu shot. The different between a regular flu shot and a preservative free flu shot is the thimerosal aka mercury. I was not comfortable with the regular flu shot which has 25 micrograms of thirmerosal. The preservative free flu shot has less than 1 microgram of thimerosal. Granted, I wasn't aware of any of this until I started to do some research online. The internet is such a bittersweet thing for me. While it can be so informative, it can also scare the living daylights out of me. There is just that much information out there. But, I definitely don't want to come down with the flu while I'm pregnant and I definitely want to protect Hayden since he will be born right in the middle of flu season. It seemed like the best choice for us, so my mom and I both got the shot at the same time. I'm very happy that I did because now I can stop worrying so much about it.

Besides my mood swings (poor, poor Drew!), that's about all that's been going on. We have a 3D ultrasound coming up on October 26. I can't wait to see his sweet face! We have also officially (really..it's been engraved on a Christmas ornament) decided on the name Hayden Noah. I am getting my honey-do and mom-please-help-me-do lists ready for things that need to be done before he gets here. I have 4 pages so far. But, what mother doesn't want everything to be perfect for their child? :)

Baby Hayden at 20 weeks