Our first family trip to Amarillo

We headed to Amarillo last Wednesday to visit the Morgans! It was Taylor's first time out of Houston, and as she was just over 6 weeks, we opted for the 9 hour drive over flying. It was quite a long road trip, but she did great. Whenever she got hungry I was able to just climb into the back and feed. We stopped 3 times to change her and to feed us... So it was much less painful than I imagined! Taylor got to see her Mimi & Boss Pa again and all of her cousins. I could def tell she was out of her environment, as she was fussier than she ever has been... but I think she just got too excited seeing everyone! :) Her cousins were so sweet loving on her and wanting to hold her and her Mimi gave her lots of cuddles. She def got lots of love and spoiling! It was a great trip, but sadly we all came home to colds/ sinus stuff. I think our bodies just can't handle the weather change between the two cities! Taylor's temp got to 100.2, but seems to be going down now, so pray that it's going away! Anyways, it was a wonderful little getaway to visit with family and we are blessed to have such a loving Amarillo crew!

Here are some pics from our visit!

Rainy Day Cuddle Bug

I have to thank God for rainy days... It gives even more of excuse for me to cuddle with our little girl! My favorite part of the day. But after... its gym time! I am finally cleared to get my workout back on. Time to work on body after baby!

Bassinet vs. Crib

Ladies... I need advice! For those of you that had your baby in a bassinet first... When did you move them to their cribs? We are going to be at 6 weeks on Friday and my husband is ready to have me back in our bedroom, vs. me sleeping in guest room with Miss T so we don't wake daddy up all night. I know it needs to happen, but it is mom that is panicking, not Taylor! The talk about SIDS online isn't helping freak me out less either! Any suggestions?

Watching Miss Taylor grow...

I am amazed that today Miss T is 5 weeks old. But, at the same time I almost can't imagine her not being in our lives. I have loved every second of getting to know our little girl and watching her grow. Here are some personality traits and changes that we have seen and are making her the little character that she is...

- she loves to pucker her lips after she is done feeding and make a smacking noise like "mmm... That was good!"
- makes the cutest little smiles and half smiles more and more every day
- loves to do what we call her "huggie pose" where she stretches out her arms like she wants to give you a BIG hug
- at 4 weeks really started keeping her eyes wide open and following you or looking around at objects in the room. Likes to look out sunroof in moms car too.
- staying up more and more every day... Sometimes even at night! Ha!
- at 4 wks started actually sleeping almost 1, 5 hour shift/ night instead of 2-3 hours
- Her cheeks and thighs are finally starting to fill out! C'mon rolls! We think she is getting close to 7 lbs ( was 6lb 3 oz at dr appt 2 wks ago)
- loves the rainforest picture/ noise maker in crib (not that I let her sleep in crib yet at night-- I'm still too panicked!)
- favorite place to sleep is on our chests or in my arms
- once in her car seat, this child is out for 3 hours until she's hungry! Makes it easy for us to go out to dinner!
- noisy sleeper unless she is sleeping in your arms
- hates having her diaper changed... Too cold!
- is confused by, but loves her baths!
-is becoming quite the eater- every 2 hours if awake or 3 hours if napping. Still just breast feeding, and likes to do what we call "shark bite"when she gets really hungry to latch ... I'll let you you imagine details! :)
- loves to sit up propped on your legs and just look at you and kick her legs and stretch out her arms as tall as possible. I love her neck stretch too, it gives great view of her precious chin.

So in love. Can't wait to see what she will show us tomorrow!

Gettin' in the swing of things...

It has almost been 3 weeks since Miss Taylor blessed our little family, and what a joy it has been. I am not going to lie, I really had no idea what to expect having my first baby. I have never really been a "baby" person so I was honestly somewhat scared as to what I would think of motherhood. But, to all my fellow girlfriends that are or were in my shoes...let me just tell you that it is all that they say it is and MORE. I am not going to lie, there are definitly parts that are difficult (lack of sleep) and things that take some adjusting (your boobs leaking) :)...but it is amazing! It is really one of the toughest but amazing things I have ever done.

We are starting to get in the swing of things a little more. My mom was nice enough to stay with us for the first two weeks, as I wasn't really able to get around very much after the c- section...especially with our 3 story home. She was wonderful and did everything from cooking, cleaning and helping with Baby Taylor. I do think she spoiled Kevin though, as he ate better than he ever has being married to me! We had a lot of guests come and visit and after the first 4 days, my mom and I made an effort to take at least 1 outing a day just to get out of the house with Taylor. It really felt like the walls were going to close in on me if not. My mom left last Sunday, and it has just been Kevin and I and our little nugget. THANKS A MILLION MOM!

It is a lot easier for me to get out more and daily I am getting more and more comfortable taking Taylor out on my own. It was difficult to load and unload her carseat initially with the strain on my stomach. I am still chomping at the bit to be able and get back in to some sort of workout routine, but that will have to wait for another 3 weeks. I really look forward to the day when I can take Miss T to Memorial Park for our daily walks.

Anyways, last week Cristin came over to take Taylor's newborn pics and she really got some great shots. Not only was this her very FIRST newborn shoot, but Taylor was not sleepy for the first time in her life during the time she came...so she def gave Cristin a run for her money! We love the pics Cristin- thanks again!

Just settling in to this mommyhood thing...it is sure a wild ride, but we are enjoying every moment of it...because I do truly believe what everyone says...it passes in a blink of an eye. (Tear. I already hate the thought of her growning up! )

Melissa

Taylor's Birth Story

We had a pretty big day last Thursday on through the weekend. I had my regular 37 week check up with my doctor and she said everything was looking good, I was even more effaced and my bag of water was "bulging"... Which I guess meant was closer to my water breaking and labor coming. She did an ultrasound and everything looked great until she started listening to her heartbeat, as it was only registering at about 71 and the norm is 120-170. After my doctor checking with another Doppler machine and getting the same results. I was rushed to the labor & delivery floor to get hooked up to monitors to measure her heartbeat again, but thankfully it was totally normal. They continued to monitor us for another 4-5 hrs with everything being totally normal. They took us to do another ultrasound just to make sure everything was ok, and sure enough as soon as they hooked me back up her heartbeat was reading in the 70's, and then shot back up to normal range. As a precaution, my obgyn kept us overnight for observation. I finally fell into a half sleep and around 12:30am, 4 nurses rushed in, flipped me on all fours, have me a shot to stop my minor Braxton Hicks contractions and put me on oxygen. Turns out, I had had a 3 minute long, minor, Braxton hick contraction that put her into distress and had dropped her heartbeat to the 70's again. They were able to stabilize her HB again but we found out that my obgyn would be back at 7am where she would either induce my labor or or perform a c-section to get her out. There was another episode of dropped HB a few hours later and my doctor came up at 5:30am to get the process started. After discussing with our doctor, we were urged to do a c-section due to the fact if my minor Braxton Contractions were causing distress, then it would be inevitable that active labor contractions would just turn cause more HB drops and they would then have to do an emergency c- section. We opted for the c-section and a minute later we were signing releases and I was being wheeled into the operating room. The c- Section went as planned and on Jan 6th at 6:37am, 5 lbs 11oz, 21 in long... Taylor Kay Morgan joined us! It was so surreal and happened so fast, but we are so blessed she was totally fine. Turns out issues were related to her having a very small and "puny" umbilical cord. The next few days in the hospital were a daze, but the last week and a half have been amazing. We are so in love!!! I could never imagine the way I would feel and my world would shift. Thank you God!

More blogs with pics to catch up on soon!

36 weeks...

I hit the 36 week mark last Thursday...so we are less than a month from our due date. At doctors appt last week I was 40% effaced and 1 cm dialated. Her best guess was somewhere in the 3-5 week window...but she also said you never know. So...it is just the waiting game now!

We stayed in for New Years Eve and finished some last projects for the house, the nursery is finished and our bags are packed! All we need is baby girl!
So, the nursery is finally finished for the most part. I have some great fabric that I want to add to, but we are at a good stop point if she comes. I am sure it will always be a work in progress :) . If you can't tell, I am a little obsessed with turquoise/ aqua colors. I love the beachy/ relaxing feel which is what I was going for...but felt like i had to at least add touches of pink for our little girl. I also wanted to stick with gender neutral furniture so that when baby # 2 comes around we wouldn't have to repaint or rebuy those items. This is what we ended up with...thanks to a lot of great gifts from showers, some craft projects and numerous Marshall's HomeGoods trips & TJ Maxx. I am only slightly obsessed with those stores....

the vase wall & built in closets. Bassinett to move to our bedroom when she arrives...

one of my white & pink smocked baby dresses

repainted Pottery Barn Shelves

Crib & Dresser: Young America Brand
Glider: Best Chair Brand in Burlap
Bedding: New Arrivals Brand, "Sprout"
Curtains & Rod: Target
Lamp & Driftwood Side Table: Marshall's HomeGoods
Seagrass Rug: West Elm
Mirror (orginally brown & painted pink): Marshalls Home Goods
Metal Large Tin Picture Frame: Not So Perfect Tins @ Nutcracker Market, in Tiffany Blue (I still need to replace pic, oops)
You are My Sunshine Wooden Plaque Pic: Nutcracker Market find
Bird/ Owl Pics above Crib: Homemade project from Pinterest
Stuffed Owls: Variety from different places-  Marshall's, gifts from showers & Pier 1.
Turquoise Pom Pom Throw: Comforts of Home Store Rockport, Tx (thank you Titi!)


I hope everyone had a fabulous New Years Eve and has a joyful 2012!

Love,
Melissa