2011 in Review

2011 was a very big year for our little family! As I sit here and really look back at what was going on each month, I'm amazed at how fast it went by. We started the year as two newlyweds and ended the year as parents to a precious baby boy (who is almost three months old!!)

*The quality of the pictures are all horrible but I am saving off of Facebook**

January: We celebrated the New Year at the beach with my family. Right when we got home we found out that Baby Chapman was a girl!



February: I threw Megan and Ashlea a joint baby shower for Levi and Charlotte. The next day was our first Valentine's as a married couple. On the 26th, Sam turned 24 and I gave him the best present.. a positive pregnancy test! SURPRISE!




March: We were able to go to the beach for a week with my family during spring break. Once we returned we had a doctor's appointment and were able to see our precious baby and hear his little heartbeat. We announced our pregnancy to the world.. well, facebook at least.



April: I turned 23 at the beginning on the month. We had another sonogram to see our sweet baby. We celebrated Easter with our families, which included baby's very first Easter basket.




May: May was a very big month for our family! On the 11th, we welcome Levi Dan into the world! He was a bundle full of perfection. Exactly a week later, Charlotte Elizabeth joined the family. Another sweet, perfect baby! Later that month, we celebrated Dan's birthday and Matthew's high school graduation. Like I said, it was a very busy month!



June: On June 15th, we found out that our baby was a baby BOY! We were so excited and immediately started planning all things boy. We went to the beach later that month and came home with bags full of blue clothes!


July: We celebrated the fourth of the July as a family out at my grandmother's. The babies played in the pool (for a short while) which the rest of us ate. Sam went on a "guy's trip" with his dad and brothers and I went back to the beach with my family.


August: In August we had our infamous 4D sonogram. I'm pretty sure it was the worst one in the history of 4D sonograms. Andrew was incredibly low so they were only able to get one picture the whole time. Well, and one of his little foot. Instead of leaving with a CD full of pictures, we left with an appointment for the specialist due to unknown (at the time) concerns. At the end of the month I had my amazing baby shower thrown by Ashlea and Megan. They did a great job and we were very blessed with everything we received. We definitely felt like we would be able to take care of Andrew once he arrived!





September: Labor Day weekend we traveled to Dallas for Sam's college friend, Judd's wedding. The month flew by with lots of doctor appointments getting ready for Andrew's arrival. We also celebrated Ashlea and Dad's birthday and Charlotte's baby dedication.


October: Needless to say, October was probably the biggest month for our little family. We welcome Andrew Addison into the world! Thank God for a perfect, healthy, little boy!! We also celebrated Robert's, Jacob's and Matthew's birthday. We will be sick of birthday cake by the end of October!



November: Andrew had his first trip out to 'the land' to celebrate Mom's birthday. We also found out we would be having another niece/nephew next summer! Andrew also went to the beach for his very first time! We celebrated Thanksgiving with both of our families. I think it is safe to say we felt extremely thankful this year.




December: December was a busy month full of lots of Christmas happenings. Andrew also met his great, great grandparents for the very first time. Christmas was so special this year getting to celebrate Andrew's first. I can only imagine how much fun each year will get with him! I know it's petty, but I'm thankful to have the pressure of dressing Andrew in Christmas clothes every day off of me.. it was just too much!





All in all, it was a wonderful year! Never in a million years would I have thought this is where we would be but I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm so thankful for everything we have been given and I so look forward to what is in store!

Christmas 2011

I can't believe Christmas is over!! This is why I start celebrating in August, it just goes by way too fast!

Our Christmas weekend started off early when Sam had Thursday and Friday off. We took advantage of the time and knocked out lots of errands on Thursday, including last minute gifts and a new savings account for Andrew.

Friday my family headed to mendenhall to visit my great grandparents. This was Andrews very first time to meet his great great grandparents! Andrew is the youngest of their 4 great great grandchildren. #5 will be here next summer. How special!

I think I probably spent the majority of Christmas eve baking. I baked our Santa cookies, peanut butter cookies for G (Sam's grandmother) and fudge. On Christmas eve we always go to st Andrews with Sam's family and then over to his aunts for dinner.

Christmas morning, our little family (as in me and Sam) opened our presents from each other. We showed Andrew his Santa presents and got his picture taken with them. I know he had no idea what was going on but it was so fun to celebrate his first Christmas as a family of 3. I know it will probably be the last 'calm' Christmas morning! For Christmas lunch we headed to Sam's moms for lunch and then dinner at my parents house. We were worn out by the end of the day but so thankful for family to spend the day with. I know Andrew was worn out because he only woke up once and slept until 8 in the morning!!
Cookies for Santa

Checking on Santa's cookies

Andrew with his Santa presents! He was so excited!

Lunch at Sam's moms

Mobile babies make picture taking even harder

Christmas Ella

Now Christmas is over and decorations are down. It's probably my least favorite day of the year but I'm so looking forward to the coming up year. I can't wait to celebrate each holiday as Andrews first. He is started to be so much fun and I know we will have a blast!

Randoms

This is what I get for blogging late at night (because it is definitely my bedtime). My mind is all over the place, thinking about anything and everything. I could try and make sense and do a post but I think this way will work better.. For me at least!

I have an obsession with having matching socks for Andrew's outfits. I completely understand the thinking behind these clothing companies because I buy the outfit and then I have to spend the extra $6 for socks. I just can't help it. Gymboree may be the death of me.

I've only cooked dinner twice since Andrew has been born. Maybe after Christmas I'll get better.

It's 3 days before Christmas and I still have a couple gifts to buy, and several to wrap.

I've been meaning to start back my wii fit for over a week. I had really good intentions and then the batteries in the board needed to be replaced. I finally did that last night and now the remote needs new batteries.. Which of course I don't have.

Andrew has started smiling this week and I could eat him up. They are such fun, happy smiles and I love seeing his personality start coming out in him!

So, those are the thoughts currently running through my head. Tomorrow is last minute Christmas shopping, maybe some baking, hopefully some wrapping. Friday, I'm taking Andrew to Mendenhall to meet his great, great grandparents for the very first time. It will definitely be a special day! And then it's Christmas!

"And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger" Luke 2:12

Christmas Week

It's the week before Andrew's first Christmas and we have already been super busy!

I've been busy getting presents wrapped with a special little helper.

We also took some time this week and went on our first walk in the "big boy" stroller. It was a warmer day so I took advantage of it. I think we made it all of 5 minutes before Andrew started crying and then I had to carry him, Ella's leash and push the stroller back. It was lot's of fun.

This past weekend we also celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family. I love having my tiny baby but I can't wait to see how much fun next Christmas will be with all of the babies being able to play together. As you can tell, Andrew did lots of sleeping this round of Christmas celebration.

It's Monday and we took the day to relax before another busy week. I've got to finish Christmas shopping (just a few gifts left!) and then get the rest wrapped. I also plan on watching lots of Christmas movies with my sweet boy. Sam is off Thursday and Friday so I plan on getting my Christmas baking done then.

I want this week to go nice and slow so I can enjoy Andrew's very first Christmas!

2 months!!

Andrew, you are two months old today!

You haven't been officially weighed since your 7 week appointment (8 lbs even) but I'm pretty sure you is probably 9 lbs now, or at least in that range.

We have run out of newborn diapers in our house so instead of buying more, I tried the 1's we have. They fit, the straps just overlap majorly. You can still fit into newborn size fine.

Speaking of size, you have outgrown several of your newborn clothes. You now wear mostly 0-3 months with the exception of a few newborn outfits that fit.

You eat about 4 oz every 3 hours during the day. At night you usually wake up twice (you go to bed around 7 or 8), 1 am and then 5 am. The past two nights you have slept from 7-2 so my fingers are crossed you are starting to stretch out your night hours. I definitely won't complain though!

You absolutely love being talked to, and staring at whoever is talking to you! We do it all day long, but I love it. This makes for great story time because you love listening to someone talking to you.

You have also started to notice the whale painting on your whale. You sit on the changing table and 'talk' to the whales. This is our greatest entertainment right now. Thanks, Aunt Ya!

I love getting to see your personality come out, it's so fun because I can picture how you will turn out now. I think you will be extremely laid back and quiet. I can't wait to see if I'm right or wrong but I don't want you to grow up too fast!


Getting ready for our 2 month pictures. Ella thinks the boppy is her bed so Andrew is having to share it with her.

My 2 month old big boy!!

I have a blog and Andrew's story

So, I have a blog now, mainly for Andrew stories but we will see how long it actually last. I figure there is no better place to start than his birth story, so here it goes!

Around 29 weeks into my pregnancy, we found out that Andrew's growth had slowed down a good bit. He was in the 75th% for my 19 and 23 week sonogram and at 29 weeks he had dropped to 34%. After a trip to the specialist, we discovered that part of the placenta was dying and would continue to do so, officially labeling Andrew as an IUGR baby. Fortunately, Andrew's growth never completely stopped (as can be the case with many IUGR babies) so I was able to make it to 36 weeks before having to deliver.

October 12th was marked as the big day on all of our calendars. We checked in the hospital the night before the induction, that night was pretty much a nightmare. I had told the nurse that I was so nervous I haven't slept in two nights, she gave me something to sleep and it caused me to go crazy and hallucinate all night. I specifically remember telling Sam to wave his wand and get rid of the lady that was coming out of the picture hanging on the wall.

7:00 a.m. finally rolls around and labor officially begins. The waiting begins. I was offered an epidural at 1:00 that afternoon, I totally should have held out because it was no where to be found later that night when I needed it most. The epidural is absolutely amazing and the day goes on, and on, and on. Finally at 10:00 that night they tell me it's time to start pushing.. only an hour and 19 minutes later and Andrew finally makes his arrival.


He was absolutely perfect. He wasn't able to be handed directly to me because he needed to be evaluated since he was a preemie. Thankfully they did everything right in the room so I got to watch it all and it was a short amount of time before I finally got to hold him. I know it's cheesy, but I'll never forget getting to hold him that first time. I was a mom. I had a son, and he was so perfect.