What's a Girl to do?

Just thought I would give a shout out to all those other Mom's who are up with little ones! What is there to do at 3:30 in the morning! I really can't complain! Marleigh is typically a good girl, but this is our second night in 3 weeks where she is quite bright eyed at 3:00 AM after eating! Tonight we decided to head to the living room, and she is rocking. She is MUCH more content than Mommy currently is! NEED SLEEP! Please let me know if you of anything exciting online or on TV at such an early time!

Bath Time Fun!

Ms. Marleigh had her first official bath last night! No more sponge baths for Ms. Marleigh Bear!

This picture pretty much sums up how Ms. Marleigh felt about bath time!

So, it looks like she is going to like to be naked in warm water just as much as her big brother does! For this we are very thankful! Davis joined in the festivities to supervise what Mommy and Daddy were doing with his baby sister!

Here is Ms. Marleigh chilling in the tub before all the fun began!

Here is Big Bro brushing the doo! He's Mommy's Big Helper!

Here is Ms. Marleigh sporting her "I Love Mommy" towel from cousin Kylebo and soon to be wife, Miss Kimberly!

Here is our snug little bug after her bath!

And a bedtime picture with Daddy after Mimi and Pops allowed us to go out on a date! We had dinner at Red Sky and went to the Mall of GA for a little walking! Thanks Mimi and Pops! Today Nana and Poppa are going to come over and let Daddy and Mommy go Grocery Shopping! Woohoo! It's the little things in life to look forward to!

2 Weeks and Growing!

Today Marleigh is officially 2 weeks old! I can't believe it has been 2 weeks! It feels like she just rocked our world yesterday! :) This afternoon I took her in for her 2 week check up. Everything looks great! She lost her umbilical cord on Saturday, so we are ready for tub baths vs. sponge baths! She LOVES to have her head run through the water at night when we wash and scrub her doo, so I am quite hopeful that she will enjoy bath time as much as her big brother!

Marleigh's weight is still going up praise the Lord! I was a little worried with all that she spit up last night! She went so long without spitting up, and now if she would just burp we would continue to have smooth sailing!!! She had dropped to her lowest 8 lbs. 11.8 ounces last Wednesday, but had increased to 8 lbs. 15 ounces on Friday. Today she weighed in at 9 lbs. 6 ounces -- even though the nurse recorded 9 lbs. 5 ounces! :) They still want to see her hit her birth weight again, so we are going back 2 weeks from today for a weight recheck!

We will also have a 6 week appointment for Marleigh to have an ultrasound on her hips -- I was unaware - but breech females have a higher chance for having hip displatia (sp?). Anyway, it is a routine check for breech babies at our Pediatrician's office. So far, like 6 out of 10 doctors at our practice have had the chance to check her out, and they all said they see/feel no signs of it with her hips, but it is still standard routine. We feel good since everyone has said that it looks fine. I believe they said it is 1 in 250 of breech female babies. So keep this in your prayers until we know for sure! :)

Raising "2" Kids!

Wow! I'm sorry that I have posted in a while! You would think I would be more apt to post from home vs. posting from the hospital! The catch is: when I came home I had a 2 and 1/2 year old to keep up with as well!!!

Things are going well! Ms. Marleigh is a very good girl! Davis has adjusted very well. I was VERY worried about this since he seemed to think that Mommy was carrying a "shark" in her belly! :) He started out by totally ignoring her, but has since warmed up to her tremendously! He is too cute -- he tries to comfort her when she cries and he likes to bring her toys and pile them on her when she is in her bouncy seat! When it's time to change Marleigh's diaper, Davis pulls his rocking chair over to the side of the changing table so that he can "help" and "comfort" her.

Marleigh has done well at night -- we usually get up 1-2 times to feed her depending on when her feedings fall. Last night was an exception -- she just wanted to Mommy to hold her! I am wondering if the great "baby honeymoon" is about to be over! I remember that all to well with D! At a week or two of age he went from sleeping at night to sleeping in the day and staying wide awake at night! Let's pray we are not returning that forbidden land!

The past week was a blur -- Marleigh had 3 doctor's appts. to check weight and billirubin levels since she became slightly jaundiced. Good news though -- At Friday's appt. her Billirubin level was down and her weight had started going back up. She had gotten down to 8 lbs. 11.8 ounces on Wed. and on Fri. was back up to 8 lbs. 15 ounces. You can only imagine how much this big girl is eating! CRAZY! She can put 4 ounces away easily at a feeding! :) We go back tomorrow afternoon for her 2 week checkup -- stay posted for an update tomorrow! (Hopefully!)

Here are some pictures to enjoy of our angels!!!

Mommy and her Sweet Baby Girl in the Hospital! Ignore my "I'm freakin' drugged" look in this shot! This C-Section def. took its toil on me for a while!

Our first picture of our "cuddle bugs" together at home and ready for bed!

Baby Girl on her way home from the Hospital! She sure took up more room in the carseat than her brother did on his ride home!

Showing off my big bright eyes!

Hanging out with the Best Brother Ever!!!

Marleigh or "Bob" Marley?

Ok so this is hilarious! So of course everyone asks us how we came up with the name "Marleigh?" Of course I know deep inside they are thinking are they hard core "Bob" Marley fans? If you haven't heard the name deal -- Tim's middle name is Marcus and my middle name is Leigh -- so we "put that all together" and got Marleigh!!! Anyway, my nurses have been GREAT!!! In fact one of the nurses tonight made Ms. Marleigh a hospital hat with a big fru-fru bow on it! Too cute! I will have to post a picture later! Anyway, our nurse comes in tonight to ask us how we came up with Marleigh -- she laughs and said I didn't think it was like "Bob Marley" -- but did you know she was born on his birthday? --- 2/6 --- GREAT!!! :)

Marleigh is Here!!!

So sorry for not posting sooner! Things have been crazy as you can imagine! I will post the birth story later, but I wanted to post her stats and a few pictures!!!

Marleigh arrived safely at 1:19 pm on Wednesday, February 6th. She surely suprised everyone with her statistics. She weighed in at 9 lbs. and 14 oz. and was 21" long!

It won't be long now!!!

Waiting on Ms. Marleigh!!!

Just wanted to post one final blog before we welcome little Ms. Marleigh into the world!!! I cannot believe that it is already time for her to be here!!! It feels like yesterday we just found out we were expecting! We are so excited!!! I am suppose to arrive at the hospital at 8:00 am to get things rollings and get hooked up for monitoring. The C-Section is scheduled for 10:00 so if all goes as planned, we should be welcoming Ms. Marleigh around 10:30! Keep us in your prayers!

Tonight was quite bittersweet as we were excited about the baby but sad that D's world as an only child was coming to a close. Please pray for him that he understands is happy about being a "Big Brother!" We are hoping to be able to upload at least a picture or two tomorrow evening from our hospital room. Keep checking in on us!!!

I want to leave you with a few pregnancy shots that our good friend Josh took over at Princess and the Pea!

Count Down to D-Day or in our case C-Day!

One week from today we will be welcoming Little Miss Marleigh into the world! It feels like only yesterday, we found out she was on the way! Wow! This pregnancy has flown by even though we've had our fair share of health concerns on both of our parts! Now we are just so excited to finally get to meet this little one that has already caused so much joy and excitement!

Tonight we pretty much finished up her room, so that makes it even more real! We have a few finishing touches left to add, but many family and friends have been dying to see the progress, so here it is!!! I think all we have left is: getting the new cushions for the glider (We bought some upholstery fabric, and my uncle is making us new cushions to match the nursery.) and getting the canvases. (Our decorator is working on two canvases to go on each side of the window -- one has a tiara and the other will have a crown I believe -- she is using scripture on them refering to God's princess.) We have been so blessed. I have been tutoring a sweet little girl in my neighborhood and her mother is into interior design. She has done many nurseries, and she pretty much did everything you see in Marleigh's nursery! I did pick out the bedding and the paint colors. Believe it or not Tim and I hung the letters abover her bed, and I painted and decorated her initials over the changing table. I give Alicia all the credit for everything else!!! She is great about using what you already have which really saved us a bundle! The lamp you see was the lamp from D's nursery that she did in ribbon. The curtains were from D's nursery and she fancied them up too! She even made the yellow blanket/tablecloth on the little round table!

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts on how everything is looking or even suggestions! We sort of went for a whimsical/shabby chic approach. We are still debating on changing out the fan for a chandelier. We haven't seen just what we are picturing yet at a price we are willing to pay that is!!!

Christmas!

Ok so with Marleigh arriving in one week, I figured I better get Christmas posted!!! Here is a peak at our Immediate family Christmas parties! It would take a year to post our other 4 family get-togethers!


Davis absolutely loved The Magical Nights of Lights!!! Thanks to one of my students whose sweet mother works at the Islands, we got a free pass!!! Here is Davis telling everyone what he sees! He was our little tour guide this year!

On to our Christmas parties!


First we celebrated Christmas with Tim's family on Christmas Eve Afternoon. Unfortunately, Troy, Tim's brother was admitted back to the hospital on the Friday before Christmas. He wasn't able to join us to celebrate, but thanks to his mom he was enjoying the best decorated hospital room ever! We were able to go up and visit him afterwards while D was napping. We met at Red Lobster for lunch and then headed to Nana and Poppa's house for the goodies!


Here is Davis enjoying his gift from Uncle Troy! The expression says it all! He loves his horsey!

Next, Davis shows his excitement over his very own keyboard! Davis LOVES music! (I think he gets that from his uncle Troy!)

Davis was excited to find out that Nana and Poppa had got him a Smart Cycle! However, he wasn't very excited that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't let him "open it" at Nana and Poppa's house!
Here is a picture of Tim and Troy at the hospital later in the afternoon.

After leaving the hospital we returned to my parents (where D was napping) for our Christmas together. Mom and Dad had cooked steak, oregano potatoes, and had a salad ready. For those of you that know my mom --- this is a BIG deal! ;) The dining room looked perfect and our places were set with her fine china and flatware. We should have known this was "too good to be true!" As soon as we arrived D threw the biggest "fit" "tantrum" whatever you want to call it that he has EVER thrown! Pops was trying to grill the steaks and D wanted no part of that! He wanted Pops all to himself, and he wanted Pops to go down to the "jungle." This is what D calls their TV room in the basement as it is decorated with jungle decor! Pops finally caved and Tim finished the steaks -- guess where the dinner was served???? You got it! In the jungle! Fine China and all! Nothing like sitting with plates in your lap or on the floor/coffee table while watching Mickey Mouse! We had to laugh about it! It was quite humerous! Just goes to show you how life changes with a toddler!!!




A quick glance at our fine dining experience -- D is a happy camper though -- as he keeps Pops in the floor.

Here is D going through his stocking at Mimi and Pops' like a Pro! We were afraid we would have to bring the gifts downstairs -- he totally cracked us up though -- Mimi was like "Davis, would you like to go upstairs and open some gifts!" Davis stands up not too excitedly and says, "I guess so." I about pee'd on myself! Where did he get that from?

Davis is becoming a professional gift opener! His words of the evening were "Oh!!! Wow!!! Look!!! Thanks!!! Thank You!!!" At least he is polite!!!

Have I EVER mentioned how much Davis LOVES books?

Davis and Pops putting together his Discovery Channel Jungle Treehouse! How exciting!

One more suprise for the road! His expression in this picture is PRICELESS!!! He is still a little timid as this will move up to 5mph I believe -- which is fast for a little guy -- we practiced some outside but it was dark and cold!!! Davis had too much fun outside taking to the lit reindeers!!! Hopefully once it starts warming up he will be use to it and ready to go! I don't think I will be letting him drive Marleigh around anytime soon though!

Leading up to Christmas!

We could tell this was going to be a fun year for Davis! He loved the Christmas lights! "Ooooh Mom . . . look . . . pretty!" He enjoyed looking at Santa Claus! "Santa Claus, Ho . . . Ho . . . Ho . . ." he would say! Mimi and Pops started a yearly tradition of giving him a little something Chistmasy at Thanksgiving this year, and this year it included a jumbo stuffed Santa for the fictitious side and some board books about baby Jesus and Christmas. Have I ever mentioned how much Davis likes to READ!!! (or I guess I should say be read to!) Lets just say Mr. Jumbo Santa did pretty much everything with Davis, and Davis was not happy at all when we packed him up today!

Well one of Davis' most memorable outings for the month took place on Tuesday, December 11th. Tim was out of town on business, and Davis and I tagged along with D's twin cousin's, Cooper and Charlie, and their mutual friend Hayden. We took the kiddos to ride the Pink Pig at Macy's at Lenox Mall. After the Pink Pig we headed to pick up some food at the CNN center and then took the kids to see the lights at Centennial Olympic Park. Let's just say their favorite thing about the park was running free in the sweltering 75 degree weather!!! Is it Christmas or what?

Let's talk about the Pink Pig -- first of all I had the hardest time finding clothes for D to wear -- I mean here it is mid-December and you can't breathe outside! I wanted him to wear something festive but most of his Holiday attire wasn't suitable for summertime weather! Let's just say that I pretty much packed the house making sure we had adequate attire should the weather dip at night fall!

The famous Pink Pig

Davis absolutely LOVED it! We rode it twice, and he is still talking about the "pink pig" on the "track!" As you can see, I couldn't even get a good picture of both of us on the ride! He wanted no part of the camera, he had too much too look at, listen, and take in! PS -- they didn't consider pregnant momma's when designing the pink pig! I could hardly bend my swollen and achy legs enough to get them inside without totally squishing Marleigh to death!

Here is one of the many photos that I snapped of D -- in a trance like state! LOL! It was great! I was so happy that he enjoyed it! Cooper enjoyed it too! Charlie and Hayden weren't too happy about riding it a second time! I was just thankful D didn't pitch a perfectly normal 2 year old - tantrum when I told him we weren't riding it again!

Here is a look at the twins with Kristi and Rodney!

And last but not least, Hayden! (I didn't get a shot of mom and dad with him during the ride! Sorry!)

After the Pink Pig it was time to head to the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park! Boy, I had no idea what I was in for -- being 7-8 months pregnant and chasing a 2 year old around Centennial Olympic Park! I should have brought the monkey backpack along so I could have kept him on a leash! LOL! One thing that we quickly learned upon entering the park -- is you never know what you might come across on the benches in the dark corners of the park! LOL! Don't ask, but it was very suitable for small children!!! How many hotels are there in walking distance from the park? Go figure! Anyway, Davis enjoyed watching the people ice skate at the ice skating rink! I think his favorite part was the music, he was showing off his dance moves from the stroller! :)

Here are the lights of choice! The kids had a ball with the lit figure of a man and woman ice skating! It was in the center of the area we gave them free range, and it literally took all 5 of the adults to keep up the 4 little munchkins! Bless their hearts, they were all sweating up a storm in this crazy weather!

Don't get your hopes up, Davis is not posing for the camera! This is Davis playing his favorite "I seeeeeeeeeee you!!!!" game!

A worn out Davis telling me that he sees me again! I am thinking that is a good thing that he can see me in this crazy as all get out park! I sure hope I could see him with all the wierdos that were around every corner!

(Above) Literally, my only shot with all 4 kids in it! From L-R: Charlie, Hayden, Davis, and Rodney holding Cooper!

Mommy holding Davis in front of the beautiful Christmas tree, this was right after D got away from me and headed straight for the rode right behind the tree! Needless to see he was not a happy camper about being sweeped up after running free! I have NO idea what in the world caused this hilarious expression on his face!!! He was really as happy with me as he looks here!

Well I think I can honestly say that we have a new yearly tradition! I don't think Davis will let us forget about the pink pig! He brought home a cute little stuffed pink pig and a pink pig ornament that I put his name and year on! What can I say mom is a sucker to make her little one happy! Next year we hope daddy can join us! We almost took him again, but I don't want to spoil him more than he already is, so he can wait until next year and introduce his sister to the pink pig! He is quick to tell Daddy that the pig is on "tracks" though!

Where does all my time go?

Marleigh Update!!!

Wow! I am behind again! What else is new? I can't even imagine what lifes going to be like in just a few short weeks! It doesn't seem like I should already be working on 33 weeks!!! Here is a few quick updates about what has been going on the past month or so with Marleigh! Check back in the next day or so as I will have an All about D post!!!

Tim had to travel the first 3 weeks this month, so last Sat. we decided to go as a family and get another quick peek at our soon to arrive new addition! We did find out that Marleigh is breached, but that could still change. She has 8 more weeks! Here is Marleigh waving and flashing a quick smile to all of you!!! I was very torn at whether or not to go back again to Baby's First Images, but I knew if I didn't that I would have wished I would've, and I am SO glad we did! The pictures and our dvd are AWESOME!!! It was worth every single penny and then some!

The above "video" is not really a video -- it is just a progression of shots of Marleigh -- but I still thought it was sort of neat. As you can tell by pictures and videos she LOVES her hands near her face! We even watched her open and close her eyes a few times and she even at the end began sticking her tongue out at us. That was pretty funny!

Here she is acting silly and sticking her tongue out at us!

The last few weeks have been VERY busy!!! Marleigh has been blessed with 3 wonderful showers!!! My best friend Lindsey gave us a shower here at the house for my close friends, Tim's cousins gave us a shower at his mother's house for both sides of our family, and my incredible school gave us a shower! I am really liking all this "pink" stuff! I have already begun washing her things, but let's not talk about the nursery! LOL! Tim is off work the next two weeks so the plan is as follows: finish putting the wood floors down in the new office in the basement, put in 2 doors, and the moulding. Move the office downstairs. Paint the old office and get Davis moved in his new "fire truck" room. Paint Marleigh's nursery and get it ready! Luckily I will have some help! In January one of my neighbors is going to take care of the decorating of Marleigh's room. She is going to help accent in D's room, but she has already got a great design for Marleigh's nursery. I am so happy that she is helping me out, and I am sure it will look GREAT!!!

My "Friend" shower was perfect! It was so great to spend time with my closest girl friends and their kiddos! I had to add this picture of Davis taking care of and standing guard over his future wife, Ms. Jamie Partin!The food all looked great and TASTED great! Lindsey went with a dessert theme, and I don't think anyone at all had any objections!!
Some of us made these cute as all get outs -- bubble gum babies!!! I am so going to do this at the next shower I throw!!! Of course my Mother In Law added the blanket for brownie points, so Lori deemed her the winner!

We had to do the all time embarassing: How Big is Mommy Game! My neighbor and good friend Heather took the prize for this game! It was quite close between my mother and Heather. Here is mom giving her ribbon one last fit!

I dont' have that many pictures right now of my family shower. My camera battery died, so did my mother in laws and my brother in laws, so I am hoping that I can get more to post real soon!!! The food was scrumptuous and the cake was absolutely adorable!!!

My work shower was a lot of fun -- It was a joint shower with me and another fellow teacher, also named Amanda, and also having her second, a baby girl!

Me and my "roommate" aka Job Share Partner, Sandee! I don't think I looked too bad considering I had spent all day with Kindergartners! I LOVE my job!

The cute table my creative K-buddies set up for our goodies!

Yummo - great food and a beautiful cake!

My buddies making fun of me and my disappearing body!

All in all things are going well! I have been very sick this month with it coming/going. I have been to the doctor 4 times and was admitted to the hospital this past Monday. This cold is putting strain on my heart and lungs - causing my heart to race at a resting rate and my O2 satuaration levels to be low. Luckily Marleigh seems to be uneffected! The new meds are helping, and I haven's used the inhaler. I go back to the doc. on Friday after Christmas, and we are hoping for all to still be well! The doctor has not made his final call on whether or not we are looking at another C-section or a VBAC. I have quite mixed emotions and Tim is 100% for another C since all went so incredibly smoothly last time. My doctor is going to do at least one more ultrasound at either 35 or 36 weeks to do measurements, etc. If she stays breached, then we will totally go for the C! :) Keep us in your prayers as we have a lot to accomplish in the next few weeks, and I am already feeling the strain of being miserable. All I can say is that carrying a girl has been MUCH harder for me!