Sadie's 1 month check up and Christmas Pics.

Sadie went to the doctor today. She gained almost 2 lbs and grew 2 1/2 inches. So, now she's 21 1/2 in. long and weighs 9.2 lbs.

Dr. said she's growing like a champ! He said she's doing great!!!

We spent Christmas with Craig's mom, Mary and sister, Dana. We had a great time!!! Here are some pics we took while they were here!

Daddy and daughter hangin' out

With Aunt Dana

Aunt Dana spoiling our little girl

Just chillin'

Nonna and Sadie and Lily or Leap...

Dana feeding the munchkin

Sadie's Christmas Eve debut...PERFECT!!!

Sadie made her debut into the musical world last night, Christmas Eve 2008. Mom played Mary, Dad played Joseph, and Sadie played the most wonderful little Jesus ever. She slept all the way through the 1st and 2nd services. Last service, she got the hiccups and then got a little irritated that they wouldn't go away. But she did pretty well. Pastor just kept on going and wove in her little sounds and fusses into his sermon. Mom and Dad did not have lines (thank goodness), but I felt as though I should have a microphone in my hand...it felt very odd not to sing while I was up there. We walked around the perimeter of the sanctuary first pregnant (a scarf wadded up under my dress). Then as a couple with a new baby and up onto the stage. We sat and just looked at our Baby Jesus lovingly. Everyone just raved about what a good baby Sadie was, and we were even jokingly accused of giving her Nyquil. haha. nope...just a sleeper. And of course, as soon as we thought we were home free with her not being fussy, she started up minutes after we layed her down sleeping. We were up until 1:30. We slept until about 6:15 am this Christmas morning.
Merry Christmas everyone. Pics to follow of our day with Nonna and Aunt Dana and Meme and Papah.

Sadie's Musical Debut... Christmas Eve 2008

Tonight, Sadie gets to play Baby Jesus in our Christmas Musical at church. Of course, mommy and daddy are playing a silent Mary and Joseph. It feels REALLY weird to not be singing this year. Do you know how hard it is for me to sit on stage and NOT SING??? So strange! But, we just have to look lovingly at our 'Baby Jesus'. I think we can probably do that!!! :) Pictures to come of our little actress!! And mommy and daddy dressed up, too, of course!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

Sadie's First Family Christmas (Anderson)

What once was a family of 6, is now a family of 18!!!

Sadie's all bundled up and ready to go to Meme and Papah's...

Meme and Papah with all the grandbabies...

Sadie, her Meme, and cousin Alex

We had a GREAT Anderson family Christmas!!! Sadie got to hang out with her Meme and Papah, her Aunts and Uncles, and all of her cousins!!! She pretty much slept through the whole crazy ordeal. She awoke long enough for her Aunt Vaughna to see that she's probably going to have blue eyes. And, HALLELUJAH!!! She pooped for the first time in 2 days. Aunt Vaughna actually VOLUNTEERED to change her... she's a professional mommy! Everyone got to hold her and love on her. All heck broke loose as everyone was leaving, though... She had HAD ENOUGH!! I didn't want to drive home while she was wailing, so we put her on a heating pad long enough to calm her down. We drove home, she was silent, and I just knew she was asleep. Nope, her beautiful eyes wide awake when we pulled into the driveway. We walked in, changed her diaper, fussed a little longer, and finally fell asleep around 12:45, maybe 1. After a while, you stop looking at the clock and just close your eyes and pray she falls asleep soon. I actually had fallen asleep patting her on the back, and woke up to a silent, sleeping baby. We slept until about 4:30 ish. We got up and ate and changed her diaper again. Went back to bed around 5:45. We slept until 9:45 ish...not too bad.

She slept a lot today... She fussed a littler earlier than normal tonight. Fine by us, the earlier and more she fusses, the more tired she'll be for bed time.

Tomorrow, mommy goes in for her 1 month checkup with HER doctor. I'm excited to take her and show her to all the staff. They're all anxious to see her, since I didn't take her in when I went to get my blood work done. WHICH, by the way, came back negative for Hep B, but it showed I have an immunity to the antibody for the Hep B shot... could mean my body will neglect the series. We'll see.

Daddy gets off of work at 12 on Christmas Eve, we're so excited to hang out with him in the middle of the week. Nonna and Aunt Dana will be here on Christmas day. Aunt Dana is SO READY to meet and hold her first niece!!! We're ready to see them, too.

Here are some random pics I took a couple of days ago. I needed to see if the outfit would still fit her... she was wide awake and alert for her modeling job. Her shirt says "I love grandma". Nonna bought it for her.

"Santa Baby...leave a present under the tree, for me, been an awful good girl..."

I had to post these pics of Sadie in her Christmas outfit (She spewed formula just moments later...guess she didn't like this outfit!) and the other of her with Santa. Santa (my teacher friend, Melissa's, dad) dressed up as Santa at school today, had to get her with him! He was a GREAT looking Santa!!! Thanks Mr. Wilson, I mean, Santa Claus!!

My students got to stand in the foyer of the school and look in the window of the office at Sadie. They just went crazy over her... We talked about inherited traits and learned characteristics in Science before I left. They mentioned that she didn't receive many inherited traits from me!! HA! At least they remembered!!

Then we went to her Daycare Christmas party at Marie White's house (Nana). She met all of the daycare kids and their mommies. Craig came with me to check it all out. We're sold! Not looking forward to her first day of daycare, but we know she'll be in GREAT hands.

Then, we took Sadie to meet our pastor's wife, Jeri. She's been out sick for a while and can't go out into public. She was so excited to meet Sadie, and so glad we thought to bring her over. She slept A LOT yesterday.

Then... all heck broke loose last night. We went to bed about 11:30, and stayed up until 2:30 - crying! Not just a whiny cry. The cry that makes your heart wrench...mommy cried too... Just couldn't do anything to make her feel better. We finally got her asleep by laying her on the heating pad on my chest... finally we got her to lay by herself. Got up again at 6 am. Went back to sleep about 7:45 to 9:45. Mommy and Daddy are very tired today!!! Hopefully we'll get some good sleep tonight. We have my family Christmas tomorrow at Mom and Dad's house, but church first. I told Craig we may skip church if we have another night like last night. Wish us luck... good night!!

An Elfyourself video of SADIE!!!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/RM7ebl1imBzmvODIWdKC

Click on the link above to watch Sadie dance DISCO!!

First Christmas Pictures

Okay, so she wasn't so crazy about the hat...but she's so darn cute!!! Took about an hour to find some cute faces, not agitated ones. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Spewing milk from nostrils!!!

Wow!!! I have a newfound definition of "Projectile". This girl can blow 2 or more ounces of milk straight out of her nose, both nostrils, and her mouth in no time! Even better, mommy gets to wear most of it, and in her hair!! Lovely smell after a few hours of not getting to shower... Craig must think I'm so hot. From giant pregnant lady, to old formula smelling lady... I have a whole new respect for the shower now...

Here are a couple of pics AFTER the volcano erupted - She cleans up good...but mommy does not get to... :)

And of course, I'm sporting my Aunt Dana shirt and my I love Daddy bib...

Mom's first driving experience with the Doodle Bug

Today was kind of stressful, because I had to get Sadie and I ready to get HER screening done at Arlington Memorial and MY lab work done at my Dr. office. During my stay at the hospital, my blood work came back with a showing of Hep B. Didn't have it before the baby came, but then all of the sudden, it was there. They kept saying I was a "Non-confirmed Positive". Non-confirmed b/c all of my other lab work previously came back negative. Positive b/c it was in my blood stream. Of course, they gave her all she needed to vaccinate her against it.

Before we left, I had to get her Car seat Base in my car...that went well, thank goodness. She also ate 4 OZ. of milk!!! Good golly, she was hungry. She's only been eating 2 oz. every 2 hours. Now she's sleeping longer at night and eating more...yea!

Driving with her was a little easier than I had imagined. It helped that my mom sat in the back seat, prepared to give her whatever she may need. She did great!! We went to the hospital first, got her blood work done...she's not a fan of the heel pricking, and squeezing of her heel to get a whole lot of blood out...but she did really good. This was her 5th time to get her heel pricked for blood work.

We were only in there maybe 15 minutes, then off we went to Mommy's dr. She stayed in the car b/c the COOOLD wind was just blowing too hard. I'm so glad Mom was with me... The wind almost knocked me off the sidewalk, I can only imagine carrying her in her car seat...ick.
She was sacked out. I fed her, thinking she'd be starving. She only took an oz. She's still sacked out, but I have a feeling she'll wake up raring to go soon.

Mommy is tired, today, but I'm not sure why...I slept as much as she did last night. 10:30 to 11:50, 12:30 to 4:20, and 5:30 to 9. I don't have ANY trouble getting to sleep these days. If I could just teach her to push through those gas pains without screaming... we'd be GREAT! We're getting there.

Our First Church Experience...

This is us, getting ready for church for our very first time. Mommy got up at 8 a.m. and Daddy watched the little one while Mom got ready. Once Mom got ready, it was Sadie's turn. Daddy helped give a bath and dress the princess. She was supposed to have pink tights on, but Mommy and Daddy didn't want to totally make her hate us forever. So, socks worked.

Once we got in the doors (maybe 4 feet into the front doors), we were bombarded with hugs, and comments like "Oh my gosh, look at all that hair" and "Wow, she looks just like Craig" and "Oh my goodness, she's just beautiful". All things we have heard and KNEW, of course, but still fun to hear some more.

We finally got into the sanctuary, and she was visited some more by others. Church started and she slept pretty well through the music (all stuff she was used to hearing, of course). Once it quieted down a bit, she started grunting and moaning as if she needed to take a poopy. She got pretty loud, so Mommy took her out for just a few minutes. And of course, we missed Pastor Richard announcing her presence at church, but I didn't feel like we needed to introduce everyone to her set of lungs she obviously inherited from me. :) She slept in Mommy's arms, but stretched a whole lot, too, making funny noises.

Finally, we got to the end of church, we put her in her seat, and EVERYONE came running. We almost had to stay the next service, too...people just kept coming up and adoring her! We didn't mind at all. We stayed out in the link for a long while talking and continuing to show her off, and finally left at about 12.

We got home, took her dress and bloomers off, and fed her and put her in her swing. Mommy and Sadie slept for about 3 hours straight. We were exhausted. Daddy was tired, too.

It was a great day! And we had so much fun introducing her to our church family... Everyone just loved her, and she made Mommy and Daddy so proud.

The night from ....

This is SO Craig's child!!! Look at their faces... just identical. So sweet!!! Just a few hours before the night from 'you know where'. We were awake for almost 5 hours with a fussy baby who needed so badly to take a poopy. Bless her little heart. She was in so much pain. And by the looks of it, she should have cried. SOLID! I know she felt so absolutely relieved.

Can you believe this is my topic of conversation today?? The little things in baby world that make mommy happy!

The labor and delivery experience.... WOW!

So, I haven't really had the chance to go into full detail of my birthing experience of the most beautiful little girl in the whole world...bias? No way!! I really am so in love with her. I love staring at her and holding her and feeding her, and yes, even staying up for a full 3 hours b/c of bad gas with her... Or finding every place in the house possible for her to sleep comfortably...um, that would be in mommy and daddy's arms, of course. Cradle? Crib? Yeah right. Someone has got to invent pretend human arms to put around my child so mommy can get some sleep...b/c she has got our number... She knows what she wants, and well, she gets it. We did, however, have her sleep in a wedge last night... 2 hours in it, 1 hour out of it, 1 hour in it, 3 1/2 hours in it...YEP!! She slept from 2:30 to 6 am STRAIGHT this morning... Thanks to my sister who brought the wedge over last night AND to Mylacon...gas reliever!!! A friend of a friend of mine called it "Jesus in a Bottle". It is pretty great stuff. And Miss Tooty over here, is resting much better b/c of it.

Okay, so I digressed a little...back to the beginning.

We went into the hospital Tuesday night, November 25th to check in. They immediately got me started on a little bitty pill that they stuck right up next to my Cervix... Couldn't feel the little tablet, but I sure felt them putting it up there...lovely thought, I know. It was used to soften the cervix and get it ready to dilate more...I was already at a 1 when we checked in. Again at 2:30, they put another tablet in me... That really got me going to start me on Pitosin, to induce labor. I didn't feel any contractions at all until about 10 in the morning... At first, it just felt like I was really working my abs hard, and they were kind of sore. Then about 11, WOW! Up to a 4, and then quickly up to a 5... That was NOT FUN!!! The anesthesioligist had an emergency C Section and emergency delivery, and I was told I wasn't top priority b/c me and Sadie were doing so well...hahha.... They gave me bit of a pain reliever to "take the edge off"... Um...if they took the edge OFF, I'd hate to feel the EDGE!!! B/c good gracious, I thought I was going to absolutely die. No cussing, no yelling, just lots of breathing. Lots of holding onto Craig's hand - he was AMAZING by the way...he just stood there and endured all of my grunting and moaning... helped me breathe and rubbed my back...so sweet. We also had the absolute BEST NURSE EVER, Erin Peterson... absolutely a God-send!!! She was so great, and so nice, and so helpful. Just loved her to death, and hated seeing her leave that night...I wish I could've kept her.

Epidural time!!! That was not fun either. Between the contractions and them sticking the epidural in me...well, lets just say I was in the worst amount of pain I believe I have ever had, ruptured spleen, broken ribs, all ten toes broken...all nothing compared to this!! But once it kicked in, and my other pain meds were making me sleepy, I took about a 2 hour nap, I think...Craig can't remember, and well...I can't either. The nurse woke me up, asked if I could push... I couldn't feel a thing...NOTHING from the waist down. Couldn't move my toes, bend my knees...I pinched myself...nothing. It left a bruise later...but I felt nothing. The strangest feeling.

Pushing!! the nurse had Craig hold one leg and I held the other, felt like a ton... and I pushed like I had never pushed before...and couldn't feel a thing...so it was kind of hard to push... I'm not going to tell you what Erin told me to pretend to be pushing for...but it worked... She started coming and coming and coming. After 4 or 5 big pushes during contractions, Erin could see Sadie's dark hair. Craig, as weak stomached as he is, even grabbed a glimpse accidentally... bless his heart...I didn't want to see it either...God put that area down there for a reason...so my eyes could not see. Dr. Parrill came in, not my dr., but a dr. in the offices I go to, she had me do a few more pushes as well... then all of the sudden...there she was. 40 minutes of pushing, and this gorgeous, chunky, dark haired, healthy lunged baby came out of me... Just the most amazing feeling anyone could ever experience.

Afterwards: I held her immediately...she was GORGEOUS!!!! And chunky! And just amazing! They started cleaning her up and doing what they do over there... and started noticing that she wasn't breathing correctly. She'd take a big breath, then stop, then breathe again, then stop. Her coloring was beginning to turn "dusky" as they put it. So they took her for a little bit, examined her, and brought her back...she just needed a little help.

The rest of the day was great! We held her and loved on her and just adored God's little miracle! They kept her in the nursery most of the night. Every time she started smacking her lips or sucking her thumb, they'd bring her in to feed. Unfortunately, mommy didn't have much to give her and she wouldn't latch on long enough to get much. She lost 1 pound in 2 days, so we started her on formula to get some meat on her little skinny bones. It's amazing what 1 pound will do to a little 8 lb. chunk. She was so skinny...I was so sad, but she gained 4 oz. in one day on the formula. Finally, mommy got her milk in on Sunday, and immediately started pumping, but tried very hard to get her to latch on...not interested. Once she had the bottle, I wasn't satisfying her at all. I don't mind, I thought I would, but as long as she's getting the nutrients that she needs, that's all I care about. I haven't weighed her since Monday at the pediatrician. She was up to 7 lb. 6 1/2 oz. She's growing again.

Home:

She's wonderful!!! Sleeps a lot during the day, but has a lot of gas at night! THANK goodness for Mylacon and all of my girlfriends that told me about it. Her dr. said that it was fine, and she's doing much better and sleeping much better.

She's my doodle bug!!! I love her so very much!!!

I'm a new mommy!!!

I can't even explain how wonderful my life is...God really did bless us with the most precious little girl ever!!! The pictures explain it all!!!