My Cup Runneth Over

As cheesy as it sounds, when I think about putting into words how I feel about my baby boy, I think of the movie "Hope Floats" when this sweet line is said, "my cup runneth over." There is so much love in my heart for this little bundle that I feel like I can't contain it all. The moment they lifted him onto my chest I was crying tears of joy because I knew I had never felt a love like this before. He was a little bitty thing at 6lbs 14 oz. I remember thinking, "How can I protect this little bitty boy from all the hurts of this world." Of course, I already know I can't do that. There are things I will never be able to save him from or protect him from. There are so many people in his life that love him and will no doubt make up for what he lacks elsewhere but it still hurts that I can't give him the world and everything he deserves. The thought of motherhood delights me and scares me all at the same time. Mainly, the thought of being a single mom scares me. My parents are amazing and I know they, as well as the rest of the family, will be there for me every step of the way. It doesn't change the fact that I wish I could give him the family I always imagined having. Then, there are moments that I look at his face and I know that no one will ever give him the amount of love I will give him.

This little boy has captured his mommy's heart and soul. He is quite the little thief. He has stolen my heart, as well as my sleep. :) He is already very spoiled. He does not like to be put down for much. Sometimes, he will sleep in his swing and be content. Sometimes after a riding in the car somewhere I can let him sleep in his car seat for a while after getting home. But at night, sleeping on his own seems to be a foreign idea. Now, do not get me wrong mommy loves cuddling with her baby boy but mommy also knows I eventually need him to sleep on his own and the crib seems to signal an alarm in this little one's head to scream as loud as he can until mommy gives in and gets him out. Not looking forward to the many screams it will take to break him down. So hard on mommy.

I am trying the Baby Wise method, which means I am doing my best to keep little man on a schedule for feedings. He has done pretty well. I still, for the most part, have to wake him up to feed during the day and at night. He has done really well with sticking to a schedule. There have only been a couple times thus far where I have had to feed him earlier than I planned. So all in all, he is being a great sport. He is still so little and even his newborn clothing is still loose on his little body. His little belly is starting to pudge out just a little bit, but I still can't get over how something so little can hold so much of my heart.

I am fighting off a nasty cold right now and so far feel like I am loosing. It is quite annoying because I really do not want to get my little one sick. I have been breast feeding and I love spending that time with my little man but lately it has been making me nervous that I can't kick this cold and keeping him so close to me. I know that even when I am sick, the breast milk is best for him. I just want to love on him all the time it is getting to me that I can't do that. I love him so much already and I pray the Lord makes me into exactly the mother that my little man needs. Please be praying that I feel better soon.

My greatest blessing!

Well, I have been MIA lately and this is the first chance I have had to sit down at an actual computer, not my mini computer- aka smart phone! March 18th, around 6 in the morning this mommy's water broke. We headed to the hospital shortly thereafter to discover I was having contractions 2 and 3 minutes apart! I wasn't feeling them real bad yet, emphasize YET! ;) Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon is when I broke down and decided I was ready for the epidural. I could be giving myself more credit than that. It could have been earlier in the day. I really honestly lost all track of time because, well I was in labor! :) A little after 5 pm I was checked again and deemed over 9 1/2 cent and completely effaced, time to brace myself and get ready to push. I started pushing around 5:30 when my mid wife got there and at 6:45pm my beautiful baby boy entered this world, brought tears to my eyes, and stole my heart! I would love to sit here and gush and gush about how much he has already changed my life but as a new momma, "ain't nobody got time for that!" lol. I will try to get to that soon though because I am dying to express to you all how much my heart melts looking at his sweet face. In the mean time I will leave you with some pictures of my handsome man who came in weighing 6 lbs 14 oz, and was 19 inches long.

The man of my dreams!

Happy man after a good feeding!

Going home!

Super hero in training!

Best cuddle buddy ever!

Already not listening, he seriously LOVES his hands!!

There's my pretty eyes!

Big cousin Sam says I have a little nose and he has a big nose!

Oh, you know, just thinking!

Mommy loves my little bird legs! :)

Last one, for now, of my sweet angel!!

Make a Wish

My family got together Saturday to celebrate mine and my brother-in-laws birthday. My birthday was the 9th and his is the 16th. Guess next year we will have another birthday to throw in the mixture! Anyhow, mom was thrilled to have her first real gathering at her new house and the weather could not have been better!! It was a beautiful day! We enjoyed the fenced in backyard so much. I tell you one thing, it will be hard to go anywhere without one now that I know how great it is to have...for the doggies of course! They ran around and had fun enjoying the warm weather just like everyone else and it kept them out of the kitchen- thus out of the way!

We enjoyed a low country boil which was delicious!! I was somewhat nervous that the spices would kick heart burn into third gear but luckily, it stayed at bay the whole day! It must have known it was my birthday and not to mess with me! :) 

My sweet nephews brought their bikes along and enjoyed riding around on mema and pop's big driveway. They learned quickly not to go too far down because on the way back...it was uphill. My youngest nephew even enjoyed pedaling around on his peewee herman bike! lol, he will even tell you that is what his bike is- a peewee herman bike. Love that crazy kid!!

We also got the cornhole out from its winter retirement. My brother-in-laws family came down to enjoy the day with us. This resulted in a siblings vs siblings game. My brother-in-law and his sister taking on my older brother and sister. My siblings won! That is how we roll! Haha, that and we are all highly competitive! :)

Mema and Pop also have a large basement in their new house. My older brother kept joking that wherever they moved, they should find a house big enough for a ping pong table. Mema and Pop took him seriously and went out and got a ping pong table before our get together Saturday. Pop even hosted a dedication ceremony, rather informal, before my brother and brother-in-law broke it in for the first game. 

Overall, it was a great day and great times with family. I could not have asked for much better. It was just wonderful to sit and enjoy the sunshine and not be freezing!! I am so glad we are turning the corner into spring here in Georgia. I know we still got some cold days ahead because that is just how Georgia teases you! Now, just sitting back and playing the waiting game for baby boy. I will go back to the doctor tomorrow afternoon to check on him and see how he is doing. Until then, going to get back to work and get everything in order for when I will be gone.

Blue, blue, blue

I have not had a chance to upload all the pictures from the weekend's birthday celebration so I will instead share with you how I finished sweet boy's nursery Friday!! Friday was a very productive day. I had to go get my license renewed and a new tag. I was fearful that these two tasks would take all morning! Our driver services office is not typically known for speedy services. I went in at about 8:10am and was out by 9:00. That may seem like a while, but trust me I have heard of way worse experiences. I even was able to find a parking spot right up front which is also a challenge at this office. The lady that assisted me when it was my turn wanted to get me out of there as fast as she could after she saw me. Haha. I think I made her a little nervous when I told her I was two weeks away from the due date. The most frustrating part was having to turn around and drive all the way out to the boonies where the tax office is of the new county I now reside in. I say this is frustrating because literally the people who live across the street from us are in the same county we use to be in. But since I am on the other side, I am in a new county and had to drive out to get my new tag stickers for my car. Bonus, though, was it was cheaper than my old county!! :) Anyhow, I managed to be back at the house by 10:00 which was a definite win! I then set to work on finishing the nursery which was accomplished by that evening!! Here are some pictures!!

                  

                                     

                                     

I had so much fun getting all the finishing touches done. It is hard to believe he will be here in two weeks or less!! Crazy!! So excited!! I can't wait to meet the little hiccuping tumbler inside my tummy!! I know he will be so loved by so many people and that just makes me smile! God is so great!

Game, Set, Match

Another throwback picture from college. These are my tennis playing days, which I miss dearly!! This is a sport that I kind of sporadically got involved in when I was freshman in high school and I am so glad I did. It became something I fell in love with and helped get me through college. :) It is a sport that you can play for quite a while because it is not too hard on the joints. It is a sport that definitely challenges your mental and physical abilities. For my dear family and friends, they would tell you the mental part of it was a bit of a challenge for me. I would often end a match with fresh bruises on my shin or leg from hitting my leg out of frustration. My opponent usually never forgot my name because I often yelled at myself when I was too sore from beating myself with my racket. Haha. Needless to say, I may not miss those things so much but I do miss it being part of my daily life for so long. This sport also brought me amazing friends through teammates. Tennis is an interesting sport in that it is individual as well as team oriented and I could not thank the Lord enough for the wonderful teammates I was blessed with for four years. I met some amazing girls who remain wonderful friends to this day!

It helped that we all had a love for food! We all had a great time whenever we went out to eat. We also enjoyed many a girls nights complete with chocolate chip cookies at night and chocolate chip pancakes in the morning. It was our game day fuel...don't judge! 

It is such a treat to know all these wonderful girls when I first joined the team and more wonderful friends were made as these moved on and new faces joined the team, including my lovely roomy and partner for my final season.

So many wonderful memories, all because I picked up a tennis racket!

18

18, a mere 18 days away from baby boy's due date! That just seems crazy!! The doctor's visit went well Friday. Little one, as of now, does not appear to show any signs of coming early. I will go back Wednesday to check on him again. This weekend was busy in that we got everything that needed to be assembled for my baby boy done! We got the stroller and car seat out and done, we got the pack n play out and together, and got the glider for me to rock him in put together as well! We were assembling machines! lol. So my goal was to have his nursery finished by the end of last week and while I got most of it done, it is not completely done yet so you will just have to hold on a little longer for pictures! :) I figured since my doctor visits have bumped up to every week maybe I should start doing a picture every week. So here is 37 weeks and a couple days.

He is definitely taking over! lol. I am getting so excited about meeting this sweet little boy soon!!