Reason for the Season

I've definitely taken a blogging hiatus lately... having a new born sweet girl and going back to work full time have totally taken over my entire life. I'm completely okay with that of course and wouldn't wish it were any other way but that's the reason I've been so MIA lately. 

I cannot believe it is CHRISTMAS in a week. Like I feel a little shocked and blindsided that it came so quickly! I can't believe 1 year ago we found out we were pregnant and now we have a 4 month old little lady who we are completely and utterly so obsessed with. I never knew I could have such a huge crush/obsession for my daughter. 

I never imagined that I could love being a mommy as much as I do. Sometimes I find myself just staring at her and I start to cry. My heart becomes overwhelmed with thankfulness and love. She has changed my whole entire world for the better. I'm so thankful for such an angel in my life. I pray my heart out that she is kept safe and healthy because I would be completely lost without this sweet angel baby.

Here's a few recent pictures of her...

{baby girl likes to sleep a lot}

{Sweetest little smirk ever}

{little miss got to meet Santa for the first time ever-
she's totally smiling at him}

This past week has been realllllly hard for me. Well to be honest this whole Christmas season has been a bit of a struggle. This is the first Christmas season I've really really struggled getting into the holiday spirit. I listen to Christmas music all the time, put up the Christmas tree, decorated our house... just nothing seemed to really get me into the holiday cheer. 

Then my amazing sister in law Aubrie sent a family group text. 

(our family is big on mass group texts and we do this often- if you're away from your phone during it, you all the sudden find your phone has been blown up with 25 missed text messages.)

We have this tradition to spend Christmas eve together as a family doing fun stuff all day long. It usually consists of the whole entire family going ice skating, getting hot chocolate, curling up and watching our favorite movie "Elf" and so on... 

This year Aubrie suggested this idea to do 25 acts of kindness as a family. 

With ideas ranging from:

 pushing grocery carts from the parking lot back into the store,

buying a grocery store gift card and handing it to the person in line behind you,

dropping off hand written "thank you" notes and a box of donuts to your local police station,

 dropping off stuffed animals to the children's floor at the hospital... and so much more.

I started to tear up as I was reading this text from her. For the first time this holiday season I actually started to feel some holiday spirit and get excited. It made me stop and think about the reason for the season.

So with that I can't WAIT to spend this next week with my family serving others. We'll be sure to document the good deeds and share the holiday spirit!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Sophia's Newborn Pictures

I can't believe it's been almost one month since our little lady came into our lives! 

When people say it goes by fast... they really aren't kidding. 

I asked my sweet friend Chelsea to come take pictures of little Sophia.

Here she is only 4 days old...

Thank you Chelsea! You always do such a fabulous job!
{to see more of her amazing skills check out her blog
Chelsea Robbins Photography}

Nursery Room Update

Here's a few updated pictures of the nursery!

{This is the glider chair we got from Grants parents. They used it 17 years ago with Grants little brother Troy!
We had it painted white and then recovered to match}

{We enlarged a few of the maternity pictures to hang behind the crib}

{We hung a few more maternity pictures on another wall}

{Directly below those pictures is this Elephant Humidifier & Baby Monitors-
sort of have an obsession with elephants lately!}

{Custom closet my dad built & changing table we bought at a garage sale! Thanks Michelle!}

{We decided to take the doors off the closet to have more room since it was such a tiny space}

{Love these organizational clothes size dividers- they have interchangeable tabs that go up to 2T}

Then I ordered this off etsy.com to hang above the changing table...

I should be getting that in this week- so excited!

So it's still a work in progress but after we add curtains it should all be complete.

Love decorating... now to start on the rest of my house!

Meet Sophia Marie Cropper!

It's been 2 weeks & I'm now FINALLY getting around to sharing the birthday our little lady. I've spent the past 2 weeks absolutely swooning over our little girl. It's just incredible how you fall so deeply in love someone in a mere instant & you would do absolutely anything for them. Being a mommy has been the best thing that's ever happened to me.

So here's how the day came about...

We had an appointment to be induced Monday, August 13th, 2012 at 2am in the morning. It was 1:30am and as we were driving to the hospital I was completely on edge and overwhelmed with nervousness. I totally snapped at Grant for no reason and then instantly felt bad. I remember looking at him as I started crying and just saying I was so sorry & that I was freaking out that we were about to have a baby. He looked at me, smiled and asked "So you've been pregnant for 9 months and it's now hitting you 30 minutes before we get to the hospital that you're actually having a baby??" Yes, that's exactly what it was... it had just became VERY real as we had the car packed and were driving to the hospital. I kept thinking about how when we drive home it won't be just the two of us anymore- we'll actually have a BABY!!

When we got to the hospital Grant went into daddy mode & started documenting everything.

{Filling out some last minute paperwork}

Here's a video of us walking into the labor & delivery section. I was completely in my own world and had NO idea he was even filming me...

When we got situated in our room, the nurse told me I was dilated to a 2 and my cervix was at 80%. She started my induction by hooking up a Pitocin drip into my IV. I remember being SO nervous for this because I've heard how painful Pitocin can make your contractions.

{In the Labor & Delivery Room}

A few hours went by and the nurse came back in to check my progress. She told me that my contractions were 2 minutes apart and I was dilated to a 4. I still felt great and had very little pain. Then she broke my water & told me that my contractions would now become a lot more intense and asked if I would like an epidural... I said yes and she called for the anesthesiologist.

As the anesthesiologist was giving me the epidural I remember flinching 3 times- each time she told me "don't move!" but I almost couldn't help it. Then I heard her say "Dang it..." (not quite what you want to hear from a doctor) and then she proceeded with "it's not working. The catheter is kinked and we'll have to try it again". Now if you know me, I am absolutely TERRIFIED of needles so I was completely dreading this. She tried it again... same problem. Six tries later... (yes, SIX!!), same problem! She finally said "This must be a bad batch of epidurals- I need someone to run down to the OR and get me one from a different batch". She told me that she had been an anesthesiologist for 38 years and she had NEVER once seen this happen. Apparently  they were all a bad batch of epidurals where the catheter kept getting kinked and wouldn't secrete any pain medicine. Thankfully the seventh time it worked. By that point it was about an hour later and I was so exhausted I fell asleep.

The nurse came in about 45 minutes later to check my progress and she told me I was dilated to a 7! She told me it would probably be a few more hours. I was still so tired that I fell back asleep and took another nap. Another 45 minutes went by and she came in to check my progress again... to my surprise she said I was dilated to a 10 and she went to go call the doctor!

About 20 minutes later the doctor arrived and before I knew it everyone got suited up and it was baby time! I pushed a few times with the nurse to get her head in place for delivery. The doctor came in and they shut off the epidural so that I could gain more feeling to push through the contractions.

There was Grant right by my side, holding my hand and my head whispering in my ear "Push! You can do this!" It was only a few pushes later and our little lady was born! They put her right on my chest and all I could do was look at her in pure shock! I couldn't believe she was finally here.

Sophia Marie Cropper
Born August 13, 2012 at 2:18pm
6 lbs, 7 oz and 17 inches long

{First family photo}

We had a few visitors...

{My dad's fire station was right down the street from the hospital so he decided to bring the whole crew to the hospital with him for a visit in between calls}

{Grandma Shirley}

{Grandma Shona}

{Jessica & Candice}

Then the next day...

{Grant was exhausted & slept on the expandable bed}

{I got cleaned up... all natur-AL baby}

{And we got to go home!}

It was truly an amazing experience. We are completely in love with our little family! Thank you to everyone for all your love and support!