So as many of you know I gained 58 lbs during my pregnancy which is a ton of weight considering I was overweight to begin with. Honestly I don't know what more I could of done during my pregnancy...yeah sure I had doughnuts and candy every now and again but I am talking like once or twice a week tops not daily and the rest of the time I was eating very good and working out 5 days a week. Anyhow I am over being bitter about it I feel good about the effort I made during my pregnancy to stay in shape and it didn't work out...oh well.
That being said it's time to get skinny. I have already lost 27 lbs of "baby weight" and have 31 lbs to go just to get back to my "before" weight. But I am not stopping there I want to lose a total of 52 more pounds (79 total including the 27 I already shed). To help me out I signed up for Weight Watchers yesterday. I am really excited about it because one my mom is doing it already and loving it and two because you can eat virtually anything you want you just have to limit your portion which is something I have a problem with. I can put away some food people. I am excited though because I will not have to feel guilty about eating yummy foods so long as I am eating them in the proper portion size. Because I am a nursing mother I get more "points" than most members because they want you to loose only 1 pound per week to be safe apparently if you lose weight too quickly you will sacrifice your milk supply and we don't want that.
So wish me well and keep me and my chubby butt in your prayers. Mike took my measurements this morning and standing in front of him semi naked while he read off the numbers is enough to motivate me to lose the weight. Poor guy I am so sloppy right now. But not for long...
Here are some pictures from Christmas morning....I'll upload more later. Lots of love, hugs and kisses to all our friends and family who are viewing this today. Merry Christmas!
I swear Savannah is some kind of superhero. She is so stinking strong. All who have held her have said it from the first day...they say oh wow she holds her head up on her own, her arms and legs are super strong but she solidified it last night when at 4 weeks she rolled over. There is a lot of stuff that she does and Mike and I look at each other and are like isn't she a little young to be doing that you know holding her head up standing up with very little support that kind of thing and we are just like whatever but last night the kid rolled over from her stomach to her back all by herself. At first we thought it was a fluke so we kept putting her back on her belly and watching and every time she rolled onto her back from either side. This was on the bed so we put her on the floor to see if she could do it on a hard surface and sure enough she rolled over time and time again. We were like ok that's early for that to happen....I don't know when that's supposed to happen but it's not supposed to be at 1 month. So I ask around to a few of my girlfriends who have 2-6 month olds and they all say it happens around 5-6 months. Unbelievable. I swear it must be those protein shakes this kid is super strong. I don't want her to be all advanced now I am worried she is going to start crawling and walking early and I want her to stay a little bitty dependent baby forever. Miranda was an early walker she walked at 8 months which is super young and even Mikey walked at 10 months so perhaps it something in those beautiful Norcia genes.
Anyways enough of me bragging about my little angel. This morning we went to watch daddy play in the annual holiday football game and he didn't disapoint he was scoring left and right shaking that bootie down the field...juking these other "boys" out of their shoes. He even played quarterback for part of the time and made some excellent passes. Always a fun time to watch especially now that I have another cheerleader to root him on. As always we were thankful that he didn't get hurt...he is getting old ya know. There was about 30 guys that turned out from teenagers through their 40's and wouldn't you know it after 3 games everyone else is pooped out and who is in the middle of the field asking "who's got another game in them"...of course it was BIG MIKE...Such a big kid he is. Something tells me he'll always have one more game in him.
So we got home and loaded up the camera to take some pictures of Savannah in this adorable little pant suit her Aunt Tiffany sent her from North Carolina and were lucky enough to score some pics of her smiling at papa. Enjoy!
So Mike and I have been dying for Savannah to smile and laugh at us. She smiles all the time when she is asleep but never when she is awake well the last few days she has been smiling at us when she is awake it's so cute. She still isn't giving up that big smile but she's trying. Last night she even laughed 3 different times it was more of a squeek or a gasp but it was accompanied by a big smile. You can tell she wants to she just isn't sure how to make the noise come out.
I have been trying to get out and take her for a walk during the day but it's so stinking cold lately. My mom bought her this super cute jacket so she has been wearing that for our walks to stay warm. It's crazy because even though I worked out my whole pregnancy I feel so out of shape just going for a little stroll with her. I can't wait to get back in the gym. She is 4 weeks old tomorrow I can't believe how fast it's going by. I don't want her to get too big too quick.
Here are some pictures of her in her jacket and butt naked in her "Babies 1st Christmas" stocking =) Super cute!
The kids are so in love with their little sister it's so cute!
So I am learning that it's ok for Savannah to cry. It's not the end of the world and can be a good way to tire them out. At first when we tried to let her "cry it out" after 10 minutes I was crying harder than the baby and had to go pick her up. I felt like she was having seperation anxiety and needed to be held I knew she was fed, burped and had a clean diaper and there was no reason to go rescue her but I just couldn't take it I had to go pick her up. We tried letting her cry again a few times letting it go longer each time before picking her up. I found a few times that after only 10-15 minutes she would cry herself to sleep and when she didn't I would pick her up and nurse her and she would fall asleep feeding and stay asleep when I put her to bed it was great. For the last week she has slept consistently going to bed at 9-10pm and waking up between 3-4am to eat then back to bed until 7am to eat then back to bed until 9-10am. She even slept the entire night through one night I couldn't be happier getting all this sleep. During the day I am feeding her every 2-3 hours and putting her down for one nap in the afternoon for 2-3 hours otherwise she is awake all day and pretty happy which helps Mike and I get work done. I know this may not stay this way but I am certainly enjoying the schedule and sleep while it lasts.
She is so strong and can hold her head up and is just all over the place, Mark my words this kid is going to crawl and walk at an early age. Mike thinks her strength and abundance of hair is due to me taking protein shakes through my entire pregnancy. Who knows but my girl is buff.
Last night we went to watch Mikey wrestle and it was such an ordeal I tried to feed her right before we left but of course she has her own plans I ended up breast feeding her in the girls locker room at the high school then changing the biggest poopiest diaper I have ever seen only to get peed on while reaching for a diaper. She peed all over her outfit and shoes and stroller (which is where I had to change her since the high school obviously doesn't have childcare accomodations) I had to strip her down butt naked in the gym and thank goodness I had an extra outfit. Needless to say I didn't see much of the wrestling match and we left early. I guess this is my life now it's funny now but not so funny last night when it was happening.
SO EXCITED. Savannah's future husband Braden Allen Vessells arrived this morning at weighing 8lbs 6oz 20.5 inches long. I can't wait to see pictures. I am so happy for Brett & Jen and so happy Jen was able to deliver spontaneously on her actual due date and that Brett gets to spend his entire vacation with her and the baby. God is so good!
Ok so not much exciting has happened with us since the last post. Savannah is getting bigger for sure I can see it and her face is changing a bit. She is even loosing some hair. Not balding just thinning out. The average person couldn't tell because there are still massive amounts of hair but I nurse her every 2 hours so I get to see alot of that head and I can tell it's falling out. She can already use a hair cut but we will hold off and see how much of it she looses naturally before we go chopping it up. She was on a nice little sleep schedule for 3 days in a row giving me 3-4 hour blocks at night but lately she has been awake more at night and has been super fussy during the day. This kid loves lots of stimulation. She can't just be bounced quietly in her bouncer you have to launch her 10 feet into the air for her to be happy, she can't be bothered with low and medium settings on her swing she needs it set on super duper high so she is nearly catapulted across the room and you can't just rub her back you have to beat the heck out of her for her to settle down. I think perhaps because I was so active during my pregnancy that maybe that's why she requires such stimulation to settle down or to go to sleep. One good thing is she likes her bath. Her baby girl button fell off (umbilical cord) so now we have a big girl button and we can take baths and she loves the water its great.
Yesterday I dressed her in the cutest outfit to go to church it was like this Little House on the Prairie outfit and she looked adorable. Everyone at church just loves her but can't get over the hair. Daddy has been seriously talking about growing his hair out so people quit looking at him like "yeah right who is the real daddy". It's crazy to me because she looks just like him but people see his bald head and light facial hair and think where the dark hair come from not realizing his hair is that dark. If I have anything to say about it the bald head stays! She sure loves her daddy though he is working overtime trying to get her to smile and laugh at him but I think we are weeks and months away from that happening. He tells her for all the time he is putting in that he better be the first to get the laugh that he is going to be mad if she laughs at someone else first. Pretty cute! He likes to pinch her hairy butt and she squeezes it when he does its hilarious! So that's it for now...Check out the new pics we uploaded!
So now she is home...what's been going on? Well for starters this girl eats and poops so much! I knew that newborns did this but I really didn't know how much. She eats like every hour on the hour and poops sometimes 3x in 30 minutes. She is such a sweet girl she loves her daddy's voice and loves her mommy's touch. We haven't really worked out a schedule yet but it's not for lack of effort. Some nights are good and she will sleep 5-6 hours at a time other nights she is up all night long. It's hard to keep her up during the day because we have so much work to get done that it's helpful if she is sleeping but we know we are going to pay for it later that night. I was super sick with the flu the first week she was home which didn't help things out but I was running on cute fumes and somehow made it through. She had her first doctors visit last Thursday exactly 1 week after she was born. They said she is doing excellent is really healthy and has great color no jaundice at all. She already weighs 8lbs 5oz. They said to give you an idea of how well she is doing they like to see babies return to their birth weight within 10 days of coming home and since she was born at 8lbs but discharged from the hospital at 7lbs 9oz she had already put on almost a full pound in one weeks time. Mommy's Milk Is Good!
I went to the Neurologist today to be seen about my Bell's Palsy. It's gotten alot better but my face is still numb on the left side and I still can't sleep without my eye covers because my left eye won't shut...the doctor said there is no medicine they can give me other than a steroid shot which of course I wouldn't want but he said my case was not severe and that it should clear up all on it's own within a few weeks to a few months. So me and Savvy are doing just great!
She has already taken a trip to Target, Tyler Mall, Her Brother & Sister's House, Grandma's House (2x) and to GG's 74th birthday dinner at Moreno's, been to see Santa and has had her church debut...She is a mover and a shaker this girl. So that's pretty much it I'll try to do better about keeping this updated. I'm sure you all will be patient with me as I figure out the balance of motherhood and life...
Thank you again for all your prayers and well wishes. We love you all!
Where do I even begin? It's been almost 2 weeks since my last "real" post and of course so much has happened. Wed morning 11/22 I woke up with a severe headache, blurred vision and worse than normal swelling in my legs. We decided to go into the doctors to have my blood pressure taken and urine tested to make sure I wasn't experiencing full blown pregnancy induced hypertension. Well we did and I was...the nurse practitioner also noticed that the left side of my face was slightly paralyzed and that's when I asked if there was a reason my tongue would be numb and apparently it was all related to a condition called Bell's Palsy which stems from some kind of trauma to a nerve in the brain. I am not sure how any of this happened but they sent me over to the hospital and gave me the choice of induction or c-section. Going home was no longer an option nor was it safe so I chose to be induced. Little did I know my body was more than ready by 9:30am I was already contracting every 3-5 minutes all on my own. They gave me the cervidil to induce labor at 1pm and were going to check me again in the morning at 5am. I started getting really uncomfortable at around midnight and my water broke at 2:45am. They put me in a Labor & Delivery room and that's where the fun began. I would say even though I had been contracting consistently from 9am that morning active labor didn't start until my water broke and as soon as it did it was NO JOKE. The good news is the baby dropped right into my pelvis once my water broke which was a relief since my doctor had said she was too big to fit all along. I dialated pretty quick to 9 then got stuck for awhile while the baby tried making her way a bit lower to help dialte the last cm. At 2:35pm I started pushing and by 3pm the nurse told me to stop because she didn't think the doctor would make it. Savannah proved to be on her own schedule and decided she didn't need the doctor there she was ready so with me not even pushing my contractions guided her out all by themselves. She arrived at 3:19pm and as soon as she was out the doctor walked through the doors. It was such a perfect birth I really felt God's presence in the room and throughout the whole 2 days. The nurses were all awesome and very attentive and respectful of the labor I wanted there was no pressure like there had been from my doctor everything just happened in it's own time. I was singing praise music during between pushing and felt zero pain. I was seriously in more pain from the IV in my hand than anything else.
Savannah was so alert with big blue eyes looking all around studying my face so intently I could so see her little mind at work thinking this is the face of the voice I've heard all these months. Mike of course was hysterical he didn't know whether to laugh or cry so he did quite a bit of both. He was so emotional I have seen this man cry a tear or two but never like this he was so in love his emotions just raw and pouring out as he looked at her face.
Hey it's Summer just wanted to log on quickly and say THANK YOU all so much for all your love and support and well wishes. We are doing great, Savannah is as sweet as she looks. I have so many pictures I want to upload so keep checking back here is one from the day we left the hospital. She is so precious!
