It's baaaack!

The pumpkin spice latte, that is. I am completely in love with fall: pumpkin anything, the cooler weather, jeans and sweatshirts, Pumpkinland, football, and of course the pumpkin spice latte. I'd have one every day if I could. I love that fall means Thanksgiving & Christmas are coming soon and can't wait to make fun holiday memories with Braxxton.

Brax will be 2 months this weekend and is changing so much! Last night he slept for 7 hours straight, woke up to eat and then slept for 3 more hours. Yessss! He also decided he likes to suck his wrist when he's tired, enough to leave a little mark. :)
Hopefully I'll get on here next week to update with 2 month pictures and his stats from the doctor... Considering I just typed this whole post with one hand, we'll see, :)

Here are some recent pics...

"We friends"

love this boy!

1 month

If you want to understand the meaning of the phrase "time flies" have a baby. My baby is 1 month old already! It has been the best month ever, but I would like time to slow down a little. We are loving every minute with this little boy.

You love to sleep and eat and are starting to smile when people talk to you. You usually get up once or twice during the night to eat. Your dad and I call you "gruntasaurus" because you like to grunt. A lot. You wear size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes. You are a very content and laid back baby and we love you more than words.

The day my life forever changed...

Monday, July 9th...

I woke up at 2:30 am to have my water break. I wasn't having any contractions so I wasn't sure if that was really "it" but I woke up Josh and we decided to go to the hospital. Luckily we did because everything went pretty quickly from there. I had 3 contractions on our way to the hospital and they were already only 5-6 minutes apart. I took a minute to completely panic, realizing this is really happening. After getting all checked in, my contractions quickly escalated. Within an hour, they were only 50 seconds apart. Our nurse was amazing. We actually wrote a letter to the hospital because she was that good. I look back at labor and actually can say it wasn't the worst thing ever and it was definitely better than I imagined it to be in my head. I believe that was in big part because of Josh and our nurse. By 7:00 I was ready to push. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours but he wasn't making much progress. Our doctor came in and determined his head was sideways so I had 2 options: a c-section or forceps. I lost it. After Josh, our nurse and doctor calmed me down, I decided to go with the forceps. I'm so thankful I did because after 2 minutes (I actually thought it was like 15 minutes) our baby boy was born. He was healthy and beautiful. Nothing else mattered at that point.

the best moment ever

Braxxton Joshua 

8 lbs. 10 oz.  21 1/2 inches

We could not be more in love.

nothing better than cuddling with this boy

let's go home!

I could do this allll day.

I love his scrunchy little smile.

The Countdown...

We are anxiously counting down the days until we can meet little man - 19 to be exact. Well, that's my due date. I'm sure he won't come on that day... We could not possibly be more excited. I can't stop daydreaming about that moment when we first see him. We have been waiting years for this and there are no words to describe the anticipation. I can't even watch an episode of "16 & Pregnant" these days without crying because I imagine what that moment will be like for us.
I have been very blessed with a healthy pregnancy and overall have felt really good. I am getting to the uncomfortable stage and am just kind of over it but I know that I will miss this. I will miss feeling his little kicks and maybe even having his butt in my ribs. It has been one of the most amazing times in my life and I cannot wait to do it again. :) Ok, it will probably be a little while...
These are some of the things that helped make my pregnancy so wonderful -

1. an AMAZING husband - He has been involved in every step of this pregnancy and totally taken care of me. I am pretty blessed and so is this kid to have him for a dad.
2. leggings - hands down, my favorite maternity piece of clothing
3. my wonderful doctor - If anyone is looking for an OBGYN in the area, I definitely would recommend mine. She has been great with answering all our questions and making me feel comfortable with all of this.
4. a good water bottle - my favorite is my Camelback. I was sooo not a water drinker before I got pregnant. That was honestly my biggest adjustment.
5. a body pillow - definitely a must have if you want to get any sleep
6. Palmers belly butter - I used this every night before bed and haven't gotten any stretch marks. Yes, I know stretch marks are mostly genetic but this really helped with itchy skin also.

Hopefully soon we can have an update introducing our little man...

Father's Day

"It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in Heaven for a man who takes his daughter shopping." John Sinor

I saw this quote the other day and it made me think of my own dad. He, a sports-loving farmer, was stuck blessed with 3 daughters. He claims we are the reason for his grey hair. I don't think any of us would deny that. I cannot even begin to count the number of times he has been shopping. He mostly just wanders off and does his own thing, but there's no complaining. :) I am thankful for him every day but especially on Fathers Day, I realize how blessed to have a father that is not only in my life but puts forth effort to be a part of the things my sisters and I do. He is a wonderful grandpa and I'm sure he's pretty excited to have 2 grandsons to help him do chores. :) After our baby is born, the boys will outnumber the girls in our family. He has probably been waiting for this day to come for years.

Fathers Day a couple of years ago

35 weeks and counting...

I am now 35 weeks and getting very anxious to meet our little guy! Yes, I know it could be a while yet and I now understand now why they say the last weeks of your pregnancy drag by. I've always thought it was going so fast up until now. I am still feeling really good and am so thankful for that!

How far along? 35 weeks

Total weight gain: 34 lbs.

Maternity clothes? That’s pretty much all I can wear now other than sweats and a few of my tshirts.

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: I can sleep pretty good most of the time. I am finding myself to be a lot more tired during the day now. I feel like I’m back in the 1^st trimester.

Best moment this week: having a shower for the little man last weekend. We are so blessed and this babe is already so loved.

Miss Anything? Breathing and being able to bend over. It is getting harder and harder to move around a lot.

Movement: I feel him move a lot. He is so active and has been having hiccups more these days.

Food cravings: Well, still sweets and sugar. Shocking, I know. I haven’t really been craving anything weird though.

Anything making you nauseous? Not really

Labor Signs? No, but I may panic a bit when I do!

Symptoms: My legs are really restless, especially at night, but nothing else really.

Belly Button in or out? Oh it’s out.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time? So happy!

Looking forward to: meeting this baby! (obviously)

Baby Shower

This past weekend my mom and sisters threw me a baby shower. They did an amazing job and it was so much fun to get together with a lot of women that mean a lot to me. Here are a couple of the pictures...

the CUTEST diaper cake I've ever seen!

My friend Bonita and I

He's already one spoiled little boy!

from his cousin Lincoln 

my beautiful mom & I

I had a picture of my sisters, mom, and me but it was pretty much black. :( 

Lucky for us, we are a picture taking family so I have tons of other ones. :)

I am so thankful and blessed to have the family that I do!