When it rains...

For several days straight everything turns gloomy, little girls get

bored, destroy the house

and begin to do extra silly things....

I feel like it's been raining for weeks now but thankfully it's only been 4 days. There is flooding in Tennessee and we're praying that the rain stops soon! We were out of electricity for 6 hours this morning so we had to go into town for breakfast. Which is something that I love to do! Hearing old people gossip is my favorite! A man came in and said "It's a good day for ducks isn't it?"...that is a understatement old timer!

Wordless Wednesday

L & D - Part 3!!

Part 3 - L & D

April 5 (yes, I made it past April 1st!! woohoo) I was having my usual ramen noodles (I lived off of those things practically) and daily dose of delivery shows whenever I started having lower back pain. I didn't think anything of it except that I had been laying in bed, wayyyy to long. My Mom called on her way home and asked if I wanted to ride with her to the grocery store since I hadn't been out of bed in such a long time.


As we headed there Mom joked around making the comment that we would walk the baby, we both just laughed it off and never thought anything of it since the doctor said if I made it past 34 weeks he was going to take me off bed rest. As we were leaving the cashier asked me what my due date was and I let him know. He laughed and told me his birthday was April 6th, and maybe I would go into labor.


I continued having the pressure in my lower back, but thought Charli Beth was just dropping some more and it was going to be some normal pains. Until later that night around 8 I started having contractions that were irregular, not really hurting, just enough to feel something was going on. We started timing these and seen they were all lasting 5-6 minutes apart, to 8-10, so they were definitely irregular. Mom feel asleep and I stayed awake with anticipation and continued to time until around midnight. I ended up sleeping with Mom that night and woke around 4 with cramping pains, woke Mom and let her know that I was having pretty bad pains so I was going to get a shower just to ease the pain. By the time that I got out of the shower I knew for sure that I was in labor. The Dr. was called to let him know what was going on, and he said for us to go ahead and get checked out that it could possibly be time or it could be another scare.


I'll never forget that Mom did not believe me. We left out around 7:15 to head towards the hospital. After about 8 miles and me trying to throw up (not sure why I was trying to throw up? But remember I cannot throw up! It's just an AWFUL sound) my Mom then finally believed me. Shew! (at least we laugh about it now, haha!) She called all of our relatives so they could go ahead and head to the hospital. Whenever I walked into Labor and Delivery around 8 am, all of the beds were full so I had to sit in triage while they checked my cervix; I was a 3-4 cm and in labor! I asked the nurse if I would be transporting to Nashville since I was early, but it was going to be left up to the doctor.
The nurses thankfully doped me up =) Woohoo for that! I slept for the longest time, until the doctor came in at 5 centimeters to break my water. After my water was broke and I was given my epidural I went from 5 centimeters to ten within an hour. The nurses told me to go ahead and inform everyone that I wanted in the delivery home to come on in and for the others to leave. I knew for sure that my Mom, my sister Ashley and my Aunt Nicki could stay in there. My step-grandmother Faye and Dad were in the room at that time, so we had to inform Faye that she was to leave and tell Nicki to come in. But it took so long for everyone to make up their minds of who was staying that the surgical tech nurse smarted off and told everyone that they had to hurry. Oh boy...So Faye had to leave just to be fair to everyone. BTW, this has never been forgotten and is brought up at every family gathering. We also had a wonderful nurse Patrica in the room that my family has known forever, we still are in close contact with her, which is wonderful!


I pushed for about 30 minutes, while Dr. Dobson was telling me she had bright red hair, bowing his head to pray while I was pushing (scaring my parents to death, because they thought he had fell asleep) and then this arrived....
at 4 lbs 17 1/4 inches and not needing any oxygen.!She was perfect, even with her squished in nose from being in the birth canal to long was beautiful! I was truly head over heels in love for the first time at this very moment.

My sister was the one that I asked to cut Charli Beth's umbilical cord, only because she was scared to death of it and always said that she would not do it even if I asked! She was such a trooper and did a perfect job!

Charli never had to transfer to the NICU since she was doing so wonderful, because of this we were allowed to go home after the normal 48 hours. Once we got home, her weight did drop down to 3 lbs 8 oz but soon afterwards it picked right up and she started growing like a weed!

Naughty girl....yes she is showing off that middle finger!!!! ----This is the outfit that we brought her home in. My Mom drove us back and we napped the entire way. I never thought that one little girl could bring so much happiness into my life. Now I know why the Lord decided to not call me home that day in August for I am here to be a Mommy to the most silly and best kiddo ever =)

The pregnancy & labor of Charli Beth - Part 2

Part 2

Over the next few months, I eventually gained 22 pounds, after loosing ten at first due to the morning sickness. This post will be dedicated to belly pictures.. [yikes!] since I really didn't have anything that happened exciting through the months besides work, playing bingo with my crazy parents and getting my life together!

On President's Day, I started having complications that sent my Mom and I heading to the hospital for several tests. After seeing my adorable girl many times that day and hearing her precious heartbeat, we came to find out that my cervix was already thinning, and I was to make an appointment with my regular OB doctor for first thing in the morning. I was then put on strict bed rest, which means only to get up to use the restroom and grab something to eat (a.k.a no fun at all). The doctor told me that Charli Beth would not make it in the womb past April 1st. I was taken off work with medical leave even though I was sitting in a chair all day, the doctor said that any kind of a stressful situation could set my labor off at any minute. So I spent my days in bed watching discovery health becoming an expert(ha!) on pregnancy, word searches, and made my baby shower favors.

January 5, 2006 we found out that the "it" baby was infact a Charli Elizabeth Grace " Charli Beth". Thank goodness! I do believe that searching and picking out a boy name was one of the hardest thigns I have ever done, and now the name I picked out I don't like! haha It was Treyson Gage ...Gage and Paige??? yuck.

My baby shower was March 19, 2006 at the local YMCA and was put on by my Mom, Aunts, and church ladies. I was happy to be able to at least get out of the bed to have one baby shower. It was such an amazing but exhausting day too! A few days later while my parents were out of town, my sister took me to a appointment for a check up and another ultrasound to check her growth. At this time we were told that Charli's abdomen was not even near the size that it was suppose to be at so we were scheduled a appt. at Vanderbilt University Hospital for April 11th. Now, if she wasn't even suppose to make it past April 1st, you would think they would get us in a little bit quicker?! Oh well....We were doing great, I wasn't having any troubles or any pains, except my stress test that we had to go for twice a week at the hospital. They could tell that I was having plenty of contractions and checked me a couple of times. I stayed at 2 cms and thinned for almost two weeks. I was also given steroid shots two days in a row for her lung growth!

Yes, my belly is leaning sideways!!! LOL

Reminiscing -The pregnancy & labor of Charli Beth - Part 1

Part 1

In almost 200 post over the last year I have never blogged about my pregnancy and labor with Charli Beth. Can you believe that? Craziness if you ask me. The best time in my life; minus the sickness and bed rest!

I've been reminiscing a lot here lately due to the fact that in just a few days it will be four years since the day I found out I was "with child." Nope, I can't believe that either. At that time, I was living at WKU with a girl that I barley knew but would become one of my dearest friends. I also have to admit that I was also having the time of my life while living so close but away from home.
Never did I realize that the Lord was taking control of my life in one way or another.

On August 26, 2005 myself and a friend Cameron had a wreck on the way back to our dorm. I wasn't sure how either of us made it out alive (pictures below on another post) but now I know why. Less than a month later, I started feeling extremely sick while at school so my Mom and sister came to pick me up. On the way home, my sister asked me if there was any way that I could possibly be pregnant, because flu season wasn't in full swing yet. As soon as I said no, I tried throwing up....again (Lets not exactly call that throwing up. It's only a sound, a horrible, stuck hog dying sound, being that I cannot vomit what-so-ever.) which should of been a for sure sign to everyone of us that I was indeed pregnant. Whenever we finally arrived at home, I went onto bed since I was feeling horrible. My Mom and I were close at the time but definitely nothing like we are now. She asked me once again if there was a possibility and I told her the truth....

The next morning, we set in our living room with 6 test that all read positive, calling and getting into 3 different doctors that we seen to make sure. Once again I have no idea why we didn't know after the first one? That night, my Mom painted the bathroom cabinets and did not stop for a second. She was determined but I also believe she was one mad Momma.

For the next month, my time was spent laying on the couch trying to figure my life out while having the worst case of morning sickness in history, moving out of my dorm, leaving the girl that had became my best friend behind and finally finding the perfect OB doctor that showed me my little pea sized baby for the first time and set my due date to May 13th, 2006.

Old Fishin' Pics & this week

It's a rainy day at work and I've been here practically all weekend, no joke. I worked third shift on Friday and Saturday, then came in at two on Sunday and was suppose to leave at ten. At 8:30 someone called in, so I was here until 5 this morning. Now, I'm back and workings 2nd shift. Boo on this mess! It's Labor day, I should be cooking out and eating some good vittles! Not to sound awful, but at least it's raining today and not a beautiful day that I would be missing out on! I'll be happy when pay day comes though!

This week is going to be quiet busy for the Charli girl and I. We will have a house and car cleaning party tomorrow after we hopefully sleep in. By the way, my car is having such horrible luck this week. Not only did it get hit last Monday, I was helping with a wreck up from my house Saturday afternoon and left my window down on accident, and it came a flood. My car has been soaked all weekend. We have Ballet on Thursday, and I'm thinking about making an appointment to have Miss Char's hair trimed afterwards. Ahhhh!! I don't know if I have the strength to do that or not. Everytime I even think about cutting her curls, I cringe and my heart goes into V-fib. haha!

This week is also the Lil' Angels Attic Sale in Bowling Green which I am working at Friday morning. Since I am volunteering again this time, I will be able to shop at the pre-sale on Thursday night and I'm super excited about this. If you have never attended a LAA sale in your area, I urge you to do this whether it is shopping or cosigning. Whenever you cosign to the sale, you get 70% of the price and the rest goes to charities that the program sponsors. It's a wonderful program, and trust me you will find tons of great items for your little ones. If you are pregnant or have a newborn this is most definitely the place to go. They have furniture, strollers, clothing, toys, bedding, etc you can google the name and find out more about the sales in your area.

I remember saying that I was going to share the pictures from my fishing trip with my sister Ashley and my Dad while we were in Florida but I suppose I totally let it slip my mind, here they are. But you must first understand, that we do not fish, lol so I was pretty excited with what we caught. The rest of my family did eat these stinky fishies, but this girl stayed away and only dug in on the hush puppies!

This is what Charli Beth was up to while we were catching her dinner!

haha don't you just love that face she is making?

Proud Momma*

We finally had our dance wear for this weeks class! Charli Beth was so excited to be able to wear "stuff like the other girls" and wasn't shy this week (from what I could tell). Every time I would sneak a picture through the window or just to check in on her, she would catch me and start smiling and waving then whenever it was her turn to do something big she would look for me again and smile! She is already making some progress, and I hope she continues to love this!!

Charli Beth, you are one beautiful mini-ballerina! I cannot believe you are already old enough to participate in activities like this. You make me and the rest of our family so very proud. I pray that you will never give up and will always try your best, you will be wonderful at everything you do. I love you three bushel baskets!

Yesterday:UPDATED

I worked first shift yesterday, which rarely ever happens, but thankfully someone switched with me so Charli Beth, my Mom and I could attend a Chris Young performance and album signing in Murfreesboro, TN at a Walmart for the release party of "The Man I want to be." It was such a slow day at work, but I really enjoyed the opportunity of being able to see people that I never see on other shifts, until the other dispatcher called me from the parking lot telling me to run a licsence plate because they had just....hit my car!!


Again? I mean seriously. There isn't any other word for our parking lot at the police deptartment besides it SUCKS. I tell some of the city units to meet me in the parking lot since my car had been hit, never realizing who the person was that hit or that my Dad was at home (with his scanner on). Thankfully the man is a family friend and also best friends with the best body shop in town, so it will be fixed rather quickly I hope.


After work I headed to get Charli Beth and Mom then we headed forever away (no joke...) to see what I do have to admit is probably the love of my life (kidding Mark!!) We had to wait for almost an hour after we got there for him to show up. What is a good apearance without being late? jk. His flight in Washington was cancelled and thankfully RCA records got him a personal jet hom. I would of been one mad Momma if he wouldn't have shown up after driving that far. Whenever he arrived he played four songs and I held Charli Beth up so she could show off her sign to him. He looked at her, laughed, smiled a few times and that poor little girls face turned red as fire and she jumped down to hide her face! It was so darn cute!




We also met Chris' family and a couple of his friends while waiting in line, and you can honestly tell why he is so geninue and down to earth, those people were fabulous to us. It's great to meet great people where ever you go, esp. if they are kin to one FINE FELLA!! One of his Grandmother's was the cutest thing I have ever seen too. She made Chris a sign, and was going around handing out postcards for his album and to vote him Country sexiest Male. (yes, I have already voted too)
We left the crowd after a few songs so that we could go stand in line for the cd signing and etc. Mom decided to take Charli walking around since she was getting a bit antsy, luckily she grabbed my camera and her Charli Beth <3's>

I should have left after Charli Beth's kiss and picture/video (thanks to the Lady taking the pictures, we only got video of that) but I really wanted to meet him again so I could ask him to sing "you're gonna love me" to Charli Beth. 45 mins later...it happened =)

At the end of the day after having my car hit then having a great time w/ my Mom and Charli meeting and hearing Chris play it was a great day.

(P.S. hear is a video of the release party!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl0q1PinNSo&feature=channel_page