Birth Story: Anniston Blake

My it has been a hot minute since I've blogged last. I guess this would be a good time to get Anniston's birth story written down before I forget it! She just turned 4 months this week so better late than never.

On December 4th, I was having contractions every 8-10 minutes apart. We called my mom to tell her to head this way thinking this was it! We loaded Brynn in the car and headed to the hospital and were going to have my parents meet us there to get her.

We went up to the maternity ward and they put me in triage. The monitors showed me contracting every 8 minutes so they had me walk around to see if my body would progress anymore. So I walked the hospital for about a hour and a half, unfortunately my body made no more progress and I got sent home.

I had a routine visit scheduled for December 6th and when I went in they told me I probably wouldn't make it till Monday. Which had me freaking out since we were expecting a huge snow storm that weekend. The doctor went ahead and stripped my membranes and sent me on my way. As a side note, I was still having contractions every 10-15 minutes. I was so ready to be done with being pregnant. 

Saturday came around, and that evening as we were making dinner my contractions started getting a little stronger and a little closer together. Because of the snow storm we were expecting to arrive that night and into the morning we decided we would rather be safe than sorry and head to the hospital. Especially since I had tested positive for  Group B strep and would need two rounds of the antibiotic.

When I got to the hospital they hooked me up, still having contractions, was 39 weeks, blood pressure was a little elevated, with the snow storm starting to arrive so they kept me and just decided to induce me! By the time they got me into Labor and Delivery it was 9pm and they started the first round of antibiotics. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful which was nice. I was missing Brynn so much though as this was the first time we had left her overnight. So to distract myself from that I watched "Dumplin" on Netflix and then tried to get some rest while I could. I will never forget the panic that set in when I heard the lady in the delivery room next to me screaming like she was dying. The nurse came in after and apologized and informed me that she had selected to have a natural birth.

Around 1 am they started the second round of penicillin and pitocin to get things rolling. They told me they would come to break my water around 8 if it hadn't happened yet. I remembered my contractions getting really intense and Brynn coming quickly after they broke my water so I asked if I could get an epidural before hand. They came in around 7 and started the process of giving me an epidural. It hurt so bad which I felt like it just felt like a bee sting with Brynn but this epidural worked so much better. But my body relaxes and does it's thing once I have it. They came in around 8am and broke my water. They always comment about how much water I have. They say I pretty much provide a swimming pool for my babies. I was 4 cm dilated. While I waited for things to progress a little more I looked out the window to see big white flurries coming down, I have to tell you this was the fanciest hospital I've ever been in.

I was starting to freak out because even after my water broke I could still feel Anniston up really high. The nurses came in again around 9:20 and said I was 8cm dilated, well as soon as the nurse walked out I felt Anniston drop and all of a sudden felt the need to push. Brad ran to go get the nurse again by this point it was about 9:30-9:45, the nurse was like I just checked her, but I'll come back in. All of a sudden my nurse was pushing every button, paging everyone to get in the room, and telling me to keep my legs closed and try not to push.

Before I started pushing my doctor asked for my final guess on weight, we were all guessing between 7-7.5 pounds. Well I pushed four times during one contraction and out came little miss Anniston at 10:04. She weighed in at 6lbs 5oz which caught everyone off guard, 19in long! I couldn't have asked for a better labor and delivery and we immediately fell in love with her tiny little body, dark hair, and dimples!

Perfect Parenting

It's a Sunday afternoon and of course that means everyone is napping but me. I was looking forward to a nap but our church gets out at such a weird time that I have a hard time actually falling asleep by the time we get home, eat lunch, and put Brynn down. We had a long busy day yesterday so everyone is feeling it, Brynn even slept in until 10 am this morning. Brad and Brynn have already been asleep for two hours and I'm running out of things to do SO...

I've had a lot on my mind so this post will most likely be a lot of word vomit that no one cares about. So if that's not your thing I suggest you stop reading now.

I feel like there is so much pressure to be the perfect mom. Maybe it's all in my head but I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who struggles with the feeling of needing to be perfect. You know the mom who never raises her voice at her kids. The mom who only feeds her kids balanced and organic meals. The mom who is in better shape after kids than she was before, who does their hair and makeup everyday. The mom who keeps a clean and organized house 24/7. The mom whose toddler can recite the ABC's, can count to 10, and knows all their colors because she sits down and gives them a hour long home school lesson each day.

I'm here to tell you I'm not that mom AT ALL.

I get so frustrated with myself when I raise my voice at Brynn. Oh, how I wish I were more patient with her. I often have higher expectations for her and have to remind myself that she's only 2 and although to me she seems so big, I realize how small she still is. She teaches me love and forgiveness on a daily basis. If we are being honest here, I HATE cooking. Most days Brad makes dinner and there have been days where Brynn has eaten more packets of fruit snacks than I care to admit.

Oh how I miss the days when I thought I was "fat". Although I didn't gain much weight with Brynn's pregnancy it TERRIFIES me to think of how much weight I could gain this time around. Mostly because I know how hard it is for me to lose it and I'm already starting off bigger. And what's the point of doing your hair and makeup and dressing all cute when in all reality you know your makeup makes your skin break out, that beautifully curled hair is just going to end up in a messy bun on the top of your head because it keeps getting in the way, and it's a lot easier to keep up with your wild toddler in leggings than it is in jeans and cute wedges.

If parenting has taught me one thing it's that comparison is the thief of joy. I am so guilty of comparing and I need to realize that every mom and child is different and that is OKAY. There have been many times where I've said "well Brynn can't do this or that like so and so can" instead of focusing on the things that she can do and does really well. No one feels good when their weaknesses are compared to someone else's strengths. And I certainly don't want to pass on my weakness of comparing the different aspects of my life to Brynn.

So if you are that mom, HUGE kudos to you (and please teach me all your tricks because I want to be that mom too!) But if you're like me and have your downfalls give yourself grace and realize you're doing better than you think you are.

Baby Number 2

I finally have some time to sit down and write about baby number 2! Between Brad's graduation, moving, and that first trimester fatigue, time has pretty much escaped me.

On Wednesday, April 4th, I was hit with some random nausea as I was running to the grocery store. We had been trying for months so I thought that maybe this was FINALLY it! I grabbed a pregnancy test while out and was coming up with all these ideas to surprise Brad when he got home from school. Well I took the test and it was NEGATIVE! Of course, I was bummed. Taking pregnancy tests are the absolute worsts. But I just marked it up as having a little bug or something. 

I called my mom the next day and just cried and cried about how I would probably never get pregnant again. I'm sure that sounds so ungrateful and many would say, "well at least you have one". I'm super thankful for Brynn and for the opportunity I had to carry her, but we also want to grow our family and give her at least one sibling if not more! But it will never be lost on me how blessed I am to have one child.

Anyways, Saturday morning Brad was cooking breakfast with Brynn and randomly said "I think you should take a pregnancy test". I told him I already did 3 days ago and it was negative. He convinced me to take another one. So I ran to the bathroom and so quickly those double lines show up, just like they did with Brynn. I was in shock!! I walked out to the kitchen and go up to Brynn and said "I hope you are ready to be a big sister" Brad was in shock and asked me if I was messing with him 2 or 3 times before he finally just went and saw the results for himself. 

The rest of that day was chaos as we ran to a few different stores trying to find a shirt that said "BIG SISTER" so we could send it to our families. The responses we got were hilarious as many of them didn't pick up on it at first.

We are so thrilled to be adding another baby to our family. I am 15 weeks and can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. Half the time I don't even feel pregnant but now that I've popped I'm starting to look it and that is a reminder for sure. haha. I was really blessed to not get sick this time around, just felt super tired all the time. Thankfully Brad had so much time off that he could watch Brynn while I took naps. We have another appointment next week and it will be with a new doctor so I'm secretly hoping we will get an ultrasound and get to find out the gender of this baby. I'm ready to start nesting! haha. Part of me thinks it's a boy just because this pregnancy has been so different but everyone else thinks it's another girl! We will be thrilled either way! 

TWO-TII-FRUITI

For Brynn's second birthday I went with a fruit themed party. Pinterest had so many cute ideas and although this was definitely not pinterest worthy I was really happy with the outcome.

We had planned on doing it outside by the pool and clubhouse at our complex but it ended up being such a stormy weekend so we decided to keep the party inside. So not everything turned out exactly how I wanted but overall I think it turned out pretty cute!

My mom made the cake and it turned out so cute! We were dying during the process though because we weren't quite sure how it was going to turn out. I was able to print the banner off of pinterest and cut some cupcake toppers with my silhouette. Thankfully Target had just put out their summer goodies in the dollar spot so I snagged a few ceramic pineapples to help with the decor.

Brynn loved having a party! We let her have a few sips of the punch we made and she was on a sugar high for the rest of the evening. She loved her balloons and presents but blowing out the candle was her favorite part for sure. She wanted us to sing happy birthday and blow out candles for the rest of the week!

They always say how fast the first year goes by but I say the year between one and two goes by even faster and is full of even more growth and development. We love our sweet two year old! She can be sassy but most of the time she is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. She loves playdoh, babies, and bubbles. Our favorite thing that she does is whisper "I love you" at just the right times. Random Fact: she is really good at sitting in time out, folds her arms the whole time and once the timer goes off she comes to you and says "sorry, happy girl" then gives you a big hug. She is potty trained and it's been the best thing to not have to change diapers these past few months. She loves Tangled and Beauty and the Beast. She loves to dance, sing wheels on the bus, and anything that involves water. We couldn't ask for a better toddler and can't believe how fast she is growing up. We are so thankful to be her parents. We love you, Brynn!

Introducing Dr. Brandon Schmidt, DMD

Well the day we have look forward to for the past 4 years has finally come! Brad graduated Dental School! We had such a great weekend celebrating him and all of the hard work he did to make it to this point.

On May 18th, we attended Brad's hooding ceremony! This was probably my favorite part of the weekend because it seemed much more personal since it was just the Dental School. It was a rainy and humid day but that didn't stop it from being a happy day.

Saturday was the actual commencement ceremony. I was dreading this day because it was supposed to be outside and last years ceremony lasted FOUR hours in the hot sun. Thankfully it was moved inside because of the stormy weather and a lot of the students from the other programs didn't show up so it ended up only being about 2.5 hours. I'm so thankful that my sweet friend was willing to watch Brynn at the last minute because it would've been a nightmare with her wanting to run all the stairs and with that many people around! 

I can't even express how proud I am of Brad. I love that he was able to achieve his dream of becoming a dentist and can't wait to see him succeed in his new career. I'm so impressed that he was able to balance so many roles while being a student. Dental school wasn't always the easiest for him but I'm so proud of him for pushing through and making the best of it. We are so excited to be moving on to the next chapter and have been enjoying all his time off before he starts working in July! 

April Recap

I can't believe it's already June and I'm just now posting about April. When you read the next few posts you'll realize why the blog got put on the back burner!

April was such a fun and busy month! We finished celebrating Easter and Conference Weekend. Brynn loved eating all the jelly beans that were in her basket! Girlfriend was pretty much on a sugar high all of April.

On April 7th we found out that we are expecting baby number 2! (more details here). So we spent the day trying to find a "big sister" shirt to take a picture and send to our families! Once we finally found a shirt we rushed home to take a picture while it was still light out but we got caught in the rain so just made the best of it!

Brad took his license exam for South Carolina and we were thrilled that he passed. We are so thankful that my mom came to watch Brynn so that I could be one of his patients. Plus we got to celebrate Brynn's birthday with a little party while she was still in town and my dad drove up so that he could be there too! See all the little details of her party here!

The following weekend Brad and I got a date night and attended his senior banquet where he won "most approachable" and "dad bod" award! It was fun to celebrate Brad and entertaining to watch all of his classmates.

I also got to babysit my sweet Ella for the day and brought Brynn along. It was so fun to see them play together. Ella taught Brynn the fun of playing dress up that day and now Brynn loves to put on princess/ballerina dresses and necklaces! Also, can we talk about how much Brynn looks like me in these pictures?! She's starting to look more and more like me!

And of course I'll end the post off by saying we spent lots of time at the beach! It's definitely our happy place and Brynn asks me almost every day if we can go there! Our little water baby is going to miss living here just as much as me!

March Recap

March really flew by! Let's be honest most of this year has flown because it's already almost time for me to do our April recap. So let's get to it.

Brynn and I started the month off by going to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday by attending a reading by Charlie the Riverdog at one of our local libraries. Brynn loved the dog from afar but had NO interest in getting close to that poor mascot. We tried to enjoy the nice weather as much as we could. The weather has been a little bi-polar here. Brad and I FINALLY finished a rocking horse that was given to us well over a year ago and Brynn has loved riding it and calls it a "good boy" haha. Also, I got a facial and it was amazing, seriously fell asleep in the chair. I might sound like a snob but I really love being pampered.

We tried to make the most out of spring break. Brynn of course got sick and the weather was pretty crummy. But we did eat some yummy food and explored our future hometown.

Would we really live in Charleston if we didn't take advantage of all the beaches nearby?! Trying to squeeze in every beach day that we can before we move to the mountains.

We celebrated St. Patricks Day, and by "celebrated" I mean I put a green mustache and green dress on Brynn, snapped a few pics, removed all things green, and then went about our day as normal. Such a fun mom, I know. haha.

Brynn transferred to her big girl bed and LOVED it. Seriously does so well in it. She hasn't even gotten out of it which was my biggest concern. That girl thrives on routine and schedule.

We ended the month by doing an Easter Egg Hunt and Brunch with some friends from our ward. March was a fun month but April definitely topped it because Brynn's SECOND birthday!