Whatever it takes...

Its getting cold here... it would be wonderful to fit into one of my nice cozy winter coats... but that is just unrealistic right now. A friend of mine told me to just wear one of Dustin's coats... so finally, after freezing in the snow & wind yesterday, I gave in... I would take a nice little photo of my get up but... you might crack a rib laughing at me... so I won't do that! :)

But yes, it did snow here yesterday!

SEE!



Isn't that just so fun! It didn't stick at all, and by mid afternoon there were no signs of winter... just cold wind!

On another note, We've got our registry online... somewhat... We are registered at Babies R Us... but there was quite a few other things that I wanted to register for that weren't available at "BRUS" so I found this cool web site and begun our online registry!

Check it out here

Today I had my 35 weeks and 5 days appt... :) Technically, 36 weeks... I don't remember how much I weighed... :-/ but I will tell you that I am progressing quicker than with Prissy...

During this week, LAST PREGNANCY, I showed no dilation and 10% effaced. This week, THIS PREGNANCY (obviously) I am 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. :) WOO HOO! Dr. Pestoff did say that Braelyn is still way up there and has really yet to drop... and that alot of 2nd time mothers drop later than they do with the first child... her exact words... she may just slip right on out... I thought, great! with a 55 minute drive to the hospital... she better not be just slipping right out! HA!

Here is how big I am....




Here is a pic of how big I was this time with Miss Priss...




:) Fun stuff!

WOW, no blogging on my end for a while... tisk tisk... yes I know.

Lets start at the very beginning... a very good place to start... when you read you being with ABC, when you sing you begin with Do-Re-Me... : )


Okay, enough Sound of Music.

Last post was October 13th... What has happened since then? (Checking my calender) 8-/ Wow-- two weeks since a post... sorry folks!

Well, First, we decided that Couper was house trained enough to start spending the nights outside of his kennel... So we bought him a dog bed... Poor Couper, Prissy would barely let him get in it!




Pressley got a hold of my scarf... she thought she was something else, walking around the house in her jammies and scarf... She's such a diva.





This past weekend, we decided to get out of the house for a family trip through Pisgah and around the Blue Ridge Parkway... We had SO much fun! Dustin and I hadn't done anything like that before, and so it was a neat memory for us! We drove through Etowah, and ate at this YUMMY place called Ed Bordeaux Bayou BBQ... it was delish! Luckily, they have one in Asheville so we will be back! Driving through Pisgah National Forest was really neat too... the trees were beautiful, and the waterfalls were stunning! WOW! We hit the Blue Ridge Parkway and got out to stretch our legs and boy were the Lady Bugs out... It must have been mating season for them or something.... Heres a sweet pic




As you can tell, Prissy enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the car...



Finally, we stopped off at Babies R Us to go potty, change diapers and look around at any new and exciting baby product! We firmed up our stroller purchase too!

Here is a quick little slideshow for the last year of our daughters birth to her first birthday!



p.s. one of our customers just brought me brownies! YUM!

This morning, Pressley got up a little earlier than normal for a weekend morning... 6:30 a.m. (we've not got up that early on a weekend in a LONG time) Yesterday she slept till almost 9:00 a.m. which was quite nice for us too! But I guess I'm being a little "nostalgic"--- is that the word??? The last year has really flown by... we had a brand new baby this time last year, one that had these tiny cries, and who's diapers were the size of half a piece of bread... who loved to be swaddled tightly and sleep all day long! She has changed so much this first year, looking at her now, sitting in her high-chair eating her dry cheerios it almost makes me want to cry (no, its not the hormonal pregnancy tears... but true tears) Since I am at home, and we only have dial up I can't do it, but I'll add a little slide show of her month by month so you can look back with us and enjoy all her changes too! I didn't fill any one in her first year doctors appointment either! We met with her Dr. last Monday... she wasn't quite sure about him at first but found his pager and cell phone and thought he was pretty cool after that! She is in the 98% for her height. As far as weight goes she was more around the 75%... He told us we could start her on milk... so we tried this week... and her poor little tummy didn't like it at all... I am going to have to call because I am worried that she has a milk allergy like most of us do in this family... He also said that it looks like her molars seem to be about ready to start cutting through. Woopie!

That was about it before the nurse swooped into give her the shots.. :-/ No good! She didn't mind the finger prick, but the three shots she got didn't go so well... poor things!

That's all from here, I'm sure I'll post more through out the week... but as for now. TTYL BFF's! :)

Dustin and I have had this little motto for a while, and its been on the blog, but I've never really expanded on it. "Whatever it takes"... Having been married only a short time, and having a little one too, life is tough! I know, I know--- Everyone's life is tough in its own way, or it could always be alot tougher than it is now. But over the last few weeks, Dustin and I have been trying to focus only on positive things... removing the negative...

wow, where am I going with this? I started out talking about doing "whatever it takes" then jumped to being positive. : )
Maybe I'm supposed to write about both...

Whatever it takes-- so as I said before, Dustin and I started saying this when we were both so tired and didn't have any more to put into doing something... but finishing what we were doing was important... or if I didn't want to do something for Dustin... but he needed me to do it, I made the promise to him to do "whatever it takes" and he promised the same to me. We both hope that we can instill this principle into the children... that they can look back on their lives and say that their Mom and Dad loved each other and them so much that they would do whatever it took to make a difference. : ) That is a legacy I'd love to leave...

Onto the next, being positive--- also, another great legacy! With so much bad happening around the world, it can be so easy to get wrapped up in sad things... Its sad that the only thing on the new these days is bad news. It has got to the point where Dustin and I don't even turn the news on in the morning so we can start our day off on a good, happy note! I know that it is important to know what is going on in the world around you--- but really, is it necessary to do a news broadcast of a murder every night of the week... or the fatal crash that killed a family of 5? Yes, people do need to be informed or those things... but to focus so much of your time and attention on it?

For the last couple of days, our water supply has been getting smaller and smaller... did our well run dry, you ask? No-- if it had then the other houses would be effected too... so maybe its the pump... who knows... either way- last night was our first official night with out running water. No dishes or clothes can be washed (yay for not having to do them...), no showers/baths can be given (yuck)... and the list goes on. So what do you do when you want a cup of coffee so bad you'd kill for it? --- run down to the "crick" and boil ya some!?! ---um, no! Luckily, I had a few water bottles filled up in the fridge to get my caffeine fix for the morning... but man is it a bummer when you don't have water... I never realized how much I relied on it! It is huge! Making a bottle is tough with out it... However, I'm sure Couper enjoyed his fresh spring water! Today, before heading back to the sticks, I'll pick up a few gallons at the grocery store!!-- that should work until we get things working again!

Funny story, I had to get ready at the YMCA today--- shower, hair, make-up... the whole nine yards... boy was that an experience! I have never had to get ready in public place before and there are somethings I learned that I thought I would share with you.

1. Don't forget to pack a towel if you're getting a shower away from home. Yeah, that wasn't too enjoyable, realizing I didn't have a towel
2. Wear your blinders while in the ladies dressing room... those old ladies are relentless when it comes to talking in the showering area--- naked. GAG!
3. If you're planning on blow drying your hair--- don't forget your brush!

All in all, it was a fairly un-eventful trip... I never realized how nice it was to take a shower in a big shower stall with lots of hot water and A GREAT DEAL OF WATER PRESSURE! I think I may sneak back tomorrow just for those things! ... but I'll be prepared with my towel & hairbrush, & make sure that I don't look to friendly while walking into the dressing rooms!

Wow, I can't believe that it has been 1 year since we had Pressley! This year has flown by so fast... I never knew how much being a Mother would bless my soul. She is such a wonderful little girl, and each day is heart warming to know that God let us borrow her for this time... and that I am her "Mamma." Both Dustin and I are truly blessed with her... and we can't wait to meet Braelyn.

For Pressley's birthday, we invited several of our friends to Fun Depot--- a huge conglomeration of activities for children... Some people said that she was too young to enjoy something like Fun Depot, but if you were there, you would know she had a blast! I have never seen her so excited! From the yummy pizza (her favorite food) to the wonderful Cake that Jane made to the bright colors of the kiddie rides to the soft play area- everything was just perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better day for our girl! Thank you to all who were able to come out and celebrate the birth of our daughter!

Here are some pictures for those of you who didn't make it!

Thanks for playing little piggies with me... please carry on the tradition with our girls...

Love you-
J