Christmas update...

Our little cheerleader would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas! I can't believe its almost been a month since I last posted. We are staying so busy. Time flies when you're having fun right? Grace has grown so much! We go Monday for her 8 week appointment, even though she turned 9 weeks yesterday. Don't know how that happened! Anyway, I'm anxious to see how much she weighs now. She is such a joy. Her little personality is starting to show. She is the most content, happy baby. We have tried really hard to follow most of the Babywise principals and she has fallen into a sleeping and eating schedule that is allowing me to get things done during the day and for her to finally start stretching it out some at night. I'm so proud of her! This is the picture we put on our Christmas card--one of the first smiles we could get on camera. Now she is grinning ear to ear and even shrieking some when she smiles. She is so cheesy sometimes! We are so excited to share our precious gift with our family at Christmas.

As Christmas is QUICKLY approaching, I hope you all enjoy your time with your family and make many wonderful memories. But remember in all the busyness why we celebrate. I think this Christmas has been so different already in that my heart is in such a peaceful place. Adam and I were remembering back to last Christmas. Selfishly, we were slightly depressed. It was really hard for us to stay focused on Christ's birth and celebrating that, b/c we were so desperately wanting a baby of our own. I was thinking a/b Mary the other day and what it must have been like to not only carry a miracle child, but the Savior of the world. To know that God chose you to carry his Son. I pray that I understand what a responsibility I have as a parent to teach Grace who Jesus is. That one day she will understand what a big deal Christmas is. That it isn't about presents. I look forward to hearing her little voice sing "Happy Birthday dear Jesus...". (We make Jesus a birthday cake and do this with my family.) Our biggest discussion lately has been if we will do Santa. We don't want her to think Jesus isn't real when she finds out that Santa isn't. As a child my mind never went there....but just something to ponder. I just really want her to get it. And don't want her heart to be clouded by anything else. Anyway, As the new year approaches, I am thankful for my miracle child this year. I am thankful that the Lord took us through all that he did. Our faith, marriage, and testimony is bigger and stronger than ever. I am thankful that he healed my body and that I am still seeing evidence of that. I am thankful that he is challenging us to bless others because it causes us to examine our own blessings which blows me away b/c we don't deserve them. Lastly, I am thankful for His Grace in my life. I have so far to go as a follower of Christ, a wife, and a mother. But I know he will take me there, one day at a time. We love you all and hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas. Take some time to thank God for sending His Son as a gift to redeem the world. He is ALL we need!

Tis the Season

I can not believe we are 2 days away from Thanksgiving! Where did October go? It seems like yesterday was halloween. O well! That just means Christmas is right around the corner! I can't wait for Grace's first Christmas! We've been doing a few things to get in the Christmas spirit with some of fun girlfriends and Grace's boyfriends. (We officially had our first confrontation a/b who Grace will end up with. Atticus or Jack?--Vanessa and Lauren, you can duke it out.) Grace and I met Vanessa and Atticus at "Doodles for You" to paint pottery. We made a few Christmas gifts and an ornament with Grace's footprint and 2009 on it. So cute! I can't wait to do one each year! They babies were so good! So slept mostly and didn't even fuss when they got their feet painted!

The next day Lauren, John Parker, and Jack went to Dazzle Days with us where we met up with Vanessa and Atticus. We did a little shopping. Lots of fun vendors with adorable kids stuff. (Dazzle Days is more than kids stuff but thats all I spend my $ on these days!) I bought Grace a crochetted hat to wear with her Christmas outfits and a bow for Thanksgiving. Also I found this really cute brand of t-shirts called Sweet Tee Couture. http://www.sweetteecouture.com/ I bought two shirts to wrap up for Grace for Christmas. My favorite is one that says "Souther Chic" in pink! It was fun to just get out for the day with the girls and our little ones! We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving day in Beebe with Adam's family. Many of them haven't met Grace yet so we are excited to introduce her to them! Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your family and friends and all the Lord has blessed you with!

Grace is one month old!

Well, I can't believe we've hit the one month mark! Grace celebrated her 1 month birthday on Saturday. We didn't do anything special. Just had a family day and took some pictures of our growing girl. She's doing great and changing everyday. I thought I'd better share the highlights of the first month before I forget!
*At 2 weeks old Grace started staying awake about 15 to 20 minutes after she would eat. Now she's awake 45 min to sometimes an hour and a half. Its so fun to see her being so observant now that she can see further. She has the biggest brightest blue eyes! I can't wait to see if they'll stay blue or change.
*On the night of her 1 month birthday Grace slept for 6 hours straight! Mommy and Daddy loved getting the long stretch of sleep and were so proud of her! Its almost like she was trying to show us what a big girl she was! Of course she hasn't done it again since but I'm still so thankful for that restful night :)
*Grace has been on two playdates this month. Her first was with her friend Atticus Simmons. His mommy, Vanessa, is my sweet friend I met through Junior Auxiliary. We actually had the same due date originally until mine got moved up a couple days. Turns out Atticus couldn't wait on Grace b/c he came 2 weeks earlier than her. I've been so thankful for all of Vanessa's advice. I think I texted her 100 times the first week we were home because I knew she had just been through it all. Grace's second play date was with Noah and Ally Foster. Their mom Shannon is such a great friend...she brought me Chic-fil-A for lunch on Friday and then we took the kids to the park in our neighborhood. The kiddos enjoyed meeting Grace. Ally said Grace was "cute". She waited a long nine months to meet her new play buddy. I can't wait to see these two sweet girls grow up together!

That's about it for this month! We go to the doctor on Wednesday so Grace can get her next Hepatitis shot. I really hope I don't cry. The last time mommy watched her girl get poked with a needle the guy drawing her blood asked me if I was OK and gave me a tissue. yikes. I was only 7 days post-partum though so hopefully this visit will be smoother! Say a prayer for me :)

Grace's first halloween

Just a quick post to show a picture of Grace on her first halloween. We didn't go trick or treating, just had a quick photo shoot this morning after her bath. Adam's parents, siblings, and grandparents came down for the day. It was really fun to introduce Belinda's parents to Grace for the first time. I love how they made such a big deal out of her even though this is their 8th or 9th great grand child!!! But who could resist this sweet little ballerina??

Grace's first photoshoot

Is she not the most beautiful thing ever? Grace was such a good girl at her newborn photo shoot. Aunt Bella came down for the day to go with me to take Grace to have her pictures taken by a friend of a friend, Karen Fulgham, who has a studio in her home. She did an amazing job! I'm having such a hard time choosing which one I want to use for birth announcements as well as which to order just to have! If the little pumpkin wasn't so stinkin' cute it would be so much easier! I can't believe how much she has changed in 2 weeks. She already looks like such a big girl! Anyway, just wanted to share all the gorgeous photos with you all. Maybe you can tell me your favorite so I can have some help deciding on a birth announcement photo?

Go to www.karinfulghamphotography.com. Click on online ordering. The password to view our pictures is "Grace".

1 Week Old

Quick update on Grace's progress. We went to her 1 week well child visit this morning and the little piggy has gained 1 pound since Saturday! Mommy's so proud! AND she's grown an inch! Looks like those big feet are meaning she might be a tall one? Who knows! We are just so thankful for a good report. The pediatrician said now would be a good time to start pumping and giving her 1 to 2 bottles a day. Looks like daddy gets to start helping with the night shift on the weekends and Meme and Pops and Sugar and Poppy will be able to babysit so we can go on a date! WOOHOO!!! Looking forward to playing with Uncle Dave, Aunt Jill, and Clarke this weekend! Other than that nothing new. Hope you all have a blessed day!

Labor and Delivery (sorry it turned into a novel) :)

Hello friends! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers this past week. We are settling in nicely at home and look forward to seeing you all soon so you can meet Grace. I wanted to take a few minutes to sit and record my labor and delivery story because I haven't gotten a chance to share it with many of you, as well as the fact that it all seems like a blur to me so I need to record it before I can't remember anything!
As some of you may know we were induced on Wed., Oct. 14, one day after Grace's due date. All along I really didn't want to induce, but now I am so thankful that we did. Adam and I woke up at 4:45 to prepare to head to the hospital. We had to check in at 6am. We signed a few papers and they took us to our room to get settled. I immediately got my IV's and was started on pitocin around 7:30am. I was very comfortable, having steady contractions every 5-6 minutes, that really weren't very uncomfortable. My best friend Elizabeth Ray (Grace's namesake) arrived at this point to cheer us on! It was so special to have her with me! At about 8:30am my OBGYN, Dr. Andrew Cole, came by to check on my progress. I had been holding at 3cm and 80% effaced for about 3 weeks and was still at this point when he checked me so we decided to break my water to get the ball rolling. Dr. Cole seemed concerned b/c there was evidence of meconium (baby's first bowl movement) in the water. This is normal for about 1/3 of pregnancys but he seemed very concerned about the thickness and amount, so he called for the pediatrician on call, Dr. Hopp, to be present for the birth. Adam and I were immediately very concerned and began praying immediately for the Lord to protect our little angel because if inhaled, the meconium in the lungs can lead to pneumonia. From this point my contractions started happening every 2-3 minutes and lasting 45 sec.-1 min. I was very uncomfortable and asked for my epidural which Trae Martin, a nurse anesthetist administered about 45 minutes later. Immediate relief! The nurse checked me again (9:15am) and I had progressed from 3cm to 6cm within that short 45 minutes and couldn't believe we could have our baby so soon! Once I was comfortable family and friends came by to visit and hang out as we waited. Over the next 4 hrs I progressed from 6cm to 9cm and sat at 9 until about 1:00pm. The nurse checked me again at 1:15 and said I was at 10cm and it was time to push! They called for Dr. Cole and Dr. Hopp, and about 30 minutes and 7-8 pushes later Grace Elizabeth Harrell made her grand entrance into this world! All 7lbs. 8oz. and 19 1/2 inches of her! She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! Dr. Hopp began working on her to clean out her lungs. Once he got everything clear they told us she did great and we should have no worries. Praise the Lord for such amazing doctors! He really had his hand protecting both of us that day! Adam was an amazing coach. He stayed calm the entire time when I was so worried about Grace. Everytime I got upset and worried he sat beside me and prayed and the Lord would give me a peace. I couldn't have done it without him and I'm so proud of the amazing father he is. Well, I just wanted to share our story of the labor journey (sorry it wasn't so short afterall!) and thank you all for supporting us and praying for us! More updates soon!

Baby Grace Update Coming Soon!

Grace Elizabeth Harrell

Born: October 14th, 2009

Time: 1:44 p.m.

Weight: 7lbs. 8oz.

Length: 19 1/2 in. long