First Bath

I love having moms in my life that know all the cool products to make your life easier that us new moms have no clue about!

The "Blooming Bath" is one of my favorite things ever! It is super soft and will fit in any sink!

My cousin, Britt, had also given us this little frog thing that you use for their first baths and it just covers their little bodies....if we didn't have it, she would have been screaming the whole time. But as soon as you put it over her she immediately stops! It just keeps their little bodies from being so cold! Thanks Brittie!!

Not too sure what to think!

Still a little unsure...

Sweet baby!

Loved that when we got her hair really wet it started to curl!!

Our Life in Pictures

There is no way I can try to write a post for all the pictures that I have taken over the last 6 weeks so I am going to do a picture post because some of them are too cute not to share :)

Our owl hat that a sweet friend made us is a little big!

After our first sponge bath

Josh and I were laughing because it looks like she still thinks she is inside me with the way she is all in a little ball!

Ready for the youth to come have GROUP at our house so everyone could met her

I LOVE all her little facial expressions!

Soooo tiny!

:)

There are no words for this one.

She makes me laugh everyday!!

WOW! Looking back I can't believe how much she has already changed and grown! 

I know they say that it goes by so fast, and I knew it would, but man it goes by REALLY FAST!!

I can not wait to watch her grow and see what she will be like! 

Josh and I are so in love and are so blessed!!

Fire Department Baby Shower

Josh and I are surrounded by amazing people. We are both blessed to have jobs we love and wonderful co-workers. The Brownfield Fire Department had planned us a diaper shower---little did we know that Hensley would get to be at the shower :)  

So we ventured out a week after she was born to go meet everyone. We had the sweetest shower with a cute cake, lots of diapers and great fellowship. 

Thank you, Brownfield Fire Department! Y'all are the best!

Our cute cake

Little Miss Priss on her first outing to meet people

Family picture :)

Kate posing for the camera

Cute girls :)

Going Home

After much debate on whether to go ahead and stay the extra day in the hospital or go home and sleep in our own beds--we decided we were ready to try it on our own (with the help of my mom :) ) and go home and start our little life~!

We left the hospital on Wednesday evening with our sweet little angel. Poor girl though, didn't really have anything that fit that great so she was kinda swallowed by her outfit, especially her hat! Sorry Hensley!!!

Her little owl outfit

Hensley and Josh--excited to be going home

Her hat was HUGE!!! 

First family picture

Daddy's Girl

One of the things that attracted me to Josh was his way with kids. He was great with them. They loved him. I knew that he was going to make the world's best daddy. In fact, that is one of the reasons I was so excited to start having kids--I couldn't wait to see him as a father. My heart would melt seeing him with nieces and nephews and cousins kids so I knew with our kids it was going to be that much more special. 

Boy was I right!! Laying in the hospital bed wasn't too horrible because this was my view most of the time!

Tell me those aren't the most precious pictures you have ever seen! And that she isn't the most blessed little girl to have him for a dad!

And not a lot has changed since we've been home...

I am so thankful for this amazing man, the husband he is to me, and the father I know he will be to our kids. 

I can't wait for many, many more memories and moments where he completely melts my heart!

I love you, Josh Tanner Hawthorne!!

Meeting the Family

I only had a few pictures on my camera of Hensley getting to meet her family. And there are lots that I missed out on getting a picture of, which makes me super sad. I didn't get one of my parents or sisters and some of Josh's family. But here are the ones I did get :)

Cousins 6 months apart!

Little bit of a size difference

I don't think Gentry knew what to think!!!

That is a yawn--she isn't screaming

The look on Gentry's face just cracks me up!

All the cousins on my side...I can't wait to see what the future holds!

I think Rett was tired of taking pictures

Mimzie and Pappy, Josh's parents

Pappy with his first granddaughter

Meeting her cousin, Hayes Hawthorne

My heart is overflowing with joy looking back through these pictures. We are so blessed to have such amazing family. I can not wait to see what the future holds--I know God has great things in store!

Hensley Sue Hawthorne

Instead of trying to write down everything about the first few days of little Miss Hensley's life, I thought I would just do a few blogs full of pictures!! 

I am EXTREMELY sad to say I don't remember any of the first few hours of her life. Unfortunately, when they knock you out it takes a while for that to wear off. 

I do remember waking up in recovery to my husband sitting there waiting on me to wake up.  I remember him telling me that she was here and she was perfect. Since they knocked me out he didn't get to come into the room either which he was really upset about. They did bring her in to recovery to nurse (which is all a blur) and then immediately took her back to the nursery to finish cleaning her up and checking her out. They didn't bring her back for an hour or two.

These first few pictures are so special to me because it is all the things I missed out on. I wish I could have seen the look on Josh's face in person because it completely melts my heart. She is beyond blessed to have this man for a daddy!

Wheeling her down to the nursery

Proud daddy

Showing her off to his parents and brother

Totally and completely in love

*I wish I could say that I labored for hours and had a reason to look this great, but I didn't! My only reason is that I took a shower before coming and that is how my hair dries when it air dries--beautiful I know. But since it was my first picture with her I decided to set aside my vanity and post anyways :) 

The two loves in my life

A Plan Of Her Own

Looking back over the last 3 weeks it is hard to even put in to words all that has happened. It is kinda all a blur---in a good way. But I will do my best :)

On Sunday morning, October 21st, I was laying in bed waiting for Josh to get home from work before I started gettin ready for church. When Josh got home we decided to stay home from church because my lower back was killing me and I just wasn't feeling that great. We didn't really think anything about it. I had run errands all day in Lubbock the day before and figured I had just wore myself out. I talked to my mom at some point that morning and she mentioned that my grandma's labor started in her back. I still thought---yeah right, I still have 4 more weeks. 

But since the seed was planted I started to wonder a little. I told Josh I wanted to call the doctor just to make myself feel better. When the nurse asked me if the pain was coming and going and I answered yes, she proceeds to ask me how often this is happening. I said, "Um, I'm supposed to be timing this?!?" Yes, I did feel like a clueless first time mother. Anways, long story short she told me she would come up to the hospital just to be checked out! WHOA! We headed up there, got hooked up to the monitors, were told I was dilated to a 2 but having NO contractions, and a rude doctor informed me that I was not in active labor and we could go home.

So off we went home feeling silly for even making the trip up there. But with this little scare we decide maybe we need to get it in gear and get a few things ready just in case she decides to make her debut sooner than November 17th. We do laundry, pack bags, get car seat ready, all in between me laying on the couch with a heating pad because my back hurt so bad....then we head off to bed.

1:30 a.m.--I wake up to a gush of water soaking me and promptly yell at Josh that "OH MY GOSH, we are having a baby TODAY!!"

We gather up our stuff, get in the car and head to the hospital. At this point I am still not having any contractions and don't until we are halfway to the hospital!

We get to the hospital about 2:30 a.m., get checked in and settled. They check me out and tell us that the baby is still breech and I am already dilated to a 6. By about 3:00 a.m. we are informed I would be having a c-section since she is still breech, they have called our doctor, they are prepping the operating room and we will be having a baby soon. I remember looking at the nurse and saying, "How soon is soon?!" She just smiles and says, "About 30 minutes to an hour". Holy smokes!

I am so thankful for Josh---he is so laid back and calming that it was easy not to get freaked out that it was all happening so fast. We let grandparents know that she was not wasting anytime getting here and said a little prayer for peace and that everything went well.

They took me back to the operating room where Josh had to wait outside while they got me all ready. They gave me my spinal and got me settled on the bed where they waited for it to kick in. I feel my legs go numb and my rear---then all of a sudden I feel a pinch on my stomach. I immediately let them know about it! They decided to give me a few more minutes and pinched me again---which I still felt. They tilted my bed back so it would move up my body then pinched me again---I STILL felt it. I remember them all looking each other like "this is not supposed to happen".

Needless to say, they had to put me under and Josh couldn't come in the room but when I woke up this is what I saw....

Our sweet baby girl was here!

Hensley Sue Hawthorne

October 22, 2012

4:36 a.m.

6 lbs 1 oz

19 inches long

She is absolutely perfect!

36 Weeks

(I am writing this blog over 2 weeks late but I am going to try and remember how things happened :) )

I can't believe we are only 4 weeks away! I told my father-in-law though it is not fair because as of now I am 36 weeks along...if you do the math and divide by 4 that equals 9 months...which is how long women are supposed to be pregnant, right? WRONG! I don't know where that came from but we are pregnant for 10 months!! Blah. I am starting to get pretty uncomfortable and people keep telling me that there is no way I am making it to November 17th--we will see I guess!

I did get quite a bit done returning stuff and purchasing some things that I knew we were missing. We are getting super excited!

**There is no picture for this week unfortunately---you will see why in the next few posts** :)

How far along: 36 weeks

Size of Sweet Pea: The size of a honeydew

Maternity clothes: Yes, and those seem to be getting too small! :)

Weight gain: About 27 pounds

Gender: A sweet baby GIRL!

Movement: Still constantly and rather strong!

Sleep: Not too great but still not horrible

Food cravings: Nothing really

Anything make you sick or queasy: Nope!

What I miss: Sleeping comfortably all night. Being able to sit normally and still be able to breathe! Being able to wear my wedding ring.  Walking without waddling :)

Symptoms: The belly hasn't stopped growing. My fingers and toes are swelling a little.

Wedding rings on or off: Off :(


Mood: Excited! Can't believe it is getting so close!
Best Moment of the week: We went back to the doctor on Wednesday the 17th and got to see our precious baby girl. She is still breech though and hoping she turns in the next few weeks!

ONE MONTH!!

Holy smokes I can not believe it---today I am ONE MONTH from our due date~! We are one month away from meeting our precious baby girl! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am.

We went to the doctor today and our precious Hensley is being a little stubborn and still has not turned yet. Luckily, my doctor is really laid back and is not concerned about this. She said that she still has plenty of time to flip and as Josh and I were discussing, we actually think she is quite smart---who would want to flip really early and have to be upside down for so long?!?! Can you tell we are already "those" parents who don't think that their child does wrong! :) Just kidding--we are really just joking about it to keep from being concerned. Of course I would rather her be in the perfect position but I am really not too worried! I'm just VERY thankful for Dr. B! She is awesome and assured me that I didn't need to go google ways to make her flip and start standing on my head or anything crazy!

So we are not worried but we are saying our prayers she will turn and be ready to meet us when the time is right! We are now counting down the WEEKS instead of MONTHS till she gets here. I know it will be DAYS before we can blink so I am really trying to enjoy this last month of pregnancy.

We still have a few things to get done to prepare for her arrival and I'm sure before too long the hospital bags will be packed and by the door :) Most of the stuff that needs to be done though has nothing to do with her---it is just stuff Josh and I have been putting off and I'd really like it to be done before her arrival! I am even hoping to finish up all, or at least most, of the Christmas shopping!

So the countdown begins and the race is on to see how much Josh and I can accomplish in the next month!! WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!

Pumpkin Painting

As I have mentioned, Josh and I got to go home this past weekend for our last trip. We got to celebrate Colt turning 3 and Gentry getting baptized! It was such a blessed weekend and I enjoyed every second of it.

My mom let me borrow her good camera so I actually have pictures to share besides the weekly one of my belly :) I didn't take it into church but I did get some pretty cute ones of the kids painting pumpkins at the party! They were precious and did a pretty darn good job if I say so myself!

Cole waiting for instructions on painting pumpkins

Rett listening to what Rebecca is telling them

Let the painting begin!

I just love this little birthday boy!

Emma making her pumpkin pretty

Colt really wanted to touch all that wet paint :)

 

CHEESE!!

Emma posing with her final product

Rett still working on his pumpkin

Another picture of sweet Emma

Colt's adorable and DELICIOUS birthday cake!

 

Happy Birthday, Colt Landers Wann!! You are seriously the funniest kid I have ever met! I am so blessed to be your aunt! I can not believe you have already been on this earth for 3 years! You have brought SO much joy and laughter into our lives! Can not wait to see you continue to grow and the man you will become~!

 

**Sidenote/Cute story: Today I called my sister to ask her a question and Colt gets on the phone and is chatting with me. Out of the blue he asks, "Is Fweet Pea here yet?!" Totally melted my heart! He usually says cute/funny stuff on the phone but it is prompted by his momma telling him to say something. This was all on his own and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. I can't wait for "Fweet Pea" to be here and loved by her older cousins!!**