The First Days

So here is our daughter....Evelyn June. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 20 in long! She came a whole week late, much to my dismay. Now, looking back I am very grateful she was a week late because that led to her being a very good nurser and she sleeps like a rockstar (*sometimes*).

The first day in the hospital was quite a blur of visitors, getting used to my numb leg and trying to wrap our minds around the fact that we have a daughter! After she made her quick entrance to the world she decided she wanted to let us know that she has a voice. She cried for about the first hour of her life! I thought it was great, I knew she would adjust to the world quite well! You have to have a voice to be heard as you grow up ( I might regret saying this later on). Jordan, the proud daddy, gave her a good first bath. He did such a good job with it being the first time he has really been around/touched a newborn baby!

When she first came out, we didn't really know what we were going to name her. We had a couple girl names narrowed down, but we wanted to get a good look at her once she was cleaned up and then we would decide. After studying her features and having some alone time with the three of us, we decided on Evelyn June. Evelyn we have always loved and it happens to be my pappy's aunt's name (my great-great aunt) and June was my great-grandmothers name. I was lucky to know my great grandma until she died when I was in high school, so naming our daughter after her has some extra special meaning to me!

After failing my first attempt to get out of bed (almost passed out), and getting more fluid and having a little more time in our labor & delivery room, we were moved up to our post-partum room! And boy did the visitors start coming then! My co-workers were excite to come up and visit us, as was family and friends. Evelyn is the first girl on either side of Jordan and I's families, so she is quite the hit, people were very excited to buy us clothes and other fun girl things!

Evelyn adjusted to eating and being in the world very well. Our first night in the hospital with her we were very anxious to get some sleep. It was Monday night and we had been up since Sunday morning at 9am! We had been running on adrenaline for 36 hours and were about to crash. With a little baby who wasn't quite full and would love to have a bit more in her belly than I was able to give her, we were SO thankful for the nursery and the nurses willing to watch over her for us while we rested!

Family of 3 heading home for the first time! 

The next morning we woke up and felt ready to take on the world (or so we thought!) My doctor came in and since things were going so well with me and with Evelyn, as long as the pediatrician approved Evelyn to go home, we were going to be home free that day! She was born early enough in the morning that 24 hours old for her worked out well for us to go home in the early afternoon. I was a little sad we weren't going to be able to use the nursery again that night to get one last night of good sleep, but I was sooo excited to get home and start figuring life out as a family of 3!

Evelyn in her car seat for the first time

We were so grateful for the quick & uneventful hospital stay enjoying family & friends visiting with our beautiful little daughter. We are absolutely smitten with her and just couldn't wait to start our life at home!

Showered with Love

Today was our first baby shower. Let me just say, that no amount of "thank you" "you're the best" or any other words can begin to sum up how I feel.

The GREAT Grandma's-to-be! 

It is absolutely un-comphrendable how much love was felt today. There are far too many people to list to say thank you, but just know that every person who played apart in today is forever sealed in my memory and I will be forever grateful for all you did for us. My mom, my "cousin-in-law" Carrie and my sisters, Katie & Michelle, went above and beyond my wildest dreams for an amazing baby shower! The setting was absolutely perfect for a shower at the Lawton Community Center, a quaint little museum/reception hall/banquet facility was so stunning. The food was amazing and the cake was to die for! The games were fun and everybody really enjoyed themselves from start to finish.

My beautiful bridal party almost 3 years later! 

So many people came from all parts of my life, with really means the most to me. All of my bridesmaids (& flower girl) were able to come, which brought back so many happy memories. Friends from work, family friends, lifelong besties, family, and grandmas all made the journey to come celebrate our new beginning as parents. Some others weren't able to make it for a variety of reasons and even though they weren't physically present, I know they were with us in thoughts and would have loved to join us had they been able to.

The Grandmas-to-be! 

The amount of gifts and love blew me away today. Seriously. And then I got home and it blew me away even more to see it all in our house. Jordan couldn't believe it when I opened up the back end of our car and he saw all the lovely things. But at the end of the day, and for many years down the road, we won't necessarily remember the gifts, but we will remember how much love we felt and how this day made us feel. In the end its not about the gifts, the party location, or the food, but its about family and friends coming together to celebrate a new little life! We are forever grateful for everything that everybody did for us today. I am still in shock that we are this fortunate to have so many people surrounding us with love at this time in our lives. So many things are going to change for us, but we know that our family and friends will always be there to love us and support us anyway they can. With this many happy feelings filling me up today, its crazy to think that we still have 2 more showers with more family and friends! My heart just might explode with gratefulness in the next month!

The best days

It seems that life has a funny way of making you grateful for everything you have. 

There hasn't been one incident in particular that has really impacted me lately, there is just this little life inside of me, being a constant reminder of how precious and fragile life is. Like I talked about in an earlier post, I am very fortunate to have had the pregnancy I've had. I won't even begin to start down the list of why I'm grateful , but I just know that there are far too many things that can go wrong, and even though I am not out of the woods, I know that I am truly grateful for every healthy day that I do get. 

I've been thinking about all the destruction, death and hate that are going on in our world right now. I wonder if is much different than in the past. I mean I know that sounds a little silly because there are more ways it seems to easily kill massive amounts of people with one explosion. But how does living in such a technology centered world affect our perception of crime? We all know that big news stories about murders, wars and other bad things all get more air time. With every part of our lives being so accessible with a click of a button, I just wonder if we are just more aware of the evil that people can possess. I don't know, just a thought. 

And then I think about how blessed I am to have all the family and love I could have ever imagined. Seeing all these devastating stories on the news doesn't make me lose hope for mankind, it makes me think of the good that may come out of these situations. How people come together to help their neighbors and are more generous to each other. How people are influenced by a loved ones unexpected death and are moved to start a charity, or pledge to live their lives to the fullest because their loved one can't. People may be lead back to their religion, or volunteer more. I just think that sometimes you can't appreciate all the good in your life without realizing that there are awful things that can happen. 

Now I'm not saying that all these tragedies are good by any means. All I'm saying is that we need to all take a step back and see what good we can do without a tragedy. Why do we need something bad to happen in our lives, country or world for us to do good? Everyday I try to make the best of each day. I always try to go out and be happy and put a smile on somebody's face. I might make a fool of myself and be a little silly with things, but I don't see a reason to sit and feel sorry for myself for having a bad day. Sure, I have bad moments or times when I am stressed out and not acting as kind to my loved ones as I should, but I really try to stay positive and focus on the good in the world. I hope that other people can notice that in me and I'm not just blowing smoke up my own butt to make myself feel better about my outlook on life. 

Maybe I am infinitely happy that I am going to be a mommy and my husband is going to be the best daddy in the whole world to our little babe. Maybe I'm not quite right in the head (I know I'm probably not, but who is?). Maybe I just want to share a smile and make a difference in somebody's day. Maybe I am filled with so much peace because I know my Lord and Savior died for me and everyone else so that we can have a second chance. Whatever it is that is making me so happy, I'm just going to soak it up and enjoy it. There may be a day coming when I'm sleep deprived and my little babe won't stop screaming that I may find it hard to see the joy. But I pray that no matter my circumstance, I always will find happiness, love and joy in each and every day, because I know there are far too many people who wish they had one more day.