A few more hospital pictures

We had so many wonderful friends, in addition to our family, visit us while I was in the hospital. We had close to 30 of our friends stop by to meet our precious girl. I wish I had done a better job of getting pictures of all our visitors. We are so thankful for our sweet friends who stopped by to check on us and to meet Jillian. :)

My mom and sister had this bow made for my hospital room door the morning after Jillian was born. It made it much easier to find our room. It had her name, birth date, weight and length on it. It was really cute and a great keepsake from her birth. This was the table in my room. It had flowers, a basket of cookies and Jillian's baby book on it for people to sign. These beautiful flowers came the morning after Jillian was born from my sweet friend, Jenna! They were such a wonderful surprise! These were the super cute cookies that we ordered from Robin to give to our visitors. They were soooo good!!Here is a better picture of them from Robin's blog. Big brother was at the hospital some to visit with friends as well. :) Doesn't he look thrilled to be there? Ha!My friend, Leslie, came to visit! Harper came to visit with her sweet momma. She was still trying to decide what she thought about Jillian. Jill and Gigi

Julee, me, Jillian and Jill

I remember thinking I was skinny that day! Ha! Looking at this picture I now realize I felt skinnier than I actually looked! :)

Sarah came to the hospital for Jillian's birth and then came back a couple of times to check on us!

She brought her son, Payne, who was 3 weeks old at the time and introduced him to Jillian. They were instant friends. Jillian was a wild woman and started kissing on Payne.

He tried to fight her off! :)He looks so frustrated with her in this picture!He finally gave in and let her snuggle next to him! Ha! They are super cute together! And because I enjoy a good laugh I had to show y'all this picture of me. This was when I was being taken from recovery to my hospital room. I have no memory of this picture being taken. It's so weird because I remember my entire surgery and my entire time in recovery but I don't really remember leaving recovery and ending up in my room. It's really weird. Once I got in my room, though, I remember everything. The only thing I remember from being moved is the nurse laughing because I kept trying to hold my head up because it was the only part of my body not numb! Ha! I look so loopy in this picture! It cracks me up!

Hope y'all are having a great week!

Due Date

Today is Jillian's due date!! It's hard to believe that 36 weeks ago today we found out this precious baby would be joining our family. What a wonderful blessing! We are so thankful that Jillian joined our family 12 days early. She is such a sweet presence in our home, and she and Brody bring us so much joy!

My mom took Brody to MDO this morning since I still cannot drive. Brody wanted to tell Jillian goodbye before he left so he climbed-up onto our bed to give her a kiss before he headed out the door. I just love how he lovingly he looks at her! My heart almost explodes when I look at this picture. Josh and I are so crazy in love with these two. They are just so precious!

A little goodbye kiss. Bless Jillian's heart. She get smoothered with at least 20 kisses a day. :)
Sweet Brody wore some of his new fall play clothes today. He was having some issues keeping his eyes open for a picture!
I tried to take a few more pictures but he was moving in all of the other pictures. I guess that's what life is like as a 2 year old...always on the move! While Brody was at MDO, my mom took Jillian and me to Jillian's weight check/check-up. Jillian was 9lbs at birth and 8lbs 7oz when we left the hospital. When we went to her check-up last Monday, she weighed 8lbs 12oz. Today, she weighed 9lbs 5oz!! She gained 9oz in a week. She is quite the little eater! :) Our doctor was really pleased that she had gotten back to her birth weight so quickly and that she had actually exceeded it. He said she looked great and that her weight gain looked great especially for a breastfed baby. We do not have to go back until November when we go for her 2 month appointment!

I meant to take a few pictures at the doctor but as I was taking off Jillian's diaper in the exam room, she had a total blowout and poop shot all over the exam table, all over my dress, all over the floor and across the room on her car seat!! My mom and I could not stop laughing! It was pure chaos. The poor nurse was terrified. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have any children. She ran and got Clorox wipes so we could clean-up the table and floor! Ha! It was sooo funny! Definitely something I will remember. We had a few episodes like that with Brody, too, when he was a baby. Needless to say, I never had time to pull out my camera after all of this! :)

Tonight, a college friend of mine came over to our house to take newborn/family pictures. I cannot wait to see how they turn out! Meredith was soooo sweet and patient with all of us. A 2 year old and a newborn can make for challenging subjects but she did a wonderful job. We are so thankful that she was willing to come hang out in the craziness for a few hours tonight! Brody was so exhausted from pictures that he went to bed at 7:30 which is an hour before he usually goes to bed. I think we all may need an early bedtime tonight after our eventful Monday! :)

Our Weekend

We had a really nice weekend!

I spent Friday morning at home by myself for the first time with Brody and Jillian. Josh had to take care of a few things at work so he went into the office and then came home after lunch. The morning went really well. I honestly wish everyday at home would be that easy. :) I think Brody knew he needed to be on his best behavior because he was soooo helpful!! We spent a lot of time on the couch watching TV. Brody also spent some of the morning playing his "goo-tar" (guitar) for Jillian and singing songs to her that he made-up. :) Then I bathed them, got them dressed, fed Brody, nursed Jillian and put them both down for naps by noon. Sure, I hadn't even brushed my hair by noon but at least Brody and Jillian were good to go for the day! Ha!

Jillian hanging out in her room Friday.

Saturday morning we went to Stella's 2nd birthday party! Since they live just a few streets away, I decided to go, too. I needed out of the house for a little while! :)

Brody had the best time at the party! All of his little friends his age are girls but he doesn't seem to mind. He loves when they all get together to play. Jillian and I hanging out in the living room. She slept in her car seat in Tom and Sydney's bedroom most of the party. She is such a sweet girl!
We had tickets for the big Arkansas/Alabama game yesterday but we decided to sell them since I couldn't go. Josh wanted to spend the day at home with us watching the game. His parents came-up and we all watched the game at our house. I hated that we beat ourselves at the end but it was such an exciting game to watch!

We all wore our Razorback attire to watch the game. A friend of mine from high school made Jillian a cute little Razorback tutu to wear this fall. It actually came in the mail the day she was born so it was perfect timing!! Kama has a blog and an Esty site if you are interested in ordering one. We love the one she made us! Thank you, Kama!

Sometimes I look at pictures and I cannot believe that Josh and I have two kids. We are loving every minute of it! It's more fun than I could have ever imagined!
Brody LOVES his sister. He is the best big brother. I cannot say enough wonderful things about how he has handled the whole transition. He has been awesome! We are sooo proud of him! One of his favorite things to do is hold Jillian and give her kisses...or mouth-to-mouth as I like to call it! Ha! We went to church this morning for the first time as a family of 4! It was really cool outside this morning so I pulled out boots to wear to church. It was a much welcomed changed!

My girl and me. She had on a cute little pink peacoat. :)
We do not plan to put Jillian in the nursery for a while so she stayed in the service with us until it was time for her to eat. Then she and I had to leave and head to the nursing room.

The four of us at church!
After church we went to eat with my family and Josh's parents at a local Mexican restaurant. Brody loves chips and salsa so Jill poured him a little cup of salsa. He took a bite and then starting yelling, "That hot! That hot!" It cracked us up! After a few bites he got used to it and was able to eat it. He also had punch with his meal which is why his tongue is red in this picture! Ha!
My mom is staying with me this week during the day. We will be working on last minute birthday party details since a certain little boy in our house will be 2 next Sunday!!! How is that even possible?? We cannot wait for a big birthday weekend at our house! It's going to be a lot of fun!!!



Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

Jillian's Nursery Tour

I thought I would share a few pictures of Jillian's nursery with you all! I had posted this plan for the nursery back before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl. I ended up doing almost everything that I had planned with the exception of a few changes. I absolutely LOVE they way her nursery turned out. It's very sweet and simple but still very girly!

This is the view from the hallway walking into her room. This is the crib side of the room. We did not paint the walls because I really like the color that was already in this room and it worked really well with the fabric we had chosen. We ordered the crib from Walmart and I have been really pleased with it. I love the way it looks and I also like that it transitions into a toddler bed so Jillian can use this bed for several years. The rug is from Target and was only $20. I love the size and color of it. My talented friend, Leslie, designed all the artwork in Jillian's room. We spent very little on the artwork and frames. The artwork is just printed images and then we had them framed at Hobby Lobby. I bought the frames when they were all half off! I love the way Jillian's bedding turned out. I picked out the fabric (Amy Butler fabric) and designed it on a great online bedding website. It only took 5 days from the time I ordered it to the time it was delivered at our house. We couldn't believe how quickly it was made and shipped. The teal bed sheet is from Target but it matches the dresser/changing table in her room perfectly. The bumper fabric is the same as the curtain fabric. The bed skirt is trimmed in that fabric also. This is the other side of her nursery. This is the same glider we had used in Brody's nursery. Since it matched perfectly, we just moved it to her room. It freed-up some space in his room for toys. It was nice that we could use it in both rooms. We had the dresser/changing table painted by a friend. You can read about it here. The bird print is also one Leslie did and we had framed at Hobby Lobby. The lamp and little basket is from Hob Lob also. I love the dresser so much. It has so much storage so we are able to store all her clothes in drawers by size. I love that Emily painted the inside of the drawers pink. It's such a cute, girly touch. She will be able to use the dresser for several years since we can just remove the changing pad and use the top like a normal dresser. It's fun having tiny newborn diapers in our house again. I am so used to Brody's size 5 diapers that I forgot how little newborn diapers are. This table was also painted by Emily. I found this in a closet at Josh's parents house and brought it back home one weekend. It looks totally different now. I like having it as a little side table next to the glider. The vase, flowers, frame and little bird house all came from Hobby Lobby. All of it was half off also. Here is a close-up of the curtains. We ordered 6 yards of the fabric and Josh's mom sewed the curtains. They are just two lined panels but they are each 9 feet tall. We wanted them to go from the ceiling to the floor. I love the way they turned out. The tie back can be undone so that it covers her windows while she sleeps. You can see how high they go in this picture. Josh, my dad and his dad also put trim up one weekend. I love the way it turned out. Her closet is full of lots of cute clothes. We have hardly had to buy anything for her since we have been given so many sweet outfits as gifts. We were also given a lot of clothes from a friend who has a little girl Brody's age. We also have a canvas drawer set in her closet to hold her bows, shoes, bloomers, etc. All her cute little shoes. :) My mom got us this cute little night light for her room that had a little bird on it. I think it's so sweet. We had to baby proof the outside of her door so that Brody cannot get into her room when we are not looking! I can just imagine him trying to climb into her crib with her! Ha!
And my favorite part of her nursery is the little sweetie who will sleep in there. She is one week old today! I cannot believe it. I learned with Brody that it goes by way too quickly so we are enjoying every moment with our two cuties!

Jillian Kate's Birth Story

Wednesday started out like a normal day. I felt totally fine. No difference in the way I had felt in the past few days. I was having some mild contractions but I had been having those for over 2 weeks so I figured they were meaningless, especially since I had made no progress the day before at the doctor.

Brody and I had no plans for Wednesday. We were just soaking-up our last few days together before Jillian arrived. We spent the morning playing at the house in our pajamas. We finally changed clothes around lunch time and ate some lunch at home. Around 2:30, Robin stopped by to drop off the cookies she had made for the hospital. I had told her I did not need them until Thursday but she went ahead and made them early and brought them by on Wednesday "just in case." Thankfully, she had the intuition that I might need them a little sooner. :)

After she left, Brody and I ran to Hobby Lobby and then came back home so I could cook dinner. Josh and I went by my parents house after dinner to drop Brody off.. Brody always stays with my parents on Wednesday nights while we have small group, but since we didn't have small group that night, we ran a few errands. We went back to my parents house around 8:15 to pick Brody up and headed home. We got Brody in bed and I decided I was hungry. Josh and I agreed that since I only had a couple nights left of being pregnant I should just give-in to my craving and get a pizza. Josh left the house a little after 9 to pick-up the pizza. I got comfy on the couch and decided to watch the finale of Big Brother. Jill and Julee were really addicted to the show and I have heard so much about it in the last few weeks that I actually could watch the finale and know what was going on. About 9:30 I felt a little cramp. I stood up and my water broke...everywhere. I grabbed my phone and called Josh. He was almost back to the house with the pizza! Ha!

After I talked to him, I called my mom and she didn't answer so I called Jill. Here's the deal. Jill was watching BB finale and she and Julee and told me all day that my water could not break during BB. I knew Jill wasn't going to believe me when I called and told her but I had to call so I did. Of course, she didn't believe me. I finally convinced her I wasn't joking and I needed her to call mom.

After talking to her, I hopped into the shower (yes I did) and Josh packed the car. I am so thankful I had everything packed and ready to go. It made it so easy for Josh! I also had a list of things we needed to take so he got everything from the list and put it in the car. He also got Brody up from bed and got him dressed. We knew Jillian would be born quickly once we got to the hospital so we decided to just bring Brody with us. My parents met us at the house so that they could follow us and get Brody at the hospital. We called Josh's parents, but since they were 3 hours away, we knew that they would most likely not make it for the birth. Josh also called Julee and she of course thought we were joking sine it really happened during BB finale. :) It was really such a fun and exciting time. Within 45 minutes of my water breaking, we were out the door.

Here is my last pregnancy picture before we walked out the door! I was 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant!

Our last picture as a family of 3! Josh and I were so excited! The hospital is just a few miles from our house so we were there within minutes. I had not had contractions after my water broke until we got in the car. By the time we got to the hospital they were about 5 minutes apart. I quickly checked-in. It was such a blessing that I had gone on Tuesday to get my pre-op blood work and paperwork. It saved us so much time in the ER. I was literally prepped and ready for surgery within a few minutes. When I checked-in, I was dilated 2cm and was 90% effaced. My doctor was not on call that night. I was really sad that she wouldn't be delivering Jillian. I knew one of the other doctors in the clinic would be on call. I actually told Jill and Josh just to pray it would be a doctor I knew who would be doing my c-section. My clinic has several doctors and I have only seen 5 of them so I knew it could be a doctor I had never seen. You can imagine my surprise when the curtain to my room was pulled back and my sweet doctor was standing there!! They had called her from the ER to let her know my water broke and she wanted to come in and do my surgery. As soon as I saw her I told her I was going to cry. I was sooooo excited and so relieved!
Within an hour of arriving in the ER we headed back to surgery. I was so excited to meet our girl!! The surgery team was awesome. They were all so sweet, friendly and happy, especially for it being almost midnight! They were all so funny and I was so relaxed during the c-section. Josh waited right outside the OR until the surgery started and then they brought him in. It was kind of exciting going into surgery and not knowing what day would be Jillian's birthday. It 11:40 when I got back into the OR so we knew it would be close to midnight either way. I knew what to expect from my c-section with Brody. Let's just say Miss Jillian wasn't ready to come out when it was time to pull her out so my doctor basically had to wrestle her out along with the anesthesiologist having to push on my abdomen to get her out. Finally, she was out and we heard her precious cry! She was born at 11:58PM on the 15th. Everyone started saying how cute she was and how big she was. Here she is as soon as she came out! I think most of the staff was guessing she weighed around 7.5-8lbs. They were a little off! :)
She was such a big, healthy girl! Her one minute Apgar score was 9.9! The 3 of us before Josh and Jillian left to go to the nursery. I stayed for about 40 more minutes in surgery but I was so thankful everything went so well that it was an easy wait. In the meantime, our family and friends waited in the waiting room for Josh to come out with Jillian. I am sure Brody was so confused at this point!

Then he was out with out sweet girl!

I love the pictures and videos of Brody seeing Jillian for the first time.

Here is a video of him seeing her as soon as Josh brought her out!

Everyone watched in the nursery window while they checked, bathed and weighed Jillian.

Josh was so excited that he got to cut part of the cord. The downside to c-sections is that dads don't get to do that part. Our nurse was so sweet and let him cut it in the nursery. :)

Our big girl! We call her our little linebacker! :)

As soon as they got into the nursery they weighed her. The video is so funny of the nurse and Josh seeing that she weighed 9lbs. We will all a little shocked! I am just thankful that I didn't have to carry her 12 more days to her due date. She might have come out the size of small toddler! Ha! This picture needs no words. It makes me cry.

We were blessed with the best nurses for Jillian. The nurse in the picture below was one of our favorites! It's so crazy because a month ago I was at the hospital visiting some friends and she was their son's nurse. I actually told Julee that I hoped she was our nurse, too. What are the chances that she was the nurse on-call when I went into labor and was actually Jillian's nurse during and after surgery?? Thank you, Lord. Heading to the room to wait on me!Big Daddy and Jillian

My 3 loves I.LOVE.THIS.FACE Sarah and Jill.

Sarah had Payne at 12:58am a few weeks ago and I stayed at the hospital until he was born so Jillian repaid her and made Sarah stay at the hospital until almost 2 in the morning! Ha!

After about 20 minutes of them waiting in the room, I was brought in. I think it was about 1:15-1:20 at this point. I FINALLY got to hold my girl!!

And then all of our family got to hold her, too!

Josh's parents made it to the hospital about 1:30am. Some tired but happy girls at almost 2am!! I love our family and friends for being there for one of the biggest days of our lives, even if it was in the middle of the night

This was such a wonderful night! As much as I love things going according to "plan", I love that Jillian surprised us and came when she was ready. It made her arrival even more special!! She and Brody are such precious blessings.