Living Joyfully

How a Baby has Changed My Life

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:49:00 +0000

It's pretty self explanatory that a baby can and will completely change everything about your life. And of course I knew this before we had Amelia, that this little life is completely dependent on us to survive can be pretty daunting.

Laundry I hate laundry, truly. I guess the actual aspect of putting clothes in the washing machine/dryer isn't that horrible but it is definitely the putting away of clothes..which I am sure for most people. I was notorious for having my laundry hamper packed. But with a baby now, I am much more consistent on laundry now. Because breastfed babies have pretty impressive spills. So you can't just wash four things in the washing machine, so I will add my things/Joe's things with hers and I actually can stay on top of my laundry!
Errands You think to yourself I need butter, or milk for dinner tonight. Then you start this little debate in your head. Is it really worth it to take your baby out to do this? What time did she eat last? It's too cold. Her car seat doesn't fit in the cart. Drive-throughs are amazing but then you feel bad when you run by taco bell on the way home and you have a crying baby in the back seat who just wants to be home :(
Amelia likes to be held... a lot. So even just doing the laundry or going to the bathroom can be a challenge when she refused to be set down. The days she takes great naps it's like I don't even know what to do with myself. But there are days when she will only sleep if I am holding her. Honestly, this is what I probably struggle with the most. There are some days when I plan all this stuff I'm going to do and then baby girl isn't having any of it. Even on the days when I work, I come home and want to hold my baby but then I think of all things I need to do like wash her bottles, eat dinner, shower, etc. So it's a struggle but we are adjusting
Child care It's quite an adjustment to have to always checking our schedules to make sure that one of us is there. Joe is a great and hands on dad with Amelia. He has to take her and pick her up from the baby sitter and he has her on the evenings when I work. Also I have to be on call or go to meetings and all of those have to be covered. Amelia is becoming more a daddy's girl every day.
It also gives me a daily reminder of how good God is to bless us with Amelia Grace!

PS You can always leave comments...you don't even have to have a blogger account...wink wink

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A Day in the Life

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:55:00 +0000

What happens on a Monday when Joe, Amelia, and I spend the day at home? Let's find out.

Amelia wakes up at 4:00 for the first time to eat. She goes back to sleep pretty quickly after I nurse her and change her diaper.

She wakes up again around 7 and we nurse in bed. She seems pretty awake so I lay her in bed with us. She falls asleep again around 8ish and wakes up at 10 when Cooper wakes her. We are up for the day.

I nurse her, change her clothes, and get her ready for the day. I let her play with Daddy for a little bit and I start picking up our bedroom. We decided that today was the day to get the garage in order. Confession time: our garage has been chaos since we moved in in June. He makes several trips to the dumpster, and we finally get the garage to where we both can park! Impressive, right?

I decided that today I was going to try to do all the laundry. Amelia helps me fold clothes in the guest room. Then she starts getting fussy so I nursed her a little and got her to nap. She napped in our bedroom from 11:30-1.

She wakes up and we nurse, change diaper, etc. Then we read some books. I started reading her Story Bible and we got through the Old Testament stories. If only I could read the Bible that fast. We did some tummy time which is like 5 minute max before she's over it. Joe got her asleep again around 2:15 but she only slept until 3. During her nap I get dinner (Three Cheese Penne Pasta Bake) ready for tomorrow so Joe can pop it in the oven tomorrow before I get home from work.

She is pretty fussy in the afternoon so Joe and I trade her off while then start getting dinner ready for tonight. I made Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole, Twice Baked Red Potatoes (I got the recipe pinned on Pinterest), and Green Beans. I nurse while Joe eats and then we trade. We decide to do her bath early tonight.

She gets her bath at 6:15 and is pretty fussy during. I calm her down and Joe runs to the store to get gas drops since Annie decided to eat all of her gas drops this weekend. There are some interesting colors in her stool outside. She falls asleep when I am rocking her upstairs.

I nurse again at 7:45 and get her in her sleep sack. Joe takes over while I shower. She layed in rock and sleep for a little bit and finally fell asleep a little before 9. As I am typing this, she is snoring next to me. So cute!

My observations from the day: we nursed like every 2 hours which she normally doesn't do. Joe has been sick so hopefully my immunities will help. She has been more fussy the past couple of days and hopefully now that we have mylicon again, she will be happier. And I have my fifth load of laundry in the washing machine right now. I didn't even finish our towels or our sheets. Luckily most of it was Joe's and he folds and puts his own laundry away.

So there you have it, a day in our life. We managed to get the garage parkable, laundry done, bedroom picked up, two meals cooked and snuggles and playing with our baby girl.

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The Working Mother

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

I went back to work on Monday and entered the realm as a working mother. My entire maternity leave I was practically dreading having to leave my baby, like tearing up thinking about it. I had so many worries going back to work. Like I have said, Amelia likes to be held. Sometimes all day if I would let her. I had only left her for 5 hours at the most, just the Friday before with Joe.

Monday, I nursed Amelia before I left, and she quickly fell back asleep. I had a few minutes just holding her. That's when the tears started. Then I cried on the long way to work. I told myself as I was walking in that I was going to toughen up and stop crying. Ha! I got upstairs and pretty much teared up for a couple of hours. Thankfully my coworkers were awesome and let me cry on their shoulders. I rushed home quickly to be with my baby. She did great for Joe and I was so happy to be home with my baby! 14 hours is a long time!

I was off Tuesday with her and worked 12 hour shifts on Wednesday and Thursday. Now I have a whole new respect for the working mother, especially Wednesday night. Wednesday Amelia went to our baby sitter then went with Joe to youth group. I picked her up from church took her home after 8, had to wash her bottles for the next day, eat dinner, do some laundry, nurse Amelia, get ready for work the next day, get Amelia ready for the babysitter, get her to sleep...the list went on. I went to bed around 11 ish and Amelia woke up at 4 to eat. Since I normally get up at five I just stayed up. Thursday night, I was exhausted! Whew! This week I work three days in a row! Already a little stressed.

But this is where we are right now, my season of life. The blessing though is that I only work 3 days a week; that means four days with my baby. And Joe is off on Mondays so he can watch her if I work on Mondays.

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Amelia's Bird Nursery: Built-In Bookshelves

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:14:00 +0000

Did I say before how much I loved the built-in bookshelves in Amelia's nursery in my previous post? Well if I didn't let me say that I love the bookshelves in Amelia's nursery. They make such a huge statement in her room. This was lots of fun to decorate and fill.

The flower picture I got at TJ Maxx on Clearance a couple of years ago. It's hard to tell but I used hand sewed little birdies in the birdcage. I found the pattern here. You can also see the start of Amelia's small library. We have lots more books to get! Above I love the picture frame with Amelia's hand and foot print.

I made the 'A is for Amelia' print' using photoshop and just printed it at walmart.

I got the personalized blocks from etsy.

The Minnie Mouse was mine when I was little. I found that frame at a flea shop awhile ago and I painted it blue.

I also made the 'birth annoucement' on photoshop. So sweet.

The bird cage photo holder is from Day Spring. I got it super on sale around Christmas and can display more fun pictures.

And of course the window seat. Right now its full of extra wipes and diapers but I know one day it will be full of toys!

I am still tweaking and have a couple of things I would like to change/add but her nursery is my new favorite room in the house!

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Amelia's Bird Nursery

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:45:00 +0000

I had so much fun decorating Amelia's Nursery. I even to this day like to go up there and look around.

First, I wanted to share a little background. I started by looking at some of my favorite store for bedding and bookmarked the ones I liked. Then as I was going back through them I noticed that I had bookmarked several birdie nursery beddings. Her theme was starting!

Next I started browsing Pinterest for Bird Nurseries. There were so many cute ideas that I was finding almost too much! My crafty brain was starting. Next I found her adorable bedding from Carousel Designs and it was love at first sight with all the patterns. I love that it was colorful without being too childish. It had my bird theme without being too gimicky and too 'babyish.

I also found this adorable nursery with built ins and of course my brain was churning! Being that Joe and I are so very handy, I decided that we could build it. Ha!! We of course had to find someone to build it. My dreams were starting to become a reality. I spent lots of time looking through the internet, like pinterest and etsy to find just the right stuff but I think I succeeded.

Let's take a tour!

This is a picture of the room when we toured the house. Notice the stained carpet and the lovely border.

This is the wall with her sweet crib. This is what you see as you walk into her nursery. So sweet. The pain is Iconic Sky from Behr. We really debated about painting a girl's nursery blue but I think it works and we could have a lot of pink accents. The crib is from Target and was a gift from my parents. I love her bedding and the patchwork crib squirt. The bedding absolutely makes the room. The rug is from Target.

One of my favorite parts of the room is the tree mural above her crib. A student in Joe's youth ministry painted it for me. I just showed her a picture and she got it done in an afternoon. I then hung the bird houses as if they were hanging from the tree. I think that this will be really special for Amelia as she grows up and looks up at her tree.

I used my gift cards to purchase her dresser. I looked for a few days for a sturdy white dresser that would work with the crib. I had wanted a wide dresser because I was originally going to use that also a changing table. But with the changing table purchase it was a place to add more cute things!

I also love these bird pictures above her dresser that I got from Land of Nod. It fits the theme and also introduces counting. The set comes with 10 cards so I can always decorate with more.

Her lamp was from Babies R Us. I have plans to recover the lamp shade.

The dress was one of my baby dresses. I found the frame in the garage and painted it and put scrapbook paper in the back

And of course my favorite part of the room is the built in bookcases and window seat. It makes the room. Joe's Grandma made the window seat cover in the love bird fabric. I love that the curtains are black out curtains for when she does spend the night her in nursery the morning sun won't wake her up. I'll be back with more details about her bookshelves.

I am glad that we got the changing table. It has a hamper and three drawers for convenient storage. I found the idea for the bird canvas here. It didn't turn out quite how I wanted it to but it works for the space. The 'A' I bought from etsy.

We LOVE her nursery and I had such fun getting it together. What do you think?

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Our Baby Girl is 2 Months!

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

My baby girl is 2 months old today and what a fast 2 months it has been. When the doctor placed me in my arms right after she was born, I knew I would love her forever and it is true.

We are starting to see more of her personality. When baby girl is hungry, you better watch out. She is definitely a mommy's girl. It is so sweet that I can calm her down when no one can. But we are starting daycare now so she needs to learn to love other people. She is starting to take naps in her swing and going longer stretches of being happily awake and not being held. She generally takes two long naps a day. Getting to sleep at night is starting to get rough again. We start doing our bedtime routine about 7:30 and she usually falls asleep but will wake up 30 minutes later upset. Then we spend the next couple of hours fighting sleep. She still sleeps in our room next to me. She sleeps through the night about every other night with her first stretch is the longest.

We are starting to see a lot more smiles everyday, usually in the morning after nursing while getting her clothes changed. It's the most beautiful thing ever. We went to the doctor last week and she was 12 lbs 4 ounces (90%) and 23 1/2" (95%). I think she will get her Daddy's height. She got her first set of shots. She of course cried when she got them but was quickly asleep. I on the other hand cried which I was very surprised. I used to do give immunizations almost daily at the Peds office. Maybe Daddy needs to go next time.

She is starting to sit more in her Bumbo seat. She still likes the moby wrap, and I use it if she is especially fussy. She still is exclusively breast fed and has taken pumped milk a few times like a champ.

*likes
Mommy, being held and walking, Smiling, tummy time for 5 minutes but not much longer, going to Daddy, car rides, going on walks in her stroller, and mommy

*dislikes Waiting to be fed, not being held when she wants to, going to bed, waking up, and gas Today as this post is going up, I am starting back to work after 10 weeks off. This is going to be rough on all of us but I know I know it's what we have to do...sigh.

We love you Amelia Grace!

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Dining Room

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:01:00 +0000

This is the Dining Room in our house. I love that our house as a designated room just for Dining. It was on our wish list when we were house hunting. In our house in Indiana, we had a small eat in kitchen. It was a pain when we had people over for meals because there was no room. Now we actually have space for entertaining. The ironic thing is that we entertained way more in our house in Indiana than so far here :)

Here is a picture of the room when we first moved in. It the ugly chandelier and awful carpet.

We painted the room Behr Newport Blue.

We ripped out the carpet and put in hardwood laminate in the whole downstairs except the kitchen. We love it.

The dining room table was from Joe's aunt whenever he moved to North Vernon. On my many lists of things to do is to paint it to match the rest of the furniture. I hope that in posting this I will get a move on to make everything match. I think I will paint it black but I have toyed with the idea of a different color. You will have to wait to find out.

All of the chairs are from Target. You might see a trend that many things we own are from Target! :)The mirror was from our bedroom and the buffet was what we had bought for the rental house for more food storage. Now it can actually be used for dining room storage. The two lamps are from Ikea.

The light is from Lowes. I love it! It originally had the small brass chandelier..not our taste. I love how this makes the room more interesting and not stuffy.

The hutch was a wedding gift way back from our very first house we rented. Joe started renting a house from a man that was furnished with all of his elderly mother's belongings. He gave us this and it stores our wedding china. The starburst mirror is from Crate and Barrel was also a Wedding Gift that used to be in our Living Room.

I have some plans eventually for the bottom half of the chair rail. I always want a rug for underneath the table and we need some curtains still but its progressing, right?

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My Latest Obsession: Pinterest

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:38:00 +0000

Of course I need to spend more time perusing the internet. I mean I have all the time in the world right?

I would NEVER be on pinterest almost the whole time during Amelia's nap while I had laundry to put away, dishes to be done, my bed to make. NEVER!

If you don't know what Pinterest is, it is a way to bookmark images on a website and make boards. I used this a lot when it came time for Amelia's nursery, which I hope to blog about really soon.

Here is a screen shot of my Nursery inspiration board on Pinterest. When you click on the images it takes you to the website where the image is from. You can pin anything on here, from recipes, home decor stuff, websites you love, to your favorite books.

I love it!

Joe looked at it one day and said "I don't get it" and that what all she wrote. I however am a huge fan.

Another fun part of Pinterest is you can follow other people's 'pins.' You can find people through facebook or even your favorite blogs! There is inspiration everywhere!

Here are some of my favorite things pinned.

DIY Sunburst Mirror

This adorable Craft Space

These adorable DIY alphabet plaques.

Do you use pinterest? If you do make sure to follow me! The weird part of Pinterest is that you have to be invited to use it. I can send you an invite if I have your email. Beweare: you may just spend your entire afternoon on the website!

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My Must Haves for Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:11:00 +0000

After almost 8 weeks with Amelia, I have thought about the baby items we love! There is lf course the typical items you need for babies but this is for things that we especially love!

Fisher-Price Newborn Rock 'n Play Sleeper
This is what Amelia sleeps in our room in. We tried a couple of nights in the bassinet but she did so much better when we tried this. Her head is a little elevated and she fits in snuggly. If you read the reviews parents complain about a flat head using this. The frame is hard so I put a blanket in between the pad and the frame.

HALO SleepSack Swaddle

This is something that I got recently that has been a blessing. Amelia would always break out of a swaddle and was a fight every night to get her to sleep. Since we have tried this, our nights our much easier and she has slept through the night multiple times. Love it!

Moby Wrap Original 100% Cotton Baby Carrier, Chocolate

We LOVE our Moby. The Moby is essentially a long piece of fabric that you can wrap around yourself in different ways to carry your baby. At first it is a little daunting but it is pretty easy after you do it a couple of times. Amelia likes to be held a lot. This is a way that she can be close to me but I have my hands free. She usually falls asleep pretty quickly in it. I use it if she is especially fussy or if I need to get things done and she is awake. I also use it a church. It was great the first couple of times so people could see her but not touch her :)

Playtex Diaper Genie
Some moms think this is an unnecessary baby item but we love it. It keeps the smell out and our dogs out of her dirty diapers. It is amazing how many of her diapers it can hold!

Fisher Price Car Mirror
We love this in the car. With rear facing car seats we love to be able to see our baby as we drive. This mirror has a light and music you can turn on with a remote.

I am thinking about a wish list that I would still love to get for Amelia. Maybe you will see it here!

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2011 in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

I like to go through and highlight my year in a blog post. This should be fun considering I barely blogged in 2011!

A big highlight through the Spring was the many youth events. We started a Small Group on Sunday nights, went Skiing with the youth, went to a Dare 2 Share Conference, had an Amazing Disciple Now and a fun packed Easter.

I found out I was pregnant the beginning of March and had my first doctor's appointment April 6! That was one of the best days seeing that little baby and hearing her heart.

In April, the house we were renting that was for sale ended up selling so we moved in with friends in the basement with our animals and my pregnant self. It actually ended up being a great solution for us because we only needed short term housing. We are so grateful for great friends!

At the beginning of May we sold our lovely Indiana house. It was a great first house for us and really fun to make our own.

In May Joe and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary early and spent some time in Washington DC. We visited Georgetown Cupcakes where the film DC cupcakes, all the monuments,

In May we also took our Seniors to New York City. I had only been in New York City more in passing so we had a blast sight seeing. We saw a Mets Baseball game, saw Mary Poppins on Broadway and of course the Statue of Liberty!

In June we bought our house in Virginia! We went out looking one time and found this great deal on a foreclosure and knew it was for us. Hopefully I will be posting more pictures of what we have done with it so far.

I also started showing in June and had fun taking pictures of the progress. (17 and 19 weeks)

We found out we were having a girl on June 22! I had a feeling all along that she was girl.

Then in June, Joe went on a mission trip to India with our church. He was an awesome time and saw many people come to the Lord and churches started. I love the Kurta he brought back for me! I am about 21 weeks here.

In July I started to get bigger ( here is 24 weeks)

In August, Joe's family came to visit us in our new home. I was very thankful that we had room to accommodate 7 more people in our house. We did all kinds of fun things like baseball games, riding horses, visiting Virginia beach.

At the end of the month, we survived our first Hurricane, Hurricane Irene. We were without power for 6 days, count em! Except after the first day I demanded a generator so after fighting crowds, waiting for hours, we came home with a generator, praise the Lord! We were lucky in that we had no damage to our house.

In September, we traveled back to Indiana to have a baby shower at our home church. Let's just say that traveling 7 months pregnant is not the funnest thing I have done! But we came back with a huge car load of blessings for Amelia

We also started getting Amelia's Nursery ready in September complete with painting and new carpet. The downstairs got whole new laminate hardwood flooring after we ripped up all of the carpet. Whew!

In October my parents came over for my baby shower at church. We put them to work getting ready for the baby. We got all the furniture put together, the baby clothes washed and organized, and the nursery started looking like a nursery!

Also the Birthplace through a sweet baby shower for me and this was the cute cake!

The beginning of November was spent in anxious anticipation for our Baby Girl. I felt huge! Thanksfully I had a week off of work before she actually came. It was nice trying to relax some before. Here is me at 39 weeks.

Of course the highlight of the year was the birth of Amelia Grace. You can read all about that here!

Both sets of Grandparents spent the week here visiting and loving on Amelia Grace

We also had our first major holiday just with the three of us on Thanksgiving complete with a Cracker Barrel meal.

Our lives became baby baby baby! We love it!

In December, Joe remodeled the youth room to become the Student Center. It involved knocking down several walls to create one huge room!

And Finally we traveled home for Christmas.

There we go the officially longest post ever but this is what happens when you don't blog :)

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Christmas 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:51:00 +0000

Get Ready For Picture Overload!

We celebrated Amelia's First Christmas in Indiana! We traveled throught the night the Sunday night before Christmas. We left after a Christmas party and decided to go as far as Amelia would let us. She actually did really great in the car. She woke up twice to feed. She was fussy when we put her back in the carseat but stopped crying after 10 minutes or so. The next week was spent showing off our Amelia Grace. She met her Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins.

Everything was an opportunity for a photo shoot!

Highlights of the week:
Amelia took her first bottle to start getting ready for me going back to work. She took it like a champ!

She also slept through the night Decemeber 23! She slept from 8:30 to 5:30. I was so proud! However I woke up at 3:00 and never could go back to sleep. I guess my body had gotten used to being woken up all night.

Amelia also met Santa! My Grandmother's Assisted Living Home had Santa and Friends visit so Amelia came to meet Santa. I enjoyed getting a free picture with Santa without waiting in lines at the mall! Amelia wore her Santa outfit for Santa but she was so excited she fell asleep before he got there! :)

Amelia met her Cousins Mikah, Hudson, and Camden

Funny Story My parents dog Bailey loved Amelia. I was actually nervous how he would be all week with her but wherever Amelia was, Bailey wanted to be too. I know he misses her now!

She had her first Hupp Family Christmas which is Joe's large family. It was nice to add Amelia to our annual staircase photos.

Amelia was very blessed this Christmas with clothes, toys, books, her window seat cover! We had to use Joe's parents luggage rack to be able to get everything home! We traveled through the day on Tuesday and Amelia still did really good. But I could tell that she was over her car seat! Poor baby!

Did you have a good Christmas?

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Amelia: 1 Month

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:33:00 +0000

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is One Month! It's been the fastest and also the longest month I can remember. You would think that after carrying this child for 9 months that I would know all about her but we still had to get to know each other, her personality, likes, and dislikes.

We haven't gone to the doctor so I do not have any updated stats on her. She is now eating every 2 1/2-4 hours during the day and going 3-4 hours at night. She has always been a great nurser for me. I think we both picked up it like champs! She was 8 pounds 2 oz at birth and dropped to 7 pounds 11 ounces. Four days later she was 8 pounds 4 ounces. Her Pediatrician was impressed!

She sleeps right next to me at night. We did have quite a few rough nights there for a couple of weeks but she now will wake up, I'll change her diaper, feed her. She usually falls asleep laying on my chest and then I'll put her in her sleeper.

She is definitely a mommy's girl, and likes to be held. She will now go in her swing and be content awake but that usually lasts 20 minutes. She can be pretty fussy at times but I think we are starting to outgrow it.

We were worried how to dogs would react to the new princess in the house but they have been great with her. Cooper gets a little jealous but he just tries harder to get me to pet him. They love to greet her whenever we get home.

Amelia has changed our lives for the better. We couldn't imagine our family without her, and she is of course worth the wait! We love you baby girl!

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Months to Catch Up

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:34:00 +0000

I obviously have months of catching up to do on this blog. Somehow, blogging wasn't as fun. I was still reading blogs almost daily but never found the interest to update my own!
Now as we are a family of three with a little one, I realize that blogging is beneficial. I started this blog to keep our family who was away on our lives and to be able to chronicle our adventures. It's entertaining at least to me to be able to look back at what was happening in our lives at a certain time. Now I realize that I don't want to forget these early days so look forward to more updating in the future and hopefully some back logging over what's been going on while I was gone!
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Amelia Grace's Birth Story

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:40:00 +0000

(Warning: this post is extremely long and detailed! I wrote this more for me so I could remember this :)
Amelia Grace was due November 8. I had stopped working the week prior to give myself a break and prepare for this little one to arrive so needless to say we were anxiously awaiting her arrival. Joe and I had been taking regular walks on the walking trail in our neighborhood trying to get this baby moving in the right direction. The day before my due date, I even tried some Wii Just Dance but that only produced laughing fits from me instead of contractions. That night we went out for some Chinese food, just in case the Old Wive's Tale was true. I went to bed crampy.
The morning of my due date, I woke up having noticeable contractions every 15ish minutes. During the morning, they would wake me up from sleeping. I had my 40 week appointment right before lunch. I am not sure but I was really nervous about this appointment to begin with. My doctor was out of the office for the week so I was seeing someone completely new and I knew that I was going to have an ultrasound, which I had not had one since 20 weeks. My Blood Pressure was elevated when I got there, like 150's/90's. We had our ultrasound which confirmed she was head down and still definitely a girl. It also confirmed that she had no room and her face was smooshed.
Then we go to the room where they hook me up to do a NST, which confirmed my contractions having every 5ish minutes, but still not more painful. But being a L&D nurse, I loved looking at the strip and seeing a happy healthy strip! :) We saw the doctor who checked me; I had made no change since last week. He looked at my strip but made no mention of my contractions and was about to leave when he saw my BP. He tracked down a cuff and he got the same reading. He had me sit tight then rechecked it a few minutes later and decided to send me to L&D to get checked out. I snacked on some saltines on the way over and got to the hospital.
I was admitted and hooked up to the monitors. I was still having contractions that were getting more painful. After a couple of hour my BP had calmed down. The nurse checked me and I was still 1-2 cm. They decided to go ahead and keep me and induce me in the morning. Now previously I was against getting induced but at that point I was ready to meet my little girl. They let me eat dinner which I scarfed down, but continued to contract. My nurse gave me an Ambien to help me sleep. I have never taken anything like that before. It gave me crazy dreams. I woke up around 2:30 with pretty painful contractions. My nurse checked me and finally I was 3-4, finally in labor making change. The Ambien still made me a little loopy but I agreed to IV pain medicine and to go ahead and get my epidural. The IV med helped and I fell back asleep.
I got my epidural around 5a. They made Joe leave, which I thought was really strange. I was really wondering how it felt to get an epidural. Being a L&D nurse, I see patient's getting epidurals or spinals almost every shift. Some patients act like its completely fine and some act like its the worst thing ever. I personally didn't think it was that bad at all. The nurse checked me afterwards and said I was 4-5. The epidural was great because I could still move my legs but completely numb.
The doctor, Dr Hyde came and broke my water around 7ish and called me 5-6 cm. He said I should have my baby before lunch. The Ambien still made me pretty sleepy so I slept off and on all morning. Around 10:30a, I started feeling my contractions more and soon they became very painful. I was 8-9 cm. My nurse offered me to get redosed for my epidural. I got redosed twice and finally started getting relief. Around 12:15, I started feeling more and more pressure. I tried to hold off calling the nurse, but finally did and the charge nurse check me and said I was 10 cm and the baby was very low. Dr Hyde was called and we started pushing. Even though she was low, I heard him say that I was going to have some pushing to do. He told me that I may even need a vacuum to help since I was small.

With getting redosed, I could feel my contractions but now really feel pushing, the complete opposite of what I needed. I pushed for about 15 minutes before the doctoHr came back to check on me. We decided to go ahead with the vacuum. As I was about to deliver, Joe announced that he needed to sit down. The nurses quickly sat him down and got him a wet wash cloth. Joe told me later that he was trying to suck it up but started to get dizzy since he hadn't eaten anything. Finally at 1:19 pm on Novemeber 9, Amelia Grace was born crying. I got to hold her for a minute before they took her to clean her off. They announced she was 8 pounds and 2 ounces and 21 1/4". Interestingly, my whole pregnancy everyone thought I was small and would have a small baby. Ha!

The yucky part of delivery was I was a really bad tear. The doctor said it was a big baby through a small space. And interestingly, redheads tend to bleed more. It took almost an hour to get me all put back to together again. My epidural bag ran out while I was pushing and had to get numbing shots to get through the repair. At this hospital, they try to give you an hour with your baby and then take her to the nursery for her assessment and first bath. Since my repair was taking so long, I said it was okay to go ahead and send her to the nursery. After the doctor was done, I was still out of it from the Ambien (I have no plans on taking that anytime soon!) The nurse finally got my bleeding under control after a few different medications and Joe and I slept.
My parents arrived around 4:30 and Amelia still was in the nursery. Finally around 5pm she came back to us and I really got to hold my little girl who I waited on. She was perfect and beautiful!

Thank you God for this precious gift of Amelia Grace!
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Happy Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Sun, 08 May 2011 16:09:00 +0000

As you can see by the lack of updating, you would think I would have no news to share. When in fact much has happened since I last posted on my beloved blog.

When we moved here the house we were renting was for sale. The house did sale in March and we moved in with some friends. We don't have internet there so that is a main reason for the lack of updating.

Also our house in Indiana that we loved finally sold and closed this week! What a relief and blessing!

We also found a great house here in Virginia and we close June 8th! Yay!

And the most exciting of all is that we are pregnant! We are due November 8 so I am over 13 weeks along! Praise God! We are very excited about this little blessing and our journey to get to where we are now.

So on this Mother's Day, I can with true smile on my face be thankful!
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Daisy

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:30:00 +0000

It is time to dedicate a post to the one and only.....
Daisy
Daisy is our black lab. Yes, she really is a lab. Although she may be short and stocky, she is really a lab. Daisy entered our lives almost a year ago. She is definitely they most well behaved of our three dogs, which sometimes means she gets the least amount of attention. And she can't just jump in our faces like the other two do.
The Fun Facts of Daisy
She loves to carry things around. For instance, if you come home, she grabs the nearest shoe and meets you at the door. I'm not sure what she thinks we need it for. This makes it really fun when you swear you left your shoes there and you are trying to leave for work and can't find your shoes.
She also loves to carry her food bowl. She is really good at acting like she hasn't been fed. She just looks up you pitifully. But as you can, Daisy doesn't miss a meal.
She is really laid back. Cooper being the boy he is (although he forgot that he is fixed) likes to do...what boy dogs like to do. I'm not sure if Daisy has just accepted her fate but it doesn't bother her. She also just lets Annie steal toys away from her and still wags her tail.
Daisy is almost 9 so getting back upstairs is hard for her but she just plugs along and trucks up the stairs.
She gets so excited when you pet her that she can't sit still enough for you to pet her.
And after not seeing her for three months, she was so excited to see us.
We love our ~~little~~ big Daisy!

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My Ministry Marriage Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:24:00 +0000

Joe and I have been married for 3 years in May. I am by no means anyone qualified to give anyone marriage advice. We have our ups and downs along with all couples and we struggle. I have also learned along that way what this calling that God has placed on my life.

So without further ado, here are my tips for a ministry marriage.

Pray for Your Husband-This is obviously self-explanatory. But it is still the best thing we can do for our husbands, those who are in the ministry or not.
Support him in private and publicly-I am opinionated, probably to my fault. I have learned ~~the hard~~ ~~way~~ to support him. Joe gets very hurt if I disagree with him in public, even on unimportant things. In private Joe encourages and asks for my opinion on things. But we give a united front when although I did not totally agree with his decision in private, I try my hardest to not let any hint of things show. God has whispered to me several times that He did not call me to be the Pastor but He did call me to support my Pastor/Husband. Another facet to this is sometimes Joe just needs to vent and I can be listening ear.
Have fun with your husband-An important part of our marriage is doing things together, just be silly. It's important to carve out time for just the two of us. I also try to take those moments when he'll go to the store with me or go to the doggie park together.
Be Flexible-I try to be flexible with my time with him. There have been times when we are out doing things or have plans when Joe is called away. I could easily pout or try to make him feel guilty, but I have to realize that his call is a higher one.
Be Visible-let's be honest and say that people notice when the Pastor's wife is not present, justified excuse or not. I have not been at every church service by no means but I do try. But I do think it is an asset to a Pastor's ministry when his wife is seen in the church supporting the church.
Make your husband your ministry-This is something I am still learning. Last year I went to a Women's Conference at Southern Seminary where I went to a session about this. There was a Pastor's Wife that spoke to this, and I stood there amazed at all she does for her husband. It really made me think my most important thing I could do for our church is making him my ministry. I would be a terrible Pastor's Wife if I impacted so many girls but did it at the expense of our marriage. So that may mean that I will not go to every event or be involved in every ministry, but I am called to make him my priority.

Do any other PW have any more tips?

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What We Have Been Up To...

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:05:00 +0000

Last weekend we took our students to a Dare 2 Share conference outside of DC. It's a conference focusing on students sharing their faith with our friends. A highlight for me was Shane and Shane leading worship! I loved them since high school so it was neat to introduce them to our students! We had a great time learning how to practice our faith during the weekend. It was an eye-opener for me as the youth were learning about witnessing in how much I still needed to learn. Still very humbling in ministry...

For Valentine's Day, it was a gorgeous springy day. We took our dogs to the dog park. We went early in the afternoon and we were surprised by how many dogs were there. Since we are new to the dog park 'scene', we are starting to pick up when the dogs are ready to leave. When it gets to the point when they are just hanging out on our laps, we know its time to head home! Joe also helped me make Boeuf Bourguignon and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. Yummy! We finished the night off with the romantic movie The Social Network :)

Then the highlight of the month was our trip to Ikea on Saturday. Joe had been hinting to take me to Ikea so I decided it was the day and off we went! The closest Ikea is about two hours away but still worth it. We came home with a new entertainment center that was on sale. Our TV was previously sitting on a goodwill find of Joe back in his bachelor days. We then spent a 'fun' evening putting together some furniture and we tried to watch Inception but I got confused...

That's what we've been up to....what have you been up to?

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Small Groups

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:35:00 +0000

Sunday nights, we have started small groups for our students. I am blessed to a be a part of the High School Girls small group. Each group is studying Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan. It is all about how this amazing God loves us and our response to that love. We have 30+ girls each night for hanging out, eating, and most of all good discussion and Bible study.

How awesome to hear girls talk about their stuggles and how they have been they have been praying for their friends. Even how they can talk to the classmates about the gospel

Can you say amazing?

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Weekend Recap: Skiing

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:15:00 +0000

I had an interesting weekend!

Friday Night, Joe and I went out on an afternoon date to Short Pump. We walked around and ate at California Pizza Kitchen. I am officially in love with their Oriental Chicken Salad! So good! I have been thinking of this for awhile so it was worth the drive.

We also got Apple TV for our bedroom. It allows you to easily see youtube videos and stream off of your iTunes. It was pretty cheap but our internet isn't the greatest there so there is a big lag in timing.

Saturday, we took 50+ students skiing. This may be a shock to some people with my athletic ability...(note the sarcaism) but I have no skiing ability. I get going too fast and I freak out and make myself fall. So I went tubing! I have never been snow tubing before but it was a lot of fun! It feels like you are going 50mph on a tube down the hill and you can never go straight. Awesome!

We also went Zip-lining. 18 seconds of adrenaline! Look at me, a daredevil!

The casualty of the event was I woke up Sunday with horrible eye pain! I am not sure if I got ice in my eye or wore my contacts too long but my eye is blood shot and very sensitive to light. I haven't had this in a long time! I had to miss church and everything which really bummed me out.

Sunday after church, Joe took the students to downtown Richmond and served a meal in the park and the students really tried to talk to the people and share the gospel with them. They had also been collecting winter gear to give out. I heard it was really amazing and I am really upset I missed it!

Today I have hung out in the dark, nursing my eye. I have some eyedrops that make them feel better for an hour so I took the opportunity to blog really quickly. I am really praying that I can put my contacts in and go to work tomorrow because it is my first day off of orientation. I do okay if there are no lights on. Do you think I can manage that at work tomorrow?

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Thursday Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 01:22:00 +0000

I decided to have rambling post about my random thoughts. Please contain your excitement!

My latest addiction is Joe's Play Station 3. Now I am not playing the video games...I love my Netflix streaming on my TV. But I am too embarrassed to say what I have been watching again.

I had my last shift yesterday of orientation with my preceptor. Tuesday, I start being a big girl nurse and will be completely responsible for my patients! What is really great about Labor and Delivery is that everyone works together and I have people I can run to for help! It's definitely different that I thought it would be but I am still very thankful for my job.

I really need to clean the kitchen. I won't say how many days the dishes have been sitting in the sink.

I was looking at groupon today for deals. Does anyone do groupon?

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Radical

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Our church is studying the book Radical by David Platt on Sundays. One word....ah-mazing. It is all about how the American dream has tainted the gospel. Society tells you that you bigger and better while Jesus said to sell your possessions and follow Him. So very convicting.

This week we talked about the early church and how much they didn't need to accomplish God's mission and how little we expect of God. To experience this, we had no music. The Holy Spirit didn't need a worship band to draw 3,000 people to God's throne.

If you are looking for a convicting read, you need to read this book!

Wish List

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:40:00 +0000

One of my hobbies is to 'window' shop online for things. This can be clothes, books, furniture, home decor. I even enjoy adding things to my cart, just never checking out! It fulfilles my shopping need without costing anything. And I know if I always come back to look at it that I must really want it and will work out a way to get it.

Here are some of the things on my wish list right now:

This camera strap cover for my camera

This TV cabinet for the living room.

A Kinect Sensor for our Xbox

Reluctant Entertainer, The: Every Woman's Guide to Simple and Gracious Hospitality

And my extreme wish list

And a Macbook. yeah that's not happening soon!

What's on your wishlist?

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Girl's Sleepover

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:20:00 +0000

What happens when 70 girls get together and you 'sleep' at the church?

You play a lot of games. (And may have the police called on you if you are outside)

You tie-dye shirts while I slightly freak out about a mess!

And you all dance to Just Dance 2 and I got quite a workout. I loved it so much that I ordered it just so I could make Joe play!

And you get to spend the night with some amazing girls whom we love!

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Elevate Worship Service

noreply@blogger.com (Alison Mayes) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 03:58:00 +0000

Tonight was our kick off worship night for the youth. It was a great night because a. I did not have to work and b I got to go to church!

We had 70+ students tonight and the student response was great! Lots of planning, praying, and effort went into starting this worship service. We really encouraged the students to bring their friends to church and Joe taught a great message in Genesis about the gospel in creation.

Joe showed this video to start

We love our students and so thankful God called us here!

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