Three months and a whole lot of other stuff.

     I'm a little late but...Presley is now three moths old and two weeks!!! Her smiles and giggles keep us smiling all day long. She is sitting up better each day, just enough to enjoy her bumbo...or as Adam would call it the Bimbo. I guess between a boppee and bumbo he decided they are both bimbos. Ha!  Instead of eating she wants to watch and look at what's going on around her. She's discovering and that's great!  When we walk into the room she now notices us! Every day she does something new.  I absolutely LOVE watching her grow. We read books daily, and our favorite is from her Aunt Nea...I Love You Stinky Face.

        As I watch this little blessing grow, I thank God for such an amazing gift. Of course, as a parent you want to protect your child from everything, but I know she wouldn't learn, or grow in wisdom and faith if her life were 100 % perfect.  So I pray daily that God gives her the perseverance to deal with trials, the faith to get through them, and the wisdom to learn from them. I also pray she will be surrounded by Godly friends and family for support. I personally feel it's my job to cover her in prayer and guide her as best as I can.  I pray she witnesses a home centered around Christ. After having a kid I can now get a small understanding of how much Christ loves us. I'm so thankful that his love never fails, never gives up and never runs out on us!

Presley Stats:
Eye color: Still very blue. Mimi thinks they are her eyes and Big thinks they are his. Only time will tell.
Hair: Starting to grow...lots of blond and brown.
Weight:12 pounds
Length: Almost 25 inches
New skills: Holding small objects. She's not sure what to do with it, but she will hold it and look at it will a very serious face.
Exciting things we did: Presley got her ears pierced!!! Auntie Carolyn and Daddy came along.  I'm not going to lie it was hard to watch and hold her as it was taking place, but now it's over! We spent Thanksgiving at Mimi's house. Uncle David, Aunt Tricia, Braxton and Auston were there too!  We then made our way to Adam's family lake house. While we were there she was held a lot by her Aunt Alexis and made some giggles for her Neenie. The most exciting thing for Presley this month was getting a passy that was dipped in sugar water. Thank you Granny for that one! She was screaming like crazy and this worked like a charm:) To top off the fun for the month while daddy was hunting we drove to Palestine, TX to be with family from LA as they rode on the Polar Express. She did really well with traveling until the last three hours home. I don't know who was crying more, me or her.  She was a hot mess for sure.

          This past few weeks and next upcoming have been nothing but busy. Adam and I are feeling the crunch with only a few weeks left in TX.  We spent four days in NC looking for homes and finally found one that we both like. Only for the inspection to come back not so great. So I then flew out and found another that will hopefully be home.  I did shed a few tears here and there.  NC is very different then Texas.  There are no over passes, service roads or street lights on the highways.   Every time we past our turn it took forever to get back to where we needed to be. VERY frustrating. I'm sure with time that will get better. On the flip side, it was beautiful! Amazing color on the trees! The trees are endless...really!  The people we have met so far have been wonderful.  Our poor realtor has bent over backwards and has done a few flips to help us out with the process.  While we were looking for homes, Presley had the joy of staying with Mimi!! THANK YOU MIMI!! We could not have taken that trip with her.  It was so nice to get video clips of her here and there.  I'm sure she was spoiled rotten the whole time:)

Our new home. I can't wait to put my finger print on it!  Pretty sure for the first month we will be living in a sea of dust due to remodeling but it will be well worth the work:) More pics to come!! I has a strong desire to have a front porch living in the Carolina's. It just fits!

Month 2

Presley is now two months old. Time keeps flying by and she continues to grow and learn new skills daily. Month two has been very different then month one to say the least. I was warned between growth spurts and personalty development we could hit some hard spots and good golly did we!! Weeks 5-7 were literally wheels off at our house. We did our best to keep her on her normal routine, but many days she wanted to eat every hour and then she wanted to be up all night. On top of that she was BEYOND fussy, and developed baby acne with eczema that looked just down right awful. Poor girl! Now at eight weeks the storm has seem to have passed (I'm sure temporally), and we are back on track to our happy household again.  We love this little girl like crazy!

Presley Stats
Weight: 9 pounds
Length: 21 inches
Skills: She will look at you for hours watching every move you make. She's now starting to smile on her own (a little) and is starting to sit up pretty well when you hold her. She's now sleeping more consistently 4-5 hours at a time at night. Oh how I love when she sleeps most of the night!!!
Fun things we've done: Big A, Neenie, and her cousin SP can to visit.  Presley had a great time with SP. She helped me bath her, feed her and even change her. Two weeks later we got in the car and drove to Mimi's to visit her, Aunt Tricia, Braxton and Auston. We still go on walks every other day with daddy and Maverick when daddy gets home.
Products that have changed our life!: Aveno Eczema lotion and oatmeal bath. This made a world of a difference for her poor skin. Baby probiotics. She was crazy fussy because...well...she couldn't go. This stuff is fantastic.

While she's growing and learning Adam and I are getting ready to go house hunting in NC.  We are currently working with a realtor who has been sending us pictures of homes and neighborhoods we might like. I'm are very excited to find a home and get settled for a while.  For the past year we have been living in boxes with a majority of our things in storage.  For over a year my walls have been blank and all my loving pictures have been boxed.  Those of you who know me know how much I love to decorate my home.  If I could afford to change it seasonally I would!  I'm pretty sure when we do move into our house I'm going to go decorating happy because it's been bottled for so long. Adam on the other hand could really care less. So for now the date is set to leave, one way tickets have been purchased and we are trying to spend as much time as we can with family.

                                                     Daddy and Presley taking a nap.

                                                     Big smiles!

                                                 Pretty outfit from Paw Paw and Granny

                                                        Braxton, Auston and Presley

                                                 Mimi and grand kids

                                                        

                                                      SP feeding Presley

                                            Neenie and Presley

                                              Visiting with Big and Neenie

Precious Presley Moments

I can't believe Presley is 1 month old.  She's already changing so much. New things happen everyday and the only way I can keep track of her progress and milestones is to write them down. She has been such a" joyful struggle" in our life.  The girl is like clock work for the most part.  Her three hour routine has kept me sane and her happy!  After her 11:00pm feeding she sleeps until 2 or 3 then goes right back down and will usually wake up around 7:00 a.m.  Some say we are lucky and we have a great baby. I will tell you this has been persistent work on mommy and daddy's part. It has been no cake walk, but it's so wonderful to start seeing the benefits of training her to eat, play and sleep:)  About once or twice a week she will throw some CRAZY fits in the evening.  Although she is getting better, they still make us feel like we live in a nut house at times.  She LOVES bath time. I'm pretty sure she would hang out in her tube for hours, and it's not bath time unless Mav (our dog) is hanging out by her side. They have become best buds and he is oh so protective of her.

Presley Stats:
Weight: Around 8 pounds
Length: We will know at our next doc appointment. We know she is not longer then 19 inches!
Eye color: Still blue
Hair Color: Brown with a lot of strawberry blond coming in
Skills: Pushes herself up during tummy time, is now eating 4oz consistently, can scream very well, and starting to focus more on objects and sounds.
Fun things we've done: Took a trip to visit both grandparents at two weeks old. (she did great) Took another trip to Mimi's house to visit Mimi, Aunt Tricia, and her cousins Auston and Braxton at four weeks.  She had a harder time with this trip. Sorry Aunt Tricia for keeping you up all night and being fussy. Along with a few trips, a few days a week we go for a walk/jog on the trails with daddy and Maverick.

                                         Sleepy girl.

Bath time!! It doesn't look like she's having fun, but I promise she really likes baths. (notice mav looking over her)

She loves her Mimi.

Aunt Tricia feeding her.

Labor Day Weekend

Wednesday Aug.28th
I had just left work and Adam met me at the doctors office for a normal check up. By the look on the doctors face Adam and I both knew something was not good or unexpected. She looked at me and said, "this baby is NOT going to wait for her due date". She said she would be here with in the next week or two.  I was OK with that.  I knew all would be fine as long as she didn't come Labor Day weekend, our moving date. (our temp rental home sold and we had to move into an apartment until the big move to NC) When Adam and I got home we walked into a VERY HOT 90 degrees house. This had happened before and I called the landlord to let him know it was not working again.  Being that it was 7:00pm there wasn't much we could do about it.  So we booked a hotel room at the Comfort Inn and brought our dog with us.  Before we went to the hotel we decided to grab a bite to eat at Chili's. While eating I notice the "Braxton Hicks"  I had been having were getting somewhat uncomfortable. By the end of the meal I knew we needed to start timing them. Low and behold when we got back to the hotel they were 10 mins apart! Ahhhh I'm in a hotel, with my dog, I don't have anything packed for this baby, and this weekend we are moving!! We waited and waited for the contractions to be 5 minuets apart and it never happened. The intensity was painful but tolerable. Poor Adam just knew every ten minuets he was going to hear me take a deep breath and curl up into a ball.  This continued ALL NIGHT:\  Then it was like someone had hit a magic switch and they stopped. Gone, just like that! It was the best feeling in the world, but really curious as to what in the world was happening all night.  I called my doc and she said to keep my feet up and rest. This could continue for a few days and then stop. Some people have worse Braxton Hicks then others.  Geezzz, I'm so lucky.
Thursday Aug.30th
Throughout the day I would have one or two contractions an hour but it was nothing like the night before. I put my feet up and pretty much did nothing all day. Adam came home around 7:00 and slowly but surly the contractions started to come on just like the night before, only this time much more intense. Around 11:30 with contractions still 10 minuets apart, I called the on call doctor and he said again they didn't sound like labor contractions, but if it got to bad to go ahead and come on in.  Needless to say it was another long very painful night.  All of a sudden 7:00am rolls around and they stop again just like before. I was now feeling beyond exhausted and wanted answers so I made and appointment with my doc.  Adam and I showed up with the car seat and bags packed just in case she admitted me.  We weren't there for five minuets and she told me it was time to go down stairs and they baby was going to be here by midnight. Ahhhh!!! This was the worst thing we could hear. We had movers showing up at the house the following morning. 
Friday Aug.31 @ 12:37 am

Presley Susan Brown arrived into the world! She was soon whisked away to the NICU due to irregular heartbeat and daddy went with her.  My heart pounded out of my chest and began to plead with God to please let our baby girl be OK. Somehow someway there was an inner peace that this was all going to be OK. After another sleepless night and many hours of waiting for results, the cardiologist said she was just fine and she doesn't have any issues or problems with her heart other then having PAC's.  It's the most common among newborns and she would most likely grow out of it!! What a relief. As we got our good news, I began to look around the 60 bed nicu where almost every bed was filled with a baby. I found myself being so grateful for the little life we had been given. You see mammas sitting in chairs looking at their little ones for hours just hoping their child will make it another day. For a brief moment I thought that could have been me. That moment was when I walked into the room to see her after a local pastor had just been in the room praying over her. (that alone made me cry) When I walked in she was all bundled up with a handmade blanket, hat, booties, and doll. (thanks to the O'Conner High students)  I lost it.  I lost it because I knew why he was praying over her and I knew why she was given such sweet things.  Because she was sick, because something wasn't right. It was such a sweet thing to do for her. In that moment time froze. NOTHING mattered, nothing at all. She was the only thing that consumed my mind and I was 100% OK with that.
Sept. 2, 2012

We are going home!!! Oh, but home isn't the home I left:\  After a huge team effort from family and an amazing moving company, somehow someway my husband managed to move us into our new place while we were at the hospital. I had no clue what I was going to be walking into but prepared for the worst. When I walked in I found that my sweet mother had been working her tail end off all night unpacking our things and placing them where she thought I would like them. She IS Mother of the Year! Because of such amazing family and friends....I went home to a home not a house filled with boxes and clutter. 

After all the madness we now have a new understand and meaning for our "Labor Day Weekend".  We have had a wonderful first week and love every minuet with Presley.  Daddy is already a sucker and tends to her every need. 

Extra pics and videos
                             

                                                 The I am working on a package face.

Caution...life changes ahead!

The title speaks volumes for our life and what's ahead. 
Here's an update on what's happened from the last time I posted. Our house sold. We are living in a rental that is being placed on the market in April. (I secretly pray it doesn't sell so we don't have to move again.) Adam has been offered positions at Vanderbilt and Duke Research Centers! And the biggest update....drum roll....we are expecting!

Yep that's right! Here you see a picture of Baby Brown!  It was a complete shocker to the both of us. Some of you know that we have had a hard two almost three years dealing with this topic.  After two doctors tell you it's just not in the cards for you....well you learn to count your blessings, and move on with life. We had big plans! Many trips to take, and lots of spoiling to do to all 12 of our nieces and nephews. We were getting excited about moving this summer, and making an adventure out of it.  Just when we became content with no kids in our lives, God threw us a curve ball. I say curve ball instead of blessing due to the amount of shock we were both in.  12 weeks later some of the shock has worn off.   We now consider our new family member an answer to prayer, and a beautiful blessing. We have hit a few bumps in the road, and God has continued to be faithful and keeps our spirits up!
In the middle of the new family member on his/her way, Adam is trying to complete his dissertation, and will soon defend on April 11th.  I couldn't be more proud of him. I see what he's going through, and I'm not sure how he makes it through each day.  Needless to say, telling him he was going to be a daddy didn't lighten his load very much.  Even though he's hard pressed on all sides, I know he's excited and can't wait to find out if it will be a boy or girl.   Hopefully we will find out in April! Regardless we pray for a happy, healthy child. 
 So far the first year I will be home. We will have to see after that.  Along with the watching him/her, I take on a huge responsibility to teach my child to love Christ will all their heart. When I look back on my childhood I was surrounded by adults that sang songs about Christ with me, and taught me that his love is deep and wide.   I can't wait for my little one to be held by those same people who taught me so much. I want him/her to see me, their mom, on my knees praying, living a life of thanksgiving with a  grateful attitude. I want him/her to have a daddy that hugs them, plays with them and says I love you openly.  I want them to see that having things is great and fun, but we are suppose to value people more then our things. My list could go on and on and on! I know there will be days that I just want to crawl in a corner and cry myself away, I know there will be days when people are looking at me because I have the screaming child in the store, I know there will be days when it seems like all day long I'm cleaning up spit up ,and calling the doctor for help, but I also know there will be days when I go to hold my little one, and he's too big, or it's not cool anymore.  This is why I want to stay home.  I don't want to miss anything.  To see the smiles, hear the giggles, and to hold them when they sleep. This is priceless to me. There is no life style I would take over getting the opportunity to see all these things.  For now, I am grateful that God is going to give me that opportunity for a little while.  Soon we will have a new baby, new home, new job, and one big totally new life!