One month....

Well my baby girl is 1 month old. boo hoo.... It has flown by so fast! I am loving staying home with her and getting to spend so much time with her. I was thinking this morning how I am loving getting to be there every time she wakes up and every time she falls asleep, when she grins, when she looks around just taking in this "new place." She is so beautiful to us. I feel like the proudest mommy alive! Everyday it's like she is growing right before our eyes. She's FINALLY starting to fit into newborn clothes and outgrowing her preemie's. She can still fit into all her preemie shorts and pants but she's getting to long for her shirts and onesies. She goes July 1st for her 2 month appointment so I am very curious to see how much she weighs. Here are some pics of our growing little AlliGator. :-)

Worn out after one of daddy's ball games....
Sleeping with her boxing gloves on...ha...

Randomness....

Relaxing with dad....

Bath time... Don't you love the little puppy belly?

All worn out after a bath....

Wide awake and all clean...


A little grin...

Taking a nap after being awake for so long... So exhausting....

First ball games....

Alli's friend Julie holding her for the first time at the ball games.... So sweet!

What we've been up to this week....

Well, for starters my Internet stopped working last Saturday so I have been out of the loop for over one week now. Actually that's not totally true. "My" Internet was not "my" Internet at all. It's actually a wireless Internet we connect to from an apartment complex up the road. So due to the fact we've been without it for a week and because I was starting to feel guilty for hacking in to someone else's Internet we purchased our own. YAY!!! Now I'll have someone to call when our Internet quits working because I'm actually a customer now.

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Sunday I got to have the BEST MOTHER'S DAY ever!!! I got breakfast in bed from my wonderful husband, along with a dozen roses and one of the sweetest cards I have ever read. My husband is so sweet! He also took me to Target, Baby Gap, Gymboree, Children's Place, & Wal-Mart because I had not been out of the house in over a week & he thought I might enjoy some shopping time. Boy was he right!! I was going stir crazy at home. So he stayed in the car with Alli while I shopped all afternoon. I was loving it! My mom & dad came over that evening and spent some time with us. It was the perfect day.

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Alli also had her 2 week appointment this past Wednesday. Here are her most recent stats:

*6lbs 1oz

(the dr was really happy with this. He said they like to see them back to there birth weight by 2 weeks and she had exceeded that)

*20 in

*Her umbilical cord fell off

*She has started grinning at us and cooing

*She loves to be sang to. She'll just look up at you and lock eyes while you sing. So sweet!

*She sleeps about 3 hrs straight through the night, eats, gets changed, then goes back to sleep for another 3 hrs.

She is such a great baby! I am so proud of her!!

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Today was Aunt Jamie's birthday so we went to the park for the first time and then went Gator Golfing. Alli of course had a great time. Who wouldn't have a great time if they were being carried around while they slept?? ha. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JAMIE!!!

Boo Hoo

I have tears today because it is the first day since we brought Alli home that my mom is not here with us. She left this morning at 7:30 to go back to work. As she was leaving I was feeding Alli in the living room and looked over at her "room" and started crying. I miss her so much already! It has been so nice spending so much time with her and having her here to talk too. It has been such a great week with her here and I can't hardly stand the thought of her being gone. Maybe if I just tell myself she is only in the bathroom I can make it through the day. She is such an amazing mother! This Sunday I am going to have to treat her extra special. Seriously though, you should see me right now. I have tears going everywhere. If I had my way, I would see if mom and dad could move in with us. (although we'd have to build on one more room for Dustin. They all come as one package. ha)

We love you and miss you mom!

one week old...

6 days old...

I love being a mom. It is the greatest feeling in the entire world. I told my mom last night that it is a very bitter sweet thing. On one hand I love this little girl more than anything in the world...On the other hand I can't stop crying every time I look at her because I am so overwhelmed by how much I love her. :-)

She is such a good baby. She eats & sleeps really well. I am so proud of her. I know everyone says this but I really cannot imagine what we ever did without her. She is absolutely the light of our lives.

Jeff is such a wonderful dad too. He has changed almost every single one of Alli's diapers & loves just sitting there holding her. He had to go back to work today (sniff, sniff) We miss him... :-( He loves kissing her belly & snuggling with her. I am without a doubt the most blessed person alive. I am so thankful for God blessing me with the best family ever!

3 days in one blog....

Well her first night home was a rough one. It started off by me having a sore throat and with strep going around we decided to go to the dr just to make sure which meant leaving her with my parents & Jamie and Brandon. Don't get me wrong I trust them completely, but I couldn't stop seeing her little face in my mind. I think I cried 6 times while we were at the dr. It was harder than I ever could have imagined leaving her. :-( Thank goodness though the test came back negative. I have what's thought to be a virus going around. So, please pray for Alli to be protected from it.

When we FINALLY got home I couldn't wait to hold her! She's amazing! We started off to bed about 11:00 and every time we tried to lay her down she would cry & cry. Finally at around 3 am (after trying ANYTHING & EVERYTHING we could think of) mom came in and held her for a while. She of course quit crying so mom told us to get a little rest & she would rock her. (I'm sure she could see my swollen face & eyes from crying right along with Alli & knew we needed sleep. Grandparents are so great aren't they?) An hr later I woke up and took over for mom so Alli got to sleep in my arms the rest of the night. Ok, so I slept some too while I was rocking her. Guess she just needed someone to snuggle with her until she got used to her new surroundings. :-)

She really is such a good baby! She is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Her second night home she slept SO good. We went to bed about 10:00 and she slept until we woke her up to eat at about 1:00 and then would go right back to sleep after every feeding and only wake up when we made her. She let us get some much needed catch up sleep last night so I'm sure that first night she just needed some comfort arms around her until she got used to home.

She had her first doctors appointment this morning and it went really well. (aside from all this rain) The dr. said she looked good and that her weight was great. They usually expect babies to lose about 10% of there body weight by there first appointment which for her would have been 5lbs 2 oz and she weighed in at a whopping 5lbs 6oz so that reassured me that she was eating well.

We are already wondering how we were ever happy before her coming along. She is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to us. Jeff is such a great dad. He loves that little girl so much. Who would have thought you could love someone so much?

Ok I'm missing the little one so I am going to quit writing but I will keep everyone posted. Thanks SO, SO, SO much for all the prayers and comments throughout our pregnancy. We had a great labor, birth, & 2 days at home. I wish I could put into words what it feels like the first moment you see your child for the first time and here them cry. It's impossible to stop the tears. What an amazing God we serve that He would let us know such love. It is truly a miracle. Oh, and thank you all for coming by the hospital to see us. It means so much to know we have such wonderful friends and family. Love you all!