One Month Old Video of Grayson

Tomorrow is Grayson's One Month Old Birthday! I thought that I would put together a slideshow of all the photos we have taken over the past month for our memories.
Plus I am sure the our family and friends would love to see the photos too!

There is music to the video too! :)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Things I have Learned

Being a Mommy is wonderful!

Over the past month I have learned so much about being a Mommy and some of the things I had no idea would take place:

like the first time Grayson peed on me

or

the first time I had poop all over me

or

the amount and length you bleed after having a baby

or

the time it take for you to heal after having a baby

or

the time it takes to breastfeed and once we are done we start over again just a few hours later

or

the amount of time I have spent at home and not leaving my house for days

or

how fast the days go by

or

the first time running errands on my own and what use to be a quick trip into the post office turns into a much longer trip because I can't just get out of the car and run in I have to get Grayson out of the car too. Someone needs to make a drive thru for the post office. I have to go there today to mail our birth announcements

or

the first time you have to cancel or change plans with friends because I was not ready for the day because my morning didn't go as planned

or

the times Grayson has peed all over his outfit and we are not home and we didn't bring a change of clothes. Because of this I have learned to always bring a change of clothes and a extra blanket

or

the first time you have to breastfeed in the car because Grayson is having a meltdown

or

the times you have plans to get a lot done around the house, but nothing gets done

or

the times I have stayed in bed until noon because all Grayson wanted to do was eat

I guess that this is what being a Mommy is all about!

Love it!

Happy Birthday to Grandma

Today it is my mom's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Grayson sends you a big kiss and a hug to you Grandma on your birthday!

I love my mom she is beautiful on the inside and the outside!

We were blessed to have my mom here with us shortly after Grayson was born. My mom lives in Montana and due to the long distance drive to Arkansas she was not able to be with us for Grayson's delivery, but she joined us 6 days later and spent 8 days with us and we appreciate all the love and support she gave to us during her visit. These photos were taken when she was here visiting.

Happy Birthday Mom and Grandma! Grayson and I made a video for you today. It is short because he was starting to get upset plus we were going to take more photos, but then he cried for awhile so I fed him and now he is sleeping. So now I have a free moment and wanted to get this posted before the little man wakes up. We will try for more pictures later.

Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma!

Chad, Grayson, and I love you to the moon and back. I hope you have a great day and that all your birthday wishes come true. See you soon!

(The noise in the background is Grayson's bouncey seat!)

Our Monday

Our Monday was a little like this...

It was our first Monday together just Grayson and I without family with us.  We had a lunch date planned and we had to cancel as we could not get ready and out of the house on time.  Sorry Kristi and Grayson, we will see you next week.  We did manage to run a few errands later in the afternoon.  I have found that Grayson is the best during the hours from 1PM-5PM.  If I let him sleep he would sleep the entire time.  But I am really trying to wake him up more during the day so he will sleep longer during the nights.  I think he has his days and nights mixed up.  I am exclusively breastfeeding Grayson and starting this week I am going to attempt to start pumping as I go back to work in two weeks.  Wish me luck!  I hope it continues to go well! 

Our Tuesday plans for Grayson and I are to just snuggle and love on eachother.  I am so looking forward to it. 

So how was your Monday?

Amazing

Sorry I have been MIA lately.  I have been busy with little G.  I am enjoying every moment and find it difficult to find time to blog, but I do know that you understand.  Even though I do miss writing and capturing what is taking place with us each day I love spending every waking moment with Grayson.  Grayson will be 4 weeks tomorrow and we have had a busy 4 weeks with family and friends.  Grayson is already a blessed baby.  He has met both sides of the family and most of our friends in Arkansas.  The four weeks with Grayson have gone by WAY to FAST!  In fact I need to be better at taking pictures of Grayson each day he is changing so much.  I take a lot of pictures of Grayson with my phone as I always have it with me.  Plus our parents have requested a photo of Grayson each day so we try our best to send a text each day.  But I need to capture more photos of him on our camera.  Here is a picture of Grayson that I took yesterday.  He is growing and that makes this mommy happy :)

In fact this picture was taken shortly after he finished eating.  I love how he has his arm behind his head when he is sleeping.  He always has his hands by his face when he is sleeping. 

Isn't it AMAZING?

That this little bundle of joy laying on my belly was once inside my belly.  Every time I look at this picture I think about the nine months Grayson spent in my belly growing.  It reminds me of all the movements, hiccups, and kicks he made while in my belly.  Some days I miss that special bond we had together.  But the one thing I do love is when Grayson falls asleep on my belly and we snuggle for hours.  So as I cherished every moment Grayson was in my belly I am now cherishing every moment I have with him outside my belly. 

Have a great week blogging friends and family!

Love Melissa and Grayson!

Grayson's Birth Story

Grayson is 3 weeks and 1 day old today and I am now sitting down to document his birth story.  First I would like to start by saying that I have a plan for everything in my mind. I always hope and wish that my plan will turn out. So yes I had a plan for how I wanted my labor and delivery to take place. I wasn't pushing at all to go into labor as I was very HAPPY being pregnant. So when the day arrived I was a bit shocked! My plan was to go to the doctor and they would send me to labor and delivery to have Grayson. Plus I wanted to have my sister Amie and our good friend Mary here, as I wanted to have both of them in the room with me during delivery. That was my plan...

Lets start with Sunday May 16th, 2010... all morning I was having extreme pain and cramping that would not go away and I was so uncomfortable. We went to church and through out the service I was having pain, which now I know were contractions. After church we had lunch and went home so I could lay down and see if things would change. I did not want to go to the hospital and they tell me that I was experiencing false labor. But after laying down for an hour things did not change. So I called the clinic and they suggested that I come in. So at 2PM on Sunday afternoon we made our way to the hospital. They got me settled into a hospital gown and hooked up to all the machines and I was in fact having contractions. They were not consist while we were there so they gave me the choice to stay or go home, plus I was only dilated to 1 CM. I really didn't want to spend the entire Sunday evening at the hospital and have nothing happen so we decided to go home. The fact was that I had an appointment the next morning with my doctor and we could discuss what to do then. On Monday May 17th, 2010 I had a 8AM appointment with Doctor H and we did the normal checks. I did not gain any weight from my last appointment and in total I gained 20 pounds during my pregnancy. My blood pressure was great. Grayson's heartbeat was 143 during the appointment. I was dilated to 2 CM. The only concern that we had was that Grayson had not moved all night and all morning. This was after having a glass of chocolate milk that morning too. So Doctor H decided to do a stress test on Grayson and after about 30 minutes or so still no movements only hiccups. They decided that it would be best to start inducing me that day as they thought that maybe my fluid levels were low and it was causing Grayson not to move as much. So at 9AM we were sent to the hospital to begin the process of labor and delivery. It was so surreal and I could not believe that on that day May 17th, 2010 that we would have little G. The amazing thing was that May 17th was the day I picked Grayson would be here. Isn't that funny!

The day progressed slowly and around 1PM they decided to start me on pitocin to help move things along. At this point I still did not have any pain medicine or an epidural as I wanted to wait until I had dilated more because at that moment I was on dilated to 2CM and I did not want the epidural to wear off. Throughout the afternoon I had strong contractions but nothing I couldn't breathe through at 3PM Dr K rechecked me and I was still at 2CM dilated. It was decided that they would wait until I was a solid 3CM to break my water. At around 5PM Dr K came back in and I had progressed to 3CM so they broke my water. The only thing that I didn't have at this point was my epidural. Let me tell you once they broke my water the CONTRACTIONS were horrible. I requested that all visitors leave at this point as I was in tears and the pain was unbearable. I had to wait an hour before they could give me the epidural as the anesthesiologist was seeing another patient. So during the wait Mary and Chad kept me calm and helped me through each contraction. I finally was able to get my epidural and all the pain was gone and I felt so much better. It was perfect timing as my sister Amie arrived shortly after I got my epidural and I was so happy to see her and the boys. It was very important to me to have her with us during the delivery of Grayson. I got to see the boys for a few hours before they left to go to the Fisher's house for a sleepover so their mommy could be with me during the labor and delivery. After a few hours of receiving my epidural they checked me at 9PM and I was completely dilated to a 10! It was time...

I was blessed to have my loving husband, my beautiful sister Amie, and our dear friend Mary with me to support me during labor and delivery. They were all amazing support to me. I loved all the nurses that were with us throughout the day and they were wonderful and patient with me during the entire process. My Dr H was not available to deliver Grayson, but I was not disappointed at all because we had our wonderful Dr K that took her place and she had such a calm spirit. So back to the labor and delivery. At around 9:15PM I started pushing and it was hard work, but 35 minutes later Grayson arrived and all the pain, the hunger I felt, and how tired I felt was gone! Grayson was finally here! It was AMAZING seeing him for the first time and hearing him cry. It was unbelievable that Chad and I created this little miracle! It was great to hold Grayson in my arms, it was AMAZING to see Chad hold Grayson for the first time, and it was beautiful to see my friends and family meet and hold Grayson for the first time.

Our Grayson arrived at 9:50PM weighing 6 pounds 10 ounces and 19 inches in length. God is amazing and we feel so blessed!
Here are a few pictures that my sister captured during the labor and delivery!

Happy Friday

Happy Friday to all!  I haven't been very good at blogging this week, but I have been on my own and little G has been keeping me VERY busy.  We have had a few rough days this week and I am extremely tired.  But I know in time we will establish a routine (or at least I hope). 

I still have lots to catch up when it relates to blog posts and I hope I can get this accomplished soon, but I know you all understand that I am busy with Grayson and learning to be a mommy.  Again I say this over and over, but being a mommy is the best job!

Here is a few photos of Grayson from the week:

(most of these photos were taken with my iPhone)

Just thinking what should we do today mommy?

When Grayson's arms are by his head he is sound sleep!

Sleeping in his Nap Nanny

1st Time in his Swing

Worn out after a full day of photos taken by Mika Beth Photography

this picture was taken before we left her studio 

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