Events leading up to Sarah's Birthday

As most people know I am a planner. I make plans to make plans. Nothing was different when it came to having Sarah. We (okay I) planned months before we got pregnant and when we did get pregnant immediately tried to plan her birthday. You would think I learned my lesson when Grant was born. (He came two weeks early due to my having high blood pressure.) The plan was for me to go back to work for eight days. I would then take Thursday off and have Sarah on Friday. I figured a Summer of rest would keep my blood pressure down. We also planned for Grant to start back to preschool and be settled in before Sarah made her debut. Sounds great, right?

The first change came in the form of Grant going to the beach with Mimi the first week I was to go back to work. I was sad to have him gone for a week, but also did not want to deny him the chance to spend that time with Mimi. Plus he had never been to the beach. I did not realize how helpful it was going to be for him to be gone and taken care of.

I went to work on Monday and Tuesday as planned. I knew my blood pressure was up because my feet were so swollen. I had cankles...not ankles or calves...cankles! Putting my feet up in my meetings did not help. I had a Doctor's appointment after work on Tuesday. I had the nurse at school check my blood pressure before I left...150/90!! Not good! It was even higher when I got to the doctor's office! Dr. Garner sent me to Labor and Delivery to be monitored. If my bp did not get better we were either having a baby that night or I was going to be put on hospital bed rest. Thankfully it went down the longer I rested. I was sent home and put on house arrest.

House arrest meant no more work for me! ACK! The planner in me was FREAKING out because I did not have everything ready for my Sub. I thought I had another week to get everything done! Luckily I had gotten the meat of the planning done. I only had what I considered the "icing on the cake" left. I just made lists for her on what was left.

I spent the next two days in bed. Sounds wonderful, but being nine months pregnant was not really comfortable. I watched a lot of movies and read baby books. Looking back I wish I had enjoyed it more! :-) On Friday (my birthday), I went to the Dr. for a blood pressure check. It was still a little high, but not enough to deliver. I was kept on bed rest through the weekend. (I did get to go to Grant's Meet the teacher night AND go out to dinner!)

The following Monday I had another blood pressure check. My bp was in the normal range for me, so I was kept on modified bed rest until our scheduled c-section that Friday. Of course I spent half a day at school trying to get some of that to-do list done. I also enjoyed taking/picking up Grant from school because I knew it would be awhile before I could do so. On Thursday I surprised him by picking him up before lunch. Mimi and I took him to La Ha for lunch and then shopping for some last minute baby stuff. I then took him to a pottery place to have one last Mommy and Grant outing. It was great to have that because I was so emotional that whole day!

That night my Mom came to spend the night. We went out for dinner and tried to get to bed early. I even took a sleeping pill, but still could not sleep! I am going to stop the story here to share pictures from the two weeks before Sarah's birth. I will pick up the story on the next entry!

Grant's first day of preschool. He is now in the Pre-K class...or butterflies!


Here he is at school. What a sweet boy!


Riding the pony at La Ha on our lunch date the day before Sarah was born.


Painting his hot rod at the pottery place.


He is so proud of the hot rod! It now sits on the night stand next to his bed.


Having dinner the night before Sarah's birthday. Grant was excited...not to sure about Brad!

Grant and Grandma at dinner. I KNOW she was excited the day was finally here!!

I'm not sure what the box is below....I guess I should call it a night when I start getting mystery boxes! LOL

My Parent's 40th Wedding Anniversary

My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on August 29th. We celebrated after my shower since I was scheduled to have Sarah on August 28th. We took them to III Forks for dinner. Claudie, Mike and Cheryl also joined us to celebrate. Happy 40th Mom and Dad!!

Baby Shower, August 15th

My wonderful Sister-in-law, Michelle hosted a baby shower for me on August 15th. She (and her best friends Lindsay and Sherri) did such a fantastic job! The decorations were beautiful, the food yummy, and it was a lot of fun too!! I got so many cute things for Sarah. I am not sure how I am going to be able to dress her in everything! Thank you Michelle for such a great day!



A baby shower is not complete without the Grandparents to be! Here is Grandma, Aunt Michelle, me, and Mimi.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the decorations. I did take one of the diaper cake (once I got home). I need to steal some pictures from Ray's Facebook page!


We played a game were everyone guessed how much toilet tissue it would take to go around my (huge) belly. I think it ended up being 25 1/2 sheets. Claudie and Cheryl were both right on with their guesses! Here is Claudie trying hers out.


I think my Mother thought I was carrying twins by the look of the extra sheets left over. LOL


I got so many great gifts. My Mom's good friend Sallie made Sarah a ballerina quilt. It is SOOO cute. She also made Grant a Mickey quilt. He LOVES it!


Speaking of Grant....he was such a great helper!! Man can he open presents! :-)


My Mom made me one of my favorite gifts...a baby blanket. She could not find a pattern that had hearts (my favorite), so she designed one herself. Look closely and you can see the heart pattern.

Update

Hello! I cannot believe Baby Sarah is already SEVEN weeks old! I am going to update my blog today with events that have happened between Becca's wedding on August 8th through today. I am hoping to get it all done, but that will depend on Sarah staying asleep! LOL!

Becca's wedding in Tulsa

The weekend of August 8th Brad's cousin Becca got married in Tulsa. Grant was one of the ring bearers. Grant, Mimi, Aunt Paula, and I went up Thursday evening. Brad, Grandpa, and Uncle Chris joined us the next day.

Here is Grant and Mimi at the rehearsal dinner. Can you tell he loves his Mimi?



Grant waited patiently to practice his big entrance.



The time finally arrived!


Here he is with the other ring bearer, Jett. They were so cute together!!



Once the big entrance was over Grant found the rest of the rehearsal less than fun!



The day of the wedding poor Grant had to be dressed in his Tux by 10:30...the wedding was at 1:30. Here is what he looked like around 12:30. I guess you could say he was ready to get the show on the road! A little chocolate helped boost his spirits!



My family before the wedding. I like that the brown dress hid my huge belly!!


Grant did such a great job during the wedding. He made it standing up for half of the wedding before he realized his flower had broken off and then decided to bring it to me! Embarrasing, but super cute too! He spent the rest of the ceremony in the Mother of the Bride's lap. Here he is after the ceremony. What a ham!!


Grant with the bride and the other girls in the wedding party. He liked the picture part (for the most part).


At the reception Grant danced it up with whoever would join him. Here is with Daddy.


Now he is dancing with Uncle Chris. I think he was enjoying himself!


Grant also danced with the bride, but it is hard to see him.


Brad and I went to dance the "married" people dance. Grant decided he had to join us!


More dancing with Daddy and Aunt Paula.


Dancing with Mimi.

Look at the handsome bachelors.... Grant and Uncle Chris.



After the wedding Uncle Chris took Grant swimming.


Uncle Chris is such a great Uncle!!


He even tossed him around like Daddy!


Later that night we went to dinner. Here is Grant texting Uncle Chris to hurry up so we could go to dinner.

The next morning Grant was exhausted! We went to breakfast before heading out. Grant was not ready to wake-up and smell the bacon! LOL


Grant watched Bolt both on the way to Tulas, in Tulsa, and on the way home. I think he is addicted!


On the way home we stopped in Sherman to eat at one of Brad's old haunts, City Limits. Grant was just happy to be out of the car!!


It was a great weekend and a beautiful wedding!

Big Brother Classes

We took Grant to Big Brother classes at the hospital. He was so excited to see where Sarah will be born and to learn about being a big brother. I just hope this continues after the baby is born!!

Here he is before we left to go to class. Can you tell he is excited?


The first thing they did is make a picture frame for the baby. I printed the first picture so it would be from the day the frame was made.


Part of the class is reading books about being a big brother and talking about things they will see at the hospital. Grant really enjoyed the group activities.



One of the things they showed them was the measuring tape used to measure the baby. They then measured each kiddos head. Grant was so proud that his head was the biggest!! LOL



Another thing they showed them was how to swaddle a baby. Here he is in his Doctor "stuff" holding the swaddled baby. Too cute!!!


Part of the class is touring the hospital and seeing the rooms. Here he is in the labor room. He thought it was cool that the bed moved up and down!



Halfway through the hospital tour Grant decided the vending machines were far more interesting. Daddy then had to help Grant finish the tour!


At the end of the class he was given a certificate for being a great big brother!!

Summer Fun....July 2009

Our July in pictures:

Swim lessons started back in full swing. Can you tell Grant LOVES going swimming now?


Jumping off the diving board:

We spent July 4th with Brad's parents and some of their close friends. I made cookies for the kids to decorate. When they were done you could barely see the white icing!


After dinner we went to the Dallas Athletic Club to watch fireworks. We have never been so close! Grant and Barron loved hanging out while we waited.



We went to a bunch of birthday parties in July. Here is Grant enjoying the cake at Kole's party! (Or maybe it enjoyed him?)



Grant loves to paint. Here he is painting a boat. Notice the concentration!



We also went swimming with friends at their community pool. After each swim Grant and Garrett would share snacks. What some handsome boys we have!!



Grant continued his swim lessons all July. Before I knew it he could jump off the diving board and swim to the side all by himself!! He even did some racing across the pool. I am so proud of my little man!!



Another highlight to our Summer is getting together with great friends for playdates. Two of Grant's best friends are Karis and Emmy...his "girls". He takes care of them like a big brother!!


Grant shows Karis how to use the computer. :-)


Brad and I decided to take Grant to a Hibachi grill for the first time. He LOVED it so much he even tried shrimp and fried rice for the first time!! Look at the face he made when the grill was set on fire!


Trying out the chop sticks!

Grant had so much fun at Tad's birthday party. Here he is playing catch and obviously very proud of the fact he caught the ball!!



This Summer we enrolled Grant into Spanish School House. He is naturally curious about the language so we thought he would love going. Here he is on the first day. He had the, "I am not sure about this" look, but really enjoyed the classes!



We also went to the movies this Summer. Here is at the Studio Movie Grill watching Ice Age for the 2nd time!!



One Friday Brad took off work early and we all went to the Rec center to swim. Grant loved that he could swim with his Daddy. He even told me I did not need to get in the water!! I guess it is because his Daddy will toss him in the air!



He loves hanging out in the kiddie area.



And riding the slides.


Grant also enjoyed helping my Dad fix the crib in Sarah's room.


We had a great July. I wish I taken more pictures, but sometimes my camera gets finicky!