Organized start to 2011

Now that I have a baby (and a dang cute one at that!) I'm determined to clean my house and keep it clean and organized. I don't want her to inherit all the bad habits that I did, so she needs to be taught for as long as she can remember how to be organized and clean. Since she's still so little, I kind of feel like I still have time (procrastination is a subject we'll tackle later... Ha ha, ironic, eh?)
So, to help me get started in my quest for organization, I'm taking this challenge from http://www.abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/

Czech it out!

(And thanks to Scotti at www.oxfordfam.blogspot.com for turning me onto this!)

Paisley's Birth Story

Our baby girl was originally due on November 19th, but she measured 1-2 weeks ahead all pregnancy so my awesome OB moved our due date up a week, to November 12th. Well, November 12th came and went with no baby and no signs of labor. I still wasn't dilated, but was mostly effaced and her head was down where it should be. Our doctor told us that inducing before 41 weeks doubles your risk of a C-section, especially with your first baby, so we decided to wait it out. On the Monday after she was due, we met with the doctor to make sure my fluid levels were still okay, and because I still wasn't dilating, we decided to set up a date to induce. We decided if she wasn't born by Friday November 19 (my original due date) we'd go to the hospital to start a drug called Cytotech to make my cervix dilate. It was nice to have a definite date. The week went by and we made some final preparations and went on one last date as non-parents. Then it was time to head to the hospital.
We got to the hospital at 8:00 pm Friday and got settled into our room. While we waited for our nurse to come in, I had a minor meltdown. I wasn't sure I was capable of giving birth to a baby. I cried and cried and Allen assured me that I could do it and that my body was meant to do this. I was just so nervous about all the uncertainty that lay in the next 24 hours or so. I was so afraid that I'd end up needing a C-section because my mom had to have C-sections with all 3 of us kids. The nurse came in, started my IV, checked my cervix, and gave me the first dose of Cytotech. Dr. Davis said that I would probably need 3 or 4 doses through the night and that hopefully he'd be able to break my water in the morning. After one dose of Cytotech, Dr. Naisbitt, the on-call doctor came in, checked my cervix and decided I was dilated enough to break my water. Apparently one dose was enough to get me contracting on my own (although I didn't feel the contractions) and started my labor. Dr. Naisbitt broke my water at 3:30 and that's when the nasty contractions started. Allen had worked Friday so he was tired and he slept through them breaking my water. I needed to get up and go to the bathroom, but the contractions were so strong that I needed help getting out of bed and Al was sleeping so soundly that I had to throw hospital-issued slipper socks at him to wake him up. Ha ha. We labored through the early morning hours and I finally decided to get my epidural around 7:30 Saturday morning. Allen was a champ while I was getting my epidural. It didn't hurt, I was just scared about it. After that, labor was a piece of cake! Getting an epidural was the best decision I made all day!
My mom, grandma, and sister Kelsey came by around 11:30 Saturday to see how we were doing. Before they got there, I was dilated to a 5. Allen headed downstairs with them to get some lunch, and when they got back, about an hour later, I was fully dilated and almost ready to push! We didn't expect to start pushing until around 3:30 that afternoon, but the nurse called Dr. Davis, had me do a few practice pushes, and then we waited for Dr. Davis to get there. Dr. Davis showed up around 1 pm, and we started pushing for real. At 1:50 pm, on Saturday November 20, 2010 our beautiful baby girl was born.
The nurse had asked me when we first checked in if I wanted immediate skin to skin contact with the baby. I had been thinking about it quite a bit during my pregnancy but hadn't decided. When it was time to make the final decision, I decided I would already be sweaty and gross after pushing out a baby, I might as well get to snuggle my baby immediately, regardless of the amount of goo she was covered in. So as soon as she came out, Dr. Davis had Allen cut the umbilical cord and then the nurses wiped her off a little and laid her on my chest. I couldn't believe I had just squeezed out a baby. I could have stared at her forever. The nurses scooped her up to weigh her and clean her up. She got a 9 on her 5 minute APGAR, which is awesome! Our baby weighed 8 lb, 1 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She had wrinkly hands and feet and a good amount of dark hair. I got to love on her while Dr. Davis stitched up my 2nd degree tear, which helped me ignore the discomfort.
When we got to the hospital, we still hadn't decided on a name for our baby girl. We had a few we liked but agreed we wanted to see her before we decided on a name. After looking at our baby for a few minutes, we decided she was definitely a Paisley. We named our baby girl Paisley Jayne McCracken. After knowing her for the few days we have, that name fits her perfectly. We call her PJ, Miss Paisley, Pais, and Monkey. She has monkey feet, so that's where the last one comes from. :)
All in all it was a pretty adventurous weekend. We were in the hospital until Monday afternoon and I had awesome nurses taking care of me and Paisley. Allen talked me into sending her to the nursery both nights, which I appreciate in hindsight. Our first night home, I was wishing I could send her to the nursery so I could get some sleep! We've kind of figured things out though. We are loving having this new addition to our family and can't wait to see what the future holds for the 3 of us!

Baby girl McCracken!!!

I finally scanned ultrasound pictures!~ Here are some of the best ones so far!

This is her at 12 weeks, when we thought she

still might be a boy.

Here she is at 20 weeks at our targeted ultrasound, when we found out she was, in fact, a girl! She was being stubborn and wouldn't let the tech get a good look, at her bum or her face. She was compliant for all the other body parts, but not the ones we were most anxious to see.

Here she is at 24 or 25 weeks. Right after we got this shot of her face, she pulled both legs and her left arm across her face so as not to be seen anymore. She's a stinker, all right...

Here is the only picture we have of my baby bump, specifically. I am 28 weeks in this picture.

I basically suck at blogging...

It's true. I have very good intentions of keeping up and then I get distracted.

For those of you who don't know, Allen and I are expecting our first baby in November!!! We are so super excited! I got pretty sick for a couple of months, but that is settling down and I'm starting to enjoy being pregnant! I still have some sickness, but that's more related to my gall bladder problems that I've had for years. I haven't really had any nesting instincts kick in yet, but I'm sure they will! I'm going to continue going to school this fall, and hope to just incorporate our new baby girl into our lives and make it work! I only have 4 semesters left and I know I'd just rationalize postponing going back if I took a semester or year off. Luckily my program is really close-knit and is more like a family than a school program so they're aware of the situation and are willing to work with me. I'm due 3 weeks before the end of the semester so that's going to be interesting, for sure!



Other than baby news, our lives are pretty much the same. Allen got a full time position at Best Buy, which has been a huge blessing for our family! I was too sick to even function, much less hold down a job, for a long time, so the fact that Heavenly Father has blessed us with that extra income has been amazing! The timing was perfect too! I cancelled our insurance just a couple of weeks before I found out I was pregnant. This was no bueno! My awesome sister-in-law suggested we apply for Medicaid to cover my pregnancy and this baby. We barely met the income requirement, and then Al got his new position at Best Buy, which definitely would have put us over the income limit! Allen has been busy working 2 jobs, his full-time gig at Best Buy, and part time at WonderBread. On his days off, which are few, we are lucky enough to spend lots of time together.



July has been a busy month, with the 4th and 24th being holidays. Allen had both holidays off and we enjoyed parades and fireworks. For the 24th, I got to take Allen to his very first rodeo! He took pictures on his phone, so those will have to wait to be posted... I will post them though, I promise!!!! I'll also try to take some baby-bump pictures and post them too! I'm finally out of that stage where I didn't look pregnant, I just looked like I had gained 40 pounds! I'm so happy to be pregnant, and to finally look pregnant! I complained a lot while I was sick, but I really am so excited to be having a baby! I can't imagine how much our lives are about to change, but we are always up for an adventure! Our families have been AWESOME and so so supportive! I have gotten hand-me-down maternity clothes, which have been a life saver!!! (I never would have thought I'd spend $50 on a pair of pants!!! Maternity clothes are freakishly expensive!) We also have some handmade baby quilts in the works from our wonderful families too!



Overall, we are very blessed to be living the lives that we have. We're having new adventures and falling more and more in love with each other all the time!



Pictures to follow... :D

House Pictures

So, we've lived in this house for over a year now, and we have no pictures of it. It's clean for the first time in, well, over a year so I think it is high time to post some. It'll take me a day or two to get them taken and loaded, but they will come!

More Pictures!

This first one is from our trip to the zoo. I love the zoo. I always have and always will. That's where I chose to go for my 21st birthday, because I'm essentially 6 years old. Hooray for the zoo!!!

We're in the back of the log on Splash Mountain, showin' off our bling, but you can hardly see us. :(

I found Prince Charming at the castle!!!
I love you, Allen!!!

Picture Update!

Both of our names start with "Al" so we thought this picture was appropriate! :D

Yay for Disneyland at Christmas time! We even got to see Santa's reindeer! But I already had everything I wanted for Christmas!

Gotta love 3D glasses!

We're getting there!!!

Funnest mouse ears EVER!!!! We gallavanted through Disneyland wearing them. It was magical. I love being married!!!

I know we've promised pictures but I haven't been able to find the cable to connect the camera to the computer, so here are a few pictures, mostly from our honeymoon to Disneyland in December of 2008. I've never posted pictures to a blog, but here goes nothing!

Hey, it worked! But it only let me post 5, so I guess there'll be another post with more pics!