I am FINALLY Mama!

Just had to share, Matney is FINALLY calling me Mama! Some of you have been around her and know that she's been calling me Stacey for months. She could say "mama" but the only time she called me Mama was when she wanted a bottle. It sounded something like this - imagine a PITIFUL, whining voice and high volume level- "MA MA MA BA BA BA!!!". Not long ago she screamed it just like that the ENTIRE time we checked out at Kroger. That day I called Jared and told him I wasn't ever taking her out again until she was 4.

We figure she started calling me Stacey since that is all she ever heard anyone call me. I've always called Jared "Dada" around her so she learned his name that way. For the past week Jared has been making a big effort to only call me Mama around Matney and she's finally gotten it. I got Mama all day today, when she was happy or mad, and it sounded wonderful!!!

And our big girl has another tooth coming through. She's been waking up at night and took those crazy long naps this weekend (those are long gone by the way) so we should have guessed it was a tooth and not that she's about to become a sleeper. Today she had her tongue to the side of her mouth all day. I was finally brave enough to stick my finger in there this afternoon and sure enough the tip of a bottom 12 month molar is sticking through. That makes tooth number 11. There may be one on the other side already too but I am content with my 10 fingers staying where they are for now!

Other than my dr. appt on Monday and church yesterday Matney and I have been home all week. I would go crazy but I am too exhausted. I made a rule for myself that I couldn't leave the house until everything I could do was off my to-do list. It has been a LONG week but we've accomplished lots. Jared and I are going to make ourselves work hard this weekend to get things done so that after some last baby errands next week we can finally take a weekend to relax. No yardwork, no moving/putting together furniture, no tools and no to-do lists. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Until then we both feel like we got hit by a truck and are ready for bed early! YEA FOR FRIDAY!!!

Favorite

Out of 186 here is my favorite. I love my family!!!

Family pics

Here are some of the family pictures. Blogger is only letting me upload 2 at a time so I have no idea what order these will have. Enjoy!

An attempt at belly pictures

By the time M had taken her birthday pictures she was DONE! Her Daddy was DONE and I was pretty close. They both left the room to walk in the hallway. I stayed to take a couple belly pictures so that Matney and Halle have the same "pre-birth" pictures. Guess who didn't want to be away from Mommy? These were taken over the course of about 2 mintues. The first couple...Matney in the hallway. The next couple...you'll see!





I think they actually turned out really funny!

What's under there, Mama?

I got down on the ground trying to distract Matney so she'd quit crawling away. Apparently the more exciting thing that day was to figure out what was hiding under my shirt (she is obsessed with belly buttons and will try to lift ANYONE'S shirt). These were unplanned but very cute! We'll just pretend she is looking for her baby sister...who I am positive is much cuter than my belly button!

First Birthday Dress pictures 1 month late!

Goodness it is hard to pick the best ones to put up, they are all so cute. This was M's first birthday dress if you don't remember it. We are a month late taking pictures in it but better late than never. And I was kicking myself for forgetting to bring balloons. We'd rescheduled with the photographer a couple times trying to be able to take some outside and it kept raining. It rained this day too so we moved inside after a while in the field. Whatever, is she not so incredibly cute?!?!?

Oh no, not this mama.

We had a bunch of pictures taken last weekend and our photographer (Jen Hanley, who we love!!!) just dropped the CD off at the house. And of course I did NOT just turn on Elmo to let M watch TV so that I could look at them. Not this mama.

There are 186 pictures so I don't know how I'll choose but get ready because they are great! I am making them small to save room so you'll have to double click if you want to view them bigger. And I am not going to even try to put them into any kind of order.




By this time she'd really had it and we were singing her favorite "5 Little Monkeys". She does the motions while we sing the song so this is the part where the monkey falls out and "bumps her head!".

Getting a flower from Daddy.

I could have totally already done this...

Since I know that no post is acceptable without pictures here are some from the past week. When my mom was up here working on Halle's room she and Matney found a (big person size) rocking chair somewhere that we went. Matney loved rocking so mom had been determined to find a kid size chair. And what better place than the Mossy Creek Barnyard Festival? I hadn't taken these pictures when I did the post on Mossy Creek but here is the big girl rocking herself or rocking her toys. She loves her chair and has a hard time making up her mind between sitting in it or Elmo! Life can be tough.






Guess who is asleep? Not me. I wish. It is Matney. Guess who took an almost 3 hour nap on Saturday. Matney! I mean, have you ever heard of such a thing??? She stirred several times and I'd head up to get her and then she was settle back down again. Crazy. The first hour I was so productive. The second I kept trying not to start any big project because I knew she was about to be awake. The third hour? A friend called and I plopped myself on the bed and had a great conversation! She has taken a 1 to 1 1/2 hour nap Sunday and today too. Wonder what's up with that??? So, I totally could have posted already but I ate ice cream, chicken and a pop tart while I checked everyone else's blogs. How's that for productive?

Matney's eye is looking good. Today is her last day of the antibiotic eye drop, which she's been on for over a week, so we won't know anything until she's been off that for a day or two. I am trying not to get my hopes up but I'd be THRILLED if it worked the first time and my sweet baby didn't have to wake up with caked over nasty eyelids again!

I went to the dr. this morning and will go every Monday until Halle gets here. My dr, who I love and Matney HATES, said that everything looks good. She is head down and we are 1cm dilated at 36 weeks and 2 days. She hasn't dropped yet so he isn't expecting anything to happen right now. I also got a high five because I am officially at a net weight gain of 0lbs. Until this week I'd been under where I'd started but I guess 5 Guys for lunch yesterday and (lots) of Extreme Moose Tracks ice cream last night did the trick! I might have come home and eaten most of what was left in the ice cream container while I wasn't working on this post (and we bought the 1/2 gallon less than 24 hours ago!). I guess that is the difference being pregnant with a baby vs. sitting at a desk. So, we work hard again this weekend to get things done around the house and enjoy our time as a family of 3.

It was beautiful here Sat and Sunday so we spent much of each day outside. Saturday morning we went and got all new plants for the front flower bed. The drought killed all ours and dead bushes aren't really pretty. Did you know that if you buy annuals from Home Depot and they die the first year you can get your money back? Just save the receipt and take the dead plant into the store for a refund. Pretty nice, huh? Needless to say we've already made a special place for our receipts from the weekend. Matney LOVES being outside so she had a great time walking around shopping and in the yard. CUTENESS!!!

Eye Update

I just have a minute but wanted to let everyone know that we are home from Matney's surgery and everything went great. Things happened so quickly once we got there that we (J and I) didn't really have time to get upset until she was gone. Then we just paced the tiny waiting area but it they came to get us quickly. I HATED handing my screaming baby girl to a stranger but I guess you do what you have to do. I can't speak for Jared but we were both really good until we got back to see her in recovery. Seeing our wild and crazy, no nap baby not awake or moving was not fun. She sucked down some Pedialyte while still asleep and then started to open her eyes. Sweet thing. We cuddled while she woke up, met with the dr and got her dressed to come home. We were back in the car by 8am. She's eaten, taken a nap and is climbing all over her Elmo chair. She seems to be her normal self. It may take me a couple more hours to be totally calm!

They said it could take up to a week to be certain that the duct is open and draining so we just pray that would be the case. Otherwise they would need to do the procedure again. A law school friend of Jared's is in town for a couple hours and headed our way for an early dinner so I'm off to the grocery store. No down time in this house!!!

Eye Surgery

Oh, how we love this crazy girl!!! And, oh how we do NOT want her to have any type of surgery or illness. However, her tear duct surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 7:25am so please be praying for our little one's eyes and her reaction to anesthesia. We are SO SO THANKFUL that we are taking her for what should be a simple and quick procedure and that she has had no other health issues in her first year of life. SO THANKFUL. We realize that we could be the parents in the waiting room tomorrow morning anxious about something much bigger than a clogged tear duct. But, we're still concerned about our girl.

We'll be leaving here around 5:30am to be there by 6:25am. M can have no food or drink after bedtime tonight so I'm sure she'll be one happy girl by 7:25am when her procedure is scheduled to start! They said we should be out and home by 10-11am and I promise to update when we get here and all is well. Please pray for the drs and for Matney...and for her frightened parents!!!