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Shades Of Peace Holiday Card

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The Happiest Place on Earth

Didn't win the contest, oh well. At least we were finalists!

About two weeks ago, we took Lily to the Magic Kingdom for the first time. I was so excited for this trip. We hadn't been to MK in almost a year. Last time, I was about 10 weeks pregnant and we stayed for about 3 hours and I needed to leave...and that was after a sit-down lunch and visit to the Hall of Presidents - not the most strenuous of days! Anyway, I was just so totally ecstatic that we were actually taking our baby to Disney World. Every now and then we would talk about taking our kids there and what rides we would go on with them, and omg what if they don't like theme parks?! But eventually there were times in the last couple of years where I wasn't very hopeful that we would ever have a baby to take with us. So even though it was just a little day trip, it was a incredibly significant visit for us.

Top 15! Now where is Ryan Seacrest?!

Ok, this is total craziness.

A few weeks ago I entered some pictures of Lily's room into a contest on thebump.com. Yesterday, I saw a link that said voting had started so I clicked on it...and there was her room, right there under "top nurseries"!

It took a little bit to really believe that we are actually finalists in this contest! Right now, it's the top 15. In two weeks, the top three are announced and then people vote again for a couple of days. I guess it just seems totally amazing to me because I know what this room used to look like! But if you are one of the three people that reads this, please vote for us as often as you can!

Vote here!!

Zoom Zoom

So, maybe about 2 weeks ago I drove Mark's car to the gym, since my car had a tire issue and couldn't go on the interstate at the time. His car was a 99 Accord that we got before we got married in 2004 and had about 141K miles on it. He had been driving it back and forth to Bradenton for work, much to my displeasure. The check engine light was on, it needed new tires and a decent amount of maintenance work in the near future to keep it running. The steering wheel vibrated substantially and it was in desperate need of an alignment. Until I drove it on the interstate, I didn't realize just how much we needed a new car. With 12-year old safety features and no side air bags, I was afraid to have Mark continue driving it down to Bradenton, 25 miles each way. In February, I witnessed a car accident where a driver pulled out right in front of another car that was going about 45mph, and got T-boned. Being a nurse and all, I hobbled my pregnant self over to make sure she was ok. The car looked totaled, but the driver of that car was FINE. Side air bags are awesome!

I haven't gone to work in almost 4 months. That's a third of a year, people! Sadly, this week is my last week that I get to stay home with my girl. I can't believe how fast these last 2 months have flown by - if only my pregnancy could have gone this fast! Lily turned 2 months old yesterday and they have been the best 2 months of my life.

Here is a little Lily growth progression:

Brand new

1 month

2 months

I am not exactly looking forward to going back to work. This is the longest I've not worked since I started my job six years ago, and there have been a few changes at work since I've been gone, so I'll have a little adjusting to do. I love staying home with my baby, and I don't know how I am supposed to leave her for 13 hours a day, 3 days a week. I feel like I will miss so much. Unfortunately, we have a mortgage and now we have 2 car payments, so not working will never be an option for me, unless we win the lottery. I need to start buying some tickets.

First Mother's Day

May 8th was an awesome day for me because it was my first Mother's Day. I still was in somewhat disbelief that I actually had my baby so this day was just incredible for me. I got to sleep in and I woke up to flowers, presents and breakfast cooked by my wonderful husband. We hung out for a bit and then got ready to go out to dinner downtown with my family. The weather was great and we sat outside and had a nice, long meal at a great restaurant, where I had my first white Russian in almost a year! We got home and had a minor freak-out though, as we realized that the flowers Mark bought for me are super poisonous to cats. So, I took a picture of them and they got thrown out. Mark went to bed early, and then I spent several hours taking pictures with Lily, using my tripod and remote for some of them. I'm high-tech!

Hot Mess

So I decided I felt well enough to go home about 2 days after my surgery. Besides sleep deprivation, I had been feeling pretty awesome and I thought I was ready to take my baby home.

Ready to go!

The weather was terrible that day - there were even some tornadoes in the area, so we went home and I didn't send anyone out to get my percocet script filled. I thought I would be fine with the vicodin I had leftover at home. The first night home was definitely an experience. We were both so sleep deprived at that point but at first I was totally afraid to go to sleep. We got a little more confident after each feeding and finally did get a little sleep. My dad called around 11am and I remember being so mad that he called and woke us up. Physically, I was feeling really bad at this point and I had taken quite a bit of vicodin and motrin, but it didn't seem to be doing anything. Usually after a c-section, your second day is supposed to be your "worst day", and I remember thinking that I must be an exception because my bad day was day 4.