Holiday Season!

WOW! I can't believe the holiday season has already passed us by! Since LT's arrival, time has completely flown by. Thanksgiving we were able to go to IL and spend time with our parents. Laiker was dedicated at my daddy's church and it was such a joy to be able to share him with our "family" up there! God has been so good as to let us keep in touch with our "old friends" and enjoy our new ones as well. We were up there for a little shy of a week and were sad to leave, but stuffed ourselves while we were there - I'm pretty certain that we added a few pounds of weight to our car for the trip home!

Christmas was excellent, we headed to GA to visit my side of the family. It was great to introduce our baby to everyone, although he sure did get pretty sick of being passed around! He did great though and was super pumped about all of the fun new things he got. Well, I am super excited and christmas is so much more fun with a child!! Even though he's only 3 months, watching him grab his toys and smile/coo at family was incredible.

My parents stopped back through on their way home. We were thrilled for the much needed time we got to share with them and are so excited that we will be spending time with Nick's parents this weekend. What a way to ring in the New Year!

They will get here tomorrow and I will hopefully have dinner on the table for them when they arrive. I'm making a Peach encrusted tenderloin with golden mashed potatoes, salad, clover leaf rolls, & a triple chocolate cake for desert! YUM!! Probably another reason to love the holidays - more reason to cook HUGE meals!! I absolutely L.O.V.E. being in the kitchen. REMEMBER: the way to everyone's heart is through their stomach!!

Laiker is such a big boy! Poor guy has been sick for a couple of days and so I took him to the Dr. this morning. He has a viral infection and a possible throat infection. BUMMER! Hopefully he'll get over it soon, I've already seen a TON of improvement in him today. He's a very good baby and so for him to cry over anything except food is unheard of. I do love his little cry, but am so glad I didn't hear much of it today!

We gave him an excersaucer for Christmas and we're so excited that he loves it! He's able to spin around to play with different toys & he can jump in it as well - it's like 3 toys in one! He's amazed with the sounds, lights, & neat toys on it - it keeps him busy for hours. He also got a TON of clothes, books, toys, & pacifiers (which we love receiving since our pup, Chase, thinks it's a good idea to eat them!).

He's weighing in at 14.5 pounds and over 24 inches - he's growing fast, which is so amazing to watch. He's ahead both physically and developmentally. We LOVE that! He is such a blessing. He LOVES to be naked and whenever we change his diaper or his outfit he beings laughing. His laugh melts our hearts! He is seriously one of the happiest babies I have ever met. I'm so blessed and thankful to be his mother.

Nick is still enjoying his work but has a potential new job coming up. More details to come about that later! He is really enjoying fatherhood and spending time with us as much as he can. He's a great father & husband - I'm so thankful for the joy he brings to our home!

We have found a house that we adore. We put in an offer last night and are praying that everything goes through. We know that God's hand is in this and if we do or don't get it, it's for a reason. We are trusting him and have completely given the verdict over to him - fully knowing (heart) that He always has our BEST interest at heart. We should hear by Monday at 4 - so we'll keep you posted!

I think that's all for now - will hopefully get better at this blogging thing!! So thankful for all of you - LOVE YOU!!

HH

Let's Catch You Up!!

My, oh my - it's been like FOREVER since I've written anything on this blog. So my goal with this post is to bring you up to speed with everything and I'm pretty sure it should start with our son's arrival!

Laiker Theron was born on September 17, 2009 at 8:15 am. He was 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 20 1/4 inches long. BIG BOY!! When they pulled him out he seriously looked like a toddler!

We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 that morning for prep. We were both so excited about meeting our son but relaxed at the same time (I realize that sounds crazy!). Our Dr. was running late due to another emergency delivery at a different hospital so he didn't even arrive until 7:45 and our csection was scheduled for 7:30. Even at this, I wasn't upset like I had imagined I would be. When Dr. Barker arrived he talked with us about exactly what would be done and then he prayed over our child's delivery and Nick & I as well. What an incredible thing for a Dr. to do! They wheeled me back and started the spinal block - which didn't hurt at all. PTL! They had me lay on the table and had to give more medicine into the block line to num me since it wasn't working fast enough. Nick & my mother got to come in and they were ready to go. They started cutting at 8:09 - Laiker was pulled out at 8:15. It was the coolest thing to see & feel them pull him out. They let Nick & my momma watch and even pulled down the sheet for me to see as well - little did they know that I could see the whole surgery! There was a light above me that had a reflection, almost like a mirror - so I watched them cut me open, pull my boy out, & stitch me back up! REALLY NEAT!

We went into recovery - I started to feed (without any help!). LT immediately latched on and fed for 25 minutes each side. What a blessing for me to want to nurse and it work out perfectly. The nurses were shocked it worked so well - they rarely see someone succeed at first. They then took little man to the nursery. I was taken back to my room - or at least what would be my room for the next few days.

I waited and waited and waited to see my little boy and be able to hold him again. They FINALLY brought him back to me! It was great to have some time with him. He is beautiful!!

Let's skip forward a bit, we got the opportunity to leave on Saturday - I was told in the beginning I wouldn't leave until Monday - Dr.'s orders. I begged them to let me go on Saturday. He was delivered on Thursday - certainly 2 days was enough. They thought I was crazy, but let us go. BEST DECISION EVER!! We loved bringing our little boy home.

I had been having tooth aches while in the hospital so I went to the denist on Monday - 21 - it turned out that I had an infection involving my wisdom teeth, which meant they had to come out immediately. I also went to the Dr. for my incision because it was leaking and itching and irritated. Needless to say, I had an infection. So two infections, two ends, two problems! On Tuesday, 22 I got my wisdom teeth out - my infection healed up perfectly.

Since then I haven't felt better! Things are great - our little boy started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks. Rolled over at 5 weeks - smiled at 5 weeks - laughed at 7 weeks - holds up his head at 8 weeks. He's absolutely perfect!

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He's now 12 weeks & happy as can be

Love y'all!