We give thanks!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My family did. We enjoyed a day with family and eating good food. We have so much to be thankful for this year. I did a new thing this year. Since Nov. 1st through today I have written one thing I was thankful for that matched the corresponding letter of the alphabet. It's called the ABCs of Thankfulness. Below is everything I wrote about this year. Of course there are millions of other things I could name. This has been a very special year for Jacob and I and I reflect on all of our blessings daily. Here are a couple of snapshots from our Thanksgiving and then my ABCs of Thankfulness.

{Before Lunch}

{After Lunch}

My little turkey!

Me and my sweet girl

ABCs of Thankfulness



A-Aunts.. I am thankful for my aunts and my sister and sister-in-laws that have become Aunts to Chrisily.

B-Baking/Baked goods.. I love to bake and I am a huge fan of yummy baked goods. I love the warmth and delicious aroma baking fills your house with.

C-Chrisily. I am so very thankful for this perfect little girl and for the opportunity to be her mommy. I always knew a parent's love was special but I never knew just how special until we had Chrisily. My life has been changed forever. I love you to the moon and back Chrisily!

D-Dogs.. I am thankful for my two dogs, Chester and Sophie. They have brought much joy to our lives.

E-education... I am thankful for my education. I am also very thankful for all of the teachers that work so hard every day for the children of our future.

F-Family & Friends.. I am so very thankful for my family and friends. They are what makes this journey through life so special.

G-God. I am thankful for God and the relationship I have with him.

H-Husband.. I am thankful for my husband. I wouldn't change a thing about him. I thank God every night for bringing him into my life.

I-In-laws. I am blessed with not only one family but two. A lot of time In-laws get a bad rep... I cannot relate to this. My in-laws have treated me as one of them from the start. I am so thankful to have them in my life.

J-Job. I am thankful for my current job.. Stay at home mom. This is the most rewarding job and I am so grateful for the opportunity. I am also thankful for my teaching job. It is incredibly rewarding to touch the lives of little ones and know that you made a difference. All of the crazy politics aside, I really love teaching those sweet kinder-babies. (And they let me take... a year off for maternity leave!) I must say that the staff at PSRES are fabulous and they are what makes that school so wonderful. I am blessed to be a part of it. And last but not least, my newest job, an Independent Scentsy Consultant! I am so excited for this journey and can't wait to get started!

K-Kids. Kids bring so much happiness to the world. They are full of innocence and have the most love to give. I couldn't imagine a world without them.

L-Love and Laughter. These are two more things that I cannot imagine living without. Love for my family and friends and the love from others.. a very special feeling. Laughter... I love laughter that is 'contagious'. Life is so much better when you laugh!

M-Mothers. I am blessed with an incredible mom. I feel so blessed to have her. People that know her tell me all of the time how wonderful she is. I hope I can be as good a mom to Chrisily and she has been to me. I love you Mom!

N-Naps. I am thanful for the naps my sweet girl takes (when she takes them).. no matter how long because when she wakes up she is so smiley, refreshed, and happy! I also love a Sunday afternoon nap (well, any day really but I usually don't have time for a nap)

O-Ocean.. I am thankful for the beauitful ocean. I am blessed because my grandmother has a place at Holden Beach. There are few things better than sitting on the beach enjoying the sounds and beauty of the ocean waves. I grew up vacationing at the beach with family and I have such fond memories of that time we spent together. It is still one of my favorite vacations.

P-Providence Baptist Church. I am thankful for finding Providence. Jacob and I have really enjoyed going there. The people have been so friendly since the first day we visited. We have always been comfortable there. The thing I love most though, is the worship. During the songs/praise time, there is an incredible feeling in the sanctuary...it's indescribable. Pastor John also has a way of capturing your attention. I enjoy listening to him. It's a wonderful church, filled with wonderful people, and I miss it when we don't go.

Q-{peace and} Quiet- I love quiet time. It can be first thing in the morning or at the end of a long, busy day.. Sometimes I like to curl up with a good book, other times I just like the enjoy the silence and reflect on the blessings in my life.

R-relaxation. I am a sucker for being pampered (who isn't??). I am thankful for pedicures, hot stone massages, facials... and overall relaxing! They rejuvenate me and make me a happier, nicer person- everyone wins!! :-)

S-Scentsy. I am thankful for this new opportunity with a great business.

T-Technology. I am thankful for the cell phones, internet, etc. that enables me to keep in touch with friends and family- near and far instantly.

U-Uncles.. I am thankful for my uncles and my brother/brother-in-laws that are Chrisily's uncles!

V-Videos.. I am thankful for the ability to record any moment in time so that it can be enjoyed many years from now. Jacob and I watch the video from our wedding every year on our anniversary. It is one of my favorite parts of the day.. I get butterflies in my tummy and all of those feelings and emotions from that day come back to me as if it were happening all over again. Now that we have Chrisily, I am even more thankful for the ability to record special moments. I can't believe she is almost 5 months old. She has grown so much already and I am thankful that I can 'freeze' some of these special times.

W-winter.. I love winter and the holidays that come with it. I also love the way the world looks covered in snow. :-)

X- (e)Xtraordinary food and (e)xtra time with family

Y- You!

Z-zzZzz.. Sleep! I am thankful for sleep.. and that my little girl has slept through the night since 9 weeks! She must know her mommy is really grumpy if she doesn't get enough sleep. :-)

Thankful

This is the time of year when we thinnk about all of the blessings in our lives. I am doing the ABCs of Thankfulness and each day I tell something that I am thankful for that corresponds with the letter of the alphabet for that day. I will post all of them on Thanksgiving once the list is complete.
Everything is going well with us. Chrisily turned 4 months old on Friday. We had her well check on Monday. She is weighing in at 14.15lbs and 26 inches long! She has grown so much in these four months. Her doctor said she was perfect, but we already knew that. :-) Here are some pictures of Chrisily at 4 months.

Noah (15 months) and Chrisily

This week I took on a new business venture. I became an Independent Scentsy Consultant. I was introduced to their products by one of my parents. They gave me some as a teacher gift. I ended up having a party last year and ordering a ton of stuff. I love the products. I am excited about this opportunity. It will allow me to still be home with Chrisily but also bring in a little cash for our family with a flexible schedule. If you are like me and love the products or are curious about them, you can contact me or visit my official Scentsy website: http://LTownsend.scentsy.us/ .

I can't believe Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away! This time last year we were secretly rejoicing about being pregnant. This year we have our beautiful little girl to share all of our holiday traditions with. Although this has always been my favorite time of year, this year is going to be the best yet. <3

Fall is the time when the leaves fall down...

Fall is my absolute favorite season (spring is a close 2nd). We were lucky enough to spend a few days in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, NC at the Grove Park Inn this past week. Jacob's firm paid for him to attend some CPE at the Inn, so we turned it into a mini-vacation. The Inn was incredible and the views are even more stunning. It just doesn't get any better than fall in the NC mountains.

See what I mean?

We had never been to the Grove Park Inn but we heard it was wonderful. It didn't disappoint. The stonework is amazing. I don't know that I have ever seen that much stone in one place before. The room was spacious and we had a nice view.

Chrisily relaxing on the king bed.. I couldn't resist the little nightcap that came with the sleeper. Fancy hotel calls for fancy pjs, right?

The back side of the Inn

The view from our room (to the right)

The view from our room (to the left)

We checked in our Wednesday and we left on Friday.. so it was a short trip, but very enjoyable. This was Chrisily's first stay in a hotel and I think she did okay. The first night we didn't get much sleep. I think this was a combination of a lack of routine, a new place, and excess noise (from the hallways). The second night was much better. She even enjoyed one of her bottles on the porch overlooking the beautiful mountains.

Jacob was told by some ladies at work that he really needed to get me a spa treatment at the hotel spa. We had heard wonderful things about it but didn't really think about signing up for a treatment (they are a little pricey). However, being the fabulous husband that he is, he scheduled me a gingerbread facial for Friday before we left. This spa was incredible. Amazing. There really aren't words to describe it. You aren't allowed to take pictures in there.. but here are a couple I found on google images.

 This was my first facial, but I can promise, it won't be my last. I enjoyed every minute of the 80 minutes and hated for it to end. I wish we were staying another night becasure once you have a treatment, you have access to all of the areas of the spa for the day. Unfortunately we had to head home afterwards so I didn't get to spend a whole day in this luxurious place. Major brownie points to Jacob for this gift.

I was sad for our stay to come to an end but I was also happy that we still had the weekend to spend together! I love family time.

Until next time...

A month full of firsts

Chrisily is now 3 months old! This last month has been filled with 'firsts'. Jacob's cousin, Tim, was getting married in Mississippi so we flew in the the weekend. This was Chrisily's first plane ride, first trip out of state, and her first wedding. She did great with all three. She was a real trooper for the rehearsal and wedding. She didn't cry (much) and looked adorable in her little dresses (see below). This was also her first time staying at KK and Gramps. She got to meet Uncle Luke, Uncle Tim, Aunt Meagan, Aunt Lindsey, Aunt Vicki, mom's friend Jennifer, and dad's friend Darrow, and lots of other people! We had a great trip.

When we returned home we got back into our little routine. Chrisily didn't miss a beat. She continued to sleep through the night throughout all of the traveling (thank goodness!). She is sleeping for about 10-11 hours each night. She is definitely my child- loves to eat and sleep! She has grown so much in the past month. She is now rolling over. About a week and a half ago she rolled from front to back and back to front several times. She took a little break but now she is rolling from back to belly a lot. I finally caught it on video today (you can see it on our shutterfly share site). She also went to church for the first time this past Sunday. This was the first service in the new sanctuary and we thought it was a good time to start attending regularly again.

Ready for Church

Jacob and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary last Friday. It sure doesn't seem like it has been five years. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun! We took a picture of us holding a picture of us on our wedding day. In five years, we will take a picture of us holding this picture. We will do this for every five year anniversary. I thought it was a neat idea.

My good friend Melissa took 3 month pictures of Chrisily last Wednesday. I am still waiting to see all of them but she has posted a few sneak peaks. Here they are:

We took Chrisily to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. She is so small next to those pumpkins!

We have had a great month and we can't wait to see what the next one has in store!

Time Flies...

Chrisily is already 2 months old! She went for her two month well check yesterday and here are her stats: 11 lbs 13 oz (77%), 23.25 inches (83%), and 39.5 cm head (71%). She is growing like a weed! At her 1 month appointment she weighed 8lb 8oz (29%), 22 inches (83%), and her head was 42%. She has definitely made up for being a small baby at birth.

Chrisily- 2 months

This past month has been so nice. I have been healthy the whole time (yeah!!!) and she has grown so much. We are getting many smiles a day from her and she has even started laughing. She loves to laugh at Jacob.. something about her daddy makes her very happy. :-) She loves to play on her play mat. She has started grabbing and holding on to objects. She hangs onto you when you hold her. She is also doing great at tummy time. It isn't her favorite time of day, but she is so strong!

8 weeks old

She loves to eat and sleep (I wonder where she gets that from?). Since starting the Babywise routine (EASY) of eat, awake/play, sleep, you (me time)- she has done great with her sleeping habits. She takes good naps and is sleeping 8+ hours each night. It has been wonderful! She is pretty much on a 4 hour rotating schedule during the day.

grabbing her butterfly on the play mat

We took her to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because she was having some pain during/after eating. She was spitting up a good bit more, too. The doctor checked her out and diagnosed her with a very mild case of reflux. She suggested we add rice cereal to her bottle to help 'weigh down' the formula and to help Chrisily keep it down. So far it has really helped a lot. We are trying to avoid giving her medicine if we can avoid it. However, speaking of medicine, she got her 2 month shots yesterday. It was two shots and an oral solution. She did pretty good but it is so sad to see her in pain. She only cried for a minute, I gave her a bottle, and she drank for a minute and then fell asleep. She slept for most of the remainder of the day. She did have a couple of fussy spells that evening.. we gave her some tylenol and lots of snuggles. It breaks my heart to see her hurt and not be able to make it better. On a happier note (maybe?), the doctor did feel two spots where Chrisily's first two teeth are starting to come in. Yes, you read that right- 2 months old and teething! Wow.

~month and a half

A couple of weeks ago we had a visit from KK (Kathy, Jacob's mom). She flew in a Thursday and stayed until Monday morning. Chrisily and I went with Jacob to suprise her at the airport. I'm not sure who was happier- Chrisily or KK. Chrisily couldn't stop smiling at KK. I know she missed her. We had a nice visit while she was here. We took Chrisily shopping for a dress to wear to her Uncle Tim's wedding. It was sad to say goodbye but we knew we would see her again in about 3 weeks.
As for me and Jacob, we are both doing well. Jacob has been busy at work this past week with the Sept. 15th deadline coming up. We are flying out the evening of the 15th to MS. Tim (Jacob's cousin but is like a brother) is getting married on the 17th. This will be Chrisily's first plane ride and first big trip out of NC. We are excited to see everyone and for the rest of Jacob's family to meet our sweet girl.
I am enjoying this stay at home mom gig. All of my friends are back at work and I couldn't be happier to be home with my little girl. I feel so very blessed to be able to spend this time with her and watch her grow.. because she is growing and changing so fast!

Until next time,

Truly Blessed

It has been a while since I last wrote and a lot has happened. As you can imagine, life with a newborn is pretty busy on its own but we had sickness thrown in the mix as well. On Monday after Jacob's family left, Jacob had to return to work. I would have loved for him to be able to take another week but he needed to get back since he is taking a lot of vacation time throughout the rest of the year. He left for work and sometime after that I woke up to feed Chrisily. I was a little chilled and kind of achey. As the morning went on I noticed other symptoms that encouraged me to call my OB- like a fever, sore breast, etc. I had read about mastitis and self diagnosed myself before ever talking to the dr. but I knew I needed to be seen. Mom was coming over later that day to help me with Chrisily because we had to take her to get her weight checkec, etc. The doctor squeezed me in that afternoon and I was correct- mastitis on the right side and developing on the left. He gave me an antibiotic and sent me on my way. I also got a call from Chrisily's doctor that morning, he wanted her to have one more set of blood work done just to confirm that her bilirubin levels had come down. So even though I was feeling horrible, mom drove us to have Chrisily's weight checked and her blood drawn. Have I mentioned that it is horrible to watch your little girl be stuck with a needle and then squeezed for blood?? We did this four times and I was so glad when they said she was cleared for good! It broke my heart to watch her scream. After taking my antibiotic, getting lots of rest, and my mom and Jacob picking up my slack with Chrisily, I began to feel much better. I finished my antibiotic a week after starting it. I was starting to get the hang of this mom thing. I was feeling more confident and we had a good routine in place. Wednesday of that week Chrisily and I went to have lunch with Jacob and show her off to his coworkers. They ooooh'd and ahhhh'd over her and Jacob enjoyed seeing us during the day. He is an amazing dad and I love to watch him light up when he sees Chrisily after being at work. The next morning I woke up and noticed a rash across my arms and chest... I went in to see the doctor. We thought it was an allergy to a new detergent I had used (the baby one for Chrisily's clothes). She gave me a cream and a steroid to help calm it down. The next morning (Friday) when I woke up I was chilled and achey again. I attempted to feed Chrisily but it was too painful. I somehow convinced Jacob that I was fine and he could go to work... I just need to get some more sleep I told him. He reluctantly left and Chrisily and I headed downstairs to nap on the couch. Within an hour my fever spiked and I was miserable. I texted Jacob and told him he needed to come home. I was pretty pitiful when he got home. The doctor wanted to see me again so I had an appointment at 12:30. We went in and discovered that my mastitis had returned. I was given another antibiotic (a different, stronger one) and told that I would feel much better in a couple of days. Again, after a lot of rest, taking my medicine, and Jacob and mom helping, I started feeling better (not great, but a little better). I was still really tired but I thought it was just my body fighting the infection. On Tuesday, I went to the doctor to have cultures done and to check on my progress because I was still in a lot of pain. They scheduled ultrasounds to rule out an abscess and we did the cultures to rule out MRSA. At this time I had stopped nursing and was pumping and giving Chrisily bottles of breastmilk. I was afraid that if it was MRSA that she shouldn't be getting my milk.  On Wednesday, mom and I were out running errands and doing some shopping. I was feeling pretty good... until I got home that evening. I was wiped out and thought I just needed to take a nap.. then the chills and aches came. My fever spiked to 103 and I was having horrible pain in my left breast. Mom came over to take care of Chrisily and Jacob took me to the ER. I was there for most of the night. They ended up diagnosing me with acute mastitis (duh!) and starting an IV of antibiotics. My rash that I had a week and half prior had also returned. We came to the conclusion that I was allergic to the first two antibiotics (one of which I was still taking). I was discharged at 3am and sent home with pain meds and a new antibiotic... I was very sick. I could barely walk. I couldn't stay awake for very long. I was in pain. I just didn't feel good. When I got home I went straight to bed and that is where I stayed for the next two days. My mom stayed at night to relieve Jacob so that he could get some rest. Jacob was beyond awesome and took care of both Chrisily and myself. It took a few days but by Sunday I was feeling a good bit better. I was still very weak and tired but I felt way better than I had Weds. night. Mom was a huge help with Chrisily during the day and Jacob took over the nights so that I could get a good rest each night. By this time we had switched Chrisily to formula because of all of the medicines I was on (the OB added a second antibiotic on Friday after my trip to the ER). Those antibiotics were strong and Chrisily didn't need to be exposed to them. I was also over the whole breastfeeding thing- I was tired of hurting and being sick. I wanted to enjoy my daughter not be laid up in bed for the first month of her life. Thankfully those last two antibiotics knocked out the infections. It turns out that I had 4 different bacteria to fight off. I am so thankful that I am finally healthy and back to my old self.
Long before Chrisily was even born Jacob and I had decided to take a small beach trip in early August. This had been up in the air since I had been so sick but since I was feeling much better (probably 95% better), and the doctor okay'd it- we went. Mom, Jared, Chrisily, and I went down on Weds. and then Jacob and my dad came on Thursday after work. We knew it wouldn't be a 'relaxing' trip but we wanted a change of scenary and to at least pretend that we had a vacation this summer. :-) Chrisily did pretty well with traveling- especially being so young. We had a good a time and enjoyed getting away. We only went to the beach once the whole trip (Wed-Sun) but that was okay with us. Although we had a good time, we were ready to get home and back into our routine. It took us a couple of days to get Chrisily back into her routine but we managed it. We got home on Sunday and my friend Christina and her boyfriend were flying in on Thursday for the weekend. We were excited about their visit (me especially since we hadn't seen them since Oct. when we went to Savannah with them). They arrived Thursday afternoon and were leaving on Sunday. While they were here we went to dinner, had family over for dinner, and we even went to a Carolina Panthers game. Jacob got tickets from one of the partners at his work and they were great seats- 18 rows up on the 50 yard line. We had a great time with them and it was good to spend some time with them. After they left Sunday we enjoyed a lazy day. Jacob was back to work on Monday and it was just Chrisily and myself at home. I started reading Babywise on Sunday and we began to tweak our routine a little to make it more like what Babywise suggests. Monday (yesterday) was the first day of doing so and last night Chrisily slept from 10:30-6:15am without waking up. Incredible! Jacob woke me up this morning and said, "what time did you get up with her?" and I said, "I didn't." That is when we both realized she had slept through the night. We are on day two and we will see how tonight goes. I must say that I am not being super strict with the schedule/routine.. afterall, she is a baby and there needs to be some wiggle room. It also wasn't very different from what we were already doing, so it is good to know that we were on the right track. We have a week and a half before Jacob's mom comes to visit- maybe Chrisily will be able to show her what a big girl she is and how she can sleep through the night on a consistent basis. :-)
I must say that being a mom is the best job in the whole world. All of my friends are preparing for school to start back. They have workshops and open houses and a lot of work to do in their classrooms. I am so glad that I do not have to put Chrisily in daycare when she is 6 weeks old and return to work. It would be incredibly difficult anyway but after being sick off and on for the last 4 weeks, I just don't think I could do it. I am soaking up every minute of this time I have with my sweet girl. Everyone tells me that time will fly and to treasure these moments with her. I am doing just that. Jacob and I are beyond blessed to have been given this precious child from God to raise. I am also blessed to have such a wonderful and loving husband. He hasn't complained once throughout any of this. I know he loves Chrisily and I so very much. She is one lucky little girl to have such a loving and caring dad that can't wait to interact and play with her. We are all three very lucky to have each other.

Here are some pictures from the last 5 weeks.