Is she growing???

My friend Daysha (www.behymerbusiness.blogspot.com) had a sweet little baby boy last May and she took monthly growing pictures of him and it was so fun to see how much he has grown. I know I can't tell that's Jadeyn's getting bigger b/c I'm with her everyday. So, here's my attempt to capture her growth through pictures.

at 1 week

at 1 month

First photo shoot

I couldn't upload our baby annoucement we sent to family, so here's a few pictures we had taken for it! We used the first picture for the announcement. One of our college students took these! She did a great job! Jadeyn was 2 weeks old here

Wedding Festivities

Jadeyn went to her first wedding last weekend! She had a ball. She actually missed the ceremony because her parents forgot to pack a bottle and when 6pm hit, daddy had to take her and find the closest Wal-Mart. But they made it back in time for the reception for some good country style food and dancing : ) My cousin Bethany got married and it was beautiful! It was sorta a "cowboy with class" style wedding. My mom and I found this little outfit for Jadeyn to wear and then a friend made the bow and my mom found the boots too! Outside of the bride and groom of course, she was the hit of the night! (at least in moms opinion)

The beautiful bride!

Jadeyn's second dance (but first with dad - I think it was the chicken dance). Uncle Don stole the first dance

It's been awhile since we've blogged. It's hard finding time in the day to do things outside of Jadeyn! I hope it gets a little easier once we've established a routine. We're still working on that.

Our days are great! We get visitors ever so often, Jimmy comes home for lunch usually and my mom makes almost a daily appearance to help out in case I haven't been able to shower or eat breakfast.

On a typical day, Jadeyn wakes up once during the night to eat (whether that's midnight or 3am - we haven't quite got down a good system yet) and then Jimmy gets up with her about 6 to do another feeding. She either falls back asleep or rests until about 9am. I try and get out of bed while Jimmy's still here to give me time to shower and get ready, but it's so hard sometimes!

Jadeyn does not like to take morning naps! Her naps are only about 30-45 minutes in the mornings, but hopefully we can get those to be a little longer. So normally, we'll play on her gym or go water the lawn, see our neighbors or just chill and watch some tv. However, there's nothing interesting on in the morning except Cash in the Attic on HGTV. After lunch, she's really ready for a nap, so she can sleep for a solid 3 hours in the afternoon. Sometimes we'll stay around the house, but it's also a good time for me to get out and run some errands while toting her along. It's a nice break in the day.

Today we strollered on over to Academy by our house and picked up some shorts for me. It was fun just being outside and walking around. Jadeyn looked adorable in her lady bug dress and her big wide-brimmed sun bonnet. She can definitely get most anyone's attention with her big blue eyes and long dark hair!

Jimmy and I are off to help with our church's middle school camp next week, so Jadeyn gets to spend time with both sets of grandparents for the week! She'll be with her Grandma and Grandpa Quinn the first two days and Mimi and Grrrpa will have the last part of the week. And if we can't go a full week without seeing her, my mom is able to bring her by camp on Wednesday for some cuddly time.

Camp will be a blast. I'm excited to be able to go. Jimmy and I are co-leading a group together. Rumor has it we're team Jamaica. Can't wait for Monday to come!!

C-U-T-E!!!

isn't she the cutest??

and 4 generations! Jadeyn loves her mamaw, mimi and mommy!

Being a 1 week old is hard work!

The last week Jadeyn has had some fun times. She's been to the pediatrician twice, made a Target run and checked out her new stroller, visited one of the grandparents house for Sunday lunch and made lots of new friends. Her first pediatrics visit, we were told she has lost too much weight. Shame on mommy and that crazy spinal headache. We worked very hard over the weekend to get lots of food and Monday morning, we went back for another evaluation. Dr. Garrison was very pleased with her weight gain! She was back to where she should be at 6lbs, 10 oz! We have a 3rd visit with our regular pediatrician, Dr. Crittenden (thanks heather!) next Monday, so praying for another good report! Sunday was another fun afternoon. She got loved on by her uncle Erik who even fed her! She also took her first steps! ...with a little help from daddy. Grrrpa got it all on video, so that may be another post later on. Jimmy is determined to have her walking by 6-7 months because that's when her Great Uncle Lee started walking...we'll see about that.

Last night, she met baby Logan Reininger.

They are destined to be great friends. Logan's dad is the high school pastor at our church and she was born 24 days ahead of Jadeyn. It was funny to see the size differential and to realize what a difference 3 weeks makes. Logan's mom was a little sad to see how quick her baby is already growing up. It made me want to capture every single second I can with Jadeyn.

Jade has also discovered her tongue! She found this new body part on Tuesday and loves sticking it out and touching her fingers and the bottle nipple with it. It's really cute. A few other things to note: She seems to enjoy getting bathed and looks adorable in her little bath towel.

She likes sitting in her swing and in the boppy pillow. She sometimes likes the bouncer and the activity gym, but may be too small right now. She watched about 10 minutes of a baby einstein video yesterday, which is really good for her, considering she loves to sleep! She really hates diaper changes but who can blame her for that? She's done great at sleeping in her own crib and is almost impossible to wake up. I think if the doctor okayed it, she would gladly sleep 6-7 hours every night. I sorta wish that was ok! It's been pretty rainy and dreary here her first week, so we're looking forward to sunshine and getting to be outside sometime soon!

The Birth Story

Before time gets too much away and I forget, I want to write down the story of Jadeyn's birth. We checked in to Lakeside Women's Hospital on Sunday, April 26 at 7pm, after a yummy meal at Johnnies. My doctor wanted to start cervadil on me Sunday night to help soften the cervix to prepare for labor/delivery on Monday. Sunday night was pretty uneventful. We had a ton of papers to sign and frankly, that evening was the most uncomfortable part of labor. Putting the cervadil in was NOT FUN and they had to get the IV started also. A very bad experience if you ask me. My poor nurse (she was so sweet, but it was her first night) and she just couldn't get my IV in. She started trying on my arm, but the vein kept moving, so she decided to do it in my hand. Ok, hand is pretty much made up of just bones - not a fun place to get poked and prodded. So she tried sticking me two different times and I just bled and bled. Finally, her superior came in and tried my other arm and got it in the first time. I tried not to say anything because I didn't want the first nurse to feel bad or get in trouble, but boy, was I glad when the IV finally worked! After that, I got set up with a monitor on my belly to track contractions and Jadeyn's heartrate. Suprisingly enough, I was actually contracting (about 10 minutes apart) but had no idea. I got to take some really good sleeping pills and slept great Sunday night. Jimmy didn't get the greatest rest, but he did alright. My parents came to visit for an hour or so that night also. Then, early Monday morning, they woke me up to take a shower and get ready for the biggest day of our lives so far! We started the pitocin about 6am and we could see the contractions coming. I still never felt any, but decided to ask for the epidural about 9am, because frankly, I just didn't want to experience one. Jimmy said the needle for the epidural was ridiculously long, but the doctor did a good job of keeping it hidden from my view and it didn't hurt too bad going in. After that, the contractions got stronger and quicker and the epidural was my best friend. We had our family (all the grandparents, one great-grandparent, aunts/uncles) arrive and had a long wait. After not a lot of progress and a few scares, my doctor came in about 5pm and said we should start thinking about a c-section because I was still only dialated to a 4 and not progressing like I should be. I didn't really care either way, honestly. Jimmy was out of the room and I think I said "ok". After that, literally, nurses and the anesthegeolgist came in and got me prepped and I was in the surgery room in like 10 minutes I think. I remember seeing my parents and they both kissed me I think. I never saw Jimmy - they said he was getting dressed. I had to drink some awful tasting liquid, which I threw up before the surgery. Once I was laid on the table, everything was fine. Jimmy came in and I saw the curtain go up. One doctor was behind my head talking to me and I think I just made a lot of jokes and he kept saying he wished other patients were as calm and laid-back as Jimmy and I both appeared. It really was weird. I could not feel a thing, but I was very much aware that there were hands in my stomach area pulling a baby out. I don't know how to explain it. And it happened so quick. I remember wanting to hear a babies cry so badly and when I heard it I was just really excited. They told Jimmy he could look and I heard him go "Whoa". hahhaa, it was cute. The nurses kept reminding Jimmy to take pictures and then asked him to go take a picture of when she was being weighed. They held Jadeyn up over the curtain to show me her, but I don't remember thinking much except that she wasn't covered in as much goop as I had pictured and I was relieved. I think somewhere in there we had our first family picture, but I don't remember it. I must have been out of it, because I really don't remember anything until about 8:30 or so. Jadeyn Rose was born at 5:33 p.m., so the surgery really did happen fast. Although it technically wasn't an emergency c-section, I am under the impression it was sorta important to get her out because her heartrate had dropped significantly twice in about 30 seconds at one point, and that was when Dr. Hall came in and suggested the c-section. I gave her props though because I didn't sense anything was wrong, so she handled it all well! The next few days in the hospital were fine. We got a little ansy and were ready to go home on Thursday. Unfortunately, we were soon back in the hospital early Friday morning because I ended up with a spinal headache (which is the worst pain I have ever experienced - yes, worse than the cervadil and IV combined). But they fixed me right up with a blood patch and the headache went away immediately. Doctors are truly amazing. Since then, life has been good. I'm convinced Jadeyn is the sweetest, most laid-back, peaceful, and adorable little baby ever made : ) We've had some ups and downs with feeding and I think I've experienced some crazy post-partum hormone stuff, but we've had some great support from family and friends. Jimmy is the world's best daddy. He is head over heels in love and it's obvious to anyone who is around him for 2 minutes. This was way longer than I intended, but I'm sure I'll appreciate having it written down in detail years later. Yay for those of you who actually read it all!
Jadeyn, we love you more than we ever thought we were capable of, little one. More than our love for you, how great the love of the Father is for you. Thank you Jesus, for loaning us this precious baby girl. We recognize she is not ours, but yours and you have intrusted us with her. May we honor you with how we raise her and how we live our lives as a family. Please start drawing her to yourself early on. Please call her name, Jesus.