Annalee Arrives!

Time to catch up with my blogging...been busy spoiling a sweet baby girl! :)

It was finally here...we were going to get to meet our baby girl the next day!  Let's just say the night before she arrived I think we both got a total of 3 hours of sleep.  I was excited to meet her and nervous about the c-section and Dallas had a very busy week at school with basketball beginning so I think it just hit him the night before he was going to be a Dad tomorrow! We got up the Friday morning at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for the big day.  Here's my last belly picture and us leaving for the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital everything moved very quickly.  They took us back to the room and started my IV (which I still think was the most painful part of the whole experience).  Many nurses began coming in introducing themselves and explaining how everything would work.  Before we knew it 7:30 a.m. arrived and it was time to begin the c-section.  Walking in and seeing all the instruments and just being in an operating room made me a little nervous....also knowing the epidural was coming did not help!  I have heard very bad stories about how painful the epidural is but very much to my surprise it was not bad at all.  Once they had me ready they brought Dallas in and it was time to begin.  After that it seemed like she was here within minutes!  She arrived at 8:10 a.m. weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

First picture with Mom.  She looks so excited...

Proud Daddy



First Family Picture


After we got to see her for about 20 minutes that morning they took her back to the nursery for her first checkup and to clean her up.  Little did we know it would not be until 3:30 that afternoon before we got to hold her again.  They called and said she had some fluid in her lungs and her breathing wasn't normal. Finally, after Mom and Traca stood at the window staring at the nurses and Dallas asking to go into the nursery to see her, she was brought into our room for everyone to meet her!

Looks like her Daddy


By Sunday we were ready to go home with our sweet little girl and asked to be discharged.  Thank goodness they said yes because we were ready to sleep in our own bed! Here's Annalee in her cute little blue jeans and jacket ready to take her first car ride:

Best Christmas present ever! :)



Aggie Rings & Thanksgiving

2 weekends ago Abe & Addison got their Aggie Rings so we headed to College Station to celebrate with them and the rest of the family.  I have to admit it is pretty cool that their rings get to have '12 on them! Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

That same weekend Dallas and Kerr went to College Game Day at U of H.  They had a lot of fun and Dallas even ended up being on ESPN!

For Thanksgiving Kerr, Traca, Crystal & Tim all came to Katy.  It was a very relaxing few days and I'm very thankful for Traca's cooking the whole time! We also got a ton of help decorating our house for Christmas before Annalee arrives! The girls did a few Christmas crafts while the boys watched football.  Here are a few things I made (mostly ideas from Pinterest!):

Annalee arrives in 2 days! Yay!! We can't wait!



Getting close...

It honestly seems like forever ago when we found out we were expecting but it is finally getting close! We have been busy trying to get her room ready, putting together all her toys, washing everything in her room...as Dallas keeps saying all we need now is the baby!

I have been asked many times about cravings so I decided I would write down a few so next time we can see if I craved the same things.  The first trimester I lived off of cereal and chocolate milk.  If we ran out of milk it was an emergency to go get more!!  Second trimester I began craving Cheetos and Whataburger...2 things I have never really liked ever.  Dallas would beg me all the time to go to Whataburger before I got pregnant and I always told him I have no idea how you like that place.  Well...their chicken strips are awesome and now Dallas is happy because we can go there anytime!  And for the third trimester I pretty much eat anything...I still crave the ocassional glass of chocolate milk.  And yes I know the things I craved were not very healthy! :) Ha!

Here is the last belly picture we took a few days ago and I thought since I was wearing the same shirt as 16 weeks it would be fun to see how much she's grown in 20 weeks!





I have one last ultrasound on Monday to see how big she is and check on everything.  I'm excited to get to see her one more time before meeting her in a few weeks! 

Fall Fun

I've been behind on my blogging so this one will be kinda long but full of pictures!  Last weekend was Traca's 50th birthday and so we all went to the Hyatt Hill Country Resort outside San Antonio to celebrate.  It was a very relaxing weekend at a beautiful resort!   Friday Traca opened her presents and Kerr also took a few maternity pictures for us.  The girls got massages Saturday morning while the boys golfed at the resort. That afternoon the boys were crazy enough to get in the lazy river...yes, Dallas said he froze! Then Sunday morning before we all left town we stopped by the river walk and Alamo.  Thank you Kerr & Traca for such a great weekend!

This past Saturday was Annalee's shower here in Katy.  It was super cute and all the hostesses did a great job on the food and decorations!  We are so blessed to have such sweet family & friends!

Hostesses

Kerr bought her first Mavericks outfit!



Her Santa suit :)



Tamara made this canvas for above her bed!

Erin's Wedding

One of my roommates from college got married this past weekend here in Houston.  Brian & Erin got married in the church she grew up in and the reception was at the Junior League (it was gorgeous).  It was a fun weekend but I was definitely ready to get off my feet by the end of it all! :) Amy did my hair and I got so many compliments on it...what would we do without our own makeup artist and hair stylist in the family!?  She is so talented!

College friends with the Bride

Erin also had many classes with Dallas in college and they taught at the same school their first 2 years.

Last time Misty was in town we made our usual Hobby Lobby run to make a fall wreath for my front door (and see what else creative we could get ourselves into).  We started with a simple grapevine wreath, picks, and the wire harvest sign.  It turned out so cute (all credit due to Misty!) and I can't wait to decorate the rest of the house! 

4D Ultrasound & Donaway Wedding

The months seem to be flying by and yet not fast enough...we are ready to meet that baby girl! (And then when she gets here I'm going to be wanting the months to slow down again...) Anyways, on Thursday we had a 4D ultrasound so we could see her since our last ultrasound was at 20 weeks and we would not have another one until right before I deliver.  It was a very cool experience watching the video and the tech showing us and letting us hear her little heart beating.  The video is really neat to watch but since it is 15 minutes long I will just post a picture! :) She did not want to cooperate for the first little bit...she kept her hand right in front of her face (yes, we might have a stubborn girl on our hands).  Even as the tech pushed on her and tried to mess with her she just left it there.  I had to go walk around to finally get her to move it so we could see her cute little face. Here she is at 30 weeks and she weighs about 3 pounds right now.  And she is definitely making her presence known with the kicks to the ribs and punches to the belly...I can't imagine what it's going to feel like when she doubles her weight in a few weeks!

On Friday we left for Ft. Worth for Corey & Rachel's wedding weekend.  The rehearsal dinner was at a fun Mexican restaurant by the Ft. Worth stockyards.  Then the wedding was held outside at the Ft. Worth Water Gardens.  It was a very cool place with all kinds of fountains and water features.  The reception was held across the street at the T&P, an old train station, and it was really beautiful on the inside! 

A few pictures from the weekend.

I got to hang out with a sweet friend from high school, Courtney, all weekend...her husband was also a groomsman in the wedding. She lives in Kentucky now and has not been to Texas since Bethany's wedding last year.  It was a fun weekend getting to see her and catch up on life!  As we keep saying, one day we will make it to Kentucky to come see y'all...

Corey & Rachel Donaway

Kerr was put in charge of the photo booth at the wedding.  It turned out to be a big hit and Corey & Rachel will have all kinds of fun and silly pictures to look back on one day!

Groomsmen

Possibly the best picture ever taken of Dallas & Crystal.



On the way home we stopped at the famous painted Aggie barn on the side of the road to take a few pictures...mainly because we needed a break from being in the car!  So here is my belly picture for this post.  I think we figured out she will be the Class of 2034...how crazy is that!