Landen's Birth Story.

Wow, a year already. This time last year my husband was deployed & my in laws were staying with me to help out with my two boys, plus our new addition that was soon to be arriving.

March 21, 2013.. two days before my due date I had my 40 week check up. Like every other appointment they checked the baby's heart beat, measured the belly, & asked if I would like to be checked for any progress. I was only 2cm and 50% effaced.. My midwife had asked if I wanted her to strip my membranes.. Now I had heard from other moms that the process was A. Painful and B. Uncomfortable. I asked for her opinion and decided why not.. so, we went ahead and did it. It wasn't as painful as I thought but it was really uncomfortable and instantly I started cramping. The rest of the day I felt sick but my mother in law and I decided to take the boys for a long walk to hopefully get labor started. No luck.

March 22, 2013.. the day before my due date I was "cramping" throughout the whole day. We had pizza that night & decided after dinner to head to the mall to get some walking in. We were in Charlotte Russe when I noticed I had to go to the bathroom so I rushed to the nearest store with a bathroom and that was Burlington. Now they say when labor is approaching your body will "clean" itself out, sure enough it did. I never dealt with any of this before with my other two, at least I don't remember. So, we decided it was time to go and we rushed home to rest. That night I always got a call from Henry (since he was deployed) around 11pm-12am. When he called I had let him know what had happened and I was for sure at that moment I was having contractions. I could barely breathe so I had to cut the conversation short, which I hated. I knew I had to try and get some rest incase the big moment came.

March 23, 2013.. my due date.. early that morning around 2am I woke up with excruciating contractions, I wasn't sure if it was a false alarm or what.. so to help I walked around my room for about a half hour texting my sister and mom to let them know. I finally gave in at around 2:45am and texted my mother in law who was in the next room that I thought it was time. We got ready, grabbed our bags and left. I'm pretty sure she ran every red light, because I thought it was time because that's how bad the pain was. We get to the hospital around 3:15am and they decided to admit me. They hooked me up to the montiors and took down my information. They wanted to record the baby's heart rate for a little before checking me. They checked me about an hour later and I was only 2cm but 75% effaced.. I was SHOCKED.. with my first two I never ever had that much pain at only 2cm, usually this pain to me was about 7 or 8 cm's. So, they had me walk around the room and told me to only sit if I got tired.. a few hours went by and at around 6:30am they checked me again. This time I was 4cm and still 75% effaced. The midwife on call gave me the option to either stay in the hospital and wait it out or go home shower and rest.. I definitely took the second option since I hate hospitals. They discharged me around 7am and told everyone it was a false alarm. I remember begging my mother in law to not hit any pot holes. When we got home, I let my in laws know that I was going to try and get some sleep to hopefully get these contractions under control. I went to sleep around maybe 8am and didn't wake up until 1pm-1:30pm. I took a hot shower & what do you know the dreaded contractions were back! The shower didn't help and by time I got ready it was about 2:30pm. I went down stairs to sit at my table.. shaking my foot and rocking back and forth and nothing was working. My mother in law decided to time my contractions as I was writing them down and we noticed they were getting closer together. By 3:30pm they were about 4-5 minutes apart and with a 15 minute ride to the hospital we knew we had to go. So, once again we grabbed our bags and I gave my boys the biggest hugs and kisses and we went to the hospital. They admitted me again at around 4:15pm-4:30pm and they checked me. This time I was 7cm and 100% effaced! I basically slept through most of my laboring process. Thank god, but the pain started to get unbearable and I was begging my wonderful nurse to please get the anesthesiologist but my luck he was home so they had to call him in.. By the time he got there I was 8cm, almost was unable to get it.. I would of freaked out. I remember hunching over my mother in law crying wishing Henry was there. With the pain and crying I had no idea he even pricked me.. What a relief that was! I received a FB messaged as soon as I laid back down and it was a photographer I was going to have to my birth photos since she was doing them for free or deployed soldiers. But at the time she was booked but luckily the lady backed out and she wanted to do them. It was about 7pm and she was on her way. When she arrived she was maybe only there for about 45 minutes when I felt like I had to poop.. & we know what that means.. PUSHING TIME! My mother in law called the midwife and nurses to let them know. When they checked me she was in shock because I had just became 10cm. The baby wasn't even crowning yet but I felt the urge to push. At 8:11pm I started pushing & 8 minutes later, my beautiful baby boy was born. I cried with all my children but this time I was filled with such emotions because of everything I was dealing with. (those stories to come) We named him Landen Derick. Landen because we both loved that name and Derick for my dad. (my dads name was Frederick). With each pregnancy you worry about not having enough love to go around, but looking at my baby's my heart grew bigger. I don't know where I would be today without my precious baby boys. <3

Time Heals all Wounds.

What a stressful few years it's been.. I went through a pregnancy, my husband deployed, gave birth without my husband, & I lost my father. I honestly have no idea how I got through any of that. Right now just typing this little paragraph my eyes are starting to tear up, it's still a struggle to deal with everything God has dealt me.

Landen's first birthday is approaching & 2 weeks later it'll be my dads 1 year anniversary. It's definitely hard to celebrate a beautiful life we were given but also to mourn a life that was taken away from us. Where's the happy medium? Every time I look at Landen I can't help but think of my dad.. Landen's middle name was supposed to be Matthew but because I knew my dads situation and knowing he would either be gone before the birth or afterwards, I wanted to honor my dad in some way. My dads name is Frederick & that really isn't a middle name, so I gave my dad two options either Eric or Derick & he chose Derick. Part of me believes he picked Derick not only because he liked it but because of Derek Jeter on his favorite baseball team.. The Yankees. But I will never know why he chose Derick over Eric. 

I learned grieving has no time limit.. You can go years without a tear being shed and all of a sudden something reminds you of that person and your in a ball crying. The last 11 months, I've felt like going into a ball and crying.. But I have a family to take care of and they come first before my emotions. Some days I just can't shake me being sad and I can tell the boys know something is wrong. All I can tell them is mommy is fine and everything will be okay. But when will it be okay? I wish I had the answer.. I truly wish I knew when this grieving process would be over it. But like everyone says "time heals all wounds".. 

Rest in peace Dad. We love & miss you.

J'Adore VoxBox

The other day when I went to check my maill box I wasn't expecting anything but the normal junk mail, bills, or magazines. When I opened my mailbox I was surprised to see I had a key for the bigger boxes.. I hadn't ordered anything so I thought it was odd. When I opened it I noticed a Influenster voxbox was in there. I was excited to see what was in there since this was only my second one I had received since being a member. In the box contained:

A family size bag of Hersheys Kisses
Men spray lotion from Vaseline
KISS eyelashes
John Frieda Frizz Ease 3 day straight flat iron spray
Ionic Clay Mask from Boots Botanics
& last but not least 3 tea bags from Red Rose Tea

Of course my family of boys loved the hershey kisses, that would have to be one of my favorite chocolates. The vaseline lotion really isn't greasy like most lotions are and it has a nice cologne smell to it, my husband liked it. As for the tea, I'm not a huge hot tea drinker, but the red rose tea, definitely changed my mind, I loved it. The lemon one was my favorite. Who doesn't need some sort of flat iron spray when you straighten your hair? I know everytime I'm done with my hair it always frizzes, but the John Frieda solution will not disappoint you. I tried the clay mask on my husband because he'll pretty much do whatever, lol. His comments on it was, it is messy but after you wash it off your face, your face is instantly smooth. The only thing I haven't tried were the eyelashes, because I haven't had anywhere fancy to go, but when I do I can't wait to try them out. :)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Normally around Thanksgiving I would have had a session booked for Christmas pictures. But for some reason it felt like time flew and bam, Christmas will be here in 18 days! So, today I decided to just take a nice picture of my boys in front of one of our Christmas trees. I remember seeing one of Wifessionals & Hooah and Hiccups Instagram posts about Walgreens app and how they made their Christmas cards within 5 minutes. Too myself, I thought no way. But those ladies were right And thank god they were, because I really didn't want to have to go out in the cold to the store to stand there and print picture cards. So here's was I did.. I downloaded the app to my iPad.

On the left hand side I clicked on the picture icon.

It brought me here and it gave a lot of different cards to choose from. 

I chose this card. Very simple instructions.

And Voila! They're done and ready for pickup within the hour!

Very, very, easy and simple to do. Why go out in the cold and stand there when you can just do it in the comfort of your own home!

Meet Sullivan.

This isn't your typical Elf on the Shelf. The normal Elf on the Shelf is about $30. I originally was going to splurge on it but then I was a little worried my kids wouldn't be so much into it. So, my sister in law decided to start making her own. She made one for her son last year & knowing I was wanting one for the boys she decided to make one for them! 

Night 1. Meet Sullivan.

The boys decided on the name Sullivan because of Sully in Monsters Inc. I thought it was adorable, plus I love the name. They found Sullivan in the morning hanging from our garland in our dining room.

Night 2.

They found Sullivan just hanging around in Mommys stocking.

Night 3.

The boys found Sullivan sitting on our bookshelf reading one of Cameron's book. Smart little elf.

Since I'm caught up, every day I will post where the boys found Sullivan and what he was up too. So far they like that Sullivan is here to watch over them for Santa.

So I want to know, do you have an elf hanging around at your house?  If you what is your Elf's name and what has he or she been up too? :)

Being Thankful.

With Thanksgiving coming up I decided to write a post about being thankful. I know every year on social media everyone does the 30 days of thankfulness. Shouldn't we be thankful 365 days a year? I know I am. I have so much to be thankful for. As you know, 2013 has been a rough year, being 7 months pregnant to have your husband deploy, having a baby with any of your family or spouse, & losing a loved one, I'd say I'm ready for this year to be over. This year I'm most thankful for being able to go see my dad during his last weeks of his life. I will never forget those memories for as long as I live. Another thing I'm thankful for are my three healthy little boys. Without them I would have crumbled during my dads death, they kept my mind off things when they should have been difficult. I'm also thankful for having my mom. I was so worried we would lose her also after my fathers death. When my grandfather died 11 years ago, my grandmother was so heartbroken she lost her way and ended up passing away exactly 3 months later. So, because of that I'm constantly worried. But my mom has promised us that she will be here for us and her grand kids, that's all we could ask for.

So tell me, what are you most thankful for this year?

CaraBox (Reveal Post)

I've been sooo excited for this post! This was my first CaraBox exchange & what a great experience this was. At first, I was a little nervous to see who my partners would be. You get one partner that sends you a box and then you get another partner that your sending a box too. You have about a month to get to know each other & there is always a theme for the box. The theme this time was a fall one. Heather over at drakeandheathersully.blogspot.com did such a great job on her first cara box!

(Excuse the pictures they aren't the greatest but next time I promise they will be). My husband went to go check our mail and he handed me this box, I had completely forgotten the box was on its way. Like a giddy child I couldn't wait to open it. :)

I opened it to find all these amazing goodies in it!

My partner Heather sent me a Smash book, basically it's a Journal/Scrapbook. I never saw one before but I love the idea of it! A package of scones to bake, a coffee mug, two scrapbook stickers, 2 bags of caramel filled with apples, a pumpkin mitten for the oven, and an amazing sign to hang up.

I can't decide which is my favorite because all of it is. My husband devoured half of the caramels, so I know he loved those, they were delicious. I'm saving the scones for Thanksgiving morning for breakfast :) I've been dying to make those! I found it funny that she sent me a mug with a Fleur-de-lis  on it because my mom had just sent me a charm of that symbol, maybe it means something, lol. The smash book I'm waiting on Landen's first birthday to start in it :) and the pumpkin mit I pretty much use everyday, fall or not fall. 

When I was looking through all the amazing stuff I opened the book to find out Heather had written a message in it.

I couldn't have been matched with a better partner, were both mothers and military wives, we have a lot in common. I hope one day through the travels in the army we cross paths so we can meet each other. She has such a big heart & hope we can stay in touch. <3