Back from the dead!

Wow, talk about a hiatus. We are back from the dead. We actually moved, and had no internet for over 2 weeks. You would think that it drove me crazy and it did for the first few days, then it was almost peaceful.

Anywho, so we are in our new home and we love it! There is plenty of room for everyone, and for more when the time comes. Anywho, this is a short one til I figure out something else to write about, but we are here!

Cooper's Birth Story

I don't have this on my blog yet, so I want to go ahead and put it here. And yes, I'm giving it the label "Birth Stories" as in plural, because hopefully, I'll have a bunch more birth stories to tell you. But here's his.

I had a rather easy pregnancy with Cooper. I had zero morning sickness. I had a small battle with an ear infection, but other than that, just the minor aches and pains that everyone gets. Then my water broke at home when I was 37 weeks and 5 days. It was later in the evening, probably about 8:30 or so. It wasn't the big gush like you see in the movies, so at first, I really thought I had peed on myself. Then it happened again, and I just knew.

So I went to wake up Dixie, who had already gone to bed. I said, "Babe, I think my water just broke." And he replied, "Are you sure you didn't pee on yourself?" I said I was sure, and he told me to call the doctor. While I was on the phone with the doctor, I guess Dixie realized it was go time, and he was up out of the bed, running around the house. My dad had just woken up (he lived with us at the time, and works graveyard), so he was there to witness us freaking out a little. I started crying, because I was so scared. By the time I got a call back from my doctor and got off the phone with him, Dixie had already posted on Facebook what was going on. So we load up the car and head to the hospital.

When we got there, they put us in a triage room and checked me. I was only about one and a half centimeters. I wasn't having any contractions yet, and the nurse said they would put me in a room, and induce me in the morning if my contractions hadn't started by then. Not long after the nurse left, my contractions started and they started strong!. I made it through, oh maybe, three or four contractions before I was hitting my button and begging for pain medicine. So the nurse brought me a big fat shot of Demerol and a big fat shot of Phenergan. The Demerol was great, and I was sailing high til the Phenergan kicked in. Apparently, I'm allergic to it. The effect it had on me was like Restless Leg Syndrome, but all over your whole body, and times like, a hundred. I was beyond miserable. Shortly after that I went on and got an epidural, and while I wasn't in pain, I was still miserable from the effects of the other medicine. It was so bad that it took the nurse several tries to get the catheter in because I could be still. I also had several visitors come by the hospital that the nurse turned away because I was so bad. (There were some people that I didn't know had even shown up until after I was discharged.)

I was in labor for nearly 20 hours and stalled at 8.5 centimeters because Cooper was face up and just big. So Dr Reed decided we needed to do a C-section. By the time he said that I was ready to throw in the towel anyway, so I didn't care one way or the other. We went into surgery and Cooper was born at 7:43pm on December 23rd, 2011 with no complications. We stayed a few days and then went right home.

Next time, I will know to go straight to the epidural and skip the narcotics, and maybe it will be a more pleasant experience.

Crossing Off a Few Things

So I revisited my 101 list (which still doesn't have 101 things) and there are actually a few things I need to cross of the list. So here goes.

# 3 - Get a promotion at work - well, since I quit my job, this one is off the list.

# 11 - Get a Kindle Fire - Actually, I got a Nook Tablet a while back, and I loved it, but I hardly ever used it so I sold it to a friend whose daughter is loving it even more.

# 20 - Make over the blog - I already did that, as you can see, but I am actually about to do it again for fall.

# 42 - Start Cooper on solids - He's 8 months old, so this happened a couple months ago. He loves to eat!

#43 - Make Cooper's baby food - I was really going to do this at first, but then I figured, Gerber has been around for a gajillion years, so I will let them stick to what they are good at.

# 44 - Get involved with Adopt-a-School - This is crossed off for lack of being able to. Since I'm at home now, I don't have a business to get involved with.

#58 - Learn to drive a stick shift - Dixie's sister taught me the basics of driving a stick a while back. I'm no pro at it, but if we ever owned a stick and got stranded, I could drive it.

# 87 - Get a house plant - We actually have two houseplants. We got them before we moved back to Tuscaloosa from Gordo, and they are still alive!

# 88 - Go to a wedding - See below, my sister got married and had a beautiful wedding at her in-laws home.

So there we go, crossed a few things off. I still need some suggestions as to more things to actually get it to 101 things, but I doubt anyone even reads this so... Anywho....til next time!


Amy

Wordless Wednesday: Taking the Kids to Walmart

Going to the Chapel!

She did it! My sister is now Mrs Ashley Woods! I'm so happy for her and Kurt! She was absolutely stunning. There are really no words to really describe how happy I am for her. So I'm not really going to try. But here's the pictures!

Ashley and Lexi

Ashley and Grandma Frances

Ashley and Momma Sally

Ashley and her dad Tony

Ashley and Kurt

You may now kiss the bride!

The Woods Family

Lexi, right before she tried to eat Uncle Cody's flower

Happy Bride!

Mr. & Mrs. Woods

Me and the beautiful bride!

Lexi cheesing just like her mama!

The wedding party, Cody, Kami, Taylor, Ashley, Kurt, Lexi, Lisa, and Christopher

Ashley and Kurt with G'ma Frances and Pawpaw Bryant

Is she not the most beautiful bride you've ever seen?! It was such a great day and we narrowly avoided two different major rainstorms. And just like any wedding, it wasn't exactly drama free, but the day went almost exactly how Ashley wanted it to go. I am very happy for her and Kurt and I know they will be a very happy couple for years and years to come!

Growing Up...

My sister is getting married on Saturday! Ashley and Kurt have been together for what seems like forever, and they have a beautiful little girl, Brooklynn Alexis (whom we usually call Lexi), who just turn 6 months old a couple days ago. I have the great honor of taking pictures at their wedding, and I can't wait. (I am actually a little nervous about taking the pictures. I am scared TO DEATH they may not turn out great.)

(Kurt, Lexi and Ashley)

[Most people who know me know that Ashley isn't technically my sister. We really aren't blood related at all. We met in about the third grade when our parents all bowled on a league together. We became fast friends and quickly became "adopted" into each other's family. Most people know that whenever I refer to "my sister" I'm talking about Ashley.]

(Ashley and me a couple years ago.)

She's growing up, y'all! I mean, duh, we are the same age, we both have a child, and I'm already married. We are pretty much at the same stage of life, but it's still like, holy crap, we're adults! I don't know about her, but I feel old sometimes when I think back. I mean, It's been like, 17 or 18 years since she and I were getting in trouble running around Leland Lanes. There have been times over the years where we lived in different states and it was hard for us to stay in touch. And there have been times where one of us did something hurtful to the other and we didn't talk for days at a time. But like family, we always end up together again and pick up like nothing ever happened.

Now that we have families of our own, it's a different sort of friendship. When we were little, it was about sleepovers and getting to ride home on the bus with each other. Then we were teenagers, and it was about who was dating who. Now, our conversations are about baby milestones and car trouble. And I think we are going to be those friends that are crying together as we send our kids off to kindergarten, and crying again when they graduate high school together. Then, God willing, we'll be going to weddings and visiting each other's grandchildren.

(Cooper and Lexi on a playdate.)

I can't wait for the wedding! It is going to be such a special day for Ashley and Kurt. I am so glad to be a part of it and honored that she would trust me to document it for her. 

See you next time with pictures!!!

Mrs Faulkner

# 71 - Partial Check

So # 71 on my 101 list is to read ten biographies, and I've read two so far.

The first is Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall.

It was pretty good, but it seemed to drag on and on and on. And some of the writing and dialogue was just weird the way it was worded, as if to be too perfect. I've read similar stories by other 'escapees' from the FLDS and they are just written much better. It was good though.

Then I read Love Times Three by the Darger Family.

Notice a trend? Ha! No, I am not becoming a polygamist or anything like that. It is just a very interesting lifestyle. This book was much much better, and it showed the complete opposite side of polygamy than the other book. This one is written by a husband and his three wives. They are in a loving, trusting, consenting relationship where they are committed to each other and their 20+ children. It's great. I love it. I've read it multiple times since getting it about a month ago. And now I follow them on Twitter. LOL.