Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was definitely special. I never thought I'd be able to say that I brought my bundle of joy home from the hospital on Mother's Day, but I can!

Grace wore home the exact same dress that I came home from the hospital in...

Family shot before I was wheeled out!

Ready to go!

We rode by Strategic and Scott noticed the message on the sign, I told him to turn around because I had to have a picture!

When we got home we all three took naps. This is one of my favorite images of Scott & Grace so far!

Scott & Grace gave me a beautiful Pandora bracelet for Mother's Day with beautiful charms! :)

Bulls Bay

This past weekend was Grace's first trip to the Bay. We rode home with Gigi because Scott had a boat show in Morehead City. As we were turning down Bulls Bay road I told Grace where we were and she smiled one of the biggest smiles! It was too cute! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Nonnie & Grandaddy met us down at the house when we arrived. It was Grandaddy's first time seeing Grace!

Grace & I napping after the family reunion on Saturday.

The Wilmington crowd came, so Nonnie & Grandaddy had all of their great-grandkids together. Here's a shot of Cade, Jaxon, & Dawson playing on Saturday.

When we arrived at the Bay we realized that our air conditioning didn't work. So Grace & I stayed with Gigi & Big Daddy until our air got fixed!

Big Daddy even fixed us all pancakes Sunday morning before Church. :) I just had to take a picture of them! They were YUMMY!!

Mrs. Myrtle holding Grace after Church.

Grace, so peaceful & *SWEET*!

Annana & Gigi

Thanks to everyone who has sent a card or called to check on us! However we couldn't have made it without Annana & Gigi. Annana came up on Monday and spent the night with us and Gigi came Tuesday night and stayed the rest of the week. They hauled us all around back and forth to doctors appointments, etc.

Visitors...

When Grace arrived you could already tell how many people loved her with the amount of phone calls, flowers, gifts, & visitors that came. :) Here's a picture of Grace with some of her visitors.

Uncle Capi & Aunt Brooke

Bridget & Stephen

Jacquelyn

Uncle Jason

Grandaddy Terry

Gotta run for now. I'll post more pictures of visitors & Grace soon! XOXO

Friday, May 8, 2009

Allie Grace McLaughlin has arrived! Friday morning around 1am I woke up with contractions so Scott & I headed to the hospital as my contractions were 5-6 minutes apart. We arrived at Rex Hospital around 2:30am. Long story short... at 3am my water broke, at 5am I was 5cm & shortly after Gigi, Big Daddy, & Annana arrived! Just after 7am I was 10cm, so I labored down for an hour and then started to push. Grace arrived at 9:45 am.

Here's a picture of Scott & I waiting to meet Grace!

Meeting Grace...

Some Daddy time...

Perfect!

With Dr. Littleton...

Proud Gigi & Big Daddy...

Dr. Appt.

Yesterday I went to the doctor and I'm now 3cm! My weight is holding out at 159, I'm determined not to get over the 160 lbs. mark! (haha!) Instead of scheduling my doctors appointment for next week the doctors went ahead and scheduled an induction for next Thursday, the 14th, due to my feet & hands. However the doctor I saw yesterday seems to think I'll go before then, but of course they never can tell. Hopefully I'll go on my own and not have to be induced, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Grace was extremely active when I first got to the doctors office. The nurse said she was getting in her exercise. And just like when we exercise our heart rate goes up, so had hers. So they put me on a monitor and monitored her heart rate for about 30 minutes. Once she calmed down it was back in the normal range.

After seeing the following picture I realize I should probably wait until Grace is here to take anymore pictures. ;) I'm beginning to look pretty rough! Can I blame it on the nasty weather we were having that afternoon? Ok, guess not. (And check out that belly button, ha!) This picture was taken Monday of Dawson & I at our 4H meeting. He's going to be a great big cousin!

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay...

Saturday was Dock of the Bay and as every other year, it was another great time. This morning we received these pictures of Scott and I that I thought I'd share.

On Saturday I was 39 weeks, so we're planning for Grace any day now! I go back to the doctor tomorrow afternoon & hopefully I have progressed more from last week. My back sure is feeling it. Maybe the next time I post it will mean she's arrived! :) Fingers Crossed!

Love to all!