Tax and TAKS

It is tax season and TAKS season. I'm in the latter of the two. I also have a 6 1/2 month old who has decided to stop sleeping through the night. I'm EXHAUSTED! Since 8 weeks old, she has slept all night...from 8:00 - 7:00. These are my two excuses, along with time, for not posting lately. I'll get back to it I promise! I have too many wonderful pictures, facts to give and stories to tell. I'll be back...

The Day Our Lives Changed Forever...

Actually, I'm going to back up to the weekend before. That Friday, I was not feeling well at all and was just very uncomfortable. TJ and I already had our Saturday planned, knowing it was our last Saturday together with just the two of us. We met our friends, the Canis', at The Bar for brunch and ran a few last minute errands. We walked and walked hoping to send me into labor. We went to a college tennis tournament our friend Scott puts on every year, which was a lot of fun. Then we came home to watch the Tech, maybe Texas game. I can't remember who they were playing. We had a couple of friends over. It was just a lot of fun. While I was getting ready for church, the next day, I got a text from one of my friends from our birthing class saying she had gone into labor. We went to church and I was exhausted so I just did a few last minute things and then rested. That night I called my sister in law, Allison to describe some pains I was having and she said chances were I was having back labor pains. I went to bed but didn't rest very well.

September 20, 2010

Now on to the day that God made our little family a family of 3. I got up and got dressed and went to school. I think most were a little surprised to see me because they thought I was going to have Sawyer that weekend. I tell you, that Friday was not pretty for me. :) My kids were so disappointed that I was there. I think each day I was at school they got more and more disappointed. Not because they didn't want me there but because they were so excited that Sawyer was going to be born soon. We went to class and I just kept have these crampy pains. I honestly had no idea they were contractions. They weren't consistent and weren't very close together. I was kind of worried, thinking something was wrong. Again, I email Allison and between her and our school nurse my dear friend, Linda, I decide to call my dr. My nurse said it sounded like I was having contractions and she had me come in just to make sure. I call TJ to let him know. He was ready for the call and told me he would meet me at home. I called my long term sub to see if she could come in and then I went to tell my principal. I knocked on her door and didn't even have to say anything. She knew and told me to go ahead and they would take care of the kids.

TJ and I met at the house and drove over to my dr's office. They hooked me up to the monitor for about 30 minutes or so. I was having contractions but nothing consistent. Dr. D came in and said we had two options. One was to wait it out and the other was to enduce. This was not something I wanted to do. I wanted to go into labor naturally, but TJ and I talked about it and decided, after talking to the dr too, that we might as well go ahead. She was coming in a couple of days, if not sooner, anyway, we could call his parents and Twylah and Tony because they wanted to be there and they could come during the day instead of maybe having leave in the middle of the night, and my long term sub was already with my class. It just made sense to go ahead. Well, I wanted to make 100% sure this was what I wanted to do AND I was starving. :) It was already lunchtime and I knew if we went ahead and admitted into the hospital I wouldn't be able to eat. So, we said we were going to talk it over some more and went to McAlister's to "think" some more about it.

After "thinking" at McAlister's we called our nurse and told her our decision, which was to go ahead. We went home to pack a few last minute things and some of my precious friends, Melissa, Michelle, Carmen and Leslee came over to pray with TJ and myself. It was the most wonderful thing. It makes me tear up now thinking about it. We are so blessed with these people, and many more, in our lives!

We left for the hospital around 1:00 or so. They broke my water around 2:30 and started pitocin. Twylah, Tony and Melonie got there around 3:00 and John and Debbie around 4:00 or so. I finally got my epidural around 6:00 after being told I wasn't going to get it until 7:00. I was already at a 5 by then and very uncomfortable. I think they saw this in my face and took pity on me. I felt much better after having it! I started pushing around 10:30 and after 2 hours they let me have a little break. Around 1:30 I started pushing again and at 2:28, Tuesday, September 21, 2010 our precious angel Sawyer Elizabeth McClure blessed us with her presence. Seeing her for the first time will be permanently etched in my mind. It was the most glorious moment! Her eyes were open and her mouth was moving (she was ready to eat! :) She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 18 3/4 in. long and was beautiful...still is! :) I was in LOVE from the first time I laid eyes on her, so was her daddy! She shares her birthday with a very special person, Terra, one of my best friends.

Someone asked me a few days later if all of the waiting was worth it. My response was "what waiting?" All of that was forgotten. The waiting, hoping and disappointment month after month, gone...it's amazing what God gives us and what He takes away from us.

Sorry this post is so long. The first few may be, but they'll get shorter...maybe.

Getting cleaned up and ready to eat.

The joy I felt is indescribable!

A perfect fit!

First time Daddy got to hold her.

Sawyer Elizabeth McClure

Sawyer and Grammy

Sawyer and Nana

Going home

Hello friends! I'm back...

Since my last post, I've started a new school year and have had a baby. Did I mention having a baby? I never imagined how wonderfully busy I would be with a little one. I love every minute of it though! So, I've made a new goal, I'm going to try to update my blog at least once a month with pictures of us and Sawyer news (really that's why your really reading this! :) So, tonight I've changed my "look", I've added monthly pictures of Sawyer with Monkey (this was the first time I've seen these pictures together and it's amazing how much she's changed!), I've also changed my profile a little bit. Tomorrow, or maybe this weekend, I'll start working on getting posts up from Sawyer's first month up to now, her sixth. I'm actually excited about getting into this again!

Goodnight!

Steph.

Sonogram Pics (Weeks 10 and 20)

Here are some sono pics of Sawyer from week 10 and week 20. Unfortunately we don't have any good ones from week 29. We will have another ultrasound in about 6 weeks or so. Hopefully that will be better!

At 10 weeks. This was our first dr's visit with Dr. Doke. You can see her sweet little feet.
This is of her face at 20 weeks.

Another face shot at 20 weeks.

Her sweet profile at 20 weeks. She had her mouth open and hand by her cheek.

4D picture at 20 weeks. Her legs her up the entire time! These pics are amazing!

I think this is a great shot of her sweet face! Again, this is 20 weeks.

Sweet gift for my sweet little girl...

I know I'm so behind on my posts, but I have to share this story with you before I update my pregnancy. Monday, being 20 weeks and 4 days we had our ultrasound to find out what we are having. We were so excited to find out it is a GIRL! My school kids were beside themselves with anticipation of finding out what we were having. You would have thought it was Christmas the way they were acting, on Monday. I loved their excitement! I didn't go until 3:00 that day, so they had to wait until Tuesday morning to find out. One parent texted me about 9:45 Monday night telling me her daughter couldn't sleep because she was so excited for Tuesday morning. My sweet mother-in-law found little Hershey Promises wrapped in pink and in blue. Not knowing what we were having, at the time, she bought both. Tuesday morning I had a pink Promise on each of the kids desk. I did this twice because I have two rotations of classes. The girls were ecstatic, the boys, well...they weren't quite as excited, except for one (I'll get to his story in a minute). I even had one boy, sounding very disappointed, ask if it could change (meaning the babies gender). That made me laugh! They are funny!!

On to the sweet gift and the story about the lone boy that was excited...a parent was in my room Tuesday talking to me. I told her about a little onesie I found at Target that had a tutu around it. After she left, one of my little boys, whom is PRECIOUS anyway, came up to me and asked me what that was called that the tutu was wrapped around. I told him a onesie. He said okay and went backed to his desk. When I looked over, he was writing something on his hand, it was the word onesie. It just made me smile. Well, about 5:30 my doorbell rang and here stood this little boy, who rode his bike to my house, with a Target bag in his hand and his face beaming. Tears welled up in my eyes because I knew what he had done. I opened the door and he gave me the bag and told me it was a gift for Sawyer. I've received many sweet gifts for her already (just this week), she's going to be SPOILED, but this one gift, I know I will keep always. When I opened the bag, this is what I found...

Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen! It is a very special gift to me and I know Sawyer will be beautiful in it! Of course I called his mom to thank her and let her know what a sweet, big hearted little boy she has. Most 10 year olds would not even think about doing this. She told me that as soon as she picked him up from school he asked her to take him to Target because he wanted to get Sawyer this outfit. I pray that Sawyer is as sweet and thoughtful as he is. I have to say, his parents are just like him! I've been blessed knowing this wonderful family!

I'll update more later, just wanted to share this with you. All is going well and I'm feeling great, except for all of the sinus infections I keep getting. They are beginning to frustrate me!

And baby will make 3!

TJ and I are so excited to announce that we are expecting! Our little bundle of joy should arrive around September 23rd. What a blessing! One we've waited on for, what seems like, ever! I'm 11 weeks today and have not felt great since week 6. :) I seem to have a little more energy and the nausea isn't as constant. We had a sonogram at 7 weeks, which showed a little baby with a strong heartbeat. We had another one at 10 weeks (last Friday) and the change the baby has made was amazing. Herm (TJ has nicknamed our child this. It is a mix between him and her.) was moving all around. That was the most remarkable thing I've ever seen! I'm not sure I can explain the emotion that went over me when we saw our beautiful baby moving and kicking about. After the emotions, it sank in that we are going to have a pretty active kid! :) The heartbeat was 170 bpm. I've read anything over 140 was a girl, but our nephew's was 160 - 170 the entire pregnancy. So, I'm not putting much faith into that old wives tale. Although, I did pick this pick background, only because I liked it better than the others. I'm sure I'll end up changing it.

I just want to say thank you for all of your prayers, kind words, advice and support!

When I figure out how to scan the sono picture, with Herm's adorable foot in it :), I will post it.

Lincoln with the Canis' and Phillips'

I've been meaning to post this for almost 2 months now. It has been very busy around here! In between Christmas and New Year's, TJ and I spent some time in Lincoln, NM with our friends Jon and Michele, their boys, Michele's parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew. We had the best time!! Lincoln is outside of Ruidoso and is so pretty! Michele's mom and dad bought and old school house in Lincoln and remodeled it and it is amazing! We spent some time there a couple of summers ago and loved it. It was so neat being able to spend time during the winter there. They also have some land outside of town and built a "barn" which is beautiful! We went sledding one day. That was fun. I hadn't ever been. Then we spent some time at the barn and had a snow ball fight. We went in to Ruidoso to eat some yummy pizza! The last day there, we rode four wheelers up in the Capitan's. The view was gorgeous! We had so much fun just hanging out, eating and playing cards. It was a nice time for TJ and I to just get away and what great company we were with! Below are some pictures we took.

The Schoolhouse

Walking from the Schoolhouse to the Barn in the snow! It was great!!

The "Barn". I told you it was beautiful!

Gearing up for the snowball fight.

TJ prepping...

The view through the gate at the Barn.

I thought these windows were so pretty.