Happy Birthday Bennett!

Happy Happy Birthday to our sweet nephew/cousin Bennett!!! He turned 2 last Thursday and we had a birthday party for him at Trav & Kelly's house Saturday. He has come a long way in 2 years, but we know God is faithful and he will continue to watch over our sweet one.


Charlie and Bennett--Two WILD AND CRAZY GUYS!! :)

Trav and Kelly's brother --Chris

So shortly after this photo of dad was taken, he got up to take some glasses inside. Only he failed to acutally open the glass sliding door so WHAMO! Smacked right into the door,,,we all held our breaths to make sure he wasnt going to fall backwards or anything,,then all burst out laughing! Love you dad!

In this picture I totally look preggers,,,but trust me I am not. Very blousy top!

Today after church I made Charlie take this pic with me in a sweet outfit his dad hates!

Our 4th anniversay was Thursday too,,,Bennetts birthday! Here Charlie is crying again:)

Dont you just want to kiss all on those cheeks? So he is happy too,,,he doesnt cry all the time! I do have a question for all you moms,,,I am trying to get him to take a bottle and so far its not going well. Just one bottle every other day, so if anyone has any tips let me know!

Misconceptions,,,

There are a few misconceptions about having a baby that I would like to talk about today. Acutally, my views were obviously competely skewed. :) First of all, I remember thinking how moms can stay in their pj's all day long and not change clothes at all. But here it is, almost 1 in the afternoon and I am still in mine and have no plans of changing anytime soon. I am pretty sure I brushed my teeth though,,,pretty sure. I probably need to invest in some cuter pj's though. Its just funny how the day goes by so fast! I thought that with a newborn I would have all the time in the world, not too far from my previous life. But for us, it all is well until naptime. I cant get my little man to nap without it being on me. Oh well, this too shall pass.

Staying with the time misconception, we went to Florida this past week with my family. In my former life I would have been on the beach about 8 hours. I was probably on the beach 6 hours total for the week. And this was fine! Ash, mom, or Kelly would watch him while I went to the beach. Funny though how your perspective changes when you become a mom. All these teenagers who are barely wearing nothing, walking around,,,where are their parents? Some of the parents are right there with them! Kelly and I loved to watch the guys try to hit on the girls,,setting up their towels a few feet from the girls and tried to work their mojo on them. Hysterical. They had their IPOD playing and one guy actually sang a part of "Whatever you like" thinking he was the coolest. Praise the Lord I am not doing that nonsense anymore.

Here are some pics from Florida of Charlie and Bennett: Here is Granna playing with the boys

walking on the beach at night,,,only time I brought him out:)

All this to say, my hats off to all moms. Especially ones with two or more kids. I dont know how you do it but you are amazing!

I am now at least going to go change my pjs:)

Sleep? Whats that?

So almost three weeks of having my little man home, and I have maybe slept a total of 14 hours over those weeks. :) Not complaining-I have just decided that this is a right of passage and I should just get over it. But, I will complain a little about Ash getting more sleep than me. Now I know he should during the week cause he is working, but this picture was taken on a Tuesday night about 7:45. And he was out for the rest of the night,,,,must be nice.

sorry---cant figure how to rotate this pic

We took Charlie to get his newborn pictures done Friday, and of course he slept the whole way there and was wide awake when we got there. We finally got him to sleep, but it was slightly stressful. There I was in the background holding the hairbrush, like my mom used to do to me. I kind of felt like a stagemom just waiting for my cue to go in and fix his hair when called upon. Then Paul (photographer) wanted me in the pictures. Um,,,,I looked horrible because I thought it was just of the baby!! I did what he wanted but I will NOT be ordering any of those. Geez Louise,,,,. As a sidenote I did put some makeup on Friday and I am pretty sure Charlie had no idea who I was for the longest time.

Had my checkup with the doctor to and he gave me the ok to do some "light exercise", whatever that means. I took Charlie walking this weekend cause it was so gorgeous outside! He did so good!! The driveway is so bumpy and I thought his head was gonna fall off but it turns out he is pretty resilient.

I just finished making him watch "Twilight" with me for his first time. He needs to learn to appreciate the arts. ")

It is amazing how I seem to be making some sense writing this considering the lack of sleep I have had---ok. Baby boy is now screaming his head off for no reason. I have heard they get fussy in the afternoon and he must be going through that now because his face is purple. Amazingly I put on some Dave Matthews Band music and he calmed down. I put earphones on my tummy while pregnant playing DMB, so glad to know its paying off!

Goodnight~!

Happy Birthday and What do I do?

On behalf of the Clayton Family, we would love to wish my lovely sister in law, Kelly, a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! We love her so much and are so thrilled they live here now! Kelly has been a lifesaver from the very start of this adventure we call motherhood. I am feeling nostalgic today, and would love to share the story of how we met. It was my freshman year, her sophomore year at college---JUST KIDDING KELLY!! :) I already told this story on an earlier post so you have to look it up to read it. Kel says I totally exaggerate the story, but I feel like I am crystal clear on every detail!!

Here are some pics from her birthday dinner at my parents:

So quick question--did anyone get a manual when you left the hospital? Mine must have gotten misplaced or something....because between the hours of 1-6 my little wild man is just that--WILD! I am doing a great routine during the day,,it just goes down the drain at night. Charlie would say--"Hey--cut me some slack! Im only 14 days old!" I'm not expecting him to say his ABC's anytime soon, but to at least sleep sort of better at night. When does this all happen? Is there a magic spell I need to say to him or just lots and lots of prayer? :)

Well, besides those few hours he is precious. I wonder if he associates me with anything other than food at this point. Does he know what I went through to get him here? Does he know I am his mommy? Here are some more pics from last night when daddy came home from work:

what a ladies man already!!!! HAppy Birthday Aunt Kelly!!! We love you!!!

Charlie's Here!

So this is how it all went down for the arrival of my baby Charlie,,,

We get to the hospital at midnight, July 1st, with much anticipation. (That and some indigestion because I ate so much food prior since 4 pm was my deadline:) After registering, the super nice nurse takes awesome care of me for the next 6 hours. She answered all of my "I'm a new mom and I am super scared to death about this whole thing" questions. Ash and I tried to nap here and there for the next few hours, until my doctor came into break my water at 6:45 am. The nurse told me it would feel like a normal cervical exam. She must have been smoking crack because that was one of the worst feelings I have felt. I immediatly thought--"Ok. Im done. No more--lets go home. Seriously."

After that painful experience, I thought that the show was on the road and Charlie would be here in a few hours. My doctor said to me, "Ok. Gonna let you rest now and we will check back in 12 hours to see how you are progressing." Huh?!?!?!?! Did he say 12 hours???? Yet another shock. She raised my level of Pitocin (sp) and we were off. I did not feel much of anything for a little bit, and then -WHAMO!! CONTRACTIONS! I was trying to be a big girl and fight through it, while trying to explain to Ash what it felt like. He relates to it as indigestion. Yeah. Sure pal. So around 11 am I got my epidural.

I was scared about this too, mainly because having a gigantic needle in your back just doesn't seem normal to me. Lucky for me, a great friend was there to help with the epidural . She is a nurse anesthetist at the hospital and walked me through the whole thing. She didnt want to give me one, being a friend and all, cause she wanted it to be a good experience just in case. Kind of like when you invite someone to church and the preacher is gone so they do the annual budget meeting. You explain feverishly that "its never like this" and "its normally AWESOME!" So she had a doctor come give it to me, whose name was Charlie :)

After that was given, I felt so much better. Next time I will get one as soon as I pull into the parking lot. What a weird sensation! So after hours of checking to see if I dilated at all, my doctor decided that we would check at 10 pm and make a decision then. So, at 10pm I was barely a 5, and he thought it best to do a C-section. Fine with me, whatever was best for the baby, but I immediately started crying for some reason!!! I guess it was a mix of nerves probably.

So after the call was made things happened very quickly. I was wheeled into surgery a few minutes later and next thing I knew all my insides were on the outside of me. Ash was holding my hand, but kept watching the whole thing saying "this is so cool. oh my goodness. " yea,,,thanks pal. Then they tell me its gonna be alot of pressure, and from what Ash said a lady literally was laying on me pushing my boy out. And finally at 11:01 pm, I see and hear the most beautiful noise in the whole wide world. They take him to the warmer and suction him out cause he had lots of the meconium aspirated. I started crying again, with good reason. They give him to me, but my arms are numb so I have this death grip on him so he doesnt fall. After some pics they take him away, and Ash follows. The proud papa:)

Then the tugging and pulling and yanking began. I asked for a tummy tuck while they were down there. No harm in asking right? They laughed, but I was serious. Come to find out, my pelvic bone was to small and he was turned sideways trying to get out. The doc told me there was no way he would have ever come out normally. So, seeing as how my pelvic bone was too small I felt better because my grandmother used to tell me I was "big boned" like her. Well nanny nanny boo-boo! :) Granted it was not my hip bone, but still. To be told you have a small bone does wonders for a pregnant girl. But I really thought there should be some way to tell if that bone is too small so women dont have to go through 20+ hours of labor. Seriously-that was ridiculous.

They wheel me out and I see my mom and dad and start crying again. I am just a faucet today! The grandparents are all in the room for awhile and then everybody leaves. Suddenly its just Ash, me, and Charlie. It all sets in---what do we do now???? Isnt someone gonna bring in the massive manual to guide us through the next few weeks? No one did, but they did take us to our next room and left us alone to sleep. I was too excited though---like Christmas eve. I had just been blessed with the best present in the whole wide world and sleep was the last thing on my mind.

Then over the next few days, all the things of after labor happened. Stuff no one told you about. I had been forewarned of a few things from Kim and Kelly, but oh my word! I wont go into detail cause I might get in trouble from mom. One of the most humbling experiences for me was wearing those gigantic diapers for a couple of days. Yeesh.

So then came the day we got to leave. Being discharged from the hospital took FOREVER! And then they trust you enough to just let you walk out with this tiny person. But we got him home safely, after driving 15mph on the interstate and me holding his head so it didnt bobble everywhere. Family came over with food and we celebrated Charlie's homecoming. I had forgotten that the day we came home was July 4th, so there were fireworks going of everywhere! I almost yelled out my door to our neighbors-"UM HELLO!?!? NEWBORN IN HERE!!! KNOCK IT OFF!" But I refrained. We should celebrate our nations independence. :)

We took Charlie to the doctor Monday, again driving very slow, and then to his first visit to Chick-fil-A. All is well with the little guy, and we are loving every minute of him being here. Even the late hours:) If anyone has a secret to getting them to sleep at night, please feel free to pass it along:) He sleeps next to us in a co-sleeper, and every little whimper or movement causes me to be right in his face checking on him. Hey-I'm a new mom. Cut me a little slack:)

My mom used to tell me that I will never understand how much she loves me until I have a child of my own. Now I understand the magnitude of my parents love for me and my brothers. And I have a newfound appreciation for my parents and all the sleepless nights I caused them. I love this sweet miracle so much it actually hurts my heart. I just melt when he looks at me, even though I know he cant see alot now, but still. :) I also love watching Ash with him. I totally fell in love with my husband all over again. (I am just a pile of much aren't I ? Good grief!)

So there is the story--our story--- and many more will follow with our new journey as being parents to Charlie. Weird to say "parents"--sounds old. Have a good night sleep everyone, and know that I will be awake all night.:)

To my sweet friend Leslie

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

After being thirty for a few weeks now, I can safely say its not so bad. I wish I could see you on your birthday, but things around here have more or less been turned upside down in a good way:)

I will never forget when we first met. Freshman year at ACU, and I was going with some girls to play basketball. We were waiting in the lobby for a friend I had not met yet. The door opened and out walks this red headed, bowl cut, post player who looked like she knew basketball. After playing that night, and for the next 4 years, we made a pretty good team on the court. Some accused us of being ball hogs, but we were so not! We just knew that we were better:)

Our senior year was the best. PLaying against DT'S was always a blood bath. Kojies was just a game of pride really. The most competition came from the freshman cause they were in good shape fresh from high school. But when that championship game came around, we were all business. We won-naturally, and the way you and I celebrated was so ridiculous. We run to the middle and start jumping up and down as if we had just won the Olympics. I will bask in that glory always:)

More than being my basketball soulmate, you have always been my best friend. So many memories, too many to tell, especially the ones Cilla does not need to know about:) You are truly such a blessing to have in my life, and even though we live 800 miles from eachother, it never seems that far. To see you surprise me on my birthday will always be the bestest surprise ever. I could have cried seeing you there!

I miss living near you, getting a cajun cone every 45 minutes, walking in the ridiculous times of the heat, getting ready for dates, and praying together. You have the best prayers-so simple and so heartfelt. You are such a godly woman, and the best mother I know. Your girls are so lucky to have you as their mommy!

I could write all day long, and would but I have a 6 day old whom I cant seem to take my eyes off of. I will write about him maybe tomorrow.

I love you so much Leslie, and I hope you have a wonderful 30th birthday!

Charles Ashley Clayton III

This is Kelly, but I just wanted to announce the arrival of sweet Charlie!!!

Mere was in labor for 23 hours and they finally decided to do a c-section last night.....so at 11:01 pm on July 1st Charlie entered the world weighing 7 lb. 10 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

He is sweet as can be and Mere is doing great. Enjoy these family pics from Thursday morning!

Last note,,,

so a real quick post,,,

We are going in tonight at midnight to start this whole adventure. I have spent the day cleaning every single thing in my house-sometimes twice. I got a pedicure yesterday so at least my feet will look great for our first meeting in awhile:)

Ash and I went to dinner last night at Eastland Cafe and ordered everything on the menu. Seriously-it was embarrassing. I cant eat past four today so I figured to pack it all in while I can. Of course it meant a few bites of everything, but still the waiter very graciously kept bringing me food. I felt like Jaba the Hut from Star Wars.

During the cleaning portion of the day, I have jammed out to Michael Jackson. I know he has made some bad personal choices, but who hasnt? Also, its also part of our childhood that has left too. I can remember being scared to death watching the "Thriller" video. We werent allowed to watch it, but when mom would leave Randy would turn on MTV and we would watch videos. (Sorry Randy,,its confession time:) But that particular video would literally scare me to death. Anybody else scared as a child from that video?

oh well, i have some more things to do before heading up to the hospital. Thank you to everyone for your encouragement--I truly appreciate this. And yes Audrey and Kristen--surely it cant be worse than 8,6,4, 2's right? :)) We'll see...

And congrats to you Sarah-I am so sad I will miss your wedding to Nick but I cant wait to see pictures! You are going to be the most beautiful bride ever:) Love to you!!

Next time I blog, I will be a mom:) WEIRD!!

7 more days,,,

One week from today life as I know it will forever be changed,,,

We are inducing next Wedneday, July 1st, at 7 in the morning. Crazy and bizarre. Everything is fine, its just my doctor will be out of town and I would feel more comfy having him there. He is like a grandpa and used to work under the doctor who delivered me forever ago. So next Wednesday, if you think about it, throw up a little prayer for everyones health and safety.

I was still going back and forth on the decision until last night which completely solidified the choice. I am sick and tired of waking up and my arms being completely numb. What is the deal with that? I sit up in bed and let my arms hang down to get feeling in them, but as soon as I lay down it goes numb again. And working with numb arms? Not the best situation to be in let me tell you. And as I am up at 3 or 4 in the morning trying to get feeling back into my arms, I look over at Ash who is out like a light. This may be a sign of things to come, when I am up with Charlie and he is out. Great.

So, this morning we made the call. I know my nights will be sleepless with a baby, but at least I will have feeling in them.

Another thing I miss which prompted me to make the call was simply that I miss my feet. I miss seeing them. They are literally the only body part that I like, but I havent seen them in a few months. I am assuming they are still there, and next Monday they will be treated to a nice pedicure. Cant go into the hospital with stinky feet can we?

This is my last week of work, and while I am sad to leave my patients and staff, I will enjoy the "break" for several weeks. At this point, after I finish with a patient and go to get Dr. Mark, it feels like the bottom is about to drop out of my stomach when I stand up. So I hold the bottom of my stomach as if that will somehow keep the baby in for a bit longer. Speaking of my stomach, it usually hits most patients at this point too. I can't help it that its so big. I feel like a female version of Santa Claus because when I laugh now my belly shakes like a "bowl full of jelly."

So, this is our last week to get things prepared, but mainly rest. If there is any advice for these last few days, I gladly welcome it. I am scared to do this, but I know billions upon billions have done this before me. I just cant wait to meet him-this blessed miracle God gave us. But one who also has been blocking my view of my feet for awhile now...

Maybe my next post will be from Womens Centennial Hospital next Wednesday,,,, :) wish me luck!!!

3 more weeks:)

The time is near....

My due date is in three weeks and I am counting down the seconds! The time for being cute is over, now I am having a hard time working and sleeping. My one cup of coffee I have a day has been cut because I think that makes me sick. And I am getting to the point to where when I brush my teeth I tend to gag some. I didnt believe that when other girls told me that and I thought that would never happen to me since I am a dental hygienist. But, alas, it has happened to me.

I have had two amazing baby showers, one at Kelly's house and the other at Keeley's.
The hostesses here are my sister in laws Kim and Kelly, my cousin Courtney, my oldest buddy Kandace, and dear friend from church Melissa.

After the shower we had some good family time with the kids,,,here they are

These two pics were so stinkin funny because its hard to get three kids to look at you and smile somewhat. So when Lainey Hope gave this adorable smile, it was like the papparazzi in my house. Kim, Kelly, and I were snapping pictures like crazy!! BUt it was well worth it,,I mean,, look at those three!!

here is Palmer, who at first glance seems to be quite an introverted child, but dont worry. LIke father like son:)

This was the shower Keeley and Mrs. Linda had for me. It involves all the high school friends and we sit and tell the same stories over and over and over and over again:) But its the best!

So Ash and I worked on the nursery for a couple of hours last night, just trying to get things sort of ready:) I have been to BabiesRUs at least a thousand times, and still have no idea what we are doing! I guess we will figure it out sooner or later:)

Just a quick sidenote to all of you who have adorable blogs, i.e. Audrey, Keeley, Missy,,,I have no idea how you guys make your blogs so stinkin cute but I applaud you. I have a hard time trying to just make mine legible:) Maybe one day,, ,,,

ok, so here is a cheesy pic of me on the lake,,, I apologize:)