Ann Rainey - 1 month

I don't even know how it has been over a month since our sweet girl joined our family. What I do know is that our lives have forever been blessed by her arrival and I am so very honored that God entrusted her to us.

Our attempt at 1 month pictures didn't go so well. I think there are more outtakes than "keepers". Or atleast by pinterest standards. But I love them all!

Unhappy little miss.

Life is so hard. ;-)

She had a rare moment of actually taking her paci and keeping it. She rarely keeps it in her mouth for very long. 

We decided right after this picture to give it a break and feed her.

Note to self: If you try to make her happy by feeding her before attempting the pictures again, use a BIG bib. Or you will end up with a splotchy onesie. HA

Daddy bought her this bear. Looking forward to seeing how she grows in comparison to her fuzzy friend.

 I was hoping to get a picture showing her length. She has got such long, lean legs. But she didn't think that was such a good idea. ;-) However, I like that you can see a decent amount of her Bambi bedding that my mom made.

 Aunt Rae gave her this super soft Coca-Cola bear. 

 There is a shot of her long, little legs.

 Sadly, this picture cracks me up. Coach was up on his hind legs looking over the bumper at her. She was watching him but she looks terrified. haha

 Those sweet little lips. 

These next 2 pictures we will call her "time is up" pictures. 

It's like she is looking at her invisible watch and saying, "OK, mom. You're time is up. I'm so beyond done."

 Ann Rainey, you are such a treasure. You eat typically 2-3 oz every few hours. You have had a couple sleepless nights but for the most part, you will sleep for 2 sessions that last about 3 hours. No matter when you go to sleep or how long you stay asleep, you always tend to wake up between 2 and 3AM for a feeding and you get to enjoy some snuggle time with daddy before he leaves for work at 3:30AM. You then usually go back to sleep for a couple of hours before we get up and start our day.
On Wednesday, you only slept for a total of 2 hours from 9AM until 11PM and you ate a lot more, feeding every hour to hour and a half. Thankfully, that night you crashed and we were both able to get some rest. You slept for a 5.5 hour stretch and it worked wonders for both of us!
You are just now starting to really notice colors and shapes.
You and Coach are still a little timid around each other. The other day, you sneezed and your socks flew off your feet and landed on his head(he was sitting right at your feet). He has since been terrified of your sneezes.
You are in size 0 diapers. Your newborn outfits have almost gotten too small for you length-wise. We have started putting 0-3 month clothing on you. They fit you better in length but they seem to swallow you width wise.
You still have the brightest blue eyes. You get your blonde hair and blue eyes from daddy. Your chin comes from mommy.
We are so excited for your first Christmas next week. Mommy has enjoyed introducing you to some of her favorite classic Christmas movies.
You hate bathtime in your little tub but you seem to like baths a lot better in the kitchen sink.
Your favorite diffuser scent is Peppermint and Wild Orange and your Auntie Moses(Winnie) is very proud. Whenever I walk into a room with you where it is diffusing your little nose goes into over drive trying to sniff it and your immediately perk up. It's adorable.
Ann Rainey, we love you SO very much. You are the best Christmas present we have ever been given.

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She is here!

Ann Rainey Gould was born yesterday morning at 10:55am.
She was 7lb 6oz and 19 3/4 inches long. 

Last Friday we had our last weekly checkup and we set an induction date for the day after her due date(11/18/14) Wednesday, November 19th. I told Johnathan after the appointment that now that we had a date set, she wasn't going to wait for it. I just had a feeling that she was going to be a bit hard headed and independent. ;-)
My water "broke" yesterday morning between 3 and 4. I say "broke" because it definitely was not at all dramatic like some people or movies make it out to be. Honestly, I didn't even know it had really broken. I just thought the slow leak I was experiencing had turned into a faster leak. I knew JP's alarm for work would be going off at 4am, so I decided to let him continue sleeping and just monitor my contractions. Before 3, they had been spread out so far it wasn't worth tracking and then they became a steady 10-12 minutes. When he woke up, my contractions were 5-6 minutes apart. I told him that he wasn't going to be going to work and that we would be having a baby today. We got up and moving around. I was determined to take a shower before heading to the hospital. By the time I got out of the shower and we were on our way to the hospital they had dropped to 2-4 minutes apart. Since it was so early, I had several hours of long, close (and very painful) contractions until the anesthesiologist got there for my epidural. I'll be honest, that waiting period was the worst part of my labor. At one point, I told JP "I can't do this!" Haha
Once I got my epidural, I went from 3 to 8 centimeters dialated in 45 minutes and we had our sweet girl in our arms shortly afterwards. We were completely blessed and thankful for such a smooth and natural pregnancy and birth!! I am so glad she decided to come on her own rather than waiting 48 hours to be induced.
We are completely smitten with our sweet girl. Actually, I think smitten is an understatement. I don't think that there is or ever will be an adequate way to verbally describe the way your heart immediately grows and changes when your child is born. After carrying her for 40 weeks and steadily falling in love with a face you have yet to see, you don't think you could love her any more. But you're wrong. Very, very wrong. And you will never be more glad to be wrong. :-)

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Clarkco State Park

Every year for the past 27 years, my family has gone to Clarcko State Park for a family reunion. 

My dad's mother, Grandmommy, and her 3 siblings started spending a week together with their children when they were younger. It has continued my dad's generation and their children. We LOVE Clarkco.

The lake has changed a bit over the year and the swimming hole isn't what it used to be when I was little but it is still a beautiful place spent with some of my favorite people.

 We always hike, eat some of the most delicious food, play board and card games in the main cabin and a usually end up laughing until we cry, multiple times. 

The majority of the family is there Wednesday through Saturday/Sunday but because of work, JP and I came down Friday evening after work. Here are some pictures from our weekend. 

(Baby Ann Rainey will be joining us next year. She will be the first great-grand of the Beckman family!)

 Johnathan and I hiked the entire length around the lake. The weather was a little muggy and humid but, honestly, the weather was beautiful. Especially cooler for this time of year!

Last night, God painted some of the most beautiful artwork for us with His sunset. No filter necessary for these. So peaceful, so perfect!

 (Taken from the Cabin swimming hole area)

 (Taken from the fishing pier behind the Aunts' cabin)

(The back of the Clegg family cabin)

It was a great, perfect weekend. Hopefully in the next few years, we will me able to make it for the entire week. I enjoyed introducing JP to more of my extended family and introducing him to one of my favorite places growing up. I am already looking forward to next year!

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Ann without an E

When JP and I were going over names for our baby we never could agree on a boy name that felt like "it". We knew that the middle name would be Paul because it is JP's middle name and a tradition for the men in his family. But there wasn't a first name that stuck out to us. 

But we immediately agreed on a girl's name. We both love family names and I have always wanted to use my mother's maiden name, Rainey, as a middle name for a little girl. We both loved Ann Rainey. Ann is my grandmommy's middle name(my dad's mother). It is also the first or middle name of several special women in my family. So it was an easy decision for us. Following the good, old southern tradition she will go by a double name and be called "Ann Rainey".

I was raised watching "the Anne movies" with my sisters. To this day, the movies are still some of my favorites and they are my go to movies when I need something familiar/comforting on when I don't feel well. 

For anyone who is familiar with the Anne of Green Gables movies or books, you may remember the conversation about "Anne with an E". 

"...But if you call me Anne please call me Anne spelled with an E."

"What difference does it make how it's spelled?" asked Marilla with another rusty smile as she picked up the teapot. 

"Oh, it makes SUCH a difference.  It LOOKS so much nicer. When you hear a name pronounced can't you always see it in your mind, just as if it was printed out?  I can; and A-n-n looks dreadful, but A-n-n-e looks so much more distinguished. If you'll only call me Anne spelled with an E I shall try to reconcile myself to not being called Cordelia."

One thing that we realized as we were looking through all of the family members, they were all spelled Ann rather than Anne. I might have struggled for a few minutes over whether or not to put the E in her name but I figured if it is going to be a family name then it needs to be all or nothing. So we now have our little Ann without an E! And I don't think it looks dreadful at all. ;-)

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Adding a sweet little spoonful to the Gould family!

 First, Happy Mother's Day. I am so very blessed by my mother and I love showing love to her every day, as often as possible. :)

JP and I are so very excited to announce that we are expecting a sweet little baby in November. We are due November 18th. I am holding out for November 20th though. ;) It is my grandmother's birthday and this will be her first great-grandchild! I just think that would be so sweet.

Poppa and Marmie are very excited about becoming first time grandparents. 

So far I have been blessed and not been too terribly sick. Today was probably the worst yet. Unfortunately, I had to miss church and after lunch with the family I am back in bed resting. 

Our little Squidget has a strong heart beat and got a healthy check up from the doctor this past Monday. Car rides do not agree with me most of the time, causing nausea and headaches but not making me actually sick. We do NOT like any form of Sausage. Ha!

Maybe this will be the kick I needed to get me out of my blogging slump, but I am not making any promises. 

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