5 weeks!

I cannot believe that Penelope is already 5 weeks old. Time seems to go by so fast. In the past week I have really noticed her little personality. She has been very alert lately...and loves checking out her surroundings. Although, I find it so funny that when we have visitors or are around a lot of people she always tends to "fall asleep". Really I think she is playing possum! Could she be a little shy? Ha! She has also really been checking out Sean on the weekends. Since we have a pretty regular schedule during the week, I have noticed that the weekends are sometimes challenging because our routine is sometimes modified and her dad is home! At night I especially notice her behavior is different. She strains her neck when she is up feeding in the night to look at Sean sleeping. It cracks me up. I know that she recognizes her dad, and really knows his voice...but because he is only home on the weekends I think it is taking her a little time to figure it all out. :) well, today is going to be a great day because Penelope and I are taking our first "kind of big" road trip. We are driving an hour to Jackson to see a bunch of my girlfriends I grew up with in Brighton. Jackson is the most central area to meet and my friend Jen lives there. It will be so much fun to see everyone. Here are some recent pictures from the last week.

Posting my first video...hope it works!

This was a video that my sister Elizabeth was able to edit and put together for Sean and I. I just love it! She did such a good job. It is basically just a few clips...the first one is of Blake, Emily, and Grandma and Grandpa singing "Happy Birthday" to her. With the Csection, it was fun knowing the day and time of her birth!. Then there is a clip of Sean and I heading off to the hospital, and then Sean coming into my hospital room after she was born to give the news to the family that was waiting.

I hope this video works!

 

 

Bringing Penelope home!

Penelope and I were doing so well that the hospital discharged us on Sunday after my csection on Friday. It was really nice because Sean was able to drive us home because he didn't have to go back to the academy until late afternoon on Sunday.

Our time in the hospital was very good. I was able to recover and Sean was able to spend lots of quality time with Penelope. He became a pro at swaddling, diaper changing, hair brushing, and suctioning air bubbles out of her mouth. He was amazing and is such a good dad.

We had quite a few visitors in the hospital. Penelope's cousins, Mela, Bella, and Cruz, her Auntie Shannon and uncle Scott, Sean's best friend Robert, my best friend Maria, and family friends Dave and Deb. Penelope pretty much slept through most of all of these visits, except for when she was hungry. :)

The pictures below are of some of her visitors and us getting her ready to head home!

I'm back!

I have been a very bad blogger! So much has happened in the past few months. We will start at:

June- Sean and I made the very hard decision to leave our life in NH and move back to Michigan so that he could attend the michigan state police academy. My dad, and Sean's mom
and dad came out to help with the move. It was quite a experience. :) we couldn't have done it without our family that is for sure.

Once we were back to MI, we had one week before Sean started the academy. That week we just tried to get settled in (we are living at my parents house while he is in the academy and until we know where he will be stationed and buy a house). We also were able to do a tour of the hospital where I would be having the baby. :)

I had 2 baby showers this month as well. It was so much fun, and I finally felt prepared for this baby! I got so many lovely gifts and really felt blessed to be able to be so close to family and friends.

July- Sean had been in the academy for about a month. It is very challenging for him and it is especially hard for me to be away from him all week.

I was feeling VERY pregnant the month of July. I had aches, pains and I was pretty ready to meet our baby girl. (we called her "baby girl" this month because we didn't have a name for her until her birth day!) We also found out our little one was in the breech position and had no intention of moving.

August- My doctor scheduled me for a csection at just about 40 weeks because our girl was still in the breech position. Of course this made me a bit nervous but I understood that it was the safest thing for our baby and I just wanted her to come into the world healthy. So...we were able to schedule it for Friday August 10th (which was great because Sean could be there and stay for the weekend). My sister, Elizabeth, was able to come up that week as well. It was so fun having her and my niece an nephew there to keep me busy that week.

We welcomed Penelope May Thomas into the world on August 10th at 2:39pm. She was a happy and healthy little girl!

Below are some pictures from the last couple months.

BOSTON!

This past weekend Sean and I decided to go into Boston for the day. It turned out to be really nice, in the low 60s and sunny. :) It was fun walking around, people watching, and ate LOTS of food!

                                                  Here I am in the Fanueil Hall Area

                                Posing with the sea lions outside of the Boston Aquarium 

Sean checking out the boats off the pier

                                              Very funny street preformer on a unicycle :)

It was a good weekend. Now back to the busy busy work week. It is a week full of doctor appointments as well. Sean is seeing the chiropractor, the orthopedic doctor, and going to physical therapy this week and I have my monthly prenatal appointment tomorrow. Thank goodness for health insurance!! ha! I am anxious to hear how I am measuring up at my appointment tomorrow, and how much weight I have gained. :) :)

On a side note...the cashier at TJMaxx asked me if I was due any day now....that was pretty crazy. She was shocked when I said not until August. I didnt think I was THAT big yet!

Baby Belly!

Here I am!!! 24 weeks preganant and growing fast. I have a doctor appointment next week and I am anxious to hear what I am measuring and how much Ive gained!
Oh and an update about Sean and his back. They confirmed through the MRI that he has a couple bulging discs in his back and has arthritis. Soo...more waiting. He is going to get a cortisone shot, do some more physical therapy, and is seeing a chiropractor. We are just releieved to finally know what the heck has been wrong all of these months...

Thats all for now! Im off to work :) HAPPY FRIDAY!

Mondays...

Well, Mondays can be quite a drag. And of course rainy Mondays are even more of a challenge. Today my day consisted of getting up bright and early and going with Sean to his doctors appointment. He had another (and hopfully last) MRI done, this time on his back. We wont know what the results are until Wednesday. I sure wish he would feel better...

Then I was off to work for a full day of court and unexpected surprises at every turn. As a Victim Witness Advocate I dont often talk about what my work day consisted of... I guess its kind of depressing at times. But some days are really great and thats what gets you through the depressing days. Today was not one of those great days. But thats okay. It always amazes me when I see those once strong and feirce girls, that at one point put every effort into standing up to their abusers and doing the right thing, come in to me a few weeks later and decide that this abuser has "changed" and they no longer want to "press charges". I usually sit down with them and give my "speech". I dont know if it ever registers with them, but I guess the most important thing I tell them is that no matter what if they decide down the line that they do want to cooperate with the prosecution we will always be here to help in any way we can. I guess sometimes they are just not ready... On the brighter side of my day, 3 repair guys were finally caught that were fugitives we wanted in Maine. They scammed a 90 year old man out of almost $80,000 by charging him an outrageous amount of money for doing numerous odd jobs around his house that were never completed or hardly completed. I hate crimes where people take advantage of the elderly!

It is now about 8:30pm and I just finished dinner. Sean is now working 2nd shift (which is 3pm to 11pm) so he will be home late and its his last day on, so he is off tomorrow and Wednesday, yay! I am going to go read my baby book in bed. I am 24 weeks tomorrow and I love reading up on my week ahead and see how my little girl is growing! She is moving quite a bit now. I have even felt her hiccup and Sean was able to feel her bumping through my tummy one night. She is getting so big!!

Today is the day!

Good Morning!!

Today is the day....I start up my blog again. :) It is a beautiful Sunday morning and I was just sitting here eating my cereal thinking that I wanted to start blogging and keeping family and friends updated on the things happening in our busy, crazy lives.

This past year has brought me through many ups and downs...and to tell you the truth...I am so happy at how far I have come. I would never be where I am today without all of the love and support of my family and friends and of course, Sean.

I have so much to share! But the biggest news is...we are expecting our first baby girl in August! Below is her 12 week unltrasound picture, I am now just about 23 weeks and we could not be happier.

 I have more to share...but that will have to wait. I am itching to get out of my bathrobe and get up and going to enjoy the day. Haha!