Warm Weather!!!

Wow, it's been way too long since I blogged, so here goes....

It's been an amazing 11 months! Yep, it's really been 11 months since I blogged. That's just terrible! I'm REALLY going to try to do better, promise! We have had a great year with our sweet 2 year old, and we have sooo much to be thankful for!! 

First of all, we are loving this wonderful, warm weather while living at the beach! I couldn't have asked for a better place to live. David is not as "in love" with the gulf coast like I am, but it's growing on him. We have made the most amazing friendships, always have something fun to do (sometimes too much), and have spent a lot of family time together! I know that our journey will most likely take us back to B'ham eventually, but for now, I'm soaking up the relaxed life at the beach! These are truly some of the best times of my life! 

What could be better than Lulu's and the Hangout being right down 59?? We have a lot of lunch dates at Lulu's with mine and Ann Reese's friends and go to the Hangout or the beach most weekends for fun in the sun. Corny, I know! Ann Reese's favorite part of the Hangout is the foam party! She says, "Bubbles, Mommy!". So cute! 

Ann Reese absolutely LOVES the beach! She loves to bury her feet, dig holes, and splash in the water! My sister and her family came down last week for their spring break, and we had a blast at the beach then fishing. 

 Small Nice catch, Daddy!

 Enjoying a morning stroll on the beach together!

Ann Reese with her cousin, Kyle, playing at the beach! Great times!

Another thing we LOVE to do down here is go to the zoo. We go just about every week and usually meet friends for play dates. Ann Reese knows all the animals at the zoo and where they are! Her favorite is a deer. She could feed him for hours. We actually had her 2nd birthday party at the zoo in January, and she had a blast! She showed all her family and friends around! 

Ann Reese loved sharing the zoo with all her friends and family during her birthday party! Here's a few pictures of our fun day! 

Ann Reese and Aunt Dot sure love each other!!! She spends a lot of time at Meme's house. We are very blessed to live so close to family! 

This bunny runs loose, and Ann Reese chases around every time we visit the zoo. It's her second favorite animal at the zoo. 

Amy, Katherine, and Laura are the sweetest girls. These three plus a few more (not pictured) are huge blessings in my life. Plus, they all three have little ones very close to AR's age that she has a blast with! LOVE these girls!!!! 

One of our favorite places down here! 

Lovey and Ann Reese sure do love each other! We get to go on a lot of shopping trips, lunch dates, and swim in Lovey and Papa Dane's pool.

Another fun thing we have been really enjoying down here is the fact that everyone loves coming up with an excuse for a crawfish boil! We are making so many fond memories down here! 

Amy, Katherine, and Abby! Abby has been such a great friend and co-worker at my new job at Orange Beach Elementary! Thank you, Abby, for showing me the ropes! 

Jack's birthday party!! Ann Reese, Jenna, and Jack have so much fun together! Amy and I have many sewing parties either with wine at night or coffee/coke on a Saturday morning!

Ann Reese and her best friends! 

Ann Reese and Jenna Shaver!

These two have been besties since they were just a few months old. They have had so many fun times together and have so many cute pictures like this together. This one is my absolute favorite! Thank you Katherine and Tucker for sharing your sweet girl with us! 

I took a break from Barefoot Designs this January to take a temporary teaching position at Orange Beach Elementary. It was a much needed break from sewing, but I'm really glad to be back to it. I am still working 3 days a week (19 hours) as an aid for 5th grade, but I'm so glad to be back to spending more time with AR and trying to get some sewing done. Although, it's pretty hard to sew when I have this little one as a helper! Maybe one day she'll help mommy sew!

It's Been a While!!!

Wow, it's been well over a year since I blogged about our lives! I guess I have been too caught up in being a wife, mother, seamstress, getting settled in a new place, and the list goes on and on! I have a very ambitious goal to update my blog with the last year's events! I want Ann Reese to be able to read it when she's older to see what we were up to! It's been a roller coaster of excitement, especially watching our baby girl grow and develop a little personality of her own! Here's a small sample of her up-to-date pictures.

We are in Birmingham for a visit with Davey's family, and Ann Reese is having a ball! She's loving playing outside with Honey. I captured a few pictures in the backyard before the water hose was brought into the picture! Ann Reese has such a sweet spirit, and it really shows up in these pictures. She loves holding your hang, loving on her babies, and giving HUGE bear hugs! She's very trusting and will go to complete strangers. A little scary, but I'm glad she feels safe! This little girl has captured our hearts in so many ways. I never thought I'd see Davey playing with purses or dolls, but she's turned him into a total softy! It's just adorable! I guess if we have a boy he'll be saying the same about me playing with balls, bats, and G.I. Joe (or whatever boys play with)!

Our New Life!

Ann Reese Grote was born on Jan. 18, 2010 at 12:07 at Saint Vincent's hospital. She was 7 pounds and 15 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. Travis actually guessed her weight in our pool. Too bad for him that we didn't bet money! It was a VERY easy labor and delivery. I was very blessed to not have a crazy long delivery with complications. Those came 4 hours after delivery, though. Ann Reese inhaled fluid when she took her first breath which caused her to have fast breathing. The fast breathing caused her blood sugar to drop because she couldn't eat. She was sent to the NICU around 5. It was the HARDEST thing I've ever had to go through. All moms have a perfect picture of what they think it is all suppose to be like and this was just not it. My poor baby was not healthy enough to stay with us and that was very worrisome. We didn't know what to expect over the next few days, but we did know that our wonderful family and friends were by our side. We got to go see her at 8 that night, and it was very tough to see her there hooked up to monitors and with an IV in her little foot. We were hopeful to get her out in 2 days, but we weren't sure. We got to stay with her in the NICU on Wednesday night thinking we were going to get to take her home on Thursday. On Thursday morning, the doctor came in and said she had to stay due to high levels of jaundice. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? This devastated me! I had been discharged from the hospital meaning we would have to walk out of there without our baby with us. I had dreamed of when we would be able to bring her home and this was not that day. I must have looked like a crazy person leaving the hospital with emotions flowing. I was so thankful for my mom being at my house to keep me positive and uplifted! 6 days after she went to the NICU, we finally brought home Ann Reese. Me, my mom, Dane, Peggy, and Davey all went to the hospital to get her. Only Davey and I got to go into the NICU to see her, so it was very exciting for our families to see and hold her once she got out of the NICU doors! A lot of tears flowed! It was the best feeling to pick her up without a nurse telling us it was okay. It was also a very sad moment thinking of all the other babies in the NICU that would proabably be there for a very long time and some not even make it out. Davey and I spent a lot of time praying for these little ones and thanking God we had a healthy baby compared to these tiny babies. We went through all the wonderful moments such as showing her all around our house and her precious room. It's been 6 months now (I'm horrible for just getting this written) and life has never been better! I love being a mom and having amazing family support. I love you all!


Our baby girl the first time we saw her in the NICU.

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Thankfully, two days later we finally got to take our baby girl home. It had been 6 full days in the NICU. Honestly, it was the best feeling in the world going to the hospital with my mom, Dane, and Davey to pick her up. We were finally getting to leave the hospital with our baby girl!

Missing Girls

On November 1st, Gabby was hit by a car and died in my lap on the way to the vet. It was extremely sad and still stings when I think of that day. Gabby was our first baby and needless to say we absolutely adored her. We only had her for a year and a 1/2 before she was killed. We spend last weekend with my parents for Christmas and they gave us this beautiful oil painting of Gabby. When we opened it, I burst into tears seeing her sweet face. My mom was crying and apologizing for making me cry so hard! Of course, I loved it and couldn't think of anything better to remember her by. David loved it also. He was pretty speechless. Mom wanted the background to be blue and cream so it would go with our bedroom colors. She is so thoughtful! It is now hanging in our bedroom, so we'll see her everyday. Yes, the first few times I walked by it I was thinking I didn't really want it there because it made me sad, but now I'm use to it. David and I decided that we would focus our attention on Ann Reese to help us get past Gabby's death. It has helped a lot, but we still think and talk about her all the time.

David and I are excited that we are going to meet Ann Reese in less than a month! The pics below are a small progression of my belly so far. I haven't taken many at all. I feel pretty silly taking pictures of my belly, but I guess it's good to have for Ann Reese to look at one day. It's much bigger now, and I'll post pics of it soon!

20ish weeks

16ish weeks

14ish weeks

At my last doctor's appointment on June 9 we had our first ultrasound. The baby messured 7 weeks and 3 days. We thought it was 9 weeks and 5 days. BIG DIFFERENCE!! The doctor said that was fine and sometimes happens. Of course I flipped out and thought something was wrong. Thankfully everything is fine! The doctor said the ultrasound looked perfect and the baby's heart rate was 171, which is great! It was amazing seeing our little one! We are very very blessed.