Catching up

So I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've written. There's not much "spare" time these days to upload pics and update blogs since I've been back at work. Noelle is doing great and just seems to get happier every single day! She was actually on the Similac formula that just got recalled - so that could probably explain her fussiness last week but we have switched since then and she's such a calmer, happier baby!! Poor thing!! Her tummy must have been killing her! So we're glad we have that under control for now. She's still doing pretty well at night - typically she only wakes up once to eat and then goes right back to sleep. She's able to sit up now and hold her head up straight if we prop her up...she's so strong! We are truly enjoying every second of her!

Since my last post, Travis and I went to Houston for his birthday. We were able to go to the Colts vs. Texans game. We had great seats and really enjoyed the game, despite the Colts' loss. It was still a great experience and I'm sure we'll make it an annual event! Thanks Nana and Papa for watching Noelle - she loved spending time with y'all!

We've also been spending lots of time on preparing and planning the Footprints Forever 5K Fun Run/Walk. This is our first major event and we have lots to learn. We hope it all comes together and is a huge success. If you haven't registered yet, please do so soon so you can guarantee the size and availablity of your t-shirt!! You can register through our website at www.maddiesfootprints.org. We only have about 60 people signed up so far and our goal is 200 so please help us out!! And thanks to all of our sponsors - we have over $6,000 in just sponsorship money!! This is HUGE!! Thank you so much for your support!

I've uploaded some new pics of Noelle in the September 2010 folder. Because time is limited, I decided to do monthly folders instead of weekly - sorry. I'll try to upload as often as I can!

Sad day for Mommy

Today is the first day that I bring Noelle to the sitter aka "Mama Deaux." Don't get me wrong, I know she is in great hands and Mama Deaux is a sweet lady that has been doing this for a very long time. I'm just sad that I won't be with my baby girl all day. I start back to work full-time next week, so this week I'm bringing her to the sitter only part-time so that I can get used to it before I take her full-time. To top things off, Noelle gets her first shots on Friday. Poor baby.

I'm sure all will go well and smoothly - it's just sad - my baby is already growing up!! Haha!

Smiling and Cooing

We've had an eventful week with Noelle! She has already begun to coo and smile!! There is nothing better than seeing that huge smile and knowing it's not because of gas! Haha. I've tried to capture the huge smiles, but haven't been successful. There are a few "grin" pictures in her 5-week album, but hopefully I'll get a real big smile pic soon!

Getting bigger

Noelle had her 1-month doctor appointment this past Monday and she is already weighing in at 10lbs. 7oz and has grown an inch and a half! Both her height and weight put her in the 90th percentile....haha! She is a big, healthy baby girl! Everything else looks great as well.

We had a rough start to the week with Noelle being very gassy and extremely fussy...but then there was Mylicon! :) I love this drug and it seems to help her pretty quickly. Let's cross our fingers that it continues to work for her.

Great Weekend

We had a fantastic weekend! First of all, Noelle finally got to meet Uncle Dave, Aunt J and Mia and she absolutely LOVES them! :) Mia was so sweet with Noelle and gave her lots of kisses on the head. Mia is so adorable and is really growing up to be a big girl. We really enjoyed our visit with them. Thanks for coming in town!

We also baptized Noelle this weekend. The ceremony was very special to us as my grandfather, PopPop, was able to baptize Noelle - how amazing is that! :) Thanks to all of you who were able to come and share with us that special day. Noelle is so loved and we are so fortunate to have such great friends and family surrounding her. Also a special thanks to Noelle's Godparents - Uncle Dave and Nannie Annie. You are both such great people and we are honored for you guys to play such an important role in Noelle's life. We love you!!

And today was another great day. First, I was able to sleep for 5 hours straight last night!! This was a HUGE treat - as it was by far the longest I've slept in a row since Noelle's arrival. And then she even took a nap with me this afternoon. She really has been such a good baby and we are so fortunate. We're enjoying every second of her!

Noelle's first photoshoot

Noelle is now 3 weeks old and is doing absolutely wonderful! We don't have anything to compare her to, but we think she's a pretty good baby for the most part! We are absolutely loving every second of her and can't stop staring....who would have thought that newborns could be so interesting! haha.

So Noelle had her very first photoshoot last weekend. Eryn Laviolette with E Photography and Design did them and they turned out great! Check out her website at www.ephotographyanddesign.com I've posted the pics in our album. Noelle was quite the fussy baby that day and didn't really like that I was making her pose naked in several different positions...haha...but Eryn still managed to capture some great ones. Thanks Eryn for being so patient!

Noelle is here!

Hey everyone! Well I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've written. Noelle Elizabeth McGrew was born on Tuesday, 7/6/10 at 8:42 am. She weighed 8lbs. 9oz. and was 21.06 inches long - that's right -a big, healthy baby! :) She is an absolute angel and we are so in love with her. So far, she has been a pretty good baby. She usually only gets really loud when she's hungry - but so do I - so I can't say that I blame her! Thanks to all of you for coming by to meet her, for the flowers, delicious meals and extra hands! We couldn't do this without you!

Noelle has been to her first doctor's appointment and all is well. We even took her to church for the first time today and she slept the entire time! She had her first photo shoot yesterday, but was pretty fussy for the majority of the time. But hopefully we managed to get a few good newborn pictures. I'll post those once I get them, but for now I have updated a few in the album. Hope you enjoy!

It's finally time!

Travis and I will be headed to the hospital this evening to be admitted. They will start inducing early in the morning! Please pray for an easy and quick delivery of a healthy baby girl!! We will keep you updated! :)

5 more days!!

Sorry I haven't given an update in a couple of weeks. So, my blood pressure was pretty high last week, so doc told me no more work and to reduce my stress level as much as possible. So I've been working from home since then, and blood pressure has gone down a little bit, but it's still on the high side. They also estimate that Miss Noelle weighs about 8lbs as of last week, which is on the high side as well. When I went to doc this week, I still hadn't dilated at all. But since my bp is still on the high side and because of her weight, they will induce Tuesday if she hasn't arrived by then. We have our orders to go to the hospital at 8:00 on Monday night to start the process! :) We are just so excited to meet our baby girl! All I want to do is hold her, stare at her and pinch her cheeks! I have a feeling she will be a spoiled baby girl!

Thanks to all of you for your continued support and prayers throughout this pregnancy. We truly appreciate it and will keep you all posted!

Full-term today!

Well I had a doctor's visit yesterday and Noelle was quite the active one during the appointment! I think she was excited for the attention. :) Anyway, I have not started to dilate yet, but doc said that she is VERY low and in position - still head down. It looks like she's getting ready to make her debut! Today, I'm considered full-term so if she's ready to come out, she should be fully developed! And of course - we're more than ready for her! Her bags are packed, clothes are washed and room is ready! We're so excited!!

I'll definitely keep posting updates on here after every doc appointment. They will be weekly now! :)

Happy Birthday, Madeline!

A year ago today, I gave birth to an angel. It was such a sad moment for us obviously, but at the same time it was the proudest moment of my life. Not one single day has gone by that I haven't thought about her a million times and I don't suspect that there ever will be. Madeline has made me a stronger person with a stonger faith. It's a miracle how she has touched so many lives without taking one single breath. Of course, it is still so sad for us to think about where she would be right now - what she would be like, would she be walking, what her first birthday party would be like, etc. But at the same time, it's heart-warming to know how many people lives she has touched in the past year. Without her, Maddie's Footprints would not be possible. Look how far it has come in just a few short months. Just this past weekend, we were able to help our very first family. What an accomplishment and it's all because of her!

Happy Birthday, Madeline! We love you and miss you very much!

Nursery is ready!

Well, I think we are ready for Miss Noelle! Her nursery is complete and we only need to get a few more items before her arrival! Pics of the nursery are in the Photo Album!

I also wanted to thank the McGrew family for hosting a shower for us yesterday! Everything was just adorable and we really enjoyed the visit. Noelle is definitely entering into a very loving family! :)

7 more weeks to go!

Hey everyone! Well we had Noelle's last ultrasound today. We were a little nervous for this one, since this is the appointment we found out Madeline had complications. But everything looks absolutely great!! And she looks so fat!! haha. She is weighing appx. 4.5 pounds, which is on the highest side of the "normal spectrum." I think 2 pounds of that may be her cheeks! She's absolutely adorable and we cannot wait for her arrival! I posted 3 pics in the album.

Lots of catching up!

WOW! It's been way too long since my last post. Since then, Travis and I went to Natchitoches which ended up being a fabulous weekend getaway. It was extremely relaxing and much needed! Then in April we had a family vacation to Gulf Shores! It was a fantastic trip and we got to spend lots of time with our adorable Mia! It was great to be able to get that much time with her and really visit with her without too much craziness going on. She's such a sweetie and learned to say "I love you" on the trip, so we were showered with those words all weekend. What a fabulous thing to keep hearing!!

The following weekend was Noelle's baby shower! It was overwhelming how many people were there and how many goodies she received! She really will be all set to go! Thank you so much to my hostesses, Nannie Annie, Julie, San, Stacy, Christian and Michelle. The shower was perfect and we appreciate it so much!! And of course, thanks to all of you who came to celebrate such a great time in our lives!

And then last weekend was Maddie's Footprints had its 1st Fundraiser - the Crawfish Boil! It was a huge success. Almost 250 tickets were purchased! We still don't have the final number, but we believe the event had a profit of about $4,000-$4,500!!! What a huge success! The weather was perfect, the crawfish were excellent, the dessert was yummy and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We were so pleased on how everything turned out. THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support the cause! And a special thanks to the Board Members, volunteers and sponsors! We couldn't have pulled it off without you!

We have our 32-week ultrasound coming up on Monday. This was the appointment that we found out that Madeline had some problems, so it is a little nerve-wracking. I'm sure all will be fine with Baby Noelle - but we won't really have a sigh of relief until we hold our healthy baby girl in our arms. Please say some prayers that all goes well on Monday. I'll keep you posted! Hopefully we'll have some more pictures of her to post!

Crawfish Boil

Hey everyone!! Sorry it's been so long since I've written. Between work, real estate and Maddie's Footprints - there has barely been time to breathe! :) Things are still going well with Baby Noelle. She is quite the antsy one - moving around all the time! I've been feeling good, just still tired most of the time. I guess I'm not going to get that 2nd trimester burst of energy they talk about. Haha! Travis and I are headed to Natchitoches tomorrow for a weekend getaway. We are very excited to go somewhere relaxing all by ourselves and not worry about anything! We don't have much on the agenda - just touring a few plantation homes, maybe some shopping and of course eating at cute little diners! It'll be a much needed relaxing weekend!

I also wanted to let you all know that details for Maddie's Footprints' first fundraiser have been finalized! It'll be a Crawfish Boil at Acadian Village, Saturday, May 8 from 5-9pm. Tickets can be purchased through me or our website - http://www.maddiesfootprints.org/. We strongly encourage everyone to get their tickets in advance as we will only have a limited amount of crawfish on that day! The details are on the flyer here or on our website. PLEASE COME and help out a great cause!! And bring your friends!! :)

Definitely a girl!

I had another ultrasound today. Everything still looks great and normal, so all signs points to a healthy baby!! And this time, she cooperated and we could definitely tell it is indeed a girl! She also snuck in a couple of 3D shots. We got a few of her face. She's still skinny (weighs right at 1 pound), but she is looking more and more human! :) Pics are in the album.

It's another GIRL!!!!

So we found out today that Madeline will have a baby sister. That's right....it's a GIRL! The doctor said that everything looks great and completely normal. He has released me from his care and I only have to continue to see my normal OB. We couldn't be more excited with this news! We got quite a few pictures today, so I posted them in the Album. Some are in 3D - she still looks like a little alien, because they don't have much fat yet at this point. But again - she's a VERY cute alien! : )

We have also decided that her name will be Noelle Elizabeth. I think Madeline will be very proud to share her middle name with her baby sister! Thanks to all of you for the prayers! They are working so keep them coming!

Things are still looking up!

First of all, we received our results back from the scans and tests that were taken for Baby McGrew and they were NEGATIVE!! We couldn't be more excited about this. We can rest a little easier now and truly enjoy this pregnancy with a positive outlook. We'll be finding out the sex in just one week!! :)

We also received a VERY generous anonymous donation in the amount of $5,000 for Maddie's Footprints!!! This is incredibe and will give us a great jump-start to starting the new organization. We are hoping to have our first big fundraiser in April or May, so I'll be keeping you guys posted on that. David also designed our website and it's up and running now so check it out: http://www.maddiesfootprints.org/. It looks great - thanks Dave!!

Hello 2010!!!

Goodbye 2009 and Hello 2010! The year 2009 has been a real bumpy one for us, our families and for a great deal of our friends. It seemed as though everywhere we turned, there were more negative things happening all around us. Well for 2010, I am trying to have a much better attitude. I usually don't really give much thought to the changing of the years (except where we're going for New Year's Eve), but since this one has been a little rough, I've tried to really focus on the positive things. Surprisingly - there are actually many of them! So here are just a few:

• We welcomed our first great-nephew (Cohen James) and our first great-niece (Mya Noelle) to the family. They are both beautiful and healthy babies and we are so happy that the family is extending!
• My faith in God is stronger than it has ever been. While of course that relationship always needs improvement - I feel that it has reached another level this year.
• While we've always known that our families are the best ever, we have realized it even more this year. They have been there for us every step of the way and we are so fortunate to have them as our family.
• Our relationships with our friends are stronger than ever. I guess the saying is true: When you are going through rough times, you always know who your true friends are. We have such a tight group who have helped us through this year and we have even made some more friends this year who it seems like we've known forever. They are all truly like a second family to us.
• Although we miss Mama more than anything, it warms my heart to know that she was finally reunited with the love of her life, Granddad, and the baby that she lost so many years ago, Roger Wayne. If you knew Mama, you heard her talk about Elvis, her late husband. After him passing so many years ago, you could tell she just loved him so much and now she is finally laughing with him again. Ohhhh.....that laugh of hers - I sure do miss it!
• And just seven months ago today, Travis and I witnessed the most beautiful miracle - the birth of our first child, Madeline Noelle McGrew. Of course it was a sad moment, however, it was still just amazing to be a part of such a beautiful moment. To hold her in my arms was the proudest and best moment I've ever had in my life. Of course we miss her and not a day goes by where we don't think of her a million times, but she still did bring joy to our lives and she has taught us so much.
• The idea came about to start our non-profit organization, Maddie's Footprints. We had our first board meeting and first successful fundraiser!
• I believe that our marriage is stronger than it has ever been. (Yes, I know it's only been four years - but we have been together for 10 years - so I think we get to start counting from then. Haha! Just kidding.) But seriously, just when I think that things are great and I'm so happy in my marriage, things seem to get even better. The year 2009 and God has played a big role in that too. While reading and researching about parents who lose their babies, everywhere you turn it says how marriages can break up over these things - which is quite understandable! It completely terrified me on top of everything else. However, God has turned us towards each other instead of away from each other and it has been the #1 thing that has kept me going.

So, we obviously have a great deal to be thankful for this past year, and I'm still so hopeful for so many more things to come in 2010:

• We have a healthy and happy baby born this year.
• We are able to welcome another healthy and happy niece or nephew this year (Hint, hint Dave and Jenn)
• All of our friends who have decided to begin their families - that they too enjoy the miracle of pregnancy and have healthy babies!
• Our relationships with God, family, friends and each other continue to grow throughout the year.
• Our families are rid of any sickness and become healthy again.
• Our friends who are getting married have the weddings that they dreamed of and have long, happy marriages.
• That all of our friends find true love (if they haven't already).
• Maddie's Footprints has several successful events and fundraisers and helps our very first family!!

I'm sure there is much more I'm forgetting - but I won't bore you with anymore. We love all of you and thank you for being such a great part of our lives! We hope that 2010 is the best year yet for us all!!