One Week

Dear Reese,
You are, without a doubt, the sweetest, most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on. You have been spoiling us since you arrived. Although you decided to come early, you picked a weekend when our doctor was on call. You eat & sleep well and we rarely hear you cry. I'm not expecting this to last forever, but thank you for giving it to us so far. You are beyond beautiful. Your dark hair and dark blue eyes are gorgeous. You have, however the most awful mad face I've ever seen. You're whole face crinkles up, your mouth opens wide & occasionally you let out this super high pitched scream. The scream we could do without, but the face will get you far with your Daddy. He's a sucker for it already. Thank  you for being a part of my best week ever. You have made our family feel so complete. You are deeply loved by us all, especially your big brother - he adores you.
Love you little Reesey bug.

Dear Elijah,
My handsome boy. You have no idea how very much I am in love with you. You are hilarious and sweet and wonderful in so many ways. I never missed anyone so much as I did while I was in the hospital. Now that we're home you have added being a fantastic big brother to your list of many great qualities. You love being helpful, giving her hugs & kisses, holding her and mostly, cuddling with her in her "nest" (crib). I can't wait to watch you teach your sister all the wisdom you've acquired in your 2 1/2 years that you've experienced ahead of her. You're great at counting (up to 12 now!), singing songs and impersonating animals. You have been my entire world the past couple years and I have slightly feared the arrival of someone else into our club. Now that she's here, I can see how much love you have for her and enjoy having her around. You have put my fears to rest. I should have known.
I love you kid.

Brother and Sister

There is absolutely no doubt these two are siblings :) 

Elijah Bradford

Reese Margaret

E

R

Reese's Arrival

As everyone knows, we had a scheduled c-section for Reese on March 29. Part of me had been hoping she'd come early, the other part of me was very content waiting. My mom had been insisting that she'd come early, either Thurs 3/17 or Fri 3/18. I said "No! If she's going to come early, it has to be on a Tuesday when my doctor is on call." Last weekend I started having contractions but they were so mild and far apart. I knew that weren't anything to immediately be concerned with, but at the same time I knew things were beginning. Thursday night my contractions kicked it into gear, coming every 6-8 minutes. (Side thought... what is it with my kids and holidays? I started labor with Elijah on Election Day and with Reese, St Patty's Day). Friday morning I told Adam to be ready should I call him. I spent the morning getting things ready just in case, taking a shower, getting all my paperwork together, getting hospital stuff ready, etc). Shelbie came over and I called the Dr. I asked if I went to the hospital and wasn't far enough along in labor, would they really send me home? I mean, come on, I'm having a c-section anyway. Do I really need to go through a long labor process when the end result is going to be the same? Dr told me to wait and go to the hospital once my contractions were 5 minutes apart. Ugh. Good news though! I was told my doctor was on call all weekend. Hooray! As I said, Shelbie was over and kept telling me to go to the hospital. The contractions might not be bad now but they can get real bad real fast. Adam came home early and tried to get Elijah down for a nap. While he was doing that my contractions did just as Shelbie said they would. All of a sudden they were every 1-2 minutes. For a good 10 minute stretch I felt no relief. I called Adam's grandmother to come over, got Adam and we went to the hospital. During the ride there my contractions got better. Great. They're going to send me home. We didn't call anyone and tell them because we weren't sure if they'd keep us and we didn't want to get everyone excited for nothing.

Once we arrived at triage we waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited. My doctor and nurse told me to tell them I was a repeat c-section and I'd get a bed quicker. Ha. I think it was the opposite. 3 women came after us and were seen before us. Finally after an hour we were called back. They hooked me up to monitor contractions. When they checked they said I was in labor but contractions were inconsistent so they'd leave it up to my doctor. Please, oh please, oh please don't send me home. Thankfully the doctor said to go ahead. Woo hoo!

We started calling and telling everyone Reese would be born that day. Since there was no emergency, both baby and I were fine, they didn't know how long it would take to get us in. We told everyone we'd call them back once we were in pre-op and knew more. Once in pre-op though, there was no time to call or think about anything. They did a physical on me, asked us a ton of questions and then said they were coming to put in my epidural. What? Already? Oh yeah, doc's on his way, you're going in at 5:00 pm. There was no cell service in the pre-op wing so no one even found out when she was coming until she was here.


5:15 on Friday, March 18 our little girl was born. I remember the uncontrollable joy I felt when I heard her first cry (something I don't remember from Elijah's birth). When I saw her I just couldn't believe she was here, she was ours, and she was a 'she'! :) A little girl. Our daughter.

It's been love ever since.

Adam,

I can't tell you how much our life and family mean to me.

It's the greatest honor to be your wife

and the mother to your children.

We've come so far since that day,

and I thought I loved you then...

June 26, 2005

Now you're my whole life,

now you're my whole world...

July 29, 2006

What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more,

but I've said that before...

Nov 7, 2008

We'll look back someday,

at this moment that we're in...

March 18, 2011

And I'll look at you and say,

"& I thought I loved you then"

Love you like crazy



Introducing Reese Margaret Teston

Last night, we welcomed with enormous joy,

Reese Margaret

into the family.

March 18, 2011

5:15 pm

6 lbs, 2 oz

18 3/4 inches

Beautiful, perfect & loved

I'm sitting here tonight, 28 1/2 hours later and am in amazement again.

How can one person hold this much love for another.

Again.

We are so very blessed.

I can't stop watching her in awe

and am missing our boys like crazy.

Can't wait for Monday when we can go home and have our little family all together.

Thank you to all our family and friends

who stood with us throughout this pregnancy with so much love.

I am insanely grateful that our God gives us not what we deserve...

because there is no way I deserve all this.

38 Weeks

Hello World.

How have you been?

Can you believe it's been so long since I blogged and we are still waiting on the newest member

of our family to arrive?

Sheesh.

I said it before,

I'll say it again,

waiting is hard!

Here are some pics,

then I'll fill you in on life :)

Babies are popping up EVERYWHERE.

I first made these burp cloths as gifts last fall

for my friend Shelbie and another friend at work.

They are now my official go-to gift for baby showers.

I enjoy making them

(they are the only things I've really learned how to make on my sewing machine)

and I love the slightly personal touch it adds to a gift

(plus, they're super functional!)

I made these monkey ones for a friend who I hadn't seen since high school.

It was so good to see her and I wish her the very best

with her little boy on the way!

I made these for my friend Sylvia,

whose little boy is due just weeks after our Reese.

Can't wait to meet baby Robert! 

And these are for our little girl :) 

Elijah spends part of every day playing with his Daisy girl.

He loooooves her :) 

Big Brother book Elijah got from his Grandma. 

How can I describe how much joy I burst with,

with how much my kid loves puzzles.

:) 

During my baby shower a couple weeks ago

Adam watched both Elijah and Aiden.

I admit, I was... curious, how it would turn out.

After Aiden went home, I'm not sure who I heard more excitement about the day from,

Elijah or Adam.

Come back anytime A! We love you around here :) 

Baby buddies

Me & Sylvia

with Reese & little Robert on the way! 

Last weekend we took what is probably our last trip to Sea World

before Reese comes.

Elijah LOVES the shark exhibit! 

We were making monster faces. 

Testing out his little sister's bed. 

Bubble face 

Reese's butterfly mobile. 

Ok, now to update on our lives.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Reese.

Although this week it really hit me how soon she'll be here

and I've just been soaking up every moment I can with Elijah.

I can't wait to meet her and have her be a part of our lives,

but at the same time,

I'm a little fearful of the change,

especially when it comes to my time with E.

I know when she's here everything will fall into place,

but for now, it's just fear of the unknown.

We were working on getting Reese's room ready,

we have the room painted, all the furniture set up,

bedding on the crib and we were ready to start hanging shelves and decorating...

and then...

we decided about two weeks ago to buy a house.

Yup.

I know.

Now? Really?

That's what my thoughts were.

We knew that we wanted to try and buy a house this year.

But in my mind, I thought LATER this year.

There was a house we had seen online a couple months back that we really liked. Then it turned out Adam's mom #2 (his BFF Robbie's mom) was selling it. We kind of talked to her about it but I wasn't ready. My mind was set on having a baby first. Someone else was interested and the house was pending for a while. Then one day, Mrs Baer walked by and said it was going back on the market. We went to look at it and I really hoped I wouldn't like it. That would just make everything easier. I would walk it, say "Nope!" and we'd move on. But I did like it. A lot. It needs some love, but it's a perfect next step for us. We love the neighborhood (Adam's grandma is only 10 houses down from us), and the schools (sheesh, I sound so adult) and the house had all the things were were looking for: 2 car garage, screened in back porch, TWO bathrooms. We told Mrs Baer the next day we wanted it, a week later the contract was signed and here we are now, less than a week after that, just waiting on the financing to go through. If all goes as they tell us, we'll be closing on April 29.

Does anyone else ever feel knocked to the ground by God's timing?

I had a plan... but so does He.

All of this has been quite a test on me.

I am NOT a patient person.

And now here I am,

waiting on two huge life events.

And I'm just so excited about them both. :)

So, given the house situation, Reese's room has been put on hold.

Why get her room all ready if we're going to be buying a house a month after she arrives?

As for our most favorite little boy,

Elijah is wonderful :)

We've been struggling with nap time lately as we finally pulled the plug on the binky. He was only getting it at nap time and was really using it more as a security item that anything else. It's been a little rough. Some days take HOURS to get him down. And now, to replace his binky as a security item he is using me. I lay down and read his a couple books, we sing a couple songs and then he wraps his arms around my neck so tight. Even after he falls asleep, if I try to move his clings on tighter. I admit. A large part of me savors it. But, I know in a couple weeks I won't be able to lay with him like that. I've tried giving him stuffed animals, blankets, pillows to cuddle with but he still prefers ol' momma.

Some of his favorite things right now:

puzzles (i'm so proud!)

animals, Superman, and singing songs.

The kid LOVES to sing songs!

Some he knows the words to, some he knows the movements to,

and some he just makes up.

Every night after bathtime, the three of us sit in his room and sing two songs together before Adam reads him his bed time stories. He has two songs that he'll sing on his own: his train song and his Cars song.

The words are different every time but the theme usually stays the same.

While he sings he instructs us to snap our fingers and clap our hands.

It is hilarious.

The kid brings a constant smile to my face.

That's all for now.

We go to the Dr today to check in on our little girl.

I will do my very best to blog again before she comes...

but with my track record lately,

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it :)

36 Weeks: Elijah vs Reese

Here I was 36 week preggo with Elijah, and now with Reese.

I am soooo loving 2nd pregnancy with a girl!

36 Week Update

I promise to post again soon with some new pictures, but I just had to at least pop in and document our doctor's appointment today.

Today was our 36 week appointment. We've been having low weight gain and growth the last 8 weeks so I'm always anxious to get there and see how we're doing. 2 weeks ago we had our biggest growth spurt which was very comforting. Today, when they weighed me I had lost weight. They say this is normal toward the end: everything is crammed and there's less room for eating. Still, I was so happy when we had gained more than 10 lbs last time and now here we are, back to 9 lbs weight gain. I asked the nurse and she said as long as she was growing there was nothing to worry about. So out came the measuring tape and... no growth. Still measuring 32 weeks; 4 weeks small now. I, of course, was freaking out on the inside. This can't be good. We're not growing. We're getting so close to delivery time and she's not growing.

The doctor came in and said she was probably fine. Babies takes what they need from their mothers so my low weight gain and loss were nothing to worry about. Just to be sure though, he ordered an ultrasound to check her size. Luckily, someone else was running late for their appointment so they were able to squeeze us in right away for the ultrasound.

And that's where the appointment got good.

They checked her head, heart, belly, bones and my placenta and fluid and EVERYTHING was perfect. Hooray! She's really measuring 35 weeks, only 1 week small. The sonographer double checked: definitely a girl. She said she has hair (lets hope not the same mohawk style E was born with!). She was trying to get some pics for me, but I told her not to worry about it. Reese is healthy, growing, and will be here in 27 days. Plus, all the shots of her face were hilarious. She's pretty crammed in there and her face looks like its pressed up against a window.

We're just so thrilled, after weeks of always worrying about growing enough, to know that she's is growing just fine. Can't wait to meet our little girl in just a few short weeks.

In case you're reading...

I don't know if you'll ever read this.

I hope you do.

Just a few things I want you to know.

I wish you knew how much I love you;

and how much I miss you.

I had a dream about you last night.

We took Elijah to the zoo and you were the zoo keeper.

I didn't realize how perfectly fitting that was until I was thinking about this post.

The Zoo Keeper.

I don't know how we get to these places.

I'm so deeply hurt. Upset. Sad.

But not with you.

Just with the way things have turned out.

It makes my heart sad.

I know that you're going through a lot right now.

I wish I could be there for you.

I wish you wanted me to be there with you.

We talk about you to Elijah.

He loves music

and is interested in playing any and every instrument he picks up.

He gets that from you.

If you're reading this, then you know,

Elijah is going to have a little sister in just a few weeks.

There are few things I want more than for them both to know you.

You have so much to offer them that no one else can.

I love you and miss you.

Every day.

I'm here.

Always.