It's true what they say...

It's definitely true... motherhood will change you! I was just sitting here tonight watching Cody feed our sweet Manning, and this saying that you have heard all mothers say ran through my mind, and I thought about how true it really is. I just sat and thought about how my life had drastically changed (definitely for the better) since we had our little man. Here is just a small list of ways my life has changed...

1. Life is such an awesome gift. I look at everything in a different way now. For example, now, I pray all of the time for a long, healthy life... well, I guess I've always prayed for that...except, now, I pray for this because I want to see my son grow up.

2. Family has always been a huge part of my life and one of my main priorities, but now I truly know what it's like to have my own family, and it's AMAZING!

3. I feel closer to God. I have always been thankful to God for my salvation and my life, but now I notice myself thanking Him much more often. He has given me a precious little person to raise. In saying this, He has also given me a huge responsibility...and that's to teach my son about God and His love. That's a job that I'm more than ready to take on! I can't wait to get more involved in church! I already sing church songs, like 'Jesus Loves Me,' just in case he understands what I'm singing! :o)

4. Little goos, coos, and baby smiles warm my heart now more than ever... especially when they come from the cutest little boy I know! ;)

5. Time is precious... and there isn't much of it to do anything except spend it with my little man. I now shower faster than I ever have in my life...when I get the chance to, that is. Sometimes, Manning makes me wait until Daddy gets home from work. Eating? What's that?! I can't tell you how many times I forget to eat during the day. Just the other day, I finally slowed down a little around 6 pm and realized that I hadn't eaten a bite all day... why am I not skinny yet?? Sleeping? I really don't know what that is! Manning has his days and nights mixed up. We are never in the bed before 2 a.m., and his pediatrician really put me in my place about that one... he taught me all about schedules and being the boss, etc. That's another post in itself... stay tuned!

6. If y'all know me very well at all, you know how much I love to shop and buy clothes, shoes, handbags, you name it... Well, my shopping style has now changed. My shopping time is now focused on buying cute boy clothes. Just the other day, I returned several things to Macy's that mom had gotten me for Christmas (they didn't fit, etc.), and guess what I did? Of course, I exchanged everything for baby clothes! I think I have a new obsession! :)

7. I now celebrate bodily noises and functions... lol I know that sounds funny. You moms understand! Yay for poop and toots!

8. Fear has a new meaning.

9. The sound of my baby breathing is the best thing in the world... I can't tell you how many times I wake up at night just to check on him to make sure he's still breathing.

10. It hurts more to see my baby hurt than to actually be hurting myself.

11. I have an even deeper respect and love for my parents.

12. I'm now realizing that all of those fabulous sequined or satin dresses are not going to be making their debut any time soon, for 2 reasons. 1...we don't go out much anymore, and the funny thing is, we don't really want to. 2...they don't fit! lol

I could make a list with 1,000 or more changes in my life... but you get the point. Enjoy the pic of little man!

Off we go to the pediatrician...

Well, we've already been to see the pediatrician twice...

We went the first time for his 2 week well baby checkup. Manning passed that visit with flying colors, thank the Lord! He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz. and measured 21.5 inches long. Dr. Mathis told us that he was perfect and beautiful, but of course, we already knew that! :) He sent us home with a great report and told us he'd see us at 2 months unless we had any problems.

Unfortunately, 2 weeks later, we noticed that our sweet boy's eyes were looking very watery and were matted shut a lot. We called the doc and they told us to bring him back in. So when he was 4 weeks old, we went the ped again. Manning weighed in at 11 lbs. 1 oz. This time, Dr. Mathis told us that Manning had clogged tear ducts and an ear infection. Who knew!? Of course I'm a worry wart, so I hated hearing these things, even though they are very minor. The doc calmed me by telling me that lots of babies have clogged tear ducts and 90% of them clear up on their own, so I was very happy to hear that. He gave us an antibiotic for his ear infection and told us it was nothing to worry about. So, we headed home and prayed that he would get well soon!

Since then, Manning has been doing very well! I have just been counting down the days until we get our shots... well, I guess I have mixed feelings about them. I hate for my baby to have to hurt, so in a way, I really dread it. But on the positive side, I'm beyond ready to take him out of the house. For those of you who don't know, you aren't supposed to take a newborn baby out of the house until they have their shots, so Cody and I have basically been on lockdown. I can't wait to take Manning to church so that he can meet everyone for the first time! Cody and I have really missed going. We will be back, though, in just a week and a half! YAY!

*I've posted the pics of Manning's two trips to the doc... in the first, he's 2 weeks old, and in the second, he's 4 weeks old.

How time flies...

I went back to the doctor last week for my 6-week checkup, and all was well! You can barely even see my scar from the c-section. The doc told me I was healing beautifully, so I was glad to hear that. Other good news: Manning's clogged tear ducts have cleared up, and I'm so thankful. It was so hard on me seeing his poor little eyes water and mat up like they were!

Well, my baby boy is already almost 2 months old! I cannot believe how fast time flies! He's growing like a little weed... He's wearing 6 month outfits. I know that makes him sound chubby, but he's really just long. We measured him the other night, and he's 24 inches long already! He is already holding his head up pretty well, and he's starting to make lots of precious noises. He goos and coos all the time, and that's the best sound in the whole wide world! We had our first real smile on the day he turned 6 weeks old... I was up with him at 3 a.m.... this is a typical thing since he refuses to go to sleep before then...I was changing his diaper and trying to stay awake, and I decided to play his little Elmo toy for him. It sings three songs... this particular night, it played "Bingo (his fave)." All of a sudden, out of nowhere, he smiled so big at his mama. I just screamed with excitement, and immediately, I had a huge burst of energy and tried to play with him forever trying to get more smiles. Who would've thought that a smile could warm your heart so much? I can't explain how much more I love him every single day. Children truly are the best gift of all... I tell Cody all of the time that I want a houseful! :) Enjoy the pics of Manning I've posted for you!

Welcome to the world, Manning Joseph Moore!

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while... I'm going to start with Manning's birth, and I promise to catch up with the rest sometime this week. So here it goes...

After being in early labor with spontaneous contractions for 7 days, the time finally came when the harder contractions started to hit... they actually started coming on Saturday, Nov. 21, but I'm so hard-headed that I didn't want to go to the hospital. I had just been sent home too many times and wanted to make sure it was time when I went back. The next morning (Sunday, Nov. 22), Cody and my mom kept pushing me to go to the hospital because I would be doing something and bend over in pain and stop talking... this had been going on for hours, but again, I'm stubborn when it comes to pain/doctors. I finally called the hospital to ask which doctor was on call... Mine wasn't, but my second favorite doctor, Dr. Crenshaw was. After several long debates with my mom, I eventually took a shower and decided to give in. I seriously didn't think that these were "real" contractions, because for some reason, I thought that if I was in labor, I'd be screaming and in serious pain. Well, after our hour drive to Germantown Methodist hospital, I got checked in and the moment came to be checked for progress. I had dialated 4 centimeters, and the doctor decided to keep me. I checked in the hospital at 10:00 a.m., and the nurse informed me that we'd be having a c-section around 12 p.m. I will never forget her coming in the room and saying "You're going to have a baby today!" At that moment, my mom burst into tears and a wave of fear overcame my whole body. I knew this moment was coming, but it hit me like a ton of bricks... I instantly started thinking millions of thoughts... "what if I am paralyzed by the spinal block? what if it hurts? will my baby be ok? can I do this? did I shave my legs? Is Cody going to pass out?" Seriously, I was scared out of my mind for a while there. Then, I remembered that God was with me and that everything would be ok. While I was reassuring myself of this, I realized that my pain was getting really intense and then my water broke. My water broke about 30 minutes after I got to the hospital, so thank goodness my smart mom & hubby had sense enough to get me to a doctor.

In the meantime, my family was scurrying trying to make it to Memphis in time. They all got up and walked out of church because we were given such a short notice that Manning was about to arrive. They all made it just in time due to an emergency c-section that delayed my time to 12:30 p.m. After they wheeled me to the OR, Manning was born at 12:52 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs, 11oz, and measured 21 inches long. I will never forget the joy that overcame me when I heard my baby boy cry for the first time. Minutes later, the nurses showed him to me and tears streamed down my face. I cried so much that the anesthesiologist kept asking me if I was in pain, but I reassured him that they were happy tears... I've never been so happy in my entire life. Cody was busy taking pictures and filming, so he never even came close to passing out! I just remember praying and thanking God for such a sweet miracle and for blessing our family.

After about an hour in recovery, I finally got to meet and hold my precious baby for the first time and had a huge audience. I was blessed to have a whole host of family & friends waiting to meet him as well. Of course, I couldn't keep from crying the entire time I held him and kissed all over him.

Cody and I stayed at the hospital for two nights and three days, and we spent lots of quality time together and with our precious son. We spent most of our time talking about how we made such a perfect little person and how amazing God truly is. We also learned lots of important things like how to take care of a baby... Cody was great and took over those duties since I was basically out of commission from surgery. After our stay in the hospital, we were released on Tuesday just in time for Thanksgiving, and this is when our journey of parenthood began... I will post more about our experiences later.... stay tuned!

Is it time???

Well, this past week has been a very eventful and tiring one! We have thought on several occasions that Manning was on his way... only to find out he was teasing us just a little bit!

It all started on Sunday. I started having back to back contractions and pains in my lower abdomen and back, so I stayed on my left side all day trying to relax to see if my pains were real labor or false labor. We called a good friend of ours who is a nurse, Brooke, to come check me out. She said she could definitely feel the contractions, and since I'm planned for a c-section, she didn't want me to progress too fast, and she thought I should head to the hospital. So, Cody and I rushed home, gathered our bags and the carseat, and off we went. It was late, so we went in the ER at Germantown Methodist Lebonheur, where we will be delivering. After a short wait, a nurse came and got me in a wheelchair and took us up to the labor and delivery wing. There, I was put on a monitor for a couple of hours, got an iv, gave blood for the section, ya know, the works. The nurses told us that my contractions were 2 to 4 minutes apart, so we were starting to think that Manning was coming, especially when they took the bloodwork for the c-section. Then, a short time later, the doctor decided to let us go home since I was only dialated 1 cm and wasn't progressing fast at all. So, at midnight, we headed back home to try to get some rest with doctor's orders to rest, eat lightly, and drink lots of fluids.

Two days later, my pains picked up again, so we made a call to the doctor. They worked us in rather quickly and checked me over and told me that I was contracting, but that I could do that for days... dialated only 2 cm, and we were sent back home.

Two days after that, we had our regularly scheduled doctor's appointment. The doc told us that I was still only 2 cm, and that she really thought I could make it until Tuesday, our scheduled c-section date. They did an ultrasound and said that he looked beautiful. He's weighing in at 8 lbs. 10 oz. and he's above the 9oth growth percentile, so we know he's a big, healthy boy! So, Manning will be here on Tuesday, November 24 around 5 p.m., just in time for Thanksgiving. There's no better time to welcome a sweet baby into our home. He will make this Thanksgiving the most special one we've ever had. We have so much to be thankful for, and we can't wait to meet our son in just a few short days!

*The picture is of me yesterday after the doctor's appointment, at 38.5 weeks!

Mom's Surprise "Dee-Dee" Shower

Regina and several of our coworkers at school had been working on a surprise shower for Mom for over a month. It was so hard for me and for my family to keep this a secret from her! I'm terrible at buying gifts secretly and not telling her what I bought. I almost slipped and told her several times... but somehow, shower day arrived and she didn't have a clue. Another reason this secret was hard to keep is because the day of her shower, that was the first day that my doctor put me on modified bed rest, so I couldn't even go to work! So, I had to figure out an excuse to go to the school without her getting suspicious. I finally decided to tell her that I needed to come get some things ready for my maternity leave, which was true, and she didn't suspect a thing. She was very surprised and got some really cute "Dee-Dee" goodies! She's such a great mom... I can only imagine how awesome she's going to be at being Manning's "Dee-Dee."

Church Baby Shower for Manning

On November 1, 2009, Keiser First Baptist Church showered us with gifts galore for our sweet Manning! Thankfully, Cody decided to attend this shower with me and helped open gifts. I don't think I've ever opened so many presents in my life. We feel very blessed to have such a wonderful church family, and we are super excited about all of the amazing gifts we received.

A few days after the shower, my family came over and helped us put everything away. I am finally starting to feel like we have everything ready for Manning's arrival... well I did feel that way until his nursery bookshelf came in yesterday... I guess we'll always find one more thing that needs to be done. That's ok with me, though, it keeps me busy and makes the days pass faster. I just can't wait to finally meet our sweet son and see his precious face. Thank you, Lord, for this great blessing!