Thankful

Every year I feel like there is more and more to be thankful for, and for that I'm, well...Thankful!

I am thankful for my beautiful, vivacious, spunky little spitfire, Presley Elizabeth.

I am thankful for the sweet little baby growing in my belly.

I am thankful for husband who has a huge heart and is the best father. He would do anything for P and I.

I am thankful for my family. They are truly the best. Maybe a little crazy, but definitely the best!

I am thankful for my in laws, who are just like family to me. They would do anything for us at the drop of a hat.

I am thankful for my two sweet nephews, Jackson and Landon. I might be biased, but I'm pretty sure they are the cutest nephews around.

I am thankful for my Mamaw, and that she has been able to be a part of Presley's life.

I am thankful for my old friends and my new ones.

I am thankful that our family keeps on growing. My cousin and his wife announced on Thanksgiving that they are expecting their first baby!

I am thankful for stretchy pants,  elastic waist bands, and that I'm out of my first trimester!

and most of all, I'm thankful to God! He has truly blessed us beyond measure.

Now, a few pictures from Thanksgiving, and I mean just a few. Maybe I should have done a better job of picking up my camera instead of my fork...

Our little family

My parents

My brother and sister

Mamaw and Presley

Presley stealing trying on Jackson's Cowboy boots

Jackson and Presley enjoying their Thanksgiving dessert of choice. Ice cream!

Look Who's Talkin'

Presley continues to impress me with her talking skillz. She gets plenty of practice. I don't think she is silent for more than 2 seconds during the day. It's not all her fault. The gift of gab comes naturally in our family. Right, Mamaw?

 Sometimes Presley likes to tell on herself:
"I take my piggies out".

 Other times, she likes to give compliments:
" I so proud of you, Mommy".
"Oh, I love it. It's bootiful(she has This reaction to almost any picture I show her)".

 And then there are times, when she likes to give attitude.
"Are you kidding me (and then slaps her knee)"?

 Or for expressing her disapproval:
"No do that again"!
"I no yike it"!

She also uses her words to nurture:
(I just put my contacts in and my eyes were watering. Anyone want to get me lasik?) "Are you okay, Mommy? I wipe your tears". Then she got a tissue and wiped my face.

but out of all the sentences and phrases Presley says, "I love you, Mommy" is still my very favorite.

Thanksgiving Feast

 Yesterday, Presley had her Thanksgiving feast at MDO. It was a very traditional feast of Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, cheese cubes, strawberries, and pretzels. You know, just like the Pilgrims and Indians. She has a super cute class, and they all sat so well during their feast. Grammie and Poppa were also able to make it which made her especially happy.  When it was over, we all went out to lunch and went shopping. Well, Poppa watched Presley in the stores while Grammie and I shopped. It was such a fun day with my little turkey!

Here are a few pictures from the feast:

Bad Blood

Yesterday, I got a phone call from the doctor who did our NT scan. I had a feeling she wasn't calling to tell me good news as the usual policy is "no news is good news".  Before I begin, some people asked me what an NT scan was so let me explain.

The NT scan or Nuchal Translucency scan measures the space behind the back of the babies neck (nuchal fold) and is performed during 11 to 14 weeks. Most doctor's consider anything under 2.5mm to be within normal ranges. Anything over could be a marker for Down syndrome (Trisomy 21). There is also a blood draw that is done immediately after the ultrasound, and it tests for Trisomy 18 and 13, which are incompatible with life.

Okay, so back to me. During the scan, everything looked good. The nasal bone was present which was a good sign (no nasal bone can be a sign for downs). The nuchal fold measured higher, but well within the normal range. Brandon and I walked out feeling great about what we saw!

Then the blood results came back. I have a 1:10,000 chance of having a baby with Trisomy 18 or 13, which is as good as your odds can get. However, I have a 1:240 chance of having a baby with Down syndrome. Just to clear things up the 1:240 chance is out of all the people who had the exact same scan results as me, not a 1:240 chance out of every woman that has a baby. Does that make sense.? Anyway, my odds are 99.5% chance that I will have a healthy baby and .5% chance that I will have a baby with Down syndrome. To me those odds sound pretty good, but the doctor's make it sound scary.

I will go back at 16 weeks and meet with a genetic counselor and have a level 11 ultrasound done. Then, depending on what they find, I will have the option of an amnio. I've pretty much made up my mind that I will not have an amnio. Not matter what the results, I would have the baby anyway. I love this little baby and nothing is going to make me want it any less. Nothing. 

In the mean time, any prayers would be much appreciated for little S2, and that I don't drive myself insane with worry. Also, if anyone reading this has been through anything similar, I would love to hear your story.

NT Scan

On Monday,  We had little S2's Nuchal Fold scan. It was so fun to see an actual baby moving all around. It has certainly changed from the 6 week blob (sorry baby).

So far, Souders' babies are proving to be stubborn. Presley never gave a full profile, and this babe gave one but after much poking, prodding, and coughing. Everything looked good with baby, but I have placenta previa (a low lying placenta). It's not a big deal right now, and should move up on it's own, but the Doctor gave me strict orders to quit my workout routine. This makes me really sad, but it's not really about me right now.

The heart rate for this baby at 12 weeks was 167 BPM and Presley's (at 12 weeks) was 166 BPM. That's pretty close! I wonder what that might mean about the gender??? Speaking of gender, they told us Presley was a girl at her NT scan, but they didn't say anything at this one. I didn't ask either. I decided I was just going to be patient with this one.

I also noticed that during Presley's scan, she was on her head, flipped to her back, facing forwards, then upside down again. This little baby moved it's arms and legs a lot, but was generally satisfied to stay in the same general position. I'm hoping this is some sort of indication of what type of personally it's going to have....

Now for my favorite part! Check out this cutie pie:

Hot Chocolate

 "Love is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time".- anonymous.

 I love hot chocolate, especially on a cold day. I realized Presley has never experienced the joy of a warm cup of cocoa and couldn't wait to see what she thought.


First sip

 

  and now with a straw because it's so much more fun that way.

I couldn't decide if she would like marshmallows or whipped cream better, so I threw in both. Presley immediately began digging out the marshmallows with her hands and shoveling them into her mouth.

I think Presley thoroughly enjoyed her first experience with hot chocolate, but I'll let you decide.

Baby S2 Catch Up

So, If you didn't see my previous post, Baby #2 is on its way! I am almost 12 weeks and finally starting to see the light at the end of the first trimester tunnel. I'm not gonna lie, it's been rough. With Presley, I had zero nausea and felt great for the most part. Not the case with this one. I've pretty much been spending my days trying  to stay awake and not throw up on myself. Yeah...not pretty. Then there's the whole having to chase after an uber hyper toddler from morning until night. So yeah, this will probably be our last baby. Ok, enough with the miserable pregnant woman talk and on to the fun stuff!

• Here is the proof. I'm not going to lie, I was a little shocked when this popped up. Extremely excited and thankful, but shocked nonetheless.

9-14-2011

• We got to see little S2's heartbeat  for the first time at 6 weeks and 2 days. The heart rate was in the 90's and it pretty much looked like a tiny blob (as you can see in the picture below).

EDD 5-28-2012

• At 10 weeks, Presley and I got to hear the heartbeat with the doppler! What an amazing sound!!! S2's Heart rate was in the high 170's! The nurse found it very fast which was a relief, and P was super impressed with the doppler. She asked the nurse if she could have a turn, so we let her. Who knew Presley would enjoy my doctor's appointment so much?!?

•  We chose to do the NT scan again, and will have that this coming Monday. Until then, we will be praying for a healthy happy little babe!

If You Just Smile...

 "If I had a star for every time you made me smile, I would be holding the night sky in my hand."-unknown

Presley has always been a super smiley little girl. In fact, in almost all of her baby pictures she's sporting a huge gummy grin. She gave her first big smile when she was 5 weeks old, and ever since then it's been pretty easy to coax one out of her for pictures. Why am I telling you all of this? Well, because my smiley little princess had her very first school pictures taken, and guess what we got...

Not even the slightest hint of a smile. what a little ray of sunshine, right? I do kind of love that she's grabbing her piggy though. Brandon and I were laughing so hard when we got the proof. I don't think she could look any more disinterested if she tried! Oh well, maybe we will get a better one next year.

Those Three Words...

The other day, Presley and I were sitting side by side on the couch when she laid her head on my shoulder and said, "love you, Mommy." My heart pretty much melted right then and there.This was the first time Presley had ever said" I love you" to me without me saying it to her first. Then she proceeded to tell me, "I love your eyebrows, Mommy".  Clearly, Presley doesn't know what good eyebrows look like because mine are as bad as they come. I was on cloud 9 from Presley's love proclamations UNTIL...
I decided to run into Children's Place to pick up some winter appropriate clothes for the cold front coming in. The sales lady greeted us, and Presley looked up at her with a huge smile and exclaimed, "I love you". Seriously, Presley?!? So I did what any good mother would do and tried to buy her affections back. We left Children's Place with the intended winter clothes, and a pair of hideous sparkly silver Ugg style boots...

Wordless Wednesday: Bun in the Oven

Happy Halloween (2011)

No tricks here, just Treats!

Halloween 2011 was a success. Presley wore her costume with minimal protesting, and loved getting her face painted. We got together with my in laws and our neighborhood friends and Trick or Treated around the neighborhood. Presley told almost everyone "trick or treat" and "thank you" when she got her candy, which made me a proud Mama. We had a couple of houses passing out full size candy bars, and Presley scored one. She immediately asked me to open it, and was pretty much satisfied to just eat her candy bar the rest of the time. After one block with 6 toddlers, we were ready to call it a night. All the while, Poppa was passing out candy and making all of us dinner. Now that's my kind of Halloween!