1 week old

Dear Presley,

Today you are exactly one week old, and we couldn't imagine life without you. I thought my heart might burst the first time I got to hold you, and I love you more everyday. We have learned so much about you in this short time we have had together.
You love to eat and are a great nurser. However, you like to eat every two hours even through the night. This makes for a very tired Mommy.
We also learned very quick that you hate getting undressed and having your diaper changed. You scream at the top of your lungs and sound eerily similar to a billy goat. In fact, your crying is so sad sounding it leaves Mommy and daddy pretty miserable after each diaper change. Bath time is also not your favorite, but you love having your hair washed. Other than that, you are pretty chill most of the day.
The lamb seat from your Aunt Melissa is one of your favorite spots to be. In fact, your sitting in it right now and letting me type like a good little girl. We practice tummy time everyday and you are so strong. You hold your head up way better then I expected and have had some close calls with being head butted. The hiccups have become a daily occurrence, and we have decided you sound like a squeak toy. You get them so hard and loud that I feel sorry for you, but they don't seem to bother you at all.
Daddy and I love it when you are wide awake! We stare at you the whole time. I'm not gonna lie, You make some pretty crazy faces. However, we love each and everyone. Speaking of Daddy, he is completely Gaga over you. I like to call him the baby hog. Once he gets a hold of you, he does not like to share.
Well Miss Priss, I can't wait to see what else you have in store for us. You have blessed our lives immeasurably and we continue to thank God everyday for you.

Love,

Your Mommy and Daddy

The Birth Story

Here is the story of how Miss Presley Elizabeth made her way into this world.

The Plan:
On Monday, December 28th, I was supposed to go to the hospital at 9 pm and be induced at 6:00 am on the 29th. The doctor said I would probably have a longer labor since this was my first baby combined with induction.

What actually happened:

Before we checked into the hospital, Brandon and I went out to eat with my family. I thought I might have been having some contractions then, but decided it was probably nerves. After dinner, we said goodbye to my family and arrived at Rockwall Presby at 9 pm on the dot.
Our sweet nurse walked us into our room and had me put on a fabulous booty bearing gown. She then proceeded to ask me 20 million questions and insert my I.V. I thought that was going to be the worse pain of the night, but little did I know...
I had to have something called cytotec inserted (I'll let you guess where) to soften the cervix over night. After that, I swallowed my ambien and immediately fell asleep. Shortly after, I woke up because I was having what I though were MAJOR cramps from the cytotec. I knew the nurse was going to come and check on me at 2 am, so I tried to hold off on my request for pain medicine. I mean it's not like I was in labor?? I could totally handle these cramps. By the time she got to my room, I was pretty miserable and feeling like a total wimp. I requested pain medicine immediately and it was given ASAP. What I got was a mixture of stadol and phenegren in my I.V. and it knocked me on my a$$. I couldn't even put together a sentence. Which at the time was pretty important because my water broke about 10 seconds after, and I could barely get the words out to inform the nurse. As drugged up as I was, I will never forget the feeling of my water breaking. I heard this pop and then felt a tiny gush of warm liquid. Of course, my first thought was I peed on myself, but then I felt another gush. This time it was like Niagara falls, and I KNEW this could not be pee. Yay! This was great news. I was in labor, I didn't have to be induced, and Presley was well on here way.
When my water broke it was 2:30am and I had dilated to a 3, so they called in my epidural. I wish I could fill you fine folks in on what it felt like, but I can't because I was still completely messed up from the stadol/phenegren. I fell asleep while he was inserting the needle. In fact, the anesthesiologist told Brandon that sleeping through getting an epidural was not exactly a bad thing. Around 5am (two and half hours later) I woke up and told Brandon that I thought my epidural might be wearing off. He called the nurse in and turns out I was already dilated to a seven. She said we should probably go ahead and call our families, but to tell them to take their time getting here. Well, little did she know...
30 minutes later I started feeling lots of pressure and found out I had dilated to a 10! Brandon jumped on his phone and called all the necessary parties informing them they better get here FAST! The nurse jumped on her phone and called the doctor and told her she needed to get here ASAP. And what was I doing during all this excitement? You guessed it... sleeping.
My family arrived before the doctor and got to come in and visit. Of course, I could barely talk, but I tried really hard. Not long after, the doctor came in and it was time to get down to business. I had waited a long time to meet this baby girl and I was going to get her out as fast as I could. I was still completely dopey, so I would push as hard as I could and then fall asleep between contractions. I pushed for a total of 20 minutes and then our beautiful baby girl was born at 6:33am. She weighed 7lbs 12 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.
I can't even begin to describe to you what that moment felt like. There is no better feeling in the whole wide world. I can't even stand to write about it because I get all mushy and emotional (my hormones are still a little wacky). So Santa didn't give me an early present after all. Instead, we got our sweet gift from God.

And now for a whole lot of pictures:

Leaving our house for the last time as a family of two


Saying goodbye to the belly

She's here

Everyone finally getting to meet Presley







and for the best part, bringing home our sweet baby girl.

She's Here!

I don't have a lot of time to post, but just wanted to make an official announcement.

Miss Presley Elizabeth has arrived!

She was born on December 29th at 6:33am. She weighed 7 lbs. 12ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

We love her more than we ever imagined possible.

(I promise I'll give the whole story as soon as things slow down a bit. It's actually pretty funny).

Christmas 2009

WARNING: Long post with lots of pics. If you don't make it to the end, I completely understand.

If I'm writing this post, it must mean that Christmas has already come and gone. Seriously???? I wait in anticipation all year and it goes by so fast. We had a wonderful Christmas this year even though Santa didn't bring me the present I wanted most...

Our families live in different cities, so Brandon and I rotate holidays every year. It was our turn to spend Christmas with Brandon's family. Since my sister in law, Brittani, lives in Georgia with her husband, and my other sister in law, Brooke, lives in Houston, it's pretty rare to have everyone under one roof (I'm pretty sure that was a run-on sentence). We really treasure the time we get to spend all together and always have so much fun!

This Christmas Eve we decided that everyone was going to wear Christmas t-shirts.
I could only find one that fit, and by fit I mean a shirt that didn't bare the belly. Were thinking the next Christmas we may have to get a little crazy and do a "tacky Christmas sweater" Christmas eve!

We also got an unexpected gift this Christmas. Our very first White Christmas!

This Christmas was also extra special to Brandon and me because it was the first one we were able to spend in our house. We were determined to drive home on Christmas eve, which probably wasn't the wisest decision. We saw about 30 wrecks on the way home from all the ice. Woops! Anyway, we made it home safe and had a wonderful Christmas morning together.

This is what we woke up to on Christmas morning.

Santa payed us a visit

He was also kind enough to leave presents for Presley even though she wasn't technically here to open them.

Santa aka Mom surprised me with a kindle! I wanted one so bad!

Brandon was very excited about his new jacket. This one is extra special because cat hair won't accumulate on it. We have a hair control problem at our house.

As soon as we opened our presents and stuffed our faces with orange rolls, (baking orange rolls is a Sunday morning tradition in our house, but we decided Christmas would be a great excuse to have them) we headed back out to Brandon's parents to spend Christmas day.

I think this wins the prize for cutest stocking stuffer!

Opening Presents

Brandon doing what he does best!

After all the presents were open, we left to have Christmas at Brandon's Aunt Kathleen's house.
All the cousins

Our last stop of the day was to visit Nana in the rehab center. We wish she could have been home for Christmas, but we made the most of it. Well, most of us did anyway...

All the grand kids with Nana


We also made it out to the "Prairie Lights" in Grand Prairie. Technically this was the day after Christmas, but we try and prolong Christmas as much as possible.

You can barely see us, sorry! (It's Brandon, Shai, Brooke, Britt, Heath, and I in the pic)

Brandon and I...oh, and Presley...still cozy in my belly!

This was another wonderful Souders' Christmas! Of course, I missed seeing my family this year, but they will all be up this week. On Tuesday, we will officially be one family member bigger...

10 Months!

I'm pretty sure I specifically asked Miss Priss not to make me write a post titled 10 months...
Anywhoo, I have officially made it to my due date. There were times when I thought December 23rd would never come. It was so surreal looking at the baby Souders countdown on my blog and seeing 40 weeks. Brandon also woke up this morning and wished me a "Happy Due Date". I love it! Happy due date to me! We decided to celebrate by stopping for donuts and kolaches!! Yum!!!

We also had a doctor's appointment today to just make sure nothing had drastically changed. I had a little more progress from Monday. I'm still only 1 cm dilated, but I'm now 80% effaced. The doc said that I have absolutely no more room in my belly, and is guessing this little babe might weigh in the high 7's!!! I also lost weight from Monday, so that's pretty awesome. However, seeing as Christmas eve is tomorrow, I'm pretty sure that weight I lost will find its way right back. We ended the appointment deciding that I will go into the hospital Monday night and be induced super early Tuesday morning!!!! Assuming she doesn't come on her own, it looks like Miss Priss will have a birthday on December 29th.

Brandon has been feeling pretty down lately about the baby not being here yet. He was hoping to get time with her this week and next before going back to work. Since we have no control over her arrival (until she is evicted on Tuesday), we have been trying to do things to pass the time. We finally tried Twisted Root burger company in Deep Ellum. This place is amazing, and I can't wait to go back and try their amaretto oreo shake when I am no longer with child. We also went to see "The Blind Side". If you haven't seen it, you need to! Then we decided to get a little creative and decorate Christmas t-shirts. They are super tacky, but we had so much fun. Here's a little preview:(Please ignore the horrible mess in my dinning room).
Brandon and I are also looking forward to spending our first Christmas morning in our house (last year, we closed on December 22nd and then drove straight to Houston to spend the holidays with my family). We have been busy buying stocking stuffers, wrapping each others presents, and preparing a Christmas breakfast. We had a little talk with Santa and he has agreed to bring Presley presents this year even though she will probably still be nice and cozy in my belly.

Once again, I just want to thank everyone for all their love and support. I walked out of my doctor's appointment with about 17 texts and voice mail messages waiting to hear the latest on Presley. It made our day! I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas. I plan on taking full advantage of the belly this year and eating my way through the holidays.

1 is the Lonliest Number...

Well, I had my doctor's appointment today.

I am now dilated to a 1. Yay!

It's not enough progress to be induced tomorrow. Boo!


I was REALLY hoping that 1 cm would be enough, but it's not. So I'm still here and still pregnant. I have an appointment on Wednesday, so I'll update again then. Thanks to everyone who sent me good luck wishes this morning. Also, a little confession. I was pretty bummed after the appointment, so I came home and opened up Brandon's stocking Candy that I bought. I have pretty much eaten through it, so now I'm off to the store to replenish his sad supply.

Thank You!

Just a quick little post! We wanted to tell everyone thank you so much for all the phone calls, emails, Facebook posts/messages, cards, texts, letters etc. that we have received letting us know how excited everyone is for Presley to arrive. It's so sweet and means so much to us. I have saved every card that has been sent (Mamaw, I believe your guilty of sending about 20). We are truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends! Your excitement makes this experience so special for us.

Here is the latest picture of my belly. I really really really don't think it can get any bigger. Can it???