Olivia Kate Ledbetter has arrived!!!

I'll get to our birth story a little later but for now I wanted to announce that my precious baby girl made her grand appearance into this world last Wednesday, December 14th at 10:45 p.m. weighing in at 7 lb and 9 ounces and was 21 inches long!!!! We are more than happy to have her here healthy and happy before Christmas.  What a wonderful gift for sure!

I am a Kept Woman!

I Am a 'Kept' Woman

 
You see, there were a few times when I thought I would lose my mind,
But GOD kept me sane. (Isa. 26:3)

There were times when I thought I could go no longer,
But the LORD kept me moving. (Gen 28:15)

At times, I've wanted to lash out at those whom I felt had done me wrong,
But the LORD kept my mouth shut.. (Psa. 13)

Sometimes, I think the money just isn't enough,
But GOD has helped me to keep the lights on, the water on, the car paid, the house paid, etc.., (Matt. 6:25 -34)

When I thought I would fall, HE kept me up.
When I thought I was weak, HE kept me strong! (I Pet. 5:7, Matt. 11:28-30)

I could go on and on and on, but I'm sure you hear me!
I'm blessed to be 'kept'

Do you know a 'kept' woman?
If so pass it on to her to let her know she is 'Kept'

I'm "Kept" by the Love and Grace of God

God doesn't give you the people you want, He gives you the people you NEED,....
To help you, to hurt you, to leave you, to love you and to make you into the person you were meant to be.
Peace Be With You Throughout Your Day!

38 week Pregnancy Updates!!

Yesterday I turned 38 weeks pregnant! I am too exhausted to do a full pregnancy post but I'll go ahead and let you all know to say a little teenie tiny prayer for us that I will deliver this baby sometime this weekend!! I was checked this morning by my doctor and I've dilated to 2 cm maybe 3!! So I am really hoping that this little girl comes sooner rather than later! Thanks for the much appreciated prayers! 

Haircut Rut!

It's official Hannah Grace was in need of a haircut! I was dreading it completely!! I just hated the thought of cutting those first baby hairs off.  When I got to Amanda's on Saturday we came prepared.  We thought that gummies and a granola bar would be a great distraction! I was so worried of how it would look that I told Amanda that I wanted only a touch cut off.  Well that's what she did she barely cut any and just blended it more.  Hannah did so good!  I guess she is used to me messing with her hair constantly that it didn't really even phase her but the granola bar helped too! :)

Oh and I was able to get my hair done too! The last time before Olivia arrives!! Roots are awful and any chance I can get to cover them up I take it! haha!   So the only thing I have left to do (especially since I got mine and Kyle's bag packed today!) is take my last exam!  I would absolutely love it if she would arrive on or by December 18th! We will have to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hannah is 22 months old!

Oh my goodness! How did my teenie tiny baby get so big? I mean her features looks so different yet so much the same. 

I still can't get over how lean she has become and how smart she is! 

New things lately:

~ Eating better than ever with a fork or spoon

~ Running all over the place

~ Playing chase

~ Probably says 3 to 5 word sentences.  You can't always understand what she is saying but I generally get the idea... I guess I'm learning baby talk as quickly as she is learning to talk lol

~ Learned what a boo boo is and wants us to kiss it to make it feel better

~ Totally a Mommy's girl

~ She has a lot of favorite words but right now the way she says and draws out the word no is my personal favorite.

~ Refuses to eat some foods now, she won't even try it

~ Gives "big" hugs and loves to give kissy's

~ When she first started saying her name it came out sounding like "Hannie" now she's got it down and says "Hannahhh" (really pronouncing the nah sound)

~ She can say all of her ABC's

~ She can count to 10

~ The new songs she's learned are

     ~ Twinkle Twinkle Little Start

     ~ Jesus Loves Me

     ~ A few parts of Ol' McDonald

     ~ Itsy Bitsy Spider

     ~ The Barney song- I Love You...

     ~ The ABC's

     ~ Some parts of Happy Birthday

The only thing I can gather is that they are really working with them at daycare.  I sing these songs with Hannah but she usually starts singing them first and I just practice with her. 

~ She still loves books, books, and more books

~ She loves to be cuddled when its bed time... Which I EAT UP! I love a good snuggle buddy and why not do it with my babies?? 

~ Before I'd ask her "Who's going to be a big sister?" she'd raise her hand and say "meeee"... Now I say "Hannah are you going to be a big sister?" and she puts this little mischievous smile on and says "noooo"

~ She now points at my belly... my very huge belly (might I add) and says "baby seester"

~ I've tried to get her to say Olivia and it comes out a jumbled mess, we will work on that later haha

~ She adores Elmo and loves Winnie the Pooh every time we get in the van (although she watches Elmo) she says Pooh and Tigger!

~ Her birthday theme is Elmo so I'm going to let her get in as much Elmo as possible that way she's very VERY familiar with Elmo! ha!

~ She poo-pooed in her diaper a few weeks ago and every time I'd ask her if she did she would respond with a No so I fussed at her and told her to say yes if she poo-pooed in her diaper, not no. So now every time she pees in her diaper she says poo-poo (repeatedly!) I guess that's my fault. 

~ Hannah still gets very jealous when I pick my nephew Braylon up or just play with him.  She wants to be right in the mix and repeats every move and every word I make or say! It's kind of cute but it worries me about what the future is going to hold!

~ Hannah is most definitely entering into the terrible two's but she has so many days too where she is just a doll baby! She is so loving and has such a big heart. 

~ She loves our Chihuahua Reece and surprisingly Reece loves her too.  Most Chihuahua's are aggressive towards kids but these two are meant for each other!  Now if Hannah gets too rough Reece will run and hide but most of the time she's pretty gentle and LOVES to share her food with her!

~ Hannah's hair is growing like crazy now and cutting it is harder than I thought it would be!

~ Hannah also has every tooth in her mouth except for her last molars (what is it 4 or 8?) I thought seeing that toothless gummie smile was adorable but seeing all those teeth and a big smile is even better!

~ She is still in a lot of 18 month clothes but is starting to get into more 24 month shirts and even some pants especially the ones you can tighten up on the insides (greatest invention for kids EVER!) I'm pretty sure she is hitting a growth spurt or just hit one because it's like her 24 month shirts that were too long in the sleeves and her 24 month pants that were too long are now suddenly starting to fit!

There are probably a million other "new" things she has started doing over the past couple of months until now but I think I've listed the majority of them! I love having her in a daycare facility, they have taught her tons of awesome things that I probably would never know how to teach but I miss seeing her throughout the day and I just love spending time with her! God has given me the greatest gift and that is to be a mother and oh how I am thankful for that!  I will love my Hannah (and Olivia) forever and for always! 

Look at my sweet girl this time last year!!!

And now.... amazing!!



CHRISTmas is Here.... (almost)!

The last 2 or 3 weeks have been super busy!  I finally was able to get my Christmas decorations up and there is just something about having your entire house decked out with trees, lights, red and green nic-naks, garland, and to top it all off I have Christmas tree smelling candles that I can't wait to light up and let their scent carry all through the house!  This is by far my most favorite time of year!  Although I have noticed that any holiday with children gets more and more exciting especially as they grow.  lol... 

Tree #1!

We were not sure what Hannah would think of the trees this year, last year she didn't even mess with them surprisingly, and then this year again to my surprise she just walks up to it every now and then and points at the ornaments and says "ooo pretty".  We finished all of our shopping by the last weekend in November, the kicker is wrapping all of them.  Not a huge fan of wrapping, especially since I'm 9 months pregnant.  I feel so squished when I'm sitting on the floor bending over trying to cut the paper, tape it, or just roll it out! ha!

Of course I added Hannah's first ornament!

Tree # 2!

I am extremely excited though because I know Hannah will be ripping into her presents this year and it worries me that I wont be home for this exciting time... 8(

Kyle was a sweetheart and helped me wrap almost all of the gifts we had and it took FOREVER! I need to wrap the rest of them this week and I'm thinking, WHEN?

I have to wrap them this week because Kyle and I decided to do a joint gift to each other of something we both wanted and they are coming in on Friday!!! We got our living room a new couch and our sun room a coffee table and two end tables!! It's going to look fantastic once its in there and all the clutter is cleaned out but it is getting to that point that sucks!

I also need to pack my bag(s) for the hospital!! GEESH! I so do NOT want to do this!! I started packing Hannah's bag at least, we may in the hospital as little as 24 hours or as long as 3 1/2 days!  So I have to plan ahead and pack her Christmas dress (one of them anyway) 3 changes of clothes, diapers, butt paste, shoes, socks, her stuffed animals (that she sleeps with so they can wait), and then since it's cold season I have to pack stuff in case she gets sick! I hope to get diaper bag and our bag packed sometime this weekend.  And put the car seat in the car (yes I know I am so unprepared!). 

I am semi putting things on hold until after my finals and then once they are done then I feel like I can really begin working on things to get stuff done.  Believe it or not Olivia's room is still not finished.  Of course I am hoping and praying that she will grace us with her presence like several days before Christmas so we can be home. 

In between the craziness of Christmas shopping, work, and school we have managed to squeeze in some things.  One being Hannah's 2nd Santa excursion and bless her heart she was absolutely horrified of him! I have never heard her scream like that in my entire life, not even with shots!

Tree # 3!

Fixing to go to our first Christmas party of the year.

This is something new for the month of December... She has perfected the pouty face!

Hannah was thrilled wasn't she?

My Scary Wednesday!

I was on my way to class Wednesday morning just like usual.  The sun was out and bright as ever, I remember thinking man I'm glad its to my back and not blinding me.  I was at a stop light on 74 in Shelby there were about 15 to 20 cars in front of me.  I was actually running later than usual, my class doesn't start until 9 but I like to get there early to catch up on reading and get caught up on assignments.  Early I mean I would prefer to leave my house around 6:30 in order to get to GWU by 7:30 plus I beat school traffic! 

Well, this morning it was cool and crisp and I just didn't get moving like I should have been.  I remember calling my sister to talk because I was sitting in traffic and getting really sleepy.  She didn't answer... About the time I looked down to set my phone in the center console I heard the squeal of tires on asphalt... I thought to myself, as I tensed up (which you should NEVER do... unless you want to be sore) Oh good Lord please don't let this happen again!! If you look at my previous posts back in April, click here I was in an accident where someone rear-ended me! I swear I must have a target on my car it doesn't matter what car I drive people aim for it! ha-ha...

I didn't even have time to look in my rear view mirror before I felt the jolt of being hit by another persons car.  I think my brain was stuck in delay mode for maybe 5 seconds and I was brought back to reality when I saw the car that hit me pull around to the right of me and pull off on the side of the road.  I too pulled off to the side in the grass in front of him and I again thoughts passed through my head that the grass was wet and slick, was I going to be able to get off this slope I've driven into.  Crazy random thoughts I had and I actually remembered them!

I climb out of my car and look at the car that hit me, that's when I realized he didn't hit me, it was the lady behind him who hit him and then hit me!! She was going at least 55 mph when she barreled into him!  He said he saw her coming and she wasn't slowing down so he tried to pull into the other lane... Thank goodness he didn't! But he did turn his wheels enough that he actually was the one who ended up taking most of the impact.  I looked at their cars, the back end of his was smashed, he was driving a Honda Pilot and she was driving a KIA Soul.  Evidently at the last second she tried to pull around him to prevent from hitting him and ended up pushing him out of the way and then hitting me.  The metal down the left (front) side of her car was almost peeled completely back to the front door.  There was debris all over the road, shards of plastic and metal shards and glass pieces.  Neither of the cars were drivable after that, except mine.  So I know my guardian angel was watching over me with extra care that day!

I called Kyle and he wanted me and the baby to get checked out so I figured I'd call my doctor's office and see if they could squeeze me in.  They gave me orders to go straight to the triage at the Birth Place in Gastonia because they would need to monitor me/the baby and make sure everything was okay.  That was when I began to freak out a little bit.  I held it together long enough to get the information I needed for the wreck from the police officers and then as I was on my way to the hospital I began crying (not the best thing to do while driving) but Kyle reassured me and told me he was going to meet me there.  I calmed down and go to the hospital and walked up to triage.

The nurses there were all super nice and showed me my "room" which was super small!  The nurse told me to undress and she would hook me up to the monitors.  She also informed me that I was going to have to stay there and get monitored for at least 4 hours!!! WHAT?! I wasn't prepared for that at all!  Don't get me wrong I was glad they wanted to watch Olivia's heartbeat but dang 4 hours +? That seems like foreverrrrrr! But we obviously weren't going to leave! Miss Olivia was monitored for 4 hours and 20 minutes and then I finally was able to get dressed and get discharged!  She had a strong heartbeat in the 140's no decels and was doing perfect! I however, went home and rested for the rest of the evening.  The soreness oddly didn't kick in until late that night and the pain I was in around my back/waist area and around my rib cage woke me up in tears!!! I took the only pain remedy I could have (Tylenol) and took a hot shower.  I was able to relax my muscles enough to get some rest. 

I told Kyle that I was kind of surprised how sore I was, I felt like they didn't hit me that hard but I guess when your body is kind of out of its norm in the first place it doesn't take much.  I am just thankful that I wasn't (or Olivia of course) wasn't hurt worse and the knowing it came very close to being a lot worse scares me but I also am so thankful to the Lord! He has protected us once again!

So since I was unable to finish up my 30 days of thanks in November I am going to finish them on here!

Day 30~ I was thankful for being protected by the good Lord and my sweet baby girl is doing perfect from our little bump up!!