Our Week at Gigi's

One of our favorite cousins. Whitlee and Alexa.

Another one of our favorite cousins. Drew and Caden.

Caden, Drew, Great-Grandmama Mac, Aunt Annette (our most wonderful Aunt)

Great-Grandaddy Mac

Gigi and Caden feeding the seagulls bread. We all laughed the entire time.

"Cheese"

On Wednesday we went to the aquarium. We had a great time!

Caden touched a skate.

In awe of all the "fishies"

"Smoodie (smoothie) mustache"

Our daily walks with Caden saying cheese. He's getting really great at taking pictures.

As I sit here and post with Alexa in my arms I am reminded of how important family is. Just 26 short years ago my Mom did the same sort of stuff while holding her baby girl in her arms. Of course she wasn't typing on the computer, but you get my drift.

This week Jason has been out of town in Virginia Beach, VA. Twice per year he goes there to fulfill his lecture hours for his graduate classes. So, Caden, Alexa and myself had the privilege of coming to my Mom's house in Emerald Isle for the week. What a great time we've had and oh how I've enjoyed seeing my Mom.

For Jason and I it's hard sometimes living away from our families. It gets challenging with kids doing it all alone for the most part. Whoever said "it takes a village to raise a child" is speaking nothing but truth. Thanks to God's provision, we have great friends who are willing to help us out and family who doesn't mind driving to see us.

Mothers and daughters can have such a special relationship and I look forward to cultivating the same bond my Mom and I have with Alexa as she grows and matures. What a great example I have to pattern that after. Mom, you have done many great things in life, but most of all, you are a success at being a mother. So much of a success, that myself and many others want to pattern themselves after you. Thanks for a great week and for taking care of us. We love you so very much.

And Jason, we have missed you a ton. Can't wait for my hubby and Caden and Alexa's Daddy to return tomorrow. Here's a quick review of our week.

I've Never Had More Fun

The first time brother and sister meet. Daddy looks pretty thrilled too.

Their first kiss. Caden has been patiently waiting for this moment for 40 weeks.

Our home and our snow we returned to. What a beautiful sight.

Proud Papa bringing his little girl to her home.

As you can see, we're thrilled she's here. Alexa is in her room and in her crib for the very first time!

First bath. She's tired after all that crying.

More kisses.

He's in love.

Best big brother for sure!

Little, sweet Alexa Bree just hanging out on the couch.

He loves to hold her hand too.

More snow! It snowed in Durham this past weekend. Caden's favorite part was eating the snow and then saying, "good snow, good snow."

Some would say that following some other schedule than your own, cleaning up messes that aren't yours, sleep deprivation and changing poo poo after poo poo would be far too much to wish on any man. I say, I am having the time of my life! Being a Mom of one was great enough, but being the Mom of two, I can hardly contain myself. Yes, I'm tired and I think from time to time, is this possible? The answer is yes it's possible and it's not about me. It's about these two gifts that we've been given to steward over. What an incredible opportunity.

Alexa is doing fabulous. She sleeps well at night. Not through the night yet, but at least 3 to 4 hours for now. She eats well and she loves being held and kissed by most anyone. She's beautiful too. Caden loves his little sis. He kisses her at least a million times a day and then says assuringly, "I'm a good big brother." In which I respond, "yes you are. You're the best big brother." He's had no melt downs as of yet. He wakes up in the morning asking for Alexa and goes to bed at night wanting to kiss Alexa at least twice before going into his room.

Alexa will be three weeks old this Saturday AM at 3:19. We are having tons of fun! We've had lots of great family time and lots of sweet visitors. We love your visits and appreciate so much your love! Thanks everyone for celebrating our little girl with us.

Now Introducing Alexa Bree McDaniel!

Freshly delivered.

Proud Papa

Tired Mommy, but HAPPY!

4 am. It's been a long, but rewarding night!

It all started Thursday night. Through the night I woke up with small cramps. My body had been doing this for a week so I didn't know delivery was so near. Fridays are normally our "day off" or "family days." We got up as usual and began to prepare for our snow storm coming up which was suppose to produce 8 to 12 inches of snow in our area. Went to Lowe's to get a generator, went to the bank, etc. Came home and I washed clothes, cooked and cleaned up in preparation for the power going out. I told Jason that my cramping was more and more with a few contractions here and there. I could not at that point articulate weather all the hype in my body was from Alexa or from the excitement/stress of preparing for the snow??? So this continued throughout the day with the contractions getting stronger.

With all this in mind, Mom decided to come up, stay with Shane, and be here in case we needed her. She got in town Friday afternoon and we planned on meeting her and Shane for dinner and also to get her 4-wheel drive SUV in case we needed it in the middle of the night. GOOD IDEA MOM! Mother's have an intuition sometime. Those plans did change slightly...Mom and Shane were headed to the restaurant and I called to say please just come to our house because my pains were worsening. We packed Caden up, Mom and Shane left with our car and met Debbie who was going to take Caden to my Dad's in Wilson. Getting Caden to Wilson before the snow was a last minute decision and boy was it a smart one b/c from there on our night of action really started to heat up.

From 7 til 9pm, Jason and I finished packing for the hospital. Then at 9pm we sat down to watch our show, American Idol (we had recorded it from Wed. night). The contractions started to get consistent then. Every 7 minutes. This lasted until 11pm and we went to bed to try and get some rest not knowing what lied ahead. I feel asleep for 7 minutes and then another contraction woke me up. "It's go time" is what ran through my mind. The contractions went from every 7 minutes to every 5 minutes over the next two hours. We called the doctor at 12:45 am to see if we should come to the hospital and she didn't give us any advise of whether we should or shouldn't. Then about two minutes later, in the middle of a contraction, my water broke. I jumped in the shower and the pace was fast and furious from then on out. I could hardly wash my hair in the middle of contractions. They went from 5 minutes to 3 and 2 minutes apart. There were times I thought, "are we going to make it to the hospital in time with this weather and ice on the roads?" By this time there was 3 to 4 inches of snow covering everything and it wasn't letting up a bit. The roads were absolutely covered.

My husband is amazing! He rubbed my back through many of the contractions up to this point. Yes, I did have back labor all over again. When I jumped in the shower, Jason dressed and got the car packed and de-iced. This was a 30 minute process of scraping and shoveling. In the meantime, Heather was still not ready. I couldn't get it together. With God's grace and Jason's help, we finally got on the road. It was dangerous no doubt. We were reminded of this by the many cars we passed that were wrecked into the sides of ditches because of the ice on the roads. But Jason focused on driving as I was having intense contractions and we finally made it safely. It took us about 45 minutes to get to Rex and upon arriving there at 2:10am I knew Alexa was coming soon.

We went upstairs to the waiting room and all I could do was cry and ask Jason to hold me. After having about 2 or 3 contractions there, I told Jason, "I feel like I could push her out right now, you've got to get us in a room!" So Jason pressed the nurses and they took us immediately to a room. After 30 minutes of doing hospital logistics in between contractions (e.i. filling out paper work, getting hooked up to monitors, answering seemingly endless questions, etc.) I actually vomited all over myself, the bed and the floor. I was a mess. I finally told the nurse, "you have go to check me to see if I can push." Finally she complied. Once she checked me, she said, "how far along do you want to be?"

I said, "10 cm so that I can push her out."

"You've got your wish," she said. And, I kid you not, within 2 minutes the room went from there being just myself, Jason and the nurse to us three, the doctor and six nurses. Everyone was scrambling to get things ready because they knew I could not hold Alexa in my body much longer. Jason had to call Mom, who was downstairs, so that she could run up and see the baby delivered. It all happened so fast, she almost missed it. But when she walked in I was getting ready to push. After 2 minutes and three pushes Alexa Bree McDaniel was here. Jason and my Mom were both crying. It was such a great moment and our family will never forget it.

She came out perfectly healthy and weighting 8 pounds, 9 ounces. She is 20 1/4 inches long, has lots of dark hair and a beautiful dark complexion. She def. resembles Caden some but in no way could be considered his twin. She is beautiful and we are in love with our little snow baby!

Piggy Bank and Pink!

Caden has a new love for his piggy bank. Every time Gigi comes into town she gives Caden a little change to add to his bank. He absolutely loves it. He is all business when it's time to deposit the money. I couldn't even get him to fully look at me nor smile while the deed is happening. He might be an accountant.

Last Saturday we had a small shower for Alexa here in Durham. Jessica and Tiffany hosted this special time for myself and little gal. It was wonderful! Thanks guys for all your hard work. We got most everything we need for our new addition that's coming sometime very, very soon. So soon that I think I may should pack for the hospital tonight to just be prepared. Nothing's happening yet, but I want to be ready. At the shower we got our monitor, cute clothes, a diaper genie, toys, diaper apparel, etc. All things that are girly for sure. It was great. She's ready and her room is all set. Now we just need a baby!

Christmas 2009

Jason's theme this year was tools. He's my handy man!

Gigi opening her "ticket" that invites her to see Alexa born. She was thrilled! She will die when she sees this picture up here.

Mom, Caden, Jason and myself at Mike's Tree Farm.

The crazy Harris cousins. Caden, Faith, Caleb, Trent, Jordan, and Parker.

Sweet Grandaddy Jimmy.

Caden's main squeeze at the McDaniel's...Drew

For those of you who haven't seen Mama in a while...from the side it looks like I'm about ready huh?

Caden saying, "oh wow!"

Grandaddy, Caden and Mema

Christmas Card 2009

I absolutely love Christmas time. Celebrating Jesus, creating traditions, the decorations, the cold (you never know in NC), the food and the family. This year was so great as usual! We traveled for a week seeing all sides of the family. The 4-runner was packed down because we gathered stuff at each stop. Wish I'd taken a picture of that. Caden was a blast. He learned very quickly that opening gifts was tons of fun. Each gift he opened was followed by, "oh wow!" We smiled and enjoyed him a lot. Hope your Christmas was so great too!

Since being home and before going back on campus...we have devoted ourselves to getting our life together and preparing for little Alexa coming sometime soon. Her room is 98% done. Will post pictures when fully complete.

At Least There's Snow Cream!

Last week the weather people were calling for BIG snow around RTP and westward. So I was pumped. What is it about being snowed in that's so fun? We got the groceries we needed and Caden was ready to play. Friday night came around and the snow began to fall! Yahoo. It was looking very promising. We sat our bowl on the patio to gather snow so I could make some snow cream...Did it and Caden said "yummy, yummy" the entire time he partook. As we went to sleep that night I told Jason I couldn't wait until morning so we could go outside and play. Woke up Saturday and NOTHING...Nothing but freezing cold outside and most of the snow was gone. Oh well, we will wait patiently until next time and at least we got some "yummy" snow cream!

Our Last Month of Life!

Well, I turned 27 yrs. old over Thanksgiving break. That's right 27. We celebrated with our parents at Pizza Villa, my favorite restaurant in Kinston. That's the perks of having your birthday on or close to a holiday. You're always with family.

Caden ate as much pizza as Jason and I did. Then he had two cupcakes! He never gets dessert by the way. Needless to say it took him a while to go to sleep that night.

Faith and I share the same birthday! Both born on Thanksgiving day. I love sharing my birthday with my only Sister. Here she is modeling her Ugg's we got for her. She was thrilled!

One week later, Dec. 7th, my hubby turned 28! We have now celebrated his birthday for over a week with different people. Here are my two cutie pies on J's birthday night. We ate at Kanki for dinner and had cookie cake. Both family favorites. Caden's a happy boy; full belly and in Daddy's arms.

This time of year is full of birthday celebrations on both sides of the family. So fun. We went from thanksgiving to birthday celebration after celebration. Lots and lots of food and enjoyment!