Aunt Marla's little camper

Wanted to dedicate this pic to Aunt Marla and the fam. Christopher is sporting his "Little Trooper" camping gown. Maybe on the next camping trip, one of you can borrow it to keep a little warmer.

there's a first time for everything....

We took Christopher out and about for a little while yesterday. We went to Renassiance and walked around for a while and had lunch outside at 5 Guy's burgers. It was okay, but nothing special. Mugshots is 100% better!!! And get this, Brooklyn was eating her burger and she said I can't even see my hamburger, sure enough I checked between the bun and NO HAMBURGER PATTY :( Brooklyn asked "How do you forget the hamburger on a hamburger?"

Also we gave Christopher a real bath the other night in the BIG tub and he loved it! I hope he contunes to like bath time as much as Ally Harper. And then yesterday, we were all trying to get dressed at once to make it to a soccer game. So Brooklyn was in one bathroom and Chris in the other, so Christopher got to bathe in the kitchen sink. I think he liked it better then the tub :) Too cute, however I didn't get a photo because as I previously stated everyone else was in the shower.

Meeting the Martin's for the 1st time

My brother and his family travelled up on Halloween to visit Christopher for the first time. We also celebrated my dad's birthday which was the day before. It was great to get to visit with everyone.

Happy Halloween

We had a great time trick or treating this year. Ally Harper figured out what it was all about earlier in the day when Granny gave her a little candy in her bucket, so by the time we got ready to go around the neughborhood, she had the hang of it. She would ring the door bells then say "treat" when they opened it. And then she would finish up with saying "thanks". She was super cute, as Mrs. Potato Head, as was Christopher (aka Mr. Potato Head), even though all he got to do was be carried around in mommy's arms. I didn't hear him complain about that either :) As for Brooklyn, she was dressed up as the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wondeland. She went with some other friends in a different neighborhood.

Christopher's 2 week check up

Took Christopher to the doctor for his 2 week check up and would you believe that he is already up to 6 lbs 12 oz. I was shocked. He weighed 6 lbs 4 oz. at birth on Friday and left the hospital on Monday weighing 5 lbs. 8 oz. Then on Wednesday, at his hospital follow up visit he was already back up to 5 lbs. 15 oz. and just 8 days later he is at 6 lbs. 12 oz. I am so proud!!! But I guess he should be gaining weight with the amount he eats. He is a very consistent 2.5 hour eater. Which I am not complaining about. With the horrible eating habits of Ally Harper, I will let him eat as often and as much as he wants! As for the rest of his check up, he received an A+ from Dr. Smith. Everything was perfect :)

Baby #7 has arrived

Congrats to Trey and Caroline O'Cain on the arrival of their sweet baby boy Colson Louis yesterday. He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and was 20 inches long. Please keep this family in your prayers. Before delivery they determined that Caroline was running a fever and diagnosed her with swine flu, so now she and baby Colson are in isolation. She isn't even allowed to hold him yet. Maybe tomorrow! So keep your fingers crossed. Also welcoming baby Colson are big sister Mary Caroline and big brother Attison.

After 4 and a half years...

So after being married for 4 and a half years and having to watch TV in a four poster bed where one of the post distorted by viewing pleasure because it was directly in my line of sight to the tube, I had an epiphany the other night around 3am. While up feeding Christopher, I had the TV on and once again I can only see half the screen because of the stupid post, I had the idea that I could remove the post. These big bed don't come assembled therefore I knew I could probably just unscrew the post and abbracadabbra no more post in my way!! So the next day, I removed the post and now we have a 3 poster bed and one happy midnight feeding momma!

Ally Harper's bedtime routine

Each night when we put Ally Harper to bed, she wants 3 things to sleep with: her blue blanket, her singing and light up Barney and her animal book. Usually I just place the Barney and book at the foot of the bed so she has something to play with the next morning when she wakes up. Occasionally she will play with Barney while she's trying to go to sleep, so I let her for a little bit. Well last night, she started playing with Barney. I let this go on for a while, and then finally after about 20 minutes I decided to go see if she happen to fall asleep on top of Barney's hand since it had been continuously playing for so long. Well upon further investigation, she was still awake and instead of just pressing Barney's hand to listen to him sing, she was using him as a reading light. She had gotten her animal book and was pressing Barney's hand so his belly would light up which would illuminate the room enough so she could see the pictures in her book! I was stunned that she was so inventive. I took both Barney and book away and placed them at the end of the bed again and told her goodnight and left out. As I return to the den, I was laughing so hard I couldn't even tell Chris and Brooklyn what was so funny. I promise this child is hilarious some times! At least she's smart!

Welcome baby #6 in 2 weeks

Congratulations to Chris and Christie McAlpin on the arrival of their 3rd sweet baby girl. Megan Tyler joined the family this morning weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz. Also welcoming Baby Megan are big sisters Kate and Rachel, and all is well with mom and baby!

One week old and one alert little boy

5 babies in one week, and 2 more to come next week!

(top) Michael Greyson "Grey"Lowe (10/14), "Christopher" Hederi Neyland II (10/16), "Hayden" Deanna Hambach (10/21), (bottom) "Brantley" Claire Jones (10/18), Olivia "Jaci" Hackney (10/16)

Christopher's BIG SISTERS

Notice Ally Harper's doll- she had to have a paci for the doll when she saw Christopher taking a paci; however, the doll didn't make it out of the hospital. Ally Harper broke her head off :( But as for her and "brother", they are getting along quite nicely. She isn't overly curious about him, or overly jealous (yet). When she stops long enough to take notice that he is on the house with her, she will say hey to him, or want to touch or kiss him, but that is the extent of her interest at this time. But at least he is still in one piece! As for Brooklyn, she is being helpful as usual and is getting used to having another baby around.

Another new baby...Welcome Baby Hayden!

On October 21, my first cousin, Shelly and her husband Rick, welcomed their baby girl into the world. Hayden Deanna Hambach arrived a couple of weeks early. She weighed 7lbs. 3oz.

Another new baby...Welcome Baby Brantley

And then there was another. On October 18, one of my best friends from Trustmark, Ann Usry, became a grandmother. Her daughter and son-in-law, Tiffany and Jason, welcomed daughter, Brantley Claire Jones into the world a little over 3 weeks early. Brantley weighed 6lbs. and was 19 inches long. That's exactly hpw big Brooklyn was when she was born and she too was 3 weeks early.

Another new baby...Welcome Baby Jaci

Friends, Rachelle and Victor Hackney, welcomed baby Olivia Jaci on the same day as Christopher joined our family. She weighed in at 9lbs. 3 ounces and 22 1/4 inches long.

Welcomed by many friends and family members

Snapshots

Our new and improved family!!!

Welcome the the world Christopher Hederi Neyland II

Well, he's here! And we're home trying to get settled in. As you have probably read in the previous post, we we're scheduled to go in Friday morning for the c section. So Thursday night, mom drove up to keep the girls the next morning til the nanny could get there at six. Chris and I were to be at the hospital at 5:30. So, we got everything packed Thursday night and were getting in bed around 11. And as soon as I laid down, I felt "something", so I got up to "investigate" after using the restroom, I laid back down just about the same time Chris laid down. Then I felt "something" again, I got back up to use the restroom again. As I got a thick sheet to put in the bed just in case, I commented to Chris, "I think my water just broke". He asked "how do you know?" and I said "because I feel as if I just peed on myself, but it was totally involuntary. I couldn't stop it. So after a couple minutes of discussion, I called the doctor's office and got a call back from the nurse within minutes. She and I discussed all the possibilities and the situation. I wasn't having regular contractions, and that we were already scheduled to be at the hospital the next morning and that wasn't sure what was happening because with my previous pregnancies my water never broke soooo, I'm in uncharted territory. While we were talking, all doubt was wiped away! :) The "Gush" heard round the world occured!!! So, she said she would informed the hospital that we were on our way. Since I really wasn't in the state to be walking around the house, I called Brooklyn's cell phone. She and mom were in Brooklyn's bed asleep. I told them to come to our room. As soon as they walked in I said "my water just broke!" So, we were headed to the hospital. I was pretty sure that they would not jump into the c section in the middle of the night unless we had no choice, so they should just stay home until I could get there and find out what was happening. So off we went. I had big plans to get up the next morning early shower, shave, put on makeup and be "ready" for the big day, well so much for my big plans! No makeup, no shower, not even a chance to wash my hair. So off we went. We arrived at the hospital, got hooked up to all the monitors and off we went. Luckily, I still had not dilated any since earlier in the day, so we were in no need to hurry things along. I wanted to just try to make it to the next morning as planned. So my doctor would be there and everyone who was planning to meet us there could still be involved. I started having pretty bad contractions around 3am and finally they came in and gave me something to make the contractions stop. But the night was shot. I didn't get any sleep and by the time I actually felt comfortable enough to sleep, it was 5am and everyone started coming in the room getting things prepped for my surgery. When Chris' parents arrived, they had no idea that we had spent the night in the hospital because we never called anyone, since the plans never really changed. Brooklyn and mom arrived and along with Ms. Diane and Mr. Munson, and the gang was all there. It was time to get started. I was taken back and Chris was finally able to join me and within about 20 minutes, so did Baby Christopher Hederi Neyland II. He was perfect. He came into the world really crying, which was great, because we were a little concerned with his lung development. No worries after that. He scored 9 and 10 on his 1 and 5 minutes APGAR tests. He was born at 7:42 am and weighed 6lbs. 4 oz. and was 19.5 inches long.

One more night!

Well went to the doctor today and instead of next Thursday, we will be doing the c section tomorrow morning at 7am. So I'll get pics posted as soon as I can. Can't wait to meet Christopher!

Another new baby...Welcome Baby Grey!

Cathy and Jason Lowe, some friends from Oxford welcomed a new baby boy into the world today.
Michael Greyson Lowe was born at 12:37 and weighed 6lb. 7oz. and was 18 3/4 inches long. Sisyer Claire also welcomes baby Grey! She and Ally Harper are 5 weeks apart and now Grey and Christopher will be just a couple of days apart. Lots of fun times ahead for all.

Last night's excitement!

Long story short, I was having some contractions around 6pm and after calling the dr. they thought I needed to go to the hospital to be monitored. After getting there and contractions got about 7 minutes apart, we realized that I have a pretty severe bladder infection and Dr. Gebhart thought that's why I was having contractions because after he checked me I still was not dilating. So I was hooked up to an IV and got a strong broad spectrum antibiotic and lots of fluids, but contractions continued to come and the intensity was not decreasing. So around midnight, they gave me a shot of terbueroyl??? to do one of 2 things. Either the shot would stop the contractions, or not and if not then we would go ahead and do the c section. So about 15 minutes later the contractions started to taper off and seemed to be getting better, so he sent us home. So now I am on bed rest until my appointment on Thursday. We will decide then what the next. So stay tuned, baby Christopher may be here well before the 22nd!

Brooklyn's Alice in Wonderland- Mad Hatter Tea Party

Then this morning we got up and dressed and we had the Mad Hatter Tea Party at Mint in the Renassiance. Lunch was fantastic!!! Didn't the hats turn out well. Also, I had dropped off all the table decor Saturday, so our server had everything ready when we got there. Which was great. I think everyone had a good time. After lunch, the plan was to shop around, but it was raining cats and dogs, so we loaded up and went to Northpark for a few hours. Nice and dry! Glad it's all over, now we just need to catch up on our sleep tonight. Also, gotta give a shout out to Ally Harper, who was suppose to stay with Gran for the day, but she had a stomach bug, so AH tagged along! She was SUPER good, hardly even knew she was with us! Super sweet!

Brooklyn's birthday sleepover

Brooklyn had her birthday sleepover last night. This year's theme was Alice in Wonderland- the Mad Hatter's Tea Party
After everyone arrived and we had pizza & watched Alice in Wonderland, each of the girls decorated a hat to wear for the Mad Hatter Tea Party we had at Mint today. They all did such a good job decorating and using creativity.
Brooklyn was The Cheshire Cat
Shelby was Alice
Savannah was The Queen of Hearts
Cameron was The White Rabbit
Noel was The Mad Hatter

Then after hats, we played some board games, and then they attempted to stay up all night. They almost succeeded, it was 3:30 AM and I was still getting up to tell them to be quiet and go to sleep, but to no avail, but at least they didn't wake Ally Harper.

Brooklyn's birthday

I took Brooklyn shopping today for her birthday. She got lots of money from everyone, so she went on a pretty good shopping spree at Justice. I think she had a great time and got lots of cute clothes. But before we got there we had to drop some stuff off at Mint for her actually party on Monday and while there 2 of her best friends pulled up with their mom and asked if we wanted to go to lunch with them. So that worked out just right. We had a birthday lunch at Sweet Pepper's with Shelby, Noel, and Noel's mom and sister, Natalie. And I even had our server bring Brooklyn dessert exactly at 12:31pm, that's that time she was born. After lunch they took Natalie over to Learning Express where they were celebrating Hello Kitty's birthday! Hence, the photo op with Hello Kitty! Oh what fun it would be to be 11 years old again!

Only 14 ( or less) days til Christopher's arrival!

Having a great day today, for starters, I got up early and left Chris and AH at home asleep, dropped B off at school , then hit the Canton Flea Market, parked on the square at a friends office, enjoyed a sausage biscuit with him then walked around for about an hour in the cool enjoyable weather. Then loaded up purchases and was back home by 9:15. After the flea market. next stop was the Dr. office, Baby Christopher checked out well. Sono shows him weighing in at 6lb.2 oz. with 2 weeks to go til c-section. Has lots of hair, actually looked like a flag blowing in the wind there's so much of it Notice in the middle picture the white fuzzy stuff to the left of his head. Lori said that it looks to be about an inch long! How funny is that. He is seriously going to come into this world with more hair than Ally Harper had at a year old!!
I had not gained anymore weight this time, and BP and heart rate and iron was all good. After appt., made a quick stop by the State Fair for a bite to eat with old friends from Trustmark. Ribeye sandwich, sweet tea and cotton candy! Received a great baby gift from them :) thanks guys- you all are truly the greatest co-workers ever! After the fair, back to pick up AH from Mrs. Diane's only to find that she and AH had gone shopping. Christopher got something that he will probably wear home from the hospital and also a couple of gifts from Ms. Mary, the mayor. And AH got the cutest "monkey " outfit made by Bailey Boys! Too cute! Then home for a nap! So far, so good and I call that a GREAT day!

Another friend another pregnancy....

Brooklyn and I went to another baby shower today for a friend. Tiffany Usry Jones is the daughter of Ann Usry, who I worked with at Trustmark for so long. Ann was also like a 2nd mom to me, and I love her dearly. Tiffany is expecting a baby girl- Brantley Claire, on November 11th. Again, I am sure I will have photos to post of her when she arrives too.

Brooklyn's Mad Hatter birthday cake

Brooklyn's birthday is next weekend, but while all the family was gathered today, so had a little celebration for her. Her birthday theme this year is "Alice in Wonderland". So Granny had her a Mad Hatter cake made. I think she was surprised by it.

Christopher's baby shower

I travelled down to my mom's yesterday to help her get prepared for our baby shower. It was good to get away, kid free and have a little "me" time. Brooklyn was invited to a sleepover and Chris stayed home with AH Friday night. Then this morning, he and the girls rode down to Franklin county with his mom for the shower. I got to go thru lots of old pictures last night at mom's (something I had been wanting to do for a while.) I got to sleep in and then spend the morning all alone. I enjoyed a LONG HOT bath and then took my time getting dressed for the shower. For once, I didn't have to hurry anyone up, or chase anyone down, etc. Needless to say I enjoyed my morning off. As for the shower, we had a wonderful time today at the baby shower my family hosted in my home town.
We had lots of WONDERFUL food, got LOTS of great gifts and got to visit with MANY friends and family.
As you can see, we had a sports themed shower (since this is our little boy on the way and since we are such big Ole Miss fans). I have so many Ole Miss dishes, it just made sense to finally put them to good use. Thanks to Marla, Angie, Shelly, Aunt Sheila and Mom for putting together a great event. Also, Brooklyn and Gabby did a great job hosting the games portion of the shower.

More shower pictures

More pictures from the shower. Notice my cousin Shelly, she and her husband Rick are also expecting. They are due to have a baby girl November 4th. We are only 4 days apart! How great is that? I'm sure you will see pics of Hayden Deanna when she arrives.