WOW!!

I was on my mom's computer and found these pictures. The first two were the week before I delivered (so I was about 38 weeks) and the last one is the night before (yes, I was vacuuming, you have to have a clean house!). I can't believe I'm posting these, especially the bare belly one. But, I don't look like this now...I'm not back to my normal belly though. I really can't believe how big I was!!!

She's too cute!

I just went in and found her awake...happy and giggling at the fan. Here is another pic and a video.

We're still alive!

We're still alive here at the Slade home and just loving on our baby girl. I don't feel like I've gotten much done, but we've been pretty busy lately. First, an update on Brynlee. She is almost 10 weeks old. I can't believe it. We took her in last week for her 2 month checkup and shots. She did really good with the shots and I did too! I didn't even cry! She is 12 lbs 5 oz (90th percentile) and 24 1/2 inches (100th percentile). The next day we took her down to Children's to get checked for her heart murmur. That was an ordeal!! We were there from 9:00 to 12:45. But, she is okay, she does have a murmur, but it should heal on its own. Now we just have to go back every six months. She is growing like a weed. She is now in 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. I wish I could say she was sleeping through the night, but she still gets up once (although I don't really mind it). She is totally spoiled and sleeps with me about half the time (although again, I don't mind). Watching the fan in our room....I've decided the fan is the best babysitter. She'll smile and giggle and talk to it for half an hour.

Colby and I are doing good. We're not as fun and cute as Brynlee though. Colby's taking summer classes (although one of them is volleyball) and I'm taking care of Brynlee. I've been able to run again for about 4 weeks now, and I'm loving it! I've still got quite a bit of weight to lose, so hopefully that will help. I'm hoping (and this might be wishful thinking) to do a marathon in November or December. We're also actually going on vacation in July to Florida! One week at the beach...I can't wait.

Here's a short video of Brynlee. I know its dark, but she sounds really cute.

Our Little Fatty

We went for our weekly weight check today at the doctor's office. My mom took me and Brynlee because I still can not drive or lift anything over 10 pounds. We have to go in weekly until she gets up to her birth weight, which was 8 lbs 14 oz. Well today, our little girl was 9 lbs 6 oz. That's right...over 9 lbs! She is in the 90th percentile. When the nurse told us that, my mom said, well, she takes after her mom. I was in the 97th percentile most of the time when I was an infant.

If this little girl gains any more weight, I'm going to have a hard time picking her up:).

1 Week old and other updates

I barely finished Brynlee's nursery in time for her to get here. My mom helped out a lot and I really love the way it turned out (yes, she does have a piano in her nursery). I still need to put something with her name on it above the crib and change out the pictures in the frames.


Here's the last pregnancy picture...I'm 39 weeks and 1 day...DELIVERY DAY! I still can't believe I was that big.
Here's our first family picture. I don't remember much about her actually being born. I was a little drugged up, worn out, and I was just trying to be calm.

Our daughter has heart shaped nostrils!

The first time I got to hold her.

This just shows how out of it I was after the C section. I think I asked 7 times what she weighed and I still couldn't remember.

Cute Daddy!!


With her cousin Kalisa.


I laid her on the floor yesterday on her back and somehow she ended up on her side like this.

One last cute picture!

Brynlee Ann Slade

She's here! Brynlee was born on Thursday evening at 6:55. We are so happy she is finally here. I went in Thursday morning to be induced and the entire day went great. I got my epidural and progressed quickly and by 5:00, it was time to push. The shortened version is...after 2 hours of pushing, she wasn't going anywhere. It was not enjoyable, especially when they turned down my epidural. At that point, the doctor made the call that she wasn't going to come out and we needed to do a c-section. Within about 10 minutes (but it felt like an eternity to me as I was waiting for the pain killers to start working again), we were in the operating room and she was coming out. She was 8 lbs 14 oz and 21 in long. She is beautiful and we are all just in love with her. Thank you to everyone who has helped us out the last few days. I'll try to post some more pictures soon.

Things to Remember

I'm not good at writing in my journal, but I need to write down some of the things that have happened to me while I'm pregnant. On Thursday, I went to the doctor (and it was miserable getting there...its ALWAYS raining when I go and its supposed to rain on Thursday when I get induced). I got in the elevator with an older man (who looked like Santa Claus but with brown hair) and a lady. The lady got off on the second floor and while the old man and I were riding up to the third floor, he started singing to me. Yes, that's right, singing. I don't have any clue what he sang (it was something "inspirational") because I just kept thinking...don't laugh, don't laugh, it's only one floor. So, when we stopped, he stopped and then he said that it was for me and my daughter. I composed myself enough to tell him thank you and that he had a beautiful voice. He was so sincere that I had to be nice. I really hope I don't have to deal with that again, but it did put me in a better mood.

One other quick story. My mom and I went to Little Rock to run some errands on Wednesday (I was hoping that would put me into labor, but it didn't). We went and looked at rocker recliners and I almost fell asleep in one. Then we went to Sam's and were getting some food (their pizza is yummy and they have CF Diet Coke with free refills and the best ice....how much better can you get?). We were in line for food, and this lady who was sitting down eating noticed me and said "Damn" pretty loud. To make the story better and so you can imagine it...she was a larger black woman. The lady realized my mom heard her and then she said something to me about looking great. I never knew that looking great deserved a "damn."

By the way, I love working the ministorage. People are hilarious. You have to put in a code to get out....there is a very obvious box with a sign that says to enter your code. Well, they'll just pull up to the gate and wait for it to open. And I just sit here and watch them in the camera and laugh. That guy just figured it out after about 2 minutes.