Annarose is beginning to smile, real smiles... not gas smiles. She is also cooing, which is pretty darn cute.

Annual Blue Ridge Trip

Every year we head to the mountains to check out the colors and views of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Last weekend we ventured out to see how Annarose would do on a car trip, she was an angel of course. We really enjoyed our family day, although for the second year in a row the leaves were pretty dull. We have had a lot of droughts and it makes for a dried out fall. The day was beautiful though, gorgeous, blue clear skies.

Annarose liked her pack carrier, she enjoyed being snuggled with Daddy.
We stopped at a park and did a walkabout and let Sam explore. He ran, he climbed and he ran some more. There were these beautiful wheat fields everywhere, the pictures do not do it justice.



This lodge is in the park, and it had some vacancies. We had no idea it was there, and had tried to get a hotel for the night but had no luck. Next year, we are going to try and get a room. It is pretty rustic, no TV or telephones... but it sounds so relaxing to me. There is a porch that wraps the whole building and a stone patio with fire pit and view in the center of the building.
On Sunday, we headed to the pumpkin patch at the Farmer's Market to get our Halloween pumpkins. Sam was very excited and picked out one for each of us. Annarose was not impressed.

Today will be two months since we buried my dad.

Since August 12th, there isn't an hour that goes by that I don't think about him. I miss him.

Everyone tells me that the "anniversaries" will be the toughest, our first birthday without him, Christmas, and such... but sometimes it is just the mornings I wake up and want to call him that seem to hardest. The times when I have to share a silly story about Sam. He liked to answer the phone ask my mom which number was on the phone #1, #2, #3 or #4. I was #3. It was a game they played.

I had my first dream about my dad since he died. It was very real, and vivid. I can still remember the whole conversation. The best part was that it took place in his airplane and we were flying. It made me miss him more, but it allowed me to watch a few home movies. I haven't been able to watch the movies with him in it till a few days ago.

Today is a hard day.

Some milestones...

Finally! FINALLY! We are having some sweet, sweet success with the poopin' on the potty! I hope to not jinx myself, but for the last three days we have had poops on the potty with Sam. I can not express how absolutely ecstatic Cody and I are (particularly me). After a long eight months, I think we are finally on the right track. There has been many bribes, begs and tears from both Sam and me... but it looks like just a little bit of privacy and a good book was all he needed.

And, I weighed Annarose at Mommy and Me yesterday. At one month she is 7 lbs. 1 oz.

She has gained a perfect amount of weight. She is a healthy eater and sleeper. Let's hope this trend continues. She has her official checkup with the peditrician next Tuesday, so I will be able to get a proper weight, length and head circum check.

Annarose is One Month Old

Annarose is now one month old, I can hardly believe it. The time is going by fast! She is as sweet as ever, very snuggly and happy. I guess it is that second child thing, because AR just goes with the flow.

She is eating pretty good, it is hard to get on a real feeding schedule. She cluster feeds. She is much sleepier than Sam was, and I find that I have to wake her up most of the time in the day to get all her meals in, and she just falls asleep in her food. Then, around 6:00 pm she wakes up and she just can't get enough. We usually give her a bottle around 10ish along with whatever she takes at the breast, and she will sleep till to 2:30. I am getting decent sleep, as long as, she goes back to bed. Sometimes, when she wakes up she is really wakeful for up to and over an hour after she eats. That is torture.
Sam is still adoring her, and they have books and prayers each night with Daddy. He is still adjusting. There is still a fair amount of tantrums and mischief. He recently started getting out of bed to either help himself to toys or visit us in our bedroom or living room. I hope to get this little hiccup nipped soon. I am not a fan of the high maintenance child at bedtime.Bottle time! I am looking forward to her weight check on Wednesday. She seems so much fuller than Sam, it should be interesting. He was at 7lbs at one month. She doesn't seem to eat as much, but then again, I don't seem to have the trouble with milk supply this time.
Noah, Ruby and Annarose ***(Noah is my cousin Chris Andrew's new little boy. He was born at the end of July)
Annarose with her "sweetie-pie"

Sam's Homegirl

This is Lauren, Sam and her are "best friends". If your wondering about the wings, Sam is very secure in his manhood. Upon being invited to a 4 year old girls fairy birthday party, all guests donned fairy wings. Sam promptly corrected the other guests that his wings were "dragon wings".

Out of the Darkness Walk

My brother Dennis is walking this weekend in the "Out of the Darkness" walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I would be honored if you would care to donate in my Dad's honor. No family should have to suffer like ours... awareness and education are the only way to stop this dreadful affliction.

I wish I could walk myself, but I am still restricted to no exercise while recovering from my

C-section.

Here is the link.

http://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&eventID=1173&participantID=145013

3 weeks old

Annarose continues to be our sweet little angel! She is an absolute breeze. Life is starting to resemble a bit of normalcy, Sam is adjusting and will probably really settle down once we are on our own in a few days. The last of our help with the Grandmas ends on Tuesday. I have been so blessed, it should be interesting to see how I cope with the two kid juggle.

Annarose takes her napping very seriously.
We went down to celebrate Joe's 3rd birthday, and Annarose was awake for the cake and singing. She already knows the importance of dessert.Bedtime ritual already includes Annarose being held during stories for special brother-sister snuggles.
Grandma and Annarose, love at first site.

Oma!

Now, I am not just saying this because I am a mom... but seriously, what would we do without our mothers?

I am lucky enough to have had a second week of support to help me with my recovery. Margie came all the way from San Diego to help us with Sam and to meet our new little gal. She chauffeured, cooked, chased after Sam and folded laundry till the sun went down. Thank goodness! I hope she got a chance to enjoy her stay a little, even if we put her to work. Thanks Mom! We all appreciated it.

Lunch date at Mayberry's! Complete with burger and milkshake.Daddy and his babiesHanging outA real good shot of our sleepy little monkey with her eyes open for once...

Annarose is doing fantastic, she continues to be such a sweet, calm baby. She rarely fusses and is very content to just sit in her bouncy or bassinet and watch the world go by. Although, she gets a good amount of snuggling in too. It is such a change from Sam, who at this point was becoming very colicky. She wakes to eat anytime from 2 to 4 times a night, but usually goes back easy for me. The Smart Start nurse came out to do a weight check on Thursday and she is up to 6 lbs 1 oz. I can see she is filling out her little newborn clothes a bit nicer now.

Sam is also doing worlds better. He still is cranky from time to time, and is a bit more whiny than usual... but overall his fits are starting to go away and we are seeing more and more of our sweet boy return. I am trying to keep his schedule as close to normal as possible, and this week I could do a bit more with him. I think this is helping. Sam adores Annarose, he croons sweet nothings to her and really enjoys holding her.

We survived week one!

Well, our first week at home was really wonderful. Annarose is a really sweet, low key baby. I am feeling worlds better after this section, than I did with my section with Sam. I felt like I'd been hit with a Mack truck for two week postpartum with my boy. I am still sore, but felt well enough to go home on Sunday to be with my family.

Here is Annarose and Sam getting ready to leave the hospital. He is a very proud big brother. He is very protective and sweet with her.
Our homecoming!Annarose's first bath, she didn't seem to mind it that much. Although, it doesn't look that way in this picture.Her biliruben was a little high, and the doctors had us "sunbathe" her a few times during the week. She must have a little California (or feline) in her blood, because she loved sleeping in the sunshine.Nana Rose and Annarose hit it off like peas and carrots! My mom was such a huge help. THANKS Momma, your my hero.Annarose sleeps like she is still upside down in the womb. She crosses her feet and pulls them all they way up to her belly button. Sammy and his girl.
Mom's last day with us, we got us a three generations pic...I love this one. I think I will frame it up.Annarose got to meet her cousin Ruby! Ruby looked so big compared to Annarose. I know this won't last for too long before she starts to catch up.And, although our Sammy is doing really really good with his sister. He is still a little rocked. I am not sure if it jealousy or more that I am not able to take care of him right now, because of my soreness and limitations for healing. Not to mention, there is always a baby attached to me eating. He has been pretty sensitive, and more likely to come to tears and tantrums. One of my friends said the hardest part of going from one to two kids is the terrible amount of guilt you have for your oldest... I find this statement to very true. My heart hurts for how hard it has been for Sammy to understand why things feel so different. After all, he is still my baby too.That's it for now, Oma arrived last night and she will be with us for the whole week. Sammy is very excited for her to play with him. I think we may work on his Halloween costume while she is here.

Annarose Eileen Fielden

Our little beauty arrived in style on Friday, September 10th at 1:20pm. She was 5 lbs. and 15 oz., 19 inches long and simply perfect. Her name is Annarose Eileen, her name comes from a combination of my dad's two favorite ladies my mom and his mom. She came by C-section as expected and it is a good thing too, she had that cord wrapped around her little neck not once, but two times! The doctor said this was why she was breech and also why she never moved her position.

I was really nervous on Friday morning, all of sudden it hit me what was about to happen. I hadn't really put alot of thought into the whole operating room "thing" until we got into the car to head to the hospital. Then, we ended up waiting around for longer than expected (on an empty stomach) and by the time I went in, I was really nervous! It all went smooth, Annarose took a little longer to get out than normal... she was stuck. Dr. O'Keeffe nicknamed her Miss Sticky. The first glimpse I got, was of a little blue foot that popped out and then shortly after came the rest of her. Here are a few pictures from the big day!

Proud Poppa

Our first family picture!

Very Proud and Protective Big Brother

Meeting Nana, her namesake!

Uncle Hamp and his "Hampette"

Aunt Holly

It's Go Time

Sam said his good-byes to "us" this morning before heading out to school with Daddy. I am very excited to meet our little angel! She kept me up most of the night, I think she is cooked and ready to meet the world.

We should have some news to share this afternoon. I go in for pre-op prep at 10:30, and should be in surgery at around noon.

39 weeks

Here we are, hitting the home stretch. I can't believe in just less than 48 hours I will be holding my new precious daughter. In spite of loss and tragedy, this is proof that life indeed does continue on... I have been filled with anticipation, and am really busy preparing for her arrival. Everyday my "to do" list grows longer, faster than I can check things off.

Mom is here helping me get my "last minutes" done.

I am tired. Sleep has been tough, discomfort and head full of "stuff". I haven't been hungry at all, and at times am a bit nauseous. Everyone was a little concerned about my weight gain, or lack there of... it kind of leveled off and I haven't put anything on in the last few weeks.

My doctors appointment on Tuesday went great. She is doing really good. Her heartbeat was strong, and they say she is up to about 5 and a half pounds. Small, but healthy. She is measuring in the 4-5th %, sound familiar?

In other news, Sammy started school today. He was very excited to get back to it, and enjoyed all the playing he did with his homegirl Lauren.

Cody and I celebrated (or should I say quickly acknowledged) our 6th year of marriage. Hopefully, we can get away tomorrow night for a few hours to spend some time to reflect on our beautiful life together and prepare for the oncoming excitement (ie. chaos) that a newborn brings, lol.