Monday, October 13, 2014

My First Baby is Two and All Toddler!

I cannot believe that Nolan is two! 

For his second birthday, I wanted it to be very special...after all he had just become a big brother and he now has to share the lime light. I wanted to make sure he felt special and very loved on his big day!

Growing up, my parents always went all out for our birthdays. We had two parties, one with our family and the other with friends! So we are keeping the tradition alive.

This year the theme was Sesame Street. Nolan currently loves SS and calls it Arnie. His favorite character is Elmo. When the tv is on in the family room, he always request Arnie. Sometime Paul and I can’t even watch adult tv because he is demanding Arnie so loud!

Thank goodness for Pinterest! I got a lot of my ideas from other’s parties! What did we do before Pinterest?

Here are some photos from the party! Thank goodness family and friends captured these images! Next year I plan on hiring a professional photographer so that we can just enjoy the party! 




Party Decorations
My Pinterest Page


Water Table...Or...Big Birds Bath :)



He Loved His Cake and Requested a 2nd Slice for Dinner!



Best Family Photo We Could Get 
MiMi B and PaPa 





















Party Sources

Cake by: Lisa Huffman
Party Decor & Balloons: Party On! & Party City
Nolan's Elmo Shirt: LesleyAnn at Sew Uniquely Stitches

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Henry's Birth Story

Henry’s Big Arrival

I have been trying to write down Henry’s birth story for four weeks now! Between house work, planning Nolan’s 2nd Birthday and all the responsibilities of being a mommy and wife to three boys…I am finally sitting down and writing this beautiful story before Henry wakes to eat again!

Little Henry had me on my toes weeks before his due date – 8/30! Two to three weeks before his arrival I started having the Braxton Hicks contractions that would last for hours on end and range from 3 to 5 minutes apart. These little guy’s, don’t necessarily feel so little and got the best of me twice. Going in to the doctors office only to be told you are dilated 2 cm and 75% effaced. Go walk around and come back…when you can’t walk or talk through them.

On the 30th, we woke up as a family of three. The contractions I had been experiencing all week were nowhere to be found. We strolled Nolan over to Paul’s parents, who live two blocks away for breakfast and to let Nolan play in his little pool. Our daily activities that Saturday consisted of getting Nolan’s haircut and our weekend Lowe's run.

We came home and I put Nolan down for his nap around 2. I had stopped napping weeks before, because there is always so much to do, but on this specific day, I decided to just lay down while Paul was working in the yard. Looking back, this was Gods way of telling me to rest up, because I was going to need it. I woke up around 5 with the same ole contractions that I had been experiencing for weeks.  We decided to have a big steak dinner with Nolan with all the fixings: bake potato, salad and broccoli. As Nolan and Paul worked grilling the steaks outside, I worked in the kitchen, noticing that my contractions were starting to get a little more intense each time. As we sat down at around the table at 7:30, the contractions were to the point where I had to hold my breath and anything my hands could grip. I told Paul, this might be the real deal. It wasn’t five minutes later I was telling him to call his mom to come and get Nolan that we needed to go to the hospital.

When Missy arrived and I was in so much pain that I couldn’t talk between contractions. We grabbed our hospital bag and last minute items, threw together Nolan’s overnight bag and out the door we blasted around 8:30pm. The one memory I have during this whirlwind was grabbing Nolan and hugging him tight and telling him how much I love him! I knew the next time I would hold him, he would become my big boy and I was a little sad in that moment.

When we got in the car, my contractions were 3-4 minutes a part lasting well over 45 seconds. Thank goodness, Paul found his inner Mario Andretti and we made it to the hospital in record time. When I walked into the lobby, I almost fainted. There was a line so long for folks waiting to check in and only one person working the desk. Thank goodness she must have spotted me there with my large and in charge baby bump and asked me if I was in labor and if I needed a wheelchair. I laughed and said yes! She moved me to the front of the line and even wheeled us up to labor and delivery floor. I had called the doctor on our way to tell them that we were coming in so they could pre-pare a room. We made it to our room; I got dressed in my lovely hospital gown and crawled into bed. 

My contractions were so painful, as Paul said they were off the charts...meaning the monitor. I would grab the hospital bed rails and hold my breath or do my deep breathing until they passed. Paul offered his hand, but I was honestly afraid that I would hurt him. I asked him to just sit next to me. When we checked in I was dilated 5 cm. After my blood work was approved they finally administered my epidural. For mothers out there who go all natural by choice, more power to you! That shit is not for me.  My doctor came back in once my epidural was complete and broke my water. Early on, she said she would wait until my epidural to break my water, so that my contractions wouldn’t get any worse…so to speak.
10:08 pm 
At this point I had an ache in my lower left back and could still feel my contractions. My nurse called the anesthesiologist to say I needed an extra dose. While we were waiting, my parents arrived and waited with us. They always show up right after my epidural. My nurse came in and I told her the pressure was building. She checked and sure enough I was at a 10. She said his head was right there and paged the doctor and respiratory team. She also told me not to push and that she would make sure the anesthesiologist came back before I had to push! She really was an angel. The anesthesiologist came back and administered a little more medicine! This time it took!

Holding Daddy's Hand for the First Time
I talked Paul into letting my mom stay and my dad left for the waiting room! After hearing his stories of the waiting room, I think he would have rather stayed in the room and pulled a curtain or waited in the bathroom J. His stories were hilarious! 

Finally in my arms at 12:30
We waited shortly for the doctors and nurses to arrive and get setup. Before the medical team arrived my nurse was kind enough to place “the mirror” close so I could see his head crowning. It is such an amazing site! I know some people will think that it’s weird, but watching your self bring another human into this world is the most magical miracle.

My doctor came in and the respiratory team was all go. Henry’s head was crowning and I was told to push! I started pushing around 11:45-50 with the hopes that Henry would be born on his due date. After six pushes he came into this world at 12:02 am. We all laughed and celebrated!

Henry was shortly placed in my arms and snuggled right down and fell asleep.


We are thrilled and so blessed to introduce our friends and family to Henry Thomas O’Donohue, born at 12:02 am on Sunday, August 31, 2014, weighing 7lbs, 15oz.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Life with Nolan

Preface: I wrote this post before Henry was born...but still wanted to post it for memories!
August 27, 2014

With baby number two almost here, I took a look at our family blog this week and squirmed when I saw that my last post was April of 2013. Looking back has brought so much joy in just reminiscing the olden days.  A lot has changed since April of 2013. We moved to a new city with a much bigger house. While I love our new house the endless projects have had been going crazy through my nesting phase. As I would stress out about our house and trying to make it beautiful, Paul reminds me, Rome wasn’t built in a day and after praying about it God revealed it’s not about what your house looks like on the inside with the beautiful décor it’s the family and the memories that make a house a home!

Nolan is now almost 2. I look back and can’t believe how fast he has grown. He has turned into a little toddler, cute vocabulary, tantrums and all! He is very opinionated and likes things his way. He is only a cuddle bug a night right before bed time, otherwise he is running 90 miles a minute. His vocabulary is expanding each week and I love hearing him pronounce new words! The new word of the week is Pony. His pronunciation of Pony is precious! He is SMART! I mean really smart. I am sure all moms and dads think this about their child/children. I am jumping on this bandwagon too. Sometime he says things or does things that blow my mind. I stop and think how did he know to do that or where did he learn that from.  He loves animals and loved to make the animal noises. My favorite is when the Food Lion commercial comes on tv the one with the lion is walking down the street and I hear this big Roar come from the kitchen!

Nolan is a great eater, but he has been from day one! The only veggie that he despises is broccoli. I can’t much blame him, because still to this day I only like mine when I have cheese melted over it! He goes to school every day and we moved him just a couple months ago to a church right down the street. He loves his classmates and his teachers. He just doesn’t like being dropped off. His little routine is so funny. He gets out of the car all excited, we push the button to get into the school, walk down the hall get in front of our class and the melt down kicks in… Sometimes he just lean against the wall, but most of the time he lay down in the hallway. He doesn’t cry, he just lays down. All of his friends rush to the gate to tell him good morning, but sometime he needs an extra hug from dad or mom and a hand off to the teacher to go look at the birds out the window. We know he loves it, because when it comes time to be picked up he doesn’t want to leave!

He loves to read! If we would let him, I think he would read or have us read all his books every night at bedtime. I have had to start hiding books from his room, so we don’t have to read 20 books a night. I give him the option of reading three books before we rock, sing and say our prayers…then I give him the option of putting three to four books in his bed so he can read them if he wants. Some mornings when we wake up I can hear his little voice in his room reading his books, when I peer in he is siting up reading and happy as a clam!

For a long time he was all about Daddy! Daddy this and Daddy that. He only wanted Daddy at bath time and bedtime. He would even go so far from pulling me out of his chair at night and telling Daddy to sit. For the last couple of weeks, though Paul has been working crazy hours and has not been here at night. Nolan has become super attached to me! Which is great and not so great with the new baby almost here. Everything is now Momma, Momma. It’s so funny to hear him walking down the hall or waking up in the morning yelling for Momma – Momma! It does melt my heart – I can’t lie.


We are excited for the new little boy, but I can not lie, I am sad. My one on one time with Nolan is almost over. It I think too hard about it, I tear up. I know it’s going to be hard on him and us, but I think to the future about how much he will love having a playmate for life and someone to play choo-choos with, jump of the couch into the pile of cushions or run around naked in the front yard through the sprinklers!