Happy 1 Month, Laney Claire!

Laney Claire, you turned 1 month old on December 4th! This first month has been such a joy. I forgot how wonderful it is to snuggle up to a new baby. Here a few tidbits on your first month:

• You are a great nurser! This is so encouraging to me! You eat every 3 hours.
• You sleep ALOT...during the day. Not so much at night. Daddy and I are being patient though. We know you will get into a routine soon.
• You were so pleasant on Thanksgiving. We traveled to Douglas to see Daddy's side of the family, and then back to Gadsden for my side. You did great.
• When we left the hospital, you had dropped down to 6lbs, when we went for your one month check up you had gained 3 LBS!!! I was so proud of you!
• You were 21 inches long.
• You cried just a little during your first bath at home, but have not shed a tear since. You love when Daddy washes your hair!
• Miller loves you so much. He is sure to let me know when he thinks you need to eat or need a diaper change. He wants to hold you all of the time, every day.
• You have stolen all of our hearts in just 4 short weeks. We love you so very much and cannot imagine our lives without you in it.

Miller has also done a lot of growing up since bringing his baby sister home from the hospital. While you hear of many children regressing when a new sibling is born, that was not the case with Miller. He has definitely progressed. Here are a few tidbits on the big brother:

• He now bathes himself
• Brushes his teeth (both with supervision, of course) 
• Dresses himself, and loves to pick out his own clothes. 
• He helps me pack his lunch.
• He hates to go to the doctor, and a few times we have caught him not telling us when he feels bad, because he is afraid he will have to get a shot. We are working on learning that you do not have to get a shot every time you go to the doctor.
• He knows and can recognize every letter in the alphabet. And numbers 1-10. 
• He is doing really well at writing his name. 
• His most common question to ask right now is, "How old are you?" 
• Many times we hear him just spouting off random numbers to himself...We hope this means he will be a math genius :)
• He loves to help Daddy give Laney Claire a bath.  
• He has deemed his job to take the dirty diapers to the Diaper Champ.
• Miller loves to wear anything that says "Big Brother" on it. He is so in love!
• We are so proud of our big boy. He never ceases to amaze us with the silly things that he comes up with. He has the biggest heart of any 4 year old I've ever met. We love you Miller!

Here are a few snapshots from Laney Claire's first month.

Just home from the hospital

First bath

Scrub team :)

"Hello!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

War Eagle!!

Christmas jammies!

Decorating the tree

LC's operation: "Wrap Daddy tight around my precious little finger"

BFF! Julia Ann Haller and Laney Claire

Blessings

Welcome to the world Laney Claire Wigley!

On November 4th at 6:35 a.m. we welcomed our precious 7 pound, 19 inch baby girl, Laney Claire. This may sound silly, but I wondered how I could love another human the way I love Miller. I knew it was possible, I just wasn't sure how. Well, the minute I saw my girl, it hit me. I am so in love. She is perfect in every way.

I thought Miller was perfect also, but it is funny because they are completely different. So far, the only similarity is that they both like the same kind of pacifier.
We had scheduled a c-section for November 8th. Every week I had been to my doctor praying that I was dilated so I would not have to have another c-section. Every week I was let down. I never tried any of the old wives tale tactics to make you go in to labor. And I was way too swollen to even think about going for a walk.
To our surprise, my water broke on Saturday, November 3rd. I was in labor for 9 hours with no progress. I called my doctor before we left for the hospital. He was not on call, but told me I could try for progress and if we had any action he would come in. If not, he said he would come check me at 5 a.m. and I could decide what to do from there. I also called my sweet friend, Brooke, who is a nurse on the L&D floor. Without hesitation she told me she would come in to work for me. I can never thank her enough!! I loved having her there. So, 5 a.m. came and no progress, just a lot of pain!

I knew I wanted Dr. Smith to preform the surgery, and he was going out of town that morning, so that was my only chance. I opted for the c-section. I am so. so thankful to Dr. Smith and Brooke for coming in for me. I had the most wonderful experience and recovery, and I owe it all to them.

When I first saw my beautiful daughter's face I knew she looked exactly like her daddy. She had a head full of dark hair. Casey is so proud.

My parents had come to the hospital to be with us that night about an hour after we arrived. I could not have made it without my mom. It was just as I always thought it would be. My mom was an angel. My dad was a nervous wreck, always wanting to make sure I was comfortable and that I didn't need/want a thing. Casey was solid as a rock, one of the main reasons I love him. He was so organized and calm and ready to meet our baby. Casey's parents came the next morning at 4:30. My Aunt Becky came to our house when we left for the hospital to keep Miller. She brought him to the hospital while I was in surgery so he could be there to meet his baby sister.

Seeing sister for the first time

First time for Miller to hold Laney Claire

He loves her so much!

Proud big brother

Just out of recovery

 They let us go home a day early so we were only in the hospital for 2 days. I physically felt so much better after this c-section that I did with my first. We were so excited to get our girl home and get into a routine with two precious children.

My perfect, beautiful girl

Love is all around

We had a very nice Valentine's Day.

Miller and his friends at the ELC exchanged Valentine's, and you would have thought it was Christmas when he got in the car with all of his goodies. He kept saying, "MOM! THIS IS SO GREAT! THIS IS SO GREAT MOM!" The key to that boy's heart is chocolate. Just like his daddy. 

 

These are Miller's Valentines. It was a free ice cream from Chikfila.

Last year, Casey, Miller and I celebrated Valentine's Day with my Aunt Becky and my parents and had such a fun time. So, I think we have decided to make that a tradition. Neither one of us is interested in going to dinner and having to wait forever and battle traffic and so on. I would much rather spend an evening in with the ones I love the most. 

This year we went to my Aunt Becky's house. She had made 3 different soups for dinner. I, of course, had to try all 3 and they were DELISH! We also celebrated Casey's birthday. He racked up on some good gifts, including a gift card to Fresh Market! YUM!  I made him a very sinful desert that I found he found on Pinterest. Yep, I was scrolling through one night, and he yelled, STOP! He has been begging me to make this desert since September! The bottom layer is homemade cookie dough, second layer is oreos, third layer is brownie mix and you top it off with homemade hot fudge. We served it up with a scoop of ice cream.

This was a teaser picture that I sent him during the day.

Miller got a few surprises, too! He was so excited to find candy (of course) and lots of Play-dough and Play-dough toys. He has really enjoyed exploring with scissors lately and this play-dough kit had scissors in it, so I knew it would be a hit!

Lover boy with his gift

Becky, being the wonderful great aunt that she is, put together a toy basket for Miller to play with when he comes over. This toy basket should probably have its own post. There all kinds of crazy things in there. Things that Miller would never pick out to have at our house. I think that is why he loves it so much.

We D.I.E.D. when Miller put this on.

We had a great night loving and laughing with our family.

When we got home, Casey had a little surprise for me...

He knows me the best! I am really trying to do good with this orchid so it will live for a long time. We shall see...

Two posts in one day...who am I?!

Casey turns 32!

February 12th was Casey's 32nd birthday (and the anniversary of when we met 6 years ago!) That weekend we really just hung around the house, grilled out and enjoyed a lot of family time. We have really been on the go lately, so that was a nice treat! On Sunday after church, we went to his parents house and enjoyed a delicious lunch and a relaxing afternoon with his family. My parents were in Destin moving into our new condo and they didn't want to miss out on celebrating with Casey so we celebrated Valentine's Day and Casey's birthday with my family on Tuesday. 

So proud of my wonderful husband!

I was working in Cullman on Friday and knew that I had to stop by Dutchess Bakery, what some say is the best bakery in N. A., and pick up a cake for the birthday boy.

The sign said "Chocolate Surprise" and I said I'll take it! I knew that once Casey saw this cake it would be love at first sight. 

Milly and I surprised Daddy with a weekend in Auburn and tickets to the AU vs. AR basketball game. 

Happy Birthday Month to the love of my life!

Fort Wigley

Santa brought Miller a playground for Christmas this year complete with all of the tools to help Casey put it together. With all of the rain we have not been able to find a dry time to put our playground together, but this past weekend was perfect! We knew that this would be a tough project because the directions said it would take 2 moderately skilled men 48 hours to assemble Fort Wigley.

Casey was able to come home from work early last Friday and decided to get to work. My two moderately skilled men (a 31 year old daddy and a 3 year old baby boy) got to work! I don't even know how many pieces there were, but it came in 4 flat boxes with about 15 bags of screws, nuts and bolts. Everyone kept asking why we didn't just hire someone to put it together, but Casey and I thought it would be so special if he and Miller worked on it together. 

Friday afternoon consisted of organizing the millions of pieces. 

On Saturday, we began to see a little progress....

My Moderately Skilled Man #1

My Moderately Skilled Man #2

 When we ordered this thing we had no clue that is was 3 levels.....

The finished project! I am so proud to be married to a handy man!

Miller loves his new playground! His favorite activity is to swing. And as you probably guessed, he likes to go HIGH! I am so thankful for the unseasonably warm weather we have had lately so Miller can enjoy his afternoons on his playground.

Pop Turns 58!

On Sunday we celebrated Pop's 58th birthday! We planned a brunch for him at my Aunt Becky's house with a small group of he and my mom's friends. Any time my mom and Becky plan something, you can guarantee there will be delicious food involved. One of our friends, Diane, made a beautiful Mediterranean spread complete with mini gyros, humus and assorted olives. Becky made homemade biscuits, homemade mini cinamon rolls and a gorgeous ham. Mom made 2 breakfast casseroles, 1 with sausage, egg and cheeses and the other with eggs, artichokes, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes and cheese. Julie and David made some of the best shrimp and grits I have ever tasted...YUM I wish I had some right now!  I could not decide what I wanted to bring, so I came up with a little surprise of my own...orange jello shooters. I found the recipe online and was really skeptical on how it would turn out. Needless to say, they were a hit! We had the best time talking and laughing all morning and afternoon and celebrating the birth of an amazing man, my daddy!

 Mom and Becky decorated using old things of my dad's from upstairs at his store. On the front door they had his old boy scouts uniform. Pictured below was the center piece in the dining room. They also had his old home run baseballs and newspaper articles. I found a neat book that my Grandfather (dad's dad) had made advertising the homes he built in Rocky River, OH. It was so special to see all of these things that are so special to my daddy.

When we got to Becky's, Miller ran over to Pop to tell him Happy Birthday!!

2 of my 3 favorite boys

Before we ate, Julie gave a special toast to dad thanking him for all of the fun times he and my mom spent with she and David. It was sweet!

I made a Arnold Palmer Jello shooters.

They were just a delicious as they look and even more fun! I found the recipe here but made a few modifications of my own because I really did not want to run to the store. 

If you really know my dad, then you know that every Saturday morning he goes to our Country Club and gets a sleeve of styrofoam cups. He swears that those cups keep his evening cocktails extra cold. So his wish came true on his birthday, Diane, Julie, Alison and Ann gave him 1,000 styrofoam cups! 

We all had a wonderful time at the party! Happy Birthday to the best Daddy ever! I am so proud to be your daughter!