Meeting Great Grandma Ross

Mike and I decided we needed to make the 4 1/2 hour drive to go see my Grandma Ross in Havre, MT. This would be the first time she would get to meet Michael and P. Unfortunately, the week before our wedding last September, she had some heart complications and couldn't make it to our big day. That was a bummer. My grandma will be 93 in March but it is hard for me to imagine that because she is always so darn young at heart. She is one of the sweetest people I will ever meet and Michael agreed as soon as he met her. So let's start off will a couple of pictures of her meeting Penelope for the first time. Not the best pictures as they were quick snaps from my iPhone, but still sweet! 

I forgot to mention that my dad thought we should make this visit a surprise. He got there a day earlier than us and let her know that he wasn't the only surprise visitor! Fun stuff :) 

 

 

We got to havre around 9pm. We only stayed at my grandma's for about an hour before calling it a night and checking into our hotel. We were tired! But, the next morning, someone was refreshed and quite pleased with herself..... 

 

 

 

 

 

What a little person she is turning into! Her daddy sure loves her, and she thinks he's alright, too! ;) 

So after showers and some more smiles, we headed out! My dad's oldest brother lives in Havre as well and owns cavaliers, a clothing and tuxedo shop downtown. We all stopped by and had a mini photo shoot right in the middle of the store! Here are some of those photos. 

Dad, Grandma & P. 

  

Myself, dad, grandma & P.

 

 

Left to right: Michael, Aunt Becky (Doug's wife), Doug, Dad, Me, Grandma.

 

After our photo shoot, my uncle Doug showed some brotherly love by getting out these pretty fun pictures of my dad back in the day. My dad used to work and model for my uncle Doug's store. Sorry dad, but I think everyone needs to see this! 

Working the runway!

 

 

Flirting with the customers?

 

Left to right: This picture below is Dad, Uncle Doug, Tom, and Becky. 

 

Sweet glasses, father! 

 

So, after all of that fun, we had worked up an appetite. 

Grandma recommended a place called Murphy's. She also sipped on an ice cold margarita that she very much enjoyed! 

 

Grandma is still full of spunk and never missed a beat. We spent the weekend with her and listened to lots of good stories. She also never missed an opportunity to talk about her special guy, my grandpa George. We sure miss him! I took a picture of their wedding announcement photo. What a handsome guy and pretty gal they were! 

 

We promised grandma more regular visits and we are looking forward to it. Until then, we will cherish these photos and the memories we made. 

Happy Birthday Grandma Nancy!

Happy Birthday Grandma Nancy! 

Well on August 20, Penelope went to her first birthday party! It was loud, fun, and we had an over abundance of food, as usual. (I've been eating leftover Dicky's BBQ for 3 days now!) 

Here are a few pictures of the party... Poor Penelope never gets any love!! 

 

 

So much fun! And P was dressed for the occasion! :)

Mommy & P go to Billings

Time to catch up! 

Every year we participate in a Fishing tournament called Fishin For The Cure. This is a pretty special event for us due to the fact that Michael's best friend, Matt Siegle, started it while battling cancer. This year was going to be quite a bit different for us since we'd have our little 6 weeker! We are usually pretty involved and help as much as we can and in order to do so this year, we thought we'd bring an extra set of hands. Luckily my 15 year old cousin was happy to tag along and help us out with little P. So Penelope and I made our way to Billings to pick her up... All by ourselves. But getting out of Glendive that morning wasn't easy......

As some of you know I am a crazy animal lover. We have 2 big dogs, (Chowder & Paisley), a kitty (Harper), and 5 chickens!...we only named one of those, Oreo. :) 

So lets go back to Chowder. Michael bought Chowder in hopes of a hunting partner. Instead he got 90 pounds of lazy, kitty loving, mama snuggling, sweetness. We love our Chowder, but we wouldn't call him a hunting dog... Or particularly smart, for that matter! Usually a pretty well behaved dog and I am great full for that. Notice usually in bold. On the morning we were leaving for Billings, Chowder completely surprised me and did something he has never, ever done before. As I reached for Penelope's car seat, I felt that it was noticeably wet. Yes, wet. He decided to PEE on her seat. 

And so I lost my mind......I mean really? How gross. I was so upset. Michael left for work pretty quickly that morning... I think everyone was a little afraid to be around me at this point. I would now have to throw her seat cover in the wash and then wait for it to air dry before we could leave. So much for getting to Billings early to shop!! I have now forgiven Chowder.....but.... I decided that I can't completely get over this incident without a little payback...this picture is a little embarrassing for him. Sometimes he likes to play dress up! 

Ok, now that we have taken care of that... Let's talk about Penelope's cooperation that morning...actually I think this picture says it best. 

 

Apparently she did not think mommy needed a shower that morning.... But I finally got her car seat cleaned up and snuck a shower in and off to Billings we went! I got my shopping done, all with the help of Grandpa Ross tagging along. Then we ate at Red Lobster....which is not my favorite but I crave all sorts of mediocre food since moving to Glendive. So here's a quick pic of grandpa and P before our feast! 

The trip went really well! She did great and her great grandma Donna snuggled her as much as she could! She even got to show her off at a lunch with her friends... But she didn't share Penelope a whole lot :) which is alright with us. 

So I brought my cousin (Malea)  back to Glendive to meet Michael, and off to the lake we went! Here is a sweet picture of Malea playing with little P right before we left. Notice her fishy outfit, picked up by her daddy! 

 

We made it to the lake and had a great time! Penelope was all smiles....mostly. In yet, another fishy outfit!! 

 

That's all for now! Next up is grandma Nancy's birthday!! Will catch up with that one soon :)

Dad's girl

I really don't think there is anything more sweet than a dad and his little girl. I've always been my dad's girl. We have an unexplainable bond that just evolves at every stage of my life that I am in. Now having a daughter of my own, he has been promoted to grandpa and a proud one at that. Seeing my baby girl with her dad has been pretty special. I knew Michael would be a good dad but the amount of love oozing from him every time he looks at Penelope is unreal. I think as a girl, a strong relationship with our dad is just so important. Ok, enough with the serious talk. I will get to the fun stuff. One of Penelope's favorite times of the day is her shower time. She got the whole baby bath thing up until her belly button cord fell off. From then on, we have found that it is SO much easier to just pop her in the shower with Mike. She loves the water falling down on her. She would stay in all day if she could! Michael is so sweet, gently holding her, washing her dark, curly hair. All with a big smile on his face. So here are a couple of pictures that are sure to embarrass her in the years to come! Look at that little baby butt! :)

Milestones

When we were preparing for Pen, Mike insisted that we buy NO newborn sized clothes. He said it would be a waste because she'd grow out of them so quick if they ever even fit in the first place. Why he thought we'd have such a monster baby... I have no clue. When our little 6 pounder came home with us, she had about 5 things to wear. All of which came from my baby shower. She was even swimming in the newborn size! Luckily after a trip to Billings a week after she was born and lots of shopping, she has a pretty stylish wardrobe. At 5 weeks old she wore her first 0-3 month sized dress today! Milestone :) our little squirt is growing! Here's Miss P striking a couple of poses.

Out with the old... In with the new wedding, move, job & baby!

So, I am new to this whole blogging thing but have thought about doing it for awhile now and can't wait to share our fun filled, sleep deprived, dirty diaper, days, with everyone! My first post is going to be a little about our lives leading up to the arrival of our sweet Penelope. Here we go-

Lets start off on September 8, 2012. Our wedding day. Nothing shy of perfect. After a LONG year and a half engagement, we were READY! I over think just about everything and always prepare myself for the worst, yet most people would say I am pretty laid back. Luckily I keep all of my craziness to myself. Anyways... Our wedding turned out so beautiful and we couldn't have asked for things to have gone better. Our family and friends surrounded us and I married my fun loving, goofy, best friend. I am not a gushy, lovey girl....but I have my moments.

Fast forward- November 9, 2012
Almost exactly two months after our wedding...
It's just after midnight, and its officially my 22nd birthday! I am waiting for Michael to get home from work, thinking about where we should go for my birthday. Pretty excited to let loose and have some fun with the hubby. And out of nowhere.... I realize I SHOULD be on my period. (Sorry for too much info) I look at my phone, count the days, and then head to our bedroom to grab a.... You guessed it. Pregnancy test. I thought there was no way. I am just stressed, busy and late. As I waited for the negative lines to show up, I had an overwhelming feeling come over me and I started balling before even checking the test. The feeling became a reality when a tiny little plus sign showed up that would change our lives from then on. And Michael got a call at work he'll never forget!

So now officially pregnant-
With talk circulating about his warehouse closing where he had worked for the past 8 years and his desire to get back to his (small) hometown of Glendive, MT, we decided that he accept a job offer for the railroad. I was admittedly a little less than thrilled for this move. I was pretty comfortable where we were. My friends and family close, a nice home, and more than 5 dining options :) But I supported my husbands decision and trusted that we could make anywhere home if we did it together. So we put the house up for sale, and packed up all of the wine glasses we got for our wedding first... No need for them now. Damn! And we are off.....

Getting ready for baby.....
I knew it was a baby girl from the start. I can't explain it, I just felt it. Only girl names came to mind, I had dreams of the delivery, and it was always a girl. Weird, right? Michael refused to believe me and thought I was just crazy. But on February 14, yep, Valentines Day, we saw our little GIRL. It's so much more fun to quit calling her "it" or "baby"...it became so much more real and it was finally time to shop! My obsession with headbands has really become a problem.....yikes.

Our birth plan....
As some of you may or may not know...I chose, yes (gasp) chose, a scheduled cesarean section. This decision didn't come without much consideration, sometimes feelings of guilt and most likely some judgement from my peers. But hey- it just felt right. The women in my family have had terrible times trying to give birth vaginally, usually resulting in emergency c-sections. Not to say that would for sure be the case for me but I wasn't going to take the chance. The last thing I wanted to do was be in hours of labor putting stress on myself and our baby only to go have an emergency surgery. I wanted my birth experience to be calm and to feel somewhat in control of our situation, and to me, this was how. Some may think this is selfish, and I won't try to justify it. But I will say that if other soon to be moms are contemplating this decision, that my experience was completely positive and I came out very happy with my decision. Fun fact 1 in every 3 women end up needing a caesarean.

Her arrival....
I think I got about 15 minutes of sleep the night before she was born. I wasn't scared but just so anxious. I couldn't wait to see what she looked like and to see those feet that had been kicking me in the ribs for so long! So at 5am I got out of bed and into the very last shower I would take before being a mom. I wasted a lot of water that day while standing there rubbing my tummy and feeling her move for the last little while inside of me. Something no one else will ever feel and something I will never forget. Don't get me wrong... I pretty much hated everything else about being pregnant but these are the little moments that made it all worth it. As I made my way to the hospital I was surprised and a little proud of myself. I thought I would be an emotional wreck on this day but instead I was very calm and couldn't wait to see Michael. He had been working nights and would be meeting me at the hospital at 7am when he got off work. What a trooper, right? Went to work at 11pm and knew that 8 hours later he'd get to meet his baby girl! So just as I got checked in and changed, in walks Michael. Remember how I said I was nice and calm, well I can't say the same for him! I just love him for his sweet, emotional, caring ways. He was so supportive the whole time. Other than the arrival of a healthy baby, my biggest worry was the spinal block I'd be getting for the surgery. I hate needles and the thought of one in my spine completely grossed me out. I am happy to say that it was relatively easy and quick. Big relief. So as I lost feeling of both legs and became suuuuper relaxed I laid there,  waiting for Michael to come back in and get this show on he road. Teary eyed the entire time, Mike held my hand and repeatedly asked me if I was OK. I told him I was wonderful...and I wasn't lying. That spinal block was my best friend :) About 10 minutes in, I felt some pressure, heard my doctor say "oh lots of hair," and she was out! Screaming, just as I had hoped for. Hearing her cry was unforgettable and I couldn't contain my own emotions. The 2 minutes it took for them to clean her up and bring her to see me for the first time seemed like an eternity! Once Mike brought her over, she was nothing like I had expected. She was tiny, dainty, hairy, beautiful. You just can't prepare yourself for that specific moment. Meeting your child is....to be simply put...pretty damn neat.

Bringing baby home....
Nerve wracking. Whoa. I have taken care of my fair share of babies working at a daycare and all but it is so much different having a little 6 pounder staring at you, depending on you for the rest of her life! Reality set in. Luckily my dad came for a week and helped us out. Talk about proud grandpa! I think he would have stayed forever if he could have. But since I was recovering great and Penelope was being such an easy little baby, I sent him home. So there I was, my first night alone. Mike back at work and grandpa Ross back to Billings. Just Penelope and me...oh and the random demon baby that decided to possess her that night!! It just had to happen, her first terrible night. She's crying, I'm crying, and the dogs are looking at me like, "what the hell, mom." Luckily we made it through the night and we will chalk it up to her showing me who's boss. Already? Perfect.

So that is a little about us. Pen is now 5 weeks old. Which is crazy. Time has flown by and we are loving every minute of getting to know the ins and outs of our little girl. I will do individual blog posts so that anyone who wants to keep up with us can!