{some random pictures}

I thought I wasn't going to put a tree up this year, because we're not really going to be home very much. I couldn't take it anymore, so I put a really small tree up yesterday. I know it's little, but I think it's kind of cute:)

Here's a picture I took today of Molly. I just love her so much...she's such a blessing! I got this hoodie at Old Navy. I love their baby clothes.

Awe...Molly and Daddy:) Brian is already such an incredible dad...I think we make a great team!

Mommy and Molly hanging out! Molly's sticking her tong out in this picture...nice.

Burp!

I love this picture of Blake...cracks me up! Molly's bouncer makes a great recliner! I'm sure he's watching some Veggie Tales.

Here's Molly the first or second week home...those first 3 weeks are a blur. Daddy giving her some love!

Even at just weeks old...Molly had great neck control. Picking her head up to look at daddy:)

Our first family picture:)

Pretty girl! Molly was so alert right when she was born.

Getting ready to leave the hospital.

Just got home...only to go back in two days.

Lucy's first time meeting Molly. She just wanted to lick her toes...weird dog. Lucy's been really good with Molly. She pretty much pays no attention to Molly.

{almost 3 months!}

Molly is getting so big so fast! She's definitely looking like her daddy. At her 2 month visit she weighed 9 lbs 9 oz and was 23 in long. Next week she has another check up, so I'll update you with her size. She's loving her hands these days..always holding them together and ALWAYS has them in her mouth! She's still a really good sleeper...normally sleeps between 8 and 9 hours. Her favorite thing to do is lay under this blinky light thing. I don't know what's so exciting about staring at a blinking smily face, but she can't get enough of it!
We leave for Colorado this coming Friday. We're so excited to spend some time together with Chad's family! It should be a good time! Please pray for safety and good weather while we're driving. I'm sure I'll post some pictures from the trip.

{my little cheetah}

Molly is now 8 weeks old...well tomorrow she will be. She's finally starting to fit into her 0-3 month clothes! I weighed her with me the other day and she's about 10 lbs now. How cute is she in this outfit??? I think my cousin Steph got this for her...too cute!

{happy baby}

My little Molly has really started smiling this past week! I eat it up...can't get enough of her! I was trying to get a picture of her smiling, but you know how that goes. Every time I'd put the camera up to my face, she'd stop. Here's the best I could do!

{Molly...6 weeks!}

Here's my little girl at 6 weeks. She has changed so much since my last post. Molly definitely looks like her daddy and is probably going to have his gorgeous blue eyes! She's still a really easy baby...sleeping 7 hours at night!!! Gotta love the book Baby Wise! Last week at the doctor she weighed 8 lbs 2 oz...still a little squirt. Here are some pictures I snapped with my point n shoot today. I'm planning on taking some more this weekend.

{Molly...3 weeks}

Molly has definitely changed in the last few days. She has long periods during the day when she's wide awake. She doesn't really cry, just loves to look around. At night she will sleep between 4 to 5 hours! I'm loving that:)



This picture was taken by one of my best friends, Mel Carpenter:) Little Molly was so wide awake and alert during the whole shoot. We tried so hard to get her to sleep, but she couldn't take her eyes off Mel.

{molly...two weeks old}

Wow...these past two weeks have felt like a month! So many crazy things happen that I never expected, but I would be happy to do it all over again. I've never experience anything more amazing than having a baby and I'm so grateful for her!
It all started with my water breaking Wednesday night (9/23). I was hanging out with Brian and Eric watching The Office when I felt a gush! Yikes! Brian thought I was joking at first. It was only three days before my due date and I still hadn't packed a thing for the hospital. Packing once your water has broke is not an easy task!
I was admitted around 9pm and my cervix was still only dilated 1 cm. At this time my first nurse checked me and was a little concerned that Molly might be breech. She had another nurse come in to check, however, they decided that she wasn't...grrr! At 2am I still hadn't really progressed so they decided to put me on pitocin. Around 4am I decided to get an epidural. This was actually a really bad experience for me...super painful!!! They think they may have been hitting bone when they did it. Anyways, some time around 9am another nurse checked me and right away said she was feeling a butt, not a head! Molly definitely was breech. They rushed me in for a c-section right away. Molly was born at 11:15am weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 in long.
Everything was fine after that until Sunday. I was starting to have really high blood pressure. The doctor was worried that I may have Pre Eclampsia. They still let me go home, but I had to follow up with the doctor a couple days later. I still had really high blood pressure and my labs came back not looking real good. Again, they sent me home and wanted me to come back in a few days to get check again. That same day I started to have one of the symptoms they wanted me to watch out for...I was having a ton of pain on my right side where my liver is. I called the doctor on call around 10pm and she told me I should be fine and to wait until my next appointment. At 3am I woke up and I was in so much pain that I couldn't move or get out of bed. Brian called again and they wanted me to get to the hospital right away. I did end up having Pre Eclampsia. I had to be on Magnesium for 5 days...something I never want to do again! It was a really hard experience, but I'm so thankful to be feeling better.
Now I'm just enjoying my time at home with Molly. She is such a good baby. I really feel like God blessed me with an easy baby, since I went through so much the past two weeks. He never gives us more than we can handle.

I took these pictures today. I ran downstairs to grab a clean outfit...when I got back into the room her little arms were straight up over her head. So cute!

{39 weeks...3 days}

So Brian and I went to the doctor today and I FINALLY have some progress! I'm 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced! I don't know if that means much, but it's something...right???
Funny story...
I found out what a contraction is. All this time, I thought I hadn't had any contractions...well...I was wrong. While the Dr. was feeling my belly she said, "You're having a contraction right now!" I thought that when my stomach gets really hard and I can't hardly breath, that the baby was just in a funny position that was making me uncomfortable. I guess I just thought it should hurt more! Haha...I know...the things you learn the first time around:)
So everyone knows, if labor doesn't happen, I'll be induced on October 3rd! I can handle knowing that at the most, I only have to wait another week and a half:) The end is near!!! Hurray!

{38 weeks...5 days}

Just a little update:
I had another Dr.'s appointment this morning. Unfortunately baby McCrady is really happy inside my belly. There are no signs of labor at this point. I'm starting to think she'll have an October birthday! I'm planning on just staying busy for the next few weeks, hoping that'll pass the time:) I just can't wait to meet her!

{37 weeks...5 days preggers}

Well there's no picture to post...I'm definitely over having my picture taken at this point!

So what's new...
Well I wish I could say that I'm having crazy contractions and headed to the hospital as I write this! Not the case.
I actually shot a wedding on Sunday...10 HOURS!!! I survived it! Of course I was exhausted the next day...or 3 days...but it went really well. I can't say I'd ever do that again. I was hoping that it would some how put me into labor, but it obviously didn't.
Yesterday I had another Dr.'s appointment and although things are looking really good...there wasn't anything saying I would go into labor anytime soon...it could definitely be days/weeks. The Dr. thought that little baby McCrady is almost 7lbs. Hopefully she doesn't pack on too much weight if she's planning on hanging out in my belly for awhile longer!
Last week my mom came down to help me out with the house/nursery. Too bad I was doing some crazy nesting just before she got here, so I didn't have much for her to do. She did make the most adorable curtain for my little girl's room, which was a huge help! I was just glad to have her come down and spend some time with me:) It's funny to think that it won't be too long before she's back down here again. I'll definitely have plenty for her to do once the baby gets here...thanks mom!!
I found a couple stretch marks on my stomach last night....SO DEPRESSING!!! I was actually really upset about it at first, but realized it's just part of life! I might be sporting the tankini from now on.
At this point I feel like I'm just waiting. I'm so excited that it won't be too long before I finally get to meet this little girl! Pretty soon I'll be posting cute little pics of her on here! Ah! So exciting!!!

{36 weeks...9 months!!!}

I'm totally shocked that I just have 4 weeks to go! I'm feeling pretty prepared at this point. I just need to get the nursery organized, hang the dresser mirror, put up some decoration, get a curtain, and some diapers:) Brian and I feel so blessed and are extremely thankful for all the gifts we received from our showers. Lots of thanks to all of you!!! 

I start my weekly appointments this week. I'm looking forward to seeing this pregnancy progress and to get to the end of it! Ready to meet that little girl...who still has no name. Brian and I spend a lot of time talking names, I think we've been doing that since we were dating:) The only problem is, we were always talking boy names. I guess I never thought my first born would be a girl. We definitely have a few ideas, but are going to wait until we see her and then decide. What's the hurry...right? 

So how have I been feeling??? Well...

I never like when preggers complain, but I'm definitely uncomfortable! My hips and back are really starting to hurt. I feel completely out of breath most of the time...and I can't imagine my skin stretching any further. Oh and sleep really isn't happening anymore:( This must be God's way of preparing me for what's to come. It's funny how even with all the discomforts of pregnancy...it's still somehow the most amazing thing I've ever been through:) 

Here are some pics of me at 36 weeks! We'll keep you posted!

{great purchase}

So I've heard from a few other photographers that a must have is a sling to carry your baby in. This frees up your hands so that you can actually edit and get stuff done. So I got online and found one I loved...probably spent a little too much on it...but I was in love with the material! So I just got my sling in the mail today and had to try it out! I took a look at Lucy and thought "she's the size of a baby". I put her in it and within 2 minutes she was OUT! I'm guessing this was a great purchase:) Here's a picture I took while she was sleeping and I was doing some work at the computer...cracks me up!!

{random}

Eric and Becky have been staying with us on and off for the last month or so while they look for a home. I get so use to having the kids around that when they're gone it's kind of sad when I wake up and it's so quiet in the house:( I just adore Blake and Layla and it's not too bad playing Settlers just about every night with Eric and Bec! I've tried to snap a few pics of the kids while they've been here. I know one day these will mean something:)

Blake and Layla might be the easiest kids to watch...they totally entertain themselves most of the time!

How cute is Layla's little profile:) I might just have to get my little girls ears pierced too!

Blake was really concentrating on eating his soup...I so badly wanted to help him! But it did keep him entertained for a long time.

Brian LOVES Layla! I think he got more interested in her when he found out he was gonna have a little girl:) He's going to be a great dad!

I've slowly been working on the nursery. When I realized that I only have 6 weeks to go, I thought it was about time I refinish that dresser! Now why I waited until I was 8.5 months pregnant and the August heat is at it's worst I'll never know!!! It was definitely torture, but worth it in the end. I'm really happy with how it turned out! We haven't put the mirror up yet...but it'll be even more cute with that!

You can see what a mess it still is, but I was having fun putting Lucy in the crib...the things I do when I'm alone all day! Ha! How cute are her little black beady eyes peering over the crib?!?

Isn't it pretty? I love the way the green balances out the pink walls! Again, disregard the mess.

More of Lucy:)

I found these flowers at a little boutique in Fishers. I was so excited about this find, they bring all the colors together! I just can't figure out where to hang them? I wanted to put them over the crib, but they're too tall:(

A little update: I'm 34 weeks now! Yay! Feeling good, but definitely feeling super pregnant. I've had a few issues with swollen feet and I don't get much sleep at night, but other than that I can't complain! I really can't believe that I'm gonna have a baby in about 6 weeks...CRAZY!!! My really wonderful friend Mel threw a little shower at Bravo's with some of my girlfriends. We had a great time...I'll have to get those pics from her so that I can post them. I have my last shower with my mom's side this weekend at the cottage. I'm really excited to get up to the lake again and relax a little:) Well that's it for now...I've been meaning snap a belly pic...it's getting pretty big and scary! Hopefully I'll remember to do that tonight so I can post that pic soon. I know you're all dying to see how big I am:)