Time's a flyin'!

I can not believe how fast this last year has gone by! I feel like I just had Haddie, yet here I am planning her first birthday party, and getting ready to do her cake smash pictures this weekend. It's so crazy to me! But I'm so excited for it!  She's been trying really hard to walk. She will take 3 or 4 steps,  but then just lunges forward and gives me a heart attack. Haha! I'm not ready for her to grow up! 
We just signed Aubry up for t ball. When she was a baby all these things seemed so far away. School. Sports. Independence.  Now it's all here and it went by in a flash! She is turning into her very own little person and she makes us so proud every day. She also challenges us every day, but I think that's just part of parenthood. ;)
We had both of the girl's hips checked out last week and they both look great! Aubry will go back in a year and if they are still looking good, she doesn't have to go any more! There was a time when I thought she would be in a brace forever. Going through all of that was so hard. I know people deal with much more challenging things with their babies, but I don't think that makes it any less scary when something is wrong with yours. I was so terrified of Haddie having the same thing, and it not being found until now,  and that she would have to have surgery instead of a brace. I mean, I was shaking and sweating while we were waiting for the doctor to come in after the xray. But he said he thinks it's just ligaments making the popping noise. We will go back in 3 months just to double check. Talk about a relief!

I am doing the Pat's Run at the end of next month with Richard's mom and sister. His mom talked me into it while they were here on Thursday. I haven't been running at all lately, and it's 4.2 miles, so I better get my booty in gear!! They'll be leaving me in the dust! ;) It gives me a good motivation to get back in the habit of running, so I won't complain. Plus it gives me a reason to see my nephews, brother and sis in law again! We finally got to meet Bryson when we took the girls for their appointments. I couldn't believe how big he was. Or how big the other boys are!! We hadn't seen them in almost a year! We used to see them every 3-4 months when Aubry was in her brace and then every 6 months when she got out of it. So crazy it had been so long. It was great to see them! 
Now I'm just rambling. I had better go get Aubry ready for school! 

Let's play catch up!

Once again, I have been slacking on keeping up on this thing. Let's see if I can get back into posting once a week or so. What has happened since my last post? TONS! Aubry is in preschool. She is actually almost done for the year, and today I'm registering her for next year. It's crazy how much she is changing and turning into such a big kid. I can't believe she will be 5 this year!! She is still an amazing big sister,  even though she gets irritated with Haddie sometimes. I think that's pretty normal haha. 
Haddie is 10 months old now. It has seriously flown by!! She is getting so big, way too fast! She started crawling in December and it's been so fun ever since. She is trying really really hard to walk right now. I just want to slow down time. But since I cant, I will take way too many pictures, and create as many memories as I possibly can! 
In November we went to Montana, and I killed my first buck! Never in my life did I think I would live shooting guns and be out hunting, but let me tell you, I LOVE it!!! Richard has successfully turned me into a true redneck ;-)  He actually surprised me with a bow a little over a week ago. And I love that too. I love that we can shoot them at home in our own front yard. Or, if we go to the archery range,  the girls can get out and sit with us and we don't have to worry about ear plugs and such. 
I'm December I ran my first 5 K. That was a blast!! Me, Richard's sisters, and his mom did it together. The color run. I want to do it every year! It was SERIOUSLY a BLAST!! Aubry even said she wants to do it next year ;-)
Life is good over here. I can't complain about much. I have 2 amazing girls, and I truly have a wonderful man to spend my life with. So, there is a little catch up on our life in the last 10 months. Here's to hoping I can keep up better on here from now on! 

Haddie Christine Porter

It has been way too long since my last post to try to catch up on everything that has happened in our lives. So, I will simply write about the major things. First of all, we had a new baby girl! Haddie Christine Porter, on May 6 2013. She weighed in at 9lbs 11oz!!!BIG GIRL! She is absolutely perfect, and we could not be more happy! Aubry is seriously the BEST big sister! She is loving every minute of it! She has grown up so much in the 3 weeks we have had Haddie home. She has become so independent and she is such a good helper. It has really been pretty easy. Not half as hard as I expected, or as everyone told us it would be. Sure, I am tired. Sure, the house has been slacked on a bit. But, over all, it's not bad. Maybe we just got lucky and have great kids. All I know is I feel complete and content. Richard has been absolutely amazing! I have no clue what I would do without that man. He has helped me so much! That is probably what has made this so easy. Having such a great person to go through these things with makes all the difference. I wouldn't want to be sharing this life with anyone else. 
 The labor story is kind of interesting, so if you don't want to hear it, skip over this part :) The day after my due date(May 5th), I was induced. We got to the hospital at about 9 am. They checked me in, checked me, I was at a 2, and inserted a pill to soften my cervix. I had to lay flat for an hour, then I got to get up and walk around for a long time. I got hot and hungry, so we went back to the room, where I sat and bounced on a birthing ball. After a few hours had gone by, they hooked me back up to see what was going on with my contractions and to see if they needed to give me more medicine. The contractions started to go crazy, so they decided not to give me more medicine. We went to walk again, but I was miserable, so we went back inside and I bounced on the ball some more, and paced the room. At that point I started to get sick. They came back in and this went on for a while. I asked for some pain medicine. And it just made me feel drunk, haha! Once I got to a 5, I asked for the epidural. I just couldn't take it anymore. Once I got the epidural, I started dilating pretty fast. The doctor broke my water around maybe 9 or 10 pm and then things really sped up. They had me start pushing, around 11:30. I got sick in the middle of pushing, and me throwing up caused me to push. Well, Haddie started crowing! So, the nurse was telling me not to push, and calling the other nurse to go get the doctor. We waited for what seemed like an hour, but I'm sure was more like 5 minutes. then it was just one really big push and she was here! It went so fast! She was born at 12:22am. Which is funny, because I kept saying I didn't want a Cinco De Mayo baby, and she waited until just after midnight! She seemed tiny to me when they laid her on my belly. They nurses were all making jokes about how much they thought she was going to weigh. None of them said over 9 pounds...so when they put her on the scale they all gasped. I could NOT believe she was SO BIG!! I was terrified of that my entire pregnancy, and it happened! Haha! But, I was worried for nothing, because everything went smoothly! Aubry came the next morning to meet her, and it was amazing seeing her look at her baby sister for the very first time. I'm getting teary eyed remembering that moment. Our little family has grown, and it feels amazing! And, things have been pretty easy since we brought her home, like I said. She's doing great nursing. She is a good baby, she hardly ever cries. And, Aubry is GREAT! She really has grown and changed so much since having a baby sister. It's bitter sweet. 

  Another thing that happened to us since my last post is we lost a very dear friend. Chris Adams. He and Richard had been friends since they were kids. I wont wrote a whole lot about that, only because it is still hard. He was truly an amazing person, with a huge heart...He must have been going through some things he didn't let any of us know, because he took his own life. Richard got the call during Aubry's 3rd birthday party. He left the party to go to the hospital, and Chris had been flown to Tucson. So after the party, we went up with his sister. I can say, it was one of the hardest things I have ever been through. Sitting in that hospital room, knowing he wasn't really there anymore. Seeing my husband so heart broken. Knowing there was nothing I could do to make it hurt less for him. It was terrible. All we can do now is try to move on, and keep him in our memories. We chose Haddie's middle name after him. And we will tell her and Aubry both many stories of their Uncle Chris as they grow up. I don't think Aubry remembers him. I wish he could be around while they grow up. 
 We also went on a vacation to Pennsylvania last fall!! I hadn't seen my nephews in so long, I cried when I saw how much they had grown up! We drove all the way there, and it was quite the adventure! Aubry did great on the trip, and we had a lot of fun. Being there was awesome, and I did not want to leave! I can't wait to go back again! I wish we were closer so I could see them all more often! I will have to write a whole post about the trip later and post all of the pictures. For now I must go, because both of the girls are waking up from their afternoon naps! 

Camping

Our camping trip went really good! The drive up was beautiful, just like my dad said it would be. Seriously, I don't know how we have never gone up there when it's only 3 hours away. We left later than we planned, so we got there in the afternoon instead of late morning. The weather was so nice when we got there. I was SO HAPPY to be our of the HEAT!!! My dad took us for a ride to show us around where is property is and the lake. Once he saw the lake,Richard could not wait to go fishing the next day. He was so excited! The lake was beautiful! Shoot, everything up there was beautiful!

The second day we were there we went fishing, and got rained on. The rain was so crazy! But once it stopped, it was still so nice outside. I felt like we were in a whole different world up there. It was a great weekend. The third day, Richard actually caught some fish. While it was raining, of course. Aubry & I went back to the trailer and he toughed it out, and I went back and got him later. He caught 2 fish, and I think Aubry was more excited about it than he was. haha! 

I am very happy to say that Aubry did GREAT with her potty training while we were there! I was so worried it would get messed up, but we brought her little potty, and we took it outside during the day while she was playing, and even took it to the lake! haha. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do! :) I think she liked camping, and I know she had a blast with her grandpa. We can't wait to go back!

Day 3

First of all, Happy 4th of July to everyone! I love the 4th of July, but it seems like Richard has to work every year, so it's kind of been a bummer the last few. He is working days today, and we will watch the fire works after dinner. Much better than it being night shift!

   Today is day 3 of Aubry being in panties and I am SO excited! She has done so well! She has had a couple of accidents. Yesterday she had 1, and today she hasn't had any. Except poop...she hasn't mastered getting to the potty for that yet..but I know that is harder to get them to do, so I am okay with it. Her wearing panties for the entire day & me not cleaning up pee off the floor over & over is a HUGE step up, so I won't complain!! Friday morning we are heading up to New Mexico to my dad's property for a couple of days. It will be the first time we have gone, and Aubry's first camping trip. He has a trailer, so it's not roughing it camping, but it's still camping. I hope she does good. I'm mostly worried about her remembering to use the potty while we are there. It will be almost a week of panties when we go, so she should be good. We will bring her travel potty seat, and her little potty. I'm hoping she will just use the travel seat, but I'm bringing the little potty just in case. It seems so crazy to me that I was going nuts trying to get her to potty train, and then she just did it on her own. I shouldn't jinx myself with it, but she has never done this good, so I am hoping this is it! It's good timing too, because we aren't going to be crazy busy these days off, and she started it while Richard was still working, so we weren't going any where. So, here's to hoping it lasts! I will post again after our little camping trip, with lots of pictures, and updates on how Aubry did with going potty! :)

They will do it when they're ready

Yesterday Aubry when in the bathroom & put her baby doll on her little potty, telling me the baby was going pee. She's done this a few times, and when I try to get HER to potty, she tells me no and runs off. So, being a little frustrated with the "baby doll going potty situation", I walked away and went to start the dish washer. When I came back, Aubry was naked, standing up. She hurried to sit back down, and told me "I peed!". I didn't really think she peed, but she she stood up again I saw it. Of course, I made a huge deal out of it, but not on purpose this time...I was just SO EXCITED! For the rest of the day, she would just go in there & go on her own. I don't think she likes an audience when she's in there, which is okay with me if it means she will actually go. I only changed 2 pull ups yesterday, one when she got up in the morning, and one when she got up from her nap. I guess I should have listened to all those parents who told me kids will use the potty when they're ready. HOPEFULLY she keeps this up. Today she is in panties so far. She had one small accident about 20-30 minutes after she got up, but she only tinkled a little in her panties, stopped herself, and ran to the bathroom to finish. Which is way better than any other time she's had panties on. She usually just lets it all out if she's having an accident. She stopped herself this time. I am really, really hoping she keeps it up for the whole week! I would be SO happy!! Obviously I am ready for her to be done with diapers! I just hope she is ready, too! I will keep everyone posted!

Follow Up

I had my follow up appointment with Dr. H on Wednesday. They hadn't called with my results from my LEEP & it has been 2 weeks & 1 day, so I was a little stressed. Okay, a little stressed is an understatement. All morning on Wednesday I felt like I was going to throw up. I was so nervous. Mostly because I hadn't gotten my results, and because it seems like every time I go in there lately, or for the last few months, I get nothing but bad news. Thank goodness Richard was with me, or I would have been going even more crazy. Of course as we are waiting in the room they have the little display thing on the counter opened up to the cervical cancer one. I swear I was having a panic attack. Haha! So Dr. H comes in & says that everything looked good. So I asked what that means. He said the cells from the LEEP were consistent with the cell from the biopsy, which is good because it means they aren't any worse than they thought, and also they didn't get any worse in the time it took from getting to biopsy to doing the LEEP. He also said the margins were clear, which was the part  I was stressing about most, and that is REALLY good, because it means the bad cells don't go any deeper than what the burned off. So, I was stressing the heck out for NOTHING. Not that this whole thing isn't to be taken seriously. There is always a chance the cells could come back, but I am not even thinking of that right now. I am just thinking THANK GOD everything is looking good now. I think Richard & I were skipping back to the car like a couple of fruit loops. The first person I text when we left was my best friend. I know, I should have called my family first, but I knew she would 100% know how I feel. She is in vacation in Cali, and she still called me when she got the text. I LOVE her!! Then we went to get Aubry from Lee Ann(Richard's mom) and gave her the good news, then went to see my mom & did the same.  Then I texted everyone else to let them know. I have a very supportive family, and the greatest friends. I am happy I have them to go through this with. 


Our dog, Splinter, passed away I guess about 10 days ago. He had just stopped eating and gotten really lethargic. He was about 14 years old, so I guess it was about his time. It was really sad, because Richard was in the middle of his night shifts & we didn't have the money to take him down to the vet to be put to sleep. We tried to make him as comfortable as we could. The last day he didn't even pick his head up at all when I would go out to check on him, so then I decided to let Aubry go out and give him some love, and only then did he pop his head up & try to move around a bit. It was sad, but I am glad we got to have him with us for a couple of years.


Aubry 2 ant bites the other night & her whole foot & ankle are swollen. It's so sad! I'm thinking the big fire ants must have got her, because she's gotten bit by the small ants before & didn't have a reaction like this. We've been giving her benadryl & putting cream on the bites. And trying to keep ice on her foot, but getting a 2 year old to sit around for longer than 5 minutes is a joke! Hopefully the swelling goes down soon. I start freaking out about stuff like that because Richard is allergic to everything, and I am allergic to nothing, so I don't ever know what to expect.