I don’t know about you, but…

Having a baby makes me fall madly in love with my husband all over again!  There’s just something about Brad and a new baby!  He is so helpful with everything around the house and with the kids, but that’s not what I love about him.  I love how he makes all of us feel.  He has been so amazing with Wagner, Emery and I during this transition time.  There have been times where I’ve been overwhelmed with all of the change (as I always am), and he has been so reassuring and has made me feel like a great mom and wife through it all.  I know that he makes Emery feel safe and loved.  I love sitting on the couch waiting for him to come out of Emery’s room after tucking her in and hearing their conversations and knowing that he is in there dancing with her.  The way that he looks at Wagner (who happens to be his mini me) makes me anticipate all of the fun they are going to have in the future!  What a wonderful example of how to love Wagner will have!  He demonstrates such a pure love for both Wagner and Emery that I admire so much.  I realize how very lucky we are, and I hope he knows how much all three of us love him!!  We are all sad that you have to go back to work, and we will miss your help around here, but more than that we will miss your company SO.VERY.MUCH!!!

Oh How He Loves Us!

He is jealous for me

Loves like a hurricane

I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

All of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory

And I realize just how beautiful you are

And how great your affections are for me.

Oh, how he love us so

Oh, how he loves us,

How he loves us so.

And we are his portion,

And he is our prize.

Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes.

If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

Heaven meets Earth like an unforseen kiss

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest.

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

He love us,

Oh, how he love us

Oh how he loves us,

How he loves us so.

Wagner’s Birth Story

On Tuesday night (September 18th), while we were eating at China Wall Buffet I had two really painful contractions.  I told Brad that these were the real deal, but I wasn’t sure how long until we would actually have a baby.  When we went home and put Emery to bed I was able to fall asleep from 8:30 until 11:00, but right after eleven I was unable to sleep through the contractions because they were so frequent and painful.  I decided to get ready for work, but call the doctor on call and just check in.  Dr. Curtis was on call and had a good laugh when I told her that I knew my contractions weren’t close enough together to come in (10 to 7 minutes), but I was really nervous that my water would break in front of my sixth graders!  She told me that I could go to work if I wanted, but as soon as my contractions were 5 minutes apart for two hours I needed to make my way to my doctor’s office.  From 8:30 to 10:30 my contractions were three to five minutes apart so I called my doctor’s office at 10:30, and was told to come in immediately.  It was HILARIOUS to see my principal, school resource officer, and school nurse RUNNING to my classroom.  I wish I could describe that scene to you and do it justice!  I met Brad at home and we went on to my doctor’s office, where they checked me and I was 4 cm and 80%, so they sent me onto the hospital.  At this point I was feeling really good…the contractions were painful, but nothing that I couldn’t handle!  When they hooked me up to the monitor at the hospital I was having contractions every two and a half minutes.  I just hung out with Brad in the room until I reached 6 cm, and Dr. Curtis decided to break my water.  I got my epidural before they broke my water, and just continued to wait until I was 10 cm.  Wagner’s heart rate kept dropping so I was having to lay on my right side for thirty minutes and my left side for thirty minutes, so I didn’t feel the pressure when I got to 10 cm until they nurse had me roll onto my back to check me.  As soon as I did I told her I was ready to push.  She gave me one practice push and she immediately told me to stop because he was coming and she was not ready to deliver the baby!  Dr. Curtis came into the room and Wagner was born after just two pushes (in 7 minutes).  The nurse called him a miracle baby because his cord was wrapped around his neck TWICE which was the reason for his heart rate dropping during the end of my labor.  As soon as I saw him I said that he looked JUST.LIKE.BRAD!!!  He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz and was 21 inches long.  He is perfect and we couldn’t be happier! 

Last maternity picture!!

A big thank you to everyone to helped us in some way either by bringing us meals, keeping Emery, taking care of Lucy, or simply by praying for us…we have some pretty great friends and family!!

Wagner Bradley

Wagner was born September 19, 2012 at 10:33 pm weighing 7 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long...we are all three so in love with him!!

Full birth story coming soon :)

Ahoy, It’s a Boy!

On Saturday we had a fun little shower for Lindsey and Baby Landry!  I was supposed to help Lindsey’s sister, Stephanie with it, but unfortunately I was unable to really help much since we weren’t sure if Wagner would hold off!  Stephanie throws a GREAT shower…she’s so cute and creative!  It was fun to get together with our friends and celebrate the newest member of the Miller family!

Love you already Landry Miller!!

Emery’s First Day of Preschool

Emery is starting a 2 year old preschool this year to give her some socialization with kids her age, and some consistency when Baby Brother gets here.  We went last week to meet her teacher, and she seemed to really like playing with the other boys and girls.  She was “so cited” to “make fiends” and “see teacher” this morning.  She did ask for Mommy to take her, but Miss Joyce said she did just fine at drop off and went right in like a big girl!

Emery INSISTED on having her picture taken with Lucy this morning, so I obliged ha!  Emery’s teacher said she had a GREAT day and complimented her manners (which made me one PROUD mama)!!

They made this cute craft today which totally made me shed a few tears.  It was neat because we read “The Kissing Hand” together last night, and then they read it again in school and Emery told me they read the hand book at school :)

Close up of the poem:

Side note: How cute is her little Minnie bag??!! My cousin made that for her and it’s a crayon bag where you can put crayons in the front pockets…super cute!!! Thanks Jessica! :)

Things to remember…

This post will be incredibly boring for some of you, there are no pictures, but I want to write down a list of things I want to remember from these last few weeks, months, etc. as a family of three. 

- Emery is SO excited about her baby brother coming.  She talks about him all the time, and knows he is in Mommy’s belly.  She says she is going to hold him, give him a bottle, give him a bath (without bubbles), share toys, hug him and kiss him.  I know this could all change when he gets here but its so adorable right now.

- My favorite time of day is after I kiss Emery goodnight hearing her and Brad sing together.  They always sing “Jesus Loves Me”, and some nights it literally makes me cry.

- Emery is very motherly these days with EVERYONE.  She is always wanting to change a diaper, feed someone, hold someone, or give someone kisses to make them better.

- We’ve been spending more time than usual at home which I’m surprisingly loving!  She loves to play downstairs in the basement (this is where she “shoops” basketball and “scores” goals), and we love just soaking up this last little bit as a family of three.  She always asks to “Eat at home”, so I’ve been trying to do better about us eating in.

- Emery LOVES going to church!  When we were at the beach we missed three Sundays, and she told me “Mommy, Emmy misses church”.  Oh man, be still my heart!  That was music to this mama’s ears!  Her favorite song is “Great Big God O”, but she sings them all, all of the time!  I’m so thankful for a church that we all love, and our children’s pastor is pretty sweet (right Linz)! :)

- Brad and I have been spending lots of time reminiscing about when Emery was a baby and our time as just the two of us before Emery.

I’m going to be honest, I am NERVOUS about this transition.  I am VERY excited for Wagner’s birth, but I am just so nervous about how this is going to effect our family dynamic, mostly Emery.  I just feel like her life is pretty awesome, and that I’m going to “mess it up” somehow.  I just keep reminding myself of some great advice I have gotten…I am giving her a Ben.  I am the oldest, and when my brother was born I’m sure my Mom had these same thoughts, but I LOVE my brother.  He is one of my very best friends, and I am SO SO excited for Emery and Wagner to have the chance to experience that.  I hope we can foster an environment at our house where we can encourage that to happen. 

Big Girl Bed

This past weekend we took advantage of the three days we both had off (and our parents had off) and decided to go ahead and move the baby furniture into Wagner’s room, which was the old office.  The first thing we did was move all of the office furniture downstairs and set the office up in the finished part of the basement down there, then we moved the baby furniture into the new nursery, then we moved Emery’s furniture into her room including her new BIG.GIRL.BED!! She is using furniture that my great grandmother gave me, and I used growing up, so that’s really special to me! She was so PUMPED.  She kept jumping up and down and saying “I so excited, so excited.  Thank you Mommy, Thank you Daddy!”  It was really cute!  We have been talking up the big girl bed transition for awhile now.  She got to go with me to pick out her bedding, and has been asking about when she could use the new blanket (bedding), but I was still nervous about how this transition would actually work out.  I should not have doubted her because she went right down and stayed in bed all night, and then did the same thing for nap the next day…we have not looked back since.  Its hard to believe she’s big enough for a bed.  I had one good, long, ugly cry, but I am also adjusting well for a nine month pregnant emotional basket case...ha!

All smiles :) She looks so SMALL in there!

I love this precious girl, and yes she still uses her paci at bedtime and naptime…I don’t care if you judge me, I just might let her keep it until middle school :)

Couples Baby Shower

I knew as soon as we found out we were pregnant with a little boy that I wanted to have a small couples shower so Brad could share in the fun boy stuff!!  We had a shower with some of our close couple friends, and it could not have been more PERFECT!! Thank you Katie SO SO much for the fun shower with AMAZING food!!  And without further ado, pictures…

The best cupcakes ever, a mashed potato bar, homemade chicken tenders, pizza dip and WATERMELON made up the wonderful menu!!

The shower was held at Katie’s in-laws home…their house is AH-MAZING, so beautiful!

Brad got to open most of the gifts :)

Some of the best friends a girl could ask for!!

My favorite part of the whole shower were these cute little “Wishes for Baby Wagner” sheets that Katie made with our maternity pictures on them.  They will be great memories, and we even had some extra…so if you come to the hospital be prepared to fill out your wishes for Wagner too!

Thanks again Katie for such a fun shower…I know it was a lot of work, and it was so adorable!!