I've never wanted to grocery shop so badly

I have found that now that I have a baby I will go to great lengths to accomplish something that I never would have put so much effort into before. Today I really wanted to accomplish grocery shopping. I was actually looking forward to it because it would get me out of the house for a couple of hours. I have found that typically if we are in the car for longer than 15 minutes Reese will fall asleep and once she falls asleep in her carrier she is usually out pretty hard for a good while. So, I decided to go grocery shopping in Siloam Springs...I never before would have driven to Siloam to go to Walmart but this was going to give her enough time to get good and asleep. I fed her before we left and made sure I had my grocery list, wallet and all of the other things that have to go with us now that I have Reese.

When we first got into the car she was pretty happy but by the time we were to Tontitown she was fussing and once we reached Siloam she was screaming. I was not about to attempt grocery shopping with her this upset so we parked in the parking lot and I got in the back and calmed her down and got her to suck on her pacifier and begin falling asleep. I then decided to drive back through Springdale and head to Fayetteville to grocery shop, thinking she would be asleep by the time we got there for sure. She lost her pacifier as soon as we began driving again and she started crying again. Once we got to Springdale I decided to take 112 since it is a windy 2 lane highway. I thought the turns may soothe her??? It actually worked. She fell asleep soon after we got on 112.

She was out until we reached Walmart's parking lot. She woke up and was fussing again. It was only fussiness and not full blown crying so I decided to try it. I thought she may enjoy sitting in her carrier in the basket and looking around since that is kind of like riding in the stroller and she usually enjoys that. No luck, we made it through 4 items on the grocery list and then decided we were going to have to leave. I guess we will just have to try this again another day. Of course, she fell asleep on the way home and she is still sleeping now.

My very 1st Mother's Day

I have had such a great first Mother's Day! I think the best part was that Neal took over Reese duty all night last night and I got to sleep from 11 to 7 and it was soooo wonderful. He woke me up at about 7 to nurse Reese and while I was doing that he made me breakfast and gave me my gift and cards. Baxter and Barkley got me a card, Reese got me a card and he got me a card...they were all so cute. He also got me diamond earrings!!! They are so pretty. The idea is that these are my first diamond earrings that I will wear until Reese is 18 and at that time I pass them on to her and I get bigger ones. I thought this was so sweet and also a special idea. For lunch we went and ate at Primo and Reese was pretty good for one of her first restaurant outings.

While I have had a great day it has also been difficult thinking about how far away I am from my family today and every other day (especially holidays and worse now that I have Reese). I wish so badly that we could quickly get there and I want my extended family to get to meet her. My Dad and Sister's still have not met her and that really kills me. I know they will in time but it is hard. Even if I could be just a few hours away as we are with Neal's family it would make it a lot easier. I LOVE living where we do but this is one part of it that I do not love.

As great of this day is for so many I feel for all of those who have either lost a child or long to have a child. I know what it is like to long to have a child and be so frustrated on Mother's Day. I cannot imagine how hard this day would be if I had lost a child.

I made it...

This past weekend one of my close friends got married. She asked me to be in the wedding months ago and although I knew it would only be weeks after Reese was born I knew I wanted to do it, I was concerned about how it would go though. It ended up going perfectly.

The wedding was outdoors at this gorgeous barn just east of Fayetteville. I had to bring Reese with me to the rehearsal because it was at 5 and Neal could not get out of work early. Reese was a perfect angel. She slept through the entire rehearsal, woke up at the end and ate and went back to sleep on the car ride to the dinner and slept the remainder of the evening. The day of the wedding Neal took care of her the majority of the day as I had to get myself ready and get out to the wedding location for photos. She was a good little baby for her Daddy. Neal brought her to the ceremony and about an hour of the reception. She was so good! He brought her home after all of our friends that wanted to hold her got to and she ended up falling asleep in the car on the way home and stayed asleep until I got home and she wanted to eat.

I am so glad that I got to participate in Helen and Brett's beautiful day, it was so pretty and so much fun. Congratulations Helen and Brett!

A few photos

She is not a fan of bath time.

We were both so worn out when we got home from the hospital and fell asleep on the couch.

I love her big, pouty, red lips.

Our little family, minus Baxter.

Sweet baby.