One year ago...

Yesterday was Payton's first birthday... our little girl is officially a year old. Payton Marie Hall was born at 10:52am on February 27, 2010. She weighed 8Ibs 4oz and was 21.5 inches long.

3 weeks before Payton was born... that's a lot of baby in there!

I wasn't due for a couple more weeks, and since everyone told me that your first baby almost always goes overdue, Kyle and I were sure we still had a couple weeks and decided it was a good idea to visit family in Albany for the weekend. He convinced me by telling me that it would be one of the last times he could hang out with his brothers like the old times, without any responsibilites. He was very, very right :) I was laying in bed reading a book late at night (about childhood vaccinations, which I never got to finish unfortunately) when I felt like I was leaking. I went to the bathroom and confirmed it, so I woke Kyle up. We called my doctors office and they told me to give maternity a call and tell them that I would be coming in later that morning. She told me to go home, get a full nights sleep, take a shower, then come into the hospital to get checked out. We waited for Kyle's mom to get her bag packed so she could come with us, then took off. I had started to have some cramps, nothing too bad though. We got in the car, and when Kyle turned the corner to get out of the neighborhood my water GUSHED; and the real pain began. Kyle said that he's never driven so fast on I-5, we went 80-100 mph the whole way there. I couldn't even talk I was hurting so bad, by the time we got to Portland my contractions were 2 minutes apart lasting over a minute... needless to say, we didn't have time to swing by our house and pick up our bags, instead we headed straight to the hospital. I had to be admitted through the ER because it was about 4am on a Saturday, but they took one look at me, threw me in a wheelchair and took me straight to maternity. I got dressed in a hospital gown, and a nurse came in to check me; I was at 9cm! So about two hours after my water broke (and without any anesthetic), it was time to push. And push. And push, and push, and push. The only good thing about pushing for so long was that my mom got there in time, I was really relieved to see her. After about 3.5 hours of pushing and getting absolutely nowhere, the midwife who was attending me (it was a Saturday so I just got whoever was on call) called in a doctor to assess me. He gave me the option of manually turning the baby with forceps and then pushing for ANOTHER couple hours (and it only worked about half the time), or a c-section. I wasn't comfortable with my baby spending so long trying to get out, and Kyle and I had talked about it before and we really wanted to avoid the forceps and vaccuum, so we opted for a cesarean. They had just started another one, and since they weren't fully staffed because it was the weekend, I had to wait my turn (again, still without anesthetic!) to get into the OR. Finally, about 6 hours after arriving at the hospital, I was wheeled into the OR to have my baby. I didn't even feel the spinal shot, but I did feel the immediate relief from the pain that it provided. It was AWESOME. The whole morning had gone by in a blur, but it was like time stopped when my baby was born... it had been an extremely stressful morning, but when we heard our daughter cry, it was all worth it. At 10:52am, she was finally here!

Sweet little angel...

We pretty much just stared at her for the next 3 days we were in the hospital. She was perfect, and we loved sharing her with family and friends. We were discharged on March 2nd, and made the trek back to our house in Beaverton, back to the real world to start our lives as a family of three!

One year later, and our baby is growing up. She is definitely showing her personality! She loves music and loves to dance. She is getting more and more excited about reading books, and has started to point to different things while I'm reading. She is constantly on the move, crawling and climbing. She definitely doesn't sit still! Her favorite toys are anything that make noise, and she really likes touching mom and dad's toys (also known as our cell phones and computers). She loves to eat, and wants whatever you're eating (and she will yell at you until you give it to her!) She loves splashing in her bath, but she gets tired of it pretty quickly and is ready to move on to the next exciting activity. She's so much fun, and she even said her first word yesterday; she told her Aunt Chelsea "bye bye"! :)

This last year has made me and Kyle grow up a lot; I thought we were pretty responsible, we were homeowners, had college degrees, but nothing quite prepares you for parenthood. It has really been a journey, and we look forward to the many years we have in front of us as a family. We are very, very blessed :)

We had Payton's party yesterday here in Albany, which was a success. Kyle and I were probably more exhausted than the birthday girl, it's a lot of work to throw a party!

Kyle's cousin Sarah and her friend made these adorable cupcakes for Payton; they were delicious!

The birthday girl!

Payton and I with Mindy and Payton's second cousin, Melina. Her birthday is next month!

The Hall family

Opening presents! Payton got lots of great stuff!

I got a message this weekend that Payton's glasses were ready for pick-up, so after I got off work today we headed over to Corvallis to get them. It was funny, when the optician first put them on her face, she just sat there and looked around... made me wonder if she was seeing things a lot clearer and just taking it all in. She's tried to take them off a couple times, but we've been pleasantly surprised that for the most part, she kept them on without a problem. Hopefully once she realizes how much better she can see with them she will love them, I think it just bothers her to have something on her face. They look VERY cute on her!









I will definitely let you know how it is going! I have a feeling it is going to be an ongoing process :)

Happy birthday to my cute, sweet, funny little girl!

Birthday weekend

Hello there! Welcome to party central, we're in full swing birthday mode! We had Payton's first party last weekend in Gig Harbor, and now we're getting ready to celebrate the official day this weekend in Albany. I can't believe it's really almost here!

We headed up to Gig Harbor Friday afternoon around 3:30, although unfortunately we didn't get to my parents house until after 8:00. It felt like a reaaaallllly long car ride. Payton is not into just sitting these days, she wants to be getting into everything and exploring, so she wasn't thrilled about sitting in her carseat for so long. But we made it! I got to visit Elena on Saturday and get my hair done, and it was so nice to catch up with her and get pampered at the same time. We got done right as the party started, so when I got to the house there was already a driveway full of cars. All of our family came out to celebrate Payton's big day with us, which we so appreciated. It was a great party, a big thank you to my parents for hosting it!

My birthday outfit!

Some of my party decorations!

Funfetti cupcakes... yum!

Hanging with Great Grandma Book!

I got lots of great gifts!

I really liked the tissue paper and ribbons

I LOVED my cupcake! I picked up the whole thing and tried to stuff it in my mouth!

YUM!

My mom and dad have survived a year of parenthood! :)

Daddy always makes me laugh :)

Thank you to all of our family who came out to celebrate with us!

We took Payton to a basketball game at the high school last week after work. She was a little overwhelmed at first, but pretty soon she couldn't take her eyes off the court. She loved it! She even was dancing when the band played, it was SO cute. Check it out below!



Well, that's all for now. Next time I blog I will be the proud momma of a ONE-YEAR-OLD!!!

So...

I took Payton to OHSU today to see her opthamologist, and the verdict is in... she does need glasses. Unfortunately her farsightedness has not improved, and he told us that if she does not start wearing glasses then she is at risk of her vision never developing normally. He said that she is more farsighted right now than most people will be in their entire lifetime, and that she may just be one of those people that always need glasses. How did I handle this news you ask? I have two schools of thought. One part of me is devastated, I'm not going to lie. My little baby needs glasses?? I don't want my baby to have to go through anything that may give her potential hardship (I think all of us moms out there can feel me on that one). On the other hand, I keep telling myself to chill out, that it's just glasses; millions of people have them, including lots of children. I don't think they're as common in babies, but I was surprised how much info there was on babies in glasses when I hit the internet (if you're interested in checking that out, I found a great site called www.littlefoureyes.com). When you look at her though she seems fine, so it's just so hard for me to believe that she struggles so much to see. He told us it's not that she can't see, but her eyes have to work really really hard to focus, much harder than they should have to. She doesn't know any different, so she doesn't complain. We're going to get her fitted with some frames sometime in the next week, and then go from there...

In a way, if you think about it, I almost think of Payton's hemangiomas as a godsend; if she had never had them, she would have never gotten checked out by an opthamologist, and we would not have figured this problem out probably until she started school. This past year has been quite a journey, and although some things have turned out a little (ok a lot) differently than I expected, I could not feel more blessed with the amazing little person in my life that I have the privelege of calling my daughter.

On that note, I'm pretty sure she'll be the cutest kid I've ever seen with glasses! This was after trying chocolate pudding for the first time. Yum!

P.S. I forgot to tell you in my last post... We're going to see Elton John in concert on Thursday! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!

LAST dose!

I know it's been too long since I've blogged last, I apologize. I don't know where the time goes, but we've already been here four weeks. Crazy! This will be a busy blog, so let's get to it!

Yesterday was a pretty momentous occasion for us... Payton's LAST dose of propranolol. She was on it for 8 months, since last June. Kyle and I are so thankful for this medicine and everything it has done for her, it could not have turned out better. It was easy, inexpensive, noninvasive, and super effective. We are very, very lucky. Here's one last comparison:

The day she started the medicine, 3.5 months old...

11.5 months old. All I can say is wow!

My mom was able to make it down last weekend for Lindsey's bridal shower, which worked out great because she got to have the whole weekend with Payton. As soon as she got to the house we took off for the party, which was at Lindsey's church in Monmouth. It was fun! Made me excited for the wedding... just five weeks away!

Lindsey with all the loot

The bouquet for the rehearsal!

The boys brought Payton by after she took her morning nap; hanging with Grandma Jo!

My little lady with the lady of honor

Our little girl is doing amazing. I can't believe how much fun she is! She's a big girl, last time we were at the doctor she weighed 24 pounds, 9 ounces. She's had a little bit of a cold lately, but she hasn't let it slow her down. If you play some music she will wiggle and move her shoulders, it's really cute to watch her dance. She's also talking a lot more, it sounds like her own little language; you can tell that real words are just around the corner. Her favorite food right now is probably bananas, and not the baby food thank you very much! She wants to eat what's on your plate, and gets a little angry if you don't give it to her. She wants to walk by herself, she tries to swat your hands away if you help her, but she doesn't quite have the balance yet. She is cruising though! She has also hit the climbing stage, we lowered her crib as low as it would go. Speaking of her crib, the other day in her room she crawled right up to it and stood there like she wanted to get in, so we set her in there and she thought it was SO fun! She bounced and rolled around, and even played peek a boo with us. One of her favorite activities these days is opening and closing doors, cabinets, anything she can get her hands on. Once it's open, anything is fair game and she likes pulling everything out (and making a mess). She's had a new smile lately that is really funny, she likes to scrunch her face! I don't know where she got it from, but it's pretty cute. Someone also taught her how to snap her fingers, although when she does it she looks like she's asking for money :) On Monday she has an appointment at OHSU with her opthamologist. They're going to dilate her eyes, and this is the appointment where he's going to decide if she needs glasses, so it's a big appointment. I know it's not a big deal if she does, but I'm hoping that her eyesight has improved in the last couple months! I will let you know how it goes!

"After nap" hair

I rooted for Grandpa Rick's Steelers on Superbowl Sunday!

Begging for food at the table :)

Um... yeah. This one is pretty self-explanatory!

The classic scrunch face :)

This weekend is busy getting stuff done. I'm trying to do our taxes, and I also have to sign up for health benefits so that they start next month. Tonight I'm going to Ladies Night Out, which is a fundraiser for the senior class all night party. It's spa related, so manicures, pedicures, hair stuff, and a glass of wine. Sounds like a pretty good evening! Everything is going pretty well at work, I'm still working on vascular and it's making more and more sense. I take my first night of call with someone next week, so that will be interesting. Kyle is loving student teaching, he's having a lot of fun. He's teaching freshman social studies right now, and is really enjoying it. He has about a month left at the high school before he goes to the middle school for math for 12 weeks.

The traditional first day of school picture! :)

Next weekend we're celebrating Payton's birthday in Gig Harbor at my parents house; I can't wait! I can't believe it's already time to start celebrating her birthday. I'm extremely interested to see what she will think of cake and frosting :) Hope you're all having a good week, I promise I won't go two weeks in between blogs next time! Talk to you soon!