A Walk in the Park

This has been the prettiest winter.  While on maternity leave AK and I would take walks all over the neighborhood.   Now that I'm back at work the weekends have been equally as beautiful.    Here are a few pics that we took while at Veteran's Park one Sunday afternoon. 

Had to take a little snack break.

The sun was a little bright for her eyes.

Anna Katherine and Dad

i heart you

Here's my crafty little vday card I made for Tommy.  I was quite proud of it and the fact that AK took a great nap that day for me to make it :)

Common Thread?

Can anyone figure out what all of these items have in common?

Give up?

All gifts from my patients.  I went back to work this week and have been thinking in the past few weeks about my mixed emotions of going back.  I sure loved being home with AK but I also missed my sweet patients.  There's an ACS commercial that says something to the effect of cancer doesn't discriminate.  It doesn't, our patients go from prisoners and homeless to physicians and political figures.  Each have their own way of wanting to show their appreciation.  Here are some brief explanations about each of the gifts.

Socks, neon socks - This lady wore the cutest little socks every day for her treatments and I usually had on some print and we would compare so on her last day she went and found cute socks for me to wear after she finished treatment :)

Story - This patient writes short stories for pleasure so he wrote a short story about his experience entitled, "Radiation, What's that?".  The story has all of us as characters, lol. 

Scarf - Not just any scarf, it's handmade and warm and beautiful.

Baby washcloths (and onesies and mittens) - A sweet baby gift for Anna Katherine, love this lady. 

Angel painting - Yep, she painted that for me!  It sits right in my guest room.  I got an angel and Marshaun got a guy in a tuxedo leaning against a light pole.

Signed book - This patient was a teacher and had the opportunity to meet John Grisham when he spoke to her class about writing.  She had a book signed for us and gave it to us at the end of her treatment. 

Then of course there are the items I can't take pictures of... Gigi's cupcakes, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Magic Muffins, Barbeque lunches, cakes, cookies and the list goes on.  I love learning about these patients, their stories and do my best to give them the best treatment possible.  Work isn't always a bed of roses, I don't think anybody has a job like that but for the most part I enjoy what I do and would miss it if I didn't go back. 

With that said, I was pretty exhausted last week.  It was a huge adjustment but I think I'm getting back into the swing of it all and next week will be better. 

Visitors

We've been a bit busy and I've gotten way behind on blogging. I didn't want to let the month end without a single blog. I'll really try to do better next month and they won't all be baby pics :) Here are pics of friends and family that came to see Anna Katherine.

Clay (Rachael came, too but for some reason I don't have a pic!!)

The Best Neighbor in the World, Mollie!

Grandma and PawPaw

Gran and Pops

Aunt Jennifer - she's expecting my 2nd nephew in April! :)

Her great grandparents, Granny Girl and Pap

4 Generations

Jenni and Amy in the hospital

Dr Dumas at work one day, I love AK in this pic!

Introducing...

Anna Katherine Candler

Our first family picture of three on Dec 13, 2011.

Thanks to Aunt Lisa for the cute door hanger, lots of compliments from the nurses :)

Anna Katherine and Mom

Proud new Daddy

All packed and ready to head home from the hospital.

One of our favorites.

About 2 AM Monday night (as I'm writing this it would be 2 weeks ago tonight) Anna Katherine decided to make her appearance about 3 weeks early.  Were we prepared?  Not really.  Surprised?  Very much.  Excited? Yep.  Nervous?  Like you wouldn't believe.  That Sunday and Monday I had apparently been nesting and had no idea.  I even told Mollie that these Braxton Hicks contractions were getting to be ridiculous - ha, not Braxton Hicks... oops!  When my water broke, I thought surely not and it literally took me about 15 minutes to realize we were really going to have a baby by the end of the next day.  Wow, our has life changed and we love it - every single minute of it, even the sleep deprivation.  She is so perfect and we are learning lots and lots about her every day.  Each time I look at her, I think "goodness, you're big and you're supposed to still be inside my belly until Jan 9!!"  She would have been a big baby and I would have been an uncomfortable, exhausted Mommy.  I'm so glad to have my skinny feet back, along with the best Christmas present ever.  Welcome to the world, Anna Katherine! :)



Mom's craftiness

Here is her first sewing project with her new awesome sewing machine :)  She has finally gotten a new one after many, many "fixes" to keep the old one running.  Here's Anna Katherine's new bassinet skirt!  Didn't she do a great job?!?

And a close up for good measure.

Barbara, my great aunt, gave AK this beautiful bear that just looks so angelic in there :)

Side note - If you haven't already guessed, I'm not going to be finishing the photo challenge.  Just too much going on around here lately!

Day 15: Warmth

Mmm... you guys know warmth is something I just love from the last photo challenge we did.  It makes me very happy :)  These are my awesome isotoner gloves, Tommy absolutely hates them.  He just doesn't understand how functional they are while keeping you very warm at the same time.  That's just difficult in a pair of gloves.  Maybe they do look like grandma gloves (as he says) but I can't make it through a winter without them.  I almost bought a new pair last year when they went "missing" and all of a sudden they reappeared when I showed him that they are not cheap to replace.  I win!

Day 14: Denial

I miss sweet tea, with caffeine!  Decaf just isn't the same but I would rather deny myself the tea than my lunchtime Mountain Dew.   Who knew I drank so much caffeine?!?  oops.  I didn't drink tea every night, I think it's just the fact that I can't have it that makes me want it so much more.  Here's my wonderful tea maker that has probably been used twice since I found out I was pregnant.

Sweet tea - denied!

Day 13: You Choose

I never did show you guys what my chair looked like after we got it recovered.  The guy did a great job and it matches the den so much better than that blue/green pattern!

Tah Dah!

Day 12: Art

I have writing thank-you notes down to an art!

Day 11: Glittery

Anyone been in the store Justice?  There is more glitter in that store than a Mardi Gras ball.  My little cousin Allyson is in love with Justice and anything girly.  This is the scarf I purchased for her and of course it matches a cute little tunic perfectly :) Boy am I in for it when Anna Katherine gets that age.... not sure how excited I am about that!!

Day 10: Nature

This picture makes my little plant look kind of pitiful but it's really not.  It has just survived a traumatic journey of being repotted.  I actually have two of these, one in the kitchen and one in the den.  They are both from my brother's funeral and I'm so proud to have kept them alive this long.  They have gotten so huge and full that Tommy decided he needed to put them in new planters this past weekend.  If they continue to grow I think I may have to split them into 4 plants.  Anyone need a pretty green plant that's super easy to take care of??  It's amazing how resilient these have been.  After vacations they look like there is no possible way the will come back to life but they always do :)

Baby Showers!

Shower at Mollie's

Cute cake!!

Yummy snacks!

Svea's welcome sign :)

Having a bite before opening gifts

Note the tiara and princess chair that Svea got together for me, I love that she loves parties as much as I do!

The wonderful group of friends that put it all together!!

Shower in Monroeville at Mrs Dawn's

Aunt Lisa made a cute door hanger for the hospital, we just have to fill it in once AK is here!

Granny girl made me this pretty teddy bear afghan, she's been working on it since Tommy and I got engaged :)

A little something for Gran, too!

My favorite church ladies from Monroeville!



Day 9: Interview

Slowly but surely - I'll post a picture but the video is the actual interview.  She and I have a conversation every afternoon about her day and why she won't eat her food etc.  I love my Aspen! :)  She's my first baby.

This is the first video we have taken with our new camera and my first video post.  Let me know if it isn't working.

Also, I haven't forgotten about baby shower pictures.  I have to get some from my mom because she took them with her camera and things are just getting busy!  I'll be honest, I'm pretty sure I will not finish this photo challenge but I'll see what I can do.  I haven't even been catching up on my blog reading and don't mention time for pinterest, that hasn't happened in a long time!

Nursery

The nursery is starting to come together. I promised pics a little while ago so here are a few. 

these are the million pieces the changing table and crib started out as

final product with the bedding :)

closer view of the bedding

and the mobile

i'll add more pics of the entire nursery once i get it all together!  it looks like we could welcome anna katherine at anytime if we just had to (but i don't want to until january!!)