a little r&r!!

So after a long day yesterday we drove home from St. Mary's last night and got home around midnight. Our little one had such a fun-filled day yesterday that she just didn't want to nap! So, that meant we had one tired baby on our hands. She slept the entire way home (4 hours) and then slept until 9:30 this morning!! That is a total of 13.5 hours folks! This is what we saw when we went to check on her this morning.



She has discovered laying on her side!! What a smarty pants, and how cute is she?! After she had some breakfast Daddy told me to come in our room and look at something, so I walk in and this is what I see.
She was tucked into our bed, how cute? I just couldn't resist cuddling with my little angel so I hopped into bed with her. Well, she got a little kick out of it and started to just giggle uncontrollably. She rolled over and we just laughed at each other. I love that little girl so much I feel like my heart will just burst any second!!

Today we are just going to relax and soak up every second with our precious angel, because we are going to Washington, DC tomorrow. My grammy is going to be buried with my grampy in Arlington National Cemetery. The funeral is on Monday, so we decided to make a mini vacation out of it because I have never seen the city, just Arlington. My mom is coming down today and is going to stay with Ansley from Saturday to Tuesday and she is in hog heaven!! We are going to miss Ansley so much, but it will also be nice to enjoy some alone time with my handsome and wonderful hubs!!

I will be back with lots of pictures on Wednsday! See ya then!!

turkey day

We set out on Wednesday to visit our families in south Georgia for turkey day. My dad lives about an hour north of Freddy's parents who live right on the Georgia/Florida border. We stayed at my Dad's on Wednesday night and had some of the best fried shrimp in Georgia!! They cook it right after they catch it! Yummy!! So yesterday morning after Thanksgiving breakfast with my Dad we left for Freddy's parents house in St. Mary's. It was a busy day of eating and catching up with family. Grandma and Grandpa had a lot of friends who wanted to meet baby girl, so we made a lot of house calls. We had a great time seeing everyone, and Ansley loved seeing her Pop, Aunts, Grandma and Grandpa!!We are so thankful for all of our wonderful families. I am especially thankful for my baby girl and my wonderful, amazing, loving husband! I am so blessed!

photo shoot time!

My wonderful friend Jessica came to visit for the day from Atlanta on Tuesday. It was so great to catch up with her! Jessica, being the fabulous friend and photographer she is, decided that she would do a little photo shoot for us. Well, miss Ansley was not too keen on the idea, as she was a little grumpy that afternoon. I still think Jess got some great pictures of her, and while she had crying breaks our cat, Shiraz, stepped in. He is such a good model. Here are a few of the wonderful pictures! Thanks again Jess!! We love you!

bye bye boobies!!

Well, Ansley has decided she is done with nursing. It all started with getting my tooth pulled. I was put under sedation and was unable to breastfeed for 24 hours, so I had pumped a lot so that she could be satisfied. Well, after that my supply started to fade even more than before. I tried everything and it was not meeting miss Ansley's needs. Thus, I have been supplementing with formula for the past 2 weeks. She has gotten so used to the bottle because we were giving her the formula or the pumped milk during the day, but I would still nurse her in the morning. Well, she was DONE with that last week. I didn't realize how emotional I would be about not nursing anymore. I don't even remember the last time I nursed her and that makes me sad, because I know I would have savored it more if I knew it would be the last time!So now, I am still pumping but am not getting much. I hope to give her one bottle of breast milk a day as long as I can. On the bright side, this means I can start dieting and exercising like I want. Those who say that you drop all the weight breastfeeding lie! Or at least it didn't work for me, I was hungrier and I couldn't work out like I am used to because it affected my supply so much.

I had been having so many mixed emotions about breastfeeding. I know that it is the best thing for her, but it has not been the best thing for me. I have been struggling with it the entire time! From the beginning when she gave me blisters, to over abundant supply, to lack of supply. It has been hard, and no one seems to tell you how hard it truly is. I have wanted to stop for a while but guilt has kept me going. Now, my body and my baby have pretty much decided for me. My little girl is very content with formula and she has transitioned flawlessly. However, I still feel that guilt that I am not providing what's best for her, but it is what I can provide her now so I just have to deal with it. To all those mothers who can go a year with no problems, you are my heroes and I applaud you. I don't know how you do it, but hopefully the next time around I will do better.

roll over, roll over!

So, Ansley has not liked being on her stomach since the day she was born. I think that it hurts her reflux really bad, and just churns all that acid into her esophagus. So, after the screaming while on the tummy and the screaming for 30 minutes after I became a bit reluctant to do tummy time. Well, baby girl hasn't had tummy time for about a month because of this. So, today Daddy put her on her tummy while I was out of the room, and as I walk in I see our little one ROLL OVER!!!!! We were so excited I think we may have scared her. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, we put her on her belly again, but this time we put her arm down by her side. Well, wouldn't you know our little genius pulled her arm up and rolled over again!! It was amazing! Never did I think that I would be so excited to see someone roll over. Our little girl is beginning to show her personality, and when she doesn't like something she either gets frustrated or does something about it. So, no more tummy time for her, she will be rolling over before that happens!!

where do I start?

Holy cow!! It has been WAY too long since I have blogged. We have been very busy here at the Stokes household, so I have not had a chance to sit down and let you in on all of the happenings. I guess I will start from Nana and Pawpaw's. We went to visit them about three weeks ago, and let me tell you Ansley has a new biggest fan-Pawpaw!! Man he was smitten! They were so cute together, they would just hang out together in Pawpaw's recliner and watch everything that was going on. We had a great time visiting and being in the beautiful mountains.



After that trip, Gigi came home with us so that she could recover from her neck surgery. We really enjoyed having her here for a whole week! That was when Ansley first started to giggle and Gigi was the only one who could make her laugh! That has since changed as our little girl is a giggling fool (which I absolutely LOVE!). During that week Grandpa Stokes came for a short visit while he was in town. Since then we have also been to Atlanta and back. I had a tooth pulled, and was also sick. Sheesh! It has been a busy 3 weeks. I will try to be better about it from now on.

Road Trip!!

Daddy left today for a business meeting in Charlotte, and he will be gone until Wednesday night. Mommy said that she didn't want to be here all alone, so she decided that we would go up to the mountains and visit Nana and G-pops. She is very excited to see the pretty leaves and all the beautiful scenery. Gigi is also going to be there because she is recovering from her surgery she had last week. She is supposed to come home with us on Wednesday to stay with us while she feels better. Everybody is very excited to see me so I am sure Mommy will take loads of pictures and post them when we get home. See you then!
Love,
Ansley