Thursday, June 19, 2014

A love like no other...

Nova has just turned 3 months! Wow, the time has been going by so quickly! These days Nova is attempting to roll over from her back to tummy...only to get half way there and get "stuck" and become frustrated. So I help her to her stomach, only to have her get mad again after a few minutes for being on her tummy! Ah,the life of a 3 month old!

Nova is an amazing baby. She is calm...can sleep through anything...and has the best chunky cheeks EVER! Those cheeks are what get me every morning (and afternoon and evening!) when I come to pick her up and she is smiling and kicking with such excitement of a new day.

I am super excited to be taking Nova to Wisconsin in just a few days...so hopefully (because I obviously stink at updating this blog on a regular basis) I will have some more pictures to share and stories to tell! Until then, Wisconsin get ready for this girl!







Sunday, May 11, 2014

Family Pictures!

I am blessed. We were able to go take family pictures yesterday and I am excited to see the results!

A few of my favorite! Enjoy!













Saturday, May 10, 2014

In Honor of Mother's Day....

On this Mothers Day weekend I thought it would be the perfect time to reflect on all memories I had with my mother!


Remember when.....


1. You would make a pie...ha ha..a million pies for Thanksgiving. It was an event of epic proportions  the evening before getting them all baked and cooled. I may have had to carry a pie or two the entire way to Wausau just to get it there safely!


2. We would have to have breakfast or lunch (if Santa came early) AND we had to clean up the kitchen before we could open presents! You realize mother, it felt like AN ETERNITY! But looking back glad we had that family time!


3. The trip we took to go wedding dress shopping.


4. We could not lift a baby calf into the back of the truck...we could not stop laughing! Ha, not even sure why we were even laughing at the moment.


5. You would always go to my Parent Teacher Conferences...and I would wait up anxiously to hear what they had to say.


6. You bought me bright pink gloves (not mittens) that were five times to big...but would be the only thing I would wear at school because they were gloves.


7. We biked around Mackinaw Island. Renee fell asleep in the carrying seat behind Dad.


8. I could tell your temper on a Saturday morning (while I was pretending to sleep in my bed) by the sound of your footsteps.


9. You bought us a shake....I mean a Frosty...from Wendy's!


10. The shopping trips to Appleton or Minneapolis to go school shopping.


11. We went into the Wedding dress boutique and we had to make a "run" for it because we did not want to talk to the worker there! We had to have looked hilarious running out of that store!


12. The "cow pie" birthday cake. Enough said!


13. My heart bedroom..or strawberry shortcake room..you could definitely be on HGTV with those mad skills! Those hearts were all so symmetrical!


14. You did not kill me when I spilled nail polish remover on my dresser.


15. You would watch Ryan and I's silly shows -- I still remember the Hound Dog show.


16. We made up the awesome game in the back seat on the way back from Vegas! And could not stop laughing!


17. Moving me to Arizona. Need I say more!


18. You would come driving into town to pick me up after a basketball game. (No matter how bad the roads were)


19. All the help and work you did to create the best wedding EVER!


20. You were able to hold your Granddaughter for the very first time...and you had to wait the entire ride home to see her. You were like a little girl patiently waiting..although I could tell the wait felt like an ETERNITY. (Payback?!? JK)




I could go on and on with all the great times and memories that were made. I am sure I will need to add to this list as I reflect more today. My hopes on this Mother's Day weekend is to with all those Mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day! And I hope to create all those same type of memories with my own daughter!



Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Week 7

Little Nova has recovered from her first cold, and has since been much better with her daily sleeping schedule. Although there is still some room for improvement, at least it has been consistent! She is quite independent..in the evenings she gets to a point where she just wants to be placed in her crib and have her "me" time. She also would love to be able to just sit up on her own (if she could) all the time. She will cry at times if you do not sit her up so she can explore the world. Nova loves taking walks outside, and we will have to sneak in a few more of those before it becomes to warm outside.

At week 7, she is still the most beautiful girl in the world!













Thursday, April 24, 2014

6 weeks

Wow, time sure does fly! I cannot believe my little Nova is already 6 weeks old. It was not so long ago I was counting down the weeks until she arrived, and now she is here.


I thought for sure I would be keeping up with this blog to share with friends and family, and the fact of the matter is I definitely find it difficult to use my time to update this blog. I would much rather either snuggle with Nova...or hang out with my Mark...or maybe catch some zzzz's.


I am hoping to do a blog a month, with some pictures to show from that month.


Until then...enjoy this thing called life!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Nova Rae Clark












The Arrival

Wow! Time has flown by! My precious bundle of joy is almost 2 weeks old already!

Let's go back to the beginning....

Monday, March 10th: This was my first day of "maternity leave" and what I thought would be the day I would be going into the hospital to be induced. Mark and I went to the doctor's appointment, and instead of being sent to the hospital to be induced, Dr. Rathee decided to strip my membranes. This procedure, which only lasted a few minutes, felt like an eternity and was rather painful. In retrospect though, it was not all that bad. After this, Mark and I went home and started the waiting game! I did a lot of walking around the block and bouncing on the medicine ball. I was amazed that I was finally starting to feel cramps. Dr. Rathee told us to come back Wednesday morning and we would do this again if we did not begin labor by then.

Tuesday, March 11th: The longest day ever!

Wednesday, March 12th: Mark and I got up and went to the doctor's office. Once again, Dr. Rathee stripped my membranes. Mark and I drove home that morning and once I arrived at home I begin to feel contractions. The contractions were much more powerful than the usual cramping I was having, but I did not want to get my hopes up, so I told myself I will not go in until this has been going on for an hour. Well, things got real! I lasted 45 minutes and as I sat down on the couch I felt what could be my water breaking. This sparked Mark's attention and before I could say anything we were in the car and on our way to the hospital! We arrived at the hospital at 11:30 am. By this time, my contractions were every 3-4 minutes apart and lasted for 30 - 60 seconds each. I never saw Mark drive with such determination as that day! I never felt so annoyed with techno music as I did during the ride. As soon as we arrived to the hospital and I stepped out of the car, my water broke! So here I am waddling into the hospital with my water gushing out with each contraction! (Not attractive!)

I was ushered into the triage room and was set up with a monitor to watch the baby and I's heart rate. Baby Clark scared us a few times, but once I laid to one side it seemed to calm her down. In the meantime, those contractions kept on coming! I am pretty sure that I asked the nurse each time she came into the room about getting an epidural! The epidural did not happen for another couple hours though! An ultrasound was ordered because Baby Clark was in an awkward position (sunny side up) and they wanted to make sure things were proceeding along. The ultrasound tech mentioned the weight may be just under 8 lbs.

At last, we moved into a delivery room. I also had some much needed relief with the epidural! OMG! This was heaven! For those of you who believe in a natural child birth or were forced to have a natural child birth due to lack of  epidurals back in the day...I am sorry! This was amazing!

Baby Clark was still in her sunny side up position, so once again it was a waiting game. The nurses had me lay on my side in hopes of her turning over on her own. Fast forward 8 1/2 hours later, and it was finally time to begin pushing. At 9 pm, we got the room ready to go. The lights were dimmed, music was playing in the background (Bruno Mars on Pandora), and Mark was ready to assist.

We pushed for 1 1/2 hours and with the last push....Nova Rae Clark entered the world at 10:25 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz. and was 19 inches long. She was perfect!