My husband, the hero!

Matt and I have sort of created a little routine when he comes home from work. Miss Chunky greets him excitedly at the top of the basement stairs and then Parker and I give him hugs and kisses. He brings his lunch box and water bottle into the kitchen and then changes out of his uniform. After he is all settled, we have the "how was your day?" conversation. They normally are pretty boring and consist of funny stories about what Parker has done that day and anything he can find interesting about his day. Well last week Matt when we sat down in the living room to chat and watch some TV, Matt had quite the story about his day!

He received a phone call at the office with a women in hysterics on the other end. She said that her son was in the Navy and stationed overseas ( leaving that detail out) and had just called her to say goodbye because he had just taken an entire bottle of pills. She was so scared and didn't know what else to do but call the local Navy office here in town. Matt, not knowing if this was a prank or not (they get lots of prank calls) gets online and finds a phone number to the overseas base. He told the person that answered the situation and asked what to do. The man on the phone gave Matt another number to call. That number was disconnected. Matt then called the original number and a Chief answered. Matt told the Chief the situation and the Chief said they would take care of it. A few hours later, Matt got a phone call from that base thanking him because they found the man and was able to get him to the hospital in time to save his life.

Now, that's not a story you hear everday! Matt had the biggest grin on his face when he finished the story because he knew he saved that man's life! I'm so glad Matt decided to take action when that mother called instead of brushing her off. He is truly a hero in my eyes!!

SLEEP!

Sleep is a word that has been long lost in my vocabulary! Unless it is accompanied by the words, lack of, or no. However, everyone around me seems to be getting plenty of it! Last night while I was laying down to try and get some sleep, I realized what the factors are of this sleep deprivation! The first factor is that I have a newborn that eats between 2 and 4 hours. I know, that in it self should be enough explanation as to why I'm not getting sleep. OH, but it's just one reason! The 2nd factor also includes my little baby. After I nurse her in the middle of the night, sometimes she falls asleep and I lay her back in her pack n play and she doesn't wake up till the next feeding. On most occasions, she wakes back up and either fusses when I lay her down or she hums and/or grunts herself to sleep. For a while I thought these grunts were because she was either unhappy or filling her diaper. But I have discovered over the past few nights, that they mean neither. She just likes to grunt.
OK, so those are 2 factors of no sleep, but there are more...
My wonderfully sweet husband has horrible sinus problems and therefor is an extremely loud sleeper. It's not every night, but most nights he has to breathe out of his mouth, because his nose is stuffed up. And then there are the nights of snoring!
Oh, that's not all, our little puppy dog is a big snorer too! Once again, not every night, but on the nights she isn't snoring, she is having puppy dreams and yips in her sleep. Every so often, all the stars align and I have a nice quiet night of sleep. I still have to wake up and feed my little love bug, but it is in a quiet environment!
Well, last night was NOT one of those nights! AND to make last night even more enjoyable (notice the sarcasm?!?) not 1 but 2 lovely little, but LOUD, crickets found their way into our basement and chirped ALL NIGHT LONG! So at 7am when Parker was finished eating, I went down stairs with a can of Raid and got rid of those little boogers!
I've noticed that I get the best sleep between 9am-11am. Matt leaves for work around 8:45 every morning, he lets Miss Chunky out and Parker is normally done eating by then and if I keep her in the bed with me, she doesn't grunt or hum. So I get 2 quiet hours of sleep every morning.
I know this may seem like a lot of complaining, and I guess it is, but I have found it is just apart of my new life and have fully accepted the fact that sleep has left my life and will probably not come back until Parker is 18 and out of the house! And I absolutely love my new life and would not trade if for anything, not even sleep! I just found it kinda comical last night while I was laying awake listening to the sounds of my family!

Parker Leigh Sopp is here!!!!

The wait is over! Parker Leigh Sopp is here! She arrived August 25, just 3 loooong days late! We have been home just over a week and Parker, Matt and I are adjusting pretty well. She weighed in at 7lbs 7oz, 20 inches long at 1:43 pm.
So I guess I'll fill everyone in on the "birth story". Don't worry, I'll leave out the ugly details, haha. I started having mild contractions early Sunday morning and since Matt and I weren't too sure what that meant, we went ahead and went into the hospital to get checked. Well, they decided that I was probably in early,early,early labor so they asked if I wanted to stay or go home and wait. We chose to go home! Matt's parents were already up staying with us and my parents were on their way from the lake house. So, Matt and I went home and rested and kept waiting to see if anything would progress. So Monday rolls around (now I'm 2 days late) and Matt goes to work and Al heads back to GA to check on their dogs. Bonnie, Mom, Gammage and I go out for lunch and walk around downtown. My contractions from Sunday were gone, so I was pretty bummed out. Well, after lots of walking, and I mean lots of walking, I started to have some contractions again. Well around 3am Tuesday I really started feeling the real thing. We started timing them around 4am and they were between 7-9 minutes and were painful enough to stop me in my tracks. So off to the hospital we go. I checked in at 6:30am and the nurse checked me and said that I was in labor and it was time to have a baby! yay!!
The funny thing is that there were 6 other women there having babies! 1 was a c-section and the other 5 were scheduled inductions. Parker was the only one that decided one come on her own! I'm really glad we didn't go with and induction because she was the 1st one born that day!Well. the c-section baby actually came first, but that was scheduled for a certain time so I didn't count that one :)
I chose to get an epidural and am so thankful I did! There was an hour where I was in serious pain and I don't know how I would have made it through with out pain relief! They don't call it labor for nothing!
Parker arrived at 1:43pm with a head full of hair and a great set of lungs! Hearing her cry and seeing her for the first time was so amazing and overwhelming at the same time. It was a lot to take in and no words can describe that moment.
We have been home a little over a week and have been on our own for 5 days. Al and Bonnie left the day after we came home from the hospital and my mom stayed for the weekend. Matt has been off work for 10 days. We are adjusting fairly well. Parker seems to be a very content baby. At night, she fusses when she is hungry, but doesn't really cry, it's more like little grunts and she gets real fidgety . I try and feed her when she starts acting like that to prevent the all out crying. Most of the time I catch it, but she has gotten to exercise her lungs when momma doesn't get out of bed in time. There have been times she is wide awake after I feed her at night and I feel so bad putting her back in her pack-n-play awake, but at the same time, it's the middle of the night and I'm exhausted! So, I just wrap her back up and lay her down and she just lays there and doesn't make a peep. She's very content and that makes it a little easier to go back to sleep.
During the day when she is wide awake, we lay on the bed and watch TV and have "pillow talk". She is so cute when we play like that. She looks around and makes good eye contact and makes noises and it's such a rewarding time for me. I know that her smiles are not toward me (they are nick named "gas smiles" hehe) , but when she does smile at me it melts my heart. I can't wait for a true reactions smile.
Becoming a mother has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. It is such an incredible feeling and I could not be happier. Yes, I do get frustrated and am completely sleep deprived, but those downsides can't take away from the joys of being a new mom. Seeing Matt with her is also one of the best things to see. He is so amazing with her and having his child has made me fall more and more in love with him. Watching him being a new dad is something I'll never forget. I asked him in the hospital right after she was born what he was thinking, and he said that no words could describe it, and that is so true. No words can describe the first moments with our baby. I love our little family and am trying to soak up every minute of it. We are so blessed to have a healthy, happy and adorable baby.