Okay I know I am behind. The weekend was a whirlwind!
We had a great Thanksgiving with family in Cookeville!
Grace Anne was a great little traveler in the car both ways and of course she was a hit with her cousins she met for the first time! Thursday night Mommy and Aunt Beth stayed up with her ALL night. (mostly because time got away from us and by the wee morning hours we didn't want to go to bed and have to try and get up a couple hours later.

Daddy watched Grace Anne the majority of the day on Friday! She wore him out, but we were very thankful he was off and could spend time with her!

We don't go to the doctor again for a week and we will see if our little girl is gaining any weight! She is eating well!! She is changing a lot in such a short time! She touches her bottle and paci a lot and she's developing more of a distinct face. She looks very much like her Mommy from her nose down. She looks like Daddy from through the eyes and her upper face! She is still in newborn sized clothes so we have a very limited wardrobe!

Daddy went back to work today. He had a very, very hard time leaving! He made me promise to text him throughout the day and let him know how she was doing! (which of course she is fine! she has her Mommy-- duh!)

Well the pretty girl is ready to ear so it's time to stop the blogging and tend to the number one priority. I have every intention of doing better this week! Thank you all for still watching and following our baby girl!

OUR LITTLE RUNT...

Let me begin with my deepest apologies.. it has been days since I've blogged-- but hey, you understand.. we have a 12 day old baby in the house! It is slightly hectic! Grace Anne seems to be doing much better with the stuffy nose! Thank goodness! Mommy and Daddy are still lacking sleep, but Daddy has been doing the first half of the night so he actually gets a decent amount of sleep because he has been able to sleep in. BUT, Daddy requires more sleep than Mommy and Daddy hasn't had 9 months of sleepless nights so he isn't used to a messed up schedule. (Not to say that Mommy enjoys a messed up schedule or lack of sleep!)

Today we went to the doctor for a weight check. The pediatrician had told us from day one that she'd lose some weight (from birth weight) and would be back to birth weight by 2 weeks old. Last week she had several visits to the doctor and she was a consistent 6lbs. 11 oz.! He had also said she'd start gaining about an ounce a day -- well, no such luck! She is now a whole 6lbs. 13 oz. Yeah so 7lbs and 2 oz. is a long shot for Friday. Her doctor wants to see some more weight game... but as for now, Daddy has determined that we have a runt!

So, back in September we went to Nashville for a weekend getaway. Daddy bought Grace Anne a precious onesie that said "Daddy's Little Pumpkin." Of course we had no idea that she would be swallowed whole by a 0-3 month sized onesie. As previously mentioned, she is much smaller than we anticipated and she has been wearing the same clothes A LOT! So back to the onesie-- Kris told me at the time she needed an outfit for Thanksgiving. Kris' favorite holiday is Thanksgiving and was totally bummed when we discovered that our sweet little baby would be lost in the onesie. No matter how cute it is, it just won't work! Mommy's concern became more like "OMG! WHAT IS SHE GOING TO WEAR?"!! Just think, she is going on her first trip (only to Cookeville for the day- but still!), she is meeting more family for the first time, and it is a stinkin' holiday! I began to think long and hard about turkey attire. Unfortunately, there aren't many options for newborn sized clothing! Etsy has a lot of cute stuff, but time was the issue considering we made this discovery on Monday! In the time of need, Mommy had to be crafty! Now Grace Anne has a Turkey Tee.. crafted by yours truly! (if you don't think it looks like a turkey or you aren't a fan-- I don't want to know!) She will be sporting the Turkey Tee proudly tomorrow..

Oh and another milestone!!! Grace Anne had her first baby tub bath tonight. Sadly, no pictures. Daddy was mopping the kitchen and it wasn't very conducive for Mommy to take pictures while the baby was in a tub of water.. go figure! But, she liked it.. for a few minutes at least. I will say, we registered for this cute little fish thing that you use to keep the baby's body covered when bathing her... I am really thankful Meredith got it for us! It really helps!

TAKE NOTE: DADDY STAYED HOME DURING A HOME GAME!

Of course we all know that Kris lives for college football! Having a fall baby was not in our plans--mostly because the fall is reserved for football and Kris wouldn't want a baby to disrupt attending games. I didn't want a baby to grow up dealing with Daddy's football mood if heaven forbid UT loses a game. How do you have a kid's birthday party if Saturdays are tied up with football? Obviously some weekends would be more of a problem than others. For instance, when I was having consistent contractions in October I feared I'd deliver the 3rd week of October -- that would have been terrible -- afterall, a Bama loss could ruin any kids birthday party-- and if it were a home game would Daddy even show? Okay so it sounds extreme, but I knew what I was getting into when I married him. After all, I'm from Knoxville we are orange (in every shade mind you), and we know football! Anyways, back to my point. This week Kris mentioned he might not go to the game, I didn't really buy into it but told him to so what he wanted to, he was welcome to go and I told him Grace Anne and I would hang out at home. Well, yesterday he decided to call the cable company and add the sports tier channels so he could get the game... and Kris Kepley skipped an attendance to a home game so that he could stay at home with his wife and baby girl! So, my point in having said all this is.. Kris is now a Daddy and some priorities may be changing. So, please take a moment to recognize this monumental moment!

Grace Anne is still very stopped up and it sounds like she needs to blow her nose :(.
She did have a bowel movement, well more like a blow out, t today which excited Mommy and Daddy. Tonight Patrick was over watching the football game and he had Chinese food. After the diaper surprise, Kris joked that Grace Anne doesn't even have to eat Chinese just smell it.

Oh finally, I was thinking today- don't tell my child I blogged about the regularity of her bowel movements. I can only imagine that at about age 13 she would be mortified!

ONE WEEK OLD ALREADY?!

Wow! I’m pretty sure that I am behind and must catch up! This may take a little while.
The last few days have been good, busy and tiring as any new parent would expect and any experienced parent would remember.

We had a little issue with bowel movements, or should we say the lack there of. It was very frustrating to her, you could tell- poor baby was stressing and straining! On Wednesday night it had been 24 hours and she couldn’t take it—tears were rolling off her face and we experienced the first 1 ½ crying session. I will say, her lungs were clear and I wouldn’t doubt the whole neighborhood heard her! Unfortunately, her diaper was still clean. Thursday morning didn’t bring any diaper surprises. Daddy was starting to get very concerned since she had been so routined up until this point. But, hours later while changing and dressing her for the pediatrician we were pleasantly surprised! Yes, you guessed it--- a bowel movement! It might as well have been her first word—we were so very excited! The streak has not continued, but after a 36 hour wait we were elated! And, ease to your curiosity, the doctor wasn’t concerned, just urged us to keep an eye on it. She had a good appointment. She is still at 6lbs. 11 oz. – so no weight lost, but he wants to start seeing gains.

After the doctor, Kris checked the mail. He walked in behind us and said.. “Oh no!.” I had no idea what he was referring to, but he followed his comment by telling us that Grace Anne got a gift in the mail—from a boy! The Andersons sent Grace Anne a sweet arrival gift and Kris joked that Davis (who is 52 whole weeks and 1 day older than her) was already making a move! I’m sure Davis had a lot to do with buying a Zutano bib and hat (if you aren’t familiar with Zutano, you are missing out! It is adorable!) The Andersons also got Grace Anne a Sophie Giraffe. She is one hip kid with all the latest in toys and style.. well she is getting there at least. After Daddy’s concern about boys passed, the whole entire Kepley family took a nap! It was a much needed nap at that. Everyone says sleep while the baby sleeps-- and let me tell you, that’s nearly impossible with everything else you have to do! But, we let those things go and it was a fabulous plan!

When we woke up from our nap, it was feeding time! Kris got her started on a bottle. She apparently was sucking on the bottle, but not swallowing what was in her mouth. All of the sudden Kris jumped up and said she looked very uncomfortable; she spit up a little through her nose and mouth about that time. I grabbed her and went to the nursery to get the suction bulb from the hospital. I just start sucking everything out of her nose and mouth and she grew redder. Kris went to get a cold washcloth. Her sweet little body started to feel limb and her body began to turn purple from head to toe. I was scared at this point, I had been calm but calm was out the window. I continued to suction and took her clothes off to cool her down and hopeful calm her down from the panic. The purple didn’t last long and she soon began to get some sort of a normal skin tone back. I was relieved to see red versus purple. Kris called the hospital and they said we handled the situation perfectly, they had us count her breaths per minute and told us a few tips.. we were thankful for their reassurance. We had a major SIGH of relief. Luckily, the eventfulness slowed down. She was resting and sleeping peacefully within an hour.

Our friend Rusty came to visit and she had the nerve to sleep through most of the time he was here. Haha. But, he understood completely!

Last night and this morning she sounds like she has a snotty nose and her stuffiness really took a toll on her sleeping. Laying flat in the bassinet was impossible. Daddy got up with her about 4 times before 3am. Mommy got up with her 3 or 4 times after 3 am. Mommy gave up about 6:30. She will sleep in the Boppy pillow sitting up, but she doesn’t do well flat. But, of course, we have to keep an eye on her in the Boppy so no sleep for us.

Even with all the events and lack of sleep I wouldn’t trade these days for anything! Mommy and Daddy are loving parenthood! It’s so hard to believe she is a week old. This week has flown by and I sure hope that slows down because I love her being so tiny! I know the days ahead will be just as exciting, but there is no rush for them to get here! We are loving this time together as a family and we are thankful to report that UPS won’t be seeing Daddy next week--- he is all ours!

WE ARE GLAD TO BE HOME!

I must apologize to the fans and followers, Sunday was too hectic for a blog. We had a very rough night Saturday in the hospital! Grace Anne wasn't a happy camper and we didn't get much sleep. Luckily, we got to come home Sunday afternoon and sleep a little in shifts. We were glad to be home but sad to see all our family start to disappear. We wanted this week alone and we are excited to be together, but it was nice to have so much support and smiling faces!

Grace Anne left the hospital wearing the same outfit I wore home... how cool is that?
I'm in the first picture on the and Grace Anne is in the second. The bonnet was big on us both as you can see! She adjusted well to being home and the night was much better! I actually took her to the nursery and stayed in there so that Kris could sleep the night through. I know he was tired and I knew I'd need him to start the week out well rested! Tonight, he might be getting up. I've tried to really not take much pain medicine but I'm really going to be taking some tonight! The whole birthing of a child or possibly the episiatomy have actually made me a little sore. I am lucky to have a high tolerance for pain, and from what I've heard I'm just lucky to not be overly sore.

Today was a good family day. Kris took his mom to the airport this mornign. She tried to smuggle Grace Anne into her luggage but she wasn't successful. Kris and I took a nap with Grace Anne this morning and then we all went to the doctor this afternooon. The nurse told us to get her down to a clean diaper. Well Kris handed me a diaper, we undressed her and I put on the clean diaper. They told us to hold on to the dirty diaper. As I began fastening the new diaper she wet it! So as I was going for clean diaper #2 and Kris was watching her. Before I turned around she projected spit up across her mouth on to Kris' arm. So we then had a naked baby with spit up coming from her mouth. We didn't want the pediatrician to miss the spit up moment. Nonetheless, they didn't even act like we were total idiots! She has lost a few more ounces-- we go back Thursday for another weight check, but the doctor wasn't concerned!



As far as the dogs go....We still aren't sure how they are handling the new addition. One moment Brewski seems to careless and the next he is growling. Heidi doesn't seem to mind and oscar hasn't shown much emotion, he just won't stay out of the way and he keeps whining which is driving me nuts! So, we are being very cautious! I don't understand why Brewski can't be as sweet as the male schnauzer my parents had when I a baby. Is this picture not precious? I can only hope that one day I'll be able to blog about brewski laying beside sweet Grace Anne and protecting her. I don't think it'll be too soon though!

And on that note, I'm going to tell you folks, Grace Anne is ready to eat and when she calls Mommy and Daddy jump! So much has changed in the last several days and its been great. We feel truly blessed. We already dread her getting bigger and growing up but we know each stage will be exciting and we know she won't always be little and the growing up thing would happen.. We are 100% responsible for a little one now and don't want to miss a moment of the joyus time. Though my blogging fans and followers are important-- my sweet baby girl is #1!

Aren't the pretty? Daddy-o sent Mommy and Grace Anne beautiful flowers. 11 pink roses and 1 yellow in remembrance of Gran Gran Grace! The card was sooo sweet too! "For the two loves of my life! Love, Daddy/Kris"..... Okay enough on the sappy note- we all know I'm not sappy!

Today was very busy! It may seem somewhat impossible that a baby could meet so many people in the first 24 hours. But, then again look at who we are dealing with.. Mommy knows quite a few people, but Gran Gran Grace was like the record holder for knowing and meeting new people. Why should Grace Anne be anything less than Miss Popular!?

Also, it was game day! We had a mini football party in our hospital room (or so it seemed). Grace Anne ended up not being able to wear her game day pants, she did wear her hat even though it was too big too. She unfortunately didn't see the best game for her first football Saturday of her little existence. But, I guess she wasn't 100% engaged in the game considering she her self was being passerd around the room like a football.

We have visitors from 4 other states.. pretty amazing! We have representation from North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana (of course lots of locals too!). I must say-- it has been quite exciting to have rotating faces because I, Liz Kepley, have now been out of this hospital since Thursday. I think this may some sort of world record as so many people think I'm a road runner. But, luckily, I've not been in bed much. After pacing the room last night... the Kepley family started walking the halls! I've been in motion a lot today and we've already warned Grace Anne that this family stays on the move!


Baby update wise, Grace Anne is still a perfect 10. The pediatrician (who was so cute in his bow tie, cardigan, and penny loafers) agreed she was pretty amazing! He didn't have any concerns when he came in this morning! I really liked him a lot. He had a somewhat old-fashioned demeanor , seemed to really truly care about his little patients, and had just an all around good attitude. And, well he did say Grace Anne was beautiful and insisted he had seen enough babies to know. So, why wouldn't we like him? He must be a pretty smart man.

This afternoon our little sweet pea got her picture taken in the outfit I wore coming home from the hospital oh so many years ago! Her Poppy recognized it right away and her Aunt Beth said she looked all too familiar. She was precious with her little puckered out lips-- I don't think the actually picture could do her justice! The nurse we had yesterday was with us again today and she was nothing less than amazing. Kris, "Aunt" Christy, and I all got to trot back there for the photo opt. The nurse gave her a little sugar water and Grace Anne ate it up!

Looks like we will be headed home tomorrow!We are super excited about taking her home and spending quality time with her as our little one!

As for now this post must come to an end. I know I am lacking the ample amount of pictures, but Grace Anne will be back from her midnight check up soon and honestly I'm just too tired-- no naps for Mommy and Daddy with all our company today. I hope that I have no disappointed any of our fans or followers! P

welcome to the world little one!

SHE HAS ARRIVED!

After a very interesting and exhausting pregnancy, Grace Anne arrived easily today! Little to her Mommy's knowledge, the contractions she experienced for 2 hours were INTENSE! I mean how would I have known since she is our first! But, the doctor said that contracting 2 cm in 2 hours that early in the process required some mega contractions. Unfortunately I was trying to convince myself that it was only going to get worse and I had to be strong.. it is all about the attitude right?

Daddy didn't exactly do well with Mommy dealing with pain and he was so concerned. He obviously didn't like me feeling so bad and was mortified by the look on my face! He made himself sick! Poor guy! He had to be forced to leave my side to throw up in the bathroom and not on me! What a great husband... don't you think? I'm so lucky... and so is Grace Anne! We have an awesome "man of the house."

Soon after that I had an epidural and life was good. I dialated to 10 cm in no time and by 12:45 I was ready to push! My OB was in a C-section so I had to hang tight a few min. They prepped our room and by 1:30 there were ready for ME and Miss Grace Anne. The first push was at 1:32 and Grace Anne came into the world at 1:50! It was fast, I laughed and joked with the nurses-- actually had a good experience. Thanks to the epidural and the amazing nursing staff... AND my awesome doctor-- who assured me I deserved an easy labor since my pregnancy was anything
but easy!

I got to hold her first and the picture is RIGHT after she was born... fortunately I don't even look like I just had a baby!! Daddy cut the cord and was quick to take her off my hands! He was so excited and I will never forget the look on his face! :)



We are all happy and healthy. Grace Anne was a PERFECT 10 on the Apgar! We feel she is a perfect 10 in many more ways than that, but we might be a little partial!

It's all about to change...

Today is the big day, well sorta! We will be going to the hospital this afternoon to start a prostagladin pack that should help soften the cervix. With a little luck, labor will start naturally and we will get this show on the road! Otherwise, we will be induced in the morning. We are super excited about welcoming Miss Grace Anne into the world and really wish that her Gran-Gran-Grace could be there to meet her and support us! But, we know she is watching down on us daily---- and we are sure she is proud of us!



The picture of Brewski may be all too telling... we will see. We think that he has some indication that there is something going on. We also get the impression that he may not want to share us with some noise making baby! We are sure he will hold his own and crawl up into bed every night and make his presence known! Only time will tell!