Two months old!

My baby girl turned two months old yesterday. The hardest part about it was that she had to get shots. Taking her into the pediatricians office smiling and cooing all morning then having her begin crying as hard as she could once she was stuck was so hard to watch for my husband and I. I have to admit we both cried too after the nurse left the room. After her shots she slept for a long time until she was ready to eat. Once she ate the fussing so began. She just cried for a few hours and nothing but walking around and her swing could keep her mind of her sore legs. We fought the fit until she was ready for bed. We finally laid down around 10:00 but she slept until 4am! That is 6 hours! That is a very long time for Ollie. Today she's been in a wonderful mood. She's smiled all day. I'm glad her crankiness didn't last long since I'll have to deal with her daddy this Thursday after he has his wisdom teeth removed. I know that he will be a huge baby. Let's just say this week this mama is going into over time!!

The things nobody tells you

Nobody tells you how difficult it is to get pregnant when you want to. Yet so may women who don't deserve to be mothers are having kids left and right.  We tried for months and months. Tried tracking my ovulation schedule & everything. It's exhausting. I found the Glow app that really helped me through it all with online support groups? Tracking methods and so much more.

My battle with depression.

When you find out your pregnant it is such a joyous time. You want to tell everyone immediately. We told our close friends and family and shlcheduled our very first doctor appointment. I was 7 weeks when I went into the doctor office. We headed to our ultrasound room where I got the news that there was no heart beat. They wanted to monitor me in the next few weeks to see if there was any change. Our baby was not progressing and there was still no heartbeat at week 9. I was having good a miscarriage. My body was able to process the miscarriage on its own preventing me from having a D&C procedure. It was hard. I bled heavily for well over 3 months. I fell into a depression for awhile. I wasn't myself? I was pushing people I cared about away and I honestly regret it. I spent many nights crying and wondering what if. I was truly devastated. I struggled with my faith but I continued going to church to find answers. I was finally starting to cope and forcing myself to suck it up and deal with it. Things couldn't get better until I moved on.

Departure

We woke up early and packed everything in the back of my car we were ready on head home to see our dogs. We let the cabins USA Staff know we were leaving so they could reset the password code and we were officially on the road again! Our trip was long and hot but once we got home out dogs were thrilled to see us!

Day 6

This was our last full day in Tennessee. We got out of bed late and headed to Bubba Gump for lunch, it was one expensive meal for only 2 people!! We walked the strip a little more and made our final rounds in Gatlinburg checking out all of the shops. Once we left Gatlinburg we headed back to Pigeon Forge to walk their strip and check out all of the cars and shops again. We stopped in the candy store and tried to guess how much taffy would make 3 pounds so we could get it for free! We ended up only being .3 off!! We were so close!! We walk until my feet were blistered from my sandals and I ended up buying moccasins. We explored the island and it's shops one more time before heading to the Tanger Outlets. After that we were WORE OUT! we headed back to the cabin to pack and get ready to go in the morning. We had explored everything there was to explore! 

Day 5

We woke up and had breakfast at Flapjacks, it was okay but it was nothing compared to those delicious pancakes we had our first morning there. We drove back to Gatlinburg to ride the mountain coaster (we ended up riding it twice!) We also wanted to check out Doc Colliers moonshine & bootleggers homemade wine. We headed back to the cabin and Michael made spaghetti. After all our festivities for the day we ended our day watching  Silver linings playbook. It was a very good movie!!

Day 4

Michael woke up early and made croissants and sausage while I was still in bed. After he woke me up to eat his delicious breakfast we headed off to hike Cades cove. We drove through to each small trail. We did see 2 bear Cubs, a few deer and alot more wildlife. After we were hot and sweaty from our hike we decided to head to Huckfins for lunch. Michael used to eat there with his family when they would take their annual Gatlinburg trip. After alot of begging he agreed to take me into the Christmas shop where we got our very first ornament as a married couple! Two bears inside of. Tent that said our last name and our wedding date.  We headed back to our cabin to relax for the evening and spend some quality time together since our day was almost over.

Day 3

In our third day in Gatlinburg Michael
was dying to ride go carts! We got up and had breakfast and headed to the wax museum, we had fun taking pictures with all of the wax figures. We took a few Old time photos then walked the strip to ride the go carts. (Friendly reminder DO NOT attempt to ride go carts in a dress) we also played mini golf while we were there. After walking and looking at some of the old cars at the Rod Run we decided to head back to our cabin to grill chicken after dinner we headed back to Gatlinburg and rode the skylift in the dark, as we rode up we each made a wish with a penny in the creek. On our way back down we had the perfect view of the town at night! It was definitely one of the highlights of that trip for me.

Day 2.

We woke up and decided to make breakfast at home. Michael baked cinnamon rolls. Once we got dressed we headed to Ripley's Aquarium, we got through it alot faster than I expected but seeing all those amazing animals was awesome! My favorite part was the jellyfish! They were gorgeous! After we left the aquarium we headed to the Ripley's mirror maze. That was a ton of fun, you can get lost in there for hours! It's so dark and has really awesome laser lights to make it even harder to find your way out. Once we finished the maze we headed to the Ripley's Odditorium, we were in there forever! We did see some really cool things though! We made it through all of that and we were starving, we stopped at Fannie Farkles and had one of their signature giant corn dogs, they are seriously the best corn dog I had ever eaten in my life! We decided to head back to Pigeon Forge to explore the island again. We rode the Farris wheel (Michael was terrified) we ate at Timberwood grill again then we headed back to the cabin to enjoy the hot tub.

Day 1

We woke up early and went to the pancake house next to our hotel for our complementary free pancake breakfast, they were the best pancakes I've ever eaten in my life! They were so fluffy, buttery and delicious. After our breakfast we were off to Dolly Wood. I'd never been to Dolly Wood before but I knew it would be a blast. Since it was a Monday there were few people there, which means we were able to ride all of the rides very fast (& multiple times). My favorite was Mystery Mine!We were wore out after about 6 hours so we decided to leave and go check out our cabin. We picked up our keys at Cabins USA and headed through the back roads of Sevierville to our home for the week. We arrived to the quaint little cabin tucked back in the hills in a small community. We walked down the steps to our deck that overlooked a small Creek and hill. We had seen a lot of wild life down there over the week. The inside of the cabin was small but it was perfect for the two of us. We relaxed for a little while before we cleaned up and headed out to check out Gatlinburg. We were lucky enough to be down there during the Rod Run, we were able to see all kinds of awesome cars and trucks! The only downfall is pigeon forge and Gatlinburg were very crowded. We went back to the cabin to get cleaned up a bit before we would head to Gatlinburg. Once we got to Gatlinburg we headed straight for Smokey Mountain Moonshine. We sampled am little but of Moonshine then we headed to Dicks Last Resort for dinner. They are known for their horrible service and hilarious paper hats. My hat said "Easier than community college" and Michael's hat said "my pen is small" the food we ate there was really delicious! I had the chickey fried chickey and Michael had the chickey Cesar salad. It was definitely a good time and we ended up going back on our anniversary trip. You will hear more about that later in my blog. 

Honeymoon!!

We woke up headed to the house where we would pack up our car to head to Tennessee! Our road trip was full of laughter, music and enjoying our new life as husband and  wife. I hadn't been to Tennessee since I was very young so I had no idea what to expect. It was starting to get dark as we pulled up to the strip, I was blown away by all the lights. It was beautiful! Since we had an early morning and we arrived so late we decided to spend the night in a small hotel instead of our cabin. We got to our tiny room and brought in our bags. I put on some decent clothes and we headed to the island to grab a bite to eat. We ate at Timberwood grill and it was wonderful!! We watched the fountains after dinner then decided to head back to the hotel for a good night's sleep after our long drive.

The big day 9.6.14

Waking up to the chance of rain was not what I had planned on but I was bound and determined to make it work. While getting ready it was cloudy out, I showered, brushed my teeth and threw my hair up in a bun. I packed up everything into my car to get ready to head to Talon. The sun began to shine! It was marvelous. I hopped in my cat and began to take the scenic route to Talon. It was a  beautiful country drive. I arrived and kept up with my good friend Stacee who would be doing my makeup. She made me look gorgeous! Taylor stopped at Chick-fil-A and brought me chicken minis and a sweet tea. (Did I mention she's the best?) All my bridesmaids arrived and we all began to get ready between hair, makeup, putting on dresses the bridal suite was buzzing with excitement. The photographers arrived to take a few pictures of us getting ready. We walked down the stairs, took a few more pictures before I hopped in the van to be transported to the barn. My groom was waiting at the gazebo with an orchestra playing a variety of songs while they awaited my arrival. My bridesmaids & groomsmen were waiting in the vines. My mom and I were right behind them. The weather was perfect, butterflies, dragonflies and birds were everywhere. The orchestra began to plan Cannon in D major and my bridesmaids & groomsmen  strolled down the isle. Once they reached their spot the Orchestra made a slight pause and then began to play She's My Kind Of Rain. I knew that was my signal. My mom and I emerged through the vines and stood for a second waiting on the chorus. Down the isle we went. I saw my groom with tears in his eyes. My mom passed me off & the ceremony began. We said our vows, did a hand tying celebration, and finally had out first kiss as Mr. & Mrs. We made it to the barn after taking pictures and made our entrance. As we entered we had our first dance. The Tiffaney Nesbeth Band play "All of Me" by John Legend. We barely had a chance to eat between socializing and dancing but it was the best day of my entire life up to that point. It was a long fun night. We finally headed to Double Tree hotel to begin our honeymoon moon, it was the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. In the morning we would be off to Tennessee for our week long vacation!

The night before.

I had been stressed out all day Friday. I needed to get off work, finish any last minute details, and pack up our van that we rented to haul everything. As I was home finishing things with my maid of honor Taylor and my mother Michael strolls in after getting a hair cut. HE CUT HIS BEARD! I almost had a heart attack, it broke my heart even though he did look damn good that day. I wasn't used to seeing him without it. I literally cried. I think it was mainly from the stress, changing something that major was a big deal. After a long late night of getting prepared Taylor and I stopped at Steak & Shake to grab a quick bite before heading to Burgin where I would be staying the night with Taylor. It was the perfect way to end a stressful day. 

The rehearsal dinner

It was Monday, Labor day, and we all met at Talon winery that evening. We walked down the vines to where we would be located and begun to practice. After we ran through the ceremony a few times we finally decided to call it quits for the evening. We met at Old Chicago pizza for our rehersal dinner. We took up most of the main eating space as you walk in. Michael and I along with the bridesmaids & groomsmen were lined down the middle while other family members were eating in the booths along the side. The pizza we ate was fresh, hot and very delicious!! 

Planning the big day!

Planning my wedding was one of my favorite parts about getting married. Lets just say Pinterest was my best friend. We were engaged for two years. That means for two whole years I spent every minute I wasn't busy on my computer pinning my dream wedding. I drug Michael to numerous Bridal shows to test cakes, food, look at dresses and to see the best things Kentucky had to offer. We even made the mistake of making a down payment on a wedding venue and changing our mind weeks later. We finally decided to get married at the beautiful Talon winery!! I planned my entire wedding on my own. I bought all of my decorations, designed everything from scratch and made plenty of DIY decorations. I ended up hiring a wedding planner who was great up until our wedding day. She did not want to listen to me that day and she made my groom and his men do most of the work that she was supposed to do. We used a whole sale florist that the wedding planner also recommended who I also had trouble with. At the end of the day our wedding was beautiful but you will hear more about that in my next post. 

A little background story.

I had been best friends with Michael since we were middle schoolers. We had tested having a relationship in the past but we were too young to take it seriously. Finally the summer between our sophomore and junior year in high school he began to develop a crush on me. We had been hanging out all summer together with our friends Ashlee and Zack camping, four wheeling, and just having fun. In July Michael finally had the courage to ask me out. We had our very first kiss in the Barn at the farm where we would camp. Needless to say I was smitten! From that point on we were inseparable. We dated for a few years, experienced football games, dance classes, school assignments and graduating high school together. He was there for me through thick and thin. We had to fight many obstacles in the beginning of our relationship but it truly made us stronger. On my 19th birthday he got down on one knee in the middle of Johnny Carino's restaurant and asked me to marry him. Of course my response was YES!! I could not wait for our future to begin.