What a Wonderful Life!

I've never actually watched that movie (What a Wonderful Life) all the way through. Maybe one day I will. But anyway, it's what I would call my life right now with my beautiful family that God has blessed me with. I obviously don't get much time to blog right now. But I figured with both kiddos in bed before 8 I could try to post some of the highlights over these past few months.

May/June/July~ Were all filled with parties and fun in the sun! Here are a few pics:

Pierce is now almost 7 months and is 17lbs 6oz. He's over 10 pounds heavier then when he was born. He's crawling, laughing, holding his hands up for me to pick him up and knows when I'm playing with him because he makes this funny sound with his mouth and smiles so big! He's just precious and such a good natured little boy!

Isabella is over 3 years old now and her teachers at school say she's very smart. She has mastered all her skills except for knowing her full name. (which is a mouthful!) Her teacher asked her what her full name was and she said "Isabella Sweet Girl". I guess that shows me that I do say that a lot to her. :) She loves to play with other kids, sing songs, play dress-up, play on the playground and on her barbie jeep. She's healthy, vibrant, and loves for me to read to her. I just love my precious girl!

This is my fall break so I'm just catching up on a few things this week as much as I can with these two precious little ones. We are preparing for my father-in-law to come live with us for a while. This will be his third time to stay with us for a period of time. He has alzheimers so it makes it difficult for him to live on his own anymore. Peter is such a wonderful son to want to take such care of his dad. I am very proud of the man he is. He has such a big heart for people even when it involves sacrificing our own wants. There's only one thing in this world that has true lasting value and that's giving your life to others. Loving them, helping them, and giving of yourself to those in need. And that's the kind of person I married and I'm so thankful for him. Love you honey!

Update soon!

Hi family and friends. Yes, I'm still here, just been a little busy these days. I will be posting a new post very soon! Sorry for the almost 5 month delay! :)

Pierce is 2 months old!

I can't believe my precious boy is 2 months old! Yesterday marked that day. It was bitter sweet because I was so excited for him but at the same time Isabella was REALLY sick! But I'll elaborate on him first since it was his big day. He is growing so fast! As you can tell in some of his clothes his belly is outgrowing a lot of his onsies. He's in 3-6 month clothes. I can't wait to see how much he weighs. He's the happiest little boy. He smiles all the time. You can just look at him and smile and he starts grinning so big. I just know a chuckle or two is about to come out of that tiny mouth of his. He tries to talk when you talk to him. I love it! He never cries unless he's hungry, tired, or in the car! He's not learned that mommy can't hold him and drive at the same time yet. I can't stand hearing him scream in the car. Breaks my heart! I usually stretch my arm behind me and rub his cheeks or hands until we get to where we're going. That helps to calm him sometimes but really puts a cramp in my arm! He's sleeping in his own room now and has for about a week. He is doing so much better in there than he was in my room. I've heard they can smell you if they're right next to you in your room and they're up a lot more at night. It was driving me crazy being so exhausted all the time so I tried putting him in his room and now he's only up about every 4 hours at night (sometimes 5-6 hours). So I am feeling a lot more rested now. He is too which makes for an even happier baby. I just love his disposition. So gentle and sweet. He's a very relaxed, laid back boy right now. (like his daddy) so we'll see if that sticks later.

Well Isabella had a rough day yesterday. I noticed on Sunday she was laying around the house and felt warm. She had a fever as high as 103 all day and night (for about 30 hours) and would not eat a thing. Literally she had 3 bites in 24 hours. Her cheeks were pink and I knew I had to do something. I took her to see Dr. Johnson at G'ville Pediatrics and they assumed the worst to rule out the worst. They pricked her finger (which she almost threw up from crying so hard) then they got a urine sample, then they tell me her white count is elevated so they had to take her blood! What !? I almost flipped out inside. Take her blood, are you kidding? I had to hold myself together at that point so she wouldn't get even more scared. But that liked to kill me thinking about it. So they took her blood with 3 of us working to hold her and get it done. Whew! It was over (so I thought). I told her "no more honey, they won't do anything else, it's over!" Well, that was not the case to my surprise. The nurse got her info. mixed up from the doc so she had to do it again! What!!! Not again, I just told her they wouldn't touch her anymore. Oh for the love of God, they had to get blood out of the other arm. Oh, then they gave her a shot in the leg that was very thick medicine and burned all afternoon. My goodness, poor thing, I 've never felt more bad for her in my life! We finally make it home and she takes a nap totally exhausted after all that and her fever breaks while she's sleeping. She was sopping wet when she woke up. We had to wash all her bedding and get her clothes changed. She cried, and cried, and cried. Finally about 8:00 we noticed she was starting to look better and she asked for some chicken. So we were thrilled about that! She ate chips and a chicken nugget and put on her Tinkerbell dress and Cinderella shoes and was walking around the house! Wow, that shot worked miraculously fast. She went to bed and is a totally different child this morning. Playing like she hadn't played in weeks! Yay! Thank you Jesus! I still have to take her back tomorrow morning for a recheck of her white count (another finger prick) but I can handle that after yesterday. She has to get her stomach x-rayed this week to see if she's compacted in her bowels so that will be the last thing for her to go through this week. Keep her in your prayers the week is not over yet. But I am so thrilled she's smiling this morning!

I have soooo much to say.....

These days have been filled with so much joy, laughter, fun, millions of diaper changes, many hours of no sleep, the phrase "run, run, to the potty!", and just I love you's this past month. I can't tell you how much I have thought about how blessed I am. When I think about things I want or things I think I need, I am reminded that God has blessed me with more than I can imagine already. A wonderful husband who works very hard to take care of us and a wonderful father who loves playing with Isabella to make sure she gets attention too. My precious Isabella who never fails to make me laugh everyday with that silly laugh of hers and warms my heart when she says "Mommy I want to hold you". And now my latest blessing, Pierce, who loves for me to hold him 24 hours a day and never put him down. I have been sleep deprived for almost 7 weeks now, but I am finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. He slept last night for 5 solid hours in a row for the first time! Woohoo!! He's getting so big and his little skin is starting to clear up finally. I don't remember Isabella's taking this long to clear from the baby acne. But his seems to be taking a long time. Anyway, he's still beautiful with that said. He's starting to smile and talk a little. He holds his head up really well and just has the biggest eyes you've ever seen. Isabella is becoming quite the little girl. I told Peter about 3 months ago that we'd better hold on to that little baby face she still has because it won't take long before it's gone. Well, it's pretty much gone and changed into a beautiful little girl. She'll be 3 in July and boy how time has flown by. She's got the most sweet spirit about her, yet can be a little defiant at the same time. I'm learning how to discipline her God's way right now. Parents of small children, I would highly recommend the book "Don't make me count to 3!" by Ginger Plowman. I bought this book and it has been life changing for me as I learn how to discipline correctly by God's Word. If you want to know more just face book me. I'll fill you in on the details. Anyway, Isabella is now potty trained after many weeks of hesitation in starting down that road. Her new preschool is very strict on the fact the 3 year olds have to be completely potty trained to start in the fall. Even at nap time it's only panties. I was like "What!" you've got to be kidding me. I thought, ok that gives me 3 months to work on this. Little did I know it would take less than a week! Thank you Jesus! You don't know what a load off my back that is. Anyway, I love her to pieces and can't believe she's as big as she is. Here are some precious pictures of our last month at home. Hope you all enjoy them as much as I do.

This first picture was not for any special reason except that I wanted a picture of the 3 of us.

This was Isabella's potty chart. I cut a picture of her head out and glued it onto a little girl sitting on a potty so she would think it was her. And just did 2 sides, a pee pee and a poo poo. Simple for her to understand. She loved it and was very proud of it. We did eventually get poo poo stickers on it. :)



These two pictures of Pierce are his 1 month old pictures. He's about 10 1/2 pounds and very happy!


These next 2 pictures melt my heart every time I look at them. Isabella is just checking out her little brother. Oh so sweet!


Pierce getting a bath for the first time in this little tub. Didn't much care for it, but I think the water might not have been warm enough. I'm always afraid I get it too hot when I fix them, but he didn't like it.



These next few pictures are of Isabella in her dress up Snow White clothes. The first picture she just stood there. I taught her how to pose so that's what you see in the rest of them. Such a little diva now!



Here she is reading her Bible to her princesses.



I saw an opportunity for the two of them to get cozy so I put Pierce on Isabella's couch and she covered them both with her blanket. They're watching the Tinkerbell movie together. (ok, for only about 10 seconds before he fell over.)



Here's Isabella talking about Pierce watching the movie. I love her sweet little voice and the way she uses her eyebrows when she talks.

Pierce Hayden Thompson

Well, I finally had time to sit down and blog. Peter was off work today and little man is sleeping. Isabella is at school so I thought this is the perfect time. (even though it's 1:00 in the afternoon and I still have my p.j.'s on!) Well, Pierce is just the perfect baby. I'd love for him to sleep soundly a little more at night, but that's to be expected at 3 weeks I know. Tomorrow he will officially be 3 weeks old. But let's start at the beginning. I was officially 4 days overdue and feeling very huge and tired. I went to HMC at 6am and got to my room. I had been very anxious about the delivery since I was being induced and I didn't have to do that with Isabella. I didn't really know what was going to happen this time. I'm trying not to think about it and just focus on my little miracle that I would soon get to hold. I prayed for many things to happen (or not happen!). If you've never had a child born "naturally", I won't use the "v" word. That sounds kind of gross. Anyway, there are many concerns about that area that I was worried about! With Isabella I had numerous things go on that took well over 4 months to get back to normal so you could say I was a little nervous to do it again. Well, all my prayers were answered and everything went very smooth. I had pitossin and felt really weird on that stuff, my epidural only kicked in on both sides of my body about 10 minutes before he was born (thank goodness!), I was swelling up quickly from all the fluids, I pushed about 5 times and he was born at 4:30pm on St. Patrick's Day March 17th. I wasn't expecting the doc. to put him on my chest immediately after he was here because with Isabella they rushed her to the crib and started sucking the merconium out of her and I couldn't see her for what felt like forever (maybe 5 minutes). So, when they put him right in my face I couldn't do anything but cry. It was so sweet. He was so tiny, weighing 7'6, which is pretty average, but to me he was tiny. He was absolutely perfect in every way. He had a head full of dark hair just like Isabella did, but he had more. His face resembled Isabella's so much that it was like looking at her all over again. So crazy. I need to dig up her hospital pics and show them side by side. I felt really good the next day so I got up took a shower and walked around as much as I could. I didn't want Isabella to visit me again laying in the hospital bed. She came in and said "Mommy all better!" and checked to make sure my iv's were out of my arm. It was so sweet. I think seeing them both together in the hospital was the best thing a mommy could see. Two precious babies. I could cry right now just thinking about it. Here are some pics of that very special day.

In Utero

I haven't blogged in a while, mainly because I've been working up until last week (week 39 for me) and I come home to my precious 2 year old and then I'm totally exhausted and usually in bed by 8:30. I have had days where it hurts to walk, my back aches, and my feet/legs are swollen, but mostly I have days where I realize this will be the last time that I will be pregnant again. (unless God has other plans). It makes me sad in a lot of ways, but Peter and I both agree that 2 children will be blessings enough for us and our family. Every time I feel Pierce move and kick around in my belly I stop what I'm doing and rub on him as much as I can. After having Isabella you kind of forget a lot about what it feels like. I'm trying to remember everything about these last few days as much as I can. It's so strange to feel him rub up against my bones. I just can't imagine that he's actually comfortable in there. But I'm sure God makes it as comfy as possible for His little creations. I wander who he will look like. Me, Peter, or Isabella? Or maybe a little of all of us. I've had about 3 dreams about what he will look like, but I can't seem to get one clear picture of his face. It's been kind of like a side profile or a foggy atmosphere. Kind of strange I know. I'm due in exactly 3 days. I'm only 70% and at a 1 1/2 dilated. So, I'm pretty sure he'll be late. Isabella was a week late and everything turned out great. She was 8 lbs even and I'm wandering how big he'll be. I say he'll be more than 8 lbs now that it looks like he'll be late. We shall see very soon. Isabella is excited when she talks about him, but I wander how she will really cope with a new baby in the house. I pray her adjustment won't take too long. I know it will rock her world, but it will be good for her. She will love helping mommy and daddy. Well, friends pray for me and a smooth delivery. I shall post pics of our new addition soon.

BTW, thanks Anna for making me realize I need to record this moment.
I will definitely cherish it.

Baby Showers and Pierce's Room Almost Done!

I have to say I have the best family and friends in the whole world! I am so thankful for those in my life that love me and that show me they love me no matter what. Yesterday was one of those days where I was so blessed by all of them. I had my first baby shower at my dad's yesterday morning. It was originally supposed to be last Saturday, but the snow prevented that from happening so we had to post-pone it to the next week. My step-mom Kathy and Amanda threw me the shower with that side of the family. Pierce got so many outfits, diapers, and wipes. I was so thankful. The poor baby didn't have many clothes until then. Kathy decorated the table so nice with jungle animals and made the blocks herself with Pierce's name on them. She did fantastic. Amanda helped with everything as well, the food, decorations, and anything that was asked. Thanks Kathy and Amanda! I love you. Here are a few pictures from that shower.






Then later on that day I had another shower at my mom's house for that side of the family and my closest friends. I had an awesome turnout. I wasn't sure if the ice and snow would hold off for me to have it, but thankfully it did. Mom always does things extraordinarily beautiful! Thanks Mom for making this shower so special. I loved everything about it and I know how hard you worked to make it special for me. I love you so much! Here are a few pics from that shower.






Isabella did wonderful at the shower too. She got a sweet "Big Sister" sticker in a card Amy got for her. That was so sweet Amy! She unwrapped a few presents earlier than necessary, wanted me to hold her the whole time, and finally wiped out near the end in a little fit on the floor. But, all in all, she was wonderful. I can't wait for her to meet her little brother. She's finally talking about him without me saying something first. Just today she wanted to get the lotion and put it on baby Pierce (my stomach). Then she asked if she could lay on him. I said yes and she laid her head on my stomach. It was the sweetest thing ever! I started talking to him and then she'd add in on the conversation with baby Pierce. Those moments I am going to try real hard not to forget!





Needless to say I was exhausted after two showers in one day and I hadn't felt well lately so I was in bed by 8:15. Mom came over today (Sunday) after church and we worked on Pierce's room. We finally got his bedding on, his name above his bed, the refinished dresser in, and things hung here and there. Thanks again Mom for your big help! I couldn't have done all that without you. It's about 99% done now. I want to get a scripture to go under his letters above his bed to put on the wall and we've got the mirror ordered from Hobby Lobby to go on his dresser. That should take about a week to get in. Peter did an amazing job refinishing that old piece of furniture that used to be mine and Amanda's. He worked really hard on it. Thanks honey for the hard work. That is definitely something you should be proud of and I know Pierce will be too. Here are some pictures of his room.