December 7th... Joy to Our World!!!

December 7th our sweet Madelyn arrived!!

My doctor was on call all weekend long and I told him I was going to have him deliver her and that I would make sure I went into labor either while he was there during normal business hours or he when he was on call. So on Sunday, Dec. 6 I wasn't feeling good (lack of sleep, contractions coming and going and running around after Michael). Matt and I went ahead and took Michael over to his Pop's house (Matt's daddy) and he was going to spend the night with them just in case we had to go in the middle of the night. By 10:30pm I was getting contractions that were pretty steady 10minutes apart so I decided to put on my makeup and straighten my hair 'cause I was going to look great going into the hospital. I finally laid down and then the back labor started kicking in. Poor Matt... all the man wanted to do is get a few hours of sleep but every time I got a contraction he was having to rub my back. I finally told him to call Dr. Marichal and my contractions were between 5 and 7 minutes apart. Matt called and Dr. Marichal said to come on up so we got up there by 2am.

This is by far my favorite picture... I'm so blessed to have a daughter!!

Let me rewind a minute. I had a c-section when I was pregnant with Michael so this time around I wanted to do a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). Dr. Marichal thought I would be a good candidate and said that he would try to make sure it happened and that he would document it in my records in case I got some other doctor. Once we got up there Dr. Marichal came in and went through his routine and said he would admit me and ended up coming over to my room and hanging out while the nurses got me hooked up and Matt went to get our stuff out of the car.

Below: Dr. Marichal with Madelyn

Dr. M was ending his shift at 8am, but said he would stay a little while longer to deliver Madelyn, but that she would need to come on soon after 8am. Pressure was on but lucky for me he kept sticking around after 9, 10, 11 started rolling by and nothing was happening. Finally around noon sometime he came in and said he would give Madelyn a talking to and by 12:46pm Madelyn arrived!!

Nonna (Matt's Mama) loving on Madelyn

Grandmama and Grandaddy are so proud of their newest grandchild!!

Madelyn weighed 7lbs 11oz, 20 inches long, and a full head of hair to boot. On that last push I gave it all I had and as soon as I heard her first little cries I just started bawling. It was the most incredible feeling in the world to push her out. I felt a little robbed with having Michael. He was an emergency c-section because the monitors were having trouble picking up his heartbeat so everything just happened all too fast. When they got Michael out he had the cord all wrapped around him and his heartbeat just fine within a day. So after having that experience and then having Madelyn it was very emotional. I can't tell you how bless I am that my doctor stayed with me even though he was exhausted and brought her into the world. Dr. M also delivered Michael so it's neat to me that he was there for both of my babies.

Uncle Luke and Uncle Davy with their sweet little niece

After reading my post to myself I guess I've talked more about my doctor, but truth be told I'm so blessed to have a wonderful doctor that took the time to bring our little girl into the world. He deserves the recognition!

Maternity Shots

Last Thursday marked 37 weeks pregnant so I told Matt that I wanted us to take some family pictures at Picture People and capture my big belly. I picked a good time for Michael (4:30pm) and fed him lots of snacks before we went up there so he would be very sweet for the pictures.

When we got there he was fine but I think there's something about a "professional camara" that gets him upset because he had nothing to do with our pictures. Of course I was envisioning a wonderful photo shoot with precious pictures and I'm by the time we were done I was happy that I had 2 good pictures of Michael. Bless his heart all he wanted to do is play with the blocks that we spelled out "MADELYN". Matt and I finally gave up and let him sit in the corner with the blocks while we took a few pictures.

So here they are and sorry they are so small....

~Grace

Anniversary Trip

So Matt and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary two weekends ago. We went down to Cocoa beach and stayed at the Hilton on the beach. Friday night I was craving some Japanese and wanted it cooked in front of me so we lucked up and found a Japaneses steakhouse a few miles down the road. The chef was very good and the food was even better!! After that we walked right next door so we could get a donut for in the morning. I made it clear that I was going to eat a donut while getting ready for him to take me to breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal so I was going to have Waffle House or IHOP.


As always, Matt couldn't resist getting something on his shirt. It never fails.....


Saturday morning he took me to Waffle House and later we went to the beach. Cocoa beach was having an airshow over the beach so we were very excited to see all the different planes flying right over us. I packed us a lunch so we wouldn't have to leave to eat and enjoyed a few hours on the beach.



Here's a picture of "Jack Daniels" in the sky. Five planes were up there writing the sponsers names and Jack Daniels was one of them.







Here's a picture of me 30 weeks pregnant with Madelyn.








After we had had enough of the beach we got cleaned up and Matt took me shopping and then to a nice italian restaurant.


Sunday morning he took me to IHOP where I got my favorite meal there called Stuffed French Toast. Yum After breakfast we decided to start making our way back home, but first we stopped in Orlando at one of the outlet malls. We enjoyed our weekend of just the two of us, but were very happy to be home squeezing on Michael.

October 2, 2004

It seems like yesterday that I became Mrs. Marino. I remember the day couldn’t have been more beautiful. Our wedding took place on St. Augustine Beach at high noon. Matt said it was really hot that day, but all I can remember is it being a perfect day to get married. Our wedding took place a week after Hurricane Jeanne came through St. Augustine area and the sea wall that once was covered with sand was exposed right where we got married so it’s an eye soar in all the pictures. The hotel replaced the two Tiki huts or whatever you call them that we got married between the week of the wedding because the grass had blown off of them. My poor Daddy was out at the beach Friday evening and Saturday morning racking the sand making sure it all looked clean and evenly spread out where we were getting married. Matt built the wooden steps from a small sea wall to the beach so that I could walk right down onto the aisle and he was thrilled when the hotel offered to buy them from him.

Back to the wedding… I started getting ready about 6:15am and enjoyed hanging out with my girlfriends/cousins. After I finally got into my wedding dress (I had 2 crinolines underneath) my Me-Maw Rodrick came in and put the necklace that my Papa had bought me just before he passed 2 weeks before I got married on me. I was ready to go and my Daddy came in to escort me. The ceremony was wonderful and I surprised Matt with having my cousin-in-law Joseph McMillan sing “Grow Old with Me”. After the ceremony was over we took pictures then made our way into the St. Augustine Beachfront Resort where the reception took place.

We served the guest a buffet lunch followed by dancing. Matt and I decided to dance the father/daughter & son/mother dance all together to “You Raised Me Up” by Josh Groban. There is nothing like being in your Daddy’s arms dancing on your wedding day and Matt felt the same way while dancing with his Mama. Needless to say we both cried like babies in their arms. The reception was so much fun and William and Stephanie caught the bouquet and garter.

Right before we left we danced as people stood around in a circle around us blowing bubbles. A limo picked us up and we drove around the building and he parked while we took more pictures on the beach and got all our stuff together. He then drove us down to the Orlando International Airport and Matt had booked us a suite at the Hyatt inside the airport since we had an early flight out the next morning. Matt never would tell me where we were going on our honeymoon and even when I read the sign “Antigua” at the Puerto Rico airport I still had no clue and didn’t know where in the world that was. Lucky for me it was a Sandal’s resort and we had an amazing time there. It was raining one of the days so we treated ourselves to a couple’s massage that ended with a marvelous bubble bath at the spa.

So five years later a few bigs things happened in order: got a dog, had Michael, moved into a new home, and our expecting a daughter. There were lots of things we did in between, but I'd be here all day listing them. I'm so blessed to have Matt in my life and couldn't ask for a better husband/father. I look forward to the years ahead of us.

*These are the only pictures that I have scanned on my computer otherwise I would have put more pictures of family and of the reception.

New Family Member

I know it's been a month since my last post, but I want to tell you about our newest family member that arrived September 8th. William Michael Whitehurst, Jr. is here and is such a good baby. He was born to my cousin William and my best friend Stephanie.

Michael doesn't know what to think of his new little cousin. The first time he met him he pushed Willie away because he wanted all the attention. Now he's starting to get use to him and likes to watch him sleep in his cradle and say "baby". Michael also thinks Willie's paps are his so he grabs them up and starts running.

Here's the boys in their matching outfits.

Having a new baby around is helping me get a dose of what I'll be facing in a few months when Miss Madelyn arrives. Michael is in for a treat. haha

We recently (a few months late) broke Michael of having a baby bottle. That was soooo much fun having him cry out in the morning saying "ba ba" and would throw his sippy cup at me. Now he says "cup" when he's thirsty and it just makes my day. Hopefully when Madelyn is here and has a "ba ba" he won't think it's his. Now to get him to give up the pap....... I'll do that another day.

On a side note, I'm still trying to figure out this uploading pictures thing and it is so frustrating when my pictures aren't staying where I put them. Till next time.... Have a wonderful day!!

Play Dates

We have been busy having play dates lately. First, we went to my girlfriend, Stephanie's house and enjoyed spending time with her and Suzie. Suzie is about 6 weeks younger then Michael. She's about as tall as Michael, but skinny. They get along so well and they're pretty good about sharing (even their sippy cups).

Later that day we went to my cousin's house, William for his birthday party. Michael got to play with his friend Belle while we all visited. He saw that she was crawling so he had to try and impress her by crawling a little faster even though he's walking and running all over the place now. We took pictures of the two, but I don't have any of them to share. 8-( All in all Michael enjoyed playing with his two friends that day.

This past week Matt and I had his co-worker Josh and his wife Tracie over for dinner. They brought their little girl Madison whose 6 days older then Michael. We took our birthing classes together over at North Florida and had a blast. Anyway, the kids made eyes at each other at the dinner table and both thought it was fun to throw a little food on the floor (thank goodness for our dog, Scooter). After that we let them play and run around.

After they played we decided to give them a bath so that if Madison falls asleep on the way home they could just put her right to bed. Michael’s never had any bath buddies so it was a special treat to have someone to splash around with instead of just his toys.

After their bath it was so cute seeing the two bundled up in their towels so I had to get Josh to a picture of Tracie and I holding them.

Just before they left I had Matt hold the two because he needed to get use to holding a boy and girl (though the clearly won’t be the same size).

By the end of the evening Michael was worn out and ready for bed. He loved his very own chair and gets all comfortable in it. We had so much fun with all our dates and look forward to the future ones to come.

My First Entry

Ok so here I go.... I'm not a good writer, but I've decided after reading some of my friend's blogs that I would like people to know what's going on in my life. Today marks 25 weeks in my pregnancy. It seems like yesterday I found out I was pregnant and now 25 weeks later I'm trying to catch my breath. The past 2 nights Matt has rocked Michael to sleep because I feel like I'm smothering Madelyn when Michael wants to sprawl out on top of me in the rocking chair. When I tell Michael about his sister he thinks it's funny to hit my belly and he'll occasionally say "baby".

Today is my half day at work but I'm dreading going to the dentist at 2pm. YUCK!!! I love my hygienist, but don't much care for the noise and the awful feeling of that gritty peppermint taste in my mouth.

Have a great day!!!