happy birthday raegan grace

where does the time go? it seems like just weeks ago i was crying at my sister's house, trying to figure out how to tell matt our family would be growing----MUCH sooner than we had planned. yet, yesterday, 10/15/08, we celebrated miss raegan's 4th birthday. how did that happen?! maybe i should start from the beginning.....i don't have this documented anywhere else, so i might as well do it here. that way rae will know how it all went down!!

mattie & i met one drunken night on parris island. we had a great time & really connected. we had both just broken off engagements & were looking for a good time. so we had one. i flew back to pa the next morning thinking i'd never hear from him again. a few hours after landing & much to surprise, the phone rang. it was matt. that was august 24, 2002. we've talked on the phone every day since. we got married 10 months later, july 5, 2003; moved to mn in january 2004; got pregnant w/ raegan about 2 weeks later. we did everything fast! but that was never our intent. the wedding was supposed to be in january 2004. but the war started, & we didn't know what would happen. so we moved up the wedding. we discussed a family & decided we'd wait 5-10 years. we just wanted to spend some time together since our entire relationship, including our 1st month of marriage, had been via the phone. we'd spent a grand total of maybe 3 weeks together, face to face. we thought we'd travel, save some money, just enjoy being us.

then, on valentine's day 2004 i took the dreaded test. sure enough, those 2 pink lines were there----staring me down. i cried & cried. i was excited but scared. and i was terrified of telling matt. here we were, just moved to minnesota, living in my sister's basement, no jobs yet. what the hell were we going to do??? i sucked it up & told him right away. he was so supportive. he told me it would all be ok. we went out to dinner & it hit me. i couldn't have my usual mudslide at applebee's. damn. but we'd figure it out.

and we did. i got my job at assurant. mattie got a job at lowe's, then walmart, then w/ wackenhut (where he still is for now). we moved into an apartment just down the street from my sister. traveling was out, but that was ok. we were excited for our baby.

we landed on rae's name in about 2 seconds. we both just loved it. a boy name, on the other hand, was not so easy. we never really did come up with one. we had a back-up/hope we don't need it name. but we found out she was a she & were thrilled. well, i wasn't so thrilled at first. but i got there!!

i was due 10/16 but at my ultrasound the doc said i looked good to go on 10/15--it's the strangest thing. he just misspoke, but it turned out he was right. at my last visit with him, he told me he was heading to washington dc for a conference but that he was POSITIVE i wouldn't go into labor & i'd see him monday to schedule an induction. too bad he didn't know my husband sometimes doesn't use his whole brain!

mattie had driven to the post office 10/13 to pick up a HUGE box of baby stuff from his mom & sister. he locked himself out the car. THE car--we only had the one. so i had to walk my nearly 40 weeks pregnant butt all the way to the post office in 40 degree, rainy weather. i could barely squeeze my feet into sneakers & my belly into a coat. i was M-A-D. apparently my little jaunt to the post office was all it took. the next night i felt really sick. i slept the entire evening, finally eating a pb&j sandwich. at 8pm, mattie took our the trash & my water broke. he came back up to the apartment. i told him to stay calm, but we needed to go to the hospital right away.

we made it to the hospital (literally 1 mile away) & were greeted by the rudest nurse ever. she asked if we had called & i said no. i completely forgot. she said "well, with your next 10 could you please call first? i have no nurse here for you." ugh. what a way to start my labor.

i called my mom & my sister. mattie called his. a few hours later, i was begging for an epidural. had the worst anesthesiologist ever. took him 4 times of poking me to get in it. a few hours later the doctor (not my doctor remember!) turned it off b/c i couldn't feel a thing. i begged for a c-section. he told me no & kept right on watching fear factor. who knew that was on at 3am??

finally, after 9 hours, 3 of them pushing, little miss raegan grace joined our family at 4:59 am.

8lb 3.1ozs, 19 3/4 inches

---back to the present---

so yesterday, she had cupcakes at daycare. then she opened cards from MiMi & PaPa and great MiMi & presents from MiMi & PaPa and mommy, daddy, and bryson. and we ate more cupcakes! she got 2 snowball makers & a fort maker from MiMi & PaPa. they're also sending a sled. she got a craft box from us. tomorrow, i am taking her shoe shopping. we'll also be collecting leaves for a preschool project. then tomorrow evening, we're having cake & ice cream since matt will be able to celebrate then. so she's having quite the birthday this year! good thing she was born on payday!!

i don't know where the time went. and i'm not really sure how we got here. but i'm glad we did. i can't imagine my life without my little mini-me.

happy birthday raegan grace.

happy birthday.