Fly me to the moon...(sing along...you know you want to)

Ok so I don't really want to fly to the moon. But I just like to fly...on an airplane. With that being said...I've only been an airplane a few times. I love it but I'm also always terrified.

We just got back from Jamaica in November. We flew from DFW to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Montego Bay. After going through Atlanta's airport, I feel like a professional flyer. Wow. Their airport is HUGE and sooo nice. We weren't there long at all...just long enough to grab some a Panda Express and run sprint (seriously) to our gate. My husband seemed to think we had plenty of time until they made the last call announcement...then he hustled. We were the last to board and I was out of breath. At least I was dressed appropriately in workout gear.

See I told you I was in my workout gear...ready to head home. Please excuse my husbands gray bangs...hahaha...he needed a haircut badly.

Anyhow...let me tell you about Jamaica's airport. I don't like it. At. All. We stayed at the RIU Palace in Montego Bay...meh I wasn't overly impressed. The food wasn't so good...and I'm all about good food. The resort was clean and the staff was nice...but not overly nice.

We went zip lining. That was by far the best part of our trip and I really enjoyed seeing Jamaica and the way of life. It's insane and it made me feel incredibly blessed to live where I do and to live as comfortably as we do.

On day 3, my husband booked a deep sea fishing trip and the boat broke down and he was stranded on the ocean for half a day. Needless to say we were ready to come back after that.

With all this being said, we do love love to vacation and travel. With spring break around the corner I really want to go somewhere as a family. Parker is only two, so I'm not sure what some good options would be.

We've been to Branson a few times and I just love that place. Any suggestions would be wonderful!

Catching Up

I've had so much trouble blogging from an iPad. My template needs work. If you know of anyone who can get me all fixed up with a custom template, please send them my way. I'm willing to pay.

So, oh my goodness. My princess is two now. I haven't blogged since she was brand new. Check out this precious terrifically two year old. 

So let's play catch up now and hopefully I'll make more of an effort to continue blogging.

We tried to stay busy over the holidays. We attempted to take pictures with Santa and let's just say it didn't go over so well. See for yourself. 

                         

Christmas Eve we traveled all over. I was exhausted. Next year we plan on staying in and starting new traditions in our own home. Here is Parker and her Gram.

We ended 2014 with having a few of our favorite neighbors over. We played Heads Up and Scattergories. We also played a fun little game where each person wrote down three resolutions and I read them out loud and everyone had to guess whose was whose. It was a good night. Very much looking froward to 2015.

Stay tuned for more this year! 

Testing, testing 1,2,3

I've tried posting a few times from my iPad and just never had any luck so I gave up. Two years later, I'm trying again. Let's see if this works!

Year in Review 2012

Last year I took the Christmas tree down the day after Christmas. Do you know how much heck I got for that?? Everyone said, "No....Maggie, that's bad luck!" Well guess what?! I disagree!

2012 was by far the best year ever! Can you guess why?? : )

Here is a look back at our life in 2012.

January:
We spent New Years at the casinos in Lousiana with our neighbors. It was the best New Years Eve and Day that I have ever had! Sadly I don't have any pictures from our trip!

I also got a new car in January...good thing I did because little did we know, we were going to need more room!

February:
We found out that I was pregnant the day before Valentine's Day! We went to eat at Pappadeaux and on the way home I told Cody to stop at the store because I wanted ice cream...I ran in and bought ice cream and a home pregancy test and didn't tell Cody. The next morning Cody left to go fishing with a friend and I took the test...I thought the test said positive but wasn't for sure so I drove to the store to get one that said "pregnant" or "not pregnant"....."PREGNANT"!! I flipped out! We had been wanting it for months but when it finally happened it scared me to death! I was excited, overwhelmed and scared!

March:
Here is my jelly bean at 8 weeks!

April:
In April Cody and I went for some additional testing to make sure Baby P was a normal and healthy babe. We got to see her here at 13 weeks....

May:


It's a.....GIRL!

June:
Ahhhh June I got the best news! My best friend Amanda text me saying, "Parker's going to have a best friend!" They were expecting their first baby too! I was more than thrilled. That same day we met them for her birthday and went to the Rangers game and dinner at Pappacitos! A great day!

23 weeks pregnant!

July:
Cody and I took our last trip as a couple. We went to Branson. I loved it! It is beautiful there. We played mini golf, went to the Dixie Stampede and did some shopping at their awesome outlet mall!

August:
I started a new school year. I have an amazing class this year! 12 girls and 5 boys...it doesn't get any  better than that! Haha...

We had my first baby shower...

September:
My handsome hubby is an avid hunter. He was determined to shoot a huge buck on opening weekend of bow hunting...he wanted to shoot one so then he could stay close to home in case Parker decided to come sooner. On opening day he shot his biggest buck ever...he was stoked! It meant great things were happening as planned!!

In September, my wonderful kindergarten team threw me an awesome school shower....I am beyond blessed with my family, friends and job. It makes my job so much more wonderful having such great friends a few doors down throughout the day!

October:
October was a busy month! My best friend Amanda had her gender reveal party to see if Baby T was a boy or sweet girl...this picture of the two of us was taken 4 days before my sweet angel made her grand entrance on October 24th!

It's a boy!!! Cameron will be here March 1st 2013!!

And then my angel arrived at 4 pm on Wednesday, October 24th! This is one of her hospital pictures...she was 1 day NEW!

November:

 December:

Sweet Little Turkey

We spent out first Thanksgiving in Lorena. It was a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving. This little turkey was worn out. Dad was kind enough to keep her for a bit while I got out and did some Black Friday Shopping!

 

Newborn Pictures by Lauren Crose Photography

I had been warned how exhausting newborn pictures can be and boy they were not lying! We took Parker to my friend Lauren's to take her newborn pictures 10 days after she was born. Lauren liked for her to sleep the entire time but that just wasn't going to happen. She was awake a lot and she peed on me and one of the blankets and she even pooped in one of Lauren's towels! Really?! She poops once a day, sometime every other day but by gosh she managed to do her business during her precious pictures.

I left feeling very disappointed and assumed Lauren didn't get many shots. Well...it turns out she got some great stuff, so now I will overload you with her newborn pictures.

I cannot get enough of these sweet gal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Introducing Parker Pratka

On Tuesday October 23rd I went in for my 39 week check up. When we got to the doctor my blood pressure was through the roof. I started having very high blood pressure the last month of my pregnancy and was very swollen.

My doctor came in and checked everything, and suprisingly I was dilated to a 3 and 100% thinned out. He was alarmed by my blood pressure so he asked us what would be a good date to think about inducing? I was feeling fine so I said I didn't care...as long as it was in October. My original due date was October 27th. He told us he was going to check the hospital schedule and would be back with an induction date.

After about ten minutes he came back in and said how about an October 24th baby? I was shocked. I said, "Oh my...that's tomorrow!" He said, "Yep, can you be here at 7:30 in the morning and we will get ya checked in and get things going!" I was so nervous....excited but nervous!!

Cody and I left and made a few calls to our friends, family and work and then we headed over to Cheddars for our last dinner date as a single couple! We got home and got the house picked up and everything loaded up and I didn't sleep a wink!

We got to the hospital the next morning and were in our room by 8:30. Cody and his mom went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast around 9:30 and my mom wondered off to somewhere and our doctor came in and broke my water to get things started. I was feeling ok...just hanging out watching HGTV. Haha.

The nurse kept coming in asking if I was ready for my epidural and I kept holding out...I finally got to a 5 and said I would go ahead and get it. I'm so glad I didn't wait much longer because the epidural wasn't working and I could still feel every contraction at a 7! It was pretty painful and I was in tears so they had to increade my dose.

I remember laying there chatting with my good friend Jennifer when my nurse walked in and said do you feel like you need to push yet and I replied, "I don't feel anything!" She checked me and I was dilated to a 10 so they cleared out my room. It was just Cody and me.

I thought this chicky was never going to come. She wasn't making much progress. After pushing for an hour and a half my doctor came in and had to use the forceps and pull her.

Parker Monroe was born on October 24th at 4:00 p.m. She weighed 6.12lbs and was 20 inches long. We are so smitten!

I lost a lot of blood and wasn't doing well at all so they ended up keeping us for an extra night. My labor and delivery experience was wonderful. I had the best nurse ever! She was amazing! The recovery end of it was awful...they were so busy and I was in so much pain. I felt like I got put on the back burner and nobody was very helpful for the rest of our hospital stay. Despite it all...we are so in love and are enjoying every minute with her!!