Oh Baby!

Despite Daddy Dunphy's NEED to be on-time obsession, 

our little bean was in no rush to come out of his bubble.

Like with E, I prepared for my due date,

 it neared, it came & it went.

So, I was given a date to be induced... talk about anxiety.

I thought waiting for baby to come was bad - 

no, being given a time to waddle into the hospital makes life get chaotic. 

All of a sudden I had TONS to do and not enough time to do it..

W's Birth Story:

I will be as brief as possible, as it was painful enough to endure the first time. ;)

I went into the Labor & Delivery Department on Fort Sill at 7 am on January 2.

 After checking in, changing, seeing nurses & doctors and getting settled into a room, 

I was finally hooked up to labor inducing drugs by 10:30.

 Hours upon hours passed with zilch in the progression area 

(although I wasn't starting from the bottom.. I had progressed since the beginning of my final month).

(I didn't take any pain relief drugs for the LONGEST time.. and josh enjoyed watching my pain on the contraction-o-meter)

Around 4:30, once my OB got finished with his normal day shift, he came in & broke my water. 

Prior to that my epidural failed & then only worked on half my body, 

even with someadjustments, I still ended up with a Hot Spot.. worst. thing. ever.

From 5:30-7:06 pm I was in the most ridiculous pain I'd ever experienced - no joke. 

And then as quick as it came I was handed an adorable LARGE baby boy!

{W will always be a miracle baby.. I unknowingly had more than average fluid for him to float in, causing him at some point to do a loop and have a true umbilical knot.. 

that thankfully wasn't ever pulled tightly}

(regardless of blur, this is the very first photo I ever took of baby W - so sweet)

Such a happy daddy!

We introduced our sweet boy (via social media) the next day..

 and took the first night to just enjoy and share our newest little love

 with close family & friends.

E, who'd been staying with friends got to meet her new baby brother the following afternoon as well!

Note their matching bows (that was transformed into a bow-tie for W)

love these two!

I didn't take TONS of photos of W at the Hospital as it was a very 

"living in the moment" experience as well..

 but these are a few I did manage to snap before we headed home.

Mr. W's first car ride.

heart breakers right there :)

-xo

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Fact: I Love Christmas lights.. 

We would probably have a tree in our living room or at least lights all year if it wasn't frowned upon.

My Christmas Tree can be found up and lit shortly after Halloween..

 yes that early - We're that family.. 

Second to Christmas lights, I LOVE wrapping presents. 

Every year I hoard brown paper bags from the commisary 

so that I can wrap everyones gifts and personalize them.

Fact: we've had this SAME colorful roll of wrapping paper (for oversized/odd shaped) gifts 

for 3 years now too.. because we barely use much of it.

Lucky for us, E is still at the age of just LOVING to unwrap things. 

So hitting the dollar isle for tiny's makes shopping for her easy (and economical).

(not sure why this looks so blue)

Both josh & I took some profile photos on christmas eve..

truth be told, we had really hoped our sweet baby would be here by now to celebrate the holidays

& give us a tax break... lets be honest..

The Holidays were "good" to him as well :)

We hope you ALL had the happiest holiday season as well :)

-xo

Hey Hey - Baby's on the Way.

Maybe it's because we live so far away from everyone in our "bubble" that keeping secrets has been easier for us, than most.

But, we are super excited to let everyone in on our BEST news this year..

We're expecting a sweet sweet baby this winter!

Even more specific - we're considering postponing Christmas (only kidding!), as Emma is already a Christmas Eve child, being due December 30th - and having a birthday myself in early December makes things kinda crazy in our house!

We recently sent out a few announcements to some close family/friends - I wasn't kidding when I meant we keep things on lock down in our bubble.

I know we live in Oklahoma, but can you believe that this was less than a mile from our cute little home? Talk about middle of nowhere America.

(yes, even Emma's School is on a dirt road)

Just because we weren't publicly broadcasting our little grower - doesn't mean we weren't documenting. :)

Even Daddy got in on it - and if you know me, you know that I'm hoarding these photos to take one JUST like it of baby in Daddy's hands once he or she arrives :)

As we're so far away - and not coming home until after the arrival of our sweet little bean, (and been asked repeatedly if we're having a shower/sprinkle)we fully hope to have a Meet & Greet at some point with all of you, we created a little registry to keep personal track of the things we are still collecting for baby.. feel free to check it out @ Target.com (under Joshua Dunphy)

Lastly - we've not & don't plan to find out the gender of our little miracle.. We figure we went through so much to simply have him or her - that boy or girl, we're so excited & hope you are too!

-xo

The End of an Era

So it began, the packing.. it was very not endless however. it was quite quick & painless.

Considering movers came and took care of it all.

One day they packed (mostly)everything & then two days of living in a Box maze with one pot and pan the actual movers came and hustled to get everything out of our house before we had to be inspected.. talk about watching Josh be nervous & sweat it out.. lol

Our zoo were definitely fans of the empty house.. ours & Emmas ;)

They were not however, fans of being caged.. poor babies.

Our last look at our little home :)

We decided to make the best of our trek across the country & stopped along the way..

This was our Cabin-like room in Pigeon Forge!

We took Emma to the Dollyworld Waterpark too.. but decided to go unplugged for the day :)

Across from our hotel was an intense go-cart ride.. and emma tried her hand at driving.. needless to say the track race ended in tears and getting out early.. bahah

We checked out nearby cities & ran into more mitten friends.. that I somehow managed to not get photos with.. You'd think I'd be more on top of it.. but we were a little overwhelmed mid-move :)

another stop on our trip brought us to Nashville, where we had lunch with Miss Jennefer -  & then hurried on to Memphis.

You mean this isn't how ALL people travel across the country -- he loves this kitten. 

dont let him deny it.

it Seemingly took FOREVER..

And i'm sure the people behind us thought we were crazy people driving with animals everywhere..

It's pretty insane driving across the country, hoping your things will meet you there.. safely. and even more crazy doing it with a car full of kitty cats & a rat.. we apparently like crazy :D

Summer in the Mitten

Our Summer trip to Michigan began with a purpose :)

My lovely lovely friend Kelly was getting married.. and our sweet Emmy was her flower girl... *I photographed the wedding. if you'd like to swoon over more photos of E from the NOE WEDDING*

Per the usual, our Michigan trips are a whirlwind of visiting back and forth across the state trying to see as many friends as possible :)

A highlight for Em was a fresh hair cut days after her flower girl duties were over.. and of course a starbucks treat ;)

i even volunteered Josh to donate blood for Christy's Legacy of Hope.

(please check out their site as well)

& emma held his hand.. giving blood & needles are NOT his thing - but he was a trooper..

We also escorted some friends of ours (to some AWESOME SEATS) at a Toledo Mudhens game..

Where per the usual - Emma received the royal treatment & was gifted game balls from up & coming players.. (who could pass her by?)

While on the west side of the mitten...

We went horse back riding - that turned out to be much more intense than we thought.. (they didnt even require helmets -- it was optional)

We also spent some time with our friends the Terpstra's up in Pentwater.

(it's obvious where ever we go - we will ALWAYS be beach folk)

**Josh & Emma at the top of the dune before we "ran" down.**

while in the mitten, we "rescued" a furry friend.. who has probably flooded your news feed on EVERY social media possible the past few months.. but we love her..

& the 18 hour drive back to NC was super fun with her in the car :)