Rose Elizabeth

Our Rosie girl is here and we are so lucky to have her join our family! Rose was born September 22, 2016 at 8:45 AM. Since Caroline was born a week late, a lot of people told me that my second would come much sooner, but that was not the case! I was almost a week overdue again with Rose, so this time I scheduled an induction. I went into the hospital the evening before Rose was born and got a foley catheter which dilated me from a 1 to a 4, in just two hours! I started having inconsistent contractions as soon as they put it in and they continued after it fell out on its own. 

I am the worst sleeper in the world so they gave me an ambien for the night, and then I woke up around 3:00 and I was in labor. I got some pain meds which made me so loopy, but it helped me to get some more sleep. When that wore off after a few hours, my nurse asked me if I wanted another dose, or if I just wanted to wait for my epidural. I told her I wanted to wait, but then I had a contraction immediately after, so then I said "never mind, I want more pain meds!"

My doctor came in around 6:00  that morning and said I was dilated to a 6 so she wasn't going to induce me with pitocin (yay!). I got my epidural, and then my doctor came back and broke my water. After an hour or so I kept feeling A LOT of pressure down there. I told my nurse and told her I was scared that I pooped because of all the pressure haha. She laughed and said I was fine. A little bit later the pressure got even stronger and I brought it up again, so she said she would check. Luckily I wasn't pooping, but she said the baby was here and I was ready to push!! We had to wait ten minutes for my doctor to get out of a c-section and then she came to deliver me! I probably only pushed for 10 or 15 minutes when our sweet baby girl came! I didn't get to do skin to skin with Caroline because she had to go to the NICU, so I was even more grateful to be able to get my Rose snuggles as soon as she was born!! Rose was 8 lbs 6 oz and looks so much like her big sister Caroline. We sure do love her!

Lake Tahoe

Yay for family reunions to Lake Tahoe so that I could get my super pregnant self out of the miserable Alabama heat! Caroline had so much playing with her cousins and Scott and I stopped at Seven Eleven as much as possible to catch up on our slurpee fix!

For our first outing we tried to go to Emerald State Park, but it was super crowded and had no parking. So instead we decided to rent bikes, but then that also failed as seen by the crying babies below.. 

Our view from our condo!

 Our next outing was to the beach and it was much more successful! 

(Obviously we nailed this family picture of us swinging Caroline..)

The number one thing I wanted to do when we went to Tahoe was go boating and it was definitely the highlight of the trip! Caroline was not a fan of her life jacket, but luckily she got over it and loved being on the boat!

Caroline always pulls any bows out that I put in her hair, but she was so distracted eating ice cream that she didn't pull it out for once! (Until the ice cream was all gone, and then she immediately pulled it out)

Caroline was not impressed..

Sand Harbor is SO gorgeous!! We hiked around the lake and then played in the water a little bit before we left!

Nashville

We met up with some friends in Nashville over Fourth of July weekend! We loved it and had so much fun hanging out and exploring the area!

Needed a picture with these gorgeous flowers in downtown Franklin!

Exploring Carnton Plantation

One of my favorite places we visited because it was super hot outside and I'm super pregnant.. the beautiful and air conditioned Gaylord Opryland resort.

And a visit to the Parthenon at Centennial Park!

Road Trip!!

First stop on our road trip was Hilton Head Island! 

Our little biker with her way too big helmet!!

 We spent the day riding bikes all over the island and it was so fun! 

Next we headed up to Charleston and I am in love with this place! It has everything you could ever want: the beautiful green south, plenty of beaches, and the cutest downtown area ever right on the water.

Our little beach monkey

Beach selfie!

She LOVED the water!!

Our first day in Charleston we headed over to Sullivan's Island for a beach day! It was perfect and Caroline loved it!! Every time we tried to bring her back to our blanket she would immediately crawl back into the water! After the beach we walked over to Poe's Tavern, the coolest little restaurant!

Next we headed over to Magnolia Plantation. There are so many plantations in Charleston, it was hard to pick just one to go visit!

SO beautiful here!!

The next day we went to downtown Charleston and it is so cute, and I regret that I didn't take more pictures! We went to a farmers market, and then over to The Battery. There is so much history and and so many beautiful old homes. We walked along the waterfront and saw Rainbow Row, but again I am kicking myself that I didn't take pictures!

Caroline did pretty good with all the driving, but some moments were harder than others..

Last stop on our trip was Savannah! Again, I don't know what my deal was, but for some reason I only took ONE picture here :(

This is where the bus stop scene from Forrest Gump was filmed!

Downtown Savannah was super cute to walk around. Tons of little parks all over the place and cobblestone streets. You can walk along the riverfront and there are lots of shops and restaurants. We of course had to stop in a candy shop and get some pralines and fudge before we left!