Rachel Lynn

Rachel is here!!!!!

The Family is finally together for the first time.

Proud new Daddy!!!!

This was the best moment of the whole process. Jessica was in labor from 5am to 8pm. She was stuck by a learning med student 6 times to get an IV. She had to get stuck for the epidural twice, which wore off during the last two hours of labor. After pushing for several hours Jessica gave herself a temperature of 103 degrees. Once the epidural wore off she just kept pushing on like a true fighter. Due to the danger of the raising temperature, Jessica was forced to have an emergency C section. Rachel came out and is the calmest happiest baby in the nursery, but due to Mommy's fever she was placed in ICU to be treated for possible infection. We were told that Jessica would not be able to see Rachel until she was able to walk into the ICU, but Rachel was such a strong good baby the ICU doctor broke the rules and brought Rachel to Jessica for one short visit. After not sleeping for two days, being hurt by several people, pushing until feverish, and being told she would not see the baby for probably two days, the JOY of the moment was overwhelming. We are so grateful for all the support we have received from everyone and look forward to introducing you guys to Rachel.

Almost there

The infamous toy box!!! Turned out much bigger than I expected. Bishop let us use his garage and tools on this one.
I don't have a before picture but it used to just be a natural wood end table.. and I spiced it up a bit. It was fun learning to tile.
The blue dresser (thanks Mom and Dad)! And the pink converse. Uncle Mike made sure baby Rachel starts life out right with a pair of converse kicks!
The bassinet my mommy and I were both cradled in. Newly painted with fresh ribbon!!
The awesome deal of a crib I found, Tyler's mommy present to me (the glider), the beautiful Momma Payne baby blanket, and the changing table Mark and Maggie gave to us with a new slab of orange paint! Yes. good stuff.




I feel soooo grateful, so I thought I'd tell everybody thank you for helping me get ready for the baby. To everyone who has helped with making blankets, pitching in on big purchases, letting us borrow a swing, given us clothes, thrown baby showers, given advice, let us stay in the garage painting until 1 in the morning... and it just keeps going--- THANK YOU GUYS!!!! :) We truly have great people in our lives. I am also going to be mushy... get ready.... I LOVE YOU TYLER! MUAH! I have to thank you for putting up with me lately... pregnant ladies aren't so easy to deal with! And you keep loving me anyway, thanks babe.

Tyler also told me to post pictures of the baby stuff we've worked on. Maybe a few finishing touches but I think it's all about done!

Baby Shower and a few Pics

The guess how big Jess is game

Baby Shower Concentration Game... hilarious!

chillin

Diaper Cake! Isn't it awesome???

Flower cupcakes! Look there's even a pink one! :)

Last weekend my Mommy threw a Baby Shower in houston for me! WAHOO! It was a lot of fun! We ate good food, played funny games, and talked about babies. My Mom sure can throw a party! Thanks everybody for all the love and support! :)

And I threw in some dang pregnancy pictures! I don't understand why people wanna see a fat Jessica picture... but anyway... Now you've got it!!! hahaha

Regionals

We got to go see my little brother Mike take 5th at Region in Allen, TX this last weekend. Mike is a senior at Klein Collins High School and has been wrestling for 4 years. When he first went into the wrestling program at KCHS he was a string bean of 160 pounds and was in my shadow as most of the team referred to him has "lil' Jess". Now he is a 189 pound monster with something like a 42-7 record and has much more gruesome nicknames like "The Beast" and "The Killer". There were some exciting moments, tear-jerker moments, anxious moments, solemn moments, and happy moments. Every match was very close. I dare say the entire tournament would have gone a different way if repeated.

I can't believe how far he has come and all that he has accomplished in the sport of wrestling. But most of all I admire his character and love of the sport.

LOVE YOU BROTHER!!!

Look what I did!!!

Mom Payne and I made a baby blanket! Isn't it cool? I had no idea how hard and time consuming making a quilt could be. I have a new respect for people who do this all the time. It's a lot of hard work! Mom Payne started me out on a small, simple pattern. We went to the store and picked out the fabric and everything. I really did do most of it by myself under the instruction of Mom Payne. She did the dragonflys on the corners though. Mine simply looked retarded went I tryed! haha. I am so grateful she took the time to make it with me! Who knew Jessica could make a blanket?

FINALLY!

Sorry that it's been soooo long since I've made a post! Lots of good things have happened in the last few months! I GRADUATED from Texas A&M University! awesome huh? :) It was a great feeling to have accomplished something so big. We had a little party before the ceremony with lots of good food and conversation. It was a great day.

Christmas was good to us as well this year! It was my first Payne Christmas Experience, and boy was it fun. I think my favorite part was Christmas Eve and making Christmas cookies. It was a lot of fun to watch our nieces Faye, Daisy, and Liz get so excited about everything :)

Now Tyler and I are just getting back into the school routine (tyler is anyway), and I'm getting ready for our little girl to arrive. We are both real excited to finally meet her. Hopefully I'll be ready, or as ready as you can get anyway.

TTFN