Merry Christmas!

Here are some Christmas day photos from all our festivities:) We had a wonderful first Christmas with Alley and the rest of the family!Santa couldn't make it to our house to hand out gifts, so he sent an elf...a very big elf...
Grandma Alley getting some quality time with her great granddaughterRelaxing while opening presents (taking a break from it all!)Calming the oh-so-tired oneSporting a Santa hat from Grandma Alley...I'm not sure if she enjoyed it...but it makes for a cute picture!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends!!

Christmas Eve

Okay, so this is my second post of the day:) Our Christmas Eve has been full of activities...it started out at 3am this morning when Alley decided that she was way too excited about it being her first Christmas Eve for her to sleep. Man are we tired! We spent most of the day getting ready for tomorrow and resting up from the eventful night we had. Alley had her Christmas eve bath...so exciting;) Then we had some family photos before we headed off to the Rickman's Christmas party. Alley met little Josiah, Amy Wood's son, for the first time (and we would have a photo of their meeting, but Alley decided it was way too close to feeding time for her to pose for a shot). Then the Alley family met up at McDonalds for our traditional Christmas Eve meal (yummy!). The rest of the evening entails the late Christmas Eve service tonight that we're going to try and attend (we'll see how Alley fares). Here are some photos from today.

Getting up at 3am is tiring work!Yeah for warm blankets and towels:)

McPherson family Christmas photo

Alley posing in her new Christmas outfit (thank you mimi and papa!!)

Family festivities

It's really beginning to feel more like Christmas! Grandma Alley, Aunt Pat and Steve arrived yesterday from New York to celebrate christmas with us. We had a very nice day of relaxing and preparing from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. After dinner we all decided to take a drive to look at the Christmas lights downtown (man, some people get crazy with lights!!). Here are some photos from the day.There is no question about who Alley belongs to!!Grandma Alley holding little Alley for the first time.

Sleeping baby! Finally!!! Will this last all night?! Of course not...

Grandma Alley and Aunt Pat holding Alley (I think Alley is loving all this attention!)

4 generations of Alley's...Grandma Alley, Papa and Aunt Pat, me and little Alley

Christmas is coming...

Here are a couple pictures from the last couple of days. We've been enjoying ourselves by relaxing, going on walks, visiting friends and are now in Richmond with Mimi and Papa for Christmas.Alley "learning" how to relax and hang out without being in mommy and daddy's arms...this peaceful state didn't last long!We've got a cat who just has to be in the same exact place as Alley...what a jealous animal!Quite a little girl on a big sofa...I think she looks close to the size of the remote control near her (she is bigger then that!)Mom and Alley's debut in the Christmas pageant at church
Checking out Papa...Papa definitely has the calming touch:)

Christmas decorating is so tiring!!
Nap Time for all:)

Life continues...

My apologies for not updating the blog recently! We have been rolling through life here in the McPherson household with adjusting to the lack of sleep at night, the fussiness of someone who has no clue what she wants except to be held (I can't help but give in to her pitiful looks and quivering chin...too adorable!), and trying to learn all the ropes as a new family. I wont lie, it's been tough but at the same time my love for her grows with each passing day (fussiness, crying, poopie diapers and all!). I'm in the midst of the nap time struggle...which sometimes overlaps into the bedtime struggle...those are the rough days! Regardless of all the hard and stressful times as a new mom, I'm loving it and fall in love with Alley more and more each day...and I must say, her dad is head-over-heels for her and he has been a tremendous help to me! Andy has been an incredible dad and husband during this major transition in our lives. He supports me when I'm falling apart, he cares for Alley in such a tender way and enjoys getting to hold her, play with her and tend to her needs. I am very thankful for the time he is taking to be with us girls.
On another note...after Thanksgiving our family (extended) celebrated Granny's 85th birthday with a party with all her friends. Here are some pictures of the event and some other photos:)
I'm working on more photos, but I think she is getting a little camera shy...every time I take a picture, she turns her head away...silly little girl! We're working on getting her used to the camera, so hopefully I'll have more photos soon:)

Doctor's visit

Alley ventured back to the doctor yesterday for her 2 week check-up to see how much she had grown and to make sure she was doing well. I was a little concerned about whether or not she had gained enough weight, she falls asleep while eating all the time!! So, I was antsy about seeing what the doctor would say. She ended up having an excellent appointment. She now weighs 6lbs 15oz (she gained 11oz in one week - go girl!) and is 20 inches long (she grew an inch since birth). Dr. D said her skin looked great (she had a little jaundice at birth) and she was definitely growing the way they had hoped...whew! So mom, dad and Alley left the doctors office feeling better. Here are some recent photos of our growing girl.
A tiny girl in a big car seat...silly:)
I think our animals are a tad jealous of this new creature and all the attention she is getting!
I couldn't pass this up...her stocking is bigger than she is!! And no, we decided against trying to stuff her in the stocking, even though I am positive she would have fit just fine;)
I couldn't pass up this face!!! I have no clue what she is doing, but it was funny!

Our First Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving consisted of many firsts! Obviously this was the first time we had an infant and her schedule to juggle. Plus, we had to be prepared for anything and everything...infants are so unpredictable! We had to bring the infant papasan for her to take her naps in, the boppy to feed with, lots of diapers, wipes, burp clothes, a change of clothes, the car seat (we had to get there somehow!), the camera, blankets, gloves, extra socks in case it gets cold...the kitchen sink...goodness gracious I've never packed so much for just an afternoon out! I guess this is the beginning of my over packing:) Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving afternoon.
The Atlanta Noels getting to meet their niece and cousin before we all sat down to a feastWho wants turkey and Great-Granny's homemade rolls....I do!
Our first family shot...she couldn't keep her eyes off of dad!
This is how we all felt after eating our feast...I think her yawn is bigger than she is!!
And she is out...too bad this didn't last through the night! Oh well:) We had a wonderful first Thanksgiving and look forward to many more to come!

First week

Well, we are still transitioning into parenthood here, apparently Alley didn't read any of the baby bo0ks that her mom read;) Through trial and error we're beginning to catch on to how to be parents to a teeny-tiny little girl. We absolutely love it! She is very petite, as a result of that we've had to go out and buy preemie clothes because even the newborn clothes seem to swallow her! It's so funny! Anyway, her favorite past time is sleeping during the day, go figure, and waking up in the middle of the night just to inform us she's still here...for long periods of time. The joys of parenthood...I wouldn't trade it for the world! I'm excited to get to see her personality as she develops daily and to see more of her in an alert state, besides at night when she's telling us what she thinks!! Here are some pictures of the last few days...
Silly cat is a little jealous and has to be right there when we're holding Alley...I'm surprised she hasn't climbed onto of her when Alley is in our laps!!
Alley finally has her eyes open for a photo! Woo-hoo! Hopefully I'll be taking more pictures and she'll be awake for them:)

Alley Elizabeth McPherson

On Tuesday, November 13th at 10:16pm Andy and I welcomed the newest member of our family into the world! The labor and delivery went wonderful, I had only been in the hospital for less than 6 hours when she arrived and I only pushed for 20 minutes...it couldn't have been any better then that! She was really helping her momma out;) Anyway, here are some shots of her first couple of days. We ended up having to stay an extra night and day in the hospital because she had jaundice. She's all better now and we've finally made it home.

38 weeks...

Okay, so I'm now 38 weeks along and feeling every bit of the 38 weeks of pregnancy! The doctor said, as of my last appointment on Friday, that I am all baby (very little fluid in there) and that I've completely dropped...which means I can come at any time. He then said that at the next appointment (this Friday) they'd check me to see if I need to be induced (he's got his reasons)...exciting yet nerve-racking! I, of course said, could we wait to do all that until after the HSC-Randolph Macon football game?!
Here's the glorious picture at 38 weeks...

Richmond...

Andy and I went home to Richmond this weekend to visit with my family and for a baby shower. My brother, sister-in-law and little niece had flown into town from Texas for Jessica's 10th high school reunion, so it was wonderful to be able to see them!! Jessica threw me a baby shower while they were there, which was so sweet of her!!! She did a fantastic job hosting it, all of this while pregnant as well:) Thanks Jess! I couldn't ask for a better sister-in-law:) Here are some shots from the weekend and shower.
Check out those bellies! :)
Here's a picture of some of the cute decorating Jess did for the party. She hung onesies all around and had pictures of Andy and me when we were babies. What a cute idea!
Here's a shot of the girls after church today. Granny, Jess, Carlee Scott and me...we had a fun weekend with the Alley family! We cannot wait until the two new additions arrive so we can all get together again:)

36 weeks and counting!

Okay, so here's an updated photo of my belly at 36 weeks. I can't believe I'm 4 weeks from my due date! It's crazy. Time has definitely flown by for us!
We are so excited that baby McPherson will soon be with us:) I, for one, will definitely be glad because then I wont have her crazy foot stuck up under my ribs or in my side!! I cannot wait!:)

DC Trip

This weekend Andy went with the HSC football team up to DC to play Catholic for another conference game. The team traveled up Friday and went into DC so the guys could see the monuments and other important landmarks. Here are some pictures Andy was able to take.
This was Andy's first time touring around DC and we have decided that we need to go back for a full weekend so we can really see the sights:)
We ended up winning the game on Saturday, but it was a little too close! All we have to do now is beat Macon on November 10th and we'll be #1 in our conference and go to the first round of the NCAA! Go Tigers!