This Tiime 4 Years Ago...(Part 2)

Jarrod and I woke up early and we headed to the hospital. I had been waiting months for the day that our baby girl would come, but I still wasn't prepared for her to come 5 weeks early! We got to the hospital very early and anxiously waited. I was scared, too, because I had never had any kind of major surgery (with the exception of having my wisdom teeth pulled), so having a baby and major surgery on the same day was quite overwhelming. Before long we had a lot of family and friends began to fill our room. I remember feeling a sense of comfort just knowing we had so many wonderful people surrounding us to support and prayer for us. I also had a lot of co-workers stop by to wish us all luck, since I worked for the hospital.

Finally, around 10:30 the nurse came to get us and prep me for surgery. Within minutes I was ready and finally, MacKenzie Grace Councill made her grand appearance! She weighed a whopping 4 lbs. 10 oz. and was 17 inches long! I can't even describe the unbelievable feeling I had. It's a feeling that I'll never forget. All of our prayers had been answered and we had a perfectly healthy (but small) baby girl.

Now 4 years later, she is fun, compassionate, loving, sassy, sweet and quite the drama queen! We love you very much...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACKENZIE!

This Time 4 Years Ago...(Part 1)

I was going to OB-GYN where I received some rather surprising news...I remember it like it was yesterday...

I headed to the doctor for what I thought was going to be a routine weekly check-up. The doctor had already taken me out of work because I had started dilating and was having some mild contractions. I had been taking it very easy, so I thought this would be the check-up where they test for strep-B and all that good stuff. This particular appointment I had decided to go by myself since it was going to be a quick and simple appointment (or at least that's what I thought)! Once I got there, the doctor decided to do an ultrasound just to check on everything since I was dilating, etc. After that, they hooked me up to a monitor to monitor the baby's heart rate and my contractions. (At this point I'm getting a little nervous and lonely!) The doctor later came in and told me that the ultrasound showed that my amniotic fluid was very low, and they wanted to send me to the high-risk OB for a more detailed ultrasound. The doctor talked to me in detail about what that meant and the risk of having amniotic fluid levels that were that low. She told me the baby was breech and that if the ultrasound showed that her lungs were developed well enough that she thought the best thing for me to do is to have a C-section the next day! The risk of letting her develop in-utero was much greater than delivering her 5 weeks early...

WHAT??!! What did she just say??! We're going to have a baby in less than 24 hours! I thought I had at least another month before I was supposed to have a baby! I mean, we knew there was a chance I would go into labor a couple of weeks early, but 5 weeks early! HOLY COW!

Then, I remember thinking the worse and hoping for the best. I remember thinking back to when my sister was born 6 weeks early and how she had to be in an incubator for so many weeks and how teeny, tiny she was. I remember thinking to myself "will I be a good mother?", "will I do everything correctly", "will I even know what to do when she cries?", "what if there's something wrong?". And then I remember praying "God, please let me have a healthy baby...that's all I want is a healthy baby".

I finally called Jarrod to tell him what I had just found out. I think we both cried because we were scared, nervous and excited all at the same time. We called as many friends and family as possible to let them know what was going on. We called our church to ask them to keep us on as many prayer lists as possible. Later that night we went out to dinner for our last night as a family of 2! I don't think either one of us slept that night!

The next day our lives were about to change FOREVER...

Science Fair Project: Phase 2

Well the science fair project is complete! Now all we have to do is actually have the science fair. We'll get to do that next Friday. For now...here's the finished product...

Weekend Fun!

We have had absolutely beautiful weather this weekend, and we spent the entire weekend outside playing. We rode on Mimi and Poppi's boat, played in the baby pool, and because the weather was so nice, we gave MacKenzie her birthday present early...a new bike! Jarrod and I also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary by having a nice night out without the kids! I don't want the weekend to end!!!

"Z" is for ziplock bag...

...and zebra and Zicam. Whew...thank goodness we made it to Z!! It's the end of homework night...for now at least!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Last night we decided to take the kids to their first Greenville Drive baseball game. It was a perfect night for baseball, so we thought we would enjoy a family night out! By the time we got there the only seats left were the cheap seats in right field. We didn't really care since we knew the kids probably wouldn't pay attention for too long. Well, the thing is when you sit out there you HAVE to pay attention...for foul balls. I really didn't think that would be a problem, but boy was I WRONG!! Sowewhere in the 4th inning a foul ball game flying right toward us. It happened so fast I never even saw it I just heard it hit the back of our seat. Then the next thing I hear in MacKenzie SCREAMING! Yep, she got hit with a foul ball right on her head above her eyebrow. Jarrod had tried to catch it but it bounced off his hand and hit her. It scared us to death! Luckily she never lost consciousness, but it's always scary when a child gets in the head and of course I start thinking the worse. (I think I've watched too many episodes of House!) The paramedics watched her for several minutes and we hung out for a while just to be sure. We even went back to our seats where the people beside us had got the ball and saved it for us!! They were very nice to give us the ball that hit her!! She was completely freaked out and started crying the next time the crowd starting cheering. So a perfectly good night ended up being not so good afterall...I'm just hoping that we can get her to go back to a baseball game! The only good thing that happened was that the operations manager came to visit us and gave both of the kids their very own baseball. MacKenzie got a pink one (of couse!) and Mason got one that had been signed by all the players!

Reedy Ripit

MacKenzie's boo-boo..it's kinda hard to see in this picture and it looks better here than it did!
Her two baseballs!
Mason's signed baseball

Science Fair Project: Phase 1

I can't believe that I'm having to do a science fair project with my 3, soon to be 4, year old, but I am!! MacKenzie's class is having a science fair on May 8th and each child has to do their own project. It's by no means rocket science, but nonetheless, it's a project, which let's be honest...mama is having to do!! We got to choose from several different things, so I didn't have to come up with anything on my own (luckily). I tried to pick something that was pretty easy to do, so our science fair project is "Sink an Orange...Float an Egg".

Here's how it goes...

An unpeeled orange will float in water. However, if you peel the orange it sinks! (Fascinating, I know!) It has something to do with the density...

An egg, on the other hand, sinks in water. However, if you put the egg in very salty water (called brine) it floats. If you then pour out some of the salty water and add fresh water to it, the egg with float somewhere in the middle. (Again, fascinating stuff)!!

So, MacKenzie and I did our little "experiment"..she on the other hand was quite fascinated by her "project"!! Here are some of the pictures...



Now mama has to make one of those tri-fold poster board things that shows all the steps of the experiment. YAY for MAMA!

Happy Late Easter!

So I'm a little behind posting our Easter photos. We had a wonderful Easter spending time with the Councills, going to church and of course hiding Easter eggs. The Easter bunny also brought some goodies for MacKenzie and Mason. The Easter bunny started the tradition of bringing bathing suits to me and my sister when we were little. Now, the Easter bunny does the same thing with my children. It's a fun way to get ready for the summer season that lies ahead! MacKenzie was very excited about modeling her new bathing suits...Mason, on the other hand, was a little more modest!

"Y" is for yoga...

...and yacht, and yolk, and yogurt. (Whoa, two post in one night...watch out!)

A Busy Day!

What a busy, but fun, day we have had! We first went to my step-sister's little boy's, Zachary, 3rd birthday party. We had a great time playing outside and enjoying the beautiful weather. We then went to Clemson to watch the Orange & White game and then a baseball game. The kids were really good and had fun looking for THE Tiger. Finally, we ate dinner and then came home to hide Easter eggs. We are ready for the Easter Bunny to come to our house!


The McIlwain/Pettit/Philpott Crew
Clemson Game



Easter Egg Hunt