December
Christmas Eve: We celebrated Christmas and New Year's with Kelsey's family here in Moorestown, NJ. Since I was preggers, I didn't party like it was 1999, but it was fun to see family and to know that were were three two months from seeing our precious baby girl!!!
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| Merry Christmas!!! Hard to believe Baby Budd will be here in two months. |
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| Who says you can't be fashionable while preggers - Vintage Preggo is what I call it! |
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| Daddy to be! |
We topped the night of with fireworks at Budd Manor and then slept til noon the next day (probably for the last time for a few decades LOL!) It was a great way to wrap up one year and begin another.
January
January was a fairly bland month, more doctor's appointments, studying for the Step 1 Exam (Kelsey) and getting ready for Baby Budd to arrive. However we were able to make it up to NYC to see Kelsey's cousins Nick and Abbie and go with Abbie as she began shopping for her wedding dress.
Kelsey also was able given a special treat from his sister Courtney for Christmas and went to the Winter Classic that was being held here in Philly.
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| Kelsey and Courtney trying to stay warm at the "outdoors" game. I think having some beers helped =) |
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| The Philadelphia Flyers played the NY Rangers in a transformed Citizen's Bank Park (where the Philadelphia Phillies play) |
February
This was the month of all months....the month that we had been waiting for ever since July 2nd when we found out we were pregnant with Baby Budd. This month was a jam packed month full of showers, last minute purchases, Step 1 Exam and my mom coming in.
Showers - thanks to the best MOL ever, I had the day of all days for showers. February 4th started out with a "ladies" shower with the special and only male guest - Kelsey! Betty's ladies showered Kelsey and I with love and wonderful blessings for Baby Budd - from pac n plays to clothes (and there were lots of those) this baby was going to be covered! After the ladies left for the afternoon, Kelsey and I took a break for a few hours before gearing up for our "cocktail" shower. Saturday night we were blessed to have our friends come and enjoy some cocktails and hor dourves and celebrate our little bundle of joy on the way. It was great to catch up with a lot of people that we hadn't had a chance to see since we moved back and to celebrate with them.
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| Mama and baby owl cupcakes were a big hit! |
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| Gift bags with yummy chocolate carmels and solid or peanutbutter filled chocolate hearts. Two bags please!!!! |
Mid way through this month Kelsey took his Step 1 Exam. This could be the most important exam that he may take in his medical school career. It is the exam that they use to determine which rotations you can except to the specialty you can apply for in residency. This exam covered the past two years of medical school and all the information that entailed. The exam was 8 hours broken into 7 sections taken all in one day! Kelsey had been studying for this exam since we left the island in August, but since December 7th he has been studying 12-15+ hours a day 6 days a week to prepare for this exam. He watched videos, read books, reviewed questions, and studied with a classmate once a week. I am happy to report that Kelsey did very, very well on this exam and that all of his hard work paid off. I am so so so proud of him and proud to be his wife!
February 27th, two days before our bundle was due to arrive, I was anxious and nervous and just READY to see my baby girl. So you can imagine my surprise when my sister sends my mom a text to say she's having contractions (her due date was March 6th and we were all awaiting to see if her 3rd would be a boy or a girl). So after heading to bed, around 2am I got the text that my newest nephew Elijah Manning (no not named for Eli of the Giants) was welcomed into this world. This meant that Baby Budd was going to be a day apart from her cousin - how exciting!!!
The DAYYYYY - yep we were counting down to Feb 29th was going to be the day of all days, the day that would change our lives forever, and with contractions beginning on February 28th, we were both sure that the 29th was going to be the day. Instead the day came and went, as did the next 8 days. Each day with contractions getting more and more intense and each day thinking "today has to be the day" only to end with "well maybe tomorrow will be the day".
Instead we got these awesome shots of flowers blooming super early due to the warm weather we were having all winter in South Jersey.
March
This was a month that I will never forget. This was the month that our lives began a whole new adventure and gave us a joy that we could never have anticipated. This was the month that our precious little baby girl came into our lives and changed it forever.
On March 8th after a LONG labor Shiloh arrived and we have been in awe of this little beauty ever since!!! (more on this in a later post)
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| Welcome to the world Miss Shiloh Rae!!!! |
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| Over 30 hours of labor in the hospital but SOOOOO worth IT!!!! |
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| Our "peaceful" little bundle of joy - Shiloh! |
Our hearts are filled so much with love for this little angel I don't think there is any post that would be able to capture exactly what having this little girl has meant to Kelsey and I.
April
Wow how the time has flown by. Kelsey and I are now packing this week and heading out to Chicago where he is beginning his third year of medical school and his first clinical rotations at NA Hospital.
Kelsey's first rotation will be in Family Medicine which is such a blessing, especially since Shiloh will only be 6 weeks on Thrusday. We feel so blessed to be going back to a city that Kelsey loves and to see old friends for Kelsey and new friends from Ross. We are excited to begin this next chapter of our adventure.
Well that's the past four months of our lives! I'll be posting more about Shiloh and of course more pictures once we are settled in Chicago.
Until then - love the one's your with
