Breton's First......

First pic to daddy at work First Bath First Xmas Card - photo shoot! First Thanksgiving First Stroller Walk

Baby is here Nov 9 2014

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Our lil Bubby arrived over 2-1/2 months ago and one thousand iphone pictures ago. Gosh, so much has happened that I regret not documenting every second of it but the time has kept us busy. We are both back at work into the swing of things. So to go back in time.... It all started around midnight (Friday turning into Saturday) on 11-8-14. I felt the first contractions. I downloaded an app on my phone to track the timing. Sure enough they were ranging from 5 minutes to 1 and half minutes and lasting 30-50 seconds. I knew he was late so it was time for him to come but I couldn't believe it was happening. I texted my best friend Katie a picture of the contraction log and she quick called. She asked to speak to Joseph and said ok, it's time to go in. We packed up. A long night but I never dilated. I didn't know whether to induce or go home and wait for it to happen natural. I texted my friend Jess in San Diego, she quick called me in the hospital and said it is so much better to just let it happen on its own. I listened as she has been through it twice and my go to person for all my advice for mommy to be things. She missed her calling as a consultant in this department. We went home around 3am. Then for the rest of the weekend, I spent having on off contractions day and night. It was not fun. Taking baths to soothe the pain, hot showers, trying to sleep them off if possible. Then around 8pm Sunday night, I felt the strongest of them all after a bath. There was blood. I was in tears. Joseph was so worried, he said that's it we are going in again. THANK GOODNESS!! This same night....hours later....and going from 4cm to 8cm within an hour.... Joseph Breton Mann was born a healthy 7lb 15oz 20oz at 11:04pm He might have been late but when he was ready to come he came zipping out We left for hospital around 8pm and he came out sideways three hours later. My mom and Schatzie were there by our side to experience it all with us. Our coworker Phil even showed up to support us. I can still hear Joe counting down 10,9,8 then saying " I see hair" lol and there he was in this new world He passed all his in-hospital tests with flying colors & we were off to our home together two days later The first night Joseph and I hardly slept not because he kept us up. He was so good we were paranoid we should be doing something and kept checking to make sure he was breathing Our nurses that kept taking shifts and checking on us were great. Everyone at Gwinnett Medical made it a relaxing and comfortable environment. I was able to bounce back like nothing on the second day when we were ready to go home. Carrying our little boy to his new home in our world, priceless

Sept / Oct Updates (weeks 33 to 37)

Besides just trying to make this house a home for the past month, we have had a few other things going on here. However, don't get me wrong, we have been trying to do as much as possible during the week and weekends to "fill space" as we say, lol, so that alone has kept us pretty busy in our own little world. The two most complete rooms are probably the dining room (for our upcoming Thanksgiving celebration) and the nursery for "junior" who surprisingly is sneaking up on us. Only 3 more weeks to go! More to report here....we had the doctor suggest an ultrasound yesterday to make sure he is still growing accordingly. If not, he was ready to induce but I was ohhh not ready just yet. Apparently he thought my belly looks small this week but come to find out I have lots of hiding spots and room so it doesn't poke out. He is snug with plenty of fluid and nutrients deep within. At 7lbs and 56 percentile, he is right on track. 155 heart rate and limbs measuring on point for his gestation. No worries but we got some cute pics out of the ordeal! Yay, I love checking up on him. Look he has his dads pouty lips and the Fagan chin, adorable! Some other things we have been up to are weekend activities like visiting my Aunt Candy and Uncle Mike at their second home in Keowee,SC. The guys went golfing, the girls went shopping and cooked dinner. We all spent the night and enjoyed a little getaway together. Visited our friends house for a full day of college football games, went to the Square in Lawrenceville for Rock n Ribville, and had my parents over for a cookout. Dad and Joe did a dry run with the turkey fryer to make sure they had the Thanksgiving touch. We deep fried a 3 lb small turkey, lobster tails and french fries. It was quite delicious! We also had our first baby classes at the hospital, Newborn Care and Breastfeeding Basics (luckily Joesph wasn't the only guy there, phew, I would've felt bad but would have felt worse if I was the only one without a partner, ha) They are a couple hours long from 7-9pm after work at Gwinnett Medical with about a total of 10 couples (someone even brought their parents for a refresher course, interesting). We are both glad we picked up some nuggets of information in preparation but no matter how prepared you think you are, you aren't ...are the dear words of my friend Ashley. So we also know we are ready to "wing it" by the seat of our pants. Yet we still hang the certificates they gave us for attending the class on our fridge with pride, lol. And finally, I got to redeem my birthday present that Joseph had given me for my birthday. I met my mom on the square in Gainesville at Princeton Spa for a massage. I told the lady to please focus on my feet and shoulders. Wow, amazing, I think she temporarily healed my swollen feet from all the moving and fluid accumulation. It felt like a miracle. There was also the Mule Camp yearly festival going on that same weekend so we made a day of it downtown Gainesville. It was a nice fall day to play "hookie" from work. So other than all this it's just been basic work weeks, getting the townhouse ready for the renter, painting or shopping, chasing Allstate for our claim and wondering if our little guy will come early or right on time. To be continued....Ps - ask Joe about his feelings on getting a flu shot, haha

MOVING!! and the Gwinnett County Fair

Finally , we can say we have finished all our financial and loan paperwork we started towards the end July after putting an offer on a house in Buford. It seemed to have everything we needed so we jumped on it after looking at multiple homes for months. We closed on it last week and now are in the midst of moving. We have a lot of work ahead of us to make it our "home" but we couldn't be more excited to start our new life in it. The nursery is one of the first rooms we will have completed too. Joe is working on painting it tonight (navy and white)to match the bedding we had made. Right now it is more of a royal and pale blue. Also, the furniture has shipped in from overseas waiting for us in their Georgia Babies warehouse and is all ready to be delivered tomorrow. We don't even have our master bedroom or living room yet, lol. This weekend we plan on looking for all new things. We were too afraid to buy anything in advance in case the closing didn't go through or jinx it so this will be a fun task in the month ahead before "junior" gets here! Besides all this work, we did have some fun. The Gwinnett County fair is in town and we went there last week. Sadly since I am pregnant I had to bypass all the rides, I was quite bummed out. I kept urging Joe to ride them without me so I could live through him vicariously but he declined, ha. Instead, we competed in friendly competition of basketball which we both lost, neither of us made a basket, lol. We tried to win a lizard, crab or goldfish for throwing a ping pong ball in a bowl of water. We only got one ball so we won a goldfish but forgot to pick it up later, oh well, the kitties might have taken a grab at him at home so we probably spared a life. Then last but not least we did the squirt guns to see who could get the clown to the top first. We were the only ones playing so it ended up we both won one time, ha! We like those odds. So, in the end, we did win two stuffed animals for junior. Then off to find more carnie stuff to buy which led me to the airbrush trucker cap station. Joe made friends with the dudes running the tent there. They were all from San Antonio so they were talking Spurs & showing him pictures of the game they went to. Small world! Finally, festival food, don't leave one without it. To sum it up, it was a fun, successful & delicious day :)

Labor Day Aug 29- Sept 1st, Charleston SC

Since the weather had an 80% chance of rain in Destin area, we last minute (literally the night before) decided to book a trip to a sunnier destination which ended up being Charleston, SC. We found the cutest 2 bedroom, 2 story cottage downtown to stay at near King Street where all the action was with an indoor house kitty included named Boogs, lol. Ironically the owner Jack knows my Aunt Candy's niece, named Candace (after her) they work together at Kiawah. Small world! He's a caddy there and she does event planning. They both promised me they would try to get Joe on the ocean course if he comes back on a non holiday for free, amazing, it is usually $350 a round!! Anyways, the house was in a great central location for us. The beaches were only about 15 to max of 25 min away so we had a nice mix things to do in the area. We first spent time at Sullivans Island which was more quiet and less shells, calmer waters. However, while we were there we did stop by Folly Beach to check it out (known to be the action spot) but there were many more ouchy shells, rocks and stronger currents in the water which lead us back to Sullivans before heading out of town. When we weren't at the beach playing frisbee, body surfing, or Joe finding sand dollars with his toes... we were doing some site seeing downtown of the historic homes, custom house, city market, old post office and marinas. There was even a market festival going on this weekend and we of course had to stop at it like all festivals we spot. I think we only bought about 3 varieties of peanuts,that's it, HA. The breakdancing street performers there were quite entertaining though, they couldn't have been older than 15, spinning around on their hands, heads and bodies to pop music in the town square. We worked up an appetite each day but it was easy to find some great dining spots, our highlights were Stars, Hanks, Leon's, and Queen 82. There was an hour wait for the infamous Poogan's Porch so we bypassed that for lunch but maybe another time and same with Bowen's Island. It was closed on the Sunday we drove out there but snapped a picture of the sign at least for our little almost 2 year old nephew, Bowen. We were hoping to get a t-shirt for him but once again, another thing to come back for. It was a good opportunity for us to get outside and get some excercise. We didn't realize it but between walking the beaches, fighting the ocean currents, playing frisbee and the long stretch of King Street that we shopped...our dogs were barking. I might have been just as excited to relax one late afternoon as Joe was for College Game Day kickoff (like a kid at Christmas) so we spent it on the couch snacking and watching football rivalries one right after the other into the night. It was our official first UGA game together so I had to document this moment especially since the Dawgs whooped on the Clemson Tigers!! And in the spirit of sports, Joe also brought his clubs for this trip being that this area has a ton of courses. He played a twighlight round of golf at Shadowmoss. I rode along shot gun in the cart and would greet him on the green with his putter and to pull the flag out on each hole. Big help I was, lol. This is part of his new life goal to play golf in every state. So I think he has only 46 more states to go, ha! Like Sandy said, "it's good to be ambitious" So I'll keep you posted on this outcome if this blog is still rocking in 40 years :)

28 weeks, Baby shower, Storkvision & Sandy's birthday

Just a quick follow up from my last post, I went in for my 28 week checkup and performed my glucose test I talked about. First chugging the Fruit Punch Capri Sun tasting liquid from the bottle, this was after I locked myself out of the house so I drank it on the way to office the hour before doctors visit. Then they drew blood and said results in one day. Despite the cinnamon pretzels and gummy bears I had eaten the day or two beforehand, I passed!!! I will post the clean bill of health letter next to my candy jar, hooray! The doctor actually said carb restriction before the test is bad, I said "no worries, that's all I consume" so my levels weren't elevated (just an inside tip there) ANYWAYS.... Joe was in Chicago this week for two manufacturer visits, one to Sturtevant Richmont then over to Regal Cutting Tools. He had plant tours, product training and meetings with management to introduce himself and get to know the people behind the companies we represent. Poor fella was tuckered out, lots of travel and knowledge to be had from Monday morning til Thurs night when he got home. Excitingly when he did arrive, he met us at the Georgian Terrace. I had picked up Sandy, Sean and Kayleigh from the airport. They all flew in on the same flight from San Antonio for the baby shower weekend. We were so thrilled they were all able to come and celebrate. The same Thursday, Aug 14th that they arrived was also coincidentally Sandy's birthday so we had to do it in style. First I made an appointment for 5:30pm for Storkvision so after I picked them up, we headed straight there to see what the little munchkin was up to in tha belly. Joe and I were both so anxious but excited to see how much he had grown and to share that experience with Schatzie was too much fun! Even Sean got into, Joe called him from Chicago but he was like "hey I gotta go man, this is pretty neat" haha It was too funny. Sadly he is still breech but on a lighter note he made us laugh as he was putting his feet over his head and holding foot. We may have that male cheerleader we talked about with this flexibility. lol Since Joe got in late that night, we stayed downtown Atlanta at the Georgian Terrace in a suite so we could all stay together, had dinner and drinks and waited for Joe's arrival. We watched people, cars and motorcycle action on the outdoor patio across from the Fox Theater. Dinner was a hoot, everyone was in the mood for casual so that is exactly what they got! We went to The Vortex, a food channel network mention for amazing hamburgers, colorful people and ambiance. Hence the picture (sorry Sandy, I had to share)of the "good luck" charm on the way out the door. The next day was strictly a tour de Georgia adventure from the GA Aquarium to Stone Mountain then up to Coastal Breeze for dinner. I think we hit most of the major cities within a 24 hour time span. We were all tuckered out on Friday night from that big day of site seeing and crashed early as we all had to get up early for Saturday's shower at 10am. This is when we headed to Marietta to my aunt Candy's house who hosted it while the guys shuffled off to TopGolf in Alpharetta for some man time together. It was a great afternoon, Joe and I were so blessed to have such great friends and family spoil us with such a lovely array of gifts and just taking the time out of their weekend to spend it with us for baby Mann's arrival. It meant more to us than anyone knows!! Thanks again for an amazing day. Sorry all the shower pics are on our new camera and we haven't transferred it to the computer yet, work in progress!! Oh and a special shout out to Kayleigh and Sean for their amazing wrapping job of the high chair, haha, I was impressed how well they pulled that off :) The rest of the Saturday was up to the lake for our out-of-towners to swim, tube and boat ride around Lanier. I took 5 and just relaxed up at the house with mom. I was pooped and my body was telling me I needed a lil R&R. Then, when everyone came up we had a nice seafood spread from Skogie's at the house which brought the close of the trip to an end. Sandy, Kayleigh and Sean had to head out bright and early for an 8am flight and we hated saying goodbye but once again "see you soon" and unbelivably around the same time we have our new addition to the family. 2 more months to go!