William "Will" Monroe

Here are some pictures we've sized down to be able to upload, plus some of our precious boy since we've been home.

"The Lord our God has blessed us..."

Introducing our sweet new arrival...baby Will

Our baby boy is finally here and we couldn't be more thrilled!  

William "Will" Monroe Pulley was born @ 1:54 pm Wednesday, May 20th, 2009.  He was 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 19 3/4 " long (a pound and an ounce bigger than Kennedy).

He was named after my Dad (William Daniel Hobbs-"Dan") and late Papa (William Fay Hobbs), as well as Patrick's late Grandpa (Harvey Monroe Pulley).  We loved how Kennedy's first and middle name are family names, and wanted to use the names of other significant people in our lives when naming Will.  

After 26 looooong hrs. of active labor w/ Lil' Man (Tues./Wed.)...we were finally admitted to the hospital early Wed. morning.  It's a very long story basically, but no thanks due to the on-call doctor Tues.!  A "posterior cervix" kept me from getting admitted TWICE Tues. (even while being dialated to a 3 the first time, a 4 the second time, and 2-3 min. apart intense contractions).  Even w/ my due date being the previous Monday!      

After receiving a very sincere apology from the new dr. on-call Wed. morning a/b the continued pain I had been in for no good reason...we learned I was dialated to a 5 and I received a beautiful epidural.  Woo hoo!  Thank you Lord for technology!  I was then encouraged by the sweet dr./nurses to take a short nap to regain some strength b/f they broke my water.  It was very smart and very thoughtful of them, and I truly appreciated the quiet dark room for 2 solid hrs.!  After they broke my water...I progressed completely within 2 hrs., pushed for 10 minutes, and out came our sweet baby boy!  

I am overwhelmed w/ thankfulness when I even THINK a/b the fabulous doctor and nurses who helped us deliver Will.  Even though my personal dr. was unable to deliver on Wed., the wonderful man who delivered was a true blessing to my entire family (w/ 41 yrs. of experience)!  My day and night nurses were fabulous as well, and took wonderful care of Will and myself Wed. and Thurs.!  

The Lord helped me through the entire 32 very unexpected hrs. and I'm also thankful for the strength and patience he granted me throughout it all!  So much for the common "2nd time around is SO much faster" idea, huh?!  My sister was a huge help for the 2 days leading up to Will's birth (as well as a lot of fun), my Mother-in-law was there through it all, Nana/Aunt Vicki/Elise made the trip from Ft. Smith to be there when we all "thought" I'd be admitted Tues. mid-day, and Mom even missed her entire night's sleep Tues. night to stay awake w/ me through the intense pain after we were discharged the 2nd time.  We have been blessed w/ beautiful family members who were willing to be there w/ us through it all, and we are forever grateful for their love and support.  Oh, and a very special "thanks" to our sweet friend Caroline!  She watched Ayan and Kennedy for part of the day Wed. @ our house, so Steph/Mom/Dad wouldn't have to miss a thing!  What a huge help she was!

We are all MORE than in love w/ Will and are enjoying every single moment w/ him already!  He is a wonderful eater, a great sleeper, and a very easy-going baby so far.  His big sister is in love w/ him and has to know where he is and what he's doing @ all times.  : )  She looks forward to each and every time that she gets to see his eyes open and gives him continuous hugs and kisses all day long!  We definitely see a lot of her in him already, but can't wait too see how much more evident it all becomes in the weeks and months to come!

...you KNOW we'll be posting some more pics as soon as we can, so stay tuned!  (still trying to convert all of the large pictures taken into smaller files available for uploading)   

Maternity/Family pictures - Spring 2009

I know there have been several posts recently, but I have been catching up on as much as possible b/f I go into labor.

Therefore, PLEASE scroll down to see them all! (...oh, and comments are greatly appreciated too!)

Here are the recent pictures we had taken by some of our closest friends, Jon and Emily Beaty.
They can be contacted @ www.beatyphotography.com for anyone who's interested, and we promise they'll do a fabulous job! They're creative, prompt, flexible, fast and fun to work w/!

We were happy w/ SO many of them, but here are just some of our favorites!

39 weeks along

Here are a couple pictures taken this past Mon. after my 39 wk. doctor's appt. We are excited to be in the closing stretch, and cannot wait to meet our baby boy finally! We've only got 2 days left (as of today-Sat.) and we couldn't be happier to see that countdown coming to an end! We're anxious to meet him, but praying for a safe and healthy delivery more than anything. I'm constantly reminding myself that the Lord knows when is best for him to be born, and HIS timing alone will be perfect!

For those who have asked, Kennedy was 3 days overdue. Therefore, the dr. has been estimating his arrival to be right around my due date this time around. He's obviously not going to be TOO early if he does decide to come this wknd., however. We just really want all of our family to make it in time for his birth and we hope that Lil' Man allows for that! : )

Levels are perfect, exams are showing a little progress (but not much), and he's kept up his strong heartbeat each wk. He's still measuring a/b a week small, but the dr. is not worried @ all b/c of Kennedy's 6 lb. 7 oz. birthweight.

He said that everything is right on track and nature just needs to take its course (as opposed to taking him early "just because"). However, it has been quite funny to see the family members' preferences of "when he should be born"!
For example...my Dad was out of town on business this past Mon.-Thurs., my sister-in-law had a big event @ the elem. school she teaches @ yesterday (Fri.), my cousin is graduating from UAMS today in LR where all of my family is as well, the church Patrick's Dad pastors (in Huntsville) is hosting our quarterly associational Mission Rally this Mon. night (aka-night of my due date), and then P's Dad is leaving out of town on business Tues. morning for a week long trip as well! GEESH! We joked that Lil' Man's going to come when he's good & ready. But in the meantime, there was a/b a 12 hr. perfect time slot that didn't interfere w/ a single family member's plans. I'm so glad it's not up to us to decide! : )

We're thankful for how the Lord has allowed his growth to be consistent and perfectly spaced from week to week. We're thankful that our dr. is a wonderful man of God that we completely trust. And we're amazed @ how beautiful all of the tests results have come back throughout this entire pregnancy. Not too long now!

Lil' Man's shower...hosted by family

Last Friday, Patrick's 2 sisters and Mom hosted a precious baby shower for us in Huntsville. The invitations were handmade by Jen, the cake was beautifully decorated to match napkins & invitations, the food was delicious, the games were so much fun, and the company was greatly appreciated! We were so thankful to the friends and family who were able to drive to Huntsville and support our Lil' Man's upcoming arrival! Everyone was so encouraging and it certainly reminded us of how much we are loved.

Thanks to Phyllis, Jenifer and Kim for all you did to make the shower so special for us! We truly appreciated getting gifts that we still needed for baby boy!

our beautiful diaper cake~made by Jen