Beach Pictures

Pippy's!

Madison Claire finally has enough hair to have pigtails! They are barely there, but they are so sweet! Annie tells Madison she looks like Pippy Longstocking when she has them in so she has started calling them "pippy's". It's hilarious! She will look at them, touch them and say "Pippy".

18 Months!

Ryan and I cannot even believe that our little Punkie Brewster is already 18 months old! How did that happen?!? She had her 18 month appointment last week and everything went well. She did NOT like Dr. Heil or the nurses looking at her but all of her stats came back great. She is in the 99% for her height and the 26% for her weight. Her height/weight comparison (or BMI) is only 1%. LITTLE SHRIMPY!!!! She is tall and skinny so we're still trying to get her to put on some weight. We'll see how it goes...

They pricked her toe so here she is trying to get the bandaid off...

Big Girl!

Welcome to the World, Jacob Dennison Fetz!

This story needs a little bit of context....Sarah's due date was October 12th. I usually host my Vanderbilt interviews around that time but was terrified that I would be in interviews when she went into labor and not be able to make it to Atlanta. So, I scheduled our interviews at Vanderbilt for September 30th & October 1st thinking, surely she won't have the baby then!! The best laid plans of mice and men......

Friday morning, October 1st, I got a text from Sarah around 2:30am that her water had broken. I immediately called her and was so excited! I told her that we wouldn't be able to come until Saturday because of my interviews. I had 5 Managers/Directors from Stockamp in from around the US to interview with me and my role is to lead the group so I just didn't think it would be an option for me not to be there. I was heartbroken though because I had been so excited about being able to be there for Sarah. I debated back and forth, back and forth, and finally Ryan said something to the effect of - "you need to go...you aren't that important...the day can go on without you." It was exactly what I needed to hear!

I called Nanny Annie around 3:00am and asked if she could meet me at my house in an hour. I jumped out of bed and got myself and Madison Claire packed and we left the house around 4am. Madison was so confused! I drove by the Vanderbilt Marriott and dropped off all of the paperwork at the front desk so my colleagues would have what they needed and then called them and did the morning debrief via speakerphone. Needless to say, the day went on!

We made it to Atlanta around 9:30am Eastern time and wouldn't you know, we beat my parents to the hospital and they live there! We surprised Sarah & Ryan and they were excited to see us! Sarah was doing great and we were all just anxiously awaiting the arrival of little Jacob! She progressed to about 8cm before they realized that he was breech, so they rushed her away for a C-section. He was born a little after 12pm and weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces. He was just perfect!!!

We waited and waited and waited and waited to get to see them afterwards. It took a long time for them to get a room and it was probably around 4:30pm before we got to go back and see them. About this time I felt like death. I was SO exhausted. I had taken Madison Claire and Annie home earlier in the day so Madison Claire could nap so at least they got some sleep. All of the exhaustion went away though when we got to see little Jacob. He was just precious and reminded us all of Sarah!

On Saturday, after a good nights sleep, Annie, Meredith, Mom and I went wedding dress shopping for Meredith and we found the dress! It is gorgeous and she looks fabulous in it! It was such fun!! We also went to Austin Sewell's engagement party on Saturday evening...congrats Austin & Blair!

Sarah, Ryan & Jacob stayed in the hospital until the following Tuesday. They are now home and doing well, but I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers so please pray for them to have wisdom and rest! Enjoy the pictures!

This is a picture of Sarah that I took on my phone...don't they look alike?!

Here he is at 2 weeks old!

Playing pretend

Madison Claire started playing pretend about a month ago and it is precious! She will pretend like she is having a tea party and eating cupcakes but the cutest is that she'll pretend that she is sleeping. She'll close her eyes tight and then slowly open them and start smiling...it's so cute!

Go Lions!

Go Lions!!! CPA played a big game vs. DCA and Ryan had quite the fan club! Our small group friends came and of course the McSwains and Ryan's biggest cheerleader...Madison Claire! She has so much fun looking for him on the sidelines, pointing at him, and enjoying all of the chaos that is Friday night football. CPA won the game, so it was a fun night!

This bottle entertained her for at least an hour!

During the fourth quarter, it started pouring out of nowhere! Luckily we were prepared with umbrellas & a raincoat!

Goodmorning, Daddy

Most mornings, when Madison Claire wakes up, I bring her downstairs and we have some snuggle time in my bed. If you know Madison Claire at all, you know that she can't really stay still for more than 30 seconds, so most of the time she is rolling around, playing, drinking her milk, playing with my phone, etc.

Another part of our morning ritual is recording a message to send to Ryan. They are just precious! I put together this video of a few different ones recently...enjoy it!

At the Park with Daddy

Madison Claire loves playing at the park and it's hard to believe but she can go down all of the slides by herself (even the big swirly ones) and already wants to swing in the big girl swing. Here are a few pics from a recent trip.

Mommy & Me Gymnastics

Ryan found this Mommy & Me Gymnastics class and has been so excited about Madison Claire going. Annie usually takes her because the class is on Thursday mornings while I'm working, but I got to go to this first class and she was precious!!! Check out this video collage of her during the class...so cute! *Note - I apologize for the loud yelling by me in the videos! I am my mothers child :)

Halloween Preview

My grandmother Howard made a Raggedy Anne & Andy costume for Meredith & Patrick when they were little and my mom saved them. Madison Claire is going to be Raggedy Anne for Halloween so we tried on the costume to make sure it would fit...doesn't she look like such a big girl?! More pictures to come later this month!

Sleeping shots

One of my favorite things to do is look at the monitor when Madison Claire is asleep. Here are some funny poses as of late!

Yes - that is her bare little but in the air after she took of her pants & cloth diaper!

Hard to believe she takes up almost the whole bed now...tall girl!

And...she's a ghost