I am going to start today's entry with some tidbits from the beginning...

Craig and I met Memorial Day weekend in 1994. He was 16 I was 15. Little did he know when he went to work for his last day at Whalom Park that he would meet his soul mate. Little did I know that on that day I would also meet my soul mate. I was at Whalom with a friend. We were waiting for our ride and it was chilly out so we went into the fun house. We found a wallet and gave to the guy working the fun house. That guy was Craig. I am not really sure how it came about but I ended up with his number. The rest is history...

May 20,2000 I became Mrs. Craig Dionne. It was such a happy and wonderful day. It was a little chilly and I was concerned the rain would not hold off, but it did. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception.

Christmas eve, 2004 I took a pregnancy test that took a full 3 minutes to show a very faint line. I did not want to get my hopes up, especially if the test was wrong. I went out got a second test to confirm the first test and 3 minutes and another faint line later, I thought it must be so. I was so very happy. I had wanted this for so long. For Christmas I gave Craig a bib and pacifiers. He slowly opened the gift, looked inside and then looked at me, "what is this?". I just gave him a huge grin. He then asked, "are you sure?". You see the company I had been working for shut down the division I worked for and I still did not have a job. This scared Craig. Turns out there is nothing that makes Craig happier than playing or spending time with his son.

I knew I would not be able to wait to tell family and friends the news they had been waiting to hear for so long. So, for Christmas eve we gave the grandparents bibs and onesies to announce the good news. Craigs parents opened up their gifts and his Mom just yelled we're having a baby.

My family was told that night. I could not wait. My Mom was late getting to the Christmas eve party at my grandmother's so when she walked through the door my excitement got the best of me. I did not even give her time to take off her coat. I just kept saying open it, open it. She opened it and was very confused. The bib said I love Grandma and she thought it was for my niece. She did not understand why I was so excited to give it to her until she looked up to see my Step dad holding up the onesie. There was a lot of tears of joy. People from the kitchen came out to see what the commotion was all about. It was just as I had always dreamed it would be.

During my pregnancy we had a couple scares. I had some early contractions that the doctors were able to stop. I prayed that nothing would happen to my baby. Fortunately God was listening and kept my baby safe.

On September 3, 2005 I woke at 1 in the morning with signs that I was going into labor. The doctors had predicted my due date as 9-3-2005 but rarely is a baby born on it's due date. Well, it is just not in me to not do things on time. By 9:30am we were at the hospital being monitored.

6:32 p.m. September 3, 2005 Carter Jackson Dionne is born!!! After a short labor that I slept through most of, I was so happy to finally meet this miracle. I must admit though, at about 6 p.m. that night after pushing for an hour already I was not so eager to let Carter out. The pain was just too much for me to even think about what was going to come out of it.

My first meal was a turkey sandwich. I spent the night cleaning the room and getting to know this new life. The one who made me a Mommy.

A couple of days later we got to take Carter home. I could not believe they just let you take this tiny, fragile life home without instructions or a class. I had taken care of many babies before but never this tiny or fragile. We did it though.

Carter had some trouble sleeping at night. Carter's second night of life he was in the nursery so I could get some rest for the long nights I had ahead of me. The nurse brought him back in during the night because he would not settle down for them. Turns out, he wanted his Mommy. From that night on, he would not sleep on his own. For the first 2 weeks I slept sitting up on the couch because he would not sleep unless I held him and I could not sleep laying down because I was afraid I would hurt him. After those first two weeks he was big enough that I could sleep laying on my back. He slept on my belly. Then eventually moved to the side of me. After a month and a half we were able to move back into the bedroom. He was finally sleeping in his bassinet until he got sick with a cold. Then he was back to sleeping with Mommy. It took 7 and a half months to get him in his own bed. He is doing so good in his crib now. Falls asleep on his own. Only wakes 1-2 times a night to eat.

Just thinking about all those long nights is making me tired.