One Month with LVB!

The light of our lives is one month old!  Here are the high points from the month.

• Weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. on the 11th of July at the doctor.
• Is still in newborn clothes and diapers, but won't be for long.
• Has gone as long as two, four hour stretches without waking at night.  Routinely goes three hours between feedings.
• Sweet and easy going most of the time.
• Doesn't love diaper changes, getting dressed, or any delays when she decides it's time to eat.
• Sleeps in her cradle in our room with the Angelcare video monitor, so I am positive she's just breathing and can watch her if she isn't quite asleep.
• We have probably experienced more firsts this month than ever again: first car ride, trip to the store, visit to daddy's gym, visit to her cousins' house, trip to Meme and Papa's, first bath, first photo shoot, first lunch out, meeting about everyone her mommy and daddy know, and probably more that I can't remember.
• We have only had two days without any visitors.  One of those was a day of doctor's appointments for momma and baby.
• We have really bad timing for diaper changed.  Even aunt Mamy says that we experienced things on day two that she didn't experience until baby number three.
• We love her little squeaks and sounds.  I call her my little goat girl.
• Everyone warned me that babies grow up too fast. So I try to cherish every moment, and cry a few tears most days because she won't be tiny forever.

I understood that I would love this baby like nothing I ever loved before, yet I am still surprised by the intensity of these feelings.  Being her momma is by far the best thing I have ever done in my life.  Nick has given me the greatest compliment.  He says that it doesn't matter how tired, sore, or unwell I am feeling.  I light up, and I am genuinely happy to see my baby when I hold her to feed her.  Oh how I love this girl!

Greta insists upon being in the center of everything.  Including tummy time.

One month photo session.

 

A Room for our Girl

I shared some pictures of our once guest room that we transformed into Lydi's room. That may sound dramatic, but it's seriously so so different than it was.

I had certain ideas about how I wanted her room to be, and leave it to Nick to not only make it happen but also add more details!
The top wall color is ballet slipper by Martha Stewart at Home Depot.  The Nick added detail is that even the ceiling is painted in this color. I love it and I think it's perfect for this little space. Nick did a faux board and batten treatment to the walls. It turned out exactly like I pictured it, and as a bonus he had a reason to buy air tools. He also redid all trim work around windows, doors, and baseboards. All of the woodwork was painted talc by Martha Stewart.
I found two different pictures on Pinterest with a bed or crib in the middle of two bookshelves. I thought that this would be a great use of space in here. I had seen several Ikea Billy bookshelf ideas on Pinterest and other blogs, so we used them as the base, added trim work, and attached them to the wall as built-ins. Nick says that if he had it to do over again he would have built them from scratch-live and learn.

We redid the floors with an inexpensive floating vinyl plank flooring. I love the look and we've heard it's very durable. We topped it with a jersey rug that is so comfy.
I found a provincial style dresser I loved on Craigslist for less than $50. Nick drove to Grand Prairie for it, and it was in ROUGH shape! We used Annie Sloan's chalk paint and her brown wax in order to refinish it. He used rub n buff on the original hardware to change it to silver from dirty bronze. A fun touch Nick added was that he painted the inside of the drawers beet by Martha Stewart. I love the pop of bright color, plus it helps the whole piece look more finished. I am glad that we were able to see the beauty within the beast on this one!

Here is my screenshot of the ad on Craigslist.
After Nick worked his magic.
Pop of color on the drawers.
I pinned this mobile as soon as I saw it. I loved how our version turned out-it twinkles so sweetly!
Since I was doing this mobile I didn't want to do a chandelier hanging down as well. So, we found this flush mount crystal fixture that was perfect, and the crystals are almost identical to the mobile.
Since we went with beauty over function on the lighting we needed a way to have a fan. A local restaurant has vintage-style wall fans. Nick thought that we should create a similar look. We found an old fan in Canton, he reworked it and cleaned it up, and had an outlet installed on the wall. He added a pull chain and flipped it around. I love the end effect.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Good and the Bad of Pregnancy

I realize that hindsight is 20/20, and I'm pretty sure that is the case with me and pregnancy. There were some days that I did not love being pregnant. I was tired, hot, and wanted to punch people occasionally (but thankfully never did). However, I don't think I realized until it was over what a special time it was. I have taken to calling pregnant girls I see places lucky- "Oh look Nick there is a lucky girl over there!" Here's a list of some of my favorite things about my pregnancy. Also, I'm including some of the negatives to remind myself that it wasn't completely sunshine and roses.

Fun things:
-seeing the movie, "What to Expect When Expecting" while expecting.
-Don Williams concert-turns out this was the night before my c- section was scheduled. So glad we got to do this!
-Sitting in Lydi's rocker in the living room to write thank yous and just hang out.
-Nick working so hard on her room. The nights I would join him and sit in a camping chair and spend time with him.
-Doctor's appt dates. Nick only missed two appointments-including all of the extras for our complications.
-Seeing Titanic in 3d. Not pregnancy specific, but a fun memory from this time.
-Lots of snowcones!
-Lots of naps!
-Childbirth class dates-such a sweet time to focus on Lydia each week.
-Sweet showers for our little one. The outpouring of love for her was amazing.
-Tons of time talking dreaming and imagining what life would be like as parents.
-Picking out pajamas for the hospital
-Rushing around the night before to finish her wreath and final touches.
-Buying my first bottle of dreft and being so happy to do tiny pink laundry Memorial Day weekend.
-Ordering things with her monogram, coming home outfits, 4th of July dress, and a swimsuit.

The not so fun:
-tightness/swelling in legs and feet
-leg cramps
-restless leg syndrome
-heartburn
-exhaustion
-falling at chick fil a at 36 weeks
-pregnancy brain!
-nausea
-bed rest

All in all I absolutely loved the experience of carrying my little girl. I look at her now and am amazed that she was the size of a sesame seed when I first found out about her, and that she grew into this perfect little person. God is truly amazing in his design for us!

Newborn Photoshoot

Holly of Sillyheads Photography took the photos of us when we announced our pregnancy.  We knew that we wanted her to take Lydia's newborn photos as well.  She made me promise not to have the baby early, and that went really well.  Haha!  She was back in town a few days after L arrived, so we scheduled a date.  The first day was overcast and rainy, so our house was way too dark.  We decided to wait a couple of days and try again.  This time at Holly's house because her garage had plenty of light.  We loaded our car down with more clothes and props than I could imagine possible.  Holly worked her creative magic for sure.  The whole process was exhausting for me.  This was the most I had walked and been outside since having Lydia.  Halfway through I thought that I would not do newborn photos if I ever had another baby because it was too hard!  Thankfully, it was all worth it, and we got some amazing photos of our girl.  I love that these were taken on her original due date.

This was from our first attempt at photos.  At least we got one super sweet one.

 Her daddy built her this bed.  I love it, and I know that she will love playing baby dolls with it later.

  

 

Now the really hard part, making decisions about birth announcements!

Two Week Highlights

We have been loving life with Lydia for two weeks.  Here are the highlights from her first two weeks of life!

Really tired new parents put their glasses in such a super safe place that they don't find them for days.

Nothing sweeter than a tiny baby with a giant bow.

We are blessed with such a calm baby.

Tiny toes!

She has a lot of expressions already.

A little late Baby Center, but thanks for the help.  Notice the time of the screenshot.  Life with a newborn!

Snuggly baby in the morning.

We attempted newborn photos, but it was too dark because it was an overcast day.

Back to the hospital for our PKU test.  It was traumatic to momma, but the little girl handled it like a champ.

First fireworks on the 3rd of July.  We enjoyed them from our yard this year.

She LOVED her first real bath.  The happiest and most alert we've seen her.

Nothing cuter than a clean baby in footy pajamas.

It take a lot of stuff for an LVB newborn photo shoot.  Cutest baby ever in the background.

Newborn photos, poolside.

We felt like she was always a part of us by her due date.

First 4th of July!  Celebrated with the Smiths.

Attempt number one at babywearing.  (Her position isn't the greatest.  She really needs to be up higher without her chin squished to her chest.  She didn't stay in for long, and I was constantly looking at her/touching her.)

All dressed up for Buy Buy Baby.

We also enjoyed introducing our precious addition to lots of friends and family who were so sweet to come and visit, bring meals, and more gifts for our (spoiled) little girl.

I'll leave off with this video of some of the sweet little noises, expressions, and movements that I never want to forget.