Lucy 3 Months Old

This post is really late, the 4 month post will be up soon!

Dear Lucy, 

These months just keep flying by! So much has happened this month that I can't keep up with you! I'm sure that as you get bigger that trend will continue more and more! 

Since you turned 3 months old you have done a lot of traveling. You went to Florida to see family and for your baptism. You went to North Carolina for a conference for Daddy's work and then to Murphy to see Nana and Gpa. You have been on the go all month!

You continue to grow and grow. Your appointments are always good and you always have grown and continue to be in a very healthy range for height and weight. 

This month you started waking and wanting to check out the world more and that means much less sleep. This month has been a little crazy because of your lack of sleep but I know that you are just too excited to check out the world to be bothered with sleeping. 

Your first big holiday came this month, we celebrated Thanksgiving with your Mimi and Papa who came to visit. Maybe next year you can actually have a little bit of turkey! 

You are such a happy girl and have such a wonderful smile that even on the rough days you can always make it better with your wonderful little giggle. We love you so much little girl and look forward to every new discovery and day with you!

Love, 

Mommy

Lucy - 2 Months Old

Dear Lucy,

2 months old! It’s crazy for me to think that you are only 2 months old because it seems like you have been with us for such a long time already and sometimes I feel like you act so much older then your age.

You are such a big girl! You gained 3lbs since your last check up and are 12lbs 8oz now! You are still wearing 0-3 month old clothes and size 1 diapers. That is going to be changing soon. You are ready for size 2 diapers now which means it is time for cloth diapers for you! I imagine that your clothing size is going to go up now also.

In the past month we have discovered the Miracle Blanket (courtesy of Auntie Holly!) which has been a huge help with naps and sleeping. You are such an active alert child that you need a little help when it comes to relaxing. Speaking of sleep, we moved you out of the newborn napper this month and you are now sleeping in the Pack N Play. It won’t be long now till you move into your crib.

You have also moved up in your bathtub. No longer sitting in the newborn sling and no longer taking baths up on the counter! You fit in the tub and that tub is in the big tub now since you have discovered how much fun it is to splash in your bath. You really like bath time and are a little water baby.

You have started talking and smiling so much more this month. Every morning your dad and I look forward to seeing your face and the little happy dance that you do each morning. Well, you are happy most mornings :) We love “talking” to you and seeing how happy you are.

You do well at tummy time but don’t like laying on your belly for a long period of time. You will travel to Florida and North Carolina in the next month along with being baptized in front of many friends and family.  So many exciting things coming up for you!

You have such a big personality and are the sunshine of my life. We can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Reason Enough

 

 I don't really have any profound words for this post. I just have this sweet little 8 week old girl who looks crazy cute to share. I mean are words really necessary when you are this cute?

I didn't think so.

Happy Fall!

I'm pretty sure that if the seasons had a popularity contest that fall would win. It's the prom queen in the high school of seasons.  I really don't think I've ever heard too many people get all excited about winter or summer. Fall wins. And I have to admit I'm one of those people that does love fall.

Fall colors, fall inspired decor, and fall foods. It's the season of football, Halloween and every kind of pumpkin food imaginable.

These are just a few fall related things that inspire me or just make me happy during this popular season.

 (link)

I am LOVING this Glade Maple Pumpkin air freshener.  My house smells smells like Cracker Barrel and Yankee Candle put together.  I kid my husband he is going to wake up wanting pancakes and bacon because he will think he is at Cracker Barrel. Then again he probably wakes up wanting bacon even without this lovely homey scent in our home.  I really love this fragrance and I am in no way being sponsored to say all these nice things about this product.

I know one of the things many people look forward to come fall is the Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte.  I was one of those people.  Was, as in no longer my friend. Unfortunately I can't really handle the caffeine and I've yet to find a Starbucks that will make me a decaf coffee version and it actually be decaf. I'm already up all night, or at least a couple times late at night, I don't need any other help with this.  My go to fall treat since I'm not visiting Starbucks are Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins.

 (link)

These turn out really great and I've made them a number of times.  I like to use dark chocolate chips in place of regular chips and sometimes I substitute the vegetable oil with applesauce as a healthier option also.


Happy Fall Y'all!

Thoughts on Being A Mom - 6 weeks in

We are just about 6 weeks in to this whole "mom" thing. Oh the lessons I have learned. I've probably learned more, especially about myself, in the last 6 weeks then I think I did in 4 years of college. 

I don't even begin to think I know it all now, I'm pretty sure I still haven't scratched the surface of what being a mom is really and truly all about. But in 6 weeks there are so many things that have changed my life and the way that I view life.  

• Watching her learn, try and realize new things makes me feel more proud then anything I've ever accomplished in my own life.

•  Labor and delivery, breastfeeding and taking care of a baby in general is much harder then I ever imagined. I've learned how much I want something and how much I will fight for it. I'm stronger then I ever really thought I could be.

•I've also cried much more then I ever thought I could cry. Happy tears, sad tears, stressed tears and successful tears. I am a water hazard.  

• Every new moment seems like it belongs in a Hallmark commercial with the way it tugs at my heart and my need for tissues.

•  Folgers got it all wrong. The best part of waking up is going into your baby's room and having them smile when they see your face. Day made.

  

• I was already a pretty efficient person before having a baby. I'm an incredibly efficient person now.

• Going along with efficiency, I sometimes look around for my little trophy that I feel like I must have won once I do get every single thing on my to do list done. Still haven't found it yet.

• Lighting is overrated. I can now feed, diaper and re-swaddle a baby in almost total darkness with ninja like precision. I'm sure the Army will be calling me soon to recruit me with this new ability. 

• Before baby I was always on time and usually early to things. If I was 5 minutes early it was late by my standards. If I'm only 5 minutes late now that is my new version of on time.  Even with this new standard, I'm rarely on time.

• Naptime is sooo important. Snuggling is very important too.
 

 • Sometimes you are just so happy that you can't wipe the smile off your face, even in your sleep.

• The only songs that will ever be stuck in my head anymore probably come from a Fisher Price toy.

• If you are talking to me and my baby is crying I can guarantee you that I will not hear a word you are saying. Once she cries that is all my brain can process while I try to figure out a way to make it stop.  Not because I hate the sound of crying but because I hate the idea of her being sad/ upset

 • I listened to the Beatles "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" a million times when I was pregnant. The first time I listened to it with her next to me she stopped crying and was just calm.  Realizing the Lucy that I dreamed about when pregnant was right next to me and was "real" was a huge "aha moment" for me. And of course, I cried.

• I was use to being the cute one in this house, I'm totally ok with giving up my title to her.

Hanging In There

I'm still trying to get a handle on this whole being a mom thing and certain things have suffered because of it. Like my hair and obviously this blog :) Hopefully a couple cute photos of my sweet little peanut will make up for that.

Lucy Grace's Birth Story

On August 23, 2012 at 1:46 pm we welcomed Lucy Grace into our life and our hearts.

7lbs, 12 oz and 20.5 inches long and she changed us in an instant.

Here is Lucy's story.

We were scheduled to be induced at 6am on August the 23rd. We didn’t really want to go the induction route but my OB highly suggested it. I ended up starting to feel labor contractions early Thursday morning. We ended up going to the hospital at 1:30am, a couple hours before my induction. I was in a ton of pain.  They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said hopefully I was far enough along that I could go without. They checked me and I was only 4cm. I was devastated. I was in more pain by the minute. I soon agreed to get the epidural and I have no regrets about that decision. Shortly after getting the epidural Lucy’s heart rate started to drop, nurses ran into the room, stabbed me with a shot of something and made me flip from side to side (while totally numb waist down) to get her heart rate up. The shot slowed my contractions down and then labor stalled for awhile. I got stuck at 7cm for a number of hours. By 9 am I was 9cm dilated and then by 10 am I was a full 10 cm dilated. We started practice pushing. I was going on 24 + hours of no sleep at this point and nearly fell asleep numerous times between pushing. I was having a lot of contractions but we had to skip every other one because after each push session her heart rate would drop. It’s really hard to push when you are numb from the waist down because you have no idea if you are doing it right or not. I pushed for a total of 3 hours. Into the 2nd hour my OB said that there was a good chance that I could be getting a C-Section because things were not advancing. I was to be prepared for an emergency C-section and things would happen very quickly if it came to that.  Things started to pick up but my OB told me that she was going to have to assist with the delivery and use the vacuum. Everyone got in place for delivery and at this point I had regained some feeling in my legs which helped a lot but I didn’t feel any pain. I was able to deliver Lucy on my own with my own body. The OB did use a vacuum to help get her out and had to give me a small episiotomy and I had 4th degree tears. I feel lucky that we were still able to have the delivery that I wanted even if it has come much differently then I imagined.






Being a new mom is so much harder then I ever could have prepared myself for. But this is my heart, and I'm so in love.

38 weeks and hitting the wall

This blog post isn't going to be the typical update with the bullet points like the previous ones have been. As the title indicates I've kind of hit the wall and am just kind of over things at this point and need to break out of the box of doing things the same way.  So please indulge me my some what random and scattered final thoughts on pregnancy. 

We've made it past the 1st and 2nd trimester. We got through the initial 13 weeks in the "safe zone" and had our 20 week ultrasound where they check all the parts to let you know that they are working as they should. And then you have the 3rd trimester and reaching 37 weeks and being "full term".  And then all the titles stop and you just have to wait until you hit your due date or maybe you have bad aim and you miss your due date and just keep going. I think the weeks after 37 weeks need to have an appropriate name assigned to them to portray how annoying they are. Cause man are they annoying. That speeding train that I felt like I was on has now stopped and I'm pretty sure something must be on the tracks because we are NOT moving anymore.

I'm really lucky in that my body still feels great and I'm not as uncomfortable as I'm sure many women are so it isn't that part of me that hit the wall. As much as I am so excited to meet her I also realize that I've had her with me (literally) for the last 9 months and I will actually have to share her with people, you know like with her father for example, once she is out in the big ol' world so not having the closeness makes me a wee bit sad and so that part of it isn't what has made me hit the wall either.

I think the thing that finally made me hit the wall (see I finally got to the point) was just thinking about how she could be here any moment. And after you've had that thought for about a million moments and the occasional comment about "you haven't had that baby yet?" it just gets really hard NOT to think about it all the time. Because trying to not think about it right now is about as easy as NOT thinking about food when you are starving and haven't eaten in 12 hours. 

Enough with my ranting, on to the good stuff. Or at least the stuff where I laugh at myself because that is all you can do at this point. Example:

38 week bump picture and I am the pinnacle of maternity fashion by wearing my husband's basketball shorts in these pictures. Yep, I never thought I would be that girl that started to raid her husband's clothes but comfort is key and pregnant in heels I am not.

 In other news, my husband has been practicing his swaddling so that he is a swaddling champ once she does decide to grace us with her presence. During that practice we had a silly moment where he decided to swaddle me with one of our large blankets. I was laughing so hard I was crying and thought I was going to laugh this little girl right out. Obviously that didn't work but hubby is a swaddling pro now and should feel quite confident with his skills after having a subject like me to deal with. Good job babe :)

35 weeks and fluff

35 weeks, the end is near! For the longest time it felt like things were moving so fast and I couldn't believe that we were as far along as we were. That feeling has stopped. It has been replaced by a feeling of excitement, occasionally with some anxiety, about what is yet to come.

Size of Baby/ This week's fruit:  She feels like a baby. All the movement feels like there is a small, sometimes angry, little human inside of me that likes to rearrange the furniture (aka my organs) A LOT.  My husband works with alligators and I remember watching a video he took of when baby alligators were born (which was very cute and amazing) and I couldn't believe how developed and strong they looked when they were born and how was it possible that something as fragile and flimsy as an egg and egg shell could contain something like that. I've thought of that a lot lately with the super strong jabs and kicks that I have felt in the last few weeks. This little girl can not be contained much longer!

Cravings: I crave to have my body back minus one cute little girl. I also crave to not have a foot constantly in my rib. It is almost eviction time and she is moving on up in the world.

What I love now: How ready we are. I know many parents are probably laughing at that thinking "You have no idea, you can never be ready" but we have all the things prepared and our home ready and mentally I think we are both ready to make that transition into a new part of our lives. I have the best partner to figure and work things out with and I'm so excited to start our life as a family of three.

Symptoms: Not really a symptom but after my last O.B. appointment I was told that we are seeing some initial signs of labor starting.  I don't want to get too TMI on here but it was good to know that my body seems to know what it is suppose to be doing now. It's hard not to get a little excited knowing that my body has started to transition, even if it is just a little bit, but I will try and keep the excitement in check until my appointment this week when hopefully we will hear that things have continued to move along.

 
Highlight of the week: All weeks are good weeks at this point. So thankful to be almost full term and to have had such an amazing pregnancy so far. 
 

What's new: We took our hospital tour this past week. I LOVE our hospital. I could not be any happier with the doctors or the facility. The hospital is walking distance from my doctor's office and about a 20 min drive (depending on traffic) for us. One of the only drawbacks of living in Charleston is that there are a bunch of islands (James Island, Charleston (main island), West Ashley (not really an island) and Mt Pleasant) and sometimes the straight line from one location to the next doesn't exist because of the harbor.  This is the case for us. We live on James Island and our hospital is in Mt Pleasant. If we had a boat we could probably get there pretty quickly because we are south west of that area. So instead we have to go around a bit to get to Mt. Pleasant. We are so happy with our medical situation though that this isn't a big deal to us. The tour of the hospital showed us what a great and new (less then 5 years I believe) facility they have and how accommodating they are for their patients. During our tour we saw the birth room and the postpartum rooms. Seeing the birth room and knowing that was what the room I was going to give birth in was a totally surreal feeling. It is was the first time in my life that I felt totally excited and scared at the exact same moment. 

 
Bump time!

The belly in full effect. I feel like at this point I must be waddling but my husband assures me that I'm not. He's a nice guy like that. I can still tie my shoes but I can't say it's easy. I'm convinced that the phrase "bun in the oven" has something to do with the fact that you are always hot and feel like your body is an oven set at 425 most days.  Of course around here I would change that to be a "biscuit in the oven", Southern proper and all ;)

This past week I got my first bag of Rocking Green detergent to wash and prep all my cloth diapers.  We don't plan on cloth diapering her immediately. I figure that there will be many new things to try and tackle at the beginning and why throw cloth diapering also into that mix. Plus, the majority of our cloth diaper stash is not newborn size so she needs to be close to 10lbs before she can wear most of these diapers and not have issues with them being too big and causing leaks.

Right now our cloth diaper stash (or fluff as us cloth diapering momma's call it) consist of 2 BumGenius Newborn Diapers, 2 Flip Covers,  2 Bum Cheeks,  9 Bum Genius One Size Pockets,  7 FuzziBunz One Size Pockets.  I think I want to get a couple more to maybe be closer to having around 24 at some point but I'm reluctant to purchase any more until we know which brand seems to work the best for us. I also have about 90 cloth wipes (yep, I'm going there) and cloth wipe solution set up for when that transition begins. The cloth wipes in this case are pieces of fleece fabric that Lucy's Nana (my mom) cut up to use. It's getting crunchy hippie over here people :)

These little guys are the two newborn Bumgenius diapers that we have that will hopefully help us transition from newborn disposables into the cloth diapers. I gotta say that they are probably my favorite diapers in our stash. The first one is "Albert" and I think it is a perfect diaper to represent her dad with all the science equations on it. The second one is "Lovelace" which represents me proudly with all the artistic doodles on it.  Getting sentimental about diapers, gotta love pregnancy hormones. 

Lucy's Nursery

I am giving warning now, this is going to be a very picture heavy blog post, focused on Lucy's nursery. I am so happy how her nursery came out. I never really imagined it would have turned out so nice. I didn't really have anything set in my mind of how I wanted it to look. My hubby had a lot of say in the design of the room and really get involved with helping to pick stuff out. We don't really have a theme, besides lots of the light green that I seem really drawn to right now, but I really wouldn't want it to look any different then it is. Well, add one sweet little girl and then it is perfect :)

Lucy's nursery:

 

 

 I love the colors of her room. It is very relaxing. The glider that we got (off Craigslist!) is so nice to sit in. I hear that is a good thing since I will be sitting in it a lot. My mom made the quilt and the cat picture came from John's childhood bedroom. We have found ourselves buying a number of "Peanuts" Lucy related items.

The two accessories I have been most excited about getting for her: Pink Chuck Taylors and a green and white seersucker bow. A nice mix of girly but not TOO girly. 

 

I really wanted to paint something for her room. Her mom is an artist, only seems right. I think it turned out really well. Since one of her nicknames is "Lucy Goosey" or "The Goose" I got inspired by that.  I'm excited to add the pictures from her newborn session to the other wall. 

 

 

It is great how I was able to tie the light green color in to many different areas, the carpet, the ties on her crib, the curtains and the changing table. 

 The Muppet alphabet was the first piece we bought for her room. I can't name all the Muppets in it yet but I should probably brush up on that eventually since I'm sure a little someone will ask one day. My mom, her "Nana", made the little curtains for her room also.

 I think it is safe to say that she should have no problem knowing what her name is. And with it being only 4 letters, not too hard to spell.

Little girl already has a stocked closet full of gorgeous little clothes.  And then we have the baby entertainment units. I've been told the Snug A Bunny Swing (the big tan one) is a big hit with babies. Hopefully it is a big hit with Lucys also. 

So that is Lucy's nursery! I want to thank all our family and friends (especially you Holly!) for all the support and gifts you have given us to help make her room so beautiful. She is one lucky little girl in so many ways already.

Finally an update!

Well look who be slacking on these pregnancy posts.  Yep. But I'm here now, trying to catch up before this little girl arrives!!


Size of Baby/ This week's fruit: The Bump says she is the size of a durian fruit. I have no idea what that is. It looks rather ugly and sharp and I doubt I'm going to find any in a fruit salad anytime soon. I've been able to figure out how she is positioned due to her hiccups feeling like they are very low and some sharp jabs that I get mainly in my right ribs that I think are from some very strong little legs. I've been amazed at how strong she is and can really make quite a fuss!

Cravings: Still just ice cream. I think it is safe to say that there will be no weird cravings for me in this pregnancy!

What I love now: I love when she really starts kicking and moving around. Even though sometimes it literally makes me jump, it is the best feeling and I know I am going to really miss it once she is born. With her due date a little over a month from now we are both really excited. One minute I'm super excited about her arrival and the next I'm thinking about how I will miss being pregnant and that I'm not ready for her to arrive yet. While that has been a pretty consistent 50/50 kind of feeling each day the feelings about meeting her and being excited to have her with us grow stronger then missing the pregnancy.

Symptoms: I have had an amazingly easy pregnancy. I am super duper lucky. I know that if we do decide to have another child that there is no guarantee that it will be as easy as this pregnancy has been and of course I will have Lucy plus the "maybe baby 2" to take care of then. I try to enjoy this pregnancy and its lack of complications as much as I can while still having the usual back ache, sore feet and heart burn that just seem to come with the territory these days.  And the there is the heat. I really feel like a space heater these days. I knew that being in my last months of pregnancy during the hottest months of the year here was going to be no picnic. So far that has been proven right. Fans and ice are my best friends right now.

Highlight of the week: Last weekend was our baby shower. It was so very nice and we felt so special to see all the love and support that comes from our family and friends. It was a really special day. I was super excited to see two of my friends and their little girls.

We like to say that we are starting our own Girl Scout troop. I can't wait till Lucy gets to join the "troop" and hang out with these little girls! Both of them are a little over a year old now so they will be about a year older then Lucy. I'm sure they will seem like the cool "big" girls to her!

What's new: My OB appointments have been every 2 weeks now. I have one more at this schedule and then we start going every week. Bananas! Her heart rate is always around 145-130s. Everything has been right on schedule. "Boring" means safe and healthy these days and I love my "boring" doctor appointments.


Nicknames: "Luce" & "The Goose" are still the main nicknames. My husband has started calling us "The Double L's" which I think is also very cute.

Looking Forward To:  We hope to basically have her room finished this weekend. We are very close which I still can't believe. Her room is better then I ever could have imagined. I sat in that room the other night and just wondered how this all came together. She is a very lucky little girl and I couldn't feel more blessed.

Bump time!

This is my 28 week bump in Vancouver when I officially headed over into 3rd Trimester land.

It's funny because at the time I REALLY thought I was showing and was really OUT there. Ha. 

Bare belly bump warning! It's hot and at this point in pregnancy you just feel like letting it hang out. That is within reason of course, I AM someone's mother after all :) 

And here I am now at 33 weeks.  

27 weeks...good bye 2nd trimester!

 Size of Baby/ This week's fruit: Whoa! Where did the time go?!? We are almost out of the 2nd trimester. When did THAT go and happen??? I gave up on The Bump fruits since they switched them up recently. I was an eggplant a couple weeks ago but now I'll be an eggplant again in a week or so.  I feel a lot of movement most of the time now. I had a morning where I got up then went to lay back down and it felt like I was trying to lay on a bowling ball because she had shifted to my side. She is about 2 lbs now, grow baby grow!

Cravings: Still no weird cravings. I feel like a huge enabler though. My husband has lost weight in the last couple of months and we joke that I found it all. And then some. He probably would have lost more weight if not for my constant "Sooo what about some ice cream/pizza/ snacks?" questioning.

What I love now: Feeling her move around so much is still my favorite thing. She was so active the other night when we were at a softball game I almost felt like I needed to throw a jacket across my lap with all the crazy contortions going on with my belly. I figured people were going to start wondering if I was hiding a small animal under my shirt or something! I love when she pushes hard against my belly (most of the time) and I try and guess if that is a head or a butt that I can feel :)

Symptoms: I've been so incredibly blessed with this pregnancy. It has been very easy on me. Even though I drink water like a fish (I want to coin the phrase "Drink like a pregnant woman" but some how I doubt it is as catchy) I still get leg cramps from time to time which still kinda suck. I usually end up with a pulled muscle for a couple days after a leg cramp. Back pain has started showing up more often too and sometimes I feel a little out of breath.

Highlight of the week: It's almost time for our babymoon! It really is a conference that my husband is going to for work and I'm tagging along on but hey I'm all about the multi-tasking so its a babymoon to me! Can't wait to see Vancouver!

What is new: Her nursery is almost 100% put together. Thanks to the generosity of my best friend Holly who is sharing her baby goods with us, we have all the real essentials covered at this point for the little lady.  There are a number of things we still need to get but we are in a good place. Her room is a nursery now and it becomes more and more real each time I go in there.

Nicknames: "Luce" "Lucy Goosey" "The Goose" "Lucy Peanut"

Looking Forward To:  Meeting her :) In due time of course. I had a dream that she came the end of July. My due date is August 15 so that would be a wee bit early if she did make her arrival then. We shall see. I'm so fascinated by her already, I can't wait to see her in person!

Some very special moments recently for us. Going to my best friend Holly's daughter's 1st birthday party.

Holly and I met each other in preschool and have an amazingly special friendship. Being able to share this pregnancy with her and get all her great momma advice has been so wonderful. My heart just swells thinking about our two little girls being friends. 

Lucy got Sunny this shirt and onesie for her birthday. They already have outfits declaring them best friends forever!

We were able to celebrate Mother's Day with our mom's which was really special. My "1st" Mother's Day ( I figured this is the easy one since she hasn't really put me to work yet!) was great and I know we both feel so incredibly blessed to have such great moms and amazing families.