December 26, 2014

It's a Girl!

7lbs 1oz     20" long
time: 11:48am

We received the best Christmas present ever this year! Our sweet baby made her entrance into this world 6 days early on Christmas Eve. We didn't find out the baby's sex while I was pregnant. Everyone (myself included) thought for sure the baby would be a boy based on all the wives tales and how I was carrying, so I am still in shock and total surprise that we have a daughter, but we couldn't be happier.
She is absolutely perfect and we are so in love with her. I've never felt so blessed. We are all adjusting to life as a family of 3 now, well 5 if you count the pups. :) She is doing great, nursing like a champ and sleeping well. I'm doing well, of course exhausted after not sleeping for a few days, and I'm sure there is more of that to come, but overall I feel great. Todd is an amazing father already, he is such a natural and is so great with her. I can't wait to see their relationship grow and develop.
I'm so thankful that the Lord blessed us with the natural birth we prayed for and that everything went well. I'll share her birth story as soon as I can get it all written out. For now, I'm going to soak up these precious moments with our sweet baby girl.

December 18, 2014

Home Tour: Nursery

The baby's nursery is finally completed. Our little one is due in just 2 weeks. Part of what has taken so long to finish the room is that the crib has been on back order. It finally arrived this week. Once Todd finished putting it together, I was able to put the finishing touches on the room. I would say I helped assemble it, but really, in my 9th month of pregnancy I mostly sat in the rocker reading directions aloud and keeping him company.

Since we want to be surprised and haven't found out the baby's gender, we went with a pretty neutral color scheme. I'm not big into themed nurseries but I couldn't resist giving this sweet babe's room a coastal feel.
The room was already this color when it was my sewing room. We love the color and its calm vibes so we kept it. Todd painted the ceiling since it had several scuffs and we wanted to go with a more durable paint so that we could wipe any marks off the ceiling easily. Todd also spent many hours sanding and refinishing the dresser, which we set up as the changing table. He also replaced the hardware.
My DIY contribution to the room is the baby's quilt. I went with a disappearing nine patch pattern in slate blues, grays, white and mustardy yellow. I love quilting and hadn't made one in awhile. It was so fun to make something for our sweet little one knowing he or she will use it as a playmat on the floor while little and as a blankie on their bed or for family movies on the couch as they get older.
I am so pleased with how the nursery turned out. The colors are so relaxing to me and I can't wait to sit and rock our sweet babe in there. I think if we have a boy I'll add in more touches of navy or mustardy yellow and if its a girl I'll throw in some touches of coral.

Source List: 
Paint - Sherwin Williams Halcyon Green
Crib - Buy Buy Baby
Dresser / Changing table - Craigslist
Dresser handles - Hobby Lobby
Rocker - Pottery Barn Outlet. It is the Comfort Swivel Rocker.
Rocker Slipcover - Pottery Barn Kids
Ottoman - Restoration Hardware Baby and Child
Drapery - HomeGoods
Drapery Rods - old from Bed Bath and Beyond
Hamper - West Elm
Starfish Pillow - Pottery Barn Outlet
Gray Crib Sheets - Buy Buy Baby
Sailboat mobile and mobile arm - baby shower gift, Pottery Barn Kids
Sailboat Nightlight - Pottery Barn Kids
Baby Quilt - made by me
Bookshelf - Old, this was in my room as a kid
Whale - The Summery Umbrella on Etsy
Lamp - Target
Clock - Ikea
Crab Artwork - Boutique shop in Baltimore, I can't recall the name.
Beach painting - purchased on our babymoon at an art show in Hawaii
Pier photograph - Taken by us on vacation in Michigan
Artwork Frames - Michael's and Pottery Barn Outlet
Lantern and Sand Art Print- My parents picked this up for us on a vacation in Maine a few years back

If I missed anything and you want to know where it is from, please comment below.


December 5, 2014

Maternity Photos

When I was 32 weeks pregnant with little one we decided to document my pregnancy and have some maternity photos taken. I am so thankful that we did because I just love these photographs and that our photographer was able to capture such a special moment in time. This unique time when our family is still just the two of us and the anticipation of our little one joining our family so soon brought so much excitement and joy to us. We had our photos taken in mid-November, my belly was nice and round but I wasn't huge to the point where I was so uncomfortable and feeling terrible. We definitely lucked out with the weather, it wasn't too cold and there was still plenty of Autumn leaves on the trees.

Monica with Monica Marie Photography took our photos and she did an amazing job. If you are in the Cincinnati area, definitely look her up. She does a great job at capturing the moment and making you feel totally comfortable having your photo taken. Todd hates having his picture taken and he felt very comfortable and said how much he loves these photos. Plus any photographer that can capture a photo of BOTH of our hyper active dogs looking at the camera at the same time gets an A+ in my book. :)























Sweet little baby,
We can't wait to meet you. We are so thankful for these photos to capture this special moment with you still growing in my belly. It is hard to believe in just a few short weeks we will be holding you in our arms.

Love,
Mom


December 1, 2014

Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

We headed up to Columbus on Thursday morning to have Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. My grandparents had everyone over for lunch and it was great to see our extended family.
On Friday we did a little Black Friday shopping, really, we only went to the fabric store to pick up the rest of the fabric fabric for our baby's quilt. Hopefully I have time to finish this in the next month before he or she arrives! Then we went over to Todd's sister's house to meet our new baby niece. She was born this week and is absolutely precious.
Friday night we went back up to my grandparent's house for a baby shower. My aunts wanted to host a baby shower for us and invited all the women in my mom's extended family and many of my college friends. It wonderful to see so many friends and family that I haven't seen in awhile. I'm so thankful they were in Ohio for the holiday and able to come into town for the evening.
Saturday Todd and I went to the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. Every year we try to get tickets for one game through my membership with the Alumni Association. This year we couldn't attend the game we got through the ticket lottery and we were pretty bummed out. My parents get season tickets and ended up with two extra tickets to the Michigan game. So, we sold our tickets and jumped at our chance to attend this game. We love OSU football and what better game to go to than this rivalry game. I was a little nervous to go, being an hour and a half from home and 8 months pregnant, but we had a great time, plus the extra insulation the baby provided me kept me nice and warm! :)
This was such a fun day date with Todd. We love going to games together and cheering on our favorite college team. Our seats were way up, but I don't mind sitting up higher at football games, it is easier for me to see all of the plays and everything that is going on in the game. After the 3rd quarter, some seats opened up near my parents, so we moved over to the north end of the stadium to sit with them and watch the last quarter.
We had a great time at the game and tailgating before hand. And it is always fun to be at a game where the Buckeyes win!

After the game we went back over to Todd's sister's house for Thanksgiving with his family. After dinner we made the trip back home. We had a great weekend, lots of time with family and friends. We are so blessed and thankful for those near and dear to us. I think we'll be staying close to home now until our sweet baby makes his or her debut!