Still Here!

Pardon my blogging absence.

  I'm just enjoying my time with this cuddly girl and her wild brother ;-)

She "ponders" a lot :)

Her outfit of the day...elephants, bows, and Mary Jane's from Aunt Donna.

Here's that wild brother...who loves his little sister to pieces!

All dressed up for her 2 week doctor appointment.

 Have a very happy weekend!

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Side note...I've been breaking out in hives the past 3 days for some unknown reason. They show up in different places each time.  Anywhere from my eyelids and chin to my ankles and under my arms.

After doing a little research, I read where there are quite a few cases of women experiencing hive break outs after giving birth.  Have any of you experienced this?  Any information or help is appreciated! I've never had hives before in my life so I am a bit taken back by their sudden appearance.  I've been taking benadryl but it literally knocks me out.  I need another option to stop this itching! Help?!

egg hunt labor day

Saturday, April 7, 2012.

Our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt day. 

 I was so excited about taking Caleb. 

 We got all Easter-y and I was dead set and determined to get pictures. 

 I especially had the urge to get Seth to take a 39 week belly picture of me (FYI Seth hates taking pictures AND being in pictures) since most of mine were done via bathroom mirror with iphone in hand.

I am so glad I made him though because unbeknownst to me, it was my last "belly shot".

Sometimes it pays off to nag your husband ;-)

Then of course I wanted one with my little man.

He was about as thrilled to be in the picture as his daddy was to be taking it.

We walked about a 1/2 mile to the egg hunt.  I needed the walk, even though I was feeling a little strangely tired and worn out at 10am.  

Caleb had a good time even though it took him a minute to understand the rules of the game. 

 I had been coaching him on proper egg huntery all week long, but he was really out of it Saturday morning (later we would find out he was sick...).  

My coaching skills need work apparently.  

Luckily, I had Seth to the rescue.  We managed to score a good amount of eggs...Caleb was happy and so were we.

Easter Egg Hunt success!

The egg hunt was fun but I could tell Caleb wasn't feeling great.

After watching a grown man, who didn't know we were walking straight towards him, throw his candy wrapper in our wagon (seriously people?!?) we headed back home after about 30 minutes of egg hunting and bounce house jumping.

1/2 mile back home we go, laughing at the man who must have been really embarrassed when he realized we totally caught him ditching his trash in our nice, red, radio flyer wagon.

Okay, can you tell I was 9 months pregnant and just about everything was really irking me???

I just got sidetracked...back to the story.

We got home and I started to clean the house but after about 30 minutes, I had to stop and sit down.  I ate a baked potato thinking that would help, but it didn't do that much for me.

I just kept telling Seth I was super tired and I didn't know what was wrong with me.  

Caleb had been sick on and off again so I was thinking that I was coming down with whatever he had...little did I know that by the time 2am rolled around, I would be in the middle of major labor!

I can't wait to tell you the rest of my birth story, but right now I need to take a nap while both of my little chillen's are asleep!  

All I can say is that going into labor naturally is a lot more eventful than being induced! ;-)

to be continued...

We love our girl

My blog posting will be sporadic for a few weeks until I can get myself into the swing of our new life with a sweet baby girl.

I will have to say, she is such a great baby. 

 She's laid back and sleeps through just about anything...including her 3 year old brother's crazy, random yelling!  

I can't stop looking at her and taking pictures.  Caleb is already super protective of her and it just melts my heart.  

We are having so much fun laying around the house and soaking in all this new baby goodness!

This set of pictures just makes me smile...her faces are priceless.

Happy Monday to you all.

Here's to a fabulous week!

Our Easter Baby

We had a wonderful surprise on Easter...our sweet baby came a week early!

We have ourselves a precious baby

 GIRL!!!!!

Lorelei June 

born 9:05am

7 lb 11oz

She is such a good baby.  

We are enjoying being at home with our new bundle of sweetness.

I can't stop kissing these chubby cheeks.

She already has her daddy wrapped around her finger and big brother couldn't be prouder.

I am in a cloud.  I'm just so happy and in love.

This is going to be fun :)

Everyone is happy and healthy.

We are so blessed.

Baby #2 Nursery Reveal!

I made the curtains and throw pillows from the same grey and white material.

The bunting garland was made by cutting out triangles of different fabric and sewing them together.

Someone wanted in on the pictures...

I found a large framed piece of art at TJMaxx for $10 on clearance.  I took the frame off, spray painted it yellow and then used chalkboard spray paint to paint the glass, then I used chalk to create my "art" which I can switch out when baby gets older.

I created the "tree" by grabbing some lightweight branches from outside and putting them in a big pot.

I painted these onto 2'x2' wood boards. 

 I didn't originally plan to do woodland animals but it just kind of happened and I really like how it all came together. 

When you're doing a gender neutral nursery that is already painted blue, it's hard to figure out a good happy medium and animals are perfect for a boy or a girl.

This is the beautiful crib quilt that my sister in law, Sarah, made.

 I love it so much and can't wait to take pictures of little baby on it!

I love these smocked outfits! 

 I found both of them for under $10 and I am so excited to find out which one I will be using.

Caleb painted this picture all by himself for the baby.  I have to give the credit for this idea to Seth.  I was stumped on what to put above the bed.  Ideally, I'd love a headboard but that just wasn't happening right now, so Seth came up with this idea!  We found this great sized canvas at Hobby Lobby for $15 after using the 40% off coupon and Caleb had a lot of fun creating this for his baby.

I asked him if he would go stand beside his painting so I could take a picture and this is what he did...he is such a nut!

I also made the crib skirt from the same material as the curtain and pillows.

Now that the nursery is done, all that's left is to wait for the baby to get here and we are so ready...especially this little guy!