Merry Christmas!

 

From our family to yours!

 

 

 

baby boy's nursery

We have made some great progress on baby boy's room and I am happy to say it's done! 

It was a lot harder to concentrate on decorating a nursery with a baby-toddler running around at my feet.  But after throwing around some ideas and spending a lot of time on etsy and pinterest, this is what we came up with.  I saw these prints on etsy and knew they were going to be our "theme". 

His room is not fancy (we didn't even re-paint the walls) but I am in love with it and I can't wait to bring him home to see it.

We had a small budget to work with, so we re-used a few things that Emily no longer needed and found a lot of great stuff at Ikea.

his name is on a shelf above the glider, sorry I had to crop it for now!

Here's all the info:

Dresser: re-used from Emily's room, from Target similar. We got Emily a larger dresser from Ikea and used her smaller dresser in his room.

Changing table: re-used, we found this at a consignment store last year

Glider: re-used, this was a floor model (meaning super cheap) from BRU

Bedding- Carousel Designs. I went on their website, looked through fabric and designed his bedding.  I love how it turned out!

Crib- Walmart

Expedit shelving cubes- Ikea

Lamp- Ikea

Rug- Ikea

Curtains- Ikea

Wall prints- Etsy, Monkie Birdie Designs. I can't say enough great things about this shop! They made the giraffe and the ABC print custom for us. Very friendly and fast and so many cute prints in their shop!

Frames- Ikea

Mobile- we made it!

So there you have it!  31 days and counting, we can't wait to meet our little man!

Lately...

Seems like we have been so busy lately.  From getting ready for baby boy to spending as much time as we can together as a family- it has been really, really great.  And after Friday, I feel even more blessed and grateful to have my baby(ies). 

We did a lot of crafting this weekend....

We made a magnet board for Emily- she loooooves it!  Thanks for the idea Heather!

and a mobile for baby boy, inspired by my blog friend Amanda.  One of these days I'll get a post up about his nursery.

We also decorated paper mache letters for baby boy's name, I'm only sharing a couple of letters because we aren't quite ready for the whole internet to know what his name will be.

I'm 35 weeks today (yikes!) and we are as ready as we are going to be for baby boy to come. His room is ready and there are diapers and clothes waiting for him. I'm amazed at how fast this pregnancy has gone by and how relatively easy it has been compared to Emily's pregnancy. Now I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself as much as I can for having two babies under two and how strange it will be not having all day to myself with Emily. 


Last but not least, our weekend ended with a trip to the mall to see Santa.  I'm sure you can all guess how this went....

Steve and I were fully prepared for a breakdown and knowing our daughter like we do, we were not surprised.  She was fine immediately afterwards and even stopped to check out a few bunnies they had nearby.

A big thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for waiting in line for us (for a long time!) while Emily napped, it made the whole ordeal less stressful!!

weekend happenings

This weekend has been fantastic in every way and I have a lot of people to thank for it.

On Friday, I got two packages in the mail - both from blog friends!

One package was a delicious assortment of cookies from Heather - so good Heather, thank you!! I didn't get a picture before we devoured most of the cookies....oops!

The other package was a beautiful quilt for baby boy from Oak, BU, Natalie, Kelly, Amanda & Elizabeth.  The colors match his room perfectly, and I love it so much!  Badger loves it too, I'm not sure she is going to let me give it to her brother.

I sat down with these packages and cried tears of happiness, for real- I'm blaming it on pregnancy hormones.  I feel so blessed to have such great friends.

On Saturday, Steve and I had our first night away from Emily.  I swear she knew I needed some extra cuddles before we left.

We went to Pittsburgh to celebrate our anniversary and to get a little rest after a hectic week.  Steve's parents stayed with Emily (thank you Grandma & Grandpa!!) and from what I could tell after getting home this morning, she didn't miss us at all!  I was nervous to leave her and I knew I would miss her but it was so good to have some one on one time with Steve and to sleep without a baby monitor!

So what did we do?  Well, since I'm pregnant our little babymoon centered mostly around.....food.

We went to a fancy dinner (delicious) that ended with a free dessert and a free limo ride to Heinz Hall where we saw Lisa Lampanelli.  My stomach was seriously sore from laughing for 2 hours straight, it was a great show!  I highly recommend going to see her, as long as you aren't easily offended- she is known as the "Queen of Mean" after all.

happy anniversary to us!!

that's an almost 33 week belly right there!

We got up this morning at 7:30 (that's sleeping in for us, believe me) and went to eat breakfast at Deluca's, known for having the best breakfast in Pittsburgh.  We got there just in time because when we were leaving there was a line out the door and down the street!  And yes, I sat in the same seat as Tom Cruise.

After breakfast we took our time walking around The Strip District with a hot latte- it was perfect.

We also decorated our Christmas tree this weekend....I seriously can't believe the difference a year makes.  Where did our baby girl go??

tear duct surgery

Emily had surgery for her blocked tear ducts on Tuesday.  Everything went fine (I was a mess) and she is recovering well.

I was so worried before hand, I didn't sleep for a week.  The day before the surgery the nurse called to tell me not to let Emily eat after midnight and that her surgery would be at 10:00am the next day.  Emily normally eats at 7:30 so I was trying to figure out how I was going to get away with not feeding her.  She did better than I thought she would, no major melt downs until the nurses and anesthesiologist started poking and prodding her, taking her blood pressure, all the fun stuff that has to be done before surgery.  Then we put her in her little hospital gown (my heart almost broke) and she got to go play for a bit.

Then they called her name to go back to surgery and it felt like my heart stopped, I gave her a kiss and hug and told her I loved her.  Steve took her back to the operating room and got to stay with her while they started the gas to put her to sleep.  Then they sent him out and put her IV in for the stronger anesthesia.  They said I couldn't go with her because I'm pregnant (heart broken again) but that was probably for the best because they might not have gotten me out of the OR.  When Steve came out, he looked pale and I barely made it out of one waiting room and into another before I started crying.  I was so worried my little baby would be scared and I wanted to be there with her to tell her it would be ok.

We waited for what seemed like forever (40 minutes) and Emily's surgeon came out and told us everything went fine.  She unblocked both tear ducts and put stents in so they wouldn't re-block.  She told us we had to wait a little longer for Emily to wake up and then they would come out and get us so we could see her.  Our names were finally called and when we walked into her recovery area I saw three nurses trying to control our little honey badger while she screamed and kicked. She had a rough time coming out of the anesthesia and I felt so helpless seeing her like that.  The first thing her nurse said to us was, "She is STRONG"  then she proceeded to tell us that she tried to rip her IV out three times during the surgery (while she was asleep) and that parents don't normally get to come back until the babies are awake and calm but they needed us to help calm her down. It took a long time for Steve and I to get her to stop screaming and she eventually fell asleep on me.  She had a bloody nose and bloody tears, and her face was puffy, it was awful. I don't think I had ever been happier to have her in my arms.

Her physical recovery seems to be going well.  She has only had a small amount of drainage from her nose and she is in good spirits most of the day. Her eyes are clearer and she hasn't been rubbing them as much as she used to.  The hard part has been an increase in her separation anxiety.  She screams and cries so hard every time I put her down for a nap or if I leave the room.  My poor baby girl.

three years of love

Three years ago I married my best friend.

I have felt like the luckiest girl in the world since the day I met him.

 

We've been through a lot in the past three years, both happy and sad,





and there is no one else I would rather have as my partner in this crazy thing called life. 

He is an amazing father and he always has our family's best interests at heart.

 

There are so many things to love about this guy and I am so happy he's mine.

 

 

I love you Steve, here's to many more anniversaries.

happy halloween & third trimester

Emily last Halloween.....it doesn't even seem possible!

And now she has celebrated her second Halloween and she (we) had a blast!

We carved pumpkins with Grandma & Grandpa. She was so excited about digging out the seeds (trying to eat them) and watching what daddy and grandpa were doing.

So tall!!

what's in there Daddy?

make sure you get this right Grandpa!

 

We did a little costume show at home (trick or treating was cancelled because of the weather)

look at my big girl walking!

where's the candy mom??

And she even got to wear her costume at kindermusik today!

In other news, I'm 28 weeks 3 days- third trimester!  Emily still loves my belly and lifts up my shirt to kiss her brother multiple times a day.

Everything is going smoothly and we have started working on the nursery, it is the best feeling!

We can't wait to meet you little guy!

12 month stats

We had Emily's one year doctor appointment yesterday and you all know what that means....shots.  They just don't get any easier the older she gets.  That look on her face kills me every.single.time.

She's off the charts for height- 33inches long!!  About 95% for weight- 25 pounds.

We have been slowly adding whole milk to her bottles and I think she is getting used to it pretty well.  Her Dr. just said to try to get 16 oz a day but if that doesn't happen it's nothing to worry about.  She's down to 3 bottles a day- when she wakes up in the morning, before her afternoon nap and before bed.  We need to switch her over to a sippy cup in the next couple of weeks.

Emily is a great eater.  She loves eggs, black beans, peas, cheese, any kind of fruit, grandma's homemade waffles, chicken, ground turkey, avocado, pretty much anything at this point.  Raspberries and Cheerios are still her absolute favorite thing to eat.

She has been sleeping pretty well lately.  She wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00am then takes about an hour nap at 9:00 or 9:30am, her afternoon nap varies from an hour and a half to two hours and it's usually at 2:00pm.  Bedtime is 7:00pm.

Emily has 4 teeth on top, 5 on bottom and I think she is working on one of her molars right now.

She is taking about 5 or 6 steps at a time and is SO proud of herself!  I love the look on her face when she's about to take a step, priceless. 

one baby, one year, two parties

Since we have family in two states, we had two birthday celebrations for Emily.  I'm sure this won't happen every year, but #1 is kind of a big deal (for mom & dad)!

So, last weekend we flew to Illinois and I don't think I'll do that again for a loooong time, at least not until Emily is much older and can be entertained by a movie.  She refused to sleep and got to that extremely fun over-tired state.  Jumping back and forth between Steve and I, eating tons of snacks, and waving to every passenger on the plane could only keep her happy for so long.....at least we made it there safely.

On Saturday, we had a double party for Emily and her cousin Erin at my sister's house.  I did a cupcake theme for E, simple and sweet.  My sister made E's smash cake, a huge cupcake- it was awesome. I got her outfit, banners, and a bib on etsy.

She loved opening her presents and tearing up the paper!

 

 

But when it came to smashing the cake, she was not having it... at this point she was tired and ready to throw a full on fit.

We got her calmed down and she dug in a little, I think our girl has a sweet tooth!

Last night, we had Grandma & Grandpa G. over for lasagna and carrot cupcakes.

She got to open more presents and eat more sweets it was a perfect birthday for a perfect girl!

Happy birthday Emily!

"I wanted you more than you ever will know, so I sent love to follow wherever you go...

...You are my angel, my darling, my star...and my love will find you, wherever you are."

-  Wherever You Are by Nancy Tillman

To my baby girl, Emily Bonnie:

One year ago when you were born, my heart expanded and I felt complete.  I will never forget holding you to my chest, looking into your big blue eyes for the first time and thinking- this is my daughter, forever.  You are our miracle baby, our fighter, our little honey badger and you are so smart and beautiful. Your dad and I are beyond grateful that you are a part of our lives- we are so proud of you, always know that!

Your first year has gone by too fast.  I can't believe how much you have changed and how much having you in my life has changed me. We have learned so much together in this past year, sweet girl.  Thank you for teaching me how to be a mom and making me a better person every day.

I love you forever and ever.

Mommy

Dear Emily (Badgey, Lil Tiny, Ninja, Zsa Zsa and soon to be Big Sister);

The first and most important thing I want to say is how amazing it is to have you in our lives and that your mom and I love you so, so much. 

Before you arrived, we fought so hard to start our family and we wound up being blessed enough to get you, our amazing little girl. You have taught me so much about life and I only hope that I can do the same for you. 

You are the funniest, smartest and most beautiful little girl that I just can’t get enough of.  Your smile makes my heart swell and your laugh makes it melt. I loved you before you were here, I love you every day and I will love you forever!

Love,

Daddy