Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Perpetual calendar project

As i have mentioned before, I am addicted to pinterest. This results in tons of wonderful projects I want to tackle. This was my project of the day!

I have tried journaling in the past with poor results. By the time I lay down at night, I don't feel like journaling. Then I found this idea on pinterest!

She used index cards with a date stamp to "jot journal" for each day every year then continues for the following years. The idea is very simple — flip to the current date and at the end of the day, write down something that happened. Some days it is big things like "Harrison took his first trip to the zoo.” Other days it is small, like “needed a nap today.” I love that you can look back to see what happened on previous years and it is super quick to keep up with!

I made some modifications on my version. First, I knew that the chances of those cards staying in that cute little box all the time was slim to none so I hole-punched my cards and attached them to a book ring. The rings were actually left over from Harrison's nursery curtain on his closet seen here. Walgreens had 100 index cards on sale this week for $1 so I picked up 4. Finally we borrowed Adam's date stamp from work. That took the longest! 365 turns on the dial later and it was ready. :)

I used already-owned scrapbook paper for a cover

and more scrapbook paper for dividers... I didn't own any vintage postcards. Maybe next time?

date stamped and ready to "quick write"

I love how the dividers look!
 As long as I keep up with this, it will be fun to read as the years go by! Hopefully my kids will enjoy it too!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Our first 13 days with Miss Ivy have gone pretty well. She is such a perfect baby. She basically just sleeps, eats every 2 hours, and occasionally is awake enough to check us out!

We were lucky enough to be allowed an early discharge from the hospital after 24 hours since we were both doing well. We had a doctors appt the next day and found out her bilirubian levels had gone from 6 to 14. This meant she was jaundice and she had also lost 10% of her body weight. Boo. Luckily our pediatrician wasn't too worried and just wanted me to supplement one bottle of formula a day until my milk fully came in and also give her some sun time. The next day, her bilirubian was at 15 (meaning she had reached her peak) and she had gained 2 oz!!! 6 days later, her coloring looked much better and she was up another 9 oz. The doctor says she is perfectly healthy and we don't have to go back until her one month check-up.

Our little girl is a champ at eating! Just like her brother, she knew exactly how to latch on and is an express eater. Seriously, she is done eating in less than 10 minutes at each feeding. Sweet! I learned my lesson with Harrison that I needed to start pumping while I am on maternity leave so I can have a stockpile in the freezer. I hated pumping day to day and stressing out when I didn't have enough while at work, which meant we were giving Harrison formula occasionally when I didn't have enough. This time, I starting pumping the day my milk came in and am storing 6-15 ounces of milk a day!! It's pretty awesome!

Harrison is loving his little sister and doesn't seem to be jealous at all. He is so sweet and gives her kisses all day. Every time he gives her a kiss he says "aww!" Apparently, we must have been saying that too! 

Last week, we had our newborn photo shoot with http://www.stephaniesmithphoto.com/  Here are a few of my favorites!









Aren't they adorable?!

Friday, August 26, 2011

My babies are definitely related!

  
Ivy on left, Harrison on right
Crazy, right?!?

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Introducing Ivy Mae!

Our little girl is here!

After a few weeks of "fake" labor and two days of "early" labor, my doctor finally said okay to giving me a tad bit of pitocin to kick things into high gear.

We arrived at the hospital on Tuesday morning at 7 am. I loved my nurse so much when I delivered Harrison that I asked if she was working that day and she was! So I was lucky enough to have Ann again! I was dilated to 3.5 and as soon as they started my pitocin on the lowest possible dose, my contractions became much more regular. My doctor broke my water around 9:30 am and then I started to become much more uncomfortable. I received my epidural a little after 10:30 and was dilated to a 5. I was excited that it was moving so fast because when I was in labor with Harrison I went from 5-10 in an hour and a half. I kept telling my Dr. Magee and Ann that I was aiming for a baby at noon. So imagine my disappointment when Ann checked me at 11:30 and I was still a 5. My cervix was very posterior and it was taking a long time for it to move forward. At 12:30, I was finally a 6. During this time, I was having a lot of back pressure so Ann kept having the anesthesiologist come back to try different medicines in my epidural. I was finally feeling normal again (although frustrated that I missed my original deadline). Still stuck at 6 and feeling like I was going to be pregnant forever, I decided to try to take a nap for a bit around 2:30. A few minutes before 3, I was suddenly in extreme pain with every contraction. Since I had been completely numb, I knew something was up. Ann told me I was complete, went to call the doctor, and we were pushing just a few minutes later! Ivy was born at 3:15 after only pushing 3 times!

She is absolutely perfect! Since she was born so fast, she had no bruising or funny shaped head. She did have her cord around her neck but it was loose and didn't cause any problems. We think she resembles Harrison but with different coloring.

Lauren was the only family member in the room and she took pictures and a short video. Once Ivy was born it was just me and Adam. We spent about 45 minutes with just the three of us, staring at our little girl and nursing. It was such a nice time to have together. Shortly after that the room was full of visitors ready to welcome her to the world.

She is a champ at nursing, sleeps almost all the time, and enjoys throwing up! Ha!

Last belly picture: 39 weeks, 5 days




And here is the SWEETEST video ever of Harrison and Ivy meeting :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The countdown continues

9 more days until we meet our little girl! Single digits means its close.
The carseat is installed in the car, bags are packed and I am HUGE! Can't wait until next week :)


Monday, August 8, 2011

Our last kid-free weekend (for awhile!)

This past weekend, Harrison took a trip to the lake with his Nana and Pap, and Aunt Lauren. Adam and I were alone, praying that I would go into labor! Ha!
Well I didn't go into labor, but we did have some nice adult time. Saturday night we reminisced our childless days of living in the city. First we ate dinner at Grinders. Yummy! Then we redeemed a groupon for the screenland theater. We saw the new Woody Allen movie, Midnight in Paris. It was pretty good... had a good message.
Since Lauren moved in with us, Adam and I have had a date night each week. Sweet!
The first week we went to Adam's boss' house for a work party. We planned to see a movie afterwards but ended up staying too long and missing our show! We went to dinner instead. Last week, we were driving to the movie theater, but decided in the theater parking lot that we were more hungry than interested in a movie so went to dinner instead and ended our "date" with a trip to Trader Joe's!
When we told Lauren we were going to see a movie this weekend, I don't think she really believed it!  But we made it! Our only movie of 2011. I don't know if we will see another one :)
Sunday we slept in and  I was having a lot of contractions. They weren't super painful so we decided to run errands and walk a few laps at the mall. Of course we hit up some sale racks and my contractions were continuing but not changing or getting stronger. Bummer. I guess we just have to wait all 11 days until she gets here.
I did also squeeze in a few sewing projects and finished a tiny dress for our little girl. I am planning on her wearing it home from the hospital and also in her newborn pictures for her birth announcement.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

I've joined etsy!

Well friends,

I finally did it. I joined etsy.com and opened a shop. After only a year or so of actually feeling confident enough to try making more than a simple curtain or pillowcase, enough people like my sewing projects that I've decided to sell them!

www.littleoneslove.etsy.com

I first started posting baby sleep sacks made from old t-shirts and then my bibs that everyone asks for for baby showers, b-days, and Christmas. I wanted to make myself a nursing cover when the baby arrives so I whipped up a few extras and actually sold one!!!! My first sale!!! Pretty sweet. :)

My latest projects have been baby dresses but the pattern I have been using is for 2-3T or 6-12 months. Neither size do I have a model close-by so I've mailed them to my sisters to model, take pictures, and mail back! Still waiting to post them but they are super cute!

I guess my shop will just evolve as my children grow. Each project I make for us will result in a few extras for etsy. So far its pretty fun. I really enjoy sewing and its a great way to pass the time while I'm waiting for our little lady to make her appearance. 15 more days!!!