Family Visits, 10 Weeks, and Piles of Everything

Since Amelia's birth we've been lucky to see my parents and my sisters in separate visits.
In February my parents came out for a few days to see Amelia blessed at church. We showed them the Alamo & Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio, had some fun at Bass Pro Shops, and took them to Mamacita's. We were so happy to see them and so sad to see them go.

In March Rosi and Reanna visited for Spring Break. We went to Sea World, Freddy's (twice!), a couple of malls, Peter Piper Pizza, and spent countless hours binge-watching Vampire Diaries and eating loads of junk food. I'm so glad I was able to see some of my family. It's so hard living far away from them!

Amelia is ten weeks old. She's gained 4 pounds and grown 4 inches since she was born. She's a smiley, adorable little chunk of noisy baby. We love her tons despite her loud and demanding nature. She pretty much insists on being held all day-including naps...

which leads to piles of everything...

everywhere...

Maybe someday I'll be able to get something done.

Hopefully.

Introducing Amelia

Amelia was born on January 8th at 1:40 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 inches long.

Here's the long version:

I was prepared to beg my doctor to induce me at my appointment on the 7th, but instead he surprised me and entered the room informing me that my blood pressure was up and that the baby needed to be evicted as soon as possible given my history with pre-eclampsia.  I was already 3cm dilated and 70% effaced and he figured it would take about 8 hours or so from induction to birth.

My last day being pregnant

So on Wednesday morning we dropped James off with some friends and headed to the hospital. We arrived a little before 6am and got admitted. I was taken to a labor and delivery room and Paul was told that he could join me in 30 minutes. After 40 minutes he arrived with a nurse, who told him that she needed him to go wait outside the door for a few minutes, where he was told by another nurse that waiting in the hall is prohibited and to take his butt back to the waiting room.

Our labor & delivery room

Apparently they have to ask you if you are being abused and no one else can be in the room when they ask. Lame.

Around 8:30 the most cruel nurse entered my room to get my IV started. She put a tourniquet on my arm that was so tight it turned my arm purple and left a mark on my arm for 4 days! I was bawling for the five minutes that she took to get the IV inserted in my wrist. It really hurt. A lot. Worse than giving birth. Seriously.

At 9:00 my doctor arrived to break my water and start the pitocin. Paul and I messed around on our phones and chatted. I insisted on many cups of ice to quench my hunger. I was surprised how fast the contractions started and requested an epidural around 10:00. The anesthesiologist had to insert it twice to get it right, but it worked and I spent the next couple hours sort-of-sleeping and watching my contractions get worse and worse on the computer screen. I was exceedingly grateful that I couldn't feel them as they looked pretty intense.

Breakfast: ice chips & pitocin

Around 1:20 my doctor came in to check me and let me know that he was passing me off to his associate since he'd been there all night, which I was fine with since the other doctor came highly recommended by several friends. He guessed it'd be another 4 hours based on how I'd been progressing. At that point I was 6cm dilated and still 70% effaced and the baby was in -2 position.

Within a couple minutes of my doctor leaving I started having really intense contractions to the point where the epidural wasn't helping. I pushed the little clicker thing a billion times, but nothing helped. At this point I was hysterically crying from the pain and the computer showed that my contractions were so close together it just looked like one bad contraction on the screen. Paul called for a nurse, who called for the anesthesiologist. He gave me a big dose right into my back, but the pain was getting worse and worse so the nurse decided to check me again. I was 10cm, 100% effaced and baby girl was ready to come out!

Tons of people rushed into the room and began preparing for the baby. I was still crying from pain and in total shock that I was having a baby RIGHT NOW. My doctor thought I had hours, but really I only had 20 minutes! Three pushes and Amelia was born! Luckily the epidural DID work for that! Apparently it just couldn't keep up with my pain threshold during those few minutes that my contractions were so intense.  The doctor sang "Happy Birthday" to her as she was born.

It was such a different birth experience from what I had with James. They cleaned her up on my chest and we got to hold her right away unlike with James where he was whisked away to the NICU.

Recovery has been awesome. It's been one week since she was born and I feel great!

First time holding Amelia

Me and my babies, ready to go home!

 I can't tell you what a relief it is to have this beautiful little girl in our lives. After all the ups and downs the past few years,  her presence has brought such a sense of peace and completeness to our home. I feel like the big hole that's been in my chest for years has been healed. I'm so grateful that my Heavenly Father sent us this little girl.

Our friends decorated the house while we were at the hospital. I love this letter from James: Dear sister, please don't touch my legos. Love, James. Ha ha!

All ready to go home!

A few interesting facts:

• When Paul and I were trying decide on a name we scoured through American history and family history names. We are sort of old school that way. I made a list and then we spent a couple of months trying to agree. Ultimately, she was named after her third great grandmother, Eliza Amelia Young and Amelia Earhart.

• Amelia was born on Elvis's birthday

Christmas Photo Dump 2013

I wasn't really feeling the Christmas spirit this year. Being far away from family when 8 months pregnant is sort of an emotional roller coaster ride. However, I think James had a great Christmas, and that's really what it's all about anyway.

We started off our Christmas festivities with our 2nd annual North Pole Breakfast. I love this tradition! We did Elf on the Shelf again (and we didn't even forget!). 

 We did manage to keep up with our activity advent this year, although if I'm being honest there were a few days I was very grateful that James can't read at a high level. I sort of fudged our activities from really cool stuff, to coloring pictures and that sort of thing.  He still thought it was fun, but I'm afraid I won't be able to get away with that for much longer.

 We made Cinnamon ornaments. I think this was one of James' favorite activities.

We took a trip to Bass Pro Shops to see the Jolly old Elf himself. James asked for a Jake and the Neverland Pirate's Hideout. 

What does the fox say?

Bass Pro Shops was all decked out for Christmas.

When I took James to pick a present for his dad, he also wanted to get the baby something. I told him that she probably wouldn't be here for Christmas, but he was insistent that she would need a present from her big brother. What do you say to that? 

You say, "yes!"

And you make him practice his cutting skills.

On Christmas Eve we went to Freddy's for lunch. This is the closest thing to In-N-Out that I've found here. Then James and I walked around the outdoor mall while Paul had a 2 hour phone conference for work. Yuck.

James made these DELICIOUS cookies for Santa. He noticed that Santa forgot to eat them. Oops.

 We were really blessed to be given a lot of great things this year. James was one happy, happy, happy boy on Christmas morning.

 Legos from his Aunt Angelika. His dreams came true

 

On Christmas day we took James to see Frozen at the Palladium theater. It was a fun day, but I was so wiped out from walking so much the previous day. 

We also decorated a gingerbread house on Christmas Eve. Well, Paul and James did. I take no credit for this candy house of horror.

I took these photos for our Christmas card this year since we are putting off family photos until our baby girl gets here.

And that pretty much sums it up. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

We are looking forward to the New Year and our new little family member to arrive!

The "Boss"

James, like a lot of children his age, has an imaginary friend. He fully acknowledges that his friend isn't really real, but he sure does talk about his "boss" a lot! Here are a few things we have learned about the boss last year:

He is 3
He is 7
He weights 60 pounds
He doesn't have a mother
His mother is having a baby
His name is Michael Jackson (because that's not creepy at all)
He sometimes makes James work overtime in his workshop (James' bedroom is always referred to as his workshop)
He builds buildings
He doesn't like to eat his vegetables
He is the one who really pees on the seat in James' bathroom
His boss tells him that Every. Single. Movie. will have a sequel (J: I heard that there's going to be a Ghostbusters 3. Me: Where did you hear that? J: Oh, my boss told me)
Most random bizarre bits of randomness that come from James' mouth were first concocted by the boss
He has crazy hair
He loves bubble baths

Baby Projects Revealed

I'm finally finished with all my baby projects! I decided to make as much as I could this time around. I didn't know how to sew or have a sewing machine when James was born and ended up paying some ridiculous amounts of money for silly things like boppy covers and bedding sets. I only had to purchase a few yards of fabric for all of this since I had most of it in my stash already. There is something to be said for a good stash of fabric.

 I'm so happy with how everything has turned out and I'm so excited to be ready for the baby!

 The necessities! 

 The color is sort of off in this, but I really love how it turned out! Plus it cost me a fraction of what a good quilt would cost at the store.

I love this ruffle crib skirt! I followed this tutorial here for the most part. I decided to save myself a little fabric and tie it to the crib instead of the traditional bed panel.

I made a TON of these nursing pads using this tutorial. I used the color fabric I had because no one sees these anyway. I also made them much larger than the ones I bought last time. They are soft flannel on the bottom and I used cloth diapers for the absorbent part.

 I did a couple makeovers for some older things I was given. The picture doesn't really show it, but the playmat was filthy and old. It had some sort of plastic or cardboard in it that made it impossible to wash. I had had these cute fabric squares pre-cut and sitting in my stash for years just waiting for a purpose. So glad I finally found one! I lined the back with fleece so it doubles as a blanket when not connected to the poles!

The cover on the swing was plastic and not very comfy looking, so I made a slip cover and got this JJ Cole body pillow from Kid to Kid for only $4!

I got the pillow idea from this pin on pinterest.

Not the best picture, but I used this tutorial here (it's kinda confusing) to make this super awesome nursing shawl from knit! I love that it covers the back and both sides. I had one of those Udder Covers with James and trying to stay covered in public was quite stressful. Got the fabric at Hobby Lobby for $4!

I followed this tutorial here to make these super cute hats. It didn't take that much time and I had all the fabric on hand (I never toss t-shirts into the DI pile anymore)

We drove out to Round Rock so we could go to Ikea and get this super awesome changing table. We picked up their super cheap changing pad (saved $20 right there!) and I made this cover for it. I wasn't able to find any tutorials online for Ikea changing pad covers so I just came up with it myself.

I really loved the pottery barn mobile I saw here, but was totally unwilling to pay that sort of money for it. I made my own pattern for this project and am pleased that it turned out looked decent. I decided I didn't want a mobile that you attach to the crib or have to crank, so I just hung this from the ceiling. It's constantly moving from normal air flow in the house. Love that.

The crib all put together

Splurged and got the homecoming/newborn picture outfit at Target.

I bought the pattern for these Ruby Lou dolls years ago but never got around to making them. I FINALLY did it! They are so cute and I made all three in a couple of hours (my sister, Rachel, is having a baby girl in March so she'll be getting one of these in the mail soon).

It feels so good to be done!