Done with the swaddle!

I'm happy to say we've been done with the swaddle at night for one solid week!!!!

WOW!

I had such anxiety about getting rid of it because there had been several nights where she had broken out of it and cried until she was tied back up.

But last week was a rough week around here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not going to lie, I was depressed, frustrated, felt hopeless about being a good Mom-- all because Shelby was fussy all the time and waking up at night again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I asked myself, 'what is wrong with her??'.

--Could it be that we started solids and they aren't agreeing with her?

--Is she not getting enough food?

--Is she just tired and fighting her sleep? It seemed that way because she was avoiding naps.

I talked to friends and her nursery school and they all said it's because I was still swaddling.

(keep in mind Shelby naps at school in a crib without swaddle or sleep sack and sleeps on her tummy. This has been going on for weeks.)

I emailed many of you and asked advice on signs they're done and how they went about the transition.

Finally, I just went for it last Thursday.

Brad was NOT a fan of me doing it on a work night but my gut told me it was time.

Well, guess what???

Ummm..

Girlfriend was all over the place!

~~~~~~~~~~~

She always starts out the night with her hands up.

Around midnight or 1am she rolls to her side and sucks her thumb.

UGHHHH..

I'm thinking she is indeed a thumb sucker.

Upsets me because as I've said before I was a thumb sucker until 8 and wore braces for years because of it.

Then eventually she rolls to the other side or her tummy.

It just depends.

We are keeping her in a sleep sack at night because her room gets chilly and there's not a lot we can do about it.

She's able to roll her in sack.

As for Shelby's demeanor since ridding of the swaddle??

A million times better!

Happy!

Sleeping through the night again!

Napping in her crib for hours during the day!

and smiling all the time again!

Now, that.........

Makes Mommy and Daddy HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have any questions about ridding of the swaddle let me know.

My advice is -- there's never a good time to rid of it.

JUST DO IT!

;-)

Shelby's Arrival!

Hello Friends!!

So much to tell!!

I could break this up into multiple posts but I've decided that I'm going to try and mesh it into one because this blog is sort of a journal for me and I like to keep it current with what's going on.

First off, what an AMAZING experience!!!

I'm a Type A, control freak and things didn't roll out as I had planned but God has a plan for all of us in life including us and our little family.

As you all know our induction was set for the special date of 12/12/12.

We went in the night of the 11th to prepare.

My parents came in to take care of Buddy and be here for us.

My Mom snapped this picture as we were leaving.

When we got to the hospital, they told us that they were so backed up that they didn't have a room for us and to come back an hour and half later.

UGH!

I was so worked up about going in to begin with that this really made me mad.

Brad was a trooper though and talked me through it.

We made our way over to the lobby of the Levine's Children's Hospital where they had holiday entertainment AND a couch for me to rest my enlarged self.

 This group from Opera Carolina Chorus really made my night, no joke.

 The decorations weren't to shabby either.

 Fast forward to Wednesday morning.

My water broke when I got up at 5am without even being given Pitocin instead just Cervidil.

Things were like a roller coaster after that!

I was in labor WITHOUT an epidural for nearly an hour.

Whew!!!

Drugs are good is all I'm going to say!

Brad was the ABSOLUTE, most amazing coach and husband through all of the pain and labor.

Not that I ever doubted that he would be but he really went beyond what I ever imagined.

He gets the best husband award and I'm not just writing this because I know he reads this blog.

The birth was totally amazing!!

 I truly believe my time in the gym paid off.

I didn't tire and was able to pull off a vaginal birth which I didn't really think I had in me giving that I'm short in stature and small boned like my Mom who had 2 c-sections.

Shelby was born at 4:48pm just an hour and 10 minutes after I started pushing.

Granted, they did use the vacuum to get her out at the end.

Such a happy moment.

Brad and I were both over the moon.

 And, as to be expected, VERY emotional!!

Not a flattering picture of me but a special moment I want to share.

 But things didn't go as planned soon thereafter.

About an hour after birth we had a HUGE scare with Miss Shelby.

As I was nursing her she stopped breathing and turned blue.

Brad and I were alone in the room at the time and started screaming for doctors.

About 15 people were in the room about 2.5 seconds later and Shelby was revived but to us it felt like 2 hours.

SCARIEST.MOMENT.OF.OUR.LIVES

She was fine and they categorized it as a brief episode but the whole thing earned her a night in the NICU.

We were A-OKAY with that!

I could go on and on but to make it short, she was running a slight fever so they started her on antibiotics and therefore had to be monitored for 72 hours at the hospital even though she got out of the NICU after 24-hours.

 We were okay with that too, even though it involved us coming home a night without her with us.

 As hard as it was to leave her last night I told myself that I am a better Mom for making sure that she is fully checked out and not at risk for any sort of  other'episodes' when we come home.

Overall, they aren't sure what happened but she is fine and not sick or anything else.

In fact, she's SUPER healthy and by being in the nursery for 3-nights in a row, she's on a schedule now that we hope to maintain now that we're home.

 That's right, we went and got Shelby this morning and brought her home.

So awesome!!

We are one big, happy family now!

Including Buddy!

Brad brought one of Shelby's swaddle blankets home yesterday so he could be prepared.

 He took right to it.

 And today, when we brought her home....

 He fell in love just as we have!

 Today we've been enjoying our time together.

Sleeping, eating and changing diapers.

She's such a good baby and we are so lucky to have her in our lives.
BTW - I'm feeling fine.
Brad is such a good Dad that my Mom and I were even able to run to Target today without thinking twice about it.
Again, I feel like my time in the gym is to credit with being able to bounce back quickly, not to mention sending the baby to the nursery every night. :)

I'll write and share more later but for now that's what I have.

Thanks to all of you for your love, prayers, support, comments, friendship and everything else.

I could go on and on and on but that's all I have for tonight.

Tootles and happy Saturday.

The best Saturday of our lives!

Shelby's Nursery

After months of working on it, it's finally time to reveal Shelby's nursery.

There are a few little touches that still need to be made but I figured it's time and some of those touches may not happen until after she arrives.

I owe a HUGE thanks to multiple people for helping make it happen but first and foremost is to my awesome husband Brad.

I have had him moving, hanging, and painting things for weeks.

Then, in the last week or two he has become an electrician(with help from my BIL), and figured out how to rewire lamps, wire chandeliers and more.

I have many more people to thank but for now, let's get to the room.

Mr. Buddy says, 'welcome!'

Here's what you see when you first look in from the door.

We started converting the room from an office/guest room into the nursery back in late September.

We decided to keep the walls the color that was already in there.

Saved us some time and money.

The chandelier was the last addition to the room.

I just love it.

My cousin Kendra sent it to us after she redecorated her daughter's room, a big thanks to her.

The shades don't match perfect, but that's one of the other 'touches', I mentioned at the top of this post.

They work for now, but I'm on the lookout for some that look better with the colors in the room.

The chandelier was a big job because this guest room didn't even have a pre-wire for a light.

Thank goodness my BIL knows how to do electrical work, so on Friday evening he and Brad worked to wire the room and hang the light fixture.

A HUGE thanks to them both!!

 The curtains and all the bedding are custom made.

You might recall, that I chose the fabric back in the Summer and my Mom was planning on making  everything.

Well, in the end she had a friend of hers make everything, except for that quilt that is hanging over the edge of the crib.

My cousin Katie handmade that and I couldn't be more thrilled with it.

I opted out of doing bumpers because of the American Pediatrics recent ruling that they're dangerous, I had numerous people tell me they didn't even use them, and lastly.. I didn't want to spend the money on the fabric.

As for the crib, we were lucky enough to have inherited it from Brad's brother and his wife.

Shelby will be the 3rd Stephens to sleep in it.

 I was really torn on what to put on the big adjacent wall in the room.

I love the big hanging letters, monograms and even murals that a lot of people do, but I knew I didn't want to go that route.

After much thought I came up with this simple solution.

Printables, designed by Hopsy and A Liz framed and matted up.

I adore.

Thanks to both of them!!

I really feel like the printables aren't too babified and will transition into a little girls room.

That saves money in the long run.

Right?

I bought the frames and mattes at Hobby Lobby.

As for Angelina the Ballerina being in the crib, that is obviously for just 'right now'.

 The shelves were a tough one.

I knew I wanted white ones to hang in the room but didn't want to spend the money on the ones at Pottery Barn Kids.

After much thought, I remembered that I had saved a pair of silver shelves that I had in my old condo.

I talked Brad into painting them and 'wah-lah!'.

At first, Brad had a hard time envisioning the silver shelves white, but after seeing the cost of shelving, even at Lowe's, he agreed to give it a shot.

In the frames on the shelves I printed out old baby/kid pictures of both Brad and I.

Eventually, pictures of Shelby will be in those.

In the right corner of the room is our glider.

This is by far the piece of furniture we spent the most money on.

After shopping extensively, we decided on a chair from the Storytime Series from Best Chairs.

It's big and comfy and perfect for Brad to even sit in.

The lamp was a labor of love.

Again, I refused to spend $300 on a lamp at PBK, so I shopped like crazy.

We finally settled on a brass floor lamp for $50 at a local consignment store then painted it white.

I had $50 credit at PBK, so I used that for the green shade.

What we didn't realize until later was that the shades at PBK are European and our lamp was standard.

After many curse words and running around, Brad finally made it work.

He even rewired the lamp to make sure it is safe for Shelby's room.

 The blanket was a shower gift from a co-worker.

LOVE IT!

My Mom found this shadow box on sale at TJ Maxx and we couldn't resist displaying the smocked bikini that my sweet friend Beth sent her.

It matches the room decor perfectly and Shelby won't be able to wear it for a few months anyway.

 Other little details in the room that I just love is the stuffed beagle that I Do Declare gave me, a butterfly nightlight and monogrammed bath caddy that were both shower gifts.

On the left side of the room is the dresser/changing table.

We found this on Craigslist for $100 and painted it white.

The mirror was already in the room, the lamp is from Hobby Lobby and the piggy bank was a gift from my Mom.

This little table/night stand sits in between the chair and the crib.

It's a piece we already had and Brad painted it white.

It gives us a place to sit items when we're in the chair and seconds as a bookshelf.

 As far as my favorite part of the entire nursery?

This shadow box that my Mom had made for the room.

It's my very first ballet costume and shoes from when I was age 3.

Even Brad really likes it.

The one part of the nursery I hesitated posting is the TV we have in there.

In our defense, it was already in there and my SIL says giving the amount of time we'll be spending in there, it's not a bad idea.

It sits diagonal across the room from the glider.

Meaning, when I'm feeding Shelby I'll have the ability to be able to watch my DVRed shows if I choose.

All in all, we're really pleased with how it all turned out.

I was even able to find a 'coming home outfit' for Shelby that matches the room that I can later shadow box.

(I know, I'm a bit ridiculous)

 That's it for the nursery tour!

I hope you enjoyed!

Now we just need Miss Priss to make her way into this world to make the room complete!!

I am getting more excited and nervous as the days dwindle down!!!

Shower for Shelby

This past Sunday one of my very close friends, who happens to be a work colleague, hosted the most lovely baby shower for me.

It was truly the icing on the cake now that I'm in the home stretch of this pregnancy.

 She stuck with the pink and green theme since those are the colors in Shelby's nursery.

She even went as far to have someone to bake a cake that matches the fabric in her nursery!

 How unbelievable is this?

I'm still in love.

It was delicious too.
Debbie, from Debs Sweet Cakes here in Charlotte made it.

I wore the same dress as I wore to my last shower because frankly, I couldn't find anything I liked better in the colors that I wanted.

And, I'm sorta over spending money on maternity clothes.

As I mentioned, my close friend was gracious enough to host this shower and it included 13 of some of the greatest women I work with at my current job.

Karen and I have known each other for nearly 8-years now and Brad and I just adore her and her husband Mike.

The shower was held mid-afternoon and she had all sorts of delicious munchies for everyone.

And, of course cocktails too.

Alcoholic and non-alcoholic. 

That green bottle at the end is a Dryck Bubbel Paron sparkling pear drink from Ikea of all places.

I am on a mission to get some for the holidays!

It is AWESOME, especially if you can't have the real thing -- meaning wine.

One of my other favorites that she served were pear slices topped with pimento cheese.

Who would have thought?

She got the suggestion from a friend who had this at a recent wine tasting.

A MUST try!

Absolutely everything was wonderful and I was lucky enough to have my Mom at this shower too.

I'm secretly happy that her business has slowed down a bit allowing her to be around during my pregnancy.

Other shower guests included Sheila, who I worked at Fox Charlotte with.

She now does the same thing I do for work, just at the competition down the street.

Great minds think alike.

Co-workers Emberly (in town from Boston), and Von.

Kim and Tiffany.

And, my manager and friend Cindy.

Cindy has been there for me through all the ups and downs!!

I appreciate her friendship a ton!

Shelby racked up in the gift department.

She got cute outfits, blankets, a stroller, activity mats.

Fun bath time toys and necessities.

A baby briefcase.

This was one of the more clever gifts, click here to buy one as your next shower gift.

Perfect for Type A's like me, it's an organizer for all the baby paperwork you get before and after the baby is born.

It allows you to keep everything from the birth certificate to the doctor's bills in one place.

I couldn't be happier!!

There were also books, diapers and a ton of other great items given.

I feel so LUCKY to have such great friends and work colleagues!!

Thanks again to my friend Karen for hosting and all of my friends for attending!

It was an intimate setting that can be described as nothing less than perfect!