Hello again

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Actually the last time I blogged was when Lucy was about 10 days old. Life got kind of crazy figuring out how to parent and be in charge of another life. Then I found out I was pregnant on Lucy’s first birthday. We welcomed baby brother Charles Blaine on September 2, 2017. After that I have been battling a rough case of postpartum depression. 

I can’t even begin to tell you why. Because honestly I have no idea why. I just felt so bad about myself. I gained weight. I wasn’t losing the weight quickly. I hated how I looked. My baby wasn’t sleeping (he still hasn’t got the memo that sleeping through the night is a good thing). But my depression has gotten significantly better. I’m starting to feel back to myself more and more. 

I wanted to blog again because I think it’s a good way to express how I feel and maybe if one person reads it and feels better then it was totally worth it! 

I’ve totally redone by blog and split up some categories that I want to include. My blog is supposed to be about having a healthy mind, body and soul. 

A healthy body includes things that I do to keep my body healthy. I am working on getting my body back to where it was before I had the babies. Or at least somewhere that I am happy with (hopefully more muscle and less jiggle, but some jiggle because donuts).

My family section will be all about my cute little family. Tyler & I have been married almost 6 years. He is the most supportive husband, and the best partner I could ever ask for. Lucy is almost 2 & a half years old. She is my spitfire, wild child. She is a free spirit with all the sass of a super toddler. Charlie is 8 months old. He is a sweet, cuddle monster. He also doesn't love sleep as much as Lucy so it makes me a little (lot) tired. Hopefully you will find as much joy and laughter in them that I do.

  

I included a fashion and make up section for fun! I am not by any means a beauty blogger or a fashionista. But I am a mom, and I have SOME sense of style. I am also about comfort and realistic clothing & make-up. I am not throwing on my red bottom shoes for a trip to Walmart to get baby food and formula. But being comfy can still be cute!

The lifestyle section is kind of where I'll just put everything else. I am super into taking pictures of the kids & things we do. I love photography. I also love drawing and doing crafts (I'm currently trying to convince my husband we NEEEEED a cricut... almost there).

Take a look around! If you are interested in keeping up feel free to subscribe!

Welcome Lucy Kay

It's been 9 days since I've given birth to my sweet baby girl. I feel like she's always been part of our life, I can't even remember what it was like before her. I wanted to share my labor story as well as the first week experience.

Lets start with Sunday! I was supposed to be induced at 10 pm on Sunday night, it was about 9 when I got a call from Mountain-View saying they have to push my induction back because they didn't have a room. Normally that wouldn't be such a big deal but I am on blood thinners so my injections are timed around when I was going to be induced so I could get an epidural. We waited ALL night. I finally called and was told I could come in at 9 AM on Monday. So by the time I got all hooked up and labs done, plus monitoring the baby I was able to start pitocin at 11.

The nurse was able to increase the pit every half hour. She didn't check me again until around 2 pm. My cervix dilated from a 2 to a 3 and I was effaced about 70%. With the way this was going it looked like I wasn't going to have this baby until WAY late that night. Around 4 pm she came in again to check and they decided to break my water. The doctor came in around 5 PM and gave me my epidural first. Lucy did not tolerate it well so I had to stay on my left side (meaning I could feel everything on my right side but nothing on my left). Then the other doctor came in and broke my water, I was dilated to about a 4 only but I was 100% effaced!

About 30 minutes later I got this insane NEED to push. I felt like she was right there. We called the nurse in and she checked. Sure enough Lucy was right there and I had to hold off on pushing until the doctor got there. The nurse had me do 2 practice pushes to get her head a little lower.

Like 20 minutes later the doctor showed up. It was time to push. 2 sets of pushes later and Lucy was OUT.

She was born at 6:28 PM on Monday, December 28th. She was 8 pounds & 20 inches exactly.

I have never seen such a beautiful baby, and she was mine! Tyler & I couldn't be more proud.

The first couple of days were rough. She was constantly hungry!! I wasn't making enough milk to satisfy her, but the nurses said it was ok to keep feeding her that way. Well it wasn't enough because she got a little jaundiced and we had to stay one more night in the hospital. We started supplementing with formula so help get her to poop out the bill until my milk came in.

Well Lucy is a REALLY good eater, I mean REALLY good. She has a strong suck. It made breast feeding horrible. I realized I might not be able to do this because I didn't want to be in so much pain. I know this is really horrible to say, but I hated being in so much pain when it should really be enjoyable. A few days later my milk started to come in, breast feeding still hurt but I could pump. So I pumped a lot, A LOT. It started to get really exhausting to pump all the time. So finally I tried going back to breast. She is doing much better and isn't hurting me as much. 

I felt like a failure for not wanting to breastfeed. It was a terrible feeling. I shouldn't have felt this way because as long as I am providing nutrition for my baby and taking good care of her there is nothing to be ashamed about. So here's hoping that in 2016 people will be less judgmental and more supportive of each others choices.

We also got Lucy's newborn photos done! They turned out AMAZING. My friend Amanda took them and was able to get them back to us that same day!! I highly recommend her if you ever need any kind of photos done.

Happy Holidays!! :)

This year we decided to take our Christmas pictures & maternity pictures as one! The week of Thanksgiving always seems like the perfect time of year to take holiday pictures because the weather is finally starting to look like fall/winter here!

Tyler's sister Shanna took them for us again. She took our Christmas pictures 2 years ago that we loved so much! So it only made sense to ask her to do them again. She did such a great job & I highly recommend asking her to take them because she is just awesome! :)

The nursery!

I've been waiting to write this blog post for MONTHS now! The nursery is pretty much all done (just waiting on getting the cushions for the rocking chair a custom cover).

It took Tyler & I quite a few months to get everything in and hang stuff up, but after a lot of hard work and both of us being OCD it is FINALLY done.

But first I thought I would post an update on my pregnancy!

How far along? Almost 34 weeks!

Sleep: What is this sleep you speak of?

Best moment this week: Watching her practice breathing on the ultrasound

Movement: She is rolling all around. Her little feet like to hang out in my rib cage.

Symptoms: Heart burn, feeling full all the time, dizziness, constant fatigue

Food cravings: Smashburger buffalo fries. YUM

Food aversions: None at this point.

Labor Signs: I have braxton hicks (more while I'm at work)

Belly Button in or out? I've slowly watched my belly button go from innie to outie... every now & then it is still in but if I eat a big meal its poking out.

What I miss: SUSHI & laying on my belly

What I am looking forward to: Holding my baby girl

Weekly Wisdom: Don't google anything, ever. 

Milestones: Only 5.5 weeks to go....!!!

And now for my favorite part! The Nursery!!!

Her sweet crib space.

I love this so much.

Her closet isn't quite finished yet but I figured I should hang up less clothes because she has so many!

This is the rocking chair corner. 

I love this spot too. The signs are so fantastic.

The letters in this sign are rose gold and the person who made them used foil. It is such a sweet sign.

One of the cute quotes from Where the Wild Things Are.

This is my FAVORITE thing in the nursery. I am obsessed with unicorns for her nursery so this was the most exciting purchase for me.


If you have any questions about where we got anything just shoot me a message! I would be happy to share :)