Finding Encouragement...

Just stopping in to tell y'all that we're doing okay! Lovebug is 9 weeks old.... boy time flies! We're getting plenty of rest... up to 8 hours most nights! She's really a dream baby. So sweet and happy. Her little smiles melt my heart! I was really encouraged by two blog posts recently and thought I'd share. They definitely brightened my day and helped me to realize that soon, very soon I'll be feeling a little more like myself and that things will start to come together. Maybe I'll even have a few weekly posts on the ol' blog! For now, I'm rereading THIS post from AllisonO and reminding myself of this...

Thank you Julie! (From Joy's Hope)

The Best Cookie EVER.

Well folks, there is certainly no dieting going on around here yet. In between cuddling my sweet Lovebug, cooking, cleaning and shopping for teeny tiny clothes, I've found time to keep the baked goodies coming out of the oven!

I don't know about y'all, but Pinterest is definitely where any freetime I find is spent, and if you aren't following me yet... there's a button on my sidebar. I have an entire board devoted to baked goodies... oh goodness is it causing trouble! I'd seen this little doosy floating around the web for a while and I finally decided to whip it up... dun dun duuuuhhh...

Double Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies                                                                                                             By Picky Palate

2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
10 oz bag of chocolate chips
about 24 Double Stuf Oreos (eat the rest while you bake)

First you'll grab your mixer and cream the sugars and butter. Add the eggs one at a time and then mix in the vanilla.

Then grab a bowl and whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to the wet ingredients in your mixer. Add the bag of chocolate chips and give it a good stir. The dough will be nice and thick!

Now grab your cookie scooper (tiny ice cream scoop) and grab two balls of dough. Sandwich your oreo in between and then gently seal it up inside and give it a little roll... they will be the largest dough balls on a cookie sheet you've EVER seen.

I like to use parchment paper on my cookie sheet... my cookies come out so much better that way! Bake them for about 9 minutes or so and then let them cool completely before diving into that deliciousness!

Grab a large glass of milk and a cookie and then die of happiness. Enjoy!

Our Picture Project!

I'm sure many of ya'll have seen the amazing weekly picture project that Young House Love has done? Well if not, HERE ya go. There are a whole lot of copied versions all over the blogosphere, and weekly number stickers you can buy to stick on onesies too. I wanted ours to look a little different, and since I get to dress my little girl up (total dream come true!) I thought I'd put her in different outfits and use something handmade by Mommy. (Notice how I seem to speak in 3rd person lately? It's a lovely new habit) We've decided to take a picture of our sweet Lovebug on her quilt each Saturday, and then put the pictures all together in a beautiful coffee table book for us to treasure forever!

Here's Lovebug's first FOUR weeks!

I'm so in LOVE!

Back to the hospital... an emergency trip.

Sorry about the looong time between posts y'all... little Miss Lovebug is just too stinkin' cute to ignore while I blog. I'm sure once she gets on a more of a schedule we'll figure out some time for Mommy's morning coffee & blogging.  But for now... I'll be cuddling my baby and spending oodles of time adoring her.

So about that lovely little trip to Children's Mercy Hospital...

We had only been home for about a day and a half, and although our sweet girl had only been in our lives for four days, we just knew that something was wrong. She had been such a happy, chill baby... didn't even cry when she came out! We had to wake her to eat, and then she was content. But that night, after we'd fed, changed, rocked, rocked some more, paced the house, put her in the swing, and generally were exhausted, she was STILL upset. Bri finally went to kiss her little forehead and noticed that it seemed a little warm. We quickly grabbed the thermometer and found out that her temperature was 101. Thinking that we were just being paranoid parents, we called the pediatrician, who sent us to Children's Mercy at 6am. The whole way there, I kept thinking that she was fine... I just knew nothing could be wrong with my precious baby.

When we got there, however, things got a whole lot more serious and traumatic for Bri & I. They quickly told us that protocol for a newborn with a temp that high was to take blood, urine, and a SPINAL TAP. I immediately burst into tears. I was sleep deprived, still in pain from giving birth, and now being told that my sweet girl was going to be poked and prodded, and admitted for 48 hours to a hospital. NOT what I wanted to hear. Brian stayed with Lovebug while I stepped outside the room to try and regain some composure (I do NOT usually cry in public.) When they were done with the IV, blood and catheter, I stepped back in to kiss my baby and see the strong, rock of a man I married... which of course would give me peace and calm me down. WRONG. I walked in to see Brian not only crying (I've only seen that once), but tears were dripping onto my sweet baby as he held her. I totally lost it. We were TOLD to go get something to eat and leave our sweet girl while she was given the spinal tap. Hardest thing EVER to walk away from my baby. I think I asked the nurse twelve times if she'd hold her tiny hand while she got the spinal tap. Bri and I ate something at the cafeteria in silence, trying not to choke-up and hurried back up to Lovebug.

Her Crib at the Hospital

I was so happy to hold her, and yet so traumatized already. I tried to nurse her, and she wouldn't, and then we were being wisked away to be admitted and shown our room. It seemed like there were nurses EVERYWHERE all asking me questions and talking to me. I felt like a total zombie. I just held my baby, and pushed her IV cart wherever they told me to go.

This picture breaks Mommy's heart.

Her 101 temp was back down to normal, and the doctor said that any virus was probably gone quickly, due in part to the colostrum that she was recieving from Mommy. We soon found out that Lovebug was pretty dehydrated, which caused a multitude of other symptoms. She had also dropped to far below her already small birth weight of 5lbs 15 oz to 5lb 5oz. The main issue became her eating... I REALLY didn't want to bottle feed, so we tried everything... even syringe feeding her pumped milk... nothing was working. I was forced to start pumping bottles so we could see exactly how many ounces she was getting and making sure that she received a certain amount. We were watched by a feeding specialist, lactation specialist, nurses and doctors, all who had their own opinions on what she was doing wrong, and why she wasn't eating correctly or enough... it was VERY overwhelming. We were told we had to stay another day to observe her eating, extending our stay to over three days.

Meanwhile, Bri and I were getting ZERO sleep, I was in a lot of pain, and my feet and legs swelled bigger than I've ever seen them. During all the drama, our family and friends were absolutely amazing. They came bringing clothes, food, snacks, magazines, and so much love and support. I'm not sure that we would have survived without their love and prayers.

Finally, after all the test results returned, and Lovebug had been pumped full of fluid by IV and forced to eat far too many ounces for her tiny tummy, we were allowed to go HOME! What sweet relief it was. I immediately felt so much more at peace... our little family started the recovery process all over again and began bonding and resting together.

Now we're home and Lovebug is healthy and happy... and we're loving every minute of it!

Lovebug's One Month Birthday!

Our Birth Story...

Well folks, our little Lovebug has officially stolen our hearts forever. Her Daddy has already offered to buy her not one, but TWO cars, and she is the Princess of our household. We fall asleep each night thanking God for the miracle that she is.

I suppose now ya'll wanna hear how she made her grand entrance into this world? (If not, you should definitely skip this post) Well it didn't go as I thought it would... but I'm really thankful that I had a healthy outlook before labor, and knew that things don't always go as "planned." Bri & I woke up on Friday, July 1st at 3:40am because I had started to have contractions. We got out of bed, packed our bags, made PB and Honey sandwiches and thought we might be able to go back to sleep. By 4am, the contractions were too strong to sleep through and were now 6 min apart. Our plan was to labor at home until the contractions were 3-4 min apart or my water broke. Since I didn't want an epideral, I wanted to avoid the hospital as long as possible.

Cuddling with Mommy!

ALL DAY LONG the contractions stayed a steady 5-6 min apart and grew stronger and stronger. I had breakfast thinking surely this is my last meal, then lunch, then dinner and FINALLY by 8pm they were 3 min apart and we headed to the hospital. I got checked in by 9pm, was dialated to only a 3. We called the family to tell them to come on up, even though it could be a while.

I labored naturally and quietly, "blowing the contractions away" with Bri in our private room. The lights were off, we used Bradley positions to ease the pain, and Bri fed me popsicles. Our family popped in to see how things were going every once in a while.

Tummy Time!

By 10:30 I was dialated to 6cm and by 12:30 I was at 7cm! I thought that my water would break any moment and we'd get this party started!

No such luck... by 3:00am I was stalled at 7cm and the Dr decided to manually break my water. I thought this would surely get things started!

Cuddling with Daddy's Hand!

At 4:30am, 24hours after I'd started laboring, I was EXHAUSTED. My body was worn out, shakey, and I was pretty out of it. I was ready to get my sweet baby out! The nurse came in, checked me, and with a very sad face told me there was no change... I was still stalled at 7cm. The contractions were very painful and right on top of eachother with no break in between. Brian and I began to get a little worried. There was an increasing chance that if I kept going with no medication, I'd be too exhausted to push when the time came and the possibility of C-section would be hanging over us. So... I asked for the epidural. I just needed a bit of rest so that I could have the energy to finish. Little did I know that the decision to do so would be pretty important in a bit.

I slept for an hour after the epidural kicked in. I could still feel the contractions but they were much more tolerable, and I could feel my legs and move them normally which surprised me! When I woke up, I was at 8cm... finally some progress! By 8am I was at 9cm and at 8:30 I was ready to push!

She Loves her Wubba Nub!

Here's where that epidural and rest became very important... just as the Nurse & Doctor were getting me ready to bring our little girl into the world, her heart rate suddenly started to drop. They told me we needed to get her out quick, and so with the restored energy, I was able to push her out in 15 minutes after only 4 sets of pushing! I felt immediate joy and started to cry when they laid my tiny little baby on my stomach! The doctor was surprised at how tiny she was, since she had estimated Lovebug to be about 7 1/2 lbs! She cried only for a second, and then just looked around with her big beautiful eyes, and started rooting right away! They checked her over and cleaned her up before giving us our blessed bonding time as a little family of 3!

We got all packed up after 2 wonderful days in the hospital recovering... headed home... and spent only 1 1/2 days there before an emergency trip to Children's Mercy Hospital... I'll tell you all about that suprising turn of events in my next post!

Lovebug is Here!

After 28 hours of labor, our precious tiny girl is here! Hannah Renee Edwards was born on Saturday, July 2nd at 8:47am! She was 5lbs 15oz and 18 3/4 in long! We love her soo much it almost hurts! I'll post more about her Birth Story and the eventful days following after we get all settled in at home. Here are some pictures of our Lovebug... although we can't seem to capture just how beautiful she is in person!

Came out bright eyed and beautiful!

Mommy loves her so very much!

She's a Daddy's girl... looks like him too!

Heading home! Our little family of three.

Precious. 

The NURSERY Reveal!

It's FINALLY finished! It's actually been finished for a little while, I just needed to borrow my brother-in-law's super sweet camera so that I could get some better pictures than my lil' point and shoot would take! It feels so good to have all the elements that I worked so hard on all put together! A whole lot of love went into this room and I can NOT wait to have our little Lovebug in her Woodland-themed nursery!

First of all, I need to say a big THANK YOU to my wonderful husband and his brother for painting the room the beautiful Milk Chocolate by Valspar (saw on Nate Berkus... and knew it was the one!) They also installed the chair rail, which makes the room look so amazing!

The changing table is an Ikea dresser from our bedroom at our condo in California. The post about the fabric basket is HERE, and although I planned to make my own changing pad cover, I decided that something used for diaper changing would be better bought for $10 and made by Carters- right?

The beautiful artwork was bought on Etsy at these shops: Trafalgar's Square & Loxly Hollow.

For now, her toybox is a simple canvas cube bought at Target... I'm sure she'll need more of those soon!

The bedding is was all handmade by this little Mama! I used Amy Butler's Little Stitches as the patterns for the bumpers, crib skirt, and fitted sheet, and made my own pattern for the quilt. Wee Woodland by Moda is the fabric line. The quilt was quilted by a dear friend, Lisa.

I used fabric scraps in embroidery hoops as wall art.

I used an old bookshelf from Target and primed and painted it Jade by Laura Ashley.



The adorable woodland flashcards are from Ink Tree Press on Etsy.

The Chair is from Pottery Barn Baby and is so incredibly comfortable! The post about the side table is HERE, the Happy Stacker post is HERE, and the Scalloped Bunting are HERE. The curtains and curtain rod, I already had from Ikea.

Well folks, I hope you enjoyed the tour! We're hoping to have our sweet girl here really soon!