Madison and Mommy Go to Michigan!

I knew I wanted to get a trip up north in to visit with family and see everyone before the sweet girl was born, so I decided to go up to Michigan to see my family around my Mom's birthday in June.  My cousin was getting married that weekend and my mother and I decided to have a baby shower then too!

It was so much fun to prepare for the baby shower and my mother did AMAZING on the decorations!  I am so thankful to her and my Aunt Linda for throwing Madison and I an amazing shower!

 

They did a wonderful job! Don't ya think?!

 

The second part of that weekend was my cousin's wedding.  This was so much fun because I was able to see my brother Ben.  Ben and I's sense of humor is pretty much almost the same, so hanging out with him is so much fun!  I was also able to meet his new girlfriend, Kayla!

My sister Bailee and I

Snap chat gem....

My beautiful sister!

My phone was stolen and I found this later...

Before the wedding, my family and I were able to witness this amazingness...

 

It was a great time and a beautiful day for a wedding!

 

Another fun part of the trip, aside from hanging out with my Mom and sister, was the addition of a family boat.  My dad purchased a boat and initially we had several failed launches, but my dad was able to fix the boat and we had so much fun after that! It was a blast!  We went cruising on the lake and fishing!

The lake was beautiful

Mommy and Madison on a boat!

He was so happy!

Bailee taking the wheel...help us all

This trip was amazing... We made smores, laid out on the beach, and I even got to hang out at Bailee's end of school party!

Perfection...

Mommy's swollen feet at the beach!

Bailee going down the large slide at the lake at her End of the Year Party!

 

 

Fishing!

The trip was so much fun and for the first time, leaving wasn't so bad because I knew I would see my Mom and sister again soon for Madison's birth (or so we thought, but that is for another blog).  I can't wait for Madison to be able to spend summers up at the lake and make beautiful memories with her Grammy, Grandpa, and Aunt Bailee!



Madison's Room Transformation

 

Now that we know we are having a girl.... It is time to decorate a nursery!

We had already purchased a crib, so I began searching for nursery bedding.  Behold... the nursery sets I fell in love with were so very very expensive.  I decided to raid blogging sites for how to sew my own bedding.  It turns out, it was much easier than I thought.  Now... I know I will be purchasing a large amount of fabric and supplies, so it is time to convince Aaron.  I got a plan together, did the pricing research and presented the information to him.  He agreed, and gave the green light for me to commence my project!  

I decided to go with a shabby chic theme.  I made the sheets, blanket, bumper padding, pillows, and even some burp clothes.

 

Then came time to put up the crib!  I was so excited!  It seemed like an easy enough project, so I asked Aaron to help me and it was fun!

Of course we let the puppies test drive the crib!

So we had the crib and bedding taken care of, next we were thinking of options for seating.  I was thinking that I would need a chair that I could potentially sleep in, as I was planning for long nights of feeding and rocking a baby girl to sleep.  We decided on a recliner and found the perfect one at Ashley Furniture.

The next piece of furniture.....oh man....the next piece of furniture was a fun one.  We purchased a dresser that matched the crib and I immediately thought, "well the crib was super easy to put together, this shouldn't take too long."  Aaron, being the researcher he is, had read that this was a 5 hour project and would be slightly more difficult.  It was 7pm and I had set my mind to get started.  I mean, it looked like a 1 hour MAYBE 2 hour project....maybe those reviews Aaron read were people who were handy-man challenged.  Aaron put up a pretty good opposition to starting, but alas, I convinced him against his better judgement.  About a few minutes in, I had already messed up a drawer.  Frustration got the best of us and soon turned into a quick few shouts and some alone time.  I took a drive and Aaron went to our room to cool off.  When I arrived back to the house, I walked in on Aaron putting the rest of the drawers together.  I kept my distance and helped towards the end, but eventually a children's dresser had been built.... five hours later. 

 

For wall decorations, I had a few pinterest ideas in mind.  I had left over fabric from the bedding set, So I put them in embroidery hoops.  I found a mirror in our attic and painted it pink.  I used the banner from my baby shower to drape on the wall over her crib.  I also knew that I would need a table to set bottles/phones, etc on, so I went to an antique store here in Greenville called the Venue and purchased a small table and painted that a very pale purple.

 

 

After a few finishing touches including the cutest little bean bag chair, I decided on one last project.  Since we knew I was pregnant,  Aaron and I had been collecting books.  Over 9 months, we accrued a great collection and I wanted shelves to put them on.  I went back and forth on book case or shelves.  Finally, I decided on another pinterest project and placed some shelves on the wall!  I purchased Ikea spice racks and painted them white. It looked amazing!

 

Finally the room was ready for a special little girl to arrive!



It's a GIRL!

Today is March 6th, 2014.  Today is the day we find out if we are decorating in pink or blue!

 

 

Aaron and I were both so excited to finally know if we were welcoming a girl or boy to our super awesome family.  Going into the ultrasound room was exhilarating.  Not only was this when we were going to find out what we were having, this was the first time we were going to be able to see this little life inside me.  I was filled with joy as the ultrasound tech placed that warm gel on my belly.  It was amazing as instantly I was able to see tiny ribs and little limbs.  She was such a squirmy worm!  The poor tech had to keep chasing her around my belly!  My eyes were glued to that screen as the tech took measurements of my sweet baby.  Head circumference, abdominal girth, femur length... oh my goodness, I loved seeing every part of that baby's body!  Finally we got to the good stuff!

 

It's a GIRL!!!!

Finally, it all seemed so real!  There was indeed a baby inside of me with little arms, legs, and a head and not only that, it was a baby girl!  I immediately looked at Aaron, so excited and happy.  It was so fun to watch him experience seeing our baby for the first time too!

I immediately called my Mom and gave her the news that her "feeling" was right.  She was having a granddaughter!  From there we called Aaron's family and made our way to Panera to enjoy some amazingly yummy grilled cheese and tomato soup!  We were so filled with love!

 



New Grandbaby!

A New Grandbaby!

Yay! We are pregnant!  But now, we must tell the parents!  Both my parents and Aaron's parents are not new to the "Grandparents" arena, but this was the first for us and they had only been waiting six years for this to happen!  We had already planned a trip to Michigan in late December to visit my parents, so now I definitely wanted to tell them in person and we wanted to think of a creative way to tell Aaron's parents.

We decided that I would get a picture with "Santa" at the mall and pretend to ask him for a baby.  We went in the middle of the weekday so not many people were there to see Santa.  The guy who was working the photo booth kinda looked at us crazy when we explained to him what we wanted to do.  It was pretty funny.  We framed the picture and went to Aaron's parents house to eat some dinner.  We had planned to go to Taco Bell with them, but before we left we gave the picture to Aaron's parents as a Christmas gift.  Nana cried for about 15 minutes straight (maybe longer than that).  It was hilarious because Aaron's dad eventually said, "Baby...we are starving, we have to go eat."  We did indeed eat tons of yummy Taco Bell and swore them to secrecy as now it was time to tell my parents!

 

So for our "creative" reveal to my parents, we were going to gift my parents with wine and gift ourselves with cider and in the bottom of my Mom's bag, we put a onesie that said "who needs Santa, when I have Grandma?"  We were fortunate enough to catch this one on video!  The funny part... my mom already knew!  Well... not for sure, but had a feeling that we were going to spring some kind of news on her and had a feeling it was grandchild related.  She even had gifts ready....  Madison received her first "Bumble" toys!  (In case you don't know, I'm obsessed....obsessed.... with the abominable snowman (Bumble) from Rudolph!

 

Now that the family knows, we posted our special news as anyone would in this day and age....on Facebook!

 

Now.... to wait and see if it is a girl or boy....



Start of a Family

 

Start of a Family

As some of you know, we have two beautiful puppy children, Emmy and Cohen.  We definitely consider them family!  I mean, when we cook breakfast, they get a plate too for crying out loud!  But on December 6, 2013 I learned the news that Aaron and I would be starting a "human" family. 

That day started out like any day.  I went to work and was orienting a new nurse.  I had been orienting her for a while and this was my favorite time of orientation! It's my favorite because I get to spend more time with my patients as I don't necessarily have to worry about charting and other tasky things.  Back up further, for the past month many coworkers/people had been commenting on my weight in the nicest ways possible.  I kept explaining that I was aware that I had gained a few pounds and was actively trying to lose weight through running and exercising.  Truly!  I was!  Running, for me, is the fastest way to lose weight and get toned. It works like a charm every time I feel like I'm starting to gain.  I was running every evening and was honestly beginning to get discouraged because I wasn't losing weight.  I thought to myself "Lord, this is it.  My metabolism has switched from a young and youthful girl to true womanhood where my metabolism changes to molasses!  Greeeaaaat...."  Well coworkers would joke "are you sure it's not pregnancy?" or straight up ask "you are glowing, are you....um...pregnant?..." to which I would quickly slap down and say NOOOOOO!

Fast forward back to December 6th.  I had a patient (and I remember this as if it was yesterday) who I was changing a bag of medication in his room and he asked "So how much maternity leave do they allow here?"  I thought, "dang...the balls this guy has...." but politely said, "oh no, I'm just fluffy" and quickly left the room.  But as I was going through the rest of that day, I had this nagging feeling that he just might be right.  It wasn't exactly time for mother nature to deliver her special gift, but man....it is really nagging me!  So as soon as I got off of work I ran to the Walgreens across from the hospital and bought a pregnancy test to set my mind at ease.  Sure enough.....

I kept quiet that night and the next day, I ran back to Walgreens and bought five more tests of different brands and variety. I mean, if I was going to spring this on my husband, I better be darn sure right?!  As pictured above, by that afternoon, I was sure.  I went to Barnes and Noble and bought "What to Expect When Expecting" and gifted my husband, Aaron, with it that evening.  He was shocked and without many words, but I know he was happy! 

So to the patient who was discharged by time I returned to work, and all my coworkers, I'm sorry for making you all feel like buttheads for calling me fat. 

 You were right...not just fat....

 

So now starts the beginning of our adventures....

Here We Go!