I'm Back!

Nobody ever told me that I would feel like I was on another planet for about three weeks after I had a baby. This planet was not always fun. In fact, it sucked most of the time. I rarely had the chance to just enjoy being a new momma with the stress of trying to successfully breastfeed, being sleep deprived, allowing my body to heal, and finding the time and energy to entertain people when they came to see us. I felt guilty for not being able to just enjoy my time with Caden. That guilt just added to the stress. I cried on a daily basis and Blake had to counsel me on a daily basis. I think I just expected everything to be a lot easier. I wasn't prepared for the amount of worrying I would do. I still visit this planet full of stress, worry, and guilt once in awhile, but for the most part I am back on Planet Earth enjoying my time with my wonderful husband and my beautiful baby boy!

Caden Tyler

Born June 23rd at 6:55am

7lbs 10oz

20 1/2 inches long

DIY Book Holders

I found this idea here and I loved the way the books were displayed. I have a little bit of an obsession with children's books and I wanted to be able to show off some of our collection. I made a few modifications, however. I wanted to see more of the front covers so I didn't cut the fabric as wide as the tutorial suggests. Our wall studs were in funny places so we used wall anchors. Also, my book displays are about 36 inches long instead of 48. I really love the way that they turned out and I cannot wait to start reading to Caden!

Another Project Finished!

I finally finished Caden's crib bedding! The bumper was definitely the most challenging, but I am very pleased with the outcome. Now if he would just make his debut so that we can actually use it!

Caden's Quilt

I am so fortunate to have a mother with a passion for quilting. This is the BEAUTIFUL quilt that she made for Caden. I cannot wait to snuggle up with him in it! Thank you Mom!

So Cool!

I went to one of my good friend's bachelorette party last night and when I came home this was on my wall!!! Cole had designed it for me on Thursday and I loved it. He and Joni worked on it the whole time I was gone and were just about finished by the time I got home. I had no idea that they were going to paint it last night, but I am so glad that they did. It looks AMAZING and the nursery is now a little closer to being finished!

Toby Loves His Uncle Cole!

So Sweet!

Baby Shower!

My Aunt Lana and her family are in the process of moving from Atlanta to New York. They stayed in Arkansas with my mom for a little over a week on their way. While they were here she, my mom, and Blake's mom threw me a baby shower. The decorations and the food were awesome! It was so much fun and we got a lot of great stuff! Blake and I went shopping yesterday and were able to buy almost everything else that we need with gift cards. We are so grateful to all of our friends and family for supporting us and helping us out with Caden! Thank you Mom, Joni, and Lana for an amazing shower!

Nursery Update!

I am really, really behind on blogging. Getting ready for a baby is very time consuming! We have made so much progress on the nursery recently and I just wanted to share what we have done!

These are the amazing curtains that Blake's mom made for us! You can also see part of the super-soft rug that she found at the bottom of the picture. Thank you Joni!

This is the awesome window seat cushion my mom made for us. Thanks mom! This baby has some talented grandmas!

I finished another one of my projects a few weeks ago. It's the crib skirt that you can see through the slats on the crib. My mom found us the cute pillow in the glider and Blake's mom found us the pictures over the crib.

Here is a closer look at those pictures! There are still several things that I want to do before Caden gets here. I will try to remember to post them as I finish each project.

Maternity Pictures

While we were in Florida (back in April), we decided to get our pictures taken on the beach. We had a great time and these are a few of our favorites!

It's Finally Here!

Our nursery furniture finally came in! We no longer feel like we emptied a room for no reason. It is starting to look like a nursery now!

This is the dresser that we are also using as a changing table.

The super comfortable glider that Blake's parents got us. Thanks Jim and Joni!

And this is the beautiful crib that my dad and step-mom got us! Thanks Dad and Jennifer!

32 Week Ultrasound

I went in for my 32 week ultrasound last Wednesday. Everything looks really good! They were concerned about his kidneys at our 20 week ultrasound, but they look great now. His heart rate is good and they estimated that he weighs 3 lbs 14 oz. Here's a picture of his little face!

Nursery Project #2

I just finished my second project for the baby's room! It is a changing pad that we will put on top of the dresser (if it ever gets here). This project was pretty challenging, but I'm happy with the outcome. I really didn't want one of the store-bought changing pads that everyone else had. I found the directions for this one in a book that Blake got me for my birthday and I loved it! The three side bolsters as well as the orange pad in the middle are removable. This makes washing everything extremely easy. It also has a neat pocket to store diapers, ointment, wipes, etc.

Rain or Shine

This morning Blake and I took Toby and Mayzie to the Bark for the Cure. Blake was a little unsure about going because of the weather, but I was stubborn and insisted on going. It was really fun even though it sprinkled a little. We were able to show our support for Susan G. Komen and show off our fur children all in one morning! Plus, we got a lot of free goodies for the pups.

Baby Shower!

I cannot even begin to express how incredibly blessed I feel right now! Sabrina, my best friend, threw a baby shower for me on Saturday. We received so many great gifts and tons of stuff that we will need when the baby gets here. Blake and I have an incredible group of friends that have supported us and been excited for us since we found out we were having a baby. Thank you so much for making this day so special! I can't wait for Caden to meet you all!

Babymoon!

If you have never heard of a Babymoon it is basically just an excuse for a mommy-to-be to get her husband to take her somewhere before the baby arrives. Blake and I just got back from ours and it was a very relaxing weekend! We know that our time alone together is about to be very limited so this was our chance to get away and spend quality time together.

We stayed in Clearwater, FL near the Tampa area. The first day we went to the Tampa zoo. It was a very nice zoo with a lot of animal interactions. The videos are of us feeding a giraffe. We were amazed at how big they are!


We spent the rest of the first day at our hotel's beach and pool.


The second day we headed to Caladesi Island State Park. We had to take a ferry to the island because it is still completely natural. We walked down a nature trail and spent the rest of the day at the beach. The water was a little chilly at first, but we got used to it after a few minutes.


The last day we went to Fort DeSoto Beach where we had our pictures taken by a photographer that we found on the internet. She was extremely nice and we didn't have to pay anything for the session! I will post the pictures as soon as we get them!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has a great Easter!

Crib Sheet

Woo Hoo! I finished my first project for the baby's room! It's a fitted crib sheet made out of minky dot material and it was way easier than I thought it was going to be. Here are some pictures. Blake insisted on being the crib mattress since we don't have one yet. Hopefully it fits the real mattress better than the Blake mattress.

Painting

We have officially started on the nursery! I am afraid that I may have overestimated my abilities. Luckily I'm not doing it alone! The only thing that we have done so far is paint the room.

We decided to paint one wall orange, the ceiling blue, and leaving the other three walls beige. The colors were pulled from the fabric that we are going to use to make the bedding, curtains, and a few other things for the room.

The finished product! A HUGE thank you to our moms, Cole, and Ashley for helping us paint!

Another big thank you to our fur children (Mayzie and Toby) for supervising the whole process. Unfortunately there was an animal harmed in the making of this room. Toby had a shocking moment when he stuck his tongue in one of the outlets!

So I Went A Little Overboard...

The day after we found out that we are having a boy I decided that I wanted to go thrift store shopping to see if I could find a couple of cute outfits for him. Thanks to my mom, Ashley, Sabrina, and Kelsey I ended up with WAY more than a couple. We went to Nine Months Later and Once Upon a Child and the deals were just too good to pass up. All of the clothes look brand new and are really cute!