Tuesday, December 14, 2010

My Christmas wish list

So back at the end of November when everyone started asking me what I wanted for Christmas, I had nothing.  Seriously.  I couldn't think of anything.  With Emily just being born, my mind wasn't on me.  All my thoughts/attention/everything was all about Emily.  Now, don't get me wrong....it still is.  But I have had a little bit more time to ponder some things I would like for Christmas. 

So.... here is my {ever-growing} Christmas list!


A Maya Wrap
{moms....what do you think about this wrap??} 
Zumba workout video for Wii



Jeep jogging stroller
{not that there will be any jogging going on in this butt-cold weather}

Sewing machine! 
{I know nothing about them, but this one looked shnazzy!}


And I don't necessarily WANT....but I NEED clothes. 







That's not really a horribly selfish Christmas list is it?  Especially considering 2 of the things are really for the baby! 

Oh, Santa baby please be nice this year!

The iHome docking station for iPhone


Monday, December 13, 2010

Christmas crafts

I cannot believe Christmas is only 12 days away!!!  Time flies!  I am glad the weather is cold here in Florida.  I felt like a fraud having Christmas decorations up with it being 70 degrees outside! 


Lately, in between feedings and naps, I have been working on some Christmas crafts for my family (hopefully they're not reading this)!  I wanted to give some handmade gifts this year.  Mainly because I just love creating and making things.  But also, it is much easier to sit at my dining room table and spread all my junk out and just make away than it is to fight crowds at the mall with a newborn baby. 


The first thing I started working on was Santa pots.  I made 5 of them, but I only have 1 complete so far.  Check it out:



This was so easy to do and I found the idea on another blog.  I cannot remember which one to save my life and of course I can't find the post either.  As soon as I find it, I will be sure to link up because I would like to give credit where credit is due!  I got regular terra cotta pots from Michael's and spray painted them red.  I used Krylon's Banner Red in gloss.  I then painted a black strip down the middle of the pot just using regular acrylic paint and a sponge brush.  I found white boas at Michael's for $1.99 and I could do 2 pots with one boa!  Score!  I cut the boa and hot glued it across the top of the pot.  I got silver sequins (also at Michael's) and hot glued them on in a square to make Santa's belt buckle.  And voila!  A super cute Santa pot that I am going to fill with goodies for my aunts and uncles!

The next little thing I've been working on are ornaments for my family.  I knew I wanted to use my Cricut and some vinyl for these ornaments.  I found a really neat tutorial on how to make glitter ornaments.  What a neat idea!



Here are the supplies you need:
  • glass ornaments (I got mine from Target)
  • fine glitter (I used Martha Stewart glitter)
  • Pledge floor cleaner with Future Shine
  • vinyl
  • Cricut machine
  • ribbon
  • Saran Wrap


It is important that you get the right kind of Pledge.  I found mine at Walmart and it is the kind that has Future Shine (whatever that is....I have no clue).  It has a blue lid.  This Pledge has something in it that makes the glitter stick.  Here's how to do it:


  1. Pour some of the Pledge into your ball.  You only need to pour a little bit.  Then you cover the opening of your ball with the Saran Wrap and swish the Pledge all around the ball.  Pour out the excess Pledge.
  2. Next, pour some of your glitter (make sure it's fine glitter, not chunky) into the ball.  Again, cover the opening of the ball with the Saran Wrap and swish your glitter all around.  Make sure you cover the entire ball.  It's easy to miss the spots that didn't get covered so be sure to check your ball over real good.
  3. Put the ornament cover back onto your ball.
  4. Last, figure out what you want to put on your ball.  Like I said, I chose to use vinyl and my Cricut (I used images and letters from the Winter Woodland cartridge).  If you don't have that option, you could do endless other things.   You could paint on your ball, you could use scrapbook stickers, you could use etching cream, etc.  The possibilities are endless!
Here are the ornaments I made:









I also made an ornament for one of my best friends who owns a cheerleading gym.  The name of her gym is Cheer Co. and their logo is kind of like the Chanel logo with the 2 C's and one of them is backwards.  Their colors are turquoise and black.  Here is how her ornament turned out:


I think that one is my favorite!  She was so tickled when I gave it to her and she told me I could probably sell those at the gym and make a killing next year.  So we'll see how that works out!

How about you?  Have you been busy making any Christmas crafts??


I am linking up to:

The Girl Creative


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Sunday, December 5, 2010

Baby Emily is here (and already a month old)!!!

Yeah, so I've been the worst blogger ever.  But, I have a great excuse! 

Emily Paige Waller was born on November 3, 2010 at 12:44am.  She clocked in at 19.3 inches long and 7 pounds, 2 ounces!  She is absolutely beautiful.  The most perfect creation I have ever seen (ok, so I might be slightly biased).











The labor part was actually not that much fun.  Here's the story:

We checked into the hospital at 6:00pm on Monday, November 1, 2010.  We were scheduled to come in to be induced since I was a week past due (my due date was October 25th).  So we got all checked in and settled into the room.  The nurse started my IV, as well as inserted the Cervidil, which was supposed to soften my cervix.  I had to have the Cervidil in for 12 hours.  So, we threw The Hangover into the DVD player and got cozy.  The next morning, Dr. McAlpine (my doctor) came in and checked me.  Nothing had happened and the Cervidil was a joke.  So, he broke my water around 7:45 Tuesday morning.  Shortly after, they started a Pitocin drip on me.  Around 9:00 the contractions were in full swing.  I could feel them, they were getting stronger, and definitely closer together.  By about 11:30 I had had enough!  The contractions were so strong and coming about every 45 seconds to a minute.  It was ridiculous.  I barely had time to catch my breath in between contractions.  So I asked for the epidural.  I had pretty much made up my mind that I was definitely going to do the epidural but I didn't want to say for sure until I got to the hopsital and just saw how things went.  I was thinking maybe I could handle the contractions, but no siree.  Not with the induction.  The Pitocin made it 50 times worse, I think.  So, at about 11:30 I got the epidural.

Praise. Jesus. Amen.

Seriously, the epidural was the best thing ever.  I couldn't feel a thing.  My contractions were bouncing off the charts and I was totally oblivious.  It was great.  The only bad part was that my legs were dead weight and they kept shifting me and turning me to different positions on the bed.  It's hard to scoot and move around when you absolutely cannot feel your legs.  Weird.  But the epidural was honestly a savior. 

So, I sat and sat and sat in the hospital bed just waiting for my cervix to dilate.  I wasn't making much progress.  At about 5:00 I was 5 centimeters dilated.  Dr. McAlpine started talking c-section since I wasn't progressing.  The nurse suggested I try one more position to try to get her turn (she was sunny-side up) and move down some more.  So we decided to try that for one more hour and if I hadn't made progress in that hour, we would talk c-section.  So, flat on my belly I went (the medical staff called it TTM = Titties To The Mattress.  They were too funny.).  I laid like that for an hour, very uncomfortable, and feeling very nauseous due to the epidural medicine.  But, within that hour I dilated all the way to 9 centimeters!!  Thank you, Lord!  We thought we were home free and that I would just do maybe an hour of pushing and we'd be proud parents of a beautiful little girl.  So we waited a little bit longer and sure enough I was fully dilated and it was game time.  I started pushing at around 9:00 I think it was.  10:00....still pushing.  11:00......still pushing.  12:00.....still pushing.  And by this time, I am OVER IT!  Let me tell you!  I just wanted that baby out of me and I wanted to stop pushing.  I was so tired and I was so hot.  I had been giving it my all for the past 3 hours and she wasn't budging.  Since she was sunny-side up, she had a hard time fitting her head past my pubic bone.  So Dr. McAlpine tried one last hail-mary and pulled out the vaccuum.  He tried to suction her out, but no luck.  She was not going anywhere for the love of money.  So after the vaccuum was a fail, he immediately called for the c-section.  That's when things get blurry.




I do remember that as soon as Dr. McAlpine got the words c-section out of his mouth, the door flew open and about 6 or 7 nurses came flying in.  They were all unhooking me from the IV's and preparing the bed, and putting a cap on me, and all sorts of stuff.  Before I could even process what was going on I was being wheeled out of the room.  I didn't even get a chance to tell my husband bye and that I love him and that everything was going to be okay.  I was out the door and on my way to the Operating Room.  The next thing I remember is Dr. McAlpine poking on me and asking me if I could feel anything.....and I could!!  So they upped my dosage of the anesthesia.  He made the incision and then they let Scott in.  Poor guy.  He had to walk in to his wife laying on an operating table with her guts hanging out.  He was freaked out to say the least. 

So, at 12:44am I heard the most beautiful cry ever.  It was the most comforting sound I had ever heard.  But that was all I could do was listen.  I couldn't see her.  They didn't lift her over the drape like you see on TV.  I tried to look over to the table to where she was being cleaned off but the drape was blocking my view.  I went a good 2 to 4 minutes (which is ETERNITY when you're dying to see your newborn baby) without seeing her.  They finally realized that I couldn't see and they moved the drape.  I was so excited and so relieved, but I was so worn out and out of it.  I just remember my head being in a fog, but I was still coherent.  Scott went over and cut the umbilical cord.  Then, they took him and the baby to the recovery room while I was being stapled up. 

I got to the recovery room shortly thereafter, but I still couldn't hold my baby!  I couldnt' feel my right arm.  It was tingly and semi-numb from when they had to up my dosage of the anesthesia.  That was so frustrating because one of my big things was that I wanted that immediate skin to skin contact.  But, sometimes we just can't control things and this was one of those things I just couldn't control.  So I dealt with it and just watched as Scott held her.  He did such a great job.  He is such an amazing dad.  Uh-oh....I feel a tangent coming on.

Refocusing.....




So, long story short, we spent the next 3 days in the hospital as I recovered from the surgery.  It was pretty difficult having to care for a newborn baby, while trying to recover and heal from a major surgery.  I was in a lot of pain but I didn't seem to mind because I had the most adorable bundle of joy right next to me and I knew I had to do my best for her.  We finally got to leave the hospital at 6:00pm on Friday, November 5th.  I was so ready to get out of there, but not.  I was going to be leaving all the amazing help I had.  All the nurses, all the lactation consultants, even the ladies who brought me my nasty cafeteria food that I was so grateful for.  I knew life was about to change......big time!

And boy has it!  My days consist of feeding her.  We are breastfeeding and I am so glad it has worked out.  We had a rough start with it, but I think most people do!  We have attended a few breastfeeding support groups at Best Beginnings and that has been helpful.  My days also consist of trying to get her to nap so I can nap and/or get things done around the house.  We have had wonderful support from family and friends, too.  Both sets of grandparents have been wonderful.  Our friends have been great in providing dinners for us. 

It is just so hard to believe that we are our own little family now. 



We ordered new stockings for Christmas from Pottery Barn and had them monogrammed to say "Mom", "Dad", and "Emily".  So weird, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way!

So here we are a month later.  Emily has already gained over 2 pounds and weighs 9 pounds, 4 ounces and is almost 21 inches long!  She's growing fast!  Scott and I have adjusted pretty well to life as parents.  My days are pretty boring, and our nights are even more boring.  Our lives revolve around this new life.  And again, we wouldn't have it any other way. 




Thank you, Lord for this miraculous blessing.  We are forever grateful for this beautiful life you have blessed us with.  Thank you.


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

New Blog!!!

Ok, people!!  I have moved my blog!!  New name, new look!  Go check it out and please follow me!!




DIY Baby Book

A couple of weeks ago, I finally sat down and decided to make my very own DIY baby memory book.  I blogged about it here.  Well, I ran out of scrapbook paper and didn't finish it, but I finally finished it last week!  I'm not usually very confident in my DIY projects, but I have to admit.....I LOVE THIS BOOK!  The album was $14 at Michael's (plus a 40% off coupon, of course) and I got the big paper pack from JoAnn's (so I could use it for other projects as well) for about $9.  I made the pages of the book in Microsoft Word so that was FREE!  I also love it because I could customize it however I wanted.  I didn't like a lot of the pages in the generic, store bought memory books.  So, taking my inspiration from John & Sherry over at Young House Love.....I made my own!  Here are some of the pages:














The book is an 8x8 album.  Like I mentioned above, I bought a big 8x8 pack of baby girl themed scrapbook paper from JoAnn's.  That served as my background.  Then I bought plain pink and plain green cardstock and cut it down to 7x7.  I then glued that on top of the 8x8 paper.  Lastly, the printed pages that I made in Microsoft Word were cut down to 6x6 and I glued that on top of the plain pink/green cardstock.  And voila, the book was complete!
I have made the pages of the book available for you to download!!  Click HERE to download the pages for your very own DIY baby book!  Once you download the file, you can customize the pages however you would like!

Enjoy!


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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Pardon my dust.....

I am in a bit of a transition phase with this here blog.  I am trying to create a blog that I am comfortable with and that I can use for a long time to come.  So, please pardon my dust as I change layouts, titles, backgrounds, etc.  I'll be happy when I get it all done!  Until then, it's probably going to be a bit of a hot mess (I'm still new at this whole blogging thing)! 

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Cutest wreath ever??

Ok, so I have to admit.......I LOVE coming downstairs every morning, pouring my ridiculously large bowl of Cheerios, sitting down and opening my computer to read my blogs in Google Reader!  It seriously is one of my favorite parts of the day!  So today, I was a little late getting to my daily blog reading.  Anywho, in one of the blogs (I forget which.....maybe Tatertots & Jello) I saw the stinkin' cutest wreath I think I have seen yet!  I have been seeing so many adorable Fall/Halloween wreaths lately, but this one takes the cake!  Check it out:

{Lemon Tree Creations}


I am wondering if you can do something like this for Christmas (like.....do Santa legs instead of witch legs.  OOhhhh.....or ELF legs!!  Yes, elf legs would be so stinkin' cute!).  Ok, well it looks like I have found myself a project to work on.  I have to move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas because Halloween is just too close for me and with little Emily making her debut any day now, I can just kiss Halloween goodbye this year. 

Until next time.....


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Counting down...........

Ok, so earlier on in my pregnancy people would always tell me, "Oh girl, wait until the last month.  It will seem like eternity!"  I would kind of laugh and think in my head, "Yeah, yeah.  More useless advice.  Blah, blah blah."  Well, I guess I should have paid more attention because they weren't lying!!

Let me tell you, the last month of this pregnancy has royally sucked!  First of all, I am bigger so simple things like picking up the keys I dropped on the floor aren't really that easy anymore.  Second of all, little mama (aka: Emily) has made her way down into my pelvis.  I mean, she's down there for real.  So what does this mean for me?  Oh just some ridiculous pelvic pains every single day (when I say ridiculous, I mean excruciating).   Even when I wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning, my crotch hurts so bad.  So thanks for all that extra pressure down there, little mama!  I appreciate it!  You're going to be grounded for like the first month of your life!  Third of all, the waiting game is not that fun anymore.  I am 38 weeks and soooooooo ready for this to be over with!  I think I'm just ready to have my normal body back.  I would love to be able to get items off the bottom shelf at the grocery store and not be uncomfortable doing it.  It's the little things.  I'm ready for little Emily to come into this world.  The nursery is pretty much ready.  The car seat is installed.  The stroller is put together and ready to rock-n-roll.  Clothes, sheets, burp cloths, blankets and everything else has been washed, folded, and put away.  Hospital bags are packed and ready to go.  We have taken the childbirth class, the breastfeeding class, the infant CPR class, and the ABC's of Babies class to prepare ourselves.  All that's left is for this little baby to come. 

I mean, look at those chubby little cheeks and that pouty bottom lip (I don't have a clue where she got that from!).  How can I not be anxious to stare at that everyday!?!

Hopefully "go time" (as Scott has named labor/baby time) will be soon.  I went to the doc today and I measured perfectly, baby's head was at zero station (he was definitely touching the top of my baby's head.....weird!), and I was 50% effaced, but not dilated.  So the waiting game continues!

Till next time.......


Tuesday, October 5, 2010

MIA

Wow!!  Has it really been 2 months since I last updated??  Holy cow, I'm a horrible blogger!  I am so sorry for being M.I.A. for the past 2 months, but I'm back in action.....for now!

Well, since my last post, I started back to work.  Good 'ole August!  My class this year is/was quite honestly the worst class I've had in a while.  I hope they shape up before May.  There are a lot of behavior issues and majority of the kids are just super, super LOW!  They didn't know anything.  I am using a lot of past tense words because last Friday was my last day!  THANK YOU, LORD!!  I started my maternity leave this week.  Yeah, I know....the baby hasn't come yet.  But let me tell you, chasing around 20 immature, super low, 6 year olds all day will take a toll on a pregger body.  I was not a happy camper so it was just best for me to bow out a couple weeks early. 

So Monday (yesterday) was my first day "off".  Of course, I tried to get everything done in one day.  I should have known better.  I was not feeling great that night after my busy day.  So, today I just relaxed and did some small things around the house.  One of the things I worked on was my DIY baby memory book.  I took the inspiration from John & Sherry over at Young House Love.  They put together their own DIY memory book and I thought it was such a good idea!  They have the pages to their precious baby book available to download on their website.  However, when I downloaded them, they just weren't what I was hoping.  John & Sherry just make it look so good and easy!  So, I did some Googling and searched for what pages you would typically find in a baby memory book.  I found a really great site that also had some free downloadable pages.  So, I took the things from that website as well as from YHL's baby book and made pages of my own.  I started putting the book together today and ran out of paper so it's not all done yet.  But, here's a quick preview:




I'll post the rest of the pages tomorrow when I get the paper and finish it up!  But, what do you think so far?

Since my last post, I've also had THREE baby showers!  They were all amazing.  The first one was thrown by some of my best girlfriends.  Amber did such a fab job of coordinating everything and getting everything together and the shower turned out amazing.

Scott & I before the shower



Look at how stinkin' cute this chair is!!









Me & the Grandma's

After the shower with friends, I had a shower at work!  The hospitatlity committee did a great job and they even got me that amazing cake from Publix that has the strawberries in the middle!!  Mmmhhmmmm!










Then, the following weekend my aunt threw me a family baby shower at my house!  That was a ton of fun!!  It's always so nice when you can get an entire family together!  All my aunts and uncles and cousins came!  It was such a great time. 






Kimby's did a great job with all the games!  So much fun!



The proud Papa!





Emily's very own monogrammed Gator blanket!

Friends & Family!


We also finally got the car seat!  I was starting to get worried that little Emily would make her appearance and we wouldn't have a car seat!  We ordered it online and it finally came in the mail last week!  We ended up going with the Graco Snugride 35 in the "Logan" collection.  We were going to go with the Chicco Keyfit 30, but the Graco car seat just allowed us to have more options as far as strollers and patterns are concerned.  I didn't want to do a full on travel system because it's so heavy and bulky.  With the Graco car seat, you can get just the stroller frame and the car seat snaps on to the frame so it is much more light weight and easy to maneuver. 


It's so cute with the houndstooth pattern and lime green piping!  I love it!!

I made one more thing tonight for the nursery.  I had gotten a plain white trash can to put in there.  But, I kind of thought plain white was well.....plain boring!  So I dressed it up a little bit with some ribbin and chipboard letters!  Check it out:


The giraffe print ribbin looks brown in this picture, but it really is green.  I guess maybe I got bored.  I'm sure a plain white trash can would have been fine.

OH!  I almost forgot to mention.  While my family was here for the baby shower, my amazing cousin took some maternity photos for us!  She is so talented!  Here are some of my favorites!














EEEPP!!  Aren't they amazing!  I love them!!!  If you are anywhere near Rome, Georgia check them out!  Her and her husband make a great team at Time & Again Photography!

Ok, I guess that's all for now.  I've left you with a lot to read.  Enjoy!