a few firsts

So I was just looking through some pictures and thought I'd post some of them. I'm seeing a "firsts" theme coming through...I guess that will happen for a while!

Here are some pictures of Wren's first bath...she has mixed emotions on bathtime. She hates the part where we wash her legs and belly, etc. But she loooves the part where we rub her head and pamper her. Atta girl!

This was her first bath and she still had her umbilical cord. We're about ready to start her baths in her big girl spa tub!

Take a look at those curls! It's really funny, actually. Her hair really does curl right up in the back. And she has a lot of hair in the back! Kind of like a little old man...not much on the top, but lots on the sides and back!Funny story...

Remember, this was her FIRST bath! And that means this was OUR first time GIVING a bath! So...we had some things to learn! Well, we forgot her pj's upstairs, and her diaper in the other room, so I held her in her cozy cute monster towel while Daddy ran and got what we forgot. Well....let's just say that she found this to be the perfect time to, umm...unload! So we had to re-clean the baby's butt! And the towel got a nice initiation into baby bathing!

But isn't she so cute?! (Have I mentioned how much I love pictures of crying babies?! So adorable!)...Her first photo shoot...
I have a beautiful friend, Annie, who I lived with in college, and she does photography. She drove all the way from Greenwood to take Wren's newborn pictures and it was so much fun! This was just 2 days after coming home from the hospital. We love how everything turned out!...Her first walk, all bundled up and cozy......Her first dress...
Note: We discovered that gray isn't necessarily her best color! But she wanted to wear something nice and pretty for my co-workers who were coming to visit. Unfortunately, the dress was huge and the tights literally fell off of her, so we had to get a different outfit. But not before snapping a quick pic of her first dress!...Her first tummy time!...
She actually really seems to like tummy time! We've tried to do it pretty regularly because we want her to build her neck muscles. She's been holding her head up since the first week, but she's getting so much better! ...And this isn't a first of anything, but I couldn't handle how different she looks! This was from her first week home and she's in her tiny little birdie outfit. Her face and legs have filled out so much since then!! Her eyes look so funny, like Mr. Magoo! She's still such a sweet girl! I'm sure we've got plenty more firsts to come! We're working on our Christmas decorations this week so hopefully some good pictures of that to come!

Weeks 1 & 2

I decided to take on a little project and try to take a picture of Wren each week on a different piece of fabric. We'll see how it goes...we're definitely learning! But I think it will be neat to look back and see how much she grows over the course of her first year.

Here are her first two pictures:

1 Week Old:

2 Weeks Old:

We had her 2 week appointment this morning and our little overachiever has certainly gained weight! They like for them to be back to their birth weight by the 2 week appointment and she far surpassed that! She was born at 7 lbs., 7 ounces and today she was 8 lbs., 3 ounces! She has also grown from 19 1/2 inches to 20 1/2 inches! A whole inch in 2 weeks!!

So proud of her!!

Yes, Wren is HERE!

Wren Michelle
11/7/10

3:16am

7 lbs., 7 oz.
19 1/2 inches long
Perfect in every way!

She arrived 2 weeks ago! Yes, I'm a little behind but I hope everyone can forgive me!!

Our little bird is here and we're settling in nicely as a family of 5. (Can't forget our first babies!) Josh goes back to work tomorrow morning and is pretty sad, but we've been so thankful for the opportunity that he had to be at home with us for 2 weeks, especially at this time of year.

Wren is really a good baby. She only whimpers when she's hungry and (knock on wood) very rarely cries. She sometimes gets mad when we're changing her diaper or giving her a bath, though she loves to have her feet rubbed and her hair washed. She's sleeping 3 to 4 hours at a time and our nightly routine is pretty manageable. I'm still adjusting to non-interrupted sleep, but overall things are working out pretty well.

Lots of new updates to come, when I find the time!!

We really are so in love with this perfect little human. She is everything we had hoped for and much more. We can't get enough of oohing and aahhhing over her and of course every little sound and facial expression is cause for cheer and excitement. Looking forward to showing her off on here again very soon!!

Wren-Watch

One day left! Our due date is officially less than 24 hours away and though there's no sign of Wren's arrival anytime soon, we sure are ready! She's apparently nice and cozy and hasn't listened to the eviction notice that's been served.

Just in case, though, we're all set...

Our hospital bags are packed... ...her carseat is installed and has been inspected...
...several freezer meals have been prepared (by us AND others, THANK YOU!), though we still have a few more that we could do...

...her baby gear is all set up, with batteries, ready for use...

...her laundry basket is empty...

...and her closet is filled with adorable outfits all ready to be worn......her accessories are all ready...after all, a girl can never have too many shoes, hats and hairbows!...

...her bibs, towels, blankets, sheets and swaddlers are all clean, folded and organized...

...her crib is ready to welcome her...

...her chair is ready for hours of bonding time, complete with personalized boppy and blanket made by Auntie Elizabeth...

...her diapers are washed, color coded and all ready to be filled with a cute little bum (and other things!)...

...and her jammies are all clean and ready for cozy nights cuddling at home.

So as you can see, we're all set. There are a few projects that I'm still working on for her room, but I want to wait until the right things come along. I don't want to just put stuff up to do it, so it will take some time.

Baby Watch is in full swing. Do you hear that, little girl?! We're ready and waiting, you can join us any old time!!

We have a doctor's appointment in the morning and we should know more after that, but we're very hopeful that we'll be welcoming our little miracle by the end of this weekend! Stay tuned...

Happy Halloween, 2010!

Halloween was pretty fun this year! Living in our new neighborhood, there were TONS of kids out and about. It was such a fun community feeling and I loved seeing all the kids dressed up and thinking about what we'll be dressing Wren up as next year.

On Saturday night, Griff had a sleepover with a friend, so Lincoln and I decided we'd have a little date night. Josh had to work, so Linc came over for a little bit. His request was that we carve a pumpkin and bake brownies. So first we carved a pumpkin...I think it turned out pretty cute! Then we baked brownies and played dominos while they were baking. It was fun to spend some time with him before the baby!

Then on Sunday, the boys came over to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Here's Officer Lincoln:

And such a cute little Harry Pottah (he was so annoyed that we kept talking like they do in the movie...but he was so cute!)

Finally, since I've been a little camera shy (at least on this blog and facebook) about showing my humongous baby belly, I thought I'd post my Halloween pictures. Might be the last belly pics anyone sees! I did my best to get into the Halloween spirit with my orange and black!

Now, prepare yourself...I'm going to turn to the side! Am I huge, or AM.I.HUGE?!?! Really weird to compare that picture to the one below, taken at 20 weeks!

Wren-Watch 2010 continues...no news...yet!

Shower for the Little Birdie

Oh. My. Goodness!! I'm so behind here, but I'm still in awe over the amazing baby shower that was thrown for Wren and Josh and I! It was almost 2 months ago, yet I am still digesting what an emotional and surreal day it was for us. To think, for going on 4 years, that we may never have the opportunity to have a day devoted to celebrating OUR baby, it still brings tears to my eyes to think that we actually DID get to do it! And we were surrounded by so many women who have been such a great support for us...they've prayed for us, they've been shoulders for me to cry on, they've gotten mad and frustrated with me and for me, they've listened, they've shared their own miracle successes. They were there through the struggle, through the excitement and joy of celebrating Mya, and the subsequent heartbreaking loss that we endured. And they were there to celebrate Wren, our little miracle. I'm still overwhelmed by the love and pure excitement shown for us and for Wren. She's truly one lucky little girl.

So this will be a picture-heavy post, but I can't let one detail go unseen!!

My sister pulled together an all-star planning team. No joke, they had several planning meetings, complete with minutes and projects and WAY TOO MUCH spoiling of me!! So to Shell, Patty, Bub, Wendi and Laura--again, THANK YOU!! It was beyond my wildest vision of how wonderful a baby shower could have been!

Here's a picture of my little throne and Wren's bedroom painting, along with the cute gift table:The food was DEElish!
The little birdie cupcakes were TO DIE FOR! I was so excited that my sister got her friend to make the cupcakes. She is the one who made the cute little drunken mouse cake for my birthday last year, and my mouth still waters thinking about her delicious cakes!!Even Ronnie got in on the planning! Remember that we were living at Ron and Patty's in between houses during this time, and I knew there was a triple-top-secret project going on in Ronnie's garage, but I didn't find out until I walked in that he had actually built a ton of little wren houses for game prizes! They are beyond sweet and such a great addition to the bird theme!Here I am with Bub and Shell, so thankful for them in my life!! They're two very proud aunties, that's for sure!Here's a closeup of Ronnie's wren house:

The "Friend of the Year" award goes to Jessi (right), who flew in especially for my shower all the way from Florida! Jenn is on the left and I'm sad this picture doesn't include Mom Jaye. These three women have taken me into their family and treated me as a sister/daughter and given me so much love in the time I've known them.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful guests: This picture makes me laugh. Everyone was really excited to try to win the bird houses and Denise gave her most dramatic expression of excitement when she won one!
Loved the little clothesline! It's one of my signature baby shower projects and I was so excited that they did it for me!

Here is Daddy unwrapping Wren's Wyoming onesie. Hopefully she'll bring them some luck!!

There should seriously be a law against making a huge pregnant lady turn sideways while all of her non-pregnant friends get to face forward! I'm a giant, but that's okay! From left to right, here are my wonderful, generous, creative hostesses: Wendi, Patty, Laura, Bub and Shell:

And here is the only good picture (aka Josh doesn't have his eyes closed, Christina still looks like a moose!) of the two of us together: Here are some pictures of the aftermath! It was INSANE. Everyone was beyond generous and I think really enjoyed spoiling the heck out of Wren! Like I said before, we were living with Josh's parents at the time, so our gifts took over their bonus room. I tried to be very strategic about unpacking and making sure that I didn't unpack anything until the thank you was written. Needless to say, it looked like Babies R Us exploded in the room! Luckily, I had my thank you's done in about 3 days so it wasn't like this for long!

Once I wrote the thank you, I tried to organize things on the pool table. You can see a bit of the finished product, which was then boxed up, ready and waiting to make it to Wren's house!

Everyone loves to buy baby girl clothes, that's clear!

And they also suggested everyone bring a book for Wren if they wanted. We are SO beyond excited for her book collection. We both love reading so much and we're excited to share that love with Wren. She's certainly off to a great start. Daddy is still reading to her pretty much every night, so having all of these new books really allowed him to expand his horizons! (And it gave me a break from hearing How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? ONE MORE TIME!) :) No, really though, we are so excited to work on her playroom and get her bookshelves together! Like I said, I'm still digesting this day! It was emotional and surreal and we will never ever forget it! I hope I was able to express to everyone who came that though the gifts are fun and they mean a lot, we are most appreciative of the excitement and support that everyone showed. We will forever be grateful for the prayers.

Happy Birthaversary!

On October 10th, we celebrated Ron and Patty's 35th Anniversary along with Patty's 55th Birthday. Ron and Josh worked on the fence all day, but we celebrated with pizza and cake.

Aren't they so cute?! We're beyond lucky to have them. Here's Patty blowing out her candles. If you can believe it, I actually MADE a cake WITH two layers! Granted, it was from a box, but it was a huge accomplishment for me. I didn't burn it and it actually tasted good, so that was a bonus! I wrote "Happy Birthaversary!" on it.
Such a special day for our family because it celebrates our wonderful, sweet caring mom and their marriage, which is such a great example for us.

trying to catch up

I'm going to try to post a few updates this week. I have so much to update on--the house, my baby shower, birthdays, baby prep, all sorts of things! It's funny, you never realize how many people read your blog until you fail to update for months at a time!! Thanks for checking in on us! :) First, just a written update, pics will come soon.

Things are going pretty well for us. We're getting slowly settled into the new house and we're loving it. We got unpacked pretty quickly but we are still working on making it feel nice and homey. We've done some painting, got some curtains for the living room, added a few touches here and there, etc., but we still have a lot of work to do. Lots of small things, really, like hanging pictures, putting the loft/landing area together, etc. But we've certainly been busy little bees.

Josh has been hard at work, with the help of his mom and dad, at putting up a fence. We're so happy to have it! I'm not sure who's happier--the dogs for being able to roam and run, us for not having to put them on a leash several times a day to potty, or Josh and his dad for finally bringing the project to a close! I'll post lots of pictures soon, Josh still has a few things to do, so I will wait until we can get final pictures. It looks so beautiful and we love our backyard!

As for Baby Watch 2010, we are in a bit of a holding pattern!! We're so ready to meet Wren! She seems to be nice and cozy and I don't think she's planning on coming for another week or two. I've been at 80% effaced and dilated a cm for 2 weeks now. The doctor says she's measuring big, so he won't probably let her go much, if at all, over her due date. She's measuring a week ahead, and he's estimating that she'll be an 8+ pound baby. So either way, we're (hopefully) no more than 10 or 11 days away from being introduced to this little girl!

As for me, I really can't complain. I've had such an enjoyable pregnancy. Only in the past few weeks have I really even felt even the slightest bit uncomfortable. Mostly, she's been putting a lot of pressure on my pelvis, so that's uncomfortable, and it's become hard to turn over in bed, so that, combined with many nightly trips to the bathroom means sleep has been a little tough. But I have to say, it's been so much fun and I still marvel at her moving and rolling around in my belly. I think we've been pretty good about not taking a second of this pregnancy for granted and we've both really enjoyed it.

As of this past Thursday, my doctor put me on what I guess we could call modified bedrest. Basically, I'm having some pretty severe ear issues which are causing extreme vertigo to the point that I'm not able to walk on my own and I end up vomiting several times before I crash and am dead to the world for a few hours. It takes a toll on my body and it's hard to predict when my episodes will come on, so the doctor has restricted me from driving. In addition, my BP was a bit elevated for the past few weeks, and I've got a little swelling (though nothing extra from what I've had pretty much the whole pregnancy), so he asked that I cut back from working and just do 4 hours a day. So needless to say, I'm ready for this Wren to BE HERE! I feel like I'm wasting part of my maternity leave and would so much rather use that time when she's here than just while we're waiting for her. The worst part is that I FEEL good. I'm a bit tired, but when I'm not having an ear issue, I feel pretty great. So it's hard to feel like I need to be working less when I feel great 90% of the time. But we're willing to do whatever the doctor thinks is the best for Wren, so cutting back is a priority.

I think that's about it. Josh is such a sweet daddy. He's been constantly on the go, making lists of things he wants to do before his little girl arrives. He's been busy with all of her "gear," putting swings and strollers together, installing carseats, hanging mirrors, etc. We're both giddy with anticipation and trying to enjoy these last few days before our lives are changed forever. Come on, baby girl, we're ready!!

Stay tuned for more posts!!

still alive!

We're here! We are finally in our new house and getting settled a little bit. We spent the last month living with Josh's parents while we waited for our closing date. On Friday, with an entire 4 minutes to spare before being bumped to Tuesday after the long weekend, we closed on the new house!! So we have been hard at work getting somewhat settled. We spent Friday cleaning and Saturday cleaning and painting with the help of Josh's parents and Bub, then Sunday was the big moving day. We had a lot of help and are very appreciative to Ron, Patty, Bub, Ryan, Dan, Caleb and Jeff for helping with the move! It was actually incredibly smooth, thankfully!

Here's a picture of a very relieved Josh at our closing. He was on the phone all day trying to get ahold of our lender and making sure everything was ready to go. I'm pretty sure he gained a few gray hairs over it all, but he's still as cute as ever!Here he is at our very first family dinner in the new house. The dogs are liking it pretty well, though Lukey is still scared of everything. Poor little guy is a nervous wreck and can't figure out what we're doing and why we're doing it. Kowe is happy to be back in her big bed with everybody together, she's even being pretty nice to her brother which is unusual. Though I'm pretty sure she misses the attention she got at Grammy's and she is definitely missing the abundance of treats! She's made friends with a few of the neighbor kids and though they wanted to make friends with Lukey, too, he pretty much cowered under Josh's legs.
Finally, Wren's room is coming together soooo well!! We're loving how everyhing is working out and we still have a lot of work to do, but it's going to be so adorable! Josh put her crib together yesterday while I hung all of her clothes. (And there are a LOT of clothes!)

So this is officially Wren's first time IN her crib, hanging out while Daddy gets it all together. You can see her at the bottom of the picture, out in full force! You can also see a sneak peak at the color of the walls. More pictures to come, and a big post about the amazing baby shower that was thrown for us! Sooooon, hopefully.