Baby Post: Meet Irene

In August we celebrated the birth of our daughter, Irene.  Induced after five days past her due date, fluids were low, so I took the doctors advice and headed to the hospital to have this beauty.  I tried to be tough and go the no drug route, however, decided after a few hours of labor on Pitocin to go ahead and get an epidural.  Better luck next time.  I wasn't set or adamant about having it go either way, I figured I'd do what felt best at the time.

 Here is my sweetie pie the day after her birth.  She was a very alert newborn.

 Looking back at these photos, seeing how much she has grown in half of a year makes me a little misty-eyed.  The things she has learned how to do, so quickly, amaze me.

 She (usually) is a very happy little girl.  

 My 90+ percentile child has been quick to learn her baby skills.

 

 Until about last week or so, she would ONLY nap on someone (spoiled much?) 

 I didn't mind the snuggle time what-so-ever.

Yeah, house work didn't get done.

I kept telling myself, she'll only be this little once.  Enjoy it.

 Before she hit 5 months she was crawling.  Before 6 she was creeping fast!!

 We learned to sit up and now she is on the move big time!

 In the past few weeks she has been pulling to stand.  Nothing is safe!! We have definitely had to make adjustments and "baby proof." 

Being a mother is more than I could have ever dreamed.  The joy I feel when I see her succeed and try something new.  The kisses.  The snuggles.  

It definitely hasn't been easy.  Especially now that she is so adventurous.  We can't stop all the falls.  There will be bruises.

My beautiful daughter.  I look forward to watching you grow every day.

Baby Post: The Breastfeeding/Pumping/Working Mommy

Before you have your first baby, people share their baby experiences with you.  All. The. Time.  In order to remain sane and not begin to worry about which way is the right way for your baby, listen, thank them for their advice, and remember. . . you do not have to take it.  Catalog it somewhere in that "mom brain" and if you need it later, perhaps that file will open for you.  

Even before I had gotten pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed my baby.  I thought it was pretty amazing and almost "super mom-like" that my body would create the food she would need.  (Disclaimer: Its everyone's choice, I do not begrudge any mom who decided it wasn't for her.) Not only had I decided to breastfeed, but I had decided to become a working-pumping mom.  

We were extremely lucky that our daughter came out being quite a pro when it came to nursing.  (I tell myself it is because of those 5 days past her due date she was just "hanging around.") I was able to stay home with her until she was two months old, I'm thankful, because thinking back to about her 6th week. . . I would have NOT been ready to return to school.  Pumping as a teacher can be tricky.  I am sure it is tricky for many jobs.  Luckily, as a middle school teacher with some kind of planning, I am able to work around that schedule.  I have had to remember at times that I am now a mother first, teacher second.  I have had to advocate for myself at work in order to insure I can pump.  I hate being that person who says she "cannot" do something, but I have had to insist on a duty schedule that would allow me to get in a 25 minutes session at the end of the day.  The beginning of the day is a little tricky, but last year I made sure (in preparation for this new baby/new mom/planning on pumping school year) to ask my administrator to have a collab class first period.  I have a brilliantly wonderful collab teacher that I work with and allows me to use her classroom next door to take care of my "mommy business" the last 10 or so minutes of class.  People are usually willing to help you out, they knew the importance of the mom job we do.

I bring/use two different pumps while at school.   For my morning pump, since I have to travel next door (and try to be discrete since I teach middle schoolers,) I use the Philips Avent Manual Pump.  I love this pump.  It is easy to assemble and clean, it also goes with the Avent Natural bottles we chose to use with our daughter.  My afternoon pump I use the Medela Pump In Style (thank you Affordable Care Act) which was covered by my insurance.  It is ALSO a great pump.  I use this one when I can sit down, with my hands free pumping bra, grade some papers and let the pump do its job.  

I highly recommend (and again, please feel free to file this mommy's advice somewhere in the back of that mommy brain- because what worked for me, might not work for you,) having two pump options.  It has been a life saver those mornings where I forgot a part to one or the other or I just needed to quickly pump without attaching tubes and dealing with power cords.  

I've now been back at school and have been able to pump every day.  Some days have been "bad" pumping days and some have been AMAZING.  I am finding that, for me, there is no number that I will always reach.  Some days I'm stuck in IEP meetings or Parent Teacher Conferences thinking "OH MY WORD, I HAVE TO GO PUMP!!!"  But I make do.  I am very open with my colleagues that I may need to go first and go "do my mommy business." I keep telling myself: Mom first. Teacher second. 

We're over six months in and still going strong.  My goal is to make it to a year.  I hope we do.  Not only am I loving the fact that for the first six months we did not have to pay for food for my child, but I have this wonderful bond with my daughter that I did not know could even exist.  I feel empowered.  I'm in love.  I am a breastfeeding mother.

15 Months

I have been thinking a lot about blogging.  

I started this blog right after we purchased our home with great intentions of documenting all of the exciting DIY projects I had planned to do...and I'm sure I'll get to them -someday.  About a week after the last post in November, 2012 we were surprised with the most wonderful news of our life.  We were pregnant!  Saying I was "a little" distracted is probably the biggest understatement I could probably make.  

Pregnancy at the time seemed like one of the slowest, yet amazing experiences.  It now feels so long ago that I carried my beautiful daughter inside of me.  The house has had very little decorative changes made to it with the exception of my daughters room.  

 Here you can see the attempt at a panorama of her room.  We had a fabulous time painting it grey with several of my college sisters from my fraternity and other close friends.

 The theme, if you can really call it that, is Totoro (a very nifty character from a Japanese/Disney film by Hayao Miyazaki.) He is a childhood favorite of mine.  

 I am particularly proud of this bookshelf makeover.  It is your typical Closet Maid bookshelf that I took scrapbook paper and lined the backs.  Because this bookshelf only comes with the cardboard to put backings in for 4 of the cubes, I made my own so that all of the sections would have a back.  

 The dresser/changing area: are changing tables necessary? To keep the mat from slipping we used shelf drawer liner underneath.  Dresser is from the Hemnes series from Ikea.

 I had seen shelves like these all over Pinterest.  Most were made using the Ikea spice rack.  The day we traveled up to Ikea, they were sold out.  We found these gems in the picture frame area of Ikea and honestly, I think I prefer them.  No painting required!

Having a six month old gives me very few minutes to sit down and blog, however, I hope to be back soon! 

Table Legs and Curtains

The next two projects to blog about will be the table legs debacle and the living room curtains I'm planning on making soon.

Perhaps Everything Happens for a Reason

Originally the plan for this room was to be orange with the orange curtains I was making from my Ikea fabric.  Well our Ikea trip turned out successful but not for my material.  I did not have enough for the small window, only the two big ones.  These Ikea curtains jumped out at me as I was walking away from their window treatment area and I literally ran back to get them!  What I love most about them is that they have the cafe curtains style with the grommets on top.  I love how they look when hung!

So I purchased the curtains, a little worried that working backwards again would lead the same problem I had in my bathroom.  I worked backwards from my shower curtain, and after painting the bathroom, decided I didn't like the shower curtain with the color anymore.  This time, we were successful! 

I looked back at my paint chips and fell in love with the color Blue Aguave by Behr.  However, we had a coupon for Lowes, and I've had good success with Valspar, so I decided to see if they had a similar color.  They didn't! BUT, they were able to make my Behr color anyways! They tinted my paint the color I wanted!  Now, if you are tinting paint, you cannot return it.  Make sure you like it before you ask them to make you your color.  No regrets here!

 So, I joked with one of my friends today that I really should have name this blog "Things I Saw on Pinterest that I'm Going to TOTALLY Try."  Here is one of them!  Line your paint tray with aluminum foil! I had tried this on the bathroom upstairs, but didn't have foil big enough.  This time I made sure I did. 

 Prepping to paint the room took me about two hours to tape the entire room off last night.  This time I even taped off the ceilings.  It worked out really well.  Usually I free hand it and it works just fine too, however, this cut the "cutting in" portion of painting down drastically!  

 This morning I corralled the pups in the bathroom and they watched me paint from behind the gate.  

 I started around 8:30am and had finished the first coat by lunch time from top to bottom.  By 2:00pm I was finished painting! What a workout it was!

 Look how straight the ceilings are! So crisp looking! I'm definitely doing this in all my painting endeavors from now on.

 My curtains from Ikea really ended up looking quite good with the color we chose.

 This panorama photo is a little awkward but gives you an idea of the room.

 My new pillows from Ikea flank the futon.

 The children's corner.  As you can see there are pictures to be hung.  My that'll be for another day.  No we don't have children, but we do have Godsons/Nephews! 

Looking forward to getting the photos up tomorrow!

Ikea Trip: Semi-Success!

I had some success at my Ikea trip! The biggest disappointment was that they were temporarily out of the orange fabric that I was going for.  The big bummer about that was-guess when it was due to arrive.  Tonight.  Oh well, better luck next time.  I can always find a reason to go back to Ikea.

My loot:
-picture frames $2 a piece
-decorative pillows $13 a piece
-curtains (2 panels in each package) $25
-candle $5
-kitchen counter "spoon holder" - $5
-chalkboard/bill organizer $14

It was still a successful trip and I was able to bring my best friend and her baby on their first trip!  Even though we didn't eat any Swedish meatballs, we still both found some amazing things and didn't break the bank!

Project for tomorrow: the den/family room will be painted! I've already made a dent in taping off the room. (If you want to do something well, you have to make sure you spend time prepping!)  Can't wait to show off my progress tomorrow!

Friday Night: Planning for Saturday Ikea Trip & My Pups

Tonight I'm getting mentally ready for my trip to Ikea tomorrow.  Planning out budget, must buys, and what would be nice to buy!  I am taking my best friend who has never been!  She's going to have too much fun.  Ikea is like my amusement park.  

My handsome puppy Jackson wants to know why I'm browsing the internet instead of petting him.  He doesn't mind the unorganized, not styled home he's living in (he probably approves of the piles of clothes and linens that need to be sorted, washed, unpacked still after a month of us having moved in).  We were so happy to finally have a HOME for Jackson and our other wonderful pup Mr. Darcy.  

We've had them both now for over 4 years; in that time they've lived at now 5-6 places.  Now they get to be home.  Jackson was originally Ryan's dog that we got our senior year of college as a puppy.  He's lived in Farmville with me in my apartment, moved into my husband's townhouse six months later when school was over.  I rescued Mr. Darcy a year after we had gotten Jackson from a local vets office my friend was working at.  He was a stray who wandered over to their offices and lived there for a few months until I adopted him.  He lived with me at home for about six months.  Finally we moved in together, and they lived in a condo in Glen Allen together for two years and then a house in the Ginter Park area of Richmond. During our transition from the Ginter Park house to our home we were temporarily "homeless." They could not stay with me where I was staying, so they stayed with our good friends in Farmville.  Finally, after years of moving, they get to be home!  

We don't plan on moving for a LONG time.  

Can't wait to show you my finds at Ikea tomorrow.