One Week

Our sweet baby is a week old already.  Michael is still very easy going and happy.  He sleeps a lot, but he's spending more and more time awake every day.  He makes some pretty funny faces, and he sometimes smiles for a second or two.  He can hold his head up for a few seconds at a time as well.  Luckily for me, he sleeps well at night.  

We're having a great time as a family of three!  

Michael Phillip

It's a boy!  Michael Phillip was born on Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 7:54am.  He weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and was 21 inches long.  

My mother came in town on Tuesday, and Michael was showing no signs of wanting to be born.  Mom had me on the treadmill every day trying to walk him out!  Friday afternoon, he finally decided he was ready.  We went to the hospital around 5:30 on Friday night when my contractions were coming about 5 minutes apart.

Thanks to the marvels of modern medicine, it was a pretty pleasant experience for all of us.  Jacob had decided that the baby was going to be a girl a few months ago, so he was absolutely shocked that Michael was a boy.  

GG and Michael

Jamie and Jeremy came to see us that morning, and they brought us some snacks and drinks.  That was wonderful since the hospital food wasn't exactly the best.  On Sunday morning, it was time for us to go home.

Michael seemed to be pretty content on the way home.

And so did Jacob! :)

When we got home, Jamie and Jeremy had decorated our yard in honor of our newest family member.

We spent the rest of Mom's visit recovering and enjoying time with Michael.

So far, he's a very good baby.  We are so very blessed to have him in our lives!  We've waited a long time for our precious baby, and we are so grateful that he is finally here.

He gives childless couples a family,
      gives them joy as the parents of children.
   Hallelujah!

   Psalm 113:9

Almost There

Only 6 days left until my due date!  I'm feeling uncomfortably large, so I'm ready to get this show on the road!

39 weeks, 1 day

Nursery

We've finished the nursery for the most part, so I figured I'd go ahead and share a few pictures.  

The wall color is Sterling by Valspar, but we actually had them match the color at Home Depot so we could get Behr paint.  A little of that stuff goes a long way!

The bed and dresser were already in the room, so we just shuffled things around a bit so we could add the crib and chair.  Jacob's parents gave us that chair, and we made new cushions for it.  

Jacob made the valance and changing table.  He really dislikes the way the changing table came out, but I like it.

It's best feature is that it becomes a nightlight.  I think this will be really handy for night-time feedings.

And here's the crib area.  I made all the crib sheets with the help of this great tutorial from Michael Miller Fabrics.  It was much easier than I had expected.  For the crib skirt, I just hemmed some rectangles of fabric to the right sizes and used Velcro to keep them in place.  This way, I can just reposition the Velcro as we lower the matress.

The mobile is one of my favorite things in the room.  I used a 12" embroidery hoop, fishing line, felt, and polyfill to make it.  

This is what it will look like from Baby D's perspective.

I bought these precious paintings from Trafalgar Square on Etsy.  I absolutely love them!

The bunting is made from more of that felt and fishing line.

The shelves are from Lowe's, and they were surprisingly hard to install.  Jacob ended up having to use all these fancy screws and wall anchors that were not included in the package.  

Jacob made that headboard from an old door when we lived in Waco.  He also cut those shapes on the wall from MDF, and I upholstered them.  I love the fact that my husband is so handy!  

So there you have it.  Now we just need our baby.  I'm really hoping s/he decides to come sooner rather than later!

Grandma Bobbie

I love this picture of my grandmother.  I've had it on my refrigerator for years now.  She's the one in the middle with the brown, puffy hair and the beautiful smile.  I'm the little one in the middle, sitting on my great grandmother's knee and looking up at my dad, who--from my perspective now--seems little older than a child himself.

My Grandma Bobbie was a singer, song-writer, poet, and author.  Some of those titles by profession, and others simply by a love for the art.  I remember as a child looking through boxes upon boxes of tapes she had made of her songs and the strong sound of her voice on those less-than-crystal-clear recordings.  I remember going to church when she was singing, and how she would hit notes so high my ears would ring.   I remember a children's book she wrote about angels, and how she used real make-up to shade their illustrated faces.  I remember the strong peppermint smell of her muscle cream and a photograph she took of a cloud that looked just like an angel. 

When I saw her at Christmas, I told her that I would bring her first great grandchild to see her soon.  I cried on the way home because I was certain I'd made a promise I would not be able to keep.  I can't say that I was surprised on Saturday night when I got the call.  She had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for as long as I can remember, and in the past few years her health had declined greatly.  I'm so grateful to have had her in my life for as long as I did, and I'm also grateful that she's not suffering anymore.  I know that she has been restored and is singing beautiful songs before the throne of God.

Pink or Blue?

Today we've made it to 37 weeks!  Last week after my doctor's appointment, I stopped by a children's clothing boutique (yes, we actually have one).  I left with two adorable outfits.  I just don't know which one our child will get to wear!  Pink or blue?  What do you think?

I took these pictures last week at 36 weeks and 1 day.

I've officially reached the point where I'm uncomfortably large...

And this is our little one!  The hand looks very strange, but that's just some distortion.  S/he looks much more human than at our last sonogram! 

So today I'm very grateful that our due date is only three weeks away.  It's hard to believe that s/he will be here so soon!  What do you think?  Is it a boy or a girl?

Christmas Recap- Huntsville

On Christmas Day, we drove up to Huntsville to see Jacob's family.  When we arrived, we went directly to Grandmother's house to visit with Jacob's mother's side of the family.  The next day, we opened presents.

It was so much fun to watch our nephews open gifts and get some gifts for ourselves as well!

They loved wrestling with Uncle Jake (when he would agree to it).  They also loved their Legos.  Luke was interested in what could be built with the Legos, but Owen really just wanted to carry the Lego men around.

On Wednesday morning, the boys took a trip up to Green Mountain to walk around.  Luke said that they walked "forever."  I think they had a good time, even with all the walking!

Wednesday night, MaryBeth and Wes had a shower for us and Baby Huey!  It was so much fun! 

They had coffee, tea, and all kinds of delicious cakes.  It's a good thing I'm on an "eat whatever I want" kind of diet right now! :)  I'm pretty sure I tried them all!

We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone who came!  It was great to reconnect with so many people we haven't seen in what seems like a very long time!

Thanks, Wes and MB for such a great party!

MaryBeth made the cutest centerpiece for the cake table with some of our baby pictures, but unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of it!  You can see a little bit of it in the picture below.

Then on Thursday night, we drove up to Nashville to see the Zac Brown Band in concert!  It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen!  I'm not sure if the baby loved it or hated it, but s/he was dancing around the whole time!

So, that's about it for our Christmas vacation.  It was wonderful to spend so much time with our family and friends at home!