Baby 3.0 Nursery

I have had this room done for a while but I was waiting to post it until I had taken a few detail pictures. Sorry it took me a while to get around to it. 

Designing this nursery started as a real challenge to me. There were a few things to take into consideration.
 - I try to design these nurseries for my kids to be able to be lived in for a while, or like Miller's room, easily transition to a big kid room. I do not want it to only be a baby room.
- I usually pick a theme but I try to make it more of an inspiration than the theme threw up all over the room.
- This girl was getting lots of hand me down items from her older siblings that I had to make work all together.
- There is a possibility that her and Scarlett will be sharing a room one day so I was trying to keep some things cohesive between the two.

That being said, it is nice to finally own our home and know that I could do whatever I wanted in this nursery, starting with paint. Also, that we will not be moving anytime soon so this will be her room for a while. Miller had 6 months in his original nursery and poor Scarlett only had 4 months.

Before pics. It was just boring but served as our guest room. The guest room has now moved to the basement. 

Lets talk about paint color. When I found out Scarlett was a girl, I was so anti-pink. I was all about purple for her. As soon as we started to think this was another girl, I knew I wanted to paint her room pink. Now finding the right shade was tricky. I did not want bubble gum or baby pink, I wanted a light, vintage looking pink. Pretty much I was looking for a light pink with just the slightest tinge of orange. The color we ended up with is perfect but you will just have to take my word for it that it isn't too pink in person. It is Airy Pink Balloon by Behr. 

On to theme, I really wanted to do an ocean/mermaid inspired room. I tried to just get that across in textures, colors and a few other small touches. The main colors for the room were the vintage light pink, a little coral, aqua blue, gold and a little navy.

Scarlett has gold dots behind her wall and this baby has herringbone. 

This artwork is special to me. Each child has a large monogram on their walls that goes with the theme of their room. Scarlett's room theme was just girly things so I did pearls for her and was stumped about what to do for this room. I made scales with polymer clay and painted it pearl. It is absolutely perfect. As for the canvas, for Scarlett's room, Miller and I painted something for her wall so this time we got Scarlett in on it and painted something for this room.

Each kid has a wreath on their door in their room colors.

I worked so hard on these pillows. There is really no need for most of them but I like how they bring the theme all together. 

I am really happy with this room. It turned out so much better than I was originally expecting it to and I am so excited  to be able to see this little girl grow up in here. 

Introducing Violet

So I am obviously not 50 weeks pregnant,and I am obviously horrible at blogging. I have so little free time that when I finally get on my computer, I completely forget about trying to keep up with this. In fact, my mind completely blanks out on all the things that I kept thinking that I needed to do when I finally got on my computer.

Quick Birth Story. My due date came and went, much to my (and my mother's) frustration. Two days after my due date, I was laying in bed when my water broke. When my water broke with Scarlett, it was a trickle. This was a waterfall. We called around and made arrangements for the kids while we finished packing.

We got to the hospital where they checked me and I was at 5cm. I was having contractions but my nurse and doctor thought it was so odd that I was this far along but not in pain. After getting settled in, Ben and I started doing laps around the floor. I started having more contractions and eventually they started coming one on top of the other and majorly hurting. I went much longer without my epidural this time but I was only at 6cm. I eventually got my epidural but they started suggested pitocin to move things along since I was not progressing a ton. They checked me and I was still at 7cm. 15 minutes later my doctor brought in the pitocin but decided to check me again and I was at 9cm so she wanted me to start pushing.

I pushed once and my doctor looked at Ben and asked if he wanted to help. He got all decked out in gloves and a gown and he sat on the stool between my legs. The doctor stood next to him but Ben delivered the baby. He coached me, helped her come out, caught her and then gave her to me. (I did not put  those pictures on here for good reasons). It was such a neat experience for him. It took just a few pushes and I got to watch part of it all in a mirror (which I never wanted to do with the other kids).

Violet was born at 9:45 pm on November 15th. She weighed 7lbs 11oz (same as I did). They said that she was 21.5 inches long but they were wrong because she was only 20.5 inches at her one month appointment. Her head does not look it but is 14.5 inches. The doctor was shocked and said it was one of the biggest she had seen. Yeah, Miller was 15 inches.

She has the sweetest little face!

The kids absolutely love her! Scarlett freaked out the first time she saw me nurse her but then the next time, she tried to help her and hold her head. They are always kissing on her and asking to hold her. Scarlett's new catch phrase is, "Hi baby ViiiiIIIII". The ending gets longer and more high pitched every time she says it. Miller is such a good helper and does anything he can to help her. As soon as she cries, Scarlett searches for her paci and starts shushing to her.

People always terrified me about having 3 kids and it is different, but not terrifying. I had a little anxiety at the beginning, like "what did I get myself in to" but that has passed. I just find it feels weird to have this two older kids that are very independent and then this little person who is so needy. I have a relationship with Miller and Scarlett because we interact with each other but poor Violet just does not have a full personality yet. The contrast between them feels so weird and I know it will pass as she gets older and interacts more but right now, it bugs me.

Besides that, we are doing great. She is a good sleeper and eater. We have a routine that we are getting into which makes me feel better. She is not great about being put down but sorry kid, you are the third kid and it has to happen. Sometimes she is a little difficult to get to sleep but nothing too bad. She is so happy when she is talked to. It is Miller's favorite thing to get her to make "a laughing face" aka, smile. We are just trying to enjoy every moment with this new tiny person.

I would like to say that I will blog more but the only reason that this one is happening is because Violet let me put her down earlier than she normally allows. I will try, but I doubt much will happen.

Pregnancy Update: 3rd Trimester

(I love this one because it was Halloween weekend and Miller looks like he is scared of my belly). 

I just wanted to post a pregnancy update for this baby girl because I have done so few. Everything has been going fine. I have been so sore and it just keeps getting worse but that is normal. The only thing different this time around was that I barely failed the 1hour glucose test so I had to do the 3hour test and passed it with flying colors. I am still annoyed by the whole thing but oh well.

Here is my normal survey from 36 weeks.

How far along: 36 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I did not gain any weight from my last appointment so my total is 25 lbs.   

Maternity clothes: It is now cool enough to wear my fall clothes which I am excited about, but I am finding that everything is so snug. My bump is outgrowing my maternity clothes. I have my sprinkle tonight and I am wearing the same dress that I wore to my last sprinkle and my shower for Miller. I am just wearing it differently.

Stretch marks: Just all the old ones.  

Sleep: I had some great nights of sleep this week. I still want more sleep but at least it was good quality sleep.   

Best moment this week: Miller’s party was a success and now it is just Halloween stuff and a few odds and ends to complete. I managed to get some all my crafts done this week so I am feeling mostly successful.

Movement: This darn child apparently has too much room in there. She has been head down for months and at my appointment this week she was transverse. I am so freaked out now and doing everything I can to get her to go down. I think she tends to go back to being head down but I still feel some spinning. I have been doing some exercises that are supposed to help get her in the right position but now I feel like so much is up in the air. I want her to move so that I know she is okay but not too much.  

Food cravings:  I have hit a mental wall with meal planning. Either, it doesn’t sound good to me, we cant get the kids to eat it, we already made it and have it in the freezer downstairs, or Ben is allergic to something in it. This is so painful! I just wish it were affordable to get take out every night.

Food aversions: Anything that I have to cook.  

Gender: Girly!

Labor Signs: BH come and go. At my doctors appointment this week, my cervix is closed but really soft.

Belly Button in or out: I wonder what it would feel like for it to poke out. I will never know.  

What I miss: I miss feeling that we are not on a deadline. I love Halloween and really want to enjoy it but I feel like I am so stressed out about the baby coming that I am rushing through and not enjoying it.

What  I am looking forward to: While I will miss being pregnant, I am looking forward to getting through delivery. I am so worried about her position and I wish I could just know that everything will work out with that.      

Weekly Wisdom: I remember this feeling before but I feel like I have an expiration date of November 13^th and I am just sitting around anxiously waiting for it. In reality, it is great after baby comes and I am no longer stuck in this pregnant body but I can not get over the anxiety of the unexpected and nostalgia about missing being pregnant. However, with issues about her position this week, it makes me more anxious to get to the delivery and know  that I can have another smooth vaginal delivery.

Milestones: I reached a month away from our due date. It is so weird to think that she will be here in a matter of weeks now. 

Update from my appointment: She flipped head down again the next week but some point in the following week, she flipped again and was breech. Last week was really stressful because we had to discuss doing a version to flip her and inducing. I started redoing my exercises and this week she was head down again. My doctor is pretty sure that she has dropped and can not move again so we are just letting nature take its course. I am still pretty anxious but just trying to stay calm and will her to stay put and come out soon.  

Kids Bathroom Update

After doing our powder room earlier in the year, we decided that we wanted to do board and batten in the kids bathroom too. It kept floating off and on our to-do list but finally we decided that we should tackle it now before we add another little one to our brood and get distracted. This is a reminder of what it looked like when we moved in.

  

I painted the upper half mint and the bottom white. We did the board and top ledge so we could establish the line to paint but held off on doing the batten. The battens are so time consuming unless you have a nail gun, which we as first time home owners do not. I told Ben though, that it is such an improvement as it is, that I do not care if we ever put up the battens.

We also framed in the mirror and added hooks instead of a towel rack. We figured that will be easier to encourage kids to hang up dirty towels this way.

Early Fall Happenings

This feels like a weird fall to me. I LOVE fall! It is my favorite season by far and I love packing it full of activities. I planned this whole pregnancy around getting all the house projects, baby projects and nesting done before October so that we could enjoy the month and a half until my due date. I researched every Halloween activity and put it on my calendar. Now that we are in this month, I have been so overwhelmed with all the things to do, but I do not want to miss out on anything.

The day after Miller's birthday party, we decided to go to a pumpkin patch. We normally go to one that is a 30 minute drive north and has a corn maze but I was not up for that. I can not imagine chasing both of the kids through the maze, being 8 months pregnant. I went the easy route and went to a pumpkin patch that was 15 minutes away with no corn maze.

She was quite pleased with herself for sitting on the pumpkin.

The following weekend, we went to the Halloween festival in our town. They had a touch a truck there which was great because we kept missing all the other ones around us and my boy loves trucks. 

My three little skeletons. According to the kids, a skeleton says,"dance, dance, dance".

The next day we went to Boo at the Zoo. It was really an excuse for the kids to wear their costumes and get to do a little trick or treating.

We ran from Boo at the Zoo to Miller's soccer game. Last game, Scarlett was clamoring to get out. This week she sat happily in her stroller, babbling away.