I Miss My Belly!

I started to share some of my maternity pictures with Ellis a while ago, but since I’m missing that big ‘ole belly a lot today, I thought I'd share all of them with you!  Of course I have to give a HUGE shout out to the amazing Grace Hill for taking these pictures so I can always look back on this sweet time in my life.  Don't tell the Mr. this, but we're going to need to buy a new house.....a new bigger house with more walls so I can have allllll of these pictures printed and hung up ;-) 

Teeny Peep’s Birthday

I’ve ALWAYS loved birth stories; they are so beautiful and miraculous and never fail to make me cry.  While I have shared a video with y’all about our stay in the hospital, I haven't shared the details on Ellis’ birth yet.  In an effort to be completely transparent with you, I’m still processing her birth.  Labor and delivery for Dutch was physically and psychologically tough on me (emergency situations, cardiovascular distress, postpartum hemorrhaging, etc.), so we were prayerful that this birth would be completely different.  Unfortunately, due to the complications from this birth I still have a lot of healing and talking with God that I need to do before I’m ready to share my story.  I’ve written the details of the day so that I wont forget them in the newborn haze, but I just need a little more time to process the experience.  God is at work so I have no doubt that I will have a great story to share with you, but if you get a chance please pray for complete healing for us.  Until then, I wanted to share some precious pictures with you of Ellis’ birthday and hospital stay. 

I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have these pictures.  The experience of birth & hospital stay is so fleeting and unlike anything else I’ve experienced, and those first few days are so fast & crazy.  I’m so so so so grateful that these moments are stamped in these photos for all time to look back and remember the precious first moments.  If you get a chance to have someone else take your hospital pictures I highly recommend Grace Hill Photography……seriously I cannot look at these pictures without tearing up.  She perfectly captured some of the sweetest moments of my life.

Meeting our sweet Ellis

Happy birthay baby girl!Introducing our babies to each other. 

I was really nervous about this moment and tried to prepare Dutch for it as much as I knew how to.  We read books and talked about babies and practiced saying her name for months.  I had gifts ready for him at the hospital from Ellis in case the introduction went sour.  But there was no need to worry.  It was as if they already knew each other; they were instant friends.  It is so amazing to see Dutch and Ellis interact.  He is so sweet and gentle with her and she just loves to smile at him.  I pray they are always this close and kind to one another. 

But for mama, I heard this would happen, and wow was it true:  Dutch used to look so small to me until we introduced him to Ellis.  All of a sudden he looks like such a big boy!  Time stole my baby boy!

Sweet Ellis, I wish I could thoroughly explain how ecstatic we are that you’re here, safe and healthy.  You fit so perfectly into our family.  I feel like we have always known you, yet we are so excited to get to know you better.  We are very much looking forward to living life with you and loving on you.  We pray that God helps us to raise you as a godly woman.  Little one, you are so so so so loved!

Friday Five.....or Something Like That {March 2016}

We had a pretty chill and low-key week. I'm not complaining about that at all.  Boring is good!!!  But boring just doesn't leave me much to report lol None the less, I wanted to pop in and share some random nothings with y'all.

 Photo cred: Grace Hill Photography

*Pondering* Do you SEE that picture?!!? This is totally a #firstworldproblem but I'm going to say it anyway.  I am having the. hardest. time. picking Ellis' birth announcements.  I have looked through every website and I just cannot find exactly what I want.  Not to mention, how in the world am I going to pick just a few pictures to put on there? If I were rich I would send everyone a photo album of her. Yep, I just said that.  I am officially THAT mom who is so biased about my kid's beauty that I want to send people a photo album of her. What?!?!?! So I really just need to stop thinking about it and pick one.

*Eating* My bestie turned me onto RealPlan.com and it really is awesome.  It's a meal planning website that uses only natural and "real" ingredients.  I just signed up for it this week but have already made 2 of the recipes and they are so delicious.  You put into your settings what type of diet you want, how many meals, what ingredients to exclude, how many meals you want per week, etc.  Then you can add more meals or recipes from other websites....and the service makes your grocery list for you and everything.  Goodness this is going to save me so much time!  I've hesitated to jump on the meal planning website wagon, but I really like that it is only natural ingredients so I purchased a year subscription to give it a shot. 

*Binging* Wow am I ever doing some show binging lately?!  It's embarrassing! If there is a show on Bravo or Lifetime.....yep I've got it scheduled on my DVR.  Right now I'm pretty much obsessed with old Greys Anatomy episodes. When Dutch is napping and Ellis and I get snuggle time, we are binge watching some Grey's together.

*Ordering* Y'all damage. was. done. this week.  I am an online shopper.  I very rarely go to a store to purchase things (besides HEB & Costco of course), so everything else is done online.  This is not a kid thing; I've been this way long before kids entered the scene.  But y'all, wow this week I ordered so much online, and I just know it is all going to come in and I'm going to have a heap of packages on my front door one day next week.  I ordered new kitchen brushes, a sink cady, 2 new wooden spoons, a candle, my essential oil order for the month, my Easter dress, some new t-shirts, a new tank, a couple sweaters, a necklace, some new bible books for the babies......next week should be good, like Christmas lol

*Listening*  Dutch and I listen to music and dance while I cook dinner every night.  This week we were really loving the Adele station on Pandora.  We just have so much fun together and I love to watch him dance.  He always makes me smile.


It's Friday! This is our only empty  weekend this month, so I'm thinking if I get brave I'll get my hair cut? And when I say hair cut, I really mean trim lol Yeah that's a big maybe haha What are y'all up to this weekend?  Don't forget to spring forward this Sunday!

Teeny Peep Bumpdate- Week 39

I know, I know, our Teeny Peep has been here for a month now and I’m just posting her 39 week bumpdate.  Well, in all honesty, this was mostly written before she arrived and I just needed a picture.  What interrupted me posting this was her actual debut; our sweet Ellis came a week early!  I still want this week posted though, so it’s a little late, but here it is anyways.  And just to catch up, here is my 38 week Teeny Peep Bumpdate.

The bump moved to the outside! 

Bumpdate with Dutch at 39 weeks

Date: 1/16/16
How far along: 39 weeks

Fruit-size comparison: A watermelon! 

Developmental milestones: Teeny Peep is building a nice layer of fat to keep her warm on the outside.  The longer she is in the womb the better her brain development will be; I’m all for her getting that extra development. 

Maternity clothes: Oh yes! hahahahahaha

Weight gain: 21 lbs! I’ve done much better than Dutch.  With him I gained a total of 31, so this is a full 10 lbs better!

Stretch Marks: I've got plenty of kisses from heaven from carrying Dutch.  I applied lotions and such daily with that pregnancy, but to be honest I don't think I'm even going to try to prevent future stretch  marks.  I absolutely love these badges of honor and I'm so proud to wear them.

Sleep: I’m pretty tired but no where near as tired as I’m going to be really soon!  I’d say that I’m pretty exhausted and having trouble sleeping just because I can’t find a good sleeping position.  But I’ve also got a sick baby that I’m trying to get better, got some serious leg cramping and going to the bathroom a million times a night.

Best moment of the week: I met with my care provider again this week and baby girl had a heart rate of 127, my BP was 110/60, & a fundal height of 39 cm.  Right on track :-) I am 50% effaced (cervical thinning), –3 station, and 1.5 cm dilated. I loved hearing that my cervix has been responding to my contractions and is making progress.  My membranes were stripped to help move things along.

Movement: I can tell that she is running out of room and her movements are very squished and muted.  She’s still active, just lacks room.

Cravings: Nothing that I can think of here.
Gender: Baby girl!!

Belly button: I love my new outtie :-)

Wedding Ring: On

Anything making you queasy/sick: I can’t eat a lot because it makes me sick to my stomach.

What I miss: Sushi

What I’m looking forward to: Baby girls birthday!!!!!

Labor signs: Woah contractions are officially here!  They are becoming more and more uncomfortable and predictable.  I’m starting to have to stop talking through some as they’re becoming more intense.  Sometimes they will just stop me in my tracks.  With Dutch I was in early labor for 3 weeks before his arrival, I’m hoping that early labor doesn’t last as long with Teeny Peep.  I’m nauseous again and throwing up my food; I can tell that my body is trying to stay empty for labor.  I have also lost my mucous plug and I’ve got lots of descending pains so I know we’re getting close!!!

Symptoms: I am getting more and more uncomfortable and I know this baby is getting closer to her birthday.  I’ve got a lot of potty breaks, charlie horse cramps in my legs at night, I'm more and more irritable.

Nursery: There isn't going to be a new nursery.  We plan on having Dutch and Teeny Peep share a room.  It's not that we don't have the space; we do have another bedroom, but we would like our kiddos to share a room when they are younger.  We're thinking this will be a great opportunity to continue building character with our children.  And to be honest, Dutch didn't move into his nursery until he was eight months old, and even then only for a few hours a day until he was 11 months old, so the new baby will probably stay in our room about the same amount of time and then we will do a transition of some sort.  Of course we don't know what it is like to have two children and exactly what it will be like, but this is how we think we are going to try to start.

Emotions: I’m still sad that this pregnancy is almost over, but I am officially ready to meet this girl!

Her Dressing Room

Who needs a bedroom when you can have a giant closet?! That is every girl’s dream, right??????

Many of y’all have asked me for a peak into Lady Ellis’ (that's what Aunt Nana calls her :-) nursery.  Well here is a shocker for you.  As much as I like to decorate a room, we didn’t do a nursery for her.  When we were pregnant with Dutch we purposefully made the nursery gender neutral because it was always our intention for our children to share a room.  It's not that we don't have the space; we do have another bedroom, but we would like our kiddos to share a room when they are younger.  We're thinking this will be a great opportunity to continue building character with our children.  And to be honest, Dutch didn't move into the nursery until he was 8 months old, and even then only for a few hours a day until he was 11 months old, so Ellis will probably stay in our room about the same amount of time and then we will do a transition of some sort.  Of course we don't know exactly what it will be like, but this is how we think we are going to try to start.

When we were preparing for Ellis’ arrival, the nursery remained the same (see here).  I did hang a hair bow holder in the room and selected her own scripture verse that we will pray over her (see here), but for the most part it remains the same.


In the nursery there are 2 large closets; however, we decided not to put Ellis’ clothes in the nursery just yet.  Since she is currently sleeping with us, if she ever needs a change of clothes or diaper change we don’t want to interrupt Dutch who may be sleeping.  So we set up a dressing room of sorts in the guest room for her until she starts sleeping in the nursery.  In the guest room there are 2 large walk-in closets and a full bath, so we just moved the rocker into the room and gave one closet to Ellis for clothes, blankets, shoes, etc.  Here are some photos of Ellis“dressing room” for now. 

Sorry I was too lazy to edit these pictures, so they’re a little dark.  But in reality the walls are gray and all of the accents are white & ivory.

That’s our little girl’s dressing room.  When she moves into the nursery with her brother her clothes will go with her.  So far this system is working great for us and it was awesome not to have to create another nursery while I was pregnant. 

Does anyone else have children that have shared a room? we’ve got at least a year before Ellis moves in, but what transitional tips do you have for me?