And Then This Happened....

Introducing Jameson Bradley T., born 08-16-12 5:04 AM, weighing a whopping 10 lbs 3 oz

Sissy looks on as her brother hollers for milk

Napping on daddy's chest on day 2

She absolutely could not be more in love <3 babies="babies" br="br" my="my">

A Letter

My Dear Sweet Madeleine,

Every day now I wonder if this will be my last day with you, just you, my first baby. You seem less worried about it than I do and I think that you will be amazing. You wrap your sweet arms around my enormous belly and nuzzle your face in to me, whispering love to your baby brother or sister. You make sure baby always gets kisses goodnight and when you leave you ask if baby misses you when you are gone. It melts my heart, truly. People worry about how you will react, if you will be jealous, but I am not worried at all. I know you will be amazing; maybe a little rough around the edges, but amazing. This baby is oh so lucky to have you and I hope throughout your life you are always the one to love and protect him/her when mama and daddy aren't around.

You have grown so much this year, my love, and I almost don't recognize you. You have such interesting thoughts and you notice EVERYTHING. The other day you told me I was pissing you off! Oops, you got that one from your mama for sure. You eat.....and eat and eat and eat. Anything and everything you truly do not discriminate. Grapes, cheese, berries (raspberries, blueberries & strawberries), and most any other breakfast food is your most requested food when we head to the store. Carrots, pasta, chicken, "han-ger-ber-gers", "cados" (avocados), artichokes (I mean, what 2 year old knows how to eat artichokes? You! They are our family treat.), rice, peas, salad (yes! I am not kidding you love salad, especially caesar salad) any veggie, you name it. And every meal you are so sweet and grateful for what we have made for you, it melts my heart. Or chicken nuggets, fries, and mac and cheese? Yep you love that too when I let you have it. This Winter I will be buying you 4T clothing because all your clothes shrink in our house! Or you are growing so tall, but I don't like to think about that.

The energy you bring into our home is amazing, and a little exhausting for this mama, I won't lie. My favorite game to play at the end of the day is the running game. I tell you to run around in a circle 100 times and you just run and run until you get dizzy and fall down in a fit of laughter. You'll do acrobatics, ballet, and yoga on demand and still have energy at the end of it all. This past month you've learned that you love our slide out back (it was always a little scary for you before) and if the weather isn't too overwhelming (it's been a very hot Summer!) I will sit outside with you while you slide down the slide over and over and over again. It makes me smile.

Of course not every moment is as picture perfect as I would like to remember it. You have opinions, and will, and you are every bit as stubborn and your daddy and I put together. You never miss a word we say but if it isn't to your interest you simply choose not to listen. I get so frustrated asking you to NOT do the same things every single day and it doesn't matter how many times you might get in trouble for something, if you like doing it you will continue to do it.

Time is nothing to you, everything moves at your own very slow distracted pace. And if I want you to go somewhere or do something you don't really want to do it's amazing how many things you can come up with that you need to tell me, "mama MAMA I need to tell you something........" then you dart your eyes around thinking very hard about what it is, sometimes just repeating the first line over and over until you come up with something good. And when you leave the house without me, or daddy puts you to bed, you have several minutes worth of instructions to give as you head out the door or up the stairs, continuously coming back to tell me just one more thing. Daddy says it's my fault, I do the same thing when I have to leave you. I still miss you every minute you are away, even if you are naughty and exhausting.

So, you see, my little bug bug.....I love you so very much, even if I am not the perfect mama all the time. I kiss your hands when you sleep and savor the sound of your breath. I love your warmth next to me when we nap together, I hope that doesn't stop anytime soon. There may be a new baby in the house but YOU will always be my baby, my very first baby, that made me a mama and taught me what never ending, limitless, love was. I can't wait to watch you on this new journey.

Love always,
Mama

The Nursery

First of all, I'm 39 weeks (tomorrow, if we're being technical, and I usually take my pics a couple days late so who knows if I'll keep growing in the next two days) and this thing feels massive. I honestly don't feel like I've grown but when I compare pictures I'm kind of blown away. This belly is big. Real big. Anyway, I just wanted to get this thing out of the way.....

I'm too sexy to show my un-madeup face and fat arms

Now on to the main subject here. The nursery. I'm not a decorator by any means nor am I at all talented naturally when it comes to crafting and making things look good in a room. I try because I like having a cute house as much as the next girl (or guy!) but it takes a lot of work and thought for something that generally seems, meh, if you know what I mean. I can pick out cute stuff but putting it into motion, especially when it comes to hanging things on walls, is NOT my strong point.

So, that was my lengthy way of saying don't have too high of expectations when it comes to my nursery. I put so much thought into what I wanted in the room and how I really wanted it to feel. Which was pretty and clean. I don't have boatloads of money to spend or a professional designer bff or family member to help me out, I am working with a very small room, and of course there is the fact that I'm a little design challenged. All in all I am so happy with the outcome thus far, there are some other things to add, and I feel like it is truly what I was going for in this sweet little baby space.

The light in this particular room is terrible for picture taking at all times of the day. Trying to get this picture of the whole wall turned out terribly and it is quite grainy. It probably also doesn't help that I take all my pictures with my Iphone :/. That empty corner is just crying for a sweet little chair. However, my AngryBear bought me a beautiful printed reclining glider and it is going in our room since that is where I will be spending the bulk of our first months breastfeeding and rocking to sleep and I'm not about to worry about buying another chair at this very moment. So just imagine it. Also, I added a little hamper wire basket thing that is so cute but is not in this image. And the floor space....it will have a rug someday when I find the perfect one.

Whale print from Etsy, hooks from Michaels bought unfinished and painted

Baskets on clearance from Michaels, holding burp clothes, misc. baby items lotions etc, & cloth wipes and wetbags

Super sweet blanket basket from Home Goods

Yellow rimmed wire hamper from Home Goods

Dream sign from Michaels and spray painted, shelf from Home Goods

Mobile from Ikea, hanger thingy is a hanging plant hook spray painted

 The main focal point above the crib is the little lantern trio. I searched so many lantern designs in nurseries trying to get some inspiration but settled on just doing something very simple. Mostly because I only found these when I was ready to put stuff up, but I'm really happy I didn't do something more over the top. Mr. Bear is too......he just doesn't get it. I also try not to notice imperfections because it is absolutely not getting re-done, I can't care that much.

Sleepy print from Etsy, ikea crib, lanterns from Hob Lob that took entirely too long to hang

Sunshine pillow from Etsy

Please don't ask me why I am sharing a picture of this totally unorganized closet. It's awful. The point is to notice the super cute owl hanging next to it. I couldn't find the close up of it on my computer and it has to be included because I love it. It is a sweet little rod iron owl my lovely friend gifted to me and I've just never found the perfect spot for it (that thing about not being able to decorate walls....), until now that is. I spray painted it to match and am so in love. Eventually I'll have the closet brag worthy, but that could take another year.

So, that's it. I have a full wall, though not very long of a wall, that I am going to put a small table or mini bookshelf to hold a lamp, books, and some toys, and hopefully do a small picture frame gallery. That is another one of those projects for another day when I catch my breath again. The room is, as I said, very small, so I didn't want to overdo it with tons of details. If this baby happens to be a girl I have some fun ideas for girly magenta items that I'll throw in and over time the few things I mentioned will be added. But mostly I'm happy with it as is. And I am SO glad to have it done in time.

Now, we wait........