Week One

Vivi is now officially one week old. I cannot believe how quickly this first week has gone by. She has already changed so much since she was born and I am actively trying to make sure every day is documented so we don't forget a single moment. She is such a treasure, we never imagined that being parents could be so rewarding.

Right now she is doing a whole lot of eating, sleeping, and crying. We are getting used to waking at all hours of the night to satisfy her needs, but it's not as difficult as I had imagined it would be. Somehow waking up multiple times in the middle of the night is easier when you know that it is for the health and benefit of your child. We have been very lucky. The first night at home was a difficult one. Vivi was getting used to being in a new place and we were getting used to having her in our home. We were up quite a lot making sure that she was well taken care of. I had the hardest time sleeping I was so worried that she was going to stop breathing in her sleep. It is amazing how your motherly instinct kicks in from day one. Somehow in my sleep I am able to anticipate her needs and find myself sometimes waking before she even begins to cry. Call it a mothers intuition or extra sensitive hearing, it may be the same thing.

Recently she has started smiling in her sleep. I saw it for the first time on Tuesday and thought it was just the coolest thing. I don't think that its fair to say that was the first time she smiled because it was unprompted, but I cherish each of those little glimpses I get at her toothless grin. I have yet to capture one of these moments on camera, but am hoping my timing will be right soon. Right now she is resting in her carrier after a little car ride. Never wake a sleeping baby!! Which means that it's my turn to rest as well.

Hospital Pictures

Vivienne Marie

Well the little princess is finally here. She was born on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 10:45 pm. She weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 22 inches long. A very healthy little girl!!

What a day that was! I checked into the hospital at 8 pm the day before to start the induction process. The next morning I was started on a Pitocin drip at 6:30. I began to finally start laboring around noon and over the next 10 hours only progressed to 3 cm dilated. At 10 pm we decided that a c-section would be the best route. 45 minutes later my daughter was here!

I am sure you are all wondering why the c-section was necessary, let me explain. Vivi was in what is called the posterior position, meaning that she was facing my abdomen as opposed to my back. Being in this position she was not able to apply enough pressure to help me dilate. To make matters worse, when we tried to change positions during labor her heart rate significantly dropped, causing much of the progress being made to come to a halt. To complicate matters further, it seems my pelvis was not separating enough to help accommodate her little body. It is most likely I would have had a c-section had we not chosen to induce on Wednesday. Ultimately, it seems she was just too darn comfortable to be willing to come into the world.

Regardless of how she was born, we are so happy to finally have her home. The past couple of nights have been pretty long. It is quite exhausting living with a newborn. Trey and I are trying to adjust to the life of the nocturnal and become familiar with her routine. It seems like such a guessing game! Right now Trey is taking a nap preparing for the cowboys game in a couple of hours. While he is down I will put up some pictures from the past 4 days. Hope y'all enjoy!!

The Nusery!

Finally, after months of hard work the nursery is nearly complete. We are waiting on the crib linens to arrive and to hang the chandelier. Don't worry we have a bassinet for her to sleep in during the early days.

I spent a lot of time researching nurseries and envisioned a sweet little girls haven. I was drawn to anything pink and white. After scouring the Internet for the perfect inspiration room, I found the one below, from housebeautiful.com. I love the pale pink walls combined with the crisp white furniture.

I converted the failed cowboy room into a room fit for a princess by painting the walls Sherwin Williams White Dogwood. The fresh coat of paint on the walls instantly elevated this room from the junk room to a nursery in the making. Kelsey and Cori came over for a night of painting, we finished painting the walls in less than 2 hours!

The rest of the room came together once the wall colors were up. I found the dresser and the wall shelf from an antique shop, and was able to get the changing table and the rocker off of craigslist for a steal. I painted the changing table and the wall shelf a soft white color to clean them up and they were ready to go. Finding crib linens proved to be a very difficult task. In my head I pictured a white crib with gauzy white linens, but I was unable to find anything remotely close to this without breaking the bank. In the back of my head I kept picturing the room with the linens from the Shabby Chic collection at Target, and after failing to find the white linens this is what I settled on. Going with my gut instinct payed off because I was able to find other items to incorporate the linens into the room.

Last weekend I put the finishing touches on the room by painting the frame above the crib and covering the letters with fancy paper. I also made the door hanger by painting a wooden frame, adding the letters, and painting the back of the frame with chalkboard paint. Now we can leave little messages on the door for our little one! I also made the bow hanger by painting on the background design, and adding her name and the ribbon for hanging her bows on.

Hope you all enjoy the nursery as much as I do, and I hope she will. It truly was a labor of love.

Here is the room before Kelsey, Cori and I worked some magic. How could anyone choose to paint a room like this?! UGH!

... after some late nights and a lot of hard work, the ugly room is transformed into a room fit for a princess!