Time Flies By

This sweet baby girl has now been in this world for two weeks, but to me, it seems like it has only been a few days. She seems to complete our family (at least for the time being).

She loves to sit in her swing and just look around...and sometimes dose off.

We had our first tummy ache this week. Praise Jesus for Gripe Water. It also works magic on her hiccups.

Tuesday night we moved Emmalee into her own bed. As much as I wanted to keep her by my bedside, I knew she would sleep well in her own bed. I had told Brant that I would move her to her own bed when I could lay her down to sleep (without having to pat her back or soothe her to sleep) and she would sleep for 3-4 hours. Well I didn't expect that to happen so soon...but it did. Luckily, her room is across the hall from ours - literally only about 5 or 6 steps from my bed.

And yes, she and I both sleep better since she is in her own bed. She usually goes down for the night around 10:30 or 11:00, sleeps 4 or 5 hours, wakes up to eat, then sleeps for another 3 or 4 hours after that. Except last night of course when she didn't go to sleep until almost 1, but slept until 6;30 this morning. But of course, once she went back to sleep, I was already awake. Oh well, that just means that she and I get to take a nap together this afternoon.

I have had several people ask me how Dax is doing with Em. He is wonderful with her. Yes, he is a little sad that he is no longer the star of the show around our house, but he does love Emmalee. If she is asleep in her bed, he is usually right beside it. I've often come into the living room when Emmalee is in her swing and found Dax just sitting beside the swing looking at her. If we have company and they are holding her, he will sit right beside them to make sure that they don't hurt her. He just cracks me up.

I am loving being home with my baby girl. However, since Brant went back to work last Thursday, we have gotten out of the house everyday - even if its just a quick trip to Walmart. Emmalee doesn't seem to mind being in her carseat at all. She really loves if we have gone somewhere with her Aunt Cookie and her cousins - she loves having someone in the backseat to talk to her. Today we have some errands to run and our 2 week check-up with the pediatrician.

I hope everyone has had a great week and has a fabulous weekend. We're off to go watch the Royal Wedding (on the DVR, of course)!

In a Week

It's been one week since I had the sweetest baby girl in the world (yes, I am a bit biased, but she is a wonderful baby!) I'm still in awe of her of how much the Lord has blessed us. She is truly the light of our lives.

Brant went back to work on Thursday, so Emmalee and I have been filling our days with fun. On Thursday, we had a follow-up doctor appointment to check on her weight. She was up to 7 lbs, 3.5 oz, so she's going great. After our appointment, we went to lunch with Granda, Aunt Cookie (my sister), and Ethan. After lunch, we went to Aunt Cookie's house because our Aunt Sandra, my cousin Krystal, and Krystal's babies came to see Em. We had a great time just visiting.

My Aunt Sandra, Michelle, and Emmalee

Michelle wanted her turn to hold Emmalee. She was so sweet with her.

Emmalee was worn out by her first day out on the town.

This is the most kissable little face I've ever seen!

Yesterday, on our one week birthday, we went on our first shopping trip with Aunt Cookie and Kate. We had so much fun. We got to wear our first little dress.

After our shopping trip Brant's sister, Kristie, came over last night to spend some time with Emmalee. We had a great visit. Here is Emmalee and Aunt Kristie after her bath, which she loved this time.

Last night, Emmalee slept like a champ! I actually had to wake her up at 3 am to feed, and then had to wake her up again at 8. I cannot tell you how wonderful she is. Well we're off to get ready to go to our first DBU baseball game. Emmalee's daddy is so excited to have her come up to the game - he LOVES showing off his beautiful baby girl!

In Love

Well saying that Brant and I are in love with this sweet baby girl is an understatement. She is so beautiful and has such a sweet personality. She is such a good baby - mostly just fussy when she is cold or hungry. We have made it through our first two nights pretty well. Emmalee usually wakes up to feed every 3 hours, but eats and goes right back to sleep. The only time she likes to stay awake a bit is around 6. Brant has been great taking Emmalee after he wakes up and letting me sleep late. I AM NOT looking forward to him going back to work.

We had our first doctor appointment today. Things look good, but they are a bit concerned that she hasn't gained back enough weight. I thought she was feeding pretty well, but they want me to make sure that she is eating every 2 hours. Other than that small matter, she is perfect!

After our doctor appointment, Sister came over for our newborn photo session. She is so talented with her camera and I can't wait to see some of these pictures. I snapped this quick shot while she was working.
Right now, Emmalee is spending some tummy-time with her daddy (while he's watching some tv, of course). He is an entirely different man since he has his baby girl. He is absolutely consumed with love for her and he LOVES his daddy - daughter time. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband, and Emmalee is one lucky little lady to have such a great daddy.

Emmalee Caroline Williams

Our Precious Little Princess
Emmalee Caroline Williams
arrived Friday, April 15, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Weighing 7 lbs, 10oz; 19" long

She is healthy, perfect and absolutely beautiful!

I promise to post more pictures soon, but right now I am just loving my time being a mommy. Brant and I feel overwhelmed by His amazing blessing.

The Morning Update

Well we had an uneventful little trip to L&D triage last night. My blood pressure got up pretty high again and I was very nauseous, seeing blurry spots and having a sudden headache. After calling and talking with the on-call doctor for my practice, he said to go in into L&D so that they could alt least monitor the bp.

Thankfully, they were able to lower the bp w/ meds and gave me something for the nausea. After running some blood work and labs, and monitoring me and baby girl, they sent us home after about 2 hours. It was interesting to watch the monitors - I had several contractions while we were there, but nothing that constituted active labor...yet! Only bad thing about going to triage is that I am now officially on restricted bedrest...not fun!

The medicine that they gave me for the nausea makes you drowsy, so we came home around midnight and went straight to bed. I got a FANTASTIC 9 1/2 hours sleep! I feel like a new woman after getting great rest. Brant was supposed to work today because there is a baseball game at DBU, but he called in and said he wasn't coming. Unfortunately, he knows me a little too well because he said if he didn't stay home, he knew I would not take it easy like ordered! So, we just finished a light breakfast and are about to start a movie marathon.

So here's to a fun day of movie marathons, laying on the couch, and some possible digital scrapbooking!

Me and the Couch

Well, the couch and this puppy have been keeping me company today!

We had a doctor appointment this morning. I've been having quite a few Braxton Hicks contractions this week and I was hoping the doctor would tell me that I was close to going into labor. Well he still thinks I could go into labor in a day or a week. Unfortunately though, my blood pressure was high today...so...I was told to go home and take it easy!

I was actually surprised that my blood pressure was high - last week it was only 110/70 and has not been high at all through my entire pregnancy. It has always been perfect...until today. So the couch, Dax and I will get to spend a lot of quality time together this weekend and until I go back to the doctor first thing Tuesday morning. I guess we'll see what he has to say then!

The good thing about being home is that I can actually rest - something that I have not been doing much of this week. It seems like I am only sleeping 3-5 hours each night, so hopefully I can get some good rest before the baby comes. I'll certainly keep you posted on the progress, but until then, I'll be on the couch!

A Place for Our Princess

Well, I promised that as soon as the nursery was finished, I would post picture. I cannot tell you how much fun I have creating a special place for our princess. I loved the shopping and searching. I shopped at so many vintage and antique stores - it was wonderful. There are also a few things that were made with lots of love - things made specifically for her. I hope that she loves her room as much as I do!

This is the view when you open the door!
One of my favorite things about her room is her chandelier. It is an old piece that I found in Canton at a vintage, antique shop. I just fell in love with it!

Her bed and shelf. This is shelf that Brant handmade just for Emmalee. I found the brackets at Canton, and he did the rest! The letter hang from the same crystal knobs that her antique dresser has. Her bedding was custom bedding that my sister had made when she found out that she was having a baby girl, my niece Kate. I always loved the bedding because of all the different patterns and colors, and was so thrilled when Amanda gave it to me in hopes that I would one day have a little girl of my own.

This little antique shelf was also a Canton find - and for only $25! The window painting is from Amanda Erwin of Clutter. One Sunday, we began to sing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and this stanza of the song almost had me in tears. The Lord has reigned down his blessings of mercy up on us and I can never sing His praises loud enough! So I came home that day and emailed Amanda to make a painting for Emmalee's room. I loved the way she put it on an old, antique window - she is so creative!

This is where here mommy will rock her to sleep!

I purchased these unfinished wooden crosses over a year ago on a Canton trip. I had always planned on painting them to go somewhere in my house, but never got around to it. Well I guess God knew exactly what I would use them for. I decided to paint them for Em's room with all of the left over paint. I love how they turned out!

Changing table and diaper holder. Sister had this great pocket organizer made with the bedding. It holds diaper cream, wipes, lotion, little brush and comb...all the little things you might need. The dresser itself was also a bargain find in Canton for only $50. I bought it before I knew if I was having a boy or a girl. It was a cream color, so I knew that I could paint it to coordinate no matter what the baby was. When we found out it was a girl, we decided to paint it a light pink, and I put crystal knobs on for drawer pulls. I love the way it turned out!

One of my favorite features of her room is the window seat! My dear friend Kristen is an amazing seamstress. I gave her all of the left over fabric Sister gave me that coordinated with the bedding. She made a window seat cover and lots of pillows to make this a great reading spot for Emmalee when she gets a bit older.

Just a picture from a different angle. I love how you can really see the stripping effect on the wall here. We only did this one accent wall with the stripes. All the other walls are just green.
A close up of her shelf and letters.

I love this frame - another Canton find. I bought this the same day I bought the dresser. As soon as I read this I had tears streaming down my face.

BOWS, BOWS, BOWS

And one of the most important things for a princess...
A Closet FULL of clothes!

Well, as you can see, we this little princess has a place to call her own. I can't wait for her to see her room and welcome her into our family!

Just the Girls

So this weekend, my mom, sister and I had our own little scrapbook retreat! We had an absolute blast! Friday night we all met over at mom and dad's house for pizza, then the girls headed upstairs to our "suite". It was awesome because we set tables up in front of the TV, so we could watch movies or whatever else we wanted while we worked. We gorged ourselves on junk food and Chick-Fil-A sweet tea!

Saturday morning, we got up and dad fixed up the most delicious pancakes with a gooey apple pecan topping! They were to die for! Then we all got dressed for my last baby shower hosted by my Sunday School class. After the shower, we went back to our computers and scrapped the entire afternoon and evening.

The three of us just had the most wonderful time laughing and joking - this will definitely become a tradition!!! Here are a few of the pages that I finished (all from our trip to Hawaii)!