Introducing....

 Dezmond Elias Millett...

Born on September 27th, 2012

1:01 pm

9 lbs. 6 oz. 20.5 inches

He was born after induction and active labor of four and a half hours. I pushed five times and then there he was, crying so hard he sounded like a squealing pig. He is perfectly healthy and strong.

After two days in the hospital we were (finally) released to come home. The kids wasted no time in getting acquainted with the little Mister. They all seem as mystified and enamored with all of his little parts as I am....

After watching the bigs she deserved a cuddle or two with the new one...

Aidan even took time out from the World of Warcraft dungeon to hold Dez....

This one wants to hold him... all day. To say that she likes her baby bro is a huge understatement. She follows him everywhere... pokes at him.... giggles at his every movement... and even tried to share Pluto already. 

Now we are settling into life with a newborn and four total kiddos. I'm not gonna lie, it's already got it's challenges..... accidents for her..... a long night of crying for no good reason for him (don't be such a baby!) ....but I am so full of love, and my heart is so happy.... I wouldn't trade it for the world.

A Good Host

I've always considered myself a good host. Whenever we have guests I try to make sure the house is clean, that we have food and drink the guests prefer, I put out the cute dishes, light a candle so the place smells yummy, put on some good tunes..... I like to make my guests feel at home...... evidently that hospitality extends to my uterus.

This baby will be evicted via induction as planned on Thursday.... unless, that is, I have him on my own before then (the doctor keeps saying that--yeah, yeah, not gonna happen.) My other two babies had to get the pitocin boot too. I guess I just make them a happy little home in there that they don't want to leave.

While I would love to already have the bundle of joy safely in my arms (and have tried every home "induction" remedy short of castor oil.) I can't help but be content with the way things are playing out.

With Hottie's parents in town I am getting more rest than ever.... I even slept until 10am today! (unheard of). I kinda feel like a bum. But. I am determined to get rid of this cold once and for all before Thursday.

And by the time the weekend ends I will be bringing home baby in his cute little outfit....

...and then I'll be posting photo after photo and probably more news than you really care to hear about the little nugget and his arrival. Can't wait!!!! In the mean time I will sleep as much as possible and maybe even scrapbook a little.

Still Here. Still Pregnant.

Quick update on the babe: Yesterday I went to the doc to have my blood pressure checked again. Still high. They did another non-stress test and after a long while decided he still looks good. I was sent home and told to rest, rest, and rest some more. I have an appt on Monday so we will see what happens then. The doc said if my bp is still high it might be game over.... So I guess I will just hang tight and send my belly happy thoughts and attempt to rest (laughable) and recover from this gnarly cold.... "milk it," as my sister advised. 

And since it has occurred to me that it has been awhile since I've posted anything scrap related. Here are two using the Studio Calico Summer of '69 Kit....

On this one I cut the patterned paper into triangles and then pieced them together to create the chevron look.

This makes me want to scrap some more.... that counts as resting, right?

The Cavalry Arrives

They may look like mere mortals....

But I will tell you that these two really are SuperGrandparents. They got here yesterday from Colorado and I couldn't be happier about that.... and what timing. I went to the doc yesterday and had high blood pressure out of nowhere. She did a non stress test and an ultra-sound to make sure the babe looked good. He does. She drew blood to test for preeclampsia. A- okay. But it was unnerving. I was there for three hours..... and the only thing that kept me calm was knowing that these two were only hours away, so my backup for the other kids was taken care of.

Today they jumped right in and picked up groceries and took Ev to and from school. They are THE BEST. Seriously, everyone should be so lucky as to have wonderful in-laws like these that just "get it." I honestly have no idea what I would do without them.

The urgency continues.... I am having the same symptoms on top of a really brutal cold and it is making me totally out of it. This afternoon I will go to the hospital to get my blood pressure checked again. If it's high they will do the tests again and possibly induce. They doctor says she really doesn't think I'll make it through the weekend.

We shall see. I am just anxious to have the little Mister safely in my arms... and snapping out of a terrible cold and this weird feeling that something is just off in this pregnancy all the sudden. All I really know is that I can focus on the delivery because I have family here that is more than capable of holding down the fort while we take care of baby. ...... such a great feeling.

Full House

Over the weekend we had a few visitors. Hottie's brother and wife and their four kiddos drove in from their new home in Virginia. It's so nice to have family close enough to see. (6-8 hour drive, but still.) With our two families we have 11 people (almost 12!). To me eating out and going places doesn't sound all that appealing. So, we stayed in our jammies all day, and found some things for the kiddos to do.

Hottie had this great idea to rent a bounce castle...

We did go out for some fro-yo & I may or may not have gone back for seconds (Yes, I so totally did. It's amazing what a giant baby bump will allow you to get away with.)

Ev was in heaven waking up to her cousins and their adorable pup...

 We broke out the nugget's new toy for Cambry. Somehow I managed to snap a photo of her actually enjoying her car time.... it didn't last long.

But someone else thinks it's the coolest ride in town...

even though she doesn't quite fit inside.

Oh man, I'm gonna need a puppy...................

maybe in about 10 years when I can handle it?

Hottie tried to wow the crowd with the Mentos trick.....

...and that was that. :)

It was so awesome to have extra family in the house... and have a space big enough where the kids could kind of do their own thing while us adults watched movies and chit chatted and girl talked (Oh man, so nice to have girl talk.) The next time we have lots of guests will be Thanksgiving. We'll have 11 guests, plus our own 6. So, 17 people. (ah!) Should be a very Griswold holiday......

Note to Self

Always make time to enjoy and appreciate fleeting moments like these....

Rare cuddles and your favorite girl fast asleep, even though there is a huge road block (bump) in the way... and someone kicking her over and over in the head (baby bro).

You can never get this one single moment in time back again. So soak it in. Stroke her hair. Stare at her beautiful lashes. Admire the last trace of baby in her while you study her dimpled hands.

It hit me hard today. I want her to stay like this forever. Of course I want her to continue to grow, and thrive, and be healthy. I just want her to stay who she is. It makes me nervous to think of a baby in the mix and how it might change her. Evareaux is such a treasure in our lives. I just want her to know that she is loved, and cherished, and admired... no matter how many bumps are in the future. She will always be my baby. 

Best. Doughnut. Ever.

Seriously. It's the BEST.

So happy this family owned bakery isn't any closer because I would weigh 300 lbs.

We have company in the form of Hottie's bro and his family. This was cause for 24 of these bad boys and a giant bouncy/slide combo thingy. What a good way to spend a Saturday. Pictures and stories to follow...

Hello, New Love

Well, Nikki the Nikon bit the dust. (Yes, I name my most favorite electronics. Don't you?) We took it to Best Buy a few weeks ago because it was under the black tie protection plan (my Hottie is so smart). The chip in the lens was starting to effect the photos. 

They originally called to tell us it would be longer than expected (totally not cool, dude). Well..... turns out they didn't have the "same parts," because they don't sell the D5000 anymore. So..... instead they replaced it with this baby....

I hate the fact that my beloved Nikki was replaced. She was a Valentine's gift almost 3 years ago, and so very special to me.... but who am I kidding? A brand new upgraded version that I got to pick out just in time for my infant to arrive? That didn't cost me a single penny? I am thrilled. I just have to name him.... (I don't know why this one's a him, it just seems like it.)

Turns out he shoots perfectly. Here's my first test on a layout.....

Seeing photos of Nakiah as a babe makes me so excited to shoot tiny fingers and toes and everything in between. T minus 16 days, people!!

Modern Mobile

I wanted to do a modern take on a baby mobile for the Nugget's nursery. But it couldn't be something over his bed, because there's a mural now & I don't want to cover it up any more than the crib already does...

(this baby wanted to try out her old crib)

So I found a nice spot in the corner between a window and the dresser that seemed like a good fit. This way my little Mister can look at it while he gets his dipe changed... and that will hopefully distract him from peeing in my face. (yuck... but it can happen with boys if you're not on top of your game.)

To start I ordered these pom poms, festive flowers, and lanterns by Martha Stewart Crafts from Amazon. Luckily they offer some colors that would work in this room. I just left out the girly ones. 

 

Then I picked up this hoop from the floral section of a grocery store. $1.32

 Covered it with felt (which later I covered with yarn... so maybe do that instead if you make one. It's a cleaner look.) 

 After fluffing and prepping all of the different shapes I laid them out on the floor in a way that I figured would be close to how I wanted them arranged on the mobile. (wrong, but at least I could see what I was workin' with.)

 I found that working right from the ceiling was the best. That way I could see how each item dangled.

 Here's a little further along in the process...

 ...and the finished product!

The nursery is so close to being done I can taste it!!!!!! The list of to-do's has dwindled down to two or three, which feels better than I can tell you. I can't wait to share the whole shebang with you. Soon, soon, I swear. 

Bump Update

Some news in the bump department. Between the night nausea and impending delivery I am feeling a lot like this lately...

Our little nugget is confirmed to be delivered at least 1 week early, if not more. I am dilated to 3 cm and 50% effaced as of yesterday (yikes!). The doc has gone ahead and scheduled an induction for the 27th of September (3 weeks, people!). So that will be the day, unless I go into labor before then.

I have all kinds of worries and concerns and anxieties... which of course is natural during this stage. But I feel pretty justified about them. My main one is being in the hospital alone because we really don't have anyone to be with the kids if I go into labor before Hotties Mom comes to town. So. That's that. Excited for the little Mister to arrive, but not so excited at the prospect of doing it solo while Hottie stays home with our other kiddos...

The other nagging concern is having this baby too fast. My last two deliveries were both induced and only lasted 8 hours and 6 hours respectively from the time they started the pitocin to the time I heard the first cry. There is a VERY good chance I will delivery this babe in 4 hours or less. YIKES. Ok, ok. Calm down (excuse me while I try to calm myself down.) It just means we don't have a lot of time to mess around getting the kids from school and such. I hope and pray that when I go into labor I will know it's time and be able to hit the ground running... or huffing and puffing safely to the hospital...

All this being said, I have to be confident that everything will work out. (for my own sanity) Tonight I will talk to Hottie and we'll run through all of the possible times I could go into labor and what to do.... we will talk with the boys and try to prepare them for the "if's" on the horizon so they are not shocked if it plays out before Grandma arrives. That should make me feel a little more at ease. The ironic part, as with all pregnancies I would imagine, is that I simultaneously want this to be over with and hope that I end up needing the induction after all. Bringing a baby into the world is just so strange, isn't it?

OH- in other news.... I am 90% done with this kids room. I have 75% of all of the important "stuff" he needs. (just need a carseat, really.) So, at least the things I can control are almost completely handled. (go me!) So there's that.

Oh! And! We sent my fancy schmancy camera off to be serviced 3 weeks ago because there was a wicked chip in the lens.... it was supposed to take 2 weeks to repair.... yeah. It's gonna be another 2 weeks. (I think you knew where that story was headed.) grrrrrr. no camera for the newborn? &&&&&&&& I'm back to panicking.

Why I Love Project Life

Proof is in the pudding... I have kept up. See?! ....

 journaling about our not so fantastic Fourth...

 world's tastiest doughnut and lemonade.. you know, the important things.

 selecting paint for the scrap space and starting nursery projects...

 car rides of all kinds with a trip to see family...

 bravely starting and finishing the chevron office, Aidan comes back home...

 space for journaling about the nugget's to do's....

and this is why I love project life....

The other day Nakiah snuck into my office and opened the PL album. I found him giggling and flipping pages....

He looked up and said, "remember when we did this Mom? That was the best." It made me so happy.

This is exactly why I do this project. How else can you record everyday memories like chalk drawings on the driveway, your potty training misadventures, how he lights up when his little sis pushes him down the driveway on a skateboard? What better way to have all of these minute details in one neat little place to remind us? We can see clearly a baby bump grow from week to week and our family experience our first year in a new state. It's all documented in project life.

I don't know if I will do this every year. But I do know that I am so happy I took the plunge and realized the importance and the unparalleled advantages of sticking with this challenge during this particular year of our lives. We will never have another one like it.... there is a lot to document... and a lot to giggle at.