One Month

Posted in Baby G by Kendra G.

Crosby is one month old today!

It is somewhat hard to believe it, but here we are.
Greg and I were just talking last night about how we think this month has gone better than anticipated.
That’s not to say there haven’t been some rough patches with all four of us,
but overall, we have survived and we’re all [mostly] happy campers.

Luckily, Crosby has been pretty go-with-the-flow, mostly because he is still in that sleepy newborn stage.
Once he’s in his car seat, he’s pretty much out for the duration of the trip.
We have gotten out a lot more than I did with Kenley. I think that is because I have felt so much better,
and because we aren’t AS scared of germs as we were the first time around.
Our pediatrician still reminds us to lay low and not be around too many people,
but we also have a wild two year old coming home from school each day after she has
played with who knows how many other two year olds, all sharing snotty germs.
This is probably why little man has already had a cold. Sorry buddy!
Recovery wise, for me, I have felt great. Everything was much better the second time around.
Crosby and I try to get out at least once a day or every two days.
On the days we stay in, our time is spent snuggling and watching Parks & Recreation.

For the first three weeks or so, he was eating every three hours, day and night.
This past week we have seen a glimmer of hope that he’s going to stretch it out soon.
He went four hours for a whole day, but then goes back and forth between three and four.
He is sleeping whenever he is tired. Some days more than others, but his awake time is definitely getting longer.
Awake time is usually in the morning and once big sister gets home from school.
He would prefer to sleep in someone’s arms, but also sleeps in the rock & play and the newborn lounger pillow.
(I’ll do a complete rundown of the old and new gear we’re using this time around.)
We have also put him in the swing a few times, but I am much more aware of how annoyingly bulky that thing is.
He’s still sleeping in our room at night in the rock & play and boy, he’s a noisy sleeper!
He will sleep soundly for the first half of the night, half of which we are still awake for,
but the early morning hours consist of his version of tossing and turning and a lot of little grunts.
Once he starts to sleep longer stretches, we’ll definitely start transitioning to his crib.

One month notes:
Weight – Last we checked it was 8 lbs 13 oz at two weeks, so I’m guessing well over 9 lbs now.
Hair – Starting to get lighter, but it’s still all in tact.
Eyes – Dark blue
Head – No clue… I’m not even sure I know what it was at birth. That’s horrible.
Diapers – Size 1 disposables and they’re just a tad big. Hopefully we’ll get on the ball and start cloth soon.
Buying diapers stinks!
Clothes – 0-3 months. He didn’t really ever wear newborn, but he’s definitely fitting in his 0-3 month now.
Likes – Being held, sleeping, the car seat, NUK pacifier, looking at the fan, looking at the Christmas tree lights, being swaddled
Dislikes – Having his diaper changed, gas, tummy time

25Nov2013

Four Weeks

Posted in Baby G by Kendra G.

Little man is four weeks old and is filling out quite nicely. Look at that belly!
I will write more this week for his one month update.

24Nov2013

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by Kendra G.

i spent a tiny bit of time crafting this weekend after bedtime.
i’m trying to get my act together to join in on the pinterest christmas fun again.

the hoosiers were so close to beating uconn on friday. unfortunately, they did not.
michael and i might feel as if we could coach the team better. i’m not sure where we get that from…

greg and i hit up some early black friday specials at the mall on friday
and had ourselves a mini date (with a sleeping infant in tow).
all maternity leave is doing is fueling my starbucks addiction.

i know, i know, it’s too early for this, but we decorated for christmas on saturday!
the whole nine yards. tree, christmas music, icicle lights, everything. we are ready.

kenley was all about it. she loved the ornaments.
touching, throwing, putting them on the tree, taking them off, everything.
and we only broke one!
the tree lights can be either white or colored. i like the white, kenley likes the “green lights”.

this is what a trip to target looks like with a family of four.
shoes are optional and bribes included a blueberry scone.
oh, and starbucks… again.
we’ll get better at this, i hope.

***

we had a good weekend and we’re excited for a short week!
how was your weekend?

21Nov2013

Home Sweet Home :: One Year

Posted in Projects Around the House by Kendra G.

One year ago today we packed up a truck (three times) and moved just under two miles down the road.
To be honest, I really can’t believe we’ve only been in our house for just one year.
Especially considering that we now have two kids here, instead of just one!

I know I’ve mentioned this several times, but when we moved into our house,
every single wall was a cream color. The bank came in and freshened up, which was awesome,
but it was just very plain. Each time we added color to one room, we wanted to keep going
because it made such a big difference! Here is a rundown on what we’ve done over the past year.

We first started with Kenley’s room and added the DIY faux wainscoting. She transitioned into her new room
beautifully and now I’m realizing that I haven’t shared her room since we’ve moved her to a toddler bed.
I will post pictures of her true toddler room in the next couple of weeks.

Very early on, Greg tackled the ceiling in our family room. He painted and added crown molding to our coffered ceilings.

We updated several aspects of the kitchen, including the big hole/cutout in the wall, horrible pantry door, and the island.
Later on, we also added more modern hardware. You can read about the updates here and here.

The office was turned into an office / craft room combo room.

We updated the upstairs guest bathroom by painting the cabinets and framing the mirror.

Greg did a complete overhaul on the downstairs bathroom by adding beadboard, crown molding,
a new light fixture, the framed mirror, and bright orange paint!

The laundry room also got a complete overhaul from the paint color, light fixture,
drying racks, and storage, to painting the counter top.

Since we were adding another member to our family, we got to do another nursery!
I will share more pictures of Crosby’s room once he’s officially moved into that room.

We have also done a few other projects here and there that I haven’t shared yet.
Michael & Greg painted our master bedroom and master bath, and Greg painted the cabinets.
We also had the rest of the inside lower level of the house painted, as well as the exterior.
After much debate, we opted to hire help for that job since there was so much left to do,
and after it was all done, we were so happy with that decision.

In the immediate future, my goal for the holiday break is to complete the upstairs loft / playroom,
so I will hopefully be sharing that project after the first of the year.

In the not-so-immediate future, there are still several other projects that we’ll be working on,
so stay tuned!

Happy one year anniversary to our house that we’re making a home.

19Nov2013

25 Months

Posted in Family by Kendra G.

Even though my Babycenter weekly emails are titled “My Preschooler” vs. “My Toddler” now that
Kenley is two years old, I still consider her my little toddler.
Really, preschooler? And why did no one warn me about that. I almost cried when I saw it.

Since our two year old update, Kenley has now been a big sister for three weeks.
Overall, she has done wonderfully. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been a few bumps along the way,
but she really does love her little brother. She is constantly wanting to touch, poke, and kiss him.
We are constantly reminding her to be gentle, but if that is the worst of it, then I’m ok with that.
She LOVES it when he is awake and will announce it to everyone.
“Crosby’s awake!!!” or “baby Crosby awake!” usually pointing at his eyes being open.
At first, she would say “stop crying baby Crosby” when he cried, but recently,
she has started crying/whining when he cries (or fake crying mostly).
I think it’s a combination of her not wanting him to be upset and her wanting attention too.
At other times, she is very sweet and will say “it’s ok baby Crosby”.
She is very observant on what is going on with him as well…”Crosby have stinky poopy” or “Crosby eating”.
I anticipate there to be more bumps in the road along the way, but she has adjusted better
than we would have thought up until this point.
She is still on her normal schedule, going to school during the week, which has helped immensely!

Her birthday brought an array of new toys into the house which she has really gotten into.
She has two new babies, Chloe and Leila, both of which she loves. Their eyes open and shut,
which is very intriguing to a two year old. She loves dressing them and changing their diapers.
Her previous baby who was named “Kenley Dee Gilbertson” is now named “Crosby”, which is so sweet.
She also loves to play doctor with her new doctor kit. She takes “temperature” and says everything “looks good!”.
Currently, her favorite thing to do is have a tea party. She will pass it out to everyone
and we even set up some of her animals to join the party. We also “cheers” our cups before drinking. It’s so fun!

The girl talks nonstop and still enjoys singing, especially in the car.
If we are in the car that does not have her cd in it, she will recite the songs to us during the drive.
She is definitley in the “I want” and “I need” phase.
It’s great that she can tell us what she wants, but it turns into “I want (cheese, for example)” twenty times in a row.
This is not helpful when we are somewhere where there is no cheese.
Miss independent also doesn’t like having books read to her at bedtime, so she reads to us.
This usually consists of her flipping the pages very quickly and us reciting the book from memory.
She loves her picture books and I’m constantly amazed at the words she knows.
Xylophone, for example.
She is a sponge!

Kenley- You are growing into a little girl more and more each day.
We love watching you be the best big sister ever!

18Nov2013

Three Weeks

Posted in Baby G by Kendra G.

Little man and I fought a cold last week, which is tough when you’re just under three weeks old.
We are on the mend though.
He loves being held, snuggled, and his paci!
He also enjoys being carried around in the wrap, which is helpful for me.

We had a doctor’s appointment this past week and he weighed 8 lbs 13 oz.

17Nov2013

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by Kendra G.

since i’m having a hard time remembering what day it is
or when the weekend begins or ends, this is more of a “my week in photos” post.

caught him while he was awake.

greg worked a lot this week, including three evenings.
we successfully survived our first night just the three of us.

snuggles.

a belated birthday present. what’s better for parents of a newborn than coffee mugs?
we’re excited to try out these bad boys! thanks mjay!

i wish i could say taking care of two kiddos alone was easy.
there were some dicey moments this weekend… but isn’t he sweet?

she didn’t want to pick up her toys after being asked,
so she gave herself a time out. i had to hide my laughter.

we had so much fun celebrating charlie’s 4th birthday today at the park!

it’s going to be hard to wait until the weekend to put our new tree up,
let alone wait until black friday! i’m so giddy!

***

how was your weekend?

14Nov2013

Crosby’s Birth Story

Posted in Baby G by Kendra G.

After spending a week here in Florida, my dad left on Saturday, October 26th
fully expecting me to have the baby the following day. I, on the other hand, was not so sure.
My mom and I got pumpkin spice pedicures then ran errands in the afternoon.
I had nothing more than maybe a few Braxton Hicks contractions all day.
We had a couple friends over for a visit, then headed down to our community Halloween festivities.
After dinner, Michelle came down to visit and I bounced on my exercise ball for hours.
We chatted about everything related to this baby and when we thought I was going to go into labor.
I was convinced that I would have to start having contractions in order to head to the hospital
because it’s so rare that my water would break (it apparently only happens in 8-10% of women).
I have several friends whose water just broke, so I didn’t think that would happen to me.
Greg and I ended up going to bed around 10:30pm. I had a couple contractions laying in bed,
but nothing that I felt like I had to stay awake for, so I went to sleep.

Two and half hours later, I woke up and my water broke almost immediately.
I looked at the clock.
1:04 am
I shot out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
After evaluating the situation, I went back into the bedroom to wake Greg.
He was completely out of it having worked late the two nights before. I finally woke him up
and told him what had happened. He asked me if I was sure?
Yes, I was sure.
I got in the shower and we gathered our items to head to the hospital.
Thankfully, my mom was still in town, so she stayed at the house with Kenley.
In the car, I began timing my contractions as they started pretty quickly after my water broke.
They were between 5-10 minutes apart by the time we arrived at the hospital
around 2:00 am, almost exactly an hour after my water had broke.

Once we were in Labor & Delivery, the nice nurse started asking me questions about my water breaking.
We got to our room and she had to make sure my water did indeed break.
I understand this is standard procedure, but through my contractions, I wanted to just yell, YES IT BROKE, I’M SURE!
Finally, she confirmed it and I was strapped up to the monitors and had to begin filling out paperwork.
As soon as they strapped on the heart rate monitor for the baby, I asked Greg what the baby’s heartrate was reading.
120bpm.
I told him, it’s a boy. I know it.
This was a complete 180 from what we had thought leading up to this moment,
but I was sure of it. We were having a boy.

I got a different nurse at this point for the rest of the night shift and she informed me I was 2-3 centimeters.
Around 3:15 am, I asked how close my contractions were together and she said 4 to 4 and a half minutes apart.
I asked if there was any reason to not get an epidural at this point (for fear that it may slow down labor),
she said no, and I requested to get one. We were the only couple in L&D so the anesthesiologist came right in,
unlike last time when I had to wait two hours. I definitely did not remember it hurting as badly. Dang.
On the other hand, it took about 45 minutes to kick in. During this time, Greg was busy buying Keurig K-Cups on Amazon.
He was very excited about a deal he found in the middle of the night and just couldn’t pass it up…
I, surprisingly, could care less what he was doing and just wanted the epidural to kick in.
Once it did, we tried to get some sleep, but I don’t think either one of us slept really.
I laid there, completely numb, wondering what it was going to be like to have a boy.

The nurse came in a few more times as the hours passed.
Around 6:00 am, she said my contractions were slowing and she wanted to start pitocin.
I was not thrilled about this since I wanted a completely different birth experience than last time,
but I obliged and rolled with the punches. Before she started, she informed me I as “a good 5 cm”.
In my head, I thought I would have this baby by noon if I continued to dilate 1 cm per hour as a good rule of thumb.
I was on the pitocin for about an hour and we went through the shift change with the nurses.
At this point, I was still very numb from the epidural and Greg kept having to put my leg back up on the bed.

Just after 7:00 am, our new nurse Jean came in to check on how we were doing.
She suggested that I reposition myself to my side and she moved my monitor that was tracking contractions.
She didn’t want to keep going with the pitocin if my contractions were picking back up.
Once I moved to my side, I felt SO much better. I was starting to get some feeling back and wasn’t feeling
completely numb. I was able to tell when I was having contractions now since I could feel the pressure.
By this time, Kenley was awake at home. We were able to FaceTime to talk to her and see how she was doing.
Both Greg and I were so worried about her. We felt so bad that her life was going to change so much
and she really had no idea. She seemed to be doing just fine at home with Meemaw though.
I updated my mom on how things were going and told her that I felt like I could start pushing.
Every contraction brought intense pressure and made me want to push.
She said to tell my nurse that as soon as she came back in.
We said our goodbyes and that was the last time we talked to Kenley before she was a big sister.

Jean came back in to check my progress. I was hoping for a good 6-7 cm at this point,
but was absolutely floored when she so nonchalantly said “your cervix is gone”.
She didn’t want me to do any practice pushes until the doctor had arrived on the floor.
I guess second babies DO come faster!
As she was leaving the room, the on-call doctor called to check up on me and she informed her I was ready.
They spent the next hour or so preparing the room for delivery, calling the nursery nurse, etc.

The doctor arrived shortly after and started asking about my previous labor with Kenley.
I told her that I pushed for 90 minutes last time. Once she assessed the situation,
she told me that she definitely didn’t think I’d be pushing that long this time around.
That was music to my ears and she was sure right.
Four contractions later and just under five minutes at 8:40 am, baby was here!
Her first comment was “big baby!” then “it’s a boy!”
I started sobbing. I couldn’t believe he was here already… my water had just broken seven hours before.
Greg and I just took him all in before we passed him over to the nursery nurse.
They weighed and measured him and kept commenting on how good his color was.
She said that he wasn’t stressed at all coming out and that he must have been ready.

In addition to Greg and I, there were only two nurses and the doctor in the room with us.
The sun was beaming into our room as it had just come up. The entire experience was completely
different this time around. It was much more quiet and peaceful.
The next two hours were spent getting feeling back into my legs and snuggling our sweet boy.
Greg called our family, most of which had no idea we were even in labor.

After we moved up to our room, we were anxiously waiting for one little girl to get up from her nap
and come visit us. It was hard to believe we had just seen her the night before when we put her to bed.
Now, we had two kids. We still kept thinking that she had no idea how her world has changed.

Kenley was such a rock star and a great big sister. She loved “baby Crosby”.
She loved touching, kissing, and hugging him.
They stayed for a few hours before heading back home.
We enjoyed a very short stay in the hospital and were home the next evening.

Crosby’s birth was completely different from Kenley’s birth.
Both were perfect.

13Nov2013

LÄTT hack

Posted in Projects Around the House by Kendra G.

Every time I go to IKEA, I look at the LÄTT table and chairs in the children’s section.
I have no idea why I had been mulling over it for so long considering the entire
set is a whopping $20, but I had. Finally, I was at IKEA by myself a couple months ago
and I sent Greg a picture (like he had never seen it before), to get his opinion.
He said he thought it looked cheap… my response… it is. It’s $20.
Needless to say, I got it and I’m so happy I did!

[Source]

I got the idea to hack it from my friend Sally who recently transformed
her table and chairs for her two kiddos. Kenley had used it a couple times, so I knew it would be perfect.
There are a million and one ideas out there on how to hack a LÄTT table (seriously, Google it),
but here is what we decided on.

Paint

We used Silver Fox Flat Valspar spray paint and it took just under two full cans for both of the chairs and the table.
We decided on the color while we were standing in the aisle at Lowe’s,
so there was really no rhyme or reason as to why we chose that specific one other than the fact that it’s pretty!
Greg ended up spray painting the pieces prior to putting it together so the hardware didn’t get painted.

Chairs

I had received a shower gift that was wrapped in this navy blue fabric
and had added the fabric to my stash. When I went looking through it,
I thought navy would look pretty with the light blue color and went with it.
I believe the fabric was purchased at Joann’s.

I cut a small square of fabric out without measuring and wrapped three sides of the chair.
I already had a huge bag of fiber stuffing from a previous project,
so I stuffed it into the opening on the chair to make it soft and padded.
Then, I wrapped the final side of the chair and put it into the frame.
This part was tricky and definitely took two people to maneuver the fabric and cardboard seat into the chair to put it together.
I didn’t worry about the underneath of the chair, nor did I glue down the excess fabric.
I just trimmed off what I could after the chair was put back together and left it.
It’s not pretty on the bottom, but it works.

Table

Sally suggested looking on the Paper Source for gift wrap to use on the top of the table.
They have such cute designs and I immediately fell in love.
I also soon found another hack where they used a giant map that I liked;
ironically, it was also wrapping paper from the Paper Source.
Seeing it on another table helped me decide on the Cavallini World Map.
The gift wrap was larger than the table top, so I trimmed around the map so it would fit.
I chose not to mod podge it down so I could change it out later if I wanted to.
To protect the table and gift wrap, we laid a piece of 18×24 plexiglass on top.
The four corners had to be trimmed out a little bit for it to fit, but it works great!

There you have it!

Have you hacked a LÄTT table?

11Nov2013

Two Weeks

Posted in Baby G by Kendra G.

Little man is two weeks old!
He finally has a belly button and has taken his first real bath.
Surprisingly, he didn’t mind it.
He still doesn’t like getting his diaper or clothes changed.
He is eating every three hours and still sleeping a lot.