Friday, May 27, 2016

Abel is Three Months Old



Actually typing up this blog post ON his 3 month birthday, however I didn't get picture taken today as we (me actually) had to get out of the house! Abel is going through a growth spurt and teething at the same time, so my week has mostly been spent holding him.

Abel is growing up so fast. Its so funny seeing people's expressions when I tell them he is 3 months old. His 3-6 month sleepers are getting a bit short, so tonight we put him in a 6-9 month sleeper and it definitely is not too big for him. He still fits in 3-6 month body suits/rompers though, but not much longer I'm betting.


Just a couple days ago we got our first little laugh out of him. I can't wait till he starts laughing more often, it is so sweet!



Abel has a pretty big/heavy head so he hasn't rolled over quite yet. But the other day I walked away from him while playing on his playmat and just from watching me walk away he almost turned over!



This child has too much play equipment! We have a bouncer (2 actually), a low swing, floor play mat, and a bumbo. He uses all of them at least once a day. Abel gets bored quite easily and some days he hates the swing, some days he loves it. It's an adventure trying to figure out what he wants to do other than be held all day!!


Adeline is being a great big sister. She is such a big helper around the house, especially when daddy is gone. She entertains herself very well, which is great since Abel has been such a fuss butt!'


This boy goes from serious face to all smiles so quickly, its hard to get a good picture of his smiles.



Lately in order to get ANYTHING done I've had to wear Abel. Here he is "helping" me in my craft room.


Well we are heading into a big growth spurt/leap - pray for us!

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Family Pictures on Mothers Day

On Mothers Day we went and visited my husbands parents for the day and went to a little park near their house for Adeline to play a bit and take a few family pictures.

First time I've been to the park, but Adeline goes with her Nana whenever she goes up to visit her.


Here are Alan's parents with both grandchildren. Adeline is so hard to get to look at the camera!


Nana and her Grandson


Alan and I at the park. Ignore my gray hair, I need to get it colored! 


These two fill my days now and I wouldn't want it any other way.


Our family!


After the park we headed up their house for Mothers Day dinner and spend some time together. Abel was all smiles for PaPaw Mike.


We spent some time relaxing on their screened in porch.


Me and my girl!



Monday, May 9, 2016

Abel is Two Months Old


I'm a bit late posting his 2 month pictures. Why? Well...Abel is quite a bit different baby than Adeline was. He is a lot more demanding and loves his mommy snuggles a bit much. So I haven't had much time to just sit down at the computer and put together posts! Sleep is way too important to stay up late all the time!


Abel is growing so fast and so big! At his 2 month check up he weighed 13 lbs. and 8 oz. and was 24" long. He is in the 90th Percentile! That is a huge difference from Adeline who was in the 10th or less percentile. It's crazy how different they are, I wish I knew why there was such a huge difference between the two. I did take medications to help me get pregnant this time and medication during pregnancy that was needed due to PCOS, so I wonder if that is why he was bigger. Who knows, I'll probably never find out.


During his first month blog post I mentioned how he hated getting his diaper changed, now it is where he most happy! He loves to look at the light on the ceiling and feathers hanging above the table.



Adeline is still doing great with Abel and loves helping out. She does act up a little to try to get attention now, but I know it will get better. Abel requires a lot of attention and isn't so easily put down like Adeline was. So I can understand why she's acting differently now that he is here.


Alan and I are doing a great job sharing in taking care of Abel. It's great that I can count on him when he's home to help out so I can do some of the stuff that is impossible to do with 2 kids all day when he is working.


We are enjoying watching Abel grow up and excited to see who he will grow to be.




Sunday, May 8, 2016

Happy Mothers Crafting

SOURCE

Happy Mothers Day to my mom, Sara, and my mother in law, Reba! By now they've both seen their Mother's Day gifts so I can now share them with all of you. I knew they didn't need another trinket laying around the house so I figured they would love nothing more than a picture of their grandchildren. I didn't want to just print a picture and stick it in a frame, I wanted to create something unique that they can keep for years.

It's been all the rage to do photo transfer to wood, so I decided to give it a try. I looked for a tutorial that would be easy to follow and quick, I followed the tutorial by Southern Revivals from oh, 3 years ago! So yeah I'm way behind since this has been a thing for at least 3 years!

My first stop for this project was of course Michaels, mostly because its the only craft store in town. When we first moved here in 2014 there wasn't any craft store within 30 minutes! So I'll settle for what I've got and drive 30 min to Hobby Lobby for the bigger projects! So, at Michaels I knew I wanted to do more of the pallet style wood board, they have several different sizes but the one I chose was 10"x10" then based on the tutorial I knew I needed Mod Podge - Photo Transfer Medium for the photo to be able to transfer to the wood. I decided I wanted to decorate the wood a bit as well with some flowers so it wouldn't be so plan, I chose some Recollections Paper Flowers that went with the picture and board.

The only downside to doing a photo transfer is that you have to print the picture using a LaserJet Printer and remember to mirror image your picture (as you can see I did not forgetting he had words on his shirt, oops!). So I had to send my picture by PDF to Office Depot, which doesn't cost much but isn't very convenient!

Now that you have the materials needed follow the tutorial by Southern Revivals! It worked great for me. I wish I'd rubbed a little bit more paper off in a couple areas but I was worried about damaging the image, and I think it still looks great. I chose to sand the edges a bit, which is a good thing because some of the picture came off anyway on the edges! I then sealed it with Mod Podge Matte Finish, but be careful when you do it so the Mod Podge doesn't show on the wood like mine did (see you can learn from my mistakes!).

I also have a Silhouette Cameo, so I decided to put a quote on the bottom of the boards unique to each grandmother. For my Mother In Law I put "They call me Nana" and for my mom I put "They call me MaMaw". Then on the back of each sign I put the kids names and the year.

So after all that reading here is the finished product!




I love the added flowers! I had mommy brain earlier this week and totally forgot about the flowers so my mom got hers in the mail without the flowers, so if she decides she likes the look with the flowers I can add hers later! I just added them using E6000, I'm sure a hot glue gun works as well but I had it handy and it dries quick!



Thank you for stopping by, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Alison


Sunday, March 20, 2016

Family Comparison

Whenever a couple has a baby everyone says "Oh he looks just like his dad" or "She looks like her mom". So I sat down and decided to compare baby pictures for our little family. It is surprising how little we all look alike. Some families the similarity is striking - but for us I don't see it! Let me know if you do. You can click on any collage of pictures to view them larger.

Here are a series of comparisons (ages are unknown for mine and Alan's pictures):

First is Adeline's baby picture compared to Alan and I:


Then comparing Abel to the same pictures of us:


So what do you all think? Who do Adeline and Abel look more like as babies? I think they both have my baby cheeks!

This past week Abel turned a month old! So here is a comparison picture of Abel and Adeline at a month old. It is crazy how big of a difference there is between the two! Adeline was still wearing Newborn (and it was big on her!), Abel is wearing 0-3.


I went ahead and looked forward to Adeline's 2nd Month picture and it is a better picture to look at to compare how close they look alike since Adeline didn't start filling out until then.


Then for the comparison that I promised on Facebook a couple days ago that got this blog post in motion. Alan and Abel both wearing the same outfit. The funny part is that Alan is 3 months old when this picture was taken, and Abel was only 1 month old!


Saturday, March 19, 2016

Abel is One Month Old


This week we celebrated Abel being a month old! Time is already flying by and I can't believe it's already been a month. He has changed so much in that month.

Abel still does not like getting his diaper changed and cries through most. But when he doesn't he looks all around and is very observant. He loves looking at the ceiling fans in the house (what baby doesn't??) and at the big windows in our living room.


Abel is so different than Adeline at this age. Adeline was an easy baby, Abel is also an easy baby - just not as easy as Adeline! Or it could just be that now we have two, who knows? Abel typically sleeps ok his first stretch at night 3-4 hours then the rest of the night he's up about every 2 hours. I've really stopped keeping track. I am still dealing with pelvic and hip pain that I had during pregnancy so I cannot get up/down all night long with him, so after Abel wakes the first time from his crib in the nursery Alan brings him to our room and after Abel is done nursing he sleeps in a crib next to the bed. This is not what I wanted at all, but hopefully soon we can get him to sleep 100% in his room!


Abel only wore Newborn clothes for about a week, mostly because he lost a pound after birth (which is normal at the weight he was born at). But as soon as my milk came in he started gaining at a great pace! At 3 weeks old he weight 10 lbs 5 oz and was 21.5 inches tall. Most of his 0-3 clothes don't fit as they are hand-me-downs that are shrunk - so he can wear new 0-3 and used 3-6. He doesn't look like a big baby to me, but no one believes me that he's only 4 weeks!


So far Abel hasn't been out that many places. But he's been to Sugar Hollow Park, Steele Creek Park, Academy to see his dads old co-workers, Bass Pro for dads current co-workers, an attempted Target trip that failed miserably, O'Charlies, and Cracker Barrel. We spent our days at home right now with big sister, Adeline, either sleeping or eating and taking Adeline outside to play. We hope to head towards where the rest of our family is soon so that the extended family gets to meet Abel in person as well. That is one of the downfalls of living a bit over 2 hours away, but since it's still FLU season - it may be a good thing as well since his visitors have been limited.


Adeline is in love with her baby brother, Abel. She constantly wants to know what he is doing and loves to give him hugs and kisses. She has been a great help and is handling being a big sister great. She has had a bit of an attitude and acting up to get more attention, but that was to be expected. This weekend she's at my parents getting a break from having to share the spotlight, hopefully the break does her good. She loves visiting her grandparents (both sides), that will be her escape from her little brother for awhile until he gets big enough to go as well.


Alan and I are excited to see Abel grow up and see what personality he is going to have. Adeline is such a mix of the two of us, it's interesting to see what she gets from both of us.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Abel Jackson's Birth Story

**This is a birth story, all the details as I can remember it!**



Thursday February 18, 2016

Before Alan and I went to sleep on Wednesday I told Abel that Thursday would be a great day to be born as his big sister, Adeline, was away at her Grandparents and his daddy had the day off work already. Well at 1:30am on Thursday I woke to a sharp sudden pain but it passed quickly and I decided to get up to use the bathroom. Once I stood up water gushed out and continued to do so for a bit, but no contractions had started. We decided to go back to bed to get rest until they started.

About 2:15am I started feeling contractions and kept a general timing of them and after a little while of them feeling fairly consistent I couldn’t sleep and decided would be best if Alan and I get up and go ahead and finish getting the hospital stuff together to see how contractions do then. After packing I wanted to eat as I knew once I got to the hospital that was no-go. I had a bowl of Oatmeal and bacon with Orange Juice then settled on the couch to watch a movie. Contractions kept intensifying and consistent. At 4:15am I called the Doula to give her heads up and to see if she had recommendations on getting through the contractions. Torey thought it sounded like still in early labor and to rest and to call her when I thought I needed her to come.

Then at 5:30am I called the Doula back and said probably a good idea for her to come as the contractions were getting harder to deal with. Then not even 20 min later I was calling her back as I was starting to bleed and we decided I better head into the hospital and she would meet us there.

On the way to Labor & Delivery we called the grandparents to let them know and that we would update them once got checked out by the doctor. In L&D they got me into triage pretty quickly and checked. Turned out that my water hadn’t completely ruptured and was still intact but I was dilated 5-6cm already and in obvious active labor by that point. I then was placed in a room and it took a while to get situated and the wireless monitors started.

Once I was able to move about I tried laboring on the birth ball, couch, standing, etc. It was getting pretty intense and contractions very close together, about 1.5 min. apart. Alan and I then talked and I decided it was time for some relief and decided to get an epidural and Pitocin. Getting an epidural between contractions that are 1.5 minutes apart is no fun! I didn’t ask but it seemed like the first person who tried the epidural couldn’t get it and had to get the other. I did not want to know but it took forever and they had no comprehension that when I was in a contraction their instructions meant NOTHING to me. But once that epidural was in I could finally relax and actually slept.

I was checked around 3-4pm by a resident and baby was still high and waters intact. While he was checking my water broke so he checked to make sure the cord wouldn’t come out and prolapse. It didn’t so they let me continue to labor. After a little bit the doctor came in (Dr. Harmon) and said that baby heart rate was dropping after contractions so we might be looking at a C-section. But decided to see how well he did at pushing at he was down far enough now.

I’m not entirely sure how long I pushed, maybe 30 min or so? Alan was beside me, Torey helped with my left leg and my nurse for the day, Debbie, had my right. Debbie was timing my pushes and Torey helped with encouragement. Alan gave me bits of ice between pushes. Abel was handling the pushing ok so there wasn’t any more talk of a C-section.

After a few sets of pushes the doctor told me to stop as they had to get ready for the delivery. UH really? Guess they didn’t think I could do it. But once they came back after a few pushes I felt his head then the body come out. I don’t remember feeling that with Adeline, it was a very unique feeling.

Once he was out and suctioned they laid him on my chest but he wasn’t “pinking” up as fast as the pediatrician liked so he asked if he could take and look him over – I agreed as his cries were a bit off I thought. But once they had him he started crying more and pinked up perfectly and his 2nd Apgar score was a 9! His first was a 7.







Thirty minutes after being born and enjoying holding him I attempted to breastfeed. He latched on wonderfully and fed for quite a while from both sides. Then we got all situated and invited in the family to see and hold Abel.





Sunday, January 31, 2016

Nursery and Baby Shower - Digital Project Life

I've always enjoyed scrapbooking and a few years ago I gravitated towards the easier verison - Project Life. However, life is busy and I still haven't been able to keep up. I'm hoping to get caught up in the next couple months, but in the mean time I decided to switch to Digital Project Life.

If you know me personally I'm pretty big into computers, but I don't have much experience at all with Photoshop. Thankfully my computer already had Photoshop Elements and I watched a couple tutorials to get started. I think I know enough of the basics now.

For the Baby book I decided on Becky Higgins - Stampin' Up - Digital Project Life Set - Hello Baby Boy. The colors suited the Nursery theme and it has super cute animals. I've starting designing some base pages that all I'll need to do is add the pictures and then there are a few I've been able to finish. I'll post those below. 







Please give me some feedback and suggestions!

Thanks for visiting!
Alison