Olivia Capri Winters {Newborn}

Olivia Capri Winters {Newborn}

Olivia came a little over two weeks early on May 17th at 10:34pm. She weighed 6 pounds and 15 ounces. I was in otter shock that the feisty little kicker in my belly was such a sweet endearing little girl. She is perfect in every way. 

Her first month with us seems like such a blur. It was full of exhaustion, doctor appointments, and tons of cluster feeding. Looking back on it, I feel like I was totally unprepared. I should have taken classes, read some books, done something to better prepare me for the utter shock of caring for a tiny human 24/7. Olivia was cluster feeding around the clock, but surprising sleeping well at night. I remember she was less than two weeks old and waking up once at night, and sleeping through the night at just a month old. But she napped horribly throughout the day, and was pretty colicky towards the end of the first month. Yet, she was so beautiful and happy. She smiled constantly and was learning to laugh. It was the sweetest sound ever. Erik and I were actually able to a lot together despite having a newborn, which was so dumb on my part. We took her out way more than we ever go out now. I am forgetting how incredibly hot it was in our house though, so that is probably why we were constantly trying to get out and into some air conditioning! 

the nursery

I only get to enjoy this pregnancy for another eight weeks! While I feel like its been forever since I found out (September!) it has gone surprisingly lightening fast. The nursery is almost complete. Two things left to do: first this baby needs to come! and once he or she does, we will put his or her name above the changing table - I'm hoping to do something cute with that - but we will see ( people tell me I could be busy with something else, wonder what that would be?? ;] ) But here it is in all its glory!

i love my little family

I am so thankful for quiet moments like this. How could I be so lucky to have the love of such an amazing husband, those two little cutie pies, and a sweet little angel happily kicking away inside? There is snow on the ground, a fire in the fireplace, and nothing to do for the rest of the day. Bliss :)

BABY BABY!

So... I have new favorite room in the house. It is, of course, our little munchkin's room. I just adore it. I have had soo much fun getting it together. Here is the breakdown of whats been done so far. First, we had to prime prime and prime some more. This room, believe it or not, was the brightest shade of fuchsia and hot pink I have ever seen. It was gag worthy. But now it is beautiful :) After we primed, we painted the top half of the wall with Valspar paint in "Peaceful" (totally appropriate right?). I recommend spending the extra $$ on this paint. Not only is it low odor and zero VOC, but it is high quality -that is just one coat you see there. Super awesome.

Okay so next, we primed the bottom half again! (I am totally going to skip all the trouble we went through trying to get bead-board up first - it was a disaster and I am out 50 bucks, sigh). But we put up this chair rail molding. And now that it is all done, I am actually glad my bead board ambitions were shot down, it is a very clean, uncluttered look.Word to the wise, use your leveler each time you put a nail in, drywall is not actually flat. You will need to caulk along the top half of the board because there will be gaps. And be sure to use a caulk gun and paintable caulk. It really finishes the look. Then we painted the bottom half, including the baseboard and chair rail in Olympic Premium "Ultra White" Semi Gloss (Stick to semi gloss because this white is gonna get dirty and you want to be able to clean it!) Be sure all your nails are covered in paint too! I highly recommend using a Shur-Line Edger for this next part, its way easier than taping. So using the upper wall color, run the Edger along the top ledge of the chair rail to straighten the line and finish the look. The caulking will make an uneven, unfinished line into your wall color and this cleans it right up. There is so much more I need to do, but I love it so far. I just keep picturing rocking my sweet little miracle in that chair, and putting he or she down in their first little bed. My baby's going to grow up in that room, dream sweet little dreams in that bed, and play for hours on end on that carpet. MmmmMmmm

.... my heart is so full :)

I picked up these metal birdies at Hobby Lobby for  just $3.50 each!

I will. Every little square inch! $12.99 I picked this up at Hobby Lobs too. 

Far from complete, but I just love the overall look :)

Thirteen Weeks To Go!

This little pumpkin will be here before we know it. I have officially hit the third trimester, which blows me away. This pregnancy has flown by and the reality of actually having a baby, a real life child, is starting to hit me even now and then. It is scary, exciting, mind-blowing, everything all at once. I know that I am not ready for this incredible life change nor do I have any capacity to even realize how much of a life change this will be... but I guess this is all a part of it all, right?

My prayer for tonight is just for a healthy, happy baby. I am so blessed to be given this tiny little life to care for and raise up, that I can not ask for much more than that. I pray that this sweet little baby knows how loved he or she is already and how loved they will be for the rest of their lives by so many people. Most importantly though, how loved they are by God himself. God knows them and has formed them, every hair on their head, each fingerprint line, and has set their very heart in motion. This child of mine is a miracle. A tiny little miracle. I am so humbled.

Oh January!

Twenty twelve has gotten off to a rocky start. January has been such a roller coaster, so many good things, but so many unexpected downsides as well.

Mama Bajza had to have her hip replaced at the beginning of January and is recovering amazingly well! But it was definitely a week of no sleep for me, not that I minded though :) Then, the Sunday following her surgery, I had to be admitted to the hospital because I had passed out during church (super embarrassing by the way) and the doctors just wanted to run precautionary tests. Then, that Thursday evening, Erik had to go to the hospital because I suspected an appendicitis and lo and behold, was right. He had an emergency appendectomy on Friday - so again, no sleep for me. Less than a week later I had to pack up our entire home to be moved out and ready to go into our very own home. However, the night before we were due to close on our home, we found out that the seller neglected to finish their final paperwork and closing got pushed back a whole week. So Erik and I are homeless at the moment - which is not bad, we get to be spoiled at my parents house for a week, however the whole process was exhausting and disappointing to say the least.

On the upside though, I am starting my sixth month of pregnancy now, and everything is going great. Baby is kicking up a storm daily, and I just adore watching the little one move his or her feet, elbows and hands all across my tummy. It is such a miracle to witness! I still can not believe that I have the privilege of being a mommy and so blessed to experience pregnancy. I feel so empowered and proud to be a woman. I am amazed by the strength and very nature of our bodies and so amazed by our perfect Creator who set this entire process in motion and is intricately involved in every moment. I feel so incredibly humbled.

2012 has started off a little crazy, but it is looking like one heck of a good year - soo many milestones to look forward too. Erik and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary of marriage! Crazy! Our first child's birthday will be sometime is May, or June (fingers crossed for May tho! Yikes) We will be homeowners and Lord only knows what else!

I can not wait :)

how i wonder who you are...

twinkle twinkle little star.... how i wonder who you are

So today I had my week 21 checkup and it was simply amazing. I got to see my son or daughter, all 11 ounces, moving around, being all cute like. In a lot of the sonograms the baby has one or both hands behind its head, just chillin' - funny thing is, that is exactly how Erik sleeps at night. So, like Daddy like Baby :) I could not be happier and could not be more anxious and excited to touch that adorable face for myself! My heart has never been more full, just bursting with gratitude and love!

Had a hard time getting the little gymnast to hold still long enough but check out that pot belly! 

Baby is even smiling for the camera here :)

teeny little feet and toes, that I can't wait to kiss!