Beckett's First Month

We happily welcomed Beckett on February 21, two weeks early, into our lives and hearts. I wanted to share some pictures from his first month with us including the hospital and lots of loving visitors!

Beckett is doing great! He is a hearty eater and pretty good sleeper. He's getting so much more alert each day and we hope that we start to see some real smiles in the next couple weeks. He is very strong...he can lift his head all around and keep it upright when he's on your shoulder. He loves sleeping on your chest and bath time. He's not a fan of diaper changes and getting dressed though. He's a sweet little guy and we're just so smitten.

Maternity Leave Musings

Some random musings on maternity leave thus far:

I am grateful for E! for running Sex and the City reruns all day, every weekday. I've started recognizing reruns on my other go to, HGTV, which I never thought would happen. Daytime TV is bad. Can anyone recommend some Netflix series? 

On a related note, I really hate watching TV without DVR.

I am becoming an amazing one handed texter and have seen especially impressive strides with my left hand texting/iPhone maneuvering.

My little guy is so adorable when he falls asleep. Watching the expressions on his face and his little lips purse and "smile" is priceless.

I've always been sucked in to buying "comfy pants" when I see a super soft pair on sale. This has paid off mightily during these weeks at home! And those Kappa Semi Formal 2004 sweatpants? Good as the day I got them and a key member of the rotation.

You don't get much done. The three hour eat, play, sleep (and soothe while crying) cycle goes so fast...I had thoughts of getting some things done while I am home. We'll see...maybe later on though!

Coffee. So much coffee. And Diet Coke. Why doesn't Starbucks deliver?

With this weather, I have been living for 50+ degree days when I can take Beckett out, bundled up for a walk. Can it please be spring?!?!

I should be saving some money on makeup these three months. And hair products...

My husband working from home is pretty amazing. Having him around in the morning before he logs on and for lunch together (some days) makes life so much better.

I will leave you with a pic from one of our days together (no makeup and comfy pants!):

"You Are My Sunshine" Nursery

We put the finishing touch on Baby Sayler's nursery today when we hung up the video camera for the baby monitor. Before we hung it, I snapped some pics of the room to share. I have LOVED decorating this room and using yellow, which is a color I normally don't like in decorating. The room is bright and light and neutral, just ready and waiting for baby!

The paint color we chose is called Gray Husky (Benjamin Moore) and the accent stripes were done with a pure white sample from BM and a pale yellow color of Ace brand paint. We will be putting the baby's name in the stripe with white letters once we know if we have a little miss or mister.

I couldn't find any bedding that I really liked so my mom, the amazing sewer, helped me pick out fabrics and made the changing pad, pillow for the glider and crib skirt. My dad constructed the window cornices for us, which hide pull down blackout blinds. The fabric totally makes the room and I couldn't be happier.

Dresser - IKEA

Crib, mobile, sheets - Target.com, baskets - Joss and Main, window treatments and crib skirt - handmade 

We'll be adding baby's name in white block letters after he/she arrives.

Glider - Buy Buy Baby, shelves - Smartfurniture.com, picture frames (need to be filled!) - IKEA, pillow and blanket - handmade

 I love the little details in the room too. Here's a few close up pics.

Lamp base (spray painted) - Goodwill, shade - Target, rhino toy - gift

The little elephants in the sheet match the art prints and our humidifier (not pictured.)

Frames - IKEA, art prints - Etsy

Changing pad cover - handmade

Daddy checking out one of the books we received at our baby shower. 

I'm excited to add photos or maybe baby's footprints to the frames and display some personalized items once we have his/her name. Just a few more weeks!

5 Weeks to Go

It is so hard to believe I am 35 weeks pregnant and we're a mere 5 weeks (assuming Baby is prompt...) from meeting our son or daughter! I have been seriously lax on this blog, mostly because winter laziness + pregnancy had taken over for a while. And, we have been busy! For me, work has been crazy which is actually a blessing because time is flying by and, mentally, I haven't had time to sit around and obsess over labor or worry about things.

I figured I would share some updates on what we've been up to and how Baby is shaping up (literally)!

I have been lucky and continue to feel pretty good, considering how late I am in the pregnancy. I've been having a bit of back pain and sore feet but mostly I'm just starting to move slow. I don't think I have the full-on pregnancy waddle yet but people on the Metra train are being pretty nice about giving me space on the platform and letting me board. Nice little perk of the bump!

Nesting kicked in early January and Scott has been amazing helping with whatever I want done around the house. The nursery is complete (full post of that to come soon) and we've been crossing off projects that have been on the "house to-do" list for a while. We've hung shelves, gotten the house painted, organized closets, etc.

Everyone always asks about cravings. Once I got my appetite back in the second trimester, the only cravings I've had are cool creamy things like milkshakes and ice cream, and citrus. I have bought more orange juice and clementines this winter than ever before!

We started our series of pre-natal classes as well. We took a hospital tour which made me feel great about where our baby will be born. We've taken Babycare Basics and Infant CPR. The last one the list (purposely) is Childbirth Basics. We've read some sleep books and I've read about the first couple weeks of having Baby at home. Overall, we're feeling as prepared as we can be and mostly relaxed and excited (vs. nervous.) We're just going to take things one day at a time.

Here's a look at how my baby bump has shaped up over the past 8 months. It feels like I am growing really fast right now and I still have 5 weeks to go! I am definitely excited to put the maternity clothes away and get back to a shape I am more used to (though I know everyone says it's never quite the same.)

Babymoon to Cabo San Lucas

According to the Oxford Dictionary:

babymoon

Syllabification: (ba·by·moon)

Pronunciation: /ˈbābēˌmo͞on/

Noun

• a relaxing or romantic vacation taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born:on the eve of my third trimester, we boarded a plane for a week-long babymoon among the quiet canals of Amsterdam

Now, I don't know if I'd recommend Amsterdam as a babymoon destination, like the example above, but I would DEFINITELY recommend Cabo San Lucas, where Scott and I spent a blissful week.

We stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort and it was wonderful. The pool area, service and food were all excellent. I went to the spa, Scott golfed, we ate lots of chips and drank margaritas (virgin for me!). Cabo San Lucas is a fun town and I can't wait to go back when I'm not pregnant. Here are some of the highlights from our vacation:

El Squid Roe Bar

Amazing tableside guac AND salsa

The famous Cabo Wabo Cantina

Scott hit the links at Cabo Del Sol's beautiful Ocean Course

Cabo Del Sol

Cabo Del Sol

24 week picture fell on golf day :-)

Cabo Del Sol

Cabo Del Sol

Hanging at the hotel bar

Hotel lobby pic before heading into town

Beautiful beach at the Hilton

Sunset Da Mona Lisa restaurant on our last night

Sunset selfie

View of El Arco and Lands End

It was a little cloudy but still made for a beautiful view

Can't wait to go back!