Avery Rose is here!!

Our sweet baby Avery is here! She was born at 7:47 a.m. on April 28th, 2014 via a scheduled c-section. She weighed 8 lbs. 3 ozs. and was 20 inches long. Everything went great with her delivery and we have been home now for almost a week. We are settling in nicely as a family of 4 and everything is going really well.

Avery is so sweet and such a good baby. She's a really good eater and has been sleeping in about 3-4 hour stretches at night. She's pretty laid back, except when she's hungry. ;-)

Here are some of the pictures they took at the hospital so you can all see our beautiful baby girl. I hope to get her birth story up soon, although, it went so well, there really isn't much to tell. It really couldn't have gone any better.

Avery's Nursery Reveal

I'm so excited to share with you Avery's nursery reveal! I had so much fun planning the nursery and seeing it all come together! I just LOVE the way it turned out.  I seriously can't thank my Dad and my Sister enough for all their help!!

I've added links at the bottom of the post for everything in the room.

Disclaimer: The color in these pictures seems to be a little bit off. I couldn't seem to get the lighting right and even in editing, it was hard to get it right, so this is the best I could do, unfortunately.

 My Dad painted the room, did all the trim work and hung the chandelier! I just love it all so much.

 

A close-up of the beautiful bedding that my sister made! I love it so much.

All of Avery's baby's. (Of course, they will all be taken out when she starts sleeping in her crib.)

The mobile I made for over her bed. It was a pretty simple craft that we hung up using fishing line.

A close up of the flowers on the valance.

My sister helped hang up the little pom poms and doilies over the rocking chair. They were from Avery's shower.

The afghan hanging on the back of the chair was made by my mom. :-)

These are pictures of me pregnant with Avery and my Mom pregnant with me. ♥

The super cute wall collage for over Avery's chest of drawers. Thanks to my sister for hanging it all up for me. :-) She really is the best. 

Avery's cute binkie jar that my mom made for her.

My sister made this for all of Avery's sweet headbands and bows!
 

And here's a sneak peek of Avery's closet, full of so many cute clothes!

 Wall Paint Color: Jamaica Bay by Behr

Crib: Jenny Lind, Walmart.com

Bedding, Pillows, Valance, Hair Bow Holder and Bunting: All made by my very talented and awesome sister, Ashlee (We found all the fabric at Joann's)

Changing Table: Jenny Lind Style bought on Craigslist for $30

 Changing Table Pad Cover: Buy Buy Baby

 Baskets for Changing Table: Target

Rocker/Ottoman: It was my sister's rocker that she recovered in some of the fabric we used for the bedding.

Curtain Rod: Hobby Lobby

Chest of Drawers: South Shore Savannah Collection, Walmart.com

Pink Side Table: Walmart.com

Lamp and Lamp Shade: Sold separately at Target (Lamp Stand and Lamp Shade)

Picture Frames: Hobby Lobby, Walmart and Michaels

Prints: I found the ideas on Pinterest and then made them and printed them myself.

Chandelier: Home Depot

Mobile: I found the idea on Pinterest here, and then made it myself. The embroidery hoop is from Hobby Lobby and I bought all the ribbon and butterflies at Michaels.

Binkie Holder: My mom bought the jar and used her Cricut and pink vinyl to cut out Avery's Initials

38 Week Bumpdate

It's so crazy that this will be my last baby bump post. I can't believe we're down to less than a week already!!

How Far Along: 38 Weeks + 1 day (Less than a week to go!)

(You can check out my 38 week post from when I was pregnant with Jackson here.)

 Size of Baby: (According to babycenter.com) 38 weeks: Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she is over 19 1/2 inches long (about the size of a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 33 pounds total.

 Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes and growing out of some of them. :-( I am so ready to be back in normal clothes again.

Gender: Its a GIRL!! Our sweet Avery Rose.

Movement: Yes, she's moving around, but her movements are a little different now that she's taking up so much room.

Food Cravings: I haven't really had any cravings this whole pregnancy, but I have been really liking ice cream lately. :-)

What I miss: Just being able to do normal things without feeling tired or out of breath. I also miss being able to wear my wedding rings, which I haven't been able to wear for quite some time now. :-(

Sleep: Not great. I'm having to get up several times a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes. It's so hard to roll over in bed too. :-(

Symptoms: Feeling very tired, having a few Braxton Hicks contractions, some cramping here and there, heartburn and some minimal swelling in my legs, feet and hands. I'm also having an occasional sharp pain in my pelvis, which is not very fun and occasional sciatic nerve pain again. 

Best Moment this week: Celebrating my birthday with my MIL and SIL's Saturday and then celebrating Easter with family on Sunday.

What I am looking forward to: At this point, I'm just really ready to meet my sweet girl on (or before) April 28th!! :-)

38 Week Check Up: I had my last ever baby appointment yesterday. There was no progress from my last 2 appointments. I'm still 1 cm dilated and the baby is still pretty high. So I fully expect to go until the 28th. I'm measuring 40 weeks pregnant, so 2 weeks ahead. I'm expecting Avery to be at least 8 lbs. and the doctor seemed to agree with me. I was measuring 39 weeks at my 38 week appointment with Jackson and he weighed 8lbs. 12ozs. however, he was born at 40 weeks and Avery will be born at 39, so who knows really. It's just a guess. 

Regardless, I just really can't wait to meet her and hold her in my arms. I'm trying really hard to be patient and take it easy this last week. I want to spend as much time as possible with Jackson as this is going to be such a big adjustment for him. I can't wait to see how he reacts to the baby and I'm praying its a smooth transition for him. 

We are pretty much ready to go. The only things we have left to do are finish packing our bag, pack Jackson's bag and install the infant car seat in my car. 

So now we just wait and pray that everything goes well next Monday. :-)


Comparison of me 38 weeks pregnant with Jackson and 38 weeks pregnant with Avery.

 

Easter 2014

We had such a great Easter this year, I hope you all did too!

We got up and got ready for church and then once we were ready, we had Jackson's basket sitting in the living room waiting for him. 

Then, we had a little Easter Egg Hunt for him in our living room.

After the egg hunt, we headed to church for breakfast and the morning Easter Service. After service, they had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids. Jackson loved looking for the eggs!

After the Egg Hunt, we took a few family pictures.

Jackson with his cousins, Landon and Mason.

Our little family of 3 (almost 4).

My sister with her family.

My parents with my sister and I and our families. :-)

After pictures, we went and visited my Grammy's grave. She has been gone 3 years today. She is missed Every. Single. Day.

Then we all went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for lunch. My Aunt had gotten each of the boys a little bag for Easter and my sister got Jackson some candy. None of them really wanted to cooperate for a picture, so this was the best I could get. :-)

Then we went to my Mother In Law's for dinner and another Easter Egg Hunt. :-) We had the Egg Hunt at the park and since Jackson had already done 2 hunts that day, he was much more into the playground. 

Going down the slide with his cousin Sophia.

Once we got back from the Egg Hunt, my Mother in Law had a little goody bag for each of the kids. Here's Jackson with his bag. :-) He was so cute and sat so patiently waiting for his turn to see what was inside of his bag. He's getting so big. :-)

So that was our busy, but super fun Easter. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter too.

A Few More Maternity Photos

This past weekend, my sister took a few more maternity pictures for us so that we could get a couple family shots and some of just Jake and I. (You can see our first little mini session from a couple weeks ago here.) They turned out really good, despite the wind, so I just wanted to share them here with you. :-)