Spring & Summer wreath

I'm not very good at the stay at home Mom thing...I need to be busy or on the go. I've been trying to fill Quinn's naps with crafty projects so I'm not constantly going somewhere. Thank goodness for Pinterest!! :) I decided I should finally take my winter wreath down, but needed something to fill it's spot. 


I started with a grape vine wreath from hobby lobby, paint, and burlap ribbon left over from one of my baby showers. I found an idea on Pinterest that made the burlap into rosettes and went with that idea 

I didn't want a plain colored wreath so I spray painted it a blue color that would work for both spring and summer!

 I made several different sized rosettes and painted all but one.

 I started with them spaced apart, but decided it needed either no space in between the first four or more rosettes to fill the gaps.

 I went with more rosettes. :)

 Up close

It was a very simple and fun project. It took me a few tries to get going, but was easy once I got the hang of it. YouTube also has a tutorial on how to make the rosettes, but I kinda changed it up along the way.

And because I think she's the sweetest and cutest little baby girl ever....

One Month!

Quinn,
I cannot believe you are already one month. It has gone by so so quickly and I already want it to slow down!! Your Daddy and I love you to pieces and cannot imagine life without you now. We cannot wait for the months and years to come to see your amazing personality come to life! 

What you did this month:

- We just moved you into size 1 diapers this weekend, but you're mostly still wearing newborn clothes. You've fit in a few 0-3 month things, but most things are still huge.

- We haven't weighed you since your 2 week appointment so I'll have to do that this week! You were 9 pounds 2 oz. at your appointment (75 percentile)! I have a feeling you're at least 10 pounds now.

-You are nursing like a champ. It has been very easy for us and I am very thankful for that. You have gotten yourself on a good nursing schedule. You nurse every 3 hours during the day and have been going anywhere from 3 to 4.5 hours at night. You've been doing this since day three and it has been great!

-You are still sleeping in our room at night in the pack-n-play. I see no point in moving you to the nursery until you're sleeping through the night. I do not want to walk across the entire house multiple times a night half awake!

-You also sleep great in your pack-n-play during the day.
-You have started getting into a really great eat, wake, sleep cycle during the day. You are always so happy when you're awake!
-You LOVE your swing. You also love your boppy and boppy lounger. You'll hang out in all three until you get hungry! You'll sit in your bouncy seat for a little bit, but start crying fairly quickly. We tried the bumbo today, but you were NOT a fan. 

- You are really alert when you're awake. You stare at everything and make us laugh at how hard you concentrate.
-You can sleep through the loudest noises, but will wake at the quietest things. I can run the vacuum and you don't budge, but you're awake instantly if I pop my fingers...too funny!
-You will take a pacifier every now and then. We've tried several kinds, but only want your green gum drop paci. You would much prefer to suck your thumb, but we're trying to avoid that. :)
-Tummy time goes pretty well! You usually burp within the first few seconds. :) Your little neck is getting so strong and you try to hold your head up the entire time you're on your belly.
-I found you on your tummy this past week after laying you down on your back. I definitely was not ready for that. You would much rather sleep FACE DOWN on your belly. I don't let you do that unless I'm right beside you.
-You only cry when you're hungry. I usually get to you before you get upset, but you let us know if I'm even two seconds late. You love to eat! :)

-You get the hiccups ALL.THE.TIME. You seem to be OK with them thankfully and very rarely get upset from them. 

-You are a very smiley baby. Your first real smile was around 3 weeks!

-You do pretty well in your car seat and have been several places with Mommy - Target, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Chickfila, Brusco's, etc. 

A few things that happened on your one month birthday:

-Taylor Swift won entertainer of the year at the ACMs.

-The Hog's head football coach was in a motorcycle accident.

-The high temperature was 84 degrees (very hot for this time of year).

Newborn pics

CJ and I both love to take pictures. Thankfully, her Daddy also loves to edit and he does an amazing job. CJ took all Quinn's newborn pictures in our living room with our awesome camera. I picked out the bows. :)

The necklace

Everyone knows that my sweet Daddy passed away in July right before we found out we were pregnant. I know he would have loved Quinn SO much and she would have loved her Big Daddy SO much. :) I started to get very, very sad that he couldn't be here to meet my precious first born. I knew I had to do something to make sure he was there. 

The necklace I am wearing in the above picture was my last Christmas present from my Dad. I wear it almost daily and love it so much. I finally realized that's how he could be at my delivery. I wore this necklace the entire time and refused to take it off. I am so glad I had this last gift from him and can think of him every time I wear it. 

Baby Showers

CJ and I were lucky enough to have three separate baby showers. We are both SO thankful for everyone that helped us prepare for the arrival of sweet Quinny. We got SO many useful things and haven't really had to buy much at all. That has been a huge help!


Our first shower was hosted by my Aunt Camille in Benton. She did an AWESOME job at getting her house ready and really out did herself. It was so great to see all my friends and family since everyone is at least three hours away. A few pics from this shower...

The table all decked out in green & pink before all the food was out.

The cake with sweet booties on it. They can be written on with all her birth information.

Some of my amazing friends and family.

Nana helping get my flowers on that my sweet Aunt got me. 

Love everyone in this picture SO much!! 

The pretty wreath Camille made.

Up close. There were also little house shoes below the initials. 

Our second shower was given at work. We're lucky enough to have awesome co-workers that also went all out with decorations and gifts! It was hosted by two of my best friends at work - Ali and Christin. I am SO thankful for these two girls and their generosity. A few pics from this shower...

Ali made an awesome diaper cake with several useful things as decorations! Christin made the punch and I'm positive I had at least 10 glasses. SO good!! :)

 The cake was SO good. I had been craving it for days at this point!!

We got SO many cute outfits. Almost the entire office fed my zebra obsession as well which completely made my day and had CJ laughing.

 I know he is looking so forward to the days when Mommy and Quinny can go shopping together. :)

Our third and final shower was hosted by CJ's awesome Aunts - Kim and Julie. It was mainly diapers, but we got tons of other things as well. We are set on diapers and wipes for quite some time thanks to this and we're SO thankful!! One of the funniest things happened at this shower. I have really missed beer throughout my pregnancy. I wasn't a big drinker, but I loved to have beer with dinner on the weekends. Kim knew this and surprised me with a non-alcoholic Coors at the shower. My best friend was there and had been missing beer, too so she even got one! :) A few pics....

Justin's girlfriend Rachel made this diaper cake. I love all the pink and greens! 

Kim made sure to have hilarious games for everyone. You had to guess the candy melted in the diaper and the baby food. I didn't try any, because I was afraid I would get sick. CJ's Dad ended up winning!  

I had multiple cravings throughout my pregnancy, but these pretzels are just about the best things ever! Julie made enough so I could take some home and I snacked on them for two weeks! :) 

 There were onesies hung everywhere and I loved it! There was just about ever color you could think of. 

My other really big craving was chickfila. I had it almost every single day for my entire pregnancy. Yes, I realize how ridiculous that is, but I LOVE chickfila. I even got chickfila  gift cards for Christmas, because everyone knew how much I was eating it. Kim was sweet enough to have this for lunch at her shower. :)

 There were also socks hanging on the walls. We're very thankful for these, because Quinn's feet stay cold almost all the time!

 And for everyone that has wanted a belly shot...here are a couple. I was SO comfortable in that chair. :)

Picture a Day Part One

I decided before Quinn was born that I wanted to take a picture a day and eventually print it for her. This eventually turned into an iPhone picture a day to make things easier on me. So, here are days 1-7 of my incredibly cute baby girl! 

Quinn's birth story

So, staying home with Quinn has proved to be A LOT and I am beyond behind on all my postings that I want to do, but better late than never, right? :) Quinn's birth story: 

As I said in a previous post, I had my 38 week appointment on Wednesday, February 29th...aka the ONE day I did not want to have sweet Quinn. :) I was for sure there were other plans for me after I woke up that morning incredibly early around 3 AM with contractions that would not stop. I decided to go about my day like normal after timing them and none being closer than 12ish minutes apart. I just got an extra early start to my day. It was an interesting day at work to say the least because I was still trying to train two new girls to our group and had to do this through several hard contractions. Luckily, they both have kids and completely understood. My afternoon appointment FINALLY came after what I thought was going to be a never-ending day. I got several reminders that I should have Quinn that day from multiple co-workers that were convinced she was coming. :)

My blood pressure was the exact same it had been at every appointment and my weight had dropped 5 pounds. Apparently that's pretty normal in the end because there's NO room for food. I can attest to that - eating (and just about everything else) was impossible. After being checked by Dr. H (if you need a recommendation for Parkhill she is AMAZING) we got a little surprise. She expected sweet Quinny to be here sooner rather than later. I had the option to go ahead downstairs and be monitored, but that didn't sound too fun because I knew they wouldn't let me eat or drink ANYTHING once I was down there. I had different plans for a fun date night with my love before meeting our sweet daughter! We headed to Chili's so I could get my last Oreo molten cake. They're SO good!! CJ also got to take a few pictures of me since I had refused pictures almost the entire pregnancy. I felt like a whale!!! I'm really glad to have those pictures now so Quinn can see how big my belly got. :) 

We were going to head to the hospital after dinner, but my contractions were still pretty far apart and seemed to just stop. We (mostly CJ) tried to get as much sleep as possible starting around midnight after deciding to hang out at home for a little longer. CJ went into work the next morning to get a few last minute things done and even got in a workout that I didn't know about. :) By the time he got home I was laying over the counter with the worst pains I've ever felt. The contractions were INTENSE, but were still only 8ish minutes apart.


My plan was to walk out more progress in Target, but Quinn had other plans. CJ was very thankful for this since he HATES Target. My contractions went from 8ish minutes apart to 3-4 minutes apart after gathering a few last minute things before planning to head to Target. I called the clinic and told them I was headed in. That was the LONGEST wait I've ever had in a waiting room. I only had to sit there maybe 10 minutes, but doing that with heavy contractions was horrible. Not only was I having really hard contractions, but I had to sit quietly in a waiting room full of other people...I had been slightly yelling out the contractions at home. :) One of the doctors was finally able to check me and told me I was at a 5 CM and 100% effaced. I was shocked! I did not expect to be that far already. CJ and I were going to be parents that day and we could not have been more excited!!!


We headed downstairs (about 1030 AM), got checked in (room 23), got my IV put in with fluids started, filled out paperwork, called family to tell them to head this way, and worked through contractions until my new best friend (aka Mr. epidural man) showed up. I never once said I wanted to do my delivery natural. It just wasn't for me. I was absolutely miserable through almost every contraction and I wanted to enjoy my day as much as possible. I had amazing nurses that helped me SO much. My favorite was the one who kept a steady stream of Popsicles coming into my room. :)


The doctor predicted that I wold have Quinn by 3 that afternoon. That definitely didn't happen. My water finally broke around 3:30 and I started progressing more. Everything was really smooth until I got to a 9.5 CM and stayed. After giving it quite a bit of time and trying a few things that made Quinn's heart rate drop, the doctor decided to put me on my hands and knees to see if Quinn's head could help me dilate to the full 10 so I could push her out. Doing this proved almost impossible since I had an epidural. I did not have any feeling in my left side at all so CJ and my wonderful nurse had to pick me up and turn me over. I was able to hold myself up a little bit once they got me up, but I know it had to be hysterical watching all of this happen. I was able to stay up for about 12ish minutes and that seemed to do the trick. 


At this point the doctor was very ready for me to have Quinn (most likely so he could go to sleep) and the nurses helped me get ready to push. I had done a practice push earlier and I felt ready to go! I was beyond exhausted at this point and really wanted to have a March 1st baby, but knew we would be pushing it if the doctor didn't get me going soon. I started my pushing around 11. I was sure it would only take me a few minutes and I would get to see my sweet baby girl -- WRONG! I would push through the contractions as I would feel the pressure, but Quinn would go back up as soon as I stopped. I was not able to keep this from happening so the nurse had me grab a towel and pull through every push. This really seemed to do the trick. The doctor, nurses, and CJ were SO encouraging and really helped me give everything I could. I never knew I could hold my breath that long, concentrate so much, or want something so badly. They kept talking about how much hair she had (NO idea where that came from!) and she finally got down and stayed where I could feel it. That was all the motivation I needed - I wanted to hold my girl right now! After one more big push her head came out. I waited for the next contraction (they were pretty continuous at this point) and pushed the rest of her out.


Sweet Quinn Elizabeth Weatherford was born March 1st 2012 at 11:55 PM weighing an even 8 pounds and was 21 inches long. She came out screaming SO loud and pooping all over the doctor. :) I was not able to do skin to skin because she had stuff in her lungs from pooping while inside me. They immediately took her to the warmer getting her scores and cleaning her up. The first thing I asked CJ after bugging everyone to tell me if she was OK was "Is she a girl?" I had been having dreams all week that my sweet Quinn was going to be a sweet baby boy. 


The nurse let me hold her for about .5 seconds before having to wheel her to the nursery to take care of all the fluids in her lungs and to observe her. I was so happy I was crying and could not wait for her to be back to me! After about 30 minutes and me getting all cleaned up by the doctor I was able to hold her for the first long period of time, do skin to skin, and breast feed her. I was in heaven and so thankful everything was OK. 


Looking back now, everything went fairly smooth after a long, long day of labor. Yes, I had an epidural, but it was still SO exhausting! I was initially really worried after seeing who was on call. It was the ONE doctor that I did not want after seeing him for an appointment in the clinic, but it turned out wonderfully. He was very cocky and full of himself and it was EXACTLY what I needed to get me through labor. It's funny how things work out! 

Our first (rough!) family picture:

I will be posting newborn pics, a picture a day post, her first week, etc etc very very soon!