Christmas as Three

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year but this year it was extra special as our first holiday as a family of three (4 really...Paisley our dog). While Molly is too young to have any idea what is going on it was still so fun having her first Christmas. And we got to introduce her to lots of family and friends.

We headed to Oklahoma City for a full week before Christmas so we could get settled in and enjoy the help of a few extra hands as grandparents soaked up some good Molly time. It was so nice and we enjoyed the help. Our time back home came to an end before we knew it and we already miss being in OKC with everybody, but time to resume real life and get ready to ring in 2012.

In the meantime a few photos to share...


Bath time at the grandparents house


Big Smiles!


Chill time with Daddy


Reading The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve


Playing with new toys from Santa


Opening presents on Christmas morning


I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday!!

Molly: One Month

Molly hit her first big milestone...one month old! It's hard to believe a month has already passed, it seems like just yesterday I was going into labor. While each individual day seems to move a little slow at times this one month mark snuck up on me. Realizing how much we need to cherish this time with her, she will only be this small and precious once. While I still miss being pregnant sometimes (should have relished that more) I am starting to feel more comfortable in my Mom role and that is my milestone.

 So, one month notes on miss Molly.

Stats:
7lbs 9oz
19" long

Likes:
Soothie pacifier
Bouncing (especially on the ball)
Cuddling close
Erin bear beanie baby

Dislikes:
Tummy time
The car seat
Paisley barking
Not being held

Looking Back

It's hard to believe that a month has passed since giving birth to our little miracle. Hard to get used to the fact that I am not pregnant anymore. I get emotional when I think back to my time carrying her because it was so special, such a miraculous thing to experience. And I smile thinking back to her birth and what I, we, accomplished together as a family. And now here I sit, a month later, holding my beautiful baby girl after a difficult day and thinking "wow" - she is the greatest thing I have done in my life so far. I wish I could go back to the day I read that pregnancy test and tell myself to take it all in, really soak it up, because it flies by and it's a time to be cherished. And now I am going to go cuddle with my little girl.

this is hard

When you are pregnant and day dreaming about your baby-to-be you conveniently jump ahead to 6 months of age, not thinking about those first few months and what they will really be like.

You imagine picnics in the park, walks with your new family through the neighborhood, giggles and laughs while you read bed time stories. You don't, even for a second, consider the reality of very little sleep, lots of crying, constant feeding, being stuck at home on the couch in front of the same dull daytime TV shows. BUT...that is the reality of mothering a newborn. And its hard.

As a first time Mom these things didn't register with me. I leaped ahead to post "newborn" phase in all my baby fantasies. And now, its slapping me in the face.

I am doing my best to take it day-by-day but all sorts of challenges I wasn't expecting have hit our new family. I have constant feelings of "I wasn't ready for this" and "I am a failure as a Mom." Because seriously, this is the hardest thing I have ever done...by a longshot.

In between all those frustrations and hardships there are wonderful moments, and its those moments you must hold onto as long as you possibly can and let yourself continue to day dream about the walks and the picnics because eventually those days will come.

And the love you have, you just let it wash over you.

I had a baby

Sorry for the long hiatus and lack of posts...but ya'll I HAD A BABY!

It has kind of taken over my life so not a lot of time to author blog posts right now. But I do realize the need to share this huge happening in my life and of course show off our adorable daughter.

I went into labor at 3am on November 10th. I woke up to a huge kick from our lil one followed by an intense contraction a minute later. After having some mild contractions the night before I knew this one was the real deal. And man was it ever!

Contractions quickly escalated from 10 min apart to 2 min apart within an hour! And did they ever intensify and hurt like woh! My plan was to labor at home as long as possible since we were having an unmedicated birth. This plan included showering, putting on make-up and over all just enjoying what was happening and taking it all in. Well, that plan was squashed because my body was ready to labor the baby right out.

We decided after contractions were coming at about 1 1/2 minute apart that we might need to go to the hospital. I didn't even get to dry my hair! Chase had to help me put mascara on in between moaning on the ball during my contractions.

By the time we made it to the hospital (10 min away but the longest car ride ever!) my contractions were coming on hard and it felt like I could barely take a breathe in between before I felt the next one coming.

I was 5cm dilated when I got checked at the hospital and within an hour I was 10cm, fully effaced and crowning! My doctor barely made it to the delivery.

With two good pushes our baby girl made her entrance into this world. The moment of hellacious pain to utter bliss was something I will never forget. To have my daughter put on my chest in all her screaming and wailing glory was incredible. The feeling of having delivered a human being and understanding what your body was just able to do is nothing short of a miracle.

Molly Jean Vincent was born at 6:28am on November 10th 2011. She was 6 lbs 5oz and 18.75" long. All 10 fingers and all 10 toes. A touch of red hair. In short, perfect.

I HAD A BABY!







It doesn't get much better than that. More to come...

All we need is a baby...

The nursery is done! Now all we need is our little bean to make it complete. 38 weeks this week...only a little more time left.

I would by lying if I said the nursery is completely done...there are a few more little things (crib skirt panel, trash can, hanging the wet bag) but all of those things are simple and small. For the most part the room is complete, and I LOVE it.

So let the sharing begin.


View from the door to the room. The main colors are pink and green. Don't you just love that
Eames style rocker.


One of my favorite things in the room, the floating shelves. Built by my Dad, painted by my
Mom and installed by Chase.


Mid-century Hooker dresser we scored from Craiglist in great condition. Matches flawlessly
with the mid-century mod inspired crib. 


DIY "Molly" flag and DIY custom closet build. We removed the sliding closet doors and replaced
with these colorful and fun curtains from Ikea.


Owl bookends from Pottery Barn. So cute...and the perfect colors!


For the nursery, we went with a modern simple look. We didn't want the room to scream "Baby!" but to have a touch of sophistication to it. We also wanted the room to match our overall style and not deviate too much from the rest of the house. I think we achieved our goals and it turned out great. Hopefully Molly will love it too.

Any day now!

Texas State Fair - Take Two

Last year was our first year to experience The Great State Fair of Texas that is right around the corner from our house. We started a couple of new traditions last year: 1. Sneak into the OU/TX game and 2. Try all the crazy fried foods. In true tradition form we picked those right back up this year as soon as the fair set up shop.

The OU/TX game sneak-in was successful for the second straight year and we got to see OU put a pounding on Texas which is always fun. But more importantly we carried out the 2nd Annual Fried Food Tour (check out our tour last year).

So without further ado, let us begin our tour.

First stop on the fried food train, deep fried biscuits and gravy. Take your basic biscuit, fill the inside with gravy and then flash fry it. Not bad but not great either.

Fried biscuits and gravy


Rolling right along we hit up the item that won the Texas State Fair contest for best tasting 2011, Buffalo Chicken in a Flapjack. Buffalo chicken, rolled in a jalapeno flapjack, fried and served with syrup. The chicken and waffles approach. Salty, sweet and delicious. Our 2nd favorite item of the evening.

Buffalo Chicken in a Flapjack


After the sweet and salty from the flapjack we were on the hunt for something a little spicy, enter  Fried Salsa. Chase was really excited about this one but it ended up being pretty disappointing.

Fried Salsa


Time to stop for an ice cold beer and a chat with Big Tex.

Big Tex


Then on to more fried goodness. After the salsa dissapointment we needed something we knew would be good so we hit up the best tasting from 2010, Fried Frito Chili Pie. We had this last year and it was our favorite. It was just as yummy this year. Was our #1 favorite thing again this year.

Fried Frito Chili Pie


And what's a state fair without a corn dog?

Corny dogs


After all this, we were stuffed but we HAD to try some dessert (plus we still had a bunch of coupons left). We hit up the Fried Autumn Pie- a pumpkin pie gingerbread concoction that was to die for! And Fried Pineapple Upside Down Cake which Chase had to force down because we were so full.
 
Fried Autumn Pie & Fried Pineapple Upside Down Cake


Whew! That was a lot of food and we were feeling the affects. Chase was highly considering sticking his finger down his throat on the walk back to the car so he could puke it all up (he chickened out and didn't do it). Another successful Fried Food Tour.

Until next year when we do it all over again -- and introduce Molly to the magic of the fair!

Turning 27

I am officially in my "late" twenties. That just doesn't seem right. It feels like just yesterday I was relishing in the fact that my ID was now horizontal and I could buy alcohol on my own. Time flies. And ironic that I can't enjoy a libation on my 27th since I am 9 months pregnant.

But there are other ways to celebrate. Pizza, dessert, presents and family.









It was a delightfully low key birthday celebration. Until next year...

no more mattresses on the floor

We decided it was time to get our act together. After all we are going to be parents in around 4 weeks, we better start acting like adults. And adults don't sleep on mattresses on the floor...at least not my version of adults. Not adults with kids. So, with time running out before our  lil one gets here I decided it was time to  take it up a notch and buy a bed.

If you remember from this post about bed hunting (yes, from May of last year!) we sold Chase's bed so we could buy a new one. Well, a year and half later and still no bed. We were still bunking up like college kids in a small apartment on a mattress tossed on the floor of our bedroom. No bueno.

We had never really given up on the bed idea, we just hadn't found one we liked (it takes us awhile to pull the trigger). Our fallback bed was the Jackson from Crate&Barrel and when we finally decided to just bite the bullet a couple of weeks ago and get it we found out it was discontinued. Way to procrastinate right! So back to square one. But this time with much more determination and a deadline.

I decided to peruse Overstock.com and came across a bed I thought might actually work. Chase wouldn't be able to give it his patented shake test since it was online but from all the positive and glowing reviews we read we decided we didn't need to shake it. Screw it...order the damn thing! And so we did.

We stayed up til 1am last night putting this bad boy together. And we were very pleased with the quality of construction and the wood materials. 

Adults! A real bed! Voila!

NOW we can have a baby.  

New Artwork

In lieu of a guestbook at our wedding we had Wedding Wishes. We didn't really see the value of a book full of signatures of everybody who attended, so we wanted to do something different. Instead, as part of our wedding brand, we had blank wish cards printed up and invited guests to jot down any messages of advice, good luck, congratulatory remarks etc. It went over well, with the exception of not posting someone at the table to make sure everyone participated. But what we did get was great.

We cherish the lovely, hilarious and a little bit inappropriate messages we got from our friends and family. Much more fun to read through these than to analyze people's handwriting in a guest book. We dig the pile out every now and then to read through but we wanted a more permanent way to display some of our favorites in our home. Something we could showcase. Our solution, frame a few.

We took the sign that we had on the table next to the cards, picked out 7 cards that we really like and had them custom framed. What we ended up with is a very personal and special piece of art. We are proudly displaying it in our living room. It looks fantastic and its fun to stop by and read a message every now and then.

Adjusting to the Bump

Fortunately, up to this point, I have not had to alter my wardrobe much. I have been able to scrap for things in my closet that would fit and the current flowy style of clothing made it easy to fit in the same tops I had before. Slowly this is changing and I think I am going to live in tights/leggings and tunics for the remainder of my pregnancy and post baby until I get my rockin' bod back. : ) I thought I would share a few looks that I think are perfect for someone 8 months pregnant.

I think I need some awesome new fall boots to help me pull this off.

Hoping it gets a little cooler so I can rock this look!

celebrating Molly

We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends! This past weekend our long time friends Brittany, Jessica and Pam threw us a fantastic baby shower for little Molly.

We got to catch up with friends we don't get to see very often and they were all nice enough to hook us up with some things we really needed. Thanks guys!

It was a such a fun afternoon and Molly is so fortunate to have such awesome people in her life that already love her and care about her.

Now for some pictures...


Our gracious hosts [from left: Jessica, me, Brittany and Pam]




Parents to be



Some of the essentials



Molly's first designer outfit, Missoni 



Photo from our maternity pics that our generous friend Kathleen [of jeremyandkathleen] took and gifted us

bumpdate

Month 8 has begun...

 

The "bump" is now a meaningless term as my belly has full out gotten huge! Still feeling great, a little tired now and then but for the most part enjoying the pregnancy.

Our lil Molly is now starting to stick her appendages out and we try to identify which body part is protruding out of my stomach. Its a fun game.

Things like tying my shoes, picking things up off the floor, rolling over in bed...all getting increasingly difficult. Chase enjoys watching me struggle. : )

---

Baby Stats:

33 weeks

17 inches long

Weighs over 4 pounds

Compared to a pineapple

pinterest

I finally got around to signing up with the invite I got several months ago. I knew it was going to suck me in so I put it off as long as possible.

I was right...I am obsessed! It is such a great way to find inspiration and ideas for almost everything. Plus the organizational nut in me loves the way the site is set up to group all your ideas together. Love.

As you can see, I am just getting started. Follow me!