Ruler of the Elves

Months before Sweet Pea’s birth, I saw a few of my favorite bloggers/photographers do a monthly photo of their new babies to share how they grow and change from month to month. So, I decided that I wanted to take a photo of my new baby each month in the same setting. I know that I’m not the first to have this idea, but I decided to take Sweet Pea’s photo on a calendar each month for his first year of life. Here is the result of his April photo shoot!

Mother’s Day this year was AWESOME! I had a great day just spending time with my family. We started off the morning with some Starbucks and I grabbed my favorite drink, a Cinnamon Dolce Latte. Honestly, I could drink those all day every day. Too bad they really have no nutritional goodness.

Then, we headed to Babies R Us from some lite shopping. I wanted to grab a few things for Sweet Pea, like some extra pacifiers, a couple of bottles and a new thermometer. Plus, I got to check out the super cute baby clothes and dream about the day when my little man can wear something other than the limited number of premie clothing options he is currently rockin’.

Next, we headed to brunch because I was craving bacon. I love bacon. So much. Too much maybe. Nah, there is no such thing as too much bacon lovin’.

After that, we headed home for a quick feed/change/potty break/etc, then left again to go to the park. It was such a beautiful day and the temperature was perfect for a walk.

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I am so excited that it is finally Spring and things are starting to green up.

Pinky loved the park and had fun running, jumping and skipping down the paths.

And the whole time she was burning off her energy, Sweet Pea was doing this…

After the park, we walked around town for a bit,

And then Pinky convinced us to stop for Italian Ice. I had iced coffee flavor and it was fabulous.

We finished off Mother’s Day with a wonderful dinner by the ocean. I couldn’t have asked for a better day!

This post is long overdue, but what can I say? Things come up. I had actually been planning on posting this the day that I ended up in the hospital.

Anyway, with all of the excitement of getting the nursery ready for Sweet Pea, I think that Pinky felt a little left out. She saw us buying new things and preparing a space for him and started to ask when she would get to have her room done. (Uh, hello, little princess, don’t you remember this?) So, I made it a point to grab a few extra things for her while shopping for Sweet Pea one day.

You may be able to tell from the following photos of the Michael Jackson “Thriller” dance party that my daughter choreographed for her doll house characters that there are a few changes in her space.

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As you can see, we swapped out some of the pink for more white (per her request, I swear.) A new faux sheepskin rug, white pom poms/ lantern, and a new frame with some Pinky made 3D art work inside.

The Lepidoptera art was super easy for Pinky to make herself and she had fun assembling the multi-colored butterflies in a “flying” pattern.

(We found the butterfly punch at Michaels.)

In other news, here are a couple more photos for our 52 week photo project. I’m really trying to get caught up here! I think I accidentally forgot to do one week and I still have another photo or two that will come with later posts…

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AKA Peanut/ The Wee Man/ Small Fry

I can’t believe that it has been 3 whole weeks since Sweet Pea was born. Time must have just disappeared because I don’t know where it went. We are still trying to get our bearings straight with everything and it seems that life is not slowing down for us anytime soon. Because so much has happened in the past several weeks and also because I’m not really up to telling the long story about his birth right now, I’m going to do a shorter recap.

37 weeks pregnant. False labor. Dangerously high blood pressure. 24 hour urine sample. Overnight hospital stay. Proteinuria. Labor induction. Baby’s heart rate dropping. Mom’s BP soaring. Fear. Emergency C-Section. Cord around baby’s neck twice. Low birth weight (3lbs. 14oz.) Crazy emotions. Vomiting. Tiny placenta. Low blood sugar. Special care nursery. Extended hospital stays. Blood pressure medication. Preeclampsia. HELLP Syndrome. More crazy emotions. More fear. Nephrologist. Blood tests. Urine tests. Spells. Car seat woes. Visiting nurses. Too many Dr. appointments.

After a 9 day hospital stint, I was discharged and Sweet Pea was allowed to come home 2 days later. Sadly, we don’t have one of those amazing first photos of Chris, Sweet Pea and I in the operating room mainly because the side of my face was covered in vomit and that just would not have been pretty. (Well, that and the fact that Chris and I were pretty much in shock considering all that had just happened at that point, so pics weren’t our first thought.) We do however have this very sweet family photo of Pinky’s first meeting with her new brother. She is totally smitten.

So sorry for the down time, but we are taking a mini break. Recently, we added a new addition to the family. Our little Sweet Pea was born on April 13, 2011 at 3:32am via c-sectioin weighing in at 3 lbs. 14 oz. and measuring 17.75″ long. After some complications at the hospital, I am finally home and we are hoping to have our sweet little boy join the rest of our family at home in the near future. (He is now comfortably resting in the special care nursery at the hospital.) I will be back with photos and more updates soon after we are ALL settled in together. Thanks!!!