Ella Mac is One Month

I am out of order... I know.  But, I can write what I want, when I want.  At least that is what I am telling my type-A self that thinks I should be doing all this in order.  Time to learn to let go a bit, I guess. :)

Weight/Length- At two and a half weeks, Ella Mac weighed 8 lbs 10 oz, we were still working hard to get back to birth weight.  She was 22 1/4 in.  At 4 weeks, she weighed in at 9 lbs 10 oz (63 %ile) and was 23 1/4in (99%ile)... someone call Kim Mulkey and get her on the recruiting list. 

Milk Coma 

Eating- She eats every three hours during the day and every 4 hours at night.  I had to set an alarm to wake her up to feed her.  She likes to hold my hand while I feed her (melts my heart). 

Bedtime/Awake- Ella Mac goes to bed at 9:45 and wakes up sometime between 1 and 3, then again between 5:45 and 7.  There are nights here and there where she just wants to be held.  She will sleep for 30 minutes and then cry.  Stephen and I usually end up sleeping in the blue chair on those nights.  I guess sometimes, you just meed a little more loving. These nights tend to happen most often on Saturday.  Stephen sleeps in the basement so that he can remember what he is preaching on the next morning.   Ella Mac must think I am lonely in bed all alone.  Poor Wyatt, I think he is having the hardest time adjusting to this sleep schedule. He just looks exhausted all the time. 

Clothes-  Newborn clothes lasted maybe a week.  She is so tall that 3 month clothes were what we needed! Our favorite clothes are layette gowns.  I love them, so easy to change.  She doesn't do well with pi's with feet.  In the middle of the night, she will have kicked her feet out and have her legs up in the stomach part.  

Dislikes-  being cold, her bath and being naked (clearly she is not really my child). 

Likes- Ella Mac loves to sleep in her cradle that some very sweet friends made for us.  She loves her dad and his loud voice!  She loves to be outside.  Mostly, she likes to be warm!  The warmer the better.  She loves Grand, Aunt Doo Doo and Papa Wayne.  Aunt Doo Doo can always make her stop crying during fussy time and Papa Wayne walks her outside and teaches her about the birds, so she is happy.  I like to think she likes Wyatt and his kisses, but who really knows.  She also LOVES her activity mat.  Homegirl will sit under that for 30 minutes looking up at all the animals. 

One word to describe her personality: Strong willed.  She sleeps great at night, but it takes work to get her to take a nap or to eat.  She has an opinion and I love her for it. 

Favorite memories of the month- I love it when she wakes up early and Stephen and I are too tired to actually get out of bed.  We usually just put her in bed with us.  The three of us will just hang out there for a while snuggling.  But my real favorite memory came at the church picnic.  It was her first outing.  Aunt Doo Doo wrote about it best, so I will let her words do the talking.  

Our first outing was when she was 6 days old.  I wanted to practice taking her out before Mom and Nannie left, so we took her to Merryfield Garden Center.  She slept in the K'tan the entire time and was one happy camper!  

We love her so much and feel so blessed to have her.  It is fun to watch her grow and change. 

This whole pregnancy thing

I really thought that I would do weekly preggo posts, but then I never started.  Well today, there is a blizzard outside and I just got a new computer, so I needed a reason to play on it rather than clean the house.  So, here is a preggo post, full of lots of awkward pictures.  Hope you enjoy!  

I accidentally posted the pictures in the wrong order.  Oh well.....  

23 weeks- January 17, 2014

22 weeks- January 2014

18 weeks- December 12, 2013

15 weeks- November 23, 2013--shopping and wondering where that bump came from! 

23 weeks Along!.... crazy to think that I am over halfway there.

Size of the baby: According to "the bump", baby is the size of a grapefruit.  And it can hear noises… which prompts me to encourage Wyatt to bark at my stomach frequently.  And then I tell baby, “ you WILL sleep through that.”  

Gender:  The past month I have been convinced it is a girl.  Although, at times I think boy.  Stephen has said from day one it was a girl.  He claims that our sonogram confirmed that because we had to “look away for a while-- like they were searching.”

Movement:  Last week, I thought I had the most hyperactive baby ever.  But the movement has slowed down a little.... I still feel lots of movment.   I felt the baby move for the first time on the plane coming back from our thanksgiving trip.  It felt like the pillsbury dough boy was poking me.  Sometimes, I think the baby is doing the worm in there.  And it dances every time I put food in my mouth.

 

Sleep:  I feel very blessed to sleep so well.  I usually wake up once to go to the bathroom then fall right back asleep.

Cravings:  Since this is a “catch up” of pregnancy so far, I will list lots of things.  In the beginning, I just wanted bread, bread and more bread.  I craved Chick-fil-a sweet tea a lot.  And since I TRY to not drink caffeine, that was a hard one. My first real craving was the first week in December.  I HAD to HAVE some peppermint Joe-Joe’s. We had 2 snow days and Stephen was gone so I was too scared (lazy) to drive to Trader Joes to get them.  When I finally made it there, I might have bought 8 boxes.  Don’t worry 2 men commented on how many boxes I had in my cart.  One said, “I hope those are for gifts.”   These days, all I really want to eat is chocolate.  I am not particular on the kind.

Symptoms: I feel good.  I got a lot of rest over Christmas and I have felt so much better since then.  I do have frequent heartburn.

Best moment of the week:  The weather yesterday was incredible.  It was “warm”  and actually sunny.  Stephen, Wyatt and I went to Alexandria for the day.  We took a really long walk around town and up the Potomac.  Then we met up with Baylor friends we have not seen in a while.  It was an awesome afternoon, and felt so good to get to be outside and enjoy the sunshine.  I think Wyatt was pretty happy to be there too.

Alexandria-- if you look over Wyatt you can see the Washington monument.  Over Stephen's right shoulder is the capital, but I am not sure you can see it in the picture.  This was us yesterday....

And this is us today, after about 2 hours of snow.  It has not stopped all day!

One more... this was about 15 weeks


Have a very happy week :) 

Kitchen.... before and after

Our first interior kitchen project was the kitchen.  I an very happy with how everything turned out.  Here is what we did

1. Scrapped off the wallpaper.  Thanks to Noah, Mom, Nannie and Stephen.  After that day, I decided that people who remove wallpaper for a living must have the highest suicide rate. 
2. Tore down part of the wall into the Dining Room so that we could open the freezer (thanks to Don Cheeny)
3. Took out the cabinets on the sink wall and removed the huge island. 
4. Sanded and painted all the cabinets
5. Painted the walls.... thanks to Stephen, we actually painted it twice because I HATED the first shade of white.  
6.  Put up open shelving (thanks to the Secrist family.... :)

All the before pictures were taken by Stephen when he was trying to convince me to buy the house.  Good thing I had a vision :)  

Note the beautiful wallpaper (I will admit, I liked the pineapples)

I don't know what we would have done without Don Cheeny.  Not only did he make it so our fridge we brought from Texas would open, but he also removed all the broken radios. 

And here is the after.....

The light fixture in the picture below is one of my favorite finds.  Mom and I found it at the Habitat Restore for $5.  I bought a can of spray paint and changed it from brass to black. 

 I love the wide opening into the dining room and all the room now that the island is gone. 

*We are still looking for new knobs.  I want a black cast iron look, and I just cannot find them (at Home Depot). 

The cabinets are Coastal Fog by Benjamin Moore.  I did not like the color on the swatch, but then I saw it a friend's house in Florida and I knew it was the perfect color.  After buying 12 samples of gray, I went cold turkey on this color.  It is the absolute perfect shade. 

White walls are Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee.  The first try was Acadia White, but in our old house, it just looked dingy.   The trim is cloud white by Benjamin Moore. 

I bought the hardware for the opening shelving at Ikea.  Lori and Brad cut the shelves for me.  

I must admit, I am happy with the transformation. 

What's with the name?

In Atlanta, you will often hear people say, "take a right at the big chicken"  or "if you make it to the big chicken, you went too far."  

Yes, the eyes and beak move

Everyone in the Atlanta area knows and loves the big chicken.  In high school, Louise and I used to go up there for dinner a lot (followed by a dozen krispie kreme doughnuts).  Last Christmas, Dad gave me a framed collection of Atlanta landmarks.  

Fox Theatre, The Varsity, OK Cafe, Big Chicken

Stephen was so confused by the big chicken picture.  Apparently, I had not done my job in educating him into Atlanta ways.  We had no choice but to drive him up there. Once he knew the big chicken, he started hearing about it everywhere.  He found it hilarious to randomly state our location in respect to the Big Chicken (like any true Atlantan would do). When it came time to pick a name for this blog, Stephen wanted "just north of south"  but I refused to admit that we were moving out of the south.** Somewhere, "Just North of The Big Chicken" came up and it just felt right.  

mmmm.  now I want some fried chicken and biscuits.  I won't like, I do love me some KFC.  

** Now that we are here, I will admit that I have moved out of the south.   

Landed in Virginia

I have finally landed in Virginia and feel like I am actually getting settled into the new house.  We have had lots of company (which I am so thankful for) and this new house already looks like home.  But of course, I have a zillion projects in mind.  The first was the outside shutters.  They were maroon.  While I tried to focus on the fact that it is "Redskin Red", the truth was it was aggie red.  And I just could not have that.  So 24 hours in, I had Dad and Stephen up there taking those things off so I could re-paint them.  I am VERY happy with the result.  

Here is the before....

We painted Sherwin Williams Mt. Etna.  I actually had it matched at Home Depot.  One Gallon painted the doors, shutters (3 coats), numbers and half of the fence.  

 

Dad was a great contractor.  "He went to college so that he did not have to paint. " But, he was not above staining the window boxes that my incredibly talented Uncle Curt made for me. 

I never would have painted the fence, but sweet Noah insisted on it.  His Painting Name was Accawitoka Coolia Sawyer.  We actually had the best time painting.  I wish I had gotten a picture of Noah, the warrior, covered in paint.  When we ran out of paint, Noah tricked Stephen into taking him to Home Depot by saying, "if we have the paint, the first one up in the morning will finish painting, and you know that will not be you Stephen."  It worked, but then Noah was so excited to finish that we all finished the fence with the last rays of light.  

Curt just whipped these up for me one day.  I am amazed.  It added the perfect touch to my house.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. 

And finally.... here is the finished outside.

Total cost of this project...

paint $45

plants --I think around $15

It makes me smile every time I drive up, and that is a good thing.  

Inside pictures coming soon! 

Procrastinating and Goodbyes

Right now I will do anything, and I mean anything to procrastinate.  It is getting bad.  The two areas of my life I just cannot tackle are packing and goodbyes.  The movers come at 8:00am.  I have not packed a box all week.  I have officially said goodbye to 1 person.  Everyone else it is, "oh, I'll se you again, I'm not leaving until next week."  Which means, I technically have A LOT of people to see on Monday.  Oye.  Here's the thing, for the past two weeks, tears have been just waiting to break free.  Yet strangely, I have only really cried once.  And it was not pretty.  I just don't know how to give people that last hug.  I don't know how to look into someone's eyes for the last time (at least for a while.)  So I procrastinate it.  But, every day gets a little harder.  Because I know it is coming.  I have played through driving away in my head so many times.  One last stop at Common Grounds, one last stop at my spot, the Sadie Jo Black Gardens on campus.  It is creeping up on me.  It is going to be harder than I have imagined.  It's the reason I cannot say goodbye.  It is the reason I cannot get up and pack those last few things.  It makes this official.  And yes, I KNOW that God has called us to this.  But I also KNOW that I love this town.  I will always credit Atlanta for raising me.  But, this town molded me.  I became me here.  I love everything about it (except the horrible radio). I love the streets, I love the feel, I love the heat, I love lake Waco, I love Baylor, I love the loyalty.  I love it.  I love my friends, I love my mechanic, I love my doctor, I love that I see people I know all over the place.  I love the bear trail, I love HEB, I love the wheat fields and the corn fields, I love kolaches.  For the past year, I expected this move and I have been doing my best to soak it all up.  Problem is, that just made me love it more.  And now  I can only procrastinate this goodbye for so long.  Warning: if you talk to me next week... I am going to be a hot mess.  I am thankful for Wayne's wise words to Stephen, "moving makes women crazy."  It is true.  

I must get to it.  It's time to go down the track.  I can only hope and pray that one day God brings us back here.  And maybe my sweet PreK kids will be in 5th grade and I can step back into their lives.  Oh, how I will miss them all.  

"too much stuff"

My family and I have this joke. We often exclaim, "too much food" in an annoying high pitched voice. We might or might not be making fun of someone. My incredible mamma spent the past two and a half weeks packing my house. (more on this later.) I never expected to pack so much so quickly. She left me with the bare essentials. It has astonished me what we have been able to do with so little. Our culture is so accustomed to needing every little thing, that sometimes we forget to be creative. I learned so much from my boss at the flower shop, Kim. We teased her that her degree was in "Macgyver" because she could come up with a solution for any problem. I think Kim would be proud of mom and I's "macgyver-ness" the last few weeks. Here are a few examples. 

 Went to the bear trail and forgot Wyatt's leash. We happened to have a long chain in the back of the car that needed to go back to Ace. Mom thought of taking the straps of Wyatt's car seat cover, attaching them to the chain, and we were off walking. 

 Made banana bread tonight. Normally, I would need a measuring cup for the wet ingredients, one for the dry ingredients, one for teaspoon, a bowl to mash..... (blah, blah, blah). This time I used one bowl, one measuring cup and one teaspoon. Oh, and a wooden spoon. The batter tasted just right and cleaning up was so much simpler. 

 Mom is definitely a Macgyver in the kitchen. That lady can make gourmet out of nothing. Many nights, we thought we had "nothing in the houseto eat" and ended up with a delicious dinner. One night, we had incredible basil asparagus pasta with parmesan. We had delicious scalloped potatoes and braised chicken thighs. She even left we with the most amazing turkey soup to have this week. We were out of noodles, so it has peal couscous instead. I like it so much, I will make it that way again! 


Sure, I miss some of the stuff in those 150 boxes. But I also wonder if I have been too set on stuff. When in reality it is "too much stuff, too much stuff." In my new house, I want to live simpler. Uh oh. I feel Garage Sale round 2 coming!