Emerson Gray 0-1 Month

For prior posts click here. The day we drove home from the hospital was a beautiful summer day. It was so surreal having a tiny baby in the back seat. When we got home we drove straight into the garage and started our new normal.

Zero to month one with little Emerson was great! Chris did a lot of the work since I was recovering from having her. He changed a zillion diapers, cooked, cleaned, did laundry, etc. None of this was new to him except the diaper part, he always helps around the house. Emerson slept well and we had to wake her to feed. I initially thought that she would be up crying all night because people would say, prepare to get no sleep, but she hardly cried. The three of us honestly fell into a perfect little routine. Often we would just lay and watch her because it was so surreal that she was ours and we were just that lucky and blessed.

From the beginning she was an active little girl. We kind of expected this based on the comments from the doctors while she was in the belly. She lifted her head her first day on Earth! To the surprise of the nurse. In her first week she tried to walk up our bellies when we were holding her. She made funny squealing and grunt sounds often while she slept, she was literally the noisiest baby ever, it was hilarious. She made all types of funny faces as well.

 There were so many little things that happened leading up to her first month it was just so fun to experience.

So there you have it, photos leading up to month 1. From this point forward I am only going to post high points and milestones (well to us they are all high points) for three reasons 1.)  I OBVIOUSLY can't keep up with this blog and our daughter is aging rapidly! 2.) I cannot find the time to work on little photo collages 3.) Other than family, people don't care THAT much about other peoples babies. She may be the world to us, but to my loyal followers...well the ones that are still hanging out there since I suck at blogging lately, I'm sure they couldn't care less about all of the details.


Tatum

Introducing Emerson Gray! Finally :-)

Finally after four months I am finally posting the last of my weekly pregnancy posts, week 40. Clearly I am not a good multi-tasker since having the tiny one. Getting online to write has been the last thing I have wanted to do. If I am online I am looking up baby stuff and I love it!! On the other hand I love blogging too and need to find a nice balance, especially since I am already behind in posting our daughters beautiful photos!! I would like to introduce you to our much anticipated baby girl Emerson Gray Duckworth, our angel born on August 8th and weighing 8 pounds and 0.5 ounces.

We were so ready for week 40 because we were ready to meet Emerson. It was in this week that I started to show signs of swelling, not much but my ankles did retain some fluid. I worked up to two days before she was due. Her due date was August 4th, our next appointment was on the 6th, we went in on the 7th to be induced and she was born on the 8th. It was an amazing day, surreal even. I will share details of the day at at later time. To read prior pregnancy posts click here.  If not, enjoy some pics of the big day.

 

So there you have it...the beginning. Next I will bring you up to speed on the 5 months of Emerson, some pics and milestones and then hey, caught up! Will all of my posts from this point forward be about Emerson? Maybe. Will I get behind again and not update you until she is 10 months? Maybe, I've been known to procrastinate on this blog since her birth. Have these past 5 months been absolutely amazing? Absolutely!!!!!! We love love love our new normal.

Stay tuned! But don't hold your breath... unless you have a suicide mission....

Tatum

39 Weeks Pregnant!

For prior posts click here! We are at the end of the pregnancy and I have to say I am glad about it. My belly isn't growing anymore but the little one is and boy is it getting crowded. This week our baby's heart rate was still at 148 and I was now dilated to 2cm.

 

I can say I've had my feel of the joyous wondrous baby movements but about now I am good! Lets get to birthing! During this week I had a couple of days that I had to sleep sitting up...or in a semi reclined position. It seemed that every time I tried to lay on my side my back would just start to hurt. Getting comfortable was a bit complicated but with the snoogle we were able to work it out in the end to where I would still sleep well. Fortunately I didn't have this back problem while sitting and walking.

This week I went ahead and finalized my maternity leave. I worked until Thursday which was the end of my work week. People did not understand why I worked so long considering that our baby was due on that Saturday. They would say things like "I would have been gone by now". Now, had I had a complicated pregnancy I might have left earlier but it's been easy. Now is when it gets interesting though. I wonder how I will take to the tiny one. Will I be one of those moms that feels that she needs to be with her baby all of the time? Or will I be ready to head back to work for a break? That remains to be seen. I am fortunate that my husband Chris will be taking off 4 weeks so that we together can get familiar with our new little girl and help each other with the transition.

I've heard that a lot of guys like to head back to work to get away or get a break but not Chris! He said, he wants to get to know his baby as much as I do and I love him for that. Not to mention, any break from work is a beautiful thing.

I was also fortunate that my oh so generous stylist Duchess came by our house to twist my hair! She offered to do this for me complimentary so that I would not have to come to the shop and I would not have to worry about too much maintenance. She even had Chris twist one so that if it came apart he'd know how to fix it. It was funny to watch him try! Once in the hospital I can undue the twists and have a crinkled style that will be easy to manage...not that I do my hair much any other time, and when I have this little girl we will be in the salon together until Chris and I learn to style hair (poor child)... but I do appreciate it!

Here is my last belly shot! If things go accordingly, the next photo you see will be with baby in tow! Keep us in your prayers!

Sickness: Nope

Cravings: Nope
Weird Dreams: Not anymore
Emotional: Nope
Movement: Too much!! Lets get her out!

Can I still button my pants: Negative!
Maternity clothes needed: Never had to buy any! Saved money there :-)

Energy Level: Slower, still moving, but taking more breaks

Swelling anywhere: None, still just my belly

Notable weight gain: Up to 166

New symptoms: Just contractions every now and again

Tatum

Nursery Updates!!

Well we showed you the bones of the nursery here. We were still trying to figure out exactly what we wanted and where we were headed. We knew we didn't want the room to be overbearing and we wanted it to be comfortable. We have finally made some progress. We decided on the fabric which we purchased from fabric.com and hypernoodle.com.

We also purchased our recliner from Babies R Us on sale!

Since it wasn't a rocker or glider I did some research and found a way to turn it into one! All for much cheaper than it would have been to buy a completed chair that we liked. I found this company called Swivel Chair Parts and my daddy bought the base for us!! Once it was in,

Chris began to assemble it:

He took the feet off of the chair and removed the bottom material:

While he was determining whether to anchor the chair with wood or metal:

I was measuring out the fabric:

After going to Joanne Fabrics and purchasing the bumper pads:

We thought we were going to successfully put together the bumper. Chris and my brother in law Andy really put a lot of work into getting the measurements right:

It was later determined that we didn't order enough fabric and would be really cutting it close. Therefore, after buying more fabric we decided to leave this task to the professional in the family, my mother! We know she will successfully knock this out of the park, and there is no rush considering that we will only be using it for decorative purposes! gotta keep the little one safe!

The dresser was still a problem spot for us because we had no idea what we wanted to do to it; stain it, paint it etc. My brother Datus was trying to convince us to keep it unfinished which was not going to happen!... After brainstorming with Chris, my sister Von, brother Datus and his girlfriend Kayla, we finally decided to paint the dresser the same color as the wall color, Jute by Benjamin Moore; only this time we chose high gloss. That way it would stand out against the white beadboard that Chris installed. I'll show you pics of that soon.

Another thing that I wanted were bookshelves! Specific bookshelves. I had seen other people using spice racks from Ikea for $3.99 that I thought were ideal!!

The problem is that when we went to Ikea to get them, they were sold out and would not have anymore for about a month! Not cool. Enter my fabulous husband!!! He took a look at what I wanted and said, I can make that, and better even!! Why we didn't think of this before I have no idea. So using some 2x4s and some decorative molding, we were well on our way!

Love the look so much better! It was important to us to do as much as we could by ourselves. We wanted to put our own spin on our daughters room. We are even going to do our own artwork/decor...well give it a shot at least. Here are a couple other elements that you might see in the nursery reveal:

 

Well on that note, signing out now. Stay tuned!!


Tatum

38 Weeks Pregnant!

For prior posts click here! Well at 38 weeks we are making moves! Well my body is at least. This week I was dilated to 1.5 centimeters. 

 

This week baby's heartrate is 148 bpm and my belly is still at 36 cm. The doctor says I am right on track but I have to say, I am officially ready for the little miss to be here. As I have stated before, her movements are way more violent. It actually hurts at times when she is moving. Clearly she is getting bigger and by belly is no longer accomodating her comfortably. The bigger she gets the harder it is to sleep. When I am awake I am good to go, I can work, clean (do all the things Chris tries to keep me from doing) but when I go to bed, by back begins to hurt. Thank goodness I'm married to a man who massages so well that he could take a massage parlor out of business. Another thing I have realized is that I could never be overweight! I have no idea how heavy people do it. The extra weight is just a bit much to me. Getting up and bending down should not be so hard! Well, naturally carrying the extra weight makes it hard but thank goodness it's only the pregnancy in my case. The extra weight can really be exhausting sometimes just to walk up and down the stairs.

This week our additional fabric from Hypernoodle.com came in also!

We love it! It's so bright and cheery. What we have decided is that the fabric.com fabric will be for the bumper in the crib and the hypernoodle fabric will be for the skirt and the cornice box. Now just for making them...

BELLY!!!!!

Sickness: Nope

Cravings: Nope
Weird Dreams: Not this week
Emotional: Nope
Movement: Much more violent, doesn't feel so great anymore

Can I still button my pants: Negative!
Maternity clothes needed: Never had to buy any! Saved money there :-)

Energy Level: Definitely slowing down, still moving, but taking more breaks

Swelling anywhere: None, still just my belly

Notable weight gain: Up to 164

New symptoms: A stabbing feeling in my nether regions...according to Thebump.com it's called Lightning Crotch!! And boy is it painful

Tatum

37 Weeks Pregnant!

For prior weeks click here! Week 37!! We are officially full term, we are in the final countdown! Can you believe it!

We participated in our childbirth workshop this week. It was an all day class from 9-5 and boy was it informative. They showed us so many different ways that our partners could help out with back pain, they explained the different levels that you go through leading up to delivery, calming techniques, birth with or without medication, what to pack, what you don't need etc. The class was a lot of fun and extremely informative.

During this week I began having bizarre dreams as well, all of them included a babygirl. I guess that's my minds way of saying that it's getting close. Maneuvering is a daily challenge. Chris always says to get him if I need anything but I still find myself trying to be self sufficient. It seems like I am up every 2 to 3 hours every night because the little darling is on my bladder. The other night I tried to get up and I swear I ripped an ab muscle!! It burned. Chris said again that I need to wake him up anytime that I need to get up so that he can help me. I am so fortunate to have him. Though he is always attentive to me even prior to the baby, he has continued to be his regular attentive self catering to me hand and foot. I am so blessed. For mornings when he has to leave early to get to the gym or work, he even crated a handle for me to pull to help me roll out of bed.

Though mentally prepared there are still some things that we need to take care of. The other day my sister Von and her family came over because we needed a nursery intervention. I found myself stuck on some ideas. My little brother Datus came over as well with his girlfriend Kayla. All of us were in the nursery hanging out and brainstorming. That was a lot of fun, we ordered pizza and made a night of it. Von even surprised us with one of the pieces of artwork that we registered for!

This surprised us because she had already done so much for us with our shower, our anniversary etc. She is truly an amazing person.

In this week our first fabric came in from fabric.com. It's called Gotcha and though this isn't the best photo, it's kind of a hot pink:

 My dad ordered our chair base for us and it too came in this week! He really wanted to help out in anyway he could and this was the perfect chance! This is really going to come in handy for us because we are able to turn our recliner into a swivel rocker!! And we're doing it without the $500 cost that we would have had to pay if we purchased one outright from a furniture store.

I'll be sure to post on exactly how we plan on using the fabric and how the chair progresses soon!

Aaaand for the belly shot!

Boy...I have a sleepy face in this pic

Sickness: Nope

Cravings: Nope
Weird Dreams: Not this week
Emotional: Nope
Movement: Much more violent, doesn't feel so great anymore

Can I still button my pants: Negative!
Maternity clothes needed: Still wearing size large in some shirts,pants are getting snug...might need to get some maternity pants for the next couple weeks...

Energy Level: Definitely slowing down, still moving, but taking more breaks

Swelling anywhere: None, still just my belly

Notable weight gain: Up to 160

New symptoms: Nothing new

 

Tatum

36 Weeks Pregnant!

For prior weeks click here! At 36 weeks baby's heart rate is 160 and my belly is 36 cm. We made some additional purchases for the nursery. As you are already aware we opted to not go with a theme, and just wanted to make sure that the room was bright and colorful. A theme would have certainly been easier as we are not decorators so coming up with a look has been a bit of a challenge. We took a trip to Ikea to look for some frames and a mirror and were fortunate to stumble across a rug that was one of the colors that we wanted to use for the room. This was a big deal, getting that rug gave us a colorful jump start and we'll use that as our guide.

What is kind of annoying about trying to buy baby decor is that everything seems to be pastel. I am so tired of seeing pastel blues and pinks and greens. Why is it so hard to find a nice bright green or a bold pink?? Another thing that is annoying is that it is so hard to find a nice solid color bumper. They either have animals or butterflies on them. I thought about making a bumper but am not certain that I want to go that route. It's really not necessary considering that they are not recommended due to safety hazards, but when the baby is not in the bed they are nice to look at. While out and about the other day we did notice that they have breathable mesh bumpers! They are not thick and fluffy like regular bumpers but they are a safer option...might just go that route! Provided I can find a color that I like...or white even!

During this week we also interviewed our 4th and final pediatritian. This was another doctor at the first facility we went to back in week 27. It was important that we interview the second doctor because they were going to be in a new facility and our experience in their first facility was not a great one. We really loved pediatrician # 4 and their new location is very nice! Out of the 4 doctors total, we've narrowed it down to two. We will have to decide very soon because the little one is on the way!

As far as my progress, I have still been doing well. Ocassionally it is difficult to sleep as my back starts to hurt and it is getting harder and harder to get out of the bed in the middle of the night to go to the ladies room; especially because I am wrapped in my snoogle! Poor Chris has to kind of push me out to give me a jump start. Honestly, coming out of a deep sleep my belly feels heavier and heavier.

What's funny is that I still shock some people who don't know me. They see me from behind and have no clue that I am pregnant until I turn to the side.

But I am definitely pregnant!

 

Sickness: Nope

Cravings: Nope
Weird Dreams: Having baby dreams! Always of a little girl
Emotional: Nope
Movement: Much more violent, doesn't feel so great anymore

Can I still button my pants: Negative!
Maternity clothes needed: Still wearing size large in some shirts, and other than buttoning my jeans still fit

Energy Level: Definitely slowing down, more tired than usual

Swelling anywhere: None, still just my belly

Notable weight gain: Up to 160

New symptoms: Nothing new

 

Tatum

35 Weeks Pregnant!

For prior weeks click here! Week 35 has been pretty much the same. There has not been anything super noteworthy other than the fact that our little one is still healthy and growing like she should!

We've been pretty much basking in our blessings and all of the left over decor from the shower. In addition to that we've had the fun experience of washing all of our daughters new clothes! We even received two totes full from our dear friend Karissa who has a beautiful little girl.

We have  yet to finish the closet in the nursery or paint the dresser. We really need to expedite all of this so that we have a place to put all of the clothes and additional baby items. Right now they are simply organized by size laying on the bed in our guest room. Thank goodness we don't have any guests right now!

Oh, one thing that I wanted to mention is that my pregnant buddy Makiva from this post who was 2 weeks ahead of me, had her baby!! She was due to be induced at 38 weeks but ended up having to have an earlier delivery at 36 and it just so happened to take place the day before my shower! I have to tell ya, getting the photo of baby Elijah Mason and the announcement that he was here really made things real for Chris and I. We were like oh my!! We are next! I mean we knew we would be next but it just heightened our anticipation so much. Little Elijah is beautiful and healthy! They really wanted a boy and since they chose to not find out until delivery, it was a much celebrated and blessed moment.

At 35 weeks, our little girl is the size of a coconut, weighing somewhere between 4.2 and 5.8 pounds. She is still right on track and we are even more so super excited for her impending delivery. 5 weeks to go!

Sickness: Nope
Cravings: Nope
Weird Dreams: Nope
Emotional: Nope
Movement: Never Ending

Can I still button my pants: Negative!
Maternity clothes needed: Still wearing size large in some shirts

Energy Level: Balanced. I'm still working on home things, but I'm not running marathons

Swelling anywhere: None, still just my belly

Notable weight gain: Up to 158

New symptoms: Nothing new

34 Weeks Pregnant! Baby Shower! and Anniversary!

To view past weeks click here! 

Week 34 was a very exciting week! It was our anniversary (June 25th) weekend and baby shower weekend!! We scheduled the baby shower for that weekend because we thought it would be fun to have a weekend celebrating two very special moments in our lives.

My sister Von did the planning for the shower and it was wonderful! She spent so much time planning, designing and making the invitations, creating the candy bar, doing the decor, ordering the cupcakes, all to make the shower special for me. I am so grateful that she took it upon herself to host the shower and made an effort to make me aware that I in fact was the guest of honor. She spent many long nights preparing for this in addition to going to school, working, little league games and taking care of Camden and Jamison (though Andy did a great job at keeping them preoccupied). Both Chris and I are grateful for Von and Andy. I decided to have the shower at our home since it was mid way for a lot of people coming from different directions and also a lot of our family had yet to see our house. Andy brought by all of the additional tables to use, and seating just in case we needed it. Von came by a day early and together we visualized the setup. My mother and oldest sister Calista were tasked with food duty, they did a fabulous job as well.  Everything looked so beautiful and tasted amazing!! Someone even said it was very gourmet! Miky, Chris's step mother was tasked with the games. She too did a great job, the games surely kept everyone on their toes. We are blessed to have such amazing ladies in our lives. The guys in our lives are great too...but this was a ladies only event.


Here are some photos of the event:

In addition to spending time with our families for the shower, we got a couples massage, purchased our stroller and carseat with money that we got from the shower, got a top tier made of our wedding cake, we went to dinner at the Melting Pot which is something that we had been meaning to try (interesting, but we'll probably never go back) and we hung out at my parents house while they barbecued! We had so much fun. We took about 4 days off just to prepare for and enjoy the festivities.

Celebrating 16 and 1...and many many more to come!


Tatum