Porter's nursery (finally)

I had this room done a month before our little man arrived. And now he is 3 months....1 + 3 = 4.

Yup, I am officially a horrible blogger. 

Cest la vie, life, it's meant to be lived, not sat in front of a computer!

I had a VERY teeny tiny budget for the nursery.  So much so, that all I ended up buying was the paint, fabric, lamp, and a clock. Everything else was re-used and re-purposed. And I BUDGET shopped for the stuff that I did buy. The entire room ended up costing $93.

Given that this was a budget room, I was nervous that it wouldn't turn out like I had it pictured in my mind, but I couldn't be happier with the result!  I went with a very neutral color scheme - white, creme, grey, and natural wood tones because honestly, I was so worried that our he would be a she so I wanted something easily interchangeable.  That being said, I am a lover of neutrals and the colorful nurseries that I was seeing just weren't appealing to me.  Some people like their rooms to be energetic and fun, but not me. I like mine to be calming and serene.

I made the quilt, drapes, and pillow.

And my mama made the crib skirt.

This is my favorite project. My brother-in-law was selling his house and he had a bunch of old windows in the garage so I took some.  I made the map on photoshop and got it printed at staples for a whopping $5 and made the letters with vinyl that I already had.

So there it is! My little man's room. Which I think he loves given that he sleeps amazingly in there! hehe ;)

2 years old

I have a 2 year old.

Oh my.

I really cannot believe that 2 years have gone by since this spunky, sweet little girl entered our lives.
It makes me feel kinda old!!

Given that I had a one month old baby, her party was pretty low key.  Just dollar store streamers and balloons for decorations and a big pot of chili for dinner!  I still did a fun cake cause that is my goal for each of my children for their birthdays.  Growing up my mom did an awesome cake for us each birthday and its something that I looked forward to every year and something that made me feel special so I aim to do the same with my kids.  I have realized everything else is too much work and overrated though!! haha

Hadley made 2 requests for her birthday - a "pink ella (elephant) cake", and a "birday hat". 
So that's what she got!

The birthday girl in her birthday hat.

And her pink elephant cake

Soooooo excited to see her cake

And not so sure about blowing out the candle on her cake.

 But LOVING eating the cake!

The funny thing was that after the cake had been dismembered and eaten, she was studying the cake and told me in a very concerned voice, "Mommy, cake all gone", as if we had just killed a friend.

We went in for Hadley's 2 year check up and her pediatrician deemed her as "extremely advanced".  I knew my kiddo was smart but I was surprised that she was that advanced.  She passed all of the 2 year check marks, all of the 3 year, and got some of the 4 year ones. I was pretty proud.

At 2 hadley is:
-Full on talking.  I understand everything she says and there is nothing she can't say.  That being said, I have to translate for some people!
-Knows all of her colors
-Can count to 10
-Knows the letter H and that Hadley starts with the letter H
-Knows every single animal and what noise they make
-POTTY TRAINED!!!! (a week after her birthday)
-Hasn't been taking naps since 19 months
-Goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up at 7-7:30am
-Is IN LOVE with all animals but her favorite right now is elephants
-Puts on any hat and gets me to sing happy birthday
-Loves to go to the store (even though she is a terror at the store), the doctor, and church
-Plays little mommy ALL day long by nursing her baby, changing diapers, rocking her baby, feeding her baby, giving her baby time outs, fixing her baby's ouies, etc, etc.
-Loves to sing and dance
-Has tons of energy, but for the most for the most part, doesn't really get into a whole lot of trouble, just needs to be doing something ALL the time
-Doesn't really love TV but when she does watch it, watches Dora, Sesame Street, Leap Frog Learning center, and Barney
-Tests me to no end with her attitude
-26 pounds (15th percentile)
-50th percentile for weight
-And that big old noggin is still 90th percentile 

For Hadley's 1st birthday I made a slideshow of her first year and she loved it soooooooo much.  Like her whole second year of life she would watch it 2-15 times a day. No joke.  So I figured I had to make one for her second birthday too! Here it is:

Hadley 2nd Birthday Slideshow

And just for fun, her first year slideshow:

Hadley 1st Birthday Slideshow 

Porter Jackson Karch

Our little guy made his entrance to the world on January 5, 2013 at 11:48am.

It all started the evening before when I decided to drink the "magic drink" that I have heard about.  Its an old midwives' drink that doesn't make you sick or give you the runs and pretty much always puts people into labor right away.

So I drank it at 3pm, threw it up at 3:30, and then drank it again at 4:00.  This time, much slower and it didn't come up.  And low and behold, had my first contraction at 5pm.  By 10:00pm my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart so we decided to head to the hospital.  My mom came over to sleep at our house cause Hads was in bed.

When I was checked we were informed that I was only 2 cm (grrrrrr) so they allowed us to walk the halls for 2 hours to try and get to 3 cm.  My contractions were pretty intense so I was positive that by the end of that 2 hours I would be at LEAST 3 cm.  I mean, this was my second child and all.  But, nope, no such luck.  I was still 2cm.  So, they sent. us. home. Yeah, I was NOT impressed.

I labored at home from 12am-4am and OH MY I was in pain.  Seriously.  I watched Dragon's Den in between contractions as Dman napped on the couch. Haha

When we headed back to the Hospital at 4am, we were admitted cause I was 3 cm. 3cm???  Really?  Did I mention this was my second time doing this?  Why was my body being so slow?  I was frustrated.  But at least we were being admitted, right? Except for the fact that as soon as we were admitted, my contractions stopped.  Just stopped, with the odd one every 15 minutes or so.  We tried walking to get them started again.  But nothing.  For 2 hours.  I was baffled.  My nurse suggested that I was just so exhausted that if I napped my contractions would probably start again.  So I napped, and sure enough the started back up!  By that point I was now 4cm so my doctor decided to brake my water to get things speeding up.

I have never had my water broken before.  With Hadley it broke as I was pushing.  Well, let me tell you.....I thought an oxytocin labor was intense.....HA!  Within 5 minutes of breaking my water, the most intense contractions I have ever experienced started up. So I demanded the epidural right away, and I got it but the darn thing took an hour and a half to work!!!!  Apparently I have a shallow spine and they had to take it out and re-insert it at a shallower depth.  Meanwhile I was dying.  But nevertheless, it finally worked and I decided to take another nap. I was exhausted.  I fell asleep at 9:30ish and when I woke up a couple hours later I felt pressure and asked my doctor to check me.  And when she did, voila, I was 10 cm and the baby was crowning!!

They quickly set up for delivery, I pushed for 10 minutes, and Porter literally just popped out.  My very first thought was holy cow, he is tiny.  My second was hello Hadley number 2!!  They could have been twins.  Porter has Dylan's nose and Hadley has mine but that is the only difference.  It is seriously weird.

I fell in love with him instantaneously. He is just the cutest, most easy going little guy.  He took to nursing right away, he loves to cuddle, and other than a few tummy issues he is content as could be.  I thought having a boy would be weird but so far, its not at all.  I just adore him.  Hadley fell in LOVE with him right away too.  She was mad at me for about a week.  I think she was hurt by having to share me.  But she didn't take any of her hurt out on Porter, just me. Haha better that way I guess.  That was the hardest adjustment for me - having to take time away from Hadley.  Having to split myself between the two.  I just felt really guilty initially.  But we have all settled into our new roles now I think.  It has taken a little bit longer to get back to normal this time (hence the month late post).  Probably because two requires way more time than one, and P-dog likes to be held all the time.  Which means I have been having trouble getting things done!!  But we are surviving. We implemented babywise sleep training right away again like we did with Hadley and at 3 weeks old Porter started doing 7 and 8 hour stretches through the night.  So even though it sucks having to get up once at night when I have been used to sleeping through the night for the last 2 years, I am grateful that I am getting rest!

Here are some pictures of our little man:

On the way to the hospital.

Freshly out.  Spitting image of Hadley.

I know I look like a wreck, but I was SOOOO happy to see my little girl.

First time meeting her brother.

Loving her brother.

Just chillin on the couch.

Love this guy!

Playing catch up

Christmas.

This is a very late post, but better late than never right?  

I have to document it for my family's sake at least.

We had a great Christmas.  It was nice to be able to enjoy our time together and with Hadley as an only child before the baby came.  We tried to do lots of fun things as a family.  We went to candy cane lane, the zoo lights, our church's nativity display, did lots of baking, went to the pool countless times, and just hung out.

Christmas Eve was spent with Dman's side of the family.  We had a yummy appetizer themed dinner, read the nativity, and opened presents.

 Hadley got really into all the present opening!! She took sooooooooo long to open all of her presents though because she loved each one and wanted to play with them.

 Thanking her Grandpa for her present.

On Christmas morning we woke up to the presents that Santa brought and again, opened them much to Hadley's delight.

Then we headed on over to my family's house for, you guessed it, more presents!!!  Followed by a yummy brunch and hanging for the afternoon out whilst checking out our loot.

 

Hadley was "helping" Daddy play golf on the wii.

We wrapped up the day with Christmas dinner and watching the Santa Clause 

(a Wilson yearly tradition).

Movie watching snuggles with Nana.

It was a really great time.  Nothing extravagant, just good times and too much good food!!  It was especially fun this year because Hadley really got it.  We tried to take the opportunity to teach her about our Saviour and the true gift of Christmas.  She loved pointing out baby Jesus whenever she saw him.  And of course, she fell in love with Santa and the whole gift opening thing.  It was really fun and special for me to watch the excitement of the season through her eyes.

39 weeks: update and thoughts.

Let me start this post by addressing my unborn son....I am sorry I have not even mentioned one thing about being pregnant with you up until this point.....39 weeks.  

I feel like a cotton-headed-ninny-muggin.  But you need to believe me when I say, it has nothing to do with a lack of excitement for your arrival.  That couldn't be more far from reality.  I thank Heavenly Father for you every single night in my prayers.  My dreams are filled with your addition to our family - you and your sister interacting.  My thoughts are often spent wondering who you will be.  I can't wait to meet you and learn about your personality.  And cuddles....I can't wait to cuddle and mug you!!!! No, no, the reason that I have not dedicated any posts to you, my son, is that your sister is crazy. Nuts. And this momma is TIRED! Time is so fleeting that I really never have any of it to dedicate to just sitting down and writing out my thoughts.  So here they are, at 39 weeks - better late than never!!

This pregnancy has been pretty similar to Hadley's with a few key differences. One, I have not gained nearly as much weight as I did with Hadley.  Which is odd because I have eaten worse this time around.  With Hadley I didn't so much as even want to see unhealthy food....the thought of grease made me want to vomit.  Where as this time around, I have been craving junk food.  Baked goods have been my weakness!!  But the pounds aren't packing on.  With Hadley I gained, this is embarrassing, 70 lbs!!!  And with this one right now I am at a 31 lb gain.

The second key difference is that with Hadley I had NO mood swings.  Seriously, I has SO many people tell me that I seemed happier pregnant than non-pregnant.  And I was.  Not so much the case this time around.  Ohhhh boy, my inner anger and rage have been hard to deal with.  Seriously some days I wake up and I just want to punch a wall for NO reason.  I have been trying really hard to keep that all inside though and not release the beast, and I think I have done an okay job.  Hadley really hasn't seen the mommy-beast, but poor Dman has on a few occasions. That's been a really tough struggle for me.

Everything else like the sickness, and insane back pain, and tiredness have all been the same.  Well, I am more tired this time around but I completely attribute that to having a toddler.

I really cannot believe that I am already at 39 weeks.  I try to wrap my head around having two kids, but I just don't think it will feel real until it actually happens.  Its like before you have your first, you really have no idea what to expect.  While I know what to expect baby-wise, I just don't know how I am going to handle two, how our family is going to change, and most importantly, how Hadley is going to handle a sibling.  I was scared, like really scared, for a really long time.  But just within the past few weeks Hadley has come out of her terrible two's (YAY!!! And knock on wood....) and so I have been able to get more comfortable with the idea of an addition.  

I am actually excited to have a baby around again.  While they are hard and pose some challenges to freedom, I love baby cuddles and smells. I love just staring at my freshly fed and milk drunk baby.  I love watching my baby sleep. Of course, I do realize that all of this will happen post 

7pm (the Hadster's bedtime).

I am getting nervous for the birth because I know what to expect this time!!  If I tear bad again, I don't know how I am going to function after with having Hadley.  When I had Hadley I could barely walk for a couple weeks after, not a luxury I have this time around. So I am praying that all will go well and that he won't be too big.

I am still questioning the boy factor.  I really would not be shocked if he came out a she.  Dman thinks I am nuts because we clearly saw that he was a he on the ultrasound, but I wont be convinced until I meet the baby.

I am just getting anxious.....excitement and nervousness all mixed in one.  Big changes, but exciting changes.  I can't wait to meet our new child.  I love that they come with different personalities, and I have learned a lot about myself and about Heavenly's father's trust in me with having Hadley.  I am excited to see what this child will teach me and who Heavenly Father sees fit to enter our family.

I guess I am technically full term now, so can I say any day now??  I don't know.  I was late with Hadley and I think I will probably be late again because that just seems to be what my body does, but we shall see!!  Maybe the next post will be an introductory one???  AHHHHHH so CRAZY!!

Until then, Leah.

Santa love.

Last year the Hads and Mr. Clause did NOT get along.  He freaked her out big time.

This year, totally different story.  She LOVES Santa.  Anytime she sees him she gets sooooo excited.  I think it has something to do with the chocolate advent calendar we got her this year.  It has a Santa picture on it and everyday the HIGHLIGHT of her day is getting her "Santa treat".

So I didn't know what to expect when we went to get pics with the old man this year, but I had high hopes.  And sure enough, Hadley did not disappoint!  She loved him and did so well.  She greeted him with a "Hi Santa" and as she sat on his lap and asked her questions she did her best to answer them.  It was so cute.

Christmas??

I cannot believe how fast Christmas is coming!!  I don't feel prepared at all!  There is just lots happening right now it seems what with finishing up the basement (it is finally restored......um, yeah, 5 months after the flood!!) and with a baby due in less than 3 weeks!!! AHHHHHH

So I am trying my best to get in the Christmas spirit and have some fun.  Dman is done exams tomorrow and when he is we are hitting the Christmas activities hard!!

The other day Hadley and I decided to make a gingerbread house.....HAH!!!  Really, really messy activity with a 22 month old.  But she lovedddd it.....she was on a sugar high for a couple of hours! So I thought I would share considering I have to get something posted on this blog!!

After we made it, she decided to eat the candy right off the house!

Hahaha isn't it beautiful!!!  She had a huge hand in making this and I didn't want to squash any of her cute little creativity with my perfectionism so I let her go to town and we ended up with this beaut!

Love her, love it!