Introducing baby Judd

Judd Richard

October 28

born at 12:46 pm

8 lbs and 6 oz

21 inches long

Judd's Birth Story:
Judd was born via repeat c section on Friday afternoon. We dropped Ava off at museum school, checked in the hospital, and everything went smoothly the entire day.

 I walked into the OR and sat on the operating table and was getting fairly anxious, which is unusual for me. I am a high strung person, yes, but I was mostly excited to have Judd be born, up until the epidural/spinal. When they told me to arch my back and suck in my stomach (which, by the way, is a funny thought considering I was huge pregnant) I was getting soooo nervous. The whole procedure of an epidural is freaky. I was thinking to myself "I just want out of this. Maybe I should try to labor." Then I thought "I guess either way it's not gonna be fun. There is no easy way out." Well, that thought alone made me quite anxious. The thoughts of "what if I'm not numb, what if I have lots of scar tissue, etc. etc." ran through my head.
But within minutes I was completely numb and ready to go! Judd came out with a precious little cry and I heard the doctor and nurses discussing what a cute baby he was. Melt my momma heart!
They put him on the warmer and assessed/cleaned him while Aaron talked to him. He knew Aaron's voice instantly. Then I started talking to him and I kid you not, he turned his head all around looking for my voice. I cried like a baby.

my doctor with Judd

What a precious, amazing miracle. He was so alert, a beautiful shade of pink, and just as sweet as could be. I was ready to be out of that operating room and able to hold my baby. As soon as they stitched me up they put Judd in my arms and wheeled us to the recovery room. We had an hour to ourselves, just as a family of four, and for me to nurse him before he had a bath.

Ava came in and was so quiet. She said "Mommy, he isn't in your belly anymore. He is here! We have to be very gentle to him." She was smitten at first glance.

The hospital stay was actually SO NICE! I didn't want to go home and would be lying if I told you I haven't had one meltdown involving wanting to go back to the hospital. The nurses were amazing and the food was so good this time. I am so serious!

But, coming home day was wonderful. We were excited to show Judd his new home and the adjustment has been rather smooth. My mom stayed with us the first week and saved our lives. She was wonderful!!! She cooked, cleaned, and got up with me during the feedings. Aaron has been so great, too! He has been sleeping with Ava since he works and I don't want to wake him all night with feedings. Ava thinks it's pretty cool to have dad in her room at night! Talk about slumber party time!!
Ava has been awesome with the adjustment. She loves holding her brudder and petting his head! I have a feeling I am going to love the age difference between them. She is so helpful!
Thanks for all of the prayers and love/support during the days leading up and day of his birth.

39 weeks, and a letter to Judd

Today marks 39 weeks that I've been pregnant with my sweet unborn baby, Judd.

{Swollen much?}

But in reality, it feels like so much longer. Not only because let's face it, the last few weeks of a pregnancy are just rough, but because of the time spent trying, failing, and longing for a baby prior to conception.
We tried to get pregnant when Ava was about 18 months with no success. We took a break and started trying again shortly after that small break:) And finally after a few trying months and infertility meds, we were delighted to become pregnant with what would become our first son. Up until about 20 weeks I was still in disbelief that I was actually pregnant. Not sure why I was so skeptical and uneasy about it, but maybe it was because I had a feeling in the back of my mind that Ava would be our only child.
Funny how God has the plan all figured out.
Funny what happens when we let go and just trust Him.

On the eve before Judd's arrival, this sweet song from Rich Mullins comes to mind. We really are on the verge of a miracle. And I am so beyond excited to watch this miracle unfold!

Dear little Judd Richard,
As I anxiously await your arrival in less than 24 hours, so much is going through my head. What will you look like, what your first cry will sound like, will you be an alert little fellow or a sleepy one? Will you have your daddy's dimples and your mom's dark hair or will you look just like your big sister...
But it's also a bittersweet feeling to know that I will not feel your kicks and rolls and your sweet little booty poking out of my belly any more. I won't ever get this time back where we share this unique once upon a time bond, just you and mommy. I will surely miss this! And as silly as it is, I do worry/hope you are just as happy, warm, and comfortable here in what will be your new world, outside of my womb.
I am so excited to begin this new life as a family of four. So is your daddy and your sister! We have prayed for you for a very long time and I am just tickled to call you, Judd, my son. While I am so scared to raise a boy, mostly because it is such uncharted territory, I know that God has so much in store and will bless me beyond my wildest dreams.
I love you, sweet baby boy!

Thank you all for the prayers for me and this baby! We should see his sweet face sometime tomorrow around lunch time. We will keep you updated!

Judd {37 weeks} Full Term!

Sorry this is such a bad picture. It's from my phone and is extra blurry. Guess that kinda works in my favor, though. Haha!



37 weeks Size of baby: Size of a watermelon.
Maternity Clothes: Yes, if they still fit! I've gotten to the point where most of my shirts are too short. It's lovely. And jeans? No way! I opt for only yoga or stretchy pants these days. As seen in above picture.

Gender: it's a BOY! Judd Richard
Movement: All the time. And he feels SO BIG. The OB told me he would start to slow down in movement towards the end. Well, that hasn't happened yet. It is weird though because now when he moves his leg, he usually moves his arm at the same time so I'm seeing big movements from the top and bottom of my belly simultaneously. CRAZY! Sleep: Sleeping is getting not so fun. I am up to use the restroom at least 5 times a night and it is so hard to get out of my bed. I also have quite a few aches at night in my belly/lower abdomen. What I Miss: I miss being able to stand up and walk around without the pressure on my hips and bladder. Gravity really hates me right now. But I know this is short term and the pain is SO SO worth it!!  
 Cravings: No real cravings at this point. But I am trying to get in all the fatty foods now before it is all over. SO BAD!  Symptoms: Weight gain? hahaaha! I'm at the point where I gain my most weight. I have gained about 8 lbs in the past 6 weeks. But, that's just how I do it in my pregnancies. At least I didn't gain 30 like I did with Ava. I'll take the 8 any day over 30! Lower back ache after standing more than...oh...30 seconds? Just overall pressure from the baby being so low.  Best Moment this week: Dr. Howell said I am 1.5 cm dilated so I know the time is coming soon that I will be holding a precious baby boy in my arms. And I am SO EXCITED!!
 
 

The easiest Chicken Pot Pie recipe {ever}

Last night I wanted Chicken Pot Pie. Not the frozen kind. The homemade kind with a thick flaky biscuit crust!
But I also knew it had to be easy and require few steps & little prep as I am 2 weeks out of delivery day.
I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and it was so good I had to share!



Ingredients:
1 can cream of chick soup
1 can mixed veggies
1 can cubed chicken (I use Costco brand. It's the best in my opinion)
1 can pillsbury flat crescent roll
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup bisquick baking mix
1 tsp of butter

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400
-Press crescent roll into a pie dish and add soup mix, can of veggies, and can of chicken.
-Add salt and pepper to taste.
-Mix milk, egg, and baking mix. Pour over chicken mixture.
-Bake for 25 minutes. Add a buttery spread on top and bake for 5 more minutes.

I served salad and buttered bread with ours. That's how Aaron likes his pot pie. It was so good and super easy!!!



Let me know if you try this and how you liked it. I'm sure this little number will stay with our dinner rotation during the winter months. Mmmmm.

Christmas Sneak Peek {SheShe Made}

Snowmen, candycanes, ornaments, and sock monkeys. These are just a FEW PEEKS at our Christmas items we are rolling out for SheShe Made Christmas Collection 2011. While we wanted to add so much more, we had to say enough was enough and trust that our customers would be very satisfied with the selection chosen.

                                               

(can you even HANDLE these tights?!?!)

Monograms, appliques, smocked dresses and ruffle tights. It's all pretty much enough yumminess to make your season merry and bright!!

There will be EVEN MORE to come next week! Think elf shoes and little red wagons, lollipops and gumdrops. Keep up to date when the Christmas items go up for sale on http://www.sheshemade.com/ by following us on facebook!

Special thanks to Sarah Carlson Photography out of DFW Texas and Tracy Marshall Photography out of Severna Park Maryland for most of the images.

Judd's "Little Man" Shower

This weekend four of my best girls threw me a shower at my house. I had been so excited about this day for obvious reasons, but also because Sarah (who lives in Oklahoma) would be coming in town to spend the weekend with me, and the other girls, Jenn and Angie, would be sleeping over as well. Oh! And getting to show off our new home to friends and family was an added bonus.  It was a crazy weekend indeed, but oh so fun!!  

I didn't get many pictures, and the ones I did take weren't that great, so I am borrowing these all from Sarah's blog post. She said it was okay;)

My family of 3.5. Aaron was such a big help on this day. He took Ava and Manny, Sarah's little boy, to his school gym for the beginning of the shower. He said it was a great preview of what's to come with a girl and a boy in tow. Ava came back while I was opening gifts and wanted to open all of them herself. She was a little disappointed in bottle nipples and washcloths, but many shower guests were so sweet to bring her a wrapped gift. I have THE BEST friends and family. Always so thoughtful!

Me and the shower hostesses, Angie, Jenn, and Sarah...minus good 'ol Sheila. I'm sure she was working hard behind the scenes as she always is. I love these girls so much and thank God for bringing me such genuine, selfless, class act buddies to do life with. It's funny because I met half of this crew on the internets. Haha! Yes, there are crazies in the internets, but there are also PURE JEWELS and I have found two of them. I feel like I've known all of these girls my whole life. We chat in some way every single day, and I seriously don't take any one of these friendships for granted. LOVE THEM TO PIECES!!

The amazing food set up! I want this food right now, at 9am. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! And aren't the food cards too adorable?

Jenn's friend Molly made the most precious cookies. If you are local, you need to check her out. Email me for details. And the mustache frame? Isn't that the greatest? Ava is obsessed with mustaches right now so she is still digging these mustache cookies!

Thanks again, girls, for throwing such a FABULOUS shower. I feel so loved by each of you!

Maternity Pictures

I never had maternity pics taken with Ava. I was FAR too swollen and would barely let a camera of any sorts come near me. Woof! It was bad. But this time around I'm just bigger as expected, but not swollen. And I wanted Ava to be in a few of the pictures, so I decided to get just a few taken.
I am so glad I did!
Here are a few of my favorites...

This one is not a favorite bc of my pudgy arms but one of the only ones of my face.

Got this idea off Pinterest...

So, there it is. Mr. Judd belly at 33 weeks. All of these photos were taken by the talented Sarah Carlson. She is local and she does SUCH a great job. Email me if you are interested in her info or you can find her on facebook! Sarah Carlson Photography.

Hope you all are having a lovely week!!

Judd's Nursery

The baby boy's room is finally ready to share!! In fact, it's ready for baby boy to get here too. Just 7 more weeks and we will get to share his room with him. The room designed with love just for him.

Until his big debut...I am excited to share with you all!

Welcome to Judd's little space!

I painted these letters for both kids' doors. Ava's is pink with green & white striped ribbon.

I have always wanted a yellow nursery and said that if we had a boy I wanted to do primary colors but no theme, and so this is what emerged.

Here is the main view of the room and the striped wall. I had a hard time deciding on yellow or gray walls and in the end I went with Benjamin Moore's "Haystack" for the walls, with the gray stripes on the main back wall in Sherwin Williams' "Essential Gray". I got the rug this past weekend at Ikea, so that explains why it's still kind of lumpy. I guess I need to try and iron it.

I found the big letters at JoAnn's and painted them red. We also added the chair rail on that one wall.

We decided to reuse Ava's furniture as it is the crib, dresser, and armoire and it really took up too much space to convert and put in her room in this new house.

The bedding is from polka tot designs. I chose the "Taylor" bedding for my inspiration but added in all the reds as it was solely yellow and gray.  

Changing table/dresser wall. I ordered extra fabric from polka tot designs and one of SheShe Made's seamstresses made the window treatments, the pillow, and the nightstand cover. I am very pleased with how it all came out!!

Here is the nightstand covers she made. The red overlay is gray on the bottom so I can switch it out. The circle arrangement on the wall is basically just various fabrics hooped through embroidery hoops. I saw this on pinterest and had to do it! I got the polka dot diaper/wipes basket from Container Store.

Here is a close up of the curtain. It's yellow damask. I NEED a blackout liner or something under it. I just haven't found exactly what I'm looking for yet.

The glider used to be in our living room in our old house and although I hate the color of it in the nursery, sometimes I just have to tell myself to let things go. Haha! I will want it in there for those late night feedings I know. I got that precious knit blanket at Ikea this past weekend. The laundry basket is from Container Store.

This is his coming home outfit hanging on the wall. The wooden train is part of a train set was given to my brother by my nanny when he was a little boy. My nanny passed away when I was 11 and it always was a special "toy" in our house. It's also one of the very few things my mom didn't give away to Goodwill. I want to find a small stand up "J" to put in the green boxcar.  

I got this red toy chest on Zulily for a great deal. It's similar to the ones at Land of Nod, just made cheaper basically:) I plan on keeping his swaddle blankets, stuffed toys/animals, and teether toys, etc. in these bins. The name blocks were purchased on Etsy and I am very happy with the quality! His bookends are baseball players. The tiniest bit of a "theme" (if you can even call it that) is baseball. That was dad's choice as he is an ex baseball player. He has a few more baseball trinkets around the room as well. The shoes were monogrammed by yours truly and I sure hope they fit him to complete his coming home ensemble.

There is also a painting with my favorite boy quote going up above the toy bin. It had a little mishap during shipping but we can't wait to see the finished product soon!

So, there it is!

And now we wait for this sweet little bundle's arrival. In the meantime, I will continue to go in his room daily and "straighten" up all the letters, blankets, and pictures that Ava takes down to "play with" on his floor.