Two Months

My sweet little Carolena,
I can't believe you are already two months old! Time gets faster and faster with each child. You have blessed my life beyond words and my heart is full. You completed our family and bring us amazing joy each and every day. You are the "sweet little beautiful princess" according to your brothers and Mommy's little angel. You are growing so fast that sometimes I have to take a deep breath and remind myself to take it all in. This month you weighed in at 10 lbs 2 oz. and you are in the 50th percentile for height weight and head (but mommy thinks you are way more than average). You have started laughing and smiling, and even cooing when your grandma talks to you. You love taking baths and would stay in there for a long time if mommy would let you. Whenever you get excited about something, you kick your little right leg like crazy, and mommy thinks it's hilarious. We are still working on the sleeping situation, but we did have two nights in a row where you slept for 6 or 7 hours straight. You love to eat many many times a day, way more than every three hours. But I think it's just because you like to be close to your mom. In general, you are a very happy baby and very content to be held all day long. You love when your brothers get close and talk to you and love having all of the attention on you. But we do have our moments when you just feel like crying. Like, for example, when mommy was trying to take your two month picture...

My sweet girl, we love you more and more every single minute.

In other news, we took a short trip with the husbands sister and her family to Indianapolis this weekend. The boys loved the Indianapolis Children's Museum and we could have gotten some great pictures if only we had remembered to take the camera out of the car. You really need more than one day to go through this museum, there was so much to do and look at. After the museum, we checked in to the hotel and then sent the boys to the pool with the husband, and I went shopping with the sister in law. It wouldn't be a proper trip to Indy without the customary stop at H&M. I picked up some cute sweaters for the boys and some cute sweaters for myself (Sorry B4) and then went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. By the way, going out to a restaurant and potty training are not really the best idea. And then after dinner we spent a lot of time doing this:

The boys thought it was so cool staying in a hotel and riding on the elevator. So easily entertained!

Back to Louisville (and reality) on Monday, and the boys finally got to get into some of their Christmas presents that we hadn't been able to take out yet. Needless to say, they were pretty happy. Check out my little cheeseballs:

I can't sign off without at least one more picture of my "sweet little princess".

Have a safe and happy New Year everyone!!!

Emily

What We've Been Up To

Well I guess the adjustment to three kids hasn't been as easy as I had hoped. But then again, we really have had a lot of things going on ever since the princess was born. Halloween, then B5's Birthday Party, then Thanksgiving, and now Christmas. Add in the responsibilities of being Joe Finneys class room mom and shopping and baking and trying to fit in a workout, and making hair bows and sewing (yes really, I made a sweet little Teepee for the boys for Christmas) and I guess maybe that's why I feel like I don't really have it all together yet. But it will come, in time. I promise to be better with keeping up with this blog, as the husband and mom keep reminding me that it has been a while since I have posted. So for now, some pictures of what we have been up to the past 8 weeks (Yes its been 8 weeks since she was born, can you believe it!!).

Here is B5's Birthday Party:

The cousins making "snowman" pretzals:

Aunt Ang spending time with the princess:

Baby Sisters 1 month picture:

Christmas Picture take #42...

Merry Christmas!

Back In The Swing Of Things

Well sort of. We are working on trying to get things back to normal around here. But the good news is...SHE'S HERE!!! Carolena Margaret Saylor (aka "Baby Sister") arrived October 28th at 3:37 p.m. She was 7lbs 6 oz and 19 1/2 inches. Technically I was induced, but the doctor said I probably would have been in that day anyways since when I got there my contractions were coming regularly. Labor was pretty uneventful and easy (I can say that now :)) When I delivered, there was 12 people in the room including myself and Carolena, so she had her first big birthday celebration! And she really came out screaming, what I thought would be a sign of things to come. However, she has just been the most perfect little princess! I haven't heard her scream like that since she came out.

The boys love her so much and are so great with her. They both love giving her kisses and holding her. B5 especially has taken to her. He calls her his "little princess". It is so sweet, it just melts my heart! We all love this little girl so much and feel so blessed to have her with us finally.

I will try and get back to posting regularly, but for now, I will leave you with some eye candy!
Emily

Waiting Patiently, Patiently Waiting

No real news on the baby front yet. I do go in tomorrow (Monday) morning for an amnio to check and see if the baby's lungs are mature. If they are, we will be inducing on Wednesday. Getting closer now, but seems to also be taking such a long time. I am just really anxious to see my little girl. And I think the boys are really excited as well.

One major task was completed this week and that was the Nursery!! So here is the final installment of The Nursery Diaries.

I finally got the artwork for above the crib this week to finish off the room. The color is a little more red than I would like, but I still think it works. Plus I just love the idea of paper dolls. I can't wait to make some with her! Also, just got the bedding tied on properly today, and it looks fabulous. Thanks, Mom!! And yes, I know the picture is not centered. When I was working on the crib today, it got moved around a little. I just noticed it in the picture, so I will be sending the husband up to fix ASAP:)

I was trying to get a wide shot of the room, but again, my photography skills are lacking. I'll blame it on the camera. But you can sort of get an idea of the set up of the room. Walk in the door, crib to your right, window straight ahead, glider in the corner, you get the picture. The Husbands Aunt Karen made the window treatments, recovered the glider, and made me some fancy pillows to "throw" around.

As you walk in the door to the left is the changing table and closet (which, by the way, is maybe my favorite place in the room). Aunt Karen made a liner for the basket and added some ball trim to the outside since we all know how much I love trim. It's on the windows, the glider, the baskets, the pillows. Makes me happy!

Here is a shot with the curtains closed. I wanted this room to be as dark as possible for when she naps since I ran in to problems with it being too sunny in this room with the boys. I love those plates on the wall. If you can't tell, there are gold metallic birds on each plate. I got them at a great little store in Marietta called Simple Pleasures.

And finally, the glider. I have a feeling I will be spending quite a bit of time in this in the near future. With Joe Finney, I was here every two hours round the clock. Let's hope she is a little bit better of a sleeper than that!!

Well I plan on sending out updates as I can as far as the birth of this little girl. I will also try to get some pictures posted as soon as I can. Wish me luck for a healthy girl and a speedy delivery!!

Emily

Say A Little Prayer For Me

I would love if everyone out there who reads this could take a second to say a little prayer for my mom today. She is currently in Las Vegas and has had a lot of not so great things happen while she was out there. First, I went into labor on Friday night (which was stopped, obviously, since I still have that little bun in my oven). But I know that this caused her lots of stress and unnecessary worry. Sorry, mom. And secondly, she found out that one of her retinas is detached (i.e. vision loss) and had to have laser surgery while in Vegas to repair the "good eye". She is flying back tonight and having surgery tomorrow to try to fix the eye that has the detachment. Now I am not quite sure what the surgery entails, something about a gas bubble being placed in the eye, and resting face down for a week, but quite frankly I am very nervous and I know she is too. My mom loves to sew, play with her grandchildren, and make cookies, all of which require vision, so if you could please keep her in your thoughts, I would be very very grateful.

Which brings me to this:

Isn't it fabulous??? My mom gave this to me last week for the baby girls room.Such a perfect quilt. I just love it. Not only is it beautiful, and meaningful, but it is sooo cozy as well. It was such a nice surprise. My mom is the best.

And this is a picture of the finished bedding for the baby girls room. I know my mom was up late nights working on these things and I hope she knows how much I appreciate it and how much it means to me. I can't wait to tell the baby all about her grammy and how talented and wonderful she is.

And finally, the quilt on the crib. So perfect. I can't wait to show you all the finished room. Just waiting for the artwork for above the crib to arrive, then I will take some full room shots. By the way, I had mentioned before that we had already picked out a name for the girl, but I am not 100% sure anymore, so it looks like we will name her upon delivery. Too bad I had already gotten a couple of things monogrammed!!

Emily

Recent Activities

Well not much to report on the baby front. Went to the doctor (twice) yesterday, and was told that everything looks good, baby weighs over 6 pounds (BIG GIRL!!!), and that I will probably be induced. Didn't give me a date or anything yet, so I guess it will be a surprise. Will keep you posted when I find out more.

So this weekend, the boys (including the husband) and I met the sister in law and her fam at Hubers for some early fall pumpkin picking. What a great time we had! Hubers was packed so I guess everyone had the same idea that we had. We started out with lunch, but the kiddos were anxious to get to the pumpkins, so off we went on the tractor to the pumpkin patch.

We must have spent an hour in that pumpkin patch looking for the perfect pumpkin for each kid. We searched through the whole entire thing, and Joe Finney must have fallen about 12 times. Totally worth it.

I had to sneak this picture of B5 since he was in one of his moods, but I actually like the way it turned out. He was worried that the tractor was going to forget to come back and pick us up.

And a picture of me and the husband. It is very rare that we are in a picture together since one of us is usually behind the camera. So happy the enormous belly didn't make the picture. Thanks, Allison!!!

. And last week at grammys house. B5 had found a gingerbread haunted house (seriously) when we made a trip to the fabric store. I was reluctant to buy it, since I knew how much effort it would take, but I bought it anyway and we ended up having a great (messy) time putting it together. B5 and Joe Finney had a good time decorating (eating the candy and icing) the house after we got it put together. Let me warn you, people, if you buy one of these things, put aside a few hours to work on it. And, my belly was covered in icing when we were through. That thing keeps getting in the way!

And last but not least, the jammies I made for the boys. I was able to finish B5's pajama pants when I was taking my sewing class, but I was on my own to make Joe Finneys after the class was over. All in all, I think they turned out pretty good. I still have a lot of work to do before I would consider myself a decent sewer, but for one of my first projects, not too shabby. I also made shirts to match with appliques. Actually, I bought the t-shirts, but I did do the applique myself. I have come to realize that in sewing, everything takes at least twice as long as you think it will. As much fun as I had doing the pants, they took me way longer than I had hoped. But maybe with time, I will get faster!

So I think thats it for tonight. I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open too late these days!!

Emily

Busy Busy

Hello friends. Long time, no post. When I first started this blog, I had high hopes of posting at least every other night. But, as we can see, that has not been happening. I think I might be staying busy getting everything (and everyone) ready for baby. I find out tomorrow when this little girl is going to make an appearance, and I think I might save the rest of my post for then. I have some pictures to share and some updates as to what we have been doing lately, so be prepared; tomorrow will be a good one. Good night!!
Emily

Make This

I made a really simple but really yummy dinner the other night. No pictures, but definitely recommended. You need 4 main ingredients and dinner is done. Here you go, you can thank me later.

Southwestern Chicken Soup

1. 1 jar salsa verde
2. 1 cooked rotisserie chicken (taken off bone and shredded)
3. 1 can navy beans (rinsed and drained)
4. 32 oz chicken broth

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Top with 3 cheese Mexican blend and sour cream if wanted.

Now, since that was so easy, why not make your own tortilla strips to serve atop the soup.
Get a package of corn tortillas. Cut into 1/2 strips. Pour 1/2 inch of vegetable (or canola) oil into pan and heat over medium high heat. Drop one tortilla strip into the oil to make sure it is hot enough. If the strip quickly bubbles and rises to the top, you are good to go. Put the rest of the strips in, making sure not to crowd the pan, and let cook for about 4 minutes. Remove to paper towels using a slotted spoon. I like to cover them with lots more paper towels and shake them around a bit to get rid of most of the oil. Sprinkle generously with salt (and lime juice) if you like.
Serve atop Southwestern Chicken Soup.

The husband (who is extremely hard to please) said that this recipe was a keeper. Enjoy, my friends.
Emily

Message To My Little Girl

Baby Girl Saylor,

If you decide you would like to make an appearance before Halloween, I am ready for you. Please see below.

If not, that's okay too. But I am very anxious to see you. Your brothers are too. Just tonight they asked me if you would be so kind as too bring them presents when you arrive. Specifically they asked for "Diego castles". We'll have to see what we can do about that. Also, I think I have figured out your name. At least I hope it's going to be your name since I am already having things embroidered. But we can share that with everyone when I am 100% sure. Mommy seems to be very indecisive as of late. Must be the hormones, or my rapidly increasing belly.

Just wanted to let you know how happy I am that you decided to pick me to be your mom. Love you baby girl.

Mommy

Hurry Up and Wait

6 weeks left and counting. I feel like I have so much to do and so little time, yet it still feels like it is taking FOREVER for baby girl to get here. I just can't wait to see her little face, what her hair looks like, how her brothers will react to her. So many emotions going right now; excited to see her, scared of how life will change, nervous that she will be healthy and perfect, and ready to complete my family. The "nesting" must be kicking in because I lately I have been wanting to stay in and get everything ready for her. So, as I mentioned earlier, I have been taking a sewing class. I decided that I need to at least be able to make a simple dress for her. I mean, that's what all good moms do for their little girls, right? Well, I am not sure if I am up to "dress making" standards yet, but after this class, I can sure make her a decent pillow case, apron, and pajama pants. We made the pillow case on the first night of class, and it was actually fairly easy. On the next class we made an apron, which I would rate about a "6" on a difficulty scale of 1-10. The instructor told us it was going to be easy. But that is coming from a woman who has been sewing for 40 years. For us newbies, I would say it was intermediate. Then, last night, our final class, we made pajama pants. I had planned on making a pair for B5 and Joe Finney, but time got away from me, and Finney got the shaft. Poor guy, I promised him I would finish them up this weekend. B5 was so excited about his, he wore them to be tonight, and that's why they are not in the following picture.


Now I just need to figure out how to applique so I can make them some cute t shirts to go with their "jammie pants".


Now, on to Part 3 of the nursery diaries. The husbands aunt finished up the curtains for the nursery last week, and I am beyond thrilled with them. I spent many many hours searching the Internet and magazines, trying to find exactly what I wanted these curtains to look like. Nothing I came across was right. So I basically just picked out the fabric, gave to to Aunt K, and let her go wild. She found the perfect trim at Hobby Lobby to tie it all together. She's amazing, I tell ya!

The curtains go all the way to the ceiling because we have a big, arched window in the room, that makes the room super hot and lets in an awful lot of sunlight (enough to wake sleeping babies from naps). So as much as I hated to cover the beautiful window, it had to be done. They are also functional, and close all the way, totally blocking all light from coming in. Why didn't I think of that sooner. Could have gotten me some extra sleep when the boys were babies!

Aunt K also covered our glider as well. She used the same fabric as the main part of the curtains, and then used a pink ball trim for the ottoman. If you can't tell, I love trim. I would use it on every single thing in that room if I could!

So the room is thisclose to being done. I just need to figure out some art for above the crib, waiting on bumpers and changing pad cover, and I am working on a basket for the changing table. I think that's it. I would love any suggestions or creative ideas on how I could finish this space up!

Is it just me...

or is it really really difficult to be pregnant with your third child? I have had good days and hard days (I can't call them "bad" because I realize just how blessed I am to be pregnant in the first place), and I would classify this one as really hard. It is taking every bit of energy I have in me to even sit here and write this post, but I need to feel like I accomplished something today. So, onward and upward!!


I wanted to write about what my guilty pleasure has been as of late; Sewing Class!! I have wanted to take a sewing class for years now. I even got a sewing machine for my birthday a couple of years ago in hopes of motivating me to take the plunge and sign up for a class. Alas, it never happened, until now! I signed up for a class with my little sister and my good friend Kelly. There are only 4 of us in the class total, so you pretty much get one on one instruction. In the first class we made a pillowcase (pictures of that coming soon). Boring, one might say, but really it was just the opposite. Who knew sewing could be so fun and therapeutic at the same time?


Here, Kelly is ironing, I mean "pressing" her fabric. Our instructor told us to "Press for Success". She has tons of little sayings like that. Come to think of it, she has a lot to say about everything. Maybe she is what makes the class so interesting!



Here is my sister getting ready to sew her "hot dog" (another crazy sewing term). I still don't get that one, but it does help you to remember what to do.

So the first week we made pillowcases, last week we made aprons (super cute), and this week we are making pajama pants for the kiddos. I am really excited about this one. I took the boys to the fabric store with me so that they could pick out their own fabric, and lets just say, their choices are questionable at best. But they will be happy with the outcome, I'm sure.

Actually I am pretty sad that the class is over this week. It is going to force me to have to sew on my own, and that is a scary thought. But, I will do it and learn as I go along since I am determined to make some things for this baby girl.

And lastly, a picture of what I made for the husband before the first sewing class. I decided he could use a little "encouragement" to watch the boys for an entire evening (or 3). These brownies are delicious. Maybe the best I have ever had. Made from scratch, but totally worth it. Here is the recipe for your enjoyment. It might be a sin not to make these!!

Ghirardelli Classic Brownies

1. 4 oz. Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar
2. 1 cup brown sugar
3. 2 large eggs
4. 1/4 tsp. baking powder
5. 1/2 tsp salt
6. 1 stick unsalted butter
7. 1 tsp vanilla
8. 3/4 cup and 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
9. 1/3 cup ghirardelli semi sweet chips

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour an 8"x8" pan. In a heavy saucepan melt chocolate bar and butter over low heat, stirring until smooth.. Remove pan from heat; let cool to room temp. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, mix well. In bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly fold in flour mixture; mix well. Stir in chips. Pour batter in pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Emily

Full Week, Full Belly

I know, I know. It's been a while since I have posted. Things have been quite busy around here. Things including a trip to my sisters, sewing class, my 30th birthday, and of course, the holiday weekend. We have had lots of fun, though! And fortunately, I had my camera in tow for most of these events, so that means a weeks worth of blogging! I think I will work backwards and start with what we did today since it is still fresh in my mind (because you know pregnant ladies have terrible memories).

Since the boys spent the night a grammy's house last night (thanks, mom!) I got to sleep in to the ripe old hour of 7:30. By the way, what's the deal with not being able to sleep in anymore. Back in the old days, I could easily sleep until 12:00, easy. But I digress...so much for my sleeping until 9 a.m. plan, but that did allow the husband and I to get a delicious breakfast at North End Cafe. We then went to pick up the boys and took them, and grammy, to the Familypalooza at our church. There were so many fun things to do here. I might even have to steal a couple of ideas for B5's birthday party in November.

They must have had 15 different jumpees at this place, and the boys probably tried out half of them. B5 just kept his shoes off because he would run to one jumpee, go in for about 30 seconds, get out and move to the next one. Can you say "sensory overload"? And Joe Finney wasn't far behind him. Then we moved on to the train. So cute. I have never seen one like this before. Here are my boys ( in the orange shirts) with big smiles on their faces.




And another with the church in the background.

The boys are waiting for their turn to ride in this picture. They had a good time hanging out with daddy today.

You can barely see him over on the right, but I was proud of my little boy for climbing up that ladder and going down that big slide all by himself. There were a lot of bigger kids in this jumpee.

And B5 coming down the slide for the 13th time. He had lots of energy today. Must've been those pancakes grammy made him for breakfast!

We did a lot of other things here too like playing games, going to the petting zoo area, and trying to stand in the line to ride the ponies (we gave up).

After leaving Familypalooza, grammy and I took the boys to the fabric store to pick out fabric for the pajama pants that I am making for them in my sewing class (more on that later). My advice to anyone who is listening is that it is probably not the best idea to take small children to a busy fabric store on the day when they are having a big sale. That's all I am going to say about that. But we did end up with some fabric, maybe not my favorite fabric, but fabric nonetheless.

My final (random) thought is that I honestly don't know how my belly could possibly get any bigger. Just when I think I have maxed out, somehow, amazingly, it gets bigger. And they were worried about the growth. Boy were they wrong. This could be the biggest one yet. I just keep repeating to myself "8 weeks left, only 8 weeks". That is what keeps me halfway sane. Have a good night!!

Emily

My son, the bully

So what do you do when your son's preschool teacher calls you at home to tell you that he has been pushing kids off of picnic benches and throwing chairs at them? You hope it's an isolated incident. That is, until the Director of the school stops you in in the carpool line 2 days later to tell you that he was hitting "friends" again today and threw a huge tantrum in her office. Great. Fantastic. My son is the bully. My worst nightmare. What am I going to do? I mean, it's not like I have any control over him. His teacher actually called me again tonight to clarify things and make me feel better, but it just did the opposite. Apparently he is the kid who harasses the other kids when they are having story time. She said she thinks he is just looking for a reaction, and not intentionally being mean. But come on, how is he going to be able to make friends if he just bully's them all morning long. I just can't stand the thought of him being a mean kid, or a bully. Breaks my heart. I need to come up with a plan.

On a lighter note, the boys were wanting to make cookies the other day. I didn't have everything we needed, so instead we made smores. Why haven't I thought of doing this before with them? I put them to work counting out mini marshmallows and chocolate chips to put on the graham crackers. Then we talked about how we had to put them in the microwave so that the marshmallows can melt. They were so amazed. Educational and yummy, sounds like a win win situation to me. Here are some pictures of the fun.

Better days tomorrow!

Emily

The Nursery Diaries - Chapter 2

I had dinner with some girl friends tonight who were interested in seeing some pictures of Baby Girls room, so I thought another chapter of the Nursery Diaries was in order. I am not the best photographer, so the pictures aren't great, but they will work. This first one is a close up of the crib skirt that my mom made for me. It has two different fabric with a ball trim in between. These fabric coordinate with the fabric that my curtains are being made with.



Here is what the crib looks like with the skirt on. Mom is still working on the bumpers (decorative purposes only). You can see the husband in the background hanging up the mobile that he picked up today. He has been really into helping me decorate this room. Surprising!

I tried to get a wide shot of the room, but this was all I could get. We painted the rocker the same color gold as the stripes on the ceiling, and are having the cushions recovered in the same fabric as the curtains. I still can't get over how much I love the wainscoting!

A shot of the ceiling with the new light fixture.

This last picture is of the dresser that the husband picked out. I gave him an idea of what I was looking for, and this is what he came up with. We are going to add a changing pad to the top to make it the changing table. Also, I am just trying out that picture to see if I like it in the room. If I do keep it in there, we will be painting the frame either white or gold. Thoughts? Suggestions?

We obviously still have some work to do, but I am excited about where it is going! Next time I will show a close up of the new zebra carpet. It turned out fabulous!

Emily