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