Baby Mobile

I just have to say that I had a blast putting together Gordon’s Nursery. I hope to show you pictures of the entire space soon, but for now I’d like to share a little DIY project I did for it.

I didn’t really like any mobiles you can buy at the store. They all had a ‘theme’ to them and, well, I didn’t want to be tied down to a theme for his room. I had chosen his bedding from Carousel Designs after searching forever. I really like that website because they have great bedding designs and you can even create your own custom bedding for pretty reasonable prices considering it’s custom!The bedding is what set the tone for the rest of the room. The colors ended up being yellow, gray, dark gray, aqua, and white.

Now, I know that the point of a baby mobile is to provide entertainment for them while laying in the crib. So I wanted to create something that was visually appealing for both me, the designer, and for the eye of a baby.

I did a terrible job documenting how I made the mobile so forgive me if this post is too wordy. I searched Pinterest for some ideas and these were some of my inspiration:

I knew that I wanted to stay with circles and mixed patterns. I also didn’t want to sew anything because, at the time, I didn’t really know how to sew.I liked the idea of having the circles look like they were floating instead of attached to a string or ribbon.

So, here’s what I did. I bought a large circle hole punch to the size of my liking, a few different sheets of patterned and solid papers from the scrapbook department (staying close to the colors of the room, but not perfect), a couple of wooden embroidery circles (2 different sizes), some glue, and some ribbon to cover the wooden circles.

I started by going hole punch crazy on the scrapbook paper. After I had a ton of circles punched out, I mixed all the patterns together and started randomly gluing the circles together so that they were double sided. Then, I poked holes in the middle of them with a safety pin after the glue was dry. Once I had a ton of those put together, I ‘borrowed’ some fishing lure string from my husband’s rod (that’s what she said). I cut the string to the desired length I wanted the mobile to be. I tied a knot at one end of the string, then dropped a paper circle down on top of the knot so that it sits on it. I repeated, keeping the knots equal distance down the string. It’s up to you how far apart you want them to be. Mine were probably every 2 to 3 inches.

Once I had 8 of these strings filled I tied them equal distance apart onto the larger wooden circle (The wooden circles come with 2 layers of circle-ness, so I just used one with out the hardware that comes on it). I then put a dab of hot glue where I tied them to insure that they would stay.

I moved on the create the same thing in a smaller version on the smaller wooden circle. I made the strings a bit shorter and put let paper circles on them. I ended up with 6 strings tied to the wooden circle.

This is where it got a little tricky. I needed to somehow connect the small circle with the large circle. I knew that I wanted the small circle to hang higher than the larger circle. So I searched around the house until I found something that would hold both of the circles while I tied them together. I ended up using a very tapered lamp shade. It was perfect! I carefully laid the larger circle down around the lamp shade first, then the smaller circle. I tied them together with the lure string at 4 different points making sure they were all the same length. Then I removed both circles from the shade and I had a baby mobile!

Now, I had to figure out how to hang it from the ceiling. I tied more fishing lure string criss cross across the smaller wooden circle so that the strings intersected in the middle of the circle. Then I tied another piece of lure string (yeah I used a lot!) where the strings intersected. I then hung that piece from a hook i put in the ceiling.

I was happy with how it hung, so I removed it from ceiling and covered the wooden circles with dark gray ribbon that was a little wider than the wooden circles (using hot glue) so it covered where I tied all the lure string.

And Voila! Finished product!

And the best part? Gordon LOVES it!

Baby Daddy

I had planned in my head to post about Michael and my birthing experience on fathers day, but mommy brain took hold of me and I forgot. I’ve also had quite a lot going on this past week. Excuses excuses! Alas! Here it is.

Michael has been an awesome daddy from the moment little Gordon was born. I’m not surprised at all, but I guess I could say he has exceeded my expectations. I tried not to have too many because if you do then there is also a lot of disappointment. That goes for most situations. It’s good marriage advice I’ve picked up along the way.

Ever since we found out I was pregnant I read and researched everything I could. I obsessed about all things baby. I wanted to be prepared! Michael just kind of went along for the ride. Its not that he wasn’t interested (which I tended to think sometimes), but he’s just really easy going. He takes things as they come. During labor and the days following Gordon’s birth, Michael really took a leadership role. I had read and heard so many stories about husbands who got really nervous and acted weird while their wife was in labor. I knew that Michael wouldn’t freak out because he does pretty good in medical situations, but I have to admit that he did more than expected. He made sure I had what I needed. If I had a question he would make sure and find an answer from someone without hesitation. It really helped me to relax and know that he could handle everything the doctor and nurses where telling us. Especially after Gordon was born and I was just so out of it. I could just rely on him to know what we were supposed to do.

He was by my side always. I remember one time during a really bad contraction I opened my eyes and saw him praying silently and almost desperately. He told me later that it was really hard for him to see me like that. He sucked it up though and didn’t let me see him scared for me. He was my ROCK! He put my needs before his own. (A piece of advice I would like to share with future dads is to make sure you take care of yourself during your wife’s labor! Michael ended up getting a terrible headache the next day because he barely ate or drank anything because he was so concerned for me.)

I was only smiling because I had my epidural by this time.

He coached me like a pro during the 2 hours of pushing I had. He kept reminding me of little things to do to help me push better, like relax your face, curve your back, pull your head forward. All while holding one of my legs back. It’s crazy how focused you need to be to push well. There are a lot of little things that you have to do all at once. Everyone likes to be coached differently but the reminders are what really helped me!

And this, my friends, is what normal people look like after a long labor and hours of pushing.

I had a really tough first couple of weeks after Gordon was born. Michael really supported me through it all. I hope to go into more detail of those few weeks in another post because I was not prepared for it! I’m not sure that you can be, but maybe what I write can help another new mom some day. I remember one specific moment when I was sitting on the couch nursing Gordon. Michael had just woken up from sleeping. I had let him sleep a straight 6 hours so that at least one of us could be nice and sane. He felt terrible though. He came in the living room and said, “I didn’t want to sleep that long. Why didn’t you wake me?” I just started crying. I cried a lot during that time. I was worried about everything with Gordon. Michael would pick up the phone and call the pediatrician with every concern I had. Even if it was petty. He even called the OB/GYN office and lactation consultant a few times asking them questions for me! It was so helpful because I really didn’t want to talk to anyone during those days. I felt like I was going to cry every time I opened my mouth. Everything was overwhelming.

Even now, 12 weeks later, he has proven to be a great daddy and husband. He takes daddy duty when he sees me starting to get frustrated. He talks to Gordon and plays with him. He changes his diapers! I know some people had their doubts about him on that part. He had never changed a diaper before.

I write this post not only to share but also as a reminder to myself of how great I have it. I don’t want to seem like I’m gloating. That is not my intention at all! I just want to remember these days for when I forget how good I have it. I know that day will come. We all have tough times in marriage. I can say now though that I love this man to pieces! Watching him become a father has made me love him even more. God had blessed me and Gordon so much by giving us Michael to lead our little family.

Go vote! Visionworks – San Antonio TX

Visionworks – San Antonio TX.

Go to the link and vote for this project designed by fellow San Antonio designers and installed by a local company!

Featuring Friends: Allyson Blogs

My friend Allyson, who was one of my college roommates for 3 years has a blog! You should take a look. She is one of the most talented people I know. She designs cards for kids at Hallmark for a living. How awesome is that?!

She also does all sorts of crafting and artwork on the side. Whatever she feels like doing really. Her drawing style is my most favorite. She made Gordon this animal blanket. I am determined for Gordon to love it!

Birth Story

Isn’t he cute?!

I know this is long over due! I’ve obviously taken a long break from this blog, but I hope to keep up with it more. There are plenty of post ideas I have swimming around in this new mommy brain. I just need to get it sorted out and typed out! Anyways, I thought it would be perfect to make my come back by sharing my birth story with you.

On Friday night, March 23, 2012, Michael and I walked into the labor and delivery department at North Central Baptist hospital. I was 10 days past my due date so my doctor thought it would be best to induce. We were told at the nurses station that it was a busy night and there were no beds. We were almost sent home to return in the morning but then they found out that I was past due and needed to be induced for medical reasons. That put me at the top of the list of people waiting for a room. Apparently it’s pretty common these days for people to induce when it’s not needed.

So, we sat in the waiting room with our bags for an hour before my nurse came out to get us. By the way, the night nurses at this hospital are awesome! It was about 10 pm by time I was settled in my room. The plan had been to take a pill to get things going. I was only 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and I had been that way for weeks! Gordon’s heart rate wasn’t where the nurse wanted it to be in order to give me the pill, so at around 2 am they decided to just start me on pitocin. That way they could just turn it off if his heart rate wasn’t where it needed to be.

So, I did my best to sleep through the night, but being huge and pregnant in an uncomfortable bed and tons of excited nerves running through my body, I got very little sleep! My doctor came in first thing in the morning to see how my night went. Not much progress. She tried breaking my water, but since my station was still at -3, she couldn’t reach it. It also didn’t help that I was squirming in the bed while she shoved her hand up my lady parts. I wasn’t mentally ready for that part!

Fast forward to 2:30 in the afternoon. Michaels mom, my mom, my dad and stepmom, brother and sister in law, and best friend Rebekah were all in my room hanging out. The pitocin was on its highest allowable setting and all I felt were the equivalent to period cramps. I was fine! …. Until my dr came in and tried to break my water for the third time. She was successful. Within the hour everyone except Michael was kicked out of the room. I was in active labor! Holy pain! I really can’t explain to you how painful it was. There is no way of explaining. You just have to experience it for yourself. I endured the pain for about 3 hours.

Michael and I had decided that I would try labor without an epidural. We had learned about the risks in depth during our birthing class and we really didn’t want to go that route. In a perfect world. We also wanted to have an open mind. I knew how tough labor can be when enduced with pitocin. We also knew that the last thing we wanted was for me to have a c section. After 3 hours and very little progress, it was looking pretty grim that I would be delivering vaginally. My contractions were coming back to back. My body had no time to rest. My station was still at -3. So even if I was dilating and effacing, it wouldn’t help unless my station would drop. Our little guy was way up in there and he wasn’t coming out! So, we decided that getting a epidural would be my last desperate attempt to deliver this baby vaginally, the way I wanted to. We told my doctor to get the anesthesiologist. That man could not have come quicker. That 30 minutes was the longest!

I feel very confident that getting the epidural was the best for my situation. I do not at all feel defeated. It was what I needed to move things along. Not even 30 minutes later my doctor checked me and my station was -1! This was when everyone knew that I could indeed deliver vaginally. My body was finally able to rest and my progress was moving wonderfully. I even got to take an hour long nap!

Around 12am, my awesome nurse Laurie wanted to see how well I could push. She had me do 3 pushes for 10 seconds each. She was impressed and figured that I could push the baby out the rest of the way. My station was 0. So, she got me all set up and we started pushing for real!

By the way, there was a lady in the room next door who was also having a very long and putsey labor. We were secretly competing against her to see who could deliver first. During my second set of pushing I farted on the nurse. I almost lost it and started laughing during the push but Michael (amazingly) kept me focused. Don’t worry though, I bursted out laughing right after that push! Anyone who knows me well, knows how funny I think farts are. Sorry if that grosses you out…… No I’m not. The nurse thought we were hilarious. She couldn’t believe how down to earth and funny we were considering I was pushing a baby out. Ain’t nothin but a thang! Just one perk to getting an epidural I suppose.

At one point the nurse apologized for being all up in my business with her face in my crotch while she was stretching me out. My response: “uh I just farted in your face. I think we are even”.

An hour later and I was still pushing. I was to the point where I was watching the clock, thinking ” ok, in 10 minutes this baby will be out!” NOT. At around 2 am, I heard the sound of a baby crying, but it wasn’t mine. It was the lady’s next door! I had lost the race. I said, ” oh hello no! This baby is coming out! Let’s do this!”

The epidural had worn just enough so that I could feel the pressure on the contractions in my back. The nurse didn’t need to tell me when to push anymore. I just started doing it. At 2:30 am on Sunday March 25th I pushed out my sweet baby boy. It was the most incredible feeling in the world. I felt like I had just been inducted into a whole other realm of womanhood (I’m not saying that not giving birth makes you less of a woman by any means!).

Everything happened so fast after that. It’s all kind of a blur. Gordon was born with his cord wrapped around his neck, but it wasn’t too bad. He had also sucked in a bunch of fluid upon his arrival. I didn’t get the experience of seeing my son for the first time on my chest, all covered in white stuff. Michael didn’t get to cut the cord. Instead, my doctor stood up, immediately started sucking the fluid out with a bulb. He wasn’t crying. She cut the cord and handed him to the baby nurse. She started cleaning him off as he started to cry, but it wasn’t a loud strong cry. He was struggling to breath. So they stuck tubes down his throat to get the fluid out. It seemed like forever before I was able to hold him. They let me hold him for maybe 5 minutes before they said he needed to go to the nursery to be monitored for a few hours. I didn’t even get to nurse him. I tried, but he was having a hard time breathing still.

I have to be honest. I am a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to experience the things that I had imagined happening in my mind. BUT, knowing that our son was finally here and alive trumps that dissappointment! Thank God for our little miracle. 4 hours later, I was reunited with my little boy and I immediately fell in love. I naturally felt like a mom. This is definitely who I am meant to me!

Stay tuned for a future entry about Michael during this experience. He was amazing and I love him so much more because of it!

Big Ole Belly!

Michael and I had the privilege of using our wedding photographer to shoot our maternity photos. Brian Hancock has become good friend of ours over the years so we were excited that he was able to be in town to take photos right when my belly is nice and huge.

Brian, a San Antonio native, now resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his new wife Consuelo. They are both photographers so now they can grow their businesses together as a team. We had the pleasure of meeting Consuelo during this photo session. We love that we have kept a great relationship with Brian through the years. I had my engagement, bridal, and wedding photos done by him and I absolutely love the way he captured the special moments. We can’t wait to have him continue to capture special moments in our lives as our little family grows.

Please take a look at Brian and Consuelo’s website and blog. They also shoot in Albuquerque and throughout the rest of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, & Texas.

Using ‘Themes’ in a room

I’ve been helping some friends choose some paint colors for their newly purchased home recently. Among helping them with paint colors, they asked me to help them out with ideas for their Master bedroom. They said that they wanted to go with an African theme.

To be honest, at first I was a little put off. I usually try to stay away from ‘themes’ for rooms. Mainly because it can get too kitschy if you’re not careful. The more I thought about it, the more excited I got though. Africa has such great colors, textures, and patterns to pull inspiration from. I got so excited, that I put together an inspiration board for them to have while shopping for decor. I would’ve loved to go shopping with them, but I’m about to pop a baby out of me. So, there’s not much energy in me these days!Plus I get out of breath easily while I waddle around.

Here is the inspiration board:

Now, along with this board, I’d like to give some suggestions. My advice would be to stay away from the obvious when dealing with a ‘theme’ for a room. An obvious for Africa is: elephants, zebra skin, giraffe skin, safari, etc. Getting accessory items for decoration in those things are fine (i.e., maybe a chic giraffe skin inspired vase, etc). But try to stay away from that in the bedding, area rug, etc. Africa has great colors and fun textiles that would be great inspiration. I love how the culture there mixes and matches patterns and textures.  Do something bold for the paint color, but try and stay with a calm color since the Master bedroom should be the place where you unwind. A red wall, for instance, might be too loud for a room you are supposed to unwind in. A dark gray is calming but definitely makes a bold statement (besides, I’m a sucker for gray!). I put some Sherwin Williams colors on the inspiration board as suggestions.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did putting it together! If you would like help in getting ideas together for a space of yours, feel free to contact me!

An ‘all the time’ kind of relationship

I have to be honest. I haven’t really had God at the forefront of my life lately. My relationship with Him is a little stagnant. Thank goodness I can rest in knowing that He will never leave me even when I feel like I have left Him. 

We are going through a series on Jonah at church right now. One of Pastor Drew’s main points he made today is that God’s grace is bigger than our boundaries. Sometimes I have to remind myself that there is nothing too big or too small for God to give his grace to. It only takes a prayer and acknowledgement of my  circumstances to receive His grace. Sounds easy right? Then why do I struggle with it?

Right now, I want to focus on restoring my relationship with God in a way that He is with me in my thoughts all day, everyday. An all the time kind of relationship. Not just when I’m in need of prayer. I want to glorify Him by allowing Him to radiate through me to others. It’s time to throw aside this “it’s all about me and what I need from God” attitude and join Him in what He is doing around me. Join His will. Because being about Him is what I need anyways. Constantly seeking him in prayer and his word is the ultimate way to know Him more intimately. I’ve known this, but have been slacking! 

I need to live out my faith. Do it, not say it. I’m becoming the Christian I used to despise as a nonbeliever. Someone who claims to be a Christian, but then doesn’t act as one. Ugh! So gross. This needs to stop.

Please join me in doing so! My heart misses Him. 

 

 

Hello world!

Welcome to my first blog post! I intend to use this as a way to document my life as momma, wife, designer, and most importantly how I seem to navigate this life through my relationship with Jesus Christ.

I will tell you first and foremost that I have been made alive again through my lord and savior Jesus Christ. Everything else about me radiates off of that. Now, this doesn’t make me a perfect person. I’m far from that actually! There will be a post some day sharing how I became a believer and was saved because He died for me.

As I write this post, we are waiting for the arrival our baby boy who was due on March 14, 2012. It is March 17. He’s nice and cozy in there! Although we know he will make his appearance sometime soon, we feel like he’s never going to come out! I’m anxious to meet this little dude whom, I’ve heard from many people, will change my life forever. Bring it on!

My husband Michael and I are pretty excited to start this new adventure in parenting. It’s gonna be crazy! Someday I’ll write a post about how our ‘love story’ all while doing my best to make you all vomit swoon from how much we love each other. I don’t sugar coat and what I say is true. In fact I’m a terrible liar. In fact, it is my goal to be as transparent as possible as I share with you about my life.

I’m an Interior Designer. Not a licensed one though. I point that out because those who are, deserve to say they are. It is a privilege to be licensed and that is something that I’m currently pursuing to do. I’m so close I can taste it!

Anyways, I’m excited to share this all with you. I have found tons of encouragement through reading other blogs and I hope to bring that to you as well.

Peace out!