this morning

This morning was spent in my favorite room of the house, sitting and watching and snapping a few pics.

It was a good morning.

xo

nessa dee

One Month

My little August. 

My sweet surprise.

I found out I was pregnant with you the day after my birthday. I was shocked. It was so unexpected. Yet as soon as I knew you existed, the little gummy bear growing inside me, how I wanted you. How I loved you. How I longed to see your beautiful face. 

You're the best birthday gift I ever received.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I have three kids, that you're here, that you're mine.I find myself just sitting and staring at you in amazement. I'm trying to soak every bit of your sweetness up. I can't resist kissing your chubby neck, or snuggling you while you nap. 

You continue to surprise us everyday.

At your two week check-up, you rolled over from your tummy to your back, and you've done so many times since. 

At two and a half weeks, you smiled at me. I didn't even mark the day because I thought for sure you couldn't have legitimately done so that early. But you did it again the next day and the next, and in front of witnesses. 

You smiled at your daddy for the first time today. 

You're a big boy! You gained two pounds in the first two weeks, and you're around 12 pounds now according to my scale. You're quickly outgrowing all of your 3 month clothes. Your daddy says you just skipped right over being a newborn.

You have quite a few nicknames already from family and friends. Augie, Gus, The Hux, Huck, and Captain Thunderpants to name a few. Around here, though, you're Mr. August.

You know your brother and sister's voices. You always try to find them when you hear them talking. When your daddy speaks, you're mesmerized. You become so still and just follow his voice around the room.

And speaking of talking, you're trying so hard to do so. It's no surprise in this family. You make the cutest sounds amidst a lot of grunting and snorting, which is cute, too.

Oh, August. How you've captured my heart. My beautiful baby boy. 

I love you so.

xo 

mom 

Mr. Mustache

My brother had the opportunity to work at the London Olympics this year, and not wanting to miss the chance of having free room and board, my mom hopped on a plane to join him. August was a week old when she left, and I had been warning her that he would probably be talking and have facial hair by the time she got back.

Well, I don't want to say I told you so, Mom, but I told you so.

Can't wait until you get back.

xo

nessa dee

Oh, Elusive Sleep

yesterday i felt like superwoman. i didn't need a nap, i cleaned, i did some laundry, i answered emails, i cooked supper all while my little bean slept so soundly. i felt i had a hold on this newborn thing, after all, i've done this twice before.

what a difference a day can make.

today i went to target. i spent the majority of the time in the dressing room feeding august. i'll spare you the details, but i left in a hurry hoping no one would notice the big stain on my pants. i got home exhausted while my little bean decided to stay awake for 3 hours. when he finally did go to sleep, i did too, and slept the deepest sleep i'd had since before he was born....only to be awaken 15 minutes later by my sweet angel. i sit here exhausted, typing with one hand, having not taken a shower, milk on shirt, crumbs on my pants, and my house a mess.

i am not superwoman.

i am a mom of a newborn...

and it's oh...

so...

worth it.

xo

nessa dee

Lately...

Right now we are so busy, so tired, so curious, so helpful, so tired, and so very much in love.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Baby!

He's finally here!

August Huxley made his debut on Sunday, July 29th.

He weighed 8 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long.

Dad, Mom, Big Sis and Big Bro are quite smitten.

xo

nessa dee

My Silhouette

Our Crafty Friday project has turned into an extremely elaborate affair, thanks to my kids, and since I'm off to a doc appointment [hopefully my last], I'm not going to be able to get the craft posted before this evening. So, in order to amuse you, I thought I'd post a picture of my 40 weeks pregnant silhouette.

Enjoy!

xo 

nessa dee

Playing Favorites

We try not to play favorites around here, but sometimes, just sometimes, it happens. Ever since we painted the baby's room and added all of the furniture, it has been the preferred spot for my kids. When they were supposed to be doing schoolwork at their desks they'd disappear. I'd find them, books strewn everywhere, in the baby's room working on the floor. They drag their beanbags into the space and hang out there all day. they drag their toys in there and build massive block cities in the one room I thought I could keep clean at least until the baby arrived. And it's not just the kids who are playing favorites. If we can't find the dog, she's usually under the crib, or making herself comfortable on one of the cushy surfaces in the room. If she could figure out how to get in the crib, I'm sure we'd find her there, too.

I, too, often find myself sitting in the chair, just staring at every little detail in the room. It makes me happy.

Maybe it's how bright and cheery the space is, maybe it's the decor that draws us all to the room, or maybe it's just the anticipation of the sweet little life who will soon occupy the room, but I think it's going to be our favorite space for quite sometime. 

xo

nessa dee

Baby Boy's Room: The Finishing Touches

Today's Crafty Friday is going to be postponed until tomorrow or Sunday because of my schedule, but don't fret. [you probably weren't] Instead, I have some exciting news. I finally finished the baby's room! All of those last little details are in place, and they are no longer in the back of my mind, nagging me to get them done. Okay, enough talk...let's look at pictures!

I ended up going with the larger polka dots for the robot picture mats thanks to your suggestions, and the fact that they were a much brighter orange. We flanked my robot painting with them, and I love how it all turned out.

I moved the pictures that were hanging next to the robot over by the closet, and there's still plenty of extra wall space around the room to hang pictures of this little boy once he gets here.

My mother-in-law bought the mobile for the baby from Pottery Barn Kids, and the colors are perfect. We hung it over what I call the reading nook.

I also added the little magazine rack from Marshalls which houses some of our favorite books.

And did you see them? Here, take a closer look...

Don't look too closely, or you'll see my bad sewing job, but they're finished! It took my mother-in-law coming into town and offering to sew the trim for me to finally get the gumption to finish them. You see, I'm pretty stubborn, and I don't want someone else to do something for me that I'm capable of doing myself. If I'm ever dragging my feet on a project, please threaten to do it for me.

Now that those last few projects are done, the room is almost perfect. I just need a sweet baby to finish it off.

xo

nessa dee

Just in case you're wondering, here's a resource list:

* Paint color: Behr's 'Castle Path' from Home Depot

* Crib: Bassett Baby via Craigslist

* Crib skirt: Dwell Studio from Target [out of stock]

* Crib sheets: Skip Hop's Alphabet Zoo

* Chest of drawers: Ikea

* Curtains: Ikea

* Ribbon trim and pillow material: Hobby Lobby

* Chair: Craigslist

* Mobile: Pottery Barn Kids

* Rug and book rack: Marshalls

* Dino pull toy: garage sale

* Big Boy the dog: Audrie's from when she was a baby

* Alphabet Wall Art: from various places including Hobby Lobby, thrift stores, and handmade. Each was     

   painted or covered with scrapbook paper, buttons, book pages, or map pages.

Big Dot, Little Dot

I'm trying to decide which scrapbook paper to choose for the mats surrounding my kids' robot pictures they made for the baby's room. I had my assistant [daughter] help me spray paint the frames a lovely aqua color, and I chose two different orange polka dot papers for the mats.

This is the mini dot paper...

And this is the larger polka dot paper...

[Hello, Baby!]

I'm leaning towards the bigger dots because the paper's a bit brighter, but I'm not sure. 

Maybe I'll just use both and forgo any decision making, but I guess that would be a decision in itself.

xo

nessa dee

Big Boy

I went in for a sonogram on Friday because I'm still measuring pretty large.I look like I'm hiding a basketball under my shirt. Everywhere I go people tell me I must be due any day now. I get sympathetic smiles from other moms, and I even freaked out a couple of small children. The look on their faces was one of shear terror. It was priceless.  If you don't believe me, here's proof, and keep in mind this was taken a couple of weeks ago, and I'm not due until July 31:

If you're lucky, I might post a belly pic of what I look tomorrow, hopefully without the crazy eyes.

The sonogram revealed a few things
.
The first is that my baby's measuring in the 98th percentile. He's estimated to be 7 lbs. already, and if my due date's not off [which I think it is], I'm going to end up with a newborn the size of a 3 month old. Eek!
Here's a pic of his little foot that keeps kicking my right side and hipbone:

The second is that this baby is really low, which judging by the pain when I walk, I could have told you that much. His head's so low and his position is such that the technician couldn't get his whole face in the 3-D pictures. All we have are pics of his nose and mouth:

I think if I attempted to do a high kick, he might just fall out.

The final thing, and the one that amused the technician quite a bit is that this baby loves to stick out his tongue. The whole time we were in there, Baby Boy kept opening his mouth, puckering up his lips, and sticking that tongue out at us.

After all was said and done, the technician told me that I better feed this boy, because he looks like he's ready to eat. Audrie decided his name should be Lipson, or Lipton because of his preoccupation with his lips, and at this point we might just have to since we can't decide on any other names. I'm hoping I'll have a dream which will tell me what to name this kid, but as my dreams have revolved around fears like my pediatrician not taking our insurance, or trying to climb a narrow, dangerous staircase while holding a newborn and groceries, I doubt any name revelations will come to me.

Any suggestions? The only stipulation [from my kids] is that this baby has to have an 'x' in his middle name like Audrie and Finn.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

Today...

:: I'm enjoying my Mother's Day flowers from my dad. Tulips are my favorite!

I'm also enjoying my new camera from Jonathan, although, there's something wrong with auto focus, but I'm sure it's just me. I'm using the manual mode until I can take the class on how to use this fancy thing. Me + technology = disaster.

:: We are raising our second caterpillar. This is Grover. He was found the day Elmo came out of his cocoon. [I'll post about that tomorrow]

:: I've got newly painted cabinets and shiny hardware to match!

:: I started this last night. My neck and shoulders aren't happy with me this morning.

Jonathan says it looks like the Space Invaders video game, and I have to agree, which means that we love it!

:: I finished the alphabet. Now to figure out a way to hang everything without turning the wall into Swiss cheese.

:: I also finished the robot. I managed to hang this one all by myself.

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee