One Month

Baby girl turned 1 month last week.  I really can't believe it's been a month.  I've probably spent most of this month in my pajamas or some variation of black yoga pants ensemble.  But each day is better than the last, and we are starting to get into our new normal routine.

We are happy to report that Hannah's weight is gaining.  She was 7lbs 1oz at one month and 19" long!  She is getting stronger and more alert with each day.  Hannah can challenge us to some serious staring contests and many times win.

She has taken bottles with expressed milk without a problem and can switch back to nursing the next feeding.  This makes me so happy because it allows Weston and other folks to feed and bond with her, and it has given me a sense of freedom to be out of the house with her for more than a quick trip somewhere.

 

She loves to be held and cuddled.  We are still working on her sleeping routine.  At one month, she sleeps 2.5 hours at the longest, but usually it is 1.5-2 hour stretches.

 

She loves her baths now.  From day one, she's loved getting her hair washed.  We were anticipating a full lung wail the first time we stuck her hair under the stream of water, but she was so calm and seemed to enjoy it.

 

Happy 1 month baby girl!

First Father's Day

Hannah is very blessed to have such a wonderful daddy.

He is such a great provider.  Hard-working and driven with very few complaints on the extremely long hours he puts in a day.  And then he comes home and scoops her up because he's missed her during the day, and you would never guess the stressful days he puts in when you see him with her.

Yep, she's a pretty lucky girl.  I hope they have a relationship like I do with my Dad.  I loved being a daddy's girl, and his love for me and our family showed me what to look for in my husband and the father of my own children.  I was so happy to have him come for a visit this weekend and celebrate.

Yep it was a pretty good Father's Day.

 

Not to mention Hannah has her Pops (Weston's dad) who is quite smitten with her as well.  I am forever grateful to have a father-in-law who raised a man through his example who is an incredible husband and father.

 

 Happy Father's Day, indeed.

 

A Little Meet and Greet

Introducing Miss Hannah Hart Hobgood to the world.

She came into this world at 1:23 AM on May 14, 2013 weighing 6lb 8oz and 18 inches long. 

My water broke as I got out of bed the morning before I had her.  It took me a second to even realize what was happening with her coming 2.5 weeks early.  Weston happened to be home.  He saved up his two vacation weeks for around Hannah's due date.  One vacation week is this week.  And he took one early just in case she decided to arrive early.  My water broke Monday at 8am on his first vacation week.  What a punctual little girl I have.  She must get it from her father.  So we scrambled to get the last items packed in our hospital bag and hopped in the shower before we headed to the hospital.

My labor could be summed up as slow and steady.  I reacted very easily to low doses of the pitocin to get my contractions going.  Hannah's heart rate dropped a couple times during the whole process despite being on the lowest dosage of pitocin.  A c-section was mentioned if she couldn't tolerate the labor, but they added more fluid to her amniotic fluid which made her much more comfortable and cooperative to deliver vaginally.  I had to be on oxygen the entire day which made me thankful I packed my chapstick.

The delivery went so smooth, and after 45 minutes of pushing, she arrived.  She was absolutely beautiful the moment we laid eyes on her.  She has her daddy's heart and mine.

 

There was no sleep on the night she was born.  I got wheeled up to the postpartum room around 3am.  And Hannah had visitors that waited all evening and night long to meet her.  My parents are above getting their late night (or should I say early morning?) cuddles.

 We also had Weston's parents and brother who patiently waited for her arrival as well.

We are in the steadfast process of pumping and nursing around the clock to get her weight up.  She lost more than 10% of her birthweight at the hospital which left her only at 5lb and 14oz when we took her home.  She's had two pediatrician check ups to monitor the weight gain.  This morning at one day shy of 3 weeks, she's only 6lbs which was really discouraging considering how well I thought we were nursing and producing dirty diapers.

We'll go back later this week for another weigh in to see if the new feeding schedule and introduction of pumped breastmilk in bottles will kick start the growth we need.  Let's hope so!  Despite her full closet, only a few pieces of clothing actually fit her and not swallow her whole.  My stockpile of diapers don't fit her.  Mothers told me not to stockpile on newborn diapers as they are barely in them before they outgrow to the bigger size.  Well the newborns are still huge on her.  She wore preemie size diapers in the hospital!

 

Well I must go feed our baby girl.  We're just so thankful and happy to share our miracle with everyone.  We're so blessed to have her, and I feel as though I need to pinch myself to make sure this is all real.  What a wonderful life.

Nursery Reveal

Well we are closing in on 37 weeks, and I can't wait to have Hannah here and welcome her into her nursery.  I imagine we'll be spending many hours together nursing on the glider and changing diapers on her dresser.  I'm so happy and grateful to have such a beautiful space come together to spend those hours with my baby girl.

 

And a little detail of the collage over the dresser.

 

And the heart button art made by my mom.

And her Jenny Lind crib given as a gift from my in-laws.  I painted the H with the same pink paint from her dresser.  Both the H and the open frame are from Hobby Lobby.

 

I love, love, love her chandelier that I have had my eye on from Home Depot online.  The price, look, and size were perfect for her room!

 

The glider/swivel chair was an extremely generous gift from my parents.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  The rocker has become their traditional gift to give to each of their children's family when expecting their first baby.  This chair is so comfortable.  We love it, and in case you're wondering, yes, we had the chair scotchgarded and comes with a warranty on pretty much any type of stain.  The ottoman pouf I purchased off of etsy, and I love the quality and how perfectly the seams match up.

The cute ruffle pillow was sewn by my mom.

The shabby, chic shelf was another find off etsy.  I think the dress on the right is what we plan on bringing her home in from the hospital.  It was the dress that my dad picked out for me to wear home in after I was born.  The veil in the middle was from my First Communion, and my flower girl wore in our wedding.  The dress on the left was just a cute one I got from Gap. :)  Don't worry about the vintage girls in the pink frame.  They creep out Weston.  I just like the frame, and I plan on putting a picture of our cutie in there one day.

And yes, I got her monogrammed wooden hangers off etsy.  They were cheaper than ordering a pack of 5 plain wooden baby hangers, and I think they're so sweet.  The ball mason jar wins the prize for oldest item in her room.  This mason jar was Hannah's great, great Grandma Hart's jar dated in 1908.  It's special because her middle name is Hart and Ball glass was made in our hometown of Muncie, IN.

Where We Got It

Crib: Amazon-White Jenny Lind Crib
Bedding: Carousel Designs-sheets, Quilt-handmade, Skirt-handmade
Dresser: Craigslist (refinished)
Faux Sheepskin Rug: Home Decorators Collection
Glider: Local Baby Store, Brand: "Best Chairs", Style: "Lucy"
Ottoman: Etsy, Zeldabelle Shop
Curtains: handmade, fabric from Carousel Designs
Shelf: Etsy, Cottage Home Decor
Chandelier: Home Depot, Hampton Bay "Kristin Chandelier"
Bookcase: Target, Carson Bookcase in White
Side Table: World Market
Baskets: Wal Mart
Lamp: Base-Target, Shade-handmade

Well that's her room!  I hope she loves being in it as much as I do!

Birmingham Baby Shower

Last weekend our friends here in Birmingham threw us an awesome couples baby shower.

We had a fun group in attendance of our parents, neighbor friends, and our friends from UAB.  From the start of residency, we've had this awesome group, and while it's rare that we all can get together at once with the husband's crazy work schedule (atleast one is on call pretty much any given day), we always have the best time.  It's nice to have this family of friends who moved to this new city at the same time with home being far away.  Most are from Texas and Oklahoma which is way further away from home than we are.  But they have been there to encourage and support us when we struggled to get pregnant.  Sometimes hanging out with them on a patio laughing and talking was just what I needed to lift me up.

So these women were so sweet to put together a shower to celebrate our little miracle.  You could feel the love in that room for our Hannah.  And it really is a blessing to have friends that care for us so much that already love our daughter before she's even here!!

They had the book, The Poky Little Puppy, for all our guests to sign with wishes for Hannah.

Sarah made this beautiful diaper cake!  I love the giant pink ribbons, and the ducky is way too cute.

Kendall made these delicious strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing.  She is a pastry chef here in Birmy at Urban Standard, and she always brings the best baked desserts to parties!  And I love the little H flags.

We received so many generous gifts from our friends and parents!  Thank y'all so much!!

My mom worked so hard to make this gorgeous baby quilt for Hannah.  I was so surprised.  I had no idea she had been working on it.  I need to get a better full picture of it to post, but it is too cute.

Overall it was a beautiful weekend with both sets of Hannah's grandparents visiting.  The azaleas were in full bloom.  We grilled out and played cornhole on Saturday.  I got a pedicure as a gift from my sweet mother in law, and Weston and our dads hung the chandelier to complete Hannah's nursery.  It was just a wonderful weekend!

Shabby Chic Nursery Curtains

Baby girl's room is practically finished, and I can't wait to do a post on the entire room.  But I think a few of the items still deserve their own post and shining moment.  The next item up is her shabby chic curtains!  I ordered extra fabric for the curtains when I ordered the floral fitted sheets for her crib.

 
I love how soft and sweet they look.  They help make her room feel very girly next to her gray walls without overpowering a room with a ton of pink.  Well, I guess to some this may still be a lot of pink, but for me, it's a restrained amount.  With my mom's help, we sewed two flat panel curtains and lined it with a white fabric to help darken the room for nap time.  I love sewing flat panel curtains and using clip rings.  It makes it really easy, and I love the simple look.

 

My mom suggested adding ribbon tabs rather than using the clips, but I thought of a way to combine the look of both.  The pink ribbon bows are the shabby, and the shiny curtain rings are the chic.  And I spent forever finding the perfect curtain rod which ended up coming from Home Depot.

So I found the curtain rings marked 80% off at Bed, Bath, and Beyond because it came in the old packaging that had been discontinued.  I saw the exact same rings marked full price in the new packaging one rack over.  I needed two packs of rings which ended up costing me $4 rather than $20!  I then tied the bows before attaching them to the clips and heat sealed the edges by running them across my lighter.  I just used a dab of hot glue to attach them to the clips, and I was finished!

Shabby chic curtains complete!

Cover Girl

My latest home design "go to" is putting a cover on it.  Lamp shades?  Cover.  Back of bookcase? Cover.  Bottom of dresser drawers? Cover.  It is such a fun way to make something your own.  Now I shared how I lined Hannah's drawers with wrapping paper back here.  But I haven't shared with you my lamp shades and bookcase projects.

Our guest bedroom redo really deserves it's own post once it's finished.  So I'll just share the lamp for now.  I ordered fabric to cover a plain white drum shade with fabric.  The lamp base is from Target, and the filler I got at Pier 1 imports.

Covering this lamp shade turned a bit tricky because it wasn't a true drum shade.  The top diameter of the shade was slightly smaller than the bottom.  And with the fabric I chose, I needed the pattern at the bottom to stay consistent.  So I had to sinch up the fabric at the top of the shade just slightly.

I used a thin line of hot glue along the top and bottom of the shade.  Then trimmed excess fabric over the shade, but I left a centimeter over to wrap around the inside of shade to give it a finished look.

My other shade I recently covered was in Hannah's nursery to have next to my glider.  The lamp was another Target find.  And it was much easier to cover because I used ribbon with little rosettes I found out Hobby Lobby.

 Because the ribbon was much lighter and more sheer than the heavy home decor fabric, I used fabric glue rather than the hot glue I used for the guest bedroom shade.

I think it's so sweet, and the lamp looks perfect with her shabby chic nursery.

My last cover job was an idea I got from a design book written by some of my favorite bloggers from Young House Love.  I wanted to dress up a simple white bookcase that I got from Target.  The idea is to cover the back of the bookcase with fabric, wallpaper, wrapping paper, or whatever you like.  I found wrapping paper that I thought would go, and I wrapped my cardboard cut to size of the back of the shelves.  It fit so snug in there that you don't even need to attach it to bookcase.  And if I decide to change it, it's inexpensive and easy to remove!

I haven't had the chance to decorate the top of the shelf or add to her book collection yet.  So it looks very unfinished at this point.  But I love the extra storage it will give her, and I love adding more patterns to the room.