Update! ... and our beautiful chandelier!

I can't believe that it's been 9 months since I've updated this blog!! Time flies by when you are having fun with your baby. In 8 days our baby boy will be 1! I still can't believe it. His birthday party will be August 2nd, so I'll post pictures of the cute decorations and favors I've made after that! I don't want to give it away yet!

Here is our sweet boy now.

Awwww.... I can't get enough of that sweet face. Love, love, love...

Photo by Melissa Curry Photography

Because of little A, we haven't done too much more to the house. The one room that we have updated is our Giants room. We never used it before because it was so awful and now it's the room we're in the most!  I will post pictures tomorrow, I promise. 

** We also painted our bedroom. I don't know how I forgot about that!! We have a few more things to do to the room before it's done. Ill post a progress picture when my hubby picks up his clothes. *cough cough lucian.* Should be any day now...**

The only rooms we have left to update are the entry, guest bedroom, and bathroom upstairs. I have so many ideas for those rooms! I can't wait to get started! Check out my pinterest for those ideas. 

One other little project we have recently done is putting a chandelier in our entry. Just look at that beauty.....

Lucian found this chandelier on a local for sale group on facebook. It was broken and ugly but he saw potential right away. I can't say I did. The woman was giving it away for FREE, so I had my mom pick it up for us since she was closest. I wish we had a "before" picture but somehow that was lost in the past few months. :(

It sat on the floor in our entry foyer for 3 months! My dad said he'd try to mess around with it to see what he can do. He took off all the broken pieces, reassembled it, and rewired it. We hung it up the other day and little A loves it!! He "oooh's" and "ahhhh's" over it every time the light is turned on. I have to admit I'm pretty fascinated with it too. 

My dad can do anything!  I am so appreciative of his skills and the time he takes to do things for us! Thank you dad!

Isn't she just gorgeous??

Until tomorrow.... 

Sarah

Update: Baby A

Here's the first blog post about Baby Austin!

Baby A was born July 31, 2013 at 8:18 am via C-Section. He was 8 pounds, 8 ounces and 20.5" long. It was a planned section, but it doesn't make the experience of going to the hospital to have a baby any less nerve-racking. Everything went great and wouldn't change it for anything. I think I am ok with not ever feeling a contraction. Sorry to those that had a lot of them. I'm sure you are envious of me, but I am envious of you!

Well, in the past 3 months he has more than doubled his weight!! This boy likes to eat and isn't afraid to show it. He has brightened our world and, as of now, has completed our family. He is one amazing boy.

6 days old - love the squishy face! 

Photo by Laura Fiore Photography

2.5 months old (taken by me)

He hasn't slept in his gorgeous room yet (See http://neelysunderconstruction.blogspot.com/2013/07/before-and-after-austins-room.html) but he will someday! ;)

The past 3 months have been a learning experience and I'm sure we are in for a lot more!

The first major hump was breastfeeding. It sucked for the first 10 (TEN!!) weeks. My doctor was absolutely no help. I blame it on him being a man and never experiencing it before... maybe?? That's a long time to be in pain when I didn't need to be. I learned that I should have asked for help from La Leche League a lot sooner. I don't know why I waited so long. It turns out that I had thrush. Austin didn't. Once I started to treat the thrush with yeast cream and taking acidophilus tablets that I picked up from Trader Joes, I was pain free within 4 days!!

Something else I learned about myself is that I'm all about nursing Austin anytime, any where. I feel empowered to do so too. There are so many stories of people receiving negative feedback from people when they nurse in public, but I haven't gotten that yet. I don't know why nursing has become so negative for some people. It's natural and it needs to be normalized again. I think my friends and family have realized that I don't care who is in the room,  I will breastfeed if Austin wants to eat. 

I have also started using cloth diapers. I am still using about 2-3 disposable diapers a day (usually at night). As soon as I figure out a nighttime leak free system, I will cloth diaper at night too. Washing has not been inconvenient, but I do need more diapers so that I can wash every other day. As of right now, I'm washing daily. Since cloth diapers are working out, it's only natural that we use cloth wipes too. I am going to make those today along with a cleaning solution.  I will post my cloth diaper information as soon as I find what works for me.

Lastly, I have learned that sleep is overrated. I love spending time with my son. I don't care if it's at 2 pm or 2 am. His early morning feedings won't last forever so I will make the most out of them.

Next post will be about my experience with cloth diapers! Hopefully the post after that will be our bedroom update! 

I will leave you with a photo of my beautiful family. 

                                     

                                              Photo by Heather Jean Photography

Sarah