Ava month two!

Weight

I'm not sure what her weight is since she hasn't had her two month appointment yet, but she's definitely putting on the pounds. This baby loves to nurse! She's heavier and has outgrown a lot of her newborn clothes so I'm really happy she's thriving.

 Health

So far so good! She had a bit of baby acne around month one but it's pretty much cleared up. I'm also thankful that she didn't get the nasty cold that cycled through everyone in the house. She did have some congestion for a few days while I was trying to get over my cold, but it never progressed more than that.

 

Sleep

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this baby rocks at the night time sleeping! She's the easiest baby so far in terms of sleeping. She used to go to sleep no earlier than 11pm, but now I can put her down for the night around 8:30 pm. Sometimes she'll take up until 9:30 or 10 pm, but once she's down, she normally only wakes up once. Sometimes twice, but when she does wake up, she'll nurse for about 10 minutes and then go right back to sleep. None of this needing to be rocked for like 30-40 minutes like the other girls.

Clothes

Some newborn, but mainly 0-3 months and a few 3 months outfits.

 

Diet

Milk, milk, and more milk. I'm really thankful I get to stay home and can exclusively breastfeed her whenever she wants. I hate dealing with bottles. Nursing out in public has also been going really well. My clothes are obviously limited since I have to be in nursing friendly clothes, but that's part of it.  

 

Crying

Mastered! She has been wanting to be held a lot more these past few weeks and doesn't tolerate her car seat as well anymore. She used to go right to sleep when I'd put her in the car, but she's not liking car rides that much these days.

  

Milestones

Ava is little miss sociable. She smiles a ton and is gaining more and more neck strength. She's such a joy and even on the hard days when I'm so tired and the kids are driving me crazy, I just look at her and thank God for this little tiny angel.

The many faces of Ava

Oh hello blog. It's been about a week since I've last updated, but I just can't get enough of this little squish! This poor blog always gets put on the back burner when things get hectic. I feel like I've been a one trick pony on subjects lately and just talking about the kids, but I take a lot of pictures of them and they are the fastest and easiest subjects to write about. They are my whole life so yes obviously they would take up the majority of my blog. I'd love to share more DIY projects, recipes and tutorials but there just isn't much time these days with a newborn. I'll just have to wait a little bit longer to get back to that. These girls are just growing so fast. Mariam turned 3 last week (future post), Serena is turning 13 this week and Ava will be 2 months as well!

6 week sweetness

I'm not sure if it goes faster with each kid or what, but it's like I blinked and Ava is 6 weeks old. 6 weeks old! Good grief. I know, I know, I'm like a broken record with this saying, but I just can't believe how fast it's going this time. Faster than the other's. I guess it's because she's been pretty easy and I've been in newborn heaven. Come to think of it. It didn't go that fast with Mariam. She was colicky and tough for the longest and it felt like she was a baby forever. Pretty sure with her I was in a hurry for her to go through the tough phases quick. 

Ava is chunking up quite nicely. I feed her on demand and she likes to nurse a lot. She still sleeps a ton and goes through her nightly routine of off and on crying between 9 and 11 pm. She refuses to go to sleep before 11:30 pm. That's ok though. Just gives me more time to snuggle her uninterrupted.

Baby! Party of 6

Oh hi. Just realized it's been 2 weeks since I've updated. As you can imagine, we've been busy adjusting to life with a new baby again. H was home for two weeks and then my mom came. She just left back to Texas yesterday, so today is actually the second day I'm home by myself with the three during the day. Last week on Monday H went back to work which made it my first day with no help and it went by so smoothly. I was able to pick up Layla from school with no problems and we even went to Target afterwards. Two toddlers and a baby at Target! And we survived! My husband said I was brave. That day I was also able to pick up the house and make dinner. Come Tuesday the day that my mom came Ava flipped a switch. 

She has been having these colic spells every night between the hours of 9 or 10 pm to about midnight or 1 am. She also gets some fussy periods during the day, but still she's much easier than my last two were as newborns. She has her good days and her bad days. Some days she spends most of her time happy and sleeping and some days she has stomach issues and needs a lot of holding. She's exclusively breastfed and it looks like some foods could be the culprit so I've modified my diet to cut out diary and eggs. I'm also trying to avoid gassy foods but I think I messed up yesterday. I had pancakes for breakfast which included some eggs and milk and for dinner I had tacos with a side of beans. We all suffered last night and this morning she was still fussy. She had a doctors appointment last Friday and currently weighs 7 lbs 8 oz. She also turned 3 weeks this past Saturday. I'm in denial that she will be a month once this week ends. It's already going by too fast!

XO

Ava 1 week!

Summer poppy swaddle: {Little Unicorn}

Red headband & lace onesie: Made by me

Our little Boca baby is one week old! Today is actually her due date and it's already going by too fast. NNNOoooooo! She has been amazing so far. Pretty much just eats, sleeps, and poops. She's been so much easier than my last two. Ava has been doing wonderfully at nursing however her first latch is really strong and I'm cringing every time I put her on the breast. Luckily it's only at first. My shoulders and muscle knots already ache from nursing around the clock, but I will get stronger. Her birth weight was 6 lbs 6 oz, 6lbs 1 oz when we left the hospital and she's now 6 lbs 9 oz so the weight is coming on. 

The other girls had colds when I went into labor and a few days later H and I both got what they had, so we've all been sick in the house. We've been watching Ava like a hawk for any signs of a cold but she has been healthy with no signs of a cold. Thank God! We're praying she doesn't catch it. 

Ava's Birth Story

So I believe the last time I posted while I was pregnant, I mentioned that at 38 weeks and 3 days I was barely dilated at all. I thought for sure that I would go to my due date like I did with baby #3 or that I would go past due. The next day (Friday) after my OB appointment I decided to take the girls to the library last minute. I knew the weekend was upon us so I wanted to check out some books and a movie for them. The library nearby has a nature trail and since the day was so nice, afterwards I thought it would be nice to take a little walk. I hardly exercised at all this pregnancy but I had been on my feet most of the day with the girls and I really don't think I've worked harder in my life in regards to my family and business. So we took our little stroll and then headed home. The rest of the night was uneventful, but I did have trouble sleeping. From 5 am on, I kept having to use the restroom. In retrospect I see it was because the baby must have dropped further and was putting more pressure on my bladder.

I got up for the day around 8 am and noticed that I was having a lot of braxton hicks contractions. Around 8:30 am H left to go bike riding and I started timing them. I was getting them every 2-5 minutes but they were painless. Something was definitely up. I texted my mom around 9:30 to tell her what I was feeling and joked that I hoped this wasn't false labor. By 10:30 they started to calm down but I was still getting them here and there. Some I had to breathe through but that was nothing new for me. I've had that feeling for weeks with some of them.

We went about our business and went to go see a house with a friend of ours and his toddler, and then went to the park. There weren't happening too much at the park so I was definitely thinking the baby was not going to come on that day. After the park we all went to go have pizza and I noticed the contractions were getting stronger. We ate, stopped at the grocery store while I waited in the car and by then it was 3:00 pm. I told DH that we should get home already. By the time we got home contractions were coming closer and stronger. I was still able to finish packing my bag, take a shower and blow dry my hair, but I would stop and breathe through my contractions. Once I finished everything they were still coming but not yet 5 minutes apart. I waited it out on the couch and called my OB. She told me to wait till they are about 5 minutes apart or I could come in and do a labor check but if I was only 1 or 2 cm dilated they would just send me home. I waited 15 more minutes and by then they were less than 5 minutes apart and very painful. We headed to the hospital around 5:00 pm. By the time I got up to labor and delivery and checked I was 5 cm dilated! Yep I was going to be admitted and it was baby time. I requested the epidural. I was in so much pain by the time we got to the hospital that I was literally shaking. My teeth were chattering and I was in agony. I couldn't get the epidural right away though. They needed to get a bag of IV fluid in me first. Around 6:30 pm I had the worst contraction of all and I felt my water break. Around 7pm I got the epidural and sweet relief finally kicked in 30 minutes later. Usually it happens fast but not this time. Once I went numb I was able to rest, talk and post on Facebook. Relief never felt so good.

Around 10:00 pm the nurse and doctor came in and it was go time. I was at a 10. The doctor suited up but everybody in the room pretty much had to postition me and hold my legs. I was completely numb that I couldn't feel my legs. Still I pushed and I was able to get her out in 3 big pushes. Right away they put her on my chest and I was able to hold her for about 12 minutes before they weighed and cleaned her. After they got her clean H and I noticed she looked so much like our second daughter--only she had a lot more hair! Ava is gorgeous with the most beautiful golden brown hair. Her sisters got to see her the next day and naturally fell in love with her as well. We had a great hospital stay and were discharged 2 days later. H and I are definitely feeling very blessed.

Have a great weekend!

Welcome to the world Ava!

She's here!

Our 4th daughter was born Saturday September 12th 2015 at 38 weeks 5 days.

Weight: 6 lbs 6 oz.

Height: 19 in 48cm

We are absolutely in love with our little doll! Birth story and pictures to come soon.

What's in my hospital/diaper bag

Betsey Johnson Tote

With my last baby, H gifted me with a Ralph Lauren tote which I loved to use as a diaper bag, but the thin straps ended up getting frayed towards the top. Over the past year I've been using various canvas or nylon bags. Just something I could throw a change of clothes in and diapers and wipes. Now with a new baby coming and more gear to carry, it was time to get a new durable bag. I love scallops and bows so I did a search online for a scalloped bag and found this gorgeous Betsey Johnson purse at Nordstrom Rack for half off. It's very roomy, has sturdy straps and also has a bag within it. It's sold out online at Nordstrom Rack but there are various sites online where you can find it. 

This week I started packing my things for delivery. I can't believe we're 3-4 weeks away from meeting our sweet new baby! I definitely have mixed emotions this time. I'm anxious to meet her and also a little sad that her time in the womb where I feel her little movements is coming to an end.

I haven't included everything in the bag yet that I plan on bringing but this is what I have so far:

Cotton muslin swaddle: Little Unicorn

Toiletry bag: Forever21

Ivory lace sleeper: Nordstrom

Bow hospital hat: Unique Kidz c/o

Ruffled onesie & burp cloth: Made by me

Ruffled trim terry robe: Nordstrom

The other things I plan on bringing that aren't packed yet are a few snacks, my camera, baby socks, phone charger, makeup, trial size toiletries, undergarments and something for me to wear home.

Have a great weekend!

Sewing for baby round 2

Over the past two weeks I've made some time to sew some more adorable things for the baby. It's so fun being able to make things for the new baby. I can't wait till she can use them! Also, 3 products in this assortment will be hitting the shop within the next 2 months.

Have a great weekend!

A wee baby no more

I've had a baby bassinet in my room since Layla was born 3 years ago. She only slept in there for a few weeks and Mariam only slept in there for a few weeks as well, but I just can't bring myself to put it away somewhere. Not to mention I like the look of it off to the side of my bed.

I did however temporarily move it to the nursery last weekend. My mother is visiting from South Africa so we moved Layla's toddler bed into my room so there could be more space for my mom and Serena to share a room. The wood on it and the wood in the room don't match but I kind of like the way it looks in the nursery. I may end up leaving it in there and who knows maybe it will be put to use again in a couple years...or maybe not.

 

Before I sign off, just want to throw it out there that I'm having a sitewide sale in the shop all week. 30% off everything and it also marks the first time nursery décor will be on sale. You don't want to miss it. ;)

 

FHJ Baby

 

Have a great Monday!