Newborn Photography Session

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First off thank you all sweet readers for your emails and comments of encouragement concerning my heart and health after baby was born. As of right now things are continuing to repair and my resting heart rate is holding around 48-49 bpm. Thats a heck of a lot better than 29 bpm!! The faster hr means I feel a ton better and can keep up with these babies better!!!

Now, onto the real reason of the post!! Newborn pics!

Once again our awesome photographer outdid herself. 

She is a nurse by trade and instructed me to immediately go to the ER once we finished pictures so although i am extremely swollen I am thankful to have a picture now to see just how much better I looked 36 hours later. 

Most of the session was a fog for me and I just let Jamie do her thing!

Without further Adeau!

Crazy to think I lost 22 pounds in fluid just a few hours after this picture!

Baby w one whole month old

This sweet baby had a rough first month. The first week of his life was spent in and out of hospitals. We couldn't figure out at first why he was crying so much. We just thought big baby wasn't getting enough to eat. Actually my preeclampsia was causing my body to hold onto ALL fluids so needless to say when he nursed he was getting Nothing!!! He began supplementing and he was full but still screaming! 

Big brother helped once we got home from the hospital!! The dr said his symptoms were either milk intolerance or reflux. We began maalox with no luck, at 2 weeks old we moved into our new house. Dr switched us from sensitive formula to alimentum. 

I began to nurse him more and symptoms improved slightly. 

Then he began to really have tummy problems the third week. I took him off the alimentum on the fourth week and EBF. Things got better with that and probiotics 

Fifth week we went to the dr again and she witnessed one of his screaming fits and saw him reflux ohh and Finally have us a prescription from liquid Zantac. 

Finally he started to get some relief and actually nap so I could start to unpack our life and begin sorting!! 

Oh these sweet glorious naps in his new bed!!' I was ohh so thankful! 

It seems I was in such a sleep deprived fog these are some of the Only pictures I have of baby Whit's first few weeks of life.

Here we are back at the dr.

Poor chubby bunny was really in some pain ;(.

At one month he was up from his birth weight ( 8lbs 2 oz) to 8 lb 11 oz. 

You can see here he was much happier once we made our trip to Atlanta! 

Sneaking a quick nap in the car while daddy ran into the store ;)

And finally back home after our trip! 

He has such a serious face here! It's a long day with big brother and big sister running around keeping him awake! 

And catching a little sun at the park!!

So sad to see the very first of the newborn days already gone but thankful to have some resolve for this little fella and him getting some relief! 

Happy one month old Whit! 

lately....

So.... my past month of life has been DOWN RIGHT Crazy!!!!

tomorrow big sister starts her last year of preschool!

Hope to move mountians tomorrow. we shall see!!

Be prepared for a finally of the lyford house, a walk thru of the new house, ALL of our shenanigans, and where we are in the progress of the new house. basically we hit the ground running since moving in... hope to by october 1 to have the upstairs of the house finished except for bathrooms. (need to build some vanities)

Stay tuned.... it WILL be worthwhile.

Saying Goodbye

At one time or another in life we all have to say goodbye... To something. 

Obviously our most recent goodbye was to our home. 

Things I am going to miss terribly are my sweet elderly neighbors. They thought the world of My kids and lit up like firecrackers to see them. I plan on going back to visit them from time to time. 

I am going to miss the sound of my little Connors feet running throughout the house. The pitter patter of little feet on a conventional foundations is something I will always remember. 

And the thing I didn't do when we moved?? I kept meaning to clean the little handprints off the French doors leading to c and ac's room. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Those little handprints in the glass panes were our mark. It was the game we played everyday in that house.  We brought Anna Caroline into her first home there at 6 months. The we brought Connor home from the hospital to that house and for 2 short weeks baby Whit lived there. Sooo much of our family "happened" in that home. 

When we moved in I was in a dead end job I hated. And Casey was a bank teller. We were 22, had no married friends, and knew noone with kids. Life was hard, but we smiled, had a healthy baby and worked our fingers to the bone to fix that place up. 

We became adults in that house.We both   worked 2 jobs to be able to fix up that house and provide for our little girl. We prayed and prayed for another child and The Lord blessed us with our sweet Connor. Casey graduated college in that house, and was offered his first big boy job. I watched my husband grow from my college sweetheart, into a daddy, and a grown professional. 

I spent alot of time testing my talents through trial and error and discovered my  love for design in that house. 

We had rats, black widows, roof leaks, plumbing leaks, termites, sink holes, rotten windows, lots of paint, blood sweat and tears. 

I dreamed of the future of when we would leave that home and now that I am gone I miss all the growing we did there and the memories we made. 

I miss sewing in the kitchen and listening to my kids gather rocks in the back yard and throw them down into the drainage ditch we lived next to. 

A very very tiny part of me misses my dogs running off 2 and 3 times a week. And the panic I would feel chasing after them, just to know I would find them 4 doors down and bring them safely home. 

I know this was just a vessel for us. I will always have my memories but saying goodbye is always hard. I miss my dear friends who moved around the corner and our last minute dinner plans we would make. 

I am excited to see all the memories we make in the new place and learn the history of the new place. But Lyford Avenue will always be my first and for that the memories will always be sweeter.

Atlanta shopping

For those of you who live in Atlanta... 

I am jealous!!! Ballads Backroom is such an Awesome store with great deals!!! 

This chair was 260.00!!! Such a steal! I was trying to figure out a way to get it home! 

Didn't snag a picture but we found our lighting for over the island in the kitchen! I am in love and chomping at the bit to get it hung!!

And can we talk about these china cabinets??? I may or may not be scheming a trip just to pick up these puppies!!!

From there we left and drove to Douglasville to the outlets! 

Pottery Barn did Not disappoint and we had to even reconfigure the whole car just to get our loot home! Barstools, dry erase boards, bathroom lighting, sheets you name it and it was on sale!!

Then we perused the Restoration outlet. 

I think the word for this store was underwhelmed. Some deals were okay but nothing screamed, rent a uhaul and take me home!!!! 

We found several other treasures we plan on displaying in the new house! So ready to get my rooms painted, drapes hung and start "fluffing"!! 

Pinterest Dreaming: The plans for Renovations

Nowadays... the best place to start when you are wanting to redo something is check out pinterest, houzz, and of course trade publications!

Here are just a few that really exude the feeling we are wanting to achieve in our new house. 

May take us a while to get here but excited and up for the challenge!

So... I personally do not care for the color of shingle on the roof, (see below for what I prefer) The house also needs the brick painted, some landscaping, some grass instead of weeds, and a basic overall facelift. Some things will have to wait, obviously. But we hope to make a few inexpensive changes to get the place looking like a family lives here by early fall.

 (source unknown, let me know if you know where its from)

This is the color scheme/look we will be going for. 

We have however discovered this week, the rotten wood we asked to be replaced.. bummer!! so we will have to address thigs like that before we can move onto more fun stuff.

As of right now the only pan for this room is to paint the fireplace a cream color, and paint the paneling. 

We will hopefully have the chimney cleaned sometime soon then I will shop for a new fireplace screen and remove this brass one.

Belo is the layout for the den we are hoping to achieve.

Obviously the sectional sofa has to go and we will likely get rid of the leather recliner as well. 

I have found my two side chairs for this room but finding a couch is proving to be harder than we thought. 

To accomodate this amount of seating we need a couch less than 84" and a love seat. 

Baby steps.

via urbangrace.com

Here is the dining area of the kitchen. 

So far this has been one of the few spaces in the home we have been able to address. 

(waiting for the rain to clear to get some shots with better lighting for yall!)

Can't wait to show you what we found!!

I must admit this doesnt look like a selling feature to most. 

But to me this 17 foot, yes seventeen foot long laundry room meant I could have my mud room area as well as my in home business. oh... and clean those pesky dirty clothes.

haha

Here is an idea of what we are thinking for the cubbies

 via isabella and max rooms

As I am sure you all well remember, the last house was next to a drainage ditch and backed up to the main interstate in our city. Loud, easy for the dogs to escape, and in no way condusive to small children playing. 

I think it's safe to say the new space is uh... a blank slate. Even after 20+ years of when it was built. 

I have some SERIOUS plans for flowerbeds!!!

source via oakleyhomebuilders.com

And a paver patio, and a pergola, and an outdoor kitchen.

Does anyone know where to get those money trees I have heard of?

Thinking I may need to plant a few with ALL these plans I have!

via houseandhome.com

viahomesdesignlove.com

And the next big space is the playroom.

I LOVE how holly designed her boy playroom. 

Lots of fun and whimsical touches.

Hoping to solidify paint colors in here soon!

via holly mathis interiors

I think the bathrooms and the kitchen need their own post!!!

The new house

We started out our home search wanting a completely fixed up home. 

After realizing there is a housing shortage in our area... Knowing #3 was due any day, and seeing how people were renovating and knowing it wasn't "us" we started looking at fixer uppers. 

The home we purchased; I remember driving by and immediately saying NO! 

It just wasn't what I was wanting in a home. Then my husband saw potential I wasn't seeing. The more we looked we kept comparing it to that home. We knew we needed to walk thru it.

After the initial walk thru I saw us putting up a Christmas tree in the dining room. And watching TV in the den. I knew this was our home. 

Without further adeu. The fixer upper part deaux! 

This will be our dining room. We hope to do lots of entertaining in here over the years. 

This is a view of the den. 

The laundry room and where preppie peonie will operate. 

And the kitchen. Ohhh the kitchen I see lots of potential! 

And here is the kids playroom!! 

Be back with more later!!