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!!

After baby was Born

Okay so baby was born. All was well. Family was here but we knew if this pregnancy was going to be Like Connors we were now playing the waiting game. 

With C my problems didn't start until 72 hours post delivery. 

Side story:

I never seemed to make the time previous to now to type the "diagnosis" after c was born 17 months ago but basically the dr knew I was in acute heart failure, after 6 months or the problem corrected itself and we found out I had an extreme magnesium deficiency. Easily fixed with supplements. (Magnesium and potassium are the two most important components to indicating heart problems, health etc)

So...been taking my magnesium. Felt soo much better, heart was doing good, headaches from mag deficiency gone. Leg cramps from mag deficiency gone. 

Okay so back to baby being born. He was here, my bp was back up an he was looking good. I noticed within the first 10 hours or so I was starting to swell so when my dr came in the next morning she had a nurse check my magnesium level. Sure enough my "normal" level of 4 had dropped back down to 1.7. The postpartum nurses kinda freaked when the dr called for me to be placed on a 4 hour magnesium drip. She said the slow infusion should get me back to where it needed to be. My dear friend heather came to visit. Then my parents again. We made it home Monday mid afternoon (dr kept me a little longer due to the mag going crazy) and my inlaws stay another few days. 

(Did I mention we were due to close July 3. With a 4 day old??? Glad that didn't happen. So my inlaws leave Tuesday or Wednesday, can't remember. That morning I called y dr, told the nurse my bp was higher and I felt like I had fluid on my lungs again. They brought me in, took blood to check mag and said my hr was 60. A little low but all other things were fine. Wed night (July 3) I started feeling worse and the swelling really picked up. 

Thursday was the 4th and my parents decided to grill out. I distinctly remember walking down the stairs and the fluid in my legs slushing around in my knees and feet. 

That's when I took this pic on Instagram. 

Serious case of the cankles. So I suffered through on the 4th and woke up Friday morning for our newborn session with our photographer. 

We drive out to her studio and I kept feeling worse and worse. I haven't gotten pics back yet but I can tell you I only remember taking one shot holding baby boy. 

Our photographer is also a NICU nurse and she told me to go straight to the ER. So we left her house and one of my very best friends met me at home and took me to the Er while casey coordinated childcare. 

We walked in the door and I know The Lord ordained for a family friend to be the nurse at the ER front desk. Desiree  took one look at my and I said look I had symptoms of HELLP last go around and I feel like death. 

Emily sat with baby while I went to the restroom and as I walk out two, not one Two ER nurses look concerned and rush me back to a room. Emily and I sit until my parents arrive. Maybe 30 minutes. 

I get hooked up to bp, hr, they take some blood and we wait maybe an hour. The ER dr comes in and calls for a chest x-ray. 

So as I am there bp goes up, hr has dropped from 60 on Wednesday to Friday at 1 or so an hr is at 42. 

Around 3 my hr has dropped to 38, my bp maxes at 217/116. The dr, my nurse, another nurse and a tech all rush in. I am immediately administered lasix to help aid in removing the fluid and they give me something to bring my bp down. 

My obgyn calls and so does my cardiologist. (Both wanted to be informed if I was going to the ER post delivery) they decide admitting me to the cardiac unit of the hospital is the best idea for the current moment.  

So Friday around 5 pm they admit me. Put me on another slow mag drip. 

Within 2 hours of being there the person in the room next to me flat lines. 

Can I tell you what it feels like to be a medical mystery noone understands and your on the cardiac floor of the hospital at 27. And noone knows what the future hours,minutes, or days hold? Scary stuff. 

The on call dr from my ob comes in saturday morning and tells me say am I definitely have a very latent form of postpartum preeclampsia. Usually manifests within 24 hours of delivery. 

An hour or so later the cardiologist on call for my dr office comes in and tells me he has never personally seen a case like mine. 

His exact words. "I don't know how to tell you this but, the Rythems from your echo and what I can tell you look good, you have mitral valve regurgitation, which to some degree is normal, but your in chronic heart failure. Hopefully one day the heart rate will normalize. Have a nice day. Your dr will call you."

Ummm wow buddy, wha???? Chronic heart failure???? I am not an 88 yr old granny!!!! 

I was kept overnight. Flooded with magnesium 3 more times. An 2 more doses of lasix. 

Did I mention magnesium gives you the effect your on fire? I thought flames were launching from my ears!!!! 

They stopped the lasix Mid afternoon Saturday July 6 to prevent me from going into kidney failure. (Kind if them huh?)

(But the swelling left, 14 pounds of fluid to be exact) 

So here I sit, with 3 beautiful babies. Was told by ob and cardiologist I am to Never get pregnant again. Cardiologists words were "well hunny, your heart could literally explode in delivery." 

Oookay then. And for now... Possibly forever I am in chronic heart failure. 

The rest is pretty uncertain. My diet must change and I could now be at higher risk for heart attacks. 

Just thankful it was nothing worse, I am alive and the baby is healthy. 

However, now I am determined to be in the best shape and health of my life. 

Sooo operation heart health has begun!!! 

Oh, and keeping up with these crazies!