We're back!

After a 5 month break from the blog (we'll call it maternity leave), we are back!

To get you up to speed:

Grace was born on September 7, 2010. At 4 days overdue, we decided to go ahead and induce because she was an estimated 8 lbs 8 oz on Friday, September 3, her original due date! We went in on Tuesday morning at 3am, where we discovered I had been having contractions all day (so that is what those little cramps were!), but not really progressing much. At 12:22 pm, Grace entered the world weighing in at 8 lbs, 10.5 oz, and 22" long. Wow! Soon enough we brought her home, introduced her to her brother (the canine brother, Bociphus - more about those adventures later), and settled into our new groove. Since birth, she has remained in the 90-95th percentile in both height and weight, and she is doing great! I'm going to do some posts in the next few days to catch you up from birth until now, and then I'll try to be better about documenting her life.

If for no other reason, when I'm old and gone and she's wanting to hear stories about when she was little (like my sister and brothers and I ALWAYS asked our parents), she'll have a first hand account preserved for a lifetime!

Baby Grace's First Gambling Experience

Blake's office has always been known to have fun, and this is just one example. I'm guessing that Blake didn't pass along the message that at her 37 week appt, she already weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. Several people are already out of the game!!! What's your guess?

37 Weeks & Nursery Pics!

Today we are full term! Yay! We had an ultrasound this morning before our regular appt to check on Grace's position, and I'm happy to report that she's head down! Not sure if it's due to the "breech dance" my mom taught me or if she was headed that way on her own, but it doesn't matter to me how she got there, as long as she's there!

After taking her measurements, they estimate she weighs 7 lbs 1 oz right now, +/- 7 oz. With three weeks to go and no progress on my end, I'm getting a little nervous about what that final weight may be, but happy that she seems to be doing so well!

My mom came in town this past weekend to help me get everything ready to go, and Blake got home from his travels yesterday and FINALLY got to see her room. When I laid down on the couch and Blake came over to say hello to Grace, she started squirming like crazy! I think she missed hearing from her daddy just as much as I did!

Just about everything is done, except that we're waiting to get her rocking chair back from my PawPaw and the new cushions for it are being made and should be ready next week as well. I'll be sure to update the pictures as we get more stuff in, but everything is just about ready; all we need now is that baby!
The butterfly mobile hanging on the window will be hung from the ceiling, and the rocking chair will go where the stroller/swing are currently sitting.

Yes, there will be another drawer there, but I sent it with the chair PawPaw refinished for us so that he could match the stain.

We are so grateful for our little miracle from God, and can't wait to meet her!

Thanks to James and Lisa Buchanan for this oh-so-cute painted canvas for Grace's room! It fit perfectly in it's spot!

36 week appointment

Today was our 36 week appointment, and it appears that Grace is extremely comfortable hanging out in my belly and is not preparing to make her way into the world just yet. We've got an ultrasound scheduled for next Friday (when Grace's daddy will be home from the levees FOR GOOD) to determine her position and see what our next steps are.

Now, I'd be proud for her to inherit some of my traits, but stubbornness is NOT one of them. Come on, Gracie! Help us out here! We want to meet you!

Grace's Rocking Chair

We received this glider from my dad's aunt "Aunt Marcy" who passed away earlier this year. She had it in her home, and it was a light brown color. My mom's dad, my PawPaw Pete, who is a woodworker and an excellent craftsman, sanded it down and refinished it to match the color of the wood in her nursery. It was one of the hardest jobs he'd ever done, and was such a labor of love! We're getting new cushions made that match the nursery, and I love that it's got a family history and a story that we'll get to tell Grace one day, so she'll always know how much her whole family loves her and that she's got a great family legacy!

The letters were hung in the nursery with care...

We spent the majority of this past weekend getting the nursery ready to go. I'm waiting for my bedding to come in to post pics of the entire nursery, but here's a sneak peek with the letters up on the wall! The bedding is supposed to 2-day ship by the end of the month, which is Saturday, so it should be here early next week at the lastest.

Cute Alert!!!

So my bedding has not yet come in, but this is the next best thing! Our good friends Ben, Carmen, and Allie Ross just gave us these wall letters to go above Grace's crib, which match her bedding. Are these not the cutest things you've ever seen? I can't wait to get them up on the wall! We provided fabric swatches of Grace's bedding (see in a much earlier post), and the lady that made these actually hand paints them to match anything. They are basically an EXACT replica of the fabric, so much so that it looks like she just stretched the fabric over the letters.

Many thanks to the Ross family!!!