Christmas on Madrona 2011

It's Christmas time and only 7 more days till Christmas is here.  I really do enjoy this time of year but as always, it comes and goes so fast. Here is a little of our festive decor.

Little Santa

What a cute Baby Santa he made.

Talking Boy

Eli talking to Nani last week.  He is getting so vocal, even if there are no words to his sounds, you can tell he is really trying to communicate.

Holiday Photos

In a rush to get Christmas cards out, we had a few impromptu photos shoots today.  I knew I wanted to take Eli's picture in the Santa outfit he got last month and I also wanted to take an annual family photo.  I accomplished the first one earlier in the day by simply propping him up on his Boppy pillow.  He had such a great time being Santa and he looked so cute with his little fists under his chin.  Later in the day when my brother-in-law got home, we rushed outside for the last bit of sunlight and he took our family photo in the back yard.  The funny thing is, I have been wanting a new fence for the backyard for a while now and usually hate looking at the old one, but it ended up being the perfect back drop, yeah for old fences!  After a little Photoshop editing here are the end results.

The first one ended up being turned into a Christmas card and I posted it to all my Facebook friends and family.  The second one will be our family photo and will be framed.  The last one is our Christmas card photo because we just couldn't leave little Maddy out of the yearly photo.  I love how they turned out and I had fun editing them in photoshop, I think I am getting better.  It is so easy using the actions I talked about last month that I bought from Bloom & Grow photography.

Naive Bliss?

I smell like baby barf right now and you know what?...that's totally okay with me :). That probably sounds more like a Facebook status but I thought I would share it hear instead. To me, being Eli's mommy is pure bliss so far. I am fully aware that things will get harder and times will be rough but I hope to always focus on the good things and brush off the bad. I hope that I will always remember to "be ok with the barf" whether that "barf" comes in the form of sickness, tantrums, exhaustion, I hope to stay blissful. Too naive?

Thanksgiving and 2 months old!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving that started with dinner at our house with the Gonzalez fam and then off to my parents house for Thanksgiving with the Preston fam.  It was good to get together with everyone and enjoy all the food.

Little Eli turned 2 months!  Wow already, it is seems like he was just born, so of course we had to document.

And then later in the day he changed into something a little more comfy .

He is all smiles and coos lately, oh and blowing bubbles.

How Cute am I?

I will be 2 months tomorrow!

2 years later...Dressers

I am NO where near finished with our bedroom. it always seems to get pushed back on the "home to-do" list.  Pretty much all that has been done is that we have painted the walls, hung some drapes and put down about 1/3 of the baseboards.  Now that the nursery is done and most of the house is pretty much done (a few details here and there need to be tended to) I hope to really concentrate more on our bedroom.

To start, I was really getting tired of the plastic dressers that we were using in the closets.  I haven't had a dresser since probably 2007 and I thought I didn't need one for so long.  The big plastic dresser worked just fine for a while but with the need to fill some space in our room and the frustration of not enough storage space in the closet, it was time for some dressers.  Of course I didnt want to buy something new or to matchy matchy so I hit up craigslist.  I found the dresser on the Left (Jeremiahs side) for $45 and when I went to pick it up the guy selling it had the one on the Right (my side) for $65.  I told him I would give him $100 for both and the deal was made.

I am still debating between keeping them the original color/finish or painting them.  If I did paint them I was thinking either off-white or maybe something a little more bold.  I was originally going to keep the room very calm and clean with all whites and light blues but now I am leaning towards a more eclectic and mis-matchy theme; something a little more Anthropologie-esque.  Here are some pictures of the new additions.

They are already proving to be worth the $100 in space and organization alone.  Plus I didnt realize how empty the room looked without them next to the bed, they do a perfect job at filling in the space.  I would share before photos but I still need to organize them from the recovery process I had done when I lost (well accidentally deleted) all my photos.

I have found some inspiration photos on Pinterest so with these new dressers being the base of my eclectic room, what would I need to acheive these looks and feels?

Source: refinery29.com via Sally on Pinterest

Source: room-galleries.myhomeideas.com via Sally on Pinterest

Source: housetohome.co.uk via Sally on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Sally on Pinterest

I am thinking I need some colorful pillows, a throw at the end of the bed, a bold rug and some cool art work with a touch of subtle pink. 

As usual, lots to do and even more to dream about.

Photo editing

I purchased and downloaded the "Bloom & Grow Basics" for editing photos in Photoshop.  What do you think of my 1st editing job?  It was way harder than I thought, there are lots of terms in Photoshop I am not familiar with so I did a lot of Google-ing to translate for me.

 Before:

After:

I am definitely going to need more practice but I hope to take some family photos for our Christmas cards and doctor them up.

Quilt

I think I want to make a quilt.  Not a patchworky or patterned quilt but something a little more modern or sophisticated.  Maybe something like on one of these...

Source: modabakeshop.com via Sally on Pinterest

Source: jenduncan.typepad.com via Sally on Pinterest

Source: jenduncan.typepad.com via Sally on Pinterest

 Of course with all my other unfinished projects:

• bedroom
• baseboards in bedroom, living room and hallway
• painted wallpaper in kitchen

I am thinking this might be a little to much to take on, especially with the new baby and all.  Oh and then there is the engagement season that is right around the corner that will have me busy with appointments and writing estiamtes for 2012 brides.  Hmmm, can't decide, can't decide.  I have always wanted to make a quilt and I figure with these kinds of patterns, even if it isn't perfect it won't matter.  Maybe it's a crazy unrealistic dream or maybe not.

First I should write out a to-do list of house projects to finish with pictures first to hold me accountable, that seemed to work on the nursery to-do list, and not start the quilt till I finish all the other items.

A Letter to my Son

Dear Eli,

You are my first born, my first son...you are my everything!  The moment I laid eyes on you I fell in love, you were no longer the little guy in my belly who kicked around and gave me heart burn.  You were finally here and I finally got to hold you and touch you.  I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember and you are the special one that made that wish and dream come true.  When I hold you it seems like you fit so well in my arms, like you were shaped perfectly just for me.  It seems in a way that I have waited my whole life to hold you and be your mom and now that you are here I feel complete.  When I look down at your little face sleeping in my arms, I am sad at the idea of you getting bigger and not wanting me to hold you anymore but I am excited to see what kind of person you become.  Will you enjoy sports?  Will you be sweet and kind?  Will you be funny like your daddy?  Will you be tall?  All these things I can't wait to find out but no matter what you are, I will always love you.

This afternoon, you and I read our first book together, it was called "Love You Forever" and as I read it out loud I started to cry because it is about a mother and son and how they both get older but no matter what, the mother always says to her baby boy "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be".  I hope that I get to read that book many more times to you as you grow up and I hope that you will always remember that no matter what, I will ALWAYS love you, for you will always be my baby Eli.  You and I will have many adventures together and we will learn many things together, good and bad, but either way I can't wait for them all. 

You are surrounded by so much love and so much family who were all excited to see you come into this world.  They too can't wait to watch you grow, but no one is more excited than your Daddy.  He gets up with you every morning to change your diaper and to spend his Daddy/Eli time.  He calls you "my baby" and since you just started coo-ing and smiling, he has full coo-ing conversations with you.  Your Daddy has many nieces and nephews and has been around lots of babies so he is pretty comfortable with you but I have never seen him so in love as he is with you.  You light up his eyes and when I look at him watching you, I can see all his dreams coming true too.  You have made us a family and we hope that we will be the best parents that we can for you.

I love you so very much!

Love,
Your Mommy

Birth Story, part 4

I realize that this story is taking a long time but I promise that I am wrapping it up; I figure, 4 days of labor, 4 days of posts.

So there I was laying in the operating room scared, tired and anxious but mostly excited to finally be at the end where I was going to meet my very first baby.  After I was prepped, Jeremiah came in and they got started.  We were in there for maybe 10 minutes when all of a sudden I heard them say, it's a BOY and then he started crying...and then I started crying.  I was so excited to see him but since he had meconium in his water and they need to suction his throat and clean him up I had to wait.  It seemed like an eternity but then they brought him around I got my first look at my baby and I was so IN LOVE.  I was really drowsy from all the meds and from not sleeping for so long so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep my eyes open long enough to see the little guy but as soon as I did, I was wide awake and just wanted to hold him.  Of course my arms were strapped down so I couldn't so all I could do was kiss him as Jeremiah held him next to my face and give him little Eskimo kisses but still I was totally in LOVE.  I did however think to myself, "wow that's a chubby swollen face" but he was still so beautiful.  Jeremiah kept saying how he thought he looked like my dad, which I didn't and still don't see, but I was so amazed at all his hair when they took his hat off.  I had been imagining for 9 months (well maybe longer) what he would look like and while he didn't look like I had imagined, for some reason I thought he would have light hair, I immediately recognized him like I had known him all my life.  Even now, 6 weeks later, when I look at him I feel as if he has always been a part of me and I have dreamt about him or I have seen him before.  To me he is the most beautiful thing, person, being that I have ever seen and I feel like I have always had him and he was always meant to be mine.

There he was, Mr. Eli Buster Gonzalez, the newest member of our world born at 9:03 AM on September 24, 2011...our ADVENTURE of parenthood had begun.

After about an hour and a half they were finally done stiching me back up and putting me back together, Jeremiah said it looked like a bomb had gone off inside me, we finally got wheeled out and I FINALLY got to hold my little Eli.

We were wheeled into recovery and then everyone got to meet him and we said good bye to our duellas.

 Jeremiah saying good bye to our duellas.

 Eli meets Nani and Papi.

 Aunt Jessica and Uncle Josh.

 A proud Papa

 Baby Buster meets Grandpa Buster.

Nana says hi to the sweet baby.

 BFF Rachel with Baby Eli

Big Nana and Big Tata meet their newest great-grand child.

Well that is the whole birth story of our Eil Buster, four parts later seems like a lot but I wanted to make sure I recorded it all.  He is such a wonderful blessing and perfect addition to our lives and nothing could make us happier than having him here with us happy and healthy, no matter how much drama it took to get him here.

Halloween Day

Our little puggy didn't get to go TRICK-or-TREATING because we decided he was to little but he was very cute in his first Halloween costume as a little pug.  Basically his costume was the pug hat I bought on etsy from here and a tan long sleeved onesie...it worked.

Looking forward to many more fun Halloweens with many more costumes!

Birth Story, part 3

Well there I was finally giving myself permission to "give up" (as I saw it) and get some rest.  After crying to Jeremiah and crying for my sister, no one actually saw this but Jeremiah but when the time came for me to make my decision, I had this overwhelming need to talk to my sister about it and have her tell me that it was okay. (P.S.  she was in Germany and Spain this entire time)  It is funny to look back on it now but I really wanted to talk to someone, other than/in addition too Jeremiah that would tell me everything would be alright and that it was "ok" and that person was my twin sister.  Again, in the end it was me who needed to say that it was ok but I felt this need to get approval from someone else.  It was around 8 or 9 in the evening and just as I was telling the staff that I DID in fact want the epidural now, our 2 duellas arrived to help out.  At first I thought that it would be totally un-necessary to have them there since I was indeed about to have the epidural so what would I need them for, but they really proved to be very helpful and one of the best parts of our experience.

So Mr. Anesthesiologist came in, epidural inserted, rest and relaxation started...so I thought.  After I was able to rest for a while, we said good bye to our wonderful supporters for another night and told them we would call if anything happened.  The nurses and mid-wife wanted me to get some rest so lights out and off to la-la land we went.  Once again, I was just to anxious to be getting closer to meeting our little guy so I would doze off for a minute or two here and there but I never got much sleep.  Plus, there were constant doctors and nurses coming in and out to check on me so sleep never really got accomplished but Jeremiah got a nice nap which I was happy to see.

Over all the epidural made me feel "icky", my legs felt like they blew up 2,000 times and the medicine kept shifting from side to side.  But, it was a relief from the contractions.

Around 3 AM, I was "checked" to see if I had made any progress and I was at a 7 so back to resting we went.  Then around 5AM I was "checked again and I was still at a 7, that's when decisions had to be made.  The mid-wife, who was actually a man, told us that we were now approaching 48 hours after my water had been broken, there was meconium in the water, the babies head was "molding", my cervix was getting swollen and his head was basically stuck so it was time for a C-Section.  Dun Dun Dun! 

Well being the tired and overwhelmed new mother that I was, I started crying because to me a c-section was bad and it was so opposite of how I had envisioned this entire process going but I had to take a breath, talk with Jeremiah and realize that it was what was best for Eli and it was time to get the little guy out.  Back on the phones Jeremiah went to call everyone back and shortly after that everyone arrived for the BIG DAY...it was FINALLY happening.  SO back came my parents, Jeremiah's parents, my bestie Rachel and my brother and sister-in-law Josh and Jessica.  (My brother was in LA so he called to tell me he was on his way down and my sister was in Germany getting updates here and there when she could).  Here are some wonderful pictures my brother in law Josh took of that morning, there is video footage too but I dont have that.

 Me with the duellas

 My parents talking to me before I go in

 Jeremiah getting ready for the big event.

 Waiting...

Rachel and Jessica giving a "thumbs up...meaning, Good luck?  Good job?"  Not sure but I was so happy to have them there. 

Shortly after this I was wheeled away and taken to the operating room and was ready to meet Eli.

These are getting long and I am getting tired so I didn't edit this one.  Sorry.