Bump Progression

I'm so glad I took weekly bump photos...it's so fun to look back and see how it grew! I remember thinking I was SO big at 24 weeks.....boy was I wrong!

Probably the number one question I've received is where I got my chalkboard. My mom found it at an antique fair, but you could totally make one yourself out of an old painting....lots of tutorials on pinterest!

No-Sew Garland

While I'm loving on my baby boy, my bff Erin, has volunteered to do a guest post for you! She has a six month old baby girl, Lexi, and made the CUTEST garland for her play room. Enjoy!

Hi! I’m Erin, and I’m posting for Julie while she’s loving on her sweet, sweet baby boy. Julie and I go way, way back (like ALL the way back to college), and she’s remained one of my closest, and bestest friends-even if she ditched me and moved to Michigan, fell in love, got married to a handsome-funny man, and now has an adorable baby.

Now back to this no-sew garland I promised to tell you about. I got a sewing machine last year for Christmas, and I’ve only managed to master a straight line (if you don’t look too closely) so when a cute project comes my way that involves not using my sub-par sewing abilities I get REALLY excited. We're in the middle of creating a play-room for our 6 month old daughter, and the space needed some pizzaz and a pop of color (not to mention it makes an excellent photo back-drop)-enter the no-sew garland.

First step. Pick out your fabric. I used ½ a yard of 3 colors and got about a five foot long garland.

Second step. Cut garland into strips 1 inch wide by 14 inches long. I HIGHLY recommend using a rotary cutter thingy. . . otherwise your hands might cramp and you need un-cramped hands for the amount of tying you’ll be doing. . .

 Step 3. Tie the garland on the ribbon. Place the fabric in a “U” under the ribbon. Fold the ends through and pull tight.

Step 4. Tie, tie, tie, tie, and tie until you run out of fabric or your garland reaches the desired length.

Step 5. Stand back and enjoy!

Lexi loves her garland! Thanks Erin!

Can you blame me?

I get to look at this face all day. I am in love and can't seem to find time to do much else. Can you blame me for not blogging lately? I promise I'll be back soon!

Babies don't keep....

 The cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow

For children grow up, I've learned to my sorrow

So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep

I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.

Hudson's Nursery

Welcome to Hudson's nursery! Sorry it took so long for me to get photos up! We are so happy with how it turned out. And although Hudson hasn't slept in there yet, we can tell he loves it too.

View from the door. The walls are "light french gray" by Sherwin Williams.

My mom made the curtains (the idea was totally inspired by Emily's gorgeous nursery for her son Owen.) And I made the paper flags.

The dresser was my husband's growing up. He painted it red and added the numbers to the drawers. Those are also my husband's old toy cars in the crate.

Hudson's crib! My mom made the bedding too. The crib is from Pottery Barn.

Little buddies just waiting to be played with!

Gallery wall above the crib. The husband bought Hudson his first baseball bat....it even has his name on it! The "I love you California" print is from 3 Fish Studios. The "dream big" hoop is from Beautiful Blendings. The fun shaped frames are from Hobby Lobby.

I made the Cubs pin artwork myself. The husband is a huge Cubs fan (our dog is named Wrigley after all!). The dog print is from Jones Design Company.

Changing area. The table was mine as a baby....the husband painted it white for me.

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" print from Sugar Fresh. The two cross stitch animals were my husband's as a baby that we re-framed and backed on burlap. The toy trucks and helmet were also my husband's and the Paddington Bear was mine!

My in-law's got us our super comfy rocker.

And my mom made the dog pillow and chevron poof. She is so talented!

I mean, isn't that pillow adorable? I ordered a lamp for the side table but it's on back order until October!

Thanks for checking out Hudson's nursery!

So....now we have a baby.....

I can't believe it's been less than a week since we had Hudson. I can't even imagine life without him. It's true what everyone says....you fall in love instantly with your baby.

Because Hudson was breech, we scheduled a c-section for my actual due date, September 5th. Most breech babies are born at 39 weeks, but we really wanted to wait until our little guy was fully baked at 40 weeks, so we took a gamble that I wouldn't go in to labor before then.

Surgery was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. but Hudson had other plans! I work up that morning at 4:30 a.m. to a big gush of my water breaking. I called out to Jon to let him know what was happening and we called the doctor and were told to come in. I took a quick shower, tried to make my hair look presentable and we were off. I had mostly packed my bag the night before, but had assumed I'd have all morning to get ready. Oh well!

My last belly photo in the Emergency room at 5:30 in the morning. Looking tired and nervous!

I started having contractions in the car on the way to the hospital. We weren't sure if they would wait until my scheduled time for the c-section or if they would take me early. Luckily my doctor arrived at 6:30 am and said let's do this! So we frantically called our families to let them know we were having a baby now!

 At 7:23 a.m. our little guy was born!

 And now we just can't help but stare at him all day. I've never really been that into to babies....but when it's your own you just can't get enough!

 We still can't tell exactly what color hair he has. Right now it looks like it's blonde with a little bit of red in it!

I wasn't sure if I would be the type of person who loved being in the hospital or not. Turns out I hated it. Someone was in our room basically every hour and it was really hard to sleep. Plus I've never been so uncomfortable in my life! Thankfully my doctor let me go home on Friday and things have been much better.

 We've had lots of help from our families and are very grateful that we have this time to focus on learning all about our little guy. 

Thank you for all of your sweet comments on our Hudson! We are so in love!

Introducing......

He's here! Hudson Davis R. was born on his due date, September 5th, at 7:23 a.m.....just a few hours before our scheduled c-section....he was ready to meet us!

7 pounds, 9 oz, and 20 inches long. We are in love!

No Labor Weekend

Today is my first day of maternity leave! So excited not to have to go in to work today! How was your Labor Day? Mine was labor free! We had a pretty wonderful weekend at my mom's lake cottage.

 I mean really. It was gorgeous up there. 

 We relaxed. Ate good food. Went for long walks....you know, the usual.

Wrigley LOVES it at the lake and had the best time.

 

 View from my mom's back yard taken on my iphone. It was the perfect pre-baby trip....I took it easy so that I wouldn't go in to labor. Perfect excuse to take long naps and relax all weekend!

Yummy dinner out on the deck.

 

Wrigley was obsessed with terrorizing this poor squirrel. 

 

 How was your labor day weekend? We ended ours by waiting in a long line at the lake's trash center! Fun times, I tell you!