Amelia is 3 Months!

Amelia at 3 months!

Amelia liked Santa!

Amelia is 3 months old today. It is hard to believe but she is. I have learned so much about her, Steven and myself in the past three months than I think I have my entire life. I couldn't love two people more that these two and am so blessed to have them in my life and as my family. It's hard to believe where we were 3 months ago and so glad that we are figuring things out! Amelia is talking more and more each day which is so much fun. She loves to smile, especially when I am talking to her or smiling at her. She is drooling all of the time which makes me think that she is teething, but it is too early for that! She needs to stop growing so fast! I know that I will think that the rest of her life, but seriously, we have lots to do before she is mobile!

Amelia is 2 Months!

Its hard to believe that Amelia is two months already! She has had a pretty big life so far and it will not slow down with Steven and I as her parents! I am glad that she is a good little traveler because with us she will get to see the world!

Amelia at 2 Months old! 

The beginning of this month Drury was invited to play an exhibition game at Duke University. I don't know if I am crazy or what but at the last moment I decided to take Amelia and drive with Steven's parents! Yes I took a 6 week old baby across country!
We learned a lot on this trip together, me and her! I learned how to change her diaper anywhere! I had to change it in the car because not every restaurant has changing tables! Who would have thought that one! Then we learned how to eat in the car! I would feed her while Steven's parents were inside eating, then I would eat going down the road. Amelia took all of this in stride and did a great job! She even continued to sleep through the night in many different places.
I couldn't be happier that we were able to go to see Steven mark off one of his bucket list items. He had only dreamed of going to a Duke game in his lifetime, and better yet, he was able to practice and coach on the floor against Coach K (and shake his hand)! Needless to say we had a GREAT time, but was very ready to get back home.

This is our little family at Duke and Amelia's first basketball game of many!
Not many kids can say that their first basketball game was at Duke watching their Dad coach!

Amelia also was dedicated to the Lord on Steven's birthday, October 27th. We had lots of family and friends there to attend! Amelia doesn't quite know yet how much she is loved, but she will soon find out. We were truly blessed and humbled by how many people helped us celebrate this wonderful occasion. After church we went to my Dad and Lisa's house for chili and cake. This was one day I will never forget and be so excited to share with Amelia when she gets older.

Also one fun fact, the dress Amelia wore the day she was dedicated is the same dress that I wore when I was baptized. The dress was made by my mother.

Pictures from top to bottom: Steven, Amelia and I at Duke. Amelia sleeping through the second half at Duke. Amelia's day of dedication. Amelia at 2 months. 

One Month Old!

     Amelia is one month old today. It is crazy how fast time flies now! I am planning on taking pictures of her each month and will write down milestones. I think this will be fun for us to look back on in years to come.
     We are really enjoying our days at home and love when we get to have lunch dates with good friends. I think it wears Amelia out though because she normally sleeps through them! She is a very good sleeper! We had a new first just last night when Amelia slept for 6 hours straight! She knows how much her mom likes and needs sleep, because she is just the same!

God is so Good!

Well Amelia is almost a month old and boy have I learned a lot in the past month! Just a few things that I have learned are:
*I love Amelia more than I could ever imagine. Its amazing how you can love a person from the moment you meet them. I have heard that so many times, but to experience it for myself is indescribable. It is just as amazing to see your husband become a Dad and the love that he shares for her as well. God is truly Great!
*The first two weeks are the hardest. After having something that extravagant happen to my body and not getting the sleep to heal was the hardest. We had a rough couple of nights where I didn't get any sleep, but we are now sleeping for a good portion of the night!
*Walks are a great medicine to feel better. Amelia and I are really enjoying this fall weather and have been on many walks. It has been great medicine for me to get out of the house and enjoy the fresh air. It has also been great for my recovery process.

Amelia loved her first DFL Conference! 

Amelia and I are loving our days at home! I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to stay home with her. After spending this time with her I don't think I could have gone back to work if I had to! God is so Good!

Even though we love our days at home, we love getting to visit Steven at work and take him lunch! 

Amelia is already a huge Cardinals fan!

Well if you haven't caught the drift yet, God is full of miracles! God has truly thought of everything and seeing our daughter makes the love I feel for God and Steven that much more. It has been an amazing experience and I know it is only going to get better!

Amelia Leigh Gum has arrived!

Well our little bundle of joy will be a week old tomorrow. Crazy to think of how fast time flies. This whole experience has gone so much easier that we had thought. I know that this is due to the amount of prayers that we had. Thank you so much for all of the prayers and the continued prayers for our new family. 

We were truly blessed on September 16 at 4:00pm with a 8lb 9oz, 21 inch long beautiful and healthy baby girl. 

We were and have been continued to have wonderful visitors coming to the hospital and now the house. Amelia is so blessed with people who love her as much as Steven and I do in her life!

Tomorrow will be the first day for Amelia and myself on our own without Steven as he is going back to work. We were so blessed to have him for a week with us! 

Thank you again for all of the love and support during this transition in our lives. We couldn't do it without all of the prayers received!

Our first family picture with Amelia on Monday night.

Meeting the Pediatrician for the first time can really wear a girl out! 

Amelia is awake more and more every day and we are loving every minute of it! 

36 Weeks!

Well we are now only 3.5 weeks away from meeting our new little bundle of joy! We have the room finished and our bags are packed for the hospital! When we went to the doctor on Monday she measured at 7lbs 3oz. The doctor said she could get to 9lbs if we go full term. ( I am hoping she comes earlier though.)

With extra fabric that I had left over from the curtains and wall decorations, I decided to make a quilt to go on the bed. I measured the quilt but not to fit in the crib and it was the exact size for the crib! I was so excited when it was finished and fit the bed perfectly. My mother in law came to help me finish it because it was my first quilt and I didn't know the best way to put the batting and back on. She taught me so much. This little girl is already so blessed with wonderful extended family that love her so much!
Here are pictures of the quilt and process.

All of the fabric is measured but not sewn together at this point. 

The quit before putting on the backing. 

This is after we measured the backing and before we sewed it on to have a border. 

Here is the finished quit. The gray and white polka-dots is the fabric I used on the back. 

Here is the quilt on the bed with the matching bumpers that I had made on Etsy. I think it turned out pretty good!

I am so excited to bring her home to her new room that we have worked so hard on. I know that people say that pregnant women normally nest the last few weeks of pregnancy. I feel that I have nested the entire pregnancy! Here are the most recent pictures of the nursery as it is now finished!

Not a very good picture, but this is standing in the door way. 

This is the dresser and changing table with reading table on the left. 

The crib finished. One of my favorite things in the room!

The wood we used for this hair bow holder is from my Grandparents barn. It was also used in our wedding for signs. 

Our bags are packed and ready to go! 

Wall Decor

I had an idea to cover four canvases and put them inside of a frame. I went to the FM stores yesterday and picked out 4 different fabrics. I think this was the hardest part of the entire project. The FM stores has so many great fabrics which sometimes makes things hard. After getting a second opinion from a nice girl that works there I successfully picked out my different fabrics.

Getting Started

Measuring the fabric to make sure it will cover the sides equally. 

I already had two canvases that I painted so I stopped by Hobby Lobby to grab two more. I decided that covering the canvases would be a lot easier than painting all of them. I stopped by my Dad's to borrow his staple gun again. I am figuring out quickly that a staple gun is something I am going to ask for at Christmas time. I have had my Dad's more than he has in the past 2 weeks! Thanks Dad!

After getting the staple gun I was able to get started on the project. I first had to measure how big I needed the fabric so it would cover the entire canvas. After measuring all 4 fabrics I began stapling the back of the fabric onto the canvas. 

Once I had all of the canvases done I laid out the design inside of the picture frame to see how I wanted them to go. I then hung the picture frame and all of the canvases on the inside of the frame. It took more time to hang the project than it did making it! I am going to keep this in mind when wanting to redo another room. This project was cheap and very easy!

I decided to hang this above the dresser/changing table! 

I am very pleased with the finished product of these canvases. The best part about this project is that I have fabric left over and am going to attempt to make a quilt out of it. Bringing all of the fabrics and colors together in a quilt to go on the baby's bed will look great. I love it when things come together that I hadn't planned on! 

Check back later this week to see the quilt!

First Pictures of the Nursery

After getting the trunk seat done, I was on a roll and stuck to it. Thursday I started to sand a dresser that we purchased at an antique store in Seymour. The dresser was a dark hunter green. I started on the drawers on thursday and was able to get them completely sanded and painted. I think that they turned out great. I put contact paper inside them to make them a little bit nicer. I also put back on the knobs which I think look great. The date on the knobs is 1960!

Friday I decided to start on the main piece. I sanded it primarily to smooth it down. I had found out with the drawers that I didn't need to take the paint off completely. Why do more work than I needed to? After sanding I started painting. It took 2 coats to cover it and you can still see hints of dark in the piece, but we like it and think it looks more rustic. After it dried we brought it in the house and put the drawers in it and fell in love! I think it turned out pretty good!

To make this week even better, we bought one of our friends cribs. Her two boys never slept in it, so it is pretty much brand new. New to us anyways. She was glad to get rid of it and we were happy to have it. We spent Friday night getting the crib and coming home to put it together. We had a few mishaps while putting it together, but once we got those first few things worked out we were on a roll. I think it matches the rocker great!
I can't help myself to think of movies when the couple is putting together the crib and how that will be me someday. It has now become reality by putting together a crib and being able to see it every time I walk by the nursery that yes we are having a Gumball! This feeling is scary, but amazing all at the same time!

Here is the first look at the Nursery with all of the furniture in it! We still have a few more projects, but it is very exciting to be this close with 3 months still to relax! 

Trunk Remodel

Well today was a day of working for this girl! I had been given an old trunk from my neighbor about a year ago and thought it would be a great piece to put toys in someday in the future. That time has come that we need it. I had the idea to put a cushion and fabric on top so it would make a little window seat for the baby to sit on when she gets older. The inside will be used to put toys in and other things we might need.

The trunk started out Pink when I got it. If I liked lots of pink stuff and thats what the baby's room was going to be in then it would have been a great color, but I am doing gray and yellow. After 2 trips to Lowe's today I now have transformed the pink trunk into a great yellow trunk. Little did I know that the trunk had been painted before the pink. I got stripper to help remove the paint and realized that there was a dark green before the pink. So I stripped the pink first and then the green. Once I was finished with that process I was able to use my new sander to sand the trunk so it would be smooth to paint.

The pink is what the trunk started off as. After taking the paint of with stripper I found the green underneath. This is before I sanded the green side. 

 This is after I finished sanding the trunk and before it was turned yellow! 

 After sanding it was finally ready to be painted yellow. Steven and I had picked out the yellow sometime last week and I was just itching to get it on there to see what it looked like. After 2 coats of paint it is yellow and beautiful!

I got fabric at JoAnn's in Springfield to match the curtains and yellow on Monday. My friend Andrea helped me cut the cushion and fabric. We stapled the fabric on the lid covering the foam cushion. I couldn't have done this without her or Steven. Steven graciously took off the hinges for me so I could do this project and he graciously put the lid back on for me too.
The trunk is finished and now only needs to be put in the room. Thank you to Andrea and Steven who helped me with this project. I can't wait to see what it will look like in the room. Even more having a toddler crawling on it in a couple of years!

Andrea helped me measure the fabric and the foam to fit the lid. 

The finished trunk!

Registering

Who knew there was so much baby items to choose from?! We registered two nights ago and I feel like it is a little overwhelming. Do you get Huggies or Pampers? Do you get this bath or that bath? I feel as though there were more questions and uncertainty than when we registered for our wedding. If there are certain things that you could not do without please let me know. I am up for all suggestions and comments.
We have done a little more in the room since I took pictures last. The room is finally completely cleared out and now we are ready to start moving new things in. I had the bright idea the other night to put a cubby shelf in the closet that we already had. This helped provide more space in the room as well as saved us work in the closet. Now we already have a shelf on top of the cubbies and don't have to make a shelf to put in the closet. I am excited to find little baskets to put in the cubbies so I can put bows, socks, etc. in them. Looking forward to the rest of this summer to get the room completed before baby gumball's arrival!

This is a picture of Steven putting the door back on. We had to remove it to get the cubbies to fit into the closet. Its hard to tell in this picture but there are 12 cubbies and its not just a black blob. 

Baby Gumball Coming Soon!

Well it has been a while since we have blogged, but we have exciting news that most of our friends and family know. In September we will be welcoming a new addition to our family. We are having a little girl!

Currently we are working on cleaning out our office to be the nursery. We sold our desk and shelf yesterday in a garage sale and I have been working hard to clean out the room to make room for baby girl! 

(I don't know why these pictures are sideways.)

We used to store all of these boxes in this closet which we are recycling. The closet is quickly filling back up with baby clothes and diapers. We still have lots to do, but are making good progress. 

The next question is to paint or not!? 

We are doing an animal theme with mainly grey and yellow colors. I want to get gender neutral bedding so it can be used in the future. Our entire house was professionally painted before we moved in so I am hesitant to paint the nursery. I think that the taupe color would still go good with the theme and color scheme that we will have. What are your thoughts?