Tick Tock Clock

I've gotten a ton of compliments and inquiries about the clock I made for Bentley's nursery. So here's how it goes! :)

I started out with this kit that I got as a wedding gift. But, you can easily duplicate this with various sized picture frames from WalMart or Hobby Lobby.

I then positioned the frames in the order that I wanted them and decided which colors I was going to paint which frames. Then, I labeled them accordingly. (Note: I labeled the paper and the back of the actual frame so I could remember which fram was supposed to go back in which position)

This is everything that came in the kit.

Positioned accordingly and labeled (B-Brown, G-Green, C-Cream)

Then I went about painting the frames. I used an acrylic paint in 3 shades that coordinated with Bentley's room.

Paints I used in Melted Chocolate, Kiwi, and Antique White.

After 3 coats, the frames were ready!

After the frames were painted, I started choosing and cutting scrapbook paper for the numbers. I chose to use animal prints to go with the Lion King/Safari theme. I cut out a background matte for each number and then the actual number. I used just a couple of dots of hot glue to attach them (use a strong adhesive or Glue Dots on paper with glitter--I learned that the hard way).

Scrapbook paper pack from Michael's.

One of my numbers all ready to go.

After cutting and mounting all the numbers, I simply popped them in the frames and put them up on the wall! I'm very pleased with the final product and Bentley seems to love it too. :)

Nursery Rhymes

Hallelujah! I finally had the time (and the capital) to put together Bentley's nursery! :) I've been dying to do this since the day I found out I was pregnant with the little bugger and my vision has finally become a reality. The story, I believe, is best told in photos. 

Before I even knew if I was having a boy or a girl I decided on the Lion King theme. 

This is the changing station with the clock I made.
(Separate post coming with a step-by-step on the clock)

Cozy corner.

Bentley's Baby Blessing certificate.

My big boy's crib (that he has not yet slept in... lol)

I wish you could see the cool textured paper that his name is made out of. It has leaves on it.

So that, in a nutshell, is my boy's room. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I'm sure I'll be adding to it as time goes on, but it's a pretty good start... if I do say so myself. And I do. ;)

And, as I'm sure you're wondering about the little monster himself, he is doing wonderfully. He is now 3 months old and weighing in around 12.5 lbs and about 24" long. He's so hard to dress being so tall and lean! He is the happiest baby--always smiling. But the one comment we get from everyone who meets him is that he's "so alert"! He really is, though. You can see the little wheels turning in his head as he observes everything and everyone around him. He doesn't want to miss a single thing. He loves bath time and cuddling with Mommy and Daddy. He's learning how to sit up in his Bumbo seat and he continues to do well with tummy time. He's so strong, this boy. It's insane. I'll leave you with a few gems to oooohh and aaaaahh over until next time. :)

I love getting new outfits to spit up on!

Mommy's shiny happy boy. :)

I'm sleepin, yo.

Overload

Prepare yourself for quite possibly the longest and most ridiculously jam packed blog post ever.

Since the last time I blogged:

• Taylor & I were sealed in the Orlando Temple
• I gave birth to the most perfect baby boy
• My mom and grandmom came to Florida
• Baby was in the hospital

In addition to day-to-day life and all the new developments that have come with motherhood over the last 5 weeks.

Our Sealing

Families are forever.

Taylor and I made our marriage eternal on March 7, 2012 in the Orlando, FL temple. My best friend, Mary flew all the way here from MD to be with me on the most important day of my life and it was amazing having her here. Our sealing was attended by an intimate group of family and friends and it was absolutely perfect. We are so grateful to know that our family is forever and we were especially thankful to baby for not showing up before this most important day so he could be born under the covenant. Speaking of baby...

Bentley Taylor Smith

Welcome to the world, little guy!

My perfect little man was born on March 21, 2012 at 6:40 am. He weighed in at 7 lb 2 oz and was 21 inches. But getting him here was no easy task. Allow me to share his birth story:

My due date was Sunday the 18th, but that day came and went... along with Monday. Early Tuesday morning I took a trip to triage for some concerns I was having but they sent me straight home as I was still only 1 cm dilated and not contracting regularly. I took a nap, went out to dinner with my in-laws, and had a seemingly uneventful day... until bedtime. At around 11:00 pm I started having the most horrible headache I've ever had in my entire life. I was in tears and I started shaking uncontrollably. When this all culminated in me getting sick, we decided to call my OB. He suggested that I head back to triage to make sure everything was OK. We arrived at 2:15 am and proceeded to sit int he waiting room until 4:00. Once they finally got me back to triage, they ascertained that I was still only 1 cm dilated, but my contractions were 5 minutes apart (although very mild). The doctor finally came in with some medicine for my headache and said that they would probably just send me home with a prescription but she wanted to check with my doctor before discharging me. She came back about 5 minutes later with a surprised look on her face and said "Actually, we're admitting you to be induced since you're past your due date anyway." My jaw dropped. I came in for a headache and I was leaving with a baby! 

Waiting...

Around 10:00 am I was moved to my cozy antepartum room where I was FINALLY able to get some food (yay room service!) and Taylor was able to take a nap. They began the induction process at 11:30 am by giving me a dose of Cervidil to help dilate my cervix. I then had 12 hours to sit back and wait. My contractions continued to increase in intensity during this and by the time the 12 hours were over I was having to breathe through each contraction. At 11:30 I was informed that I was dilated 2 cm and baby was VERY low so we were moving to Labor & Delivery! We got to L&D around 1:00 am and they started the Pitocin. This is also when I caved and got my epidural. (For the record, I had really wanted to try to go naturally. But at this point I was so exhausted and my contractions had been pretty strong for a long time. I had no fight lieft in me and if I was going to push this baby out, I was gonna need some help.) By 3:15 am my water had broken and I was dilated to a 4. I decided to try to get some sleep to get myself ready for the workout ahead of me. When I woke up about an hour later I turned to Taylor and said, "Hun, I think you should call the nurse. I think I feel like I wanna push?" She came in and told me not to get my hopes up. But, lo and behold, I was almost to 10 cm and about ready to push! Everybody got ready, the midwife came in and we got down to business. After about an hour or so of pushing he was here! It was the longest day/night of my life, but it was totally worth it! 

Meeting my boy for the first time.

To save you the trouble I'll give you the Readers Digest version of the last few weeks. After Bentley was born, my mom and Grandmom Rose came to FL to help out. They cooked and froze a ton of meals for Taylor and I and spent every waking moment fawning over my cute little dude.  On the 28th, though, we all ended up back at the hospital because baby boo had apparently come down with a urinary tract infection. Taylor and I spent 2 days by his side--and sharing a twin bed--while he got tested and treated. Since then he's had some issues trying to gain weight, and breastfeeding has been an uphill battle for us. But, at 5 weeks, I can finally say that things are going well and Bentley is thriving (and Mommy is sleeping--yay!). 

Hopefully now that this is all caught up, I'll be better about posting his cuteness for you all to enjoy. For now, I'm taking the lazy route--here's a taste, and see Facebook for more photos. ;)

My sleepy puppy :)

Celebrate!

February supplied us with lots and lots to celebrate.

First on the agenda: Aging! I celebrated my 24th birthday this month and for the first time actually felt a little 'blah' about getting older. When you think about it, most birthdays up to this point have some level of excitement attached: 16, 18, 21... But 24 was kind of an eye-opener. I remember turning to Taylor and saying "This means I'm almost 25. Which means I'm almost 30! Gross!" So, how does one counteract the effects of realizing she's getting older? Why, celebrate like a kid, of course! My amazing husband took me to Disney's Polynesian Resort where they host a daily character breakfast complete with yummy food and huggable characters. It was bliss.

My birthday card signed by Lilo, Stitch, Pluto, and Mickey. :)

Mickey loved the belly. 

Hubby and his kindred spirit: Stitch.

Waiting for our table at 'Ohana.

Immediately following my birthday is, of course, Valentine's Day! This was our first Valentine's as a married couple and it did not disappoint. Taylor came home from work with a wonderful card and beautiful flowers and I spent the majority of the day/night preparing what was nothing short of a feast for my wonderful hubby. We had sparkling cider and spinach & artichoke puffs for an appetizer; followed by a salad (complete with heart-shaped tomatoes). We then dove into chicken parmigiana with capellini; all topped off with some yummy cheesecake for dessert. I was definitely proud of my work and by the look on his face and the gratuitous belching that followed, I think Taylor enjoyed himself too.

Cute card and roses from my Valentine. <3 

So while everyone else's February celebrations may have ended there, mine did not. The wonderful ladies in my ward threw me a Baby Shower! For those of you who know about the debacle that became the original baby shower I was planning on, this was such a huge blessing. I apologize that I didn't take more/better pictures. There was tons of yummy food, blue-frosted cookies, and all kinds of baby boy cuteness. B got TONS of cute outfits and some much-needed necessities like a bath tub and lots of diapers. I'm so grateful to these awesome women who barely know me but are so generous and loving (and, not to mention, SO excited to meet our little man!)

Knee-deep in gifts, getting ready to start the marathon of unwrapping.

We got so much cute sports stuff for our future all-star.

I know I look insane, but the faux Harley bottle was just too cute not to post. 

And last, but certainly not least, perhaps the biggest reason for celebration brought about by these last few weeks comes with two magical words:

FULL      TERM!

That's right! I have hit the 37 week mark of my pregnancy and Baby B now has full medical clearance to show up on the scene whenever he darn well pleases. I can't believe it! Now, keep in mind, that he has been very sternly told not to arrive until after March 7th (reasoning for which will be made clear in the next post) but, as far as his physical faculties are concerned, he is ripe and ready to go! I seriously cannot wrap my head around the fact that he's going to be here so soon... or that I've been pregnant for THIS long... but I am so excited. I'm excited to have my body back to only having one person inside of it and to not have to pee or chew a Tums every 10 minutes. But, more than anything, I'm so excited to finally share him with Taylor. He has been so attentive and so patient through my entire pregnancy and I feel like I get all the reward up to this point. I'm so excited to see him hold his little boy and to finally feel the fact that he's real. He's already proven to be such an amazing daddy as he reads a bedtime story to my belly every single night and talks & sings to B every chance he gets. It brings tears to my eyes when he lays down next to me and gives the baby a play-by-play of the latest sporting event and tells him all about how he's going to be such a great missionary someday and get married in the temple to a great girl like his mama. I really am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man and I hope my children will someday be as grateful as I am that I chose him to be their dad. 

And, don't worry, I didn't forget to include a pic of me and the basketball I'm currently hauling around under my dress.

Here's 37 weeks in all her glory!

Time Flies When You're A Planet

If there's one thing I'm learning whilst being pregnant it's how to prioritize. 

While I used to be the type of person that had to do every single thing on my to-do list or the day felt like a total waste, I've mellowed out a little bit. (I said a little bit) I told Taylor just last night that my goal between now and when baby comes is to learn to live by the mantra "Let it go." Like only getting 3 out of 4 loads of laundry done yesterday. When we came home from childbirth class at 9:45pm, I had every intention of putting the last load in and staying up until it was done. But an amazing thing happened when I realized that the basket of dirty clothes was not going to get up and walk away (with the exception of some of Taylor's socks) if I didn't wash them that very moment. So they remained in their basket prison until this morning when I very leisurely plopped them into the washer with a grande feeling of accomplishment.

It may not sound like much to you, but it's a big step for this control freak. 

I bring up this goofy laundry anecdote because I realize that it's been almost 2 months since my last post. And while it bothers me that I am not nearly as diligent as some of my fellow bloggers at getting regulars postings up here, I realize that it's one more thing for me to learn to let go of. So, on that note, here's the last 6 weeks in a nutshell:

December/January was family-paloozza for Mr. Smith and I. It started with my grandparents' visit in early December. Then, the coolest people I know--my mom and dad--came to visit for a few days following Christmas. I was so grateful to have my twinnie here to share in my maternity madness. See, I had been living in my sweats and Taylor's t-shirts for most of the latter part of my pregnancy because I was SO not shelling out mucho dinero for maternity clothes. But, my mother (being the fashionista that she is) found this utterly unacceptable and came to my rescue. I now have a fully stocked maternity wardrobe to get me through these last couple months and for future bambinos to come. We really enjoyed spending time with my parents while they were here, especially getting to celebrate my mom's birthday with her, too. Well, the same day my parents left Orlando, we received a phone call from my father-in-law at about 10:30 pm informing us that we should quickly pack a bag and head down to their house because we were going to Texas for New Years! So, scramble we did, and 20 hours later we were in Dallas with Taylor's brother Josh and his family. We had a blast kicking back with them in their new house and Josh had even planned a very elaborate murder mystery party for New Years Eve that was a lot of fun. Then we packed up the puppies and drove back to sunny Florida to start off 2012. Fear not, I'm not finished... The very next week, Taylor's sister BreAnne and her family came to Orlando from Idaho for a week-long Disney adventure! So we spent that week going to the parks with them and playing a lot of board games. It was awesome.

But, needless to say, the pregnant girl was pooped! By the time all was said and done, I spent 2 days in bed with sore muscles and lack-of-sleep-crankiness just trying to recuperate from all the family fun. haha I'm glad to have things calmed down a little bit now and just spending time trying to get myself together and get ready for baby's impending arrival. 

On that note, here's the obligatory belly pic:

32 weeks

The picture's a little out-dated since I'm now almost 34 weeks along, but you get the point: I'm round. haha Baby B has been very active and we went to the doctor yesterday for yet another run-of-the-mill appointment. I love being one of my OB's most boring patients because that means nothing's wrong. :) B's heart rate is strong in the 160's and I'm measuring right where I should be. I only gained 1 lb. in the last 2 weeks, which I think brings me to a whopping 7 lbs. for my whole pregnancy so far. (Don't get too jealous, it's mostly as a result of the ridiculous amont of weight I lost from being so sick during the 1st trimester) But, so far, everything looks good. I have near-chronic heartburn and have to pee every hour, on the hour, but compared to what I hear some women go through, I think I've been pretty blessed. 

On the horizon: house/puppy-sitting for my in-laws all weekend while they fly to Idaho for our nephew's baptism, my birthday!, Valentine's Day, my baby shower, and I'm sure much more. February is shaping up to be an exciting month, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't so so anxious for it to be March. :)