Hello world. I'm new here!

Well hello everyone.

I would like to introduce you to the sweetest baby girl on the planet!!

Penelope Grace was born on September 6 @ 10:22am, weighing 8lbs 2oz and 20.5inches.

Her birth was a little intense to say the least.

I was hoping for a vbac but as the cut-off to go into labor on my own {41wks} approached, my Dr advised me that I needed a back up plan. An induction or a repeat c/s. My first was a failed induction after 18hrs of hard labor, so I decided my back up plan was going to just be another c/s, just in case an induction would have been a repeat from the first one {not to mention inductions can make vbac's more risky}.

I was initially scheduled for Thursday morning {earrrly} but I got a phone call the night before from my Dr about rescheduling for Thursday afternoon... Okay, a little bummed but whatever. Thursday came. I was nervous, we all were. Just anxiously awaiting for the clock to strike 1pm so we could make our journey to labor and delivery. As the morning progressed I received another phone call. They had to reschedule again due to an emergency c/s that needed to be done asap on another pregnant patient. At the time they didn't know when I could be rescheduled but said they would call back and let me know and that they are going to get me scheduled as soon as they can {apparently they had a massive baby boom around the time I had Penelope}.

I was bummed but understood.

That night while lying in bed, labor and delivery called me and informed me that they were able to schedule me in for the next morning {Friday morning}. The nerves started to set in ...again... in hopes that this time, it was for real.

Josh and I left the house around 5am-ish and drove the stretch of empty roadways on our way to the hospital. We didn't really say much to one another. I had a million things going through my mind. Lots of emotions. This was our final 'journey' as being parents to just one child and that when we travel this same stretch of road again, we will be the parents of two children. Everything just seemed so surreal. I was tired and wanted to take a nap but I couldn't close my eyes. It was like it was physically impossible for me to do so.

We arrived at the hospital. Checked in and they brought us to the Recovery room where they had me shed the clothes and cloak myself in the fancy hospital gown. I got comfortable {or as comfortable as I could} on the bed and the Nurse had me fill out some forms while another nurse came and put my IV in {thankfully I have no horror stories of how she had to stick me 5+ times and blew my veins out}. After the forms were filled out Josh and I just kind of sat there. The room wasn't small but it wasn't big either. It was large enough for two recovery beds and there was a 'Nurses' station to the other end of the wall along with a bathroom. It was going on 8am and they wheeled another Mama into the recovery room. First her husband wheeling their new baby in the hospital nursery bed and then her in the recovery bed. I remember she looked at me and smiled. It was sweet. She had just had major surgery but our smiles were from one mother to another. A 'Good luck and Congrats' kind of smile. Their baby started to cry and it made me tear up a bit because I knew that in just a short time we would be them. Holding our brand new baby girl in our arms.

9:45 came and they brought me into the OR. Everyone seemed very upbeat and happy, which was nice. My spinal block was put in and I was ready to go. Josh walked in and sat down next to me. The coming moments were just blank. Nothing really went on other then what normally goes on when they start to perform a c-section. Then it seemed like I had a hard time breathing, like I was gasping for air and that's when I realized that something wasn't right. The doctors and nurses were anxiously shouting things back and fourth to one another but I didn't really hang on to the words they were saying as I was to busy trying to breath. I could tell the bed/table I was strapped to was moving vigorously and after about 10mins of this, they pulled her out. I could breath again but the silence was deafening.

I turned my head and looked at Josh. He could see where they brought her. He looked at me and had this look of worry. I had never seen him look like that before. He kept looking back at the nurses who had Penelope and then looking at me, each time, the same look of worry worse then the look before. I don't remember all that was said but I heard someone shout 'Baby crash cart' and the tears began flowing. I felt numb. I looked up at the ceiling. I didn't know what to do, what to say, what to think... All I wanted was to hear her cry. No soon after that I heard just that. I heard her start to squeak and then she started to cry. A nurse turned back to Josh and gave him the thumbs up. I looked at him, he looked at me and his eyes were watery and I knew he was smiling under the hospital garb he was wearing on his face.

They moved part of the curtain that was draped above me to the side a bit so I could see. By now there were only about 2 nurses around Penelope. I couldn't see her really but I saw two little legs and two very tiny little feet sticking up and moving all around. I started to cry again.

It turns out they were having a hard time getting her out of my belly. It was like she was stuck in there and it took all the doctors and nurses to pry her out of there. I guess the stress from it all caused her h/r to slow way down but they got her out just in time. One nurse said that if they hadn't of gotten her out in that moment they did they would have made another cut {vertical} above the one they already made. I didn't care. As long as my little girl was okay they can do what they need to with me.

After a 48hr stay in the hospital {which had the best nurses I have ever had!}, we headed home for Big Brother to meet his new baby sister. He is all smiles and is amazed at how tiny she is. The first time he held her she started squeaking and he became wide eyed and told us he didn't know why she did that and didn't know what to do lol. He has a lot to learn but as each day passes he is catching on.

My heart is completely full. I am so in love and feel so complete. This pregnancy has gone by fast for me. With my first everything was 'new' to me so time seemed to go a lot slower. Since I knew what it was like to be pregnant it was as if nothing had changed from before I was pregnant. We continued on with our routine without a care in the world and part of me was afraid about not having the same connection with this pregnancy as I did with my first. Would it carry over to when she was born? Well I quickly found out... NO. This little girl has stolen the remaining piece of my heart and has it locked up tight in her little body. Just looking at her, I want to cry tears of joy and happiness.

She has truly completed our family :)

Project Nursery - Progress

I feel bad about the state of my Blog. I wake up everyday with the intentions of writing a post by the end of the day but when the end of the day actually comes, honestly im to pooped to sit down in front of the computer to write a post up.

I am hoping I will get my energy back once the little one is born {haha ya right}.

A couple of weekends ago my mother-in-law came for the weekend to help with anything we needed to get done with the baby room. It just so happened to be the same weekend we got our crib and dresser that I ordered online. So she headed on over and we went and picked out a color for the room while Josh stayed back and put together the furniture.

I knew I wanted something that was more of a cool tone but not to cool. I bought a few sample colors {I can't remember what they were} and they just didn't do anything for me. So then we headed back to the store and after looking through a variety of colors I came across this one. Valspar's 'Foggy Mirror'. I liked how it was cool but not to cool {but of course cool enough to be in baby girls room hehe} and I also liked how it was a bit creamy. Not sure if that's how you would describe paint color but I liked how creamy it was.

And now for the current state of the Nursery....

With 2.5-3 months left we have gotten a lot more done then I thought we would have gotten done at this point. The bookshelf was a score from my mother-in-law, the crib is by Carters, and the original dresser I had bought for the room, once it came I decided to axe the idea of having it in the Nursery and instead put it in Jayden's room. I took the vintage dresser I had re-done for his room a few years ago and put it in the Nursery instead. It just seemed more 'feminine' compared to the one I ordered {which I really like, just didn't seem to fit in with the Nursery}.

I also had a lot of help from future Big Brother :)

So here is the break-down as far as what has been done and what still needs to be done.

Nursery Progress Checklist
-Clear out 3rd bedroom
-Buy and assemble crib {Carters Child of Mine Woodhaven fixed side crib - $143.00 @ Wal-Mart}
-Buy crib mattress {Safety 1st Heavenly Dreams - $53.00 @ Target}
-Buy and assemble dresser {Room Essentials 6-Drawer Dresser - $155.00 @ Target... moved into J's room and using the $20.00 Goodwill dresser re-done from 3yrs ago}
-Buy rocker/glider {Vintage find - $39.00 @ Goodwill}
-Paint walls {Valspar Foggy Mirror in Semi Gloss - $35.00 @ Lowes}
-Hang photos and handmade paintings/art
-Hang Mirror
-Find fabric for crib skirt
-Sew crib skirt
-Find crib blanket
-Buy changing pad {Safety 1st contour changing pad - $20.00 @ Wal-Mart}
-Find floor lamp {Floor lamp c/o mother in law - Free!!}
-Find bookshelf {Target bookshelf c/o mother in law - Free!!}
-Find a good area rug
-Storage baskets {Target and TJMaxx - No more then $7.00 for one basket}
-Curtains

Do any of you mama's have any good ideas for some storage other then baskets? Under the bed crib storage perhaps? It's been over 5yrs since I have worked on anything remotely close to a Nursery so this is almost all new to me :)

Baby Bean is a ..........................

So you wanna know what baby bean is? :)

We had our very much anticipated gender u/s last week and I was so anxious I could hardly contain it. Josh and I headed out to our appt. that Monday morning as giddy as a 5yr old on Christmas morning. After getting checked in, we waited a bit... I played some stupid game on my phone to try and pass the minutes which seemed like hours, then we were called back to the u/s room.

I lay down on the chair-thingy and the u/s tech, after squeezing some warm jelly on my belly, started moving the wand over my belly and immediately we saw our little beany-bean.

Then after scanning around a few seconds the u/s tech said 'Sooo are you ready to find out what the baby is!?'.

YES!

Beany-bean is 100% Girl!

I almost cried. I always knew I wanted our second to be a girl, to have one of each. To actually hear the tech tell us and to see it confirmed on the u/s was just so overwhelming and really filled us up with joy and that much more excitement.

Now that we know we are having a girl, I couldn't wait to start.... shopping!

This weekend we went out to the outlets to get J some new clothes {the kid is seriously growing like a weed!} and of course we had to pick out a few outfits for baby girl.

We also stopped at Target and I was so happy to see the stroller I wanted, in the colors I wanted, was there and there was only ONE left, so we picked that up as well.

The room however needs some work. I just haven't had the urge to go through all my stuff and purge it into the office with the rest of the stuff I had already moved in there. Today was a rainy day and we did get our room cleaned out and also went through J's room, through all his old clothes and really just deep cleaned everything. Am I nesting? I'm not 100% sure just yet but I know it's coming, slowly but surely, the nesting will really kick into full force!

Quick Thursday Update

Happy Thursday friends!

Just wanted to pop in and say im still here! There won't be a bump update every week. I decided I am going to do one every '5 weeks' {at least for the blog anyways}. So my next Bump update will be on Monday where I will be exactly 15 weeks :)

I have my first appt. with my new doctor on Monday as well. I can't wait. This is my new doctor that I switched to, the one who agreed on a vbac. I secretly hope she does an ultrasound in which I will casually ask her what she 'thinks' the gender is :) We shall see!

I don't want to jinx myself but I think my nausea and vomiting are finally on the outs. I had a rough weekend of it along with a massive migraine that started Sunday and lasted right through to Monday, but so far the rest of the week has been pretty good otherwise.

In shop news {in case you are wondering}, basically the shop has been on hiatus since finding out I was preggo. I have been so sick my first trimester that all I ever wanted to do was sleep and be lazy or I was attached to the damn toilet. Also, we are in the process of moving everything out of the studio and into the office for the future baby room so all of my things are all mixed up and all over the place. I am hoping sometime within the next month and a half I will have everything more organized and ready to start on some new designs {I have even thought about bringing back some sewing items as well!}.

Other then that, nothing else to report. Just same ol' same ol' in the McCoy household :)

Baby Bump - 13 weeks + Good news!

How im feeling? - Slowly but surely my nausea and morning sickness is fading ... um.. ya did I say slowly? cause I seriously meant slowly. Luckily I don't have that constant feeling of wanting to vomit all day and all night but now it's more so just random. But boy, when it hits, it hits and it hits with a vengeance and I have also noticed if I overeat, my nausea and vomiting kicks it into high gear and 'kindly' reminds me 'hell no!'. I still have my days of feeling tired and I still find myself snuggling into bed with my Kindle around 9pm sharp {oh wait, who am I kidding. I did that before I got pregnant too}.

Craving? - This week? Bagels and cream cheese. My goodness, carbs just need to go away. For good. Other then that I haven't been craving anything really. I do have to have ice chips in my water. Have to. I find that, that is the only way I can drink my water, as long as it has the ice chips in it.

Weight Gain? - Ha! Let's not even go there yet. I am short and well us short people? Every little lump, bump and 0.5lb gain is gonna show. Ya. It sucks. My fingers retain water a lot easier these days. Every where else is fine {ankles, calves, legs... etc}. Just my hands. But even before I got pregnant my hands always, very easily retained water. Not cute {at least I have the bump now to distract the attention away from the sausage fingers O.o}.

Mood? - For the most part, same as always. Although today I seemed to have quite a bit of mini-meltdowns. At the dog for chewing on an old chair that was going to be thrown out anyways. At J for kicking his door and at Josh for saying the dogs should stay outside {no!}. Aye....

Sleep? - Eh. It could be better. It's not bad but I do seem to wake up quite a few times during the night for no real reason, besides having to use the bathroom {which right now during the night im at 1-2 times}. Sometimes the nausea punches me in the gut during a sound sleep and wakes me right up. Last night the dogs decided 1AM was the perfect time to just randomly start chewing at each others faces playing and well that woke me up and so I played a few word games on my kindle in bed until I felt like I could go back to sleep again.

And so you all can see this bump has a 'face' ;)

In other news. Well I should say fantastic news... I found a new doctor! If you read my 12 week update then you would have read where my doctor informed me that with her and the hospital, a vbac would have been a big NO-go. Well... that's a big NO-no for me. I did some research and I believed I had found another doctor/hospital that would do them. I called the doctors office that following week and after speaking to a nurse on the phone and answering some questions about my first pregnancy and c-section, she called me back after speaking with the doctor and told me that she {the doctor} will allow me to try for a vbac {yay!}. Make a long story short, went and broke up with my old doctor, signed the release form for my records. New doctor received my records a day later, called me and scheduled me for my first appt {with her} which is in about 2 weeks.

I am so relieved. Honestly, a vbac was something I truly wanted. I wanted the ability to at least try and so thankful I found a doctor who will let me do just that... try. I feel like now that, that's out of the way I can relax a lot more and really enjoy the pregnancy now.

Yay for second trimester!

Baby Bump - 12 weeks

How im feeling? - This first trimester has been draining, tiring and nauseating. This week {and the few days leading up to it} I have slowly started to feel my energy come back. I am not feeling as tired as I have been in previous weeks and my nausea... instead of being all day 24/7 it is now off and on and totally random which leads me to believe it's starting to stall out and boy am I excited about that!

Craving? - Pizza. I am usually a big fan of pizza but now I really want pizza. Even if that means half the time the pizza won't stay down for very long {sorry}. Biscuits {especially Cracker Barrels biscuits}, anything chocolate and Black Cherry Greek yogurt w/sliced strawberries. 

Maternity clothes? - Yes and im not ashamed of it either. With my first pregnancy I started 'showing' around 13/14 weeks. This time, even earlier. I bought the belly band thing but honestly? I don't really care for it. Not to mention I was in need of some new jeans anyways but instead of going out and buying new jeans {will wait after baby} I just bought some maternity ones instead. Why don't I care for the belly band thingy? I hate how it always feels like it's riding up in the back. It's just so much easier to throw on a pair of jeans that already have the 'stretchy' built in. Plus... I, for one, think maternity jeans are insanely comfortable.

Mood? - Same as it is when not pregnant.

Sleep? - All in all, sleeping is okay. I have some nights where I wake up in a hot sweat or toss and turn. Besides waking up around 3am to use the bathroom, sleeping is so far so good. I'm not a big stomach sleeper so I've already been sleeping on my sides.


Overall everything is good so far. Weight gain still freaks me out because I gained so much with Jayden {and managed to lose all of said gained weight}. Now that my energy is coming back and the sun is staying out a little longer each day, I plan to start walking around the neighborhood {that's more then I did with my first pregnancy}. I know it's not much but it's something and I enjoy getting out in the fresh air {the dogs will love it too}.

I have had two appts. so far and everything looks great with the baby. Although I am researching a new doctor/hospital. Not because I don't like my doctor {because I do} but I am really hoping to try for a vbac and the hospital {the one my doctor is affiliated with} does not do vbacs. I think I might have found a doctor and hospital who does and will be calling within the week to confirm if in fact they do.

I haven't bought anything for the baby except 5 little 'neutral' onesies. With my first one I jumped the gun because I couldn't wait to start shopping and ended up buying everything 'neutral' which at that time was in the form of Winnie-the-pooh {lol!}. Ya, this time... I am going to wait it out to buy the majority of the items until we find out if Baby M is a boy or a girl {say no to pooh!}.

I am really just looking forward to getting into the 2nd trimester. I think because we found out soooo early {I was around 4 weeks} it just seems like time has been dragging, but now that we are nearing the end of the first trimester, it does seem like things are starting to speed up a bit and become more routine :)

Project Nursery - If Baby M is a Girl

Ever since the day I found out I was pregnant I have been dreaming up ideas in my head about what the nursery will look like. I know we have some time to get it all done but this mama likes to be prepared {hello, I bought a crib when I was 7 weeks preggo with my son, talk about early start}!

With the arrival of a new brother or sister for J, many friends and family have been asking where the baby room will be. It's already a known fact that our house has 3 bedrooms {plus an additional office} but everyone knows the 3rd bedroom is home to my studio/craft room.

Well. Due to these recent and upcoming events, the studio will have to be moved/downsized. Everything that you see inside the room now will be moved to the office. I am pretty confident that with the right organizing techniques I will be able to fit everything in there nicely and still be able to utilize all my stuff.

The long white table has already been taken out. It now sits in the storage room out in the garage. It actually works good out there for all of Josh's tools and what not, so it wasn't completely a lost cause when deciding what to do with it.

Today I am showing you my nursery inspiration for Baby M if 'she' is in fact a girl {next week I will show you my inspiration is 'he' is a boy}.

All of these items are inspiration. Some of them are way to pricey for my liking, however I am hoping I can possibly snag something up 'similar' in taste and style for much cheaper.

1. Crib - Child Craft London Euro Style Stationary Crib $199.90 on Amazon {originally $239.99}. I really want a modern type crib for this baby. I like classic white and I also like grey. I like the simple lines and style of this particular crib and for the price, it ain't to bad compared to some of the more 'traditional' types of cribs you would find at the big box baby stores and Target.

2. Glider - Babyletto Nara Glider $749.00 at Babies R Us. YAAAA not paying almost 800 bucks for a chair however a glider is a must. We didn't have a glider with Jayden. We did have an old hand made rocking chair that was passed down and although it was nice, rocking a newborn at 3 in the morning on a stiff rocking chair isn't exactly all that ideal....A close friend of mine who is due within the next couple of weeks snagged a similar glider chair {and ottoman} off craigslist, practically brand new, for about $100.00 for their nursery. I have been scouring craigslist like nobodies business for something similar in color/style!

3. Crib Sheets & Pillows/Blankets - Pebble Grey Crib Sheets and Rabbit Patch Collection from Little Auggie $215.00 for the set. I love the little simple design of the Forrest animals and the colors on the sheets/blankets. I don't think I can shell out $215.00 for some sheets though. I do believe Etsy will have what I am looking for, and what better way to buy something hand made!

4. Rug - Herringbone Rug from Urban Outfitters. This rug I might be snagging up quicker then I thought. The baby room isn't exactly huge so a 5x7 will work perfectly. This 5x7 rug from Urban Outfitters is $89.00! Not to bad. Do any of you have this rug? How is it holding up?

5. Baby - Decor - Items - The owl is a little bank and is $12.00 @ Urban Outfitters. The cute little knitted animals are made by Harvesting Heart on Etsy and are listed as $35.00 and the wooden frame is also from Urban Outfitters and is priced at $20.00.

6. Table Lamp - Eden Table Lamp $129.00 @ Land of Nod. Craigslist, Target... pretty much anywhere I know I will be able to find a simple shaped lamp, even with new paint and possibly a new drum shade, will be much, much cheaper then $129.00. I didn't want the nursery to look like a bottle of pepto-bismol blew up all over the room, but at the same time I did want to have some pink. Just enough to be girly, but not to over the top.

7. Dresser - Steppe 6-drawer Dresser from Crate and Barrel. I'm not even going to list the price on this bad boy. I will let you click on the link and see for yourself. Geeez Louise! We have a couple of local Goodwills and Waterfront Rescue Missions around here that typically sell a lot of the 'vintage/retro' style furniture. I am pretty confident I will find something at one of them to work in with the nursery. That's where I got Jayden's dresser and for $20.00 too!

8. Curtains - Dawn Earth Embroidered Chevron Window Panels by Mudhut $39.99-$49.99 @ Target. I like chevron but not a whole bunch of chevron. I like these curtain panels because they have the chevron I like but it's not to over powering. I also like the colors too. I have never bought curtain panels for full price and have usually always made my own with queen/king size sheets and my sewing machine, but I might have to buy some actual curtains for once because I really like these!

9. Be Brave Artwork & Midwest Floral Bouquet Artwork - Be Brave is from Studio Mela on Etsy and is listed for $18.00 {8x10} and the Midwest Floral is from Little low Studio on Etsy and is listed for $16.00. Both super cute and love the colors!

So there are the beginning stages of creating a nursery for Baby M. Of course at this point, assuming Baby M is a girl. I really want to have a nursery with some color but at the same time that's also soothing and relaxing. I don't want anything 'loud' or super bright. At least night yet anyways :)

I'm back! and... Oh Baby!

Hello friends!


If you {my followers to Little Brick House} even remember me {it's been quite some time}, yes my last post on this blog was about me moving over to wordpress. Wordpress didn't work out so well for me {Blogger is a more comfortable platform in my opinion}. Then I took a bit of a bloggy break here and there, played around with the idea of changing my blog name... yada yada... in the end I decided to come back to where it all started- Little Brick House.

And I have got some news! :)

You see, on Christmas Day there was another unexpected, yet not so unexpected Christmas gift for us.

On Christmas day, we found out that I am pregnant with baby #2! :)

Yes. Expected in the sense we were trying. Unexpected in the sense we didn't think we would get a positive right on Christmas day!

So why the month off? Well... This pregnancy has been the complete opposite of my first pregnancy. The bean has been kicking my butt, but for good reason of course. I have been having extreme fatigue since about a week after we found out. I mean to the point I could barely make it home from work I was so tired. Come home and skip dinner because I was so tired. Fall asleep on the couch {when normally I don't ever really do that}. Weekends I am usually a bushel of energy. Cleaning, crafting, family time... you name it. This past month?? Every weekend I have been super lazy. Not because I don't want to do things but I am just so tired to even attempt to start on something. I can't even tell you the amount of naps I have been having every weekend, off and on.

The other thing? Nausea. Yep. Fun.

I never really had nausea with my first pregnancy. When I did, it came around 11-12 weeks and only came in the morning. By about 9am I was good to go. Now?... HA! Non stop, all day and all night. Just off and on. Comes in waves. Started about 5 weeks. Luckily my doctor. Bless her heart, prescribed me some Zofran. It has helped tremendously but every now and then the nausea creeps through the medicine and there ain't really nothing I can do about it.

We had our first doctor appt. on January 22. I had an ultrasound and got to see the little bean. Doctor said everything looked perfect and the baby had a strong HB. My next appt. is in a couple of days :) Of course my nerves will settle once we head into the 2nd trimester, but until then, just still soaking it all in that I am pregnant. I already have a bump and im bloated everywhere, but it's been so long since Ive been pregnant and so long since we had a little baby in the house that everything sort of seems surreal.

With the news that were are expecting baby #2, that meant.... car shopping! It's also been so long since either of us had another vehicle. We knew we needed one now because my car is a small 2-door sports car and the back seat is smaller then the trunk. Our truck is 4 door but the heat/A/C mysteriously stop working whenever they feel like it. Both vehicles are paid off so we felt we were okay with moving ahead and purchasing a new 'family vehicle'.

NO we did not get a mini-van.

What we did get was a new 2013 Ford Escape SE with the turbo/ecoboost.

I looooove it. I seriously love this car. Then again I have never owned a brand new car right off the lot complete with new car smell. I am still getting used to all the little nick-naks {the navigation, sirius, the entire sync system as a whole} but as each day passes I get more and more acquainted with the new wheels.

So there you have it folks.

Lots and lots of changes around here. This year will be a big year for our family. New baby. Jayden turns FIVE!!!!! this month {with a trip planned to the Zoo in New Orleans along with my Dad coming down to visit}, J also starts Kindergarten this year.

There will be lots of pictures, lots of smiles, some tears and overall just lots of happiness!