Introducing...

LILA GRACE GREFFET...

Lila was born on July 30, 2010 at 7:57 AM.

She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces, and was 20 inches long.

She is beautiful and healthy....

Mom, Dad, Big Brother Jack, and Lila are doing amazing!!

Here are some picutres to tide you over, but more will come later!!

We are in love with our new Greffet addition...

She takes after her dad...

So I’ve been feeling very frustrated that baby girl still isn’t here. I know it’s still 10 days from her due date, but it’s different this time.

Jack was 21 days early, and obviously I was not prepared for him to come. I don’t think anything can fully prepare you for your first child. So we didn’t have the car seat installed or bags packed…but looking back, it was nice that there was no period that I was stuck anxiously waiting for something to happen.

This time around, I’m prepared: mentally, physically…everything’s ready (except her name!). Every night I clean up the house as if we will have guests, and when I crawl into bed I think, “This could be the night…” and I practice saying the date in my head “7/27/10…7/28/10…”, but every morning I wake up and think, “DAMN! She still didn’t want to come yet.”

And I know I should be trying to enjoy the last few days of (somewhat uninterrupted) sleep, and downtime, and life as we know it now…but.I.can’t.

And then I think, she’s TOTALLY her father’s daughter! Jim isn’t a “rusher”…he’s more of a “dawdler”. He’s always asking me why I have to hurry through everything…and I’m always asking him why everything takes him soooo loooong… It’s the combination of our paces that make it work.

But for now, I will try to practice patience, and hope that she’s like her father in more ways too: his sense of humor, his attitude, his eyelashes and hair :-), his athleticism, his calm manner…

But honestly, I mean, there’s got to be part of me, in her, in me ;-) that is ready to get this show on the road, right!? :-) I need to find more flowers to make or something to keep me busy!

Build-a-Present-for-Your-Sister

Jack got a present for his baby sister. Actually, he built it himself! Luckily, there is a Build-a-Bear in the St. Louis Science Center, so when Jack got tired of the dinosaurs and “science stuff”, this was just what he needed!

He picked out a pink bear for his baby sister, and even recorded a special message for her: “I LOVE YOU, BABY SISTER!” Jack shouted the message as loud as he could into the recorder, but it’s the thought that counts!

Then Jack picked out the heart and went through the steps of putting the heart on his head, nose, tummy, and knees...I don't know why, but it was necessary and Jack loved to participate!

He gave the heart a finally rub, and stuffed it inside the bear! He was very proud of the pink bear he made for his baby sister!

I think this means he's finally ready for his baby sister to come too. ;-)

what i've been up to...

I’m still here…without a (new) baby, so…yeah…whatever. (Forewarning: This post contains no cute pictures. I only have sad cell phone pictures…sorry!)


I could/should have been cleaning/organizing…but I was not. Instead, I was making felt flowers to use as hair clips because #1: I had leftover felt from my birdie project and #2: This was more appealing to me than doing whatever else “needed to be” done!

Anyway, to start out, I used a tutorial for Peony Felt clips from Yoonie at Home:

This seemed like the easiest one I could find…and I like them. I think they will be adorable clipped to a headband.

But I wanted a fuller-looking flower, so I tried this Felt Hair Clip tutorial from Julie’s Blog (except I used buttons instead of a felt center). It was easy and they turned out super cute (I will get better pics because these do not properly display the cute-ness!):
I don’t know why but I’m obsessing over hair accessories lately! Maybe because I’m so unskilled when it comes to “doing” hair, that I figure a bunch of big, pretty flowers can deter attention from lack of styling...or something… I think soon I'll need to find a tutorial for cute ways to display/store hair accessories!

Also this weekend I scored this vintage toy box from the antique mall (for $25!). I liked it when I bought it, but the more I look at it, the more obsessed I am! I don’t know what it is about this box, but I seriously love it so much!

This will go in Jack’s room to house his many books. His books are literally overtaking his room (Note: as sad as this picture is, it’s actually what his room looks like on a daily basis…we have lots of books!). So this box will be great for containing his little, ever-growing library!

So that’s what’s been going on here. I wish I could say it's been more eventful/exciting, but it has not...I’m ready to have this little girl now. I'm sure once that happens, I will wish for some peace and quiet and for life to slow down a bit while I catch my breath, but for now...I'm ready for something eventful/exciting!

Ready to meet my baby girl!

At 37 weeks and full term (boo ya!), we are finally ready for baby girl to arrive (any day now…according to the Dr, we’re progressing and things are on track)! And after this weekend, I think we’re really prepared (as much as you can be), so baby girl, come see us soon!

We had a childbirth “refresher” class (LAME. Do they ever update those videos?!), but we did get a quick tour of the maternity ward (Is it still called a “ward”? Seems like an outdated term.) We also made some final adjustments to the nursery, did some cleaning/organizing, and re-acquired our newborn baby-gear from my Mom's (plus some new gear from Mom and Care…love it!).

I’ll admit that I’m no good at these “maternity self-portraits”, but here’s a shot to show that I am ready to P-O-P! Obv I haven’t dropped yet, but I learned that when it’s your second+ pregnancy, you don’t drop until much later (like during labor)…interesting!

Oh and check out the sweet banner I scored for the nursery! Love it. I've been noticing this banner trend in nurseries lately, and was contemplating getting one from etsy, but I found this on clearance for $5 (Marshall's). Yeah for deals!

And here's my other obsession: the quilt (from etsy). Note: the pillow is just for decorative purposes, I know it's a major no-no in the crib for a newborn!) I think the room has come together quite nicely. And although there are a few more things I'd like to finish up, I'm happy knowing the room is livable.

So, note to daughter: We're all super excited to meet you, and to see what you look like, and hold/hug/kiss you for...well, forever. We've been waiting for you...so when you are ready, we'll be here with open arms. And although I may look tired/angry/like crap when you first see me, know that:

#1: I'm bursting with joy to meet you, and hold you, and love you (oh, and NAME you). And,

#2: I look much better with some hairspray, makeup, and after a little rest. ;-)

Love!

What I'll remember

Last night Jack woke up at 1:30 and wanted to come into our bed. (I usually don’t mind if Jim’s already gone to work, but 3 in a queen-sized gets a little cramped! Plus I’m trying to break the snuggle habit, although I’m not happy about it).

I brought him back to his room and he just wasn’t having it. So I sat in his bed and rocked him, and held him and walked around the room, and scratched his back when he needed me to…and I realized that I had forgotten about the nights of pacing his room back and forth and back and forth to get him back to sleep.

I must have walked the same path in his room a hundred times a week…but I have so easily forgotten about how hard and tiring it was. It’s funny how the most difficult times are the easiest to forget (although I say “hard times” loosely because he was an easy-going baby, I think…or maybe my memory is sugar-coating that fact too!)

Soon I’ll remember how hard it was, and how tired I was, and how stressful it can be (but most likely these will be multiplied with an addition to the equation)…but in the end, the best times are the ones I’ll remember.

Our only child...

Right now it's just him and us...

Our little family of 3 is all he's ever known. These are the last few weeks that he will be an only child, the baby of the family...even though I've made him pinky promise that he will always be my baby.

I wonder how he will adjust when it's not just him and us...I know we're headed for quite a transition period, and I haven't really had time to think about how he'll deal with it all.

I know he'll be an amazing big brother...he's grown up so fast and makes me so proud everyday.

How did we get so lucky? He's the best person in the whole world, and he's our son...

...our boy...

...I love him so much.

By giving children lots of affection, you can help fill them with love and acceptance of themselves. Then that's what they will have to give away. - Wayne Dyer

birds of a feather...

This was my Friday night, and it was super exciting...thanks for all of your help Care, you're THE best!

I’ve wanted to make a bird mobile like the one I showed in my inspiration post back in March. But I’m not a sewer so I was seriously contemplating buying some birds from etsy and crafting a mobile on my own. However, I had so much fabric left over from my embroidery hoop project, that I thought, I could certainly find a way to DIY these birds!

So although I’m no seamstress, I certainly am a hot-gluer (I don’t have any fingerprints to prove it!), so with some hot glue, fabric, stuffing, felt, buttons, ribbon, and a home-made template, I was all about it! Check out my flock:

I think this one is my fav...I love the green and pink color combo! Carey was totally my "sous-chef of crafting"! She basically matched up all the buttons and color combos, and stuffed and did whatever I told asked her to :)...AND she made flower hair bows that are seriously Ahhh-mazing! I can't wait to play beauty shop with them!

another fav...

I bought little beads for eyes but kind of liked them without because the fabrics are so busy…thoughts?!?

PS: I finally bought a quilt (on etsy, of course!) that should be arriving today…boo ya! I’m super excited so hopefully I love it as much in person as I do in the pictures…here’s a sneak peek!

my boy...

Children have a remarkable talent for not taking the adult world with the kind of respect we are so confident it ought to be given.

To the irritation of authority figures of all sorts, children expend considerable energy in "clowning around."

They refuse to appreciate the gravity of our monumental concerns, while we forget that if we were to become more like children, our concerns might not be so monumental. -Conrad Hyers

intimidation!

Jack's favorite game to play with Daddy is "Blue-42". It's a combination of wrestling/football/jumping...basically, a slightly dangerous game that has caused minor bumps and bruises on both Jim and Jack, but in the end...it's Jack's favorite and he always jumps right back up to play. I caught them in the act the other day and had Jack show me his "Scary Face"...

To play the game, one of the boys with yell, "Blue-42...blue-42, GRover, set, hut-hut, hike" and then run to tackle the other. It's pretty entertaining! (Jim's trying to work on Jack's form tackling and teaching him not to lead-in with his head...it's a work in progress...)

If that isn't the cutest scary face I've ever seen! Let's just say that in 15 years when he flashes this scary face on the football field, I think his opponents will KNOW intimidation...

or something like that...

O beautiful for spacious skies

A few pics of our proud American boy at the 4th of July parade...after the firetrucks passed, it was pretty much all downhill for Jack, except that he did touch SpongeBob in real life...but the firetrucks were still the highlight! See his excitement!

Jack couldn't make it through the whole parade...the sun just wears that little guy out! So we crossed the street about halfway through the parade...so we were pretty infamous for a few seconds when we walked in the parade!

Dressing patriotic

On the 4th we headed downtown for the VP Fair Parade. As we were scrambling to get ready, Jack decided to choose his own outfit...

Needless to say, we added a shirt and substituted a Cards hat for his winter one, because although adorable and hilarious, definitely not practical!

And little mister knows he can only have his paci at night-time, but he was resting and just needed a break before all the parade excitement! :)