Nursery Love!

I am so honored that our sweet Willie's nursery was featured on my favorite baby/nursery design/motherhood blog.  Check it out!

http://laybabylay.com/wilhelmina-graces-eclectic-sweet-nursery/

Kate Quinn Organics

Now that Willie is here, I've fallen in love with this kids clothing line... they have great quality, adorable, organic clothes, but most importantly, they have great sales!  Right now they are having their semi-annual $10 sale where many regular priced items are $10 or less.  I just loaded up on several goodies for Willie this Christmas. Such a deal! :)

www.katequinnorganics.com

5 weeks old!

It's hard to believe that our sweet girl is 5 weeks old...geez, 6 weeks old as of this Saturday.  Time is really flying and we are loving every minute of it! Willie has gained weight and is now up to 8 pounds. She's still teeny tiny, but growing everyday! We are loving her sweet smiles and bright blue eyes. She gets stronger, smarter, and more expressive every day. Every second with her is a blessing!

Life is absolutely Wilhelmina Wonderful! :)

Nursery of the Month!

Turns out we are finalists for Project Nursery's nursery of the month!
http://projectnursery.com/2011/12/vote-december-room-finalists/
Scroll to the bottom of the blogpost to vote for Willie's room. If we win, we will donate our winnings to http://www.bayareaturningpoint.com/. Sweet Willie's idea of course. :)

Vote: December Room Finalists

This month we asked members from our design team to help us select our Project of the Month finalists. Today the Design Experts are revealing their top picks for December’s Project of the Month, and now we are leaving the final decision in the hands of our readers. Let us know which project is your favorite by casting your vote. The winner will enjoy a $50 Visa gift card from Project Nursery!

Fabulously Theme-less Eclectic and Fun Nursery by suzyschuh17
Katy, of Caden Lane, says: “This nursery is the epitome of eclectic. I love how my eyes jump all around this room, and everywhere I look, I can see the love and dedication that was put into this design. Bravo, it is FABULOUS!”
Click Here for More Photos and Details

 

Nursery Loving

I posted our nursery and all the fun details on a website called www.projectnursery.com last night. And to my pleasant surprise, this morning I found out that we were picked as finalists for project of the week.  We are competing against another nursery for a little boy and a baby shower.  Pretty nifty. I had so much fun doing the nursery so it's an honor to be chosen out of several other projects on their site this week.  Thanks to www.projectnursery.com!

http://projectnursery.com/2011/12/vote-project-of-the-week-4/

Vote Project of the Week

by Kristin December 9th, 2011


Our readers made our job every hard this week! There were a number of fabulous projects uploaded to the gallery, so we had a hard time narrowing it down to our top three picks for Project of the Week. Now it’s your turn! Let us know which project you “like” best! Pick your favorite, and we’ll announce Project of the Week on Monday! Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Ava in Wonderland by hellotheirbaby
Click Here to View More Photos and Details

Percy’s Nursery by bickerdesignco
Click Here to View More Photos and Details

Fabulously Theme-less Eclectic and Fun Nursery! by suzyschuh17
Click Here to View More Photos and Details

Which one do you “like”? Click the “like” button at the top of the gallery page of your favorite project to make your selection. We will reveal the fan favorite on Monday after 12pm PST!

So fresh and so clean...

Here are some pics from Willie's monumental first bath. She actually enjoys them much more now... :)

First few weeks with Willie

We have had such a wonderful first couple weeks with our sweet girl. My parents and sister were here right away to meet her and we were sooo happy to have them here. Then my mom stayed for a week to help us get settled in which was so INCREDIBLY helpful.  Bacon and the kitties were a little shy at first, but now they are all best buds with Willie girl and we couldn't be happier.  They are so loving and gentle with her, especially Bacon. It's so awesome!

Once we got home and were able to take things in, especially late at night during feedings, we were amazed and so grateful for all the well wishes we received on Facebook while we were in labor and after Willie arrived.  It was all so sweet and wonderful to know we had so many people looking out for and happily anticipating the arrival of our sweet girl. I probably posted way too much info on Facebook regarding our pregnancy and now I feel like I may be posting too many pictures after she has arrived. But we are just so happy and for those that are over my excitement, they can kindly hit ignore. I don't see my excitement (or picture posting) diminishing for a long, long time.

Many of our friends have gotten to meet Willie and we're looking forward to many more! We appreciate all the love and yummy food! It's such a joy to be able to share her with our friends and family. Christmas will be especially wonderful!!! We spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home, just the three of us. It was sooo nice.  Willie lost her umbilical cord, we made our first batch of mashed potatoes together (can't wait til she gets to make them with the mashed potato master... Granny! :)) and she even got to do her first FaceTime call to Grandpa in Japan.

Now that Willie is 3 weeks old, we are settling into as much of a routine as is humanly possible with a newborn.  But no complaints here. Every day we get a little more sleep or maybe just a little more used to being sleep deprived and it's all working out swimmingly.  She definitely has a bewitching hour of around 3am-7am, but sometimes that varies and we get a decent reprieve and a good little nap.

She is a happy and healthy girl and that is all that matters!!!

More cuteness...

What's in a name?

I've had a lot of people ask throughout our pregnancy and even now.  So if you're wondering, our sweet girl is named after my great, great aunt Willie (Wilhelmina).  Growing up my wonderful Grandma Nancy used to tell us all kinds of stories about life growing up with her two aunts and mom. And for some reason, Aunt Willie and that name (long or short version) has always stuck with me and I've always loved it.  It's a big name for a little tiny girl, but she's got options for other nicknames too like Willa or Mina or even a different spelling like Wili or Willy.  But for now, Willie girl is totally sticking.  Holy moly, we are so in love.

Oh and we chose Grace, mostly because it is a beautiful name, but also in honor (once again) of my favorite singer Jeff Buckley.  If you didn't know, his most noteworthy and amazing album (one of my very favorites) is entitled Grace.  We also have a cat named Buckley.  :)

Music Matters

Music means so much to me. So I made a "Welcome Wilhelmina" playlist for the delivery room. While I remember some songs popping up here and there, some of it was a total blur. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that my iPod was left so that I could see exactly what songs played on shuffle during the time it was on in the hospital (thanks scotty!).  Here's a list of all the songs that played.  May be irrelevant to you, but it makes me ridiculously happy.  And as far as I can tell the baby was delivered somewhere between The Grateful Dead's "Uncle John's Band" and MuteMath's "Control.  Scott really likes The Dead and I love MuteMath, particularly this song.  And the refrain that repeats in this song is so perfect... "Such a Beautiful Surrender"  Seems totally fitting for the surreal experience of bringing a beautiful new baby girl into the world.  We couldn't be happier. :) 

Here's the list of songs, in order of when they played...

Banana pancakes - Jack Johnson, Flume - Sublime, Badfish - Sublime, Yours - Blues Traveler, For Emma - Bon Iver, Harvest moon - Neil Young, Things I cannot recall - Blind Pilot, White apple - Blind Pilot, New slang - The Shins, High road - Broken Bells, Half moon - Blind Pilot, Look at miss Ohio - Blind Pilot, Don't think twice it's alright - Bob Dylan, Mykonos - Pinback, Fortress - Pinback, Jacksonville - Sufjan Stevens, Somersault - Zero 7, That it moves - Greg Laswell, Baby you're my light - Richard Hawley, Last wine of winter - chris bathgate, Out/in - remy zero, Can you tell - ra ra riot, No ones gonna love you - band of horses,  Closer to fine - indigo girls, Go on say it - blind pilot, Spies - coldplay, Plans - bloc party, Coeur D'alene - the head and the heart, Let it be me - Ray la montagne, O my soul - daniel martin moore, The story I heard - blind pilot, Beautiful morning light - the fruit bats, Street spirit - radiohead, God willin and the creek dont rise - ray, I want to walk you home - paul mc cartney,  Don't panic - coldplay, Our swords - band of horses, It is well with my soul - Daniel Martin Moore, Oliver james - Fleet Foxes, Claire de lune - Lumiere String Quartet, Don't push - Sublime, Melissa - Allman Brothers, Ice cream - Sarah McLachlan, Everybody here wants you - Jeff Buckley (String Quartet Version), Fair - Remy Zero, Tiger mountain - Fleet Foxes, Lilac wine - Jeff Buckley, The shining - Badly Drawn Boy, Oh lately it's so quiet - OK Go, He doesn't know why - Fleet Foxes, Back drifts - Radiohead, Chinese baby - Clem Snide, Tell me why - Neil Young, The alder trees - Alela Diane, Barfly - Ray LaMontagne, Non photo blue - Pinback, Paradise - coldplay, Reptilia - strokes, Baby's - bon iver, Black star - radiohead, Blood bank - bon iver, Two weeks - grizzly bear, Keep u right - blind pilot, Strawberry swing - coldplay, The last parade on Ann street - chris bathgate, Goin home - dan auerbach,Chinese translation - m ward, Grown ocean - fleet foxes, Lady on the water - blitzen trapper, Oh lonesome me - neil young, Here comes the sun again - m ward, Your protector - fleet foxes, Be kind & remind - rogue wave, Last goodbye - jeff buckley string quartet, Loves lost guarantee - rogue wave, Finally - the frames, Everything in 2s - better than ezra, Tomorrow tomorrow - elliott smith, My love - justin timberlake, Daughters - john mayer, Sullen girl - fiona apple, I and love and you - avett brothers, Red right ankle - decemberists, Can't u see - marshall tucker band, Better together - jack johnson, Young bride - midlake, Sparrow And the wolf - james vincent mcmorrow, Out at sea - heartless bastards, She's only happy in sun- ben harper, U are best thing - ray, Black candle - iron & wine, Grey room - damien rice, First day of my life - bright eyes, How it ends - devotchka, Wordless chorus - my morning jacket, Teach your children - crosby stills nash, Lorelai - fleet foxes, For annabelle - band of horses, Flightless bird - iron & wine, 5446 - sublime, Creep - radiohead, Lullabye - grizzly bear, Soon we'll be found - sia, Into the mystic - greg laswell, Home - edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros, Blue ridge mountains  fleet foxes, When you call my name - dawes, Shattered - remy zero, Lullabye - sia, Girlfriend - phoenix, The biter end - blind pilot, Home - foo fighters, Soft serve- soul coughing, In the waiting line - zero 7, Paint or pollen - blind pilot, Daughter - loudon wainwright, Diamonds on the inside - ben harper, Hallelujah - jeff buckley, Naked as we came - iron & wine, Swell season - swell season, Heart of gold - neil young, Can't help falling in love - ingrid michaelson, Ragged wood - fleet foxes, You are the everything - rem, I summon you - spoon, I hear music - she & him, Bullet proof - radiohead, Conversation 16 - the national, Civilian - wye oak, Codex - radiohead, Uncle johns band - grateful dead, Control - mutemath

Welcome Wilhelmina

Wilhelmina Grace Schuh

Arrived:

November 12, 2011

11:58am

Stats:

6 pounds 10.5 ounces

19 inches long

Big blue eyes

Lots & lots of hair

Hearty appetite

Adorable lips & chin

Long lashes

Cutest, most kissable nose on the planet

Squeezable cheeks

10 fingers/10 toes

Adorably cute little crooked ear

Sweet as can be

Apple of our eye

Waiting on a Friend

The week of November 7th was spent on baby watch. We knew that any day now, our sweet little girl would arrive. Admittedly, I was really hoping for an 11.11.11 arrival, but at this point, any day would do.  We went to the doctor on 11.7.11 and were told we were still only 1 cm dilated and no new progress to really speak of.  Our doctor joked and asked if the baby was planning to home school in my belly (too funny!) and we went home.  We were then scheduled for an induction on 11.16.11 if Willie did not come on her own.  

So for the entire week, we waited.  And on 11.10.11 we stepped up the attempts at inducing labor on our own.  There were lots of walks, bouncing on birth/exercise balls, lots of raspberry leaf tea, spicy food, warm baths, Scott busted out the baby inducing banana costume... you name it, we tried it.

11.10.11 - The banana suit comes out!

11.10.11 - Spicy Japanese curry @ Tokyo Bowl

11.11.11 - Belly OUT for one of many walks

11.11.11 - Had a Guinness to try to speed up the process

11.11.11 - Hot wings and fried bananas should do the trick, right?!

11.11.11 - My last pregnant belly silhouette before delivery!

So after a fun lunch with the Butlers (hot wings, fried bananas and a Guinness (my first of the entire pregnancy)), we headed home on the afternoon of 11.11.11 to rest and wait some more.  I decided to take a bubble bath and really try to relax with some music.  I'm a lover of good random shuffles on my iPod and this time it really delivered.  I heard lots and lots of good songs that made me happy and excited for what was about to happen including one of my favorite Coldplay songs that I always forget how much I love until I hear it (God, Put a Smile Upon Your Face).  I was feeling good, but maybe just a little different.

B and I relaxing with the belly and waiting

After a few hours, I started to suspect my water had broken.  Around 7pm, we headed to the hospital to see what was happening.  But alas, even though the nurse and labs couldn't quite identify what was going on, no labor.  Although we did learn that unbeknownst to me, I had been experiencing some contractions (4's & 5's) and that we had dilated to 2 cms.  So we headed home around 11, grabbed some super late dinner from burger king (whoppers always remind me of SCUBA diving class with my dad back when I was 11) and went home to rest and wait some more.

Little did we know that the time was nearing faster than we thought!  At about 2am I woke up with a weird feeling in my stomach.  I went to use the restroom, felt a weird sensation in my uterus, almost like a pop, and tah dah!!! my first "real" contraction.  I'd been saying all along that I didn't know if I had had any contractions, but NOW I knew.  So we started to track the contractions and they were coming just as we had learned about in baby class, 1 minute long, every 5 minutes. After about an hour of this we headed for the hospital, this time knowing we likely weren't gonna be sent home this time. Poor Bacon didn't know what was going on, but she would soon be headed to slumber party with her Butler buds. And we were just thankful we had had the earlier hospital dry run.  There was no way I could have gotten my act together and gotten everything I needed with the way I was feeling now. (Mental note - No matter how much I want to avoid it, the bag (and everything else we need) WILL be ready to go for the next kiddo's delivery. :)

When we got to the hospital around 3am-ish, I immediately requested an epidural... kind of wondered if I'd go natural, but just didn't feel like being a hero that night.  Never have I ever experienced pain like that.  All of you natural childbirth ladies are BRAVE!!!  It took a few hours to officially declare me in active labor and get the anesthesiologist in the room, but as far as I was concerned it was time.  Finally around 7am, the epidural arrived and I felt a heck of a lot better.  Still couldn't believe everything I was experiencing and so ready to meet Willie.  As soon as the anesthesiologist was done, the doctor arrived (unfortunately our OB was not on call that morning, but we still ended up with a great doctor for the delivery).  She quickly let me know that I was already fully dilated and she was going to break my water and Willie was coming SOON! Only problem was that Scott was NOT in the room. Not because he didn't want to be, but because the nurse hadn't gotten around to calling him back to the room after the epidural was complete.  I was not happy that he wasn't there and ended up having to call him myself.  But in the end it turned out we still had several hours to go, but I panicked a bit without my awesome coach there, needless to say.

But finally Scott was back in the room (again after I called the nurse - the only real complaint I have about our nurse) and we began to push intermittently to try to get Willie to crown appropriately in order for the doctor to be ready to assist with the final pushes.  Our L&D nurse was a great coach, as was Scott and I worked really hard to get Willie down and ready.  But MAN is that tough!  There were lots of tough pushes and awesome encouragement from Scott & Maureen and a rainbow Popsicle and good ice chips to keep me going.  And finally we were ready.  

9:30ish... WAITING!

Maureen doing her L&D thing and me getting ready to do this thing

Not the most flattering photo, but I had to have a rainbow popsicle and it had to be documented!

:)

I honestly can't complain one bit.  Labor was not ridiculously long, Scott was AMAZING (like I knew he would be) and no complications for me or Willie.  Once she crowned, we probably only pushed with the doctor for about 10-20 minutes and finally after the most crazy, amazing feeling ever, our little girl was here!