Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Monday, July 19, 2010

3 Months

Ainsley Sue turned 3 months old on the 14th (yes, of course I'm a little late with this post). She is growing so fast and we see changes with her every day. Ainsley is now much more aware of her surroundings, makes great eye contact for long amounts of time, tracking, holding her head up decently well (but still kinda wobbly), smiling :) , making sweet baby noises, and best of all (besides the smiling of course) sleeping through the night! Ever since the week before I began working (about 3 weeks ago), Ainsley has slept about 8 hours a night. Of course we have had a few off, not-so-fun, make Mommy even more exhausted than she already is nights thrown in there, but overall I'm just glad she's doing it at all! And what great timing on her part. She has pretty much stayed on the same exact schedule every day for 2 weeks now which has really helped my mom and I out. Work is...work. Would I rather be at home with Ainsley? OF COURSE! But I will say getting up, having somewhere you have to be everyday, and having a routine for Ainsley and me that works so well has been nice. And I know my Mom is enjoying seeing Ainsley's sweet face bright and early every morning. Other than Brantley and me, I couldn't ask for anyone better to watch over her. I am fortunate to get to go to work every day knowing Ainsley is in the best hands. We have been blessed with such a sweet, loving, precious, cute as can be baby girl. We love her dearly and am excited to see what the 4th month brings!

Now for the fun part.
Ainsley's 3 month "photoshoot" with Mommy!
Part I

My Little Princess



"I'm not sure what I think about this."
"Whoa! Why does everything look so funny!?"
"Mom, you're starting to drive me crazy."
"Are you done yet!?!"

~Intermission~
Ainsley's 3 month "photoshoot" with Mommy!
Part II

Not yet, baby. Just a few more...





Beautiful Baby,
we love you.

*If you missed the post about Ainsley's nursery make sure to check it out!*












The Nursery

I have been putting off posting pictures of Ainsley's nursery in hopes I would eventually complete it. Thanks to my Mom we got most of it put together during the couple of weeks after I came home from the hospital before Ainsley was able to come home. One of the first things that crossed my mind when I was told I would not be leaving the hospital until Ainsley arrived was that her room wasn't ready for her! So it was a huge relief when we got as much as we did done during that short amount of time. Really all that's missing now are wall decorations above the dresser and maybe the crib (I haven't decided yet). But who knows when that will happen. So for now...

The glider: This was a gift from my parents. I LOVE it. I got to pick out the chair and the material. It's a cream color with a type of paisley pattern. It's incredibly comfy which is very much a necessity when it comes to those late night feedings!
The bear: This was Brantley's mom's bear years ago. I have this and a few of her cloth dolls. The vintage style was a great addition to the nursery.
The crib and bedding: I was so excited about being able to get all of this. Thank you to my wonderful hubby for allowing me to! Haha.
Ainsley chilling in her crib getting sleepy while I was taking these pictures this past weekend.
I guess I was really that boring...
The mobile: 1 out of 2 of my favorite parts of the bedding collection I chose. Look at those cute little birds. I love it! A big thank you to Mrs. Denise, Erin, and Kels!
Big project: I was dying to have a built in book case in here. There was a nook in the wall and I always thought it would be perfect for a built in book case for our future nursery. Thanks to my dad for all of his hard work and determination (and B's help on the side) for helping create this vision of mine. I am so happy with the way it turned out! It really completes the look of the nursery.
The book: This is my book from when I was little. I was OBSESSED with it and was constantly checking it out from the library at my elementary school. My mom finally just bought it.
The boots: Brantley's Nanny (Sue) sent me these. They were Brantley's mom's when she was a little girl. Priceless.
The frame: This was a gift from Mrs. Denise. It was the first frame I put a picture of Ainsley in for our house when she was still in the NICU. It says Dedicated to the Lord. It holds one of my most favorite pictures that will always be so special to me. (If you can't tell it's Ainsley in the NICU with B's and my hands on her.)

The album: My mom put together a picture album for me to keep in my room while I was in the hospital. It was so wonderful to have so I could look at pictures of our baby girl when I couldn't be with her. (The picture in the frame is one of Ainsley's newborn pics.)
The doll: This is a Bla-Bla doll. They also have ones that are animals. They are so soft and squishy. My mom got this for Ainsley probably a month or so before she was born. She wanted to give her her first doll. We realized later that the doll's name is April which we found funny since Ainsley ended up being born in April!
The bouquet: This was the bouquet I carried in Michael and Emily's wedding. So special.
The box: This box belonged to my great-great-great grandmother. It is made of real silver and cost thousands of dollars if sold today. I was so glad she left it for me because it looks so great in Ainsley's nursery since I was going for an antique look....okay....I'm totally kidding. This box actually came from one of my favorite stores. That's right. Marshall's. And I think I got it on sale for like $10.00. I knew it would be perfect in her room. Inside is her baby bracelet (from Lili- my mom) and her baby ring (from Aunt Terri). It was a great purchase!
The books: This is the where most of her books are for now. I'm sure we will collect many more over the next couple of years! (Also, in case you were wondering, I haven't put a picture in that frame yet. Don't worry that's not me with blonde hair.)
The frame: Brantley's Aunt Rachelle (Patty's sister) made Ainsley this frame to match her nursery. It matches so well!
The book: Ainsley gave this book to daddy for Father's Day. It's so cute!
The pig: Michael and Emily painted this ceramic piggy bank for Ainsley to collect all her money (or I guess our money) to go on a fun adventure someday. For those of you who don't know my brother and sis-in-law, this is the perfect gift coming from them. They did such a great job!
The end table: Brantley and I used this to practice our awesome refinishing techniques before taking on the bigger task of refinishing the dresser. And if you can't tell, it's still only 3/4's of the way done. Although Brantley brings up at least once a week that we need to finish it, I just tell him I'm sure we will get to it someday. Now we've got more important things to take care of, for instance, a baby! Haha. (Notice the materials in the basket just waiting to be used to finish the table. Don't worry guys. Hopefully by the time Ainsley starts to get around, the table will be complete and the dangerous toxic substances and sharp tools will be safely locked away.)
The dreadful, time-consuming dresser: I don't know if you remember my ranting and raving over this thing, but it finally got done and turned out pretty good! This was my grandparents dresser, then my parents, then mine, and now mine and Brantley's. If I remember right it's somewhere between 50 and 60 years old. It's exactly what I needed in here in terms of storage and a changing table. I can now say it was worth the many hours of hard labor :)
The diaper stacker: The 2nd of my 2 favorite pieces of the bedding collection. So cute and girly!
All together now...
Closet FULL of clothes. Not to mention there's more in her dresser!
The only wall decor (so far): This was a gift from B's Aunt Colleen (Patty's other sister). All 3 of the sisters are so crafty! I love this and it matches everything so well.
In case you forgot about a certain precious little girl asleep in her crib...
She decided to wake up...
and take a look around.
She must have known I was finished taking pictures!









Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Happy 4th and Happy Birthday!

We had such a wonderful time with family this past weekend. We only get together with this side of extended family (my mom's side) twice a year, on the 4th of July and Thanksgiving. Since getting married we see them maybe once a year because of switching up where we go for the holidays. They really wanted to throw us a baby shower because we had not gotten together since Ainsley was born. It was so nice and thoughtful! I remember almost 6 years ago when they threw us a little wedding shower at my parent's house, in Germantown, when we all got together for Thanksgiving. I knew that Ainsley would not be put down from the second we got there to the second we left and I was right. She was given a lot of attention and everyone was so excited to finally get to see her! It was a fun relaxing day.

This was as close to red, white, and blue as I could find that was cute for her to wear. Of course the fact that I didn't start looking for something until the day before didn't help. But I loved this little outfit from Gap and I have already had her wear it again this week!

My cousin was so anxious to see Ainsley for the first time. She waited by the door until we got there so she could get to her first!

Mimi loves her great-grandaughter. She could sit and hold her all day!

Our sweet baby shower

A little gold locket necklace for Baby A to wear someday

I love this book

Mom's side of the family (minus a few who couldn't be there)

Family of 3

Sweet baby girl
(Of course she was in a different outfit by that afternoon. And lets just say it wasn't because I wanted her to wear this one too.)

Tuesday was my birthday. Yes, my parent's gift was wonderful (money for new jeans and an afternoon with mom touring the Belle Meade Mansion and lunch, at Belle's Restaurant, at the mansion)...


Don't I look precious!?!


Me, Ainsley, and Mom in front of the barn

Yes, Brantley's gift was pretty amazing as well (a new Coach diaper bag!)...


But I must say Ainsley gave me the BEST gift of all...


She must have known it was Mommy's birthday the next day because for the FIRST time she slept through the whole night! I got 8 straight hours of sleep! We were so surprised. And to top it off she was in such a good mood when I went to get her out of her crib. She is usually screaming by the time I lay her on the changing table to change her diaper because she is so ready to eat. She did not cry at all. Even when I sat in the glider to feed her I was talking to her and she started smiling over and over again at me. I had Brantley rush to the nursery because he's never seen her do this. She has smiled at me 2 times before in the past few weeks (ya know, those smiles that you can't really tell if it's on purpose or not). But these smiles were definitely intentional. When I told Brantley before about the other times she had smiled he didn't believe me. So now he was able to see it for himself. We were so excited! What a wonderful way to start off my birthday. Ainsley is such a joy and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday from everyone! Thank you Brantley, Ainsley, Mom and Dad!

***Sleeping update from last night. Ainsley didn't quite make it through the whole night last night, but only woke up around 4:45 a.m. giving me a 6 hour stretch of sleep. Then didn't wake up again until 8:45. So not too shabby. And she also went back to the usual screaming like crazy when I changed her as if I was starving her. 2 words: drama queen. We were hoping maybe 2 nights ago was the start of something new and it would continue. But we'll see. At least it's not every 3 hours like it has been up to this point! So I'm definitely not going to complain.