Sneak Peek!

WELCOME NOAH MICHAEL!!!

After and early morning induction

mild labor in the morning

then feeling 3 major contractions over a 10 minute period of time after my water was broken and asking immediately for an epidural

In epidural Heaven

then pushing for 2 1/2 hours vs the 1/2 hour they thought I would push (Noah decided to be face up entering the world)

Noah Michael entered the world on April 6, 2011 at 7:23 pm 6 lbs 5 oz 19 3/4 inches long.

Mommy and Noah

(yes I was up at 3:30 am that morning to make sure my hair and makeup was done. Surprised it held so well. The joys of planning your labor)

Daddy, Mommy and Noah

One small happy family of three :)

We could not be more thankful of the blessing that has been given to us in Noah. Even though we are sleep deprived, completely out of our element trying to figure out if you're cold or hot, or hungry or need to be changed, we could not picture our lives now without you in it.

Fresno Baby Shower Recap

On Sunday March 13th my wonderful friends Nicole, Heidi & Allison along with my ever so talented and amazingly creative sister Lisa threw me a wonderful baby shower out here in Fresno. It was such a great afternoon with more family and friends, some friends I haven't seen for a few years and some that I haven't seen for over 10 years! I'll be honest I did cry a bit when Diana, our college momma from Texas who lives in Bakersfield now, walked through the door. Hard to believe that 13 years can pass by so fast.

The girls did such a fabulous job. They knew about my obsession with Black and White Damask and built a whole shower around it. My sister was the creative driving force behind all the decorations for the day and completely out did herself. I am always in amazement of her talents.

The spread was great and also diabetic friendly (thanks Allison) so that I could easily partake. You also couldn't over look the dessert table filled with chocolate truffles as well as some of the most amazing cupcakes from The Sugar Shack. Yes I did splurge and have a cupcake. There is no way I can pass up a Red Velvet cupcake especially ones as good as these were!!

Ok ok I know pictures picture pictures!

Well here you go.

Great Spread especially for the party pooper Gestational Diabetes mommy to be ;)
(Not shown was the great cheese & crackers platter and the Chinese Chicken Salad)

Centerpieces made by Lisa
(Mugs from Pier 1 Imports)

All Decorations and tags made by Lisa

Hershey's Kisses with "Kisses from Noah" on the bottom of each one
White & Blue Damask with Blue accent candle tins with the "Love Spell" Scent
courtesy of my sisters company Quartz Mountain Candle
Like I said, she's amazing!!!

Chocolate Truffles and Cupcakes from "The Sugar Shack" in Fresno

All in all it was another special day for me as we celebrated the upcoming birth of our little boy Noah. I am so thankful and blessed for all the people in my life and thank all of you that came out to help celebrate. It truly meant so much to me.

Belly Sessions

A few weeks ago Me and the hubs did a belly session with a great photographer in our area Whitney Frank I always wanted to do pregnancy pictures, but I was never big on doing the bare belly Demi Moore Naked pose ones and I also wanted Stevo to be a part of it. I came across Whitney through a friend who was also pregnant and had just done a session with her. I really wanted something outside with nature where colors were vibrant and it we could feel more natural. We decided to head down to Woodward Park in Fresno which has a ton of variety when it comes to the ideas I wanted. She said she had some great spots in mind. So we set a date.

So the Day comes and of course I decided to pack it with timed appointments that DID NOT run on time. I had a hair appointment so I could have some pretty hair. My usual on time stylist just happened to be 45 minutes late this day. Ugh! It's a good thing she's fast. She even gave me a free conditioning treatment cause she felt bad. Then I rushed home to grab my lunch and head off to my 1:30 diabetic clinic appointment. I figured that couldn't take that long and meeting Whitney by 3:00 was gonna be no problem. WRONG!!! I walked into the office and it was PACKED!!! OMG!!! Not only packed but their computers were having issues downloading glucose readers so that set them behind. When I finally got to see the RN it was 2:45. I had already called Whitney and thankfully we were able to push it to 3:30. The meeting with the RN was short. Phew!!! So I went to the front desk to get my next appointment. Granted it was 3:05 at this point. Still had plenty of time. Then they informed me that I still had to sit down with the Doctor...ah WHAT??!! The panic on my face must have spoken for me cause the assistant asked if I was ok. I said I can't see the Doctor today. I have a set appointment that i already pushed to 3:30 and I couldn't change it. I begged and said I'll even come back next week if I have to. She smiled and said, "well then that's just what's gonna have to happen." I got my appointment for the following week and sped home. Thank goodness I was already dressed and Stevo was waiting for me outside. I ran upstairs, grabbed some make up for touch up and we were off.

So after the panic I finally calmed down, we met up with Whitney and had a fun time shooting! We shot in 3 different spots and they all met the expectations I had in mind. Now the great part. We only had to wait a few days for Whitney to process our pics!! LOVE IT!!! Even better I loved them!!!! She got some great shots and Now I'm even more glad that we did the belly sessions. I'm looking forward to after Noah's born when she comes over and shoots him in his first week of life!!

Here are a few of the great shots she took and are my favorites!

How about a little Cookies and Milk?

February 26th I had my first baby shower thrown by the Fabulous Heather Teri and Dana (cousins), and my Fabulous sister Lisa. Heather has always been a little sister to me who is extremely creative and Teri definitely has taken on a Big Sister Roll all my life. Dana is by far one of the best additions to our family when she married my cousin Ryan (Teri's son, Heather's brother) back in November. Then there is our other extremely creative one my sister Lisa who I love dearly. I am truly blessed with some fantastic woman in my life.

Well, I must say that my first shower was one that was done with much love and such creativeness that it way surpassed any expectations I had. I am ever so thankful for those that love me enough to through me something so fantastic and also very thankful for those that helped me celebrate the upcoming birth of our little Noah. I am a truly blessed girl and this little boy is gonna be a spoiled one!

So are there pictures??? Of course but you'll have to go check out my cousin Heather's Blog post Cookies and Milk Baby Shower to get all the details. You will be just as impressed as I was with the amount of time and creativeness they put into this event.

Belly time

Here's some updated belly pics. I never feel like I've grown a ton until I take a look at the pics every week. I'm telling ya, this kid is running out of room. I can't imagine my stomach stretching even more than it has! I'm rounding out week 33 so hopefully I'll update that picture soon. Of course we obviously see my blogging pattern is not very consistent. Got to get better!

Where I'm at now.

Well my last update was week 30...Um again BLOG SLACKER!!!! Well we definitely have been busy. My hubby had a nice two weeks off in February so we figured why not bang out the nursery sooner than later!!! We made a game plan and said we wouldn't take more than a week to get the big stuff done. Well To my surprise we did just that! We started on Monday and hung new chair rail border and painted all the baseboards and trim. Tuesday...Break ;) Wednesday we painted the bottom half of the walls. I distinctly remember my hubby saying "I am not painting the top today" while we were in the process. Thursday we finished the top portion, all the edging and the closet. Phew!! Paint dunzo!! Friday I think we took a break again. Oh wait scratch that, I put together the cubbies for the closet. Nothing like more storage to make a girl happy!! Saturday we put together the dresser and hung the picture shelf. Sunday, because my sister ROCKS!! we picked up our new glider for the nursery and assembled that as well. I will say the glider assembly was the HARDEST of all we did that week. So I'm now feeling pretty good about where we are at. We still need to hang the new ceiling fan, change out the outlets and then get some more decorations on the walls. I am starting to see my vision come to life and that makes me so excited!! So here's a bit of our progress. I still have window treatments, a picture project, misc floor stuff and some other things that I need to get going on, but thankful the tough stuff is done.

Starting point...the paint color was so dingy! Blah!

The molding all painted a nice fresh Bright White!!! AHHH So refreshing to see.

The most ugly 80's ceiling fan! This was there when we bought the house.

Molding done and first color (bottom) on the walls.

Second color on the walls (on top)

Finished walls with Crib in place. Awesome sauce!!! Yes Peyton is bogarting the picture.

With the dresser and the crib in place.

With the picture shelf up

And our new glider...

Where we are at now...I still have a lot to do.