Follow Me on Pinterest!

Have you heard of Pinterest? It's the hot new thing.

Go to pintereste.com and request an account. You'll thank me later.

On pinterest you can create boards and "pin" images from around the web to them. You can create whatever categories of boards you want. No more searching around the web looking for a specific picture of a table setting, wall color, outfit, haircut you really liked. Now you can just pin it to your board.

The other fun thing is that you can follow people. I follow Jordan and get a little newsfeed of her activities on my screen when I log in. It's fun!

Pinterest welcomes stylemakers and commoners alike so you can follow your friends or your favorite blogs.

You should get on today so I can follow you! Once you get your account you can officially follow me, until then, you can see my boards here: www.pinterest.com/sarahgompert

Lately

Lately I've been thinking of a few pros/cons of no longer being pregnant. Since I have a lot of pregnant readers, I thought I'd share.


Pro: Being able to wear cute clothes
Con: Not getting to wear elastic waist pants (so comfortable!)
Pro: Sauvignon Blanc, Mojitos, Margaritas, Bud Select
Con: Glowing pregnancy skin is replaced by tired mommy face
Con: Thick pregnancy hair is falling out by the fistfull
Pro: No more belly in the way
Pro: Sushi!
Con: due to Ava's sensitive tummy, cannot eat: oatmeal, very much soda, anything spicy (including salsa ughh), milk
Pro: Allowed to get the old heart beating over 140/min=real workouts!


Obviously the best part of not being pregnant is that this little lady is out. She's getting bigger, cuter, sweeter by the day. This is the little face I get to come home to every night.Tell me this isn't the sweetest face. Pardon the drool, runny nose, spit up on cheek. I always think it's gross on other people's kids, but somehow on mine it isn't. I just see those big, happy eyes and want to kiss those chubby little cheeks.
Bath time, girl loves her bath! Is it weird that this is one of my favorite pictures? I was trying to take a pretty picture of her and this was her reaction. It's kind of like a "this is reality" moment.

100 MPH

Why haven't I been blogging? I don't have any time. Going back to worked kind of kicked my butt and I'm just now getting used to the schedule. Basically, I don't have any free time. Daily Schedule: 5:30am-get up, pump, frantically get ready 7:00-4:00-get coffee with lisa, check blogs, email, fb, pump, work, lunch, pump, work, pump, work (that is literally my daily schedule). While I pump I read Water For Elephants on my Kindle. I love the book and the Kindle. 4:30-6:00-workout. That baby weight isn't going to lose itself. I'm going to run the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day. That's a little over 6 miles, I think I've got it. 6:00-8:00-Pump. Love that baby and get as many smiles out of her as possible. I talk in my high pitched mommy voice during this entire time. We sing songs, have tummy time, read books. Marc plays too. Sneak in dinner. 8:00-8:30-Try to hold Ava off until 8:30 for her bedtime bottle. There is usually a lot of crying during this period. 8:30-9ish-Feed Ava her bedtime bottle and put that sweet thing to bed. 9ish-10ish-Pump. Freeze extra milk, clean storage bottles, prepare lunch for next day, wash diapers, try to clean something, pack Ava's daycare bag, pick outfit for next day, make time to have a conversation with Marc. 10ish-go to bed and read our Bible reading...we're reading the whole Bible this year, following a guide. It's a good project to have together and something I've always wanted to do. I think it's a good idea for the religious and non-religious alike given the significance it has in our culture. It's been mostly enjoyable so far. We only have one Bible so I usually read it outloud and Marc mostly stays awake, but sometimes accidentally falls asleep. Now you see why I don't have a lot of time to blog? I'm hoping to get better. For now, I'll do it when I can. Spending time with Ava and Marc is P1 though :).

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Happy one month birthday, baby Ava! She has really changed a lot in a month.

One of the biggest changes is her hair. She was born with thick, pretty dark hair. Well, that's half way gone now. She's a little old man, totally bald in the front but still lots of hair in the back. I hope the rest falls out soon. (She HATED her one month photo shoot I did with her.) She really did not like being in this basket.

My birthday is coming up and I've decided that I want the LV Neverfull in the largest size and in the print below. I have decent justification...I need a bag big enough to be a purse/diaper bag for quick trips. I just need to be able to throw a few diapers, wipes, change of clothes and a bottle in a bag real quick for short trips like Target, dinner, the mall. I've quickly learned a big diaper bag is unnecessary in most cases, so this seems like a logical solution. Ok, maybe buying a LV diaper bag isn't a LOGICAL solution, but it actually would do the trick for what I need.

This week Ava and I went to a girl's dinner at Liz's house. She wore her cute little blue and white outfit with her pink bow. She looked so cute that baby Edan Crews snuck a kiss at the end of the night. She enjoyed seeing all the girls and the girl talk.

When she's not out being social she enjoys evenings at home just hanging out with mom and dad...especially dad (I think).
We've started the cloth diapers and they're going great so far! She had one potty leak out the leg, but that is due to the diapers still being big on her. I was really worried about poop stains, and after washing my first load there were some stains. However, today I dried a load outside in the sun for a few hours and all of the stains completely disappeared.

The diapering set up is the same in the nursery as it was with disposables except now we have an extra little trash can to throw away the disposable wipes. The diapers get put into a trash can with a lid and then I just take the whole trash bag and dump in in the wash. Easy.

Product Round Up

Well, after a quick 40(ish) weeks, finally our little Ava was born! Here I am mid contraction around 2am on the 27th. They started around 6pm and finally were 5 minutes apart for a few hours by 2am. We later went to the hospital only to be sent home and told to come back when contractions were stronger and closer together. I thought these were bad enough.

We went back to the hospital around 2pm on the 28th after I had not slept the night of the 27th and contractions had not stopped since they had originally started. I was almost not admitted to the hospital on the 28th, but luckily during the nurse's last check before sending me home, my water broke. Yay!

I went straight upstairs and had the first of 3 epidurals. The first 2 didn't work. Because the baby's heartrate kept dropping and then popping back up, there was talk of a c-section during the entire labor. This meant no popsicles or crushed ice-really disappointing (Lisa, you know how I love crushed ice).

I made it to 9cm dilated by around 7am on the 29th, but the dr. didn't think baby would be coming anytime soon, so we made the call to go with the c-section. At that point I really didn't care. At least I didn't have to push AND have a c-section. Once we made the call, we were in the operating room within 30 minutes and had Ava about 10 minutes later!

Everything since then has been a blur. I finally feel back on my feet after the c-section, and like I have life with a newborn a little bit more figured out (for today, things are different everyday).

Since so many of my readers are pregnant, I thought I would let you know about some of my favorite baby products so far. These are the things we use everyday and love.

Ava was 7.4lbs when she was born. She really only fits into onesies. She has this collection below and wears 1-3 of them a day-no pants. Don't worry, she has others too but she looks extra sweet in these.

Burp Cloths-we have some cute ones, but for everyday we use Gerber Flat Fold Birdseye Cloth Diapers. At anytime in our house you can see at least 3 of these laying around. Of course, when Ava decides to spit up an entire feeding there's never one handy.

I did a lot of research on all of the bigger items below and am happy with all of them. Maybe this will save some of you a few hours of reading product reviews.

1. Pump-Medela Pump in Style. It's really good and I use it all the time. Definitely not a place you want to save money.

2. Car Seat-We have this one and I think it's good. It's really heavy and hard for me to carry. The good thing is that it goes up to 35 lbs so you don't have to buy a new one for awhile.

3. Swing-MamaRoo-I like it because it isn't primary colors, it's small, and connects to an iPod. Ava likes it because it has like 8 different motions to choose from. It's still a little big for her, but she sits in it sometimes.

4. Bouncer-My Little Lamb-I was going to get a small bouncer but ended up getting this one. I'm glad I did since she doesn't fit in her swing quite yet. Ava takes all of her naps in it for now. It vibrates and plays music but we usually just keep it off. It's really light so it gets carried upstairs and downstairs on a daily basis.

This also comes in a swing version. I probably could have just gotten just this swing instead of the swing I have and this bouncer. I like having both though since usually one is upstairs and one is downstairs.

5. Glass Bottles-Lifefactory-Ava usually nurses, but sometimes gets a bottle. Her daddy loves to feed her. I researched bottles forever. I knew I wanted glass and then started reading reviews on all sorts of different bottles. In the end, I got these because they're cute and don't have 15 pieces like the popular Dr. Brown bottles. They are a bottle and a nipple and I think that's really all you need. I'm happy with them. We have 4 small and 4 large.

Look at this little face. We cannot get enough.

This was probably a week and a half ago but seems like much longer. Her little newborn rash is all cleared up now. We think she's just the prettiest and sweetest baby.

Hopefully the Last Pregnant Post

If I have to take another picture by the countdown wall, I'm going to be upset. Hopefully I don't have to write a 40 on the board. Baby is aware she is welcome to come any time now. Luckily, I'm still feeling great and working. Wednesday will be my last day until after my leave.

Last week. This week. Do you like the little tissue paper lollies I made or are dumb? I needed more yellow in the room, and want the chalk board wall to be more fun. I may put them on a little string and hang them at the top of this wall so they're more orderly. Undecided.
Mom finished the crib skirt and it's PERFECT! I forgot to take a picture of the whole crib, but here's a closeup of the fabric. Good thing Mom will get here tomorrow to see everything together! She hasn't been here since July, so she's only seen the nursery in pictures.

Now on to Christmas Decor.

Dining room shelf. Features bottle brush trees, West Elm garland, shadow box that I didn't even update for Christmas.
This is a card that Mom made the Christmas before our wedding. She made it to look like our wedding with lots of feathers, and added Anticipate since our wedding was just around the corner from Christmas.
Dining room table with antler candle thing that Marc thinks is weird, but I love.
2010 wrapping paper scheme
Evergreen wreath on the front door. It was lovely in it's prime, now it's really dry. I did a bit of decorating. Wreaths aren't as easy to decorate as I thought.

Here's the Christmas tree. Keeping with the newsprint theme, I used an old book to make a paper chain for garland, and a tree topper.
Here's the tree topper. An expert copier, I stole the idea from a blog Katie Green sent me. If I didn't hate making all of those little cones I would have made this 2 sided.
Close up of one of my favorite vintage shiny brights gracing the tree.

I had a few newsprint flowers, so they were added to the tree. You can see the glittered A in the background...I got a bunch of metal numbers and letters from Hobby Lobby, glittered them, and threw them on the tree.
Here's the tree in baby's room with glittered Bebe letters from my shower in Freeburg.

You can't really see in these pictures, but all of my Precious Moments angel ornaments I received every year throughout my childhood are on the tree.

I love this little feather tree, currently on the chest in our bedroom.

Here's a random bonus picture of our bed and the new mirror hung next to it. There's one on the other side too. It's the same formula I used in the guest room, and that's because I like it.

I was experimenting with my new 50mm lens for most of these pictures-I know the lighting and focus are off in some of the pictures. I have to say, investing in a nice camera and learning how to use it is stressful and takes a lot of practice. I do love the new lens though. Its specialty is close ups.

Thanksgiving

I have been really tired after work. I think it's because of the constant darkness. Pardon my posting intermission.

We had a fun Thanksgiving in Nebraska! A few scenes from the festivities.

Little Mason helping in the kitchen.

Eating inappropriate amounts of dessert with Aunt Nancy and Cousin Amanda.

Some were watching football in the living room while others were having way more fun drinking coffee and playing cards in the dining room.

We came back to Denver on Friday night. Saturday was a really pretty day so I took some pictures of everything that was going on outside.

First, here's a picture of my NEW CAR!!! We bought it 3 weeks ago and I love it. 2010 Nissan Murano. It's the first car I've ever purchased from a dealership. You know I love black cars, I don't care what anyone says. I'm going to do my best to keep it clean (inside and out). We kept the Jetta too. Sometimes it makes me sad to see it sitting in the driveway not being used, but I know it would want me to be happy.

The City of Englewood's water main broke directly in front of our house. This shut down our entire block and the repair took most of the afternoon. The yard in this picture is the neighbor to our left.

Look what the neighbor to the right was doing while this was happening...Just putting up some giant blow up Christmas decor. This wouldn't be so bad except this was the one and only time they have ever been inflated. Now they just lay dead on their lawn. Sometimes I'd like to have an HOA.

Since it was a nice day, the chickens were free ranging in the back. Marc got them a heated water dispenser so their water doesn't freeze. They're laying has slowed down from 0-4 eggs a day to 0-2 eggs a day. Apparently this is normal for the winter.

Inside, I was unpacking Christmas, scheming new ideas for the trees. I finally finished most everything this weekend, so there will be a detailed Christmas post this week sometime. I will tell you that I used an entire old book to make various items. I was inspired by West Elm's newsprint theme Christmas.

Oh yes, and I'm still growing the baby too. Here we are at 36 weeks which is old new because now I'm 37...out of 40! I'm addicted to chocolate chip cookies and ready to get this show on the road. If you look really closely at my shirt you can see that during the day this picture was taken (maybe Tues) I had spilled various things on myself. I think there is a big coffee spot, a water spot, and possibly even a little sweat spot from where my belly button sits against my desk all day-a kind of disgusting reality.

Marc makes a rare blog appearance, and a sneak peak of Christmas decorations. Of course baby has to have a tree too. What is she's born before Christmas? Imagine her dismay if she comes home and doesn't have her very own tree. That's no way to start your life.