She's Here!

Introducing 

Avery Monroe Gray

born on January 19th, 2013

at 9:51 pm

Weighing in at 9 pounds 13 Ounces

20.5 inches long

Mom and Dad are doing well and we could not be anymore in love with our baby girl! 

40 Weeks - Fully Cooked!

Quick update: Just got home from my doctor appointment! I found out that I am 4 cm dilated :-) They did another ultrasound to check her size. She is still measuring almost 2 weeks big. For this reason, my doctor scheduled my induction this Friday at 6 am! Although she thinks there is a very good chance I'll go into labor beforehand. Either way, I'll have a baby by the weekend! I am so beyond excited to see and hold our little girl!

39 Weeks 3 Days

I had no idea how I was going to feel when I got to the very end of my pregnancy. 

It's so much better than I ever expected it would be. Not having to work this week has made ALL the difference. I'm still not sleeping very well at night. In fact, last night I probably woke up 57 times with the worst heartburn and had to sit up. BUT knowing that my alarm isn't going to go off at 6:00 am makes it all okay because I know I can try and sleep in and take a nap during the day.

My last week before our little bundle (hopefully) arrives has been wonderful. 

I could get used to being a lady of leisure ;-)

Tuesday: Hair appt

Wednesday: lunch in Temecula with my parents and brothers

Thursday: lunch with Kelly and a manicure, dinner with my parents

Friday: lunch with Sarah

At my Dr. Appt on Wednesday I learned that I'm 1.5 cm dilated, 70% effaced and baby is at -2 station. For some of you, that might seem like a foreign language but I was soo happy to learn that my body is doing SOMETHING to get ready because I just don't feel any impending signs of labor.

Brandon and I decided to ask Avery when she's coming. He put his hand on my stomach and asked her, "Avery, are you coming on Friday?" Silence. "Avery, are you coming on Saturday?" Silence. This goes on and on. Finally, he got to our due date, "Avery, are you coming on Tuesday?" Boom. She punched him. We were laughing so hard. So now, for some reason, I feel like she's going to come ON her due date :-)

Time will tell...

Avery's Nursery

Yesterday was my first official day off work! I didn't get out of bed until 9:30, went to Einstein's to get a bagel, ran some errands and then finally got around to taking pictures of Avery's nursery. It was delightful!

I'm sure I'll be thankful for this while she's a baby, but her room stays pretty dark all day. There is only one small window and it never really gets very much natural light. This made taking pictures a nightmare. So while the colors might not be exact, you'll get the idea ;-)

Brandon found a glider on Craigslist that was only a couple of months old. It was in great condition but it was an ugly brown color. We found fabric online and had one of his mom's best friends reupholster it for us. She did a beautiful job, I couldn't have been happier! I found the pillow on Etsy.

We had been looking for a nightstand all over the place but couldn't find one we liked, or that we wanted to spend a couple of hundred dollars on. The nightstand that was offered with her furniture set was $250 and looks similar to the one we now have. Brandon bought a $40 wooden nightstand at Ikea, stained it gray, wet-sanded it, and then put together the 470 parts ;-) My job was to find the knob, which I got at Anthropologie for $10. 

 I used one of the mason jars we made for her baby shower to hold this bouquet of paper roses (made out of pages from a children's book). My mom found the paper roses on Etsy.

This was the only shot I got of her crib while I was taking pictures, and it was in the mirror so it's backwards. I don't know what I was thinking but now I'm too lazy to go back and take another one. Her furniture is made by Bassett and it's called Ava. Her bedding and curtains are made by Cocalo Couture and they are part of the Alma collection. I know there is a lot of controversy about the use of bumpers in a crib. Once she's actually in her crib (which I don't anticipate for at least the first 3 months) I'll take them out. The dust ruffle is my favorite.

I started collecting frames a couple of months before her room was finished. I knew that I wanted one letter in each frame. I found these wooden letters on Craftcuts which is this amazing website where you can order letters in whatever size and font you can imagine. We chose to purchase the plain wooden ones and paint them ourselves - but I think you can ordered colored letters as well. I don't remember exactly, but I think we spent around $25? Brandon did all of the measuring and mounting.

Her little closet makes me smile every time I look inside of it. All of her tiny shoes and dresses. I have done about 12 loads of laundry washing all of her tiny things - but I still haven't washed ANY of the things that are still hanging in her closet with tags on them. I washed all of her pjs, blankets, bibs, washcloths, towels, socks, leg warmers, etc. that are packed inside of her dresser.

Can we talk about how cute all of the shoes are?! My friend Kelly bought her the sparkly turquoise Toms and my friend Katrina made the pink Buggs (Baby Uggs). She has her own Etsy shop you have to check out!

Her book shelves were another project of daddy's. He bought a rain gutter at Home Depot and cut it in half. They work brilliantly, and I think the grand total came to $15? I was the most excited about putting all of her books on display. I remember loving books so, so much as a kid and I just couldn't wait to have a child to share that joy with. In fact, even before we got pregnant, Brandon bought me my favorite children's book, The Giving Tree, because we knew we would one day read it to our little ones.

And here's a panoramic picture of the room

Why I'm lucky to have such a handy husband: 

 I wish I had more pictures of her room before, but I only have a couple. It was a powder blue color with Hawaiian curtains when we moved in. 

Daddy painting the room

Putting the furniture together...

 Measuring the frames for her room

So often in our lives, I have an idea and Brandon is the one that makes it happen. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not so thankful for his handy and willing ways :-) Avery and I are two lucky ladies.

38 Weeks

With only two weeks to D-day, I'm starting to feel a little bit more anxious. Oddly, I'm also feeling more ready every day to get this show on the road! Maybe it's because of how uncomfortable I am a good portion of the day and night haha. Overall, I still really can't complain. Sometimes I feel like my ribs are going to burst open, and I always feel like I'm out of room - but she's already a really good baby :-) She's never rested on a nerve that has given me sciatica. She's head down just like she's supposed to be. And she moves constantly so her nervous mama doesn't start to panic that something is wrong.

Size of the Baby: At my 36 week doctor appointment they guessed that she was weighing 7 pounds. If that's correct, we are definitely going to have a chunker on our hands if she makes it to 40 weeks. According to my iPhone app, she is the size of a watermelon, and certainly feels like it.

Best Moment of the Week: Will officially be Friday, my last day of work (if I can make it.) As if I wasn't having enough trouble trying to breathe with chubby baby feet pushing on my lungs and diaphram, I came down with a cold over the weekend :-/

Maternity Clothes: Getting dressed for work is the worst part. I can fit in one pair of maternity jeans that are no longer comfortable. All I really want to be wearing is Brandon's pajama bottoms and a tank top.

Stretch marks: Still no stretch marks...but I realize they could pop up at anytime.... :-/

Weight gain: I actually lost about three pounds at my last appointment, and I have no idea how with all the sweets I've been inhaling. I think I'm just about out of room for food as well. This brings my total weight gain to around 34ish pounds, give or take.

Labor Signs: I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions pretty consistently the last week. My whole stomach will get rock hard and stay that way for about 20 seconds or so and then it will relax. I think I've actually been having them for awhile now, but I mistakenly thought it was the baby stretching inside that was making everything so hard and tight.

What I am looking forward to: Sleeping on my stomach! Being able to roll over from side to side without pain and grunting and so much effort. Being able to sleep without waking up 10 times to pee. Being able to sleep without my hands going numb. Although I realize once she comes, I might not be getting much sleep either haha. I also look forward to wearing my wedding ring again. But mostly I look forward to meeting our little one. Brandon set up her swing and it's just sitting in the corner of our family room. I keep looking at it and wanting her to be in it. Here's hoping she decides to come a little bit early :-)