Newborn Pictures

Savannah got her picture taken when she was 9 days old and I am so glad I had them done.  I debated on whether to get newborn pics taken, but these are so precious I can't imagine not having them! My friend and sorority sister from college, Cara Beth, took the pictures.  I haven't seen Cara Beth since college, so it was great to see her and watch her use her talents! She just started taking pictures full-time recently and you can see she is so good! I'll put a few of my favorites below.

Caddo-bo-baddo hung around the whole shoot, cause he knew Cara Beth loves animals and would eventually take his picture too! Such a pretty kitty :)

We love the pics and can't wait for the 4 month, 8 month, and 1 year pictures too!

Savannah comes home and other pictures!

While I try to get ahold of my life and get Savannah comfortable in her new home outside my belly, I have had to temporarily ignore my blog.  So sorry folks, but this newborn care is TIRING! However, life is going on and I had better try to catch up or I probably never will. 
We stayed in the hospital two nights at my doctor's orders, and so we came home on Thursday. 

Here's the dress I wore home from the hospital and now miss Savannah has worn it home too! She looked SO PRETTY even though the dress was a tad large on her. :) [sorry I can't seem to rotate it.]

Welcome to our home!

My mom drove over from Searcy and met us here so someone would be here to take pictures!

Showing Savannah her room, while trying to introduce the kitties to her as well.

We made it home!

After she had a bath, we took her "just born" picture that this new mama forgot to take when she was actually 'just born'. hah!

We are adjusting and I am finally feeling like my head is coming up above the water a little bit.  She'll be two weeks old tomorrow and I can't believe she's already that old!

Here's a precious pic of her I snapped with my iphone while she was really awake and alert.  Such a cutie! [I might be biased but seriously I think she's adorable!]

Savannah Cate is here!

Our sweet girl arrived on Tuesday, December 6 at 1:34 PM.  She weighed 6 pounds and 12 ounces and is 20 1/2 inches long, with a head full of dark brown hair.  We think she is absolutely beautiful and are just loving every second of getting to know her.  [We might be a little more exhausted than ever before, but it is all worth it.]

Out the door to the hospital! last belly shot!

And she's out! [if only all I had to do was walk into the hospital-hah!]

She looked perfect in my opinion!

My doctor, Dr. Seguin, saying hello to miss Savannah!

There's her bassinet tag, with Uncle Aaron's name!

Right when we arrived into our post-partum room, it started SNOWING! Daddy showing his new daughter her first snow on her birthday. Very special.

Sleeping in her bassinet

Let's not talk about how rough I look, but I still want to remember her first 24 hours of life. 

Again, no commenting on my rough appearance, but such a sweet first morning sunrise with pretty sunlight on the snow for her.

Grandad and CC LOVE their baby granddaughter! Her Gran and Nana LOVE her too but I somehow don't have a picture of them holding her at the hospital.

This is the first outfit we put her in! Such a precious little girl!

And just for my memory purposes, I want to recall when things happened at the hospital on Tuesday.  Birc and I decided to induce labor on Tuesday with my doctor for many reasons, [even though I was hesitant about it] but I am so glad we did that and she is here now.  We arrived about 8:15 and got checked in and I got a fluid IV. [but not before they blew my vein]  Then my doc came at about 9:00 and broke my water and informed me I was 4 cm dialated and 95% effaced at that time. Then they added a pitocin drip to my IV. My nurse checked at 10:00 and I was already dialated to 7 cm and 100% effaced.  I hadn't had any pain meds yet so I decided to wait just a bit and see how fast things would go.  I didn't think the contractions were too painful, and I had told myself if I made it to 8 cm I would go without an epidural.  Well, 20 minutes went by and I think I was at 9 cm, so I was at the point of no return and decided on no pain meds.  Then my doc arrived about 12:45 and I started pushing [and blew another IV]. Miss Savannah Cate arrived right at 1:34 PM and we [me, most] were so relieved and happy labor was over! Birc did amazingly awesome and cheered me on, cut the cord, then kept a close eye on Savannah while they checked her out.  My sis was a total Godsend and helped me through the entire labor, and my mom got there just in time to help when I needed another person to talk me through each contraction.  My mother-in-law was a help holding the fan over my face for each contraction.  All of the people I just mentioned got to see miss Savannah being born [by default, don't know if they all wanted to be in there but I wouldn't let them leave! hah!]

After a bit the granddaddies and uncle Aaron got to come in and meet her and took turns holding her.  It was a very special day to meet our daughter.  Birc and I are so blessed and happy to have a healthy little girl.  We think she's just beautiful and perfect!

Savannah's Room

I've been waiting and waiting to do this post until I felt Savannah's room was totally ready.  Well I don't guess that ever happens, but it is as close to ready as it will ever be I think!  Be prepared for lots of pics, cause I want to put them all in one post and I took tons of pics along the way. 

 So we forgot to take a pic before any of the baby stuff started arriving, but this is a good view of the 'before' paint color.

And here's the other side of the room before paint.

 Here I am painting the medallion that will go above the ceiling fan in her room.

Here's after the paint job my wonderful husband did! [I'm the cutter-inner, and he's the roller. it works well.]

 paint view again

the boys are like, why are we doing all this work in here?

the night we received and put together the crib.  I knew what day to expect it to arrive, and I told Birc that we would be putting it together as soon as it arrived!

He was thrilled, as you can see. 

I actually was, though!

All done! [sorry these seem to be out of order a little, you can see our paint swatches on the wall there, we hadn't painted yet!]

Caddo is thinking, 'what a strange gift to give us, but I'm sure we'll figure out a way to play with this contraption'. :)

The day I found the bumper and crib skirt [that my mom and I were planning to sew] for less than the fabric cost in a local store! SCORE!

curtains just finished!

My favorite pillow I made.  [we are leaving the double bed in her room, cause we will need it again someday soon and I don't want to put it in our stuffy attic!]

The rest of the pillows I made for the bed.  We turned the bed sideways in hopes of having more of a day bed.

 And then we painted a stencil on the wall.

 Stencil finished!

 A lamp I got at a consignment place and repainted to match her room.

 I made this bow holder [with Birc's help] and it is just chicken wire so the bows and such can clip anywhere!

her little shelf of gifts she's received, plus the dress both Anna and I came home from the hospital in and I hope Savannah comes home in too!

Her crib and shelf and monogram, plus my great-granddad's rocker that my mom had re-caned.

A view of the whole room ready for her arrival!

The door sign my friend Valarie's mom made, plus a cute little pillow door hanger that is supposed to be filled in with her birth stats when she arrives! Love!

 A little toy basket filled with some toys she's received.

 A little table I found and repainted and put a few things on.

 Her changing table was such a debacle-I knew I wanted an antique chest of drawers for her so she could use it later on, but I COULD NOT find what I wanted for months! I wanted it to be stained instead of painted, to bring some color into the room, and seriously I looked at antique stores and antique shows, in three cities, and finally found this one that I love and my parents refinished for Savannah. 

As you can see, she's received TONS of books so hopefully she loves to read like her parents do!

One of my employees has awesome painting skills, and I asked her to put some bible verses on a few canvases for me for Savannah's room.  This one is a little bright for now but will be great later and so it is on the door.

Above you can see a closer look at the pillow my mom made with Savannah's monogram on it. On my great-granddad's rocker. LOVE. :)

The other two canvases I had painted.  One is Psalm 139:14 and the other is Psalm 118:24.

I think that's all I could possibly put on this post, but I wanted to have it all in one. It could be the longest post ever so if you made it down here then pat yourself on the back!