Celebrations of life.

6 weeks-

It really is remarkable watching Autumn's developments week-by-week.  I know we're new parents and every little move she makes truly astounds us, but she is already growing so fast!  It seems as if we have blinked our eyes and she's already practically sitting up on her own in her Bumbo chair and gripping things like she's superwoman.

We have yet to have Autumn on a specific routine and it seems to be working for us.  She does typically eat every two hours as of right now but her sleep is fairly sporadic.  Her personality is blossoming and in order to keep up with her visual and tactile demands, we make sure that she gets plenty of activity and play time throughout the day!  She is completely thriving and we couldn't be more proud.  She is rolling over, standing up with assistance of course and she is still rocking her tummy time.  Most days she loves it.  She can practically turn her head completely around at the moment, taking in all that she can in this big world.  Every sight and sound is still so incredibly new to her and watching her take it all in is something that Chris and I spend the majority of our 'newborn filled' days doing.  Just watching her in amazement and awe has become one of our favorite pastimes.  

Last Friday we celebrated Chris's 27th birthday! We kept it low key and ended up going out to eat to Gugliamos (which was a feat in and of itself with a 5 week old!) and finished with cake at my sisters house.  The whole evening was a surprise for him (or at least an attempt at me to surprise him which is incredibly hard to do) and even more of a surprise when he opened up his gift from all of us, a new handheld drill!  Chris had been eyeing Andy's for some time and anxious to get one of his own to work on all the 1,000 or so household projects that we have on our plate.  They had been put on hold with the addition of miss Autumn to our family, but day-by-day Chris has found time to accomplish small projects here and there.  He is a multi-tasking master and some days I envy all that he seems to get done.  This was his first birthday celebrated as a father and I would say that fatherhood completely suits him what do you think?!

 ~here comes the airplane Chris! (pretty soon we'll be feeding Autumn like this!)~

~Mama sneaking in some baby love!~

My multi-tasking abilities on the other hand are something to be desired but I am working on catching up to Chris!  It is all I can do some days just to make sure I have had 3 meals and taken a shower, but I know that 'this too shall pass' as my mom so lovingly reminds me constantly.  While it is frustrating for two adventurers to slow their life down, take things one day at a time, and have more patience than has ever been required of us, we are reminded each and every day when we hold little Autumn that every second is worth it.  We cherish even those moments that we are completely exhausted, holding her snug in our arms, because we know those moments are fleeting and will be gone far too soon.  With every blink of our eyes she is growing and becoming even more amazing than the day before.   

Sunday besides being my love's birthday, the power decided to go out on our block.  Quite the shock to both Chris and I as I woke up to feed Autumn at 4am and then put her back to bed to a flickering nightlight and the eerie playing of the white noise that soothes her to sleep.  Needless to say I was a bit terrified and called for Chris right away.  He promptly went into 'fireman' mode, gathering wood by headlamp outside and building us a glowing fire.  We spent the morning playing cards, cuddling with Autumn and just enjoying spending time as a family fireside.  It is amazing how the simple things feel so good.

That afternoon the ladies at the yoga studio had a Meet-N-Greet for Autumn and I must say it was so wonderful to see all the fellow instructors that I had not seen in months!  My mom and Lauren joined as well and anytime I get to spend with them lately I cherish.  They adore seeing their grand-daughter and niece!   The time spent at the studio was lovely and I can't thank the ladies enough for welcoming Autumn the way they did.  She was so content being passed off to each one of them that I knew she was definitely feeling the positive yoga energy that was present.

One thing that was so special was a 'good wishes' box that they created.  Each person wrote on a rock one wish that they had for Autumn.  We passed around the box as each person recited their wish that they had for her and dropped their rock into the box.  It is a treasure box that Autumn, Chris and I will truly cherish and I can't wait until she is old enough to understand just how precious each one of those wishes are for her.  It is so important to Chris and I that she is surrounded by love and positivity and that she always dreams big.  Her wish box will serve as a constant reminder of all of those things that she should hold near and dear to her heart.  Thanks again ladies for such a wonderful afternoon full of good vibes and positive energy!

Up All Night.

5 weeks old-

It's hard to believe that we have a 5 week old on our hands but somehow the days have been cruising by.  Chris and I have had a hard time distinguishing between them and if you asked me on any given day what the date was I probably couldn't tell you the date nor the day unless I look at my phone.  Autumn's newest development has been an upset tummy that has broken our hearts to hear her cries and broken our sleep schedule to the point that we are operating on zombie mode at times throughout the day.  At least we are trying to catch our winks here and there when we can.  Some of the best advice that we received from friends was to 'sleep when she sleeps'.  While it is hard sometimes to ignore the house chores and the list of things to do that grows daily, we have tried to at least go into relax mode when she is sleeping knowing that if we don't catch zzz's during her naptime we may not get them at nighttime like we are used to.

Our big discovery this week was white noise.  It has been a remarkable tool that we have used to get Autumn to sleep during the night and we can proudly say she has re-adopted her old ways of sleeping in the crib on her back after a brief period of only wanting to sleep on our chests which made for some very long nights that we would like to put behind us.  We downloaded the 'Happiest Baby on The Block' soundtrack of white noise and calming sounds and have been pleased with the results that have put Autumn in a trance during bedtime and naptime.  Needless to say we are forever grateful for stumbling upon these tracks and dare we say so is Autumn!

Workouts have been progressing and at only 5 weeks post-partum I know that continued patience will have to be on my radar.  Chris has been extremely patient with me as well heading out on my 'slogs' with me and getting in some good sprints and lunges when my slow jog turns into a fast walk.  He's been progressing quite amazingly actually tackling Crossfit workouts on his days off from running. Right now I'm doing a 2-3 minute run, 1 minute fast walk for about 3 miles.  My legs remember the 3 miles from when I was running and pregnant with her so I'm sticking to that distance for sometime until I feel a bit more recovered and ready to up the mileage.  I am looking forward to my 6 week follow-up appt. where I anticipate being cleared for all activity but right now I am still being cautious of my stitches as well as the recovery from my kidney infection.  I don't want to re-injure myself and be set back even more.  Talk about being a potential detriment to the self-esteem, I want to be sure not to let that happen.

One project we were proud to complete this week was the addition of a dresser to Autumn's room.  I had purchased the dresser for $89 at a local antique store, found knobs at hobby lobby for $18 and paint at Lowe's for $3.  The make-over ended up being better than I had imagined and while we don't have a before shot, here's a few of progress in the making as well as the finished product!  Soon I will post a full tour of Autumn's nursery once we complete a few more projects that we are working on.  Here's to hoping they get completed sooner than later. (Thanks to Grandpa for sharing some of his photos with us!)

We had a visit from a family advocate nurse from Hurlburt who gave us a plethora of advice on all things Autumn related as well as did a weigh-in for the little sprite.  Can you believe she's weighing in at close to a whopping 9lbs. 15oz.?  Almost a 10lb. baby so far and she's only just over a month old.  We've tried to hold our thumb to her head but it's not working!  She continues to grow and amaze us as she thrives.

Falling in love with Autumn Rose.

1 Month Old-

I can hardly believe that it has been so long since I last recorded an entry on here.  So much has taken place since January 1st, to include the arrival of what has become Chris and I's pride and joy...Autumn Rose.  I will take this post as an opportunity to dive right into parenthood and what week 4 has held for us thus far.  As far as what has happened since my last post, I know I have MUCH to catch up on and so much I want to record (to include her 'Birth Story'!) but will save it for a rainy day, or several days for that matter when I'm in between feedings and entertaining the little sprite.

After some unanticipated recovery time post delivery, I am finally back to society and loving every waking (to include very tired, but still awake) minute spent with Autumn.  I heard from several friends that your child will become your greatest teacher and that couldn't be more true.  While Chris and I spend time attempting to 'perfect' certain methods that we have read about or heard about, Autumn is busy switching up her game, throwing us a few curve balls and teaching us that she is the one that is in control and I have had to stop and truly smirk at this factor.

I was reading on another mom blog that she has spent 11 weeks coming to the realization that they enjoy the natural flow that their little daughter Ada has come into on her own and it is something that I already feel with Autumn.  No need to force things on her, have expectations of certain things that she should be doing at certain times or truly try to dictate every waking moment of her life with what she 'should be doing'.  I like the idea of letting her just 'be' and figuring her out as the days go by.  I found myself nose first in the pregnancy books looking up every single thing that was happening every week she was in the womb and since I have delivered Autumn I have found that I hardly pick up a book.
 Chris has been Superdad and truly has a knack for fatherhood so much of what I have adapted into my motherhood style has stemmed from watching him with our gorgeous girl.  As the saying goes you take all advice with a grain of salt but eventually you come up with your own recipe and I can safely say that's what we have done with Autumn.    

So what is Autumn doing as a brand new 4 week old baby?  She is doing remarkably, if not stunningly well.  She can recognize voices like a champ.  Chris and I love getting close to her face and just talking to her as she sits there wide eyed listening to our words and seeing our faces.  She is also incredibly visual and gets bored pretty easily with things like the mobile, so she's progressed to staring at other objects like her wall mural in her nursery, ceiling fans (which she loves), and even her activity gym which has contrasting black and white toys on it that she is completely digging.  At this age their eyesight reaches about 12 inches and the more the contrast of dark and light the better they are able to visualize.  The faces she is making at this age astonish us both sometimes as well, just check this one out for instance! 

She is digging tummy time more lately because of how well she can hold her neck up.  Her outer strength is just as good as her inner strength (she inherited a very strong will so it seems) and so being on her stomach just gazing away at her toys has become a favorite past time and thank goodness it has because Chris and I were running out of ways to entertain a 4 week old in between feedings while she was awake!

Her sleep patterns are fairly predictable and she typically eats about every 2 hours, plays for a little while, naps and then repeats.  We have been pretty fortunate in that most nights she goes for two 4 hour sessions of sleeping so that Chris and I are able to switch off feedings and both get in our beauty rest.  We thank her dearly for this time and realize that it could be fleeting! (she is loving her boppy pillow at the moment too and it's a favorite place of Chris and I's to put her just to have her 'chill' time. And to snap some photos in several of her many styling outfits she has.  We're all about the hats and leg warmers right now!)

She LOVES her carriers.  While I want to post more about babywearing down the road, Autumn definitely enjoys being snug in her Moby Wrap and Ergo carrier.  No matter who wears her as long as she is being worn she is happy as a clam.

And in terms of our cloth diapering, our dreams have already been answered and she can officially fit into both the Fuzzibuns and Bum Genius All-in-ones that we got her!  While we still have some newborn disposables left from my one Amazon purchase, it's reassuring to know that we won't be needing to make anymore disposable diaper purchases after they are gone. Talk about a relief to the wallet!

In terms of post-partum exercise, week by week I can feel myself getting stronger and back to my 'normal' self. I'll go into detail later what I've been up to in terms of getting back to my pre-pregnant self but it has mostly included running, trekking, plenty of yoga and tons of patience!  I realize that there are only so many hours in my now shortened days but I hope to find time to catch up on all that has been happening with our lives these past few weeks just for the sake of my sanity.  I want to be sure to document those first few precious weeks that you never get back!

And when we're not entertaining the little sprite, we have found a few spare hours to get our room looking put together.  We finally found some decent nightstands on Amazon that we could both agree on, we love them! (the wall mural is coming along but is still half finished.)

Sigh.....she is already 1 month old as of today-Happy One Month Birthday Autumn Rose!  While Chris and I love to watch her development, a small part of us just wants her to stay this size forever...but then again doesn't every parent want that?!

Here Autumn is rockin' out in one of her 12 onesies that were made especially for her at the Welcome Autumn Party~she decided to be extra good for her photo shoot this morning which was amazing! P.S. How fricken adorable is that owl hat that my sister made especially for Autumn Rose?  We can't get enough of it on her!

 ~Fist pumps!~

On 'Autumn Time'....

41 weeks +5 days......The journey continues.....

~A foggy day at Fort Pickens...~

Well hmmph...Autumn has certainly decided to make her appearance when she is ready.   While we have been anxious, both Chris and I knew from our Bradley Method classes that 42 weeks is technically considered overdue, not 40, and that 41 weeks + 1 day is the average gestation period of a baby.  She's already striving for above average, I must say I like her style.  In order to save my sanity,  I have stayed off the radar a bit while Chris and I just tried to resume life as normal this past week or so.  I realized that we needed to give some type of update so no one thought we were somehow hiding Autumn from the world, which we still technically are, but she's safe and sound inside my belly and has decided to extend her stay in what is lovingly refereed to as 'Hotel Uterus'.

The best news that we received this week at the Non-Stress Test (NST)  on Tuesday was that there is no medical reason for an induction therefore it is not at all necessary at this point.  The NST measures the babies heartbeat in response to contractions and her own activity and required me to just be hooked up to an external fetal hearttrate monitor for about 30 minutes while she kicked away. I felt as if a huge weight was lifted off of me.  Her kick count is still doing awesome and her heartrate in response to the few contractions I had during the test was still beating like a champ.  Friday we had another NST performed as well as an ultrasound and same results.  Her heartrate is great, amniotic fluid levels are all completely normal, placenta is still feeding her like it's supposed to and my blood pressure is still where it should be this late in the pregnancy.

I have had this funny feeling that my due date has even been slightly off and, in fact, even with technology it is still possible that the date can be off by at least a week a lot of resources say, and so the Doctor confirmed that performed the ultrasound.  He mentioned that because my first ultrasound wasn't until after approximately 12 weeks, that the measurements might not be as accurate.  He also mentioned that they should have booked my first ultrasound around 8 weeks in order to have better accuracy.  I have been blessed that the past two Doctors I have seen on Eglin at my NST appts. have been on board with my due date 'theory' and that they say as long as she's not stressed in there, to keep on with my daily activities.  We go in for another NST this coming Tuesday (Jan. 3nd), where I would 'technically' be 42 weeks pregnant, that is 'if' she doesn't decide to come before now and then. :-)

How am I feeling?

I have not felt like I was 40 weeks pregnant really until this week.  She has definitely dropped more (although she is still fairly active) and I am still able to head out on my 3-4 mile treks.  I am up constantly in the night now more than ever to use the bathroom, there is definitely a lot more pressure down there and I have begun to feel that the time is getting closer just by listening to my body, not solely relying on what 'week' I am in as strange as that may sound. Chris and I focused on really stepping back from everything and just being a couple this week which has truly helped us not only connect but enjoying these last few days together as just the two of us.  We've gone to the movies, walked on the beach, and just sat and chatted about things other than Autumn arriving to help us keep our minds on things.  We were far to focused on anticipating her last week and definitely switched to a more relaxed approach.  This whole baby growing thing has been a big learning process for us already.

I somehow caught a cold, a really bad cold that had me stuffed up for the past week.  You can't exactly go into labor without being able to breathe so I was in a slight panic and unable to really find my center which is unusual for me.  My immune system is stressed already so catching whatever I did really took it's toll.  That is my life I say though, I began my pregnancy with a sinus infection, apparently I was destined to end it similarly? (insert sarcasm) I had to actually laugh at that in between trying to catch my breath of course.  Chris created a magical vapor mist concoction consisting of mint, salt, and Vick's vapor rub that kicked it pretty much out of my system as of several nights ago.  Just a few sniffles left over but I can finally breath again (hallelujah!)

Our Miracle Dog

And just when we think we can catch a break, Toga begins to have issues with her back bum leg.  For those that don't know her story, I'll give a brief synopsis.  We adopted her when we first moved here from my mom who fosters dogs for the Emerald Coast Golden Retriever Society.  She had quite the personality and we couldn't resist making her a part of the family.  Chris especially loved her spunk and her 'can-do' attitude.  Her previous owner took hardly any care of her, let her wonder around the neighborhood for food, never gave her medication (which led to her getting heartworm disease-and then recovering from it- a total of three times) and eventually because he never had her fenced in, she was hit by a car and they had to take an inch of bone out which gave her minimal mobility on her back right leg.  She has always dragged the leg slightly when walking and at times hardly uses it.  In fact, she has always sprinted with 3 legs, ate on 3 legs and for the most part only used the other leg for balance.

Chris and I took her to the vet on Thursday where she was sedated and then x-rayed to determine what needed to be done.  Dr. E was appalled by the x-ray results.  He said that whomever did her hip surgery, where her entire ball joint was taken out, did a botch job.  He showed us where there was bone on bone contact where there shouldn't be, intense friction between the bones, stress fractures, bone fragments and scar tissue buildup that he hadn't seen that bad before.  He also noted that she had a BB pellet  in that leg as well.  I had heard from her story that the neighbor kids had taunted her but didn't realize they actually shot at her.  I read that because dogs are pack animals, they learn to tolerate pain extremely well because if they don't, they fear they might get kicked out of the pack.  Chris and I were amazed that she could hide the pain that she was obviously feeling, but Dr. E mentioned that we needed to make some type of decision to get her out of the pain that she could have been feeling for a very long time.   He recommended an FHO surgery in which he would go in and clean up her hip area in hopes of removing all the bone fragments and scar tissue and give her increased, though not perfect mobility in that leg.  The part that really got to us was that there was also the possibility that he couldn't perform the surgery properly and that we needed to be prepared that her leg would be amputated.  We were optimistic though and knew that whatever the outcome of the surgery, she would be just fine.

When Chris dropped her off at the vet on Thursday, he ran into Dr. E in the parking lot as he was just coming into work.  He mentioned he had done a lot of thinking about the surgery, examining the x-rays, and really felt that it was going to be just too complicated to really get into that hip and be able to dig out the bone fragments and scar tissue.  He said that truly what was most likely going to happen was that they were going to need to amputate it.  Again, we had prepared ourselves for it and knew that she was going to be just fine without it, but that didn't make it any easier for us when we first saw her post surgery.  

It hit both Chris and I really hard when we saw her so drugged and confused.  Chris picked her up around 2:30 Thursday afternoon after dropping her off around 7:30am.  They had her in and out in no time which was remarkable actually.  We underestimated our reaction to our decision making and instantly began doubting ourselves wondering if we made the right decision, the timing of the decision and how Toga would actually cope with 'officially' having only 3 legs.  

That first day was tough for several reasons.  Chris's parents came into town that afternoon around 4 pm and we both were not our happy selves after just picking up Toga.  We were ecstatic that they were here and could join us in (hopefully!) celebrating the birth of Autumn and New Years, and yet we had just picked up our dog who had her leg amputated and was completely reliant on us for all of her needs.  We couldn't have asked for a better support team through that first day though because everyone, including Chris's grandparents and parents, really came together to help her through those 24 hours of grogginess.  They pampered her with love, treats and plenty of scratching and massaging.  They talked to her like they had known her forever and really helped keep her spirits up.  We can't thank them enough for helping us be optimistic about her recovery and focusing on her getting better.  

The first night was extremely rough because Chris and I were paranoid that she was going to injure her suture.  She needed to be carried out to go to the bathroom each time and monitored for any biting on her suture.  She needed to be hand fed and given water and it really broke our hearts to see her face because we could see the confusion that she had.  Funny thing is, at 41+ weeks pregnant, I am used to sleeping in 30 minute increments as I am constantly up to use the bathroom.  So it was no different that I was constantly awake making sure Toga was OK and comfortable.  Our biggest concern was our floors which now that the carpet was gone are extremely slippery.  We put a yoga mat out in front of her dog bed for traction just in case she tried to move.  We weren't anticipating anything within the first day.  And then she fooled us, proving that we didn't need to be so sympathetic towards her.  At 4:30 am, she stood up on 3 legs completely on her own.  I thought I was seeing things because it was still dark but then I gently tapped Chris and told him to glance over at her.  She got up, drank some water and then patiently waited for us to come over to her.  As early as it was and as sleepless of a night it was for us both, we were absolutely thrilled to see that progress already.  We rewarded her and just gave her a ton of loving.  From then on out, the rest is history and she is now, 3 days post surgery, functioning completely on her own from eating, drinking, going to the bathroom and even fetching. She truly is our miracle dog and has taught us that she can and will overcome anything that life throws at her.  A life lesson that Chris and I will continue to be inspired by.

 ~We hate her haircut but it will grow back soon!~

 

 ~Lola's been such a sweet little sister through all of this and totally taunting Toga to get up and moving to play with the ball~

These last few days have been nothing short of chaotic and eventful, but we know life no differently.  We have truthfully enjoyed every day we have gotten to spend with Chris's parents and grandparents (despite there being no little one yet) and will continue to live day-by-day in anticipation of her arrival, but also in taking these next few days to show them around the Emerald Coast and just be tourists for awhile.  After all, we are still counting down our last few days as 'just the two of us' and want to continue to cherish those precious moments we have.  Life is certainly about to change, the next question is when???????

 ~Chris and his mom and dad~

~After 3 years, finally reunited with one of my best friends from highschool, Vanessa.  We may go months and months without talking, but it never fails we always pick up where we left off.  There's a possibility she gets stationed here in a year which would be amazing! Until then, best of luck to her as she finishes at the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, CA learning none other than to be an Arabic Linguist. She's going to rock at it.~

Merry Christmas Eve!

Week 40- (and STILL preggo..but finally caught up on posting..;-)

~Happy 'due date' Autumn! December 20, 2011~

This is definitely a week that while I somewhat expected to reach, didn't actually believe it would happen that I would be past the 40 week mark.  I figured with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, the manual labor that I put into doing the floors and the constant moving around would have been enough to bring little Autumn here by now.  But she's stubborn, and late, just like her mama so I suppose she is already a girl after my own heart! (Traits that I am not always proud of but, hey, at least I can admit to them!)

What is little Autumn doing in there at this point?  GROWING. All the resources stop giving fruit or vegetable references for size. Every day she adds a few more ounces and I can feel it more and more especially when I'm out on my walks.  My arches are starting to get tired of beating the pavement with an extra 33 lbs of weight I suppose, I don't blame them!  Truthfully though, I am happy that I carried her to full term and hoping she's gotten all the developing done in there that she needed!

As I write this I am 40 weeks, 4 days.  The last 4 days have consisted of digging into the natural methods of induction and just trying a few things here and there to bring Autumn closer to us.  I have consumed several gallons of Raspberry Tea ~which I have been consuming for weeks, but just upped the ante since she has been 'past due'.  Since FL temperatures have peaked in the high 70's I'm loving the iced tea actually.

I made an entire pan of from scratch Eggplant Parmesan.  While the consumption of it didn't bring many contractions, the creation of it did!  There were several times when I was making the sauce that I had to go sit down because the Braxton Hicks were that strong.

We thought that might have been the kick off but soon after I finished the sauce and stopped breathing in the fumes of oregano and basil, the contractions halted and we were kind of bummed that it turned out to be a false alarm.

 ~Delish!!~

While I made dinner, Chris made dessert!  All by himself~he was so proud and the cookies which were supposed to be for the nurses have been pretty much consumed by now.  Guess we'll be baking again tonight!

~Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Heath Bar Chippers~YUM!~

I have eaten almost 2 whole pineapples (bromelain, a digestive aid in pineapple, is said to possibly bring on labor) and have been taking long strides while I walk on a daily basis.  All just trial and error of course and all safe, homeopathic methods.  Yesterday morning I sat down for a good yoga/meditation session and practiced actually visualizing her here.  A way that I have been trying to feel more connected with her because I am still at the point where I don't fully expect reality to hit until I hold her sweet little self in my arms.  Of course there have been several other induction methods we have used and if you have given birth before (or have heard from other moms in your circle of friends!) then you know what these methods are, they need not be mentioned. :-)

I also took a 4 mile walk outside with Chris and Lola which I thoroughly enjoyed followed by a bath that was completely relaxing.  Chris has been taking amazing care of me lately in making me comfortable.  I figured if I could just alternate between those things that produce endorphins to those activities that produce oxytocin (the feel good hormone that jump starts labor) I'm bound to trigger something!  What I have tried not to focus on is our induction date of December 29th because while it does put an end in sight, it is something that I truly don't want.  I've been so aware of my health and fitness during this pregnancy attempting to do all the things that are meant to ease labor that an induction I didn't ever see being on the table.  And while I know no matter how she arrives the important thing is that she arrives healthy, I just wanted it to happen when she was ready.  So I remain focused on those things that I can control in the meantime and hope that in the next 5 days she makes her appearance on her own!  At her 40 week appointment her heartbeat was very strong, the amniotic fluid is perfect the doctor said and the placenta is still very healthy.  All good news and all of which means she is still just content in growing a bit more in there.

I have also found myself retreating these past few days, kind of going into hermit mode as I try to prep myself for what I know will be one of the toughest things that I will physically ever do.  Chris is ready to contact everyone when things actually start to happen and I am anxious as ever to start a new beginning~ motherhood!

I leave you with a glimpse of the nursery-so far- as we are still working on a few other touches that most likely won't be accomplished until after she arrives.  I am in awe of how it actually turned out~ I seriously adore it.  Here's where my inspiration started:

~while browsing The Knot doing wedding research, I came across this AMAZING cherry + lime styled shoot and fell in love~

Here's the olioboard that I began to develop some ideas on:

I knew that I wanted to incorporate her name somehow into the room but in a creative way.  I looked to my mom's words of wisdom that she has given me over the years, the 'Roots and Wings' philosophy that made our way into the maternity photoshoot even, and knew that I wanted to have a tree be the focal point on one wall.  Once I discovered a decal (on Etsy of course) I fell in love with one that looked like 'Autumn Breezes'.  It incorporated not only the 'roots' but also the butterflies symbolizing the 'wings'.   I loved the idea of doing a key-lime color on her walls to compliment the already dark bamboo floors. I thought the cherry red curtains would really make the place pop.  Of course since she would be a little girl, I had to add in some fushia/berry pinks which I really think makes the cherry and lime pop even more, in addition to the bright white accents.  It's been an amazing time adding all the personal touches to her room, many of which are half finished, I'll take pictures of the other walls later when they are complete. Now all we need is little Autumn to arrive and give her stamp of approval.

~her door blessing handmade by a massage therapist at my yoga studio~

As I sign off, I know in the back of my mind that the next time I will be posting there will be a little one snuggled up in our arms.  We can't wait to share her with all our friends and family and are beyond thrilled to start this next phase of our lives!

We are off to spend Christmas Eve with family and friends and can't wait to enjoy good food and good company along with plenty of relaxing. A very Merry Christmas everyone, we can't wait to share our little bundle with you!