Fresh Air

It was a beautiful day in Eugene.....perfect for mama & baby to get out of the house!

Delivery Day

I'm currently snuggling my little guy, who is in a milk induced coma, and wondering if life could get much better than this very moment.  It's been so nice being home and sleeping in our own beds.  The hospital stay was manageable, but sleep was few and far between.  I know a lot of you will have seen these photos on Facebook, but I wanted to upload them for the few that don't Facebook {primarily my mother & aunts}.  Enjoy our birth story......it honestly was such a magical day.

I was sure that I wouldn't sleep the night before my c-section, but I actually slept wonderfully and was relaxed as we headed to the hospital.  We arrived for check-in at 7:00am and I was prepped for surgery at 9:00am.  The nurse, Debbie {who reminded me of my aunt Patsy}, hooked me up to the monitor and checked Harrison's heartbeat.  My doctor came in shortly after for a quick ultrasound to make sure he was still breech, which he was......butt down.  It was so strange seeing him on the screen and knowing we would finally meet in a few minutes.  When it was finally game time I was ready......and VERY anxious.

Jody suited up and waited while I received my spinal and they prepped me for my c-section.  The anesthesiologist happened to have been born and raised in Auburn, AL so we talked football, which was a great distraction.  Once I was prepped and ready it took all of 5 mins before I heard the scream of our little guy.  Jody stepped away with the nurses to get Harrison cleaned up and cut the cord {I've purposely left those photos out....you're welcome}
I've mentioned this to a few people, but it was such a strange feeling laying there by myself waiting for Jody to come out with Harrison.  My world had just completely changed, I was experiencing a wave of emotions and the nurses were just going about their business.  I felt extremely alone, but that all changed when they laid my little boy on my chest.  I honestly felt like it was just the 3 of us in the room.....my new family.  

Since we hadn't gotten any good ultrasound photos, his appearance was a complete surprise.  The biggest shock of all was all that light brown hair!  I was certain he would come out with a head full of black hair, like his dad, but it turns out he looks a lot more like the Duvall side of the family.

I will always treasure the 2 photos above......the first time we both got to hold our little meatball.

After spending, what seemed like an eternity in the recovery room, we were able to go to our mom & baby room and get settled.  The remainder of the day was full of visitors and snuggling our, very sleepy, new baby. {How cute is his hat?}

Jody and his mom were an amazing help during the hospital stay, since I wasn't able to move around much.  They changed diapers, brought me food, snuggled baby and kept me company through all of the nurses poking and prodding.  I've had a super easy recovery and I have both of them to thank for that.

I should also thank my amazing doctor, Heather York, for a job well done.  She has given Harrison and I great care.......not to mention a very nice incision!  It will be sad saying goodbye to her at my post-op appointment next week.

Since my recovery was going so well, we got to leave the hospital a day early. Our time at home has been incredibly relaxing and has consisted mainly of eating and staring at our really cute baby.  Life is good!

39 Weeks......the Grand Finale!

Harrison Dean Duvall
Born August 3rd @ 9:20am
8lbs 6oz - 19inches
❤❤❤

Maternity Photo Favs!

Our maternity shoot CD showed up in the mail on Friday.  Here are a few of my favorites.....

So I guess we're gonna do this......

If anyone wants to know where I'm at on

August 3rd around 9:00ish

......I'll be having a baby!

no biggie

Southern Themed Baby Shower

My sweet friend Megan & her mama {Julie} threw me the most beautiful baby shower this past Saturday.  Those 2 ladies went over and beyond to make me feel so special and very loved.  The food was AMAZING but the ladies who came to help me celebrate were the best part.  We visited while sipping on Peach Bellini's and sweet tea, ate a variety of southern specialties & finished it up with lots of pretty presents for my sweet little boy.  Thank you so much to the Budge ladies and for all my sweet lady friends.  It was truly a memorable day.......that ended with me taking a dip in the pool! HEAVEN!

The lovely table setting

Shower menu......I filled my plate.....twice





A close up of the yummy food and the adorable favors





Table Flowers

Celebratory Champagne for the day Harrison arrives

There was soooo much food

Some of the lovely ladies......Kim, Melissa & Vanessa

Miss Jenny & Shanley

Such a happy lady!

Turns out that no photos were taken of my gracious hosts.  Luckily stealing photos off Facebook is so easy......Thanks again Ladies!
{Megan, Julie and the Budge mascot......Gracie}

Suiting Up The Belly

Shopping for swimming suits has never ranked high on my "fun" list,
{I would assume most women feel this way}
but it was necessary since we've been invited to a 4th of July pool party.
I attempted to squeeze into one of my bikini's, but there was some serious sausage action going on.....
not appropriate for any type of party......so buying a new suit was inevitable.
I was kind of dreading the whole thing, but found it was the most enjoyable swimsuit shopping experience I've ever had.....EVER!
Honesty I've never been so uncritical of myself.
I put the suit on and asked myself 2 questions....

1. Are my lady friends covered?
2. Is my hiney hanging out?

The first suit that received a Yes and No answer was the winner.  

The whole process took less than 20 minutes and I left feeling pretty good about this big belly.  

Now I can properly celebrate the 4th......

bring on the hot dogs & fireworks!!!

Swollen

Looks like I'll be tucking my ring away for the next 6 weeks.
Kind of makes me sad

The List(s)

This week marks the beginning of my 6th month of pregnancy.  With only 14-16 weeks left I felt like it was probably time for me to actually read my Pregnancy Guide.  According to my OB I have some work to do this month which includes....

1. Signing up for child birth class & breast feeding class
2. Taking a tour of the hospital
3. Starting prenatal yoga class 
4. Pre registering with hospital administration
5. Working on our birth plan

Easy stuff and nothing that my doctor hadn't already mentioned.  Then, when reading Dear Baby this morning, Melissa had a list of items she needed to do/buy before the birth of her 2nd child.  The list included.......

1. Give the house a good deep cleaning.  
2. Stock up on hand soap/sanitizer. 
3. Load up on Pads/Depends.    
4. Buy some granny panties. 
5. Add a waterproof mattress cover. 
6. Give friends a key to the house. 
7. Freeze some dinners in advance.  
8. Purchase disposable breast pads

This list seemed much more helpful, especially since this is my rookie season.  I mean seriously.....Depends......no one tells you about that kind of stuff.  So if I missed anything PLEASE let me know.  I've obviously never done this before and need all the advice I can get.  Thanks!

The Official Baby Poll

T-minus 48 hrs until we find out the sex of this little nugget.

If you're interesting in playing the guessing game, I've added a little poll in my side bar.

To Cloth or Not to Cloth

This past week I officially entered the 2nd trimester of my pregnancy and I have started making my preliminary "must have" baby list. Along with research on car seats & strollers, I've also been thinking a lot about diapers. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but our budget for the first 7 months after law school is going to be very tight and diapers are a huge expense. I read several blogs of mama's that cloth diaper, it's been amazing to read how much they save and how easy it can be.

From the majority of reviews I've read, I'm leaning toward the Fuzzibunz One Size diapers.

Each diaper runs about $19, so it's an investment in the beginning, but the one size diapers adjust for a newborn baby all the way up to 30lbs. Here's my breakdown in dollars over a year...

Disposable diapers per month = approx $150.00

$150 x 12 months = $1800.00

20 Cloth diapers = $380.00

Disposables for night sleeping/travel = approx $300

Total with cloth & disposables = $680.00

Total savings using cloth year 1 = $1120.00

Total savings using cloth year 2 & 3 = $1500.00

These are obviously just rough estimates, especially since I'm not positive how many diapers a baby uses in one day, but it's obvious that cloth diapers will save us a substantial amount of money. The downside of cloth diapering is that it's not near as convenient as disposable diapers and it requires doing more laundry. With that said, I think we would stick to disposables at night and for traveling in the beginning to keep things simple.

If any of you mama's out there have helpful information ya'll would like to share about cloth diapers, from personal use or friends who use them, I would love to hear from you. We haven't completely made up our mind but I can't think of any reasons to not give it a try......even if it's a bust.

For those that are interested in more information &/or reviews on cloth diapers, check out the blog posts below:

1. Cloth diapering 101. Choosing a diaper & Cloth Diapering 102. How cloth diapering actually works.
2. Cloth diaper review
3. Our cloth diaper experiment
4. jenloveskev - cloth diapers

February

While the rest of the country is freezing their little hineys off, the northwest is enjoying sunny skies and a beautiful start to this month of love. I think all this sunshine is throwing me off, or maybe it's my protuding gut, but my brain has been working overtime this afternoon. Try and stay with me people......the post has no permanent direction.

Since this month has long been dedicated to hearts, flowers and boxed chocolate, I've decided to go with it and totally embrace all things Valentine's. With that said, I've also decided to dedicate this month to my favorite Valentine - hubby extrodinare - my main squeezer - the mister. I think, and hopefully he agrees, that we have a really good marriage but I want more (don't most women)....I want a great marriage. So, everyday this month I am going to commit to doing 1 thing per day to make my marriage greatER then it already is. So here we go......

Feb 1 - EVALUATE MYSELF

Ladies - As much as we would love to say that we are the perfect ones in the relationship....we aren't {ugg that's hard to admit}. Today I commit to spending less time finger pointing and more to time evaluating what I can do to make our marriage greatER.

Onto another topic. The time has finally come to start thinking about maternity clothes. You know why?.....my pants told me so. I'm definitely not ready to make the switch but there are several items that have already been moved to the pre-pregnancy portion of my closet. To prepare for the moment when my pants just won't give another inch, I ordered my first pair of maternity jeans that should arrive any day now. I'm also considering asking my boss if yoga pants fall under the "professional work attire" category.

Even though maternity clothes are right around the corner, I've vowed to not let it make me frumpy. THIS lady is my preggers mentor. So precious!

Unfortunately, there is not a chance in H-E-double hockey sticks that I will have the 'basketball' belly. I'm convinced this child's theory is go big or go home. I've already gained 6lbs and I'm not even in my 2nd trimester!


Last thing and I am done for the day. I really hope you guys like hearing about the following topics....

• pregnancy
• law school graduation/the bar
• the Army
• being on an itty bitty budget

because that is what is going to consume all of 2011. If you don't come back I will understand.....but then you won't get to hear about how I have to take off my panty hose to eat lunch because they make me feel like a sausage.

With Love,