Cousin's Reunion 2012

We attended the 2012 Cousin's Reunion a couple of weekends ago and had a blast!  It was at Mountain Harbor/Shangri La on Lake Ouachita (same location as last year).  I was a little worried about taking a 7 week old, but as you can see from the pictures I had plenty of help :)

We drove down on Thursday night, then Friday we took Wesley to the Mid America Science Museum and spent Saturday on the lake before heading home on Sunday.  Both kids did great on the trip down and back, and we all had so much fun visiting with our family over the weekend.

Natalie's Birth Announcement

I ordered these from Tiny Prints, and was very pleased with the quality!  I chose the post cards, so I didn't have to mess with envelopes - and the postage was less expensive.  Thanks to my sister-in-law Jessica Smith for taking this great shot of Natalie!

Cousins came to visit!

This past weekend my parents, my sister Sarah, and her 3 kids came up to visit.  We had so much fun - the kids of course had a blast playing in the pool, and the adults actually got to relax and visit despite having 5 kids in the house!  Natalie was the main attraction, especially for my nephews and niece!  I don't think she got put down the entire weekend :)

1 Month

Natalie stats:

• Head Circumference -14.5 (20%)
• Weight - 8lbs (6%)
• Length - 20in (less than 3%)
• Clothes - Newborn
• Diapers - Newborn
• Food - This month was difficult trying to get the feeding figured out.  I started out exclusively breastfeeding, but she had a really hard time latching so I used a nipple shield which did help some.  About day 4 I started pumping and giving her breast milk from a bottle, which she quickly figured out was much faster than nursing and really wouldn't nurse much after that.  I wasn't producing much milk (which I experienced with Wesley as well) so I started supplementing around 1 week.  We tried both Enfamil Newborn and Enfamil Gentlease, both which made her extremely gassy.  We are now using Prosobee which is soy along with Dr Brown's bottles, and this combo along with occasional use of Gripe water/gas drops seems to be much better on her little tummy.  And when she is hungry, she wants food right then and will let you know it!
• Sleep -Sleeps really well during the night!  She will go to sleep between 10-11pm each night, wake once to take a bottle between 2-3am, and then sleeps until around 7-8am.  It has really been a blessing!  She naps during the day anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, usually after she has eaten.
• Talents/interests -She likes to be held (of course!) and to lay on her left side.  She loves her pacifier - we are using the Soothie which is the one we got at the hospital.  She seems to like her bouncy seat and her newborn lounger, but not her play gym or swing.  She has been smiling and cooing which is so precious, and is starting to notice her hands :)

Natalie's Nursery

So I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of Natalie's nursery.  Things have been busy around here, to say the least - I had forgotten how much work it actually is taking care of a newborn!  Totally worth it though, she is precious and I'm enjoying every moment with my new daughter :)

When we moved Wesley to his big boy room (aka the guest bedroom) we turned his nursery into Natalie's nursery.  I used the same furniture, only now everything is pink and girly :)  I think it turned out really cute.

Armoire and rocking chair.  I had the rocking chair pads recovered in a green and cream chevron fabric - I wanted a neutral pattern in case I get to use it again and we have a boy.

Crib bedding and drapes.  My MIL had the drapes made for Wesley's nursery, and we just re-used them for Natalie's.  She also had the bedding made - I picked out what I liked online from this site, so she just ordered the same fabric and had it custom made.  It is my favorite part of the nursery!  The paper lanterns came from Just Artifacts - I had paper lanterns above Wesley's crib as well.

 

Shelves with decorations to the left of the crib.  My favorite are the little wooden blocks with the owl, bird, and butterfly - I found them on Etsy.

 

Bow holder - my SIL made this the weekend Natalie was born.  In fact, I think she painted the letters in the car on the way to the hospital!  She did a fabulous job :)

 

Canvas and changing table.  Again, Etsy find - I love how she tied the crib bedding patterns into the canvas.