Baby Kieran is Here!

It's been 3 weeks since our baby boy
 made his entrance into this world.
And what an entrance it was!

After a long 52 hours of unmedicated labor
(more on that some other time),
he was born via C-section
on April 10th, 8:02 A.M.
7 lbs, 12 oz. and 21 inches long.
Healthy. Happy. And cute as can be.

This was my first look at my baby boy,

my fingers reaching out to touch him
as his proud Papa presented him to me.
.

And this was the 1st time I held him:
his warm skin against mine,
his hands clinging to my chest,
and his head tucked perfectly under my chin.

It was surreal.

Because. . .
for as much as I prepared myself for our child's birth,
I never could have been prepared for the moment:
when he is finally there in your arms,
and not only is it hard to even fathom that this sweet
baby was in your belly just moments earlier,
but it is also simultaneously hard to fathom life without him.

Furthermore, nothing could've prepared me for that moment
when I saw Travis holding our child for the first time.

I pretty much melt when I look at these pictures of the two of them.

Travis' smile in this picture makes me so happy.

And even though we were exhausted,
as we had labored for practically three days,
we were excited to have visitors and share
 our little guy with family and friends.

 

 

 

 

The first night, I held baby Kieran all night long.

And in the dim of the night,
I surveyed his sweet lips,
his soft breath, his eyelids gently pressed closed.
This was a face that I just met, but would never forget.
It was then that it hit me: I'm a MOM.
This is OUR baby.
And I smiled so big.

Here's our little family leaving the hospital three days later.
Can you tell we are excited? 
We couldn't wait to get our sweet baby home.

Even Baby Kieran looks happy about it!

 

And Kieran's 1st car ride was well documented.

Of course.

 

Kieran on the way home from the hospital.

Is it just me or is he just adorable?!

(The Dodger Bear goes with him everywhere &

was a sweet gift from Aunt Leah and Uncle Jason.)

Since we've been home, life has consisted of lots of new things,
like diaper changes, breast feeding,
& trying to figure out how to do most things one-handed.
So far so good.

And baby is even sleeping like a pro.
We've been able to get a good 10 hours of sleep
most nights, and baby is sleeping in 4 hour blocks.
(Stoked!! Thanks baby!)

We've had lots of fun snuggling,

going on family walks with baby & the pups,

reading bedtime stories to baby,
(Gah! No pic!)

giving baby a bath,

Shark baby!

scheduling playdates with his baby cousin
(baby Deklynn, born 3/20/13),

Travis holding Deklynn and my sis-in-law, Trisha, holding Kieran.

Kieran is already sticking his tongue out at girls.

taking baby out on a pretty afternoon,

I think he needs a matching brimmed hat!


going for car rides 'round town,

& even getting some things done around the house with Mama!

Thank goodness for baby carriers!

It's hard to believe how fast these three weeks
have flown by, but you know what they say,
time flies when your having fun!

Oh and in other news,
I got to enjoy my 1st glass of wine in over 9 months!

Hooray!

We've really been enjoying our little bundle
these past three weeks & I'm not looking
forward to Travis going back to work next week.
But I'm off work until August, & well,
someones gotta make some money around here! ;-)

In the meantime, we're taking advantage of all the extra Papa time!



Special thanks to all the family and friends
who have shared so much love, support and
enthusiasm for such an awesome time in our lives.
We love you guys!

From our lil' family to yours,
cheers friends!

XOXO
Aimee

 



Hands to Belly

Over the past 5 months,
there have been a lot of hands on my belly.

 

My hand over theirs,

pressing in

to him.

I can feel him on the inside,

and my eyes jolt to them on the outside,

"Did you feel him?" I say with a smile.

It is an intimate moment.

Warm skin, 

round belly,

and baby doing acrobatics inside. 

I am the connection between

my husband and his son,

 my mother and her grandson,

my sister and her nephew.

It is truly a beautiful thing.

I will miss this once baby is born. 

I'll miss the feeling of him, popping about.
Even the kicks to the ribs,
I'll miss those too.
Because it is such a precious moment in time.
A time where baby is totally at peace within me,
and I am one with him.

With my due date fast approaching (1 day!!),

I am very anxious to meet our lil' man.
But I am also trying very hard to savor what time
I have left with this baby in my belly.

In these last days,

I will remind myself to cherish my last opportunities
to feel his kicks, his nudges,
his hiccups that remind me of a beating heart.

Because soon he will be on the other side of my skin.

Outside, pressing in
to my warmth.
To my heart.

XOXO
Precious Baby Carrier

Photo cred: www.jeremychou.com

 

Maternity Photo Chou

Travis and I had our maternity photoshoot last
month with the amazingly talented Jeremy Chou. 

Jeremy photographed my sister's wedding last year,
and he did such a beautiful job, that there was 
no question that I wanted him to do our
maternity photos when the time came. 

We had done lots of prep for this shoot,
as we wanted it to really be personalized.

We brought tons of props:
an old locket my Grandma gave me for my 6th birthday,
baby shoes and outfit that we can't wait to put on our lil' one,
old suitcases, boots, chalkboard, etc., etc., etc.
OH! And Travis' '67 Ford Fairlane.
He's been working on this beauty for 10+ years.
and it was the perfect time for him to
 show off his three babies:
Me, Baby Kieran, and his Fairlane.
Sweet!
 

We decided the best backdrop for our shoot
would be on the property where we got married, 
a place that is so magical,
that every time we go there
we almost forget there is an outside world.

Love was definitely in the air.
At 34 weeks pregnant,
here I am with my favorite man in the world,
our sweet baby boy in my belly,
and if you can't tell by this first picture,
 I couldn't have been happier. 

Here are some of my other favorites from the day.

As a truly talented photographer always hopes,

I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Enjoy!

Thank you Jeremy for capturing the life, the love, and our little family. 

Xoxo

Aimee

A Nursery for Baby Kieran

 Baby Kieran's nursery has been

underway since the end of December.
It was converted from my art studio to a room fit for baby.
 And it has been such a labor of love.
I am a sucker for interior design,
and well, designing a room for my baby boy
was soooo much fun.

We wanted something sweet.
Nothing too themey.
Which, let me tell you, with some of the stuff
out on the market nowadays, is hard to avoid.
If you like monkeys, it means monkeys on everything.
Everywhere.
Monkey's in your face.
And that makes me slightly insane.

I wanted the space to be a calming one,
 one where we can all relax and
spend endless hours cuddling.
A room that not only baby will appreciate,
but a room that we all can love and enjoy.

With personal touches,
DIY projects made from the heart,
and hand picked accessories,
I think we accomplished just that.

We opted for a nursery that had a nod to the nautical,
and celebrated an 'around the world' feel,
Oh the places this baby will go!

Welcome to Baby Kieran's nursery!

GAH!  I'm in love with this glider!
The thifted turquoise chest houses toys for baby
and also functions as additional seating
for company while I'm nursing.

The shelves house some select baby books,
a framed card that my friend Jessica sent me
years ago that I was saving for just the right use,
some sweet nautical decor we picked up on our last trip to Cambria,
and some additional accessories from a nautical themed
 baby shower my sister and friends threw me back in February.

 

 

I'm a sucker for old stuff,

and this old suitcase is no exception.

It seemed perfect atop the toy chest,

and as a added bonus,

it provides more storage for baby things.

 

I'm in love with this cute Peter the Rabbit.

So sweet!

 

 

 

The crib is dressed with a chevron bumper and linens.

Alternate sheets range from gray or green with polka dots,

gray with a modern white elephant motif, and soft blue chevrons.

I'm sure we'll have plenty-a-chance to try 'em all out. :)

OH and baby has some cute furry friends

ready to greet him upon his arrival!

 

 

To add to the "around the world" theme, we framed this map.  

It was actually just some fancy gift wrap that I found at

my all-time favorite local gift shop, Blue Windows for $5 a sheet.

Um, sweet!

 

The frame, which you can't see very well here,

has some great rustic, old world detail. 

I spent many-a-weekend trying to find just the right one.

 

Next to the map is a hand-weaved Chinaman's hat

that I found years ago at a thift store.

(I admit, I have used it for Halloween attire once.

Or twice. Or thrice. But hey, who's counting?)

And the adorable, authentic Ethiopian PJ's hanging

underneath the hat are from Auntie Jessica.

She bought them for Baby Kieran when she was on a trip to South Africa.

How cool!

 

 

And thanks to so many family and friends,

baby has no shortage of stuffed animals

to play with once he's old enough to enjoy them.

 

 

This solid wood dresser was another sweet find.

Plenty of room for baby's cloth diapers,

 

 

lotions and balms,

pj's, swaddle blankets, burp clothes, and

SOCKS!

 

 

Lots and lots of cute baby socks!

 

To add a bit of whimsy,

I placed these sweet accessories atop the dual functioning dresser.

Part dresser. Part changing table.

 

 

Thanks Belia for this adorable crab buddy,

and Kathy for the sweet Family frame.

Note: Don't worry, I steamed the curtains.

Those out-of-the-package wrinkles are a thing of the past.

 

 And this handmade sailboat mobile?

 

It's one of my proud,

Mama-can-do-anything moments.

But it was not done without a little (er, a lot)

of help from my friend JoAnna.

I had to relearn how to sew.

(It's been a while.)

And luckily JoAnna was up for the challenge of teaching me!

I got this adorable fabric at a local fabric store. . .


(The jean material was courtesy of some jean cuts offs.)

 

. . . and we got to makin' this puppy.

Er, sailboat mobile.

It was pretty hilarious our first go around.

My sewing machine has quite the throttle.

But after a few jaw dropping, hands up in the air trial runs,

I got the hang of it.

 
And well, after one boat was complete,
we felt pretty good about our accomplishment.
Thanks Jo!

 

Aww, cute!

I put 5 washers in the bottom of each boat base to give it

a little more weight so it would "sail" once hung.

When all the sailboats were sewn,
Travis cut some branches from
our plum tree and I did a quick white wash 
on the wood with some acrylic paint to lighten the look.
Then he helped me string the boats with fishing line.
And ta da!

Not to brag, but I think it turned out great!

 And I'm sure Baby Kieran will love looking at it all
googly-eyed while he's getting his diaper changed.
Right baby? Right!

Other sweet touches?
Well thanks to baby showers galore,
this baby has no shortage of clothes.
Or wonderful books for us to read to him.
His closet is fully stocked!  

With just one week until this baby is due,
we can't wait to spend some time with him in this room,
a place that has touches of family and friends everywhere.

There is no doubt, you can feel the love in here.
And baby, all you need is love.

XOXO
Aimee