So what's been up with us?

Ya know... we've been busy.

Did a little bed rest, a few visits to the labor & delivery ward at CMC, and ultimately having a baby... just a day in the life.

I'm hopelessly in love with my new little guy. He came into this world perfectly:

Our little story....
....We were induced Friday morning, July 1, at 8:00am after 3 weeks of bed rest and multiple times admitted to the hospital for high blood pressure. I trembled with fear at the prospect of having to deliver Knox under blood pressure medicine (Magnesium Sulfate). It's notorious among those who know of it for it's awful side effects: swollen extremities, cold/tingly feeling, and worst of all, the need to be on it for up-to 24 hours after delivery.  I was on it with Nash. I have awful memories and prayed long and hard that I not have to repeat that experience.  As long as my bp was holding strong, I was promised I could deliver without it. Amazingly enough, I did.

Nurses started petocin to jump-start my contractions (well, in my case, pick up their already-in-existence pace) at 10:00a. I went in 2.5 cm dilated and completely effaced. In 2 hours I went to 6cm and my contractions had begun to be too uncomfortable through my epidural.  After a call to the anesthesiologist for a little bump in pain meds, I jumped to 8.5 cm. 15 mins later I felt unreal pressure and needed to push. After 4 pushes in 20 mins, he arrived!

Knox Jeffery Chambers

1:57pm on July 1, 2011

18" long, 5 lbs, 11oz.

He's been a little angel (gassy, yes) ever since. 

Here's a little taste of his delivery: his birth, visit from big brother, visit from friends, and the ride home....

This thing called "creating life"... and boredom.

I miss my ability to move freely without being attached to a blood pressure cuff.  I've been called, "geriatric", "heroin addict", and "repeat offender" all within the last 7 days.

I am on bed rest.

This is not where you think to yourself -- "I wish someone would tell me to sit on my ass in front of the tv for weeks."  I promise. It's not anywhere as glamourous as your imagination has you believing.  For someone who pushes themselves to all limits, it's torture. BUT. I do so willingly to bring my son into the world safely. It's the best for us both. Duh.

A little 4-1-1: 
I have mild preeclampisa. My blood pressure leaves little to be desired and I'm ready to deliver this baby by natural standards; fully effaced and 2cm dilated at 35 weeks.

With Nash, I was on bed rest (full-on, don't leave the couch, don't blowdry your hair, don't move bed rest) for 6 weeks. I slipped into a depression.  My muscles atrophied. I was miserable.  So, this time around, I'm praying to the OBGYN Gods that I get to stay on "sprained ankle" bed rest with the hopes of my water breaking and I get to live at least half of my "normal" labor and delivery dream. Here's hopin'. If that doesn't happen, she'll induce me in 2 weeks. Oddly enough, I had a dream 3 months ago that Knox ended up being born close to the Fourth of July. Uh huh... I sure did!

My doc said I can move to shower and dress, make small meals, float in the pool, go to the movies, etc. Essentially, acting as if I have a sprained ankle.  Not so bad when you consider it could be worse.

I've spent a total of 29 hours under Labor & Delivery observation and look like a pincushion. I've slept in the awful discomfort of the hospital bed, refused their food, and given my share of dirty looks to that nurse I hate. She knows who she is....  Saturday night I slept under an Ambien haze (not so shabby after 8 months of not a drop of liquor... I miss my margaritas and gin!) and suffered some pretty painful contractions (see pic below).  They came so often that I was given a shot of Terbutaline to halt their intensity. Worked like a charm. :)

In terms of all those projects you've read about and followed over the last 6 months or so... yeaahhhh. They are not done. KILLING ME. But, such is life. Gretchen will stay half "dressed".  Nash's bed is having to be re-done. GUH. And so it now lives at Grandma and Grandpa's as they try to finish it for me....  and me? Working hard at being content on this bed rest. Thankful I'm getting to at least sit and savor Nash's nuances from the couch.  Thankful I have a Mother and Father who are willing to set aside what they want and need to do to help with the boys and working hard at praying often for patience, understanding, calm and health.  God knows what's best and he already has the plan worked out. I'm just waiting to see what happens in the end.

:)

Cheers to a healthy little guy and an even healthier Mama!

Catching up on a little thing called 'Life'.

No project updates.

No bleeding fingers from metal tack strip.

No paint woes (at least for now).

Just summer lovin', raising boys, and counting the days until Knox arrives.
That's what's up here.

I thought I'd take a second to give a little update on what's been happening at Casa Chambers. Aside from heat-induced swelling, hormonal roller coaster rides, 2 year old tantrums and a 10 year old attitude, we are just waiting on Knox....



....and waiting on Knox some more.




Witt finished up his 4th grade year last Wednesday and, in full-throttle, we went into a out-of-town- family-filled weekend sprinkled with a baseball tourney, some pool-time and a lot of outdoor playtime. He's already bored. Typical kid + summer, right?

In other news:
Nash decided to start summer with a fight with our cement driveway in which the loss resulted in a broken tooth:

After much angst (a preliminary trip to Mommy's dentist), a glass of wine to lower the blood pressure and a round of tears -- on MY PART -- we are off tomorrow at 12:20p to get it fixed. More to come tomorrow on that. Pray for this very pregnant, very emotional Mommy. 

So for today, we did some resting and fighting off any possible swelling. I have sausage toes normally.  Not so attractive.  But, I guess my toes want to catch up to the size of the rest of my body.  Nash is inundated with "Melmo" (a.k.a. Elmo) and Cars.  I'm ok with that. It keeps me off my feet and for the next 6 weeks... the Mommy Police will have to forgive me.  

A little tv, a little "dress-up" and a lot of sitting:

another craft project for nursery/kid's room

I'm trying to wind down from a hellacious day. Off to blog-land I go.... with a little Cougar Town in the background. I'm pretending the wine their drinking is in my water cup, bedside. :)

Anyway, after doing the crayon project today, I'm keen on project ideas that revolve around letters... monograms... etc. Here's another from :

American Crafts Studio

It would be a cute idea and probably a littttttttle bit easier. Love the way they framed it too.  With a white frame and a gallery white matte, it let's the letter speak for itself.

Presh!!

Crayon Art at 30.

I did it!

I attempted this project during naptime. Ahh... naptime. How I'll miss it.  Got this idea from here: http://pinterest.com/pin/27043362/ via a blog follow called: Chic & Cheap Nursery.

I've decided to put his full name beneath it with ink pen, but Nash woke up.  I'll post again once it's framed, after his bed goes up. For now, here's my almost finished product:

Super easy. More to come...

My Big Boy's Room... canNOT believe I'm changing up his room!!

Now that Knox's nursery is 99.9% done, I need to focus on some small adjustments to Nash's room as I transition him from his crib (a.k.a. nursery) to his big boy room.  I'm hoping the bed is ready tomorrow or Saturday and I'll be able to move him out of the crib. Let me also mention that, that poor crib has seen it's last day. Goodness! It is almost 11 years old!

Here's my latest rendition of where I'm headed... excuse the raw drawing. I was waiting for a load of laundry to finish.

I returned the PBKids bedding (quilt and sham) I'd bought as it was a little too "matchy-matchy" for me. I kept the chambray bed-skirt as a possibility... The thought of it is on the fence still. We'll see...

So, stopping at Target with TWO kids today (out of practice on this one bc Witt has been in school; ahhh... summer), I walked up-and-down the aisles wanting so badly to find a twin sheet set and white, cotton blanket to make his bedding work -- for now. Ultimately, a great fun accent blanket to go at the foot of his bed is where I'm headed. I haven't found the one yet.

I decided to go with these sheets that have a navy stripe and hope they'll compliment the color of the bed:

Did you notice my new little find there in the background? 

He has one now, from Wal-Mart, I think. It's old and cheap and has fallen off his bookshelf a dozen times.  Encouraged by my determination to make a successful scenario out of a tough day, I dragged the kids to TJMaxx HomeGoods hoping to score. Cha-ching!!

Sooooo cute!!!!

I just love how the letters reveal themselves after you take a second look at it. I'm not in love with the shade; too much white. I haven't figured out what to do about it.  The shade on his old lamp has great texture, but it too, is also white. I'm thinking of either covering it with some cute fabric, or trying to dye it in a colored bath of the same blue as the walls.  We'll see once I get it in the room. Either way, it would be very inexpensive to change up the shade without buying a new one.

Art is an important factor for Nash because what's above his bed are 3, black and white canvases of his baby bits I took during his 2 weeks session. They'll stay in his room but be removed from the focus. 

I just love all the options at Etsy and how inexpensive it can be if you use your creativity and channel what YOU LOVE or what reflects your children.

These letters screamed to me last night and so buying that lamp was a no-brainer:

click on the image to take you to the seller's Etsy page:

These are decal letters and I love how low they've placed them on the wall. LIGHT BULB MOMENT!

I decided to purchase those same letters, in white. Like the image above, my plan is to place them right above and to the right of his bed. Go scroll back up to the drawing. That's my plan... at least for now.

Lastly, this morning I got an update from this cute blog I follow called Chic & Cheap Nursery. It's for a DIY art project that they ran across from another blog and I just love the 3-D texture of it and the flow of the colors.

courtesy

I'd been searching for a large vintage letter to put above Nash's bed. Well, this is a great combo of art and the letter. A good nap project that I can sit to do!

I'm pumped.  Small, inexpensive changes to update Nash's room and help him transition into a big boy room. More pics to come as I can scratch each task off my list. :)

Knox's Finished Nursery

So, as of Saturday afternoon after Nash's nap, I finished Knox's nursery. I breathe a little easier now. If he comes early... no worries. I'm thankful. It's come a long way from the start.

Saturday, the USPS dropped off another pouf. This is one I found online that is richer... leather... wider... taller. Well, all-around, more what I wanted. I'd tried to save money by ordering the fabric one and ended up spending more by having to buy another. I'm unable to return the first because it was a custom make through ETSY. Bummer.

Having saved money by cutting some corners, I was able to swallow some of these purchase errors. At least that's how I sleep at night... or don't these days thanks to Knox, himself. :)

My boys share a Jack-n-Jill bath and therefore have sink nooks. I'm working on a few finishing touches in there, but am not too worried about the details. It is, after all, a sink area.

Anyway... for the big reveal...........

Nursing Space (love that comfy little area). 

A little touch of love. That's my Mama with me and our cat way back when. 

Knox's sleepy space and that adored mirror and "Mommy" artwork.

Some vintage planes Nana found in the attic, hung with fishing line.

Crowing jewel... the dresser/changing table, lit by an IKEA light
("Jerry" rigged by Papa) and a little sentimental shelf
loaded with baby pics of Ty and I, Knox's letters,
and my baby shoes from Spain.

Dresser knob details. I <3 them so much! My little

Anthropologie splurge. ;)

Etsy children's art with spray painted frames from Aaron Bros.

My rookie re-upholstery job, "Tia Sissy's" childhood lion 

and Big Brother's sock monkey.

The.... pouf.  It needs one more bag of shredded foam to smooth the sides. 

(a project for another rainy day)

The sink "nook". See the small frame? There will be

another one beneath that and a small piece of 

artwork to the left of the black frame. Soon... soon...

Books for bedtime! I'm waiting on my mother-in-law

to bring some old baby clothes of Ty's to incorporate on the 

elephant hooks. Another onesie perhaps? 

Hoping for a little tranquility in his nursery.  

My last nursery design :( 

Now I hope that my next post in regards to Knox, will be of him instead of his nursery! 8 weeks......

....and counting.