Ella's Room, take 1

The furniture is in place and the bedding has come in for Ella's room! I picked up curtains this weekend but I plan to embellish them as well (either with ribbon, ricrac or trim) and hem them too. The only other project I have in mind is to sew a decorative table cover for the decorator table in the room.

I'm looking for young-looking wall art to go in the room. The e-l-l-a letters will hang over the tall dresser, against the wall directly in front of you when you walk in the room. I also moved a cork board with ornate white frame from Betsy's room to hang over the book shelf and hold pictures of Ella and family.

I don't have much direction on what I want, but the space above the changing table is large and blank and I'm looking for ideas. Probably something primarily white, because I think the darker pink color in the bedding (and the ELLA letters) can look a little older than the baby phase and I don't want there to be wall decorations that look like they are suited to a pre-teen.

I'm also SO excited that sweet Tiffany and JD (my brother and sister-in-law) graciously offered to buy the mobile for the baby's room, as a thank you for throwing their baby shower! I think it'll add a little something extra to the room and while I know it's not a necessity there were lots of times when Betsy was a baby that I could turn the mobile on and have an extra five or ten minutes to put away laundry while she stayed entertained.






I would love some suggestions for wall decorations that compliment the crib bedding colors and patterns!

Big Girl Betsy room

I've been meaning to post pictures of Betsy's big girl room for a while. We bought the night stand and dresser from the unfinished furniture store, and I found the drawer pulls at Home Depot. No more changing table, it's really a big girl room!

Just one of the guys

This weekend Granny noticed that Betsy does NOT play like any other little girl she's ever seen. She runs, jumps, climbs, chases, throws and kicks like a boy. In fact, the first night she was here my Mom started asking about Betsy's bruises. My response, "I dunno, she gets them at school or playing with her friends." She is a TOUGH GIRL. It takes a pretty traumatic injury for her to stop playing. I think this is because Betsy hangs out with boys often.

Most often is cousin William, who she has seen almost every day since she was two months old. Her cousin Isaiah also lives down the street and we see him on occasion. Betsy hangs out with little friend Ryder (and has done so since she was a week old, and he was born!). My brother and sister-in-law JD and Tiffany are expecting a little boy in December, as well as my cousin Jessica is expecting a little boy in about a week and a half! The big girl has pretty much NO local girl friends or cousins. It's a good thing she's getting a little sister! Betsy is also surrounded by some great male influences on a regular basis. There are so many wonderful men in her life!

Uncle Dusty teaches Betsy about the Dallas Cowboys, and reads Abby Cadaby books for her. Look, Uncle Dusty came to the hospital to try to help coax Betsy out of me!

Betsy with Uncle Sean. He teaches her about Aerospace Engineering and the Triple Option Offense.

Bets with Hippie. He teaches her about fishing, and how to do home repairs. (He also introduced her to pizza, thanks a lot Hippie!)

Bets with Grandpa. He teaches her about the Aggies, and how to take care of the puppies.

Bets with Grandpa Floyd. Floyd is gracious enough to share hugs with Betsy, and a tea party or two.

Bets with Uncle JD. He teaches her about Disney movies, and Will Ferrel.

Bets with Daddy. He teaches Betsy how to play soccer, change the channel, introduced her to the Bralley Special (macaroni and cheese with hamburger meat) and how to make fun of contestants on 'Wipe Out'. He also peels and splits an apple with Betsy most nights (but not with ME!).

Cousin William.

Cousin Isaiah

Boyfriend Ryder


Betsy is a running...


soccer playing...


climbing...


wrestling


snowball throwing...


fort building...


fish touching machine!!


We'll see how long Betsy's tomboy phase lasts.

Name that baby!

We've agreed on a name,
it took months to decide,
so if you don't like it,
don't say anything snide!

She will be named Ella Coy Bralley.

Ella, just because we like it, and we think it's feminine and sweet. Coy she will share with myself, her Hippie (my dad), her Great-Great Uncle Bud, and her third cousin Kevin.

LET THE MONOGRAMMING BEGIN!

The terrible twos

A couple times this past weekend my Mom would say aloud "Is there a two year old in this house?" Betsy has developed this habit of throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. I can usually figure out why she is throwing a tantrum (she wanted the whole box of goldfish, not just a handful in a cup that I gave her). Yesterday she threw about 3 tantrums. This morning there was another one. I emailed my Mom and offered to mail her to Atlanta and she accepted the offer.

No, really, it's not that bad. Her crying doesn't get to me (though it DOES get to Ben). If she cries before bed I tell him to stay tough and as soon as I say "You can get her if you want," he sprints down the hall and cuddles his girl.

I think this is all compounded by teething. She's been sticking her two fingers in her mouth and I think the two year old molars are coming in. And mostly her tantrums are at night, when I know she's exhausted after a full school day.

We've been lucky enough not to experience a tantrum yet outside of the house. When she starts to throw a fit I just leave her on the ground, walk into another room and start doing a chore. She figured this out, and once yesterday she actually stopped crying, stood up, followed me into the kitchen, laid back down and started crying again. Then I laughed at her and walked into the living room. And she stopped fussing, followed me into the living room, sat on my lab and shared my pesto chicken with me.

Today I did some research on habits to help avoid tantrums, and what to do when they happen. I'd love input from the moms of older babies! I'm amazed that it's like someone flipped a light switch and Betsy is acting like a two year old. She wants to do EVERYTHING for herself. She wants to chose for herself. She wants to communicate for herself. Moms of older ones, tell me your tricks!!

A Healthy Baby, long and rambling

I know there are complications that women can have with pregnancy that are much more severe and scary than pre-eclampsia. I've been reflecting a lot on how having pre-eclampsia has developed my perspective on having babies. My views haven't changed much, but has made them much more intense and resolved.

I know I took for granted the ability to have children before I was married and really thought about creating a baby with Ben. I don't do this so much anymore. I know too many people who have struggled to conceive, couples who have had to undergo expensive and painful fertility treatments, or women who lost the baby (or several babies) in miscarriages, or who carried the baby full term and the baby was stillborn, or even the child became a part of their lives for a couple hours, days or months before going to heaven.

Some of these people are online friends of mine. Some are friends I've known for many years, and some are family. I'll share these stories with Ben when I'm made aware of them and we truly grieve for these families. Betsy has become such an integral part of our lives that the thought of another family missing or losing that makes our hearts ache. While Ben is a man's man, in other ways he is the most sensitive man I have ever met.

When Ben and I first found out I was pregnant with Betsy we would say "We just want a healthy baby." This was true, however we may have had a couple secret wishes lurking deep in the back of our mind like...we just want a (super intelligent, athletic, good looking) healthy baby. Who doesn't hope for those things for their child? God gave us Betsy and she is just about as perfect as we could have ever hoped for. Does she throw tantrums on occasion? Of course. But overall we couldn't be happier with how things have gone.

After Betsy was born when I got sick, I remember being in the hospital and feeling I would never get well. I was one week postpartum and separated from my newborn, and miserable. When I finally broke out/ was released from the hospital my perspective on having a newborn was that it was easy. I've never felt super frustrated, so sleep deprived that I just wanted her to shut up and fall asleep. I'm not the post patient of all people so I don't know why I thought motherhood was so easy, but I think the short time I had to be away from my baby and unable to care for her at the very beginning developed my appreciation for her.

Now with this pregnancy we've determined at 20 weeks pregnant that I was already on the road to pre-eclampsia again and it terrified me! I was very distraught for a couple of days while it sank in that at 20 weeks pregnant I was in pretty bad shape. In the last week I've started having contractions which further scared me into thinking I'm going to go into premature labor and have a micro preemie baby.

I'm not trying to be a drama queen. I checked in with my doctor and they think everything is OK based on the information I've given them, but I have an appointment tomorrow and I'm looking forward to spilling my guts to my doctor about what's been happening with my body. I've been doing everything I can to avoid high blood pressure. I've been laying down at least twice a day with my feet up. I check my blood pressure regularly. I'm eating healthy. But starting contractions scares me. I can't have this baby this early! I'm in my 24th week! I need to make it at least 6 more weeks, preferably 13 more weeks for this baby to have sufficient time to develop.

What brought this blog post about was my mom's visit this weekend. There are things I don't even want to blurt out to Ben because I don't want to get him worked up and worried. But saying aloud "I'm worried I'm going to go into labor too early and she won't survive. I'm worried I'll get too sick to take care of her. I'm worried I'll lose this baby and won't be able to go through pregnancy again." not to mention articulating lesser worries "I worry I'll get put on bed rest and be unable to take care of Betsy. I worry how we'll pay my medical bills if I can't work. I worry it's bad for the baby that I worry."


We mean it when we say "We just want a healthy baby." I pray for her all the time.

Time Warp

No matter what time I awake weekday mornings I seem to leave the house at the same time. No matter what time I leave the house, and no matter how many stops I must make on the way to work I arrive at work the same time every day. This morning I woke up 15 minutes early to pick up before the cleaning people came, give myself extra time to drop Madison off at Grandpa's house, drop Bets off at school, and get to work a little early as I had to interview a candidate at 7:30.

I find this time warp to be strange. I get out the door at 6:50 every day. I get to daycare at 7:15. I get to work at 7:26.

Do you experience a morning time warp too?