Toddlers are the best (sarcasm implied)

Tantrums, whining, battles, struggles, giggles, pure joy, snuggles, singing, playing, dancing, hugging, yelling, time outs.

And that basically describes Calan right now. Over the last few days or so, we have really seen an increase of misbehavior and whining. OH THE WHINING.

Very little appeases him, anything small or large can set him off, everything is either high or low and nothing in between. We are absolutely sure that this is all stemming from the changes going on in our family because Kenley is here.

He is absolutely wonderful around Kenley. He loves tickling her toes and singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to her, but I can tell that he is having a hard time adjusting too.

I just think that he can't quite process what is going, so he is having a hard time figuring out and handling all the emotions that he is feeling right now. It is all pretty understandable and Bob and I are trying to deal with it the best we can, but trying to help an unpleasable child is exhausting.

Here is a typical conversation right now:

Me: Calan, do you want your train?
Calan (instant tears and whining voice): No, I don't want my train.
Me: OK, what would you like?
Calan (more tears and much louder whiny voice): I want my train.

It's a blast.

Bob and I are hoping he settles down and this phase passes quickly. To say we are tired of this unhappy Calan, might be an understatement. We know that we need to remain patient and understanding while he adjusts. Hopefully as long as we can help him feel secure in our new family, this whiny, unpleasant Calan will disappear as quickly as he came.

Did any of you have this issue with siblings? How did you deal with it? How long did it last?

This was definitely on of the perks having Calan and Maisie so close in age. Calan adjust instantly to Maisie. This time we weren't so lucky.

Thank you my 3 debacles

Dear my 3 loves,

I love you. There are no better words than that. You are amazing little people and I am so in love with each of you.

You are not perfect. You don't always listen. Bedtimes are a complete debacle. You don't eat all your veggies (or any at all for that matter). Your energy and ability to exhaust me is amazing. You have lots of needs. You are pretty demanding. You whine a lot. You are debacles.

But, you are completely wonderful. You brighten my day everyday. Your hugs and kisses are cures for everything. Your smiles and giggles are contagious. You make life better in every way.

There is no doubt in my mind that I was meant to be your mom. I have been good at a few things in my life, but nothing ever felt so natural and so right as being your mom. I am not a perfect mom and I am sure I am screwing you up some how, but I know that I am doing exactly what I was meant to do by being your mom.

I am truly blessed to be here watching you all grow into pretty amazing little people.

I watch Calan with his tender heart and beam with pride. I watch Maisie be fearless and determined and smile knowing she will always hold her own in the world. I watch Kenley observe us all and can't wait to see who she becomes.

You guys are crazy personalities, but you are mine. You guys are one of a kind. I see your daddy and me in each and everyone of you and truly think you are the best versions of each of us.

We love being a family. Your dad and I have loved each other for years and dreamt of our family and you guys are better than anything we ever dreamed. Our family is crazy, but we love being a family.

The first words I spoke to each of you were "I'm your mommy" because that is who I am. I am proud to be defined as a mother. I know that is who I was meant to be.

You guys light up my world.

This weekend is Mother's Day. I am sure that our day will look pretty much like any other day with 7 a.m. wake-ups and little people demanding breakfast, but I will smile knowing that you guys make this day for me by just being you. I am proud to be your mother.

Heaven blew every trumpet 

And played every horn 

On the wonderful, marvelous 

Night you were born.

Love, 

Mommy

The Kenley Marie Story

My baby is a week old today. Time, to me, is a funny thing. It never changes, but yet never feels constant. A minute is a minute, right? But yet those last weeks of pregnancy take forever to be over, and those first days go by in a blink of an eye.

I am sitting here in a quiet house with my baby sleeping and my children off to the zoo with their dad. It is almost feeling a bit surreal. But what better time to actually sit down and remember Kenley's birthday.

As I alluded to in previous posts, we started to notice some questionable behavior of her heart at my last doctor appointment. Nothing that was exactly wrong, but it wasn't right either. Basically, she would have moments that her heart rate would be high and moments when it would be low, and some how those were the moments that they were checking me, which lead to more testing.

My wonderful husband, wonderful doctor, and wonderful (amazing) nurse.

At my last doctor's appointment on April 19, we heard her heart rate decelerate, so they sent me over to the hospital to be monitored. She was fine, I was fine, so we were sent home to follow up with a non-stress test on Monday.

So Monday, I went to my test and while she was pretty excited and moving around, the nurse felt that I was good to go. However, that evening around 4:30, she called me and said that the fetal monitoring doctor thought I should come in to be monitored again to make sure. I headed back to the hospital around 5 to be monitored again, and again, I was good, baby was good, I was not anymore dilated than I was on Friday. Home I went with my next non-stress test and ultrasound scheduled for Thursday morning.

Life was pretty normal Tuesday and Wednesday. And then with Bob watching the kids, I walked into the hospital Thursday morning feeling like today was not the day and I would be going home after a quick ultrasound and test. I was wrong,

Her lungs definitely were strong. I was so happy once she settled down. 

My bio-physical ultrasound went well. Baby looked good, She measured well and was doing everything she was suppose to be doing. Yeah. Then I headed to my non-stress test to monitor her movements, heart rate, and my contractions. Well, that did not go so well. She was CRAZY active and her heart rate was again all over the place. Again, this was not exactly a bad thing, but it wasn't a good thing either. She just would not settle down enough for them to find a baseline heart rate.

So the doctor came in and said Kenley's eviction was here. It was my due date and this was my third test with issues. It was time. I am pretty sure I looked like a deer in headlights. When he used the word induced, I am pretty sure my skin crawled and my stomach turned. This was the last thing that I wanted.

Phone calls were made, I was checked into labor and delivery, and I was realizing how not ready I was for all of this. Panic was striking.

Luckily, when the resident doctor came in, we were able to talk a little more about the situation and set up a game plan that I was way more comfortable with than just inducing me with drugs.

Because I was so far along and I was having regular braxton hicks contractions, we were going to monitor me and see if I went into labor by myself before my doctor arrived that evening around 7:30 and if I didn't, we would start with just breaking my water and hold off completely on using pitocin till or if it was necessary. That plan was perfect for me. It meant a long boring day at the hospital, but it gave me time to calm down and relax.

She definitely had a grump face right from the beginning.
Now, she seems happier about life. 

Well, I never went into labor by myself, but my contractions did grow a bit stronger and continued to be very regular. At 8:10 p.m., we broke my water. It was game on.

As my husband and doctor sat and watched the NFL Draft (yes, that really happened), I began to go into labor. I quickly got an epidural since I knew once again, this would be a short labor, but a painful one none-the-less. I am no super woman, so I had an epidural with all 3 of my children.

This time the epidural did leave a little pain on my right side, which I actually didn't mind because it let me know that I was still contracting and that she was moving down quickly.

At about 10, for some reason, my monitor was not picking up my contractions, so my doctor thought my labor had stalled. He threw around that Pitocin word again, and again, I looked like a deer in headlights. I knew I was contracting, my nurse knew I was contracting, I was contracting.

Thank heavens for my wonderful, wonderful nurse. I can not tell you how amazingly wonderful she was to me. She listened to everything I said and really helped me have the delivery that I wanted under the circumstances.

We convinced my doctor to check me in 30 minutes if I had not progressed than we would pull out the drugs.

Snug as a bug and ready to head home. 

Well, that 30 minutes never happened. Just after my doctor left the room, the pressure in my right hip increased tenfold. My nurse checked me and I was complete and ready to have a baby.

My doctor came in announcing he was wrong and let's have a baby.

He had me push once and I got a half push in before he yelled for me to stop because she was there and crowning and they were not ready. They scrambled and I struggled to hold in the girl we had been waiting to meet.

Literally, 2 half pushes, not a single full push, later, Miss Kenley Marie was laying on my chest. My tiny little peanut arrived at 10:36 p.m. April 25 just 2.5 hours after they broke my water. No pitocin needed.

She came into this word a bit feisty crying for about the first hour with nothing settling her down. I just kept hearing that "Look Who's Talking" movie line "put me back in, put me back in" as she was telling me she was not ready to be here.

But she was here and we could not have been happier. A bit freaked out by the crying wondering what we got ourselves into, but immensely happy to have completed our family with this tiny nugget.

And she is little. She weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces and measured 18 inches long. That is about a pound less and 2 inches shorter than her brother and sister.

She has barely made a peep since her first hour of life. She is eating well and sleeping decently. I am loving every moment of her.

The one thing I have learned is that no delivery is the same, and no delivery is what you have planned. I am just glad I never had a baby on the expressway and my children at home were well taken care of. Despite having quick labors, I was always able to have enough time to figure everything out, which is what my husband always reassured me would happen. (Though it didn't help that my friend had her son 5 days earlier on I-275, thanks Kelli.)

Calan came into the room so excited telling me that Baby Kenley was here and asking did I see her. Maisie, however, is just now warming up to her. She wanted to stay about 5 feet away at all times. 

Our bad attempt at a self picture before we left the hospital Saturday Morning. 

I am a little baby obsessed with how little she is. I never thought I'd have a baby in the 10-25th  percentile since everyone else was 50-75th. She seems so little in everything. 

Already a pretty happy sleeper. Though, she doesn't always settle well at night. 

Anyone in my family will appreciate this picture. She started sucking her two middle fingers the other night. She is definitely my baby. 

Keeping them little

I can not believe how big my little ones are getting.

Calan is quite the toddler personality. He is always talking. He is always singing. He is always going. 

Maisie is gaining words by the day. She is very determined and very independent. 

Neither of my children are small in size. I just had to buy 3T summer clothes for my 20-month-old daughter. Seriously not small. 

But yet, there are just such adorable moments throughout our day that remind me that I am still the mother of babies. 

When Calan looks up to me and asked, "Carry you?," my heart melts a little. He means for me to carry him, but somehow he never got the me part and has always said you. Or when he is climbing into his bed and asks me to "Tuckle" him in instead of saying tuck me in, I just know that my little guy is still me little one. 

And then there is Maisie, my big little girl, who when heading to nap time or bed time, looks to me and asks for her "Borsch." No idea where that came from, but one day she just started calling her pacifier, which she only has when sleeping, a "borsch." I have always called it a pacifier, but to her it is "borsch." All I can envision is a little old Russian lady when she says it. 

These small things remind me how blessed I am to have them in my life. They make my heart smile. I love that they are getting older, but I love that they are still my babies. 

Maisie decided that her glasses worked better as a headband this day. 

Calan running around the family room stopped just for a second for me to take a picture. 

Nursery wrap up

Today is the last day of showing off my nursery and I have 2 last projects to share. Thank you for all the sweet comments. I am (obviously) really happy with how it turned out.

If you are wondering how I found the time to do it all, let's just say my house has been less than perfect (it has been hard for me to bend down) and it is basically the reason I did not blog at all last month. Most of the projects were done during nap time and a few after bed time. But all together, the projects were as easy as they seemed.

For those interested, the fabrics I used were all from Jo-Ann's:

• Keepsake Calico Etchings Vine Blue
• Keepsake Calico Violet Paisley
• Nursery Baby Basics Dots White on Lilac
• Country Classic Cotton Solids in Lilac
• Soft & Comfy Dot Fabric in Purple
• White denim

Box-pleat window valence

The window treatments were my first attempt at pleats of any kind. I kind of just knew the look that I wanted and I had a tutorial (See Pin below) that I loosely followed, but overall the treatments are kind of pieced together. Nothing is flawless, but I still love how they turned out. 

For me, the treatments took a lot of measuring and math work to figure out how to get them pieced together. I was so afraid to cut the fabric and for them not to work out. I probably measured and redid the math 3 times before I bit the bullet and finally started cutting the treatments out. 

I wanted the valence to be on a rob and not attached to wood like a lot of tutorials out there have you do. To do this, I just top-stitched a rod slot at the top of the valence. This stitch holds my box pleats in place. 

To finish off the look, I hand-stitched ribbons at the top of each pleat. 

I cheated bought the sheer drapes at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but since the windows are a bit narrow, I just cut two panels in half length-wise and sealed the raw edge with fusible interfacing (well, actually, my mother did, but who's keeping track). 

Taggy jingle blocks

And what nursery wouldn't be complete without a couple of special toys. I have quite a bit of leftover fabric scraps from my projects and I just could not resist making these for her.

They were very simple to construct. For me it was just a lot of pinning and piecing together. After cutting my fabric scraps into 5X5-inch squares, I cut and pinned each ribbon piece into place. I then used a basting stitch to secure the ribbons into place. Then it was just a matter of stitching each block into a box like shape leaving about 4 inches on a seam without a ribbon open to stuff each block.

To make the blocks a little different, I added bells to one so it jingles, leftover buttons in a sealed container in another so it rattles, and lined the third with plastic grocery bags so it crinkles. I then stuffed each block and hand-stitched each opening closed.

They have been Maisie approved.

I hope you have enjoyed my Purple Pinterest Nesting nursery. I think only thing the room is missing is pale purple walls, but other than that it is pretty perfect to me. I hope she and Maisie (once they are sharing) love it for years to come.

Now to finish up all the other loose ends before she gets here. I'm still counting the days.

Simple DIY changing table

The dresser is what set the tone for the room. It was my great-grandmother's and I knew
one day it would be in our little girl's room even before we had girls. 

When you are tight on space, it just makes sense to use a dresser as the changing table, or at least, that is what makes sense for me. This long dresser gives plenty of storage for not only our little one's clothes, but for Maisie's and her diapers. It is a functional decorative space that keeps the room together.

Scalloped fabric bunting

To make the bunting, I followed Sew, Mama, Sew!
Scallop Fabric Garland tutorial.

It is quite the trend right now to add bunting to children's rooms. I have seen them used in all different ways and in a lot of different shapes and textures. I guess I am trendy because I knew that a banner hanging on the mirror would be perfect right away. It was actually my first nursery project.

This project was very easy and while I sewed mine, there are plenty of ways to create a garland without sewing a single stitch.

To create the garland, I cut out half-moon shapes of fabric and sewed 2 matching fabrics with right sides together with a simple straight stitch. I turned each piece right-side out and pressed flat. I took purple extra-wide double-fold bias tape and pinned each half moon shape into place. I then used a large zig-zag stitch and top-stitched the garland together.

Small hanging fabric baskets
The hanging baskets are probably one of my more favorite projects in the nursery. One of my biggest pet peeves of our previous changing table was that everything was just thrown into a large basket that sat on the table. I could never find what I was looking for like creams, wipes, etc.

This idea came straight from a Pinterest Pin (see below). The woman found hanging totes at Ikea and hung them on the wall. While hers look great, I knew that I probably could create the same look. So, I again went searching through Pinterest and found this great tutorial on making small fabric baskets. I used white denim for the outside and my coordinating fabrics for the inside. To add the handle, I just added a large button hole on to each folded edge and hand-stitched the handles into place hidden behind the flap.

The top bag holds our cloth wipes; the middle bag holds all my creams and lotions, and the bottom will hold toys for her to fiddle with once I bring a few up from storage.

Minky-striped contoured changing pad cover
Again, changing pad cover tutorials online are a dime-a-dozen. You can find pretty much anything that fits your skill level. I choose this one because it had the elastic exposed. I hate feeding elastic through a casing, so if I can avoid it, than that's what I'll do.

I found several helpful tips online for sewing with minky fabric, which is very stretchy. I highly recommend investing in a walking foot. My machine is great, but not top of the line and eats fabric easily. Having the walking foot, helps guide the stretchy fabric. Also, when cutting your fabric pieces remember to follow the nap of the fabric. It will show up in different lights if the nap isn't going in the same direction.

Little Stuffed Birdy
To add a little decorative touch to the space, I sewed a little fabric bird that she will be able to play with. I found this pattern online, but it was a little too small for my needs, so I just printed it larger. The bird is very simple to sew together, but I had some issues closing the tail where I stuffed it. So to close it up, I sewed ribbon onto the tail, and I think that it actually looks better that way. It gave the bird a nice flipped up tail.

Using the pattern I did, gave the bird a flat belly, so it sits up on its' own. The wing is just appliqued into place with a small zig-zag stitch.

Kind of fun, right?

And of course, I needed to get the kids involved, so I had them paint little bird houses for their sister. It really is the small things in this nursery that make it so fun and personalized. Nothing is perfect, but it all seems to work perfectly together.

Sitting Pretty

It is all about the mom when it comes to the cozy spot of the nursery.

Every mother needs a comfortable area to hold their new little one in their nursery. Let's face it, the nursery is for us moms more than the baby. You want to be in a room that makes you happy. The baby will not remember and will not care about any of it, but it will make you happy sitting in a room surrounded by special things as you snuggle your new little one. Especially on the nights that your little is not sleeping, you want to pull your hair out, you are crying, babies crying, etc., you will want to be in a space that gives you peace.

The nursery does that for me. I walk in there and I just feel happy. I sit in the chair where I have nursed all my little ones and feel so calm and rested there. Every project was worth the effort to me.

Today, I am sharing some of my decorative additions that brighten up my space. Again, they are pretty straight forward, but I think each add just the right touch to the room.

Tulip wall hanging
Sometimes deciding what will go in the room is actually already there. These candle wall hangings have been on the wall since basically Bob and I moved in 8 years ago. We have plaster walls and covering up holes is one of the biggest pains to my husband and I, so if something works, we leave it.

These wall hangings matched my "bird nesting" theme, but they need a girl face lift.

I spray painted the bases with 2 coats of silver glitter spray paint. Then, I took the candle holders and painted the insides of each a shade of purple. Then added just some fake white and purple tulips into each cup (real would be nice, but who has time to keep real flowers with 3 under 3 running around).

Easy project requiring little effort and no new wall holes, definitely is the right project for this mom.

Step stool
Sitting the glider is comfortable, but you need to have some where to rest your feet a little off the ground. Since we are tight on space an ottoman is out of the question, so finishing a wood stool worked out perfectly for the space.

I just bought a small unfinished wood stool that you can find at any craft store and painted it a dark purple. I painted a glossy finish to just the top of the stool. I then found these three birds at Michael's in the wood section. The birds are meant to be covered with paper or fabric. I cut scraps larger than the birds and their wings and I Mod Podged them down. After the fabric dried, I took my sharp small sewing scissors and trimmed away the extra fabric. Finally I hot-glued each bird into place.

Bird lampshade
With all the tutorials out there for lampshades, who wants a just plain white one to look at? I went back and forth with how I wanted to decorated the lamp that I bought at Target. I thought maybe fabric flowers, but decided to create a bird scene instead.

This was a time consuming project, but an easy one. It requited fabric scraps, Heat-n-Bond interfacing, templates, scissors, an iron, and a rolled-up hand towel.

First, I adhered Heat-n-Bond to several decent size fabric scraps. Then I took my bird, tree, and leaf templates that I found in "Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby" and traced my patterns to the fabric. I cut out each shape and organized them on my kitchen counter into a scene that would work on the shade's space.

After figuring out what I wanted and if I needed anything more cut out to make it work, I started adding the shapes to the lampshade. To do this, I rolled up a hand towel and held that on the inside of the shade for pressure against the iron. I followed the directions of the Heat-n-Bond on how to adhere the fabric in place. Remember to turn off the steam when using Heat-n-Bond.

I slowly worked my way around the shade. Placing and ironing and placing and ironing until I was done.

To finish the shade off, I hot-glued purple ribbon around the top and bottom of the shade.

These 3 simple projects, really add a personal touch to our nursery that are one-of-a-kind for our little girl.

I can't wait to finish this space. It is still missing 2 important things. A purple knit blanket that my mom is finishing for our little one and newborn photo to be hung behind the chair once she is here. Both will really make this spot so cozy and calming for those rough nights when no one is getting sleep.

Poor Third Child

There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it, having your third child is so different than your first. While I am so anxious to meet our little one, I have not even come close to finishing my to-do list. However, this time around, I feel no pressure to get it done. 

Her clothes are washed, but I have no idea what her coming home outfit will be. I had Calan and Maisie's picked out months before my due date. 

Holding my little guy after he was born. A first-time mother
absolutely in love and clueless. 

Her car seat is washed and ready, but any and all other newborn accessories (a.k.a. swing, bouncy seat, etc.) are still dismantled and in storage. And the car seat is in the basement and not installed in the car.

Her bedroom looks great, but her dresser is a shmorgishborg of her things just thrown in there. 

I have not bought or prepared any of my after care items. I actually have no idea where my breast pump is. Probably should find that soon. 

Holding my little Miss Maisie. Showered with make-up on.
Second-time mother already ready to go home. 

And even with all my anxiety of having a fast labor and delivering our child on the expressway, no hospital bag has been packed. 

But yet, I feel absolutely ready to have our child. Why? Because this is my third baby.

I packed my hospital bag for Calan at 34 weeks partly because my doctors feared I'd deliver early and had me doing Non-stress tests twice a week. He came at 41 weeks. Yeah not early at all. 

At the time, I had no idea how quickly I delivered, so I followed whatever pack-your-hospital-bag list I had found that included everything from music, computer, lotions, pictures, etc., etc. Many, many things I never needed, but I had it all. 

Now we are at our third child. If I went into labor this very second, I'd grab a pillow, a purse, and a camera, and head out the door. If I had time, I'd throw a quick bag together, but if I didn't have time, I know whatever I needed someone could bring to me, even a coming home outfit. It's not like I live in the U.P., back woods, or rural area. Everything is obviously accessible. 

And all the things that I haven't gotten done are seriously not anything that I need to get done. They are just if it happens it happens. 

Can you tell I am on my third child?

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I am the third child in my family. I feel a type of kindred spirit with this little one. So, I know all the benefits of having older siblings before you. 

By the time you get to the third, you just know everything will just work out and as long as the baby is fed, clothed, and dry, you are good to go. Anything else is just fluff. 

So, little third child, you are the lucky one. You get the relaxed, confident, third-times a charm mother and not the overbearing, pack rat, first-time crazy mother I once was. 

37 weeks and counting

I'd love to say that this pregnancy has flown by, but man, do I feel like I have been pregnant for forever. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I feel like I have been pregnant for 3 years straight even though I did take a year off this time.

There was a time I thought I'd never want to be pregnant again. We had always planned on 3 back-to-back, but somewhere between double teething children, crazy toddlers, reflux, exhaustion, etc. I felt done. I could not imagine handling 3 children. Let alone, 3 under 3. It actually freaked me out.

But then life calmed down. It got a lot easier. It got a lot more fun. It got to the point where it was time to complete our family. So we went for it, and I am so excited to complete our family that the excitement and anxiety has made this pregnancy creep by.

But here I am at 37 weeks and I am positive that this is our last baby. We had always thought 3 would be it, but this pregnancy definitely has made that very real for me. It has not been a hard pregnancy. There have been ups and downs, but overall nothing too different from my other ones. However, I am just done with this season of my life. I am ready to move on to the next stage of growing and nurturing my babies.

I am already not looking forward to going back to the newborn stage again. It is going to be hard to transition back to feeding and nap schedules. In that sense, having Maisie and Calan only 13 months apart was so nice. I was barely out of that life when Maisie was born. I hadn't gotten use to the semi-independent toddlers that I have now.

I am looking forward to meeting our little one. I am looking forward to counting her little fingers and toes and snuggling with her. I am looking forward to smelling her baby smells and watching her begin her life as a Wilson.

If she is anything like her brother and sister, I will surpass my due date of April 25, which means I still could have four more weeks of waddling around to go. Not sure I can handle it. Patience is  not one of my strong suits and with each pregnancy it seems these days get harder and harder. My excitement to meet my little one is so strong. I just want to bring her home.

Calan can't wait for her birthday. I made the mistake one day saying that we would not be able to meet her till her birthday and of course to him that just meant there is going to be a party and cake. So, he is getting just as impatient as I am for her "party." I will most definitely do a little party dance the second I feel a contraction.

As I head into my last weeks, everything is going great with the baby. I am measuring spot on. My blood pressure is good. My weight is good. Everything is good. So I wait and twiddle my thumbs and count the days.


Next week, I will be posting everyday about her "Purple Pinterest Nesting" nursery. I can't wait to share it with you. If you are impatient like me, I posted pics on Instagram. Each day, I'll share a little about my inspiration and DIY projects I did to complete the nursery. Oohs and Ahhhs are welcome, only half-kidding. I am just so in love with how it turned out and love that almost everything has a personal touch to boot.