A baby story...

We got to the hopital bright and early at 6:15am

I got all comfy in my bed and was induced around 8:00am

one last shot in all my pregnant glory

Maddie's artwork for the delivery room

Things to do while in labor: read emails, eat popsicles, flash peace signs, talk to mom, kiss husband.

Speaking of husband... let me share a funny story.

I chose to be induced this pregnancy in order to insure that Brent would be there. Many of you know that his commute is a grueling 5 hour round trip daily, and the thought of him missing the birth of our last;) child, was hardly an option that I could imagine, and so we scheduled an induction. We even chose a day that would mesh well with his work schedule, allowing him to miss days that would be less important etc. Keeping that in mind...

I was induced around 8:00am. Historically my babies come fast. Maddie in 6 hours, Brody in 4. Expectations were high that things would go fast and smoothly. I got my epidural early this time, before I was even having contractions; I would say cramping is more the word. I didn't ask for it, but didn't turn it down either (obviously). After getting it, I stayed dilated to a 3... for 4 hours!! i was totally kicking myself, thinking that I slowed down the labor by getting it early. Everyone, was picking on me, that I was "taking forever." Talk about pressure... even my sister was calling from Las Vegas every 10 minutes telling my mom how depressing the number 3 was turning out to be. So (in their boredom apparently) around 12:45 everyone decided to go to lunch (Brent, my mom and Brent's mom) leaving me in the room alone to sleep.

At 1:10 I awoke to a sharp pain and felt as though I needed to push. Only problem was, I was just checked and was a 3..and there was no one there to tell! My legs of course were numb from the epidural, and I couldn't find my call button anywhere (which turned out to be on the floor)...and EVERYONE WAS AT LUNCH! So i started yelling for my nurse (literally) who didn't hear my until the third yell. Turns out.. it was showtime, and Brent wasn't there. I held off pushing and kept telling the nurse..my husband has to be here..."WE MADE SPECIAL ARRANGMENTS!!!" Luckily my mom left her cell number just in case...but didn't answer it because she didn't recoginize the number (and this was my support team?) lol.

The baby was born 10 minutes and 3 pushes later. He made it just in time.

Introducing... Marley Grey Fishel. Born at 1:29pm. Weighing in at 6.0 pounds, 18 1/4 inches long.

Isn't she beautiful? Being that she was only in the birth canal for about 10 minutes...everything looked just perfect when she came out.

we're so in love

I can't believe she's mine. There was a bit of a disconnect for me this pregnancy. I didn't really feel pregnant. Strange I know; but life was busy, and taking care of two other kids didn't leave alot of time to sit around and day dream or read baby books. Having her in my arms here, after the easiest labor on earth, just felt completely surreal. I just feel so blessed.

she looks a lot like Maddie in the nose and mouth don't you think?

long toes

her brother and sister seem to be just as in love with her as we are

special thanks to Amy for caring for my little monkey's while we were in the hospital. I'm so thankful for you.

me and my girls

How (perfect) funny is this picture?

proud daddy

Going home

Marley is so TINY. She was 5 10 when we left the hospital. her head is the size of a large orange.

She and her Grandpa Fishel share the same birth date! Hopefully she counts as his birthday present this year (oops).

Yep...we're all this excited.

I always worry about bringing home a new baby. What will things be like. How will the dynamic change. What will happen to the routine, the workload. What will emotions be like?

I'm proud to say...so far so good. I feel really great (for just having a baby), and things are pretty much running smoothly round these parts. We'll see what the coming days and weeks bring but for now...life is just sweet.

Thank you to everyone for everything; We feel really blessed and loved.

here we go.

A morning like any other...

I packed lunches

wrote notes

made beds

got showered

plucked eyebrows

put mail in the box

ate cereal

blogged

oh yeah...and now I'm off to HAVE A BABY!!!

Got my game face on; wish us luck.

bedroom makeovers.

I've cried to you before about how small my house is, so I won't do that again...wait a minute....."WAAHHHHHHH sniffle sniffle".... okay it's out of my system.

The reality is, since we haven't sold our house yet, I'm bringing home yet another child (that makes three, for those of you that have lost count;) to my two-bedroom house (shoot me now). So the challenge was, to make the room that Maddie and Brody currently share (which hasn't been touched since B was born) into a gender neutral, yet attractive and functional place for three kids. I've been holding off showing pictures because there are a few more things that I want to do to each room... but... my time is running out. Soon it will be baby-blogging only. That's just the way it works.

This is what we started with. Kinda pathetic I know, but I lost ambition to do any decorating in there after in fact a boy and girl were sharing a pink room... know what I'm sayin'). Lets hope there are no long term effects; Poor Brody.

Then my Brent went to work, approximately four weeks ago...

doesn't he look thrilled...

and I started piecing together inspiration pieces for bedding, curtains and details...

and this is what we came up with! (sorry the lighting is really crappy)

I had the fabric shipped to my cousin Jess, and she made the lovely curtains (as the fabric was too expensive for me to screw up).

The crib bedding was bought from a decorator/blogger lady that I follow that was updating her baby room to a big-boy room. I ask her about it and surprisingly she sold it to me! I loved the gender neutral-ness of it, AND the linen bed skirt (every room needs linen). She had it custom made.

The art work was made in Photoshop. Some by my sister (thanks Andrea) and some by Brent.

I bought the ABC's on etsy.

Bunks beds are from an online company. I wanted something simple. Dresser and bookcase I actually bought new from Ikea. I don't usually go for new pieces, but the room had to be functional and hold A LOT of stuff. It was the only way to go in this case. There couldn't be any antique dressers with drawers that didn't push in well:(

that being said, a lot of the details are still from the Good Will:) like the metal yellow lamp.

The bookcase is pretty much a hodge podge of toys and books and junk, but like I said, functionality is key in this case. Because I took out the toy box, kitchen set and other toys, the kids have been forced to use the baskets on the bottoms for the favorite toys. They're allowed to change them out whenever they want, to whatever they want, but it has to fit in the baskets. It was the only way to make the room work for three people, and it actually eliminates a lot of the stuff they never played with from the space.

This is one of my favorite parts of the room; the little book nooks in each child's bunk area. They love them and I think they add a lot of character. The racks are actually spice racks from Ikea and were $3.99! The lamps are also from Ikea and were $14.00.

Brent likes a particular baby name (which has been blotted out to keep you in suspense;). He made this for me with the name on and framed it. Think he was trying seal the deal? hmmm.

This is Maddie's artwork, which will be hung above the crib with some other stuff she did just as soon as I get a chance.

This is what a closet looks like that three kids will share. So for all you divas out there with a walk-in closet in each child's bedroom...I officially hate you. Lets hope the baby never grows over 20- inches long.

I made these pillows, and in case you didn't know I'm not very handy with a sewing machine, so these happen to by my pride and joy of the room;)

On to our room. I'm almost embarrassed to show a "before". After I finished the kids room, I couldn't stand to look at ours. We started it last week and finished it last night. I was going for something casual yet elegant, with a bit of a hotel feel. My favorite part would have to be the color, a classy browish-gray...and the white bedding...oh oh oh, and the linen lamp shades, like I said, every room needs some linen. I haven't hung anything up yet, as far as pics or art, but otherwise I think I'm done. Just in time to crap it up with baby gear.

after:

I haven't gotten pillows yet for my Euro-shams, but I have three of them to put in the back of all the other pillows, in the white and espresso bedding.

Thanks for acting interested in the blow by blow;) it's sorta been consuming me lately, and I couldn't narrow down pics.

Now...onto baby business.