Savannah is ONE

A year ago at this time we were nervous and excited, loading up and driving to the hospital. Again. We had been there and been sent home the night before and this time we didn't want to be sent away. I was having to breathe a little to get through contractions, and I remember every bump in the road caused my belly to have another strong contraction. It was an uncomfortable 30 minute ride, to say the least. You can read a little more about her birth here.

Feels like yesterday. But here we are celebrating our last little gal turning ONE! She just walked over, handed me a domino and said 'da!' (there). Last year at this time she was still a face unknown in my belly, kicking around waiting to greet the world. Ah.....I won't cry, I won't cry, I. Won't. Cry.

My sweet Savannah Rose. Third little daughter of mine. We didn't plan on you, but you worked yourself into our little family in ways we never knew we were lacking. Your sisters adore you. Every morning, nap and night they want to be the first to kiss you, hug you and hold you. So do I...so it's kind of a daily competition ;)

Kinsey and Malaya call you "vanny," your daddy calls you "nah-nah" and I call you just about everything under the sun.

You have a temper. From zero-furious in about 3 seconds is your specialty. It has been from the day you were born. The nurses all commented on your quick temper when you were in the hospital. I suspect you got that from your mama.

Favorite foods include avocados, popcorn, anything sweet, meats (chicken, turkey, ham, steak, ground beef among the top picks) eggs- you LOVE deviled eggs especially.

Crushed ice is a great way to keep you happy in your high chair. You will ask to drink anything that someone else is drinking....especially if it happens to be daddy's giant glass of sweet tea! You say "cup, cup....gummy, gummy" when you want something someone else is eating or drinking.

You love to dance and sing to just about anything, the radio, commercials on tv, mommy or daddy singing silly songs. You will be dancing and trying to sing the words.

Da-da is your favorite....so the count stands at 1 mommy's girl and 2 daddy's girls. If you are upset and I say 'let's go find da-da" you are instantly happier. You get mad and grumpy when he's away for work and you light up when he facetimes to talk to you.

We continuously shake our heads at things you do say, or understand. You are so smart! Probably too smart for your own good. Which usually equals a lots of trouble. Good trouble, but trouble nonetheless.

I know you are growing up fast because you try desperately to keep up with your two big sisters in every way. You want to ride their scooters and bikes already...you walked at exactly 11 months in an effort to keep up.

Please don't' loose your baby-ness too quickly. You are my last baby and if I could I would stop time to soak in every bit of this precious period of my life and yours.

When I'm ragged and worn from a long day I know that when I wake up tomorrow you (and your sisters) will be another day older, bigger, more grown. So each day I need to soak you all in. 

Happy first birthday my Sweet, spunky, silly and smart Savannah!

Comparisons: Not always the thief of joy

What do you get when you have three girls, a mama that saved all the baby clothes and loves to take photos? 

Comparisons of three little Herrera girls in the same outfits/ages!

Kinsey- 6 months, Makayla- 7 months, Savannah 8 months
(can you tell I upgraded my camera between Kinsey & Makayla?)



All three girls have hit milestones pretty much at the same pace.
They were all born during my 39th week of pregnancy( K & M 39w1d, S 39w2d)
They all were late rollers- 5ish months
Makayla cut her first teeth at 6 months, but Kinsey and Savannah were both 7 months.
All three started crawling right at 8 months.

Kinsey, Makayla, Savannah- newborns sleeping with daddy


Kinsey walked 6 days before she turned 1, Makayla walked over 2 weeks before her birthday.
Hopefully this last little baby of mine will follow suit.
I don't want to rush a thing this time!
I might also be pushing her down when she tries to stand alone for a while ;)

Kinsey- 6 months, Makayla 6 months, Savannah 7 months


Here's to comparisons bringing joy, not jealousy!
Each of these girls is so unique, both in personality and looks,
I can't wait to see what strong, beautiful and intelligent women they grow up to be!

Do they look alike or totally different? What do you think?

Diaper Bag Dump

With my first baby 6 years ago I carried it all. In a huge, sorta ugly brown corduroy diaper bag (thankfully not one with Winnie-the-Pooh-I still had a small amount of fashion sense in me!)

Why do they made diaper bags so ugly anyway? 

 "I have a little baby and so now I would really prefer to carry a giant bag with cartoons and pastels that screams DIAPER BAG" - said no mom ever.

Part of the reason for the huge bag was the dilemma of what to put inside.

I was a little clueless on what exactly I really needed on my person at all times to run errands. 

Because really, to run to the grocery store you totally need 3 burp cloths, 2 swaddle blankets, a bottle of tylenol, 3 changes of clothes + one shirt for yourself, 5 toys for a baby that can't hold anything yet and a nursing cover even though you will hide in your car should baby have to nurse in the 45 minutes you are away from home.

3 kids later all I really need is this: wallet, keys, phone (duh), 2 diapers and wipes.

These days I carry a large purse, lately a crossover is my favorite. I try to keep it organized to be efficient, but let's face it- most of the time this is what it looks like.

Exhibit A: the contents of my purse this morning after approximately 3 weeks since the last cleaning.

(no old rotten food or nasty sippy cups! I'd call this pretty tidy)  

I do carry some other items on a day to day basis including- 

a change of clothes for the baby (explosive diapers happen people!), 

wet ones for wiping nasty tables or shopping carts,

 a hairtie (someone ALWAYS needs a hairtie when you have 3 girls!) 

It's helpful to have some snacks- 

mostly for my 3 and 6 year old because they are eternally hungry at the most inappropriate times. Typically as soon as you are pulling away from lunch at Chick-fil-A 

they began clamoring from the back seat for a snack. 

It's like the humming of the engine makes them hungry. 

Here we are cleaned up and ready to pack it all in again.

Usually there's always a bright lipstick (for a quick put together look), EOS lip balm (#addicted),

 and mints (these work double duty as breath freshening + kid bribery)

bathroom selfie of my target clearance purse

Obviously trips to the zoo, or long days spent entirely out of the house require a bit more loot. Typically I keep a tote in my car with a change for the 3 year old (accidents happen) and some extra diapers, snacks and sunscreen. 

Today I'm linking up with these fine blogs in order to hopefully win a luxurious Lily Jade bag! 

Coconut Robot

Mom Diggity

Cedars and Tiny Flowers

and Babies don't Keep

Our Newest Family Member

Well, looks as though it's been 5 months...time for another regular blog post!

I like to keep things frequent and timely.

I won't make excuses, I'll just share with you the cuteness that is my #1 excuse.

Exhibit A: 

Savannah Rose

Born July 1 @ 9:45pm

6lbs13oz

She arrived at 39 weeks 2 days gestation, my longest pregnancy! (by one day...but still!) She was also my smallest baby, and quite possibly my longest labor. 

Kinsey's was roughly 24 hours, Makayla's was 8, and Savannah started giving me the pains about 36 hours before she was born.

We actually headed to triage the evening before she was born, I had been contracting all day and since I was Strep B positive again I wanted to arrive early enough to get both rounds of antibiotics. Makayla's labor had been so quick that I didn't receive both rounds, and she ended up with a high WBC count and a 3 day NICU stay for treatment. I wanted to avoid that at all costs this time around!

So we jumped the gun, I was barely dilated and not progressing so they sent me home to rest. 

Fun fact- the triage nurses and midwives all said that they see the most 'false labor' trips to triage with third babies. Who would have thought, right? 

I won't bore you with all the details of the next 24 hours, but they involved lots of walking, plenty of questioning whether my water had broken or not, a couple google searches on how to speed labor up and then an eventual mad dash to get the second round of antibiotics in so I could push!

About an hour before delivery, in between contractions I was still smiling!

Thank goodness for my midwife...who realized I was going to be ready to push soon and didn't leave my side. She looked the nurse in the eye and said "lets start those antibiotics early....it's okay to fudge the numbers a bit in this case" ha. I was screaming at them to push those meds full blast into me, I didn't care how much it might have burned...I was soooooo ready to push! 

Did I mention I had my third natural delivery?

Also good to note...my husband is an awesome labor coach. The best. I couldn't have had any of my babies naturally if it wasn't for his mad skills at keeping me focused and calm. 

Anyhow, about 2 minutes after the antibiotics were finished I made one big push and Savannah was born! 

About 10 minutes old

My first words were "She's SO TINY!" 

I was honestly worried about how small she was, I thought something was wrong until I realized that I just forgot how small newborns are! 

Proud daddy...again :)

So even though we got the antibiotics in, we still ended up staying in the hospital for 3 days post delivery. Savannah and I have a different blood type, making her more prone to jaundice, and she required 36 hours under the bili lights for good measure. It was hard to see her under there and only be allowed to only hold my sweet newborn once every 3 hours for 30 minutes. But it was much, much, much preferable to the NICU stay we had with Makayla. 

Big sisters meeting Savannah for the first time!

Our family finally came together again on July 4th, when we brought Savannah home to a house full of family and friends, a BBQ, and some awesome fireworks viewing from our backyard. 

First family of 5 picture!

Over the last 7 weeks we have been adjusting to our new normal. Having a newborn, a toddler and now a kindergartner (!!!) has left my head spinning most days, but I'm starting to feel a little more in control with each new day.

I'm just a sleep deprived mom zombie just trying to enjoy every moment of this chaotic and beautiful life with three awesomely crazy littles. 

Life is good. 

I'll try and post again soon...no promises, though.

The Girls' Shared Room Artwork

About two months ago we moved the girls back into one room together.

mornin' sunshine...nice hair!

 They have previously been together from when M was about 3-6 months old, but because she didn't yet sleep through the night, her cries and my efforts to soothe them often woke K up. In an effort to keep our kids from becoming sleep deprived zombies (like their mother) we moved K downstairs to the guest room/office. It was hard for me. I felt as though she was detached  alone and vulnerable sleeping downstairs with the rest of us upstairs. To go along with my 'mommy guilt' there was also the fact that she continued to wake at least 3 times a week and either call for me from downstairs or creep upstairs in the dark. Both of which broke my heart even more. 

Moving them back in together, while not ideal, seemed to be the best thing for now.

Not only did it curb my guilt over leaving my 4 year old vulnerable at night,

 it was something we need to do because the hubby's new job requires he work from a home office. The downstairs room was our only option for that, well, it was that or the garage. Hopefully I'll get around to a blog post on the downstairs room makeover soon. 

I'll eventually get to the topic of today's post, I promise!!!

The girls furniture was squeezed in together, some taken out for lack of space, and lots of toys were sorted through and given away.

The furniture doesn't match, but I have a feeling that M will be in her crib for another year TOPS. 

(K started to escape at 17 months, which gives me 2 more months of crib confined bliss if M is the same!) 

We will eventually get bunk beds or re arrange the room so M can sleep on the trundle.

That will free up some much desired breathing room in the cramped space, 

maybe, perhaps to be filled with a much desired dollhouse!

Until then, I have done some simple things to decorate the space, and make it more fun for the girls. Both of them LOVE the letters and pictures I have above their beds. 

For the letters, I just grabbed some board letters from Hobby Lobby and 

mod -podged on scraps leftover from M's crib bedding.

I quickly typed up some fun prints for the walls, things I have always sung or said to the girls. 

I'll posting them here so you can grab them if you want!

I used some frames from the dollar store and painted them to coordinate with the room, then used 3M strips to easily(and securely) hang everything on the wall.

M regularly points to it after naps and wants to see her picture up close, 

and K knows that her special letter is there just for her! 

 Kinsey particularly loves the ABC print, 

since she is working hard on learning to write her letters with me lately.

                                                                  Sunshine Download Here

                                                                  Alphabet Download Here

Burp Cloths 3 Ways!

I'm sharing with you today the first of many baby related projects to come. I started out with a tutorial from another blog, homemade by jill , and then evolved that design into 2 different adaptations of my own. Even if you aren't planning on having a newborn around anytime soon, these burp cloths make a great baby shower gift!

The first set I made was for a friend who just that day had given birth to her second child, a beautiful baby girl named Madison. I brought a set of 4 to the hospital when I went to see the baby, along with a summer dress and matching bow I had also made. Here's a picture of the set I made her and the dress as well.

Those burp clothes were made using this tutorial, and they were really easy to make. I finished 6 of them in about one hour (minus washing time, of course)

Here's the same style in a different fabric- these one's I'm keeping for myself!

Next I moved on to another play on the same design. I wanted to use bias tape to wrap the edges, and although I've never worked with it before I was happy with the results! I used this blog post from Angry Chicken to help me figure out how best to work with bias. 

Instead of doing a peanut shape I opted for a simple rectangle with the same general dimensions. I sewed wrong sides together 1/4" from the edge, with a nice layer of quilt batting sandwiched in between. Then I trimmed the edges with the bias tape and sewed 2 seams down the length of the cloth, making 3 sections so the batting doesn't budge in the wash. 

Here's how those turned out. (p.s. don't you love the fabric Kinsey chose?)

Lastly I wanted something thinner and that I could keep in the diaper bag at all times without taking up a lot of room. I decided to make the original peanut shape, but without any batting inside and without the frayed edges. To do this I just placed the 2 sides right side together, sewed 1/4 from the edge, leaving a 2" space un-stitched. Then I turned them right side out, pressed, and top-stitched to finish them off. Voila!

Total cost for 16 burp cloths (4 of which were a gift) was less than $15! I got all the snuggle flannel at Joann's for $1.99/yd and each set of 4 only uses 1 yard total. 

I think it's safe to say I have more than enough burp cloths for the new baby, especially since I kept everything from when Kinsey was little, too.

I'll close with a sneak peek at my next sewing project, hopefully to be completed next week. What do you think I'm making for baby now? 

Update

I've been lacking in the blog department lately. 

Not that anyone seems to mind.

But I'll catch up a bit by posting about our little family and how it's currently growing.

Kinsey is almost 2 1/2 years old! She's turned into a VERY outgoing little lady, she says 'HI' to almost everyone she sees, especially kids. If another kid doesn't respond to her first attempt to be friendly she will literally follow them around saying "hi, hi, hello, hi" until they respond. Silly girl. She's definitely got her daddy's need to be social. She's talking up a storm, even if some of it is in her own secret language, counting to 5, knows her colors and shapes, and is quite the budding dancer and artist. That part comes from me :o)
She's almost 30 lbs and right at 3 ft tall, and we're sorta, kinda working on that whole potty training adventure. We have our good days, our great days, and the inevitable bad days, too.

Roy is working long hours with his company, in this economy we can't complain about an abundance of work and plenty to keep him busy. He works really hard for me to be able to stay home with Kinsey, and I love and appreciate that so much.

As for me, I'm being crafty as usual. My current endeavors have been all about baby....which prompts me to explain that I'm currently 5 months pregnant with our 2nd daughter! Things have been going smoothly and hopefully the heat of the summer won't get to me in my final months too much, baby is due August 3. I'm itching to try and sell our current house, so the girls won't have to share a room and we can have more space for our growing family overall. That may or may not become a reality, for now it's just a goal/dream/idea.

Overall we are happy and healthy and looking forward to warmer weather and the growth of our family from 3 to 4!

Oh, and I hope to get better at this blogging continuity thing ;o)

Roy and Kinsey enjoying spring by flying a kite

Her first try at flying it by herself

She's very proud and excited!

Beautiful Babies