Christmas Recap

Well we had a fabulous Christmas this year, especially enjoying the best gift ever. Maren was a trooper, we spent almost 14 hours in the car over a 5 day period and she did awesome. She does amazing in her car seat and slept most of the time which we were especially grateful for. We first went to Piggott (northeast Ar) to see Granny D and Pappy.

 Maren's cousin Maddox meeting her for the first time

 Moody, Marens other cousin just hanging out!

 Pappy (Marc's dad)

 Next up was Little Rock. We went to the candle light Christmas eve service at Fellowship then out to dinner. Again, M was such a trooper.

 Pop-Pop and Maren talking it up.

 I guess Maren didn't love this present? ;)

All of her Christmas outfits :)

And this was her very own Christmas tree in her room. I think each year I will let her pick out an ornament for it and we can decorate it each year!

She also got to experience a white Christmas for her first one! Little Rock got 14in, which NEVER happens. It was beautiful, but my parents lost power unfortunately. So that made things interesting.

And her favorite present :)

All in all it was a fantastic first Christmas for our little family of 3!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Yount Family!
I wish I could send a card to everyone, but we all know that isn't possible. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Our gift came early and is by far the best one yet! We are also thankful for Jesus' Birth and the reason to celebrate this Holiday.
Our Christmas card was also her baby announcement. I thought I would go ahead and kill 2 birds with one stone ;)








A BIG thank you to Leah with "Unfading Beauty" for designing our cards and thank you to the wonderful Maura Dawn for taking her amazing newborn pictures for us!

10 weeks and some shots

Yesterday miss Maren had her 1st round of shots and her 2 month wellness check-up. First of all she now weighs 10lb.2oz! I feel like celebrating this little victory since we have been working nice and hard for it! That puts her in the 25% for weight which is a great increase from 5% at her 2 week check-up! She is 21in long, which is only 10% and her head circumference is 14.8 which is in the 15%. All that to say she is still small, but at least starting to catch up somewhat!
Then it was time for those nasty, evil shots. They gave her 2 at the same time and she screamed and then I teared up immediately feeling so helpless. No worries, it was okay once she got that bottle! The rest of the night she wasn't too happy and started running a fever around 10ish. I gave her like a drop of tylenol (cleared by the dr of course) and then she slept til 5am! Definitely another small victory.



This weekend we went to Little Rock and hung out with her pop-pop and Nana Jan. Obviously she was pretty happy! I think she likes it there. I know she sleeps better and I do too, because they get up with her most times! Its a win-in for all. Marc was in the woods enjoying a "man" trip.



She will kill me for posting this someday, but just look at those rolls on her legs! Woohoo! She didn't have any meat on her when she was born, so we enjoy those sweet, chunky rolls!

Oh I did I mention I started back to work last Monday? Yeah, that wasn't fun. But I will not be returning after the 1st of the year. So I'm elated to get to stay at home with my little munchkin for at least her first year. I was blessed with the opportunity to work part time from home and can't wait! More on that later...

2 months!

I'm about a week late on this, but sweet girl turned 2 months on 12-8-12! I'm always hesitant to do this kind of post because I know no one honestly cares, but I'm honestly going to turn this blog into a book for us someday and I want to remember what she was doing at this stage!

First of all, I swear she knows when I put that sticker on her that she knows exactly what I'm doing and decides not to cooperate. Seriously she gets mad every time I do this! As you will see, I made 2 attempts at getting a decent pic and failed both times! Ha.

and yes she has her own christmas tree in her room!

What she is up to these days:
-she loves the morning time.
-she smiles, laughs and coos a ton
-she's obsessed with her auntie meg. Like i think she likes her better than me or thinks she has 2 moms. Not sure, but she lights up when Meg enters the room.
-she is so alert
-she loves her bouncy seat that vibrates and just now starting to love her swing.
-she loves the car and her car seat
-she gets tired of being held and sadly prefers to be left alone in one of her seats most of the time. Miss independent.
-she has a fussy time anywhere between 5-7pm almost every night
-She sleeps from 9:30-2,3,or4am and then wakes up again by 7.
-she is still sleeping in her nap nanny. Hoping to phase this out after the Holidays
-we can usually lay her down and she will fall asleep on her own
-we swaddle, she doesn't love it, but she sleeps way longer with it. She fights it all night im pretty sure. She sometimes looks like she is boxing.
-we have several nicknames for her: punkin, precious, princess, miss priss, sweetness and we tell her she is very yummy.  Cheesy I know but we just can't seem to help it.
-she had her first cold a couple of days ago. So sad. broke my heart but she is fine now.
-she eats every 3-3 1/2 hrs. Takes a bottle like a champ and I think prefers that and I do a lot of pumping.
If she nurses it takes about 45 min.
-she finally is wearing 0-3 month clothing but can still fit in some newborns. she did outgrow her newborn sleepers though.
-she has her dad wrapped around her tiny little finger and all of her grandparents
-her cheeks are the most kissable things ever. And we wear them out daily. :)

We are head over heels and thankful for our early Christmas present!

Maren's Nursery

Finally! I'm so excited to finally show her room to you. I think it took me the whole 9 months to complete it, but I had a blast doing it. I had pinned so many different things and it turned out nothing like I had envisioned, but I absolutely love it. It makes me so happy when I go in there. I had literally dreamed of being able to do a nursery for several years, so I'm excited that it is complete. I just wish I had a before picture. This room was an extra bedroom/office that was never used. Since it is upstairs, we haven't gotten to use it a ton but when she starts sleeping more through the night we will!

It was definitely a collaborative effort and I had a ton of help completing it. So thank you to all that have helped me complete it!

So here it is!

Here is my little princess on her throne :)

Hope you all like it!

Sources:
Designers: Pam  Designs, Katie Grace designs, and my mom,  J Baker decor and More
Wall Paint Color: Cream in my coffee. Lowes paint
Crib: Walmart.com
Chairs: Flea Market in prairie grove
Big Blue "M": Gift from Katie, found from Daisies and Olives in Prairie Grove, Ar
Dresser/changing table: local Garage sale
Lamps: Flea Market in Prairie Grove
Pillows: Pier 1 Imports
Bumpers and Curtains: Shek Sewing (local friend, email me for her info if you are local!)
Turquoise hutch and drawers: My sisters from her nursery 20 yrs ago
Frames and Mirror: Built by my friend from work, Damon. Idea was from Pinterest.
Prints in frames; Taken from an anthropologie calendar
White Chandelier: Lowes
Glass Chandelier: Flea Market from Clinton, Ar
Iron Gates: Tuesday Morning
Painting: coral behind gates, lamps, hardware, and mirror done by Trace from Angelfish Studios
Photography: Maura Dawn Photography

Back in Business

Good news! I'm finally back in business and can start blogging again! Woohoo, Christmas came early and my sweet hubby surprised me with a new laptop. I have not had new computer in 10 years. literally when I left for college I got one and that's been it! I sort of feel behind the times trying to catch up.
all that to say, thanks honey! I'm excited to continue documenting our life.

In my absence, my baby turned 8 weeks old on Monday. She now also weighs 9.1! I'm so thankful she is growing even though she is still pretty small.



We get lots and lots of smiles these days and they melt us into mush each time!


She also has developed quite the pout, pout face. Another one of our faves.

3 of her favorite aunties! They watched her while we went out with Marc's dad and stepmom. So sweet. And auntie Liz (far right) came all the way from OKC to meet miss Maren this past weekend.

She also loves bath time. Calms her down every time and then she usually sleeps a really long time!

This sweet gown she is wearing was given to her by her friend, Olivia Grandle. I wrote about her story several months ago, but she lost her 3 sisters at birth and this was one of their gowns that she kindly shared with us. We will treasure it forever. And she obviously loves it!

Every picture I take of her I feel like looks different. I think she looks like her dad in this one. She definitely is a mixture though and has her own look.

Looking forward to blogging again, I've definitely been missing it.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have had a wonderful thanksgiving at my parents lake house. This one was so different from last year and I'm so glad! Last year we had just found out our fresh ivf cycle had failed and wondered if it would ever work. This year we got to do the same thing but with our little miracle and it felt amazing! It felt great not being depressed. My heart is heavy for those still waiting though because I know exactly what Holidays can do to you. All I can say is hang in there, The Lord can bring you through.

I think each day my heart grows more in love with her and I just can't get enough. I start missing her if she's in the other room even. I think it's just starting to feel real and I'm finally allowing myself to get attached to her. I literally thank The Lord everyday for her. She is the biggest blessing we've ever experienced and we are thankful God chose us to be her parents.

Here are some pictures from Marens first Thanksgiving!



Granny B (Marc's mom) and Papa Bear (Marc's stepdad)


Pop pop and nana jan


4 generations!


Thankful for our wonderful family.


Why yes she has a Mohawk and yes she has 2 dimples and yes I'm obsessed with her precious smile!

6 weeks

Well I blame my lack of blogging on our dinosaur of a computer this time. Major issues. :)
Our baby is 6 weeks old now. Some days fly by and some creep by, all I know is that I feel like last week I started coming out of the haze or cloud or whatever you call the daze you get in.
Little miss is starting to get more on a schedule which helps me out a ton and we are starting to get the hang of things better. Although we still don't always leave the house everyday or get out of pj's, we are seriously loving it and enjoying every moment.
I think I'm going to start reading baby wise to figure out a better sleeping arrangement. Right now she is in a nap nanny to sleep. She will not lay flat to sleep and we don't want to keep this bad habit going for too much longer. Although she is sleeping 4-6 hour stretches, which makes a huge difference for me and my sleep, we don't want to make it more difficult to sleep train her later on.
Right now Marc is awesome and gets up anywhere between 5-7 am to give her a bottle. Then they have playtime and he puts her back down for me. This is absolutely wonderful because I sleep so well in the mornings.
She is super close to smiling. She opens her mouth really big and gives me a partial smile, but doesn't always do it. I can't wait til she does it on command. I think I may melt when this starts happening all the time.

I'm so looking forward to the Holidays this year. I'm not sure if you remember, but last year I didn't even put up a tree or send out a Christmas cards. We sure have a lot to be thankful for this year and we don't take it for granted.

obsessed!