wonderfully made: September 2015

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

late night Mark-isms


Mark has been a huge help over the last 10 months and has jumped right into parenthood without missing a beat. He changed ALL of Beau's diapers in the hospital and doesn't mind burping or changing him at night as long as he doesn't have to work the next day. He's been great!


Another thing about Mark is that he is a really hard sleeper. He is nearly impossible to wake up and you never really know if he's actually awake or not. There have been many times that he has gotten out of bed, let the dog out to go to the bathroom, grabbed a midnight snack, and then woke up totally confused on the couch. He remembers none of it. 

It's been a little frustrating for me to try and wake up such a hard sleeper when I need his help with Beau but on the plus side - I get some good laughs out of it!

Here are a few of the many things Mark has said to me after I attempted to wake him in the middle of the night: dmariebuchanan@gmail.com Image Map

-"I'm on the phone!"

-"Let me finish what I'm doing" me: "What are you doing?" Mark: "Dreaming."

-"Which direction?"

-me: "What are you doing?" Mark: "I'm about to...Texan's playbook"

-Mark starts patting the pillow he is holding onto. me: "What are you doing?" Mark: "Trying to find the..." moves his hand down to the bottom of the pillow and gets a confused look on his face and says "Are there straps on this thing?"



Monday, September 28, 2015

diaper bag essentials

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #EatASNICKERS#CollectiveBias

Almost three weeks into this mom thing and I'm starting to figure it all out! Beau and I are becoming quite the experts at short trips as long as I'm sure I have all of the essentials! I've replaced the cute handbag and switched to a diaper bag (instant mom status). Here's what I'm toting around these days:

{beau's bag essentials}



-change of clothes (no one wants to be caught dead after a blowout! yuck!)
-burp cloth (for all the icky things that babies somehow produce)
-toy (to pull them out of fussiness)
-pacifier (to hold them off while mommy finds a quiet place to nurse)
-blanket (for the chilly air conditioning)
-diapers (I think this is self-explanatory)



{mommy's bag essentials}


-hair brush (to smooth it out after a spit-up catastrophe)
-keys (make sure not to lock them in the car accidentally!)
-change of clothes (again, no one wants to be caught dead after a blowout! yuck!)
-hand sanitizer (to keep germs at bay)
-blanket (doubles as a nursing cover when in a pinch!)



I also don't leave the house without my #1 essential: a SNICKERS® bar (or two, or three...or five). When 3:00pm rolls around, Beau and I are both needing a pick-me-up and SNICKERS® always does the trick. 


I turn into a REAL Drama Mama when I'm hungry and SNICKERS® at WalMart is always there to save the day. Right there for me in the checkout aisle, I can count on SNICKERS® being there for me! 



After a long day of errands, all we need are a few minutes to recharge. Beau gulps down his milk while I indulge in a peanut-filled, nougat-y, caramel and milk chocolate treat so I can handle the little (and big) things in life, like my sweet newborn boy.

So, who are you when you're hungry? Take the quiz below to find out and share your results in the comments!

Like to mix it up? Check out these other SNICKERS® ideas. What is your favorite way to eat a SNICKERS®?
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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Beau Andrew | a birth story

Here's the very long and detailed account of Beau Andrew's birth on September 8th, 2015 at 2:51pm:


Starting at 38 weeks, my doctor told me I was 3cm dilated. This was news to me as I fully expected to deliver late and figured I wouldn't even have early labor. Getting checked is really kind of a tease because after that, multiple people told me that I'd give birth 'any day now' and I got my hopes up, against my better judgment. If I learned one thing during this time, it was that the general public expects most mothers to deliver early. Not the case for me or for over 50% of first time moms! Ah well... dmariebuchanan@gmail.com Image Map

The last few weeks of pregnancy were rough. I couldn't eat, sleep, walk, or find any relief from the pain of carrying a 9+ lb baby. I was pretty level headed all through pregnancy but I had the most breakdowns during these last few weeks. I had some good sobfests! Poor Mark.

I saw my OB and had an ultrasound on Friday when I was 40 weeks and 2 days along. I had told Mark to guess baby's weight (since that was what they were checking on) and he said 8lbs 4oz. We were in front of the sonographer at this point and she asked me what I thought it would be. I said 8lbs 14oz. She said "whoa!" and was surprised that I would guess that high. She said that most moms are in denial that baby could be that big. Hey, I'm a realist. Anyway, after taking multiple measurements and averaging them together, she said that he was estimated at 9lbs even. The sonographer could not believe it and told me that it didn't look like I had a 9lb baby in there! 

We had a quick chat with the nurse practitioner who made the mistake of saying "I'll be surprised if you don't go into labor this weekend" (which got Mark's hopes up but I knew better), confirmed my tentative induction date of 9/9 (which I was only 80% sure I was going to accept if it came down to it) and we went on our way.

Fast forward a few days and a few sobfests and we're to Monday, Labor Day. I can't tell you how many people said I should go into labor on Labor Day...it had gotten old. I was really hoping to avoid it, actually! Mark and I had been trying to stay busy all weekend to get our mind off of things and we ended up going to an afternoon movie. I had been having contractions since my due date (September 2) but none were time-able or lasting at all. About 30 minutes from the end of the movie, I started feeling crampy and having consistent contractions. They weren't bad at all but I was about to tell Mark we should leave the movie (just because I was uncomfortable) when it ended. As soon as we got in the car I started timing the contractions. They were 8 minutes apart.

It was about 8:30pm now and Mark and I went back home. I got in bed and on the computer and continued to time contractions. I told Mark I was having some but neither of us expected them to turn into anything. Over the next two hours, I timed each and every little pain and they ended up coming every 4 minutes. After those two hours, I decided to call my OB at 10:30. 

The OB on call seemed to be doubtful since I wasn't in crazy pain but she said we should go ahead and go to the hospital since I had been dilated for a while. I walked into Mark's office, had him take off his headphones, and asked him if he was ready to go. He practically jumped away from the computer, said "are you serious?!" about 10 times, and ran around the house like a chicken with his head cut off. He didn't believe me! I said "Mark, I'm 40 weeks and 6 days pregnant, what did you expect?!". He ended up dumping out his packed hospital bag and re-packing it just as we were walking out the door. Typical Mark! He was a nervous wreck. I, on the other hand, was super calm!

We got to the hospital around 11pm and got set up in a room. The nurse checked me and I was 4cm and 80% effaced and contractions had sped up to 2-3 minutes apart (but still completely bearable - just felt like menstrual cramps) and said "you're here to stay!". I was hooked up to an IV (ouch) and all the other monitors and we settled in. I labored and watched Shark Tank while Mark slept until just about 6am. I had decided that I was ready for the epidural because I wanted to get it before I was in too much pain and they were starting to discuss pitocin because I wasn't dilating and my contractions were sputtering out. 

At 6am a frenzied anesthesiologist came in and my nerves set in. She was rushed because she had to get to some C-section patients and it made me super nervous! My body was shaking uncontrollably even as the nurse tried to calm me down. Mark tried to step out of the room (his coworkers told him he wasn't allowed to stay in there - but I wasn't letting him leave!) and they started the process. I had heard that an epidural can take 30 minutes to put in, but she was only in our room for about 10 minutes! She had me do the typical leaning forward pose and talked me through the numbing shot and placed it. It just felt like a typical flu shot or something similar, just in my back. In my experience with a numbing shot like that, it usually takes a few minutes to start numbing, so after she placed that shot I relaxed a bit and sat up. Seconds later, I felt her place the epidural needle. It didn't hurt but it was a little bit of pressure and I could tell what it was. I froze because I wasn't in the right position but didn't want to move! She got on to me a bit but then said that I had a "beautiful epidural back" and it kicked in immediately with no issue. Yay! I was feeling good now.

After the epidural was set, they started me on a low dose of pitocin since I had expressed that I didn't really want pitocin. My OB came in at 10:30 and I had dilated to 6cm. She broke my water (weirdest feeling but didn't hurt at all! Mark said it sounded weird too, haha!) She said she would come back after lunch. Not much happened after that but at about 11:30 I had to page my nurse because I was feeling some crazy pressure and knew that meant I was close! She came in to check me and I was 9.5cm dilated! She told me she would call my OB and we would wait just a bit. About 30 minutes passed and I couldn't take the pressure and called my nurse again. My OB hadn't come by yet but she said we could try pushing a bit, at least to relieve some pressure. 

Things went slowly from there. Contractions were coming every 1-2 minutes and I was pushing with every contraction. Not much was happening though! My OB came by about 12:30 and warned me that since baby was measuring big, she was not going to use forceps or a vacuum and if I couldn't push him out, we were going straight to C-section. (This gave me some serious motivation later on!) 

I pushed for 2 hours with only slight progress. My only real pain was from a cramp I was feeling, well, in my left butt cheek (not sure how else to describe it). It was so uncomfortable and probably related to the fact that my body was pretty sleep-deprived and exhausted at this point. I could see the frustration in the nurses faces and the mood in the room changed at the 2 hour mark. My OB came back in and Mark and I both thought she was going to give me the bad news of going to the OR. Fortunately, she brought in some energy and a few other motivating nurses and we kept pushing, more successfully, this time! 

I kept my eyes closed in order to focus for most of the pushing stage and was surprised when the nurses started setting up for delivery. I had no idea I was that close! I guess I figured they would have said something to indicate how soon he would be born. There were suddenly about 12 people in my room (something I thought I would be self-conscious about but turns out I didn't care one bit) and I could feel the frenzy in the room. I just kept praying and 'talking' to the baby and willing him to come out as I continued to push every 1-2 minutes. Next thing I know, I felt a bigger burst of pressure and heard a wail! His head was out! He had the cord just looped over one shoulder so we paused for that and then I delivered the rest of him. He had a healthy cry and my OB said he was a chunky boy! I kind of zoned out on everything else at that point and Mark and I both broke down and cried along with the baby. They laid him on my chest, wiped him down, and Mark cut the cord after we let it finish pulsing, about 3 minutes later. His cry turned to snorts and then he was silent and just looked into my eyes. He had the darkest but sharpest blue eyes I've ever seen! He had arrived!













They took him over to the cart a few minutes later while I got repaired. I ended up with a third degree tear but of course felt nothing (thankfully). Beau scored an 8 and then a 9 on his APGAR test and Mark watched him get 'serviced' (I'm not sure what all they did over there) before they brought him back for skin to skin time. Everyone in the room anxiously awaited the announcement of his weight and even the nursery nurse couldn't believe that he was 9lbs 7oz! He was also 22 1/4" long and the computer prompted "are you sure?" when they tried to input the information. He is our big boy!

My family had been waiting since 12:30 so we had them come in and they got to hold him and we announced his name, finally! I breastfed after they left and then Mark and Beau went off to the nursery for Beau's bath and other things. It was at that time that the nurses started getting me ready to transfer over to the post partum wing and I ended up passing out in a wheelchair (twice) as they were wheeling me to the bathroom. They gave up and took me back to bed, where I passed out again! I joke, but I'm kind of serious when I say that it was the best sleep I'd had in awhile! I recovered with some fluids and a couple of hours later (and after a visit from Mark's parents), we were moved to the post partum wing.

Overall, I felt like my labor was pretty easy. I took it one step at a time in order to not overwhelm myself and the process was calm and not bad at all. My nurses were great, the epidural was great, and even the 2.5 hours of pushing wasn't bad (even though I definitely felt the after-effects in the days to come).  Welcoming our son was such a great experience!

Monday, September 21, 2015

weekend things and newborn pictures

Yay! More baby pictures! (for every picture shared, there are another 20 pictures I haven't shared. #obsessed)

Our weekend was nice and low key! We got out for our first errand aside from pediatrician appointments and it went well! Beau can handle all of our outings, it's me that gets worn out after a walk around Kroger!

My parents came over Saturday night and helped us cook some steaks, eat together, and watch a fun TTU vs. Arkansas game.

We took a walk around the neighborhood on Sunday morning and watched football all day, breaking only for a warm baby bath for Beau. 

It's a new week for us now and Beau turns 2 weeks old! We have another pediatrician appointment and I'm going to attempt to get out of the house solo with the babe. Cross your fingers it goes well! 

My sister came over last week and took some newborn photos of our Beau. I'm officially a parent since I've made one my desktop picture and another my phone background. Oh well, I can own it!

Happy Monday! 










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(linking up with these ladies!)





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Friday, September 18, 2015

five on Friday | getting back in the swing of things

Happy Friday, y'all!

one.

I am SO ready to get back into my clothes after wearing the same 5 things over the last month. I'm not quite to my pre-pregnancy size yet but I can definitely wear a lot of normal sized tops (except now I have to think about how it will work with breastfeeding) and I'm chomping at the bit to get some new clothes!

I found this shop via instagram a few weeks ago and am in LOVE with their stuff. I went ahead and ordered this floral top in a grey color (sold out now) and I can't wait to wear it. I tried it on when I was 40 weeks pregnant and it was a straight up tent, haha! But really, I can't wait to wear it with some skinny jeans and the absence of a giant belly! I'm putting a ton of their other items on my wish list too! Check them out: the happy goose



two.

I seriously cannot believe we are about to launch into the holiday season. The last 9 months of this year I've been 90% baby brain and I feel like I completely skipped over the summer. We're coming up on fall now! 

I love fall and Halloween but I'm debating how much I want to decorate this year. I'm still subscribing to the idea of nesting with this little one but I can't completely skip out on Halloween decorations! I'm thinking it may be in the cards for this weekend. 

Here is some of my decor from last year:





three.

This seems super excessive now that I look at it, but I tried to take a bump picture every week and almost every workday throughout my pregnancy. I wanted to remember the progression and the growth of this little boy inside my stomach (that I already miss a teeny tiny bit). These were the informal version of my bumpdates and I know I'll love looking back on this collage in the days and years to come.



four.



I'm planning on writing out my birth story but I'm a little nervous about doing so. It isn't gory or disturbing at all, and I would totally use good judgment about what details to share and what to leave out. I just know some people despise birth stories and I would hate to turn anyone away! I planned to keep it PG-13 which means being honest about things that happened but not giving too many descriptions about those certain things. I mean, I would write it knowing lots of family and friends would be reading so surely I would keep it light! What are your thoughts? Am I the only crazy one that loves reading birth stories?



five.

We are entering the holiday season soon and it's the perfect time to be thankful for our friends and family. Let me tell you, the support and kind words that Mark and I have received from our friends, family, and even people we don't know on the internet has been overwhelming. We have felt so much love over these last nine months of pregnancy as well as over the last week and a half since we welcomed baby Beau into our family. We are so grateful for all the love we have been shown. So thank YOU!!!


You can find me linking up with April , this lovely lady (and super fun blog!)Jennie, and Rebecca! So fun! Happy Friday friends!

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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Beau Andrew - one week



Beau Andrew - one week old




-lost 10.5 oz and then gained 13.5 oz, all within his first 6 days of life! This puts him at 9lbs 10oz at 6 days old
-LOVES mommy's milk
-HATES diaper and outfit changes
-prefers to be on his tummy, snuggled up on someone's chest
-switched between newborn and size 1 diapers and then went back to newborn...for now
-grew out of his coming home outfit before he was even born (seen in photos), so he's already gotten all the wear out of that!
-wearing a few newborn items (mommy didn't buy him much in anticipation of a big baby) and lots of 0-3 month outfits, depending on the brands
-enjoys sleeping in his rock n' play with the vibration on or the mamaroo on "car ride" mode
-loves car rides and the snugness of his car seat
-prefers MAM brand pacifiers but isn't dependent on them
-eats about every 3 hours with the exception of the crazy time between 10pm and 2am
-longest break between eating has been 4 hours, from 5am to 9am - it was wonderful!
-typically falls asleep while eating and never wants to wake up to burp
-hates being tightly swaddled but we put him in the miracle swaddle blanket at 2am on his first night home and haven't looked back. He loves it!
-most people say he looks like mommy from the nose up but some say he has Mark's nose. I think he also has Mark's mouth and chin. We're not sure where the chunk came from, but it definitely wasn't from Mark's side (he was 6lbs 13oz)



We are SO in love with this baby boy and can't imagine life without him!


(I promise I'll cut baby posts down to about one a week but for now let me get it out of my system!)
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Monday, September 14, 2015

Settling in and catching up

Is it Monday?

I've completely lost track of the days and sometimes the time over the last several days. I wonder why...

Anyway, I promise this blog will not turn into 100% baby talk about Beau, but the last 6 days of my life have been 100% baby. I know some people are coming here just for baby updates (some people=mom and dad) and there have been LOTS of pictures taken over the last several days so please forgive me while I share these!

Mark, Beau, and I are all settled in at home and adjusting to life as a 3 person family. Our days consist of eating, sleeping, and pooping, just like they all say. Our hospital stay was nice while it lasted, but we came home on Thursday. Here are some pictures I left out from our time in the hospital and return home:


Beau meets his Nana, Pandy, and Aunt Gigi

Haha (dubbed by our nephew Luke who couldn't say Grandpa) visits Beau on Wednesday!

Nana brought Mamie, my sister's mother in law, on Wednesday morning.



Mommy and Beau settled into our post-partum room!


We love snuggles and always get sleepy!

Multi-tasking already! We had a 'gourmet meal' of lobster and steak at the hospital on Wednesday night.

Beau and I caught up on some blogs while we were in the hospital

We barely squeezed into our coming home outfit!


Ready to head home!

Beau was a trooper in the car seat. Not a peep out of him!

Arriving home!

My mom stayed with us the first two nights and snapped these photos of us as we came in. Flowers were from Gibi (Grandma Buchanan, Mark's mom)!

We're home!!! Off on this new adventure...

Happy Monday!
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