NICU stay + emery's birthday weekend.

this has been quite the blogging hiatus! for those that don't know me personally, our little peanut, that was due May 17th, decided to come April 4th!

{emery's first time meeting cooper!}

FEB 22nd - i went to the ER {at 28 weeks} with a sharp and increasing pain in my side that had been happening for 3 days. I thought the dr's were going to laugh at me and send me home, but apparently i was having the pain with contractions i couldn't feel. i was in the hospital for 5 days - we stayed longer than we needed to because of a snow storm. 

i came home on bed rest and our amazing church and family took great care of us for 5 weeks.

MAR 25th - my water broke at 32 weeks and 3 days. after chilling in my luxurious hospital room for almost 2 weeks, cooper decided to finally make his appearance {the day before they planned to induce me}.

{easter sunday!}

APRIL 4th - he's here! 4 lbs 3 oz of pure sweetness.

{photo therapy
for a few days}

he never needed any oxygen, they took out his IV after 2 days, and he nursed like a champ after a week or so.

however, the stinker decided to hava bad apnea the day before we were supposed to get discharged. for those that don't know, each time they have one, you can't leave the NICU for 5-7 days.

after 3 attempts to go home, cooper finally decided he was ready after 5 weeks in the NICU. we decided to come home on an apnea monitor, which is bitter sweet. i love the security of knowing when he needs help, but man oh man, i'll be glad when i don't have to lug the thing around everywhere and make sure i'm near an outlet to plug it in while i hold him. 

{explaining the monitor to emery}

and, not gonna lie, i do not miss having to drive 15 minutes, ride an elevator, sign in to the NICU, and scrub my hands for 3 minutes every time i want to feed my baby!

my math oriented husband just realized last night that either cooper or I have been in the hospital a total of 54 days. and praise the Lord for insurance, these bills are unbelievable!

+  +  +  +  +

the day we got home we had a super small ice cream birthday party for emery with some left over decor from her party last year! she was just as giddy about her party as she was for cooper to be home :-)

emery and andrew are ice cream addicts. my parents got me an ice cream
maker for christmas and i'm so excited to be making
healthier dessert for my sweet tooth family!

emery and cooper picked out presents for each other {;-)} ahead of time and exchanged them on sunday.

cooper got emery a stroller for her baby dolls!

and emery got cooper a toy for his car seat and an elephant rattle!

monday was her actual birthday - since we'd been dying for months to have some fun family outings, we decided to brave Deanna Rose Farmstead and were thankful both kiddos did great! emery was most excited about the chickens, because she was hoping to see baby chicks, but sadly there weren't any :-/

we let her push her baby doll around the farmstead
and she loved it! cooper knew just what she wanted ;-)

i was super impressed that she wasn't scared!

we're loving being under the same roof! emery smothers cooper with hugs and kisses, constantly asking "hold you? hold you?" can't wait for them to play and interact together as he gets older! 

hoping to get back into a routine with blogging! now you know why i've been MIA

love and 4 pound babies, 
amber

DiY banana invitation.

it has been a season for babies in my family and i love celebrating with mommies-to-be! while sitting on the couch this month, i had the chance to do a little prep for decorating a monkey themed baby shower! here's a peek into the festivities!

good ol' pinterest led me to this gem. i knew it was The One when i saw it - i'm not good at making cute traditional style cards on the computer and i didn't want to spend much on invites cause we had a tight budget. these cost 50 cents + cardstock i needed to buy anyway.

there was no tutorial on the site, just a picture, so i thought i'd do a step by step just for fun :-)

• first, i found a banana image on google and copied it into word. i used multiple text boxes to add the necessary info and make it curve with the shape of the banana. i added a monkey picture for good measure.  no worries if the text box takes away part of the lines - you're going to cut them off anyway.

• next, i printed off as many invites as a needed + 1. i cut out the extra banana OUTSIDE the black line and used it to trace the banana shape on the pieces of felt.

 

•  i cut out all the rest of the paper bananas INSIDE the black line, to be the actual fruit. i glued the bottom half to the felt, centering it on the felt peel.

•  once dry, i cut the peel in half, starting at the base of the stem.

how's that for cheap, easy, and adorable? gotta love pinterest.

love and soon-to-be babies,

amber.

sports themed garland.

one of emery's favorite buddies turned 1 the other day. we absolutely love him and his family and were super excited to celebrate such a big occasion with them! 

when his mom, kim, told me what she had in mind for his party, i was even more excited! she took the idea from the sewn garland post and gave it a sports twist! i love everything about this party!

she made a sewn garland with his 
name and little footballs!

she created all the circles into different
sports balls before sewing them together!

she used a few extra balls as
labels around the drink table

 

she filled this with
ice and water bottles

one of my favorite tricks i
learned from my aunt -
draw different pictures
on the caps of water bottles
so you can tell drinks apart!
with 40+ people at a party,
this comes in handy!

 

the birthday boy!

kim made tommy this super cute sports shirt!

time for cake!

 

love and first birthdays,
amber.

photo thank you cards.

what better way to finish the sporadic birthday series than with thank you cards? i love to do photo cards because they're cheaper, less likely to get thrown away {fridge, anyone?}, and more personal. i do believe the final product was my plan E, but it all worked out in the end.

creative idea #14: photo thank you cards
idea sparked by: blog.alainmartinez.com {very last pic}

tools:

• scrapbook paper {9 pieces of 8x11}
• card stock {9 pieces of 8x11}
• ruler
• pencil
• scissors
• tape
• something to string banner with {optional}
• hot glue gun (optional)
• computer + printer
• something round to trace circles around letters {optional. i used a bowl}
• camera
• baby
• props {optional}
• avery 5164 labels {optional}
• post card stamps

directions:

• to make a banner triangle the full size of an 8x11 piece of paper, use a ruler to mark the center of the bottom of the piece of scrapbook paper. trace one line from that point to each of the top corners, to make a triangle. repeat with all scrapbook paper.
• on the computer, type out THANK YOU! in desired font and color, sized to fit your triangles. print on cardstock
• either cut them out right on the letter, or use a round object to trace a circle around them. {i put the circle on the paper and held it up to the light to make sure the letter was centered before tracing}. cut out.
• tape the letters to the triangles
• i was originally going to do this outside and have the banner hot glued on to lace ribbon and hanging from 2 chairs, but i needed to get these done quick so i taped them to the wall instead{no trip to the park necessary}. you choose your plan of attack.

• photograph your adorable subject with desired props.

• edit and print photos.
• because my hand writing isn't the best and i thought it would be fun, i printed out individual thank yous from emery in kid font. i let each person know what emery loved to do with their gift! i printed these on the avery 5164 labels and stuck them on the back of the photo.

what are your favorite thank you card ideas??

love and gratitude,

amber.