Baby Girl's Blessing Dress

So it's not the best picture of the dress, but here's baby girl's little dress. I need to hand wash it and her bonnet but I am excited to see her wear it. I wanted her to wear something vintage (I don't think I have my blessing dress here or if I do I decided she could wear something different. Jeffrey wore a little suit my mom had made when she thought I was going to be a boy along with some vintage family shoes.) and I wanted to use one of my mom's baby dresses. She only has a few that she wore but one of them was handmade from an army parachute with hand embroidered flowers. I took it out to look at this last time, but forgot to ask her to let me borrow it. So I came up with plan B.

Etsy is full of awesome finds if you have time time and patience to look through thousands of listings. This little dress was on sale for $8. It was listed as clean and in like new condition. Some had small holes or tears in the dress that wouldn't have worked. But I spent four days searching for every combination of "vintage, white, gown". Let me tell you, there were a few that would have been so cute! But I couldn't justify spending so much on one little dress. I made the slip for it with a pattern I made from the dress and wanted it to extend a few inches with lace on the bottom. I still need to wash it and press it, but I still have time for that before we bless her.

Do you know that feeling when you picture something and then it turns out exactly the way you had imagined it? I know Cory gets that more and more often with his photography, but this is my version of that happening. From idea to reality I am proud of this little project!

Why am I so stuck on vintage? Both of her names are sweet little hand-me-downs and I thought it would be only fitting to have her blessing dress be the same. So to whatever little mother toiled and labored over this "like new" dress and bonnet I am very grateful. Their handiwork is not lost or under appreciated by me.

First Day of School

 We had a BIG milestone in the MacNeil house this week! The bean started Kindergarten! In a slightly smaller milestone, mommy had to learn to regularly get up before 9 am. We had breakfast where he told me about his dream (which was about Lego Batman) and then got ready for the day.

 So I tried to take the typical "first day of school, stand outside the door" picture but the sun was too bright and Jeffrey wouldn't look at me. Silly kiddo. But I just LOVE the look of little kids with HUGE backpacks and white socks and school shoes. It's adorable to me.

When we got to the school we went to the art room where all the kindergarteners meet before school. Their teachers come to get them and on the first day Jeffrey got a name tag and was very excited to line up with the other kids in his class and go. He blew me a kiss from the line and off he went. His teacher is already out in the hallway leading the kids on their way but the girl on the left is the student intern for his class.

The first day was great, no problem. The second and third days have been a little bit harder for him to get used to, he hasn't wanted to go when it was time to line up and go. One of the aids or the student teacher have had to wait and walk him up after. He LOVED class yesterday, got to play freeze tag, loved having lunch in the cafeteria, and playing on the playground. With Jeffrey it's just the change that gives him a little anxiety, he will get used to it and soon he won't even want me to stay, but we always have a few nerves whenever we start new things here in the MacNeil family.

Five Weeks!

So tomorrow will mark 5 weeks until my due date. I've been busy with final preparations and thank goodness my mom is here to help because I've gotten way too big to bend over for almost anything. While I am still panicked occasionally and have moments of worry, I am feeling much calmer and getting ready for baby girl to make her arrival. We got her blessing dress and slip finished and are planning to bless her at home when daddy comes to visit us all in the beginning of October. He's already been assigned several pictures this mommy wants taken and he's excited to take lots of pictures of her. Jeffrey is excited to finally see the baby and talks to her almost every day. He has been asking about when he was a baby and wants to know if the baby will do the same things.

So the plan is that my mom (and possibly sister) will accompany me to the hospital when baby is born. I might be able to send everyone a text while I'm in labor, but I'm not promising anything at this point, planning to go natural again. Cory may be able to be in the delivery room with us via Skype which will be pretty cool. I will give my mom a list of people to text and send a picture to after baby is born but I am not going to be making any phone calls for several hours after baby comes and I feel better. She can send any updates or news about baby after she's here. If I don't have your cell phone number or you aren't able to get texts or photos you might just have to wait for a while to find out baby's here. It's not to offend or exclude anyone but after Jeffrey was born all I wanted to do was sleep and my mom doesn't hear well on the phone so she won't be making calls for me. If you don't think I have your number let me know and we'll add it to our list. If everything goes well we're only in the hospital for 24 hours and so we'll have more time after we get home for calls and such and we'll update facebook and the blog as soon as we can with pictures (if anyone has Skype and wants to chat we'll put the little peanut on the webcam, it will be a live PeanutCam, haha!).

Meanwhile on Facebook a little while ago I said that I would give $20 to anyone who could guess what we were planning on naming the baby before she was born. No one guessed correctly yet so my $20 is still safe, but the offer still stands. If you want to play our little game and can can guess our vintage style name for baby before she's born you will be the proud owner of a crisp new $20 bill, or whichever one I have in my wallet at the time. (Here's the previous guesses: Clementine, Emma, Abigail, Eliza, Josephine, Louisa, Johanna, Elizabeth, Rose, Katherine, Victoria, Polly, Dinah, Hepzibah, Eleanor, and Rowan.) I'll give you a clue, the first letter is from the first half of the alphabet (from A to M). Maybe next week I'll give out another clue.

Panic at Seven Weeks

There are less than 10 weeks until this baby is set to make her appearance in the world (7 to my due date, though if Jeffrey's week and half delay is any indicator I may just have an October baby). And this momma is is FREAKING out! It's been 5+ years since I have changed a newborn diaper, gotten up for 12, 3, and 6 am feedings. I can't remember how to mix a bottle of formula, I never did figure out breastfeeding last time, how to fasten a car seat, and for some reason in my mind I don't have enough blankets. I AM, however, blessed with a vivid recollection of how painful it was to deliver a baby, the recovery process and the emotional toll of no sleep. Not only that, but I will have a 5 year old who is just starting kindergarten and will be jilted from the only child position to worry about on top of a husband who is halfway around the world.

I distinctly remember saying to Cory "I know things will be crazy and you will be deployed, but I really feel a sense of peace and know it's time for us to have another baby." I've decided whoever that woman was, she's a raving lunatic. I am so blessed that my mom is here and will be here for the next several months. (Even happier that there's no return date on her ticket, so if it all falls apart she can be here to help mop it up.) I just don't remember feeling this sense of panic when Jeffrey was born. Life does go on though, whether I'm ready for it or not, and I'm sure it will work out just fine in the end. I just have to keep in mind that women have been having babies forever and I'm not the only one who's ever thought that 5 or 6 more blankets might be useful to have.

Photo Session

 While we were back in Utah and I was still in my "cute" preggo phase (I've entered the "I'm always uncomfortable and getting bigger everyday" phase.) I decided to do some pictures of my bump. Since Cory wasn't here to take them I had to go somewhere else. The picture above is Jeffrey's 5 year picture. He was surprisingly into the whole photo shoot this time. He couldn't wait for it to be his turn to take pictures.

 This is actually my favorite picture ever! I wanted one with the two of us and the baby and it turned out just the way I pictured it. The little sash is something I got from etsy and will use in a photograph of baby once she's here and daddy can take a few pictures.

Our little family right now while daddy is gone. It's still weird to look at a picture of myself and see straight teeth.