First bath and tummy time.

More documenting big steps:)

We didn't give Collins her first real bath until she was about 3 weeks old, you have to wait until the cord falls off and my pediatrician said they don't need bathing much right now anyways...we do give her a little sponge bath every night, but she's only had a couple of REAL baths. Needless to say, she wasn't a big fan of her first one! She's gotten a little better, but still doesn't love it.


Ha! Love this little face. Get me outta here!



We've also been doing some tummy time and that she doesn't seem to mind one bit! She does really well practicing lifting her head up and getting those muscles strong:) These were taken just this morning.

One month.

Collins turned ONE month old on Saturday, how does that happen?? It makes me so sad that time is flying...only four more weeks at home with my sweet girl before I have to go back to work. Thank goodness my WONDERFUL mom is going to keep her a bit before she goes to a church childcare. It will make going back to work much easier on me I think, and hope.

Anyways, I digress. This month has been the absolute BEST month of my life, we are so in love with our girl, she is an angel. Collins has been such a good baby so far and continues to amaze us every day. We love her more and more it seems, even though I hate how fast time is flying...I do love that each day she is awake a little more and her little personality is slowly starting to show.

We just switched her over to size one diapers over the weekend, the newborn ones were starting to get a bit snug. I'm not sure how much she weighs now, she was 7.6 at three weeks old. Everyone still says she either looks like her daddy or my dad or a "richardson" but not necessarily like her momma Richardson, ha! I think her hair may be starting to slowly fall out, I can't really tell yet; but I do feel like it is getting thinner. It is so long in the back though, she almost has a little rat tail, ha!

Collins love to just lay in her swing and look around, I'll watch her just staring at the little mobile on top as it goes around. She definitely prefers her swing to the bouncy seat, but she likes both and will normally be content in both. Every once in a while she does just like to be held:) One of my favorite things to do (while I have the opportunity to do this on maternity leave, I am taking full advantage!) is to nap/snuggle with her on the couch. Normally after her first feeding in the morning we will snuggle and snooze together on the couch. It absolutely melts my heart to have her wrapped up in my arms. She's also been doing really good sleeping in her crib. She looks SO itty bitty when laying in there though!!

So here are our one month pictures, actually taken yesterday on Sunday. But, Collins has become quite the baby on the go, and on her actual one month birthday she was in Rimini, SC at a wedding! That's for a whole other post though!

My big girl doing so good sitting up!



Love:)

We did it!!

Okay... Well Collins did it, but it was a big step for me too:) Collins slept in her crib the past two nights....yay baby girl!! She's been sleeping in the bassinet portion of her pack and play in our room, mainly for my own peace of mind. I tried her out for a nap in her crib on Tuesday and she did great so Tuesday night I said I would see about her sleeping in there. She did have about an hour of fussy time the first night but after that she was great! I'm actually pretty good at letting her cry it out, hope that doesn't make me sound like a bad momma but I've been preparing myself via moms on call and baby wise and I know in the end getting her to sleep good is a must. I've been around babies a lot and I know letting them cry for a few minutes is not going to harm them! Granted, i will say Collins has not had any uncontrollable crying yet so that may make a difference. She mainly just fusses and grunts a bit. Last night she did wonderful and didn't make a peep after I put her down. Generally she goes down about 10 and will sleep until about 2 30 or so and then nurses and goes back down from about 3 until 7. She's really been a great little sleeper so far and I pray it stays that way. She's had two nights where she fussed until about 2 and was wanting to nurse a lot, thinking growth spurts! Anyways sorry to bore, but I have to document this stuff for myself:)

Getting back into the swing of things, fashion edition

I am SO glad it is about to be spring weather...I am MAJORLY ready for new, fun colorful clothes!! I have always preferred spring and summer clothing over winter and this year even more so...it's been a while since I have had fun shopping...maternity clothes just don't cut it. I am looking forward to slowly (that's for Mikey, ha!) building up my spring/summer wardrobe. Unfortunately, even when I do lose these last couple of pregnancy pounds I don't think most of my dresses from last summer are going to fit the same because of my LADY PARTS!!! Aaahhh! Don't think those will go away anytime soon either, at least as long as I am breastfeeding, such is life I guess. But, seriously..we had a wedding this past weekend and anything that I had that was appropriate for this time of year was just too snug across my chest:( Bummer. But, at least that gave me the opporutnity to get a cute new dress!

I've bought a couple of new items recently, but am ready to buy MORE! Bring on the heat, I am ready for pretty and color filled outfits!

I was thining this Lilly dress would be cute for Easter...little motivation to lose even more weight by then.



Finally got me some new nude pumps, love these Vince Camuto beauties...they were on sale at Belk, yay for sales!


I've been wanting a cute black blazer and either didn't like the reviews on the less expensive ones on piperlime, they didn't have my size, or they were too expensive...well I found this one at Kohl's via the Lauren Conrad brand and I LOVE it! I always forget about her brand at Kohl's but she does have some pretty cute stuff.

Thought this Greylin dress via Piperlime was adorable.

And now for my second rent the runway experience...I am in a wedding THIS Saturday, woohoo!! Not knowing when baby girl would come I put off getting a dress since I didn't know what size I would be, etc. Well...we are able to wear whatever black dress we want, which is GREAT, but of course, I own NO black dresses. What can I say, I like color! Anyways, I didn't want to spend money on a really nice/cute black dress that isn't the size I want to be very soon. So...I went to RTR. I went with this Milly beauty, it comes in tomorrow. Pray it works!

So ready to shop!

Our first two weeks.

How does time go by SO fast?? Our beautiful girl was TWO weeks old on Friday! So far, Collins has been a wonderful baby...I am scared to say it because I am scared to "jinx" ourselves, but she really has been so good so far. She hardly ever cries and is pretty easy going. The first two weeks, she would sleep for at least 5 hours straight at night...she will fight her swaddle a little bit and every once in a while I will have to get her situated but otherwise she has been a dream sleeper. Makes mama so happy!

Our days FLY by...it's so hard to explain to people who haven't done it before, but seriously, where does the day go?!? Obviously breastfeeding is very time consuming, and that takes up a big chunk of our days...so between that, changing diapers (ALL. THE. TIME.), getting myself showered, and keeping the house neat...before I know it the day is almost gone. I don't really like that part, but such is life right now! It's hard to plan far out at this point because right now, her schedule for the day really depends on how long she sleeps at night. I haven't been tired once, simply because right now I can sleep late:) I am hoping to have her on a "tighter" schedule by the time I go back to work...but for now we are just taking it day by day.

There was such a huge difference in her first week and second as far as how I felt. By the second week, I was MUCH less worried about her every move, and was ready to start getting out and about. In fact, Mikey and I had our first date night on her two week birthday. YAY us! My favorite time with her is snuggling on the couch togehter, she loves to lay on her side so I will snuggle with her right beside me and just watch her in awe. I know my maternity leave is going to fly by, so I am really trying not to jam it packed full during the week....weekends are fine to be busy but I am enjoying having no schedule/agenda during the day so I can truly enjoy this time with my favorite girl.

We went to the doctor on her two week birthday and she was weighin in at 6 lb 11oz, so only 1 oz away from her birth weight, yay! She had also grown a half inch:) Breastfeeding is going really well, and I am thankful for that. At this time, I don't really know how long I am going to do it, it really depends on how it goes when I go back to work...but I hope to breastfeed for at least 6 months, so I hope that pumping at work will be good with her! Okay, enough rambling...time for some pictures! Out of order of course.

Getting some loving from my cousin Belle.


I attended my FIRST GAMECOCK baseball game on Saturday March 3, GO COCKS!!! We beat the Clemson Tigers:) Collins slept thru the whole game with the exception of when I took her to the family restroom to nurse. She was a perfect angel. We kept her bundled up in her car seat with a blanket and draped Mikey's rain jacket over her for added protection from the cold. It wasn't too cold until the end of the game...I started getting a little worried but when we got home and I went to change her, her little body was so warm so I think she was just fine!

Go cocks!

Mommy and Daddy leaving to go on date night! Thanks so much to Lolly and Granddaddy.

Sleeping on my daddy...making my mama's heart melt.

Glenn grandchildren.

Mama and her girl!

Meeting my Aunt Brannon:)

Snuggled in daddy's arms.

In my tanning bed, thank goodness that only last a week.

Family picture!

Love this picture...so sweet.

My first playdate with my best friends Mary Brooks and Harper! Mary Brooks (far left) was born on 2.12 and Harper (middle) was born on 12.29, their mama's are my best friends, so fun to have little girls so close together.

I'm trying to get better about posting more because I know I will appreciate this one day...but our home computer is not the fastest and I prefer to blog from my computer instead of the Ipad. Again....I need a few more hours in the day! Off to watch the Moms on Call seminar for what to do now:)

Loves!

The NURSERY reveal...finally!

WARNING: Major picture overload!! But, I wanted to remember every detail of this room...lots of hours went into planning it. I joke that this is the nicest room in my house now! It really may be...anything for my little girl, right?!? Daddy is shaking his head right now if he reads this:)

The beautiful toy chest my dad built. I am obsessed, this will be something that Collins will cherish forever.


One view.

Anothew view.

Close up of the RH Baby and Child frams that I am more than mildly obsessed with and the Beatrix Potter prints I got to go inside. I think these frames are absolutely beautiful and they will be in Collins' room for many years to come!

Close up of glider and blanket/pillow. I wanted a white chair...everyone thought I was crazy, but that's okay! I paid a little more to get one from a furniture store that is slipcovered, and I love it. It's VERY comfy.

Shelf was in MY room when I was a little girl, dress on left was mine, dress on right is Collins'. Name blocks were used at my baby shower and given to me by a dear friend...she got them from etsy, just love them. They are perfect.

View of corner with glider....small pedastal table from PB kids, lamp base from PB kids and shade from RH baby and child.

Top shelf of built in bookcase my dad built.

Bottom two shelves, love! Frames and birdcages from RH Baby and Child. Serioulsy love these details. The gray one was originally green and I just sprayed it.

Full view of bookshelf, so helpful for storage, etc. Cabinet is stocked FULL with diapers...old house equals small closets, so this helped out TONS. Thank you to my wonderful daddy!

Changing table/dresser. Dresser and Crib are Young America bought from Baby Furniture Plus. Frames and mirror are from PB kids. Fan is from Target.

Close up of crib bedding. All fabric was ordered from babybedding.com

Mobile from babybedding.com

Baby girl has her monogram on the bumper:) LOVE it. Of course, who knows how long the bumper will actually stay in the crib!

:)

Ceiling is venus pink by Sherwin Williams and walls are Passive Gray by Sherwin Williams. Chandelier is PB Kids purchased via ebay. Perfect condition and the perfect accent for this room, in my opinion;)

Rug is RH Baby and Child; chenile rug in petal pink. SO SO soft but probably the dumbest idea ever. Pale pink rug = going to stay dirty. I bought a steam vac already specifically for this rug, pathetic huh?!? But, it shows EVERYTHING. Oh well...

I absolutely LOVE the finished product. I'm pretty proud of myself, I chose most of the stuff by myself and I even have a designer in the fam...my SIL is a interior designer and she helped me some, but I really knew what I wanted and in my personal opinion (which is all that really matters, right?) I think it turned out pretty good. I tell ya though....I spent months deciding on the fabric, seriously. The pink and gray fabric that I finally went with was NEW to babybedding.com right before I was making my final decision and I fell in love. The colors were perfect and the look I was going for. I hope Collins loves this room as much as her mommy does!