I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

Friday, November 24, 2017

37+6 Weeks: Scarlett Kay

Not quite 38 weeks, since we would have hit that Thanksgiving Day, but almost!  Due to the holiday, we had to schedule the c-section for Thanksgiving Eve which put us right at 37+6 weeks.




This last week spent as a family of three was great!  I had my last chiro appointment (seriously no back pain for the last month!).  We had our last OB appt and everything checked in great.  Last weight in was 33lbs gained for Mama, perfect!  Norah and I ran a ton of errands this week.  We got Scarlett's Christmas stocking all ready and bought/monogrammed their MATCHING Christmas jammies (so excited to see them)!  We even got a 78 degree park day!  We had an OK Cookie Momster date, browsed the toy section at Target with Starbucks and a crazy toddler and vegged on the couch like snuggle bugs.  Daddy and I got a lot more done on the house and even started to decorate.  Goodbye white boring walls!


Last Dr Appt!


Latte for Mama, Cake Pop for Norah



Officially we're all unpacked INSIDE the house, and now we just have the garage to do.  It's not high on the priority list right now so it can wait.  I'm so glad we got everything ready house wise for baby just in time!  I feel like I can relax now with my newborn.  It's so weird seeing her little bed set up in our room!



This week Mama did some self care!  I got my first Brazilian wax! OMG!  It was crazy but I'm glad I did it!  I really don't want my future coworkers to have to shave me down on delivery day for surgery haha.  I also went and got my nails done.  It just makes me feel pretty and I could use that right now!




As for our last weekend as a family of three...we just spent it having so much fun together with Norah June.  We took her to the Philbrook Christmas Light kick off night, new zoo exhibit, brunch and the Tulsa Children's Museum!  She had a blast.  We all laughed and smiled.  It was exactly what we needed.  Oh sweet Norah we have LOVED these last 2.5 years with you and can't wait to see what our new future as a family holds!





In awe of the sea lion show!



Last bumpdate for this pregnancy, crazy!  So many feelings, emotions and just pure craziness.  I can't wait to blog our sweet Scarlett's birth story soon!

Friday, November 17, 2017

37 Weeks: Scarlett Kay

ONE MORE WEEK roughly until our scheduled c-section!  OMG.



This week has been another great one!  Nana was gracious enough this weekend to take Norah so that we could wrap up the loose ends with our old rental and get that completely off our plate before baby gets here.  We cleaned all 1,000 square feet and even had the land lord approve it on a walk through.  Goodbye Brookside Home!




We used that time to squeeze in one last date night!  It was Veteran's Day, so my favorite Vet and I ate free out all day and even did some shopping at the local mall.  Norah hates being patient in the mall, so it's been almost a year since we'd been.  It was so nice to hold hands, chat and take our time.





We did some prepping for baby too.  Dad installed the baby's carseat and wow it's crazy to see two back there now!  Norah keeps pointing to it and saying "Norah's old seat!"  She's a bit confused haha.  We set up the bassinet in our room and put her clothes, changing pad and diapers in our dresser for our late night dates.  I even got her room completely unpacked, win!  Bags are packed and nursing pillow dug out.


Looks so weird!


This week I found myself a little sad when I was playing with Norah.  She's been my ride or die since day one!  From our alone time the first year in Florida to now me being home the last two months with her...she's my girl!  I've loved watching her grow and learn, and I'm a little sad that our relationship is going to change in just one short week.  I don't know how exactly, but I know it's going to be different.  I feel like it will still be amazing, just different but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad to see the old relationship go.  She made me a wonderful Mama and I can't wait to see what impact Scarlett has on me, Norah and Kit for that matter.



Major snuggle bug these days!


We're so excited!


Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Norah June: 2.5 years



Just like that my baby is halfway to three years old.  So much is going on right now with her little sister, but I wanted to take a quick break to talk about my firstborn and where she's at.  This girl is my mini me, best friend and just the sweetest love of my life.  She's so much fun to be around, funny to laugh with and has a heart of absolute gold.





Physically she's just perfection.  She's up to 30lbs now, eyes still blue like her sweet Daddy's and long curly blonde hair past the middle of her back.  She's just beautiful.  She's into 3T clothes and size 7 shoes. Still rocking a size 5 diaper, but that may change over Christmas break.  




This girl loves to run, but most of all we all love to watch her run.  She does this little run, skip, hop mixture that is just the cutest!  Her Nana and I don't ever want her to grow out of it.  She jumps high!  She thinks she's hot stuff when she walks backwards.  She balances on one foot, takes stairs one foot at a time and is right on track for her age and development.




We enrolled her in ballet a few months ago and to our surprise she's really taken to it quickly.  She loves going to class and is so proud of herself when I get to go in and watch her.  She's so amazing to watch, not because she's a phenomenal dancer (because she's two haha) but because I see the pride swell up in her little body and her desire for my approval.  She's such a big girl already!




Norah loves to paint and draw.  She even drew Daddy a picture of  "Norah's new house".  Her favorite thing to paint are pumpkins.  She probably painted 3-4 pumpkins this Halloween per her request.  She enjoys her books and we love hearing herself read out loud.  She is really into trains, cars and any toys with wheels.  She loves everything and anything dress up right now.  If Mama puts on make up, deodorant, chap stick, whatever...Norah needs it too.  She even puts lotion on her belly every morning, so funny.  When she stays the night with her grandparents here lately she's been playing dress up in old dresses.  We love those pictures!  Her favorite thing to do is still probably play outside.  This girl could live outside.  We spend lots of time at the park, taking walks and playing in our new backyard.  




Norah still naps, but there are days she skips.  Usually she naps for 1.5-2 hours.  I'm going to miss this era when it's gone!  We still have her in her crib and will until she figures out she can climb out.  She's got her leg up there a few times, but doesn't realize her true potential, so until then it's the crib for her.  We set up her toddler bed (thanks Aunt Jenna!) in her new room, and she begs to sleep in it every night.  Trying to hold her off for as long as we can for sure!  





Norah's favorite meal of the day is by far breakfast.  She literally asks for "O-meal" every morning before we can even get her diaper changed.  She's up to two packs in the morning!  Just like her Daddy when he was that age from what we're told.  Her worst meal is dinner, hit or miss.  She loves hummus, PIZZA, peas, crackers, fruit pouches, milk, oatmeal, eggs and chicken nuggets.  I discovered she eats free at CiCi's so since I've been pregnant we have little lunch dates there about once a month.  We both eat for $6.50 and boy do we get our monies worth.  My girl puts away about 4 pieces sans crust all on her own!  She's a big fan of CiCi's haha.  




The most notable change with Norah these days is her language.  Literally this girl amazes us with what she's able to comprehend, understand, verbalize and relate back to us.  She's ahead of the curve and we're not sure why but we're glad for it.  She's up to 4-5 word sentences, she can count to four, she knows letters, animal sounds, animals, family member's names and so much more.  One of my favorite things she's doing now is verbalizing her feelings.  She'll throw a fit and suddenly say "Norah sad Mama".  We'll be walking home from the park and she'll say "Park fun alot!"  or "Norah happy!"  I just love it.  She'll verbalize a scenario to us 10-15 minutes after she's had time to internalize it and we love to hear her take on things.  She remembers movies like nobody's business!  For instance she'll go months without seeing Tangled and then one day tell you the plot, about the "mean lady" and about the "baby with green eyes".  She also has started to say "I sorry Mama" after she throws insane fits or yells or does something she knows isn't okay.  We don't encourage her to say it because we want her to feel remorse, not just say the word, and so far she's been saying it spontaneously.  She'll say "I sorry mama" then kiss me.  It astounds us that she's experiencing these feelings already.  It's probably normal, but since she's our first all this is new to us! She's definitely not all flowers and sunshine, plenty of sass too but it's just all so amazing to watch and hear.







The older she gets the more affectionate she becomes.  Right now she's a complete Mama's girl.  Especially since I've been at home with her the last 6 weeks or so.  She loves to snuggle with me on the couch (even asks to snuggle).  She'll randomly run up to me, grab my face with both hands and kiss me.  Last week when we went to wake her up in the morning she hugged my belly and kissed it.  She just melts me!  She asks for hugs all the time and really is the sweetest little girl.






We can't wait to see how she'll change with little sister coming so soon.  She's going to be the best big sister ever and we can't wait to feel our hearts explode with all the love.







Monday, November 13, 2017

McVay's First Nest

We finally closed on our first home this week!  I can't believe we own a small piece of land and a home.  I feel like out of all our friends/family we're the last to experience this milestone, but I'm glad we waited.  Everything fell into place pretty nicely!




We used a family realtor and she was incredibly patient with us first time house hunters.  We probably looked at over 10 houses!  Finally we saw this one right before they had an open house, and we put in an offer before their open house.  It's completely move in ready, the neighborhood has SIDEWALKS, hardwood floors throughout the downstairs, laundry (cat) room which we've never had before, two car garage, 4 bedrooms + giant playroom off an upstairs bedroom, 2 bathrooms, storage shed in the back yard, fireplace and plenty of closet storage.  Eventually we want to turn the upstairs bedroom and playroom into a master bedroom and bathroom suite, but that'll be a little later down the road.


Front room, dining area

Living room

Kitchen

Master

Master Bath

Bedroom + Playroom in the back

Giant playroom




The price was extremely right and the location was perfect for our Tulsa midtown loving hearts.  We were pretty picky on wanting to stay in midtown given our jobs, so we couldn't let this one pass up without at least trying to put in an offer.





We barely squeaked in under our due date (3 weeks to spare),  so now we'll just be settling in until our 4th family member joins us.  We can't wait to make new memories here, bring in our first set of holidays as a family of 4 and enjoy watching our family grow into our first home.  My husband and I have worked our butts off to get to this point, so cheers to working hard and being patient!!


36 Weeks: Scarlett Kay


We're so close to the end!! Scarlett is doing great still!  Lot's of contractions lately, but all spaced out and mild.  Her kicks are so strong!  She's definitely running out of room.  She the most active at 10pm, lucky me haha. 




I'm surprisingly still feeling great.  My feet had some mild swelling the day we moved and day after, but I literally stood all day so that was my own damn fault.  No back nerve pain like with Norah (Thank God!)  I think it's because I'm carrying this one so low.  Last time I carried Norah pretty high, so I think that made a difference.  I started to wake up to pee every 3-4 hours now, about when I need to roll over in bed!  But besides that no other nasty side effects, knock on wood!  This has been the most uneventful pregnancy for sure.  I like it that way!




This week was unpacking mode for sure!  My poor nesting drive is on over time.  Between unpacking boxes, running to hardware stores, and trying to decorate it's been a busy week here.  We'll definitely be unpacked in time for baby, but just barely.


Sign hung and home made quilt from Great Aunt Dori delivered!


This week Norah and I carved out time for a few Hobby Lobby trips, a cold trip to the park and even a museum art walk for littles!  I'm really trying to soak up this little girl as much as I can.  She's just the most fun!


"Windy Mama!"

Bundled for the park

Art walk

I'm still eating a bowl of cereal a night and taking it really easy at the gym 4-5 days a week.  Thankfully I've gained about 10 less pounds so far with this pregnancy than I did with Norah.  Excited about that for sure!  My appetite is totally different this time around too.  I don't snack anymore and if you know me I'M A SNACKER!  Like counting down the minutes until I can eat again most days.  This time it's a struggle to eat enough calories.  So weird for me to experience!  Keeping the water intake on point though for sure! 

I really do enjoy being pregnant!  Thank you Scarlett for going easy on Mama <3