Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie First Birthday tickers

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Second Birthday tickers

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas at the Devereauxs/37 Weeks Pregnant

Well, I've let a month go by since updating our blog, but give me a break...I've been working, running after an 18 month old, getting my house decorated to host Christmas for my family AND keeping up with being 9 months pregnant. Speaking of 9 months pregnant, here I am at 34 weeks, 2 days (Dec 4)...
...and 37 weeks, 5 days (Dec 28)
At 36 weeks I was showing signs of preeclampsia at my regular weekly check up, such as seeing spots in my peripheral vision, having unusual pain on the right side of my belly and a high level of protein in my urine. After some tests and bloodwork, they said my levels were in the normal range and after today's weekly check up they cleared me and told me everything was fine. For a while, my family was on alert because we didn't know if I'd be put in the hospital early if my results came back positive for preeclampsia, thus I'd be in the hospital for Christmas (boo!). But everything was fine, and I hosted Christmas night for the first time at our new house.

Speaking of Christmas, here is our first Christmas in our new house...
 front door wreaths I made
 Christmas morning loot for Stella
 Santa left a table and chairs!
 our foyer
 office turned extra dining area
 freshly painted dining room with new (old) dining room chairs - Xmas present from Matt's mom!
 Christmas Eve at MC and Dave's
 Traditional "Generations" photo - from R to L, Mae Mae (grandmother), her daughter, Cheryl (our Mom), my sister, Mary Catherine, her daughter, Millie, plus baby Moffett, who I think will be another girl, me, Stella, and baby girl Devereaux #2!
 Millie, MC, Mom and me, both MC and I with babies #2 on board:)

We had a wonderful time getting ready for and hosting Christmas Night dinner, even though it was tough doing everythiing a million months pregnant, but we did it! My sister (also a million months pregnant) hosted Christmas Eve after we all went to church together on the Point.
 Matt's first smoked tur-duck-en! It was delish!!

Now that Christmas is over, we are waiting on the arrival of Stella's baby sister. We will know this afternoon what her birthday will most likely be, as we'll be scheduling a c-section with the hospital today! Exciting! I must admit, I am pretty much done with this pregnancy. I am ready for the baby to be here, to have a name, and for our family to learn how in the world to adapt with #2:) We are pretty clueless, but try not to stress out about it!

...and lastly, here is baby girl's new (old) baby bed, just waiting for her arrival!









Sunday, November 27, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving from Stella and the rest of the Devereaux Clan!

Hi-fiving Uncle Michael at Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Beth's. We had a wonderful day in Crystal Springs with the Shulls (my Dad's side of the family) and got to see many cousins I hadn't seen in years, plus all the new babies that had joined the family! We really only get to see each other all together once a year and it's been a long-time joke that every year our family grows by at least one because someone is pregnant or just had a baby. This year we had new baby Tate, my still-cooking baby, Sis's still-cooking baby, and our cousins Jonathon and Gretchen (Tate's parents) new baby on the way-they just announced that Tate is going to be a big brother in June!

Cousin Katie took some great photos of each family, and then a great group shot. Be warned...I'm a red head now, so I may not be recognizable!

I didn't get any shots of it on my phone, but Stella has been a real walking machine. The past 2 weeks have been huge as far as her physical developments, which I owe to Early Steps physical therapy, Gym Rompers class, play time with her bestie, Charlotte, and her awesome Mommy Jenn. Stella started off taking 2-3 steps after gentle coaxing from me, and has since walked on her own unassisted for up to 10 steps AND gotten to a standing position from sitting in the middle of a room with no assistance from people or furniture, which is huge. She is making me so proud. I knew she would eventually walk when she was ready, even though I won't lie about being a nervous wreck that something was wrong -as in, way bigger picture wrong like some disease or syndrome that delayed or no walking was a symptom of...alas, my imagination and anxiety got the best of me and I over-reacted...everyone was right. Stella WILL, CAN, and DOES walk on her own! Like I said...we are so proud of our smart, strong little girl! She has many talents to teach her little sister.

We are currently on the way to Hattiesburg to spend Thanksgiving weekend with Matt's parents. Matt's dad missed Thanksgiving Thursday because he's been on a mission trip in Haiti since Monday - what an amazing sacrifice to give of your time during Thanksgiving! I know he will have wonderful stories for us when he get home tomorrow morning. We are looking forward to having a delayed Thanksgiving weekend with the Devereauxs!!

Caroline Devereaux
Sent from my iPhone




Friday, November 18, 2011

Stella in Words

While she naps, I'll try to notate all of Stella's "words". Though our little 17-and a 1/2-month-old isn't completely walking on her own yet, she IS saying a whole lotta stuff. (In her defense, she took 5-6 unassisted steps yesterday and today she walked all the way from the middle of our huge front yard to the front door merely holding on to one of my fingers. Progress.)

"Mamma"
"Dadda"
"Bo Bo" - our dog's nickname is Bo Bo/Joe...why, I'm not sure - his name is Gus. Ask my husband about that...he is weird with nicknames...thus, Stella now calls all dogs "Bo Bos"
"More" - means she's hungry...she used to same "Yum Yum" when she was hungry, but she's gotten proactive and just goes ahead with "More" when she's hungry.
"Nannie" - not only her fav food "banana", but its also her grandmother Jenny's name - when she sees a banana, whether in a store or on her high chair, she says (repeatedly) "nannienannienannienannienannienannie" until you give her some
"Wa Wa" - water
"Naa" - snack
"Nigh Nigh" - when we ask her if she wants to go night night, she says it back when we know she is ready to go down
"Lo" - shoe...I'm not sure how she got "lo" from "shoe", but every time she sees me putting on or taking off her shoes, she says "loooo" - she also says it when she sees mine or Matt's shoes. Hilarious.
"Walky" - says it when I'm helping her walk
"Noooo" - when she points to her nose
"Eye"
working on "Mou" - mouth
" 'air" - when she points to her hair
"Lawlette" - her best friend Charlotte:)
"Lella" - Stella
"Baby" - multiple meanings...sometimes she says it when she pats my belly (which I love), sometimes she pats her own self and says "baby" and other times she'll call her most fav stuffed bunny "baby"
"Bye Bye" or just "Bye!"
"Aaa-low" - hello - whenever she sees her play cell phone or our real ones, she says this...she also says this when she wants me to sing her the "hello" song from Gym Rompers
"Hiiii" - an alternate to "Aaa-low"
"Mae Mae" - her grandmother
"Maaa" - Matt...comes from hearing me yell it across the house:)
"Ring" - the infamous toy rings I bought her that stack on the white plastic cone, which she will have nothing to do with. The rings are her obsession. She goes everywhere with them. And I mean everywhere. If we are friends on FB, just look at the recent pics of her....almost every pic has at least one ring in it. She will carry one ring, but prefers to have two. She crawls with them, sits and plays with them, will walk for a longer period of time if she can hold them while simultaneously having physical contact withe my hands, rides in her car seat/shopping cart/stroller with them. She recently learned how to hold the sippy cup between her wrists and drink her milk or water while holding a ring in each hand. She wakes up saying "ringringringring" until you give them to her and at night she asks for them. Matt put her to bed with them one night when she was inconsolable. I came home from teaching Pilates and looked at the monitor and saw the rings in the crib with her...her sweet, fat hand clutching one and the other not far from her reach. I will say, sometimes you just gotta do whatever works. Exhibit A...
That's Stella trick-or-treating with a ring...don't fret, I think the other is simply at the bottom of the wagon. Here Stella practices walking while I bribe her with her ring...


Stella has many more words, and I'll add them to this list as I remember them. Also, just because this is precious, here's a pic or two of "Lawlette", Stella's bestie, with Stella (and ring is not far, I'm sure) looking on.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Then and Now - Stella and Her Pumpkin

I can't believe this picture was taken a year ago...look how much of a chunky monkey my Stella was! She was around 20 weeks old here.
 ...and here she is now, at one week shy of being 17 months old, picking out her pumpkin at a local pumpkin patch. My, how she's changed, but still looks the same!
And since we are comparing babies and pumpkins...here is baby girl #2 at 28 weeks. Matt and I used to CACKLE when some movie ad came on picturing a large, LARGE woman dressed head to toe in an orange sweatsuit. Man says to woman "Look at you, lookin' like da Great Pumpkin...Trick or Treat!"

Thursday, October 20, 2011

2nd Pregnancy, week 27...Trip to L&D!

So to say we had a rough weekend/beginning of the week would be an understatement. I think the fact that I am about to be a mother of 2 under 2 years old has finally hit me and this week it all came to a head.

Did I mention that I am hugely pregnant? Yes, huge....I don't say that with exaggeration. I really am huge. People tell me every day. I get jaw-dropping expressions from strangers and family members/friends alike when I reveal that I'm 28 weeks pregnant and still have right under 3 months to go. No, I'm not about to deliver this baby as I walk up the stairs, or pull my stroller out of my SUV, or sit on the Pilates reformer and show my clients how to do a Pilates exercise, or insert-any-other-daily-activity...I'm short, as in reeeeeally short (5 feet even, people) and the baby has no where to go but out....waaaaay out.

I understand why I'm already big at this point in my pregnancy. I get that this is my 2nd pregnancy and women tend to show earlier and more prominently with their 2nd babies. It's my body, so I understand that she's got no where to go in my short-waisted abdomen than straight out...really, I do. But it does not make the inability to do my daily activities any easier.

I've spent the first 6 months of this pregnancy doing everything I normally do...picking Stella up off the floor constantly and carrying her around, setting her down and doing that all over again, going up and down the stairs millions of times each day, exercising regularly (Pilates, yoga, cardio machines at the gym, Zumba, etc...), bending over to tie my shoes, teach Pilates and demonstrate exercises, etc...but the past 2 weeks everything has come crashing down on me, throwing it in my face that I have to slow down OR ELSE. The fact that I've been having very strong, uncomfortable Braxton-Hicks contractions every day since 20 weeks doesn't help, either. Well, the OR ELSE happened on Tuesday afternoon in the form of a tumble down the stairs in our house.

Don't freeak - baby is fine and I am fine, aside from a little soreness in my back. After I put Stella down for a nap I (of course) came downstairs in my socks and my feet slipped out from under me and I landed on my upper back on the stair treads. I was paralyzed with pain for a few seconds as the wind was literally knocked out of me, then realized I might have seriously hurt the baby. After trying to quiet my screams of pain for fear that I'd wake Stella up (and at that point I didn't think I'd be able to get up the stairs if she got upset), I slithered down the stairs and crawled to get my cell. Luckily, Matt works close to home and made it there in less than 5 minutes. After talking to my OB-GYN, she said we needed to head to the Labor and Delivery department of the hospital - I was fine until she told me that, then I started to freak out. Apparently any time you get into a car accident (minor or major) or have a fall while pregnant, you are supposed to go straight to hospital to get checked out just to be sure. So we got our sitter and headed there - went straight upstairs and were admitted 15 minutes after parking. Did I mention I love St. Tammany Parish Hospital?

To make a long story short, the baby was monitored and an emergency ultrasound was done to confirm that she was perfectly fine. It also confirmed she was HUGE. I got to spend 30 minutes looking her up and down on the ultrasound, which I LOVED, even though Matt couldn't be in the room with us:( - seeing her sweet little self almost made the hospital trip worth it:) Her overall measurements put her at about 29 weeks, 4 days even though I was at 27 weeks, 3 days. The ultrasound tech guessed she weighed about 3lbs, give or take 7oz, which is a bit heftier than the average baby (2.22lbs) at the same gestational age. If we went by how much weight the average baby gains from 27 weeks through 40 weeks, this chunky monkey would be 10lbs at delivery, at least. No wonder my doctor wants to take her at least a week early:) 

So the physical side to being largely pregnant with a 1 1/2 year old running around is catching up to me, and hopefully this little tumble down the stairs will inspire me to SLOW DOWN. I don't like being helpless or dependent on anyone - on a typical day I can do almost anything by myself, and now I can't. That is infuriating. What 28-weeks-pregnant woman can hold a 23lb baby on one hip, squat down to pick up a sippy cup and hold the diaper bag/pair of shoes/snack in the other hand while going down the stairs and out the door? That's what I try to do every day...it never fails. Hopefully I've learned my lesson.

The good news is I didn't have Stella in my arms and both baby and I are fine. We are very lucky!!!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Stella's Traveling Days - 12 More Weeks Until Sissy Arrives!

I've become one of those bloggers...the one who hasn't updated their blog in weeks/months. It feels like time passes so quickly these days that I don't realize I haven't been blogging, cleaning the house, keeping up with friends, etc...(really, fill-in-the-blank with any task/duty that you deem important). All of a sudden my Stella bug is 2 months shy of being a 1 1/2 year old and my big round belly tells me its almost time to meet little Sissy. We've had a busy month so far -
 Stella took her first plane ride to see Pops and Mia in Atlanta and stayed without Mommy and Daddy for more than one night. It was TOUGH to leave her at Dad's, but I know she had a fun time and I KNOW Pops and Mia loved having some grandparent time with Stella!

  She learned all sorts of new tricks while at their house, including how to say "coffee", "Lola", and climb backwards down the stairs, which we'd been working on. She had a nasty cold after the flight over which turned into an ear infection in one ear and fluid in the other, but we are fighting that with antibiotics
 Practicing walking without holding on to our hands! She went everywhere with those rings!
 She spent most of her weekend in this position.
 Dinner time in the big girl chair!
 Chatting it up with Lola, aka "Yoya"
 Morning playtime
 Getting dressed for night-night with Mia.
Goodbye hugs with Aunt Colleen!

While in Stella stayed in Atlanta I got to visit with one of my besties who just had a little girl, Ellie, at the beginning of September.
 Bathtime fun with Aunt Caro
 Of course, we spent most of our time dressing her up and staring at her.
 Aunt Caro and Ellie
 She didn't appreciate all the rattles we put on her...this is called "sensory overload"
Bye Bye hugs on Sunday - sad to leave this sweet girl! 

I had so much fun and I loved catching up with Megan and really getting to meet Dustin. Augusta is a beautiful town with wonderful shopping...I even got baby Sissy's baby bedding on consignment for $50! I only have a few touches to add to it and it will be completed! I feel another trip over there with my entire family is in order...soon and very soon!

In baby Sissy news, I'm 27 weeks on Friday and can't believe I've only got 12 weeks left before she's delivered via c-section. This picture is at 26 weeks, 2 days.
 Thank GOD I passed the 3 hour glucose test, which means I don't have gestational diabetes this time around! I thank a good diet and lots of exercise to combating GD - which my doctor suggested. You can't completely avoid having it by being more healthy, but it can lower your chances. So we are looking at the calendar and assume she will be delivered via scheduled c-section sometime during the later part of the week of January 2, around 38 or 39 weeks. MC and Dave hope to go a little later and deliver the week of January 9, so our parents can have some space between each baby, plus I'd like to try and make it across the lake for the delivery! I know that may be pushing it, but we shall see:)

We spent last weekend in Natchez with the whole family and LOVED visiting with everyone. We had a party for all the October birthdays in our family Friday night, spent Saturday shopping, eating and watching football, and Sunday was spent at Mae Mae's doing much of the same:)
 Pajama party
 Mommy and Stella before church
 Daddy and Stella before church

Here are some images of baby Sissy's new room - the crib is being painted by Matt's parent's and I'm still waiting to get the last set of drapes in, but its coming along nicely!
 The wall color is "Limelight" which Matt picked out - he had his heart set on a green room and this is green! We found the chandelier at a cute shop in downtown Covington and Matt wired it with the help of his Dad. He hung the blinds while we were in Augusta and we hung the drapes last night (Mom, they still have to be ironed/steamed...don't judge the wrinkles). That rug is going into the trash because the dogs tore it up, so we are on the hunt for a big pretty rug. The adult bed will stay up in Sissy's room until Stella is out of her crib, then we'll move the bed into her big girl room (I can't even begin to imagine when that day will come!)

Here's a shot of the bedding I got on consignment in Augusta for $50. The skirt is a shorter length and I prefer longer skirts, so I added to the bottom of the skirt in a cream/lime zebra print material to add some length and tie in some green. I got her plush crib fitted sheet on consignment, as well, which is Pottery Barn. I have a white one for Stella and it's so soft! So we are slowly making progress and hope to have everything done by the time she arrives!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Baby Girl Devereaux #2's Ultrasound

Here is a picture of #2's ultrasound at 17 weeks, 5 days on August 10, 2011 (yes, it took me one month to get this picture up here-don't judge me).
The baby is kicking like CRAZY. I know for certain she's been kicking so hard that you can feel it from the outside for at least 2 maybe 3 weeks. I first felt this little pony kick me at around 16 weeks. What's also great is that I've been having contractions for 2 weeks now - maybe they are Braxton Hicks, maybe not. Who knows? I did tell the doctor when she called to tell me I missed my appointment (who misses their baby doctor appointments? This girl.) so we've got an appointment this week. I probably had the same thing with Stella, but just didn't realize it. I realize EVERYTHING with this pregnancy:)

This week (week 22) baby girl is about the size of a papaya, or 8 inches long, weighing in at 1.2 pounds. I've got either 16 or 17 weeks left, depending on whether or not we have gestational diabetes again. If we do, we will have a scheduled c-section 2 weeks prior to my January 13 due date. We are still working on names and will probably not announce it until she is born, like with Stella. We like to keep people on their toes:)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Stella 15 Months

Stella is already 15 months old as of September 1. I really enjoy the changing of the seasons to go along with her growth. Yesterday was an amazing 60 degrees in the morning and we pulled out our first long sleeve/pants outfit of the season. While I know I'm a bit ahead of myself, seeing as how we'll probably go back to 90 degree weather until at least mid-November, it was fun to wear a cardigan and dress Stella in one of her big girl outfits. Up until now she's been in a 12-18 month and yesterday she wore an 18 month outfit. Grant it, the sleeves with the cute tri-ruffles near the cuff were almost cutting off the circulation to her fat little hands, she still looked cute. This outfit will last all winter, so maybe her arms and wrists will slim down so it's more comfortable. She's got plenty of room to grow into the length.

Here she is playing at Gym Rompers, a new weekly class she's enrolled in for the fall semester. That's her friend, Owen, who just turned 12 months. He's a tiny little fella...Stella's not that huge:) He was a preemie.

I really thing this weekly exercise (along with play dates with other babies her age) has helped develop her gross motor skills. After we stopped physical therapy and started doing the exercises at home, she began crawling like a champ, pulling up on furniture, squatting to get an object off the floor, getting down from standing, and cruising around furniture in a standing position...all things she should have been doing, but hadn't. Since she turned 15 months and still has not taken one or two unassisted steps, our pediatrician recommended Early Steps, which is an early intervention/pediatric physical therapy program funded by the state. We have an interview here at the house today at 9:30 to see if we qualify, so here's hoping that if we need it, they will provide it.

 Stella is doing great and luckily didn't get a repeat episode with the stomach bug that's been going around, which I got Friday morning...the day we were supposed to go to Ole Miss for the first game of the season. Oops. Unfortunately we missed a fun weekend in the Grove, which would have been Stella's first visit, but after feeling better we made a quick trip to Natchez for Labor Day and got to see Mae Mae and the rest of the family at the lake house, though with Tropical Storm Lee we didn't enjoy any water activities at the lake except for trudging to and from the car in the rain. I did get to visit with one of my old friends, Stephanie, and her husband, Andy, and their sweet little man John Preston, 2 months old.
 Stella getting some Mae Mae lovin'
 Stella with Mae Mae and Uncle Michael
 Hotty Toddy - we were there in spirit!
 Stella and Daddy
with Stephanie and John Preston
Friends with babies
Stella waving hi to JP
Stella rocking John Preston