Well Hello

There have been big changes in the Gillespie house since I last wrote.  Actually one big change that brought about other changes. 
I went from this....

To this...

Introducing Miss Khloe Payton Gillespie! 

I have a new love in my life.  My little girl is almost 5 months old now and  growing up right before my eyes.  I never understood why it made parents sad that their kids were growing up until now.  I want her to grow big and strong, but at the same time, I want to cherish my moments with her so tiny.  I had a mini-meltdown about when I had to pack up her newborn clothes...  Already, those clothes looked so tiny and I remember when she couldn’t even fit into them!  Khloe was born on September 3- ironically, on Labor Day J  My water broke on Sunday, September 2 and we headed to the hospital around 11:00 am. 

20 hours and an epidural later, I was holding my 5lb 10oz princess (no, I wasn’t in pain for 20 hours… my water broke, but I wasn’t having contractions, so I was given meds to start my labor at 8:00 pm, pain started around 10:00 pm, so there was about 9 hours of real labor). 

I’m back to work now and it’s pretty much the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  I miss my little girl every day, but I still want a career of my own, so I’ve decided to try and do it all!  With all the changes, I’ve had to kick the organization up a couple notches in my life!  There’s no room for slacking anymore, I have to stick to a pretty tight schedule. 

As any new parent will tell you, the first month was ROUGH!!!  Not only are you recovering from giving birth, you have CRAZY hormones that make you want to cry over stupid stuff.  Plus a severe lack of sleep…. When I went into the hospital to have her, I had already been awake since 3 am on Sunday morning and didn’t get to sleep until around 10:00 am on Monday.  And that was just about an hour nap.  The next two nights at the hospital, we had the nurses keep her in the nursery, so we could get some rest, but I was breastfeeding, so they brought the baby in every two hours to feed.  When we went home, I was so exhausted I felt like I was in a constant daze.  And then the real work set in…. Khloe had her nights and days mixed up, so she would sleep in the day and be up all night.  It’s a whole new kind of tired… everyone talks about how hard pregnancy is, but no one talks about how hard it is in that first month after having the baby.  In addition to the exhaustion, I was so paranoid that she wasn’t getting enough to eat (when you breastfeed, you can’t tell how much they’re eating), I was paranoid that she was going to get sick, and plus I was in a ton of pain from breastfeeding (yeah… no one tells you how much that hurts either…. OUCH!).  I didn’t feel like anything would ever be normal again, but after that first month a new sense of normalcy started to set in.  I was fully recovered from having her, the crazy hormones were gone and breastfeeding didn’t hurt anymore.  Khloe started sleeping at night and actually every night now she sleeps for 4 hours, wakes up to eat and goes back to sleep for 5 more hours.  We’re really lucky with that!  She’s been gaining weight steadily, so I know she’s getting enough to eat and as far as worrying about her getting sick, I still worry, but I've realized that every kid gets sick and it actually helps them build their immunities.  We have a new schedule that we follow and life is good J  I feel like I’m getting better at this mom thing and I can actually do this!  Now that things are feeling not-so-overwhelming, I’m trying to work some things in that I enjoy and one of those things is blogging.  Blogging helps me to relax and gives me a creative outlet.  So I’ll be dropping by whenever I get the chance.  Now here are some pictures of the first 4 1/2 months of my little darling's life... let the oohing and ahhing begin!  ;)

 

 

-Brooke

Updates on Life and the Master Bedroom

Well, it's been a while.  Pregnancy makes it hard to find a lot of time to do extras... here are a few updates on what has been going on with me.  I've been feeling really good!  I'm at 24 weeks now and still haven't had a hint of morning sickness... except when I brush my teeth.... it turns into a gag fest every morning... but I usually don't throw up... too much info?  For someone who hates going to the doctor soooo bad, I think I'm doing pretty good.  Usually I'm the kind of person who doesn't go to the doctor until I feel like I could die, so 7 doctor visits in the last 5 months has been.... challenging.  I still have nerves every time I go, but I think it's getting better.  The last we went, I didn't even ramble!  Normally I ramble on and on about how I'm nervous to be there.  I was so proud of myself.  The only real thing that I'm dealing with from the pregnancy is fatigue.  I go to work all day and basically just want to pass out when I get home.  Here's my latest picture at 23 weeks.

As far as the house goes, we've been working on the outside a lot.  Our goal is to get the area directly in front of the house all level and have grass planted by the time the baby comes.  The baby's room has a first coat of paint on it (pictures to come later).  And I finished the master bedroom!  One of my goals before the baby comes!!  I can cross a whole 1 item off the list!  I still have to tackle the master bath, but for now I'm happy that the bedroom is finished.  When I last left off, the bedroom had been painted and I had hung my DIY starburst mirror over the bed.  Now, I put back the curtains and added accessories.

Sorry... crooked picture.

For the side tables, we NEVER used the too-small lamps we had before.  We're really just not read-in-bed kind of people.  So, I got creative and made a stick arrangement from our yard.

Still trying to decide what will go over the dresser.

My pregnancy pillow has made a home on the bed.

That's it!  Oh and by the way, we're having a girl!!  :)  I'll be back later this week with a nursery update.

-Brooke

How We Told the Family...

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I started brainstorming and Googling creative ways to tell the family.  There were a ton of cute ideas out there, but I finally found the perfect one for my family. 

I told everybody that we wanted to take a family picture.  Nobody thought anything about it... I'm that kind of person who randomly insists on taking group family photos... but they're used to me.  So I set the camera to automatically take 10 pictures after the timer.  Right before the first photo took, I said, "Everybody say... Brooke's pregnant!"  Take a look at the pics below to see everybody's first impressions  :) 

Here are the pics with Chris' family.

I love how the kids are completely oblivious.

Then we told my brother's family and my grandma.

And... I saved the best for last.... my mom had the best reaction I could ever hope for.  By the end of these, we were all cracking up.

In the end, I'm so glad we told everybody in a creative way.  Now I can show my little Jelly Bean how excited everyone was to find out about him/ her.  :)

-Brooke