Birth Announcement

Chic Screen Blue Baby 5x7 folded card

Create custom thank you cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

I am a huge fan of Shutterfly! I use the website to make my Christmas cards every year. And I made the most beautiful baby announcements for Harper! The quality is unreal and everyone always loves the finished product.

I also made thank you notes and address labels with Harper's photos on them. Right now the cards and address labels are on sale for 20% off!!

I found a few coupon codes that can also help you save some money!

Thankyou10- this gave me 10% off my order
trialpay10- this gave me another $10 off a $30 order
ship30- this gave me free shipping on an order over $30
card4u- gave me one free card

Plus I got an extra 20% off my entire order because they send me a special one time use only code in my e-mail.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Prices Get the Boot!

I am a sucker for a bargain. And now that I am trying to figure out ways to stay home with my little guy as long as possible I am going to have to be really careful and smart with my spending. I thought I would share some of the good deals I find on the blog every week.

Today's deal is at Target. I love, love, love Target. And every fall I find the CUTEST boots there! Right now you can buy and adorable pair of rain boots and get a cute liner for free. The liner is normally $9.99 so it is a great deal. The liners come in pink, black, grey, and ivory. You can check them out HERE!

And Target has 108 types of rain boots to choose from! Check them out HERE! They have really cute plaid, madras, and even whale rain boots! Plus you can get free shipping with a qualifying order over $50! You can't beat that. Most of the rain boots are $24.99. How great do these black boots look with the pink liner? The price beats a pair of Hunter boots any day!

Here are the exact details from the website:

Free Pair of Women’s Rain Boot Liners With Purchase of a Pair of Women’s Rain Boots Through October 23, 2010

Offer available online only. Purchase a select pair of women’s rain boots and get a pair of rain boot liners free. You must add both items to your cart. Discount will be applied at Checkout. Offer good while supplies last. Not valid on previous orders. Free gift will be sent to the same address as the qualifying item(s) and may ship separately. Free gift and qualifying item(s) are returnable by mail only. If qualifying item(s) is returned, refund value will be reduced by the prorated amount of the free gift. Offer expires October 23, 2010.

And I had to share these with you all. They are super cute and are on the Target website too!! Mama's got a brand new pair of shoes. And they won't get ruined when they're under wraps with Shuella shoe umbrellas. The easy–to–carry and even easier–to–wear galoshes slip over kicks to keep them safe and sound. Cute right?! These are a little more expensive, $44.99 but I think they are great.

Let's Talk Genetics

It is amazing how fast babies grow and how much their appearance can change from day to day! Right now Harper's hair is changing. In the front it is getting VERY light. So light that is actually looks like he is bald in the front in photos.

Can you see how it is turning light in the front?!  But it is still dark on the sides. Hehe! 

The funny part is, the back of his hair is still brown and is starting to look somewhat curly. It is hysterical because that is what everyone is waiting to see, whether or not Harper will get my blonde hair or Erik's brown/curly hair. Now he has BOTH! I think he is teasing us. We really have no idea what it is going to do next. It definitely has some wave in it. So maybe it will be curly like his daddy. When he was born, it was very dark. But my hair was actually extremely dark when I was born too. Within a few months my hair turned white. Erik had lighter hair when he was born and then it turned dark and curly. So really there is NO telling what his will do.  I will try to dig up a newborn photo of myself tomorrow and scan it so you can see how dark it was. It doesn't look me at all.

The photo below was taken when I was about 5 months old. By that time my hair was blonde.

We are also really excited to see what eye color he will have. Erik and I both have greenish eyes. My eyes were really blue until about 2nd grade. Now they go back and forth between blue and green. Erik has beautiful green eyes. Right now Harper's are dark blue (they look brown in photos but they are actually really dark blue.) We did a little research and found this chart online. So according to the chart it looks like his eyes will most likely be green. I guess we are just going to have to wait to find out!

This photo is when I was  a little older but my eyes are still blue:

I found a great website that helps predict your baby's eye color. Check it out here! It is great because it factor's in all of your family member's eye color and gives you an exact percentage. 

Fun Facts about eye color: (From docshop.com) 

• You probably knew that brown is the most common eye color worldwide, but did you know that green is by far the rarest? In fact, less than 2 percent of the global population possesses green eyes. As a country, Turkey has the highest percentage of citizens who have green eyes, at 20 percent. There are a number of countries – generally located in Asia, South America, and the Middle East – where green eyes are almost completely absent among the population.
• Did you know that blue eyes are the most common eye color for Caucasians, over amber, hazel, grey, and green? In fact, over 80 percent of the population of Iceland has either blue or green eyes.
• A not-so-common, but very noticeable condition called heterochromia can result in people having eyes of different colors. Actress Mila Kunis, of That 70’s Show and Family Guy fame, for instance, has one blue eye and one green eye. Kate Bosworth, from Blue Crush and the new Superman, has blue eyes, with a hazel blotch at the bottom of her right eye. David Bowie, of Ziggy Stardust and Labyrinth lore, is perhaps the most well-known celebrity with mismatched eye colors. Most people don’t know that Bowie’s condition is the result of a traumatic soccer injury suffered as a teenager, and not heterochromia.

Ok ladies, now I need your help! Here are a few questions that I have. Please help me out if you know the answers for any of the questions below and leave them in the form of a comment on this post. Please leave them as a comment because your answers help a lot of the other readers too and when I receive e-mails I am the only one that gets to learn from your wisdom. 

Questions for mamas:

1) When does the ugly dark line disappear from your belly? Mine is fading but I am ready for it to be GONE!
2) Did any of you all supplement with formula? If so, how often and how much formula? I have talked to three separate doctors and received different answers from all three so I would love your input!
3) Did you all wait 6 weeks until you started working out? I can't wait to fit my jeans again. They are still a little snug. But the doctor suggested I wait 6 weeks until I start working out again... boo!
4) Does anyone know where to find cute baby boy jackets?
5) Did you wake-up your baby for feedings? My lactation consultant suggested I should. What do you all think? If Harper decides to sleep through the night should I let him? Could going that long without breast feeding cause my body to produce less milk?
6) Has anyone read Baby Wise? Erik read it on his flight yesterday and thinks we should try it out so I am going to try to read it tonight. What did you all think?
7) When did your babies eyes and hair turn their permanent color?

Where did the month go!?

Harper is one month old! I can't believe it. I feel like the whole month is kind of a blur. Partially because of sleep deprivation and partially because the time went by so fast. I am happy to say he is doing fantastic.

He is growing and I would guess is over 8 pounds now (he gets weighed on Monday.) This past Monday he was 7 pounds and 11 ounces. He gained 11 ounces in one week!! My child can EAT!! The doctor said the "normal" amount of time a baby nurses per feeding is 12-15 minutes. Harper prefers 30 minutes and sometimes he still downs 2 ounces of formula an hour after. It is really impressive. Just like his daddy, he can eat and eat and still stays slim and trim. Glad daddy passed him those genes! Normally babies get back to their birthweight when they turn two weeks old. Then they typically gain one ounce per day. Well Harper was underweight that first checkup and unfortunately even with his tremendous amount of growth this past week, he is still considered about an ounce underweight. So I have to feed him often. I really hope by Monday he is where he needs to be!

I am still sticking in there with the breast feeding. It is not getting any easier but I have convinced myself that it will soon! I hope that time comes and much needed rest comes with it. I think Harper would actually sleep a good bit through the night but right now I am waking him up during the wee hours of the morning for his feedings. I really have no idea how long he will stay asleep on his own.  Four hours would be FABULOUS!

Baby battle of the week- My husband and I are trying to determine when Harper should sleep in his nursery in the crib. Right now he sleeps in the Snuggle Nest in between us in bed. Sweet Auntie Caroline got Harper the Snuggle Nest and he LOVES it! I love it because it makes it easy to feed him throughout the night, I honestly can't imagine having to get out of bed every few hours to go feed him in the nursery. And I like knowing he is right next to me so I know he is safe and breathing well throughout the evening. Not to mention, he holds my hand when we sleep and I think it is the sweetest thing ever! But my husband has been told by several people that the baby should make the transition to the crib as soon as possible. What do you all think? Any good mommy advice would be appreciated!

He sticks one arm out so we can hold hands. Love him!! 

Last week was a great week, CAROLINA BEAT ALABAMA. We looked amazing. I think I was actually in shock for the first few hours after the game but when it sank in I was thrilled.

This week... not so much. We lost to Kentucky in true "Gamecocks blow it in the last quarter" fashion. It was miserable and I think Spurrier made a horrible call when he decided to try to go for a touchdown at the end of the game. Personally, I would have gone for the field goal. Spencer would have had that, no problem. Then you tie it up and win in OT. Today was a sad day for gamecock fans!!

Well I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I am off to... you guessed it, feed the baby! :)

I Survived!

I survived my first two weeks as a momma!! And what a wonderful and amazing two weeks it was. I love every second I spend with Harper. I still think his cry is adorable (I am sure that is about to change) and I still find every little thing he does to be the cutest thing I have ever seen. I spend my days nursing, changing diapers, nursing, changing diapers, and occasionally sleeping when Harp decides to take a nap.

I was not allowed to drive for the past two weeks... doctors orders. That was slightly miserable. Erik had to go back to work so I was stuck in the house with the baby and the puppy for the majority of the time. But now my 2 weeks is over and I am FREE AT LAST! It is so nice to be able to run to the grocery store again!!

Last week I experienced my first afterbirth pains. Talk about miserable. These cramps are caused by contractions of your uterus as it shrinks back to its pre-pregnancy size and location after you have your baby. Breastfeeding can bring on these cramps or make them more intense because your baby's sucking triggers the release of the hormone oxytocin, which in turn causes contractions.  I think this was the case for me because right after I nursed the baby they started and they HURT! I didn't cry when I had the baby... but these suckers had me balling. I was pretty darn close to going to the ER but they got better and have been gone for the past few days.  Glad they are over with!

Harper is quite the trooper. Erik and I have brought him on several outings and he is GREAT!! He usually sleeps through everything and even when he wakes he just looks around with his big beautiful eyes and checks everything out. It is nice being able to go on date nights with the baby! I even took him with me to Wild Wing Cafe to meet up with Brooke and Brice when they came to visit! He didn't make a single peep.

Harper has been to two doctor's visits now. Everything looks great. He is still a few ounces under where we would like him to be. He is 7 pounds and he should be back at his birthweight 7 pounds and 3 ounces this week. So hopefully he will continue to eat and will gain back the weight.

I have decided I am not a huge fan of breast-feeding. I think it is great for the baby and I AM going to continue to do it but it really wears on me. The whole leaky breasts doesn't help either. It really is a whole lot of work! And my little man LOVES to eat, OFTEN. And the breast pump... what a pain in the butt... or should I say boobs... haha I know that was lame but whatever. I was naive, thought you just hook on up, start pumping and then you will have a nice full bottle of milk. Wouldn't that be nice!? Nope, that is not how it works. I am lucky to get a full 2 ounces every time I pump. And it takes about the same amount of time to pump as it does to feed him. So that was kind of a bummer. My milk pumping dreams... splattered.

Well I am off to feed the baby. Hope everyone in doing well. I am going to try to get back on track. I have been neglecting my blog and my blogger friends.

Important Message

I love Ellen! And I think this is a very important message. It is our job as parents to teach our children compassion, love, and understanding. We should teach them to be accepting of other people and love them for their differences. This story is tragic and brought me to tears. I think we can all learn from this. As a society, we are failing as parents and we need to find a way to stop the bullying.