Two Months & Sleeping In the Middle of the Bed

It's been two months. Only ten more till my husband gets to come home. (I'm not counting down or anything...) I slept in the middle of the bed the other night. I guess I got tired of waking to a perfectly made side of the bed. I got all diagonal through the night and everything which resulted in me deciding to not make the bed the following morning, which led to a week of not making the bed. I awoke this morning and washed my bedding and made the bed, because not making the bed sets a rather poor example for my boys.It remains to be seen if I'll continue sleeping in the middle of the bed, or go back to my side. 

My Baby Girl Is One Month Old

A lot of this last month feels like a blur. I can't believe my daughter is a month old already. It feels like she's always been a part of our family and we're all so happy she's here. She is such an incredible blessing. I still can't stop staring. Breastfeeding has been hard, but we made it through the first couple of weeks which was my first goal. My next goal is three months. I'm constantly worried I don't have enough milk.Ellena has developed baby acne. I didn't experience this with my boys... I also didn't breast feed for this long a period either, so trade offs I guess.I'm so in love with her little feet. I love to pick the lint that gathers between her little toes, which are always squished up.You can find my milestone blanket I used by Batzkids here.These milestone blankets are also cute and a little bit cheaper too! First Impressions, Hello Spud This on on Amazon or this one is pretty cute too!

Bringing Baby Home

We brought baby Ellena home from the hospital the day after she was born. It was a bright sunny April afternoon when we left the hospital and placed her into our rental car. We were still waiting on our car which was being shipped from Italy. It was a tiny car and her Graco 4Ever Convertible Car Seat basically took up the whole backseat. I can't tell you how happy I was to be home. I had great care and a pretty uneventful labor and delivery, but one really can't get any rest when in the hospital and I was exhausted by the time we pulled into the drive with our precious cargo.We spent the first couple of days she was home going back to the hospital because she wasn't putting weight on quick enough, and she became jaundiced. So by the time we were given the all clear I was fairly tired of seeing that place.It's still feels unreal to have her home. My heart is full and my family complete.

Welcome to the World My Sweet Baby Girl!

She's here! I'd like to introduce you to Ellena Grace. I am absolutely and completely in love.Here are a few pictures we took of our newborn baby in the hospital. She's perfect. Absolutely perfect. She's healthy and beautiful and I feel so completely blessed.I wasn't planning on introducing a pacifier to her in the hospital because I'm breastfeeding, but so far so good - we're having no issues with her rejecting me. The pacifier brand I'm using is Mam. You can find them here.Her brothers and Daddy are totally smitten with her too.Here they are meeting her for the first time. <3 love.I can not stop staring at her. 

Gender Reveal: It's A Girl!

I had a feeling this little one was a girl, turns out I was correct. We had a LONG wait to find out her gender because here in Italy (our military medical insurance) doesn't cover the early gender tests via blood sample. I did have an anxious month as some blood work for genetic abnormalities came back as being at risk for Down Syndrome. Thankfully, her scan showed no soft markers, though in circumstances such ask this, the only way to know for sure she doesn't have Down Syndrome, would be to have an amniocentesis. I decided against having an amnio preformed because regardless of what that test would reveal I wouldn't abort this pregnancy.My husband and boys and I feel so blessed we can't even really wrap our heads around it.  Denniss is a little anxious about fathering a girl child. I'm perfectly confident he'll do just fine as he's an amazing father to our boys. Michael and Evan are super excited to have a little sister, and Evan is also excited to become a big brother.For years my friends would remark that we had to try for a girl. As soon as we announced our pregnancy all the well wishes started to pour in and the hope that this one would be a girl. I love my boys, they have been so much fun to mother, but I am excited for all that comes with having a little girl... especially the ruffles and bows.

All the stuff... Oh my gosh...

My oldest son Michael is 12 years old and my youngest, Evan is eight. I can not begin to tell you how much cooler all the baby gear and things seem these days. There aren't any really "big box" baby stores or specialty stores here in Italy where I can touch and see the items, but with the help of my friends I've managed to compile a registry via amazon.com.Amazon has been such a lifesaver for me since moving abroad. One of the perks of creating your own registry with Amazon is that once you're registry is completed you can a discount and if you're a Prime Member it's even larger. I definitely recommend creating a baby registry with amazon. I'm sure in the coming weeks I'll be sharing more of my baby wish-lists and things I've purchased so far.

For our gender reveal photo we used a giant 36 inch balloon. You can find one

here

.

In case you were wondering, I'm wearing mostly H&M Mama and some stuff from their regular line.Shirt is A Pea in the Pod, similar one

here

. Skirt, similar one

here

. Cardigan similar

here.

I love the lipstick I wore that day too. It's a new favorite, you'll find it

here

.

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A Day in Venice

One of the most amazing parts about living in Italy has been being able to take a short train ride for a day in Venice. We love it and still find it as magical as the first time we visited this floating city, though we get lost a lot less frequently these days. This weekend my family decided to take such a day for ourselves to enjoy each other's company while in one of the most amazing places on the planet.  Here are a few snapshots from our latest visit to Venice.The Chiesa San Simeon Piccolo is the first building you see when exiting the Santa Lucia train station in Venice. It's one of the "must get" photographs when touring the city, especially if you come in through the train station.There is so much to see. We've visited Venice so much, and each time, even if it's something I've seen before, I fall a little bit more in love with the city.My favorite time of year to visit Venice is in the Fall and Winter when there are less tourists. As you meander through the many canals and little alley ways you can get a sense of how quiet the city can be with out the hustle and bustle of cars, and horns and such.I've visited Venice on hot sunny summer days, in the rain, and the cold. There's always something new to see and experience.My husband and I feel so blessed to have been able to live this Italian life these last four years, and for the experience this has offered our sons.This time we wanted to wander deeper into the city, away from the major touristy areas like Saint Mark's Square, and such. It was so nice. We had lunch in this little restaurant, and took our time stopping to take it all in whenever we could. I guess we're beginning to realize these trips taken whenever we have the whim to do so will be coming to an end soon and we wanted to savor these simple parts.My son Evan loves to do this. It drives me nuts, but it's a great image of some of the narrow alleyways in Venice.Prepare to walk. A day in Venice could easily rack up lots of steps and stair cases if you like to track those sort of things.There's so much antiquity and age. I love it. The Italians can be so blasé about their old things, I love that too.As in pretty much all of Italy art is everywhere.This trip we made it a point to peak into a few churches to light a candle and say a prayer.SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

We're Expecting! Gamer Pregnancy Announcement

Three weeks ago I shared this photograph on Instagram and Facebook, and earlier this week I thought I should make it "blog official". My husband and I decided our pregnancy announcement should focus on a favorite pastime of our two sons which is playing video games.

For our gamer pregnancy announcement I ordered the shirts off of Amazon and designed the graphic myself. I used iron-on transfers which worked great, but after a few washes they're pretty much done, I honestly wish I had one of those vinyl machines like a Cricut instead... but the shirts served they're purpose and I think the announcement turned out super cute!We've wrapped our brains around the fact that our third baby is on it's way.

My husband and I had talked about trying for a third for years but never really decided. God certainly did for us!

My boys are excited and I am savoring this pregnancy in ways I don't think I did with my last two. This pregnancy has been uniquely different because I've basically had all day "morning sickness" every day for the last 6 weeks or so. Otherwise I feel great and this last week the nausea is tapering off. I'm hoping this is a sign it will eventually dissipate. I appreciate the nausea and dry heaving I really do, because I know it's a sign everything is working. Being of "advanced maternal age" (I'm over 35) I was really concerned this go round so having this "sign" that all is well though exhausting and not ideal has been very comforting.

I'm presently twelve weeks and feeling a bit overwhelmed by how many cool new products are out there from baby carriers, to bottles, and strollers.The making of the nursery will be put on hold because we'll be moving back to the States either before or after this baby comes which has taken a ton of the prepping for baby pressure off. 

Though moving from a foreign country (Italy) back to America will be a big enough challenge for me either significantly pregnant or with a newborn. It's going to be fun to share this journey here. I hope you'll join me.