Welcome World....Miss Ava Elaine Oakes!

Ava Elaine Oakes arrived on Monday, December 21, 2009 just in time for Christmas! We arrived at the hospital at 6:30am to get ready for my induction. Once checking in and getting settled into my labor and delivery room the induction began around 8:00am. After getting my epidural around 9:30 I progressed very quickly to 10 centimeters at 11:30. Started pushing and did not stop for THREE HOURS! Those were the most exhausting three hours of my life! The definitely do not call it labor for nothing! Dr. Tammuci came in and checked on me around 2:00pm and decided it was time to have Miss Ava with the help of forceps. She had not progressed far enougg and just did not want to pass under my pelvic bone. At 2:15pm I had the most precious angel wrapped in my arms. She weighed 6lbs 1oz and was 19 inches long. She is just perfect!!!

I hope most of you got the slide show I sent out to all my friends that I have email addresses. If I didn't send it to you and you would like to see it, send me your address and I'll forward it to you. Just in case here are some of the pictures from one of the most spectacular days of our lives! I've also attached a picture of Olivia when she was born so you can see how crazy Ava and Olivia resemble each other when they were both born. The very last picture is a picture of Olivia when she was only a couple days old....RIDIC how much they look alike!!! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Finished Nursery Pictures

Oh and in the craziness of this past week we were able to finish her nursery. I love it!!!! Here are two pictures.

She's Coming!!!!

As most of my friends know, I was put in the hospital last Monday for high blood pressure and protein in my urine. After 24 hour urine collection and blood pressure watch, Dr. Tammuci let me go home on STRICT bed rest until I at least got to 36 or 37 weeks. When I went back to the doctor last Friday, my blood pressure was way down and the protein in my urine had not increased. But I had dilated another centimeter to 3 centimeters. She told me to go home and rest and come back today for another check up. Well, today I get my blood pressure checked, 118/80, no protein in my urine and I had dilated ANOTHER centimeter to 4!!! I told the doctor I would DIE if I progressed so fast that I wouldn't have a chance to have my epidural when the time came. So she told me to get an ultrasound and we'll go from there. Ava looked good. She had gained a few ounces to 5lbs and 6 ounces and my fluids were on the border line of being okay. Allen and I were kind of bummed because we really wanted Ava to get her soon being that we have been planning for her to come before Christmas because that's what Dr. Tammuci told us in the hospital. Well, we got our wish! Dr. Tammuci wants to go ahead and induce me on Monday, December 21!!!! We are so excited that we will actually have little Ava in our arms sitting around the Christmas tree on Christmas morning this year! A true BLESSING and Christmas MIRACLE!!!!

The latest and greatest news from the Oakes

Well.....other than the fact that I think I am about to pop and have started having Braxton Hicks contractions we are doing great! Over the Thanksgiving holidays Lindsey painted the most beautiful painting for Ava's nursery. Here it is..Allen hung it up the other day and it looks awesome. Lindsey has such a talent!

I will have to say that I am so excited that the crib bedding is here and is so pretty. I feel like Miss Ava wants to be in her crib here sooner than later. Good thing its ready and waiting for her.

But I have yet to organize her bedroom...so many things to do so little time. PLUS...a BIG PLUS is my Selma baby shower is on December 13th that my wonderful friends are throwing for me. Ava can't come early!!!! I go to the doctor this coming Monday so hopefully she will tell me to everything is okay and I'll have Ava in January as planned. I'll keep all of you updated!

Update on Ava's Nursery

Last week the bed skirt for the baby bed and the chair for her nursery came in on the exact same day...just let me tell you how excited I was! The things I get excited over these days are so crazy! We are still waiting on the bumper pad for the bed but I couldn't help myself to go ahead and set the bed up and her nursery. This past weekend mom and I also "made" the curtains for the nursery. When I say "made" I mean we went to Pottery Barn bought the curtain panels and then went to M's and bought the tassel fringe to hot glue down the sides of the panels. We are hot gluing pro's!!!! The curtain rods mom got at M's are absolutely beautiful too! They match the crystal drawer pulls on the hosier cabinet we had refinished. Its just all coming together and I could not be happier! The finishing touch will be the artwork Lindsey is going to paint that will go over her bed. We hope to have that finished over the Thanksgiving holidays. In the meantime, here are some pictures of how the nursery looks now.

Babies R Us weekend marathon

This past Saturday and Sunday I went Babies R Us crazy! Up until then I felt like I wasn't prepared at all if Ava arrived early but now I feel 100% better. A few favorite purchases on my shopping trip were:

Thanks everyone for hosting such a wonderful, fun filled shower! Allen, Ava and I sincerely appreciate all the effort that was put into it. We are so thankful for such awesome friends and family! Oh.....and the cherry on the top...MY BABY BED SKIRT IS IN AND MY CHAIR IS FINALLY HERE!!!! Once mom irons the skirt and I put it on the bed I'll post pictures. I am out of control excited how the nursery is turning out!

28 and 29 weeks pregnant

28 weeks pregnant

29 weeks pregnant (tomorrow I'll be 29 weeks pregnant!)

This Friday I'm having my first baby shower! It's going to be a little baby shower luncheon with people that I work with. I have a feeling I am going to feel more prepared for Ava's arrival after this Friday. Will update on Monday to let you all know how it went!

26...almost 27 weeks pregnant

I've been meaning to post updated pictures of what I look like as I make it through my pregnancy but I keep forgetting too. For the past two weeks I've asked our Property Management and Leasing assistant, Kayla to take a picture of me at work and I finally feel okay about posting this one. Last week I just felt YUCK! So here you go....me and Ava at 26 weeks! I pretty much look like a big pumpkin in this picture. :) And yes, I am wearing jeans at work.....when only so many things will fit you get special privileges at work. :)

Here I am at 17 weeks.....

The Finished Product....

My beautiful hoosier cabinet! We are more than thrilled with how it turned out. My grandmother has to be smiling down from heaven right now....I can't wait to fill it with all of Ava's goodies! Right now I've stored ALL the diapers that her Aunt Ashley brought her the other day. Ashley is awesome! She surprised us with over 200 diapers, Dreft detergent, Johnson and Johnson shampoo and diaper rash cream. All just because she wanted to! We are soooo blessed to have such wonderful families that have made this nursery what it is. While I am sending out thank yous...most especially to my mom who has helped so much. I love you so much! Thank you for all your help in making this nursery for Ava.

Construction of Ava Elaine's nursery

So I know I haven't posted in a while but we really have a lot going on with Olivia's 2nd birthday, having the nursery painted, crown molding installed in Ava's room, moving the furniture out of Ava's room so we could make it a nursery and much much more! Allen's sister, Jenny, is graciously letting us use her daughter's baby bed. It has always been my dream to have an iron baby bed for my child but knew that I would never be able to afford it so when Jenny offered to let us use Lily Kate's iron baby bed I was out of this world excited! Allen surprised me on Friday and went and got it from her house and had it waiting for me when I got home that afternoon from work. I've posted some pictures below of her baby bed and of the nursery. The twin bed, chair and tables will not be in her room so you'll have to picture the room with just the bed in it. Hopefully, the bedding will be in in two weeks and the chair we ordered should be here in the next couple of weeks too. Ava's diaper changing table/storage compartment for her room is an antique hosier cabinet. This is a picture of a hoosier cabinet. Our hooiser cabinet is painted white and it is being antiqued. The cabinet belonged to my grandparents which they used to hold all of our games and blankets. When they passed away the cabinet was given to me. Mom and I took the cabinet to Minervia's in Homewood to have it refinished with new a new coat of white paint and beautiful glass knobs installed. It should be ready today so I will be post a picture of it as soon as I can!

The Name Game

Allen and I have been stressing for weeks over what we would name our daughter. Before we found out what we were having, we had decided on Jack David for a little boy and really had only tossed around some names for a girl. We REALLY didn't think we were having a girl. I made the mistake of asking people what they thought of names we were considering and of course everyone had an opinion. So, I had to stop the people pleasing and go with a name Allen and I both liked but believe me when I say we really were only able to agree on a name or two!! RIDIC! So the moment that I have been waiting for...we have decided our daughters name will be.... Ava Elaine Oakes!!!! Elaine is my middle name and my mom's middle name and Ava is well just a name that Allen and I thought was beautiful. So come January our little family unit will consist of Allen, Lauren, Ava and Harvey Oakes!!! (We are going with a "V" theme here, which also includes OliVia!) Oh, and also on a happy note we picked out her bedding two weekends ago at Once Upon a Time. I'll attach some pictures of the sample fabric they gave us. Once it arrives, I'll post the finished results.

This is the fabric the bumper will be made out of.

This is what the skirt will look like. Of course the skirt will be gathered so it won't look exactly like this but its going to be so beautiful! I can so picture our little Ava Laine (her nickname) wrapped up in a cozy little blanket inside the baby bed.

TICKLED PINK!!!!!

It's official....Allen and I are having a BABY GIRL!! All along I told myself I was a having a little boy but Allen was right all a long, he even wore a pink button down shirt to support his girl vote. Hope to post soon our name choice for baby girl!

The Day before the BIG DAY

So, tomorrow is a day I have been waiting for a very long time. I really and truly thought this day would not come for Allen and me but God has blessed us with a little baby, besides our little Muffin , Harvey. A miracle! I really am thinking that I have a little Allen growing inside of me but who knows we will see tomorrow. I have a picture of my growing belly that Allen took last night. This is me at 17 weeks pregnant. It's not that great but for the ones that saw me at Jamie's lake house a couple weeks ago, I would have to say I've grown quite a bit! Can't wait to post tomorrow what we are having! Stay Tuned!

Beach Trip 2009

This year my family decided to go to Santa Rosa beach for our annual summer beach trip. Lindsey picked the place, San Remo, which was awesome. We had plenty of space to spread out, great views of the ocean, huge porch and a wonderful pool. Everyone who has children will understand when I say that basically beach trips now pretty much revolve around the baby. Don't get me wrong, I love every minute of it but if Olivia's not happy we are ALL not happy. But thank goodness, this year she LOVED the pool so we all were able to hang out at the pool, swim and layout. The beach....not so much. We were able to go to the beach for a few minutes but she had her shoes on the entire time, never sat down and it was only for 10 minutes. Never the less, I got to relax and do what I love doing the best....LAYOUT!!! Knowing that this will probably be the last beach trip I would take without our baby, I tried to enjoy every second of relaxation as possible. Here are some pics from my mom's camera. Hopefully, I'll have more once Lindsey downloads hers. Oh and on a side note......AUGUST 12th is the DATE!!!!! we are finding out if we are having a BOY or GIRL!!!!

Fun, Fun in the Sun!

This past weekend the Oakes, David's and Schor's spent a long weekend at the lake chillin and playing in the water. The weather was beautiful and we ate SO much food, me more than anyone else! Baby Oakes is growing each day and we are getting so excited about finding out what we are having, which should be the first of August. But for right now, still loving my little muffin, Olivia and spoiling her rotten! here are some pictures from this weekend:

Little cutie in her bathing suit! Now if we could just get her to get in the water. The beach this year should be fun!

What a profile!

Aunt YaYa loves her Livvie!

Trying to nap on the boat. Every time we go on a boat ride the boat will rock her to sleep!

SEE!

What a long day! But my outfit is cute!

Getting ready for bed with Poppie