A GreatHouse Wife

Greyson is three!

I am about a month late on writing this, but better late than never, right?

This sweet little guy with just the best smile is growing like crazy & changing in oh so many ways every day! We just had to get him a bunch of new clothes because he is quickly outgrowing his 3T stuff already! He loves to eat blueberries, yogurt & bagels. Plus toast, toast & more toast! He can swipe a cup faster than the speed of light.

He is a lover of cars & anything that drives or flies! He is always watching Greg play sports video games so he is super into all things sports. We signed him up to start soccer this spring & I am oh so excited to see how much he loves it!

Books are still a huge thing around here! He has dozens of books completely memorized & frequently reads them to us! It is my favorite! He loves the Pete the Cat series, Little Blue Truck, and Llama Llama Red Pajama these days. He can count to 30 [at least!] and it starting to learn how to write letters & numbers.

He is a sweet big brother who loves to show off his little sister to everyone. He always asks for one more hug & kiss at bedtime or when he goes to school. He has the sweetest little manners these days & is so passionate about everything he loves!

Three is such a fun, yet challenging age. Seeing him grow & learn is one of the best things about being a parent. It's hard to think about the things he'll accomplish over the next year & even more!

I am in love with Olivia's nursery! I wasn't as inspired or a huge fan of Greyson's room in Germany & it showed in his nursery.

I spent a ton of time browsing on Pinterest, gathering ideas of what I liked & didn't. We aren't big fans of pink so I wanted to keep that minimal. My goal was classy, yet still girly. The black, white & gold trend has been a favorite of mine for awhile now so it seemed like a perfect fit for nursery colors!

Most of the decorations are either repurposed from old decor, DIY, or from Target!

Of course she has tons of headbands, hair clips & cute hats! A collection of mason jars & DIY headband holder house them & display their prettiness!

The only bit of pink in her room is her name above her closet. A co-worker painted it as a gift for my baby shower!

Her room is just one of my favorites. I find little reasons to hang out in it just so I can enjoy it! I love how it's decorated to grow with her as she gets older & will be easy to transition to a big girl room down the road!

Now to spend the rest of this night relaxing & enjoying this beauty who is 2 weeks old already!

Last week we welcomed our beautiful baby girl - Olivia Kay Greathouse!

Here's her birth story:

I started having some contractions that I noticed were worth timing on February 24. They became fairly regular & rhythmic, but never got closer together than 7 min apart. I had thought we would be heading to the hospital that night, but no such luck. After about 2 hours or so, they slowly spaced out & eventually stopped.

I continued about my day as planned come the 25th. I headed to the recitation section for my graduate assistantship training, having no contraction action until I got onto campus around 9 am. As I sat listening to student speeches, I started timing them & like the night before, they were averaging every 7.5 minutes or so.

By the time noon rolled around, I'd noticed they were getting quite a bit stronger & seemed more frequent - I was right! At this point they were coming every 5 minutes or so. I made my way to my car (which took me 15 min having to stop to let the contractions pass) & headed home to get Greg.

I kept timing during my drive home & even called Greg about halfway home (we live about 30 minutes from the campus) wondering if I should just turn around & have him meet me. Since I wanted to change & eat, knowing I wouldn't get food once admitted, I finished my drive home.

When I got home, I checked the contraction timer app I really wasn't paying attention to while driving & contractions had been coming every 3.5 minutes. We hopped in the car as soon as I got home to go straight to the hospital. I called to let them know we were on our way, as well as called our parents & my sister to give them a heads up.

We managed to get inside to Labor & Delivery, who was expecting us, & signed in at 1:43pm. We got set up in triage and they checked me - already dilated to 8cm! The contractions kept coming! I mentioned I was now considering an epidural, even though I really had planned to not get one, so the triage nurse got me hooked up to fluids so I'd be ready to go when they moved me to a Labor & Delivery room. Well, baby girl had different plans...

About 20 minutes after getting into the triage room & getting fluids started, my contractions kicked it up a notch! They went from painful to unbearable with lots of pressure. Nurses rushed in & checked me - 10 cm & water ready to burst! They unhooked everything faster than I could imagine, told Greg to grab our bags & lets go! They rushed me out into the hall still in the triage bed, all while having nonstop contractions. The doctor was waiting for us down the hall. When we got in, she told me "we're going to mode you to the laboring bed, break your water & push!!"

My head was spinning. Greg was confused when he walked in behind us & was immediately told to help. Not even 10 minutes later, just 43 minutes from the time we walked in, Olivia Kay was born!

2:26 pm on February 25 in an unmedicated, fast & furious fashion! She was 6lb 6.5oz and 18.5 inches long. She came out screaming & with a head full of dark brown hair, because that's what our kids like to do!

My great friend Brooke picked up Greyson from school that day & brought him to the hospital to see us. He was unsure at first, but quickly warmed up to her & wanted to "hold it." He walked around telling everyone that she is baby sister "Olibia" & likes to pet her head.

We were only in the hospital just over a day & were ready to come home. It was surreal bringing our second baby home from the hospital & starting our adjustment to our new normal.

She's a great sleeper & good eater already. And of course adorable as can be! Already excited to continue sharing more about all of the fun coming our way.

Until then, I shall try to finish my last project for my graduate school class while resisting the cuteness sleeping next to me!

Happy Monday!

So we're in the final stretch of this pregnancy! It has somehow gone by quickly & slowly all at the same time. I sort of feel like it has snuck up on us & yet every day seems to drag on, making it seem like the actual day is never going to be here.

But here we are! 39 weeks & 2 days! Beyond ready to meet our little girl. Everything is ready - nursery good to go, car seat installed, bags packed & living in the car. Greg is sure everytime I leave the house I'm going to go into labor & frequently tries to convince me not to leave.

Had a growth scan a couple of weeks ago just to make sure everything was looking good - and it was! It was cool because I didn't get anything similar with Greyson so I went from 18 weeks until he was born not seeing him on an ultrasound. So to get to see her hanging out just 2 weeks ago made me even more excited to meet her!

I keep wondering what she will look like. Greyson was born looking exactly like Greg but shifted to looking more like me as he grew. I can't help but think she has a similar profile as Greyson when he was born. Either way - I'm sure she's going to be adorable & we will know shortly!

Greyson is gearing up to be a big brother too! He's practicing carrying his baby doll on his shoulders & making coffee with the new toy coffee maker he got for his birthday. Clearly it's training to learn how to make mommy coffee! He's got the whole "creamer with a little coffee" thing down already when he makes my pretend coffee!

So we shall try to rest, relax & enjoy this last bit of time as a family of 3! And anxiously await our Little Miss whenever she decides to make her arrival!

This weekend, we celebrated Greyson's 3rd birthday! We had a little party at our house to keep it simple. Because honestly, I don't have the most energy these days to put into anything tooo crazy!

We did a Pete the Cat theme because Greyson is obsessed with the books! I mean he has several of them completely memorized & has to read them over & over! So it was the perfect theme for his party!

We invited some friends we hang out/play with on our own & a few little friends that he has made at school. It was a cute little group of 2-4 year olds for sure!

Because Greyson has so many of the books, I decided to use them as decorations! I checked a few extras out at the library so we had even more!

And of course there was food! I went with a mixture of finger foods & healthy fruits to keep everything simple. Plus I drew a little inspiration from the books - in Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes, he walks through strawberries, blueberries & mud so of course it played perfectly into the food selection!

We even found some Pete the Cat videos on YouTube that read & sing through the books. The books at school have a CD with them that have the songs so he was crazy about the videos! It was a good little touch!

And of course can't forget this! Greg drew it himself on the chalkboard for the gift table. It looks so much like the Pete in the books. Perfect touch to add & of course Greyson was excited about his Pete the Cat!

Birthday cake time was my favorite! He was with us when we got the cake & was upset he didn't get to eat it then. So he was thrilled when we finally got it out & everyone sang to him. He even tried super hard to blow out the candles [which worked with a little help from daddy].

It was such a fun afternoon! Greyson had a blast playing with his friends, getting some new toys, & just being loved by so many people.

Birthdays are some of my favorite days! I think everyone should feel extra special on their birthday so we always make sure to do as much as we can for him every year.

Here are thoughts I have on an almost daily basis...

How can my belly possibly get any bigger?

It's 1 am.. Do I really need to pee? No, I need sleep... Kidding! Must pee now!

One, two, three roll over! Ahh still not comfy. Damn

Didn't I just pee?!

My feet are so far down there. I wonder if I can just manage not tying my shoes today

What can I eat that won't give me heartburn? Oh yeah, Rolaids..

I have so much to do. Better check on the nursery just in case there's something that needs done there first

Leggings count as real pants, right?

This baby better come out with as much hair as Chewbacca

Hey! I stayed awake until 8:Zzzzzzz...

I can't wait for her to be here! I wonder what she'll be like!?

Greyson will be a good big brother. Even if he wants to name her Batman & says she's a baby brother

We love her already!

With Little Miss being our second baby, I have a little better of an idea of what to pack to head to the hospital. I sort of guessed the first time around with Greyson & ended up taking a bunch of stuff that I didn't touch. Minimization is my key this time around.

And of course this time, we have Greyson to think about as well. We will have someone in place [hopefully before I go into labor] to watch him or get him to/from school when we're in the hospital. But I hadn't thought much about how it will work if I go into labor in the middle of the night, like I did with him. My mom gave me a great idea - have a little bag packed for him as well!

For Baby:

- 2 outfits - one NB size & one 0-3 months

- cute headband

- hat

- crib moccasins

- swaddle blanket

- car seat

- Boppy pillow

For Mommy & Daddy:

- robe

- socks

- slip on slippers

- maternity leggings

- nursing tanks - I have 2 packed

- lanolin

- flip flops

- toiletries - dry shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, lotion

- Chapstick

- iPad & charger

- phones & chargers

- snacks

For Greyson:

- clothes

- pajamas

- comfort items - he has 2 favorite blankets & always has at least one for bed

- tooth brush & tooth paste

- a few favorite toys

Most is all packed. Of course, those things we use everyday haven't been packed & will just have to be thrown in when we are heading out for the hospital.

Just over three weeks until my due date & we're anxiously & impatiently waiting! Ready when you are little miss!

Any second (or more) time moms have any other hospital bag or general advice? I would love to hear it! I am more prepared for the actual labor this time around but having Greyson & not just us whose lives are changing has me all sorts of nervous!

We are on our second snow day here. Winter storm Kayla rolled through & dropped about 2 feet of snow all over & brought some crazy wind that has led to high snow drifts. So we have spent the better part of our Monday & Tuesday at home. Grey & I are working on getting over colds so we haven't (yet) ventured out to play in the snow & were getting a little crazy.

I had Greg stick a bowl outside yesterday amongst all of the non-stop snow falling to collect lots of fresh snow. I planned to use it for a treat last night, but we were a little under the weather so I held off & it made a perfect snow day activity & treat!

I found a few different recipes online for snow ice cream. We went with basic vanilla since we had all of the ingredients on hand. I combined a few & worked it to how much we wanted to make:

- 1 cup 2% milk - any will work

- 1/3 cup granulated sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla

- Pinch of salt

- 8 cups of dense snow - more if it's thinner snow fall

- Sprinkles

Mix the milk, sugar, vanilla & salt together in a bowl. Add to the snow, slowly while stirring. It should be a thicker consistency. When it reaches the consistency you want, put some in a bowl & add some colorful sprinkles for a fun treat! Enjoy soon after making since it will melt fairly quickly.

Enjoy!!

I have finally made some much needed progress on Greyson's room. I have been so focused on work, school, & getting things ready for Little Miss that I have put off decorating Greyson's room for far longer than I had hoped I would.

I found some wall decor awhile ago & it has been sitting on his dresser, collecting dust like a champ, just waiting to be hung. Well this long, 3-day weekend was great for making a To-Do list & making ourselves get to everything done that we've been putting off [aka huge pile of laundry].

Greyson used to have a chair in his room but never sat it in, until we brought it downstairs. So we left it down there and I added some big stuffed animals in his book corner to make a little reading area for his books. I actually need to get another shelf because he has way too many books now to fit on the 3 we have.

I have had a car decor theme in mind for awhile. Greyson is obsessed with all sorts of vehicles, so it only seems natural to decorate his room with car things. I found some signs & wall art at Hobby Lobby [50% off - score!]. I re-painted the letters we had hanging on his wall in his German room & threw in some old license plates I've held onto from places we've lived before.

I still have a bit more I want to do. The blank canvas will eventually have a car of some sort on it once I decide on what I want. Plus, I am trying to gather more license plates to add to the wall, the more the merrier. Also, I am thinking of getting a floating shelf to add some decorative cars as well, but I worry he will just end up wanting to play with them & they won't stay on the shelf long.

Now to get ready to jump back into the grind with Monday just around the corner. Lots of new things starting & obviously coming up in the near future! And of course plenty to still do before our world changes forever in just 5-ish short weeks!