Strike a Pose

Last Saturday, our master bedroom was turned into a photography studio for Miss Addison. Heather, a friend from college, gave Addison her first photo shoot (and Laura came to assist). Heather patiently posed our sweet baby girl for hours and endured being pooped and peed on several times:) But, it was all worth it! Heather beautifully captured all of Addison's sweet features and documented this special time in our family. I can't look at the slide show without crying! I don't know how we will ever choose which pictures to order. Thank you Heather for giving us such precious pictures.

To see the proofs from the shoot, log on to:
*www.sproutsbyheather.com
*click on the "clients" link
*the password is tew

All Smiles

On Sunday, Addison smiled for the first time - not a fake "I have gas" expression - a real smile. It has taken us all week to capture her sweet face on film.

But then Aunt Mal arrived and Addison has been all smiles since:)

Hiccups

Whoever thought we would be so entertained by the hiccups?:)

Settling In

We have made it home and are getting settled with our little addition to the family. Things are going well and we appreciate all the encouraging phone calls, emails and texts. We will do our best to try and respond to them all! In the meantime, here are a few more pictures of our precious baby girl...

Our Little Belated Valentine

At 9:08 pm on February 15th, Addison Paige Tew was brought into the world. She was 7 pounds 6.5 ounces and 21 inches long. Mom and baby are all doing great. We greatly appreciate all your thoughts and prayers through this time. - Brad

D-Day

First of all, thank you so much for the sweet comments on the last nursery post! I had so much fun decorating Addison's room and I hope she likes it too:)

40 weeks (I think my belly really grew this past week!)

Well, Addison's due date came and went Wednesday without any fanfare. We are still patiently awaiting her arrival. Thankfully we don't have to wait much longer! Bright and early Monday morning, Brad and I will report to the hospital for an induction. Our hospital in NC will not allow you to go a week over your due date. Pretty sweet rule huh? The only thing is, I am just a tad bit dilated and I am afraid that will lead to a difficult delivery. Please pray that the induction goes smoothly and that I progress quickly! We know that God is in control and we can't wait to meet our little blessing on Monday!

Nursery Diaries - Part Four, The Reveal

Talk about coming down to the wire...we finally finished Addison's nursery only four days before her due date. I am by no means a procrastinator, but we just couldn't seem to pull everything together until this weekend.

I couldn't be more thrilled with how everything turned out. It is exactly how I envisioned her nursery in my head!

Last spring, I saw a photo of a canopy similar to this in Traditional Home; although, the fabric crowned a daybed instead of a crib. The room in that photo instantly became the inspiration for the nursery. At the time, we didn't even know if the baby was a boy or a girl:) I just knew I loved the idea.

A family friend, Joanne, back home in Arab sewed the canopy, bedskirt and drapes for the room. Believe it or not, the canopy was actually super easy to install thanks to Joanne's thoughtful construction.

By the way, you can read more about Addison's nursery in early posts here, here, and here. I will admit that the canopy was by far the biggest splurge because of all the fabric it required. I am typically super thrifty, but I just couldn't picture her room without this feature.

Right now, this little pillow and "Bictoria" (I couldn't pronounce Victoria when I was little) occupy the crib. Relax...before anyone notifies DHS, these items will not stay in the crib when the baby arrives. By the way, "Bictoria" was one of my first baby dolls and she was well loved. In fact, Madame Alexander still makes the doll.

I picked-up these plates at Anthropolgie back in the fall. I've always liked them so when we found out we were expecting a girl, I had to find a way to incorporate them into the room.

Remember, the rabbit painting I did a few months ago? Well, it is finally finished, framed and hanging in its place of honor.

I had the canvas framed at Michael's. I got quotes for similar style frames at a few local shops in North Carolina. Needless to say, I couldn't come close to paying the prices I was quoted. The whole point of painting the artwork myself was to save money. Thankfully, Michael's had a 60% off custom framing promotion a couple of months ago. So, I took advantage of the offer and got the look I wanted for less. (Warning for the NC locals: I had a very difficult time working with the Michael's framing department. It took three visits to the store to get the correct end product. They weren't going to put a hanger on the back of the picture because they said the frame was "too heavy". Is that not the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard? How in the world did they expect me to hang the picture without the installed hardware?! Have you ever seen a pregnant woman pitch a fit in Michael's? Its not a pretty sight. In the end, everything worked out but I will not be using Michael's again!) Ok, moving on...

I found this cute lamp at Home Goods for a steal! The salmon pink shade matches perfectly.

I know the chandelier is a bit overkill, but I couldn't resist the look or the price! I think it adds a little special something, don't you?

Brad and I love this glider and ottoman! I ordered the chair when I went with Kala to market last September. Thanks to market wholesale prices, we were able to purchase a custom chair for very little money.

It rocks, swivels and glides. I think Addison and I will spend a lot of time here:)

I also found this floor lamp on clearance at Home Goods too.

Hanging these drapes was the final nursery installation this weekend. Sweet Brad was very patient as I made him measure and re-measure to get the length just perfect. For the record...hanging curtains is for the birds! Joanne, we needed your expertise! But Brad did a great job:) Notice the pom-pom trim on the drapes, canopy and pillows? I had the most difficult time finding quality pom-pom fringe that I could afford. Want to know where I finally found what you see? At Country Curtains of all places! It was by far the best price I could find.

Over the holidays, I swiped these pieces of embroidery from my parent's attic. My Granny Honey stitched these. They have a bit of wear and tear, but new frames from TJ Maxx made them good as new!

All of her tiny clothes are washed, pressed and ready to wear!

And, Addison's hospital bag is packed and ready for her big arrival. Now that the nursery is finished, I finally feel ready for her to come. I just don't think she is ready to make her debut any time soon:) Brad and I are both putting money on an induction. Only time will tell, but we can't wait!!!!

Happenings

Sorry for the lack of posting. Honestly, we haven't had much to report from here in NC...just waitin' on a baby. This is me 39 weeks and 2 days prego. I have a feeling that a 40 week picture is sure to follow next week on my due date. As of Monday, I am not dilated and locked up tight. So, we will continue to wait on Miss Addison. Brad says she is going to be stubborn like her momma:)

Last weekend, we got almost 10 inches of snow (the picture shows 8 inches, but it continued to snow). In Alabama, we call that a blizzard. But here in North Carolina, it is nothing more than a "winter storm".

My snow pictures aren't very interesting because I wasn't brave enough to step off the front porch.

For the past month, I have done nothing but nest. I was told that this natural instinct would kick in during the end of the third trimester and they weren't kidding.

I have compulsively cleaned every inch of our townhouse - twice - and completed several incomplete projects including framing our wedding photos.

I bought the frames on sale at Hobby Lobby over a year and a half ago:)

I also decided it was time to organize and archive all my old photographs that date back all the way to my freshman year in high school. When it was all said and done, I had completely filled up four albums that hold 200 pictures each. That's a lot of pictures!

I also completed as much as I could in Addison's baby book. I found this one here. It was a little bit of a splurge, but cheaper than some of the other silk books I liked.

These pages with her ultrasound pictures are my favorite:)

And here is the most recent ultrasound picture that we have of her at 35 weeks. I couldn't believe how much her little face has filled out since our last ultrasound at 24 weeks. As of this past Monday, she is 6 lbs and 12 ozs and we can't wait for her to arrive!

The nursery is finally finished! Stay tuned for pics.