My FIRST Halloween!

Yet another first for our baby girl, Halloween!!!! First let me just say I think it's my favorite holiday, yes better then Christmas. However, that might change as Quinn gets olderr; we'll just have to see. Anyway, those of you whom know us well KNEW Quinn had to be a monkey for Halloween! And of course if you knew that you, knew I couldn't just put her in a monkey costume! So, we bought her an adorable monkey costume from Marshall's and I added two little touches. First the purple tutu! I used the same one she wore for her 3 mo photo shoot. Then I made a large rosette purple flower and sewed it to the head of the costume. I was a little sad because I could find the right purple, but alas decided this was close enough and would just have to work. As her cousin Jaden said "She's the cutest little monkey ever!" Man was he right!

The Sunday before Halloween we had a small party in honor of our lil monkey. We got all her cousins and a couple of her closest friends together to celebrate. I was so excited for her first party! Sean even went 100 extra miles to make it absolutely AMAZING! He was determined to be The Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George. We couldn't find the cosutme anywhere, except online for around $40-50. So, my very creative hubby got to work. He found an old white dress shirt, bought some $8 light khakis from Walmart and died them yellow. Then he found a sombrero at Hobbly lobby and spray painted it yellow. I must say he looked adorable !!!!!!! I was not as creative. I wore a hunter green polo that Sean made say "Zoo" acrossed the front, a pair of khaki cargo pants and a foam safari hat he found at Hobby Lobby. It wasn't the most creative, but definitely appropriate; I am the zoo keeper at our house after all :-)

For our desert table I made a chocolate cake where I substituted the water for a Pecan Toffee espresso and then used the same espresso in the butter cream. I then made purple fondant and covered the cake. Once it was covered I used a silver edible paint to make a spider web on the cake. I also used fontant to make a 3-D spider whom sat ontop of the cake and was painted silver as well! Sean made two jello brains which sat on cake plates. Then we made puddi g and placed it in clear cups to look like pudding! We colored a banana pudding orang, a coconut cream pudding yellow and then used cool whip for the white! Our friend Erin brought some delicious caramel apples, we had two big bowls of candy, chili, mummy hot dogs and witches brew. For the witches brew Sean used lime sorbet, pineapple juice ice skull, pina colada V8, and ginger ale! All in all I'd say it was a wonderful day filled with goodies to eat and wonderful people! I hope everyone who came made as many wonderful new memories as we did!!!!!! Happy Halloween all!

Time Flies!

It absolutely amazes me how fast time is going! In 11 days my lil girl will be 6 mo old! Where did the time go? SO much has happened in such a short period of time, I don't know where to begin. Quinn is a rolling, babbling, and smiling machine! She's such a happy baby, we couldn't have been more blessed. Everyday is a new and wonderful adventure and I couldn't be more thrilled!!!

6 month Photos By:
Sarah Fields Photography
816-714-6939

Quinn's Newborn Photo Shoot

We were SO lucky to have Sarah Fields come to our house and do Quinn's newborn photo shoot! Sarah is an AMAZING friend who takes PHENOMENAL pictures. You'd never know how difficult getting Quinn's picture was. We had our first well baby checkup that afternoon and as a breastfeed baby they have you meet with a lactation specialist, in order to ensure all is going well with her latch and weight gain. Since we were meeting with lactation I was supposed to bring Quinn hungry. It is impossible to get any sleepy baby or happy baby pictures when the baby is STARVING. I don't know how she did it, but Sarah got some truly AMAZING pictures that morning!!!!!!

Here are some of Quinn's newborn pics!

Quinn is HERE!

Things have been so CraZy I haven't been able to get on here! Where to begin? At my last Dr appointment we had scheduled an inducement for Monday, May 16; which is also Quinn's cousin Liam's birthday. When Sean and I were talking about possible inducement dates he kept saying I couldn't do it on Friday because it was the 13. Well, I guess Quinn had a different plan!

Friday morning around 3 am I woke up with the worst stomach pains I've EVER had. Seriously I thought I was dying of the stomach flu or food poisoning. Around 4 I called my sister. At this point I was pretty sure they were contractions. After about 30 minutes on the phone with her we decided they were contractions and they were about 4 minutes apart last about 2 - 2.5 minutes each. I didn't want to wake Sean, I feared I'd wake him up and they'd stop. Then he'd be tired and have to go to work. So I waited until about 5:30 and snuck into the room, turned on my lamp, and said "Babe, I don't think she's going to wait till Monday." Much like the day I told him I was pregnant, he jumped out of bed and tried to get dresses before his eyes ever opened. I kept telling him to slow down and wake up; after all I still needed to put makeup on before we can leave anyway.

Once we got to the hospital they hooked me up to monitor my contractions and Quinn's vitals and called Dr Perryman to determine whether to keep me. At this point I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced. Dr. Perryman told them to keep me and we were moves to the labor and delivery room. Our labor and delivery nurse, Anna, was AMAZING. At this point I REALLY wanted to deliver without an epidural. She was so helpful bringing us a laboring ball, hot fowls, and cold soda cans to try and help with pain management. I made it somewhere between 3 and 3.5 hrs and finally caved. Sean kept telling me if I needed it to just get it, that he wouldn't think any less of me. I knew this however, I felt like a weenie. I must admit though, it made things a lot easier!

Since it was Friday, Dr Perryman was working in Leawood. So he came in around 7 and broke my water and then went to Leawood. At this point I was dilated to 5 and 100% effaced. The next time they checked was about 12:45 and I was was already dilated to 10! Anna let me know it was time to start pushing. She went to get somethings and was back at 1. Dr. Perryman was just getting in the building, but we started our practice pushes while he got ready. Then at 1:28 our perfect baby girl joined us! It was THE most amazing experience I've EVER had!

Welcome to the world my beautiful baby girl!
Quinn was nor Friday, May 13, 2011. 6 lbs 13 oz, 19.5" long with a 14 cm head. Absolute perfection!!!!!

Late Night and an Eviction Notice

Last night was a LATE night for Sean and I. After having steady and strong contractions from 1-7 we decided to get checked out at the hospital. I REALLY didn't want to go and be sent home! For.the first 30 minutes we were hooked up to a monitor to check the length and timing of my contractions. Once this was done they did a pelvic exam and determined I had had any progression. So, we loaded up with water and spent the next hour walking the halls. They then hooked me back up to the monitor for another 30 minute observation, which ended up being much longer thanks to l the water I'd drank. They then did another exam and still found no change. It was decided that my contractions were where they needed to be, however I wasn't processing. So, they gave me some meds to help with the pains from the contractions in order to help me sleep. They monitored me for awhile longer, to make sure the meds were taking affect and at midnight sent us home. I was told to keep hydrated and rest! So, today I've been lounging around as much as possible. I've had a few contractions while resting, but nothing note worthy. However, as soon as I get up I instantly start contracting.

I went to the Dr Today for my weekly checkup! I've had no progress from last week (dilated @ 3 and about 90% effaced). They did another fluid check on Quinn. The last 2 sonograms showed her fluids @ about 5.6. 5 is the lowest they will let the fluids get. Quinn aced her test today, We were up to 11!!!!! The sonographer said that it's not uncommon foe the levels to fluctuate like this. Quinn drinks the fluid and then releases. Therefore it is very possible that her fluids were low because she had a full bladder.

While visiting with Dr Perryman he asked if I had thought about an end date (at what point would I want to be induced)? After talking we set an appointment for 7 am on Monday May 16. So, if Quinn hasn't blesses us with her presence, she will be evicted next Monday!!!!!!! I'm SOOOOO ready to meet her!

Sarah's Sprinkle!

Yesterday I hosted a "Sprinkle" for my sister Sarah!  She is having her 3rd child and it's a girl too!   Our due dates are only about 2 wks apart!  At first Sarah didn't seem to want a shower, but I told her that wasn't an option :-)  I told her we could just have a sprinkle, get it?  Like a shower only smaller.  I had SO much fun putting this together!  Words can't express how excited I am for my sister and her husband.  I'm also beyond THRILLED that Quinn with have a girl cousin to grow up with!  Sarah I hope you had a wonderful time and thank you for letting me throw you a party!!!!!!!!!  I LOVE you SO incredibly much!

Here are all the little details!

 This was the dessert table I set up!  There were glass vases filled with sugary goodness!  Along with a cake, Lemonade cupcakes with whipped vanilla icing, popcorn boxes with cocoa kettle corn, and purple peeps!  On each side of the cake there was a bird house I had painted to match the colors.  I LOVE  my knew cake plate!  I'm so excited to be able to switch out ribbon to match every theme!

Here are close ups of the candy vases and their labels.  We had M&M's, Sixlets, Grape Mike & Ikes', Gum Balls, Chocolate Twizzlers and Cookies & Creme Eggs!

Here is a closer picture of the cake I made!  Sarah wanted chocolate, so I gave her chocolate!  The bottom tier was a chocolate fudge cake with alternating layers of chocolate pudding and chocolate frosting.  Then each layer also had sliced strawberries!  The top tier was an orange pound cake with chocolate frosting.  The fondant was homemade chocolate fondant made from marshmallows!  The ribbon, birds and egg were made from MMF as well and then hand painted.

These were the take home goody bags.  To keep with the bird them I used a stamp with birds on it.  I lucked out with this stamp to.  It says "All you need is LOVE".  Sarah is a HUGE Beatles fan!  So this was perfect!  Then using brown ink I stamped Thank You at the bottom.  Everyone was invited to take goodies home with them.

 Here is a close up of the Sign I made for above the table.  Sticking with the bird theme and the fact that Ms. Indecisive still can't pick a name; it says "Tweet Lil Girl!"

 Here is the "guest" table.  I used a purple plastic table cloth and then put a piece of fabric on top of it.  It's hard to tell in the pic, but it's white with tiny purple dots forming stripes down the fabric.  On the table I place thank you cards and invited everyone to address them.  I had already written Sarah's return address on them.  So all she has to do is write in the card and stick a stamp on!

Here is the invitation that inspired EVERYTHING!  I also had two more bird houses and a bowl with pink and white swirled suckers.

Here is the guest book I made.  Inside there was a place for each guest to sign and leave their address.  There is also a gift log, space for Sarah to write her favorite memories and blank pages in the back she can put some pictures in.

Hanging from the tree were little tags that read "Tweet Wishes for Baby Capps".  Everyone was encouraged to leave a wish for baby!

35 wk check up!

Yesterday was my last 2 wk appointment! We were lucky enough to get another sonogram. Quinn's head is down, WAY down. Our sonographer was trying to get a good view of her head to see if she has hair, but her head was so far down she couldn't get a good view! We have a great amount of ambiotic fluid and Quinn is still measuring right on target, weighing approximately 5.25 lbs (in the 50%).

I got my first checkup from my Dr. I'm dilated to 2 cm and 50% effaced. I wasn't sure if that was good or indifferent, but when I asked Dr. Perryman expressed that it was great progress for 35 wks and my first pregnancy. I guess Quinn's already an over achiever! :-) Next Friday I start going to the Dr once a wk! We shall see if we've progressed any further.

Shower-palooza

I didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted something!  I'm sure there is lots to share, but for now we'll start with our 2 wonderful showers! 

First up is Courtney and Mom!  Thank you BOTH SO MUCH for an amazing shower!  I know you both put a LOT of work and thought into all of the planning and details!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'd also like to thank Dotti for getting us the space, you are a wonderful person and I'm SO glad to have you as part of our extended family.

With my love for monkeys this HAD to be a monkey themed shower!  The palm trees were absolutely adorable!  This was a whole family effort too!  Mom, Bob and Courtney worked together to make this.  The adorable burp cloths were made by mom!

 Here is the cake Court had made!  The frosting tasted AMAZING!  Mom made a delicious punch!  I think I drank half the bowl :-)  There were meatballs, dip, chocolate covered strawberries, fresh pineapple and chocolate covered bananas!!!!!!!

Quinn got SO many precious outfits! There were so many that the pile of laundry was about 2 feet high and covered about 3.5 feet wide! We started stacking it on top of the dresser and VERY quickly realized we needed a hamper! We were also luck enough to receive a boopy, her car seat, and her bouncy seat!




Thank you to EVERYONE who helped out and was able to come!!!!!!!!


There were SO many people who helped out with my next shower! Thank you Erin for all of your creativity, hosting it at your house and the AMAZING cakes! My sister who I love dearly for all you did, April who is now a professional pom pon maker, Tina for putting together the games and gifts, Shirley for the ridiculous diaper decor and all of my friends who helped bring food and set up!

 This was the guest table.  Each guest was asked to leave a parenting tip (from a wise owl) on a card and hang it from the tree.  Quinn's piggy bank was also on the table, along with the guest book and envelopes for the thank you cards.

 This is the dessert table!  Erin made my FAVORITE cake mojito along with an orange mocha cake, which is now one of my top 5!  There were owl cookies, twizlers, orange slices, gum balls, sixlets, chocolate covered pomogranetes, and SO much more!  Then there were also goody bags for everyone to take some home!

 These are the ADORABLE diaper decorations Shirley made.  I have NEVER seen any diaper decor this stinkin cute!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to EVERYONE for the PHENOMENAL showers!  I've never felt so loved by my friends and family!!!!!

Sean's 29th Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated Sean's 29th Birthday!  We started off the weekend by going out with some amazing friends on Saturday.  As we all know Sean's not much of a drinker, so every year I try to come up with something he'll enjoy.  Well for the past several months all he's talked about is going to Flying Saucer for their Beer Brat Con Queso.  Every time I mention going he comes up with a reason we shouldn't.  So I decided this was where we needed to go!  Thank you to all of our AMAZING friends who were able to make it out!  Sean had a wonderful time and I know it meant a lot to him.

Sunday was his actual birthday, so we did a family dinner at the house!  Boy did I learn a big lesson that day!  I am 34 wks pregnant and not super women.  After spending the whole morning cleaning up the house and the afternoon shopping for a stereo for Quinn; I was EXHAUSTED!  By the time dinner was ready my feet were SO swollen you couldn't even see the veins in my and I couldn't spread my toes apart. Not to mention my back was killing me! It was TRULY horrible!  I definitely learned I can't be on my feet running around all day.  However, I think Sean had a wonderful time!  We had lots of family there. For dinner we had Indian Tacos, YUM!  Then for dessert I made him a poke cake. We used strawberry-banana Jello on one cake and Pineapple on the other.  Then for filling and frosting I made a banana mousse!  I must say it was pretty darn delicious!  Sean also got his favorite cheese cake, lemon-raspberry!  He decided he wanted one just for us.  He was afraid if we made that the dessert he'd only get one piece :-) 

Happy Birthday Hubbers!  Hope you had a phenomenal weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miss Quinn Proves to be Stuborn AGAIN :-)

 On Saturday, February 19th we had our 3-D sonogram!!!!!! I was SO excited to see our little. With no surprise to Sean or myself, she wasn't in a cooperative mood. She was all snuggled up nice and tight with her hands and arms by her face. Our sonographer had me move, we jiggled my belly to try and get her to move her hands. She's such a little stinker.


As a last resort she had Sean place a VERY cold bottle of water on my belly. Can I just say he did an amazing job!!!!!! While Quinn still had one arm over half of her face, he was able to get her to move the other! Her nose looks a little smooshed, I'm


guessing from the pressure of the instrument and Sean with the water bottle, but H\here are a few pics!

The Midwest Blizzard of 2011!

What CrAzY weather we had yesterday day!!!!!!! The news said an average of 8 inches across the metro. Before we went to bed Sean went out to out back yard with a yard stick and got variations of 12-12.5" on our patio.

Sean works every other weekend at the bank and this is his weekend. So, to make up for it he gets Tuesday off. This meant we were both able to be home snuggled up on the couch for the day! Well, at least after about 10 am. I woke up at 7 and by 7:30 decided I'd make a quick run to the store for some milk, eggs and baking g supplies. At this point the weather was just beginning. However, when Sean heard the garage open he came RUNNING downstairs to find out where in the world I was going. This lead to a very brief discussion about me not driving and him coming along as my chauffeur. On the upside we got WAY more than I had planned to get and he paid. The downside is my 15 minute trip to the store ended up being an hour followed by a trip to the bank.

We spent the rest of our morning snuggled on the couch watching movies. Then Sean headed outdoors for an hour of shoveling. After he shoveled our drive he helped our phenomenal neighbor Kurt shovel a few of our elderly neighbor's drives. By the time they had finished, you couldn't even tell he'd shoveled our drive!!!!!

While Sean was busy doing manual labor, I decided to start working on baking our  Fudge Lovers Strawberry Truffle Cake!!!!!!!  Let me just say it is AMAZING!  Today, on this snow day I plan to work on some details for Sarah's shower and bake her birthday cake! 

Sarah's Shower!!!!!!!

I'm guessing this will come as NO shock to any of you whom know me well, but I've be obsessing over my sister's baby shower! We are both expecting little girls and our due dates are only 2 wks apart! I am in FULL planning mode now and with my new found love Etsy, I’ve been able to get a custom made invitation; allowing me to design a shower unlike anyone else’s!

Along with my new love I have also found MANY blogs and sites out there FULL of inspirations and DIY tips and tricks. As much as I want to post everything I’ve done so far, I want to keep some of it a surprise for momma to be. So, as much as I want to start posting pictures you’ll just have to wait until after her shower in April.

But just for a teaser here is her invite designed by Mary.





The bedding she has picked is a bird theme and I decided to use that as the theme for the shower as well. Thanks to Mary at Trinity StStudio I have a PHENOMENAL invitation and printing rights to the image. This will allow me to make custom thank you notes, decorations and tags for the shower. I must say Mary has been amazing throughout the last 2 weeks. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and control freak, surprise. She has bent over backwards to make sure everything, for the wording to the colors was just how I imagined it. I can’t wait to start making decorations and purchasing items for the shower!

The Start of Quinn's Room

Here is a peek at Quinn's room! Things still need to be hung and there are a few touches left to purchase, but I'm SO excited about her room! We (Me) are going with a shabby chic feel to the room, lots of white details with vintage touches.
This is her bedding! It's by Trend Lab and is called Olivia. I fell in LOVE with this bedding. I was a little scared when I ordered it because it's an online purchase only (they don't carry it in the store). To my surprise it OVER exceeded my expectations!!!!!!!!!! One of my favorite things about it, which is also one of my struggles with it, is that the colors are not pink and they aren’t purple either. The reason I love this is it’s not your typical baby bedding colors. However, I learned in the beginning that only makes it EXTREMELY hard to find it’s that match.


 

It wasn’t until I found this light plate that I realized what her room needed to look like (Little Boutique Switch Plate Baroque)!  Enter the shabby chic designs!  This one little light plate determined EVERYTHING! 

I was lucky enough to be looking through the clearance section at Babies R Us when I found this picture and frame!  While I do love the picture in the frame, the colors are too far off to use in Quinn’s room.  However, the frame is PERFECT!  And the best part . . . clearance price was $8!!!!!!!  The plan for this little gem is to take the current picture out, put in a mat and then replace the picture with a picture of Quinn when she arrives!!!!!!  This will go above her dresser.

This is the paper I used to cover my wooden letters bought at Hobby Lobby.  The paper was bought at Archiver’s .  It has a beautiful shimmer to it!!!!!!!!!!!

And here are the letters! They were an unfinished wood that I spray painted white and then covered with the paper I had purchased at Archiver’s. I loved the way each letter had a dainty swirls to it. I’m going to attach ribbon to the tops of each letter to hang them by. I haven’t decided if I’m going to use a frilly white or go with a chocolate brown yet. Once the ribbon is attached they will be hung above the frame that is being hung above her dresser.

This lamp was mine when I was younger and has managed to move with me throughout the years.  While finishing unpacking we stumbled upon it and decided to use it in Quinn's room.  The shade that was on it was old, faded and blue.  So I went on a shade hunt.  My original plan was to use a dark brown shade.  However, upon my quest I found this shade at Target.  I then went and bought some brown dye with the intentions of coloring it.  But once I got it in the room and on the lamp I decided it needed to stay white.  There was just something about the simplicity of the white against the light brown walls and the way the material ruffles.  It was the perfect shade of the job!

I CAN'T wait to find the last few details needed to finish her room!!!!!!

Daddy Feels Baby Quinn for the FIRST Time!!!!!!

Well thank goodness for all this snow!!!!! Sean was supposed to work his second job tonight, but after a 20 minute drive turned into almost a 2 hr drive; he came home! Why all the excitement? Well of course I'd rather him be at home, but that's not the best part. We've been hanging out on the couch watching TV when Quinn started in on her Nina tricks. I read that this week we might be able to see her move. So, as she's practicing her kicks and flips I decided to take a look. Sure enough with in a few moments she did it again and you could see my belly bump out!!!!! I immediately told Sean and he got to sees it. So he very quickly and carefully placed his hand on my belly. In a matter of moments she moved and Sean could feel her! Can you say epic moment. I, of course, started laughing and bawling at the same time. I've been DYING for him to feel her move. So, thank you mother nature for bringing this blizzard to Kansas City, because of you my hubby was home and got to feel our baby move for the FIRST time!!!!!!!

23 week check up complete!

Today was check up day. So far I've gained a whopping 7 lbs. And trust it's not from a lack of eating! I eat my regular calories (I don't keep track, but sticking to regular meals) and enjoy a few extras each day. For the last, oh two months, I've been living on Pizza Hut hot wings! Sean has decided that Quinn's going to refuse to eat unless we mix hot sauce in my milk first. I'm pretty sure she's sucking all the food right out of me. This could be a good thing, less weight to loose after she's born. However, I'm a little worried; I mean if she's consuming All her calories and mine, how big will she be!!!!! I'm excited to meet her, but have NO desire to deliver a 10 lbs baby.


Quinn's been pretty active lately too. I was pretty sure she was rearranging her space yesterday, making it more fung shway I suppose. There was some, what felt like; full body pushing out. The best way I can explain it is: it was like she used her hands and feet to push off my back, while arching her back and pushing out! She spent most of the day this way.I had one large, and painful; lump in my lower abdomen.

We learned at the Dr.today that she is no longer breech! She is rear up. Maybe that's what she was working on all day yesterday? Anyway we were able to get a second chance at a sonogram, thanks to our phenomenal sonographer, Diana! She is still on target for a May 18th due date and still a girl! I really didn't figure that would change, but it's nice to have that reaffirmed!

We also got some AMAZING news from my sister today, she is having a girl as well!!!!!! As if it wasn't exciting enough to be pregnant together. Then you add how close our due dates are, practically twins. NOW we find out they are both going to be girls!!!!!!! This is going to be a summer filled with fun and frills!!!!!!

23 week check up tomorrow!

Tomorrow I go to the Dr. for my 23 week check up (technically I'm not 23 weeks till Wednesday).  Sarah also has an appt tomorrow and hopefully we will find out what baby Capps is, I REALLY don't want to wait till Thursday, so cooperate little!  Baby Quinn needs to know if she's getting a boy cousin or girl!!!!!  I'm SO incredibly excited that our babies will be so close in age (approximately 2 wks apart!!!!!!).    It's also amazing how many of our friends are  or just had babies!  I can't wait for summer BBQs and play dates!

Snow Day with Our Fur Babies!

Today was my FIRST snow day! We had SO much fun playing in the snow, just wish daddy could have been here too! I couldn't get Bear to come in, she LOVES the snow. Stitch was CRACKING me up, he kept sticking his head in the snow, then when he'd look up his face was covered! He'd stand there for a minute and then shake his head something fierce, to get the snow off; as if he had NO idea it was going to be cold!.

21 wk pic

Well I've had some people asking for a pic of the belly and while it's not very big here it is! Can you believe we are just over half way there! In approximately 22 more weeks we will be meeting our little girl. I've said it a million times and will continue to say it: This is the coolest thing I will EVER do!!!!!!!

HELP! There's a Ninja Assassin Trapped in My Belly!

So, I'm sitting on the couch after dinner and Quinn starts going CrAzY! There were body parts flailing around in there. According to EVERYTHING I've read we shouldn't expect to be able to feel her from the outside of my belly until the end of February. However, there were quite a few times I KNOW I could. I had my left arm resting on my lower belly and I felt her hit it (as if she were saying "Hey up there, move it!). I am now quite convinced she is a ninja assassin princess trapped in my belly!