Grady is 5 Weeks!

So Grady turned 5 weeks old yesterday. I can't believe it has already been 5 weeks. Time is going by way too fast and my maternity leave is quickly diminishing. I am so sad that I will be heading back to work in just 3 short weeks :-( I officially signed Grady up for daycare. It is so hard to think I will be leaving him at that place for someone else to raise my baby during the day. Luckily the daycare is brand new and very clean and nice. But it still doesn't make it easy. I know he will be fine there, but I wish we were at a place in our life where I could stay home with him. Just something we have to do for now.

He is changing everyday. He is smiling more and more now, but not reactively to us just yet. He will just be sitting there and crack a sweet lil smile for no reason. I'm sure the reason is the present he is dropping in his diaper for mommy. But either way, it is so cute to see! He is discovering things more and following us with his eyes. He loves lights and fans (what baby doesn't) and he still is wide eyed all the time just taking everything in.

This past weekend, I let him sleep in his crib for the first time. He did great. Even I did ok :-) We have the video monitor set up. When I put him down sometimes he is asleep and sometimes he is awake. It is so cute to watch him just look around and slowly fall asleep. We are so lucky he continues to be a good baby.

Here are some updated pictures of him...

he loves bathtime

finally fitting better in his carseat

ready to go huntin with daddy and papa

my sister Lauren and nephew Jaclson

all stretched out

sitting with my mom Nana and Jackson

Our lil Jackson and Grady photoshoot

holding Grady's hand

proud nana and papa with their grandsons!

me and my sweet angel

My Custom Design Invitations and Announcements

So nowadays it seems like everyone is throwing a baby shower or a wedding shower or a birthday party! I know I have had my fair share of hosting. They can be so much fun and creative to plan. I have noticed though, when the colors have been picked out and the plates and napkins have been purchased and the decor established, it is really hard to find an invitation to go along perfectly with your theme. Sure you can find something close, but why not have an invitation or announcement exactly like you envisioned! Thats where I come in the picture. Custom printed invitations and announcements designed and printed just for you by ME :-)

For sometime now, I have been creating custom printed invitations, announcements, and Christmas cards for friends and family. It has become a huge hobby of mine. I absolutely love designing and coming up with creative ways to express parties and announcements for friends and family! I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of my designs and ideas. For your next shower, birthday party, wedding event or any big event, email me and we can come up with the perfect invitation/announcement just for you! I can pretty much recreate anything you have in mind, match most themes you have picked out, and of course add pictures! Best of all, it is your design I can create on paper!

So check out some of my designs and descriptions below. And email me for more details on how I can help you with your next big event! jamieclark55@gmail.com. If you know someone that might also be interested, please forward them my blog link!

Wedding invitations for 2 of my good friends

creative baby shower "reveal" for baby #2

Christmas cards

Cute birthday party invite

The baby shower invite- I recreated the nursery bedding (camo and helicopter)

actual footprints on the left from the photo taken on the bottom right

Double baby shower- custom design. Pretty sure they don't have double baby shower invites out there to choose from!

Thank you postcards- I scanned in the nursery bedding (plaid)

Thank you postcards- I recreated the jungle characters on the nursery bedding

She wanted these to be cut out!

Newborn Portraits by Wetzel Photography

One of my friends Rachel does photography on the side as a new hobby and offered to do Grady's newborn portraits. She came to our house and took the sweetest pictures of my sweet boy. Check our her blog for some of her other work http://www.wetzelphoto.blogspot.com/ ...And here are just a few...

his sweet lil feet

holding our wedding rings

and our clemson rings

our sweet family

he was pooped at the end

Grady's Weight Check

So today I took Grady to the lactation outpatient nurse at the hospital for a weight check. This whole lactation nurse consultation concept is great! If its under 15 minutes its free. If its longer like the feed and weigh I have done before, its only $30. So I can go as much as I want, have him weighed, ask any questions and get the help I need to help with the whole breast feeding thing. And its totally up to me about the time. It has really helped because I have no idea what I am doing with breast feeding, is he getting enough, how much do I supplement, how often do I feed etc. So they have been a tremendous help!

So back to the weight check. Grady weighed 8 lbs 6.4 oz! He gained 9 oz in one week. So I must be doing something right!! It is such a relief knowing that he is getting the right amount of nutrition and gaining what he needs to. So I continue to breast feed and supplement just a little. Mini goal achieved (thanks Carrie Beth for the rec.) and now onto my next goal! We've made it 3 weeks, lets go for 1 month!

iPhone blog app test

I downloaded a new blog app on my iPhone. Just checking to see if it works!

New House Pics Part 1

Ok, here are some pictures of our beautiful new home. Keep in mind we moved in just 3 days before Grady was born, so we still have a lot of work to do. But it's looking quite homey so I thought I would share some pics so far. We had so much help from our family and friends, there is now way it would look this good otherwise. I cant wait to be completely moved in and fully decorated, but that could take a while.

We absolutely love our new home! Upstairs, it is 4 bedrooms, an open bonus room, laundry room and 3 baths. Downstairs it is a living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, morning room, powder room and office.

Our House!

Most of our yard is to the left of the house- cant wait to fence it in!

Coming in the front door- the 2 most unfinished rooms in our house. The living room and dining room. Both of which hold a lot of stuff that still needs to be unpacked. Eventually we will have Kevin's mom's dining room set and everything unpacked out of these rooms :-)

Stuff we are hanging in the garage. But you can see the furniture in the living room :-)

Then you come into the kitchen/family room/morning room. All very open which I LOVE!

My dream kitchen!

Looking from the family room into the kitchen (office is right behind me)

From the kitchen looking into the family room

The morning room

Looking outside from the morning room onto our patio. We plan to extend the concrete!

The office- still needs some organizing. But we are getting there!

Upstairs, our master bedroom

LOVE our huge bedroom! Sooo need to make curtains!

Left corner of our bedroom- Kevin's large walk in closet

walking into our master bath. MY huge walkin closet just ahead.

Garden tub and shower

Guest room #1

Guest bath in hallway

Leaving our bedroom and guest room #1 headed to the loft and other rooms

Loft/bonus room

Grady's room! My dad and Kevin painted this room the first night we moved in. It was the first complete room in the house! I love it!

Guest room #2 (has attached bath)

Attached bath- it's really hard to get pictures of these bathrooms!

So that is our house! We just love our neighborhood. There are so many families around here. Tons of people walking with kids and dogs around the neighborhood every night. It is a gated community, has an incredible pool with lazy river and walkin beach style pool entrance. All of our surrounding neighbors have stopped by to welcome us. I have not met any of them, but everyone else has. They came mostly while we were in the hospital. But just an amazing neighborhood. We are so happy to be here! I will post more pics as I complete more rooms and get some decorating done!