New Blogsite

Hi friends,
If you've landed on this page, I have combined my website and blog into 1 website...a blogsite!  You can visit www.meredithdanielsphotography.com or www.meredithdanielsblog.com to see my current work and blog.
Thanks!
Meredith

Eli is 3 months old!

Wow, I can't believe that my baby is 3 months old.  Time has flown by since he was born!  It has been great to watch him grow before my eyes.  Boy, has Eli grown!  He is around 17 lbs already - definitely taking after his dad in the size department.  Eli also takes after his dad in that he has DIMPLES!  Yes, he has dimples!  This makes me so happy.  They were confirmed by another member of the family on Christmas day.  There were times before then where I would think to myself, did I just see a dimple...I knew no one would believe me if I told them I think Eli has dimples.  Those dimples are really hard to catch on camera though!

So obviously, Eli is doing well in the eating department.  I'm grateful that I am able to breastfeed him, and that I have an abundant supply of milk for him.  Breastfeeding was a challenge that 1st month, but it is worth it.  Now that we are 3 months into it, I finally feel confident in my ability to feed him.  There was a lot of worry and second-guessing myself about "am I feeding him too much," "is he hungry or crying for another reason."  Obviously, I deemed him to be hungry in those situations...ha!  There was also some serious discomfort that 1st month, but I had great support with the WNC Breastfeeding Center, my husband, and my mom.  If you have lactation consultants in your area, don't hesitate to reach out to them.  They were wonderful help to Eli and me.

Hans is never too far away.  One day I'll put together a series of Hans & Eli photos.  I have a lot!  I really think he stays close just in the off chance spit-up comes flying his way.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Our Birth Announcement/Christmas Card from this year : )

Family shot (minus Hans) from Thanksgiving.

I couldn't post this without including Hans!

The Nursery

I finally got around to taking pictures of the nursery.  I actually had a few small details to complete after Eli was born, which is why I didn't take pictures before he was born.  I love his cozy little room!  If you didn't know, Sam and I waited until Eli was born to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.  It was so much fun waiting.  I love surprises, and that is one of life's biggest surprises right there.  I did have a feeling all along that it was a boy.  But a feeling doesn't mean anything, I heard tons of stories from women where they were sure of the gender, but then were wrong.  When Eli was born and Sam said it was a boy, it just seemed right.

I feel like everything in the room can be used for our next child whether it's a boy or a girl.  Although the room leans more towards the boy side, I think that's because girl rooms often appear more frilly with softer colors.

Links and information about where items were bought are included.

I'll start with his crib.  I found it on Serena and Lily, and then did some research on the actual manufacturer of the crib, Franklin and Ben.  I found several stores in North Carolina that carried this crib at a much cheaper price.  Serena and Lily has beautiful items, but it is expensive!  I love the Liberty crib, it's a modern take on a classic spindle crib frame.  I love the bright white.

The crib skirt is from Bellini, a children's furniture/decor store in Charlotte.  It was custom made.  I couldn't find anything that I liked.  I needed something with contrast against the white (plus a white crib skirt with black dog hair in the house doesn't mix well).  The yellow band at the bottom ties in the different yellow accents in the room.   

The giraffe crib sheet is from Pottery Barn.  I have 4 crib sheets, 2 giraffes, 1 white, and 1 white chamois (super soft!).  I also have a flat waterproof crib pad underneath the sheet (similar item found here).  That was a great suggestion from my sister-in-law Rachel.  That way you don't have to wash the mattress pad every time spit-up or a dirty diaper leaks onto the crib sheet.  I change the crib sheet at least twice a week if not more.  I'm sure it will be more when he sleeps in his crib at night.  He is in a bassinet upstairs with us right now during the night.

The elephant print is a poster from Ikea.  We had it mounted on foam/gator board at Michaels.  We didn't want to hang anything heavy over the crib for safety reasons.  And I like the clean white lines that is has without a frame.  Super cheap art work!

The glider...oh how awesome it is!  It is also from Bellini in Charlotte.  The ottoman glides as well.  It is so comfortable.  If you're going to splurge on one item in the nursery I say do it on the glider/chair/rocker.

The curtains are from Ikea (2010).  They were in the room when it was our home office.  I also painted the room gray in 2010 when it was my home office.  

What you can't really see is our awesome black-out shades from Ikea as well.  Talk about a good "bang for your buck."  I love these shades.  We have had one in our living room as well for several years to block window glare on our tv.  They are white and blend right in with the window frame.  

The rug is a random find from High Country Furniture in Waynesville, NC.  Who would have a thought a furniture/design store for your moutnain home would have what I was looking for.  Well, I didn't really even know what I was looking for, but I'm glad I found this rug.  It is soooo soft, plush, and comfortable.  It makes you want to sit down on the floor, which will be a good thing when Eli can sit and play.  Hans loves this rug as well (luckily it hides his dog hair easily).

I thought I got a full shot of the dresser...oops.  It is the dresser from my nursery (and my brother's as well).  I had it refinished by a friend who does amazing work.  I wasn't up for that type of project, and I wouldn't have done even half as good of work as Elizabeth.  You can view her work on her business facebook page, Gussied UP.

The burlap hanging thing covers up the big electrical switch board in our house.  Sam's mom helped me complete that arts and craft project.  The little blue birds hanging from the burlap is a purchase from Spain.  It's a handmade mobile type item that we found in a cute art market our last day in Barcelona. 

This print was actually the first item we bought for the nursery.  I knew I wanted to have some sort of animal theme (obviously you can see I didn't go too crazy into a theme, so maybe animal inspiration is the right word).  We bought the print at The Compleat Naturalist, a store in Asheville.  It's a Charley Harper print, and I just really fell in love with his artwork.

 More easy/cheap artwork....these are Charley Harper 5x7 post cards in cheap Target frames.  The bird print hanging beside Hans' portrait is also a 5x7 post card.  I got two different sets of post cards from Amazon.  So I can switch them out if I get tired of them (but let's be honest, that will probably never happen).  The door on the left is the closet.  The door on the right goes into the bathroom.

The lamp is from Target.  And my dad built his little book case!  It's covered in a window panel from Target that looks like Burlap, but it's softer polyester type material.

Of course I have to include some recent pictures of my sweet boy.  Hanging out on his tummy at 7 weeks old.

iPhone Eli Pictures

Here are some Eli iPhone pictures.  I always have my phone with me throughout the day for two reasons: (1) Eli is so cute and I can't stop taking his picture or taking a video. (2) I need to know what time it is when I'm feeding him.  If the photos were edited I used the PicTapGo! app I mentioned in my previous post.

Here is the first picture I took of Eli.  He was born at 9:01pm on Monday, this picture was taken around 6:30am on Tuesday morning.  I really didn't sleep much that night.  Well, we didn't even get to our room until around 1:00am.  I wanted to send a picture of Eli to my friends to let them know that Eli had been born, but Sam's phone had all of the delivery room pictures, so I snapped this shot while laying in bed.

It's amazing how much their face changes as the swelling goes down.  

Night 2...trying out our Happiest Baby on the Block tricks.  That book was super helpful - it's the one book I would recommend to pregnant women (and future dads) along with The Nursing Mother's Companion.

Waiting to be discharged....

I think he really looks like Sam in this picture.  Eli doesn't look like my baby picture or Sam's baby picture, but he is taking after Sam.

 

I had to include one of our sweet Hans too : )

He loves bath time, and I love giving him baths!

Milk Coma : )

Hans is adjusting well to his little brother.   I think he just likes the way he smells (milk, spit-up, dirty diapers...all favorite smells to Hans...haha!)

A never ending growth spurt!

Wow is my boy growing!  He's taking after his dad already in that it appears he will be in the upper part or off the charts in percentile growth.  I don't think he is off the chart yet...just a healthy chunky baby (super thankful for that healthy part!).  His cousin, Emma, who turned 1 today is pretty petite.  We did a weigh in with me holding Eli and Emma on Thanksgiving Day.  Eli weighed 13.2 lbs and Emma weighed 17.8 lbs!  Whoa!  I know his growth will slow down once he reaches 3 to 4 months, but he's going to be a big boy!  I feel this constant need to take pictures of him because this never ending growth spurt.  

I have a ton of pictures on my iPhone.  For those of you interested in what photo editing app I use on my iPhone, I love PicTapGo!.  I usually end up editing photos I have taken throughout the day during a nursing session.  

Here are some pictures I took with my camera last week when he was 5 weeks old.  

He's Here!

I can't wait to share more pictures with you!  In this picture he was 1 1/2 weeks old.  They say time flies and it really does.  He will be 1 month old next Thursday!  Wow!