three weeks old...

today, our sweet jaelyn turned three weeks old!! i can hardly believe that she has been here for three weeks. it feels like she was born yesterday! she is the most precious baby. i am enjoying every second of her being with us!!! she is so sweet!!

at three weeks, she is a "typical" newborn. jaelyn sleeps a lot and eats a lot. she has a few awake periods throughout the day (sometimes night too). and she loves to look around and is very alert. as i was holding her yesterday, she smiled at me twice and then again today!!! her smile was the best thing i saw all day.

she also lost her umbilical cord yesterday. that made me a little sad. it reminded me of the day she was born and that wonderful moment she made her entrance into the world. jaelyn is still a pretty little baby. i am not sure how much she weighs now, we won't go for a well check for another week or so. but everyone comments on how she is the tiniest thing they have seen. of course i am loving having a tiny baby - i am trying to find the recipe i can use to freeze her and keep her this small for a long time!!

my friend, gina, gave me a baby sling (she makes them and is so talented and creative!) for a gift and i am loving wearing her. we haven't been very many places, but when we do go somewhere - i like to take her out of her infant seat and "wear" her!!! i will probably start wearing her around the house when she needs to be held and i need my two hands. i love to hold her and do it a lot!!!

speaking of going places, this past saturday we took our first family outing!!! all six of us! we went to elevation's baby dedication and had jaelyn dedicated - it was such a sweet time - i will post pictures later! after that we went out to lunch with our good friends, the prevettes and the carrs! they had their babies dedicated too!! when we arrived at the restaurant - i realized we needed a spot for SIXTEEN!! yes between our three families we have 16 people! that is 6 adults, 5 babies and 5 big kids!! wow! we had a fun time. then that same night we went to union academys boo bash (fall festival). the kids had a great time and jaelyn slept in the sling the whole entire time - she attracted a lot of attention being in the sling!!

on sunday, jaelyn went to church for the first time!! our special friend and babysitter, johanna, kept jaelyn for me in the lobby while i went into the service. she slept the whole time there too!! i felt really weird being without her - the first time in three weeks that she wasn't with me!

jaelyn is such a blessing! i really wish the time would slow down!! but i am enjoying every second as they fly by!!

some favorite pics...

here are some of my favorite pictures of our precious baby girl that we have taken over the last week or so... a new blog post will be coming soon!!

2 weeks old....

jaelyn turned two weeks old on monday october 20! i can't believe she is two weeks old already. she is a wonderful baby. she rarely cries. and when she does she is easy to console and always has a reason - hungry, sleepy or tummy ache!!! sometimes when she looks at me - i feel like she is trying to smile - she has this sweet look on her face that is saying i want to smile at you mommy, i just don't know how to yet. jaelyn smiles in her sleep and i have even caught one or two smiles awake. i refuse to believe it is gas -- she is just a happy and content baby!!! a perfect fourth child. we couldn't be more blessed!

we have pretty much stayed close to home for the last two weeks. she has been to the pediatrician's office twice for weight checks, a very quick trip to target and went on a date night to bonefish grill with mommy and daddy - thanks to the generosity of our most wonderful church!!!

this coming week we may have a few more outings to go on but we will probably stay close to home and rest and relax. i have been enjoying just being home with her!!!

first swing...

i put jaelyn in her swing for the first time! she really liked being in there - while i changed sheets and made beds with the big kids today! she stayed in there for a little while. what a wonderful blessing this swing is - thank you to my dear friend, tracy and her daughter - little saya for letting us use it for jaelyn!! when we looked at purchasing a swing - this was the one i would have chosen - such a blessing!!!!

one week old...

jaelyn turns one week old today!
here she is all dressed up, of course with a bow in her hair!!!

such a beautiful baby!! such a blessing to our family!

our little girls' room...

having jaelyn, has allowed me to slow down a lot and catch up on blogging! so, here are some pictures of jordyn and jaelyn's room. which has been done for some time - i just hadn't made the time before her arrival to blog about it!! i describe the room and put a picture underneath each description:

here is jaelyn's crib! this was the same crib that baby jordyn used! we used the same dust ruffle and quilt also. we had to purchase a new bumper pad and new sheets - because we couldn't find the ones we used for jordyn - who knows where they are??? oh well... the letters for her name we found at hobby lobby and they were 50% off!!! we also have jordyn's name hanging too. on theright side of the crib on the wall is a lace decoration that says ...." a baby is God's opinion that life should go on" on the letter j's on both of the girl's names are little signs that are pink and glittery that say "little princess".

with having two girls sharing a room, i had to come up with some creative ways to maximize space and storage. in the room, we only have a few pieces of furniture as you will see. jaelyn's crib being one of them. under her crib we have three baskets. the white wicker baskets lined with pink gingham fabric house burp cloths, bibs, extra sheets, extra lap pads and some toys. next to her crib is a pink and purple bin which holds all of her blankets!


this is jordyn's bed which is a castle bed!!! we found this steal deal on craig's list around her birthday in july!! it has been up ever since. before finding the bed, i was going to repaint and totally redo the room. the room was painted in pink and lavendar, there is a white chair rail around the room with pink on the top half and the bottom is pink and lavender stripes. when i was pregnant with jordyn i did this room. the crib set she used and jaelyn is using is from pottery barn. i can't remember the name of it, but it is really sweet - pink, green and purple with bees, flowers and little ducks in it - very girly. and we purchased a stamp set to use for decorating things around the room!!!

so my idea was to paint the room with pink and green and play that up. when we found this castle bed in pink and lavender, it matched so well i decided to keep the pink and lavendar theme! which made things so much easier on me!!! no big painting job while i was big and pregnant!!!


the castle bed is a loft bed with a slide - big hit with all the kids!!! it does cover up part of their window, but it looks really cute! and we had to work woth the size of the room and the slide being so long! it fit best where it is! the window treatments are two layers, the top done in purple gingham and the shears are a light weight white - that i stamped the duck, flowers, butterflies and bees from the crib bedding set - the stamp set we bought when we got the bedding from pottery barn. i used the stamps a lot in the room. jordyn's quilt and bedding you can't really see b/c of the castle - it is the princess set from target which we have had for a few years.

underneath the loft, we keep her fisher price doll house, her doll crib, dolls and strollers. a great place for storage and you can't even see any of it!!! the kid's play under there a lot.


the shelves and the dresser are stamped again with the flowers, ducks and butterflies from the crib set. i did all of this when i was pregnant with jordyn. so none of it needed to be done. we just hung the shelves different on the wall. we turned the dresser into a changing station for jaelyn. using a changing pad with a pink striped cover and a pink striped bin. beside the dresser is a little shelf that has three wicker baskets lined in purpler gingham fabric, they hold jordyn's hair accessories and on top of it is her princess cd player!! and not shown in the picture is a little pink trashcan it is so cute that we use fordirty diapers -- i couldn't bring myself to pay $40-$50 for a diaper pail system....although when the diapers start getting stinky i might revisit that!


so there are the three highlights of the room, which is about all that could fit it there. the closet is to the left of the dresser and shelves. that is my work in progress. we have our toy bins and dress up clothing in there as well as the girl's clothing. i am still working on ideas for maximizing the space in there. since i have to put two girl's clothing and stuff in there... it still needs work. we have been so blessed by being given most of jaelyn's clothing - either as gifts or hand me downs - so it is really packed right now. eventually i will get to organizing and making the closet work!!!

so that is our little princess' room!!! i am quite pleased with how it turned out. there are a few more little projects that i have to tackle in addition to the closet!

welcome baby jaelyn!!!

jaelyn aliyah massey
born october 6, 2008
6:03 pm
7 lbs 1 oz.
19 1/2 in.

our sweet precious little girl is here! i am so excited to share our news.
once life starts to settle down i will share the story and some more details of this beautiful baby girl and her grand entrance into this world!!!!