December 13...

December 13th was definitely the best day of my life! Weston Alexander was born at 7:38pm weighing 7lbs 3.5 oz and measuring 19.75 inches long. Chad and I arrived at the hospital at 6:45am. We were so ready! By 8:30 my doctor had induced me and we were set! My contractions came on faster than he would like so he gave me a shot to slow them down. The baby’s heart rate decreased a few times so I had to lie on my side most of the labor and I was not allowed to get out of bed. The doctor and nurses suspected that the cord was in the way somewhere. After my epidural, my doctor broke my water and within a few hours Weston was here. Unfortunately, he was born with the cord wrapped tightly around his neck, so the doc had to cut it quickly which resulted in Weston not getting that last bit of blood from the placenta. His coloring was very pale (red blood cell count low) so he had to stay in the nursery until the next morning after being checked by his pediatrician. Chad and I were able to hold Weston for the first time at 1:30am. They would bring him in to nurse and then take him back for observation.

Weston was such a trooper. Thank God he is now healthy and happy! We cannot be any happier. Life is so different now. It is all about Weston. We love him SO much.

Slideshow of Baby Weston

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39 weeks!

Today I am 39 weeks pregnant! I cannot believe that the end is already here! Tomorrow morning, Chad and I are headed to the hospital at 7am to get induced!!!!! I am so extremely excited and nervous too! I cannot wait to meet my lil' man and snuggle with him. The portable crib is all ready to go next to our bed, his car seat is installed in Daddy's car, and the house is all tidy for when we return home! We are ready!

Pacifier Clips

I am counting down the hours/ minutes until I get to meet my lil' baby boy! Chad and I are so excited. We are trying to think of things to keep us busy so we are not just sitting around twiddling our thumbs! SO I decided to try to make these pacifier clips. Target sells them for $5 each. I know I could make them cuter and cheaper. I bought the clips at Michaels and used ribbon I already had. After sewing on the velcro, I decided to buy the iron on velcro instead. I also tried Liquid Stitch because the velcro would not stick to certain ribbons. Then, I checked out Etsy and some people made their pacifier clips out of fabric. So I tried that too! I actually like the fabric one the best! Except I think I made it a little too short.The first 2 clips are made from ribbon. The last one is made out of fabric. I made the buttons on the last 2 clips out of fabric. Now that I have figured out how to make these, I think Baby Rigdon may have a pacifier clip to match his outfit each day! Ha ha!
(If you click on the picture, you can see them up close)

Delicious Shortbread Cookies

Check out this recipe on the blog Clover Lane. It is a pretty easy and scrumptious shortbread cookie recipe! I made them yesterday for our friends holiday party. Chad and I LOVE them! They will probably be gone by lunch time today!

Every year, I make festive chocolate covered pretzels for our family. I have the Chinese take out boxes all decorated and ready for the pretzles for when they are finished. I plan to make them a few days before we go home for Christmas. I think I may make these cookies as lil' gifts too. I just made a gift tag to tie to the cookie bags!

I could be addicted.

Hats! Hats! Hats! I am in LOVE with baby hats! Chad thinks I have gone a little overboard with all of the hats I have bought the baby. Hey! Well, I have not bought all of them. Some of my dearest friends made me some too! I LOVE the handmade ones the best. Etsy may become another addiction in the near future. Uh oh.

Chad got word that earlier this morning his old office where he worked in Mount Vernon caught on fire! More than 150 firefighters tried to control the five alarm blaze. Check out the pictures! Crazy. Feeling bad for his old co-workers. They must be shocked.

38 weeks

Somehow I managed to wear all non-maternity clothes in this picture! You can definitely tell the shirt is stretched to the MAX!

Christmas Tree Farm!

Today, we ventured to Mineral in Louisa County (about an hour away from C'ville) to help our friends find the perfect Christmas tree! Chad and I bought a wreath and later in the day I stopped by a tree stop on the side of the road and bought some garland to go up our stairway. Tonight is the Darden Prom. Unfortunately, I am just feeling WAY to big to be getting all dressed up and dancing. So Chad and I pre-gamed at our friends house with them until they left for the party. Today was a great day to spread some holiday cheer! Best of all- SNOW!

Lighting of the Lawn

Photo courtesy of UVA Today Blog
Last night, Chad and I went to the UVA's Lighting of the Lawn. I prepared some hot chocolate with cinnamon in it and then we met at our friends house. We walked to the lawn from there (which was about a mile....come on baby). The lighting was supposed to be at 8pm, but ended up not lighting until almost 10pm! By then, my legs were tired from standing and my body was pretty numb. To make matters worse, we had to walk back to our car after that! Even though the lighting was not what I had expected, I had a great time catching up with my C'ville peeps since we did not see them last weekend. On Saturday, we are looking forward to going to the Christmas tree farm! Our tree is already up so we will be getting a wreath and some garland. So excited! Time to get out my cheesy teacher Christmas earrings! ;)

Happy Howlidays!

Can you tell I have a little time on my hands?? Pepper and Norma are enjoying the extra walks they get throughout the day. I look hilarious walking them. Walk, squat, walk, squat! We are getting just a little antsy to meet the baby! I know I have 2 more weeks left. Guess I need to get started on another project to keep myself busy.

Chad read the other night on the Internet that swinging can also help induce labor. Well, what do you think I was doing this morning on the playground? Yep. Swinging. After high school, I really could not do too many of the rides at the amusement parks. I have a weak stomach. Well, swinging is another "ride" that makes me nauseous. Blah.

'Tis the Season

I am SO in the Christmas spirit this year! Since Chad and I did not make it home for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to put the tree up a little earlier than I usually do. The day before Thanksgiving, I went through the Christmas boxes stacked in the basement and pulled out the Christmas tree decor. I decided to let Chad sleep in (which is usually very hard for me to do) and started trimming the tree. I wanted to get a real tree this year, but I left our tree stands and lights at my mom's house. This weekend, we are going to a tree farm with our friends. We'll get wreaths instead. Here are a few of my favorite ornaments...


I guess this year will be a family one! Unless the lil' stinker comes late.

Not sure why I like this one so much. It was my mother's ornament and she gave it to me. It was always one of my favorites growing up.
Oh and this is Norma waiting for Daddy to wake up and come play with her! She loves to lean her chin on everything.

Yesterday, I was obsessed with making Stovetop Christmas Potpourri. It makes your whole house smell so festive! All you do is add some cinnamon or cinnamon sticks (I do both), nutmeg, whole cloves, and ginger in simmering water. I did not have any bay leaves, but you can add them too. Then, you can also add some fruit peels like oranges, apples, or lemons. I had an orange and boy did it smell good! You have to keep checking on it to make sure your water is not all gone. I would add water every so often. The smell eventually diminishes after a few hours. I made 10 bags of the potpourri so when I want the house to smell good again I can just dump it right into the water. I also made festive labels for the potpourri bags too!

As I was enjoying the Christmas smells and music, I decided to clip a few trimmings from the holly bush and evergreen tree outside to make this:


Last pic of the day: I am HUGE! 37 weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was pretty quiet this year. Unfortunately because of my growing belly and aching back, we did not make it home for the family feasts. We really missed being with family yesterday, but Chad and I did have a great day together. We took the dogs for over an hour walk in the morning, worked on a Christmas gift for someone special, and then got started working on our mini Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner, Chad and I played Scattergories! By the way- I WON!
So thankful for all of the MANY blessings in my life!

Norma enjoying the dog show on Thanksgiving morning. :)

Simple Pleasures

Starbucks Hot Chocolate. A good book.

A Pedicure.

And a yummy sugar cookie. :)
I had a terrific Tuesday!

Diaper Wipe Case

Look at the diaper wipe case I made for the baby! The only thing I would change is the trim. I do not like the ribbon I used. JoAnnes did not have the type of trim I was looking for. Oh well. I cannot stand our craft stores around here. Boy, do I miss home. I think I will have to make it a priority to have a nice craft store nearby wherever we will be moving next year. I am sure Chad will love to hear that.

BEFORE:

AFTER

Waiting for Baby...

On Friday night, Chad and I had dinner at Chipotle (my favorite) and then walked over to Old Navy to return a maternity top I bought the weekend before. I had an Old Navy Cash coupon in the bottom of the bag. We had to go the register to see how much money was on it. The coupons could be redeemed for $2, $5, $10, $15, and $25. It was my lucky day! Our coupon was good for $25!!! So we bought the baby an adorable little plaid shirt and corduroy pants. We also bought him this little outfit. We just HAD to get the Johnny Cash shirt!