What we've been up to

 We've been up to a whole lot of snuggling and loving on our little one lately. Here are some of the moments: Bob is in the Moby wrap with Caiden. He keeps saying now I know what it feels like to be pregnant. Right...

He is so sweet and mellow and hardly cries (as of now). He does love to eat and sleep and snuggle and do things to make us change his diaper. We are so in love with this wee one!

Introducing the newest member of our family

 Here is our boy, Caiden Fisher, born on Father's Day, June 17 at 5:36 am. He was full of surprises--when we got to the hospital we found out that he was unexpectedly breech. Luckily, he was frank (bottom down) and so our midwife would still deliver. We didn't get to do the waterbirth we had wanted, but we were able to deliver all natural without medication. As most of you know, it has been an incredibly difficult journey for us. He was put in the NICU for 6 days which broke our hearts as parents. No parent should have to hold their new baby's hands while they put a feeding tube in. We were exposed to so much and he took it like a champ. We found his name--meaning warrior-- to be very fitting of him.  We are still processing through all of the grief, fears, and exhaustion on missing out being with him the first days. He is well and is home now and we are soaking it all in. Here are some pictures of his time in the hospital (I've spared you the really sad ones--they are even too hard for me to look at).

The hand-off: Caiden finally comes home!

The cutest

If you have to change a diaper, they might as well be cute! These are the cloth diaper covers that we ordered. Can you believe that babies come this small?

Personalized Planner

 Meet Kristina. She is in the orange sweater. She is a mastermind with all things paper and creative. Working from home, this girl creates beautiful projects that are incredibly unique. And I have the privilege of being her friend and having access to these wonderful projects. Her latest creation that has brought her unimaginable amounts of interest and work are her personalized planners. She put them on etsy a few months ago and has not stopped getting orders since. They are fun, colorful, and have your NAME! What more could you ask for in a planner, really. And they are reasonably priced. Anyway, I finally got my hands on one and am so excited about it. The only problem I told her is that I ordered for it to start in July, which it does, so I have to wait to use it. That's the other great thing about her planners you can order them to start any month that you want and she will give you a year or longer. I thought that with most people using technology so much, handwritten planners would have gone out of style. Nope. Anyway, I just love mine so much I had to tell you about it. And rather than leave you hanging, here is the link to her website where you can view all of the different patterns: www.plumpaperdesigns.com/index1.html  Enjoy!

The last hurrah--or rather the change into a new kind of hurrah

 We have been trying to take little trips here and there because we know our lives are going to change somewhat in the next few weeks. A while back, Bob went on a camping trip with some guys while I went to the beach with the girls. He called it the Last Hurrah, which of course I thought was so dramatic. Maybe I'm naive but I think you can pretty much strap a baby to you and take it (almost) anywhere. Anyway, we decided for the two of us to take our last trip before baby together to none other than Athens, GA, known for being the home of the UGA bulldogs. There is not much reason that we picked this city other than the fact that it is close--I didn't want a far trip in the car, and we hadn't been there yet.

 Mostly we just hung around, walked, ate, rested and swam. It was a really relaxing trip and the getaway that we needed. We went to the Farmer's market and sat for a long time listening to the cute bluegrass band that was playing. We watched movies in our hotel and really just enjoyed being together.

 We visited the botanical gardens and walked around until my oversized body got way too hot and tired!

 On the last day, we went on a hike starting from a nature center nearby. It was so serene, we didn't see anyone else out on the hike except for the little critters that lived there. It was such a realization for me that my body is just changing. My mind wanted to do the 5 mile hike but my body told me that 2 would be plenty.

 We must both be becoming very contemplative these days because we found a bridge that overlooked the lily pads below and just sat there staring at them and the wind in the trees and talking for a long time. It may have been one of my favorite parts.

I am so thankful we have had 7 years together before this upcoming birth and I love the way that the Lord has written our story, although very painful at times. We are looking forward to parenting together and continuing to enjoy the new stages.

The Nursery Reveal

 Welcome to the Mehaffey baby gender neutral nursery! So many people seem to be confused as to how to create a gender neutral room, to which I always thought, I do that with all the other rooms in my house anyway. Well here, is our best attempt. Sorry that some of the pictures are so blurry. We are blessed with many beautiful things that people made or gave to us.

 Here is the crib. We bought it off Craigslist for pretty cheap and are happy with it. The bedskirt is burlap and I really like it. If we have a girl, I am going to make fabric flowers to put on the bedskirt. Thanks to pinterest, I have many great ideas that I could never come up with on my own.

 I sort of gave you a panoramic of the room starting with the crib on the left side as you walk in the door and moving around...

 I absolutely LOVE this changing table/dresser. The family that I tutored for this year gave it to me and it was navy blue. I painted it my favorite color for furniture and added knobs. I think it turned out great. I got that cute basket from a shower (I registered for it at target in case you want one too). The changing pad is waiting for a beige polka dot cover. We are planning on doing cloth diapers as much as we can. I am going to have a lot to learn!!

 My parents bought us the rocking chair for Christmas. It is a great size and very comfortable. So very generous of them. The picture hanging above the chair will be in a series of 3 shortly. That one is baby's first picture--the ultrasound at 7 weeks old. We will also have a maternity picture and then a picture of our family once the baby is born.

 Here is the letter wall idea I got from pinterest and absolutely love. Thanks to many of you who helped decorate them at my California shower, it is one of my favorite parts of the room, adding color and fun! Well done, everyone.

 We had the bookshelf already and it worked perfectly for this room. I have many many books, even more in the attic upstairs. Most of them are from my childhood since my mom saved them and passed them on to me.

 Above the baby's crib we have hung a few letters and hymns. The letters are random but the hymns are not. We thought they would be good ones to remember and sing, such as I Surrender All.

 Here is a closer up version of the picture I was mentioning.

 Here is the closet. Our baby doesn't have very many clothes, of course, because that is a bit more difficult to go gender neutral on. We've packed the cutest boy and girl outfits we have for the ride home from the hospital, but will make additions, you know, once we know the baby's style.

 Handy filing thingy in the closet. Not sure why I thought you'd want to see this...

 This is the beautiful bassinet my sister Leslie sent to me. She bought it for one of her twins 18 years ago and has been passing it to the twins' cousins ever since. It was so thoughtful of her to send it to me from CA. Right now it is in our room but may end up moving downstairs.

 Every child who has used it has a plaque with his/her name on it. It is really special and I am so glad she was able to do this. Thanks Leslie!

So there it is! The main additions needed: I am thinking of burlap curtains, but am not sure. Would love your input. Adding a few pictures once they are taken. A few more outfits. And of course a BABY!

9 months and counting...

 I only have 3 weeks to go at this point! I can't wait. We've packed our bags, bought a car, filled the nursery, and can't wait to meet our little one. I just want to get a few maternity pictures with Bob and I before and we will be set (well as much as you can be for introducing someone else into your family)...

On another fun note, I have a few good friends who are pregnant right now too. Andrea, who went to school with Bob, is 16 weeks along.

 Kelly is not pregnant, but wanted to be included. This picture looks like she has a bulging belly button.

And I don't have pictures, but I just found out my friend Erin Allen in Africa is 12 weeks pregnant and my friend Amy Bering who threw me the CA shower is 12 weeks pregnant! Yeah! Baby Mehaffey will have friends all over the world. I am so excited for my friends. It is such an awesome experience. Sometimes I still have to work through the pain that it took us a while to get there and it doesn't seem quite as hard for many others, but God has written a beautiful story and given us a child in his perfect timing and I am so happy to meet who it is that he is giving us.

Shower Themed Shower

 My sweet friend Carrie threw me a shower themed shower. See the cute rain clouds in the picture above with the rain coming down. She did such a great job and I was so blessed. Since she was in the middle of moving and many of our friends live in apartments, she asked if she could throw it at my house. Nice for me because I was just there already. Hard for me because our house isn't as "complete" as I would like it to be. I am still being worked on in that area :) Below are some cute pictures she had out that are going to be put in Bob and I's bedroom. They are the perfect colors.

 I knew I loved my Georgia friends, but I realized that day how special they are to me. I am really spread out from some of them but they are really wonderful and they blessed me so much. I am thankful. My cousin even came from Charlotte. Can you guess which one she is? I think we sort of look alike in this picture. (She is wearing the striped dress sitting on the side of the couch.

 The sweetest gift given to me. My friend Deborah brought her 3 daughters and they each gave me a gift from their collection. I thought it was a wonderful idea and it meant a lot to me. My favorite is that her youngest gave pacifiers up for the baby because she knew the baby would need them. She was really confused because there was no baby there, so her mom was trying to teach her that the baby was in my belly. I loved having little ones here and am ready for that. I loved the laughter and to hear them running around my house. I was very blessed by all of their company and gifts.