Peyton Daniel Condie

Well, Peyton Daniel Condie has officially made his out-of-the-womb appearance!

He was born on January 20, 2011 at 9:59 p.m., 8 lbs. 9 ounces and 20 inches long (yes, quite the big boy).

After about 22 very long hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing, we were finally able to meet our long-awaited baby boy. 

We love our little boy and find ourselves loving him more and more every day!

Since the 20th, my recovery has been ... well, not easy. I guess I didn't anticipate it taking so long before I was able to sit, stand, walk or just plain move. I've reached a couple landmarks though -- I can now carry Peyton from room to room, I can pick him up from the bassinet or ground, and I can walk around the apartment with him for a few minutes when he won't stop crying. I'm also almost entirely self-sufficient again (meaning I can pretty much take care of myself on my own).

We were super blessed to have my mom here until last Sunday, and Dan's mom since last Saturday. I don't know how we would have survived without them. Poor Daniel would have never slept or gone to class, that's for sure. Dan's mom leaves tomorrow, and I think I'm pretty ready to handle things on my own (now that I've regained most of my mobility). I'm a little nervous about it though. I still can't carry the car seat with Peyton in it. Just carrying him is a bit of a strain for me.

Well, that about sums up the last 1.5 weeks. Peyton is 11 days old and still the cutest baby in the world. Here are a few things my baby boy does that I love:

• He curls up into a little ball when you hold him
• He nestles his little head by your neck as he's falling asleep
• He keeps his little hands next to his face whenever he can
• He smiles in his sleep
• He curls his fingers in little waves on your skin when you hold him
• He's sprayed everyone at least once while having his diaper changed! 

Wishing. Waiting. Hoping.

... That's pretty much what I do now. Every day. Since I'm done with school and we had hoped the baby would have come, well, any time before NOW, all I can do is wish, wait, hope and craft. Yes, craft. Oh, and read too.

I've finished the baby room (pictured below). My mother-in-law sent me the scraps left over from the GORGEOUS quilt she made for baby boy Condie, and I put them to good use as part of the room decor. All-in-all, I only spent about $20 (excluding the furniture, naturally) on the decorations in the room. Awesome, right?

I made these wall decorations out of embroidery hoops, fabric and ribbon. The squares were actually pieces of cork board that I covered in leftover fabric as well. They will have lots of pictures of our family once this little man decides to vacate my uterus.

Here is our lovely crib (with the AMAZING quilt my mother-in-law made.

I used leftover strips of fabric to modge-podge this clock. I took the clock apart and covered a piece of cardstock with the strips of fabric. I used some of my scrapbooking supplies to modge-podge the numbers on and put the clock back together! Really simple, and I really like it!

I used the rest of the scraps of material from the quilt to make this valance. I didn't have a sewing machine, so it ended up taking me a whole day rather than 20 minutes ... I may or may not have been so determined that I hand-stitched the whole thing.

This is the beautiful afghan that Daniel's aunt crocheted for baby.

(Ignore my cheese-ball face here) This is the quilt Dan's mom made! Amazing, right? The back is really soft minky material. I LOVE this quilt.

And of course, a belly picture. Here I am -- big, uncomfortable, wishing, waiting, hoping that this baby will come SOON!  (38.5 weeks)

Well, there's a picture update for the baby room. Like I mentioned, I've also been reading. This book, actually:

 

It's quite interesting. I'm really enjoying it. 

I've also been crafting. I'm trying to make a reusable bag by crocheting strips of Macey's plastic bags. My mom did it before, and it turned out awesome. I'm not so sure how mine will do. 

And I've been making hair flowers. Not for the baby, obviously, because he is definitely a boy (our doctor has left no doubt in our minds. Of our three ultrasounds, the only image he shows us is of the little man's testicles. No joke. No cute little printouts of the baby's profile. Just his man-parts. Every time). These hair flowers are for me and my little sister.

Lastly, things I am looking forward too: 

1. Obviously, the birth of our little boy
2. My mommy and daddy coming out next THURSDAY (Hear that baby? You seriously need to make an appearance outside the womb by THURSDAY!!)
3. The super-cute quilted diaper bag my mommy made me for Christmas
4. Daniel coming home from school/work so I don't go crazy all by myself

I think that's about it for now.