Deanna Rose

The place where Aliyah took her first steps...

We live so close to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead that we find ourselves there often. Aliyah loves all the animals, playing on the playground, picnic lunches and hanging out with friends.

We met her friends Oliver, Jackson and Bennett there the other day and had such a blast! Of course I didn't remember to bring my camera, but was still able to capture a few moments on my cell phone.

Panning for Rocks

Silly Girl!

It's True, and You Know It

Final Countdown: 9 Weeks

Some new cloth diapers I want to try out with Everly and extras that were sent by our sweet friend, Erin!

So far I’ve gained already gained what I was when I delivered Aliyah (yikes!) but I am happy to report that I passed the gestational diabetes test (yeah!). I have been thinking a lot about my last birth experience and the things that I want to do again:

Music, low lighting, mother directed pushing, massage, laboring in the tub, delayed cord clamping, and as long as all is well, not taking her away for any testing or measuring until we’re ready.

I have also thought about things I want to do differently:

Active management of placenta delivery to avoid excessive blood loss and having a delayed/no hep-lock (which I am so so excited my dr ((love her)) agreed to. I am also curious about trying different pushing positions, but not sure exactly what I would be most comfortable with. Just some ideas floating around in my head.

I can't remember the woman who said this, but I remember someone gave me the best analogy when I was pregnant with Aliyah - “Delivering babies is kind of like making pancakes. Every one of them comes out a little differently but your body gets better and better at it."

This little girl is going to come out of the pan perfectly round and golden brown! It makes me giggle to think of Everly's birth as a perfectly made pancake - but I sure hope she’s right!

Happy 2nd Birthday

Aliyah Jacquelyn,

My darling little two year old. Happy happy birthday to you!

I realize now why mamas everywhere on their children’s birthdays say reminiscing things like “On this day X number of years ago, I was bringing you into the world.” It’s because it will always feel like it was yesterday, whether you replace that X with 2 or 22 years. Every year on this day for the rest of my life, I will relive the power and emotion of that experience.

Truly it feels like just yesterday I was holding your tiny, pink body against mine. I was delirious with love and a little shock that all of those months of anticipation and planning had come and gone so fast. You have changed everything about me, my little Ali-gator. I move and act and think differently since you were first laid in my arms. I have more purpose behind my reasons and more motivation to my actions.

I have watched you grow from an infant, to a baby, to a toddler in what feels like a single breath and at every stage I have said “This is my favorite age” because they have all felt exactly so. You keep us laughing and guessing and entertained every single day. What a joy you are to your father and I and will be to Everly as a role model and big sister.

I am so proud of your creativity and energy and the way you are already welcoming and engaging the world around you. You are so lovely in your smallness, in your brave spirit, and in the sweetness of your heart. Here’s to two years of this beautiful life, Aliyah Jacquelyn. On this very day two years past, in the early hours of the morning, I was bringing you into the world - and it was the start of everything.

I can’t wait for the gift of this next year with you. and the one after that. and a lifetime of watching you become. The whole world is yours for the taking and I have no doubt that’s exactly what you’ll do.

I love you with my entire being.

love, m

Birthday Weekend

Miss Aliyah Jacquelyn turns TWO on Saturday!! Is it that time again? We have been busy all week getting things together for her "Two at the Zoo" birthday party. I promise to take tons of pictures this weekend and post them next week. My mom and I worked on these hippo/zebra invites. Seriously, I don't know what I would do without this woman in my life!!!

I also would like to add that I am thankful for pinterest as I did not plan this party as far in advanced as I did her first and it is a great place to grab some last minute ideas. Here are a few pictures of our birthday girl in her hippo hat:

TWO!!

So So So So So

My dearest Everly,

When I was in elementary school, I kept a diary. It was pink with a gold lock on one side that could easily be pried open with a little arm strength. I still have that little diary and occasionally, when I come across it, I’ll read through the pages. There are stories written in my shaky handwriting about field trips, sleepovers with my best friend, cute boys who chased me on the playground, and fun things I did with my parents. When trying to express my enthusiasm for an experience at that young age, I often resorted to writing things like “We went to the zoo this weekend. The monkeys were my favorite. It was so so so so so much fun.”

All those “so’s”

Here I am a grown woman with an degree in education under my belt. I’ve spent years playing with words in an attempt to express all that lives inside me in written form, but today, as I folded a pile of tiny little cloth diapers and put away a cute pair pink boots I found for you, the only words that seemed appropriate for truly conveying the joy and love I feel for you sounds exactly like a sentence out of my childhood diary. My heart’s song scribbled to you in purple crayon between the lines of the page.

My little Everly, I am so so so so so (SO!) excited for you to join our family.

Love, Mama

30 Weeks Down: 10 More to Go

Celebrating with Silly Faces and Ice Cream

Ten short weeks (give or take a few). That’s all that stands between me and finally meeting this little girl in my belly! I think she is excited about hitting the home stretch too because holy smokes does this kid like to move. I keep saying it over and over again but she’s just so STRONG! Sometimes she moves so suddenly and with such force that it takes my breath away - I’m a little worried at what’s in store for me as she grows bigger because she’s already throwing her weight around something fierce in there!

Besides the karate kicks she’s unleashing on me, everything else is still feeling good. I’m sleeping well at night and my aches and pains are minimal. I’ve got my fingers crossed this keeps up.

Big Girl Bed

Aliyah has been LOVING her new big girl bed. She has been staying in her bed all night long and taking every nap in her own room. The only adjustment is getting her used to a smaller sleeping space. The first few times she would roll off and wake herself up. We now put her beanbag against one side of her bed and stuff pillows down the other - SUCCESS!! Here are a few snapshots from the first couple of weeks in her new bed...

Daddy helped her fall asleep one night. They both ended up asleep and snuggled up in the over-sized beanbag chair.

She didn't start out this way when she first fell asleep. But hey - at least she is on the bed, right?

Again, she didn't start out this way when she first fell asleep. She must have woke up, decided to dress for the ballet and head back to bed... slippers and all.

My little roly poly.

Have You Seen This?

This is probably one of the most popular new videos that has been uploaded onto youtube lately and I can't stop listening to it... smooth like butta'

Natural Childbirth Round 2

As most of you know, I’m a big advocate for natural childbirth. I talk about it here on my blog, not because I think it’s for everyone, but because I want other mothers to know it’s an option. More than anything, I want to encourage people to inform themselves of all of the different birthing methods that are available, and then decide what route they are most comfortable with.

When I was pregnant with Aliyah, I wrote this post about why I was choosing a natural childbirth.

Looking back on the decision, I’m proud of the amount of preparation we did to make it happen. I found a wonderful OBGYN who was always very honest with me in answering my questions around her support of natural childbirth. We made the investment in a doula to support us during labor and I took a natural birth course to help prepare me mentally and physically for the experience. Tyler and I also created a vision for what we wanted during birth, wrote it out, and shared it with our doctor, doula, and the hospital staff.

With all of those efforts in place, I knew that no matter what happened during my delivery, I had given myself all of the tools and resources to have the kind of birth I wanted. Every component played a crucial role - The doctor (who wasn't my OBGYN) and nurses followed our plans and never challenged us. Our doula help me throughout labor while we were at home and at the hospital - proving herself invaluable over and over again as she provided Tyler with natural pain management techniques and helped to keep me calm and focused. Creating a birth plan with my husband made him the most important tool in my labor arsenal - as he was such a source of strength, encouragement, and motivation for me through the entire experience.

Aliyah's birth was the single most defining experience of my life. It was the most physical. The most emotional. The most painful. The most rewarding. It was the first time in my life where I felt infinitely connected to the earth and to heaven. I was out of my body and intensely focused to my core at the same time. Time and time again in trying to describe it, the most appropriate word I can come up with is Spiritual. It was so incredibly spiritual.

I remember after she was born, I laid there in euphoric exhaustion, marveling at her and I was consumed with gratitude. I kept telling everyone in the room, "Thank you so much for all you did. Thank you for delivering this beautiful child to us." and I continued to hear back, "Marcie, you did it yourself. All of it. The doctor just caught her on the way out." In that moment, I swear I could have climbed Everest. I grew her and I delivered her my way, on my terms and the way I felt after accomplishing that is indescribable.

And that’s what I want again.

But the thing about birth is that there are no guarantees. I was blessed with a picture perfect labor -  my contractions started, labor intensified gradually, my water broke only a few hours before I had to push and I was able to deliver my daughter without any complications in less than 24 hours start to finish. I have many friends with beautiful birth stories who were presented with different circumstances and challenges. One friend had to deliver her baby boy over a month early due to high blood pressure. Another friend had her water break 3 weeks before her due date but labor never started and she had to endure hours of pitocin and intense pain and exhaustion before finally accepting that if she was going to have any energy left to push, she needed an epidural to get some relief. Another friend had to leave her natural birth plan behind when her son was stuck behind her pubic bone after hours of pushing and required an emergency c-section. And all beautiful births. These are not uncommon situations and something I try to prepare myself for too.

In writing this, I hope that it does not come across that I am against epidurals or c-sections. That’s not the case at all - I am very grateful that we have medical advancements and skilled doctors to help in safely delivering babies when it is necessary - but with one in three women in this country delivering their child via c-section - I very much question the need for SO MUCH intervention in what most often could be a natural process. The US has seen a 50% increase in the rise of c-sections in the last decade. There are a whole slew of reasons for this that I won’t get into now, but we’ve decided that the safest choice for both me and our babies is to go the natural route.

Even though I am not looking forward to having to endure another hardcore active labor - I’m excited to experience this miracle again. Based on what we learned with my first labor, I plan on only changing a few things this go round and more than anything, I can’t wait to hold that little gal in my arms!

My Love

Mother's Day

We painted pots for both of Aliyah's grandmothers this weekend for Mother’s day. It was her first real craft and we thought it would be special for each of the other mamas in our family who have and will influence Aliyah to have something she made especially for them.

Once the pots dried (and after we’d washed the paint off our feet and elbows and foreheads) we planted brightly colored flowers in each of them. They turned out beautifully.

Toddler Beds

I am way excited about these sweet toddler beds Tyler made last weekend. We got everything needed to make the beds in the morning and they were both built and in the girls' room that afternoon.

This all started when Tyler said that he wanted to do something special for his daughters and came up with the idea of making their beds.

As we tried to come up with ideas to make Aliyah's nursery into a shared bedroom, we looked at a bunch of different Montessori style children rooms for inspiration. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Montessori method is a child-centered approach allowing children to guide their own learning, trying new things in a safe environment, while you encourage their natural abilities.

In a bedroom room, that may include a floor bed instead of a crib - Having a toddler bed with only a pillow and a blanket so the child can easily learn to make their bed without help - Putting shelves, clothes, books, toys, etc low where children can get them out (and put them away too) by themselves - Hanging pictures and mirrors low on the wall - Providing child-sized furniture - And having a baby gate up so that the door can stay open and so that your child stays in a safe environment. These rooms obviously need to be 100% baby-proof for safety!

I am so excited to show you more of the girls' room, but I am going to focus on just the beds for now.

I found this link on Pinterest and asked Tyler what he thought. We both loved it!

You can find the full instructions on Gabrielle's blog Design Mom. The instructions are fabulous and I really love all her detailed pictures. She said that she was able to make both of these beds for $75 but we were well under that checking out at Home Depot around $40!!

NOTE: her measurements are for custom mattresses that are smaller than a standard crib/toddler mattress. We had to adjust our measurements slightly since we used the crib mattress we already had. It was pretty simple, but make sure you get the queen size batting (we got the full size and it was not enough to double).

I love that we were able to extend the life of Aliyah's original crib bedding and found the same bedding for a great deal on craig's list. We let Aliyah pick which bed she wanted and then hung the letters. She has been sleeping on her bed every night and nap time and is absolutely in love with her new room. If you come over, she will proudly show you (and tell you) all about her and Everly's new space.

Here is the final product... love, love love

A Day In The Life

MORNING - Eating "O's"

AM - Deanna Rose

PM - Nap (they even sleep the same!!)

EVENING - Helping with the laundry

GOOD NIGHT - Sweet dreams

Treating us to a Little of Her Magic...

See how that smile just magically appeared on your face?

She does that to me often!

Avett Brothers

I just realized that I never wrote a post about Tyler's and my weekend away last month to celebrate our 6 year anniversary! Tyler snagged some sweet tickets to an Avett Brother concert in Tulsa, OK. We packed our bag and a separate one for Aliyah (for the first time).

She stayed the weekend with my parents and I'm pretty sure she didn't think about us again until we showed up Sunday afternoon. She was happy to see us, but had such a wonderful weekend with Grammy and Grandpapa... which made the whole 'leaving her overnight' so much easier.

We had a wonderful time as well! My lovely cousins allowed us to crash a night at their beautiful new home in Tulsa after the concert, and the next day we drove to Oklahoma City to cruise around Bricktown and enjoy an evening to ourselves at the Hilton.

My cousin, Stephanie has the most beautiful blog called Hospitably Yours. You should check it out! It is full of beautiful home decor and amazing ideas for food and entertaining - she is truly an inspiration!! I am dying to try her recipe for Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce YUM!

I know this isn't the most exciting post, but I wanted to get it on the blog for our own memories. Here is candy for your ears:

Baby Girl Gets a Name

When we found out that we were having another girl, we went back to our short list of names from round one. But when we looked at the names, none of them sounded right. That list went in the trash and we were back to the beginning.

We wanted something to honor my side of the family since Aliyah's middle name is Jacquelyn after Tyler's grandmother. We came up with 3 family names to use (as middle names) depending on what we were going to choose for a first name.

We came up with a few names for our new list - I bought a baby name book - I asked for help on facebook - Tyler and I talked and talked about the perfect name. In the end, we kept coming back to Evelyn. I love the meaning: 'life' and 'little bird'. It sounded elegant and classy but unfortunately, it was too trendy for our liking... what to do??

We played around with different variations of Evelyn and tried our favorite for a few weeks without telling anyone. Tyler would walk by me in the house, rub my belly and whisper her name. The more we said it out loud, the more we loved it. We shared her name with family last week and now want to share it with you.


* Quote and music in the video ~ Avett Brothers


Everly Jean Inzer - I love the nickname Evie and if you ask Aliyah what her sister's name is, she will tell you Ever. The name fits our family so wonderfully - unique, beautiful and fun. Perfect!

We are so excited to meet you sweet Everly Jean.

Project Shared Nursery

We have been a couple of busy birds at the Inzer nest...

I have gone through all of Aliyah's old clothes and have set-up everything our new little lady will need for her first 6 months - I forgot how tiny all those little outfits are! Since the girls will be sharing a closet, it took a little creativity (and cramming) but we have made it work with a large dresser, extra tubs/shelves in the closet, and a small night stand with two drawers. I am so excited about this room. I am almost ready to share pictures of the whole space... just a few small details left.

I decided to make a blanket with this super soft fabric my friend, Sarah, gave to me (so sweet). I picked up some satin blanket binding and dusted off the 'ol sewing machine. It was pretty fun to make, even if my lines aren't the prettiest. It matches the girls' bedding and I am thinking I may pick up another yard so I can make one for Aliyah too!

Tyler wanted to do something special also and decided to make the girls toddler beds. I found instructions online and he went to town! I know it will be a little while before our new gal will get to enjoy her bed, but I am so glad we made her one too. They are just too cute!! I am so proud of Tyler and all the love he put into these beds. I will post more about them later - not only are they super cute, they were cheep and easy to put together.

Tyler and I upcycled this old storage/entertainment center into a beautiful dress-up closet for the girls. I will share our secrets to this little beauty on another post. We still have a few more things we want to do to finish this, but Aliyah couldn't wait. She put on her most sparkly dress, fur covered shoes and treated us to a fantastic harmonica concert.

NAME ALERT!!! Just to keep you on the edge of your seat, I thought that I would share another piece I have been working on for their bedroom. They each have a monogram letter wrapped in yarn and framed above their bed. I found these letters on clearance at Michael's and with a little yarn, felt and hot glue they have transformed into this:

Keep reading... we will share this babycake's name later this week!!!