Cinco | 3 Months

Y'all, it's hard to keep this blog updated. Sweet Cinco turned 3 months old in September and I still haven't taken his 3-month pictures! He'll be 4 months old in less than a week. I'm telling you... I'm starting to realize there's something to be said about being the youngest of five... I'm going to owe Cinco some apologies when he gets older! LOL!

Regardless, here's a quick pic of him at 3 months having fun in the bath!

Overall things are GOOOOOOOOD with this sweet baby! He's such a champ! He eats about every 3 hours during the day, and usually sleeps for 8 or 9 hours at night. He's so happy and smiley! Our only real struggle is the continued spit up issue, and he's taking Pepcid to help with it. I'm not sure how much it's actually helping, though. I'll talk to his pediatrician at his 4-month well visit later this month to see what else we can do.

A big milestone for this sweet muffin was his first time in the Jumperoo! We bought this for LO 13 years ago... and all of the boys have used it since, too! For the record, his feet do hit the floor... he's just "mid-jump" in this pic with his legs curled up. Hahaha!

Just for fun, here are the boys in the jumperoo!

CHASE:

E:

SQUISH:

Another fun milestone during month 3 was Cinco's first trip to the beach! We had a blast! I should definitely write a post on that first family trip out of the house since COVID hit!

Guess that's it for now! I obviously should start working on his 4 month post sooner than later! LOL!

I just love my sweet Cinco! 💙

Cinco | 2 Months

My sweet Cinco is officially 2 months old! It's SOOOOO exhausting being SOOOOO adorable!

My apologies for the terrible white balance... I promise he isn't still jaundiced. I accidentally deleted all of my LR presets when trying to clear space on my MBP, and, combined with the forced upgrade to the new version of LR, my editing skills are seriously lacking.

I was glad to finally bust out the Nikon to take some proper photos of my sweet munchkin. Too bad I wasn't able to take his 1 month photos last month. Those first four weeks with this guy were especially difficult!

I mean, look at this face. Totes adorbs! I just *assumed* that as my 5th and final kid, he'd be a walk in the park. Us youngest kiddos are the best! But he apparently had other plans...

I really couldn't complain, though. I just couldn't get enough of him! Those sweet toes... chunky thighs... sweet coos... it was all worth it!

Owl booty, y'all!

We've been working a bit on tummy time. It's not his favorite, but he's doing better each time!

What a wonderful idea to have a photo session literally just a few hours after his 2 month vaccinations! To my surprise, he was simply wonderful. But those poor chunky thighs with their tweety bird bandages!

Please also take note of the gorgeous gray knit blanket... my beloved most favorite aunt on the planet made that for my sweet baby! She's literally the best.

This journey has been quite difficult with the added stresses and unknowns and inconveniences of COVID-19. Our family has been hunkered down for 168 days and counting... and it's not been fun. But we are doing what we need to do to keep our sweet little family safe and healthy. There's nothing more important! 

Oh, and just for fun... here's a 2 month pic of another one of my boys... any guesses?? Lots of similarities in that sweet face!

Cinco’s Birth Story

It’s Cinco’s birth day! We are so excited!

Last night, we enjoyed our final night as a family of 6 by snuggling together in our bed to watch The Floor is Lava on Netflix. It was so great to spend that time together with my crew!

For starters, this birth story is already unlike my previous four! We were able to sleep in our own bed last night rather than head to the hospital the night before the induction. It was lovely to get about 3 whole hours of sleep in my own bed (LOL!) and shower at home before heading to the hospital.

I called L&D at 5:30 AM as instructed, and they asked me to arrive between 6:45-7:00 AM. We are packed and ready to go! My mom (Mona) and her sister (Aunt Jo) will be staying with the kids while we’re in the hospital. We are so thrilled to have them here with us! It’s been a L-O-N-G 103 days of quarantine for the kid, hubs, and I! I’m so glad the kids will have my mom and aunt here to love on them!

We have about 45 minutes until we head to the hospital. There’s so much more to come! 💙

9:15 AM | We arrived at the hospital a little after 7:00 AM, got through the admission process, and settled into our room. My nurse, Jocelyn, has been awesome. She got me hooked up to the IV (only 2 tries!) and was able to get the Pitocin started around 8:20 AM. Dr. French broke my water around 9:00 AM and said I was at 3cm. Got a way to go! My kiddos usually take a good 12 or so hours to debut once the Pit is started, so we’ll see just how late it’ll be before Cinco arrives!

Big mama is ready to meet my sweet babe!

12:18 PM | Not much to report! I moved from the bed to the birthing ball and am now settled into a rocking chair. My nurse Jocelyn was placed on another case, and Whitney took over for me. She’s been great! We’ve got my Pitocin up to 10 and I’m still just feeling increasingly mild to moderate contractions. I plan to wait for them to get a bit worse and frequent before pulling the trigger on the epidural. Baby Cinco is handling everything great! 

1:17 PM | Still not much to report. Contractions are still pretty mild, so they’ve bumped me up to 14 on the Pitocin. I’m hopeful I’ll be feeling ready for that epidural soon because that would = PROGRESS! And I’m ready for some progress... and a Jimmy John’s sandwich! 🤣

2:45 PM | Contractions started to increase so I asked for the epidural. The anesthesiologist was next door and was able to come right over once my IV fluids were in. The epidural was probably the most painful one I’ve ever had, but it eventually kicked in and made my life much more enjoyable! Lol!

My nurse, Whitney, checked me after the epidural took effect and said I was at 4cm, 80% effaced, and 0 station. We’ve still got some work to do!

Hubs and I were able to FaceTime with my mom, aunt, and the kids before their quiet time at 2:30 PM, and it was so great to see them! I miss them bunches and can’t wait to bring home baby Cinco tomorrow. 💙

5:15 PM | Making progress! Moved up to 6cm. Waiting and praying for a safe arrival SOON!

5:50 PM | 9cm!!

10:45 PM | He’s here! So sorry for the lack of updates, but as you can imagine, we’ve been a bit busy! I won’t have an official birth announcement to share until tomorrow as hubs and I are still trying to finalize his name, and we’d like to discuss it with the kids in the morning to make our decision before making anything public. Thank you for being patient with us as we try to soak up every precious moment of this experience for the VERY LAST TIME! 💙

Baby Cinco

June 24, 2020

7:07 PM

8 lbs. 8 oz. • 20 3/4 in.

The One with Cinco's Baby Shower

Y'all! My beautiful daughter took it upon herself to schedule, plan, and throw a baby shower for her littlest brother! My heart is so full!

Due to our strict quarantine, we knew the baby shower could only include the six of us. As much as I've longed to celebrate Cinco with our extended family and friends, that just wasn't an option. This is one of many things the COVID-19 pandemic has taken from this experience of being pregnant for the final time. But we are oh so very blessed to be healthy and have each other to love on during this season!

We picked June 3rd as the date and LO got to work! She picked out the color scheme and decorations, planned and prepared the food, made the cake--complete with homemade buttercream and homemade marshmallow fondant!-- and even planned games as well!

Here's a pic of my beauty with her incredible (and delicious!) cake creation.

She made a white cake with homemade buttercream using one of our favorite recipes, then whipped up marshmallow fondant (SOOOOOO GOOD!) to cover the cake. She also made adorable baby booties accented with gold on top! She was so proud of her creation and she worked so hard on it--with ZERO help from me! It really was delicious! I may or may not have just eaten a second slice before writing this post. 😉

She put up a few balloons and fun decorations around the house.

LO and Daddy also grabbed a few beautiful flowers from the front yard. And another pic of that beautiful, delicious cake!

Check out all of the yummy food LO made!

It wouldn't be a meal in our home without Hawaiian Rolls. YUM.

LO also made chocolate-dipped pretzels and strawberries.

No meal planned by one of my kids would be complete without Cheetos!

Such a great meal! And delicious party punch, too!

Let's eat!

Cheeeeeeeeese!

E had a big ol' mouthful of food but I took his pic anyway. 

This guy ate a ton of food... including about half a can of Pringles!

After dinner, our party planner extraordinairre needed a few minutes of downtime to relax. She admitted to me that she had no idea how much work went into planning a party! Bless.

Oh! I can't forget this cute little four-legged party guest! Sweet Lucy!

The kids and I enjoyed some fun snaps before playing charades.

Cake time! This cake was really SO delicious, y'all! And the best part? LO enjoyed making it, and even offered to make Chase's next birthday cake! I may have less baking in my future, which I am willing to embrace because, well, #FIVEKIDS! 😜

We had such a great time together celebrating Cinco! Here's to 36 weeks down... and only 3 more weeks to go until we meet our sweet boy!

The One with the Laundry Room Reno: Part 3

Welcome to the third and final (and lengthiest!) part of my laundry room renovation! This is the fun post where I share all the little details that made the room come together so well! Be sure to catch Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven't already. 😉

Where to begin?

I started with a Pinterest board for my laundry room reno, which you can see below. This was where all of my ideas came together to create the overall vibe and aesthetic for the laundry room.

The pin that was my main inspiration was this one from farmhousejourney on Instagram, with a few modifications to personalize it to my preferences:

For starters, we painted the walls Repose Gray. This is the same color as the rest of the house (with the exception of the bathrooms and bedrooms).

We purchased two 15" x 30" cabinets from Lowe's to hang in the corners above the washer and dryer. I wanted concealed storage to help make everything look clean and uncluttered.

I painted the cabinets Icing on the Cake by Benjamin Moore. I wanted a super light turquoise that wouldn't fight against the gray walls. The room would need a tiny bit of color, and I think this was exactly what it needed! I was a bit nervous buying paint based solely on the color displayed on my computer screen, but since I refuse to go out shopping, I just kept my fingers crossed that this would work. And it did! YAY!

I wanted an accent wall behind the washer and dryer, so I went with this peel and stick one from Lowe's. It was a breeze to install and looks great!

The cheap-o contractor-grade light fixture was also on my list to replace. See how awful it was before? And how much better it looked after?

I absolutely loved the industrial matte black fixture from Lowe's, and it was perfect for the room. It really brightened everything up quite nicely and fit the overall vibe I was going for.

As you may have discovered in Part 2 of my laundry room reno, I selected Whirlpool's smart capable 5.3 cu. ft. high efficiency top-load washer and Whirlpool's smart capable 8.8 cu. ft. steam cycle electric dryer, both in chrome shadow. There are TWO main reasons I chose these beauties:

1. Smart Capable. In other words, I now have an app on my iPhone that allows me to control my appliances. I love technology, and it was a no-brainer that I'd want this functionality in my new washer and dryer. I get notifications when both finish their cycles, I can restart the dryer with a quick tap, and even assign tasks (via automated text messages) to request hubs or LO move or fold the load. It's brilliant and my life will never be the same!
2. Load and Go Dispenser. Because I'm SUPER LAZY EFFICIENT, I wanted my washer to be efficient, too. This incredible dispenser allows me to add enough detergent for 20 loads of laundry at one time, and it automatically dispenses the correct amount for each load. MAJOR WIN!

The boys are fascinated by the newest additions to the family! They love that they can watch the washer through the window on top.

And of course there's a window to watch the dryer... AND A LIGHT! How fun is that?

Now for my MOST FAVORITE FEATURES in the laundry room (minus the incredible new appliances, of course): NEW SHELVES!

First up? This custom shelf and hanging rack!

I was So.Very.Tired. of the awful white plastic-coated wire shelves in the laundry room. They were ugly, difficult to clean, and things were constantly falling through them. The height wasn't my favorite, either.

To go with the industrial vibe of my reno, hubs and I bought 2" x 12" by 12' boards. We planned to put one on the wall with the hanging rack, and one over the washer and dryer.

I stained the boards with Minwax oil-based stain in Aged Barrel.

Then I bought a zillion pieces of galvanized pipe fittings, flanges, elbows, and more to create a hanging rack attached 

I didn't like the galvanized finish of the pipes, and wanted the hanging rack to match the appliances as much as possible. So I picked up Rust-Oleum Flat Metallic spray paint in Antique Nickel and painted all of the pieces before assembling them and attaching them to the wall and shelf.

We wanted the shelf about 12" from the ceiling, and the pipe was about 4" below then shelf. I absolutely LOVE this shelf and the ton of space the rack provides for our hanging clothes!

I love how it matches my second favorite shelf -- the one above the washer and dryer!

My final favorite shelf is the awesome drop-down shelf! If you remember from my "before" pics, we used to have a shelf for folding clothes attached to the wall with chains. It could fold up and out of the way when needed. It was functional, but not the prettiest thing ever.

See?

We knew we'd still need space to fold all.the.clothes. when the reno was complete, but we knew there had to be a better way! Hubs found these awesome folding shelf brackets on Amazon, and they were the perfect solution!

I used the same shelf as before, but decided to cover it with the peel and stick wallpaper I used on the accent wall behind the washer and dryer. I think it looks super cute and love that it stores out of the way when not needed.

See how perfectly it shows up when needed? I just love it so much!

Here are a few links to some of the other fun finds from my new laundry room!

Tabletop Clock

Runner Rug

Lamb's Ear Wreath

Laundry Co. Metal Sign

Bamboo Plant

Rectangle Serving Tray (to store all the fun pocket finds during laundry day) 😉

You couldn't see this one in any of the pics, but I bought this magnetic lint bin and attached it on the right side of the dryer for quick and easy disposal of lint!

Endless Love and Laundry Sign (I stained the frame to match the shelves)

WHEW! This was a crazy-long post! Kudos to those of you who made it this far! I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my beautiful new laundry room!