{Ivy's One Month Old}

HAPPY ONE MONTH IVY VICTORIA!!! 

(She actually turned one month on December 27th)

I started using my chalkboard again for her monthly updates! In the pictures with her is her bunny that her Great Granny gave her. My granny gave me a bunny exactly like it for my first Easter. Mine was pink though. We actually found Ivy's bunny online for really cheap and it's actually from 1990! It's in very very good condition! I love that she has the same stuffed animal as me and that it came from the same person! It means a lot to me! I still have my bunny but mine looks very loved on... Ha! Here are her pictures with her bunny! 

I cannot believe my little girl is already a month (and 4 days) old! She is already growing up way too fast! Mommyhood has been an adventure to say the least but I wouldn't change it for the world! I love everything about it! Ivy is such a good baby too! She had a spell with some pretty bad diaper rash for a while but it has finally gone away with the use of Desitin like religiously. Now that that is gone she is a lot easier to deal with! It was a battle to get her to calm down when she had the rash... We are all a lot happier now! 

{Dear Ivy}

Dear Ivy,

You will be three weeks old tomorrow and I can't tell you how amazing these past few weeks have been now that you are in my life. I have never been this happy in my entire life and it's been such a joy watching your every move. You have completely changed my life and I give the good Lord all of the credit. The first few months of my pregnancy I was so terrified that something was going to happen to you. I can't tell you how many times I asked God to keep you safe and healthy in my belly. I had friends praying all over the world for you and I. Every time I went to the doctor I would pray that they find your strong heartbeat and see you growing healthy and you did! God was there with us the entire time and I am so grateful for that. Ivy He made you so perfect and so beautiful! You look just like your Daddy only much prettier! Your eyes are turning more blue everyday. Last week at your 2 week appointment you weighed 8 pounds and 14 ounces. You are growing so fast and you already look so different from the day you were born. 

Your Grammy came to Italy the day after you were born. She fell in love with you the moment she saw your pretty face. She would sing to you and you would just stare at her and listen to her lullaby songs. You wouldn't burp with anyone else but her. She has that magic touch I suppose. She was a huge help to me. I would get her to hold you while you were awake at night so I could get a little bit of rest. Grammy got to spend 18 days with us and we had the best time! You got to travel at just 10 days old to Venice, Italy! You slept pretty much the whole time we were there. You just woke up to eat and get a diaper change. We are lucky that you are a good traveler! Last weekend we took you Verona! I forgot the Moby wrap to put you in so we had to buy a new sling for you and we actually like it better than the wrap. Your Daddy loves to carry you around and show you off to the world. He is a very proud Daddy. You already have him wrapped around your little pinky. He loves you so much Ivy. He is already the world's best Daddy! 

Then Sunday the 15th came and we had to say the hardest goodbye ever to your Grammy. I hated seeing her hold you for the last time and tears building in her eyes. That was the hardest thing I think Grammy and I have ever done. We have already skyped her once since she left. Your Grammy is my best friend. I pray that one day you and I can have a relationship like she and I have. We have always been super close. I hope to be half the mother she is to me and my brothers. I promise I am trying my best to be the best Mommy I can be. As you sit in your swing all bundled up, I am so thankful that God picked me to be your Mommy. You look so peaceful right now. I love you so much Ivy. You are the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me! Never forget that I love you more than anything! 

Love Always & Forever,

Mama

{Ivy's First Two Weeks Of Life} & {Grammy Comes To Town}

The day after Ivy was born my Mama flew all the way to Italy. It was perfect timing! Our friends, Carmen and Scott, went to the airport for us to pick her up and bring her to the hospital so Richard wouldn't have to leave me and the baby. When I saw Mama walk in the room I was super excited for her to meet Ivy. Ivy is her first Grandbaby and I know she was thrilled to have been able to see her within 24 hours of being born.  To see her face light up when she got to hold Ivy for the first time warmed my heart. She is a very proud Grammy and loves her Granddaughter so very much. Because Mama got in on Thanksgiving day and we were still in the hospital, our amazing friends brought us all plates of yummy food! We were so thankful for their willingness to do that for us on a holiday! 

The next day we were able to go home! I was so ready to be in real clothes and be in the comfort of my own home with my brand new baby girl. My Mama had cleaned up my house a little bit and had cooked Thanksgiving dinner for us! It was really nice to come home to a nice meal. Mama got to stay with us for 18 days! She was such a blessing to have around for so many reasons! She would cook dinner for us, clean, and calm Ivy down by singing to her. She was also about the only person that could get Ivy to burp after I would feed her. Mama just has that special touch I guess. A touch that I hope to get soon. The 18 days Mama was here went by so stinking fast but we had a great time and made the most out of those days! Mom was able to attend Ivy's one week and two week doctor visits and we learned that Ivy was definitely a growing baby! She weighed 8 pounds and 14 ounces at her 2 week apt. She has gained 13 oz. since birth! Wow!

I took Mama and Ivy everywhere! We  went to thrift stores, markets, a winery, a purse factory, Venice, Verona, and we ate yummy Italian food. Mama loved it all. Ivy could have cared less! She just slept the entire time except to eat and get a diaper change so she is a very good traveler! She is an all around good baby. She sleeps really good at night and wakes up about every 3 hours to eat. She loves her morning tummy time on my chest. She hates for her diaper to be the slightest bit dirty. I think it's mainly because her poop has made her bottom a little raw... She screams bloody murder when she has a dirty diaper and it breaks my heart into tiny bits cause I know it hurts her... Hopefully I can heal it with some Butt paste and CJ's Butter. Her sleep routine is pretty easy to work around. She wakes up every three hours to eat and get her diaper changed. I love watching her sleep and dream. The faces she makes crack me up. She is my little butterball!

So yesterday was one of the hardest days of my life. We had to say goodbye to Grammy... Ivy and I stayed home while Richard took her to the airport. We had an amazing time having her here and I hated seeing my Mama saying goodbye to her grandbaby. I cried sad tears when they left me.. Skype is the biggest blessing to have while we are over here in Italy. We have already skyped Grammy today! We miss her already! I can't wait for these next few months to go by so we can be in the US and close to family!

Ok so here are a bunch of pictures from Ivy's first two weeks of life along with pictures from when Grammy was in town! :) Enjoy!

Grammy & I in Venice, Italy

My sweet family

Ivy & I at the mall in Vicenza, Italy

3 Generations 

Me at the winery

Ivy's first tub bath

How she sleeps in her car seat

Showing Mom how the milk machines work

Yummy lunch we got downtown Vicenza

Ivy loves  her new swing

Mama & I at Aeolia's

Pear Faggotini

Me and Richard with Ivy in the sling in Verona

Verona, Italy

Us at Juliet's house

Ivy loves her Grammy's singing

{The Birth Story Of Ivy Victoria RuBright}

Well it is my honor to introduce to you the sweetest little blessing from above, 

Miss Ivy Victoria RuBright!

This is the story of her BIRTHDAY!

On Monday, November 25, 2013 I had my weekly OB appointment. The past three appointments I was told I was dilated 1cm and to my disappointment my doctor told me she didn't think I was even at 1 cm. I was so discouraged to hear that... It brought tears to my eyes. I was 39 weeks and 2 days and wanted to be further along so badly. She asked if I wanted to have my membranes stripped which I said no to, even though she said it might make things progress faster. I wanted things to happen when it was time.

Well the next day, Tuesday the 26th, I started cramping a lot worst than just the regular Braxton Hicks contractions I was use to. These pains were getting consistent, happening about every 3-5 minutes.  Around 1 p.m. I lost my mucus plug (which freaked me out at first). I was glad when Richard got home around 2 that afternoon. I was starting to have pains so bad that they put tears in my eyes. I remember I had went to the bathroom at some point and when I got up I had the worst pain on my left lower abdomen I have ever felt. I went in the living room to Richard and got him to massage my back as I sat on the birthing ball. The contractions were still coming pretty regularly and getting painful. I was kinda worried that I was in labor at that point. I called my Mama to see what she thought I should do. She told me to call the Birthing Center just in case so I did at around 10 p.m. and I talked to a nurse that said I am probably in the early stages of labor and it's best if I tried to labor as much as I can at home. So I tried my best to get rest that night but with the contractions happening every 5 minutes so I could not go to sleep. 

Richard woke up around 5 a.m. Wednesday the 27th to get ready for work. He was just going to take two guys to work and come back but they ended up not having to go till later so he got to come home real quick. When he got home I was almost in tears. I was in pain. I had also went to the bathroom again and noticed more 'bloody show' along with some other fluids that I wasn't use to. I had a gut feeling that it might be my amniotic fluid leaking. That is when I started getting nervous. I knew if it was a leak then I needed to get checked. I called the clinic again and they told me to come in and just get checked out just to be safe. So we got the last few things we needed to pack and we were on our way to the clinic. On the way there I just remember thinking this could be the last time I leave my house  without a baby. I could be a mom SOON! 

By 5:30 we were at the clinic and getting check out. They said I was 3-4 cm dilated and didn't think I had any kind of leak but they took a sample just to check it out. Well after waiting for what seemed like forever, the nurse came back and said my water was leaking and that is when they admitted me. Around 9:35 a.m. the doctor came in and broke my water. That was a weird feeling for sure. After that contractions came really fast and really hard. About noon they came and checked me again and I was already at 5 cm dilated and they asked if I wanted the epidural and I said I could wait a little longer. Well I waited till around 1 and the nurse checked me again and said I was at 10 cm! I was shocked! I was like 'Are you sure?' So when the doctor checked me I was at 8 cm. That was a relief because I knew if I had gone any further I couldn't get an epidural. Well when the anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural I was in tears. I was ready for relief. He had put it in and I waited for the numbness to take affect and that never came. He asked me if I still felt my legs and I told him yes and he said "oh boy." He told me that he was gonna have to take it out and do another one. I was so sad that I would have to stand that pain a little longer but it happened. After he got the epidural in we waited and about 15 minutes and I could feel my legs going numb. I was one happy pregnant lady in labor! Oh I forgot to mention that they made Richard leave the room for the epidural so for about an hour I wasn't with him and that hour was the worst hour of the whole experience. Richard never saw me in real pain. 

After everything went numb I could relax for a while. After a little bit my doctor checked me again and I was at 10 cm and could have started pushing but she said I should wait a little while and enjoy the epidural so that is what I did. 

When I was ready to push I did for about two and a half hours. It was hard to push though because I couldn't feel a thing. I wasn't making any progress so they turned down the medicine so I could feel the pressure of my contractions and then I could finally feel where to push. Richard was a great coach even though he tried making me push for more than the ten seconds...  Ha! The pushing was exhausting. I got to where I couldn't breathe because Ivy's feet where still high into my ribcage and every time I would curl my head to push through a contraction I felt like my lungs where being squished. After hyperventilating they finally decided to give me another kind of drug to numb the top of my uterus so I couldn't feel her pushing and I was finally able to push again. I remember them saying they could see her head and that just gave me the biggest desire to push through all the pressure I felt. I wanted to see my daughter. I was tired of waiting. I had been waiting for her for what seemed like 10 years. She came into this world at 7:23 p.m. She weighed 8 pounds and 1 ounce and she was 20.5 inches long. My doctor told me that she thought Ivy was going to about 6-6.5 pounds.... When she delivered her she instantly said "I am so wrong".  That she was! 

They placed Ivy right on my chest. Her cry was the sweetest little cry I have ever heard in my life. I asked for the cutting of her umbilical cord to be delayed so after about 2 minutes Richard got to cut the cord. The nurses cleaned her off while she was laying on me. After about 30 minutes they took her over to her table and got measured and weighed. Richard got to help with her first little bath. I loved seeing how excited he was and anxious to hold his little girl. He had waited a long time for her too. We were finally a family of 4. (Ellie included of course!) I am so blessed to have had such an awesome pregnancy experience and labor and delivery story. The Lord made her perfect in every way. She is my everything. Richard and I are so thankful to be her Mommy and Daddy. 

Right after they put her on my chest.

Weighing 8 pounds and 1 ounce.

Not very happy... 

Getting measured...

Proud Daddy with his eyes closed... lol

Wide awake after Daddy gave her her first bath!

My two babies!

Pretty thing!

Sweet Ivy Ru 

Southern ladies always have pearls!

IVY'S ONE WEEK OLD! (December 4, 2013)

This dress I wore when I was a baby!

 Here are some pictures of her first few days via Instagram. 

We are wondering if her grey eyes will turn brown or blue...

Sweetest little grin ever!

I LOVE being a Mommy!

Love her soft fuzzy skin.

Daddy loves snuggle time with Ivy!

She is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen!

{GummyBear Weekly Update}

Thanksgiving is 5 days away!!!

Bare Belly!!! 

How far along?  I am 39 weeks today! 1 more till DUE DATE!

Baby Size? She is about 7 pounds and 20 inches long!!! 

Total weight gain?  I have gained a total of 30+ pounds! YIKES! 

Maternity Clothes?  Yes!! Not all the time but I have some very cute tops and jeans to wear now! :)

Stretch marks?   I have two little ones that just popped up on my sides... I call them my "Mommy Stripes" and I am proud of them! :)

Sleep?  Getting interrupted by the frequent bathroom trips I have to make..  And the constant switching of sides is getting harder... And my hips are sore and fall asleep... Lol

Best moment of the week? Watching my tummy moving non-stop! Gonna miss that!

Miss anything?   COFFEE and sleeping on my belly... that's about it! Oh and Sushi! And cookie dough... And Fried eggs that are a little runny...

Baby movement?   YES!!! She is getting into my ribs now and trying to stretch out!

Food cravings? Cereal... all kinds. Rice krispies mainly! 

Sick?    Nope! Just heartburn ALL THE TIME!

Showing yet?    Yes I am! For sure!!

Gender?  A BEAUTIFUL little GIRL!!! 

Labor signs?   Just stronger Braxton Hicks... Blah! But I am 1 cm dilated and 50-60% thinned.

Belly button in or out?   Outtie for sure!

Wedding rings on or off?  Took my wedding ring and bands off the other day because I am so terrified that at the last minute my hands will swell and I wouldn't be able to get them off, so now I am wearing my Granny's ring my Mama gave me!

Happy or moody?   HAPPY! Nervous, excited, antsy! WAITING!!!!!

Weekly wisdom?  Doesn't matter what I eat at this point.. I still get heartburn.. Even pancakes... 

Looking forward to...?   Giving birth to our sweetie pie, IVY VICTORIA!!! :) 

{GummyBear Weekly Update}

Baby Size? She is about 7 pounds and 20 inches long!!! 

How far along?   I am 38 Weeks!!

Total weight gain?  I have gained a total of 30+ pounds! YIKES! 

Maternity Clothes?  Yes!! Not all the time but I have some very cute tops and jeans to wear now! :)

Stretch marks?   I have two little ones that just popped up on my sides... Sad but glad thats all!

Sleep?  Getting interrupted by the frequent bathroom trips I have to make..  And the constant switching of sides is getting harder...

Best moment of the week? Announcing our little's name!!!

Miss anything?   COFFEE and sleeping on my belly... that's about it! Oh and Sushi! And cookie dough...

Baby movement?   YES!!! She is getting into my ribs now and trying to stretch out!

Food cravings? Cereal... all kinds.

Sick?    Nope! Just the the occasional heartburn now... 

Showing yet?    Yes I am! For sure!!

Gender?  A BEAUTIFUL little GIRL!!! 

Labor signs?   Just stronger Braxton Hicks... Blah! But I am 1 cm dilated and 50-60% thinned.

Belly button in or out?    I think I can call it popped now!

Wedding rings on or off?  Took my wedding ring and bands off the other day because I am so terrified that at the last minute my hands will swell and I wouldn't be able to get them off, so now I am wearing my Granny's ring my Mama gave me!

Happy or moody?   HAPPY! Nervous, excited, antsy! WAITING!!!!!

Weekly wisdom?  It's ok to sleep until noon. Just keep telling myself that... ;)

Looking forward to...?   Giving birth to our sweetie pie, IVY VICTORIA!!! :) 

{Dear Ivy}

Dear Ivy,

I am finally able to scream your name to the world! We have waited so long to announce your name and after having pictures done, we were finally able to let everyone know the name Daddy and I chose for you. I know it will be a name you are proud of. It means so much to me and I hope it will to you too someday. Your first name we got from a very good friend of ours. She is one Godly, smart, hilarious, passionate woman and I hope you are something like her one day. She is a very bright light for Jesus in this dark world. She loved the fact that we chose her name to be our daughter's name as well. You will meet her one day and you will love her just like everyone else who comes face to face with her. 

Your middle name, Victoria, is not only the same middle name as me but the same one your Grammy has too! It's a very special name to me and I knew when I was a little girl that if I ever gave birth to a girl her middle name would be Victoria. It was a given. Now your Great Papa named your Grammy and he says, "You might say it goes back to my grandpa whose name was Arthur Victor, so Amanda Victoria could be a take off, anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.....". 

So you see both your first and middle name are very special and means a lot to me. 

You will be 38 weeks tomorrow! I can not believe how fast this pregnancy has pasted. I am sad that I won't be feeling your tiny feet kick my ribs or your sweet little punches for much longer. But something tells me I am gonna love tickling those little toes even more on the outside! Sweet Ivy I am beyond ready for your arrival. I am so ready to hold you and to give you warm kisses. Your Daddy is so ready to swaddle you up and cuddle you in his arms. Your sister, Ellie, is so curious to see who gets to have all these cool new clothes and stuffed animals. We are all just waiting for you! I know The Lord has already set in stone what day you will arrive and you won't come a second too soon or too late. It will be the perfect time! I just need the patience to sit here and wait on you! :)

I promise you I will do my very best to be the Mommy you need me to be. I have never been a mother before (other than to Ellie) but I can tell you this... I was put on this Earth to be a Mommy! YOUR MOMMY!!! I have had so many people from all over the world pray for you to happen and we have been through a lot to get to this point in our lives. I will tell you all about it when you are older. Just know that your Daddy and I have wanted you for a very long time it seems like and we are almost there! Just a matter of days! God totally knows what He is doing. His timing is always perfect even if we don't think it is sometimes. My daughter I am praying for you!!!! I love you with every inch of my heart! You are so loved by so many people. Never forget that!!! 

Love Always,

Mommy.

{Maternity Pictures}

Here are my FAVORITES from our maternity pictures!! 

ENJOY! :)

{Baby Ru's Name Reveal}

Richard and I prayed and pondered on what we were going to name our tiny blessing from above. It had to be special. It had to have meaning. It had to be perfect! We played around with a few different names but we just could not agree on anything. We just knew her middle name was going to be Victoria because that is my Mama's middle name and it is my middle name too so we had to keep that tradition going! Well one day my Mama and I were talking about names and she told me to play around with some of my friend's names. So there I was writing down all of my friend's names on paper. When I wrote this particular friend's name along with my middle name it just looked so perfect. It flowed together so well, even with her last name! I loved it! I just had to see if Richard was going to love it just as much. Lucky for me he absolutely loved the name! We were so excited to finally know our daughter's name! We {I} wanted to announce her name via Maternity pictures and we got a few of them today so I could announce her name ASAP! I am so pleased with these pictures and was so ready to finally be able to share with the world the name we picked for our baby girl! So here it is folks!!! 

Introducing our {SOON TO BE} Daughter, Ivy Victoria RuBright!!!

 More Maternity pictures to come SOON!!!! 

Photo Credit goes to Lily Rose Photography by Jennifer Blair