Peaceful baby

As usual, Dakota is sleeping wonderfully from 9 am to 3 pm. Since I'm on my own tonight, I'm hoping she stays cooperative until at least 9 pm so I can get Jayden down okay. We'll see.

Videos

I took a few videos of Jayden and I forgot to post them:

Playing in the pool with Daddy.  It has been so hot here, swimming has become not just for fun, but a necessity.  Four more weeks and Mommy gets a turn to go in the pool too...

Of course this time Jayden swung and missed.  On his prior turn he power kicked it into the goal.  He's pretty coordinated, and is learning to dribble the soccer ball, rather than just kicking it randomly.  It's awesome.

Our distance swimmer.  He was a little tired during this one, but he has been swimming to the deep end and back regularly with Carmen.  Carmen doesn't usually help him at all, just swims alongside him as a safety net, obviously.  But it's pretty incredible how much Jayden has progressed over the last couple of years.

We're excited to get Dakota in the swimming pool too, even though it means we have to go in with her.

Wow.

So turns out, for anyone who may have forgotten, having a newborn baby is pretty hard.  And it's even more difficult when you have a three year old to chase after at the same time.  We are lucky that Jayden is so amazing and understanding, but it's still a challenge.  There are only so many things I can do one-handed.

Since I only have a few minutes to draft this, and I'm seriously behind on pictures, I'm pretty much going to tell the story in pictures.  And yeah, I clearly lied when I said I would at least post pictures regularly.  It's just difficult.  But hopefully I'll get better as I adapt more to the haze that I am living in called torturous sleep deprivation.

Dakota's first bath, at about a week old, with her big brother!  I love Jayden's not-at-all-relaxed pose in this picture.
Normally we wouldn't bathe her so early, but her umbilical cord stump fell off really early.

One of my favorite baby faces.  The post-nursing sleepy face while I'm trying to burp her.

Jayden and Dakota.

Gramma and Jayden playing soccer.  The two of them played a LOT of soccer.  Gramma was a good sport, because it wasn't cool outside either.

Gramma's birthday ice cream cake!  Soooo yummy.  Although, now the last couple of pieces are just sitting in our freezer laughing at me because I've had to adjust my diet to keep Dakota happy.  I've cut most dairy out of my diet, limiting myself to one or two servings a day.  I've eliminated most foods causing gas, like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, beans, etc.  It is tough, but it seems to help Dakota somewhat, so I'm going with it.  We've also been giving Dakota gripe water as necessary, to keep her stomach as calm as possible.  We were hoping it would help her sleep better at night, but that has only sometimes worked.
We've had a couple good nights and a number of pretty bad nights.  And when I say "we," I mean Dakota and I.  Thursday night she slept almost three hours straight - I nursed her from 11:30 to 12 or so, she went right to sleep and slept until 3:30.  I nursed her from 3:30 to 4 or so and she went right back to sleep until 6:30 or so, when I nursed her again.  That's how I'd like it to be.  Then there was Friday night.  Where I nursed her from 11 to 12:30.  Yes, that's right.  I nursed her for an hour and a half.  She slept, on me, until 2, then woke up and I nursed her again and she didn't go back to sleep until 4:30 or so.  At that point she slept on me again, until Jayden came in around 6:30 or 7.  The whole being awake for three hours straight between the hours of midnight and 5 am is what is so brutal.  Especially because there's no way to "catch up" on those three hours during the day.  

Daddy and daughter.  She's already in love, and he's already wrapped around her little finger.

A very typical baby sleeping pose.  With Jayden we used to say "and you throw your hands up - - - and they stay there!"

An excellent baby yawn.

A great picture of Dakota, which is why I included it.  I am not a fan of the picture of me, but oh well.

Jayden telling Dakota she can watch him at swim class today and isn't she excited?!??

One of his best expressions.  He's funny and he knows it, that's for sure.

Original family photo, on the way to swim class.

At the end of swim class - some serious air.

Watching big brother at swim class.

 And this is what happens when you let your three year old use the camera on your phone:

Pretty girl, relaxing on the couch.
Jayden took this photo too.

Someone was a little tired before dinner.

More sleeping baby, because why not.

Check out the socks.  Jayden picked these socks out, and for father's day we bought Carmen a pair and Jayden a pair.  His entire outfit is pretty rockin.  A Bay Hay & Feed long-sleeve shirt, Puma shorts, puzzle knee-high Nike socks (that also happen to be Autism Awareness socks) and purple Adidas.  I love letting him pick his outfits.

I got to pick Jayden up from Juju's a couple days last week, and one day we went through the car wash afterwards, something Jayden loves to do (and I've done very rarely in the past few months because of the drought).  You can see the soap through the sunroof.  It was pretty fun.  :)

Seriously peaceful.  We do have a number of dresses already, which my friend pointed out become a lot less practical around 9 months - once they start crawling dresses are pretty much useless.  So grandmas, keep that in mind: no 9 month dresses, please!  Oh, and also, as usual, we have more 0 to 6 month clothing than we know what to do with.  So if you are clothing shopping for Dakota, 9 month, or really 12 or 18 month clothing would be better.  12 month would be summer time, 18 month would be Southern California's version of "winter," which means summer time minus 10 degrees (so 75 instead of 85).

Hanging out at a birthday party on Saturday.  There was a bounce house there so we really didn't see Jayden except for the one time he got hungry and the one time he bumped his nose.  Other than that he was bouncing for 2 hours.

My birthday cupcakes.
Jayden kept telling me it was my birthday so I could choose what we did, and then saying "Mommy, Daddy and I are going to celebrate your birthday by going swimming."  So basically I had no choice, since if Daddy and Jayden are in the pool, Mommy is responsible for Dakota...
People kept saying "it's your day," which was sweet, but just not true.  Honestly, once you're a mom you don't really get a day that's completely yours anymore, and particularly during the time that you're the mom of a newborn.  

Me and the kiddos on my birthday.  I wanted to get a better picture of us, but by the time we got around to the picture, Dakota was fussy and it was Jayden's bedtime.  Oh well.  

Dakota had her two week doctor appointment.  She actually had gained weight, which is great.  She weighed 7 pounds 4.5 ounces and was still about 20 inches long.  Her percentiles are significantly lower than Jayden's percentiles were.  But she is healthy and gaining weight, which is what matters.  The doctor is having me give her a Vitamin D supplement, since babies can't really lay out in the sun to get Vitamin D and apparently Vitamin D is the one vitamin that has been found to be lacking in breastmilk.  Luckily she doesn't mind it.

We've also started giving her a pacifier, because half the time she's awake so long in the middle of the night it's because she wants to use me as a pacifier to soothe her.  And she hasn't loved the pacifier, but she's learning to use it.  And it hasn't negatively impacted her ability to nurse either, thank goodness.  So I feel good about the decision.  And maybe it'll help her take a bottle in a month or so also - here's hoping.

We also had Dakota's newborn pictures taken this week.  Here's a sneak preview:

We actually went twice - the first time the schedule was thrown off and Dakota was a pickle, as Carmen would say.  We got a couple, but I took her back a couple days later and that's when we got the one above.

And one last item - our photographer makes short videos of her sessions to promote her work, and she made one of our pregnancy photos in the field.  What's really cute is that you can see Jayden "helping" wave the train for a hot second.  Click on the link to see it: https://instagram.com/p/4dhXcPtF65/ .

Things are generally good.  Tomorrow and Wednesday Carmen has to work late so I am on my own with the kids for dinner and bedtime.  I am more than a little nervous about it, but honestly, there's only so much I can do, so we'll just make it work for those two days.  I am hoping to set up the monitor in Dakota's room also, and maybe have her nap in there once a day or so.  We'll see if I actually get that done, since I also need to go to the grocery store and pick up Jayden in between feeding Dakota, resting and changing diapers. Don't anybody be too jealous, I know my life is glamorous.

I'm not going to lie, I'm still looking forward to Dakota turning one.  Two weeks down, 50 more to go.  I just don't love this stage where I'm 100% responsible for a newborn 24/7.  It's a lot of pressure on a person, especially when the kid's sleep and digestive issues are easily blamed on me.  I am a lot more confident this time than last, and I know I'm taking good care of her.  But there are still so many choices to make - and then second guess - especially when you're sleep deprived and barely coherent.  I know things will continue to get better and that time will pass before I know it.  But at this stage it's sometimes hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A little overdue (on the post - but a little early on the baby!)

Many of you know now that baby girl made her appearance last Friday, June 12, 2015.  Just in case the news didn't reach you: Dakota Rhyan Wallace popped into this world at 10:48 pm, weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches long.

Friday also happened to be my last day of work, unfortunately.  I was really not feeling well Thursday afternoon/evening or Friday morning, but figured I had indigestion.  I'd had a really stressful day at work on Thursday at well, which did nothing to help me either, I'm sure.  In any case, I closed up my office, said my goodbyes and went to lunch with a friend.  The whole time I'm cramping and just not feeling great.  I still feel baby girl moving, but not a lot, and the pain was continuing to get worse.  Around 2:30, on my way to pick up Jayden, I finally decided to call my doctor.  Her message to me was: "go to the hospital.  NOW."  So of course I freak out a little.  Since I'm already at Juju's, Carmen and I agree it makes sense for me to get Jayden and to then meet at home so we can take one car to the hospital, in case this one is for good.  We make it, but I'm feeling worse and worse, and getting more and more anxious at the same time.  We get to the hospital and I check in to OB triage.  They get me on monitors and check how dilated I am.  By this point, it's clear that the pain I've been feeling for the past 24 hours or so was actually contractions that I should have been timing.  Oops.

In any case, they monitor me for about an hour and a half, and in that time I go from 3 cm dilated to a little over 5 cm dilated, and about 70% effaced.  So at that point I was clearly being admitted and likely having a baby sooner rather than later.  All I could think was that I was about to be a mom of two, and that idea just freaked me out for some reason.  Shortly thereafter, three nurses come into my room to do my paperwork, set up my IV ( so I could be ready to get the epidural the minute I get to labor and delivery, in case I continue to dilate at a rapid pace) and take my blood.  It was a bit of a whirlwind.

We have some amazing friends.  Carmen was already convinced I was being admitted, so we were making arrangements for our other responsibilities.  My amazing friend Lili lives about 10 minutes from the hospital and has a five year old boy who Jayden loves, so they offered to take him for the night.  They took him to dinner first, but once they found out I was there for the long haul, they just kept him for the night.  Carmen and I were really worried about it, but he looked at me and goes "mom, Ollie's going to be there, I'm not going to be alone!"  And Lili said he was amazingly easy - he told her how to put on his pajamas, how to brush his teeth, and he passed out within minutes.  Sounds about like our kid.  My boss and his wife offered to pick up Jasmine for the evening, which was also incredibly generous, considering they don't have pets and they probably had to get their house deep cleaned after Jasmine was there a day.

My view for the first hour or two in the triage room.  Carmen watching the U.S. Women's soccer game and Jayden reading his magazine.

All strapped up with my monitors, in my hospital gown, and ready to go.  

Carmen on his pull out bed, about a foot too short.
It was funny how much more relaxed Carmen was this time - we actually had to tell him to get up to come help out at times.  With Jayden he was a little more attentive.  I think I inspire too much confidence in people sometimes.

Pretty quickly after they moved me to my labor and delivery room, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural.  Because the epidural usually slows down contractions, the nurse also gave me the minimum dose of pitocin just to make sure I was still progressing.  On that minimum dosage, my contractions got stronger and more frequent, to the point where I was feeling them again and the nurse came in and took me off the pitocin.  The only thing that had not happened is that my water did not break.  So a doctor came in and broke my water for me (for fun, the doctor who ruptured my water was Dr. Jessica Simpson!).  Very little fluid came out, but that was explained either by my low fluid levels and/or by the position of the baby in my uterus.  If her head was in a certain position, it could have been blocking the fluid from coming out.  In any case, I had the labor shakes again, which are super uncomfortable, but not painful thank goodness.  But the epidural took care of any pain I had, which I was very grateful for, since contractions - especially the ones that come towards the end - are brutal.  

A little before 10 pm my nurse paged my doctor.  Five minutes later my doctor had not called back, so my nurse called her.  She didn't answer.  Five minutes after that, my doctor called and said she'd be there in 15 minutes.  About 25 minutes later, around 10:30 pm, my doctor actually showed up.  She got herself organized, my nurse got in position and they told Carmen what to do, and I started pushing.  I pushed about four sets of three times and at 10:48, out popped little baby girl.

Carmen has a better picture of the screaming blue mess, but below is the first "newborn" picture I have.

Baby girl Dakota.  Skin to skin time with mama after a relatively uneventful birth.

I was exhausted.  I had no idea how hard I was pushing, if I was pushing, etc.  Carmen said he and the nurse were using all their strength to hold my legs back and my head up - he said I was pushing ridiculously hard.  As much as I didn't want to feel the contractions, it would have been interesting to feel how hard I had to push.  Since Dakota was much smaller than Jayden (about a pound less at birth), I had an easier delivery, which was great.

I was in the hospital about 36 hours total.  I was admitted around 6 pm Friday night and by Sunday morning at 11 or 11:30 am, we were discharged.  On Saturday when my doctor visited me she asked if I wanted to go home Saturday.  I said "no thank you."  As much as there are reasons to be home from the hospital (infection, etc.), there are reasons to stay in the hospital too (the night nurse on Saturday night took Dakota to the nursery for her infant screening and kept her there an extra couple of hours so I could rest!).  Last time I got an extra day in the hospital, and we don't know if that's because it was my first baby, because of Jayden's jaundice, his circumcision, etc.  I think Sunday was the right day to come home.  As much as the hospital feels safer, they also poke and prod you a lot more, so it is nice to not have your blood pressure and temperature constantly taken.  And to have our own shower and clothes and all of that too.

This is our third full day home, and so far it has been okay.  The days are not bad at all actually, but the nights are pretty brutal.  Dakota really just wants to nurse for four hours straight.  During the day she'll get some solid naps in, but at night no such luck.  We're trying to figure out a solution, but are still experimenting.  At 4:30 or 5:00 am this morning, I finally wrapped her in a warm blanket and walked around with her outside.  She passed out pretty quickly. But by the time I got back upstairs and tried to lay her down, she was awake again.  Carmen finally took her, walked what felt like a mile he said and then he half-slept in the rocker in her room.  She IS only four plus days old, though, so she's got a lot to figure out too.

Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Dakota swaddled in her bassinet in the hospital

Hanging out in the hospital.

Auntie and Gramma arrived Saturday afternoon and everyone was happy to see them!

Jayden enjoyed holding Dakota for about 22 seconds and then was ready to pass her back.  He was very careful and had some very good spotters.  :)

Some Daddy-daughter time before heading home.

The obligatory sniff from Jasmine once we arrived home.  Who IS this kid?  You brought home ANOTHER one??!?

Sweet baby Dakota in her "going home" outfit.  This is even newborn sized and it's too big on her.
Tuesday she had her first doctor appointment.  She'd lost about four ounces, so she was about 6 lbs 8 ounces and 20 inches long.  As expected, her weight was in the 20th percentile and her height was in the 78th percentile.  About standard for children Carmen and I create, apparently.  Jayden was a little heavier and a little longer, so the disparity wasn't quite as bad, but there was still a clear percentile difference between length and weight.

Pretty much what we do all day.  Come visit!

We had a good dinner courtesy of Gramma and Auntie one night, so were doing the good food dances.  Pretty awesome.

Me and my kiddos.

Family shot.  Jayden refused to smile, but at least he's looking at the camera!

Ellen left last night (barely - due to the weather all over the middle of the country, but she made it). after a few hiccups).  Mom hasn't scheduled her return flight yet, but is here for the next couple of days at least.  Carmen was supposed to stay home from work for the next couple of weeks, but of course went in today for a meeting - I think this was even faster than with Jayden.  Jayden has been going to Juju's off and on (he went Monday and today, stayed home yesterday and will stay home tomorrow because it's Gramma's birthday tomorrow!).  Jayden is being wonderful, but it is easier when he is not home all day.  There's a lot of things he doesn't understand, most especially why I can't do everything with him that I usually do.  But even with that, he's being really understanding, and really sweet with Dakota.  He doesn't quite understand her fragility, so we're trying to explain that to him without him thinking he's doing something wrong.  It's a fine line, because we also don't want our 40 pound three year old falling on our five day old.  The solution is usually to move Dakota to a safer place so Jayden can bounce on the couch or run in circles or whatever it is he needs to do at the moment.

I'll try to post quick updates as I can.  Longer posts are more difficult to accomplish, but I'll at least get some pictures up on a regular basis!

Okay, but really. I'm ready.

Today was a day I'd like to do over, for the most part.  It was just long and rough and tiring.  Not exactly what I was looking for the day before 39 weeks.  

For those of you who don't want to know the grisly details, skip the next paragraph.
Tuesday night, just before dinner, my mucus plug discharged.  Which means labor is somewhere between hours to days away.  Well, since it's now Thursday night, it clearly wasn't hours away.  But I am basically anticipating any second, any minute, any hour.  My contractions are definitely more serious at night, so I had a few Tuesday that made me think labor was imminent.  Then they went away and for most of Wednesday I was fine.  Tired, but fine.  Wednesday night I had some pretty good contractions.  And at about 1:30 am I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep until about 4:30 am.  I actually came downstairs and did some work from about 3:30 to 4:30.  Terrible.

Luckily I had my Non-Stress Test this morning, which I was looking forward to, because it involves peaceful relaxation in a recliner chair for about 20 minutes.  Of course it wasn't as relaxing as last time and it went way too fast.  The "good" news is that baby girl moved quite a bit and looked very healthy, according to the technician.  My fluids are actually lower than Monday, but still not low enough to send me to labor and delivery.  The first reading came back at 4.8.  The second reading came back at 6.1.  If they get anything under 5, I go straight to labor and delivery.  So I'm barely making the cut.  But I am making the cut, which is what matters.  She was still hiding her face too, so I still have no idea if she has three eyes, one nostril, a cockeyed ear, etc.  Seems like we might find out soon enough, though.

This is what my 39 week belly looks like being "non-stressed."  :)

Jayden has been rather cute, but also waking up waaaay too early.  Since I've mostly gotten off work early, we've been able to get home and play a little bit before dinner, which has been really nice.  I've had to work with him to pick activities that let me sit down, but he's been pretty good about it.

I guess I forgot I had pictures to post with my last couple of blog posts.  So here are some photos:

Our cool kid with his goggles and his noodle after swim class.

Rocking out to the store music.  Wanna play "guess that store" based on the floors and displays that you can see?!?

(in case you're not as crazy as I am, that would be Nordstrom.  Kelly, I know you got that one!)

Jayden and I took turns writing the letters of his name.  Hopefully you can tell which ones he wrote and which ones I wrote.  Except the E.  My mom probably thinks I wrote the "E," since that's exactly how I wrote my Es when I was a little kid too.  

Jayden cleaning the floor for me.  Every once in a while it totally pays off to have a kid who is obsessed with cleanliness.

Jayden playing "catch."  He stands there with his catcher out and Carmen and I have to aim to get the ball in there.  It's an interesting game.  Particularly if we miss a little to the right and he doesn't move and the ball hits him in the head.  But it's actually a great game

This was amazing.  Last night before bedtime, Jayden ran around the upstairs squatting randomly.  The first time he did it he was completely naked and I swore he was going to pee in the middle of the room.  Luckily he was just "getting his exercise."  But it was hilarious.  So since Carmen and I were cracking up, of course Jayden kept doing it. It was just the best.

A true Southern California kid.  It was raining a little this morning, so Jayden went to get his "rain coat."  He came back downstairs with his winter coat.  He wore it, with his shorts, for the 30 foot walk to the car.  Then took it off and left it in Carmen's car the rest of the day.  Hilarious.

One of my clients brought a blanket for baby girl.  Clearly Jayden adopted it as his and ran around the family room as the yellow blanket monster, bonking into everything.  And now he's sleeping with it.
Tonight as we were snuggling before bedtime we talked about how Jayden has been so nice sharing things with his baby sister.  But I told him that some things are his and some things he doesn't have to share if he doesn't want to.  I clearly want to encourage sharing, but I also don't want him to feel like baby girl is taking over his world - more than he'll already feel that way.  I think it helped a little, because there was one thing he decided that he would keep for himself, which I fully support.  :)

Tomorrow is officially 39 weeks.  I have never been 39 weeks pregnant before.  I don't think I'm really enjoying it.  I'm incredibly uncomfortable and anxious, totally convinced I'm going to have the baby in the car on the way to the hospital because I can't count contractions the right way.  We'll see.  Honestly, I'm really just hoping my water breaks, because I know what to do if that happens.

This afternoon was brutal.  I had to fire our administrative assistant this afternoon, and she did not take it well.  And neither did I.  Because my office management is so supportive, I had to stay at the office more than two hours longer than I was supposed to, missed picking up Jayden and missed dinner.  It was really frustrating and emotionally draining.  It's sort of a miracle I'm still awake, except I had to do laundry so now I'm waiting on that.  I'm having a lot of pain, most of which I believe is just indigestion.  If I'm going to be in pain, I'd rather be in pain due to contractions!

As for the official update, supposedly baby girl measured 7 pounds 7 ounces at the ultrasound last week.  I wasn't planning on delivering a baby over 8 pounds, but it seems like I might get that opportunity.  Supposedly boys tend to be heavier than girls, but in our family that may be the opposite.  Unless the ultrasound tech was wrong and Jayden is really getting a baby brother....

Thank goodness one of the websites says it's nearly impossible to judge a baby's size from outside the womb.  I'm going to go with closer to 7 pounds, just to make myself feel better.  She's about the size of a mini watermelon, and is continuing to build up a layer of fat to help her survive outside the womb.

I'll keep everyone posted!  If you're so inclined, send positive thoughts for both kids to be born on the 12th.  That means baby girl has 26 hours to get this party started....!

Quick update, no pictures!

I had my weekly check-up this morning.  After my low fluid count Friday, I tried to take it easy all weekend, but Sunday morning had a little scare.  I felt like I didn't feel baby girl moving as much as normal, for a couple of hours at least.  I did what I thought I had learned, and drank some juice and laid down.  She finally moved again, and later on I felt hiccups and more movement, but it still scared me.  Since I was going to the doctor today, I waited to call my practitioner.

This morning I reported the slowdown in movement, which caused my doctor to worry a little more than she might have otherwise.  She decided I needed to go to the hospital immediately for a Non-Stress Test, which is where they put a band around your belly and monitor fetal movements, contractions and heartrate.  It's actually not terrible because you get a recliner chair, some cranberry juice and 7-Up to give the kid a little jolt of sugar and cold and uninterrupted time to yourself.  The downside is most of the time is spent worrying that something is wrong.

Baby girl moved, but not a lot.  They then did another ultrasound to check the fluids.  "Normal" is 8, and ideally it would be above 10.  It can go up to 25.  My first measurement was 4-1/2.  When you get a measurement that low, they have a second nurse come in to check again after I've laid on my side for 5 minutes.  My second measurement was 6-1/2.  I had to be over 5 for them to be okay with the number, so I won.  But the technician basically told me I need to calm down.  She essentially suggested I go on modified bed rest - no extensive cooking, no shopping, no extensive time on my feet - and that I drink 3 liters (100 ounces!) of water a day, at least.  In some ways I am relieved, but in many ways I am also nervous.  Because now I need to count contractions, something I have discovered I am terrible at doing.  I am constantly in fear that I'm not going to pay attention and Baby Girl is going to be delivered on the side of the road.

My doctor this morning said I was 3 cm dilated, which is progressing quite quickly.  She implied that I might not make it to next week's appointment.  Insane!  I'm hoping Baby Girl holds out until Thursday at least.  But we'll see.  As I'm writing this I'm experiencing some pretty intense contractions, so maybe she's just ready now.  I'll keep you all updated!

A teaser

In case you aren't on Facebook, or in case you didn't see them, since Ana doesn't tag Mamas in pregnancy photos, here are the two previews Ana put up last night:

I love the second one.  Like Ana said, it doesn't even look like me!  And what's even more special is that Jayden was playing "assistant" and helping Ana's assistant make the dress fly!  He was so proud of himself.  And thank goodness Caryn (the assistant) has a four year old boy, so she absolutely goes with the flow.  The first one I think I was probably starting to laugh, because Carmen and I had to stay like that for a couple minutes at least while they tried to get Jayden to do what they wanted.  So I don't totally look like I'm kissing Carmen, but I'm sure I mean it.  :)

Ana also told the story with the first picture:

Belly Baby Love by Ana Brandt

heart emoticon My client wasn't 100% sure she wanted to do pregnancy pics. So after a little chatter we booked an appointment and I asked her to send me a color she loves. She sent me this color and we bought the material that sat in our sewing room for weeks waiting for inspiration. We decided to bring her into our sewing room and just pick out the styles of other dresses she liked. We took styles from two different dresses and added a 5 foot train. This image happened towards the very very end of the shoot. She was cold and I am sure a bit tired, but look what we have! Pure magic. I love my job and the clients who trust me. Thank you Mama L!