Happy Thanksgiving 2013!!

I always have a lot to be thankful every year but this year especially. I am so thankful for my whole wonderful family and my friends. We are so lucky to have such great people to support us.

I am very thankful for my husband. Two years ago he was a terrified first time father but this year he has become so much more confident and involved with Miller. Plus he is so excited about the new baby's arrival, probably more than me.

And as cliche as it is, he is an amazing provider for our family. He works so hard and does so much to make sure that we are all happy and taken care of.

*Sidenote: Happy birthday to Ben and my nephew Silas today!!

This face! How could I not be thankful for this face?!?! This little man pushes me to the brink of insanity but he also makes me insanely happy. He has brought such meaning to my life and I can not even remember the person I was before I was mommy. He is my best buddy and I pray that he always will be.

And this face! I will admit that I am so scared of the transition ahead but I look forward to falling in love with this face just like I did with her brother.

I started out this year praying that we would get pregnant soon. We had only been trying for a month or so, but after our journey with Miller I was hoping it would happen soon. It was only a couple of months later that we did get pregnant. Then I prayed for a healthy and smooth pregnancy, and I prayed that God would bless us with a daughter. I can not believe that we are where we are and I am so thankful that God has blessed us so much this year. I now pray for a smooth and safe delivery and for the health of our baby girl (as well as all of our friends and family).

I hope that everyone out there has a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

First Trip to the Atlanta Zoo

Back in the spring, we bought a groupon for admission to the zoo. We planned to use it this fall when it was cooler but in the meantime, we got a membership to the zoo from my parents. So we gave the groupon to Steve and Heather and we all went. The weather was definitely cool so it was the perfect time to go.

He slipped off the back of tail and I was laughing so hard it hurt.

The baby monkey was nursing, and of course I gasped and was shocked that she was nursing in public without a cover on. How rude!! (That is total sarcasm if you can not tell). Heather and I thought it was adorable!

Miller shockingly obliged when I asked him to put his head there. My child never cooperates.

This stroller was parked outside one attraction. I find it funny because this means there is another child out there like mine. I am always carrying around a few cars when we go out and mostly some Lightning McQueens just like these.

He was so excited to go on the train but then regretted that once we went through a tunnel.

It was a fun trip and I am so glad we got a membership so we can go back a lot this year.

Nursery Project: Wall Decor

Some of the finishing touches in the nursery were to hang up things on the wall. Before I reveal the whole completed nursery, I wanted to feature those snippets.

With all the headbands and hairbows that I made (and bought, and mom bought), I needed somewhere to store them. I saw people using old frames with hooks and ribbon and it seemed like the perfect idea. The only problem is that some of her thicker headbands do not fit on the hooks so I have them in a tray on her dresser.

I made a wreath for Miller's nursery when I was pregnant with him so I needed one for her room.

I ended up going back and redoing Miller's wreath so that they match. I love seeing  both of them on their doors when I am upstairs.

When I was early in my pregnancy and always worried that something would go wrong, I swear that I would immediately see a rainbow. I have gone years without seeing one and all of a sudden I was seeing them all the time. I told my mom and that afternoon she texted me a picture of one outside her window. Since, mom and I are huge "Wizard of Oz" fans I wanted to put up a quote from the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I could not narrow it down so I just used the whole song.

 

I wanted to have some consistency between both kids rooms so I needed to make a quilted name banner just like the one over Miller's bed. I guess this also serves as a reveal of Baby Girl's name.

Miller has a large "M" on his wall and while I looked for the same one on etsy (the shop has since closed) I went with something much more girly, an "S" covered with pearls. I keep picturing if the kids end up sharing a room at some point and Miller has his wirey black "M" over his bed and she has this pretty pearly "S" over hers. Or they might make their way onto a family gallery wall someday.

I planned on using the dresser as a changing table and wanted something hanging over it. I saw these tassel garlands on pinterest and I had to make one, especially if it  had some metallic in there. I am no longer using the dresser for that anymore but this is still pretty. It was pretty much my substitute for a mobile over her bed, which she does not really have a place for.

 

Miller has a print with a "Rocky Top" quote within the state of Tennessee so I needed something to represent our home state in her room. There are hearts over our hometowns. The bottom picture is a painting that we made with Miller.

I had this on my initial to-do list so that it would be something Miller could be involved in. I had pretty much scrapped it when one day a couple of weeks ago I decided to attempt painting with Miller. He loved it so I figured we could give this a shot.

I taped up my design and put our colors on a plate. He had so much fun. Mommy and Daddy had to help him so that the whole thing got covered but that just makes it a whole family project that we made for our newest little member.

Nursery Update: Box Valance

I saw people on Pinterest making box valances out of foam, batting and fabric and I was so giddy with how easy it seemed. They add such a polish to a room and right up my ally for a rentervating project with how cheap of an investment they really are.

I used leftover foam from the headboards. We had to make these from two pieces because the window is so wide. I let Ben engineer this but it was really simple. He put a bunch of straight pins in one side and then hot glued it when he shoved  the two together. Then we glued on a separate panel on the back to hold it together. We made it a bit smaller then the height of the rest of the structure so that we could still staple the batting and fabric to the main pieces.

The corners were the same concept with straight pins and glue.

 

 

Here is the finished structure. 

How you install it is really up to you and where you are putting it. For us, we already had a simple wrap around rod on that window so we decided to use that. We took 3 binder clips and stretched them out so that they could rest on the rod. We glued one on each side and one in the middle (on that support panel in the middle).  This thing weighs nothing so we were not too concerned with that being an issue.

After we made sure that it worked, we upholstered it with the batting and fabric, the same way we did the headboards. 

This really was so easy and makes the room look so much nicer. It makes me want to make a box valance for every window but I think I will make that decision when we buy a house.

(I already wrote about my feeling about the two patterns put together in my post about the curtains.)

Halloween '13 recap

This is just a few pictures from Halloween.

Miller picked out this pattern. He kept calling it a ball because I think he was focusing on the circle around  the spider. Oh well!

Our friends came over and we took the kids trick or treating around our neighborhood. Of course Miller was not into sitting for a picture.

 

My two lumberjacks.

Miller could care less about the candy but still liked going to the door to get it. This is a horrible picture but I just love Miller and Isla peaking in this lady's house while they waited for her to answer the door.

I had to get a picture of Baby Girl in her costume.

It was a fun evening and even though Miller still did not totally get the whole thing, he was still lots more fun than he was last year. Halloween really is more fun with kids.

Baby Sprinkle

This past weekend my wonderful friends, Lindsey and Heather hosted a sprinkle for Baby Girl and I.  It is so nice to be able to get together with friends to celebrate her upcoming arrival. They went with a succulent themed tea which sounds so unusual but was so pretty and elegant..

All of our friends that came. Thanks girls!

The teacups with succulents in them were sent home with guests as favors. I got two (the ones on the left).

I am so glad that the girls did this for me. Of course the first baby gets celebrated because they are the first but really every baby should be. This was the perfect small sprinkle to celebrate our little lady. She is already so loved!

Baby Girl Maternity Pictures

When we took Miller's 2 year pictures, we also got some maternity pictures of me. I really wanted some photos that captured our family at this time. Since I had to be in the pictures, Heather and Ben had to take them. I had to direct Ben tons but it was a good lesson for him to learn to use my camera in case I need him to take pictures in the delivery room. By the way, if anyone is ever looking for a gift for me, I would like a clone of myself that can follow me around and take pictures for me so that I can be in them. Thanks!

This is more of a blooper picture. This is pretty much the reality of shooting with Miller. He is having a blast running around while Ben and I are exhausted and overwhelmed trying to wrangle him. 

I hate the cars behind us but I love this picture of my baby and I.

He got in trouble with Daddy, so he came running to me for snuggles.

Another blooper. This looks like Ben and I are saying, "Are we sure we want another one?"

Ben was telling me to be serious and of course that meant I could not keep a straight face.