Wednesday Confession

I want to make Chloe a receiving blanket and matching burp rag. The main reason being that I want to make her something but it's been so long since I used my sewing machine that I need something simple to refresh my skills.

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the cutest frog flannel with a complimentary hot pink for the back side. I can't wait to see the finished product. As rookie as it may look.

BUT...

Apparently, not using your sewing machine for 5+ years (my how time got away from me) will cause you to forget how to load a spool.

Frustrated. Will figure this out! Now where is my instruction manual?

**********a few hours later**********

I WON!!

Still frustrated and in a hurry, I managed to complete the receiving blanket. I'll work on the burp rag later. I'm not too impressed with the size of the blanket. I found the pattern online. I'll make a larger blanket later. For now, I'm pleased with my warm up.

Here is the fabric. Is it not the sweetest? This blanket is so so so soft!! Maybe I should make one for me!

NO PINK NURSERY

We are finally finished with the nursery. Sort of. I still have a few finishing touches and I'm sure after our shower there will be much more organizing. But for now, we are done.

I said, 'no pink.' As soon as I found out it was a girl, I was foaming at the mouth for anything pink. What can I say? Things change.

I could NOT have done this amazing room without my mom. Mark and I are so grateful that she was more than willing to help! She has such creative ideas.

First-time Mom

People have very strong opinions when it comes to the subject of motherhood and raising children. I’m not going to do what I intended to when I started this post. However, I do want to express one thing.

I will openly admit that I have no concept of what having a baby will be like. But I KNOW that there is not a single first-time mom out there that did. You can’t know until you experience it. If you are a parent, you were at first-time mom at some point. You learned…so will I. What is the right age to have a child? There isn’t one and my age (which is nobody’s business) is not going to determine my ability to raise a healthy and happy child.

Sorry for the soapbox rant. The person this is directed to doesn’t even read our blog. I just needed to get this off my chest.

My mom came this weekend and we had tons of fun! By that, I mean that we worked on the nursery until the point of total exhaustion. It was soooo worth it!! Thanks mom!!! Baby G is going to love her room.

We are going to reveal the nursery very soon but my camera battery died and I’m too lazy to go buy more batteries. You’ll have to wait!

Half Way There (the Bump)

Mark takes a profile shot of me every Sunday night so we can 'document' the bump. We thought it would be something fun to go back and look at since changes happen so gradually that you don't notice them until you wake up one morning and can't button your pants or see your feet.

I still don't have much to show it appears; although, it must be becoming a little more obvious. I've had three strangers notice now. The wierest thing I've heard so far (and I know it will get more strange) was: 'Is it going to be a boy?' When I said, 'No, it's a little girl.' He said, 'Oh, I made a mistake. I thought because of your eyes...'

I really wish he had finished his sentence. I have no idea what about my eyes could possibly give away the gender of our baby. Who knows! People come up with the strangest things.

Anyway, here is our belly pic from last night. We are a week past our halfway point!

Nesting: Full Speed Ahead

I think I am completely out of control at this point. All rational decision making skills are shot for the next few months. Mark and I made a trip to Babies R Us this week and we came home with the nursery decorations. I didn’t stop with the bedding…no. I went for IT ALL! Lamps, wall hangings, blankets and extra sheets. My only explanation to Mark was: ‘This is our first baby!’

Bless his heart. He tolerates me very well. I’m usually not this spend-happy and VERY conservative with our disposable income.

I think Mark is in his nesting phase, too (if guys go through one). He spent the weekend painting over the bright orange in the nursery. I didn't even ask him to do it. Let me say, orange is an extremely difficult color to cover up and I miss my orange walls a bit.

I can’t share anything about the nursery until we have it complete. My mom knows but only because she is going to help paint and needs to start getting some ideas. Thanks Mom!  Hopefully, we will have something to show by mid-February.

I think we have our name list narrowed down. I don’t want to reveal anything until we have decided on at least two ‘for sure’ choices.

I had a few packages arrive this weekend for Baby G. Thank you so very much to the people who sent them…you know who you are. Love you all! Baby G is going to be the best dressed kiddo in all of Austin.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

It's a...

This time I'm not joking. We found out we are going to have a little girl! The doctor said she is 'perfect.'

I think what she really meant was that our baby's heart, limbs, spine and head all look like they have and are developing normally. Thank God for that miracle. And, it truly is a miracle.

I'm off to look at names and nursery decor!

Homework

Mark and I were both off of work for the past week. I think Mark would agree that the 'nesting' period is upon us. He worked so hard the entire week under my direction. Most of the work was in our living space downstairs. Other than the kitchen, we made a few finishing touches to make our house feel more like a home (i.e. curtains, furniture placement, etc.). Here is the before and after of the kitchen followed by some shots of our dining/living area.

Overall, the kitchen remodel was super cheap. We resurfaced the coutertops rather than paying for new ones, stained the cabinets, put up a backsplash and replaced the sink, faucets and wall plates. Now we just need to add the knobs on the doors and drawers and paint a little. These are some pretty terrible pictures. You can't really see the difference the stain made to the cabinets.

Below, are the curtains we hung in the living room. We hope they make the room a little warmer, too.

We put up the window sashes using curtain tiebacks because they are much cheaper. Doubt anyone will ever notice...well, maybe my mom ;). We also bought the buffet table in the right lower part of the picture. It has a lot of storage for cookbooks and games. I can't wait to hang a family picture above it.

We also bought a crib and matress for the nursery. Mark put it together for me on Friday afternoon! No pictures until we are done with the nursery, which my wonderful mom is coming to help with soon!!! Tuesday cannot get here soon enough.