Ways my husband is amazing

As of Wednesday, September 18 I am 37 weeks pregnant!! On one hand that sounds amazing, and seems like it has flown by. On the other hand it feels like I have been pregnant forever, which I'm sure is what most pregnant women feel like :) It has been an amazing pregnancy so I really have no room to complain. I had hardly any morning sickness and no headaches, just the occasional mood swing, and bouts of tiredness and restlessness. Nothing too horrible. I am finding that now that I am further along though, that I am hot all the time! Which is so unlike me. I used to be the person constantly wearing a sweater. Like a 70 year old. Now I am constantly fanning myself and overheating.  I have even had to warm my husband up which is so unusual we have to laugh about it. He was always the "heater" of the relationship. Guess that just proves this is definitely a Grow boy in my belly! Just the other night Evan was pulling extra blankets on himself and trying to cuddle up next to me for warmth, while I am kicking my legs out of blankets and sweating. Whoda thunk it?

As I am nearing the end of my pregnancy I still feel really great. I have been doing the usual nesting and my fair share of worrying, but other than that its been a really fun experience. I love feeling his kicks, knee swipes and hiccups, and I love that Evan and I can just sit and watch my belly moving all over the place. Even with all these little pieces of proof, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that we are having a baby! A real live adorable baby boy that we can snuggle and kiss to our hearts content! I don't think it will really sink in until I can look into his face and see him with my own eyes.

One thing I have really enjoyed is seeing the excitement on Evans face. Seeing how much he already loves his son is enough to melt my little heart every time. The way his face lights up when he sees my belly move, or the sweet way he kisses my belly before he leaves each morning has been so special. I have come to love my husband even more over these last few months, which seems impossible! I wanted to write this post just to mention all the sweet and funny things he has done for me lately that I never expected:

• Whenever I jump out of bed in the middle of the night saying "Oww, oww, oww" His first response is to sit up and lean towards me saying "which leg is it honey?"  - I love that. I love that I don't even have to explain what's hurting he just knows. This happened the first time I had a major Charlie horse so he didn't even have experience on his side lol After the pain subsided and I crawled back into bed he so kindly rubbed my sore calf until he fell back asleep.

• With this pregnancy I have had my fair share of hormonal mood swings. Like full on waterworks for no apparent reason. The first time this happened I tried to remove myself to another room so I wouldn't cause too much of a scene. I laid on our guest bed and cried my eyes out, again for no good reason at all. After a few minutes Evan came in the room and without saying a word started rubbing my feet. Naturally this made me cry all the harder, but I was so touched that he was sympathetic to my craziness.

• Just last night I had an episode of an overworked brain that turned into crying. Something I didn't do much before being pregnant. (the crying part, my brain being overworked has long been a bad habit of mine) He just got up from the bed and got me some fresh ice water, along with a handful of Hershey kisses and laid his head gently on my belly until I stopped crying. Now is that a trooper or what?!

He has put up with boring childbirth classes, swollen feet, shin splints, me being too tired to make dinner, frantic nesting, my indecisiveness with almost anything being purchased for baby, anxieties, forgetfulness, self consciousness, my chronic over thinking and more. And he still loves me!!  How in the world did I get so lucky?!! After all that we have been through over these last nine months, I am more excited than ever to see Evan become a father. I am so grateful that my body has been able to make him a daddy. Hurry up baby boy, we cant wait to meet you!!

Nursery Chair

Several months ago I visited my mom and sister while they were having a yard sale, just to visit and of course bring some Starbucks. Cant get through a yard sale without some good ol' Starbucks. Of course whenever you are near a yard sale you just cant help but look around. Well hidden in the back corner of the drive way was an old upholstered chair my mom had had in storage for years. It wasn't much to look at just your ordinary old velvet chair, but as soon as I sat in it I knew I had to have it. It is so comfortable!! So my mom was generous enough to give it to me, and my husband was sweet enough to come and pick it up in his truck, and home it went!

 

Now I've never reupholstered a chair like this before. Sure I've done my fair share of dining room chair cushions and even helped make some slipcovers (story here) but never a project this big. I will now be the first to admit I went into this project totally naïve! I looked online for some tutorials and they made it sound like a piece of cake. Maybe their chairs were easier, or maybe they had more experience but, naturally, my chair wasn't really like the chairs on any tutorial. So a lot of guess work took place let me tell ya.

 

 

Here is the chair before I started...

 

 

Not bad, just a little dated. So I started snapping pictures from every angle, as the tutorial suggested I do. This step was supposed to be a reference of where everything goes, and how it was all put together. But I didn't take nearly enough pictures of the stuff that matters. Something you would only know if you had done this before.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I didn't know the gender of the baby when I started this chair, I just decided to go with a really neutral fabric. I hope it doesn't get too stained up, and I do plan to throw a cute blanket over it to try and help protect it some.

 

Here is the finished result....

 

 

 Thank goodness babies don't know what straight seams are and don't love you any less if you aren't a top seamstress!! One thing you can't see in this picture is the row of bronze nail head trim that goes down the side of the arms, which adds a little bit more personality.

 

The one thing that did stay intact through this whole project is the comfort of this chair. Which is fantastic because I envision myself spending many a night rocking our little boy in this chair, or reading him bed time stories.

 

Here is a side by side...

 

 

I'm just so relieved that this project is finally done and I can move onto the more exciting projects like dying onsies and making cute bow ties. ;)

 

Nursery Ideas

I know it has been forever since I've written here on the blog, and I'm sorry 'bout that :) I've been a little bit busy over the last few months, but I thought I would stop by and share just a few of the million ideas that are floating around my head. As you all know by now we are expecting a baby boy this October of 2013!! We could not be more thrilled to start this new adventure in our lives, and I am made more and more thankful of who I get to go on this adventure with. My husband has been so sweet and caring since I got pregnant. I'm talking foot rubs, back rubs, bringing me food and water etc. Everyday he talks to my belly, telling him "stay in there until its time to come out, OK?" and "be good to your mommy today." I couldn't ask for more!

 

So now that there is a baby on the way, my brain is in nursery planning overload! I used to think, back before I was pregnant, how fun it would be to plan a nursery. I mean, You get to redecorate a room from scratch, putting in it only what you love not just working with all the junk you've collected around your house. It can be your own personal retreat from the rest of the world, a place for just you and your baby to love. While it is still those things, I never realized until now how overwhelming that all can be. Its not easy for me to create a room from scratch. To go through a store and only buy what I love not just what is cheap :) Especially when it comes to a boy space. I have a tendency to decorate on the feminine side as it is. And in case you haven't noticed, the market on boy things is ridiculously small and mostly outdated. That includes everything from clothes to nursery décor. I guess if your into poorly drawn alligators or Winnie the Pooh your set, but as for the rest of us we just have to figure something else out ;)

 

So I decided to break it down for myself, starting with the things I don't like so I would know not to include those in the space. (that might sound like a pretty obvious thing to others, but what can I say I'm a sucker for anything with a clearance sticker) I knew I didn't want to include anything too babyish, no baby blues or yellows, no jungle animals or reptiles, etc. I also wanted it to be a pretty neutral space because I wanted to keep the guest bed in the room. So with all those things in mind I went to Pinterest. Now comes the fun part with all the cute pictures....

 

Of course there is the crib. I've known for years I wanted this crib whether it was a boy or a girl... 

 As soon as I saw the walls in these pictures, I knew I wanted to do a really light, sunny grey and of course have my usual abundance of white furniture.

 

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Since I wanted the nursery to be a space that would grow with our son and be neutral enough that our guests didn't feel like they were sleeping in Baby's R Us, I decided it would be a good idea to add a lot of neutral wood elements like this...

 

As soon as I saw this rustic frame I knew I wanted it to be full of pictures of people that love him. Friends and family that will be a big part in his life.

 

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I also wanted a cute way to store all those random toys that will eventually be scattered around the house. These crates can work not only in the nursery but be dragged out to the living room as well.

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I want to make a wooden growth chart that can be taken with us if we move.

 

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So that's where I'm at right now. I've got a good amount to start with, and of course my usual list of DIY projects. As soon as I finish reupholstering the chair for the nursery (Ill share that project I promise ;)) I can finally get started on that list. Ill try not to be a stranger!!

 

 

 

Valentine Mantle

I thought I would show you all today the simple Valentines mantle I put together. Now usually I am not one to decorate for a small holiday like Valentines day. My husband and I don't even usually celebrate it, or if we do, we celebrate it on a different day that week to avoid all the craziness. So needless to say when I got the hankerin' (yes that's totally a word) to do something crafty I decided to dress up my somewhat sad looking mantle. This was quite the challenge for me seeing as how I don't own any pink or red decor, and nothing with hearts! I was also determined to do this without spending any money. gulp.

 

So my little mind went to work and I started scouring Pinterest for DIY ideas. I knew from the beginning I didn't want to go too Valentiney (I have a tendency to make up my own words) with the all pink and little cupids, especially since I didn't have any red or pink decor to start with. So I started on the heart garland.

 

 

I hand cut all the hearts from some red and pink scrapbook paper as well as some old book pages. The book pages totally gives it a more vintage/neutral look. It was pretty time consuming but ended up being my favorite part of the whole mantle!

 

I had some left over hearts so I used those on my candles for my "height" section of the vignette. I cut out slightly larger hearts from book pages to outline the red hearts and to add a little more of my vintage love. I taped them to each other and then to the candle. Then secure them with a little bit of jute twine.

 

 

Next I started working on the XOXO canvas. I took a blank canvas I had in my stash and started covering it with more book pages. I then used my Cricut to cut out the X's and O's and taped them on. I wrapped some coordinating twine to match the candles.

 

 

A few nights previously my husband went to Michaels to get some craft paint and he spotted some little wooden signs. So he bought me a few of them, one being this little Love sign. If that isn't love I don't know what is!! So I painted it red, and put it front and center. I stacked it on a craft paper covered book and the only little pink book I had that just so happens to be about cupcakes. That's Valentiney right?

 

 

 

I might add a few things here and there as the week goes on. My Camellia bush is just starting to bloom in the front yard so hopefully I can add of few of its white blooms soon. But overall I'm pretty happy with it, especially since I used only what I had around the house. That's the beauty though of being a DIYer at heart, your up for the challenge of making things out of nothing!

 

 

 I added a few more things to the coffee table and brought out my pink pillow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I fell in love with this pillow from TJ Maxx a while ago and bought it even though it doesn't match anything else I own. he he Maybe it will be useful down the road if we have a little girl in the house, but for now it fits right in with the Valentines Decor. :)

 

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Thanksgiving 2012

I know this post comes waaaay late, but I thought it couldn't hurt to share it anyway :) Just to forewarn you this post is going to be pretty picture heavy, because well I'd rather let the pictures do all the talking! I got most of my inspiration from Pinterest (no big surprise there) so if you would like to see some of my inspiration pins, you are welcome to visit my fall board here.

I was so excited to host our very first Thanksgiving at our house this year, and I wanted to keep the decorations very simple and natural. I am not a huge fan of traditional Thanksgiving decor and colors so I put my own spin on it. I went with aqua pumpkins, white plates, tan linens, and natural tree branches for that pop of fall color. Hope you enjoy!

  

 

 

 

 

 

Each person had a cloth napkin, paper napkin, and personalized leaf place holder.

 

 

Mmmmm you cant forget the sweet tea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Sorry for the crazy eyes, Britna caught me off guard, but yay for homemade Pumpkin Cheesecake!

 

 

Britna did such an amazing job with all the arrangements around the house. She is also responsible for all of these beautiful photos!

 

 

 

 

Evan had the most important job of all, entertaining the little man. But they enjoyed themselves thoroughly on the wooden ramp Evan made that morning.

 

 

Overall I would say it was a very successful first Thanksgiving. Thanks to a wonderful family that helped me out and made it so much fun and memorable.

 

If the host is smiling at the end of the Thanksgiving, you know its been a good day. :)