"Hoo" Loves You Baby

Since finding out we were having a boy, I have remained stumped - until recently that is! - as to how to decorate his room. I didn't want it to be too frilly (which would have been easy to do given our exposure to all things pink and girly the past 2 1/2 years with Alexandra!), but I also didn't want to go the opposite direction with something "all boy" like trucks, tractors, etc. (No offense to any who go that route, it just wasn't what I wanted).

Imagine my delight when I stumbled across the following bedding set from Carousel Designs:


Isn't it adorable? I love the owl print fabric - kind of retro. The shade of blue is beautiful, and I was sold at the chevron bedskirt (I have a great love for all things chevron, as if you couldn't tell from my blog background).

I've had a blast looking for owl decor on the web - I might be going a TAD over the edge with the owl theme, I'm going to have to pull myself back! (And no, I wasn't a Chi Omega in college!)

Picked up this very cute owl lamp from Target - the base is more of a deep brown, not black as it appears in the photo. I'm considering painting the owl base white and then covering the shade in the same chevron fabric as the crib skirt - what do you think?


I was out buying some Christmas presents last week and ran into Z Gallerie, where I found the cutest owl bank at the most ridiculously low price:


Plus these really pretty frames that I think match the blue in the bedding pretty well:


There will be a collage of these cute owl prints on the wall that I purchased from this Etsy seller:






I think I've reached my limit in all things owl, don't you? Along the way, though, I've bookmarked some other owl decor that I thought would be perfect for a nursery...

Like this little owl clock:


And this growth chart:


As I type this post, Baby Boy is rolling around all over the place, so I am going to take that as a sign that he likes his new room! I will be sure to post pictures of the finished product.

Random Thoughts, and a Christmas Play

Hi all!

As much as I hate to do this, the content of this post is going to be in bullet points....because that's about how my brain works at the moment!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving but it was BUSY, BUSY, BUSY with lots of time spent on the road. It was very nice to see our families, but also nice to be settled back in at home, only to gear up for the next big holiday.

***************

The past few years we have put up two Christmas trees - one that I have labeled our "fancy" tree with color coordinated adornments and the other our tree that is lovingly decorated with all of the ornaments we have acquired over the years. Well, the fancy tree broke when we were taking it down last year (we are an artificial tree family) and so we decided to just put up the one tree this year (and I'll buy a second one at a major discount after the holidays!). Alexandra has been intrigued by the tree - this is her first year to truly get into it. She loves checking out all the presents underneath the tree and playing with the ornaments...her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Sesame Street ornaments spend more time off the tree than on!


***************

Alexandra is growing and changing every day, so very much. She is such a smart little girl, and not a day goes by that she doesn't amaze me with some comment or observation (I'm pretty sure I didn't know what a hexagon or octagon was when I was 2 years old!). She is really quite funny and is quite the little character....though she is very much TWO and is prone to some toddler mood swings that I'm not really sure yet how to handle. Case in point...

***************

Alexandra's preschool has all kinds of little activities during the month of December to celebrate the Christmas holiday. Each Friday, a different age group will present to family members their Christmas program. The 2 year-olds started things off this past Friday. They had been practicing for a month or so....and it's been a lot of fun having Alexandra walk around the house singing Jingle Bells off-key while she pumps her little arms up and down in the air! Well, the "program" was interesting, to say the least....I'm not sure what we expected as parents and grandparents of two dozen 2 year-olds, but it was organized chaos and really more just a photo opp for the families. The first of two classes of 2 year-olds came out and half of them broke down in tears at the sight of the mob (and I only half-joke when I use that term, you should have seen some of the pushing and jostling by parents to get a good angle to take pictures!) that was watching their every movement. It then came time for Alexandra's class to enter the room. Here she is marching in line into the room....


Somehow, she was able to pick her Daddy out of the crowd immediately. She promptly lit up and yelled "Hi Daddy!" (which she is doing in these 2 shots).....



... before throwing herself down face first on the ground and starting to cry. Bless her heart, I'm still not sure if it was the crowd of strangers, the fact she saw us and couldn't get to us, or just the fact she was just plain tired - but she would have NONE of it. I had to walk up to the front, scoop her up, and take her out into the hallway to calm her down. It finally took some cajoling with a sucker to calm her down.


I was able to get her back into the room for the last song, but when I tried to get her to sing, another meltdown came. Oh well, maybe next year will be different!

***************

We have a scheduled date for my c-section, and I'm pleased to share that baby boy will be here in about 11 weeks or so! It was so funny to open my mail a couple of weeks ago and find a letter from my OB, simply stating that my c-section had been scheduled for this date and I needed to be at the hospital at this time. So simple and concise - no fuss, no muss! On the one hand, we will never experience that thrill of surprise when labor starts and we throw all our things together and race to the hospital. On the other hand, our life is crazy enough and it isn't so bad to try to have such a big event scheduled and planned!

***************

We are working hard toward finishing up Alexandra's big girl room so we can get her all settled in before working on her brother's nursery. I'm really tickled with how well everything is coming along so far. Remember that white dresser I grabbed off of Craigslist for $20??


Well, here it is after a makeover!




It's amazing what wonders a can of paint and some new hardware will do! I have to extend a huge THANK YOU to my sweet husband for painting the piece and dealing with the paint fumes, which were a big no no for me given the pregnancy.

More pictures of her room to follow as we wrap up more of the odds and ends....the next project on the horizon is her headboard, which I think we're going to try to make!

Bump

I sometimes wonder if I take things for granted with this second pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, it's not like it's "old hat" by now (this is only my 2nd!) and it is not exciting, because it IS. However, it's so funny how truly different the experience has been this go around, and I'm not just talking about the much harder time I have had physically with this pregnancy.

With our first, I read virtually EVERY book Borders had on pregnancy, and "What To Expect When You're Expecting" (aka, The Pregnancy Bible) was my trusty companion. Each week, I would eagerly devour the section in the book that applied to that particular week, noting the approximate size of the baby (they always compare it to items you find in the produce department at the grocery store, why is that?) and what was going on with the baby that week. Once I could finally feel her kicking, I would sit for long periods of time, thoroughly entertained to watch the effect each punch and jab had on my stomach. I rested - LOTS - and I nested more than I realized at the time, preparing lists of things to take to the hospital, lists of things for the nursery, lists of lists, etc.

My, how quickly things change! Rest is out of the picture due to the very active toddler running around our house. I have not once consulted any of the books - I think they are collecting dust in a shopping bag, buried somewhere on a closet shelf. We have not even begun to pick out a name (much to the dismay of those around us), and have not decorated the little guy's nursery. Oddly enough, none of these things stress me out, like they would have the first time around! I'm just taking each day as it comes. And while I still enjoy the kicks that are becoming more and more pronounced, I don't find them stopping me in my tracks like the last time.

One thing I was/am a slacker about in both pregnancies is documenting the "bump". I think I have 4-5 pictures from my pregnancy with Alexandra, documenting my stomach size, but that's it. One true regret I have is not taking a picture immediately before we went to the hospital - maybe I was afraid to see how big I had truly gotten! Denial, it's not just a river in Egypt. So here I am, slacking again with the bump photos. I'm 25 weeks (today) and realized that I have absolutely no profile shots to document the little guy - how terrible is that?! I made sure to take care of this (albeit with a crappy iPhone picture) tonight, so without further adieu, I give you "the bump" (25 week version).



In looking at these pictures, it amazes me how much bigger I look at this point in the pregnancy compared to 25 weeks the last go around. Truth be told, it frightens me a little bit to think that I have quite a bit of time left and how B-I-G I will be by the time February rolls around! Oh well, you've just got to roll with it!

A Room Fit For A Princess

We're currently working on setting up Alexandra's "big girl" room next door to her nursery (soon to be baby brother's nursery) so we can have her all moved in and settled long before February so there are no hard feelings when the baby arrives. I had so much fun decorating Alexandra's nursery in our old house (same as our current house), and if it's possible, I'm having just as much fun if not more thinking about her big girl room! Such a big development for such a sweet little girl.

I started with the fabrics (all from here). All of the fabrics I picked out are Waverly - alot of the window treatments throughout our house are made with Waverly fabric and I always get lots of compliments on them. There is such a large and diverse collection of fabrics, and they are VERY reasonably priced.

The first fabric is Waverly Pinwheel Parade - this will be made into drapes (all of the sewing by my oh-so-talented mom, aka "Mimi") and a couple of shams for the full-size bed:


The colors are a little different on the computer than how they look in person - especially the pink (it's not as coral as it appears in the picture above). The next fabric I am in love with - Waverly Cross Section Green. I love how this is a more modern fabric pattern that compliments but also tones down the traditional vibe of the Pinwheel Parade above. The Cross Section is being made into a table skirt for a round table that will go on one side of the bed, plus the bedskirt:


The final fabric is Waverly Bettina Clementine - this will be used for some throw pillows on the bed, and most likely to cover a bench at the end of the bed:


Because there are SO many bright colors going on in the fabric, I wanted to go with a fairly calm, soothing paint color on the walls. I already had the perfect soft, creamy yellow in my dining room that I knew would be perfect - Sherwin Williams Jersey Cream. Here's a paint chip - unfortunately, this looks NOTHING like what the color looks like on the walls!


The thing I am most excited about so far are the two pieces of furniture I have purchased for her room off of Craigslist. The first is a dresser I purchased for $20 (yes, you read that right, only $20!) that we are going to use for a nightstand on the other side of the bed, opposite from the round bedside table. It's a diamond in the rough, but can't you see the potential?


I also got this lovely antique chest of drawers - someone had refinished it in a distressed light blue finish which is nice, but not what I'm going for.


I love the little details on both of these pieces, which make them both well-suited for a little girl's room.




Both of these pieces are going to get a complete makeover with new hardware and fresh coats of oil-based paint in Sherwin Williams Melange Green - paint chip below, which once again looks a lot different than what's in the can!


As there will be so much green going on in the room, I really wanted to bring in some more of the pink for the other touches. I love this pink ceramic gourd lamp from Shades of Light - though I'm going to try to find something similar from Home Goods.


I also love this little owl lamp from Target, just switch out the lampshade for one that is pink or green.


I also want to do a tufted headboard - this one is similar in look to what I want, but I will probably try to channel my inner Martha and make it myself.


So there you have it, a brief glimpse into the workings of a room fit for a little toddler princess - let's just hope it turns out so pretty that she falls in love and wants to actually sleep in her new room!

Okay, Maybe I Spoke Too Soon....

....about there not being that many cute clothes to pick from for boys. I picked up these three adorable outfits for the little guy from Zulily this morning. (If you are a mom and you haven't checked out Zulily, you should definitely sigh up - it's like a Rue La La or Gilt Groupe for all things kids, plus some occasional maternity clothing).




His wardrobe is still not nearly as extensive as his sister's, but I have renewed hope that I can find cute things to put him in!

Halloween Hijinks

Happy belated Halloween! I hope you all had a festive holiday weekend - once again, I'm a little late in posting pictures of our holiday fun.

I have to preface this post by noting that I am NOT a huge fan of Halloween, never really have been. I'm not sure why this is, but even as a child I quit trick or treating fairly early, whereas my younger sister was known to still go out and collect candy during her pre-teen years! In college, we would have Halloween date parties with the sorority but I was generally the one (a) not in costume, or (b) wore a headband with devil horns and called it a day. I know, I sound like a total Grinch (oops, wrong holiday!). Now that we have a little one, I'm getting more into all of the holidays again, including Halloween - it's wonderful to experience everything for the first time through the eyes of your toddler!

We were invited this year to attend an engagement party for some really good friends that happened to be Halloween eve and costumes were mandatory. I put Ryan in charge of costumes, telling him I wanted something that I could move around in easily and didn't require me to cover my skin in body paint. Let me tell you, there is a pretty limited selection of Halloween costumes for pregnant gals. Here's a few of the options online - see what I mean?


Actually, the middle one ("the bun in the oven") is kind of cute, but not all that practical when you consider the number of trips your average pregnant woman makes to the little girl's room during any given period of time!

So....with our limited options....we finally decided on something. We could go as a pair, and it met the aforementioned requirements. It's a little twisted, but hopefully you all will see the humor in it (and not be offended)!


I loved how creative our friends were with their costumes. Amy and Nick were Super Girl and Captain America (I love how she is holding out her cape and staring up at the sky in the traditional superhero pose!):


Andy and Amanda were everyone's favorite trashy reality stars - Snookie and The Situation (Andy kept referring to himself as "The Special Occasion" as opposed to The Situation!):


Melissa and Mark were Sookie and Bill from "True Blood" - check out the realistic-looking bite marks:


The Frisch's Big Boy even made an appearance!


Needless to say, we had a very good time, though I'm not sure if I'll do another costume again anytime soon!

Sunday night we geared up for trick or treating. Alexandra usually takes a 2-3 hour nap on weekends but for some reason decided to veto the nap on the afternoon of Halloween - I warned her that was probably not going to turn out well! This was the first year we really went door to door (we accompanied the girls who live next door and their friend). I wasn't sure what to expect, and thought we might only hit up a few houses. Much to my surprise, we circled the ENTIRE neighborhood! At times it got a little stressful - Alexandra wanted to either run or to be held by her mommy, so here I was with my pregnant belly, holding her on one hip and holding her pumpkin in my other hand, and ringing doorbells. Needless to say, I got a workout that evening! She did great, though - with a little prompting (we're in a bit of a shy stage), she'd say "Hi," "Trick or Treat", "Happy Halloween", "please" and "thank you." I was very proud of my little munchkin, and despite the nap she did really good with relatively few meltdowns.

Here's the little diva in her Minnie Mouse costume and a pair of hot pink sunglasses that belonged to one of the neighbor girls - before we left, she picked them up, plunked them on her face and said, "ooohh, FANCY!" This child always cracks me up!



We tried to get a family photo - it's a little fuzzy, but our neighbor did a pretty good job with it being his first time using a DSLR and the fact that it was in Manual setting. It's difficult when you have a DSLR camera to get in any shots yourself!


I didn't get as many pictures this year as I was carrying around Alexandra most of the night, but I did manage to get a few:








I learned that some people hand out some very odd treats (such as the can of Big K orange creme soda we received at one house, which weighed down the entire pumpkin), and that Alexandra ADORES suckers but can't seem to enjoy one without making a mess of her face, her hair, her hands, MY hair, etc.

All in all, a very successful, candy-filled night!