as promised

A couple shots of the corner of the nursery.  A work in progress...

This weekends projects

My IKEA poang chair had arrived on Friday -- and when I got home, Andrew had it all put together. Yay! And may I say, it's glorious. It's really comfortable and so cute.



Since my chair had arrived, I decided I should get cracking on my pillow and other textiles for the room that needed a little sewing modification. Saturday afternoon, I made this pillow with my etsy fabric. The lighting in this picture is kinda drab but I will post some better pics once the room is finished. I added a cute pink button to the open end after I took this picture but it still looks essentially the same.

I also took this cute little kitchen towel I found at Target and made it into a placemat for my little white table. (I used the blue one)

We set up the chair, pillow, table, placemat, lamp, etc... and even hung up the lovely fish mobile. Andrew also hung up our roman shade we purchased on Friday night. I meant to take some pictures last night before I went to bed but I got distracted by the Oscars.

Even better news--- our roommate is having his stuff moved out on Wednesday!! Wooooooot! Andrew and I plan to spend this next coming weekend getting things back in order. He wants to paint the new guest room right away but I am not sure how that will work out logistically. I am hoping to have the nursery finished by the end of next week. I purchased some art that I had been admiring on Etsy over the past couple weeks... here is a sample of what I purchased.








The final thing to buy now is a set of shelves. And for some reason, this has been so difficult. The ones I wanted originally were not available online @ IKEA. I checked some stores in areas that I have family, no luck. Now they aren't even listed on the website. Boo-urns. Plan b, look for some cute floating shelves. Easier said than done. That is my project this week. Find cute shelves. Got any ideas/helpful stores?

Monkey hats!

Oh man, my favorite etsy shop that makes those cute little monkey hats was on the Babble:droolicious site today! I don't know whether to be excited or sad. I am hoping that not too many people will rush out and get monkey hats. Still, they are so cute.

hooray!

Per advice from kelly+olive, I just purchased the poang chair from IKEA!  I also got my fabric in the mail yesterday... and I think it will be perfect to use for a pillow for my new poang chair.  

shower ideas and such

My sister is throwing me a shower in early April. I have a feeling this will be exactly the kind of shower I want to have... filled with handmade, modern decorations rather than the typical baby crap found at a superstore. Don't get me wrong, Target has some amazing baby crap. I just like things to be different. And from what I have already seen, I am soooo looking forward to this party.

Now, let's talk gifts. In case you take a look at my registries (Target/Babies R Us) and cannot find anything to suit your fancy, please please PLEASE feel free to purchase anything I have mentioned on this blog. I will try to set up a little list of some sorts... maybe one like the modernHomebody's have -- I think it's called a wist? There are so many things I want to get from Etsy. To my dismay, Etsy does not have a baby registry option. It would make my life that much easier if they did. I will have to write to them about this. Back to the point, every day I find things on Etsy that I must have -- but how will I share them with everyone? And how can I ask people to purchase them for me if they do not have them all collected into a little registry list?

I am working on it. Please hold while I create my wist.

update: check out Kenley's Etsy "Registry" ------>

This website was linked on Babble:pregcellent section today... it made me laugh. Check out the other to-do's.

eww...

I know I am supposed to be in awe of what is occurring inside my body right now, but sometimes I get a little grossed out. Maybe weirded out is a better word. I mean, look at Babycenter.com's picture of "what your baby looks like -- 26 weeks."


Seriously, there is something that big inside my stomach? It's nice to know Kenley is that big only because of how fat I am, but come on... weird. There is a small baby inside me. I guess I have not come to terms with the fact that the thing inside me is a baby. Call me crazy.

Oh and in case you were wondering, my stomach is waaaay bigger than the one in the picture. Also gross.

Want to see what kelly+olive have designed for Kenley? Check out their ideas here...  I cannot wait to get started! 

wth, is that a whale?

Ok, here we go.  I can't believe I am doing this, but I am really going to post the first picture of my big fat new body...  blah. I am not too comfortable with this but I realize that for people who don't see me everyday, they are interested to see how I am progressing.  

25 weeks

a quick note...

Just wanted to share with everyone that I bought these cute socks from Target last week.












Saw this this am on Babble (of course, it's an Etsy product!), how funny...




Lastly, here is this month's update on Peanut.


Let your spouse put an ear to your belly -- he might be able to pick up baby's heartbeat (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby's also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink -- perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes.

I love projects.

Andrew left on Saturday for the week.  Of course, I put him to work before he left.  There were some things I wanted to take care of and also wanted him to be a part of.

After I got off work on Friday, we grabbed something to eat real fast and headed to Babies R Us.  Our intention was to purchase the travel system we registered for, thanks to the generosity of Andrew's mom & dad! 

We get there and they have the other two colors of the travel system, but not the one we wanted.  Turns out there was one at a Toys R Us about 10 minutes away.  We went and picked it up and were on our way.  

It was now around 8:15pm and we were ready to get our paint on.  The main goal was to get the ceiling painted since Andrew was leaving the next morning.  Andrew started on the ceiling and I got working on the trim, doors and window sill.  We finished relatively quickly and were discussing whether or not to start on the walls.  At this point, it's 10:15pm and Andrew has to get up at 5am to get underway.  I convinced him to lets just paint one wall so I can get an idea of the color and how it will look.  

Note: When we bought our paint on Wednesday night, I had to convince Andrew to let me buy one of those little tools that does the "cutting in."  I am not sure the real name of it, but I bought a really cheap one and told him that if it didn't work, at least we would only be out like two dollars.  

Upstairs we go, green paint in hand....  Andrew gets up on the ladder to start cutting in from the ceiling and I go to the corner of the room with my nifty little tool.  He kept telling me how that thing wasn't going to work, it would be messy, etc.  I say, "ta-da!" and literally have the first half of wall 1's floor trim done.  He says, "give me that!"  Suuuure.   Anywhoo, this fantastic cheap little tool saved us so much time that we painted the entire room, two coats and were finished with the entire room just after midnight.  We were both exhausted but felt accomplished that it was done.  And it left me in a good situation, being able to start vacuuming & steaming the carpets and arranging some of the smaller things. 

Saturday, I decided we needed a small table to go next to our chair that will be in the room.  Just something to hold a drink or random items while we are feeding, rocking little Kenley.  I headed over to Target to see if they had anything affordable.  I found a few things, nothing that really jumped out at me though.  I did, however, find a white wicker basket thing with a lid on clearance.  So I picked that guy up and made my way across the street to the new/huge/awesome Salvation Army in Chesapeake.  They had two little tables, both under $20.  I went back and forth between the two and tried to imagine which would look better in the room.  I spent all day today sanding, priming, and spray painting this table.   

Here are some pictures of the progress that has been made so far, as well as the wicker basket and table.   

Haha, if you look hard enough you can see Gibbs in the window! 

you best be voting

Which shade do you like better? Tell me now (leave me a comment). 

small progress

Andrew and roomie moved a lot of things around last night, which now makes my house a wreck. I guess I shouldn't really complain since I wanted to be able to work on the nursery and we are limited on space until roomie moves out. The nursery room is almost empty minus the closet and all of the baby things that need to be put away. We did manage to put together the crib with relative ease, seeing as the previous owners of this crib left most of it together. We just had to screw in some bolts... The room looks completely different already and I am anxious to test out some of the paint colors I have in mind. I am going to try to go by home depot today and pick up a sample can that matches the lamp shade (from target, see collage).

I am officially in decorating mode. I am excited for my etsy fabric to arrive and to find a cute frame to put it in. I was browsing the babble website and came across this... how cute would this be? I am restraining myself from purchasing it, but I don't know how long I can hold out! I may have to wait long enough for me to be able to send this etsy shop all my information about Kenley and they can fill it out for me...

ready to start the nursery...

I am getting ready to start on the nursery. As soon as my roommate's things are gone and we can switch the current guest room to roomie's old room. We already have a lot... not everything, but a good start.

One of the first things we bought was the crib. That has been against the wall, in pieces, since November. We have the paint color. Well, almost. We have a shade, we just need to decide on the final paint sample. We have all of the bedding. Oh, how could I forget -- the first thing I bought after finding out I was pregnant, that fantastic mobile! The bedding and lamp we have can be seen on La's polyvore collage...

Today, I took a cue from kelly+olive and decided I would use some pretty fabric they had found and make some framed fabric wall art. Thanks for the inspiration kelly+olive. Just bought my fabric from Etsy, can't wait to get started!

Pigeon has made a triumphant return into my life...

Look at what I found today on Babble...












I could even get ahead of the game and get this gift set that comes with a backpack. shut the front door!

a collage...

A lovely collage made by my sister....

Thanks La.

22 weeks and counting down the days...

Around 127 days to go...  come on, let's hurry this up a bit.  I have never been patient.  This is the worst. 

No more weekly fruit pictures. Now they are monthly, guess the people at TheBump lost their creativity after a while.  Here is this month's update.

Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing

about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop. 

Etsy is taunting me today. Remember this?

yeaaaaaa... I just bought the Caramel marshmallows as well as the chocolate butterscotch bars.

Victory!

As I ended my previous post, I naturally kept browsing and came across a few more goodies. Just had to share how much I love them. And I find that putting them on my blog and looking at them multiple times a week makes me more impressionable and more likely to be purchasing these items.



This little bib is so cute and not all princess-y and pink. I like a little pink, but I prefer things that have a more unique feel rather than the mass produced feel. From BeanPickleSprout (what a cute shop name!)








While the picture may not be too exciting, go to the shop and check out the cute images of babies wearing leggings. I must have these. Repeat: my baby will be a bad ass. Especially in these skull leg warmers.




That is all. I must work now. Tax season officially started last night at midnight. Wish me luck.

Etsy loves Babies

I remembered that I have not done any browsing of the Etsy baby collections since I found out that Peanut is little Miss Peanut... Here is a sampling of what I am loving at the current moment. Feel free to pick up any of these things for your favorite baby, making an appearance late May.


Yes, that is a fake baby in her sling. Let's just pretend that is not the case. I have a little sling already but it is more of a side sling. This one is so versatile and can be worn in a few different ways. LovelyDuds has some really cool fabric choices and the price is probably one of the best I have seen said slings.














These wonderful little shoes came from a shop I have mentioned before, GraciousMay.

I can only imagine how adorable they would be with the right little dress.























These three lovely pair of shoes just make me smile. I can't figure out which I like the most. It is probably a tie between the monkey's and the herringbone booties. Both of which I intend on having in my collection... I mean, Kenley's collection.

From lilcubby.














This little screen printed onesie is on my list because, yes, my baby will be a bad ass. Or at least so far in my mind she is. Karate chopping her way through each day. Dad can wear her name on his sleeve and she can wear "Dad" on hers. I die.












Finally, this baby just looks so comfortable and like a little pea in a pod. So cute and yet probably so warm. Fantastic.











Ok, those are my pics for this morning... I will be perusing Etsy later today to see what else is out there in the Etsy baby world. Too many cute things to choose from. Feel free to browse on your own time!

Week 21 is the last of the weekly fruit and vegetable comparisons.  Kinda sad.  Now it is updated every four weeks.  But did they have to end the weekly comparisons with a lame banana? Not sure how Peanut resembles a banana.   

On a side note, Peanut is now being measured head to foot - no longer head to rump. 

Here is the news for the week:

Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for hydration and nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies are most interested in tastes they've already experienced through amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you want your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

Halfway there...

I have made it to week 20.  Halfway.  I can only hope the last half goes by fast.  Which it probably won't, seeing as how it is getting increasingly more difficult to get out of bed, get up from the couch, tie my shoes, etc.  And, it will just get harder.  This week Peanut is a cantaloupe? Intriguing...  I hate to give it away but next week is the most ridiculous by far.  A banana.  Yes, my baby goes from a cantaloupe to a banana.  How does that make sense?  Banana picture will be posted next week. 

Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, speaking of the diaper situation... baby's genitals are now fully formed!

Thanks for making it difficult, U.S. Navy

Jerks.

Now that I think more about this on a comprehensive level, Andrew may as well be absent during this entire 9 month (actually 10 month) period of my life. Let me say this is not happening because he is choosing to be absent, more like the Navy makes normal everyday life so inconvenient for the sailors that their lives revolve around the ship (duty days, underways, deployments, trips to Yorktown for no reason, drills, inspections, qualifications...). As Andrew and others always say, "If the Navy wanted you to have a wife, they would assign you one."

Oh, United States Navy, how I hate you. Let me count the ways.

1. Andrew was on duty the day I found out I was pregnant. I was wayyyy too excited to keep that secret, so I had to share the news over the phone with him while he worked that entire Saturday.

2. I am now 20 weeks along and Andrew has been able to make it to only one of my appointments at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. He was able to make it to my first ultrasound, where we saw Peanut dancing around. That was at 10 weeks.

3. Luckily, we made an elective ultrasound appointment for while we were in Texas for the holidays. Otherwise, we would have had to wait until December 30 and he would have been on duty for that appointment as well. I would have had to share the news with him in some interesting way other than us finding out together.

4. Before we left for Texas, I signed us up for the baby bootcamp class that is at NMCP. January 17th. 8 hours long in one day. Ridiculous. But probably good for us to go to. We found out right as we left for Texas that he will be underway the entire month of January. Looks like I am going to baby bootcamp all alone. Great.

5. Since we currently have a roommate, we will not be able to start on the baby's room until Jimmy is reassigned. When that happens, it will be late March - early April. Where will Andrew be? In sunny San Diego. Fantastic. Leave the heavy lifting to the pregnant lady.

6. While in sunny, wonderful San Diego what else happens? Oh yes, that's right. My due date. I will most likely be having this child without him. Truly fantastic.

Thanks for making this pregnancy easy, US Navy. You can suck it. (I'm not bitter. Not even in the slightest.)

Did I mention that Kenley now has TWO fabulous hats from my favorite etsy shop? Oh yes. bebop hat: please arrive soon. Hooray!

Peanut thanks you, Xtina! Love it.

A fabulous weekend recap...

Andrew and I drove up to Fairfax on Saturday morning, mainly to pick up our first born.  Mr. Gibblet had been staying with my parents for about 3 weeks since they were nice enough to watch him while we were out of town.  I honestly think he would not survive two hours in a kennel.  Even the nicest kennel there is.  He is just so needy. 

After a long drive with lots of traffic on 95, we arrived and Gibbs jumped into the car at the top of the driveway licking Andrew's face until we reached the house. 

Dad and Andrew were nice enough to take my car to get an oil change while my Mom and I went to go and visit my birthday buddy, baby Lily! Oh, what a fantastic little baby.  She was so good, sleeping the entire hour and a half we were there.   The proud new parents were looking great and it was so nice to see them both.  It made me very anxious and excited to meet my own Peanut and have her be here already.  I have never really been too patient and this wait is getting ridiculous!   

After our visit, we headed back to Betsy Lane, had some dinner and then Mom and I went back out to see what we could find at Baby Gap and GapMaternity.  Didn't find too much on the fat lady end but I did get this fantastic swimsuit for Kenley.  

Sunday morning, Mom and I met up with Xtina at Target to see what sort of bedding we could find.  Luckily, all of Target's baby bedding was on sale in preparation for their new stuff to arrive.  Here is what we picked out for Peanut's room...  just have to get a few more pieces which I just ordered on Target's website.