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fall loves

Yesterday, the first day of fall, something magical happened: it actually cooled down in Houston! Granted, it wasn’t cool exactly, but it was in the upper 70’s and 80’s which felt amazing compared to the oppressive heat we’ve had the past few months. Most importantly, it made me hopeful. When I was younger I loved the heat of summer, but as I get older I have less and less tolerance for it. Because of the relief fall brings us it is quickly becoming my favorite season. I was even inspired to spend the day baking yesterday – cookies and a delicious apple crisp, yum.

Here are some things I’m loving lately!

A Good Day Journaling Cards – I really like these cards as filler for Project Life. I haven’t done a “day in the life” in awhile but I think I’m going to bring it back soon!

Threshold Organic Sheets – In my quest to make over our bedroom one thing I fixated on was getting new sheets for our bed, and I wanted them to be white. I found these at Target and they were cheaper than any pair of sheets we’ve ever bought and they are SO comfortable. They also come in lots of great patterns and I can almost guarantee that I won’t ever buy another brand.

Maxi skirts – No link to anything specific, but I’ve been loving these for the weekends. They’re obviously not a new trend but they’re perfect for the transition to fall, especially for a pregnant lady.

Custom Note Pads – At home we always have spare paper around for lists and notes, and for awhile we’ve just been using a generic spiral notebook. Ours is almost full though, so I want to find something cute to take its place. I love these custom jotters from Paper Source.

Transport Tote – I am in love with this tote bag by Madewell. My current bag is great but it is just a little too small so this is going on my Christmas list. It’s a color that will go with anything and it’ll last a long, long time.

What are you loving these days?

September 23, 2013
quick takes

Another round of randomness coming at you! (Linking up.)

one

Fair warning that it just might start to get very crafty/nesty up in here. Our new carpet will be installed in a couple of weeks, and we’re painting our bedroom this weekend. I have barely touched the back half of our house and so this is really inspiring me to fix up our room. It’s such a sad state of affairs in there right now and I would love to have a happy master bedroom. I have plans, people. Will be sharing them soon.

two

I’m also spending almost every spare moment working on my niece’s stocking. Here is what it looks like so far:

The lighting is kind of weird here but you can see just how far I have to go. So far I’ve just embroidered and sequined the gold stars and sequined/appliquéd Santa’s hat poof.

Here’s a close-up; it’s still kind of hard to see the poof but I think I got the hang of the appliqué and I hope the rest will get better and faster. So it’s not much progress so far really. But I’ve never done this before, so time has been spent doing research and watching tutorial videos and practicing. Look for weekly updates on this process.

three

I discovered a new crafty blog this week, and it made me so happy to see that she’s a cross stitcher! What was even more exciting is that she has a shop selling patterns, and is doing a seasonal sampler subscription program. I decided to sign up for the autumn sampler subscription, and even though I’m not sure how I’ll fit it in, I’m going to attempt to keep up with the stitching each week and share my progress here too.

Look at the cuteness though!

Any current or wannabe cross stitchers out there that I can enable into doing this with me??

four

We had a bit of an up and down week around here. First we discovered that our mortgage increased by almost $300 a month, so that was not fun. Then my car broke down and we were 90% sure we were going to have to buy a new one. All this right after we had placed our carpet order, which was a big expense for us. So stressful when we’re trying to save for new baby! But then the car got all fixed for under $500, and a doctor’s expense we thought we were going to have to pay ended up being totally covered by insurance, and the carpet guy took pity on us and gave us a discount. All in all more than we wanted to be spending, but way better than it could have been.

five

Last night was kind of a bummer for me because I came home ready to make dinner, spend time with the family, and work on the stocking. But as soon as I stepped in the house – it was so hot and stuffy in there – I got a wave of nausea and fatigue so strong that I couldn’t even stand up. I laid down on the couch so of course Meredith wanted to lie on top of me and roll all over my stomach. David could tell I was down for the count so he took Meredith to his parents’ house and I ended up sleeping the entire evening starting at 6:30. I woke up briefly at 8:45 to brush my teeth, throw the diapers in the dryer, and feed the dogs, but otherwise I was OUT. I’m better today though, so it seems it was just a weird pregnancy thing and not a real sickness of any kind.

six

“Meredith, what is mommy going to have?”

“Baby brudder.”

“Where is baby brother now?”

“Right dere.” (Points to my tummy)

“Very good!”

“And cake?”

September 20, 2013
we’re having a…

But most of you probably already knew that, considering I’ve been talking about it on Twitter and Facebook, and am not exactly timely in getting this post up. But yep, it’s most definitely a boy, no question about it, little guy was not shy at all and David was quite proud.

So, I have thoughts and they are thus:

1. Yay! A boy! I know deep down that’s what David wanted and I’m so happy he’ll have a little guy to teach to be a man and I’ll get to find out what it’s like to mother a boy. It will be different and fun and exciting.

2. I guess this means I’ll have to make some changes to the nursery to make it less girly and more neutral. I still intend to have Meredith share the room with the baby for awhile, until she gets old enough to move her into her own room (and when I have the energy to turn our guest room into a kids’ room). Kind of a bummer that the kids won’t always be able to share a room.

3. A little worried because it seems like boys are more energetic overall and I’m just a really calm, laid-back person. I’m not the type of mom to play rough and tumble or to be running around all the time. Maybe Meredith will have a calming effect on him.

4. Boy names are not nearly as fun as girl names. This part is going to be tough.

5. Can’t reuse all of Meredith’s clothes either. Although I do have two nephews so that will help in the hand-me-down department.

6. I still just can’t imagine what it’ll be like to have a boy…but I guess I will find out!

September 17, 2013
20 weeks

Time for an official pregnancy update, yeah?

Symptoms: Nothing really to complain about. Most days I still have a bout of nausea a few hours after I wake up but it passes quickly. Overall I have a pretty big appetite. In the past month I have gained about 8 pounds and am up a total of 12-ish which is similar to my last pregnancy at this point. Bloating is kept in check by avoiding large amounts of dairy. Almost every night I wake up around 3:30 or 4am to pee and then don’t get any good sleep after that so I’m tired in the mornings. So far no signs of carpal tunnel which was a big issue in my last pregnancy.

Medical stuff: I am still slightly anemic and am supposed to be taking iron supplements but I’m not. Maybe one of these days I will get motivated and start taking them but it’s just not something I’m worried about and I don’t feel like dealing with the side effects.

Movement: Over the past week I went from maaaaybe feeling the baby move every few days to feeling it for sure throughout each day. David even felt it kick once! It’s such a relief, and one of the most amazing things.

Clothes: My scrubs are getting a little tight but are hanging in there. I am very limited right now on other clothes that fit. Most maternity clothes are still baggy but regular stuff is too tight. This weekend I’m going shopping for some transitional stuff that I can wear again when I’m not pregnant. Maxi skirts and loose shirts for the win!

Preparation: Well, I started a small list of things that would be nice to have for a second baby. I’ve been brainstorming names but so far they’ve all been shot down by David. Our anatomy scan is on Monday so once we find out the sex we can think about it more seriously, along with what to do about the nursery. We talk to Meredith about the baby in mommy’s tummy every day, but I don’t think she gets it yet. For me the most exciting part of our preparation so far is that we are getting new carpet. I can’t wait to be able to lay baby down on it without being grossed out, and I’m very excited about the inspiration it will bring me to fix up the bedrooms.

Also: David and I booked a two-night getaway at a private cottage in an adorable town in the Texas Hill Country for our 5-year anniversary. The trip is happening at the beginning of November and it will be the first time I’m away from Meredith overnight, but I am just so excited about the trip that right now it’s overshadowing any type of anxiety about being apart from her. Soon we won’t have the chance to do this by ourselves for awhile so I’m glad we’re going for it!

September 13, 2013
project life 2013 : weeks 34 – 35

I’m caught up again, and back on schedule for every two weeks! Feels so good.

This spread is approximately the last half of August. They were just regular weeks so this is normal everyday life stuff. Again, it was great to have a bunch of horizontal photos to fill the space and I’m definitely going to keep making an effort to do this.

I got a short video of Meredith taking a “running jump” into a kiddie pool at her cousin’s house and it was super adorable.

I decided to write about one of our Saturdays and detail what exactly we did that day since it was a fun one. It also goes along with the photos at the bottom which are from the birthday party at The Little Gym. I noticed later that the stamped date is wrong, but I just left it since it’s close enough.

On the right there are mostly just photos of Meredith around the house – playing in her room before bed, jumping up and down on the couch watching “Jessie,” playing outside, going through all her clothes, and then one of me outside watching her play.

And I still like having a place to write down all the other random stuff that happened.

It’s great to have one creative part of my life back in action! Next up is working on my niece’s stocking since we just got the kit in the mail. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law are going to be working on it too so we can finish on time. Wish us luck!

September 11, 2013