Special gift

We had been looking all over for the perfect lettering so we could hang Jordan's name on the wall in her room. Everywhere we looked around town just didn't have quite what we were looking for not to mention everything was so expensive! I was getting a little discouraged thinking we wouldn't be able to do the lettering for a while, if at all; then a lady Brandon supervises at work surprised us by saying we could pick anything we wanted off The Cates Company website and it would be our gift from her for the baby. I was super excited to find out they do all sorts of decor for kids rooms but especially that they do lettering too! What a blessing! I knew what I wanted immediately! The letters just arrived this morning during breakfast and I stopped eating to hang them up then I called my mom telling her she had to come see! Jordan was laying in her crib watching as I was putting them on the knobs and stared at the letters admiring her name. Later I went in to take a peek at her and she was staring at the letters again so I guess she likes them just as much as I do! Thank you so much Kathey!! They look fantastic and match perfectly!

It's done!!

The baby's room is finally done!! Well...actually I have to finish sewing the cover for her rocker/glider and get a couple shelves hung up, but other than that the room is totally complete minus Baby. My dad made it over last weekend and got the molding hung up, which was the final step.

He did a great job, didn't he?! My mom & I made the curtain a few months ago. I love the colors in it; it reminds me of this crib bedding set in Pottery Barn that I absolutely love but couldn't bring myself to spend that much money on for a wee baby that wouldn't fully appreciate it because she's just too little to know. Besides, my parents found the adorable crib set pictured below for $24!! That included everything: crib skirt, sheet, quilt, and bumpers. Amazing deal!!

Here is the ugly blue rocker/glider that I am working on making a cover for. My mom is helping me with this too. We make quite the perfect team together when it comes to sewing crafts. She likes to do the pinning and cutting but yet hates doing the actual sewing, where me on the otherhand HATES the pinning and cutting side of it but LOVE to do the sewing. So when we work on things like this together it works out perfectly!! She's done her part on the cover and now it's up to me to get my part done which I am really hoping to get finished by the end of the weekend but I'm giving myself a little more reasonable goal to get it done by the end of the week which ultimately I guess is the end of the month. So you guys better hold me to it! ;)

The little brown jacket in this picture is my absolute favorite piece of clothing this little babe of ours has. We've got it in two different sizes because we love it so much! And do you see my diaper bag hanging on the left side of the picture? It's actually a knitting bag but I loved it so much and it seems like the perfect size for just a normal day out. My aunt got us another cute diaper bag that is bigger that will be perfect for when we are going to be out for longer periods of time and need to pack extra of everything. Who knows, maybe as I get to figuring all this new mom stuff out I may realize I need that bigger diaper bag on a "daily" basis!

Sorry it has taken SOOO long to post anymore about her room. I realize I got started on it in September and never quite picked back up until now. The important thing is that I DID pick back up, right?

I've been feeling great and quite honestly would forget sometimes that I was pregnant because I felt so much like normal ol' Kayla but yesterday when I woke up something changed. This girl must have grown about ten pounds overnight! (ok, I know that is entirely NOT possible but that's what it felt like) It suddenly became that every second of the day I can tell I'm pregnant because of this heavy weight on the front of me! She seems more squished too because her movements have changed and feel much more "defined." Is it possible for her to go on a major growth spurt overnight? I can barely roll over in bed anymore and definitely not without making a huge earthquake as Brandon likes to call it, which makes me laugh every time.

We got the carseat installed on Monday, wrote our birth plan a few weeks ago, got pre-registered at the hospital last month and have our hospital bags packed. I am now 36 weeks and we are definitely ready for this baby to arrive! They consider full term anywhere between 37 to 42 weeks. We are really hoping she decides to make an early appearance!

Painting is done, once and for all!

My dad finished painting the baby's room! We still need to go buy the molding and get it on the walls but that is pretty much the last of those "big" details. I have started moving the crib and changing table and such into the room and it's been a blast! I will be posting pictures of Step 2 soon. AND, best of all, only 1 1/2 weeks until we have our ultrasound!!!! Then I can really start decorating!

Decorating the Laundry Room

Our laundry room is also the entry way as you come in our back door. We hadn't really done anything with the area yet and it really needed something. We got to work hanging things and cleaning the room up and it looks so much more comforting when you walk into our house. It's funny how hanging two things on the wall can cozy a room up as much as these did. I feel much better about people coming in through that door.

This one here I ordered at an Uppercase Living party my friend Katie back in April or May. Once I saw it in the catalog I knew the perfect place in my house and I HAD to have it. Ha! It took us until this past weekend to get it up. How long is that? Five months?! But just like I thought, it's perfect in that spot right above the washer & dryer.

We hung this one right above the stairs and it's pretty much the first thing you see as you walk in the door. This was a gift from Brandon for Valentine's Day about three years ago. He is absolutely the best at picking out gifts! Here is a close up so you can see the pictures better.

It feels so cozy in there now! I love it!

The Room!

We got the walls in the baby's room painted. It looks AMAZING!! I am so happy with it; the color turned out exactly what I wanted. We just have to get the trim and the closet painted white. I'm going to be doing a step by step display as we get things done.

I can't wait until we find out what we are having so we can start getting things to decorate for either boy or girl. Our ultrasound is October 8th! We are so thrilled! I am able to bring two people with me so of course Brandon is coming but we have also invited my mom along. She is probably about as excited as we are, because you know, back in the day when she was pregnant with my sister and I they didn't do routine ultrasounds like they do now; they only did them if they knew something was wrong. We are counting down the days...three and a half weeks left!!