A new/old nursery purchase!

I'm so excited about this! Jordan and I have been searching Craigslist every single day, several times a day for the perfect vintage/antique dresser for Sophia's Room. We finally found it last night! I am absolutely in love with it. Best part is that we snagged it for $135 from the seller :) We're going to go pick it up sometime within the next couple of days.

All the wood lovers out there are probably going to die when I say this....but, yes we are painting it. ::GASP:: I know, I know. I'll post pictures of it when it's all done!

Love these diaper bags

I have fallen in love with Amy Butler fabric, so I did a search for Amy Butler diaper bags and came across so many!

By Etsy seller "SassySatchel"
Link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16636080&ref=sr_gallery_19&&ga_search_query=amy

By Etsy seller "binskistudio"
Link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19498797&ref=sr_gallery_5&&ga_search_query=amy

My favorite (and most expensive, of course).
Etsy seller "WatermelonWishes"
Link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23100282&ref=sr_gallery_21&&ga_search_query=amy

Nursery Inspiration

I love pink and blue girls rooms. I can't wait to get started on our nursery! Jordan is going to paint the nursery this weekend while I'm in the Bahamas shooting my (FIRST! Eeek!) wedding. We think we're going to do white wainscotting as well, but haven't 100% decided for sure yet. I want to see the room painted with the crib and bedding set up before we decide.

These are some of my favorite pink and blue girls rooms that I've found so far. I love Rate My Space, it's where I get all my ideas!

24 weeks!

Your baby has caught up with an ear of corn in size and gained about 1/4 pound since last week. (Length: almost a foot.)

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.


How far along? 24 weeks today

Maternity clothes? Yep, I can still manage to wear my loose pre-pregnancy clothes though

Stretch marks? Nope, please stay this way!

Sleep: Has been perfect! I'm enjoying it while it lasts...

Best moment this week: Watching the remote bounce on my belly

Movement: All the time! She gets wild at night

Food cravings: Chocolate ice cream cones. I almost cried when DQ was closed last night and had to settle for ice cream from Sonic instead.

Gender: It's a girl!

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? Still an innie, although it feels so weird right now.

What I miss: Nothing really. At this point I am really enjoying pregnancy.

What I am looking forward to: Leaving for the Bahamas (again) this Friday!

Weekly Wisdom: Don't push yourself!

I also want to wish little Sophia happy V-Day (Viability Day)!

23 Week Bump

Whoa, I look way bigger than last week!

Oh, pregnancy!

I stole some of these from a poll on The Bump, some of the answers really did make me laugh out loud at my desk. They were asked what you have learned during your pregnancy:

A belly is an open invitation for perfect strangers to start talking to you about your life.

That no one wants to talk to you about anything else, other than your pregnancy.

That you can not drink for 9 months and still be hung over like you did a pub crawl the night before, every single day.

I no longer have a face. I'm just a stomach that people stare at.

I have no desire to see my fat, swollen feet, thank heavens I can't anyway.

People think it's perfectly acceptable to make comments about your weight gain or how big you are.

My emotions get so bad that sometimes I really do think I could kill someone.

No one ever asks me anything but "how are you feeling?" and "are you getting excited/nervous yet?"

There is food I loved before and now can't even look at.

I married the right guy to put up with my whining!

People don't like to hear that you haven't been 100% perfect with your eating habits and aren't shy about telling you all the things they've heard about what you should or shouldn't eat.

I am really good at picking up things with my toes.

Getting a good deal...

makes me feel all tingly inside!

Not really sure why, but I decided to look on Ebay for the pink JcPenney's bedding set that we're getting. Well, there was the entire set for $80 "Buy It Now"! SCORE! The seller says that she opened it only to make sure all of the pieces were there and it has never been used. She has excellent ratings, so I'm hoping I can take her word for it.

Yay for awesome deals...I can't believe I just bought our crib bedding for $80!

23 weeks!

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

How far along? 23 weeks today

Maternity clothes? Wearing a lot more maternity tops now!

Stretch marks? Nope, please stay this way!

Sleep: Was horrible last night...I'm sick and woke up all through the night

Best moment this week: Picking out paint for the nursery...so fun!

Movement: All the time, Jordan still hasn't been able to feel it yet though

Food cravings: I had a major craving for Chips & Salsa one day and a Reese Cup Blizzard on Saturday, that's about it.

Gender: It's a girl!

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? Still an innie

What I miss: Not much!

What I am looking forward to: Painting the nursery and trying to find a really cool antique dresser

Weekly Wisdom: Don't go to a gigantic baby rummage sale and then not wash your hands when you get home...I'm convinced this is the reason why I'm sick.

This is the reason...

why I am totally excited that we're having a girl :)

A decision has been made!

No, not on a baby name...she still remains nameless. We've finally made a decision on bedding and colors!

I'm laughing at myself because Jordan and I spent a really long time looking at and debating tons of fabric swatches to have our crib bedding custom made. Well, a 5 minute scroll on JcPenney's website brought this up:


It looks a bit purple in this picture, not sure why...It's much more like the pink shown in the above picture
It's perfect. I found a set a while back that was similar to this but it was around $500. I just could not (and I KNOW Jordan couldn't either) bring myself to ever even consider spending that kind of money on bedding. We are getting a seriously awesome deal on this. It's normally $189.99 (which is already a great price) plus it's on sale for $169.99. Well, a quick Google search brought up a coupon code for 20% off which brought the price down to $139.99 AND free shipping. SCORE!

We're saving over $100 by going with this bedding...and it's a whole lot less stress than trying to pick the perfect fabrics!

We decided to do pink, white/off-white, and aqua/tiffany blue. This was our inspiration:


I'm so excited to get started on this...and even more excited that Jordan loved the bedding and color combos too!

Alert the press!

I caught Jordan looking at a baby name website last night! A+ for effort, hubby...even though you still didn't find even one name that you liked.

Once he get's his mind set on something, it's really hard to change it. So this name thing is probably going to be something we're really going to have to compromise on. I say I name this one, he can name the next :) Jordan likes Sophia (just how I like Ella), he just is so set on Ella because it was the first name we came up with.

I should be happy that he cares so much. I'm sure there are lots of women out there who have husbands that say "Sure, whatever." to everything. I think that would be worse than having a husband who wants to be involved in everything! I thought for sure he was just going to let me go crazy and decorate the nursery however I want...Oh no, he wants to help with it all! I'm very lucky to have a husband that truly wants to be involved in all of the decisions, I really appreciate that. I'm very lucky :)

We'll figure something out!

A blank canvas

Well, we finally got the nursery completely cleaned out. It's ready to be painted and decorated! We're thinking either light green or tan walls...maybe pink, but Jordan isn't too big on pink. I've been looking at all of the fabric choices from the lady who is making our crib bedding and it is seriously a hard decision! Especially for me, I am incredibly indecisive. This lady obviously does not know me because she gave me way too much to choose from :) We have to order it relatively soon because it takes about 8 weeks for her to make everything, since it's all custom made. I'll post with our final decision!

I have a very stubborn husband...

or maybe he has a very stubborn wife :)

We had dinner at Jordan's parents last night and I think it was an overall consensus that Sophia was a better choice over Ella, for several reasons. Some think Ella sounds "old lady", some think it's just WAY too popular right now (it's in the top 10 most popular girls name in the US, #1 in Australia - not that really applies to us hehe), and some just like Sophia better.

Then we were all sitting there and Jordan's mom goes "How about Chloe?". I love this name. I brought it up once before and Jordan immediately vetoed it, didn't even ponder it. Everyone was saying how cute "Chloe" would be but then I turned to look at Jordan and he had this look of disgust on his face. I could have jumped across the table and strangled him. He doesn't like anything! He is being a stubborn turd and will not budge on a name. What really bothers me is that he has yet to come up with even one name on his own. I come up with all of them and he just says no...no...that reminds me of this person...no...no...I went to school with a girl named that, no....no...no. Well, how about you come up with something since you know all when it comes to naming babies!

Can you tell I'm a bit annoyed? I know we have time, but I would really like to settle on a name and stop calling it "her" or "the baby".

To be continued!

By the way, I closed the name poll...but Sophia won! 57% preferred Sophia, 43% preferred Ella. Eat that Jordan! :)

Vote!

Help settle our little debate. Jordan and I are both being stubborn and are just not budging on a name. I put up a poll over on the right hand side over there, go vote! It will be up for the next couple of weeks.

Well, you can't say I didn't try

I give up. I totally thought this would turn out awesome but I suck. Here is round 2...Who knows, maybe one day I'll re-do it again. As of now, I don't think we'll be hanging this "creation" in the nursery.

Finally! A new bump picture...

Here it is, my 22 week bump

In major "nesting" mode...

I seriously contemplated taking a personal day to clean and organize our house today. I was even thinking of things to say to my boss when I would call her to ask her for the day off. Then I came to my senses and realized I sounded like a crazy person and just needed to go into work like other normal humans. I don't know what's gotten into me! All morning all I can think is how I can't wait to get home to take apart the crystal mobile I made last night and re-do the whole thing. I've lost my mind! :)

Ok...so, I PROMISE I will take a belly picture tonight. I need to, it's finally starting to mold into an actual bump and doesn't look so much like a huge fat roll. I even got my first "How far along are you?" from a stranger. That made my day :)

Jordan and I are still going back and forth between baby names. Jordan loves Ella Grace or Ella Sophia I love Sophia Grace or Sophia Reese. I can picture her in my head being a Sophia. I can imagine myself yelling "SOPHIA REESE!". I love the name Ella, I'm just having a hard time picturing myself actually calling our daughter that. We'll see who wins that debate :)

Well, I gave it the good old college try...

What a frustrating project! I thought this would be a simple, easy little DIY project...Oh no, it took hours! I'm not even that satisfied with it. I'm going to have to tweak it some more. Well, here's my attempt at making a crystal birdie mobile:


I did manage to find my next DIY project while I was at Michael's. I was browsing the scrapbook aisle and saw some really cool pink damask paper. Then I thought I could put that over some green scrapbook paper and frame it all in a white frame. I bought enough to make 3, can't wait to see how these turn out!

22-24 weeks: a papaya

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.

How far along? 22 weeks today

Maternity clothes? I still don't have much of a belly, I keep losing weight! So it's still a mix of maternity jeans with regular tops and a couple maternity tops

Stretch marks? Nope, please stay this way!

Sleep: Pretty good, just been waking up early.

Best moment this week: Finding out we're having a baby girl!

Movement: All the time...Jordan has yet to be able to feel it though, she stops the second his hand comes anywhere near my belly

Food cravings: No cravings this week...been eating a lot of cereal though

Gender: It's a girl!

Labor Signs: I think I had some Braxton Hicks contractions at the store, not sure...

Belly Button in or out? Still an innie

What I miss: I'm loving pregnancy now, I don't miss anything :)

What I am looking forward to: Getting the nursery put together

Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy pregnancy! That was hard for me to even think about the first 4 months, so much better now!


I must be getting further along because the weekly fruit update is now a monthly update! Bummer, I love finding out what weird fruit she is every week :)

We picked up our crib and changing table on Sunday, it's so cute! I can't wait to get the nursery painted and put everything together. We finally decided on a bedding set and it's going to look so adorable. It's the one in the first picture that I posted the other day (the girly pink and green set). Jordan really wanted to get the bright pink, orange & blue set. We decided not to go with that one because we think it would be hard to find matching stuff to go with it and because it wouldn't look as good with the crib...so the girly one it is! I'm going to be mixing in little birds in the room and little touches of damask :) So excited to see how it turns out!

My first DIY nursery project is going to be this adorable crystal & bird mobile. I'm in love with it. We'll see how it turns out! I'll post pictures when it's complete, I need to go to Michael's and get all of the supplies.

Choosing bedding...

is hard! If you know me, you know that I am probably the most indecisive woman on the planet...so I imagine that I will change my mind 100 times before I finally pick one.

I got fed up with Target because it seemed like anything that I liked was either mostly sold out, so I couldn't get the whole set. I couldn't find anything I liked at Babies R Us, it all seemed too themey to me. Wal-Mart was a no go, they pretty much had a lot of the same stuff as Target. Bed, Bath & Beyond was just outrageous ($400 for crib bedding?!?!).

Then I remembered http://www.etsy.com/ always has awesome stuff. I hit the jackpot! Now I can't figure out which bedding I like. I like all of these for different reasons

This set is just so girly and adorable, it even has a little bit of a damask pattern mixed in

Then there's this set...It's the same exact style as the above picture, but in these fabrics

Then there is this set. It is so totally different from anything I've ever seen...It's a little bright though! I'm sure there will be lots of mixed opinions on this one :)

Ultrasound pictures!

Baby looked great! My doctor says she is on the small side but still within the healthy/normal range and that if things keep going the way they have that we should most likely expect a 6-7 pound baby. That's a relief! I've also managed to lose 3 pounds, no idea how I pulled that off after going on an all-you-can-eat cruise for a week! My doctor was actually pleased about the weight loss, I was a bit chunkier than I should have been in the beginning so it's probably due to the fact that I've been eating much healthier and drinking lots of water and cutting out all of that pop/coffee. We are still throwing around several names but Ella and Sophia seem to be at the top of our list, I'm sure that will change 100 times.

It's a...

GIRL!

More details and ultrasound pictures to come tomorrow. I'm pooped!

Tomorrow can't come soon enough!

We will FINALLY get to find out what we're having tomorrow! I am so so so so excited and this has been the longest week of all time due to the anticipation! I thought boy yesterday, today I'm thinking girl :) I haven't "seen" the baby since February (almost exactly 2 months from now) so I'm really excited to be able to see how much bigger he/she looks too.

I'm also having a follow up with my doctor afterward to check out the status of this stupid Phlebitis that I have. It doesn't seem to look like it's getting any better. I'm not dealing with any of the pain anymore (thank goodness) but it's still a bit swollen and a reddish/purple color. It also gets really itchy and kind of tingly at night. Jordan just loves to make fun of the compression stockings that I have to wear, thanks hunny!

I'll be back with the verdict tomorrow!

I know I said I "didn't care" whether we have a boy or a girl, but...

I secretly really want a girl. I really don't care either way but if someone said to me "You MUST choose a sex or else!" then I would have to go with girl. It's odd because when Jordan and I first decided to try getitng pregnant we both really wanted a boy.

I don't know what's changed my opinion...Actually I do, it's all of these adorable girl nurseries that I've been seeing! I haven't seen any boy nurseries that make me say "Ooooh!" but I have been totally drooling over some of the girls stuff like these: