New Master Bathroom

I don't know if you remember but I've been contemplating doing something with our Master Bathroom for a while now. The truth is, we've lived in this house for two years and we hadn't done anything with it besides put one old rug on the floor. I really wanted a Master Bathroom that felt like a spa or hotel. Because of the time crunch (baby) and Joe's crazy work schedule, we had exactly one day to do something so I decided we could at least paint, get some new rugs and put something on the wall. After debating for a long time over colors, I decided to go with a soft yellow from Valspar.

 My first instinct is always blue but we have so much blue in our house I'm worried it's starting to look like smurf-ville. I picked out a couple other colors to compliment it: a bronze-y brown (to be used later for something - it's a surprise!) and a pretty sea green. I love this green color!!

I'm not going to lie, painting a bathroom with 12 foot ceilings and wacky walls was not easy being 9 months pregnant so Joe did a lot of the work. I just came in every once in a while to do some quality assurance inspections (hah)!! Also, we didn't think too much about how we'd paint the wall above our corner tub. After Google-ing we decided to put towels down in the tub and put the ladder inside the tub (*cue me having a heart attack at the thought of the fiberglass tub cracking*) and I did that painting because I'm still (slightly) lighter than Joe and we figured the less weight on the ladder the better. I'll admit, the ceiling isn't perfect but we are not re-painting any time soon!! haha!

For cheap wall art I blew up two of our favorite honeymoon pictures at Walgreens and put them in frames from Walmart.

 The shelf came from Lowe's for under $15 and the jars are from TJMaxx, all three were $7 total.

The rugs are probably my favorite thing. They are the Hotel Collection from TJMaxx. I LOVE the Hotel Collection stuff from TJMaxx.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and that it was really a one day project. I still have some other ideas for a couple more projects in here, but those may have to wait a couple months. :)

Happy Friday!!!

Thank yous & Carseats

It's so nice to have a "pregnancy buddy". I don't think I'd want to be pregnant (especially for the first time) without having a friend in the same boat with me. I had two friends who were pregnant with me and due within a month of me. One of my friends even shared my due date. Well. They have both now had their babies! I'm the last man (woman) standing!! hah!

After the second girl went into labor early Joe and I promptly packed our hospital bag and got the car seat installed.

Maybe it was wishful thinking...

I'm so ready to have this baby and find out if we've got a little girl or a little boy!! I've been cleaning the house because we will be having a lot of company over and I'm a little OCD about it staying neat. I told Joe I couldn't fathom having this baby knowing our bed wasn't made or there were dishes in the sink!! Haha!
I've also been working on my thank-yous from my shower. I designed them using the colors from the nursery (and my shower) and used some of the pregnancy photos I had been taking. I printed them at Office Depot because I didn't want to wait to have them mailed if I did them online. All together I think 50 cards were $10 or so!!

 

What did you do the days leading up to having your first baby???

Dr. Suess Baby Shower

Over Memorial Day weekend I had my baby shower in Kansas City so Joe and I made it long weekend and celebrated with lots of friends and family. The theme of the shower was Dr. Suess (love!) and it was hosted by my mom and sister. They did an awesome job and I was completely overwhelmed most of the day :)

I wore a one shoulder cotton maxi dress my mom got me from Macy's (non-maternity!). I was hoping the black would make me look slimmer but that would have been a miracle straight from Jesus. haha!

 

 The Cat in the Hat cake was made by Three Women and an Oven in Kansas City. The top layer was peanut butter with chocolate filling and the middle layer was white cake with strawberry filling. Looks too good to eat doesn't it??

The diaper cake my mother in law had made for me was so cute! The layers are wrapped in hand made burp cloths from Etsy. Such a cute idea!

Delicious food spread and personalized water bottles :)

Can you tell this little baby is going to be spoiled???

Joe's godmother got us this huge stuffed teddy bear and I thought it was the cutest thing. He sits next to the crib in the nursery now!!

So many of the gifts I got were so special: OU things, handmade things or things with special meaning.

The guests played Price is Right and Bingo while I opened my gifts.

What an awesome day!

You Were Right

I needed to let you know that you were right.

A couple months I told you I needed a new vacuum. I honestly knew my old Hoover Wind Tunnel was just making pretty lines in the carpet and not really picking anything up. 

Buying a Dyson wasn't in the budget. But you all told me it would be worth it and you can buy them refurbished online.

So look what arrived last week...

And at first I was skeptical. 

But you were right. My life has now been changed. And please don't judge me but I think it's really fun to watch all the stuff get sucked into the canister.

So thanks for the advice! I'm off to vacuum! Haha!

33 weeks!!!

I'm 33 weeks pregnant!! *cue panic attacks!*

How I'm feeling:
Except for the fact that I can't move or roll over in bed, or get out of the bathtub or shave my legs very well I feel excellent! Haha! I've definitely started to waddle!

About the baby:
The baby is still kicking up a storm! I feel it mostly when I'm lying on my side and right now it's laying really high and along my right side. I can't wait to find out exactly what position he/she is in (at my 36 week doctor appointment). Since we've officially decided on a boy name and a girl name we are starting to refer to the baby by these names, interchangeably.

Doctor Appointments:
We have an appointment every 1-2 weeks. Joe has still not skipped one appointment which amazing with his work hours! We had an appointment yesterday and the biggest news is.... our due date has officially been changed! 7/2/11 (the day before our 5 year wedding anniversary) :)

Food:
Current favorite foods:  cold glass of milk, corn on the cob (obsessed)
Current food aversions: still can't even bear to think about avocados or eggs. I divert my eyes when I see them at the grocery store.

The nursery:
I'm starting to get some things done for curtains, lamp, etc!!

Baby gear:
We still haven't bought much more because our shower is in a couple weeks.

Have I grown??

Happy Wednesday!!!

2nd Trimester Survival Guide

As promised!! I wanted to put together a list of things that I found useful during the (BEST) trimester of pregnancy - the 2nd! During this time, a mama will probably be starting to really grow in the belly, put together the nursery and start to really think about what life with the baby is going to be like. Or at least that was my experience! (If you missed the 1st Trimester Survival Guide - go HERE!)

1. BeMaternity Tanks from Target - I have one of these in every color (white, black, nude) and wear them under a shirt almost every single day! It helps me prevent Plumber's Belly (ha!) and I've been able to get by with a lot of the shirts I already had that are swingy and loose rather than buying a bunch of new shirts. It's seamless and SO comfortable and I also felt like it gave my belly and chest some added support.

2. Happiest Baby on the Block book - I had many mom's recommend this book to me - it's all about soothing your baby. I think it's good to get started on reading soothing and sleep books before the baby comes (let's face it, you probably won't have time once the baby is already here!)

3. Prilosec - My heartburn really started kicking in during the 2nd trimester. It got so bad that TUMS wouldn't even touch it and I was awake at all hours of the night in pain. My doctor originally put me on Zantac but after talking to several moms, I switched to Prilosec once a day. I literally have not had an ounce of heartburn since starting it!! Amazing stuff!!

4. Pedicures - By the middle to end of my 2nd trimester I couldn't even think about bending over to paint my toenails. But it's more than vanity that has led me to get regular pedicures. The leg massage is great for swelling and THAT CHAIR with the back massagers is worth the price of a pedicure alone. Because your back will be hurting. It feels soooo goood.

5. Yoga DVD - I'll admit I have really reduced my exercise routine since becoming pregnant. I still walk quite a bit and I always try to take the stairs when I'm out and about. I also have used this DVD that's specifically geared toward pregnant women and really like it. It does have some challenging things (like pushups - eeps!) but the stretches are SO awesome. And there's a little dance portion I really like.

6. Lucie's List for registering - this blog is a Godsend for registering. I would tell any of my friends to not even dare registering without looking at this list. It's created by a real mama and it gives the most practical advice on the things you really need for the baby. I loved that it explained how car seats and strollers work in layman terms (I hope I'm not the only one who had no idea what the difference between an infant seat and convertible seat was!!). Anywhere you register *will* give you a list of "necessities" but it will be a list of approximately 650 items so this really helps you pare those lists down. I could go on forever how much I loved this blog.

7. Baby Names App for Phone (or book) - This is the time when deciding a name get's to be important! Joe and had a really hard time choosing names (and they're still a complete surprise to our family!). Any time we were on a road trip I would pull up this app and read names and we could spend a couple hours discussing the names. We ended up choosing some names that we had already liked for quite a while but this app helped us figure out there wasn't anything "better" out there for us :)

8. Old Navy Maternity Jeans - I have bought a lot of different brands of maternity jeans (including the pricey Pea in the Pod ones the celebrities supposedly wear) and I swear that Old Navy makes the best preggo jeans in the industry!! Even if you're like me and Old Navy jeans don't work for you when you're not pregnant, seriously give these a try! It's all I wear these days!!

Old Navy maternity jeans I scored for $4 on the sale rack!!!

Alright, mamas!! What am I missing?? I loved the comments from the 1st Trimester Survival Guide post - I missed a bunch of stuff!! :)