Egg Decorating

Every year Joe and I try to decorate a batch of Easter eggs. It's a tradition we started when we got married and now we have boxes and boxes of eggs that I bring out every year to decorate with. I know that probably seems weird to people because we don't have kids yet but I love any excuse to celebrate any kind of holiday. We give each other Easter baskets too - haha! I LOVE looking back at eggs we painted over the past few years :) Someday I'd like to have enough to fill a tree with them! We make sure to write the year on each egg in Sharpie marker so our grandchildren can look at all these old stinky eggs and know which year they're from. (We do blow them first so they don't rot. Can you imagine???)

Do you have a tradition for decorating Easter eggs? I would love to start some more Easter traditions once our little "egg has hatched" ;-)

28 Weeks!!!

 I'm 28 weeks pregnant!!

How I'm feeling:
I feel great! A little bit of pregnancy insomnia, Braxton Hicks and tiredness.. but overall doing awesome! I'm also really excited because for the first time someone recognized I'm pregnant in public! A sweet lady *insisted* I go ahead of her in line in a restroom. Haha!

About the baby:
The baby is the size of a head of cabbage :) He/she moves around a lot, especially when I lay down at night. I feel kicks way high and way low all at the same time and sometimes he/she will roll slowly, which is the weirdest sensation!

Doctor Appointments:
We're going to the doctor every two weeks at this point. Basically, we check my urine, weight (fun times) and blood pressure and then we get to hear the heart beat (which totally makes the weight check worth it! Haha!)

Food:
Current favorite foods: Fruit and pickles :)

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.

My body:
I have officially gained 20 pounds. I'm trying not to focus much on the weight. The lady who does my pedicures assures me I'm not swollen at all (yay!) so that makes me feel better. After a meal I feel like a huge whale though.

The nursery:
We still need to decide on curtains and start decorating!!

Baby gear:
-We bought a few options for coming home outfits at Babies R'Us (one for each gender)
- I discovered our stroller doesn't fit through the doorways of our house (isn't that great?)

Happy Monday!!!

Weekend

Last weekend was one of the first weekends in a long time that Joe and I had NO plans! We spent a lot of time out in the yard because it was in the 80s and I couldn't stand to be cooped up inside! We mowed the entire yard (me on the rider and Joe with the pusher) and then weeded out and re-mulched the front flower bed. I think my nesting has officially spread outdoors!!!

We also went to see Limitless. I was craving movie theater popcorn and Joe thought it looked good so it was a nice afternoon date!

We (mostly Joe) watched a lot of the Master's tournament. I am terrible at golf but I love how soothing they are on tv because the announcers have such calm voices! Makes for a good nap! Haha!

What did you do this weekend???

Sandals and Pediatricians

First of all, I have to tell you that yesterday I stumbled upon a shoe and sandal goldmine at where else but K'Mart. Y'all, they have the cutest shoes and there's no way you can be more shocked about it than I was. I have been wearing these (less than $20) sandals all day today walking around campus because I have some meetings for my grad classes and just WOW. I know maybe not everyone is into the gladiator trend but I'm definitely a fan.

I also have to tell you something really funny that happened to us on Tuesday when we had our OB appointment. Or doctor was asking us some questions to put in our chart for the birth like "Will you be having the epidural?", "Would you prefer to use the Birth Care Center or the hospital", "Would you like to pre-register at the hospital?", etc and she asked us, "Can you go ahead and tell us who you've decided to have as your pediatrician?"

And then silence.

Oops!

We're supposed to be doing that now?? I had no idea! Our OB thought it was hilarious (hello, first time parents!! Ha!). Is there anything else we might be forgetting to do? I just know I'll be the type of mom who forgets to bring diapers when we go out or forgets to enroll her child in school or something. Haha!

Yellow Rose Pillow

Last week I was really feeling Spring fever and I decided I wanted to make a little pillow to freshen up our guest room because my mom was coming for a visit.

 I found some yellow fabric (isn't it just so cheerful??) at Walmart and thought it might be cute for little fabric rosettes I've seen around. I also grabbed a couple yards of simple white fabric.

I read a few things online about how to make the little appliques. Basically, you cut your fabric into strips about an inch wide, along the width of the fabric - I think most fabric bolts are 44 or 53 inches wide. (I actually tore my strips because I realized our only pair of scissors are awful and I even tried to find Joe's surgical scissors but couldn't find those either! Ha!)

 Once you've got your strips torn/cut, you just tie a knot at the halfway point of the strip so you have two ends. I added a little dob of hot glue here. Twist the fabric and start just wrapping it around the knot.

Around and around, twisting and gluing as you go with the hot glue gun. I burned my fingers a few times but it's totally worth it.

 When you get to the end, just wrap the edge of the fabric around to the back and glue it down. And you repeat the process for as many rosettes you want for your pillow.

I didn't want to over-exert myself so I only made three.

 Then, I got out my old sewing machine (which only works about half the time but I can't justify buying a new one because the only thing I know how to sew is curtains and pillows. I even took Sewing class in high school and I made my grandma a stuffed lamb and put the ears on backwards) and made a little white pillow case for a pillow insert I already had from Hobby Lobby. If you aren't much of a sewer, you could totally just buy a solid white throw pillow and stick your rosettes on the front. Now that I think of it, that would have been much easier.

I stuffed the pillow insert inside and then sewed the bottom edge with a needle and thread. The old fashioned way. And probably still not technically the correct way!

 Then, I arranged the rosettes on the front of the pillow and hot glued them down too.

I thought it looked cute on our guest bed and it only took me an hour to whip up! Not bad, huh?

Happy Wednesday!

Nursery Progress & More

I wanted to share the progress of our nursery because I have several friends who are begging me for pictures. We just got the furniture delivered last Thursday so it's just bare bones right now but I'm loving it and at least a couple times a day I go in and sit in the glider and imagine what it's going to be like to be rocking an actual baby.

Now is the fun part: decorating!! I really feel like that's when you can make the space unique. We still have so much to do like make the curtains, find lamps, etc. Speaking of nursery decorating, my friend Jacki just posted a cute tutorial on her blog about making a mobile for her nursery with birdcages and a branch from her yard. TOO CUTE.

I have to show a picture of the ceiling fan because Joe spent seven hours installing it. It's totally not his fault, because he had to re-wire the entire room I think. I'm not 100% sure because I was taking a nap on the couch at the time. Just kidding and I WISH. We were both on the ladder! Ha!

Last weekend my mom came to stay with me because Joe was in Chicago for a conference for work. We ate and shopped and then ate some more and shopped some more. I had to show you the cute bag I found at a consignment store. If you squint it can almost look like a Chanel bag. I love it!

Also, I had a major craving for a milkshake. Gold star to anyone who can guess what I put in it..?!?

Happy Monday!

Spring Cleaning

I don't know if it's being pregnant or the fact that Spring is finally here but I would love nothing more than to spend a day on my hands and knees scrubbing baseboards and dusting all the nooks and crannies in my china hutch. My house stays pretty clean most of the time because (I probably need mental help) I can't relax if I know there's a big mess in the kitchen or somewhere else. (Except laundry. I have a really hard time keeping up with laundry!)

Lately I've been in the market for a new vacuum - do any of y'all have any good recommendations??? As much as I would *love* to have one of these...

It's just not in the budget right now. Actually, we are still using the vacuum Joe's mom got him when he moved to his first apartment to start medical school. That thing has seen better days! Sometimes I wonder if it's really picking up dirt and pet hair or just making pretty lines in the carpet! Ha!

Vacuuming is my least favorite household chore. I honestly think I'd rather clean a toilet. I'm hoping maybe you have a good suggestion for a new vacuum that will pick up dog hair and sweep carpet and hardwoods! Or if you do have a Dyson you love go on and tell me that too and maybe I can convince the hubby! Ha!

Happy Wednesday!