Sam's Nursery Pictures

Finally, the finished product!  To really appreciate the transformation, be sure to peek back at the before pics.  I love how the room turned out and I love spending time in here.  Truly, a dream come true.  It's so sweet and perfect for our little boy.  I couldn't be happier!  Enjoy...

The gorgeous built-in shelves that have been in my head for years turned out great!  One of the hub's best friends built these.  We were blessed to have so many talented friends and family help us out with this beautiful room.

Definitely one of my favorite parts of the room is the wall and ceiling paint.  We went very neutral, but bold at the same time.  The crib wall is striped with two shades of taupe.  But the real kicker is the ceiling - it's a very striking metallic bronze.  My absolute favorite part!  We did the paint ourselves.  The stripes were the most challenging - the hub handled those!

The rocker was a gift from Sam's Mimi! And the fabric closet "door" was sewn by my sweet bestest!  And I'm not sure if she remembers this, but KK also gave us that oval mirror that hangs above the crib as a wedding gift (ahem, nearly ten years ago).  Yeah, we hadn't used it till now!  We added the wooden "S" and voila... insta-nursery decor.



She also made the lovely basket liners for me!  See her tutorial on these here.  The hamper (which you can kinda see there by the crib) was a bit of a challenge.  I didn't like any of the ones I saw at BRU and the like.  This was actually my grandfather's hamper.  Yeah, kind of a weird tribute, but it's cool to have a piece of him in the room (even if it used to hold his dirty underwear).



Had a ball filling these shelves.  And it's a work in progress!  Lots of sweet gifts from friends, but also a few things from my childhood make an appearance too.



Filling the drawers was also fun... they're our main source of storage in the room, besides the closet.

This little caddy was used to hold cake pops at one of my showers... now it holds diapers!  The little night light back there is one of my favorite baby items.  It'll be included on my list of must-have's that I'll post soon!  That bird house is just a random item I found at Hobby Lobby for filler.

Our beautiful DIY cornice board!!!  One of my very favorite pieces in the room.  Dad and the hub built this together.  And my sweet friend, Melissa, monogrammed the fabric before it was assembled.  A very easy project.  And simple to change the fabric... like if it needs to be pink at some point! ;-)

Our gorgeous bench seat cushion... I did have a designer friend make this for me.  Definitely one of the few "splurges" in the room, but it totally makes the bench - which really is the focal point. LOVE it!  That seat also lifts to reveal a big storage area underneath.  Currently it is housing our diaper supply!



Some sweet details...  the pillow (and all crib bedding and extra fabric) was ordered from a GREAT local company called Carousel Designs that does affordable custom crib bedding.   I will use them again and again! My friend Melissa also monogrammed this pillow for me (and did the applique "S" on the one above). 



Another must-have - the Sleep Sheep!  Yeah we have this full size one and the travel one (attached to Sam's car seat).  Love!  This little toy bag was something I already had from my samples kit when I was selling Javis Davis bedding.  It just happened to match almost perfectly!

The main print used in the room - this gorgeous paisley.  It was definitely love at first sight when I found this.  Which is not what I originally imagined for a boy... I always thought I'd do something bright and funky!

Wall decor above the changing table.  Found these fabulous safety pins at Ballard Designs.  They were featured as a cute addition for a laundry room, but I thought they'd be perfect in a nursery!  The lovely name plaque was given by another sweet friend.  Also one of my very favorite details in the room.  Sam's name has such special meaning for us, so this was a perfect gift.

Oh and how I adore the finished bathroom... I told you how much I love baby and kids' bathrooms, so we put a lot of work into it.  My dad and the hub did the beadboard themselves.  That medicine cabinet was a random find at Home Depot!  I had one picked out at Pottery Barn for twice as much.  Monogrammed towels from Horchow, duh.  Don't make me tell you again that there is no better place to order mongrammed towels.

Cheap clearance shower curtain from Kohl's!  Mongrammed by Melissa.  :-)  Oh and all these bathroom fixtures were purchased YEARS ago at the Pottery Barn outlet.  We had never installed them till now, but we've seriously had them for like five or six years.  Glad my taste didn't change too much!

Sam's Nana got him this sweet little robe.  A baby robe, seriously... so cute!

And surely you remember the crazy orange closet!  Here it is fully loaded.  Hard to tell in this pic, but the wall color is a bright sherbet orange.  Just fun.  Not meant to match any decor in the room, obviously.  Just a happy and bright color that works well with blue OR pink.  :-)  This was our very first project in the room.  I decided on this color before we knew boy or girl or what we'd be doing in the nursery itself.  Closets are fun.  (Mine is partially painted too - metallic pink.  I mean, why not?)

Yep, all that work for a teeny little person... blood, sweat, and tears from us and so many others who love this little guy.  Definitely more time, thought, effort, and money has gone in to that one space than any other in our house!  Haha... gotta love it!

Ketchup.

Gosh, I am having trouble getting my butt on the computer lately to blog.  I just have been very busy sitting on the couch and not caring.  Ha!  No, but I do have so much I need to update y'all on... we had our last round of showers this past weekend - which were great!  And we also did our maternity shoot last Friday (above is a little sample for ya).  So I'll get some weekend pics up soon!  

I tell ya - Sam is pretty darn set.  I think the only major thing we don't have that we'd like to get before he arrives is my breast pump.  So I think we'll slap a 20% off coupon and a few BRU giftcards on that puppy and it'll be pretty affordable!  We went to a breastfeeding class at the hospital this past Saturday and they suggested bringing in your pump if you have one so they can show us how to get it set up and use it.  Sounds good to me!  I need all the help I can get.  

The nursery is really coming together.  The built-in shelves are installed but just waiting on some finishing touches.  They look AWESOME and I can't wait to "move in" to them with all of Sam's loot.  They're our main source of storage in that room, besides his closet.  Other projects still in the works are the cornice board for the window - my dad is helping us construct that.  I think I mentioned the quote I got to have one made was like $750.  Yeah... so I quickly started googling "DIY cornice boards."  It looks pretty darn easy, so I'm excited to see how this project comes together.  We're just doing a super simple one with the same paisley fabric that's in the bedding and it will be monogrammed in the center.

We're also having a cushion made for the bench seat under the window.  Any DIY option there would turn into a hot mess.  Not even attempting that!  So we'll leave that one to the pros.  Also using a fabric from the bedding collection for the cushion, but a more neutral one that can be used later if we decided to change up the color scheme in that room.  What else... well, paint!  We are nearly done there.  I of course have to make the paint as complicated as possible with 15 different colors, etc.  We finally figured out colors for the nursery ceiling and bath ceiling.  The hub finished the main ceiling paint and WOW, does it look good!  It is a metallic bronze - which I thought might be a bit dark once applied, but it is so perfect.  We have so much white going on in the nursery between the shelving, furniture, and trim, so the dark contrast really warms it up and makes it so soothing.  Plus our wall colors are very subtle (two shades of taupe), so the metallic ceiling adds a bit of drama!  I'll get some pics up once we finish the paint.  We are still doing stripes, but just on one wall.  I think stripes all around might be overkill, so we're going to try just one wall to start.  I'm planning to conquer the stripes this weekend.  Then the last bit of paint will be the ceiling in the bathroom - also a metallic gold, but a lot lighter than the nursery color.  It's more of a pale gold.

And speaking of the bathroom - we still have the beadboard to install.  My dad is helping us with that as well.  We did finally get our bathroom mirror though!  I had been eying one at Pottery Barn forever but we stumbled upon a comparable version on clearance at Home Depot this week!  Total score... I was literally about to shell out $149 for the PB version, but we ended up getting the $70 HD version instead.  Love it!  It's a white medicine cabinet style mirror.  We wanted a medicine cabinet because we've got a pedestal sink in the nursery bath with no storage.  And now the only other major thing I need to order here soon is the baskets from Pottery Barn for our changing table.  And that has turned into a fiasco this week because I've been trying to use these Amex giftcards we got to purchase those, to no avail.  Oh believe me, I've been on the phone with the Pottery Barn people... While I'm TRULY grateful for these Amex giftcards, I gotta say they have been a pain in the ass to try to use online.  I know, rich people problem... "Oh weh... the money I received as a gift is hard to spend!" Obviously not a big deal in the grand scheme, but yeah, add that to the list of reasons to hate Amex.  We'll get them to work one way or another but I don't think I'll be buying those particular cards as a gift for anyone.  Uh, not to mention they charge a fee when you purchase them!  Lame, Amex.

As far as Sam, he is doing great!  When you throw in my perinatal visits, I'm pretty much into weekly doctor appointments now.  Which is fine by me... I like to know how things stand.  We had our last OB visit on Tuesday and, as suspected, they're going to make me do the 3-hr glucose test later this week since I borderline passed the 1-hr test and Sam is on the big side.  Well, drats... that means I have to fast Friday morning... as in no Friday morning poptart!  What am I going to do?!  Ha...  I've also been having a fair amount of Braxton Hicks contractions in the last few weeks.  The hub got mad at me because I hadn't mentioned them to him when I had them.  He knew I'd been having them because he was at the doctor with me when I asked about them.  But as long as they didn't get excessive, I didn't figure I needed to worry him when I had one.  Well, he did not like that.  So now I have a custom app on my phone that looks like a big red button.  Anytime I have a contraction, I have to push the button and it immediately sends a text message to the hub.  Hahaha.... gotta love it.  The OB said if I have 6 or more an hour, that I need to drink a glass of water and lie down.  If they continue at that rate, then we call the doctor.  I haven't had near that many in an hour, so no real cause for alarm just yet!  But heaven knows the hub will be the first to know if I do.  :-)

Other big news we found out this week is that, unfortunately, my OB won't be able to do my c-section.  She apparently had to have some kind of emergency surgery this week and will be out of commission for a while, so they went ahead and had me schedule with a different doctor in the practice.  I'm sad it won't be my regular OB... I sure hope she's OK!  I've been seeing her for over 10 years... she had a wonky uterus just like me and was also a Dr. Toledo patient, so she "gets" it.  Would've been cool to have her deliver Sam, but whatever... I know most women don't get their own doctors anyway!  It's luck of the draw really unless it's scheduled.  So yeah, that was kinda disappointing, but not a huge deal in the long run.  I will be in good hands.  My OB's health is obviously the priority here! We have met all but one of the other OB's in the practice, so I was able to pick one I liked and keep the same day/time.  The doctor we saw this week was also good, and she's available that day (Jan 19), but not till after 1pm.  Which means I'd have to go WAY longer without food.  Um, no thanks.  I picked someone else.  As with all events in my life, I center this around my meals.  Momma's gotta eat!  Priorities.

Alright y'all... I promise I'll get back on with some pics and other fun deets from this past weekend.  Hope you're having a good one!

Nursery Goings On

It feels like I've put the nursery on the back-burner over the last month or so... just kinda had to for the most part because work has been so nuts.  September and October have our last big filing deadlines of the year, so it's like a mini busy season for a few weeks.  Meaning, I don't have much time for anything else!

But yesterday was the last big deadline, and I can breathe again!  AND I can concentrate on more fun things, like getting Sam's room ready for him.  Because tomorrow marks three months till his big day!  Goodness... time is really flying.  I thought nine months would be an exorbitant amount of time to get ready for a baby.  Hmmm... not so much.  I feel time slipping away as I find more and more things to add to my to-do list!

But alas, we are making progress!  We finally got going on the bathroom paint this weekend.  We got this gorgeous robin egg blue from - where else? - Home Depot.  Hard to get the true color captured in pics, but it's really similar to this Restoration Hardware color...

We're going to do white bead-board along the bottom (up to chair railing height) - so that's why we didn't bother painting all the way down to the bottom trim.  I did most of this room - my energy is still there for now!  But the hub had to help me with the hard-to-reach spots behind the tub.

This afternoon I finished up with a second coat, and it is looking fabulous!  I just LOVE the color.  And I am not normally big into blue.  But this is truly a gorgeous color.  I think Sam will be pleased!

And I know I probably will regret this... I realize that.  But I'm planning to do a mix of white and taupe linens in the bathroom.  I'm looking for just a simple white shower curtain with a monogram.  May just grab a cheap white one at Kohl's and have a friend monogram it... or I may go with this Pottery Barn one that's actually pretty affordable (only $34 including the monogram)...

I've used several PB shower curtains in the past and they've all been great quality.  So how long do you think we'll go before that thing's covered it projectile baby vomit?!  Hopefully at least a couple of weeks.  I'll, uh... make sure I can wash it easily - whatever we end up with.  We also obviously need a mirror.  Because we (by choice) did a pedestal sink in this bathroom, we don't have a lot of storage in there.  So I'm wanting to do some kind of medicine cabinet mirror, like this one (also from Pottery Barn)...

So the bathroom is definitely starting to come together!  It's one of my favorite parts of the nursery... I adore baby and kids' bathrooms.

Also in the works, a few miles away, are the built-in shelves!!!  The hub's buddy is building them for us at his house and then he'll come install them once they're completed.  I haven't seen them in person yet, but the pics have me SO excited!  This is absolutely the focal point of the entire nursery and a concept I've had in my head for the last six years.  So amazing to finally see it come together... in real life!

The shelves will be painted white and there will also be trim across the top connecting the whole thing so it's one big piece.  Our one window takes up that entire open space in the middle.  Eeeks!  Can't wait to see those installed!

On tap for this weekend is getting started on the paint in the main room.  We haven't done the first thing about paint in there!  I was initially thinking we'd hire someone to do some fancy-pants design that I didn't have the patience for.  Not a mural, but just something cool - some kind of print or design.  But then I got inspired when we were in Home Depot last weekend getting the blue bathroom paint.  I noticed Martha Stewart's metallic paint collection and picked up a little sample bottle of this...

I've mentioned it before - I love me some metallic paint.  We have it in three rooms downstairs.  But they're very bold and heavy.  Martha has this very sweet, soft pearl-like gold paint that I knew would be PERFECT to accent the nursery with.  I was already thinking of incorporating some gold in there somehow, and this was my answer.

So fast forward through several rounds of what-about-this that went through my head, and that brings us to the final painting decision... We're going to do wide stripes on the main walls in two soft shades of taupe.  The ceiling will be painted with the soft metallic gold.  And in between the stripes on the walls will be a line of small coin-sized dots of the same gold.  Let me tell you, it is gorgeous in my head.  We'll see if reality plays along!

Lastly, I'm starting to pull together some accessories like wall decor. Gosh, there are so many little odds and ends I keep thinking of!  But I'm just trying to take it a step at a time.  So this week our two  main pieces for the walls came in.  I didn't know what I wanted to do on the walls for the longest time.  I try very hard not to do what everyone else is doing... I had a longer list of things I would NOT be doing than I did of any real ideas.  But finally I came up with a plan.  Above the crib, I'm using a frameless oval mirror that bestest gave us for our wedding (ahem 9 years ago).  It's from Pottery Barn (yes, I obviously have a thing for Pottery Barn accessories) and hangs by a ribbon.  Never been used.  Always figured we'd use it in a nursery someday, somehow.  My initial thought was to have the mirror engraved if we had a girl.  No dice there.  So recently I thought of getting some wooden letters to attach to the mirror since Sam's name is nice and short.  Which brings us to this...

That's the top of the crib in the mirror's reflection - in case my pic is confusing.  The letters (from PB Kids) came in white, but I'm 97% sure I'm going to spray paint them antique gold.  A bit darker than the gold metallic paint I was just gushing about.  Then we'll hang the mirror by a large blue grosgrain ribbon.  I wanted the letters gold because (1) there's already so much dang white in the room between the furniture and the shelves, and (2) I want them to coordinate with these kick-ass giant safety pins I ordered from Ballard!

Seriously, how friggin' cool are these?  They're meant to gussy up a laundry room but I saw them in the catalog a couple of months ago and thought they'd be awesome over the changing table.  They were very affordable - only $35 for the set.  And they're all metal, they actually fasten and unfasten, and all three have different antique finishes.  Very cool.

So yeah... lots going on in the nursery!  It's really starting to come together, though I feel like there is so much more to do!  I come up with new ideas everyday.  And of course, Gertie is always there by my side to supervise...

Hope to be back soon with more nursery updates as things progress!

Sam's Crib Bedding!

So super exciting... our custom crib bedding and accessories arrived in only 6 days.  I wasn't expecting to get the order till next week, so it was a fun surprise to find it on our doorstep already.  I love it as much as I knew I would!  Here's a pic of the online version once I designed it (I just did a skirt and crib sheet, so ignore the "blank" quilt and bumpers)...

Nursery Designer by Carousel Bedding

And here's the sweet product on our crib!

Obviously I need to iron it to get that box pleat looking good, but I just had to throw it on there right away to see how it looked.  We also went with a longer skirt (20") since we decided to skip the bumper.  I know I'll have to either pin it up or get a standard length later when we move the mattress down, but I don't care.  I LOVE it!

Got a sweet little pillow for the rocker... I'm sure I'll end up monogramming Sam's name on it (er, having a friend do it). 

I also got extra fabric so bestest can sew our closet "door."  It'll be the same blue and white striped fabric on the bottom of the crib skirt.  Love it!

So we started our registry today at BRU and it was 10x more overwhelming than I thought.  The first aisle was all bottles and feeding accessories.  What the hell?  Like literally hundreds of products crammed on a wall and I'm supposed to know what to pick out?  Ha!  Most used sentence in there today... "Uhhh, just scan it and I'll research it more later."

So yeah it was more like getting a jump start on it but now I'm weeding through it online.  A couple of things scanned wrong too, so I corrected those on the website.  I'm thinking this registry is going to be a work in process for a while...

Sam's Rocker Arrived!

Ooooooh... and I'm in love!




That blue line of tape in the background is where the built-in shelving will be. (I need visuals.)




The soft taupe color fits in perfectly with our bedding swatches. Can't wait for the bedding to come in and see it all start to come together!




We got the call late Saturday from BRU that the rocker had arrived. I had to work Sunday, so the hub surprised me by having the rocker picked up, set up, AND the blinds installed before I got home! MADE my day. :-)

20 Week Ultrasound

We are halfway there, people! I can't believe it. When we first learned we were pregnant, 20 weeks felt like an eternity away and getting there seemed like wishful thinking. Yet, here we are! Sam is growing strong and yesterday he was measuring 20w6d and weighs almost a whole pound. And while the doctor assured us he was a boy at 16 weeks, I had to take his word for it. But yesterday, his boy parts were clear as day. MORE than clear... hahahha!

I gotta say I was relieved to know for sure that Sam is indeed a boy. My OB told me not to buy anything till 20 weeks - and except for some bargain clothes, I've stuck to that. And honestly, we've gotten so excited about having a boy and talking about "Sam" that I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be a little disappointed at first if they told us yesterday that, whoops, it's a girl. Of course we'd be FINE with that - obviously we don't care ultimately. But we've had Sam in our heads for a month now and it'd be weird to have to re-tune our thinking. But obviously that's not an issue - our boy is most definitely a boy! In fact one of the "weiner shots," as my doctor calls them, was so *vulgar* that he was like, "Uh, I can't let you take that picture home." Hahahha...

And speaking of pictures, we really didn't get any great ones this time. We saw lots of cool stuff on screen, but Sam kept his back turned to us most of the time. So, not the greatest shot, but here you go...




Wow, that was a long 4 weeks to wait to see him again. Admittedly, there were some days where I wasn't sure he was still in there and I started to get a bit anxious. But we actually started to feel him kick over Labor Day weekend - which has been SO cool. I had felt little bubbles and flutters some on and off before, but this was the first time the hub and I both could feel him. Such a cool feeling. And weird!

We go back in again at 24 weeks for another checkup with my OB and ultrasound with the perinatologist. I gotta say I love doing ultrasounds with the perinatologist - they are way thorough and I think their equipment is more high-tech than my regular OB's. It's so amazing all the stuff you can see on there!

This weekend we're taking a CPR class - the first of many classes on becoming parenting experts! And Sunday I'm sure I'll be working some... big deadline next week and LOTS to wrap up before then. That doesn't leave much time for nursery or baby stuff this weekend, but I'm hoping we'll at least get our new blinds put up. I hope you all have fabulous weekends!!!

Nursery Bargains: Rocker & Ottoman

The hunt is over! This sweet rocker is on its way to Sam's nursery...






The fabric we ordered is actually a tad lighter than this and compliments our paisley print beautifully. And it's just a good neutral taupe color, so it will last through our whole army of embryos awaiting us. (Kidding, Mom... I promise we'll stop at 10 or 12.)

We actually noticed this very rocker first at my sweet friend Pammy's house. She is expecting and is 4 weeks ahead of me. She ordered her rocker from Babies 'R Us and I LOVED the look and feel of it. I made sure we added it to our list last week when we went on our rocker hunt all across town. After looking at all kinds of rockers in similar styles to this one, both the hub and I felt the BRU rocker was our best bet. I did like several of the Best brand rockers we saw at The Baby's Room, but for the price (as in several hundred dollars more) they just really weren't much better (that we could tell) from the Newco brand rocker at BRU. Plus, I consulted my Bible Baby Bargains book and the Newco brand chairs in general got very good ratings. I made sure we steered clear of any brands that had crappy ratings.

So how good of a bargain was it? Well I was personally stinkin' excited considering my first rocker musings were in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, where we'd have to fork up nearly $1200 for a similar rocker after their ridiculous shipping surcharges (on top of the already high prices). I knew we could find something for less. And the good thing about ordering from a place like BRU? Coupons. The rocker and ottoman together were right at $580 retail. Reasonable in my book - about middle of the road for all the rockers we looked at last week. Plus $500-600 was the target price range in my head. I didn't want to skimp on a rocker - it's such an important piece - but I didn't want to go apeshit either. The customer service gal at BRU was actually super nice. I wasn't expecting much because I've read that customer service in these big box stores is a joke, but we had a great experience (at least thus far - we don't exactly have the furniture just yet).

Our BRU actually didn't have the exact rocker we were after, so I texted Pammy to get the item number and customer service helped us track it down and get the right set ordered. And without even asking, they did what I was hoping they'd do - split the rocker and ottoman order up so we could slap on two 20% off coupons. So we got 20% off the whole shebang, making the set only $464. Record-breaking bargain? Doubtful. But for the quality and style of the rocker, I am loving that price. And the kicker is the hub's momma is paying for the rocker as her sweet gift to Baby Sam! But don't you know I don't want anyone paying retail! Of course we got asked like three times if we wanted to save an extra 10% by opening up a store credit card. My husband's response to the cashier? "Dave Ramsey would whoop our ass." Word. You can have your 10%.

Oh and this beauty's gonna be here in only one to two weeks! I tell ya, I cannot wait to have this thing set up in our nursery so I can sit there and rock and stare and daydream. Right now there's nowhere to sit in that room... except the toilet. So it's starting to come together! Now that we've got our swatches (finally), we can pick out paint colors for the bathroom. And the nursery itself too... I'm still contemplating what I want to do on the main walls. I'm thinking a harlequin diamond print in taupe/neutral shades similar to this look (found on Silverspoon Murals)...




I wouldn't want to do something that fancy pants and not be able to recycle it for say, a girl. It looks hella complicated though and I can guarantee you I don't have the patience to do this crap...




So I've already concluded we will probably have to hire a pro to do the nursery walls if we do decide to go in that direction. And it would be the whole damn wall - not just above bead board or some chair molding. Yeah there's no way I'm doing that. I would absolutely lose my mind. We are sloppy painters in my household. We get the job done, but the process ain't pretty. So we can handle "simple" paint projects like the orange closet and the bathroom, but the main nursery walls? Yeah, let's get some help on that.

Oh and I'm thinking maybe a muted, pale metallic gold color for the ceiling. Ralph Lauren has these really pretty metallic finish paints at Home Depot - we've used them in a few rooms on the ceiling and the walls. I love them. It may sound scary, but I promise it's not. It's just a little drama in a can.

Other nursery developments? Our blinds came in, so those poor nekkid windows will finally be clothed! The sun comes in that room SO badly in the mornings, so we've got all our furniture draped in blankets right now to prevent any damage. It'll be nice to get those windows covered so we can finally start putting the room together. On the to-do list for this month is getting the bathroom painted and bead board installed. I'm uber excited about doing the bathroom too... I LOVE baby and kids' bathrooms. And the hub and his talented wood-working buddy are probably going to start the built-in shelves sometime this month. I can't WAIT to see those come together! That's truly the focal point of the room, so until those are up it feels pretty bare in there. But yeah, I guess as far as what I can really do this month, it's going to be concentrating on the bathroom and also ordering the crib bedding and accessories. Oooh how fun! Every step is so fun.

Well again, y'all enjoy this holiday weekend! It's a busy time at work with deadlines on the horizon, so I'll probably work a little from home Monday morning, but in my jammies no doubt!

18 Week Belly

Something's starting to POP! And boy, do I feel it. I've been pretty crampy the last few days because my belly (and Sam) are on quite the growth spurt right now...




There wasn't much difference between 10 and 14 weeks, but you can definitely see a change here!





We'll see how the waistline progresses over the next couple of weeks - I think it may be time to move to belly updates every two weeks instead of four.

So in other fun news, look what a sweet surprise Sam got in the mail yesterday from his Auntie Kathleen!!!




I was literally looking around on Monogram Chick's website this week and saw these shorts and thought, aw... how cute would those be for Sam?!




Apparently my friends are mindreaders! And look - it's Sam's very first monogrammed goodies!!!




Thank you, Kathleen! I'm in love with it all and Sam will be the most dapper little dude on the block! Mom also picked up a couple of goodies at Target yesterday...




I tell ya, this boy is going to be SET. Oh and my fabric swatches finally arrived this week! I knew I'd love them but I had to see them in person. And yeah, they're definitely way prettier in person. Looks like we're definitely going to go with this group for the bedding and other accessories around the nursery...




I laid all the swatches out for the hub last night and asked what he thought. He studied them for a half second and then pointed at the blue and white striped print. "That one." No, I mean ALL of them together, honey. "Oh, oh, yeah, OK." So you like them? "For what?" For the bedding. "Yeah, sure." Clearly he does not share my enthusiasm for these sweet fabrics, but he approves!

Well, Happy Friday all! And I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Enjoy this last toast to summer and be safe out there...