Names for the Boys

Sam and Dada at the lake on Memorial Day
(always with a ball in hand, that kid)

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!  We sure did.  Still on modified bed rest here as my pesky placenta previa is still there (and worse actually).  BUT no bleeding or anything has occurred since my initial episode, so that is good. Just having to continue to be careful and take it extra easy.  I am working from home, otherwise I think I might go crazy!  At least I can still be productive while horizontal.

I wanted to share our names for the boys since we finally came up with them!!!  Still working on middle names, but Sam's little brothers will be...

Ben & Leo

Ben(jamin) is a Biblical fave... and Leo is just, well... fun!  Not short for Leonardo or Leonard or something - just Leo.  It's Italian for "lion," so clearly, Leo is the trouble-maker and the one hanging out over my cervix.  May try to tie in some family names with the middle names... we'll see. 

Alright, back to the "office"... have a good one!

Teacher Appreciation Week: Days 4 and 5

So, uh, yesterday I was working away on the couch and around 10am it suddenly dawned on me that I sent Sam off to school without his teacher gifts for the day.  Geez... and I seriously was losing sleep the night before trying to figure out how I'd wrap them!  So how did I not give it ONE thought the next morning?  Pregnancy brain, I guess.

Anyway, the hubby was running back by the house mid-morning, so he grabbed the gifts on his way back out.  Sam's school is not even a quarter mile from our house, which is nice when we forget stuff!

Yesterday's theme was "pampering," so I wrapped up a couple of fun summer nail colors with a cute nail file...

And Sam's out on Fridays, but I wanted to drop gifts by anyway.  Last minute again, of course.  I literally went through the Starbucks drive-thru for giftcards ("favorite thing" was the theme today) and then wrapped them in the school parking lot.  Ha!  It was my outing for the day...

Maybe I'll be a little more prepared next year?  No promises.

Teacher Appreciation Week: Day 3

Today's theme was "the gift of smell."  They didn't say it had to be a good smell... but I figure they get enough not-good smells in the classroom. 

We got a list of Sam's teachers' "favorites" to help us with ideas, and one of his teachers listed her favorite perfume scents as Dolce & Gabbana or Gucci.  Pretty sure Dove would've been next on her list...

I'm not a perfume person, but I do like these Dove body mists - very light and feminine.

Teacher Appreciation Week: Days 1 and 2

Here we are at Teacher Appreciation Week again... and this time I had more than like 3 days notice!  However... being banned to the couch makes it hard to get uber creative and make multiple shopping trips.  So Sam's gifts for his sweet teachers are a little sub-par this year, but hey... I think they'll still be a hit even though they were thrown together in the 11th hour.  (And I'm sure teachers love anything and everything - I am only comparing my stuff with what I did last year!)

Monday's theme was flowers.  And I got *uber* creative with that one...

Today's theme was favorite food/drink...

Giftcard to our local Mexican joint inside!

I had some more fun packaging ideas for the restaurant giftcards, but neither panned out.  Note that both gifts were assembled within minutes of delivery... yeah, 11th hour I'm telling you!  No pre-printed labels this year, sheesh.

Hahaha....  I've got the rest of the week planned out a little better so we'll see how those shape up!

Nursery Updates

Well, hello from the couch...  I'm officially on "house arrest" for at least the next couple of weeks (a.k.a. modified bedrest) due to having placenta previa.  I figured I'd have to slow down at some point with twins on the way, but not this early.  I'll be 17 weeks tomorrow.  But, hey... what can you do?  I've been working from home the last couple of weeks and will continue to as long as this condition persists.  It's still very early on though and my doctors suspect this one pesky placenta will migrate.

Anyway, in other fun news... we're expecting two more BOYS!  Guess I set myself up when I made the comment that I'd be happy as can be with three boys... ha! We're really excited - boys are so fun.  Sure, if I could've picked, I would have chosen a boy/girl combo.  But I was not at all disappointed to find out we're having two more boys.  Our house is going to be nuts!  But also full of love and lots of fun...

We don't have too much that we need before the boys arrive, besides basics like an extra crib and a double stroller... but I thought it'd be fun to give the nursery a small update.  A few of the items in there now are personalized for Sam, so we'll be swapping some things out.  But other than some fabric updates and adding a second crib, nothing much will change.  I'm definitely glad we went with neutral tones on the walls, etc and with the more "permanent" fabric pieces so that we could easily mix and match different prints for an easy update.  You can see all of Sam's nursery pics here, but below are a couple to show you what it looks like currently...

And these are the main fabrics we used (custom bedding and fabric from Carousel Designs - cannot recommend them enough!!!)

 

 

I was so pleased with the service and products at Carousel... plus they are local (to Atlanta) and all products are made to order right here in the US and they ship super fast.  And you're not buying bedding sets... you just order what pieces you want.  I didn't do bumpers since they're apparently not safe or whatever... so I just ordered a custom-designed skirt, blanket, and some sheets.  This next time around, I'll skip the blanket and sheets.  Nothing wrong with the sheets, but I ended up using Carter's jersey cotton sheets much, much more and they're a lot cheaper.  And I enjoyed the blanket I designed, but it's just not necessary.

So even though we're having more boys, I still want to give the nursery a little bit of a different look.  Like I said, we'll mostly be swapping out some fabric pieces (the window dressing and crib skirts).  And we'll be moving the changing table out and replacing it with a second crib.  We plan to remove one of the shelves on the built-in shelving to create a changing area there.  The pad will fit fine and we can use the shelves above for storing supplies.  I plan to move the baskets currently on the changing table to the built-in shelves.

As soon as we knew for sure we had two boys coming, I started browsing fabrics that would work with what we already have and fell in love with this...

I always have loved orange... if you remember, the inside of Sam's closet is orange!  And this shade is soft enough that it will fit right in with the shades of blue, beige, and bronze we already have going on in there.  I think we will probably replace the cornice board fabric with the orange chevron.  And with twins, I doubt I'll personalize it this time... I'll save that for some pillows or something.

For the skirts, I wanted to do a mix of coordinating fabrics but not have them exactly the same.  I was playing around with the designer tool on Carousel's site and put these two below together.  Note that I already have the swatches on hand and the colors aren't quite the same on screen...they all work well together much better in person.  For one thing, the blue is much softer than it appears here.  So if you ever are looking to order from Carousel - always, always order swatches first!

SO fun!  What I also love about their designer tool is that you can change the crib finish, the flooring, and walls to resemble what you have in your room so you can really get a feel for how the bedding will look.

Haven't ordered these yet, but I'm pretty happy with these designs and we'll most likely go with these.  I think I'll hold out till they have a sale... on occasion Carousel will offer a % off, but I've only seen notice on Facebook for sales, so be sure to "like" their FB page if interested.

We did actually make our first purchase for the twins this week... a couple of Podsters!

I discovered these a while back and "bookmarked" the idea for later... several of the reviews said they were a lifesaver for twins.  So I started looking at them again earlier this week and it seemed the non-pink ones were scarce!  I tried to order one from Walmart (the only one left) and later got denied because they were out of stock.  Amazon only had pink (for a decent price anyway).  So I found a blue one on one site (again, the LAST one - they are now completely out), and found a green one on Barnes & Noble's site, of all places.  I think they'll be great for the boys... the reviews are outstanding.  And I found some bloggers that sang their praises for them as well.  Any of you use these?  Boppy also makes a similar version, but after a fair amount of research, the LeachCo brand seems to be far superior.  And hello, LeachCo makes the pregnancy pillow that I'm so obsessed with (the Snoogle), so I have no doubt I'll love these too.

The other big item I've been researching a lot (OK a bit bigger than a podster, ha) is the perfect double stroller for the boys.  I love all my stroller choices for Sam... my research paid off.  So I'm hoping I score again here.  Only this time I want to find something more all-purpose that will last a few years.  Something that will hold two infant carseats in the beginning and later two toddlers.  After a lot of digging and reading reviews, I think our best bet is the Baby Jogger City Select...

It's pricey for sure... but has lots of versatility.  There are a million different ways to configure the seats.  And you can remove them completely to add the carseat adapters.  It's basically a frame you customize.  They also have bassinets you can add, but that's hardly necessary.  I'll skip that.  Twins or not, this is a pretty popular stroller.  Any experience with it?   I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Alright... I hear someone waking up from his nap so it's time to put the 'puter down.  Hope you all are having a great weekend.  It is rainy and gross here... so not a bad day to have to take it easy.  Still in my jammies here!

Photos: Sam's 1st Birthday Party

Soooo.... THREE months later, I'm finally getting Sam's 1st Birthday Bash pics up!  It's been fun reliving it today going through these photos.  We had such a great day and best of all, Sam had a blast too.  I chose the winter wonderland / arctic theme way back.... like when the kid could barely hold his head up.  It was a fun and easy theme to go with, especially being able to incorporate lots of Christmas decorations that worked with our colors.  We used pool blue, turquoise, white, and silver with pops of red.  Very gender neutral, but you could swap out the red for pink and it's suddenly very girly.  Already brainstorming on possibilities for a twin 1st birthday party... I may need an intervention! 

Anyway, enjoy the pics!


Sam's cake table coming together (was still putting stuff out at this point).

Tissue pom poms... so cheap and easy, but very time consuming!  Thanks to Aunt Jenn for helping me with those.

Favors for the kids... I had these frosted boxes in my stash from years ago.  And Sam's smash cake!

Main food table... kudos to my "catering" buddy, Costco.

One of my favorite things... the Hot Cocoa bar with homemade cocoa mix and fun toppings!  Plus supplies for guests to bag up some mix to enjoy at home (because I don't need 5 lbs of hot cocoa).

Drink tubs and snacks for kids.

Blueberry Mimosa station (pitcher not out yet) - these were a big hit!  2 parts champagne, 1 part OJ, 1 part 100% blueberry juice (kinda hard to find).  Top with a few fresh or frozen blueberries.  Delish!

Mantle decorated for the party.  Hard to see but the large vases are filled with ginormous marshmallows and hard candies.  The two pics were the same shot of Sam at 7 days and 12 mos.  What a difference a year makes!

We kept our Christmas tree up for the party but stripped it of our usual decorations and redid it with blue lights and tinsel.  Hard to see in the pic.. the blue lights don't show up so well.  Also had a slideshow playing of Sam's pics during the party - my dad put it together and spent MANY hours on it!  So sweet...

We had several displays of the monthly photos we had taken of Sam during his 1st year.  In this pose, we had him wear the same sleeper (size 12mo) and watched him grow into it from month to month.

One of Sam's buddies enjoying the sweets!  My "snow-covered" strawberries were a hit.  So easy too... use whatever colored candy melts for dipping, then roll in coconut to create the "snow" look.

Smash cake time!  And a closer look at the main cake too... courtesy of Publix!  I got the "S" topper from Michael's and added glitter to it.  I was looking everywhere for a cool "1" topper and never found one I liked.

"Hey, Mom, have you tried this?!?!"

"OK, Coach, quick water break then I'm going back in..."

Sam and Dada!

Gran and Sam

Present-palooza!

Can't imagine what was going through his little head!

Cool overhead shot of the gift craziness...

Also as promised (months ago!), here are some shots of the recently finished playroom.  The fabulous curtain panels were sewn by my sweet bestest!

We did an Eric Carle theme with the prints and fabrics.  The leaves on the tree were cut from those borders that teachers use and slapped on the wall with Yes Glue.  I painted the tree base by hand, just free-style, using Martha Stewart metallics from Home Depot.  Y'all know I love me some metallic paint!

My favorite part of the room... the chalkboard wall!  Party guests left their wishes for Sam...

And ALL that will wear a little boy out....

Big Boy Room

Yeah, I know.... absent-go-bloggy lately.  Well, combine tax season with feeling like total crud 24/7 and that leaves little time or energy for posting.  I do appreciate all of your sweet words on the twins!  We are thrilled and just plugging along... 10 weeks today!  We have our final appointment with my RE on Tuesday and then he'll ship me off to the OB and perinatalogist.  Always bitter sweet to leave my RBA team... but graduating IS the goal, right?!

Anyway... our big project this summer (once I feel less like death) will be transitioning Sam to a big boy room!  I know he could spend many more months in the crib, but uh... we need the crib.  Sorry, kid.  So I imagine we'll start working on his room (he'll be in an entirely new room as the nursery will stay the same) as soon as I start feeling better - 2nd trimester.  The ick disappeared right at 13.5 weeks last time.  I know all pregnancies are different, but I'm praying the same happens this go-around!  I will have a much smaller window of time to get anything done since you really have to take it a lot easier with twins... so we'll need to get rolling! 

So I'm turning to you all out there for tips on the big move.  He is 14 months now and we'll probably actually move him around 18 or 19 months.  I know that's earlier than most kids move to a real bed, but like I said... we need the crib.  What things do we need to consider?  I don't even know exactly what to ask.... but I'll just give you some info on Sam's sleeping habits and maybe y'all can drum up some advice.

• Sam LOVES bedtime.  He sleeps a solid 12 hours each night (roughly 7pm - 7am).  It's very rare that he wakes up needing something.
• A hurricane could roll through our house at 2am and he'd snooze right through it.
• He is so active during the day (he does take one nap around noon - lately for about 2 hrs).  Come bedtime, he often points to his crib after he has his nightcap milk chug. 
• He is awake 95% of the time when I put him in the crib.  He is great at going to sleep on his own.  And great at going back to sleep on his own whenever he wakes up at night. 
• He loves his crib.  On weekday mornings, he often has crib playtime while we're getting ready for work.
• In general, he is just very easy going and pretty much goes with the flow (we keep telling ourselves we must be in for it on these next two!).  From the beginning, the only thing I've been pretty strict about schedule-wise is his bedtime.  But even if we're out late or get off track one night, he jumps right back in line the next day.

So given all that.... I feel like if we do this transition smoothly, he's going to do really well.  We will be getting him a real bed... probably a full size bed - so not a toddler bed.  If you have any tips or tricks or things to avoid... please share!  We obviously don't know what the heck we're doing!  Oh and the room will be down at the far end of the hall from us, if that matters.  Whereas now his nursery is right next door to us. 

Alright... enjoy your St. Patrick's Day!  I've got my green on... so no pinching. 

Picture this.

The hub walks in from racquetball this morning to find me sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor sipping hot ginger-lemon tea with one hand and my other in a giant box of Cheerios.  So he sits down in front of me. 

"What's wrong?" he says. 

"I feel like I'm going to vomit and I'm freaking out."


After all, we'd had less than 24 hours to process this...

Yep!  We did another frozen embryo transfer (FET) late last month and this time BOTH of our little babes stuck.  So yeah, that's two sacs you see in there.

We were prepared as we could be to find out it was two... I mean, my betas were higher than with Sam, though you can't speculate too much just on the numbers.  But can you ever really be prepared to find out you're having twins?  Ha! 

So we are thrilled, scared, freaked out, excited, nervous, and overjoyed all at once.  But this morning I was definitely freaking out.  I started rattling off my concerns and the hub listened.  But then he reminded me, "God's not freaked out.  It'll be great."

And it will be.... it's going to be NUTS!  But it's going to be great.  And I'm blessed to know many twin-momma friends, so I'm sure I'll get lots of great advice.  And I keep singing this song in my head... "I can do all things... through Christ who gives me strength... I don't have to be strong enough."  Which is fabulous considering I'm already stretched with our one little man!

As far as the babies, they both measured right on schedule yesterday at 6w2d.  Our due date is October 13, but I think twins are often taken at 37 weeks, which puts us in late September.  Gosh, who KNOWS what this is going to look like... we are just along for the wild ride.  Planning to suit up with Zofran and my Bible.  I'd love to have your prayers for a healthy pregnancy, delivery, and peace along the way for me!  It's going to be an adventure!

From our little Valentine to yours...

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Milestone Weekend

This little cutie got his 1st haircut on Saturday! 

AND we successfully ditched the bottle over the weekend, too.  Wow... this little man is growing up way too fast!  (Though I will not miss washing all those dang bottle parts every day.)



I've also been pairing down the party pics from earlier this month and am hoping to get those up later this week!  Stay tuned...

10 Things I've Learned in My 1st Year of Motherhood

Friday was Sam's 1st birthday, and what an AMAZING year it has been. I'm finally a mom - what more could I ask for? But not only a mom... a mom to the coolest little dude on the planet. Seriously, he is. The hub and I keep saying we must be in for it on the next one because this kid has just been too easy. Have there been challenging times? Of course. But he's just the happiest little guy and so easy-going. And ridiculously cute. I told God I wanted a cute baby after all we had to endure to get this kid here. (And God, you totally came through - thank you.)  We had a wonderfully over-the-top and completely out-of-control party on Saturday to celebrate.  It was simply THE BEST.   (Pictures and details to come!)
 

So in honor of Sam's first birthday and our first anniversary of becoming parents, I give you the TOP 10 things I've learned in my 1st year as a mother. By no means is this list all-encompassing, hence the word "TOP."  I learn new things everyday.  Enjoy!
 

1. Boys are simply the best. OK, granted I have no way to compare... but I have found tremendous and unexpected joy in having a son. I am such a girly girl and I always envisioned myself having a daughter so we could paint the town pink together. And perhaps someday I will. But I have to tell you, I could have three boys and be happy as a clam. I did a lot of reading on boys while pregnant. I've always been intrigued by how different God made men and women and we've studied a lot about that when it comes to marriage. But learning about those differences in kids is an entirely new world. I'm in love with the idea of boys and especially this little boy of mine. One of my favorite reads was Boys Should Be Boys by Meg Meeker. She talked about how mothers and daughters will be forever connected, but mothers will have to one day let go of their sons. My kid is only 12 months old, but I have an entirely new compassion for mothers of grooms! Sam will always be my baby, but one day Sam will have another leading lady.

 

2.  Babies aren't really the hard part - marriage is.  Again, I can only speak for MY baby here - I know some babies are way, way more challenging than others and we got really lucky with Sam. He's just an easy going little dude.  But all babies will test your limits!  The hub and I had nearly 10 years of marriage under our belt before Sam arrived.  And we've faced some pretty big things together in our young marriage, but throwing a kid in the mix just puts you in an entirely new league.  For the first time, I've got someone else competing for my attention.  I have to tell ya... being a mommy to a little boy - it's SOOOO easy to give him all my time and love and energy.  I have to be intentional about remembering that my husband is my #1 man.  And of course, loving ME looks different now that I'm a mom.  So there are some growing pains there... learning to love each other well in this new season of life.  It's a good and healthy and necessary challenge, but I definitely think it's the harder one.  Being a great wife is the first step to being a great mom.

 

3.  God REALLY loves me.  Wow, if God could ever give us a tiny glimpse at how much he loves us, I now know it's through our children.  The endless love I feel for this little boy is nothing I've felt before.  It's unconditional.  There's nothing Sam could do to make me love him more.  There's nothing Sam could do to make me love him less.  And that's exactly how God feels about me and you.  There's nothing I could do to make God love me more.  There's nothing I could do to make God love me less.  I finally get it.  And to think he loves my Sam even more than I do?  Wow.

 

4.  I do have patience!  One of the most surprising things has been seeing how much patience I have with this kid.  I don't freak out when he's upset.  Dirty diapers don't phase me.  I know when I truly need a break and it's time to call in the hubby for reinforcements, but I feel like I've rolled through the challenges (of newborns especially) pretty darn well.  And you'll never see me complain about it.  We fought for this kid for SO long... I'm not going to complain about not getting enough sleep or spit up in my hair.  It's part of the job and I LOVE my job.

5.  I can't do it ALL, and that's OK.  It's true, I'm a bit of a control freak.  I've never been good at asking for help.  Because, you know... no one is going to do it the way *I* would do it.  Which is perfectly, right?! Haha...  And too, I just want to be self-sufficient.  Well, along comes a kid and suddenly you just physically can't do it all anymore.  I've always been a doer - it's very rare that I'm just sitting around doing nothing.  But with a newborn, there is a lot of nothing that goes on for hours at a time.  And that was a big adjustment for me.  I would get frustrated when I couldn't get things done around the house because I had a baby to tend to... I know that makes zero sense.  I asked for this, right?  So I have had to learn how to just "be" with my family.  The laundry may be piling up, but this hour of play with my son is so precious.  The laundry can wait.  And before things truly get out of control, I've learned (and am still learning) to ask for help.

6.  Some of the sweetest moments happen at 3 a.m.  I must say, Sam is a great sleeper.  He was sleeping through the night between 6 and 8 weeks.  But we still get those occasional waking cries in the wee hours of the morning when it's just clear that he's NOT going back to sleep without a little help.  And though I plead with him through the baby monitor to settle back down, once I find myself holding him in the rocker in the quiet of the night... that's when I have those incredibly sweet moments where I realize, WOW... this little boy is all mine and I am his mom.  Many tearful prayers of gratitude have been whispered in that rocker while the rest of the house sleeps. 

7.  Parenting involves some serious teamwork.  We always refer to a husband and wife as being a "team," but never has that been so important before now.  I have a whole new respect for single parents after this first year with Sam.  I love that the hub and I have different "roles" with Sam that play into his routine.  But we also tag-team a lot when it comes to the small stuff... like a diaper blow out, or just getting him out the door for school.  Watching my husband be a daddy and love on our son warms my heart to no end.  But I'm also thankful for the heart that God has grown in me for my single mom friends because of that.  I continue to seek ways to love on them and help them.

8.  Sam's story starts with US.  Parenthood is such a privilege, but it's also a very humbling thing to know that this kid's future is so dependent on what we do today.  At Sam's dedication, we focused our prayer not so much on him, but on us - as his parents.  Protect our marriage, God, and help us to love each other well through every season.  We truly believe that the BEST thing we can do for our son is to show him what a godly marriage looks like.  We are not just raising a man, but a future husband, a future king.  We're teaching him what it looks like to be a loving husband and how he should treat women and most importantly, his future wife.  His definition of family and marriage comes from us.  So yeah, we're definitely praying that WE don't drop the ball here!  Sure, we're going to mess up.  But we want to parent with the end in mind. 

9.  Everyone should have the chance to know this joy.  Not everyone wants to be a parent, and I totally get that.  But so many people DO want this and can't seem to get there, much like us for so long.  So should you choose to be a parent, my wish for you is that you will one day realize that dream.  Being on the other side of our long journey, I can't put into words the true joy this little boy brings me.  Many times I've found myself thinking, "now THIS is what life is about."  Watching this little helpless bundle grow before our eyes and begin to discover the world... it's magic.  And I want that for you, too.  Fighting to get here opened my heart in so many ways.  You just can't go through such a battle unchanged.  After having Sam, it was an easy conclusion for us... once we're "done" growing our little family, we plan to donate our remaining embryos.  Egg production was never my issue, so we have quite the stash and I can't imagine we'd use them all.   If we can play a small part in allowing another couple to experience this joy, how could we say no to that?  It's a no-brainer.  Is it weird to think there might be other biological kids of ours running around someday that we don't know about?  Sure.  But the thing is, we're all ultimately children of God.  And I can't think of a better way to honor and glorify that fact than by giving a piece of our small legacy here on earth.

10.  It was all worth the wait.  We closed our prayer at Sam's dedication by thanking God for making us wait for our boy.  It's certainly not the path we would have chosen to parenthood.  It's funny to think about how different our lives might look today had things gone according to our plan.  But I truly believe that God never makes us wait without reason.  I can name several practical reasons for making us wait.  But more than anything, he allowed time to mold us into the people we are today.  And I am grateful for that time.  Was it painful in the midst of it all?  Absolutely.  But we can not see the forest but for the trees.... Sam was worth every surgery, every injection, every procedure, every dollar, and every prayer.  And every time God said, "not now."  If you are still on your journey, hold tight, sweet friends, and keep fighting.  However your story ends, God is doing a good work in you.

Goodbye, 2012!

Wow, what a great year we had... one of our biggest dreams came true early this year - we became parents!  So yeah, 2012 was a good one.  And gosh it was a fast year... Sam is no longer "Baby Sam" - he is a little boy who is into EVERYTHING!  And his 1st birthday is just days away.  Which means, the party planning I started oh, like nine months ago, is in full execution mode.

The cake was ordered yesterday.  We started the first phase of decorating over the weekend.  (Oh yes, there are phases.)  This involved bringing down Christmas decorations a little earlier than we usually do (I generally wait till New Year's Day).  But I must say... having a January birthday to look forward to really helps with the after-Christmas blues!  I was not at all bummed taking down our decorations, knowing Sam's "Winter ONE-derland" craziness would immediately follow. 

We are keeping our tree up for the party.  I stripped it this weekend, added blue lights, a white skirt (already had years ago), and will add some tinsel and possibly icicle ornaments.  We actually need more blue lights... it is pre-lit with white ones and they are literally outshining the blue ones right now!  I forgot how many strands it takes to do a tree.  We've been spoiled by our pre-lit Costco tree!  I've been hunting for clearance lights but so far everyone is out.  So Amazon will rescue me if I don't nail some down in the next few days.

Transforming the mantle as well... this is just the beginning stages - no judging.  I'm either going to wrap that arch thing or move it.  Haven't decided.  Soon to come... tulle and more lights.  There are really tall ladders involved.  And clearly, I'm crazy.

We are also doing the finishing touches on the playroom!  That room is basically his 1st birthday present from us.  Lord knows we don't need to buy him anything else.  We're already tripping over toys from Christmas.  The room has an Eric Carle theme - so lots of his prints and coordinating fabrics involved.  We've got to do a dreaded IKEA run this weekend to get the last bits and pieces.  I promise to get pics up soon - it is AWESOME if I do say so myself.  Such a fun room.  Glad to have the party as a target date to get that room finished... we tend to drag out projects forever and ever (especially with the little guy around)... so we have to invite people to our house in order to make ourselves get stuff done.

More on the party soon...

Until then, please have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve!  And may 2013 bring you all much joy and many, many blessings!