Milestone!

Okay so Saturday was a BIG milestone for baby SK and I. I'm officially 24 weeks or 6months. Wow, SIX months. Doesn't that sound BIG??? Boy I sure feel big this week. Apparently along with my big milestone comes big changes in my pregnancy. On the positive note, SK is FINALLY moving. A LOT! YAYYYYYY! I've been just dying to feel her little movements for weeks and have been disappointed that I was only able to feel slight flutters. My OB started asking me if I was feeling her move at 16 weeks and I think it was about 20 weeks before I was able to feel any significant movement. But finally, this week, baby SK is moving like crazy. I can even see her moving which is too cool. She definitely lets me know if how I'm sitting is bothering her. I had my arm resting on my belly last night at dinner and she got to kickin' like crazy till I moved it. I think our little one is gong to be a feisty girl!
Since I did say that was on the positive, yes, that means there is a negative. Yesterday, I went to the last hour of the Baby Expo and hit a few other stores before meeting hubby and the boys for dinner. By the time nightfall hit, I looked down and I had CANKLES. Already!! At 6 months. What's this? I have not had any swelling out of the ordinary and have been feeling pretty good up to this point. Cankles so bad that I had to stop in at Old Navy for a pair of flip flops to continue my shopping trip. Along with the cankles, also came a fierce aching low back. I'm sure this is a good sign that in the last 4 weeks, my already atrocious weight gain has gotten worse. Ahhhhh, the joys of pregnancy. The memories started flooding back! LOL
Another positive, the nursery is looking super adorable. I got my bed skirt in and changing pad cover. Ordered up some girly curtains and found someone to make a super cute bumper pad for the crib. My quilt top is complete and I've had it embroidered. With the exception of one fabric that I DID NOT choose, I do love it so far. I have painted a wooden shelf and an ABC block to look kinda aged, gotten some cute vintage pictures of the sock monkey to frame, and am working on a cover for the lamp shade. People say I'm obsessed but I'm having lots of fun. Thinking back, I did the same for my other babies so I couldn't do any less for this sweet girl!

Favorite New Store

So yesterday, Sarah Kate's Meemaw came out after a little arm pulling from the mommy to be, to get her name painted on the nursery wall. We needed a little break and decided to make a trip to Covington to check out the Freckled Frog followed by lunch at the tea room with the slightly obnoxious ladies who work there. So I must say without a doubt, I have a new favorite store! It is an absoulutley precious children's store. And as an experienced mommy, I can honestly tell you how precious the days are that you get to shop in a store like this for your little one. It doesn't seem like it took anytime before we graduated to Limited Too/Justice and Aeropostale. Where did the time go?
The Freckled Frog has all the old time honored brands that I put on my babies a decade ago like Feltman Bros and Petite Ami, along with some adorable new brands I had never heard of. I am super excited to get to shop for these little things again. Although SK has multiple sweet outfits of her sisters, washed and waiting in the closet, I've got my eye on some, more precious than words, dresses that I may break down and buy. There is a line of clothes called WillBeth (I think) that I have fallen in love with that SK and I may not be able to live without! Sorry honey. Just wanna get that outta the way now! lol

Painting things. . . . . pink?

So things are really moving right along it seems. First, we have a closet, well almost. We have to go have another $30 gallon of paint mixed to paint a 2 ft wide section of wall. Baby boy is officially moved upstairs with the exception of his hanging clothes, which of course, are waiting on paint. He actually has a lot more space than he did downstairs so now I feel less guilty about yanking his bedroom. We now have a chest and dresser and a leather rocker in the nursery with several sock monkey items set out that I've already purchased. I'm really getting excited.

I also got my hall bathroom "mudded" finally after 7 months of procrastination thanks to a good friend who really came through for me and motivated me to get the job done. I still have to "rag paint" to make the texture "pop" so to speak but with all the yucky weather and a crazy work schedule, I haven't made it to Sherwin's yet. So hopefully this week with the next 3 days off and the hopefully melting snow, I will get some painting done. I'm also planning to buy the paint for the stripes for the nursery walls. Thank goodness I don't have to paint the whole room. I'm really not up for that. As a matter of fact, I think we may call someone in the next few weeks and have the master bath painted. I've had the paint sitting here since we moved in. Hubby thought he would save us a whopping $200 by taking the bathrooms off the list of rooms for the painters. Oh how I have regretted going along with that decision. Especially now that we will probably pay at least $200 to have one bathroom painted now anyway. It's going to be a dark chocolate brown on the wall above my tub and then yellow on yellow wide vertical stripes on the other walls. Will be beautiful when it's done.
I'm now officially 16 wks and 2 days. Although some days it seems to be creeping along, I can't beleve I'm finally 16 wks. That's 4 months. That sounds substantial, don't you think! I go for my monthly check up tomorrow but unfortunately that means that I won't get another ultrasound till I'm 20 weeks. Agggghhhhhhhh! Can I say that any louder??? I have no idea why but I'm so anxious to find out if this is going to be baby Nash or Sarah Kate that I could just scream. I didn't know with my first and chose not to know with my second and with my third, I was just like "sure, what is it". LOL.But for some reason, knowing that I'm going to find out, I'm worse than a kid at Christmas who tries to unwrap her presents ahead of time! I actually had the tech at work look tonight for the 2nd time in the last couple weeks and we are thinking it's a girl. If it had an obvious penis, I would be totally convinced, but at 16 weeks and this being "unofficial" I'm a little hesitant to start buying dresses. However, it's REALLY unlikely that this baby will have a penis pop out this late in the game. Soooooo, I'm really thinking we are on team pink and will be welcoming a little Sarah Katherine into the family this summer!

Yay the closet is underway!

Hubby and the FIL are upstairs as we speak hanging sheetrock. Although this hasn't made for the greatest sleeping conditions since I have to work tonight, I'm super excited. One, to get the furniture outta my living room and two, to have a "space" to start decorating and imagine the little person that will live there this summer!
Funny Story- So they actually started on this project yesterday. Spent the whole day banging around up there only to find out that they had to start over. Some disagreement over how much space to leave for the sheetrock. Hubby didn't listen and it all had to be ripped out today! LOL. Father knows best, right? He actually came into the bathroom to ask me if it was ok if the closet wall wasn't flush with the piece of wall next to it! Uhh, NO! Not okay. LMAO. Gotta love men.

So I also wanna comment on the beauty of life. The creation of it, the birth of it. . . souls come in and out of this world each day. Yesterday, a precious new life joined our world. A sweet baby girl that will be so loved and bring so much love. The blessings are neverending it seems.
On the flip side, a life was lost. A son, a father, who made a mark in this world and has now moved on to greater things, I hope. Life is so precious. What a reminder to have a birth and death surround you all in one day. It's a balance I guess. Not sure what to think right now. Just that I hope to fill my years left here with love and honor, worship, gratitude, teaching, learning, humility and most of all, strength and spirituality, to know Him like I've never before, and teach my children like I should. We are so small. . . .

A Closet and an Orange

Okay, yes, this may seem like a strange title, but intrguing, yes? I titled this entry this way because these are the two things that I want most right now. The oranges- what I'm assuming to be the first "craving" so to speak seeing as how I do not normally go to the trouble of peeling oranges when you can drink it in a glass. And the closet- well, this makes the second weekend in a row that closet making plans have been interrupted for that ridiculous thing called - work! Yes, sweet, that my hubby is working lots of OT to make up for the EXTRA deductions from my paycheck this year. We opted to do this rather than struggling to make fat payments to the obstetrician, the first of which is due in a few weeks! Not that I'm complaining, of course.
However, this OT is cutting into something I want, which again is yes, a closet. We have 3 bedrooms down and 2 up. Well, sort of. Two rooms up- one of which has no closet bc it is not technically a bedroom. So the plan is to technically make it a bedroom by adding, yes, a closet, and moving my sweetest, most precious, youngest child upstairs to make room downstaris! Whew! That was a mouthful.
Of course, my urgency with this closet is totally justified. 13 weeks is NOT too early to start decorating a nursery for those of you who where thinking that. LOL. I do happen to have half the "nursery furniture" scattered around my house for the time being, and it is quickly becoming aggravating. I only have nursery furniture because hubby and I purchased a much needed set of bedroom furniture for ourselves and it was delivered last week. We also purchased a most adorable leather rocker that will be in the baby's room until which time it is no longer needed in there and can be moved to the living room. I have reluctantly decided that the antique chest and dresser from my room will be used in the nursery and therefore justifies me buying the crib I want! Hehe. My super girly, green, wrought iron, canopy bed frame is now in Hope's room and hubby is soooo excited about that. So nothing is "going to waste". Sigh. . . . . good-bye, adorable armoire and matching dresser that matches my crib. Oh well. 90% of marriage is compromise. Agreed?
So anyhow, now that I've rambled on for so long, I think I'll take a break and have my yummy orange that I'm almost salivating about and be keeping my finger crossed that I get a closet this weekend!! I mean, hubby got all the painting done over a week ago. All I need is . . . . . . . . . .
A CLOSET!

I have arrived!

Woohoo! Well, it's official. I am now in my 2nd trimester. I've been waiting 8 longs weeks to write this post. Hey everyone, I'm PREGNANT! Whew. There. I said it. LOL. Most everyone I know has known for quite some time but I wanted to wait until I was "out of the woods" as they say, to officially announce it. I am super excited if you can't tell. This is the first time I actually "planned" a pregnancy. This is a very wanted blessing.
It's a whole new world from the last time I had a baby, that being over 10 years ago. I have felt pretty good so far. No morning sickness. Yay! The only downside to that is that I've gained quite a few pounds already! I have been pretty exhausted so I haven't spent much- strike that- any time at the gym this month. But I will be there bright and early in the morning. I'm feeling much better this week.
Sooooo, I guess that's it for now. I was busting at the seams. Second ultrasound today showed a healthy wiggly baby with the most precious sounding heartbeat. More to come.
Ohhh yes, and before I forgot, I want to wish a very special friend the best of luck on her new arrival in the next days or weeks. She's my only reader so I'm sure she'll know who she is. Wink!

It's Christmas, ready?

With the exception of my Christmas cards that are sure to be very late by the time I take Christmas pictures and the fact that I can't get my background changed to a Christmas type one till I remember to log in on my home computer, I'm juuuust about ready for Christmas. Hubby put the lights on the house before Thanksgiving, without being asked, I might add. The tree is up. Most of which my sweetest baby Landon is responsible for decorating. With our in and out schedules, we had a hard time finding group tree decorating time. He even got the stockings up and set up my little village and carried all the boxes back up to the attic. (Man, time has just flown. I look at him and see a boy who is almsot a man. Seems like yesterday that he was that twinkly eyed, chubby cheeked, curious little baby.) I just love Christmas! Well, except the overwhelming commercialization of it all. For so many, it has become about money and gifts and bills and stress. If we let it, it's easy to do. I have to step back and remember that it is a celebration of Christ, of peace, of salvation. Although I'm not the most religous person, this time of year tends to bring things full circle. I'm reminded of the blessings in life, of all that I have, and that I love my life. Merry Christmas and God Bless!