A BOY!!

We are having a boy! We went for our 4D ultrasound on Tuesday of this week and it was so neat to see the baby. It seems that he's already running out of room and is completely wrapped around my bladder. Poor thing will probably be tall (which is great) like his daddy, and has no room in my stomach to move around!

He wasn't cooperating, so it took almost 45 minutes to decide what we were having. I think we aggravated the little man because he threw a punch at the ultrasound machine...I guess he was sick of having to continually move.

Now the real planning can begin! Nursery decor, registering, furniture painting, room decorating, etc. I'm looking forward to the next 5 months, but I just about can't wait until I get to hold our sweet baby in my arms.

We are having...

Tomorrow is the big day! We are going at 4 p.m. to get a 4D ultrasound and find out more (boy or girl) about the precious gift the Lord has given us! We just about can't stand it...but the hour is drawing near! There have been so many speculations, and I just want to take a picture of these days in my mind so I can always remember how it felt. It's so amazing to just wonder what God has decided and how it will affect our lives...forever!

So here's a few theories we heard in the last few weeks:

1. Everyone we know who is having babies in 2010 are having BOYS, but everyone who is expecting in 2011 are having GIRLS...hum?!?

2. It seems that I'm carrying our precious baby low, like a basketball, which several have guessed to be a girl. If I was carrying it like a watermelon, it would be a boy.

3. Jonathan is absolutely convinced we are having a boy, but I have this feeling that it is a girl. I'm not doing this just to disagree, maybe it's a mother's intuition, but I honestly think it's a girl. Also, I've heard that you are sicker with a girl, and I am still sick (at 17 weeks) - not like I was during the first trimester, but still a daily battle.

No matter what we are having, we will both be so excited! We are finally starting to clean out a room for the nursery and really getting serious about furniture and other things (I do realize that I'm only a little over 4 months, but time flies, and I'm an O.C.D. over planner!). I'm hoping that we have the basic framework of our room laid out and ready by month 7. We'll see just how much we really get done by then :)

Empty Nesters...

My sister left for school on August 11th. She is now officially a college freshman at Mississippi State, and my parents are now officially empty nesters. I went with her and my parents to help set up her dorm room. I think she and her room mate may have the cutests dorm room I've ever seen. Their color scheme was hot pink, bright green, black, and white. It turned out adorable! Check it out for yourselves:

Here is their futon that goes between the beds...it's like they have their own living room right between them.

This is her roommate, Elizabeth's side of the room.

This is her side of the room...we hadn't finished her wall space above the bed yet. They both have matching bedding, and her roommate's dad made the headboards.

Next is their bathroom. It is not one they have to share with the whole floor, just the two of them...and of course it's in the same color scheme.

We have baby furniture!

We are starting to get all the little pieces we need to make a nursery…obviously we don’t have anything cute and fun to put in it yet, but we have started collecting the basic pieces we need for the room! I’m very excited about the deals we have come across. We are using my in-law’s crib (she used it for all four of her kids!), and it’s so pretty. It’ll be perfect and I’m so appreciative to them for letting us use it. We also got a great deal on some wicker furniture – Jonathan’s boss had some in his garage, and wanted it GONE, so Jonathan loaded it up on a trailer and brought it to our house a few weeks ago…it needs a little TLC, but for the price we paid, we are happy to fix it up and make it work for us. It also has some great pieces we can use in future bedrooms. The wicker comes with all the below:

1. Full size headboard
2. TV Stand
3. Hope Chest – or Toy chest in our case
4. Book Shelf (he included two others that are not wicker)
5. 6 drawer dresser and mirror

Along with all of this furniture, I purchased a changing table at a garage sale with the changing pad and a cover for $25. It’s a beautiful black changing table, that I can place baskets underneath for storage. I had not planned on purchasing one like this, but for such a great deal I couldn’t pass it up! I also purchased a wicker rocking chair right after I found out we were pregnant at a garage sale for $5. I’m hoping to find a cute cushion to put in the seat. In the baby’s room, we plan on putting the dresser/mirror, changing table, toy chest, crib, rocking chair, and book shelves. We are going to probably find other places for the TV stand and store the full size headboard for now. I know that wicker isn’t really “boy” friendly, but if we have a baby boy I am planning on painting the wicker brown and if it’s a girl we are going to keep it white.

We had planned on putting a primer coat on the furniture this weekend, but had trouble with the paint drying in the sprayer because it was so hot outside, so we are hoping we can get it done soon.

Our new King Bed - Handmade!

I am excited about a new venture we are taking on (and actually started earlier this week. We are building our own bed! I know this sounds so crazy, but I found some amazing designs on www.knock-offwood.com, and I couldn't resist!

We purchased a new matress set in early April because our Queen was giving out on us. We decided if we were going to spend all that money we needed to choose if we were ever going to want a King, and we elected yes, so we splurged and purchased a king matress set from Matress Firm (they were very nice and easy to work with) and a bed frame from Ashley Furniture...which we still have not received (in late JULY!!). I got very frustrated about this a few weeks ago we we found out that it would be mid-Sepember before the bed SHOULD come in and just mentioned that it might be nice to make exactly what we wanted and quit waiting on them. Jonathan thought I was loosing it, but appeased me by at least looking at the plans I had found online. He actually thought it was something we could do for around the same money, or cheaper than what we purchased our previous bed for.

We started the process Tuesday night and we were able to start a rough start to the headboard, footboard, and the start to our storage boxes underneath (I'll have 12 baskets for extra storage under the bed- I'm very excited!)


We (and by we, I mean Jonathan and Uncle Kerry) worked on this all day Saturday and finished the staining on Sunday. Uncle Kerry was so amazing and so sweet to let us use his shop and to help/direct Jonathan along the way...apparently 3 people is too many, and pregnant people aren't very much help at all!)

Below is the start of the boxes to hold my baskets under the bed.





Next shows both bases ready, with slats, and rough start to the foot board.

This is the rough finish with the headboard and footboard, with the bases. Now it just needed to be sanded, and stained. The stain turned out so amazing and I absolutely LOVE the finished product!

My baskets (6 on each side) fit perfectly! I love the extra storage room and know it'll come in handy in the years to come!

It will be so neat to pass down this bed to our children, and so on. I am so proud to say that "we" built this bed! I'm so glad that Jonathan went with the idea, because he did such an amazing job! I have a very handy husband.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a very relaxing forth of July weekend. I am house sitting this week, so we swam at the pool and just relaxed! It was great. Our friends Nick and Lucy came over on Sunday night to hang out. We cooked out, swam, watch the fireworks, and watched a movie. We had a blast! During the fireworks Nick proposed...and she said YES! It was so fun to celebrate with them after. Below are a few photos from the night. We had a blast.

Sinking In

I think the fact that I'm pregnant is finally sinking in. I've been sick, felt great, and so on for weeks now. It's a vicious cycle!

Now that we have a little one on the way there are so many things to think about! Maternity clothes, diapers, cribs, baby food, etc...and how to pay for all of this. I have decided that I want to use cloth diapers, even though everyone thinks I'm crazy. I just have this feeling that it would be better for us in the long run and I know how much money it would save us as well. Being the penny pincher of the family makes me think of ANYTHING we can do to save money. I've read alot about how much better this is for the baby as well. No doubt, disposable diapers will have to be used at church and other places, but I feel pretty strongly about using the cloth.

Another thing that I believe will be important is making our own baby food. I feel like 1. it's going to be much healthier for our little one and 2. it'll save us money (once again). Also, after reading several reviews on this, I'm surprised at how many toddlers end up loving the veggies that you put before them because that's what they've been eating so far...I hadn't really thought of that. I'm experiencing a whole new world that I've never even looked into before.