Big Fat Baby

I just realized that I haven't blogged yet about our long awaited news!  We couldn't be more thrilled to be expecting a little BOY!  This cute little guy wanted to make sure that we prayed long and hard for him to come to our family and he's finally on his way!  I'm 19 weeks along, just about half way to meeting him in the flesh.

I've been feeling him wiggle and kick for about 2 weeks now and it really makes this pregnancy seem more real to feel him movin and groovin in there.  There is something so miraculous and special about the bond that a mother and her unborn child can share so early on.  I'm already so in love with this little boy and can't wait to be able to kiss on his sweet newborn cheeks.

Yep, He's a boy!

I've felt really fortunate that I've felt so great so far in this pregnancy...I definitely had my nauseous days, but NOTHING like my other two pregnancies!  My sweet tooth has also almost disappeared (almost) which is strange and kind of great, but definitely doesn't mean I'm not gaining weight. ;)
I'm really enjoying this pregnancy and trying to just take everything in as it comes and not take any of it for granted.  It's natural to want the pregnancy process to go faster to be able to meet the little miracle growing inside me, but I love the feeling of being pregnant and I'm just enjoying every day as it comes.  I don't want to rush this beautiful experience.  I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father is sending us another sweet spirit to love here on earth.  The kids are so excited for their little brother whom they affectionately call "Big Fat Baby".  Hopefully we come up with a better name for him by the time he's born. ;)

Out with the old...in with the new!

    I don't know what it is, but this winter I really caught a DIY bug and I have been wanting to do my entire house over!  We've owned our townhouse for a little over 6 years (Luke built it while we were dating) and I've never loved all the builder-grade colors.  When we first moved in I told Luke I wanted to paint and he told me we should start small and go from there.  So we started small...in the laundry room.  I knew I wanted to pick something bright and fun (to motivate me to actually do laundry maybe?) so I picked what I thought was a "spring green" and we started painting.  Well, much to our dismay, this spring green turned out to be neon green.  Like, a total disaster.  So pretty much I shattered Luke's trust in my ability to choose paint colors, and I was disheartened by the fact that I just ruined our laundry room.  That was the last of our home projects for a while.

   Then, the summer before Sophie was born we decided to finish our basement to have a little more space.  We hired out for some of it, but were able to do most of it ourselves.  And by ourselves I mean Luke, family, and friends who were nice enough to help us out.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out but we were both reminded how much time and energy goes into house projects.  So another project break for us.

   Fast forward to this winter being un-pregnant still and getting bored being cooped up in the house all day and the wheels in my head started turning of all the projects I could do to spiff up our house and make it feel more like "home".  First on my list was to update the look of our cabinets.  I knew hiring someone to come paint all the cabinets in our house wasn't in our budget so I started looking into different options of doing it myself.  I came across this blog post about staining cabinets yourself!  Luke was leery as I suspected he would be, but he surprised me for Christmas and had purchased every item listed on the blog post that I needed to start the project (Isn't he cute?!).  I started with our master bathroom cabinets and bedroom furniture and it turned out awesome!  The color is a dark espresso and it is very pretty.  I still need to finish one more piece of furniture in our room and then I'll post some before and after pictures so you can see what a difference it made!

   So right now I'm still working on staining bathroom cabinets and I'm also sewing bedding for Sophie's toddler bed and collecting things to redecorate her room. 

 Other projects ahead include a kitchen reno,

 Obviously, I'm just dreaming, but if money were no object....

 mud-room makeover, 

laundry room re-paint (oopsy!), 

reading nook upstairs,

 a board and batten look in different rooms in the house,

 and general decorating updates in pretty much every room.  I'm starting school in the fall so I know if I want these projects done, they have to happen before school starts.  Eeek!  It's going to be a busy spring and summer!  Wish us me luck!!