Project Nursery

Friday through Tuesday mom came into town and project nursery is now under way.  I needed some help and a creative mind getting started.  It is no where near finished.  But here are some pictures that will at least give an idea of what the end might look like.  The walls were already green, I am undecided about painting them.  I am painting the furniture white, which might brighten up the room and look fine with the green walls.  Did you know that we have painted every room (including hallways) in our house since we moved in a little over a year ago?  Some of them twice?  I don't have a lot of motivation to paint another one....for the second time.  Plus, keep in mind the nursery will also be a guest bedroom, we don't want to go nuts making it look like a baby's room.  

Also, I registered yesterday! It was so much fun picking out all of the cute little accessories for Lucy Kate's first few months of life.  I told Michael how long we were at the store- his response "it sounds like you had a terrible day" ha! Men don't get as excited about choosing which color bumbo or which theme for a play mat.  I loved it!  PS- Shout out to Callie for coming with my mom and I!  Registering for a whole new world can be overwhelming!  Its nothing like wedding registry where you know what a towel is and how it is used, you just pick the one you like.  Its all new, never before experienced products.  

Crib skirt.  Very wrinkled.  

Crib Sheet. And Inspiration fabric for everything else.

Quilt.

We actually haven't even purchased this and may not.  I don't really like pink, but if we add any more to the room, it will be this.   I like this pattern a lot! Maybe for an accent pillow.  

This blue fabric is the curtain material.  They are now hanging up almost completely done thanks to my mom's great seamstress skills.  I am waiting until they are completely finished to show them off.  

We are covering the rocking chair cushions in this.  

Construction zone.  

Parts of the crib are missing because I am sanding it to paint it.  Have you ever sanded a crib?  It takes forever- look at all those slats!

There is the guest bed tucked in the corner.  It will look much better when I actually have bedding and decorative pillows for it.

In other news our 4th wedding anniversary is tomorrow!  We are going out of town for a long weekend to celebrate.  What a blessing marriage to Michael has been!  I'll post about our trip and how much I like my husband when we get back.  

My how time flies!!!

Our honeymoon. We are such youngsters.  

Memorial Weekend

The weekend was filled with perfect amounts of rest time and friend time.  We had two cookouts, and even stayed up until 2:30 one night followed by sleeping in until 10-11.  It felt like college.  I know soon being up at 2:30 will be nothing to write home (or blog ) about.  Monday we went on a picnic in the park with some of our best friends.  Summer is here!  We desperately wanted to swim (still do) but we couldn't find an open pool- if you have one, give us a call! (I'm only joking a little).  Though I realized this weekend that I needed a new swim suit.  I am not brave enough to be a belly showing two piece wearer during pregnancy.  I bought one today, but let me tell you maternity swimsuits are 100% for practicality, and 0% for looking cute.  They could at least design one with a cute pattern or colors... Though this was the first time I have ever swim suit shopped without looking for the perfect suit with the most flattering fit.  My criteria: it fits now, with room to grow.  Check.

Picnic pics:

All Things Baby.

I do not want this blog to become a baby- only blog.  So I don't mention baby related activity in every blog.  But, it is a huge part of my life.  So this blog post is all things baby related.

- Name: We picked out a name, though we aren't so committed to it that we are monogramming things.  This took us a lot of research, discussion, and patience.  We both suggested this name separately.  It is a family name on my side, and we love the meaning as well, which was important to us.  Now that you have read a paragraph just to read the name, here it is: Lucy Kate.  Lucy means bringer of light, Kate means pure.  We picked it and decided to try it out for a while, and it just keeps growing on us.

-Registering:  I started registering a little.  Only on Amazon, and only for the big things.  I don't know where else to register except there and target.  Do I need to register at more than two places?  Am I missing something important?  I am not going to register for clothes at all.  Since we are having a girl I feel doomed to only getting clothes and nothing practical at my shower(s).

-Nursery: I cleaned out the room and closet that will be used for the nursery.  We moved out the extra furniture as well.  Its a (mostly) blank slate.  We are leaving it a guest room/ nursery combo.  The bed rooms in our house are larger than normal, so we didn't want to give up a large amount of our house for a baby that won't even know she has her own room for a long time.  When guests come, she can sleep in a pack n' play in our room.  And, let's be honest, my parents are generally our only guests, they will probably want her with them at all times, even in the room at night.  I ordered bedding (click on the link below if you care).  We ordered the blanket, crib skirt, sheet.  We (my mom) is going to make the bumpers, curtains, extra pillows etc, out of fabric that is not pink.  I love this bedding, I do not love lots of pink.
http://www.potterybarnkids.com/room/rom/romnur/romnurven/

-Splurge: I bought a diaper bag.  Its one I've been eyeing for a long time.  I found it half off.  It should come in any day now.  I bought it myself with Christmas money I have been saving.  It was my splurge purchase, and I couldn't justify registering for it, or asking for it when there are so many things we actually need.  You know, like diapers and a car seat, things that make diaper bags a necessity.

-Health:  I had the gestational diabetes test this week.  I never heard back, so I guess everything is normal.  I am measuring right on track.  Her heartbeat is still fast.  We've got a hyper one on our hands.

-Moving around: Michael has been able to feel Lucy moving around lately, we can even see it if you watch closely enough.  We think she is kickboxing because her moves are quick.  I am no expert, but I think she is a night owl.  I notice during the day when she kicks, and it is rare.  But once I lay down to go to sleep, she parties.  And sometimes it wakes me up.  She's just getting me ready I suppose.

- Pictures:  (weeks 21-24 starting in the top left, going clockwise)

Family Vacation

Today is the last day of my two week summer break.  I can't believe how fast that went! Luckily, my classes ease in, so I do not think I will be too busy with school for the next month. I have too many projects to do!  I am in baby-mode, no longer school- mode.  Last week, Michael and I went on a vacation with my family- parents and brother.  It was the first family vacation I have been on in a long time, and Michael's first time to join the Bates clan for travel.  

My dad has to travel to Salt Lake City for business quite often, and sometimes my mom goes along.  So, they know quite a bit about the area.  We visited a small town called Moab just a half days drive from Salt Lake.   Here is a play by play of our week:

Friday: After Michael finished work we drive to my parents house in NLR to stay the night 

Saturday: Michael, my brother, and myself ate lunch with my grandparents, who then took all of the family to the airport.  We flew into Salt Lake City just in time to go to sleep.  

Sunday: We slept in (common theme on this trip, none of us are morning people).  Then got in the rental minivan and drove to Park City.  I'd say its the Aspen of Utah.  A nice ski town with cute little shops. We ate lunch at a restaurant known for its "Mole", a popular dish in Mexican restaurants in Utah.  Its comparable to curry, but Mexican.  Its basically just sauce with different combos of spices, seeds, beans, etc poured on meat and put in a tortilla.  While in Park City we also toured the training facilities for the winter olympics.  On our way back to Salt Lake for the night, we drove to Sundance, where the film festival is held.  It was a beautiful little resort.  

Sundance.

Sundance.

I don't remember what my brother is doing in this picture.  But more at Sundance. 

Family pic.  I think its the only one from the entire trip....

Michael and Jonathan playing a game at the Winter Olympics Museum in Park City.

Monday: We drove the four hour drive to Moab.  We went from the big Rocky Mountains to the desert in just a few hours.  The first two days we were there we toured Arches National Park.

This is the biggest of the arches- which give the park its name.  It is the length of a football field.  The picture doesn't show the size.  Just 20 years ago a big chunk of it fell, luckily the people underneath ran quickly.  It won't be long until the remaining part falls.  

Most arches looked more like this. 

Michael practicing his "crane" He is over half way through P90X.  This is one of the moves he can do, that I have never been able to do.  Especially these days.  

In Arches National Park.  Though you cannot see any arches in this picture. 

Michael, standing in an arch.

Tuesday:  Arches National Park again, followed by dinner at a resort called Red Cliff Lodge.  I had fresh trout, right out of the Colorado River.  

Wednesday and Thursday:  We toured Canyon Lands National Park, Dead Horse State Park, and drove the La Sal Mountain Pass.  

This is called "the newspaper" its basically ancient native american graffiti.  Passers-by hundreds of years ago all left a little drawing. Its  a little blurry, sorry.  

This was on one of the hikes in Canyon Lands National Park.   A place where real cowboys would stay while the cows grazed- though it was mostly sand, they must have been hungry cows.  

This was what Michael could be found doing on most hikes- taking pictures of trees with his phone.  If you follow him on Instagram, you saw how impressive some of these pictures were.  

Add caption

An Aspen Grove on the La Sal Mountain Pass.

Don't fall in that canyon Michael!  When Michael wasn't taking pictures on hikes, I was wondering if my child would ever meet her father.  He daring on the cliffs.

Canyons for as far as you could see.  The Colorado River runs through the bottom.  Eventually these connect with the Grand Canyon.  

The Colorado River, right outside of Moab.

This is the Red Cliffs Lodge, our favorite eating spot.  We ate dinner there once, then went back for a big breakfast.

                        

                     Me and mom, sitting on the edge.  There is a picture of us both looking...somewhere

Friday we drove back to Salt Lake City after lunch and a little shopping in Moab.  We ate dinner at a popular place where locals eat, it looked like a hole in the wall, and without my family's expertise on the city, I would never have wanted to eat there.  The Red Iguana, I believe was the name, another restaurant known for its "mole"  it was delicious. 

The "mole" special at the Red Iguana.  All I remember is that it had mango in it.  We were given a taste test of all of the moles they offered.  This was the best by far.  

 Saturday: Flew back to Little Rock

Time Flies

Every week goes by and we think "can you remember what we did last weekend?"  The answer is usually : no.  And it isn't that we have uneventful lives.  Its quite the opposite, we are always so busy, that we move onto the next day without remembering the last.  Which is really why I started this blog, but have done a terrible job keeping up.  I usually feel overwhelmed thinking about catching up.  So I won't. I'll start with recent happenings.  

On Thursday, Michael and I went to a birthday party at wine with a twist.  Anyone who knows me well is laughing right now.  I have no artistic abilities.  Don't believe me?  my draw something username is agadd.  I'll just show you.  I do not have a picture of the original, but here is what we painted :

Michael decided to make his an apple tree.  The original was more of an abstract tree.

My tree has the abstract attempt found in the original.  It also looks like a three year old painted it.  

This weekend I helped host a baby shower (I haven't blogged about this, but I should be a professional baby shower host, I have had that much experience in the last several months).  One of my best friends in the whole world, Tara, is having a little boy in just 2 months!  Tara and I lived together in college, along with several others girls.  Two of these other girls drove from Houston and Nashville with wee ones under the age of 4 months for the event.  That's true friend love!
From January to September we are all having babies.  So fun! Here is our babies and bellies pic:

And the babies!

I am nearing the end of the semester, finishing on Wednesday!  Then I have a two week summer break.  Not too long, but I am just thankful to get a new set of classes.

In other news, we are having a girl.  You already know that probably, now that it has been posted on facebook. We had a feeling it would be a girl, but I have only known boy infants, so this is new.   (I add infants, because we do have some friends with girls, but we didn't know them until they were at least 9-ish months old).  So this is all new territory.  We have pink already accumulating in our house in the form of tiny shoes and headbands.  thanks for the gifts!  We haven't done any shopping, we don't think we will need to.

Michael wore this shirt to work.  He is already so proud of his daughter.

Now that we know its a girl our projects are:  pick a name (this is HARD- now taking suggestions), decorate a nursery, register (this is very overwhelming,  I spend a lot of time reading product reviews).

And now some belly pics.  So far pregnancy has been incredibly easy for me.  Such a blessing.  The worst part is knowing I am going to be large and in charge, and there isn't anything I can do about it (if I want to be healthy).  I know everyone says pregnant girls are so cute, but if you haven't been pregnant, trust me, you feel like you could be the exception.  Something just isn't right about having your stomach be your counter top cleaner while you are cooking.  This is no joke, you should see the stains on my clothes, luckily my mom bought an apron that I do not think can be outgrown. However, I did think I would be obviously pregnant by now, a "safe bet".  I am obviously larger, not obviously pregnant yet....
(And no, I do not wear the green shirt every day, I put it on for my weekly pic)

17 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks- half way!

19 weeks

A perfect weekend.

Each week flies by.  Last week I had a Dr.'s appt.  Everything is going great.  We find out the gender in 3 weeks.  By Wednesday I was pretty miserable with some unknown kidney problem. (or maybe muscle according to the nurse, although I am certain it was kidney) It was painful!  I was on self determined couch rest for 2 days and almost went crazy.  But it was all I could do.  So by Friday evening when I was feeling better, I was ready for a fun weekend.

This weekend we spent a lot of time with a few new friends.  Those of you that know my husband know that he is extremely extroverted.  If our friends our busy, I like to stay in my comfort zone and wait until they aren't busy to have social interaction.  Michael will make new friends.  So, we did that a lot this weekend.  And I loved it.  Just had to think outside the box.

Friday night we had (pre planned) dinner with a sweet young couple that is getting married next month. As the theme of the weekend goes: we grilled dinner and sat on our back deck.  One of the reasons I am writing this post that is probably boring to read is because several times this weekend, especially at dinner Friday night, I was asked different questions about things we have done over the past years, and I couldn't remember! I hate that.  So I am writing it down here.

Saturday we were supposed to go to the cabin with my family to work on some projects, but last minute that fell through.  So, we stayed in bed until 11:00!  (that included making breakfast and getting back in bed)  Now that we are limited in childless Saturdays, we are going to lay in bed guilt free when we can. Although farmer's market starts this Saturday, and I'd rather do that than sleep in.  Since our Saturday was wide open I sat on our deck, finished a book, painted my nails, relaxed.  All while Michael had to work.  Boo.  But then we did some P90x and sat on the deck, then played some croquet in the yard.  I'm terrible at croquet.  He gave me 2 swings for every one of his.  I still lost terribly.  Saturday night we went to the Dickson Street Inn.  Our favorite evening hang out, the view is great!  Then we tried Fresco Cafe for the first time with some friends (new and old),  I highly recommend it.  Great atmosphere, food, and not too expensive.


Sunday another cookout out on our deck with friends.  Another miserable loss at croquet.

And if you are still reading, I will show you some belly pictures.  I am putting them at the end, maybe not as many people will see. This week at the doctor  Heartbeat was 150, although before its been consistently 170.  I have been set on girl the whole time, but over the past few weeks, I am thinking boy.  It really doesn't matter to us though.

Here is a photo of 15 weeks.  I am "showing" to those of you that see me regularly.  Otherwise I am not a safe bet (baby belly or too many cheeseburgers?).  Most people don't notice it.   I have a photo from 6 weeks, maybe one day I'll post a progression.  When I have more to show.

My goal was to make it to April 1 without wearing maternity clothes (except the Bella band).  I made it!  Though last night I wore my first pair of maternity pants.  Mostly because it was too hot for jeans or the bella band.  

This is from Saturday.  Approx 16 1/2 weeks.