You've asked....you've waited....it's finally time for the Baby Room reveal!

Man, if I'd have known that you guys would be so excited to see what we did with the Baby's room I would have had a baby sooner.  I swear, it's the most requested post of all time.  Not sure what that says about my posts (smile) but I'll take it as a compliment.  (You guys enjoy those knitting posts too right??).

It's hard to say when the room is finally "done" but we've come leaps and bounds from where it started so here goes nothing.  We still need a few things, so use your imagination when things don't look completely done.  I'll probably do another update after all the showers and we've finally got everything in it's place, but for now, I wanted to share what we've got done so far.

Imagine a diaper changing pad inside that orange thing on the left, and a ton more books and toys on the book shelf.  Oh, and blinds on the window.  We accidentally bought ones that were too short.  Shoot!

That's the cute Chevron Baby blanket I knit for the baby.  One of the many baby projects I've completed so far.  Maybe I'll do a post with all those things later.

See...more photoshop action!  I've got a ways to go...but here's my first stab at a collage :O) So, here's the details on the artwork around the room:

• Family Rules art:  From TJ Maxx about 4 months ago
• Silly Baby Sayings:  Made by me inspired by art on Pinterest.  Since they are pretty small in the picture here are the sayings
• Red:  Crying is for Babies - other babies
• Blue: Nothing says you care - like a clean diaper
• Green: You're getting very sleepy
• Colorful Fabric Pendants: made by me
• Origami mobile:  hung above the dresser/diaper changing area (found here)  I thought about trying to make it myself, but decided it was WAY worth it to just buy!
• Fabric Owl - found this one online too for SUPER cheap.  Like less than 20 bucks!  I can't find the link though...sorry!

I love love love this crib.  Ry went back and forth about wanting to build the crib.  Of course I picked the hardest one.  On Sunday after thinking it over for awhile we decided it was probably better to just go ahead and fork over the dolla's and just buy the dang thing.  He's be so so busy these days, I'd rather have him hanging out with me, than in the garage building a crib.  So, 2 hours later, we had a brand new crib.  SO much faster than the 40+ hours it would have taken him to build one from scratch!

But...we did refinish this dresser ourselves.  I can't seem to find the "before" pictures I took of the dresser so I guess I'll have to do another post on that later.  SHOOT!  Well, imagine it a light color wood, with ugly hardware and put in the basement of the lake house for who knows how long.  We sanded it down, primed and painted it, added some colorful knobs, bought a new piece of glass for the top, and added a few hooks to the outside (for hanging the diaper laundry bags).  It turned out great!  The whole project probably cost us less than $100 so we sure saved some money here!

Oh, and that mirror above the dresser, that's one Ry made long long ago.  It used to be hung in our bedroom but we moved it in here and it fits perfectly!!

All in all, I love what we've got going on in here. I can't wait to add all the finishing touches.  I'll update it later as we get closer.  Shoot, in 8 to 10 weeks I'll have a little baby to model in here as well (probably in that rocking chair)!

Hope you guys like it! 

Baby Bump!

A few weeks back when we were at the Cabin we staged a little baby bump photo shoot.  I've been trying to teach myself how to use Photoshop so here goes nothing.  I hope you enjoy!!

Ry's hands look like like midget hands...I can't Photoshop that :O)

Couldn't resist getting one of the family!  We NEVER get pictures of us with both the dogs.  They are my first babies.  Fur babies that is!

Here comes the bride...

This past weekend we made our way to Indianapolis for our second of three weddings this year.  I sadly don't have ANY pictures of the bride and groom, but I do have a few of my main squeeze.  Let me explain a bit.  One of Ry's best friends from college, Brownie was back in the Midwest for a wedding.  Frank, the groom, knew that Ry would LOVE the chance to catch up with an old friend, so he invited us to be a part of his special day.  We are so grateful!  We haven't seen Brownie and his wife, Sarah, since their wedding nearly 3 and a half years ago!!  They live in San Diego, so the 3.5 hour drive to Indy was totally worth it.

Here's an updated baby belly shot for those of you that have been patiently waiting.  I love how this dress fits on me....you'll definitely see this one again in two weeks.  I'm 31 and a half weeks now, so that means in 8 to 10 weeks we should be welcoming a little one into the world.  It's getting close now!!

There's not much new to report on the baby front.  Things are going along pretty uneventfully.  I'm hungry for fruit, lemonade, ice cream and anything cold and sweet ALL of the time.  I've been trying to make sure I'm eating more fruit than ice cream though :O)  We are also in the middle of a heat wave these days.  I can't tell you the last time we saw temps below the 90's and most days the heat index is over 100.  I'm glad the air works both at home and at work!! 

I love this guy!  I had to include this one...it makes me laugh!!

First Baby Shower - with the McGrath's

This past Sunday the lovely ladies of the McGrath family threw Sesame and I an amazing shower.  We met at Arrowhead (a local golf club) for bruch and some time to catch up.

I had such an amazing time with these ladies....it made me wish we could all get together more often.  We ate a little, drank a little (water for me...but Arrowhead has some amazing Bloddy Mary's!  So amazing, we will be going back there post baby so I can have one too), and laughed alot.  Thank you so much guys for a great shower.

We got this cool tummy time mat (which Ryan loves and the dogs find VERY interesting!), and some other great gifts.

Like this highchair and the ever popular Bobby!

These flowers are still brightening up my kitchen as we speak.  And you can see the cool cookies they brought too.  They were delish.  I MAY have eaten Ryan's before he got to it...sorry babe!

The past two weeks have been chalk full of baby stuff.  I've got the room painted and cleaned up.  We've got the dresser nealry refinished (more on that later), the closet organizers hung and I've been doing all sorts of projects that I'll debut once the room is done.  This shower was just another sign that we are getting closer and closer to meeting our little one.  Can't wait!!

A Loon full of sugar....

...helps the Mega Crane go down. 

I know you all have no freaking clue what I'm talking about here, so let me explain.  This past weekend we loaded up the car and the dogs and set out on our way to my family's cabin in near Hayward, WI.  It's about a 7 and a half our drive from our house so we took Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off to make the long drive worth it.   My Mom and Dad, and Chris and Brenna also joined us for the trip.

With only a few days we made sure to make the most of our time.  Ryan and I got to the cabin around 1am on Friday morning.  We left after work on Thursday.  Chris and B decided to do the opposite, they got up super early Friday morning and were to the lake by noon on Friday.  After giving them the official tour, and watching our crazy pups run wild in the woods and lake, we decided to make our way to Marengo Falls. 

Marengo is the tallest falls in the whole state of Wisconsin and its technically located on private property.  A long time back a family friend of my grandpa's took mom and a few others up to the falls.  I've probably only been 2-3 times so I was excited to make the journey.  Since it's a hidden gem, there are not mowed paths or path markers to find the falls.  Mom and Dad just sort of do it by memory and we were so happy when we finally found it.  We walked for 45 minutes on a old logging road and through a ton of brambles and tall grass til we could finally hear the water rushing a little ways away. 

Check out that baby bump.  Sesame, I carried your butt all the way to the falls this year.  Next time, it's Ryan's turn :O)

It was beautiful up there.  It was a hot hot walk, and there were tons of bugs and ticks to go around but we all had a great time.  In fact, on the way home we probably found 20 ticks between just the four of us in our car.  Ryan wasn't so good about tossing them out the window, so Dad got a ton of ticks on him the next day when we drove to Hayward, but hopefully C&B's car is fully tick free by now.

Saturday it rained a bit during the day so we decided to head to Hayward to do some grocery shopping and touristy stuff.  Tom and Carolyn actually met us there as well and Ry and Tom did some mountain biking together.  They were pretty muddy when they finally met up with us in the bar, but after a few minutes in the bathroom doing sink showers and they were good to go.

That evening we went out fishing to see what we could catch.  The crappies were biting like crazy so we had a great time.  It was a good thing that dad decided not to put his pole in the water because the rest of us kept him pretty busy taking the fish off our lines.

We weren't sure we'd have enough big fish to really make a meal out of them until Ryan caught this guy:

A good sized Large Mouth Bass.  Ry actually takes the award for the largest fish for the weekend.  He also caught this Northern a few days later.  He was super excited to finally catch a Northern.  He's not big, but Ry's been wanting to catch one since they last time we were up at the lake so now he can finally cross that off his bucket list.

You may have noticed that there have been zero pictures of Chris's fish at this point.  That's because Chris hadn't been having the best of luck.  In fact, at this point, the rest of us were pulling fish into the boat hand over fist, and Chris hadn't landed a single fish.  To make matters worse, when Ry tossed his line in to catch that Bass, he'd joked that he was going to steal Chris's fish.  He tossed his line in right next to where Chris had casted and low and behold, Ry hooked his bass.  A little bit later Chris finally pulled this guy into the boat:

Not a record setter by any means, but he was happy to finally be able to add one to the bucket. 

And, with that, here are a few other random pictures from the weekend to share with you.  Enjoy!

Progress!

Some might call this mess the opposite of progress, but I disagree.  You see, this mess, is only a small portion of the contents of our guest bedroom turned baby room.  We are still working hard to find the perfect home for ourselves, but with less than 10 weeks until this baby is due, it's time to face the house hunting facts and start prepping the town house for our newest addition.  So, a few weeks back, Ryan and I took the queen sized bed out of the new baby's room and moved it into storage.  With only a two bedroom townhouse, we are going to add a futon to the loft area so people will still have someplace to sleep. 

However, I'd found that it was way too easy to just close the door to that room and pretend like I didn't have a huge job ahead of me.  So, this past week, when Ryan and I headed home from vacation a day early, I took my free day off and started making a mess.  You see, I HATE messes.  Especially ones that I caused and can fix.  So, I knew that if I created a place I couldn't live, I was bound to get to work.

Actually, this mess is after I started cleaning up.  I was so focused on cleaning up that I forgot I wanted to snap a few pics.  Basically, I started by unloading everything into the loft.  At first I thought I'd start by downsizing and organizing, but it was easier to just make a huge pile and figure it all out later *smile.  Then, once I had the room cleaned out it was time to start painting.  Before I go to far, don't worry, I bought NO VOC paint which is totally safe to paint with when pregnant, and Captain Safety (ie Ryan) made sure I was careful and safe. 

I painted Tuesday, Wednesday evening and a little tonight, and it's finally finished.  I've got to say, second coats are far less rewarding and satisfying than first coats, but they are necessary none the less.  I love, love, LOVE the color I ended up with.  So many times I think I've picked the right color only to be disappointed when I get it on the wall.  This color did not disappoint and I am so happy with it.

I want to keep the room a surprise until I can do a big reveal once it's all together.  But, I'll give you a little sneak peak of the color to tease you.

I'm not sure how the color will translate on the web, but it's a grey color.  I wanted to go neutral (you know, because we are waiting til birthday to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl), but I knew I didn't want to go with the traditional yellow/green look.  I've got big plans for this room and I can't wait to show it to you.

I had so much fun starting to work in the room.  It helps to make it all seem that much more real.  As if the giant belly in front of me isn't enough to make it feel real *smile.  I can't wait to get some furniture in here and see how it all comes together.

Finally, I've got vacation pictures from our trip Up North and some photos from the maternity shoot mom and I did together coming your way so stay tuned.  It's just going to take me a bit to get them all edited.  I'm teaching myself Photoshop so I've got some work ahead of me.

Officially an AUNT!

Those of you that were already clued into the news were probably wondering how come this little bundle didn't even get a mention in my last blog post.  Well, I'll tell you why.  Because announcing that there is a new baby without pictures is like handing over a bowl of ice cream without a spoon.  Like having a stack of Oreos without a glass of milk, like having popcorn without butter.  TORTURE I tell you, torture (can you tell I'm hungry?)  So, I waited just one day longer and got a few shots to share with you all.

Meet my niece Kayden James.  Born June, 2nd at 9:19 am.  7 lbs 5 oz and 19.5 inches long.

Ry and I haven't gotten a chance to meet her yet, but we are heading to Iowa this weekend to see Joey and the baby (and Andy too I suppose *smile*).  So I will have more pictures to share then.  But for now...these will have to do.

Enjoy!

Love her spiky hair in this one!