A Nursery Fit for a Wild Man

It's been a while since I've updated, and this sweet little nursery has honestly been "done" for a while, but I just have not gotten around to getting the details on the blog.

I spent the better part of my bed rest planning and dreaming about this little boy's room, and that meant quite a bit of time surfing the internet for the perfect pieces.  We were able to order some pieces online, other pieces are from a successful trip to Hobby Lobby, some things are hand-me downs and family pieces, and one very special shelving unit was designed by me and built to perfection by Will's Pappy!  I love every single inch of Will's Man Cave and look forward to adding a few more pieces and finishing touches to it during his first year.

Will's hospital room door hanger. Big Sister has one just like it on her door.

I knew I wanted to do some type of rustic theme, with outdoors, animals, and arrows involved, but I went back and forth with some different color combinations.  After our trip to Hobby Lobby and a quick look in the buggy, I could tell the color pallet was determined - ivory, gold, and wood!  I've added color in some different areas, and might add some more, but I LOVE the neutral look and the feel it gives to Will's room.

We were able to use the changing table from Bryleigh's nursery and then bought our Wild Man a new crib since Sister is still in her's and she'll be using it as a full size bed.  We added neutral colored sheets and changing pad covers (with light green back-ups from Sister's extras).  I knew what I liked in a diaper caddy, so we purchased a woven basket from Hobby Lobby to hold diapers, wipes, and all the creams.  We got SUPER lucky when we realized the wipes reusable box fits PERFECTLY at the back with some storage room underneath and the wipes tucked in at the front.  I LOVE the tree trunk canvas in neutrals and gold that really ties in all the details of the room and ended up being a big inspiration for all the decor.  I purchased it from Hobby Lobby as well.  The lamp shown is a beautiful brushed gold with arrows and a burlap shade, and there is a second matching one in the corner of his room.  These are from World Market and were a perfect fit to our little guy's room.

The shelf is from Target and has some sweet little owls from Bryleigh's "Look Whooo's 2" party, along with a picture from that Will's great-grandpa made.  It will eventually have a beautiful 4 generation picture displayed, but for now, Brad is loving the "punch heard round the world" being on display in Will's Little Man Cave.  There are also two signs and a camping lantern from Hobby that completed the shelf decor.

This corner of Will's world is home to lots more Hobby Lobby items - including the two square frames, the white-washed letters for his name, and the arrow beneath.  Two of my favorite pieces in this section of the room is the book shelf hanging on the wall that used to hold hymns on the back of a pew in my hometown church, First Baptist Church - Sherman, TX.  There is a lot of history in that church for our family, so it is very special to have a piece of that in Will's room.  You can also see a night stand tucked away in the corner, and that belonged to my Granddad.  My MawMaw and PawPaw got the Jimmy Don mountain-metal sign for us, and it is just the perfect fit for this rustic room and our hopes for our boy to be adventurous.

These are just a few close-ups of some of the details from Will's room.

I always love giving my dad a vision and watching him bring it to life!

If you've done much searching on pinterest, you might have seen shelves similar to the ones above...with a cool price tag of about $1100.  NOT exactly in this momma's price range, but thanks to my Pappy, we made it happen for a fraction of the cost.  We were able to find few different units that we liked and things from each that worked well, and my dad was able to design a shelf that fit our price range and was completely functional for our little guy's nursery.  It could not have turned anymore perfect!

That sweet moose and tree on the very top were purchased during my hospital stay and were the beginning of this whole vision.  They'll always be special pieces to me.  The bin at the bottom matches the diaper caddy on his changing table and is FULL of books that Bryleigh had while she was a baby a long with a a whole new set of books that our BSF Leaders showered us with when we came back to bible study.  I will always cherish those!  There are also some books we purchased or were given as gifts along with some more pieces from Hobby Lobby, including the "Be strong & brave" sign, the arrow picture frame, and the "Adventure" mountain piece, and the beautiful globe is from Target.

This just happens to be one of my very favorite rooms of all time.  And the little boy who lives in it happens to be a favorite of mine too!

A Gender Neutral Nursery with a Pop of Pink

Yes, I realize that my little one is now 8 months old...but for the record, we did finish up the last detail of her nursery the day before she turned 7 months, so I can technically say her nursery was done by 6 months! ;)

Two things made planning this nursery hard: Hyperemesis and Pinterest.  I didn't realize just how exhausted I was throughout the pregnancy until I was able to so easy complete the tasks after Bryleigh was here.  Obviously my hands were pretty full, so I had to move piece by piece, but I was able to make decisions and complete things that seemed impossible only months before.

And as far as Pinterest goes...it's great, but so very overwhelming.  And my eye continually caught the expensive end of things.  My #1 goal for the nursery: Affordable.  I also knew that I wanted to do gender neutral and then add accent colors depending on the gender of the baby.  Another must have on the list was giraffes.  And I'm happy to say, we achieved all three!!

Welcome to Bryleigh's sweet room.  This sign was the sign we used to announce our little Baby H was a Baby Girl.  This sign hung on her hospital door after she was born, and now this sign hangs on her door.  She scratches/touches it every time we walk by. :)

One of my very favorite things in Bryleigh's room is a giraffe painting/growth chart that my cousin Erica painted just for Miss B!  I'm so excited to add little ticks along the way as our sweet Bryleigh Girl grows up.  (And I will note, that shelf is the one I mentioned here.)

Brad and I had some "crafting" fun together while we waited on our sweet girl to make her debut.  We painted the letters for Bryleigh's name and then painted some frames to showcase some of our favorite photos of our sweet girl.

One of my favorite pieces in Bryleigh's room is the mirror that hangs over her changing table.  I love how it turned out after I painted it to match the pink accent colors with a small chevron accent, but what I love most about the mirror is the fact that it used to hang in my grandparents' house.

There's one place I've spent more time in that just about any other place in our entire house...and that's the glider in Bryleigh's room.  I've LOVED every second that I've been able to sit in that chair and hold our sweet girl...even the non-latching, screaming-crying, non-sleeping moments.  I was also able to spend some therapeutic moments during nap-time making the prints that hang above that area.

This is another "special" area in the nursery.  The shelf that hangs about Bryleigh's dresser was made by my PaPaw (dad's dad's dad) from wood belonging to my Paw Paw's old barn (dad's dad) and refinished and painted/hung by my dad.  There are lots of sentimental pieces on the shelf and top of the dresser that are from people that love our sweet Bryleigh Girl.

And we definitely can't forget one of the most important parts of a girl's room...THE CLOSET!

The Past 5's Top 10

We have had on incredible journey over the past five years of our marriage with so many incredible memories.  I am looking forward to all of the memories we will make in the next 5 and beyond!

My 10 favorite memories from the past 5 years:

10. Saying "I DO" and celebrating with our friends and family

You can check out a few more precious moments from that magical day over HERE.

09. Honeymooning in the Bahamas

08. Watching sports with my hubby - Rangers, Cowboys, college football, World Cup (Brad says we're soccer fans now!), Olympics, etc

07. Family vacations - St. Thomas and New York with Brad's family, New Mexico with my family

06. Our college graduations (even though mine was RIGHT before getting married)

05. Taking our first vacation - New York City

04. Celebrating the holidays

03. Welcoming Tate and Olivia and our time with them

02. Buying our first house

01. Welcoming Bryleigh Renee

And just for fun, I asked Brad what his top 10 were...I'd say they were pretty close to my own! ;)

1. Bryleigh Renee
2. Wedding and honeymoon
3. Getting the job at CG
4. House
5. Graduating from college
6. Making new friends (people from work and small group at church)
7. NYC and Georgia
8. Sporting events we have gone to
9. Concerts we've been too
10. Family Vacations

Project: Heart-work and Shelf-work

I spent the day doing something I've done my whole life...well, most of it: handy-(wo)man work.  I'm definitely my pappy's girl when it comes to building things/putting things together and he's taught me a lot over the years.

I never imagined when I started this day with the plans of hanging one simple shelf that the Lord would teach me so much, but you know how He works.

I've been spending lots of time in Bryleigh's nursery over the past few weeks finally getting it all put together, and I'm happy to say I've finished up 2 of her walls and had one shelf to hang before finishing a third.  Brad and I had purchased some shelves and hardware at Lowes last week, but when I got it in her room, I just wasn't feeling.  So I went back to the drawing board...well, in this case the internet, and found the perfect shelf from The Container Store.

I was pretty excited when I opened the package and noticed there was a template that was the same size and shape of the shelf.  I thought to myself, "This is going to be a piece of cake.  I'll have this hung in NO time!"

So I did some measuring to find out the center of the wall and then found the center of the template and lined them up, then attached the template to the wall.

After I had the template hung, I double checked to make sure it was level and grabbed the instructions to get started.  I quickly read through all of the directions to get a feel for what tools I would need and what I'd be doing and things sounded straight forward enough...poke holes on the "X", drill 1/8 inch holes, if you don't hit studs then drill 3/8 inch holes, then just install the hardware and viola!

I hit a snag when I couldn't figure out the drill and how to get the drill bit out, but my sweet hubby helped me out there.  I got all 6 holes drilled with the 1/8 inch drill bit and didn't hit any of studs, so I was able to move forward with the next step.

The next step: toggle bolts.  That's officially a four letter word in my vocabulary now.  If I ever open a package again that says "toggle bolts" included, I will take the purchase back. Immediately.

In order to insert the toggle bolts, I needed to drill a hole in each of the previous holes with a 3/8 inch drill bit.  Straightforward enough.  I like using the drill.  I knew how to change the bit now, so I was ready to go.  That was, until I SAW the 3/8 inch drill bit! It was the second BIGGEST drill bit in the whole set!!  I immediately started second guessing everything I had already done, re-read the instructions 3 times, and triple checked the drill bit case to make sure I had the right size.

Considering there is ONE nail hole in Bryleigh's room...these were a BIG commitment to make on her wall!!

After all of that doubting and re-reading, I came to the conclusion that it must be right and I would just move forward and HOPE that it all worked out.  So I drilled the {LARGE} holes and then moved on to inserting the {OF THE DEVIL} toggle bolts.  (I will admit I had to pull out the first set of toggle bolts because the "toggle" was on backwards.)  After all of that, I was able to get the hardware all installed and the shelf locked in to place perfectly.

As I sat and thought back on the whole process, thanking the Lord that all of the work ended up being correct and the shelf looked great, I immediately realized how often I question the Lord just because His instructions LOOK as if they couldn't possibly be right.

We've got His book of instructions right in front of us.  He tells us exactly what He wants us to do.  Sometimes He even tells us (in soft whispers or FLASHING LIGHTS AND BOLD LETTERS).  And sometimes, those instructions seem a little outlandish or extreme, maybe something we aren't used to or puts us outside our comfort zone.  But that's exactly what we are supposed to do.  We are called to obey Him, whether we have the whole picture and know what the outcome is going to be or we only have the very first step.  Odds are, if we take that first step (even if it seems a little crazy), we'll end up with a perfectly hung shelf.

2013 - A *WONDERFUL* Year In Review

Brad and I got married in August of 2009, so this was our 5th Christmas together, and each year I strongly consider sending out Christmas cards.  I love seeing each of the cards we get, getting to watch friends and family grow over the years.  Well this is the last year I consider it, because next year we'll actually be sending one out...not to mention we'll be sending out a little announcement right after the first of the year!!  I always told myself that once we had kids of our own, we'd start sending out an annual Christmas card or letter, so you can be expecting that in 2014!

However, as I sat and thought today about the enormous amount of blessings we've had over the past year, I couldn't help but get out the computer and start typing away.  So I thought this year, we would share a digital Christmas card along with our "Year in Review."  Some might think that spending 36 (to-date) of the past 52 weeks sick would make for a pretty crummy year, but looking back, all I see is blessings, and I wanted to share some of those with you!!

We celebrated our first year as homeowners, Brad's promotion to Consultant and 3 years with CG, along with Brad's 25th and my 28th birthdays.  We made some difficult decisions, including a possible move to Florida, deciding to move forward with IVF as our shot for starting a family, and me leaving my position after almost 2 years with Yardi.  We faced some difficult lows and some incredible highs, but we knew that God was with us 100% of the time, and he was guiding each step that we took.  Here are some more of our favorite highlights from 2013:

We rang in the new year with great friends - We were so blessed to spend the past year with an amazing group of couples, walking through life together, growing through bible studies, praying and praising together, and there was definitely a lot of laughs and a lot of fun!  Our Small Group was definitely one of the biggest blessings of 2013!

We lived for the weekends - Brad started traveling weekly to Connecticut the Monday before Valentines day for a project with CG.  We certainly made the most of our weekends and squeezed in as  much fun as we could, which included "some" shopping (we quickly got over using "Retail Therapy" as a way to spend time together...), double dates with great friends, concerts (including the Kari Jobe/Chris Tomlin concert), movies, and some fun in the kitchen!  We absolutely love spending time together, no matter what we are doing, and 2013 was definitely a year for lots of time together.

 

We survived a scary car accident - Well, Carrie survived the wreck, and Brad survived having to hear about it from 1700 miles away.  Calling your husband to let him know you'd been side swiped on 635 and the person tried to flee the scene (so you chased them while on the phone with 911) was NOT a fun call to make.  In tears, I believe I started with, "I'm okay, but..."  That not so fun week ended up even LESS fun when I wound up with a pretty tough case of strep throat!

We watched Tate grow up...and found out he's going to be a big brother! Due to that ugly little wreck and bout with strep throat, we weren't able to take a trip to Conroe that we had planned...but we got some pretty awesome FaceTime anyways!  Throughout 2013, there were trips to Conroe and SS to spend time with Tate, as well as some time in Arlington, and there was plenty of FaceTime and video/picture messages from his momma and daddy to keep us up to date with our favorite little guy.  That is one smart, fun little boy, and Miss Olivia is blessed to have such a great big brother!!

We considered a BIG move - Most people don't know, but in February, I was contacted for an opportunity to interview with a company for a position in Florida.  Following the first (LENGTHY) phone interview, I was asked to participate in a panel interview for the second round.  As we prayed for days unsure of what we were supposed to do, we started to hear from God that we were exactly where we needed to be at the time.  (And thankfully so, seeing as I found out I was pregnant a few short months later!)

We supported our Rangers - I remember telling Brad, "I don't think I'll ever get used to just driving up the road to go see them play," after heading home from the game on Opening Weekend.  I LOVE my little sports loving husband, and I have so much fun cheering on the Rangers with him.

 

We also had lots of fun cheering on some of our other favorite teams throughout their seasons...

We drank Kangen water - We are certainly believers in what Kangen can do for some one, because I am proof!  After making the decision in January to purchase our own machine, I started seeing some pretty noticeable improvements in my health, and a few short months later...I was pregnant!

We also made a trip to Atlanta at the end of April to learn more about Enagic/Kangen Water, and we LOVED getting to spend time with so many others that had seen similar differences in their lives.  We wrapped up the weekend with a trip to the Coke Museum.

We got our miracle - After years of praying and hoping, sitting in doctor's offices and leaving with little hope, undergoing surgeries and trying various medications...we gave it all up.  So with prayer and an ovulation predictor, we finally got our 12% miracle!  By week 3 of pregnancy, I was nauseas to the point that I knew something was going on...but a negative pregnancy test (again...) shattered my hopes...only to take a positive one 5 days later (followed by another positive one...I had to be sure!)

I had so much fun calling to cancel the IVF appointment we had made only 3 short days before finding out, but that joy didn't compare to sharing the news with all of our family over Mother's Day Weekend!  It was definitely a Mother's Day to remember!

 

Along with getting our sweet miracle, we battled through Hyperemesis and we revealed the Gender.

We had no idea what was in store for us so soon after those two little positive tests...but what followed included a lot of time on our couch/in bed, along with some one on one time with a trash can that would end up being something that went almost everywhere with us for months.

 

By week 18, it was finally time to find out just what this little one was going to be...and we had so much fun finding out for ourselves and then sharing the news with our friends and family!

We welcomed Olivia - After finding out that my brother, Alan, and his wife, Candice, were expecting Baby #2 on March 16, we could not WAIT for that sweet little baby to get here!!  Miss Olivia Lynn made her arrival on October 14, 2013 at 6:55 pm, and she was absolutely perfect!  Tate quickly stepped in to his role of big brother and loved giving her "tisses" and holding her.  We are so excited to watch this little Princess grow up.

 

And We enjoyed time with family - We are so blessed with incredible families, and being with them certainly made for some memorable moments in 2013!

2013 was one heck of a ride, but I'm guessing we better just hold on for what's in store with 2014!