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!

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!

36 Weeks - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

How far along? 36 weeks...where in the world did that come from?! And where did all that time go it felt like we had?!

Due Date? January 14, 2014 (I'm gonna go ahead and say she'll for sure be here by the 17th/18th at the latest...but we haven't discussed details with our doctor yet.) 

How big is baby? Bryleigh is about 18.75 inches long and approximately 5.75 pounds.  She is about the size of a crenshaw melon.

Maternity clothes? Yep!

Stretch marks? Nothing new here!

Sleeping? I spoke to soon last week...Monday-Wednesday night including tossing and turning for hours before finally falling asleep each night, and I've been waking up pretty early every morning.

Miss anything? Just being able to go and do as I please.  The tougher parts of hyperemesis (on top of all the changes that come with any pregnancy) have left me feeling pretty weak, so I get really tired really easily.  I'm looking forward to a nice 3 mile jog on the treadmill!! (My "get-fit" goal for after Bryleigh gets here is to train for and run a 5K with my momma!)

Movement? Love this baby girls movement!! She goes non-stop - left hip up to sternum - pushing and rolling around!

Food cravings? Not much is sounding good these days, with a pretty small appetite on top of that this week.

Food aversions? Thankfully although I haven't had much sounding good, I'm not turned off by anything specific either.

Gender predictions? GIRL!!!!  Brad let Dr. Harris know at our appointment this past week that I had been having those feelings about delivering and finding out it was a boy at the very last minute...so he just set up the sonogram and took a look at our little miracle!  We got to see lots of her, including confirmation that she is in fact a girl!  It was the first time we had seen her since week 18, so we were so thankful for him doing that for us.  Dr. Harris let us know, "All things point to girl, but leave room for God showing you that he is ultimately in charge." - SERIOUSLY love my doctor! :)

Symptoms? Ugh, had some sick days this week, including sleeping with the trash can by the bed Saturday night and some pretty rough nausea most of the day Sunday. (Four...more...weeks!)

Belly button – in or out? Just flat...it will poke out a little when she moves around from time to time.

Wedding rings – on or off? Um....about that...When you get them off and feel like maybe you should keep them off...keep them off.  I put both rings back on while I was getting ready the other day out of habit and had a lot of trouble getting the engagement ring off...the wedding band is still on there! :(

(I DID finally get my wedding ring off!! While sitting with my family at Williams Christmas, I just kept messing with it until it came off! Praise the Lord - I really did pray for that!!)

Mood? Definitely had some "emotional" moments this week...But being 36 weeks pregnant, I think that makes it okay! ;)

Labor signs? During our appointment this week, Dr. Harris confirmed that Bryleigh is head down and has started moving into the birth canal.  During the check, he said that I haven't dilated at all yet, which is totally okay with us since we REALLY need her to wait until 2014!  (And before you ask why or try to convince us 2013 is better for tax purposes, I'll give you one word: INSURANCE.) 

Best moment(s) this week? This was another fabulous, FULL week :)

Tuesday - We had our 36 week appointment with Dr. Harris and my first check to see if I was dilated, along with the Strep B test.  Both were a little more painful than I had expected, but I've always had pain/discomfort associated with those types of things (coming from the endometriosis and any scar tissue that has built up).  Like I mentioned earlier, we were able to SEE our sweet baby girl, and we got confirmation that it is definitely a baby girl!

On Monday - we made our LAST payment!!!

So incredibly blessed and thankful to have our budget

to Dr. Harris paid off without putting any of it on Credit!

Wednesday - Planning the hospital packing...If you know me, you know that I am a planner and a list maker!  I've received three different emails encouraging me to "Pack the Bags," so I figured I'd at least start by making a list of what all will need to go in to those bags!

We had our small group Christmas Party on Wednesday night, which was also a celebration for our sweet Bryleigh.  These are the people that have walked with us for the past year.  We have prayed together, cried together, and laughed together, and each of them have been a HUGE encouragement to Brad and me through our roller coaster of a year - Brad's weekly traveling to Connecticut, the fears of infertility and possibilities of IVF, the excitement of finding out we were pregnant, and the hardest journey we've faced to date...living with hyperemesis.

Our small group showered Miss B with some sweet gifts

and us with some fun diaper messages for those

middle-of-the-night changes!

Brad was SO excited to get his "Respect Her" bat from Mike!

Thursday - Alan's family got in town for our weekend of Christmases!!  Any time with those four is LOTS of fun!

Friday - Mom and Dad got in town in time for some Taco Soup on Friday night followed by our family's Christmas.  Tate is definitely in to opening presents, and although he always stopped at the box...once he realized there was more he inside, he was SO much fun to watch.  And it's definitely a special time since it is Baby Sister's (Olivia) first Christmas.

A Christmas Tree FULL of presents!

Mimi, Pappy, and the babies! There will be one more in there next year! ;)

Tate loved getting to help pass out all of the presents!

Baby Sister was WORN out from all the excitement!!

Tate slept on a pallet all weekend, and Friday night he got

to sleep in the living room with Mimi and Pappy!

Saturday - My mom's family always gets together on the Saturday before Christmas for some good food and a gift exchange.  It's definitely one of my favorite parts of Christmas!  This year it was at my Aunt Becca and Uncle Don's house, and Brad and I were so blessed by sweet words from Don and a prayer over the remainder of my pregnancy and Miss Bryleigh's delivery and life by my cousin Jeff.  (I've mentioned before, but I'll say it again...we are so blessed with an amazing family!!)

He might have fallen asleep ON the pallet,

but THIS is where he ended up! :)

Miss Olivia's loot from her 1st Williams' Christmas

Uncle Brad was on "Mickey" duty

Sunday - I woke up sick around 5:00 on Sunday morning and fought the nausea most of the day, but we had some last minute stuff we needed to get done before we finish up our family Christmases.  (When Brad asked why I thought I got sick again today, I informed him, "Because we actually have stuff we need to do today..."  That seems to be when I get the sickest.)  We did have a pancake breakfast with Alan's family before they headed out to do spend time with Candice's family for a few Christmas gatherings.  Thankfully, we were able to head out for some errands after the Cowboys game (YAY BOYS!) and got everything finished up that we needed to.

Some last minute snuggles with Olivia!

Looking forward to? This week we celebrate another baby's birth - Jesus, and that is where our focus will be.  Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year, and I can't wait to teach Bryleigh about the ultimate gift we were given through that little baby's birth, and ultimately His death on the cross.  I'm looking forward to the wonderful Christmas Eve service with both sets of our parents and time with Brad's family on Christmas Day.  And did I mention I'll be FULL TERM on Christmas Eve??