Happy Birthday Zach!

Happy 2nd Birthday Zach!!!

We love you sooo much!
We are so thankful for you!

I can't get enough of your contagious smile and laugh!
Looking forward to celebrating with you tonight!

Switcheroo

I think I might have entered the "nesting" phase of pregnancy. I am driving myself insane trying to clean out the office to get it ready for West. For some reason it has to be done now. :) The Lord is really teaching me patience in the process.

My mom agreed to take our desk and they will be up here this week so I wanted to send it back then. The only thing I could think to do was to get a small secretary desk to put beside my side of the bed. I didn't want to combine a guestroom with an office but I still needed an area to keep bills and office related things. This is the desk I had to consolidate into a secretary:

My next step was finding a secretary. Oh my word. Those are few and far between. I had my mom looking in her town and I looked all over mine. I finally found one at an antique store. It was the perfect size and to make it even better, it was half off! It is not the color I was looking for but that is a project for another day. Here it is beside our bed:

It is obviously taller than Cody's table but my lamp is shorter so I think it works. Plus I do not like matching nightstands. (Oh, I also changed out our bedding to our "winter" bedding)

It actually holds most of our office supplies. Another reason I wanted a secretary as opposed to just a chest of drawers was because I wanted to be able to put our wireless printer underneath. So I needed to skirt the desk.

I just used a tension rod and some left over fabric I had. I didn't even hem the sides or the bottom. I wish I could tell you that I made the rod pocket with my sewing machine, hem tape or at least fabric glue.....

Nope! I just used blue painters tape. :) I am all for quick and easy!

The Winner Is....

According to Random.org, the winner is......

The Stockton Family!!

Congratulations! I couldn't find your email on your blog so click email me on my sidebar so I can get your information to Two Sisters Shop.

Thank you so much for hosting such a wonderful giveaway!!

P.S. I am going to put the comment word verification on for a couple of days because I keep getting a spam comment on one post. It should be off by Monday.

Birthday Banner Giveaway!

Have you been to Two Sisters Shop yet? They carry so many cute things including this birthday banner:

Several of you were interested in it when I posted a picture of it from Katie's house. Sooooo, they have offered to give one Birthday Banner to one of you! All you have to do is go visit their website and come back here and leave me a comment telling me your favorite item. (I bet you just might find some great Christmas gifts too.) Be sure to leave your email address if you don't have a blog. I'll use Random.org to pick a winner on Friday night. I hope you win! Thank you Two Sisters!

Thanksgiving Decorations

I took down all of my fall decorations to put out my Thanksgiving ones. I know these are the same type of decorations but it makes me feel better to pack up 8 totes of fall and get just one Thanksgiving one. This way I feel like there is more of a break between Fall and Christmas decorations. Plus I only have one box to put away before I get all the Christmas boxes down. :)

I got this "Thankful" sign at War Eagle (the local craft fairs) this year.

I also got this basket at War Eagle. I put an old Revival Praises hymnal in it. It looks "Thanksgiving-y" because it has a picture of wheat on it. ;)

My Grandmother bought me these pilgrims last year. I love them!

Does anyone else decorate for Thanksgiving? Sometimes I feel like it is a holiday that is often skipped over. I love Thanksgiving and everything it represents. Even though these decorations will probably be taken down before Thanksgiving (I put my Christmas decor out the weekend before Thanksgiving) I still get to enjoy them for several weeks.

Halfway There

20 weeks!

Duck Duck

Friday night we went to our Connection Group Fall Fellowship. We had our annual pumpkin carving contest. There seemed to be a pumpkin shortage around here so only 5 couples carved pumpkins. It was still a lot of fun though!

Here are most of our Connection Group girls.

Cody, me, Katie and Jason

We carved the ;) wink. Cody seriously did not get it. When we left he asked me again, "why did we carve a sideways smiley face?" He doesn't do too much on the computer. ;) He had never heard of this.

On Saturday night I met Jason, Katie and Zach up at the mall for Malloween. Elizabeth (or "Bella" as Zach calls her) met us up there too. The kids could trick or treat at most of the stores. Zach loved his "duck duck" costume!

He has always loved ducks and every bird or duck is a "duck duck!" He gets so excited seeing one. Back in the spring and summer when I had all my bird decorations out he would run to every single one and point at it and yell, "duck duck!" It was so cute.

He loved getting all the candy too. Especially these suckers. He was showing them to me in the picture. I just love hanging out with this little guy!

More Wins and a Baby Shower

This has been another FUN week to go to the mailbox! This past weekend I won Cari's giveaway of.....get this.....a $50 gift card to JCrew! I was beyond thrilled. I had visions of cute tops, scarfs, and jewelry but this is what caught my eye. I told Cari it was because I have a feeling my world is about to be invaded by all things boy and blue so I picked out this pink tote. It will even be monogrammed with my initials. Thank you so much Cari! She was one of my very first bloggy friends. :)

I also won these cute "Harvest" blocks from Connie at Shady Creek Lane. She was kind enough to offer these on Cheri's big giveaway post. I love these! I had been wanting something extra in this spot in my living room and these were the perfect fit. Thank you Connie and Cheri!

Can you believe I won something else? I also won this great handmade purse from Kate from Kate Designs. She has an adorable etsy shop here. I love her zippered pouches too. She uses the cutest fabrics! This purse is the perfect size and even has a pocket inside. I love it! Thank you Kate!

This past Sunday our Connection Group girls had a baby shower for our friend Lindsey. She is due with baby Adeline in just a few short weeks. I'm so excited to meet her!

I had fun setting up the table for a baby girl. My mom bought me this antique baby scale a couple of weeks ago because I mentioned I wanted to put one in the nursery. I thought it was the perfect thing to use for the shower.

I made a few smaller arrangements in some antique silver baby cups.

I know Lindsey likes milkglass so I used this vase for the flowers.

I was so excited to get to use some of the silver baby cups I've collected. I saw the idea of hanging some from a chandelier a long time ago on a blog (I'm sorry I have no idea where) and have been waiting to do it ever since. :)

Some of the yummy petit-fors.

Jennifer, Sarah, Heather, Lindsey, Me, Jill, Abby

I really can't believe this is the only picture I took of people! Lindsey is in the middle with some of the hostesses. We had a great turn out, great food and Adeline got some great things!

Craft Fair Finds and Nursery Peek

Can I just tell you something you already know? There is a much bigger selection of baby girl things than baby boy things! That's okay though because it makes the hunt all the more fun. A couple of weeks ago my mom came up and her, Lindsey and I went to our local craft fairs. We started at 6:30 am and finished around 5 pm and I think we saw about two booths that had boy things. ;)

My first buy for West was this precious bib. The lady thought I was crazy for choosing white instead of brown for the monogram but she loved it after she did it. :) Since it is sort of a seer sucker fabric I wanted it a little dressier than brown and blue.

My mom bought him this monogrammed blanket and two monogrammed washcloths. The pictures of the washcloths didn't turn out but they were cute. They were white with red and white gingham trim with a "W" on one and "West" on the other one. We actually lucked out at this booth because the lady was a little frazzled. We ended up getting another blanket monogrammed with "West" and another "W" washcloth that was a little bit off centered. So we got two blankets, three washcloths and the monogramming for $17.00! Bless her heart, she lost money on us.

I thought that once I finally got pregnant I would know exactly what I was doing in the nursery.
I mean, I've thought about it for years! I was a little surprised when I started really stressing out about it. I really don't stress out about anything so I was getting a little worried about myself. :) I just want this to be perfect. :) After much thought, we ordered this crib:

Source

One thing I KNEW I wanted was a cream crib with solid sides. The problem was that I found two cribs that fit this description. Cody thought they looked exactly alike but you know how that goes. They were completely different but I woke up one morning and knew that this was the crib. :)

While my mom and I were looking at cribs one day I saw a tassel that reminded me of a picture of some bedding that I had torn out of a Bassett catalog. I had intended on getting it for our master bedroom in the very, very, very distant future but when I saw that tassel, I just knew it would be perfect for a nursery. This is the bedding:

Source

I LOVE this fabric combination! I really never thought I would use brown in the nursery for a boy or girl but I just love this. I have found the toile fabric and am on the hunt for the plaid. I can order it from Basset but it is pricey! I haven't started looking for a coordinating chocolate fabric but I don't think that should be too hard. Soooooo, any suggestions for wall color? Right now I'm thinking just a light, neutral, warm brown color. Do you have a specific color name that you think would look good?

P.S. Thank you for your suggestions on freshening up the cradle. I plan on using the products you recommended. Thanks!

Baby Cradle

A few weeks ago, my mom and I went to some antique stores in Prairie Grove, AR. They were so neat. These were a little more on the "serious" side, meaning they a lot of true antiques and did not really have a lot of steals. However, we did walk away with a treasure!

My mom bought me this antique cradle. We thought it was handmade and then when my dad saw it he agreed that it probably was. I love the finish it has but it needs some work. I don't want to stain it or paint it but just shine up the current finish. Have any of you had experience doing this? What product should I use?

This cradle will probably stay in our room (the candlesticks and tree will not stay) but it is light enough that I can move it to any room without any problem.

Since it was probably handmade, I might have to get a custom made mattress but I'm hoping I can find one that fits pretty well.

Baby West is doing great! I feel him moving around all the time. I started feeling him around 16 weeks. I can actually see him move sometimes at night now but every time I call Cody to come look he stops moving. Hopefully Cody will get to see him moving soon. We still listen to his heartbeat every couple of days....it is always between 138 and 145 bpm. I'm still sick every morning, Monday-Friday. I have Saturday and Sunday off. Ha! Seriously. I think it is because I have to get up at 5am on the week days but can sleep past 7am on the weekends. Either way, I'm glad I have the two days off. :) We go back Wednesday for our 19 week ultrasound appointment. This is where they will do all the measurements and check out everything they need to look at. It was so fun to see him at our 17 week appointment so I'm very excited that we get to do it again! Next week I'll show you my craft fair finds (and my mom's finds) and give you a sneak peak at how the nursery is coming along. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

And The Winner Is....

Congratulations to

Jodi from Living on 4th Street!

You won the necklace from Pampering Beki!!
Thank you Beki for offering such a fun giveaway!

Gender Reveal Party!

We had soooo much fun last Wednesday night finding out what we are having. We had our ultrasound around 3:30 and the ultrasound tech wrote down what we were having and put it and the "proof" (ultrasound picture) in an envelope. After our appointment we took the envelope and the cakes and icing I had made to Katie's mom. She looked in the envelope and put the coordinating icing in the middle of the cakes. Katie promises she didn't peek. ;)

After we took the cakes, we came home and my parents were already here. They had brought a girl and a boy present for us.

My brother Andrew, Dad and Cody

The guys grilled burgers while we waited for everyone to get here. Although Andrew was really excited to find out what we were having, he was dressed up because he had just been to a wedding. ;)

My Mom and I waiting patiently on the burgers.

The cake is here! Jason and Katie brought over the cake and surprised us with all these balloons! Of course Zach loved them.

My Dad, Katie, Jason, Andrew, Zach, Joseph and my Mom

Our friends, Lindsey and Jon. She's having a girl in a couple of weeks!

Katie, Lindsey, me and Elizabeth

After dinner we got the cake out. Katie had put it in this bag so there could be no peeking. :)

I tried to sneak a peek but couldn't see anything.

Cody and I could see what it was after we cut into and everyone else was yelling, "What is it?!"

It's a BOY!! I was laughing at Zach in this picture because after everyone cheered, he broke out into a dance. :) He was happy a boy cousin would soon be joining us at Family Night!

We were so excited and so relieved to finally find out. I must say that we both really thought it was a boy. So did most of you according to the poll. :)

See the blue icing in the middle?

After the cake we got to open some fun presents. My parents got us this little boy outfit. So cute!

Lindsey and Jon also brought a boy and girl gift and the boy gift was this sweet little blue hat.

My Grandparent's sent this precious white gown. I love gowns on newborns.

Our day was filled with so much excitement and anticipation! I'm so glad we know now but it sure was fun waiting to find out with the rest of our family and friends. I'm glad I got to share the excitement with all of you too! Thank you so much for all your sweet comments and congratulations. They have been so fun to read. Little Westin is already such a blessed little boy!

Giveaway Time!!

Look at this cute necklace that Pampering Beki has chosen to give to one of you!! No occasion....just because! How sweet is that? I think this is so cute. I want to get one with mine and Cody's name. I know a lot of people have these for their kids but I think it would be cute for you and your hubby too.

If you are the winner then you can pick up to 25 characters.....it could be your kid's names, a special phrase or just whatever you would like to put on there. Take a look around Beki's Etsy shop and leave a comment on this post. She has so many cute things in her shop! I'll pick a winner with random.org Monday night. Good luck and THANK YOU Beki!!

It's A.......

BOY!!!

More to come about the party next week! It was so fun!!

Come back Friday for an awesome giveaway.

The Cakes Are Cooling...

The cakes are cooling and the icing is tinted. Everything is ready for our Gender Reveal Party! As a lot of you guessed, we are going to have the icing tinted in the middle of the cake either blue or pink.

This is how it will work.....the ultrasound technician will right the gender down and put it in an envelope so Cody and I will not even know what we are having. Since my appointment is so late in the day we couldn't have a bakery do this for us so I made the cakes and Katie's mom (who will be in town) will put the right color of icing in the middle of the cake and then ice the outside with white. So the only person who will know what we are having will be Katie's mom. :) Our family and some friends are coming over to our house that night to grill out and then for dessert we will cut into the cake and all find out together if we are having a boy or a girl. The suspense is already killing me!! I know it will be so fun and so worth it though. If you think about us around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon, say a little prayer that the baby cooperates and the technician sees everything she needs to see. :) I'll update this post late Wednesday night with what we are having and share all the details and pictures from the party next week. This Friday I will be hosting an awesome giveaway that you do not want to miss!

Guest Room Closet Solution

You may have noticed the poll I set up on the sidebar. We find out this Wednesday what we are having.....what do you think it is?

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that my Dad and I came up with a solution for all of this:

This is all the decorative accessories that I rotate in the house throughout the year. I was using the changing table for shelving but the accessories were starting to take over. I wanted our guests to be able to at least hang up their clothes and put their suitcase in the closet.

So my dad built these shelves for me! They are as wide as the closet and deeper than normal so they can hold a lot of stuff.

I didn't even paint them because I didn't want to wait for them to dry and I knew I would be covering them up.

I looked around the house and found some white sheers that I had never used. They were always too short for our windows so I put them on a tension rod and now everything looks nice and tidy.

I can just pull it back when I need to get something. Now our guests can actually use the closet. This makes me so happy. :)

Sunday Song

It Is Well With My Soul
Horatio G. Spafford

When peace like a river, Attendeth my way,
When sorrows, Like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
"It is well, it is well, with my soul."

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, It is well, with my soul.

My sin, O the bliss Of this glorious tho't,
My sin not in part But the whole
Is nailed to the cross And I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, It is well, with my soul.

O, Lord haste the day When my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back As a scroll;
The trump shall resound And the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well With my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, It is well, with my soul.

Horatio Spafford wrote this song in 1873 after he had suffered from many losses. He lost a fortune in real estate in the Chicago fire of 1871 and around the same time lost his only son (age 4) to scarlet fever. He decided to vacation to Europe (and to go visit D. L. Moody) with his wife and four daughters. He was detained in New York but decided to send his family on ahead. During the trip, their ship collided with another vessel and sank within two hours. He received a telegram from his wife saying, "Saved. Alone." He had lost all four of his daughters. On the trip to join his wife he said to himself, "It is well; the will of God be done." He later wrote this famous hymn.

Win, Zach and Baby Update

I got my final giveaway package in the mail last week. That was a fun couple of days going to the mailbox! This one came from Southern Fried Gal. We have been reading each other's blogs for awhile and she lives in my hometown.

She sent this whole box of goodies! Plates, napkins, recipe pamphlets, "Dream", notepad, a candle and a Southern Living at Home candle holder. I love it all! I've had the candle burning all weekend and it smells so good. Thank you so much Carmella!

Just for fun I am posting this adorable picture of Zach. I kept him a couple of weeks ago and he had to have these socks and hat on. He wore them all night. I just thought it was too cute and he looks like such a big boy! I cannot believe he will be 2 next month!

Some of you have asked to see a baby bump picture. Here you go:

This is at 15 and a half weeks. I had my 15 week appointment last week and everything looked great. The heartbeat is still in the 150's. We bought a heart doppler online that Jill recommended and it is so fun! This is the one we got if anyone is interested. My Dr. showed me how to use it so now we can hear the heartbeat anytime. Our Dr. is also letting us find out what we are having on October 14th! This is about 2 weeks earlier than usual but I asked and she said, "Sure!" Did I mention that we love her? We will have a big party that night with our family and some friends to all find out together what it is. More on that later though. :)

Fall Living Room

Do you know what is weird? I hardly ever go to Target. I always forget about it and I guess I am just a Walmart girl! I did happen to go to Target a couple of weeks ago though and found these cute white candle holders. They were only $5 and $4 so I grabbed them and it wasn't until a week or so later that I thought about what I could do with them. I remembered those pumpkins that I bought at Oops and thought they would fit perfectly.

Well, they were a little too small so I just stuck some fake leaves under them to fill the space.

I put one of my favorite fall arrangements on our end table.

This is a bad picture but I took out the green apples and put an assortment of pumpkins in the dough bowl on our coffee table.

On Cody's beloved CD stand there is an arrangement and a small white pumpkin from Oops.

The fun thing is that closer to Halloween I can just turn the pumpkin around to see the black cat.

On the hearth I put my white pumpkins on the candlesticks and then closer to Halloween I'll turn them around too:

I also stuck some leaves under these to give them a little more color.

That is all I have done this year in the way of fall decorations. It might look like a lot to some of you but for me it is simple compared to last year. Since I really scaled back this year I don't think I will get tired of it so fast and I can save all my energy for Christmas! :)

Feeling Like Fall

It has really felt like fall around here the past couple of days. I love this time of year! Some of you have asked where I got this chalkboard. I got it from a local gift shop but they only sell scrapbooking supplies on their website. You might be able to call them and have them ship you one. Their website is here.

This year I only put out about 1/2 of what I usually do. I don't know if it is the lower energy or just a need for simplicity but I kind of like it. I also held some things out that I put in a tub labeled, "Thanksgiving." So after Halloween I can pack everything up and have a small vignette of Thanksgiving decorations. This is going to be an easier transition to Christmas. Now I will not be packing up 5 or 6 tubs of fall decor, just to get all the Christmas tubs out.

I didn't change up the dining room too much this year. I kept the tray that was already on the table and changed out the birds and nests for pumpkins and a fall floral pick.

I also tied a floral pick to my candle sconces with a big orange bow.

In the kitchen I kept it simple too and pretty much took out all the bird nests and summer-y decorations.

That treat jar does not stay full for long around here! I love this Lori C. Mitchell character.

This "pumpkin man" is still my favorite fall decoration. He has always had this prominent spot in the kitchen for the past 4 years since I bought him. I saw his brother (or is it his sister?) on Jeni's blog last fall and have been on the look out ever since.

This is just a little corner with another candy jar. :) This one will be filled with candy corn though because we do not like it but it looks festive.

In our hall bathroom I put out his fun sign that Katie got me and switched out my decorative towel. I also took out the nests that were in the candle holder thingies and put something more fallish. I'm not sure what they are....walnuts?

Here is my latest Lori C. Mitchell figurine. He is also in the hall bath. Other than our living room, these are the only rooms I decorated this year. I'll post pictures of the living room soon!