Holding on to 2

Chloe will be three in less than a month. I'm not sure why (maybe anxiety over a new dynamic with baby 2 or the fact that C will no longer be a 'toddler' but a preschooler) but this birthday is bothering me. I guess I should get used to it. It's going to be happening every year. Twice starting in 2014. It's bittersweet to watch your baby grow older and Mark and I (as parents of young kids) are just hitting the tip of the iceberg in regards to that concept. I can only imagine how difficult it is to watch your children drive off in a car the first time, go to college or get married. Thankfully, I have quite a few years before I need to worry about that emotional roller coaster.

Here is some Chloe randomness in honor of the fact that she's still two for a few more weeks.

This is the "nest" she built using pillows on our couch. She informed me that she was hatching an egg.

At bedtime last week, Chloe hollered to Mark that she was going to sleep on the floor. He told her, "no. go get in bed." When we went to do our final bedtime check before we retired, she was sound asleep on the floor. She wasn't joking about sleeping on the floor. ha. We moved her to her bed and she stayed there until morning.

Chloe went to take your kid to work day with Mark last Thursday. We ate snowcones...

played in the bubble bouncer...

and drove a firetruck! 

Chloe is pretty sure she would rather go to work with dad everyday than stay at home with mom and do laundry. I'm so glad Mark works for a company that values their employees and their families (as exemplified by the event they hosted for take your kids to work day). 

P.S. How much fun does that bubble bouncer look? I want one for my birthday party. 

G2 Nursery Reveal

It's the moment you've all I've been waiting for...

The nursery is complete with the exception of G2 sleeping soundly in the crib. Nope, she still doesn't have a name. Why is this so hard? We still have a theoretical 6 weeks to decide. Still, it's really bothering me.

If you can remember, this is what the room looked like before it became a nursery.

Now...

 

It's a bright cheery yellow with coral and teal accents. I have to confess that my inspiration for the room came from the fabric we used on the valance.

If you can't tell, it's a frog pattern. Of course, Chloe and her sister have to have a frog of some sort in each of their rooms. Mark used to think I was odd for incorporating frogs in Chloe's room. He's learned to appreciate (some of my) peculiarities.

My mom did so much to help with this nursery. She knows how to do everything and has really good ideas when it comes to DIY. She helped me create the valance, sewed the bed skirt and painted the nursery.

The bed skirt is ingenious. It was designed so that as the crib is lowered with each stage of development (laying, sitting, standing) a ruffle from the bottom can be removed and the skirt won't drag on the ground. This was huge for me since I cannot stand it when skirts touch the ground (long story).

 

These bad boys are just fabric wrapped canvas. Well, the middle one is actually paint. I'll be putting the baby's first initial on the middle one if she ever gets named. I wanted to incorporate more of the fabric into the room. Since we won't be using bumpers this time, I felt like the room looked a little stale without added pattern that comes from the bumpers.

This was fun (see above)! I really wanted to reuse all the furniture we used when Chloe was a baby. But, the crib wasn't safe so we purchased a white one. (We buy pretty inexpensive cribs.) I then decided I needed the dresser to match, so I painted the one Chloe used white. If the drawers would have been white, it would have been too much. That was when my mom suggested painting the drawers a color. I decided on two different tones of pink...both of which are in the chevron fabric from the bed skirt. I just loved how this piece turned out. I'm so glad I took the time to do this project.

I really love the way this nursery turned out. I do not think the pictures do it justice. No matter.

Here's to six more weeks. I'm praying for five. :)

Easter 2013

Here is a photo post of our Easter. Better late than never.

(by the way, I hate that Blogger has stopped letting me put captions on my photos. It works on my Mac but not my PC. That just means the comments are under the photos in a sloppy way. )




 Decorating Easter eggs



New Scooter from the Easter Bunny.

Going to hunt eggs. 

She just spotted her first egg. 

She has not stopped talking about hunting eggs since this day. 

 

Just so pretty.

Another one.

Love this photo. She is so happy about her finds.

Family photo.

DonDon (Mark's Dad) and Chloe

Shorty (my mom) and Chloe

32 weeks -8 more to go-

Nothing in particular going on around here. Today is exactly 2 months until G2 is expected to arrive.

Chloe is starting to get excited. She has asked if we are going to get 'sister' on several occasions while we are running errands. She also tells random people that she is going to be a sister. I think that's probably a good sign. I'm not overly concerned about Chloe being 'de-throned.' She is in a stage where she really wants to make mom and dad happy and she loves to help. I'm fairly certain that she will really enjoy helping out with the new baby as long as we make sure she still gets some one-on-one with Mark and I. Nothing revolutionary about that concept...I just hope I'm not being a naive second time mom.

I'm posting from my phone so I'll try and come back with a Chloe comparison bump photo later. But, here is a 32 weeker...we were about to head out on our run/walk hence the reason I look so fabulous.

{edited to add: the Chloe bump picture comparison.} Man, oh, man. It hurts to look at this comparison. haha. Look how puffy I was with Chloe and at two weeks early in the pregnancy. Ugh.


G2 32 weeks

Chloe 30 weeks

Lastly, Chloe is just so much fun these days. It kills me that I don't have the energy to keep up with her like I want nor do I have the ability to lay on the floor with her and play cars and color. I can tell she finds it frustrating. But with the amazing weather we've been having, we have been able to be outside which she seems to be an acceptable substitute for my lack of entertainment.

Pepper photobomb

Working in the yard...it's hereditary.

The wheelbarrow is full of rocks. I'm sure it's pretty heavy for her, thus the tongue protrusion.

First time to eat Nutella! Mark says she reminds him of 'V for Vendetta.' 

Oh and I almost forgot! Chloe had her first haircut. Her hair was staying really matted at the ends so we went for a trim. Her hair looks so much healthier now and it's not getting tangled which is great now that summer and swimming season are quickly approaching.

1st haircut.

A little shorter; a lot prettier.

Girls' Bathroom Reveal

Here is the before and after:

I know I need to iron the shower curtain. That's on my list of 'random things that need to get done that aren't urgent.' It's a loooong list;)

Eventually we will put knobs on the cabinets, purchase towels to match the rugs, and tile the floor. I would also like to get a bow holder for the bathroom. I've been meaning to get one for three years.

Overall, I'm pleased with the outcome. Now I need to go do some cleaning. If you look really closely at the pictures, you can see that I need to vacuum up some dust from mounting hardware and re-securing the toilet tank to the bowl. (It was surprise to find out that the bolts in the tank were completely rusted out. We had to go buy some new ones last minute. It was an easy fix, but a great example of how no matter how smooth you think a project will go...something is going to come up. Always expect the unexpected.)

My Girls' Bathroom

I love saying 'my girls!' As sad as I am at the thought of never having a son, the thought of having two girls is just as exciting to me. There was no way to lose in this scenario! It's the little things like getting to decorate our second bath without having to worry that it will be too girly for a boy...not that this really matters in the grand scheme of things. I'm simply pointing out one positive side to having two children of the same gender. There are, of course, many positives to having any combination of genders for your children.

Moving on...I know I'm supposed to be revealing our G2 nursery, but I still have some work to do before completion. Not much. Just details.

Instead I want to give you all a sneak peek at what will be the start of our new guest bath/the girls' bathroom. It's not finished. Heck, it's not even started. I'm just too excited to not post this before/sneak peek.

We are going to paint the walls a light blue. It will have coral/red accents. I'm sure it is much better in my mind than it will turn out...it usually is. Ha. We will eventually tile the floor. The linoleum in this house is torture. But this pregnant momma isn't getting on her hands and knees to lay tile right now, so we'll wait.

Because I'm blogging from my phone, I can't label pictures. So the picture with the striped shower curtain is our before. The rest are hints of our finished project.

April 1st

It's the first day of April! Spring has sprung in Texas and we are loving the weather. It's supposed to rain for the next two day which is great news given out current drought. But today, we are enjoying the fabulous sunshine.

A story to share with the scooter photo: After our morning walk, Chloe and I went out front to ride her bike and play on her new scooter. She told me, "I got to go to work." She gave me a hug and a kiss then rode her scooter across the cul-de-sac. Shortly thereafter she pretended to go grocery shopping by the same means. She said, "I going to H.E.B. Bye!" (H.E.B. is our local grocery store chain.)

How was your April Fools Day? Did you get pranked? Did you prank? How is the weather in your locale?