2010

When I reflect back on our 2010, I find it hard to appreciate or put into words all of our accomplishments. I think it's safe to say, for obvious reasons, that this has been the biggest year of our life so far. Clearly, there are big things to come in 2011, but not without the events that took place in 2010. Jay and I were able to really focus on each other and enjoy each other as a couple, secretly knowing that in the coming months/year we'd be adding to our little family. We've always been good at making a point to get out and have date nights, but we also wanted to travel as much as possible in our last year as a family of 2. We visited Seattle, Boston, France, Florida, and Colorado all in one year. We also snuck in a few trips to our favorite bed & breakfast for relaxation together, and of course our annual trip up north over the 4th of July.

In the late spring we decided it was time for some tiny footsteps in our house, and just a short while later {may 22nd to be exact} we learned we were expecting our first baby. We made the announcement a few months later when we returned from France.

For our second Anniversary we decided not to exchange gifts, but instead get away for the weekend together. I remember rushing home from work so we could get on the road and get our vacation started. When I arrived home I walked upstairs to gather my things when something caught my eye on the nursery door. There was a card taped to it. The card read:

Someday, many years from now, we'll look back on this crazy time in our life together and wonder how we did it all...and then, those ordinary, everyday moments that we often take for granted will shimmer like stars as we recount them...I'll sit close beside you, you'll take my hand in your. We'll look at each other and say: I'd do it all again and I wouldn't change a thing. There's no one I'd rather go through life with than you.

I stepped inside to find the entire nursery {which was empty that morning} completely filled and set-up....crib, changing table, everything. Instant tears. It was such a special moment for me and one that I will cherish forever. I love my husband.

In August we packed up and sent my baby sister to college in Tallahassee, Florida. She is doing well in the school of biology and on track to become a dentist with honors. Go Noles!

I'd be foolish not to recognize that September 7th was a day that changed our life. It was the day we found out we were having a baby girl. I am still in awe that we are blessed with a little girl.

2010 was also a fantastic year for us financially. I was blessed with a thriving photography business and a solid year of bookings which allowed us to pay off almost all of our student debt. We have a few measly thousand left until we are debt-free, and we plan to finish paying that off in early 2011.

2010 was a year of growth for us, in more ways than one. We are so thankful for our Creator and all the amazing things he has blessed us with, but most of all-a solid relationship with Him. My prayer is that we stay focused on him in 2011. Through Him our blessings overflow.

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Overwhelmed and thankful.

I'll admit it, I'm totally slacking at work this morning. I can't help it-there are white flurries whirling outside my window and I'm counting down the minutes until my mom, sister & brother arrive to go view the Macy's Christmas display and then have a fancy lunch together. It's days like these that I LOVE working downtown. Work has been so crazy lately that I'm starting to get very distracted and just tired of working. That or the nesting stage is kicking in where I can only focus on one thing at a time ;) I can't believe this week is Christmas!

This weekend was full of blessings! We hosted Christmas at our house for the first time and had Jay's mom stay with us. His brother and girlfriend came too. We cooked our very first big holiday meal and we even decorated gingerbread houses. We mainly just stayed home and visited together, played games, and watched Christmas movies. It was fun and we love spending time with family.

We also had our last shower, and this baby girl is sooooo lucky and loved. We got a lot of the major items left on our registry plus some very thoughtful and fun extras {we got TWO handmade knit/crochet blankets, so awesome!}. Among the larger items were our carseat, stroller, diaper genie, boppy, and a play gym. I feel really good about where we are at and am starting to feel prepared, which is always a good thing! I think there were around 25 people there and I felt like I got to visit with each guest {even for a short time} which was nice-I was very thankful that they could make it so close to the holidays. My sister took pictures so when I get them from her I will share some!

This is just the most magical time of the year! Cheesy, I know...but there is just something in the air. I have really enjoyed just being able to spend time with the ones I love while it's so cold outside. We are lucky to have everyone live so close. We'll get a chance to see Jay's family before Christmas and then head to Bunny and Papa's on Christmas Eve morning. I am feeling so overwhelmed with generosity in my life lately-and I honestly would not care if I didn't get one present this Christmas. Christmas is not about presents and lights and holly to us, it's about celebrating the birth of Jesus and just being with those we love dearly. We've been given so much and have so much love and support surrounding us that we are eternally grateful and thankful. It just so happens that this baby's arrival coincides with the holiday season so we are extra blessed, and also very spoiled. We could never truly express the gratitute we feel for those in our lives! I also have to share my gratitude for my precious husband. He's so kind and loving and has been so amazing throughout my pregnancy. I really cherish coming home each night and being able to have quality alone time with him, because I know that things will get crazy once bean is born. The love I have for him has completely changed and only gotten stronger since we've become parents. I can't wait to share this holiday season with him!

I'm working until Wednesday and then am off until the 29th...have a safe and blessed Christmas with your loved ones!

32 weeks.

Since we were stuck inside all weekend, we managed to get a few pictures this week! It was an interesting weekend to say the least.

My sister was supposed to fly in from Florida this weekend from her first semester at college, and we were so excited to spend it with her. 2 cancelled and re-booked flights later she arrived Sunday night at midnight. My Mom and I picked her up from the airport, stayed up til 2 am, and then spent the day together on Monday-which I took off of work. We put up the Christmas tree and baked all day long. I think we made 6 different kinds of cookies! Later that night Jay and Bunny and Papa joined us for dinner because everyone wanted to see Aly. It definetly made up for our disappointing weekend.

Rewind to Friday night. We thought we'd be spending the next day with my family so we decided to have a low key night at home. It was getting cold and it started to snow later in the night. We woke up Saturday morning and my heart literally sank-darn those weather people...so many times they are wrong or off with their forecasts {or just plain dramatic!} but this time it was for real. White out, crazy blizzard conditions. I quickly got online to check my sister's flight and saw that it was cancelled. Instant tears. Poor Jay, he was stuck inside with his over emotional pregnant wife all. day. long. He immediately tried to make me feel better by getting on Tampa's airport website, and then later Delta's website where it said her flight had just been delayed. We quickly checked MSP's website again and this time her flight wasn't even showing up anymore. It was crazy and we had no idea what was going on.

After a few hours it eventually showed up as cancelled on all sites-so we knew that it was final. She re-scheduled a 7am flight detouring her through New York and eventually getting to MN around noon on Sunday. So Saturday we spent the day cleaning and organizing the house, since we were not prepared to literally be stuck inside, and had nothing else planned. Usually when there is a snow storm we're brave enough to still venture out, but being pregnant we didn't think it was a good idea this time. So at home we stayed. Our house has never been so clean or organized! We had about 15 bags of garbage ready to go on Sunday morning. It was fun just being together, although it took me a little while to get over my disappointment from not seeing my sister. I really had a stressful week at work and I was so ready for some fun family time. Turns out we did have some fun family time, just our little family of 3 :) We did everything we could think of to entertain ourselves. Jay helped me practice my squats and other labor preparation techniques. By Saturday afternoon I was a little stir crazy! We watched the Chronicles of Narnia Saturday night with plans to get up and go to Church Sunday morning and then head to the airport with my Mom afterwards to get Al.

Sunday morning, 9 am. Flight number 2 cancelled. There were just too many flights trying to get into Minneapolis. We didn't even get the warning of "delayed" it just straight up cancelled. Her next scheduled flight was to be Monday morning. By this time we were all desperate. So she cancelled her Delta flight completely and re-booked with Southwest, but the earliest flight they had left at 8:50 pm, arriving in MN at 11:50 pm so we had lost the whole day together. We were on edge all day, but she finally made it home, and what a sweet homecoming it was!

It was a weekend filled with ups and downs but she made it home safely and all is well.

31 weeks.

I am all over the place today, with good updates and bad...let's start with the good. I'm almost 32 weeks now and time is still flying. We are getting so close to meeting our little girl! We've still been making it to the gym about 3 times per week so I'm getting in a lot of exercise and I feel great. We've been spending a lot of time at home and it's been really nice-I love my nights with Jay where we just stay in and relax or get things done around the house. We've gone to a bunch of great free classes at the non-profit I mentioned before. We've been to Medications & Interventions, Comfort Measures, Breastfeeding and Postpartum, and Preparing Your Mind and Body For Birth. Tonight we are going to Your Amazing Newborn. Class nights are super fun for us because we usually get dinner together beforehand {usually at the Wild Onion-where we got engaged...we're nerds} and we make it into a date night. We always have great conversation on the way home too. We still have a few left to attend and we look forward to them. We also found our doula! Her name is Mandi and she is awesome. She's a mother of 2 with another baby on the way so she has a lot of experience and expertise with labor and birth. She's actually still getting certified as a doula-she's done with all the schooling but needs a few more births to complete her certification. So we were lucky to get her for free! I think she's still looking for another couple if anyone is due before March and wants her contact information let me know. She has attended many other births as she worked her way through schooling.

And now onto the not so good news...bare with me now this will be a bit of a rant. I received an e-mail this morning from my maternity leave fill-in notifying me that she has taken a full time position and will no longer be able to cover for me. She was supposed to start training in 5 days. Awesome, right? This is after extensive interviewing and being clear that we were looking for someone who needed something temporary and part-time-not full time. I specifically asked her if she would be needing a full time position before I had her in for an interview, because clearly this wouldn't be the right position for her. She confirmed she couldn't take on anything full time because she has kids at home and wanted to be off with them in the summer and just work part time while they were at school. I replied that was great because we were looking for someone that our position would be a perfect fit for, and that we didn't want to hire someone who would continue looking for something full time and fall through if something better {full time} came around.....weird. This particular woman was in her late 40's and a stay at home mom {who had previous accounting/admin jobs}....she just wanted the "extra" pay, it's not like she was coming from a full time position to working part time, she wasn't working at all and hadn't for many years {by choice}.

So now I'm back at square one and am still dealing with getting everything ready for the move and my leave on top of this. This whole situation really is becoming a joke, and I am so overwhelmed with everything I can't help but just laugh. I'm really not sure where to go from here with so little time. Prayers for patience and direction would be appreciated!

Thank goodness I have a date tonight.

The nursery.

I finally feel like we are pretty much done with the nursery-minus a few last minute items like hanging up some maternity pictures, and putting her name over the crib {we could do this but haven't yet so we wouldn't reveal her name}. If you remember back to my bedding post, we started decorating before we knew the sex of the baby-either way we wanted a gender neutral start, staying away from anything that could clearly be labeled "girl" or "boy." We we wanted colors that were bright, happy and stimulating for baby. I'm a fan of funky, fun prints and nothing that is too "adult" for the nursery. We went for a modern, clean look. Ultimately we decided on a tealish blue, yellow and white for our color scheme. We tried to be as thrifty as we could to stay inside our budget, so I'll post prices for the projects we did ourselves and the things we purchased {if I can remember!} In case you missed it here is her bedding that my Grandma, Mom and I made back in August.

We framed our two favorite 3d ultrasound pictures and hung them right as you walk in the door. You might not be able to tell but they are very small-about the size of a lightswitch plate. We found the frames for $1 at hobby lobby {love that place!} but Papa bought and spray painted them white for us.

Here is the crib side of her room. Our crib is the Ikea Gulliver. We were looking for a safe and simple, clean design, and we love that it transitions to a toddler bed as well. I forgot to take a close up picture of her animals in her crib, but below is a picture of her Waldorf doll that was handmade just for her! I made the owl in the corner of her crib and the lamb and elephant are a few of the handful of non-handmade items in her nursery. Eventually her name will be above her crib and next to the tree. I think I will make it out of fabric letters with the scraps we have left from other projects posted below.

The yellow table was purchased at Home Goods. I think it was around $50 but I can't remember, because it was the first baby item we purchased after deciding on our color scheme. I loved that it was wooden and had a unique carved bottom...and it was the perfect color! We were thinking we'd have to find something and paint it yellow, so this was just perfect. It was more than we wanted to spend but it would require less time and effort so it was totally worth it.
My Mom made her valance, and it was really bright when I took the images but here you can kind of see it's yellow with white polka dots on it and white lace running along the bottom. It was recommended that we order room darkening shades instead of blinds for her window so we are still waiting on those to come in, and they will be hidden up behind her valance when not is use.

The yellow blanket on her rocker was purchased from happupkin's shop on etsy. Loved working with her-and she gave us a great price {$25 and she also knit us a yellow baby hat to match!} Below is a close up of her shelves. The elephant and the whale are handmade and purchased from sewwhimsycreations on etsy-another favorite seller of mine. They were $7.50 each. The "A day at the Zoo" book is a book Papa owned when he was a little boy. It was also a favorite of my brother and I growing up and Bunny would read it to us all the time. The vintage Thumper and Dumbo figurines were purchased for us from an antique shop. We bought the wooden "baby" train in France this summer. You could spell out any name, but we didn't know the sex of baby yet and thought it was too adorable to pass up for $5.

This is the wall opposite her crib. The dresser is our steal of the nursery.

Back story: I have been a follower of Young House Love for years-before it was even called Young House Love {formerly known as This Young House}. So when I came across one of their nursery remodel projects a few months earlier, I fell in love-and found instant inspiration. So that led to our craiglist search of a 9 drawer dresser, and there she is. We found it on craiglist for $25. It was originally an old veneer dresser from the 60's. I e-mailed the current owner right away, and prayed that it had not been sold. Turns out it hadn't. We purchased it the very next day, sanded it, and painted it white. We are in love with it. Unfortunately, our veneer wasn't as thick as theirs, so we weren't able to sand it enough to re-stain it for a two tone look. But halfway through the project we decided an all white dresser would match the best anyways. I still remember thinking, they got such a great deal, there is no way we'll find anything close to that price and as similar as their look. I think we did pretty good. And since we'll be putting a changing pad on the top of it to use as her changing station, she'll still be able to use it as a regular dresser when she transitions from a baby to a young child. Best purchase so far!.
I created the mobile following this tutorial. I used a bunch of fabric scraps we had, plus some of the material left over from her bedding so that everything would match nicely. I'm happy with the way it turned out-and I made it for under $5. I painted the world map above the dresser. The original inspiration came from Janod. While in France this summer, I found and fell in love with a large magnetic wooden map at the cutest toy store in Chamonix. {side note, France has the most amazing, unique, and charming toy + baby stores. We would have gone broke had we known we were having a little girl while there.} Anyways-it was 50 euros. Way outside our budget and just way too large and heavy to carry home with us. I even wanted to purchase the French version so we could teach her a little culture and language from France. I have to admit I was a little heartbroken that we had to leave it behind. When we returned home I googled for hours trying to find somewhere-anywhere I could purchase it at home for my Christmas gift. I eventually found a place but the shipping was going to be outrageous to get it to the states so I decided it just wasn't worth the price {this map was darling in person, and educational as well}. So I settled for purchasing a canvas at 40% off at Michaels and painting my own map. Not as interactive as I would have hoped but this little girl is going to know her geography + culture none the less :) I think that project cost around $18.We ordered the tree online, and a friend {thanks Gen!!} sent us the pink bird for the perfect final touch. Here are some close-ups of the cutest little booties Jay's Mom sent us and her teething necklace. The silver plated antique tray I got at a thrift store for 50 cents. It has a nice, etched design on it. It polished up nicely! And below is her piggy bank. We purchased that at Marshall's for $7. The pink doily under it was purchased at a local craft show for $3.
I originally found some bunting on etsy that I really wanted to buy, but I think I'm a little too hands on to let someone else make it for my little girl. It looked too easy to make, plus I would be really picky with the fabrics and colors chosen to make it. So I went to Hancock fabrics and purchased a variety of fabric scrap and bias tape and made two strands of bunting. I thought we'd want to hang two up but decided one looked better, so we'll save the extra for some fun birthday decorations in the years to come. It was a fun project, and it added a nice touch of pink to complete her room. The project cost around $7 per strand.
That about ends our tour! Papa is making us a book bin to house her collection of stories for Christmas. At first he was going to make us two shelves that would hold books, much like these ones. But after some consideration, we decided it would be better to have something that was movable and not fixed to the wall in case we wanted to re-arrange furniture, etc. So he's making us a bin {it will be a long box with two sides and a rod across the top for carrying} and that will sit on the floor to the right of her dresser. I can't wait to see how it turns out, and I'll be sure to share a picture once we get it. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at her nursery!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

It's a winter wonderland here today!!!! Snow has been coming down consistently since about 1 pm today, and it's just beautiful outside. We went out for dinner and then came home for a lazy night at home and it was just perfect. I got to leave work at 1 pm....one of the many perks of snowy winters, everyone takes off early to beat the traffic and enjoy the weather. If only I fit into my snow pants this time of year ;) We started a movie tonight and Jay fell asleep....and I was really tired until I started thinking about my day tomorrow and then I got a ton of energy because I'm so excited so I decided to get up and do some shopping/blogging.

We did some last minute decorating and organizing in bean's nursery and I think it's pretty much done, minus a book holder Papa is making us for Christmas...so tomorrow I'm going to try and take some pictures of it and share them on here, so get excited!! I'm sitting in her room blogging right now as the snow is falling down. It really is starting to look and feel like Christmas around here! Only a few more days until my sister is home and life is perfect again :)

Tomorrow Jay might be headed to the ski slopes with Keith which means I have the day to myself. I think I decided tonight that I need to start scrapbooking again-at least for bean. I used to scrapbook all the time but haven't in years-but I'm getting excited to start that again. My Mom gave me the cutest baby girl scrap pack so I think I'll start with that and scrap her nursery. I have a coupon for 50 free prints, so after I take nursery pictures tomorrow I'm going to order some of those and some of our maternity session to start with. I think a trip to Archiver's is in store! After such a stressful week, I think this will be just what I need...some time to get creative.

I spent the afternoon at our local library picking up some books I had on hold (pregnancy/labor/deliver awesomeness) so I'm also hoping to get some quality reading time in too. Maybe I'll make a trip to caribou tomorrow after I run my errands!

I went a little crazy tonight online shopping at the Disney store. I have this new obsession over these new vintage plush Disney characters called Pook-a-Looz. They are 12 inch plushies that are so adorable. I grew up absolutely loving all things Disney, so I hope this is something fun that we can start collecting for bean. We already have most of our favorite Disney movies on dvd {well, the ones that are not in the vault!} I started collecting those around the time we got married, knowing that one day we'd have kids to share them with. Anyways, they are running a holiday special on their site until Sunday-buy one get one free! And at only $12.50 a piece, how could I resist? I purchased her 3 at and got 3 free plus a code for free shipping. They came out to about $6.25 a piece. I figure I can save them until Christmas next year and give them to her when she's almost a year old. I hope she likes them. They look so snuggly and fun. We ordered Minnie, Mickey, Pooh, Eeyore, Dumbo and Alice. Here is a picture of a few of them.

After a long week I'm looking forward to a fun weekend and just getting to do what I want without the stress! And now it's time for this mama to get some shut eye so I can prepare for tomorrow! goodnight friends xxoo.

30 weeks.

Here I am at almost 31 weeks! Only about 9.5 to go...crazy. I have about 5 minutes to write this post so I better make this quick.
Thanksgiving was awesome and I can't believe how much I fit inside my already full belly :) My Mom makes the best food in the world and it was really great to be with family. We had a skype date with Al so we were able to see her sweet face too. Bunny made a yummy birthday cake for Andrew and we had fun celebrating with him. Once things died down a little we looked through our old baby books. My Mom did a great job of journaling and saving precious mementos for us to look back on and we laughed at a lot of the things she wrote (especially about me!). It was weird to see how much bean looks like I did as a baby from her 3d ultra sound! My Grandma gave us an awesome baby book for her and we can't wait to start writing in it, although I think we're saving that for one of our labor projects. More on that later.

Jenni did an amazing job with my shower! She had everything planned out perfectly and it was so nice to see all my friends who gathered together in my honor. I just can't wait until they start having babies too :) She made some delicious food-a baked caramel french toast, egg dish, lemon crumble muffins, punch, fruit salad, and yellow cake! Thank you Jenni for all the hard work and preparation you put into showering me with baby love :) Here are some pictures. I stole most of these from Jenni.
I've been a little stressed lately due to work. To make a long, painful story short- our firm is moving offices. We sublease with another firm who is expanding, and notified us that they need some of the offices we occupy by January 1. We've known for about 2 weeks now, but it still only gives us a little over a month to find a solution. So, we're building an office space in another building downtown (fingers crossed, pending a meeting today). For now we're moving one lawyer out by January 1 to work from home until we can move entirely. We won't actually be moving until sometime this late winter/spring, but a lot of stuff needs to get accomplished before I am on maternity leave because I take care of well, everything! I won't go in to details but let's just say its been a challenging few weeks. So now I am working like crazy to try and get a list of items done that I want to complete before I leave (things that don't need to be done until mid-leave but I don't want my fill-in to have to worry about), compiling training materials, actually training Katie, and now all the moving arrangements. I'm in charge of everything-from furniture to light switches to paint colors to purchasing a copier, fax, entire phone system, internet and server procedures, etc. That's all on top of the things I need to get done every day like invoicing/billing, engagement letters, schedulings, etc. Whew! I am so glad I am off until July....now if I could only start my leave! I'll write more when I have time. Pray for me!