Thoughts on Thursday

It's Friday Eve!

Do y'all have any fun plans for the 4th?

We are planning to shop some sales at Lowes and Home Depot, and then have a little family cookout on Sunday.  I am thinking maybe a late afternoon trip to Taco Boy on Folly for some queso may be in the works one day...Love long weekends.

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We have a little cone head on our hands this week.

Alfie has bitten the fur off of a patch on his booty and so we had to resort to the cone of shame, which he has actually adjusted to quite well at this point.

Luckily the patch is healing nicely and we've been removing the cone when we are home with him.

He doesn't seem to be biting as much anymore.

    I honestly think it's all due to the change in his surroundings, he's such a sensitive little sweetie.

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I have been reading a lot lately.  I had a meeting at the library Tuesday night and picked up several books to get me through the next couple of weeks.  I actually found all of these recommendations via blogs.  Usually my method is to alphabetically check all of my favorite authors and skim the New Book section, but this was a fun new way for me to search.

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Nursery Acquisitions...

I "won" this at silent auction a few months back.

It's a little old so I'm not sure if it will really be functional, but I love it just for decor.

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Here I am at 26 weeks...let me go ahead and express my sadness for the state of my hair during this entire pregnancy.  My hair is typically one of my very favorite features and it has just been wack these past 6 months.  Humbug.  Otherwise, feeling good, feeling great.

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I went to a Bridal Shower a couple of weeks ago and it was so cute!

It was held upstairs at the Mellow Mushroom in Avondale.
I had never been upstairs before and it was such a great space.  It was private but open to the restaurant as to not feel too closed off.  It was just the perfect party spot.  The bride's fiance is overseas right now and so the theme was centered around that "travel" concept.

 Guestbook idea.  I signed on St. Barths.

 Oh my gosh, cutest favor table ever.  Baggage claim, how clever!

I think this shower would also be perfect for a "Honeymoon" theme.

Gifts would be things that the bride would bring on her honeymoon: a towel with her new monogram, a selfie stick, a donation to the honeymoon fund.  

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Ok, that's all I've got for today,

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Pregnancy Journal: 25 Weeks

I am keeping up with my pattern and trying to post an update every 5 weeks over here.  So today, I bring you my 25 week Pregnancy Journal!

Since my last report, things have been going nice and easy.

My next appointment is my glucose test, so I'm hoping that goes well.

But otherwise, no breaking news to share...

Symptoms:

Sleep My sleep has been really good over the last month.  Probably (knock on wood) the best it's been since I've been pregnant.  I am up to use the restroom 3+ times a night but I'm still half asleep and easily fall back into bed. 

Exhaustion  My energy level is also at an all time pregnancy high, so I am riding that wave as long as possible.  I am so grateful for this given all that's been going on.  This past weekend was slammin' with Fathers Day celebrations x2 and my cousins Bridal Shower. 3 months ago I wouldn't have been able to fathom these social commitments, it's great to be back out in the world!

Food Aversions  My appetite and excitement for food has not fully returned BUT I am SO happy to say that I am back in the kitchen, cooking dinner atleast 4 times a week.  

Weight Gain  I have put on a total of 9 pounds.  Like I mentioned before, I was almost 15 lbs overweight to begin with so I'm hoping to gain another 10 max.  But, whatever happens, happens and I'm just doing my best not to eat extra junk*  

*typed as I'm eating a Reese's peanut butter cup

Pregnancy Brain  Okay so let's talk about Baby Brain!  Since I found out I was pregnant I have:

-forgotten to pay the electricity bill and our power was turned off for several hours

-driven past my parking lot for work, twice

-completely forgot and missed an appointment with my 401k manager

The struggle!  Seriously though, I am very organized and usually do a great job keeping up with household/personal/work juggling so these things have made me feel crazy.

Movement  Lots of kicks...mostly at night.  They feel like butterflies in my stomach.  She is longer than a ruler now and starting to put on weight, so it's only getting tighter for her in there.  I read that my uterus is the size of a soccer ball at this point.  Whoa!  

Nursery:

So far I have a dresser that will double as a changing table, a hand me down glider, and her crib.  We bought a couple of prints for wall art but they haven't been delivered yet.  Once I know the general vibe I will share more!

Anticipation:

Now that we have decided, it's fun to refer to her by name and not simply "the baby".  We have completed our registry, which feels good to check off the list, and we've started talking shower dates! 

It's all coming together so nicely.

:)

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Have a great weekend!

Home Updates

I sound like a broken record, but the past 6 weeks have just gone by too fast.

It's scary because with roughly 15 weeks until our daughter arrives, I need time to chill for a second.  Slow down, ya hear!

When we closed on the new house, we decided that our best option would be to spend our weekends there working on projects and to move in slowly over the course of a few weeks.  That changed when we found what felt like a "meant to be" tenant that wanted to move in ASAP.  So, we switched our focus to hastily moving AND preparing our condo for rental at the same time.  I wouldn't recommend rushing this and I will never stack it so close together again...live and learn.  But now that the tenants have moved in, we have been able to re-focus on our house.

I have 2 lists.

Well, I actually have about 8 running lists right now, but my "House" List is divided in two:  Before Baby and After Baby.  Today I want to share my Before Baby list...

Our line in the sand for these projects is September.  It's extremely important to me to feel settled and "nested" by the time the Autumn wind blows it's glorious pumpkin spice/baby wipes breeze my way.

Ok, an update!

So far in our new house we have painted every single surface.   We chose Sherwin Williams' Stone Isle and we're very happy with it.  We also used it to repaint the condo before the tenants moved in. 

We have been unpacking and settling in but it's still feeling a bit like a construction zone.  This couch is the first step to my family room vision coming to life.

I am so in love with it!  It's the Cindy Crawford Beachside Sofa in Denim.   

Another favorite piece, our china cabinet.  I picked this up for an amazing deal at an estate sale.  It was the exact measurements we were looking for and is such a solid, classic piece.  

Yard work!

I've mentioned before that our backyard is part of what sold us on the house.

K cut the grass on Sunday....probably the hottest day of the year so far...but it looks SO GOOD!  We got solar spotlights for our palm trees and they really set it off.

I'll show a little more of the progress once I start revealing rooms in the (hopefully near) future.

Here is what my list looks like, with some commentary.

TO DO LIST (BEFORE BABY)

Fix Overflow drain in main bath

 Considering our new home has 3 full bathrooms, I wouldn't say this is that high on the priority list, buuut as it's the only bathroom with a tub, it's up there.

Electrician Needs:

-Outlets to office

 K's office is currently set up in our guest room, which is working great for now.  But when the baby comes we will need it set up for my mom, who is staying with us for the first couple of weeks.  The side room with the brick floor will be his permanent office.

-Replace light fixtures in master bath and walk in closet

-Add hanging globes to kitchen island

These caught our eye (our eyes?) over the weekend.  The island in our home is wired for 3 lights and in order to keep it simple electrically, we've been on the hunt for pendants less than 5 inches in diameter that we think will fit nicely.  I think they will go well with the wall color and the granite we have picked out. 

-Fix hanging cords in laundry room

Pressure wash patio

We are purchasing our patio furniture this weekend!  

The table is a tile top that can be changed out with any tile you like.  This is what we are looking at using:

Laundry Room floor

 We have had a major struggle with pulling up the old linoleum in our laundry room.  Or I should say it's the paper backing of the linoleum that we can't seem to get up.  We are planning to tile the floor but may need professional assistance if we can't get the old stuff up ourselves.

Replace mirrors in all 3 bathrooms

Set up wine fridge/bar area

We received a wine fridge as a wedding gift and are very excited to finally set it up.  We are looking to create a bar within our built in shelves in the family room.

Granite in the kitchen

The granite is not a necessity Before Baby but I am crossing my fingers that it works out like that.   As homeowner's and parents-to-be we need to be prepared for unexpected expenses, so we'll see.

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Of course, most of these things are not Do or Die items, but it's what we'd like to have done to feel content.  Things will only be getting crazier once our girl gets here, so we are working hard now.

That's all the update I've got for ya.

I would love any granite/electrician/flooring suggestions in the Charleston area.

Have a great weekend!

You know what I'll be doing.

It's A...

GIRL!!!

We were both thrilled and surprised and beyond excited to find out that we are having a daughter!

We found out over a month ago and I have been dying to make a little trip down to the Folly Boat to paint the announcement and share it here.  I thought it would be a sweet photo to frame in the nursery and also a great memory for K and I to share "before we were parents".

Well, we just don't have time for that sort of fun stuff right now, so I found a picture and photoshopped our message for this post:

It's a Girl!

(I'm still hoping to make time to really paint it soon)

My coworkers were so sweet and decorated my desk for the week.

Bring on the pink!  

Well, I'm actually keeping most of my registry pretty gender neutral, but looking forward to many feminine touches in the nursery.

K was happy to pop this bottle, the last remaining from my Wine Shower at my Bachelorette party, which is actually featured on The Bach this week.  

I'm not sure if I will be sharing her name on the blog.  I am so excited that we've come to an agreement and I'm in love with it, but I'm still very protective of putting her name on the internet in any searchable way.

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Tomorrow I am planning to post a little "Before Baby" To Do List for our new house.

I want to share what we've been up to over the last month since we moved in. 

Spoiler: We've been BUSY.

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We are so excited to be bringing a beautiful little girl into the world!

I also have a 25 week Pregnancy Journal post in the works for early next week.

I hope all is well with you!

xLaura

Thoughts on Thursday

Hello out there!

How's everybody doing?

We are juggling a lot right now, but I wanted to pop in and say hi.

Have any of you been to any Spoleto events this year?

I haven't, but I have enjoyed the general buzz of it all on my lunchtime walks.

 There was one Piccolo Fringe event that I thought sounded fun, "Improvised Seinfeld".  It touted itself to be "like watching a live taping of the show based on audience suggestion".  I wish that we could have swung it but we simply have too much on our plates.

Right now, a night out consists of take out on our way home from Lowe's and/or Home Depot.  I am documenting this chinese food because it was our last meal in our condo. :(

Adding "landlord" to my resume has been intimidating, but I am hopeful that it will get easier and more comfortable with time.  

I am certain my current tenants will be painting over my beloved pumpkin room and changing out my hanging lantern fixture.  

On the bright side, no more Folly Road traffic!  What you see here is typical of summer on James Island, bumper to bumper in both directions.  While our commutes on Savannah Highway also deal with traffic, it actually moves and flows so much better.  James Island is growing so much and it's infrastructure isn't really built for it, which is one of the reasons we looked in West Ashley to buy.

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Bumpwatch!  

Still growing and still feeling great.  My stomach is definitely starting to feel heavier, so I'm anxious to weigh in tomorrow at my SIX MONTH check in.  Holy moly!

Also, clearly no hair growth as you'll note the small nub that is my ponytail in this picture.  Regarding maternity wear, I am mostly wearing my dresses that have great stretch to them.  I picked up a few things over at Angels and Rascals (a children's consignment shop with maternity section) in Mt. P to hopefully get me through the last month or so when I'm really popping.  I will probably splurge on a nice maternity dress for my baby shower, but I can't justify the prices for such a short lifespan.  I'm planning on picking up a few pairs of these shorts as well.

 Oh!  And while I know that none of you are holding your breath regarding our "gender reveal" I did want to mention that I have such a fun idea of how I want to post it on the blog, but we haven't had the time to spare to make my plan happen.  I am hoping that maybe this Sunday we'll be able to spend an hour or two on it and then I can post it next week.  

My friend Kristina is having a baby girl in August and I am so excited to be working on her Baby Shower.  The invitations went out today and I'm meeting with some friends tonight to plan it out.

I hope y'all have a great weekend.

It's going to be a hot one around here!