Where oh where, Oh where is Brittany...

...just because I haven't been here, don't think I don't love ya! 

Sooo....what's been going on around here?

1. Rain. And Cold. It's been rainy for a week and it's making me CRAY.ZEE.  The weather man says the sun's supposed to shine this afternoon and tomorrow. I'm holding him personally responsible if it doesn't. My flip flops NEED me...

2. Total chaos in the entire house. Why does making a room for one baby have to utterly destroy the whole place??!! I will stay calm. I will stay calm. I will stay calm.....

3. A teensy bit of photography practice. Emphasis on the "practice". I got a new external flash and diffuser and I've been playing with it a little bit - maybe I'll be able to get some better room shots now for you peeps! At least, that's the idea.

4. Vacation planning. Gulf Shores, here we come!!! It will be our last hoorah before the baby gets here - the whole family is soooo looking forward to some sand and sun. And a few of the weirder ones are totally wild excited about the Naval Museum and the old war fort... I'll let you guess who'll be going to those - I, for one, will not be torturing myself in that way this year, but will instead be enjoying the afore mentioned sand and sun. And Outlet Malls. And some good gulf eatin'. And I have a thing for watching the little sandpipers. They're just too cute. Actually, I may tag along to the fort, because it looks like an awesome photo site ;)

5. Nursery planning! But sadly, not much action. I've got the plans all laid out in mind, if only I had enough energy to get 'er done. I gave up the wild notion of making my own crib bedding - as if that would have actually happened. HAHA, Good one, Brittany! Found a good deal on a set from Amazon and I'm quite pleased with it and haven't sewn a stitch. Boy, I'm getting lazy... Hopefully we'll make a little progress this weekend and I'll be able to post some updates. With real PICTURES. And just because I hate posts with no photos, I'll throw in a few to give you an idea of what our weekend will be like...

We'll be moving this bed

 and all the other guest room furnishings,

To this room. 

(I KNOW I had a more recent piccy of this room somewhere...honestly there's not ALWAYS a Christmas tree in there. Really. And there's been a coffee table in there for about a year now... Just do me a favor and imagine it, K? )

This will make a temporary guest room until the attic project is completed - which could take months. Or years. But we're not gonna think about that right now. Which means, I have to touch up the walls in the beachy room and get all the junk cleared out so that the man of the house can do all the moving of the big stuff. 

Because lately, it's all I can do to carry around my own big stuff... 

I'll never take simple little things like, you know, being able to breathe,  for granted again. And sleep. You ever tried to sleep while tied to a watermelon?! Huh?! But, really, I am glad the little guy's growing good - and he MUST be growing quite well, because he's sapping all my energy. 

And just because I'm a glutton for torture, I'll even show you the latest fat lady piccy. So you'll know how much to feel sorry for me. 

As you can probably guess, he's measuring well "ahead of schedule". And yes, I do have 3 more months to go. And, yes, I've already had to pack away some so-called maternity clothes that I couldn't squeeze into anymore if my life depended on it. And no, I really don't know how I'm gonna make it 3 more months if he keeps growing at this rate! I must say, though, that having had one baby that weighed 9 lbs 6 oz, and another that weighed 5 lbs 10 oz, I'll take the big fat baby. My bigger one was so healthy and happy, and slept all night long at 9 days old. He was a dream baby. Then.... we had his brother. That little guy was much more finicky, fussy, and sickly, and has been smallish ever since. But he does run circles around his larger, lazier brother ;) He's the one that keeps me on my toes.

 If only I could still see them...

The Very Overdue Living Room Reveal...

The spring weather has kinda encouraged me to get some unfinished projects done! And let me tell ya, I need all the encouragement I can get these days... It's just plain cruel that when you need caffeine the most, you can't have any! 

Somehow, I drummed up enough energy to get the living room totally. done. 

And I gotta say, it does feel good! It feels so clean and fresh, and much more Springy.

The mantle got a good dose of spring time. 

I wish I had some real live dogwood branches, but these fake little numbers will have to do. 

At least I can't kill these. 

I shopped around the house for things to make these "birdies-on-a-stick". 

Here's the other side of the room. I had trouble getting a decent piccy of the whole space, but there's also a recliner over there to the right of the piano. 

The coffee table decor hasn't changed much...

It feels so good to have this room all done, that I just may finish up something else! I can hear the gasps of disbelief out there... Seriously, I'm stoked about getting things done around here. But first,

I need a nap.

The nesting has begun...

We've had some absolutely GORGEOUS days here in the sunny south lately. There's nothing like good ole sunshine to perk ya up!

 I've been pondering ideas to let more light into my kitchen, and for some reason, I've turned into a decided mini-blind hater. So my plan? Yank down those mini blinds, and valances, and hang light weight cafe curtains.  Mission accomplished! Now the top part of the windows are open, letting in all kinds of glorious light, while the bottom is still geared for privacy. Oh, and did I mention the curtains cost me a whopping 4 bucks?! (pssst...can you keep a secret? They're cheap IKEA dishtowels.)

 When I walked into my kitchen this morning, and was greeted by beautiful sunshine, I just had to smile. It makes my day!

I also got a "new" stove recently. YAY for craigslist!!!

 I'd gotten so spoiled to the ceramic top style, and it's so nice to have one again. Actually, it's just pretty nice to have a stove that WORKS. Was soooo happy to get the old dinosaur stove outta here.

 I've been doing some springy things around here that I'll be showing you, too. I think the whole nesting thing is finally kicking in!
 Maybe I'll actually have something to blog about ;)

And here's the latest baby bump piccy...

Things are moving right along and going well.

We've decided on Weston Andrew for the name, and we can't wait to meet him!

And the baby is......

A BOY!!!

Yep. Boy number 3. 

Believe it or not, I'm pretty excited!

 (I had to go right to the mall and buy him some cute little outfits :) And boy, there's not any more cute things for boys out there now than there were 5 years ago. Poor little guys just get left out.) 

But Daddy, on the other hand, is quite disappointed and is having a bit of a rough time accepting it ;) 

Baby boy looked perfect, has a great strong heartbeat, and weighed a whopping 12 oz. He's quite active already and usually is awake veeeery early in the morning :) 

Mommy is feeling quite a bit better now. The nausea is almost totally gone, just have a touch of it now and then, and even then it's tolerable. (Insert big WOOHOO!!! here.) Been having some trouble with fainty spells, but that seems to be getting some better, too. Now I'm just left with those little pesky symptoms like headaches, skin issues, tired all the time, nose bleeds, backaches, going to the little girl's room every 5 minutes, yada yada yada.... But it's all good. 

Now that we know for sure what it is, I'm having fun picking out things for the nursery, and pouring over baby boy names. And I'm looking forward to getting back to some more regular scheduled programming here on the old blog! I'm sure I'll want to share some nursery ideas with you all, and we have an attic remodel in the works, too. (Since the baby boy will be moving into the current guest room, we're having to create a new one upstairs, and boy, is it gonna be a doozy of a project - but fun, too!) 

A Very Messy Before and After

When the Mommy is sick...

 the messies move in...

 Oh my. Is that a dinosaur hiding under that pile of pillows?!  

 Enough already.

I'm taking my house back.

 Starting with the lil messies' room.

Ah, I can breathe again. 

Of course, I'm exhausted and my back is killing me, but I can breathe again.

But, next time I do this, I'll wait till both the cowpokes are GONE. Both of them are major hoarders. You would not believe the things I found under beds and in closets...shivers....

These guys may be needing some therapy after this purge.

Carson informed me that I had "ruined" his room. ;)

Progress at the parsonage...

I've wanted these shades for the dining room for a looooong time, and I actually bought them for myself with some birthday money. Um, yeah...my birthday was back in October. So it's been a rough couple a months...

I'm thrilled to finally get them all up! 

I'm loving the added texture =) 

But let me tell ya, when the description on the web site says "privacy" don't believe it. We got these babies all hung up, then realized there was ZERO privacy, as in you could see right through them. Soooo, after refusing to pay 25 buckaroos apiece for liners, I decided to make my own. It made for a rather stressful day, but now that I'm finished I'm glad we did it! It took forevah. Remove shades, remove strings, cut fabric, hem edges, attach to shades, rethread the strings, and then hang them all back up. Let's just say I had to sleep with the heating pad that night! So glad to have that lil project DONE! 

Now if I could just get enough energy to refinish the leaves for my table...

14 Weeks

Today marks 14 weeks...so supposedly, things should get better and better from now on. Here's hoping! The nausea has been some better, and I'm trying to avoid taking the medicine. So maybe when I get my mind all out of the dopey feeling fog, I can get back to blogging! 

I have been so thankful for the good days I've had, at least it gives me a chance to recoup a little bit. But I have ZERO energy. I'll be glad when I get some of that back - there's lots of things I want to do! 

Dave took a few pics of my bump the other day - so there it is, if anybody's been wondering how fat I'm getting. I always show early...it's a curse of the short people.
When you're 5' 0", there's just not enough room to stretch it all out. Soooo, I've already had to break out the maternity clothes, because not everybody wants to see me in Dave's sweats and big ole tee shirts. 

I promise this isn't gonna turn into a baby-only blog. I'll give updates every now and then, but as soon as my mojo comes back I want to get back to some projects. Thanks to everybody for being so patient! And thanks so much to all of you who've sent well-wishes and prayers - I appreciate it so much. I'm hoping to be up 'n at 'em real soon!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...

Hello?

tap...tap...

Anybody out there?

Or did you all give up on me...

Thanks so much to all of you who have left me messages, emails, comments, etc! It's been a rough few months, and I'm reeeeeeally hoping that the worst is over. I'm still having to take the nausea meds every day, and I will be quite happy when I don't need them anymore. The best way I can describe being on phenergan is, it makes you feel like it's always about 3 o'clock in the morning. And I don't do mornings.  

I haven't felt well enough to do much decorating for Christmas, so the living room was the only room that got "decked".

And I'm so glad I finally got some lights up! There's just nothing like snuggling up in a blanket, sipping hot chocolate by the glowing lights of the tree. I think it has some medicinal value - it makes me feel a little better.

Lookie there, I even got a few presents wrapped! Had it not been for amazon.com we wouldn't even HAVE presents this year. Thank goodness for online shopping.

I love this little birdie ornament...

Oh yeah...almost forgot - I got the living room painted ages ago, then I got too sick to care about showing it to you. Sooo...here's a sneak peak of the new look.

It's much more toned down, and I'm enjoying it soooo much better. 

I did toss a Christmasy wreath up on the old window. Because it was looking kinda sad and lonely. 

And that, my friends, is the extent of my Holiday decorating this year. Now you know I must really be sick, right?! I think last year I had 7 trees. 

Ugh, I don't even wanna think about it. 

Now if I could just get well enough to do some baking... It's killing me. I neeeeed some oreo truffles, and frosted cookies, and toffee, and turtles, and....phooey. It's just not happening.

I hope to be back to my regular blogging self soon, if the little one will be nice to mommy and cooperate! Thanks again for all the prayers and notes of encouragement - y'all are awesome. 

A very Merry Christmas to every one of you peeps!