A Nursery Fit For A.....Monkey.

The Nursery is officially finished. 

And I am officially READY! Did ya hear that little Weston? 

Mommy. Is. READY. 

First, let me just warn you...if you're hoping to see pics of a baby-ish, pastel-ish nursery, you're gonna be disappointed. This nursery is more for a little man. I did the whole babyfied nursery thing for both my other boys, and they outgrew them so fast, I said nuh-uh. No more. This baby is gonna have a nursery that can grow with him. I didn't go with a "theme" exactly... but you will see quite a few monkeys of the sock variety...

Still wanna see it?

Here it is!

We spackled the bejeebers out of the top part of the paneling, sanded, sanded, and sanded it some more, then painted it. Then my lil handy-man put up the big white trim to divide the two sections. Our version of fake-out board and batten. 

I ordered the wall monogram from Etsy, and the plaid crib bedding is from Bananafish. 

The baby's closet. 

Because his actual closet is full of MY clothes. One of the joys of a 100 year old house... our closets are all veeeery small. 

LOVE my rocking chair - I plan to order the matching ottoman soon. I love the idea of having a removable slipcover. This is the cheapskate's take on the "Pottery Barn $800 chair".  Can ya keep a lil secret? It's from Walmart.com. And it's WAY cheaper than good ole PB.  

The "changing table". 

(That empty frame on the wall is waiting for a photo of the new little man.)

So that's the room in general, now let's see some details...

 My handy-man installed a clothes rod in this armoire to make a closet - it's perfect!

The baskets hold all of the little baby hats and shoes. 

David's Grandpa made the little wooden car yeeeeears ago. It's precious. 

Both of my other boys wore these little crocheted booties. The old silver baby cup was David's. It looks WAY older than it really is. Cuz we just can't be that old. Surely.  

Each of the boys have used this little rocking chair. I needed something to sit in it, so I made this pillow using transfer paper. I love how it turned out! The best part? It didn't cost me a single penny - I had all the stuff on hand already. Gotta love that.

Here's another wooden car made by Grandpa. The set of suitcases (there's 3 of them in all) were Fa-Ree! Yep - I had enough Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks to order the whole set. I'm really digging the whole "free" idea...

I made the curtain panels from 2 flat twin sheets from Walmart. I simply made a rod pocket, then trimmed them in red rick rack. The total cost break down?

Sheet - $5.00

Rick Rack- $1.44

Total per panel - $6.44

I can deal with that. 

The chalkboard was an old frame I had in my stash, the little shoes were Jackson's, and nobody knows where the sweater came from. Seriously. It was in my tubs of baby things, but I don't recognize it, and my Mom doesn't either. It looks pretty old, but it must not have been mine... Who knows, maybe I picked it up at a Thrift store somewhere along the way. Wherever it came from, I think it's pretty sweet!

I was so thrilled to see THIS blog post from "Bless Our Nest" about these cute FREE printables from THIS website. I couldn't get over there fast enough - had to print off the vintage looking flashcards in Weston's initials! Are those cute, or what?! I love how they used the whole alphabet on a wall, but I didn't have room (or patience...) for that. 

LOVE love love these old baby scales. I found them at the Thrift Store before I even knew I was preggo - so glad I bought them! Won't it make a fun photo prop for the new baby?! 

And there's yet another little monkey friend keeping watch over the basket of diapers. 

Now all we need is the little man himself! 

And you can be sure we are counting down the days...

The Mantle. Refreshed.

Yep. I've been doing some nesting. 

And you just can't do any proper nesting without some birds, right?! And nests, of course...

 I changed up the master bedroom mantle just a bit. 

Because sometimes I just have to CHANGE SOMETHING! You know how it is...

And I'm sending a great big shout out to my sweetheart for asking the neighbors if his crazy wife could scalp their beautiful hydrangea bush. (And that's probably not the craziest thing he's done for me...)

Actually, I left the bush with plenty of blooms, you couldn't even tell I'd taken any. 

 I love love love hydrangeas. BLUE hydrangeas. They totally fill up my happy tank. 

The perfect dining room table centerpiece. Just Perfect. 

Maternity...modestly.

It's getting harder and harder to find cute clothes that offer enough coverage for the non-pregger lady. It's even harder to find modest maternity clothes! BUT...it CAN be done. You just have to get creative. And layer. Layering will be your best friend. 

Here's an example... (all pics are clickable if you need to see them larger)

Black top - Old Navy Maternity

Pink Top - Two Hearts Maternity from K-Mart

White Skirt - Old Navy Maternity

White Layering Tee - Christopher and Banks

Both pairs of flip flops - Yellow Box (I'm SOOO addicted to these...)

Let me just start off by saying that all those non stretchy button up blouses that are supposedly maternity, don't last me past the first 5 months. I finally packed those all away, and got smart. I bought only stretchy tops. Veeeeery stretchy ones, and once my belly got really big, I liked the kind with the elastic on the bottom. They're just not quite as tent-like. I mean, you already feel huge, why make it worse?! But it seems like today's maternity tops are made to be super form fitting, and I'm not comfortable with that, so I found that buying larger sizes was the solution. The black old navy top is a large! But it has plenty of room, is very comfortable and not binding, and doesn't feel so form fitting. 

I really like the feminine almost romantic touches on these tops. Maternity wear doesn't have to be ugly or frumpy. Make it fun! Find things with pretty details.

Turquoise Maternity Tank - Ebay

I only wore this black dress once - the length felt weird on me, but I thought the dress was really cute on the hanger. I added the black ruffled cardigan and the black "cami-secret" to make it more modest. The green top is not even a maternity piece! If you know what to look for, and buy a bigger size, you can find regular clothes that work just as well. But then, my sweet grandmother told me I looked like a huge green watermelon in it. Gotta love her...

Black and White Floral Dress - Motherhood

Black Cardigan - Ross

Black Flower Slides - Payless

Green Peasant Top - Cato (size large!)

White Maternity Skirt - Motherhood (I got it from Ebay)

White Flower Flip-flops - K-Mart

My lifesaver with this baby has been the maxi dress - where have they been all my life?! They are so comfortable and last the entire pregnancy. I'll just be honest with ya, if it isn't comfortable, I'll never even get it back out of the closet. Comfort is more important to me than whether or not it's trendy. I've never been one to sacrifice my comfort for style. The black dress was especially comfortable. I almost felt like I was wearing my jammies in public. And it was a super bargain at $17.

Black Maxi Dress - Walmart.com

Black Flip Flops - Yellow Box

Turquoise Maxi Dress - Old Navy Maternity

White ruffled wedges - The Shoe Dept. (look for them in the kiddie section...)

Blue Maxi Dress - Liz Lange for Target (I got it on Ebay)

I'm thinking these will work well post-partum, too. 

I've already told you how much I LOVE the GAP denim maternity skirt. It has definitely been the most worn item in my maternity wardrobe! I love the big wide under belly band - it's almost like wearing a support belt. And I love that it has kept it's dark color through many washings. I'm starting to sound like an advertisement for GAP... Trust me, they haven't paid me a thing to say that. But it wouldn't be a bad idea...

Here's one outfit two different ways...

Cream Vest - JC Penny

Coral Maternity Top - Motherhood

Denim Skirt - GAP

Flip flops - Yellow Box

Denim Jacket - Christopher and Banks

 Here are 2 of my favorite tops with the same denim skirt (of course..)

Pink Striped Top - Old Navy Maternity (from Ebay for $3) 

Pink Plaid Peasant Top - Walmart 

The Walmart top is a regular size (another large), and has been well worth the 10 bucks I paid for it. I still have plenty of room in it, when I've already outgrown most of my "maternity" clothes. Now that I'm almost to the end, I've learned what kinds of things to look for. If only I'd been so smart from the very beginning... 

Here's hoping that the next clothing post will be about BABY clothes!! I'm Soooooo ready to meet this little guy. We're counting down the days.

Oh and the nursery? It's *almost* done! Pics coming soon!

Homemade suds!

I finally tried my hand at the homemade laundry soap.
(I used the recipe posted here, by Chari.)

And to reward myself for being so industrious and frugal... I had to get me some pretty glass jars to show off my hard work.  And I just couldn't stop there. Oh no. I went on and got some cutesy vinyl decal labels too.

I was really tired of having a pile of lonely single socks in the laundry room. Now they have a home. 

Hey, anything to make doing laundry a little more fun. 

*Edited to add....since some have asked where I got the decals for the jars, I thought I'd just add it to the post here. I got them from Etsy.com. The lady I ordered them from does not have them listed anymore, but there are LOTS of others on there. Many , many choices! And most are around 8-10 bucks per set of 3. 

Retail Therapy...

...it's good for what ails ya. 

Isn't it cute?! Ruffles, rosettes, turquoise, on SALE.... it's like taking a happy pill. 

And it's on CLEARANCE at a Cracker Barrel near you! =)

33 weeks down...

About 6 more to go! It's getting closer all the time - WooHoo!

Soooo...here's the latest belly update.

And I'll throw in this sideways shot so you can get the "real" picture...

 Sometimes I wonder just how big this lil guy is gonna get!

And here is the maternity staple I could. not . live. without. The gap maternity jean skirt. I find myself reaching for it every day. (I've thought about doing a post on maternity fashion -my favorites, finding modest maternity stuff, etc... Would that interest anybody out there??  Give me a holla if that sounds like something you'd like to see here!)

So far I'm feeling pretty good. I've gained 24 pounds - ouch! (With my last 2, I gained 18 and 19 pounds. And I still have 6 more weeks left on this one!) I've actually been sleeping well for the most part, thank goodness! I've started having minor issues with feet and ankles swelling, on days when I sit a lot, so I'm working with that. Overall, things are going great, I'm just feeling my age with this one - tired tired tired. And I'm getting tired of people telling me things like, "You still haven't had that baby?!" or "I just don't think you can MAKE it for another 6 weeks..." Ummm...thanks for the encouragement...

Progress on the nursery has been slow - it takes me twice as long to do anything these days, and now that school is out, I have 2 littles at home to chase after, so my time is not my own. 

But I simply MUST knock it into high gear and "git 'r done"!! It's actually on my to do list for today.... Wish me luck.

Beach Boys!

We thoroughly enjoyed our little mini vacation to the Gulf! I took a gazillion pics, but I won't bore you with all of them. I chose a few favorites to share...

Love all my guys! 

Let me just tell you, 3 days is not long enough to soak up sun, sand, waves, all that good gulf food,

 the awesome shopping....

But I gave it my best shot ;)

Devastation....and Thanksgiving.

If you have a roof over your head, are breathing, able to read these words, if you are alive today.....Thank God for it. We Alabamians have seen things in these past 8 days that has forever changed our perspective, our priorities, and caused us to really count our blessings in a whole new way. So many people all over our state lost everything in the tornadoes last Wednesday. Whole houses - just gone, leaving behind a pile of useless rubble. I can't even begin to describe the devastation. 

(I borrowed this pic from the internet, because I wasn't about to go out there for a photo.) 

So where do I start...

Wednesday morning I was awakened at 5 am by the sounds of strong winds, like I'd never heard before. I could hear things falling over, and I could hear the tornado sirens going off in the distance. I was completely taken by surprise - we thought the bad weather was supposed to hit much later in the day. So I jump out of bed, grabbed my cell phone and sat in the bathroom trying to find the weather radar or weather live video reports to see if the tornado was in my area. Then the power went out. And it stayed out for 5 days. I finally figured out that there was no tornado heading my way, just strong winds, so I came out of the bathroom, and made sure everything was ok - no trees on my house, the kids still sleeping soundly. (How do they do that anyway?!?!) Then it got calm, and we ventured out around 10am - streets were closed everywhere. I had to drive under a power pole snapped in half and hanging out over the road just to get to my Mom's place. Everywhere we looked trees were down, on houses, blocking roads, everywhere. 

I took this photo in our own neighborhood. The phone lines weren't working properly, and the cell phone service was very sketchy - sometimes you could connect, sometimes not. David was 100 miles away working, and we weren't able to communicate with each other till about 10 am - he was worried silly about us. We were finally able to get a few texts through on our phones, and we could email from our phones as well. I was so glad he decided to come on home early - before the next round of storms hit. We all gathered at my Mom's house because she still had power at that point, but it didn't last long. The second wave came through around 5 in the evening. We watched the live weather videos on u-stream from our phones, and just watching that huge tornado (it was 3/4 mile wide) head right into the city of Tuscaloosa was the most helpless feeling. We knew as we were watching it, that at that very moment lives were being lost. So very sobering. The tornadoes hit all around us, but none of them came through our town and I am so thankful to God for His protection. 

The town I grew up in, Cordova, was demolished. All those memories. My Grandfather owned an Auto Parts Store there for years. I loved going to help them out with the store. Every month I'd help my Grandmother with the books - getting the statements ready to be mailed. It was all done by hand, her system consisted of paper, typewriter, adding machine,and filing cabinet. I loved it. But the store is gone.

This pile of rubble is all that's left. 

Not having power to our house wasn't bad. Not bad at all. I pretty much grill all our food anyway :) BUT, when the whole city, and most of the state is also out of power - now that's a whole different story. Imagine with me - Gas pumps can't pump without power, so you can't buy gas. Banks and atms also run on power, so you can't get any cash. No stores were open, so no ice, extra batteries, or propane. Walmart opened on the third day by using huge generators, and it was a total mad house. All the coolers and freezers were empty - no milk for little ones, no eggs, no meat, they had to throw it all away. But through it all, we didn't hear anybody complaining. Everybody was just so thankful that they'd survived, even if they lost a roof - they were happy to be alive. 

So I decided to focus on the positive. 

I still had all of my family around me.

Our home received zero damage.

My freezer and refrigerator really needed cleaned out anyway. 

I learned to cook some interesting things on the gas grill! 

The boys enjoyed a break from electronics and got reacquainted with the back yard.  

It was nice to have fresh air blowing through the windows instead of using the AC. 

I didn't have to do laundry. 

(No offence to those who went gaga over it, but the royal wedding didn't mean much to us. We did huddle up in the dark and watch videos of it on our phones, but with so many folks left homeless around here, all the extravagance seemed frivolous. And it just doesn't seem like a true fairytale when the couple lived together for years already - that kinda takes the magic, not to mention the sacredness, right out of it. There were things about it that were beautiful, but...... I dare say that I am happier in my own marriage :) When it comes right down to it, in the eyes of God, the royals are no better than anybody else - we're all equals. Around here folks would say, they put their britches on one leg at a time just like anybody else. I am glad that it brought happiness to so many people that enjoyed it. It was history in the making, but then, so were these record breaking tornadoes - and these were much closer to home. So please forgive me for not jumping on the bandwagon. ) Anyway... 

I'm glad I have lots of candles. Lots and Lots of candles.

I had so many candles burning that I'm sure folks driving by thought our power was on.

We had no problems getting the boys to go bed early.

Dinner by candlelight was kinda nice. (even if we were washing it down with warm gatorade...)

I particularly enjoyed not using my alarm clock ;) 

We learned that these solar powered yard lights make great little flashlights for kids.

They can't run down the batteries,  there's no flame involved, and when their hands were each filled with their little "torches" it greatly hindered their ability to drag out hundreds of toys for us to trip over in the darkness. Just a little added bonus ;)

On the 4th day without power, we were able to borrow a generator. So we plugged up the refrigerator. It was soooo nice to have cold drinks and ice! What a luxury! Then on Sunday evening, the 5th day, the power came back on, and things have slowly been getting back to "normal".  

The town is getting cleaned up, trees cleared away, kids are back in school, and most folks are back to work. Life goes on. But we'll not soon forget the devastation, the lives lost, the homes lost, the way neighbors helped neighbors, how the power crews, emergency workers, and volunteers worked round the clock, all the many miracle stories, and just how precious life really is.