Thankful 2014

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  Ours was relaxing, quiet, and included way too much food for just the three of us!  It was perfect. 

We, of course, had to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade - Clara was pretty excited about all the balloons.  And I made homemade cinnamon rolls to indulge in while we watched (if you follow me on instagram, I posted a few things from our day there as well!). 

Normally we decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving or the day after.. however, this year we will be out of town for Christmas so we decorated everything about a week ago so we could enjoy it a bit longer.  :)  The only thing we had left to do was put up the lights on the outside of the house.. it was a perfect 70 degrees that day, so Clara had to go out and supervise her daddy..

Everything seems very exciting this year, since Clara is really "getting" it all now.. and she gets so excited!  Christmas music, lights, Santa, presents, etc.. we've really been getting into it over here too.  We've done a couple Christmas crafts together already, which I will blog about very soon! 

The little lady got a ton of fresh air on Thanksgiving and kept herself super busy... she fell asleep before it was even time to eat our dinner!  So I just let her sleep on through it.. she was so peaceful.  :)  I'm so thankful for the time we had together as a family, and for this sweet sleepy baby girl..

It was just us three and for dinner we had all of our favorite holiday go-to's.. ham (for me), smoked turkey (for my husband), scalloped corn, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, stuffing, chocolate pie, and pumpkin pie.  We couldn't narrow down the menu any more than that.. ;)  We did pretty good at finishing most of it off the past couple of days, I must say..

What did everyone else have for Thanksgiving dinner?

24 Week Update... Boy or Girl? {pregnancy}

 

Oh, week 24...  I feel like the past month has just been a big blur, and then I wake up on week 24 and.. oh, hey there.. it's my belly.  If I look at a photo of myself, I still feel like I look pretty small for how big I feel.  Does that make sense?  I'm totally feeling all the aches and pains though.  Sitting on the couch makes it hard to breathe, so I'm getting a lot of use out of my husband recliner.  I'm finding it harder and harder to get comfortable, and I swear I'm catching every cold that passes me by.. already being uncomfortable + trying to sleep with some major congestion.. is awful.  But I've been feeling baby boy a ton more lately.  He's pretty active in mid-afternoon as soon as I get home from work.  And as far as eating.. Still no aversions, however I'm definitely not as hungry as I was.  Right in the middle of 2nd tri, I swear I was just eating constantly!!

And I realize I haven't even "revealed" on the blog if we are having a boy or a girl!  Well I'm absolutely thrilled to tell you...

...we will be having darling baby BOY.  And the very first piece of clothing he received was this sweet sleeper with cute little puppy dog feet, thanks to Nana.  :)  Having a boy will certainly change the dynamic in our household.. I'm anxious, excited, and nervous!  Clara was not thrilled with the news at first, as she was so sure she was getting a sister.. but she's getting used to the idea now and occasionally gets excited about it.  Though I'm pretty sure she has no idea what's in store!

We've been doing a lot of things around the house to try to get ready.  We have a little over 3 months left before his arrival, and with all the holidays I just know that it will go by so fast.  We've started clearing out the spare room which used to serve as a guest bedroom/craft room.  We got rid of the bed and moved my desk to the "dog room" (which is a bonus room.. more like an oversized closet).. and then I started cleaning out the closet in baby boys new room.. which ended up making the room look worse than when I started clearing it.

So there you have it.  The work in progress.. in all it's glory.  And that sweet little bear is baby's first stuffed animal, that I had picked up at Marshall's the other day.. it's this pretty burnt orange color, and super soft.. I couldn't resist.  But I have lots of plans for this nursery and I'm pretty excited to show you how it comes along!

Light it Up {decor}

If I'm honest, choosing lighting/lamps for home decor is hard for me.  Almost so hard that it's annoying... because I'm extremely picky (just ask my husband;).  There are so many fun and and different style lamps out there, and I think picking out the "right" one is important to the ambiance of the home!

Wayfair has just about any style you could look for - modern, traditional, contemporary, rustic.  I'm more of a contemporary gal myself.. a good mix between modern and traditional.  They're a fun way to add pops of color to a room as well.. here are some of my favorite lamps from Wayfair..

If you're in the market for some new lighting in your home, I highly suggest searching around on Wayfair first.  They have a great selection, with so many different style.. and they are providing my reader a 15% off promo code for lamps, which is valid 11/6 through 11/10.  Just enter the code WFLAMPS15.  Happy shopping!  :)

This post is sponsored by Wayfair, but all opinions are 100% my own.  :)

Pumpkin Painting

I've been battling this super awful cold the past couple of weeks.. I swear it was the longest lasting cold I've ever had, and of course being pregnant doesn't help with that.  I really hope this isn't a taste of what's to come this winter - my immune system is awful while pregnant!  However, I'm pretty much over it now.. just trying to catch up on my rest.  ;)

So the last weekend we went out to the pumpkin patch to let Clara pick out a couple pumpkins.  We decided not to do any carving this year.  Clara can't really participate in it, and she had just as much fun smearing paint all over the pumpkin anyway.  The girl loves to make a mess.

Custom Upholstery with Wayfair

I have to say... I love Wayfair.  They have all kinds of fun home decor items that I just "have to have".. great toy selections for kids, which has actually been helping me with my Christmas shopping list for Clara.. and great things for baby too.  I have my eye on a couple of their gliders for the nursery!

But what I'm loving at the moment is their custom upholstered furniture.  Whenever we get to move into a different house, I need a set!  Particularly the Felicity collection.  They have at least 8 different collections in their custom upholstery line, and your really can't go wrong with any of them in my opinion.  The Felicity collection is just the one that spoke to me.  ;)  I love how cozy and casual it is. 

I ordered some of the swatches from this line (they'll send you swatches for free, by the way), and I love the different textures and color choices.

I would love to have a white/off-white couch.  I love the look of it, however, I know that is is a horribly bad idea when you have a kid (about to have two!), and a dark haired dog.  So that I'd have to nix.  I am actually loving the swatch on the right.  It's a gray-blue color.. called "Lizzy Graphite".. and has a nice linen type texture to it.  Yep.. love it.  And right now you can save 10% on a piece of custom upholstered furniture if you use the code WFCustom10.  This code is good until October 20th.. and I'd use it while you can because Wayfair hardly ever offers up coupon codes!

The Felicity Sofa in Lizzy Graphite.

What do you think?  Do you have a favorite collection from their custom upholstery line?  Let me know!  :)

I am a Wayfair Homemaker Featured Blogger and I received compensation for writing this post. All opinions and love for this furniture is my own.  :)

18 Week Update {pregnancy}

So now I'm into week 18.. nothing major has gone on between now and the first trimester recap.  I still feel pretty good, all things considering.  ;)  Of course always tired, but I don't expect that to change.. for a long time.  Excuse how horribly exhausted I look in the photo.  But that's real life.

My bump has gotten a little bigger, and a tad more rounded out.  I have a few maternity shirts that I'm wearing.. but otherwise I'm still in my regular clothes.  I'm determined to stay in my normal jeans as long as I can with the use of a belly band.  And as soon as I get home for the day it's yoga pants or pajama pants (not that that's any different from when I'm not pregnant, ha). 

Still no aversions, no sickness.. though lately I've been getting some incredibly strong headaches that start in the afternoon and make me useless for almost the remainder of the day.  The past week I've been going to bed at 730/8.. which is super early for me.  But my body must need it.  Today I decided to wear my glasses instead of my contacts, hoping that will help my headache problem - and it seemed to be a little better today.

I still have a sweet tooth, and will eat all the ice cream I can.  ;)

My favorite thing lately is vanilla ice cream with my homemade chocolate sauce, and a spoonful of mini m&ms.  Yep, that's my jam.  And I've only gained 6 lbs since being pregnant.. I call that a win.

I've been able to feel the baby squirm around here and there, but no full-on kicks or anything yet.  But they are getting stronger now, and they're definitely a bit more than just flutters at this point.  I'm anxious to be able to feel/see them on the outside, so Clara will be able to feel - I cannot wait to see her reaction!