well, that was interesting....: April 2012

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Girls Weekend!

My Boston girlfriends surprised me with a weekend get together the weekend of February 11th. Little did we know that it would be the DAY BEFORE our little guy arrived when we planned the weekend, but in the end it worked out for the best. It was so nice to have friends around to keep me busy, give me great advice and help keep Brian and I calm. I am so lucky to have such good friends! Jenny flew in from Chicago (and got to attend Brian's work surprise baby shower with me!), Molly and Tori drove all the way from Boston, Sandra left sick kids at home in NJ and Randi squeezed in work before coming.

The weekend started off with mani and pedi's at a spa in Blue Bell. Then we relaxed at my house before dinner. It started snowing during dinner (just a little snow, the 2nd and last snow of the year) so we stopped at the grocery story for dessert and headed home. The girls left on Sunday morning, leaving Brian and I some time together before the "two of us" became "the three of us".

Here I am- two days before giving birth. I felt good, although a little tired of the giant belly and the swollen ankles!

Randi, Sandra and Molly getting their pedicures

Jenny, Sandra and Tori getting their pedicures. Sandra's toes must have been in bad shape to take that long! Just kidding : )

Tori and I relaxing

The girls! Missing were Gina, Althea and Jen but living in Minnesota, Singapore and Texas are good excuses!

Jenny and Tori enjoying our brownie sundae desserts at my house later that night.

Why do we all have to live so far apart! Good girlfriends are so hard to find and I miss them so much. Counting down the weeks until our girls weekend in the fall!!!!

Finishing the nursery the day we went to the hospital...or "how not to decorate a nursery"

So, we TOTALLY didn't expect to be delivering little Teddy Blair at 37 weeks. Looking back, we probably should have scheduled the furniture delivery earlier than 35.6 weeks but we thought we would have a couple of weeks before the little guy arrived to get his room all set up. Ha, we were so wrong. When the doctors told me they were going to induce me that Sunday night (when I was officially 37 weeks) my first thought was "but the wall decal isn't up yet". Then I broke down crying, stressed at how I was going to finish the nursery, wrap up work and worried that I was going to have to cancel my Boston girls weekend.

Luckily my doctor Ok'd my Boston girl weekend. He realized that crazy anal me needed friends to keep me calm and occupied. So Brian and the girls got the room all set up. A huge thank you to Jenny who got a work out trying to figure out how to put the damn wall decal up over the crib!

Brian and I finished putting the last items away the afternoon of Sunday, February 12th -- hours before we had to go to the hospital!

Here is what the room looked like the morning of February 4th - the room was painted, curtains were hung, just waiting for the furniture to be delivered so we could set up the room:

And here is what the room looked like before we left for the hospital:

Our beautiful crib! Love the wall decal, even if it was a pain to put up (and yes, its a little crooked!). The overstuff rocker/glider/recliner is awesome and we have spent many hours in that chair! And of course, Boris had to get into the picture, claiming the rug as his own.

Close up of the crib and the wall decal.

The dresser/changing table next to the closet with some shelves we hung up for special items. The book on the shelf is from my Boston girlfriends and my sister, full of awesome parenting advice!

On the other side of the room I framed some fun pictures I found online and we got a bookshelf to hold books and toys. Look how comfy that chair looks!

Another picture of that side of the nursery. Above the chair I hung some tissue paper pom poms and lanterns from my shower.

Close up of the tissue paper pom poms. Such a pain to hang up but love the final look!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Mudroom makeover

Yep, another old post! Almost caught up on the house posts, then I just need to get caught up on the little man posts.... Stay tuned!

We never posted our mudroom makeover photos, since most of the family saw the final room in person over the holidays. But here are some before and after photos of Ken's awesome work:

After: Ken put in a black slate floor (so
much better!!) and put wainscotting
on the walls, and built a bench. Lacey
made the roman shade with some fabric
I bought at fabric row in Philly.

Before: Looking into the mudroom from
the family room. Nothing much but ugly
linoleum flooring.

Before: The space was useless, unless
you wanted to drop stuff on the floor.

After: Now we have tons of hooks to hang
coats, scarfs and bags, a bench to put
shoes on and this basket to throw gloves in.

Look at all those hooks!

Before: The view from the mudroom looking
into the house. Boring!

After: now we keep the mudroom door
open, to show off the floor and woodwork.
Love how high the wainscotting goes up
the wall!

Before: The view of the mudroom from the
garage door. Just a big empty space.

After: now we have lots of room to hang coats,
drop off packages on the bench and take
off shoes. And roomba has a little place
to live too!

See how happy Roomba is with its new home?

Dining Room Updates - Boxes, Curtains and Wine!

Its been a while since we updated our dining room pictures, which is a shame because this is one of the more "finished" rooms in the house!

Here is what the room looked like soon after moving in:

Top half of the walls were painted a fun blue (big surprise, the whole house is either blue or gray) and the bottom half was actually just primer. Still sporting the lovely paper window blinds too!

The left side of the room - a little empty!

And the right side of the room, also feeling a little empty...

Here is what our dining room looks like now:

Sorry about the bad lighting, still working on figuring out flash and lighting. Anyway, I bought some crazy pattern fabric and made curtains. Brian added the wood boxes around the bottom of the wall and we finally hung some pictures.

Close up of the awesome wood trim boxes Brian put up!

Our new wine tower from Pottery Barn. So excited to drink wine again after the little man is born!

Hall Bathroom Make over

Another old post - trying to get caught up! Why do I feel its impossible to try and catch up with a 2month old in the house?

What better time to paint the upstairs guest bathroom but when you have people already coming over to help paint the baby's room? Yeah, I'm sure that Brian, Lacey and Joe were just thrilled when I "added" on this little side project, but no one would argue with the prego woman! And in my defense, it was the perfect time to tackle this very white space - before we have a little boy who constantly uses this bathroom.

So, here goes the before pictures:

The view from the upstairs hall - very white! And boring. Wanted more of a fun beach feeling...

Close up of the white cabinet- boring!

Pictures of the sink area. Booorrriinnngg!

And a picture of the tub and toilet area... again, lot's of white tile and woodwork and no other color.

Here are the after pictures - with a fresh coat of *act surprise* BLUE paint! So much more beachy looking, I love it! Makes all of the white trim and tile really pop.

Everyone Loves Teddy Blair !

So this post is very old! Realized I never posted a bunch of posts before the little guy got here. Trying to get caught up now so bear with me and the old posts!

We can't believe all the love everyone has shown our little guy - and he isn't even here yet! From the endless packages on our front door from friends and family far away to the wonderful baby shower Peggy and Kristin gave us and the gifts our family and friends showered on Teddy -- its all been very overwhelming. Such a wonderful feeling to feel so much love! Here are some pictures of Teddy's shower and some of the fun gifts we have received....