Sanity and Smiles: April Recap

April wasn't TOO shabby! Let's see how I did...

Things That Make Me Sane:
*get rid of as much clutter as possible - COMPLETE! At the beginning of the month, I was the de-clutter queen. I got rid of a good amount of stuff to make room for all the new stuff I know we'll be getting with the little bambino
*clean... everything. - This was a really good goal. So good, in fact, that I may have to actually DO IT in May! (we've been a little out of sorts with no power, but we'll be ready to scrub the house from top to bottom soon!)
*make our bed EVERY day in April :) - COMPLETE! I only missed one day!! It has been so nice to walk into the bedroom to a neatly made bed each day. Even if the rest of the house is in complete disarray...

Things That Make Me Smile:
*eat dinner of the patio at least once a week - COMPLETE! You know, we didn't really do this intentionally, but we did eat out there probably 3-4 times, which would theoretically count as "once a week"
*go for a walk with Jason at least once a week - whoops
*have friends over for dinner (at least) twice - whoops
*read 3 books - COMPLETE! I finished up the first Baxter series with Rejoice and Reunion, read Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, and read the 1st half of Organized Simplicity (I plan to go through the 2nd half as we clean our house from top to bottom)

Nursery - New Curtains

Last weekend mom and I decided it was time to update the curtain situation in the baby's room.

Let's take a moment to peek back in time at the lovely horse curtains that gave this room the nickname "the horse room".

Juuuuust lovely.

Then when we updated our living room curtains, I put the sheers from there into this room. Not bad, but nothing special.

We took those down and knew that we needed to put up a new curtain rod, since the current curtains were on a pully system which would have either meant custom order or custom made curtains, which I'm too cheap to do. :)

So after mom's perseverance, determination, and amazing use of power tools, we had the new curtains up!

White sheers on a smaller cafe rod and chocolate brown "blackout curtains" on top! When the blackouts are drawn, it is SOOOO dark in there - it's awesome! It will be perfect for naptime. :)

I am so happy with how they turned out. I have one more little "adornment" for the window treatments, but you'll have to wait for the big reveal to see that! (Plus, I haven't made it yet!)

Any new projects around your house?

After the Storms

We had some really severe storms come through our area yesterday... luckily we did not have any significant damage, but it definitely shook us up! I was at work when our house was hit initially, thank goodness, because my neighbor said that it was the most scared she's ever been - the noise from the storm and trees snapping all around.

I wanted to show you the difference between what our house looked like when we bought it and now after the storms.

Notice all the full, tall, beautiful trees behind our house that rise up way above our roof?

Now, notice how they're all gone?

We're still not sure where all the tops of these trees ended up. A lot of them were flung backwards into our woods and luckily all the trees that actually fell, fell towards the woods and not on to our house. The only tree that was close, ripped our electrical lines off the back of our house, so even when the rest of our neighborhood gets their power back, it will probably be a while before we do.

We were very lucky that the Lord spared our home in the storms yesterday. There were so many in close proximity that were not so fortunate. Please keep the cities of Chattanooga and Ringgold, and the state of Alabama in your prayers.

Dinner at Tony's

Sunday night after our Easter festivities, we met up with Brad & Emily and Sam & Vanessa to eat dinner! It was so great to hang out with these fabulous friends!

So glad that I get to see Em 3-4 weekends in a row!! 

(And of course I'm always glad to see V!)

Easter 2011

Sunday we had a big Easter lunch at the Miller's house! The whole Cox side of the family was there, Nanny, and the Daves family too! We had a great time eating, talking, and just hanging out.

Paula went to Romania recently and brought a video with pictures and clips from her trip. She's going back in June!

Miss Jessica is one of the NEWEST members of the cheerleading squad at Baylor!! I am so proud of my amazing sister!! She showed everyone her dance and cheers from tryouts. She rocks. :)

Before we left, we asked Paula to grab a few shots of us all dressed up, so as promised - here's a picture of me that doesn't cut my head off!

We can't wait to meet you, little dude!!

Baby Lawhorn {Week 30}

Want to know more about Baby Lawhorn?

Check out the Our Baby page!

How far along?: 30w1d - only 10 weeks to go! AHH!!!

How big is baby?: the size of a squash, around 15-17in and 2.5-4 lbs. Not yet.

Weight gain/loss?: +16 lbs
Stretch marks?: Not yet.

Maternity clothes?: The OldNavy.com maternity sale section is my best friend. For real.

Sleep?: Having a harder time getting comfortable at night, but nothing to complain about!

Food cravings?: I'm back on a cereal kick. And still milkshakes - always milkshakes. 

Gender?: Sweet baby BOY!
Movement?: He's a little squirmer; I found out at my appointment that his head is up below my left side ribcage and his little bootie is down. :) So fun to know where he is in there! 
Belly button?: Weirder every day. Oh and the whole linea nigra thing? Yeah, that's starting to happen... TMI?

What do you miss?: Easily squeezing between things without worrying about it - like someone's chair at Easter yesterday was closer than I realized and I totally bumped them with my belly! AWKWARD!!

What are you looking forward to this week?: I have an appointment tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that! We've also been working hard on the nursery and it's coming together so beautifully!! We ordered a glider last Saturday, so it will be a few weeks before it comes in and I'm hoping to have the rest of the room READY by the time the glider comes in! I think I can do it!! :)

Washington DC Photo Book

I finally got around to finishing and ordering a Shutterfly photo book from our Washington, D.C. trip last fall! I have been waiting until I have several good coupon codes to use (free shipping and 20% off photo books) and I also had a $20 credit, so I got this book for $30!

(For a 20 page book it's regularly $29.99 and each additional page is $0.99, so I had 30 additional pages, so mine should have been $60 plus tax and shipping, so I am THRILLED to get it for just $30! The power of waiting!)

Check it out!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Baby Gear - Monitor & Baby Carrier

Calling all mothers!! I would love your advice on a few baby items!

I registered for this First Years standard monitor at Target and this Summer Infant Day and Night video monitor at BabiesRUs. What are your thoughts about monitors? Do you feel like the basic audio monitor is enough or is the video monitor the "new necessary"? If price made no difference, which one would you prefer. Also, are these two that I have listed good brands/models? Is there one that you love more?

Secondly, I am registered for this Infantino baby carrier at BabiesRUs, but again, I have no idea what I really need/want. This one shows that the baby can be in the front facing forwards or towards mom, or on the back. Have you used this one? Do you have a different one that you REALLY love? Think the baby carriers are unnecessary and prefer something else?

As you can see, I know VERY LITTLE on all of this

and would love to hear your thoughts.

Any advice is welcome and appreciated!!

Baby Lawhorn {Week 29}

Sorry, Em - I always look pretty raggedy when we take these on Sunday nights,

so no face shots! I'll make sure to have someone take a picture of me at Easter this weekend. :)

How far along?: 29w1d - only 11 weeks to go!

How big is baby?: the size of a squash (shown below), around 15-17in and 2.5-4 lbs.
Weight gain/loss?: +13-14 lbs
Stretch marks?: Not yet.
Maternity clothes?: Just had to order some more - I'm already tired of wearing the same 3-4 tops! (And NONE of my pre-pregnancy shirts fit anymore...)
Sleep?: If I can FALL asleep, I'm good, but lately I've had a hard time getting comfortable enough to drift off... and my back hurts a little at night, probably nothing like it will in the coming weeks. :)
Food cravings?: Smoothies, milkshakes, sausage biscuits... not together, though thatt doesn't sound too bad.
Gender?: Sweet baby BOY!
Movement?: Little boy's favorite pasttimes include somersaults, backflips, and general squirming.
Belly button?: You can start to see it through thinner clothes! AHHH!!
What do you miss?: Drinking caffeine without guilt. I still drink it, I just feel a little guilty. (Probably why little boy's favorite pasttimes include somersaults, backflips, and general squirming...)
What are you looking forward to this week?: Continuing to work on the nursery! My mom gave us the bedding this weekend so things are starting to come together in there!! (I'm debating whether to post about the nursery in stages or wait until it's "done"... what do you think?)

Terrific Teacups

A few weeks ago we FINALLY put up the teacups that Patricia gave me at our Red Bank Wedding Shower! I got this cool teacup display at a local store in Lookout Valley last summer and knew the perfect spot in the kitchen that I wanted to hang it.

(sorry for the horrendous cell phone pictures)

Now, to be quite honest, I don't remember whose teacups are whose, but they are each a piece of china from:

Shirley - Jason's paternal grandmother

Kathleen - Jason's maternal grandmother

Virginia - Jason's Nanny

Patricia - Jason's mom

It is sooooo special to me to have these!

(I just need to put a little piece of tape on the bottom of

each so that I know which cup belongs to which person!)

EDITED: Patricia let me know which one is which; 

Kathleen (top), Virginia, Shirley, Patricia (bottom).  

Mini Pregnancy Rant

In light of Blair's 3rd Trimester Rant, I have a little mini-rant of my own...

I am a skinny person by nature, I know this. It's something that I hated as a gangly, awkward teenager and learned to grow into and love as my husband fell in love with me for exactly who I am.

Since I've been pregnant, it has been so funny for me and Jason to watch my belly grow each week!

I have gone from this:

to this:

in a matter of 10 weeks!

(And I still have ~12 weeks to go!!)

Everyone's pregnancies are different! I bet my next pregnancy won't look the same as this one has, and I'm sure your pregnancy (or your wife's) didn't look just like mine either.

And YES - I AM pregnant. No, I didn't just eat a big lunch.

And no, your non-pregnant belly is not bigger than mine, I promise.

Sheesh.

Now, I know that the other end of this spectrum is definitely no fun (the "are you sure you're not having twins?" and other really hurtful things), so please know that I'm not trying to compare this to that.

This is just something I'm dealing with every. single. day. from men and women who I'm sure mean well in their comments. It's just slightly annoying.

Okay, rant over.

Baby Lawhorn {Week 28}

How far along?: 28w1d - only 12 weeks to go!

How big is baby?: Still the size of an eggplant, around 2 lbs
Weight gain/loss?: +13-14 lbs

Stretch marks?: Not yet.

Maternity clothes?: Other than my gauchos, I'm completely in maternity clothes.

Sleep?: If I can FALL asleep, I'm good, but lately I've had a hard time getting comfortable enough to drift off.

.Food cravings?: Hmmm... maybe Mike & Ikes? :)

Gender?: Sweet baby BOY!

Movement?: If I'm sitting down/laying down, he's moving like crazy! Just squirming around all the time!

Belly button?: It looks so different already and I've been told it will only get worse... yikes. 

What do you miss?: My abs.

What are you looking forward to this week?: Can't wait to find out if Baby Walker is a boy or a girl!! Hopefully we'll know by the weekend! :)

Yesterday I helped in the nursery at church for the first time and I was holding this little girl Eva and feeding her a bottle, and MY little boy kept kicking her in the back!! Haha! It was hilarious. I told little Eva "Sorry honey, there's nothing I can do - he doesn't listen to me yet." When I told Jason the story, he said it was because our little guy didn't like that girl being in his mommy's lap! :)

Nursery - The Plan

Okay, before we begin, you need to know that I am NOT an artist. I sketched out how I want the nursery to look and it's definitely not perfect, but hopefully it get's the point across! 

Baby Lawhorn's Nursery Plans

Starting on the top left is our beautiful new crib with (hopefully) the adorable bedding we registered for! I plan to hang the quilt on the wall above the crib, since the little guy won't need to actually use it.

On the floor I plan to get a khaki/cream colored larger rug and then a smaller rug (that matches the bedding) to put in front of the crib.

On the wall to the right will be my brown dresser (possibly painted a different color?) with the changing pad on top. Above that I plan to put a mirror, frames, and other small things to dress up the wall space. (We're keeping the walls light green like in the picture below.)

The top part of the drawing is the same view as this one from the Nursery - Clean Slate post:

Looking at the bottom part, on the left side wall I plan to put a bookshelf (just like the ones we have in our living room) for all his books, little nick-nacks, and baskets on the bottom for toys. I may or may not actually put that little hamper next to it... I just thought it might be a cute addition. :)

I didn't draw this on there, but I think we're going to get a glider and small side table to sit in front of the window, but we haven't picked anything out yet. Any suggestions?

And just to refresh your memory, the bottom part of the drawing most closely matches to this picture from days of old:

So what do you think? Do you like where it's headed? Any ideas on gliders?

Two Friends - Two Posts

I read two blog posts today that both touched my heart. One from my college friend, Amy and one from a friend of mine, Stephanie.

Both women talk about how the Lord has guided and directed their lives and apart from Him, they are nothing.

Both women are open, honest, and gracious.

Both women are BEAUTIFUL inside and out and are two of the best role models.

Please take a moment to read each of these posts - you will not regret it.

Amy - Pure of Faith

Stephanie - What is she thinking???

Spring Cleaning: Purge

After a two day trip to Arkansas, I came home with one mission in mind for this weekend: PURGE PURGE PURGE!!! My parents' church is having a Garage Sale to benefit the Youth's summer mission trips, so I thought it would be the perfect time to round up all the stuff I don't "know to be useful" or "believe to be beautiful" and get rid of it!

So I started in my closet and got rid of the following: 

11 sweaters

7 tops

6 tshirts

3 pairs of dress pants

3 pairs of shoes

1 jacket

1 sweatshirt

1 pair of shorts

1 skirt

1 robe

35 things!

Next it was the nursery closet, where I had been storing things that didn't have homes (aka wedding gifts that may not have been on our registry... things we didn't use). Next was the hall linen closet and then the kitchen/dining room and by this point I had probably 6-7 bags of things to get rid of. 

THEN I went downstairs where the real nightmare is. It was (finally) time to get rid of all the junk I had been keeping since I moved out of my apartment in July 2009... gettin' close to that 2 year mark. Yikes. Also, when I have gone through the upstairs before, looking for things to give away, I would put them in a bag and set them downstairs to take to Goodwill but... never actually took any of it.

When all was said and done, we had THIS MUCH stuff:

(I stopped counting by item... it was a lot though!)

...to donate to the church for the sale! Great progress for the weekend, if I do say so myself! I'm sure there is more I could get rid of, but it was good for me to force myself to just do what I could and get rid of it, since I had a time limit. 

Now that a lot of the clutter is gone... it's time to clean.

Baby Lawhorn {Week 27}

Check out the Our Baby page for all things Baby Lawhorn! :)

How far along?: 27w1d - seven months!

How big is baby?: Still the size of an eggplant, around 2 lbs.
Weight gain/loss?: +13 lbs
Stretch marks?: Not yet.
Maternity clothes?: All the time! I already need to get some more shirts... I feel like I'm wearing the same ones all the time!
Sleep?: Still sleeping pretty well.
Food cravings?: Cuties and really any fruit.
Gender?: Sweet baby BOY!
Movement?: If I'm sitting down/laying down, he's moving like crazy! Just squirming like a worm!
Belly button?: It looks so different already and I've been told it will only get worse... yikes. 
What do you miss?: Lifting and carrying things without feeling the effects later. (No worries, nothing too heavy; but bending over to pick stuff up really jacked my back up this weekend...)
What are you looking forward to this week?: Nothing specific I guess... Just enjoying the beginning of my 7th month of pregnancy!! (Can't believe we told our parents over Halloween weekend! It feels like forever ago, but just yesterday too!)

GOLLY BUM!!! LOOK AT THAT BELLY!!!