Show us your life- Nurseries

Today is "Show us you life- nurseries and children's rooms" at Kelly's Korner. Since I haven't participated in anything in forever and I love Emerson's room I figured I would join in.

Here is the entrance into E.'s room. The letter was a baby shower gift.

The wall color looks more subdued here than it is in person. I choose a fairly brighter coral type pink that matches the bedding and Mark painted a brown trim around the top.  I painted this letters from Babies R Us. It took many, many coats. Since there was so much pink I wanted to bring out the blue in her bedding some more. 

Her bedding is the Brooke collection from Pottery Barn Kids. I fell in love with it when I saw it in the store. It's eclectic with lots of patterns and colors, and not babyish at all. The sheet has tiny owls on it and some graphic trees. I pulled from those trees to do the tree paintings on the wall. Drawn by hand, and painted while very pregnant makes for a very sore back. Her crib is from the Amy Coe collection at Babies R Us. The pictures doesn't show it but the lower portion is a chestnut wood and it has a drawer on the bottom. I loved the simple look of it. 

These asymmetrical boxes were a steal at $5 a piece. I got them at Nordstrom from the visual merchandising department when I worked their years ago. They decorated our living room in our first apartment. I repainted them white with a kelly green interior. They frame each side of the window.

Mark refurnished a dresser painting the body white and we added these fun knobs. It matches the crib colors exactly. He also refinished a white trunk that is front of the window. I had a few more pictures but these are old and it doesn't exactly look the same since our house is on the market. 

But, here is little girl enjoying her room a few months ago. Where did that chub go??? 

Looks cozy, huh? With the prospect of moving on the horizon I'm pretty sad to leave our nursery we put so much heart and energy into. But, Emerson will have other rooms. I'm not sure I'll do pink again. Unless she insists, and she might. I'm thinking a fresh blue perhaps. But, when I became pregnant with a girl I wanted a fun, colorful room, that was imaginative and different. I think we achieved that and I love it.

Style

You can't teach style like this. I personally think the vintage bonnet (aka "mine") is a fabulous choice.

14 weeks

 Back to the weekly updates! Last week I had a nasty stomach flu so I was nowhere near capable of taking pictures let alone blogging about it. I'm starting feel pretty normal now. Still get tired mid-afternoon but I'm hanging in there. Yesterday I made Emerson take a nap with me at 4 o'clock and it was just what I needed! She is much more willing to sleep when I sleep as well. I haven't really had any significant cravings. I blame persistent indigestion and heartburn for taking the fun out of food. Although I gave into some fried pickles at the state fair last weekend but to be honest I would eat those as my non-pregnant self. Not sure of my weight gain so fair. My appointment for last week was rescheduled for this week. I like infected the whole office when I was there getting my iv. :( Seriously.

 Emerson decided to make an appearance. She isn't use to the camera not being pointed at her. Of course when I'm not trying to take her picture she has perfect eye contact. As you can see I'm sporting the bella band. I can't button any of my pants and I'm sporting some maternity tees I got on clearance for $2 at target. I've thought I've felt a few flutters but nothing too definite. But, it shouldn't be too long. I started feeling flutters at 16 weeks with E.

 Now to leave you with some cuteness. 

Pulling a book out that we read no less than 20 times today. 

Lover not a fighter

A couple weeks ago at the church nursery they had informed me that Emerson had been pinching other kid's cheeks. I was thinking, "Oh great, we have a bully on our hands." So last week Mark and I decided to take her to the playground. It was overrun with toddlers enjoying the nice weather. Emerson spots a "baby" and immediately runs up to a little girl pretty much her same size. She dives in for a hug while eagerly saying, "hi," to her. While the little girl is in shock from this forward approach Emerson grabs her cheeks, and says "mmm" while going in for a kiss. Whoa! Her cheek pinching was her way of showing affection. She wasn't trying to be mean she was trying to be loving. I knew she was a lover not a fighter. Now to address the issue of kissing people on the mouth the moment you meet. Hmmmm...

Baby Bump

So I figured I would post some baby bump pictures before I forgot. Just an fyi I actually weigh less than I did pre-pregnancy with Emerson. But, of course all my muscles are stretched out from ahem....Emerson, and things are showing a lot sooner than last time. I still weigh less than my pre-pregnancy weight with Emerson but I'm already popping out of my clothes. Not really sure how that works out, but I've started wearing quite a bit maternity shirts and making a last attempt to wear my regular pants this week. I didn't wear maternity pants with E. until about 24 weeks. Not sure if that was because I didn't need to or because I was stubborn. :)

So here is my first picture. 7 weeks...seriously!

 Self portrait at 10 weeks, bloating subsiding a bit.

11.5 weeks. If you don't see a difference you might need your eyes checked.

For a point of reference here is Emerson in the oven at 7 weeks..

and 12 weeks. I'm pretty sure I'm already bigger now than I was at 16 weeks with her. Overall I'm starting to move into the feeling good stage of pregnancy. So far this has been quite different than with Emerson. With her I had a terrible couple weeks of morning sickness where I could only graze on food but felt better by week 9. This go around I've had killer heartburn/indigestion starting around the time I had terrible morning sickness with E. But, I've also had the nausea but it's been spread out and last longer. The worst week so far was week 10 and I even had some moments of nausea a couple days ago. It's really crazy how different it has been so I have no idea what to expect. I went in for a heartbeat check last week and was ecstatic to hear the heartbeat at just 11 weeks. 180bpm! I'll get a chance to hear it next week at my monthly check-up. We should find out the sex sometime in mid November and I can't wait! I'm not making any prediction as I was completely wrong last time. Which could mean I should just pick the opposite of my instinct. But, hopefully blogging will help me to stay on top of belly pics and keeping track of this pregnancy. Oh! My due date is April 20th. Spring baby. :)

19 months

 Here's is our goofy 19 month old. Silly, happy, and apparently ticklish. She even likes to tickle herself when we aren't available going, "tickle, tickle."

Headed full steam ahead to age 2, she is talking up a storm and turning more and more into a little person   instead of a baby. She hasn't met a stranger yet and loves to chat it up with new people. Her tiny little wave is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Who wouldn't want to talk to her with social skills like that?

 

She has become a ridiculous climber. Climbing our stove, the baby gate, the high chair. All to give her mother a heart attack. She's eating a lot more but is still fickle most days. Until I get myself some food and of course she wants it. I think she is pretty much addicted to cheerios and could eat them all day. She is a fruit lover, but a veggie hater. Hopefully I can convince her by Christmas that veggies aren't poison. Things to hope for. 

 She loves to read books, and affectionately calls them "b's." She definitely gets stuck on her favorite books and you can't convince her to read anything else. Last week she brought me The Pottery Barn Kids catalog and was determined for me to read it to her.

 She's has really picked up on that everyone has a name. She can say more than a few names now and lovingly says, "Hey Mimi," to our dog. They have become better friends this month. That is when Emerson isn't attempting to hit her. But, having a snack cup always encourages Mia to stick around.  She also has started saying amen at the end of prayers. Emerson also loves to imitate animals. She is definitely an animal lover!

 Another thing Emerson loves is babies! She talks about them all day and can spot them across the room.  It's like Christmas to her when she finds one. I recently put up a new picture of her in the hallway and she is beyond excited to have a picture of a baby in our house. 

 I'm really glad she loves babies. 

 Seeing as she might be seeing one on a regular basis pretty soon.

Because....

She's going to be a big sister!

Trip to the museum

The other week some friends invited us to go to the Durham Natural Science Museum. We were only there a short amount of time but Emerson had a lot of fun. We headed to the outside portion which looked huge but we didn't cover all of the ground of course. Emerson found the water portion and loved it as you can see.  Luckily it was a hot and humid day because she got completely drenched. I was tempted to jump in myself.

 Next we went to the toddler section. They had a play kitchen and lots of other contraptions.  Our little climber scaled the ladder all the way to the top of the tree house.

The other half of the section had natural toys, a small playground, and cool things on the walls. Emerson liked opening the doors and putting toys inside. If they hadn't closed and kicked us out we would she would have been occupied a few more hours I think! Ha! I can't wait to take her back because I'm sure she would have a blast exploring.

A hike in the park

Monday we decided to go for a hike at the local state park. Mia absolutely loves running around like a wild dog. She actually chased a few deer. Emerson got to ride on the back for the first time and she seemed to enjoy the new point of view while sporting her backwards cap.

Mid-trip we stopped at the lake to rest our legs. Little E. was excited to be free.  She loves to be outside!

Doesn't she look cute? She wore her new merrell's from the consignment sale to get the outdoor feel. We headed back and evidently the sun is setting a lot sooner as the end of our journey was pretty creepy in the dark woods. 

On a random note I had a star sighting at the mall when I saw "Mouth" from One Tree Hill. I've been watching this show forever so I spotted him immediately in H&M. He was much bigger in person that the "nerdy" character he portrays on tv. Then in the food court he got Moe's for lunch and I decided I liked him even more! Not that I was stalking him. Just in the same places at the same time! :)

Weekend update

 

Since my updates have been far and between I'm going to attempt to do better. This past weekend we went to our first Appalachian game of the year. E. dressed in her hippie tie die ASU onesie. I'd say she was definitely an eye catcher. 

Although she look less than thrilled in the pictures she had a good time.  She cheered for her team and made friends with everyone around her. In face she outlasted most of the other fans and was a real trooper to stay the whole game. Even if she ended up throwing a few bottles into the crowd. 

On Sunday we headed to the mall to give Emerson a turn on the carousel. We knew she would love it since she was so excited her first time back at the zoo in Utah. I think the whole mall knew she had fun since she was squealing so much. I think she rode a total of 3 times but really would have went all day long. 

Here she is waving to the crowd. I think this maybe a regular stop for us every time we are in Hickory.

Beach Baby

Over the Labor Day we headed to the beach. Emerson had a blast! She loves the sand and probably could have spent all day out there digging around and finding seashells. These are some of her 18 month pictures and I hope to post more when I get around to editing them. 

She also found snacking on seashells and sand to be a favorite past time.  Emerson loves seeing the seagulls and ran after them with lots of energy and yelling. She also liked to impersonate them, which I have a video of that I hopefully I'll post soon. 

Doesn't she look adorable in her bathing suit?!? I think we might have to make a few day trips back to give her a taste of the beach life again. It was a nice end to summer, although it's still in the 90's so I'm not so certain fall is around the corner. At least in NC anyways.