29 weeks

and today ... i am exhausted. i know this is just a taste of what is to come!!

ryan finished the orange on the wall. he did a fabulous job! im lucky to have him willing to do the work for the nursery while i get to have the fun designing it!

photos of that tomorrow perhaps :)

xoxo,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

paint and deals

Ryan and his dad started actually painting today! 3 of the walls and the closet are now white thanks to them!! Ryan has the task tomorrow, of adding the orange to the last wall and then we can begin the floor installation!! 

some photos:

he might not appreciate i caught him pre-haircut on this one

the white supplies from today

the custom orange is ready for tomorrow!

I also scored big today on a breastpump. Yes, I am sharing my exciting breastpump news with everyone :) Found out on a message board about some Target stores putting the Medela Freestyle on clearance to make room for new inventory, even though other Target stores would continue to carry this current pump style at full price. With a little legwork, I managed to score a pump for $94.98 from $379.99!! I was VERY excited this morning after getting such a great deal!

picture from target's website :)

more tomorrow ...

with love,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby


1/30/11 Edit:
instead of making a new post i figured i would just edit this one. i found a $20 off medela coupon in my target registry packet. i called and they said just bring my receipt and the coupon in and they would refund me! so my pump actually only came to $74.98!

gestational diabetes?

not for this girl! went in for my test today and i passed! they want you below 140 - i was at 117 :)

Sydney's heartbeat was about 140 and she is measuring slightly ahead (meaning about 29 weeks, which i will be sunday!)

ryan finished the ceiling and priming the walls, so painting this weekend will be attacked full force (by the guys of course!) 

more updates as they come...

xoxo

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

28 weeks

I cant believe how fast time is flying! 

here is my 28 week belly photo before i forget:

Last night I pre-registered for delivery at the hospital - it sort of put it all into perspective - Sydney isnt staying in my belly forever! (i mean, deep down I know that of course!)

Ryan is doing a fantastic job with the beginning stages of prepping the nursery. He primed the walls yesterday and is painting the ceiling tonight. Rumor has it his dad/my father in law is coming over Saturday to actually put the real paint on the walls - and then my dad will be over Sunday to tape a design onto one wall so we can paint that sometime shortly after!

After painting: new flooring!! I think that one will be a bit more interesting to say the least...

On me - Im doing pretty good. I feel like I am back in the first trimester at times with how tired I am - but I try to fight through it. Im also really sore - and I try not to say much because I realize its just going to get worse! We wont even talk about sleeping at night ;)

I have my glucose testing tomorrow - fingers crossed I am in the normal range!!

with love,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

27 weeks

so im a bit late, in fact im almost to 28 weeks - however i have had this ready to post since Sunday! but, cant win them all!

aside from my back killing me. everything is great. and im obsessed with cuties (those tiny clementines!) lately. literally obsessed.

xoxo,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

Registering and the Nursery

Ryan and I went to finish our registry at Babies R Us yesterday. We had a lot of fun, but it was a LOT of work and decision making. I will say we made a brief stop in the glider section - NOT to contemplate which one to choose as we already have one - but to rest. yes, to rest. That store is bigger than you think and often you have at least 3 choices for every product to make. Good thing, that I did my research. However, because Ryan did not, he did not often understand why stuff was so expensive. He did understand most of it once I was able to talk to him about why I thought we should register for A over B, and not C or D - although I had a high chair chosen - I moved from my first choice to one that he selected - we do work well together :)

My father-in-law came over bright and early this morning to help Ryan take down the baseboard (he still needs to do inside the closet, and the doors and door trim) and remove our old queen bed and my old day bed from the Nursery. They were finished by about 10am this morning! The room is naked and ready for some paint before "we" tear up the carpet to make room for some new flooring! 

Here are a few photos of her room as it stands right now:

as you walk in the door:

view from across the doorway:

and for fun, the two sides of her closet

the right has nice large shelves:

and the left contains more hanging space:

 

as you can see, the walls are FILTHY! and no, we have not done anything to them since moving in over a year ago - we figured we would wait until we were expecting a little one to fill the room! dont you just LOVE that lovely blue carpet? i hope to forget about it one day to be honest! i dont mind the carpet in the rest of the house, but whoever thought they should stray from a nice neutral carpet and choose blue (or green which isnt as bad, but is next door in the office) was out of their mind!!!

With that said, up next is painting the ceiling and priming the walls - and then onto buying the real paint for the room!!

xoxo,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

mirror mirror on the wall...

i finished repainting the mirror i had mentioned a few posts earlier, last night! it was a very exciting moment when i realized that i did not have to do "just one more coat".

a few things i realized as i was working: a spray primer, and a light coat of one, was not enough, i should have purchased a paint primer (probably a grey tinted one) to make this easier on myself. lesson learned. and i dont think i really thought about how much detail the frame had, and how much time that would take. for the past two days ive not done much besides paint the mirror frame while ryan has been at work.

would i do it again? in a heartbeat. i love it and i think it will be perfect in her nursery. i want to place it across from the window in there to bounce more light around.

i used olympic paint (no VOC so it was safe to use, but still took breaks and stayed in an open space!) and the coverage was pretty nice! 

forget about real paint brushes, after getting the first two-three coats on, a sponge brush and a detailing acrylic brush (thanks to my mom) was all i needed to finish it up!

a reminder of the before:

and after:

i love it and am happy i went with yellow!!!

 another project: completed!!

xoxo,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

our glider!

I am so, so excited about this. My great-grandpa hand-made it for my mom in 1991. She used it with my brother when he was born and it basically has been left in a room until now! My parents offered it to us when we started considering furniture for Sydney's room. I asked my mom if she could sew cushion covers to match the fabrics we chose - since she had made the previous covers for the cushions to match what she used in my brothers nursery. She posted the photos of it completed, and I can not wait to have it in our home now!

(my mom asks that you please ignore the dust, she says she still needs to wipe it down and oil or do something to it, but she wanted some quick photos up!

again the fabric:

and the finished product:

I think the finish he chose for the wood, will be perfect to compliment the color of the drawer that is under the crib!

with love,

kristen, ryan, sydney and brigsby

owl mom and baby necklace

Etsy is somewhere i go when im bored, well, i like it ... lets face it i am addicted to it. lots of really neat, unique stuff on there. when we were planning our wedding, i spent a lot of time on there, and ended up doing a lot of the work myself instead. saved lots of money. but some things you cant just make. like necklaces. 

i LOVE this necklace:

it comes from seller: westbyron out of Chicago.

sadly, i do not have $72, but for anyone who does - i think this is simply adorable. the best part - you can have the back of it customized!! and trust me, if i did and i wasnt trying to gather everything we need for Sydney's arrival in april - i would be wearing one right now!

the owls, the heart, the way they are looking at each other - its a bond. and the fact you can customize - did i mention that already??

this seller has a great shop - lots of really cute items, i recommend you check them out!

with love,

kristen and sydney

26 weeks and a gift

26 weeks already? call me crazy but time is flying, and i realize it will just keep doing so!

feeling great. im obsessed with cuties (those tiny oranges) right now - however everyone around us, including our grocery delivery service, seems to be sold out! talk about a bummer.

i could replace it with a chocolate donut, but im trying to be good :)

my gestational diabetes testing is on the 27th - im hoping to pass that so i dont have to do the 3 hour one. plus i have to leave work early and i dont want to do that twice since im coming down to the final weeks of work before Sydney is due to arrive!

my parents, also offered to buy us Sydney's crib!! we feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives helping us. i can not wait to really get going on her room and see the crib in place. here is what we have chosen:

(minus the bedding of course!)

thank you so much mom and dad!!

i also took up a little knitting project. now mind you, i have no idea how to really knit. but i was told about the knifty knitter and i had to give it a go. here is what i came up with for my first real attempt (well its really the 2nd but the first attempt i spent more time watching the youtube instructions than actually focusing on the hat!)

(please excuse my messy desk!)

i cant wait to try again and perhaps incorporate more than one color!

i think that is all for now, more updates to come of course!

with love,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

25 weeks

just a little late ... what can i say, sometimes i just forget to post things!

i feel great. Sydney is moving like crazy. life could not be better!

although, time could slow down just a touch - i can not believe that in 3 days i will be at 26 weeks already! where did the time go!!

i placed the order for the fabric so my mom can make the crib skirt...here is what we chose:

i love it and can not wait to see all the fabrics and colors come together in her nursery! 

with love,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

for the love of...

a photograph.

if you know me, you know that i love photos. i have already lined up my maternity photos and a tentative newborn photoshoot date (which will change depending on when Miss Sydney makes her appearance). 

i also want to take the opportunity to practice and see what i can come up with photo-wise. 

i thought, who better to practice than Brigsby! 

WRONG. 

he moves. i forgot about that to be honest.

here is what i was left with for the night:

the positives:

i love the flooring choice i made. its actually just a pack of laminate snap together flooring from menards (i can thank my sister in law for the awesome menards gift card that also paid for the baseboard and a few other things!)

the seamless paper works pretty well (although i did not clone any of the wrinkles or shadows). i have a few other colors that im dying to try out.

the basket, pretty cute. i want to find some more baskets and containers to put Sydney into.

what i would change:

the basket sheds - clean that up!

flooring and baseboard have gaps - figure out how to fix that

move the basket further away from the background

and editing of course.

also the artificial lighting - it is dark here when i was playing. i prefer natural light.

it would be awfully helpful to have a person in there right?

thats what i thought too.

i am also starting to learn my own limitations, relating to being pregnant. 

for instance, positing myself on my hands and knees to get an eye level shot, is just going to get harder. my back hurts right now from playing on the floor. and patience - ive become quite an emotional rollarcoaster, although i try to keep any freakouts to a small amount or a short time period. if you ask Ryan, i would be he says i do pretty well with that.

Sydney is quite an active girl - dancer, gymnast - we will have to find something to consume some of this energy she already seems to have!

with love,

kristen, ryan, sydney & brigsby

welcome to 2011!

it feels so weird to say that!

it also feels weird, to say that this year we are going to meet Sydney!

Ryan and I were talking about how fast time was going and figured that comfortably we had about 12 weeks left to prepare ourselves. 12 weeks. that is not much time at all when you think about it! but we are so excited!!!

I am late posting, but here is my 24 week belly photo:

we also bought miss Sydney a mirror for her room today:

i plan on pulling one of the colors from the fabrics we have chosen to use in her room (either yellow or a light or bright pink!)

perhaps in my next post, i will include what we have decided as far as her nursery goes, fabrics and other items!

I have found a new beverage that I like, Mendota Sparkling Water in Lime flavor! I have never cared for sparkling water before - but I love it now!

with love,

kristen, ryan, sydney and brigsby