Today we made a purchase that I am SUPER excited about!!! Well, minus the 4 to 6 weeks it will supposedly take to get here, of course. ;)
As you may know, we're expecting baby #3!! A BOY!! In just 18 short weeks! So exciting!! Since we found out we're having a boy, I started planning the furniture situation for the kids. Both LO and Chase have Munire convertible furniture (crib to toddler to full) in dark espresso finishes. With a little guy on the way, I decided I want to take LO's furniture (converted back to a crib) and use it for the baby's room. That way I can purchase new furniture for LO in a white finish (much more girly, IMO) and finally do her room up nicely, just like we did for Chase's room a few weeks ago.
Of course she doesn't know about this yet, as it is all part of my master plan! We will completely overhaul her room -- including her new furniture -- while she's at a sleepover so she'll have NO CLUE about it until she walks in and sees it for the first time! WOOT!
So back to today's purchase... we bought her new bed and dresser with mirror! Yay! See how cute??
I am SO in love!! And of course, these will pair beautifully with her new Pottery Barn Kids bedding we purchased last week:
I am so happy to have all of the main components of her new room on hand and/or ordered and on the way! I'm hopeful we'll be able to do her room transformation by mid-February. Besides a few miscellaneous decor items, the only other outstanding purchase to be made is for her new bedroom lighting, which I'm hopeful will be something like this chandelier from eBay (with or without shades... I can't decide... thoughts??):
Once everything is HERE and LO is NOT, we'll knock this new room out in no time! I only gave us about 8-10 hours to do Chase's entire room, but I'm going to allow over 24 hours for LO's room since in addition to painting we'll also be installing wainscoting, chair rail and some other additional "stuff" that we didn't need to do in Chase's room. I CAN'T WAIT!!!
The super cool thing is that once LO's new room transformation is complete, we'll be able to start on the baby's nursery! And I'm keeping that one super simple and low-key (much to hubs' delight), so don't expect TOO much craziness going on with that room.
Of course eventually we'll FINALLY get to the master bedroom, but I won't talk about that yet since hubs needs a few daysweeks months to settle into the idea of dropping another large sum of money on more new bedroom furniture and decor. ;)
I am ecstatic to report that this morning I FINALLY pulled the trigger and purchased LO's new bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. It begins with this adorable Brigette Ruffle Quilt. Oh, the girly-ness of it all!
These items are on their way! While I love the North Star Decorative Sham as an accent to this collection, I'm not a fan of the price tag and I'm pretty sure I can make something similar to this myself for much less (and much more value since it'd be made with love by mommy!).
I'm SOOOOOOOO excited! I'm not sure when we'll actually begin LO's room makeover, but I'm 99.99% sure it'll be before the baby arrives as we are planning to take LO's convertible furniture (crib to toddler bed to her current full size bed as well as her dresser) and put them in the baby's nursery. My logical thought process was that buying a full size bed and dresser for her room would be cheaper than buying a new convertible crib and dresser for the baby. We shall see where the numbers fall...
I've been searching for a white furniture set for LO, and have been sadly underwhelmed by the lack of selection out there. From Rooms to Go to Ashley Furniture Homestore to baby furniture stores, I just haven't found exactly what I want. The closes thing I've found so far, that I like "enough" (though I'm not in love with the price tag), is the Madison Full Panel Bed from Legacy Classic Kids Furniture. I love the simple, clean lines, and I think it'll really look amazing with her new PBK bedding (versus the lame khaki bedding in the pic below).
I want her to have a double dresser instead of the tall chest of drawers she's had so the room will be much more "girly" than it is now. Again, with the simple lines... I really love the double dresser with arched mirror!
Hubs and I both felt the dresser with photo mirror was just a slight bit too "froofy" or over-the-top for our less than girly-girl...
Plus I was concerned the antique off-white finish for the Enchantment collection just wouldn't look right with the PBK bedding I'm so totally head over heels in love with. Would you agree?
The only other decor idea I really have at this point for her new room is to do an accent wall with wainscoting, similar to this:
A majority of the wall will actually be covered by her full size bed, but I don't think I care. I really love the look of this accent, and as of right now, I'm thinking her room will be a VERY pale pink with the wainscoting in a slightly darker shade of pink (but not quite as fuchsia as the pic above).
There's so much more planning to do but now just isn't the time to focus on all of the details for her room with the holidays so quickly approaching. I know I'll want to do a good bit of homemade wonderfulness, whether it's sewing accent pillows, making framed artwork similar to Chase's, or maybe having her name in letters on the wall (also similar to Chase's). I plan to incorporate some level of horses/unicorns and just a little sprinkle of princess-y stuff. I want it to be girly for sure, but if you know LO, you'll know she's also into dinosaurs and trucks and cars and swords, so I don't want to take it over the top. Ya know?
I can't wait to see how her room unfolds because, you know, after this room there's a nursery to work on. But I wonder if it'll be PINK or BLUE? ;)
So yesterday marked 20 weeks with this pregnancy, and I'm happy to share we had a good report on our little baby. Granted, it was basically the kind of appointment where you wait in the exam room for over an hour so they could throw a doppler on your belly for 30 seconds to listen to the baby's heartbeat (which I can do myself at home as needed) and send you on your way. ((sigh)) I'm so impatient. This will never change.
Some less than appealing news I received from my doctor was that, based on my medical history and the current medications I'm taking, it's essentially a given that I will FAIL my glucose screen at 28 weeks, which will result in my having to check my blood sugar at least 4 times a day. It may also result in me taking another medication, which, if that med doesn't work, I'll have to give myself insulin. This will continue through the remaining 3 months of this pregnancy.
As you may imagine, I was less than thrilled with this news.
While it will be a ginormous pain to manage this with diet, exercise, blood sugar monitoring, medication and possibly insulin, it's even more frustrating to know this can negatively affect the baby. Due to the extra insulin the baby's pancreas will make, he/she may have very low blood glucose levels at birth and is also at higher risk for breathing problems. This is not great, obviously. There are a lot of negative impacts of gestational diabetes and I'm just now starting to research and learn about it all. I'm hopeful if I can be diligent with my diet and exercise over the next two months, maybe I'll increase my chances of passing my glucose screening... maybe??
Anywho, here's a little pic of our guy/gal from our ultrasound last week. I'm just praying for God to keep His hand of protection on this sweet child!
We are so very happy and blessed that our newest little one looked wonderful at my 19-week full anatomy scan earlier this week. However, I was so completely unprepared for the flood of emotions I felt the morning of the appointment.
We were scheduled for a 9AM visit on Tuesday, December 11th. I dropped Chase off at my mom's and hit the road. Hubs and I drove separately as he would be heading to work after the appointment while I would be going back to get Chase. For some reason, I was led to listen to Matt Hammitt's All of Me in the car the whole way there. On repeat.
And I cried.
A lot.
Unexpectedly.
I was so overwhelmed. My thoughts of course turned to my amazing heart warrior as the lyrics spoke of how "I can't give you half my heart and pray He makes you whole." I thought of the unknown future of my baby as "I'm so close to what I can't control." I didn't know what the outcome of this appointment would be. I was so scared. But it was so surprising to me because -- and this is me keeping it real out here -- I honestly hadn't bonded with the baby and or truly accepted the fact that I was expecting for the past 5 months. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was so scared of the unknown future that I thought it'd be better if I didn't bond with the baby so I wouldn't be nearly as devastated as I was when we received Chase's diagnosis. I had already fallen SO in love with that baby boy that his congenital heart defect diagnosis was completely unbearable.
If I didn't accept this baby, I couldn't be hurt if/when I found out something was wrong. Horrible logic, I know, but that didn't change my mindset.
Finally, about 40 excruciating minutes after we arrived, we were called back for our appointment. And much to our relief, we went straight for the ultrasound.
The technician was amazing and very upbeat. It was hard to hide the tears welling up in my eyes as I took my place and she prepared for the ultrasound with the warm gel on my growing belly. I apologized over and over and told her it wasn't her, it was me. Hubs made a brief comment about our history (speaking of Chase) and she knew exactly what he was referring to. Apparently she remembered us from one of our millions of ultrasounds with Chase. She said she was doing her best to hold herself together. Very sweet.
When she started the scan, the baby was breach and basically curled up into a ball. This was the worst possible position for us to see the heart, so the tech continued with the scan. She took measurements, pointed out images on the screen, and did a great job of talking us through the appointment. While everything she saw looked good, every muscle in my body was completely tense. I couldn't budge. I even remember telling myself to relax but I just couldn't do it. I was so nervous. Even though everything she saw looked great, I kept waiting for her to get to the part that didn't look great.
The baby cooperated with us and turned around so we could get great pics of the heart. Even after she said "four chamber heart" I still couldn't be happy. I was thinking, Chase had four chambers, too, but half of them were too small to function. So four chambers didn't really mean much to me.
We saw the blood flow in and out of the heart and great vessels, and it was very clearly red OR blue, not mixed red AND blue. We saw valves functioning normally. I'm no expert and even I could clearly see things looked like what they're supposed to look like.
But I still couldn't exhale. I still couldn't relax.
After the appointment, I gave the technician a hug and headed into a small room to wait on the Maternal-Fetal Medicine (high risk) doctor to confirm her findings. While we waited, I was still numb. Hubs was happy and confused as to why I didn't seem ecstatic. I guess I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The doctor came in all smiles and said everything looked great. He spoke of the heart specifically and how wonderful it looked. Then he asked me what was wrong. I didn't even know what to say. He continued by saying EVERYTHING looked fantastic! There wasn't one little tiny thing that he thought we'd need to watch closely, etc... I smiled and guess I was just waiting for it all to sink in.
Even as hubs and I headed our separate ways after the appointment, I was still numb. To be honest, it's been almost 72 hours since that appointment and I'm still having a hard time believing it. It's so weird to feel like I've finally been given the go-ahead to fall in love with my baby.
I always knew the first half of my next pregnancy after Chase would be tough. It's so hard having missed out on 9 months of the joy, excitement and anticipation of being pregnant -- the last half of Chase's pregnancy and the first half of this one. I'm looking forward to being able to believe this baby is our reality. That God has chosen to bless us with a healthy boy or girl. It's so humbling to think of Him blessing us in that way.
So yes, we're having a healthy baby with a four-chamber heart! And we couldn't be more thankful to the One who gave us this gift!
Thank you to all of you who have been praying for this new little one and for hubs, LO, Chase and I as we walked into the unknown at our appointment. God is so good! And for the record, we'll tell the kids what we're expecting soon, and after they know, we'll share the exciting news with the rest of the world! :)
And finally, for those who are interested, here's the song All of Me by Matt Hammitt along with the lyrics below. It's just amazing.
All of Me
Matt Hammitt
Afraid to love
Something that could break
Could I move on
If you were torn away?
And I'm so close to what I can't control
I can't give you half my heart
And pray He makes you whole
(Chorus)
You're gonna have all of me
You're gonna have all of me
'Cause you're worth every falling tear
You're worth facing any fear
You're gonna know all my love
Even if it's not enough
Enough to mend our broken hearts
But giving you all of me is where I'll start
I won't let sadness steal you from my arms
I won't let pain keep you from my heart
I'll trade the fear of all that I could lose
For every moment I share with you
Chorus
Heaven brought you to this moment, it's too wonderful to speak
Day 2 at Disney was our first time at Magic Kingdom! It was on Sunday, November 25th (which actually happened to be hubs' and my 7 year anniversary) and the park was open from 9am until 7pm. They had Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party from 7pm until midnight (for an extra almost $300) but we opted out of that, even though it would've been AMAZING. Maybe next time.
So Sunday morning we were up relatively bright and early so we could make it to the park as close to 9am as possible. We decided to drive to the park rather than take the complementary bus transportation from our resort hotel because we liked the flexibility of making stops, taking a different route, etc. It worked out well, but let me tell you. We drove about 10 minutes from the hotel to the MK parking lot. Then we jumped on a tram that would take us to our next stop: the monorail or ferry boat. You had to take one or the other to get the MK and we opted for the monorail. So it literally was about an hour from our hotel to the parking lot to the tram to the monorail to the Magic Kingdom entrance. Whew! Luckily we didn't have to pay for parking (about $13/day I think?) since we were resort guests.
Here's a pic of the kids on the tram. They were kind of excited about what we were up to!
Here's a pic I took from the monorail at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. The kids were getting really excited now! Especially after they saw Cinderella's Castle a few yards back while on the monorail!
We made it into the park and took a few pics in front of Cinderella's Castle.
Our first stop was DUMBO!
I rode with LO and hubs rode with Chase, so I was only able to get pics of my girl. She loved it!
After Dumbo, we headed over to The Barnstormer roller coaster. Obviously I knew I wouldn't be able to ride too many rides what with being pregnant and all, and honestly Chase isn't able to ride anything that could cause the pressures in his little body to suddenly change (like big coasters with g-forces and what-not), but I figured the Barnstormer would be okay for both of us. I rode with him and LO rode with daddy.
Ready for the ride! I think we held hands the whole time! He liked it okay but I think it was still a bit too jerky and uncomfortable for him. LO had a blast, of course!
Then we wandered into a big top tent that had some of our favorite characters signing autographs! We jumped on it and met some of our faves...
Daisy:
Minnie:
Goofy:
And Donald:
After meeting some friends, we went to the race track to drive some cool cars! Somebody was obviously already a bit worn out from our early morning and several days of traveling away from home with no naps. ;)
But put this kid in a race car and all bets are off! He wanted to drive so I went along to take pics.
Then we met more friends!
Of course we had to ride the ginormous carousel! Too bad LO didn't get the horse she wanted...
But I was able to squeeze a tiny half-genuine smile out of her.
Chase was all smiles!
Until he looked at me all creepy-like, apparently...
No, wait! We're all smiles again! Yay!
We also watched Mickey's Philharmagic in 4D, which was a lot of fun!
Then it was off to the Winnie the Pooh ride, which the kids rode together while mommy & daddy sat behind them to take pics.
Next it was time to fight the evil emperor Zurg on the Buzz Lightyear ride!
We grabbed some lunch and then grabbed a great spot for the big parade at 3pm!
Sadly, this was as close as we'd get to Woody on our entire trip. No autograph from one of our biggest faves. :(
Mickey and Minnie!
Aladdin and the Genie!
Cinderella and her prince!
After the parade, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel, since it would be about an hour to get there and all. We had some quiet down time (i.e. not naps but a break from the crazy madness) before it was time to head over to Disney's Contemporary resort for our dinner date at Chef Mickey's with all of our favorite characters. Here's where I'm gonna get real with y'all. Luckily we had the dining plan so we each used one credit for this meal. That means technically we only paid a tip for the evening. ThankyouJesus. I have never had such a horrible selection of awful buffet food in my entire life! Think of a buffet restaurant that has a little blue and white "C" in the corner of the window instead of the preferable "A" rating. It. Was. Awful. The food was gross, there was NO variety for the kids and even though I tried small portions of several of the available items, they were incredibly disappointing. Whoa. I couldn't believe it! Not very "Disney" in my opinion, especially since without the dining plan we would've easily paid $175 for this one meal. And I would've died. Right there on the table, signing the credit card slip. It was THAT bad.
Of course the highlight of the meal was meeting some characters. We started with Donald! Sorry these are blurry...
Then Pluto, who we had been hoping to see all day!
Followed by Minnie Mouse herself!
Chase likes him some time with Minnie Mouse!
Then it was time to meet The Mouse himself, Mickey!! I thought about pulling him aside to talk about the lack of quality in his buffet, but decided against it. ;)
A precious hug from our precious boy!
Chase had a thing with crazy blinking when I was taking his picture, so lots of them ended up with his eyes closed. Boys.
Then Goofy stopped by for a silly visit!
LO thought it was hilarious that he was signing her autograph book with one ear over his eyes. LOL!
Haha! Silly goofy!
Again with the eyes closed! Sheesh. ;)
This is a bit better...
Here's Chase enjoying his disappointing dessert. A bowl of melted chocolate ice cream. There wasn't even any toppings to put on it! So sad.
But I should acknowledge the lack of topping didn't keep him from eating the ice cream. ;)
Smiles!!!
After dinner we posed for a free picture with a Mickey statue. Silly eye-closing Chase!!!
That's better! :))
Day 3 was another day at Magic Kingdom... Coming soon! ;)
