Nursery is Done! (Mostly).

It has been WAY too long since my last blog, but I finally have something good to blog about. I've been working on this nursery for months now, and am finally almost finished. We have less than 2 months until Hudson makes his appearance (I probably haven't mentioned this yet in my blog but we finally decided on the name Hudson Lee Applegate) and I'm feeling more ready than ever and less ready than ever all at the same time. I have all his clothes washed and put away, all his bottles sterilized, and the nursery mostly done (except for the mobile Danny and I are making and getting a glider of some sort). All we need now is for him to get here! This pregnancy has really gone so fast, but is now starting to go sooo slow. I found out a few weeks ago I have gestational diabetes, and that is really sucking. I'm taking insulin 4x a day and pricking my finger 4x a day and on a strict diet. As if there isn't enough things I couldn't do already, now I can't eat anything either. I have to eat SOOO much meat, and for everyone that knows me, you know how much I hate meat anyway. I may never have another egg or piece of meat the rest of my life after this. And I'm planning on eating 20 cupcakes a day and being drunk for the next 3 months to make up for what I'm missing now. Kidding. Kinda. ANYWAY! I love the way the nursery has turned out if I do say so myself, and I've been dying to show people! SO! Here are the pics so far!

I copied this idea from this picture which I saw on lots of nursery decorating blogs...It is harder than it looks. I got the letters at Jo-Ann fabrics, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels and added paint or modge podged on scrapbook paper, or some variation of that for most of the letters.

The curtains are from Ikea (which I bought on ebay) and the little blue chest my mom found for me at a garage sale for a few dollars that I spray painted a shiny blue to match the curtains. They will hold toys or blankets...not decided yet for sure on that one.
 

I bought this shelf for $3 at a garage sale and painted it. I have more books than it can hold but it will do for now.

I bought this at a garage sale too....It was a steal for $10. It was the woman who was having the sale's desk as a child...it needed some paint and new handles and is adorable now! We found a Bengals ticket from the 70's in the back of it while trying to get it to open all the way. Or maybe the Browns? Finding that out for sure would require me walking upstairs to look again and at this point I'm not doing that unless it is necessary. Like to nap.

Not the greatest picture of the print or shelf, but it's the best I could do today. I got the elephant print at this etsy shop and the shelf at my favorite semi-annual activity, the Springfield Flea Market extravaganza in Springfield Ohio. This next extravaganza is in September this year...and I will probably have a week old infant at that time, so that will be a no go this year. The hat is from gap, and the starfish we picked up on our Savannah trip this year!

The nightstand is another painted garage sale find with some anthropologie nobs, and the lamp I had but painted, and recovered the lampshade in a fabric I thought went with the room.

I bought the dresser at a garage sale for $10 and painted it...All the picture frames I found at garage sales and painted. The chalkboard is made from a piece of sheet metal I cut to fit the frame and then painted with chalkboard paint, so it is magnetic too! And the guitar fabric is a pinboard, but I don't have anything to pin onto it...yet.

I should get a better picture of this too to do it justice. My incredibly talented friend Kris made this as a gift for me after spending hours trying to recreate it myself. Sometimes it's best to leave it to the pros.

Ahhh...cookies. Miss you. I bought this print at this etsy site.

I accidentally ordered the wrong print from this store (I originally wanted the baby porcupine) but when this arrived it was too cute to send it back...and I was in a hurry to get the room put together so I kept it. I ordered it from The animal print shop.

This print came from this etsy seller

This is from one of my favorite etsy sellers, I have another of his prints in my office.

This may not fit the frame perfect, but I still love it. It's from this etsy store.

This also came from this etsy store. 

 

 

 

 

 

 I had my eye on this print for a while...luckily I stalked his etsy shop often, and they were having a 40% off sale! So, I snagged it up and it's one of my favorite's in the room now. 

That is all I have so far, unless in my exhausted stupor I forgot to post some pictures, which is entirely possible. I still have a few things to do, but am mostly finished. Now, all we need is a baby. I'm going to do my best to keep up with this better! But, for now it is WAY past my bedtime. More later!

It's...a...BOY!!!!!!

FINALLY today we found out that our little Mango is a Boy. I am just so ecstatic to know and be able to buy things I think I might burst. It has not been an easy road for the last few weeks however...

I got a call from the OBs office a few weeks ago that my blood test results came back, and my chance of downs went to 1:888 (based on my age) to 1:252 and said that she wanted me to see a specialist. I completely freaked, and was so sad to think that on the day we went in to find out what our baby was going to be, we would be worried that we would find something wrong with it. I couldn't get into the specialist until the 16th, so I kept my original appointment with my OB to have my ultrasound. That was Monday.

Monday came, and we were excited that we would get to find out what it was, and wouldn't have the added worry of being at the Specialist's office. Well, our little one wouldn't show us what he was, but the Doctor came back to let us know that thought that the baby had something called Dandy-Walker Syndrome, a horrific neurological disorder. He said he wanted me to get into the Specialist right away and so he called to get me in Wednesday (today). I have been an absolute disaster the last 2 days...I haven't been able to sleep and I have been crying at the drop of a hat.

So we get to the specialists office, and the baby still would not uncross his legs for the ultrasound...I assumed once again I would not know what it was before vacation! The ultrasound tech put me in a hydraulic chair that made my feet go up all the way to the ceiling and then pushed on my belly and lo and behold....he uncrossed! I said "IS THAT A PENIS!?" I couldn't believe it. I would have bet my life that we were going to be having a little girl! I am so thrilled to be having a little boy though.

Then the Doctor came in...she said everything looks PERFECT. I have NEVER been so relieved I could have jumped up and kissed her on the lips. And we leave in three days for vacation! AHHH what a relief! This has just turned into the best day!!!

Next time, I'm just going to the woods and delivering my baby there to see what happens. No more doctors scaring the crap out of me!!

Vacation!!!

Today marks one month until my vacation. I can't WAIT to leave. I don't think I've ever needed a vacation as bad as I do right now. It will be nice to finally spend some time with Danny...he has been working so much and finishing up his last semester I probably only see him on average 5 hours a week. Really. I'm asleep when he gets home almost every night and he hasn't had many days off. (Although he's off this whole weekend! yay!) We wanted to visit Boston and Cape Cod in August, but then I got knocked up. I figured the beach 8 months pregnant was NOT my idea of a good time, so instead we are going to Nashville, Savannah, and Charleston. I've never been to any of these places and have wanted to go to all of them. I don't know if I've ever been so excited to go on vacation. I booked all our hotels on Priceline.com and got great deals!
We are staying 2 nights in Nahsville and staying at the Marriott in downtown Nashville:

Then 2 nights in Savannah and staying at Four Points by Sheraton in the historical district here:

Then 4 nights in Charleston and staying in the historical district at the Courtyard Marriott:

I am pretty excited! We don't have any set in stone plans yet, except eating at paradise park in Nashville...a white trash trailer park themed restaurant. Fun! And walking around spending time on the beach and relaxing. We haven't really looked into things to do yet...I'm sure I will before we leave to have everything planned, despite wanting any plans.The countdown begins...

is it garage sale season yet??

Anyone who knows me well knows I LOVE garage sales. It is my favorite past time. I love the hunt, the bargaining, and coming home with new old things. My parents used to make me go when I was little and I HATED it....what if someone I knew saw me? How embarrassing! Now, I can't get enough. Not sure when that changed. Probably around the time that I decided it was ok to buy my clothes at Target. AKA....when I started paying for myself.

So this post is dedicated to SOME of my favorite things I have collected from garage sales through the years. I say some because I would say over 50% of the things I have in my house are from garage sales, flea markets, and auctions.

 I have about 7 of these old crates I use as cat beds. They LOVE them, so I put them all around the house. And, they are much cuter than cat beds. Most of them I've gotten for around $3-$5...in most antique stores they are around $25.

This is my favorite possession. I bought this a few years ago for $12 at a garage sale...it's much brighter and more beautiful in person and you can tell has been around many lifetimes.

 I wish I had a picture of what this dresser looked like when I bought it...it was powder pink with old linoleum on the top in pieces. The lady I bought it from (in her 60s) said it was hers when she was was a little girl. I bought it for $5! Then just some repainting, distressing, and new knobs made it the perfect place to store my etsy materials.

Everything on the top is from garage sales too...except the A (spray painted from hobby lobby) and the picture frame (Also from hobby lobby...). The serving tray holds all the pretty vintage earrings for the middle of the flowers.

 This was an ugly gold that I painted purple, and had it on my table as a centerpiece for a while. It collected a lot of dust and was too big of a pain to move so I hung it, and it fits perfectly on this small wall in my kitchen.

 This is an old window I used a special spay paint on the back to make it look like an old mirror, and we write our grocery lists on the front. I bought this window for $3!

 I found this old mantle in a barn....and paid $30 for it. WAY more than I wanted to or normally would, but I'm glad I did because I love it.

These old brooches I bought together at a garage sale for $15 for the set of 5, and put magnets on the back so I can enjoy them all the time!!

 I love old bottles. This fish was 25cents! I couldn't resist. He loves holding the flowers from the yard in the summer time.

 I bought this frame to hold my favorite puppy picture, made out of old barn wood and repainted it to match my bedroom. I don't remember how much I paid for it...but I'm sure it wasn't much.

This old chest was $10 and is the perfect spot to hold our blankets and sheets!

I bought the mantle at a flea market and repainted it and added the middle...and got all the bottles, glass birds, and the old mirror behind it at garage sales and barn sales.

 I bought this old cedar chest for $10 and repainted it and antiqued it. I hate the way I have the decorations on top...I'm looking for something else to go there for this garage sale season. Here it was When I bought it....UGH.

 Everything here I have bought at garage sales except the clock...That table was $3!!!!!!! One of my best finds ever. However, it was in HORRIBLE shape when I bought it. I had to strip it, sand it, fill cuts and holes...I have pictures of the before below. I bought the frame and cut a piece of plywood inside and stenciled a pic of my black cat on it. The old window is a cork board now....The little stand was an ugly oak when I bought it.

Those were deep cuts. It was a lot of work but I love the outcome!!

 I bought these corbels at the same place I bought the mantle shelf in my livingroom. I wasn't sure what to do with them...I tried to put them up on each side of my living room ceiling beam, but it didn't quite work. I had the idea to make them into a shelf in my bedroom and love it.

 I bought that old window for $2 to put pictures of our wedding in, and those little architectural pieces of some sort I bought for $5 with no idea what to do with them. Still not really sure, but I love them sitting on the shelf.

This is my dresser I found with a FREE sign on it around 5 years ago...I repainted it and distressed it and it's  still holding up and working perfectly!!

So, those are my highlights. I plan on having MANY more blogs this summer of my garage sale finds. Stay tuned!!

Sick Day...

I'm home sick from work today for the first time in at least 3 years. Feeling better than I was this morning though. I thought I would take my sick time to catch up on my recorded shows, and my friend Jen from Jen Sherrick Photography asked me last night to make her a neutral newborn headband for a photo shoot she has coming up. So I worked on that this morning...

Loved it so much I made another one just like it...

And a hat.

My friend Megan wanted me to make her one more bracelet for her wedding, so I worked on that too.

I can't find the bracelet string for the bracelets sooooo I'll have to finish that later.

In more exciting news...I bought 2 things for the baby!!! The very first thing I bought is this little mouse...

so cute. I couldn't resist. #2 was this Cubs onesie set...mostly for danny.

Cute huh? Although I'm convinced it's gong to be a girl, I think she will still look cute in that with a flower in her hair. Numbers 3, 4 and 5 are most likely going to be these felted animals...

From this incredible Etsy seller.

Ok...back to the couch. I may decide to shower at some point today as well....

Becoming a first time mommy

I am only 11 weeks along today, but in some ways I feel like I've been pregnant for forever, and in others I feel like I just found out. I'm excited to be on to my second trimester, and also sad that it is moving this fast. I haven't been sick at all, which worries me a little. I am absolutely exhausted and starving, but that so far is the worst of it.I hate that I have 9 more weeks until another ultrasound...maybe I can convince my Dr. at my appointment next Friday to take a peak. 

I would give up almost anything to be able to stay at home with my baby and see it grow. I know it's not for everyone but I just can't imagine not being able to see their first steps and hear the first words. I've wanted a baby for so long, I feel like I've been preparing my whole life for one. I can't wait to teach it to love animals in the same way that I do, and take it to Disney for the first time. I can't wait to read it bed time stories and take it to my parents pool to swim. I can't wait most of all to find out what it is so I can stop calling it an IT.

I am also excited to see our family grow. I know Danny is going to be such an amazing father and I can't wait to start our new little family together. I think the things we imagine are completely different-Him: coaching little league; Me: watching Disney Princess movies, but together I hope we provide a great childhood for our new baby. I can't wait to watch my parents turn into grandparents, and I really can't wait for the holidays. Christmas was always SO special to me, and it still is...but over the years it's lost some of it's magic. I'm looking forward to getting some of that back. Enough sappy for today, I'm sure there will be plenty more to come in the next few months :)

Fireplace redo #3

Last Fall I got a fireplace mantle I had been searching for for years...Here it is in it's early stage.

 

I bought it at the Antique and Fleamarket Extravaganza in Springfield, OH  last September. My FAVORITE place to go. Already counting down to this year. So I drove home with that on the top of my jeep, because it wasn't until I had already bought it that I realized it didn't fit in the back! I wanted to get a mantle to put under my tv...but when I got it home it didn't fit. So we put it on a different wall. I painted it white and added some antique ceiling tiles to the middle...since I obviously don't have an actual fireplace.

Here it is decorated for Christmas...I realize now I didn't think to take a picture of it before I painted it again. Anyways, it was white...but everything else in my livingroom is dark. So I decided to paint it today.

I think it matches better now. And I made that wreath today to put on the mirror, not sure if I like it yet. I'm going to have to get used to it. Danny didn't even notice when he came home...when I laughed he finally noticed the wreath. But..not that the fireplace is black. Oh well!