Nesting: Playroom Addition

As of tomorrow (Tuesday) we will be 31 weeks pregnant - WAHOO! Somehow 31 weeks sounds WAY further along than 29 or even 30 weeks (silly how your brain can work that way sometimes...who knows why that sounds so much further along). So the clock feels like it's really tickin' fast now. Therefore, we decided this weekend was a good weekend to get crackin' on the playroom. Our house's common areas (family room, dining room, kitchen) aren't great places to play, so we are making the bedroom next to Peanut's nursery (connected by a jack and jill bathroom) a playroom. The plan is to have all of Peanut's toys live in there, and much of the play happen in there, but obviously everything will make its way out into the rest of the house a ton, but at least the toys will have somewhere to "live". We went on Friday and purchased a sleeper sofa (figured it could double as another guest room if we ever needed the space). Then on Saturday and yesterday, we ran all over the place shopping for additional furniture and storage for toys. In shopping for furniture, storage, and decorative stuff, we stumbled upon a ton of reasonably priced puzzles, books and toys at Tuesday Morning (I've never been - WAY cool store).

So 1 couch, 2 pillows, 1 throw, 1 "rocking cow", 2 shelves, 12 nylon storage boxes, 38 books, 4 puzzles, 3 toys, and 2 stuffed animals later, the playroom is getting close to being ready for Peanut. We didn't get many toys or "baby things" (like jumpers, bouncey seat, swing, etc) because we're registered for all of that, so it will come with time (after the shower).

Anywhoo, check out what we have so far:

Couch - moreso for mom and dad than Peanut - and a fun "rocking cow" that sings songs.

Storage on one side of the closet. No toys in there...yet!

Storage on the other side of the closet.

The small storage shelves are already filled with books and puzzles from this weekend! We got a little carried away!!

So there you have it! That's Peanut's playroom thus far. It's mainly just the bones. Can't wait to get a rug, stuff for the walls, and all the fun baby stuff like a jumper, playmat, bouncey seat, you name it!!

'Tis the Season!

First things first - Thank you guys soooo much for all of your love, comments, and prayers with my carrier test. We couldn't be more thrilled that I am not a carrier and that we can possibly make "Rondi" babies!! We'll keep you posted once there's actually news to report. For now, we are just thankful for our options and we'll continue moving the ball forward. We scheduled a December 21st appointment with a doc to start discussing options. But I'm bracing myself for the long road ahead. I think the fact that the earliest appointment available was December 21st is a good indicator that it will be a LONG process! We'll keep you posted!

Now onto current events - As you saw in Ronnie's post on Saturday, we had an awesome Thanksgiving! His family does holidays up right. All 30+ of them get together at either his mom's house or one of his aunt's houses, and there's always a lot of food, a lot of games and a lot of fun. This Thanksgiving was no exception. There were kids all over (even a baby that most people couldn't pry from my arms), so much food I couldn't even think of eating a little of each (and I went into the meal with my game face on and an empty stomach...still no go), and the annual cousin bake off (in which each cousin brings a dessert and then all the desserts are judged...winner gets to take the traveling trophy home) went really well. We came in second - a shame, but perhaps next year we'll have to focus on looks AND taste. Our dessert looked awesome, but tasted not so awesome.

Thanksgiving got me into the holiday spirit. I had told myself that I couldn't decorate for Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving, and it didn't take me very many hours into Friday to start getting the itch to decorate. So Friday night we went to Hobby Lobby (does anyone else have a Hobby Lobby by them? It's the best store EVER) to buy Christmas decorations. I kicked off the holiday decorations by making my first ever wreath...that's right, watch out Martha, this girl is getting domestic!! It turned out pretty well (said while patting myself on the back)...I may or may not have had my mom on video chat walking me through the process, but hey, you gotta start somewhere! I also set up a little tree on our kitchen island (we are doing a big tree too, but we won't do it until the end of this week). After the wreath and mini tree, I had run out of decorations, so I wrapped up my decorating for the night. But I got an early start Saturday morning with a another trip to Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx and Walmart. I came home with a car full of Christmas cheer! After a full day of letting my creative juices flow, our house was turned into a winter wonderland...with only one tiny hitch - we bought about 1/4 of the lights required for our house...so right now we have the most pitiful looking Christmas lights outside, covering the side of our house, and the garage. The lights we need we couldn't find at any of the 15 stores I went to today. So that will be Ronnie's job tomorrow :)

All this decorating really got me into the Christmas spirit. I went around all weekend, singing my thoughts in the form of christmas carols (awesome for me, terrible for everyone else). I just can't help but be merry! I love this time of year. Everything has a warm and cozy feel. Everyone's more friendly. Everywhere you look there's something "jolly" feeling. Everywhere you are there is Christmas music playing. Everything is buzzing. I absolutely love it. But my favorite part is to come: My parents will be coming home from Shanghai (where they are currently living), so we'll get to spend a ton of time with them; everyone will be taking time off of work to just sit around and enjoy each other; we'll head down to Tucson so celebrate another Christmas just like we did Thanksgiving with Ronnie's HUGE, awesome family. I LOVE this time of year.

Here are some pictures of the decorations we have so far:

The pot is always there - so I just tweaked it to make it Christmasy

On the right and left are glass jars will cranberries and candles. In the middle is just a bowl of ornaments - quick and easy!

A grapevine wreath that I stuck berry-type things in. On the right and left are glass jars with cranberries and candles again..you'll notice a running theme.

A mini Christmas tree on the far end, and a cluster of glass things with cranberries and candles (told you there was a running theme!)

The wreath I made...super proud of the bow (thanks mom for walking me throw how to make a bow like that out of ribbon!!)

A glass jar with bead-like things stuck in it...same as what's stuck in the grapevine wreath. Wish I knew what they were actually called!

And now that I've shared how we're getting in the Christmas spirit, leave a comment to let me know how you are. It's our first Christmas living together, so we're starting all new traditions...I'm working overtime to make my hubby feel like his home is set for Christmas. So hook me up with some tips of what you do around your home - so I can steal your ideas and maybe get a wifey of the year award for my outstanding holiday performance :)

Martha Stewart Watch Out!

My mom has an eye for decorating. My parents' house looks like something straight out of a decorating magazine. My mom has this unbelievable ability to find the most beautiful items at unbelievably cheap prices. She'll find the coolest things at TJ Maxx, second-hand stores, you name it. And the best thing about my mom's ability to decorate, is her ability to find something cool, refashion it, and make it cooler. She can sew, build, create. It's amazing!!

...I, on the other hand, am a decorating IDIOT. I don't know what goes with what, where things go, how to find killer deals - nada. But lucky for me, I had my mom in town this last week to get me going on a decorating kick. She showed me that with just a few additions, you can make a big impact. So Ronnie and I added a few touches this week....check them out!

This is a Turkish Dough Riser I got from Razmataz and filled it with chick peas, split peas and kidney beans and candles.

Two veggie pictures from The Great Indoors

A GIANT fork from The Great Indoors- who doesn't need a giant fork, right?

An iron piece to hang on the oven hood from Hobby Lobby (like how I don't know what to even call it?!)

Used the same beans to fill the glass jars on the table - beans from Walmart.

Another iron thing, this time hung above the bed from Hobby Lobby