vacay

I could squeal out loud I am so excited. Well, actually, I did just that... in my car on the way to work today. Today is the last day of school. Although I still have to come to work for another week, there will be no students so the days will be filled with music, cleaning and end of the year paperwork. But! Even that won't begin until Tuesday because we are headed to the beach as soon as I leave work today. A high school friend of ours is getting married this weekend & hubs is a groomsmen. I love me some beach weddings. This day has been anticipated since Christmas! I jumped in the car this morning happy to have a gorgeous day to head to the beach, and Madonna's Like A Prayer came on the radio. Now, if anyone knows me, old school Madonna was my heart as a child. Put that with the last day of school and a beach trip? Even Rilynn was doing flips in my tummy all the way to work!!!
So, we are taking a vacay and I will be back with preggo updates next week. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Ciao!

lucite shelving

Halfway through the work week. Actually, we are halfway through our last week of school here in the 'ole world of education. I know, I hear moans and groans coming from every jealous direction, and I don't blame you. Look at it this way though- say hello to nice, easy drives to work for 3 months! This summer, however, I will be spending most of my well-deserved pregnant time on the couch or looking like a beached whale somewhere. There couldn't be anything worse than being big and pregnant... at work... in the dead of a Southern summer. God bless you all that have had to endure THAT nightmare!!

Anyways, I just went completely off course... let's get back on track now, shall we?!


We have a narrow wall in between the nursery doorway and closet door, that is only about 34" wide. I wanted to use that space to house all of Rilynn's children's books (my mom is a media specialist so seester and I grew up loving books- I am determined for my daughter to do the same!), but I also wanted something that wouldn't take up too much visual space since not only is the wall tiny, but the entire room is basically a cracker jack box. I was giddy when I stumbled upon Kirsten Krason's post on  6th Street Design School about these amazeballs shelves from Clear Solutions. Cheap and exactly what I was looking for.
I purchased 5 of them for hubs to run the length of the wall.

Here is how the shelves look in Kirsten's son's room. Just precious! 

I love how the books seem to be floating on the wall. 

Jett's room via 6th Street Design School

Well, they arrived yesterday and are now up and functioning quite ideally. Actually, they are perfect in every being of the word and I am in über love with them. Here are the pics to prove their awesomesauce-ness. (Yes, I just said that. What can I say, I am a wee bit excited.) 

Before

Shelves are in! Time to fill 'em up.

After

I bought 5 shelves, and after some deliberation, I think I am going to add the 5th one to the bottom of the rows seen here. I initially thought 4 would be plenty, but not only do I have more books that need a home, but these things are so stinkin cute, I can't get enough of them!

mother's day weekend recap

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! I know I did. Friday night, we had a gender reveal celebration with friends at our home, where my lovely girlfriends brought me a huge pink cake and pink chocolate covered strawberries. We spent the evening catching up, talking babies and spending time with each other. Two of our friends brought their little ones, and Copper even shared a paci with one of them.

We also announced our little girl's name- Rilynn Elise. We love her name and love that we don't know a single soul who owns it. :)
Saturday was my seester's birthday so we spent the afternoon at Mudbugs & Music down at the Avondale Brewery, & when the bottom dropped out and it started pouring, we hopped over to Tin Roof for some grub (I hate crawfish).

Sunday was Mother's Day, which was filled with lots of love. I got many sweet texts from friends wishing me a Happy Mother's Day (although Rilynn isn't exactly here yet, I am still mothering her in the womb, right!?!), and both my mom and mother-in-law gave me & Rilynn sweet Mother's Day gifts. Mom gave me a precious necklace that has baby feet engraved on one charm, a charm to have Rilynn's name engraved on it, and the other charm has "fearfully & wonderfully made" engraved on it. It is so precious and special. She also gave me a children's book titled If I Could Keep You Little and wrote a sweet message inside the cover. My MIL gave me a precious pink & white driftwood frame to add above Rilynn's dresser as well as her first pair of socks/booties!

Both of our mothers are so thoughtful and caring. They have been great mothers to Chris and I and we are very thankful to have them as our baby girl's grandmothers. I know we will be great parents thanks to our mothers' strong and supportive upbringings with us, and cannot wait for the years to come as they undoubtedly save us through our first years of child rearing.
It was a day filled with pasta, presents, laughter & love. And some series finale of Desperate Housewives...


Have a great rest of the week!

18 weeks- gender reveal

How far along? 18 Weeks 
Total weight gain:  12 lbs. 
Maternity clothes? Nope. This weekend I did have to clean out my closet of all things that I know for a fact will not be seen at least for 8 months, so so sad. 
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Had some trouble with a migraine during the 17th week that had my sleep patterns off, little headaches here and there, and the belly has been growing so sleep has been a bit uncomfortable this week.
Best moment this week: We found out that we are having a GIRL!!  
Miss Anything? Going out to the bars with the friends for Cinco de Mayo this past weekend. Sat at home alone. :(
Movement: fluttering comes and goes.
Food cravings: Pickles, pasta with just Parmesan and butter, and Capri Suns (???)
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really anymore. Amazing.
Labor Signs: No 
Belly Button in or out? In although it doesn't seem as deep as it used to...
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy! Just been a little uncomfortable as my belly has begun to grow quite more significantly than before.
Looking forward to: finishing the nursery and buying clothes!

Notes about gender reveal: First thing out of Hub's mouth when we were told it was a girl was an expletive... he then made the lab tech double check. I cried out of pure amazement... err, that and hormones. 
Katie and Jenny work at St. Vincent's and met us outside of the doctor's office wearing their PINK scrubs. I then called Dad on the way to my favorite store, Swaddle, where we bought her baby book as well as a few girly items to use to reveal her gender to our moms. Afterwards, we ate lunch at Momma Goldberg's where Chris complained about parking, the food, the atmosphere, everything. I honestly think it was all too much for him and he still had GIRL on the brain. We then went to Blades and told Lisa- who about fell out of her chair (this is the first girl for their family!). I had to go the rest of the day holding it in from my mom, who we surprised at her birthday dinner with pink cupcakes. It was a very happy day as we not only found out we are having a baby girl, but she looks great and healthy, which is all we can really ask for.