24 hours!

{hospital is ready for me. am i ready for it?}

Holy moly!!! In 24 hours I'll be holding our baby in my arms. Yesterday I went into admissions and got all the paperwork in order and got my pre-op bloodwork done. Of course this sent my nerves into overdrive. And wearing this bracelet is a reminder of happy days to come but also makes it all a little scary too. I'm nervous, anxious, a little freaked out, and very excited.

Everything is ready for her here, but my main concern right now is Aidan. Is he ready? His whole little life is going to change into something he has no idea about. I'm sure he will be a great big brother and he has enough love for the whole world, so I know he's going to love her so much. He is still a cuddler and used to going everywhere with me and doing everything with us, so I'm hoping that doesn't change once his sister is here and he has to share time. Since I'll be recovering for a couple of weeks (hopefully it's as easy, if not easier as last time) I'm hoping that he'll get some quality time with Daddy and other family members who would be willing to come play with him or take him out for a little one on one time so he still feels as special as he certainly is. I'm sure I'm more worried about this adjustment than need be, since Aidan is such a flexible little guy. 

So, tomorrow, around 9:30am was supposed to be 8:30 but I got bumped because of a meeting I'll be in the OR for a repeat c-section. If it's your thing, say a little prayer that everything goes as best as possible. thanks. 

My thoughts on life right now:

Wow. Yikes. Eeek.

Our family of three will become a family of four in less than a day. 

So blessed. 

Baby Girl's Nursery

Yay! It's finally done ready for her arrival. There are still a few things I'd like to get {wall shelves, her name on the wall-letters/print/not sure, crystal chandelier, and a mirror}, but it's just about done. Whew. All of her furniture was given up willingly by Aidan. We got her the Penelope crib bedding from Pottery Barn Kids and I'm so thrilled with it. Also from PBK are these adorable little birdies (I should have taken a close-up I love them so much).We scored a bunch of coordinating items at Target: Eclipse curtains to go over the faux wood blinds, shag rug, white bell lampshade, and the cube organizers with fabric drawers. The pink basket that will be her hamper came from Babies R Us. Here are some pics:

{View from the hallway}

{That cube storage is perfect...and will eventually end up in the bottom of her closet}

{Still need her name above the crib, either a print on a shelf or hanging or wall letters}

{Snooty Bird decal from Janey Mac}

{closet with lots of girly stuff}

{Still want a mirror for above her dresser}

My thoughts on life right now:

5 days from now (or sooner if she comes on her own) I'll have her in my arms. 

It's okay to be nervous, right? 

Aidan's Big Boy Room

With a new baby on the way Aidan had to give up all his nursery furniture and get new. Thanks to a great deal at Sears, we were able to get a dresser, nightstand, bookcase headboard, and bed with underneath storage. It's just what we were looking for, and trust me, we looked forever! We ended up going with the twin comforter that matched his crib bedding since we had the valance, wall hanging, and lamp to match. Plus, Sean Aidan really likes it. We're all set in there, minus needing to get a set of extra sheets...I'll probably just go with something plain like navy blue. Oh, and let me just tell you that this room is itty bitty. Like 10x10, and that might be an exaggeration. It's super small and worked great as an office, but then came Aidan. Thankfully we've got plenty of room for him to play downstairs, because this is definitely not conducive to playing in. Here are some pics of his new room, which he loves!

{1st night sleeping in his bed}

{aww, he's so big now}

{view from the hallway}

{Ignore the flipped down bed rail, there are three drawers under his bed.
Wall letters are from Pottery Barn Kids}

{See what the lamp is sitting on? Yeah, there is duct work in that awful built in and we can't get rid of it easily. Ugh, inconvenience.}

{I'd like to get a mirror to put above his dresser}

{Cozy little reading corner}

My thoughts on life right now:

So when you buy your first home, it may not necessarily be in the plans to have it be in your forever home, more like the 5 year plan house. Then the housing market goes way downhill and you are in the house past the 5 year mark. You learn to make do with what you are very lucky to have and hope that one day you'll have that forever home with the open layout, updated kitchen, four bedrooms, and heck-a basement too. 

New nursery floor

{New floor!!!}

I can't even begin to express how appreciative I am for the friends and family members we have. Monday evening Sean and three of our awesome guy friends (one being Sean's brother-in-law), came over and installed the new maple chocolate laminate plank flooring in the baby's room. This afternoon Phil came over and finished up with the quarter round trim. I couldn't wait for it to be done but to have it complete in 24 hours was a dream! (Okay, so we do have to get a vent cover still, but that's simple enough) I love, LOVE, love it. I'm not totally sure how best to clean it, and the first go around with the Dyson using the wand with the upholstery attachment took forever and wasn't too kind on the back. It did get all the dust though and made the floor look fantastic, so until I figure out what to use so I don't scratch the floor, that's my method!

I managed to already put the fuzzy floor protectors on the bottom of my glider and ottoman that was in Aidan's room and had Sean move them in. If the darn dresser  wasn't so heavy we would have carried that in tonight too, but much to my dismay because my hubs cares so much about me, we he decided that he'll have someone else help move it. Bummer. I was so anxious to get all those clean clothes into the dresser, but it'll have to wait. Tomorrow's chore: hang up all the clothes that will go in the closet! 

My thoughts on life right now:

Yippee!!! The floor is down!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU Sean, Phil, Tim, & Colby! 

Time to find an area rug and curtains now. 

Landscaping

{Corner garden in our backyard}

Whew! I wish I got a dollar for every weed that was growing in my flower beds...then I could pay for a year round landscaper. And why is it that grass grows beautifully, just not where it should? 

Being 34 weeks pregnant and not keeping up with the weeds like we should means that I needed to enlist in some help to get the beds cleaned out and mulch put down. Originally I was going to get an estimate from a local company to have the landscaping cleaned up and mulched, but then my sister and brother-in-law generously offered to pick up a truckload (which later turned into two, and maybe a third later this week) of mulch and come by to weed with Sean. We figured this would save a lot of money and many hands make light work, right? Paying for mulch and buying lunch for our helpers was probably much cheaper than having a company come do it. 

After a few hours of hard work put in by Steph, Brian, and Sean, and a very little bit of work put in by me...oh, and star supervisor Aidan, the weeds are gone and the mulch is down. We still could use another yard of mulch to fill in the other half of the bed around the shed out back, but the front and sides of the house look great. I've also got to pick up two more Gold Thread Cypress bushes for out front where we pulled a dead one and where I needed one anyway. 

Of course there's still a few things I'd like to plant, but that'll wait until fall. Now hopefully we'll keep up on the weeding and it won't take us over again. We greatly appreciate the help that was given to us on Sunday to improve our curb appeal! 

My thoughts on life right now:

Landscaping done. Now onto the nursery. 

Thanks to more wonderful people in our lives, it's getting a new floor put in this week. 

Hard to believe that I may have a new baby in the next 5 or 6 weeks. Time has gone too fast!