Madison and Mommy Go to Michigan!

I knew I wanted to get a trip up north in to visit with family and see everyone before the sweet girl was born, so I decided to go up to Michigan to see my family around my Mom's birthday in June.  My cousin was getting married that weekend and my mother and I decided to have a baby shower then too!

It was so much fun to prepare for the baby shower and my mother did AMAZING on the decorations!  I am so thankful to her and my Aunt Linda for throwing Madison and I an amazing shower!

 

They did a wonderful job! Don't ya think?!

 

The second part of that weekend was my cousin's wedding.  This was so much fun because I was able to see my brother Ben.  Ben and I's sense of humor is pretty much almost the same, so hanging out with him is so much fun!  I was also able to meet his new girlfriend, Kayla!

My sister Bailee and I

Snap chat gem....

My beautiful sister!

My phone was stolen and I found this later...

Before the wedding, my family and I were able to witness this amazingness...

 

It was a great time and a beautiful day for a wedding!

 

Another fun part of the trip, aside from hanging out with my Mom and sister, was the addition of a family boat.  My dad purchased a boat and initially we had several failed launches, but my dad was able to fix the boat and we had so much fun after that! It was a blast!  We went cruising on the lake and fishing!

The lake was beautiful

Mommy and Madison on a boat!

He was so happy!

Bailee taking the wheel...help us all

This trip was amazing... We made smores, laid out on the beach, and I even got to hang out at Bailee's end of school party!

Perfection...

Mommy's swollen feet at the beach!

Bailee going down the large slide at the lake at her End of the Year Party!

 

 

Fishing!

The trip was so much fun and for the first time, leaving wasn't so bad because I knew I would see my Mom and sister again soon for Madison's birth (or so we thought, but that is for another blog).  I can't wait for Madison to be able to spend summers up at the lake and make beautiful memories with her Grammy, Grandpa, and Aunt Bailee!



Madison's Room Transformation

 

Now that we know we are having a girl.... It is time to decorate a nursery!

We had already purchased a crib, so I began searching for nursery bedding.  Behold... the nursery sets I fell in love with were so very very expensive.  I decided to raid blogging sites for how to sew my own bedding.  It turns out, it was much easier than I thought.  Now... I know I will be purchasing a large amount of fabric and supplies, so it is time to convince Aaron.  I got a plan together, did the pricing research and presented the information to him.  He agreed, and gave the green light for me to commence my project!  

I decided to go with a shabby chic theme.  I made the sheets, blanket, bumper padding, pillows, and even some burp clothes.

 

Then came time to put up the crib!  I was so excited!  It seemed like an easy enough project, so I asked Aaron to help me and it was fun!

Of course we let the puppies test drive the crib!

So we had the crib and bedding taken care of, next we were thinking of options for seating.  I was thinking that I would need a chair that I could potentially sleep in, as I was planning for long nights of feeding and rocking a baby girl to sleep.  We decided on a recliner and found the perfect one at Ashley Furniture.

The next piece of furniture.....oh man....the next piece of furniture was a fun one.  We purchased a dresser that matched the crib and I immediately thought, "well the crib was super easy to put together, this shouldn't take too long."  Aaron, being the researcher he is, had read that this was a 5 hour project and would be slightly more difficult.  It was 7pm and I had set my mind to get started.  I mean, it looked like a 1 hour MAYBE 2 hour project....maybe those reviews Aaron read were people who were handy-man challenged.  Aaron put up a pretty good opposition to starting, but alas, I convinced him against his better judgement.  About a few minutes in, I had already messed up a drawer.  Frustration got the best of us and soon turned into a quick few shouts and some alone time.  I took a drive and Aaron went to our room to cool off.  When I arrived back to the house, I walked in on Aaron putting the rest of the drawers together.  I kept my distance and helped towards the end, but eventually a children's dresser had been built.... five hours later. 

 

For wall decorations, I had a few pinterest ideas in mind.  I had left over fabric from the bedding set, So I put them in embroidery hoops.  I found a mirror in our attic and painted it pink.  I used the banner from my baby shower to drape on the wall over her crib.  I also knew that I would need a table to set bottles/phones, etc on, so I went to an antique store here in Greenville called the Venue and purchased a small table and painted that a very pale purple.

 

 

After a few finishing touches including the cutest little bean bag chair, I decided on one last project.  Since we knew I was pregnant,  Aaron and I had been collecting books.  Over 9 months, we accrued a great collection and I wanted shelves to put them on.  I went back and forth on book case or shelves.  Finally, I decided on another pinterest project and placed some shelves on the wall!  I purchased Ikea spice racks and painted them white. It looked amazing!

 

Finally the room was ready for a special little girl to arrive!



It's a GIRL!

Today is March 6th, 2014.  Today is the day we find out if we are decorating in pink or blue!

 

 

Aaron and I were both so excited to finally know if we were welcoming a girl or boy to our super awesome family.  Going into the ultrasound room was exhilarating.  Not only was this when we were going to find out what we were having, this was the first time we were going to be able to see this little life inside me.  I was filled with joy as the ultrasound tech placed that warm gel on my belly.  It was amazing as instantly I was able to see tiny ribs and little limbs.  She was such a squirmy worm!  The poor tech had to keep chasing her around my belly!  My eyes were glued to that screen as the tech took measurements of my sweet baby.  Head circumference, abdominal girth, femur length... oh my goodness, I loved seeing every part of that baby's body!  Finally we got to the good stuff!

 

It's a GIRL!!!!

Finally, it all seemed so real!  There was indeed a baby inside of me with little arms, legs, and a head and not only that, it was a baby girl!  I immediately looked at Aaron, so excited and happy.  It was so fun to watch him experience seeing our baby for the first time too!

I immediately called my Mom and gave her the news that her "feeling" was right.  She was having a granddaughter!  From there we called Aaron's family and made our way to Panera to enjoy some amazingly yummy grilled cheese and tomato soup!  We were so filled with love!