Nesting in Overdrive.

Old

New

Yep, my nesting instinct has set in with a vengeance.  I've been detail cleaning everything, and completing little home improvement projects all over the house.  My most current was the window treatment on our side door.  The old one worked when our kitchen was a sunny yellow, but not so much now that we painted it a cool gray and accented with a deep red.  So, using a sample designer fabric square given to me by Vince's cousin Susan who is a fabulous interior designer, and some leftover charcoal Dupioni silk from a flower girl dress, I created a new one that I LOVE.  It was one of the first things I saw this morning on my way into the kitchen, and it made me smile really big.  Happy Saturday!

Snippet.

Just a little snippet from a car ride today that I would like to remember...

B: Mom, what do you call those unroofed cars again, like that one right there?

Me: They're called convertibles.

B: Oh yeah!  Mostly fancy people drive those.  You know like rock stars, singers, actors and fashion models.

Hmmmm...

I'm also including a picture of Bella's new kicks for school this year.  I really like what she chose, girl's got a little flare <3

Saturday Night Chaos

Bella posted this while V and I were cleaning up

Saturday had been a lovely day.  Vince and his Dad moved the red sofa out of Bella's room, and I hung up all of her original artwork while they took the couch to Vince's work.  I did a little back to school clothing shopping for B, and she loved everything I got for her.  I need to remember this, because one day it is not going to be so easy :) All she needs now are new shoes and a new backpack and she should be set. We had a nice dinner, and then I got Bella's shower ready for her setting the pace for a quiet evening... or so we thought...

Before Bella jumped in the shower, she went to the bathroom and flushed twice.  Don't know why that sticks out, but it does.  Anyway, about 10 minutes later, I hear her shut off the shower, and here is where the fun begins.  Immediately she begins yelling for Mommy and Daddy because there is water everywhere!  The toilet was overflowing and had been the whole time she was in the shower.  Vince went running not realizing what he was about to encounter, and he took a hard spill in the pool of water collecting at the end of our hallway.  When I arrive on the scene, my husband is face down on the ground moaning, and my child is standing in the bathroom door, naked, with a look of terror on her face.  I, being almost 6 months pregnant, made my way carefully down the hall and into the bathroom so that I could shut the water off and assess the damage.  I got Bella to her room, and then I tended to Vince, poor Vince.  He ended up with 2 chipped teeth, a possible concussion, and a cracked rib, but even though he was in extreme pain, he was able to get the wet vac and help me clean up all the water. Luckily, Bella's room has tile flooring, and our hallway is wood which made it relatively easy to clean up.  Franklin's room is carpet, but it only went as far as the doorway there so we were lucky, but the water soaked everything in the bottom of our linen closet and made it into Bella's closet as well meaning I did 5 loads of laundry consisting of towels, sleeping bags, rugs and quilts before it was all said and done.

After a long night of waking Vince every hour to make sure he was ok, and fans blowing to calm our swelling wood floors, I think things are pretty much back to normal.  Vince feels like he has been in a fight, which in a way he was... with a concrete floor.  More than anything, he's just thankful he found the mess first instead of me, because things could have been a whole lot uglier.  And besides Bella being a bit nervous about flushing the toilet, I think it is all behind us now.

Definitely not how we thought we would be spending our Saturday night!  Only now can I look back and nervously laugh about it all, and I'm thankful there were no ER visits needed <3

Before & After

I created these 3 tree paintings while I was pregnant with Bella, and hung them in her room over her crib where they have lived until now... As you can see, the color scheme is pink, green, and yellow.  Her new room is turquoise and orange.  She really loves these paintings, as do I, so I really wanted to figure out a way to incorporate them in the new room.  The current color scheme was just not going to work, but I came up with a solution.  I spray painted each canvas a new color.  One turquoise, one orange, and one white.  Then I cut up strips of card stock paper in those three colors, and glued them to the silhouettes of the original painted trees.  I added a few buttons just for fun and voila!  Now they match her new room perfectly, and Bella is stoked I was able to make them work into her color scheme.  I love how they turned out, and there will be pictures of them in the room on a later  blog about the entire room redesign. xoxo

Moving along.

It's been kind of slow around here due to several rainy days in a row.  We definitely need the rain, but not the extreme boredom that has swallowed my child.  For example, I was labeled as having "strange behavior" after a trip to the library didn't turn out the way Bella wanted it to.  Nice. Hopefully it will clear out by this afternoon so that we can hit the pool for an hour or two before noodle night tonight... fingers crossed!

We did have a very lovely and productive weekend.  Vince was able to move our wireless router out of Bella's new room, and Bella is officially in her new room now.  Pictures will be coming as soon as we get rid of the sleeper sofa and install her sassy turquoise chandelier that I created, so in other words, continue to stay tuned on that front.  On Sunday afternoon, Vince and Bella headed to Discovery Place for a bit, and then they took a walk around downtown trying to find cool fountains.  They found several, and Bella loved it.  So much so that she wants to do it again this weekend, but she wants to document and photograph each fountain for a little research project she and her Dad are working on which of course includes a website being created.  I love those two!  While they were doing that, I was busy putting the final touches on her dollhouse remodel.  Of course we still need windows and doors, but the fresh paint and butterflies really make it pop.

I spent most of Monday cleaning like a mad woman.  My nesting instincts have set in with a vengeance, and I plan on riding the momentum until I just can't anymore.  In fact, the nursery is ready to be painted, and the crib will come soon after that!  It's all just so exciting <3

Yesterday was a slow day, but I did get Bella on a reading/journal schedule until school starts in order to get her back into a bit of a routine.  Thankfully, she didn't fight it, and I think she actually enjoyed it to be honest, which just shows me that someone is ready to go back to school whether she agrees with me or not :)  We have also been thoroughly enjoying watching the Olympics.  Bella gets very excited and loves to enthusiastically cheer for team USA whenever possible, and her preferred tv watching position is quite interesting on top of that.  My kid definitely inherited my flexibility skills.

As for today, B and I plan on doing some reconstruction and arranging on her lego table.  She requested the Harry Potter castle be built, and now we need to trade out some structures in order to include it on her table.  Should be fun, and I just love that she loves legos as much as I did at her age.

Tomorrow marks 23 weeks for me, and little Franklin seems to be thriving and surviving like a little champ.  He especially likes it when Bella and I sing Disney princess songs in the car together.  He starts kicking and flipping up a storm.

Well, Wednesday... Let's do this!

Sunny Days.

It's been a nice few days with lots of little accomplishments sprinkled here and there helping to keep our motivation flowing.  The nephews were in town for the weekend, staying with Pap Pap & Jamma while their parents went to a wedding in Asheville.  Vince took Bella over for a couple of late swims and a small firework show with the boys while they were here because Bella loves her cousins, and we don't get to see them that often.  So when they are here, we like to make the most of it.

On Saturday, a huge accomplishment happened in the morning... Bella decided to try to learn to ride a bike!  She has been talking about trying for about 3 months now, and when I say talking about it, I mean long, in-depth conversations about the ins & outs of bike riding so that she felt like she had a full grasp on what she was getting herself into.  I guess it all made sense Saturday morning, and she decided to give it a shot, in the driveway with Daddy's assistance.  She didn't do too bad, and later on Sunday, she and Vince tried out a little street ride, and she did even better.  I've learned with Bella, that it has to be on her terms, and if I let her come to a decision on her own, she will, and she is much happier about things.

Saturday afternoon, I took her to a birthday party for her friend Cameron, which involved a big inflatable water slide in the backyard.  The kiddos had a blast, while the adults tried to stay cool on the semi-shaded patio. Post cake eating and present opening, you could really see the sugar kick in.  At the beginning of the party, the girls were all very nicely waiting in line and going one at a time down the water slide.  After cupcakes, all mayhem broke loose!  They were climbing up the slide, going 3 at a time, launching themselves into the air before sliding, and a host of other crazy things.  I'm impressed their were no bonked heads or super collisions.  It was a very cute party, and all the girls got to take home a dress-up hula girl outfit with a pineapple water bottle with their names on it.  So sweet.

Sunday, we had a late breakfast with V's parents and the boy cousins before heading back home to paint Bella's new room!  It looks fantastic, and I will post pics when I do a before & after post about the whole process.  I'm not sure who is having more fun, me or her <3

On Monday, the Primm clan came over in the morning for a little play date, and the rest of the day was spent doing laundry and cleaning up.  Later in the afternoon, I was doing some touch up painting in B's room, when I heard her yelling my name.  When I went to investigate, I found a little girl who had finally wiggled a loose tooth until it was bleeding and hanging by a thread.  It took me 5 minutes to get her to settle down and to convince her to let me pull it out.  Felt.Like.An.Eternity.  It popped right out, and this makes her 3rd tooth that she has lost now, so far all on the bottom.  She was actually having a slight crisis when she went to bed because she was really attached to her baby tooth and didn't want to give it up, but she also wanted some money from the tooth fairy in exchange for the tooth.  In the end, she opted for leaving the tooth in her special pillow, and the next morning, she was excited to find $1.  She claims she kind of missed her tooth though.  It's tough growing up <3

Now, it's Tuesday.  I'm almost 22 weeks, and Franklin gets more and more active each day.  He seems to be a night owl because from 8 to midnight he is up and jumping, but during most of the day he is chill.  I guess we'll see... So for today, the plan is to start transferring the contents from Bella's closet to her new closet.  Exciting stuff!

Happy Tuesday Everyone <3

20 weeks

Halfway there!  Just wanted to share a 20 week bump pic.  Can't wait to meet the little guy in December <3, and Bella is super stoked to have a baby brother now that she has wrapped her head around it a bit more.  He's getting more and more active with each day that passes, and I just love those little baby kicks.