Funny Gloria Story...

My 'little' Gloria is on the brink of turning 2. I can hardly believe how fast the past 2 years have gone. With Rosemary, life moved much slower - all of my attention lie on this single being, we were (for the most part) settled in our home, had no where to be (school, activities or the like). But life with two kids has been much different. Rosemary's school/activity/social calendar is brimming with demands and Gloria seems to be by my side for this ride we are discovering one day at a time. Gloria has definitely continued her reputation of being rather 'particular' and at most times, quite demanding and slightly impatient. But she has a hysterical sense of humor, says the funniest things and her constant demands keep Jeff and I laughing as she is so incredibly persistent when wanting something. She also has a very loud yelling voice that cracks us up. Whether it's the middle of the night or first thing in the morning, the decible level of her voice is truly alarming. Anyway, yesterday I painted her finger nails for the first time. Seriously, is there anything cuter than pudgy little fingers with hot pink nail polish? She was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pleased with her polish job. She sat perfectly still as instructed while I painted them and was happy to oblige my offer to walk around the block with her after so we could dry her nails. We set off on our walk and I told her swinging her arms a bit would help dry them faster - done. She was an arm swinging machine. Unfortunately, the arm swinging sent her into a bit of a downward spiral as she tripped and face planted into the sidewalk. I watched in horror as she plumetted into the concrete, arms spread wide like a bird in every effort to salvage her polish job. Injuries were minor but apparent upon quick inspection - there was a definite penetration of tooth into lip as blood was running down her chin. She stood up and as I ran over expecting the worst, she only inspected her polish job to reveal its flawless nature and move on with her walk. This girl is the epitome of a G.I.R.L. So although we returned home with a face full of dried blood, she was pleased as punch to show dad her nails and felt like the pretty little princess she is:-)

House Update

Helloooooooooooo if any of you are left out there! Has it really been since January that I have updated my faithful blog? It's high time I extended a home related post to my followers. Last time we talked home biz, we were tying up lots of loose ends around the house and were in the early stages of furniture purchasing. When 'finishing' a house, you think it's a matter of picking up a few big pieces of furniture, a rug or two, a lamp, some pillows and that's it. I have learned through this whole process just how wrong I was. The house seems to have layers, upon layers, upon layers of needs - and when one need is met, another you never noticed suddenly starts screaming out at you. This could seriously become a never. ending. spending. spree. But, we've been chugging along on this bottomless pit of expenditures and taking things one step at a time - often one piece at a time. Trying to remain steadfast to our Dave Ramsey principles of adopting NO DEBT on this journey means we often move along at a snails pace. But we are making it happen and it is that much more rewarding knowing we own each thing free and clear! With all that jibber jabber, I should tell you just WHAT we've been up to. I promise in the coming weeks to get some high quality photos up of the 'finished' and 'furnished' house - but my camera stinks, we have a few odds and ends still awaiting delivery (like a chair/ottoman for the family room that we've now been waiting 10 WEEKS for and a custom built campaign-style media cabinet that is going to be an absolute STUNNER!) AND I'm just heading into my key nesting weeks of this third trimester which can only mean my house will be polished to the nines in a matter of time. Once I get it there, you can bet I'll be documenting it as no more pregnancies for this mama means it will never look that fabulous again;-) Ok, so here's a running list of what we've done/purchased: - We are FINISHED purchasing window treatments! We added honeycomb shades to our family room french doors and a fabric roman shade in the kitchen that is a perfect fit! - We wallpapered the kitchen in an absolutely gorgeous charcoal/white graphic paper. The arches and cabinetry really do pop now. - We purchased a couch! - We purchased a small laptop desk for the family room. - We purchased a dining room table and 8 chairs. - We bought an additional dresser for our bedroom - one of the ones I had my eye on forever! - We upgraded our 13" TV that we bought with gift cards from our wedding 6 years ago. That TV now resides in the playroom downstairs - We've added some wall art in the playroom - We've expanded the gold framed gallery wall that climbs our staircase. It now wraps 3 walls vs 1. - We purchased a french style arm chair and ottoman (still awaiting delivery - supposedly next week). - We searched the globe HIGH and LOW for a media cabinet to suit our needs to no avail. So we designed a cabinet instead, chose a cabinet maker and it is currently in production and scheduled to be ready by 2nd week of April. - We had our laundry room walls painted - Jeff is literally down in the basement as I type this repairing, self-leveling and epoxying the laundry room floor. - We have chosen an IKEA cabinet system for a little laundry work area we hope to complete by the end of next week. - We had all of the wood work in our house re-caulked and repainted. First 4 seasons with new woodwork means a re-caulking and re-painting post expansion and contraction. - We bought and hung a Venetian glass mirror in our powder room. - We bought the dining room light fixture from Belgium, had it rewired for US wiring and installed in our dining room. - We bought new lamps for our bedroom that suit the space JUST right! That's everything I can think of off the top of my head...not too shabby! I have about 4 odds and ends still hanging out on my punch list - all of which I'm on a mission to accomplish before this baby is born (only 9 more weeks). In the meantime, this house sure is treating us right. We absolutely love it here and feel more at home than we ever have. We are anxious to get out into the yard and get some plants in the beds we created last summer. Stay tuned for photos coming soon!

Catching up...

Once in a blue moon, Rosemary takes a nap. She woke up with a bit of a cold this morning and because we have a birthday party to attend later today, I told her she had to nap in order to be able to go. I've used this excuse about a million and a half times and of course it never works for the energizer bunny...but today, it did! WOW! Both girls napping - how DREAMY! Things at our house have been great. Of course, busy as ever with the holidays and transition into a new year, but great nonetheless. Of course the biggest news we have to share is the gender of our third child. It is with sheer awe and utter disbelief that we announce we are having a B-O-Y! Jeff and I have never found out the gender of our babies in our previous two pregnancies - but this time we decided we wanted to. I am SO unbelievably glad we did and had the opportunity to experience pregnancy/delivery in two completely different ways. The experience of finding out during our 20 week u/s was incredible in itself, and on top of it to find out we are expecting a completely new gender from what we are used to nearly sent us both over the edge. We told the u/s technician that we wanted to guess what we were having based on a decent image she showed us of the 'parts.' So after she had spent some time measuring and assuring us baby was healthy, Jeff asked her if she knew yet what it was. She told us she did and that whenever we were ready, she'd get us a good shot. My blood pressure had to have been around 200 - I thought I might just pass out right there on the table. We told her we were ready and she spent 45 seconds or so getting a good image of our baby's unmentionables and then froze the image. I immediately guessed it was a boy (if it wasn't, I think we would have had a problem on our hands) and Jeff was just speechless. She asked him again if he wanted to guess and he said he couldn't say anything. A few seconds later she said, "That's a little boy!" and our life was forever changed. I know that I covered my face with my hands - I don't know why but that was my reaction. I looked at Jeff and his eyes were closed, the hugest smile on his face and tears coming down his cheeks. It's one of those moments I will never, ever, ever in a million years forget. I know that we both would have been beyond thrilled to find out we were having another girl, but I'm not so sure my life would have been complete without seeing my husband's reaction to the fact that we had created a son together. In all honesty, after the initial shock and excitement wore off, I had to take a few moments to come to terms with the fact that it's very likely I won't ever have another little girl. Jeff and I feel that three children will be our magic number and that this little boy will be the final piece to our family puzzle. So I had to take my list of girl names I ALWAYS have in my mind (I love naming girls) and put them to rest in order to make room for what God has planned for us. And with that, the dreaming of our future began! Later that evening, we had invited both of our families over to share the news of what grandchild #13 and grandchild #7 would be. We had ordered Famous Dave's for dinner and a cake for all the December birthdays in our families and spent an evening playing and chatting together. Once everyone had arrived, Jeff lifted Rosemary on to the counter for the big announcement (can you believe she kept it a secret all evening?) She started by saying, "I have an announcement..." Our families all chuckled a bit and she got a little stage fright which slowed down her announcing process;-) After some coaxing and lots of "WHAT IS IT's" from our family, she shouted, "IT'S A BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!" Cheers, clapping, high-fives and tears followed and it is a memory we will always cherish. I did video tape her announcement, but of course in my frenzy of excitement, I grabbed the actual FILM video camera instead of the digital one. Boo...what can anyone do with film these days? So, I'll have to convert it so I can share it easily! Anyway, I feel like I have about a million more things to share, but wanted to be sure and record these wonderful memories somewhere. I'll be sure to catch up again soon with a recap of our holidays and plans for 2012:-) Happy New Year to you!

Busy, busy!

It's my FAVORITE time of the year! Actually, June - December is really my favorite time of the year. Lots of birthdays, holidays, milestones, changing of leaves, sprinkles of snow and of course, all the festivities of the holidays. I'm a bit of a holiday junkie - do a ridiculous amount of baking (why? I have no idea. Platters upon platters of cookies adorn my counters and tables), love investing in ornaments and decorating the tree, wrapping balsam garland in white lights and draping it around our front and back door, shopping and wrapping, entertaining and hosting...and everything else that comes with this wonderful time of year. Of course adding children to the mix takes the holidays to the next level - not only in terms of fun, but in terms of the sheer number of things that need to get done. More shopping, more wrapping, more fun to be had. The girls and I have Christmas music on 24/7. Literally, in the car, Gloria constantly yells "LOUDER" for me to turn up the music. As the sun goes down, it's all about finding the best Christmas light displays. We also began an advent calendar tradition with Rosemary 2 years ago and have continued to carry this on through the years. As a parent, there is also a huge responsibility that comes with this time in year in helping the kids understand what we are actually celebrating. I am so thankful to have Rosemary's teachers at school to help us make sure this message comes across clearly. We have been so busy with all kinds of little projects around the house. We recently wallpapered the kitchen, had our dining table side chairs reupholstered...and perhaps most rewarding, had our COUCH delivered. It's beautiful, we really love it. It's a nice generous size, but not too 'overstuffed' feeling in our tiny family room. It's a VERY neutral fabric, part of a 'bigger picture' as I assured my mother who loves color. Of course, now that the couch is here, I'm desperate for the rest of the room together. Patients my friend! I also had my friend Steph take some pictures of the girls for the holidays - which means I was finally able to fill all the frames in my stairway gallery wall which is quite possibly my favorite part of this home! We had our 16 week doctor appointment this week for tiny baby #3. Things are going well and baby's heartbeat sounded great. I've gained about 5 pounds at this point which is a little less than I normally have at this time. I attribute it to an awful case of the stomach flu I had a few weeks back and the fact that I'm really still waiting for my appetite to come back. The nausea is gone for the most part - occasionally a bad day sneaks in there, but I'm anxious to start getting my eat on. With both of my previous pregnancies I've gained 40-50 POUNDS...WOO! So, I'm feeling a little behind in my eat-a-thon. On 12/28 at 10:30am, we will be sitting in the u/s room finding out the gender of our third child. Words can not express how excited we are. This is a first time experience for us as we've found out during the deliveries for both of our previous pregnancies. Since this will be our last baby, we decided it would be fun to experience things a little differently. I honestly could not care less what the gender is. I can envision our family both ways and both are exciting. I am a firm believer that God gives us what's best for us and I can't wait to find out what it is He sees us with! Sorry this is a really random post but we are watching Saturday Night Live while I'm typing. Thought it'd be fun to share what we've been up to though. By the way, Jeff and I went out on a little date tonight - to dinner and grocery shopping. Lol. Is this what our Saturday night's out have come to? ;-) Not sure I'd have it any other way.

Baby #3 Update

Word has officially spanned the globe that we are expecting our third child. It's becoming more and more real to me each day and I become more and more terrified with each passing moment. I'm trying to strategize things I'll be able to manage next summer/winter with three kids. Rosemary will be up to 3 days a week in Preschool which will be great for her and keep her much more entertained than I'll be able to do at home. The summer should go smoothly as baby will be confined to a carseat and with Rosemary almost 4 and Gloria a full 2 years old, I shouldn't have too hard of a time getting out and about. The harder time comes when baby gets on a nap schedule and we are stranded in the house a good chunk of the day with two energetic kids and one sleepy baby. I'm starting to understand the 'youngest child' syndrome and that in fact, baby #3 will never have the pleasure of a nap schedule;-) I had my 12 week appointment today and the whole family came along. Rosemary was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to be going to the doctor to "get our new baby!" It was tough breaking the news to her that all we would be doing was hearing baby's heartbeat, but she was equally as excited when I told her a sucker might be involved. The doctor used the doplar to find baby's heartbeat (160bpm). Once he had checked baby's heartrate, he asked Rosemary if she wanted to talk to the baby through the doplar (or 'two way radio' as he called it). She obliged and said, "Merry Christmas" to the baby. So cute. Gloria was more standoff-ish and chose not to say anything. Why am I not surprised? Ha! Aside from that, the visit was routine. Jeff and I have opted to not find out the gender of the baby during our previous two pregnancies. However, we decided it would be fun to do it differently this time and that we would find out during our 20 week u/s. The only problem is that Jeff's parents, now snowbirds, will be heading South when I'm 18 weeks. So I asked the doc if I could have my u/s a little early so they'd be here for us to share the news. He said that shouldn't be a problem. He wouldn't do it ANY earlier than that just because you run the risk of measurements not being as accurate...but thought 18 weeks would be just fine. YEEKS! So only 6 more weeks to go. I'm feeling a TON better. Still have the occassional bad day where the nausea seems to creep back, but all in all, my energy is slowly coming back and I'm having more good days than bad. Hurrah! Thanks for checking in!

The Story of a Light

Followers, I've been waiting to write this post for a LONG time...waiting because I was never fully confident that the light I'm about to tell you about would ever make it through my door. Several months ago, you may remember me posting this 'inspiration picture' regarding a dining room light fixture.

I came across this image COMPLETELY randomly on the world wide web (I think I first spotted it on a blog I found somewhere on Twitter) and it was instant love. I started my search for this light by stopping into a few of my favorite lighting shops in town to see if they recognized it (Southern Lights and Lappin Lighting). Neither store recognized it, both thought it was some sort of a custom fixture. They also showed me a few similar styled ones like this, which didn't have the leggy, vintage feel of my inspiration light.

You of all people know I love a good light hunt, so I carried on with my mission. Months passed as I continued combing online lighting store after online lighting store - all to no avail and all without sparking any interest in a fixture aside from this one. Frustration was building. Late one night, while reading a slew of home decor blogs on Twitter, I came across an image of a woman STANDING in the very dining room that housed my inspiration fixture. WHO WAS THIS WOMAN and HOW could I contact her? Several searches through blogs like Made By Girl brought me to the blog Look Linger Love and it's author Chassity...otherwise known as, "The Girl In The Dining Room With The Light Fixture I Love!" I immediately emailed her sounding like a complete light stalker pleading that the fixture not be vintage and instead be readily available for my purchase (gulp, and hoping the fixture be within my price range). Thankfully, Chassity was kind enough to respond to my email and share that the fixture was indeed NOT vintage, but one she purchased from a lighting store in Charleston, South Carolina called Carolina Lanterns. I immediately called the store and asked them if I could email a picture of a fixture that a customer had purchased from them roughly two years ago, could they PLEASE tell me who makes it and whether or not it is still available. A weekend later, my fears were confirmed - the fixture is No.Longer.Available. Insert heart sinking here:-( I tried to swallow the news and move on...Jeff even gave me a few pats on the back and told me I had put up a good fight. But I just couldn't close the chapter of this book quite yet. So I went online fixture stalking and specifically targeted the manufacturer this time (now that I knew it), Lam Lee of Europe. Their site was a dead-end as they only sell to businesses that need an access code to navigate through their site. On top of that, everything was in Belgian and even with translating things online, I couldn't figure out a darn thing. So I took a shot in the dark and sent an email off to their 'info' email address in hopes SOMEONE would respond. No luck. I sent one last email before putting this whole thing to rest and then Christ responded. Yes, his name was Christ and he was here to answer my prayers. The fixture was INDEED a Lam Lee fixture and INDEED still available and INDEED could be purchased by me and shipped to the US. I was OVER the moon with excitement. The fixture was slightly outside of my price range so I told Jeff I would turn around a quick Craigslist sale to make up the dividend (here's where I sold our old Queen bed frame...BAM). Next came the wire transfer where I took myself to the bank and sent my first international wire transfer (don't you feel like you should whisper those words when you walk in a bank?) I felt like a total criminal and kept repeating, "It's for a light fixture!" With the funds transferred, it was time to figure out how the heck I was going to get this bad boy to me in one piece and THAT, my friends, is where the story got VERY interesting. Stay tuned for Part 2 of The Story of a Light...and in the meantime, check out Chassity's blog which I ADORE and her gorgeous home, adorable kiddos and appreciation for all things beautiful www.looklingerlove.blogspot.com

Amazement.

(Note: no idea why the spacing isn't working on here, so please excuse the lack of paragraphs!) I was inspired to write a quick post today as Rosemary has been incredibly inquisitive lately. You can no longer slide anything past her. She wants a full and often lengthy explanation of things we used to say and hope she just kind of swallowed for the time being. NO more. She will ask multiple follow up questions wanting more and more detail. Here are a few of the conversations we've had lately that have left my jaw on the floor in wonder - when did my baby become a person? Jeff was trick-or-treating with the girls on his own for the last few houses on our block while I passed out candy. A house on our block has a 'ghost' hanging in the tree. Jeff pointed it out to Rosemary, "Look, Rosemary, there's a ghost in that tree!" Rosemary went over to it, inspecting it, front, back, examining it thoroughly and then replied, "Nope dad, it's just a sheet hanging in the tree." Which indeed it was, but...??? Rosemary, Gloria and I were riding in the car today. Rosemary asked me if Gloria is 1 year old or if she's one and a half yet. How does she know that???? Roseary picked out a new winter hat at the drug store. There were many animal hats to choose from...she chose the owl. "I picked the owl because owls are nochternal." I made Rosemary a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch today (her usual fav). I normally do the grocery shopping and always buy the same kind of bread, but Jeff had picked up a random loaf of bread the other day, different from what I buy. Rosemary this afternoon, "Mom, why'd you buy different bread, this bread is harder." I have to say, the age Rosemary is at is SO incredibly fun. She has become so self-sufficient: no needing reminders to go potty, no needing reminders to stay in her bed, getting herself dressed, clearing her plate after meals, washing her hands and mouth when she's done eating and even putting her own seatbelt on. It is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!!!!! And at the same time, my heart feels a bit heavy when my baby doesn't need me for every single solitary task in a day. Of course I'm proud to death of her and it's what I've been hoping would come of my little person...I suppose it's more just disbelief that time can go so quickly. Gloria, my dear Gloria. This morning I was awoken by her COUNTING in her bed. "2...5...2...5" SO cute! Gloria happens to be entering one of my least favorite stages: 18-24 months. This seems to be the time of the arching backs, throwing of oneself on to the floor and lots of frustration for the little one. I feel better versed for it this time around - patience are a little thicker and I know more what to expect (namely that it doesn't last forever;-) But she is still a complete joy these days. Hilarious! So completely different from her sister, but absolutely loving Rosemary to pieces. And of course, since this is a kid update, it's only appropriate I update on baby #3. I'm actually feeling substantially better. While still exhausted, the nausea has definitely, definitely, definitely subsided a great deal and can now be managed primarily with eating the right things at the right times. If I can squeeze a nap in my day somehow, I feel great. The days Rosemary has preschool, Gloria and I nap while she's gone. The days Rosemary is home, my mom has been super helpful in watching her while G & I catch a few z's. Only one time was I so desperate I dropped Rosemary off at the drugstore to hang with Jeff while I slept for an hour. I go to the doctor again in 2 weeks, so I'll have more to share about "baby Sparkle" as Rosemary has named her, then. Yes, she thinks it's a HER (how could she not, it's all we know in our families!) Most of our furniture is scheduled to be delivered about Thanksgiving time. A couch would be dreamy right about now!