Kiley's Nursery Reveal

When it came to creating a nursery for baby Kiley, I wanted to make something extra special for her.

Since Ryder had moved into his Big Boy Room, his vacated nursery was ready for a renovation.

I decided to keep the existing gray and white base colors and add some pretty, baby-pink accents to make it look sweet and girly for little Kiley.

Does it seem like a pretty, cozy place for her to grow up? 

You may not be able to tell at first glance, but the room is filled with love.

Quilts, blankets, and burp rags made by Kiley's great grandmothers, grandmothers, aunts, and good friends. Super soft, cuddly stuffed animals given for her to cuddle. A shelf full of books that have been read and chewed on by Big Brother Ryder. A night light that shined in my own room when I was a child. A special clock from an amazing little workshop in Rome that Stew and I visited before we were even engaged. Even the stylish headbands were made by a dear friend. And every detail was painstakingly thought out and orchestrated by Mom and Dad — glass drawer pulls, matching pink curtains and lamp shades, a sparkly chandelier, and name letters that I painstakingly painted by hand.

We sure hope that you love it, sweet baby girl!

Ryder's Big Boy Room

After we found out that we were going to have a little girl, it was time to start on some home organization and decoration.

I knew I would never, ever be willing to paint over those dang chevron stripes in the nursery, so we decided to keep that as the baby's room, which meant it was time for...

Ryder's Big Boy Room!

We've had two guest rooms ever since we moved into this house, mainly because we really didn't have anything else in particular to do with the extra space. Therefore, we picked the larger of the two, cleared it out, and began creating a fun, personal space for Ryder to grow up in.

Since we actually have, on occasion, used both of our guest rooms at the same time, we decided on a bunk bed set for Ryder's room that has a full sized bed on the bottom. That way we can still utilize the room for guests in the future if we need to. And for now we've opted to remove the ladder to the top bunk... just to be on the safe side until he's a bit older!



I certainly wasn't willing to tackle stripes again, but I did decide to paint one accent wall in a dark navy blue color to make the room more cozy.

After that it was simply a matter of choosing some new bedding and transferring all of Ryder's stuff out of the nursery and into his new room!

Also, a huge shout out to my mom, who spent the day with me painting and assembling furniture.

 

We moved quite a few of Ryder's toys into his room that were previously located all over the house. Now our living areas feel super de-cluttered, and Ryder absolutely loves his new play room with all his favorite things in the same place.

So far he hasn't actually been willing to sleep in his new room (yes, we're still co-sleeping), but we're content to take things one step at time. 

And as for the nursery, we're putting on the final touches as we wait anxiously for Baby Sister to arrive.

It won't be long now, and Big Brother Ryder can hardly wait!

Adventures with Baby Sister | Second Trimester

I love the second trimester!

I can finally understand why so many people claim that being pregnant is no big deal. 

Everyone finally knows I'm knocked up, I've gotten a ton of energy back, I have a legit baby bump (rather than just looking like a slightly chubby girl with a beer belly), all of my nausea is gone, and for once in my life I'm not consumed with portion control and dieting (because this baby girl needs calories)! My only minor complaint is heartburn, which is quite easily dealt with.

Basically, I feel great!

I haven't been taking weekly "bump" photos this time around, but I do have a couple from the second trimester, the first of which Patty took during our annual trip to Priest Lake when I was around 16 weeks. The last time I was pregnant, I had just barely started to show at this point... 

It's been quite a contrast to my pregnancy with Ryder!

During the second trimester of my first pregnancy, I continued to puke multiple times a day until at least week 17. I had horrible skin problems and grew weird hair in all sorts of strange places. I experienced scary heart palpitations that eventually uncovered an underlying heart condition I've apparently had my whole life. I had to take supplements for terrible anemia. And right in the midst of the joy of finding out that Ryder was a boy, we also learned that he had some concerning cysts in his brain that required extensive and stressful genetic testing to determine whether or not he had a serious, life-threatening developmental abnormality (clearly he didn't). I suffered from excruciating back pain, and by week 25 I had already started to experience pain, swelling, and numbness in my hands and feet. Oh, and I failed my first round of glucose testing (luckily I passed the second time).

Every pregnancy really is different!

This time around, I really find it difficult to find a single thing to complain about.

We've actually been having a lot of fun.

Somehow I always end up pregnant during football season. I think Stewart plans it this way so that he can ensure himself a sober driver for the duration of the season. 

Luckily, this year I had some partners in crime. 

My fellow Hawkwagon Tailgaters, Jessica and Haley, are also pregnant this season!

Besides going to football games, quite a few exciting events went on during the past three months. 

We ended the summer with a couple fun trips to Mayfield Lake and Priest Lake, and took a super fun "Babymoon" trip to the ocean with Brett and Haley.

My sweet Grandma Sally turned 90 years old, Halloween was a blast, and we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Alway Family. 

First family photo with all four of us (if you count the bump)...

I also got to see one of my very best, lifelong friends, Brooke, over the holidays. Remember her from our trip to Denver when I was pregnant with Ryder? 

And back at home, we started nesting and preparing for Baby Sister's arrival...

Stew and I got to work on transforming Ryder's nursery into a baby girl's room, starting with the installation of a chandelier. Although I LOVE the final result, I don't necessarily recommend doing electrical work with your spouse.

I've been trying to spend as much quality time with Ryder as possible while he's still my only baby.

He's pretty darn excited to be a Big Brother!

We're working on potty training, because I'm not necessarily thrilled about the idea of having two kids in diapers at the same time. Ryder does love his Paw Patrol Big Boy Undies, but he hasn't really taken to using the toilet yet... we'll see how things progress (fingers crossed)!

Oh, we're halfway there!

We were so thrilled to really get to see Baby Sister at our 20 week ultrasound! She is perfect, with ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes, and her sweet little profile sure does look a lot like Ryder's did, I think. We are loving feeling her kick and move around, and can't believe that in just three more months we'll get to kiss her sweet cheeks.

22 weeks pregnant with Baby Sister.

I'm feeling anxious and excited all at the same time. 

I'm so excited to meet her I can hardly stand it, but I am apprehensive about how I am going to handle being a mother to TWO children at the same time! This pregnancy is flying by crazy fast, and with so many events and holidays coming up, she's truly going to be here before we know it. 

We sure can't wait to meet our sweet little angel!

Decking the Halls

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care way up high, out of reach from sticky toddler hands.

We made sure to adhere to some of our favorite Christmas traditions this year, and it all started with cutting down a Christmas tree at Enchanted Winds Christmas Tree Farm. Of course we had to do it in the pouring rain, but that's Pacific Northwest living for you!

Ryder didn't mind the weather one bit, and he was such a good boy helping us pick out the perfect tree. Stew exercised his manly patriarchal duties and cut it down for us while I huddled under the umbrella. We were happy to head inside afterward to stand by the fire and warm up.

We took our lovely tree home and spent the next afternoon listening to holiday music while we decked the halls and made the house Christmas-y. 

We knew that hanging our stockings on the fireplace mantle would result in an immediate disaster when Ryder yanked on them, so we had to come up with a more creative, toddler-friendly solution for the stockings this year. 

Stew's mom made his stocking for him when he was little, and a few years ago he had one made for me in the same style. Then of course last year we had to get one for Ryder, too. And my mom has been giving me these creepy carolers for years now for some reason...

Every year we try to buy Christmas ornaments at some point during our travels. This year we got some super cute stuff on our trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon. We got this super cute, wooden, Christmas-scene Advent calendar, plus a whole set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ornaments for Ryder and an adorable one of Santa at the beach.

Our tree is a little smaller this year, and we didn't go crazy with the ornaments (I still have a whole box left in the garage) but I still think it turned out so pretty. 

Receiving photo Christmas cards is one of my favorite things about December! I love checking the mail every day to see what else has arrived. And Ryder absolutely loves standing at the fridge, pointing at the cards and identifying all his friends and family members in the photos. It's downright adorable.

And of course Ryder visited Santa! Although he wasn't nearly as thrilled about the situation this year. I think he was just humoring Mom and Dad...

We will be spending Christmas this year with my family in Olympia, and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm so excited about all the gifts I bought for everyone, and I'm really looking forward to some nice relaxing holiday time with everyone I love.

Bring on the Christmas cheer!

Ryder's Nursery Reveal

I first started working on Ryder's nursery way back in January, when my mom and I painted his room grey. Then I tackled the whole chevron stripes project, which took forever but turned out great in the end. And in the meantime I was also researching and purchasing furniture, decorations, artwork and accessories to tie the whole room together. And I finally finished everything just a few weeks before Ryder's birth day.

I've gotten lots of requests to see the finished nursery, so here it is! 

Ryder's Room

Almost every single thing in the room is significant in some way, from the clown night light that was mine when I was a baby, to the lion clock that came from our favorite little workshop in Rome, to the rocking chair from Nana and Grandpa, to the animal theme (Daddy loves animals!), to the "wishes" written for him before he was even born. And of course we had to throw in some fire trucks.

This is one of the first times I tried out my new camera that Stew got me as a push present, and you can see I was still learning with some of the settings. Hopefully I'll get better with it as time goes on.

Also, I know I've been a horrible blogger since the little nugget was born, but I promise to try and be better going forward. Most of the posts you may have seen in the past month were written in advance and pre-scheduled to go live, which is why there hasn't been much so far about our life as a family of three. But I'm getting the hang of it, and currently writing this post as Ryder hangs from me in an infant carrier... yay, multitasking!

My brain constantly whirls with all the different Live & Learn lessons I could post each week... every day we learn something new about being parents. So if there is anything in particular you'd like to know about how things are going with us, please let me know and I'll make that subject a priority!

Also I'm so sorry that I've been so absolutely horrible about replying to all your extremely kind comments over the past few weeks. I've read and appreciated each and every one, and feel so lucky that you have cared enough to follow along on our journey.

Please, stick around!