Introducing...

Shepard - "Shep"

8 pounds, 5 ounces

He was worth every minute of my 44 hour labor and our 4 days in the hospital. And let me tell you, that's saying something. Ha!

So much more to come on this little guy as we carry on on this new great adventure! What a ride already.

And for some good fun, here's Dad, Mom, and now Shep all around the 'brand new' time frame.

I think he's a pretty good mix!

Random Round Up: Waiting Game

If you know me, you know I'm not very graceful when it comes to handling 'go-with-the-flow' kinds of situations. So waiting around for this lil' babe... Tough. 

So, a few snaps of my pastimes of late:

A happy hour date, complete with Skookie (skillet cookie) for desert. YUM.

So thankful I have a buddy at home.

Best $10 I ever spent - An adult coloring book! I found mine on Amazon, there are tons.

Finishing touches are finally done on the nursery, including this laundry hamper.
I plan to do a room reveal once he's here since a few decorations have his name incorporated.

We're going for daily walks - C'mon kiddo!!

Hope things are going smoothly for you guys! I'm crossing my fingers for a meet-n-greet with our new little guy SOON.

Random Round Up: Slowing Down

Okay... Trying to slow down is probably more of a truth. With only a couple weeks to go until Baby J's arrival, I get tired so much more easily but it seems like I have more to do than ever. How do you find the balance??

That's not rhetorical guys, I really want to know. Help a girl out. "Just take it slow" doesn't really work for me and my constant need to close out to-do lists.

Anywhoo, here's what happened - along with a lot of couch time and napping - this weekend:

The leaves in my neighborhood are just starting to turn. Love it!

A co-worker and her mom made a quilt for Baby J, amazing!!

Got all the clothes put away this weekend... Whoa.

My house may still be in relative shambles, but at least a few of my plants will
make it through the winter now.
I took a pre-nap to gear up and a then needed a couch sesh to recover. Ha!

Cutting back the backyard for colder temps forced me to trim the last of the
hydrangea blooms. So pretty!

Happy Monday, y'all!

Showered With Love

In a word: Amazing. My baby shower, hosted by my Mother-In-Law and coordinated with my mom and two best buddies, was this past weekend, and I can't think of a word other than 'amazing' to sum it up. So much love, so much time invested, and so much gratefulness from me. Words can't do it justice, so enjoy these pics!

My MiL's amazing friend loaned out this 115 year old family heirloom crib
to hold gifts by the front door. So gorgeous!

My parents worked their magic on creating this diaper tricycle. So cute!

Every detail accounted for - Check out those arrow-printed clothespins!

Sweetly framed invite, complete with pretty little accoutrements.

We played The Price Is Right... I lost after not even knowing the price of my own
Starbucks drink! D'oh! Haha

Gorgeous garden flowers on every surface.

My bestie from childhood, Rebecca.

Seriously, EVERY detail. See the tiny blue pacifiers?!

My mom and her neighbor whipped up the most delicious cupcakes
in three different flavors: Raspberry, orange, and chocolate coconut. YUM.

Little candy favors all dressed up like onesies.

My girls. Fifteen years of friendship and counting!

So cute. Just everything: So cute.

Thank you to all of you who contributed, came, sent good vibes, everything. I'm chock full o'love, and we have the luckiest lil' guy.

Random Round Up: Weekend o'Love

Such a wonderful, love-filled weekend 'round here: My two besties were up to stay with me, and right in the middle was my baby shower. Guess what, world? People are NICE. The generosity and support were overwhelming, and the hubs and I were left feeling unbelievably special and loved. Couldn't ask for better!

Autumn is kicking off in a picture-perfect way.

Between the massage chair and the foot rub, this has been the BEST treat for myself.

Two of the last teams in the nation to be undefeated so far went head to head.
My Huskies lost, but it was a hard fought battle. Hooray for volleyball season!!

They are just the best ever.

Swelling continues to be an every-morning issue... New meaning to
Beyoncé's 'I Woke Up Like This' line, eh?? HA. But why only really
bad in one hand?! Bizarre, per usual.

I'll share some shower details later this week - My mother-in-law and her friend outdid themselves in design and decor, and my mom and two best girls followed up with perfect little touches of their own. Wonderful! And here's hoping the same for us all for the week ahead.

Ding Dong the Ring is Gone

With last week came a sad day: I had to face the fact that I'm too vain for my own health. 

Like every married lady, I love my wedding rings. So much so that I danced around taking and leaving them off until, well, it was way too late.

Five pounds of sausage in a one pound bag on Bourbon Street.

I'd had some swelling, especially in the sweat fiesta that was New Orleans in May, but it had always gone back down. Until it didn't. I tried every lubricant, every method under the sun. I iced. I oiled. I wrapped with string. With tape. With wire. 

Ice bath.

I made it worse.

The string method worked best, and if I hadn't waited as long
to try probably would have solved my problem.

So off I went with a heavy heart to the jeweler where they were purchased, ready to bite the bullet and have them cut off. The employees were so kind, telling me it happens all the time and they would be fixed whenever I was (physically) ready - Aka: healed and no more swelling, so post-babe. Sigh.

The sweetest old Eastern-European jeweler toddled out and ever-so-gently hacked my rings in half. No really, it was moderately painless: They have a special tool that slowly and precisely cuts through the metal. Then with a tweak of some needle-nose pliers, my finger was free. And wow, did it need to be freed. I didn't think it was THAT bad until I saw the damage on my skin underneath.

Luckily, thanks to my Rodan + Fields product love, I used some Soothe 2 (a redness-reduction miracle product, seriously) and within 12 hours the swelling was way down and the redness all but gone. 

In the meantime, I printed out a ring measurement tool and took stock of my finger. Turns out, I'm now about a size 9.5-10 on my ring finger... My wedding set is a 7. What?! But with that knowledge I was able to pop onto Amazon and pick up a simple, low-cost, sterling wedding knot to keep my finger feeling a little less naked these last few weeks. It's actually a little too large, but I have a feeling I'll have days where I fill it out just fine.

It's a weird and wild ride, folks. Can't wait to get my bands repaired and back on.

...Guess my vanity level hasn't resized.

Pleasing Poms: Custom Rug Making

Since my search for the perfect living room rug took years, I decided finding a rug to add to the baby's room had to take a different route. We've only got months to work with after all!


Pinterest to the rescue, per usual: I ran across these beautiful instructions on how to make basic yarn pom-poms and how to then turn them into a rug. Perfection. And so simple! Can you move your arms? Can you tie a knot? Do you use toilet paper? Wait, don't answer that last one. I can figure it out myself.

Items Needed:

• Skeins and skeins of yarn (my three GIANTs and two smalls earned me roughly 70 poms)
• Scissors
• Rug pad
• Two empty toilet paper rolls
• A place to corral your poms (I used an empty box)

...No really, that's IT.

You should go to the more formalized instructions for the step-by-step (plus, their idea, not mine!), but in a nutshell, you wind your yarn around your toilet paper rolls, slide them out and make a nice tight knot in the middle, cut through all the loops (a lot of mine looked wonky, so I trimmed them up to make them more nicely domed), and tie them onto the pad.

A rug pad - Larger than needed so you can cut to size.
I ordered this one on Amazon for under $12.

I found it speediest to wind all my little donuts, then trim them all, then tie them onto the rug pad.

"Donuts"

Tying on the poms.

I made a simple knot, then finished any long pieces with a bow.
It'd be totally fine to just cut the extra length off too.

Starting to take shape! Tie them close so you don't have any gapping.

The result is a super plush, machine washable (I used washable acrylic yarn), and custom rug. The only disappointment from the project was I'd actually planned the rug to be much larger. When I ran out of yarn and went to get more... They no longer make the yarn I used. I'd bought it on sale months back, and now even Ebay can't help me. That's what I get for procrastinating on this project!

The originally desired length shown by the rug pad, measured to run the length of the crib.
It ended up about half this length, and more like a square than a rectangle.

I haven't quite decided on where it's going to land in the nursery itself, so I'll have to post an update photo when I actually get it in the room. For now - Puggle tested, puggle approved. And save my yarn-needs miscalculation, a totally easy and successful project!

Finished product! Puggle not included.

Cravings

You've all heard the tales of pregnancy cravings: Pickles and ice cream! Chocolate cake with sauerkraut! Cheese dipped in ketchup!

I kid you not - I googled "crazy pregnancy cravings" and those are from real people.

Luckily for me, I haven't had a hankering for anything quite that extreme, and I don't think I've been too Veruca Salt about it all, but my tastes definitely have changed. Normally, I would take something sugary over anything else, any time of day, any day of the week. But now? All the salty, spicy, vinegar-y things are my new faves.

Here's a little compilation of the last 32 (whoa, what?!) weeks' desires:

 

Veggie sandwich WITH PICKLES. Don't even bother if there aren't pickles.

Really good salads with really good dressing... Slobber.

Cheez-It crackers!

Showering Rama - A Thai dish that's spicy and peanut-buttery. Divine.

I've never been a big soda drinker, but wow, a (not diet) Dr. Pepper is all I want sometimes.

Not pictured: Sharp cheddar cheese, cranberry or grapefruit juice, and hard boiled eggs, to name a few more.

I only have a handful of weeks left... I wonder what's next?