Operation Baby Boy Room 2010: THE RUG

So every nursery has a rug in it (I couldnt tell you why, but when you look at sets, they all have rugs...Taylor's has a rug).  So in googling (yes, google is now my best friend these days), I found a really cute rug I liked.  However, they were asking $100+ for it!  No kidding!  So I figured I used to do latch-hook kits in high school back when and actually had fun and those things usually ended up lasting me a while.  So, why not?

This was my inspiration for my rug (the one they wanted $100+ for!):

We all know when "making" my own, it wont be this awesome.  But it'll be awesome in the fact that I MADE IT!  HA!  Eat that Martha Stewart!

And here's the "rough draft" of my rug.  I measured and drew it all myself...took me a whole day to get it right and of course, I made it a little more realistic than the rug above (i.e., the blue lines are closer to the center line than the goals, goals dont look authentic,etc). 

Wish me luck...it's taking me a while.  I've been working on it here and there (when Taylor naps or after she goes to bed at night) for almost 2 weeks now.

Operation Baby Boy Room 2010

After looking through baby boy nursery sets, I've come to the conclusion that having a boy means you're putting sports, cars or animals in his room.  But they're either all too cutesy (is that a word?) or uglier than sin.  Not to mention that a lot of sets have A LOT of green and I'm sorry but I am not a fan of green! Well, not in a kids room. Oh and the sports sets NEVER include hockey, but rather the basic football, baseball, and basketball. Heck, there's even soccer sets out there!  But nothing that's just purely hockey.  And I want hockey.  And since we're a divided household (I'm a Pittsburgh Penguins fan and Tim is a Carolina Hurricanes fan), I couldnt choose one team over the other, so I wanted just a hockey theme in general.  But alas, they dont make or sell ANYTHING for baby nurseries that are hockey themed.  Which meant if I wantd a hockey theme, I'd have to make it work. 

After researching for the past few weeks, I've found that not only would I get my wish of a hockey room for my boy if I just make it, but it'd also be less costly to make the set myself.  And, of course, decorate accordingly.   So, over the course of the next few months, I'm going to be making my hockey themed nursery for my boy.   It'll be a hockey theme with red/white/blue fabrics and accents (those are the colors on the ice).

I hope I keep my sanity.
I hope I dont "give up" and end up just buying something in the end.
I hope I learn how to use a sewing machine, having NEVER touched one in my life.
I hope it doesnt end up looking horrible in the end.
I hope my kid will end up liking hockey or I will be one pissed off mom!  HAHA

Wish me luck!

The "other" side....

So, for years I've had to shop on the girl side of the major clothing stores (babies r us, gymboree, children's place, gap, carters, etc) and always looked over on the other side thinking of how cute and preppy the boys clothes were and I couldnt wait til I could shop boys clothes one day.   Of course, the day we found out it was a boy (last Friday), me and Taylor headed to the mall here.  Our first stop was Gymboree, where the only cute thing in the entire store was a onesie that said "Little Brother" but cost 15 stinking dollars!  Too much for ONE onesie if you ask me (I miss the outlets at Potomac Mills ugh).  Then we headed to Gap where everything was an ugly animal theme. Not like cute puppy dogs and such....more like elephants and rhinos.  Not cute at all if you ask me.  Oh and their whole 0-6 months section was a whopping 5 different shirts and a few pairs of shorts.  The girls side has HUNDREDS of options.  Then we headed to children's place, where the clothes were halfway decent and I found what I was looking for!

Had to get a "little brother" onesie, since Taylor has her "big sister" tshirt.

And also found this:

I figured it would get Tim in the mood for his little boy.  He wanted another girl, but he's slowly starting to warm up to the idea of a little boy! 

And after another trip today to the mall, I found a few more cute things! 

The onesie on the left has a MEERKAT on it!  How cool is that?  We love meerkats in this house!  Tim's gonna love that one!  And on the right was the only elephant print that was actually cute.  And I figured that sleeper will be money!  IT UNSNAPS IN THE FRONT!  And if I remember correctly, Taylor LIVED in onesies and sleepers for the first 3 months of life!

And of course, something for daddy.  :)

**Dont worry, I wont post pictures of everything clothing item we buy/get from this point on, if he's anything like his sister, he'll have a closet full (yes, we have spoiled kids).  I'm just so excited to be shopping on the "other" side now :)

To move or not to move....

If you're a parent, you've faced the "to move or not to move" scenario and always wonder what's best and more than likely regret your decision either way....yup, I had that come up today.

Taylor literally PASSED out on the floor this afternoon while playing. 

For 20 minutes, I waited for her to hit her deepest sleep and wondered if I should move her or not.  If I left her there, she'd prolly wake up from the sun being in her eyes or because she's on a hard floor or because she'd roll and hit her head on the wall.  But if I moved her, she'd prolly wake up in the process and then not go back to sleep.  Ugh, for 20 stinking minutes I debated.  And finally decided to move her.  Needless to say....she woke up and was not happy.

I should have left her there.

We dont need no stinking daddy...

One of Taylor's "things" with her daddy is building forts.  She doesnt do it with mommy, only daddy.  But today, we took daddy to the airport to go on business til Friday.  When we got back, she grabbed the blanket and went to town by herself building her fort. 

It certainly doesnt look like fun, but she loved it! 

And of course, Moose had to be in the fort too!

After about 10 minutes of playing in her "fort", she was done. But for 10 whole minutes, she had fun! And no daddies were necessary in the making of this fort HAHA!

Twins

For our nightly family walk, Taylor put on a cute dress (she was in undies all day so I had to put something on her and she wanted her yellow dress). When I put it on her, she looked so cute, but then as I looked at the pictures I shot, I realized something really eerie!  She looks identical to her cousin Fayth! 

Here's Taylor getting ready to go for her walk...

And here's her cousin Fayth in 2005...close to Taylor's age!  The similarities are eerie!

IT'S A BOY!!!

Baby #2 was not shy at the ultrasound this morning and was showing off his goods like crazy!

And sure enough, there was no mistaking it was a boy :)

And if that picture's just too graphic for ya (Tim said "that's disgusting"), then try this one....

There, that's more PG-13 rated instead of R! :) 

Happy Birthday America!

Our holiday weekend was jam-packed with fun, family and fireworks.

On Friday night, we set out to see the fireworks at Fort Gordon.  We got a front row seat!  Taylor loved the fireworks and is still talking about them!

(waiting for the fireworks to begin)

They were RIGHT above us!

On Saturday, we entertained Tim's siblings (all but one) and their families....which added up to 14 people staying in our house. We had fun on Uncle Bobby's boat, ate some good food at our favorite "hole-in-the-wall" place, and enjoyed the company of family!

"I'm on a boat!"

Ridge Road Cafe :)

On the 4th, we had a 14-person breakfast (in shifts, of course), then headed out to the beach/boat for some more fun on the lake!  After that, we all headed back to the house, showered, went out for some pizza then took the kids down the road to the park to see the fireworks there!

Shift #1 at breakfast

Our setup on the beach

On the boat!

Jenny, Matt and Mary Kathryn doing some tubing!

Bobby and Jack in their matching outfits, waiting for their pizza!

All in all, we had a great holiday weekend and loved being together with family!  We hope to do it again next year...but with the new addition to the family, I'm sure we wont have room to "sleep" everyone!  HAHA