I just wanna tell you his name already!

I was all, let's hang up the baby's name in his nursery and then the idea went down the drain because it's kinda hard to hang a name above a crib when the crib is still in the big girl's room being occupied by said big girl.

Yeah, we gave up a little too easy on the big bed transition and she's back in the good ol' crib. Why? Because we all like sleep, that's why. And I don't think we were ready to commit to the whole back to bed 157 times in one night thing...so we'll wait until there's a second baby crying through the night...that seems super logical right?

Ugh.

Anyways.

We took a family shopping trip to Gordmans this weekend. Because that's also a super fun thing to do with husband and almost two year old. We were looking for lamps...but came home with this!

 

 

Ohmygawd! Baby boy has something on his wall! I'm not going to lie, Gordmans really does come through in some random ways. It's boyish, it's cute, it takes up a few feet. Yay!

 

So, the name...how we're going to get it on the wall, where it's going, not sure yet. I have plenty of options, but no ability to commit.

 

As you might remember I got these super adorable, but still manly, over sized flashcards at Anthropologie this summer:

 



And the chosen flashcards..................

 

Ethan.Michael.Fellows

 

We're quite excited about the name. Ethan, just because we like the name Ethan. And Michael after my dad. (As much as we liked Andrew for a potential middle name...Ethan Andrew reminded us a little too much of Ethan Allen.) 

 

I think it's a solid, strong name. I can envision a little Ethan running around, but I can also envision a successful business man...or soap opera actor. Either way.

 

There you have it!! Baby Dos officially has a name. Now just to meet this little fella.

the upstairs

Upstairs we have the laundry room and baby's room to the front, extra bedroom, bathroom and Emmie's room to the back of the house and the master at the end of the hallway.

 

 

The 4th bedroom. We decided that using the extra bedroom as an additional toy room/tv room/den for the upstairs was a better use of space than a guest room that would rarely be used. And we are loving it so far!

 

 

Kid's bathroom. I can't tell what the colors are looking like online...this wall color is Cornhusk Green.

 

Big mama. I was really just trying to highlight the framed mirror. Another one of my random wants turned into need.  It's one of those things that we would say we would do down the road, but then never actually do it. Again, I'm super happy with it, even though our cabinet guy thought I was nuts.

 



Emmie's room! (Grand Hotel Mackinac Blue) Yes, that's the light fixture from her nursery in the other house. I just couldn't stand to let it go...so we asked to take it!

 

Baby's room (Feeling Blue). A super light, bluey grey for our little fella.

 

 



The master bedroom (Woodlawn Colonial Grey). And see out that window...the house that's being built...we actually know those people! Don't worry guys, the blinds are already up.

 



The master bath. This is the very first time Andy and I will be sharing a bathroom. A pretty big deal. We believe that separate bathrooms and DVRs are key to a happy marriage. So let's just hope that separate vanities work the same way. Did you know Andy's super neat and tidy and I'm...not. Especially in the bathroom. I've been really good so far though...and I credit that to the outlet in the linen closet so my flat iron and hair dryer are never seen again...best thing ever!

 

(And the master closet off of the bathroom.)

 

That's about it!  We're slowly getting around to decorating the joint and once there is something else to show...I'll post it.

 

Maybe baby will finally get a name hung up on his wall....



I interrupt this house tour to ask you: when?

When?

When did I become the person that had use all my power to stop myself from posting on Facebook and screaming to the world that Emmie pooped in the potty?

I know.

It's ridiculous that I was so excited. And clearly, no one else cares.

Anyways, you're still reading and I assume you know what this post is about by now, so I'll continue.

We've got a list of things to take care of before this baby arrives...in like a little over two weeks. One of them being, oh you know, pack a hospital bag. (Holy under prepared for Baby Dos.)  Anyways, the other big items on the list are moving Emmie to the big girl bed and starting some potty training.

This week we decided to move the potty we bought months ago to a more useful location...like out of the box in the garage and actually into the house for starters. And I won't go into the details of the actual pottying event (though I really want to) but sadly it was a fluke because it hasn't happened since.

So, on to the big girl bed. We've had the crib and a new big girl twin bed in Emmie's room since we moved in. Every night she declines the offer to sleep there. Finally, on Saturday night we didn't give her the option...she was a little miffed at the situation but fell asleep anyway...stayed there all night and woke us in the morning with the universal I'm awake signal...banging her water cup on the wall. Hmm...that was kinda easy I guess...said the idiot.

We headed into naptime on Sunday...Em was not so interested in the bed this time. Andy got her settled in and then she proceeded to dick around for a solid 45 minutes. We were watching tv upstairs (okay Andy was watching tv and I was sleeping) and I opened one eye to see Emmie saunter into the room with a shit eating grin on her face...so proud of herself that she figured out how to get out of bed. Andy walked her back and tossed her in the crib...where she proceeded to dick around for another 45 minutes. I finally gave in and went to get her and found her pantless and diaperless, happy as a clam.

Needless to say, bedtime this evening took about 30 seconds and she was asleep, in her big girl bed.

We'll work harder on potty training another time.

the barn door

 

Damn Pinterest and all your fancy pictures. Once I saw the barn door...well, you know how it goes from there.

 

I did really like the barn door option as a space saver. It's not a very big room and the sliding door takes up way less space than the French doors would have (at least that's how I sold it to Andy).

 

I ordered the barn door hardware online and then had the people that did the rest of our doors make this one. Oh, but then I forgot to order the actual door handle, so that's still on its way. And you get to see furniture because the door was put up after we moved in.

 

This is the view as you walk in the front door. That's the den...fancy, like drop zone, for Emmie put your shit here instead of in the living room.

 



 

more kitchen



 

The Oil Rubbed Bronze vs. Brushed Nickel debate: I still couldn't commit to mixing the ORB with the brushed nickel. A little OCD I guess. So we did ORB on the white cabinetry and pretty much throughout the main floor with lighting etc. and then did nickel upstairs, with nickel light fixtures.

There aren't really any fancy upgrades to the kitchen. Though I love the look of a gas range with hood...considering we don't do all that much cooking..it didn't make sense for us.  There is a gas line behind the stove just in case my culinary skills improve with time...or my dad moves in and becomes our personal chef.

I did hit it a little old school when I requested a built in cutting board under the counter in the island. You know, the skinny cutting board that you pull out? My grandma had one and I always thought it was really cool...the cabinet guy thought I was losing it, but did it anyway.

 



How hard is granite shopping? Seriously. (The hard part being the bad ol' budget word again.) We saw Crema Typhoon and had to have it. I feel like photos don't really do it justice, but it's the thing that ties it all together...the flooring, the espresso cabinets and the white cabinets...it's grey, it's beige, it's light, it's dark and there are little pieces that sparkle in the right light and I like me some sparkle.

And remember that shopping trip this summer that filled the vehicle to the brim? Yeah, I literally bought everything and a kitchen sink! We saved money on the apron front sink from Ikea...but then I turned around and spent it on this light fixture from West Elm. I get points for trying to save, right?

main floor

Okay, moving right along.

Very open concept main floor. Funny....because that's not at all what we wanted.

Have I ever mentioned this building process of ours? We started thinking new house when we started thinking about baby #2. Well, who knew how long #2 would take to make, so we held off until we found out we were pregs. Then the planning began.

And then the planning stopped, to make sure it wasn't twins! The plan would have been quite different with three daycare bills. After we found out it was just the one fella, we moved forward.

And then GBS hit and time stood still again. 

Once all was normal, we moved forward...fast. We picked a builder, picked a lot and picked a plan that worked the best given our time constraints. Our house has a lot of we want, but not quite everything. We wanted to get in before baby arrived, so some of our architectural want-list just had to take a backseat. Such is life. We're still very happy with our new home.

View from the mudroom. Kitchen/dining to the right. Pantry/Den to the left. And living room straight ahead.

We were able to make a couple changes to the builder's plan on the main floor. We added footage in the living room and in that dining room area. We're not really a dinner at the table kind of people, so I wanted to be able to tuck my table in as far as possible. And we really wanted a door-door to the outside instead of a sliding glass patio style door. Don't ask me why, it was just one of those things. And then of course we made the island as big as we could...definitely island people.

These built ins are one of my favorite add ons. I have no idea how I'm going to fill them...but I still love them. We have run into our first snag though. Emmie's toys are currently filling the cupboard areas and when she opens the door closest to the fireplace...it slams into the corner of the rock. So, that's not awesome and our doors already have a couple scratches.  

And that's the view of the den at the front of the house. This is also where we made a bit of a change. There wasn't supposed to be a walk thru there, but because we really wanted this to be Emmie's play room, I was afraid she'd never be in there if we couldn't see her from the kitchen (there is another entrance around the corner...we'll get to that.) We're very happy we made the doorway and have the added bonus of more natural light coming in from the front.

(Sorry. Longest post ever apparently. I just know so many people in the building mode right now and even some with our exact builder...so detail overload, my apologies.)

Another view from the stairs. Did I mention we love our flooring? It's a reclaimed laminate that is totally outside of our box. We went back and forth between two colors, one being very warm and safe and one that's a bit cooler with almost a grey undertone. We opted for the grey undertone and we're really liking the decision.

And you know I'll be detailing that kitchen more in the next post.

The mudroom

Alright...if we're doing photos, we're going to milk this thing.

Lots of posts heading your way. These are the before we moved in photos...

Let's start with the entrance from the garage.  The mudroom? Is that what people are calling it these days?

That is the garage door entrance straight ahead and I'm standing in the walk in closet. The little area to the left is called the drop zone. Fancy for Kelsey, put your shit here instead of on the kitchen table. To the right is a half bath and the entrance to the kitchen.

 

 

Are you interested in the details of our selections? While we love ourselves some white woodwork, we went with dark for the lockers...basically because I fear what the white woodwork would look like after a year or ten of backpacks, shoes, etc. being thrown all over it. So, dark we went.

Emmie already gets home after school and takes off her coat and hands it to one of us to hang up, puts her hat in the drawer and her shoes underneath.  And then says Mamashoes, Dadashoes until you do the same.

The half bath. Pretty self explanatory. Quite possibly one of my favorite wall colors. We opted to keep the flooring all the same throughout the kitchen, mudroom, and bathroom to maintain consistency...and it was one less decision we had to make. And we thought a round mirror and chandelier would be fun additions to the bathroom...and by "we" I obviously mean me.

and i'm back

Blogging from the new house. It's love. Watching my DirectTV and finally on the internet. Emmie and Tuck are fast asleep and Andy is cleaning the apartment. Life is good.

It's so surreal to be here.

We closed on Friday morning while the movers were already at the apartment packing up our stuff.  Have I mentioned hiring movers was the best money ever spent? Ok, not like I was going to help move boxes anyways, but it was so nice. I felt a little bad bossing them to different rooms of the house, but I got over it.

With Emmie at daycare we worked as fast as we could to get the house somewhat put together. Mom and Andy took care of the bigger things while I focused on kitchen stuff. What is it about having the kitchen put together that makes you feel so accomplished?

The house is coming together. Rooms and closets are getting organized, the clutter is moving from place to place, the blinds are hung and I even washed some baby boy clothes! Emmie took her first, and I'm sure not last, tumble down the stairs and survived.

So that's that. In non-house related news from the week we had fun at Olivia's 2nd birthday party, had our 35 week appointment (all is well with Baby Dos), and got to snuggle up with baby Molly (Matt and Alicia's little sweet pea bundle of joy who is already a week old!)

Now, do I photobomb this blog with pics of the new house? It probably doesn't matter what your answer is, I'll do it anyways...I just need to find that box with the camera cords.

Family Photos

We took some family photos last week to prove that I was indeed pregnant and I do care about Baby Dos. How did I ever take weekly photos the first time around? Oh yeah, there was no almost two year old running the show.

I didn't have super high expectations, because of said almost two year old. But oh my god...she was amazing.  The photographer brought with this little pink chair and Emmie could not get enough of it! She was all, I'll sit right here, you take a picture of me and I'll smile every time you say cheese!  We were amazed. And the weather was perfect. And in 32 minutes, we were back in the car, which of course made for a very happy husband.

So here is a sneak peek, sorry if you've already seen them on Facebook and I'm just boring you now.

Pink chair = love.

I don't think I have one photo of just me and Emmie...and nothing this sweet!

She likes baby brother already!

We were taking a photo while she was sitting and
then she just laid down...like hey, this could be a good shot!

Thank you Trudy at Simply Taken for awesome pics!