Our Guest Bathroom: Before and After

We are finally done with our mini update of our guest bathroom. We decided a little face lift would be perfect to hold us over until we can really do the bathroom over completely. I'm so happy with the update that I have a feeling we'll be living with it like this for longer than we originally thought :)

 

What we did: the first step was taking down the wallpaper. Once that was done, I painted the window, shade and vanity which I talked about here. Next, Brian took out the cabinet that hung over the sink, and the large mirror-medicine cabinet in the wall. Not long after that, our electrician come in and removed the God-awful hanging lantern light, and installed a new 3 light fixture on the wall. A handyman came in to fill in the hole in the wall where the medicine cabinet was, and prep the walls for painting. My wonderful mom, came over on two different occasions and surprised us with primed, and painted walls. Then she hung the curtain she made for us, and we hung our mirror. Voila - she's done! Well, I need to pick out some things to hang on the wall and get a small towel rack for the hand towels, etc but you know what I mean. This is our first real makeover on a small budget and I could be happier with the result!

 

BEFORE

 

AFTER

Our Weekend in Review!

Happy Monday All! We've been very lucky to have had a few awesome weekends in a row. This weekend was a perfect mix of errands, organizing, cleaning, and catching up with friends!

We usually keep our Fridays free, so that we can come home and just hang out as a family. It's the perfect start to every weekend! Madelyn and I were up and out doing errands by 9am on Saturday.  Sometimes I love lazy Saturday mornings, but it was nice to get up and get an early start. We were at the mall by 10am and I was so surprised at how quiet it was. If only I was actually prepared to do all my Christmas shopping now. It would be nice to avoid the craziness of shopping in mid-December!

Nesting was my middle name on Saturday. I think I'd forgotten how nice the second trimester energy is :) This time around, especially since life involves a busy toddler, this energry is a god-send.  After I did a really good cleaning job on the house, I took to organizing our mail.  This project is one that has been lingering over my head, and giving me agida, for months but I just couldn't bring myself to tackle. We had 3 different piles, and I mean huge towering piles, of mail that needed to be weeded through, and organized.  It's silly, because it only took me about an hour and half, but the relief that our life is somewhat in order now, is crazy. I feel like I can look ahead and feel more organized about everything.

We got together with two other couples on Saturday night for dinner out to catch up, and we had so.much.fun.  We often get together with the kids, but we decided it was time for an adult dinner.  4 hours, probably 5 pitchers of margaritas later (well done boys!), and lots of chatting later, we left the restaurant. I think I was in bed by midnight, and it seemed like 3am ;) but was so worth it!

We wrapped up the weekend, by attending our friend's sons baptism, and dinner at my parents! It was a special day for our friends and we happy to be a part of it and catch up friends. Dinner at my parents is always a treat and a fun way to wind down. I hope that I am inspired to cook like my mom, when I grow up :) Without fail every week she pulls together something delicious, and we have so much fun while enjoying a great meal. Not going to lie, I'm already looking forward to when I can enjoy a glass of wine at these dinners again!
The one other thing we snuck in this weekend was a very mini family photo session. Since our engagement photo session 4 years ago, we have had professional pictures taken of us a handful more times.  Our wedding, Madelyn's birthday and then again last fall right before Madelyn turned 1. It's something Brian really doesn't care for, but I love. I think its so important to have good family photos, at least a few times a year. This year, wewe opted not to get professional photos taken, because we are in super-saving mode for my leave in the spring.  Instead, we asked my sister, a photography-lover, if she would mind taking some pictures of us. So she came over on Saturday before our dinner, and in 15 minutes in our front yard, took 100+ pictures of us! I am THRILLED that in that short time, she got a handful of (truly) great pictures! To me, a great picture has good coloring, 3 smiles and a picture in focus, but that can be SO hard sometimes. Here are a few of the outakes that wont make it onto a Christmas card, but are fun/cute! I love my little family :-)

Hope you had a great weekend, too! Here's to a great week!

XO

Gender Reveal/ 20 weeks!

We found out last week, that Baby G # 2 is A GIRL!! Yay for more pink!

 

We really enjoyed finding out what we were having with our first pregnancy, so there was no question that we would this time too. We didn't really do anything to reveal the gender last time, so I wanted to do a little something fun this time around. Our anatomy ultrasound was the day before Madelyn's birthday and it was important to us, not to overshadow M's birthday celebrations. Our plan was for Brian and I to find out at the appointment (on Thursday afternoon) and wait until Friday night before telling anyone. We were celebrating Madelyn's birthday that night, so I made a cake with the filling the gender-color and we videoed my family cutting the cake. It wasn't quite as hard as I thought it might be to keep it a secret for a day, and to have my family's reaction on video, is priceless!

 

So far, this pregnancy has been pretty different from my first.  Finding out, the naseau, the hunger/cravings (lack there of), bump, no skin problems, etc.... For all those reasons, I was definitely thinking it was a boy, but Brian was absolutely convinced it was a girl. He's said a handful of times,  he's a Dad to girls :) Well, he was right, and we're thrilled! We would have been equally excited if it was a boy, but the relationship between sisters is very special, and I'm excited for Madelyn to have a little sister to grow up with!  Here are some pictures of how we shared the news, and my 20 week bump!

 

My 20 week bumps!

On the right, was my 20 week picture with Madelyn,

and the left picture is me this week - 20 weeks with # 2!

 

Miss M is 2!

As Madelyn grows up, I doubt she'll look back on her 2nd birthday and remember it all, but I have to say, I had the BEST day with my family! We started the day singing happy birthday to her and then a special breakfast of whatever she wanted! After that, we went to her 2 year checkup.  She weighed in at 29 lbs, and is 36 1/2 inches tall! She's been tall/long since she was born (20 1/2 inches) but as our doctor explained, their height at 2 years old, pretty much predicts their height as an adult. So, Miss M, will always be tall :) She handled her blood tests like a champ and didn't even make a peep, When she got her flu shot, she let out just the smallest little whimper, so it was a smooth checkup all around. Then... it was off to lunch! We took Madelyn to a diner in town, where she munched on grilled cheese and fries, colored with crayons, and shared a milkshake with Mommy :) Halfway through our meal, our waiter and another waitress suprised us with a sundae for Madelyn, complete with a serenade of Happy Birthday! She LOVED it! Well, not so much the sundae, which Brian and I proceeded to share, but the singing and blowing out the candle!

The birthday girls afternoon consisted of a great nap, some time playing outside, and a chat with Gamma and Grandpa before we had dinner, cake and presents at our house with Mimi, Pop-Pop, Auntie Sara, and Uncle B. I knew the difference between the 1st and 2nd birthday celebrations would be significant, but I wasn't sure how. This year was a completely different, and fun experience! Madelyn sang happy birthday all day long, and was full of smiles! She's a happy girl and smiley anyway, but she seemed to really understand the day was all about her, and she LOVED it all! It was so much fun to spend time together, dote on her and of course, give her presents.

2 years old for Madelyn, is all about talking, exploring, learning.  She loves to play with her toys, especially anything that makes noise, and does really well playing on her own. Madelyn loves to be applauded.  I noticed that she would follow intructions really well pretty early on, maybe around 12 - 15 months. She grasp that if you asked her to do something, and then gave her praise, it was a good thing, and she'd gladly repeat the action. Now, if you don't clap or say "Yay!" right away, after she does what you ask, she'll say "Mommy - clap!" It's pretty cute. As much as Madelyn does well playing on her own, if you are not in the same room, she'll quickly call out - "Mommy, where are you?" to make sure we are nearby. One of the things that I find so amazing, is that she understands her routine. She knows the days that we're going to Mimi's and the days that are school days. We are so lucky that she LOVES her time at each place so much. She gets so excited to get dressed (herself) each day for school or Mimi's house. Not that I'm surprised, since Brian (especially) and I love music, but Madelyn absolutely loves music. She has always enjoyed listening to it, or dancing, but now her singing is non-stop! Twinkle twinkle, Old McDonald, Ba - Ba Black Sheep, are a few of her favorites, in addition to Most People (Brian's current favorite song - by Dawes  ) and I Will Wait by Mumford and Sons. She asks to listen to these two in particular, all-the-time! She really is such a mini-us :)

We have about 5 more months with Madelyn as our only, and I'm very much looking forward to all the time with her. All the playing, all the exploring, all the cuddles, all the funny conversations, even the tantrums :) This age is so much fun, she amazes me every single day!

Here's to you Miss Madelyn Jayne - the happiest, sweetest, smartest, prettiest little girl in the world, I love you with all of my heart! Thank you for being YOU!