The work never ends 'round here....

We finally got around to taking out the wall between the family room and living room.

Wow. What a difference it makes. Both rooms look much larger and we now have room for Norah's ever growing pile of toys. Still left to complete the room is a rug, window treatments, new pillows on the couch and banishing the love seat to the man cave downstairs. We will eventually get a kid-sized table and chairs and bookshelves for Norah's coloring books, crayons and craft stuff.

Standing in the kitchen, looking into the family room:
Before:


After:


Standing near fire place, facing kitchen
Before:


After:


Standing at front door, looking into former living room:
Before:


During:


After:


Finished!:


Other shots of the work:
Sitting on the couch, looking into the study:


The Logan office suite from Pottery Barn:

Mommy's Big Girl

Two month check up time!!

Norah had her pediatrician appointment today- she's weighing in at 12 lbs. 3 oz. (though 12 lbs on the nose is what I am calling her weight because she drank 3 oz. of milk in waiting room ;0) and 23 inches. I am happy to see that her weight gain has slowed a little since she went from 6 lbs 11 oz. at birth to 10 lbs. 12 oz. at her one month appointment. I was picturing one of those 40 lb. one-year-olds!! She's still in the 90th percentile for weight and at 60% for height.

She's been doing well on the Zantac for her reflux, so we're gonna keep her on it for a while longer. I also had some questions about napping since she doesn't like them and Dr. Smail gave me the OK to let her cry for 10-15 min if I am sure she's just refusing to sleep and doing her "I'm tired" cry. She recommended turning the monitor down and watch the clock until 10 min passes. Then check on her. She was impressed that I'm already trying to get Norah in a nap routine because too many parents wait to long and then end up with a toddler who REFUSES to nap. So I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

She recieved four shots at the appointment. I felt so bad for her because she was in such a good mood and smiling at the nurses and doctor and she fell asleep waiting for the nurse to come in and give her the shots. What a rude awakening to be stabbed repeatedly in her little chunky thighs! I wish I had taken my camera because the wail was so pitiful. Luckily, she calmed down and went back to sleep as soon as she was back in mommy's arms.

This afternoon, she spending time with Beba and Papa (Brenda and Paul) so I can get some work done and have some quiet time. Its funny, I keep expecting her to wake up from her nap and start crying...then I remember she's not here.

I have been organizing my sewing stuff and prepping to make some curtains for the master bath. Brad pulled up the hardwood and put down tile and it looks so good. We've now replaced the mirrors, floors and light fixture. Once I get the curtains and the outhouse pictures up, it'll be complete and we can move on to the next project ;0) It's a neverending construction zone around here!

Norah's Nursery!!

Crib and wall..

Still need some work on the hutch

View from the door...

What's missing from this picture?

Norah's closet...

My hand when I was four...

Our pink chair

Nursery Pictures...Still a Work in Progress

Looking in from the door towards the closet that Brad put in (he's so handy).


Close-up of the window treatments


Crib wall


Close up of her name (dark green square with light pink solid border and dark pink dashed border. The letters are light pink and mounted on a brown shelf)



The crib and bedding (minus mattress)


Changing station and hutch



We still need to order the chair, get the mattress and finish the closet so there is a clothes rack and shelves. I can't wait to start filling it with baby stuff ;0)

More Nursery Work...

This weekend, we found the perfect chair for Norah's room. The style is super cute AND super comfy. You'd be surprised how many nursery chairs we sat in this weekend were NOT comfortable, I mean, what's the point of picking an uncomfortable chair to sit in at 2 a.m. feedings? Our new friends at Baby Junction in Acworth were a tremendous help- I highly recommend visiting them if you're in Atlanta.

Here's the chair:


And here's the fabric:


I made Brad go to the fabric store with me (which he NEVER does b/c of the flashbacks he has from the many trips to Lewis Textile with his mom as a little boy) and we picked out a really cute pink, yellow, green and white striped fabric for the curtains. They'll be lined in a pink and white houndstooth. He was really disappointed to learn (as we were leaving) that there was a "customer lounge" with a TV, sports magazines and leather couches (AKA a man-retreat) where he could have sat while I looked at fabric, but I think he enjoys helping pick out stuff for Norah's room.

If there is some of the houndstooth fabric leftover, I think I'll make Lila a bed in Norah's room. Brad has it in his mind that she'll want to sleep in there to "protect" her little sister. He also saw a little sign at the fabric store that said "Sisters make the best friends" that he wanted to get to hang over Lila's bed.

All of the fabric is cut, I just need to break out the sewing machine.

I can't wait to post the finished pictures...

24 weeks and SNOW!

Here are some more pictures I took on Sunday at almost 24 weeks. We had a really good snowfall (well, by Georgia standards) so Brad spent the day working on Norah's room. It's starting to come together...slowly.

Here are the pictures...





And here are some pictures of the snow. We had about two hours of constant snowfall and had a pretty good accumulation. However, it started raining shortly after, so it all melted pretty quickly.

Baby Furniture this Weekend!

This weekend, we'll (hopefully) be getting Norah's nursery furniture. We love the set that we picked out- here are some of the pictures. We've chosen the white (I mean, the "Vanilla") finish and plan to get the crib and changing station/hutch. The crib is at the store waiting for us to pick it up (thanks Pablo & Beebs) and we'll hopefully be able to purchase the rest of it and haul it home on one of Brad's work trucks.




Here's her bedding from Pottery Barn Kids- it is even cuter in person than it is online:



Hopefully Brad can start the "demolition" of her room this weekend. We need to build a new closet and replace the baseboards and install crown molding before we (Brad) can start to paint. I think we'll do the walls in a green color, but we'll see.