Preparing to Share (with a GIRL) & Girl Name Drop

Because of Caydon's autism and pure cost efficiency, I have decided that it is in all three of our best interest to stay in our 2 bedroom + a small office home... unless we move to CA. This means that one of us has to split our room to share with a nursery, and while I think setting Cay's room up with a crib would be adorable, I don't think it would be the greatest idea in terms of his sleep or his need for personal space. With that being said, I am going to be sharing MY room with baby. I'm actually pretty fine with it, as I know that baby will want me a couple of times a night anyway. And really, what's privacy when you're a single mom to two kids?? I have been playing around with some different design layouts, palettes, and themes (though I'm not really a "theme" person). Here is what I have come up with... so far... granted that it is a girl.

My original "girl" inspiration was this:

    
 I quickly realized I was more so in love with the different shades of pink and gold contrast idea, as well as the texture of that photo. I am also thinking that to add some midnight blue thrown in as an accent color, along with the gold and grey.

The bird's eye view shows how my bed, dresser, and nightstand would be set up, as well as how the crib and dresser would flow.

Bare with me as I try to explain it further. You can see that the top left corner is my closet, the top right is my bath, and the top middle is my 2 person sink. The right side is where my bed, dresser, and nightstands will be.

The bottom right will actually look more so like this:

OH, hey! There's a baby name throw hinting itself in there! Not sure if I'm going to go Clairelin or Clairlin yet (2 syllables for both spellings). Hmmm..

So the left is a sliding door to our backyard. The crib and a skinny yet tall bookshelf will be over a grey rug. I'm still not100% sure about the decorations, but I am thinking this is the most "bang for my buck" with the nursery layout design.

 And this is the far back corner... the area that you would walk into upon opening the door. The blue "L" shaped contraption is actually and "L" shaped dresser set, which fits perfectly for the area and space need (99% sure anyway). I bought it a few years ago from Goodwill because of it's good bones, and all it would need is a paint job and new nobs. The rug would be a faux white lambskin, the gold circle will be a poof, and the great chair on the right is my mother's rocking chair. She rocked my brothers and I in it, and I plan on rocking my babies in it, too.   The gold above the chair is a mirror.

So, for this layout, all I would need to purchase is:

• the crib
• the skinny/tall bookshelf
• poof
• tall circle table
• lamp
• changing pad
• baskets for organization
• curtains and golden rod
• pillows for rocking chair
• bedding
• decor :)

And my DIY crafts that I would need to get on are:

• paint the rocking chair
• paint the crib
• paint the dresser set
• sew a crib skirt
• make the name banner
• make the ombre dot decor

Not too bad for a VERY budgeted room! Fingers crossed I can stick with the colors and that it is a girl! :)

Sedona Girls' Trip

Over Spring Break, I also went on a girls' trip to Sedona, where we enjoyed

a beautiful lunch:

the ability to shop and look at art galleries without little ones:

2 psychics- 1 being considerably legit and the other a total phony,

2 dousings (both of which said girl by swinging in circles)... we actually met this retired psychic and his wife at dinner. Such a great people:

and then a bunch of sweetness for baby and me:

He's got a Green Thumb... with a Slug on it!

Cay and I planted the fresh herb and produce garden in the front yard and let our bunnies out back. Caydon found a ton of bugs and slugs.. and everything else boyish... and had a blast to say the least!

Here is the before:

 Overgrown mess!!!

The during:

And, the after:

 This is still a work in progress. If you look behind the tree, at the weeds, that's pretty much what my backyard was looking like. Embarrassing! My two neighbors helped me with this on their own whim (amazingly nice people!) so I can't even take credit for it. I want to plant grass and then I will be hanging cloth diapers to sun once I buy a line.

My Spring Break

I am currently finishing up my spring break, which is a week later than Cay's. Bitter sweet!!

My week consisted of a TON of cleaning... we are talking baseboards and behind stoves, etc. It's like I am nesting all of the sudden. Hopefully it sticks with me! lol. Here is my room... probably as clean as it's going to be for a while. I need to figure out what to do above my headboard if you have any ideas!? Would love to add a rug, too, to center the bed a little. I moved it over because of the nursery preparations.

I also decided to change my oil. I did (almost) everything perfectly, except for the fact that I forgot to put the lid back on and I added way too much oil. DOY. A good hour of the break was spent in the shop, then later enjoyed with Jenna (the bride to be) over a yummy, health new restaurant, BlueLemon. 

 I also went to sprouts... where I bought a ton of plants and just as much iron happy food. Being anemic sucks and it's expensive!

I went through and rescued Caydon from clothes that look like this:

(aka WAY too small)

Went to Sedona with some girlfriends, planted a garden with Cayd, and did a photo shoot (each will be their own individual post later). While editing the shoot, I ran across this photo on my compact flash. Holy emotions, batman! My boy has grown so much!!!

Ultrasound of Baby #2

Since we had a funky appointment, we had to move up our one and only ultrasound by 2 weeks. Crazy! We had a guy who was AMAZING come out to my house and we ended up with a video tape of it all.

 SO EXCITED! :)

And now for baby!!!!

 bubble blower

 kisses!

 someone is sucking their fingers while twirling their hair :)

 that's the bladder and heart

 still above 140, but this time down to 142 on coffee (only time during pregnancy). Weird!

Thumbs up! I'm OK!

It turns out that I have an anterior placenta. The bigger baby gets, the more it is hiding behind my placenta. Soon, though, baby should be big enough to not be able to hide and the kicks should resume. Yay! I also have an as-accurate-as-we-will-get EDD of August 13 now. One day up!

Week 18 Update

Caydon has been enjoying Spring Break while I have had to work. Boo. Luckily, he has an amazing therapist who has spent tons of time with him this week playing with him outdoors and what not.

He also went to the zoo and on a hike with my mom. :)

 This is the only belly picture I took this week. It was pretty stressful for me...

We had another Midwife appointment. Things didn't go very well... baby's movements have been progressively declining (as in, like every third day vs intervals throughout the day) and it has been getting even harder to find the heartbeat.  I am also measuring big, which is weird considering the two factors above. They are moving up my ultrasound to STAT instead of waiting a bit... pretty nervous!

 baby/pregnancy stats:

How far along?  17 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 13 lbs

Working Out? Nope, too sick
Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: Super tired again... hardly getting any sleep 

Labor Signs: nope!
Belly Button in or out? in still

Best moment this week: All of Caydon's cute stories

Miss Anything? Not being able to do Spring Break with Cay. It makes me wonder if I should stay in education when I will have TWO kids needing my attention.

Movement: hardly

Symptoms: stilly super sick
Food cravings: sweets... loving Sonic's Grape Slush with Nerds in it!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Most everything.

Anything make you emotional?: Pretty stressed about the ultrasound ordeal, but otherwise.. going well.
Bump Alert: I look smaller?! Even my kids noticed and ask me
Gender prediction: Still thinking girl
Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty emotional since the ultrasound. I shouldn't be allowed to research things!
Pregnancy Dreams: None

Fearing: If something could be wrong

Anticipating: the ultrasound!!!

Week 17 Update

This week was Caydon's week to shine, per the usual. That boy makes me feel like a million bucks being his mom... I can't wait to have TWO babes to be so insanely proud of!

We had another celebratory treat this week. This time, it was Rita's which is like a custard meets ice sort of place. He loved the cotton candy (while baby and I loved the strawberry starburst flavor!)

I haven't mentioned it, but I recently went on a date. I enjoyed getting dolled up, but I am not completely convinced post date that I am interested. I'm too picky lately hah. Wonder why? :)

Caydon had cowboy week at school... SO CUTE! He was supposed to make a sock puppet horse but I just had him take the legit stick. We ran out of time with all of the therapy he does during the week. Bad mom alert! ;)

 My parents and I also took him to a Sun Devils Baseball game. Fork 'em!

 While there, a guy asked me if I was depressed. What? Then he said, "Well, you look really confused and should be sad wearing that cubbies shirt at a Sun Devil's baseball game!" haha it was the only baseball shirt I had that fits with my bump!   Caydon also got his workout in by running bases...

Finally, we got a haircut. Cayd got a combover and I FINALLY got my hair died and cut. My old hairdresser decided she wouldn't do my hair anymore because of being pregnant out of wedlock. Whaaaat!? Yeah... Oh well, I'd rather give my business to someone who appreciates it and respects my three person family!

We went out that night to a yummy eat-in theatre to see Mr. Peabody. Cay loved it, and I loved the food. Win!  (excuse the horrible lighting in the pic!)

 baby/pregnancy stats:

How far along?  17 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 13 lbs

Working Out? No, but I am cleaning a lot!
Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: Starting to get more regular

Labor Signs: nope!
Belly Button in or out? in still

Best moment this week: Caydon's everything :)

Miss Anything? fitting in my cute baseball gear

Movement: not really. Weird.

Symptoms: stilly super sick
Food cravings: anything icey

Anything making you queasy or sick: Most everything.

Anything make you emotional?: Meh.
Bump Alert: Not growing as fast but I think I'm just fattening up elsewhere, instead. Or maybe it's because I am throwing up so often?
Gender prediction: Still thinking girl
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy
Pregnancy Dreams: None

Fearing: How am I going to pull of working full time AND raising two kids alone!?

Anticipating: having another person to shower with my love on the daily