Have I told you???

There is this place that I LOVE going to in fact I have the catalog memorized which is a big feat considering how many items they have!!! I don't just mean I know what they have, I know how much just about everything costs. I know sick huh?? Well that store is mighty and its colors are a bold yellow and blue!!! Give up? IKEA! If you have never been there then let me tell you it is worth the trip that you will inevitably have to take to get there considering they are usually only in big cities. On this occasion we went after a meeting with potential clients and met up with our new friends Jillian and David. (Jillian is our new intern). John-Paul and I started our IKEA fun in the cafe, hello..... how can you turn down cheap food that tastes good too!!! Then we were on the hunt. I needed a couple of things for the baby's room and a bookshelf for the family room since we had to take all the books that were in the guest room (now baby's room) and put them on the already too small bookshelf in the family room.

I am adding up the cost in my head hence the very serious face! Not so good with the head math :)

Very excited about the possibilities for this frame!!!

 It was so much fun browsing (as always) and I looked at the kids section with new eyes and for the first time really took my time there. This however is where we lost our friends and can you blame them!!! Unless you are nesting I am positive this section is so mind numbingly boring that you just want to cry.lol

John- Paul and I did not leave IKEA empty handed we were excited to bring home our treasures. In fact it
was the first time we had ever bought anything large for ourselves at IKEA (bookshelves).There was just one thing though we drove the car :) But with some prayer and lots of twine John-Paul sort of secured it to the roof LOL! We did make it home though safely. There is nothing this dad can't do!!! I have to say it was a successful day and John-Paul and I had a blast and a day to remember.

This is where I was saying are you sure this is going to work!!

Pull John-Paul Pull!!!! It was just a way he could inconspicuously flex for the camera. jk lol

Away with the guest room!!

It is official the guest room is gone! If you are at all like me there is just something magical about a guest room! I mean it is that one place in the house that is decorated a little differently and always is clean, bright and happy. To me it offers a hope that "hey, I could have guests!!!." I love having my house filled with people I guess it is the southern hospitality that I was raised with.  My mom is the best hostess ever! She can make an entire spread for un-announced guests with chips, twizlers and lettuce. By the time she is done we have food that I didn't even know existed in our house and there is ALWAYS leftovers!!! It just wouldn't be the southeren way if she didn't. The difference between southerners and northerners is the southerners make more than enough we NEVER want to run out of food but especially  ice!!! And northerners make just enough and never have enough ice! lol!

 Wow that was a bunny trail:)  I wasexcited to start on the nursery but after looking at 100 blogs and ideas for months I was feeling overwhelmed! I mean there is just so much you can do and by the time you have looked at everthing you can't even remember what you like. To throw a monkey wrench in the whole thing John-Paul and I decided that we were going to wait till this little one comes to know its sex! We do not regret our decision but it does make it a bit harder to do a nursery.

I was so happy when I got a surprise visit from my mom and I had someone help me to narrow down my ideas and just make a decision! I hate making decisions! They are so final and I am always afraid I am not going to like what I pick in the end. After some coaxing from my mom, John-Paul and Stephanie I was able to pick a paint color. Don't worry everyone I did not paint, my husband was the hero!

Well just as I had feared I did not like the paint decision. When I walked in the room it looked like a bunch of limes puked all over the walls. I know limes don't puke but all I could think was my baby will be blinded by this color and it will never sleep because this is like the center of the sun bright!! Lets just say it wasn't sweet, calming and serene how I had imagined it. Of course in my state I cried and declared that I was all done and we would just paint it back to white and buy a cream bumper and be done! John-Paul being the hero talked me into letting him mix the paint with some white to tone it down and re-paint the room.

 

 

 This little girl is in trouble when she realizes she isn't the only baby in the house anymore!

 Of course my mom is trying to hide from the camera!

I think this will be his face after the first week of no sleep! :)

 Have I mentioned how much I adore my baby bed!!!! 4 years of storring this puppy was totally worth it!!!!

Ok, There are several different ways that the crib can go what do you think???

Option 1

Option 2

This is option 3 and yes it is in the middle of the room:)

The next morning my mom made her most amazing pancakes that are not at all like pancakes which is probably why I adore them!!! I still haven't been able to master them so it is a real treat when she makes them for me! Then John-Paul sent us out to garage sale while he re-painted the nursery. When I came home I was all smiles agiain!! It was soooooo much better. I was ready to tackle this nursery again!

We bought an antique dresser that was in need of some serious TLC.  We will use the dresser as a changing table however, it ended up being a lot more work to get it to a useable state than I had thought. Thanks to my mother-in law and John-Paul we were able to make it look sensational or at least better :) John-Paul also re-painted an existing bookshelf to make it fit with the baby's decor! I can't wait to show you the final product so CUTE!!!! Thanks Mary and babe for all your hard work!!!

There will be another post soon showing pictures of the dresser in its final state.

Stay tuned.... There is a so much more to come:)