My Happy Place. Vol. 3

Short and sweet without getting super mushy...but these last few days of having my babes be this way will always be a treasured happy place.

Most nights, once her milk is empty, E will crawl on my lap and ask for the "Baby" and poke at my large belly. But the nights when she uses it as a giant pillow are my favorite and the ones that I will hold in my heart.



To my first.

With my due date quickly approaching I have been getting overly sentimental about my time with just one baby coming to a close. There have been countless moments where I will just look at her or watch her play with Jordan and think....it will never be just the 3 of us again. And then I get weepy. Even though we are over the moon to meet our little man there is something so bitter and sweet and beautiful about this time. These last few days.  

This child is such a ball of love and energy. She drives me crazy and melts my heart in the same moment. Life has not been the same, in the very best way, since she was born. I love her with all that I am and forever and always.

She will always be my first and that is more of a blessing than I could ever ask for.

We love you, Eisley Ry, and we cannot wait to see you as a big sister. It makes me more and more ready to have baby brother here.

Our summer and spring mantel.

The moment that this house became ours my mind went wild with ideas. Flooring! Counter tops! Open shelving! Fireplace update! Then we started pricing things and decided to slow down and make easy changes first. The first was painting the walls (All of them. Seriously, Jordan was such a champ) and the brown mantel on the fireplace. With the floors being white and the likely hood of that changing while we live here is slim, we opted to not paint the brick. After the first coat on the mantel, I knew that was a good call and the red started to grow on me.
Before truly was not all that terrible but nothing about it was my taste and I felt like the mantel disappeared into that red brick. We sanded it down and painted it white. After about 3 or 4 coats it was what I had in mind and popped off the brick.
As for decorating, I have always had a love hate relationship with mantels. I love what other people do and I hate what I come up with, which means that it is in a constant state of change. Back in January I threw together a few white things and did not touch it for months. Eventually it grew into what we have currently and I really love it. Now for some low quality iphone pictures!

Here is our mantel before. Again, quality is terrible.

Here is the official before and after. Brighter, cleaner, and some dimension.



After a few coats of paint and some additions I am so happy with how it is looking.

One of the best parts about this vignette is that it holds some of my most favorite items. The cardboard moose head from my brother-in-law (that has lasted 2 moves and we have only had to do minor surgery to keep it together). The picture from my darling friend Lauren's wedding, a faux fashion sketch that I scored at a thrift store in Lubbock, my grandpa's book, and the world's most amazing candle. (AKA: The scent of Anthropologie)

There is a tiny mirror behind the plants (which is reflecting a horrifying image that is actually our giant painting across the living room) that I am still deciding if I want to paint the frame or not. It gets lost behind there but I am somewhat OK with that. We shall see.

At some point I would like to paint the inside of the fireplace to cover the burn marks, but for now, it is toddler friendly-ish and I am obsessed with the white plus touches of blue and green.
As the seasons change I am anticipating adding pops of fall and winter, but for now it feels fresh and clean.

Our fourth of July

This year we had a very productive Fourth of July/weekend. On Friday we had some quick family pictures done, worked on the nursery (getting super excited), and finished up with some baseball. Technically, we just ate at the game because E was done with the day by the beginning of the first inning but I am going to count it as "Watched Baseball on the 4th" anyway.
Saturday morning Eisley and I went and cheered on my sweet momma as she completed her first 10k! I was so proud of her!

She did awesome and then wanted pancakes...the reasons why I love this lady are far too many to count. Later, after a much needed nap for Eisley and I, we went swimming and then made our way to the Firework and Food Truck Celebration. That is not the official title but it should be. We did not make it to the fireworks but I DID get chicken and waffles so I am counting it as a win.

We had not planned to stay for the show, which meant no chairs or blanket so we took turns following Eisley around. The cover band that night was pretty good and my girl loves Prince as much as we do. Rightfully so.

We ended the night with listening to the fireworks at home and Jordan making a late night sushi/Swiss Cake Roll run to the store. His idea of a roll and my idea of a roll. I am most pleased with the fact that we managed this family picture and that we look truly festive. Happiest Birthday, America! Give me a reason to coordinate Red, White, and Blue with my family and I will take it!

Little bits of home.

When we decided to look for houses we had three real options to pick from. The two that we turned down were great in their own right but were just houses with potential. I knew that the house we put an offer on was the right one when the thought of it going away made me really sad even though it was not at all what I had in mind. It was only 2 bedrooms, all WHITE tile, and basically the exact same thing we had just been renting in Lubbock. But I guess it was meant to be after all because we went with it and did not regret our decision at all. (Well, that was in October and we found out about baby #2 in December so there was a little regret at that time. But, more on making that work to come.)
I am an HGTV addict and would love to do tons of work on our home...Jordan tolerates HGTV and is a  realist. This fact has helped keep me grounded on projects that can truly be done on our home. With it only being 2 bedrooms my mind has been put at ease that it does not have to be my "Forever Dream Home" but perfect for where we are right now. And that is such a comforting feeling. I have been terrible about taking pictures of the progress that we have made since we moved in, but here are some pictures of our place before.

Welcome to the front! This is the only picture that I have of our house before we moved in and I wish that I had taken more.

The quality of the photos are not the best but they still give an general idea of what is going on. But see what I mean?! White tile for days...and green walls.

This is the master closet. It is huge and has become our multi-purpose closet. So far it has served as closet, office, make-shift nursery, and occasional workout room. The lone air vent makes it the perfect temp at all times.

Master bedroom. I cannot even deal with the wall color. It makes me think of silly putty once it has been played with too long. This room is much larger than it appears...both a blessing and a curse/laundry trap.

Dining area. That green though.

I love our kitchen and it is easily the most used area of the house. It is bigger than any other one that we have had since married and SO much storage space.

Guest Bath.

Second bedroom. This room is currently transitioning from the nursery to Eisley's "Big Girl" room. My emotions are also transitioning from Normal to Emotional Mommy along with it.

View #2 with a tiny look at the extra nook in the back of her room. It is precious and will soon be the new nursery. I have the words "Tiny Nursery" on repeat on my Pinterest search bar.

Overall it was pretty much move in ready just needed some paint and love. Which we did, right away. Gallons and gallons of paint. :)