We are all sinners right? We have all fallen short of the glory of God right? (Romans 3:23) 

Well, lately I have been feeling that God is calling me to work on my sinful nature. Maybe it's because of the new pressure of becoming a mom. Maybe it's because God has given me the strength to tackle one of my weaknesses head on. Maybe it's because I've started to notice the negative impact it has in my life. Whatever it is, lately I have really been working on my lack of self discipline. A sin that isn't so obvious all the time, but something that I struggle with constantly. 

There are two sides to self discipline. 

One side involves the ability to make yourself complete tasks. If you don't struggle with self discipline, you are able to accomplish things on a daily basis without struggle. You may not even think twice about doing something and just dive headfirst into the day's tasks. For me, everything is a challenge that gets categorized into easiest verses hardest. I may put-off a specific thing until the very last minute and avoid it like the plague. It's a problem because, often, when I finally tackle the "dreaded task" I realize that it really wasn't that bad after all and I've wasted a lot of valuable time and energy avoiding it. 

For instance, right now I'm avoiding making dinner (might I add, a certain dinner that has been on my menu for the past two weeks)...an easy task, but something that I don't care to do.

The other side to self discipline is the lack of ability to say 'no' to something. For me, this manifests itself in my eating habits. I can't say no. I always want what I shouldn't have and very rarely keep myself from indulging. This can also be known as gluttony--a frustrating sin to say the least. It becomes complicated because we all have to eat to live right? 

So lately, I have been working on the first side of self discipline. I have been making lists of things I  need to accomplish and forcing myself to do them. I'm not waiting until the last minute. If it's on the list for that day, it needs to get accomplished. This is helping. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. SO many things that I have been procrastinating on are getting done. It feels awesome. 

Next will come dealing with the second side of this sin I'm struggling with. I have no idea how to tackle my food issues when pregnant, but I'm working on a plan. I know it will be significantly harder for me to tackle...but I need to do this. I don't want our child coming into an environment where food is abused. I wish that I was able to work on this more before getting pregnant, but God's timing is perfect and I'm convinced that this pregnancy has given me a clearer perspective on my whole gluttonous situation. 

I see things differently.  

Now I just need to figure out how to act on this new vision. 

I'm so thankful to work on riding myself of these burdens. While I know that I will never be perfect and I'm sure I will continue to struggle with these things from time to time, I'm blessed and excited to know that God is fighting with me. Thank goodness for a Heavenly Father who has never let me go. I truly don't know how I would get through this life without Him. 

Little One's Nursery: Part 3 -- Paint!

Well, it has been awhile since I blogged about little one's nursery. When we last left off, we were talking about inspiration for a boy nursery and a girl nursery. After a hesitant ultrasound tech revealed that he thought we were having a boy, we decided to roll with it. Both of us felt, in our hearts, that is really was a boy...aaaand now we have another ultra sound to confirm it. 

Anyways, about two weeks ago, Jonathan did a whole bunch of work in the nursery while I was on vacation visiting my family in California. He is just so sweet isn't he?! It was wonderful to come home to most of the hard work done. We He still has a few more things to do, but it is definitely looking a whole lot better and different compared to this before picture above. 

Behold our paladian blue nursery: 

And check out the amazing ceilings that we decided on as our 'wow' factor. Don't they look phenomenal all whitewashed and with a bit of cove added to finish them off? Oh I cannot WAIT to get a light fixture up there!

Things are starting to fall into place for sure!

We still have a lot we need to do--buy a dresser, purchase decorations, figure out a rug--but I'm just happy to have freshly painted drywall in there. It means one more room is "crossed off" our to-do list.

I'm sure we will be back with more updates eventually, but y'all are going to have to be patient as we figure out and purchase the rest of the stuff we need. We aren't in any hurry ;)

What do you think of the color? I'm in love.

19 Weeks--This Pregnancy Thing is Awesome!

I officially hit 19 weeks today! I'm almost halfway there! This freaks me out a bit as I feel like this is all just flying by! I remember having this huge plan, before I found out we were pregnant. It involved all these projects that I wanted to do once I found out we were expecting. You know--weekly photos, fun crafts to do in preparation for the little one, a whole house organization plan, etc. But now, I'm almost halfway through and I'm realizing that I have done very little of these things I swore I would do. 

You know what, I'm OK with that. Instead, I have been indulging in sleep--because I won't get it later. Enjoying time with my husband and by myself--allowing myself to really let this soak in and enjoy it while I can. I have been finding fun recipes to experiment with--in hopes of having a go to list once the baby arrives. And slowly making a list of things to accomplish before little one gets here--things like making a couple of quilts, crocheting cute baby clothing, and a small list of stuff to organize around the house. 

Other than that, 19 weeks has hit and I'm feeling great! I feel better than I did when I wasn't pregnant! I have a decent amount of energy now--though I do have my moments, hence the extra sleep. My cravings are still there, but are easily managed with a week full of fun recipes to try. I have officially outgrown my pre-pregnancy jeans and now am wandering into the world of maternity jeans (blech!). I find that Old Navy maternity clothes seem to fit the best, but if it were up to me, I would stay in yoga pants and a hoodie all day.

As far as baby goes, I think I have started to feel little bumps and kicks. I'm still not sure, but I don't know what else it would be. They are just so subtle, and sometimes so few and far between, that I doubt if it really is little one moving around. I guess time will tell! Other than that, according to our sonogram on Tuesday, everything is great! Baby's heartbeat is where it needs to be, he is measuring appropriately, and he is breathing, eating, and peeing well! A mom can't complain :)

Now to be as patient as possible as the next 21 weeks go by!

The Big Announcement

Dear Little One,

At 6:30 pm, last night, we had our ultrasound to find out if you are a healthy 19 week old baby. And the good news is that you are perfect. The ultrasound tech said that whatever I'm doing, I should keep up, because you look fantastic. Your heart was beating around 150 beats per minute, your head size was on par, and you weighed approximately eleven ounces. He said that he could see you breathing, eating, and peeing. This made me ecstatic. Our healthy little baby. That is all I could ever hope for. I want nothing more than a healthy little one to be growing inside of me. 

Then I ventured the much anticipated question. 

The question that we waited all day to have answered. 

"So, is it a boy or girl?" 

He replied by saying, "Well I'm trying to figure that out. If you look at the screen the view we have right now is of the baby's butt. See the two legs sticking out here and how they are attached to the rounded area." 

Your daddy and I both voiced our understanding. 

I waited very impatiently for him to go on. 

Then, after what seemed like forever, he said, "Well it looks like a boy! I'm having a hard time getting a really good view. But, from what I can see, it looks like a boy!"

He continued to explain to us that he was about 75% sure that you were a little boy, but to remember that there is a definite possibility that you could be a girl upon delivery. 

Little one, it doesn't truly matter. You are healthy. You are growing as you should be. You are such a gift from our Heavenly Father, that no matter what gender you are, we will welcome you with open arms. 

As your daddy and I walked into the doctor's office last night, we both shared that we were mostly excited to see you. To see your little arms, watch your legs move around, and check out that adorable profile again. 

You are ours.

You are an answer to so many prayers.  

We will never take that for granted. 

Your mommy loves you and cannot wait to hold you. Keep growing little one and know that we are (not very patiently) waiting for you. 

Love, 

me

Little One's Nursery: Boy Inspiration

In yesterday's post, you were able to see our ideas for a little girl's room. Today it's onto the boy side of things. I have to admit, designing a boy's room was a lot harder than I anticipated. I had a very distinct look that I was going for, but couldn't find the products to back me up. In the end, I'm not entirely happy with the overall look...I was going for a more vintage travel feel. But I think if we end-up having a boy, I may be able to pull it off with a few tweaks and DIY'd projects. 

Our Little Boy's Nursery

The main colors in our little boy's nursery would be palladian blue (the background color), a light tan color, and possibly accents of various bolder colors. Thankfully, like our little girl's wall color, we also have this blue paint on hand. My parent's had about two-and-a-half gallons of a darker blue paint (that they used in their living room), which they tried to lighten for use in another space.  Well they ended up going with a different color and thus, we were given the leftovers. The result of the lightened paint was something similar to palladian blue...a color that I had already picked out to use in our house, in the future. Score!

So our paint color, combined with a bunch of white accents, and still going for the vintage feel I mentioned yesterday, should bring out a very cute and dapper little boy's room. Again, I have so many ideas, it was just nice to get some of them out and put together. On Tuesday we will have an official "go" as far as which way we will be decorating. That is when all the real decision making will start to happen :)

Let's get down to the details:

1. Do you know how hard it is to find a neutral quilt for baby bedding? I really wanted something with a vintage feel in very muted colors, but couldn't find anything. This quilt from Pottery Barn Kids was the best that I could do for the moment. Honestly, I will probably end up making a quilt for our little boy based on the fact that I couldn't find something I like 100%.

2. Even though I had a hard time designing a little boy's nursery, this idea has me very excited. How fun would it be to find a bunch of vintage maps and lovely frames and create a whole wall covered in the beauty of our world. I think it would be the perfect combination of educational and decorative. Plus, I'm pretty sure my carpenter would love it too.

3. Just like yesterday, the plans for the ceiling are the same. Check out this post for more info.

4. I also decided to keep the same dresser for our little boy's room. I like the versatility of a basic white dresser and honestly, that is usually why I buy a piece of furniture. If I know that the piece I'm considering would work in multiple rooms of our house, it is a serious plus. That way, if I get tired of it being in one room, I can easily switch it out to another room without spending a thing!

5. This rug seems like the perfect addition to this room. It brings in the light tan color I was looking for and seems like it would be soft, yet durable enough, for little one's room. I love the idea of having an oval rug, so I decided to stick with that idea for both a little girl's nursery and little boy's.

6. Again, thank you to my aunt for the wonderful crib! It would blend in seamlessly in this space too.

So there is our little man's room! Not as exciting as I hoped it to be, but maybe y'all can get a bit of my vision. I'm just getting very, very excited about finding out what we are having and truly digging into decorating. Ahh! I can't wait!

Side note: You guys can all expect a post on Wednesday announcing the gender of our little one. Our sonogram isn't until 6:30 pm on Tuesday, so we will probably spend the rest of the evening celebrating and calling family. We will just plan on announcing it on the blog Wednesday morning, probably. 

Happy Thursday all!

Little One's Nursery: Girl Inspiration

I'm back today with a bit of inspiration for our little one's nursery (Wow! I posted three days in a row?! Yea, don't get too excited...I'm not making any promises :) ) . Y'all know I'm not patient enough to wait until February 26th, when we find out little one's gender, to decide on the look of our nursery. Plus, making a mood board is so much fun! It allows me to get the thoughts out of my head and see them in "real life." Then I can mull them over and decide if I like my ideas or not.

So let's dig in. Shall we?

My idea for both rooms is to keep things decently neutral, so that we can switch accessories in and out to change the theme, versus changing wall color, furniture, etc.  In general, I love the idea of accenting with old pieces and creating a vintage feel. I'm not one to buy all things new. And if I do buy something new, it usually feels old. So, with a combination of new things that have a vintage flair and actual vintage pieces, our little girl's room should come together nicely.

And without further ado:          

Our Little Girl's Nursery 

The main colors would be gray, white, pink, and green. The background color of the mood board is the paint choice we would use. It is Benjamin Moore's Marina Gray and we used it in both our kitchen and bathroom. We have another gallon-and-a-half left over and I thought it would make the perfect backdrop to little one's room. I might have it lightened a bit, but other than that, I think the color would work nicely.

To accent the gray, and help the room feel light and airy, I chose to bring in lots of white. You will notice that I did this by white washing the ceiling, bringing in a white dresser, and picking white window coverings. Let's get down to details though.

 *Oh disclaimer: most of the stuff in this post is very expensive/not exactly what I would purchase. The goal was to do this fast and get my ideas onto virtual paper. Inspiration people, inspiration*

1. The bedding is from pottery barn kids. I ended up loving the colors of the Savannah Nursery Bedding set.

2. Yesterday, I mentioned our ceiling idea. That will really balance the gray well. Plus it adds to the vintage shabby chic feel.

3. I chose a basic white dresser that will also serve as our changing station. I would love to find an old dresser already painted white, or one that we can easily paint white. Then I would find some beautiful knobs, like these from anthropologie,  to give the dresser a bit of color and make it look a bit shabby chic.

4. You can see that I picked basic white valances for the two windows. We will have blinds on them that match the rest of the house, but I thought these cute ruffled valances would soften them a bit. I may be able to DIY something like these.

5. This rug from Sears has the colors I'm going for, but isn't the right size...oh well. Love the idea of a braided oval rug though.

6. We actually already have a wood crib. Thank you Aunt Wrena! My aunt was selling some of her baby things that she didn't need anymore, and we snatched it up before we even knew we were pregnant! I'm still trying to decide if we will paint it white, but the wood tone might be a nice way to bring our wood floor color into the space in another way.

7. LOVE this idea. Once again, Young House Love hits the nail on the head! A couple of vintage bird cages would be a very cute, unexpected accessory to the room. I'm thinking pink, white, and mint green though.

8. Can't remember where I found this darling lamp shade, but I loved that it was white with the pink and green accents. I'm thinking it would be fun to DIY something with ribbon. My mom made me a lamp shade with ribbon when I was younger...I could carry on the tradition! ;)

So what do you think? I also plan on having a bookshelf full of the best kids books for our little one to delve into when s/he is a bit older. And I'm sure there will be other personal touches added, but for now, this is what I'm thinking. Coming up with a little girl's room was fun!

Stay tuned tomorrow for our ideas for a little boy's room!

Little One's Nursery: Part 2 -- Our Eye Catching Idea

Well, as I mentioned two weeks ago, the carpenter and I really wanted to add an eye catching moment into little one's nursery. We thought that it would be fun to do something different and add a bit of visual interest.

We contemplated many things--well I did at least. There was the burlap wall idea. The slatted wall idea. I thought of murals, fun wall paper, and a host of other "wall" options. But in the end, it was Jonathan who came up with the idea.

Actually, the real story is that he suggested this LOOOONNGGG before we even gutted the room. But I poo-pooed it based on the fact that I wasn't seeing 'his vision.'

I think, he secretly thinks, that I wanted it to be my idea ;)

I, however, was too busy in my own little world, to realize that there is a hidden designer somewhere deep inside this carpenter of mine!

Anyway, we thought it would be fun to do something like this. I would say that The Lettered Cottage is infamous for their paneled walls and ceilings...and I think that they add the perfect touch to any room! (I have been slowly getting the carpenter used to the idea of having one in our bedroom someday.) I'm wickedly excited about having one, in ceiling form, in little one's room.

Here is a glimpse of the room as it is now. The ceiling has been installed and Jonathan has been hard at work finishing the walls.

New windows will be coming in next week and then we can start the painting process! The ceiling will be white washed so that the wood grain will still be able to show through. I like the idea of the knots in the wood adding more texture. It will help to draw the eye up as you walk in the room. The walls will be painted accordingly once we find out if we are having a boy or girl. (Posts coming tomorrow and Thursday explaining our ideas!!!) And as for now, the floor will just get a good cleaning and remain as is. We will be putting down an area rug once we get to decorating the nursery. The plan is to have everything painted and trimmed by the beginning of March.

Then at that point, we will begin to work on decorating the nursery. We have a few pieces of furniture that we will need to find, some decorating ideas to finalize, and bunch of miscellaneous purchases to make.

I can't wait to see it all come together!! :) Every day that passes brings on more and more anticipation. Both the carpenter and I have started working on things that we have been putting off for months. We are just so excited and want as much to be completed as possible, before little one arrives. It's almost like some very famous person is coming to our house and we don't dare welcome them in, with the house's current state.

Is this what it feels like to be parents? ;)