Weekend Roundup

I love fall - or autumn for you fancy people.

I love the cooler air (perfect pregnant weather), the trees, the food (pumpkin everything!), the warmer clothes, Halloween, pumpkins, and everything in between! Fall is certainly my favorite season.

This weekend was so action packed that even going to work on Monday did not bring me down. Friday was my birthday so we did a birthday dinner at the always wonderful Tozzi's on 12th. I ate dinner so fast that I was not able to get a picture but the dessert was extra special!

Chocolate Lava Cake - Ahh So Good

Saturday was my cousins wedding and everyone had a blast as they should at a wedding. So weird to think that was us two years ago! The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was full of fun. My fat feet were crying by the end of the night though. I might not been able to drink but I was sure to get my fill of cookies. Maybe two peoples fill of cookies but who is counting? All four of us sisters were able to make it which is unheard of so a couple quick photo booth pictures were required. 

Sunday we went to Nickajack Farms with the always wonderful Moore family and had a blast. 

I actually kind of want to go back just to let Marlee run around some more. She was so excited to be free for once. Of course she ran right for a giant mud puddle but after a little corralling, she figured out where she could and couldn't run. She also loved playing with the girls!

Nick and Marlee did a little pumpkin bowling but the idea of knocking down the pins after she took all the time setting them up was too much for Marlee.

Quick photo shoot!

By the time the hayride rolled around, Marlee was pretty much done. 

After the hayride, we grabbed a quick pumpkin and left before a meltdown happened. Isaac was not able to join us so we had Marlee pick out his pumpkin too!

 

We ended the day with a Cleveland Browns win over the Steelers and some spicy chili for dinner. 

Such a great start to October with family and friends. We still have so much to look forward to this month but at the top of my list is Trick or Treating with Marlee. I should probably get started on her costume! 

Bedroom Switcharoo

Let me say first that my blog hits have freaking skyrocketed lately because of my 21 Day Fix posts from a while back. So everyone that is here for that, sorry I went and got knocked up. BUT I did see that there is a new 21 Day Fix Extreme coming out in February. Um hello! Baby is due in January so I will definitely be looking into this as soon as I hear more about the program. I can guarantee that it is not going to be easy but it was so amazing the first time around, I am sure it is only going to get better! 

Any who, since we found out that we are adding a baby boy to the family, we needed to do some bedroom reconfiguration. We do not have enough room in this house for the family size we have now (let the house search begin!) so adding another child to the madness is going to need a little finesse. We decided to move Isaac to Marlee's current room and move Marlee to the bigger room which allows us to put Marlee and baby Nicholas together. We finally finished almost finished painting both rooms (small touches still need added) this weekend so decorating and some small touches should make the rooms perfect for Isaac and the babes. I gathered a ton of inspiration from Pinterest so before I share the final outcomes, I thought I would share some of those ideas first. 

Isaac's room is almost complete. The number one thing with his room was to declutter and reorganized without making it 'boring' or 'too simple'. I wanted to keep it kid friendly but with Isaac turning 10 next month, he really is not a kid anymore. He is not into toys or legos or coloring or dinosaurs etc etc. He loves sports, video games, and movies. So we either donated all this old toys or placed them in the basement. Then Nick and I decided on a baseball theme and really ran with it. So far, I am loving his room. I will post pictures as soon as it is complete.

My original inspiration started with this dresser. I was not able to find a source for the picture but I just fell in love with the look of it! My mother-in-law just finished painting her bedroom furniture so had some paint left over and offered to tackle this task. 

Then things just exploded from there. What would I do without Pinterest?

I loved the clean, organized look of these pictures. Something we were missing with his room before. I hate clutter!

I loved these prints from Wunder Kammer on Etsy so I ordered them and placed them in frames for above Isaac's bed. They are baseball patents which really gave it an 'old baseball' feel. 

Then I found this tutorial for painting a baseball wall and I was hooked. I cannot draw. Or paint. Or even color for that matter. I pretend to be crafty but really fail about 80% of the time. Simply Mom makes it look so easy and amazing though so I am going to give this a try once the dresser is complete. 

Isaac is thrilled with his new room and it makes me so happy to see him adjusting so well to the new arriving this winter. He really is a great big brother. 

The babies room on the other hand is going to take a little bit longer to complete. Since it is a boy and girl room, I wanted things to be separate but still have a cohesive look to it. I choose gray for the main color of the room and rug. It gives it a neutral feel and then I was going to jazz it up with accents. Nick is not completely thrilled with all the gray but I think once it comes all together, it won't be so bland. Some of my Pinterest inspiration is as follows;

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I love the look of each of these rooms. They all had a great flow to them but it was very obvious that they were shared rooms. I am in the process of looking for wall decor to give each side a boy vs girl feel.

These plaques from Pottery Barn are perfectttt but spending $120 dollars on two pieces of wood is just beyond me. And I am pretty sure Nick would give me that look he gives when I do too much shopping... Look at these though! Adorable!

I will probably end up buying a couple of prints like these and then heading to Marshalls to get some cute frames to place them in. 

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Etsy is an amazing place for all things nursery related!

Ok now to head out to the craft store to buy some fabric for curtains. I am looking for a gray, blue, pink fabric to attempt to make some roman shades. This might push my patience to the edge but I am going to attempt it anyway. I am so excited to post some pictures of the rooms once they are complete!

Can We Talk About Pregnancy Hormones?

It is that time of the pregnancy already! Hormones are starting to get all crazy and act up. I do have to say that it started a little later this time around but it has started none the less. And at least they are sappy, 'I wanna cry over stupid things' hormones and not the 'I want to kill my husband or other random person' hormones. 

Not that Nick and I ever threaten to kill each other over an empty toilet paper roll or anything. Never ever. 

Eh, I did wish the burning down of a local plaza but that was just Italian talk, not pregnancy hormones. But I digress. 

So I am 25 weeks along this week which means I am in the sixth month of pregnancy. I have one more monthly visit with the OB and then I start bi-weekly visits! Holy moly, where did the time go? Oh and it is a boy! Did I mention this yet? Say hello to the blog world Nicholas James II...

Another happy, healthy baby and I can speak for both Nick and I when I say that we are absolutely thrilled and blessed. God has been good to the Hough family. 

Ok now back to these hormones. Marlee is a huge source of these meltdowns because she is getting so big and smart and beautiful! She has been so great with nap times lately which is a huge relief because working midnights is rough enough as is - add in a pregnancy plus a busy night in the ER - and it can be a recipe for disaster. Marlee has pretty much learned that when she is tired, she is tired. There is no amount of TV, food, playtime, or music that can distract her from being sleepy. She takes her bear and heads back to her room. Just like that. I place her in her crib and we both take a nap. Normal people would be ecstatic to this new development in routine. I on the other hand cried about three times about this. She is just getting so big and is now making decisions for herself. When did she get so big!? 

I also cried the other day over a space heater. Of course this all circles back to Marlee but it was essentially the fact that it was cold and Nick placed a space heater in her room. I have this serious issue with temperature management. It is the same thing with hot or cold weather. I cannot figure out for the life of me how to tell if Marlee is temperature appropriate. Last winter, my child never wore coats. I do not like them. First, they do not fit into car seats and second, I have this unreasonable fear of her getting too hot. She can't tell me so how do I know? Well, since the weather is starting to get a little chilly at night, I worry that she is cold. I am not cold but I sleep with a blanket on. Of course, I express this fear with Nicholas who is confident that Marlee is fine. After checking on her for the tenth time to makes sure her extremities are warm, Nick went to the basement and retrieved the space heater to place in her room. No questions asked. Cue the tears. I went to the bathroom and cried. It was just so nice of him. He knew I was being crazy but appeased my fears anyways. I went to the bathroom because I literally know how ridiculous this sounds! It was nice though. My husband has always been so nice. I may or may not have checked on her a couple times that night to make sure it wasn't too hot but that is irrelevant. 

Pretty sure these will not be the only instances of crying that come up during the rest of my pregnancy. Last year it was the snow that cued tears. We haven't even hit that nuisance yet. 

Although everyone should cry over snow. It is an awful, awful thing.