How We Told the Family...

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I started brainstorming and Googling creative ways to tell the family.  There were a ton of cute ideas out there, but I finally found the perfect one for my family. 

I told everybody that we wanted to take a family picture.  Nobody thought anything about it... I'm that kind of person who randomly insists on taking group family photos... but they're used to me.  So I set the camera to automatically take 10 pictures after the timer.  Right before the first photo took, I said, "Everybody say... Brooke's pregnant!"  Take a look at the pics below to see everybody's first impressions  :) 

Here are the pics with Chris' family.

I love how the kids are completely oblivious.

Then we told my brother's family and my grandma.

And... I saved the best for last.... my mom had the best reaction I could ever hope for.  By the end of these, we were all cracking up.

In the end, I'm so glad we told everybody in a creative way.  Now I can show my little Jelly Bean how excited everyone was to find out about him/ her.  :)

-Brooke

Pinterest Challenge! $8 Starburst Mirror!

So, two of my favorite bloggers came up with the idea of the Pinterest Challenge to get us to stop pinning things without doing them.  Click these links to see their projects- Bower Power & Young House Love. I've watched as they did this twice already and decided that was a band wagon I wanted to jump on.  With my bedroom makeover in full swing, I figured it was a good time to make something for the bedroom.

Here was my Pinterest inspiration...

 

http://theletteredcottage.net/diy-mirror/

 

http://isabellaandmaxrooms.blogspot.com/2010/08/sunburst-mirror-project.html

I put my own spin on it and found a way to make this baby for only 8 bucks!!  Not bad when you're on a baby-coming budget!

Supplies-

4 bundles of bamboo sticks (I found these at Dollar Tree!!)- $4 Total

1 round mirrors (Michael's)- $3

Round wooden plaque (WalMart)- $1

Glue sticks- already owned

Glue gun- already owned

Command Strips- already owned

Husband with a saw- already owned :)

Total- $8!!

Chris cut the bamboo sticks for me into various sizes between 15" and 18" long.

To lay the sticks out, I used masking tape to make sure I got the initial ones straight.

The rest was just filling in.

After I had the sticks in place, I glue them all with a hot glue gun.  Then I glued the wooden plaque to the back of the mirror to add extra support for the sticks to stay in place.

Yes... the only plaque I could find was actually oval, not circle.  But it was small enough that you couldn't see it from the other side.  It served it's purpose.

After it was all dry, I stuck of few Command Strips on the back of it and hung it over the bed.

My sticks were thicker than the ones in the inspiration so they are further apart.  And I know the sizes of the sticks are random, but I have to say... I love it.  I like the rugged natural look of it.  It's not perfect, but perfect is boring.  I consider my first Pinterest Challenge a success!

-Brooke

Pre- Baby Checklist

Yep, yep I'm 15 weeks along in the ol' prego adventure.  So far, I have to say I've been lucky on the symptoms.  Barely any morning sickness at all.  The only thing I've really had to deal with is fatigue... and boy did it hit hard!  Now that I'm into my 2nd trimester, some (and I emphasize "some") of my energy has returned.  I do have enough energy to come home from work and maybe do a load or two of laundry.  Yeah, it was a rough couple of months on our wardrobes :)  Chris has been my lifesaver.  He's been helping me make dinner almost every night, helping out with cleaning, and laundry.  Without him we would be starving and naked... or buying new clothes every week.... so then we would be broke.

Chris and I have decided that the best choice for our family is for me to continue to work outside of the home once the baby arrives.  So in a little less than 6 months, I have a feeling that reality is gonna give me a big slap in the face.  I tend to be someone who likes to be organized and have a plan in place for everything... and I'm headed into uncertain waters.  So in classic Brooke style, I made a checklist of things I need to get done and things that I need to get organized before the big B-day!

 House

• Finish master bedroom and bathroom (this one is strictly selfish... I want a place to relax when the baby isn't crying)
• Re-do the guest bedroom into a nursery
• Re-configure the office to be a office/ guest room
• Give the house a really thorough Spring cleaning
• Empty out closet in nursery (what am I going to do with all that stuff?!)

Organization

• Make a plan for meals
• Make a schedule for cleaning

General

• Make a decision on childcare
• SAVE MONEY!!!
• Coupon to stock up on diapers and other baby needs
• Take pregnancy pictures

Okay... that's the start of my list.  I'm sure I'll be adding and adding as the time gets closer.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.  In the mean time, do any of you have suggestions on how to stay organized with a new baby?

-Brooke

Lighten Up!

The bedroom is officially painted.... well, almost.  Here's list of what was wrong with the room and the plan to fix it!

 Here are the problems with the room now:

• The room is too small for the accent wall.
• The lamps are too small
• The paint is satin (ugh) too shiny!
• The trim needs painted white
• The room is too dark

So here's what I need to do to remedy:

• Re-paint the entire room a creamy tan
• Replace the lamps- we never use the lamps, so I may find something more creative
• Paint with egshell paint
• Paint the trim

So..... I shared one before picture earlier, but one is never enough!!!!  So here are some more.

Like I said earlier today, things take a loooonnnnggg time when you're pregnant!!  So painting this room literally took 2 weeks.  Granted I was working every day... but gathering the energy to paint was the big issue.  I painted to room with Sherwin Williams Harmony paint.  This paint has Zero VOCs so it's safe for Jelly Bean.  But just to be safe, I kept the window open, turned on the vent fan in the adjoining bathroom and took a break about every ten minutes to get fresh air.  The color I painted was called Chopsticks in egshell finish.  And the trim I painted Valspar Ultra White in semi-gloss finish.

Without further ado, here are the afters!

I love the difference.  The room feels so much bigger just by lightening it up.  So here's my little secret.

The trim's not finished :(  I ran out of painters tape... and I'm not the kind of girl who can do trim without painters tape.  I was just so excited to post pictures that I couldn't wait.  I knew you wouldn't really be able to tell from the pictures how much lighter this cream was then the previous tan.  So I took a picture of the new paint against the old paint to show you.

It's a huge difference in person.

I'll be back with updates as I add decorations... YAY!!

-Brooke