I’m pretty excited to get started on the room for my little guy. I found a bedding set, Treetop Friends, almost two years ago and said that if I had a boy, this is the bedding I would choose (if it was still available!). As soon as I found out we were having a boy, my sweet mom surprised me with the bedding as a gift. I am so excited (and thankful) to now be able to start pulling together other decor ideas for the room!
Here’s the crib set…
I love that crib but it’s around $800, so that is definitely not happening! Instead I’ve chosen a simple white crib and plan to get a little white dresser to use as a changing table. Our walls in that room are a tan color which I think will go well with the bedding and white furniture. I plan to use the little owl pillow on my rocker and then want to sew a few pillow covers in coordinating colors for the futon we will be getting. For the window, I’d like to sew curtains or create a roman shade in similar colors to the bedding.
My friend Erin sent me a great Etsy site, Twinkled Dreams, that sells really fun prints for nurseries. Here’s a few that I think might be cute to hang (but I might need to use colors that are a bit brighter)…
I also really like this wooden sign from Go Jump in the Lake
Right now our first order of business is actually clearing out all the other stuff we have stored in the baby’s room. This gives me a little more time to collect ideas and I’ll continue to post as progress is made!
In honor of Mother’s Day, I wanted to do a post about my mom. I feel blessed to have a great relationship with my mom and I consider her one of my closest friends! As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to appreciate her more and I’m so thankful for how she and my dad raised my younger brother and I. There were many wonderful things she did for me as a child that I hope I can pass down to my own children.
Here’s some memories/things I love about my mom…
- Some of my earliest memories are of my time spent with my mom singing nursery rhymes, taking walks to the park, and her reading to me. My parents married very young and I know we didn’t have much, but as a child I always felt loved. I love this photo of her and I. It perfectly captures the happiness in our relationship. And check out her crazy 80′s glasses!
- My mom made the best creative Halloween costumes. One year I wanted to be a monarch butterfly so she hand constructed these beautiful giant orange and black wings. Another year I was a “picnic” and she literally created a picnic I could wear, complete with a red checkered table cloth, plates of food, and even fake ants!
- She is also a fantastic seamstress. When I found a prom dress in a magazine that I loved but wanted to change just a bit, she just created a pattern and sewed it for me herself! It was beautiful and I felt like a princess.
- My mom would put little notes in my lunch or notes in my suitcase if I was on a girl scout camping trip. It was so sweet and reminded me that she cared about me.
- I get my love of angsty music from my mom. I know every word to every Counting Crows song, and I’m pretty sure she does too!
- She is very calming. If I am stressed, I can call her up and within 5 minutes everything feels like it’s going to be alright.
My mom and I don’t have that many pics of just the two of us, but I really like this one from my wedding.
I love you momma! And Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms out there, especially my mother-in-law, grandmother, and grandmother-in-law!
I did. I bought a pair of Crocs. No, they’re not like the kind you are thinking of. Let me back up…
I’ve been looking for comfy shoes lately for the summer when I am super preggo and tired. I was reading reviews for shoes online and decided to buy this little pair of wedges –
The thing is, they are Crocs. Now I don’t want to offend anyone, but my personal opinion is you should not be wearing Crocs (the goofy traditional kinda) unless you are 10 or under. I know, I know, they are supposed to be super comfy. But they just look so strange. Anyways, I was quite surprised to find these little wedges in the Crocs store and when I tried them on they were very comfy. I like the leather straps and they are so lightweight – so I broke down and bought them. I guess you really can never say never!
I can’t believe I’m halfway through this pregnancy! Time is flying by so fast and I am enjoying every second of it. The Friday before last we had our 20 week ultrasound. Both the hubs and I agreed it was one of the best days of our lives. It was incredible to go from seeing our baby looking so tiny, like a gummy bear, to looking like, well, a baby! My husband had a dream before he ever met me where he saw his wife (a brunette, by the way) holding their first child, a boy. He was convinced that’s what we were having but I wasn’t so sure. It took the ultrasound tech all of three seconds to show us that we were in fact, having a Boy! We are elated 
Here’s some pics at 21 weeks and a letter to my little man…
To my baby boy,
We were so excited to find out you were a “he”. I wish you could have seen your dad’s face. He had a grin plastered on his face all day! During the ultrasound I was able to feel you definitely kicking for the first time! I guess you didn’t like the tech pressing on you so much. Since then, and especially in the last few days, I am feeling your kicks and punches so much more! Best of all, your daddy felt you kick last night – twice! We had just gone to bed and I could feel you start to move so I placed his hand on the right side of my belly and sure enough after a few minutes you kicked hard enough for him to feel it. It was amazing! I’ve already started to feel so protective over you. The mother bear instinct has definitely kicked in! I love looking at some of the little clothes I’ve received and picturing what you will look like in them. It’s so fun that you already have things that are “yours”. We are so thankful for you and haven’t forgotten what God has done for us. We are praying for you every day! I can’t wait to see what kind of person you will become and where life will take you.
Love,
Your momma
I’ve been working on a photo wall and am trying to come up with the perfect picture or print for each frame. One thing I really wanted to do was use maps to highlight places that are special to the hubs and I. My friend Sarah did this beautifully in her home and I’ve seen a few on Pinterest that I really liked.
I decided I wanted to highlight the two places the hubs and I have lived since we were married: Fayetteville, AR and now Chicago. It seems like no one uses an actual map anymore but I was lucky to have an old atlas in my car. I was so glad I hung onto it!
I used a heart template I found here and chose the largest size. Then I just laid the heart down on section of the map I wanted to cut out and traced around it in pencil. I used thicker scrapbook paper for the background and gently taped the hearts to that. Sorry for the glare in the photos!
It was really easy to do and I know it will make the photo wall more personal!
I read a really good blog post by April Perry a few weeks ago that stuck with me (you can read it here). It was geared toward moms but I think it was applicable to all women. April talked about how so many women often feel like they are “not enough”. That their lives have to be full of perfectly cooked meals, the most fashionable outfits, and a home that looks like it came from the pages of a Pottery Barn catalog. It was so validating to read that other women felt the same frustrations I’ve been feeling! I’ve always been a perfectionist and I’m afraid that as I’ve gotten older, it’s gotten a bit worse. I often find myself looking through picture after picture on Pinterest and thinking, “I should be making that/creating that/dressing like that!” I see these perfect blogs (in my mind) with thousands of followers written by girls in perfectly put together outfits with perfectly put together homes and think, “Wow, I am really falling short.” And I know that no one has it all together and once again, I should not be comparing. But one way or another I do, and it all leads to a lot of unhealthy dissatisfaction with myself. This comparison of myself to others and always finding myself falling short just leads to sadness and anxiety. I’m never going to be perfect and trying to reach an unattainable goal is just setting myself up to fail miserably.
Random examples of thoughts I have:
My bedroom should really look like this…
Why am I not making my own jewelry?
I need to be more put together. My outfits are really lacking.
It’s funny how we set these expectations for ourselves. My husband is the most supportive guy who makes it clear to me every day how much he loves me exactly the way I am! My friends don’t tell me I should dress differently or be cooking more creative meals. It’s all coming from myself! So I’m trying to work on it. I’m trying to take Pinterest for what it is – a place to look for ideas and inspiration and not a place to compare myself to. I’m trying to actively think through my thoughts and pray about what I’m feeling. Not a single person is perfect and I need to find my security in the Lord and my relationship with Him. But it’s still a struggle and I hope to someday get to a point where I don’t compare myself to every person/magazine/photo, whatever. Even now I’m feeling slightly anxious about posting this. Will everyone just think I’m a big mess? But writing is therapeutic for me, and I need to get this out. And I am so thankful for April’s article because I do think many women struggle with this and the best thing we can do is be supportive and encouraging of each other.
Anyone else out there struggle with feelings of “I’m just not good enough?” How do you deal with it?
A dream of mine is to someday own my own business. I have yet to figure out what that business will actually be, but nevertheless I still hope it happens! My friend Amel has been a source of inspiration to me lately. She launched her own business, Amel Professional Hair Extensions, as a college undergrad in 2010 and has been busy expanding it since. It all started because of a little idea she had to order hair extensions wholesale and then sell them to her friends. She decided to approach one of her finance professors about the idea and the rest is history! I love that she’s been able to take something she was interested in and turn it into a business that she can be passionate about!
This past Saturday myself and some other ladies got together with Amel to learn more about the new expansion of her business. She spent several months traveling the world to find and design Amel Hair and on Saturday we were able to see the results of her travels. Amel Hair is now made of the highest quality human hair and these extensions are gorgeous! They are in no way your typical, plastic extensions and they’re way better than the ones put in at a salon because they just clip in. It seriously takes five minutes and you can style them just like you normally would. They even come with a 6 month warranty! The evening was great and we got to sip on cocktails (well, not me!), try out the new products, and play with makeup courtesy of her friend Diana (a beauty consultant).
Amel and I. Look at her gorgeous hair (yes she is wearing the extensions)!
I’ve posted quite a bit on home decor lately and I suppose some would say it’s cause I’m “nesting”. I think it’s also because I’ve seen so much cute stuff on Pinterest and am really wanting to change things up. And I do want the apartment to feel more “finished” by the time the baby comes. I think the biggest reason is my constant desire for “perfection”, which lately leaves me frustrated. But I’ll save that for another post.
Right now we have a pretty good size wall with just one framed print on it that I think would look great as a photo wall. Here’s a few images I’m using for inspiration…
Ignore the $14.99 price at the bottom as this was the only image they had on the
Ikea website. I really like how this looks.
We’ve officially been Chicago residents for four years today! I can’t believe how fast time has flown by and what a blessing these years have been. When we first arrived, we planned to only stay one year!
We’d only been married 6 months when Philip’s company at the time suddenly announced that they were transferring him to Chicago…in less than a month! I had mixed feelings about it at the time. I was thrilled to be moving closer to my family and friends but a little uneasy about living in the actual city. As a child, my dream was to move to the city and anytime we visited Chicago growing up I absolutely loved it. Now as an adult, I felt a little more unsure. I assumed we’d stay in Arkansas for years but I definitely had been struggling with living so far away from everyone. It’s funny because a few weeks before we found out we’d have to move, we’d been praying that God would challenge us. We’d felt a little stagnant with our lives and I think God was stirring in our hearts to prepare us for this next chapter. We flew up to Chicago over St. Patrick’s Day weekend and found a cute little apartment in Lincoln Park. It was tiny, but clean and in a fabulous location. Then, a few weeks later, we packed up and drove up to the city…
We went to see the river turn green on our apartment hunting trip, 2008
I’m 18 weeks and I think I’ve officially “popped”! We’ve been taking pictures around the same time every week for the last few weeks and it’s so fun to see the progression of Baby M. Week 17 was taken Tuesday night, so I was just about 18 weeks, and the difference is definitely noticeable!
I love this little bump!
Hi, I'm Samantha. I've been married to my sweet husband for four and a half years and we're expecting our first little one in September! I blog about my life in the city and things that inspire and delight me - like fashion, design, home decor, and everything in between. Hope you enjoy!
