comings and goings....

We have had some action lately.....lots of fun happenings....

I had another lunch date with Lee-Taylor....my faithful friend....we even met for Mexican....but the spicy food certainly didn't spark William into anything! It was great to catch up with her after she had been on a fun wedding weekend that Orie and I weren't able to attend. I loved getting in one last lunch date with just us girls...and no baby yet...it was perfect!

We met with our insurance guy and set up life insurance for me...I think this is so morbid but then again I do have a slight fear of dying in childbirth so I guess it's better that William will always have good child care....It was my first time meeting our insurance man....Orie usually handles all of it. It was kind of refreshing to put a normal person's face with a name. He was very informative and helpful with my questions. He even loved our house which always makes a gal feel good!

My mom came over to Dallas and played with me for the day and then took me and Orie to dinner that night....she was off bright and early the next morning but we still had plenty of time to get lots accomplished....I felt like Wonder Woman that day. We packaged all of William's hospital treats (more on that later...)....washed a few new things for William's wardrobe and then surveyed his newborn selections....I think mom approved! After that we were off for some lunch and some errands....we de railed slightly at Central Market (an errand on the list) by way of the gelatto counter - YUM.....we found new knobs for my bedside table so that it is functional again....a new piece of art for our bedroom.....a hamper for William's closet....some new clothes for mom (another slight derailment from the listed errands....)....and a bumper for William's cradle.....all in all a very successful day!

That evening we all headed to Fish City Grill for a delicious dinner and then home for some relaxation and some dessert.....there were a few hospital treats leftover:) Orie was thrilled to finally be able to have one....they had been off limits until I filled William's goody bags!

We love having visitors.....who wants to come next?

Orie had a man date this week with Brad....they were off to an LSU gathering....hoping to win some tickets to the LSU vs. Oregon game.....they didn't win but I think they had a good time. After the LSU shin dig they were off to top golf for some gaming and I think a few beers. I love that Orie gets to have some guy time....I know he loves me tons and tons but I am sure he enjoys his man time too! I just piddled around the house not knowing what to do with myself without Orie at home:(

We hope your happenings have been fun lately.....what have you been up to?

Anniversary Celebration

You will have to forgive the delay in pictures and the quality of the pictures.....this is what I get for not bringing my real camera and relying on Orie's iPHONE....what was I thinking?

Orie came home after work and brought me some beautiful gerber daisies (flowers...he was on track for traditional!). We got ready for our dinner date and headed out to Fearing's at the Ritz-Carlton. It was such a fun evening and the food was delicious! Being pregnant sort of means you can eat whatever you want but it also means there is no where for it to go....I definitely over indulged this evening....but it was so yummy!

We love to talk about our wedding weekend on our anniversary. We always go through each moment and what we were doing....I think each year I learn something new about that day....!

I hope you enjoy some pics of our evening out.....

di with her flowers....i love gerbers...

aren't they gorgeous? they really lasted a long time too....

Orie's package....

and his present...I had to hide it and fool him with a little package....he got "flowers" too....don't you see them in the painting?

Di at dinner....my wine was alcohol free...chosen by the Somolier(sp?) to make me feel festive! it was really just nice grape juice:)

Orie at dinner....almost a teeth smile

the appetizer....a mini crab cake, a lobster taco and a duck tamale....delish! some kind of shot too as a palette cleanser....

Orie's dinner....a buffalo tenderloin


Diana's dinner....bar b que tenderloin with chicken fried lobster...can you say yum? and don't let that crispy outside of the tenderloin fool you...they cooked it perfectly on the inside for a prego!

the flowers at the entrance of the Ritz are always PHENOMENAL....tonight was no exception...the most beautiful peonies I have ever seen....

us....a little grainy and blurry but it will have to do....

I wish I had remembered to photograph the other shots/pallette cleansers and our desserts....
One of the shots was the freshest orange juice citrus blend ever...and tasted just like a fuzzy navel...I felt like I was on the beach in Destin for sure

For dessert....I had chocolate cake - YUM....and Orie had peach ice cream with english butter cookies and a blueberry peach glaze...it looked amazing....so bummed no photo but our desserts really didn't hang out long on the table!

What do your anniversary celebrations look like? We hope you still enjoy each other and have a date night at least every once in a while!

what's our deal....

with car troubles?

So....as I think I mentioned...I had to replace all four of my tires a couple of weeks ago - boo hoo....no fun at all!

Well, on Orie's way to work this week....he had a blow out...just a few blocks from our house. The tire was not replaceable and he had to buy a new tire for his car. I swear....I think someone is putting spikes in our driveway or something. We really haven't driven through construction lately so we are just baffled by all of this. Surely our luck with bad tires and car trouble is over right?

Did I mention that my car wouldn't start last Friday....the battery was dying but there were a few things I had to go do (that had a time table) so I cranked it up finally and drove on to my destination. Orie told me to go directly to the dealership and get them to check it out but I knew I needed to head to my "meeting" first (I certainly can't tell the blogging world what was so important that I had to go to....but I am sure some of you can imagine....) and then I could go to the dealership. He asked me what I was going to do when it didn't start after my "meeting"....I wasn't really sure about this....I guess I figured I would just call the roadside people again.....

Sure enough....it didn't start after my "meeting" and I just sat there in denial....I couldn't lose this battle - he would laugh at me for sure and remind me that I should have gone straight to the dealership....so I had a conversation with my car and willed it to start and several cranks and horrible sounds later it started - WHEW! I then went straight to the dealership and prayed it didn't stop on my way there!

It was definitely the battery and I was within my warranty by about 10 days - I am a lucky girl! Audrey even came and picked me up from the dealership and we were still able to have our lunch date.....I was very grateful....I am getting sick of hanging out at car dealerships.....!

You would also think that we drive really old run down cars.....when in fact we are very lucky to have 2 great cars.....we're just having a love hate relationship with them right now and hate is prevailing!

Fruit and Flowers

Well....it's a fruit and flowers kind of day around here.....why you wonder? Because it's our 4th Wedding Anniversary today and the traditional gift for the 4th year is fruits and flowers.....how random!

A traditional present was a hard one to come up with this year but I think I did well - more to come on that after Orie opens his present after work!

It's crazy to think 4 years have gone by since we got married and even more time has passed since we met and started dating....days never get old with Orie and that's just the way I like it!

Happy Anniversary Orie....I'll marry you any day!

still one of my favorites....there is never a dull moment with this one...

I just love it when he "teeth" smiles...

one of my all time favs!

as of lately....

A recap....life has been fun.....

I finally got to meet sweet baby Sawyer and visit with an out of town friend from high school.....such a fun way to spend the afternoon. Sawyer is perfection and his mommy is in love with him for sure! Catch ups with old friends are always fun and this was no exception. Thanks Frannie and Amy for making some Diana time!

Orie and I finished all of our baby classes....yeah! We have high recommendations on the Lamaze/Prepared Childbirth class....kind of blah on the breastfeeding class (our instructor had very strong opinions on bottles and on demand feeding and routine/schedule feeding)....and we think everyone should attend Infant CPR....we really learned a lot. My only complaint with infant CPR is that they re-use the same dolls over and over again with no mouth cup. The instructor says they are soaked in bleach and blah blah blah and then they even give you an alcohol wipe to re wipe your doll when you receive it. This was just not enough for me - GROSS is all I could think about while looking at this doll. So Daddy Orie practiced the full method and Mommy Diana just went through the motions and pretended to breath into the doll....much more sanitary! I think someone should come up with some kind of individual apparatus that fits down in the mouth to practice the breaths....Orie certainly laughed at me and I definitely caught a few looks from the instructor since I WAS THE ONLY ONE not touching the dolls' mouth....don't these people know about germs? I guess we are as ready as we can be for William's arrival.....

I attended another Smocked Auctions sample sale (shocker!).....I found W some great finds but this time Orie asked what I spent....I re-phrased it to him and said but don't you want to know what all I got?!?!?! That didn't work so well!!! The sale was amazing though and I am shocked at the beautiful things you can get for babies now for around $30.....the Facebook shopping sites are my new best friends! I am not sure that I can ever pay boutique prices again....

I have had two fabulous lunch dates.....one with my faithful Lee-Taylor and another with Katie....
LT made time in her work schedule to dine and chat...it was a great catch up and I am so glad that even though she is a working gal again we still got to meet up! We are even planning another date before W's arrival! Katie made time in her new mommy schedule to come by the house for lunch and she even brought sweet Harris....he is perfection as well and I loved finally meeting him too. We had some nice mommy and friend chit chat...it's going to be fun for William to have so many friends waiting to play with him!

Orie and I had a trial run of what to do if I go into labor while he is at work....the plan is for me to call him and for him to answer....good thing we had a trial run with my tire blow out last week because the 2nd part of the plan was a big fail - HE DID NOT ANSWER!!! Having a flat tire is no fun....trying to get in touch with your husband to figure out what to do is no fun....dealing with the tire the next day is no fun....realizing that you have huge expensive tires that hardly anyone keeps in stock is even less fun......many many hours of going store to store, many phone calls later, a nice evening of installing and many $$$$$ later....my lovely vehicle has 4 brand new tires....i guess it could be worse right?

Had another doctor's appointment where we learned that William is still quite content and comfortable hanging out with us on the inside....this is just fine with us....we are kind of hooked on this August 4th due date.....it's also a Thursday which makes it the perfect day for traveling family and friends....only one day off of work and then the weekend!

Orie's co-workers threw him an adorable baby shower...it was so nice of them to do and I think Orie was really excited about it - especially since he was the honored guest!!! William was showered with lots of sweet things and everyone is so excited to meet him at the office....one day soon!

The car seat is installed and ready to go! Orie brought it by Children's Medical Center and they inspected his work and only made a few adjustments. They even gave us this fancy piece of rubber to put under the seat so that it doesn't slide....this made me so happy since I was CONVINCED the seat should not move like it was doing the night before. I loved that Orie took care of this for me too since the appointment was in a hot parking lot at 1:00 in the afternoon....thanks Orie!!!

I made the worst mistake of my pregnancy this week.....here's the recap....

Jennifer noticed a mole on the bottom of my foot over Easter and told me that YOU CAN NOT HAVE MOLES ON THE BOTTOM OF YOUR FEET.....I knew this was a new one since pregnancy - which is very common - so I wasn't really that concerned about it. However....she does work at a cancer center and she had a mole on her foot removed very recently so I thought I would trust her. I got a derm recommendation and made my appointment. I went in this week and the doctor wasn't too concerned about it but he did say to remove it - which he could do right then and there....I was a little surprised by this since I was remembering Jen's being a painful procedure. I asked if I could walk afterwards, was it safe being pregnant, etc. and he said yes yes yes...no big deal. So they shot my foot (OUCH....!) and then scraped it off to be sent to a lab. I told him I wasn't really into pain and he just kind of looked at my 38 week prego self and laughed.....So....off I left after this brief procedure. I had my care instructions and they told me to keep it dry for 24 hours and then to keep it bandaged, clean, neosporen every day, etc. for 10-12 days while it heals. Easy huh? Well, I guess because I wasn't thinking that I would have the procedure done right then and there....that I wasn't thinking about the fact that I would not get my FINAL PEDICURE before W is born.....10-12 days is about now to his due date.....I was DEVASTATED.....I wish I could go back in time and reverse this doctor's appointment or at least have had my pedicure before I went in.....oh the tragedies in my life:)

Orie has been kicking booty at his job lately....working hard and still enjoying what he does....maybe not the hours sometimes but definitely the content. He has been home on time a bunch lately and I have even been cooking dinner regularly....or at least regularly for our household!

We are loving life and enjoying our final weeks as just us....

Enjoy a recent pic.....

The Story of the Nursery

Well....you may know by now that I really love all things sweet and baby....

After working in several baby stores I have come across some adorable inexpensive items, some gorgeous high end items and some high end items that I wouldn't give to my worst enemy. There is really no other requirement to pass my baby test besides being sweet and baby.....I don't care where it came from....

So when I set out to choose things for William's nursery I knew I wanted to it be sweet and baby....a little bit of elegance....nothing hokey....and I knew I would need to do it for the best price possible (this is my version of a budget....budgets are too restrictive....but doing something for the best price possible is just plain smart!)

I'll let you in some of my finds....splurges...and random items....and you can fill in the gaps with some of the F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S pictures AST took on Sunday!

Warning - Picture Overload and Baby Overload.....while I did promise to keep this an adventure blog and not become a mommy blog....this nursery was an adventure and I am sure William will prove to be an adventure very quickly:)

It started with two mirrored pieces of furniture from Tuesday Morning.....I saw them in their mailer and knew I had to have them for the nursery. I rallied my troops to check out their Tuesday Mornings and we were all set to wake up and be at our Tuesday Mornings at 8:00 on this particular Tuesday morning. Well, on that Monday, Dallas was preparing for another major snow/ice/whatever storm. So with priorities in check (keep in mind I don't think we had milk, eggs, peanut butter, toilet paper, canned goods, waters, etc. anywhere in our house in preparation), I called my Tuesday Morning to make sure they would still open the next morning with these pieces on the floor.....she let me know that they were ALREADY on the floor in anticipation of closing for the storm. I booked it to my neighborhood Tuesday Morning and scooped up my two coveted pieces just as two other women were coming in to buy them as well.....wow I was lucky.....! I am sure Mom was thrilled she did not have to go to her Tuesday Morning with all the other crazies the next morning!

a console table...turned changing table....4 deep drawers

a chest....one cabinet below....two drawers up top.....really just for pretty....it holds some of his toys and stuff to play with.....

After these pieces came home to live with us...I think I knew the general direction I wanted things to go....I called it traditional meets Hollywood chic....and I am pretty sure my entire family and friends laughed at me! It's precisely what it is though...!

I have known for a long time which particular crib I wanted.....I even turned down the lovely potential offer of having Ethan and Cooper's GORGEOUS crib because it just wasn't what I was imagining in this room.....I did snag their precious cradle though:)

So...on to find the crib....or on to find out if I could even afford the crib. I discovered this children's furniture line - AFK (Art for Kids) while working in a very high end store so things were not looking good for me to bring this home. After searching for a knock off....something similar....something that would maybe work....the furniture company decided to have a winter sale on 3 white finishes.....and guess what.....I wanted a white finish that was on sale!!!!!! I was so excited.....again....I am sure people thought I was crazy ordering a crib before we knew boy or girl! I also think I annoyed the three DIFFERENT locations I called to make sure I got the best price possible when factoring in tax/no tax - shipping/no shipping, etc. Finally though....the crib was ordered from Pippen Lane in New Orleans from the sweet boy Michael....who I am sure will remember the crazy woman from Dallas who ordered the Madison crib!

i love the curves of the head board and foot board...

the spindles are my FAVORITE part....

I think Grace likes it too....

I think after I had the crib and furniture in place...and the idea of using lots of whites and creams.... I was starting to bring Mom on board with this traditional meets Hollywood chic idea....so she suggested an oriental rug with pops of color for the floor.....i thought it sounded excellent....so she was off to our favorite rug store Caboose Antiques to find the perfect choice. A couple of shipments later it was found and Roy let her bring it to Dallas to test out in the room....we knew it was perfect right away and this little beauty stayed to live with us in Dallas....!

it has some navy....rose...cream....Grace LOVES to sleep on it too!

Now things were really coming along.....

Bedding was not really an issue for me....again.....I knew what I wanted but just had to figure out a way to afford it. Of course it was a line I discovered while working at a high end store so I wasn't sure it could come home and live with us....I was 95% sure I wanted whites and creams so I searched and searched for something that would take its place. There was NOTHING out there and the idea of choosing fabrics to make something completely overwhelms me....ask my mother and sisters....I just can't go there....way too much for this brain!

So I called the company and got a list of stores that sold their bedding (hoping for a store that sold it at a reasonable price....no luck)....the company then told me that I could get it from market in one of their showrooms....I was so excited....this was it....I was going to have the bedding....I just needed to secure my way into market. Well, with the help of friends and family I was off to market to BUY MY BEDDING.......at COST!!!!! I was on top of the world....that is how Flower Garden from Kristaben in white and ecru came home to live with us!

Mom was now on to thinking about artwork for the room.....I kind of knew something I wanted in the room.....Several years ago on a blog that was doing Show Us Where You Live Master Bedroom...I saw a beautiful monogram done on someones wall above their headboard....It was gorgeous and I have always loved it. Our new house didn't allow for that above our bed so I wasn't able to use the idea in our master bedroom. I was starting to think though that it could be very cool in William's room above his changing table. Mom agreed and she began creating the masterpiece. It was gorgeous....but when it came home to live in William's room...it didn't quite work over the changing table. You're wondering if we measured right....well we did....but we didn't take into account the light switches....the new painting would cover up the switches and that would just be annoying. I was devastated....I think mom was secretly thrilled because now it could go above the crib and be a focal point in the room!

So Kat and Mom came over and hung the canvas above William's crib....have no fear...it is of sound engineering and very secure....and I think it looks AMAZING....I am so glad it worked out to be above his crib....the perfect spot for it! So...that is how William's monogram canvas from my professional artist mom Tess came to live with us.....

Now we had to have something above the changing table....mom's wheels were rolling and she came over and picked my brain about Le Petit Prince (my all time favorite book....thanks to my Aunt Kay Kay for opening the door to his world with my very first copy of the book and a fabulous French teacher who taught us how to read it .....) She took all of my copies of the book, my figurine that lives in the kitchen, several porcelain items we picked up in Paris and all three of the plush toys we got in Paris as well.....she was definitely going somewhere with this. Wanna see the result....because it's absolutely perfect....and I love everything about it....gosh I hope William learns the story of the Little Prince.....

For an unexpected surprise for William's room...a sweet friend made this custom door decoration for William....isn't it gorgeous? I hung it on his nursery door with some satin ribbon to match the bow.....when William arrives I will add his birth date, weight and height....I am so excited to fill it in!

Lighting....I wasn't really that opinionated on lighting....I liked the idea of a chandelier but I didn't really want to buy one....I knew I needed lamps but again....I didn't want to pay a fortune for them. So.....here is the lighting story. For my two table lamps (one on the changer...one on the chest)....I went shopping in mom's closet! Yes....we are those people who buy great things at great prices in hopes of putting them somewhere....these were supposed to go to the beach for their master bedroom but it wasn't a finished project so she graciously let me buy them....and a steal too....they were a T.J. Maxx find! For the floor lamp....it was a fantastic Target find.....and for the chandelier....well....let's just say it was free...but don't ask my dad if it was hassle free.....! The chandelier came from the original dining room in our house that is now our office.....it wasn't originally planned for William's room but now that it is hung in there I can't imagine the room without it....it's PERFECTION!

my Target find....I did have to assemble the shad which was a little strange!

the chandelier.....

T.J. Maxx lamps...I have a pair....

Now for my least favorite part of the room assembly....the window treatments....Yuck....again....the idea of choosing fabrics and imagining lengths, widths, the math that goes with it....blah blah blah....I was not happy. I also didn't like spending that much money on window treatments....it just wasn't a priority for me! Thank goodness for moms....she measured and kept me straight....she even scoped out the fabric stores in Shreveport and found exactly what we needed. So when I came in town...I approved...bought...and we were on a roll. The panels were going to be made with black out lining by Janet in Shreveport and mom and I were going to make the cornice boards....mom had several cornice boards from one of her "dumpster dives" as I like to call them....I snagged two and we spent a rather long afternoon and evening (without full power) assembling the cornices....in the end they looked amazing and I couldn't wait to get them hung on the walls!

AST's pic....

I needed a color one...so this is mine...don't judge:)

Hmm....what was next....maybe the chair and the bookcase?

The chair was an item that was just baffling me....true nursery gliders/rockers/swivel gliders are just plain expensive and I wasn't thrilled with any of my fabric options. So I just avoided the fact that we would have to have some rocker in there. Remember my glider that I found from Freecycle.org - BARF! I knew I needed some sort of book case also to display his "pretties" but those were expensive too and I wasn't finding anything that I loved....

I guess the shopping fairies knew this was going to bring a struggle for me and they sent over Patti and Amy to shop for the day....they discovered two perfect stores for me....Nadeau's and Guttmann's. I found the perfect bookshelf at Nadeau's on my 3rd trip to their warehouse....and I was thrilled with the way it looked in William's room - perfect!

At Guttmann's we found the perfect swivel glider for the nursery too.....so perfect that I knew Kat and Mom would need to come over and look for themselves and help me choose....there were over 700 fabric choices!!!!! Many weeks later they popped over to Dallas and Katharine and I acutally picked out the same exact fabric for our chairs! It's a beautiful cream fabric that was just perfect! Yeah!!! The nursery was just about complete.....

it is so comfy too....

nestled in the corner....

i can still get in the closet too....whew!

don't you just love the fabric?

the bookshelf....PERFECT!

and the bottom shelf is the perfect size for a 15 month old to fit inside in case you were wondering:)

I also found this great table at Home Goods to sit next to the glider....perfect for setting stuff when we are rocking!

Now for some specials of his sweet room.....in no particular order.....

my original copy of The Little Prince and the stuffed animal I got in Paris.....

his basket of toys....he has a Smushy to match his cousins....a Sophie giraffe because I think it's adorable....the LIttle Prince's lamb and fox....an adorable monkey....his first Easter bunny....and a lamb from his mommy and daddy the day we found out he was a boy!

a rocking chair from my childhood....customized for William....

those sweet big boy cousins had to be in his room somewhere....they will have so much to teach him....

framed lyrics to Godspeed....the sweetest song in the world....a porcelain Peter Rabbit set from my childhood....

she's musical....I must figure out a way to get her working again...I can vividly remember her from childhood....from my Mama Tee

Keep Calm and Carry On....I figured this is just a good rule of thumb with a child...also...lots of pretty silver and pewter items from my childhood...and one new silver rattle just for William....

his baby book....my splurge....I knew he had to have it!

my childhood Bible from my Godmother....William has one very similar right next to it from his "Aunt" Mary Dean....

his sweet books from friends and family and a Baby's First Year frame from his Mama Tee and Poppy

a pillowcase from my childhood....preserved to perfection just added some new ribbon....

Hope you enjoyed a sneak peek into William's room courtesy of Amy and her beautiful photographs. It was so much fun to remember how it all came together too.....

Now we're just hanging out waiting on a baby for the room....come hang out with us one day soon!

Grace will be waiting for you!