Blue or Pink?

No, I'm not talking about the sex of the baby this time! (As I mentioned in this post, we decided not to find out the sex and to be surprised when the baby is born!) I am talking about IF we have a girl, should I decorate her nursery with blue or pink?

Obviously, if you've followed my blog for more than 5-minutes, you know I lovvvvve the color blue! Our house and our wardrobes all revolve around it! I could definitely see a beautiful, girly, blue nursery! Here is my vision board. Cute right? I feel like it is really unique and I love that!

However, I also love the idea of going with classic pale pink! There is so much blue in my world, it would totally be fun to go another direction for this one room! Here is my vision board for this color scheme. Beautiful, isn't it?

I should note, we are holding off on decorating the nursery for awhile! Obviously we have to find out the sex of the baby before we can do anything, but it will still be awhile after the baby is born that we actually decorate the room and move the baby into it. Eventually,  our plan is to move to Leo to Miles' room since we have two twin beds in there, and then the baby will go in the nursery where Leo currently is. But for now? Leo sleeps so well in his crib and we usually keep our babies in our room for at least 6-months anyway, so we are taking our time! (Our fourth bedroom is on the third floor and the perfect guest room, so we don't want to convert that to a kid's room just yet!) 

Anyway, what do you think?

All of this being said, if I had to guess, I would guess that this baby is a boy anyway so this whole post/survey may very well be a moot point! Ha! I guess that is totally part of the fun of not knowing though! :) 

Design Trend I'm Trying - Painted White Dining Chairs

Lately I've been in the mood to overhaul our house and make it lighter,  brighter, and whiter. I credit/blame (jk jk!) my friend Betsy after watching her give her amazing downtown Columbus townhome an all white makeover ;) Plus after 6-years in this house and nesting like a crazy 33-week pregnant woman, I think I just am craving a change! (As I often say, that topic is another post in and of itself!)  

That being said, I have been super hesitant to dive in and paint any walls white... I've done it before in the dining room, and though it was beautiful it just didn't sit right with me at that the time so painted it back within like 3 days. I also started painting the living room white earlier this winter, but only made it through half a wall before stopping. Scratch that idea! 

Anyway, we've also been on the lookout for new dining room chairs for a long time now but haven't found just the right ones. I like the ones that we have because they are really sturdy and durable, which is a necessity since my boys literally climb ALL OVER THEM! However, I'm kind of over the black furniture at the moment and wanted something a little more fresh. Well, the last few months I've been totally inspired by the glossy white chairs featured by some of my favorite bloggers/instagram accounts - those of Monika Hibbs and Jillian Harris to be exact! In their new (absolutely gorgeous) homes, they both have dining room chairs that are the similar colonial style as mine, just white! I also love the look paired with a rustic wooden table, which is exactly what we have in our dining room. 

Painting my dining room chairs white = Perfect way to incorporate more white/bright without being scared PLUS it solves my dining room chair dilemma! Win, win! 

Here are some of the pictures that have inspired me to try out this trend: 

Monika Hibbs

Monika Hibbs

Jillian Harris - Love it or List It Vancouver

Instagram @jillian.harris

Instagram @jillian.harris

Jillian Harris Love it or List It Vancouver

I even love them painted blue ;) 

Remodelista

Style at Home

Here is the exact chair I would love to buy from Ethan Allen, but they are a little expensive! I'm glad I may be able to pull of the same style for much less!

Ethan Allen Berkshire Side Chair

As a refresher, here is a picture of our dining room with the black chairs:

I decided to start with just one chair and see how I like it. (We have a set of 6-chairs, but only use 5 at the table. The other one we use in our third floor bedroom, so I figured if I didn't like the result, I could put the white one up there and leave the ones in the dining room black. If you're as indecisive as I am,it is good to have a contingency plan in case you back out!) 

I started by sanding the chair with 100 grit sandpaper since there was a LOT of varnish on it. 

I literally sprayed it off with the hose to clean it, there was SO much dust! 

Evan then spray painted the chair with Rustoleum's Gloss White Paint and Primer.. It took about a can and a half of spray paint. 

It is currently drying and I'm currently trying to decide whether to go forward with painting them all white! Such a difficult decision!

What do you think?

All About Baby #3!

Since I'm officially just FIFTY days away from my due date with baby #3, I thought I'd share a little bit about this pregnancy and how we are preparing for this baby! 

When is the baby due?

October 20th! I'm 33 weeks along :)

Do you know what you are having? 

Amazingly, we decided to be surprised! With Miles and Leo, I could not WAIT to find out the sex of the baby! Shortly after we found out we were expecting this baby,  Evan told me he wanted to be surprised with this one and on a whim I agreed! Fast forward about 14-weeks, the doctor is asking us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby during one of my appointments. It took EVERYTHING in my power to say no - but Evan held me to my earlier word! At this point, I'm really glad we decided not to find out and I'm super excited to be surprised. It feels like it is the icing on the cake for the glorious day we get to meet this little one! 

Do you have a guess? 

If I had to guess, I would say another boy. Evan is one of four boys and his mom has six brothers (She is the only girl!) so I just kind of feel like boys are in the cards for us! My three year old Miles INSISTS it is a girl though.... we'll see! I'm SO EXCITED and can picture our life either way! I love the idea of having a sweet little girl and guiding her through life, but I also totally love the idea of having three brothers. Can't lose! 

Do you have names picked out? 

We definitely have a girl name, but not 100% sure on a boy name yet! Regardless, we are keeping it a surprise until the baby is born! 

Any food cravings/aversions? 

So many! My number one weird craving has been Diary Queen ice cream. We typically never get it, there isn't even one very close to us, but with this pregnancy I've wanted it constantly so I've made the family load up in the car many, many nights to drive across town so I can satisfy this craving (plain vanilla soft serve, to be exact!) Also bagels, blueberries, pickles, cheese and crackers, Cheerios, and though I'm embarrassed to even admit this - Taco Bell Mexican Pizza! (Again, something we never eat, but when I'm pregnant, there are times when nothing sounds better! I craved Taco Bell with all three pregnancies!)  In terms of food aversions, meat, peppers, and chocolate would make me feel super sick during my first trimester, but at this stage in my pregnancy all my aversions have pretty much gone away. At this point, this baby is so big that I'm at the point where I always feel full, so I pretty much avoid big meals and just snack on fruits/veggies/crackers throughout the day. 

How Far Apart Are Your Kids in Age? 

Miles and Leo are 23 months apart, and if Baby #3 comes on schedule, Leo and Baby #3 will be 21.5 months apart! This is almost the exact same distancing apart as I am with my siblings, and I love it! Not too close, but not too far apart in age. Still, I know having three kids age three and under is going to be CRAZY for awhile!

Was this baby planned or a surprise?

Definitely planned. This baby was conceived after 7-months of cycle tracking, fertility drugs, and meetings with my RE/OB-GYN at the Cleveland Clinic. Definitely a baby we have prayed and prayed for! 

How did you find out you were pregnant? 

As I mentioned, I had been tracking and I knew I wanted to take a pregnancy test first thing in the morning 12 DPO (Days post ovulation). On this particular day, however, I woke up at 2:00 in the morning because Leo was crying and needed a bottle. Half asleep, I decided to take the test once I got him back to bed. I didn't have very high expectations because with my last pregnancy I didn't get a positive test until 14 DPO and I wasn't feeling any pregnancy symptoms (plus I've probably had about 1000 negative tests in my life so I know not to get my hopes up, sadly) but sure enough - two lines quickly appeared! THAT woke me up! I was so excited I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. It took everything in me not to wake up Evan, but he is the heaviest sleeper in the world and I knew I would get a major zombie response so I anxiously awaited until the morning to tell him. I showed him the test as soon as he woke up, and we have pretty much been on cloud 9 and super excited every since!

Epidural or natural labor? 

If I have a choice, I will definitely get an epidural! With Miles I did and it was wonderful. With Leo I didn't (there wasn't enough time) and holy cow I was seeing stars I was in so much pain! Miles' labor was so much more enjoyable and calm. I'll definitely choose to get one if I can!

How are you feeling? 

Blessed, excited, miserable, and nervous? So so thankful for this baby and that we are both healthy! So excited to meet him/her and have them as part of our family. We are already so in love. However, this has also been a much harder pregnancy than my last two. I was SO incredibly nauseous until about 20-weeks along. It would hit me out of nowhere and I would just turn green!  There were so many days I'd be at work, feeling great, and then basically just have to run out the door because the sickness would come on so strong and so quickly. NOT fun! I tried several different medicines but either they didn't work or they gave me really bad side effects. I used up all of my sick time very quickly, which totally sucked (until I decided to quit my job anyway!)  I've also had terrible heartburn, restless leg syndrome, a constantly aching back, and crazy Braxton Hicks contractions. It is also extremely tiring chasing after two VERY active toddlers all day while basically having a basketball in my belly and not feeling very well. Still, I wouldn't trade it for the world. It is worth it a billion times over, but it has been hard. 

I'm also very nervous about labor this time around! With Leo, my labor from the first symptom until the time he was born was just 36 minutes. We barely made it to the hospital! I basically just had one contraction at exactly 10:00 at night and JUST KNEW we needed to go to the hospital immediately.  Evan had fallen asleep in Miles' bed while putting him to sleep, and I went and woke him up and said we needed to go. He was in zombie sleep mode and I remember having to very quietly but very fiercely yell at him "EVAN! NOW!" He got up but I don't think it registered at all! The original plan was for Evan to call his parents to come over, who live 10-minutes away, but I knew we didn't have time so I called my next door neighbor to come stay with Miles until Evan's mom could get here. We loaded right into the car and drove straight to the hospital! Evan dropped me off at the entrance while he parked and as soon as I made it to the doors of Labor & Delivery I pretty much collapsed and said I needed to push. They didn't even have my name in the system yet, no IV, no monitors - and little Leo made his entrance into the world at 10:36pm! No one could believe it! It just happened so fast. Amazing labor, amazing recovery, but I literally had panic attacks for days afterwards wondering what would have happened if we would have made a split second decision differently! So glad I just listened to my gut and went full speed ahead to the hospital... I just don't want to go through that again! I've since learned it is called "precipitous labor." This pregnancy, we are taking every precaution to avoid a super fast delivery, including bed rest starting in October and strict instructions to come to the hospital at any sign of labor. Thankfully we have lots of family and friends helping us out the last month. Just trying to have faith and pray for a healthy delivery and healthy baby! 

Will you have more kids or is this your last? 

I'm 99% sure this will be our last! That being said, we've often said we wanted four kids, so I'm not quite ready to say that we are definitely, totally, for sure done. We decided we'll see how we feel in a couple of years and make our final decision then. (But still, 99% sure we're done unless God decides to surprise us!)  

The First Modern Farmhouse I Fell in Love With

The other day, while trying to get myself digitally organized (that is another entire post!), I stumbled upon pictures I took of this beautiful modern farmhouse during the Columbus, Ohio 2012 BIA Parade of Homes. It was one of the first modern farmhouses I fell in love with, and I still love it to this day! This house may have been designed and decorated 5-years ago, but the exterior is still 100% my ideal style and I love the blues and grays that highlight the interior. 

This particular house was built by Miller Troyer Custom Homes. It featured 4,700 square feet, 3 full baths, 2 half baths, and a 3 car garage. 

Pretty beautiful, isn't it?