Why having a boy is awesome

Need I say more?

KAPOW!

Changes

I don't really know what nesting is, or when it kicks in, but I figured something was going on last month when I found myself feverishly digging through our spice cabinet, throwing out anything that was even NEAR an expiration date. I think I left us with salt, pepper and some paprika my sister-in-law brought us from Hungary. 

It was also about that time that I started to get really itchy to get the rest of our house in order. Our master bathroom has been under construction for the last several months (I blame the DIY network for leading us to believe it wouldn't be LIVING HELL to remodel our bathroom ourselves) which has pushed us into the guest room and all our stuff into various living spaces. Add to that the new clothing, decor, and STUFF we've purchased for the new baby and basically, our home runneth overeth with crapeth.

While I don't have any control over the master bathroom at this point (sweet LORD please send a handy-man angel to our home to finish it while we are sleeping), I knew that I could start to transition Kate from her nursery to her new big girl room. After a week of painting, moving, organizing, shopping and talking about the new room like it is the next best thing to backstage at a U2 concert, we've finally made the BIG MOVE tonight. 

So far, fingers crossed, it is going gang-busters. Despite a thunderstorm outside, we haven't heard a peep from Little Miss Thing since I tucked her in. Although she could just be operating in stealth mode and may have already snuck through the duct system like a ninja to steal the car for a nice joy ride.

Next up, I tackle the nursery for E2. And in less than three months, I'll have a baby to put in it, which totally blows my mind because, um, where did those first two trimesters go? And, can I please have them back so I can properly prepare for this whole family of four thing that freaks me out every time I see a mother with two kids at the supermarket (is that panic, despair or a little of both I see in her eyes?)

But that mini-freak out is surely a post for another time. Tonight, we celebrate the BIG GIRL ROOM!

Falling into the GAP

Okay, its not like I'm about to get all Toddlers and Tiaras up in here, but OH MY GOD KATE IS GOING TO BE A GAP MODEL!!! Sorry, wait. Need to slow my roll there. Maybe I should relax, regroup and rephrase. Ahem. Okay, so I'm THINKING about entering Kate in the babyGap model search. Because isn't it every toddler's dream (read: stage parent) to be in a Gap advertisement? I mean, J.C. Penney's -- eh. But GAP... I mean, come on. It is GAP people.

Its okay, I hate myself just a little bit right now too. In fact, as I hear the school bus bump down the street, I'm VERY close to throwing myself in front of it. But if I can't be honest with you guys, who CAN I share my very black soul with? 

But seriously, here is the honest truth -- I think my baby girl is the most stunning, hilarious, endearing thing on the face of the planet. Her personality just SHINES through. So of course, when I saw a Tweet about the babyGap model search, I nearly lost my shizz. Because it is SO OBVIOUS, they are desperately seeking Kate. They just don't know it yet. 

Oh crap. This is how Lindsay Lohan got HER start, isn't it? I may have to reconsider all this nonsense. But if I DO enter her, I have the perfect picture. Because, who can resist black teeth and crossed eyes? Yep, its official. This is the winner -- RIGHT HERE.

The big easy (chair)

When I was four weeks and one day pregnant, we found out we were having a baby. On the day that I was four weeks and THREE days pregnant, we went baby shopping for the first time and Ben and I spent hours looking at nursery furniture and rockers. And since that day, approximately 26 weeks ago, we have been shopping for the perfect chair for the nursery. I have never in my life had a more stressful purchasing decision.

Nursery furniture? Piece of cake. Bedding? Found it like THAT. Toys, clothes, etc.? It is just all so adorable, I'll take it all. But rocker.... oh, the elusive rocker.

You see, Ben and I had a shared vision of what a rocker/glider should be. It should be big, comfortable, overstuffed and one of those chairs that you can actually sleep in. It should have a foot stool so you actually can lay out while rocking the baby, and it should be cute (obviously) so it makes the nursery cuter.

We tried chair after chair. We narrowed it down to the perfect chair (agreed upon by the both of us) and literally had our credit cards out to buy it when a warning bell went off in my head. It was an AWFULLY big chair. And our nursery is AWFULLY small. We went home to measure, and sure enough... if we bought the chair, we could give up walking around the nursery because it would consume all the extra floor space. Awesome.

So back to the drawing board. We tried more chairs. They failed us miserably. We tried wooden rockers with cushions and Ben whined. We tried recliners, and my 6'6" husband wouldn't fit in them. We probably went to the same two stores every other weekend for 10 weeks, trying the same chairs over and over, like something would have changed in that time. Nothing.

Then, a Christmas miracle (well, closer to New Year's, but I'm not sure if there are New Year's miracles, so maybe it was a holdover from Christmas) -- we FOUND THE CHAIR. It was a new model, and although we'd tried it previously, we hadn't given it much of a chance because we were so disillusioned by the whole search. But it was perfect. Ben fit in it, I loved it, it was in our price range (thanks to a generous gift from Ben's family) and it was, well, pretty adorable. Throw a few pillows on it and taa-daa, the perfect chair for our nursery.

We snapped it up, as well as a cute little side table we found the same weekend and now have a little more of our nursery put together. Check it out -- the perfect (for us) nursery chair from Best Chairs.

More pics of the nursery to come as we get it put together. This weekend our big purchase was a mattress, so get excited for that one!