Chloë With Dots It Will Be!

Thank you to every one who voted on my poll about Chloë's name! We've decided to keep the dots over the 'e' for now but we've chosen not to put it on any government documents so that way Chloë can decide for herself if she wants to keep the dots {or not} in the future.

For the most part, we imagine that people will spell it without the dots over the 'e'... and I'm fine with that. I think it just gives her name a little character with them but I still think it is a precious name with or without the added embellishment.

Molar Monster For Sale

Up For Grabs:
One cute, feisty GRUMPY boy who is cutting his 2 year molars. Loves bananas, Elmo from Sesame Street, anything technological that lights up and makes fun noises, and pushing Mommy's buttons. All interested parties may reply by leaving a comment. Good luck!

I Am Basically Amazing

Mondays are my usually my cleaning day. I don't love to clean but I l♥ve a clean house so I do it anyway. The only time I do l♥ve to clean is when I'm mad, because it gives me something to do and there's nothing better than scrubbing away your anger; plus when you're done you have a clean house! Double bonus.

Today I got right to it and scrubbed both bathrooms and the kitchen, dusted, vacuumed, mopped, put away the dishes, did 3 loads of laundry and made up both our bed and Peyton's crib with fresh from the dryer sheets AND I went grocery shopping... all before noon. I feel great!

The only thing I did today that was NOT amazing was fall over the baby gate this morning. I could feel myself going down in slow motion and I landed right on top of our semi-flexible laundry basket after slamming the top part of my body into the kitchen counter thereby throwing the spoon rest that sits on our counter nearly all the way across the stove. It was all kinds of hilarious. You should have been there. And Mom, I'm fine, really. ;-) I will have a nice looking bruise on my ankle tomorrow though!

In other news, this week Troy takes the BAR for the third and {hopefully} final time. He passed the Louisiana State Bar since that's where he went to school; then one of the firms he worked for wanted him licensed in Alabama since they had offices over there so he took it and added another successful Bar exam under his belt and now he's going for number three here in Texas since this will be our permanent home {or at least until we retire}.

That means he's been holed up for the last two weeks only coming out for meals or to talk to me for a minute or two before returning to his dungeon. I'll be glad when this is done. So keep him in your thoughts and prayers this week because even though I'm sure he'll pass, it can't hurt to have some mental well wishing sent his way!

So what have I been doing to pass the time while Troy is away? Well, seeing how I'm about to have a new little baby here soon, I've been shopping online for things that I know I'll need for the first couple of months. A lot of it has been sleep related items like a white noise CD, swaddling blankets, pacifiers, etc. But Friday, I went crazy on Etsy and started looking at hair bows since I'm not as crafty {or as patient!} as Stacy who is making her own bows .

I haven't bought Chloë a single outfit but man {oh man!} that girl is going to have some cute hair! Here is what I've gotten so far:

First I bought some small bows that you stick on with hair gel since who knows if Chloë will even HAVE any hair when she shows up. I visited the Etsy shop: Itty Bitty Baby Bows for these and was able to pick out 24 colors I liked. She's sure to have a bow to match almost anything!

Stick on newborn infant baby hair bows

I got my next two sets from LiliBug Boutique. Aren't they precious?!

Spring Flowers newborn hairclip set


Summer Retro Flowers newborn hairclip set

I fell in love with these colorful clips from Mom's Blankies.

Tutti Fruiti Hair Clip Set

The store I went crazy in was Berkley's Clippies. Her work is so adorable I couldn't resist getting one or two {ok, so it was really four!}.

The Hailey Clip


The Berkely Clip


The Meredith Clip


The Beth Clip

I haven't even peeked at the cute homemade outfits I know they have on Etsy because I would really be in trouble! Once Troy is done with the BAR, we'll be taking some of Peyton's old clothing and baby bedding to a children's consignment shop to see what we can trade for them. That's when the shopping will really begin! Oh, and there's an outlet mall with Gymboree, Carters, Gap and The Children's Place stores only 20 minutes away. We're in big trouble! :-)

I am reading the funniest book right now:

It's our new Book Group reading selection and although I haven't finished it yet, I already like it immensely. For me to laugh out loud while I am reading can sometimes be an insurmountable feat but I've already had my fair share of laughs at certain passages in this non-fiction true account about 'living Biblically for a year'.

Here's what it's about:

'Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules:to avoid wearing clothes of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.

The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes. Jacobs's quest transforms his life even more radically than the year spent reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for 'The Know-It all.' His beard grows so unruly that he is regularly mistaken for a member of ZZ Top. He immerses himself in prayer, tends sheep in the Israeli desert, battles idolatry, and tells the absolute truth in all situations- much to his wife's chagrin.

Throughout the book, Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally. He tours a Kentucky-based creationist museum and sings hymns with Pennsylvania Amish. He dances with Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and does Scripture study with Jehovah's Witnesses. He discovers ancient biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the twenty-first-century brain.

Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected Epiphanies and challenges. A book that will charm readers both secular and religious, The Year of Living Biblically is part CliffNotes to the Bible, part memoir, and part look into worlds unimaginable. Thou shalt not be able to put it down.'

Okay, here's what I've been laughing at so far- I'll only share two selections in case you decide to read the book for yourself.

The first one is when he starts to address the commandment about not touching a woman for the week after the start of her period. Here's what he wrote:

'...Julie {his wife}, however, is not flattered at all. She finds the whole ritual offensive. I'm not loving it either. It's one thing to avoid handshakes during flu season. But to give up all physical contact with your wife for seven days a month? It's actually quite exhausting, painful, and lonely. You have to be constantly on guard- no sex, of course, but also no hand holding, no shoulder tapping, no hair tousling, no good-night kissing. When I give her the apartment keys, I drop them into her hand from a safe height of six inches.

"This is absurd," she tells me, as she unlocks the door. "It's like cooties from the seventh grade. It's theological cooties." I tell Julie I can't pick and choose what I follow in the Bible. That'd negate the whole point of my experiment. If I'm trying to get into the mind-set of the ancient Israelites, I can't ignore even the most inconvenient or obscure rule. I also point out that I didn't send her to a red tent. She's not amused.'

'...As for not lying on unclean beds, I'm off the hook. Julie and I don't share a bed. Apparently, when I sleep, I thrash around like a beached marlin, so Julie has opted for two twin beds pushed together, a disturbing echo of my parents and early sixties sitcoms. The no-sitting-on-impure-seats presents more of a challenge. I came home this afternoon and was about to plop down on my official seat, the gray pleather armchair in our living room.
"I wouldn't do that, " says Julie.
"Why?"
"It's unclean. I sat on it." She doesn't even look up from her TiVo'd episode of Lost.
OK. Fine. Point taken. She still doesn't appreciate these impurity laws. I move to another chair, a black plastic one.
"Sat in that one, too," says Julie. "And the ones in the kitchen. And the couch in the office."
In preparation for my homecoming, she sat in every chair in the apartment, which I found annoying but also impressive. It seemed in the biblical tradition of enterprising women- like Judith, who seduced the evil general Holofernes, only to behead him when he was drunk. I finally settle on Jasper's {his son's} six-inch-high wooden bench, which she had overlooked, where I tap out my emails on my PowerBook with my knees up to my chin.'

This next one is where he has to start stoning adulterers:

'...Instead I figured my loophole would be this: The Bible doesn't specify the size of the stones. So...pebbles. A few days ago, I gathered a handful of small white pebbles from Central Park, which I stuffed in my back pants pocket. Now all I needed were some victims. I decided to start with Sabbath breakers. That's easy enough to find in this workaholic city. I noticed that a potbellied guy at the Avis down our block has worked on both Saturday and Sunday. So no matter what, he's a Sabbath breaker.

Here's the thing, though: Even with pebbles, it is surprisingly hard to stone people. My plan had been to walk nonchalantly past the Sabbath violator and chuck the pebbles at the small of his back. But after a couple of failed passes, I realized it was a bad idea. A chucked pebble, no matter how small, does not go unnoticed.

My revised plan: I would pretend to be clumsy and drop the pebble on his shoe. So I did. And in this way I stoned. But it was probably the most polite stoning in history- I said, "I'm sorry," and then leaned down to pick up the pebble. And he leaned down at the same time, and we almost butted heads, and then he apologized, then I apologized again.
Highly unsatisfying.
Today, I get another chance. I am resting in a small public park on the Upper West Side, the kind where you see retirees eating tuna sandwiches on benches.

"Hey, you're dressed queer."
I look over. The speaker is an elderly man, mid-seventies, I'd guess. He is tall and thin and wearing one of those caps cabbies wore in movies from the forties.
"You're dressed queer," he snarls. "Why you dressed so queer?"
I have on my usual tassels, and, for good measure, have worn some sandals and am carrying a knotty maple walking stick I'd bought on the Internet for twenty-five dollars.
"I'm trying to live by the rules of the Bible. The Ten Commandments, stoning adulterers..."
"You're stoning adulterers?"
"Yeah, I'm stoning adulterers."
"I'm an adulterer."
"You're currently an adulterer?"
"Yeah. Tonight, tomorrow, yesterday, two weeks from now. You gonna stone me?"
"If I could, yes, that would be great."
"I'll punch you in the face. I'll send you to the cemetery."

He is serious. This isn't a cutesy grumpy old man. This is an angry old man. This is a man with seven decades of hostility behind him. I fish out my pebbles from my back pocket.
"I wouldn't stone you with big stones," I say. "Just these little guys."
I open my palm to show him the pebbles. He lunges at me, grabbing one out of my hand, then flings it at my face. It whizzes by my cheek. I am stunned for a second. I hadn't expected this grizzled old man to make the first move, But now there is nothing stopping me from retaliating. An eye for an eye. I take one of the remaining pebbles and whip it at his chest. It bounces off.

"I'll punch you right in the kisser," he says.
"Well, you really shouldn't commit adultery," I say.
We stare at each other. My pulse has doubled.
Yes, he is a septuagenarian. Yes, he had just threatened me using corny Honeymooners dialogue. But you could tell: This man has a strong dark side. Our glaring contest lasts ten seconds, then he walks away, brushing by me as he leaves.'

Maybe you didn't find it as funny as I did- but I thought it was pretty humorous- his attempts to live the letter of the law just make me laugh! I'll have to let you know if I like it all the way through to the end.

Help Please!

I am horrible when it comes to making little, seemingly insignificant decisions; I always worry that I'm not going to make the right choice the first time and then I'll regret it later. You should have seen me when it came time to pick out new phones the other day- it seriously stressed me out! Now I have a new decision to make and I want some help this time :-)

I've fallen in love with this Maya Wrap Lightly Padded Sling for it's ease of use and it's practicality- you can use this sling from the newborn stage all the way up through toddlerhood and it can be tucked away in a bag and pulled out at a moments notice.

Now comes the hard part... what color do I get?!

I'm not sure that I'd do pink because as much as I love the color, I worry that if I decided to dress Chloë in a pink outfit that the whole ensemble would resemble a walking ad for Pepto Bismol.

Then I was thinking lavender or periwinkle since they would go with most other colors but would I get tired of either color eventually or would it clash with other colors I might be wearing {and should I care about it matching since it's just a baby sling or would you try to have it compliment your outfit too?}

They also have an ivory color which would go with everything but then I worry that it will get dirty faster if I rub up against a dirty car for instance or if there's a diaper blow out {which if that happened, it wouldn't matter WHAT color I chose since it would still show up and need some stain treatment to get out}

Arrgh! Now do you see why I'm terrible about decision making? That's why you'd probably never want to go shopping with me- it's never a quick choice with me! Oh well.

If you click on the picture above, it will take you to the Maya Wrap site where all of the color swatches are.

Let me know what you think and what you would choose if you were buying one so that maybe I can narrow this thing down! Thank you!

P.S. Please take a moment to take my poll on the sidebar too! So really, that's two favors in one day ;-)

*P.S.S. After much deliberation, and consulting with Troy, I finally chose Periwinkle since it's equal parts lavender and blue- a nice Forget Me Not color. I figure it will go with a wide variety of colors well without seeming boyish or overtly girly too. If it didn't get so hot here, I might have chosen black like so many of you suggested but I don't want Chloë to roast!

A Dress For My Baby Girl

Look what I got in the mail yesterday! Don't you think this will be the perfect baby blessing outfit for Chloë Elise? My Mom sent it to me as a surprise and I love it. It's perfectly dainty and precious just like she'll be. I'm excited to see her in it!

*Click on the picture to see all of the fine details!

Peyton's Birthday Invites!

I put them in the mail on Monday. I am a fan of low key, quiet parties since I'm not a social butterfly by nature and big parties tend to stress me out. I love to focus on the little details from color schemes to party favors and all of the rest in between! These were a cinch to make even though they weren't quite what I had in mind when I went to Michaels to scout out the materials.

I had wanted something that would convey the theme of a morning celebration since we are having a breakfast party- perhaps some sunshine embellishments or the like. Alas, not a sunny sticker in sight! So I went with this woodland creatures theme since woodland creatures are usually awake bright and early just like my squirrely little guy.

I didn't realize when I was making them that I only needed to make 5- one copy for us, one for the grandparents, one for my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Chris and one for little Miss Shelby and her Mom and Dad who will be our honored guests that day.

I think they turned out really cute! Sorry for the blurriness- I didn't notice that they weren't in focus until I was uploading them, but you get the idea!

Sanity 101

I've been waking up several times a week- always at 3 a.m. and almost always for 2 hours straight before I drift off again only to wake back up at 7 a.m. for the day. But I'm not complaining! Because if I think I'm not sleeping now...I know going to be wishing for the days when I slept 5 hours straight without a peep from anyone come May or June when this new baby arrives.

Hopefully, I'll have some tricks up my sleeve for when she gets here to help alleviate some of the crying and help her to rest better. My first tidbit of indispensable advice came from my friend Charity whom I called frantically one day in a daze during those first few crazy newborn weeks and asked her how she coped {she has 3 boys} and how she got her boys to sleep when they were babies.

She was a dear and went to the library and checked out a DVD for me that saved my life and helped Peyton to learn to sleep in his own bed. Ever since then, he has been a great sleeper and rarely {if ever} wakes up in the night. If he does, he knows how to soothe himself back to sleep with no help from me! The DVD is called 'The Happiest Baby On The Block" by Dr. Harvey Karp.



After watching it, all of the other tips I used for Peyton just fell into place. In the video, Dr. Harvey Karp talks about the 5 'S's'. They are: Swaddling, Sucking, Shushing, Swinging, and Side or Stomach Position. Obviously, the nurses at the hospital always brought Peyton to me swaddled- but I didn't think he needed it so when he came home, I tried to put him in his crib and he just wasn't having it!

When I watched the DVD, I learned why. Dr. Karp says that most babies have 4 trimesters not just 3. After a baby is born, they have to learn to adapt slowly to their new environment which can seem scary and overwhelming after 9 months of living in their nice warm cocoon. Babies feel closer to being in their own environment when they are swaddled because they feel safe and their movements which they haven't learned to control yet and which can startle them are kept to a minimum when they are all wrapped up.

It completely clicked when watching this- I should have made the connection when we noticed that Peyton would sleep better in his car seat- a measure we often tried when we were at our wits end and didn't know what else to do. He liked being in 'small spaces'! After that, I made my first purchase of a swaddler since my receiving blankets weren't big enough to do the job. I used the SwaddleMe which you can find at Babies R' Us or other retailers.

This time around I found a new swaddler which I think I'll be trying since it doesn't use Velcro and seems to have more intricate folds to keep the babies arms in a little snugger. It's called the Miracle Blanket!

To see how this blanket works, you should go check out the link. I'll probably be ordering two soon for my baby girl {you always want a back up one in case their are accidents- you don't want to be doing laundry before you can use it again}!

The other two things that worked for us as part of Dr. Karp's advice was to use a pacifier since babies like to suck even when they're not eating {but it's only needed for the first 3 months of a newborn's life, just like swaddling}. Peyton didn't know how to keep a pacifier in so it was wonderful when we rigged it so that if he spit it out, he could find it again so he wouldn't get frusturated in the middle of the night. I'm hoping that this next baby will like using pacifiers because it would be a life saver! I just ordered two of these this morning:

Okay, only one more, I promise. The last thing we used for Peyton was something called a Sleep Sheep which is a stuffed animal that has a white noise player in it. It was great, and we loved it; but it would turn off after 20 minutes and sometimes that wasn't long enough for Peyton to get into a good deep sleep or he'd notice the change in sound and would wake up.

So this time, I've purchased Dr. Karp's white noise CD which emulates the noise heard in the womb. Apparently, it's pretty loud inside the womb which explains why some babies love the sound of hair dryers and vacuum cleaners when they join us!



Jeni always swore by using a fan with Calyn because it would drown out all background noise and allow her to sleep through noise happening elsewhere in their apartment. The premise is the same no matter what you use- babies like steady sound that help them feel more at home in their new surroundings.

So the trick to most happy babies is to swaddle them up, give them something to suck on, play soothing music and sounds {or shushing softly in their ear} that remind them of their time in the womb, swinging {either from doing it manually yourself or using a battery operated swing} and holding them on their side or draped on your arm over their stomach {which gives them pressure in their tummy region and helps push out gas}.

Most of you Mom's are pro's out there and have your own tricks that you use too. If you have any you'd like to share, please do! I hope this info helps someone like it helped me when I was desperate for a bit of sleep. Good luck!

P.S. Hunt before you buy ANYTHING. Most retailers will bank on you paying full price and sometimes even more because they think that most people won't do their research. I like to compare between Amazon and Ebay to get really good deals.

A 'Knight' To Remember

Once upon a time, a handsome King and his jolly round Queen went to visit a kingdom not so very far away to feast to their hearts content and to be entertained by jousting from the best knights of the realm.

They arrived in time to watch several young princes in the act of being knighted and even witnessed a proposal of marriage as a knight knelt down to his lady and presented her with a ring!

The King looked quite dashing that evening in his royal crown!
The Queen was also adorned in her royal gems as well.

There was food fit for a King {and his Queen} which included tomato bisque, a hunk of garlic bread, a large potato wedge, a breast and a wing of the kingdom's best fowl {chicken}, as well as a juicy and tender rib {the best part of the whole feast!}

Then to finish off the bounteous smorgasbord, there was also a helping of dragon skin {apple pie}.

All of which was served as the social etiquette of the kingdom dictates- which is without silverware!

The knights were an amiable group of fighters. All except the Green Knight who is the sworn enemy to all except those who reside in his own Kingdom! We cheered for the Red Knight who claimed a victory in his first joust but succumbed to the sword in his second battle.

All in all, it was a glorious evening and the King and Queen looked favorably on all of the festivities and arrived home content and joyous.

And they lived happily ever after.

The End.

Valentine's Day Festivities

We woke up bright and early on Valentine's Day to beat the crowds at The Original Pancake House. I had heard that they are always busy {it being a very popular place and all} so we went prepared! I brought along a banana and some animal crackers for Peyton to tide him over. We waited about 25 minutes but once we got in and got seated, they had our food to us in less than 15 minutes!

Troy had the Chorizo omelette which came with 3 pancakes. The omelette was super fluffy and tasty {and I'm not usually a big fan of omelettes!}.


I had the apple pancake and it was delicious! They make it differently than they do at the Tiffin Inn in New Orleans, but I like the variations on the same style pancake. I think this will be a new breakfast hot spot for us to go on the weekends! There were definitely about a dozen things I would like to try on that menu- it all sounded so good.


After breakfast, we headed out to the house to see the progress thus far and this is what we found! They are coming along nicely. The front office lady that we've been speaking to and filling out paper with told us that sometimes it will seem like things are going up quickly and then will slow down to a stand still for a while because inspections need to be made and then it will come together quickly again. It's pretty cool to see the process in action!


After our visit to our future home, we went to Verizon to look at some new cell phones. Our old ones were duds. Supposedly when we first got our LG phones from Alltel, they were new. But about a year after having them, they stopped letting us have access to ringtones and applications and our buttons started getting pretty stiff- the '3' on my phone had to be pressed really hard to make it work.

Then when we moved here, sometimes our phones wouldn't ring and I'd get messages hours after the intial message had been left. Apparently, they don't have Alltel in the area so were borrowing our signal from Verizon's network.

The fact that Verizon just recently bought up Alltel had us do some research since we had met our two year contract with them and had been with Alltel for 6 years. We thought we might go with AT&T for the next go around, but when we went in to check with Verizon one last time, they had just come out with new plans that worked for us and allowed us to buy one Blackberry Curve and get one for free. So we are now sporting new Blackberry's!

It is so cool to be able to check email at the grocery store! I also like having a workable calender so I can keep my life straight. It's awesome! Anyway, if any of you are on the Verizon network, you can call us for free now {hint, hint!}!

I'll send out an email later today to all of my friends that might want our numbers. If I don't get one out to you, just give me a shout via email and I'll send you our info!

Showered With Flowers

I really should be cleaning my house right now. But loading pictures is so much more fun! Plus, it's Troy's fault- he emailed me all of the pictures from this weekend so I just had to get to it so I don't get behind in my posting... right?! ;-)

These are the flowers Troy surprised me with on Friday when he came in from work. One of the daisy's had dropped off as I was putting the bouquet in the vase so he stuck it in my hair. I think they are very pretty- Troy knows I have a soft spot in my heart for lilies!


I got my next arrangement Saturday evening after Troy and I got in from our date. At first, I thought it was for the babysitter but then she told us that someone had dropped them off for us and when I read the card, I saw it was from my Mom and Dad! Aren't they beautiful? The lily looks like a giant starfish!


Thanks Troy and Mom and Dad for being the best Valentine's ever this year. I love you!

Hey, We Know Them!

At the end of January, we got to meet up with some dear friends {The Beals} that used to live in Louisiana as well but now also reside in Texas {albeit 3 hours away from us}.

Kennedy had a volleyball tournament about an hour away from where we live, so we arranged it so that we could have dinner with them on the way to their hotel. We had a great time catching up even though Peyton was pretty spent by the time we were done {remember he's Mr. Early Bird and not Mr. Night Owl?}.

We missed seeing Marin, Stuart and Brent this go around but they may be back in town in March so hopefully we'll get to see them then!

The Beals were a family I used to babysit for- more specifically, I babysat for Marin and Stuart since Kennedy was usually in school. Heather was busy studying and researching for her dissertation {she's all finished up now and is a professor!} and I got to keep Marin and Stuart company which was no problem since they are such fun kids.

When I started watching them, Stuart was about 5 1/2 months old and Marin was around 3 1/2 and I want to say Kennedy was probably around age 6 1/2. Now Stuart is 6, Marin is 9 and Kennedy 12! I can't believe how fast time flies. It's funny how it seems like they grew up in no time for me but it feels like Peyton has been a toddler F•O•R•E•V•E•R! Heather feels the same way I think, because she was telling me that she sometimes wonders 'Was there ever a time we DIDN'T have the kids?' I think it's a whole different ball game when you're the Mom versus the one just peeking in every now and then.

Anyway, what started out as a job for me quickly became a really good friendship between everyone in the family. I loved those kids {and still do!} like they were family and Heather and I would have conversations about books, politics and news pretty frequently. Even Troy got to know them all pretty well too through my knowing them. So it is always great to see them since it feels like you're seeing family again!

We can't wait to see them again soon!

Happy ♥ Day!

I hope all of my friends have been spreading the love this Valentine's Day Weekend! I know it's over commercialized and that some people find it cheesy and overdone with all of the pink and red thrown together everywhere, but....I love it.

All day today, I've seen people walking around with little red bags of goodies, heart shaped helium balloons and bouquets of fresh flowers. How can you not love a holiday that puts a smile on someone's face and tells them that you love them? With all of the turmoil we have going on in the world, it's nice to have a day focused solely on loving one another.


This last weekend, I whipped up some butter cookies for the love of my life and I to decorate. We had a great time frosting and decking out our cookies while Peyton took a cat nap.

Troy wants to know if you can pick out the ones he decorated.

I'll give you a hint for one of them; He thought it would be funny to have a cookie face throwing up hearts {which is what those sprinkles are}.

Boys+Decorating=Infinite Opportunities to Be Hilarious!

I've also left little valentines and chocolate-y surprises everyday in Troy's lunch last week to let him know that I've been thinking about him. On Friday, He brought me home a bouquet of flowers totally unexpectedly! I'll post pictures of them next week.

I also have a cute video to upload at some point of Peyton getting his Valentine's Day gift from us. He loved it!

Building Up!

It seems like time here is flying by. We've been here almost two whole months already! Among the many new things that we've been experiencing, {like a new state, a new baby, a new church and Troy studying for a new BAR} we've also been in the process of building our first home as well.

I've had some questions from a few friends about how the process is going so here are some pictures.

*Thank goodness for Aimee who asked me if I had taken pictures of our options for the inside of the house {because I hadn't} but luckily, we decided to go back and double check everything to make sure it all flowed nicely and I took a few shots then.

*Click on any picture to see it larger*

[Phase One]: Leveling the ground

Before this picture was taken, it was just an empty, grassy plot. We dropped by one evening before they were scheduled to pour the foundation and I was lucky I did! One thing is for sure- these builders aren't wasting any time. They move out fast!

[Phase Two]: Creating a firm foundation

I was so excited to see that they had formed the walkway in a curving pattern down to the street instead of a straight, vertical set of steps. I think it gives it a little more character! Troy and I both remarked that we thought that the foundation would be bigger- it's amazing that they are going to build a two story house on that {seemingly} small slab. If you look at the homes in the background though, you can tell that our house will be of more than sufficient size when it's all said and done!

[Phase Three]: Starting the framework

I took this picture Wednesday right after my OB visit {the one where I got my first sneak peek to see what we are having!}. The foundation had just been poured the week prior and we had stopped by on Saturday to check it out. From Friday of last week to Wednesday of this week, they had already come pretty far in their initial framework! We will be dropping by again this Saturday to sign some last minute paperwork and will get to see how things have moved along since then.

[House Options Part A.]: Kitchen and Wood Flooring

Here are some of our interior options. Everyone asks if it was fun picking out colors and options for our home and I would have to say it was, but it was also stressful! They brought us to a room with over 50 floor tile samples, 15 granite samples, 4 types of wood planks for flooring, carpet swatches out the wazoo... you get the idea!

The large tile in this picture is what will be on our kitchen floor and in the downstairs guest bathroom. The smaller tile at the top is the back splash in the kitchen which will be put in at a diagonal {like a diamond pattern}. It's a little hard to see here, but that small skinny swatch under the back splash tile is the grout color that will be used for both the back splash and the floor tile.

They didn't have the sample planks of wood that we'll actually be using at this studio location, so the wood sample shown is as close as we could come to what our wood flooring will probably look like. It's a little darker than that I think and fittingly enough {since we live in Texas now} it's called Saddle!

The granite sample is what our counters and our island will be topped with. We liked the warmth and variation of color in it. Our wall color {not shown} is called Autumn Tan and it's more of a golden color {than a yellow}; it will give our house a little spice I think! We also chose a cream carpet for our master bed room, the study, the stairs and all of the upstairs rooms. Not to worry, the kids will not be eating anywhere upstairs! :-)

We also chose a fancy wrought iron scroll pattern for the railing leading to upstairs. They actually goofed and told us that that pattern was part of our neighborhood options {but they really weren't}. They had given us a little of the run around since they didn't have all of the options to choose from at one location so they let us choose it even though it's only used in some of the upper scale homes in a different neighborhood. I love that we'll have something unique that probably no one else in our neighborhood will have!

[House Options Part B.]: Master Bath & Upstairs Children's Bath Tile

This is what will be on our bathroom floor and in our shower stall. We also chose to use it upstairs for the floor tile in the kids' bathroom too. All of the cabinetry for the bathrooms is white so I think having this golden tile paired with the lighter tone on the walls will really help everything come together nicely.

Well, I'm sure you've seen all you ever wanted to see of our future home! We'll update more as time goes along and will hopefully be able to show you the end product sometime in May {I hope before I have this baby!}. Let me know what you think of everything!