my most favorite day of the year

 

Happy last day of August!! Another year older... :)

september pin-spired

 

I have always been a jeans and t-shirt girl. But after college, I put away my t-shirts and challenged myself to more creative outfits. As I'm entering my late twenties tomorrow, I'm proposing this outfit as my grown-up jeans and t-shirt look. I altered this Penn State shirt (hello football season) by cutting the neckline and hemming it with my machine for a more feminine feel.

 

Coral jeans: JCPenney last year / Hat: Target / Sandals: Crocs

 

 Pinspiration source: the lovely Casey Wiegand

 

source: Cotton & Curls

 I pin quite a few things from Cotton & Curls because she is always taking clothes and making them into something new--like this tee shirt she cut into a cropped tank.

If you are new to my blog, thanks for visiting!

Feel free to stay awhile, or follow along! 

See my other seven months of Pin-spired.

I'm linking up with Shay, Mel, & Sheaffer ! 

mom's birthday

We enjoyed celebrating my mom's birthday with her on Thursday! She had just spent nearly two weeks in San Diego on vacation, so it's nice to have her back in town again.

 

Something sweet--when she was in San Diego, she bought gifts from the San Diego Chargers stadium store because she knew one of our Make-A-Wish kids loves the Chargers! She delivered the gifts to him on her birthday.

That night, we dined on pizza at an Italian restaurant downtown, and then we came to our house for cake.

 

 

I made a chocolate cake with mint buttercream filling. I tried making white fondant for the first time to cover the cake. At first it was a disaster, but with Steve's help, it ended up looking great!

 

Hope your birthday made a special memory for you, Mom! Thanks for being one of my greatest friends and supporters! xoxo.

baby bump: 17 weeks

 

how far along? tomorrow I'll be 18 weeks!  due January 28th.

how are you measuring? on the sonogram on July 16^th, the baby measured 4 days earlier than the due date

size of baby: size of a sweet potato, 5-6 inches (crown to rump) and 6-7 ounces

heartbeat: 159 bpm at last appointment

total weight gain/loss: + 6 lbs

maternity clothes: I am slowly breaking them out. this morning, my shorts didn't fit, so I got out my Target BeBand.

stretch marks: using cocoa butter, so hopefully not.

belly button: same

sleep: Nolan has been sleeping in a little more this week, which has been nice! I've gotten a few naps in the afternoons as well.

movement: I am starting to feel this baby moving a lot! It is such a wonderful feeling. Even Steve could feel kicks the other night!

food cravings: Mentos, french onion soup, Snickers ice cream bars

food aversions: still not eating a lot of meat, but that's not unusual for me.

gender predictions? girl, perhaps? I love baby boys, too.

symptoms I have: frequently hungry and thirsty

comparisons to last pregnancy: at this point, it's very similar.

doctor’s appointment: I'll go to my new doctor the first week of September.

what I’m looking forward to: it will be so much fun to find out the gender! I'm not sure when that will happen, but I can't wait to choose his/her name, design the bedroom, and put together clothes (organize Nolan's baby clothes, or start collecting little girl things!)

I am definitely bigger right now than I was at 19 weeks with Nolan. Crazy how that happens.

changing my focus

 

source

I was going to post today about my mom's birthday yesterday, but my computer died last night (or at least won't turn on right now because it has a hard drive error and probably needs to go to a repair shop). 

It seems to me like this came as a final warning that I've been spending too much time online. This is something I've known for months, but haven't quite gotten the self-control to change. As I'm trying to give Nolan my full attention, and as I'm anticipating the new baby coming in January (I assume I will not have any free time at that point), it's time for me to take a small step back from blogging. I will continue posting a few times a week for the foreseeable future, but I have to take a break from all of the blog-reading, commenting, and networking that I've been plugged into. I apologize if this makes me seem like I am MIA, but it's really something that I need to do for my husband and my nearly two-year-old. Thank you for understanding :) 

And hopefully I can get the photos up from my mom's birthday soon-ish!

Have a great weekend!

oh, summer.

These photos were taken at random times this summer, and never got posted.

Visiting my family in Indiana in June. My cousin Lindsay and her husband Chris announced their first pregnancy while we were eating cupcakes here! Steve and I kept quiet that day, but it was fun to tell Lindsay later that my due date is only a week after hers!

My neopolitan cupcake, Steve’s doughnut cupcake, and Aunt Lori’s orange dreamsicle.

Watching the rain come down.

We bought this ice cream cake to announce to my mom and stepfather that baby number two is coming.

Tasting sweet-potato chips.

My blog friend Hannah in Texas sent me an adorable little package. So sweet of her!

Blowing bubbles with Grandma.

Our friend Alyssa took this photo of him. I love it.

Alyssa also painted these cute little rocks for Nolan. He liked to play in the rocks outside our apartment, so she put them there for him to find :)

My friend Briana threw me a little going away picnic with friends from MOPS. :)

I loved these Mason jar favors at my friend Carmen’s bridal shower.

Moving day.

We’ve taken many trips to Lowe’s in the past few weeks. Nolan loves to pull around these baskets.



Summer, you’re ending soon… but don’t end too quickly because we still have more adventuring to do…

new bathroom floor

We just took our first showers/Nolan’s first bath in our new place! Before we moved in, Steve tore up the linoleum floor in the bathroom. The wood around the tub had major water damage, so he ripped up those pieces. He sanded the whole floor, then milled new flooring, and nailed the new wood into place. Lastly, he stained the wood to match the rest of the floor, and sealed it with a couple coats of polyurethane.

BEFORE

Zoomed in on the linoleum after it was torn up.

Floor after it was sanded.

Little helper.


Here we used a space heater to dry the polyurethane more quickly. (Be careful if you do this as poly is highly flammable.)

Steve also put up new drywall in the bathroom, painted, and tore out the ceiling. At this point, the bathroom is far from being finished, but it definitely is beautiful so far!

Steve just started his comprehensive exams this morning, so no new projects will be accomplished during this busy week :) I’m praying that he works hard and stays stress-free!

baby bump: 15 weeks

how far along? now 16 weeks!  due January 28th.

how are you measuring? on the sonogram on July 16^th, the baby measured 4 days earlier than the due date

size of baby: size of an avocado, 4-5 inches (crown to rump) and 3-5 ounces

heartbeat: 159 bpm at last week’s appointment

total weight gain/loss: + 3 lbs

maternity clothes: I still feel pretty normal-sized, so I’m wearing my regular summer clothes. 

stretch marks: just the ones from Nolan

belly button: never popped out last time, so we’ll see.

sleep: can’t get enough! I am having a really hard time getting out of bed when I hear that Nolan is up. I need to work on going to bed earlier.

movement: I started feeling movement last week! It only happens about once a day, and it’s usually when I’m relaxing on the couch after Nolan has gone to bed. I can feel the baby 2 weeks before I felt Nolan for the first time! Movement is definitely the best part of pregnancy :)

food cravings: I have been enjoying store-bought blueberry muffins and Bagel Bites at night.

food aversions: I finally have my sweet tooth back, and most food tastes normal again. I was having aversions to pretty much everything.

gender predictions? I lean towards girl at this point.

symptoms I have: tired. hungry. itchy skin around my hips. sometimes feel like I could throw up (nausea), but I haven’t at all with this pregnancy (and never did with Nolan).

comparisons to last pregnancy: pretty similar, although definitely a different experience to chase around an almost-two-year-old all day while pregnant.

doctor’s appointment: I’m switching doctors since we moved. It was really hard to tell my wonderful doctor (who delivered Nolan and did surgery on me post-partum) that I wasn’t coming back. He said, “It’s always the good patients that have to leave.” :( But I can’t drive an hour to all of my appointments. And I am excited to meet my new doctor (a woman) in September.

what I’m looking forward to: feeling more consistent movement throughout the day. I am excited to share this pregnancy with one of my closest cousins (she’s due a week before me), a few great friends, and several blog friends as well! It’s exciting to be on this adventure with you! :)

  
A couple other photos I took in June and July :)

And for comparison’s sake. I did not have a noticeable bump for a long time with Nolan, so it’s true about popping earlier with the second baby. :)

23 months

We’re now on the countdown to Nolan’s big second birthday!
Let the party-planning begin!

A photo we took a few minutes before the one above:

Amazing hair! 
He had just woken up from a long Sunday afternoon nap :)

New words this month: ouch, Elmo, fishie, garbage, coffee, me, Abby, earring, Ivy (sounds like Ra Ra), stairs, bubbles, guitar.

You bring us so much joy, Nolan Bruce!
I am going to savor these next six months together—while I can still give you 100% of my attention :)

Psalm 22:6 “Start children off on the way they should go,
And when they are old, they will not turn from it.”