Baby Girl Bryan's Nursery Mood Board

So I am a little excited that we are having a girl and figured I really only have three months before I need to start changing Caden's room into a girl room. Caden will slowly be moving into Connor's room and they will be sharing a room. Connor's room already is pretty much set up for two with a twin bed and a toddler bed in there so since Connor has began sleeping in his twin bed the toddler bed is waiting for Caden for when he is old enough. So my goal before April is to start moving all of Caden's things into Connor's room and start organizing their room and making it theirs instead of just Connor's and then hopefully by Spring Break or Easter weekend I can attack the nursery while Caden still sleeps in there and get the walls and room decorated by the end of May.

The hardest thing for me right now is that Caden is only 8-1/2 mths old so he still needs his crib and we are praying real hard that he is walking by April (when he turns 1) so that we can put him in the toddler bed by this summer and him and the baby can share a room until he is ready with the baby in a bassinet and Caden in the crib. I really do not want to buy or borrow a crib for him. So we shall see.

But anywho onto the fun stuff. So I've been looking and planning what I want this nursery to look like for our little girl and I think this is what I have decided. I want to go with a Coral/Melon, Aqua, Gray, and White theme.

1.The design of the paint on the walls - solid below and chevron above - DIY

2.Paint Colors - Behr

3.Bedding Fabrics - DIY - I'm making!

4.Ikea celing lamp

5.Storage Bins - Land of Nod

6.Aqua Rug - Target

7.Rocking Horse - Restoration Hardware Kids

8.Ceramic Owl - Anthropologie

9.Gray Rocking Chair - DIY

10.White table - Walmart (already own)

11.Owl Pillow Monogrammed - Pottery Barn

12.Olivia Mod Crib - Walmart (already own)

13.Owl Painting - DIY

14.Alphabet Charlee Art - madebygirl.com

15.Aqua Fan - Amazon.com

16.Dresser - DIY (already own)

17.Aqua Knobs - Anthropologie

18.Abacus - Beauty of Wood etsy

So there you have it! Once we have a final named decided for this sweet girl I will start working on all my DIY projects and then the room won't get painted until March or April. I will keep you posted on my progress and my little projects.

It's a.....

http://www.punchbowl.com/ecards/share/fbde350eb8df20875300?9779972

Follow the link above and our exciting news will present it self!!!

St. Nick Day (December 6th)

We started a new tradition in our family and that is celebrating St. Nicholas Day. If you don't know what St. Nicholas Day is, it is celebrated on December 6th and here is a link to read up on it the history behind it. Click Here. There is also a very good Veggie Tales movie behind it all too.

Our biggest thing was that Christmas is about Jesus and not Santa Clause and that Santa Clause and stockings were just added fun to the season. So December 6th is a day that Santa comes and fills the stockings with odds and ends of things. Then Christmas Day is about Jesus! This year was our first year to celebrate and it was so much fun! Connor loved it and loved the idea that Santa visited his house. I filled the boys stockings with books, Christmas pjs, Christmas shirt, a movie, an ornament that reminded me of them that year, candy, and Connor got a music CD. I think for the future I will always do the ornament, Christmas PJs, Christmas Shirt, and a book or two to add to their education and then a few odds and ends of things to fill their stocking.

Here are some pictures of them enjoying their first St. Nick's Day!

Busy December

December is always a busy month for everyone, but it is especially busy for us and an expensive month for our family. Here is our line up for December:

December 9th - my birthday

December 16 - our anniversary

December 19 - my grandmother's birthday

December 25 - Connor's birthday AND Christmas

December 29 - my nephew Sawyer's birthday

December 31 - New Years!

whew! I'm tired just writing all that. It is an exciting month, but we have to plan accordingly through out the year so that we can enjoy the expense of the month too.

One of the biggest of which we plan for is Connor's birthday and since his birthday is on Christmas we have to really plan ahead of time for his birthday party. His first year of life we did it the day after Christmas because all our family was in town. Wasn't the best day to do it because people are still with family for the holidays. His second year we did a joint birthday with his BFF (whose birthday is during Thanksgiving time) and we did it in mid November which was too early after all said and done. This year we decided to do it the first weekend in December (right before all the company Christmas parties and all our adult festivities begin) and it was perfect. I think in the future this will be the weekend we usually do it on and then when he is older we will let him decide when he wants to celebrate because of the luxury of sharing his birthday with Jesus.

Anywho this year we celebrated Connor's 3rd birthday at Bouncin' Bears (inflatable place) and it was a blast. The place did everything for me and I really did not have to do a thing but enjoy my time which is of course what I did.

Happy Birthday Connor (his BFF Ayden wanted to join in too)

Connor blowing out his candles

I am definitely also blessed with the best husband ever. I love that my husband loves to unwind and have fun with our children. He of course enjoyed the inflatables just as much as Connor and Connor enjoyed that his daddy could come in a play with him. Nick was for sure pooped by the end of the day. The kids bounced for about an hour - hour 15 min. and then it was cake time. They had a party room set up for us in the Cars 2 theme (one of Connor's favorites right now). Marble Slab Creamery delivered an icecream cake to the place that was decorated in the theme and then there were a few snacks and drinks.

We opted out of opening all of Connor's presents at the place because

A. I knew he would not be that interested in opening his gifts because all he wants to do is bounce and not sit still

B. If you have ever opened presents with 20 little kids around all wanting to open the presents and actually open the merchandise - it is NOT fun and CRAZY!

C. More to clean up and carry out to car unorganized.

Uncle John helping Connor get his new favorite toy out - BUZZ LIGHTYEAR

So there ya have it - after cake was over the kids bounced more and then people left when needed. Needless to say he had a blast and this is one of his favorite places to come play at. Once all his guest left we went back to our house for pizza and open presents with family. We are so blessed with such wonderful friends!

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!!!

Caden and his friend Hannah

Caden and his friend Garrett

One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish, many fish

I receive an email every now and then from the woodlands mommy groups and that particular day I decided to read it and see what was going on in the community. Now if you know my husband and his family - they LOVE to fish.

My hubby loves to fish so much he even has his lifetime fishing license. When I was reading this particular newsletter I saw that there was going to be a kids fishing tournament in The Woodlands for toddlers to age 16 and literally everything was FREE. I love FREE!!! FREE meant just bring your fishing pole and some chairs will provide the bait, drinks, food, and awards. What a sweet deal. So I texted Nick and sent an email out to friends who I thought might be interested and was planning on going. Nick went out and got Connor his first fishing pole and tackle box. Which by the way he loves!

Tournament Day:

Registration was at 7am - yes very early for a weekend because to get our family ready that would of meant getting up at 5am to get there by 7am. Nick invited his dad along for some fishing fun and the boys left the house by 6:30. Caden and I got up a little bit later and got there around 8am. The tournament started at 8am. When I got there my good friends the Prachyls decided to come with their little girls because their daddy likes to fish too. Their oldest is 6mths younger than Connor and then their youngest is 2mths younger than Caden. They have girls and we have boys, lol.

Anywho I get to the event and find Connor, Nick and Mike fishing away. Man was it packed - we had no idea that this many people came, but why not its FREE. Connor had already caught 2 fish! He was so excited - talking to the fish while swinging his pole around. Though if I asked him to get close to the fish - he was scared, lol. In all we got 3 fish.

The pond was packed with people and the pond was stocked with catfish. Connor had a lot of fun fishing with his daddy and grandpa while I took pictures and Caden relaxed in the stroller. Connor got a tshirt from the event and a trophy at the end. We ate lots of hotdogs and drank lots of water. Though Connor thought he was big enough to go up to the drink line and ask for a coke all by himself and they gave him one. (I was in the hotdog line with Caden and our big stroller so I couldn't just go get him with all the people jammed packed everywhere) What a stinker. Towards the end Connor wanted to play on the playground while we waited for the awards time. While we did this Nick went to weigh the fish and the people next to us decided to give us their fish too. So we had 10 all together! Nick and his dad left to go skin the fish and clean them for eating sometime while me and the boys waited around to get Connor's trophy. What a neat event and turned out to be more fun than we thought. On the way to the car Connor really wanted a snow cone because he was hot and I could see how that would taste really good so of course I got him one and then on the way home he passed out with it in the car. What a tired little boy! But his first fishing tournament was a hit and hopefully there are more to come in the future.

Frames Galore

I have finally updated my dining room frame wall. Alot of the frames are still empty, but I do have pictures, I just need to go get them developed so I can put them in the frames. Then I still have two spots on the wall that I haven't finished.

One is a plate that I am going to hang. So I will need to get one of these plate hangers.

Then I have one spot that I'm thinking I want an old antique key to hang - so I will be on the look out for one of those.

Overall I love how it came out and can't wait to get the other pieces to finish up my room! Here is a step by step with pictures on how I did it! Enjoy

Step 1:

This is the BEFORE picture

Step 2:

I started measuring the frames out of cardstock and hanging them where I thought they should go on the wall. I made sure I left a even space between each frame

Step 3:

Here is what it looked liked once I finished hanging all the frame sizes on the wall.

Step 4:

Here is the AFTER picture! The orange rectangle is where I want to hang the antique key and the yellow curved square is where that plate that is sitting on the hutch in the picture with the black "4" on it will go. The pictures currently hanging are of our wedding photos and then the empty frames will be of our family pictures that we had taken of us by Amanda at ( http://tibbedensonphotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/bryan-family-spring-tx-family.html ). Then I have a cross that my mother inlaw gave me from the San Antonio market hanging and the letter "B" for Bryan that use to be gold and I painted.

Mood Board:

And here is the mood board again for the room. We still need to make our Bench for the table, make the mirror, and buy the chandelier from IKEA. Can't wait!!!

A new dining room in progress

I feel like this whole house renovation thing will never be done. 1. you need money and 2. you need time to shop or DIY. We have done so much to this house. Remember when we bought it almost every room had wallpaper, there was no color to the house (all white walls - which isn't a bad thing necessarily), the flooring is mauve carpet, and the tile in the house is GROSS!, the kitchen and bathrooms are outdated, and lots of brass everywhere.

Connor's Room:

room completed except

-closet door needs to be painted

-new fan

-new blinds

Caden's Room:

room completed except

-new fan

-new blinds

Our Room:

room completed except

-caulk the crown moulding

-new fan

-need artwork for over the bed

-need one more night stand

-new blinds/curtains

Guest Bathroom:

room completed except

-repaint cabinets

-get new knobs and handles

-replace sinks

-new countertop

-new window

Master Bathroom: (hopefully 2014!)

needs everything redone

Piano Room:

-need a sleeper sofa

-adding a barn door to close off the room

-new fan

-new blinds/curtains

Foyer:

-new front door

-new light fixture

Hallway:

-new light fixture

Living Room:

room is completed except

-new fan

-new blinds/curtains

Kitchen: (hopefully 2013!)

needs to be totally redone

Utility:

-paint walls and get rid of wallpaper

-repaint storage cabinets

-new knobs and handles

The whole house also needs new flooring! (hopefully 2013!)

Then that leaves us with the Dining Room. I'm going to start tackling all the little projects in each room before I move to the next.

The Dining Room looked like this when we first moved in.

I took off the wallpaper on one wall, painted the white walls "Bagel" by Sherwin Williams and then striped the walls to make it look bigger with a glaze.

We moved our kitchen table into the dining room, my parents gave us a wine/wine glass cabinet and then my mother passed down her hutch to us which is from her family line.

Here is what we have left to do with the room:

-new blinds

-chandelier from IKEA - that I'm going to DIY

-mirror that resembles a Pottery Barn Eagan mirror - that I'm going to DIY

-Make a farmhouse bench for the side of the table between the table and hutch so there is more room

-finish our frame wall.

I started the frame wall today which will go around the hutch. It is only half way done because I've only made templates for the frames I have right now and then I will buy more and fill in the gaps and then hang everything.

Look for the finished product probably Halloween time - we are on a budget right now so I will only be able to do a little at a time.

Caden Glenn Bryan has arrived

Caden Glenn Bryan entered this world on April 11, 2011 at 9:05 pm. Wow what a long day! The story began as so.....

Nick and I knew I was going to be induced today, but we had to call in at 5am to make sure there was a bed waiting for me. Yay there was and we were to report to the hospital at 7:15am. We got to the hospital and they got be all set up in my room and my IVs and fluids started. I got my pitocin at 8:15am and labor started. I was already 2.7 cm dilated so they told me that for me to get to 3-5 would be longest part of the day. I had no pain so I did not get my epidural until Noon because he was available to do it at that time and if I wanted an epidural I should get it then. Of course before the anesthesiologist came in my doctor decided she wanted to break my water. When I had Connor I had an awful delivery of 18 hours and I do not really remember the feeling of getting an epidural or having my water broken. Probably because I already was in labor and in so much pain - how could it be worse. Well with Caden I was not in any pain at all - so both of these procedures were not my favorite. So as my epidural is kicking in and my water has been broken they expected my labor to pick up speed. Obviously Caden wasn't ready to pick up speed because I sat at 3cm for a couple of hours and then 4-6 cm happened about every hour after. By the time I got to 6cm which was already 12 hours later Caden started to give us problems. I was completely numb and had been sleeping all day. They eventually had to start flip-flopping me and putting me in all these positions to see if they could relieve whatever was going on in my stomach. I had oxygen on and they thought that Caden's cord was causing problems with him. Well nothing changed and his heart rate started acting crazy - the next thing happens I'm told I'm having a c-section and then the room was filled with nurses and people prepping me - who by the way is shaking on all fours in a hospital bed and crying because I'm nervous. Yes I did say all fours - that was the last position they had me in. Nick was nervous as well because he wasn't sure of the procedures on this - such as if he would be able to come with me, etc. The nurses were wonderful and made sure he had his camera and got him prepped to go. He looked so handsome in his blue scrubs. Anywho....I get rushed to ER for surgery and we are waiting on our doctor to arrive. The nurses or getting me ready and the anesthesiologist is numbing me liking crazy. Music is going in the background and the room is bright white and chilly!!! They got me on the operation bed - arms spread out like Jesus and naked as a jay bird ready for surgery. Nick is holding my hands and they put the drape up in front of us so we can not see the surgery. Probably a good idea!!! All I remember is that the surgery took about 10 minutes - Rihanna S&M was playing in the background - doctors are having a good ole conversation - and then Caden's beautiful cry of arrival. Caden was a whopping 9lbs and 15oz. My doctor was like wow were you stuffing twinkies in your mouth those last couple of weeks - this kid is a biggie! No twinkies, but she was way off on calculations and I would of had a c-section no matter what because of his size. Caden was born Monday night and we were out of the hospital by Wednesday.

7 weeks later:

Recovery was painful but I did it with a newborn and a 2 year. I give myself props =) My body is obviously not where I want it right now, but I am blessed to have such a wonderful and healthy baby. He has been a challenge right from the start - major diaper rash, tummy problems, possibly colic, and then not being able to find a formula that fit him. Well I can say today all that is pretty much cleared and he is beginning to sleep great and becoming such a happy baby (full of smiles).

Connor is obsessed (literally) with Caden and we all started working out on Saturday - so that will be my goal this summer (to get back into shape). Caden will be going to the doctor soon for his 2 month checkup and will probably be about 13 pounds. And for those wondering - we heart the cloth diapers. I will be posting an update on those soon.