House updates

I realized it's been a while since I last updated about our new house. Things are slowly coming along and I cannot wait for everything to do be done. We have decided to paint the bead board the same color as the ceiling paint, and paint the cypress "beams" two shades darker.  I saw another house with the stain and it was just too dark for me.

Our builder is beyond aggravated and pissed off with our decisions.  So much for the client always being right, huh?!? You'd think he was giving us the house, not selling it to us with his attitude!

Anyway, the cabinets are all in place. The light fixtures have been ordered and are scheduled to go up next week. The workers are doing the tile this week and they made the granite pattern for the kitchen last night. The hardwood floors can't be done until the house has electricity so they can run the AC to keep the humidity out... so there's still plenty of work to be done!

I'm trying to plan out how I want to tackle decorating and each room. Jackson's bathroom is a new room we've never had before, so I'm starting from scratch. There's tons of gender specific decor out there, but since his bathroom is shared with another bedroom, I'm hesitant to make it "boy". You know, in case our next baby is a girl. So, if you see any cute gender neutral decor or shower curtains out there - please let me know!!!

Here are some pictures of the house, I'm going to try and post every Thursday about the house updates!

UPDATE: The shitty looking 2 x 4's cypress beams are coming down and ceiling will have crownmolding to match the rest of the house.  I just couldn't deal with the "rugged" looked and prefer the beautiful molding instead! Finally, I'm a happy girl:)

Jackson's bathroom

master bath

The hall bathroom is kind of hard to photograph, but it looks like the master bathroom's finishes.

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Easter Weekend

Thanks to some sunshine and sweet baby sugars, I quickly got over my Easter bah-hum-bugs this weekend!

My mom's house was literally bursting at the seams this Easter weekend, and I don't think she would have had it any other way.  Between my sister coming down for the holiday weekend and my stepbrothers home for Spring Break, we had every bed in the house occupied.  Poor Amelia even had a nursery set up in the laundry room, but she's too sweet to mind!

We cooked, laid by the pool, talked, played and even dyed Easter Eggs for the first time ever.  No joke, at 11 o'clock Saturday night I sure did have the ipad out googling "How to dye eggs?".  There were many comments over the weekend about how we needed Grandma, she would have known just what to do!

My mom has always enjoyed the chaos of a house full and it the perfect hostess.   She even extended an invite to my mother-in-law and her family to come and join us for Easter Brunch.  In case you lost count, that meant that we had 17 people and a dog for Easter! And 12 people living at her house for the weekend.

My brothers and Aunt Katie played Easter Bunny so the boys could hunt eggs.  As soon as Jackson figured out that jelly beans were inside of the "balls", his poor cousin didn't stand a chance! He was on a mission to get as many balls as his basket could hold.  Literally, the kid wouldn't eat anything but jelly beans for the entire day!

Jackson was so sweet with Amelia, I actually had to fight with him for a chance to hold her.  He wanted her all to himself.  And being that I ended up catching pinkeye on Sunday night, I guess it was a good thing I wasn't holding her every hour of the weekend! Pinkeye, can you believe?!?

I hope the bunny was good to you and you had a blessed weekend with your loves!

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Thoughts on Easter Baskets

Lately I've been made to feel like I have the bah-hum-bugs for Easter?!? I know none of the comments were meant personally, but I'm just not seeing the need for "over the top gifts" at Easter.  Growing up Easter was a simple holiday, with pretty church clothes and an Easter Egg Hunt in the neighborhood. The "Easter Bunny" would bring us little goodies, but nothing over the top. Jelly beans, chocolate, and maybe a new swim suit or beach towel.

I say this because twice in the last week I've been asked what gifts Jackson was getting for Easter - what, huh?!? This isn't Christmas or a birthday.  The only thing he knows about Easter is that Loli & Pop's house is full of bunnies that we count every night, and that there's jelly beans on the kitchen table.

Jackson is convinced that the Easter Eggs are just balls and throws them everywhere, causing them to break open, which makes him laugh and say "uh-oh".  And that's pretty cute, so we put them back together and he does it all over again!

Don't worry, I'll surely put together an Easter Basket with bubbles and eggs full of jelly beans, and maybe a beach ball or two.  But, that's pretty much the extent of his "gifts".  Besides, I'm far more concerned about what he'll be wearing then having another toy:)  And I'm sure the matching Easter outfits my mom bought for the grandbabies are the cutest outfits ever, no really!

I'm certainly not judging any of you that may have big gigts all wrapped up and ready for the bunny to deliver, I'm just saying that it's not on my to do list.  I'll leave the over the top gifts to Christmas:)

What are you doing for your children's baskets, do you do baskets?!? Am I the only one with these feelings???

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A-Z, all about me:)

A few of my favorite blogs have been doing this A-Z and I thought I would join in! If you haven't done so already, copy and paste and do the same:)

A. Age: 28, for a few more months

B. Bed size: Queen

C. Chore you dislike: Emptying the dishwasher

D. Dogs: No pets for me!

E. Essential start to your day: Plucking my eyebrows, and coffee.

F. Favorite color: Blue.

G. Gold or silver: Both! I love David Yurman and wear a lot of two-toned jewelry.  My rings are white gold though.

H. Height: 5'5

I. Instruments you play(ed): None. And I cant hold a tune to save my life.

J. Job title: Account Executive, Wife, & Momma

K. Kids: 1 Boy

L. Live: In a bedroom at my mom's house until our house is finshed.

M. Mom’s name: Jayne

N. Nicknames: I've never really had one!

O. Overnight hospital stays: A few times when I was pregnant with Jackson: At 11 weeks with terrible back pain, 33 weeks for pre-term labor, and again at 36 weeks for delivery!

P. Pet peeves: I could write a book about this one - I cannot stand copycats, be true to yourself and have your own style, please and thank you!

Q. Quote from a movie: Just keep swimming

R. Righty or lefty: Righty

S. Siblings: A younger sister, and 2 younger step-brothers

T. Time you wake up: During the week, around 7-7:15 - I'm not a morning person and will snooze as long as I can!

U. Underwear: Hanky Panky Thongs, love them!

V. Vegetables you don’t like: No such thing!

W.What makes you run late: Me, myself, and I - I'm never on time, never.

X. X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, knees, and kidney

Y. Yummy food you make: I make a wonderful Lemon Lavender Cake, but I try to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible.

Z. Zoo animal favorites: All of the ones that don't stink:)

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House help needed, please!

Ladies, I need your help deciding on a few things for the new house. I have a look that I think I'm going for, but I have no idea how to execute!

I love, love, love creams, linen, blues, and comfort in a home. Our last house was full of red, green and brown. This was mainly because it was our first home and we had a hodgepodge of stuff given to use. I know it's going to take some time, but I want this new house to be reflective of our taste and style.

I just love this look!

We're "on the water" so I love the idea of light colors with a beachy, Seaside feel.

Our builder had planned on staining beater board and cypress beams on our kitchen ceiling. However, I just can't picture how this will work and he's willing to let me paint the ceiling instead. My fears in staining the wood on the ceiling is that it will close the room in and make the ceilings feel like they're not 10 ft. ceilings. I love everything about the house, but this detail. And the kitchen is the cornerstone of the house, so it has to be right!

So, my question for you - paint or stain?!? Here are two examples that I've found of paint vs. stain.  I wish I had photo credits, but I can't remember where I pulled these from!

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Moving on...

After four years of making a house our first home, we've officially turned over the keys and have moved on. Our little starter home was just that, and after an exhausting week of moving I've hardly had a minute to process everything.

With the help of some truly amazing friends and family members, we were able to pack our lives up and move into two storage units and my mom's house in a little over one week's time. To my surprise, I couldn't be happier that we have a month to rest and recover until it's time to move into our new house. The thought of unpacking and cleaning again makes me slightly nauseous!

As I vacuumed and mopped my way out of the house, our decision to move finally felt right. For the first time I was truly at peace with our decision to move. Crazy, I know, but it's hard not to second guess if you're doing the right thing.  A bigger house also means a bigger mortgage and putting that momma mobile on hold for a little while. 

I left a welcome package for the new home buyer, complete with our paint chip samples, instruction manuals for the appliances, and a few detergent tabs for the dishwasher. As I walked out of the house, I never looked back. The house had been good to us, but it is time to move on to bigger and better, which is so exciting!

We took one final family picture with my iphone and I'll cherish this photo for years to come. Mr. celebrated his 37th birthday on moving day and Jackson has never been so cute. No matter where we are, with my boys, I am home.

The Wilson's 04.08.11

Oh the pictures I have with my little dude standing in this spot, he's grown so much and melts my heart daily!

Happy Birthday Daddy, time to get packing:)

And if you noticed, I sure did turn into a brunette before the move...not 100% intentionally either.  Thank goodness I have a month to lay in the pool to lighten it up a bit;)

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We didn't make it...

Well we didn't even come close to making it 6 weeks without seeing a doctor. We only made it one week, to be exact. Why does this keep happening?!?

I'm in search for a bubble to put my sweet Jackson in at the moment.  So, if any of you have ideas or recommendations on how I can keep this kid out of a doctor's office, I gladly welcome them!

10 days after Jackson finished his last dose of his antibiotic, the cough came back. After two whole weeks of not one cough and a happy boy, I'm completely devastated. Monday morning I heard the cough and my heart broke. I hoped that it was just a fluke, but by yesterday he was coughing all day and all of last night.

We went back to the allergist this morning and he believes that Jackson has come down with yet another infection.  However, I am not sure if I buy this or not...

He still doesn't think this is allergy related, so I question whether or not I need to take him back to our pediatrician?!? We're starting another round of antibiotics this morning and he got a steroid dose as well.  I'm hoping that the second round of antibiotics will continue to fight whatever is bring Jackson down.

The glimpse at life with a well baby was too wonderful to stop fighting for. I love my baby, but y'all just don't understand what a different kid he's been for the past two weeks. Falling back into the whiny, clingy, pissed off toddler last night was just so frustrating. At least now I know that this is because he doesn't feel well and not his "terrible two" personality.

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Reflections

As I laid my head down on my pillow last night, it hit me. This would be the last week we would start in our first home. The last Sunday night I would stare at my ceiling and reflect on our weekend and stress about the week to come. I hate to dwell on the last, but this is the last week we'll spend as our family of three in the first house we made a home.  As happy as I am about our new house, it will never be our first.

We spent the entire weekend boxing up memories and moving our life into a storage unit - where it will remain for the next 6-8 weeks.  With each box came a different emotion.  I went from being completely overwhelmed to totally detached from the bare walls and hallow echos, but last night was bittersweet.

As we continue to grow, this house was more than our first home - it's our foundation.

Our house is where Mr. and I first lived together.
This house was where we came home and spent our first night as husband and wife.
The yard was the first yard that we ever planted a seed, a flower, a tree.
This house has seen and felt the pain as we struggled to start our family.
Our house is where our first son was conceived and brought home.
This house is where we struggled through our first year as parents - and made it through.
Our house hosted our first dinner party, our first baby shower, our first holiday.
 I decorated my first Christmas tree, my first nursery, my first table scape and front door decorations.
The neighborhood where Jackson first trick-or-treated and played ball
This house is where Jackson first crawled, first stood and walked.

This list of firsts could go on and on and I'm sure as the week passes I'll have even more emotions about leaving.  However, looking back at where we've been and how far we've come in 4 years makes me proud and I can't imagine what the next house will bring for us!

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