Prepping for Kenwood's BIG move to the BIG room

What a relief!! These last few days I haven't been near as sick as I was....maybe it's a sign that the worst is behind me! However, I am stilll very exhausted!

Anyway, I'm getting so anxious to find out what the new little rascal is so I can start on "It's" nursery!  But, instead I have been putting my energy into Kenwood's big boy room.  He is now in a toddler bed, but soon we will be moving him into the BIG room and put the Queen bed on the floor without the frame so he can sleep in that until he's ready for an actual bed.  His room now, will become the nursery-again.  But, I'm so excited about his BIG room because he gets a big bed and a closet big enough to have a "play" closet stacked full of toys and fun stuff and then a totally seperate"clothes" closet...the joy of an older house!  He will also have enough room for a desk or table or little play area in his room.  Kenwoods nursery was done in a vintage sports theme, so we are going to carry that on into his new room since we have all kinds of figurines already and with a little help from Pottery Barn Kids (my new favorite store)!

I got him a plain Navy/Khaki reversible down comforter and shams and we're going to put it with these vintage football sheets from PB:

I'm going to take the shams to get embroidered with his initials (or name I can't decide), which will make it very "potterybarnish" :) 

I am also going to do my own version of this wall art from PB, with some wood and paint of my own (when I actually get some energy back):

And eventually we will get him some cool nightstands, a dresser, and a new headboard.  But for now, it's a transition into the big bed so we will just use the dresser that is in there and a plain old mattress on the floor.  I am getting very very anxious to start this new room! Hopefully it will be done in time for me to start on the nursery!  Boy or Girl?! We will see!

Back to School!!

I call it "school" but everyone else calls it Mother's Day Out.  Kenwood has been in MDO for a little over a year, and I'm thrilled by how much he has learned not only intellectually but socially.  Like sharing, hugging, etc.  Which we do alot of at our house anyway, but I've always thought it was important for kids to be socially inclined from a young age.  Summer MDO has been really fun, today he got to wear his swimsuit to school for their "waterplay day".  But, starting in the fall, my little angel will no longer be in the kiddie class with cribs and he'll have to have a "napmat" like a toddler (which he is, even though I still like him as my baby). So, I had a hard time finding a napmat that wasn't real character-y but was still soft and cushy.  I ended up finding one on Etsy (my guilty pleasure) and ordered it today.  So I got this napmat, in the boy pattern below:

The argyle is a fleece, so it'll be nice and soft attached as a blanket and it comes with a pillow...I think he'll like it.....I just hope he'll actually nap on it!

I also got pretty excited and went ahead and ordered Kenwood a new backpack and lunchbox from Pottery Barn kids with his name on both. How cool is it that they hook together?! I got him the brown with red.  I'm totally pumped for the easy packing.

Is there a 12-Step Program for Remodeling Addicts?

I know I know...I'm totally slacking on the blogging.  As well as cleaning the house, cooking meals, being productive in general.  I literally haven't cleaned or cooked in 6weeks---thats as long as I've had this blessed little thing the experts like to call "morning sickness".  Which in fact, isn't just "morning" ...a man must've named it that, because quite frankly it should be called "all-day sickness".  Sorry for my rant :)

If any of you know Dillon and I (or have followed the blog at all) you know that we cannot sit still for very long and we ALWAYS have to have a project going on.  Since there's not really much else to do with our house, our little brains have been reeling again about a possible move.  So, we met with our realtor last week...then abruptly changed our mind that we'd have to stay in our house for awhile because a house in Norman came up that we wanted for a rental property.  Needless to say, the foundation was almost irrepairable along with several other "updates" that were needed, so we passed on it.  Which, again made our little brains and remodeling addiction twitch because we were anxious about that new project.  So.....once again we are thinking about selling our house for a possible move.

Here is our problem.  We usually don't talk about selling our house unless we find something that we really want....which by the point in which we would actually sell our house it would be GONE. DUH. We also can't stand the thought of losing a 6% commission fee.....I am PRO-realtor (I'm even thinking about getting my license) but I just can't do it when I know exactly what to do and how to do it and have all the paperwork ready to go. I just can't. Nevertheless, if we did actually sell our house--we are VERY picky.  We will ONLY buy a good investment which makes location important---we're not afraid of remodeling (obviously) and for the right house, we're not really afraid of private school either.  The other problem is, we've always wanted our kids to grow up in a neighborhood where they go to school with their neighbor friends......so with all that said, we've been looking in Heritage Hills/Mesta Park/Crown Heights for a historical fixer-upper, Nichols Hills for a fixer-upper with add-on potential, and of course Edmond for the school districts, new construction, etc. for a house with EVERYTHING that we would plan on staying in for a nice long while.  We have a VERY broad list of "must-haves". But the first is POTENTIAL for return on investment along with a decent profit.

I know, you all think we are CRAZY because we're about to have another baby and we are possibly thinking about another major remodel/possible move. But, bring it on.  Who knows...we may stay put for awhile...or we may not.  We obviously can't make up our minds.

Little Brother or Little Sister?!

So, obviously I've been on hiatus from blogging lately.  Chalk it up to being overly tired, sluggish, un-motivated, and ESPECIALLY morning sickness!! For those of you who I have essentially kicked out of my life by not calling, not calling back, not texting, etc.  don't take it personal, and I sincerely apologize! I am a very tired and sick pregnant woman and the last thing on my "to-do" list is to chit chat....no offense, I'd just much rather sleep these days!  With that said.....the sickness and tiredness is so worth it!

WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!!!!

OMG, I still can't really believe it myself!  I am currently 8 1/2 weeks pregnant, with a due date of February 19, 2011.  We have waited awhile to tell people because after some recent heartache, we wanted to make sure that we were going to have a healthy, full-term pregnancy with the end result being a healthy little angel.  I went to the doctor again today (I went 2weeks ago for an ultrasound and saw a healthy heartbeat) and they informed me that we had no reason for concern and everything looked very healthy and normal according to the ultrasound! YAY!  And, the cherry on top---My doc prescribed some good 'ol Zofran to ease this nasty nausea I have 24/7.  I remember from my pregnancy with Kenwood that Zofran is a Miracle Drug for nausea, so I have high hopes to pick up my prescription!

According to all the pregnancy trackers, our little angel is currently the size of an olive...but no martinis or bloody mary's for me!  Please keep us in your prayers for a healthy, happy pregnancy and baby!  I'm anxious to see how our precious Kenwood will adapt to another little rugrat hanging around the house :)

Front Remodel

I know I've talked about everything we were doing to the front of the house.  New door, shutters, rock pavers, patio....but I never showed the completed pics.  So here you go!

*BEFORE-black shutters/door and no rock accents

*AFTER-brown cedar shutteres, stained knotty alder door, and rock accent window/door--now if we can get that new roof we are wanting......

*BEFORE-Black door with glass storm door and ceramic tile porch

AFTER-knotty alder door, wood stamped concrete, and rock surround --the boxwoods were removed and we planted a Japanese Maple and added our lion statues at the front-"PhiAlpha"-(Sorry, this pic was just after the hail storm so please forgive the messiness!)

New Shutters

New Shutters close up---I'm so proud of my hubby for doing such a great job!

You live in Oklahoma when....

Last week we had this craziness of a hail storm sweep through Oklahoma City.  I think we were the only house on the block that was actually excited, because we have been wanting a new roof for awhile now.  Unfortunately, the color of our roof is the only problem as it was in pretty good shape and no good reason to change it.... until now!  Thank you mother nature for the hail damage on our roof!  We are waiting for our insurance adjuster to come finalize our roof insurance and give us the "OK" to move ahead.  So, we're keeping our fingers crossed!

*The silver-gray roof doesn't match our new shutters and door!  Looking forward to a brown roof like normal people!

Speaking of crazy weather...we've also had a few tornado scares in the last month.  Tornado season is one of my favorite things about Oklahoma--minus the damage they do!  But, I love to sit out on the back porch and watch the skies over Lake Hefner, God is truly a wonder at the beauty he can produce!  However, these days with my little munchkin I am much more cautious than I used to be!  For mother's day, Dillon told me I could pick out  new patio furniture.  Instead, we decided that my Mother's Day present would be a tornado shelter! YAY!!!! You know you live in Oklahoma when you get excited about a tornado shelter.... In Dillon's words "You can't put a price on my family's life".  Plus, it's a good selling feature in the future when we decide to move.  I think all-in-all we will get at least some of our investment back.  Dillon tried to talk me into the 12seater one so he could put a poker table down there. Um...how 'bout NO? I think the 6seater will be plenty roomy for us and some of the neighbors!  All the kids are little anyway so they only count for like 1/3 of a person.

*We opted for the flush-mount.  This is what ours will look like when it is installed.

Living Room Fabric Change!

I said a long time ago that I was going to re-do the fabrics in my living room!!  I got most of the way done but my sewing machine went haywire on me at the end!  But here is the majority of it.

New pillows for the couch--I plan on putting a rectangular one in the middle with ruffles but of course my sewing machine broke on me :(

Not a very good pic-but new curtains

Pillow close-up-small pillow is a gray linen style paisley with blue linen ruffle

Pillow close-up--the big pillows are double sided leopard and blue sear-sucker

better views of curtains-grommet top ecru linen with a band of the gray linen fabric that matches the pillows.  I had to add the beads for a little more glitz that I'm sure Dillon could've lived without :)

I'm also using the leopard fabric in the new bathroom for a cafe' curtain on the bathroom window and the paisley linen for a curtain valance in the kitchen....as soon as I get my sewing machine back! :)