Maternity Pictures & 1 month

I LOVE St. Patrick's Day! I always have. There are many reasons why I am proud to be a part of my grandmother's family, but one reason that I am particularly proud is due to the Irish heritage of the Brennan family. I grew up with my Aunt Georgia telling stories about kissing the Blarney Stone, going to funerals that were true celebrations of life, and falling in love with all things Irish. I bring this up for several reasons, 1) Saturday (St. Patrick's Day) was one of the ONLY days during my entire pregnancy I was seriously bummed that I couldn't drink (Clark--you're totally worth it, but Mommy wanted a beer), 2) I was excited that we took our maternity pictures on St. Paddy's Day because I'll ALWAYS remember it, and 3) Somehow it made the pictures of me in the rocking chair my Grandma Betty bought for my mother when she was pregnant with me all that more special.

Before I share those pictures, I'll give you some exciting news. I'm 33 weeks right now which means that in ONE MONTH Clark will be full term and if he came, it would be ok. One. Month. So terrifying. So exciting!

A special thanks to my wonderful best friend and sister-in-law, Becky Hoyle, for taking our maternity pictures. I'm posting my favorites (all of which came from our preview--Beck, you have such good taste!), so for those of you who are not on Facebook and have been demanding belly shots, you should be appeased. After you finish this post, click on over to Hoyle-Cunningham Photography or go like them on Facebook, because seriously, I have some amazingly talented friends/family!

This is the chair my Grandma Betty gave my mom when she was carrying me. It was super important to me to have it in the nursery. All I  did was paint it white to match Clark's room.

So artsy. So beautiful.

Bruce (left) and Bentley (right) know something is up, but I doubt they have any clue how much their lives our going to change in the next several weeks. (We kind of feel the same way!)

One of the only bare belly shots I actually LOVE!

Clark's room is almost done. The only things left to do are finish the prints that will be framed and hung on the walls and buy/assemble the bookshelf.

Love this.

One of my favorites. It's amazing how I look like I'm all belly--I swear I'm not!

21 Weeks & a Post-Christmas Update

Oh, my! I can't believe it's been 12 days since my last post. So much has happened in the past few weeks. I'll try to avoid my long-winded ramblings and give a quick, bulleted update! 


Diaper bag: Thanks to my dear friend, Chrisanne, and her lovely daughter, Tenley, for going with me to retrieve my coveted Timi & Leslie bag! I got quite the deal on my trendy yet functional accessory. While Charlie retails at $160, I was able to score the designer bag for a mere $94! I did end up getting in the mustard color, and after seeing the black and light brown colors in person at another store, I'm happy I did!


Cleaning: As usual with breaks, I think I'm going to accomplish much more than I do. With our crazy holiday schedule, the new cleaning routine hasn't completely come to fruition. I'm not abandoning the plan though! I should have a better update for you after I get back to school. (Ugh. School.)


Christmas: It was a wonderfully odd Christmas for the Hoyle/Samples clan. There were many changes instituted this year, and on top of it all, there was no snow. All of that added up to wonderful time with family (especially because my nephew, Finn, celebrated his first Christmas), but when it was all over, I was left feeling like Christmas had yet to arrive. I'm hopeful that next year the excitement of Clark's first Christmas will bring the magic back.


Clark: Perhaps the most exciting news is that I reached the halfway point in my pregnancy. It's odd because there are days that I still feel newly pregnant and others seem like I've been pregnant forever! Either way, I'm so grateful that everything is progressing just as it is supposed to. At our last midwife appointment a few weeks ago I was measuring right at 18 weeks, had perfect weight, and other stats. Thank you, Lord! 


In other baby news, I was delightfully surprised the morning after Christmas when Clark kicked me for the first time! I've felt him moving for several weeks now but no real kicks. It was the best present I got all year! With that said, here's a belly shot for you. (I've got to say that I'm getting to that "I feel super gross" portion of my pregnancy, so I'm not sure how many of these shots will be posted from here on out.) Oh, I almost forgot! We put the crib together yesterday, so you get to see that too!

Little Lo Nursery--The Transformation

One of the (few) perks of being a teacher is having a Fall Break. I was approaching this break with much anticipation for many reasons. 1. Grades were due on Wednesday which meant that I could spend the weekend not grading, but more importantly, not feeling guilty about not grading, 2. Our second midwife appointment was scheduled for Thursday, and 3. Michael's parents were going to help us transform our guest room into Lo's nursery! 


I knew that I wanted to have this nursery painted and ready to decorate before the truly cold weather came (which in Northwest Indiana could be anytime between mid-September and Thanksgiving--I have vivid memories of Trick-or-Treating in wet, flying snow as a sixth grade hippie.), so we scheduled our project almost as soon as we found out I was pregnant. 


On my first trip to Buy Buy Baby with Randy, Becky, and Finn, I found the bedding I wanted for Lo. Since I take after my father and have the innate ability to gravitate to the most expensive item in a store (Lo, I pray that you have good taste, but I'd be fine if you didn't inherit this attribute), I decided on a pattern I could see working for a boy or girl from Dwell Studio. Michael loved it too, so it was decided. (Although my taste is often expensive, I'm rather thrifty, so we're not buying the nearly $400 crib set, but instead buying a couple of the fitted sheets in the print and possible the shower curtain so that I can make it into curtains. We wouldn't use the bumper or blanket anyway, and if I need a crib skirt once the crib is here, I'll make or buy one.)

We decided to go bright (a true change in our house since nearly all the rooms in our house are varying shades of brown or tan), fresh and clean. I've always loved the split wall look that's achieved with chair rails and/or wainscoting, so that's the direction we went. The rest of this story can be told in pictures. Here you go!

Michael's mom (Mono) ready to get started!

Chalk line up, ready to paint!

Michael pouring our apple green paint! 

This may be the second time Michael's ever painted. He already loves this baby so much! :)

Now for the white!

Almost done!

Michael & his dad (Poppy) finishing up the chair rail.

The finished room!

A room for our Lo!