Readying your room...Phase 2

It has been quite a process to get this nursery ready. And we aren't there yet. If you remember, phase 1 was just trying to figure out how to store/eliminate all of my teaching supplies. What a daunting task as I have so much stuff and such a love for teaching. But I do feel God calling me to be a full time Mom which means I won't be heading back to the classroom for awhile.

Once we found those bargains at Babies 'R Us and then Gary revealed the changing table treasure he had found, it was time to start arranging things-if only in my mind at least.



This blue recliner has been in the Huber family since Gary was a kid! It is still comfy and just needs to be recovered.

As we all find when we start cleaning one room, it affects the other rooms. So I began moving stuff and organizing things. This is our den closet now after several days of reorganizing (and recently picking up my cleaned wedding dress-what a delight it was to see it again...)



Here is the view from the nursery closet (still a bit scary)...where you can see the changing table and the recliner and in the middle there will be the crib and the dresser (also bargains from our day at Babies 'R Us)...



And some of my girly books, picture frames, photo albums and other stuff has a very nice cozy home in the den:



What a change from before!

I guess my iPhone didn't understand the overcastness of today so the yellow comes out a bit orangy in the pictures, but it is very refreshing in reality!

We're just waiting for that little piece of news before we continue with the next part of decorating....pink or blue?

What do you think? Everyone keeps saying boy, but Dad and Brandon say girl.

Anyway, it felt so good to finally do some of the nesting that I've been wanting to do! Plus it's all ready now for some company. We will have both sides of our families over for Father's Day and then Alex comes next week for a wedding here in Ave. He can see his "old room" a little more like the way it was when he used to live here before I moved tons of stuff in.

OH....wondering where all that stuff went?



The garage! And it looks FANTASTIC! That huge white armoire fits very nicely in the garage and also is covered storage. Thank you, honey, for moving it all and helping me to get organized. The garage looks so nice!!! (Okay so maybe you don't want to look in the armoire just yet.) We are slowly still organizing our lives into one life but it takes time. Once we got married we had lots of things separately and no time to really do these sorts of projects. We have really enjoyed organizing our home and preparing for baby.

And what about those birdies of ours? Louie and Kramer are very content in the den now, which used to be their original room. They grew to love the yellow room, but here they are back in the den:



They seem pretty happy!


As you can see there is still more to do, but we're on our way. More to come soon!!

That White Elephant

I had no idea how patient my husband was when I married him. You see, for as long as he can remember, he has loved children. The oldest of five children and 50 grandchildren, he has certainly fallen in love with watching babies grow. He searched and searched for the woman who would one day (hopefully) be the Mother of his own children, but you just don't know God's plans when you stand there on that altar. But he hoped and he prayed that he would one day be a father. And I got a glimpse of just how much he loved children and how much they loved him when this little girl came into our lives:



Not long after we were married he found a great deal on a treasure he could not pass up. You see he would often go to "The White Elephant" to browse what items they had for sale that week. (This is not the first time this has happened.) Anyway, it's one of those stores that constantly receives new items from estate sales and often there are very nice things for a great bargain. But you have to look. And you have to go at the right time-as the true gems don't last long.

Well he must have gone at the right time all those months ago (over a year actually). He found something he just couldn't resist and then arranged with one of our neighbors to store it in their garage until the "right time." See he didn't want to show me this too early because he knew we both longed to be parents but as we waited each month to become parents there was a tinge of sadness that the time was not "yet."

Even though I've been pregnant for some time now, I think he has been waiting to "make sure" (who can ever be sure...but at some point you just have to leap!)

We came upon some real furniture bargains at Baby's 'R Us a few weeks ago, but they only came in a certain color. So when he hesitated at buying them, I knew something was up. His explanation: "Well, I sort of have a surprise at home but it's in another color."

That night he showed me this. And he explained just how long he had it (he's waited over a year to reveal this) and then showed me how it matched the piece he stained and gave to me for my birthday. I think it's just perfect:



Through tears, he told me: "I knew this day would come. I knew we would be parents again!"

Babies 'R Us-18 weeks

We headed over to Gulfcoast Town Center to do some errands, and of course had to go in Babies 'R Us. We both wondered if it was too soon, then decided we would just "look." We ended up finding some great deals on some essentials and saved tons of money by locking in the prices. We had so much fun picking out a stroller! It's amazing how one little purchase takes so much thought. How heavy is it? How durable? Will it withstand rocky surfaces? Is it safe? How easy is it to fold up, steer with one hand, adjust the steering height for Daddy? And the questions went on and on. The sale made it much easier to just choose since the one we wanted was $100 off! yay! Total savings on a crib, dresser and travel system (stroller AND carseat): $650!! Even the people who worked at the store said they have never seen a sale like this and that if they even knew anyone pregnant, they would get these items. We left pretty happy!

Here's a shot of me trying out a stroller. This isn't the one we chose, but hopefully all the items will be on the blog soon!

16 weeks

FINALLY!!!

I have returned to (somewhat) my old self. I have energy. I even have hunger. And I can cook meals without being nauseous. I am not yet eating the meals I cook, but it's a start just to be able to cook.

We've been so busy with shooting weddings and First Communion, even a family photo shoot...that I haven't had time to be nauseous. So I think the trick is to stay busy. Whenever we have company, I seem to feel better. (Good to know for my next pregnancy since I'm sure this baby will be crawling or walking by then and he/she will be keeping me very busy).

I wanted to document this pregnancy as much as I could so that I could remember stuff (and I type much faster than I write), but I have gotten so behind. So let's see some of the stuff I have been eating/avoiding:

weeks 6-8: mostly saltines, ginger ale, and cheese if I could get it down
weeks 9-16: graduated to other very bland things like apples, salad, or anything simple and meatless.

definitely no meat until week 16. and no coffee as I had previously posted. oh and ya know what else? No chocolate! seriously! my favorite food is now something I could care less about!

by week 16 I figured out that I needed some kind of protein and Boar's Head lunch meat became my new favorite on Publix White Mountain bread (forget the healthy Ezekiel stuff I used to eat). Of course with the risk of listeria (bacteria) I have to cook my lunchmeat in the microwave...which I don't mind. My new obsession: A sandwich with blazing buffalo chicken, genoa salami, and chive spread. I've eaten it most every day for lunch and one day I ate it THREE times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. *blushing with embarassment now*

Anyway, my diet is slowly improving and I was even able to get out and have a date with my dear friend, Melissa at the Bean. I couldn't eat or drink anything, but it's a start!

I would love to keep writing, but I gotta go make me a sandwich now. hmmm Shall I name this child Buffalo Genoa Huber? haha

15 weeks

and still nauseous and exhausted. I was hoping these symptoms would subside by now so that I could get to the fun part-readying our lives for our baby! There is so much work to do, not to mention the daily work that I am struggling to get done (cleaning and cooking...and functioning!) Gary is so patient but it is quite hard when we keep hearing how I should be feeling better by now. Some women have nauseau for their entire pregnancy! We will just have to be patient...

Low point of the week: I'm shopping for groceries in Target and can only pretty much eat carbs (terrible!). So I'm on the cracker aisle and begin to feel so nauseous I can hardly swallow. Gary was in another part of the store and I just felt so bad. I began to think, "How will I ever be able to shop and cook for my family when we have more children? How will I be a good wife and mother?" Right then Gary comes up to me and sees the tears streaming down my face and panics: "What's wrong?!" I sob that I just can't do it. I feel so terrible. He tells me it's all going to be alright and takes me to a bench where I can sit down. He tells me to just sit and relax and he will finish the shopping. He truly is my knight. Thank you, honey for all of your support throughout these difficult months!

2nd Trimester

Another milestone! I have officially finished the first 14 weeks...the first trimester. Of course each day is a milestone, but this one is extra special because the risk of miscarriage goes down significantly now. Also-it's the time I'm supposed to feel the best. No more nauseau or fatigue!

I'm still waiting for those to end though :)

Yay!!!

Mother's Day

I could not feel more blessed than to be celebrating this day as the Mother of my two children! Gary was so sweet to arrange a little lunch with my Mom at Brio. It was delicious! We also had a date afternoon/evening at the beach. It was beautiful! I am so thankful for my Mom, Gary's Mom, and the priviledge of now being a Mom! And I heard from so many friends on this day, many of whom did not even know I was pregnant yet, but wanting me to feel special and thought of on this day. They also wanted me to know they hadn't forgotten that I was a Mother to Mary Bridget. I received phone calls, emails and even facebook messages telling me Happy Mother's Day. I can't wait to tell them all the good news!!! I'm pregnant AGAIN!

PS...sorry there aren't any pictures. We have done 3 weddings in 2 weeks and are incredibly "pictured out." We are both exhausted but very thankful to have so much photography work!