Change of Plans!

Remember this post about P-Nut's nursery? Well scratch that! We came up with a whole new design!!!

Last week Ryan and I decided we would start on the nursery so Friday night we went to Walmart and Lowe's to get all the paint and accessories we needed to begin painting. We were in the paint aisle in Lowe's and spent about 20 minutes picking out the "perfect" shade of tan. As we were walking up to the mixing counter, Ryan randomly stopped and pulled out a color card and said "I like this color."

I stopped, starred at it and decided I LOVED it too. And right then and there, in a matter of seconds, we bought 2 gallons of Lyndhurst Duchess Blue and changed the whole nursery concept.

For those of you who know we well, know this was something WAAAAY out of the norm for me. Once I have a plan, I stick to it. I just bought a random color to go on our baby's walls and I had no idea how I was going to decorate around it, but for some odd reason, I didn't care! I was really excited about the color.

On Saturday, Ryan and a friend of ours moved all the furniture out of what use to be Ryan's "man room," I taped off doors and baseboards, we laid out a floor covering and began work.

We painted the entire room (first and second coat) in about two hours. It was a breeze! Ryan even enjoyed it and asked after, "what room can we paint next?" We both really, really like the finished product. Its hard to really tell the true color from these iPhone pics but here's a try. The color has more of a green tint than is visible here. 

We decided that we will stick with the dark brown crib and use cream/white and navy accents. Ryan's mom is giving us the dresser that was in his old room and we are going to paint it navy. And yesterday, Ryan came home with the first piece of furniture for the room - a very comfy rocker/recliner we found over the weekend (again, not what we had originally planned for a rocker).  

At one point last night, I lost Ryan and found him sitting in the chair in the dark. I asked what he was doing and he said "just getting a feel for what it will be like when I am rocking P-Nut to sleep" - I can't tell you how great of a Daddy he is going to be! 

The chest in these pictures was my mom's that one of my aunt's recently gave me. I am not sure what she kept in it but it only seems appropriate to put in my baby's room, a little piece of her will be with our P-Nut. It has the perfect "shabby chic" look that is in these days and its the perfect color. I think I will use it for books and toys.

I have absolutely have no idea if all of these pieces will come together to make a completed look but I am not worried about it. I am excited that it is underway and now it makes me even more anxious to meet our little P-Nut. Only 14 weeks! 

26 Weeks

P-Nut and I are now 26 Weeks along and baby probably weighs around 2 pounds.

P-Nut is about the size of a head of lettuce and his/her eyelids are now functioning. I also read this week that if, God-forbid, he/she decided to come now, there is a chance the baby could survive. Before this week, it was almost a 0% chance.

My symptoms are pretty much the same these days and I'm not having any particular cravings, well except for wine and/or beer. There are some days where I almost can't stand it and I know it will even get worse as Spring hits and all the patios open up. I have even started brainstorming what my first glass of wine will be after P-Nut arrives. I asked my doctor what her policy is on the occasional glass of wine every now and then. She said she wouldn't recommend it because she has not read enough research on the subject to suggest one way or the other - therefore, no wine for this preggo until July! I definitely would never risk anything harming P-Nut. (First time mom=very cautious).

Baby is still a little jumping bean- kicking and squirming all over, all day. Last week, during one of the more active times, I actually either felt a foot or hand. That was crazy! Usually it is just a jerk but when I put my hand on the spot, I could definitely feel a distinct shape.

Belly is growing and I feel like at a rapid rate now, which it should. I met with one of my clients yesterday and he told me I didn't even look 3 months pregnant- God Bless you good fellow! I haven't had that overwhelming "fat" feeling just yet but I still have 14 weeks to go so I am sure it will come at some point.

Over the past two weeks Ryan and I also, FINALLY, decided on one girl name and one boy name. We won't be telling anybody until the birth day though (aren't we just driving you crazy?). Each first name is fairly unique but not crazy weird and both of the middle names have significance for each of us. That is all I am saying for now :)

Big weekend coming up for the Pettigrews. On Friday we have our next doctor's appointment and on Saturday we are taking our all day childbirthing class. Wish us luck!

Spencer & Lyndsey

It kind of hit me that my brother is getting married when I saw these pictures. They had their engagement shoot a couple of weeks ago by Jessica Ritchie  and the pictures turned out so beautifully! Lyndsey sent me the first one while I was at work and I opened the email and literally started tearing up, yes I am extra hormonal these days but give me a break! It is so weird to think that my younger brother is old enough to become a husband.

I was nervous for Lyndsey because getting Spencer to take a decent picture with a real smile is damn near impossible, and has been our whole lives, but after seeing all the pictures, you can just tell how happy and in love they both are.

And then the next day Lyndsey sent me a link to their wedding website. I started reading the "ring" section without warning and this time I literally had a stream of tears running down my face. I could not have asked for a better woman to wear my mom's diamond and to take care of my brother for the rest of his life. They are both so lucky to have found each other. I can't wait until the party begins!

24 Weeks = 6 Months!

Yesterday marked 24 weeks for us. I had a realization that that was also 6 months! Six months sounds so much more than 24 weeks for some reason. I can't even believe how fast it is going these days.

So far I have been VERY lucky and am having a wonderful pregnancy. Besides the first trimester hormones, nausea and pure exhaustion, the rest of the time I have felt completely normal. Most of the time I have normal energy levels and very little discomfort.

Some very mild symptoms I am having are:

• Heart burn - I have never had heart burn before so this is a new thing for me. One night I told Ryan my chest was hurting and he asked how. I told him "a burning sensation" and he laughed and replied "welcome to heart burn"
• Leg cramps - I read in my book one night that I will start to experience leg cramps. The very next morning I was jolted awake with a severe leg cramp in my right calf. It was so painful it was sore for a couple of days after. Let's hope those don't last too long! 
• Increased appetite - until recently, I felt like I have been eating pretty normal amounts but now I feel like I am hungry all the time. Guess P-Nut is hungry too. 
• Kicks! Kicks! Kicks! - P-Nut is still moving all over the place and kicking constantly. His/Her new thing is trying to get me out of bed in the morning. I am a snooze button abuser but recently, the first time my alarm goes off P-Nut will start kicking as to let me know it is time to get up. I hope this child is not a morning person because Lord knows momma is not! 
• Moodiness - My poor husband. My moods have been all over the place and I tend to get irritated very easily. I keep assuring him that will subside...hopefully. 

Here is the 24-week belly shot. 

This Season's Bachelor

Have you been watching the Bachelor this season? I have off and on. It hasn't been one of my favorite seasons probably because my favorites got the boot earlier than expected but none the less, I am still sucked in by the ridiculousness that is the Bachelor world.

My favorite bachelorette this season was Leslie and coincidentally she is from Conway, Arkansas! Plus she stepped out of the limo holding a football on the first night. A true southern girl after my own heart. She got cut before her time but hey, she and Sean set a Guinness Book World Record together for longest on-screen kiss. I am desperately hoping she becomes the next Bachelorette.

Each season I am pretty good about choosing at least one of the bachelorettes that will make it to the end. This year I was waaaaaaaaaaaay off. The season finale is tonight and the 2 remaining girls I had predicted would go home on the FIRST night.

Lindsay met Sean in a wedding dress and got so drunk that Sean was a little frightened of her. Lucky for her, after that first night, she seemed pretty normal and not bat shit crazy like the first impression she gave. Once Leslie got sent home, I started rooting for Lindsay.

The second girl is Catherine. The first night she was just goofy and very awkward. Each week I expected her to get cut but each week she was kept. I still don't see the "chemistry" that she and Sean have.

My prediction is that Lindsay will get the final rose but only for one reason - Family. I am pretty sure Sean says on every episode how important family is to him. Lindsay is very close with her family and Catherine is not so much. She told Sean she isn't that close with her sisters and they don't think she is ready for marriage. Plus her dad lives in another country because he has depression. Say what?

Anyway, this season did not play out how I thought it would so who knows, he might actually pick Catherine. Collin is coming over to watch the finale with me tonight. We try to watch each season together, turning Mondays into a girls night. In the past they have always involved a bottle of wine or 2  but sadly, that tradition was put on hold this year. P-Nut would not appreciate mommy's fun times.

We will see who he picks tonight and if they are even still together now.

Bits & Pieces of a Nursery

My thoughts have started to come together for the nursery. I decided to make it tan, dark brown and red (pretty much like the rest of my house, but what can I say, I am a traditionalist.) 

Obviously we need to keep everything neutral, gender wise, and I would have done that anyway, even if we knew the sex of P-Nut. I am not much of a baby blue person and I am definitely not a pink person. But don't think if little P-Nut is a girl that I won't throw some leopard into the nursery. You know me, love my animal prints. 

We started by picking out the crib. If you didn't already know, my husband researches EVERYTHING, which is awesome for me because that means I don't have to. Anyway, I picked out several cribs I liked and then he did his magic and picked the one with the best ratings and reviews. And the winner is.....

The Delta Canon Convertible crib from Walmart. Great price plus we are supporting my husband's company which helps secure his job :)

The bedding is actually the only thing we have ordered so far and I wanted something very, very neutral and I found the perfect set on Amazon. It will be here on Monday! I think I am going to add red ties to the bumpers and put a red sheet on the mattress.  

I decided I wanted to paint the walls a neutral, tan color, similar to this nursery.

With curtains similar to these (might be too much tan against a tan wall) 

or these

We are still looking for a dresser but we did take a "test run" in this rocker/glider and we both thought it was pretty awesome. 

I want to do something with the baby's name/initials above the crib after he/she is born. And yes I am well aware that it might not ever get done because I will be little preoccupied but for now it's on the list.

For a boy I like the name in a frame like this

or his monogram on canvases like this.

But if its a girl, I will order a wooden "girly" monogram, pain it read and hang it like this. You can get them for $25 on etsy. A steal in my book.

I have been putting off actually assembling the nursery because that would mean Ryan would lose his mancave but he told me last week I could start whenever so it looks like its on! First step is to move all the furniture out of the room and into storage. Wish us luck!

Shopping and Registering

This past Saturday Ryan and I spent the whole day shopping and registering for P-Nut. It was a pretty surreal experience.

Our first stop, after a lunch of yummy Mexican food to fuel us for the day, was Walmart. We didn't register there for our wedding but now since Ryan is officially part of the Walmart family, we thought it only appropriate. Ryan's larger team at work throws baby showers for everybody and anybody who is having a baby. Since he has started working there in December, we have bought 3 baby gifts (all from Walmart of course!) for three of his coworkers. It is a really nice thing for them to do.

To say we were overwhelmed was an understatement. There are so many varieties of everything, how do you know what to choose? By the end of the day we had decided that it would make so much more sense if baby showers were thrown AFTER the baby is born so you can register for stuff you actually know you will need.

After Walmart we went to the Rhea Lana sale. Have yall heard of that? I had seen flyers around town for years but never paid much attention to it until now. It is a HUGE consignment baby sale that happens 2-3 times a year. You can sell stuff or you can just go buy stuff. Once we started researching it, we found out you could buy anything from baby clothes to nursery furniture. These are pictures taken from the Rhea Lana facebook page of the sale set up before anybody had shopped it. It was crazy!

Ryan and I went with the hopes of finding a dresser, bassinet or rocker for our nursery. We were also going to look for stuff to keep at our parents' houses. My parents were able to go with us and shopped to stock up their house and we bought the stuff below to keep at Ryan's parents' house. We are so lucky that both sets of grandparents are close!

We ended up not getting any of the larger pieces because they were all sold out. And we even got to go in early on a "Expectant Moms" pass. Anybody who was going to be a consignor got to go in before us. They pretty much wiped the place clean. Note for next time, find at least a few things to sell so I can be the first one in. After about 45 minutes we were done. There was a ton of people and it was, again, overwhelming.

My friend Carma, who is due a week after me, wanted to go so I went with her again on Sunday and that was  a better experience. Not as many people so we got to shop around at a more leisurely pace.

We left that sale and headed over to Target to finish up our registering. This was the first time that not knowing the sex of P-Nut has been difficult  These days, everything is color-coded by gender. We could barely find a pacifier or bottle that wasn't blue or pink. If P-Nut is a girl, she will have a lot of blue and green things. Sorry sweetie!

Throughout the day Ryan would not let me shop or register for any clothes. Which makes sense only because of this.

Sheri, Ryan's cousin, dropped off 3 FULL trash bags of girl baby clothes at our house. Baby clothes are tiny so you can only imagine how much was in 3 trash bags. If we have a girl, nobody needs to buy her a single article of clothing. We have enough clothes for everything from NB size to 9 months that she could possibly need. On the other hand, if we have a boy, he might be naked for a few days until we get him some clothes.

Overall we had a fun, exhausting and very enlightening day. We loved picking out things for our little P-Nut but can't wait to see him or her actually use them in....FOUR short months. It will be here before we know it!

22 Week Doctor Visit

Well we started off our day at 2 a.m. this morning when P-Nut gave a swift kick which was so hard it woke me up! I guess the little one is getting me ready for those 2 a.m. feedings.

Later this morning we had our next doctor's visit. This was the first visit Ryan was not at and that was a little strange. He has been sick all week and we didn't want him getting any other mothers-to-be or little babies sick if he came.

Dr. Collin's first told me that everything looked great from the ultrasound a couple of weeks ago - Phew! The heartbeat was 154, about the same it was last time.

Remember how a month ago I was worried because I hadn't gained any weight, well that fear can go away now. I have officially gained 10 pounds this pregnancy - 7 since the last appt! I guess it just snowballs from here.

Next appt I will do the Glucola test to see if I have developed gestational diabetes. Say a little prayer that I haven't. That would not be fun to deal with.

I will leave you with an updated belly shot. People at work have started telling me that they are starting to notice my belly now and I have become way less self conscious about people staring at it.

This weekend will be dedicated to P-Nut prep. I will fill you in next week.