Saturday, December 29, 2012

Baby Kiss' Shopping Day!

Out we went to shop for Baby Kiss, over the past couple weeks we have worked really hard to pick just the right Nursery Furniture for Baby Kiss (after all she will have it until she is probably 18, as it transitions to a full size bed!), as well as the bedding to make her nursery as fabulous as she will be! 

The furniture was easy, we knew if we had a girl, we would most likely choose French White as the color, as long as it coordinated with the bedding we liked most! We fell in love with the Davenport by Baby Appleseed Collection in Colonial White at Buy Buy Baby! It is beautiful and just plain fabulous...we are in love! Sadness arose, when the news of its estimated arrival will be some time between February and March...I had fingers crossed it would be sooner...but I had a feeling it would be a series of weeks before we had it in! 
Davenport by Baby Appleseed in Colonial White
This is the whole Davenport set...in Espresso
we ordered everything but the armoire in Colonial White!
Except our dresser will be the 6 drawer dresser. 
We looked at bedding everywhere and even looked into custom bedding. I didn't fall in love too much with any of the custom bedding I saw...they were kind of gaudy, and not to mention EXTREMELY expensive. 

After much debate we decided on our top 4 selections of bedding...

The Contemporaries....
Harlow by CoCaLo
(My original favorite! You know me and my
love of green and paisley!)
Melrose by Sweet Potato by Glenna Jean
(Loved the bold colors, gray and yellow,
but wondered if it was too loud!)
The More Classic Baby Approach...
Jungle Jill by Pam Grace Creations
(I didn't really want a themey theme, or anything
really baby, but we fell in love with this giraffe.
Jeff's love of the giraffe (since he had giraffes when
he was little) melted my heart, but I wondered if
it was too LIGHT in color.)
Jacana by CoCaLo
(We loved the combination of warmer, deeper colors with the
fun giraffe and monkey, but still were a little worried about
being so attached to a theme.)
And the WINNER is...
Melrose by Sweet Potato by Glenna Jean!!!!
Funny enough at Buy Buy Baby, this is the
exact CRIB set and BEDDING that we chose!
 So yesterday was the big day...we went in and ordered ALL of the bedding in Melrose (we had already ordered the furniture on the 23rd)! It was hard to commit...that is for sure... but I just kept going back to this one! It really caught my eye with the various materials and patterns, and I thought it would be so great to play with painting the nursery since the palette has more variety than the black, cream, and green Harlow set! I was truly in love, and Jeff slowly started to LOVE it even more, and decided he could trade it in for his giraffes. He was so excited about ordering it and we BOTH absolutely are in LOVE with Lil' Miss Kiss' nursery furniture and bedding! I can't wait to see it all come together! I think it will make for a beautiful and contemporary nursery, that we will all love! Wish us luck in the creation of it all in the coming months! Jeff is dying to paint the walls...I love his love of painting and projects! We even ordered a SUPER, COMFY nursery chair to rock Baby Kiss in during those late night wake ups and to read story time books in before bed! 
Braxton at Buy Buy Baby
(Ours is in a textured, paisley cream print!
It is simple, but OH SO comfy!)
Since Daddy was sooo in love with the super, cute giraffe, he HAD to buy it for Lil' Miss Kiss, so when we were registering last night, Daddy bought his first gift for Lil' Miss Kiss. He bought the pretty, pink and brown giraffe has picked up EVERY SINGLE TIME we have gone into the baby stores the past couple of weeks, and a little matching blanket with the little pink and brown giraffe on it! He said this blanket would be perfect for her pack 'n' play...I am sure it will be her favorite blankey and stuffed animal since it is from DADDY! He made my heart melt at how excited it made him to pick out these special things for our Baby Girl, and filled me with nothing but happiness, joy, and smiles! 

Daddy with his Pink and Brown Giraffe and
blanket for Lil' Miss Kiss! 
What an amazing Daddy he will be! 

It is official...we are REGISTERED at BUY BUY BABY! Yesterday was filled with fun and excitement as we bopped around Buy Buy Baby busy as bees registering for all sorts of things... from bottles to baby food making contraptions to cloth diapers and high chairs...we did it ALL! We walked around with a personal shopper who was sooooo helpful in suggestions and leading us through the store! I would so suggest this for 1st time mommas, Darla was super informative and had recommendations from both her personal experience and what she has heard from other moms! Jeff is super excited about (me) making natural baby food with the Baby Brezza, and I am super excited to try the cloth diaper approach! Jeff was hilarious and wanted EVERYTHING in PINK and girly, however, I tried to take the more neutral approach in case we have a Lil' Man Kiss down the road. Jeff said "she is going to end up a tom boy if we buy her ALL neutral stuff!" Of course she will be in all the girliest of clothes and such, but we tried for a gender neutral approach in things that can be used again later! It was super fun to plan for all of the things we will need for Baby Kiss! 

You can click on the link above, or go to Buy Buy Baby's Gift Registry 
at www.buybuybaby.com
and type in our names to see all of the fun things we found for Lil' Miss Kiss, 
(if you are like me and love to look at registries)!
Our Registry # is 13190935!
 When we began shopping for Baby Kiss' bedding and furniture a week or 2 before we officially registered...I finally decided it was okay to park in the EXPECTANT MOTHERS spot...so here I am on our first time to park there...I think it was actually around December 16! But, I thought this was a good milestone to make sure and add to the BLOG! 


I'm Dreaming of a WHITE Christmas


I am a little late on posting this but I hope everyone had a very bright and MERRY Christmas. I know we had a Merry Little Last Christmas together with our families before the festivities begin next year with Baby Kiss! Christmas officially marked our 21 week celebration so we had a little fun with the chalkboard Christmas morning. 


How far along? 21 weeks 1 day
Fruit/Veggie Comparison: Cantaloupe or Pomegranate (10.5 inches)
Total Weight Gain/ Loss? 5 1/2 pounds
Maternity Clothes? Wearing the Belly Band with ALL of my pants now...but it is getting more and more uncomfortable to fight with my pants each day! I can see maternity pants in the near future! 
Stretch Marks? Nope...still lotioning it up
Sleep: Sleeping GREAT I don't even get up to pee in the middle of the night anymore! 
Best Moment THIS Week: Shopping for Lil' Miss Kiss' Nursery Furniture and Bedding with my sweet and super fun hubby!
Miss Anything? Not having to check and see if my zipper is showing from my belly band riding up! 
Movement: I am pretty sure I have started to feel her moving a lot! I catch myself watching my belly closely and I can see little waves in my tummy! Jeff has even been able to feel the wave movement a couple of times! It seems I notice it mostly at night! 
Food Cravings: Starbucks Coffee...it IS the holidays you know! 
Anything Making You Queasy or Sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: YES! My little first graders noticed this past week and made a comment! Everyone else at work...has been commenting that I am REALLY showing now! 
Gender: Baby Kiss is a GIRL...a Lil' Miss Kiss is on her way! 
Labor Signs: Not at all
Belly Button In or Out? IN, still crossing my fingers for that not to change
Wedding Rings On or Off? ON every day....love, love, love my husband! 
Happy, Emotional, or Moody Most of the Time: Literally GLOWING with excitement, a teacher friend even described me that way!
Funny/ Sweet Quotes from the First Graders:
"Baby Kiss is probably dancing to the Christmas music."
"Do you think Baby Kiss will like her presents?" -Cole
"Your tummy is starting to grow, so that means Baby Kiss is getting bigger!" -Jennifer
"You should name Baby Kiss... Audrey!" -Audrey
"Tot you will never believe what we found out in those cake pops!" -Cole (to his grandmother on the phone)
"Baby Kiss will love to take a bath with these wash cloths. You can even put your hand through the sponge strap!" -Dylan
"You can go shopping for Baby Kiss!" -Arabela (about a gift card she gave me)
Looking Forward to: Getting Registered at Buy Buy Baby and picking out all of the fun baby stuff for Baby Kiss, and ringing in 2013 with Mr. Kiss and Baby Kiss!


Daddy giving his Lil' Miss Kiss her 1st Kiss under the Mistletoe! 
With Starbucks in hand, we then headed to my Mom and Dad's house for some Christmas cooking! In the car on the way, in the Starbucks drive-thru, Jeff gave me my sweet Willow Tree "Cherish", I knew a day would come where I could have the little Momma to be Willow Tree...how sweet was he to remember that! 

We all had a blast working together and cooking in the kitchen! It is amazing what grown up kids can get accomplished! 
Katie and Maw chopping the onions and bell pepper!
Chet and Mom working hard on broccoli and cheese rice casserole!
(Chet's favorite)
Jeff pouring the PET milk for the spaghetti
and cheese casserole! 
Little Mama with the green bean casserole completed
and ready to bake! 
After our cooking was underway, our sweet little Texas Christmas turned into a White Christmas! It was breathtakingly beautiful and so amazing! Like little kids we ran outside to capture some fun shots in the snow! As the day went on the snow came down heavier and heavier! 
Chet's celebration of snow!
Brother and Sister forever we will be! 
Chet loves to do the pregnant belly pics with me! HA!
Jeff and I filled with Holiday Happiness!
Katie and Chet filled with holiday silliness...
Chet was having too much fun with Maw's hat/scarf combo! 
Chet, Mom, and Me enjoying our White Christmas
Baby Kiss' First White Christmas
My silly Holiday Hubby
So much Holiday Happiness!
A Sweet Little Snowy Kiss


Dad finally came out for some snowy fun...
but this New Yorker was COLD!
Dad bought a special Harley Davidson onsie for Baby Kiss.
He picked it out himself! 
We enjoyed our fun in the snow, and then our gift exchange! This year in addition to our family gifts, my sweet Aunt Tiffany sent us a little extra holiday fun! She wrapped up various little extras in such cute wrapping paper, and mailed them to us from California for a Holiday White Elephant Gift Exchange...Trader Joe's Style! We each opened one gift and funny enough, there was no stealing because each person got exactly what they loved! With the exception of my dad's Soft Lady Fingers which he opened first, but in the end he picked a gift that he chose to hide from everyone because he wanted to keep it so bad!

Dad with his Soft Lady Fingers...haha...he's not really a
Lady Fingers kind of man! 
Mom with her Trader Joe's Mustard 
Chet excited about his Mini-Gingerbread Men!
Me with my Peppermint Bark...I love this stuff!
Jeff with his peanut brittle! This kid
loves peanut brittle and had been talking
about it earlier in the day! 
Katie opened the Gingerbread Coffee to
match Chet's Mini Gingerbread Men!
Maw opened tea...oh how she loves tea! 
Then Dad opened some yummy, chocolate
covered popcorn, and decided to hide
it from all of us! 
After all of that fun, it was off to Jeff's families house for more fun festivities! We had a blast celebrating together with them too! Afterwards, we went home and exchanged just a few, little gifts, as we knew how much love, fun, and excitement shopping for Baby Kiss' Nursery would bring us later this week, we decided to make that our main Christmas gifts to each other. So, this year Christmas was about the joy of bringing Baby Kiss into the world and celebrating what we had created together! One of the little gifts was a set of New Mommy and Daddy Coffee cups that we had seen when we bought them to announce our pregnancy to our parents. I saw them at the store and had to buy them for each of us, since we didn't buy them when we first saw them! 


And I HAD to buy Baby Kiss her first pair of Pink Tiny TOMS! 
I was in love, a girl's gotta have some SPARKLE, 
and Jeff about died when he opened them up! How fun! 
Overall, it was a very Merry Christmas and we enjoyed every minute of it together celebrating family, love, and of course the reason for the season...Jesus' Birthday! 

 

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Halfway to the FINISH Line!

20 weeks makes the halfway mark, and Baby Kiss is really starting to peek out! This past week EVERYONE at work began making comments about how excited they were that they could see now. My principal even said "I didn't believe you until now!" haha! I pretty much doubled, or maybe even tripled in size from what I was a week ago! People started noticing (at about 19 1/2 weeks) last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...it was really funny how just all of the sudden everyone randomly began making comments around the same time! "OOOh I can see it!" they would say! I guess Baby Kiss figured she needed to make some sort of appearance at our gender reveal party that week, and at least make Mommy look kinda pregnant! I think by the official 20 week mark, I had doubled since the Gender Reveal Party on Saturday! Can we say growth spurt?!!?!?

I am in disbelief that I am already halfway through this journey...
 only 20 more weeks to go! 
20 weeks and we have a Lil' Miss Kiss in our arms!  

I can finally hold my little pregnant belly now! 

Yay! Baby Kiss is a GIRL! 

Jeff is so amazed with the tummy growth...
he makes sweet comments about it all of the time with a little smile! 

How far along? 20 weeks 1 day
Fruit/Veggie Comparison: Banana or Coconut (6.5 inches)
Total Weight Gain/ Loss? 5 pounds
Maternity Clothes? Wearing the Belly Band with ALL of my pants now. I tried to wear a pair of transitional maternity jeans to dinner one night that button and everything...but they got so stretched out in an hour they were falling off of me...so I am not quite ready for them yet! 
Stretch Marks? Nope...still lotioning it up
Sleep: Sleeping GREAT but exhausted from all of the gender reveal excitement!
Best Moment THIS Week: Finding out that Baby Kiss is a Lil' Miss Kiss surrounded by the love of our family and friends! 
Miss Anything? Not having to pull up and adjust my pants every time I get up from sitting down! 
Movement: I am still thinking I have felt some flutters, but still not 100% sure! 
Food Cravings: Still cucumbers, clementine oranges, grapefruit...and I have been wanting meatloaf...weird, I never want meatloaf haha but a friend at work was eating some and it made me really want some
Anything Making You Queasy or Sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: YES! Everyone at work has been commenting that they can finally see it! 
Gender: Baby Kiss is a GIRL...a Lil' Miss Kiss is on her way! 
Labor Signs: Not at all
Belly Button In or Out? IN, still crossing my fingers for that not to change
Wedding Rings On or Off? ON every day....love, love, love my husband! 
Happy, Emotional, or Moody Most of the Time: GLOWING with excitement and loving that we know our Lil' Miss Kiss is on her way and she is starting to show!
Funny/ Sweet Quotes from the First Graders:
"I feel excited that Mrs. Kiss' baby is growing, I hope it keeps growing everyday!"- Jennifer
"I hope you have a girl, they are easier to train!" -5th Grader
Looking Forward to: Being out of school to celebrate the holidays with my family and shopping for the Baby Kiss nursery!