1st Home Update! The entryway... Part 1

Disclaimer: These ideas are NOT my own. Our house would be bare if it wasn't for Pinterest. Please feel free to steal these ideas. I did.

Ok, let's talk entryways, shall we? The entryway is your home's 1st impression. It's what you & your guest 1st see when you/they walk in the door. If it's a cluttered mess, to you it says, "I know you just got home from a busy day but there's more work to do. There's mail to read, errands to run, & dust bunnies who need new homes." Who wants to come home & be reminded of all that's waiting for them the moment they walk in the door? Not this girl! To your guest, your mess says, "Yeah, we're here. Grab a broom & HELP cause we ain't doin' it."

A nice, clean, fresh entryway, on the other hand, says, "Welcome home. Its been a long day but you're done now. Come, rest." Or, "This is our home. Welcome to it. Take off those shoes & join our family."

What, your entryway doesn't speak to you? I guess when you spend your days with 2 youngins, you start hearing voices.

Anyway, you remember our entryway don't you? Wrong door, loooooong hall way, empty walls.

Well, we still have the wrong door but those walls have been taken care of just a bit.

Lets start with the door. During the 1st month of living here, we had 4 solicitors come to our door. (2 of which were carpet cleaners. Really? How dirty can carpets get in 1 month?) Because our house is so open & we have lots of windows, someone at the door can literally see from 1 end to the other. As a very sick pregnant mommy of a 3 year old, I didn't want to get off the couch to get Lucy milk, let alone answer the door to some man trying to clean my carpets. So, we started researching options. Glass film, blinds, window tint, etc. I wasn't thrilled with any of these options, so I did what I always do... Hit up Pinterest. I found this

source

& fell in love. I got the hubs on board & started shopping.

I knew I wanted my shears to be long but didn't want to pay big bucks for them so I called my mom. Not to buy them for me , sillies. My parents were moving & getting rid of a lot of stuff & they just happen to have a super long shear curtain in their dining room that I was pretty sure they weren't going to use again. She passed it down & I very meticulously cut it in half (not really; it's not even hemmed), clipped it with curtain clips & slid it on the rod. The hubs hung it up & here we are.

How sweet is our Mattie looking out the window?! These shears are great for the whole family! 

Because of our molding, I wasn't able to put the tie-backs as low as I wanted but I still like the look. It lets light in while keeping our privacy. 

My inspiration lady changed her shears to patterned curtains, which I love!! Perhaps after we get the door I want (with a big window to let more light in) Ill go for something with a pattern, but for now I'm sticking with my shears.

Stick around for The Entryway Part 2 and Part 3 to learn about my 1st crafts for the house. {Hint: That bench and that "P".}

What pregnancy?

Oh hi! Has it been 3 years already? Guess it's time for me to update the old blog again.

Where to begin? I'll just say Happy New Year & start over.

 But wait. Starting over involves someone you haven't met yet & that just won't do. How about a nice {short} birth story to get us reacquainted?

You know about the "morning" sickness in the beginning so we'll skip ahead to 27 weeks when the contractions started. It was very dramatic with contractions coming every 2 minutes, me & the fam leaving poor, unsuspecting Home Group members & 5 large pizzas shaking their heads in our driveway (the home group members, not the pizzas), & racing to the hospital just in time for the contractions to slow down. I was dehydrated so we spent the night in the hospital & were sent home with a prescription for meds to keep the contractions away, as well as appointments for a progesterone shot every other week.

Fast forward to 38 weeks & you skip 2 holidays, a ton of contractions, & find yourself at D-day. I woke up on Dec 3rd at 5am & started timing contractions (again!). But this time, praise The Lord, there was a pattern. Jeff & I got dressed & headed to my scheduled dr's appointment early. I was hooked up to a monitor & told I was having inconsistent, mild (says who?) contractions but the dr would check me anyway. Fully expecting to be sent home, we listened as the dr said, "It's baby day!" I was 4 cm dilated! We walked to L&D, got hooked up, & waited to hear if an epidural was in my future. (My platelet count was low thanks to high blood pressure, so natural is was with Lucy. I don't recommend that, nor did I want to relive it.) The nurse came in baring bad news. After 5 minutes of freaking out, she returned to say the dr was going to do it anyway. Holy moly was I a happy lady! That lovely anesthesiologist came in at 7 cm and left my new best friend. I slept through 8, 9, & 10 cms & woke up when the nurse came to check me due to frequent, strong contractions shown on the monitor. She moved my leg and sternly said, "DON'T MOVE!". In seconds my room was full of people waiting to meet our little miracle. After 1 push & some laughing (go ahead, read that again) Macy Clara was born.


Beautiful, right? That adorable bundle was born at 4:49 pm on Dec 3, 2012. She weighed 6lbs, 15 oz & was 18 3/4in long.

She looks a bit more like this at 6 weeks.



She has been nothing but pure sweetness since she was born. She has the best little faces & can grunt like a grown man. She's super snugly & just the sweetest thing. We're all perfectly smitten. Lucy loves her & is so gentle & understanding when I have to tend to her. I can't wait to share her with you as she grows up.

Well, that was a nice story. See you in 6 months.

Haha just kidding. I have lots of home updates & Macy milestones (yep she's reached milestones already) to document & now that I've figured out how to blog on the phone, I hope to see you more regularly. (The home computer took a bubble bath so that made blogging a challenge.) See ya soon!

Lose a baby, get a baby

I described here how I felt after losing our 2nd baby but haven't said anything about it since then because there just isn't much to say. There are still so many questions I have that just can't be answered. There are still days that I think, "did that really happen?" It still makes me sad to think about all of the things we will miss with that sweet baby and there are times when something reminds me of our loss and I cry just as I did the day it happened. I just came to the realization that God has all the answers and he hasn't failed me yet so I better trust him with this.

Jeff and I decided pretty soon after losing the baby that we still wanted another baby and we didn't really have a reason to wait. The thought of losing another one was too much to think about so I didn't, and decided that God would work out those details too. I just had to wait and see what he had in store for us. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long.

I shook the entire time I took the test. Part of me wanted it to be positive but part of me wanted it to be negative so I wouldn't have a chance of miscarrying again. When it came up positive, I cried and prayed. Jeff and I were happy but scared and decided not to say anything to anyone until we had gone to the dr. and made sure everything was looking ok to start with. I figured that way it we lost this baby too, our family would hurt for us but not for themselves since they wouldn't have a chance to get excited about him/her. Thanks to "morning" sickness and moving, that wasn't possible. After going to our 1st dr. appointment at 7 weeks, 2 days, we learned everything looked perfect. Of course, I had been told this with our last baby so I was very thankful for my daily baby reminder- the never-ending sickness. Although I felt awful, I thanked God multiple times a day for the assurance that everything was ok.

Now that we are 20 weeks, I never think of losing the baby until I hear a random stillborn story and my fears return. Before losing our baby, I rarely heard of miscarriages but now I realize how common it is and it makes me so sad. Then I hear of abortions and watch teen pregnancy shows and get angry. And then I remember that we live in a world of sin and it's temporary. I will never "get over" losing our precious baby but I do have peace knowing I'll get to know {him} one day in a world of perfection.

Welcome!

Well Hi there. If you are coming to us from our previous blog (pruittsgoosetales.blogspot.com), welcome to our new one. If you are new, welcome to our family. Around here you will find family updates, house projects, and book reviews. Enjoy!