Peanut Butter is Awesome

This face. 

That's all.

Audra's Version of Property Brothers - Part 1

Let's do some math!!!

What do you get when you combine:

A lifechanging, major purchase

+

Pregnancy Insomnia

+

A person who watches WAY too much HGTV

=

A pregnant woman who has come up with a comprehensive design scheme for a house that she doesn't even own full and clear yet.

Ok, so let's just say that, hypothetically, we bought this house: 

Well, non-hypothetically, I have spent hours upon hours coming up with a design scheme for this hypothetical house that has beautiful bones but an outdated color palette.

This is where Jonathan and Drew come in. No, I'm not having an affair. J & D are the hosts of Property Brothers on HGTV, and they have been my inspiration for our hypothetical new home design. 

If you haven't seen the show (seriously, what's wrong with you), the premise is that a couple is looking for a home that is contemporary and move-in ready, but they don't have the budget to accomplish both of those goals. So Drew finds them a house with potential, and Jonathan helps them renovate, re-imagine, and resign their fixer-upper into their dream home. He shows them his design plan, but also leaves it open to change.

Our hypothetical house is definitely NOT a fixer-upper (trust, I've been there) but it's just... beige. Boring. And we're not boring people. (At least I don't think so?)

So in all of my insomnia, I have re-imagined and re-designed every square inch of our beautiful new hypothetical home. Now it's just up to MY Jonathan (my actual husband) to renovate it. I probably shouldn't be installing carpet and painting at 9 months pregnant, hmmm?


So I thought I'd share some of my design ideas because they are burning a hole through my laptop and Pinterest boards.

And here we go:

Hypothetical entry way as it looks today:

Design Ideas:

The main color of the house will be Revere Pewter gray, and we plan to paint all of the wood trim white. We're also replacing all of the carpet, because it's beige with dark brown and black flecks and reminds me of vomit.

Formal Living Room Today:

Design Ideas:

As of today (and I have every right to change my mind because I'm a woman and I can and will), I'd like to do a dark gray accent wall, with white adjoining walls. Then I'd like to bring in pops of yellow as accents. I'm leaning toward either white or dark grey furniture in here (or both). Not pictured: A gorgeous built-in bookshelf that is to the left of where the picture was taken. May either paint that white or black.

Instead of a TV, I'd like to do a black and white photo wall as the focal point in the room. Probably with pictures of my sweet girls as the main subject of interest :)

I think these curtains from Z Gallerie are PERFECT for a room with a dark gray accent wall and white walls. They let in a good amount of light, but it brings the gray over to the other wall.

Dining Room Today:

 Design Ideas:

The theme I'm thinking for this room is Sage, Beige and Black. I want a gray/green since again the main color of the home is gray, so the colors have to coordinate. Right now I'm leaning toward a color called October Mist.

This room is the closest to my vision, but I think we'll paint under the chair rail white because there's only the one small window in this room and I don't want it to feel too dark.

So what do we think of my hypothetical stabs at home design??? Would Jonathan and Drew be proud or ashamed???

Emerson 15 Month Update

Let's talk about this girl.... 

Weight: ~20-21lbs. Skinny arms and legs with a big belly :)

Word Count: 65! She is actually starting to freak us out with how many words she knows. Obviously mommy's degree in Communication has been passed down a generation. She is SO good at communicating what she thinks/wants/needs, and is starting to pull more and more "sentences" together, i.e. "More. Milk. Please?" "Mommy. Bath. Quack quack. Water." It's like she takes stock of her surroundings and gives you all the words she knows that relate to it.

My favorite new words of hers are Computer (comes out as Poo-ter), Puppy (every single time she hears a puppy barking she screams "PUPPY!!), Car and Okay. (LOVE this one - "Emerson, want to come with mommy?" "Okaaaaay").

Hair: Well, the mullet is back. It's growing too fast now to do anything about it, though she'll need a bang trim here pretty soon.

Sleep: Sigh. I am going to miss these nights when we lay our baby down and she doesn't wake up for 12 hours. I know your baby sister will not let that happen for quite some time. The cutest thing ever is that she has now started requesting her naps. "Baby? Night-night. Happy" means "Go get my baby doll, I am ready for a nap please, once you sing my happy song that is."

Favorite Toy: Books. This is a girl after my own heart. I was SUCH a book nerd as a kiddo. When she goes into her bedroom, she immediately goes for her bookshelf and pulls down 3-4 books to "read" to herself. I took her to the play area of the library the other day, and she was bored of the toys after a few minutes, and then wandered around till she found books for us to read together :)

She also loves sweeping the floors. Please don't call CPS on me. She's not very good at it. 

That face. I die.

Favorite Foods:  Strawberries. Waffles. Blueberries. Peanut butter. Can't. get. enough. PB. "Mommy! Up! Butter!" is an after-nap chant I hear regularly.

Favorite New Action: She now reaches for our hands and guides us places. She loves exploring, and now that it's warm out, she just loves walking around the neighborhood. I think she'll like her new neighborhood even more ;-)

Big sister potential: Lucky for us (maybe unlucky for her?) your lovely babysitter has a new baby at home, so she is sort of laying the groundwork for us (thank you Skye!) with the idea of having a new baby sister in the house. It was confusing for Em at first, when she'd say "Up!" and Skye couldn't pick her up because she was holding the baby, but she is getting the hang of it and is proving just how adaptable and resilient she is. 

Let's throw in a new sister AND a new house in the same week and see how she handles it, hmmm? Pray for me.

The 7-Year Scratch and a Non-Announcement

Today is 4-5-13.

On this day 7 years ago, 4-5-06, Jon and I had our first date. 

We went to the Winking Lizard and joined the World Tour of Beers. Because nothing says true love like sharing a lager with your crush.

We consider that our first "date," but, when you're friends with someone for 4 years before you start dating them, it's kinda like "Hey, let's hang out like normal, only now we might kiss at the end of the night."

The oldest recorded picture of us on Facebook and therefore readily available to post. May 2007 I think?

Seven years. This is supposedly the time when couples develop the "7 Year Itch" aka they are growing tired of each other, I guess. I just know it as a Marilyn Monroe flick. This also means that we have lived together for 7 years. (Stop judging me - we were roommates while we were still friends, and then we started dating and it seemed silly to live apart at that point.)

Now I'm not saying that we are a perfect couple or having a perfect marriage. But after 7 years, I love him exponentially more than I ever thought I could. 

2007/8 - I think?

Maybe it's the fact that we've been through the worst experience imaginable together. Maybe it's because we have the world's most wonderful daughter, and another on the way. Maybe it's because he makes me laugh like no one can.

Whatever it is, I can honestly say I don't feel the "itch." Metaphorically, I feel like we've only "scratched" the surface our relationship. Meaning, holy cow that was a quick 7 years! I still feel like we're learning about each other. 

We have so much going on in our lives right now, maybe we'll experience a 9 year itch. I'm sure we are not immune to hard times in our marriage.

But for now, dare I say I actually still like this fella?

Engagement Night

As for my non-announcement, it's Non because I don't want to say it out loud until it's all said and done.

But let's just say, hypothetically, that maybe we sold our house. And, hypothetically, maybe bought another one. 

Hypothetically of course. 

Stay tuned.

A toddler ate my baby

How else can one possibly explain this discrepancy??? 

Easter 2012 seems like it was last month. Our little baby has grown so much in one year. Sniff sniff.

She didn't quite grasp the concept of the egg "hunt." She found her first two eggs, and then just held onto them and wandered around. She also loved carrying her baskets (which when she says the word, comes out more like "baguette." Is she taking French lessons at day care???)