weekly bean update

and this week according to the bump...

things are starting to get all sorts of real these past few days. my belly seems to be growing daily, and it's official, my pre-pregnancy pants no longer fit! i actually purchased my first two pairs of maternity pants today. baby gap had some amazing clearance deals going on and i got one pair for $14 and the other for just 7 buck! i refuse to spend big money on clothing i'll only wear for a few months, so this was considered quite a successful day indeed! i think i will give one exception to a good pair of jeans though. if any mama's out there have a favorite maternity jean that got them through the big belly months, i would LOVE to get some recommendations. jeans are a huge part of my wardrobe and i'm feeling kinda lost without them :(

in other preggo news, i've also become a bit of an emotional mess this week. i can cry at the drop of a hat! i'm considering it a pretty impressive skill as of now... we'll see how i look at it if it continues for longer then a few days. i know it's all hormones, and that it tends to be at it's worst when i'm trying to figure out something to wear. it's a tough thing suddenly not knowing how to dress yourself, and on top of that not feeling attractive in anything you do happen to still fit into. it's all part of this fun process, i know. i'm hoping this mini shopping spree i had today will help with some of my clothing issues. let's keep our fingers crossed shall we!

here's to a weekend of no tears... hopefully!

life... according to my iphone

these have been some very exciting, very busy, days this week. my bff since 10th grade is in town staying with us for a bit while she works out some visa issues before moving overseas. she and i hardly get to see each other anymore, so i'm soaking it all in before she is living way out of my reach.

here's a bit of what we've been up to this past week...

i gots me a new ride! very safe and bean friendly :)

we made some amazing vegan banana pancakes using this mix here, which those of you living in charlotte can get HERE... so flippin' good!

i painted the inside of my shed all white!

working on new dreamcatchers!

snuggly critter #1

snuggly critter #2

evan and i taught shereen (previously mentioned bff) to ride a fixed gear bike. don't worry, she did change into sneakers shortly after this pic.

so that's a little taste of what life around here has looked like. we've got a few other friends coming into town the next few days too, so things are about to get even busier. timing just all happened to line up and all of our closest friends will be here at the same time. amazing!

hope all of you lovely friends are enjoying some quality summer time too. can you believe it's already half over?!?! that makes me sadder then i can even tell you. i live for summer and just want to hold onto it forever!

room inspiration

here's a little peek at the images i've been collecting for the beans room inspiration...

(click on the *** for the sources)

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

and while drooling over this nursery above, i notice that the momma of the little baby who lives in this room is one of my past Monkey & Squirrel buyers from Australia! it filled me with more happiness then i can even tell you to see my horse hook hanging with those precious baby shoes on it. seriously small world we have here friends!

***

weekly bean update

and this week according to the bump...

16 weeks... hot dang! happy 4 months to you bean! ok perhaps it's just me, but doesn't this weeks avocado baby seem smaller then last weeks orange baby? anywho...

this week i've been hit with the super mid-day sleepies. anywhere between noon and 3pm, a zombie like exhaustion hits and i must give into a nap. i can't complain much though because i'm lucky enough to work from home and be able to indulge in such pleasures. otherwise i imagine you would have a very cranky preggers on your hands!

in other homefront news, thanks to a heads up from sami, i now have plans to paint the inside of my little shed workspace white and model it after this amazing hubby and wife's adorable shed studios. i fell hard for them when i checked out their blog and now my shed has shed envy. so this weekend will hopefully involve painting the inside and outside of my new space. it will probably take 8 times longer then it should because it's supposed to be in the high 90's this weekend. me and the bean don't handle heat well these days, so many many lemonade breaks will be involved. i'm talking like every 15 minutes. southern heat and humidity is no joke people!

hope everyone stays cool and comfy all weekend!!!

having a kid is gonna be sweet...

especially when i can dress it in badass things like navajo print leggings!

and speaking of the bean, i've now got a little poll going on over on the sidebar there ----->

we find out the gender on august 4th, but until then i'm curious to know what you think it will be!

New Monkey & Squirrel Dreamcatchers!

the Monkey & Squirrel hand embroidered dreamcatchers are now live in my shop! these babies have been a labor of love for me and i'm pleased as punch to finally be able to share them with you friends.

may they protect you from bad dreams every night...

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

i had the idea for these a while back, but it wasn't until this weekend that i was finally able to plant myself on the couch and stitch away for hours on end. i absolutely love the way they came out, and you can definitely expect to see more of these popping up in the shop.

and PS... not only are those feathers not real feathers, but they're acrylic felt to boot! let's hear it for vegan friendly home decor!

the shed... still a work in progress.

a few pics from the weekend build...

as i mentioned last week, we're putting up a cute little shed outside so that i can move a lot of my work supplies out of the house and make more room for the little bean on the way. it'll be part storage, part work space, part fort hideaway and i can't wait to start moving stuff in! it's still not quite done yet, obviously, but it's in it's home stretch stages!

i didn't get to paint the little nuggets room last weekend like i had originally hoped to because i soon came to the conclusion that there were even more pressing things that needed to happen first. things such as clearing out, and cleaning up, my current studio space so that we can start making that into the new guest room. our current guest room is what will soon be the babies room. so first thing first, move the guest room stuff out before painting. i know eventually i'll get to start working on the beans room, i'm just so darn impatient!

the bean says hello!

looky what we just got to hear this morning...

they said he/she was moving all over the place and sounds nice and strong. go bean!!!

weekly bean update

and this week according to the bump...

holy naval orange batman!

holding that orange while taking these pictures was kinda surreal. it's so much more substantial then the fruits that came before. i guess that's how it will be from here on out. evan actually asked the other day how i was going to handle it when we got to the week of the watermelon, and honestly i have no idea!

i'm still feeling really good these days, with the exception of passing the heck out at the end of the day. i mean like no recollection of anything after my head hits that pillow. it's intense! the past two days i've been waking up quite a bit during the night though because it's starting to get a little odd figuring out a new favorite sleeping position. i've been a life long stomach sleeper and that is no longer an option. in addition to that i have to start practicing not sleeping on my back as well. i guess once i'm a bit larger there is a chance that your uterus can squish a big ol' artery when you lay on your back. so that leaves me with side sleeping, which is generally ok, but i have to switch sides often. just par for the course i suppose.

i'm kinda big time excited for this weekend. i purchased this little shed for our backyard, and this weekend evan and his bros will be assembling it for me (such an amazing fam i've married into). my plan is turn it into an outdoor workroom so that i can get most of my gear out of the house. i can make quite a mess in here, and with a little one on the way we need all the space we can get right now! annnnd, while the boys are doing that i think i'm going to paint the little beans room!!! i'm so stoked to get started on that, and painting is the necessary evil that must come first. oh and don't worry, i'll be very careful with lots of ventilation, and rest breaks mixed in there too. gotta do everything with extra caution these days :)

so hopefully all these plans will go off without a hitch and i'll have lots to share on monday. have a great weekend friends!!!

365 project

some of you may have already noticed the 365 box over on the sidebar there, but i've never mentioned anything about it. lemme tell you a bit what that's all about! on my birthday this year, march 28th, i started the 365 project. that involves taking one picture, everyday, for a year, to represent your past 365 days alive. today is day 110 and it's already like a blast from the past going back to first 20 or so days and seeing what was going on then. this is, for obvious reasons, a big year for us and i know i'll be so grateful when i've hit day 365 to have this little collection. here are a few of my favorites so far...

1/365- my 32nd birthday. so it begins

10/365- the day we got mirabelle. she was so tiny!!!

20/365- the day i saw my horse hook in Southern Living Magazine!

31/365- the day we found out that we're having a baby! i picked these few little flowers from the yard and just sat the pregnancy test next to them for evan to find when he got home from work. it was pretty exciting, emotional stuff.

71/365- mirabelles first vet visit. that face breaks my heart!

83/365- just a sweet moment with my two favorite boys!

89/365- the day our friends welcomed their twin baby girls into the world!

there are so many other pictures that just remind me exactly what i was doing on that day at that time. it's amazing how much one picture can just bring an entire day of memories right back to you.

anyone else ever do the 365 project? i would love to hear if you did anything special with the pictures afterwards. i'm thinking about getting these printed into a book so i can have my little collection all in one spot.

you can see all the pictures by either clicking the 365 box to the right, or by clicking HERE.