Furniture Obsession

We've lived in our house for 3.5 years and I still have several rooms that are unfinished. Given our circumstances for a majority of that time, its to be expected. But every year when the holidays approach and Christmas parties are planned at my home, I become increasingly aware of just how bare some those rooms are.

Some rooms are going to take a lot of work money to finish since I need to buy furniture, so my goal is to tackle some smaller pieces since our next big purchases will be a riding lawn mower and fence (we're working on Andrew's major purchase list in the immediate future). 

The easiest room to complete would be the entryway. I already have a beautiful Pottery Barn mirror and a canvas that has our family picture from an earlier photo session with Josh Craig. But the piece that I need to complete the entryway is a table. I'm dying to complete some Pinterest and Etsy crafts for Christmas so I can decorate an entryway table.

But as I've found out, a small piece of furniture can carry a hefty price tag. My hope has been to find a diamond in the rough on Craigslist and refinish it to make it look like some of these beauties:

Can you tell that I'm obsessed with demilune tables? :)

O Christmas Tree

One of the perks to the Body by Vi shakes is having an increase in energy. This came in handy last night when Andrew and I tackled the tree...or at least Andrew started on the tree, but he was done when I started putting on the so called "girly" stuff.

I know it will come as a shock to some of you, but I do stray away from my black/white/red/gray color scheme at Christmas by incorporating green and silver! I figure since the tree is already green, I might as well go all out! This year I decided that my tree needed some sprucing up, so I purchased some red and green glittery ting branches from my new favorite store in Cary, Carolina Pottery. You can really get some great bargains there, especially when they do their end of holiday sales! I'm hoping to get some new Christmas ornaments this year, but we'll just have to wait and see what kind of deals they have! In the meantime, our tree doesn't look half bad, if I do say so myself!

The Throneburg Christmas Tree

What is your holiday color scheme?

Well that was a long hiatus...

I'm ashamed of myself.

After blogging everyday about Lincoln's progress in NICU on the CaringBridge site, I thought blogging about his milestones and our lives on a daily basis would be a piece of cake! WRONG! My last blog was almost 8 months ago! Time is flying and it's quickly approaching Lincoln's 1st birthday!

So why start now? Well, I was at Junior League meeting last night, and someone said that I should do a blog because I'm great at finding discounts and doing crafts. And I realized that she was right! And its easier because I already have a blog. So now I'm making an early New Year's resolution to blog every day. And not just blog about our family, but blog about DIY projects and money-saving tips. And maybe I'll get around to executing one of my pins off of Pinterest and be able to post that accomplishment here!

It's perfect timing. My job is ending before Christmas, so I'll some free time I wouldn't normally have. Maybe this blog will help me figure out what I'm meant to do with my life?

While I'm left pondering my future, here's a quick recap of the past 8 months:

• Lincoln is truly a miracle! At his last doctor's appointment, Lincoln weighed 17lbs and was 26 3/4in long. The best thing is that you can't even tell he was a preemie! He is very social (he loves the ladies!) and he's sitting, crawling and pulling himself up. He currently has five teeth and he occasionally uses those chompers to aid him in pulling himself up onto the couch (or an innocent bystander). I'm currently trying to plan his birthday party, which is going to be based on the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. 
• Andrew is working from Raleigh permanently as of Halloween day! I'm very excited to have him around on a daily basis, although it has taken some adjusting!
• I'm working a contract job in addition to my full time job updating Facebook fan pages. Hopefully it will allow me to stay home with Lincoln permanently if I'm not able to find other employment after my full time position ends.
• Andrew and I have started another New Year's resolution early...we are currently in the middle of a Body by Vi 90-Day Challenge. Combined we have both lost almost 14lbs and we are only on Day 6! I'm very excited to see the results at the end of the challenge. If you are interested in getting more information and joining the challenge with us, please let me know!

That pretty much sums up our lives at the current time. Tonight we'll be finally putting decorations on our Christmas tree and wrapping presents that have been coming in from online orders I made Thanksgiving Day (more on that later!) So once the presents are wrapped, I'll post a picture of the Christmas decor!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture of sweet Lincoln that the fabulous Josh Craig took during a photo session Thanksgiving weekend:

Jingle All The Way!

This picture will be coming to a mailbox near you via your Christmas card very soon! :)

Easter Pic Sneak Peak

Sorry I've been MIA. It's been a crazy couple of weeks getting Lincoln's stuff together to move to Raleigh and then starting back at work. To top it all off, we found out last Friday that Lincoln has a dairy allergy, so we had to switch his formula to an expensive kind (yay! note the sarcasm) and now I'm on a dairy free diet. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to survive with cheese, but I've lasted a week so far! At his appointment, Lincoln weighed in at 7lbs, 12oz and 19in long. He's getting to be a big boy!

Last Saturday, Josh Craig took Lincoln's Easter pictures. Josh does a great job, so I can't wait to see the rest of them! Here is a sneak peek:

Isn't he precious?!

I'll try to post more pictures later on this weekend! In the meantime, please keep Andrew in your prayers...he's taking the Professional Engineering Exam today!

2 Months And Counting

2 Months!

Lincoln is 2 months old today! He is growing so much and starting to stay awake for longer periods of time. Last night he was up for a little while after his feeding, so I got out some rattles and he started shaking one and was smiling really big. It was the cutest thing ever!

Although it's an unofficial weight (we weighed him when we went to visit Vickie at work) he weighs almost 7lbs! I'm pretty sure he is over 20in long...he's starting to fill out his onesies and sleepers in the newborn size, but only in the length. His little arms, legs and belly are still so skinny! It's amazing what a difference a pound can make though. When we brought him home 3 weeks ago, his clothes were swallowing him whole, and that's when he weighed 5lbs, 7oz. I tried his Easter outfit on him tonight and even though its a newborn size, the pants literally fell off of him when I picked him up. Now I have to find another outfit for his Easter pictures next Saturday.

In other news, we are still not sleeping at night...by we I mean Lincoln and me. I truly hope he starts to fall asleep at night now that he's awake more during the day. I only have a week and a half before I start back at work, and I don't think my boss wants me to come in at 5PM...because that's what time I typically wake up since I'm not going to sleep until 8 or 9AM! Andrew keeps asking me when his schedule is going to straighten out. Even though he's 2 months old, we're still a week away from his due date, so I'm not sure his schedule is going to get better anytime soon. I think I'll be investing in 5 Hour Energy!

Here are more pictures from tonight:

I may be growing, but my pants are still too big!

Mommy always makes sure my accessories match my outfit!

Working on my muscles!

Hello World!

Kiss Me I'm Irish

My Little Leprechaun

Lincoln wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Luckily Andrew didn't have to pinch him since he was wearing green, but green is not in my color scheme, so I wasn't as fortunate. Andrew has been in Texas all week for work and came back today. It was nice to have him home. I guess these few days without him was a preview of what's to come in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully this time won't be as long as the year we went apart last year!

Time Is Flying By

Lincoln's been home for 2 weeks! It's crazy at how fast the time has gone by. He's still not sleeping well at night...last night he went to bed at 6:30AM and I ended up sleeping on and off until 5PM! I've used the late nights to work on Thank You notes and ordering my announcements. However, I need to get my sleep schedule back in order because I'm going back to work at the beginning of April. Unfortunately it will be sans Andrew. There hasn't been any interest in our house, and in order to continue to make the payments, I need to be working. So we're stepping out on a limb and praying that something happens soon.

In the meantime, Lincoln will officially have his own room, so I'm excited about being able to hang up all of his clothes (we're sharing a closet right now, and by sharing, I mean that his boxes of diapers have taken up all of the space!) and being able to decorate! I figure if I'm there, I might as well decorate! So now I'm obsessing over the details...I wanted the glider and ottoman from Pottery Barn, but I think it may be too much white. I found this glider at Walmart and fell in love with it!

Little Castle Enchanted Embassy Glider

I was originally worried that the black would look odd with the white furniture, but I think it will tie into the bedding and accessories nicely. Now if I can just convince Andrew that we need it! LOL! I found the glider thanks to the blog I stumbled upon: Black and White Delight. They blog about home decor and clothing in my favorite color scheme: black and white!

Come back tomorrow night to see Lincoln's St. Patty's Day outfit! Hopefully his bib will fit him better than the one for Valentine's!

I'm A Slacker

It's hard keeping up with a blog and keeping up with a newborn. Lincoln's proven to be even more difficult this week than last. Now he keeps me up all night, sometimes not letting me get any sleep until 9AM! Needless to say, I've been very cranky this week! I've resorted to sleeping on the couch some nights and putting Lincoln in his Mamaroo swing (I highly recommend this swing!) just to prevent Andrew from hearing him cry! But tonight starts the weekend, so I will sleep in bed and let Andrew take care of him! I say this to try to sound mean to Andrew, but he is great and gladly helps out on weekends since he knows that I've been taking care of our insatiable child all week.

Seriously, our kid eats ALL night long! Yet he will go for hours during the day without eating at all. My friend Michelle suggested that I wake him up every 2-3 hours to feed him during the day and then let him sleep at night without waking him to see if that will help him get back on schedule. But waking him up is easier said than done. I might have to resort to torturing him just to get him to open up an eye. I tried giving him a bath today to wake him, but the little stinker started dozing in the bathtub! I think he was sent to me to test my patience as well as my ability to function on as little sleep as possible!

I tried approaching last night with a different attitude than I'd had the nights previous. I read that if you went into each night knowing that it's normal for your baby to wake you up several times, then you wouldn't feel so frustrated because you would understand that they need to eat, as well as be cuddled and nurtured. I think that advice worked...at least it did last night. Instead of getting frustrated that Lincoln would cry every time I put him down, I just looked at it as an opportunity to cuddle with him more. For all of my friends who are pregnant or want to have a baby in the near future, don't be fooled by the doctors saying your baby will eat every 2-3 hours. Unfortunately, cluster feeding at night is very common. Instead of being mad at your children for keeping you awake, get mad at the doctors who made you think you were going to get some sleep! For more info about nursing, I found a great website: KellyMom

Here is what's been happening when I haven't been trying to get some sleep:

I think he loves his mommy too!

Duke and Duchess are so overprotective of Lincoln!

Al Bundy in the making!

Homemade closet organizers...not bad for my first craft project!

The Cricut machine has come in handy! I can personalize everything!

Pat A Cake and This Little Piggy for the hand and foot prints!

Ikea Frame and the "L" that Terry spray painted for me to go over the crib.

Initials and frame on top of Lincoln's dresser.

Busy Busy Busy

Lincoln still doesn't sleep at night. Oh, he'll sleep the day away, but come 1AM, he decides to wake me up for a late night snack and then keeps me up usually until about 4 or 5AM. There are times when I want to pull my hair out, but then he does something really cute, and then I turn to goo and basically allow him to torture me with his crying all night long. I hear this passes...maybe I'll be able to sleep through the night by the time he turns 2!

Because I don't get any sleep at night, I have resorted to sleeping throughout the day. So between feeding Lincoln (and myself if I remember!) I pretty much don't have time for anything else. How do other moms go back to work?! But I have managed to fit in Lincoln's first pediatrician appointment, a newborn photo shoot, a kids consignment sale and his first bath! Now you can see why I haven't updated the blog until now!

Lincoln's first pediatrician appointment went really well. As of Friday, he weighed 5lbs, 9oz which means he gained 2oz in 2 days! He is also 18 3/4in long, so he grew 3/4 of an inch since Sunday night! The doctor said that his growth for a 6 week old baby born at 30 weeks was amazing. According to her, Lincoln doesn't act or look like a preemie his age should. That's great news! Of course, we already knew that our kid was amazing. He is already holding his head up for long periods of time, which seems very odd since he's only 6 weeks old...not to mention that the doctors told us that he would probably be behind in his milestones since he was 10 weeks early. For some reason, I don't think Lincoln will be as far behind as the doctors said he would be!

In the meantime, everyone warned us that boys will pee on you while they're being changed. Andrew got to experience this phenomenon 3 times on Saturday...all within an hour! Needless to say, Lincoln's first bath on Saturday night was well deserved.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Waiting for the pediatrician!

Lincoln's first bath!

"I'm a great catch!" Thanks for the outfit Aunt Tori!

Tummy time turned into cuddle time!

And finally some sneak peeks of our newborn photo shoot with Josh Craig Photography!

Life As We Know It

Go Wolfpack!

Everything we've known to this point has changed. Our life now consists of dirty diapers, late night feedings and cuddle time with the cutest little boy ever! Lincoln was in the hospital for over a month, so we were almost spoiled by having someone else take care of him for us. But now we are glad to be experiencing all of this on our own! 

Last night was Lincoln's first night at home, and it was a rough one. I hope that a lot of his fussiness was due to being in a strange place, so maybe tonight will be a little better. It's definitely going to take some getting used to for all of us! Tomorrow he has a pediatrician appointment so we'll get an update on his weight and find out how he has been doing with his feedings at home. We'll also be working on getting him back on his 3-6-9-12 feeding schedule since he's managed to get off of it last night.