Little Miss Nelson's Nursery Part 1

Before I start telling you all about Little Miss Nelson's Nursery project I need to let you know that it would not have been even close to what it is if it wasn't for Kelly. He spent so much time working on it, drawing up different plans and going back to the drawing board when things wouldn't work out. He sometimes questioned if what he was really painting was for a girl and if I was still going to like it when it was finished. I am so grateful for a handy man in my life who can do anything and everything.

This room use to be my craft room aka the messiest room in the house. Well after we spent half a day getting everything moved down to the new craft room we were ready to finally start envisioning what we wanted this room to look like.

Before photos of the bedroom.

Slowly our house is changing colors in every room. Our whole house use to be this tan/beige color and well since we have been married we have painted over half of the house something new. Its crazy how much paint can change a home.

I am a Lowes Lover. We shop there for almost any project that involves our home improvement.

I love the Valspar paint line it always goes on great and the colors are always rich! I tend to pick colors that are vibrant and risky so having a paint that makes it look just like the card is awesome!

Indigo Cloth

and 

Bella Grove Sorbet 

are the two colors we used in this project both are from the Lowe's Valspar paint line.

Semi-Gloss Valspar Ultra Paint + Primer 

this has very low odor and zero voc.

We painted the blue wall first and ran out of paint had to get more for touch up and a third coat. 

Nala loves being anywhere close to Kelly but every time we paint she ends up wearing it. Same thing happened this go around, she rubbed up against the wall while it was wet and had a mint bum for over a week. 

The base coats are done. Accent wall is Indigo Cloth and the other
three walls are the Belle Grove Sorbet

This is when things got rough real fast.

I had always envisioned a spanish Moroccan tile stencil on her wall.

After attempting to get the stencil we had borrowed from a nice friend it just wasn't going to work.

As you can tell..

So cover that back up and go back to the drawing board...

(This is why I mention that Kelly is an amazing husband)

I had showed Kelly a million different ideas on Pinterest. Stripes, argyle, stencils, different shapes. We went back and started looking again. I came across some metallic polka dots. I thought for sure if I showed it to Kelly he would just straight up laugh and say 'Yeah right, I am not painting that'... well, the total opposite happened. He was in for it.. Although once he had come up with several different grids and layouts we weren't sure how we were going to get the PERFECT CIRCLE on to the wall. 

Luckily for us we have our resources and Kelly has an amazing sister who helps us with projects. We asked Krystal if we could cut 3" circles of contact paper on her Silhouette machine that we would then use as a stencil after sticking them to the wall. She has used contact paper for many stencils and said yes that would totally work. Well we got to cutting them out and after a roll of contact paper we were ready to get to work.

Kelly stayed up past midnight coming up with a better grid formation and then spacing them out and drawing the grid onto the wall with a sharpie highlighter and paint marker.

As you can tell not all of our circles that we cut even filled the whole wall and we did reuse some of them. But thats the glorious thing about contact paper its sticky enough to be used twice.

You may be thinking why didn't you go to Lowe's or Hobby Lobby to find your own polka dot stencil. Well I will let you know one thing yes there are some out on the market but they are all tiny little guys and to be honest they won't sit flush against your wall even with adhesive glue spray.

Next step. Test Kelly's painting skills once again and see if this polka dot thing is going to work.

Well after doing one coat on all of them and then going back and doing a quick second coat we were ready to see if we pulled the contact paper off what it would do?

Sadly the latex had just made a barrier with the contact paper so it was as if the paint wasn't sticking to the wall at all. Well, of course it was going to be a little harder for us to get what we wanted.

Kelly spent about 5 minutes on every circle after that with a x-acto knife going around the whole edge of the contact paper to get the paint to separate from the stencil.

AND IT WORKED!!! YAY!!

After 75 dots later we had a finished product... we had the cutest mint polka dots on the block.

Probably the only polka dots on the block because I don't think our neighbors are as crazy to paint polka dots or have the need to paint a bedroom like this.

The night we finished painting our room we also got to pick up our crib. We thought for sure we were going to have a couple of weeks before it would arrive to the store. Well it took 3 days... I am not complaining.

I didn't mention to Kelly that I had read it takes 5 hours with 3 men to set up.. 

#badwifestatus but I knew it would probably make him change his mind on the crib.

Well the next day he spent about 3 hours putting the crib together all by himself. 

So whoever took 5 hours with 3 men obviously couldn't read or had some other issues.. hehe..

(Don't look at 'chicken'! Nala has moved all of her toys into this room thinking this where she gets to hang out now.. she definitely knows something is going on because we have spent so much time in this room for the last 2 months!)

I love love love love love love love love love love LOVE how this room turned out. We still have some other little secrets going on that I will post in Part 2 but until then don't you just love how symmetrical those polka dots are!!!

Baby Bump Update!

How far along: 37 Weeks
How do you feel about being full term: It was a little weird being at my appointment today and hearing that we are on the last few appointments before she will finally be here.
Dilated/Effaced: 2 cm and 75% effaced. Funny story; I asked Kelly if he knew what effaced meant and he replied: The doctor meant that we were 75% left until 'we see her face'... So effacement was a new lesson for Kelly.
We normally can get a some what good face shot of her but today she was sitting so low and ready to come that he had a hard time getting a good measure of her head. After that he said you are A LOT LOWER than you were just 2 weeks ago. It seemed like he was shocked at how much she had pushed her way down.
Total Weight Gain: I weight 158 lbs. that puts me at gaining 13 lbs. from the very beginning of this pregnancy.
Stretch Marks: If I have em', I can't see em..
Sleeping: Where do I begin. I at least don't have insomnia like I did a couple weeks ago. I still have a midnight potty break.. Or I have a kickboxing class going on in my stomach.. then at about 5 am it changes to a Zumba class and then by about 7:15am we take a break and finally sleep. So this little girl is very active and likes punching, kicking, wiggling and twerking. (Yes, I swear her bum is always shaking)
Best Moment This Week: We have been getting her room finished up. I am sorry I haven't posted photos yet. I just want it completely done before you see it. So hold out just a little longer. I have loved getting her clothes ready in her closet and deciding where to put everything.
I also have to say THANK YOU to all of those who spoiled her rotten at several baby showers. I can't imagine how cute she is going to look in these outfits, shoes, headbands etc., It will be so fun to play dress up with her! We are so spoiled between our family members, friends and ward. Thank you again!
Contractions: Well, the Dr. asked if I had them. I said 'I think so but I don't know if thats what it was.' he then reassured me that I probably had and that when they get worse I will know. hhmmm, that was some jinxing because right after our appointment it was on like donkey kong.
Food Cravings: Frosty and Lays Classic Chips
Labour Signs? Don't think so yet.
Symptoms? I still have some round ligament pain going on mainly because she likes to sit and punch right in that spot.
Happy or Moody? My patience is limited. Don't believe me? Ask Kelly. Oops. Don't do that because he would say thats even when I am not pregnant. But lately I have been pretty short and to the point with certain things. Luckily he just sits back and says okay.
Looking Forward to? I am looking forward to getting her here already! We also have been told that we will probably go before our due date since I am already dilated so the new projected date is now: Nov. 12th or 13th. 
Hospital Bag Packed? After some harassment from my sister and dance girls. Yes, it is packed. I have no idea why but it is really hard to pack when you know its not a vacation to somewhere fun. I didn't like thinking about how I was packing to go somewhere for the worse pain in my life. eek.

Every day Kelly reminds me : "Are you ready for the worse pain in your life?" I have started to respond with "Are you ready for me to yell and rip off your hand?" ...  then the subject changes pretty fast.

This week I got a call from BabiesRUs and I had won something off my registry. I just had to pick what I wanted and then go in and pay the tax. So, I paid $12 for this 4moms Mamaroo. It was really easy to set up and Kelly wishes he could sit in it and get rocked to sleep. I was pretty stoked that we won something like this that we really would have never gotten.

Maybe they will come up with adult swings?!



Today, I did the first load of laundry for Little Miss Nelson. This isn't all of her clothes but it was time get everything washed and ready for when she makes her debut. Hope she knows how much she is loved.

The Mercedes Mouse

Well, I don't know if this is bad karma or if its just so I can have something to laugh at but we have found a new friend.

I will admit I drive around in the Mercedes playing "Fancy by Iggy Azalea".

Now we know that we have a mouse who also likes to be FANCY.

This last Friday October 10th I had got in my trunk to put some newspapers to take to a recycle bin with my mom. No big deal right?! Until we saw a fluffy pillow of shredded toilet paper. At first we wondered what had happened and then my mom said, "I bet you have had a mouse in your car."....as much as I was hoping that was just a joke.

I didn't know I had a roll of toilet paper in my trunk but there definitely was a nice pillow. It was either a mouse or someone thought they were funny and they toilet papered the inside of my trunk.

Well... I quickly called Kelly and told him what I had found. I did my best to get most of it cleaned up but it still would need to be vacuumed and that wasn't going to be me.

Saturday morning Kelly woke up and cleaned out my entire trunk for me and he found some even more clues from this FANCY thing.

1) It made its bed on top of a picnic blanket
2) It loved eating some goldfish
3) It was even reading some church literature (aka True to the Faith)

Once my trunk was clean I was ready to go to the baby shower my sister and mom held for me. My worries were done for and I thought that for sure that mouse was gone!

Well after the shower we had a baptism for our niece Alli. We drove to Syracuse and spent most of the afternoon with family. Kelly was helping shingle a new roof for his Grandma later in the afternoon. I decided that I would head to the Sprint store to finally trade in for my new iPhone 6. As I got about a mile away from his Grandma's house everything seemed fine. I was just cruising along listening to the radio and enjoying my AC when... my car started to sound like a jet engine was now in my car.

Yes my car is a sport model but it wasn't in sport mode and this was like insanely loud. I pulled off the side of the road and called Kelly in a frantic state to come and rescue me. It seemed like it took him forever to finally come he sat and listened to my car and we figured out it was the blower motor for the AC. Well, that didn't make me too happy but at least it wasn't 90 degrees outside.

Since Saturday I haven't turned on my AC or been able to use my heater. Which really isn't a horrible thing since its Fall and you don't need it all the time. But I was concerned it was going to be something that would either cost a lot of money or that would be really frustrating to try and figure out.

Well here I am on a Wednesday night. Kelly insisted that he would work on it tonight and at least see what he thinks needs to happen.

After being out in the garage for about 20 minutes he came inside asking me if we have any gloves. Okay? Kelly isn't afraid of grease and why would he want disposable gloves to look at the blower motor.

I asked why he needed them and he said... "I better not tell you!" ... well ... What was it that made it not work? ...That's right the Mercedes Mouse. He totally tripped the motor and well his little body is what stopped it from working!

Luckily it wasn't a horrible gross mess. (I didn't look but from what Kelly said it wasn't bad).

I guess that was the only way we would have ever caught that mouse.

I so hope we don't have an encounter with another mouse thinking that they should be able to ride around town FANCY!

He at least lived his last days in the comfort of a Mercedes C230.
Ta-Ta Mercedes Mouse. (Don't send your friends!!)

Ain't nobody got time for that...

Well I just have to say Kelly use to tease me about not having matching socks but when he took his work boots off at his grandmas last night look what he did. 

It made me laugh. Even Grandma Smith said "are you starting to be like maggie?" 

So in the Nelson home nobody has time to find a matching pair of socks. 

The Baby Bed

Last night we were finally able to take Grandma Smith out and get a crib!

 This past summer she was in the hospital for about 3 weeks with blocked bowel and ended up having surgery to remove scar tissue.

Once she was finally released from the hospital she was in a rehabilitation center for a week and a half. Then, once she was home there was constant care from Kelly's mom, siblings and she had home health coming in every other day to do physical therapy and test her heart. 

I am sure I mentioned it before but Kelly has a very close relationship with his grandma. He always has and will. When we were first dating he had told me that one year Grandma told everyone she doesn't want gifts, she just wants to be visited once a week. Well Kelly has done just that since then he has gone to her house every Sunday night. Since she had been so sick we were at the Hospital or Rehab center anytime and all the time. I can't tell you how worried and stressed Kelly was to see his Grandma in such pain and sickness. It was cute how much he loves her but heartbreaking to see him so sad. 

Grandma Smith was the first person to find out we were pregnant since I threw up in her car earlier in the spring while we were going to Taggarts grill in Morgan. Ever since that night she has told us that we need to pick a baby bed and she will get it for us. At first that seemed so far away and we were not even thinking about baby things yet. 

Kelly's Grandma absolutely is a generous person. She has spoiled her grandkids and great grandkids not with just money and gifts but by just being herself and the witty person she is. One of the things she has done with everyone is buying them a crib when they have there first kid. At one point we were so excited that Grandma would be able to know we were expecting and that she would be able to see our new little baby. But this summer when she got so sick, so fast we weren't sure if we would be able to see her reaction when she finally would get to hold our baby. There were a few nights that Kelly would say in the parking lot I am so bummed that she may not be able to go get a crib with us or make it to see our baby born. 

Well miracles happened and they happened so fast. Grandma was determined 75% of the time while she was in the hospital that she would make it to see her granddaughter Mickenzie be married and that we still had a baby bed to get so she couldn't leave any of us yet. Grandma made it home 2 days before the wedding and was able to get clearance to go to the wedding and reception. It was great to have her in the temple and see how happy she was that day. It was a huge goal to be able to go and she even was able to stand up for a few pictures. 

We tried to go two other times to go and look at cribs with Grandma. Either the weather was bad and she didn't feel well or Kelly had to work late. 

Last night was finally going to work. I picked Kelly up from work and we headed straight to pick up Grandma. She was excited and ready to go! She even told us her blood pressure had been high all day because of her excitement.

Once we walked into the store she decided she wanted to sit in a wheelchair. Kelly helped her around the store and we showed her the crib we liked. She then exclaimed "well, let's buy it!"  

She was very happy that we picked a white crib. It was something she had her mind on. We also took her around the store to pick a mattress and she insisted on getting us diapers for the baby shower in a couple weekends. 

We tried to tell her we don't need her to get us diapers since she was already getting us a crib. But we learned one thing you don't tell Grandma no! 

We were looking at diapers and the box had 200 or so inside. Kelly was trying to tell his grandma we don't need that many because our baby will be into the next size probably quickly and they don't go through that many diapers as newborns. I started to laugh and so did grandma! Kelly couldn't believe that our little girl will probably use 10 or more diapers a day when she is born. It's funny how much learning goes on before the baby is even here. 

After we checked out and ordered our crib and conversion rails Grandma told us she wanted a malt. So we took her to Warrens to get one. She had a cherry shake. She hasn't had sweets in a long time but she insisted she was fine now. 

On the way home I had a toddler mattress laying on top of me. It couldn't fit in the back of the trunk so I got to have it squish me. It was quite comical. 

It was so fun to be able to spend time with Grandma Smith and I think it meant a million times more to both me and Kelly that we were able to finally go. I can't wait to have such a gorgeous crib in Little Miss Nelson's room and for her to one day to know that she got it from her Great Grandma. 

This is how we fit a mattress in to grandmas car!

Baby Bump Update!

How far along: 33 Weeks 5 days
Total Weight gain: 10 pounds. Yes, I know you are probably thinking you aren't healthy or the baby isn't healthy. Well from everything I have been told it is a great range for me to be in. The weight doesn't really seem to bother me as much as the ball that I am carrying in front is bothering me. I look realitively small but, to me its nothing but small.
Maternity Clothes: Yes I do have a few maternity shirts and a pair of H&M maternity skinny jeans and Old Navy maternity capris. I couldn't live without those H&M pants. Talk about comfiest thing and I don't feel like I am wearing maternity clothes. I love the rouching on the tops I have bought. My favorite places to get maternity tops have been H&M, Target and Old Navy.
Stretch marks? No. I have not had a sign of stretch marks. Veins are more visible but nothing really has seemed to look like stretch marks. Which this is something Kelly cares about a lot. He always asks me 'your not seeing stretch marks are you?'
Sleep: Oh how I wish this could be better. There are some days where I am completely fine and sleep throughout the night and then there are others where I wake up at 5 am and can't fall asleep until Kelly leaves for work at 7am. Its nice that I don't have to be to work until noon so I can get a couple hours of sleep on the bad days.
Best Moment this week: I would have to say the best moment this week was finding some cute clothes and ideas for her room. I am getting excited to see it all come together. I am getting antsy for baby showers.
Movement: OH MY YES! She is very good at sprawling all of her limbs out at once. Like hey mom did you want me in Karate lessons? It is fun to feel her move. My parents always ask if she's moving and they have felt her kick a couple times.
Food cravings: Uhm, I still love pizza.. If I could eat it every day, all day. I don't see a problem with it.
Anything make you sick?    Not really! But I don't love having to do the dishes at times and the smell of cleaning out the fridge. But that could just be a regular thing.
Labour Signs? Not any that I am aware of.
Symptoms? Round Ligament Pain. Oh my this is like the worst thing ever. Its right about my left hip bone and I don't know how she does it but she plays and kicks on it always when it hurts. I also don't love getting into the drivers seat of any car because my left leg is the last leg to go in and it always shoots a stunning pain throughout my leg and back.
I also have experienced some back pain on my left side but its more of a dull ache most of the time and then BAM it hits like a knife is back there and then it fades.
Belly Button in or out? How about non existent. It is stretched out. Its funny to me and I kind of like poking at it because it feels so weird.
Wedding Rings on or off? On. Haven't had any swelling in anything but my piggies.
Happy or Moody? Happy. For the most part I haven't been moody since the beginning. I am calm until I am just stressed out and wanting to break down. I feel pretty good and happy.
Looking Forward to? Baby Showers. Going with Kelly's Grandma Smith to buy her crib and finishing her room. Oh it will all be so adorable and fun once we can get done with this painting process.

Silverline Alumni Halftime

Last weekend was Homecoming for Fremont High. It is their 20th year anniversary which means that they invited back all of the Silverline Alumni to perform at halftime.

We had a couple practices to learn the dance. It was a great time to reunite with old teammates and to joke about so many things that happened in and outside of practice. I loved seeing all those girls again.
Did I dance? Yes, I did!

Some thought I was crazy for doing it and I know my dad was totally worried because his granddaughter is like his greatest concern. But the dance was somewhat easy and repetitive the only part that was hard was when we had to squat down well because there is a basketball in my belly and no abs so my balance is totally weak.

But we made it through the performance and it was awesome.
Kelly had made it back from working in Vernal just in time to go straight to Fremont. I never thought he would really see me dance at Fremont. But now he has watched me dance with every team I have ever been apart of.

I am very happy that the team this year gave up their Halftime for Homecoming so all of us oldies could come back and enjoy the football field again. It is fun to be with this years team since some of the girls I have coached at the studio are now Seniors and are just fabulous girls!

Can't wait to see them compete at Region and State this year!

My parents came to watch halftime they got a good kick out my dancing & also my friends Alexa & Katey came to watch. Mainly, because they said "I can't miss something like that!" .. But they were shocked that I didn't do that bad except for the hook-up into the kick line.