Happy Valentine's Day!

We hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! People usually feel one of two ways about Valentine's Day, they really enjoy the holiday or they think it is overrated. Mike and I do enjoy the holiday, but tend to stay in considering restaurants are ridiculously crowded. We started our day out by getting some things done around the house and exchanging our own gifts. We hadn't quite decided on what to make for dinner and the phone rang. Jason, Jen & the girls were calling to see if we could come over and have Valentine's Day dinner with them, so that is what we did. We had a wonderful dinner and lots of laughs with the girls, a mean game of Go Fish and some dancing and singing that would make Taylor Swift jealous!

While we were at Jason and Jen's my Mom called to tell us she got a surprise from her friend Terry for Valentine's Day...a puppy! Yes, a little girl boxer puppy to add to the brood! She already has a male, Ezra and a female Echo that were litter mates. They are 4 years old and surprisingly adapting very well to Etta, the newest Smith family member! Congrats Mom and Terry! We can't wait to meet her!

I can distinctly remember bringing Luca home to Baxter and he was NOT impressed! There are still times that he acts like she is nothing more than a nuisance, but we know deep down he loves her to pieces and enjoys having a companion!

We spent the day exactly how we wanted to...with the people we love the most!

28 Week Check-up & More!

Today marked our 28 week check-up and the most anticipated glucose test! Everything turned out wonderfully. I am measuring great and we are still right on with our due date of 5/5. The babies hearbeat today was a strong 148 and my iron levels and glucose test came back perfect, so mark that as another very successful trip to the doctors office. It is hard to believe that next time we visit we will start the rotation with the other doctors, I of course am only meeting them to be nice, as I fully expect Dr. Olson to deliver our precious daughter (wink, wink)! A girl can hope and pray that it works out that way...but I am sure at the point of delivery I won't care if Mike is delivering the baby as long as the baby is delivered!

We had a very fun trip to Cedar Falls yesterday and a successful one at that! A children's store called Peek-a-boo has rocker/gliders there that you can flip through numerous swatches to find one that fits your nursery decor perfectly. Mike and I had talked about how nice it would be to get a green chair so that way it is technically gender neutral if we did have a boy next time. We set out on our mission of thumbing through swatches and nothing was really standing out. Then low and behold a floor model caught our eye with a nice green fabric. I asked the lady why the fabric on the chair wasn't in the swatch booklet and she replied, "That fabric is being discontinued." About halfway through my disappointment it dawned on me that "Hey! Maybe they would want to sell me this one?!" And sure enough, that is just what they did! We got a little bit of a discount on it which made it even better, plus I got to take it home with me yesterday instead of waiting to have it shipped. That being said, I didn't tell Mike that I brought the chair home, I told him that I brought a few swatches home that we needed to decide from. So when he got home he went back to the nursery to "see the swatches" and was surprised to see the new chair waiting there. He was SO excited! He popped his head in and out of the nursery six different times throughout the night just to see it again! He is going to be such a great Dad! I have to admit I am almost just as excited to make him a Daddy as I am to meet this little one!


So, slowly but surely we are incorporating the furniture into the newly painted nursery and before we know it, it will be full of things, I am a little worried about having enough space! Mike always says, "it will all work out,"...and I have faith that is exactly what will happen.

It Is Fun to Watch Paint Dry!

Low and behold the nursery is completely painted! We both couldn't be happier with it and cannot wait to get the furniture and bedding in so that way it is truly complete. The painters did a remarkable job and made it a lot of fun to be a part of the creative process. This room will be a room that the baby can easily grow up in and we can do all sorts of fun things to have it evolve as she continues to grow!

Picture of the flowers painted on the raspberry wall where the crib will go!

Contrast of the two differernt paint schemes!

We have one last item left to get, the rocker/glider combo that we will use to do feedings, read bedtime stories and rock until our hearts content! Jen, Celia and I are heading to Cedar Falls tomorrow to visit a baby store in which we can order a chair that will fit perfectly into the room. After that is ordered we have successfully furnished the nursery, it will now be putting everything together as it gets delivered. Now all we need is a little bambino to fill the space with! Stay tuned to see updates!

Moving Along...

The painters were here again today. They painted another coat on the raspberry wall and then worked on the polka dots/border. It is really starting to take shape!

It is taking them longer than they expected to get everything done, so it will be Monday at the earliest before we can show the finished product and possibly Tuesday. As much as we were hoping that it would be done before the weekend, we completely understand that it is quite the process and respect them for taking their time on the room instead of blasting through it, we know it will be perfect that way!

Here is a picture of the bedding, this is where the whole idea for the nursery walls came from! We are pretty sure it is going to look fabulous! At this point the baby is going to have the most stylish room in the house! The things that we do for our children!

I signed us up for classes tonight at Mercy, hoping to get as much information as we can, I hear babies don't come with instruction manuals! This is the closest we will get, so we are going to take advantage of having someone give us some pointers! That is it from here...just busy, busy, busy with preparation!

The Transformation Begins!

Yesterday the painters were at our house transforming our old guest bedroom into the nursery! The process is going to take about 3 days from start to finish due to the different techniques they are going to use in the room, but all in all it will be completely worth it.

We shipped the puppies off to Camp Bow Wow for Day Camp and the painters took over the house for the day. When Mike and I were on our way home we promised each other that neither of us would peek until the other one got home so we could see the start of the painting together! We were SO happy with what we saw...again, this is the first stage, but with how thrilled we were with that, we both can't wait to see what today's progress brings and definitely what the finished product will look like!

BEFORE

AFTER

What you don't see in the picture is that the other two walls that aren't visible are also done in the green. The crib will eventually be up against the raspberry wall where they will have painted big flowers that compliment the bedding. The green walls will have stripes on it with a 14 inch border along the top that has polka dots above it! I have to admit that the paint in the room brought the whole thing to another level for me...making it truly real, much like an ultrasound, so it was a great feeling walking into the room knowing that soon we will be bringing home a little girl to enjoy it all!

Birthdays, Trucks and Paint...OH MY!

Things have been in full swing since we got back from Arizona, it is hard to believe we have been back for almost 2 weeks, we often find ourselves talking about the weather there and reminiscing about how wonderful the Scottsdale area is!

A lot has happened since I last blogged! On January 24th we were part of a big birthday extravaganza for our nieces, Ruby turned 2 on January 17th and Celia turned 4 on the 26th. Jason and Jen put together a Candyland themed party for the girls and 20 of their friends! All the kids had on t-shirts that were printed with the Candyland game piece and the garage was transformed into the Candyland board game with different activities to partake in along the way! It was absolutley adorable and I have to say, very well managed. Very minimal meltdowns, which meant a good time for everyone including the adults!

On the 26th we had a nice, quiet family meal with the girls to celebrate as well. We missed Ruby's birthday while we were in Arizona so it was a little late, but better late than never. We had Zoey's pizza (Celia's request) and a yummy cake from Jules Bakery that featured none other than a princess!

We are so lucky to have such great nieces and we couldn't love them more than we do. They will be such great role models to our little one and we can't wait to introduce them all! I have a feeling there will be many stories to share in the future.

That being said we are in full preparation mode for Baby Girl Eddins to make her big debut. It is absolutely unbelievable to both of us that we only have 3 months left of the pregnancy, it truly is an incredible journey, where has the time gone?! I met with the painters last Wednesday so they could come in and see the room that will be transformed into the nursery, get the bedding swatches and talk a little bit about what all of us were envisioning. We then met again on Saturday when they had paint samples and some more concrete ideas of what they are going to do in the room. I am so excited I can barely stand it! It is going to be anywhere from a 3-4 day process for the ladies to paint the room as they are doing a combination of flowers, polka dots and stripes! I will make sure and update the blog with pictures as the room starts to take shape!

Also in preparation for Baby Girl Eddins (not sure how valid the excuse is), Daddy got a new truck! We had been discussing it for awhile that it would be nice to have a true 4 door vehicle for Mike when the baby arrives as we are going to have to share daycare drop off/pick-up duties on a daily basis. He had been looking around for quite some time and yesterday the dealership was willing to come down to the numbers we proposed so...it is now in our garage! He is pretty excited and it really is a very nice truck, they have done a lot to them to make them feel more luxurious, you don't feel like you are in a typical pick-up. It was of course hard to say goodbye to the old truck, but I think the sadness has been overshadowed by the excitement for Mike!

I told Mike that after this new car and all the money that is being spent on baby preparation that we are now done with big purchases for awhile! I am sure I will be biting my tongue on that as I have a feeling I have no idea what to expect once the baby comes, but I can try and be stern and put my foot down...at least for now!