Dresser Redo

I have wanted to change our room up for a long time, so getting this stuff done has been a HUGE check off my checklist.  Oh, and I love checklists, so this makes me feel VERY productive! 

Here is a picture I found that I've used as inspiration to lighten up our room.

It's just from an old Pottery Barn catalog.  But I love how light, bright, and simple the design and decor is.

So I decided to go with it.  It just took me a while to get going.  Our room was a dark tope.  Then with all our dark furniture it made the room kind of sad.  Our furniture is all pretty old, but very sturdy with GREAT lines.  

I forgot to take great before pics, but this is the first one.  You get the gist.  

Just a regular old, plain, square dresser.  I knew it had great potential.

You can see somewhat how our room looked in the mirror.

And this is the after.

 I sanded the entire thing down with our new electric sander (given to us by Matt's parents).  Then I used a high gloss white paint.  I used both a regular paint brush as well as a roller to really give it a sleek, clean look.  I am pretty pleased with the results.  It's the biggest piece of furniture I have done so far.  

I also did this dresser.  It's our tv stand in our bedroom.  

I love the detail and was pretty excited about painting it.  That was until I actually started painting it.  It was quite difficult.  All those details were not easy!

I promise our walls aren't purple.  It just looks like it.

I ended up keeping the same hardware on both dressers.  One, because they were in great shape. Two, because hardware is expensive! Especially the ones I want.

Oh well.  These will do for now!  I love how the room is shaping up.  It's crazy what a little paint will do for a room :)

Baby Shower for My sister

This post is insanely late, but I wanted to share.  My sister had a sweet baby boy named Christopher on April 7th.  But before he arrived we were able to have a little shower to celebrate his arrival!  He is the second boy out of the 11 grandchildren on my side of the family.  Smith is the first :)

Anyway, we wanted to go ALL boy on this shower.  I started by borrowing a few old fashioned trucks from a friend.  Thanks Lori!  Then I bought a few little plain onesies and printed out some designs on transfer paper, especially when you aren't great at sewing...or your sewing machine is stupid.  Whichever fits :)  Mine is stupid ;)  This stuff is such a time saver!  

Here are the preparations.  Instructions on the computer (so I don't mess up), iron, onesie, phone...you know, the basics.

You start by ironing the onesie.  That way the transfer paper irons on perfectly.  You need to use a pillow case underneath you as well.  I ironed the pillow case too just in case.

Then I cut the design out of the transfer paper and made sure I positioned it on perfectly before I ironed it  on.  I cut the design out as closely as I could so that I didn't get any extra white on the onesie.  It probably wouldn't have shown, but I wanted to make sure it looked good.

And voila!  Perfection! 

CMT is not for "Country Music Television".  It's for Christopher Michael Taylor :)

I made three onesies and added 2 pair of pants.  I used twine and clothes pins to hang the clothes on.  This is pretty typical decoration, but you can really customize to make the mama-to-be feel special!

In this case my sister was about to be a mom for the 3rd time!  I love how all of my sisters have kids :)  It's so fun to watch them grow!

After I did this one I realized it looked a little bit like the coke symbol.  Oh well :)

I had a diaper cake that we put cute ribbon and bakers twine on.  Made it look adorable!  Then I made the tissue paper pom poms by Martha Stewart.  They are so easy!  You should definitely try them out.  Even for a baby nursery! I have contemplated putting them in the corner  of Smith's room.  The jury is still out on that.

I cut name tags out and used bakers twine to attach them.  Why does bakers twine make everything so much cuter? Here is an etsy shop that has great prices on their twine :)  I use it to wrap presents, decorate, and pretty much anything else that I can think of.

I then used some mason jars to put all the utensils in. I tied ribbons around the jars to add a special flare.  Again, why are mason jars so simple, yet make things so cute?   Isn't that truck so cute?  It matches my kitchen so well! I put the napkins in there and it was perfect.

The whole set up!

And then the special chair for the mom!  

We had a great time just hanging out and helping my sister prepare for this precious baby boy!  Thank goodness he was a boy, because Smith needs another boy! I think they'll be like brothers :)

Look who's eating baby food!

Smith absolutely loves baby food.  He gets so excited about it!  My plan was to wait until he was about 5.5 months to start the baby food...because really, what's the rush?  But around 4.5 months I got curious, so we tried it and he did great! So we pushed forward.  Glad we did :)

Smiley baby boy :)

One of my favorites.  When Matt is around he won't stop staring at him!  He loves his dad.  I see the way he looks at him :)

Such a messy boy!

 Look at what a big boy Smith is?!?!

He is so tall now.  I just can't believe how fast he is growing!  He'll be off at college before we know it ;)

Happy Father's Day Matt!

Happy 1st Father's Day to MR.P!!  We made plans for today, but things didn't turn out exactly as we planned...we sure did have fun though!

First things first.  

Smith and daddy.  Not sure why Smith looks so serious, but whatever :)  

This was before church.  We went to church, then the plan was to head to the Gwinnett Braves game.  We got all ready and even parked at the stadium.  Tried to get out of the car with Smith, then realized we were going to get fried.  So we decided to go to the pool instead.  Braves games are one of MR.P's favorite things...and he sacrificed for what was best for our family.  Best husband and dad ever :)

Once we got to my parent's house (we use their pool) we decided to head to dinner with them instead!  Our plans were all over the place.  Oh well. Worked out for the best.  Got to wish my dad a Happy Father's Day as well with this little last minute t-shirt on Smith :)

Smith is such a big boy now!!

We had a great Father's day celebrating Matt.  I feel so blessed to be married to him and to watch him be a dad to Smith.  

I am so thankful that we could celebrate.  Matt and I were talking about how we had no idea we would get to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day this year.  What a blessing it has been to be the recipient of such a wonderful Gift.  

And just to leave you with this...

At the last minute my mom grabbed a baby t-shirt and wrote on it :)  Love her!  

Picture Updates!

Today I realized that I never shared pictures from Smith's BIRTHday.
They are too special not to share :)

Smith's sweet little footprint.  They did this on a blanket for us to keep!

Sweet baby boy was so laid back from the moment we met him.  He loves his sleep!

My first time to meet him.  I thought I would be a complete mess when I first held him.  But the moment was so sweet.  I was calm and enjoyed each and every moment.  AND because I wasn't a mess, I remember every bit of it!

Me thinking, "I cannot believe he is finally here!!!"

Matt's first time holding the little man.  Matt's face says it all :)

This is my favorite picture of Matt and Smith.  

Matt's mom holding Smith.  

My mom spending a few minutes with Smith. I think she was telling him about his cousins :)

My dad with Smith.  I love how his face is so lit up :)

Aunt B and Smith.  She says that she is his favorite Aunt, but she has a bit of competition.

Aunt Deborah and Smith.  

His first bed.

My dad teasing us already :)

Terrible quality photo, but this is us talking.  Having a good time :)

His first bath!  I love that little scrunched up face!

4:00 am and we were to our room.  Man, it was a long long day!

His first feeding.  He wasn't very interested in eating.  I learned later that babies just don't need much those first few days.

I can't even express how fun this was.  

Hanging out with Dad.  We watch an episode of Friends every night.  Staying at the hospital was no exception.  We were watching an episode during this pic :)

This is one of my closest friends, Katie. I've blogged about her a few times.  This girl drove 4 hours just to see Smith on his Birthday.  It was so special to share in this with her!!  She was such a huge part of our adoption story.  She prayed with me. Cried with me.  And encouraged me to seek the Lord in all of the joy and sorrow.  

And get this...it's kind of crazy.  Smith's adoption was a private adoption instead of through an agency.  So one day last Fall I got a phone call from a friend that knew of a family that wanted to find a family to adopt their baby (Smith).  Of course the rest is history...except that that same day earlier, Katie had told me she had a dream that I was 5 months pregnant!!  We didn't really think anything of it until we got that phone call. The birth mother was 5 months pregnant.  So technically I was "5 months" paper pregnant.  

Sorry, just a random little part of our story :)

This is another one of my favorite pics of them.  I love watching Matt as a dad to a son.  I can already see how Smith is mesmerized by Matt.  He looks at him completely different than he does me.  I wouldn't change that for the world.  I want them to be close!  A Father/Son relationship is so special :)

Smith and his wubbanub.  They have a special relationship too.

And there is that sweet little face.  

This is us leaving the hospital.  Instead of being wheeled out in a wheelchair, they wheeled Smith out in his little bed.  So glad to have all these memories.

This is the welcome home sign that my parent's made for us.  And I have to say...it was all my dad's idea :)

These are just a few that I wanted to share.  Adoption has been such a cool part of our story.  Every time I look at Smith I remember God's faithfulness.  I wouldn't have it any other way :)