Tour of My Favorites

The tour continues...to another blue room in my house. Imagine that! Formerly a guest room, it is now Jameson's "big boy" room. It's probably my favorite room in the house because of the built-in bookshelves- very childlike and dreamy to me. And am I that boring that I painted it the exact same color as the nursery? Apparently so, but I absolutely love this bluey-gray color, of which I don't even know its name. I took a page that I had ripped out of Domino Magazine (R.I.P.) to Lowes and they color matched it to the photograph. Do you rip pages out of magazines? I have a collection! Anyways, we still have little things to add here and there (like changing the butterfly cabinet doorknobs to my fun green ones!), but for the most part, he is settled in.

Part II of this entry is my fireplace mantle. What's so special? It all started with the bird cage that I fell in love with. And then I was stuck for a while and the cage was by its lonesome. Every other day Russell would ask whatcha gonna do with that cage? Well it found a home and I love how it all came together. Our family room feels more complete, and isn't that a wonderful thing?

Jameson Allan

A firstborn is so precious. My now 17-month-old is growing before my eyes every single day. I love our slow days of collecting leaves in the front yard and "barking" at dogs that come by. I love our sick days, when all we do is read books and cuddle. I even love (ok, maybe at the end of it all) our busy days, when getting in and out of the car a hundred times makes us both cranky and our car very crumb-filled. It's been just the two of us at home together, and I have loved every minute of being in his little world. Russell has recently taught him to give kisses- real pucker-up smooch kisses. It melts my heart when he gives me one out of the blue. I've heard people say enjoy it now because boys always leave too early, but there's hope, right? Look at Paula Deen!

To give you a glimpse into J's world this week, he likes: the vacuum and the broom, the produce drawer in the refrigerator, his sleeves rolled up, crawling under the table, taking his socks off, pointing to his facial features (and for some reason calling his head "shaw"), hiding and chasing, bath time, saying cheeeeese for the camera, a new book Goodnight Beach, and all things telephone. He doesn't like: potatoes in any form or fashion, having to keep his crayons at his table, the sound of the blender, and trying on clothes or being "fussed" with at all (what a boy). And I love that next week there will be a completely new list of likes and dislikes by my little man!

Tour de Casa

During the month of February, I'm giving a tour {via blog} of the improvements, changes, and little projects we have tackled at home since October. The amazing thing is that we have pretty much accomplished everything on our list in plenty of time before baby. And as I have said, none of this would have been possible without sweet Russell. So today, we begin......

What to do with all of the toys? What do to with a big blank wall? Blank walls overwhelm me, and you know this is true because it has sat blank for almost two years. Ok, it's still pretty blank BUT we've made great strides...I think. 1. Toys- No offense, but I don't want to see them all of the time. Solution #1 was to keep our favorites downstairs; the others go upstairs to J's room. Solution #2 was stealing storage ideas from Ikea and a friend- always fair, right?! This storage system is straight from Ikea's catalogue, except that I had our piece made by a small furniture company in North Georgia- same dimensions and all. The actual boxes are indeed from Ikea, a perfect fit for the cubby-holes. Now toys are cleaned up!

Jameson cleaning up before bedtime!

2. Big blank wall-ness- I had no intention to put two large lamps here but it just sortof happened. One rainy Saturday morning during the Fall, I was out-and-about and ended up at an Estate Sale. I bought the pair of lamp stands for $10, having no idea what I would do with them. Off-white paint, white lamp shades, funky fabric = lamps I love!

Before

After- ta da!

This last section is our guest room. We've made little additions this Fall~ enjoy and come visit!

Where's Julie?

Where was I this past weekend? South Florida- as far south as I could go without leaving the country. I needed warmth and I needed some sun, so I called my Mom and we left! It was a trip for the soul, although I had mixed feelings about leaving the boys. It was the longest I'd ever been away from Jameson (2 nights) but he did awesome and had sweet bonding time with Dada. Now I'm back in the swing of things, refreshed and renewed. We have 6 weeks until baby arrives, and I doubt I will get much rest for a while after that. But I can always dream of the days when I could shut my eyes and shut off my brain for just a little while.