Our Home for the Holidays 2013

I know I haven’t been on this good ol’ blog in FOREVER. I want to be here. I dream of it. But my baby (whom I love with all my heart) plus a lot of other stuff just limits my time. Priorities, you know?!

But! I’m here today. I want to document our first Christmas with our baby boy (more on him soon). So, I thought I’d share a photo-overloaded post with you showing how we get the holi-craze on around here!

One thing you’ll note – I have not in any way changed my style/décor to make it “baby proof”. Yes, I’m sure I will certainly add kid-themed stuff over the years (like the little nativity Jeremiah has now), but I plan to keep our home as “me”, errr, “us” as it has been… baby will just have to adapt. And mommy won’t cry over broken ornaments. *wink*

I’m just showing the main living area, although I did do a little decorating in the kitchen and nursery too. I’m also missing the outdoor photos that show off the lights and garland and wreaths hubby took the time to hang. Maybe I’ll get into the frigid night air and take those soon. Maybe.

Living Room

Den

Dining Room

Back soon with some pictures of our sweet Jeremiah!

By The Way…. We Have a Baby!

Yes, it’s been over 4 months since I’ve posted on this good ol’ blog. My longest break ever. But what can you say? We’ve been busy having a baby! Good excuse? I think so…

My last post at the end of January reviewed my inspiration for our full bath remodel. Well, the month of February flew by as we got that bathroom remodel about 75% completed so that it was at least fully functional by the time the baby was born (and now it's about 90% completed). I also continued to work full time up to my due date (thanks to baby’s late arrival), which was time consuming and exhausting. And we finished up last minute “nesting” items including decorating and furnishing the nursery.

I will have full reviews on both the bathroom and the nursery to come, but for now, lets focus on what’s been preoccupying my time since March 1, 2013 – my baby’s birthday…

Jeremiah Joseph Yonke

Born March 1, 2013 @ 1:04 a.m.

Weight: 7lbs 1oz, Height: 19 3/4 in.

Just 6 days after my due date (and 1 day before I was scheduled to be induced), this little man arrived in perfect style. Labor and delivery went smoothly – I was posting updates on Facebook up until midnight when it was time to push. I had to put my phone down at that point (pffffft).

An hour later, Jeremiah arrived (on my predicted birth date, I might add). Here’s a little video that Joey took on his phone shortly after Jeremiah’s birth (I just saw this for the first time last week!)…

I won’t give the long labor and delivery story now. I’ll just say that having my baby placed in my arms for the first time was one of the most amazing moments I have ever experienced. AMAZING. It was instant love like I could never have imagined.

I just stared in awe at this beautiful, perfect baby boy the Lord had given us. A precious gift that we had prayed for and longed for was finally in our arms. God is so good to his children.

After a few wonderful days in the hospital (it was a fabulous experience), we got to bring our baby home to care for him and love him and watch him grow (like crazy).

I’ve since quit my full time job to be a stay at home mom. Another dream come true. And I’ve stayed plenty busy soaking in motherhood experiences and caring for our home. Hence, the lack of blog substance.

But now that we’re in a nice little routine, I hope to spend some more time sharing our life with you – including some up-to-date photos of Jeremiah. And while this blog will still be very much about-the-house, it will now include a lot more family life since this bundle of joy is a much larger priority. So, look forward to posts about both house and home life with a baby!

Full Bath Remodel: Where do we start?

So, you're in the loop that we're having a baby. Due in about 3 and 1/2 weeks. So, besides preparing for parenthood and putting a nursery together, what better time is there than now to do a full bathroom model? Are we nuts? Probably. But we're knocking this baby bathroom out of the park before the baby arrives! Doing a bathroom remodel WITH a newborn in the house sounds like a nightmare to me.

A little history... This bathroom remodel has been in the works since we bought the house in May 2010. The very first (!) can of paint I bought was for this bathroom. It has been sitting in our basement for 2+ years waiting for us to put it to use. The bathroom had horrible floral wallpaper on both the walls AND the ceiling that we ripped off prior to moving in! And then it sat untouched. Looking something like this since 2010...

The ceiling underneath the wallpaper was a pepto bismol pink. We did give it 1 coat of white paint while painting other ceilings in the house. That way I wouldn't vomit every time I entered the bathroom. But the plaster ceiling was in horrible shape (probably why the previous owner covered it with wallpaper) and the unfinished drywall wasn't much better. All in all, here's what I don't like about the bathroom...

So, that covers just about everything. Except it doesn't show the awful light fixtures on each side, but I found another picture of them here...

The two balls of lights hung from ceiling hooks on either side of the mirrors that were above each vanity. That means 2 sets of this light fixture in 1 bathroom. We took 1 hook out to help with removing the wallpaper from the ceiling. So, both lights hung unevenly from the remaining hook all these years. Horrible. The above picture also shows the plain old mirrors that hang above the vanities - no framework or beveled edge or anything to make them look nice. Sigh. This bathroom needs work.

So, that's where we started just a couple weeks ago. But I start my planning of this bathroom years ago. And I won't deny that Pinterest (where else?) has been my secret to storing up all the ideas I have for this bathroom. If you look at my Bathroom Board, you'll probably start to notice some trends among the many bathrooms I pinned. Here are a few:

1. Wood Planked Walls





2. Tile - subway tile on walls and mosaic tile on floors

 

3. A lot of White - white cabinets, white trim, white tile ... To me, White = Clean. I like a lot of white in kitchens and bathrooms. It's my groove. You can see this trend in the pictures already posted above.

4. Beadboard - on the ceiling for sure, maybe on the walls. Here is my ceiling inspiration...

5. Storage & Organization

 

So, with all that in mind - Which inspiration items do we decide tackle? Which inspiration items do we ignore? Which inspiration items are just budget-busting? What did we change at the last minute? All the details and in-progress pictures coming soon...

Nursery Planning (sorta)

From the beginning, I've said that no matter if we're having a boy or a girl, I'm NOT re-painting the bedroom (which was a guest bedroom)that is being turned into a nursery. The color is staying. I will decorate around that. The end.

I have to say that I have been true to my word! We found out we were having a boy, and I've been working with what I've got since then. I will say though, working around a single paint color can be challenging, if not stifiling, in the design process. If I had my choice, I'd rather pick out my bedding, curtains, and accessories first, and then pick a paint color to coordinate all of it. So, I feel like I'm working backwards.

To remind you, here are a few pictures of the room as a guest bedroom from 2012 - right after the new carpet was installed...

It was at this time that we relocated our guest bedroom furniture to it's new location in the 1st floor bedroom. This upstairs room has remained mostly empty until we knew we were expecting a baby. Since then, we've added a few staple items, including the crib, dresser/changing table, glider rocker, and a bunch of stuff we got for my baby shower. We also added white wood blinds to the windows.

Here is a picture of Joey assembling the crib (and looking annoyed as I snap a picture for memory's sake)...

Our parents bought the crib off our registery from Target. You can see the details here. I wanted a white crib with clean lines and fairly traditional. It's simple and can be used for either gender. Fairly affordable too.

Here it is all set up in its little corner to the left after you walk through the doorway. Crib bedding and all.

I found the crib bedding at a random website and then later found out that places like Target and Babies R Us also sell it. It was cheapest at other websites though. The manufacturer is Skip Hop and the pattern is Mod Dot (seen here). I liked the bedding for a number of reasons. First of all, it was colorful, which I thought made the room feel playful and kid-friendly. It also allows for versatility in colors through out the accessories I use in the rest of the room. I also liked the circular pattern, which is a bit more modern and "boy-ish" feeling to me. But it could be re-used for girl down the road if necessary.

Here's a view of the crib and glider rocker (still in need of a cushion) as you're standing in the doorway. The little brown rocker was Joey's as a little boy. Now it can be used by our little boy. Everyone say Awwww...

On the opposite wall, we put a newly painted dresser (minus the knobs) and it will serve as a changing table and storage for clothes and things. The dresser came from my grammy's farmhouse in Maine. She passed away in the fall and I got this gem from the room we stayed in as kids when visting each year. A constant reminder of her. Everyone say Awwww again....

I owe you more pictures as more progress has been made in the nursery since I took these few. I'll have those ready for you soon. We are also in the middle of a full bathroom remodel (crazy close to baby due date), which has Joey super busy. Pictures on that also coming soon.

Only 5 weeks and 2 days until my due date! So much to do....