Happy Valentines Day!

The loves of my life. . .

Matt- My forever Valentine and best husband IN THE WORLD!

Baby Boy- I can't wait to meet you!

Flip- My sweet little man! The best pup ever.

I am blessed! Hope your Valentine's Day is full of love!

Nursery Inspiration

Planning for the nursery gets me so excited! 

Last week, I found the crib I really wanted on sale at zulily.com! Seriously, I was having such a hard time with the thought of paying full price for it. I almost decided on an entirely different crib, but I'm glad I had enough patience to wait a little while longer. It’s the Babyletto Hudson crib in grey, and I saved $130!! I also ordered the bedding for the crib (thanks to my awesome dad). I found a great shop on Etsy called Modified Tot. She had so many fabric options to choose from. 

Take a look. . . 

It's the crib! So happy I found it on sale. You can find one here.

Fabric love! The ikat dots will be the changing pad cover,
the orange tiles are for the sheet, and the orange and
grey chevron will be the crib skirt! Check out more
awesome nursery bedding at Modified Tot.

Other nursery inspiration that I'm coveting right now. . . .

Serena & Lily baskets

Antler Mount found here.

I can take this guy off the list, because I bought
him on clearance at Target about a month ago... 

Birch Wall Clock on Uncovet

Chevron Cube at The Foundry

Little Castle Glider

These little foxes would be perfect on the walls!
All three can be found here. . .

here. . . 

and here.

Cute wood fox toys! Also on Etsy.

These pillow creatures can be customized in colors
to match the nursery!

Oh baby boy, I'm having to much fun planning/shopping for your nursery!

It's a...

Well, It has been absolutely crazy these past weeks! Last weekend Matt and I both got to be apart of our friends' wedding! ---Side note: Mr. & Mrs. Fryar... Y'all are awesome. Matt and I truly value your friendship, and we want to wish you both many blessings together.--- Their wedding was on Saturday, and since Matt and I were both in the wedding, we had to be there on Friday for the rehearsal. No big deal... I took off Friday and Matt has the weekend off, right... Wrong!

Matt found out last minute he had mandatory rehearsal for the Inauguration on Friday morning (8 AM - Noon) and Sunday morning (2 AM - Noon)! Well, needless to say that caused a little distress among the hubs and me! Fortunately, we managed to get Matt to both rehearsals and made it to the wedding festivities all on time. What a blessing! Poor Matt was tired out of his mind, but he was such a trooper.

Y'all don't even know how awesome my husband is! He even had to turn around on Monday morning and leave for California! The exciting part is that I am meeting him there tomorrow night, and we are going to have a little babymoon (that's right!) in San Francisco! I'm so excited to eat some good food and explore the city!

Now on to the good stuff! The entire reason for this post was to update y'all on baby Stevens! Well, we have some big news! Matt and I found out the gender last Monday, and we are happy to announce that we are expecting a baby boy!! We are both thrilled, and we are pretty sure we've already decided on his name. I'm already buying things for him.... I just can't help myself. I am obsessed with Etsy and all their cute handmade baby items!

Please excuse my overuse of the exclamation point in this post. If you can't tell, I'm really, really excited about it all! I'll leave y'all with some pictures of our sweet baby boy...

{16 weeks 4 days}
It's a boy... All the way!  It's just amazing seeing God's handiwork in the making.
We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!

This is my favorite! Look at his little profile, and look at those lips!
Oh my... He's got his daddy's lips for sure!

Oh Baby (pun intended), I'm back!

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to return to the blog world with this post. I’m excited to announce that Matt and I are expecting our first little baby in June! It’s been the best secret I've ever kept in my entire life. Matt had a little harder time keeping it all in. He was ready to tell everyone from day one. All I know is that he is going to make one awesome daddy! I’d like to share with you all a little of what has been going on in the past few months, and how we found out I was pregnant.

On October 11^th I got off work, and just had this feeling I should stop by the drug store to get a pregnancy test. It’s pretty funny to admit, but I was so nervous to just buy the thing! Yes, silly… Well, Matt was on duty, so I got home and took Flip for a walk. I was eager to take the test right away, but I waited until after the walk to finally take it. I waited for what seemed like forever and checked the results. As I stared at the test I saw not just one line, but another faint line as well! This is when my heart started beating really fast. I couldn't believe it! Only one thought ran through my head… “I think I’m pregnant.” I went to bed that night thinking of all the possibilities! Is it true?? I was excited and nervous all at the same time!

The next morning, I was off work, so I spent some time with my friend. I tried not to let my facial expressions tell her how I was contemplating so much, but I finally caved and told her… “I think I’m pregnant.” She said, “What do you mean you think you’re pregnant?” I explained how I took the test and got the faint line, and she told me it’s pretty clear if you are or if you aren't (duh!).  She convinced me to buy more tests. So we stopped by the drug store, and when we got back to her house we (two grown women) successfully botched two (not cheap) tests! In the excitement of it all, we never actually read the directions (these were WAY more complicated than the simple test I took yesterday evening). So I went home still just thinking I was pregnant, but the fact that I told someone made it feel more real now!

That night, the high school soccer team Matt was coaching had a game in Waldorf. I made plans to ride up there with him and watch the game. I was pretty nervous to tell Matt, but I had a plan. We arrived just before the JV game. Since he coached the varsity, I told him I was going to do some shopping during the JV game. I wanted to find a cute little baby outfit to give him. I picked out the cutest onesie from H&M. After I got the onesie, I headed to Target. I really wanted to get another positive test before I bit the bullet and told him. I bought a pregnancy test and took it right in the Target bathroom (I was anxious to know the results... OK) ! This time there was no messing up; it was as simple as pee and wait! So wait I did until the words “Pregnant” appeared! I immediately squealed on the inside, gathered my things, and headed back to the soccer game.

The longest game of my life… That’s what I thought at the time anyway. After it was finally over, Matt and I headed back to the car. As we sat in the car, Matt began to talk about how he wanted to go to D.C. and try to score a pair of tickets to the Nationals game… All I could think about was the bag with the onesie in it that was sitting at my feet! So, I interrupted him, mid-sentence, and shoved the bag in his face. “Here I got you something,” I told him. He had a questionable look on his face, but delighted in my eagerness and promptly looked inside. He pulled out the onesie, and his face had that look of intrigue/disbelief/shock/confusion all in one. He turned to me and said, "Does this mean..." “Yep, I’m pregnant.” I told him, and he immediately smiled and gave me a kiss! What a relief… He was so excited!!

I’m telling you, I was pretty nervous about how he would react. We weren't exactly expecting to get pregnant, but we knew there was a possibility. I have to say that my entire first trimester of pregnancy has been smooth sailing. I really can’t complain. Though, I am always trying to squeeze in a nap. I've been super tiered! Matt will come home to find me passed out on the couch with all the lights off. He just thinks I’m silly, but naps are essential right now! 

Now I am right at the beginning of 16 weeks! I just can't believe it, and guess what... I have a teeny tiny little baby bump! I love waking up in the morning and seeing the little baby awkwardly bulging from my belly! It's so surreal and awesome! I will try to be a better blogger. Not only so everyone can stay up-to-date, but also because I really want to document this amazing journey as Matt and I become parents. Oh 2013, you are destined to be a great one!

The week 16  bump...

Our Announcement via Christmas card:

When Two Friends Fall in Love

It's Thursday...finally! I have been waiting for Thursday to arrive since last Thursday!! All because this is my last workday of the week, and I have an amazing weekend planned. This weekend I will be traveling down to Topsail Island, NC for my dear friend's bachelorette festivities. I just can't wait to see her. It's been way. too. long. Brittany was my college roommate. We met at college orientation, actually, and we hit it off immediately. It was crazy how many things we had in common. And now, she is getting married to another dear friend, Will. Matt and I both worked with Will at Caswell. We are so thrilled that the two of them have each other!

Me, Will, and Matt way back in 2006! 

Me, Brittany, & Matt at our wedding! Brittany was a beautiful bridesmaid and I know she is going to make an even more beautiful bride!!

Will & Brittany, Matt and I both can't wait to be a part of their wedding in January!!

Visits, Hurricane, and Halloween!

It’s been semi eventful around our little apartment these days! This past weekend my dad and sister came to visit! It was the first time my dad came up to see our place. We had so much fun. I can’t tell you how much I miss him along with my entire family! I wish it were as easy as getting up and just driving a couple miles, but 6 hours is quite a hike. Granted, we don’t live on the opposite sides of the country! I am just glad Matt and I got to spend some quality time with my dad.

They arrived on Thursday afternoon. I was at work until 4, so they kept themselves entertained at the local Buffalo Wild Wings. Matt was able to sneak in after soccer on Thursday before returning to work, and luckily he was off Friday afternoon through Sunday, so he could join in on all the fun! I took my dad and my sister to the Commissary Thursday evening, and let just say Dad was impressed at the low prices! One of the perks of being a military wife; I do love shopping at the Commissary!!

On Friday after Matt got home, we went to take our Christmas pictures. Since my sister is a photographer, I had to take advantage of getting the pictures done while she was here. You know, Christmas is going to be here before we know it! Side note: I can’t believe it’s already November! The pictures look great, and I can’t wait to hand out our Christmas cards this year.

Saturday, we all got up and had a delicious breakfast of Dad’s famous hobos. Dad really wanted to visit the Harley shop, so we packed in the Civic and headed 30 minutes west towards motorcycle bliss! We made a few stops along the way at some flea markets and antique stores. When we arrived at Harley Davidson dad found a new t-shirt, and Heather and I got him a new hat (as an early birthday present). They were having a Halloween bash, and there were plenty of kids and adults dressed in costumes. We also happened to get a free lunch out of the deal! This was Matt’s first time ever in a Harley shop, so he was definitely taking it all in as best as he could. He may have been a bit overwhelmed. J It was fun, though!

Cute picture of Flip that Heather took!

for Morgan!

my dad... See, he's so cool!

Dad outside one of the flea markets!

Saturday night we went to a couple of parties that our friends were throwing for Halloween. We decided that it would be totally awesome to dress up as a biker gang! Matt had an excellent idea to supplement the biker gang by dressing in the cycling gear… get it?? Yes, it was pretty funny. Well, at least we thought it was! Some of our friends didn't quite catch our little joke! My dad, sister, and I were all looking hard core, and then there’s Matt in spandex shorts and a helmet. Funny husband…

The biker gang!  Minus the cyclist, Matt... But you can only imagine.

Heather... of course she made her shirt!

Pretty sister!

Dad and Heather left on Sunday, just in time before Hurricane Sandy arrived. Sunday was when I was supposed to run the Zombie 5K, but it was cancelled due to the storm! Such a bummer!! Luckily, Southern Maryland wasn't hit too hard by the storm. I never lost power at the apartment, and ended up working from home on both Monday and Tuesday. Matt was at work, and he said they lost power for only about 45 minutes. So, all in all, I can say we are blessed to be safe! My thoughts and prayers are with all those in Jersey, New York, and all the other areas that were hit the hardest.

Sheww!! After all that catching up, now it’s Friday! Matt took off work this weekend, because we were supposed to attend the youth fall retreat. Unfortunately, it was cancelled. So, now I am hosting a “Girls Night Out” at my house tonight, and Matt will be joining the guys at another leader’s home. I am sure it’s going to be a great time!! We will have some free time tomorrow, so I am excited to see what we will do to keep ourselves busy. I’m sure we will find something!

Well, sorry for the long post. I have been a terrible blogger lately (something Matt always reminds me), and I want to make sure I keep you all up to date with what’s going on with us. So, thanks for hanging in there! Have a safe and awesome weekend!

A Few Finds

So this past weekend was the third weekend of the month, and do you know what that means? It means that the Vintage Source is open for business! The Vintage Source is basically a flea market full of antiques, repurposed goods, and funky resale items. This weekend I was determined to find a dresser for our barren guest room. After looking everywhere and through everything, I came across the most awesome dresser, ever! It was perfect, and it was just what I wanted... 

blurry... sorry!

The dresser was repurposed, and it looks great with the coat of grey paint! I also found this unique side table for a steal at $25!

Finally, I am so stoked about this vintage bar cart! I have been looking for something similar, but everything I liked  cost a fortune! Luckily I got this guy for $23... And the best part about it-- I love it as is! 

Once I finished the guest room, I promise to post pictures! I can't wait for it to all come together.