He's Here!

Mason Jude Stover arrived Saturday evening, July 16, at 6:08 pm.  He weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz. and was 20 inches long.  He came by c-section, and the words I heard all through out the operating room once he was delivered were what a big boy he is!
Ironically, this is my 100th post.  I had something fun in the works, which I will still post when I get it complete, but I think this is much bigger news and much more celebratory for a 100th post.  Way to go Mason - your timing is just perfect!

A Pregnancy Progress Report

With less than a month left in my pregnancy, I thought it was about time to give a little update on things.  I've passed the 36 week mark, and at this point, I'm counting down the days left until my due date.  I keep telling myself in my mind that I'll go past my due date, but I'm secretly hoping that I won't, so I don't know what good that actually does me.  I don't know for sure, because I don't weigh myself very regularly, and I can't believe I'm going to admit this to the world, but I've probably gained at least 40 pounds.  Darn ice cream.
Other than giving in to the temptation of ice cream, I don't really have any cravings.  I've started a new "thing", which is waking up at 5:00 or 5:30 every single day (including weekends!) regardless of what time I've gone to bed the night before.  I guess this is preparing me for motherhood.  My nights of sleep are also interrupted regularly.  The only thing that is a bit of an annoyance is that my ankles have swollen to a disgusting size.  I often wear booty socks to avoid the discomfort of the band on regular socks, but it usually results in my having muffin-top cankles.  You can thank me that there is no picture to go along with it.
But all complaining aside, I've really enjoyed my pregnancy.  It has gone fairly fast, although with the excitement and anxiety building with each day, I do feel like this last month is going slower and slower.  Truly, in just a matter of a few weeks, Byron and I will experience the most life changing moment that will ever happen to us.  And we can't wait!
Here are some pictures to show how I got to where I am now.

Nursery Update - Paint, Crib, and Blinds

So I realize that I have left everyone hanging on the progress of the nursery, which, admittedly, hasn't been a ton.  But we have done some of the foundational work.  The "before" shot of the room was an empty blue box, later transformed with the neutral paint.

That was the process of going from blue, to primed, to painted.  Byron did the whole thing, pretty much because he wouldn't let me come anywhere near the paint.  Even though we did get no VOC paint and it should have been fine, he still did it all.  The strange thing is that whenever other people are doing projects, I get super antsy to join in.  I was nearly beside myself the whole time trying to figure out what to do.  Somehow I managed.
One fun thing I wanted to point out is that we used magnetic primer underneath the window, just for a little something fun (that's what the black stuff was).  Byron was definitely skeptical, and I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to cover the black with such a light topcoat, but if it didn't work, we were only out the cost.  Fortunately, it works! Byron became a believer, and hopefully it will serve as a fun little treat for our little one.
After we removed all the tape and put away all the tools, we ordered this crib.  I had my eye on it for awhile.  I love how old fashioned it looks, and even though it might be a tad girly, I ordered it in a more masculine black.  It came within the week and it is perfect.
Finally, we hung blinds in the room.  I am a curtain girl at heart, but we learned from experience when this was set up as a guest room that there is a certain time in the afternoon where the sun peeks through and you can't hide it with curtains no matter how hard you try.  Well, you can, but it involves taping the curtain to the wall.  Classy, we know.  So blinds were a necessity.  The first two options we tried weren't the right size, but the third time was the charm.  We got these from Target, which only cost about $16.  I wasn't the smartest when we hung them, so we did end up with a few too many holes in the window frame, but fortunately you can't see our mistakes.
And with the paint done, the crib put together, and the blinds installed, the room now looks like this.

The curtain isn't really a curtain - I just clipped one of my inspiration fabrics up to the rod to see if I liked it.  And I do. But, I don't have enough to make two floor length curtains (my favorite).  So I could either do one panel, and always have it open to the side, or I could do two panels, but not have them be floor length.  I think there is enough to make them just longer than the bottom of the sill.  I hope.  Any advice?  I'm all ears.  I do have the other fabric that I could use for curtains, and I think I might have enough of that to make two panels.  So we'll see what I end up with.
The next project for the room will be to install this light fixture, which I just ordered today.  I saw it in a master bath/master closet redo here and I loved it.  It is just what I was looking for locally but wasn't finding anything.  It should hopefully be here next week, but it is something that we might have to lure some friends over to help us (and by us I mean Byron) hard wire it in.  Don't everyone call us at once, now.
We still have to start working on the dresser, and after that, I'm a little at a loss.  I am scouring the ends of the internet for inspiration and ideas, and I know everything will come together eventually.  And if it isn't all in place on day one, I'm pretty confident the little guy won't notice it anyway.

Our Latest Work in Progress

We've taken on a new project.  One that is unlike anything that we have ever taken on before.  I am proud to finally announce that I am heavily involved in creating a new human life.  Yep!  I'm pregnant.  I have taken some time to announce it on the blog, so I'm actually 21 weeks already, due mid-July.  And we also know we are expecting a little boy.  (Wow - the moment you see your little baby on the ultrasound screen is so amazing.  Whether you find out the sex of your child at that time or not, it is just so magical to see them in there with their own little personality already!)
For those of you who have had children, this will likely be no surprise to you, but I can hardly begin to explain how tired pregnancy has made me.  This was especially true around weeks 7-12 (November and December), when I could barely get myself off the couch, let alone blog!  I am fortunately feeling much more energetic, though I still am enjoying an 8:45 pm bedtime.  And remember my New Year's resolution?  Well, that was not without it's reasons.  I am hot on the trail to organize our guest room, which will become the nursery, but also to organize ALL THE CLUTTER IN THE ENTIRE HOME.  Having recently completed our taxes (believe it or not this is early for me!), I have now made it my mission to redo our filing system.  I hate filing with a passion, but I think I'm on to something.  Other items I aim to conquer include sorting through our books and dvds, and transferring all our boxed storage in the basement to totes.
But enough about organizing.  That is something that other people have figured out and I am just trying to figure out. I'm sure you're all wondering more about the pregnancy.  Well, here are a couple of photos that have documented progress.

I'm looking forward to sharing more of my experiences throughout pregnancy as well as some of our plans for welcoming our new little one.  I have nursery inspiration and ideas to share, as well as some projects that we need to attack in the next couple of months.  And with the task of completing a baby registry coming up, I'm welcoming advice or products that you moms either can't live without or feel are too overrated.  Wish us luck on our latest adventure!