savoring the moment

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that football season is here. For a coach's wife like myself, that means I'm a single parent 95% of the time. Sure, I have the hubs' support all the time, but physically? He's basically unavailable until December. It's really, really easy to let myself get overwhelmed by this, but instead I've been making an honest effort to enjoy almost every moment with my baby girl. Everyone says it, and I know that I'll blink and Jaqs will be walking/talking/off to school/graduating/getting married/etc. I don't want to look back and think, "I should have spent less time doing ___ and more time just being with her." For a type-A personality like myself, letting go of schedules and plans isn't easy, but I've been trying to be more flexible and forgiving of myself when things don't go just right.

If baby wants to be held a lot one day? So be it.

If the house is a wreck because I was holding her? Fine.

If she wakes up twice in the middle of the night for no apparent reason? Well, uh...okay...

If I have to change both our clothes three times due to bodily, ahem, eliminations? Part of it.

If I don't put on make-up/get dressed or leave the house? It's all good.

If our "outing" consists of wandering around Target AGAIN? Success!

You see, I'm almost certain no one has ever looked back on their kids being little and said, "I should have dusted more often." I constantly remind myself how BLESSED I am to be able to spend my WHOLE day with the light of my life. Not everyone gets to say that, and I'm grateful that I can.

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will miss this part of our lives, but I'm giddy thinking about all the fun years to come with Jaqs and whatever siblings she may have in the future. We're just getting started here! :)

this moment

If there's one thing I've learned from parenting so far, it's that you savor every moment. Time passes us by so quickly, and seeing a baby grow before your very eyes only magnifies that. Right now, one of Jaqs' favorite places to cuddle up is right up on mommy or daddy's chest, and I soak it up every single time. I breathe in her precious baby smell and try to lock it away to a place in my mind that I'll never forget. I admire her tiny fingers and toes...memorizing them because they'll never be this little again. I stroke her soft little head, and kiss her cheeks and her perfect, angelic lips a thousand times over...because someday, she won't let me do that anymore. I never want to forget these fleeting moments...

For they are the sweetest of my life. I feel overwhelmingly blessed in this moment...

This moment where schedules don't matter, the crying has long been forgotten, and our world seems to be in perfect harmony. This moment where I cry the happiest tears because I'm overcome with the love I have for you, baby girl. There's truly nothing better than being YOUR momma, Jaqsy girl. I'll love you forever.

.....now, will you go to bed just a little easier tonight? :)

the nursery!

Ahh, finally! The nursery post! I love the way everything turned out. I didn't really have a theme or a vision...just fabric, several DIY Pinterest projects, and a paint color. I think it came together really well, though. Everything is in its place and ready for the little miss!

So, without further adieu, here are the pictures...

the overview: looking in from the hallway

ribbon wreath on the door

armoire...the whole reason we chose antique white furniture!

crib + fabric petal balls made by yours truly

close-up of fabric

absolutely in love with the bedding! it turned out so cute, i think.

tie-up diaper holder

comfiest rocker/glider! we love it already.

stocked closet! thank goodness for hand-me-downs from a good friend!
and of course, there's several things from others in there as well :)

extra closet storage for accessories, toys, books, etc.

DIY bow/headband holder

my daughter.

a perfectly girly chandelier!

There you have it! I can't wait to bring Jaqs home to her room :) Not that she'll be spending a ton of time in there at the beginning...ha! I love to go just sit and look around in there and smell all her clean, baby-scented clothes. Ah, so sweet.

Wall color: functional gray, Sherwin Williams

Crib: JCPenny -Rockland Caden Convertible 

Bedding: fabric from Hobby Lobby - custom made by a friend.

(Abilene people--you can e-mail me for her name/number!)

Ribbon wreath inspiration

Hanging poms inspiration

(those bad boys are quite time consuming! but the result is worth it, i think)

Bow/headband holder inspiration

Chandelier: Ikea 

(converted to a swag-lamp by my handy dad!)

Closet storage: Lowe's

The blank canvases can't be finished without Jaqs! We do have plans for those :)

 

If you're curious about sources of anything else, just let me know. Thanks for taking a peak!

a nest-ful weekend!

We had another fabulous weekend! My dad's iPhone needed to be replaced, and there just so happens to be an Apple store about 45 minutes down the road from us, so my parents decided to spend the weekend in Temple :) I'm kinda getting used to seeing them all the time!

They came in late Friday evening, so I spent most of my evening at the track meet so I could spend a little time with my hubby. He's a busy man right now due to track!

Saturday morning, my mom and I just ran some errands while my dad golfed and Rob worked at the meet. My parents and I then spent that afternoon in Austin, and my brother was able to join us, too! Dad got his new phone, and we ate at P.F. Chang's....YUM. My fave.

Saturday evening was spent outside! The weather has been awesome, so I've been itching to get some things planted for Spring! Let's hope we don't have one of those unexpected Easter freezes this year ;) Being that I'm 9 months preggo, no one in my family lets me do much, so my mom and dad did all the work! How great is that?! Dad mowed for us since Rob was still gone, and my mom planted flowers.

front porch planters

now our front entry is even ready for Jaqs!

my mom hard at work!

Before my parents hit the road on Sunday, my dad & Rob added the FINISHING touches to the nursery! The chandelier is now hung and the curtains have tie-backs. Woohoo! 

Feels good to have that 100% ready for our girl :)

Plus, I can finally share the nursery pics!

We love when G-Pop and Sugar come to visit!! They're the best!

Totally unrelated note, but I ordered blog books via Blog2Print, and they came in over the weekend! I'm so excited to have the first 2 years of this blog printed into books now. This has been my intention for my blog all along, but I just hadn't got around to doing it. Blog2Print makes it really easy to organize your books...you can choose exactly which posts go into your book as well as the layout of the pages, covers of the books, etc. The only thing I don't really like is that the cover choices and fonts are kinda blah. BUT what's important to me is to have the memories on pages to flip through in the future!

 B2P didn't ask (or pay) me to share my opinions on their products...I just wanted to share my opinions with you in case you were thinking of doing something like this as well!

hometown baby shower!

Ever since we first announced that we were expecting a baby, we've been amazed by the outpouring of love and excitement that we've been shown. Such a blessing! Well, that only continued last weekend as we were given our first shower in Abilene. It was absolutely perfect and so much fun!

the invitation

hostesses: Julie, Pam, Linda, Judy, (me), Raquel & Lisa

some of the decor...girly, girly...just how i like it!

gluten-free brunch

my sweet temple friends that came along!

favors & gifts

adorable diaper cake made by julie...it's still assembled in the nursery!

my beautiful momma...AKA Sugar :)

fun baby goodies, guests, and one sweet baby girl!

more fun gifts including Jaqs' 1st tennies & swim-suit!

and the loot in the nursery

The shower was even better than I could have ever imagined. I felt so loved and extremely thankful for the many friends that we have that care so much about us and our baby girl. Jaqs will have no shortage of love, that's for sure! It's a special thing to be in a room full of people celebrating your unborn child. Something I've looked forward to for some time. A great big THANK YOU to the ladies who hosted this party for us! Y'all are so wonderful, and I'm grateful for you.

*****

I've been a little MIA around here, and you can probably see why! I've been in nesting mode. The nursery is ready, baby clothes have all been washed & organized, necessities assembled...we're just baby waitin'! There's basically one thing that's keeping me from posting nursery pictures, but hopefully the chandelier will be hung this weekend so I can get on that. I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat, right? ;)

Our Temple friends had a shower for us this weekend, so I'll be back soon to share that! Get ready for some serious cuteness.

Hope your week is of to a good start!

what's in a name?

When we first found out we were expecting a sweet baby, we immediately started racking our brains for our favorite names. We knew we wanted something timeless and meaningful. 

As it turns out, naming a person for their whole life feels like a lot of pressure! But without further adieu, our baby girl's name will be....

Jacqueline Kate

We're going to call her 'Jaqs' (pronounced like Jacks) for short rather than the more traditional, Jackie. We wanted her name to be unique but still classic. Her Grammie and I have already started referring to her as Jaqsy and Jaqsy-girl though, so I'm sure she'll have plenty of nicknames :)

Jacqueline's first name is after my maternal grandmother...

And her middle name is after my paternal grandmother...

 I love both of these women so much, and we wanted to honor them in this way. 

I think it will be special for both of them to know that their great-granddaughter is named after them, and it is definitely sentimental to us!

Jacqueline means "may God protect." I love that. My prayer for her is that God will always protect her and that she will always look to Him for guidance and direction in her life.

Kate means "pure." Obviously she will be born without flaw, and it is my prayer that she remain pure and true to herself and our Lord throughout her life.