in the 30's

I'm in week 31 :) and that's about the temperature outside right now as well :(

Speaking of the cold, I'd like to touch on a little timeline topic.  A lot of people have commented on how lucky I am that I'm pregnant in the winter.  However, I don't necessarily agree.  Obviously I really don't care when I'm pregnant, just that I'm lucky and blessed enough to be pregnant.  But if you know me, you know that I am a very cold natured person.  So, this whole thing about it being miserable to be pregnant in the summer... I'm pretty sure I could have handled it.  The other thing about having a large belly in the thick of the winter, is putting on all the gear with that belly.  Especially the bending over for jeans, socks, and boots and driving with a jacket on and feeling like the Michelin Man.  If I didn't have a bench in our room, I'd be on the floor and it would take me twice as long to get ready. 

{The Belly}
Lets take a look at where we've been over the past couple of weeks. 

This is 28 weeks.  {sweet baby Bowie wanted to join in the picture}

And this is today at 30 weeks.

{Facts thus far on the pregnancy}

- My right hip might need to be replaced, as I am currently walking like my grandmother who has two artificial hips.  However, the great Dr. Ron my chiropractor is working it out with me as well as my sweet trainer Karyna.

- The waddle is cause for smiles at the office, especially when I'm trying to get to the ladies room in a hurry.

- I passed my gestational diabetes test, hooray!  But found out I'm anemic, boo.  So that means more iron.  Not so fun on the digestive tract.

- We had another sonogram at 28 weeks, and will have another at 31 weeks.  I have a marginal cord insertion... cord is at the edge of placenta and not the center.  Apparently it can cause growth restriction for baby, but at the 28 week sonogram the tech said she was measuring 3 whopping pounds.  According to my app, that is at or more than what she should be, so I'm not too worried and neither is the Dr.

- My belly is growing a lot, and sleeping is getting super uncomfortable.  And I get up to pee about 7 times each night.  It doesn't really bother me though, I think I'm usually 3/4 still asleep.

- My mom does something or buys something for Ellery about once a week.  Obviously she is super mom, and will graduate (eh, probably already has) to super grandma.

- Ellery is moving so much and we FINALLY have alien baby tummy movements!  Its so fun to watch, especially when I lay on my side. 

{Nursery Progress}

So, you know all that inspiration board crap I did in the beginning?  Well, that was fun and all.  And then I switched it up for a premade set from New Arrivals, and then at the absolute LAST minute, I cancelled that order.  I just wasn't feeling it.  I wanted something soft, yet with a touch of whimsy and bold pattern. 

My mom helped me to step back and think about the process.  And then I approached it like I do my commercial design projects and thought about what I wanted my inspiration to be.  I looked back on my Pinterest boards, and found that my inspiration really needed to be this print, by Rifle Paper Company.  I love it!  It is pattern in itself, and enough pattern for the room.  I didn't want pattern on the bedding, but in other subtle areas.

I thought about the colors in it and what I wanted to pair with it.  Mind you I already had the crib, glider and dresser... But I think subconsciously I knew I wanted this type of look at the furniture was the backdrop for all this.  And, I was OBSESSED with pairing a vintage print like this with a black and white stripe.

After realizing what my inspiration was, I created this new inspiration board.  Three prints in oversized square frames over the crib with an accent wall of reclaimed pallet wood, coral jade and peach in the bedding, gold frames and accessories with a black and white stripe rug and teeny black and white stripe accents on the bedding.  

The next day I went and saw my sweet friend Kathryn who owns Picket Fences and we talked it out and set up the plan for the bedding, drapes and accent pillow.  Its all ordered, through PF, and I feel great about it!

I don't have a good photo at the moment of the progress on the room, but I love the paint color (jade/mint) so far, and our fun black and white stripe bold rug from Ikea is just the perfect bold contrast to the soft peaches in the bedding.  The coral comes in just a tad with some bows and accent pieces.





That is all for now, toodles, and only 10 more weeks to go!

holy belly

Happy belated holidays.  To be honest I'm glad the new year has started and we can look forward to all kinds of fun things in 2014!  Obviously one being to meet our little lady.  The other... I need it to be warmer.

Due to the technical difficulties with the last computer, I've been a little slow on the posts because I've basically had to re-install EVERYTHING onto a NEW computer.  I totaled my other one with just the smallest bit of water spilled on it.  But, thank god for the Best Buy protection plan.  Don't ever not do it!  Its a life saver.  New computer for free.  (Still had to pay another chunk of change for another protection plan for the new computer though.)  Geek talk over.

Sad thing is that I lost all my creative graphic bump info, and some of the bump pics and a lot of other stuff that did not get backed up.  But I'm not going to get upset about it.  There are much more important things in life.

Onto fun things going on.  The baby bump.  The last picture I took was at week 19.  

And its been 7 weeks since I took another baby bump pic.  Obviously there has been a lot going on.   But just wait until you see this crazy transformation...

Week 26

Needless to say, baby girl, and me... have been growing.  Funny thing is, this is just days after food poisoning too.  I promise I'm a small person, and I haven't gained THAT much weight... but it will be very interesting to see how big this baby is going to be at birth.

We have a bunch of furniture in the nursery now!  Crib, dresser, rocker/glider, and moses basket & stand.  I'm waiting for the bedding to come in.  After a lot of thinking and pondering, I just didn't want to stress over trying to cultivate my own bedding ensemble when in reality, in about a year, I'll probably want something different anyway.  So, I ordered a semi-custom set from New Arrivals, Inc.

I've asked my sweet aunt to make curtains out of the coral orange and grey dot.. and then we will just go from there.  For now, I'm not too worried about getting everything done in too much of a hurry.  But I know its going to come fast, so I should probably keep up the pace.

We have a name.  Its not a secret.  So I will share.  Ellery Kate Walker.  And we will call her all kinds of nicknames like Ellie and Ellie Kate etc.

She is moving so much, but not alien baby yet, and I can't wait to see that!

Heartburn is ramping up.  Its awesome.  Whole bottle of tums at my desk at work.  

Our puppy Bowie is now 8 months old and still a little terror, but I can see an improvement in his demeanor.  He doesn't nip anymore, and we are working on all kinds of other obedience with him.  He is the sweetest thing when he's not busy trying to play keep away and is tired from a day of chewing on socks and rawhide.  We love him!  He still has some learning and calming down to do before baby girl gets here, and because of this he still goes to School Days at Dog School Austin with Rachel Daughn (dog whisperer of Austin).  We love her!

David and I have been busy on a recent house project which I will post later this week.  It involves a built in desk in the kitchen.  It looks amazing, and David continues to impress me with his skills.  Its always awesome to see how we completely compliment each other.

Until next time!

the walkers, lately

Lots of big things have been going on in the Walker household of late.  Here is a little snippet of the past couple of weeks here at the end of 2013.



We found out our baby is a little GIRL!  Here is the "money shot" from the anatomy scan we had back in mid November.  She's getting big!  And is wonderfully healthy and perfect.  We are very blessed.

As some of my friends know, I'm kind of crafty.  So, telling our family was a big deal to me and I wanted to make it special.  So, we set up a night for all of us to meet at dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Matt's El Rancho.  I figured it was loud and a big place and 14 people wouldn't be a hassle, etc.  Plus, I needed my queso fix for the week.

Our way of telling our friends was through "cascarones".  (confetti eggs)  I thought it was appropriate with the restaurant theme, and I gave David 2 options and he chose this one. 

So, I carefully cracked open and cleaned 12 eggs ahead of time, got the packaging purchased and everything ready until the night we found out... and filled them with the appropriate color confetti before the next evening's dinner festivities.

Our family's surprise announcement!

That is the dinkiest piece of confetti.  It says "Its a girl". 

The next day at work, the interior design studio girls decorated my desk. 

And then we  David has been hard at work last weekend on replacing our side fence.  The previous fence was chain link, yuck.  And now it matches the other side/gate and is tremendously updated.  More yard projects are under way.  Even today, in 30 degree weather, David and his dad are hauling off old firewood piles and railroad ties that were left in our backyard from before we bought the house.  "Clean slate" David says.  Maybe in the spring we can work on building a deck in the backyard.  We love being outside, and our backyard is beautiful, but there just isn't any good functional living space.

David and I took our Christmas picture last weekend.  Baby bump and all. 

[Side note:  I spilled water on my laptop and it is in the shop for another week or so.  It is very sad to me because I cannot do any editing of photos or graphics stuff like I always do.  Its like I lost my phone or my hairdryer.  Its apart of my every day. End, sob story.]

And the baby bump.  This was at end of week 22.  Again, I must not have any stomach muscles to hold anything in, because the bump is bigger than most I know around my same time frame.

At work, there are "Stork Parking" spaces.  I finally pulled the trigger and asked if I could start parking there.  My hips are kind of killing me and without an elevator, our garage can get very cumbersome to walk in and out of 2-3 times a day. 

Our next fun project we have been working on is to have a kitchen built-in desk/office made.  Since we had to dedicate one of our guest bedrooms to the baby's room, the other serves as an actual bedroom (which I use a lot due to the snoring factor of the significant other) and there is no room for a desk/office component. 

This is where our "office" currently sits, and where we will have the actual cabinets installed.  They will match our kitchen cabinets, but be painted.  Big surprise, the color gray.  The desktop won't be too deep, only 20" and we have included some mail slots up top with the upper cabinets. 

Inspirational images include the following: 

via

via

I'm super excited to clean up the area.  Enjoy the clutter you see in the before picture.  I AM human, and my life is not perfect.  No one's should be.

Okay everyone, enjoy this weekend's cold snap.  I sure am, inside with the heat going, plotting away at my next project.  Undoubtedly one that will cost money and make David have to work ;)

Oh!  And, "follow" the blog, because soon I'm not going to use Facebook as my "blast".  Follow and get an update via email of new posts!

renovations at the rents



My parents just finished remodeling a large portion of their house.  The major part of the renovations took place in the addition that used to be my grandmother's apartment.  It used to be a self sufficient little house over there with a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom.  Kyle lived there for a period of time and David and I lived there while we were re-modeling our current home.

 

All in all, it looks very different now.  I helped them space plan and arrange the suite so that they had optimal garden/pool views, as well as a circular flow through the bedroom and into and out of the bathroom/closets.  It is also very close to being a truly ADA (wheelchair accessible) plan.  My parents really wanted to be able to plan for the future.  So, after much pushing and pulling of walls and doors and mapping out specific furniture pieces my mom already new she would be buying, the plan was done and they started construction. 

 

We had an amazing contractor.  A family friend and mentor of David's, Jamie Grigar.  My parents loved him.  And my dad is typically a hard one to please :)  And my mom was always striving to be the perfect client :)

 

So without further adieu, here is the new space.  Unfortunately we do not have before pictures.  Also, please excuse my photography skills. 

 

 

{ Master Bedroom }

 

 

 

 

{ Master Bathroom }

 

Then they did some renovations to the upstairs, mainly just replacing carpet and re-texturing walls.

 

{ Side note:  When I was a teenager, my mom let me do ANYTHING I wanted, to my room.  So I thought it would be an excellent idea to try out plaster on my walls.  As an interior designer in training and a bull headed person in general, I just went to Home Depot and got the closest thing I could find to what I thought was the right product.  It ended up being a bunch of spackling basically.  Yes, laugh now.  And then a couple of years later, my mom tried to fix it by doing the real at home wall texture process, but that was a disaster too.  So that room needed a lot of help.  But now it looks great.  }

 

 

{ Old Master Bedroom }

 

{ Old Master Bathroom }

this was completely renovated, tile instead of carpet, new cabinets and countertops

 

{ Kyle's old bedroom }

looks so like him :)

 

{ My old bedroom }

Now mom's workroom and office

 

{ Hall bath}

This was completely renovated.  It only had a shower, and since mom and dad built a closet over the bathtub in their old master bathroom... they demolished the shower in here and added a tub, moved the toilet to a completely different spot, got rid of a sink (there were two) and I just love this little room.

 

 

In addition to these rooms, they also blew out an exterior stone wall, that was actually inside because they had previously enclosed a porch.  That wall being gone now lets so much light into their living room, and its just awesome. 

 

And of course we cannot forget all the landscaping changes that were made outside mom and dad's new master suite.  My dad has an intense green thumb.  When he finally retires he'll probably go work at a local nursery or The Wildflower Center.  So this was a huge part of the project.  I don't have any pictures now of it, but it basically enclosed a large portion of their side yard to be an oasis to wake up to every morning.

 

Have a great week!

sharing saturday

Here are some additional pictures of our house as requested by some of our friends.  Thanks for the love.

{gallery wall in hallway}

{back guest bedroom}

{front study/office}

{kitchen table and bar area}

{living room}

{living room}