I love looking through Restoration Hardware Baby & Child and Pottery Barn Kids catalogs for ideas to knock off or things to look for at their outlets. I noticed recently that most of baby names in them that are my "style," which i would loosely define as classic and unique at the same time. I guess if I love the styling of their merchandise I should love the names they use as well. It's probably also subliminal messaging to get me to buy more stuff :-)
Here's a list of some that I love from my recent catalogs:
Dylan
Mason
Audrey
Charlotte
Madison
Emily
Hayley
Riley
Cameron
Conner
Laney
James
Graham
Hunter
Blake
Samuel
Chloe
Cooper
James
Daniel
Note: I'm listing both boy and girl names for fun. Many of which I would never choose for us because they just don't "go" with our last name and many of our front runners are not included in the list. We are not even close to having a name for Little Brother penned down :-)
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Book Recomendations
I've added a "Now Reading" section to the sidebar. Nate is getting to where he will play by himself for some amounts of time, but doesn't want me to much except sit and watch him. He will tolerate me reading, so I've tried to read more lately and am in the middle of South of Broad which has been awesome so far. Others I have read recently are Eat, Pray, Love (not my cup of tea) and The Help, which I would definitely recommend. Please be sure to pass along recommendations of anything you've read recently...since I only have 4 months of "free time" left!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Beach Highlights
We just returned from our 2nd Annual Penny Family Beach Trip! This year we cut our week a little short, due to part of the air conditioning in the house being out and Nate's age...he's just not ready for a whole week at the beach yet!
We arrived on Monday and Aunt Lauren had been at the cottage the previous week. After we got in we went straight for the beach!
Nate loved this swing that faced the ocean...he really didn't want to get out!
Lauren stayed with Nate and we were able to have a date night! We had a wonderful dinner and then played putt putt! It had been soooo long since we had played, but we both did well. Joel only beat me by 3 strokes.
On Tuesday morning we went to the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. We've picked these pictures to recreate each year--
That afternoon we hung out while Nate napped
and then went to Morehead City to pick up some things and enjoyed the air conditioning at the Chick fil a playplace.
We went to the beach again that evening and realized that Nate really only does the beach for about an hour and he's done! We took the video camera that night, so no pics.
The next morning we got up and went to the beach to take some pictures of Nate. It was SOOOOO much easier to capture him last year...he just keeps moving now!
Hanging out at the cottage- watching Pajanimals, of course!
While Nate was napping we were starting to think that we really didn't need a whole other day to do everything we wanted to do and decided that we would go back to Buies Creek the next day. So on Wednesday afternoon we checked off the rest of our excursions off our list!
Joel and Nate's traditional cannon pic at Fort Macon. Nate really enjoyed running around the middle of the fort and checking out all of the rooms.
Ice Cream in Beaufort
One last trip to the beach (which we cut VERY close to a storm coming in!)
On Thursday morning we set our alarm early so we could get good lighting for the family pictures we wanted to take. It is soooo hard to try to do a self timer picture with a toddler! We captured the one I have put in our header, which is probably the best. I should work on a bloopers post to show you the rest! We were able to get a few better ones of me/Nate & Joel/Nate since you can coax him to look at you a little more-sometimes :-)
Then it was time to pack up, clean up and head back over the bridge. We timed it so we could stop for lunch at Andy's in Havelock on our way back like we did last year. Nate enjoyed his chicken nuggets and french fries served in the car!
In planning for next year's trip with 2 kids (do I even want to think about it?) we think we will try to go in May. It will be cooler and little brother will be 5 months old-the same age that Nate was when we went last year, which seemed to be a really good age for the beach! And hopefully at 2 years old there will be more things that Nate will be able to do.
We arrived on Monday and Aunt Lauren had been at the cottage the previous week. After we got in we went straight for the beach!
Nate loved this swing that faced the ocean...he really didn't want to get out!
Lauren stayed with Nate and we were able to have a date night! We had a wonderful dinner and then played putt putt! It had been soooo long since we had played, but we both did well. Joel only beat me by 3 strokes.
On Tuesday morning we went to the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. We've picked these pictures to recreate each year--
That afternoon we hung out while Nate napped
and then went to Morehead City to pick up some things and enjoyed the air conditioning at the Chick fil a playplace.
We went to the beach again that evening and realized that Nate really only does the beach for about an hour and he's done! We took the video camera that night, so no pics.
The next morning we got up and went to the beach to take some pictures of Nate. It was SOOOOO much easier to capture him last year...he just keeps moving now!
Hanging out at the cottage- watching Pajanimals, of course!
While Nate was napping we were starting to think that we really didn't need a whole other day to do everything we wanted to do and decided that we would go back to Buies Creek the next day. So on Wednesday afternoon we checked off the rest of our excursions off our list!Joel and Nate's traditional cannon pic at Fort Macon. Nate really enjoyed running around the middle of the fort and checking out all of the rooms.
Ice Cream in Beaufort
One last trip to the beach (which we cut VERY close to a storm coming in!)
On Thursday morning we set our alarm early so we could get good lighting for the family pictures we wanted to take. It is soooo hard to try to do a self timer picture with a toddler! We captured the one I have put in our header, which is probably the best. I should work on a bloopers post to show you the rest! We were able to get a few better ones of me/Nate & Joel/Nate since you can coax him to look at you a little more-sometimes :-)
Then it was time to pack up, clean up and head back over the bridge. We timed it so we could stop for lunch at Andy's in Havelock on our way back like we did last year. Nate enjoyed his chicken nuggets and french fries served in the car!
In planning for next year's trip with 2 kids (do I even want to think about it?) we think we will try to go in May. It will be cooler and little brother will be 5 months old-the same age that Nate was when we went last year, which seemed to be a really good age for the beach! And hopefully at 2 years old there will be more things that Nate will be able to do.
2 Cents Coincidence
We were discussing recently any vacation traditions we might like to start and decided that the thing we were most interested in are the National Parks. We have already visited many as a couple (Wright Brothers Memorial, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Yosemite, Alcatraz) and have a list of the ones we'd like to visit next.
While at the mall today I noticed an ad for a Give 2 Cents campaign. It caught my eye, as anything with "2 Cents" does, and it turns out it is a fund raising effort by the National Parks Conservation Association. You visit their website, post stories from your National Parks visits and then donate 2 cents for every word of your story. I'm not the kind to go around asking people to donate money for things, but if the National Parks have contributed to your family's memorizes, I'd urge you to think about making a donation. The parks often have no charge, and it's easy to pass by the donation boxes as you're taking in the sights as I can say we have.
While at the mall today I noticed an ad for a Give 2 Cents campaign. It caught my eye, as anything with "2 Cents" does, and it turns out it is a fund raising effort by the National Parks Conservation Association. You visit their website, post stories from your National Parks visits and then donate 2 cents for every word of your story. I'm not the kind to go around asking people to donate money for things, but if the National Parks have contributed to your family's memorizes, I'd urge you to think about making a donation. The parks often have no charge, and it's easy to pass by the donation boxes as you're taking in the sights as I can say we have.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Nursery!
Alrighty, time to get planning! A girl would have been fun, but I am really excited about little brother and Nate being so close in age and being great buddies. And I already had a very good idea of how I wanted to set up a boy nursery. I was completely lost when it came to a girl's. I had thought about doing a blue/brown/white scheme, which was confirmed when I found this bassinet and bedding at a consignment sale (for $30 no less!) We'll be reusing Nate's crib eventually, maybe we'll try to make the switch to his big boy bed around his birthday. So little brother will sleep in the bassinet and we also have the pack n play as an option.
This is the bedding I've chosen (not even pretending that I've asked Joel's input on anything, haha). It's hard to tell, but there are light blue polka dots on the comforter and wide stripes on the bumper/skirt. I'd like to paint the walls a light blue to match.
Since we're not having to buy a crib/dresser/changing table this time, we're going to splurge on a nice glider. The brown fabric will work in many other rooms in our house once he gets bigger.
And a little something cute I picked up last week that matched the blue/brown :-) Y'all have to let me know if you see anything that would match the room!
This is the bedding I've chosen (not even pretending that I've asked Joel's input on anything, haha). It's hard to tell, but there are light blue polka dots on the comforter and wide stripes on the bumper/skirt. I'd like to paint the walls a light blue to match.
Since we're not having to buy a crib/dresser/changing table this time, we're going to splurge on a nice glider. The brown fabric will work in many other rooms in our house once he gets bigger.And a little something cute I picked up last week that matched the blue/brown :-) Y'all have to let me know if you see anything that would match the room!
20 Weeks
Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 20 Weeks
How Far Along: 20 Weeks
Size of baby: weighs 12 ounces (from the ultrasound)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: +2 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Still a mix of maternity and my regular clothes...it really just all depends.
Gender: BOY!
Movement: Yes, we were up at 4am together the day of the ultrasound :-)
What I miss: ?
Sleep: Still crazy dreaming and having to get up sometimes to go to the bathroom
Total Weight Gain/Loss: +2 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Still a mix of maternity and my regular clothes...it really just all depends.
Gender: BOY!
Movement: Yes, we were up at 4am together the day of the ultrasound :-)
What I miss: ?
Sleep: Still crazy dreaming and having to get up sometimes to go to the bathroom
Symptoms: nothing new...just the same stuff
Cravings: same here, just kind of settled in to the 2nd trimester
Best Moment this week: The ultrasound, of course!Cravings: same here, just kind of settled in to the 2nd trimester
What I am looking forward to: As I said last time, shopping! Nursery planning post coming up... also picking a name. For now I've taken to calling him "little brother"
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Last chance to vote!
Tomorrow is the big ultrasound....be sure to get your votes in. It's heavily favoring girl, but if I remember correctly I believe that was the case when we did the voting for Nate. We'll see! This mommy is ready to shop!
Getting crafty!
I've almost had an early nesting bug this time around...or part of it could be that we've waited longer this time to find out the sex of the baby and I'm just getting antsy to do something! Anyway, my laundry room had been driving me crazy. We had a laundry sorter/rack that just wasn't working with the layout. I asked Joel to move in this buffet table that was his Nanny's. We had/have plans to refinish it and get a marble top to use as a proper buffet table, but for now that is way down on the list of projects and it was just collecting dust in the basement.
Joel and I are a good team when it comes to crafts- he does the wood part, and I do everything else (as long as it doesn't include sewing!) He cut me a new top from MDF and I got to work with fabric and a staple gun! (It still needs a little help since the handles are half falling off)
He had already made this stand for our washer/dryer, but I had wanted to make a skirt to cover the bottom. More fabric, stitch witchery, an iron, staple gun, glue gun and some trim and this is what I whipped up!
Maybe if this baby is a girl I will finally learn some sewing...to make pillowcase dresses!
Joel and I are a good team when it comes to crafts- he does the wood part, and I do everything else (as long as it doesn't include sewing!) He cut me a new top from MDF and I got to work with fabric and a staple gun! (It still needs a little help since the handles are half falling off)
He had already made this stand for our washer/dryer, but I had wanted to make a skirt to cover the bottom. More fabric, stitch witchery, an iron, staple gun, glue gun and some trim and this is what I whipped up!
Maybe if this baby is a girl I will finally learn some sewing...to make pillowcase dresses!
Yet another post about Pajanimals
Yes, it's all about the Pajanimals in our house right now. Nate loves them so much that he quickly made up his own "sign" to ask to watch them. I tried my best to capture it...he basically waves his arms up and down (this is how he dances when he watches them). He "asks" to watch them roughly 4 times a day. Needless to say we know ALL of the songs. I also caught his happy reaction to when I turn it on.
Monday, August 2, 2010
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