Myla Isabella

We are so proud to announce that Myla Isabella  was born Saturday, July 21, 2012 at 2:26PM. She was 10 days late and weighed 7lbs 10.8oz and 20.5 inches!

We are so happy to have her home with us!!!

Girls Night Out Win $150 Giveaway to Applebee's

Go to http://www.dreambookdesign.com/2012/07/girls-night-out-with-150-giveaway.html and enter a chance to win a $150 gift card for a girls night out at Applebee's courtesy of Applebee's and blogger at dreambookdesign.com

Spare Room: Before and After

I apologize for being absent from blogging the past week and a half! I have no excuses! Unfortunately, no I have not had my baby yet. She has decided to come when she wants to come. Next Wednesday she will officially be two weeks late, so on Tuesday night the hospital plans on inducing me. At least I know that I will be meeting her within the next six days! You would think that during my time off without the baby I would be doing lots of projects but I haven't .... I have been a complete sloth! I'm not proud of it. I figured, since I don't have any projects to blog about I will share with you kind people a before and after of the spare room, A.K.A. "Johnny's Game Room."

I guess when we first bought the house I didn't do a good job at taking a picture of the room.

This room was one of my least favorite rooms in the house. Not only did it have paneling, but also drop down ceilings. The hard wood floors also looked beat up. Johnny convinced me that this room is not a priority yet and that in the future we can demo it, and put up new sheet rock but for now that we have to make do with what we have and just cosmetically make it look better. Cosmetic changes begin with painting.

That is ---- If I chose an appealing color ............

At least we were able to recognize that this color was ...... ummmm ........ well I guess you could say POOP. The second attempt at a color was the blue that you see in this image. This was also a No No, the blue was too vibrant. We made a trip back to Home Depot and picked out a new color. Third time is a charm!

Once the painting was done we moved in our couch.

Then we had our first sleepover at our new home!

As you can see, there was still construction going on in other parts of the house and that's why it looks so dusty. We didn't buy blinds yet, just hung up sheets and seeing as there was no cable or T.V. we brought our laptop to keep us entertained. It was exciting to spend the first day in our own home even though it may not look very cozy. After we finally moved in about a  month later and began working on the baby room, this room then became the storage room. One evening, while I was out, my mother-in-law came over and her and Johnny cleaned up the room and rearranged it. I was so grateful of this.

Before

After

My mother-in-law and Johnny separated the sectional into two pieces, and we got white roman shades for the windows at JC Penny's for $20.00 each. As you can see the T.V. is waiting to be mounted on the wall and we still need to get curtains for the windows but I am loving the way the room looks! 

Baby Room Reveal

Yesterday was my last day of work (until October)!!! If you consider taking care of baby work, then let's just say yesterday was my last day of secular work. Seeing as baby is not here yet I get to have a few days to myself. Most of the baby prep has already been completed so I was able to get some of my daily house cleaning done today and soaking up the sun by my parent's pool. I thought now might be a good time to reveal the Baby Room, just in time, before she arrives!

This room has been pretty much closed off, or kept as storage since we bought the house back in November. We knew it would be one of our final bigger projects. I would have to say this room was the most difficult to decorate. I didn't want it to be too babyish, or tacky. If you want to see where I got a lot of my ideas from click here to read my previous posts. Thankfully, Johnny and Jack took care of the sanding and painting. That left me with only cleaning, and decorating. The first pieces of furniture that moved in were the crib, dresser and rug.

Before anything else was moved in I asked my father-in-law if he could remove the closet doors off of the closet and build a shelving system. The next day I came home from work and he had already started it!

Once this project was complete we began assembling all our other gadgets and slowly moved them into the room.

Johnny would probably hate me if he knew I posted this picture of him putting together the glider! To be fair, here is a not so glamorous shot of myself testing the glider out for the first time.

And so it goes everything was moved into the room!

Before ..........

After!!!

Don't the shelves look AWESOME!

And here is my tribute to Pinterest. Johnny and I are obsessed with giraffes and elephants. One day while I was browsing Pinterest I found this idea ......

http://www.shopmilkweed.com/2011/07/nursery-art.html?spref=fb

....... And immediately fell in love. So I pulled out some of my old scrapbooking paper and began. My Ipad came in handy for this project. I googled giraffe and elephant silhouettes. Then I traced them with a pencil. This was a very quick and easy way for me to get the perfect stencil for a giraffe and elephant without trying to sketch it myself. Then I mounted it onto another piece of scrap book paper and framed it!

I'm fortunate to have a friend that stalks my pinterest page because the hooks hanging below my home made pictures were also something I liked on Pinterest. My pinterest stalker/best friend bought these as a gift for our baby shower!

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/category/hardware/home-hardware.jsp

Join the seasonal Pinterest challenge at http://www.younghouselove.com/

Project Bathroom: Before & After

In our lovely home we have two bathrooms - one upstairs and one downstairs. I'll admit, I like having one on each floor especially when we have visitors but I will also admit that I am not proud of one of them. The downstairs  bathroom. It is very outdated and it is a project that we have yet been able to tackle.

This is our shameful downstairs bathroom. We added a few items such as a trashcan, towels and the necessities but it definitly needs some work. Nonetheless, it is still functioning.

This is our upstairs bathroom before it was made over.

The major work that had to be done on this bathroom was cosmetic. The seller replaced the toilet and the sink. All we really had to do was paint and decorate it. Most of our house is painted with grays, greens and blue so Johnny suggested that I go with something else. And I did! I chose purple!

We stuck with the same type of blinds, Roman Palisades from Home Depot for the window. The round shower rod and shower curtain are both from home goods.

Turns out the Roman Palisades were a little revealing to the outside world. We covered it with a matching shower curtain. (My mother-in-laws brilliant idea!) We also added matching towels, a rug, a picture on the wall and the essentials. 

Before:

After:

What's in your hospital bag?

I'm a less than a week away from my due date and I finally have my bag completely packed! Everyday for the past few weeks I have added to it. When I first found out I was pregnant I treated myself to a new travel bag for a hospital bag. I found this bag at Ocean State Job Lot for $38 and it came with all sorts of inserts. It also has a pull out handle and rolls on wheels. If this was a backpack I would say its a little nerdy but for travel purposes the wheels are awesome. I couldn't resist buying this suitcase! I felt a little overwhelmed about packing the bag because what do you really need when your going to the hospital to deliver a baby and what will be provided? And how much baby clothes, diapers or swaddle blankets do you have to bring? I was pleased that during our birthing classes they went over the essentials that you will need to pack for the hospital bag. We made a list and went from there. I also want to tell you that a great baby shower gift is gift cards to Target, Walgreens or any grocery store so that you can pick up some of these essential items. The following items are things that I packed for my hospital bag.

Hospital Bag Essentials

This is my beauty bag. This insert rolls open and has all sorts of compartments for your beauty supplies. See how nicely it rolls out?

In my beauty bag I included:

• Toothbrushes (one for hubby and one for myself)
• Travel Toothpaste
• Floss
• HPA Lanolin Lansinoh Nipple Cream (I heard it's really expensive when the hospital tries to sell it to you.)
• Make Up Remover
• Travel Q-Tips
• A Razor
• Travel Contact Solution
• Extra Contact Case and Contact Lenses
• Glasses Case
• Hair Ties
• Head Bands
• Bobby Pins
• Travel Hair Spray
• Waterproof Mascara (You must think I'm a little vain! I never go anywhere without mascara on and I definitly don't want it to smudge during delivery!)
• Eye Liner
• Body Butter
• Deotorant (One for hubby and one for myself).
• Travel Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash

I couldn't fit these in my little beauty bag but I also brought my Hair Brush, Blow Dryer and Flat Iron.I probably won't use them much. I plan on just putting my hair in a pony tail and wearing a headband but hey - just in case! My blow dryer broke about 2 months ago and I figured it was probably healthier for my hair to not use one at all. I finally splurged and bought myself a new blowdryer.



I got this Revlon blow dryer at Target. I like that it is collapsable and good for traveling. I was also drawn to it because of the retractable plug and wire. My other one broke from wrapping it everyday.

The next bag that I packed was the Goody Bag. Don't want to waste money on the over priced vending machines!

In the Goody Bag I brought:

• Lolly Pops (These were suggested from the birth class that I went to in case you have a long labor lolly pops will prevent dry mouth. My hospital also provides popsicles.)
• Gum
• Doritos (for hubby)
• Energy Drink (for hubby)
• Chewy Bars
• Fruit Snacks

Aren't these bags sooooo cute!

The next thing I decided to pack was the charger bag.

This is where we are going to keep the:

• Camera charger
• Cell Phone Chargers
• Ipad Charger (The hospital has Wifi so we plan on doing Facetime with my grandparents in Florida so that they can see their new Great Grand Daughter!) 

Moving on to the Diaper Bag

We got this diaper bag as a baby shower gift, it is from Babies R Us! I love it, and its perfect because its not something that Johnny will be embarassed to carry around.

In the Diaper Bag I packed:

• A few New Born Diapers
• Two burp Cloths
• Swaddle Blankets
• Travel Baby Wipes
• Lansinoh Diaper Rash Ointment
• Sleep Sheep
• Options for Coming home outfit

The sleep sheep is my favorite! During our birth class they did a sound demonstration of what a baby hears from inside your womb and then the second it enters the world. Its a dramatic change from constant swishing noises to what seems to be silence in the real world. I want to help our baby's transition by having the sleep sheep which imitates the sounds in the womb to soothe the baby. The hospitals now recommends that instead of putting the baby in the nursery keeping them in the room with you and that's what I want to do. I also want the room to be as comfortable for the baby as possible.

I packed a few outfits similar to this one. At the birthing classes they said that they baby has to be completely covered when we go home from the hospital. It's going to be hot! So that is why I chose this dress-like onsie. It also has the little mittens that curl over the babies hands so that they do not scratch themselves.

This is what I mean by the mittens.

I probably packed too much for the diaper bag. I know that the hospital will supply me with some of these things like the swaddle blankets, diapers, rash ointment and wipes but it was nice to get my bag all set up anyways.

The last thing we had/have to pack is clothes. Some things that I packed are:

•  Socks (The hospital suggests that you bring grippy socks so that you do not fall. You could bring slippers too. I brought enough socks for my husband and myself)
•  Nursing Bra
•  Underwear (I may not use these because I was told that the hospital supplies mesh underwear for your hospital stay.)
• Bathing Suit (In case you decide to use the tub to relax and relieve contractions. You can also bring a bathing suit for your husband)
• A nightgown or something loose that you would like to deliver in (At the birth classes they suggest that you bring something from home, something that you feel comfortable in.)

The rest of the clothing we have to pack the day off. After delivery you are usually in the hospital for about 48 hours. I would say bring a change of clothes for 2 to 3 days. It could be even longer if the delivery doesn't go as smoothly as hoped for. Make sure to remember:

• T-Shirts for your spouse
• Shorts / Pants for your spouse
• Undershirts for your spouse
• Boxers for your spouse
• Pajamas for your spouse
• Yoga Pants or Sweat Pants for yourself
• And comfort clothes!

The last thing that I would like to suggest that the hospital also suggested to me is that you bring pillows (the hospital ones are uncomfortable) and extra long sanitary pads!

I hope this post was helpful! I think I may have gone a little overboard but I would rather be prepared than not be prepared. Plus I don't think I will be packing for any other trips this summer!

All packed and ready to go!



Coming Soon

Please bear with me with the delay in posting. I can no longer add any photos to my blog until I update my blogger account. Once I am able to do this (sometime after work today) there will be more posts to come:

1. Whats in Your Hospital Bag?
2. Upstairs Bathroom: Before & After

Maternity Photos

Two weeks ago Johnny and I got our Maternity Photos done by my aunt who is a photographer. You can visit her website if your interested at www.photographybynoonan.blogspot.com . She did a great job. I knew that if I didn't get the photos done, I would regret it, and Johnny was a really good sport about it too. These are a few of my favorites:

www.photographybynoonan.blogspot.com