Baby Nursery

      As we were trying to decide what theme we would try for, so many just seemed so boring or everyone else on Pinterest was trying it. His little cousin had an adorable nautical themed room so we definitely couldn't have the only two grandsons share the same theme. This little guy's amazing aunt/godmother gave me the idea of trains!! Now we're not talking about Thomas the Tank Engine, I did not want anything that looked cartoonish, so I kept the train theme my little secret. The room started out in a dull tan color with pink curtains(ugh who does that?) 

            (As you can observe we tested a few yellows and the past owners must have let the child hang pictures...we patched 20 nail holes in the room)

Nothing much to write home about....most surely needed a redo! I loved the idea of painting the room gray but not as dark as my room... We chose Behr Silver Screen which was just a few shades lighter than my room-

It turned out wonderfully and actually had a bluish tint once we started adding to the room. 

Sloppy pictures but you can see :)

Once we added the crib I just knew I was in love

The bedding was purchased at http://www.babybedding.com/ and they do have amazing sales! 

Once all the furniture was in and ready to go I started my scavenger hunt for the train look I was in search of! I began by just looking at Ebay for "antique train print" and a few things popped up but I wasn't sold on the cuteness level. I was finding mostly large engine sketches and did find it cute but I didn't want the nursery to look too mature and somehow I stumbled upon the most adorable, colorful, vibrant train engine prints by Evelyn Curro

For the price I bought them for the only thought running through my mind was "one man's trash is another man's treasure" I did want to keep a clean shabby chic look though and didn't want a boring frame so I found these at Michael's for only $10 and with about a million coupons they ended up around $6/frame

I was kinda making a leap of faith because that is a VIBRANT green...but low and behold when we brought them home (and I was just keeping my fingers crossed not to have my hopes dashed) they matched perfectly with the other lime green in the room.

Finally it was completed! 

For some reason we can't coordinate the curtains hanging and his little name sign staying up at the same time :) Tacks are a must before he arrives! 

Now we just need a darling little baby in that crib and it will really be complete...Except I'm actually not sure how much time he will spend in his little man room due to this mommy not wanting to let go of him and snuggling in my bed for about the first month 

Healthy vs non healthy pregnancy

          I cannot even begin to explain the lessons I have learned this pregnancy. Even with starting at a much heavier weight I have enjoyed this pregnancy leaps and bounds more than my last. With healthier eating, exercise and more moving around in general I am so pleased with the results. After my 1st pregnancy I stayed on all my vitamins including prenatal, exercised daily, and clean eating. I wish I could say I buy all organic vegetables and meat but I don't! But!!!!! It is by far better than yummy tasty cinnamon bagels, loaded with creamy honey walnut cream cheese in the morning and bbq chicken with baked beans for dinner.

    I still eat eggs and smoothie or fruit for breakfast and for the first time in my life I realized a healthy breakfast gets me through my day way better than a random breakfast. It definitely holds back those ravenous cravings, which are the worst for me. I am staying steady with my weight at 30 weeks I've gained 10lbs which I really couldn't be happier. I do eat more fruits but hey devouring a cutie clementine versus 5 Hershey Kisses is an improvement, for sure! I haven't worked out every day but at least 4x per week- just a light 10 minute prenatal workout does the job for me.

   At 30 weeks with babe #1 I was already weighing more than I do at this point, full of water weight, barely walking since my legs/feet killed if I walked more than 5 minutes, probably (most definitely) still working on my Christmas candy, stairs were my biggest enemy,really just a mess by this point! I am now quite active, no leg pains, stairs are no problem, and just happier in general. I rarely asked to be dropped off at the door vs. Walking from the parking place (if I do its usually due to weather conditions)

   I'm already excited just to have this baby just to be healthy again which should take care of the double chin also... I won't miss it at all! Below is a comparison photo almost exactly the same point in both pregnancies #1 and #2. There may not be a huge difference weight wise but I feel so much happier and not exhausted all. Day. Long. Every. Day!!
  

January Cleaning Challenge

This year I want to focus on the organizing of my house I know I can go 3x faster before the baby arrives, so I better get a move on it. My January challenge is NO dishes in the sink. I really struggle with this one and also put off cleaning the dishes. But we've decided if we have a dish-free sink for the month of January we're going to go out on a nice date. So January 31st I already can't wait for you! It works well for us since they're only 2 of us if I unload in the morning and load at meal times and start at night.

Forget the scale for Christmas week

Everyone knows how difficult the temptations are around Christmas and New Year!  This picture sums it up perfectly-

I decided from Christmas Eve to the 4th Day of Christmas I was going to just relax and forget about my scale, scary thought I know, but I figured I had lost 3ish pounds in the last few weeks on the candida landing at 152-153. I was scared to see the numbers after those few days I was up to 156-157lbs but after just 3 days back on the candida it all practically fell off So it was good to know all those sugar cookies and rolos were quite enjoyed. What I love about the candida diet is that you CAN cheat for a few days and it's all fine no problemo. Again on New Year's I am just going to enjoy the day without worrying about the scale.

   This diet is perfect for people who can eat the same thing every day!  I don't mind eating chicken, salad, eggs, and fruit every day. On the other hand my dear husband is already asking what we can change. It's January 6th and I'm weighing in at 155. So I'm going down again. I started my working out yesterday and it did feel good to get moving around.

Bedroom redo

I decided to give my room a makeover since it looked pretty sad and really haven't been a fan of the lighter wood, I started my Pinterest search for chic bedroom yet still on the traditional side...Here are the before pictures-

Then came the repainting of furniture. This was quite the ordeal. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of primer and a light milky cream paint. I had to put 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of Behr paint and coat of antique glaze and finally a coat of polyurethane. Whew it was quite the project.

We then painted the bedroom and bathroom-

We needed two coats of primer but we were able to get away with one coat of paint.

After several samples I ended up choosing Ashes by Behr

 

The first time for grey on the wall!

Loving it!

And all painted! Now just for decorations! 

   

                      Love these 2 floral pictures that match perfectly- Goodwill $3 each

After all the walls and furniture was painted I bought the bedspread at West Elm for $99. And my 2 prized chairs at Tjmaxx for $110 each. 

I needed a few poppy accents to make my room POP- Most of the decorations came from Hobby Lobby and a few from Tuesday Morning and Kirklands.

It's a Whole New World (with Young Living Oils and Norwex)

     Now that my weight is well on its way I am now searching to make my actual health and house and happier and healthier place in this chemical world. I lucked out when Norwex had a great deal for new members and just immediately fell in love with the idea of chemical free cleaning! I am the BIGGEST bleach and paper towel fan out there... I scoffed at the idea when I heard about only using water to clean- Yeah Right! But I went to the party thinking I might like the dusting rag... well needless to say after listening to the presentation my husband wanted everything in the catalog. I have loved every minute of cleaning and cleaned so much more because its so simple, you don't spend most of your cleaning day running up and downstairs since you forgot the windex upstairs while your paper towels are downstairs in the basement....stressful I know. I love having 4 rags to clean my entire house with not a chemical in sight- NOT ONE! I have eveen been trying their laundry detergent and even though I stopped using bleach in my whites they smell just as clean and are white but obviously not as white(yet still very white) since I have refrained from bleach...pretty impressive. Norwex.biz

      And now for the oils- I have fallen in love all over again. A friend at church introduced me to YL by offering me a sample of lavender and mentioned it was great for allergies. I was terribly excited because my dear husband has terrible allergies and knew this was going to be a great experiment for our family. So the next day his allergies pipped up after dealing with loads of dust. He had been sneezing non-stop. I had him use 1 drop and swipe it on the inside of his cheek and within SECONDS he told me he had no urge to sneeze.....this guy has been on allergy medicine all his life- Allegra every day!!! He has used lavender daily and allergy season means nothing to him now. I then thought about pricing- a pack of allegra is $20, for I believe 24 pieces. A Lavender 15 ml is $30 which has almost 300 drops....way less pricey and SO incredibly healthier. After attending the oils class it was such an eye opener as to all the medications people use when they could be simply solved with natural oils. There is an oil for everything---EVERYTHING....amazing! So now I'm hooked and so excited to share this with others to help others get off unnessecary medication.

https://beta.youngliving.com/signup/?sponsorid=2117481&enrollerid=2117481

New Exercise Program

Well 4+ weeks post anti-candida cleanse I only gained an initial TWO pounds and really was way better then I was expecting. I'm still working out daily and love my new 30 day workout challenge. It's Live Fit Mama livefitmama.com I have found it very encouraging! They email the week's workout list on Sundays.