Progress...

It was a beautiful morning today when we decided to come visit the house. It's funny how it already is starting to feel like home. Mornings are my favorite time to come see it. Mostly because I love the lighting throughout our house in the morning, and probably also because mornings are my favorite time of day to spend with Kyle. It's so fun to picture our soon-to-be little family sitting at the breakfast table together. Hopefully Sophie and Campbell will enjoy our morning rituals as much as we do. Here are some fuzzy pics of our work in progress...

This is the view from our entry way/living room into the kitchen. You can see our breakfast bar and dining area from here.

This is our living room/corner fire place with the big, pretty picture window that looks out into our back yard/patio.

This was the best pic I could get of the girls' room. It worked out great that we decided to expand this room quite a bit. It's huge!

And this is Kyle's and probably one of my favorite parts of the house-our outdoor fireplace! Actually my favorite part is right behind the fireplace...our big backyard and view of big, beautiful trees. I like to picture Sophie, Campbell, Canon, and baby blue all playing together back here...

And this is an idea I'm currently playing around with for the house. I want the paint throughout the house to be pretty neutral. However, I was recently inspired by this pic in the Pottery Barn catalog. I am toying (ok, pretty much sold) on the idea of turning our entry way wall into an accent wall. I love this color for it, too. We have six of these wooden gallery picture frames already, and I would love to add more similar picture frames, and an 'N', hanging lantern (below), or other neat decor items to the picture wall.

I have a feeling all this planning and dreaming may end up at just that once these sweet girls get here, but it's still fun to play. :)

I am also in a continual state of thanks to my dear sister and Derek for all the work they are putting into our beautiful, new home. This would never be a reality for us otherwise, and we will forever be in debt to them for their willingness to build our little dream home. We can't wait to be neighbors!

Ahhh dance...

If you haven't given yourself the absolute pleasure of watching 'So You Think You Can Dance' this season, then you're welcome for giving you just a taste of the amazement of this show. I take that back- the power of dance in general.

I grew up passionately in love with dance. I hope with everything that my girls fall in love with it the way I did. No, not in love with the crazy stage moms, fame, politics, craziness, etc. that can go with dance, but just the pure joy of it. I was far from ever being the best at it, but that never detracted from how great it felt to express an emotion through your movement. It gave me confidence, passion, and dreams that I will forever be thankful for. I suppose this show is just a wonderful way for me to re-live those days, and stand in absolute awe of the talent this show brings in.

This piece in particular was one of my favorites this season. You will see a little bit of the background before the performance. This is a beautiful dance and a beautiful song. I still can't watch it without tearing up!

Whoops! Click here to watch it!

Fun with Paper

With a new address comes the necessity for a new address stamper. These things might be the best things ever. I have been searching and searching for a cute + affordable one lately, and Etsy, once again, triumphs in both departments. While I have always enjoyed cute paper products and things to adorn them, I must credit my dear friend, Mary, with intensifying my love of it (I'm still nowhere the guru she is!) I know she will appreciate this more than most... ;)

Happiness

So as several of you know, if you know the little story behind when Kyle and I got pregnant, it was ironically a huge surprise to us when we found out. We just knew for certain, for several reasons, that there was no way on earth we could be pregnant the month we got pregnant.

The week before our lives changed forever, we went on a super fun spring break trip to Austin, Texas with some dear friends. I now will forever look at the pictures from that vacation in an entirely different way. Little did we know at the time that our two sweet girls were just beginning to grow in my belly. I now look at these pictures as our first true family photos. Gosh, I still get teary looking at these. It's just another amazing reminder of how crazy life turns out in ways we can just sometimes never predict.

My, oh my, what an ironic, ridiculous pose we have here. Maybe we subconciously knew? ;)

It's already been the journey of my life. Can't wait to see how it continues...

Overwhelmed

I'm not sure if it's the heat, my impending due date, crazy pregnancy hormones, or a mixture of all three, but in the last week or so our somewhat chaotic situation (house building + having TWO new babies to care for in the next several months) has started to make me feel quite anxious. I would like to think up until recently, I have done a pretty good job of staying level-headed and calm about everything, but for one reason or another, worry has crept in. I'm hoping venting about the following stressors will make me feel better. In no particular order, here is what I am fretting about...

1. What if the babies come far before their due date, causing them to have to be in the NICU? This would mean we potentially don't come home with the babies, and instead have to leave them in the hospital. All 4 girls I know (or know of) that have had twins had them at 33 weeks (this would put me at mid-October) and they had to leave them at the hospital for an extended period of time.
2. In one month, my paycheck ceases to exist...for a long while. Although we are more than prepared financially in terms of savings and our monthly income, it is still very scary to think that my contribution will no longer be there (and once again, with TWO babies to take care of).
3. We are having TWO babies that we will be 100% responsible for in the very near future. While I know any mom, whether it's your first, second, fifth, etc. is overwhelmed in the beginning, it's petrifying to think that I will be responsible for these little ones, and I feel like I know next to nothing about taking care of ONE baby!
4. In reference to the above statement, I have read 2 baby books (which I somehow have a hard time trusting. I mean, it's just a book!) and had a few conversations with moms of twins about several topics (breast feeding/bottle feeding, sleeping, strollers etc.), but I honestly stear clear of doing internet research simply because it gives me heart palpitations and scares the bejesus out of me. It seems like everything I come across about twin infants leads me to believe I will have preterm, unhealthy babies (see #1). Am I in denial?
5. As if the anxiety of caring for two isn't enough, we are also going to be finishing our new house right around the same exact time the girls are due. This means I will get to move into a new house, unpack and organize, and somehow maintain a home all while being insanely sleep-deprived and caring for two infants. Yes, I know I will have the help of family and friends, but it is still extremely daunting to me.

On a more vain, and perhaps humorous note, I'm also petrified that I will look like a scary, make-up-less, greasy haired, sweat pant wearing monster that can't seem to get rid of the last 20 pounds of baby weight (probably because I'm living on ramen noodles and frozen pizza while Kyle works the night shift at 7-11). Will our house still have boxes of unpacked picture frames 6 months after we move in? Will there be anything on our walls besides the 55 inch flat screen my husband is insisting we need for our living room? Well, I guess we shall see.

So, there you have it. Babies, finances, home building. All have the potential to create a fair amount of stress in your life, and we get to experience all 3 at once. I have said it before, and I'll say it again: I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Kyle and I are blessed beyond what we deserve, truly. So while it's incredibly easy for me to see the scary part in all of this, I want so desperately to see this as an opportunity to stretch my faith. This will require me to put more faith and trust in myself, others and God more than I probably ever have in my life.

My mema once made a comment that our family comes from "hardy stock." I've sometimes thought about that statement when I'm going through something challenging.

So here is hoping my "stock" is "hardy" enough to endure this exhilaratingly exhausting season of our lives.

Oh, and if you're free around mid October-the next year, I could use your help... ;)

Plate Wall

I came across this lovely idea for a kitchen on a blog I follow, and I am determined to make it happen in my new kitchen. I believe this plate assortment is a collection of family heirloom china plates (which I don't have access to); however, I would love to create my own eclectic plate wall. The more they don't match, the better! Below are some more ideas I have...

I received 4 of these from Williams Sonoma as a wedding gift. I would love to incorporate one or more into the wall.

This flamingo one is fun. I saw it on a blog, but I'm not sure where it's from.

And these precious ones are from, no other than, anthropologie. I would love one of each!




And even if I never get around to doing a whole wall, I would adore having this plate to put on a little display piece somewhere in my kitchen. Also an anthro piece.

It would be fun if I could come across some pretty ones at an antique store to add.

Sentimental

I am a sentimentalist. No way around it. Since I was little, I have always wanted to keep things that are memorable; from swim meet ribbons, to notes my friends have written me, to an antique hankerchief collection I still refuse to part with, to also refusing to throw away the dozens of journals I have started and not finished in my life. I'm also pretty sure I have somewhere stocked away the first gift my first boyfriend in 7th grade gave me (an obnoxious smelling perfume-y candle). I probably would have gone to extreme lengths to wear my mother's wedding gown had it been possible to transform it into something without poofy sleeves (I did, however, incorporate her veil into my garder and ring pillow). Let me just clarify, and if you know me it's true, I'm anything but a hoarder and unorganized. There are just certain things that are worth keeping-in small portions.

With that said, my sentimentalism has undoubtedly overflowed to my impending motherhood. It began with the names: Sophie Kay (my and my sisters' middle name and my mom's name) and Campbell Jane (Jane-my mema's name). My sister had, at one point, mentioned using the name Kathryn Jane (both grandma's names), which I love. She is pretty much a genius when it comes to names (See Campbell) if you ever need assistance.

It has since continued to overflow into pretty much my entire nursery. I recently came across a bunch of my old baby blankets that I can remember wrapping my baby dolls in and will soon wrap my girls up in. And I have also discovered some beautiful watercolor paintings of ballerinas in my grandmother's storage unit. My mom had them hanging in her bedroom growing up, and I plan on hanging them in the nursery. I also recently replicated a profile silhouette of myself when I was 6 to hang in the nursery, as well.

Of course I am always looking for sweet, meaningful things to add to the girls' room, and had the idea to put a quote about sisters in a pretty frame, or better yet, have my own sister paint it onto a canvas (are you puking at my sappy-ness yet?). Sometimes I forget that my girls will have an instant sister when they enter the world. Lucky them. Sisters are the best. Here is one in particular I'm liking...

"Bless you, my darlings, and remember you are always in the heart-oh tucked so close there is no chance of escape-of your sister."

And what is more sentimental than a locket? I found this darling one on etsy for $18. It opens up, and I would love to put a pic of each girl in it.

Did I mention sentimentalism can also be economical when it comes to decorating a nursery?

I could go on and on about my obsession with all things sentimental. I suppose it just warms my heart, and I can only hope it warms my girls surroundings when they arrive.