Show us where you live Friday!!

My blogging inspiration comes from a cool Arkansas girl named Kelly. She has started a great thing on her blog called "Show us where you live Friday". Each Friday is a different room and fellow bloggers can post their links to share. Now that I'm a "fellow blogger", I'm participating! I figure that if I get to snoop in everyone else's houses via the Internet then I should share my own. I'm always getting ideas from other people. So this Friday's room is nurseries/kids room. So enjoy pics of my nursery!
Oh...go here to check out Kelly's blog and the rest of the rooms people have posted.

I got the crib and the dresser from Penney's.com. I love them and the price was excellent! The "diaper cake" was a gift from a friend at a shower and has since been used! The monkey is waiting patiently to be hung on the wall...it came from a super cute kids store in Jonesboro.


This is obviously the crib:) The bedding came from Pottery Barn and I have been so happy with it. I always said I would steer clear of an overload of pink...but I loved this. And decided that the grey walls would offset it. I got the throw hanging over the edge in Munich, Germany several years ago. I was soooo pumped to see that it looked good in there.

This is the view that Olivia gets of the mobile. The picture really doesn't do it justice. My friend Beth found it on Etsy at this site and sent it to me. I LOVE it and am so glad I got it.


Ok a little bit of background information. My husband and I are avid travelers and tried to bring that into the "theme" of the nursery (or maybe we just hope she will absorb the love of it by laying in her crib...ha!). Anyway, the pics above are ones that I pulled out of our travel pics and are of children around the world. I think we have Egypt, Denmark, Poland, China, Italy and Belize represented! I bought $3 frames at Walmart...spray painted them with a million coats and had mats cut at hobby lobby. Cheap artwork!!

This changing table came from a great thrift store in town for $20!! My mom saw it and saw its "inner beauty". She stripped it and refinished it. I love it as a changing table but am also excited about using it in the future for something else. Versatile baby furniture...what could be better:) The pic above has the chorus to "Jesus loves the little children of the world" on it. One of my good friends had her sister make that as a shower gift. I love it and it ties in the theme of the room together perfectly.

This shelf has the "display books and toys" (in other words....don't touch them Liv!). Every time we visit a country we buy a children's book and some toy from there. I can't wait til she gets older and we can show her different languages and cultures.

A view from the door. See the rocker? Ok...it's a "Best" brand rocker and is amazing. I wanted one so bad after sitting in one at a specialty baby store. But they were a bit expensive for my taste. I ended up getting it off of Penney's.com for a great price and free shipping!

Thanks for touring my nursery....nothing is more fun than decorating a room for a baby!

Life as a single mother....for a couple of weeks anyway!

My husband Shawn just got back from a 2 week trip to South Korea with the university where we both work. Now before you judge him for leaving his wife and small baby, know that I fully supported him in going on this trip:) No seriousely....what an opportunity! I figure if we can't both go then at least one of us should be able to. But even though I had help from my parents and in-laws...it was a long two weeks.

Let me help you understand how much Shawn contributes to the home and then you will realize just how ready I was for him to come home. He is the chef. Of his own will. Granted, cooking is not my forte...but I would do it if I have to. He loves it though! He also has a strange love of doing laundry, ironing my clothes for me in the morning, and basically gets me through the day. Now I'm not helpless by any means and I always step up to the plate when he is gone. But....it's so nice to have him home!

Our dear child developed her first "illness", which was a cold. This started a couple of days before he left. But as soon as he was gone her sleeping through the night habit made an exit due to the cold. Right. So as I was up a million times a night and overanalyzing what in the world could be wrong with her I had to tell myself...this too, shall pass. And it did.

We started out the week with his parents coming to stay. They were fantastic. They cooked, cleaned, and Stan did a million small projects that we would probably have never taken on ourselves, but that needed doing! I tell him and my dad that it is not a criteria for them to do projects when they come. But they both claim they like it and I will not begrudge them of this:)As they left my parents came. They had not seen Olivia in quite a while (or me but I've discovered that does not matter anymore) so that was fun. Kathryn and Erik came in for that weekend too and we celebrated her birthday. Mom stayed with me the whole next week and we had lots of fun despite Olivia's cold and sleepless days and nights. We ended the 2 weeks without my other half by going to Michigan to visit family. This was a blast! I was so nervous about having Olivia in a car seat for that long but she was great. What a trooper! I think she knows that she has to love travelling due to the family she was born into. I've posted pics below documenting these two weeks.

By the way....Shawn will not be leaving for that long again:)

Getting some love from Grandma Lois


This toy offered entertainment for approximately 11 minutes...

We have arrived! See this sweet dress? It came to her all the way from dear friends in Australia!

Nana time. Look at that hat. Couldn't you just eat her up!?!

Break time in driving. Ok. Here's what happened when we stopped. Everyone else would go in and enjoy a great sit-down meal while me and Liv kicked it in the van. We would eat, change diaper, and (as you see above) she would then get to lay on the van seat and kick and play. I know. I'm a great mom.

This is one cashed out baby. The fun is officially over.

More pics from the trip to come later. Who knew it was so hard to format these???

Here I am blogworld!

Well, consider me officially a part of the blogging world. I have recently picked up the obsession of reading other people's blogs and have wanted to start my own for a while but keep putting it off. So I figure if I start one and put it out there then maybe I will feel obligated to maintain it.

Since moving to Kentucky and having our baby 4 months ago we have used various methods of online communication to get pictures and updates to the grandparents, friends, and family. So....my hope is that this will be the answer. So apologies in advance if you do not want to see millions of pictures of my sweet girl!

Bear with me friends and I promise that my posts will (hopefully) improve as each day goes on!