Paint Color Fiasco

Last Friday we finally rolled over to the 30 week mark. My little baby tracker says I have 65 days left. 65 days! The last month has been filled with so many exciting things from our friends TJ and Elyse's wedding to having our first childbirth class and everything in between.

A couple of weekends ago we had an action packed 3 days - TJ and Elyse got married, we went to the Jeff Dunham show with Lance and Rachel and Justin's parents (if you don't know who Jeff Dunham is you must be from outer space!) and then my mom was here also to help us paint the baby room. I was EXHAUSTED needless to say the following couple of days!

Baby Room Paint Fiasco:

Whoever in their right mind would let their husband talk them into letting the husband and the husband's best friend go to Lowes to pick out the paint color for the baby room must be out of their mind....I guess I should be amitted becuase I did just that. Not a good idea.

So Justin and TJ make their way to Lowe's with (they said) the baby pillow in hand to match colors. I opted for a soft yellow/gold color to offset all the greens and reds in the room but Justin wanted green...and he convinced me. Now, Justin's green was very different from the green I had in mind becuase they came back so proud of their purchase. I opened the can to find, yes ladies, CAMO GREEN. Who, tell me who, puts camo green in a baby room? Not us! After a couple of days of full on battle mode - I finally told him that I was going to go buy the original yellow/gold color that I wanted and paint it no matter what!

Here's where it gets interesting...and what is it with karma??? So mom and I went to Lowes to get the new, CORRECT paint color, matching it up to the teddy bear I had that was the perfect shade of yellow. Got it home, started putting it on the walls and I'm not kidding...the lovely yellow/gold color had a green tint to it and my walls now look like Kermit the Frog...ok, not quite that bad but at the very best some sort of green weed that grows in my front yard. NOT YELLOW! But I'm going to suck it up, chalk one up to karma (and Justin) becuase I sure as heck don't want to repaint it!

Here are some pics from the baby room as it comes together. We still have some wall hangings to add as well as the lovely rocking chair Justin is getting me for Mother's Day this year (hint hint).

Baby furniture means...Baby coming soon!

Last week we got the call that our baby furniture was FINALLY in from Tiny Tykes. Some of you know the baby furniture drama that we have gone through and for those of you who don't, let's just say think twice before making a trip to this enticing store of cribs and dressers. This guy is probably one of the WORST business owners I know of!

Enough about that...on to the furniture. Justin went and picked it all up yesterday and I specifically asked him to NOT put it together because I, of course, wanted to take pictures. :-) When I got home we broke into the boxes and it was so exciting!

Justin did such a good job putting it together...without looking at directions. There were a few bolts left over but he assured me it was sturdy. After he walked out of the room I frantically looked at the directions and realized they were leftover for a reason...they were for the convertible portion of the crib. Whew!

When we got done (by we I mean Justin) putting everything together, I had to sit there for a minute and take in this amazing moment. I found myself staring in the empty crib thinking that in a matter of months our lives are going to change so dramatically, the things we once thought were important in life are going to be tossed to the side and this amazing little guy is going to light up our world like nothing we've ever experienced before.

Getting Creative

As most of you know I love creating things...quilting, scrapbooking, cooking, parties...anything that puts my creative mind to the test. Today was a day FULL of creating and I just had to share some of the things I stumbled upon.


A while back I came across a website called http://www.etsy.com/ from a friend on Facebook. Curious to see what this funky named site was I went on to the web and found the most AMAZING place ever...it was perfect! It was a site for all things handmade. Kind of like an Ebay if you will but only handmade items made like people like me...for sale. I quickly created an account but never put anything on my shop due to lack of time.


Tonight that changed! I listed my first item for sale on Etsy. What could this amazing, have to have item be??? You guessed it! One of my lovely quilts. Now we'll just have to see how well the selling goes.


After getting my items listed I did a little shopping (why not) and found some of the cutest buys for our little guy. Justin even approved. Check out the new baby items added to our growing closet full of stuff:







If you haven't been to this great site, go there! http://www.etsy.com/ and if you'd like, take a look at my shop. www.etsy.com/shop/laceymills

~~~Week 24~~~

At last we have crossed the halfway mark of the pregnancy adventure! In some ways it seems like it has been 24 weeks but in a lot other ways it feels like time has flown by which can only mean these last 16 weeks be the same way.

As our mid pregnancy sonogram approached in January, we went back on forth wether or not to do the "pecker hunt" as Mark Esfeld calls it and after much deliberation we knew we had to know. The appointment was nothing short of entertaining, of course because Justin was there. We were the first appointment of the morning and the sonogram tech walked in and was in shock becuase sitting before her was a NEW, brand new sonogram machine. Now, new is great but new ALSO means that she was unaware of how to operate this lovely piece of equipment (which I'm sure I've paid for at least a knob or two on it by now). Justin, as expected, broke the ice asking if our sonogram was free becuase we were the first ones to try it out...no luck.

As she started doing the measurements, making sure Baby Mills was growing as expected and there were no complications, she started taking pictures of the babies head, arms, feet, profile...Justin was in such suspense that he was literally leaning over me with his face 2 feet from the monitor waiting to see if it was a boy. Finally she said the words, "let's find out what this baby is" and as she went on the hunt she found what Justin had been hoping for...it's a boy!!!! I don't I've ever seen him so excited. He started taking pictures with his camera phone of the monitor (not like we don't get a dozen of print offs anyways) to send out to TJ and his mom.

Now that we know Baby Mills is a boy we are finally able to start doing some planning...and shopping! You would think that I'm the one who would be doing most of the buying but Justin can't contain himself. One night after the sonogram he came home and told me to get in the car, we were going somewhere and it was a surprise. Thinking he was taking me to dinner I was stunned when we pulled up in front of the Carters outlet in Newton. He went crazy! Since then we have done lots of clothes shopping and I even had to tell him to put things back. I mean, really...are we going to put our 6 month old baby boy in Carhart coveralls. I think not.

Planning for the room is finally coming together as well. To be expected we are doing our room in a cabin/outdoors theme. We've already found some great accesories, purchased the rustic bedding and Rachel even had a bear rug for us to use...meant to be I'd say.

Catching up with Baby Mills

Pregnancy...what can I say...I certainly do see how some people only have one child. And we aren't even to the end of this thing (or should I say just the beginning). HOWEVER, the morning sickness, nausea, heartburn, pounding headaches...all of that pain goes away the minute you hear the baby's heartbeat just pitter pattering away. The miracle of life is certainly that...miraculous!

We had our very first sonogram in late November just to make sure everything was going good. Our mid-pregnancy sono is next Tuesday which is when we will find out if we are having a little girl or boy. I was sure that it was a girl while Justin feels certain it is a boy. I was feeling quite confident until Rhonda (a gal I work with) went in for her sono and found out she is having a girl. I swear that we are having the opposite because she has had such a great pregnancy and mine...well it's been a little rocky to say the least. Now I guess we'll just have to wait and see on Tuesday. The suspense is killing me!

Right now I am in my 18th week. According to the Bump.com, Baby Mills is about the size of a sweet potato and next week will be a mango. We still are battling on baby names. We have a few ideas for boy names but the girl names are where we run into trouble. Justin seems to a) think it's not going to be a girl so we don't even need to think of them and b) put every name that I come up with into the sentence "Welcome to the stage ______________" (insert baby name here) just to make sure it doesn't sound like a stripper name. What I'm wondering is how does he know that all my names sound like stripper names if he hasn't been to a strip club??? He's rooting for Sue, Ethel and Bertha if it's a girl. He's certain they would never get a date with that name.

Stay tuned because next Tuesday is the big day! Let's just hope that he/she isn't too bashful and bares it all for us!

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!"

By far, Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. It took all I had not to put the tree up BEFORE Thanksgiving this year but I held off and waited until the week after, well and Justin standing in my way put it off a little bit too.

Christmas 2009 was pretty different for us but still a great Christmas. As we watched the weather all week, it became more and more clear to me that a trip to Iowa was not in our future. After sending Mark Bogner an email with a request for a personalized forecast for our direct route, we knew we could make it but would we get back home was the big question. After much deliberation, we made the (smart) decision to stay home and celebrate Christmas in Kansas this year. Good thing because Iowa ended up getting 20.9" of snow! Holy Cow!

Thursday we spent Christmas Eve day with Justin's mom and dad, opening Christmas gifts. We were so excited to have them open the gift from us because we KNEW we had the best gift for them in all the years we had been buying gifts: 2 tickets to the Jeff Dunham show in March. They were SURPRISED! My favorite gift...well, two favorite gifts: The Christmas Story movie from Justin's mom and my new purse/wallet from Justin. Friday we went up to see Justin's great uncle in the nursing home in Russell. It was so nice to see Ervin. We ate Christmas lunch with him and then made our way back home. Our Christmas was quiet but relaxing! Saturday my brother came over and we played Super Mario Brothers on Wii all night. Justin and Zach stayed up until 3:30 a.m. playing. (Well worth it) And now we are looking forward to Christmas with my mom this weekend.

Looking back, as it's time to take down the tree, put away the decorations and take down the lights, Christmas is really what you make it. I was heartbroken when we couldn't make the trip to Iowa but it truly is not about what day you spend with your family, it's just being with the ones you love no matter if it's Christmas day or 2 weeks from now. I am so blessed to have someone by my side that reminds me of that every day.

Hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a Happy and Safe New Year!

Lacey

Welcome to the World of Blogging...Now Keep Up!

I'm sure that Justin will probably frown upon my new undertaking...starting a family blog. According to him this is way too "liberal" (a word that he uses for anything he dislikes these days) but now that we are going to have a little one roaming the house soon, this seems to be the best, easiest, most fun way to share big and little moments with friends and family.

The first order of business is getting all of you caught up. It's hard to believe a little over a year ago we were loading up a moving truck and making the 1800 mile trip back home from Maine. We knew we were going to miss it but underestimated just how much. After the New Year last year, I started a position with a company called Ag 1 Source and will be celebrating my one year anniversary with them January 5th. Justin went back working for Enterprise Products, the company he was working for before we left for Maine. The good news is that he has been working close to home for the most part instead of traveling for weeks at a time. Cross your fingers this stays the same in 2010.

After months of searching, decision making and offers made and retracted, we finally bought a house in the little town of Sedgwick which is just North of Wichita. We pretty much have everything you need in Sedgwick; a gas station, a restaurant, a liquor store, car wash, vet and body shop. What more do you need??? Don't worry ladies, I can make it to New Market Square in 20 minutes flat for some good shopping, 18 if I hurry.

In early September we found out that we are being blessed with a new addition to our little family and this time it is not a four legged, furry creature. Baby Mills is due June 4th. What an amazing journey it has been. We have been trying for almost a year to have a baby and it's funny how God works. For those of you that know me and know me well, I am not a big Summer fan. I just think the world would be great if it was 67 degrees year round. And secondly, we've always joked that we were on the 5 year plan for having kids. Well...we are due June 4th which is just 14 days shy of our 5 year anniversary and hopefully I won't have to be pregnant in weather above 85 degrees.

So you want to know what to expect from this blog. Well, plan on lots of baby updates, family information, fun and quirky stories with the occasional venting episodes. And after June 4th expect LOTS of pictures and baby stories. We are so excited to be parents and want to share our excitement with each of you.

Lots of Love,
Justin and Lacey