Catch Up Pt.7

In July, I went to Vegas for one of my besties' bachelorette trip!! I have never been to Vegas nor did I ever think I would go... especially pregnant ;) I knew I wanted to tell my best friends that I was preggo before the trip.. I didn't want to take away from the big weekend and I figured they would wonder why I wasn't drinking! So I sent a group text that said something like "Remember that time I got preggo right before we went to Vegas for Kelli's bachelorette trip?!?!" Cue the "Omg are you for real?!?!" and all the excitement and a three way call to discuss all of the details ;) And then lots of hugs when I saw them a few days later!
Vegas was an absolute blast! We probably had the chillest bachelorette trip there ever was in Vegas.. and we were all okay with that ;) It was super hot so we spent a lot of time shopping, eating, and hanging out at the pool! Perfect!

We stayed at the Palazo, which was super nice! After a mix-up, we ended up in the most amazing suite! It was seriously bigger than my apartment and was absolutely beautiful! We went out for fancy dinners and even hit up a brand new extremely crowded club...

We also saw the famous fountain, had frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity, and just tried to take in all of the sights and sounds of Vegas! It is a crazy place!! The last day, Katie and I had late flights out (that got postponed and were even later! ughhh) so we did a little more shopping and exploring and went to the Pawn Stars store, haha. That was the one thing Z was most jealous of, go figure! ha

It was such a fun weekend celebrating the soon to be bride! I loved spending time with my besties and seeing such a cool city! And I was over the moon to finally (after the longest layover and flight) get back home to Z!

Catch Up Pt.6

Back to catching up... So we knew that we had to tell Z's family our preggo news pretty much immediately after we told mine! We wanted to tell them in person too.. so we made a crazy fast trip to Alabama for the fourth of July weekend ;) First stop, T-town to tell Z's parents! We met them at Taco Casa (of course! delish!!!) I told Z I didn't want to tell them THERE so we kept it a secret a little longer. We stopped by their house to visit for a few more minutes and before we even went inside, Z told them! hahaha :) It actually worked out perfectly because Z's little brother stopped by for about a second and was there when he told them! They were, of course, over the moon and there might have been a few tears ;) After a super quick visit, we hopped back in the car and drove to South Alabama to see Z's sister and our besties.. and for a beach trip! We couldn't decide when or how to tell his sis or if we wanted to tell anyone else, including our best friends that were staying with us! Right before we all went to bed, we pulled Maggie in our room and told her ;) Again tears and squeals!! So fun! The next day, we hit up the beach!!! My happy place! And we decided we couldn't wait to tell our friends so Z just blurted it out while we were all in the ocean, ha! It was super fun and they were shocked! The whole weekend was a whirlwind but I'm so thankful we got to tell them all in person! Here is one of the only pics I have of our quick trip...

We can't wait to plan a beach trip this summer with our little man!!!

The Nursery

Happy Monday! And happy February!! I can't believe that we will definitely have a baby this month! Crazy ;) We had such a great weekend. Friday night, we went out for "one last date night". (I think I said that last Friday too, haha) Z took me to Tango Sur.. one of our favs.. and it was delicious as always! We went pretty early because they don't take reservations and we didn't want to wait ;) So we were home and in pjs early too! It was a perfect date night.

 Saturday was such a lovely day in Chicago! We woke up early and went to one of our favorite bakeries for yummy breakfast treats. I must look ready to pop because the sweet lady at the bakery gave us our breakfast on the house in hopes that the baby would come that night! No luck with the babe but it was soooo sweet of her to give us our food for free! Z and I also took a loooong (slow!, ha!) walk Saturday. It was almost 50 degrees out! in Chicago! in January!! We walked around Wrigley and over to Southport. It was perfect. We finished off our day with naps, Seinfeld reruns, frozen pizza, and ice cream ;)
Sunday we made brunch at home and ate it while we watched Church of the Highlands online. And then we got to work on little man's room! We finally finished his nursery, and I love the way it turned out! More on that in just a minute ;) Our Sunday also consisted of a movie at the Music Box Theater (cutest old timey theater on Southport!!) and dinner with friends. Pretty much the perfect weekend! And perhaps our last as just the two of us ;)
Okay.. now more about the nursery! Originally, we planned to have a guest room/nursery. But after we got the crib in the room, we realized it was just too crowded. So, Z was sweet enough to share his office with the guest bed. We switched out the love seat that was in his office and the guest bed that was in the nursery yesterday, and we both agreed that both rooms look better! Here are a few pictures of the nursery. I told Z I never really had much direction for what I wanted in little guy's room. I knew I didn't want a theme and I didn't want it to be super "babyish". So we combined a few random pieces and I really like the result!

The details:
-The love seat was originally in our living room. Z and I bought it right before we got married off of Craigslist! We have a rocker/glider that we will eventually put in the nursery and move the loveseat out, but for now it's in our bedroom since little man will be sleeping in there for a while.
-The quilt is from my Nana. That was one piece I knew I wanted in his nursery. I love the pop of color it gives to the room :)
-The wall art is a random mix of things that we found and made. One of my favorites is the "strong and brave" print we bought at Hobby Lobby when we were home for Christmas. The Wild Things art is the first thing we bought for the nursery because I love that book! The pallet artwork was a project Z and I made together. The verse painted on it is I Corinthians 16:13-14, "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love." It's our prayer for our little man! And the C was a random purchase at At Home a few weeks ago. It was bright yellow, but I decided it didn't really go so I painted it, ha.
-The crib bedding and changing pad cover are from Land of Nod. I love! It's hard to see in the pics but the crib skirt has small black triangles and the sheet and changing pad cover have tiny black dots.
-We bought the crib off of Amazon. Originally, I picked a crib from Ikea. But after we made the trip to Ikea to check it out/purchase it, we decided it seemed a little cheap and not so sturdy. So we did a little research and ordered one. I really love the style and color.
-The changing table/dresser was a Craigslist find! I painted the drawers (they were orange, ugh!)
-The bookshelves were made by Z!! I love love love them! He found the idea on Pinterest and made them. I think they look perfect in the room.
-We still want to add a lamp and maybe a rug. But otherwise, everything is ready for our sweet boy! Here's hoping we get to meet him sooner than later ;)

Catch Up Pt.5

Happy Friday! We're pretty excited it's the weekend around here! It's supposed to be unusually warm in Chi-town so I'm hoping we can take a long walk at some point :) And finish little man's room!! Every weekend I find myself thinking this could be our last as a fam of two, ha! So we plan to make the most of it with a date night and lots of hanging out together ;)
In other news, I thought I would continue catching up from 2015... 
At the end of June, my family came to visit!!! We were sooooo excited for them to come. We always love when they visit, plus I'm always missing them like crazy. Aaaand we had just found out that we were going to have a baby so we decided to tell them our exciting news when they arrived ;) I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it a secret once we were with them. Z and I laughed and laughed as we tried to think of how to tell them. He was so sure I would just blurt it out in the airport or on the way back to the apartment, hahaha. I remember him laughing hysterically and saying, "Please don't just blurt it out while we're in traffic on Lakeshore Drive... your mom might scream and I might wreck the car!" Ha! But I kept it in until we got home. We showed them around our new place and then offered them some cupcakes (from Sweet Mandy B's Bakery! mmmm!)....

Each one had a little sign in it that read things like "grandma to be" or "Baby S coming Feb. 2016". I told my mom to pick her cupcake first and then she screamed and asked if this was for real! hahaha Such a fun memory. Everyone was shocked and I think pretty happy too :)
The next day, we started with brunch at Yolk (yummy!) and then went to the Garfield Park Conservatory!

And that's all that I remember from that day :(  oh well. The next day, we drove to Michigan to explore a bit! We went to the huge sand dunes and then to St. Joseph... the cutest little beach town ever!

Such a fun day! On Monday, Z had to work. The fam jam and I walked down the lakeshore path a ways and then took a bus downtown. We did a little shopping and went to Eataly for yummy snacks including gelato!

 We also walked over to Wrigley Field since we live not too far away! Later that night, we ate at Portillos... sooo yum! And then sadly, we had to take them to the airport after dinner.

I wish I had more pictures as well as a better memory of the details of their trip! But as always, it was the best weekend ever! I can't believe that next time they come it will be because our little man is here! Can't even wait!!!!

Catch Up Pt.4

In April, Katie and Dan came to visit! We were super excited for our first guests in our new apartment! Especially since we actually have a guest bedroom and bed ;) They arrived late Thursday night, and Z and I both took off Friday to spend the day with them. We started the morning with brunch at Ann Sather's.. one of our favorites.. mainly for the cinnamon rolls and giant muffins! And then we did a little sight-seeing including the bean.

Later that night, we had dinner (honestly I can't remember where?!?!) and then we went to Second City which is a famous improv comedy club here in Chi-town. Sooo much fun and sooo funny!

The next day, we went to Milwaukee to see a Brewer's game... of course we did a little shopping first ;) Thankfully, the game was indoors since it was still a bit chilly!

We drove back after the game and had a late night dinner (can you call it dinner when it's midnightish!?) at Little Goat Diner... SO yum! Sunday, we took it easy with a slow morning. I'm trying to remember what all we did that day, haha! I know we shopped... of course ;) and we ate at Velvet Taco (mmmm!) and we hit up the art museum. I don't have any pictures and I'm having a hard time remembering what else we did that day. But I know we enjoyed visiting with and hanging out with my bestie and her hubby! Z and I both had to work Monday, so Katie and Dan did some more sightseeing and went to a Cubs game, so fun! And then they had to leave early Tuesday. The trip went by way too fast, as always!! But it was a blast to have them here!!

Just waiting...

We are in the final stretch of waiting for our little man to arrive! So many emotions right now... definitely anticipation and a little anxiety, SO excited, and a weird mix of wanting time to speed up and slow down at the same time. I find myself soaking up every extra second I have with Z. I can't even wait to see him as a dad, but a tiny part of me wonders if I will ever miss life as just the two of us. I know that adding our little man to our fam jam is going to be amazing and feel so right and perfect, but we've had a good 5 years of just being us! Yesterday, Z stayed home sick from work. He had a weird food allergy or food poisoning the night before and was up most of the night. So he slept most of the morning, and then we had the best afternoon together. (Thankfully, he woke up feeling so much better!) We got a few things done for little man's arrival... including Z putting together his crib!!! that finally came in yesterday (I know, I know.. a little last minute! But he'll be sleeping in our room for a while so I wasn't too worried about it, ha!) I'll post a few pictures of his room once we finish the last few details sooooon! It was such a refreshing day though to just relax, prepare, plan, and enjoy some unexpected time together. So now I feel like we're just waiting! I'm trying to still make plans and to do lists to keep me busy, but we are so ready to meet our baby boy! And honestly, I've gotten to that point where I'm pretty uncomfortable... I am NOT complaining though because I have had such an easy pregnancy so far! Just ready ;) I try to spend my days cleaning, stocking up on things (read: making daily trips to Target, hahaha), and making freezer meals! I've also enjoyed spending sweet time with friends over coffee, lunch, and brunch. Oh, and taking selfies to document the growing (SO big!!) bump!

I've also enjoyed being more intentional about my quiet time and actually journaling a bit again. Admittedly, I had started having my "quiet time" on the bus on the way to work by reading a few verses on my phone :/ which is less than ideal. So it has been really nice to dig into the Word and actually focus on what the Lord is teaching me. Here are a few verses that He has shown me and that  I'm leaning on when I feel extra anxious about all of the details...-Psalm 37:7- Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for Him to act.
-Phillipians 4:6- Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
-Matthew 6:34- Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
-Matthew 6:8- For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
-Lamentations 3:22&23- ...His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.
-Proverbes 3:5- Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
-Hosea 6:3- So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.
I'm so thankful for His promises and for this time He has given us to prepare for our little guy!

Catch Up Pt3

In March of 2015, my brother got married!! Z and I were so thrilled and honored to both be in the wedding. It was such a perfect weekend. We flew home a few days early to visit with friends and family and help out however we could. We flew into Birmingham pretty late, so my brother, who lives there, picked us up. We stayed with him that night and it is one of my favorite memories from the weekend. It was so much fun to just catch up with him. We stayed up pretty much all night and it was the best. The next morning, we went to the yummiest bakery for a super sweet breakfast before heading to Tuscaloosa. The weather was awful, snowy, sleety and just gross. But we made it just fine! The wedding was in Cullman, about two hours from Tuscaloosa. So my entire family stayed at a huge cabin on Smith Lake. So much fun!! The weekend was a whirlwind... every detail was perfect and beautiful and I'm so thankful for my super sweet sister in law!! She is the perfect addition to our fam! I can't believe their one year anniversary is just a few months away.. seems like we were just home to celebrate the happy couple! Here are a few pictures of the weekend...