the making of Peyton

Well... once again it has been a while, and I thought today would be the perfect time to sit and share our baby story. I'll be honest, this is mostly for Peyton. I know one day it will be special for her to read this. My last post was about painting our kitchen. It is fun to look at those pictures because little did I know I was already pregnant!

Finding out we were expecting
What many do not know is that it took Daniel and I many months to get pregnant. While I know many struggle for years, and others never are able, those 9 months of "infertility" were so hard for me. Emotionally I felt like a failure. After about 9 months I went back to the doctor and she decided I was the "perfect candidate" for fertility medicine. She did some lab work, gave me lots of instructions, and wrote me two different prescriptions. On my way out of the office, she came running after me and said, "Hannah! Don't fill those prescriptions!" I looked at her with confusion, she smiled and hugged me. "You're pregnant!" I remember feeling SO shocked that I needed to sit down. I was shaking, crying, I was over-joyed and terrified all at the same time!

Daniel and I both had commitments that evening, but I knew I could not wait to tell him. I decided that in the few minutes we had together after work and before the next thing I would share this miracle with him. About  year earlier we had found cute University of Houston onsies, so I wrapped them up and just in case he didn't understand, I also included a pregnancy test stick! He of course said, "We already have these..." haha but then saw the stick. He looked at me at said a few times "really?.... really?.... are you sure???" It was a lot to take in. Yes, we had wanted this for so long, but now that it was actually here it was overwhelming. And wonderful.

1st & 2nd Trimester
I am SO thankful for my MK business and that it has allowed me to stay at home, for I can NOT imagine teaching with the morning sickness I had. Make that all-hours-of-the-day sickness. It's funny, because I remember thinking at the time "This will never end! I don't think I can do this anymore!" and now, months later, I can't even really remember it. I KNOW it was hard (and I lost a TON of weight), but I survived and I know I could do it again. The nausea lasted from about 7 weeks to 25ish. At about 22 weeks it was no longer all day, but just once or twice a day, and then one day I realized, "OH! I haven't felt sick in a few days!" My sisters always refer to the 2nd trimester as "bliss" and while I didn't exactly experience the bliss, I am thankful that the nausea DID come to an end. I will admit that it was a great diet! By the time I reached my 3rd trimester I was almost 20 pounds below my starting weight! Wahoo!

The Name:
Daniel and I decided before we found out the gender that we would name our child Payton Stephen (Daniel's middle name) if if was a boy or Peyton Elizabeth (my middle name) if it was a girl. We both loved the name, and considering there were not too many names we agreed on, it was an easy sell! ;)

Finding out we would be having a girl:
We both knew we would be thrilled regardless of the gender, but we will admit that Daniel secretly wanted a boy, and I secretly wanted a girl. There we were, looking at a tiny baby on the screen, moving around, sucking her thumb, and the sonographer said, "Oh she is beautiful!" Immediately I asked, "SHE?!" and then started crying. A lot. I was so overjoyed. Don't worry. Daniel was not at all disappointed, but already thinking about all the fun he will have raising a little girl. It was so fun calling my family because I am the only one so far to have a girl first. Kristy was especially over joyed!

3rd Trimester:
I remember waking up one morning and thinking, "When did my belly get so big?!" It was like it grew over night! My little butterfly flutters became full gymnastics in my womb! We filled our 3rd tri with working in the nursery, visiting family, and lot's of dates. It was fun spending Thanksgiving with my family. It amazes me how real it is for my niece and nephews. When I would see them they would hug my belly and kiss it, saying hello to Peyton. Little Josh was especially affectionate. He would cuddle with my belly, bring it toys, and say the sweetest things.

We were SO blessed with our baby showers. I still can't believe all the wonderful gifts we received. God has blessed us with great family and great friends.

So. Here I am. 2 1/2 weeks from our due date. Feet swollen, back aching, and going absolutely CRAZY waiting for this baby! I just can't wait to hold her. It will be here before I know it, and the past 9 months will have seemed like a blink of an eye.

Kitchen so far

I've gotten around to this finally, and figure I'll put up a few pics. I've only done the walls so far. Just didn't have the "umph" do to more than that. Cabinets will get done this summer when Daniel is off. 

BEFORE PICS (Daniel took these)

 DURING PICS (Also Daniel)

I did TWO coats of primer.... blah!

What's that you may ask? PAINTABLE WALL PAPER!!!!! LOVED THIS! It went up super easy, and I used less than a whole roll from Lowes.

AFTER (I took these pics):

I went with a fresh, light gray for the walls

And metallic dark gray for the wall paper. I was very pleased with how it turned out.

24 hours?

I've learned that no matter how much I pray that the Lord will add an additional hour or two to my day, it will never happen. I need to learn how to use all 24 hours of my day. I am terrible and managing my time, and when you work from home this can be VERY challenging, and can hurt your business. This is what my day normally looks like:

5:30am Wake up and work out
6:30am Shower, then eat a healthy breakfast of oatmeal or eggs
7:30am Jesus time
8:15ish Office time- read email, reply, etc
9:30am time for phone calls
10:30am Run errands
12:00pm Healthy lunch such as a salad
12:30pm Clean one room of the house
2:00pm Attend any appointments I may have for work
4:30pm Begin preparing a healthy, hearty dinner for my sweet hubby
5:30pm Dinner
6:00pm Play a game with Daniel, go on a walk, or watch news together
8:00pm Read a good book or do a craft
10:00pm Good night :)

I'm sure your day looks just like that, right? Ha. Who am I kidding. Normally my day consists of waking up when the dogs are ready to go outside (which Sam alerts me by licking my face), eating a bowl of sugar cereal, reading for a few minutes in my Bible, head upstairs to my very messy and unorganized office intending to reply to emails and make phone calls, but instead get distracted by a recent post on Pinterest, and the next thing I know Daniel is home and hungry. OH NO! What happened with my day?! I don't even know what I did all day, but I DO know that I did not clean, cook, work, or eat lunch...

It's time for a time management reality check. If I can't instill some sort of daily routine now, I certainly won't be able to when I have kids. I know myself well enough to know that this can not happen over night. It must require BABY STEPS! So. Step 1? Start planning my day out ON PAPER. I have never been good with keeping up with planners, but I do enjoy having a single sheet of paper that shows my whole week, and each day broken down. I put my creative side to work and made this to help me out.

Planning my day out will also require waking up at a certain time... guess it's time to figure out how to set my alarm clock!

Well, we shall see how Step 1 works out for me this week! Any suggestions from your time management extraordinaires on what Step 2 should be?

Planned renovation... and how I plan on paying for it!

WHAT: A TOTAL DIY kitchen makeover!!! Yes. I am braving the task of doing it myself!

WHEN: ASAP (goal date to begin is March 1!)

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST: I have researched, and researched some more. I have shopped around for everything I want and (while Daniel does NOT think it is possible) I believe I can give my kitchen a makeover for under $1000! Don't believe me? Stay tuned for future blogs of proof!

WHAT I NEED: well... $1000! Daniel told me I could take on this project if it was FULLY funded through my Mary Kay business! I can CERTAINLY accomplish that! And you can help! I need to sell $2000 in products by February 28th to have $1000 in profits to cover the makeover. Next time you are tempted at Wal-Mart to try a new shade of eye shadow, run out of mascara, or need some face wash rush over to www.marykay.com/hannahjones to help yourself and myself out!

WHY: When I think back to my childhood, so much of our time was spent in the kitchen! It was the central room  in the house, opened up to the living room and entry... and where we often found ourselves sitting on bar stools, leaning on the counter, talking to mom as she made dinner. My mother has always had a knack for making every room of the house feel like a home. Her kitchen had cherry red walls, with collectable cans displayed around the ceiling (she now has a country white kitchen that is just as cozy!). I LOVED gathering in that kitchen, and I want to create a kitchen that will hold many memories to come, but I want to have it done BEFORE I have kids! Here are the before pictures and what I plan to do!

Cabinets will be painted WHITE! So fresh!

Counter tops will be replaced with a java color that has flecks of green and cream in it. Bye Bye butcher board!

Walls will be painted a light grey and base boards will be given a fresh coat of paint!

Table may or may not get a paint job. Depends on how it looks with the kitchen once that is done.

A proper feeding station will be designed for our pups!

And the ONLY thing the budget will not cover? Our pink tile. Oh well. I can live with it for a while longer. That is ONE task I will not do myself!

I am really excited to start this project! Help by purchasing your skin care and cosmetics from me in the month of February, host a party, take a sample basket to work, advertise my website on your Facebook... I sure would appreciate it as every dollar spent will bring me that much closer to my renovation!!! WAHOO!!!!!!

My Kids.

Our babies have brought us SO much joy and laughter. Just look at how cute they are!

On lazy days they like to lay on the couch with Daniel. 

Our sweet Charley

They LOVE these Kong balls! Unfortunately Sam got a hold of Charley's and chewed it up... which allowed Charley to finish it off. She can't get it started on her own. She needs his big dog teeth! Thankfully Sam's is SO big he can't chew his own to pieces like he did to Charley's...

She is a snuggle bug!

Our boy Sam

He and Charley like to play tug-o-war with that rope sometimes. He is even sweet enough to let Charley win!

Look at those sweet, brown eyes! I was a goner when I saw him in the shelter last October!

Don't let their cuteness fool you though! Daniel left the pantry open... and look what we came home too! 

After Daniel cleaned up their mess I left the door to the utility room open... they found the trash bag... I guess I'll clean this one up!

They are worth it though!

LOVE these frames

I think I posted about these DIY frames a while back, but I was recently reminded how much I LOOOOOOVE them when we had new family photos taken. It was so nice to easily swap out pictures around the house! 

Want to make your own? Find WOODEN frames (there were TONS in the garage at our previous home. No backs, broken glass... they were going to throw these treasures away!!!!). Spray paint them. No need to prime unless they have a glossy coat. After paint has dried, rough it up a pit with sand paper. Using a craft staple gun, staple jewelry wire across. Add a mini-clothes pin (found in the craft section) and ta-da! I use my favorite Command strips to hang them around the house. Some (as you can see below) were just to pretty to paint, and I left them in their original beauty!

Project Get Organized: Mission... the bathroom!

Well. I have begun my Pinterest projects that I posted about last time. The ideas I had previously posted about gave birth to different (and better? hmmm) ideas. Here are the results!

So I took the concept of the following 3 Pinterest posts:

Jewelry Hanger

Magnetic Makeup Board

Childs Magnet Board

and made.... THIS!

Cool, right? (cute magnets are still in the making for my pictures...!) My jewelry was taking up all my bathroom counter space in a clear plastic bowl (fancy, I know!)... This board filled a very empty and boring space on my bedroom wall and gave me my counter top back! This was a VERY cheap and easy project. Most of the supplies any crafter will have on hand. 

Here's how I made it (please note that the step-by-step pics are taken with my old and very much BROKEN camera...all pics taken inside are very dark, but the outside pics are still good thanks to the natural light! All future pictures will be taken with my new Canon Rebel T2i!)

Supplies: 

Buy an oil trip pan from Wal-Mart in the auto parts section. They are $9.56 and completely awesome! They are 4 foot by 2 foot so PLENTY of space to hang jewelry and use magnets to post reminders and pictures!

Spray Paint (I keep various shades on hand)

2 yards of material (Always check the $Yard table first!)

Adhesive spray (I keep this on hand always!)

hooks (I started with super cheap ones... they didn't hold much. I ditched them and bought HEAVY duty hooks at Lowes. They were $3 something each in the nail aisle, but can hold 9 lbs each! The little hooks couldn't even hold a 1 necklace!)

magnets (pack of 12 in craft section at Wal-Mart For $2)

wooden dowel rode (pack of 16 in craft section at Wal-Mart For $1.87)

So, these oil drip pans come PRE-greased. Don't know why. You definitely do NOT want the grease on there or the material will not stick! After washing BOTH sides with hot, soapy water AND a good wipe down with kitchen cleaner, I finally resorted to nail polish remover. It got EVERY inch of that grease off!

Spray paint all your hooks and sticks with 2 coats and let dry while you glue on the material!

SLOWLY spray sections of the pan and press the material down. If you rush, you'll get creases. Adhesive spray gets tacky as it dries so it may not seem like it will stick, but give it 60 seconds and you'll have a strong hold! You definitely want to do this outside due to the fumes.

Flip over, cut off excess material, and spray down edges.

Put your magnets on your hooks.

I use the Command strips all over the house! No more nails for me! The velcro ones can hold more weight, and are definitely the best for this kind of project. put one on each corner, then one one each spot of your wall. They lock together to form a strong hold, but if you dont get it level, you can easily adjust it... with out any new holes!

Put on your hooks, lay a dowel rod across the smaller ones for earrings, and voila! I'm still working on a little magnetic bowl for stud earrings and something else for cuff bracelets. For now, those are in a small basket under my sink :)
Can't forget the other Pinterest idea that helped get my bathroom organized! I took this idea:

and made did THIS:

I didn't even use a wooden one! Just a cheap cardboard one! It has COMPLETELY changed my bathroom space. All of the sudden I have room under my sink to put the clutter from my counter top! AMAZING! I also used command strips to mount it!
I love having a spot for everything in my bathroom. I'd take pictures for you, but I just said I organized it... not CLEANED it ;-)