a babe and a name

Sunday morning at 8:50AM, we welcomed our beautiful baby boy to the world.

6 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches of sweetness

Meet our little

Everett Stone 

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he's filled this place in our hearts we didn't even know we had. so in love.

happy weekend

I'm just going to assume that this is what mine will look like. {check out those dark circles! gawgous} My body is ready, baby's head is locked and loaded in my hips ... but he doesn't seem to notice. He loves it in there, and that's OK. That extra ounce a day keeps the doctor away, right? Besides, my Dad says he's gonna be a football guy like Tys - this is his protest against the world series.

Hope your weekend is lovely. Filled with Halloween parties and pumpkin carving. If it's OK with baby, we're going to attempt a baby shower tomorrow thrown by my sweet friend Laura. {Thank You Laura!!}

P.S. Remember to check and see if you're BonLook's giveaway winner! Check here!

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In the meantime, if anyone feels like a little fall shopping, check out one of my lovely sponsor's Koo De Ker. They're having a sale! One of my favorite items in my closet right now is this poncho. Can't wait to wrap up in it with baby.

almost

No baby yet. Just lots of this. ^ And life-saving back rubs from my mom and husband.

{Sorry if the non-post yesterday threw everyone off}

I did manage to waddle into my midwife today though. Dilated and 90% effaced. I could have kissed the woman. The past 7 days haven't been for nothing!

We're THIS close to meeting our little boy. And so incredibly excited exhausted

Any minute muffin, mama's ready. 

waiting

Baby is trying to decide if he wants to come out right now. I've been having painful contractions 5-7 minutes apart since Thursday night. What is that ... 80+ hours? But who's keeping track?
Needless to say I'm a bit wiped. With a heck of a lot more appreciation for women under my belt. Every mother on this earth is SUPER. WOMAN. Let's all cross our fingers that baby makes up his mind soon. Cause I am seriously considering breaking out the castor oil. And I never thought I'd say that.

Awkward and Awesome Thursday!

Shoes: c/o Nine West {Martina}, Jeans: Gap, Button Up: F21, Sweater: F21, Necklace: c/o Pree Brulee

Awkward:
- Can I just generalize and put "my body" here? The non-sleeping, the walking, the bending over, the breathing, the cramping, the tummy itching, the contracting, the ... other stuff, the creaking, the shaving {or lack thereof}. Shall I go on? No. You're all done? Me too.
- Becoming so relaxed during a hypnobirthing session that I completely lost all self awareness and full on open-mouth drooled. Sprawled out on the couch, huge belly and all ... it was a flattering moment, let me tell you.
- Aaaaand. That's all the awkwards I remember. Thanks brain. You're really killin' it right now.
Awesome:
- The fastest trip to the salon I've ever had - an hour in and out. Plus it was 25 bucks. I've never been a good coupon clipper. But Groupons ... Groupons I can do.
- My habitually long evening showers. There is nothing more blissful right now than hot water pouring over my neck and back every night. Probably not so blissful? Our water bill.
- Waking up to rain, an open window, a dim room and a husband who's not motivated to get out of bed just yet {which never happens}. Oh, the cozy.
- The gigantic rainbow colored bruise on Tys's calf from a football injury. His awesome. Not mine.  
- Looking forward to a wonderful weekend out of town with my mom and sisters ... while Tys stays here and sets up the nursery
- Getting to slip on a new pair of heels for a minute- even if it's just to sit and work. Makes me feel like my old self again.
- Going over to a girlfriend's house for the evening while our husbands work late. Bonus: she cooked dinner AND gave me some extras to take home for Tys. I realize that this probably makes me look like the most pathetic wife, but hey ... I guess I'll claim that title right now. In a few weeks, maybe I'll be as awesome as you Lauren ;)

dear baby boy

Just look at how big you're getting. Honestly, I think it's a wonder that my body is still holding you in there. They say you're 5 1/2 lbs. They also say that if you came out now, your little body would be just fine to work on its own. But I think you like it in there. We'll stick it out for a few more weeks, you and I ... those extra chubs are important.

These days, you get the hiccups a lot - which makes me laugh. And you dropped extra low last week - which makes me waddle. Oh, and we got in trouble a bit at our last appointment. Apparently, iron is not one of our strong points. It's a good thing I love you lots baby, because those iron injections are not going to be fun. The new york strip steak for breakfast is kind of a nice perk though. 

Just so you know, I think about you all the time. And sometimes {when I get to sleep} I have dreams about you too. My favorite is the one where you are just lying between your dad and I on our bed. And we play with your toes. {I can't wait to see those perfect toes!} Your dad is so excited to meet you little boy. He tells me almost every day. His favorite thing is your tiny socks. And I even saw his YouTube profile one day - all of his recently watched videos were how-to's on swaddling babies. He's gonna be a good dad don't you think?

I can't wait to see you my little E. And hold you. And smell you {I hear you're gonna have the best smell in the whole world}. I'm ready to birth you too. You are perfect. Just right for my body. And I can't wait to go though that experience together.
I love you!
See you in a few weeks,
Mama

saturday morning

Saturday morning we woke up at 5am. Scratch that. I was already awake. Tys woke up at 5 am. He says, "Ugh. I can't go back to sleep." I say, "You poor thing. I wonder what that's like" He thinks this is funny. He also thinks that we should get up. The man has not yet mastered the art of lying in bed ... just for the sake of lying there. So we get up. He puts me in his sweats. And makes us the perfect batch of cinnamon hot chocolate. We pop in a movie. And snuggle under our blanket because we left the windows open and our house feels like we're camping.

Tys had to work the rest of the day. But at 5 in the morning, he was mine, all mine.
Happiness.

mister elephant called. he wants his ankles back

Boots: Unity from Famous Footwear, Leggings: Target, Top: c/o Threadcase, Vest: YesStyle, Watch: Gift Clutch: c/o Chicwish

Last night as my mom, Tys and I were stuffed in the love seat finishing up a movie, I so happened to prop my legs up in front of me and suddenly caught a glimpse of the ghastly, swollen, elephant-like things that are growing on what used to be my ankles. Holy. Disturbing. {I blame my masseuse. Pretty sure he released a bucket-load of toxins from my muscles yesterday. Those puppies were tight.} Today, I'm going to attempt to prop my legs up at least 3 feet above my head at all times and get them back to size. But we'll see how long that lasts. I think my laundry pile wants to eat me.

So what are you guys up to this weekend? We originally had plans to go to the pumpkin patch and pick ourselves out a nice mister Jack-O, but it's been super rainy. We might brave it and slop through in our rain boots, or we might stay home and give me and only me each other footrubs this weekend. 

Things are getting super exciting around here, this last pregnancy stretch. Super. Exciting.

in town

My mom is in town this week. We're making homemade lasagna and chili, learning that a cart full of groceries can miraculously be conquered in an hour, watching Jane Eyre with hot chocolate and toffee popcorn, on a mission to add color and skinny jeans {gasp!} to her fall wardrobe, overstaying our welcome at Panera Bread {did you know that if you talk long enough, they'll actually clear your table for you?} and getting long overdue massages.

Best week ever?
I think so.

The Browns

These are our friends, the Browns. Beautiful bunch, no? We've loved getting to hang with 'em since making the move out here. The evenings we spend at their house tend to last long past a decent hour {chatty bunch we are} ... especially when there's chocolate pumpkin spice cookies involved. Yum!

I had the complete pleasure of shooting their lovely little family recently. If you'd like to take a peek, you can view more at my photography site, HERE!

park it

Friday night I made Tys take me to Wendy's for a cheeseburger deluxe. {A person can only take so much chicken and vegetables. And oatmeal and apples. And other healthy stuff that does not include hot fries and cheeseburgers} And then we went to the park, plopped ourselves in the sunshine, finished our birth plan and laughed at some of the gems in his "Daddy's Survival Guide 101". Oh, the adventure we have ahead of us.

P.S. It snowed this past week back in ol' Idaho. SNOWED. As someone who is very protective of her four seasons, I would like to thank you dear northern Virginia. I'll take my sunshine, and upper 60's and fall leaves for a couple more months, thank you.

I've watched this three times already

There's something about Miranda July, isn't there?

happy birthday momma!

Happy Birthday to my most favorite lady in the whole wide world. Love you so much mom! I can't believe that I'm about to be at the same stage that you were when this picture was taken of us. {eep!} You seem like you were so much older and wiser than I am. Thank you for molding me into the person I am today and for being right there to answer all my questions about this new mommy thing. I love you. I can't wait to see you hold your first grandbaby :) And see where life takes your rockstar, go-getter self next! I also can't wait to see you this week!! Let's get massages and paint our nails. And make healthy stuff in the blender. Unless you feel like getting milkshakes. I'm down with that too.

man up

Shoes:Vera Wang for Kohls, Jeggings: c/o Windsor Store, Top: Husbands H&M, Belt: Husbands UO, Watch: Gift, Sunnies: Target, Clutch: c/o Chicwish

Don't ask me why it's taken this long for me to raid Tys's closet. Who needs maternity when you have man stuff at your fingertips? Button-up and T-shirt HEAVEN. {Pretty soon, people won't even be able to tell us apart. Dream come true!} Actually, it's probably taken me this long cause I knew that if I wore his stuff, that would mean I would have to iron out all the 'tucked-in' wrinkles at the bottoms of his shirts. But who are we trying to kid here? I DON'T IRON! Wrinkles or no wrinkles, there is some good comfy junk in that closet people. Things are about to get a little more manly around here.

And P.S. to those of you who've asked: sorry, but besides wearing men's clothing ... I don't have any juicy maternity secrets to tell you. Everything that I wear is either low rise and really stretchy, has an elastic waist or is tied together with a rubber band. I've tried maternity pants, thought I liked them, but they kept sliding off my anti-butt so I took them back. And belly-bands ... I don't know why, but I just haven't had the desire to try them. Probably too preoccupied with all things that end in -eggings. It's a pregnancy love affair. But I promise that if between now and next month I find some secret clothing invention that blows my mommy mind, I'll be sure to share. 

aaaaand the horozontal stripes strike out

Shoes: Jessica Simpson, Skirt: Target, Top: c/o WindsorStore, Blazer: Nordstrom, Necklace: c/o LeMode Accessories, Watch: Gift, Clutch: c/o Chicwish

You ever have one of those days, when you have an idea of what you look like in your mind, and you walk around, feeling good {kind of like your old self from 8 months ago} and then you take a picture and you're all, "Wait, I look like what?"

That just happened. Pregnancy is a strange phenomenon - in which you're fully aware that you have a belly, but it still kind of surprises you when you try and squeeze between spaces that you used to fit though and end up knocking someone upside the head. Or in this case, when you see pictures of yourself and are still kinda shocked at your own max holding capacity. Apparently, this little babe takes his chubs very seriously. {Proud mama right here.}

On days like this when I'm feeling particularly large - like the other night in the bathroom while brushing my teeth, I look in the mirror and say, "Hon. Just look at me! Look at this baby. I can't believe how big I'm getting." He'll put on his best Moto-Moto voice, come up behind me and be all,
"Goodness guurl. You HUGE. You chunk-ay..."

Always knows the right thing to say, that man.

i got this sweet suprise in the mail yesterday and it might have made me cry. a little.

First, because I'm pregnant and that's what we do.
Second, because I'm a designer and can only IMAGINE how long it took to put every little perfect vintage-y detail together. The printing! The gluing! The stamping! The tying! Makes my head kind of swim.
And third, because it feels so wonderful to know that this little boy is already loved so much. Not only by Tys and I, but by our wonderful family and sweet friends {both old and new alike}. So thank you SO MUCH Airiel & Jennah for your thoughtfulness. I can't tell you lovely ladies what it meant to us!

And also, to all of you who have expressed so much support, encouragement and well-wishes for our new little family, we truly THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. You are the best kind of sunshine.

over the weekend

I wasn't lyin' when I said we were gonna be laying low this weekend. We cozied up inside for most of it. {The weather was rainy and in the 50's all weekend, can you believe it?} There was much lasagna and cinnamon rolls and frozen dark chocolate squares; magazine reading and baths and the watching of Pixar movies ... where husband's favorite thing to say was "I can't wait till he's here to watch it with us... he's gonna love this part." This has also been said of Boise State Football games. Although we won't burst his bubble and point out the fact that his son is probably gonna sleep right though his first football season.

We also had the opportunity to watch General Conference and hear the inspired leaders of our Church speak to us. It's so wonderful to have their guidance in our lives, especially during this time as we're about to delve into parenthood. Sometimes it felt as if they were talking directly to us. My favorite out of the whole thing had to be this one though. Love him.

Happy Monday guys! Dressed in the only old sweatshirt that fits me anymore, some ridiculously fluffy slippers and a cup of hot chocolate by my side, it is a happy Monday indeed.