Five on Friday

It's that time again friends! unfortunately this week Friday is not as glorious for me as for some, this friday is my wednesday, but I HAVE been off for a week so no complaints really.

{ONE}

We had a wonderful trip to New Orleans this past weekend to visit my grandparents.  We went to the Audubon Zoo which if you haven't been and you plan to go to NO, you need to make a stop there.  It really is a nice zoo and brings back many memories of my childhood too! Landon had a great time which was so fun to see him enjoying some of the same things I did as a child.

{TWO}

With the recent news that we are welcoming a new little man into our family my wishlist of fun new things for this baby has begun.  How cute is this Ikat baby blanket! I need it to be mine!!

OiOi Ikat Boy Printed Muslin Blanket

{THREE}

This guy...that's all...I have had so much fun spending time with him he is learning new things every day and he has been such a joy!

I mean those lips and rosy cheeks...I melt!

{FOUR}

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, ok not really chicken but L must be having a growth spurt because he has eaten GREAT the past few days! Dinner has been a success the past few nights in which L has eaten all his food and not thrown a fit! Such a nice change from the screaming fits we usually endure at dinner time!

{FIVE}

I found THE most comfortable pants for work.  If your a nurse and pregnant...or even if your not pregnant, you need these they are so incredibly comfortable I wish they were around when I was pregnant the first time.  The waist band doesn't cut into your belly AND they don't fall down constantly.  WIN. WIN.

Urbane Yoga Top Pants

IRL they aren't floods like that either ;)

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose::If I Could be Anything

This weeks topic is a tough one.  So many ideas run through my head of what I could possibly want to be if I could be anything.

Truth is, I'm doing exactly what I would want to be doing.

I'm a mom, and that is what I've always wanted to be.  I love everything about it and while there are tough days they are few and far between.

I'm a nurse, once again that's what I always said I wanted to be.  If I could work a little less that would be ideal.  I want to be PRN which is three shifts a month.  I can keep my licence current but spend the most time with my family.  As a child I sometimes said I wanted to be a teacher but really I do a lot of teaching in my job.  I love to teach families about stuff and one day I think I may follow in my grandmother's footsteps and be a nurse educator.  That's not the kind of hours I want right now though.

I feel so blessed by where I am in my life right now.  I have a job that I love, a sweet boy and another on the way.  In reality a pretty sweet work schedule with lots of time for social activities.

There are days where I think of how great it would be to stay at home and be a SAHM. But then I realize how much I love to have a few days to myself to get away, strain my brain, and leave work with a sense of accomplishment a family so grateful for the work I have done.

There are days when I think a different career path would be what I want, but then I realize that means more hours away from my family which is not what I want at all.

I have learned to be content with where I am and it's a pretty nice place to be.

gender reveal

We knew we wanted to do something different to announce the gender of our newest addition and thought it would be fun to do a gender reveal party since we really haven't had many people over since buying our house 2 years ago.

I had seen so many cute ideas for gender reveal parties and was so excited to do this, even if I was hosting it for myself.

Without further adieu I will let yall know the results...followed by the details.

Baby L #2 is...

A BOY!!!!!

We did not know going in to the party what we were having, though I will say I was shocked up until a week before I really did not have a feeling one way or another.  The last week though I really started to think it was a girl so when I pulled out that blue pin I was so shocked but so happy! I am so excited to have two brothers close in age.  A true boy mom!!

I used burlap and ribbon with lots of flowers for the decorations.  I love fluffy fresh flowers, hydrangeas, carnations, and baby's breath were what I went with.  I didn't get a picture of the food but I made Pioneer Woman Lasagna, garden salad, veggie tray, Special Fruit Salad, and some little snacks like pretzels and vanilla cookies in addition to the cake and some petit fours.

I made this wreath and thought it turned out so well!!

loved the cake! those grey ribbons had the colored safety pin charms on them so when we pulled out the ribbon we would see what the gender was!

TEAM GIRL

TEAM BOY

Clearly most everyone thought it was going to be a girl!!

We had such a great time and enjoyed the food and celebrating with friends.  We feel so blessed to be welcoming another sweet boy into our family come November!!

Five on Friday

Its that time again! This week literally flew by!! We have a fun weekend in store so I'm super pumped that it is already friday also because its essentially the start of a 6 day stretch off of work! Hallelujah!!!

{ONE}
We found out what our sweet incubating child is going to be! I will leave the official blog announcement of the gender to the post I have for tomorrow all about our gender reveal party! We are so incredibly excited and blessed and to say I was shocked would be an understatement!! Tune in tomorrow for all the deets.

{TWO}
I made a stop at my worst enemy favorite place as of late, Nordstrom Rack, and picked up a super sized bottle of this yummy goodness.  It is Bliss Lemon Sage Body Butter and it smells incredible and feels so nice after a shower or bath.  Perfect for summer!!

{THREE}

I found a lady that makes cakes in our neighborhood and they are oh so good! She did an incredible job for our party and I know we will use her often in the future!! I added the bunting on top and the ribbons are what had the gender on charms inside the cake.

{FOUR}

Once again while at my favorite place I found a goldmine of maxi skirts!! They are oh so comfy and probably 90% of what I will be wearing this summer.  L was a may baby so I was mostly pregnant with him through winter.  Also, I was teeny tiny with him and never even bought maternity pants.  This time around things are oh so different and it seems that almost as soon as I saw two pink lines my pants were tight.  Maternity shorts just aren't as comfortable and maxi skirts are so when I went and saw so many different colors and patterns I had to buy several! I love hitting the jackpot like that.

{FIVE}

My niece was in town with my in-laws this past week and while its nice to have a quiet house again it was so sweet seeing her and L play together.  They love each other and get along so well!! When I was at work one night my hubby texted me this picture and my heart instantly melted!

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose::If I Were to Win the Lottery

If I were to Win the Lottery, 5 Things I would Buy...

This week is a fun topic! Me and the hubby talk about this a lot I don't know why, we're dreamers I suppose.

{ONE}
First and foremost I would hire a financial planner and invest a good portion of the winnings.  So many lottery winners go bankrupt not long after winning because they just go spending crazy and I would want this money to last.  I also wouldn't tell anyone I had won. Not that I would be selfish with my money but I don't want anyone being my friend simply for the money I have.  People come out of the woodworks asking or a hand in the winnings when people win large sums of money and it's a stress I wouldn't want to deal with. Along with hiring a financial planner and investing a portion I group with that putting money in a fund for our children's education and paying off our debts.

{TWO}
I would buy a nice house for our family.  I would want something with a huge front porch and a pool.  I think this house is precious and while its not massive I would not want something so massive I get lost.  I just want enough space for our (hopefully) large family to have space ad be plenty comfortable in

{THREE}
I would buy a vacation home somewhere amazing my dream place is Bora Bora, as a matter of fact I would be fine just scratching the above house and moving to Bora Bora all together!!

{FOUR}
I would go shopping and buy a whole new wardrobe for myself and the hubby It would be fun to just go shopping without a care in the world!

{FIVE}
I would hire a decorator for above mentioned house so I can have it set up and decorated exactly how I have always dreamed

Five on Friday

I can not believe it is already friday again! This week has literally flown by, I know that having a holiday smack in the middle is part of it but really being that neither me or hubby work regular days/hours that really shouldn't be an excuse!  We have just been super busy around these parts lately!  That being said lets get started...

{ONE}

We had such a fun time last night celebrating the 4th! Our neighborhood does a big concert and fireworks and we went last year and really enjoyed it so we knew this year it would be on our agenda.  We got there early which Thank Jesus because it was WAY more crowded than last year!! We learned our lessons about parking and where to sit last year so we had a really great time.  Some friends of ours who also live in the neighborhood joined us and Landon had a blast running up and down the big hill.  The best part of it all was the weather was perfect! Not too hot or sunny and a nice cool breeze.  The only picture we took was blurry :( but alas here we are!

{TWO}

FInally getting our living room complete.  This has been ongoing since we moved here and I have one more curtain panel to sew and the bulk of the room will be done! I need to find some things for decoration and a few more small furniture pieces but I already love it.  We also rearranged our multipurpose room and it works so much better there is more room for L to play and more room for sitting.  I do want to buy a rug for that room too to cover the nasty carpet that currently resides there. Its a work in progress but we ARE making progress!!

{THREE}

I'm Halfway through this pregnancy!!! That is insanity to me! I will take my weekly picture and do a post on that this weekend but I just can not believe this pregnancy is flying by so fast! That being said we have done nothing AT. ALL in preparation...yikes!!

{FOUR}

We are having our gender reveal party next weekend! I am so excited!! Our appointment is on monday and its going to be torture to not look at the screen while she looks at the gender! I don't really have any strong feelings this time around as to what this baby is so it will be such a fun surprise to see!! 

{FIVE}

I signed up for Emeals this last week and so far I love it!! You choose how big your family is and what kind of meal plan you want and they give you a meal plan and grocery list each week.  LIke I said we are on week one and so far the recipes have been super easy, healthy, and delicious! I hope this will lend to us being able to save some money as it takes the guess work out of meal planning and my grocery trips are more streamlined and also we have been eating out less.

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose:: 5 Years from Now

I always thought it was fun when I was younger to guess where I would be in 5 or 10 years.  I wish I had all those predictions easily accessible to see if I am where I thought I may be.  Its always interesting to me that usually when I have the best laid plan God has other plans!

I never would have imagined myself in Houston that was just not a city I ever desired to live in but alas, here I am and truth be told, I love it here!

I never thought I would be working in the cardiac ICU at one of the top programs in the country at one of the best Children's hospitals in the country.  Babies were my passion I always wanted to work in the Neonatal ICU and after 5 years of that I realized it wasn't for me.  I LOVE where I work and what I do!

I always thought I would have children young, while I'm not an old goose I'm definitely older than I imagined, but its perfect waiting to start our family until we had a house and solid careers started was probably the best decision.

Simply put I have learned that when I take myself out of it and allow God to lead me and determine  my path things work out better.  Hind sight is 20/20 and while at points in time I think things may not be working out in reality they are working out perfect.

So in 5 years where may I be?  Only God knows really but...

I imagine I will be working in my same job, preferably part time.  I don't know that I could be a stay at home mom but I would at least want to work PRN (3 shift a month) or Part time.  In the next 5 years I don't see either of those being a reality though.  Going back to school is something people always ask if I will do, when will I go back to be a Nurse Practitioner etc.  Really I have no desire, I like working as a bedside nurse, I go to work I work my 13 hours and I come home.  The End, which is why I chose to be a nurse.  I don't want the responsibility or the stress of being the one in charge.

I imagine I will have at least one more child maybe two, not counting the one currently incubating.  I always thought my kids would be really close in age and while 2.5 years isn't far its further than I thought the spacing would be.  We'll see what happens after this one, I would love to have 4 kids but this is TOTALLY up to God!!

I would like to go on a grand tropical vacation with just the hubby sometime in there and finish decorating our house.  I would like to pay off the majority of our debts and become more organized, simple, and streamlined on the home front.

I would hope and pray that in 5 years myself and my family are still happy healthy and thriving. Really that's all that matters and as I was doing my bible study stuff this morning, which goes along perfectly with this prompt I came across this verse.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:6

It will be interesting to see where I really am in 5 years God has a funny way of shaking things up and putting us in places we never imagined!