Quick 5 (Things that are making me smile right now)

The return of the Quick 5!  Happy Friday everyone.

1.  My new potted plants.  Some of you might remember that I had a terrible experience at Mulhalls some time ago, which after a nasty gram they did make right.  Many months later they sent me a sweet gift card-- hoping they could get another chance at making it right for me.  I hung on to it for forever, but recently realized that my kitchen plant was very "rooted" and needed to be split.  I took it in yesterday and they said it is in such good shape (yay me!) that they thought I should plant it in a bigger pot for now, before splitting it-- likely in about a year (it will officially be "too big" then).  The sweet woman helping me showed me to this adorable clearance pot for $12 which was cheaper than the plastic.... and presto.  She trimmed it up, potted it, cut it back-- all for about $2.  I took in another pot that I have had forever on my living room shelf empty and we found a little $9 diddy to put in it.  So cute.  In all, it was about $27 including labor and dirt.  My gift card was $20.  Perfect.  I will send a nice gram today, because that is your responsibility if you also send nasty ones.  The only down-side was the incredible heat in their huge and gorgeous green room.  It was HOT.  I was so thankful Daddy and Dekker were running errands elsewhere.  Here are a few pics of the newly improved plants.

Thank you cousin (and faithful blog reader and friend) Tisha
for this pot at Family Christmas several years ago.  I love it even
more with a plant in it.

  2.  Our sweet baby BOY.  (These are obviously in no "best to least" order.)  We had our 20 week ultrasound Wednesday morning.  It was a lot of fun and we had a great nurse who was appropriately chatty and appropriately informative.  She asked if we wanted to know the gender and we said yes, but that we wanted her to write it on a note-card and put it in the envelope we brought.  She honestly thought I was CRAZY.  I tried to explain that I have anxiety and that finding out in private is very helpful to me, and she still thought I was neurotic.  But she did it.  Then made a note in my permanent file that she did so--- ahem, okay.  I did think this baby was a girl because my due date is my late Grandma's birthday.  So I was genuinely shocked.  I was thrilled that everything looked healthy, but still totally shocked.  I kept it together until I talked to my dad about 6:30 Wednesday night-- when I finally confessed my sadness over not being able to (middle) name my girl "Mae" like me and Grandma-- I sobbed so hard that I pulled over in the Bakers parking lot and shocked sweet Dekker in the back seat.  Oh dad, you got the brunt of my pregnancy hormones, the end of a long and emotional day, and my genuine sadness because I knew you'd understand and care.  I miss Grandma a lot.  Here is a picture of sweet R2.  I already love that he is a boy, and can't wait to do a boy nursery.

This is a picture of a picture so I'm sorry.  I will do better later. 
Do you see those sweet cheeks and that nose?  He is Adorable.

3.  Dekker's nose spray.  Remember that this is to combat reflux.  Who would have thought?  Not me, but I don't care because he has been healthy for the longest stretch in his life.  He even got a little cold, which we let run it's course and it did not end up totally infecting his ears/sinus/lungs and he did not end up on antibiotics.  (Enter giant sigh of relief here.)

4.  We are doing a mini-bedroom make-over in the Master Bedroom.  This will be a post full of much better pictures with the fancy camera soon.  My sweet friend Kim Hazlip helped me do this on a tiny budget, and it is looking fantastic.  I have been painting (doctor approved, well ventilated, no VOC paint) and painting.  We buy the "No VOC" paint from Sherwin-Williams and it is worth it, but it's like buying the best from the best.  Thankfully, we don't need much.  Anyway, this section of wall has not had a vent on it since we moved in and took down the paneling and put up drywall in 2007.  We cut the hole too big in the drywall and patched it several years later, but never finished the texture and/or paint.  Until now.  I love looking up and seeing this!

This project has me all sorts of motivated to get cracking on Dekker's new room, the office, and the nursery.  I never did a "nursery" with Dekker-- as in the walls are still blank.  His first bedroom was literally a blue sheet.  When my Grandma got sick, I spent a lot of my last trimester on the road so decorating was appropriately on the back burner.  But I do hope to make Dekker a sweet big-boy room and do something new with the nursery.  And I'm not waiting until the last minute this time! (Last baby we were finishing up the kitchen/hearth room project!)

5.  My flower pots.  Maybe I do have a green thumb?  I tried a few new sun plants on the back deck this year-- and they look great.  These white things look better in person, I promise, and are a nice contrast to the red and pink.  I planted 5 pots total, and this one is my favorite for now.  The recent rain has sure helped!

Can I just say that it feels so good to feel good!  I'm not sure if it's the first trimester is finally over, or a depression is lifting, or the sun feels good-- or what-- and I don't care.  I am loving having energy, doing projects, feeling exhausted at night (but not mid-day!), planning for my new job at NCC, and looking forward to a baby in the house again-- I am praising the Lord for sure!

On the journey,
Mae