Well... I'm back.

And I promise to resume regular postings... soon. I have so much to update y'all on!!

I'll leave you with this picture that sums up where I've been. Meet our newest family additon, Everett Ross. Born June 16. We are totally and completely in love with this little guy. He is such a blessing and truly a wonderful baby. I could go on and on.. as I'm sure most mommies can! But, he really is such an easy baby. For instance, right now I am holding him while he sleeps and blogging at the same time. Mad skill on my part, eh?

I have so many more pictures to share, so stay tuned!

Mobile Found

Hello there! We have been super busy over the past couple of weeks! I think it all caught up with me yesterday and all I could do was sit in bed with my pj's on, snoozing on and off.

Just an update:

My husband has spent the past two weekends in ATL, Saturday I joined him for the night and we were able to hang with some pretty awesome friends.
We bought a new car ;)
My older sister had her baby. Sweet Dixie Nicole entered this world on the 14th. She is absolutely beautiful, and hardly ever cries! I hope to be as lucky with Everett ;)
We have finished painting the nursery (thanks to some friends for their help!)
I painted the dresser/changing table and am seeking out handles for it now.
We've celebrated birthdays for friends, had friends over for dinner, played games at our small group, shopped for baby clothes, and spring cleaned.


What's next on the agenda for us:
Paint headboard we recently acquired
Put together crib
(me)Bachelorette trip to Nashville for my dear friend Leah
JonRoss is playing 9 services Easter weekend
Glucose Test
Oh yeah, and watch LOST episodes of course


Here's a picture of a birthday lunch I had at the apartment for my friend Laura:





A picture of the painted nursery:



Our new to us car:



And me at 26 weeks:



One last thing to mention, and the reason I started this post in the first place. I have a couple of mobile ideas in mind, but this one I am really enjoying at the moment.



{via Etsy shop Almost Sunday}

It's close (spring)

I can't help but crave a little bit of floral in my wardrobe at the moment, this Alabama winter has been the coldest one I have experienced. Although it is sunny today, it's still freezing and I am still wearing black. I miss green grass and flowers blooming, white pants and brighter colors. If I weren't preggo, I'd love to pair this top



{via ModCloth}

with a pair of denim trousers, tucked in.



{via GAP}

Complete with camel colored shoes (preferably flats) and a skinny belt.

*this would also be cute with dark wash cigarette jeans*

Found.

I finally found the cutest dress to wear to my dearest friend's bridal tea coming up in a few weeks. It's from Asos' maternity line. If it is still chilly here in Birmingham (begging for it to be at least in the 60's), I will pair a shrug and tights with it. Has anyone had experience purchasing from here?



p.s. My husband and I are getting the nursery paint this weekend. Very excited!

It seems all I have to talk about these days is the nursery progress... I really do have a life outside of that, but I always forget to blog about those things, especially now that we got rid of internet at home. For those still interested, we have made a lot of progress.

Have we painted? No.
Have we bought anything? No.

So, how have we made progress? Well, we've actually agreed on everything (well, mostly) that is going in to the nursery. YAY! Now, the fun and lots of hard work begins. We went to ATL this past weekend, for the band guys to rehearse and for the band wives to play. We took a couple of hours to head to IKEA to see what they had to offer for baby Everett's nursery.

We officially decided on a crib:



I tested this one out at IKEA, and with the help from a few friends, decided this would be perfect. It sits lower than a normal crib, something that I wasn't sure of at first, but after pretending to put a baby in and pick back up, I was sold.

We decided against a rocker or glider. Instead, we are going to purchase a chair that can move from room to room over time. Here's the one we both like.



We'll get an ottoman to rest our weary feet, but no ideas in mind for that just yet.

We've decided on this crib sheet as inspiration for the room.



We aren't going for an owl theme persay, more towards the colors of the sheet and the modern design/feel. My sister is painting us a picture of one of the owls to hang somewhere, and that will be the extent of owls in the nursery.

For the bumper and crib skirt we were leaning towards white, but I want to get the crib sheet and see what else might look good. (opinions are welcomed)

We're still painting the stripes, light gray and white. We're going to do them in thick stripes horizontally, much like you see here.



Let's see, what else. Oh, since the nursery will also house a queen sized bed, we'll be purchasing a comforter for the bed. I think once we get these things put together, we will have a better idea of what we want for that, as well as curtains, pillows and other fun accessories.

So, what's going on with the J.Ray's other than baby and nursery progress?
The hubster has been busy, busy with recordings, rehearsals and all other things music.
I have decided I hate maternity clothes and have really tried to love things at Target and Motherhood. BLEH.
We are in the process of selling my Passat in hopes of getting a Nissan Pathfinder.
My sister in law and sister are both very close to having their babies. :)
We are also still working on our bedroom.
I have no creative juices left.

Thanks for keeping up with us!

Nursery Progress

Well, the process is going very slowly for us, as we can't seem to agree on much. Seems weird being that we have only once (ok, maybe twice) disagreed on how we want a room to look. (If I were to be honest, I'd have to say that when we thought we were having a girl, I had the nursery planned in a day... now that we're having a boy, he wants to be more involved -which I love- but it is hard to give up the reins, right?)

We have decided on three things for sure.

We are going to paint thick stripes on the wall in grey and white. Probably a lighter grey, but that's not certain for now. Much like this room.



Second we want a white, modern crib. Much like this one. Although, we haven't decided on all white, white/espresso or white/natural.



This dresser I recently painted, will be painted white and the handles/knobs changed out. It will serve as baby Everett's dresser and changing table.



The other main color we want for the room is still being decided on. My first idea of navy blue was nixed. My second idea of orange is being mulled over. I ordered samples of FLOR tiles today to see if my sweet husband will like any of these options. I am smitten with all three colors and really hope the samples will seal the deal. I think a bold punch of color is necessary for every room, and love the idea of having a large "rug" in orange to break up all the white furniture.

First, the color "Tabby Cat"



Second, the color "Blingy Bronze"



Third, the color "Gourd" I wanted to throw in a burnt orange, just in case. Although, I know he'll like the brighter oranges.



So, there you have it. Our (small) progress.

Well Folks

Everett Ross will be here around June! I'm thrilled they pushed my due date up 8 days, which means more time to recover before we attempt our first vacation with him at the beach only 6 weeks later.

Now the serious nursery planning will begin! I'll keep y'all updated.

Baby Names

I just love this vanity bench from etsy store High Street Market. The fabric colors are exactly what I want for the (girl)nursery and it would make a great place to perch my feet while rocking baby. We keep going back and forth about what to do with the nursery if we are having a boy, so this piece may or may not work.

This weekend we (my sister Erica and I) are hosting a baby shower for our older sister, Lindsay. She is due March 14th with her sweet little Dixie (she really likes her southern roots). Before I go and finalize the details for the shower, I thought I'd share with you dear readers the names we have picked out for baby.

Boy: Everette(after my grandfather) Ross(after my baby's daddy)
Girl: Lennon(after John Lennon) Joy(after my sweet Mama)

If you'll remember, we recently named our kitten Lennon. When a friend told us how cool that name would be for our child, we quickly changed kitties name to Dexter. After the t.v. show. He reminds us much of Dexter's character. Normal, fun loving kitty by day, psychopath serial killer by night. It fits him well.

Have a great weekend!

One down.

This past weekend my husband and I were celebrating our one year anniversary. We are very laid back people when it comes to holidays/birthdays/and other random things people celebrate. We like to do fun things for each other, but we don't feel the need to go crazy, spending lots of money and getting all fancy shmancy. (there are times for this, but they are rare!)

A perfect night of celebrating according to us is when we can order take-out, set up a picnic in our living room and watch the last two episodes of season 5 from LOST. (which we did) It was pure bliss. However, that day we did get out to look at houses, go see Avatar, and eat some more (I've finally moved into the "i'm hungry more phase"). What a beautiful movie that is! I am fascinated and slightly obsessed with seeing it again!

We had such a wonderful day, which carried over to Sunday and Monday just spending time together, regrouping and talking about what a beautiful, first year it was! I am positively giddy about what this year will hold for us.


p.s. I am going on a maternity shopping spree soon. Any suggestions on where to go? (besides Old Navy)

Did you know?

That Top Shop sells maternity clothes?

This dress is a.dorable and I'm wondering if I could talk my sweet husband into getting it for me?!

Also, I am about to enter my 16th week of pregnancy. I have a cute little bump and I felt my sweet little one kick for the first time yesterday! We find out the sex of the baby in 2 weeks. I am distracting myself by contemplating a makeover. I have been so bleh for the past 12 weeks, that I'm ready to feel beautiful and sassy once again. Although it's a bit chilly for that dress at this moment, I'd still feel sassy with it hanging in my closet awaiting Spring.

I will leave you with a photo. It's a very bad quality, blurry, not centered photo, but I can't figure out how to download pictures from my camera just yet so this'll do. It's our new t.v. stand. We got it from IKEA for $60, on sale from $180. It's a bookcase that we turned sideways. My husband had the *brilliant* idea to put the fabric behind it to cover all those nasty chords. He also tied back the chords that are currently shown in this picture. I'm in love with it!