Happy Halloween!

From Office Ollie.  Our little Halloween baby is 6-years-old today!

Josh informed her she is a "rent-a-cop" since she only has a walkie-talkie and handcuffs, no gun.

Happy birthday to Ellen as well!!

XO,

Whit

Jiffy Cornbread Muffins with Cream-Style Corn and Honey Butter

Perfect little accompaniment during soup season.  So easy and so yummy.

Recipe here.  I opted to make muffins as opposed to a loaf -- it made 12, but next time I would probably make them fuller and make a few less.

Enjoy!

XO,
Whit

Otto Bean Nursery Board

First of all, shout out to LayBabyLay for giving me lots of ideas for nursery sources-- expected and unexpected.  This board is all my own, but nice to know of new places to browse on the world wide web.

I know things will continue to change, but the general direction I'm going with the nursery is something like this:

Bedding, changing pad and lots of other details to come!

To the mamas out there - any advice?  Things you highly recommend?  Things to skip?  

Sources:
1 Serena & Lily - Round Belly Baskets (own these)
2 Well Appointed House - Clayton Greek Key Lamp (in reality, I'll probably find something more affordable)
3 Wisteria - White Faux Bois Mirror
4 RH Baby - Bellina Dresser (my Furbish Flea find is replacing this piece)
5 Land of Nod - Jenny Lind Bookcase (now with my changing table doubling as shelvig, I may nix this)
6 Lulu & Georgia - Sulta Rug by Alix Soubiran
7 Lulu & Georgia - Teluca Pouf
8 Serena & Lily - Ashbury Glider (still in the research phase for gliders, but know I want something neutral and stain resistant!)
9 Etsy - Monogrammed Pillow
10 Serena & Lily - Ellie Side Table (I spray painted an elephant planter I already had for the same look)
11 Little Art Gallery Bob Ransley giraffe - my dad is working on a large giraffe painting for me to hang over the crib
12 Amazon - DaVinci Jenny Lind Crib (you literally can't beat the price and the reviews are excellent)
13 blabla - Wooly the Sheep

XO,
Whit

Weekend recap

Little photo montage for you this Monday.

Saturday morning started off very happy -- scored a scalloped console (50% off) that I can use as a changing table / bookcase & 8 pink glasses ($4) at Furbish's Fall Flea.  Lots of good finds, but the intensity was high with a line of ladies (and a few gents) around the building so I felt like I needed to be on my picking A-game.  Luckily, Liz and I got there early and were about #3 into the tent.  Success!

Saturday night we headed to an engagement party for our fave couple - Kathryn & Chris, but I was slightly in a funk after trying on a million outfits and didn't take any pictures.  :(  Not a huge bump yet, but feeling frumpy and in a weird in-between stage.

Sunday was a productive day of starting Josh's "English garden" by planting 22 tiny boxwoods and doing lots of spray painting.  Olivia mainly went around the yard eating lots of dirt...

A little bump photo from last week -- can't believe I'm in my 20th week now!

Have a great week!

XO,

Whit

Lulu and Georgia 25% off Sale = First Nursery Purchase!

I'd been eyeing this rug since I got the feeling it was a boy. I almost had a slightly crazy moment and ordered it before finding out the gender (when they had a 20% off coupon code on a blog I read), just because I convinced myself I was that sure.  Well, I held off and pressed order today with 25% off!  They have such a great selection of rugs and other accessories - it's quickly become one of my favorite places to browse online.

Sultan Rug by Alix Soubiran

Happy shopping!

I'll show my nursery idea board soon -- right now I'm thinking it will be mostly neutral with some pops of blue and orange.  Can't wait to get it to see the colors in person - fingers crossed they look just like my computer screen.

XO,

Whit

It's a...

BOY!

Well, my gut (mother's intuition already??) turned out to be correct -- we found out this morning that we are expecting a little boy.  We are over the moon and I can't wait to start doing a little shopping and decorating the nursery.  As cliche as it sounds, I have never been so incredibly thankful to hear that all appendages and organs look healthy and normal.  God is good!  I laid awake for a few hours last night anxious and praying over and over that no matter the gender, we would see a healthy baby on the ultrasound screen.  Our prayers were certainly answered!

We decided the whole gender reveal party wasn't for us since our family and friends are a bit spread out, but I wanted to do something a little creative (or corny) to tell our family and friends.  Josh cooperated for a few minutes, but don't mention I put these pictures on this blog!

Olivia took a while to warm up to the giant balloon and tassel (as you will see in the outtakes below).  Thank you Rachel for helping me put these items from Sweet Lulu together and begging Harris Teeters and Party Shops all over Raleigh to inflate the 3' balloon -- who knew that was going to be such a challenge!  We were prepared with pink and blue just in case. :)  I love the large balloons and the DIY tassel kit was pretty easy to assemble -- I'll just need to invest in a helium tank if I ever want to do it again.

The outtakes

XO,

Whit

Gender prediction

I cannot believe we are finding out the gender of Otto Bean on Monday, Oct 14 -- now just a few days away!  Anyone who has talked to us knows we absolutely think it is a BOY.  I think I originally got it in my head because I didn't have any morning sickness and just have this "feeling."  I cannot wait to find out if we are correct.  Obviously we will be so excited either way, just praying for a healthy baby and easy pregnancy.

I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago visiting one of my dear college roommates, Louise, and we did a lot of the old wives tales.  We copied a lot of these from Natalie of Designer Bags and Dirty Diapers.

CHINESE CALENDAR:

The Chinese calendar determines the sex of your baby by entering your due date and age you were when you conceived.  

The Chinese calendar predicts a BOY

RING TEST:

We did this one for Rachel and Marlowe last year when they were preggers and both accurately predicted their babies!  Have a friend hold you wedding ring on a string/necklace very still over your belly.  If it goes in circles it is a girl, if it swings like a pendulum it means boy.  

Ring test predicts a GIRL

BAKING SODA TEST:
Put a little baking soda in a dry cup and then pee into the cup.  Supposedly if the baking soda fizzles it is a boy, if it remains flat it is a girl.  I think it fizzed a little.

Baking soda test predicts a BOY

MORNING SICKNESS:
Supposedly the sicker you are the more likely it is a girl.  I was exhausted my first trimester, but never came close to throwing up.  In fact, I felt sicker in the evenings with less appetite at dinner than the mornings.

Morning sickness predicts a BOY 

HOW YOU CARRY THE BABY:
If your belly hangs low (or in front), you're having a boy. If it's high (or wide in the middle), you're having a girl. 

I still don't have too much of a bump to really be able to tell how I'll end up carrying, but right now the few people I've shown this photo to have said GIRL

HEARTBEAT RATE:
If the baby's heart beats faster than 140 beats per minute, it's a girl.

Heartbeat was 155 bpm at the last visit, predicts a GIRL

I'll announce it on here on Monday after we find out!

XO,

Whit

Dining room drapes are up!

After months of saving and debating and waiting, my dining room drapes were finally installed last week.  I'm so pleased with how they turned out.  Fabric and labor all with the help of Printers Alley.  Raleigh peeps - I also have a new friend if you need any window installations -- so reasonable and nice! 

They are a gray and white silk buffalo check even though they look more striped in the pic below.  I stuck with the Restoration Hardware Estate Crystal in brass window hardware as originally planned and was impressed with the quality.  The installer joked they were so sturdy that Josh could do pull-ups on them.

Even Josh came in and raved about how he loved the drapes and they were "staying up forever."  Let's not get too carried away...  

Sadly, the Warsa linen that I blogged about in the last post was discontinued and the pink they sent me is WAY too little girl's room -- not the look I'm going for at all.  

I am now leaning towards doing a fun fabric on two chairs that will spend most of their time in the single windows and doing a darker gray on the 6 around the table.  When we pull up the two they can be positioned opposite each other to act as the "head seats."  What do you think?  The tweed is Schumacher's Babe's Tweed in Maraschino.  The gray is a $15 / yd fabric from Mill Outlet -- so two splurge, six for a steal = win!

We've come a long way since last February, which I keep reminding myself with this picture since I feel like we are moving at a snail's pace sometimes.

I'm currently saving up for the chairs so we can have those complete before the holiday season.  Then I'll start thinking about lighting and a rug.  It definitely doesn't happen over night!

Off to Charleston tomorrow for a wedding and so looking forward to it after 4 days on the road for work.  Maybe I'll even pick up some first items for Otto Bean.

XO,
Whit