Fabulous Friday Finds - Pampers Diaper Deal

I am in diaper stockpiling mode. Trying to get the best deal out there on diapers now - so we aren't left running out and us having to pay full price for them.

My sister, Ellen, is helping me lots these days - with finding diaper deals and telling me what coupons to use and when. She is a pro - me not so much - I'm a diaper dealer in training.

Well this week, there is a pretty good diaper deal at CVS. Boxes of Pampers are marked down from $23.99 to $21.99. Then you get $10 Extra Care Bucks (ECBs - money to use in the future at CVS). Plus there is a $1.50 Pampers coupon from a past Sunday's paper and there is a CVS coupon where if you spend $30 you get $5 off. And if you have some ECBs to use (which I had $1) - its a pretty good deal.

Ultimately, I got a big box of 84 size 2 diapers for $9.49 - well actually a little less then that since I bought a couple more things and got $5 off.

If you have a CVS and are in need of some diapers - you should do this diaper deal - its good until Saturday.

Happy Fabulous Friday!

A New & Improved Look

You may remember this chest of drawers (aka changing table) from the nursery pictures:

Cory decided it needed a new and improved look. I hate I didn't get pictures of all the stages of all of his hard work because it was definitely a labor of love that he poured many hours in the hot heat working on it.

Cory first stripped and sanded the entire thing. Then stained it (numerous coats) and then gave it a couple coats of polyurethane for the beautiful and shiny finish.

And then of course added the rest of the new elephant knobs. Voila - The finished product!

It looks fabulous in the nursery. (Please excuse the glare - still trying to perfect indoor manual mode on the camera!) And this piece of furniture is extra special because it was used as Cory's changing table as a baby. Thank You Cory for all your hard work! I am so thankful for a talented and hard working husband! James Bradford is going to love his new & improved chest of drawers!

Almost Pros!

Last night we had class #3 of our Prepared Childbirth Class. It has been so much fun and really interesting. Both Cory and I feel like we have learned a lot. I would definitely recommend the class if you are expecting.

Last night we learned about Recovery after Childbirth, How to Care for an infant (including breastfeeding, bathing, burping, swaddling, diaper changing) and special for the men - "What if feels like to be pregnant" - See Pictures Below:

Here is Cory wearing the baby suit. It weighs approximately 30 lbs. Doesn't he look so cute?! haha!

Here we are both showing off our baby bellies!
Cory demonstrating how not to hold a baby after you have swaddled him!

We are looking forward to our final class next week. We take a tour of the hospital. And then we will be parent pros! (Ha! yeah right!)

Peters / Edmunds Wedding

This past Saturday, Cory and I headed to Atlanta for a wedding of a college friend of mine. The wedding wasn't until 6pm - so we headed over early to have a leisurely lunch at the Buckhead Diner (yum!), go shopping, drive around where Cory used to live and work and then check into our hotel for a rest and to get ready for the wedding. We had a fun afternoon!

The wedding was at Peachtree Road United Methodist - the church and the ceremony were beautiful. And the bride -absolutely stunning!!
Following the ceremony - we headed over to Druid Hills Country Club. (with a little detour of downtown Atlanta sites - thanks a lot TomTom!!)

The reception was a lot of fun. The band was amazing and the dance floor was full the entire night. Here are some pictures of all the fun!!

First dance as Mr. and Mrs. Chris Edmunds!

Hanging out with the Hubs!

Sara, one of my dear friends from college. She is also expecting a baby boy in September - James Micheal. James Bradford and him are going to be fast friends!

Lisa & Chris cutting the cake.

Amazing and Fun Band!


All the AOII girls.

Congratulations Lisa & Chris!! We had a great time!

32 Weeks & Being Showered!!

Today I am 32 weeks! Wow - in just 8 shorts weeks, we are going to be parents. Life is going to change, but I think we are ready. We are so excited!! We can't wait to meet James Bradford.

According to babycenter - this week he weighs approximately 3.75 lbs (size of a jicama - really?! What is that?!?) and is approximately 16.7 inches long. I am still feeling pretty good. Although I this week I have come to the conclusion that all his kicking may have given me a bruised rib. Oh - but that little bit of uncomfort is so worth it!

Insomnia has also set in! For the past week I have been waking up between 3 - 4 am. What to do at 3am?! - Watch Nickelodeon (The Nanny & Family Matters have become 2 of my favorite shows!), Ive also spent time sewing and cleaning. I have taken Tylenol PM (Doctor approved) several times but I'm not a fan of the way it makes me feel in the morning. I guess I'm just preparing myself for early morning feedings with James Bradford!

This morning I had my 32 week checkup. Cory was unable to go with me because of a work commitment, so my mommy went with me. I love going and hearing his precious heartbeat and just getting the reassurance that he is doing well. When Dr. Stradtman measured me this morning, I was measuring 5 weeks ahead! (37 weeks!) She said he could just be high, but wanted to make sure everything was alright (that there wasn't to much fluid) so she sent us over for an ultrasound. I was so excited to see our baby boy again on the ultrasound as we weren't planning on getting to see him again until his birth day.

Everything looked great! Not 5 weeks ahead - just a week and 4 days! (est. delivery date Sept. 9 - although not officially changing the due date) Our tech also could give us his approximate official weight - he currently officially weighs 4 lbs 12 oz!! She also flipped over to 4D Ultrasound - he was covering his little face with his hand. So cute!

Yesterday I had my first shower. It was so much fun. And we are truly blessed to be showered by so many special loved ones. I was overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. We were so spoiled today! Here is a just a glimpse of all the fun and celebration.

Love all the special touches! The napkins with his precious monogram, the beautiful flowers, and above in the baby bump picture - the favor - yummy cookies with his Monogram on it.

The wonderful and beautiful spread of food! And look at that cute wagon flower arrangement!

It was so fun opening gifts! I was overwhelmed with the amount of gifts and everyone's generosity. Thank You ,Thank You everyone!!

What a sweet and special gift! This is the outfit that Cory wore home when he was born. James Bradford will be wearing it on the day he comes home too. It will be so special!

One of the special things about this shower was that instead of guests attaching a card - they were asked to attach a book for James Bradford and sign it. It was so much fun and now James Bradford has a great library!! Plus, all these books are so special with everyones sweet notes. What a fabulous library he already has!!

All the Grinnell Girls!

It was so special to have the whole Hall family together. They came down for the day from Nashville. It was so much fun getting to spend time with them and our precious nephews!

Me with my fabulous hostesses! THANK YOU THANK YOU!! What a fun time I had. Thank you for your love and all your hard work and making my shower so special.

Sewing Projects

Last month I took an intermediate sewing class at The Smocking Bird. I have taken several classes there in the past and this was actually my 2nd time to take intermediate! (I just can't get the grasp of perfecting sleeves and collars - if you have any hints or advice, let me know!) The smocking bird is my favorite place for sewing project material. They have the cutest fabrics and piping. Anyways, if you are interested in learning how to sew or smock, the women there are so knowledgeable and helpful.

In intermediate sewing, your project must consist of sleeves and a collar. Have you ever looked at how many cute patterns there are for projects with sleeves and collars?! Its overwhelming! I decided on this one:
Infant Daygown by Creations By Michie. I just thought it was so cute! The only available size is 0-3 months - So I thought it would be perfect to make a gown for when James Bradford was a teeny tiny baby. During the class, I decided it would be a good idea to make two daygowns - one during the class, and one alongside the class at home - in hopes I wouldn't forget how to make it! Here is how they turned out:
I know what some of you are thinking - you are going to dress your son in a dress?! It's not a dress, its a daygown, and it's only for when he is an infant! And it doesn't bother Cory in the least bit. He actually likes these!

This blue one was the one I actually did in class. Its not 100% finished. I am going to get his name monogrammed on it. The backside is closed with 3 little buttons. My hopes are that this will be one of the outfits James Bradford will wear in the hospital when he meets his family and friends!

Here is the one that I had decided to do alongside the class, but I ended up working on it alot more in class then I hoped! I made this one extra long thinking, depending on James Bradford's size, he may be able to wear it for his infant baptism.

Next project is working on one very similar to this white one. But it's going to have the drawstring in the bottom (like the picture on the front of the pattern) and have blue smocking. Hopefully I can remember how to do it all!

Fiesta Time!

One of my best friends from high school is getting married September 18th. She and her fiancee, Chris, are two of Cory and I's dearest friends. They are just one of those couples that we all just mesh so well together. We are hoping and praying that we will be in attendance at their wedding. We told them as long as we aren't in the hospital, we will be at the wedding! I just can't imagine not seeing one of my bestest friends walk down the aisle and exchange vows to the love of her life. Both she and Chris have of course been so sweet and totally understanding about the possibility of us maybe not being there.

In honor and celebration of Lisa & Chris, we hosted a couples shower for them on Saturday evening. It was a fiesta! We all had so much fun. This was Lisa & Chris's first wedding shower. It was so much fun watching them open gifts together. And they got some fun stuff.

One of our other best friends from high school, Christine, came all the way in from Texas! It was so much fun getting to see her and getting to catch up with her. We were just missing the "missing link" from NYC from what we call the "Fab Four" - We missed you Casey!!

These two share the same love Cory & I have for Mexican.

Jill & John came from Atlanta. Jill is one of Lisa's best friends from college.

I just love this picture. Makes me smile!!

Can't have a fiesta without part of a Mariachi band! MLAs for Life!!!

31 weeks & a Nursery!

Today we are approximately just 9 weeks away from James Bradfords arrival! I can not believe it. Over the past few weeks and months I have heard several stories of babies coming as early as 6 weeks early. I hope and pray that James Bradford will bake as long as possible - but thinking "what if" he were to come in 3 weeks?? - would we be ready?! We're working on it!! I came home from work this past Friday and my sweet hubby had the crib put together and all the furniture arranged in the nursery. So of course I immediately had to put the bedding on the crib. I'm in love with the room - definitely my favorite room in the house! We are still working on it - got to do some decorating, but at least we now have a place for him to sleep, to rock, to be changed and somewhere to store all of his clothes and toys!

At 31 weeks, James Bradford is approximately 16 inches long and weighs 3.3 lbs (about the same weight as 4 Naval Oranges!) and is heading for a growth spurt! He can turn his head side to side and he is beginning to plumpen up all over. He continues to kick around a lot and we he's changing positions a lot. Cory felt him move yesterday - it was definitely not kicking - but him changing positions, maybe he was doing somersaults or practicing diving in for that football!!

Below are some pictures of the nursery. Like I said, it is still lacking some decorating.

This was the iron crib I hunted for months for and was so excited to finally find it on craigslist. And the bedding is from Javis Davis - if you are looking for custom bedding,this is a great place to order from. They are so helpful and you can match up the different materials online to visualize what it will look like. And they are fast!

We found this toy box at Junior League's Bargain Carousel. It was pink and had flowers on it. Cory painted it white and we are going to get James Bradford's monogram put on it. It's going to be great for storage.

This was Cory's changing table as a baby. (Please excuse the shoes on the floor and the mismatch of knobs.) The white knobs are the originals - we are in the process of changing them out. We found black iron elephants that we are replacing the white ones with. If you look closely at the top left hand knob, its an elephant. Had to have some type of Alabama paraphernalia in the nursery - ROLL TIDE! A top you will see a cute onsie and bib - my sweet friend Emily surprised me with these sweet monogrammed items on Saturday. They are so cute. Time for me to get to washing and putting all his cute clothes away!

Here is my dream nursery glider. Cory and I sat in several different chairs and finally decided to order this one. There were lots of fabrics to choose from but thought this one would work the best for us. It took 7 weeks for it to come in, but finally, it's here!! It is fabulous. The ottoman even glides! We are looking forward to many hours and hours of rocking with James Bradford.

And of course big sister Sabrina! - I couldn't leave her out. She loves the nursery. We think she knows life is about to change. She is going to be such a great helper though and I know she will be providing James Bradford with lots of kisses and love!

Fabulous Friday Finds - Certificate for One Painted Room

This is one of those blog posts when I am glad our blog is private. Because I would hate for our painter to know how much we really paid for all of his hard work in our nursery. (I will say this though, even though I purchased it at an auction and did not purchase it at retail value, he will still receive his full donation value amount in his tax deductions.)

Back up to several months ago. I was working a shift for an organization I am a part of. The kickoff fundraiser party was well underway and I was working the 8-11pm shift at the "auction" - although, this year it wasn't really an auction. They had priced their donated items at "grab and go" pricing. Meaning you pay what they ask for. Well about 10pm there were still a lot of items left and markdowns were beginning to be made and people began bargaining. I had my eye on some things. Specifically this red crystal necklace from a local jewelry store - at the beginning of the night priced at $150 - at about 10:15 / 10:30pm sold for only $30. If only I hadn't been working a shift and had my bargaining game face on - it could of been mine! Ugh, oh well!

As the clock slowly ticked closer to 11pm (close of the party and auction) the crowd was fastly clearing out. At about 10:30 they said make any offers on anything left. Basically at this point most of the people in attendance were only the shift workers. Then at 10:45 there was a big announcement: ANYTHING LEFT THEY WOULD SELL FOR $10! I grabbed the 2 closest items. One: Five 1 hour personal training sessions (can't wait to use this after James Bradford's arrival) Two: 1 Painted Room by _____ Decorating - including all labor and materials.

Yes, you read correctly - $10 for someone to come and paint a room, plus the cost of materials! We couldn't buy the trim paint for $10 (they were originally asking several hundred dollars for this item- remember this was a fundraiser and this item had been donated). I couldn't get over that I would only be paying $10! I of course immediately thought it would be perfect for the nursery.

By far that was the best $10 I had spent in a long time!

Here is a sneak peak of our painter's work. Almost finished! He came back this morning to finish up -just needs to paint the trim and the doors and it will be finished. Oh - and under that drop cloth is our new nursery chair! - Where I plan on (and can't wait) to spend hours and hours with James Bradford.


Happy Fabulous Friday! Hope you have a great weekend!!

Nursery Underway

It's been a pretty exciting week at the Hall household! Lots of exciting changes in store. Cory's office / guestroom has been undergoing a makeover. The once office/guestroom/gun room/Alabama room/junk room will soon be James Bradford's nursery.
Over the past couple weeks, Cory has been working on a project of turning some of our walk out attic space into an 'office' - Pictures to come soon. Imagine this though - walking through our bedroom, into my closet ducking through a 4 ft door into attic space. That's where he will be working from, from now on! To put it in the words of Cory - he sent a text message this morning to our friend Jeff that said "Hello from my new command post aka midget purgatory!" His wife Emily called me this morning to tell me about the text this morning and she & I got a good laugh out of it! Anyways, Cory has done a great job with making use of the space- he paneled the walls (doesn't have to look or feel fiberglass insulation anymore), carpeted the floor, and has his entire office set up in there. Overall I haven't been very optimistic about the room, but now I think it just may work and I am so proud of Cory for being so confident that we would make it all work out and he did!
Yesterday we had movers come and move out the rest of the furniture in James Bradford's room. Goodbye Gun Cabinet and Goodbye guest bed. We actually had our first spend the night guests last night with no guest bed. Our friend Jeffrey and his son Price were on their way through town and stayed with us. Not having a guest bed makes me feel like the worst hostess ever!! We made do though. We set them up with some egg crates on the floor with sleeping bags and blankets. If you are planning on making a stay at the Hall household, hopefully we will figure out better accommodations for you before your arrival!
Yesterday morning mom and I ventured down to Benjamin Moore at 6:30am to pick out the paint colors for the nursery. Because the house is still for sale, I wanted to still go with something pretty neutral. So we pulled the beige color from the crib bedding and chose "Sea Urchin" (beige) walls with "White Dove" (white) trim work. I think its going to look perfect! The painter arrived this morning at 7:15 and immediately got to work. And what a nice man he seems to be! I can't wait to get home this afternoon and see the progress.
Pictures to come soon of all of our progress. Sorry for the absence of them today!

Girls Trip 2010

Every year, 8 of my closest pledge sisters and I set a side a long weekend to have a girls getaway. We begin planning early on in the year and usually travel sometime in the summer, so that everyone can plan to attend. Although, every year there is usually one person that isn't able to attend because of a newborn or prior engagement. (We missed you Carrie!!)

In the past we have always gone to the beach (Jacksonville, Destin, Gulf Shores, Sandestin) This year we decided to go to Lake Lanier, in Georgia, where when of our girls has an incredible lake house.

We arrived Thursday evening and all went to dinner and grocery shopped. We didn't leave the house until Sunday. Friday morning we had a surprise wedding shower for Natalie, who is getting married in September and the rest of the weekend we spent laying out, boating and just hanging out. Oh and one of my favorite things of the weekend - playing "Just Dance" on the Wii. It was so much fun and so relaxing.

Surprise Wedding Breakfast Shower for Natalie - So this is what we look like in the morning!

Fun on the Lake!

Beth & I



More fun on the lake!

You know you are getting old when your trips have gone from hanging out at bars, talking about boys and the latest drama, cracking your first beer at 9am to talking about breast feeding, discipline, getting in your lounge clothes at 6pm, and watching reality tv and girlie movies.


What a fun time! Can't wait till next year!

Happy Belated 4th of July!

Happy Belated 4th of July!! We rang in the 4th with a long weekend at the Lake with my parents and Cory's dad. It was so nice to just go out there and relax for a few days. Extra bonus was getting to see one of my dearest friends on Sunday night. Casey and Paul were in town from New York City for the holiday. Our family went to the Collier's for dinner and had a great time and a delicious dinner. (Mrs. Collier is a fabulous cook!) It was so much fun to get to spend time with the Collier family and getting to catch up with Casey and Paul.

Before heading to the lake for the long weekend, I attended a sweet friend's baby shower. Kay & I were close friends growing up in the youth group at our church. We have had so much fun together over the years. Although we live in different cities and don't see eachother often - its always so much fun to get together and catch up. Kay is having a baby boy and is due Sept. 1. It was so much fun attending her shower and seeing her family and friends. And its so much fun that we are pregnant at the same time - now only if we lived in the same town we could have stroller dates! At least our boys will be around the same age and can be buddies!