Nursery

Sorry about the mass posting the last couple of days... With Memorial Day and exhaustion from some nighttime pregnancy woes, my daily schedule this week has been a little, shall we say, relaxed? :)

Also, I am trying to catch up on the past, oh, three-ish months... From my trip home to our time in the Bahamas with our friends, there is a lot to update about!

For now, I wanted to take a break and maybe get some ideas/help on baby's room. There is a site that I LOVE called Lay Baby Lay where she makes nursery inspiration boards of all kinds. I decided to try my hand at one of my own, though it doesn't closely compare to any that she has designed and thought up.

I think we are going to go for an outdoors/adventure/camping themed room that is a little more masculine and not super "cutesy" (just not my thing). I would also love to pay homage to Yellowstone in some way, since it was where we went on our honeymoon!

My question is, what are the most important things to include in a nursery? I know the crib, dresser, etc. but are there other necessities? Bookshelves? Storage tricks? Things you couldn't live without? Any help is greatly appreciated :)

Sources: Led Zeppelin poster;Vintage Grizzly print;Green dresser; Mexican blanket; couldn't find the exact link for red lantern, but it was on etsy;Owl Lamp;Map Wall Letter;Bison print on Montana map; Black and white gingham crib sheet; Climb a Mountain print;Chocolate colored crib

Just some ideas to get the brain juices flowing! I foresee adding more baby-ish items, and I am sure Jord's Chris Sharma poster might make an appearance somewhere in there :) I am really getting excited about this whole baby boy thing!

Climbing Part Deux

A couple more photos I snapped on my good ol' Hipstamatic app...

Climbing

One thing that we are loving about Chattanooga so far is how outdoorsy it is. There are tons of hiking and biking trails and mountains.

There's also tons of rock climbing, which has made Jordan overjoyed :)

Luckily, he has met some great guys in our ward who climb and he can go outside with, instead of just having to spend time in the gym. A couple weeks ago, he and Brandon went and had a ball.

He would probably want me to note that he is "only" top roping instead of lead climbing in these, but I always find it impressive no matter how he does it. This wall was HIGH, and at times I couldn't watch without hyperventilating. What a studmuffin!

Boulders

There is a really beautiful golf course called Montlake, that is close to where we live, where Jordan likes to go after work and get in 9 holes.

He found out soon after discovering the place that there was actually a huge climbing area right next door! How perfect for him :)

Though it is pretty strictly "bouldering" type climbing, which isn't his first choice, he is really excited about being able to spend some time there! Already, we've gone up and hiked around there a few times, and it is gorgeous. Never before have I seen so many huge rock formations in such a small area.

A week or so ago, we took a little jaunt up there and snapped some photos. Sorry about the brightness/blurriness... The lighting that night was funky and my phone just wasn't having it. Also, I am too lazy to edit them. Enjoy!

Second Hand

As we are settling in, we have been slowly trying to figure out what to do with baby's room. I scored a dresser and small nightstand on Craigslist for cheap that I am going to paint and hopefully shine up like new, but they need A LOT of work. In the meantime, we thought we would take a look at some furniture places and thrift stores.

We went to Goodwill just to see what was there. It was bad.

Usually I am a huge fan of the GW, but I feel like this just wasn't our day. Oh, DI, how I miss you so! Thrifting just isn't the same here in the South without you.

We didn't find anything remotely useful; however, we did happen upon these gems.

Luckily, a picture is worth a thousand words, because I have about a hundred questions regarding this one

A strange Medieval torture device/cat toy

We also found a slew of 90's neon windbreakers and about 50 used bedskirts.

Oh, Tennessee, how I love you already. 

In Transit

Just wanted to post some pics we took on the drive over. We stopped in the Nantahala National Forest for a bite to eat and to watch kayaking. There is a really beautiful river that runs through a large portion of the drive over here from Charlotte, so we took the scenic route and followed it. Gorgeous!

Freezing... The pain on his face says it all! I, of course, am a wuss so I stuck half my big toe in.

Rock City

So, I am trying to get caught up with all of the "excitement" that has been going on around here... bear with me :)

A couple of weeks ago we went to Rock City. It's a forest of boulders atop Lookout Mountain (from the top on a clear day you can see off into 7 states). Let's be honest, it's kind of a tourist trap, but it was still really beautiful, has a really neat history, and I think it is kind of just something you have to see once if you come to/live in Chattanooga.

Somehow, I didn't get a picture of the most important part... gnomes. There were seriously lawn gnomes EVERYWHERE. They were part of the overall decor. It was fabulous.

The day started out rainy, but thankfully, the sun came out and we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Day to Day

Here are some photos of what we've been up to lately... More in detail to come!

Top to Bottom:

1. & 2. A view of Chattanooga and the Tennessee River at sunset from the pedestrian bridge downtown. We grabbed a gelati from Rita's and took an evening stroll :)

3. The church building we went to when we were staying downtown in the hotel... it was so beautiful!

4. While Jordan golfed one afternoon, I rode along in the cart and took pictures of pretty scenery. It is GREEN here!

5. The hunky man bouldering... in flip flops. When we saw these bad boys, he couldn't contain himself!

6. Date night at the laundromat when we were staying in the hotel. We still don't have a washer/dryer, and it has been almost two weeks since we moved into our place. Oops. Baby steps!

7. First time ever using expectant mother parking. Coolest thing ever! I felt so VIP... was tempted to wave and blow kisses at everyone

8. Jord climbing OUTSIDE! It's been a while for him. Charlotte wasn't too hip on the whole "outdoor sports" thing. Bless his heart.

9. I went to BI-LO the other day literally in my pajamas and found it hilarious. Pregnancy rules, you can get away with anything! Yes, that is my grimy t-shirt from high school PE. And, yes, my name is written on it in Sharpie. Class, class, class...

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dogs' Tails

That's right, people. Baby is a BOY!

We had our ultrasound last Friday and found out we're expecting a little rough and tumble Rose man :)

We are so excited, and I can't wait to start shopping for baby things and planning for the little nugget's nursery. The scan was so amazing, and I am so happy that Jordan was able to be there for this one. 

We were able to get a good glimpse at him, even though he was very squirmy (no wonder I have been feeling him kicking around like crazy!). At one point, we even got a really good look at his profile and EAR that looked like we could just reach out and touch it. Surreal.

Jordan and I were kind of geeking out the whole time and couldn't stop asking questions and having really goofy smiles on our faces. It was so crazy to believe that we were looking at our sweet little guy!

We were able to get a video from the ultrasound but haven't figured out how to save it to the computer, yet, so here are some pictures in the mean time (they are pictures of pictures, so sorry about the fuzziness)

Sucking his thumb... Oh no

A head on shot

His little hand!

His feet (I can't wait to nibble and tickle those puppies)

Warning: Graphic Content :)

More than anything, we are so excited that baby will have two boy cousins born this year to play and be BFFs with in the future. Hooray!

Movin' In!

It's true! We found a place and have finally been moving in this week. I promise to do lots of catch-up posting once we get settled, but right now is pretty hectic and we don't have Internet set up. How am I writing this post, you might ask? Oh, just piggybacking off the neighbors' wifi... Mwahaha. I just figure it can be a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift and they won't have to bring us a casserole later ;-) We are starting to like our new place, despite some reservations at first. It is literally 2-3 minutes from Jord's work, so he can come home for lunch. Wahoo! Most of this week has been spent wrangling up furniture (bless you Craigslist) and unpacking boxes. Friday is THE day... Two more and we get to see Baby Rose (on the ultrasound of course). We are hoping the little nugget isn't shy so we can find out whether we need to be shopping for blue or pink. Cross your fingers for us! Sorry if we have been a little MIA... We will email and post more once things slow down. MUAH!

Chattanooga

Well, Hello! Long time no write, family and friendlies.

I don't have a lot of time, and am currently typing from the "Business Center" at the Marriott, so I will make this short-ish.

We made it to Chattanooga!! Wahoo! We are really liking it here, so far. Finding a place has been...shall we say... a bit of a burden? Apparently, everyone and their mom here rents, as opposed to buying, so good, affordable rentals in nice areas are hard to come by. There were a few days where each one that I looked at and loved was gone in about three hours. Discouraging. However, we are finally moving into a townhouse on Monday (the 14th... aka our ANNIVERSARY!)and we are glad to at last have somewhere to rest our heads that doesn't involve putting a "sleeping" sign on our doorknob each night.

Also, met my new OB yesterday, and he is super! I can already tell that we are going to like him. An ultrasound appointment is set for NEXT FRIDAY! Finally, we will be able to find out whether "little mysterious" is a lady baby or a man cub.

So far, there are a few things that we have learned about Chatt:

-Most people have pretty thick accents (that are awesome)

-It is a bit warmer than we expected

-The mountains and rivers are super pretty, and we are glad to finally have some variation in landscapes

-Bugs, bugs, bugs

-From my experience so far, people are very nice and very honest... almost to the point of being shameless, sometimes (which is also pretty awesome/hilarious)

-There is a lot of climbing, hiking, biking, along with lots outdoorsy granola types :)

-There's also a pretty huge local food movement here, meaning tons of farmer's markets, and a lot of restaurants get their food from within 100 miles. Yum. Sanctuary!

All in all, things are good. We are excited about this new adventure and really excited to settle into our new home. I will update a little more once I am back to our computer and our own internet. Much love!