A Baby Shower for Baby Sullivan

A few weekends ago, my awesome family, mostly Grammy & Grandmadoo,  threw a baby shower for Baby Sullivan. We are planning on having a dinosaur themed nursery so we had a dinosaur party as well. This little guy is super blessed to have a family like this and we haven't even met him yet. We ate lots of amazing chicken from Raising Canes. There was potato salad and cheesecake. It was wonderful. 

So obviously, if you didn't catch it already, we have decided to name him Sullivan James. We have been spending the last few weeks preparing for him and everything is almost ready. I am very ready to not be pregnant anymore. I'm in the uncomfortable phase where I have round ligament pain almost all of the time. I have to go to the restroom a million times per day and I'm up a few times at night. Pregnancy insomnia has been pretty bad lately too. But, overall, everything is looking good and baby boy is growing well. I was 36 weeks on Thursday. Only a few more weeks. 

I'm very curious as to when we will actually meet this little guy. Will he arrive early? Will he arrive ten days late like his big sister? Who really knows. Now, we wait. I'm packing my hospital bag this weekend. We are working on getting the nursery ready. I'm organizing closets and cupboards like a crazy person. 

Thank you to everyone that poured so much time and awesomeness into the baby shower and to bringing this little guy into the world. He is already well loved and I am so thankful for all of it. Marin also loves all of the dinosaurs that now inhabit our home. 

Hollen Home | Marin's Big Girl Room

When we were expecting our first kiddo, we decided early on that we weren't going to have a pink, princess nursery. I wanted something that was fairly neutral. We went with lighter green walls with lots of black and white accents. You can see the before and after of Marin's nursery here.  I've loved this room for the past 3 years.

When we found out we were expecting again, I started clearing out our office space in our spare room in preparation for our newest little one. Once we found out we were having a little boy, we decided it would actually be much easier to keep Marin's current green room as the nursery and make the office spare room Marin's new room.

I wasn't sure if she could be convinced to have a different room and give her little brother her old room, but once I mentioned that she could paint one wall whatever color she wanted, she was sold. I knew what was coming. Marin is all spunk and all pink. Most of our lives are covered in glitter and princess pink.  I now have the one thing in our home that I didn't think we ever would: a bright pink wall. I actually kind of love it. Only painting an accent wall and then painting the trim white really helped.

We gave Marin a big girl bed for Christmas that just sat in a box until her big girl room was completed. The matching dresser, an awesome little chair, and a new white bookcase were added as well. I bought her a little rug. My mom made her awesome pink curtains and she has some awesome princess bedding. It all has come together quite well.

Now when the sun hits the front side of our house, Marin's room glows a nice pink color all the way out into the hallway. She loves her new big girl room. I can't quite believe we have a bright pink wall.

Next up in nesting....A revamped baby nursery. Stay tuned.

Sources:

Rug: RugsUSA

Bedding: Walmart

Bed, Chair, & Dresser: American Furniture Warehouse

Bookcase: Amazon

Paint Color: Behr Sweet Chrysanthemum

Wall Art: Hobby Lobby

A Pregnancy Update | 25 Weeks

When I was pregnant with Marin, I barely took any photos of my ever growing belly. It really wasn't until she was out in the world that I started documenting her life with weekly posts. This new pregnancy has been much of the same. I will be honest and open with you and say that being pregnant isn't one of my most favorite things in the world. I'm not one of those women that just love to be pregnant and I'm alright with that. I'm also not one of those women that have cute little basketball bellies and hardly look pregnant elsewhere. I show my pregnancy EVERYWHERE. Don't get me wrong, the miracle of life is a crazy journey and being able to experience it all for a second time is a huge blessing. But, my ever growing waistline and weird pregnancies dreams and pains are all part of the process. I also can't tie my own shoes very well and Ryan has to help me with my converse sneakers.

This pregnancy has been pretty different from my first. This time around I was way more sick in my first trimester. I puked a lot this time around and felt pretty horrible for a while. I feel like I'm finally out of that now and I'm thankful to want to eat something other than saltines and drink ginger tea. I also have had so much heartburn!

I have crazy dreams pretty much every night. They are super vivid and I normally remember most of them. Sometimes I wake up and wonder what in the heck I was thinking about before I fell asleep. Super weird stuff. I've been trying to write them down in my morning pages just because I like going back and laughing at myself and my craziness.

I feel like some of my cravings have been the same. I want to eat a lot of cereal, specifically Special K or Honey Bunches of Oats.  I've been dreaming about sushi for a few weeks now. I finally can eat chicken without totally being grossed out. I have wanted more healthier options this time around, which has been helpful. I crave big salads with lots of veggies. I love anything involving Mexican food and green chili and hot sauce.  I would gladly eat a salad from Cafe Rio every single day, with extra guac. Oddly enough, the turkey bacon breakfast sandwich from Starbucks is something I look forward to and I usually have one on Sundays for work. I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it. I've also wanted to drink lots of La Croix Seltzer and unsweetened iced tea.

We only have 15 weeks or so left and I cannot believe it. Time is flying. I want to get into full nesting mode. I have the sudden desire to paint every room in our house, replace all of our crappy closet doors, and organize cupboards. I'll embrace it all while it's here. Having a newborn and a toddler terrifies me but I'm also looking very forward to meeting the newest addition to our family.

I'm trying to soak it all in. Unless something majorly changes, I believe this will probably be our last child. This will be my last pregnancy. I do want to soak it all in even when I'm feeling crappy and huge. I'm super thankful to be able to experience all of it.