Five on Friday

1. Pregnant friends craving sushi!!! I found a recipe for us!!

Spicy California Shrimp Stack

I made these on Tuesday and omg, YUM. Almost like real sushi. My mouth is watering now just thinking about them! The only thing I changed was instead of putting them in a measuring cup and making a nice little tower, we just threw all of our ingredients in a bowl. It was like Chipotle for "sushi"...amazing.

2. My friend Anni had a Shrimp and Grits Kids trunk show last night and I am SO excited about Ella and Baby Ferg's outfits I got!

{bubble}

{dress}

The monograms will have to wait, since baby boy is still nameless. But I am so excited for them to match at the beach AND for those warmer UNC football games!

{Also, if any one is looking for a birthday present for Ella, I also loved this, this and this!}

3. We went to look at preschools this week! 

I can't believe my little baby is old enough to go to school in the fall! But we really loved one (and Ella seemed to like it too)! I'm just trying to decide if it's really worth it to send a two year old to preschool?! I don't want her to be burnt out on education by age 5. ;) Let me know if you have any input one way or the other!

4. I saw this quote pop up on my Instagram the other day, and it was one of my favorites when I was teaching. 

I'm trying to remind myself of this daily as Ella is starting to enter "terrible twos" territory and is testing my patience daily hourly!

5. Big shoutout to my dad; it is his birthday today!!!

And happy birthday to Dana tomorrow....

{side note: umm Dana, we need to see each other! This was the most recent pic of us together! And it's over a year old!}

...and Trav's dad on Monday!!!

All of these birthdays means someone else's is coming up on Wednesday!!! Eeek! I am little more excited about it this year, knowing I don't have to go back to work the next day! 

Have a great weekend!!!

A Snowy Weekend

Well, we got {a little bit of} snow in Charlotte Friday...you could still see the grass, but it was enough to cancel school/work and shut down the city! 

I took Ella out in it to play with her friend for about 30 minutes, and as you can see, she was not a fan.

So naturally, we came home and helped Daddy put together patio furniture! Because isn't that what most people do on snow days?!

Ta-da! Finally done...too bad its way too cold to sit out there now!

We also watched Kathryn's baby Saturday night, and I'm convinced Ella thought baby P was the little brother in my tummy! She kept saying "Love you baby brother" and giving her kisses. 

Also, please ignore Ella's hair. It was a Daddy creation, since I was busy holding the baby!

Sunday, we were ready to cheer on the Panthers!

Which of course included eating some lucky Panthers donuts!!

Must have worked because now they are going to the Super Bowl!

Oh, and I finished painting our living room! Here's what it looked like after primer and the first coat of paint.

Now, I just need to peel off the tape and touch up everything! Oh, and get some furniture for that room!

A Snowy Five on Friday

1. Happy snow day!!! We are hoping it does not get super icy and we lose power. Fingers crossed Ella can go play in the snow later!

{This was actually taken on Wednesday when it was sleeting! Ella wanted to go play in it!}

2. Since my husband is a true Southerner, of course we had to hit up the store yesterday before the big storm! I didn't dare go near Harris Teeter (the parking lot looked insane); Target was a much safer bet! We picked up some snow boots for Ella, a shovel (last year Trav had to "shovel" our driveway with a broom, ha!), and a screen for the fireplace (you know, since we are going to lose power, we will have to burn a fire and we didn't want Ella to go jumping in the fireplace or anything). 

We actually didn't get any bread or milk! 

3. If you're looking for something to make on this snowy, icy day, let me recommend this Creamy White Chili.

Someone posted it on the moms group I am in on Facebook, and it was delicious!! I honestly did not think I would like it as much as I did!

4. We had another fun week at gymnastics class!

She has been really into it! I love watching her explore the different equipment and get her energy out!

5. I have a little snow day(s) project! Time to paint again! 

This time it's the living room's turn! 

Please do not ask me why all of these rooms in my house were painted red (well, it was really just Ella's room/bathroom and this room). Ugh. I picked out SW Repose Gray, and I'm hoping it will look something like this when I'm done. 

Have a great weekend! If it's snowy/icy where you are, be safe!

Ella's Big Girl Room

Now that Ella has finally gotten the hang of sleeping in her big girl bed (after a very long week of 2AM wake-ups...and yes I'm knocking on wood as I type this!), I thought I'd share her big girl room with you all!

Here's what the room looked like when we bought the house:

No offense if red is your favorite color, but I absolutely hate it and could not wait to paint these walls! I decided to go with Sherwin Williams Evening Shadow, which is what we painted her room in our old house as well.

So we'll start at the door...

{why hello birthday decoration from last year}

The alphabet wall! I love it so much. 

We used command strips to hold the letters on the wall, and even though they basically ripped all of the paint off (and some of the dry wall, too!) at the old house, I couldn't think of a better solution. And Ella has to have her alphabet wall! 

{I'm totally using the 3m/6m/12m, etc. dividers to now separate pajamas, sweaters, short- and long-sleeved shirts, rompers and short- and long-sleeved dresses! #ocd}

{I spy a little reader photo-bombing!}

And there you have it! 

The majority of this stuff is the same as her nursery (see that post for links), but a few new additions include:

Bed: Jenny Lind for Target

Sheets: Target

Duvet cover: Pottery Barn Kids (no longer available; I got it when I was pregnant with Ella!)

Bed rails: Amazon

Favorite blankie: Little Giraffe (the softest!)

Rameses: UNC Student Store (this is seriously her most prized possession...girlfriend will not even think about going to bed without her "Mee-mees!")

It's also worth mentioning that since I took these pictures last week, we have also added a picture of Travis and I, this owl nightlight, this plug-in nightlight and this clock. All of these things, I'm convinced, have helped her stay in bed at night and not scream for us every 3 seconds. 

I love my sweet girl's room...now to start decorating her brother's!

A Pretty Eventful Five on Friday!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the radio silence over here. Long story short, my trackpad on my laptop stopped working, so my computer's been at the Apple store for the last few days. Anyways, lots to talk about, so let's get to it!

1. We moved Ella to her big girl bed on Sunday.

I wish I could tell you it has been all rainbows and butterflies, but I honestly feel like I am trapped in some newborn sleep-deprived hell. 

The first night Trav had to sleep in the bed with her, and in subsequent nights, we had to lay on the floor until she fell asleep. She also keeps waking up in the middle of night, freaking out that Mommy and Daddy are gone, and will not fall back asleep until we are in her room, laying on her floor again. As soon as we get up to leave, within 5 minutes, she wakes up and realizes we are gone and freaks out again! About to lose my mind yesterday, I asked for advice from the moms Facebook group I am in...they had some really good tips! So last night, I used some of them: loaded up Ella's bed with stuffed animals, gave her a nightlight, put a picture of me and Trav next to her bed (this cracks me up, but they swore it works!), and then we left her door open with a baby gate in front.

It worked!!! Well, kind of. She went right to sleep (!!!!) but woke up around 1 AM. We got her back to bed pretty quickly though (without either of us laying on the floor or having to stay in her room). She also woke up at 5:45, but we were able to get her back to sleep even quicker that time. So all in all, things are looking up!!! Hopefully this upward trend continues! 

2. In better Ella news, she had her first gymnastics class this week!

I just about died over the ponytail. 

She loved it. Her favorite things were following the other (3 year old) class around, the balance beam, and trying to build a tower with the blocks in the foam pit. Good times all around.

3. Also this week was Baby Ferg 2's anatomy scan!

We double- and triple-confirmed it was still a boy. He looks great and is developing right on track! 

4. Oh! We sold our house!!!! 

We just put it on the market last Thursday, and by Monday night (and 25+ showings!) we had a great offer that we accepted! Inspection is this morning, so we'll be praying all goes smoothly! 

5. Ella's party planning is under way!!! Does anyone know where to find Lilly Pulitzer craft supplies (scrapbook paper, ribbon, etc.)?!
Here's a little flashback that popped up on my Timehop today...can't believe this photo shoot was a year ago!

Have a great weekend!