After!!

The final results!

Tatum's Big Girl Room

(and playroom)

Raleigh's Room

 

Master/Loft

Before...

Not only is another little human joining us soon, we've had other changes happening around here.

In order to accommodate our little man, we've played a little musical rooms.  It's not that the kiddos couldn't have shared a room, it was more that we thought it would be the easiest transition for our family.  That and we were SO READY to get the toys out of our living room. :)

Here's the "before" tour:

Our Future "Master Suite"

 

Our upstairs loft getting new floors... eventually, someday, the loft will be the kids' playroom.  This is when our dream of an addition becomes a reality.  

For now, our room is moving up to the loft.  Luckily there is a full bath and large closet up there.  The full bath has our home's only shower.  It will be awesome to not have to walk upstairs from our room to shower after 5 years of doing so!  

Our little Tatum will move to what used to be our room.  She is so excited about her Big Girl Room!

New floors for the bathroom too!  The bathroom had black and white tiles already, but the rest of the loft was sea grass carpeting.  Sea grass carpeting that was in pretty bad shape.  We also are adding a new vanity and other storage to update our new "master bath".

Raleigh's Future Room

It still makes me a little sad that our baby girl's room is no longer in existence.  Change is good though, right??  I think I was more stressed worrying about her reaction to the room switch.  She took it like a pro... lesson to her momma!

Tatum's Future Big Girl Room

Tatum is lucking out BIG time and moving into our room, which is the biggest room in the house.  This provides us the space to move her toys in with her, out of our living room. 

(Excuse our mess!)

Hook 'Em!

Although our Horns have been a little disappointing this year, we still LOVE them!!

Tatum went to Gramma and Papa's so Zach and I could go to our only home game before Raleigh gets here.  I don't think we've missed a home game in YEARS.  

We plan to try and make it to a few in November, but we'll just have to wait and see.

What obligatory burnt orange picture is complete without a "moniker"??

Tatum found a great place to rest her hand... right on the Raleigh shelf.

Daddy couldn't miss out on a picture with his little cheerleader.

The following picture does nothing to show how freakin' HOT it was and how freakin' crazy I was to hike my 37 week pregnant butt up ALL THOSE ramps and then about 21 rows of stairs to our seats, 4 rows from the VERY TOP of the east grand stands.

Ya, that co-called cold front that was supposed to come through during the game.... HA!

(Just FYI, 8+ months pregnant doesn't meet the requirement of "handicapped" to use the elevator.  Zach went and asked.  I think I should have.  I could have swayed them a little, I think) 

Our sweet friends Carmen and Phil came with us.  Carmen is just 6 weeks behind me, so she was a very sympathetic slow walker with me :)

So long DKR.  See you in November.  Thanks for not making me go into labor...

 ... at least we would have been closer to the hospital if I had gone into labor!

I'll leave you with the beautiful view of downtown and the capitol that we have from our seats.  

I love Austin!

Raleigh's Shower

My wonderful friends hosted a shower in honor of our Raleigh James in September.  

LeStella and her sweetie, Elizabeth.

And there's my two college roomies, Mel and Jenny Ann. (Mel behind the chair and Jenny Ann in turquoise)  It was so special to share this with both of them!

 

I think these little orange leather boots stole the show.  He's gonna look so cute in them!

Crib bedding from Gramma!

Little Longhorn decorations... so cute!

Aunt Melly and I have been friends since we were 3.  We've been through so many life changes already.  I'm so glad to have her back in Austin!

The other hostesses with the "mostest-ess"

L-R Shannon, Carmen, and Andrea

(LeStella was in one of the first pics)

These girls all have kiddos Tatum's age and we met back when the kiddos were just 3 or 4 months old.  It's been amazing to have such a close group of girls to navigate Mommyhood with.

,

Tatum and Shannon have a special, cute bond. :)

School Days

My BIG little girl started school this August!

 

I think her momma was more nervous than she was.

 

Her school is at our church, so she's famliar with the environment AND her teacher is a familiar face, as well as her classmates.  It could not be a more perfect situation for my baby's first time spent away from home.

 

Here's the crew:

 

L-R: Packy, Mary, Tatum, and CJ

 

They are all holding up the #1 for their very first day of school.

 

Tatum is going on Tuesday and Thursday from about 8:30-2:30.  I am so happy she has the opportunity to learn from other adults, socialize with her friends, and partake in activities we can't do at home.  

I'm so glad we started before Raleigh gets here because Tatum will still have her special time at school when she might be struggling with the changes at home.

We eased them all into taking naps at school.  Tatum was the last of the bunch to stay for nap time and she is now actually SLEEPING at school.  Yay!

Here's a little tour of her school: