Archways and Barrel Ceilings

Last week the framing was completed on our new home and this week they are going to work on installing the windows and the plumbing.

Travis and I spend a lot of time on Houzz gettting ideas and we are now trying to come up with fun details to add to each room.  One thing that we are doing is adding archways above every doorway that does not have a door.  We will also have four barrel ceilings in the house.  I love these two features and am excited to see how they look once they are finished.

Archway leading into the kitchen from the living room.

Living room archways.  Left archway leads to Powder Room, Laundry Room, Downstairs, and Garage.  Right Archway leads to the Master Suite.

Archway leading into the Dining Room.

Double Archways connecting leading from the Kitchen, into the Butler's Pantry, and then to the Dining Room.  Ceiling in Butlers Pantry will have a Barrel Ceiling.

Barrel Ceiling over pedestal tub in the Master Bath.

Barrel Ceiling in the Foyer.

Barrel Ceiling above the Wet Bar in our Basement Den.

Britt James, 7 week old

Another week went by and our sweet baby boy is 7 weeks old.  We had another busy week and Britt slept through most of it.  We go to the pediatrician's in a week and a half and I am interested to see how tall he is and how much he weighs because he looks and feels so much bigger than just last week.

Britt had his first trip to the zoo, helped pick out a wedding dress, went on two play dates, and was toted around on a bunch of errands with me.  He gets lots of kisses and hugs during the day and his favorite time of day is his bath time.  He can be fussy and as soon as he is in the warm water he relaxes and is starting to move his legs in the bath time.  

This precious little boy is the best!

Britt fell asleep while I was carrying him in the Ergo and he managed to wiggle to the side and slept like this.

Raising the Roof

Now that our house is finally underway, here are some pictures that shows the progress that has been made to date.

They started in December with clearing the property, digging, and pouring the footers.  There are three acres behind our house that is common area so this will not be developed on.  

The house you see in this picture is the 2014 HGTV Smart Home.

From December to January we had about 3 weeks where nothing happened but finally we had the blocks delivered and the foundation was was poured.

Then another couple of weeks went by and then at the end of February they started framing.

Now in the last two weeks they completed framing out all three floors and the roof was completed!

Within the next two weeks the windows should be in, roof shingled,and the brick laid.  

This is the sample board of our brick and below is the house that we used as our inspiration to choose our brick, shingle, and trim color.  We will not be able to paint our windows the same dark color as our inspiration house.  We were not given a choice on our windows and after we chose our trim colors we were told that we could not paint them dark because of the PVC material in the windows with the dark color will heat at a higher level which could warp the windows.  We were not happy to find this out and would have chosen different windows if we had known this. We will still use the darker trim in other accents and the lighter trim color on the windows will still look nice and I think will make the wood beam headers above the windows more noticable.

Yay for progress!

6 weeks old and Maternity Pictures

Today Britt James is 6 weeks old!  The last week has been pretty busy and our big boy is growing!  Ava's school was closed last Friday for Parent Teacher Conferences and this week for Spring Break.  Calvary has two Parent Teacher Conferences a  year and I love this thirty minutes with the Teachers to hear about Ava and her classroom.  I love how much structure and consistency they offer at her school and love to hear about everything they are teaching her.  Currently they are working on the days of the week, recognizing numbers, and the months.  I never thought she would be learning so much at two years old!

This week has been a little challenging with Ava off all week.  Monday went well however Tuesday was another story.  I think Ava was a little bored since we did not leave the house on Monday and since I have to give more care to Britt and the fact that Travis was not home to play with Ava, she started to lash out a little and I was happy that Travis came home early to take Ava to the park.  Thankfully Nana and Papa took her on Wednesday and today which always makes her happy.  After Travis picked her up yesterday, I took her to the park while Travis watched Britt at home.  Ava's good friend, Vivien, was at the park and the two girls ran, giggled, and held hands for the hour that we were at the park.  Vivi's parents love Ava so much and were just as tickled as I was watching the two girls play together.

Ava and Vivi at Ava's 2nd Birthday

 Britt is continuing to be a sweetheart and I love all of this special Mommy time that I am able to spend with him during the day.  While  he still does not love it, he is getting better at spending time on his play mat.  He also graduated to size 1 diapers but is still mostly wearing with Kissy Kissy newborn gowns. It has finally warmed up and I hope to take him on a walk at Radnor Lake this afternoon and then tomorrow I am going to attempt to take both children to the Zoo!

In other news I made a mistake last week and did some online shopping for summer clothes.  I bought the same size shorts that I use to wear and when I tried them on I could barely get them on and did not even attempt to zip them up.  Needless to say everything was returned.  After a pity call to my husband, he reminded me that I did just give birth 42 days ago so not to be discouraged.  With this said below are the photos from our Maternity session that was taken of me at 37 weeks pregnant, just 18 days before Britt was born.  This helps to remind me how large my belly was and this is why I cannot fit into any of my old clothes yet.

Britt's Sip and See

This past Saturday my family and best friend hosted a Sip and See for Baby Britt.  I loved the mason jar and chalk board theme and we had a beautiful Tennessee afternoon to have this outdoors.  While I enjoyed all of the showers that I had while I was pregnant with Ava, it was nice to do something different and have a Sip and See for everyone to be able to meet Baby Britt.  It was such a fun afternoon and I feel blessed to have so many people who love our babies!

They did a great job with coming up with a shower favor for us that I am able to take home and display in Britt's bedroom.

The wonderful hostesses minus a picture of  Nana, sorry Nana I did not get a picture of you from the shower.  Nana and Papa were so great to open up their beautiful house to us once again to host this event.  I have the best in-laws and am so thankful for them and all that they do for us!

What a perfect day to share with everyone!