meet jake

We are so excited to introduce our newest little family member...Jake Finnegan Barber. Once again I was blessed with a fairly easy delivery (and fast!). I started having contractions Friday morning around 12 or 1. We called in Aunt Linds and made it to the hospital by 3:45am. At 7:20 my doctor said it was go time and he was here at 7:33am. Not too shabby. Jake weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. (Slightly shorter and chubbier than Liv).

First meeting Jake-when he cried she told him to relax (something I say to her when she has a melt down)

Nana helped her make special blue cupcakes for her "baby brudder".

He has been the sweetest baby. Other than having day and night mixed up, he is a total angel. Olivia is in love. She wants to hold "her" all the time and loves to give Jake kisses and rub his head. Yesterday she wanted to hold him, and I was asking her if she was going to share her toys with Jake when he got older. She said she would, then a little later she said, "We can play trains, hide and seek, but we can't slam doors." Haha, already showing him the ropes!

Greg has taken off all week and is looking forward to taking Olivia on a few dates besides helping me around the house. Thank goodness, because going from one to two kiddos is hard work!

Baked Potato Soup Recipe

Okay, it's practically 80 degrees here in Austin but I really wanted to try this recipe. A friend mentioned she was making this last week on Facebook and I thought it sounded so yummy. I made the soup, a side salad and these cheddar biscuits. Wonderful and easy, my two most important requirements for dinner. Enjoy!

Enough Is Enough

I'm finally done trying to wrangle my two year old long enough to comb/ style/ insert ponytail into her extremely messy hair. I've tried everything really. So today we got a hair cut.

The before....this was shocking that I was even able to distract her long enough to get a ponytail in her hair. Don't be fooled. This happens on average of twice a month....so not even kidding. Clips/ clip in bows have a slightly higher success rate, but usually don't last more than an hour or so.
The after. The lady at Pigtails and Crewcuts actually tried showing me how to style it...haha, yeah right lady. Poor thing actually thought that my child might sit still long enough for me to round brush it with a blow dryer. Bless her heart.

The whole time she was getting it cut she was saying, "Mom, I'm getting my haircut!" She was so excited. On the way home she kept saying what I thought was "I'm mad." I said, "Why are you mad?" To which she replied, "NOOOO, I'm not mad, I'm happy." Ahhh, so funny she is!

Nursery Progress

A few more details wrapped up in the nursery. The furniture is completely painted. Here is the bookshelf we took off my sisters hot little hands and painted white. (We=Greg). I found these cheap storage bins at Tarjay for 5 or 6 bucks a piece, and hope they will neatly store toys and stuffed animals. The shelves are looking a bit bare until I find some cute accessories to add to them, but wanted to go ahead and get them on the wall while hubby was in the mood.

I saw on another blog someone who had used a glass apothecary jar to neatly hold pacifiers and I thought this was both genius and adorable. I scored this particular one at Homegoods for $8.99. LOVE that place! This lamp was originally a navy blue color that I THOUGHT would jive with the nursery bedding, but I was sadly mistaken. I searched for a baby blue lampshade, enlisted my sister to do some searching as well, and we came up empty handed. (unless I wanted to spend a small fortune, um no thanks?) My next thought was recovering it. For my first attempt at a lampshade recover, it looks okay. I am not crazy about the ribbon that I had to use, but it was the only thing close that I could find without looking like girly trim...so for now it's staying. I bought the lamp for $14.99 from Target and the fabric was a find at JoAnns, originally $8.99/ yard but I was able to get it on sale for only $4.99 a yard. A yard gave me plenty of fabric to both recover the shade and whip up a coordinating pillow for the glider we bought.

A sweet sign that my mom found ( :

The glider. Let me tell you how hard it is to find a glider that also rocks and reclines and is tall enough to support my head and is also comfortable and doesn't cost me an arm and two legs. I was hesitant to order one online without being able to test it out first, so that left Babies-R-Us, Buy Buy Baby and Pottery Barn. I was looking for something in a chocolate brown, to both coordinate with the room but mostly to hide stains and to wear well over time. The limited chairs we found we either too short, didn't recline, didn't glide, didn't come in brown or were uncomfortable. Greg convinced me to check out some furniture stores, and most didn't have what we were looking for either. We ended up finding one at Ashley Furniture (of all places) that was affordable and fit the bill. Sold! It should be here next week! It's not the sleek, modern look I was going for, but it's not too big and bulky and it is COMFY!
On to the crib. Still waiting patiently to be assembled, but we are going to wait until we actually need it. Olivia slept in the bassinet for the first 1-2 months exclusively, so we are just waiting to see how baby boy does. Our guest room is becoming the nursery, hence why we aren't in a major hurry to make the total switch. Here is a picture of the crib from the website.

Imagine it with this bedding. Cute, huh?

Last picture, I promise, of the mobile that I made. I have seen several cute options, on Etsy mainly, but they were close to $100. Here is one that caught my eye.

I made my similar version for under $20. (now I just have to figure out how I am going to hang it!)

My Little Ham

Her headband is for her to wear during her upcoming role as flower girl at my sisters wedding, fairy wings not so much. Oh and for the record, I didn't pose her, the hand on the cheek was all her.

And lastly, I couldn't not share these from Liv's teacher at school. Pictured with a few of her buddies on the playground.

Snow!

An inch still counts as a snow day as long as you get to stay home from work/ school, right? We got a light dusting of snow last night and all schools are cancelled! Olivia is still outside enjoying her first snow with Daddy, but this pregnant mama took about all she could handle. (Someone has to make the hot chocolate, right?) A few pictures of the dusting before it all melts ( :We had to take our gloves off to feel the snow


She plopped right down and started making snow angels


Trying to make a snow ball