sweetness

Oh, how I love this little girl...

p.s. We have done a really poor job capturing on camera just how adorable she is, so I borrowed this picture from Curtis' mom. A little glimpse! I am planning a full-on photo shoot for this weekend, so get ready!

precious annabelle

Our baby girl, Annabelle Kate, was born 10 days ago after a fast & furious delivery. She is every bit of wonderful... adorable, sweet, calm, and content. We could not be more blessed. Truly.

Because I know that pictures are way more exciting than my words, and because I am so tired right now that I'm not sure my words would make sense anyway, here is her (short) life in pictures.

 She was born at 8:39am, weighing in at 8lb 1oz, and measuring 20 inches.

 

The new and improved Chesney family, including one of our first visitors- big brother Cooper! 

  

The rest of our first visitors. Lots of Andringas!  :)

  

 Annabelle... still a little unsure of this out-of-the-womb world.

  

Proud grandparents, Marmie and Papa.

  

 Enjoying our new, sleepy girl.

  

The drive home, 24 hours later. 

Thanks, Joy, for making her the adorable blanket!!

  

At home, Cooper is getting acquainted. "Look, Annabelle's nose!"

  

That sweet face!

  

Cuddling with daddy. Cooper was jealous...

 ... so he put his face in front of the camera and said "CHEEEEEEESE!".

  

First bathtime.

  

 Lots of time with Grandpa and Mammy.

  

 And even great-grandmother, Memaw!

 Lots and lots of sleeping. I'm jealous.

  

 Lounging on the couch today.

  

 That face is priceless. She looks like a sullen teenager already!

So, so many more to come...

my valentine

Yesterday, once I finally remembered that it was Valentine's Day, I found myself with this thought:

Do you know what is so much better than a heart-shaped box of chocolate or a dozen red roses?

Wednesday afternoon, Curtis arrived came home from the store with these:

Note that I said Wednesday. It wasn't my birthday or a holiday, it was just a day. In fact, he had completely forgotten that Valentine's Day was a few days away.

It was a beautifully simple gift meant to brighten my day. For me, it was one more reminder of how much I love my husband and how blessed I am to call him my Valentine.

jingle bell rock

It is slightly ridiculous to post now about Christmas, but you'll have to take what you can get. I'm feeling the need to get back on track with documenting our life, which has been put on hold for a couple months due to our world-in-limbo. I guess the whole "nesting" phenomenon extends to your blogging world as well!

Despite being somewhat stressful and crazy at times, Christmas was so much fun. We celebrated with my family in a house full of 13 people! Let's just say that Cooper has been forced into sleeping more deeply over the last month. :) He has loved nearly every second of it, especially time with his cousins Bess (4 1/2) and Rosey (3). He thinks they hang the moon, and they mainly just think he needs to chill out.

Christmas morning brought lots of hilarious moments, but one of the best was the impromptu family jam session that broke out after we gave Cooper a drum/instrument set.


Star Search, here we come!

how did we get here?

Our baby boy is two. Two years old. I feel the need to be retrospective.


Cooper's birthday, December 16, 2007...

 Two years ago today, the nurse handed us this precious little one. Ours?!

He's been the center of attention from Day 1. It's not our fault.

How could he not be?

 Last year, on December 16, 2008:

We couldn't believe it had been a whole year.

The face was a little less peaceful, but just as precious.

And the attention... it didn't stop.

Birthday number two, December 16, 2009. How did we get here?

Our little one is not so little anymore!

 

He's "two" actually (as he is so obviously demonstrating for you in the picture).

Surrounded by love and attention once again...

...and eating up every bit it.

His little face gets more precious every day,

and he brings us more joy than we could have ever imagined!

Almost as much joy as Mickey and the "Hot Dog Song" bring to him.

Side note:

Tar Heel basketball, 2026

checkmarks

This pretty much sums up our life right now. And these are just the lists that we haven't lost.

Things have been crazy around here. Crazy. Curtis accepted a job offer in Greensboro, NC a few weeks ago. Since then, we have been constantly (and frantically?) trying to get the house ready to put on the market. Full days and short nights... one thing to the next.

Just tonight, we compiled all of our unchecked down to this list. Things are getting better. More manageable.

I realized, though, that this is the way I live my life... as a giant checklist, just trying to get from one box to the next. Sure, there is something so satisfying in marking each little square and moving forward. What is lost, though, is the life that's lived in between the boxes. The moments that don't achieve a checkmark but whose experience would fulfill me in a much deeper way. Laughing with my little boy. Sitting with my husband on the couch and simply enjoying being together. Calling my sister just to say "hi". Taking time to be still and know that He is God.

Today was a big day, and not just because of the surprise snow. Finally, we were able to put a sign in our yard. Our house is on the market.

My mentality lately is that "once the house is ready", or "once the house sells", or "once Christmas is over", I will be able to be more present in life. I will be able to breathe and enjoy the air. But will I? Or will I just create a new list?

A lot of life exists between the list items. If I can figure out a way to live it right now, in the midst of this season, I should be able to do it at anytime. If...

transformations: the laundry room

We're just going to knock out a few rooms tonight... hope you don't mind!

The laundry room is actually more of an area, since it is really just a nook in between the kitchen and rest of the hallway. The functionality is great, though, and I actually like the fact that it's so open and easily accessible. Anyway, here's where we began:

 Pantry (closet on the left) and cabinets. I think we were trying to clean and air them out!

 Directly across were washer and dryer hook-ups and a precious/dirty ironing board built into the wall.

 Just in case you wanted to see the ironing board in action. This was probably the last action it ever saw!

Right after we moved in, we tore out the lineoleum floor (covering up the hardwood!) and primed the walls.

Then, we did nothing. For over 3 years.

Last year, we finally decided to tackle this space, after we got a great idea/vision from my mom. We hated the fact that the pantry took up the one hall closet, and that there was no storage around the washer and dryer.

 So, we ripped out the existing cabinetry and the shelves in the closet, headed to the salvage store, and bought a bunch of unfinished cabinetry.

 We had to improvise a few times. We used the set of drawers from the old cabinetry to save money, but changed the hardware and added some leftover beadboard to the side. Then Curtis ingeniously used an extra piece of kitchen countertop to keep us from having to buy any! He added wood trim around the edges, which I painted. It turned out looking incredible.

After lots of sanding, painting, and installing, we ended up with a fabulous laundry/pantry space!

The closet is now a real coat closet, which is unbelievably nice to have. The tall pantry cabinet is, as the name suggests, our food pantry. The drawers/counter space are super functional as well.

The wall cabinets above the washer and dryer are perfect for all of our laundry needs, with extra space for other random stuff. We even built shelves in between to provide easy-access space for the detergent and such. It's so handy!

The second tall pantry cabinet is filled with serving dishes, pans, small appliances... basically, everything that used to take up all the room in my kitchen cabinets. I love it!

 As great as it all was, there was still the matter of these random peeling sections of the ceiling. Just last month, Curtis took care of those. I pulled the "I'm pregnant" card and got out of it. :)

Lots of scraping.

Lots of mess.

 He definitely got the job done! Unfortunately, he then had to sand it, put drywall mud on it, sand it, repeat the process, and then paint it. Whew.

But in the end... beautifully done. And, finally, it's all REALLY done.

Even doing laundry is tolerable in a room like this!