Bookcase Closet DIY

Pinterest is an amazing and scary place. It has the ability to inspire you and make you feel like the most inadequate person all at the same time. I love it because I have found things I never would have even considered or known about before. Yet I have boards upon boards full of things that I have not looked twice at, or even considered to actually do. Like this bookcase closet, I pinned it ages ago, thought, "how clever is that?", and never looked at it again. And then I got pregnant...

You think Pinterest is scary, just wait till you experience the weird pregnant desire to accomplish things, clean and organize! One of the many things on my To Do list (which isn't actually a list more like a mental note, which is also probably why i keep forgetting things i want/need to do, maybe i should write it down..) was to make the little nugget a place for his clothes. Seeing as we live in a wonderful little one bedroom place he is going to be sharing our spacious bedroom with us. The only downside is that my crap takes up ALL of the closet space and we don't have much when it comes to extra accessible storage space. Then somehow in all my pregnant brain glory I remembered the said bookcase closet pin and was determined it would be made for our sea monster. Then I put it off for weeks.. hey, I can't be perfect! I finally got around to doing it this week, and couldn't be more thrilled that I did! Plus I finally got to experiment with chalk paint, two pinterest birds with one stone!

This is what I started with, something we picked up off craigslist when we first moved into our place for like $25 bucks. Not bad, but I need it to be white and preferably no longer have that weird rattan woven thing in the back. 

And this is what I got after one coat of homemade chalk paint. At which point I also ran out of my white latex paint and had to put the project on hold, LAME! Off to find more paint...

Here it is in all its two coat glory (still a wee bit wet hence the weird shine we got going on). Once it was dry I used SC Johnson paste wax and buffed the crap out of this bad boy. I was kind of dreading this part, but really it wasn't so bad. I would definitely rather buff with wax then take the time to sand before painting, but to each his own, right? Around this time I evacuated the premises to let the wax soak in and I headed off to Ace Hardware to find a suitable clothing rod. Since I am only hanging baby clothes I figured I could get away with just using a tension rod and nothing that actually had to screw into the sides of the bookcase. Luckily I scored a sweet little white rod and ended up with this...

Now I just need to move it into its actual spot in the bedroom *ahem, Joey* get some cute baskets for it, some baby hangers and add the cute decorative touches. Sooooo I still have a lot to do to it, but its painted and put back together! I will admit, I tend to just admire it every few minutes, I'm a proud mama!! Mostly I am just glad it is done, one more thing checked off that never ending mental to do list.

love,
the williams

Week 29

Baby Williams is now the size of an Acorn Squash! 

He also has a name, Hunter Caleb Williams!!

Had to go with the selfie bathroom shot today, and I chose to be a bum all day, oh well!!

How far along? 29 weeks

Total weight gain? 13 lbs

Maternity clothes? Still mixing and matching with regular clothes

Stretch marks? Nope.

 Best moment this week? Seeing him squirm around on our ultrasound, and just knowing that he is growing and healthy.

Miss anything? Sitting long periods of time comfortably, it's funny how that extra weight affects you.

Movement? So much that you can see it through my shirt!

Food cravings? Watermelon! Having to share it with Joey has been tough.

Anything making you queasy or sick? not lately, phew!

Have you started to show yet? I feel like I wake up bigger and bigger every day!

Gender? Definitely a BOY!

Labor signs? None

Belly button in or out? Half in, half out <--it's a stubborn one.

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Happy or Moody most the time? Happy :)

Looking forward to? Finishing my DIY closet for the sea monster AND going home in 13 days!!

Fancy little Bow Ties

Bow ties. They are just so fancy! 

They are also all the rage right now for little men. Seeing as I have a little man on the way I figured, why not make some? You can find endless amounts of tutorials for them all over Pinterest, but I happened upon this one here and it looked so easy I knew even I could do it! Anything with a little sewing and a hot glue gun, count me in!

I didn't have many fabric scraps to choose from and I wanted to try it out before I go and buy some more fabric so I used some left over blue flannel for this one. I like the way it turned out, the next time I make these I will probably change up a few things but ultimately little man has one super cute bow tie so he can be fancy whenever he wants :)

please don't mind the wrinkled onsie..

Week 28

Heellloooo THIRD TRIMESTER!! We've made it to the home stretch!

Baby Williams is now the size of an Eggplant! 

How far along? 28 weeks

Total weight gain? About 11 lbs

Maternity clothes? Still mixing and matching with regular clothes

Stretch marks? Nope.

 Best moment this week? I still love his little hiccups, they went on for a good 3 to 4 minutes in church the other day :)

Miss anything? Being able to move with out feeling jabs of pain. That darn round ligament gets me every time!

Movement? He moves so much sometimes it looks like my belly is having a little dance party!

Food cravings? Nothing really..

Anything making you queasy or sick? not lately, phew!

Have you started to show yet? Yes, and it just keeps growing

Gender? Definitely a BOY!

Labor signs? None

Belly button in or out? Half in, half out

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Happy or Moody most the time? Happy :)

Looking forward to? Our doctors appointment on Thursday, it will probably be Joeys last one before baby Williams actually arrives.

Snickerdoodle Bread!

Yes, you read that correctly, Snickerdoodle bread! Be amazed, I was. This recipe combines two great loves of mine, snickerdoodles and bread, how could it be anything less than amazing? Also I am not sure if it is all of these pregnancy hormones (or the fact that I finally have nice baking dishes) but I have been baking up a storm lately. I've always loved baking, but these days I can not make it through the day without a thought crossing my mind that goes something like, "Mmm, I should bake that!" 

I had been secretly storing some bananas to make banana bread but the hubsters decided to eat one! I was shocked, since when does he eat the speckled bananas.. he must have been hungry. Then I happened upon this little gem of a recipe thanks to pinterest, since I was sans one nanner I gleefully opted for this bread instead :) 

Oh hello there delicious :)

Want to make your own? Sure you do!

Ingredients:

*2 1/2 cups flour

* 2 tsp. baking powder

* 1/2 tsp. salt

* 2 tsp. cinnamon

* 1 cup butter (softened)

* 2 cups sugar

* 3 eggs

* 1 tsp. vanilla

* 3/4 cup sour cream

* 1 pkg. Hershey's cinnamon chips (optional)

* 3 tbs. sugar

* 3tsp. cinnamon

Instructions:

1) Cream butter, sugar, salt and cinnamon until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well.

2) Add vanilla and sour cream and mix well.

3) In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Combine with wet ingredients and mix well

4) Add cinnamon chips and stir into batter

5) Spoon batter into 2 loaf pans, about 2/3 full.

6) Mix 3 tbs. sugar and 3 tsp. cinnamon in a bowl and sprinkle over the batter in each loaf pan.

7) Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes. Let cool before removing from pan

Out here in Hawaii my local store didn't have any cinnamon chips so I left them out this time, but it was still delicious! You can also make this in mini loaf pans, which most people seem to do, just cut your baking time in half. It will make four mini loafs. 

love,

the williams

Week 27

Baby Williams is now the size of a Rutabaga! 
He probably weighs about 2 pounds now, hopefully because I've been eating like crazy!!

My Mom says I finally look pregnant! 

How far along? 27 weeks

Total weight gain? 10 lbs

Maternity clothes? Some, I'm still mixing and matching regular with maternity

Stretch marks? Nope.

 Best moment this week? Baby Williams started hiccuping!

Miss anything? Sleeping through the night, haha!

Movement? Yes, and TONS of it!

Food cravings? Sweets, uh-oh..

Anything making you queasy or sick? not lately, phew!

Have you started to show yet? Oh ya!

Gender? Definitely a BOY!

Labor signs? None

Belly button in or out? Half in, half out

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Happy or Moody most the time? Happy :)

Looking forward to? Going home and sharing this baby belly with family in just 28 days!!!!

Whats for dinner?

I remember as a little kid constantly asking my mom this very question. The only difference is that when I did ask my mom I always got an answer. These days I have to decide what to have for dinner myself. Sometimes I get a little help from the Hubsters, but that usually consists of, "I'm not hungry right now, make what you want and I'll probably eat it." <---thanks Joey!

The fact that I don't really enjoy just cooking for myself deters me from doing so most nights. Then there are these other nights where I just decide I'm going for it, and something magical happens, I have a delicious meal in front of me and Joey chows it down telling me how good it is. Maybe I should cook more often! Eh, we'll see..

The other night as I was mulling over what to cook I realized I had pretty much everything I needed to make Chicken Pizzaiola. The items I didn't have on hand I was OK with leaving out, it turned it more into a chicken bake then a pizzaiola but it was still mighty delicious!

sorry for the blurry picture, I was in a hurry to eat!!

Here's what you need:
3 cups tomato sauce (jar or homemade)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
2 ounces Parmesan cheese (1 cup)
4 ounces mozzarella (1 cup)
2 ounces pepperoni, sliced thin

1.  Heat your oven to 450 degrees. Spread your tomato sauce in a 9x13inch baking dish.
2. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Lay the Parmesan in a shallow dish then coat the chicken with the Parmesan. Lay the chicken on top of the tomato sauce and bake for 15 minutes.
3. Sprinkle the mozzarella and pepperoni over the chicken and increase the oven temperature to 475 degrees. Continue to bake until the cheese melts, about another 5 minutes. 

That's it, easy right? Pop that chicken out and eat it as is or cook up some pasta and eat it over pasta. I didn't have any mozzarella or pepperoni so we left that out this time. Think of all the other things you could put on this, olives, peppers, or mushrooms! Mmm! The hubby ate it all and even finished some of mine! We will definitely make this again :)

love,

 the Williams

Family Pictures

Joey and I got married pretty quickly and in the two years we have been in wedded bliss we never took the opportunity to have pictures done. With the little nugget coming it was all of a sudden very important to me to have pictures of our life before he arrived, just the two of us, how is has been for so long now. We were so blessed to find the wonderful Kierstin Yates, who was so easy to work with and gave us some amazing photos. Get ready for picture overload, I'm not going to share them all just some of our favorites, but we like a lot of them!! 

So many pictures!! ahh! There are so many more that we love but this will do for now. Enjoy staring at us :)

love, the williams

Week 26

Baby Williams is now the size of a head of lettuce! Also because of our anatomy ultrasound we know that the little sea monster is 1.7 pounds and putting on more and more fat each day! His growth rate is measuring to have him here exactly on the 22nd of august, so we'll see when he arrives :)

don't mind me, its been a rough couple days!!

How far along? 26 weeks

Total weight gain? 9 lbs

Maternity clothes? Some, especially the really cute maternity capri's my mommy just sent me! 

Stretch marks? Nope.

 Best moment this week? Our 3D ultrasound, seeing his sweet face was amazing

Miss anything? Being able to bend over normally!

Movement? Yes, and TONS of it!

Food cravings? Cheese and Gatorade

Anything making you queasy or sick? not lately, phew!

Have you started to show yet? Oh ya!

Gender? Definitely a BOY!

Labor signs? Do Braxton Hicks count?? haha

Belly button in or out? Its still in, but pretty stretched.

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Happy or Moody most the time? Happy :)

Looking forward to? My first Mothers Day *hint*hint* Joey!!

Mmm Pancakes

When one wakes up and suddenly must have pancakes pronto, one does not simply just run to the store and buy them. No, one searches pinterest for the recipe she pinned ages ago about the fluffiest pancakes she has ever seen. Luckily I had all my ingredients on hand *PHEW* and set to mixing all my fixings together. Twenty minutes later I was rewarded with the lightest, fluffiest, most delicious pancakes I've ever made in my own home. To say they were delicious is an understatement :)

This is how mine turned out :)

Pinterest saved the day yet again thanks to this wonderful recipe!! Mine were pretty fluffy, but check hers out, holy thick fluffy pancakes!! Happy eating friends.

Love, 

the williams

Sea Monster Photo Shoot

Oh, how the days where we get to see our little man are just the best days! Yesterday Joey and I got to take a trip down to Waikele (pronounced why-kelly) and get a 3D anatomy ultrasound of him. We were able to count all his fingers and toes and make sure that everything was growing at the appropriate rate. We also saw his ginormous ears.. hopefully those things shrink because he looks like dumbo in there!! All of his measurements were great and the doctor said we have a keeper :) We think so too doc! Little nugget was a moving and a shaking all over the place, it even looked like he was trying to push the ultrasound wand away from him. He showed us all his goodies and confirmed that yes, he is a boy. We are just happy that he is healthy and growing, and all the pictures don't hurt either!

Check him out, our crazy little sea monster...

What a cute profile :)

A little foot

His tiny hand

He is still a boy, PHEW!

There is his dumbo ear :)

a wee little smile, adorable!

so handsome

Only a little bit longer now till we actually get to meet this little sea monster, we can't wait! Is it August yet??

love,

the williams

Week 25

Baby Williams and I just spent the other day at the Doctors! We love the doctor :) Everything is right on track and our little nugget is going to be here before we know it! He also is now the size of CAULIFLOWER!!

25 Weeks :)

How far along? 25 weeks

Total weight gain? 9 lbs

Maternity clothes? Some, but still mostly just belly band and leggings

Stretch marks? Nope.

 Best moment this week? Listening to the sea monsters heart beat!!

Miss anything? Jumping off cliffs.. I'm having dreams about it.

Movement? Yes, and TONS of it!

Food cravings? CHEESE, it goes on everything.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Driving in the car, sometimes.

Have you started to show yet? Yep.

Gender? Boy- hopefully that wont change, ha!

Labor signs? None.

Belly button in or out? In. I'm taking bets on for how much longer though.

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Happy or Moody most the time? Woah, Mood swing central over here!

Looking forward to? Our 3D anatomy scan tomorrow, anytime I can see the little nugget is a good time!