Lyla's Dollhouse

I can't tell you how old I was or what daycare exactly but I have this vivid moment as a child when I saw my very first Victorian style dollhouse. It was something that had been passed down in that family and I could tell, was very special to them. At this daycare, we weren't allowed in the bedrooms of the children who lived there. All the toys we played with were in the living room or outside but one day she made an exception long enough for her daughters to show me their dollhouse. I remember it sitting on top of a small night stand, the outside painted pink with white shutters. It had intricate staircases of the swirling nature leading to different bedrooms on different floors. The beds were adored with the perfect amount of floral and while I didn't touch a thing, it was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen.  

When I had Lyla I dreamed of making her one for Christmas someday and this was the year! My creative side reveled in every moment I spent on this special keepsake for her. I bought a kit from Hobby Lobby at the beginning of November and finished it on December 21st, just days before giving it to her. It came in a thousands pieces of raw wood that needed to be labeled, organized in phases for assembly, sanded, painted, and wood glued together. I learned the true art of how long it takes for wood glue to cure and dry, it took the most amount of patience I'd say. But it all resulted in this and it was exactly as I had dreamed ...

The original had a second tiered porch which explains the side door from the master bedroom but an open balcony just fit what I imagined so much better. 

And what says Christmas time more than tiny little wreaths on every window and a "baby it's cold outside" front door mat! 

I covered the chimney and front porch steps with tiny bricks I made out of a painted egg carton. 

A view of the inside from the back ...

The cutest mommy and daddy mice ...

I made all the rugs out of velvet paper and sewed the bedding so it would have sheets the mice could slip underneath when they go to sleep ...

While I wanted her dollhouse to be unique, I also wanted it to be special and reflect the things she not only loves but that are in her own childhood home a little bit. The living room had to have a mini version of our family picture on the wall and a tiny blanket ladder!

I also designed the fireplace for the perfect tv stand and sewed curtains for the window in this room.

I love the two toned staircase so much!

This is the master bedroom ... I made the canopy bed and found the sweetest print of an angel bunny to remind her of Rue in heaven that I turned into wallpaper from this room. The fluffy white pillows were sewn from the same fabric I made our living room pillows in our real house and painted the nightstand pink just like her pink dresser in her own bedroom. 

The wallpaper is my favorite!

That tiny picture of her and Liam ...

This is the kitchen with the most adorable floating shelves filled with everything the mice need to have a dinner party. ;)

One side has the cutest hatch to play in the back of the bathroom or dining room ...

Everything is cuter tiny!! Like that little wooden stool for a piano bench, a tiny mirror, and the light fixtures. 

This is the hodgepodge room. haha It has a spot for the piano, a washer and dryer, and the bathroom in the back. The herringbone floor is my favorite part!! All of the floors were incredibly time consuming but so worth it in the end ... I made them all out of stained or painted popsicle sticks to create wood floors. 

The sweetest scalloped wallpaper in the bathroom ...

The attic is the most played with and loved part of the whole house ... I made it with the baby mice in mind ...

I can't get over how darling they are!!

There is another bed up there and a tiny little dollhouse that opens and can fit things inside. 

I also adore the attic wallpaper. The tiny little snowflakes in the winter floral pattern will always remind me of this special Christmas, when I gave Lyla her dollhouse. 

There were a few dollhouse pieces that survived our house flood back in the day that I was able to use and it made it extra special having some pieces to include from my childhood. The piano for example which I painted black and the forest green bed in the attic. The rocking chair was also mine and was broken but I glued it back together and it doesn't look too shabby after I covered it in a coat of white paint.

Next to having my children (haha), it was my favorite labor of love. I hope she cherishes it for years to come and that one day I can pass it on to my grandkids. 

We are having a ...

little GIRL join our family!!!

And this is how we feel about it ...

Yesterday we had our 20 week ultrasound and right away the ultrasound tech asked us if we wanted to find out the gender of our baby. She didn't waste a second which I loved because then the entire rest of the ultrasound we got to say, "There's HER hand or HER legs." Nic was holding my hand through the entire moment and looking back, it was absolutely surreal the emotions we both felt in that moment. We said all along that because this pregnancy has been so different than my pregnancy with Liam that we were convinced it was a girl but I can tell you that we were both still in shock in that moment when she actually said, "You're having a GIRL"! 

I absolutely love every minute of being a boy mom but tears of joy rolled down my face because there is something so special about the opportunity of having a daughter and the bond I hope we share. We feel so blessed to be able to experience both! As we tried to see her little profile several times she had her hand right up by her face and it was so sweet but then she finally moved it down a bit and my heart melted even more, look at that sweet girl ...

When I got home from the appointment I wrapped Liam up in my arms and pointed to my tummy and said, "Guess what Liam, you are going to have little SISTER and he confidently said "Yes" back as if he already knew. 

Last night Nic took pictures on his phone of her ultrasound pictures so that he could have them with him while he was away at work during the day and my heart absolutely melted. I fall more in love with him every day, especially seeing him as a dad, and even more now to see his little girl wrapped around his finger.

We all are SO excited to meet little sister in September and love her so much already!!! Look out Nic, let the bow and dress shopping begin! ;)

what a momma really wants for Mother's Day

Motherhood is a wonderfully beautiful thing. It is also a hot mess most of the time. It is the most joy you will ever feel in your lifetime mixed right up there with the most pain you will feel. It will give you your best laugh and your biggest cry. It will make you more "you" than you will ever be anywhere else while also completely stripping you of yourself at the same time. It is every polar opposite under the sun. I read this post the other day by Bridget Hunt about "motherhood ruining you" for these very same reasons I mentioned above and I found myself nodding a million times over. It was as if she took the emotions right from my very own heart about how I feel about being Liam's mom. But my favorite favorite part of her whole post was the very end where she said, "I hope this is what heaven is like" because if there is one thing I hope and believe heaven is... it is family. And it is forever. 

With it being Mother's Day on Sunday, I've spent the better part of this week reflecting on last Mother's Day...

Can you believe how little he was just a year ago!!! He went on his very first swing ride that day like such a big boy. Not to mention he was wearing my very favorite sweatshirt with the bear ears that I wish so much still fit him instead of being tucked away in his closet for the next baby. 

And the Mother's Day before that...

Liam was only a 15 week bump then. I hadn't even felt him move yet but I had heard the pitter patter of his little heart beat for the first time and was completely changed that day. It is still one of the BEST sounds in the whole world! 

Reflecting on both days has made me realize more than anything what a momma really wants for Mother's Day and that is for her children to slow down. To stay little. Motherhood is filled with milestone after milestone and while I clapped in complete joy when he learned to roll over for the first time...

And was his biggest cheerleader smiling from ear to ear when he took those very first few steps on his own...

The milestones keep passing by and while I savor and enjoy ever.single.perfect.second of those memories, they are all too fleeting and before I know it, he doesn't need me to help him roll back over when he cries during tummy time anymore, and he is okay to let go of my fingers and independently take those steps on his own. This song says it best and let me warn you, before you watch it, grab a tissue! Just trust me, you'll thank me later.

my dreams came true on black friday

I think it is about time I share my Black Friday purchase with you...





Merry {early} Christmas to me!! I can't even tell you how giddy this makes me! Ah, just look at it! She's a real beauty. I have had this budding desire inside of me for quite some time now to learn photography but it isn't exactly a hobby you can just start whenever you want to because of the financial factor. It's expensive. But to me, it was worth saving many months for. And it just so happened to also be a Christmas gift from Nic and my mom. Love them.

After researching and researching online I finally decided on the Nikon D3200. It is a great beginning DSLR camera for learning to shoot in manual mode but still has the capability for lens upgrades in the future. I know I have a big learning curve ahead of me but I'm so excited about it! More than anything, I love that I will be able to capture all the little and big moments of every day life along with those future little Williamson's someday!

this guy

picture from our wedding

excuse me for a minute while I get all mushy about this guy -

Nic is a lot of things - smart, talented, devilishly handsome. But perhaps one of the things I love the most about him is how much he cares... about me, about his job, everything. His dedication is seriously inspiring. I have never seen someone work so hard at improving themselves. He'll come home from work and tell me all of these great ideas he has come up with that he can't wait to get started on and I just feel my heart swelling with pride that he is doing something that makes him happy. Well you can imagine how I felt when he got a random call last week, completely unexpected during his vacation, from his director offering him a promotion. I guess it is proof that I'm definitely not the only one who notices or thinks his dedication is pretty dang inspiring. 


So as of last Thursday, Nic started a new job. One that puts him well on his way to reaching his occupational dreams. One that meshes his love of health care administration and computer technology perfectly. And one that makes me more proud of him than ever. 

Congrats Mr. Operations Coordinator of Medical Practice! You deserve it and I could not be more proud of you.

Home

One of the best things about being young,
looking at the next 20, 30, 40 years of my life and realizing they are a completely blank canvas,
free to paint my own masterpiece on.

There is so much time.
Time to do things,
see things,
and live somewhere fabulous.

One of the BEST things about my relationship with Nic,
we talk,
ALL the time,
about EVERYTHING.
When we first met I could have sworn we lived the same life, it was seriously crazy!
I had to take a step back and convince myself that we weren't somehow related in some some sort of distant way. Ha
Some of the BIG life changes he went through, I had been through the exact same ones too.
His life story matched mine even before we met and now, more than ever, our life stories are bound together,
and I can't tell you how happy that makes me.
We get to experience those BIG changes in our future together.

One thing we talk about, a lot actually, one of those BIG life changes that are in the near future for us, is deciding where we want to live. The best part is, we realize it can be ANYWHERE.

If you remember from here, I could spend every waking moment at the beach.
I dream about living on the coast of somewhere beautiful,
maybe California,
in a big white house with the beach and ocean as my backyard, a porch that wraps around the entire house where I could spend Sunday afternoons in that little porch swing curled up with a good book.
We could take nightly walks barefoot on the beach, and have date nights down by the wharf at some quaint little restaurant that is owned by a local with yummy pastas and seafood.
Maybe a trip to the happiest place on earth (Disneyland) every now and again.
I don't know about you, but for me it doesn't get much more romantic or perfect than that.

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Mesh the Cullen house with Seattle and you have Nic's dream place.
There is something about Washington that he is really drawn to and if it wasn't for the constant rain about 350 days out of the year, I would be all over it.
It is where I was born after all, and downtown Seattle is truly amazing.
We could take ferry rides on the Puget Sound, enjoy the world's most amazing cup of clam chowder from Ivar's, walk around Pike Place Market.
I could even take my students to the aquarium!

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And then there is the beautiful city of Boise.
It is where I spent most of my childhood and more than anything, it is the best place my parents could have chosen to raise me.
It isn't too big but isn't too small either.
It has so many schools and hospitals for our careers.
Within practically a one hour radius there is skiing, sledding, rafting, camping, a lake, really anything outdoorsy you can possibly think of.
It has so much to offer.
Besides, we were married there so it is a big part of where our story began.
We would still be close to both sides of our family so that our future baby Williamsons can be close to grandma and grandpas. (or in my mom's case, they will be calling her grammasita) Yeah, its a long story... we won't go there. haha

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Oh, decisions, decisions.
The world has a lot to offer us and our new little family.
I think we will just spread our wings and see where the wind blows us :)
And no matter where we go, I'll always be happy and find home because....

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