Aren't Moms Wonderful!

Last weekend Stephen and I painted the baby's room so it would be ready for when my mom came up on Wednesday to paint a mural. We were super excited about the paint color (a bright aqua) and knew it would look great for a boy or a girl. Stephen and I wanted to do some sort of nature (no big surprise there!) mural and decided on birch trees...a favorite in the Ericksen household. When we told my mom she loved the idea and of course exceeded our expectations!

Didn't she do a wonderful job! My mom has definitely found her niche! Not only do I love that my mom painted this but that I get to tell my little boy that his G-ma painted this for him.

I can't tell you how wonderful it is that my mom is a part of the pregnancy experience with me. Even though we are 5 hours away (and I wish we were closer) I cherished the time we had together over this last week. It was so fun to have her at the ultrasound, shop with me after it for baby boy cloths and use her creative talents to create something beautiful. She was the most creative mom when we were growing up and I know she will be the same way with her grandchildren.

Moms have a way of just making things right! As I am thinking about how to be a parent I am so thankful for the example that my mom was and still is to me. I feel like I can go to her for advice and know that I will as I walk through this stage of my life. I know she will teach me and show me things about being a mom that I have no clue how to do. I know that she will be patient with me and when I am a teary mess on the floor and feel as though I am failing she will let me know that it's OK and that I am doing a great job. I think this new stage of life brings a new and even deeper relationship with your parents. The people that raised you now get to watch and be a part of you raising someone...I feel even more blessed now that I have such wonderful parents on both sides!

Thank you mom for teaching me to be creative and for always encouraging me in that way. You are the best mom and I am so excited for you to have a grandson : )

Oh BOY Oh BOY

Yesterday we went for my 21 week ultrasound and found out that we are having a BOY! I am still a little wowed by the entire experience and honestly wondering..."A Boy! Can I do this?". Coming from a family of all girls it is a little overwhelming to think about having a boy. It's no longer about dolls, dress-up, and bows. Its about trains, getting dirty, and bugs...at least that is how I am differentiating it now : )

 Don't get me wrong. I am SO EXCITED!!! Its just a new thing that I have to wrap my mind around. It was so fun to watch Stephens expression when we found out it was a boy. It makes me excited because I know how excited he is. I feel like we are both still processing this news and I can't wait to just talk to him about it more.
It is so crazy how much it changes everything knowing what the sex is. I can stop calling the baby "it" and actually start calling it "he". You start thinking about what this little boy will look like. Will he have blue eyes? Will he love to play outside? Will he have my nose or Stephens? I hope he will like to camp?...well if not we will drag him : ) I just LOVE knowing! I love that we can focus on boy names, boy things, and boy cloths (which I am not going to lie...my mom and I immediately purchased some yesterday). I love that this boy will carry on the "Ericksen"name! I think most of all I will love seeing my dad interact with a little boy. Since he only had girls, and that is how we have all seen him interact with us, it makes my heart happy to see what this little boy will bring out in him. And then there is Stephen! Wow...he is going to be an amazing father. I wish I could have captured his face yesterday. I am sure I will write more about this as I process but I wanted to get the news out there. Here we go...Oh boy oh boy let the adventures begin!

The process begins

So last night Stephen and I painted the nursery! No, we don't know what we are having yet but we picked a neutral color that we feel can go either way. The color we picked is a bright aqua blue. It is so cheerful and makes me really happy!
Here is a little sneak peak...

Its hard to tell what the exact color is but this will give you an idea.
On Sunday, as I was standing in Lowe's, with 15 (not even kidding) color swatches, asking Stephen every 5 minutes..."what do you think about this one?" "Are your sure?" "Really? You like this one?" I realized this is only the beginning of the decision making process. Now I know there will be much greater decisions with this child then what color to paint the room but it just got me thinking about how life is full of decisions (good and bad) that ultimately help shape our lives. This little human inside of me will one day have to make their own decisions and some of them will be good and some of them, I am sure, Stephen and I will wonder "what were they thinking!?!"
As we were painting last night, we were both a little awe struck at the fact that we were painting a baby nursery. We will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary this September and just looking back we are so grateful for where the Lord has brought us and what He has taught us over the years. I feel like we have learned a lot about each other and I am so excited to start this next adventure with him. He is going to be an amazing father and I can't wait to see that side of him!
This morning as I was getting ready he came upstairs with my morning cup of coffee and said "come on." Keresa: Where are we going? Stephen: Lets go have coffee in the babies room and look at the color.
Stephen: "I love it! This is getting me really excited about this baby."

I almost started crying right then and there! Needless to say I am feeling really blessed today!!

Proud Pop

So my mom sent me this picture today and I had to post it. Yesterday one of the weather men from Fox News in St. Louis gave my dad his first grandfather gift. Needless to say my dad was super excited!!

Its a little golf club set! Golf is definitely one of my dad's most favorite things to do. I think he is pretty excited about the thought of having another golf partner. Dad you will be a wonderful teacher...just like you were to me in more areas of my life then just golf : ) I love you daddy!!

Belly Pic

Ok, So I guess it is time for me to post a belly picture. I just had my 18 week appointment last Friday and the doctor said that everything looks great! The baby is growing and the heart beat is strong...Praise the Lord! Sorry that this is not the best picture. I will have Stephen take one next time. Just wanted to get one up for all of you that have been asking : )

Urge, Purge and Redesign

So I am starting to feel the strong urge to get everything in order before the baby comes. This manifests itself in ways like cleaning out closets, purging my life of unnecessary things (Stephen has a rule that I am not allowed to touch his stuff...that was probably a good call on his part!) and getting projects that I have wanted to do DONE. This past weekend while Stephen and I were both out of town we had a college kid that we know come and paint our kitchen and den. These two rooms flow right into each other and I have been wanting to paint them for awhile. It was so nice to come home and have it done. As I started piecing the rooms back together I decided that I wanted to "rearrange" the den. There is something refreshing about reworking a room and I was inspired by some friends of mine that had just done this same thing to their living room...shout out to the Clausens! When we first moved in and set up this room I liked it but always wanted to try and have the kitchen and the den flow together better. 
As I was moving things around I realized that I didn't have all the pieces that would make the vision in my head a reality. I would need another end table and 2 lamp shades to go on top of these lamp bases that my mom gave me. So I headed out. First stop HomeGoods. Most of the end tables there were out of my price range since I was going for very cheap but I did find lampshades like this for $12.99 a pop. I snagged 2.

Next stop Goodwill. I found a end table for $2.99 but it needed some serious love...

Sick right? Since I didn't have a lot of time I decided to try my hand at spray paining the table.I gave it a good wash, let it dry and then spray painted the body of the table coco brown. The top part of the table drops down about 3 inches and has a piece of glass that goes over it kinda like a shadow box.  I decided to paint that inside part white to add some contrast and make a nice crisp backdrop for some of the fun things I was going to put into it. The project took less then 2 hours and this is how it turned out...

And here is the entire room.

So that is my project. One down and a couple more to go!