Happy Fall…some super savor ways to decorate!

Hooray for Fall! It's been so fun this year having a house to decorate. We're on a pretty tight budget right now, so i've had to get creative in how I brighten up my home for the season. But one thing my mom always taught me is that you can do a lot with a little:) 

I've been having a lot of fun finding crafts on Pinterest and trying my hand with them. 

I made this leaf garland for my fireplace, which you can see below. I had a few coupons to Joanne's Fabric store, and got all my supplies there for next to nothing! A friend and I spent an afternoon cutting out these adorable leaves and stringing them up:) I also put a few of the fabric leaves on my table as decoration! 

Last Friday, some friends and I made soy candles (tutorial here). It was actually super duper easy and we had a blast! I adore candles but am super sensitive to most store-bought candles which have toxic fragrances. So making my own, scented with essential oils (I bought this one here called Christmas Spirit) was the perfect alternative. 

The cute Fall prints on my mantle are ALL free printables I found online! I know, I was so excited that they cost me nothing. I had the frames already, so just printed out the black and white prints at my house, and then printed out the watercolor wreath at Kinkos (as my printer wasn't big enough for the size of the frame). You can find the printables here, here and here. 

The real pumpkins I picked up at Trader Joes for 69 cents each, and the fake pumpkins I found at Joanne's for 50% off, so they were $3 each which I thought was quite the steal! 

So…moral of the story is that decorating can be both fun and economical!! 

And thank you ALL for the sweet and kind words you spoke to us about our sweet baby girl. It was so fun reading all your comments and connecting with you:) Love this community!! 

Happy Weekend, hope you're doing something Fallish to commemorate the season!! xoxo 

ps- if you missed it last year, you can see the Fall round-up I did last year of all my favorite Fallish links on the internet!! I recently revisited it and there's some fun stuff:) 

Our baby's gender reveal!

Last Friday Kevin and I went to an ultrasound place that can tell the gender of the baby from 16 weeks onward. I was so excited with butterflies in my stomach! Kevin and I really had no preference for the gender of our baby, so it was going to be exciting no matter what! 

I honestly have thought it was a girl my entire pregnancy. I've been super sick, girls run in my family, and all my food cravings were textbook girl cravings! Kevin and a few others thought it was a boy. So one of us was going to be right! 

Seeing our sweet baby at the ultrasound was amazing. We were there for almost an hour, and saw our baby in 2D and 3D imaging dancing around in my stomach! The tech told us the gender within minutes, and we both were delighted to finally know:) 

On Sunday morning we hosted my family at our house for a gender reveal. I wanted to do something low-key with just my family members, but something sweet and meaningful. Since we are super into our Swedish heritage, I asked my mom to make Swedish pancakes.

I then put a bowl of blueberries for people to top their pancake with if they thought it was a boy. 

And then a bowl of strawberries for people to top their pancake with if they thought it was a girl. 

Four people guessed girl, and two people guessed boy. 

And what did we top our crepe with? 

Strawberries!!! 

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

We are so delighted and over the moon for our sweet girl. The days since we've found out, I've just been praying over our little lady, talking with her, and delighting in the fact that I will have a daughter:) God is so good and gracious and we are pumped for the day when we get to hold her in our arms!! 

ps- the comfy yellow Fall sweater i'm wearing is from here. I've literally worn it SO often because it's both cozy and festive:) 

Why I've been MIA….we're having a BABY!!!

You may have noticed I haven't posted in FOREVER. 

And there is a reason for that… a very good reason for that! 

We are having a baby! 

We are so excited and can't wait for Spring to get here! 

Our little one arrives mid-March, and we are over the moon. 

BUT….

the reason for my absence is that I have been incredibly sick. 

As in throwing up multiple times a day, and feeling nauseated for the rest of it. 

I've had little energy to do anything other than just lay on the couch. 

I could barely pick up a book, looking at my computer made me sick, 

and even watching movies was pushing it. 

It is hard work growing a human! 

There have been days that I honestly did not think I was going to get through. Days where I told Kevin I thought I was going to die (dramatic, I know). But I can think of few things worse than that feeling right before you throw up, and then throwing up. 

For you mamas out there that have done this, I applaud you! 

Kevin has been incredibly amazing. For a few months, I could do nothing more than lay on our couch. He cleaned the house, made dinner, drove our international students around, and did it all with a great attitude. So many moments where I was throwing up that he was right there with me, rubbing my back, encouraging me through it. I honestly don't think I could have gotten through that time without him. 

So here I am, a few weeks into my second trimester, 

and the pain is starting to ease up a little. I'm not throwing up as much, and I have spurts of feeling somewhat normal. 

But I know it's all worth it, and come March we'll hold our little one and be SO grateful that God got me through this season. What a gift it is to carry a child, and we are thankful for this time! 

We'd love your prayers for our little peanut growing within me! (And I totally welcome any prayers for God to stop the throwing up haha!). Thanks for joining in this journey with us, and hopefully i'll be back on here a little more regularly!! 

love love love!!!