A Promising Future

On Monday, Jillian started in the Promises class at school.  The day came all too quickly for Jillian to transition to her new class.  

Walking into school with her new backpack

We have been talking to Jillian about this transition for a few weeks now.  There has been so much change in Jillian's world lately, and I was a little worried that she might not do well with yet another transition.  But, lo and behold, little Miss Adaptable has gone with the flow and she loves her new classroom.

Doesn't she look like such a big kid here?!

Jillian also loved showing her baby brother her school.  In a few short months, he'll be joining her there too. In her big sister book, the big sister is so happy because she can push the baby around in the stroller. So she insisted on pushing him around, even though she couldn't even see over the top! Silly Jilly!

Here's to a great year in the Promises class!

Your Merry Mailbox featuring The Acostas

I know, I know...it's August. And summer is still blaring in hot Texas. But there are only 120 days till Christmas...

Right now, you are probably thinking of your favorite memory from your favorite time of year. A time of cozy sweaters, hot chocolate in hand, snuggling up to a warm fire (ok, maybe heart-warming memories are all I can think of to counter this heat, I'm trying to play a Jedi-mind-trick on myself). 

Let's be honest, whether Christmas is 25 days away or 364 days away, it's always on our minds. Two good friends of mine, Katy and Cindy, decided to capitalize on this Merry all day, everyday. They started a blog featuring Christmas cards year-round. They tried to find a place where all aspects of a card, from card design to photo shoot styling to concept, were featured. When they couldn't find such a place, they created it. Your Merry Mailbox was born.

And today, they just so happen to be featuring us, the Acostas. Actually, it's the Acostas when there were only 2 of us (and baby Jilly was about to grace us with her presence).  Maybe you should pause from your day and head over to spread the Merry. But be careful...you may spend at least an hour looking at this website and planning your next Christmas card.

I know this crazy mama has already started planning for our card! What can I say, 120 days to go and I have lots of time on my hands since I'm on maternity leave.  (Hope the Merry Mamas are proud!)

Jillian's Big Girl Room

It was also time for big sister Jilly to get a big girl room!  Along with planning Alex's nursery, we also planned to change Jillian's room a little, too!  We started with her furniture.  We knew that we wanted the furniture in her room to be white, but we didn't want to buy all new stuff.  

Sanding down the old dresser

So Julian took her existing changing table and dresser, sanded them, and painted them white instead.  The changing table would go to Bubs, but the dresser stayed in Jilly's room.  

We also loved Jillian's blue room and the tree decal that we had on her wall.  But the decal never really stayed well because of the texture on the wall so we decided to paint it on instead.  

Here is Jilly at 9 months with the wall decal in her room

We took the image of the old decal, and made a few modifications.  First, we knew that the details on the leaves would be too much to paint so we just stuck to solid colored leaves.  And then we switched out one of the colors to add purple leaves, since this is Jillian's favorite color.  Lastly, instead of birds in the trees, we wanted an owl in the tree instead.

The beginnings of the leaves and owl

All the leaves and the tree stump

While painting the tree, Julian also installed Jillian's new wall bookshelf. Jillian wanted to help, of course!

Daddy's little helper

Ready to read all her books 

And finally, Jilly's tree was complete and the play side of her room was done!

We also got Jillian a new big girl bed.  We got her a full-size bed, and she looks so tiny in that big bed! And it was a little bit of an adjustment to get her used to this new bed.  We had to get her a rail because she fell out a few times.  Also, Jillian never got out of her crib...she never tried to climb out at all.  But she loves the new-found freedom of being able to get in and out as much as she wants.  Let's just say it has lead to some long sleepless nights with lots of adjusting.

Her first night in her new bed

Crazy-haired cutie

It took us a while to find the perfect bedding, but we finally mixed and matched items from Land of Nod, Pottery Barn Kids, and Target.

Her big girl bedding

All her guys on her bed

Lastly, Julian and his dad put up the curtains and installed the crown molding in Jillian's room. From what Julian says, the molding was pretty difficult to do, but it finishes the room off so well!

Jillian loves her big girl room and we do, too!  

Bubs' Nursery

Let me start this post by saying that I have an amazing husband and Bubby (and Jilly) have an amazing Daddy!  You see, when Julian found out he was having a son, he immediately went into nursery planning mode.  In fact, it was the thing that prompted him to start a Pinterest account.  He developed a vision of what he wanted Bubs' nursery to look like and we got to work on it.

In May, I went to El Paso with Jillian so that he could get started on the rooms.  He was working on Jillian's room (a post of Jilly's big girl room will come soon) and Alex's room at the same time (and working a full-time job, no big deal), and so it took him a few months to get all the details into both of their rooms.  For Alex's room, we decided on an elephant theme using grey and white with pops of navy and yellow.  Julian wanted to add chair rail to the room, and to paint the bottom grey and the top grey and white stripes.  Sounds easy, right?!

First, he painted the room white from top to bottom.  Then he added the chair rail around the room.  

Adding chair rail to the nursery

 Then he painted the bottom part grey and taped off the chair rail to paint it white, like the molding that was already in the room.

Painted grey on bottom and taping to paint chair rail

 And last, he taped off the room to paint the grey and white stripes.  This was no easy feat because the walls are textured so he did lots of research on how to get straight, clean lines.

Panoramic shot of the room taped off for stripes!

I think he did an amazing job!  And here is the final painted room!

This was taken at night so the lighting is a little yellow...but I think it still looks amazing in this light!

We bought Bubs a new crib since it seemed like staining Jillian's old crib to become white seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

We put the crib together maybe 2 days before Alex was born.  We got the crib and all the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.  I had his name embroidered on his quilt and his initials embroidered on his pillow, just like Jillian.  Jillian could not wait to see her baby in the crib!

Julian worked very hard on staining Jillian's changing table and dresser from the cherry/espresso finish they were to this white finish.  We also took off the door on the right side.

Instead of the door, we added bins from Restoration Hardware Kids and got his initials on one of those too.  

And his amazing wall art was done by my good friend, Meredith, and given to us at our baby shower.  I think it is the perfect addition to his room!

Julian put up the valance in his room to make the room look more finished.

Now all the room needed was a beautiful baby boy to call it his own!  We brought Alex to his nursery the day we brought him home.

His first glimpse of his room

Sweet boy sleeping in his crib

Alex, I hope you know how much your Daddy and I love you, and how hard your Daddy worked to give you the nursery of his dreams!  Your Daddy worked tirelessly for months on giving you (and your sister) a room that any kid would dream of!  Daddy did all the hard labor...Mommy did all the shopping!  But every last detail in your room was hand-picked just for you with love!

Bringing Home Baby Alex

After a 2-day stay in the hospital, it was time to bring home Baby Alex!  

We got him all ready in his bring home outfit, a customized "A" onesie from Miss Christen at our College Station shower.  

Julian and I both commented on how it was a little strange to be dressing a little human again who did not help put his own arms through the holes (or insist on doing it himself like big sister Jillian)!

But we were all dressed and ready to go home!

We had to load him up in his car seat.

And we finally got Baby Alex home!  We were so excited to take him inside to show him his room (blog post coming soon)!

Silly Jilly meets Adorable Alex on his Birth Day

As excited as we were to meet our son, we were even more excited to see Silly Jilly's reaction as she met Adorable Alex!  Jillian went to school the morning of August 5th as an only child. But by the time she got out of school, she had a new baby brother waiting for her!!!

I grew anxious as we were waiting for Jillian to show up.  Would she be elated?  A little sad to share the spotlight?  Uninterested or indifferent with him?  I had so many thoughts running through my head, but all positive thoughts because I knew that she had love in her heart for her baby brother.

And in true Jilly fashion, I could hear her barreling down the hospital hall.  It sounded like she was running to come see him.  As soon as she walked in, she shouted "I want to see my baby!!!"  And all my anxiety slipped away because I knew that she was nothing but excited to meet this little guy!  She came over immediately to give Mommy and Daddy a kiss.  But she saved all her sugar sweet energy to give her baby brother the first kiss from his big sister!!!

She came in with a Mickey Mouse and immediately wanted to share Mickey with "her baby."  It was a good sign that she was so willing to share such a prized possession.  

We have been talking to her about meeting her baby brother for quite some time now.  And as it got closer, we started telling Jilly that we were going to have a birthday party for Baby Alex on his Birth Day.  So I asked my mom to make cupcakes and buy balloons and we had a Birth Day party for Alex at the hospital.  We sang Happy Birth Day to Baby Alex and Jilly helped to blow out his 0 candle!  (We weren't sure if we could actually light it in the hospital, so we just pretended.)

One day, I took her to Toys R Us so she could pick out a birthday present for her brother.  And I had been asking her what she wanted from him.  Jillian wanted an Amulet of Avalor (from Sofia the First).  She asked for it every day by running up to my belly and saying, "You bring me the Amulet of Avalor for your birthday, Baby?!"  And true to his word ;) she got to open her present.  Not only did he bring her the Amulet, but he also got her the tiara and Sophia costume dress!

Jillian gave Alex a big hug and kiss to thank him for her present.  

Then she was so excited because she got to give him the present she had chosen for him.  She had picked out a lion and monkey, just for him.  She had also been running up to my belly to tell him what she had gotten for him.  Guess she's not going to be very good at keeping secrets from her baby brother!

  We enjoyed a few more cuddles from Jillian before it was time for her to leave.  

I have my whole world in my hands here!

I think all of the excitement wore out Adorable Alex because he was happy to go back to his little crib.

Silly Jilly, you welcomed your baby brother, Adorable Alex, with open arms and an open heart.  We can tell already that you are going to be amazing friends and that you are going to be the best big sister to "our baby!"  Your Daddy and I are so proud of you for how well you are adjusting to life as a family of four!

Our first picture as a family of four!