Life Lately

Life in the Mastin house has been busy and full these last few weeks and it's only going to get busier in the weeks to come.  We are thankful that all of the busyness comes from such wonderful blessings, while so many people who are overwhelmed by sickness and other difficult situations.  We wrapped up our house plans and finished choosing most of the materials (or a general idea of them) so that we can get bids.  We met with three builders and should have bids back from them in a week or two.  The Lord also answered a huge prayer and led us to a great rental house and we are set to close on our house next Friday.  Our sweet buyer is giving us two weeks to move out so we'll spend the week before Easter packing up and moving.  I've also reached the point in my pregnancy where I am going to Birmingham every other week for my doctor's appointment.  Again, I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining because all of these things are wonderful blessings in our life and we are so thankful for each of them!

Amidst all of this, we have managed to find time to have a little fun ;)  With the beautiful weather we've been having we made our way to the park last Friday.  Miller loves the park which also happens to be on the lake where we can feed the ducks.  I'm determined to make more of an effort to go to the park before school gets out and the big kids take over.  And before it's 100 degrees.

 

We also took Miller to his first play a few weeks ago.  Our local high school put on Seussical the Musical and we had several kids from our church in it.  We decided to give it a shot and prepared ourselves to leave at intermission if needed.  Thankfully, Miller did great!  He loved it.  He got a little squirmy during the last fifteen minutes or so, but we held him over with promises of getting to go hug the Cat in the Hat, aka "Mogan".

Speaking of musicals, Miller has turned into quite a musical little child.  He sings songs all day long.  Some of his recent favorites are "Deep and Wide", "My God is So Big", "Farmer and the Dell", "The Frog Song" {I don't really know the name of that one}, "B-I-N-G-O", and "Away in a Manger".  He also wants to say the blessing for every meal.  I have to say there is something so touching about hearing his sweet little voice recite such simple truths about God.  When he says, "There's nothing my God cannot do!" which such determination, it is great reminder for my often weak faith.  I tried to video a few of these songs, but in his typical fashion he didn't want to perform on camera. **Apparently my computer is refusing to upload this video tonight.  Arghh...  I'll try again later, but it's bedtime for this momma.**

Goodnight friends!

A Trip for Two

This past weekend I cashed in my Valentine's gift from Bryant which was one last trip for just the two of us before the baby comes.  We had a difficult time deciding where to go since we didn't want to go too far {we could only squeeze in a weekend trip} and I didn't want to do much this far along in my pregnancy.  We finally landed on Nashville based on the fact that they supposedly have a large Home Expo with lots of design ideas for building.  After a little research we decided to stay here...

at the Hermitage Hotel.  And boy am I glad we did.  It. Was. Fabulous.  It had such a rich, historical charm all while being the upscale kind of place where they make you feel like royalty.  It was built in 1910 and there were little tidbits about the history of the hotel all over the place.

 

Check out the prices on this menu from 1913.  Yep, it's in cents.

I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a neat place to stay in Nashville.  Shortly after our arrival we changed and headed downstairs for dinner at the Capitol Grille.

It was delicious.  We're pretty sure there was some old, famous country star there because he was getting a lot of head turns and a lot of attention, but we never figured out who he was.  After dinner, big momma {that's me} wanted to take full advantage of the amazing bathtub WITH a sweet little TV to watch.  Dateline and a bubble bath.  Ahhh...

The next day we ordered breakfast and headed out to the Home Expo.  You know, the one we based our trip on.  We thought we'd need a few hours there so we really didn't make other plans for the day.  We were a little confused when we drove up to "Nashville's Largest Home Store" to what looked to be no larger than a Dollar Tree or so.  We were even more confused when we got inside and there were only about three kitchens and three bathrooms on display.  That was it.  Other than that it was really just a store with flooring materials, granite, a few faucets, etc. and it wasn't much different from local stores we've visited other than the fact that you could buy multiple types of materials in one place.  Bummer.  We had a good laugh over it and after debating taking a tour of the stars' homes, drove back to our hotel {I'm sure the valet guy wondered why we only left for about an hour} and walked down to Broadway.  We ate our way down the street, did a little shopping, and watched a few street performers.  

That night we went to a restaurant that our waiter from the night before had recommended, Watermark.

It was delicious and had a really fun, modern atmosphere.  Afterwards, we walked around a bit and took the scenic route home to take in a few sites.  Let me just tell you, if you are from Nashville there are some absolutely beautiful places to get married.  Just sayin'.

Sunday morning we ordered breakfast again in order to take full advantage of our royalty status :)  I went down to the spa for a massage while Bryant packed our stuff and got us all checked out.  The massage was wonderful for about 45 of the 60 minutes.  For the last little bit of it, she had me lay on my back.  I was confused, because you're not supposed to do that this far along in pregnancy, but she had previously told me how she had two small children and she seemed to no a lot about pregnancy ailments, etc.  So I just thought she would incline the table or prop me up or something, but no.  I should have just said something as soon as I realized that she was in fact going to have me lay flat on my back for an extended period of time, but the people pleaser in me couldn't bring myself to say anything for some reason.  That is until I thought to myself, "If I don't say something soon I'm either going to pass out on her table or throw up on her.  Probably less awkward to just say something."  She put a pillow under my head thinking that would help, but I finally just sat straight up and said, "Sorry, I just can't lay like that."  She told me that I had about two more minutes of my massage, but I told her that we could go ahead and wrap things up.  I felt so bad for some reason and I could tell she felt really bad too.  Oh well.  

After I got dressed I met Bryant in the Lobby and we loaded up to go home.  We took our time getting home stopping at Target and J. Alexander's on the way.  We missed the little man like crazy, but it really was so rejuvenating to just get away and have some time together.  It also gave us some time to focus and finally decide on a name for this sweet baby boy.  So, if you've made it this far you deserve to be the first to know ;)  {Well, after our family members of course.}  Baby boy will be known as...

Jacob Paul Mastin

We will call him Jacob.  Paul was my grandfather's name and my dad's first name so we thought we'd name this baby after someone from my family since Miller has his daddy's name {"Bryant", which is also a Mastin family name from way back when}.  I'm so glad to actually be able to call him something now and it makes it feel even more real.  I can't believe Jacob will be here in about two months!  Crazy.

Birthdays

February in our family is almost like Christmas all over again.  We celebrate the birthdays of Gran, Poppy, Malley, Papa Frank, Bryant, and Scott.  I think Miller was a little confused when we were constantly singing "Happy Birthday" to someone different every other day.  We celebrated Papa Frank's 60th birthday with a delicious dinner at their house.  Miller was more than willing to help blow out the candle, which is his favorite sporting event.  He may go pro on us.

A few days later we celebrated Bryant's birthday early.  We had planned for Miller to go see Pop and Gran while we went to Huntsville for the night on Bryant's actual birthday.  I didn't think about celebrating the night before so that Miller could blow out a candle with his daddy.  So we improvised with a Samoa, Bryant's favorite Girl Scout cookie, and a strawberry to hold it in place.  I think everyone was ok with it, but next time I'll at least get a cupcake or something.  Sorry guys.

And of course no birthday is complete without a kiss from the little man.

Happy birthday again, Mom, Dad, Frank, Malley, Scott, and Bryant!  I'm so happy the Lord created each of you and I'm blessed to have you all in my life!

Rainy Day Fun

To occupy the little man one rainy afternoon this week, I turned to an activity I found on Pinterest.  It turned out to be a big hit and we'll definitely be doing it again.  A little shaving cream, food coloring, and a paint brush provided Miller with almost an hour of entertainment.

While he was working on his masterpiece, I took advantage of the time and did some really important things like snap a picture of the baby bump...

It might have been wise for me to use this time to put on some makeup.  Wow.  {Notice my broken camera strap?  I had my camera around my neck in the bathroom and my strap broke sending my camera and brand new fancy lens crashing to the tile floor.  Praise the good Lord it didn't break.  This lens is pretty heavy so I guess I'll need to invest in a heavy-duty strap.}

I also FINALLY took some pictures of Miller's big boy room.  I decided to invest as little as possible in this room since, at the time I decorated it, we thought we'd be here less than a year or so.  The only thing I spent money on are the things we can take with us like his bed, dresser, and bedding.  I won't be winning any decorating awards, but it works and at least kind of all goes together.  It's a good thing I didn't do much, because we had someone else approach us about buying our house.  We have a contract and should close before the end of this month.  Should being the keyword.  Our buyer has graciously allowed us two weeks after closing to move out since we had a closing fall through recently.  So this time around we'll wait for the ink to dry before we start packing things, etc.  Anyway, enough about all that, here's the big boy room...

I'm pretty sure we couldn't fit another piece of furniture in his room if we tried.  It's a little cramped, but it works just fine for now.  Miller is still sleeping in his cage crib for now and we use his big bed for reading books and snuggling before bedtime.  My plan is to put the baby {who is still nameless by the way} in the pack-n-play bassinet for the first few months and then transition Miller to his big bed in order to pass the crib down to little brother.  It will be awesome if I can at least keep him in there until baby boy is sleeping through the night.  It is so nice to be in control of when the little tasmanian devil is allowed out of his bed and I think it will help, at least a little, with the sleep deprivation.  We'll see if he gives me that long before he starts climbing out though.

After completing my very important tasks, I returned to find his completed project.

He had so much fun being allowed to make a mess and cleanup was a breeze.  Now that's my kind of art project :)