Things to think about

A good friend of mine just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Actually she is one of my 3 girlfriends that are expecting a boy along with me! She was the first one to give birth and let me just say, when I went to visit her in the hospital I was giddy with excitement thinking about our little boy coming.

When she got home we talked a couple of times and she told me her daughter, who is friends with Riley, was having a hard time with the new addition. I thought I would bring her daughter a gift to see if I could cheer her up. I scored this table cloth at a yardsale down the street last weekend and wasn't sure if I was going to cut it up or use it. I dug through Rileys old onesies and cut the bottom off. Unfortunately this was a lot of work because I was trying new techniques to see what worked best. In the past I have hand ruffled as I attached the bottom fabric, this time I ruffled with my machine. I think ruffling with the machine was a lot harder to attach.

Anyway, she loved the dress and that is all that matters! I have been on a crafting frenzy lately and I think it's my way of nesting. I need to start washing the babys clothes in the next couple of weeks and get them in his dresser. I am so anxious to get the nursery done and MANY more projects before the baby comes.

Baby Update!

On Saturday I will be 32 weeks preggers with our baby boy. We had a midwife appointment today and everything is going great.
Because of my first pregnancy I feel a lot more pressure this time around. The muscles are looser and somewhat damaged which makes it harder to carry the 2nd one. I am definitely looking forward to strengthening my abdominal muscles after Avery is born. I can't wait to get back to running and exercising with my mommy group. I can't believe that just last August I ran my first 10k and now I am out of breath running around in the backyard with Riley. This pregnancy has really put into perspective how I want to live my "active" life after the baby is born. I was really getting into being more active and exercising almost everyday. I look back at pictures from August and although I wasn't the weight I wanted, I liked how I looked. I felt I was really starting to look toned and healthy. I also really want to model fitness for my children and how important it is to take care of our bodies.
My midwife Cheryl scheduled another ultrasound for me in two weeks and I am thrilled! If you know me at all, I am very impatient. I cannot wait to see my little boys face. I remember we had an ultrasound with Riley at 34 weeks too and it was the most amazing thing to see her little face in there.
Jim and I can't wait to meet our little guy! Hopefully by the end of next week his room will be done, I finished his curtains and his mobile today. Pictures to come!

What do you do on a tight budget? Make it yourself!

My job for today is to make (start working on) some curtains like these for the little guys room. Although they are a little feminine, I need to find a creative way to make them more masculine. Because Averys room is also doubling as our guest room I have really tried to not make it very "baby." Instead of the white ruffle I purchased red fabric for this part to tie in the rest of his bedding and decor. The best part about this whole deal is these panels are from Pottery Barn Teen and they run about $69/panel. I went to Joanns and bought 6 1/2 yards of muslin for $1.99/yard with a 40% coupon. Plus one yard of the red fabric at $1.99/yard. Let me do the math for you! $14.93-$5.97 (40%)=$8.95..whoop whoop! And no, the muslin fabric is probably not nearly as nice as the pottery barn sheer fabric but as long as you don't rub your face all over the curtains we should be in good shape. Also, sometimes I risk my stress level when I work on these projects but as long as they turn out good, I am ok with it all!

I use to be a huge fan of Jon & Kate plus 8, and I will admit, when they announced their divorce I cried. But one thing she said on her show really hit home for me.. She said that Jon goes out and works and she is blessed to stay home with her kids, so her job is to make his paycheck stretch as far as possible. This has really been helpful for me when I have the shopping urge. I have really been trying to get creative with our finances lately and seeing how many things I can make as opposed to buy. One huge thing that we are doing now is eating out WAY less. We never ate out a ton anyways but realized we could still safe money. Even if that means on the nights I don't feel like cooking, we make something easy such as quesadillas or sandwiches.

Also because we are trying to furnish a house that is more than double the size of our last, I have really been hitting up the yard sales (yard sale season, whoohoo!). For instance, I scored a fairly brand new wood double bed last weekend from an estate sale for $25.00. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but once I got it in the room and have been surfing the internet for bedding ideas, it's going to be great! And last but not least, you can't beat craigslist!

Do you have any money saving tips you would like to share?

You know you are hormonal when....

You know you are hormonal when; you have no energy, so this weekend you spend what little energy you have redoing a toy chest for the nursery only to have it ruined the next day! Ok, let me just complain for a minute. I was cleaning out the inside of Averys newly redone toy chest this morning and I walked away for a minute. Riley found the spray bottle that contained bleach) and sprayed it on the newly recovered fabric portion. I have to admit, I cried. It is the only thing that is finished in the babys room. Oh wait, I have hung one picture, so now that one picture is the only thing. And if you have ever been pregnant you know that when you "nest" you want things done and you want it done now!

On a more positive note, early this morning (before the bleach incident) I ordered two more yards of the same fabric for the bedding so Jim will need to recover it for a second time.

Also, the cleaner I was using, got thrown away, no cleaner that I am using should bleach a piece of fabric! ughhh! You live and you learn!

Pillow Talk

Jim and I scored two of these wingback chairs from craigslist last weekend. When we got them home and put them in the room I was so giddy but they needed a little something to them. So I whipped up these grey pillows and I am in LOVE! The best part was I already dad the pillow forms, so all I needed to do was purchase the fabric. I think I spent about $6.00 on the fabric, now if you know the price of pillows, this is REALLY cheap! Did I mention the chairs recline?! They are glorious! And are position right next to the window where I have about 100 roses blooming right now. I find myself over there many times a day, just sitting and if you know me, thats not typical for my personality! This room has turned out to be more than I could have ever imagined and has given me a place to go to just RELAX.

Friendship

I was so saddened to hear this week that a father of two little girls in Rileys music class suddenly passed away on Wednesday, leaving his three young girls and his wife. I sat and thought about it a lot lastnight and cried for them. My heart was convicted about some things with my own husband. Did I kiss him before he left for work? Did I say I love you? Did he leave feeling loved and taken care of? I immediately emailed him at work telling him that I could not imagine one day let alone a life time without him by my side. Jim has brought the most amazing joy to my life since we started dating almost 7 years ago. Next month we will celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary and I cannot believe all that has happened in 4 years. We bought our first condo, gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, supported eachother through my MIL's stroke, bought a house and now are expecting our son in June. Of course there are many other things that have happened to strenghten our marriage over the years.
I get giddy when I see his car pulling in the drive, when he brushes my shoulder in the kitchen or when he lays his head on my belly. But does he know I feel this way? I have committed to showing and telling him these things every day. We never know when a loved one will suddenly leave our lives and I want to make sure everyday he knows my deep love for him.

I was going through a random box this week and came across an unmarked CD, I popped it in the DVD player and to my surprise it was the song we danced to at our wedding (sung by my sister and brother in law). It was beautiful song by Casting Crowns and the lyrics go like this:

Your love is extravagant
Your friend, it is intimate
I feel like moving to the rhythm of Your Grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place
Your love is extravagant
Chorus:
Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin
No greater love that I've ever known You considered me a friend
Capture my heart again
Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin
No greater love that I've ever known You considered me a friend
Capture my heart again
Your love is extravagant
Your friendship is intimate.


I must have replayed this 30 times thinking about the day we said, "I do."
I want to encourage everyone to tell whoever you need to how much you love them because in an instant, they can be gone

A Birthday Celebration

1. I blogged yesterday about wanting to make a banner for Averys room so I thought I would test one out today for a birthday lunch I am hosting tomorrow afternoon with some girlfriends. I fell in love with the banner when my SIL made one for my other SIL's baby shower. I made the triangles out of burlap and used scrapes of fabric to make the letters. Then I embellished with whatever I had around. I opted for it to say "Happy Bday" because I knew Birthday would take me a lot longer! We are about to have three kiddos so I am sure I will use this time and time again! And get this, if I had been able to sit down straight, it probably would have only taken me an hour and probably cost about $6-7.00 Can't beat that!

Everything is temporary!

Or so I have been telling myself that all day! We've had somewhat of a rough couple days with Riley. So this morning I took her to the Dr. and poor girl has a sinus infection and double ear infection =( boo! Her pediatrican gave us an antibiotic and told me to give her Dimetapp Cold and Allergy, because it would wipe her out. Well, that sure didn't happen. Her eyes are droopy but she would not take a nap! I took all her toys out of her room and her books in hopes that she wouldn't be distracted but the girl can find anything to play with. It looks like 6:30 bedtime again until we can get back to a routine. She weighed in at 28lbs! I knew I was carrying a heavy girl but my goodness! Pregnancy is so much harder the 2nd time around, not only am I carrying my "new weight" I am hauling around a toddler!

Anyway, enough complaining for now. Jim finished painting the little ones room lastnight (bless his heart) and I have been really getting the URGE to get it done, which goes right a long with my personality. My friend Stephanie made a darling mobile for her little one who is due right after us. I told her I may need to copy her idea! Here are some things I came across today while looking for ideas. I am thinking about purchasing the bird decals and I have an antique window that is painted blue that I am going to put over the top to give the illusion that it's another window (does this make sense?!)

I am really big on having Averys name somewhere in his room but didn't want to do the letters like I did in Rileys room so I thought of doing a banner made out of burlap. I found some online that I like but will need to tweek them a bit to match his room.

Horizontal Time

According to my midwife I am suppose to be having 1 hour of uninterrupted horizontal time every afternoon to help stop my early contractions. Did she notice the two year old I brought to the appointment? You know, the one that was crawling all over me and would barely let the midwife conduct the appointment?

Anyway, Riley has decided to try and stop taking her afternoon nap. Every time I think about it, I want to cry. Long story short, rather than laying "horizontal" I have been sitting on the couch doing crafty fun things as my way of resting. It's a pain to haul all my stuff to the touch (fabric, glue gun, pins, etc) but I am really trying to do as much resting as possible. For instance, yesterday Riley wanted to play in her sandbox so I took an extension cord outside so I could plug in my glue gun (my bestfriend).

Here are some of the things that I have been working on lately. The $5.00 boring white Ikea lamp is vamped up with some fabric flowers. And who says a boy and girl can't have matching outfits? Yes, these are for the 4th of July. I am due the week before so I wanted to make sure their outfits were done before Avery makes his appearance!

Monday Mumbles

This past weekend was unusually productive in our household. When we have had guests over they cannot believe how much we have finished on our house in such a short amount of time, yes there have been tense stressful times but for the most part, I don't feel like it's over taken our lives by any means. Like I have said in previous posts, this has been my husbands life long dream, to own a home. He happily fertiziles the yard, mows the lawn, turned our in ground hot tub into a huge sand box for Riley (his proudest moment!) He stayed up late touching up paint and did I mention he drove me to Corning, Paradise and across town all this weekend to check out some craigslist purchases. And let me just say, it was well worth it! We scored an antique dresser/changing table for the little mans room, a desk, and two wing back chairs (that recline!) for our formal living room!

We are in the middle of potty training Riley. This has been WAY harder than I anticipated. I just want to make sure we are doing what is best for Riley in the approach we are taking. Plus, when you are 7 months pregnant, bending over to wipe a booty and clean the training toilet is rough! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Ohhh la la

My friend and fellow mommy blogger Morgan at mamalovespapa.com posted a tutorial for making headbands and let me just say, ever since she did I cannot stop making them! I am having girlfriends over next week for a friends birthday so I thought I would make her a couple of headbands as a gift, but as I was making them I couldn't give them up! So I have had to make doubles of almost all of them. The great thing is, Riley and I can fit into the same size headband!

I love adding "bling" and different ribbons to the headband. My house is a mess, I kind of smell from my walk in the park today, but who cares?!? I'm having a great time making these headbands! Did you recognize the fabric from the headband I am wearin? It is the tie backs for Rileys curtains that I wasn't using!

Bling for your hair

With Spring approaching I have been wanting to spruce up my hair accessories. I love a good headband, especially since lately I have been opting for a pony tail rather than actually styling my hair. Forever 21 is my go to place, not only because they have a huge selection but because it is so in expensive. These are some of my musts for my hair this spring and summer. And get this, they are all under $4.00! Can't beat that!

Big Time

Today marked a big day in our household, Riley had to give up her crib for her little brother. Jim's parents were gracious enough to give us this antique toddler bed. Jim said it's about 100 years old. We spent yesterday sanding and painting it. Because it's an antique, the size of a standard twin mattress was too long. So my handy husband worked away yesterday to cut and secure it back together. I have to admit, when he was explaining it to me, I was picturing something quite "ghetto." I really should give my husband more credit because it was seamless. He even braced the bottom so if there happen to be any monkeys jumping on the bed that it would hold. I just bought these darling green/creme damask sheets and a big girl pillow for her at Ross today. I will don't have a bed skirt or a bed spread but it may take me a while to put those together.

Shout out to my sister in law Becky who scored the antique style R for her wall. I am in L.O.V.E! Next up is the transformation of our littlest boys room!

My little Sicky

This was Riley two days ago at Table Mountain and today she is sick in our bed with a bad head cold. It breaks my heart every time she is sick. As mothers we feel the need to protect and when she gets sick sometimes I feel like I haven't protected her.

Riley has gotten sick a lot in her first 2 years. From the time she was 12 months to when she was 20 months she caught the stomach flu 8 times! After many prayers and research, we took her to have blood work done and found out she has an immune deficiency. It's nothing really serious and we are hoping she will grow out of it. But unfortunately she catches everything.

I brought her in bed with us lastnight after she woke up crying and she kept falling in and out of sleep because she couldn't stop coughing and sneezing. She kept leaning over and rubbing my face and arms. I swear, she is the sweetest little girl. It warmed my heart that she was so sick but wanted to give me comfort as well. When I was in the earlier stage of this pregnancy she would come rub my back and sing to me.

One of her favorite shows is "Yo Gabba Gabba" and they sing alot of songs. So in her sleep last night she started signing, "Keep trying, keep trying, don't give up, don't give up." She is a huge reason why I keep trying and don't give up! Love you my little girl!

Ohhh how I love fabric!

I just purchased this fabric for the little boys room! I am planning on making his bumper and crib skirt for his bed as soon as it arrives.

I had to get Jim's opinion on all the fabrics and he definately wanted some "blue in the room." Avery's room will also have to double as our guest room so I didn't want something to "baby." 10 weeks and counting!

Hosting our first Holiday!

Jim and I had the absolute pleasure of hosting our family for Easter this year. We had 13 adults and 6 kids. Luckily since we just moved in, the house was clean but I still had a lot to get ready.

Everything went so well! We had to have the Easter egg hunt inside due to the rain but it worked out great. We had so much fun hanging out, eating, playing the wii, chatting, etc.

I have such an amazing family and they are so easy to host!

Jim and I still have alot to get done but yesterday was an amazing start to many more holidays we would love to have at our house

Cupcakes

What do you do when you have a craving for something? Pretend like you have a great idea of baking cupcakes with the kids for Easter!

I really tried to take it easy today because lastnight I was feeling tightness in my abdomen that could only remind me of small contractions. I flipped over in bed many times, then got in the bath, then came and slept on the couch for a couple of hours. Finally it passed. I promised Jim that I would call the midwife tomorrow and talk to her about my symptoms.

My plan of resting didn't really get to happen because I had already promised DJ that we would dye Easter eggs and make Easter cupcakes. So off the the bathtub I go to get some R&R. We have family coming into town for Easter and we are hosting, I can't wait!