It's Looking Like Christmas

Over the weekend we....

• Had our family Christmas photos taken by my awesome brother who was in town for Thanksgiving.
• Steve hung Christmas lights and we put up our first 'savings' Christmas tree (paired with the tree skirt and all!)
• And Steve hung the crown molding in the nursery. :)

Why do I call it a 'savings' tree? Well one day we want to get a nice 12 foot tree that fits right in front of our window. Being that these huge trees cost a pretty penny we opted out to purchasing one this year, and will wait till our wee one can get excited about Christmas to get the real deal. So last year about 2 weeks after Christmas I purchased this tree from Walmart for a crisp $5 bill. Then I went shopping for more deals on ornaments, tree topper and lights from places like Michales, Hobby Lobby and Meijer. We weren't sure how it was all going to look put together, but we think it fits perfectly for us this year.

xo m.

Thanksgiving

TV Time

At least once/twice a week (give or take) we get to sit down together for an hour and enjoy our basement and watch some TV shows as a family.

Last night little baby B poked their head up to join in!

How funny, right? I was just laying on the couch and 'POP', little baby B's head just nudged right out. Steve got to feel how hard the right side of my belly was compared to the left. It is just a great reminder that soon enough our family will be one daddy, one mommy, one puppy, and one BABY!! Oh and it was also a great reminder how I need to put up curtains in the basement windows so no peppers can look in on us! Don't worry, that is on the 'list'.

Check out my belly from the top view looking down. There IS a baby in there!! :)

xox m.

another update

No 28 week photo this week... sorry baby B we forgot to take it! Looks like that week in the baby book will be journal entry only ;)

I had a baby doc appointment 3 weeks ago and I was told I am measuring big. Well I went into the doctor yesterday and I am back to measuring on track however, I failed my glucose test. For those who aren't or have not been preggers basically you drink this drink and they draw some blood after an hour. If you score 130 or below you pass. I scored a 132... wah wahh...  So next step is I go in Monday for the 3 hour test. Now if I fail this test then it means I have gestational diabetes.  I am hoping that the first test was a fluke and I will pass with flying colors the 2nd time around. It just stinks that I have to sit at the doctor's office for 3 hours - guess it's time to catch up on my reading! So prayers, that I pass this test on Monday, are welcomed :)


Other news: Steve got into another accident on his way home from work. :( He was stopped waiting for the car in front of him to turn left and a truck slammed into him from behind. After being pushed 6+ feet Steve saw the truck back up and drive away. This obviously made Steve angry so without hesitation he followed suite and tried to catch up to the truck to get the license plate number. The truck was being very reckless... driving 100+ mph, swerving in the other lane of traffic to pass other cars, and even turning off his lights when Steve got close so the license plate was unable to be seen. Steve got all the numbers/letters except the middle number and we are now praying that the police department can plug in numbers 1-9 and figure out who this guy is. We are praising God that Steve was not hurt! The car (which actually was my mom's car. They switched for the past 2 weeks because Steve was prepping it to sell) is pretty smashed up and we wait to hear from the insurance company if it's declared totaled or not.


Two days and it's TURKEY DAY! So excited and blessed to have a nice full day & evening with my husband, parents, and brother! Just the 5 of us this year. Couldn't be more excited! I feel like I am a 5 year old kid on Christmas morning.


And I guess I can't really do a post without a photo... so check out the cutest little shoes for the lil one:

Tiny Toms!

Yep, pretty sure I will splurge one day and get these for my lil one. They are adorable! Agree?!

xox m.

The List

Call it nesting, but I had an urge to make a list of items to do before the baby comes.

The items on my list range from finishing the kitchen to painting a side table for the nursery. So I have control of some items, but not all ;)


There are 40 items (so far) on the list and 3.... make that 4 items have now been crossed off.

7. Find a crib that we like.

8. Make Christmas Tree skirt If you missed it, check it out here!

16. Powerwash the side of the house (this number is really not crossed off per say... it got move to the 'after baby is here' list. It's now too cold to wash the house so once spring hits it will happen.)

40. Make baby sleepers.  Oh yes, I made 2 fleece blanket sleepers and they turned out, ok. I don't sew really... just tinker. So this was a HUGE project for me. I followed a tutorial from the blog Make It & Love It. The tutorial was changeling for a non-sewer, but I didn't follow it to a T. I skipped a few steps and added a few more... this could possibly be why it was a little changeling, but at least I can check it off my list now! Oh and I wasn't thinking about getting a fleece fabric that was gender neutral. If it turns out that I am cooking a boy in my oven..... well he will never know what he is wearing right? As long as he is warm that is all that matters ;)


The Baby Blanket

First I cut the fabric to the correct shape and split one half down the middle for the zipper. I completely guessed on the size so this sleep blanket might not even fit my baby until summer, ha-ha shoot.

Then I attached the zipper. I used tape for holding down the zipper instead of pins. It worked out great!

Next I sewed the two pieces together and curled in the arm and neck hole. (Curled in- not a typical sewing term I know. I'm new at this... that is the only way I can think to describe it!.)

Then I made a little snap fold over to hide the zipper, and BAM.... a blanket sleeper for a girl. LOL.

xox m.

How Great Thou Art

Goosebumps... that's all.

Pinterest

Have you heard about Pinterst? Do you Pin?

This is my Pinterest

Well for those of you who have yet to hear of Pinterest....

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. I used to see a photo on the web and I would save it to a folder on my computer, but I could never remember where I found that photo. Well Pinterest lets you remember where you found the image so you always give credit and have a reference. Love that!

So one of my pinboards is dedicated to DYI crafts and ideas that I would like to test out one day. I always say I need to cut out time to actually try one of this 'pins' and guess what.... I did it!! And I am really excited about it.

So here is the photo I 'pinned' to my DYI someday board.



And then I found that the girl who originally pinned this image had a tutorial on her blog, The Johnstons, on how to make one (which was awesome - and this girl is simply adorable to top it off!). Then I found the original version from HGTV, and kind of mixed the two tutorials to create my own skirt!

Here was my trial:

I had left over fabric (muslin) and crossed my fingers I had enough by the end of the skirt.
Then I purchased a $5 Christmas tree skirt from Meijer (plain white with red/white trim).
I had glue gun & sticks, mat board, and rotary cutter.


Time to start!

I cut 3 inch strips of my muslin until I had a fairly good stack. (In the end I actually only needed to cut out 7 more strips - hows that for luck!)

Then I started hot gluing the fabric to the outside of the skirt, while adding the ruffle fold every so often. I really didn't measure the distance or the width of the ruffle.... I just did what I felt was fair.

This was a pretty $5 tree skirt right? HA!

Then I just kept gluing and folding, gluing and folding....until I got to the top of the skirt.

By the end of the skirt I had just enough fabric left from my last strip and make 3 ties to connect the skirt when it goes around the tree. 

And WAHM.....

Folks, I made a Christmas Tree Skirt from my DYI pinboard from Pinterest, and I think it turned out pretty well! (insert very big smile face here - and a check off my to do list before the baby comes).

Interested in pinning to your own boards? Let me know and I'll send you an invite and then we can follow each others pins!! :)





xox m.

Tick Tock

Is time flying by for everyone, or just me?

The other day Tovi and I had a heart to heart about this baby in my tummy that will be here in 3 months. Call me crazy, but I totally treat him like my child so of course I had to sit down with him to discuss an addition to our family.

26 weeks preggers

I bring him up into the nursery and I keep saying.... 'the BABY's room'.  I point to my belly and say....  "the BABY is in there".  It's quite funny because I think he actually gets it.  He has been very snugly with me ever since, and he even came up and kissed my belly one night as we were watching a movie. That pretty much melted my heart.

I can't wait till this baby is here. I always said I didn't know that I could love something so much, until I met Steve. Then I didn't think I could have any more love room, and Tovi came.... wow did my heart grow. I can only imagine how much my heart is going to explode when our child comes to this world.

I will Praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all your marvelous works. I will be glad & rejoice in You; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Psalm 9:1&2

Whew!

We just got home from a great family vacation. We were away for 10 days and traveled to Cali and AZ to visit family and do some site seeing. I am now just getting back into the swing of things and on my 'to do' list for this week is upload all the photos I took and get them posted.

Yesterday I had a baby checkup. Everything is going good so far, besides measuring big. Doc said we will watch my growth the next two times and if I'm still 'large and in charge' we will do an ultrasound to see what’s going on. Secretly I was really hoping I would have a small baby because pushing out a ten pounder with no drugs seems to me like a 4th degree tear waiting to happen. However, if this baby of ours is big there will be more to love, and I am OK with that!! Bring on the pounds child; I just want you to be a happy and healthy baby! I will heal and like I've been told by many.... birth is the worst pain of your life but the quickest you will ever forget. Fine by me! Also I kinda knew from the start I was going to have a big baby.... both Steve and I were over 8 lbs so I figured that is the starting point for our child? Oh and this baby is very active still. I feel her/him move all the time and it took the doc a few times to get a heart rate (140 bpm) because of all the movement. February is coming quickly!!

25 week quick self-photo

Baby B's nursery will be worked on this weekend. We will clear everything out of the room... start painting... and then get ready to figure out the decor. YAY!! Can't wait to paint the dino's (with or without pearls) and table we found that someone was going to trash. A good scrub down and a fresh coat of paint will make someones trash into a treasure of a side table next to a glider. Yes please!!

xox m.

PS: Is anyone else ready for Thanksgiving?! I wish is was next week! Never been this excited about Turkey Day before. Maybe it's the food coma I'm looking forward to..... oh and of course all the good company of family and friends! I love the holidays and being with family!! Then it's Christmas!! Oh boy! I already pulled my decorations out to the front of the closet so I can start right after I get out of that food coma. :)