11

Today Alex turns 11!!

Crazy, right?!
I am not old enough- and I believe I said the same thing last year, and the year before and the year before- so you get the idea! I can remember every minute of the day he was born, so at least my memory is still intact (somewhat). It was a Saturday and I was being induced. I only had mild contractions for a couple hours before I got the beloved epidural and then we just sat and sat and I slept a little while we waited for the time to come. Many people came to visit me while in labor and we laughed and passed the time easily. The longest part was the pushing- my body hadn't done that before, so it seemed to last a long time. My drill Sargent (Dana) was counting in my ear and driving me a little crazy- (he doesn't do that anymore- I made sure he counts softer now!) My 7 pound 3 oz boy came in just after 5pm and my life as a mom officially began. I cannot think of a better title in life- MOM.
Alex is a wonderful son- he truly doesn't give me much grief- only when he wants his way, or really thinks something is unjust- he is a principle fighter- much like me- which is hard sometimes. I know he will go far in life. He is loved in his classroom by all his friends and teachers- he is respectful and honest and very smart. I know he gets all that from me, too! ha!
We are very grateful Heavenly Father sent him to our house- we know we have a tremendous responsibility with this boy and we intend to do all we can to continue that work.
Tonight for his birthday, he invited his friend, Justin over for pizza and then Graeters. Then on Sunday, we will have cake and ice cream with my family and Sean and Steph's for Brianna's birthday too. Birthdays last a few days here at our house! Lucky kid!
So, Happy 11th Birthday, my Alex- I hope you know how loved, how special, how fabulous, and how happy we are you are ours!

Itsy Bitsy (her, not me!!)

So today I went to my OB for my 34 week appointment.
I don't normally ask a ton of questions...I have been through this before, ya know.
But since I only put on a pound in 2 weeks (rare, honestly!), I thought I would ask one.
I asked if I measured okay- she normally doesn't even tell me what I measure- she just says, "great", or "see you in 2"- whatever. She always tells me the heart rate- it was 150 today- pretty normal for her.
She said that I am measuring small- well, I don't look small...in fact, I am many things, but small is never an adjective for me...ever...let alone at 34 weeks...maybe when I was younger (MUCH YOUNGER- like elementary school)...
Her point: SHE is small...oh, okay- I figured- Leah was 6lbs 13oz at full term and Celeste was 6lbs 2oz full term, so another small little girl- I am okay with that!
So next appointment in 2 weeks, and we can talk about an induction date- whoo hoo!!
She is probably only about 3lbs right now, so she cannot come yet!! (as much as I am done being prego- she is not ready, nor am I...)Oh, and there is a huge shadow around my head- my hair is not that big! Short, but not that big! And I can still wear my jeans- my favorite, most fabulous jeans, but since my tummy is larger, they are much longer and they drag the ground- I don't wear them as much now. I am just happy I have something to wear that still fits after 35 pounds!! Yikes!

Up and Down

Good news!!!
Baby girl is head down!!!!!

Bad news...
My TSH levels went UP...
More meds...means I will be head down too...

Trying to stay positive- less than 7 weeks to go...hurry,hurry!

Great Treasures...Great Times

Last week was super busy for me. I had several places to go, people to see, and projects to complete! I felt really good, which was very helpful in getting it all accomplished.
A couple weeks ago, I bought 2 dressers off of Craigslist. I had been looking for months for the perfect one- we just needed one for our bedroom, but I was picky and didn't want a cheap one or one that I had to assemble! I looked and looked, and finally one day, minutes after it was posted, I found exactly what I had in mind. It included 2 dressers, actually, and so we decided to use one for our room, and one for Elaina's new room. But, they had to be refinished. But, they are solid wood, from the 60's, in fantastic shape, but with a laminate coating. My good friend, Katie had some ideas....
She had redone a piece similar, so she suggested we prime it and then paint it- easy, right?! ha ha- no, really, it wasn't that bad...she came over and we got to work. Priming them first with oil based primer (no worries, I wore a mask the whole time!!), and then when that dried, we spray painted an oil rubbed bronze (it will look black to you in the picture), on our dresser, and then the next day, I roll painted Elaina's dresser a satin eggshell cream from Behr paint.
(side story: I went to buy the paint for hers at Home Depot...I picked the creamy color I wanted, then had them mix it...as I was being handed the can, the worker dropped it! He gave it to me as an "oops" mix for $1!! Yes, one whole dollar!! Cannot beat that! and I love it!)
Okay,
so here is the before, and sorry the drawers are not in them, but you can see that each drawer of her dresser actually has dividers and compartments! LOVE THAT feature!!

WOW!! I am in love! It looks even better in person- come and see!

Then ours:I tipped it over so I could make sure I got every spot, but in the final project, I still missed some. I will have to touch it up very soon!

This is at the end of our bed- don't check out our messy closet, but imagine a new flat screen hanging above this piece- I love it too! Sadly, Dana has used all the drawers for himself! I have to continue using my old dresser hidden in my closet!
I lined all the drawers with this:
SO pretty- this is from Elaina's dresser drawer, but I did ours the same!
This Saturday, Alex, Celeste and I headed to Indy to see Suzanne and her crew. It was the first trip I have taken since before getting sick, and most definitely the last before baby. So needed by me, and I could not have had a better time! We got to be in their new, gorgeous home and just chill out- it was the perfect retreat! The kids were great and we even visited their Ward- and Alex loved his class there too! The food and conversation were delightful and we all wish we could've stayed longer (well, maybe not her family, but ours!!) We so look forward to a summer getaway with them again!
Here are Suzanne and I this morning- me at 32 weeks and her at 34:

Abby, Celeste and Olivia ham it up for me just before we left. They had such fun times together- it was hard for Celeste to leave- knowing we won't see her for another few months. It was a good drive home, and next time, I hope it doesn't rain- it poured the entire time!! Yuck!
Here's to another good week, but much less to do, I hope!

The sun is shining!!

I looked out the window and what did I see?
The sun is finally shining in February!
I have been sick with a cold for nearly a week- the weather was crappy anyway- but today, the first day I am feeling a little better, the sun is out! It's like it knew I needed to see it's face today! It has melted nearly every inch of snow in my front yard and the temperatures are going to keep climbing this week! I am desperate to open the windows and air out all the winter germs- looking so forward to Spring!
I have just 8 weeks to go now...
Spring will come before her- but that is my countdown!
My friend Katie and I are going to be working on re-doing 2 dressers this week- I am so excited to show you! I will take pics for that post. For now, just imagine my happy smiling face as the sun debuts just for me!

Super Saturday

Today is day 6 of feeling pretty good!
I decided to take advantage of some fun Valentine's Day crafts I wanted to make. I love Valentine's Day decorations. I love the pink and red and glitter! I had most of the stuff used on hand- just had to pick up the little hearts and print off these sweet printables. (They were free, of course! The blog they came from is called thecraftingchicks.com. They put free stuff to download all the time on their blog and I love it!
So, first craft was for my mantle:Just download the free printable and size it however you want. I just printed it on cardstock and then put some cute pink dotted paper behind it...had all on hand, including the frame!
I thought the ladies I visit teach might like some Valentine's cheer, so I whipped up these two:
This was a white frame I glittered the crap out of- and that was a mess, I have to admit, and took longer to recover than I wanted to spend too- the heart came from JoAnn's and I just covered it with the glitter and then glued it down on top of the glass with paper behind it- hope my friend likes it!Aren't they lucky girls?!! I used a 5x7 block for this, painted it black and then modpodged the printable on it- it smeared a tad, but it is still cute.
My girls wanted their own as well, so this one went in their room:I was perusing some blogs the other day and saw that the girl writing had a messy make-up drawer to reorganize. I thought- hey, I do too!! She bought some wire baskets at the dollar tree and for about 4 bucks, transformed her drawer. I thought I could do that too- so off I went and here is the before: (embarrassing, I know!)
I had to go through it majorly, first! Half the stuff just needed to be put in my jewelry box on my dresser, and the rest got a new home:


They won't even slide, because behind them is my pedegg, and a small mirror! This cost me about 10 minutes of time and a whole 3 dollars!
I got a lot accomplished today, huh?! Celeste went to a friends' house for a few hours, and Leah and I went to visit Granny! What a wonderful visit we had, including ice cream!! Thanks, Granny! We love you!
I even squeezed in cookies to make ice cream sandwiches with! I needed to capitalize on this energy burst- I never know when I will not feel good- but so far, much better!

Valentine's Day Photo Shoot 2011

The time has come again for our annual Valentine's Day pictures we do for Dana. I opted out of them this year- for obvious reasons...and I decided to take them myself this year, rather than go to Target, where we normally go.
They are okay- I had to do a bit of tweaking with them...but overall, the thought is what matters. The girls had fun, and I did too- making the pages with them over my shoulder and letting them pick what went on each page. Fun times.
We had 2 snow days this week, so this definitely helped fill the time! Enjoy!











I took 52 shots-
Truly only about 15 were that good-
Glad I am absent from them, or else we could still be taking them! We are just happy that Daddy loves them too- and how could you not?! These girls LOVE taking pictures for him only- it made their day to show them off to him-
One more girl for him to spoil coming in just 9.5 weeks-

Painted House

This summer we had the entire downstairs of our house painted. Most walls had never even been painted- just plain flat drywall paint- my least favorite. I decided I NEEDED them painted- and since we have a nice house, we paid a painter to come. He is very reasonable and does a fantastic job. I can paint, and have painted lots and lots through the years- even did the bathrooms and mud room here, but not all over, and since we have nice molding, and I am not that proficient, we just hired it out. Anyway- he painted the same color throughout my downstairs. It is called Sisal- from Ralph Lauren- I use Behr paint, but the color was what I wanted. I love it.
Well, at the time the kids were in their own bedrooms- and we hadn't decided to have another baby. Leah's room was already purple, and Celeste's room was yellow. Alex's big room and our room were stark white flat paint. I could not wait to get them painted. So, a few weeks ago, we brought back our painter and had him do the bedrooms. I was so happy that day! The only room we left alone was Leah's purple room, because that will now be Elaina's room, and the big girls are together in Alex's old room, and Alex in the yellow one...we just played ring around the rooms basically.
I picked the Sisal for our room- it's just such a nice color. The girls chose Cotton Candy, and Alex chose Colorado Springs. These rooms will stay these colors for a really long time- trust me!! I have zero intention of having them redone for YEARS!! The kids love their new rooms too!
We hung curtains in the girls' room- the pink softens the purple they chose- and they seem to love that too. Alex got Atlanta Braves Fat Heads this summer, and so they were the first thing to go on the walls. He decided against curtains for now. Within a year, all our windows will have nice, faux wood white blinds in them, so they will eventually look nicer and shut out more light. Here are the new rooms:


We have actual pictures in our room! I picked these out for my own Christmas present- I am in love with squares right now, and the images are simple- love it!



The pictures don't really do the colors much justice, but it is so nice to live in a painted house again...I just have the kids' bathroom to do, and we haven't decided on a color for it yet, so it can wait- so for now, the painting in this house is done! And the very best part- I didn't have to do it!! OH, and there aren't any marks on the ceilings or molding- now that is worth every penny!

Even though I have spent too much time in my bed these last couple of months, I don't seem to mind it as much now that it is painted- it's just cozier and warmer. So, one project done...just a tip of the iceberg!

Valentine Heart

I love spending, more like wasting, sometimes, time on crafty blogs...
it became sort of an obsession this summer when I logged off Facebook...
now I just check them every few days-
So, I saw this tutorial about making a simple heart craft for Valentine's Day. Didn't seem that hard to me, so I went out and bought the materials- a whole 3 bucks for it all.
Here is the original picture and simple instructions:
Cute, huh?!


1-You purchase a cheap plastic heart plate
2- You cut out red felt circles (it fails to mention you need a million!)
3-You fold them and hot glue them to the plate
4- Any pattern you want
5-Display it somewhere in your house

Doesnt' sound so bad or hard, right?!
That's what I thought!
First of all- I have dull scissors- that didn't help.
Second, I cut for over 2 hours- crappy circles out of felt with crappy scissors- 6 sheets of felt- each getting nearly 30- do the math- it was a lot of circles!!
It took 3 hours for the entire project- pretty sure the original person making this isn't a novice, like me, and picked a smaller plate!
Anywho, here is mine:
I haven't put it on my mantle yet- but I think it turned out okay...Dana thinks I am crazy- he knows me all too well!!
Here is my mantle, and my black table now- I will put it on one of them to finish it off:
Happy almost February! Oh, and I start seeing my OB every 2 weeks now- the countdown is on!!

I am so loved.

On Saturday, about 9am, my doorbell rings...
Seriously?!
I am out of bed...barely...
In my robe, hiding the pajamas underneath that don't fit at all...
Hair a mess, no make-up, and a slight headache.
Picture that.

I carefully open the door, without even looking out the window next to the door. There stands a nice delivery man, holding this:An Edible Arrangement! I still have no idea who was sweet enough to send this to me- I just kindly thank him- I am sure he is happy to be out of my sight as well...and head to the kitchen.
The girls are giddy with excitement- as well as I am- how nice to have a delivery of this wonderful treat at my door on a cold, snowy Saturday morning!

Inside is a card from my dear friend, Allison, Alex's 1st and 3rd grade teacher, and a colleague who I subbed for last year....she had just read my blog, and didn't know I had been sick...I hadn't gotten around to telling most of my staff friends that I had resigned, so she didn't know. How thoughtful- I just cried....

I have the best friends...I truly do...my family calls regularly to check on me- my father in law every couple of days- it has been so nice and wonderful. I am beginning to feel better- this new dosage is doing something...I am hopeful about it continuing. I have a blood draw tomorrow to see if it will last for a while longer. I am not symptom free by any means, but able to do day to day tasks a little easier.

I am so very grateful for all the thoughts and prayers you have all sent my way- I feel them- I really truly do. A very special thank you to Allison for this delight- it lasted about 10 minutes, by the way- it was heaven sent! The chocolate covered strawberries were divine, and there are few things I love more than fresh pineapple- and how cute are they?!
Here is a closer look:This brightened my day, and certainly my week and perhaps the whole month- it's amazing how simple things can change things! SO thankful, SO grateful, SO blessed, SO loved. I love you too!