We ended up having a really fun and busy week. We played with a different group of friends every single morning and Henry had a blast. This is as good as I could get with Henry and his cousins Jack and Maggie.

We also got some new hand-me-downs that included these awesome blocks and a tricycle. I can't wait for Spring to get outside and try it out!
I had an appt this afternoon. I thought I didn't want to be checked at all because there's really no reason to know if I'm dilated or not right now. But naturally, I gave in and asked if I could. Just for fun. Well, I am at a 1 so that's better than nothing! It doesn't make me feel like I'll go any sooner, but considering my labor time with Henry knowing I have 1 down makes me feel pretty good.

My Craigslists experience is getting a little crazy. Apparently everyone and their dog wants 2 of the rugs I put up so I've got it pending, but people on hold in case it falls through (which it often does with CL) so hopefully I get them out of the house this weekend!

We have a really busy weekend planned, but it should be fun. Hope you all have a great one!

20 Days!

My ticker tells me there's only 20 days until this baby arrives. Woo-Hoo! I had Henry a few days early and my contractions started the night before a full moon. I had heard that the atmospheric pressure from full moons and thunderstorms can bring on labor. Has this been true for anyone else? So I looked up the full moon schedule for March and there's one on the 11th. We'll have to see if it does anything to my body. Or I can totally see myself going 2 weeks over and having to be induced!

We've had a really fun week with something to do every morning. Makes the days so fun and go quickly!

After seeing some friends have recent success on Craigslist, I got motivated to post some things. I put up 3 rugs and sold one within about 10 minutes! But then you wonder if it was too cheap....oh well. I'm trying to get some easy money to stock up on diapers.

Hope you all enjoy your Thursday!

I've been babysitting 3 mornings a week for the past year and a half. I can't believe it's been that long! I get to their house by 7 and am home by 10:30. It's been really great for the extra money and for Henry to be able to play with them, and they're really great kids too. However, my schedule changed and now I'm just going there on Mondays for a few hours, but not until mid-morning. I think I could get used to this! It will seem strange to have so many free mornings and I know Henry will have a hard time not going to his buddy's house. Every time we get in the car, he says that's where he wants to go. What I'm enjoying most about this new schedule is that Henry is able to sleep in. He was up early yesterday, but other than that he's been sleeping until 8:00. He's maybe done that a few other times the last 2 years, but he's been doing it since last Friday!! He's an early riser, my boy. I've never experienced time in the mornings to myself, (just like most of you other moms, I'm sure!) and it's been so nice. To be able to relax before the day starts....ahhhhh....lovely. I know this is all about to change in 3 weeks but it's sure a nice treat for now. Henry must know how much I need a little more sleep.

I haven't done much baby reading this pregnancy until this past week. I got out my favorite, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. It's written by an English nanny, so that alone makes it entertaining. It's got a lot of good ideas on routines, sleeping, etc, yet has a pretty laid back and flexible approach. One of the most interesting parts of the book for me is that she goes over different personalities babies have and then advice on how to work with them. I didn't follow it exactly, but got lots of good ideas and I always like to have something to refer to when I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm hoping to try some of her techniques in the sleeping area more than I did with Henry since that was his worst skill, but maybe she'll just be a better sleeper in general and I won't have to worry about it?? Stop laughing, please. :)

So I'm a little embarassed to admit this, but Henry painted for the first time this week and loved it. If you sign up with Michaels.com, they email you 40% off coupons that you can print off and use throughout the week (then you don't have to worry about getting the Sunday paper) so I'm going to gradually stock up on fun crafts. I also learned that he loves stickers. So fun! And just in time to keep him busy with something while I'm taking care of baby.

Hope you all enjoy this lovely day!

Big Boy Room ..... DONE!

I loved working on this room, but very glad to be all done with both rooms! Now just a couple of more paintings orders I need to get done and then I'm hanging up the brushes for a bit. Ahhhhh.....

Henry is napping and RJ is working and I'm about to take a nap myself. We stayed out until midnight last night and had a ton of fun, but I'm sure tired today! Well worth it, though.

The rest of our day will probably be quiet and lazy. I need it.

I had an ultrasound at my appt yesterday to confirm the head is down. It is, and it was really fun to see her sweet little face. Her cheeks look a little chubby and she might have some big lips. It gave me a new excitement to meet her and at the same time a new energy to be more patient while waiting.

Alright. I"m off to bed. Have a great rest of your weekend!

Am I a Shopaholic?

Today is Wednesday. It's usually the only day I have during the week where I can do whatever I want whenever I want. A lot of times that leads me to the mall. A lot of stores mark down their clearance on Wednesdays, and I'm a sucker for it.

We were about to head out when I caught a story on the Today Show about being a Shopaholic. Is that me? You have probably all noticed that a lot of what I talk about is the deals I get. Pretty ridiculous. So I looked up the story online and they have a little test you can take:

The new test includes six statements, for which individuals answer on a 7-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree:


My closet has unopened shopping bags in it.
No, but lots of clothes have tags on them....especially things for the kids for the next season.
Others might consider me a "shopaholic."
I'm a little embarassed, but the answer is probably yes. I'm always calling my friends telling them about sales they've GOT to get to. Sorry guys.
Much of my life centers around buying things.
I hope not, but there are certainly days.
I buy things I don’t need.
Who doesn't??
I buy things I did not plan to buy.
Yes. Especially at Target.
I consider myself an impulse purchaser.
Yes and No. I also have a pretty bad buyer's remorse and take things back.
Respondents who score 25 or higher would be considered compulsive buyers.

I always justify what I do because I rarely spend over $5 on anything. Seriously. In fact, on kids clothes I rarely spend over $3. But this still all adds up! I DON'T use credit cards. I'm tempted to open them to get the extra discounts, but I know better. Someone like me who uses a credit card is too tempted to think that "we can always pay for it in a few months". Nope. Not gonna do it. Some people are way more responsible than me can handle it though, I'm sure. However, I still buy a lot I don't NEED. It's ridiculous to think that my kids or me need so many clothes. We don't. Yes, I get overly excited after I buy something that was a good deal. Good deal or not, I'm still spending money. I buy things I didn't plan on buying quite often when I see those sale racks.... I'm also very impulsive.

I've never practiced Lent before, but RJ and I have talked a lot about doing it this year. You know what would be SO HARD for me to give up? Buying unecessary things.....man, even writing that I know there is no way I could do it. All those sales?!?! Ah, but there is! Through lots and lots of prayer. So, I don't know if I'll be doing that yet, but I'll keep updated. Wanna join me?
I don't know if I can do it alone! :)

So you guessed it, I'm NOT going to the mall today! I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Not that going to the mall to walk around and do playland is forever off my list, but I just don't feel like I have the will power to resist the sales today.....

Tuesday!

I'm tired.


We had a great weekend. Didn't really do a thing for Valentine's Day and it was so nice. Henry never made it out of his pajamas and we worked around the house. Got some closets cleaned out and the fridge. That was a serious job. RJ had yesterday off for President's Day, so you guessed it, Henry once again didn't make it out of his pajamas. It's nice to be lazy sometimes. I'm usually so antsy to get out of the house so it felt so good to be content hanging out here.

But of course, I did make it out a little bit and found some great bargains! I got a light pink velour pant set for the hospital. Totally unnecessary, but fun. Hey, I'm having a girl and I'm wearing PINK. When I got to the register at Old Navy, I thought it was going to be an additional 50% off, but no such thing. That was just for the mens. I had people behind me and was so flustered that I bought it anyways and decided to think about it at home. So when I went out to get groceries today, I drove by the other Old Navy and saw a sign in their window that their clearance was an extra 50% off so I went in and did an exchange and saved myself $8. This is a true story. All that work for $8, but to me that is totally worth it and the kind of thing that totally makes my day. So an entire outfit that screams, "Yes, I'm a MOM!" for $8. Great deal!

We had a plain white comforter for Henry's bed that was from my parent's house. It was totally nice, but just not too exciting. There was a quilt I had had my eye on for forever at Target and I was just waiting for it to get cheap enough and it did on Friday! I got a great quilt, plus 2 sets of sheets and a bed skirt all for a total of $35. It was all 75% off. Great deal!

Henry and RJ did a lot of hanging out the last week since RJ had so much time off. I LOVE watching them together. Here they are figuring out the electronics.

Henry has been testing us lately. He has gotten to be quite bossy and clearly thinks he's in charge. Oh boy. He's always got a better idea. RJ told him to take his shoes off and he looked at RJ and said, "No, I leave shoes on, k?" He said it very nicely, but seriously, that's not appropriate. We tell him to eat more chicken. "No, I eat more pasta". Eat more pasta. "No, I eat more chicken". All day long. Hopefully we can solve this before it gets too out of control. I have to try really hard not to laugh sometimes and really hard not to pull my hair out at other times.

The name Henry means, Ruler of the Home. What were we thinking?!?

Have a happy Tuesday!

It's Friday! I love these days. RJ gets home at 1:00. Makes my day nice and easy.


Last night I went out with with some great gal pals to The Grand Piano Bistro. It was so fun to get dressed up and have some girl talk! It's always fun to get together with Alisa and Sarah and Alisa's sister Erica joined us too. We were there "early" (in downtown terms anyways) so had the place mostly to ourselves until the piano playing started. It was really cool. I have a hard time focusing in environments when so much is going on, but I still really enjoyed it. I think I have adhd....
Thanks for the coupon, Alisa!! It was a real treat.

I drank a painful amount of water at the restaurant. Like I've mentioned, I have an obsession with ice right now. So to get to the ice, I had to keep drinking the water, and the server kept filling my glass and I just kept drinking/crunching over and over and over. I can't help myself! I'm on my 5th 5lb bag of ice at home and this obsession has only been going on for a month. Good thing it's a cheap one. At least I'm not craving steaks or something.

Not much going on this weekend. We have an offer of a babysitter on V-Day, but I think I'd rather plan something nice for home.

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!! I love this holiday. We don't really even do much to celebrate it, but I still love it. I know I don't seriously want to have this baby 4 1/2 weeks early, but if I must, I hope it's sometime on Saturday. If it doesn't happen that day I'm fine until my due date. Or maybe a St. Patrick's baby would be fun too?

Happy Friday!

Happy Day!

Wow. I am sure enjoying turning 29!

We went out to Biaggi's last night and it was great. I always love going there. Had a fantastic pasta and the most amazing lemon cake. I've had it twice now. It may be my favorite dessert in the city.

This morning, I stayed in bed until 8:00! This is amazing. I didn't sleep the whole time, but it was nice and relaxing waiting for RJ and Henry to bring me breakfast in bed along with a bag full of my favorite current snacks.

I took a long time getting ready and we went all around to pick out my birthday present, which was getting a baby sling. I was pumped! I've wanted to get one this whole time and RJ said that I had to buy it today. He knows I can draw out a purchase for months trying to find the best deal and he would not put up with it. :) So after looking at 4 different stores and all different prices and styles, I picked an adorable one out at Target. I should have known! Target is always the best. Henry took a nice nap and RJ and I just relaxed and finished up the movie, Henry Poole Is Here. (really good!) RJ left to clean at 6:00 and I've enjoyed a relaxing evening alone. Now just waiting for LOST to start!!

Hope you are all having a great week and are getting ready for snow. Can you believe it? I was really starting to enjoy the warmer weather....

My hubby took tomorrow off. Do-dah. Do-Dah.

My hubby took tomorrow off and I'm so excited I don't want to go to sleep.

(you have to say the last half of the second sentence to make the song work, but it does.
believe me.)

Oohhh, I'm finally in the 30-ish day left range. Yes.

My goal is to not be so complainy this week about being uncomfortably pregnant. Cuz I am. But I'm tired of hearing myself whine about it. I can no longer tie my shoes, but hey, I've at least got some shoes, right?

We had a great weekend. I didn't do a thing. Friday night we went to a friend's for a nice meal and Wii. Saturday we got donuts, walked around Valley Junction, and then the boy and I took a looong nap while RJ cleaned. I'm getting towards the end of a cold and it completely zapped me. A nap did me good, especially since I don't get much sleep in the overnight these days. Today we had church and more doing nothing. There's so much that needs to get done, but that can wait until this week.

This should be a good week! I'll be celebrating the start of my last year in my twenties.......

Thursday!

After an interesting day yesterday, I was a little nervous about how today would go, but it's been a goodie. We got pictures taken at Portrait Innovations yesterday and managed to get one good shot through all his nervousness and whining. Poor boy. Turns out he was exhausted and fell asleep in his stroller a little later at the mall which is something he hasn't done in at least a year! I was so proud of myself for walking out with only purchasing the 9.95 package. I can't believe how many pictures you get for that cheap!

We're heading off to meet RJ for lunch. We had bought $50 worth of coupons for My Favorite Muffin for $25 and this is the first time we're using it. I'm pumped! And it's really close to RJ's work so we don't have to rush.

Anyways, hope you're all having a great day. Henry and I are just chillin and putting lotion on our baby sister. Aka our bellies. It must be so confusing for little kids to understand that they don't have a baby in their belly too!

Thank you, Lord, for a fresh new day. Thank you for the chance to get together with some college girlfriends at the last minute. Thank you for a child who was in the best mood ever today. Thank you for a fantastic husband.

What a great day today! So naturally, I regret writing yesterday's post, but it is nice to hear that I'm not the only mom who almost loses it every now and then. Of course I get overly dramatic and emotional sometimes, but I needed to just get it out. I know the actual seriousness of a nervous break down was no where near me yesterday, but you know what I mean. I was so tired and crabby and way short on patience. Henry and I butted heads on too many occasions. And then today he's sweeter than ever and I just want to squeeze him. Like the kind of squeeze you want to give a cute little puppy.

I'm thankful for forgiveness.

And here's the final reveal! I'm done!! Of course I have a few more ideas up my sleeve, but I'm off to start other projects and will get to those later IF I have the time and energy. And yes, I love to over-embellish!

I got this painting idea from Suite Dreams. You can't really see it, but under each dress is one of the fruits of the spirit....still needs a little work though.

The end!
Oh, and if you'd be interested, I have 2 left over pieces that I don't have room for...they're like the matching swirly silver framed birds that are hung over the dresser. They're yours for free if you'd be interested!

Cravings and Tears

Well, Henry is normal today. Yeah!

I am experiencing the strongest craving of my entire life. It started a few weeks ago. ICE. I think about it all the time. I drink glass of ice with a bit of water all the time. We don't have an ice maker and our ice trays make too big of pieces so I actually buy ice in a bag at the store. I read it can mean you have an iron deficiency, which I do right now and did when I was pregnant with Henry, and it can also be a sign of emotional problems such as stress and obsessive compulsive disorder. Hmmmm. Maybe it's a bit of all the above. Regardless, I want ice NOW.

I just read that Domino Magazine is over. I adore this magazine. What a bummer.

We watched a movie last night, but caught that last 5 minutes of the game. Quite exciting!! I would have preferred a Cardinal win, but at least it was a good game.

Speaking of emotional problems, I've been crying a lot lately and nearly had myself a nervous breakdown today. I really think that could happen to me sometime. Do you ever feel that? Like seriously, I get so close sometimes it scares me. I know I seem all laid back and quiet and easy going and what-not, but you'd be surprised to spend some time in my brain. So today I was at Michael's looking at canvases and I just couldn't do it. I left and drove around until I had to babysit and called RJ and cried. I don't want to paint anymore, or think about it anymore. It stresses me out thinking of what I need to get done before the baby and what I want to get done before the baby. I have such a natural urge in me right now to nest and get everything in my house organized and get everything just right, but I feel like that is the stuff that has to be constantly put off. NOW, having said this, please don't be afraid to ask me to do anything or if you have something in the waiting, don't worry! It's not the small projects I have to do that are stressing me out. I'm just being honest and will probably regret having said all this tomorrow because I just want to make everyone happy. I'm just freaking out a little right now. Once I calm down things will all seem easy again. Plus, Henry just now laid down for his nap so I'm going to take one too. I stayed up until midnight last night and Henry didn't sleep well so that may be 95% of my problem today.

Good night.

Super Not-so-much

Little boy is sick so no party for us today. I don't mind missing the game, but it would have been fun to hang out with all our church friends and I'm really bummed that I now have no reason to make my coconut cake. Unless someone wants to invite themselves over for dessert....
Shopping yesterday was great. We found some good deals and literally shopped until we dropped. Henry was home with RJ all day with a fever and just sat in his lap and cuddled. It was actually kind of nice since a 2 year old rarely does that. He didn't sleep very well last night and then threw up this morning, but it was just once and he seems pretty normal now so it was just a quick illness. In fact, I can hear the boys chasing each other around downstairs right now so I'm pretty sure we're in the clear.

I'm off to work on some projects. I'm starting to realize how soon this baby is coming and there is so much I need to get done beforehand for our house and for other people. Yikes!!