My sister is here this weekend and we're going to have a full day of shopping!

Just what the doctor ordered....

The nursery is almost done. I feel like I've been working on it for forever, but when I can only do it for 30 minutes here and there it takes some time. Then it's on to Henry's room!
This room makes me itch for spring a bit with the cheery colors. And it makes me really itch to meet this little girl. I want this waiting time to go so quickly so I can just meet her, but at the same time I want it to go slowly because I know our lives will drastically change and in no time she'll be walking down the aisle. I'm also really enjoying this time with just Henry right now. I can't wait to see how they interact. He's going to be a good big brother.

Passed out in bed. I think that's what I'm going to try to do to. I've maybe got another 30 minutes before he wakes up so I best hustle.

Happy Thursday!

I cut Henry's hair the other day and it reminds me of Gerald. My camera battery is dead so you'll just have to believe me. I can't stand that show by the way. I know, they're just innocent kids who love science, but seriously.

We started a new thing at church where the last Sunday night of the month instead of meeting together at church, we meet in neighborhood groups for food and fellowship. I love it! We have a great mix of people and ages in our group so I'm excited to see what that brings. Have I mentioned lately that our church is pretty great?!

Not much else exciting to share right now.....other than I only have about 7 weeks to go!!
Hope you're all having a great week!

Is it really this easy??

My parents came down yesterday with my old twin bed for us to use for Henry's big boy room. I was worried that it might be a hard transition, but we laid him down at 7:00 and didn't hear a peep until 6:30. Awesome! Nap time, I thought for sure would be a struggle. We laid him down a little bit ago and I just peeked in and he's sound asleep without a peep. Surely this won't last, will it? Or will it! For today, anyways, I'll mark it as a success and be happy. If he gets out of his bed during nap time later this week? Well, I'll deal with it then. And YEAH for now!

This week went so quickly! RJ just left to clean and Henry boy is sleeping and I'm going to work on some more wall decor for the nursery. It's been so fun doing such girly things.

I'm about to pass out from my insomnia. So really, I should go to bed early tonight, but I just want to enjoy some alone time. This morning I was up for the day at 3:30 and 2 nights before it was 2:30. I usually manage to fall back asleep around 5:45 and then RJ's alarm goes off at 6. Ugh. I did this same thing when I was pregnant with Henry and after he was born I felt so much better because even though I was waking up a few times at night to feed him, when I slept it was good hard sleep. I'm hoping for that again this time!

So other than my exhaustion, we've had a great week here. Henry has been in a stellar mood lately. We had some bumps with getting him to listen better after his weekend away and of course we have our melt downs, but overall I am in LOVE with this stage. He's talking so much and constantly and doesn't ever really stop moving. He's such a weird little boy. I love it.

Still no name for our baby. I think the decision will have to be left for the hospital when we see her. It's so hard this time!

My hair cut was an interesting experience. It was FREE so I really can't complain, but if you ever decide to go there or any other type of school just plan for it to take some extra time. I don't know why I didn't think about that, but regardless I was not expecting it to take a little over 2 hours for a hair cut. My shoulders were so tense when I was done and I just needed to move! It's a good price though so I may go back someday.

Peace out.

Haircut

After sleeping ridiculously last night, I wasn't sure how I would make it through today and that's when I got a hair cut appt this afternoon to perk me up! It's way overdue and I have a coupon for a free one at the new Aveda institute. Then after baby comes I have a gift card to this place....



I won the gift card at MOPS on Friday. I almost feel guilty about winning such a nice gift, but I've gotten over it. :)

LOST is on tonight. Yeehaw!

Henry's had a rough time adjusting to being back home. Apparently he was quite spoiled by his grandparents. Oh well, it was still worth it for all of us. Especially when I stayed home on Sunday while RJ had to do powerpoint at church....meaning I was home alone in complete silence from 8-12:00. Lovely.

Last night I had the privilege of going to an indoor "stuff swap". It was such a great idea and recommend it to all y'all. We got to my friends house with 2-3 of adult clothing, accessories, household stuff and misc and set everything up in her house. We drew alphabet letters to establish the order and then took turns going through everything and taking one thing at a time. Towards the end we had a free for all and if some of your stuff was left we just brought it back home. It was really fun and hopefully it becomes a seasonal event!

Have a great Wednesday!

Henry's Home!

It was so great to see Henry last night! He got home around 9 so had to go right to bed, but he's in a great mood today and seems to have grown so much.

So plans were to get the rooms done this weekend. Here's the update... I started working on some really fun collages and have quite a few more to go. Here's my favorite. The *perfect* Bloom plate curtousy of Alisa! I love it.

And here's the UN-finished nursery. Woops! I decided I would much rather relax more and have fun with RJ than be stuck in a room all day working. I am excited to keep working on it, but I don't really care when it's done anymore! Hopefully before baby girl arrives, but you never know....
I have so many fun little frames and birdies and knick-knacks to work with. The kind of scary thing is that about 90% of the shopping I did for all this stuff was in my basement. Yes, I've got an enourmous stock pile of stuff! So it's nice to put some of it to use.

Have a happy Monday!

The shower was a success and everyone had fun! I have to say though, I've never hosted nor been to a baby shower where there had to be a smoke break before we could open presents....don't worry, the mom-to-be does NOT smoke. :) It's so fun to watch the expecting mom open those sweet baby gifts and see how excited they get. Yes, it made me even more excited for our little bean to appear.

There was a killer little kid shoe clearance at Target this week. Girls need lots of shoes, right? So getting 6 pairs is totally okay, right? When they're $2.50 and $3.75, I think that's totally okay! And hand-me-down shoes don't usually work too well. Even RJ couldn't resist the glittery Converse All Star slip-ones so we got 3 pairs in different sizes. I can tell he is going to fall head over heels for this little girl...


I got this Angel Coconut Creme Cake recipe from my mother-in-law who had gotten it from one of RJ's aunts, and it is so amazing. It's easy, and it's gorgeous. A great combination. I forgot to get a shot of it before we dug in, but he's a picture of the last piece. Believe me, it's just as good for breakfast as it is for dessert.

Angel Coconut Creme Cake

1 box white cake mix

1 8 1/2 oz can creme of coconut (in the alcohol section)

1/4 c veggie oil

3 large egg whites

1 c. coconut

Frosting:

2 c heavy whipping cream

1/4 sugar

coconut for topping

Make cake according to directions on box, but just using egg whites. Pour cake into 3 8" cake pans (I used 2 9" ones). Bake for 18 min at 350, or until done. When done, poke holes in cake layers with toothpicks or fork tines and pour cream of coconut over cake layers. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove cooled layers from pan. Frost with sweetened cream in between layers, on tops and sides. Sprinkle with coconut.

For the frosting: Whip 2 cups heavy whipping cream and sugar in chilled bowl and chilled beaters until thick. Do not over whip. This was the one step I was nervous about because I had never made my own whipped cream before. Let me tell you, it is way easy! I'm totally doing it more often....

Henry is having a blast in Minnesota and we've had a nice time as well. My appt went really well on Friday and it was good to hear the heart beat once again. My belly is still sore off and on but I guess that's just normal. You all probably already knew that. So this morning I'm taking it easy! I'll need lots of energy for Henry when he gets home tonight and I certainly haven't caught up on any sleep. I'm generally up by at least 4, and I think I've been pressuring myself to try so hard to sleep well since Henry isn't here, that it's completely backfired and it's been worse. Bum. I'm starting to get nervous about the approaching sleepless nights with a newborn. And I'm really getting nervous about how Henry is going to react. He likes little babies, but he has become more clingy lately so this could be a shocker for him. I'm nervous about getting no breaks during the day because I'm sure the idea of both of them sleeping at the same time is ridiculous--for the first bit anyways. I'm nervous about being in labor for a ridiculously long time again. It goes faster the second time, right? Because 48ish straight hours of contractions wasn't too great. BUT, there's so much I'm excited for too. I can't wait to meet her.

Thanks to the recomendation from a friend, last night I got the cd Blink by Plumb at the Christian book store. It's all songs she wrote for her little boy. They are so sweet. I highly recomend it!

RJ's cousin Marissa had a baby girl last night! A healthy Layla Grace. Beauty of a name and I'm sure she's a beauty of a baby as well. Praise God!

Hope you all enjoy your Sundays!

I already put Henry down for bed because he'll be getting up in a few hours to head to Minnesota. He usually manages to come up with a mysterious illness before heading north, but he's stayed clear of any such thing this week, except for the issue that has made us feed him prunes and double fiber bread. Poor guy. Poor little guy. I took him to his 2 year appt yesterday and he weighs just over 25 lbs. Surprisingly this is slightly above his usual 10% on the weight chart! Isn't that tiny? He's still a tall fellow though and everything else checked out well.

I could barely walk last night and had an especially hard time with the stairs because my belly muscles hurt so bad. I guess I must have over done it. It's better today, but still sore so I'm glad I have an appt tomorrow to get that checked out. It makes me feel 41 1/2 weeks pregnant.


So we're pretty excited for our weekend alone! We don't splurge on much, but going on dates is one area we don't skimp on. However, we decided that we're going to eat at home and spend money on maybe a movie and some coffee shops. Nothing fancy, but it actually sounds
fan-flippin'-tastic. RJ also took tomorrow off so we can sleep in! Oh, this is going to be fun. And I'm going to be so ready to see Henry on Sunday too!

Hope you all have a lovely Friday!

Wednesday

This week has gone so quickly!


I'm getting a bit nervous for the baby shower I'm hosting on Saturday. Turns out there will be about 20 ladies coming so it will be really fun and the mommy-to-be will feel really loved. I haven't seen a lot of these gals for a long time so that will be really fun too. But they're all artsy-fartsy and it makes me nervous for them to come see my house. Isn't that ridiculous?!?! I go in phases where I want to work on our house and make it "perfect" and then I go in phases where I realize that it doesn't really matter. Of course it's fine to make your house look nice (and I'm sure we all have different opinions on how much we should spend on it, etc), but I seriously get a little too obsessed with it. Plus, we all know how temporary our houses are. If I die tomorrow, will the first thing I ask the Lord be, "So, what did you think of my nursery color?". Therefore, I get annoyed with myself when I get too focused on it. So easy to do! So I'm trying very hard to just enjoy working on fun little projects in our house without it consuming me. Know what I mean? But I'm sure I'll be up early again tomorrow morning contemplating over what to hang on my walls.
One of my many areas of struggles.


One of my very creative neighbor friends came over the other night to help me rearrange all my wall decor and a piece of furniture or two. I really wanted a fresh new look in the house without having to spend any money. Call it Nesting on a Budget, if you will. It was really fun and I think I got that out of my system for a good year or two. She also spotted a great table/buffet on the side of the road near our house and picked it up for me. It was in good shape, but needed a paint job and some new hardware. So, I spent $10 on new drawer pulls, glued a strip of textured-paintable wallpaper on top which is something I had bought for a project a few years ago and haven't used yet, and painted a few coats of black paint. I really like it and I really like that it looks way more expensive than what it was. Thanks, Lydia!!!
I'll be making a dreamy cocunut cake for the shower and will be sure to post the recipe. It's amazing and looks beautifully delicious and fancy. Mmmmmm......
Have a happy Wednesday!

A Sneak Peek.....

A sneak peek into the nursery.... painting was a gift from a friend on my last day at Sticks.
A sneak peek into this cool dude's big boy room. Notice his little jacket--it was RJ's when he was little--so cute. Yes, the rooms have some of the same color, but the nursery is two-toned. And now that 5 out of the 7 rooms in my house are some shade of blue, I am a happy camper. Check out that sweet lamp shade. I got it for only $20 at Pier One!!! Psh, or try for $1 at a garage sale. Oh yeah. That's much more how I roll.

Random photo of Henry's birthday party in Ft. Dodge with my parents.

He sure misses opening so many presents.

I have to say, I've enjoyed this last bit of snow. I like winter. I'm ready for it to be done by the end of February, but for now I like it. And seriously, if it's going to be cold out, the earth might as well be covered in some beautiful snow.

We had a great weekend and got lots done on the rooms for the little ones. I still have a lot left to do, but I've loved working on things for our own house for once! Hopefully this weekend I'll completely finish both rooms and I'll do the final reveal. I should get everything done because......Henry is going to Pop-pop and Grandma's house! He's leaving Thursday night with his cousins and coming back on Sunday night. Of course I'll miss him, but I'm sure I don't need to explain how nice it is every now and then to do whatever we want and go on as many dates as we can pack into one weekend and SLEEP IN. It's also a busy weekend with MOPS, an appt, and hosting a baby shower at my house, so it will all work out really well.

Henry started going to the 2s and 3s class at church last week and he loves it. Yesterday on the way home, he was singing "shepard boy" over and over and I looked at his little papers and sure enough, it was about David the shepard boy. Oh, this mamma was so proud. It was so sweet. It's so amazing to watch your children grow and learn.

Pregnancy is still going really well. I've felt good lately, still sleeping poorly, but getting in some naps here and there.

Hope you all enjoy this snowy day. Have a happy week!

It's Double Coupon time all week at Kmart. Just so you know..... I've never done it before, but there's a first time for everything!

Ahhhhh

After a very long struggle with nap time today, the boy is finally asleep. I should probably be more thankful that he is such a good napper, but instead, the one time he won't take one I freak. I guess I can be pretty stubborn sometimes and when I'm cranky because of bad sleep that makes it worse. He has been sleeping wonderfully for a long time now, but the last week has started awakening early yet again and it makes me tired. But why do I keep expecting to sleep well when I have a young child? Shouldn't I be used to this by now??? And don't remind me, I know I'll be starting all over with no sleep in a very short while. Yikes. So it's beautifully quiet in the house now. My major bad mood has passed, and I got in a nice phone conversation while completely ignoring my son. I figure that's totally fine every now and then.
This month seems to already be going quickly for which I am thankful because January can be kind of a downer. February, however, is the bomb and I can't wait for it. I may not be so excited when I turn 29, but I'll think about that later. Seriously, don't I seem way too immature to almost be 30?!

Later.

First Come, First Serve!

Like I mentioned before, I got a new set of dishes for Christmas. It was just a 6 piece setting, so I've been keeping my eyes open for another set. I didn't care if they matched, and in fact preferred that they didn't as long as they were white. Well, today was my lucky day! I ran a quick errand to Target and spotted a 64 piece setting (plates, big bowls, small bowls, cups, saucers, 2 serving dishes, and s & p shakers) half off for $30 and I had some of a gift card left so that made it even better! Over the weekend I gave my mom my set of dishes from our wedding and now I have one more set to get rid of. The old me would keep it in my basement "just in case", but the new me wants to get rid of things I'm not using. SO......if you want these, speak up and they're yours for free! For some reason there are 7 big plates and 7 bowls, but 8 salad plates. The plates are in great condition, but some of the bowls are chipped. They're nothing fancy, just Martha Stewart brand, but they're nice. (The mugs in the background are from my new set though.....) Thought I'd try on here before I try annoying Craigslist. Don't worry, I won't take offense if no one wants to claim them. :)

I promise one of these days I'll get some more fun pictures posted.

Hello 2009

It's a quiet house right now. Everyone is over at Ryan and Jamie's and I'm here alone recovering from the last few days. I'm afraid that I'm experience morning sickness again. I've gotten sick a few times that last couple of weeks and I've been nauseous. Yuck. Have any of you gotten sick again at the end after feeling good once the first bit is over??

We had Henry's party last night and it was so fun. We had 11 little kids in our house and it was nice and cozy. He's got some cute little cousins! I made it staying up until midnight, but was painfully tired. I'm such a wimp. I'll post pictures later. I promise! Thankfully, Alisa took some good ones for me since I was busy doing other stuff. Thanks!!

Our company leaves tomorrow and then on Saturday we're meeting my family half way to have another party for Henry and my sister. Sunday will be very busy as well, but then things will finally be back to normal. What a great time we've had, but it's certainly made us tired!

Hope you are all enjoying your New Year's Day!