A Burst of Creativity

While ignoring all the things I still have to do, I remade an old T shirt into a dress for Munchkin.

I think it's adorable--now if it would just stop snowing, maybe she could wear it.

I am trying to make some simple dresses with sleeves for Thumbelina this summer. She is all about skirts but if I can get her into dresses, that's one less thing to wash! Luckily there are a bunch of tutorials for easy ones floating around the internet.

Up next, I am going to try this skirt from Made.

I think it would make a cute birthday outfit for Thumbelina.

Super Sale!

I am nesting. There I said it. Slowly but surely, I am cleaning everything out, reorganizing and purging. Last week, we moved all of our storage stuff plus all of my craft stuff into the dining room. As I have been going through it all, I feel like I am making huge progress...until I look at how thrashed and crowded my dining room still is!

So in an effort to get things moving, I am having a super sale in my Etsy Shop. All of the sale items are already made and packaged, ready to ship. Most of the items in my shop are marked down from $15 to only $8. That's nearly 50% off! These make great baby shower gifts, or even first birthday presents. Munchkin still plays with hers.

This whole nesting thing would be a lot easier if I could lift the boxes myself!

Come On Out, Baby!

I had an uneventful trip to the doctor yesterday. I saw a NP, who checked me and told me I was still at "a tight one."

DANG IT!

Then she continued, "I'm trying to stretch it bigger but it's not working!"

AWESOME!

This is the second appointment where I haven't gained any weight. My diet of cake, brownies and ice cream is so working. Hopefully that continues after the baby is born.

But next week I see Dr. Buick Hands, and hubby will be done with classes and finals. That means a green light to have this baby. I am going to try to talk the doctor into inducing me Friday if I don't go on my own.

May 1st would be a good day to have a baby, don't you think?

What Do You Get...?

When you let a 6-year-old's imagination and creativity run wild?


A suit of armor made out of track pieces, which he later muscled out of Hulk style:

And a cake. He had treat for FHE and decided he wanted to decorate a cake. Why yes, those are lemonheads on top. And a full bottle of sprinkles (he thought it had a shaker lid.) And enough frosting to induce a diabetic coma if you come within 10 feet. But he was proud of it.

And it wasn't too bad...if you scraped off all the frosting.

Check

I have a list of things to do before the baby comes. Some of the things are rational and totally doable, like washing her clothes and setting up her crib. (Both done, by the way.) Other things are too far out there, like scrubbing my kitchen ceiling and washing all my baseboards. But I am slowly crossing everything off my list.

Yesterday, to the sounds of Cinderella that my sick kids were watching, I finished the curtain for her room. Quilting has always daunted me. Especially after the blanket I made for her has anything but square pieces:

But then I finally bought a ruler to go with my rotary cutter and mat. Straight lines are EASY--if you have the right tools! So I was able to start and finish the curtain in under three hours! I know that seems like a long time but I had to sew a little, then unplug my machine, plug in the iron, iron the seams, and then unplug the iron and plug in the sewing machine so I could sew the next part. (The circuits in our house are a bit tempermental, to say the least!) But I am proud of how it turned out--but mostly at how easy it was!

Now if I could just remember how I did that dumb blanket stitch on her other blanket, we'd be set!

Not Feeling It

Last night, as we were going to bed, I told hubby I didn't feel like going to church today. I was just tired and uncomfortable. Getting up to pee 4 times a night, plus heartburn does not make for a good night's sleep. This morning, I still wasn't feeling it but I got up and got in the shower anyway. We got the kids all bathed and ready. We packed the church bags, with snacks for the girls. I even had plenty of time to get makeup on and my hair mostly done.

But once we got to church, Thumbelina started complaining of a headache. She sat by me and just wimpered through the sacrament. I took her out in the hallway and let her sit on my 'lap'. About 15 minutes after we left the chapel, she starts yelling that she's going to puke and we have to go to the bathroom NOW!


So today, I am thankful that we went to sit in the foyer. I am thankful that she is old enough to recognize the puke feeling in time to get to a toilet. I am thankful that her hair isn't long enough yet to be in the way.


But I am wondering if maybe we should have just stayed home.

REALLY??!?!?!

Utah-April 16, 2009

So much for the kids playing outside during Spring Break.

Because We Only Love One of Our Children

Otherwise known as 'the camera battery died right as the other kids joined Munchkin in the egg hunt.'

...and how can you tell your kids to stop and wait while you get new batteries for the camera.

Happy Easter!

CRAFTS!!!

"Mom, can we do crafts?"

At least three times a day I hear this. Crafts in our house (for the kids anyway) consists of scissors, glue sticks, stickers (left over from ET's 5th birthday party--I swear the stickers are multiplying!), markers, crayons, and construction paper.

Munchkin usually gets banned at least once from every craft session for drawing on herself or the walls or the table. She is, however, getting better with the scissors.

Right now, ET's big project is making Easter Eggs to make a garland out of for our wall. Too bad many of the eggs have gory pictures on them. There is the one with the decapitated man, sword still in his neck. Or the one where the guy is gushing blood with a few blood drops for good measure. But, to contrast that, there is an egg with a resurrected Jesus on it. I am just not sure how far apart etiquette states I space them.

Thumbelina, I think, is in a height phase. She just glues one scrap of paper on top of another until her paper pile is at least an inch or two tall. She made me a rainbow yesterday that was easily three inches off the table.

I made a rule that they can only put up one 'craft' on the wall per day. Munchkin always puts one up but can never leave it there.

And me? What's a mom to do with herself when her children are occupied with crafts for hours? Make egg easter cards for her visiting teaching group:

And paper covers for their Easter buckets since they thrashed the real Easter buckets from last year.

A Big Thank You

Turns out the big weekend with Hubby in WA was no big deal to the kids. You see, hubby is in school and has all of his classes on Tuesday and Thursday. So generally, the kids will see him Wednesday afternoon and evening, and then not again until Friday afternoon. So I am pretty sure they just thought Dad was at school and work. So there were no big 'I want Dad' meltdowns.

Thank you for everyone who sent the links to the conference packets. I seriously got emails from about 5 people. But the biggest hit was Conference Bingo. Saturday morning, ET was the only one interested in watching conference. But he got 3 bingos all by himself and all the kids wanted the candy prize. The afternoon session passed quietly with both girls napping. I decided that I would 'watch' conference in bed--you know through my eyelids. But the boy sat quietly for two hours listening intently for the bingo words to be said.

Then, Thumbelina woke up and got in on the action. "He said and!" "He said food!" She didn't seem to really understand that only certain words counted.

We were driving home from the airport during the afternoon session on Sunday, and hubby and I kept getting yelled at.

"Be quiet! I am trying to listen to conference!"

You can't say he wasn't dedicated...to getting more candy at least.

Things I Miss

Being pregnant, there are some things you just can't do. And then there is the whole long list of things where it just isn't worth it. Today I am missing some specific things.



*Laying on my stomach or back.

*Laying on my right side for more than 20 minutes.

*Sleeping with just one pillow.

*Being able to lay next to my husband in our King size bed.
(I am not that big it just takes a lot of energy to scoot out of bed so I just sleep on the edge.)

*Being able to snuggle with my kids on the couch.

*Having a lap.

*FOOD! With the other pregnancies, I could have given you a list of specific foods--bacon, orange juice, tomato anything, onions--that just gave me heartburn. But this time, I miss yogurt. Something about the consistency, I just can't do it.

*Shoes that tie.

*Shoes period. I am down to two pairs of flip flops and it's snowing! (It was when I wrote this.)

*Snuggly blankets. I got the greatest blanket for Christmas and so want to use it!

*My ankles. I used to have them--bony ones even.

*Rolling over in my sleep. Now it's a whole production to get this body onto the other side.

*And I really miss pants. Skirts are just easier right now.

*Bending over. ET asked for help tying his shoes yesterday and it was awkward to say the least.


But when I went to the doctor yesterday, I was 60% effaced and 1 cm dialated. Which most likely means nothing! But at the very least I only have 4 weeks to go. With hubby's finals, ET's karate tournament, and everything else, I am really shooting for May 3rd so my husband's head doesn't explode. You should have seen his face when I told him my water broke on April Fools.

Quite Possibly...

...the greatest 2 year old ever!