There's No Place Like Memphis Mama

Sofa

2012-01-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

So J and I are going this weekend (I think) to order a custom sectional sofa from Great American Home Store. We went last Saturday and they didn't have exactly what we wanted in store so we talked to the sales associate and I told him what we wanted and he was able to contact the buyer and get us a price (and it was good) on a custom sofa.

SO basically we are ordering this combination:

A right arm love seat with a wedge corner and an additional left arm chair. It may sound small but it will actually be about 117 inches on the sofa side and 85 on the other side. It will be kind of free floating in the center of our living room situated around the fireplace and facing the TV...which we intend to mount on the wall. As much as I would love a light colored sofa with a slipcover I think that would just be plain stupid on my part with 2 small children haha!

J and I were admiring a sofa and love seat combo they had near the front of the store. The set was kind of a spring green color but the material was more textured and we felt that it would hide any stains our kiddos would get on it. The salesman said he thought we could get that fabric on our sectional so we were pretty excited about that! I think we are going to go maybe Friday night and order it. It will take at least a month to build it and ship it to our house but we have time:)

I am so excited and I cannot wait to see our family room finally come together:) If you know of anyone who may want a sofa we are going to sell our old one. When I post it on craigslist I will post the link here on my blog too.

Newborn Pictures!

2012-01-20T15:55:00.000-08:00

These are a few of my favorites from Baby S's newborn session. I love them SO much!

Obviously I am biased but I think both of my babies are beautiful!

On the weight loss front...I have lost 26 lbs. 26 down...26 to go! SICK! I cannot believe I am only halfway there. BUT I am borrowing my MIL's treadmill so I am going to start walking on it for 20 minutes each night in addition to eating a healthy diet. Wish me luck! I know I can get this done by April if I really stick to it!

WW for Nursing Mothers

2012-01-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

So Sarah over at Moske Monkey Business reminded me yesterday about Weight Watchers. When J and I first got married I gained some weight since we were staying in and cooking at home a lot. So I joined WW that following January and I actually lost 15 lbs and kept it off. It worked better for me than any other diet I have ever tried. So last night I dug out all my old books b/c I remembered that you can calculate points if you are a nursing mother! I calculated my daily point allowance (this was on the old system NOT the new points plus program but hey it worked for me once) and I got out my trusty points calculator.

The other day I did pick up some Smart Ones breakfast items and a pizza at the grocery to try and they were all good so I am getting back on the bandwagon ASAP. I get 30 pts a day since I am nursing and I still get the extra 35 to spread out over the week. I'm hoping I can start chipping away at this last 25 lbs so maybe I can get back to my pre-pregnancy weight by Summer and start really working out again.

When it's not 20 degrees outside I am going to walk in our neighborhood but it's just too darn cold right now! I wish we had room for a treadmill. Maybe in the garage? I don't know! If anyone want the information on how to calculate points on the old system leave me a comment and I will email you the info. I didn't know if it was "street legal" for me to post that information online haha!

A Weighty Issue...

2012-01-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Well Baby S is 3 weeks old today! I love her so much I can't stand it:) But what I do NOT love is this baby weight. Ugh! I have lost 25 lbs since I gave birth. Unfortunately that means I have 27 more to lose. I don't know why people say breastfeeding promotes weight loss. With L I felt like I didn't let go of the last of my weight until I stopped nursing and it appears to be the same way with S. That first 25 just fell off. Now I am stuck. I haven't lost anything in several days even though I am trying to watch what I eat. I'm certainly not dieting! I have to eat to nurse. But I'm trying to make healthy choices with what I do eat. Our sweet Sunday school class has been bringing us dinner every other night which is wonderful but man oh man the desserts are killing me haha!

What can I say I have no will power? If its in the house I'm probably going to eat it! I had to go to Target today and buy some yoga pants b/c I only have like 1 pair of pants I can wear out in public right now. So I'm trying to write down what I am eating everyday OR write what I am going to eat the night before so I can physically SEE what is going in my body. It's way to easy to graze with kids and forget what you ate/snacked on.

Apparently I am going to have to fight to get this last 27 lbs off but I am up for it. As soon as S is big enough for the Baby Bjorn we will start walking outside. I don't have a jogging stroller unfortunately and her snap on stroller has zero shocks. It's definitely not made for sidewalks. All I know is I have a wedding shower in April and I need to hurry up and shed this weight! It's going to be a ton of cute, trendy girls and I don't want to feel fat, flabby and out of place. Ugh. Ok now I feel better. I needed to vent!

I have a BIG post coming when I have more time about L's birthday party. It was SO darn cute!!!

A Rare Day For Mom

2012-01-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

My MIL was nice enough to have her cleaning ladies come today so when I took L to MDO this morning I came home to a sparkly clean house! It's SO nice. It's really cold today and snow flurrying so Baby S and I are having a rare lazy day inside. I am catching up on all your blogs. Sorry if I don't comment I will soon but I have SO many to read!

I am going to paint my nails in a little bit while she naps, eat totally uninterrupted, take a nap AND...the best part...I am meeting J at 5 to give him the kiddos while I go get my hair done. Finally! I seriously have at least 2 inch roots. I had an appointment 2 days after S was born and that was already a week longer than I normally go in b/tw highlights. So I am now 3 weeks overdue to have my hair done and it is looking scraggly to say the least.

Some fun things lately:

Last Saturday my FIL painted my dining room! Here is the new color:

A new chandelier is also on the list.

It is called Crevocoeur (sp?) by Martha Stewart. The lower half of the wall still needs a fresh coat of white but at least that awful yellow is gone now. Also up for debate...should I paint this armoire white? I think it will really pop against the wall but I'm also scared to do all that work and then not like it. Opinions?

I took the kids to the doctor yesterday for S's 2 week well check and L's 4 year well check. J met me there thankfully but they were both SO good. L didn't need shots this time but poor sweet S got her Hep B I think it was. She was not a happy girl but settled down as soon as Mommy cuddled her:)

Stats:

S now weighs 7 lbs 2 oz and is 20.5 inches long

L now weighs a whopping 40 lbs and is now 38.5 inches tall haha!

My tiny princess and my linebacker:)

Tomorrow is all about the birthday party! My parents are going to help me decorate and a few family and friends are coming over Saturday morning. L is so excited. We took cupcakes to this class today and he wore this birthday shirt Nana got him:

After the last month or so of craziness next week is looking downright boring...and I can't wait!

Update!

2012-01-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

Well obviously you know I have been busy so I won't even explain my blogging absence haha! Actually this second baby thing is pretty easy. It's the almost 4 year old thing that will make you crazy! L is very loving to his sister but he is a wild man lately. I think it's his way of getting some extra attention. I am sure we will all survive it but man he is wearing me out;)

Also I found out I have been suffering from a Post Dural Puncture Headache (PDPH). It really sucks! Basically when they did my epidural they went too far into my epidural space and punctured my dura so I have a spinal fluid leak. It's not going to really hurt me other than throw off the pressure in my head and give me a wicked headache that won't quit. I saw the OB on Monday and he gave me some pain meds but they didn't work so Tuesday I went back to Labor and Delivery but the 2 anesthesiologists could not agree that it was a dural puncture so they did not do a blood patch (the procedure to fix it). Basically they would draw blood from my arm and inject it into my back to clot the hole and the headache would go away. Sometimes they resolve on their own within 5-10 days of onset. I noticed mine the day I left the hospital so I am on Day 9 of this headache. I have to say it is better but definitely not gone. They had me see a Neuro on Thursday who confirmed it's a leak. So the plan is if the headache isn't gone by Monday I will get a CT on Tuesday. If that is normal on Thursday most likely I will go back to Labor and Delivery and get the blood patch. So pray it goes away b/c I don't want to do it! The one thing that helps the headache is large amounts of caffeine. BUT I am breastfeeding. I tried to drink a lot of caffeine yesterday and test it and poor S had a couple of nasty diapers last night so no more caffeine relief for this Mama.

This week is all about L! His 4th birthday is Saturday and I cannot believe it. We are having his Pirate Party here at the house. His sister knew Mommy needed time to get this all done so she graciously opted to come 2 weeks early;) I got out today and took S to the grocery store. Our Sunday School class is bringing dinners for like a month but I had to get the basics (milk bread, ect). I love my cover I bought for my car seat. It is elastic and it just fits right over and velcroes down the front. No one can get to my baby unless I let them! It makes a germophobe like me very happy. I've been delegating a lot of birthday party responsibilities out to the grandparents and I really appreciate their help! I'm not too tired (S only gets up once or twice a night) but the headache is slowing me down for real.

My FIL came over today and painted our dining room. I can't wait to reveal that to you! Man it looks better! I was hoping he could get to it before the party and I am so glad he did. My Aunt is getting me some more paper products that I need. My MIL is bringing the helium balloons and my parents are coming on Friday to help me put up all the decorations. SO all I really need to do is go to the grocery store on Friday and get juice boxes, 2 liters, hot dogs, buns, pirate booty popcorn, candy for the pinata and pizza. I may even be extra lazy and buy store bought cupcakes (gasp)! I think L will forgive me this one time. He is lucky we are doing this at all! I am going to get cupcakes to take to his class on Thursday for sure so I may as well double up. I even sent an e-vite for the party. Since I didn't know when S would come that made ordering invitations difficult. But they had some cute pirate ones so it worked out great!

I love birthdayexpress.com! I ordered pretty much all L's party decorations there a few months ago. I picked up some other random stuff at Target, Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby of course but the big stuff came from there. You should check it out. They have every theme you can think of!

Oh and Courtney from Chic Boutique came and took S's newborn pics. They are going to be insanely beautiful! Can't wait to share!!!

L and S both have well checks on Wednesday! Am I going to regret scheduling them together? Her 2 week well check and his 4 year well check.

Anyways that is what is up at our house this week! I will leave you with a gorgeous picture of my angels:

2012 Resolutions

2012-01-01T08:56:00.000-08:00

Well I figure I am going to give this a shot so here goes:

1. Obviously I want to lose the baby weight! I am 15 lbs down from the hospital but I still have 37 to go. SICK! I need to be super motivated too b/c I am in my BFFs wedding in October but I have showers starting as early as April I think so time to get moving. At least I feel good. I went and walked outside with L while he rose his Big Wheel yesterday. I am going to take advantage of this nice weather while it lasts. It is in the 60s in M-town in January. WHAT?!

2. Breastfeed S as long as possible. Silly girl seems to prefer one side over the other. I think though its b/c I am really engorged on that side (ouch) so for now until her appetite grows I am just feeding her on the one side and pumping on the other. At least I am stock piling in the freezer:)

3. Start my allergy shots again. I guess this isn't really a resolution but I have been procrastinating about it. L needs to start them this year to b/c of his asthma so we will go together.

4. Eat healthier. And I mean the whole family not just me. I am so over all the junk food from the holidays. L always gets so much junky candy. Santa didn't bring too much this year but of course he loaded up everywhere else not to mention all the parties with pizza and cupcakes and all the cookies we baked ect. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to make all S's food and I still plan to do that. My in laws bought us a Beaba and I am excited about using it.

5. Get this house in order! I feel like I didn't get a lot done since we moved in b/c I was pregnant and my energy was low a lot of the time. So I am about to start working hard on pulling rooms together and getting organized. First up...the dining room b/c L's birthday party is in 2 weeks. I already bought the paint but I am going to ask my FIL to come over one day soon and paint in there and I am going to finish hanging pictures ect.

Other than that I just plan on enjoying this year and my sweet, little family! Happy New Year to all!!!

One AMAZING Birth Story!

2011-12-30T11:35:00.000-08:00

I want to preface this by giving a brief synopsis of the day L was born so you will understand the comparison.

I was induced when I was 39 weeks pregnant with L. I was 3 cm dilated the morning of the induction and my labor progressed normally throughout the course of the day. I think we started the pitocin at 8 AM and I started pushing around 2 PM. Where it got scary was the pushing part. I had a pretty narrow pelvis and L weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and he had a fairly large head. I just could not get him out. My bright OB (I switched when I got pregnant with S) decided that she would just turn off my epidural after I had been pushing for an hour and a half. I think she thought once I really felt my contractions I would push him out. WRONG. I ended up pushing for another hour and a half with no pain meds and I seriously thought I was going to die. I was crying, exhausted and it was just god awful. They finally had to do a vacuum extraction and when he came out I was too tired to even look at him. I just flopped back on the bed and cried in relief. I had 2 tears and was swollen in places I didn't know one could be swollen in.

OK...fast forward to Monday night. I was feeling great all day. I had a burst of energy and I had been taking down all the Christmas stuff. Well at least I took it all down and dumped it on the dining room table to be packed up;) Except I did leave the tree up b/c I just wasn't ready. I was having contractions and I thought she had dropped. We decided to go to Wal-Mart and grocery shop. I figured the walking couldn't hurt! After we finished shopping J and I decided to get chinese food b/c we were SO sick of eating Christmas ham and leftovers. We joked about how I ate chinese food the night before I had L and I ordered some spicy General Tsao Chicken on purpose.

We went home and not too long after L went to bed I started feeling really crampy. Now all weekend pretty much my family had been laughing at me b/c I had been sitting on L's bouncy ball. One of these:

But I had read that sitting on "birth balls" or exercise balls would help the baby drop. This was all I had so that is what I used haha! Anyways I swear it helped me drop and as the night went on my contractions didn't go away. I felt very crampy like when you are about to start your period BUT they weren't getting close together nor were they intensifying. But I knew something was off b/c I could not sleep through them no matter what. I was up all night and didn't sleep a wink. J slept on the couch since he had to work and I basically paced in our room all night. I just didn't want to go to L&D and be sent home though so I stuck it out till the morning. J stayed and helped me get myself and L ready and he took L to his parents on his way into work so I could go see the doctor and not have to worry about him.

I got to the office about 10:15 AM. My doc was at the other office and the doc I was supposed to see was delivering a baby SO I saw a woman in the group I had never seen. She was very nice. They monitored my contractions and they were steady and close and then she checked my cervix and said that I was 3 cm. She asked me if I wanted to have my baby today and I said yes but I do not want a Pitocin induction. She said if she sent me to L&D right then that that is what they would do since I wasn't 4 cm. So I asked her to strip my membranes instead. She did and honestly it didn't hurt me at all it was just uncomfortable and she said she did a really good sweep.

After she told me to go to ultrasound so they could look at her. The u/s tech tried to tell me the baby would weigh 8 lbs 5 oz so I was freaking out! I was about to leave when the other doc came back from delivering the baby and asked to see me. He was a little worried b/c her heart rate had dipped a few times when they were monitoring me. He wanted me to go to L&D right then. He said he would not try to progress my labor just monitor me and see if I got to 4 on my own.

This was around noon. I walked over and got checked in and by the time they had me all settled and my paperwork done and hooked up to the machine I was 4 cm and they declared me in active labor so it was a really good thing they sent me on.

All this time I am on the phone calling our family, making arrangements for L and making a list for J b/c I assumed I would be back home shortly so I had nothing. I had packed my bag but nothing yet for L and J needed all his things. He finally got to the hospital around 2 pm and I was b/tw 5 &6 cm. They had just broken my water and had given me some pitocin to speed things up although I still don't know why b/c my labor flew by. I got my epidural when I was 6 cm. That was probably the worst part. Not the placement of it but I got what they call a "hot spot." One place on my left lower groin would NOT go numb so I was feeling super strong contractions and pain just in that one place.

The nurse turned off the pitocin b/c she felt my labor was progressing too fast for the epidural to catch up. My parents, J's parents, L and my Aunt Barbara all got there around 4:15 or so. They took L to the cafeteria to eat. The nurse checked me again at 5 PM and they said you are complete it is time to push. J and I were floored! It happened SO fast. Next thing I know nurses are running around and bringing things in the room and thankfully the epidural took full effect right before I started to push.

I pushed 5 or 6 times, really like 2 sets of pushes and the nurse started yelling for me to STOP pushing and started yelling for Dr. King. He came running in and I saw her eyes get big and look at him and basically S's head was out and the nurse was holding her in! He barely had time to get his gloves on. The reason for her little heart rate dips was the cord had wrapped around her neck so he manipulated her a little to remove it and out she came. I didn't even push she just fell out. They put her on my tummy and I was so shocked. She was SO tiny and man was she screaming! J cut the cord and they took her to get her cleaned up. She was born at 5:24 PM and weighed a tiny 6 lbs 13 oz and she was only 19 inches long. So tiny!

We brought L back first alone and he was so precious. He ran in and he said Hey Mommy you got your baby out of your tummy! He held her and she was still crying and he looked at me and said I think she needs a paci! Haha! Sweet boy. After that everyone else came back and it was nice b/c it was just the small few of us. L was ready to go spend the night at Granddaddy's so my parents left and took him home. S was still fussing and J said do you think she is hungry? I said I don't know let's see. That child knew how to nurse right off the bat! I mean she latched on perfect and nursed for like 30 minutes and was completely content after.

We got moved upstairs to our permanent room and its been more of the same ever since. She is an angel. She is a champion eater and so far a pretty good sleeper. I love her so much I can't stand it. And other than being tired I feel great. I had no tears and very minimal swelling. I'm not even taking pain meds anymore. My doctor and I just laughed at how easy it all was. He joked around about how he almost missed it!

And that is how my beautiful daughter delivered herself into this world:) We are now home and just enjoying being a family of four. L still loves her and we are now looking forward to his 4th birthday in 2 weeks. God is so good!

I had a baby!

2011-12-27T19:53:00.000-08:00

We are so proud to announce that Miss Sloane Elizabeth S. was born today at 5:24 PM. She is 6 lbs. 13 oz. and is 19 inches long. She is beautiful! AMAZING birth story to follow soon but right now we are basking in the glow of our precious angel:) Mommy was exactly 38 weeks today.

Question for moms...

2011-12-22T12:06:00.000-08:00

When I went to the doctor on Wednesday he said I had only dilated another 1/2 cm from last week. Which I guess is still better than nothing! So at 37 weeks I am 1 1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. So this baby will probably not be here before Christmas. I go back next Wednesday and he is going to do an ultrasound to see how big she is and what position she is in. Based off that info and whether or not I have dilated further we will discuss what to do next. I'm hoping I will have dilated enough to talk him into stripping my membranes or something b/c I would like to try to kick start my labor on my own before even considering an induction. Anyone ever have their membranes stripped? What is it like? Would you do it again? How many weeks were you and did it start your labor?

Thanks!

Week 37...FULL TERM!

2011-12-20T06:34:00.000-08:00

How Far Along: 37 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Pushing the 50 mark just as I suspected. Ugh!

Maternity Clothes: As much weight as I have gained I am still wearing all the same stuff so I'm not totally sure where it all is. I think some of it is fluid for sure just like with L.

Best Moment this week: L was in his first Christmas pageant at school and it was adorable! I am so glad I had not had the baby yet b/c I would have hated to have missed it. Also, we have the nursery entirely ready except for her glider which is out of stock at the moment. Car seat is ready and the hospital bag is packed:) Santa is done shopping so we are just looking forward to a fun week with family.

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: Moving less and less it seems. Just stretching every now and then and the occasional sharp jab under the ribs:)

Food Craving: Neapolitan ice cream at night.

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: The same. Just getting up a lot.

What I am looking forward to: I have my 37 week check up on Wednesday morning.

Symptoms: The contractions seem to have abated for now. So I am hoping to make it past Sunday for sure so we can enjoy Christmas. I still feel cramps off and on and of course the occasional contractions but they aren't lasting like they were. I'm thinking there won't be much change from last week to this week but we will see:)

I love Christmas!!!

2011-12-19T11:20:00.000-08:00

L and I made gingerbread cookies the other night. We had a lot of fun!

One day he is going to regret never wearing clothes!

Happy boy all the time!

This year I just taped our cards around the big doorway in the kitchen. We have twice this many up now! I really like it actually:)

I didn't have time to do a fancy schmancy advent calendar so we just made a chain and every day L removes one link so he knows Christmas is getting closer.

I added some cute vinyl letters to my plates...I love my Cricut!

I don't think I ever introduced our elf...Jammie. He came last year for the first time. L was glad to see him again this year.

My dad brought me this! I love it haha!

Here I am 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant and you can really see the almost 50 lbs I have gained here ugh. The baggy pants aren't helping I'm sure but we were baking so I was in comfort mode;)

Here is L earlier in the week before his Christmas program at school.

He was pumped!

The faces he made while singing were hysterical. We were all dying laughing!

They sang 2 songs.

Mommy & Granddaddy sure were proud of him!

The program was on Thursday but Tuesday they got to have a pajama/pizza party and watch Christmas movies. He had so much fun!

It has been a wonderful Christmas season this year. I feel so blessed. I love my new home, my little man is getting so big and I cannot wait to add Baby S to our lives. J and I have so many happy memories of this past year and I look forward to making more in 2012!!!

Moving on!

2011-12-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

Well I went back to the doctor this morning and I am still 1 cm dilated but now I am also 50% effaced so something is happening at least;) I am still having a lot of contractions...some of them pretty uncomfortable. Even after all the water I drank yesterday and today I still had ketones in my urine and my blood pressure was slightly higher than is normal for me. So I have no idea what is going on!

My doctor said most women don't sit on the fence like this forever. He feels like the contractions will either stop in the next few days (or at least be less aggressive) or I will go into labor. So as of right now I have another appointment for next Wednesday.

I told him I don't honestly care if she is born today or sometime in January but I surely do not want to be contracting like this for another month! So they either need to make something happen or go away. I feel conflicted b/c on the one hand I want her to be here and on the other I am really wanting this last Christmas with L. So if she is coming I wish she would go on and do it so I can get back home and get settled and enjoy Christmas with my buddy. If she is not, then please quit making your mama so uncomfortable and just let me enjoy the holidays haha!

My MIL was nice enough to ask her cleaning lady to come to my house this week. She is coming tomorrow and I cannot wait to come home to a clean house! So today I am tidying up and getting all the laundry done so she can get in here and do all the deep cleaning stuff. I just haven't been able to stay on top of it all lately with how I feel. It's all I can do just to move laundry through and keep the house from looking like a tornado hit it.

Tomorrow is L's Christmas program at school and I am so excited! His class is singing and this is the first time he has done something like this. I will be there with video camera in hand:) After they get to have a Happy Birthday Jesus party in the gym and go home early. How fun? I just love his school. It's our church and I was nervous about moving him there b/c I was scared if I didn't like it I would feel awkward saying anything or taking him out since we know everyone there so well but it hasn't been an issue at all b/c he LOVES it and so do I. He has learned so much and I love his teachers and it is so obvious how much he enjoys going.

So thank you Lord for that! And for healthy babies!

Week 36...and some activity!

2011-12-13T13:01:00.000-08:00

How Far Along: 36 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I weigh in tomorrow but like I said we are totally on our way to 50 lbs at this point. Just like with L!

Maternity Clothes: I've dwindled down to mostly J's t-shirts and leggings. Comfort is key now!!!

Best Moment this week: Lots of good stuff but mostly surrounding Christmas and L. I'm really enjoying these last weeks with him:) It's been special to me.

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: Less activity just a lot of stretching and rolling.

Food Craving: Banana Splits! I made my own the last 2 nights haha;)

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: Not good. I get up so much at night.

What I am looking forward to: My check up tomorrow.

Symptoms: Last night was crazy! I woke J up at 11:30 PM b/c I was having a lot of cramps. Mostly in my back but some of it radiated around the front and down my thighs. I tried to ignore it but I could NOT go to sleep. It was just a really bad ache. SO I called the after hours number and of course they wanted to send me to labor and delivery. I declined but promised if it didn't get better in an hour I would do. So I drank a big glass of water and took a warm bath at midnight. I really did feel better after though so I laid down and went to sleep. Still felt bad this morning though except now I was having contractions.

I called the doctor and they told me to come in at 9:45 AM. J helped me get L to school b/c I felt so bad and I went on in. Last Thursday I was 1 cm dilated. As of this morning that had not changed BUT I am having major contractions. They hooked me up to the monitor and in 15 minutes I had had 5 BIG contractions and I was feeling them. There were ketones in my urine which indicates dehydration but I have been drinking water. He gave me the choice of going to labor and delivery for IV fluids OR going home and resting and drinking lots of water and coming back tomorrow for my regularly scheduled appointment. So of course I said I am going home!

I came home and drank 2 big glasses of water but I am still having contractions. I'm going to be bummed if I hurt like this for 4 more weeks:( They said they would do nothing aggressive to stop labor at this point since I am a week from being considered full term. So we will see what happens when I go back tomorrow whether or not these contractions are actually making cervical changes. I'm not in a hurry to have her but I would rather not have painful contractions for week either. If I am going to have them this strongly then I want them to be doing something.

So I will let you know tomorrow what happens:) Stay tuned haha!!!

What's in the bag?

2011-12-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

So I saw where Reasonably Swanky did a post on what is in her make up bag and I thought I would do the same:

Moisturizer:
Day- I just use the Target brand every day moisturizer with SPF 30. You should always have SPF on your face:)
Night- AHAVA Intensive Hydration Mask

Foundation:
Make Up Forever HD Foundation in #120
***I have not used under eye concealer since I have been pregnant b/c my allergies have not been bothering me so I haven't had bad under eye circles BUT normally I either use Benefit BOI-ING or Smashbox concealer.

Bronzer:
NARS Bronzer in Laguna

Blush:
NARS Blush in Orgasm

Primer:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance (eye primer)
* I don't use primer on my whole face b/c the Make Up Forever works so good it seems unnecessary but I have a terrible time keeping my eye make up on hence the Too Faced eye primer.

Eye Shadow:
Urban Decay...period. I get a lot of compliments on it. It is the best in my opinion. My go to day time colors are Sin and Smog but I have a palette that I got as a free full size Sepohora gift (from cashing in Beauty Insider points) that has a lot of colors. You can't get it anymore sorry! BUT I really want the Naked Palette and that is on my Christmas list:)

Eyeliner:
I only use liquid liner. I don't know why people are intimidated by it. I think it's easier to put on than a pencil. I have always used Almay liquid liner in black. It's inexpensive and gets the job done.

Mascara:
Maybelline Falsies. Look I have tried ALL the expensive mascaras you can buy (Chanel, Benefit, Too Faced, Sheishedo, ect...) and this one is really just as good. So why spend $28 on a tube of mascara???

Lipliner:
MAC Chicory
Wet n Wild scary close match to my Spice lipstick haha! No clue what the color is called.

Lipstick:
Viva Glam #5 (goes with either pencil really)
L'oreal Spice for evening
I use multiple glosses but I have a Bare Minerals Gloss I really like called Sugar Cookie. It's a close match to the MAC Viva Glam #5 lipstick. AND I just bought a Coke Lip Smacker gloss at Wal-Mart haha! It tastes GREAT!!! Plus, it's super shiny and not sticky at all.

That's about it! What's in your bag?

2011-12-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

We finally did our outdoor lights! It still looks a little bare though. The plan was to have garland all down the front porch but after going to Wal-Mart. Target and Lowe's Saturday night we realized garland was nowhere to be found this weekend. We are going to try Garden Ridge this week.

Either way this little guy loved it and that is all that matters right?

Oh the infamous Mickey...I always said I would never do one of those blow up things. I think they're pretty tacky personally...but then I had a kid and that changed everything haha! He loves Mickey so much how could we not put him up?

J did a great job lighting the trees.

This is my little man Sunday morning before church. He just looked so handsome I had to snap a pic in front of the tree!

And my two precious boys reading bedtime stories while I baked pumpkin spice muffins for J's work last night. They melt my heart!!!

I just love the holidays. It's such a peaceful time and there are so many wonderful things for a family to do and enjoy. We took L to see Santa Wed. but I don't have the picture on the computer. We went to Bass Pro and L was really good. He sat on Santa's lap and told him what he wanted and smiled very big for the camera.

Tomorrow I will be 36 weeks pregnant and there will be 28 days left until my due date. It is FLYING by. I just ordered their sibling shirts last week and I can't wait to get them in. I kinda sorta started packing my hospital bag and I washed the insert on the cart seat this weekend.

This week is a little crazy b/c Tuesday L has his class party, then Wednesday I go to the doctor, and Thursday is their Christmas program and it's a half day. But after all that is over I need to seriously focus and make sure I have everything ready for Baby S!

Oh and I intend to go get a mani/pedi next week. I figure 37 weeks is close enough if I get the shellac. It will still look pretty good;) Other than that it's just a waiting game until Christmas or Baby...whichever comes first!!!

Coming Home Outfit!

2011-12-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to share this picture. I have been looking and looking and LOOKING for an outfit to being Baby S home in. I knew for sure I wanted her to wear this baby bonnet that was mine when I was a newborn. It is probably the only piece of my baby clothing that survived. And it only survived b/c my Aunt squirreled it away for YEARS. My dad is king of the goodwill. He keeps NOTHING that isn't currently being used haha! So it was extra special when she presented this to me at my baby shower. It is white with tiny yellow flowers so it was hard to find anything that matched (especially for a reasonable price). Not to mention most yellow outfits were so unisex and I wanted it to be girly. I finally found this on Etsy:

The shop is called TJs Crochet Creations and it is awesome! She mailed this to me and I received it 2 days later:) It is very tiny...perfect for a newborn. She sells all kinds of sets in many different colors and I highly recommend her shop. The quality and craftsmanship is just beautiful. I know I will cherish this special outfit for years to come. Plus the price was unbeatable. She sold me this set for $14.99/$5 shipping!!!

It originally came with another outfit but I asked her if she would separate the two and she said she did not mind and created me a custom listing. I can't wait to see her in the little diaper cover, booties, dress and bonnet! LOVE!!!

We're moving along now!

2011-12-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

Well I went to the doctor this morning and I am 1 cm dilated! I was relieved to hear it b/c as many contractions as I have had I don't know what I would have thought if I had NOT been dilated haha;) My doctor says things are going well. My blood pressure is great, I feel pretty good and I am ready to meet our girl sometime in the next few weeks.

In non baby news...this little guy and myself have been enjoying the holidays. Here he is working on making a marshmallow snowman. We found this project on Pinterest! Where else?

These are the goodies I made for his class. I can't take any credit though I totally copied my BFF Candice P. She did this last year for her daughter's class.

I made this Beef and Broccoli I found on Pinterest. You can get that recipe here. Let me tell you this was one of the best things I have EVER cooked. Better than any take out I have ever bought.

We got snow in Memphis! Here is my snow baby making an angel:)

He was so excited!

After we played in the snow, Granddaddy and Grandma came over with a gingerbread house!!!

I think he did more eating than decorating though.

The finished product!

So we are pretty much just enjoying the holidays and counting down the days until Sloane in here:)

Maternity/Family Photo Shoot 2011

2011-12-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

I promised as soon as I got these back I would share. I love them so much! My little man is so photogenic:) These were taken when I was 32 weeks pregnant so about 3 weeks ago. Here are some of my favs:

Thanks!!!

Memphis Basketball 2011-12 Intro Video

2011-12-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

Wicked!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-06T20:06:00.001-08:00

Merry Bright Greeting Holiday

Create custom new year's invitations at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Week 35

2011-12-06T10:54:00.000-08:00

How Far Along: 35 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Oh yeah I am well on my way to gaining b/tw 40 & 50 lbs...again!

Maternity Clothes: Nothing new there. Why buy anything new right now haha?

Best Moment this week: My MIL gave us the rest of our cloth diapers so we are set:)

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: Less kicking...more stretching and rolling.

Food Craving: Not much there. I think my tummy is getting squished so I can't eat much at once. Thank the Lord!

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: Not great. I bet I get up and go to the bathroom 10 times a night. But that is just par for the course at the end.

What I am looking forward to: My 35 week check up on Thursday.

Symptoms: My doctor checked me last Thursday b/c I am having so many Braxton Hicks. I was even having a strong one when he was measuring my belly! But fortunately they are not dilating me so far. She needs to cook a little bit longer! But since I am having so many strong contractions we are starting my weekly visits now.

The Liebster Award

2011-12-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

The Liebster Award spotlights up and coming bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word which means "dearest" or "beloved." It is also used to refer to as some one's "favorite" and the idea of the Liebster Blog Award is to bring attention to blogs which, in addition to having less than 200 followers, are also some of your favorite reads that you think are deserving of more recognition and encouragement. So, this award is to share with those blogs that you love to love... you know... the ones that you can't wait to see a new post from because some how, some way, the blogger seems to always put words to things in a way that touch you deeply...or make you laugh hysterically...or realize that you're not alone in whatever you're going through, be it good, bad or otherwise. There are certain rules that are to be followed:

Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
Copy and paste the award on your blog.
Hope that the people you've sent the award to forward it to their five favorite bloggers and keep it going!

Thank you to Morgan for giving me this award! I was SO excited:)

I couldn't wait to pass it on so here are 5 blogs that I just cannot seem to get through the day without:

Living In The Woods...this girl is always doing something so darn crafty! I just cannot wait to see what she posts next. So creative:)

Clementsville...this is one of my friends in real life and she is expecting her THIRD baby boy! So exciting and I have really enjoyed reading about her journey as a mommy.

Leslie and Sam (and Baby Camille)...this is another real life friend who is just a week ahead of me in our pregnancies. I am so excited for her to welcome sweet Camille into the world and I love reading all about her joy at becoming a first time mommy.

Mandy's Memories...bless her heart her hubs just go out of the hospital so I am sending lots of prayers her way. Mandy is an awesome person and teacher and I love to read about all the cool things she is doing.

My Life As A Brasfield...Ellen is absolutely hysterical! I highly recommend her blog. Seriously she is 24/7 keeping it real and we have so much in common.

Thank you all for having such great blogs! I look forward to reading more:)

Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge

2011-12-02T06:43:00.000-08:00

Today I am linking up with:

Today's Topic for the Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge is:

Ideal outfit for Christmas /NYE festivities!!!

Ok so let's pretend I am not enormously pregnant and have gained a million pounds or whatever...what would I be wearing?

It's so funny this is the topic b/c I was JUST thinking about this...for next year hahaha! I even told J no matter what we have to do we are going out next New Year's Eve and I am going to be skinny and fabulous:) I may line up a babysitter right now!

So here are some dresses I would consider if it were me (and I was skinny again):

Forever 21

I love the one shoulder and I love the color. I would probably wear it with opaque black tights and some awesome black round toe pumps.

Frederick's of Hollywood

Again, love the one shoulder and the gold is fabulous. I would also pair this one with black tights and pumps most likely.

Dorothy Perkins

Are you seeing a trend haha? Obviously I love the one shoulder thing! This is just gorgeous. I would not wear tights with this. I would wear some gorgeous nude patent round toe pumps. I'm thinking this dress would require a spray tan b/c I am lily white in the winter so if I was going to bare my legs and wear such a light color that would wash me out I would need a tan.

Dorothy Perkins

This is not a typical choice for me for NYE but I love it and I think it could totally be glammed up big time with the right accessories. I'm thinking a sparkly black clutch and some great jewelry and maybe even black fish nets with some killer high heels.

These are a few of my favorite things!

2011-11-30T16:44:00.000-08:00

OK when I saw The Nester's blog about Favorite Things I HAD to participate. I was trying to think of things that I just cannot live without and use on a daily basis no matter what. Oh and she said they needed to cost UNDER $30. So here goes:

I recently switched to Maxwell House Lite...1/2 caffeine coffee and I LURV it. I've always liked coffee but it makes me SO jittery and this is absolutely perfect. I can have one full cup and it gives me just enough energy to start the day.

Hello flavored creamer! I would not be drinking above mentioned coffee without creamer EVER. During most of the year I use International Delight Sugar Free Vanilla but at the holidays I branch out:) My favs are Pumpkin Spice and Peppermint Mocha.

Agadir Argan Oil. I have dry, frizzy wavy hair. Not to mention I have been highlighting it since I was 15. This stuff absolutely transformed my hair. I have had people tell me they are amazed at how healthy my hair feels considering how long I have been coloring it and I agree. I wash my hair every other day and in the winter I use this stuff with every wash. In the Summer I use it less maybe every other or even every two washes. It costs about $10 a bottle and you only use a dime sized amount on your ends and the underneath so it lasts forever.

L'Oreal lipstick in Spice. You are going to DIE when I admit this but I have been using this lipstick since I was around 16 or 17. I have the prom pictures to prove it haha! It's certainly not a day color but it's my go to night color. I have a matching lip pencil in a very similar color that I use during the day with Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker to achieve a similar but lighter look;)

Oops I said my next one...Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker what, what!!! I just love this stuff. It's just enough color in the day and it keeps my lips from being dry and the best part is it tastes like Dr. Pepper. Yummy!

Notebooks...cheap, plain old college ruled notebooks. I have one with me constantly b/c when I gave birth to L a piece of my brain was also delivered and I can no longer remember anything at all. They are always beat to death from being in my purse and if you see me in the grocery store you can guarantee it's in my hand.

Johnson's No More Tangles. Let's just say L inherited my hair. I give him a bath every other night in the winter b/c usually we are inside a lot. So his second day hair can be pretty frightening haha! This stuff works wonders on a frizzy, tangled mess of bed head hair.

HoMedics Sound Spa Machine. We bought one of these when L was just a baby and used the ocean setting for white noise. He still sleeps with it! Well this is actually our second one but at $20 a pop I think two machines in 4 years isn't too shabby.

Book downloads on my Kindle! I hardly ever pay for a book unless I just really want to read it b/c there are so many free ones available.

However I recently downloaded Inheritance by Christopher Paolini and it was SO good. It's the last book of a 4 part book series I have been reading for a long time. I have the other 3 in hardback so it was WAY cheaper to download on my Kindle.

I'm sure I could go on and on but this is a pretty good idea of what gets me through my day!

Thanks Nester!!!

Cabin Fever!

2011-11-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

I finally got my butt out of this house last night. J walked in the door and I walked right out. I was like, "I am going to Wal-Mart to grocery shop!" I have been in this house for FIVE DAYS with a sick (whiny) little boy. I love him to death but I needed a serious break.

I admit I piddled a little at the store. I did some Christmas shopping before I went over to the grocery side:) It just felt so good to be OUT. And then I thought...OMG this was the hard part when L was born b/c he was also a January baby and I kid you not I barely left my house for SIX WEEKS.

I was just so scared to take him anywhere b/c the flu season was in full swing that year and I was a new mom and I was still getting the hang of the whole breastfeeding/pumping thing. Honestly it gave me a case of the baby blues and I was pretty down for a while. My OB was the one who finally said you need to get out of the house every day, even if it's just for 15 minutes. She told me to walk in the driveway if I had to but to do it no matter what. So that is what I did. My parents would come over and my step mom would watch L and my Dad and I would walk in the neighborhood and I felt SO much better almost right away.

I don't think I will be a hermit with Baby S though. At least not for that long! For starters I will still have to take L to MDO and go to the grocery and what not. Plus, I think I will just be more comfortable hopefully in my role as the mom of a newborn. SO for now I am just going to enjoy this last month of my pregnancy and the freedom that comes with it. I'm going to try to have a very enjoyable Christmas with L and get as much sleep and rest as I can b/c I now know that no matter how much you wanted that baby and how prepared you are for him or her...they flip your world upside down for a little while!

Plus I am going to buy a SERIOUS car sear cover to keep all the sickies away from my baby when I am out in public haha! There is nothing I despise worse than some stranger getting in your newborn's face. I mean really what are people thinking???

Deal at Home Depot!

2011-11-29T11:29:00.000-08:00

I went into Home Depot this morning to pick up a can of spray paint and I saw that all the Martha Stewart paint in on sale 30% off or more. At least it was at my HD in Collierville! I got a gallon for MS Interior Latex Eggshell in Crevecoeur for $19. That is cheap people for a gallon of MS paint!

I love this color so much! I've been eyeing it awhile. It's going to go in my dining room. I have big plan for in there. I know I should be focused on the nursery but how can you pass up a deal like that huh?!?!

Week 34

2011-11-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

How Far Along: 34 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: No clue but I will find out Thursday at my appointment. A lot!

Maternity Clothes: Even some of J's tshirts are getting to be a little short in the front now haha!

Best Moment this week: J felt some seriously crazy baby movements!

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: Pretty much the same except they are starting to feel stronger now but I think it's just b/c she is getting bigger and running out of room.

Food Craving: I made myself some homemade chocolate oatmeal cookies the other night.

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: Well if you read yesterday's blog then you would know I have not slept much this weekend at all b/c poor L has been SO sick.

What I am looking forward to: My 34 week appointment on Thursday. I have a lot of questions for this visit!

Symptoms: I feel like I am having contractions almost constantly. I am sure they are Braxton Hicks b/c they are not increasing in their intensity too much but I have had a few here and there that hurt pretty badly and today my belly stayed rock hard almost all day. I'm actually about to go take a warm bath and see if it lets up at all or not. I had an episode of preterm labor with L at 35 weeks and went to L&D. I was dilated 1 centimeter, almost totally effaced and having contractions like every 2 minutes. They stopped my labor with a terbutaline (sp?) shot I think. But of course then I went on to be induced at 39 weeks;) Either way I need to know if these contractions are dilating me or not. Fun fun!

Strep!

2011-11-28T15:12:00.000-08:00

What a weekend! We spent Thanksgiving day morning at my parents house where L proceeded to run around screaming his head off with his cousin V. We left there in the early afternoon and took naps at our house before going to J's parents for dinner. I noticed that L was really hoarse but as I stated he had been screaming and hollering all morning having fun with his cousin so I didn't think much of it.

Friday we stayed home b/c J had to work and I cleaned up some around the house. I noticed he was still really hoarse but nothing else seemed wrong so I wasn't worried. About 1 AM Saturday morning he woke up with a fever. We gave him Tylenol and J got in the bed with him. So AGAIN I stayed in all day Saturday. He was hoarse but his temperature was really low and sometimes altogether gone. He had a little diarrhea (TMI sorry!) and his nose was a little runny. He didn't have an appetite and I think all day all he ate was a piece of cheese toast and a banana. I wasn't feeling so great myself but I think I was just run down. By Saturday night b/tw 8 and 9 PM (isn't it always right after urgent care closes?) his fever was a whopping 102.5 and he was feeling pretty bad.

J and I gave him Motrin, we gave him a tepid bath, we bathed his body with cool rags, we ran a cool mist humidifier, and I even gave him a grape Popsicle but nothing would bring his temp down. I have to admit I was really worried b/c I can count on one hand the number of times L has run a high fever. He has been sick plenty but he never runs a fever hardly at all and when he does it is never that high. So we spent Saturday night getting up every 3 hours or so alternating Motrin and Tylenol. It made me think of how I will be getting up every 3 hours soon with a newborn. Ugh I am not ready yet!

I got up early on Sunday morning and showered and got dressed so I could take him to our pediatrician. They only have Sunday hours from 9-11 AM and it's walk in only so I wanted to be the first one there. We got him out of bed and threw on warm pajamas, his shoes, brushed his teeth and headed out the door. I swear I drove 90 mph and prayed that I would not get pulled over b/c L was pretty much crying the whole way. I didn't have to worry about waiting though...I was the only one there haha! Dr. Bob was actually sitting at the receptionist desk when we walked in so we went right back.

He checked L out and said let's do a strep test first before we take any blood and sure enough it came back positive! I said something like wow we've never had strep before and Dr. Bob said well now you can check that one off your childhood bucket list:)

After that I went to Walgreen's to get L's amoxicillin filled. It was still early thankfully and most people were at church so we didn't have to wait too terribly long. We loaded up on chicken noodle soup, Saltines, strawberry jello, Gatorade, Pedialyte, Sprite, Kleenex, LYSOL and Luden's cough drops.

The arsenal (or at least some of it):

Just a tip...when my child is sick I write every down b/c after a day or so of sleep deprivation and medication round the clock it all starts to run together. I will also do this with Baby S. I just keep a pad of paper by the bed b/c it's hard to remember sometimes when you fed the baby last or how many times you got up last night ect. They have a timer thing you can buy now but I don't think I am up for electronic at 3 AM when I'm nursing a baby;) Paper works just as good.

Since then it's pretty much just been me trying to get as many liquids in him as possible and still alternating the Tylenol and Motrin and taking the amoxicillin twice a day. I did get him to eat some chicken noodle soup and jello yesterday and a lot of sprite and Pedialyte. He still got up twice last night with high fever so I would go in there give him another dose of either the Tylenol or the Motrin, blow his nose, let him sip some Sprite and eat a cough drop before laying back down.

He slept until almost 10:30 AM today. Of course like I said he was up twice in the night crying with fever. He ate chocolate pudding for breakfast haha! It goes down easy and it's cold what can I say? Since then he also ate some more Jello and 2 plain pancakes and it seems the fever is down or gone so I am THRILLED about that.

SO I guess we survived our first battle with strep throat. I hope it's a long time or NEVER before we have to do this again. I have been sanitizing my hands around the clock and today I cleaned and sanitized the whole house. I'm praying J and I don't get it next. If we make it to the weekend and stay well then we are probably ok. Until then we will lay on the couch with L and watch Christmas movies:) I am dying to get out of this house. I have been locked in now for 4 straight days minus our trip to the doctor and Walgreens. Can a girl get a trip to Target or what?!?!

Black Thursday???

2011-11-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

I was one of the crazies last night! I waited in line outside Toys R Us for an hour, in the cold, to get this:

It's the Playmobil Skull and Bones Pirate Ship and it was half off so I got it for $17.50! It's a large toy too with a lot of pieces and I know L is going to love it. I actually think I am going to hold it back and give it to him for his birthday in January since we are having a pirate party,

The original set I was going to buy him was 14.99 and maybe 1/4 the size of this set. I also got a box of 500 baby wipes for $5!

My MIL and SIL also scored some cool Thunder cats toys for him so he is going to have one happy Christmas this year! Not that he hasn't ALWAYS had a good Christmas but this is the first year he has been old enough to ask for specific toys and I am telling you he has told everyone he can find that he hopes Santa brings him Thunder Cats toys!

I ordered the last of his Santa stuff this morning from Amazon.com and I think I have all his stocking stuffers so I can check Mr. L off my list. Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

I'm just about done with stocking stuffers for J too. We are just doing stockings this year for each other b/c we are going to buy a new camera and a glider for the nursery.

So all I have left to buy is one more gift for my niece, a gift for my cousin's little boy, something for my BFFs little girl, and I need to swap something I already bought for my other niece.

So I am hoping that operation "Enjoy December" will be all wrapped up very soon;)

Week 33!

2011-11-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

How Far Along: 33 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have quit weighing. At my last appointment I had already gained like 35 lbs. Yep you read that correctly. I don't even feel like I have gained that much. I haven't been outgrowing clothes or anything. I gained 50 lbs with L so it looks like I am well on my way to another 50. SIGH. At least I know now that I lost it once and I can do it again! I think with me it's a lot of fluid b/c I do tend to get really swollen and retain water when I am pregnant. By the time L was 2 weeks old I had already lost like 25 lbs and most of that was just fluid. It was the last 25 that was a booger! But now I have motivation b/c one of my BFFs just got engaged and has asked me to be in her wedding! So I have a shower in April to skinny up for and the wedding in October. I know I can do it by October. The shower in April has me a little nervous!

Maternity Clothes: Same old stuff. Leggings! I did have to go buy 2 new pairs of shoes b/c my legs and feet get SO swollen with fluid sometimes. The same thing happened with L. So I got a pair of black boots and some black flats at Target in a size 8. I normally wear a 7!

Best Moment this week: We took our maternity/family pics Saturday! L did SO good. Seriously he was amazing and did everything she asked and then some. I can't wait to get them back.

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: Pretty much the same. I can feel her stretching now. She is head down.

Food Craving: THANKSGIVING dressing!

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: Not so great. Just my body preparing me to be up all night nursing.

What I am looking forward to: My 34 week appointment next week. I start going weekly after that so that means it is really getting close.

Symptoms: Still having Braxton Hicks at night mainly. Other than that (and having to pee every 5 minutes again) I am doing great!

A Correction!

2011-11-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

OK so the sweet lady who made the bedding pointed out to me that I had it on upside down hahaha! She probably thinks I am crazy;) So I promised to retake the pictures with the piping facing UP and post them again so as to not misrepresent her craftsmanship.

Only me I swear!

I'm making broccoli cheese soup for dinner and it is in the crock pot as we speak and a loaf of pumpkin bread is in the oven so my kitchen smells pretty darn good right about now.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving! My big brother is coming in town so I will get to visit with all of them. Tomorrow night I have to start making the dressing and this gingerbread trifle I found on Pinterest:

YUMMY!!!

This is the first time in 4 years we have been home for Thanksgiving. We are usually in Knoxville with J's sister so I am looking forward to a travel free holiday season. I will be 38 weeks pregnant at Christmas so I won't be making the trip to his Granny's house in AR either. No one wants me to go into labor on the road believe me! I would be one mean mama!

I cannot believe I am 49 days away (or less) from meeting Baby S! J and I keep talking about how fast it is coming. We couldn't get L here fast enough and we can't make Baby S slow down!

So now I am finalizing my Christmas shopping, cleaning the house. finishing up the nursery ect and so forth. I really can't believe how chill this holiday season is going to be. I need to start Christmas in November every year!

Nursery Progress!

2011-11-21T16:13:00.000-08:00

The baby nursery is coming along slowly but surely. Definitely not finished but if I went into labor early I wouldn't be in a panic anymore.

This cute little blanket was a gift from my MIL.

The chandelier is done. It's hard to tell but I just wrapped those linen shades in tulle. Looks soft and girly in person.

These are the curtains. Ignore the junk on the floor there. Do the black rings bother you? For some reason there were no silver ones the day I went.

This is her bunny lamp. It's just waiting on a small table to be painted.

This is the changing table. It needs a little something. I had a lamp but there isn't any room for it with the wipes warmer and the sound machine. Hmmm. Oh and I'm going to put a ribbon above that mirror.

The closet is done! It's now painted inside the same blue as her room. All those clothes are washed and organized and I finally found bins for the cubby.

The bow holder! I just love it! Although it's kind of small. It doesn't hold a lot of flowers and bows but I have a bin for the extras:)

Just an up close shot of the bins.

You've seen this! Just sharing it again.

And finally all the junk is out of the bed! And off the floor around the bed. I need to order the vinyl saying that will go over her bed still. Plus that wall to the right is a problem for me. I need something to hang there but I don't know what and it needs to be semi-large. I'm thinking about waiting and having one of her newborn pics blow up and put onto a canvas or something.

Just another view...

Better shot of the fabric.

Sew Cherry by Riley Blake. I love it! The ruffle crib skirt is from Potter Barn and the sheets are just plain old Target Circo brand white sheets.

And that's all for now!!!

A Catch Up Day

2011-11-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

As much as I really want to blog today..I am going to instead spend the day doing laundry, writing thank you notes and getting organized b/c my in laws are coming over tonight to help me finish the nursery. I am hoping we get a LOT done!

We take our family/maternity pics tomorrow! I can't wait to share them with you:) I hope I don't look like a whale haha!!!

Just so you know I didn't forget Thanksgiving entirely...

2011-11-17T14:43:00.000-08:00

Here is L with our Thanksgiving tree on the fridge. He listed everything he is thankful for here:)

And here is my little indian this morning at school before his big Thanksgiving feast. He was

Lawson Red Zebra! They added their favorite color and animal to their names haha! He loves zebra just like his mama;)

I meant to link up to more parties this week but I am wore smack OUT.

To the nice blogger I met at TJ Maxx this morning...I can't find your blog! Leave me a comment so I can follow you:)

Week 32...tick tock!

2011-11-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

How Far Along: 32 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm packing it on. The impending holidays are NOT helping. My "After Baby" board on Pinterest is rapidly growing with healthy recipes and exercises for after Baby S comes.

Maternity Clothes: LOL after all the drama last week trying to find outfits for our pics I ended up going with something I already owned. I basically bought a scarf to accessorize haha!

Best Moment this week: L had his sibling class at G'town Methodist. It was so cute!

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: I think she is getting cramped b/c some of her movements hurt me now. I can feel body parts rolling and it can get mighty uncomfortable.

Food Craving: Food. All food haha!

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: I'm back to my insomnia big time. It's really bumming me out.

What I am looking forward to: Our maternity/family pics Saturday!

Symptoms: I'm having a LOT of Braxton Hicks. Some literally take my breath away and I have to stop mid sentence and just ride it out. I never really had these bad at all with L but I hear they are worse with second babies.

I really can't believe my due date is 8 weeks away. I could have a baby here in as little as 6 weeks if she decides to be nice and come around Week 38. We are going to get this nursery whipped into shape this weekend I hope. It's moving along slowly. I have a whole list planned for Friday night! I promise to share finished pictures as soon as we are done.

Plenty to be thankful for: You Tube and Internet Fun

2011-11-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

Today's topic is "You Tube and Internet Fun."

1. Pinterest.com! I admit I did NOT get it when it first came out. Now I am in love! I think everything I have cooked the last few months came from a recipe I pinned.

2. Etsy.com. If it weren't for Etsy poor Sloane would have nothing cute! I just bought a bow holder on Etsy yesterday:

How cute is this???

3. Facebook.com. I would never be able to stay in touch with everyone without Facebook. Plus, now that most of my family is on there it is a great way to keep people posted on how L is doing.

4. Homeade-baby-food-recipes.com! I just found this site and I am SO happy:) I was going to order a puree book but now there is no reason to waste my money.

5. Amazon.com. If I can;t get it on Amazon I'm not sure I need it! Seriously I love the free shipping and they always show you the lowest prices. I alway compare prices on Amazon before I buy an item anywhere else.

Plenty to be thankful for: Guilty Pleasures

2011-11-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

Today's topic is "Guilty Pleasures."

Gosh where do I begin?

1. The Twilight Series. With Breaking Dawn opening Thursday night at midnight how could this not make my list? We have Parents Night Out at church on Saturday so the plan is to drop L off there and then J is going to take me to go see the movie. I know he is so excited haha! My other movie related guilty pleasure is a pack of Twizzlers and a Coke Icee. YUM!

2. My trips to the Dollar Tree. This may not seem like a guilty pleasure but I would love to go there once a week and just buy stuff. Seriously! They always have fun, holiday goodies.

3. Eating sushi. I'm calling this a guilty pleasure b/c A. I'm not allowed to eat it right now and B. I'd eat it every single night if I could but J isn't a big fan and neither is L so it's more of a rarity than I'd like.

4. Just eating out. Period! We do not eat out very much at all. Mainly b/c it saves money to cook at home and also b/c we like to sit at our table and have a family meal with L. We feel its important for him to not be eating out of a box or at a restaurant every night. So when we do eat out it feels like a guilty pleasure!

5. Finally, I'd say beauty/spa stuff. Manis, pedis, BOTOX, massages, spray tans, waxing ect and so forth. These were regulars in my life until I became a mom. Now I really think twice before I spend my money on those things. I really, truly would rather take L to see Disney on Ice than spend that $100 on myself at the spa. Not that I never do those things but when I do it feels twice as good b/c they are few and far b/tw these days.

Up A Creek Without A Paddle!

2011-11-11T06:39:00.000-08:00

Ok so my maternity/family pictures are a week away and I have NO CLUE what I am going to wear. The photographer told me to wear something fitted, in a bright/happy solid color, and to accessorize. I bought 2 tops at Old Navy. Neither were maternity but it was the best I could find. All the actual maternity stores apparently only sell clothing in black, grey, brown and white. Really annoying!

So I bought this green top:

I also bought a skinny black belt so it will be more "fitted." But it's not really long enough for leggings so I may have to wear my maternity skinny jeans. I also need to find a good black cardigan. Anyone seen one lately? As for accessorizing I have some leopard pumps I might wear I don't know.

I also bought a purple boatneck sweater dress. I'm not a huge fan of purple but this is a nice bright purple. I can't find a picture of it . It was on clearance. I thought about wearing it with either tights or leggings and then I have a zebra scarf I could wear with it.

The whole thing has me bent out of shape to tell you the truth.

Who knew it would be so hard? I found a really cute shirt and tie for L to wear that will go with either of my outfits and J will be fine he is a regular clothes horse so I know we can find something for him.

I would LOVE any suggestions/comments you might have.

I saw a cute fair isle cardigan at Charlotte Russe. I'm thinking about going to the mall and checking it out and maybe wearing it with a long, maternity tank but we will see.

A Baby Project!

2011-11-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

After I got my baby bedding I had a little fabric left over that I wanted to use somehow. Especially the cherry print b/c it's my favorite! So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a frame and a can of spray adhesive. Sorry I didn't take pictures of this project in progress but I was kind of figuring it out as I went. I sprayed the back of the frame and then smoothed my fabric over it. Spray adhesive is great! It really works wonders. Then, I trimmed off the excess fabric and cut some letters in white vinyl on my Cricut and wah-lah!!!

Some art for baby girl's room! Next on my list of nursery to-do's is to go buy some more buckets for the cubby in her closet and to figure out this dang lampshade situation. I think I found a good website to order from but we will see. I had no idea it would be so hard to find lampshades. At least for a reasonable price;)

I also have a growing list of items on Etsy that I want to order from a take home gown to burp clothes to a vinyl saying for her wall in her room. I sure do wish there was a big money tree growing in my backyard!!!

More Christmas and the Nursery in pictures:)

2011-11-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday putting up a few more Christmas decorations. I hung this garland over the kitchen window and decorated it. I found that cute JOY sign at the Dollar Tree of course:)

For some reason I had trouble taking a picture of these but I also got the cute Christmas cupcake window clings at the Dollar Tree. L loves them! They aren't this faded looking in person. Probably the light.

My cute little gingerbread guy smiles at me every time I wash my dishes!

I did not put up our big nativity this year. I didn't have a good place for it that I could find so I put out this one that was my parents when I was a kid. My brother and I used to argue every single year over who got to arrange it.

Dining room tree...I cannot wait to paint this room. It is still that awful, butter yellow the rest of the house was. I have the color all picked out but it's going to have to wait. Christmas and baby nursery come first! This was J & I's first artificial tree and I'm thinking it needs to be trashed after this year haha! It's leaning and there were branches just falling out after 7 years of abuse. But L and I will add some homeade crafts to this tree this year so that's why there isn't too much on it.

My poor, poor dining room table. Or as I'm calling it, "Holiday/Party Central." On this table you see Halloween, Birthday party, school gifts, Christmas morning breakfast ect and so forth. I'm not thinking this is going to improve any time soon.

The aftermath of decorating...what needs to go back up in the attic!

My sister sent me all these cute flower clips for Baby S! She will always be girlified:) And as you can see I have actually made the baby's bed finally!

Ummm...but this is what the rest of the room looks like.

We did get her closet organized. Can you believe these are just her 0-6 month clothes? I need more buckets too for the little cubbies.

This table is next on the list to be painted. Not red like that can haha! Probably white then distressed.

I got these peonies at Garden Ridge for this bunny guy who stand on the floor. We also found these puff balls that reminded me of bunny tails so we are trying them out. Yay or nay?

I got a cord cover for the chandelier on sale at Hobby Lobby. But I hate the shades we got at Garden Ridge. They are going back. Anyone have a good resource for chandelier shades b/c I can't find ANY that work.

So that is what we have been up to this week! Today I am having lunch with my BFFs before my friend Can has her baby boy Jack on Friday. I can't wait to meet him!!! Sloane's first boyfriend haha!

Week 31...and a BIG eye roll!

2011-11-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

I am starting to get really tired of people asking me my due date b/c this is what happens:

So when are you due?

January 10th.

WOW you still have a long ways to go!

...crickets...

Actually NO I have 63 days to go. And that is NOT a long time! I guess when you say January people think Wow she isn't even due until next year. Really starting to annoy the heck out of me! If I have so far to go then why am I going to the doctor every freaking 2 weeks hmmm people? Someone is going to get slapped!!!

How Far Along: 31 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Yowza. Let's just say I am well on my way to gaining the same amount of weight I gained with L. Pray for me. Start like this, "Dear Lord please help LA put down the plate!"

Maternity Clothes: I'm in a bit of a rage this week over maternity clothes. I want a cute top in either a pretty red or like a kelly green for my maternity pictures. CANNOT find anything maternity that isn't black, grey, brown or some fugly print! I bought 2 tops at Old Navy this weekend that were not maternity. We will see how it goes.

Best Moment this week: We put up the Christmas tree haha!

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: I don't think I will ever get used to how little she moves compared to her brother.

Food Craving: Nothing in particular. I just eat all the time!

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: It would be good except for L getting up like once or twice a night lately to pee. Which means I have to get up and go as well!

What I am looking forward to: Finishing the nursery and getting all the rest of what we need for this sweet baby girl.

Symptoms: Trust me when I say you do NOT want me to answer this one this week;) TMI!

A Holly Jolly Weekend

2011-11-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well the tree is up! Santa brought me an early present that I found under the tree this morning. It's pretty grumpy though...I'm thinking about taking it back!

L got to go to his BFFs birthday party Saturday afternoon at Garibaldi's pizza. These boys love to be together!

Later that evening I had a little baby/football get together at my friend L's house. She and my SIL were so sweet to put this together for us:) Our friend M made these AWESOME cupcakes! Those are cherries on top! Remember Baby S's bedding???

Seriously how cute is that? And they are delicious!

The boys were happy to help me open gifts of course!

J's best friend is crazy. He got me a shoe rack. That is a long, inside story/joke for another time! But I can promise you this he will be getting that bad boy back at some point;) I paid him back a little later by pretending my water broke in his favorite chair!

The tree! The tree! It took a few days but it is done. I am slowly working on the rest of the house. J got all the rest of our decorations down last night.

I just love our tree this year and all it's gingerbread goodness:)

Isn't he a happy little guy? I found him on clearance last year at Hobby Lobby. He determined our trees colors this year: red, green and blue with gingerbread people and peppermint all over the place! I still think ia m going to go buy some real candy canes to hand all over the tree.

Stockings hung by the chimney with care:) Wish I had lit the candles in the hurricanes for the picture. I forgot! I have my nativity attachment on my platter and everyone (Sloane included) has his or her stocking up. I need some garland up there but that will require a trip to the store.

Anyways that was our weekend! I am a busy bee this morning. We had a plumbing issue on Saturday so we have already had the plumbers out this morning and I have made TWO Pioneer Woman Sour Cream Noodle Bake casseroles. Whew! Now to clean the rest of the house and bring Christmas to the dining room:)

The Gingerbread Obsession

2011-11-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

So I think I have told this story before on my blog but since I can't really remember here I am telling it again!

J and I started dating in June of 2001. I was 20 and he was 25. I had just moved into my first apartment earlier that year. So by the time Christmas 2001 rolled around we had been dating for 6 months and things had turned SERIOUS;)

I decided that year I was going to bake him some gingerbread cookies. I found a recipe and went to the store and bought all that I would need. I spent all afternoon in the kitchen baking and decorating these cookies. I never even ate a single one! J came over that night and I showed him my domestic creation:) He ate...and ate...and ate and praised me for being such a good baker and girlfriend. Finally, I sat down and ate one myself. They tasted like dog biscuits!!!

Clearly I had left something serious out of the recipe although if I ever figured out what it was it has long since been forgotten. I didn't know if I should be mad or sad or happy that he had lied to spare my feelings!

At any rate it became a big joke between us so the next year I put a little gingerbread house ornament in the toe of his stocking as a joke. Then I did it the next year...and the next...and the next! Before you knew it I was buying up all kind of gingerbread Christmas decorations.

I still buy J a gingerbread ornament every year and put it in the toe of his stocking. I buy L an ornament too but his is usually something else that reminds me of him from that year. AND I always go to Hobby Lobby when Christmas stuff is on clearance and load up on all the cute gingerbread things I can find for the next year.

SO...this year is the first year I feel like I really have enough ornaments (I have been collecting for 10 years) to do an all gingerbread/candy themed tree. I am so excited about it!

It's going to be colorful! Lots of red, green and blue! We are working on it today but of course I am a little short on ribbon so I need to run back to the store:( Can't wait to share it with you!

Coming soon!

2011-11-03T13:20:00.001-07:00

FALALALALA LA LA LA LAAAAAAA!!!

Week 30!

2011-11-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

How Far Along: 30 weeks...I can't believe it!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I find out Thursday. Yikes!

Maternity Clothes: I bought a maternity white tank top, some black leggings and some maternity skinny jeans but I swear that is ALL I have bought this time. I live in leggings and tunic tops. J found a tub of his long sleeve t-shirts so I am wearing a ton of his long sleeve Memphis t-shirts with black leggings:)

Best Moment this week: So much! L's Halloween parade at school, church Fall Festival, my Halloween Baby Bash, and trick or treating in our neighborhood:)

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: Pretty much whenever I am still or lie down she squirms.

Food Craving: Sweets and candy. But it's Halloween! I mean I think I would be craving that pregnant or not right?

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: Not so great. I'm just having a hard time getting comfortable and by the time I do get comfy then I have to pee;) God's way of preparing me for all nighters with the baby!

What I am looking forward to: I am decorating for Christmas this week! Seriously! I just ordered some ribbon and garland from Trendy Tree. I'm getting the house cleaned today and tomorrow, then the trees up and fluffed and as soon as my order comes in it will all be decorated and I am going to kick back and enjoy this holiday season:)

Symptoms: Not much just hard to sit comfortably. Hip pain.

Fireplace Makeover

2011-11-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

We have a wood burning fireplace in this house which I LOVE. I always grew up with one and I love that smell in the winter. For some reason even in the older homes we have lived in the fireplaces been converted to gas so this is the first time we have personally had a wood burning fireplace.

I knew it needed to be serviced before we used it since we have no way of knowing when it was done last and that is a major safety hazard. I called a chimney sweep service and they came out and cleaned the chimney and fireplace for $95. I thought anything under $100 was pretty good quite frankly. Of course while he was here he made a few "suggestions." He said we did not have a chimney cap so water was leaking into the chimney and had caused some rust stains and had completely rusted over the ash dump. The ash dump (for those who don't know) is where you scrape all the ashes and then it connects to a door outside so you can clean all the ashes out of the fireplace. He was willing to replace all that for me for a mere $200!

I politely declined.

I picked up the phone and called my handy FIL who agreed that was INSANE. He came over the next morning and we made a little trip to Lowe's. I bought a chimney cap for $35 which my FIL installed. I also bought some high heat stove/grill paint and he painted over all the rust/creosote stains inside the fireplace. He pulled out the old ash dump and we covered it with a new piece of metal.

Here are the before shots:

Believe it or not that was AFTER the chimney sweep!

Here is the painting process:

Let me be the first to warn you...this stuff stinks to high heaven!!! I wore a mask even though all I did was hold a light for my FIL. I didn't think me painting this stuff on pregnant was a good idea at all. We had 2 fans going AND the door wide open and it still stunk.

Finally the beautiful after:

Please excuse my naked mantle. I just took down all the Halloween decorations. We are gearing up for Christmas! My platter is really just in there temporarily. It's cold out but not quite cold enough to want to burn a fire yet.

Here is a good question for you...do you see those weird pieces of trim on either side of the fireplace? J & I are thinking we want to take them off. What do you think? I just feel like the previous owners added them for decoration but they make no sense. They do not support the mantle in any way. Thoughts???

I hope you all enjoy this first week of November! My plan for the week is to get the Halloween/Fall decor put away, clean the house, and start decorating for Christmas:)

Halloween Baby Bash!

2011-10-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Sooo my BFFs know Halloween is pretty much my favorite holiday. J & I used to have a big annual Halloween party but the last few years we haven't b/c I've either been pregnant or in Nashville or in a rental...anyways I miss it! So when my best friends suggested we do a Halloween Baby Bash naturally I was on board:)

Words cannot describe how much I loved it! It was right up my alley. I love these girls more than anything. Both their names are Candice so to separate let's just say Candice A is about to have her baby and Candice B just got engaged. So we have a LOT to celebrate in our little friend group:) I am so thankful to have wonderful friends. I don't want to get too wordy so here it is in pictures....the best baby shower EVAH:

A Rant on Target

2011-10-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

It is with a heavy heart that I begin to type this post. I have always loved Target...normally referred to by myself as the Tar-jay. But I can no longer call this store by it's lovable nickname b/c I am so utterly and completed disgusted with them at the moment.

Around the beginning of September I began working on my baby registry. Right around this same time Target launched it's new website. They did so without considering how it was going to affect said registries. Well it did affect the registries. As a matter of fact it royally screwed them up.

My first phone call to the Target Customer Service Center (in India!) lasted 45 minutes. The end result was they could not fix my problem so they transferred me to a technical center in America. They also could not fix the problem so we ended up just deleting my original registry and starting over. They also told me at that time they expected all "the bugs" to be worked out by October and they were working around the clock to do so.

My next call later in the month was b/c the registry would not let me add a certain item to it even though it was in stock. That call again transferred from India to somewhere in North America also lasted upwards of an hour. Seriously I don't know why they bother having the office in India they barely understand English (and no I am not being non PC it's just the truth) and can't help fix any of the current registry issues.

My last call was (also to India) to explain to them that several items on my registry showed "out of stock" when the registry printed even though the items were in stock both online and in the store. I ended up just hanging up when the woman from India put me on hold to "speak to her supervisor" b/c she could not understand what I was telling her.

Now clearly it is almost November and Target has yet to work out these issues. So the other day I made a comment on the Target Baby Facebook page relaying all the problems I have been having. The response I got? Please feel free to contact our gift registry customer service. You idiots did you not just read what I typed?!?! Your customer service is 90% of the problem!

Some other people jumped on my band wagon and we started in on them about their strict return policy. I stated that I already know the current policy is to only allow 2 returns per year without a receipt. I think that while these issues are going on you should at the very least be allowed to exchange duplicate items your receive for other items on your registry. It is not the fault of the registrant if the buyer does not provide a receipt. But it IS Target's fault if the registrant receives a lot of duplicates b/c the registry's information is incorrect.

What happened? Absolutely no response. Of course. I guess they want me to just go in there and take it out on their store guest services employees. Which I unfortunately will probably have to do b/c I am NOT getting stuck with a bunch of duplicates after all I have done to get these problems fixed.

So Target...in the words of Donald Trump...you're fired! You suck! Whatever. I should have registered at Babies R Us or even Wal-Mart. And if I am blessed with another baby that is just what I will do. Oh and I will tell all my pregnant friends to do the same. B/c you're customer service skills are crappy.

The point is people it's too late for me but it's not too late for you. DO NOT register at Target! This is your final warning;) There I feel better!

A Catch Up...in Pictures!

2011-10-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

I thought I would catch you up on all the things we have been up to lately. It's not too terribly exciting but I enjoy a blog with a lot of pictures don't you??? Even if they are cell phone pics;)

Let's see...I ordered Baby S her Christmas stocking! I know she won't be here on Christmas but I thought she deserved to have a stocking on the mantle like the rest of us. The Christmas I was pregnant with L I ordered these stocking for the 3 of us from PB and I just prayed they would still have them when Baby #2 came along. I am so glad they do! J's is green, mine is red and both kids are white. But L's has green lettering and S's has red. See?

L has been potty trained since he was 2 1/2 but he still wears a pull up at nighttime and nap time. He just sleeps so deeply he never wakes up to potty. The problem I have had lately is a lot of the pull ups I've been buying LEAK. So we have been washing a lot of sheets. I definitely didn't want to go back to diapers so I went googling. I got a deal on Diapers.com for 3 packs of Underjams for $49. They are normally 20.00 a piece but I used some coupon codes and got free shipping. We tried them for the first time last night and this morning...no leaks! Hallelujah!

Do you get Zulily.com emails? I do! I love them! I ordered these precious shoes for Baby S for 9.99! I just could not resist! I know that is an awful picture but it's the only one I can find and I can't enlarge it without totally distorting it further. Anyways they are white soft sole leather shoes with black polka dots. I love them!

I also picked up this sweet outfit at Target the other day. I think it was like $5 a piece mix n match flannel sets. So I got these black pants and this polka dot top in a 6/9 mos. Precious!

Also on Sunday I went with my stepmom to Babies R Us and she got Baby S this orange 6/9 mo. onesie. I think she will be wearing this next Halloween with the above mentioned pants and jacket don't you think? Plus we can use it again at Thanksgiving with some brown pants. Those are the only 2 acceptable times of the year to wear the color orange in this house. Otherwise we tend to think of the Vols and things turn ugly!

I picked this rug up the other day for L's bathroom. The child has a conniption if you want him to get out of the tub without something to step on. Traditional bath mats get messes up so quick so I found this one at Target for 19.99. I think it will be much sturdier for him.

I started some Christmas shopping! Nothing major but I picked up some cute table goodies for our Christmas morning breakfast...or as we are calling it this year thanks to Pinterest...our NorthPole Breakfast! This is just a sneak peak...I don't want to totally spoil the surprise!

I ordered this cute Pumpkin Shirt for L from Lions and Lily Pads on Etsy. He has worn it one time and there is small stain on it already. SIGH. Boys. I will probably also be ordering Christmas shirts from them. We may just double up on this one for Thanksgiving if it survives that long.

My cousin was awesome enough to bring me this car seat with 2 bases to my sister's wedding. It is a practically brand new Chicco. She has 3 kids but this car seat was just purchased for her most recent baby who just turned a year old. We appreciate it as L's car seat was 5 years old so we needed to upgrade.

Next on my list...Christmas jammies for all! I also need to figure out what we are all going to wear in our Maternity/Family photo shoot in November. Plus, I need to be thinking about Baby S's newborn photo shoot...and L's birthday...and I need to order Big Brother/Lil Sis shirts for them. So much to do and so little time to do it! I have some ideas though.

Let's see what else? Oh in nursery news... me and this lamp have a date with that bottle of red spray paint. J put up her pink chandelier. I'm still on the hunt for shades. The final pic is what the nursery looks like right now. Ugh it's kind of a mess! We are going to start working on it hard core next week after my baby shower on Saturday I promise. At least it's painted and I have (some) of my bedding:)

Last few pics..I promise! These are the seeds from the pumpkin we cut. L & I are drying them. We are going to plant pumpkins next Summer:) We also made these yummy cupcakes yesterday. Half were for my bible study but it was canceled. Oh well guess we have to eat them ourselves! This bag is full of pirate stuff for L's birthday in January. I have to do it now b/c I will likely have a brand new baby when his birthday does roll around. Oh and that glider is not a normal fixture in our dining room. It belongs to J's parents and it is going back to their house ASAP. And finally this is my half as* Halloween table. I never found my gold chargers and my dining room is kind of a catch all right now so it's really not all that impressive. Just keeping it real.

All caught up!!! Finally!

Week 29

2011-10-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

How Far Along: 29 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have no idea. I will (maybe) let you know after my appointment next week.

Maternity Clothes: Still mostly just leggings. I am getting ready to order things though I think. Probably just more leggings but actual maternity ones haha! I've been good on tops.

Best Moment this week: My glucose test was normal but I found out I was anemic. No shock the same thing happened with L. But I started taking an iron supplement and I feel better than I have in a long time. I have SO much more energy! It's awesome!

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: She is still a night owl. It drives my Dad crazy b/c he usually sees me in the daytime and he always tries to feel her kick and she will not move at all for him haha!

Food Craving: Vanilla milkshakes. Again no surprise. I did the SAME thing at this exact same point in my pregnancy with L. Weird huh?

What I miss: Nothing:)

Sleep: Getting better. She was heavy on my bladder for a while but I think she has shifted so I'm not peeing a thousand times a night.

What I am looking forward to: My Halloween Baby Shower! If you ever read my blog...EVER...you will want to come check out the pics from this haha! It is Saturday so be watching fora post come Monday morning. I love my friends!

Symptoms: I finally got over my cold and the Zantac is controlling my heartburn so not much to complain about.

We have been slackers about taking pictures lately so here is one from Saturday. You can at least get a side view haha!

DIY...The Costume Reveal!

2011-10-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well we finally got it all together...and just in time too! L had his Halloween Parade at school today and we got his costume together just in the nick of time:)

*He was supposed to also have a painted on mustache but we didn't have enough time this morning to let it dry and he smeared it so we just said the heck with it. We will try again on Friday at our Church Fall Festival.

You may or may not remember I was really struggling with his costume this year. I didn't like a lot of the pirate costumes out there for boys his age. They were either way too "Johnny Depp a la Pirate of the Caribbean" or just plain and cheap one piece nylon bags. NOT GOOD.

Anywho...I bought a yard of this stripe fabric for maybe 5.99/yd (I think I got it 40% off too) at Hobby Lobby and my friend S made us these pants. She is so wonderful to do that for us!

The white shirt is a Wal-Mart special...Garanimals $3. The hat was also a wonderful Wal-mart find! J found it on the clearance aisle for $3 and we were SO excited. This was way before Halloween too.

The sword was a gift from my parents. They found him a pirate accessories set to play with at their house.

The vest was made by none other than MOI. Can you believe it? I found a pattern online and bought some brown felt for 4.99 (also from Hobby Lobby with another 40% off coupon). I cut the pieces and HOT GLUED it together then flipped it inside out. I ironed it really well too so it would have some shape.

I found the skull and crossbones iron on patches at Michael's for 1.99 a piece.

So there you have it!

Here is the breakdown:

Pants: 3.60

Sword & Eye Patch: Free

Shirt: 3.00

Hat: 3.00

Vest: 3.00

Iron on patches: 4.00

Tube of black paint for mustache: .97

Total: $17.57

The look on your child's face when he sees himself in the mirror the first time as a scurvy pirate...

PRICELESS:)

Easy, Peasy Pinterest Project!

2011-10-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

I took a little tip from Pinterest this week and made these cute little goody bags for L's class:

Easiest thing ever! It's just a Ghost Peep, a snack size Hershey bar and a graham cracker. Together they make Ghost S'Mores!!! We just tied them up in treat bags with some purple and green curly ribbon and called it good.

DISCLAIMER: No actual ghosts were harmed in the making of this project...but a few did get eaten.

SANTA is coming...eventually!!!

2011-10-20T11:25:00.001-07:00

When it come to Christmas I am usually waaaaay ahead of the game. I start pretty early in the Fall and make an Amazon wish list for L. Over the Fall months when I hear him get excited about a toy on TV or if we talk about something he is interested in I will add alllllll this stuff to that wish list. Then right around November I go through it all and weed out the stuff that he is no longer interested in. It really makes Christmas shopping a breeze! We usually have a budget we stick to so we put the toys in order of his interest and when we hit the budget limit that is it:)

Now that he is almost 4 I seem to require more help from J b/c he is into so many boyish action figures and games, ect.

So without further ado...here is L's Santa list 2011:

1. Leapster 2...This was the BIG decision this year. We had to decide b/tw the Leap Pad, the Leapster Explorer or the Leapster 2. We ended up choosing the old faithful Leapster 2 for several reasons. Most people complained that the Leap Pad was slow, ate batteries like crazy and had really expensive apps (think $10 a piece). Also it was the most expensive option at $100. So if we bought L 10 games that would make it a $200 toy. Since this is his first gaming system I am just not interested in spending that kind of money if I don't know he is going to LOVE it and use it all the time. Also the $50 price difference b/tw the Leap Pad and the other two seemed to revolve around the camera and video camera it contains. I don't even know if L will care about those features honestly. The Leapster Explorer and Leapster 2 were pretty similar. They were $60 and $50 respectively. The only thing I noticed was the Explorer only comes with 1 game and the Leapster2 comes with 3. So there ya have it. My opinion is this will be a great introduction to a gaming system. By next Christmas he may be ready for a DS so this is kind of a starter device. It is the size of your average gameboy so he can take it with him when we are in the car or the grocery and play educational games on it instead of Mommy's phone. Yay for me!

2. Transformers Rescue Bots: Optimus Prime & Bumblebee. Kind of self explanatory. What little boy doesn't love Transformers?

3. Thundercats Sword of Omens, Lion- O Action Figure, Tygra Action Figure, Thundercats Season One Volume One, and Lion-O Claw Shield. What can I say this kid loves the Thundercats?!?! I guess that is like 5 toys but I grouped them together since it's all T-Cats stuff.

4. DC Comics Boys Trio Action Set Dress Up Trunk. I hope he loves this! I think he will b/c he is always wanting to dress up and be a super hero.

5. Playmobil Pirate Island Compact Set Toy. We already know he loves these sets. He has one with a knight and a horse so since Pirates are "the thing" right now we went with that option:)

6. Finally....this was a FREE toy b/c it is one of J's collectibles! We decided it was time he passed it on down to L:) I can't find a picture of it b/c it's not new obviously even though it is in mint condition in the package hahahah! But it is a He-Man Collectible Action Figure Set. I think it has 3 action figures in it. L will love it! He started watching He-Man with Daddy and he thinks it is so cool.

Of course he will have a stocking with candy and some art supplies and books but this is all the BIG stuff. I can't wait to see his little face light up on Christmas morning!!!

A great tip to know is usually right around Thanksgiving all the toys on Amazon qualify for free shipping. I just add it all to my cart and have it shipped right to my house and I never step a toe inside a frenzied toy store. Ahhhhhh.....

Ho! Ho! Ho! Who wants to know???

2011-10-19T15:42:00.001-07:00

Yes it is barely Halloween but I am already moving on to Christmas ladies haha! I just love it SO much! Also, since this is L's last year as an only child I have some big plans in store to make it extra special for him. I will blog about what Santa is bringing him tomorrow but shame on ME it is way more fun to blog about what I want Santa to bring this lady;)

1. Burberry Body...oh my Lord have mercy I tried this on the other day at Sephora and you know how sometimes a scent just really mixes well with your body chemistry? I haven't found a scent that I liked this much since Armani quit making Sensi. Seriously I wrote the company on that one! Crazy lady! It was my signature scent. How dare they quit making it??? If I get this and only this I will be happy this year.

2. A Lace Edge Milk Glass Plate to add to my collection. I found two of these plates at Goodwill forever ago and I have them in a plate hanger but I really need a third. I found one online for $6! I almost went ahead and bought it but I think it would be neat if Santa brought this to me. It would really show HE is listening;)

3. Anything on our registry we really need and don't get. Santa will just have to figure this one out after my baby shower:)

4. This sign...enough said!

5. I'd love a mani/pedi gift card. That is definitely just the thing a pregnant lady needs right before giving birth!

6. A new attachment from Coton Colors for my Happy Everything Platter. I really need the Easter Bunny but then I just saw they have a gingerbread man this year! I LOVE Gingerbread men!!! So far all I have is the birthday cake, the Welcome house and the Nativity.

7. Usually there are some clothes or boots on my list buuuuut since it will be a while before I will fit into anything that is probably not a great idea. Although a nice leopard scarf is always welcome!!!

Now I'm off to day dream about all of these goodies! I can't wait to share with you what Santa is bringing L this year:)

In Recovery...

2011-10-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

I swear I am just now recovering from my sister's wedding on Saturday! I was SO tired from being on my feet all day. Instead of recapping the whole day in words I will just share it with you in pictures. That's more fun anyways isn't it???

You can consider this my Week 27-28 belly shot from the rehearsal dinner:)

Going to the chapel!

2011-10-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

My little sis is getting married tomorrow! We are all busy trying to get ourselves and the kids ready and make sure all the last minute wedding chores are finished. L has his tux (ring bearer), J has his tie (he's an usher), my dress actually fits (bridesmaid), and we have the rehearsal this afternoon. It's been a crazy busy couple of months leading up to all this but as of tomorrow my sis will be a MRS.!!!

She is the last of the 4 of us kids to be married...rightly so as she is the baby. I told Dad they must have done something right to have 4 kids graduated from college, gainfully employed and happily married:) We have sometimes put the D in dysfunctional over the years but when it comes down to it we are a family.

I can't wait to see my baby boy in his tuxedo! And I can't wait to show you all pictures next week!!!

The happy bride!

Week 27

2011-10-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

*In all the craziness this week with my sister's upcoming wedding on Saturday I forgot to do my Week 27 post!!!

How Far Along: 27 weeks...my ultrasound this week said she is measuring 27 weeks and 2 days:)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I can no longer report this number. It's getting ugly.

Maternity Clothes: Honestly not a lot. Even with all my weight gain I can still mostly wear my leggings and tunics just in a size up.

Best Moment this week: We got to see Sloane on u/s Tuesday and got some GREAT shots of her face! They were following up on a finding from last week which thankfully turned out to be nothing. I was thrilled to get to see her again. J was out of town so my parents went with me and it was special having them there. She smiled for my Dad! He made a funny joke and she smiled and we all just about melted.

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: She is a night owl.

Food Craving: Honestly lately I HATE food and I will explain why a little further down.

What I miss: Not a lot. I just wish I had more energy.

Sleep: Kind of not good right now. I have a lot of congestion going on.

What I am looking forward to: Right now my sister's wedding Saturday! I can't think about anything else really b/c I just don't have time;)

Symptoms: I am SO congested right now. Major sinus drama going on and all I can do is rinse my nose and take Sudafed. My throat is so sore from all the drainage and I think it's giving me major heart burn. Everything I eat just sits in my throat (and occasionally comes back up). It's like I have pregnancy acid reflux and I hate it. I positively dread eating. Maybe I will get lucky and lose a pound or two?

My glucose test is tomorrow! I am just hoping I pass b/c I do NOT want to do the 3 hour deal. YUCK!!!

No picture this week sorry! J is out of town and I look majorly gross haha;) I will have lots to post next week from Saturday though no worries. I will be the one in the purple dress who looks like a big grape next to all the cute skinny girls!!!

Kids say the darndest things!!!

2011-10-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

So Sunday night we were having dinner and L was telling J & I all about Sunday School. He told us the story that morning was about David and Goliath. He then proceeded to say that "that little boy David knocked out Goliath with a flu shot!" J & I were like huh? It took us a minute or two to figure out he meant a sling shot! Seriously I laughed for like an hour;)

Also his newest word is "predictable." I really don't know why but the other day I told him to go do something and he said, "Mommy you're SO predictable!"

This week is CRA-ZY! My sister is getting married on Saturday so we are all super, duper busy with wedding preparation. I got L's tux today and he will be so precious in it! I can't wait to show you pictures!!! He calls himself "the ring man."

I really cannot get over how fast he is growing up. My baby is not a baby anymore! It makes me so sad. J & I were talking the other day about words he used to use like "Meme" for Mickey Mouse. I loved it! I really hope Baby S gets some of the things that I love about L like his thick, curly hair and his big, blue eyes. I know she will be beautiful no matter what though:)

Speaking of Baby S...we are getting closer on the nursery! I can't wait for a big reveal!!!

Reaching out to the blog community for answers;)

2011-10-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

Sooooo if I had a LOT more money I would be completely redoing everything in my house like ASAP. Sadly I do not have piles of moolah just laying around so I'm currently researching the most inexpensive options. I thought I would reach out to my bloggy friends with a few questions:

1. Can anyone recommend a good place to have a custom sectional done? Or at least a place where I can choose from different fabrics? I found a few places but they are all b/tw $3000-4000 dollars. Is that right? Ouch!

2. I have a LOT of ideas for my kitchen. Many of which have to be done in steps over time naturally. What is the best place to buy new hardware. I have a TON of cabinets. Naturally I normally just hit up Lowe's or Home Depot but I wondered if there was a better place possibly online to buy in bulk?

3. Closet organizers...my next big project is to put some organizers in Baby S's closet. Is Lowe's and Home Depot the best place to get that kind of stuff? Anyone know of a good resource?

4. Finally...this is for the locals...can anyone in town recommend a good tree service that won't set me back and absolute fortune? I already called Woodland and they are CRA-ZY if they think I am paying those prices! J is going to do what he can on his own but there are still some trees that are too tall for him to limb on his own.

Thank you all!!!

A Whole Lot of NEWS!!!

2011-10-05T12:07:00.001-07:00

We'll start with the unimportant stuff I guess:) My MIL bought me this Sephora nail polish in Rumba Romance and I LURV it!!! It's so FALL to me. I've been staring at my nails all day. And I like how it looks when I wear my cheetah flats;)

Meet Shadow. YES my parents bought L and my niece a pony. Like I'm ever going to top that present right? HA! It's not all that far fetched...they already had horses and a barn. L is totally in love with this little horse.

Most importantly...Miss S looks just like her big brother! We got a great 4D shot and I swear the child is L's twin. I love it:)

Week 26

2011-10-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

How Far Along: 26 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I go to the doc this morning so we will find out the damage then.

Maternity Clothes: Yes but mostly regular non maternity leggings size medium with maternity tops.

Best Moment this week: We get to see Sloane today on u/s!

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: She is a night owl.

Food Craving: Nothing major although lately all I can think about is a Pumpkin Spice Latte. But who isn't???

What I miss: Tummy sleeping...it ain't happening. Side sleeping is even starting to get uncomfortable.

Sleep: If I can get comfy I am out but it's getting to that point that is hrd.

What I am looking forward to: A completed nursery! We have paint and bedding but we still need to organize her closet. I will probably do the big reveal in early November after my shower.

Symptoms: I get tired some in the afternoon now and have started napping again. I get a lot of pain in my hip when I lay on my side too long blah blah. It's all normal stuff.

And not that anyone cares but I got bangs for Fall! I love them. They make this pregnant lady feel all edgy and trendy haha!

Fabulous Fall Weekend!

2011-10-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! I don't have anything terribly important to say today so I will just give you an update of what we have been up to:)

Wednesday my SIL and I took L and my niece to the farmer's market at the botanic gardens and I snapped this cute picture of them:

Then Thursday was cowboy day at L's school for the letter "C." I am so glad I switched him to our church MDO. I love it so much and I feel like he is learning a lot and most importantly he LOVES it. Here he was ready to go to school that morning:

Friday my parents kept L overnight at their house and J & I spent the night vegged out on the couch eating pizza and watching movies. Seriously I think we were in our bed at 10 PM. Par-tay!!!

Saturday we drove out and got L from my parents. We took our truck b/c my parents have been holding onto a swing for us for like 2 years now haha! We didn't want to move it to Nashville when we left and they have had it ever since. It's a large iron A frame swing set and a cedar swing so we brought that home when we picked up L.

J decided to cut up this peach tree that is in our backyard. It was rotting from the inside out b/c it was completely infested with ANTS. Gross! So he borrowed my Dad's chainsaw and went to work. L decided he wanted to work on the yard too. The weather was truly Fall weather. Gorgeous and a little chilly. J & I also restained our cedar swing that we brought home from my parents. Here are some of the pics I took Saturday:

That last one cracks me up! J wanted L to stay outside b/c he was having so much fun so we let him go without a nap. He was exhausted. He fell asleep on the couch around 6 while we were cooking burgers on the grill. I had to go make him wake up and then we put him to bed early like 8 PM b/c he could barely keep his eyes open!

Sunday we went to church and L was super excited about the lesson in Sunday School He told us all about it afterwards. I love that he loves to go to church! When we got home we all ate lunch and took naps. I think we were still tired from the day before.

Then we went to the grocery store as a family and came home and cooked dinner. After dinner we went for a walk but it took us a while b/c our cat Ruby kept trying to follow us and we didn't want her to be wandering the neighborhood. We had to double back like 4 times to ditch her! All in all I would say it was a relaxing fun filled family weekend. I love my boys! I can't wait to add our baby girl to the mix.

Speaking of Miss S I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I get to have an ultrasound and I can't wait to see how much she has grown. She kicks a lot more now. I will be 26 weeks tomorrow. I promise to do a good post with pictures. For some reason I haven't had a lot of questions for my doctor up until now (I guess since its my second baby) but I have a list for him tomorrow haha!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!!!

Fall Chili Recipe

2011-09-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

I think I have posted this in the past but I can't find it so here we go again:) This is my brother's FAMOUS chili recipe. I guess it's only famous to our family but honestly I've never had better chili. He usually makes his with venison b/c he is a manly hunter kind of man....actually I usually use venison too but I am out (HELLO brother dear bring me some venison on your next trip up) so today we are cooking with beef. I guess if you wanted to be healthy you could use ground turkey but I think that defeats the purpose of good chili ya know?

Venison or Beef Chili:

1 to 2 pounds of ground venison/beef

1 yellow onion diced (sometimes I use just a half b/c J is not a huge fan on onions)

Garlic Salt, to taste

Black Pepper, to taste

1 to 2 large can of tomato sauce

1 to 2 cans of diced tomatoes, drained

1 to 3 can kidney beans, drained

1 can of Dr. Pepper

A dash of chili pepper

Basil, to taste

1 package of Chili Seasoning

Instructions:

Dice the onion and sauté in a pan until soft. Next, add the ground venison/beef. Sprinkle garlic salt and black pepper on the meat while browning. Once browned, drain off grease. While meat is browning, turn crock pot to high or four hours. Add all remaining ingredients and stir. Add drained meat and onions. Cook on high for 2 hours or until kidney beans are cooked.

**Today I only used 1/2 a can of Dr. Pepper b/c I only used 1 lb of meat and I didn't want it to get soupy. The longer this cooks the better honestly so all the spices meld together into deliciousness!

Oh and if you are like us you want your chili REALLY unhealthy feel free to garnish with as much cheddar cheese, Fritos and sour cream as you like. Enjoy!!!

Week 24

2011-09-21T13:24:00.001-07:00

How Far Along: 24 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: It's not been a good week in the eating department:( We had a baby shower here at the house and I have been chowing down on all sorts of goodies.

Maternity Clothes: Yes. Weather is still so back and forth though. I'm wearing leggings a lot more though.

Best Moment this week: My FIL is going to paint the baby's room tomorrow and I got my bedding in! Pictures coming soon:)

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: She is moving regularly now. I just think she isn't as strong as L was.

Food Craving: Everything. I just feel so hungry lately!

What I miss: My energy. I'm still SO tired.

Sleep: I am sleeping pretty great.

What I am looking forward to: A completed nursery!

Symptoms: Some sciatic nerve pain and I can't seem to get comfortable when I am just chilling watching TV and stuff.

Fall Trends

2011-09-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

Today is Day 2 of the Fabulous Fall Blog Challenge over at A Complete Waste of Make up. Today's topic if Fall Trends. If I had to choose ONE Fall trend I am drooling over it would be this Michael Kors gold watch:

I personally prefer the gold although rose gold is really the bigger trend this Fall. DROOL! I would absolutely LURV one of these babies for Christmas!!!

I love Michael Kors period. He really knows how to dress women and his style is so classic. I also love this neck warmer sweater:

They no longer have it in camel on their website but I think Neiman Marcus has it on theirs. I also love that she is rocking the aviators! That has been my sunglass of choice for a few years now.

Go on over to Neely's page and link up to the party!!!

Fall Traditions

2011-09-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Today I am participating in the Fabulous Fall Blog Challenge over at A Complete Waste of Makeup. Today's topic is Fall Traditions.

Of course the very first Fall tradition that automatically come to mind is FALL FOOTBALL!!! I am so glad football is back! Summer TV is the pits isn't it???

Then of course comes the Fall decor. I've already purchased a few mums and this one got wrapped in some burlap for some added cuteness;)

J's most favorite scent is pumpkin spice so we always have one of these burning in the Fall. This one was a gift from my BFF!

It wouldn't be Fall without some new decorations from Hobby Lobby! I got this cute little burlap stand from Hobby Lobby of course.

Every October we also try to go pick pumpkins with L, go to Zoo Boo at the Memphis Zoo, attend the Fall Festival at church, and trick or treat of course! It seems like there is something going on every single weekend. No rest for the weary!

The only Fall tradition I absolutely LOATHE is the return of L's asthma. This is the time of year it always pops up and causes problems. Once he adjusts though everything is usually fine.

Time to link up!!!

23 weeks!!!

2011-09-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

How Far Along: 23 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Right now around 20 lbs. It fluctuates but I'm holding steady.

Maternity Clothes: Definitely in them! Come on cold weather!!! A couple of my good friends have given me some super cute clothes lately. I just need the weather to cool down so I can wear them.

Best Moment this week: Scheduled my glucose test. Not that I'm excited about it but it did make me realize how close I am to meeting her:)

Gender: Girl!!! Sloane Elizabeth!!!

Movement: Still mostly a nighttime mover and shaker

Food Craving: Not really anything major. I usually want something sweet at night.

What I miss: My energy. I think I am going to get the doctor to check my iron levels. I am SO tired!

Sleep: I am sleeping pretty great.

What I am looking forward to: My BFFs baby shower this weekend at MY house! Can't wait to show you all pictures.

Symptoms: Sunday night I did have a pretty bad swelling episode. I was on my feet all night Saturday night for my sister's wedding shower and then we grilled burgers for dinner so maybe I had too much sodium but my poor legs, ankles and feet swelled up HUGE. My left leg was bigger than my right so I called the doc and she made sure I didn't have any redness or warm spots and told me to prop my feet up and drink 2 large glasses of water. Of course immediately after that L had an asthma attack so instead of propping my feet up I was driving 100 mph to the urgent care. Oh well! I woke up Monday and they were normal again. So now I am just trying to watch my sodium intake.

Bridal Shower

2011-09-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we had my sister's bridal shower at my other sister's house. Everything was really cute! She is getting married in October so it was kind of a Fall/Western theme. She barrel races so that is where the western idea came from. We are even wearing cowboy boots in the wedding!

Cute little pathway leading to the side yard

The arbor

Welcome sign for the guests

A lot of mason jars and candles

Tables set up with floral fabric and mums

Close up of table

More seating for guests

Cute light up stars, sunflowers and wagon wheel

Bride and grooms picture

Painting by done by bride's grandmother as wedding gift

Western cooler for beverages

Picnic seating

Favor bags with Fall themed candy like candy corn, pumpkins and caramels

Bride arriving and seeing it all for the first time!

Excited!

Food table

Shelley (bride) striking a pose!

Lots of yummy food!

Soon it got dark and you could really see all the lights and candles

The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time!

Fall "Maternity' Tips and Tricks

2011-09-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie I had a huge problem dressing myself this summer. Mainly b/c I didn't want to run around after L all day in dresses and maternity shorts are usually pretty fugly. BUT...with Fall right around the corner I thought I would share some tips and tricks I picked up the last time I was pregnant. I am fortunate enough to be able to reuse a TON of my maternity clothing since I am pregnant again during the Fall and Winter. Yay for me!

1. Do NOT spent a fortune on new boots for Fall. Mainly b/c you go through times where your legs, feet and ankles swell and it would really suck to have spent $200 on a pair of boots you don't get to wear and then have them go out of style the following year. My tip...Charlotte Russe always has cute boots and almost every Fall they are buy one pair get another for $15! The normal price is around $40-50 so you can get 2 pairs for less than $100.

2. Leggings are your friends and you don't have to buy the maternity kind. Maternity leggings are expensive. Just go up a size (or two) on regular leggings. If you find they press on your bladder just roll them down below the belly a little. You will probably be wearing a tunic that is long enough to cover you up.

3. Gap. Did I mention Gap? Yes they are expensive. No you will never find anything more comfortable that the Gap Pure Body Maternity line. Get several tanks. They are extra long and you can put cardigans over them this fall. Also the long sleeve v neck tees are awesome for bumming it with yoga pants or jeans.

4. Sweaters. It's probably a good idea to invest in a few heavy sweaters. Especially if you will be heavily pregnant in the Winter. I could NOT wear a coat when I was pregnant with L. I felt SO bulky all the time and it made me get way too hot. But I found if I wore a nice thick sweater I was fine. I mean the majority of time I spent outside was just walking to and from my car right? A great place to get cute maternity sweater that won't cost a fortune is Motherhood Maternity. I would go to the store if you have access rather than order online. You will want to try those on.

5. FLATS. They are everywhere right now. Get a pair in every color...and some in leopard while you're at it!!! Seriously my feet got so swollen sometimes I could not even wear tennis shoes. Ugg boots are great too! But mainly stick with ballet flats, flat boots with wide calves, or Uggs. These are from Old Navy.

6. Jeans. I hate the kind of maternity jeans that stretch over your belly. I much prefer the under the belly band. Old Navy is a good place for jeans and so is eBay. Yes eBay! You can get all sorts of designers jeans with an added belly band. I have a pair of Sevens and Joe's Jeans that I LURV. Target has jeans in the Liz Lange line but they are usually over the belly. Notice the picture below. Shoot for the first one! The low rise knit panel.

7. Avoid patterns and prints. Especially loud bold ones. You don't want anything making you look bigger than you already are for reals ladies;) I try to stick to solids and throw prints in with things like shoes, scarves and jewelry. Do not do this:

It looks inoffensive enough on this model who probably weighs 110 pounds and is wearing a belly pillow. It will not be the same on an actual pregnant woman haha!

8. If you gain weight in your arms you might want to avoid things that are sleeveless. Just saying! This was a problem for me last time and when I look back at some pictures it makes me cringe a little.

9. Lastly, invest in maternity underwear and a very comfortable bra. It's not pretty I know. But this is one area where comfort is way more important than aesthetic trust me.

I hope these tips help!!!