St Patrick's Day Ink Pad Fun!

Getting a toddler and a 6 month old (what?!?!?) to listen and cooperate is definitely not the easiest thing in the world to do. Thanks to fun times at daycare, Piper absolutely LOVES making hand prints. So I figured, why not take advantage of that fact, and do a project that she will easily cooperate with?

I started off by making a header in photo shop, and printing it on a thick linen cardstock.

 I kept it pretty basic here. Next step, is to find a lovely assistant!

Miss P fits the bill!

Getting all ink covered is some HARD work!

We did both hands on the bottom, and then we used thumbprints to make the smaller 4 leaf clovers in the center.

Next step was to find some adorable chubby baby feet! Mr I fit the bill here!

Filled in the blank space with Ian's footprints, and ta-dahhhhhh! Personalized artwork! I think I want to make a field of thumbprint clovers now....

2 Under 2. The Saga Begins!

Our family of 3 is now a family of 4! Sorry for the late update, but life has been hectic since the arrival of our beautiful little man! Ian came into this world via repeat c/s on 9/3/2013 at 7:56 AM. He weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz, and is 19.5 inches long. He is an eating machine and has been packing on the weight, so he's now up to 7 lbs 8 oz.  We love him very much, and big sister seems pretty excited to have a baby around!

Ian Seamus - The Big Nursery Reveal!

It's finally done. The nursery is complete, and not a moment too soon, since he will be here 9/3 at the very latest!

Remember this room?

It is now, THIS! :)

Just a few more days now until I can hold my little man in my arms and welcome him to the world!

Nursery Name Wall Decor!

I'm a firm believer that every nursery needs at least one or two things with the child's name in/on them. And with our underwater theme, I figured what better way to do that then with an OAR!

So I went to Cabela's (definitely not my scene!) and purchased a small oar for $15, and then went to the craft store and purchased a package of small knobs to glue onto said oar after it was all painted to my liking. (re: once my husband painted and didn't miss a spot!)

Then I purchased unfinished wood letters from Hobby Lobby and painted those white as well, so they had a good base going.

It only took one coat of paint for the letters, but I believe we did 2 or 3 coats on the oar and the knobs just to make sure coverage was there!

After the paint dried on the letters, I traced them onto scrapbook paper, and cut them out. After that, I used Mod Podge to adhere them to the wooden letters like so.

Next was finding a way to get them to hang off the knobs! I figured ribbon was the simplest solution in this situation, so I used super glue to stick the ribbons to the back of each letter (be careful to make sure the ribbons are the same length or else the letters will not hang evenly)

Now that we got this far, I realized I had no idea how I was going to put the actual oar on the wall. If it doesn't require glue, scissors, glitter, or a paintbrush, this is where I recruit the help of my trusty husband, who came up with a solution I like to call "TEETH!"

Then a quick test shot to make sure the letters hang evenly....

Close enough for my liking! Then came time to hang the oar on the wall, and with that! Ian's nursery is now complete. 

Linking Up To:

Another Step Closer to Crafting My Heart Out

Since we moved, most of the non-necessities have been living in boxes. This includes the bulk of my crafting items, which means that mama can't play! We decided to use a little nook in the basement as my "craft area". The rest of the basement is going to be set up as a playroom for the childrens. Naturally I needed a surface to work on if I were going to have a craft setup, so off to my favorite thrift store I went. And came home with this gem. Only $14.41! I liked the detailing on the bottom of the table, and figured it would be the perfect table to love, and use and abuse simultaneously.

So, I bought it, brought it home, and asked Scott if he could make it prettier. Of course he agreed, since I'm pregnant, and pregnant ladies shouldn't be playing around with paint fumes ;)

So the yucko, chipped, blue paint was covered with a couple coats of white.

Here it is, in it's new home in the "craft nook"

 After the bottom was taken care of, it was time to make the top look nicer without putting too much work into it. So I picked out a sample paint color that I liked, bought a can, and WHAM! 3 coats later, table is finished :)

And then we replaced the table top, and once again, put the table in it's rightful new home.

Paired it with an old chair (also thrifted) for $5

The first step of completing the basement! Hallllllllelujiah!

I also was in the market for 2 more small, wooden, child size chairs to refurbish, to put with the set we already have down in the play area. Instead I lucked out and found 2 matching, perfect condition chairs with the seat the same height as the current ones, for $3 each!

So while there is no project there, WHAT A DEAL. Coloring table can now seat 4 beebs!

Baby Love

Today I am officially 30 weeks and 2 days pregnant with my son. I cannot believe time moved so fast, and now it feels like these next 9 weeks will never end. I cannot wait to meet this little guy (and subsequently get my body back!)

We are going in for a 3D/4D ultrasound session this Saturday. I've never had one done before, so we figured it was due time. Bonus since the elective place we go to offered us a discount on a return visit!

But everything hasn't been all sunshine and roses. on June 20th, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, something I never had to deal with in my previous pregnancy. I took the news hard, felt like my body was a failure, and my labor and delivery was bound to be awful and optionless. I felt like maybe if I had done this differently, or just been better in general about this or that, I would not be in this situation.

I didn't understand, how if all of my numbers during monitoring are WELL under what they are looking for, they still gave me this diagnosis based on (what I feel) is an antiquated test. I mean, come on, what pregnant woman starves themselves for 12 hours and then drinks 100 grams of sugar water and sits in a hospital waiting room for 3 hours for hourly blood draws? Definitely NOT this one!

But alas, I have to deal with the diagnosis. If anything it gave me a reason to quit my Coca Cola habit, which isn't really a bad thing. And as long as everything goes smoothly, I'm okay with it.

It did depress me greatly, and while there are risks, it's also a pretty common diagnosis. A good friend sent me this link to help me cope, and it helped reading it, and then having a sit down with my doctor.

http://birthwithoutfearblog.com/2013/06/24/the-truth-about-gestational-diabetes-and-why-its-not-your-fault/

 

Have a few more exciting posts planned in the near future, but for now, here is my 30 week bump in all it's glory!!

Welcome To My Life!

I felt the need to post an update!! Life has been going well, this pregnancy is the polar opposite of my pregnancy with Piper. I am 18 weeks today, and cannot believe how fast the time is flying this second time around.

I am feeling wonderful and inspired in general. I plan on starting up this blog all over again.

We are moving on May 1st!!! We didn't find somewhere to buy, but we did find an AMAZING rental thanks to family. It's a beautiful townhouse with 2 beds, 2.5 baths, loft, deck, finished walkout basement, and 2 car garage. Everything we could have wanted! 

So, this next few weeks may be light still, but be prepared for a re-emergence of myself in May and beyond!