The Project List :: Completed Tasks

So I got done 5 out of 9 things.. not bad, right?

Putting the felt backer on for black-out purposes!

Finished!

Wish I had bought more of these to hang, but this will do!

Spray painted Sunday. So no chance of hanging it up the same day!

Glued, but not hung. I don't know where it's 'spot' is quite yet.

Hung!

I couldn't hang the small frames because I don't know where they're going yet. I found a decal set on pinterest that I think i'm going to try to paint myself onto the large wall that is currently blank. I don't want to spoil it by showing it ahead of time. :) But it's going to be awesome. I need to sketch it first on a regular sheet of paper to know I can do it on a larger wall. (If you follow me on pinterest, I pinned it.. oops!)

What else was I supposed to do? Ohh that's right, buy some fabric to make a crib skirt. Well, I didn't make it to JoAnn Fabric.. so that didn't get done. However, I think when it does get done it's going to look great. That's a project for December I think. I also didn't choose any pictures for the wall because I want to wait on that as well, especially with the new 'mural' idea.

There's plenty left to do, luckily I still have 9 weeks to accomplish these things!

Project List :: I think I can

Things I need to accomplish this weekend:
~Finish the wall decor that I started weeks ago. All I have to do is find my hot glue gun and glue it together.. is that so hard?? apparently it is, because i do not know where the glue gun is and i don't even know where to start looking.

~Put up the decor that I got from Urban Outfitters above our bed and then take a picture. Shouldn't be too difficult or time consuming, right? I might as well add in here that we desperately need to move the bed and vacuum under it (the cats love it under there and i'm pretty sure it's covered with hair) and clean the whole room. It gets messy so fast!

~Buy some more of the magenta fabric and create the bed skirt that will match the roman shades. Oh and finish the roman shades! There's only one left to do.

~Spray paint a shelf that I got at a yard sale a few years ago and then hang it.

~Hang the other frames while i'm at it.. after i figure out what to put in them.

~Choose the pictures to hang on the wall. I think this is going to be a tough one and I might just have to wait until we get our maternity pictures done.

That sounds like enough, right? I have lots of other non-baby related things I want to do, like Christmas decor but I figure I have plenty of time for that after Thanksgiving. Not to mention the extensive list I have going of things that need to be cleaned prior to the baby's arrival.. most notably, the refrigerator and the master bathroom. Where will I find the time? Oh, let's say the first week of December, prior to some guests arriving!

I wonder how many things I can check off my list on Friday night? :)

And for an extra challenge.. can I manage to take a picture of all of these things on my list??!?!!

Weekend Fun

This past weekend was SUPER busy. In a good way though because most of it was spent with people we love! And look, I took a lot of pictures!

Friday night we attended Eric's Surprise Birthday Party. And i'm pretty sure he was totally surprised. The food table was immaculate and I ate wayy too much but that's what happens when there's really good pizza, guacamole and buffalo chicken dip (and more). PLUS the cake was to-die-for. Strawberry swirl.. I could eat another piece right now!

iPhone Quality. Blowing out Candles. Jamming with Spotify. Baby Evander and Cake!!

Saturday, I took Alex to the farm and then went to the Outlets to visit Carters and then to Babies R Us to get gifts for a baby shower I went to on Sunday. Carters is pretty overwhelming with the amount of stuff they have. I didn't even know where to start! But i did get a cute outfit for baby Hix! I also have to say, shopping off of a registry is hard. I didn't realize it was so involved but I spent 45 minutes in aisle 6 of babies r us trying to find the things I wanted to get. It was worth it though! After I picked up Alex we went to Amelia's and got some discounted items. Then we went home and got ready for Nick & Laurel's Wine & Cheese party.. which was a BLAST! Here are the pictures from that. Look out, there's a lot!

A quick photography tutorial? I need me one of those!

The cutest wine glass charms ever made especially by Laurel! She could sell these I swear!

These were the most delicious truffles in the history of truffles (that night).

Photo compliments of J.Huntington.. she's a pro

Enjoying the food.. how could you not?

Sorry for the blur.. they're so cute though, right?

I sat in that chair right there. :)

The other side of the room, where all of the music selection took place.

A sampling of the fare.

The setup before we commenced with the tasting!

My glass and my favorite wine of the night, a Riesling!

Priceless face filled with Birthday Joy!

One of the food tables. The cheese on the left was my favorite! So buttery!

We had such a good great time, and Nick & Laurel did such a great job at keeping everything organized. They designed the sheets and the labels to go around the wine bottles. They're so creative! Plus the food was ah-mazingly delicious! Add in yummy wine (sips for me) and super awesome company.. I can't think of a better time!

Sunday morning I went to see my Dad sing in church. He did an awesome job singing "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner and don't worry, there were more people in the audience then the 3 that you can see in the picture. After church, I stopped at my grandparents to show them some baby pictures and then I stopped at Target. When I got home I had to wrap up some baby gifts and then it was off to Britt's shower!

Steph was nice enough to take a snap of us!

 The shower was lovely and it was nice to catch up with Stephanie and meet Alicia (another pregnant girl, 5 weeks ahead of me) And they had a delicious spread (what isn't yummy to me these days?) plus amazing cake and then a candy bar with all pink candies! Britt got a ton of stuff! It was all so cute! Baby Hix is set! Plus it was super helpful in doing my registry later that night, which I talked about in my 30 week baby bump post. So after the shower, I relaxed a little bit and then hit Target (again) to redo my registry. We spent the rest of the night relaxing after a yummy dinner of falafel and tabouli!

I'm repeating myself when I say this but I LOVE busy weekends.

Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative

For the winter, Alex and I decided to join the Farm Fresh Coop for seasonal organic veggies from local farms.

We've never done this before but have known about it for a while and the coop uses the Brubaker farm for some of it's produce year round which makes it pretty cool.

This week is the first week and they just sent a newsletter stating what we could be getting. Here it is, straight from the newsletter:

1 Bunch Red Tatsoi - Certified Organic - Riverview Organics

1 Bunch Collards - Certified Organic - Autumn Blend Organics

1 Head Napa Cabbage - Certified Organic - Bellview Organics

1 Leek - Certified Organic - Coyote Run Organics

1 Head Broccoli - Certified Organic - Pine Hill Organics

1 Bag Carrots - Certified Organic - Sunrise Ridge Organics

1 Bunch White Kohlrabi - Certified Organic - Sweetaire Farm

2 Heads Green Leaf Lettuce - Certified Organic - The Back 40 Ranch

1 Head White Cauliflower - Certified Organic - Green Valley Organics

1 Buttercup Squash - Certified Organic - Riverview Organics 

1 Bunch Chrysanthemum Greens - Certified Organic - Riverview Organics

Doesn't that sound delish? Pretty sure we're going to be living it up with some gourmet cooking this winter, which is appropriate to get as much in as we can before baby girl's arrival. This little one will be lucky though since we'll probably do the Summer Share as well and her first veggies will be from local organic farms.

Hopefully as we use the veggies I can post more about them and how we're preparing them. Above is a picture of what we got this week. YUM!

Here's a picture of what we made for dinner last night with our fresh harvest! It's a basic stirfry that Alex whipped up in a flash and then added some home-cured bacon bits to. It was yummy and I can't wait to see what else we can make with this bounty of organicness.

10 weeks remaining!

Thanks for the snap, Mike!

Yesterday marked Week 30! The big 3-0! Baby girl has made a position change and is now dancing on my bladder. So much so that I feel like I have to pee but then find out I actually don't. So that's fun! I hope the position change means she's more head down, as of last week at the ultrasound she was transverse (sideways) and I'd really prefer for her to get to head down and then stay there for the next 10 weeks.

This week she's about 15 inches and 3 pounds. Pretty exciting! Anyway, as I just mentioned, we had an ultrasound last week. It was our second at womb with a view since we didn't get the best look at her the first time. Well.. despite my best efforts to try to juice her up ahead of time, she enjoys sleeping on the pillow that is my placenta. Her face was in it half the time. Here are a couple of snaps though so you can see her again.

Mouth open.. she likes to sleep like that. During the Ultrasound we saw her drinking the OJ flavored fluid!

My little piglet! Her nose is pressed up against the placenta here.  She isn't a Penelope.

There's her little arm. Her face looks really shadowy though.

This might be close to what I posted last time. It was from the first session.

Anyway. things are still going well. Other than the bladder dancing. I've noticed that I don't waddle around on the weekends, mainly just at work. Not sure why? I made a nice list of things I probably want to take to the hospital and also went over my final project list for the nursery. I got a set of two really cute crib sheets from pottery barn on Saturday, so I won't have to sew any (or if I do, it will only be one). I couldn't pass up $8/sheet plus a 10% off discount! Alex is going away this weekend with friends which should give me lots of time to complete nursery projects!

So for my registry, I originally just went on Target.com to do it. Then after talking to someone about it (I forget who, sorry!) I went through to see how much of the stuff I chose was only available online. Answer? Most of it. So I printed it out and then deleted everything from it and went to the closest Target Sunday night and got a scanner and scanned away for an hour and forty five minutes. It was actually nice to see everything in front of my face. They didn't have everything, so when I got home I went on and added the things that I had on before that I couldn't find. Just in case. But at the store, I also added things I didn't think about or see online. So all in all it was worth it. And for those wondering, I'm not registered at Babies R Us because I like Target better. I like the clothes they have better and their prices are generally better. Nothing against BRU, I just chose Target.

At our class last night we went on a tour of Women's and Babies. I had higher expectations for some reason because the rooms felt cold. Obviously they aren't going to be super luxurious. They looked nice overall though and obviously Women's and Babies is a nice facility. It does however make me want to stay at home as long as possible while in labor before going in. Positive? 

Tomorrow we have an appointment at the doctor (or should I say, midwives since I have yet to see a doctor). It'll be nice to get confirmation of exactly what position she is in! I need to start thinking of some questions to ask.

It really seems like 10 is such a small number (compared to 40) but when I think about the time in terms of months, it seems longer. January 23rd still feels pretty far away, even though Thanksgiving is next week! Next week we'll be in the single digits! So excited to meet her!

{Guest Post} From a Father's Perspective

{I finally got Alex to do a guest post! I think you will all enjoy hearing a man's perspective on the upcoming arrival of a first child. It basically made me cry because it was so sweet! (that's right, i'm not a robot) Anyway, enjoy! And if we get a good turnout from this posting, that'll help me convince him to do more in the future!}

I am honored to be the first “guest” poster on my wife’s blog. While it took a little time and convincing for me to commit to it, I am excited to embrace the digital media platform and share my thoughts, experiences and feelings about the pregnancy and upcoming parenthood. Forgive me if this is long winded but I have over six months to cover.

To be honest, I know that Michelle and I have been extremely fortunate during the pregnancy. The only bumps in the road were some minor back irritation that has gotten better and she had a cold for two weeks.  She acts the same as her pre-pregnancy self.  On a more important note, there have been no health complications with mother or child. I cannot wrap my head around the stress, anxiety or emotions associated with health complications.  Up to this point in the pregnancy, worries and anxiety have been the last things on my mind. I hope the next eleven weeks will be just as smooth.  

While anxiety and worries have not consumed me, excitement, joy, amazement and love have been growing since I found out Michelle was pregnant. The most amazing experience to date was when I first saw her at 19 weeks. Seeing our child for the first time is something I will never forget. That experience filled me with emotions I have never felt before.  I instantly fell in love.  Another highlight is when I felt her kick for the first time. Another absolutely incredible experience!!! 

Another part of the reason for the overwhelmingly positive experience is the fact that I have always wanted children and had confidence in my ability to be a parent.  I have always loved being around children and playing with children.  Was this something I learned or something I was born with?  All I know is that it has been something in me since I can remember.  My belief in my ability to parent hasn’t waived, and this has made the experience very positive.  

I am excited to share my happiness and love with my daughter. I know it isn’t going to always be easy, but I know it is going to be the most amazing adventure. I can’t imagine sharing it with anyone else. Michelle has played a major part in how positive this whole experience has been. She has been absolutely amazing during the whole pregnancy.  Our daughter is going to have an amazing mother and raised in a house filled with love.

{isn't he the best?}

Sparkling Cranberries

Last week, I saw an awesome tree skirt on pinterest. The thing about pinterest is, most of the pins are actually from other people's blogs, which is pretty awesome because it's like a gateway to the world of the best bloggers. Obviously if you've made it onto pinterest, you've made it (light sarcasm but it's also for real!).

Anyway, from that tree skirt I started following The Johnston's mostly because she looks like a nice girl and she's also pregnant and I tend to follow nice girls, nice girls that are pregnant, or nice girls that are moms. I'll add a list of the sites I follow regularly on the side when I get a chance.

{Picture taken from The Johnson's Blog}

Anyway, while perusing her blog I saw these little babies. And I thought, those look delicious. AND easy!

So the next time I was at the grocery store, I picked up some cranberries since they're in the produce section right now. Alex was all "what are they for" and I was all "I'm going to sugar them up and we're going to eat them" and that's what we did. With some other friends joining in on the fun as well (of eating them, not making them).

They're insanely easy to make. Check out Ashley's blog for not only recipes but pregnancy updates and crafting and basic awesomeness.

Here's a link to her post on the Sparkling Cranberries. Seriously, try them you won't regret it.