Scrappy Monster

Hey all! Well, here we are, exactly 3 weeks from my scheduled c-section when we will welcome Georgia into our family! I am getting very anxious, and so is Dustin. But, this post is actually a crafty post, so I will get to that.

A few months ago, I found this picture of “Scrappy Monsters” on Pinterest:

I thought, “How cute are those?! Oliver needs one.”. Well, I searched and searched and could not find a pattern for the things anywhere, and I was not going to pay for one, plus I just liked the idea of making one. So I ended up making my own pattern, and thought I’d share it with anyone else who wants to make their own. Important Note: I am no professional pattern-maker, nor am I a professional at sewing! But I figure for a sentimental stuffed friend for my child, it doesn’t need to be perfect. 🙂

You will need:

Fabric scraps (I did a different fabric for each piece, with the exception of the back and legs being the same)

Wonder Under

Stuffing

Sewing Machine

 

So here is what I did. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a bunch of fat quarters in all different patterns. I already had some fleece and some scraps that I planned to use, but I bought a few more things. Then I came home and drew up a pattern as best I could. I decided which fabrics I wanted to use for each piece and made a note so I wouldn’t forget. Everything is just scrap fabric or fat quarters, with the exception of the front of the body (fleece), and the white and black part of the eyes (felt). The pattern doesn’t include the 2 smaller eye pieces because I kind of just added those last minute, but you can find something to trace that’s about the right size.

So, I traced my pattern pieces onto the fabric, and then used Wonder Under to attach the face, belly, small pocket, and eye pieces. If you haven’t used Wonder Under yet, it makes things SO much easier. It just irons on and holds everything in place so that you can easily stitch around it. Once I had attached everything, I stitched around it. I like the look of a zig-zag stitch on things like this, so that’s what I used. Side Note: I had originally planned on making the large and small belly pieces into pockets, but I started attaching them with the Wonder Under without thinking, so they ended up not being pockets. You can do it either way.

After I had his body ready, I sewed his ears together, along with his legs. You’ll want to stuff the legs, so make sure you leave the end open to add stuffing. Then I sewed the two body pieces together, adding in the ears as I went. Again, make sure to leave part of the bottom open so that you can stuff it before stitching it up completely. Once you’ve stuffed the body (add a lot, because I thought Oliver’s was stuffed plenty and now it’s starting to go a little flat), then stitch up the bottom, adding the legs as you go. Here is what the finished product of Oliver’s looks like. Again, I’m no professional, and made this in about and hour and a half, but he LOVES it and now sleeps with it every night. 🙂

Front View

Back View

As you can see, I didn’t do a great job stitching up the bottom, but by that point I was tired and in a hurry to finish it (I made it at craft night with my mom and grandma). I just used a Sharpie to draw on the ‘x’ for the eye and the smile, but you could also stitch that on before you assemble the monster.

So there you have it! I have included the pattern, so get to sewing! Feel free to comment with questions or suggestions. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Pattern:

Scrappy Monster-Body-1

Scrappy Monster-Face & Belly

Scrappy Monster-Other Pieces

A Little Update

One of these days, maybe I’ll be a consistent blogger….but probably not. Anyway, I thought I would post an update on our little miracle baby.

Here I am at 20 weeks! I’m almost 24 now.

This pregnancy has been so different from my pregnancy with Oliver! I have had different cravings, had a LOT more sickness at the beginning, have gained much less weight (yay!), and have had a lot more energy (probably more out of necessity than anything else). It’s crazy to think how different life is this time around. When I was pregnant with Oliver, I was teaching. By the end of the school year, I was only about 4 or 5 months pregnant, so for the remainder of my pregnancy, since I wasn’t working and it was unbearably hot outside, I literally didn’t do much of anything except swim, and lay around. This time around, that is far from an option! I have an 18 month old to chase around and keep entertained!! But, being busy also makes things go by faster, which is nice. I don’t have time to sit around and think about every pain and twinge.

The negatives about my second pregnancy are that I have started getting sore by the end of the day already, which I don’t remember happening this early last time, and I feel a lot more pressure and soreness all-around. This is probably a second-pregnancy thing, as well as hauling around at 25 lb child. 🙂  BUT, all things considered, I feel much better this time around, and I am really excited about my lack of weight gain! I’m hoping to keep it in check this time.

If you haven’t heard, we found out in February that we are having a GIRL! We also decided to name her Georgia Dawn Rhenea. Dawn is my best friend’s middle name (we refer to her as Aunt Mandy around here 🙂  ), and Rhenea is my middle name. Georgia is just a name that we both love, and was going to be Oliver’s name if he was a girl.

It’s funny, because I remember such a mixture of excitement and extreme nervousness (borderline terror) when I was pregnant with Oliver. This time, I am just so ready for her to be here, in my arms. I can’t wait to see what she looks like, to snuggle her, to see how she differs from her brother and how they are the same. I’m anxious to see if I will be able to nurse with her, whether she has reflux (oh PLEASE say no!), and so many other things. Dustin has said the same things. He’s much more excited than nervous this time.

Oliver has been so very sweet. The more time goes on, the more he is picking up on the idea of “Sissy”. He now points to my belly and ultrasound pictures and says “Sissy”, and loves to play in her room. I can’t wait to see what kind of big brother he will be. I’m sure he will show her the ropes. 🙂

Tomorrow, Dustin and I are going to Texas, just for 2 days and 1 night. Tomorrow night we are going to see a Rangers game, and then Saturday we are heading to IKEA to get a crib and dresser/changing table, along with a few other things. I am SO excited to get her furniture in her room and really start putting things together! I’m also looking forward to one last trip, just me and Dustin, before we are a family of 4 (and it will probably be years before we get another trip, just the two of us!).

I will try to keep this updated as I go on with my pregnancy!

Our Tiny Miracle

On December 14th, I took a pregnancy test before Dustin went to work, and it was positive! We were so excited!

On December 23rd, I started having some light spotting. I never had this with Oliver, so I was a bit concerned. I called the doctor on call on December 24th, and he said he could see me when they were back in the office after Christmas.

On December 27th I went in to my doctor’s office and saw the doctor that I had spoken to on the phone. The ultrasound was rather inconclusive, because I was only measuring about 5 weeks, so it was normal to not get a heartbeat. They did blood work to check my levels as a precaution, but the doctor said that he felt like everything looked okay. We went home feeling slightly better, but still nervous.

On December 28th, we left with Dustin’s family on a trip to Branson. On our way there, we stopped for lunch in Joplin. I received a phone call during lunch from the nurse at our doctor’s office. She told me that she had bad news. My HCG levels were very high, but my progesterone levels were only at 3.something. She said that anything below 5 is considered a non-viable pregnancy. At that point, I was told to prepare myself for a miscarriage, and she told me what to expect as far as passing it naturally. I had tried to prepare myself for that news, but we were heartbroken. I made up my mind to try not to let this affect our trip too much, because I wanted to have good memories of Oliver’s first trip to Branson.

I spent the next week and a half waiting to pass the miscarriage. I had constant nausea and nothing seemed to be happening. I was so exhausted and nauseous that I was having a difficult time even taking care of the house and Oliver. I finally called the doctor’s office and asked them if this was normal and if there was anything I could do. They suggested that I go in for a D & C.

On January 7th, I went into the hospital for a D & C. The same doctor that did my ultrasound would be doing the procedure. I was admitted and they started all of my pre-op work. When the doctor came in to see us, he asked if we had had another ultrasound done since the first one. We told him no, but that we were wondering if he would do one before the procedure, just for peace of mind. He told us that he wouldn’t feel comfortable not doing one. I had an IV in and was talking to the anesthesiologist when they brought in the ultrasound machine. I was just about ready for surgery. The tech had set up the machine, and while she was waiting for the doctor, she decided to get things started with an external ultrasound. She began, then looked at me and said the words I will never forget: “There’s a heartbeat.”. We could not believe our ears and eyes. We could hear that tiny heartbeat, and we could see it. We were overcome. When the doctor came in and heard what had happened, he told us that he had been looking over my paperwork the night before and could not stop thinking about us. We told him how thankful we were that God had laid this on his heart. I was started on progesterone supplements to help my levels.

The next day we went back to the doctor’s office for another check in. Still a heartbeat, and in fact 126 bpm; 10 bpm higher than the day before! Within a day of starting the progesterone I started to see a decrease in the spotting. We went back another week later and were finally able to see my doctor (the same one who delivered Oliver). He was so excited for us, and told us that the due date is August 25th!

Today we went back for a check up, and everything still looks great. My doctor said that I can now go off of the progesterone supplements, and he told us to come back in 3 weeks and we’ll find out what we are having! We are so incredibly thankful for God’s hand in everything that has happened with this pregnancy. He has truly given us a miracle baby. We are so blessed! Thank you so much to the many people who have prayed for us throughout this journey, and we appreciate your continued prayers.

My name is Tara and I am an organization-aholic.

Seriously. I have a problem. But I know I am not the only OCD crazy person out there. So this post is for all my fellow organization junkies.

I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom, and this is why. I love being able to keep an organized, fairly smooth-running home. I love being able to stay on top of cleaning and organizing projects so that my home doesn’t feel chaotic. Between that and having a {now mobile!} 8 1/2-month-old, I stay pretty darn busy. Anyway, here is my latest project. I saw an organization board on Pinterest, and the pin led me to Etsy, where I could purchase said board. For $60. Plus about $30 for shipping. No thank you. So I got to looking at it and thought, “I could make that!” And I did! For under $15!!

I started by figuring out where to put the board, how big it needed to be, and what all I wanted to be on it. Dustin had several sheets of plywood in the garage, and once I knew what size I needed, he cut it for me, and then primed it. Then I worked on how I wanted everything laid out on the board and got to work typing up a few things.

I have been planning our meals and grocery shopping weekly for several weeks now, so I already had a menu board that I knew I would be using. Along those same lines, I wanted to have a place to put my recipe cards for that week’s meals, and a notepad for grocery lists. I also wanted to have a calendar and a to-do list. Then I decided that now would be a good time to work out a weekly cleaning schedule for myself {something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile now}. Lastly, I wanted to have a place to keep receipts, mostly for Scentsy related purchases for our taxes.

Once I had everything laid out on paper and had things typed up and printed out, I just needed to put everything together! I used the paint that we used on our walls throughout the whole house, except for the kitchen. It was cheap, and it helps bring that color into the kitchen.

The plywood board after I painted it.

Then I laid things out how I wanted them. I still needed to go get some new notepads {Target always has tons of super cute notepads in their Dollar Spot!} and some little something to go at the bottom for decoration.

Laying things out before attaching everything.

After I knew how I wanted everything, I recruited my wonderful hubby to help me attach everything and hang it on the wall!

The finished product!

Once Dustin gets his dad’s table saw, he’s going to cut some of our spare trim to go around the edges. This picture gives you an idea of what it will look like once we do that.

Here are some closer pictures of everything on the board:

Receipt clip, to-do list, and calendar. This calendar is just for stuff we have going on. I have a separate dry-erase calendar in the laundry room where I keep track of what bills are due when, and when they’ve been paid.

Weekly Cleaning Schedule and menu board.

Decorative letter, recipe cards for the week, and grocery list.

As soon as I can figure out how to attach it, I have a baby food jar that I’m going to use at the bottom to keep markers and pens in.

I pinned about 10 different cleaning schedules, then looked over all of them and made my own. I’ve been following my schedule for a week now, and so far I really really like it. It keeps me accountable for doing all of the cleaning that I don’t do often enough, but I don’t end up trying to clean the whole house, top to bottom, in one day. Everything stays fairly clean all the time now! Here is a closer view of the schedule. I also have designated loads of laundry for each day.

Here is the price breakdown:

Plywood: Free! We had it in our garage.

Paint: Free! We also had this in our garage!

Clips: Free! Had these in with some of my old teaching stuff, and the push pins were a stocking stuffer from my mom.

Notepads: $2. Target Dollar Spot is seriously the best thing ever.

Calendar: Free! I found it as an online printable! So cute, and it adds some color. It was the inspiration for the cleaning schedule background.

Frame: $6. Got it at Big Lots and it was a document frame, so it was the perfect size.

Menu Board: Free! Already had it!

Decorative letter: $4. Got it at Hobby Lobby and it was half price!

Brackets for hanging: $1.50 for 5 of them. I used them on the board itself, the menu board, and the notepads.

Total Cost: $13.50. A tad better than $90+!

There you have it! I’m so pleased with this project! Now everything is in one place, it’s convenient, and it’s pretty!!

Grace and Faith

I Asked The Lord

I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith and love and every grace

Might more of His salvation know

And seek more earnestly His face

 

Twas He who taught me thus to pray

And He I trust has answered prayer

But it has been in such a way

As almost drove me to despair

 

I hoped that in some favored hour

At once He’d answer my request

And by His love’s constraining power

Subdue my sins and give me rest

 

Instead of this He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart

And let the angry powers of Hell

Assault my soul in every part

 

Yea more with His own hand He seemed

Intent to aggravate my woe

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Cast out my feelings, laid me low

 

Lord why is this, I trembling cried

Wilt Thou pursue thy worm to death?

“Tis in this way” The Lord replied

“I answer prayer for grace and faith”

 

“These inward trials I employ

From self and pride to set thee free

And break thy schemes of earthly joy

That thou mayest seek thy all in me,

That thou mayest seek thy all in me.”

 

This is one of my favorite songs that we sing at church. We sang it this morning, and I just felt the need to write about it. Actually, not to write about it, as much as just to copy it. Share it. Read it for myself, again. This hymn is so real. It reveals the seriousness and, dare I say, danger, that comes with praying for grace and faith. These are not things that you pray for unless you really understand what that means, and the consequences of that prayer. God’s way of teaching us to rely fully on Him is to take everything else away. I mean everything. That could mean your job, your financial security, your boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance, best friend, etc. Many times He has to take away the very things we love the most in order to get our attention back where it needs to be: on Him. I have been through this several times in my life, and even now. It is a painful, difficult experience, but once I look back and see what He has done with those situations, and how those were the times when my relationship with him grew and was solidified the most, I can be thankful. Right now, God is teaching me grace, faith, and reliance on Him in two big ways: 1) Parenting. If you’re a parent, you know what I mean. Talk about learning to pray! Praying for their safety, their relationship with Christ, peace and rest for them, etc. Praying for your own sanity, peace and rest for yourself, your parenting ability, etc. 2) Finances. It’s not the most comfortable thing to live on one income, but I’m thankful that we can actually do it. It takes a lot of faith to live on so little, though. And I’m grateful that God proves Himself each month.

In short, I appreciate the reality of this song, and the reminder that this is how He answers our prayers for grace and faith.

Learning as I go…

So, Dustin and I have been living on one income for about 10 months now. We’ve been living on one income with a baby for about 7 months. Here is what I have learned in that time: 1) It’s really hard to make a budget work on half of what we’re used to; 2) It’s even harder trying to make a budget work when Dustin gets paid weekly, not monthly. I have been budgeting money since I was 16 years old and got my first job, but I have always been paid either bi-weekly or monthly; 3) God is really faithful to His Word, and even though our budget makes no sense on paper, somehow it works out each month; 4) As hard as it is living on one income, I wouldn’t trade staying home with my precious baby boy for anything!

For the month of April, we kept all of our receipts for eating out, getting Sonic and QT drinks, and getting snacks out. I did this for 2 reasons: 1) I knew it would be a true reality check for us; 2) I needed some kind of reasonable number to start with in order to budget our entertainment fund. The results were quite shocking. During the month of April we spent about $450 on food, drinks, and snacks. That is outrageous. But hey, that’s why we did it. Hello reality check.

So this month I have been working on a way to budget that works for us. I made lists and charts and spreadsheets, but I still felt lost. Then I found an awesome blog series on Pinterest (where all great ideas are found). Among other things, this mom talks about a “Freedom Account”. Basically it is a separate checking or savings account where you put a portion of your check each week (or month, or whatever), and use that to pay bills when they come. There are several ways you could do this, but what I really loved about this blog is that she specifically discusses how to budget when you get paid weekly.

So here is how I plan to implement our “Freedom Account”: We already have a savings account along with our checking account. They are at the same bank, so transferring money between the two is very easy. I made a chart, which I modeled after the blog’s version, that has each of our bills across the top. When I say bills, I mean actual bills; not groceries, gas, entertainment, clothes, etc. Just bills. I added up all of those bills for the month, then divided by 4. That gave me the amount of money that needs to be put into the Freedom Account each week. So that money will go into our savings account. From there, whatever is left over from Dustin’s check will go into our checking account. That money will be used for gas, groceries, entertainment, clothes, haircuts, or whatever. If we feel like we can, we’ll put some extra into the savings account to go toward the credit card or to just save. Then whenever a bill needs to be paid, I’ll simply transfer that amount of money from the savings account to the checking account (which I can do from my phone or computer) and then pay the bill.

I think that this is really going to help us regulate our spending. The problem we run into most months is that one week, we only have a couple of small bills to pay, so we have a lot of money “left over”, so we spend it. Then when the week in which the house payment, car insurance, and some other bill comes along, we are scraping by. I’m very excited to see how this works out for us. I hope this will help some of you too! I’ll try to keep you posted on how it works out for us, and if you try it, let me know how it works for you, too!

Here is a link to the blog where I found this.

7 Months Later….

Well, clearly our sweet baby has kept us busy! I can’t believe that I haven’t updated this in 7 months! Let’s see if I can somewhat quickly recap Oliver’s life up until now! Most of you know a lot of this, but for the sake of wanting some of this info in the future, here goes!

On October 3rd Dustin and I went to my 39 week appointment. When the Dr. did the ultrasound, Oliver was measuring 9lbs. 14oz. He told us that he would feel totally comfortable doing a c-section that week, but that it was up to us. Oliver had not moved down, and I had made no progress at that point, so we either had to go ahead and do a c-section, or wait to see if I made progress in the next week, all while Oliver continued to get bigger! After a lot of discussion and prayer, we decided to go ahead with a c-section.

This was about a month and a week before Oliver was born! One big boy!!

Oliver Kyle was born on October 7th at 7:44am via planned c-section. He weighed 10lbs. 0oz. and was20 1/2 in. long. His blood sugar was high (or low, I don’t remember), so they had to give him some formula right after he was born. We tried and tried nursing, but I still had to do quite a bit of supplementing with formula because Oliver would not cooperate, even with the help of 4 different lactation specialists! Eventually we just went to formula.

Our sweet boy!

We came home on October 9th. We had MANY visitors, both in the hospital and at home, and so many wonderful friends and family brought us meals. That was so helpful. Dustin stayed home for about a week after we got home, which was also really great. Here’s a little bit about each month and how Oliver has grown!

1 month old:

10lbs 11oz; 21in long

Size 1 diapers and size newborn and 0-3 month clothes.

This is when we started trying to figure out the reflux issues. By the time Oliver was 1 month old we had tried several formulas, had settled on Similac Sensitive, and started giving Zantac twice a day. It was such a hard month for us.

Oliver was sleeping 3-4 hours at a time at night.

2 months old:

12lbs. 1oz.; 23in. long

Size 1 diapers and size 0-3 and 3 month clothes.

Oliver learned to hold his head up and smile during this month. : )

He started sleeping 8 hours at night at 6 weeks old! We were very blessed.

3 months old:

13lbs; 23.5in. long

Still size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes.

During this month we had a lot of reflux trouble. At one point a few days before Christmas I called the doctor in tears because Oliver just would not stop screaming and crying and wouldn’t sleep. They had us come in right away, and that’s when we decided to try putting oatmeal in his bottles. What a difference that made! We also increased his Zantac dosage.

He also started grabbing at toys, “talking”, splashing in the tub, and looking at his reflection in the mirror.

He was sleeping for 10-11 hours at night.

4 months old:

14lbs. 11oz.; 25.25in. long

Size 2 diapers and 3-6 and 6 month clothes.

Oliver really discovered his voice during this time. He started to scream more (not angry, just to hear his own voice!). He also started laughing and started doing little mini push ups on his tummy. We bought his exersaucer during this month and he really started enjoying it.

He was sleeping for about 12 hours at night.

5 months old:

16lbs. 7.5oz; 26.5in. long

Size 2 diapers and size 6 month clothes.

Oliver really took off during this month. Some of the things he learned were: rolling from tummy to back, sitting supported, sitting in the cart and high chair, petting the dogs, and grabbing things (including Dustin’s beard and glasses and my hair!)

He was still sleeping 12 hours at night and we stopped swaddling and moved him to his crib.

6 months:

17lbs. 14oz.; 28in. long- the nurse actually re-measured him because she couldn’t believe how much he had grown! He was in the 92nd percentile for height!!!

Size 3 diapers and size 6 and 9 month clothes.

What a month!! Now Oliver can do the following: sit up unsupported, roll from back to tummy, and eat baby food from a spoon. He had a couple of exciting first experiences this month. We went to the zoo for the first time and he stayed the night with Nana and Poppee (Dustin’s parents) for the first time. He also gets very excited when Dustin comes home now. : )

He’s sleeping about 11 hours at night now.

Wow. It’s crazy to look back and see just how much has changed! This little boy has changed and brightened our lives so much, and I can’t wait to see him continue to grow and change everyday!

25 Days. Not that I’m keeping track….

Well, I am 25 days away from my due date of October 9th. In case you didn’t catch on, I’m kind of ready for this little guy to be here in my arms, instead of kicking me in the ribs and punching me in the bladder. We went to the doctor yesterday. I was rather anxious going in, because for about the last week and a half I have had some major swelling in my feet and ankles, along with some swelling in my hands. I was nervous that I had preeclampsia. Then when the nurse took my blood pressure (which has been normal every time I’ve been in), she said that the top number was ‘borderline’. But, good news! The final test for preeclampsia is whether or not there is protein in the urine (I don’t really know what this means, to be honest), and there was not in mine. So no preeclampsia! I was relieved because this could have resulted in bedrest and/or early induction. As much as we are ready for Oliver to be here, I want him to stay in there and develop until he is ready to join us. The doctor tried to do an ultrasound, but had a lot of trouble because of how big Oliver is and my fluid level getting lower as I get further along. He did say he thinks that Oliver is probably about 7 pounds. Yikes!

So, in response to the question that everyone is asking me, along with giving me a sympathetic look, I am feeling somewhat miserable. Not to be a griper, but I am very uncomfortable. Don’t get me wrong, some days are better than others. Today I was actually able to motivate myself to dust, take out the bathroom trash, clean the toilet, pick up our bedroom, update the baby book, do some organizing, and wash the sheets. Overall that is a VERY successful day for me. My biggest problem is that I want to clean and organize and ‘nest’ more than anything, but my body just will not allow it. If I try to stand for more than a few minutes, it’s like my lower back and hips literally lock up on me. It really is a bummer. But, I have been trying to find some things that don’t require much standing or walking.

Enough complaining, here are some things I am grateful for:

An AMAZING husband who has reminded me often lately how much he loves me and how thankful he is that I’m carrying our child

The fact that I am able to stay home and that I am not trying to teach 1st grade at 9 months pregnant (I can’t even imagine.)

This GORGEOUS fall weather that we have been having. Such a relief from the heat

A wonderful and supportive family

The fact that I have had a perfectly healthy, normal pregnancy with no complications

Football season (even though it means football and/or baseball all day every day on the weekends, which I don’t always love. haha)

The fact that I am less than a month from my due date and that we get to finally see and hold our son in a matter of weeks!

 

What are you thankful for? (Come on, now, if a nine month pregnant woman can think of seven things, surely you can think of one or two : ) )

3 Down, 1 To Go

Well, it’s been a month since my last post. Obviously I’m not too good at the whole “regularly updating” thing. But, as I mentioned in my last post, July has been a very busy month for me! I have now had 3 baby showers: one at school back in May, one for my family and friends, and one for Dustin’s family and friends. I have one more on Monday for my church. I cannot express how blessed I feel to have had all of these showers. The generosity that everyone has shown toward us is just astounding. I honestly do not know what we would have done without all of the gifts that people have given us! This is just one way that God is showing/reminding us that even though finances are going to be tough for awhile, He WILL take care of us, as He promises in His Word.

Here are some pictures of the school shower and the shower for Dustin’s family and friends. I don’t have any pictures from the shower for my family and friends!

My school baby shower back in May

My mom, me and my Grandma at the school shower

The set up at the shower for Dustin’s family and friends. So much cute stuff for the nursery!

From left to right: Granny Bell (Dustin’s grandma), Vicki (Dustin’s mom), me and my mom

The lovely hostesses and myself! From left to right: Kim, me, Vicki, Tami, and Gaye (Dustin’s aunt)

And lastly, here is a picture of me at 29 weeks! I’ll be 30 weeks on Sunday, which means only 10 to go! I can’t believe it!

Whew!

Wow, summer has begun, and along with it a new kind of busyness. It’s funny, I always think things will slow down once summer starts, but they always seem to stay busy, just in a more fun way! In July, I literally have something going on EVERY weekend! We are headed to the lake for the 4th of July weekend, then I have a baby shower, then a wedding that I’m in, then another baby shower, and then a baby shower for my cousin! Very exciting stuff though.

I can’t wait to go to the lake. There’s something about summer where I just feel like I should be there. I’m really hoping that we can go out on the boat at some point while we’re there.

In other news, I’m now almost 25 weeks pregnant, and Oliver is kicking up a storm in there! (And I think occasionally doing somersaults!) I love feeling him moving around in there! It’s starting to hit me that I’m 6 months pregnant, which means only about 4 more months to go! I’m so excited and so nervous at the same time! It’s all becoming so real. I’m SO excited for my showers coming up and to finally get some of the stuff that’s on our registry! It will be nice to be able to start organizing some of that stuff! : )

I am loving staying home this summer, and I’m pretty sure I have found my calling. I love being a stay at home wife and I can’t wait to be a stay at home mom too! It’s been so nice to feel like I have the time to cook a good dinner, keep the house clean, and tackle some of the projects that I’ve been wanting to do! Recently I decided that I wanted to find some old windows to hang in our hallway and display pictures in. We have been looking for something to put on the big wall in the hallway since we moved in over a year ago, but just couldn’t find the right thing for the right price. Well, I ended up finding two beautiful windows at an antique shop. They match each other and, get this, they were $8 EACH!!! I could NOT believe how cheap they were! Here is a picture of what will eventually be hung on the wall. I’m waiting for Dustin to help me hang them, because they’re pretty heavy so we need to find the studs to hang them.

And lastly, a couple of pictures of our adorable pups, who are also enjoying summer : )