4.28.2014

38 weeks...and feelin' it...

Remember how this whole pregnancy I've been all "Oh this is going by fast! It really hasn't been that bad!"
Which has been true.
Until now.

You reach this point of just being "done" and I most definitely have hit that point- like ran full-speed smack dab into the brick wall of "done". 


 I totally thought I was "normal" smiling for this picture, but then I looked at it and just thought, "Oh...my face says it all..."

It's a sad day when you sit on the couch and have to pee so bad, but you know all of the effort required to have to get up OFF the couch and then up OFF the toilet that you actually weigh the pros and cons of just sitting on the couch and peeing yourself (which you don't end up doing, because you realize that would only create more work in the long run) so you take a breath, count to three, hoist yourself off of the couch cushion and waddle to the bathroom just in the nick of time.

Let's not even get into the logistics of rolling over at night. 
Or bending over.
Or trying to shave your legs.
Or walking up a flight of stairs.

Fortunately, the finish line is in sight. SO CLOSE! We're being induced a week before my due date on May 6th.

But now that we're in the final, FINAL countdown...the reality of having TWO kids is starting to set in.
There are now two car seats in my car. 
There is a bassinet in my bedroom. 
During the day I will officially be outnumbered by little people. Which, I guess as an elementary school teacher I should be used to, but these are like, MY little people. I don't get to give them back at 3:30pm each day. Or...like, ever. 

There are so many things I'm confident about with already having one kiddo, so many things that won't be new. But having TWO kiddos is completely new, and it's a bit terrifying to think about at times. 

But, too late to turn back now! 
Guess we're in for a lot of "figuring out" together. 

To try to help keep us all sane this summer, we got Jillian an early, early birthday present that she can use in our backyard and *hopefully* be able to entertain herself well outside, if this new baby turns out to be a super needy one like her big sister. 
It probably took James 12-14 hours total to put it together- in between working 50 hours a week and being in grad school, mind you...
I love that man. 



Here's to hoping there are not only one, but TWO happy kiddos at our house in the near future (and a mostly sane mother!).

4.26.2014

DIY cupcake stands


Making these cupcakes stands was another quick, easy, and fun detail from our Easter party. And seriously the best part is that they are about $2.00 each to make. Buying them ranges from about $6-$10 each. Winna' winna' chicken dinna'.



Here's what ya need:

Rubbing Alcohol
Cotton Balls
Candle stick holders
Candle plates 
White enamel paint
Brush 
White paint+primer spray paint
Patience

I purchased the candle sticks from the dollar store, and the candle plates from Hobby Lobby at 50% off- hence their cheapness. Depending on your dollar store, you can probably also find the plates (or something close) at the dollar store as well.

Start by thoroughly cleaning and drying your glass pieces with soap and water. Clean them again with the rubbing alcohol and cotton balls and let them dry. 

 
Since candle plates have rims, decide if you want the rim to be face up or down- completely personal preference. 

I really wanted a paint that would adhere well to the glass and not chip easily, so I chose enamel. Paint with a coat of enamel paint and let it dry for several hours. Add another coat of enamel paint. Some enamel paints require baking after painting to set the paint, just check the paint instructions. Using a brush did give me some brush strokes, which I didn't mind showing (you could also use a sponge brush to help reduce brush strokes), but I did want any gaps in paint to be filled in so my glass was completely opaque- enter spray paint. 
Finish with 1-2 coats of a paint+primer all purpose spray paint. This helped give a more finished look and made the brush strokes less visible. 

If you want a completely smooth look, skip the enamel paint and brushes and go straight for the spray paint, knowing though you may have to do a bit more touching up the more they get used since the spray paint may chip off easier. Up to you, really. 

Once your glass pieces are completely dried, glue those suckers together. I just used good ole' hot glue- which dries SUPER fast on glass, so be precise with your placement since you won't be able to wiggle it really at all once it's stuck on. I'm sure there are better glues to use on glass, but so far mine have held together well without any problems and will be a quick fix if they come disconnected. 



Then WAH-LAH! Your super cute cupcake stands are done. 
Keep in mind the paint isn't food safe, so serve your tasties in cupcake holders or cut a circle of parchment paper and use that as a barrier between the food and the stand- which will also preserve the paint on the stands. 

Now serve your goodies in a super cute and super cheap way!

4.20.2014

the rest of easter

One day last week Jillian and I were driving home from the store and I was explaining that Easter was coming up in a few days. I told her how it was a special day to celebrate Jesus. She responded, "I like Jesus. I want to go see him soon." 
I thought this was cute and terrifying at the same time. 
"Uhhh, maybe in like 60+ years, k?" 
"Okay Mom." 
Haha... o_o


 I seriously can't believe we got that adorable pictures of her. ^^^
James in the background bribing her with a candy necklace totally worked!

 Love this crew! (And me rockin' the 37 week belly...so close...yet so far...).

That afternoon we went to Grandma & Dave's house for dinner and an egg hunt. Jillian was actually the only kid there (we're workin' on bringing more kiddos to that side of the family), but she still had fun hunting for eggs. Each time she found one she would exclaim, "Oh, LOOK!"


I think her favorite part was cracking/peeling them open. She actually ended up eating two of them, much to my surprise.

 We hope your Easter was spent with those you love! 



And seriously, if you haven't seen this video, watch it:

4.19.2014

easter par-tay!

I've been itching to throw a party lately, so Easter seemed like a good idea. Seriously if I don't go to the party store every few months I start getting the shakes. ;-)
Plus I know once this tot is born I probably won't get out of my PJ's or brush my teeth for like a month, let alone be up to hosting anything but feeding marathons for a few months... 

So we had a few of Jillian's friends/cousins over for a little Easter get-together. 
Although Jillian was anything BUT a happy camper for the first bit, she settled into her bunny ears and joined the happy toddlers eventually. Good times...good times.





 I was trying to snap some quick pictures while the toddlers oohh so patiently waited to dig into those egg-shaped M and M's...serious kudos to them for that!


 One of my favorite details to put together were the bunny tails on the back of the chairs! Eek! 


 The grownup table was a smidgen more fancy...though I did kind of wish I also had strawberry milk with a stripey straw...



 The cupcake stands were a DIY project that turned out GREAT! Dollar store candle sticks and candle plates made for an awesome $2.50 little stand. More on that later.



For their lunches I used cookie cutters to make the bunny shape in the sandwich (which was PB&J with sprinkles...because...Easter?) and to make the carrot shaped cheese. For the baby carrots in terracotta pots I lined each with wax paper and filled it with hummus, which let's be honest- none of the kids ate- and made a little hole in the top with a toothpick to stick in the leafy top, which was a piece of cilantro.



I love Bentlee's "cheese" face! Haha. 
Jillian was pretty excited about the ducky on her straw. 
*Tip- if you ever do the peeps on the straw thing, use day-old stale peeps and use a plastic straw to poke the hole first before sliding the paper straw through. It makes the paper straw get less gooey from the marshmallow. 


And to wrap it up we dyed Easter eggs with Kool-Aid! It smelled pretty amazing...much better than the vinegar stuff, and the colors turned out so pretty! They even tried to drink it a couple of times...which, you know, no harm no foul.







Glad we could spend the afternoon with such cuties!
Happy Easter! 

________
Those gorgeous (and incredibly delicious) cupcakes are from Cravings Alisha's Cupcakes.
The watercolor flags in the place settings are a free printable over at Sugar and Cloth. 

4.11.2014

we have a pooper.

Remember how we I took on potty training over Christmas break? Well that happened and it was all well and good, except it was just that- potty training. No poops about it. I thought those things would kind of happen simultaneously...nooo.


 Jillian was still taking naps until a couple of weeks ago, so she'd wear a diaper during her nap and still wears one at night. She'd just tough it out until the diaper went on and 10 minutes after she'd be in bed I'd hear,
"Mooommmyyyy! Come change my buuuuummmmm!" 
0_o 

I started reading blog post after internet forum after blog post about what to do when your kid is scared to poo in the toilet. Which, for the record, was one of those things I didn't know was like a "thing"...who is scared to poop? Why is that scary? 
I guess there have been times when it was scary for me...like the first time after you have a baby. That wasn't just scary, it was downright terrifying. Like, you cannot know the impending doom of that experience unless you too have been there. So maybe I relate a little...but I'd think once you realize what it feels like to not poo all over yourself anymore, you'd like, seek that sensation. 
Not Jillian. 

Anyway, so I tried some of the methods that others posted online. We talked about it a lot, I encouraged her, bribed her, tried to get her to sit on the toilet WITH a diaper and go, heavens I even showed her MY poo in the toilet ("See, mommy does it too!"), to which she said, "Good job mommy! I knew you could do it!". 
Fail. 
Nothing worked. 

There were a handful of times she went on the toilet because it was a do or die moment. All of those times happened when she was in the bathtub and it was gonna happen whether she wanted it to or not, so I plopped her on the toilet real fast.

When she stopped taking naps a couple of weeks ago, her whole poop schedule was thrown off. She would walk around the house with her knees bent, just pacing back and forth begging me for a diaper. It was uncomfortable to watch. But I figured if she had to go bad enough, she'd go in the toilet, right? So she'd go to the bathroom a billion times but stand up immediately after sitting down. I'd try to hold her hands and she'd cry and scream, I'd hug her and she'd scream and cry...it just wasn't happening. 

And then out of no where, she just did it. Voluntarily.
"Mommy I need to go poopies." 
Mmmhmm. Okie dokie. Let's go through this routine again. *eye roll*
"Oh...OH...OOOHHH! YOU'RE POOPING!!" 
YOU
ARE
POOOOOOPPIINNNGGG!
We called everyone we knew. 

And now we have a pooper. 
And I have no "how to" advice on the subject. 
But apparently singing the ABC's helps...

4.04.2014

baby faves

It's April, it's April, it's APRIL! 
That means winter is for the most part...OVER! Little blooms are coming up on the trees and I have a mega-itch to plant some flowers. Spring break is next week and the weather looks like it will finally live up to what "spring" should be. Wee! It makes my heart happy. 

Also, that means we are having this baby NEXT month. Weird?! My mom keeps reassuring me that having a newborn is like riding a bike- it just comes back to you. Let's hope so. I've been in toddler-mode for so long I had to google search a list of newborn necessities just to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything...aye aye aye. I partly mostly blame pregnancy-brain on that one though. 

At least this time however, I do know that ripping her arms off while trying to change her onesie is pretty much impossible...something I was legitimately concerned about when Jillian was a tiny, fragile little human. Ohhh the joys of being a first-time mom.

Speaking of which- I'm excited to bust out some of my old favorites for this new little tot. I would consider most of these essential, especially to my sanity:


1. Boudreaux's Butt Paste. Not only does it have a great name, it actually works. Don't even waste money on Desitin. I had 2-3 tubes of Desitin leftover from Jillian I ended up throwing away because really there isn't even a comparison. 

2. Full-coverage nursing cover. I love these! No wardrobe malfunctions and you don't always have to worry about wearing a nursing tank or shirt because you're still covered. They have lots on Etsy, either the infinity scarf style or poncho style. I have the one pictured above from this Etsy shop. Also if you're crafty you can just make one...doesn't seem too complicated (but I suck at sewing so...there ya go). 

3. Oh bless ye sound machine. I love this one because it has 6 different sound options, can be battery-operated, and has an optional timer setting. Jillian STILL uses hers to this day and it helps block out noise if we're being noisy elsewhere in the house. Granted it's not as cute as the little stuffed animals that have the sound machine in them, but this one has way more options and will last into the toddler years. I'd even use one in my room. 

4. Backpack style diaper bag. Seriously the one-shoulder thing just isn't practical. Trying to juggle a baby and/or car seat with a loaded diaper bag constantly falling off your shoulder isn't fun. I have the Ju Ju Be and love it (chose it over the Petunia Pickle Bottom for several reasons), but either way, two straps for the win.

5. A Solly wrap! With Jillian I never used a baby carrier, but with now having a toddler AND a newborn- I need my hands. Moby wraps are popular but I've known several moms to prefer these over Moby wraps because they're a lighter, more breathable fabric, which for a summer baby- I'm all over. So technically I haven't used this yet, I'm just going off of other recommendations.

6. Poopy pail (aka diaper pail). Babies poo so much it's unreal. It's nice to have a contained little bag 'o poop that's sealed off smell-wise, so you don't have to take a poopy diaper to an outside trash every time they gradoo to keep your house from smelling like a giant toilet. Especially for those nighttime loads...nobody likes waking up to the smell of stale diaper-doo.

7. Aden+Anais swaddle blankets! They're light, stretchy, and big- which other cotton swaddle blankets aren't. Worth. It. 

And now I'm going to go open my windows and enjoy the first evening of spring break. :-)