pictures

Maternity picture

This was taken by some friends of ours. They have a photography business and were taking fun pictures at a fundraiser we were at last weekend.

We dove into their "trunk of funk" and did some "maternity style photos."

thanks Cherice, they look great!

Baby shower

Thanks to everyone who came to our baby shower! We felt very blessed by the thoughtful gifts and words of encouragement. We even had many friends and family who could not be there, but they sent us some great things as well. A great big thank you to all of you!

I need to take pictures of the nursery so you can see the progress. It is really coming along. Having baby things in our house really helps both if us mentally gear up for our little girls' arrival.

We have a friend who was due a month before me....well she just had her baby 3 weeks early! It hadn't dawned on me that we could have our girl early! So now I am trying to pick up the pace with preparations.
Also, camp starts next week. We will be gone for the next 2 weeks doing camp stuff. Oh how time will fly! The clock is ticking and it's ticking fast!

My curtains are coming along. I'm enjoying my sewing machine. It's so simple to use- a must for me.:) hopefully they will be done this week.

Off to work I go!

5am

For the past week I've been waking up around 5am on my own. That's probably not early for most working folks, but for me that's what I call "paper route early!!"

Yesterday we drove to fabric depot to see what they had at their outdoor sale. There were just too many great options! I was so overwhelmed and only had 40 minutes to make a choice.... And of course this being my maiden voyage to a fabric store and a HUGE one at that... I walked out empty handed... Wishing the store was open just a little longer. We did end up getting material to cover our dining room chairs. I'm excited to put that on this weekend. It is on the list of to do's for baby proofing our house. I'm trying out the idea of having furniture that can be cleaned off with a wet rag... No nice cloth furniture in our house... Just wood and fake leather;)

Next on the list will be area rugs. Our little house has white walls, white cupboards and a very light colored wall to wall carpet. It's a perfect canvass awaiting a childs artistic mark!!! Oh yes, I've been tempted to splash some color here and there myself, but in the back of my head I fear the scowel of "land lord Faye." apparently they have had bad luck with renters painting their house. I have mentioned that I am an excellent painter, but alas we still have white walls.
One item we almost got at the fabric store was pretreated canvass for making your own wall art!!! I may go back for some.

More crafty updates later...

Sewing attempt

How did this happen? I grew up in a house where the phrase "oh I can sew that" was commonly heard and commonly performed. But for some reason I was never the one saying or doing that.
Well it is now time to take on a new hobby of sewing. With a sewing machine (provided by my grandma Stuewe) and some fabric etc... There are no longer excuses.
I will happily admit I am a rookie. A 4 year old probably knows more than I do about sewing, but I am thrilled to jump in with both feet.
My first challenge (and I hope it will have an encouraging outcome) will be curtains for the nursery. I thought that would be a safe thing to start off with.
Fabric depot (located in Portland) has an outdoor sale starting this week. I'm hoping to stop by to gather yards of inspiration.

I tend to learn best by observing and then doing. It will take me a bit to try to navigate myself through on my own, but I may learn more that way.

If anyone knows about sewing classes in the area please let me know. I have been on the look out, but alas no luck.

More on my sewing attempts to come..

Phase 2

It's sad to see the college students leave for the summer, but one consalation of them leaving is phase 2!!!

In the frenzie of hundreds and hundreds of students packing up their year long dorm room, many of them decide they have items that don't need to go home with them.... Thus they get tossed into the phase 2 bins for others to shop through.

These bins become open first to employees and students. From experience we have learned that you need to be there first thing in the morning to get the good stuff. My coworker Rachel is a pro when it comes to getting a good deal. We made our plans to meet up early and head out to the phase2 house the day it opened.

Upon arriving we realized we were amongst many other bargain shoppers. We didn't hesitate to jump in with them. I headed straight for the laundry supplies and scored detergent, dryer sheets, hangers, 2 trash cans and a really nice unopened bottle of lotion. Later in another room I found some storage containers, a desk lamp and a retro clock.
Did I mention everything is free??

Last year I scored some nice designer clothes... This year I stuck to household items and came out with some good finds! Thank you college students! We will miss you, but we love your second hand items;)

7 month picture

Here it is...the new hair-do. Kendra does a great job! I think she's my new gal for hair.

And then of course the 7 month belly picture. I'm growing!!!

dr. apt

Yesterday was my 30 week apt. Things are still looking good. I'm right on target for baby growth (or I guess you would say belly growth). It's not hard for my midwife to find the heart beat anymore...in fact you can watch my belly jump when she moves the little gooey wand around my belly. That's my little girl jumping around.

It's official...I now weigh as much as my husband! And I'm supposed to continue gaining at least 1/2 lb. a week here on out. I will surpass him! But I keep telling myself, "this is healthy....this is a good thing." =) I already wear his sweat pants because mine are tight.

Oh, all the fun things that go with being pregnant.

I will say, my hair has never been this thick before and my nails grow really fast! In fact, I went to get my hair cut yesterday after my apt and my hair stylist spent probably a good 10 min on my head with just the thinning shears. I've never seen so much hair on the floor. But it's much lighter and feels better.

dinner's ready...gotta run!

Estate Sale

I was driving home from church on Sunday and a bright green sign caught my eye. "estate sale 1 mile." And since it was just me in the car I thought, "what the heck!" and quickly turned down the road. Following the signs I found myself in a very nice neighborhood. The kind where all the houses have lawns that look like astroturf and cars in the driveway that look like they just came off the lot. I knew I was at a good one. =)

Because it was the second day of the sale everything was 1/2 off. Even better.

When we go to estate sales I usually head straight for the laundry room for cleaning supplies. It's the best place to buy really cheap laundry soap. =) Indeed, this laundry room did not disappoint. I was able to get many cleaning supplies for just cents. My favorite find on this trip was a hand held vacuum cleaner for just $2.50. Now I can vacuum out our car in the convenience of our driveway. I also scored some extension cords, power strip, packing tape roller, and plastic picnic cups for summer. I'm sure there were other things there that would have been more impressive to buy. But for me I was just doing my grocery shopping.

Summer has officially started

It may be raining right now, but for our family summer has already begun.
Graduation for the college students was on Saturday and Nate's first day of training with his support staff was yesterday.
What does that mean for us? Pull the wheel blocks 'cause this train is a movin'. And it won't be slowing down until mid September.
We look forward to this time of the year. All of Nate's planning over the course of the year will finally come to fruition. I personally look forward to the training weeks with the staff. It's exciting to see all of their personalities coming together. Usually it involves a lot of energy and creativity. I will need to take extra naps during the day to get ready for it.
I have noticed already that my own energy level has gone down quite a bit. Sleeping has become a new challenge all in itself. I now sleep in a cloud full of pillows. Nate has learned to adjust to the additional pillows that have taken over the bed. My legs have been cramping up again lately. I'm trying to drink more water and stretch them out.

All in all things are going well. On to summer #4!