birthday greetings, belated and otherwise...

Happy belated birthday via the blog to Aunt Doot. I'm still looking for the box with the earrings you wanted...it's around here somewhere. But in the meantime, here's an awesome cannon cross-section drawn by Logan:



and a picture of the guest room finished through Phase I:



Happy 30th to Nolan too. We had a great time visiting this weekend!

four pounds...

of what, you say? Well, it could be four pounds of stopped up sinuses, but it's not. Four pounds is how much Molly weighs now! At 31 weeks, four pounds! It seems to me, that she's headed for being a big baby; although, I haven't done any research to substantiate that assumption. Logan, who was NINE LONG DAYS overdue, weighed in at seven pounds, fifteen ounces. Caleb, who was induced a week and a half early because he was decidedly larger than his brother had been at that stage, weighed in at nine pounds, two ounces.

I'm down to doctor visits and sonograms every two weeks and at 34 weeks we'll be doing weekly visits along with sonograms and all sorts of monitoring for Molly. The thought of all this is beyond annoying to me. I know it's all due to my blood pressure (which has been stellar this whole pregnancy, thank you very much, methyldopa) and we want to err on the side of caution, but holy crap, I have a house to run and a family to keep up with and a husband with a jam-packed-through-37-weeks travel schedule and a new sewing machine to play with! But at least we'll know how much amniotic fluid Molly has to bounce around in and we'll know how she's doing physiologically and we'll probably know exactly what she looks like before she's actually born along with how much she'll probably weigh too.

Sigh, for someone who could never wait until Christmas to see what her presents were and for someone who makes it next to impossible for her husband to keep anything a surprise, all this knowing everything ahead of time isn't as fun as I would have thought. I do admit, though, that not having the "worry factor" has been very nice.

greetings...

from the land of sick people, big and small. Prior to the plague (of runny noses, infected sinuses, high fevers and pink eye) that has befallen us we were living in a place known as Pissy Pregnant Lady Land. Every time I sat down to write something it started out with a long and whiney pity party or an equally long and seriously bitchy diatribe about medical billing staff. So I just quit sitting down to write an entry.

In between all this pesky being pregnant and griping about it and spending hours on the phone with extremely obtuse and unhelpful billing personnel I've been busy painting the guest bedroom (which is almost through Phase I...the rest of the phases will have to wait until after Molly gets here), buying a new vacuum cleaner and a new (to me) fancy sewing machine.

So, the bedroom. I'm painting it Behr Embellished Blue 510D-4. I found and bought this quilt and shams for the bed and a pair of these bedside tables too. The remaining phases include finding an acceptable bedskirt and a new window treatment, as well as sanding and repainting the hutch my brother built for me so that it matches the new color scheme.

The vacuum cleaner. Consumer Reports says this is the best one on the market for everything from suction to emissions. What CR doesn't tell you about this machine is that it was built to taunt you while you vacuum. It has a built-in dirt sensor that lights up to tell you whether or not you've vacuumed the area sufficiently...the green light means it's all clear to move on to the next spot, the two orange lights let you know there's more vacuuming to be done and the FLASHING red light means, holy crap, have you ever vacuumed this carpet before? Or maybe it means what kind of inferior, lazy, good for nothing vacuum were you using before me? Anyway, it's much quieter and lighter weight than our old vacuum, plus it was on sale (and when the sales person rang it up it was even cheaper in the computer than the advertised price! All bonus for us because we were planning to shell out full price.) Aside from the taunting and the fact that I had to purchase it from Sears, it's my new favorite machine. That is until my new sewing machine gets here...then that will be by my new favorite machine for sure.

catching up...

First I want to thank everyone who commented or emailed me sharing their own experiences with dust allergies and all the tips for dealing with it. Since we've done the dusting overhaul and have tucked little dust kits all over the house Caleb seems to have greatly improved. He has only needed a handful of breathing treatments and now that we've figured out that stinking nebulizer the treatments have been smooth sailing. His eczema is completely under control for the first time in his life and he is actually sleeping through the night. No waking up to rip all his clothes off to scratch! No waking up because of coughing! Halleluiah.

We've been busy around here...dusting...ugh, the dusting; working on various projects; growing a baby; Caleb started speech therapy last week; purging cabinets and closets...a neverending task...where does all this crap come from?

The Projects:

Valentine Treat Bags


logan's valentine treat bags

We've started early on this project so that it stays fun for him and doesn't become a chore. The bags include a little tub of playdoh, a funsize bag of M&M's and a Power Ranger valentine signed by Logan. Caleb did some too for his new classmates. His treat bags are almost the same only some stickers instead of valentines.

ATCs

I also finished and mailed some ATCs for Mary Ann's Oh-So-Charming Valentine ATC Swap. Like a numb skull I did not take any pictures and they were so cute! I've decided I'll have to make one more just because.

I haven't yet started my own ATCs for my Valentine ATC Swap...they're next on the list after I get this posted. I will try to remember to take pictures! I'm blaming the absentmindedness and the being WAY behind schedule on pregnancy hormones.

Paperbag Swag Swap


click on the image to see move views.

Theresa is hosting this round robin swap and I am joined in the group by some super talented ladies (Theresa, Mimi, Kristin, Cathy and Ellia). The talent in this group is a amazing to say the least and that in itself is a tiny bit intimidating. Add that to the fact that until yesterday I was completely, I mean COMPLETELY, stumped as to where to begin on my album and hopefully you can understand where my brain has been lately. Anyway, once I felt that initial spark (thanks again Grandma and Grandpa for the tripod! Works like a charm and totally kicked me out of my creative slump.) things really flowed and I finished it this afternoon. I have to say I am very pleased with the way it turned out...I'm not one to take self portraits, let alone think to use one in my work, but this time it was just the thing. It goes out in tomorrow's mail and then I'm going to start on my swag goodies for the other participants now so when it comes time for me to create my spread in each of their books I won't be overwhelmed at the thought of having to do the two pages AND swag for the pocket too.