knee deep in the baby pool

Krannert

2012-02-15T17:29:00.000-05:00

Today, we met Holly, Keira (KiKi according to Owen), and Caden for a great time! We had lunch together at Krannert's little cafe and then went to see Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem. They're a group of 4 who play the fiddle, bass, guitars, and a drum set made up of boxes, an old suitcase, and some tin cans. They played lots of fun songs that the kids could dance and do motions to. We were in the small theater with only about 50 people in attendance, so Owen roamed all over throughout the experience. But he enjoyed doing some motions to the songs and definitely clapped along! He also loved to name the color of lights as they changed throughout the show. Such a fun experience. Thanks for the invite Holly!

Here's our little theater goers. The pics I took inside the theater were way too dark:

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-15T17:18:00.000-05:00

There really aren't that many adorable Valentine craft projects to make for boys to wear, but I had to do something. Especially since we aren't making valentines for friends quite yet. I had bought Owen this red onesie for a Christmas shirt that never got made, so I just found a cute graphic of a robot and cut it out of fuzzy, adhesive vinyl for his V-day shirt. Definitely the cutest valentine ever!

latest craftiness

2012-02-11T12:41:00.000-05:00

I've had a couple fun bow orders in the last 2 weeks! The first was a little set for a baby girl shower. J gave me complete freedom in making whatever bows I wanted. Hope the new little baby (ok, more so her mom) loves them!

The next one was SO fun and will definitely be going up in the Etsy shop at some point after Ellie gets here. V wanted a bow for every month of the year! I actually made her a few extra as well such as Illini pom poms for the fall and a few little bows to complete the set. But I think we got all the major holidays covered. :)

Last Monday, we had a sprinkle for a gal in our small group who is expecting her second boy, Nolan. Even though it was a mostly a diapers and wipes shower, I thought the little guy needed one outfit in his wardrobe made especially for him:

30 weeks!

2012-02-10T17:51:00.001-05:00

Ellison: is as big as a cabbage. She's about 3 pounds and is almost 16 inches!

Me: I'm definitely feeling pregnant! I've had to put away the medium maternity shirts and a few pairs of jeans that I really liked. Still don't feel quite as big as I did with Owen and my weight gain hasn't been as much as with him, so I cannot complain. But I'm slowing down. I definitely take advantage of Owen's afternoon naps a few days a week. Starting to feel my stomach stretching and breathing's getting a little more difficult. But overall, not terrible.

Last appointment: Owen had a blast with Aubrey, Gabe, and Mataya while I got blood work done and met with Ray. My blood work came back fabulous. No gestational diabetes for me. Thanks for the prayers on that! I really enjoy Ray, despite him being so quiet when you talk to him. We got so caught up in conversation that I didn't even ask what her heartbeat was when he listened. But everything was good. He's letting me go for one more 4 week period before we switch to the every 2 week appointments. We're still working on figuring out if I'll even be allowed to deliver on the 4th floor because of the heart stuff. No one really knows the answer to that as of yet.

Sleep: Still only sleeping with one extra pillow but that's probably going to need to change soon . I remember in pre-pregnancy when I wanted to roll over all I did was roll over and go back to sleep. Now it goes a little like this. I want to roll over. Then I think, do I really want to roll over? I move the pillows, and slowly pull my belly over to the other side, trying to ignore pains that shoot through me in multiple areas. And then inevitably I fart. (Oh sorry, was that TMI). Seriously, William just laughs.

Food cravings: not too many specific cravings. Well, do sweets count? Definitely loving powdered donuts and Milk Duds. I promise I eat lettuce sometimes. :)

What I'm working on: This past weekend, my mom came for Friday and Saturday. It was so wonderful having her here! She played with Owen while I got lots of stuff done. She also gave me a little sewing lesson on a friend's daughter's jeans. Now I feel like I can hem some of Owen's stuff without having to ship it off to her. She also helped me finalize (I think) what I'm doing paint wise in her room. Everything else I'm still clueless about. Whew, talk about getting down to the wire here. This week's project is cleaning everything out of the craft room and condensing it into a much smaller space in the guest room. Hoping the blank room gets me inspired to get moving!

Craft wise, I've had a few more orders this week for bows, but did have time to finish up these little booties for her that match an adorable outfit my mom got her. Going to try and get a couple hats finished up for her this weekend. I think I have 2 more projects for other people, one ordered and one shower gift and then I'm shutting down the Etsy site and focusing on making adorable things for MY girl. :) That's still so much fun to say.

I did her first load of laundry this week. I have been so blessed by Summer who has 4 little girls and has shared her beautiful loot of clothes. I had fun dumping out all the bags and tallying up what I have and what I need to get still. It's amazing how quickly you forget how LITTLE 0-3 month clothing is. I may have choked up a little while praying over her clothes. And that little teddy bear was my first teddy bear. It's pretty limp with not much stuffing, but can't wait to put it in her room.

And lastly, a picture. William and I have been bad about taking official ones, so here's a bathroom shot. This is from the morning, I definitely look bigger by the time dinner rolls around. :)

bathroom redo

2012-02-08T21:27:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly slowly working my way through my downstairs projects. I saved up enough to do something with our one downstairs half bath. My goal was to make it prettier for about $150 or less. Here's a picture from the day we closed on the house. It's your builder basic bathroom.

This project started about 4 months ago, when I was at Lowes and came across a mirror that was half off because of this little dent. So easy to repair with furniture markers, which we already own. Even though I didn't love the curved mirror, I hadn't planned on replacing it. But for half off, it went in my cart and sat in the basement until I had more inspiration for the bathroom.

Next step was finding pictures to base the color scheme around. I found 3 prints at Gordman's and had them color match one of them for my focal wall. I've also been scouring places like TJ Maxx for some sort of storage solution since there we have a pedistool sink, meaning no storage. What I found was not at all what I was looking for (a book rack), but I think it will work for right now. We have quite a bit of tan paint left over from one of our houses, so the next step was painting the 3 walls and then the bathroom sat for a little bit while we figured out to get the mirror down since it was good and glued on.

I looked at tons of websites to get an idea of how to get rid of the mirror. We ended up having to buy a little wire saw from Amazon. We taped the mirror in case it broke, and he pulled the saw back and forth behind the mirror until it cut through the glue. It took a good chunk out of the wall! But a little spackle and a day to dry did the trick. It didn't look perfect, but since a new mirror was going to hang over it, it didn't really matter.

Then, I started painting the one orange wall. Foil does a nice job helping get behind the toilet without getting tons of paint on the back of the toilet. My goal was to use NO tape while painting this room. My cutting in is getting pretty good, if I don't say so myself. But getting into tight spaces to make very straight lines was definitely a little tough with this belly!

And here's the final product. The new mirror with tan and orange wall. New towels.

Still deciding if I need to put something over the toilet.

I really like these prints! I color matched the middle orange flower for the wall color.

Hold reading material for our guests, extra towel, and I need to work on the top rack.

So here is my final breakdown:

mirror - $32
orange paint - sample $4, quart $14
toilet paper holder - $7
book holder - $25
pictures - $45
2 new hand towels - $7
trash can - $25 (seriously, I can't believe I spent that, but we have pricey taste)
tan paint - free because we owned it
furniture markers - free because we owned it

total - $159

$9 over what I wanted to spend but I got a new mirror! That's huge! Did I mention that I did everything myself (ok, except the mirror). Pretty proud of that. Ok, onto the next project.

my first sewing projects!

2012-01-30T15:55:00.001-05:00

Have I introduced you to my sewing machine yet? I'm still working on a name for it. Betsy? Fred? It needs a name. Because I'm in love with it. I've made my way through my instruction booklet. I've practiced threading my needle, making bobbins, undoing some jams, and sewing basic stitches. So I thought I was ready for my first project. Enter Pinterest. I saw these adorable knit baby hats (the picture will link you to the tutorial) and thought, how perfect for my first project. Veteran sewers who are reading this are already laughing at me. Others don't understand. I didn't either.

It took me all of about 5 minutes to realize that knit fabric is REALLY hard to work with. Like jam your machine multiple times hard. I tried different presser foots, looked at many tutorials online, and even tried using a double needle. And then, after talking with my master seamstress of a mom, I packed that knit fabric up and stashed it in a closet for way later in my sewing career.

Enter cotton fabrics and my next attempts worked way better! I had received a couple nursing covers for Owen and loved them and used them very hard. I wanted to make one that was a little wider then my first one to make sure no one got a side boob shot. And I wanted a heavier fabric than cotton to make sure it laid down nice. I found this amazing tutorial that walked me through it step by step. I picked out a home decorators fabric that has NO pink in it. Aren't you proud of me? I'm coming to the realization that my budget is not going to allow for a new diaper bag. So, I wanted a fabric that had some green it. I love the results. My new nursing cover. Sewn by me:

the boning was a little tricky to sew, but it makes the top pop out so I can look down at Ellie

I also thought it would be nice to have their diapers separated in the diaper bag and that way I can pull out Owen's little bag when he goes to the 2's class and I keep the main bag with Ellie and me. So I made her little diaper pouch using the rest of the above fabric and then made Owen's a little more boyish. I used this tutorial from A Lemon Squeezy Home.

I think I'm liking this whole sewing thing,. Sorry mom that it took me 30 years. :)

snow day

2012-01-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

Last week (or was it 2 weeks ago?) when we got a lot of snow, we didn't make it outside because William wasn't feeling great. So yesterday, when we woke up to a light dusting, we bundled up and headed out for Owen's first real experience in the snow. Don't laugh. Yes, we pulled him in the sled with that little of snow. And yes, it took longer to get bundled up than we actually stayed outside. He's a firstborn, ok? :)

almost ready to head out

in the sled with dad

tasting snow for the first time

eating the snow turned out to be his favorite activity of the morning

Tag Along Gym

2012-01-28T22:42:00.000-05:00

I was very excited to get to take Owen to Tag Along Gym this past Thursday. Anne had invited us before but we couldn't make it. For local moms who want the info, it's held at the Savoy Rec Center on Thursday mornings from 9-11:30 and costs $3 ($4 for non residents).

We met Anne/Alex/Ben and 2 other moms and I was impressed with all the stuff they had out for the kids! It was a great way to hang out with some other moms and let Owen run off some steam since it was pouring all day long! I was also excited to run into my neighbor who I've been trying to get to know better. Some of the things they had were: slides, a table for snacks, big boxes to sit and color in, a tent with beanbags, lots of tunnels, balls, big blocks, tons of cars for pushing/riding, a little bounce house, and even a low balance beam. Even though it's not free like FCC, we will definitely be going again!

bad pic, but you can see Alex and Charlie having fun in the bounce house

favorite of the day: the slide!

just a shot of some of the other stuff they had out

I only got him to go in there by pointing out the cow on the rug

visit from Sara

2012-01-28T22:08:00.001-05:00

How did I not post these? A few weekends ago, Sara and Liana came up for a visit! I love friends where you can not leave the house all day, but still have a blast. It was just so fun watching our babies play together. Our babies. Sometimes, I still find it hard to believe I can write that! Here's a few pictures from the day:

Look how big I'm getting! I'm almost 1!!

don't take my pear

bath time with friends is so much fun!

he's already in love. and we approve. :)

27 weeks

2012-01-22T22:32:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, I was 27 weeks! That means I'm starting the THIRD TRIMESTER. Holy cow. No wonder I'm starting to feel pretty pregnant. :) Ellie is about the size of head of cauliflower, weighing in at about 2 pounds and 14.5 inches long. I'm feeling her kick and squirm as I type this.

Miss Ellison: She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and maybe even sucking her fingers. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. That is amazing to me.
Me: starting to slow down a bit. Feeling more tired and often have to take a little snooze during Owen's nap in the afternoon. Better actually get started on Owen and E's rooms before I lose all energy. Weight gain is fairly consistent with what I gained with Owen and the belly button is really starting to stretch out! But overall, still feeling pretty good.
Sleep: had William pull out the huge preggo pillow this week from the basement. But it's a little big and I decided I wasn't quite ready for that loss of real estate on the bed. As with Owen, sleeping with a pillow between my legs (as many pregnant ladies do) just makes my hips hurt worse, so currently just sleeping with a pillow under the belly for extra support.
Food cravings: nothing really standing out these past couple weeks. I have been eating clementines like crazy, but that's about it.
What I've been working on: well, the list is long. But unfortunately, most of it is not baby stuff. One of my good friends who I taught with in Indiana is having her baby shower this week, so had to do some crafty stuff for her. My downstairs bathroom is almost done with new paint and a few accessories. We just have to take the mirror down and replace it (long story and more on that in another post). And working on organizing my recipes. On the list this week is nailing down a design concept for her room, ordering Owen's new furniture, knitting Ellie something, finishing the bathroom, and finishing Owen's baby book (hangs head in shame).
Praying for: this Thursday I have my 28 week appointment which means the fabulous orange drink and bloodwork to test for gestational diabetes. I didn't have it with Owen, but with my sis having diabetes I'm at a higher risk. Just praying everything comes back normal. I'd really hate to give up the few more months of freedom to eat McDonald's fries as much as I want. :)
And a picture before church this morning:

pantry cleanup

2012-01-12T23:00:00.006-05:00

I have been on kick to get my master house to-do list DONE before Ellie arrives. I mean, I know this will never happen. Especially since when I typed out the list in excel and saw the total I'd have to spend, I about keeled over. Guess I have expensive taste. Time to start doing the projects that cost zero. Enter: my pantries. Yes, I have 2 at this house. And I know how lucky I am for that! When we moved in, I kinda just threw stuff in them and have lived with it these first 6 months. But they were getting disastrous with no organization.

I also readily admit that I stink at cooking. Ok, not so much at cooking because I can make a decent meal. I just don't love the process of meal planning, shopping, and cooking elaborately. Give me extra time and I'd rather be crafting. I love family dinners for the sake of eating together and so I do it. But I don't love it. So anything that can possibly help me be more organized in the kitchen department is good to me. Ok, ready for it?

Yeah, you're talking phonebooks that have never been opened, random drinking cups, and a big bag of masa flour that I used a 1/4 cup of for some recipe that bombed. The pantry by the fridge isn't quite so bad, but still needed help.

I did not allow myself to spend any money on this clean up project. So I gathered some plastic tubs I wasn't using from the basement and got to work. I took everything out of both pantries, recorded what I had, and started figuring out what shelf I wanted everything on. I pulled out my Silhouette machine to start making labels. Have I told you how much I love to label things? Everything in my house would have a label on it if William would let me. :)

For my wire pantry shelves I printed on magnet paper so they could stick right on the shelving. While a great idea and they look cute, the magnet isn't very strong so I don't think they're going to stay on very long. Sad.

I labeled each clear container and simply organized small things in the tubs, donated a few things to Good Will, and got all my recipes in one place (more on that organization in another post). These pantry shelves now hold bake ware (that I don't use often), cereal/breakfast stuff, all my baking products, Owen's snacks, recipes, and a miscellaneous area for extra ziplocs, batteries, etc.

ahh, much better

As for the pantry by the fridge, I did the same thing. Labels, labels, and more labels.

Not a huge change, but nice and cleaned out before I did a pantry "restocking" trip to the grocery store.

But I also did something I've been meaning to do for awhile. A pantry inventory. I wrote down the things that are most often stocked in my pantry with checkmark boxes. This way I know what I have at a glance without having to shuffle through my cans and boxes. It hopefully will help me from having 7 cans of great northern beans, but no black beans like I did tonight for dinner. :) I put it in a sheet protector, hung it on a command hook on the door, and just use a dry erase marker and erase a box if I use something. And yes, William's been instructed to do the same.

So there you have it. A no cost pantry cleanup. Not a huge change anyone would notice, but still makes me smile when I open those doors. Up next: the piano room is almost done so I'll share that!

new hair do

2012-01-10T20:48:00.000-05:00

On Sunday morning, Owen's hair was OUT of control. I mean, I know it's usually pretty crazy, but it was sticking up everywhere. I wet it down. No luck. I washed and blow dried it. No luck. Seriously? So it was time to break out some mousse. And gel. He looked so grown up! And then when we went out to eat, he insisted on drinking from the cup himself. Where is my baby going?

FCC playground

2012-01-10T20:31:00.000-05:00

This happened last week and I just completely forgot to post. It was a COLD day (unlike the beautiful sunshine today) and Owen and I needed to get out of the house. We decided to head to First Christian Church's indoor playground. It was pretty packed, but Owen really seemed to enjoy his time there. He's getting big enough to run around with some of the other kids. We saw lots of people from church and I saw a student from my class at Robeson who tried hard to show Owen around. Although I will say his favorite play area was the ramp leading into the playground. :) But the best part was we packed a lunch and William met us over his lunch break. The playground is super close to his work. It was a great morning and and an even better nap when we got home.

the static on all the play equipment wasn't helping the hair

wow, that's a tall slide

I want the candy

driving the firetruck

24 weeks

2012-01-01T21:45:00.002-05:00

{insert picture of some fruit or vegetable that I'm too lazy to find right now}

Latest appointment: Last Thursday, I met with Vanessa, one of the midwives. I had Owen with me so I was thankful that it was a super short appointment. It really should not be allowed to weigh a pregnant lady the day she gets home from "Christmas vacation." I'm pretty sure the weight gain was mostly cookies and not Ellie. She must have been hyped up on something because her heartbeat was 170bpm which was the highest it's ever been. She measured my stomach for the first time and it was right on track and everything else was great.
Ellie: She is about a foot long now and weighs about a pound. No wonder I'm feeling her move more and more! Her lungs develop branches this week and her inner ear is completely developed. In fact, she has basic control over all of her senses: hearing, touch, taste, smell and vision. I find that pretty amazing!
Me: Holy batman are my boobs getting big. Oh sorry, was that TMI? But really, I need to get new bras and underwear as everything is a-growing. I had my first Charlie Horse in my foot a couple nights ago. Man, those are painful. They suggest more water and Tums which did help keep them at bay with Owen.
Cravings: So weird, but I've wanted tuna this week. I know gross right. And I know there's all the mercury warnings. So I've only eaten it a few times. But I could eat it for every lunch. And fruit of course.
Things I'm working on: I've started a knitting project or two, but the focus this week has been trying to get a plan for Owen and Ellie's bedroom. I've mapped them out on graph paper and I think the furniture aspect is done. I'm feeling good about Owen's decor too. But still all over the place for this little girl's room. I mean, I could go all crazy on one wall:

or simple neutral stripes:

I would really love to just do all neutral walls and on the one behind her crib, make TONS of these flowers in pinks and figure out how to get them to stay on the wall. Oh, who knows.

Praying for: her birth. I'm so looking forward to this already and yet, feeling anxious about getting plans in place for Owen and Jenna getting here. So just praying for lots of peace and knowing it's out of my control anyways. Also, a dear friend's BFF had her baby yesterday and had a rough delivery and 4th degree tear! OUCH! So praying for her, her sweet little girl, and for protection from this when Ellie arrives.
And some belly pictures:

I match the outfit Sara bought Miss Ellie for Christmas!

my sweet boy in blue and the girls of the house in pink

And a comparison from Owen at 24 weeks. I think I'm still a little bit smaller.

Christmas cards

2011-12-31T20:21:00.000-05:00

I LOVE receiving Christmas cards. It's so fun getting precious snail mail with all the adorable pictures. This year I simply hung a few rows of red ribbon with command hooks and then hung all my Christmas cards as they arrived.

the very beginning. I had to add another ribbon and that still wasn't enough room.

starting to get filled in behind me

Yesterday we took down all our Christmas decorations and wow did it look bare. And I hate throwing cards away. But thanks to Pinterest and this great blog, I printed off a cover (she has several options that are easy to print), punched holes in all my cards, and now have a little book of our cards.

I've saved ours for the last couple years, so I'll go back and do these too. Now each Christmas, we can get out our books of cards and use them as coffee table books. I look forward to seeing all of our friend's kiddos getting bigger each year!

one of our cards this year

and the other one (I couldn't decide)

:) love and miss her!

last day in Peoria

2011-12-31T20:04:00.000-05:00

Our last full day in Peoria was fun! Jenna gave Owen his first official hair cut. Well, she was able to get the back trimmed up before he totally lost it. The sides and top will have to wait. I got one bad picture:

Then, my siblings left us to go get inked. As in tattoos. The full report about the words on their arms is written here. Instead of participating in getting stabbed with a needle, we stayed home and Owen and Grandpa got to see the cows. They got super close thanks to the apples and potatoes they were feeding them!

That evening, we headed to my grandma's house to celebrate Philip's 27th birthday. We had a fabulous meal and Owen loved playing with all the OLD trucks and tractors that my dad played with when he was little.

Uncle Casey

Aunt Jenna

Happy birthday Philip!

our "Christmas"

2011-12-31T19:44:00.000-05:00

My brother Casey wasn't able to fly in from Ohio until Monday morning, so our usual Christmas Eve tradition was pushed back. It was kinda strange having the first ever celebration in Peoria, but it was still wonderful nonetheless.

We went a little out of order this year. Usually we do church, dinner, presents. But because William had to head back and Owen needed to get to bed, we did gifts first. Dad always reads the Christmas story and then some other small story. This year, it was the Tale of the 3 Trees, a great story if you've never read it. My dad also gives us a chapter of one of the books he's writing. As he reads, I always have the Kleenex ready. Then we go around and share something we're thankful for from that year and something we need prayer for in the upcoming year. After that we pray and then can dig into the presents!

learning the alphabet with Elmo

Grandma had to get him some CAT trucks since she works there!

My highlight was getting money for a sewing machine! It should be arriving on Monday. I'm quite excited to get some beginning lessons from my mom and dive into a whole new realm of crafting! After gifts, we cleaned up the massive amounts of tissue paper and boxes and got ready for our tradition of a fondue dinner by candlelight. We heat fondue pots of oil and cook out meats: beef, chicken, shrimp, and pork. It always takes awhile, but it so yummy and fun. It was a great Christmas!

And here's O playing with one of his awesome gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Don't know how the video got "flipped."

recipe

2011-12-31T18:54:00.001-05:00

Taking a quick break from the rest of my Christmas posting to say click the picture and try this recipe. She (Rachel) calls it Crispy Baked Salsa Chicken and I must say it was fabulous. Even Owen devoured a good portion of his chicken breast. I made her simple seasoning to use in the recipe and look forward to using it on lots of other things as well. My tummy is full. Yum. She has lots of other great looking recipes here.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-29T21:40:00.001-05:00

It was so fun watching Owen understand a little about Christmas. He woke up early, but we didn't waste anytime getting him downstairs to see his loot. The star attractions were an awesome set of Thomas trains I scored on Craigslist, the wagon, and his new riding truck

Thanks Aubrey, Gabe, and Mataya for the awesome gift! He loves his lunch box, train, and constantly is pointing to his new cow ornament.

We spent the morning playing and eating a big breakfast. We also got to Skype with William's parents and sister in Texas! We saved a few presents so they could watch him open a few gifts. William and I didn't really exchange much. It was too fun to watch Owen. But I did get this super cute necklace with an O and E on it!

Then, we packed up the cars (we drove separately so O and I could stay longer) and got on the road to Peoria. For the first time ever, my mom hosted the Hoerr family Christmas instead of my grandma. It was a super small crowd which was quite strange, but nice and relaxed. Of course, Owen got lucky and the cows we close in the field behind my parent's house. He simply adores them.

in our red and green

One of the highlights of Christmas at my grandparents is the box game. My grandma said that last year was the last one. But my grandpa said he couldn't let the tradition die and took over the wrapping. Basically, there are tons of boxes all wrapped with heavy duty tape, paper, and twine. A die is passed in the circle and if you roll a 6, you get a turn to head to the middle, put on a pair of gloves and try to get a box open. There is money in the very last small box. I've never won before, but this year there was a small bill in one of the larger boxes which I found. And then William got through the final box! Hello dinner out. :)

Uncle Nate trying his to break the twine

We spent the remainder of the evening watching Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (don't waste your time) and heading to bed for our busy "Christmas" the next day.

Chirstmas Eve

2011-12-29T21:05:00.005-05:00

On Saturday (Christmas Eve), Owen and I headed back to Champaign to be with daddy! We had to let him open one gift before we got ready for church. This is a pretty boring video, but we wanted MeMaw and PePaw to see him open his first gift from them! It was the Little People's Noah's Ark!

We then went to the 4:30 service at church. It was so packed!! Please excuse the blurry family picture, it was the best of the few we got after church.

When we got home, William and I had fun putting together Owen's wagon and setting out his train sets to get ready for Christmas morning!

Christmas Week

2011-12-27T22:21:00.000-05:00

Is everyone else sighing a big sigh? It's over. :( All that build up and it's over. But it's been a really fabulous week with family and watching Owen actually experience Christmas. We spent this last week trying to finish a few craft projects. My wreath still only got half done. Maybe I'll post about that next year. :)

Owen and I did make these cute ornaments for William's parents and sister. I made them with my kindergarten class and let me tell you, making them with an 18 month old probably wasn't very smart. I just took a plain glass ornament and painted Owen's hand with white craft paint. Then I had him "hold" the ornament to get his handprint. Then, I took more craft paint pens to turn his hand into snowmen. Cute even though it took several tries to get a print worth using.

I have a slight problem being patient with Christmas gifts, so last Saturday (that would be the 17th) we let Owen open one small gift. It's a puzzle! Below that is how Sophie has spent the last month since the Christmas tree went up.

On Wednesday, Jenna was back in town to do some hair. A few of us gals went to Pam's to catch up and decorate yummy Christmas cookies.

On Thursday morning, Owen and I headed over to Peoria. It was a nice easy drive thanks to the early Christmas I bought for ~~myself~~ Owen - a DVD player for the car! It was quite nice to listen to Old McDonald and not screaming. We spent Thursday and Friday just hanging out at my parent's house. We spent many hours playing with the hundreds of cars in the basement from my brother's childhoods. It was a great way to lead up to our busy holiday weekend!

Hi K!

2011-12-20T14:22:00.001-05:00

Here's a great blogging story for today. You never know when you could meet new {potential} friends!

I usually scour Craigslist every few days just to see if there's any great kid deals. I saw a train table posted that was begging for me to come see it. Owen's been really loving his few trains lately and we could always use it at our "coffee table" downstairs when it gets finished someday. Plus, the family lived in Savoy, so it was a quick hike over there to take a peek.

We went over after lunch and met N who showed us the table in the basement. Pretty sure I'm going to get it, just have to double check with the master budgeter of the house. As I was going back upstairs and leaving, a gal who was in the kitchen with N's wife came out and said "you're going to think I'm really weird, but do you have a blog?" Come to find out she saw a comment I made on the babywise website, followed it through to my blog, was excited we were in the same city, and knew that I was going to have an Ellie (a name shared by her little girl). What a small world!

So this is a little shout out to K. We should definitely get together for a play date or outing with our little ones!

picture progression

2011-12-18T17:14:00.002-05:00

Owen donned his cute Christmas outfit a little early for church this week. Here was our picture progression from this morning:

I don't really want to take any pictures mom.

I mean, really mom. No matter how cute my sweater is.

Ok seriously. You're going to take my passy too.

Well maybe if daddy tries to make me smile.

I guess this isn't so bad.

Ok, I love you mom!

And a belly picture:

22 weeks

2011-12-16T21:37:00.000-05:00

The due date dilemma: According to fertility friend (where I input all my temps and such) I'm due on April 20. Somehow during one of my first appointments it was put in the computer as April 21. But on all my ultrasounds have been measuring about 4-5 days ahead, so they're thinking more like April 17th. So I know babies come when they're ready. And I'm totally ok with this. Really, I have no problem with whenever she decides to come. But here's the problem. I need to fly my sister out here. I really want her to be in charge of the picture taking. It was so great not having William worrying about snapping away. He was just in the moment. And I cry every time I look through all my pictures of Owen's birth. So now our dilemma is when to get her out here without her missing a ton of work. Hmm.
So, I'm pregnant: I really have to catch myself sometimes and remind myself that I'm pregnant. Now that I'm in the "sweet spot" between not puking and not feeling big, I really sometimes forget. Like last Saturday. William watched Owen so I could go shopping like a mad woman. I had lots to get for our adopt-a-family for church (I organized our small groups gifts) and a few other things. I wore cute (read: not comfy) shoes and walked a lot. When I got home 3 hours later, my body kindly reminded me that I truly am pregnant and way over-did it.
A week of firsts: Last week at church, a lady who is not what I would call a friend rubbed my belly for the first time. And I mean rubbed. *shudder* And William was able to feel her move last night for the first time! That was awesome! Hmm, there was another first but now I can't remember what it is.
Cravings: My current favorite snack is a bagel with chive and onion cream cheese, fresh tomato sliced on top, with a dusting of salt. Yum. But I like that without being pregnant so it's not too weird for me. Also cannot stop eating clementines and pomegranates. Owen loves both of these too. I also love Oreos and milk Yum. Might just stop typing and go eat some right now.
Researching still: double strollers. I think I've narrowed it down to these two with leanings toward to the City Mini. Anyone have any pros and cons to these 2 or love their double stroller enough to recommend it?

Baby Jogger City Mini

Kolcraft Contours Options Tandem II

Deals I've scored: nothing big, but I got Ellie some crocheted headbands for $2 (no shipping) on ebay. I love winning auctions like that.

And some belly pictures:

from last Sunday

from this morning. don't mind the wet hair.

Happy 18 Months!

2011-12-10T08:15:00.066-05:00

Happy 18 months little man! A year and half already? Holy cow. This is the best.age.ever! He is so much fun right now I can hardly stand it. I want to just keep him right here for just awhile longer, please! Just a warning that this posts has lots of kinda boring movies and slightly blurry pics. It's been easier to have my phone, not camera handy and while I do love my new iphone, it still doesn't take the best pictures. Ok, onto the summary!
The Stats:
We had an appointment today so right on schedule. We couldn't for the life of us get in with Dr. Tripathy, so we were lucky enough to get in with Dr. Melvin. We've been attempting to make the switch to him and I was VERY impressed. He was so kind with Owen and showed him all the instruments before he used them. He didn't haggle me at all about saying no to the flu, MMR, and chickenpox vaccine either. He said Owen looked great!
Weight: 24 lbs, 12 oz
Length: 2 ft, 8 in (this was the first time they wrote it out in feet, not just inches)
Head: 46 cm
Fun things he's doing:
He runs around like mad and giggles like crazy when he is chased. He loves to stomp his feet and loves when you jump, but hasn't quite figured out how to jump himself yet. He really likes to color in his Elmo coloring book and can successfully identify the blue, purple, and red crayons. He understands pretty much everything you tell him and loves to follow simple commands like putting something away, throwing away a piece of garbage, or bringing his cup of water to the table. He likes to build towers with any toys, even some lunch items. He'll try to imitate most of the words you say, but really only has about 10-15 words that are really clear (mama, mom, moo, moon, up, purple, elmo, i wub you, apple, ball, and a few others). He absolutely refuses to say da-da. When you ask him, he'll smile and say ma-ma. He makes a great monkey, elephant, bird, and lion noise and of course still loves his cows. He also makes a great train, car, and airplane sound.

Eating:
I'm thankful to have a really great eater still. While veggies are not a huge favorite, he'll at least try everything once. He currently loves to dip anything and everything! Pancakes in syrup, carrots and broccoli in dip, hot dogs in ketchup, and pretty much anything else in yogurt. His food of choice is fruit which I'll gladly oblige him in. His favorite fruits in order are raspberries, pomegranates, blackberries, clementines, bananas, and apples. He still loves every kind of dairy and is on a big avocado and tomato kick right now. And so you don't think I'm perfect about feeding my kid only healthy stuff, he also has a secret love for McDonald's cheeseburgers, hold the mustard. :) He's doing pretty great at using utensils and even though he colors largely with his right hand, he largely uses his left hand for using the spoon and fork.

boring video of eating with a spoon:

Sleeping:
While this is still not a perfect thing, he is going SO much better in this area. A few months ago, we fully embraced crying it out and while it's not perfect, he went from getting up almost every 1-2 hours, to getting though most of the night! He still likes to have trouble around the 4:30 mark, but I've been lazy and letting him come snuggle in bed with me to get a few more hours of sleep. This past week, we dropped the morning nap as it was just becoming a battle or 45 minutes of crib play time (not a bad thing though). He'll still only sleep about 30 minutes in the afternoon before sitting up wide awake, but is getting better at putting himself back to sleep (or sometimes with a little help) for another 45 minutes or so.

A few dislikes:
He still very much dislikes getting his nails clipped. Like really hates it. He also really hates being told no or that he did something wrong. He has such a tender heart which I'm praying he keeps. He'll say a version of I'm sorry when you ask him to. He hated bath time with daddy for awhile, but I'm thankful this had been getting better this week. Once he realizes he's hungry, he really hates being patient for food. He also isn't a biggest fan of the church nursery lately, but many other moms have told me that this is common around this age.
And some pictures:

he loves to empty this cabinet

no, not the bloody Nile. water color tablets from Aunt Jenna.

being silly on mom's bed

practicing our one-to-one correspondence with raisins

He still LOVES his books which makes me so happy:

And a random video of him being silly and playing in the curtains:

a little celebration

2011-12-09T21:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, William took a pretty big test for the first part of being certified for LEED (green architecture and building). He got a 195 out of 200!! You have no idea how proud I am of him. He studied very hard and God really blessed all of his labors! We went out for dinner last night to celebrate. I'm not sure who had more fun playing the racing game after dinner. Well, I'm pretty sure it was William. :)

new phone case

2011-12-09T20:38:00.000-05:00

In case anyone was wondering which case I chose, here it is. I do love it, although a small part of me wishes I had ordered one where he was looking at the camera. Oh well, I guess I'll just to ask for a new case for Mother's Day with BOTH my kiddos on it. Crazy. Also, case-mate.com is where I got it. Check here for coupon codes before you order. I got 30%off for no reason! :)

21 Weeks

2011-12-07T09:39:00.000-05:00

Happy more than halfway mark! Now that I'm feeling good, this pregnancy thing is just flying. Please excuse the terribly dark picture. I made William take one last night before small group because this poor girl only has about 3 belly pictures so far. I'll replace it with one where you can actually see something.

the Belly: I popped this week! I'm actually starting to look and feel a little pregnant. Woke up on Monday feeling like I had run a marathon or done the stair climber. Then remembered that I was pregnant and my hips would probably be hurting from here on out. :)
Movement: I can feel her lots now. Still just the little flutters, but definitely there. Most often when I'm laying down at night (yep, still able to sleep on my back) or when I lay on my stomach when I'm coloring with Owen
Name: in case you missed the post on this, her name is Ellison Jakeh (or Ellie). I love it more and more as I tell people.
Cravings: now that I am actually hungry, the weights coming on fast. :) Oh well. Fruit doesn't keep at our house with Owen and I eating it as fast as we are. No other real cravings I can think of.
Preparations: I haven't gone crazy yet, but I may have purchased a few things at All Things Kids last week and won an auction on ebay for a lot of headbands. My big decision right now is deciding bedrooms. I thought I was going to move Owen into the smallest room with the cute built in toy chest. But as I'm trying to lay it out, it's going to be a very awkward room for a bed. But would work fine for a crib. So I may just keep him in his room. Of course, it will get a paint job, maybe this big boy bed and a few other touches to make it more "grown up."

I'm still at a total loss for Ellie's room. There's so many adorable options, I've having a hard time narrowing it down. I know a few things for sure. Not doing a bedding set. I really didn't use O's bumpers much at all. So I'll stick with getting a few cute sheets and having my mom make a bedskirt and curtains. Pretty sure I'm not painting the room pink. Gasp. I know you're all surprised. But I'm leaning towards neutrals so that I can bring in pink in other areas. Maybe big graphic 3D flowers on one wall? Oh I don't know yet.

In Other News: well, I can't really think of any. I don't have another appointment until the end of December, so nothing more to report.

no need for mistletoe

2011-12-01T20:36:00.000-05:00

This little craft project was just too cute not to post. Sara asked for some Christmas onesies with this saying on it! Solid colored onesies are hard to find, so I bought them here if anyone cares. Then I got some cool heat transfer vinyl that is flocked. Meaning, fuzzy when you feel it. I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the words. And of course, the outfits wouldn't be complete without adding a flower clip on a headband! I hope Liana and her cousins love them!

close up of the 'fuzziness'

decorations at church

2011-12-01T08:48:00.021-05:00

Whew, I see a lot of blogs in my future this week. Got a whole list of them to catch up on! First, the beginning of my Christmas decor posts. But let's start with the church decor, not my house. This year, I'm helping out with our church's Adopt a Family event. I was asked to decorate the tables where everyone would be signing up for all the holiday outreach events. I had a budget of $25, which means I had to get super creative. Pinterest to the rescue. I had pinned this snowflake idea for my house, but decided to use it for church.

I bought a couple packs of popsicle sticks and went to work. Her blog (click the above picture) gives great instructions. Then, I sent to work spray painting. Just a word to the wise. This is best done outside. But it was freezing, so I had to use the garage. Which now has a nice shade of pink to the floor. Oops, sorry William. I moved them to the basement where they could dry in a little warmer place.

I used lights I had from home and hung them underneath the table cloths, for a more subdued light display. I was going for a simple red and silver theme. I gathered random boxes from my recycling and basement and wrapped them in silver and red paper. The table runners are cheap plastic tablecloths from Walmart that I cut. (since real fabric was out of my price range). Then I filled lots of vases with red and silver ornaments from the dollar store. All in all, I'm really happy with how it turned out! The snowflakes will definitely be making an appearance some year in my home decor. Here's a few pics (I didn't do the tree so you can ignore that).

time with Miss S

2011-11-30T10:51:00.000-05:00

We really feel lucky that this childcare situation has worked out so perfectly! Owen and Miss S love each other and do a great job playing together. They have very similar temperaments (read: quiet and pretty mellow) and so they get along great. I think it will be a big help in getting Owen ready to share me with his sister. Here's just a few pictures from the last few weeks of hanging out:

puzzle time!

time for lunch

yes those are peas. and yes, she loves them.

When we were painting, we moved the play kitchen to the foyer. They had fun making a mess!

playing with the advent calendar. it has little books they loved

these 2 love the library!

playing before we check out with our new books!

Dear Baby Girl

2011-11-30T10:29:00.001-05:00

My dear sweet Ellie,
I cannot even write in words how exciting I am that you are my little girl! I've been feeling you move around more inside this week and it's finally feeling more real that you will be in my arms in just 19ish weeks. The time is just flying. This weekend at church, you were already blessed with these adorable things from mommy's friends. You're going to be one styling little girl!

I'm excited for you to have dates with your daddy just like I did when I was little. Maybe he'll even take you to the ballet and then Steak N Shake like your Grandpa did with me. I look forward to all the girl drama you'll bring to our lives and I hope your awesome big brother Owen will do a great job watching out for you while you're at school and with the boys. Someday I can picture us going to mommy daughter teas, shopping for prom dresses, and maybe even someday helping plan your wedding. Ok, ok I'm getting ahead of myself.

One thing I have treasured this past week is calling you by name. I love knowing who's in there and being able to pray for you by your name. Ellison Jakeh. It's a pretty speical name to us. Your daddy's middle name is Ellis and my middle name is Jakeh. So you have a little of both of us in your name. Your first name means My God is the Lord. This is something we pray everyday that you will come to know. Your middle name is unique and I've been so excited to be able to pass it on. It's pronounced jay-kuh and I've never met anyone else who has it. It is found one time in the Bible in Proverbs 30:1. Jakeh means pious, or in other terms 'devoutly religious'. And while I don't love the word religious, my prayer is again that someday, you will come to love Jesus just as much as your mommy and daddy and other family members do. This also means we'll have the same initials, that is unless you get married someday.

So my dear Ellie, we are just giddy with excitement and anticipation at meeting you. It will be a whirlwind few months getting your room ready, buying cute little pink clothes, and cherishing the last few months we have with Owen as an only child. Know that you are so loved already by so many people. I cannot wait to see what you look like and meet the little girl God planned for us to have.

I love you so much,
your momma

a few more bows

2011-11-27T22:06:00.000-05:00

No, not for our little girl yet, but I've been working hard on a few big bow orders the last couple weeks. (Ann, yours should be getting mailed by the end of the week at the latest). Here's a few of my favorites:

cherries

made this in every color

strawberry pair

satin flower

ribbon daisy

little goldfish duo

xmas 'poinsetta'

little china doll - yes, this one took awhile!

I like this little snowman!

another strawberry

butterfly!

Go Illini!

made this one in lots of colors too

lil punkin'

taught myself how to crochet for these little guys

We are having a. . .

2011-11-23T12:25:00.000-05:00

baby! I wasn't going to give it away in the first sentence people, come on. :) First you have to stand some pictures of our perfectly healthy little baby. He/she was moving all over the place, but all their parts are there and are in perfect working order.

creepy alien face looking at the "camera"

the foot with 5 perfect toes

their hand, moving up to the face

And the big news is. . .

Owen is having a little SISTER!! I really am having a hard time believing it! It's been my gut the whole time, but I also thought maybe it was just wishful thinking. But nope. I get to start making bows and pink hats for my own daughter. Dang, and there I start crying again. I am thrilled beyond measure and William was over the moon too. We had the sono tech show us multiple times, because we were really not believing her. But it's for real folks. Bring on the pink, and ruffled butts, and hair accessories, and ruined budgets. I cannot wait to share her name and the meaning behind it, but I can't give away everything in one post.

Dear Baby

2011-11-22T20:50:00.000-05:00

Dear Baby 2,
First, my apologies for not writing you a letter sooner. But I talk to you and pray for you everday, so hopefully you're not too offended. :) Tomorrow we get to hear those 3 little words that I've been waiting for, "It's a boy" or "It's a girl." I am terrible with surprises and I cannot wait another day, let along another 5 months to find out who you are! I cannot even express to you how excited I am to find out. Even more so than I was with Owen, if that's possible. I think it's because I know how awesome you are going to be. I mean, when I was pregnant with your brother, I thought I knew how much I was going to love being a mom. But now I KNOW how much this job means to me. I love every second of being a mom to your big brother. Even the sleepless seconds. He is such an amazing little person and it has been such a joy watching him grow and learn new things everyday. Watching your dad is pretty cool too. You're really going to like him as he's a pretty great daddy.

And now we get the privilege of getting to know you too! How blessed are we?! I cannot wait to start calling and praying for you by name. I can't wait to start telling Owen more about you so he can hopefully get your name mastered by the time you arrive. I love that God already knows who you are and knows that you are the perfect little person for our family. Boy or girl, we love you so much already and cannot wait to share a few more details about you with the rest of our friends and family who love you already too!

Love,
Your Momma

18 weeks!

2011-11-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

I really have nothing different to report this week than last, so I will just give you a picture comparison. I'm wearing the exact same shirt, only in different colors. On the left is Owen, on the right is baby #2. I'd say I'm looking almost exactly the same! Well, except for the fact that I need a hair cut right now. Almost to the half way mark!

i love you

2011-11-21T08:57:00.001-05:00

3 little words that can just melt a momma's heart. And this morning, Owen uttered them for the first time. I've been waiting 17 months for those words. He was kind enough to repeat it several times for the cameras. In the first video, he also shows off his new "cheese" face in which is gives a super silly smile to the camera.

random thoughts

2011-11-16T12:23:00.000-05:00

Deep thoughts on "bargains" by Emily:
- Why do I buy bargain toilet paper? I do this every once in awhile and then just use twice as much because it's so thin. So really, it's no money savings at all.
- Have you realized that store brand raisins are covered by sugary, crusty stuff that makes them impossible to pull apart? I'm a Sun-Maid Raisin only buyer from now on for my little man who loves the things.

And that is all.

waterbirth class

2011-11-16T12:20:00.000-05:00

We had a really great evening last night at Carle's waterbirth class. It was taught by Ray, one of the midwives. He's a super quiet talker at appointments, but this was the first time I could hear him without leaning in. :) He started the class with a couple of videos and then did about a 45 minute presentation. He talked about the basics of what waterbirth is and what Carle offers. He also did research on the first 150 waterbirths they did at Carle and shared the really encouraging statistics from those births.

I won't share all the stats because there were a lot, but we left being totally on board that we are going to try this with baby #2. Over ice cream at Marble Slab afterwards, we also discussed that William won't be in the tub. :) I liked holding his hand, but did not want him touching me besides that for Owen's birth.

One comment Ray said during the class was "your birth stories are all unwritten as of right now." But I felt God speak very clearly to me that our birth story HAS been written, by him. I know there is no way to plan how this one is going to go. This is definitely one thing in life I have NO control over. But I am so encouraged and thankful we are at a hospital that will fully support our choice to try and do this naturally in the tub. I'll just continue to pray for these next months that God's story of this baby's birth would happen exactly as HE has planned.

Ahh, I'm so excited about doing this again!! Remind me of that when I'm screaming in pain, ok?

17 weeks!

2011-11-14T11:05:00.001-05:00

**This post is dedicated to Julie who polietly told me last week that my baby posting was receving an 'F' this round. Poor baby. I've written tons of posts in my head, so it's time to get a few on the actual blog.**

How far along? 17 weeks last Friday
Baby: He/she's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone and he/she weighs 5 ounces and around 5 inches long from head to bottom.
How I'm feeling: I can finally say a little bit better! My lovely state insurance refused to fill my prescription last week so I was kinda forced to see how I'd do without it. While I still have moments of acute nausea and don't feel totally like myself, I made it! No actual puking and I actually cleaned, cooked, painted 2 rooms, knit, and made hair bows last week. So getting closer to the glory that is supposed to be 2nd trimester.
Food cravings: still not really loving food at this point. I eat lots of fresh fruit and veggies and also am enjoying toast with cinnamon/sugar on it. But definitely haven't hit that point where I want to eat everything in sight.
Last appointment: I met with Vanessa for a pretty quick appointment. Baby's heartbeat was 159bpm, so a little lower than last time. She was awesome and agreed to let me have our ultrasound in 2 weeks instead of 4. So that means, next Wednesday, we find out if Owen is getting a brother or sister. I can't believe it's time for already! I think I am even more excited this time around to find out. If that's even possible!
Then, Vanessa and I talked a little about the 4th floor experience. If you've had a vaginal birth at Carle previously, you are invited this time around to give birth on the 4th floor. You have to go to the 10th floor first to be monitored, but then once you're on the 4th floor, EVERYTHING is done in one room. Birth, recovery and all of baby's checks and things. I would be super excited to get to do this, but we're going to have to wait until a little closer to delivery time. Even though my delivery was great with Owen, all the heart trauma afterwards might keep me in too "high" risk of a category to be on that floor. Not the end of the world, but there are jacuzzi tubs in each room and they do waterbirths in those tubs and that would be awesome. Which brings me to my next section
Birthing thoughts: I will be the first to say that I loved my epidural. I was trying hard to have Owen without it, but I had an amazing experience with it. Since I waited so long to get it, it didn't slow down any of my progress. I could still lift my legs and feel everything and in general, just had a really great experience pushing. So at first, I thought that I'd be totally ok with this experience again for baby #2. But after everything was said and done with Owen's birth, no one was able to really tell me what happened with all the heart stuff. There were a few ideas, but no concrete reason as to why I had to be away from my little guy for over 36 hours only getting to see him every 3 hours to eat while I was in cardiology being monitored. In the back of my head, there's a little thought that IF the epidural had anything to do with what happened, that is one thing that I can avoid. So this week, we're taking a waterbirth class with Ray. I loved laboring in the tub so why not do the whole thing in there?! Although I was a little grossed out at the idea of sitting in all the stuff that's going to come out, I'm going to want a shower no matter what right? :) So I'm putting it out there now: granted any unforeseen circumstances (which I know there are TONS of) I'm going to do everything in my power this time around to go naturally.
What I'm reading: I haven't read any baby books yet. How did I not read the Mark of the Lion series when it came out and was huge years ago? I'm almost done with the first of the 3 books and am loving it! As for the heavier reading book on my night stand, I'm reading A Praying Life which my mom recommended.
Stuff I've done for baby: just getting lots of ideas on the rooms. I'll move Owen to the craft room (with the adorable built in toy chest) and let the baby have his room. So just getting decorating ideas for his room. I'll reuse all his stuff if this is a boy and might go just a little crazy in the room if this is a girl.
Movement:Feeling a few little flutters, but nothing consistent yet. Really looking forward to this, although I'd be ok if this baby didn't have hiccups quite as much as Owen had. :)
And a pic: I'm at that stage where I can wear regular pants and just look a little pudgier or wear maternity pants and top and look really pregnant.

a lab rat on a great day

2011-11-11T09:19:00.002-05:00

Ok, so Owen wasn't really a lab rat last Thursday, but we did finally get our visit in to the Language Acquisition Lab at U of I. We had scheduled to do it months ago, but Owen got sick but I called to reschedule this week after being reminded by Amy and Troy's visit.

To make the most of our Thursday without other kiddos, we spent an hour or so at the library getting new books and playing with all the toys. Then we headed to campus and the psychology building. When we arrived, they let him play with a bunch of new toys while I filled out paperwork on which words Owen was saying/signing and which ones he could understand. They let me know a little about the study, but told me they'd tell me more details after he watched a short video. I was supposed to hold him on my lap, but not watch the screen as so I wouldn't sway which way he was looking.

He fell in love with a couple of the trucks and really didn't want to go into the other room to watch the video but did great once it started. Afterward, we went back where he could play and talked about the study. I was really intrigued since it was something I had thought about while teaching kindergarten and first grade. Please excuse my rough interpretation of the study. They were studying how children understand the meanings of new words, particularly verbs. Verbs are harder to learn because you can't point to an apple and say "apple."

So in this study, Owen heard the verb "crad" in differingn contexts with a video or picture along with it. For example, I heard "Mommy is cradding Daddy" and "Grandpa is going to crad the baby." (In kindergarten, we called these nonsense words). Then during the test phase, Owen watched 2 animations on each side of the TV screen, showing two different things (one more like a verb, one like a noun). When the video said "He's kradding him." They wanted to see which screen he would look at longer to see if he was figuring out what the word krad meant. And she said he did! Really fascinating! When we left, he walked around as if he was the big man on campus. He could be here as a real student in 17 years! :)

Then we had a special lunch date at Panera and then went to the IDEA store. I found everything I needed for the Christmas wreath I want to make for a really small fraction of the price so I was super excited! Owen found this great little drumset. If it had been in a little better shape, I may have been convinced to add it to his Christmas list. :) It was such a fun day of hanging out together!

which phone case?

2011-11-11T08:51:00.000-05:00

We were super excited to get our new iPhone 4S' last week! Since we were out of contract with AT&T, we got an awesome deal for switching to Sprint and they even bought back our old phones for a great price! So that means I need a new case. And I can't decide which picture to use. Take a look and vote below. Thanks in advance for your help!
#1

Which photo case should I get?

Trick or Treating

2011-10-31T21:52:00.000-04:00

As a child, we never went trick or treating. I mean to say that never in my life have I been trick or treating. So tonight, I got to vicariously live through my child as he had his first experience going door to door for candy that only I will eat. :) Thanks to my mother-in-law for getting Owen's costume for us. We just knew he had to be a cow since he loves them!

getting ready to head to the parade

look mom, the moon is out. he pointed to it all night!

lots of BOYS in this group!

couldn't resist this one those cute tails!

with cousin Jules

he never really "got it" but next year, I'm sure he'll be running up just like Ty and Ben!

Halloween story time

2011-10-31T21:38:00.000-04:00

We tried to make it to storytime at Bella on Friday, but Owen wasn't feeling too hot thanks to these molars that are coming in. But we wanted to try out the cow costume, so on Saturday we set out to the Urbana Library's story time. It was pretty fun and had it's share of "Urbana characters." No offense to those of you who live in Urbana. For how many kids were there, it was pretty well organized and even though I feel like you should have to be a kindergarten teacher to run storytime effectively, that gal did ok. They read stories, sang a song or two and then sent the kids off to do 1 of 3 art projects. While the kiddos took their time doing their art stuff, we went and read some books and checked out all the toys in their kid area. Then we came back to the room for a neat Halloween snack. Overall, a really fun time!

dad helping Owen color his picture


come on, let's go look at the books

he loves the animals

he got really excited when he found the cow

not the best, but I had to prove I was there

a little snack before we left

Family Fall Fest

2011-10-31T20:52:00.000-04:00

We kicked off the Halloween weekend on Friday at our church's Fall Fest. We knew he'd be too little for a lot of the things, but he did pretty good! Thanks Pam and crew for the fun night and great snacks. Here's a few pictures from the evening:

I'm supposed to do what with this ball?

good throw buddy

this was his favorite of the evening, throwing the marshmallows into the fire

he wasn't too sure about the clown. i don't blame him.

potato stamping

2011-10-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

I had some potatoes that were starting to get a little soggy. So I thought it was about time for a little craft project with Owen and Miss S. I cut simple shapes into the potatoes. Instead of dipping them, I painted some craft paint on and then handed it to the kiddos. It was fun for the few minutes it lasted. :) And thank goodness for easily wiped-off tile!

pomegranate

2011-10-24T09:56:00.000-04:00

3 down, 7 more to peel!

It's pomegranate season again! Woohoo! This week they're on sale 5/$5 at Meijer, which is an awesome price so I may have bought 10. :) And the best thing about them this year: Owen loves them. I was surprised because they're a bit tart and they have a little seed inside, but he has been chowing on them and continually asking for more. If you need a reminder of the best way I've found to cut them without getting red splatters on everything, click here.

one of Owen's verses

2011-10-24T09:38:00.000-04:00

In my (almost) daily Bible reading, I love to use the One Year Bible. It's a great way to get through the whole thing in a year and everyday you read an old testament and new testament chunk,a Psalm, and Proverb. So when the book of Jeremiah is killing you (like this past month for me) you know there will be something else that speaks to you that day. :)

Anyways, onto the real reason for this post. Last Thursday, we read a chunk in Psalm that had been something I've prayed over Owen before he was born. I like to only pray certain verses of it which would make some of VLI profs cringe, but well, there's still lots of power in the words.

Owen's name means young warrior. I love that meaning when I think of trying to raise a soldier for Jesus. Even though these verses were written about David, I like to pray them over my little warrior:

Psalm 89:19-37
¹⁹Long ago you spoke in a vision to your faithful people.
   You said, “I have raised up a warrior.
      I have selected him from the common people to be king.
²⁰ I have found my servant David.
      I have anointed him with my holy oil.
²¹ I will steady him with my hand;
      with my powerful arm I will make him strong.
²² His enemies will not defeat him,
      nor will the wicked overpower him.
²³ I will beat down his adversaries before him
      and destroy those who hate him.
²⁴ My faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him,
      and by my authority he will grow in power.
²⁵ I will extend his rule over the sea,
      his dominion over the rivers.
²⁶ And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
      my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
²⁷ I will make him my firstborn son,
      the mightiest king on earth.
²⁸ I will love him and be kind to him forever;
      my covenant with him will never end.
²⁹ I will preserve an heir for him;
      his throne will be as endless as the days of heaven.
³⁰ But if his descendants forsake my instructions
      and fail to obey my regulations,
³¹ if they do not obey my decrees
      and fail to keep my commands,
³² then I will punish their sin with the rod,
      and their disobedience with beating.
³³ But I will never stop loving him
      nor fail to keep my promise to him.
³⁴ No, I will not break my covenant;
      I will not take back a single word I said.
³⁵ I have sworn an oath to David,
      and in my holiness I cannot lie:
³⁶ His dynasty will go on forever;
      his kingdom will endure as the sun.
³⁷ It will be as eternal as the moon,
      my faithful witness in the sky!”

Owen's Sunday

2011-10-23T21:13:00.000-04:00

Owen had a busy day today and did a few fun new things. He had fun in kid's church and is doing great about not getting us paged anymore. Then he hung out with dad at home while I was at a meeting at church about our Christmas outreach. Side note: I can't believe it's almost holiday time. I *almost* started listening to Christmas music the other day. I resisted, but it won't be long.

When had got up from his nap, we headed outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather. We also have a huge yard FULL of weeds. Since this house sat empty for almost a year, the yard got overrun. Anyone want to get paid to pull some weeds? Anyways, William pulled quite a few while Owen and I played and then we got the wheelbarrow out to pick them all up. Of course, Owen had to go for a ride first. Safe to say, he loved this. Especially when William went down the "hill" that blocks our property from the street.

Then of course, he had to help put all the weeds in the wheelbarrow. I was thankful that he didn't even attempt to put anything in his mouth. Well, the worm tempted him. Sorry my voice is so annoying on videos. :)

Then, when we went in for a snack, he started turning in circles. This is a new thing for him! Miss S, who we watch likes to spin, but has only done it a handful of times, but I guess Owen caught on quick. It's so much fun watching him learn all these new things, no matter how small they seem!

13 weeks (well, almost 14)!

2011-10-17T14:07:00.000-04:00

How far along? 13 weeks last Friday, which means in the last week of trimester 1!
Baby: He/she now has fingerprints, is about 3 inches long, and weighs about an ounce.
How I'm feeling physically: still pretty awful. I tried to stop the medicine last week to see how I'd do and started puking again. But at least with the meds, I'm holding down food and am just dealing with the all-day nausuea. Poor hubby has had many a night with no meals cooked and the house looks disastrous. But hey, Owen's still alive and I'm making another baby. Can't ask much more of me on some days. :)
How I'm feeling emotionally: It hasn't totally sunk in yet, but the moments it does, I'm so excited. Many of my mom friends have told me that going to 2 was easier than going to 1. And if that wasn't true for you, umm, don't tell me. :) I have had a couple moments of being sad over that fact that it won't just be Owen any more. Sad that I'll have to divide the time that is right now, all his. But I'm sure this is a pretty normal feeling.
Stuff I've done for baby: nothing. umm,I'm not that much of an over-achiever.
Starting to research: double strollers! Whew, the info out there is overwhelming, but I already have a couple front runners. This is really the only big-ticket item we'll need to purchase this time around. I'm starting early so I can start saving up!
Movement: I swear I felt this kid move twice last week. Both times, I was holding Owen in the glider so his weight was pressed on my stomach and felt the all familiar flutters. The midwife said this was very possible, even though I thought I was a crazy girl for possibly feeling it this early.
Food cravings: umm, nothing. I really despise all food right now. Of course, you can't ignore it when you have to feed a toddler who always seems hungry.
Names: We're pretty sure we've settled on full names for a boy and girl. But what fun would if be if I gave them away this early in the game? A few that I love but that aren't going to make the cut this round: Kylie, Rylee, Charlotte, Harper, Regan, Benjamin, Finn, Cole, Beckett, and Drew. I'll let you know sometime after we find out the sex in early December!
And some really bad pictures: Whew, really need to get better at taking these when I look presentable (please excuse the bed head in pic 1 and the no makeup in pic 2). But now that all my family is out of town, I've been told to be good about posting pictures of the growing bump. Pretty sure I didn't have this size bump until week 18 or so with Owen, but everyone says it happens much faster with number 2. I'm definitely just embracing the elastic pants (or my regular pants with a rubber band).

total randoms

2011-10-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

I have no real theme for this post, except for completely random thoughts.

Owen had a 3 day fever this week. Uggh. There went all the good things that were going on with his sleep. He was miserable, as were we. This was pretty much what our days were like the last few days: popsicles, books, cuddling, and some TV. Today he was finally fever-free and when I ran my hand over his gums, I found a new molar on both top sides. Must have been the culprit.

When Owen's feeling like himself, he's a blast these days! He's gotten some new words in the last few weeks. He says apple, bubba (for baby), and we swear we heard him say Sophie tonight. His newest thing is blowing on food when it's hot and doing his "it's cold" face. This is hilarious. We'll say freeze and he'll make this face and clench his hands.

He is such a boy! He loves his trucks and usually can be seen with a little matchbox car in each hand. He also loves balls and says football. Ok, ok I'm the only one who can probably understand what's he saying, but it's still cute. He would play outside all day and I'm kind of already dreading the long winter months. I can see lots of trips to FCC's indoor playground in store for us!

So, I was looking at diaper bags online and William saw me and about choked. Reminder that I have 3 diaper bags. I told him I'd only need a new one if this baby is a girl. :) He said no way. So I sold one of my bags on Ebay. I thought I'd love the JuJuBe All, but I used it for a week when O was little, and it just wasn't the perfect bag. I didn't get exactly what I was hoping to get for it, but it's made me want to go through the whole house and find other stuff to sell. Already sold 10 things of yarn and a sleep sack that I never opened.
Speaking of baby, I started my weekly baby posts. But I just can't get around to finishing it. And I need to start taking belly pictures. So I'm guessing baby 2 syndrome has already started and I'll likely not do weekly posts for this little person. Maybe bi-weekly? I apologize baby.
Now that's it's cooler weather, I'm inspired to pick up my knitting needles again. I finally found Owen a winter coat, so now I need to get going on a couple new hats for him. My friend Angie is due any day now with a little girl, so I knit her a frog hat (oops, no picture) and this little number. I have tons of new projects on my list. And now that I'm feeling (a little) better, I need to get to making some bows for Ms. H too!

Biblical Gardens

2011-10-15T20:22:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, Owen and I took a little road trip to Peoria! When we arrived, we met them and the church plant team at a park for a picnic. It was great to see so many new faces. The team is busy painting the building this week and getting it ready for their launch in just a couple weeks!

Then, we went to a dedication for my Grandpa's Biblical Gardens. This has been a project he's been working on for 3 years and this week it "opened" to the public. It's basically a small walkway with stones that have pictures and verses of Jesus' life. It starts with his birth and ends with the resurrection. After the dedication and a nap, we went out to dinner with my grandparent's to celebrate my grandma's birthday. Monday morning, my dad fixed us a great breakfast and Owen got to see the cows in their "backyard." Then, on the way out of town, we stopped by my mom's work to see where she lives everyday and to show off Owen to some of her co-workers.

thanking lots of people

one of the views of the gardens

as a surprise to them, there was a ginko (my grandpa's fav tree) planted in his honor

the boys - my dad, Tim, and Austin and Evan standing in for their dad, Nate

the rock inscribed for my grandpa

Owen and Grandpa

what a great day

2011-10-07T20:45:00.000-04:00

It's just been one of those I love my life as a mom kinda days. We've had a couple breakthroughs with sleep (more on that in a later post so I don't jinx anything) so I was feeling a bit more rested this morning. Owen and I decided we really needed some more Curtis Orchard honeycrisp apples, so we braved the almost-weekend crowd. It was definitely insane there with several buses of field trip groups. But we got a donut and cider slushie to share and then spent a forever long time swinging and looking at the crowds, playing on the tractor, and pushing his stroller around (since he no longer wants to ride, but walk).

Then, we went and picked up Subway and took lunch to William's office. We have never been there to meet everyone so it was high time! What an amazing place. Seriously, if you know of anyone who need an architect, look into KaP. Great place and great people. Owen just made himself at home, pushing around chairs and showing off the 2 cars that never leave his hand currently.

When we got home, I had a total unexpected baby gift waiting for me from my friend Kimberly! It's a fabulous knitting pattern book chalk full of adorable baby things. That diaper cover on the front, oh my goodness can't wait to get it on my needles. Thank you my friend (although your real thank you card is in the mail).

Then after a decent afternoon nap, we spent every minute we could soaking up the sunshine. We took a good walk and then got paintbrushes out so we could "paint" the patio with water. This seriously kept him busy for a good 30 minutes, which if you know much about a toddler's attention span, let's just say it's an activity we'll be doing again!

Then, William got home a little early so I could run to a baby appointment. It was a totally useless appointment, minus hearing that adorable heartbeat! 168bpm, much higher than Owen's, for anyone who cares to speculate.

Happy 15/16 Months!

2011-10-05T08:48:00.001-04:00

This post is a little bit overdue, hence the 15/16 months instead of just 15. I blame the puking and wanting to go to bed at 6 every night. But just wanted to do a little recap of this awesome time with Owen. He is such a fun kid these days and I'm really trying to cherish every moment now that I know it always won't just be the 2 of us at home all day.
The Stats
Length: 31.25" (56th percentile)
Weight: 23lb 8oz (35th percentile)
Head Circumference: 45.2cm (6th percentile) - don't worry about your small head buddy. there's a big brain in there.
New Things
WALKING, finally! Well, it took him awhile to get there, but I can officially say we have a walker. In the last couple weeks, he's been getting braver about letting go on his own and not only when there's someone to walk to. I only have some really bad videos, so I need to catch a good one. Here's a pretty bad one from when we were playing on the patio. He's still a little wobbly on his feet, but he can stand up now without having to hold onto something!

He lifts up his feet to get out of his pants and likes to try to "help" you button or zip his clothes. He also loves to point out things that are on his shirts. In almost all of his books, you can ask him to point out things, and he can get them. It's fun to see how much language he has in his head already. Whenever you ask him a question that doesn't know the answer to, he holds his hands up like asking "what" or "I don't know."

Talking
He jabbers all the time which is hilarious. He has a few words that very distinguishable. Mama for me, gaga for dada. Can't get those d's quite yet. He says 'melmo' for Elmo and clearly says ball. His truck noises and firetruck siren are awesome and he does a killer 'moooooo.' If you ask him, Owen say ____, he'll always say something. It's not quite distinguishable yet, but he almost always repeats back the right number of syllables.
Eating
Owen's still a really great eater! His breakfast favorites are oatmeal, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and any kind of fruit. He'd eat any kind of fruit all day if I'd let him, well that is except for watermelon. For lunches and dinner, the kid loves yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese sticks, (beef only) hot dogs - seriously, peas, corn, edamame, and anything we're eating for dinner of course! He usually acts as if I never feed him and is never one to turn down a snack!
He had his first allergic reaction during lunch a couple weeks ago. You can see by the picture that the red rash all around his mouth didn't seem to phase him at all. The nurse I called recommended waiting 4 days and then reintroducing the foods I'd given him one at a time. The only thing we haven't re-tried yet were the raw carrots with ranch dressing. She guessed it was likely the carrots although he's never had this rash before with them. Poor guy, I was really hoping we wouldn't have to deal with any allergies.

Sleeping
Can I skip this section? In all honestly, since pregnancy tiredness hit, I've given up on any form of sleep training. It's called get as much sleep as I can, any way I can get it. Every little nap he takes, you can usually find me sleeping as well. He takes about a 25-30 minute nap in the morning. Although some days lately, he's been able to do ok without it. So I think we're heading into that hard transition to one nap. I have to kind of play it by ear every day right now. His afternoon nap is also just 30 minutes, but sometimes I can get him to go back for another 30-40 minutes. At night, he gets up 3-4 times and is currently coming into our room into his pack and play around 3ish. It's the only way he'll go back to sleep. We're both hitting major frustration levels, so we're trying to make a new game plan. This kid has got to learn how to sleep before this baby gets here!

And to end this little rundown, here's a few pictures from the lovely sister of course:

moved and pictures

2011-10-03T09:02:00.032-04:00

So I wanted to write a nice post to wish my sister goodbye and good luck in Denver. But honestly, one minute it doesn't really feel real and the other minute I'm crying about it. I'm finding it hard to believe that we have no (immediate) family left in town.

I guess I'm just realizing that Owen's growing up will look slightly different than mine, which is fine, just different! I grew up with with 21 cousins all in Champaign/Peoria and seeing them all the time. All of Owen's grandparents and aunts/uncles now live in 5 different cities in 4 states. I know this is pretty norm these days. And we'll make it work with lots of road trips so he knows them all. And it doesn't look like he's getting cousins anytime soon. But anywho, we miss her already. Lots. So here's some of her awesome pictures from our last photo shoot at Curtis Orchard. I have over 200 and want to frame them all!

vet med open house

2011-10-02T21:36:00.000-04:00

Before church this morning, we visited the Vet Med Open House. This is a Champaign tradition every year, I remember going to it when I was a kid. We are so glad we got there right when it started. By the time we drove back by after church, there were cars overflowing the parking lot and people everywhere. We pretty much walked in and got to see everything we wanted and walked out. We tried to milk the cow. Owen loved it from far away, but almost lost it when I put him down to milk her. Maybe next year buddy when you're a big bigger. Please excuse the fake smile:

We saw the famous fistulated cow, basically a cow with a big hole in it's stomach. They give you huge gloves and you can put your hand in. We opted just to take a look. It was a massive cow!

Checking out the goats:

Taking another look at a cow:

a visit from friend

2011-10-02T21:24:00.000-04:00

Sara and Phil came for a short visit this weekend. No matter how short, it's always great to see them and that sweet little girl. They went on a date to a dinner at Prairie Fruit Farms. We got to be the first babysitters to put Liana to bed! She loves to bounce, so we got out Owen's jumperoo which she loved!

She did great eating her sweet potatoes. But come bath time, she wasn't too happy that we were loaning our baby bath tub to someone else, so she had to use the Bumbo. Don't let this picture fool you. They were both in tears before long.

But overall, we had a great time. And when you get paid to babysit in beer, gelato, and raspberries, it's a good night. Love you guys!

Baby #2 FAQ

2011-09-25T18:05:00.001-04:00

Well, the word is out, but you blogger friends get the first dibs on all the info! Owen is going to be a big brother! We are so thrilled and excited! So here's a couple commonly asked questions that I've been asked when people have found out!

When did you find out?
Tuesday, August 9 - saw this bright and early in the morning. I resisted telling William (so hard) as I had an idea I wanted to do to tell him.

Wednesday, August 10 - went to do a pee test at Carle. They require this now before they'll schedule an appointment. Must have been implemented after I had Owen since I didn't have to do this.
Friday, August 11 - first major round of bloodwork - learned my progesterone was ok! What an answer to prayer as I had to take progesterone for 14 weeks with O.
Saturday, August 12 - second round of bloodwork. HCG was doubling and I started breathing a little easier.
Thursday, September 8 - had first ultrasound and saw a beautiful heartbeat (158 bmp).

When are you due?
Still a little up for debate depending on who you talk to, but on the official Carle papers, it's April 21st! That means that Owen and his brother or sister will be about 22 1/2 months apart.

So, how far along does that make you?
I'm in week 11!

How did you tell William?
It was so hard not to tell him as I saw the 2 lines come up! But as soon as he left, I got working on a little shirt for Owen and went and bought a non-cheapy pregnancy test. My idea was to have Owen wearing it when he got home from work, but a friend decided to stop by right around that time. So scratch that. I was DYING. So I sped Owen through dinner and gave him the fastest bath ever and changed him into the shirt and pj pants. I had been making big brother/sister shirts for a friend, so it took William a second to realize that Owen wasn't just modeling a new shirt. He jumped up off the chair, and we kissed and hugged. Good times! That Saturday, my mom was in town and we were able to tell her the same way and then texted the picture to my dad. We Skyped later that night with William's folks with Owen wearing it as well!

How are you feeling?
Well, I've been trying really hard not to complain. Because I am so so thankful that it took barely no time this round to get pregnant and that things are working so far. So this will be my one time shot to say that I have been SO sick. With Owen, I felt nauseous in the evenings and occasionally puked. But with this kiddo, I've been sick from sun up to sun down, throwing up at least twice a day. When I was down 10 pounds in a couple weeks, my midwife gave me the option of starting some medicine. The medicine is what they give to chemotherapy patients, so it's pretty good stuff. My insurance only covered about 9 days of pills (wow, they are pricey). The first day, I was back to my old self, but it must have been a placebo affect, because the puking came back full force the next day. Just in the last couple days, I've been holding food down much better and am hoping that as I get closer to second trimester, things will only get better. And yes, most people hear this and have said "It's totally a girl."

Will you find out the sex (and tell us)?
Yes and yes. We'll be finding out late November, early December and will definitely share the news! I would be so thrilled to get to use all of Owen's clothes again as the seasons will work out pretty good. And so many of my friends have 2 little boys and it looks so fun to have a little playmate for Owen. And it would be really helpful on my super tight budget. But of course, we'd be over the moon too if it was a girl! Cannot wait to find out!

Ok, I think that's it for now. Knowing how awesome the end product of a baby is makes this so super exciting. We are so thankful it took such a short time for it to work and we're in love with this little peanut already!

about to go public

2011-09-25T17:55:00.002-04:00

{title goes here}

2011-09-25T17:33:00.000-04:00

I've been wanting to write this post for a long time now. But I just couldn't come up with a great title. Here were a few that I was kicking around:

Why are there goldfish crackers in my fridge?
And I thought I knew what tired was.
The top 10 stores in C/U with clean toilets
"I'm so excited, I just can't hide it!"
What did we do?
Saltines Suck

And I was so busy trying to come up with a title, I forgot what I was actually going to post about.

week in review

2011-09-24T22:24:00.000-04:00

Dear Diary,
This has been a really busy week and we're all tired. So here's just a little recap of what's been going on, sans any pictures.

Tuesday: After I did a bad job pulling together outfits for a photo shoot, Jenna went out with me to help me shop and we found the perfect bright colored outfits for our upcoming pictures.

Thursday: Baby Ryder Austin made his appearance, finally. Congrats to Lori, Randy, and big sister Avery! We can't wait to bring you a meal and meet that sweet babe! We also had a nice time at Curtis Orchard doing our last (for awhile) photo shoot with my sister before her big move to Denver.
Friday: Baby Audrey Edel was born to Michelle, Doug, and big sister Bella! Cannot wait to meet this tiny beauty! Then in the evening, Pam hosted the going away party for Jenna. It went over great with amazing people and tasty food! I think it was a great way to send Jenna off although it did make it a little more real that she's really leaving. :(
Saturday: my parents spent the night and let us sleep in! My dad and William then got Jenna's apartment packed up and moved into our basement. She's living with us for the next week until she makes the move. Then I got to go the great football game with my dad while Owen stayed home! We got to be in the skybox, which is so much fun with great food and oh my the dessert cart. It was a great afternoon away and I think Owen had a great time with Grammy!

Whew, fun and busy week! And oh the sweet new babies, cannot wait to meet them!

piano

2011-09-22T12:47:00.000-04:00

2 weekends ago, my parents were awesome and loaded up the really heavy piano in a U Haul to bring it back to Champaign. Funny story, as my dad was driving into our drivway, a sheriff pulled up and blocked him in. He asked him if he could search his truck. Turns out, because it was the weekend of 9/11, they were searching all large vehicles that could be carrying a bomb. Really, in Savoy, IL? Of course, all they found was the piano and the car topper which we're taking from them too for those road trips we plan to do someday with lots of kiddos and luggage. :)

Anyways, I've loved having the piano here and it makes me want to paint and decorate that room. And here's my little musician in the making:

snack time

2011-09-22T11:28:00.000-04:00

These 2 were dressed alike on Monday, so I had to snap a picture. Miss S is such a sweetie and I think Owen really enjoys having her come play with us!

first trip to Curtis Orchard

2011-09-22T11:15:00.001-04:00

Last week, William's parents were in town for the week, so we tried to show them around to some of the Champaign places they hadn't seen yet. Curtis Orchard was first on the list! William met us over there during lunch and we had a great time! We of course came home with donuts, apples, and some other goodies. I had never eaten lunch there, but I highly recommend the little cafe! Our chili, homemade applesauce, and cornbread were delish!

hanging out with PawPaw before we left

just getting there and seeing dad!

umm, I don't get it. am I supposed to smile?

he of course tried to sample the goat food himself

he was nervous at first, but eventually let them eat out of his hand

he liked the tractor!

he made his truck noises the whole time he was "driving"

Can't wait to go back today with Jenna to take some family pictures!! And of course get more donuts.

bad blogging

2011-09-19T13:56:00.000-04:00

I've been a bad blogger. We had a couple slow weeks and then the inlaws were here for a week.

Ok, let's just be honest. Grey's Anatomy Season 7 finally was released on Netflix. I have now watched all 22 episodes to be ready for the season premiere this Thursday night. All naptimes and evenings were consumed leaving no time to blog. I will catch up. Soon.

weaned!

2011-09-09T20:56:00.000-04:00

I still have a hard time believing that as I type it. My little boy has been boob-free for the last week. I really thought it would be an easier process than it was. So many of my friends said, "oh (s)he was just ready" and "I just knew it was time." I didn't really experience any of these things. I had told myself that I would just see how things went this summer. But as we were approaching August, I had dropped a couple feedings and the times he did nurse were super short. But he was definitely not in any mood to stop them. He would point at my chest, grab my shirt, and scream pretty good if he didn't get it. But over the next few weeks, I just kept telling him that he was a big boy who drank milk from a sippy cup and offered the boob less and less. And then last weekend, I just decided we were done. He was pretty mad for a few days, but in the last couple hasn't even "asked" for it. So I guess that means, he's weaned!

It has been such an incredible journey. I am so thankful for the awesome breastfeeding I've had. I know that not everyone has such a good experience. He latched on from the get go:

And pretty much didn't let go. I have truly loved breastfeeding. It's been a wonderful experience with my little guy these last 15 months. I thank God daily that I've been able to have a great supply, a guy with no latching issues, and a desire to do it that never wavered. As it came to an end, I didn't shed any tears like I thought I might. Largely because I know he won't be our last kiddo and I'll hopefully get to do this again! And it will be nice to have my boobs to myself for awhile.

corn on the cob

2011-08-30T22:13:00.000-04:00

I am very happy that for the most part, my little guy is a great eater. One of his summer favs has been corn on the cob. Here's a pretty boring video of him eating some. The video also highlights his cute "what" hand gesture. Whenever you ask him a question, he'll hold up his hands like asking "what?" I think he was doing it in the video to ask what the noise was that he heard, which was my phone. Enjoy grandparents (and Avery).

our week these days

2011-08-30T21:55:00.000-04:00

We are finally settling into our new schedule! We had to do some tweaking to our childcare schedule because it was WAY too much to have kiddos everyday. I felt like I really wasn't being the momma I wanted to be to Owen, so we had to sadly say goodbye to one of the families I was watching. But it worked out great for everyone in the end. So now, we only have Miss S on Mondays and Wednesdays all day. She is such a sweetie. She's just a couple months older than Owen, and they're getting along great. It's adorable to watch them climb the stairs together to get ready for nap time (and she goes right to sleep. how do I get one of those?). Owen points to her room when he gets up as if to ask when she'll be up to play. On Tuesdays, we get to play with Miss E and Miss L for a few hours as well which is really fun! That leaves us Thursdays and Friday for just us, heading to the library, and time to actually get some grocery shopping done. :) It's been fun seeing O have a play made and it's nice to also feel like I'm contributing (a little bit) to our mini-van savings plan!

making sure all her special things are safe from Owen :)

more cows

2011-08-22T15:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was super busy trying to get a meal ready for a friend who just had a baby. Jenna was over the afternoon borrowing our internet and washing machine. So when Owen got up from his nap, William and Jenna gave me a little break and took him to the south farms. On South Lincoln, there are TONS of cows. We comment every time we drive by that we need to take him there. So they finally did. I would say Owen thoroughly enjoyed seeing some more cows up close and personal. Please ignore the fact that he is in mismatching pj's. I promise he didn't wear those to church earlier in the day. :)

dad, look, cows!

that baby looks cute enough to eat

it's sunny out here

beef. it's what's for dinner.

what are you lookin at?

we love Avery

2011-08-21T09:08:00.000-04:00

Today, Avery and Lori came over for a little playdate. This girl is a riot. And I love that she loves to read this blog and watch Owen's videos. I promise to get more of those posted for you girly. They had fun playing and goofing off in the water table and playing with pretty much every other toy in the house. Avery's getting pretty excited about becoming a big sister in the next 3 weeks or so. Lori had asked me to make her a big sister shirt and coordinating onesie for Baby Ryder. I had such a good time making them!

she really wanted to get her hair wet

these were extra shirts i made

big sis and lil bro - the flower is a hair clip, not part of the shirt

close up of the hand stitching

visiting Peoria

2011-08-20T22:09:00.000-04:00

This past Tuesday was my mom's birthday. To celebrate, some ladies drove to Peoria to have dinner with her on Thursday evening. Owen and I drove over a bit early to get him settled with Grandpa. We had a fun ladies night out and he loved hanging out with Grandpa. Owen, Jenna, and I spent the night and Dad fixed us a great breakfast before we started packing up our stuff. We were a bit bummed though. See, there's this group of cows that hangs out in my parents backyard. Ok, not really their backward, but directly on the other side of the fence. My child, for some reason or other, LOVES cows. He says moo all the time, currently adores reading books that have cows in them, and will sit and watch the entire Baby McDonald farm video without getting bored. So, anyways, I had been telling him over and over that we were going to see the cows and Grandpa and Grandmas. But they didn't come out all night or morning as per their normal routine. My dad was pretty sure they had been sent to the butcher. :( But low and behold, as we were packing up the car, they finally came out. Owen had a fabulous time mooing and even getting to feed them pears from the neighbor. It was definitely a great end to a short little visit to Peoria!

randoms

2011-08-17T21:01:00.001-04:00

Thanks to my friend Anne, we scored a little kitchen playset on Craigslist for a great deal! I have plans to remove the one yucky sticker and dress it up with my Silhouette and some vinyl. I brought it up from the basement for some of the kiddos I'm watching. I have tons of play food from my teaching kindergarten days, so we got them out of the basement and gave them a good bleach bath. Now, Owen's been having a blast playing with it, just shoving food in and opening and closing the doors. I know this picture doesn't show it, but really, he's having fun.

And in other news, he has tooth #8 as of today!

neighborhood park

2011-08-17T20:52:00.000-04:00

So, I'm loving our neighborhood! Really loving it. I've made a little diagram of our surrounding houses and am filling in names and info as I get to know the people around us. Right across the street from us, M and C just brought home their preemie who was born before Owen's birthday. I'm excited to take them a meal this week and begin the process of getting to know them more!

Another reason we love this place, the park that's just a few little blocks away! It will be so much fun when Owen is running around. Right next to the park they are building the new elementary school. Yesterday, Owen and I headed over to take a look at all the excitement. He amazed me with how long he sat and looked at all the tractors. A couple drove be real close to us and even waved. We finished it off with a little swinging time and I think I had one happy little man.

hanging out in the stroller taking it all in

a view from his seat

we watched this one for a long time as he was scooping rock

this kid loves to swing

Prairie Farm: take 2

2011-08-17T20:45:00.001-04:00

Whew, a little behind on my blogging these days. So where were we? This past weekend was the last weekend our beloved little Prairie Farm was open. So on Friday, I called Holly up to see if her and her sweet munchkins wanted to meet us there for a last round of farm animal lovin. We were so glad they could meet us there. I took my camera, but my trusty memory card was in my computer at home, so these pictures are shamelessly stolen from Holly. Owen was quite excited to see the cows this time around! Thanks Holly and kiddos for a fun late afternoon date!

first project

2011-08-11T22:36:00.001-04:00

So all the boxes are unpacked (well, the ones in basement don't count) and I'm starting to get the decorating itch. I cannot commit to any paint colors yet, so I thought I'd do a small project to keep myself busy for a few days. I've been trying really hard to get better at meal planning so I knew I wanted a menu board somewhere in the kitchen. If it's fun and crafty, maybe I'll be better at doing it weekly, right? I got my inspiration from Whipper Berry. So here's my final product. It's kinda hidden in the back corner by the laundry room off the kitchen. But I figured it would be a good place to start a project just in case something went wrong.

Step 1: gather your supplies of an old frame, spray paint, chalkboard paint, vinyl decals (optional as you could just write the letters with chalk), 2 nails, and chalk

Step 2: take said old frame and dismantle all the pieces. Lightly sand the frame to prep for paint.

Step 3: on a not too hot or windy day, spray paint your frame. Because my frame had a silver crackle thing going on, it took my 4 good coats to get it pretty evened out.

Step 4: figure out where you want your menu board. I traced a light line around the inside of the frame right onto the wall. These were my guide lines for where to tape off my rectangle. I just taped an inch wider than the inside of the frame. That way, I knew there'd be no wall color showing does that make sense? Here, I did a little mock up for you below.

Step 5: paint the taped off area with your chalkboard paint. I just used a paintbrush because I was too lazy to dig through our painting supply box in the garage to find a paint tray, roller, etc. I did 3 coats to be sure everything was good and covered. I tried to wait 24 hours between each coat. Then peel off your painters tape!

Step 6: Apply your vinyl. I used my Silhouette machine to make the "Menu" and the letters of the week. But you could paint these with a stencil. Or not do them at all and just use chalk to write it.

Step 7: On many sites with chalkboard ideas, it's recommended to "season" your chalkboard. To do that, you just take a piece of chalk, lay it on the side, and color the entire surface of the board. Then I just wiped it clean with a damp cloth.

Step 8: I hung the frame using two small nails as close to the corners as I could get. And then wrote my first week's menu!

little boys

2011-08-09T22:09:00.003-04:00

These little men are keeping me super busy. Whew. But what's cuter than 3 little boys in their diapers? They had a blast playing with the water table on yet another warm day!

A. found Owen's tie and wanted to wear it

alyssa+nate

2011-08-09T21:43:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday, we had the pleasure of celebrating another cousin wedding! Alyssa and Nate wowed us with a super sweet ceremony and fabulous reception. The theme of the wedding was Old Hollywood. And it was so great to see all the little details that made this theme come to life. I just love details. I did a terrible job taking pictures of the actual wedding. I'll send you to Holly's page to view some. The ladies looks great with their vintage hair do's, they drove off in a great classic car, the table "numbers" were names of classic movies. Just a beautiful night! Now they're off to Fiji. I'm not jealous.

he's standing! now just for those steps.

Owen came to the ceremony with us due to babysitter issues. Love his tie in the wedding colors.

not a bad family pic! well, Owen looks like he's picking his nose.

Mommy and son

Grammy (and Grandpa) stayed with us for the weekend

praying as everything kicks off

the gals at our table - minus Mimi

what a great date night!

they had a photobooth! so fun!

me, william, jenna, julie, and part of mikes head

learning to drive

2011-08-04T23:10:00.000-04:00

Owen is finally learning how to steer his car and walking toys. YAY! This means not quite as many crying fits when he runs into something and can't move on his own. This is definitely a grandparents video. read: not too exciting.

an awesome visit

2011-08-04T23:00:00.001-04:00

This week, I was SO lucky to have my dear friend Sara come and visit. She is a brave woman, road tripping 3 hours by herself with little miss Liana. We have not seen them since right after Liana was born, so it was high time our cutie patooties got to hang out together. We really didn't do a whole lot because of napping kids on different schedules. But I love friends that you can just hang with and still feel like it's treasured time. Here's their visit in pictures:

her first time in a high chair!

I'm not so sure about you

ok, I'll hold your hand

Oh those eyes. Her and Owen would make some pretty dark eyed babies. Just saying.

isn't sure just the cutest thing you've ever seen? and those lips.

umm, mom. put the focus back on me for a sec, will ya?

The 3 munchkins enjoying the breeze as it was FINALLY cool enough to open the door this morning.

Thank you so much Sara for driving up and enduring the heartbreak of listening to your babe cry from the backseat. We can't wait to come visit you in the fall!

the new kiddos in my life

2011-08-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

Well, we made it though 2 days this week of childcare with one more to go tomorrow. I've been praying so much for Owen that he'd do well with the other kids and that his health would also be protected since he hasn't been around tons of other kids except in the nursery. He seems to be taking it in stride. There have been a few meltdowns, especially involving his current favorite truck, and we're still working on how to get him to sleep without my help as much. And he's also taking up biting again while nursing. Payback for mom? Not sure about that one. But anywhoo, here's a few pictures from our first day on Monday and then today.

last minute prep to try and help A's (dads) cat allergies

the boys didn't waste any time getting almost every toy out

milk break

snack time!

Time to color. ok, well Owen ate the crayons, but C colored!

*disclaimer - you will notice food or milk in almost every picture. No, we don't eat and drink all day long. This is the only moment these boys are still enough for me to grab my camera. :)

things are a changin'

2011-07-31T22:51:00.000-04:00

This little man is about to have his world rocked tomorrow morning. After a lot of talks and prayer, I'm going to be starting to childcare at our house tomorrow! It started off with one gal asking and it snowballed very quickly. I guess I should be flattered that so many people trust me with theirs kiddos! Now through December, I'll be watching kiddos from 4 families throughout the week (luckily, never all at once). I'm really excited for Owen to make new friends and to have a few older kids to use my teaching skills/materials on. Of course, I've been praying a ton that he transitions well and that he learns how to go to sleep without me by his side since that won't really work with other kids needing me. We're easing into this week with only 2.5 days of kids. He'll meet A and C tomorrow morning. Here we go buddy!

my little reader

2011-07-31T21:59:00.000-04:00

Oh this video melts my heart. He would sit all day and point to his books and "read" if I would let him. I also love that this video shows how Sophie is never too far from his side. There was a short week there that we were looking at giving Sophie to a new home. But I couldn't do it. So, despite the increased vacuuming and making sure my sister is stocked with allergy pills when she comes over, she's staying.

cleaning

2011-07-31T21:29:00.003-04:00

Owen loves to "help" with whatever cleaning tasks are my list for the day (another post to come about my new system). He loves to chase the vacuum and play with the brooms. And even though it's not cleaning, his new favorite thing to do is empty my purse and then try to put it all back in.

this is fun

At least he didn't figure out how to put the coins down the vent.

i make these floors pretty dirty

your votes please

2011-07-29T19:16:00.000-04:00

I NEED YOU. . .

. . .to vote that is. So here's the dilemma. We have the perfect handles for all the kitchen cabinets. They match the curve of our appliance handles perfectly. And my parents used the same ones and have a few left over that we can have for free. Every little bit helps. So here's where you come in. Do you like the tall ones or the short ones? I honestly go back and forth, so you won't hurt my feelings any way. Take a peek and then vote. And don't pay close attention to the placement where I was holding them!

short ones

tall ones

shot of part of the kitchen

we'll use the short ones on these for sure

Which handle?
	tall - how modern!
	short - it looks more balanced
	start over on your handle search

= see results =

little blog makeover

2011-07-29T19:13:00.001-04:00

I know most of you read in google reader. But I hopped on the gray and yellow design train and gave my blog a little makeover. Whatcha think?

I {heart} Pinterest

2011-07-28T21:16:00.001-04:00

As if I needed another website to suck my time away. I'm seriously putting computer "bans" on myself during the day. But if you're not on Pinterest yet, you should be. And follow me and I'll follow you back. :) I have pinned so many great ideas for the house, future things to do with Owen, crafty projects I can't wait to start, and some awesome recipes. Here's just a little taste of some of my recent pins. You can click on the picture and it will take you to the original source, not Pinterest.

This iced coffee recipe turned out fabulous!! I love me some iced coffee, especially on these scorcher days when caffeine is needed, but not something hot.

Umm, isn't this bag an adorable idea? It has places for a kid to hold on! And quite easy to make with supplies from Hobby Lobby and my Silhouette cutting out the vinyl people.

This recipe for pesto stuffed shells also was fabulous. If I were to do it again, I would way under cook my noodles since they cook quite a bit more when in the oven. But the flavors were great and it got a thumbs up from all who ate it.

I've seen the use of toilet paper tubes popping up all over craft blogland. I'm thinking it might be a great idea in my downstairs bathroom. A bathroom just seems like an appropriate place to do it. :) Seriously, the black design here is all toilet paper tubes! Impressive.

This is a cute craft poster! I found another one just like this that was a free printable. Hmm, gotta find that link since the craft room needs some things on the walls!

Loving this idea for necklace storage! Just a rod and shower curtain rings!

With the help of my mom, we're making these curtains for the living room/dining room! Love love love them!

Wouldn't these be adorable for a shower decoration? Or maybe in a little one's nursery? They're made simply by blowing up a balloon, wrapping it in glue soaked yarn, drying, and then popping the balloon. Brilliant!

I've also seen these cute little bird nest necklaces all over the place! While I know Aubrey won't be making one any time soon, I thought they were adorable. And even though I just ordered one not too long ago, I'll definitely be trying my hand at making my own using this tutorial.

Ok, I'll stop. But seriously. Check it out. But maybe set a timer.

his first haircut. . .

2011-07-27T22:05:00.001-04:00

was a FAIL. Ok, let me backup. Owen barely has any hair. But he has these 2 little wings over his ears that were driving me batty (pun intended). So when Jenna came over to give William a cut, we thought we'd try and get Owen's little hairs cut. No such luck. William held him. We bribed. I held him. We let him play with the combs. Not happening. Oh well, at least I got these pictures of the first attempted hair cut.

And another positive of the attempted hair cut: Jenna's multi-million dollar idea. It's the Puree and Spray: only slightly messier than a spoon. I think she could make a bundle!

Owen's speech

2011-07-22T22:50:00.001-04:00

I absolutely love all the talking Owen's been doing lately. Tonight at dinner, he gave quite the speech. Don't mind the spaghetti sauce hanging out of his nose.

Happy Anniversary!

2011-07-21T22:26:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was William and mine 4th anniversary! It feels like it's been so much longer than that (as in I've known him forever) and yet also like it went by in a blink of an eye. We agreed to not spend any money on each other since we're saving for a list a mile-long of house stuff. But I still wanted to do something small. I've seen this idea all over craft blogland and Pinterest. Quick sidenote, if you're not on Pinterest, go. But be warned it will suck your ~~life~~ time away. So here's what I did: a 52 things things I love about you booklet.

Supplies:

deck of 52 playing cards (I also used the 2 jokers for my front and back cover)
2 metal book rings
some way to write on the cards

What I did:

I started by punching holes in all the cards using one card for my template.
I used this lovely blog's template for my cover and back plate.
Then I just created text boxes in word and typed out 52 things I love about William.
I printed it on sticker paper, cut them out, and slapped one on each card. You could easily print them on regular paper and glue them. Or print on mailing labels. Or just hand-write directly on the cards. Whatever suits your fancy.
Then clip all the cards together and give to your sweetie. It's a fun little thing he can look back at when he's having a rough day. :)

I was going to write out my list of 52 things, but then I realized that's just for him. So here's just a few of the things I wrote:

We had an amazing dinner at Kofusion which is where we had our first date and where he introduced me to the wonderful world of sushi. Yum. Then we went all crazy and went to Target. Wow, are we old married folk or what? Thanks to my sister who watched Owen while we were gone. And I literally mean watched as in watched him on the video monitor since I put him to bed before we left. :)

*ETA - he did wake up once for her, so I do want to credit her for getting my wiggle worm back to sleep.

pool time!

2011-07-19T15:43:00.001-04:00

When your weather channel app tells you that it feels like 117 degrees outside, it is time to hit the pool! Thanks Joanna and Anne for letting me in on the secret that Sholem is open to mommies from 9-11ish for only $3 (well, the baby pool is). We met up with Anne&Alex and Becca&Charlie to cool off on this hot morning. Owen loves splashing in the water, but definitely told me when it was time to go home. It was a super fun time and my skin is starting to not look *quite* so blindingly white.

new favorite toy

2011-07-19T09:03:00.002-04:00

Who knew the gate could provide so much fun?

*video warning: long and boring after the first couple seconds :)*