Ready for Baby

Today is my due date!

I spent the day doing my Saturday chores, finishing up a few odds and ends, and made a run to Sams Club with the boys where we enjoyed some delicious samples or "snacks" as Nathan calls them.  I have had a few minor contractions but nothing to get excited over yet.

I have accomplished everything that is important for Baby #3's arrival.  I still want to make 2 more crib sheets because it is always nice to have extras. For some reason my crib mattress is extra long, and store bought sheets just don't fit so I have to make my own.  I also want to redo the window treatments and I have everything for the project, but it will have to wait till after this little guy comes.

Our "nursery" is one side of the boys room and it is all stocked and ready for baby.  I have the diaper bab packed and I put the freshly washed carseat in the car today.  I still have some things to pack to finish off my hospital bag, but I'll do that when I know I'm in labor for sure. 

All in all this pregnancy has been easy and gone by FAST.  The only complication, the whole broken ankle/leg thing, had nothing to do with being pregnant but it did add a certain level of awkwardness and discomfort.  Luckily I have carried really small with this pregnancy which has been a blessing to help keep the awkwardness and discomfort that came with mending a broken ankle to a minimum.  I have gained 26 lbs, which is my best yet.  With Nathan I gained 36 and with Bracken I gained 32.  For the most part this pregnancy has felt just like my other two. One big difference with this one is I tested negative for Group B Strep, the other 2 I was positive.  Which means I don't have to worry about getting the required antibiotics in my system before the baby wants to come out.  I progress quickly once my labor starts, with my first 2 labor experiences I was already 7 cm by the time I got to the hospital so the nurses had to rush the antibiotics.  But this time I won't have to worry about that.  Testing negative also means I won't be required to have a 48 hour minimum stay at the hospital.  It is always nice to get home as soon as possible.

I am anxious to get this show on the road.  Now we just have to wait and see what the rest of the weekend brings!

My 1st Quilt

This is the quilt I made for Baby #3, but I have to make a disclaimer, I cheated.  I can really only claim to have made a blanket as I did none of the quilting.  It all started when I cleaned out our hall closet a few weeks ago and came across some unused quilted king shams.  As I was contemplating what to do with them the idea came to me that if I unpicked them and sewed them together they would be the perfect size for a baby quilt.  And that is exactly what I did. 

I appliqued the baby life words onto the shams, added a cotton backing which I tacked down every so often so as not to interfere with the quilted circles on the shams and then reused the binding that I unpicked from the shams to finish it off. Now I have a playful, colorful baby quilt that coordinates beautifully with my new crib bedding and it didn't cost me a thing, all it took was some creativity and a bit of time.  Everytime I walk into the boys room and see this cute quilte it makes me smile.  Now I just need the little one to wrap up in it!

Laundry Room Love

This project has been a long time in coming.  It was meant to be completed in November for my birthday, but November ended up being super busy with lots of car repairs so the laundry room project was pushed back.  We hit is hard the first part of Christmas Break taking out the super ugly cupboards and painting it a soft gray.  But our plans came to a screeching halt when I broke my leg/ankle. For weeks it sat untouched, but luckily it was usable as far as getting laundry washed and dried.  A few weeks after I had my walking cast we picked it back up.  Progress was slow since I was still not as capable as before and Curtis was once again in the middle of a busy semester, but little by little we have improved our laundry room and now we LOVE it.  It is super functional for our needs and no longer an eye sore.

I adore my new cupboards, they fit so much stuff and look really good.  And I love the shelf above the washer/dryer that allows me to access and store all the stuff I use frequently for laundry and helps keep the dryer clear of clutter.

Our "mud room" area is also a huge improvement since there was nothing here but bare wall before.  We come in and out of our garage so this has already proven to be extremely handy.  I'm surprised we managed at all before we had it.  The cubbies store our seasonal gear and my purse finally has a home.  And now there are always shoes and jackets available for the boys.  Before all their jackets and shoes were kept in their closet which proved problematic when Bracken would be napping and Nathan decided he wanted to go outside. And now we have 2 active boys who will be needing things when this new little brother arrives so this space evolved at a great time. 

And here is where I keep the ironing board now.

And this is where we keep keys and other little things that tend to end up in the laundry room.

My super handy shelf.

I used to want to cover up our water heater some how, but I could never think of a functional way that would still allow easy access should it ever need repaired.  But now with our gray walls I hardly even notice it.  There are still a few projects to be completed before this room is completely done.  We have a utility sink we need to install in the space between the washer and water heater, but that project will have to wait till summer.  We also want to paint the door to the garage white, and eventually replace the inside laundry room door, along with all our other inside doors, with nicer white doors, but that too will have to wait for a future date.

All in all I'm happy my birthday present is finally finished and I have a beautiful space to work my laundry magic in! 

We've Joined The Club!

We are the proud owners of a Chevy Uplander mini van!!!!!

We have had our eye on this vehicle for several months now.  We sold our previous family car, the Mercury Grand Marquis, early last week and have been looking for a new car ever since, and we kept coming back to this Uplander.  We needed a bigger not to mention more reliable family car.  The Marquis was becoming a money pit.  Amazingly enough it sold after being on Craigs List for only 2 weeks.  We knew that the Marquis would appeal to the Hispanic culture around town with it's smooth ride and mafia dark windows and boy were we right.  Pretty much all the interested parties that inquired about the car were Spanish speakers.  Curtis and I joke that knowing Spanish was a requirement for getting that darn car sold. 

We are all thrilled with our new car, especially the boys.  Nathan and Bracken have been reffering to it as "our" car for the last several months and now it truly is all ours.  And the best part, it is completely paid for!!!!  Gotta love that. 

Bring on the road trips!

Couch Revamp

We had an exciting delivery this week, some new couch covers!

We needed them desperately, because Nathan has been a little hard on the loveseat.  He sists in the same spot all the time.  It is "HIS" spot.  And he wore the old cover to threads.  I patched it several times but it was too far gone. 

These old covers have been around for a while.  We inherited them from my Mom and she purchased them when I was a sophmore in high school, so they have been in use for almost 12 years and served my family well.

Our couches are still in great shape and have a lot of life left in them, they just aren't very pretty.  So while our kidlets are still young and rough on our furniture we figured it would be prudent to keep our old couches and just give them a facelift with new covers.  And since these covers came with scotch guard they are super easy to keep clean.  That's always a selling point for me! 

Sick Day

Yesterday the boys and I stayed home from church.  We are all sniffling and coughing due to a lovely head cold.  By the end of the day we had used up 2 boxes of tissues. That's a lot of blowing!  I personally have a red nose to rival Rudolph.

The boys spent a good part of the day lounging in their tent and watching Vegie Tales.

We all enjoyed a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, and then later in the evening the boys had a long bubble bath to soak and relax.

We rarely bathe the boys together anymore, they just don't get along well in such a confined space.  So while Nathan waited for his turn he hung out in his top bunk with Pappi and listened to stories.

Just Around The Corner

Looks like Spring is almost here!

I planted snap dragons in my pots for the summer time and these snap dragons just keep on going.  There were looking a little shabby so I cleaned them up and discovered that my bulbs were pushing through!  I was so excited that they came back this year because I wasn't sure if I had planted them correctly, but I guess I did.  I can hardly wait for them to bloom!