Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Ending on an UpWard note

I mentioned before that my daughter did UpWard Cheer this year.

I think she enjoyed it most of the time and, of course, my little man wants to try his hand at dribbling next year!

Last Thursday was their end-of-the-season celebration. A motivational speaker, awards, pizza. All good stuff.

We weren't going to go. She had a scheduled softball practice that night and because of poor timing with weather, her team has only had about three practices. Games start in the next week or so. So, I felt she needed to honor that commitment instead.

But it rained some more and we quickly shifted plans.

I really had not paid much attention to the details of the event. I knew something about a former Harlem Globetrotter speaking, but not much else.

In the end, I am really glad we got to go. We got to hear Seth Franco share some of his story, encourage those that were in attendance, and do some really great tricks with a basketball.

The cheerleaders were on the front row, so she got a close view of the action. And despite little man's sudden earache onset, he enjoyed the show as well. We stayed through the awards before heading out to attend to his pain. Everyone got really cool backpacks with a free meal coupon and a DVD of the season. We will also be getting a 5x7 picture of her cheer team with Seth.

You can read more at Seth Franco's website.

I also found this good article telling more of about Seth Franco's story.

Here is a fun video showcasing Seth' talents.

I am glad she got to participate in the program!

Stacey

Monday, March 30, 2009

Fun little things

I ordered a new car seat cover and love its fresh colors! The kids have already tested it out by pretending with a baby doll. Of course, that meant I got a little freaked out momentarily the other morning. I walked by and glanced down at it, jumping a little with the fleeting thought that I had left the "baby" in the car seat!!



More exciting is that all my fabric has arrived! EEEEK! That means I actually need to get busy sewing! And I really do need to get busy!

These next few pictures are of the fabric I am using for the bassinet that will be in our room. I am doing vintage retro transportation.

Aren't these panels great?! It is hard to tell, but the panel squares are pretty big. They are big enough to cut out and work into an alternating pattern with the other fabric.

Here is the rest of my choices. Black minky dot, transportation, road stripes, red with tiny white dots, along with my transportation panels.

I liked this rocket fabric so much that I ordered enough for the moses' basket and for the shopping cart cover I will sew later. This is my shopping cart combo. I am doing the red rocket fabric on one side and the lime green with tiny white dots on the other.

Here is my moses' basket combination. Lime green minky dot, black with space orbits, black with tiny rockets, blue with space rings, and the red rocket fabric.

A little closer look.


I ordered most of the fabric, except the two transportation pieces, from Fabric.com. I have ordered from them before and the fabric is true to what you see. This time, I even found their "designer wall" which meant that I could see all my fabric choices together on one screen before purchasing them. Love it! The best part was I ordered enough to get free shipping AND enough to get a 20% discount. The transportation fabric I had to order from a lady on ebay.

I can't wait to see what leftovers I have for burp cloths and other such cute stuff!

Stacey

Friday, March 27, 2009

The Plan

Well, I started off great with my cleaning schedule.

Then I got tired! :)

Then I had to start the whole laundry cycle again.

Laundry is my nemesis!

Only not as cute as Anakin. (We are working our way through the Star Wars series, remember!)

I keep chanting "a load a day", but it never fails somewhere along the way that a load ends up sitting in a chair. And then another. And then another.

And then we are picking through clean laundry for underwear while dirty laundry taunts me!

Back to cleaning!

Now I know perfectly well that my house is going to get dirty again before the baby comes. But I just feel the need to do that deeper cleaning and organizing anyway.

I am secretly hoping that my husband will let me find someone to do a one-time cleaning right before our trip to the hospital!

I mean what better 10-year anniversary present could we ask for. Me giving him another child and a happy momma with a clean house! :)

So far, this is what I have accomplished:

* Upstairs and Downstairs Bathrooms- the basics plus shiny baseboards and light fixtures, along with clean and organized cabinets and drawers. There is so much nastiness I could talk about when it comes to bathrooms, but not going there!

* Laundry Room- sweep, mop, and organize cabinets. Thankfully, a relative small job!

* Pantry- Just some basic organizing and tossing of old stuff.

* Kitchen- As simple as I tried to keep it, I still stretched this one out over several days. While I didn't go completely crazy and take everything out of the cabinets, I did do a lot of shifting of dishes so I could wipe out the insides. It felt great to throw some old food stuff and meds away and clean off the top of the fridge. I even rearranged a few things so that my cabinets made more sense. I thought they made sense the first time around, but now it is better! For some reason I had 2 officey-type areas in my kitchen, but after rearranging, I now have 1 central "office" location and a whole cabinet shelf for baby stuff!!

* Living Room/Hall/Stairs- The basics along with clean baseboards and window sills!

* Dining Room- The basics plus a little organizing and cleaning the 2 fake trees.

* Office- Just the basics because this is the point that I got tired! I still need to go through papers and junk and do some organizing.

I still have the 3 bedrooms, my hobby room, and the garage on my agenda, but like I said, laundry has invaded again!

We did deal with the yard last weekend. That felt great! It had grown out of control and then the rain made it worse plus kept him from mowing. While he attacked the yard, I actually worked on the 2 flower beds. Nothing fancy, just basically getting all the weeds and junk out. I don't have the energy for planting because just that about killed me!

Then I let the kids "help" me wash the winter grime and spring pollen off all the toys and stuff from the porch. They got to get some water play in and I got clean toys and a clean back porch! We were all happy!

The most fun for me last week was finally ordering my fabric! I can't wait to share once it comes in!

Stacey

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Baby Update

I had my appointment this past Thursday and all is well.

He is measuring nicely and the heart beat is strong.

My previous visit found me with a 5# gain in a month. This visit found me with no weight gain in 3 weeks. And while it sounds great, I am scratching my head because I feel and look bigger. Oh well. And I am left with a 10# window in the next 7+ weeks as to not surpass my weight gain with the other two.

I am on a mission!

The regular 3rd trimester stuff is upon me~ fatigue, leg cramps, awkwardness, and weeping.

While a lot of times, I try to get in some squatting while around the house and yard, most of the other times I have resorted to requesting that my children pick up stuff for me that I have dropped.

And like the whole fat belly and drooping pants thing, why is that pregnant women with big bellies not suitable for bending seem to drop stuff a LOT?!!!

I watched Grey's and ER off my DVR from Thursday and now wonder if I can bear the last 2 episodes of their seasons in my weepy state. I have decided that I must, however I will be watching them alone and with much tissue in hand!

While at the grocery store the other day, I felt the force calling me to the ice cream section. Initially it was for my husband, but I pulled a little treat out for myself as well. Ben and Jerry's Chocolate with Brownie Chunks! The small container says it has 4 servings in it. I made it last for 3 and feel pretty good about it!

It certainly makes my weepiness better!

Stacey

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Well, that makes my job easier!

For the last few months (although it feels like years and might only be weeks!), my son has made it clear what he wants for his birthday.

Every time he sees something cool on TV, he directs my attention to it. THAT is what he wants!

Problem is that at this point, my head is spinning with everything he has told me. These days, I pretty much just look, nod, and say "really!" or "cool" with as much enthusiasm as I can muster.

Every once in awhile, I will mention that he wants everything he sees.

It doesn't phase him!

A few days ago, as I was walking past him, he exclaimed enthusiastically,

"MOM, I want EVERYTHING at Wal-Mart that is for BOYS!"

I feel so prepared now that he has narrowed it down for me!

Stacey

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Spring Break 2009

After all the rain the week before, we ended up with beautiful weather for Spring Break last week.

I had planned on a pretty low-key week except maybe for a day trip or two.

But I didn't want complete bored-itis on my hands either!

My daughter ended up attended a 3-day morning "day camp" with Girl Scouts the first part of the week. She enjoyed Science Day, Safari Day, and they went roller skating on Wednesday. I realllllly wanted to don some skates because I love it, but decided just to be my son's guard rail instead. Although after the first hour, he didn't need me! They even let him participate in the roller skating games, which he loved. My daughter did great from the beginning, so she was on her own with her friends.

I checked off a few more rooms on my cleaning schedule before we left for our mini-vaca the last part of the week.

I decided to schedule a doc appt at the end of the week and take the kids and my MIL with me.

We enjoyed dinner at Chuy's (YUMMM!) before seeing the Disney on Ice show (Mickey and Minnie's Adventure) on Thursday. It was a surprise for the kids and they enjoyed it. Personally, I enjoyed the Disney Princess on Ice show better, but you can't beat discounted tickets so I rolled with it!

Friday morning found us at the Dallas Zoo.

Here is where my disclaimer is required.

I can now officially vouch for the superiority of the Fort Worth Zoo over the Dallas Zoo. Not to hurt anyone's feelings, but it just is.

Some animal exhibits were hardly visible, while others held only one or two of each type of animal. And, uh, hello, no hippos?! What is up with that?!

We did the monorail tour on the Wild Africa side for $2 each which was actually enjoyable.

DON'T, I repeat DON'T, do the 4D "movie". You can choose from 2 shows and it is $6 a person. I was acually excited because we have enjoyed several of these types of shows at Six Flags and Moody Gardens. Despite all their hype, it is barely 15 minutes long (even though it shows as 30 minutes long) and it is hardly a 4d experience. It is barely a 3D experience.

And while I am glad the kids enjoyed themselves, I thought you needed to be fair warned!

Painting earlier in the week.

Dallas Zoo Trip






This was probably our favorite exhibit!! There were only 2 rhinos, but this one was the most entertaining. He would walk around and then stop for a little relief! He did this several times. Can you see it?!!! :) We were all crackin' up!

This is the best shot I could get of a tiger.



As much as I detest slimy things, I will say that I thought the Reptile/Amphibian exhibit building was probably one of their best attempts. It was informative and interesting.


He loved it!

She did not!


One of 3 giraffes.

The lone elephant we could find.




The waterfall view from the monorail.





Our favorite animal, the Okari. The back half is like a zebra but it is actually the cousin of the giraffe.

We ended the day on the merry-go-round and a stop by the gift shop before heading home Friday afternoon.



Stacey

Monday, March 23, 2009

Family Pictures 2009

The weekend that we had planned to take pictures ended up being rainy and colder than we wanted. So, we opted out of Saturday and moved the time to Sunday afternoon, in hopes of clear skies. By the time we took pics, the rain was gone and the overcast sky was perfect. The temperature, however, was about 10 degrees cooler than we had expected.

As you can see here!


I had solicited a new friend to take our pics, and despite her nervousness about it, I think she did great. She took a LOT of pics which always helps when you need to find good ones among the bad. And by bad, I don't mean her picture taking ability. Most of the "bad" ones were due to crazy faces, crazy hair, or poor cooperation on our part!

It is so funny how lighting and color changes so much. I mean how else can I explain how much rounder I appear in these pics compared to the ones I just took a few weeks ago! ;) The whole hair thing too! I had just had my hair done 2 days before and I think it still looks weird to me in these pics. I am used to it now, but I do feel like the witness-protection version of myself!

I am going to turn some of these b&w, but I have not decided which ones yet and didn't have time before dealing with them here. I will probably do b&w with those where the lighting seems too stark.

I hate that we really didn't get very good family shots, but maybe after our newest family member arrives. And how I didn't remember to get individual shots of little man baffles me!

The last funny thing that I want to share about these pics is the location. We probably would have done the park area had it not rained the whole week before. However, I am very pleased with our choice. I had picked out a few places in town months before in anticipation of taking some 7 year old pics of my daughter. I love all the "urban" shots I see on other photographers websites and wanted that look.

Of course, explaining "urban" to my very NON-urban husband caused interesting conversations as I am sure you can imagine!

I think the location choice turned out great! The pics in front of the rock arch and gate were my friend's idea. She knew this spot and it really was great. I hope to go back some time and get some better pics there.




























This is our cheesy shot!

And here is what we really thought of it!






Stacey