This is the day the Lord as made.....

according to a 4 year old!

Pre-1st game


Batting instructions from Daddy

It is a hit!


Sister is giving softball a try as well, but no action shots yet!

Pre-1st game



Stacey

Clean entertainment

Just this morning, I finished my 12,000 loads of laundry left over from last week.

At this point, if you ask me, I could probably pull a sock out of my ear and turn it into a flower.

I am available for parties.

Stacey

Stuck

We had another nice plumbing issue arise late last week.

Our pipes are very picky and we have to be gentle with them.

I forget from time to time.

Between no plumbing until yesterday afternoon and dealing with my kids' ball schedules, I am tuckered out!

Thankfully, we had access to showers a few minutes down the road at the in-laws. I just closed my eyes to all the dishes and laundry that continued to pile up since last Thursday.

On my agenda for tomorrow?

All day laundry festival!

I am glad to report that I did successfully make my way through one child's room and 1/2 way through the other's. Maybe I can finish that job tomorrow as well.

Lots of other stuff to chit chat about, but my brain is too tired to form good thoughts.

And seriously with that baby ticker over there to the right?!!

It is not being very encouraging in terms of my getting things done.

5 weeks left!

Yikes!

Stacey

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

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

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

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