"She works with her hands in delight" Proverbs 31:13

37 Weeks

Hi Everyone! Yes, I am almost at the finish line of my pregnancy!!! I surely feel like I'm going to pop. :) I feel great though...but I'm afraid I can't get around too easily anymore without getting swollen feet or an aching back. :)

 Everyone has been so gracious with giving Eli and I so many items for our little girl's arrival. On Saturday, Mrs. Donahue gave me a wonderful baby shower at her home. I had such a blessed time being able to visit with friends and family...and of course...being able to open all of the little sweet girly gifts. :) Thank you Mrs. Donahue for my very first baby shower!! I tried to upload some pictures, but the computer is giving me a hard time! If you want to see some, my friends Meredith and Micah have both written some lovely posts about it. 
  

I have been busy getting Baby's room in order these past couple of days. Next on my list is to wash all of her little clothes and bed linens. :) I guess it could be any time now!!
 

My Day Out With The Girls

Me and Granny

Today Mom, Granny, and I had a girl's day out in the quaint little town of Farmville. Our mission...a big clothing sale! Grab the coupons! Granny, very kindly and generously, offered to take me shopping at this particular store to look at baby clothes. We scouted the store and found several sweet baby gowns and body suits. I was telling Granny that I wish I had a newborn baby doll to play dress up with!

 Mom and Granny were so helpful with good mothering advice. I have so many questions! After finding some great deals, Granny treated us to a wonderful lunch together...no I am not drinking an alcoholic drink in the picture. :) It looks like it doesn't it? I ordered a raspberry tea and was like...ummmm?...when the waitress brought it to me. :) It sure was good though and I had to have another one! Thank you Granny for blessing me with such an enjoyable day. Baby thanks you too for her new clothes. :)

Pot Pies and Chicken Noodle Soup

 

Tonight for dinner, I was feeling quite spunky and decided to try something a little different. :) I was craving chicken pot pie and had remembered some little dishes that were in my hope chest from a long time ago. I could never think of a way to use them so there they sat! I thought...why not make pot pies? Well, I concocted a pot pie filling of sorts with chicken, gravy, and vegetables...poured it into two dishes... and topped them with a buttery pie dough. It actually turned out really nicely! Eli loves the crust on pot pies, so I took the leftover rolled-out crust dough and baked them with our pies. It's not exactly a figure-friendly dish...but you gotta love comfort food!  I think I'll be making these again!

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful week so far! Last week was a doozy! Eli had caught some sort of cold/flu bug last weekend (I'm convinced it was the swine flu..j/k :) and guess who got it a couple of days after? I was not a happy camper! Lots of chicken noodle soup was made last week and hot tea was always on to brew (I snuck in some homemade hot chocolate once for Baby :). I'm very thankful that Eli was able to take off so he could get well, and then be off with me when I had first gotten it and it was really bad. We are officially on the mend now and only have a cough that is getting better every day!

Yesterday was an exciting day! Mom and I met in town and went to register for my baby shower in October. First, we ate lunch at one of my favorite places...Red Lobster. I have so been craving seafood! Afterwards, we spent the whole day registering for Baby J. Registering for your first baby is quite overwhelming because you need like everything! Everything started looking the same after looking through aisles aisles of baby stuff. :) Thankfully, Mom was there to keep me focused and helped me to know exactly what I needed. Thanks Mom. :)

I am still not quite finished with my registries and need to add a couple more things, so that's going to be my project for the next couple of days. Tomorrow I'm going with Mom and Granny to a baby sale! I'm excited! 

This Evening...

I love seeing this when I look outside my window. :)

The Start of My New Garden...

  Today is such a beautiful day that feels like fall! It's one of those days that makes you want to put on a warm sweater and drink hot apple cider. :) Today, I'm having a laid back sort of day because I have been so sleepy ever since this morning...probably because it's cool and rainy! Right now, I'm taking a break from writing out our two-week meal plan and thought I'd share some pictures of my garden. It isn't very much to talk about though. :) I am very excited about what it's going to look like in the future once I get really serious about starting a full-blown garden possibly in the fall.

I have in mind a sort of cottagy vegetable/herb garden. :) Dad, Eli, Mr. J., and my brothers all put my raised boxes together, and they were filled with gardening soil. Today, Mr. J. is digging posts for a pickett fence that's going to go around the perimeter of the garden. I am very excited to see the garden's progress little by little and can't wait to plant more vegetables and herbs.

In the box to the right I have a questionable plant growing. :) Guess what? I didn't plant it! That box was full of just dirt, and one day, I came outside and there was some sort of vine growing out of it. I would have plucked it, but the vine resembled that of a cucumber plant. Hmmm...well these little melon-type things are growing from it! Does anyone have an idea of what these could be? A cantelope? A honey dew melon? I have no idea! I guess since the soil was gardening soil mixed with compost, a little seed took root. Thank you LORD for a little something extra. :) 

In my other box to the left I planted two tomato plants. They unfortunately have been overtaken by cut worms and are looking quite dead right now! There are two tomatoes...but they have been green for like a month now. Who knows if they'll ever turn red! Mom brought me the big clump of chives that is from my old herb garden at their house. It reminds me of home. :) She also bought some basil and cilantro for me to plant. All of my herbs are doing very well it seems! Last night, I used some fresh basil and chives to flavor our chicken last night for dinner. I can't wait to plant more soon!

My family is coming over tonight so I must pick up a little! Ta ta for now!

To The Bag Sale!!

 

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Meredith alerted me to a bag sale that was to take place at one of my favorite baby thrift stores! We were there when the doors opened!!! I couldn't believe how many women were already there packed in like little sardines (with big pregnant bellies :). They had little plastic labled tubs on the floor filled with clothes, and a little bag to fill up was only $5!

 Nan, Mom, poor Eric, and I looked in the tubs as quickly as we could...I went straight for the onsies. :) Hey, if you're ever at a bag sale...the key to getting the most in your bag is to roll everything up reeeally tightly. :) Nan went for the older girl's spring/summer clothes, and Mom went for the shoes. My patient brother stood there and held the bags for us as we quickly stuffed them full...I think I stuffed mine a little to much...is it allright if the clothes are overflowing out of the bag? :)

Thanks, Mere, for telling me about the sale!

The Nursury

 

She's finally updating the blog!!! Yes, I know it's a miracle. :) Thank you all for being so patient with my lack of writing. These past couple of months have been quite a challenge as my husband has been through a very intense police training acadamy (very stressful!). I am so happy to say that he has graduated with very high academic scores, and he even recieved the best marksmen award out of his whole class (he even out-shot an army sniper!)! I am very proud of him but I will stop bragging now. :) I'm so glad that he is now returning to a wonderful steady work schedule!

Baby J. is still growing and moving around more than ever. :) I have been going to my regular appointments with the midwife, which have been moved to every two weeks now, and the baby is still healthy! I had to go get my glucose test done last Monday which was not very fun. I had to drink this orange soda drink that didn't make me feel so good and then had to have my blood taken an hour later. I'm waiting to hear the results to see if whether or not I have gestational diabetes or not. I hope not! I can't believe I only have around two months left before she arrives! The midwife said that her head is already down which is a good thing. I'm also having some Braxton Hicks contractions. :) 

  

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to fix up the baby's room! This is what it looked like before. And here's what it looks like now...

 

With a lot of help from family, I was able to get her room and some furniture painted! The chair you see in the corner was brown and white, and we painted it all white...adding some color with a chair covering that matched the quilt I'm making. My aunt gave me that chair and the changing table you see on the right. We only recently got the crib a couple of days ago...

 

I had wanted a convertible crib that could also be changed into a toddler bed and a full size bed. I thought it would be a good investment since I could get a lot of use out of it for sure! I had looked in all of the baby stores around here for white convertable cribs, and after pricing them, I thought to myself "we better start saving now!". The cheapest one I found was almost $400...not including the crib mattress.

Well, Mrs. J. kept her eyes peeled on Craigslist and inquired about this crib that was less than $200! We thought that it would be such a blessing if we could get a convertable crib for that price! We went to go see the crib and found that it was in excellent shape (with only a couple of chipped paint spots), and that the woman was throwing in a practically new mattress! Needless to say, we grabbed it! The woman even gave us a bed frame for when it converts to a full-sized bed for $5! We took it home and immediately set it up! It's exactly what I wanted. I'm so glad we waited and didn't just splurge on a really expensive one! The LORD was so gracious to bless Eli and I with such a find.

Well I must get ready for Eli to come home! Have a blessed weekend everyone!

What I've Been Working On...

 

I am excited to say that I am beginning my very first project for Baby! I haven't sewn anything in such a long time it feels like, and it's about time I get something crafty going! I have always wanted to make my baby its own quilt one day, and now that I have one "cooking" and know that she's a girl, I am going to make her a quilt.

The other day, I found these little packs of fabric that were very inexpensive in a really expensive fabric store. They each had 40 squares in them that were already measured and cut out. At first, Eli's mom and I looked at the many bolts of fabric, and as soon as I saw bolts of this fabric lining the wall, I thought "that's it"! I knew I definitely couldn't afford buying the fabric off the bolt for almost $9 a yard so I just thought I would search for that fabric in another store perhaps for cheaper. Well, I saw that they had these already cut out squares in a pack with all of the fabrics that I loved for only $8! We grabbed two without hesitation along with a little extra of one of the fabrics that I really liked.

Today I am laying out all of the squares and am trying to figure out the best way to arrange them. I'm not making a little baby quilt right now but decided instead to make a pretty good sized (toddler sized) quilt to use as decoration in the crib, to hold Baby in, and to use on the floor to play on since I bought too many squares for a little itty bitty quilt. It will probably be used more that way. I've heard that little infants don't really need a large heavy quilt to sleep in anyway. I can't wait to start sewing!

Oh...I am also excited because I just ordered myself my very first maternity skirt online! Yay! I thought that I could maybe keep making my drawstring skirts during my pregnancy and that they would be sufficiant. Well...they are getting really tight! Haha! I thought about just making the size bigger...but all that's getting bigger is my stomach really, and I'm afraid that I will look like a "tank" in a bigger skirt. :) Yesterday, Mom and I were at a thrift store, and I tried a maternity skirt on (it turned out to be really short) and it was sooooo comfortable. :) I can't wait to get mine in the mail!

Oh one more thing that I'm excited about...I can feel her move a lot! I thought she was in a kick-boxing match this morning. :)

Our Living Room...

Hi Everyone! I thought I'd post some pictures of my latest project...our living room! The above picture is the "before", and as you can see, it looks a little feminine with the really floral rug, pink heart pillow on the chair, and other rather "feminine" furniture from my old room. Since I had never decorated my own house before, I have been finding myself decorating all of it like I would my bedroom...poor Eli. :) Well, lately I have been convicted to change that! Yes, a woman's decorating haven is the house, but the house should also reflect the man of the house and be his place of refuge and comfort after a long day at work. So I took down the flowers and pinkness and "manned" the room up a bit. I will tell you, this room was a lot more girly when we first moved in and before this picture was taken. Just imagine my frilly rag swag hanging over the couch. :)

And this is the "after" shot of the living room after its makeover! I tried to warm things up a bit with our many books and then "manifying" the room with a lot of Eli's things. He had a lot of really beautiful dark wood bookshelves, pictures, and a dark desk that I moved into the room. It really warmed this space up a lot and makes it look more like a living room somehow. We also moved my floral rug out and replaced it with a beautiful neutral rug that really makes the space comfortable and lovely. After adding the curtains from Eli's old room, my piano, a rocking chair that was graciously given to us, and some pillows on the couch, I have to say that I love the end result. Eli loves it because it brings him comfort by reminding him of his old room and some familiarity in our new house. 

I really enjoyed pleasing my husband with the new look of the living room. I want to make our home a place of refuge for him, and my goal is to keep that in mind from now on while I decorate our house!

Sweet Baby _________?

 

Are you curious?

Well, it looks as if I'm going to be making a lot of little frilly baby dresses because...

IT'S A SWEET BABY GIRL!!!!

I am so excited and Daddy is tickled "pink". :) The ultrasound went beautifully this morning, and we got to see the baby hiccup and kick around! She is so sweet and is perfectly healthy. No wonder I had always gravitated to the little girl dresses in the store and could only think of baby girl names. We are so excited to be having a baby girl!!! Now I get to decorate her room with my favorite colors... pink and green :) Yay! Praise the LORD!!!