mini update on the mini

Well I'm feeling better than I was last week but I still have cramps on and off. Nothing regular or intense, probably just those braxton hicks I hear so much about. I've been busy this week doing household mini chores and taking a long nap daily which has kept me from going crazy.

We had our diabetes related ultrasound yesterday to make sure she's not getting too big and thank the Lord all is normal with our girl (and she is still a girl). The doc said her estimated weight is 5lbs, 13oz, almost 6, which is still in the normal range though a little on the bigger side and will probably be around 8lbs if she goes to term. Her foot was way over her body almost in her mouth and we could see her little diaphragm practicing breathing as well as her heart and her brain and it's all good. After that appointment I was able to take the most restful nap of the week and dreamed about pie.

Today my girls are dropping by to set up for Saturday's party and I am pretty dang excited.

Hope you all have a fun weekend, I know ours is gonna be terrific.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

getting even flower-ier

I didn't realize how much I was gravitating towards flowers for my girl's room until it was staring me in the face. I had purchased some flowery decals awhile ago and put them on her door to indicate you know, hey this is a special room. I'm not gonna put her name on the door or some other nonsense, I thought the two little flowers did the job. 

Over her crib I strung up a little garland of flowers (never mind the party supplies).

By the crib I nailed this Ikea picture frame and I think I'll grab one more to put up higher.

I put it up and realized I didn't want it to be totally empty when guests arrived and saw her room so I remembered I had these art cards from Ikea that were .25 for 8 and stuck one in here. When I get the second picture frame I think I'll stick another one from the pack in there for meantime. I dunno what I wanna put in there in the end, for now it's just perfect, it says Rosa, Rose.

I also didn't want to explain to people what was going to go over the dresser so on our recent Target run I bought the changing pad and we screwed it into the dresser.

This was also one of those by golly if this baby comes early I need that changing pad! So, done.

I nailed the pictures to the wall, they'd formerly been on the top shelf to give Alice something to look at while we're wiping her booty.

And since the changing pad took way more space than I'd anticipated, the supplies went up here. Not ideal, but not bad. Hmm… maybe I oughta nail that basket to the wall for safety.

I read a nice post somewhere about things to have by your "nursing station" which will be this little corner, in the drawer I put some nipple cream and breast pads and snacks. They said you'll get hungry and thirsty breastfeeding so I'll have this and a bottle of water nearby.  

Around her looking glass I added yet more flowers.

Which I think are pretty dang cute.

And I hung up the LA alphabet poster. Which I'm not wild about the placement, I think I'll space them out a little more. It looks busy but I hear babies like visual stimulation.

I put the other frame up here and added another picture of a plant in there.

And we installed the video monitor in the cabinet.

I replaced the flowery bins here with these striped ones. They seemed a little more neutral than the flowery bins.

And… we still have no rug. I ordered one from Urban Outfitters and while it was very nice, it was kinda coarse so I'm on the hunt for something softer. I think I want a yellow rug still.

Anyway… that's as far as it's getting in this room before people see it on Saturday. I think it's enough for them to get the general idea I mean, there's a crib in there, that definitely says "baby's room".

just go ahead and toss out that to-do list

It's really hard for a Type A party planner to know that there's a party happening at my house and I can't do much about it. I actually made a "things to do the week of the BBBQ" list that was a cleaning list of things I wanted to make sure got done before Saturday. And now, I'm basically not supposed to do much of it. I mean, I'm not an invalid but I'm supposed to be taking it easy and that's a very hard directive for me to handle! I guess I'll just do my few light chores I can handle like dusting and putting things away and imagine what I'd do if I was gonna throw an outdoor party.

By summer of next year God willing I'll be throwing another outdoor party. By then the greenery will be thriving a lot more and we'll actually have that awesome outdoor seating set we've bought that has not arrived yet. Oh well, we do what we can.

things i did NOT buy at target

Matt has me on lockdown with baby clothes buying, rightfully so, so this is things I would have bought if I wouldn't get looks from Matt for coming home with all these baby clothes:

Dumbo is a special movie to us.

I desperately need this one. If nobody gives it to us at our shower, I'm buying it, mad looks or not!

This one is particularly appropriate because we're cranking babies out every 5 months in my family so she'll be top of the favorites list for a very short time.

If I had a ratio of clothing I'd dress my kid in it would be 60% ocean creatures, 20% polka dots, 10% stripes, 10% food. I don't hate pink for rosy but I just wanna mix it up with things like blue and grey.

it's summer time!

With the coming and going of Memorial Day weekend it is now unofficially SUMMER! Which means the season in which I get to meet my alien and the return of the ambitious SUMMER CHECKLIST:

I am aware that there's going to be a tiny baby to hang out with during the summer but that's all the more reason to be able to take her places since I can just strap her into some baby carrier contraption and she'll have no choice but to come along.

How perfect is it that my kid is due during my favorite season? I've always been so happy during the summer and now I get to add even more reasons to smile.

welcome cat

Well, it's the week of our baby shower BBQ. My girls Michelle & Man-D are doing the heavy lifting of the planning and such (we did hire a taco cart guy for the food though) but since it's at our house there were a few little things I wanted to do before 40 people were walking in and out of our house & yard. I wish I would have had the strength to make something like this though...

I mean forget about it. How freaking adorable is that??

Instead I just bought a colorful one from Target.

Here's our resident welcome cat modeling the welcome mat.

I've been trying this thing with letting the cats hang out in the front yard since it's fenced in. They usually get bored and come back inside on their own. They're way more obedient than I give them credit for, I can usually just ask them to come back in and they listen.

three day weekend woot

What a week. I gotta say I did not expect this week to have gone the way it did with a scare and a forced vacation. This was supposed to be a normal work week leading into a nice three day weekend where I'd pretend to be sipping delicious cocktails in the backyard and watching the dogs chase each other around. 

Instead I'm home drinking copious amounts of water, laying around a lot, and being snuggled by cats. We are hoping to make it out to the movies today because it's X-MEN and may be our last movie outing for a long time if not our last movie where it's just the two of us. I think I can handle walking from the car to a movie theatre to sit for two hours then walking back to the car. Still hoping to be up for church and a bridal shower on Sunday but I'm gonna try not to push it.

For those of you lucky mobile people, do enjoy the three day weekend, spend some time with a veteran and maybe try making a memorial service somewhere in your neighborhood.

the power of prayer

I got all my homies to be praying for us and boy has it been heard. I am feeling so much better. She's moving around like crazy, cramps are getting further away, belly is a lot looser.

My mom and step-dad came by last night and laid oil and hands on the baby. I have all my family praying and also, my church family.

I haven't mentioned my church yet have I? We've been attending a church in Hollywood for the past few months, joined a small group, and are really happy to be a part of a community again. We sent them a prayer request via the App (modern church, heh heh) and got an email back with the most beautiful prayer.

Here it is:

Father, Thank you for Matt and Evy and their little baby. Thank you that you ordain life. We bless this baby in Jesus name. We bless Evy and her womb. We release your peace over her body right now and call it into order. We bless your harmonies Evy and command them to step into alignment with the pace that you have set for the baby. Evy we declare your body was created to be a safe nurturing place for a child to grow and develop. Jesus, we thank you that by you and through you ALL things are and were created. We declare that by you and through you this baby is being formed. We thank you for your presence surrounding the baby in the womb. Thank you for the baby's awareness of your presence.

In the name of Jesus we stand with Matt and Evy and cancel every assignment of darkness sent against this baby. We declare in Jesus name every assignment is null and void and place the cross of Christ, Jesus' death and resurrection between the baby and those assignments. We declare this baby will be born healthy and alive and will not be birthed before the day the Lord has ordained.

We bless you little baby in Jesus name. We bless you with healthy natural and supernatural development. We bless your body in its forming in and out of the womb. We bless your ability to breath well, we bless the forming of your heart and your ability to run. We bless you with a strong and gentle spirit. We bless your intimacy with God, your awareness of His presence now and through out your life. We bless you with a hunger for the word of God and wisdom to understand and walk with God. We bless you with the ability to speak truth. We bless your ability to see.

Holy Spirit, thank you that you are an amazing teacher and guide. Thank you for your comfort for Matt and Evy in this season. Thank your for giving them strength and establishing the deeper in you and drawing them closer together. We bless this family in Jesus name.

Amen.

I'm still taking it easy and mostly laying around today. I'd love to be okay by Sunday so I can attend church and a dear friend's bridal shower.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

Ff

Yesterday my doctor ran a test on me called fetal fibronectin which tests for a protein that would be present if you're going into pre-term labor. The test results came in and they were negative so the chance of my going into pre-term labor in the next two weeks are less than 1%!

That puts my mind at ease somewhat but of course, still cramping and have a tight belly off and on. I'm still chillin' and not doing much but please keep praying for us!

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

well… i guess i'm on maternity leave

Somebody overdid it and someone very small was not gonna let her get away with it. Little Alice has been doing some stuff that had me and my doctor worried so I was told to take the day off from work and just rest. My boss and I decided I should sit this job out so I guess I'm not working until this little girl shows up which hopefully isn't until July. Stay in there little girl. 

And as much as I want to just get things done around here, obviously for the next few days I'm just gonna chill and put my foot up. Planning on watching a lot of Netfix.

If you think of us, we could use a little prayer. I'll keep you guys updated.

oh sheddy

On a day where the temperatures in Burbank went into the triple digits genius me decided to spend a few hours in the morning finally organizing the shed. Don't worry, Matt was nearby and I drank a LOT of water and took air conditioning breaks if I was getting too pink. Before the sun went bonkers we were done and I took a much needed cheese and fruit break and our shed was in much better shape.  First off, we drilled some screws into the doors to hang stuff. 

I am excited to have the beach chairs so easily accessible. It's fun pretending I could go to the beach or an outdoor movie screening at any moment!

In order to get in there and really get to work we have to pull out the lawnmower, edge trimmer, bicycles, and golf bags so this is what the shed looks like when all those things are out of the way.

Again, I grouped like items together and kept things we use at closer access.

I was especially happy that now all the seasonal decorations are together.

 

Here's the rear of the shed. After I went through boxes and tossed what I didn't need, this was what was left and finally I put all the paint stuff together and the camping stuff together. 

I actually have two boxes of camping supplies, which for someone that's been camping once, seems a little much, no? I think it's my dreaming of more camping opportunities that keeps me hanging on.

And finally all the paint stuff is together. THREE rows of it. Top shelf of tarps and rags, middle of paint and paint bucket, and 2nd to last of actual paint supplies (brushes, etc.). Whew. 

The most exciting thing I did according to Matt was screwing those tiny black shelves up there. It's funny how something so benign can be such a nice change. And it's so nice to have a work surface in there again though we rarely use it. We may someday!

The top left has our golf shoes, balls, & tees. And a spare little key hook now holds my solar powered radio and grip gloves. Which BTW I need new ones. We also wanna grab a few more peg hooks for our peg board. Matt gets a big kick out of them. 

I flipped what was under here previously with stuff that may actually be used instead.

Over here in inaccessible zone I shoved our old tax stuff and Matt's old baseball cards and such. And his drum cases. And check that out, an empty box.

So whew! As you may have surmised from the frequency of posting, I did have this week off and have been trying to cram as much into the days as far as leisure (naps), productivity, and socialization. Eight months pregnant feels like a ticking time bomb, MUST. DO. ALL. BEFORE. BABY. IS. BORN.

Have a terrific weekend people. Hope you get to do a little of all those three things.