Jumping Up and Down.

I have become one of those crazy moms who gets all giddy when she sees her little baby on screen. No tears. Just laughing and giggling and barely-controlled glee.

I am sorry, but my baby is cuuuuuute! Sure, he/she is only like 11 inches long and looks like a bunch of black and white squiggly lines, but look at that profile! ;-)

And not only is he/she cute, but he/she is super flexible! ;-) We're sitting there, waiting for a good shot of Baby K, and what does he/she do? The legs came up (how cute are little baby knees?!?!?), he/she grabbed that foot, and it went straight for his/her mouth! My baby is *already* a flexible gymnast. ;-)
Seriously, it was the cutest thing ever. It's playing over and over in my head. And every.single.time I think about it, I get this goofy grin on my face, and I want to jump up and down at the thought of *my* baby in there! HA! Just too cool for words. :-)

Baby is doing VERY well, by the way. A very strong heartbeat and actually he/she is growing faster than expected and measuring about a week ahead of schedule! (Baby may "even out," so they won't be changing our due date...)

We were also *very* strong when the tech discovered the sex of the baby. Nope. We don't want to know. We love surprises WAY too much. And yes, I'm a planner, and yes, I LOVE organization (a lot), but I love surprises way more. And you know... I'm actually saving loads of money *not* buying baby clothes right now. LOL. :-p (Because honestly... those of you parents who know, how do you resist adorable clothes?!?!?)

This post has gotten ridiculous, so I'll be stopping now. :-) Thank you for reading my babbling. :-)

Altering a Notepad.

I love to alter stuff. LOVE it. SOOO much. I *just* may like it better than scrapping. Yeah, probably. Maybe just a little bit. LOL. :-)

I got this cute notepad as a gift a few years ago. It's pretty, but not my style, and it certainly doesn't match my scrap room (that's important, you know)! ;-)

And when I got my new Studio Calico stuff in the mail, I HAD to do something with it. Quickly. :-D I'm not into the super-embellishing (though I do *love* looking at projects with lots of embellishments... tee hee). I just wanted a nice, small touch. I really like how it turned out...

I used the FabRips to do the edge/spine, and I folded them over, so you could see the pattern on the inside too. :-)

Here's another angle, so you can kinda see the FabRips at the top...

Products used:

Flowery paper

Birdy/Ledger paper

Woodgrain paper

Green alphas

Label sticker

Mod Podge

I had so much fun with this project! Have you seen the new Studio Calico stuff? Done anything cool? Altered anything lately? Link me up! :-D

Re-capping the Last Month.

I've been meaning to post these photos and things from the last month or so, but haven't gotten around to it. :-p We have had SUCH a busy February/March!

We ended up getting ONE day of snow in Austin. Amber was in HEAVEN!

Poor Ruby had a growth on her eyelid, we had that removed, and two days later, she had to go in for emergency surgery because an ulcer *in her eye* developed and then burst. They had to sew her eyelids closed for a couple weeks. Poor thing. :-( She's doing SOOO much better and healing nicely. The doc thought she'd lose her sight completely, but it looks like it's coming back! YAY! :-)

Then Caroline came to visit! We had so much fun! We ate, shopped and took photos. That's about it. LOL. :-p (Okay, I DID scrap one page. LOL. :-p)

Two days after Caroline left, Paige came to visit! Of course, she brought along cute, little Fox!

She came for our baptism (and was awesome enough to take this photo [with two missionaries] afterward), and it was SOOOO nice to have her here. :-) We had such an awesome time!

Then the weather got SUPER nice... like 70s and 80s every, single day. And Kissa? She is LOOOOOOVING it...

She spends ALL day outside, just sleeping on our deck. She never leaves our backyard. LOL. You know, unless of course Jeremy is on his iPhone because Kissa *loves* that thing. ;-)

Okay, not really... she just loves cuddling with whichever one of us is sitting on the couch. LOL.

And that's about it. :-) Oh, and I *did* finish our laundry room... finally. LOL. I'll post photos soon. Promise. :-D

Looking at the Stats...

I just may like the headless belly shots better! ;-) Tee hee.

How far along: 20.5 weeks (photo taken at 19 weeks)

Inches grown around tummy: 10 inches

Weight gained: 15 pounds (I started out under-weight, so this is fine)

Sex of baby: it's a surprise!

Heart rate of baby: 154 (so my sister thinks boy because her boy's current heart rate is 153... LOL :-p )

Cravings: cinnamon raisin Mochi, stir-fry, and dessert after every meal (tee hee)

Movement: have not felt baby yet... but probably this week, I hear! ;-)

Next ultra-sound: March 17th! (I'll scan the photos!)

Other things: I'm tired (especially if I *do* something... ha ha), but sleeping at night is not my favorite. I toss and turn and get up to pee like... umm... a lot. :-p I get these waves of energy, where I want to do anything and EVERYTHING around the house. Then I start getting Braxton Hicks and have to sit down. Tee hee. Scrappy mojo has not come back yet. Grrr. No swelling or stretch marks yet (knock on wood), so I'm enjoying that part of it. :-)

This whole thing is SOOOO surreal! But I'm loving every second. :-)

Choosing a Winner!

So... using Random.org's generator, the lucky number is...

Which means... Jennie M is the winner! Yay! Congratulations, Jennie!

Send me your address, and I will get that stuff out to you! :-)

Thank you everyone SOOOO much for your sweet comments!

Giving Away... Lots of Stuff!

It's my 9th Blogiversary!

HOORAY!

Yup, I've now been blogging for nine fun-filled years. And I'm giving stuff away! Hooray again! ;-)

So I thought I'd give away some of my favorite things this year. :-D

First up... I loved this bag from World Market SO much that I bought three of them. LOL. (Well, two for me to use and one to give away to you guys!) The outside is burlap, and the inside is a wipeable plastic. I use one for paper scraps in my scrap room and the other for non-paper trash. I hang them on hooks (well, technically a bookend hooked to my elfa hanging standards). It's about 18" long! Isn't it the cutest trash bag ever?!?!?

Next up is one of my favorite water bottles by Reduce. They're BPA free and only 20 oz, so small enough to stash in your purse! That's why I love it so. :-D Also, these SUPER-cute rhinestone magnets and a camera keychain that when you click the button, it flashes and makes a "click click" sound. Probably impractical for most sets of keys, but SOOO cute.

This next item may seem silly to you (in a giveaway, at least), but I don't care. I LOOOOOVE these (I even made a layout about them here)! And *because* I love them so, the wonderful people at Hearos sent me some to give away! You'll get a bunch of earplugs (with case) and the matching sleep mask too. :-)

(Images from Sleep Pretty in Pink website.)

Isn't this knit hat adorable?! It's made by Maggie of Assorted Musings. I bought it at the Austin Etsy Fair... just for YOU! :-D

What would a giveaway be without some Studio Calico? ;-) This is the More Patterned Paper Add-on from February's delicious kit! It has that exclusive Crate Paper that sold out in about ten seconds! ;-) So cute! :-)

And...

A $25 Studio Calico gift card!!!

Mmhmm... I love you *that* much! Thanks so much for reading my blog!

Just leave a comment to win! :-D

p.s. Last year, I closed the giveaway to international readers, but hey, if you wanna pay the difference in shipping, I'd be more than happy to open it to you too! ;-)

p.p.s. You have until this Friday, March 11, at 11:59pm EST to enter!

Happy 9th Blogiversary to Me!!

Well, nine years ago today, I started blogging. I should have WAY more blog posts by now than I do, but well... I just don't blog every day. I should change that. ;-)

Today got crazy, and I have to leave to go watch some cool, little girls. I'll have to post my giveaway tomorrow or Monday. Sorry to leave you hangin. Hope you'll come back then though! ;-)

Painting and Nesting!

So... many of my friends suggested we start on the baby's room, so I'm not painting and building and hanging stuff in my ninth month. Sounds good to me! ;-)

Perhaps halfway is a bit early, but we don't care. Since we're having a surprise, I'd love to still plan things out!

First... colors! I thought we'd really go with one of these two color schemes:

... but... I LOVE aqua and grey together. And especially if it's a girl, I would love, LOVE to have peach/aqua/grey. Just so cute. And *then* after I saw Vivi's beautiful nursery, I knew I had to do that color scheme.

Did Joni not do an AMAZING job on her daughter's room? It's gorgeous! (LOVE her website too! How fun is it that she makes nursery inspiration/style boards?)

Anywho... So my sister suggested we choose white/aqua/grey/beige... and then add peach/coral for a girl and charcoal for a boy. She's a genius, I tell you!

So... I needed to set out on a search for an inspiration piece or fabric with these colors. And wouldn't you know it? The 2nd day of my search (and after looking at HUNDREDS of swatches), I came across this gem of a baby line...

Seriously?! How cute is THAT?!?! SOOOO perfect! We had already decided on the paint color we wanted, so when I received the swatches from here, I was OVER THE MOON excited that they matched perfectly. Wahoo! Then I used the swatches to choose a grey and beige. So yummy. :-)

It's much more fun to see the progress of a room, don't ya think?! ;-) Here is what the room looked like when we moved in:

And here it is after we painted it Benjamin Moore's Antiguan Sky. (Please excuse the messy bookshelf in the center. That *will* be removed.) I really love how it turned out. It's so lovely. The closet will be grey, and that's what I'm doing today. :-)

What do you think? I'll keep you updated with the progress!

p.s. Tomorrow is my NINTH Blogiversary! Check back for a giveaway! :-D

Growing: 4 Weeks - 16 Weeks

Man... nearly 19 weeks pregnant and yet to share belly shots. I'm such a scrapbooking slacker. :-p Also, I always take these after I get out of the shower, so hair and makeup are not done. And now that I'm posting them and seeing them on here, that will change next time! LOL. :-p I look so tired! LOL. Ah well. :-p

Here is me at 4 weeks (the day after we found out, I think...):

Then at 12 weeks (the 8 weeks photo is MIA... it must have accidentally gotten deleted. Oops. :-p ):

And 16 weeks (my hair looks SOOOO silly. I should look in the mirror before taking these! LOL):

So that was 2.5 weeks ago now. I may or may not be bigger now. ;-) I'm going to say... yes, bigger. LOL.

Sharing the New (and Improved ;-) Version!

Our wonderful friend, Traci, brought this to life for us. So excited. I'll probably have it made into a Shutterfly book too. You know... sans wonderful music. ;-)

Quoting my Pregnancy Brain... and Oh, These Crazy Hormones.

Pregnancy Brain Quotes of the Day:

(when I noticed that my alphabets had fallen off my layout) "Oh no! My vegetables fell off my layout!"

"Hey! Let's go lawn the mow!"

Pregnancy Story of the Day:

Night before last, we were watching a movie, and I was eating dinner. I had three biscuits on my plate. Just as I was eating the last bite, I thought in my head, "Ahhh, bummer! I'm all done."

And then... without ANY warning, I just burst into tears. It was so sudden that I actually had NO idea why I was crying. LOL. Hubby looked at me and was like, "Ohmigosh! Are you okay?! What happened?"

I then realized that I was crying because I finished my biscuits! LOL. And though I was hysterical by that point, I burst out laughing... uncontrollably, mind you... at the thought of crying over finishing BISCUITS when I had five more in the kitchen! So here I am... empty plate, crying and laughing, not having any idea what is going on in my head. LOL.

I looked up at Jeremy and said through tears, "Umm... I think I need more biscuits." These hormones are CRAZY! :-p And yes, I went to the kitchen and got four more biscuits.

Mmhmm. This is fun. :-)

*Photo by Cooking Light.

Missing Bailey.

Just realized I never did a post about Bailey, my dad's dog.

My sister got her for Christmas in 1998. But she really latched on to my dad. She was *his*, and they did EVERYTHING together.

She died suddenly on July 31st, and we still aren't sure what caused it. She was only 11... she had a good few years left! The doctor thinks it could have been something inside her that burst. Or she could have eaten something poisonous. We all miss her, but especially Dad. :-(

Here is an adorable photo of Bailey (center) with my pups, Amber (left) and Ruby (right). Bailey liked to keep to herself, but she would share my dad occasionally. ;-)

And this was the when she was here visiting in May. I think they had a fun time. :-)

And the last photo of her with my parents. She was a good dog. I'm hoping to make a mini album for my Dad... full of wonderful photos (read: most are blurry because they were taken before digi cameras... LOL.) But... I know he'll love it. :-)

We love you, Bailey! And you are missed. Dad *still* cries over you and thinks about you every single day. :-)

Amusing.

I've pretty much always been easily amused. But am I overly-so in recent days? I wonder.

I received an email from a church we attended in Rhode Island... three years ago. I decided I should just remove my email from their list. When I visited their site, I saw this (you can click on it to make it larger):

And it made me laugh till I cried. Easily amused? Maybe.

Does anyone else find it funny that they have the words "Recommended" and "NOT Recommended" next to their email preferences?! LOL. I mean, of COURSE they wouldn't recommend you canceling their email updates. But to to have it there in bold... to me, that's just too funny.

*sigh*

It's okay to be easily amused, I'm thinkin...

What has easily amused you lately?

Getting Desperate.

We have NO food in the house. Okay, maybe a little bit, but not really enough to make something substantial (no milk, eggs, butter, cheese, tortillas, meat, etc). I so don't feel well enough to go shopping, and poor Jeremy worked an overnight, so he is sleeping. He said he'll shop when he wakes up. :-)

But that still left me with... what do I eat today besides peanut butter toast?! This is where I get creative. I made a stew! It took me like 5-10 minutes, and it's SOOO yummy. I thought I'd share the recipe, just in case you want to make it too. :-)

I'm calling it...

"Leftovers" Stew

1 can stewed tomatoes (Italian recipe) *This was found in pantry.

1 can tomato paste *Also found in pantry! (I'm so glad I decided to buy these two to save for a rainy day!)

1/2 can leftover black beans in fridge

1/2 can leftover refried beans in fridge

Rotisserie chicken pieces (okay, I literally, scraped the bones for all the meat I could find!)

Almost-empty bag of frozen corn

2 cups water

2 tsp chicken base

I threw all this (at the same time) into a pot and simmered on medium until hot. That was it. LOL. I didn't even have to add seasoning or salt because of the stewed tomatoes and chicken base! It is super delicious. :-D

I'm sure it would be much better with full cans of beans and more corn and chicken, so feel free to do that if you make your own. But if you have this stuff on hand, and you're at a loss... you won't go hungry. ;-)

*Photo by user, "Parsley" at Food.com. It kinda looks like this... without the tasty cilantro. ;-)

p.s. I started an organization blog! :-) I'll give it a facelift soon, but it's the content that counts, right?! ;-)

Celebrating Eight Years.

So Jeremy and I celebrated eight years of marriage on Christmas Day! Yay! Laura went through a little list of things they've done, so I thought I'd try it too. :-)

In eight years of marriage...

One house.

Two pups.

Three cats. (only have one now)

Six cities.

Six cars.

Seven apartments.

Ten years as a couple.

Eleven jobs.

Fun! That's a lot of stuff! LOL. :-p (And by the way, those jobs are between the two of us. I used to like to have two or three at one time, and we lived in six different cities... so... yeah, that's why the number is so big. LOL.)

Us in 2000:

Christmas Day 2002 (our wedding):

Now:

I thought we hadn't changed *that* much, but I guess we do look a bit older now. LOL. :-p

I am so blessed to be with this guy! He's just so awesome! I'm so happy we finally get to welcome a baby during our 9th year of marriage! YAY!

Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you tons! :-D