...and then there were 4

I promise I'll put up more pictures soon where you can actually see Olivia, I just wanted to let you all know that she's here! Olivia Anne was born on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 11:30 am. We're all doing great and resting at home. I'll tell you more about her arrival when I put up more pictures, just know that all is well and so far so good.

Nesting Part II

Ok, here we are with the second round of my nesting activities which are all sewing projects. I kinda find this weird for me because I'm not a sewer at all which will probably also explain why all these projects are so easy to do as long as you can sew a straight line. I also seem to really like sewing when I'm pregnant because I did the same thing with Savannah. If you ask Jacob he'll tell you I never sew because he's always asking me to fix his jeans that need a patch put on or something of the sort and I never seem to get around to it.

Anyway here are curtins I made for Savannah's room. This project was finally decided on after first being a duvet cover then pillows and finally I decided to make curtains. I won't lie, I'm really happy with how they turned out. Its amazing how much light they help block out at night since its still light out when we put Savannah down for bed. Also I just think they're so freakin cute.

Here is just a close up of the fabric I used. For the back side I just went to Walmart and bought a king sized white sheet and used that for the backing.

Here are 2 pillow covers I made. I love throw pillows we have like 6 pillows on our bed alone so I never have a shortage of pillows at my house. I seem to go through different phases when I'll love a pillow and then I'll find one even better that I like. So I decided to reuse some of our older pillows that I don't have out but have kept around to put in Savannah's room.

Here are the super easy and in my opinion super cute burp rags I made. I just bought these cloth diapers at walmart, they come in a pack of 12 and used the extra fabric from the previous projects.

Here is a close up of the green one, I'm actually taking one of these to the hospital to bring home with Olivia in case she's a spitter. Plus it'll match her cute outfit we're bringing her home in too.

Ok, well those are the latest 3 projects I've done. I think I'm done for now except I've gotten the urge to make some freezer meals but we'll see if I have the time or energy. I seem to be obsessed lately with having everything in my house put in its correct place. I just have this urge to make sure that if I had to leave immediatley for the hospital that everything would be clean when I came back home. Its crazy how the obsessions your already have are just magnified when your about to have a baby. I just want my house to be spotless and everything put away which is impossible especially if you live with Savannah and Jacob for that matter.

Black Canyon

So my nephew Tyler just turned 13 so for his birthday he decided he wanted to go boating up at Black Canyon. I love that his birthday is in July because this is typically what we always do for his birthday and I love it. Now I don't actually do anything when I go boating but I still love it. This trip was also super fun because it was the first time Savannah has ever been on a boat. She also went tubing with Jacob which turned out to be a fun experience for her.

Here we are at the dock, Savannah was a bit hesitant about putting on the life jacket at first.

Here she is with Jacob when she first got in the tube and we were pulling away, this is right about where she started crying.

Here she is happier once she realized what she was going to get to do. Jacob said when they first started she kept calling for me. The ironic part is that if I had gone with her she would have been asking for Jacob. My brother in law Jason took it nice and slow for Savannah's first tubing trip and she really did end up enjoying it.

After our outing on the boat the next group got on (there were like 17 of us all together) and Sandi, Jared, and I took 2 of our nieces and Savannah down to the little beach they have. At first Savannah wanted nothing to do with it. She's become quite timid which I like but yet I've been so used to her outgoing personality that it kinda takes me by surprise when something freaks her out. After a bit she got used to the waves at the start of the beach and once we actually got in the water she couldn't wait to let go of my hand and walk around on her own.

I'm trying to get her to actually get in the water, you wouldn't think this would be so hard because she LOVES water. We really need to live closer to a real beach.

She loved walking around and waiting for her cousin Becca to swim up to us, she though this was the funnest game.
I also decided to throw in a picture of just me showing off my big belly, I'm 2 weeks from my due date and right now I'm measuring about a week ahead of where I'm at. Even though I've gained 15 less pounds then when I was pregnant with Savannah my stomach is so much bigger this time.

Overall it was a super fun day of eating yummy food, having fun on the boat, and wearing Savannah out. It was fun to experience a first with her and to have Jacob there for it as well. I hope Tyler just always decides to go boating for his birthday, I'm quite glad to accommodate.

Nesting Part I

So nesting during this pregnancy has been quite different then with Savannah. When I was pregnant with Savannah I was working full time and pretty much started nesting for my last two trimesters. I've figured out that this was because I'm super anal and wanted everything to be perfect. Plus I was working all day so I only had nights and weekends to work on things, so it was going to take me the last two trimesters to actually get everything done that I wanted to. So what's the difference? Well I'm still anal and want everything to be perfect but now I don't work so I have all day everyday to work on whatever I want. Because of this I finally stared nesting a week and a half ago, which has meant that I've been even crazier and more obsessed then ever in trying to make everything perfect for the arrival of Olivia. Nesting is also different this time around because I already have everything I need to a girl since we obviously already have one of those. So with that checked off my list I've been focusing on household projects which I think has driven Jacob crazy. I've rearranged all 3 of our bedrooms, ours because the way it was made no room for the bassinet, Savannah's old room just because I was bored with it the way it was, and Savannah's new room which was our office/throw all our crap in here room because well we needed to put Savannah somewhere.

The bassinet is on the wall opposite our bed next to our dresser.

For Olivia's room I seriously just flip flopped the furniture and Jacob changed the crib back into a crib after being Savannah's toddler bed.

This room took a lot of work and is pretty much finished. Its still missing shelves above her bed and the lovesac, they'll frame her window. To get this room done we had to organize a ton of stuff and find new homes for quite a few things but in the end I love how it turned out. I'm also in the process of making curtains for her room too. Once there done you'll get to see a picture.
I also made Savannah a magnet board for her room, I was going to put some cork board up that I had but thought better about giving her push pins. This actually was used as a chore chart once upon a time so all I did was paint the wood frame orange and flip the aluminum around to hide the lines I'd drawn on the other side. I also made her abc magnets and we're of course already missing 2 letters. This is hanging underneath her window to the left of her bed. When I finished it and let her play with it she kept saying how pretty it was and was just so excited to move the magnets around. It made me pretty happy.
So here is my last project to share for now, remember this is only Part I. So I actually stole this idea from another web site but I don't care because I lOVe how it turned out. It is my fAVorITe project I've done so far, I mean its to the point where I sometimes stand in my laundry room door just to look at it, weird I know. The reason I'm so excited about this project is because it makes my laundry room look so much cleaner and nicer. So I "made" these curtains to cover up our storage shelves in the laundry room. These curtains were actually hanging up in Savannah's new room when it was our office and I just recycled them into a shorter version that would work in my laundry room. I like them so much because you can actually see through the fabric if you look really hard but at the same time there not transparent. It hides what's behind them without being too heavy and the cream color looks pretty with my wall colors too. I know some will find my obsession with this project funny, but if you know me and my love of things being organized and clean looking you will understand why these curtains make me so happy.

Alright readers here you go, the start of my nesting projects and I still have a few more to go so hopefully I get them all done and posted before Olivia arrives.

My Buddy

Savannah is my buddy! I love having her to hang out with and I won't lie, I'm a bit sad for the day when it won't be just she and I. Now don't get me wrong I'm VERY excited for the arrival of Miss Olivia but I really do treasure the time I've had with just Savannah. Today we did two fun projects that were both firsts for us.
We painted! I bought this for Savannah a few months ago but never remembered to get it out for her. Plus she never really showed interest in coloring or painting before so I just put the paints away to wait for her to gain interest. A few days ago Savannah told me she wanted to color and that inspired me today to break out the paint set. Needless to say she loved it and made us 3 pictures which are of course hanging on our fridge right now.

Now our second new project was making a Gooey Butter Cake. My good friend Mary has a blog with 2 of her friends, they all live in St Louis and once a month travel to different fun places in their area and blog about it. I've actually debated starting up something like that for myself so I can see new places here. Anyway they decided to have a giveaway for a Gooey Butter Cake mix which is a well known treat in St Louis. Anyway I won the giveaway which I was super excited about and so today we made it. (If you haven't figured it out yet what makes this project new is I've never made a Gooey Butter Cake before.)



It was super easy to make and as you can tell Savannah thought it was quite enjoyed sampling it before it was actually ready. It turned out great and I'm trying to show some restraint and not eat the whole thing before Jacob actually gets some. Also don't worry Mary, I'm going to send you pictures like I promised so you can post them.

What do You Think?

Savannah had a chocolate covered strawberry tonight...do you think she liked it?

Farmers Market

Today Savannah and I set off on an adventure with two of our most fAvoRitE people, Aunt Sandi and Uncle Jared. I really enjoy doing different activities within the community because it makes me more excited about where I'm living. So today we headed down to Boise for the farmers market. Its about 4 city blocks and there is so much to see, I went last year when my mom was here for a visit and we had lots of fun. Once again we had an enjoyable time and this was the first time Sandi and Jared had been. It goes from 9:30-1 and its packed! I was also super proud of myself because I got us there without getting us lost and I found somewhere to park that was close to where we were going.

Hanging out with Uncle Jared in some shade.

We got yummy doughnuts that were to die for and I got an amazing loaf of bread that I've already half devoured on my own. It was for sure a successful venture and one that I plan on repeating.

4th of July

This year was a bit low key for the 4th since it's fallen on a Sunday. We did our celebrating yesterday and it made for a fun family outing. Our morning started at 8:20 when we were late for our wards 4th of July breakfast. We got to have a yummy breakfast followed by the bike parade. This year was fun because Jacob participated in the parade by riding his mini bike, Savannah also loved it because she got candy.

Afterwards we went exploring and ended up at the Nampa Farmers Market which I wasn't super impressed with but it was still fun. As we were heading back to the car Jacob wanted to go into a used bookstore so we looked around in there for quite some time and it was super fun. Next we went back to a local park to let Savannah play and watch the ducks, it was bEAUTIFUL weather and the day was just awesome.





We headed home after the park and had lunch and then Savannah went down for a nap. Jacob headed out to Middleton to help his dad with a project and I finally finished panting Savannah's room and getting her bed and toys organized. I still have to clean out the closet in her room and put up shelves and pictures but I'm like 80% done so I'm excited. Then Sandi and Jared came over and we all headed out to Melba to see fireworks (it was a first for Savannah). We weren't quite sure where they were setting them off so we just parked along the side of the road with a ton of other people. It ended up working out perfect cause we were far enough away that the noise didn't bother Savannah and we were only stuck in traffic for a hour. Overall it was a super fun day. I also ended up looking at pictures from last year, it was crazy to see how much Savannah has grown up and the fun things we did last year.
Its crazy how time flies and how much Savannah has changed I can't believe how different she looks and how much she has learned. Anyway I hope everyone else has had a fun 4th of July and remembers how lucky we are to live here and have the freedoms we do.

You Read Correctly

So I'm going to brag about myself for like a second and also share one of my favorite things. I am super proud of myself! I'm due in 5 weeks and so far I've gained 27 lbs this pregnancy. So why am I so proud of that? Well when I delivered Savannah I had gained 48 lbs even though I typically tell people I gained 50. I just end up rounding up which is ironic because whenever I tell Jacob the cost of something I always round down as a side note. So I ended up being 2 lbs away from weighing 200 lbs when I delivered Savannah. Jacob told me I should just shoot for 2 more to make it even and I just couldn't bear the though. Hence I'm excited I'm doing so much better this time around even though I'm bigger then I was with her, funny how that works isn't it. Another side note is I was 4 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight when I got pregnant this time around. So yes I feel like I'm bragging and I don't care, I know everyone gains different amounts but as of now I'm super proud of myself so I thought I'd share.

Now onto one of my favorite things, its kind of a two things really but whatever. So I think I've mentioned before that getting Savannah to take a nap is a struggle. I basically have to physically exhaust her to get her to even consider taking a nap. We've been super busy this week so she's only had naps in the car which suck because they're never long enough and she still ends up cranky in the afternoon. So today I took her for a walk where she had to walk with me. I knew she was tired because she kept trying to get me to hold her which is basically impossible now because my stomach is HUGE! So why do I like taking her for walks? Well if you haven't figured it out its because once we get home we have lunch and then Savannah goes right down for a nap and will sleep anywhere from 3-4 hours. Needless to say this is fantastic for me because then I get 3-4 hours to have quite and I can do whatever I want which is awesome! Now another thing I love which Savannah kept doing on our walk is telling me "luv you". She kept speeding up her pace so she could get in front of me and then she would wrap her arms around my legs and look up at me to say "luv you" over and over. It was so tender and clever of her because typically after telling me she loved me she would then ask me to pick her up. She already knows how to get what she wants, its a good thing I'm so on to her tricks. I will also say though that "luv you" is one of her new favorite phrases because she says it all the time and she's very willing to say it to anyone. I still feel special though because she tells me just because.