oh the girliness....

~Sorry no baby yet... you just have to settle for pictures of the girls room... we finally have finished all the little projects I have been dreaming about... and thought I would never finish!... enjoy!~

the dresses on the wall were given to me by my grandma... she made the one on the top left for my uncle when she was pregnant with him... I am so happy to have them... the doll crib is from her too!

the theme of the room was "vintage girliness with a little funk"... pretty much if I was drawn to it I fit it in somehow...

this was the biggest project... almost matching quilts for the girls... here is Daisy's... they are remnants of two vintage chenille blankets and fabric I have been collecting since the summer... they are also the first two quilts I have ever made (and finished, I have two in the works)... they look so similar I had to add the monogram to the corner...

Daisy's dresser is sporting here name because she kept ripping it off the wall above her crib (as well as her diaper off her bum!)... the dresser linen is vintage from Brimfield antique show... I love it!

Cora is going in the little crib that was my grandfather's... both of our baby's have slept in this till they were 9 months or so... Cora will start naps in there but sleep in the bassinet in our room till she sleeps through the night...

this little dress and sweater are so sweet and given to me also by my grandmother... I can't wait till Cora can wear them!... maybe Easter!

a fun playdate!

Sydney came over for a playdate to help her mommy out a couple Fridays ago... Sydney really likes Carter but isn't so sure about Daisy since Daisy seems to be a little in your face and loved pulling the bow in her hair... I hope and pray that these girls just learn to play better as they grow!... one thing they have in common are those cheesy smiles!

these two boys...

play hard but have many tender moments too...

Carter is learning lots from Noah... some good some a little crazy but it takes a village right? during bible study last week we could all hear Noah telling Carter to close the door when he used the bathroom because there were guest in the house... Carter was upset because he didn't understand so i had to intervene but I thought it was sweet of Noah to help him out... and then they were back to sword fighting and wrestling!

she's porkin' up!

the midwife came on Friday for a prenatal visit... she was amazed how much bigger Cora felt... since I have been trying to eat better (more protein, less sugar) I feel really good about this... however later that night we had Mexican food and that put me into a marathon of pretty strong contractions that fizzled after a couples hours but left me feeling uncomfortable... I guess this is a good sign since a few days ago I stated multiple times that i felt too good to be 9 months pregnant!... yesterday I felt big and slow but today I feel like I have more energy and I am preparing for work tonight ( ie a nap is going to start very soon).. I am just happy she is getting a little bigger since in my opinion bigger babies sleep and eat better than little babies (though tempermant is a lot of it too!)

a poll (cause I am starting to get bored)

Who will Cora look like?

A) her Daddy (poor Kevin, most people say the kids look like me)
B) Daisy and me
C) red hair like Aunt Emily (maybe because her name is Em's middle name?)
D) or some other distant relative

please share your thoughts in the comments!

She wants to use the potty!

Daisy has been showing signs that she is ready to use the potty for some time now: stating she is wet, ripping her diaper off, using "pee" and "poop" appropriately and putting all her dolls and stuffed animals on the potty... I however am not that excited about having accidents and a newborn at the same time... we occasionally offer the potty to her (like before bath time) but I am not ready for full fledged potty training yet!... a couple weeks ago she had her first poop on the potty and was very proud....


but was very funny about not wanting to stand too close to it for a picture... I don't think she will grow up to be a nurse that's one thing!

done & done

Max was born in January last year... he received his finished hat early December at my Cookie Exchange because I finally remembered to get it out of my van where it had been sliding around since October. It has been to the beach a couple times but the main issue with this hat was the help I needed to make those adorable turtles on it!



Genevieve was born in April- her hat was almost finished on the trip down for her birth but between the move and getting lost in the coffee table where I left it in September trying to finish days before Dave and Jayme visited. Needless to say I found it 3 hours before they left our house to visit for Christmas and finished it! Whew!


Glad they at least fit!

cozy visits...

after the holidays there are many people still lingering in the area and after visits with family we have a chance to catch up... these little visits (in my opinion) are the best... no fuss or worries just small chatter, some loud laughs and left over Christmas cookies...

Uncle Hutch came over to catch up... I invited Marissa who hasn't seen him since her wedding (four years ago!)... the kids loved Hutch (especially Carter).. Hutch has seemed to grown up so much!.. we broke out the year book and we all shocked by how young we look!...

so we decided to take a picture just to record us now in our mid- late twenties!... I was trying to hide that belly but it just doesn't work!

Just imagine what we will look like in another 5 or 10 years!

baking for an army....

the kids and I spent all day Wednesday baking bread to freeze... I haven't baked bread since the first week of December.... needless to say our freezer is now full and so are our bellies... we only enjoyed one loaf (and the muffins are for a baby shower at church)... it feels good to just stay home and get ready for the baby... the nesting is setting in!

December Daily: 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25

Whew!

a baby update:

We are watching the countdown but not knowing when it will happen is hard... I have not gone crazy yet! I learned not to do that with Daisy... it just made me miserable.... however I did have an eye opening experience when I started dumping glucose and small amounts of protein in my urine... I had blood work done and it showed I am not eating enough... go figure! maybe too many rum balls and not enough protein over the last couple weeks?... so right now I am trying to take better care of myself: eating and drinking water and getting the rest I need as much as possible... honestly this whole pregnancy I haven't been taking very good care of myself... I am hoping in the end my body will thank me with a beautiful labor and baby....

these were taken last night before bedtime... lots of "baby bum rubbing" and "belly kick" feeling going on here!

up with the sun...

I know this is unusual for me but today I was up way before the sun... needless to say I was no longer comfortable in bed and Mr. B's (the kitty) snoring sounded like Chewbacca.... So here I am completing my December Daily project... scratching my brain trying to remember all I did for Christmas after we got our power back... needless to say I am having a heard time sorting through pictures and making it complete so I am posting pictures of the completed projects that I had worked on that day... hopefully it will make sense and I will get over the month long project not working out again (why to I even attempt these things?)

our Christmas Card....

December Daily: 14, 15 and 16

this is for those of you who thought little Cora would be here before I got back to this blog:

December Daily: 11, 12 and 13

catching up slowly...

an interruption....

if you haven't heard of the "Big Ice" storm that hit central Mass last Thursday into Friday you must have been living in a whole!... our friend's son read about Holden in the news on-line in Ireland... We went to bed Thursday (or Friday) after midnight after loosing power... the night was full of crashing.... falling... tumbling and we woke up to this~

It was amazing, scary, exciting, shocking all at once!!!

I wasn't sure what to think but knowing I had to be to work all weekend (my last three night stretch before the baby comes) and the house was already only 57 degrees we headed to Mimi and Papa's where they at least had heat from the wood stove... after eating Chex and PB crackers in our bed (the warmest place in the house) while Daddy helped a neighbor and cleaned up the driveway.... we headed out packed for a day or two... with both kitties crying the whole way!

the drive was frightening as branches were still falling and lines were everywhere but we made it safely around noontime.... That night we had dinner by propane lantern... grilled chicken and rice pilaf with a side of left over stuffed shells that I knew would go bad if left in the house...
Mimi and Papa had power by 0230am on Saturday (they weren't so hardly hit) and I worked all weekend sleeping at Kevin's Aunt's in Bolton (she never lost power).... it was more like a B and B but I was stressed out and the whole thing seems like a dream now.... we recieved power on our street Monday but our power lines to our house were ripped off and we needed and electrition to hoook it up.... I called about 20 of them on Tuesday morning and the first one I called I had told I was almost 9 months pregnant and had two children 3 and under... I had power in 4 hours!!! Praise God!
the damage is mostly to our tress only one branch hit the house... we will be cleaning up till spring and now everything is snow covered from a storm yesterday and we might get 6 inches or more on Friday.... it looks like we will have a white Christmas for sure...

so to celebrate on Tuesday we had 9 friends (all who had no power) over for homemade pizza... it felt good to talk about the storm knowing we had conquered the storm in some and to feel heat from the stove and to think before I turned on every light switch... I was certainly humbled... it was hard to even straighten my hair!....




many of our friends still have no power.... and the stress is building up... please pray for all of those who are roughing it and that we would know how to serve them in the midst of this season...

December Daily: 10

just catching up here.... remember you can click on the picture to see it bigger... enjoy!

December Daily: 9

December Daily: 8

December Daily: 7

December Daily: 6