Snowed in.

This crazy snow storm has ruined plans of meeting up with a friend whom I haven't seen in almost TWO years (sad face).

But yet, there is just kind of something magical about being snowed in. 

Chris is working from home, which works out well, seeing how it's his birthday and all. :)

Pancakes are being made right now. There's coffee to be drank and  presents to be played with. 

I think these next few days are going to be wonderful. :) :)

A sweater for him

If you remember, a while back, I got my mind set on making baby boy a sweater. I think I may have overestimated my abilities slightly, seeing as how I had never before followed a knitting pattern. 

But if you know me, you know that when my mind is set, I'm doing it. :) So here is the finished product! 

You just can't look too closely, k? 

I can't wait to see him bundled up all warm and snug!

Details:
Originally saw here.
Pattern from this book.
Link to my Ravelry page here.

Baby, baby: 36 weeks

How far along: 36 weeks. 

Baby's size: now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. 

Sleep: Surprisingly, the last few nights I've slept really, really well (all things considered). I'll count that as a great blessing!

Maternity Clothes: Pants. Although anymore, I basically only get "dressed up" if I'm leaving the house. :)

Food cravings: None.

Food aversions: Nothing anymore.

Symptoms I have: Lots of pain and pressure. Cramps. Small amounts of back pain. Haha, this sounds so negative....I'm super thankful to be carrying this child! Just can't wait to meet him. :)

Movement: He's a little wiggler, that's for sure. I can definitely tell he's growing. 

Doctor’s Appointment: This morning, and each week now until he makes his appearance. Doctor confirmed he's head down. Yeah!

Gender: It's a boy!

What I miss: Being able to do simple tasks without huffing, puffing, and being in pain and discomfort. :)

What I’m looking forward to: Seeing his face. I keep imagining what he will look like. I'm also really excited to finally share his name with the world. :)

Also, I decided to Embrace the Camera with Molly today. 

I find it humorous how I have to hold Molly. It's the absolute sweetest when I'm singing to her at night and she lays her head on my shoulder. *melt my heart. 

She wasn't really that into it, haha.

13 weeks

22 weeks

27 weeks

32 weeks

A day in the life.v2

This e-card cracks me up. 

But, it's not the reason for this post, I promise. 

I documented a day in our life last year, if you remember (see here). It's something I really enjoy reading over and over again, reminiscing of that particular season of life. I recently read Casey's and Lindsy's day-in-the-life posts, and decided I was due for another one. So if this is boring to you, sorry. It's a little more for me than you, haha. :) But if you're like me and enjoy reading these things, then, well, enjoy!!

7am- Wake up.

7:30am- Chris leaves for work. I sip on coffee and read through some blogs. Getting in some good me time. 

8am- Molly girl wakes up. For the first time ever, she calls for me from her bed: "Mommy! Mommy!" My heart literally swells with joy, and a few tears well up inside my eyes.

We snuggle for a good bit. She is so snuggly right when she wakes up. I love it. After snuggles, we change her diaper, get some milk, and she plays with her babies and new matryska dolls. 

9am- Breakfast time. Waffles and berries. Little girl must be going through a growth spurt because lately she's been a clean-plater almost ever meal, and asking for more! (Growing up, if we finished all our food, we were called a "clean-plater", haha)

9:15am- Clean up breakfast and warm up my coffee. 

The next couple of hours are a hodge podge of things:
*I have quiet time with the Lord. I've come to grips with the reality that this time period may shift through different seasons of life. 
*I work on our meal plan for the week and corresponding grocery list.
*Molly plays with her toys. She usually plays really well by herself for a good chunk of time. 
*We do puzzles together. We learn about colors, trying to keep repeating them and showing her different things around the house.  She'll pick up on it eventually!
*We read her favorite ABC book. She knows practically all of the animals.

11:15am- She's down for her first nap. I pulled out my sewing machine for the first time since preparing for my craft show and got to work on my pillowcase that I will take to the hospital when baby boy is born. You can read about Molly's here. 
My second project was a bow tie for a teenager in our church that has played drums for us the last couple of years. A few weeks ago, he said he wanted a bow tie and I told him I'd make him one. It think he thought I was kidding, so I hope he's excited! 

Yes, the pillowcase and bow tie were made with the same material! :)

1:15pm- Molly is up from her nap, but happily talking and playing in her bed, so she'll stay there for a little bit while I finish up a few things.

2pm- Lunch time. I make us a smoothie to drink first, and then prepare lunch. Usually, Molly and I have the same thing for lunch, but today she is having a PBJ, some cheese, and some raisins. I have leftover fish and some salt & vinegar chips. Yum.

Today's smoothie: banana, apple, spinach, & frozen peaches.

2:30pm- Lunch is over, dishes are cleaned up. Time to get ready to go on a walk, which is quite a process now that it's getting cold out. I think we spend more time getting ready than we do actually outside! Haha.

3:00pm- Leave for the grocery store. This takes longer than expected, mainly because halfway through, I have to slow my pace (like, s l o w) thanks to little boy. :) But in the end, my joy is found again thanks to the cashier giving Molly a ballon and her finding endless delight in it. 

4:15pm- After a quick Starbucks stop, we're home. I carry the groceries in (really should start letting hubby do that...) and stop for a few minutes to put my feet up and sip my mocha while it's warm. Molly is still wildly obsesses with her balloon, which she adorably calls, "moon". 

4:30pm- Molly goes down for another nap and I unload the groceries and then sit down and open the mail and packages we got. I'm crazy in love with this card I ordered to hang on baby boy's wall.

Ordered from here. The sweet shop owner even threw in this extra thank you card! :)

5:30pm- Chris is home from work. We catch up on our days a bit and then he gets Molly up and they play while I start cooking dinner.  

6:15pm- Dinner is served. Molly isn't too interested, so before long she's off and back to playing. 

7:30pm- We decide tonight would be a great night for ice cream at Farmhouse. Delicious sundaes, and a sample taste of their yummy caramel corn!

Watching the train that goes all the way around the store:

9:30pm- Molly goes down for bed. Time to relax! We start watching The Office--Chris's idea is to watch each season's Christmas episode over the next week. Great idea, right!?! :)
I work on editing pictures from the day and writing this post. Then it's time to knit--my nightly relaxation ritual. (And, let's be real, finishing up some Christmas gifts!) 

11pm- Time for bed. :) Night night, world!

Decorating the Tree

I was excited about this night for quite some time. I wanted our tree up as soon as possible after Thanksgiving so that we can enjoy it as long as possible before Christmas is over and baby boy arrives.  

Growing up in my family, setting up the Christmas tree was a wonderful tradition. And even though sometimes it was stressful (mainly for my dad because those stinking lights always got tangled, haha), I absolutely loved it. 

So it's a tradition that I really want to carry on for our kids.  Especially now that our new tree is pre-lit and snaps together in three easy pieces. :)

Another tradition I really want to carry on from my childhood is getting a new ornament for our kids each year. 

Last year, Molly got a lion. This year, I bought her a penguin from this etsy shop. I loved how when she first opened it, she thought it was an owl. :)

Daddy teaching her how to hang an ornament on the tree:

This right here was my absolute favorite part of the night. I had  taken all of our ornaments out and put them on the couch. When Molly realized what was going on, she would run to the couch, get an ornament, and go back to the tree. Even though she couldn't quite get the hang of the hook or string, she would point to where she wanted it and we helped her hang it on the tree. 

It's just so difficult to express how much joy this brought me. Watching her learn about a Christmas tree and seeing how much she loved the ornaments (we have a pig, birds, a mouse, mittens, and several other things she knows and recognizes) just made my heart so full. 

We ended the night with cookies. Of course. 

And yeah...the hot cocoa never got made. But oh well. 

We still made some wonderful memories. :)

15 days until Christmas!! :o)

**Edited for correction. :)

Friday Highs.v41

I know it's been forever since the last Friday Highs. But I'm back. At least this week. :)

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Catching up with a good friend. And drinking this delicious and beautiful peppermint mocha. 

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Daddy sharing his milkshake. So generous, right?

He's secretly racing her to the bottom. Secretly because she has no idea.

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Using my favorite Christmas mug.

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A little photo shoot for this headband. 

She was bribed with a cookie. 

Such a little stinker.

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Ya know, so what if these lemons were bought to try to help heal us all of our sickies. This sight is pretty. It makes me happy. 

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A favorite ornament.

Tree-trimming pictures coming soon!

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A sneak peak at maternity photos by my dear friend Chelsie. 

I am just insanely obsessed with these. Wait, my friends. Just wait until you see the rest. :)

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This one. She just melts my heart.

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Oh yes, I forgot to mention, the SHOP is updated. 

Not too much longer until Christmas! :)

Molly: 18 months

It's hard to believe this was just a year ago. Time sure flies. But I'm choosing to dwell on the positive, because in all seriousness, this post could more appropriately be titled:

Awesome stuff my kid is doing.

As difficult as this stage can be at times, there are so many moments when I just sit back in awe of her and all that she is learning and becoming. Seriously, this part of parenting rocks.

So here is Molly girl in all her 18 month glory, learning about life, loving it, and maybe slipping in a temper tantrum here and there. *grin*

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Loving her bunny. And those two fingers.

Putting diapers on her babies.

Completely entranced in a puzzle. Concentration is key.

Loading her socks in the dishwasher.

Sidenote: one of her "jobs" is to shut the dishwasher whenever she is in there with me. She gets so much delight from this. :)

The other day, I asked Molly to go put daddy's shoes by the front door. I kind of had to point it out and show her "over by the basket." Once she realized it, she went promptly over and lined his shoes up perfectly straight. My little type A. :) :)

Hugging Grammie over FaceTime. She also tries to give her a sip of her drink, or a taste of her snack. :)

She can reach to put her cup on the counter when her milk is gone. This one makes me choke back a tear or so. How is she this big?!?

Playing peek-a-boo behind the curtains. 

Putting her own shoes on. The girl looooves shoes.

Whenever we go for a walk, we always have to stop and sit by the water. When we leave, she always waves bye-bye to the water. :)

And just a few more tidbits:

-Her speech has just exploded, She has so many words, and uses them so well. Here's a typical conversation:

Molly: Daddy!

Me: Where is daddy?

Molly: at work. 

Yep. Brilliance, I tell you. :)

- The girl loves her babies. She is always so concerned for them, making sure they are wrapped in a blanket, fed, and their faces wiped off. :)

-We're trying to work on identifying colors. She can match them really well, but doesn't yet know what's what. She does, however, parrot whatever color I tell her. I'm not sure if it's the color pink, or saying the word pink, but she loves it! Almost everything after we say that color is "Pink! Pink! Pink!" (said with a scrunched face and a little smile.

-Last Sunday morning when I was sick with some kind of flu, I was sitting on the couch waiting for Chris and Molly to leave and I asked Molly if she knew where my slippers where. (Who knew they were right under my feet??) She reached down, picked both of them up, and put them both on my feet. Tears were immediately streaming down my cheeks. She is my sweet, sweet little girl. :) 

Not Your Mama's Craft Market

Have I mentioned to you all that I've been busy? 

That's kind of a joke. Of course you already knew that.

Well, I'm happy to say that one of the projects I was working towards is now over and was extremely successful!

I was contacted by Chelsey a few months ago and asked to participate in her new and fresh craft show in our town. And let me just tell you, the girl does not disappoint! She did an absolutely incredible job, top to bottom. I could not have been more impressed. :)

You can read more about Chelsey here, and see her Facebook page here.

Here are the pictures from my booth. I was so nervous about how this would turn out, but in the end, I was very happy with it!

Also, a huge thanks to my girl, Whitney for all her help with the props on my booth. You are amazing, Whit! Love you!!

If you see something you like here, you're in luck! I didn't completely sell out of everything, so I'll be adding to my shop later this week hopefully! Stay tuned. :)

Thankful Tree, 2012

Last year, we started the tradition of the thankful tree. You can read those here. 

This year, it was a little more thrown together, but I didn't want to forsake this month of focusing on gratitude. 

Here are this years, in picture form. :)