Baby Shower

Last Saturday our friend Holly hosted a baby shower for my friend Lisa's baby Daniel and our Baby A. We had such a fun time, but regrettably, I was only able to snap a few pictures. Isn't the cake a work of art? A friend in the church made it for us.

Baby Daniel was the star of the show.

The ladies of the church pooled together and got both Lisa and me these beautiful Pack 'n Plays that I love dearly. They even have an attachable diaper changing station although I took mine off for the picture.

Gotta go for now~ I'm almost done with all of the thank you notes!

Bubbly

Please excuse his beard, leftover from lunch~ they rushed outside as soon as they finished eating.

Pointing at "Bubbos!"

Laundry Room Makeover

Ok, so this might not be your typical makeover to those of you who only see this online, but to me, it was a total transformation. See, I do a lot of laundry around here, and it had been a while since I had seen the top of the dryer.

BEFORE

Look at that messy corkboard! Look at that pale ugly wall! Look at the dryer! (Ok, I cheated. I had a basket that rested permanently on the dryer that served as a catchall. Really bad idea. I moved it for the before shot which defeats the purpose of a before picture.)

AFTER:

Ahhh! Much better! I recovered the cork board with about $4 worth of paper and ribbon.

I "mistreated" the shelf above the washer and dryer. I hung it on a simple tension rod from Walmart. See that bulge under the fabric? Let's take a look underneath...

My extension cord box doesn't fit exactly. Like my labels? Everything on the shelf under the curtain is labeled.

I love using the walls as storage. And even though today is laundry day, the top of the dryer is still clear and clean!

This is my favorite part of the room. I love these hooks! Just regular old cup hooks from Target (less than $2 for 8). I attached some clips I had sitting around in the kitchen and now this serves as my "delicates" drying rack. You can't see it in the before picture, but I had a big bulky plastic drying rig hanging from the shelf. I hated it. These hooks are out of the way and simple. I hang my bag for delicates when it's not in use.
Also, I would be remiss to omit my new favorite thing~ my collapsible laundry basket. In my six years of marriage, I have never owned a laundry basket for the simple reason that I had no good place to store one when not being used. I knew if I kept it on the dryer, it would turn into a catch-all while laundry was not in progress and I knew that is not what we want. Now I keep my lovely, lovely little collapsible basket all folded up and between the washer and dryer for most of the week. Did I mention that I picked it up at Walmart for under $4?

Well, that's it. It might not look totally different, but it is so much less cluttered and more functional now! I think a huge key to organizing is really finding out what works for you and your own systems.

Getting Closer...

Well, today is pre-registry day for me at our new bright shiny hospital, so besides the ordinary, I'm packing my (our) hospital bag and parking it in the car. I'm packing away this coming home outfit for Baby A. I got it a few weeks ago and I smile whenever I see it. I especially love the "Feed Me" bib.

I'm packing this one too in case it's chilly.

On the homefront, I think I've been cycling through different nesting stages~ cooking, sewing, and organizing. Two weeks ago, I cooked all week long and I've stashed a nice amount of food in the freezers. Last week, I put quite a few miles on my sewing machine~ I finished the big one's pajamas, and Baby A's quilt and I even made a Mei Tai baby carrier, which I love. This week's tasks were mostly organizational. I totally re-did the laundry room/ powder room over the weekend and yesterday was the dreaded day when I tackled the master closet. However, after the 5 large paper grocery bags filled with cast offs left the premises, I emerged victorious. I am so happy I might even share pictures. Gotta run for now and finish my birth plan, but I really do hope to post more pictures later, especially the laundry room.

Lions

"Mama! I found some lions outside for you!"

I heard this as he made his way up the stairs to my bedroom where I was folding laundry. I instantly remembered last summer when he found me a "giant" and brought it to me in his fist while we were outside. It turned out to be a daddy long-legs. So it made me a little nervous to hear 'lions' were coming to me now. A caterpillar or two? I had no idea...

But I had no reason to worry this time.

Dandelions~ a sweet gift from my sweetheart. They're all flowers to him.

Dabney's New Pajamas

Ok, so here is the project I mentioned a few posts ago. I've been trying to use up some of the acreage of sewing supplies and fabric I have in the basement. Add that to the fact that my kids just won't stop growing (no matter how much I plead with them) and Dabney needed summer pajamas.

I'm not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but they're made of eyelet and Dabney has decided that the set has nice twirl-ablilty. I think they'll fit her this summer and next, also.

Classic and cool, light and summery~ another satisfied customer.

Heartburn Hotel

Yep, as the title suggests, I have been popping the Tums and Zantac like they're candy. Tonight as my family eats a real dinner, I'll be having rice krispies and milk. On the bright side, I try to think that maybe this baby will have a head-full of hair.


In other pieces of miscellany, we did indeed make yogurt last week and it turned out pretty well. I made 3 quarts for about $0.95 and the kids really enjoyed it. In fact, if they had it their way, we would have been out of yogurt two days after we made it. It was really easy so I might post pictures here after we make the next batch.

Last night I overheard Tim on the phone with a friend and he said I was in "super-nesting mode". That kind of made me laugh, because I know it's true. Yesterday, I washed all of the laundry for the week (miracle) and the kids' bedsheets (miracle of miracle) and then gave Dabney's room an extreme makeover (I could hardly believe it!). We didn't move any furniture around ~I know better than that~ but got rid of ridiculous amounts of clutter. We went through every toy in her room, purged everything she was hesitant to keep (it is now yard sale fodder) and organized everything else and put it away in such a way that she herself can keep it organized. It felt so good to get that done, although I also felt pretty dead after all of that work. A few months ago when I began all of this, I made a list of every room or zone in our home and one by one began de-cluttering then organizing that zone and crossing it off the list. Some weeks I'd get more than one zone done, other weeks I'd struggle with just the normal housework. I knew Dabney's room would take a lot of work. The next (and last) dreaded zone~ the master closet. My side in particular. Normal clothes and maternity clothes. Yikes.

The upcoming yard sale has been such a great motivator. I have big plans for this weekend when Tim can help me purge and organize the crawlspace. I can't wait for that! I'm sort of helpless without him when it comes to moving large things in confined spaces, but God was so good to give me a very strong husband. As I go through the house de-cluttering, I'm trying to think about the things we don't need or don't use or don't love. Everything else hinders us from the simple life we want to live.

(Ok, she was faking)

Ahhhhh. No prenatal appointment this week! But, next week when I go in it will begin the weekly visits before Baby A arrives. I also pre-register at the hospital next week and pre-registry day is when I always pack my hospital bag. Where on earth did this pregnancy go? Right now I'm still in the "nervous because of labor pains" phase, but I know that eventually my attitude will emerge into "The little man must be evicted! Now!" phase before the birth. I get nervous about the timing and who will watch my kids and a myriad of other issues, but it is sweet to remember that God holds Baby A and me in His hands and everything will go according to His perfect plan. (*Reminder to self: make a playlist entitled "childbirth"*) Well, I'm off to finish more items on my list, namely ironing, so I hope to check in later this week.

(I guess spaghetti wasn't exciting enough for the discriminating palate of our 3 year old.)