What I've Been Doing On Maternity Leave ...

So I've been on maternity leave since March 1st and I knew I had to keep myself busy or I'd go nuts. Here's a summary of what I've been doing:

COOKING UP A STORM

Over the past four weeks I've made the following that are tucked away nicely in the freezer for after the baby comes:

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  spaghetti sauce


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  meatloaf


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  baked ziti


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  baked chicken


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  chicken pot pie filling


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  chicken and dumplings filling mac and cheese


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  breakfast casserole

I've also been baking homemade chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, blueberry muffins and pound cakes that we've been enjoying now! Yum!

READING BOOKS AND WATCHING MOVIES

PLANTING STRAWBERRIES WITH ETHAN

One beautiful Saturday a couple of weekends ago, I wanted to have a fun project with Ethan. Of course I was into it more than he was, Mr. 5 Minute Attention Span. But we did get them planted and they are thriving well and growing strawberries, especially with all this rain. We go out and check them every other day and he says "Look Mommy - mine is growing strawberries. And look -yours is too!" It's fun to watch something like that grow and certainly makes me want to plant a vegetable garden someday.

BOYS BATHROOM

For seven years we've had the guest/hall bath the exact same way. It was time for a change especially since it's really the two boys that would be using the bath the majority of the time. When I set out to find something, I originally wanted some kind of safari or animal theme. I could not find what I was looking for. I stopped by PB outlet in Gaffney one day back in January and found this really cool shower curtain for $20 and quickly changed my theme to surf/beach theme. I am excited about how it came out and you cannot tell from the horrible quality of the pictures how bright the green and blue are. It's really pretty. We are hoping to get something above the toilet like a surfboard or paint a silhouette of a surfer with seagulls, but we are undecided. So there is a clock there now. And of course we have both names monogrammed on towels, but we can't let you see that now can we? :)

NURSERY

We are very excited about how this room turned out. It's very peaceful and serene in there, which is exactly what I wanted it to be. Sorry for the notebook paper over the name on the wall - it's still a secret ... to most of you that haven't talked to Ethan. He's a big mouth and has spilled the beans to well, pretty much everyone! LOL. At least it is a secret to the general public! The trees are vinyl which was our saving grace from having to actually paint them. Thank God for those! They were a piece of cake. Above the crib I do have his first and middle name along with the meaning of the name. Nana Cassidy made the beautiful bumper and is in the process of making a baby blanket and pillow with his monogram on it with leftover material we bought for making the bumper - THANK YOU SO MUCH NANA! You will never know how much this meant to us!

ETHAN'S BIG BOY ROOM

Well, here it is folks - Ethan's big boy room. What you've all been asking for for months now. I haven't wanted to show pictures yet because it wasn't 100% complete, but it still isn't. LOL. I think the running theme in our house is it's always a work in progress, but who's house isn't? We finally finished the truck painting and put it up this weekend. We still have a chalkboard frame that we will eventually get around to to the left of the window and growth chart as you can see below. We like how it turned out and we hope E does as well.

OUR WEDDING ALBUM ... 7 YEARS LATER!

I am so behind on this project it's not even funny. We will be celebrating our 7 year anniversary on April 10th and I'm JUST now completing this book. No time better than now that I had five weeks to do absolutely nothing but catch up on unfinished business! I would show the rest but I'm not 100% complete. I'm hoping to finish up today! Very exciting and a wonderful gift I can give Chris, besides a new son, in 10 days!

YEARLY BOOKS I MADE FOR THE BOYS

I've been doing this since Ethan was a baby, so I have a mini book for every year, 1 - 3, for him. In these, it's like a baby book where I record milestones, weight, and what's going on in his world. I also put in a picture or two - ones that I don't make an actual scrap page of but I still liked the picture. It's a lot of fun to go back and take a glimpse of how much he has changed through the months and years. I've also started this for baby #2 as well, in an owl theme to match his room.

So in summary, I have been keeping myself quite busy. I'm to the point where I am done. Ready to have this baby. That will certainly be keeping me busy for the next 18 years! I'll keep everyone updated! Love ya'll!

Trying to get Baby Out

I have quite a funny story to share!

I had my 36 week check up on Wednesday. My mid-wife, Jan, who is fabulous, was giving me tips on how to get the baby to engage the pelvis, which he is not doing. He is head down and has been, but just still is so comfortable in a position that is not admirable. So, she told me to get on all fours three times a day and do these exercises that you arch your back then flatten it. Do that over and over and it encourages the baby to further get him into position. Hey, at this point and I willing to do whatever.

After dinner that night Chris, E and I are playing and hanging out in the living room. Baby was kicking me all over the place in the same places he has been for quite some time. To get him to move further down, I got on the floor and proceeded to do my exercises. After a few minutes Ethan looked puzzled at me and said "Mommy - what you doing?" I told him I was trying to get baby out and this was going to help. He just looked at me for a long period of time and seemed to forget about it and move on. About 20 minutes later, he looked at me, pulled up his shirt, and said, "I gotta get the baby out. Let me get over here and do my exercises!" He then proceeded to get on the floor and do the same exercises I was doing ... except he was on his head! It was quite hilarious and Chris and I were just rolling! He then said, "He's out! Here he is!" He "brought the baby over to us" and was so proud!

What a funny cracker!

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Being home for a while before baby comes is pretty cool I have to say. Now, throw two kids in the mix and I'm will be whistling a different tune.
2. Starting a new book is so refreshing ... I am reading "The Help" and it is fantastic. Thanks to Susan for the recommendation!
3. Babies babies babies - all over the place!
4. Sometimes God has to break you to have you carry His will to be done. It's actually listening to that cue and acting on it that is the hard part.
5. We now have a Riverbanks Zoo yearly membership. I sure hope Ethan enjoys every minute of it and so far, it's definitely been worth it ... and we've only gone once.
6. Making meals ahead of time to freeze and have for when baby comes is hard work. Thinking of an actual menu is harder. So far I have two spaghetti meals (sauce), two meatloaf meals and one breakfast casserole meal. This this week my plan is to make two chicken and dumpling, two chicken pot pie meals and some miscellaneous desserts like pound cake, muffins and chocolate chip cookies, by request of my hubby. Wish me luck!
7. I have never taken so many warm baths in my life. I think I have taken one every single day, and even two here and there. It just helps so much with the pain and discomfort! Thank God for baths!
8. Pregnancy certainly does change your sense of smell. I bought a Yankee Candle a few weeks ago that I've always liked. I burned it at least four times and have hated it every time. I thought I would change my mind but I didn't. Thank goodness Y.C. will let you switch out whatever you don't like. Trusty Lavender Vanilla is burning as we speak. Ummmm
9. I still cannot believe that I will have a newborn baby, God willing, in my arms in three weeks or less! And Ethan will be a big brother!
10. Thank God for a gorgeous weekend full of life and spring. It's coming!!!

Four More Weeks ...

... until baby C makes his arrival! (Although, I'm hoping it's a tad bit earlier). I've been home for an entire week for my very early maternity leave ... long story. My boss didn't really have the money to pay me for another month so I didn't really have a choice. As much as I feel bad being home not bringing home some dough, sometimes I think God has other plans. Maybe I need this time to relax/sleep, organize/clean, bake/cook and reflect on the major change that is about to happen in our family. Seriously though, I think it's costing more money for me to stay home right now - I'm now finding small projects to start (not good)! We have however finished the nursery for the most part - I have a few loose ends to tie up but it is ready for it's next resident. :) We also at the last minute decided to redo the hall bath to make it kid friendly for the boys. Excuse me if I've already talked about this but it's a surf / beach theme. I'm just looking to either make or find a really cool surfboard to put above the toilet and as we speak I have towels getting monogrammed for both boys. It'll be a fun room when it's 100% complete. But we all know nothing around here is ever 100% done. Look at E's room - which is GOING to be done before this baby comes, if it kills me! :)

Other ways I am spending my time is by preparing meals to freeze for when baby comes (any suggestions are welcome), scrapbooking, reading, cleaning and organizing and just resting. I just purchased "The Help" last night and I'm hoping to dive into that soon. As far as scrapbooking, I'm just trying to stay caught up on Ethan's yearly book I've done since he's been born, our family album and finish baby #2's so I can just stick pictures in there when we take them. My other goal is to finish this durn wedding album which will be 7 years old in a month! I'm not sure I'll get all of it done but hopefully we'll be one step closer!

I have been to three consignment sales - Upscale Weesale (which I consigned at), For Every Season and one up in Huntersville, which was not really worth the gas I put into going. There are two more coming up next week then I'll be done. I'm just on the search for shoes - if you have a boy you know exactly where I'm coming from. I just buy consignment Stride Rite but E has club feet so I have to find wide, and not worn down to the nubs. He does that enough by just wearing them! So needless to say, it's very hard to find some. I'm good to go with clothes for both boys so luckily I haven't had to spend a lot of money this season on clothing. Thank God! I did spend a little chunk of money on a double stroller so I can walk with both boys when the summer comes and they'll both be home with me. Yikes - that is so scary but exciting to think about.

I will have more random thoughts to come ...