Big Girl Bed

Friday night was Aubrey's first night in her big girl bed!! 

 

She did great that first night and was a very happy girl in the morning :).  She looked so big in her crib, but now she looks so small in her bed.  We can't believe she's growing up SO fast!!

 

We told her that just like in her crib, she needed to call us and we would come and get her.  She rustled around in her bed for a little bit and then said, "Mommy...come and get me!" 

 

She has been doing great with everything at night but nap time has been a battle.  Yesterday she slept for a whole 30 minutes, but today, luckily, she is fast asleep :).  She doesn't get up out of her bed at all (which is really nice that she is listening and obeying us), but she just cries.  We're really hoping this trend of her not taking her naps lasts a long time (becuase she still seems like she really needs it), but we know she's already over two and maybe she is just too active to sleep.  Who knows.  For now we will take the good nights of sleep and try to get through nap time.  Mommy and daddy will really be needing that break coming up very soon!

 

 

Aubrey's Big Girl Room Coming Together

This week we really went to work on getting Aubrey's new room ready for her to sleep in. We bought some plain white curtains and my mom sewed some ruffles on them. My grandfather made her bed and Brandon spent last week painting it. It was again another family affair :). We're liking how things are turning out and we're hoping she does just fine in it. At least she's excited about it :). We can't believe our little family is growing very soon!

Showered With Blessings

We really are surrounded by wonderful family and friends. 

 

When she found out I was expecting our second baby, my friend Anne Imboden sent me a card to congratulate me and to tell me she would be there to support me through this time.  She seriously lived up to what that card said :).

 

She approached me weeks ago asking if she could throw me a baby shower.  I was a little surprised but felt so honored and blessed that she would be willing to do that for me, this baby, and our family.  On February 16, 2013 at 10:00am she threw me a gorgeous and wonderful brunch baby shower.  Invited were some friends that I get the privilege of serving beside in MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) at our church and a couple of close girlfriends from our church.  My mom and mother-in-law were there to support me too :). 

 

Anne really spared no detail when it came to decorations and making her already very cozy home feel and look so girly and beautiful.  She always kids me that I am way more crafty and creative than she is, but this girl can throw one awesome party!   She said in a text that she even burned her finger on something she was making for the shower with a hot glue gun...and she did that for me and this little girl on the way :).

 

 

My sister couldn't be in town for this shower :( but she made me an adorable banner that hung in the window to cheer the room up even more.  It's definitely going in the nursery soon!

 



Anne made a wonderful spread of delicious food that tasted as good as it looked.  She even had some fancy drinks to go along with all that goodness.

 

 

 

Along with the food we had a game where Anne printed up different pictures of Aubrey and poseted them on paper.  On the top it said "What is Aubrey Thinking?" and each lady had to come up with a quote and write that on the back of the paper on what Aubrey might say.  At the end of our time together I got to read each one and pick two of my favorite quotes.  Not an easy task but so fun :).

 

 

Each lady also filled out a little card with what their wishes for this baby would be.

 

 

This little girl and I were showered with presents.  We got some super cute clothes and some much needed necessities like diapers and rash cream.  I think we will be stocked up on diapers for some time!

 

 

 

Some of the ladies were so sweet that they even thought of getting something for Aubrey to ease this transition.  How thoughtful!  She got some books, dolls, and some other goodies that we'll take to the hospital with us and give them to her when she comes to meet her baby sister :).

 

 

I couldn't have asked to be more supported by some wonderful ladies in my life at this shower.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Anne for blessing me so much!!  I was honored in so many ways.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!! :)

 





37 Weeks

We seriously cannot believe that I am 37 weeks pregnant!!

 

 

The beginning of this pregnancy seemed like it was going so slow, but now the time has just flown by.  In a few weeks our lives will change forever once again with this new little addition to our family and we couldn't be more excited (but just a little nervous of course). 

 

Thanking God for the last 37 weeks and trusting him for the next few weeks to come :).

Valentine's Day 2013

We got to celebrate our Valentine's Day a day early. 

 

I got some flowers from my wonderful hubby in the morning and for some reason we have kind of started this tradition of getting doughnuts for breakfast on special days.  He didn't disappoint in keeping up the tradition.  I got him a Ron Swanson (character from Parks and Recreation) mug that he could take to work for his morning coffee.  I have my friend Melissa C. to thank for this :).

 

 

Aubrey and I painted some paper and traced her hands on it.  I cut those hand prints out, cut a piece of string that was the length from one of her hands to the other, and then wrote "I love you this much Daddy" on one of the hands.  You can find this idea here.  Thank you Pinterest for this idea :).

 

For our last MOPS craft we did some scratch-off valentines which were very simple to make.  I personalized two for Aubrey and two for the hubby and they each scratched them off to find something special they would get or something special we could do together.  My awesome sister ended up creating the design for the valentine.  I found the simple idea for the scratch-off part here.

 

I was probably on my feet a little more than I should have been, but it was worth the effort to make a carbonara pasta dish and strawberry and vanilla ice cream sandwich cookies for dessert :).  We had a great dinner and had a great evening spending some time together. 

 

 

 

Today I got to take Aubrey out for a little picnic lunch.  We got a smoothie and enjoyed playing at a nearby park.  It was so good to spend some time with this little girl.  I don't know how many opportunities I will have to really get to spend this quality time with her before baby sister comes, but I felt so blessed to enjoy some mother-daughter time today :).

 

 

 

Love you both so much!  Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

 

 

Reality Sets In...

So today was kind of rough day for me...

The morning started off great.  I was in charge of a craft at MOPS and the ladies seemed to like it and were feeling pretty successful.  In the afternoon, however, that's when things started to change for me.

Aubrey refused to take a nap and this seems to be a common occurrence these days :(.  She's so tired but yet won't sleep!  Good thing her Nana came over to watch her and keep her occupied while Brandon and I went to my doctor's appointment later this afternoon.

At the appointment we found out that everything is still looking fine with baby girl.  Her heartbeat was strong and I am measuring right on.  The hard news to hear came after my doctor took a closer look at my veins and how bad they really were. 

Now I have been holding the reality of what my delivery might look like in the back on my head and didn't want to concentrate on what "could" be when I wouldn't know till it happened.  With that said, when they doctor had a more concerned look on his face and a more solemn demeanor I knew that these veins were not looking good and he knew it.  In a sense I almost had some reassurance that "yes I'm not making this up" and "yes, these are really painful."  He sat down in his seat and he proceeded to talk about the different delivery options I might have.  That's when I got overwhelmed and very nervous.  It might be looking like maybe a "normal" kind of delivery is not in the books for me.  He talked about induction, c-section, and recovery.  None of it is decided upon yet until I get closer to the due date, but needless to say what I have been putting in the back of my head about this delivery has now become reality and a decision we are really needing to pray about.

I held it together until I got through the door of the doctor's office, but then I broke down.  This is not what I had intended for myself or this baby, but I am so thankful that she is looking healthy and growing.  After how this pregnancy started out with a ruptured cyst I am still SO thankful I am carrying this little one and that I get to be her mom.  No matter what happens I know that I am in God's hands and so is this precious little miracle.  It just hit me today that we have so little in OUR control and it was just hard.

As I spent my evening with Aubrey I was reminded how extremely lucky I am to be her mom.  All the worries I had in the afternoon faded some as I was rocking Aubrey before she went to bed tonight.  I sang to her and she sang along and then I just held her for a little bit longer today as we just rocked in silence.  At that moment the little girl that is growing inside of me moved and there I was holding my now two year old and feeling movements from our little miracle and I just started to cry.  I'm not quite sure how to describe my emotions, but so many women go through so many worse things to be a mom and I cannot tell you how blessed I feel that I have the privilege of being a mom twice.  I think I might remember this day for a long time.  The decision factors that still lay ahead might fade in my mind, but the moment I was with my two precious little ones is one that will be ingrained in my heart for a long time.  I am beyond blessed and cannot wait to be a mom for a second time.  However God chooses to bring this baby into the world I know it will be His plan and part of this little girl's bigger story :).

Quote Project

So this idea came from this picture that I saw and we kind of went with the idea from there.  There was another website that did something similar with the word 'love' and so that's where I got the idea to do this project as words rather than a picture.

 

Of course I get these ideas (that might be cheap but definitely time consuming) and I have the hubby help me.  Not like he needs anything else on his plate right now, but I'm so glad he's willing to go along with me so much :).

 

For this project we decided to use part of the verse from Proverbs 31:10 "...She is worth far more than rubies."  So when this big project is finished that's what it will say.

 

I started off by enlarging the words and printing and pasting them together.

 

Then I had my dad cut down pieces of poplar wood that would fit the words nicely.  We're going to have five total boards with one to two words on each board.

 

Then Brandon stained the wood.  We combined two different types of stain to get the color we wanted.  After that is was time to get to the heart of the project.

 

Brandon drew lines on the papers to show where each nail would have to go.  You don't need them too close together but you want them close enough so when you are finished you have the shape of the letter.  Brandon then taped the paper down down to the wood and started hammering in those nails on the lines that were drawn.  We used 3D 1 1/4" nails for this project and we're going to need a LOT of nails.  The first board took over 200 nails!

 

 

After the nails were in it was my job to string the thread back and forth.  We took apart a mechanical pencil so that we could thread the string through and use that as a guide to help get in between the nails. Doing this by hand would be way too tedious and you wouldn't always get the right tension on the string I think. 

 

After we threaded the string through the pencil I tied a knot to one of the nails and then started working the broken down mechanical pencil with the string in it by going back and forth and around the nails.  You want enough coverage back and forth so you can really see the silhouette of the letters.

 

 

I tied knots sporadically on some of the nails to keep them from slipping.  I'll go back and super glue those knots so they don't come undone and glue some of the strings on other nails to make it more secure.  I'll also go back and cut off the strings from where the knots were.

 

One down, four more to go.  I know it's a big project but I think it's going to look so great in Aubrey's new room when we're finished!!