Little Bath Boy

Evan loves water...wonder where he got that from? :) And he therefore loves his bath time. Well, this morning we had an impromptu bath. I figured it would be easier to clean a poppy diaper than a poppy potty (he started to go during breakfast and since he was still in jammies...I just let him go) - wrong assumption. Needless to say, he got all cleaned up and then stuck in the sink. Here are some pictures that were just too cute not to share. And next time I see 'that face' and he's in a diaper, I'm acting as quickly as possible!

Because of the spontaneity of the bath, I didn't have an actual towel so we improvised and used a hand towel!

The other apron

Here is the other apron I just finished! I love the colors in it! I was also able to have fun with the 'tabs' on the ties, and the little button on the pocket to give it just a little bit of flare!


A little different view. :) This is actually going to be part of Madeline's wedding present. We already bought the main gift and it's being sent to them (as we speak), so this is what they'll actually get to open after the wedding. She loves orange, so I'm hoping she likes it. And Madeline, if you're reading this...well...SURPRISE!

30 weeks

Yup - I'm 30 weeks already. Crazy, huh?

For fun and comparison sake...here I am with Evan at 30 weeks:

I had forgotten how long my hair was 'back then'! And how burnt I got at that picnic where I refused to wear sunscreen because "I never burn". Well, working indoors for almost 2 years will change that I guess. It's funny to me that with Evan, my hair got shorter and shorter from 30 weeks on (I chopped it to shoulder length the day after this picture was taken and just kept going) and with Drew, I'm growing my hair out - not as long as it is here...probably just shoulder length again. Anyways...that's it for now!

Aprons!

I like to sew. And for the last year and a half...or so...my sewing machine has been broken. I just realized that even though I took the whole thing apart and couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, I could take it to somewhere here - in a city - and they could fix it. The poor thing broke in Kirksville (population 14,000) and I'm sure there was a sewing machine fixer there, but I'm also pretty sure it would have been a pretty penny.

Anyways, I will get my original little Singer working again, but God is so good and a friend of mine who recently got a new sewing machine gave me her 'old' one. I say 'old' because the thing is like 2 years old - if that - and while a bit finicky on the zig-zag stitch, works great! I had the girls that I tutor in sewing and cooking over this week and it was wonderful to help them with their projects and have access to 2 machines (they bring theirs with them) instead of sharing the one! I was so inspried, that I sewed Drew's blanket together and started on an apron!


Drew's blanket - made out of fleece that I found on the remnant cart at Joanna's about 2 months ago. Took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with it, but I decided on a little blanket for the car, or just to lay on. It's not big, we have a ton of those blankets already, this is just like a little baby-sized throw. (Don't know why it won't upload strait...I tried 3 times and still ended up with it sideways - sorry!)

I love aprons. I didn't know this, really, until I a really cute one for Christmas from my Secret Sister at church!! Since then, I wear it all the time!

The finished apron - made out of an old skirt that ripped. I bought this for, and wore it on, our honeymoon, so I didn't want to part with it. I cut it, re-hemmed it, and bought the ribbon to add a little zing!


A different, closer-up, view!

I am so inspired and jazzed about sewing that when I went to Joann's yesterday, I found this amazing orange-patterned remnant for $1.80! It's just enough fabric for 2 aprons! I bought some teal ribbon to go with it - it "clashes" in that cute way and totally works - and I'm going to start on those this Monday. I have cut the fabric and ironed it all so it should be easy. I'm going to try a little 'embroidery like' stitching on it, add a pocket, and maybe a button! Call it nesting, but I'm totally into this!! I'll post the other apron when it's done! For now, I'm going to enjoy my little skirt apron while in the kitchen!

Whew...

We are at the end of potty training. Since Thursday last week, the days seem to look the same. Sometimes we're better after a nap, sometimes, not, but we typically go all morning and most of the afternoon after nap-time with no accidents. Same way today. No prompting to go on the potty and several times where I would look up from my seat and he'd just be sitting down to pee (or poo) or just be getting up! It has taken longer than I expected, but the majority of the time with 2 naps in a day and with so many interruptions of having places to be or having people over, while very fun for me, was not very conducive to consistent training. I looked, and I have not had 3 solid days of nothing in a row since I started this. So I blocked Thurs/Fri/Sat off this week to really seal the deal. He does great at home, but I've been too nervous to take him out without a diaper on. And maybe we'll keep doing the 'diaper while out' routine for a while, who knows. I just want him able to play with other kids and still pay enough attention to what's going on and not make a mess. Maybe that's high hopes. For now, I'm so excited that he's at least 95% potty trained when we're at home.

That aside, we are well. Third trimester is starting to hit, but not as badly as I thought it would. A little more tired, a little more edgy, a little (sometimes lot) more uncomfortable at night - but nothing to write home about. I looked at our calendar, and except for this weekend, I have something going on every weekend until Jared's wedding. And then I step off the plane here at home, have a little birthday party for Scot, and then we're essentially 3 weeks from my due date. I want to have everything ready to go for a potential early arrival by March 1st (or really, just before I leave for VA), and so far, we're all set. A few things I still need to pull out of tubs and such, but otherwise, except for packing my hospital bag and setting up the changing area and pack 'n' play, we're set.

I am planning on updating the food blog today with some new recipes, and the potty training blog will essentially be copied directly from here. I feel like I've been going going going, and most days I don't even leave my own house! How is this possible?! Oh yeah...I'm planning the Winter Ladies Tea for our church. I'm potty training. I'm a dangerous weapon when I have Simple Green and a cloth, or in this morning's case a pad of steel wool, in hand! I have thrown out yet more things and have essentially been nesting like crazy. But until Evan is a little bit better about the carpeted areas of the house, I'm restricted to those with hardwood. And the computer is in a carpeted room. Go figure.

Nothing else is really going on. Drew is growing. 3 lbs total this week, (which means I'm growing, too!) and I'm to the point where I can feel little body parts moving against my hand if I press down just slightly where I feel him - so cool. So far, no 'rib kicks' yet, but I know they will come and I'm just enjoying everyday that goes by without them. Evan will daily come up to me, point to my tummy, say "Drew" in his little voice, and put both hands on my tummy to feel for him. Sometimes his brother obliges and gives a kick which send Evan squealing, but most times he's sleeping or just doesn't want to put on a show.

I think that's about it for now!! I'll blog more when I have time - hopefully soon!

This is what happens when we were trying to rush out the door to church. One of us had accidentally left the coat closet open (where I keep the broom) and since Evan loves to sweep, well...he swept. And since Scot was getting something upstairs, I took a picture.


My Darth Vader boy. We always have fun when Grammy comes to visit. This particular visit, though, fun was had in trying on her coat. It was too cute.


Camo under-jams from Uncle J and Aunt M. A little short, but oh so cute!

Yet Another Blog?!

I have recently been getting comments from people who read this blog that they sometimes forget it's here, or they wish there was a way for my to keep my privacy and yet let them know I had updated my blog.

I have come up with a solution!

I have started an "Updates" blog. By this I mean that it is a public blog that I will post to when I update this blog. The Updates blog will be 'follow-able' and will therefore pop up in everyone's blog feed, letting you know that this blog has something new on it.

The Updates blog will also be listed on the sidebar here. I hope this helps out!!

Huge Sale

Just thought I'd let you all know that SarahJane is having a HUGE SALE on those cute calendars right now! Check it out! 50% off - can't beat that!

Random Update

So a random update from a mother who is still managing to cram too much stuff into life. And I'm not even leaving my own house!

• Potty training is going really well. Yesterday we hit a turning point with Evan coming to us to tell us he had to go. Today, the accidents we've had have been brought about by being disciplined (for some reason, this makes him go), bumping his head on the kitchen table (this also, seems to be a trigger. Where there are tears, there is pee...), and an inattentive mother (I was putting mail out and I heard him saying "momma, momma, momma" when I got back, he was patting himself...a bummer, but at least he was trying to tell me he had to go!)
• I have moved him to one nap. For many reasons, right now seemed like the best time to do it. I was trying to get him to stay on two naps until Jared's wedding (still 7.5 weeks away) so he'd be happy for the reception -- he can go without his afternoon nap if he takes a good morning one. But he's been trying to drop to one nap for the last week... Well, I decided not to risk him not taking a morning nap and everyone being miserable later on, and I decided not to fight him dropping his nap and so I just pushed him onto the one-nap schedule all the faster! We made it with no nap today until 12:30. The last 20 minutes were not pleasant at all, but we made it, with lunch in his tummy to boot! I think this will also help in the potty training arena as well without having to battle 2 nap times that ultimately disrupt our training.
  
• I have a couple new recipes on the blog and plan on uploading the ones I've been remiss to upload recently. :)
• If you moms out there don't have a good kids Bible, here is the one we use and love. It is constantly referencing Christ and our redemption through Him in every story. It's great. You can purchase it on Amazon.
• I have read -- I should say re-read -- my favorite baby-prep book to get my mindset where it should have been, oh...12 weeks ago. I have also perused the breastfeeding book I used with Evan, as well as finished Drew's Scrapbook! I have made countless lists of things i need to get, things to pack for the hospital, things I want to do differently with Drew than I did with Evan, and just general 'reminder' lists of things I did with Evan that worked in case, in the tiredness of the first few weeks I forget. (Can you tell I'm a list person?) All in all, I'm on track mindset wise and I'm so happy! He'll be here in less than 12 weeks, and considering all the things I have between now and then, not to mention my brother's wedding and flying out for that, 12 weeks is going to go by SO fast.
  

Well, that's the update for now. Sorry it's so short, but I don't know how long Evan is going to sleep for and I really need to do my Bible study lesson for this week. It would look really bad if the leader showed up with only half the homework done!

Here are a couple pictures to make the update a little more worth your while...

Evan was so excited to have stacked both his juice and milk cups on top of the other and the moment just had to be captured. Please don't ask me why he had both cups out. I just don't know.

My little reader. His books aren't enough, he has to go to my books! I must admit, "The Meaning of Life" book is fun to look at...

More, sir. More.

We call it his 'birdie face'. It comes around when we have something he wants. Ice cream. Bread. Candy. You get the idea.

Complaining or Praising

I'm pregnant.

Let me restate this.

I'm 7 months pregnant and feeling huge. My sciatic nerve bothers me to the point some days where I can barely get off the couch in one smooth movement before bed and I find myself gripping the closest thing to me to steady myself. Smooth, is not really how I would characterize anything I do these days. My brain is going. Finding a position to sleep in is getting more difficult by the night. And when I want to change positions in the middle of the night, I have to wake up all the way, flip over, and try to get comfortable. When this doesn't work, because it never does, I end up back in the same position. The wonderful bodily changes the third trimester brings with it are starting to hit. I'm getting tired earlier in the evenings. My fuse is getting shorter with the people I love most. More and more clothes are starting to not fit and forcing me into maternity wear. My ankles hurt at the end of a long day. I sometimes feel like an old lady with all the aches and pains.

And in all this, I'm happy. When I was pregnant with Evan, a friend gave me a bracelet and told me that every time I felt like complaining to look at the bracelet (it had inscribed on it "Expect Miracles") and remind myself that every little discomfort was for a good cause. I think this is a point in life where I can say that I shifted my mindset to one where I truly believed that complaining is a choice we make. I don't think that anyone would ever consider me a complainer, I have other 'pet sins' that plague me, but that doesn't mean I don't, or didn't, complain at all.

I was recently reading through a book about being content and the author asked me, as the reader, how I view my life. Do I view it, she asks, with the 'complaining list' in front of my eyes, or with the 'praising list' in front of my eyes. Do I live out the complaining or the praising? And I think I can honestly say that I try my hardest to live out the praising side of things. So why I am even blogging about this? I think mostly because I loved the way this author put things clearly. In a short paragraph, she was able to make sense of and articulate what I've been trying to do for the past couple years. Live out the praises.

The author said that everyone has things to complain about. We live in a fallen world. But we have a choice to complain or not and we are commanded to not grumble or complain about anything. I fail at this like everyone else. Please do not read this and think that I'm preaching to anyone - I'm just sharing an insight that I couldn't keep inside! :) She said that for every situation, you can write out a list of complaints, and a list of praises. It's up to us to pick which one we dwell on, talk about, re-hash in our heads, and infect other people with. It's our choice which one we live out. She challenged us, as readers, to make a complaining list of a situation as well as a praise list and to evaluate which list most reflects our attitude towards our life and that situation. My complaining list is at the beginning of this post. Here is my praise list and I think, or would like to think, that I do really try to live out this list rather than the first.

I'm pregnant.

Let me rephrase that.

I have a life that is in me -- growing and counting on me. I will get to meet little Drew in a mere, Lord willing, 12 weeks. I have no stretch marks. I have only gained 18 lbs at 28 weeks, right what I gained with Evan. I have not been sick. I can walk. I can eat practically anything I want without heartburn or indigestion. I have a very understanding husband - he not only gets that I'm more emotional right now, but he is also willing to rub my sore ankles. I delight in the fact that I am not the only one anymore who can feel Drew moving inside me. I made it to 26 weeks wearing my normal jeans. I have been blessed by people letting me borrow cute maternity clothes. When I read to Evan, I am also reading to Drew. I have a very comfortable bed - much more comfortable than the one we had in Kirksville! I am taking advantage of my nesting instinct while I can. I have energy to play with Evan and still be talkative at night with Scot as long as I'm in bed at a decent hour. It's cold out most days and so wearing sweatpants around the house is not a big deal. My wedding rings still slide on and off easily.

I could go on, but hopefully you guys get the point. And just as this author challenged me, I challenge you, too. Do we complain too much? Do we enjoy sharing our complaints with others and infecting them with our dismal attitude? Do we lack reaching the potential of a good day because we are dwelling on our complaining list? There are definitely subjects on which I love to complain about...but just because it's socially acceptable and even fun to complain about certain aspects of life doesn't make it right. I have been convicted of that this past week and am going to try to really limit my complaining even more.

So here's to a year with less complaining. I hope.

This is what happens...

...when I get stuck in my kitchen waiting for Evan to wet his pants yet again.


Potty training is going well despite my boredom at being cooped up in the same room for so long. Today, he gave me the look, and I put him on the potty to poop. Not only did he poop, he peed too! But in between changing him into dry clothes, being a human jungle gym, rolling balls, zooming cars, and trying to read a book, I do get a few things accomplished. I'm not very decoratively minded, and interior design was never, and still is not, my strong point, so I take all the help, tips, and tricks I can get - I also get very excited when I do something I think is even slightly creative!

A de-cluttered counter top and a new pretty windowsill. The windowsill isn't actually new, but it looks new with all the pretty things up there now! And I like looking at them so much better there than having them on the counter around the sink area!

A huge first for me. And it was so simple! I had a piece of ribbon that was just laying around, it had come with some cookies about a month ago, and a jar I found under my sink! I cleaned the jar, cut the ribbon, and now I have a cute place to put my pens and "such" next to the pad of paper by the phone. That area, too, is de-cluttered and reorganized!


With the left over ribbon, I transformed the plain ol' candle stick holders into cute little candle stick holders! Again, for me, this is huge. I'm surprised I even thought of doing something like this!

Not pictured: a very messy/disorganized drawer full of socks, swim suits (I counted 8!!), a ball cap, a headband, a candle, 2 clutches, and a broken yo-yo. (shh...don't tell my mom! I'm embarrassed enough already just writing it on here!)

Also not pictured: A pile of socks with holes in them (yes, I stuck my hand into each and every sock to check), a pile of plain white socks I don't wear anymore (Scot gets those), a pile of old swim suits (I ditched 4 of them!!), the misc pile of things that mostly ended up in the 'give/throw away pile' with the holey socks (don't worry, the clutches and ball cap found their proper home!). And finally, a nicely organized, not quite so full, drawer of just socks and the 4 swim suits I will wear one day.

Pictured: The leg warmers I made for a friend's daughter out of a pair of wounded knee-highs I just couldn't stand the thought of throwing away! I got the idea from Kj - thanks - and just cut the foot off, turned the top down, and whip-stitched around the top. So cute and so easy. Seriously, it took me all of 10 minutes from having full socks to 2 little leg warmers!!

These are just a few of things I've done. Each and every drawer in my kitchen has been cleaned and purged. The entire kitchen, save the oven, has been deep cleaned. (The oven is on my list for next week along with going through each and every one of my drawers from my dresser.) The refrigerator has been emptied, contents gone through, inside and outside washed, and reorganized. Christmas decorations are all down and put away. Recipes that have been scribbled on pieces of paper are now all neatly written and filed. Loose recipe cards have also found their home. I have a growing list for next week...it is amazing to me the amount of stuff that gets accomplished when 1) I have, excuse me, I make the time to do them, and 2) I put my mind to it!

Well, tomorrow Scot takes the entire day off, and just hangs with us...in the kitchen. We'll be playing lots of games, that's for sure!

Happy New Year!!

Evan on his potty!

We had a very low key night last night. We had saved some sparkling cider from Christmas and we enjoyed it while sitting in front of our still very alive tree and playing Scrabble. Our perfect kind of night. We stayed up until midnight...NY time that is. I was starting to feel a little under the weather, and with another full day of potty training ahead of me, I knew I needed my sleep.

So we don't really do New Year resolutions in our house, but a few things we did this year are as follows.

• I purged. Between Christmas and New Years, I threw out 5 things every day. I got the idea from Kj, who got it from someone else. I love it and I'm doing it every year from now on.
• Purely since I was in my kitchen and dining area for so long, I majorly deep cleaned and reorganized...it felt so good.
• An idea I got a while ago from ladies Bible study, was to write one thing you can work on in life, your relationship, whatever, on your calender. So I talked it over with Scot, and we both made lists. Both of things to work on marriage/relationship wise, as well as just life in general. I got out our new calendar and with a pretty pink pen, wrote my goals on the top of every month's page. This is something I want to continue to do.
• We read our praise book. We keep a journal of all the things the Lord has done for us. Both big and "small". We do this every new years to really reflect upon where the Lord has taken us through the past year. We have entries referring to getting a good deal on something, to being pregnant, to Scot passing boards, to making it home safely from a trip when it was snowing out. It's wonderful to really see the Lord's hand in our life.
  
• Soup week. Mostly, I started this because I was potty training, but I think it's going to be tradition now. All the soups I had saved up from the fall were eaten in all their original glory thanks to the freezer. And the grocery bill was really small, too, since all I bought for dinners was bread! It's also a nice, almost cleansing feeling, to be eating hearty healthy soups after a month of, well, probably things not so hearty and not so healthy. :)
• We are going to start reading Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening" at the dinner table each night. We tried reading the Bible, but missing a night here and there and then trying to pick up where we left off was harder than we thought. We want to have an evening devotional time, and we figured this would be a good place to start. We plan on reading the entire chapter of whatever verse Spurgeon is writing on.

Well, that's it for me. Potty training is going pretty well. It's just a lot of waiting right now for things to click, and a lot of laundry. Hopefully he'll start to get the hang of it in a couple days. For now, we wait. And do laundry. :)

Happy 2010 everyone! The year, for us, will be busy, (really?) and I'm sooo looking forward to it!! I realized this morning that the top 5 biggest things we're doing this year are all happening within a 5 month span.

Mach 6 - Jared gets married in VA
April 1-4 - I'm due with Drew
May 15 - Scot graduates and becomes "Dr. Eskestrand" all the way out in MO
June 1 - We plan on being where ever the Lord has us next. This of course means packing, finding a house, moving, and unpacking. With a 6-8 week old. And a 2 year old.
July 1 - Scot starts a residency program and we finally have an income!