Happiness.

My little bits of happiness this week

 Little man and I had a slumber party last weekend. We kicked the pappa out and watched movies, told stories in the dark and snuggled all night long. Trying to drink in as much Jasper/Mamma time before things change in a big way. 

 Getting baby girl's closet organized brings a big smile to my face

 Jasper's Swedish buddy and her sister came over for a playdate and all three wore their matching sweaters from Sweden! 

 We surprised pappa with a picnic lunch and ate outside in the sun!

 My sweet sweet boy has started helping me get my shoes on, it's getting very difficult to bend over to put them on!

 Jasper sorting his Easter goodies 

 This baby arrived from Iowa on Monday. I have been LOVING driving around in my new car! 

 It RAINED yesterday for the first time since either September or October- and it was a real thunderstorm with tons of rain so we headed out to sit on our patio to watch the rain. So cozy. Jasper was loving it so much he asked if we could sleep outside. 

 Watching the rain. Which turned into hail. 

A good rainstorm makes me happy happy. Too bad they usually don't last more than 20-30 minutes here in CO and are very few and far between. 

Operation:Get baby OUT

I used to think people complaining once they were full time that they wanted baby out were kind of selfish. Like come on, you have been pregnant for 9 months, what's another couple of weeks, right? WRONG! These last few weeks are miserable this time around. I'm pretty much not sleeping at all- sure I doze on and off for 20/30 min at a time, but at night time I'm so stuffed up and congested I can't swallow or breathe unless sitting up straight- and me sleeping while sitting up just does Not happen. This congestion thing has been going on a few months now (apparently pregnancy related) and just has gotten so much worse over the last month. You should see the bags under my eyes! So yeah, this time around I'm more ready to have her out at 37.5 weeks than I was at 42 weeks with Jasper. Plus I was 42 weeks pregnant last time- I think it's only fair I get a couple of weeks shaved off this time around!

So operation:get baby out is officially under way. Last night we had super spicy asian cuisine, this morning I spent almost 4 hrs walking around the zoo. So PLEASE, if you have any natural ways to encourage her to come (ZERO interested in trying castor oil!) pretty please send them my way. Did anything work to get your baby out? I'm at about a 2CM dilated and have been at least since last Tuesday so she's making progress- just need to help her speed up that progress!

37 weeks 1 day!

How far along: 37 weeks 1 day. FULL TERM BABY

Size of Baby: watermelon, 19-22 inches and around 6.5 lbs. 

Total Weight Gain: 28 lbs. I don't think I've gained any in the last two weeks. 

Maternity Clothes: maxi dresses, long skirts, capris, yoga pant capris- none of those maternity but shirts are getting super hard to fit.

Gender: Girl. Last night I had my first dream about her! She  was here and  had super  long hair!       

Movement: She's still pretty active! Shes the most active at night when I try to go to sleep- hoping this doesn't mean she's going to be a night owl! 

Sleep: I attempt to sleep- completely sitting up because every night I have this ridiculous congestion. Like I can't even swallow! It's only at night and I pray that it stops as SOON as she gets here! I can nap decently during the day though so I'm extremely grateful Jasper still takes about a 2 hr nap because if I didn't have that hour and a half nap a day I don't know how I would make it through the day.

What I miss: Everything fitting. Being able to see my vajajay.

Cravings: Cheese/butter sandwiches and popsicles! Oh and SUPER hot chips and salsa! And I'm not usually a fan of hot food. 

Symptoms:PELVIC PAIN. Ouch.

What I’m looking forward to:Baby girl coming!! I'm seriously just ready to hold my daughter. Oh and I'm also looking forward to our brand new (to us!) car arriving tonight! We bought a 2010 Chevrolet HRR in Iowa, and my brother is currently driving it out here to us! I'm most excited about this car having an automatic car starter- woohooo! No more freezing in the car as we wait for it to warm up! Or boiling in the summer waiting for the air to cool us down. Yep pretty excited :)

  

Tomorrow I have my OB appointment and hopefully I'll find out we have made some PROGRESS! Last week at 36 I was 2CM dilated!! That's a huge deal for me because it took 42 weeks and ten hrs of induced labor before I was at a 2 last time around!! 

Stuff my Kid Says

Haven't done one of these in a while and this mornings Jasper quote was too fitting not to post.

Me: Jasper why are you being so quiet.

Jasper: I'm just thinking.

Me:About what?

Jasper: About Jesus. And it makes me sad. That he died on the cross with thorns on his head. And blood in his eyes. And people spit on him. Why are people so mean mamma?

And I'm basically speechless.  And I wish I had better answers. I wish I could explain how we have a lot of people on this earth who are just plain evil. I can't explain it because I don't understand it myself. 

And the details he learned about Jesus's death/Easter at preschool got me thinking about the details, because honestly it's not something I've thought about in a long time. But once again my 4 year old got me thinking. Obviously about Jesus on the cross, but even more so about his mother. Dying on the cross in slow torture would obviously be too horrible to even describe. But being a mother and having to watch your son die a slow death on the cross? I can't even. I just can't even try to imagine that kind of unimaginable pain. I would take physical pain over seeing my son in pain over anything. And I bet she would have gladly taken his place as well. Heavy.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter! 

I've never been a thrifter.

In fact, it grossed me out. Still does actually. The one and only time I went into a thrift store, the Arc, was Sophomore year in college when Drew I decided to go look for Halloween costumes. He found a 'pimp' hat and we quickly decided he would be my pimp and I his ho. Romantic huh? So that was my one and only thrifting experience. 

Oh you want to see our outfits? Okay if you insist. 

Yes, we look absolutely ridiculous. And yes I look extremely slutty, but to be fair it Was Halloween and we were 20. 

So there's my first thrift purchase- that bra/shirt whatever you want to call it, the hooker boots and Drew's entire outfit. You should be glad to know that was the only time I ever wore either of those items. And I'm almost positive the same can be said for Drew.

Fast forward a few years,it's 2009 and we are in Karlstad, Sweden. We happen across this cool store in the basement of a little mini mall right next to our apartment. It's technically a thrift store- but without the nasty smell. We bought Jasper a few toys since we went there with only a suitcase full of toys. And then we started frequenting this shop every week to see what cool Swedish nicknacks we can find. And some day I'll have to show you all the goodies we found- because there are a LOT. And super cheap (the only thing in Sweden that was cheap!)

We left Sweden and I didn't enter another thrift store. Then some of you blogging mamma's started showing off all the goods you were buying for super cheap from thrifting and I have to admit, I was intrigued.

And then I happened across a kids consignment store in a nearby 'posh' neighborhood of Denver so I of course decided to check it out. And was floored by all the cute, unique, imaculate condition baby girl dresses I found! I was in shopping Heaven!!

But here's the thing, the prizes really weren't That amazing. Dresses for $8-12. Sure that's good- but I'm an awesome sales shopper so I can find good deals at my fav baby stores (GAP, Carter's etc) for those prices often. Plus we have a to die for outlet mall just 30 min away- so after a few trips I realized if I wanted to really try the thrifting thing for those dirt cheap prices I was going to have to step even further out of my comfort zone.

So one day after dropping Jasper off at preschool I decided to just do it. Go into the Arc store I'd driven past every Tues. and Thursday since August. And you know what? It smelled Just as nasty as I imagined. What's UP with that? And the floors were grimy. And I felt icky being in there. But i figured since I had made it in I might as check out the kid clothes that I came in for.

It didn't take long going through the boys clothes to realize there was nothing there for Jasper.
But once I got over to the girls clothes? I was pleasantly surprised! There were some CUTE stuff! And at the kind of prices you guys have been talking about!

I got 2 Adorable dresses with bonnets for $3 each!!

 Dresses I found at the children's consignment store

One of the dresses I found for $3!!

So while I'm as far from an expert thrifter ( I think you might have to go more than 3 times to be considered for the title) I did have fun and baby girl got some adorable outfits out of it! And yes, I did run next door to walgreens to buy hand sanitizer immediately after because I was out but baby steps people!

DIY: Headband/Bow holder

I've got to admit one of the first things I was super excited about after finding out we are having a girl was the headbands and bows! So of course once I started buying them I needed a place to put them! I turned to pinterest for inspiration and found something I thought even I could make (not the craftiest mamma's that's for sure!) 

I found one through a blog and now I really really wish I could fit it again! I didn't 'pin' it because I wasn't signed on to pinterest when doing my search (I'm always forgetting my password) and I tried searching for it again to give credit and of course can't find it now. I'm not even positive she did it the same way I did because I just glanced at it for an idea- but regardless, if somehow you stumble across this and it's YOUR headband holder please let me know!!

Supplies you will need

Wooden picture frame

paint

staple gun

ribbon ( I chose one with wire in it to make it more sturdy) 

little hooks

I started off by spray painting a plain wooden frame I found at Hobby Lobby- FYI I didn't realize you had to be 18 to buy spray paint. I was trying to open up the glass cabinet it was in, and thought I was just too dumb to figure out how to open it, when an employer came over and told me I needed to show my ID before she opened it up. Yeah 25, 8 months pregnant and showing my ID to buy spray paint..

 I also spray painted the little hooks

 Then I had Drew measure out and screw the screws in evenly across the bottom

Then he took the ribbon I had cut into even pieces and used the stable gun to secure them evenly across

 And now it's hanging above the dresser, filled with pretty bows and headbands just waiting for baby girl to get here! 

 Can you tell which bows and headbands I made? SHould be Pretty easy- like I said I'm not the craftiest. (Hint: it's the bows on the far left ribbon and and the headbands underneath)

Husband and wife Conversations

Drew: Soo... is this what they call nesting?

Me: I am Not nesting.

Drew: Than why did you just scrub the bathtub for the 3rd time in less than 24 hours?