Abby's Pillow

Abby is getting very excited about sleeping in a big girl bed. We told her about the plan early, thinking she would need to get used to the idea. That was, apparently, unnecessary because she talks about it ALL the time now. We may be making a trip to Ikea sooner than anticipated.

We were a little concerned about putting her in a bed because she tends to sleep in a different place/position every night. We decided to put a pillow in her bed to see if that would help her sleep in the right direction.

Here she is on her first night...



She wasn't on the pillow, but she was close. And yes, she does like her blankey like that. The next night or two, we found her in similar positions and decided the new pillow was too fluffy for her tiny head. So, we traded it for one of the well-loved, flatter pillows on our bed. When we went to check on her last night, she was laying on the pillow, right where Sam left her. Hooray!

37 Weeks

First of all, Happy 100-post birthday to this blog! It's almost been a year. Time flies when you're having fun, right!?!

Anyway, this Thursday was my 37 week mark. I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I was dilated 1 centimeter and was 80% effaced, so we are making some progress. I was further along at this point with Abby, but that obviously didn't really mean a whole lot. I went over and registered at the hospital so we'll be all set to go when baby sister decides to make her appearance.

On the way to our appointment, I told Sam that if I wasn't at all dilated then she must be breach. This little lady REALLY loves to hang out in my pelvis. The up side is that I haven't really experienced any rib pain which I had a ton of with Abby. The down side is that her movements often make me feel nauseated and there's a good chance she'll have a wicked conehead.

Here is the 37 week picture:



I decided I should have taken the picture before I took a nap, but who am I kidding, huge is huge!

Another Winter Storm...

This winter has been pretty brutal. We haven't had the massive storms that we had last year, but it has been bitterly cold and so the snow never melts and just continually accumulates from each small storm. This week, however, mother nature decided to surprise all of us (including the meteorologists) with a big one. It was a particularly strange storm--amidst the blizzard, there was a thunderstorm. Abby was dying to go outside but I'm not brave enough to take her alone in my off-balanced state. So, we had to wait for daddy to get home to head out.

We sent Abby and Lil down together on the sled. They thought it was pretty fun.



Sam picked up Abby and dropped her in the snow. She was pretty shocked but thought it was hilarious.



Snow snuggles are especially fun.



Abby's favorite part of playing in the snow might be the part when we come inside and have hot chocolate!

The Way to Live

I've always loved this quote, attributed to Mother Teresa:

People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

I always feel more joy when I am living my life to please myself, my family and most importantly, my Heavenly Father. When we worry what other people are going to think of our actions, it often stifles our willingness to be better, to reach out and to grow. Like this quote says, no matter what we do, it will never be enough to impress everyone. So, why don't we stop trying? Easier said than done, I know, but why don't we all work on it together...

One month...

There is now one month until my due date, which sounds really short and really long at the same time. I think it feels that way since it could be shorter or longer and there's no way of knowing! Due dates are kind of cruel that way.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I'm curious to see if there is any action going on, but I'm determined not to get my hopes up for an early delivery if there is. Instead, I'm going to focus on how great it is to let my body work without feeling the pain.

I've been feeling quite a bit better the past couple of weeks. I'm mostly just really tired (and I'm fairly certain I pulled my groin.) After getting up, eating breakfast, showering and tidying up the house, I'm ready for a nap. I usually let Abby watch a show while she has a snack and I lay on the couch half-conscious. She's been pretty understanding when I tell her I can't do something or that I just need to lay down for a minute. In fact, she'll usually bring me a blanket.

Abby keeps telling me things she's going to share, play and do with baby sister. The other day, she said, very earnestly, "Baby sister come over, please, PLEASE, PLEASE!" I hope the excitement keeps up, even when she realizes that baby sister isn't particularly exciting for a couple of months.

Here's to hoping the next month (or less...or more...) goes by quickly!

Hooded Towels

I found towels on sale for super cheap at Kohls a while back and bought a couple remembering this hooded towel tutorial I had been wanting to try.

I whipped up three of them the other night, one for me and two to give as gifts.





I just feel bad that the ones I give as gifts won't come with this cute model!

Ties and Bows

My friend Sarah and I hosted Girl's Night this month. We decided to do a craft night making hairclips and little boy ties.

Making hair clips has kind of become a tradition, so we found some new ideas to spruce up our collections. I made four clips for my (soon to be) girls and a headband for myself.



Here are the directions:

Purple Rose

Scrunched Flower

Ruffle Headband

Felt Flower

These projects are so addicting. My craft bin keeps calling to me but for some reason, I have a bad feeling about two-year-olds and hot glue guns!

I'm going to leave you in suspense and post about the ties later...