Friend's Baby Shower

I'm pictured here with my good friend Ashley. She is having a little girl and is due 2 weeks before me. We took this picture at her shower; its hard to see my belly because of the dark shirt I was wearing but sizewise her belly is one toilet paper square bigger than me. They played "guess the number of toilet paper squares it will take to wrap around the belly" game so of course we had to measure mine as well just for curiosity sake.


This is the card I made for her...

and this is the banner I made for her. The full view of her name didn't turn out very well, but there are some closeups that look alot better. I used the colors of her nursery and she loved it. I hope she can find a cute place to hang it.
One last note about my friend Ashley...she developed preeclampsia (sp?) and has been put on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. She has to lie down most of the time only sitting upright or standing for about 5 minutes at a time. She has been journaling her pregnancy on a blog, however hasn't updated in a few weeks. You can follow her story here (Ashley's blog). My prayers are with you Ashley as you complete the last 6 weeks of your pregnancy.

Christmas Decor Element Blocks

Here are few more handmade gifts I made using the decor element blocks. This time I also used some Christmas decor elements in Real Red.

I can't decide which set I like better. My goal for this week is to post a total of 3 times to get some more posts in before the holidays. I hope to post again on Wednesday and Friday so stay tuned :)

1st Baby Shower

Warning - Picture Overload!!! I had such a wonderful shower this past Saturday in San Antonio. I had a great turnout despite the miserable weather the day before and the below freezing temperatures early that morning. I received so many awesome gifts and can't wait to put them away in the nursery (which should be complete in the next few days). They are currently scattered amongst other rooms of the house :)

Here is a little picture story from the day...

The baby book given to me for memories, etc - it matches the nursery perfectly!

With my two awesome hostesses - best friend on the left and sister on the right.

An awesome two layered marble cake - it was delicious!

Closeup up of a little fondant elephant; there was also a zebra and monkey.

The diaper cake my best friend made - its so cute I don't want to take it apart.

An extra they had made to match the invitations - candy wrappers.

My little helper and niece, Emma. She is an absolute angel. She kept everyone entertained while helping me open my gifts. Check out her excitement and the expressions on her face with every gift I opened.

Helping move opened gifts to another area - I think it might outweigh her.

Her favorite gift we opened, a stuffed elephant!

This was the dining room table at my brother's where I consolidated all the gifts so they could all come home with me.

And last but not least, the front and rear view of my SUV - loaded to the max!

I am so blessed with wonderful friends and family and overwhelmed by the amount of stuff needed to take care of a baby! I am very much looking forward to my 2nd shower in a little over 4 weeks ;)

Decor Element Blocks

I decided to give alot of handmade Christmas gifts this year - mainly because we are trying to spend less and save more in preparation for our little one's arrival in approximately 10 weeks.

These blocks can be found in the SU! Holiday Mini and will be available in the Occasions Mini in the spring as well. I love them! They are 3" square and super easy to decorate. I bought several sets of these and completed the first set last night. I chose to use the SU! DSP Sweet Always from a previous catalog as I thought it would be perfect for my 2 year old niece. Each block uses the same 4 designs from the DSP assortment as well as chocolate chip cardstock.
I decorated each letter/block with a different element using ribbon on the first letter, the scallop edge punch on the second...

a flower shaped button on the third and both sizes of the corner punch on the last.

I am very pleased with how they turned out. I sure hope she likes them :) Stay tuned for future posts as I continue to make handmade Christmas gifts for friends and family.

29 weeks

No pics to post, just a short and quick update. I've been pretty busy lately - training a new employee at work so she is ready when I am on maternity leave, cleaning and getting the house ready for a new baby, working steadily on the nursery so it is ready to fill with furniture and baby necessities, and the list goes on and on.

I had another appointment last Wednesday. They did an ultrasound to check on baby's growth. He was weighing in at 3lbs, 2ozs and is right on target in size. I got to have the lovely glucose test where you drink the thick syrupy gunk and I am happy to report I passed!!! I was so excited and thankful for that. This appt was also a little eye opener that this is really happening and we are only 11 weeks away from meeting our son (give or take a little, of course). The doctor told us it was time to start thinking about pediatricians and to get pre-registered at the hospital. He also gave me my official traveling restrictions for the holidays. I won't get to travel to my hometown since it is further away than he wants me to be at that stage - so it looks like most everyone will have to come to me this year. I'm not complaining. I do get tired of the lengthy travels every year.

I have my first baby shower this Saturday and I am super excited! I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and a wonderful week! I will try to post more often :)

24 weeks, 3 days

Our son is growing well and kicking up a storm. I had my 24 week appointment today...no ultrasound this time :(. They listened to his heartbeat with the doppler and he actually kicked the doppler while they were doing so. It was pretty funny. The Dr measured my belly and said everything is right on target. My next appointment is in 4 weeks when I will be 28 weeks along. So far things are going great and I am feeling good. Sorry this is a boring post this time with no pics. I just wanted to post an update.

2 years ago today...

It is so hard to believe it has already been 2 years since hubby hit a cow with my car while driving to work one early morning. It is amazing how quickly time passes by...it sure doesn't seem like it has been 2 years. I posted the story last year - you can see it here.


I look back at the pics from time to time, not really sure why because I will never forget that day and the 12 weeks that followed as hubby's broken neck healed.

Nursery Bedding

My brother and his family visited us this weekend so we had the nursery set up as a second guest bedroom. Now that this weekend has passed, it is time to start preparing the nursery... so I thought I would share the bedding. The bedroom is already painted yellow so we wanted to stick with that color and add some others to it. Hubby and I agreed on the bedding you see pictured below. He really likes monkeys and we both liked the soft color palette. Unfortunately for us it was discontinued. I searched for days for somewhere that still had it and I got lucky. A kid's bedding store in California or Nevada (can't remember which) had 2 sets left. I was hoping the bedding was something I could have registered for as shower gifts, but I couldn't chance not getting it. I ordered the set and I'm super excited to get home today because it is being delivered. The set includes everything pictured here except the hamper, rug, lamp and of course the random decorations they use...but I'm totally okay with that. Also on it's way is a set of painted wall art and a painted wooden peg rack for hanging towels and coats, etc. The total set is 12 pieces. The nursery furniture is the same honey finish seen in the picture. I can't wait to get started. I will be posting some before and after pics of the room once it is complete. I am currently 22 weeks and have approximately 18 weeks to go :)

It's a Boy!

We had a level 3 ultrasound yesterday in Austin to check on baby because of some crazy bloodwork results I received. Our appt went great. Our little boy is right on target for my stage in pregnancy and looks awesome. It was so neat to see some features so close up, like his brain and stomach, etc. Technology is awesome and the miracle of life is amazing. We can't wait to welcome our son into this world in February. I am currently 20 weeks, 5 days along! 19 weeks, 2 days to go!!!
Here is the profile...
Here he is waving at us...

And here are his little feet...

Card Sketch Booklets

Kristina Werner's Make a Card Monday post on September 14th gave a tutorial on how to make these adorable sketch booklets. She designed the templete and has a link to it on that post. I decided to try my hand at making these and I absolutely love them. I have made several so far and can't wait to make more. I will mostly use them for myself and as door prizes at stamp camps, etc. I think they will make great little gifts or giveaways and I just love making them. It is so easy and fun and of course different than a traditional card. These 3 booklets use the leftovers from a Simply Scrappin' kit used at Jennifer's Simply Scrappin' class a few months ago. I was going to use the leftovers to make additional cards and I still might do that, however right now I am loving how they work for these little booklets. I can't wait to make more :)

Here is the first one I made. The word "create" is cut out using my Slice. It works perfect for this project.

These are the second two made using the same concept.

On a more serious note, I'm shouting out a little prayer for our friends. Their 17 year old daughter was hit while riding her bicycle home from work last night. Fortunately, there weren't any broken bones...which they thought for sure she would have based on how bad her leg that was hit by the car looked. She has alot of bruising and soreness, some road rash and some scrapes. I babysat an 8 month old and an 8 year old for them while they were at the hospital awaiting the results of the Xrays. The ironic thing about this incident was it was deemed her fault. They were at an intersection and she was turning onto a cross street 1 block from her house. She did not signal her turn so the car that hit her reported he didn't know which way she was going. However, she didn't know which way he was going either, so she felt it safe to make her turn. It just goes to show you that you can't take anything for granted. Just because someone has their blinker on, doesn't mean they are turning or just because you have a green light doesn't mean its safe to proceed through the intersection.

Have a great rainy day everyone!!!

Dry Goods Decor Elements

I was so excited when I saw these decor elements in the SU! Holiday Mini as a hostess level 1 reward. I couldn't wait to get them. I ordered them in Chocolate because I thought it would coordinate with my canisters better. These canisters are the Tuscan Canisters from Southern Living at HOME and can be purchased through me as a consultant. The tray they are sitting on is also SLaH and is called the Galveston Tray. This tray can be used for so many things, but was specifically designed for the Tuscan Canisters and the new Cinnabar canisters in the Fall Catalog. I just love how they turned out. Now, family and friends who visit after the birth of our baby will know where to find these dry goods without asking or having to search. I love labeling things...you should see my craft room and bathroom storage. I'm such a nut!!!

10 Little Fingers

I first want to apologize for my lack of posts during the last 4 weeks. I have been super busy and super exhausted. I will try to do much, much better.

Here are the u/s pics from today. The baby is growing well with a heartrate of 158bpm. The baby is at a size now where it is difficult to see the entire view on the screen and the tech has to look at it in stages. This is why you saw an entire baby in the previous u/s pic at 13 weeks and here we see head and body.

I also had hubby take my first "baby bump" pics. I have been showing at this stage for a few weeks now. I call it my double beer gut. My waistline and along my belly button is not extended to the same level as my upper and lower abdomen. It looks kinda strange right now, more like rolls of fat than a baby...but I know that will change quicker than I think. Don't pay attention to the hair or makeup. It was a super long day, I was exhausted and we were headed to see Jeff Dunham at First Yell.

My next appt is in another 4 weeks. I will be 21 weeks and we should have a better chance of finding out gender. The tech tried today, however baby had it's knees tucked into it's chest and the ankles were crossed. We did get to see it waving at us with distinct little fingers. Such a cute site and an awesome feeling.