My Pregnant Summer

Although I haven't been working too much this summer and I was super worried about money and what not, it's actually been a blessing in disguise. This last month the heat has been unbearable and I honestly can't do anything in it, except go swimming.

But thankfully it hasn't been horribly hot for the whole summer. And we've made it through one month managing to pay all our bills so fingers crossed we make it next month too!

Here's a glimpse of my summer through pictures.

My cousin Serena got married this past June. Here's a shot of us ladies at the wedding.

The happy couple

Meet Copeland. Pictures are a little dark but one of my good friends finally gave birth to her beautiful little boy, Mr. Copeland Rhodes. He is just the cutest baby ever! I could hold him all day long! I love this kid so much it makes me wonder just how much I'm going to love little Penelope, it's going to be overwhelming.

We were also able to go to Fenway this year! And bonus for me they won! I've been to two games before and they lost but this time they won, making it worth the travel and the heat. We're hoping to get to another game in August but we'll see.

 Had another doctors appointment in July. I'm getting bigger and baby's doing fine. I've finally finished baby's registry. We decided on Babies R Us and Target!

Let the fun begin! This will probably be the only clothes that I have to buy her for now (considering her dresser and closet are already full, she already has clothes up to 3T!) but I just couldn't resist. This cute little  consignment shop off of Union Street called Trendy Tots was having their big anniversary sale. So I got all of this for a little over $15! Amazing deal, everything was 50% off, I think the most expensive item was $3.00!If you have small kids you should definitely check out this shop!

We also made it to the fireworks too! They were postponed to July 12th due to weather and what not but still fun. We got a little group together and headed to Collins Park. Thankfully it wasn't too hot out either! Copeland enjoyed the fireworks too, how cute is he with his little headphones!

This has been my "work" this summer. Watching little Miss Harper May! She is too cute and so much fun! It's been great too, only a couple of days of week. It's really worked out well for me.

Also not working so much has given me time to fine tune little Penelope's nursery. It's really coming together and I couldn't be more happy with it.

We finally got her crib from Mimi and Papa, and I absolutely love it. It's absolutely perfect and I couldn't be more pleased. Just need her mattress and some crib sheets and she's good to go. You can also see her amazing curtains in there too! It's actually a shower curtain but it goes perfect with the room.

This corner is her dresser and her changing table. Dresser was Scottie's, just re-painted it and spray painted the knobs yellow to add a nice pop of color. The lamp we got from Scottie's sister Julie. I painted that yellow too to match. The changing table was a curb find. That's right free on the side of the road! I made Scottie go pick it up, cleaned it off and painted it white. Got some storage baskets and boom! Done!

Here's the "changing area". Just added a mirror I found at Target for just twenty bucks, and a couple of shelves I got for ten bucks a piece. Got some frames from Target too (can you tell where I like to shop) and added in some art work I found online and yes I'm in love.

Here's a little bit of a close up on the art work. I know it's hard to read but I love them! There's some bible verses, a couple of Dr. Seuss quotes, a Roald Dahl quote and a couple of other cute things.

This is her "rocking chair". This came from Scottie's room, it's his old recliner. Just put a slip cover over it and wah-la. Add in a little throw pillow and that's that.

I got these nice little cubes to hold all her toys and books that she'll be sure to get. Just waiting to get the fabric bins and that's it.

 A close up shot of her dresser. Added some art work (melted crayon art found on Pinterest) and a cute little jar to keep her pacifiers in.

Close up of the jar. (From Marshalls for 4 bucks!)

And here's her closet. Already full of clothes. Lucky for me her closet has a ton of shelves so I was able to put lots of baskets on them for storage. I made these cute little labels for the baskets too. Just found some wooden animals (from Wal-Mart for under a dollar!) painted them some fun colors and added some chalkboard paint so I could write on them and done!

Close up of my awesome chalkboard labels!

Obviously you can tell from the pictures we went with a neutral color scheme. Walls are a light grey, all the furniture is white with pops of yellow, teal and of course some pink! once we get all her sheets and changing pad covers they'll be some more pops of color in the room.

I also hosted a lovely little "Baby Party" at my house. Penelope has so many friends already and she's not even here yet! (From left to right: Amber and Baby Emma (5months) Jess and Baby Chase (almost 4 months) Ellie and Baby Copeland (1 month) and me and Nella)

This is my little obsession. My goal is that Nella has a headband/bow for every outfit and every holiday! We are well on our way. I think we have every color! Found this great website that has both crochet headbands and lace headbands for just thirty cents! I love these headbands because they don't cut into the babies heads and leave marks, I got them for my niece Adora and they seem pretty comfortable. She didn't seem to mind them either. Daddy loves them too! :)

Just this weekend I had the honor to be in my cousin Dale's wedding! He married his beautiful bride Mauranda this past Friday and it was beautiful! Here's a shot of me with the family!

Here's a couple more shots from the wedding:

 Scottie, myself, my dad and Courtney

 Some of the cousins with the bride & groom

Penelope's God-mommy & I (Absolutely in love with this picture by the way!)

 My hubby with the groom!

Another picture of the family, little better lighting.

Not gonna lie for almost 25 weeks pregnant I look pretty damn good! It was a beautiful night, spent with some pretty amazing people!

I've also been able to make it to the beach a couple of times too. Headed up to Gilbert for the weekend with Courtney. We also went to Gafton Lake just last weekend with Adora, Kody and Ellie, Ryan and Copeland came along too!

 

Me at Gilbert in my fab maternity suit. I thought I'd rock the bikini this year but I was blessed with some lovely stretch marks and I didn't feel like showing them off to the whole beach. So I went with this lovely tankini!

 Here's me and Mr. Copeland at Grafton. I could snuggle him all day!

I also made it out to Albany for Black Phil's memorial show. It was a pretty amazing night, I'm glad I made it out.

So far pregnancy wise I've been ok. I know I could be a lot worse off and that's what I try to focus on. People keep telling me I'm all belly although I beg to differ, (they haven't seen me naked) but I'll take what I can get. Recently I've been having some pretty bad back pain, I think it's because Nella is sitting so low. She's a planner like her momma and is already getting into position. Besides back pain I've been pretty good, baby's healthy and I'm healthy too. My boobs have grown at least two sizes, and when I stand up straight and look down I can no longer see my feet. I get tired super quick now, and I feel like I'm always hungry. Although now that she's getting bigger I have to eat more smaller meals, I can't fit as much in in one sitting. And I have to pee all the time. I swear I drink something and I have to pee right after.

Well I'd say for a pregnant lady I've had quite the summer so far,  and it's not over yet! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer too!

Me oh my.

I can't believe it! We finally found out what this baby is going to be! After our first ultrasound which was a horrible experience. I had to wait for over an hour with an over full bladder because there was some kind of emergency (now don't get me wrong I hope that everything turned out fine with whatever emergency they were having to deal with at the time but I had to pee so bad that I was starting to become in pain!) Once I got in there I laid on the table and they started taking measurements. She told me she would do the measurements and then show me the baby. Scottie was unable to come with for this appointment so I invited my mom to come along. Mimi was thrilled! Sadly for me all I could think of was "Good lord please don't let me go to the bathroom on this table!" Finally after about a half an hour of taking measurements she let me go to the bathroom and when I can back I asked if she would still be able to see everything ok, and what does she say? She says, "Oh yeah, your bladder is still pretty full!" Ugh well that's good to know next I'll just pee and not sit and wait in pain!

Here's some pictures of the first ultrasound. The first is a profile shot and the next one is head on, it looks a little creepy if you ask me!

And after all that trouble they couldn't even tell us what it was because of the position the baby was in. It was in a breech position so their legs were crossed the whole time and really didn't have any room to move around.

But lucky for me I got a call saying everything was fine with baby but I needed to come in for another ultrasound, because of the way the baby was positioned they were unable to get all the measurements they needed. So just yesterday I went in again (this time I held off on drinking so much water). My cousin Heather went with me this time. And again this baby was in an awkward position. This time it's head was down and although the feet were up but they were still crossed. The ultrasound tech was able to make a decision though and she was pretty sure it was A GIRL! That's right little Penelope Lynn will be making her way to the world come early November! Now the tech did say nothing's 100% until the baby is out in your arms and with my luck that would happen. So keep your receipts everyone! Just kidding!

Here's some more pictures from the second ultrasound, just a couple of profile shots:

  There's her head

The picture's kind of crappy but this is a picture of her head, and she has her hand up against it.

And of course with all this lovely news comes a little unexpected news. On the way home from my appointment my car went dead. Insert big sad face here! We are still waiting to hear what's wrong with the car but when I talked to the guy at the garage this morning it didn't sound very good. He talks a lot so it's hard to take it all in, what I got was there's a sound that's coming from the motor which isn't good and then he said there comes a time where you have to decide when it's time to stop putting money into it. Yikes! That doesn't sound good to me! Wish I had rich aunt or something somewhere that could just swoop in and give another car. But hey that's life and normally doesn't work like that. Wahh so the waiting game begins.

Of course I'm trying not to stress, I know its bad for the baby but I can't help but think about money. I'm barely working this summer and I might have something for the fall but it's not set in stone yet so it's all really up in the air. Scottie doesn't make enough to cover everything, we're probably about $200 short at the end of month with just his paycheck. And that's without a car payment. Fingers crossed that by some miracle this car can be fixed or at least last a little while longer. Trying to stay positive.

The woes of a pregnant lady

Yeah, that title, that's me. I feel kind of bad. I feel like this should be the time of my life. Like I should be glowing and happy every second of everyday because I have this little miracle growing inside of me. And while I do think that everyday my actions may not always show that I do actually think it.

I get a little more cranky a lot more quicker than I used it. Not as much patience. I'm a hot mess emotionally. I'm so bad right now I see posts on Facebook and they make me cry. Sometimes I'm literally saying to myself "Girl get it together!" I think I'll really start getting excited once I know what the sex is. Then this little baby growing in my tummy will have a name. Once I feel some movement down there that little peanut will start growing it's own personality. Will it be a calm baby or is it going to be a soccer player?!

I'm feeling really lazy in my job. I feel like I don't do anything with kids. Although these past couple weeks this so called summer weather hasn't been so summery lately. Lots of rain (and when I say lots I mean pouring!) So we've resorted to watching movies, playing downstairs, just lots of relaxed play. I really need to get my creative juices flowing, get some more craft ideas going, just let them paint for goodness sake. And as I say this I think to myself "Hello idiot! There's only one week left!" Well if I get my creative juices flowing I'll just plan crafts for next year! Boom! How do you like them apples.  But hey the kids are happy, they always tell mom I'm more fun. So that's a plus right?! I must be doing something right.

Let's see the title say "The woes of a pregnant lady" but I can't seem to think of any. I've been thinking about this blog post for weeks now and all the things I would write about but because I'm too lazy to go downstairs and go on the computer I forgot most of them. Now weeks later I'm actually sitting down to write it because my husband brought the computer upstairs (and I know what you're thinking, that I asked him too but actually I did not. So there!) to stream baseball games, our lovely red sox games that we don't get to see as much because we don't have cable.

The only other woes I can think of right now is being pregnant in the summer. I've come to realize that I can't be outside in the heat for too long or it makes me throw up. Found that out the hard way. Insert giant sad face here. Wahh! I hate throwing up. Although I am super excited to get the new maternity swim suit that I ordered! Hopefully it's as cute on me as it is on the model! I was going to rock a bikini but that was before I found out that I can't sit in the sun for more than ten minutes without burning to a crisp. And fun fact: I tried on the bikini that I had originally bought for this summer, and let me tell you- it was not cute. Boobs are too big, butt was too big, there was way too much crack for even my liking. Now I can handle a little crack but this was out of control and being pregnant, it was just not cute. (It's really never cute, but crack happens people.) So back to the maternity suit, I got a tankini because let's face it no one wants to see my lily white tummy, well at least I don't think it needs to be out. And maternity clothes are way more comfortable.

Bringing me to my next topic. Maternity clothes. I've been getting so annoyed looking for maternity clothes. First off any store that you go to that has a maternity section (and by any store I mean the ones that I've been too. Aka Target, Kohl's, stores like that) the section itself is so small. It has like five shirts, some pants, maybe five dresses and some tank tops. That's it! And I'm sorry but none of it's really that cute or stylish. I'd like to think of myself as a bit of a fashionista and this whole maternity thing is totally bringing my style down. And it's so hard because you can try on bigger "normal clothes" and that can either be a hit or a miss, but you put on maternity clothes and they are so freaking comfortable! And I'm sorry but I'm not going to spend a fortune on maternity clothes, it's just not how I operate, nor is it in our budget. Ok, sorry rant over. I'll be fine, I've found a couple of really good websites that have some cute stuff at reasonable prices so I think I'll be ok.

Well that about sums it up. The maternity clothes has been a big issue for me as you can tell from my rant. But hey can you blame me? I just want to look cute while being pregnant, and I don't think there's any harm in that! Moving on to more amazing things! I've started the nursery. I just painted it and I am in love with the color. It's called "Flagstone" aka grey. It's the perfect shade. I wanted a neutral color in case we have to squeeze two kids in there, and there's a big possibility they could be different sexes so yeah. I plan on doing pops of color with bright yellows and either bright blues or pinks (we will know soon enough!) All the furniture will be white, clean lines, all that good stuff. And will let all that color pop even more. Don't worry there will be pictures to come.

This blog is getting long, but I don't care. Like I said I've been thinking about it for weeks so the more I write the more I remember, so sorry for the vomit of all my unorganized ideas and what not. I just can't get over all the stuff we already have, and I can't even begin to imagine how much more stuff we are going to need/get. When they say that this one little person needs a whole lot of stuff, they are so right. I try to research everything before picking out my favorites. You know what's best for the best price. I'm definitely going neutral for the car seat and stroller because let's face it we're going to have more kids eventually and I am not to buy things over and over and again. If we end up having a boy and girl these things need to work for both! I've finally settled on a crib that I absolutely adore and yes it's white. We already have a bouncy seat with toys on it, a bouncy seat with nothing on it- but it vibrates. My sister gave me her swing (which I love, and it's neutral) and her breast pump. And no it's not gross- she's my sister! Super grateful for that because those suckers (no pun intended) cost some serious dough. We already have a dresser full or clothes, a baby tub, a hamper, a changing table, dresser and some toys! I've decided to not get you're traditional bed set. One I think it's a waste of money. Most people don't even use the comforter that it comes with (they say no blankets or pillows in their crib until they're like a year) and two those bumper things supposedly aren't safe anymore. You know with suffocation and what not. Although in the wise words of my mother "You guys survived." So I think I'll just pick a bunch of fitted sheets, one of those breathable bumpers, a bunch of nice soft blankets and a crib skirt (to hide everything we will eventually shove under the crib).

Ok I'm done for today. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I have a wedding to get to! Hopefully next post I'll be able to talk about if it's a boy or girl! This baby better cooperate!

Holy Crap Balls! (Yes I Said Balls)

Holy crap balls. I haven't written an entry in over two months. That's a long ass time and so much has happened. Oh so much.

First in big news I found out I was pregnant. Finally my dreams of becoming a momma are coming true. My belly is already growing and it's crazy to think that there is an actual human being inside of me. Like seriously?1 How crazy is that. Sometimes I can't believe it, it doesn't seem real.

Let's start from the beginning. It was almost Easter/Spring Break. I only had Good Friday off because spring break week I would be working back at good old Maple Leaf. I was a couple days late on my period so I picked up a pregnancy test knowing that it would probably be negative and that I'd get my period soon enough. So I went to my sisters and hung out for awhile, my husband was working so I decided to go to my parents house to catch up on my cable T.V. (because let's face it, that's what is really important on a day off!) I walked in and went straight to the bathroom. I figured well I have to pee anyways so I mind as well get the disappointment over with and I peed on the stick. I tried not to watch it rise up but I couldn't help myself. And then I saw it. I saw that glorious little plus sign that makes your heart skip a beat. That little plus sign that is going to change your whole life. I honestly couldn't believe it. Thank god my sister only lives two houses away. I literally ran over to her house to tell her, and of course like any good sister she hugged me and hopped onto the computer to figure out how far along I was. We figured probably around 7 weeks. Seven weeks already! I couldn't believe it. The computer said it was only as big as a blueberry, I just couldn't believe it!

All this time we had been trying and trying and trying and finally we got it. Now it seems so silly to have cried all those tears, when really all I had to do was let go. Let go of the control, let go of trying to plan out life. I mean who can do that anyways, no one really has any clue what their life is going to be like and I had to realize that and once I did things feel into place.

It's crazy! I told my mom when she got home, and waited for Scottie to get home and told him, we are very excited.

That's how I told him!

Right now I am 14 weeks along, it's about as big a lemon. I already feel like a whale but I love it. I love wearing tight shirts to show off my belly. It makes me happy to look in the mirror and see my growing belly, so very happy.

Baby Bump Love!

Ugh so here we go. Bear with me for a moment while I whine about the not so fun moments of pregnancy. When I think/thought of pregnancy I thought it was a walk in the park. I mean yeah you hear about morning sickness and all that jazz (and maybe I'm alone here) but I thought when I got pregnant it would fabulous. I would have this cute little belly and life would be grand. Well so far life is really not that grand. Thankfully there has been no throwing up but I am just nausea all the damn time and it's really starting to get annoying.

Update:  Finally finishing up this post two days later and this week has been good. Really don't feel sick anymore. So let's hope that's over with!

Let's see where was I......Oh yes pregnancy being a walk in the park. Oh wait- it's not! The only other thing that has been affecting me is the sun. I burn so quick now. I can be out in the sun for maybe ten minutes and get a tan. This summer might be a little difficult but we'll rock it out.  And the other thing of course is I'm super emotionally. I mean I've always been like that but not nearly as bad as I am now. I'll see something on Facebook and tear up. So yeah, I'm a hot mess. But other than that life is good.

I feel bad for the girls I nanny. I feel like I don't do as much with them anymore. I just haven't had the energy. Thank god it's nice out now and we can go outside, they love that! I am finally starting to get more energy so hopefully we'll be able to get in some more crafts. My girls do love their crafts.

For Mother's Day we made candles. So fun and so easy! Each girl colored a picture and they said what they like best about mom and I wrote it down. You have them draw on tissue paper, them you place that onto the candle put wax paper over and hold tight. Take a blow dryer and heat it, the drawing melts into the candle! So cool! I also had Kody and Adora make one for Mimi and their mom!

Candles!

I actually celebrated my first Mother's Day as well. I know it sounds silly cause the baby's not here yet but the Kachadurian's got me a card that was so sweet (yes it did make me cry) and a cute little bracelet. My younger sister got me a picture for the nursery that I absolutely adore and Ashley got me some flowers! It's so weird but so much fun! I can't wait for next year when I can hold and snuggle my baby!

My stuff from the Kachadurians

And from Courtney. Love.

Gahh! There's so much going on right now! Getting a little stressed about money. I won't be working in the summer, well I will be a little but I won't be getting as much money as I do now. We are trying to save for when the baby gets here. We just won't be able to make it with just Scottie's paycheck. Hopefully everything will work out, I try not to stress about it too much I know it's not good for the baby so we'll just keep saving. We'll make it, I know we will!

Ok that's all for now! Have a lovely day. More updates to come on baby! (So fun to say that!)

Can't stay away for too long....

Hello friends!

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted last so I figured I should probably sit down and do a little updating.

First off I finally got around to organizing the husband's closet. First it looked like this:

It's ok you can say it, it looked like a hot mess. Well now it looks like this:

 All nice and clean! Thank you Wal-Mart for your wonderful cube organizers! You can pretty much get them anywhere but Wal-Mart seems to be the cheapest around here. Next I moved onto the front closet. There is no before picture, but that's fine by me because that too was a hot mess. Here's what it looks like now:

All nice and pretty. I got another cube organizer for in there, it holds some shoes, gloves, hats, scarfs and all that fun stuff. I also re-organized my shoes. Before they were under my bed in these:

Yes I know not so cute, and to be honest I didn't even want to take them out because of all the dust. So I got rid of those and got some hanging storage for the front closet. Boom! Now it's pretty and I can actually see my shoes easily! Win!

Hard to get a picture but it hangs right from the closet rail, each one can hold up to ten pairs of shoes!

Now onto to some crafts. I've come to the realization that there aren't that many St. Patty's Day decorations out there. Wahh! I like to find at least a little something for each holiday to put around the house so the hunt began. I found these cute towels at Jo-Ann's, which I love & they were on sale so it made sense to get them. I got some four leaf clover garland and stuffed it into some vases that I normally use for the table centerpiece and wa-la, a little St. Patty's Day flair for the table. I found some other cute decorations at Micheal's to hang around the house. Found some cute fabric and made some easy throw pillows too!

Showing a little love for St. Patrick's Day!

I also made these adorable little leprechaun hats! Super easy too! I just painted these little flower pots that I got at Micheal's (for just 89 cents mind you!), let that dry and painted a black stripe around the pots. For the belt buckle I just glued a yellow piece of paper over top of the black stripe and done! Super cute, super easy and best of all super cheap! I spent maybe $4 total (all I had to buy was the flower pots and the green paint!)

I know it's a dark picture, but I'm sure you get the idea!

Another craft/home improvement idea I've been meaning to post was about this gem:

Dang it! I don't know why all these pictures are so dark. Maybe it's just me? Whatever, long story short: this chair had seen better days.

I got this chair from my Aunt Alison, and like I said it's seen better days. It's been in her garage for god knows how long but I could see the potential in it and just had to have it. She didn't mind getting rid of it either so it was a win win! For the wood part I sanded it down and stained it, same color as my dining room table (so I didn't have to buy any more) I put a protective sealer over top of that and let it dry. For the cushions I tried a couple of different things. First I just bought some bed sheets that I liked for 10 bucks at Wal-Mart (figured it'd be the cheapest route, considering I was probably going to need quite a bit of fabric) anyways I first tried this no sew knot slip cover thing I found on Pinterest.

That wasn't really working out for me. And if you sat on it, it was uncomfortable. And it never stayed as tight as I would have liked. It always looked like it was about to come undone. So I stopped being lazy and cut out pieces and just sewed them together and slipped them right over the old cushion. Easy enough, and it looks nice too, and yes much more comfortable to sit on!

I used the extra fabric to make some throw pillows for our couch too! Super cute!

You can't stare at this fabric for too long, it's hypnotizing!

Update on bulk buying:

Unfortunately we still make our weekly trip to Wal-Mart for odds and ends, mostly for snacks, Scottie's lunches and the guinea pigs food. So now instead of spending $100 every week we're down to $50; sometimes a little less & sometimes a little more (for the most part is averages to about $50 a week) and I haven't had to buy toilet paper or paper towels in like 2 months! So I'd say it's working out well for us. I definitely would like to get into couponing a little more to save even more but we'll see.

Found out some pretty exciting news a couple of weeks ago as well! My cousin Dale and his beautiful fiance Mauranda asked me to be a part of their wedding! Of course I said yes, love them! And I've gotten so many fun ideas for the shower, definitely going to have to have a post on that!

Lots of things going on over here! March will brings lots more crafts, considering we have TWO holidays to prepare for! Also I am slowly getting back into shape. It's definitely helping me keep certain things off my mind, which is just what I need. Although we are struggling to eat healthy at my house (it's tough when we are both picky eaters) but I am trying to be more open to new foods. So hopefully I'll be able to post some yummy/healthy recipes and some work outs soon!

Happy March everybody!