A Sweet Gift and Rob's Legendary Gift

First, I wanted to share and thank my sweet Nannie for the precious cap that she made for Finn! We got it in the mail and love it and look forward to putting it on his sweet head. Thank you, Nannie!

That same day, we also received another package...

I'm sure many people have bought things online and anticipated the arrival of the package like it was Christmas morning. Well, that is how Rob felt after trading in some of his GameStop reward points for a highly anticipated badge.

It was promised to be simple and understated...

And then when you clicked to view the badge larger, it looked like a hefty badge!

So Rob received his package, much to his excitement...

He opened it and what did he find??

The tiniest "badge" known to man-kind...lol

Smaller than a quarter!!! I think they should include that on the description...check out the note included too...

Oh yeah, a really awesome item! Lol

To say the least and to exclude any expletives that Rob might have expressed, he wasn't happy, lol, but it definitely gave us some laughs. At least he didn't spend any "real" money, although I'm sure he would debate that. :)

So what about you guys? Anyone else ever get a package that failed to meet your expectations? I've heard a ton of stories where the product picture is completely misleading...gotta love it.

Love to you all!

Bump Update!

How far along? 34 1/2 weeks...oh boy.

Symptoms: A little more tired and a bit of lower back discomfort, but goodness, still feeling great.

Sleep: Sleeping great still...I'm still convinced that I fall asleep quicker than I did when I wasn't pregnant.

Best moments this week: There's been a ton...celebrated our anniversary a few weeks ago, had a beautiful shower with family and friends, had a week off of work, heard Finn's heartbeat last Wednesday, Thanksgiving with family, getting rid of our jacuzzi! (an update to come)

Movement: Oh my, lots and lots. We feel like he's trying to stand up sometimes! Thankfully he doesn't keep me awake at night.

Cravings: Nope

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: Just some braxton hicks, but no true labor signs. He's gotta keep cookin in there.

Belly Button in or out? Still in!

What I miss: Bending over with ease, getting off the couch with ease, getting out of bed with ease.

What I am looking forward to: Ah, there's always so much to look forward to, but I don't want to write a novel about it all today. :)

Weekly Wisdom: Keep those feet up!

Milestones: Well, I think we have just about everything needed for this little boy and his room. Although nothing is going into his room until we install new carpet, I'm thankful we have everything we need and some. I was telling Rob that I'm so used to generally knowing what our life will look like months ahead...however, I truly can't fathom how different but lovely life will be once Finn arrives. It's all a blur when I try to look beyond January. A good blur. :)

Also I wanted to share these two shots that make me laugh...prior to these pictures being taken, I gave Rob a tip about taking pictures with my beloved Nikon...lol...anyway, he of course gave me a hard time and was mimicking me which caused me to laugh so hard I almost peed myself.

Yeah, I fling myself whenever engaged in crazy laughter. :)

And yay, I was finally able to buy more picture storage for this blog! Woop woop!

Pictures Shmictures

Well, I've had a few posts lined up, however, I've apparently reached my maximum picture limit and need to upgrade my storage...so to fix that, I went to upgrade it with google and sadly it's not allowing me to checkout. The checkout button is a dead link and takes me nowhere, so hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

At least this is happening now and not when I want to be sharing a bunch of pictures of Finn! (always have to look for a bright side)

In other news, I've been enjoying this beautiful weather, I just wish it would stay cold. I'm naturally a more-than-normal-warmer-bodied person, but I can definitely tell that my body temp is feeling even warmer by this pregnancy. So a fan is constantly blowing in my face if I can help it.

That's one of my must brings to the hospital, a fan. Rob also has permission to put ice chips around my face as well. :)

Speaking of, according to some pregnancy calendar I follow, I should start putting together my hospital bag next week. Yeah, that news alert definitely made my eyes widen, but I'm excited.

And goodness, am I looking forward to Rob and I welcoming our little boy into this world.

Hoping you all are well!

Tis The Season

Jack wanted to wish you all a very happy Christmas season!

We'd be lying if we said it was as easy as 1-2-3 to get this dog to be still for this pic...so here's some
 outtakes for the reality of things... :)

He kept laying down, but facing the wrong way...

This is after Rob turned him around so he'd be facing the camera, however, his legs look all funny...he's totally not having it either...

Well, I have lots to post, just haven't gotten around to it, I've been enjoying this Thanksgiving weekend too much. I need to do a bump update stat, only 6 weeks till due date.

Will be back with more posts soon!

For Us Over-Thinkers

Rob and I are both thinkers. Admittedly we can be over-thinkers.

If there's anyone out there familiar with a series called Twilight, lol, the vampires in it don't sleep. To me, that always sounded absolutely dreadful! Because I love sleep, yes, but also because I love that it kind of gives my mind a break.

Anyway, last night I came across a chapter in a book Rob got that I hijacked called "Anxious for Nothing" (God's Cure for the Cares of Your Soul) by John MacArthur. In it is a section I want to keep mulling over. It's a bit about worry, but also about thinking and faith...here's an excerpt:

Recall that Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" (Matt 6:26). Martyn Lloyd-Jones, commenting on that verse explained:

Faith according to our Lord's teaching... is primarily thinking... We must spend more time in studying our Lord's lessons in observation and deduction. The Bible is full of logic, and we must never think of faith as something purely mystical. We do not just sit down in an armchair and expect marvelous things to happen to us. That is not Christian faith. Christian faith is essentially thinking. Look at the birds, think about them, and draw your deductions. Look at the grass, look at the lilies of the field, consider them...

Faith, if you like, can be defined like this: It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him down... The trouble with the person of little faith is that, instead of controlling his own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else, and, as we put it, he goes round and round in circles. That is the essence of worry... That is not thought; this is the absence of thought, a failure to think.

Sometimes my over-thinking can be useless and futile, because there can be many times where I just feel like I'm going "round and round in circles". I wouldn't naturally think that my over-thinking was tied to worry, but it definitely shows that it's not tied to faith. I like that last paragraph of the excerpt the best. True thought isn't going round and round in circles. Obviously you get nowhere with that. Lots more in the chapter, but that part really spoke to me. One more part that I think is key...

Since we still live in a fallen world, however, our renewed minds need ongoing cleansing and refreshment. Jesus said that God's chief agent for purifying our thinking is His Word (John 15:3). Paul reiterated that concept many times... (Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Disciplining our thoughts is key...because our thoughts ultimately determine what we do and say. Yep, lots of good stuff in there for me, and maybe for you.

Happy Thanksgiving EVE everyone!! Hip Hip!! I hope you all have a great day filled with loved ones. Anyone ever make it to the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in NYC?? Oh goodness, is that a dream of mine.

6 Years

Another anniversary already? We reached 6 years this past week and took a little trip to the place where it all started.

We got married between those two little palms down there...

Can't believe it was 6 years ago I walked between these trees to Rob...

Thankful for another blessed year with this amazing man that I continue to grow more and more crazy in love with...and now a new year with our sweetest blessing on the way.

7 weeks away!!!

Ahoy, It's A Boy!

I was spoiled by such a beautiful shower given by family and friends and received so many wonderful gifts from so many loved ones. So thankful, so very thankful to everyone. It was beautiful.

The decorations and cupcakes were so adorable...

Me being escorted in to see the room and the decorations for the first time...

Probably asking what something was used for...oh the learning adventures :)

So thankful...

And the baby daddy made an appearance at the end... 



Jack checking out the goods...we were blessed to have been given a number of big hand-me-down items prior to the shower as well... 

Loved seeing every face there and missed those that couldn't make it...so thankful to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Love to you all!

For the Love of Houndstooth

Another beautiful day here with gorgeous weather. The shower is just one day away (yay!!!!!) and I still can't believe it all. Rob and I talked about how crazy it would be if we had a glimpse way back into our futures and see me and him married and pregnant with this boy. I'm so happy where my life has gone. It doesn't always go where I imagine, with jobs/sucesses, but you know what? I'm enjoying the ride and have so much to be thankful for.

So I finished a little art piece for Finn's room. I don't know how it happened, but it looks like I'm creating some sort of collage. Which after doing our hallway, I never wanted to hear the word "collage" again for how much work that took! But this collage is a lot more mild and tame. No spray painting of the frames, just making some homemade artwork.

Anyway, here's the latest...it only took me about 10 minutes to complete...

I started with an inexpensive frame from Ikea and some houndstooth craft paper found at Michael's...

Then cut a tree silhouette out of black felt...some double sided tape and ta-da!

We're also working on a homemade mobile...Rob lent his origami hand toward that and I'm excited to for that to be done. Will post pictures once it's complete. None of this stuff is actually able to go in Finn's room yet until we get the carpet in there...so it's just forming a nice pile. Praying Rob's Jeep sells soon and then on to new carpet we go...we shall see.

We also had our monthly appointment yesterday and heard baby boy's heartbeat. Still sounding perfect and apparently he is head down already. Of course he may move, but he's just so well behaved he's getting ready for the day.

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

A Belated 2011 Christmas DIY Gifts Post

Update - If you're looking for more DIY Christmas gifts and decor ideas, check out my latest post here. Happy Christmas to you all! 

Wow. I just realized I never posted barely any of my DIY Christmas projects I took on last year. Since the season is approaching, I thought I'd share some photos of what I completed last year. I definitely had fun creating these gifts...I've also realized that an endless supply of mason jars would be lovely.

First wanted to start with this picture of me and the little ham-ball, cutie nephew of mine when shopping for Christmas trees last year...

This kid and his personality crack me up!

Okay, on to DIY projects...the first one is a twizzler bouquet I made for my sweet mom. The picture is pretty self-explanatory. I just cut out flowers and poked a hole in them and placed them on the twizzlers. In a lovely mason jar of course. :)

Next is a peppermint/candy cane sugar scrub, inspired by this tutorial I found on Pinterest...

And finally, I had filled mason jars with these pretzels as well as a layer of almonds and M&M's. Much to my sorrow, I didn't take pictures of the finished jars with everything in it. They were really cute looking and were great inexpensive gifts.

Oh the joys of this season...and there are many.