Wednesday, March 31, 2010

March 365 Mosaic


March 365 Mosaic
Originally uploaded by Kirsten W

Another month down! I missed a couple daily shots on either side of our vacation, but I'm ok with that. All caught up with printing them and putting them in my Project Life album, but I still need to write the journaling cards for the last 5 or 6 weeks worth! Thank goodness for the Flickr descriptions to jog my memory!

WIP's

So, I just realized today that tomorrow marks 30 weeks of pregnancy for me. That means I'm only 10 weeks from my due date! How is that possible?? And how will I get all my projects done?? ;) I like to have lots of projects-in-progress at any given time. Last weekend I made two long to-do lists - one listing all the house projects and little jobs that I want to get done before baby comes and one listing all the crafty projects I want to get done. Most of them are "want-to's" rather than "need-to's" but I still feel compelled to stay busy checking things off, since I know in a couple months I won't want to do anything except snuggle our baby girl.

We did do some rearranging in the nursery and moved this antique dresser (my mom got it for me when I was a little girl) in and Lachlan's cubby dresser into his new big boy room. I'm working on machine quilting the baby quilt draped in the background. Hoping to get that finished in the next week or so.

Then there's the handmade 2nd birthday party invites for a special little boy. I hand-carved the crayon stamp and I think it turned out super-cute.

I started this granny square blanket months ago and I have about 20 squares finished. I think my plan is to do 48 to make a baby-size blanket. I can get one or two done during an evening of tv-watching, so I'm hoping to make make progress here, too.

Then there are the projects that aren't so pretty (yet), like hanging new roller blinds in L's room and assembling his big-boy bed frame.

And this beautiful weather is calling me outside for gardening to-do's - like the asparagus patch that I cleaned out this afternoon.

I know that I won't be able to finish all the things on my lists, especially as my energy and stamina levels gradually go down the further I get into my third trimester. But I like staying busy and I love having handmade touches in our home, so I'll keep plugging away.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Books on my wishlist

... in case anyone just happens to be shopping for a birthday gift for me. ;)

Lotta Prints - Love her style, I bet this is full of inspiring ideas.

Sew What Bags - I always seem to have a reason to sew a new bag. They're great for making as gifts, too.

Martha's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts - Martha and her crew are so amazing! I have and love her Encyclopedia of Crafts, so I'm sure I would love this one too.



101 Snappy Fashions - I'm sure I could have all sorts of fun with the ideas in this one!

Yes, I have a problem with collecting crafty books. But I usually do actually make things using their ideas!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

getting changed


"fold"
Originally uploaded by Kirsten W
video of L from this afternoon. Oh, the joys of toddler control issues.

Hello!

I can tell we're getting further into the independent toddler years (aka the "terrible twos") because Lachlan wants to be the boss of everything - what he eats, wears, and who helps him with certain tasks (and they better do it the right way!). If things don't go the way he thinks they should, an ear-piercing scream usually follows.

Today we spent 10-15 minutes trying to get a new outfit on after a messy lunch. He wanted to go through his shirt drawer and pick out a certain shirt, then put one after the other on by himself. (See the video post below). The final outfit ended up being a blue (favorite color right now) long-sleeved shirt and his new t-shirt from spring break.
Even with all the frustrating toddler moments, he is still a total sweetie-pie, full of kisses & hugs and new words every day. We had lots of fun on vacation, and he LOVED trying to keep up with his cousins, who are 3 and 6 years old.

New favorite words include "deep" (for in the pool), "sky" (for in the airplanes), "share" (for all the pesky kids who tried to borrow his toys in the pool ;), "iguana" (we had some up close sightings), and putting his own order in with the waiters at lunch & dinner - usually "food", "french fries", and "noodles".

I uploaded a few photos on Flickr, but I'm looking forward to scrapbooking many of them and sharing with you as soon as I can.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Sun & Sand

We are enjoying a lovely vacation in the USVI with Bill's family. Lots
of pool playtime and beach time, too. Be back soon!

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Illinois road trip

This weekend my mom came over from Des Moines and we took a quick road trip to visit my aunt and cousin, who live in a Chicago suburb. It was great to see them and they went all out to make us feel comfortable. Lachlan especially enjoyed all the special toddler snacks in the house, and meeting their two kitties.
My mom had this antique table and chair when we were little, then she loaned it to my aunt for her kids. Now that my cousins are in college, it's Lachlan's turn to use it! My aunt had it set up at her house for our visit to give Lachlan a place to play and color.
Lachlan also enjoyed checking out the house and found a quiet place to look at books. Aunt Karen even had one of his favorites "Go Dog Go".
One of the other fun parts of the weekend was making it to IKEA for a shopping trip. Thank goodness for these little playhouses scattered around the store. And for grandmas and great aunts that help chase a very busy toddler!
The table and chair found a new home when we got back to Iowa City.
There were lots of other things to find a new home for, too. These plants and pots came from IKEA, along with this baby activity arch. I also got the ledges that I'm going to use for book storage and display in Lachlan's new room. Fun fun!

winner!

If you're a big blog reader like me, you've probably noticed that having giveaways is very popular right now. I try to enter whenever I'm interested and have time, because it is easy and who doesn't like winning something?

I think I posted awhile ago about my win on the Making Memories blog, but I hadn't posted what I received from them yet. These are new dimensional stickers from MM, and although most of them are not really my style for using on pages, they are very cute and well-made.

Much more recently, I won a giveaway on Cool Mom Picks for Caspar Babypants' (he used to be the frontman for the Presidents of the United States of America) new kids' music album. We love his first album, so I'm really excited to hear this one!