Reality

my friends, pregnancy is a beautiful thing. 

except for sometimes, like real life

i look at these pregnancy photos we took and realize reality is very different. 

i just thought i should share these beauties...in case you were having a bad day.  yes, i wore the same sweatpants from the husband's high school years...for a couple days.  along with my husband's sweatshirt and some awesome cowboy boots. the darker sweater was my grandpa's. now just imagine me walking about the neighborhood, skipping, trying to induce labor "naturally."

comfort was the key element in outfits.

i think these were taken 2 days before Aiko was born...

ummmmmmmmmm.

love her.

this is what happens you do things upside down

found this on pinterest. 

i loved the writing on the lampshade.

i could totally make that right?

well, the first attempt wasn't so great.

well, it almost was, until we did it upside down.

i found this hanging canvas light at the thrift shop for $7 bucks.  

thought it would look super wonderful in my bedroom!  i'm sure it will one day...when i get it done again.

see the writing?  the han and I found some awesome quotes (pinned here)  

i even had the han write it all for me in pencil then i went over it with a sharpie

(my handwriting is slightly atrocious)

then, i realized, we did it upside down.

the han was mystified.  

you see, she doesn't make goofs like this.

she's much too OCD for it.

sigh, sometimes things don't always work out the first time.

next time will be better i'm sure. 

until next time...

giant rug doily and not all rockers are made equal

i've been seeing this on pinterest for ages and thought...i could make that.

ladiesandgentlemen from etsy makes the one below

isn't it lovely? 

i've been saving this project for just the right reason and time.

ANNNDDD i think a baby nursery is just the place for it, under a lovely old-new rocking chair.

so we begin.  

i found a pattern and instruction here

but i found myself changing the pattern completely. i made it up as i went along.  i considered looking up some doily patterns to follow, but you know me, free spirit right?

(i do have a problem with following any instructions)   

all you need is the following:

3 boxes of Cotton Piping Size 5 (16/32" Diam) x 100 Yds. 

(which i found from Joann.com and used a 50% coupon which apparently is now $10 cheaper than i paid...grrrr)

ended up being $73.82 with tax and shipping. 

(i went to the actual store and they didn't have any in stock, which i have this slight suspicion that they really do, but the lady i talked to was none to helpful)

size "s" hook

here, the kona is showing off about 1.5 hours worth of work.

i'll admit, i will have some serious arm muscles in the end.

in the end, it took about 8 hours to complete.

and it was totally worth it.  

super fun right!??

the rocking chair came from a cute store that does custom work for you.  

four sisters custom furniture and frames

you can choose the color/stain of almost any item they have in store, which is a ton of different furniture.  i considered staining it myself...but staining rocking chairs seemed too complicated and since i ordered it two weeks before the due date (that has gone and past), i figured it would be easier to have someone else do it.

(i know, this goes against everything i'm about.  but i will have you know, i valiantly search for a rocking chair at all the thrift shops for last year, but as my dad says "not all rockers are made equal."  which i've found true, most of the thrift shop chairs had seen some good hard days of work.  i wanted a solid wood one, but all the ones we tried were much too crickety. . . .)

so, my parents bought us one instead.

thanks mom and dad!

funny thing is, this chair is almost the exact replica of the one my mother in law has, which i've always loved and the husband loves.

  so.it.was.a.triple.bonus

random note:  doesn't the refinished floors look loverly?  

the kona seems to think so. 

crochet pattern for blanket

what 39 weeks and 5 days looks like.

yup.

and today is 39 weeks and 6 days.

she's still in there.

into the husband's mind we go

this is rare people.  

we get asked all the time..."are you excited?"

well, of course we are, but we both aren't really the kind of people who shout it out loud to every person we meet, especially the husband.  

i rarely even know how he really feels.  

he's just so easy going, that unless he voices his opinion then i know he'll just go with the flow.

i generally go by the thought that if the husband talks about or even mentions a subject, then he really is super excited and is just unable to express it in the usual ways people do.  

like raising their voice,

talking faster,

not talking in a monotone voice

raising their eyebrows

just general things. 

i do love him though, him and his quiet self.

but back to the previous question

"are we excited?"

let's go into the husband's mind.

the other day, we were painting the casing around the windows and all of sudden the husband starts talking about  Christmas.  "remember how when you were little and you got toys?  and then you had to go to church and you couldn't wait for church to end so you could play with your new toys?"

i'm struggling to understand what brought on this random conversation, but then i realize, he is talking about the baby. 

he goes on "well, it's going to be like that for me at work, i'll be so excited at work to come home that it will be hard to work."

precious.  

there you have it.  he's that excited.  

christmas is only in 4 days for him.  

please make sure to call us when she comes

so, there is this general concern going around

the husband's parents said "please make sure to call us when she comes."  

while my dad says "you're going to call me right?"  

as i'm explaining this to the mama she says "i kind of thought the same thing, i thought for sure you'd call me friday morning and say...she's here!"

sheesh family.

apparently, the husband and i are the worst communicators in the world.

we've been married for seven years...

this isn't like when we got engaged and bought a house in a week and derek didn't tell his parents for a while (they were on a cruise in his defense)

i feel this is more a one sided comment...mainly for the husband to make sure he communicates it to the world, since i may be a litttle busy during it all.  

either way.  it's just funny.  

don't worry family, we will let you know, or rather, i will make sure the husband lets you know.

also, i think i am now 39 weeks.  she's due on the 14th

let's all hope that date doesn't just roll by without her being birthed

with my spare time

i realized the other day, that i had not made my child any bows, accessories...nothing.  

me, the person who prefers to make than to buy.

so, in the last couple days i made her this.  which was inspired by this blog below.

rockstardiaries

see this adorable lion hat?

i have watched her blog for the last couple years and love this hat.

so i made one...granted, i do not yet have a cute little baby to model with. 

so larry will have to do.

yes, the husband is terrified, he worries about our child and what kind of fashionista she will become.

as long as she is wearing a lion hat, she'll turn out just fine.

i found a crochet hat pattern here

but the lion mane, face and stitching came from copying the above photos...and the han's brain.  

you know you want to run your fingers through his mane.

my first week home

i'll admit, the first night we slept at the house, i was a little frantic.  sure, i have lots to do, things to clean, items to put in my house, grow a baby...ya know, little stuff like that.  (slight pity party going on, *sniff, sniff)

i usually love change and sponateousness, but this might put the harm over the top.

posterity, this is for you.  i write our major changes, in the year of 2012. (little side note, i keep typing 2010 instead of 2012, must have been a good year.)

january

i got a job promotion

found out we were pregnant again

february

we were still pregnant, let the excitement begin

march

found out that we would be adopting, much more added excitement

april/may/june/july

i don't even remember what went on during this time, but they were good times, rest assured

august

been married 7 years now

continually getting larger in the stomach area

september

bought a house

immediately started remodeling, moving, redoing, packing

found out we weren't adopting

moved into the house

had 4 baby showers (a completely new experience being on the receiving end. so grateful)

unpacking

last day of my professional career (until who knows when)

october

still unpacking

went to our new church

remodeling as we go

sleeping in

taking naps

eating breakfast on the porch with the kona

reading

crafting

thrifting

it just keeps getting better.

i really was freaking out for unnecessary reasons, because so far, it's not as bad as i feared.  

it's not bad at all. 

today, the kona and i had tea on the porch (don't worry, it is herbal)

love my teaposy.  

i got from the foundary

 looks lovely with the thrifted knitted scarf and trolley don't you think?

had our first neighborly visit along with delicious banana bread.  perfect with morning tea.  hopefully, she didn't notice, i hadn't showered...or put on a bra for the day, also seems to be a perk of staying home.

the rug is also thrifted, but the kona seems not to care that it wasn't for her

so 2012, it's been a crazy year

we only have 3 months of you left

by the end, we will have our little baby and the year of the dragon will be over

lest we forget

here are some other photos with the stain completely stripped off.  we recommend renting the bigger, stronger sander, don't be afraid.  just be very careful.

when we first looked through our house...we thought "yes, this is going to take a lot of work"

but in the photos...it always looks nicer.

can you spy some ghostly eyes watching us?

let's have a shout out for the mama and the han.

they have helped the house for many hours.

(the fetus and i were kicked out so we opted to take photos.)

do you love the pink windows?  

one day i'll get to paint those.

gotta love that husband.  he's been doing good work.

the house and floors

here, we happened to take some photos of the wood floors.  the husband worked soooo very hard on them.  sanding and sanding, and then more sanding.  i think home depot must love us, because after the sanding, there was more sanding to be done.  the things we learn when we do it ourselves.  like, you really do have to completely remove all the old stain on the floor... next time we redo wood floors, we (meaning the husband) will be pros. 

the original floor stain was a darker color, which i loved, so we redid it in a dark walnut color.  to be honest, refinishing the floors was pretty easy, just time consuming and much cheaper than paying someone.  so if you need some hints, be sure to contact the husband!

the banister and the stairs...which no longer match, will be a future project. 

here you can kind of see the floors redone.  we're setting up our bedroom and this is our new rug from IKEA.  one day, i'll get a video of the kona trying to run around the house. it's hilarious, it's so slippery for her.  this happened to be our first rug we put down in the house and so she had to claim it as her own while we could.

we are still painting here and there, cleaning up, fixing up.  debating what should be fixed now or wait until later.  good news is, we do have the baby room our bedroom set up.  we did have this awesome headboard and footboard that's been sitting in storage for the last five years...but we're selling it, it's much to large for the room.  if you want it...here's the ad!

i need to take some photos...but the house is still ripped apart...so just pretend.

as of late

we, meaning the fetus and i, spend a lot of time in the bubble baths

eucalyptus and rosehip flavors to be exact