Baby #3!!

Yep, this is the reason for so few posts lately.
We are so very excited about another addition to our family but we know a few things for sure:
1. This is our last baby. I had always had dreams of having 4 but having them so close together has proven to be harder than I ever anticipated and I am crazier that I ever thought I would be lol. BUT I am sooo very GLAD we have had them all so close together. I want them to be best friends like me and my sisters. I think that is one of the greatest gifts parents can give; sibling love. baby #4 will just have to be a puppy lol
2. with my sister expecting her 3rd baby girl and with my 2 girls, it’s hard to convince me that this one will be a boy. For a while I was really hoping to have a boy but I think that if it’s a girl they will have a bond that can’t be replaced and if it’s a boy I am sure they will have a different kind of bond that is equally as special. I just can’t speak from experience here since I don’t have any brothers. Anyways, I can’t wait to find out what it is and I am truly happy either way.
3. He/she is due June 1. I am glad I will be done before it gets too hot!
4. I am already in maternity clothes. I am only 9 weeks along and my jeans are already very snug. With my first baby, Avery, I was so stubborn and forced myself in my jeans for as long as I possibly could. This time, I am all about the stretchy pants and comfort level. I really could care less. lol
5. I have never had any morning sickness and I still have not had any with this one but I have been much more hormonal! I barely have the energy to get up off my butt everyday but I can’t get away with being lazy anymore. I am lucky to get 5 minutes to close my eyes while Norah naps and Avery “rests.”
6. I am so over being pregnant. I have never been one of those people that just LOVES being pregnant and relishes every minute of it. I have pretty easy pregnancies so I should appreciate it more, but I am extra ready for this one to be over. Mainly because I know that I will finally be able to loose the baby weight and it will be for good! I am an extremely self conscious person so dealing with pregnancy weight gain is hard for me to swallow. 
7. Although on one hand I say I am ready for it to be over, the other part of me is so nervous about the aspect of 3 kids! I wasn’t nervous at all with my first baby and that was a true life changing event. Baby #2 wasn’t scary to me since I felt like I had the baby thing down and I have 2 hands so 1 for each baby. Now, I will have 3 and I am so scared that I will never sleep again and I am worried that I will not have enough hands to go around every day. I keep telling myself it will be find and people do it everyday but I get freaked out. hopefully it’s just the hormones because these feelings didn’t surface till recently.

We find out around Christmas what the baby is so I will be waiting to do any nursery decorating until then.
Please pray with us for a happy healthy baby!

New Venture

I have had a website for my photography for a while now. Up until recently I have just focused on Fine Art (still life, landscape, nature) photography but I have decided that I want to open up to family portraiture, also. I need A LOT of practice and experience still before I can say that I am “good” but I have lots of sessions coming up that I hope to get lots of practice out of! I am doing a newborn shoot very soon (whenever that baby decides to grace us with her presence) and I will get to to my future niece in February, a maternity shoot, a few family shoots, and 2 engagement sessions. I am ecstatic! I love that this is something that I can do from home with my girls and I can be as busy or not busy as I want to be! I hope you check out my website I have made lots of changes and updates over the past few days and I love it even more!
Click here or click on the link on the sidebar on my blog home page.

Fall Headband

Today was a blustery yucky rainy early fall day so it was perfect for a quick sewing project. Actually, I started this a few days ago, but I had to put it on hold because my sewing machine was giving me fits, but I got to finish it today.
I absolutely love the headband craze right now! I thought I would have fun and make one out of some scraps I have laying around. I cut a strip 4.5” wide by 21.25” long.

I actually decided to add a little length to it so I had to make a little 2” tab at the end, but it actually worked out okay because it worked great with the button.

I folded it in half long ways, right sides together and sewed it together.

Turned it back right side out

Closed the open end by folding the raw edged under and sewed it down with a top stitch.

Picked out a button from my button stash and hand stitched it on. Don’t you love the creamy pearl with this fabric? I do! Also, can you see the “tab” I talked about? worked out okay to me! I love it when mistakes turn out for the better

This is where I had to stop. This should have been an hour long project but my buttonhole foot would NOT make a buttonhole!! I eventually gave up and made one by hand with a zig-zag stitch. it’s not perfect, but it works.

Now, for the fabric flowers. I decided to do a ruffled flower out of some scrap satin fabric that I had and some rosette style out of some red to pull out the red in the headband fabric. Here’s a close up:

I decided a didn’t like just one big flower so I made a second one that is slightly smaller. The satin fabric frays really bad, but I don’t seem to mind it much.

I sewed them on and viola! it’s done! Honestly, I can’t decide if I like it. I mean, I like the headband by its self but I don’t know if I am brave enough to wear it. I tend to shy away from “big” or “loud” fashion but hopefully I will get brave and wear it one day this fall.

P.S. I HATE taking pictures of myself but I needed to show it on my head. excuse the cheesy pics!!

My Little Yellow Table

This is another piece of furniture I got out of Jeff’s grandma’s house recently. It is currently being used as an end table in the guest room and needed some TLC. It needed to be sanded down and either restained or painted. Since I have always wanted to do some stenciling on furniture, I thought this would be a great piece to try it out on. Let’s just say, that I had a few “oops” with this project (I seem to have lots of those lol) but I think it turned out ok in the end. Here it is as I got it:

I sanded it down and spray painted the whole thing a soft yellow. The same color as these pots.

Ok, so here was the fun part! I laid out a stencil that I found a the craft store and taped it down, got out some white paint and a roller and went to town. I thought it worked great until I pulled the stencil up and realized that the white paint bled all under the stencil so it looked HORRIBLE!! I was not happy! Since I had used spray paint it’s not like I could just go touch up the smears. ugh!!!!!

 

Turns out you should read the instructions first! ha! I should have sprayed the whole back of the stencil with repositionable spray adhesive first to make sure every square centimeter is tightly up against the surface. Now, I know for next time I stencil a table! ha

After I cooled down and the paint dried I dug through my cabinets and realized I had a quart of yellow paint I had used several weeks ago on some other stuff. It matched pretty darn closely and you couldn’t even tell where I touched up from the original spray!! SCORE!!!

It took about 2 hours of tedious work and I was about cross eyed by the end, but I was able to get the lines all straight.

Thanks to Home Goods, I was able to do this whole project with accessories for just about 50 bucks! Works for me!! I think the yellow looks great next to the soft grey/purple walls, and the ash wood lamp with linen shade and textured frame with baby picture complete the set!

Old McDonald’s Farm

This is a local place near us that I have been dying to take the girls to as soon as we had a day of decent weather. Finally, we have had a relief from the miserable heat and humidity. It has been WONDERFUL!! Of Course, I didn’t get as many pictures as I wanted (trying to chase babies and juggle bags, and feed animals, sometimes pictures just don’t happen) but here’s a few of my favorite. I am so thankful to have family close by to come to these things with me
Train ride:

Feeding the peacocks:

Deer:

This baby goat (supposedly) was born that morning:

Whenever I feel ugly and awkward, I just need to pull out this picture:

Chickens and other farm animals:

The most exciting animals were the pigeons! lol:

Playgrounds (Norah is definitely my brave child!):