More House

Our main floor is finally starting to come together. It takes me SO long to decide what I want/like so the process is pretty time consuming. Here's a little sneak peek at the family room. The kitchen is painted the same color but we have some light fixtures to swap out before I post pictures of it. I am kind of having a love/hate relationship with the color on the walls. Depending on the lighting and the time of day, depends how I feel about the color choice. For now we are leaving it. Other things that we want to do include installing crown moulding. I have also decided to forego window treatments and will be replacing my wood blinds with white wood shutters eventually. And sooner than later I want to get rid of the hideous vertical blind that covers the door to the backyard. More pillows will be added to the couch and I will be getting a coffee table or ottoman when I find one that strikes my fancy. So, for now, here it is:

The buffet will be centered under the Family thing once we fix the door so it doesn't open so far:

Close Ups:
A 4th picture will of course be added to the right side once we have the baby:

PS- Some of this is my Vtines decor (I'm not into hearts and love otherwise).

Goodbye to a great Man

We just heard that President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away tonight. My shock has been replaced by sadness. He has done so much good for the church during his lifetime and has been the prophet for my entire adulthood. He was dearly loved and will be missed. Our prayers go out to his family at this time.

AMAZING

It seems I have a lot to say today. Actually, I'm anxiously waiting Makenna to fall asleep so I can sneak downstairs and take a little nap myself (not a lot of sleep happening around here lately for me). But while I wait, I must say that I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan last week and it was the best book I have read in ages.Now, I hesitate to recommend books very often because sometimes I am nervous about the content in the books and never know how people will handle things in them. This book was very clean even though it talks A LOT about a woman's responsibility to bear sons in 19th century China. So you do have that aspect of the book. Seriously, I was on the waiting list at the library for several months to get this. I'm going to go out and buy it because I loved it so much.
It is a really sad book and I bawled in places but it is a wonderful story about friendship.

At least I'm consistent?

I've been eyeing this shirt at Target for a few weeks and finally took the plunge and bought it a few days ago. I LOVE the color of it (that green is for sure one of the "in" colors this season). I showed it to my friend that same afternoon and she agreed that it is adorable and even Al said he liked it. Then I went to hang it in my closet and saw this hanging in the green shirt section:that I purchased last spring at American Eagle. I'm not really sure how I forgot that I already have the EXACT same shirt, in green no less, purchased about 10 months ago. I don't really think you can tell how similar they are from these pictures. For the record, I like the green in the Target shirt better but I will be returning it. Obviously, I don't need the same shirt twice. I guess it means that my style hasn't changed in the last year.

Just call me Sausage Toes...

I had my weekly appointment today and I am thrilled that I am dilated to a 3 and about 50% effaced! Whoop! Not that it means anything for me since my babies never, ever come on their own. We're sticking to the Feb. 4/5 induction date and my last appt is next Friday. Wow. I can't believe we are down to the final week.

I have reached a new low in pregnancy this week - my wedding ring no longer fits me. Even when I was 42 weeks pregnant with Carter, I could still wear my wedding ring. I am VERY very puffy this pregnancy (hence, the sausage toes). And really I can only squeeze into two pair of my shoes. I think I will be wearing flip flops to church this week (hideousness). I do hope that all the water I'm retaining accounts for some of my weight gain (which has been rapid and steady the past month, making up for my little gain I had earlier - sigh).

We're pretty much ready to go though. We have weekend company coming tomorrow and the kids' birthday party next week and a few other odds and ends to tie up. I want to finish some scrapbook layouts I've started this month, finish some bows for the girls, get a pedicure and then I'm all set! SO excited to meet this baby Girl!

New 'Do

I have struggled with Carter's hair for YEARS. It is stick straight, thick, coarse and full of funny little cowlicks. Not to mention that he has been extremely anti hair product up until recently. I finally decided to have my friend cut and style it for me and I LOVE it. He looks so much older and I love how it brings out his eyes. Such a handsome little dude, if I do say so myself.

Note to Self...and other Birthday events...

Note to Self: When Lego gives the age range on their packaging, pay a bit closer attention to it. When they note that the Batman Batcave Set is for 9-12 year olds, they mean it. And what they really mean, is that it will take mom and dad working TOGETHER, nearly 2 hours to put together just the batmobile portion of this huge set.

Birthday Events: Carter had a great birthday. We started off the day with him opening his presents. He got lots of fun stuff that he has been asking for including: the Batman lego set, Mega Rigs Shark Ship set, Spiderman Operation, a Superman costume from us and a fun kite from his Gma Frost. He requested scrambled eggs and Coffee cake for his birthday breakfast.

My parents sent Carter a gift card to Target and he was dying to spend it so we headed off to Target. My parents gave strict instructions that he was to get WHATEVER he wanted. He was in serious heaven having all the say in what he got. He chose a Spiderman race car and Batman action figure (and still has money leftover):

We allow the kids to choose whatever they want for all the meals (including the option of going out to eat) on their bday and for lunch Carter wanted a peanut butter and honey sandwich, which totally cracked us up. We headed off to school where he brought donuts for his class:


After dinner we had a super simple cake and ice cream. We will have a superhero cake when we have his party next week.

He was just happy as a clam playing with all his new toys all afternoon and evening. (And for the record, I am SO toyed out and need to find some new storage options for all the Christmas/birthday stuff).

And... oh my gosh, I just cannot get over that I have a FIVE year old!! Where does the time go?!

Happy Birthday Little Man

Love you SOOOOO much buddy. Thank you for bringing me the greatest joy in my life by making me a mommy. Happy 5th Birthday!!!

Accident Prone?

It seems like it's been one thing after another here for the last couple months. Let's recap, shall we?

October 23- Monique gets the stomach flu and ends up in the ER to get fluids and medicine.

October 26 - Carter falls on the playground at school and gets 2 stitches in his forehead

December 23 - Makenna hurts her arm on the trampoline and ends up going to InstaCare on Christmas Eve Day

Last week sometime - Carter and Makenna are playing tag and Carter falls and hits his head on the hinge of the front door, splits his head open but we decide to watch it overnight and let it heal on it's own.

Which brings us to today. The kids were outside on the trampoline and conked heads while jumping. Makenna's mouth is full of blood. When I finally get the bleeding stopped and I examined her I realized her front tooth had been knocked loose. Poor little sweet baby. I spent most of the afternoon on the phone trying to find ANY pediatric dentist who was in the office and/or had an open appointment (for the record, it appears that most dentists work Tues-Thurs). I called EVERY single dentist from Phoenix to the west side to no avail. I was finally able to get in touch with a dentist who lives in our ward who came over to take a look at her mouth. He said the tooth should move back into place on its own but it looks horrible. And I promise, this picture does the horribleness absolutely no justice.

I *REALLY* hope this is the end of our medical trauma for, well, at least a year. Sheesh!!

You can never have too much STORAGE!!!

Being the organization freak that I am, I find that I never have enough storage. The Master Bedroom closet in our house is huge - about the same size as the bedroom we used for the nursery in our home in CT - but the space was poorly allocated. So Al and I decided to reconfigure the entire closet and add some much needed storage. That's what we've been working on for the last couple weeks. We are also in the process of really bulking up our food storage and we desperately need some place to put it all. The garage is out because of the high temps we reach during the summer and we don't have a basement. We finished painting all the shelving a few nights ago and I've spent the afternoon unpacking boxes and putting everything away (there's that nesting instinct going again). So here are some after shots. The top two shelves are deep and tall enough to hold huge plastic storage tubs or 5 gallon buckets of food storage. From the floor to the bottom shelf is high enough for 5 gallon buckets as well.

Where the shelving is now used to have one hanging rack on 2 of the 3 walls. The top shelf goes all the way around the closet. And we still have plenty of shelving to grow into.

This wall used to have one hanging rack so we moved it up and added another shelf for all of our shirts and my skirts (and yes, I ROYGBIV my clothes according to season)

The opposite wall is slightly longer than this and holds all of our pants and my dresses. We also have a large crawl space under the stairs in our closet where we will put the bulk of the food storage.

I've also mentioned that Al and I have never been able to store all of our clothes in one place before due to older homes and small closets. This little exercise has also taught me that not having ample storage and access to things probably makes you overbuy. I am dying over how many pair of shoes I own. Three plus shelves worth makes me think I really DON'T need any more shoes for awhile!!

Baby Update!

Just a quick pregnancy update. We are officially in the FINAL countdown. My doctor has a tentative date for my induction - February 4 - less than one month from today. ONE month. I will have one last ultrasound this week at my appt. where they will measure her and try to predict her weight. I know how inaccurate those measurements can be but since I have such big babies they are trying to make sure she is not too huge.

Speaking of huge, I am feeling pretty big these days. It's so nice to finally be able to tell people that I am having a baby next month. And this week I will start telling them I only have 3 weeks left. A friend who is due the same week I am mentioned on her blog that she is planning to deliver a 30 lb. baby and a 20 lb. placenta. I love it. So I guess I'm hoping for a 20 lb. baby and a 10 lb. placenta. I am having lots of contractions and by the end of most days I am dying over my pelvic pain. We have a lot of projects we are trying to wrap up before she is born and good thing I am fully nesting and have a lot of motivation.

Today I bought newborn diapers and wipes, new binkies and onesies. My diaper stash from today:I also got the sling I ordered. (and of course I plan to look exactly like this within days of delivering my baby - LOL!!!)I went by their weight recommendation for sizing and it seems awfully small but maybe it is because I have a huge belly. I did A LOT of research on slings before I took the plunge so I hope this works out for me. I have to get in and out of the car too much with preschool dropoff/pickup and can't imagine hauling my carseat in with me every time. I've tried baby Bjorn's before and find them awkward to get the baby in and out of. I still need to wash clothes and blankets. And neither baby girl or I have an outfit to wear home from the hospital. I refuse to wear maternity clothes even one second after I've had the baby so I need to go out and find something to wear. And I just can't find anything that is perfect for her either. Hopefully with all the spring clothes coming out I can find something for both of us. I am feeling wishy washy about buying a swing. Carter could have lived in the swing when he was tiny but Makenna didn't like it as much. I also stocked up on all the "mommy necessities" for post childbirth - it's not pretty but at least now I'm prepared.

You will not be seeing any more pictures of me until we have the baby. I'm not a fan of pregnant belly shots (maternity photo shoots completely baffle me) so I never take them. My friend Becky offered to do a shoot of me last week and I totally laughed my head off at the suggestion (nice of her to offer though, for sure). I do have a picture of my belly the night before I was induced with Makenna and it was enough to make me consider never getting pregnant again. I admire those who find pregnant women beautiful, I am just not one of them. And I know that if I don't want to look at my pregnant self that no one else needs to be subjected to it. I totally don't mind pictures of other people but I have enough body issues when I'm pregnant to document the whole thing.

So we're doing our best to get ready for the baby. We can't wait until she is HERE!!

Catching Up: Wildlife World Zoo & Show Low

I have quite a few pictures to catch up on and think I'd better do it before we get too wrapped up in baby prep and home improvement. Last week while Allen was off work we took the kids to the Wildlife World Zoo. It is closer than the Phoenix zoo so we thought we would try it out. The kids absolutely loved it. Here are a few pictures:

As you can see, one of the really cool things about this zoo is that it is very hands on. Our very favorite thing was the opportunity to feed the giraffes. You climb up this high platform and can buy food to feed them. It was really amazing. Allen suggested that next time we need to bring twice as much change to buy food with because the kids loved it so much.

Makenna insisted on pulling the wagon instead of riding in it.



At the park in the zoo. We also rode the train around the African animal exhibit. The animals will walk right up to the train and you can get a really close look at them. Carter LOVED the bat exhibit (it scared me to death) and Makenna loved the 4 baby tigers that were born in November. Overall, we had a great time and look forward to going back.

We also went up to the ranch in Show Low for a few days. It was so relaxing and nice to be there. The kids were excited to play in the snow but most of it had melted by the time we got there. We debated about driving up to a local ski resort for the kids to have more snow time but eventually decided against it. We are glad now as Makenna lasted all of 15 minutes in the snow and cold (she is SO my daughter). They did a tiny bit of sledding and took a couple 4 wheeler rides with daddy. Allen and Carter also chopped wood for an entire afternoon for Al's mom. Carter loved it and actually got pretty good chopping kindling with his little hatchet (no, I was not present for any of this - I probably would have nixed the hatchet idea but he actually did fine with it).

In the snow with Grandma:
Chopping wood (he looks very earnest here, don't you think?):

We ate way too much of Allen's moms fabulous cooking, got to sleep late while Grandma played with the kiddos and generally had a great time being together. It was in the 30s the entire time we were there and I was freezing the whole time. I'm a wimp already and was excited to drive back into the valley of the sun and 70 degree temperatures!!

OH NO!!!!!!!

I am DYING. The name we have been planning to name Baby Girl since Day 1 has cracked into the the top 10 girl names for 2007. I am about to cry. We have been calling her "the name" since we found out she is a girl. The kids know her by the name and call her that all the time. I honestly want to cry. We have liked this name since we were pregnant with Carter and it was not popular at all back then. I have no idea what to do. I've always prided myself on naming my kids slightly unpopular names. I certainly do not want Baby Girl to be one of 10 little girls in her class with the name (kind of like the Jenny's/Jennifer's of my day). There is not a single other name that I am attracted to. Boohoo!!!!!

(and yes, I have shed tears as I have typed this).

Bless you Pottery Barn, Curse you Target....

I have been looking for *just* the right piece of inspiration for my family room/kitchen for months now. And I finally found it in the new Pottery Barn catalog that came this week. Have you seen all the COLOR in there? So many many beautiful things. So we are off to good old PB this weekend to purchase said piece (no, I'm not sharing yet). I was feeling really good about things - I have my paint chosen, inspiration piece to be purchased, tons of accessories. The only thing I've been lacking is the perfect throw rug. Soooo... today I am at Target getting a few groceries and happen to walk by the rug aisle and literally find the most GORGEOUS perfect rug for my family room. And it was on sale. Too perfect to pass up. I buy it and am practically giddy with excitement about getting it home. Of course, I had to run to Costco for a few things and find a great set of LAMPS (another thing I've been desperately searching for but haven't been able to find what I love). Truly, my day could not have been going any better. We even ordered some furniture earlier in the week for the room that should be here tomorrow. My room was taking shape.

Until I got home. And tried out the rug. And found that it is way, way, way too small. But the colors are perfect and it is gorgeous and totally my style. So I figure I will find it online and order the next size up. I have perused page after page of rug options during naptime to no avail. My rug is NOT available online in any size at all. I truly want to cry. WHAT is a girl to do? So, sadly, I am back to square one with my rug.

The only consolation I have is that I have found a lot of other things I am loving for the room. And did you see all the amazing pink and green in the newest PBK catalog? During said PB run this weekend, these will be purchased to add to the girls' room:

I'm going to buy a couple of the birdie throw pillows to add to M's bed.

I will be exchanging the solid pink chair slipcover for this cute polkadot one instead.

And I cannot pass up this super cute giraffe for baby girl.