Our New Addition....

....which is NOT a baby (yet). Haha...made you look!

This is a picture of Nicole using a part of our new addition before it was ready...any guesses?

No guesses yet? Here's Hannah, with a normal looking expression.


Our new addition is a .....

BUNK BED!!!!!!



Living in a two bedroom house with (almost) 3 small children present a few challenges. One of which is the obvious, sleeping arrangements. So, we have been looking for a bed for several months now. We were originally looking for a trundle bed and found a PERFECT one on Craigslist that I wanted SOOO badly. However, it was part of a set and the sellers were not willing to separate:-( So the search continued.

Then, we began to toy around with the idea of buying a full size bed and having the girls sleep together. I was afraid people would think we were "weird" for doing this....kids don't sleep together anymore. They don't share rooms, they don't play together, they don't chase outside....no...they twitter and text and send e-mails to each other....no more interaction, right? Anyway....this idea sounded pretty appealing. One larger bed, one crib in the same room, works for me.

I pretty much refused the idea of a bunk bed because of obvious safety hazards (which I am NOT over) AND we have low ceilings. The other night however, I came across a listing on Craigslist for a bunkbed with a full size bottom and twin size top bed. I thought to myself..."Self, this could work. We could use the bottom for several years starting right now, and store the twin until baby boy is ready to move up to the bed. AND...the bunk bed is not very high, so it would fit in our little house. Plus if by some horrible, unfortunately circumstance he rolled out of the top twin, he'd at least land first on the part of the full bed sticking out."

We brought the bed home and decided to put together the twin and install it on top even though no one will be sleeping up there (I hope) for a long while. So...for less than a weekend away we bought a bed that will eventually hold all three of our children, very safely and comfortably. It's big, but we are thrilled. It's a very well built, solid piece of furniture. We found out later it's from Haverty's, which I think is a pretty nice furniture store. And, the dark blue doesn't "match" the room..but I think it tones down some of the girly pink in there.

As you can see, the girls don't like the bed at all (Just Kidding!)







Tonight is night 2 of sleeping in the bed, together. I had to sit in there for about 45 minutes last night, Hannah wouldn't stay in the bed. Tonight, I decided to just *try* leaving the room. I had to take Hannah back in several times, but she didn't fight me to hard over it. And, after about 40 minutes, both girls were fast asleep. Nicole napped in the bed today, and Hannah was already asleep for her nap when I laid her down in it.

I think it just might work. I can already see (and hear) the girls enjoying this bed. I think it'll be good for them. Tonight, Nicole said the sweetest (and saddest) thing to me. The one time Hannah put up a little fight with me, she started crying. Nicole said, "Mommy...I don't like it when Hannah cries, it makes me want to cry too." Awe...melt my heart away. I love those two, they are precious!


In other news, we have been EXTREMELY BUSY this weekend on a very HUGE project. I think I'm going to wait to blog about it though until it's completely finished. However, this is a photo of our "green room" after a weekend of projects and craziness....survival mode. (it's now a bit more picked up:-)

I Need Your Help!!

To all of my non-coupon clipping friends and family. There is a VERY BIG and Helpful coupon in today's paper. This coupon is used to help friends start their coupon adventures at CVS because you don't have to pay for the product AND they get Extra Care Bucks back. It's a free investment.

The coupon is the Bayer Contour Diabetic Monitor up to $30.00. If you will not be using this coupon, would you consider sending it or giving it to me? I'll be buying some extra papers this week too because of the value of this coupon...but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. Even some of your places of employment get papers and those coupons probably go to waste. I don't need the whole week...Just the Bayer coupons. Thanks in advance if you can help:-)

FYI....we've had a busy weekend, working hard. I hope to have a great post up tomorrow for you:-)

Painting and Pool in the morning

Today was just a good day to be home and enjoy the morning, so we did. The girls spent nearly 2 hours outside painting and playing in the water while I went through my coupon binder and got rid of most all of my coupons (because they were expired). The kids had fun, I got some work done, we were outside enjoying a decent not to hot morning, and I didn't have to "work" to hard. It was nice.


I caught Nicole "painting" Hannah's hair. She looked like the Joker from the Batman movies. She had green all over her face and plastered in her hair. I wish the picture showed it better.

Nicole, doing what she does best....painting and making a huge mess. Her favorite thing to do.

Hannah, however, spent most of her time in the pool. When I asked the girls this morning if they wanted to put their bathing suits on and play outside, Hannah starting yelling and dancing in place. She LOVES this!

See that smile? It's a real one.

The girls had fun sliding down their slide into their pool. Here's a short video.

Boating and Fishing

So...I think we have a lot of fun as a family. We love to be together and do things together. Yesterday, Jeremy got the day off work for his birthday (which was the day before, but we was already scheduled out in advance). Jeremy's dad, otherwise known as "Gramps" offered to take us fishing on his boat. This was the first time we had a chance to go out on it. So, prepared (or unprepared) as we felt, we embarked on taking the girls out with us fishing. We had a great time. We caught lots of fish, however only 4 "keepers". Nicole was very excited about fishing, even though the excitement only last a few minutes. Here's a photo run down of our day.


Hannah was checking out the bait and "smiling" at the camera.

Don't they look adorable in their life vests? They both kept it on and tolerated them very well. I was pleased.

Ready to go...Nicole was SOOOO excited!



Can you tell that these girls LOVE their daddy? It's so sweet.

Fisher-lady Nicole.

Hannah even got in on the action. She liked making the reel spin.

Hannah fishing with Gramps

Hannah was brave enough to hold a (dead) shrimp. I'm not even that brave.

Nicole learning to be captain.

Refreshing

We had a beautiful thing happen this weekend. A break from our extremely HOT weather. We had our first real cool front move in and our family took every opportunity to be outside enjoying it:-) We loved putting on our light jackets and jeans and playing all day in the yard and garden. Those of you up north who are freezing, we thank you for sharing some of the cool air:-)

So....I mentioned the garden. Where we live, the Best time to plant a garden is now, just after the fall equinox. So, we were busy this weekend tilling our soil and planting seeds. Hopefully we'll do better with the cooler weather. I had to share some sweet pictures from the weekend.


I had to put this picture first, even though it was taken last. It was by far the best of the day. Jeremy transplanted my gardenia tree....with Nicole's help of course. Isn't she cute?

Hannah is almost able to climb up this slide ladder all by herself. I'll be happy when that happens:-)

Nicole got busy working with the shovel

Seriously, she was really trying to be like her daddy...so cute.

Hannah enjoyed playing with the seeds

Paying very close attention to daddy's instructions (haha)

Dirty feet

Nicole sat in the corner of the garden and played in the dirt long after we were finished.

Time for a break

The Good, The Bad, and The Yummy

If you know me at all, you know I'll start with the yummy:-)

This morning we had a fun morning of making homemade applesauce and apple pie. Over the next couple of weeks, Nicole and I are reading some fun books about apples and everything you can do with them. We have lots of recipes to try out, including apple butter, apple bread and apple cake. But, today it was applesauce and apple pie. Hannah even tried to get in on the action, although, she really just spent her time eating the apples rather than trying to make anything out of them. That's my girl:-)


I can't seem to get a "normal" looking picture out of Hannah right now. This apple was not sour, it was her "smile" face she makes every time I hold the camera up.

Trying to "smile" and eat at the same time.

This is maybe a little better....it just looks like she's eating a sour apple, doesn't it?

Making Applesauce (the recipe is found here)


I didn't have a potato masher, so we had to use a pastry blender. The apple sauce isn't "saucy" it's a bit chunky, but actually very good.



Making the Apple Pie. Nicole was in charge of filling the pie with the cut up apples and sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on top.



Our finished product. Looks good on the outside. We'll have our taste test later.


Our house smelled so yummy and just like apples and Cinnamon. I just wish we could have had the windows open. It's hard to get in the autumn mood with near record breaking high temperatures....but we tried today. Hopefully this weekend it will cool off a bit (mid 80s) and we can enjoy being outside.

OK, The Good and The Bad....

I am definitely in the lull of the last month of pregnancy. Some days I feel great, others I can't do much more than what is required of me. That's just the way it is. This pregnancy has been both faster and slower than my other two. I pretty much forget I'm pregnant until someone asks me how I feel OR I can't get into a full upright standing position in less than a minute because my sciatic nerve is acting up again. The biggest difference, that honestly has me somewhat freaking out, is all the contractions I've been having. They are not labor contractions for sure, they are "practice" braxton hicks contractions. But, I feel like I have them constantly. Here's the deal though...I CAN NOT have this baby before 37 weeks. If I'm earlier than that, my midwife is legally not allowed to deliver the baby and I have to go to the hospital, which I don't want to do for many many reasons. So...please pray that I do not go into labor until at least the 26th. Really though, I'll probably still be overdue and all this worry will be for nothing, but it's a bit unsettling to be having contractions so much. On the upside, my midwife also says that every contraction you have now is one less I'll have in labor...hmmmm...I think I've already had more than I did with both girls combined, not sure I buy into that one:-) Either way, I'm feeling pretty desperate to have our little boy. I'm already being worn down emotionally at the thought of being overdue. I just want to get to 37 weeks and have the little guy and start out life as a family of 5 (wow...that's crazy!)

I am very thankful though for a few things.

1. Jeremy who is incredibly supportive and wonderful. He has not once complained if I just couldn't get to dinner and get something out or if I'm so tired after the girls go to sleep that I just want to lay on the couch and talk . I love him so much...he's a great husband and I'm incredibly thankful for him. He also puts up with my constant ice crushing, late night snacks and frequent potty breaks.

2. For my mom and mother-in-law who offer to help me a bit on their days off. My mom was gracious enough to just ride around in the car with me all morning yesterday while I ran in and out of different stores and did a ton of errands. I accomplished more yesterday in an hour and half than I would have in 3 days if I would have had to take the girls in and out of the car seat for every stop.

3. This may sound lame...but I'm incredibly thankful for our mattress topper we bought a few months ago. We were thinking of buying a new mattress, but someone suggested we try a memory foam topper that was being sold at Sam's Club. I LOVE this thing...especially while pregnant. For the most part, I sleep incredibly well and comfortably. I didn't realize how much support it gave me until we had to spend a couple of nights in hotels last month while on vacation. I hardly slept at all those nights and seriously couldn't wait to get home to sleep in my own bed. I love to lay down on my bed...it's the best $120 we've spent in our room I'd say.

So, that's our update for the day. We have a busy weekend ahead of us so look for some fun pictures in a few days.

I love this

Closet Renovation

This weekend we made a HUGE dent in our "Things we need to do before baby comes" checklist. We tackled the "kid's" closet (It's weird not to say the girl's...but it's not just theirs anymore).

Before, we simply had one bar to hang clothes on, and two long shelves. In the far right corner, he had 4 basket shelves that basically held most of Hannah's clothes. There was not much thought or organization involved when we built it a few years ago. We just thought that was the way you built a closet, one long clothing rack and a couple of shelves. The baskets were added just before Hannah was born.

Well...a few months ago I started realizing that we needed to do something major about our lack of space, or so it felt. We started doing some research and looking around at some "closet systems". We picked out bits and pieces we liked and made something I think will work out very well for us for a long time.


I forgot to take a picture with all the stuff in it. But, this is the left side of the closet, before.

Right side of the closet, with the baskets.

All the stuff that was on the shelves.


Daddy had a few very eager helpers. They were so sweet.


The beauty of it is that it's completely customizable as they get older and toys and needs change.

Here's a run down.


This is the, pretty much, finished closet (a few things to add and organize here and there). As you can see we have the shoe holders down low. I'm going to label the openings with"N", "H", and "E". This way Nicole (and others like daddy and grandmas) can find shoes and Nicole knows where hers belong. Their laundry basket is in the middle of the two units. The unit on the left contains several large and smaller plastic boxes. These boxes are organized (and labeled) according to toy/game type. There are large boxes for purses, balls, dolls, etc. The small boxes contains animals/people, puzzles, games, etc. I LOVE what I did here. Rather than store all of the boxes of puzzles and games, they are now very compactly stored in pencil zipper cases with a picture of the puzzle included.

I love this system...it's already working pretty great. EVERYTHING is labeled...and most things are up high so my little re-organizers can't get to it.

On the right unit are books and homeschool stuff. I'm excited to have a place to store Nicole's Lapbooks that we make when we are done with a unit. I'm hoping to sort of organize our books better and rotate in and out on bookshelves they can reach so they get a variety of books. I'll also be able to bring some books in that I want easy access to, but I don't want the girls to rip apart, if you know what I mean.

This is a view of the far left corner. I found an idea online for long narrow closets like ours. A lady suggested using shower rods to hang your clothes on. They are cheap and can moved when needed since they aren't installed with brackets, just tension springs. Our closet was only 26" deep, so we used several small shower rods. All shirts & dresses will now be hung up. Hannah's rod is on the bottom, Nicole's shirts/jackets are in the middle, and her longer dresses on upper rod. Then, Jeremy's put a large shelf in up high for random storage stuff. Right now it's filled with items we'll need when baby boy arrives, but that we don't want out yet.

This is a view of the right side. It's not finished. I need to pick up a couple more shower rods. Baby boy's clothes will be on the bottom rail and I think I'm going to hang blankets on another rod above it. Again, we have another shelf for random items. Actually....these are items I purchased on clearance for birthdays/Christmas and Pull-ups for later.

The only thing in the dresser now are PJs (far left corner for everyone) and pants/shorts.

I still don't have a good system for organizing socks. Right now I can't keep Nicole and Hannah's straight...I'm pretty sure Nicole often wears Hannah's smaller socks and Hannah wears Nicole's bigger socks more often than not. So...any ideas?

We are excited about our new system...it seems like it will work well AND it was fun to work together on it. It was a little stressful at times with the girls home with us, at least when Jeremy was cutting wood and had screws all over the floor...but we managed. I love that he enjoys and has the ability to do projects like this. He's amazing!

It's not about ME......

So, I've noticed that I've been a Blog-Hog lately. My past few posts have been All About ME! Well, not today.

We went to the park this morning with our friends Teri, Hunter and Nathanael. Teri made me do it, even though it's a zillion degree outside (OK, not a zillion, but it is way to hot for October). We played in the shade however in the rock pit and it was fun. Hannah is a daring little girl who scares me sometimes. She totally thinks she's three and can do what three year olds do. Nicole is becoming more social with other children around. There was a lot of interaction between her and Hunter, which is good....my friend Teri even noticed it.

I don't really have any stories to tell....just pictures to show. Enjoy.


Awe....a nice picture of Hannah.

This is the face I get when I ask her to smile.

Or this one....

So...Nicole really was playing with other kids, but she also still loves to just sit and scoop and fill.

Nicole and Hunter, sitting on a rock, hanging out. They were really cute.