in case you missed it

that's our newest photo of handsome baby J on the sidebar

looks like a strong possibility he's got Sammy's cheeks

Weekends are for baby

Here is the cast of characters. The dresser (that I had), the cupboard, the lamp shade-to-be-mobile, and an old window frame. The last three we found last weekend at an antique store in the French Quarter.

There is a definite switch in my mind. Sunday night - time to start thinking about school. Friday night - time to start thinking and planning for baby. This almost caused me to miss out on ordering my fabric but Tuesday I committed and here's what I got:

Michael Miller - Stripe, Feeling Groovy, and Zoology in Charcoal

It's more muted than I expected, the yellow looks a little brighter in pictures than in person. That convinced me that I could commit to turquoise furniture :-) So today I bought some Anne Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence (sp?). It almost perfectly matches turquoise in the fabric. Dresser drawers have been painted! Pictures of that to come once they have dried.

Here is the ginormous lamp shade I found last week, after 1 hour of deconstruction. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it to "mobilize" it...some felt, some fabric...maybe some paint on the frame, maybe some yarn in coordinating colors...still waiting for the perfect inspiration.

little words

2 posts in one day? For real.

In vs For

"in everything give thanks" 1 Thess 5:18

I've tried to articulate the point I heard on the radio Wednesday but this dude had it down. I am not thankful *for* every circumstance or thing that has come my way. No indeed. If you're honest, you would say the same. Some things just suck. But. I can be thankful *in* every circumstance for something.

SMH - try and tell me God doesn't care about the little things...

*Thanksgiving 2010 I started my first flour sack towel with the word gratitude on it. I saw the word on Etsy on some craft and it stuck with me.

*Spring 2011 I started reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It's all about gratitude. It's a heady read, but so worth it.

*My counselor's advice on getting through tough moments? Think of 5 things you're thankful for.

I cannot escape the concept. I cannot stop making flour sack towels without the word gratitude on them. I've added the word choose. Choose gratitude. There has to be something in life to be thankful for. Dig deep if you have to.

"in everything give thanks" - it'll change your life.

ideas, ideas, & an update

Here's where I tell you about how I've spent my weekends focusing on things of little importance but things of great fun for me. *smile* I've been thinking a lot about the baby's room. I do enjoy a nice coordinated room, but really my style is more eclectic. This is obvious to me in the *hopefully working* collage picture below.

You can see the color of the walls in a couple of the pictures and I tried to make the background match a bit...taupe. I really like Michael Miller's Sea color palate (that's the fabric in the picture below). But of course I have other things that I love and want to hang up that don't exactly match *shrug* it's a plan, it can change. Did I say eclectic yet?

That's a dresser that I started painting a few years ago, hoping it would end up in a baby's room. I gave it away last summer and then got it back recently. The drawers are still brown and hopefully will be painted in the next few weeks to match something in the room.

On the dresser are a couple old t-shirts that I decided I shouldn't wear anymore, but were too fun to throw, so I framed them and they will hang on the wall. The little blue bags hold felt balls that I want to use in the mobile? possibly? with the yellow felt yarn (Anthro clearance rack finds). That's a fox. It's super soft, same brand as Sammy's gator and kinda the same color as Sammy's hair. We couldn't pass it up.

What's that? A random red J? Well, you see, at the same Anthro after Christmas sale they had their ornaments on sale so, just in case, I bought a *sale priced* J. We have not settled on a name, but J names seem to appeal to both Dave and I so...it'll be on the tree with Sammy's S eventually, if we do indeed land on a J name. Glad I didn't by the M in November, at full price, when I was convinced baby boy was a girl.

That's what we have so far. I have lots more ideas though! We're going out to troll some antique shops and thrift stores today. I would love to find a lamp shade to repurpose and a wardrobe to fix up. I will be looking for a sweet window frame to showcase some of those fabrics and maybe some modern/cute/boy graphic art.

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We have another ultrasound next week - can't wait to see baby boy again. Hopefully he'll be turned face up so we can see his profile. I'll only be 27 weeks so I don't have high hopes for chubby cheeks but! that'd be nice to see too.

I don't know if I've mentioned it here but when I wake up at night to turn over or something, I have been purposeful about thanking God for the good sleep I was getting. Thursday night, 5 hours straight! And then last night, up every 1-1.5 hours to pee. I've also been having this pain in my butt. I self diagnosed posterior pelvic pain because it wasn't shooting down my legs (sciatica does that) but Dr. v burst my bubble on Thursday. It is, indeed, sciatica. Nothing to do but wait for it to go away. And then! Amy took that burst bubble and rubbed it in my face...she had to deal with sciatica for 8-10 months after her Avery was born. Pregnancy is not for wimps. Just sayin'.

Overall though, I'm feeling good. Excited to hold my boy and trying to enjoy making choices based on what *I* want for the next 13-14 weeks.