Preparing for the big baby shower!

With getting ready for my sister's baby shower on Saturday, I have been sort of scrambling around trying to get projects done so that she gets more than one gift from me (which is all I have 100% completed). I was finally able to finish one project the other day, which was a no sew project so it was finished rather quickly. I then started another that I have been working on and all that is left now is the sewing part. Yippee!!!

I wish I could share photos of the things I am working on, but how much fun would that be if my sister were to read this and see the photos... Not much! Not much fun at all. So... Until after Saturday, y'all gotta wait! Sorry! But I promise, I will share with every one what I made for my sister and her baby. My Mother is helping a lot with finishing touches on all these things too. There is one thing I am slightly panicked about, but I am sure that if I do not have it done for the shower, she will get it before the baby gets here.

My oldest son is with my sister now and when I spoke to him on the phone the other day, he was super excited! He always gets his birthday gifts from his Aunt and Uncle early. He spends the time around the 4th of July with them every year (this could be his last year with them though) since they moved up to Washington(5ish years ago). Last year they gave him his own laptop computer (he has been on computers since he was about 4 months old!!!) and he has had a blast with it. One of his favorite things to do while at their house is to play World of Warcraft on their computers. Well, that is what they got him, on his computer, for his birthday this year! Apparently he had been spending all his time on his Aunts computer playing from there but now that they got it up and running on his computer, he is even happier! LOL His words to me were: "Mom! I am playing WOW on MY computer!!! It is sooo cool!" It was great to hear him so excited! Of course, I seem to remember that he had the same sort of response last year when he got the computer! Still, it is cute how excited he gets!

My 6 year old is working on his behavior while his brother is gone, and this is working out well too! My Mother and I discussed giving him 1 Quarter for each full hour he is good during the day. This means that he does everything he is told and does not back talk and is not rude and we do not have to remind him of his manners more than once, if that! He loved the idea! And as a bonus, for each 8 hours straight that he doesn't lose any Quarters, he gets one extra Quarter! The most he has made in one day I believe is 13 Quarters and this has only been going on for 3 days! LOL and we told him we would keep up this earning money thing for the entire time his older brother was out of town and that he is not allowed to spend any of his money until we go to Portland for the Baby Shower! The reason we went with 8 hours is because that was about how long he was away from home and working on his behavior while in school. From the time he left home, until he came back home each day. He has been doing great. Most of the time all we have to do is remind him that he will lose the Quarter if he acts up and that snaps him back into good behavior real fast. He wants to earn the money and he truly wants to be a good kiddo! He has had his moments, he lost 2 quarters ion a row tonight. So, see, no kid is perfect! Ha ha! He also did not enjoy his second week of camp as much as his first. He said his Dinosaur class was boring. And I would have to agree. The dinosaur teacher did not seem as enthused as the twisty tales teacher did. And this kiddo has decided that he wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up and I think that is AWESOME!!! But oh well, win some and lose some! Not all teachers can be #1, that would defeat the purpose! LOL!

The 4 year old has been sort of being his normal crazy and wacky self! But that is him! He has decided that he does not like our bigger pool again this year and that he does not want to get into it. I wish I could get him to realize how much fun it is and keep him calm. I almost had him there the other day but he just kept yelling in my face to let him out of the pool, so I did. Other than the pool thing yesterday he has been good and taking all his medicines and he even stays on top of it! I guess the kid likes to feel well rather than sick all the time. Go figure! Since his most recent doctor visit, he has had less of an issue with his allergies. Of course, he has a mommy who gives him allergy medicines and his inhaler like they are his life support! Which is how it should be, because they are. And this kid is the easiest as far as taking his medicine. He sits there and breaths in on his puffer machine for his inhaler and then picks up the allergy medicine and takes it and then puts his head back and is ready for his eye drops, they go into his eyes and his blinks away the extra stuff and he is good to go!

The baby, he is still low on the growth charts, but someone has to be there! Last doctor appointment he had they said he was still below the 10th percentile for weight but he was shooting up there on his head and length! I know that my son is healthy and happy. He does not have to be a chunky baby... I know a fat baby is a happy baby, but this kid just does not put on the weight like other kids do! I do not know why, he just doesn't. A lot of people have been asking me in stores lately how old he is and when I say 7 months they say things like "There is no way!" or "Is he ill?".... No, he is not ill and Yes, he is 7 months old! Another lady asked his age and after her reaction of "no way!" I told her he was 9 pounds at birth and her reply was the best I have heard ever..... "What is he now, 10?!?!?!" LMBO!!!! Too funny! I seriously laughed out loud at her for saying that. He is creeping up on the 20 pound mark, but not too fast! He is just a happy little baby!

As far as the diet goes, I am stuck on my same weight for a while now. My Mother and I have discussed doing sit ups to lose more belly fat and I think that is a great idea! I also need to start getting up, eating breakfast and then going for a walk with the kiddos (at least the ones who want to join, depending on the day I may go before they get up or Daddy might be home to take care of those boys not wanting to go for a walk with Mama)! I also need to make sure I am tracking my food intake somehow and also need to ensure I am eating 3 full meals and at least 2 small snacks a day! Does any one have any ideas on how I could get going with this diet better? It is basically a low carbohydrate, Atkins-like diet.

Oh, I also found that I am super into the second book in my 2 book series for my BzzCampaign! Being a BzzAgent is Awesome! I just wish I could get on more campaigns! I am only on my second one! I will be posting a review here on both my Kindle Books, The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk, A Hangman's Daughter Tale. I was not too into The Hangman's Daughter from page one. The Dark Monk is another story though, only a few pages into it, but I LOVE it! I am struggling with the fact that I still need to read my most recent Sookie Stackhouse Novel, But I will get to it after the Baby Shower and After my BzzCampaign!

So much for typing up a quick and short blog tonight LOL.... For now, I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and families! I will try my hardest to post some of the pictures of gifts after the shower so that everyone can see my craftier side! He he he! But, like I said, for now... The suspense wont hurt you too bad! Or all least I hope it wont! Until another day....

Baby in his newest on sale Ross Dress for Less outfit!
$2.99 and it has a frog on his rear!
Plus came with the super cute hat!

~TTFN!

A couple of busy days, a weekend and a craft project finally finished

So I mentioned making a slip cover for my Mombo pillow the other day... her it is!

This is the "before" picture (sleeping baby included!)

And here is the "after" or the finished project

We just so happened to have a green zipper to add on to match the material.

And since the before had the baby... so does the after!

The creation of this cover was rather interesting. However, this material only cost about $1.50 per yard so there was no real money lost if we messed up. Turns out, messing up was just in the cards. it just happened that way.

First, we made a "pattern" for the top and bottom parts and that seemed to turn out well. The part that we had the "issue" with was the side piece. we had 22" for the zipper section so that there was seaming room to go with our 20" zipper. Measuring all the way around was 82" and we already had the 22" section. So, we needed only 60 more inches right? Wrong. we then cut a 42" piece (the width of the material we used) and now had 64", leaving 18" to go. So, we cut that part! And, the sewing begins! the side piece attached nicely to the first side until almost finished where we needed another 6" cut! There is a slight overlap at the end of the zipper, but turns out that this just made it easier to "stuff" the big pillow inside! I am happy with the finished project and hope to make at least 2 or 3 more. One of which I am super excited for! I found a material that I used on another project, that I can not show here yet. (I will once my sister has her baby shower) I also have a Monkey print I plan to use and a "baby farm animal" print that actually comes in several different varieties that I plan to get the other "types" of to create a set for my sister and her baby and also a few things for my kiddos because I love it THAT much!

That was our Saturday night project. You'll notice I saw "our" and "we" a lot. That would be because I do most of my craft work and cooking with my Mother. I have been attempting to take pictures of everything as I go along and I apologize, but everyone will have to wait until after my sisters shower (July 7th, if you were curious) to see them all. I am crocheting, knitting, quilting, sewing and just flat out coming up with ideas for things to give to my sister and her baby (it is her first and I have 4 that she has just spoiled with the Auntie love! It is time to spoil back! LOL). If you have ever received anything handmade from family and can help with ideas, leave a comment so we can discuss it please! I am not only making "baby" things. I feel that all Mommies deserve a little something for just them as well. If she chooses to use it with baby, so be it.

Our weekend started off slightly calm with a trip to the urologist for my husband that was only supposed to take around 20 minutes and it turned into 2-ish hours. I am not sure why! So, now my husband and I both can no longer have children. Which is in some ways a bummer since we had all boys and a daughter would have been nice. That is where I hope my sister has a girl. Then I can "spoil" her baby with all the happy pinks and purples, ruffles and flair! I am also still giving her all my "boy" stuff because, hey, girls can like trains and planes too ya know! Plus, if it is a girl, my sister will for sure get tired of all of the pink fluffy frilly girly stuff that she will want to hurl! When I have seen some of my friends daughters closets I have wondered why they hadn't gone out and bought a pair of overalls. Those, always handy in a clothing "pinch". Don't know what to put on baby? A onesie and overalls works wonders on any gender! I also have enough baby clothes from all 4 of my boys to smother a large mammoth! I could bet that I have at least another 2-3 boxes of sizes Newborn, 0-3 and 3-6 month baby clothes out in storage that one or two of my boys has never worn! Which, in some cases, is fine by me because of the amount that I have. Some things I feel the urge to cry if I have it miss my last baby. His dresser drawers are overflowing though, so he doesn't need anymore anyways! LOL

Do you see the brownish colored square? That would be a chunk of cardboard on the inside of a diaper that almost went on my child!

I called the company that made this diaper and am currently awaiting 2 coupons for compensation. (1 $5 coupon and 1 $10 coupon) At the same time they plan on sending my a self addressed, stamped envelope to return the diaper to them. Just to save myself the extra trouble I will be waiting for my coupons to arrive before I send them anything! Along with taking "proof" pictures so that they can't try to say it never happened. The even more interesting part is that their "16 digit assembly/batch code" was missing on the diaper. Only 3 of the 16 numbers are there. Needless to say, I was rather irritated when they didn't offer a little bit more for the "issue" but, I am not one to pry or cause a larger issue.

I am just glad that we aren't doing "double diapers" again! When my second son was born, my first was still in diapers. Then, my third was born and the second was in diapers but the first was potty trained. This time, the third was potty trained shortly after finding out I was pregnant with number four. Now we have to go the normal almost 2 years until we can potty train this one and be done with the whole diaper thing!

The above video is of my youngest doing "the babble thing" and when you get about 13 seconds in he realizes that we are watching him. Thus the laughter! I hope you enjoy!

That is all for today. I will be back to post our Low-carb dinner tonight or tomorrow. I can not wait! Yum! 

~TTFN