Thump

Oh! Have I said I felt TobyLaine move? I don't know. It was Sunday at small group and I only felt it because I was thinking about it and sitting there for hours. It wasn't hard enough to notice without paying attention, but it was there! Cuteness!

Men

Harper's at the men's study tonight, so I finished one scrapbook page (the Easter one) and did another (of Em at Aspen Canyon Ranch). Only I didn't tape down the picture in the second one because I think I want to pick a different picture. =) I did one of Em's little bits (her belly button, feet, hands, ear, and face) earlier. So I got 3 pages done today! Yay!

I think I'm going to go paint now.

Nice Day!

It is SO nice out today. I wish I had taken the camera with me to Wichita and that Emmy hadn't been sleepy. =)

I had my doctor's appointment and it seemed pretty pointless. How much do you weigh? Listen to the heartbeat... And that's it. Didn't do an ultrasound, so TobyLaine's sex is still a mystery. =) Which is fun.

Then we had some Subway and went to Hobby Lobby for the super-duper scrapbook paper sale. =) Got tons of paper. Came home and Em was wiped, so she's napping and I'm scrapbooking. Funny thing is I'm using paper I got last time it was on sale there. =) My page is almost done and it's really cute. And it's even from when Em was tiny, so that's good for getting my album done. =)

Cute-NESS!

Aren't these cute?? Harp's aunt told us about this site. They are like Robeez shoes only cheaper. =)

I got my filling today. I didn't like having a numb mouth, but other than that (well, and the foul-tasting anesthetic and something else a little stinky) it was no biggie. I can't imagine having an epidural and having half of my body go numb. I like to know where my body parts are and what they are touching, thank you very much!!

Em had a blast with CK and Raven and then took a long nap while I worked on the giraffe room. I got a ton done in it today. I'll have pics to post soon of the second finished wall. =)

Tomorrow is my doctor's appointment. The midwife hasn't called back. I actually don't know if I remembered to blog about that but I left a message for a midwife on Friday. She delivers at the Birth Inn, which is 4 minutes from the hospital and it's just a house made into a birthing center. I think she actually works with Dr. Jensen (as in he's the connection for backup help) because a lot of the midwives here do and I have heard the ones that use the Birth Inn do. So I'll talk to him about it tomorrow.

Maybe I'll get to find out if TobyLaine is Toby or Lainey! Harp is very serious about wanting to know RIGHT AWAY, as soon as I find out. Like to be on the phone with me. He has a meeting or something before my appointment so he can't go. I wanted to surprise him at work with something pink or blue and make it fun but he says no. =P I still don't know if I want to find out.

Today was a really nice day and tomorrow is supposed to be 77! Em wore a pretty pink sleeveless dress my mom sent her today and she looked so sweet.

Guess I'm gonna find my man and see if he wants to go to sleep. =)

Tamales & Such

Last night we were up until 1:30 making tamales. We took some today to the church potluck and they were quickly eaten up. They taste the same as if you do them in the microwave - we steamed them this time and did some in the microwave to compare. I think from now on, the microwave is the way to go. I guess it will depend on what the day is like.

I spackled Sholamech the wooden giraffe last night. Harp is sanding him right now. He's made out of thick plywood and it was a rough surface, so spackle seemed the best option. =) It worked.

Em's top tooth might be out. I can feel it and it looks like it's out but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway it will be very soon if it's not already out.

Tomorrow I'm going to leave Em with CK while I go get a filling. Tuesday I don't know if Harp is going to come to my doctor's appointment or if I'm going to ask CK to come with me or watch Em or something.

Saturday is fun day for March for the youth group. We're going to take StepMania and I'm so excited! I don't know if the guys will do it, but Nellie and Tiffany and Emily (not mine) are excited, so I can't wait. I'm excited to get involved with them, too.

Harp is such a great hubby. He's making me some yummy coffee right now because I'm SO tired. We went to church early because Harp is doing sound this month.

The youth were involved in everything this morning and it was really cool. They did all the music and Luke, one of the pastor's sons (16 yo) spoke for a while. I missed Luke because I was out with Em in the hall. Usually she's sleeping then but I tried to keep her normal schedule this morning so she'd be civil for the potluck. And I thought baby Hannah might be there again this week and they could play. But Hannah wasn't there and nobody was back in the nursery so I just stayed with her. But anyway Harp said Luke did a great job. He is a really cool guy and he's made the name Luke acceptable again for one of our babies. =P There was a Luke once that ruined the name for me...

Anyway I guess I'm going to go paint Sholamech or something. Or clean the kitchen. That's what I really should do. =) So I'll just hurry and do it. I had my coffee so I think I can get through it, lol. =)

Cookin' A Sheepdog

So I have cooked the pork and it smells SO bad. I thought it was just because I'm pregnant that I thought it was so gross, but Harp came home for lunch and said it smelled like I had his parents' (usually quite stinky) sheepdog in the pot. Nasty!! =)

Gimme A Smile

I was taking pictures of Em and I told her to give me a smile. This was her smile. =)

Clean Line Photos

Okay, you're gonna have to kind of bear with me here. I had already painted all the walls and this was touchup, so I'll try my best to explain. =) The orange wall is on the left and the yellow wall is on the right.



Photo #1: Okay so at this point, the orange wall hasn't been painted if you are doing this correctly the first time. =) The yellow wall has been painted. You can ignore my stripe tape. Just the tape that's on the edge is important. So you stick the tape to the yellow wall right along the edge. Press it down really well along the edge.


Photo #2: So even though it's pressed down, some paint might still get under there (especially if the walls are textured). So what you do is use the yellow paint on the edge of the wall that is going to be orange. So any paint that seeps under that tape is going to be yellow paint. It might take a couple coats of yellow to seal that edge of the tape.


Photo #3: So now you're ready to paint the orange wall orange. The orange won't seep under the tape because it it totally sealed with the yellow paint. Ignore the fact that my yellow wall is now orange, too. =) I was painting the stripes as long as I had the roller dirty.

Photo #4: Let the orange dry completely and then peel the tape off. There you have it - a perfect line!

And just for fun... My striped wall.

Happenings

Last night, Josh called and Katy had her baby! He was born Wed morning and they named him Silas. I can't WAIT to see him! Today, I am making tamales and I thought I would bring them some for dinner but then I remembered Levi can't have wheat and all sorts of stuff and I don't even know what's in the masa. If it's all corn stuff then I'll find out if he can eat that.

This morning, I got up early and didn't go back to sleep. Gonna have some coffee after my breakfast with whipped cream on top.

I have a small cavity that needs to be filled, so I'm going back Monday I think for a filling. Fun, huh? It's my first ever dental work. He's not giving me gas, just a local anesthetic.

For a couple of days, I've been having this crazy back pain that feels like an intense cramp for just a few seconds. It hurts so much I have to stop whatever I'm doing. It's in my lower back. Not so fun. I hope it goes away today. =)

Quilt In Brain...

And I forgot to blog about the quilt that kept me awake so long last night. =) I couldn't stop thinking about what colors to use and how cool it will be. This will be for our room. Which we are going to do last (like after the living room and kitchen at least), so I won't be starting it for a good long while. But I am excited anyway. I like geometric kinds of quilts that look like they overlap like that.

Excitement

Today is awesome. Why, you ask?

1) God made it! And he's good! And he rescued me!! Who didn't know I would say that? =) =)

2) I peeled the tape off the striped wall. Ohhhh, what satisfaction! I didn't peel it all the way to the top because I had to do another coat with the paintbrush at the top. But the long stripes (some are short because they're over the closet) I pulled most of the way up and then cut the tape near the top. It looks SO cool! =) I'm ready to take my last picture for the visual clean line lesson. =) I just need to go do it. And yesterday I drew most of the circles on the circle wall and painted some of them yellow. Need to find a way to draw my big circles. There will be three really big ones, bigger than my mixing bowls. =) I'm hesitant to do the string & pencil thing but it may be the only way. =)

3) I cleaned up SO much stuff in the basement. We haven't fully unpacked it. Mostly because it's SO cold down here. But today it's not that cold and I know Harp will feel so much better having it clean. It's starting to overwhelm him that the house isn't totally unpacked because we've been here 2 months already. I love being able to walk down here without stepping over things! =) =) The #1 problem is that we don't have enough space for books. So some are kinda stacked. I think I just need to weed through them. Books that we've had for 3 years and never opened can probably be eBayed!

4) My baby is SO CUTE. =) When I changed her diaper this morning, she got really excited and started signing 'more, more!' She thinks it means 'food!!' And she REALLY wanted to get in her baby swing. I let her get in it the other night and she was beyond delighted. She had these expressions like "Look, Mom! Can you believe how cool this is? It lights up! It plays music!!" Like she had never seen it before. =) It's been stored since July so she probably doesn't remember it. But she asks every day to get in it now. =)

5) I'm going to get my teeth cleaned at noon. Harper's going to go with me so he can snuggle the girl-bot. I love having super-clean teeth. =)

6) Harper made tiramisu last night and it's SO yummy today!

7) I am 16 weeks pregnant today. Hooray for 4 months of TobyLaine-ness! This morning, Harp said he wants to find out if it's a boy or a girl. We have both gone back and forth about 100 times, so I don't know if we'll REALLY do it. =) I have an appointment on Tuesday, so maybe. I'm getting a cute little belly, so I'll have to have Harp take a picture. With Em, I started taking pictures on the month every month at 4 months (how many times can you say month in one sentence, hmm?). I think I'll make it a goal to take cuter pictures this time. Most of them were kinda ugly and boring last time. Like in front of something ugly or a dirty house. =) We need pretty park pictures or somethin'. =)

8) I think I could sit here all day listing reasons today (and life altogether) is awesome. That's another reason it's awesome. =) But my baby-chica-monkey-bear is gonna be up soon (if that's not a cry I hear already!) so I better check on her and then clean if she's still asleep. =)

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!

Portraits

Unfortunately, the first one was the portrait package. I don't like it much. =( It was the third time we had taken Emily in because she just wasn't smiley at all. And this time it took a while to get a smile and her arm was funny. But I felt bad because we had taken so much time so I said okay. I wish I had just been picky. If Harp had been there, he would have been picky for me. I won't do it without him again! I don't think it even looks like her. Well, now I can send the Valentine cards we made. =P We made them 2 days before Valentine's Day and forgot to send them the day before, so I figured we might as well wait for the pictures. =)

A Few More

I only have three more on this computer, so why not? And the Nintendo one is priceless... lol

This is at Miami Seaquarium. I like this picture because there are pictures of Harp when he was little sticking his head in the same alligator.

Thanksgiving 1983. I was 2 years old. This picture just cracks me up. I think it looks a little like Emily.

The best for last: Christmas 1989. We got a Nintendo. My mom could beat Super Mario Brothers without warping. =)

How About Some More?

Playing Trivial Pursuit. I would get questions like "What's your address?" "What is Kermit the Frog's middle name?" and "What is your mother's maiden name?" I won every time and called myself the "grand champeen winner."

Me and my dad.

I believe this was my third birthday when I got a perm. I really wanted one and to have my ears pierced.

My pierced ears. I still have that necklace. I think Grandma gave it to me.

Going for a ride with my cousin, Quinn.

1984. Pushing my sister in the swing, I guess. And letting her swing with Teddy, one of my favorite stuffed animals. I still have him.

This must be when I was a flower girl for my uncle's wedding. I cut my own hair with some kid scissors the night before the wedding and had to go get it chopped off.

My dad took me somewhere and gave me my own chocolate ice cream in the back seat. Hahaha. He brought me in the house car seat and all. I don't know how old I was.

Great-Grandma's birthday. I'm probably not 2 yet here. I don't know. My great-grandma was in a nursing home as long as I can remember and we would go visit her when we went to Pueblo every year. She's my mom's mom's mom.

My 2nd birthday. That's Kong, my bank that I think Grandma gave me. I still have him somewhere and he's stuffed full of money. I should really just bust him open because he's only losing value with inflation, lol.

Retro Pics

Well I have almost not moved my toosh at all. I got up to get some ice cream and that's it. =) How about some retro pics?

Easter 1987. Me and my sister.

Huggin' Gramps. April 1985. I think I was 7 when he died. I don't remember him at all.

1988. We used to dress the cat up all the time. I actually don't know if that is PJ or if that's the cat we only had for a little while because she couldn't stop pottying everywhere. She had some serious problem and we took her back. It looks small to be PJ but maybe I am that young here. =) Oh yeah I'm probably 6 (my BD is in November) and we got PJ when I was in Kindergarten so that's him. He was such a good cat. I don't like cats but I liked PJ. He died in 2001 when Harp and I were engaged. I don't remember how old he was, but I had had him as long as I could remember.

1985. Me an' my sis. This was on our patio in Miami. We lived there from the time I was 1 until I was 9. It's the longest I've lived anywhere and I hardly remember any of it!

Easter 1984. My sister was pretty fresh here because her birthday's March 20.

Don't really have any idea when this was. I think it's funny because I look athletic but I don't think I really was. =) I'm sure not now!

Feeding my sister. So cute! =) This was Christmas of 1984, so I had just turned 3 and she was 9 months.

Halloween 1985. I was almost 4 and my sister was about 19 months I think.

This is supposed to be Thanksgiving of 1984, which would make that me. But I really think it looks like my sister and I don't know why I would be anywhere dressing up like this. Mom?

1985. I'm probably 3 here. I don't know why I look so cute. =P My hair is a mess in all the other pictures.

Tooth

Oh! And Em got a new tooth today. It's out and so far out that it looks like it had to have come out a couple days ago. But we have been checking because we thought her top tooth was going to come out. We didn't even see this one under her gums. It's on the bottom. It just showed up! She got her other 2 bottom teeth in really quickly when they came and her top teeth each took her about 3 weeks.

What To Do

Harp just left for the men's study. Em's in bed. I have a ton that I could clean, but I really don't want to. I may just sit in bed and read. And tomorrow the kitchen will look like a monster (and maybe have monsters growing in it). Sounds good.

Fabric

I did a test embroidery on some scrap fabric and it was perfect. I was so excited because I've edited the design three times. So I did the shirt and it wasn't perfect. It's okay, I guess, like if you don't look right at it. =P But part of it was just too dense for the fabric and it sucked in a little bit and puckered the fabric some. I don't know how to describe it really so here's a pic. The propeller circle is what's really bad, especially at the bottom. The rest of that will iron out, but the stitching just won't show up well at the bottom of that circle.



So I called Hobby Lobby to make sure my fabric was in. I ordered it three weeks ago and they said all orders go in on Thursday and arrive the following Monday. So it should have been there for a while, but I called to make sure because nobody ever called me to say it was in. So the woman goes to look and comes back and says it's "still on backorder." Ya know, they could have bothered to tell me it was on backorder, especially after they told me it would be in a certain day. Good thing I called. It's 15-20 min away. I'm ready to get the fabric somewhere else, but I was going to use a 40% off coupon there and I have a gift card so it wouldn't come out of the budget. Maybe it's better if I just wait for it because then maybe the giraffe room will be done. I haven't worked on it any today.

Gonna get my library books out of the car and look at some paint and quilts. =)

Grape Kool-Aid & Gas & Stuff

Last night, I told Harp his mom said he always hated grape Kool-Aid. He said "What???!! I don't remember that. It's my favorite now!" Which is really hilarious because in the past 4-5 years, he has had Kool-Aid once that I know of and it was the other day, lol. And women are accused of always changing their minds... =)

So, today Em and I were going to meet Daddy at work and go out for lunch. A few blocks from our house, the car starts acting funny and I realize it's because we have no gas! I knew I needed to get gas, but thought I'd easily make it to a gas station that was on the way to McCauley. Well I didn't make it far at all. Harp had to come rescue me. Then we went to eat Chinese food and he had to leave before us because he was gone so long helping us get un-stranded. Then we went to the library and got a ton of quilting books and a book for Em. And a book about painting so maybe I'll get some ideas for the living room and kitchen. I need to take a pic from the top of the stairs so you can kinda see the problem. They have to be the same color or at least go together really well because they share a big wall that has an angled ceiling. So the wall has a big point at the top. Make sense? Well I'll take a pic later. Gotta go embroider a shirt for Harp's boss and then we're off to Hobby Lobby to get fabric for Em's quilt. Then we'll show up at work and say hi to Daddy because we had such a quick lunch.

How Brilliant!

I was telling my mom how some of the orange went under the tape and into the yellow on my outside corner. She told me how to make a perfect line. First you tape the wall you just painted and then use the same color to paint down the outside of the tape. That seals the tape and anything that seeps underneath is the right color! Then you let it dry and paint your wall. The new color won't go under the tape, but will go right up to the line. How cool is that? You probably already knew that, but we didn't. =) I'm going to redo my line so it's perfect!!

Circles

These aren't exactly what I had in mind, but they come the closest. I made the one by itself on the top left out of two of them. I don't know if I'm going to keep looking for more or just use some of these.

Giraffe Room

All the base colors are done. I painted around the top of the orange again today because it was a little thin still at the top. Harper's beer carboy doesn't usually wear my hoodie, but the blinds are off the window, so it's being protected from the light. =) Oh, and it's now the giraffe room instead of the brew room. =P I thought it looked like a really good home for a giraffe, so I saved some of the wood from making our bed and we borrowed a jigsaw from someone at church. He's going to go on the closet door because he can cover a hole there. There are holes in I think 4 doors in this house. And some plate covers are smashed. And some of the blinds have broken sections. We just keep them up though. Someone violent must have lived here...

Things Em Is Learning

1) How to "blow" her nose into a Kleenex and how fun it is to blow my nose and Harp's nose. =)
2) How to (yes, intentionally) hide things deep in the couch cushions and retrieve them later. =)
3) How to put a hat on her head so that it doesn't fall right off.
4) How to smoosh a sock against her foot (trying so hard to get it on!)
5) How to wave and say hi to everyone at Walmart, even if they pay no attention to her. =P
6) How to be gentle and not destroy! Last night, I was folding laundry and Em went over to the pile of kitchen towels I had folded. I told her to be gentle with them and not ruin the pile. So she patted them and gave them a kiss and crawled away. Isn't that the cutest??

Bloggin' In The Kitchen

This is too fun, having wireless internet anywhere in the house. =) We just finished dinner and Emmy's chowing on some homemade bread (after eating lots of the chili Daddy made the other day).

We went to Walmart again to get another paint roller. Harp borrowed this really cool paint pump thing that actually uses batteries and pumps the paint up the tube for you and into the roller. It's really fast because you don't have to stop and get more paint. We will definitely use it for the living room and kitchen areas when we go to paint them. But for just one orange wall, we got a $1.97 roller and tray because Harp doesn't want to clean out the pump again (it takes a while) just for one wall.

While we were there, we got some grape Kool-Aid. I have not had that stuff since before I met Harp, I think. And the thought of it is usually so gross that I would never dare to drink it. But I guess my pregnant brain is just malfunctioning because I desperately wanted grape Kool-Aid. Well I got Walmart brand 'cause it was half the price. =) But Harp and (mostly) I have finished off a third of it already and I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone tonight. Emily wants SO badly to try it - I have no idea why. I think she's finally over it because she knows it's not gonna happen. It's Mommy's pregnant juice. =P

Fun, Fun!

We planted so many things that our garden is going to take up half our yard. But that's okay. =) All the yellow walls now have two coats. I can hardly wait to paint the orange. =) We just pushed things up against the wall that will be orange because we wanted to fit Em's play pen in there and not move Harper's brew table (has heavy beer and meade in carboys on it and really shouldn't be sloshed around). So now we have to move all of that. The yellow has to dry anyway because I'll have to tape the corners. But I can't wait! Em's up, giggling in her crib, talking to something about her dad. =P Probably the ducks on the wallpaper, lol. Gonna go get her.

Stairs

Emily did a great job going down the stairs today! She is very cautious and this is the first time she tried. She's so big! =)

Yay!

We have one coat on three walls. It needs two, although it claims to only need one. Hmm. It's not even a very different color. A medium-light tan to a medium yellow. Oh well. It's so fun! And Harper's even liking it, too. =)

Harper just ate a donut covered in whipped cream. Gross! Em's down for a nap, so we're going to plant some seeds in our little Jiffy greenhouse starter thing and then do coat number 2.

Imagining...

So I went through 14 scrapbook magazines, 2 Sticker Planets, and a Creative Memories catalog (ok that was a long shot!) and found no circles like the ones I was imagining. I also noticed that I didn't find any diagonal plaids. But I made one in Photoshop and I like it so I'm going to use it anyway. So how did I get these ideas then? I dunno.

Then I battled with this computer to get the internet to work (I had shut it down and then started it up again) and gave up and then decided to go through old pics of Em and delete (yes, delete!) some of them. Last year's pictures from May to December wouldn't fit on a DVD. And it isn't even all of them because all of my Dad's Mexico pictures (big files and lots of them) are not on my computer. I'm tired of deleting pictures though and I'm going to go to bed. But I thought I'd give the internet one more try and somehow it worked.

I guess I'll go to sleep, then. Night!

A Night Alone

So today was Harp's 9x80 day, which means we got to hang out all day. We went to Walmart this morning and got everything else we needed to paint. Then Em slept and Harper sprayed the house for spiders. Terminix charges $30 a month for this and Harp got the same chemical for $12 in a cool sprayer thing and he didn't even use 1/4 of it on the whole house. Terminix also charges $2K for putting Termidor (sp?) around your house and Harp found the chemical online for $80 for more chemical than you'd need to do it. They make a killing killing bugs!

So anyway then we went and had my blood drawn because I left my last doctor's appointment and forgot to do it. Em's was wide-eyed watching the woman draw my blood. Wonder what she thought about it. =) Then we drove through Starbucks for the first time in forever (with the Senseo, there's no need for inferior Starbucks, hehe) and got a caramel frappuchino. Yum. Went to Best Buy and got a wireless router for my Christmas present from Quin (I had a gift card) and still have $1.50 left. =) So I am in my comfy, warm bed with the tablet and it's great!!! It's SO cold in the basement that I don't even like to be down there sometimes. It just doesn't warm up.

Matt called earlier (like at 6) and asked if Harp wanted to play Halo with him and his wife (Renee) and maybe this guy Joe. Harp said no that he was going to paint with me tonight. He didn't want to paint, I know, but was going to because I was excited about it. But then we didn't finish dinner and stuff until 8 and he didn't want to start this project that late, so I told him to see if Matt was playing Halo still. So he did and he was and he went. So I'm going to sit in bed, nice and warm, with my comfy reading pillow, and look at all my old issues of Scrapbook Trends and Ivy Cottage and try to find some retro circles that I like. And maybe I'll go to sleep early.

Emily was a very, very, very good girl today. She got up around 9:30 after the morning milk at 6ish. I think she must have been awake part of the night while Harp and I were drilling and stapling and hammering our bed together... I know she did wake up and I got her up to show her what was going on in case it was scary. But I think she probably didn't sleep well that whole time with all the noise. So she only slept about 10 minutes for her afternoon nap because she went poo. I didn't even think of that and let her cry for a while thinking she was just too tired to sleep well. So then I changed her and it was time to eat and then we went to do our second round of errands and didn't get home until 5. So this girl slept only about 10 minutes from 9:30 until 5! We got her up around 6:15, I think, and put her down a little later than usual at 8. I am so proud of her for being so sweet all day.

Gonna go look at magazines. =)

Pages

This last one was supposed to have "Em found her feet" and the date (March something) on the bottom right, written on the pink stripe. I was afraid to do it though. Every time I write on a page, I don't like it anymore. Maybe I can get some small rub-on letters or something to finish it.

Bed

So we made our base. Last time (almost 4 years ago) we made it a little too big, so we were very careful to measure everything this time. Well I guess we never examined the problem last time. We just took it apart and made it narrower. The problem is that there are some brackets at the ends of the bed that are about 1/8" thick and the base actually extends that far. I guess box springs are squishy or else very rounded at the ends cause this was the same size (60x80). So this time we are not taking the thing apart. Harp's up there with a dremmel tool, filing away at the corners. I took a Claritin, so I hope it works! So anyway I'm glad I got a few minutes to post pictures. Gonna go see how things are going up there. =)

More Modeling Poses

She's just too cute. =)

Breakfast Faces