Another New Cover

I have been blogging WAY too much. And facebooking. And just wasting time in general. I have been less than productive this week. I was up at 4:30 am Thursday and did not finish my work to do list until nearly 8 pm. It should have been about 6 hours of work.
I wish I could say I had a good excuse but I don't. (Well... I kind of do. But in an effort to not sound like a whiner I wont give it. Okay fine. I will. My abdomen is torn in two places so I don't feel like doing anything other than sitting- for limited times, or laying down. Sitting is good for returning emails and placing orders and USUALLY good for editing.... but my blood pressure has also been high again and my eyesight bad. I noticed it was bad when I was editing a photo and trying to edit a speck out of it. The speck was a star I was seeing.)
Ahem.
So I don't really have much left to blog about this week (but I do want shower photos so I can blog about the showers, pretty please) but just wanted to say hi for Mary's sake. ;)
And now I'm off to go change my facebook cover. Again. Even though I'm pretty sure Mary and Jill are the only ones on my friends list that can even see it.
Like I said. Less than productive. :)

Nursery Tour

Baby H's nursery isn't quite finished but I've had lots of requests for photos so I thought maybe if I posted where it is now it would motivate me to finish the last few things. 

Let's hope it works for the motivation factor! :) 

We started the nursery with the flooring. We knew we wanted to rip out the carpet and wanted something neutral. We didn't want the floor competing with the walls so we shocked our family and friends that know us well when we chose almost white walls. To break it up, we painted the existing trim a fun aqua. We knew these would be the base colors for the nursery long before we knew Baby H was a boy (though we didn't actually get started on the nursery until much later). From there the plan was to add pinks and mustard for a girl, blues and mustard for a boy. The very day we found out Baby H was a he, we found this dresser in vintage blue and planned the rest of the room around these colors.

Baby H's nursery is filled gifts from people that love him. There is hardly anything in the room that we purchased ourselves. Just sitting in his room and looking at all of the great treasures from so many different people is such a blessing. There are reminders of our very best friends (and of course family!) in every nook of this space. We cannot step foot in here without feeling completely blessed! 

 Details:

Crib: Pottery Barn Kids. Gift from Grandma Devra.

Mobile above crib: Scrapbook paper circles sewn onto a painted embroidery hoop.

Elephant over looking crib: Pottery Barn Kids. (Paired with Elephant & Mouse book). Gift from Glenda, my cooperating teacher from my student teaching days. When we were first talking nursery, R tossed out the idea of doing an elephant theme. Ultimately we went another route but had been on the lookout for a cute elephant to match his room. The one Glenda picked out matches PERFECTLY!

Monitor: Summer Infant Slim & Secure Handheld Video Monitor. When researching baby gear, I only researched video monitors so that's what we added to our registry. When it came down to buying baby gear, there was no way this was going to fit into our budget but Baby H's generous Grandma Devra got it for him anyway. We got it out to check it out the other day and R said it was by far his favorite thing in the nursery. It is pretty snazzy!

'Book Racks': IKEA Spice Racks (painted). I posted about the book shelf project here.

Storage bench: Made by R! He built it, I helped paint it and he added the wheels. He is becoming quite the carpenter.

Rocker: 'Eames' knock-off found on Amazon.

Dresser: IKEA Hemnes. Like I mentioned above, we bought this RIGHT after we found out Baby H was a boy. We were on a shopping trip and it fit exactly into the budget. The only problem was that the budget was supposed to also be used for food, other baby gear and maternity clothes. So Grandma Devra stepped up to save the day again and very generously gave to the cause. (Are you noticing a trend here? There's some other big baby gear in the house that's also from a certain generous grandma. Baby H is kind of spoiled already.)

Mustard Frame: Lollywood shop. I'm considering this a gift to Baby H from his cousin (even though it was kind of stolen... explanation here.) :)

SOAR pennant banner: Lisa Leonard. A very special gift from Lisa. It matches the verse we chose for Baby H.

White Chunky Ashby Frames: Pottery Barn Kids. Purchased at consignment shop for $10.

Flooring: Quick Step Eligna Grey. Laid by R.

Trim: We painted our existing off-white trim deep aqua. We rubbed it on for more of a vintage, imperfect look.

Crib skirt: Dwell Studio Grey Mini Dots. From Modern Baby.

Other details: Thumbprint canvas was the 'guestbook' for his shower. Monster plush is an Ugly Doll (gift from grandma). Lamp: Target (gift from work gals). iPod dock/clock: Target (gift from Aunt Ang). Coat rack: Lowes, painted. Sweatshirt hanging on it: Baby Gap (gift from Aunt Jen).  Teal shelves: Picked from mom's house, painted. First step frame: Gift from Deb. Tin baby cup: Things Remembered. (gift from Aunt Diana). 'Diaper bag:' Kelly Moore Boy Bag in Mustard. Scrabble canvas: DIY. & sign: Junk Bonanza. Maternity Canvas: Free from Canvas People. Egg basket: junked. Curtains: IKEA. Large silver frame: found on curb.


TO DO:
1.) Frame for empty shelf. I'm thinking something silver to match the frame/cup on the other shelf. I want to put a family picture in it.
2.) Print for SOAR frame. I'm envisioning a photo of R holding Baby H (as he grows) above his head with Isaiah 40:31 printed along the bottom of it. In the mean time, maybe a maternity shot with this verse.
3.) First Step Frame photo. Please tell me it wont go so fast before his first step is here! In the meantime, maybe a photo of his baby Jordans.
4.) R is working on a quote project for the empty canvas above the crib.
5.) Bedding: I want to dye a crib sheet grey to match the crib skirt. I also need to get working on his quilt. It is sewn together but I've yet to start the actual quilting. Any takers?
6.) Other random things include finding a night light, running the cords from the dresser onto a power strip, finding window shades that fit (this is a tough one!), adding the other locker storage tub, etc, etc.

Whew. That was a lot. But with as many questions as I've answered about Baby H's room, hopefully it was worth the post. :) As you can tell Grandma Devra (and lots of other people!) have played a huge role in getting ready for Baby H. You could probably also tell that R has touched every single project in this nursery. R had opinions and ideas and worked really hard (while I mostly supervised) to get it ready. I'm oh so impressed with him!
We feel so blessed to have a nursery in this home and to have a sweet baby boy that will be in it very soon!

Pretty Packages

I have been so blessed at the mailbox this week! Sure pretty much everything in it has been for Baby H but it has sure been making my heart sing. Today at the mail, I was SO excited to see this sweet little package. I wanted to rip it open so bad but I couldn't without taking a picture first, it was just too pretty! Then I read the card and teared up. THEN I finally ripped (daintily, of course) into that pretty package and was so excited to see this from my sweet friend, Lisa. It is absolutely perfect for Baby H's room and the verse we have chosen to hang on his wall. I'm SO excited to get it up and now so very motivated to finish the rest of his room! Thank you so much, Lisa!! We love it!! And you!!!

so thankful

In case I haven't mentioned how blessed we are lately, we are. We have soooo many people that love on us and Baby H. He is already one blessed little guy. We were given a baby shower by aunts (Holly, Kerry & Ang) and another baby shower from the gals from work (Kari, Lisa, Anne) (yes, even though I'm not there this year- how nice are they?!). Baby H got SO much great stuff and THEN his grandma took us shopping and got him even MORE great stuff. We really wouldn't have been able to get everything on the baby list without everyone.

So with all these blessings pouring in, we needed to get those thank you's going out. I love handwritten thank you's. There is just something special about them. So I sat down one night to start working on them. I did several (but didn't even put a dent in the list) and the next day my hands were so swollen I couldn't bend my fingers. It was time for a new plan so I chose a handwriting font (oh I wish my handwriting was that pretty) and started pecking away at them. In about three nights of work (go easy on me, it takes awhile to come up with heartfelt thank you's), I got the 50+ thank you's ready to go and the following weekend, R addressed all the envelopes for them. He's a good sport. And this is my apology (and reasoning) to you for your non-handwritten (though I hope maybe you thought it was anyway) thank you. 

Thanks for loving us anyway. 

Seriously,

PS- I should point out that R even wrote out a couple of the thank you's himself. Are you impressed? I was!

One More Picture....

And here's one more from the day. (Have I broke my own blogging record for most posts in a row yet?) 

R has this set as his facebook profile picture and I keep jumping over to facebook to view it (when I should be editing! not working well for my productivity today!) so I decided to post it here too.

I like this one because pregnancy changes a marriage (well it did ours anyway). Heck, change itself can change a marriage and as far as changes go, this is a pretty big one. It has definitely not made marriage easier by any means but it's made marriage better. I like this photo because it is exactly how I feel today. Happy to be wrapped up in his love. 

PS- I posted a couple more on the other blog. :)

A Year Ago

One year ago, I was taking belly photos for a client. Fall had just begun and we had some beautiful round, belly sized pumpkins on the front porch (side-note: I was way more with it in the decorating department last year).  We grabbed one of those pumpkins and used it as a photo prop. 

For some reason that photo on that day stuck with me. I remember at the time I was longing for my own 'pumpkin shot.' (I think it had something to do with the fact that just a couple months earlier, I had given up my 'basketball shot' photo idea and used it on a client and was longing for that too.)  

So many times along our journey, we prayed for a baby. We were thinking adoption but on this particular day last fall I remember asking God, "Could you?" 

One year later He did. He gave us that 'pumpkin shot.' And SO much more.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." -Ephesians 3:20

Lollywood Frames

When I posted this sneak peek of the nursery, I confessed to stealing. I thought it might be good to clear up any confusion about how one goes about stealing a Lollywood frame. Let me explain....

My cousin and her hubby make and sell these awesome frames in The Lollywood Shop. (Yes, the same cousins that did our cabinets everyone asks us about.) There are tons of colors and styles to choose from and you can custom make them to get what you want. I have some samples of them here in the studio and they really snazz the studio up.
When we were hanging stuff on Baby H's walls last weekend, I wanted more of the accent mustard. We were doing the wall project without buying anything (well almost... more on that later) new so we shopped the house. Knowing the studio props were off limits, I tried really hard not to stare as I was on my way into the storage room to 'shop.' But the pull was just too strong, I couldn't resist, and that sweet little mustard frame ended up on the nursery wall. Where {cb}h clients can now see it in action. Or at least that's what I tell myself to help me sleep at night. ;)

10 on Tuesday September 27th

1. Some lovely gals from work hosted an awesome shower for baby H this week. Some of our favorite gifts are books and of course this group of teachers delivered. Between this shower and our friends one, baby H actually has books that are new (and not from the garage sales). He's one loved little boy!

2. We had some leftovers from the Saturday shower. The lemon cupcakes were some of my favorite leftovers. 

 3. They were apparently Dakota's favorites too. He pulled 6 of those pretty cupcake boxes off the counter, neatly opened them and ate every last cupcake (and cupcake liner). He is generally a pretty good dog and doesn't get into anything but if good food is left out he just cant resist. (I cant really say I blame him though!) I still wasn't very happy about it... mostly because I was wanting to eat them myself, so when I finally started talking to him again the next night he was all smiles over it. 

4. My mom and sister took us baby shopping to get some of the stuff left on our needs list. Since the big shopping day, we've been more excited to work in his nursery.

Baby H's grandma loves him SO much. He got some really great stuff and things that there is no way we would have been able to get without her help. Baby H's family has been more than generous in getting ready for his arrival. He's so blessed! 

5. I posted a '32 week' photo that wasn't really at 32 weeks but it works. I had planned to do the chalk bubble each week and this was the first time I actually pulled it out. I've been a little more consistent with the iPhone in the bathroom mirror photos but even those hadn't been taken for awhile!

6. R won some sort of award when he brought me home jeggings last week. I didn't end up wearing them right away but I did end up wearing them and loved them! I especially loved them paired with this tank dress that Ang found at Forever 21. $9.50 people. Talk about a cheap outfit- and it's my current favorite so you'll likely get tired of seeing me in it!

7. Mom's burlap Toms had been getting all the love around here... until I realized it was boot weather and the Uggs still fit. I cant wait to pair them with the jeggings and tank dress! :)

8. And I have a confession.... I stole a Lollywood frame for Baby H's nursery. I just couldn't resist. I LOVE it! And yes, we know those frames are pretty close to the changing pad. Hopefully he's a good little baby during diaper changes.... ha. Anyway, they are low because originally we had bunting near the ceiling but we ditched that idea.
That little gadget on the table... I can't wait to share about it and our other baby gear. And the blacked out canvas on the wall... yep, that would have Baby H's name on it. I'd love to share it, I really would, but R will most definitely not let me. Sorry!

9. We've been working on thank you's this week. R has been a huge help.

10. And do you have the new facebook timeline? I'm going to quietly admit here that I like it (even without a cover yet!). But I'm pretty sure I'll have to stay off of facebook for awhile once it goes live on everyone's profiles (because I'm sure there will be complaining) but facebook has changed SO many times since it came out (remember way back when facebook didn't have photos!?) and 99% of those changes have been for the better (though I'm still bitter they took away the option to view all comments on photos on the same page). Happy Facebookin'! 

Nursing Cover

Every once in awhile I sew something up and deem it blog worthy.

That hasn't happened too much lately.

So here's tonight's under an hour sewing project- a nursing cover.

I really wanted this one by Bebe Au Lait:

But at nearly $50 (yikes!), the price tag was just a LITTLE too high for me.

So... I stalked the local Hancock store until their designer fabric went on sale (it was 54% off tonight!). The sale combined with the 15% off apple discount made this similar fabric less than $5. With it, I was able to make this knock off version of the Bebe Au Lait cover. They did not have any of the white chenille in stock (and I didn't think to look for terry cloth) for the pockets so I added pockets on the inside to both bottom corners with grey felt. Not sure how long those will hold up but I already had it on hand and they look good for now! I also did not add any boning to the neck but with where the neck straps are and the stiffer fabric, it seems to stick out enough on it's own.

Not bad for a savings of $45!

Have you been sewing lately? Are you looking for a project to do? -Because I have a baby quilt that's been taunting me lately and you are welcome to work on it!  :)

the bump

I had good intentions of taking bump photos throughout this pregnancy. 

I have failed big time. 

So here's the latest photo. Actually taken past 32 weeks but this looked better than '32 1/2 weeks.' 

My next goal is to get shower photos blogged. But don't hold me to getting that done anytime soon (or ever?). It was really nice though.

Take my word for it? 

Caramel Apples

It's fall.

And we're eating caramel apples dipped in cinnamon sugar.

Yum.

10 on Tuesday (9.20)

1. Ran some errands with Kylie and her momma. She is officially 8 months old and I just realized that day that I hadn't ever had my picture taken with her. We fixed that.


2. We've been sticking with the bike riding (it's been easier on me than the walking). Hopefully we'll be able to for awhile still. We also attempted an updated shadow picture... it didn't turn out as great as our last one but we'll keep it. :)



3. I've been thankful for so much lately and been hard on myself for not getting 'thank yous' out fast enough. But I've also been frustrated after doing something for people that dont even give a verbal 'thanks.' As I was considering this and choosing to focus more on improving myself, I got two pieces of mail with a 'thanks' even before being opened. Kind of a happy note. :) (And they both had smiley faces- that didn't hurt.)


4. Kelsey let me borrow some of her snappy casual clothes for the weekend. We had planned on doing maternity pictures in them (ones R would actually be in because my sister was going to do it while she was in town) but got rained out. We have no back up plan for photos so I'm sad about that (but we still cant justify spending the money on maternity photos in this season of life). I am thankful for the couple belly shots R has taken though.

5. Our first prenatal class was scheduled for Thursday. We may or may not have skipped missed it to go to the bar to get dinner for a starving mama to be. High life lounge serves good food though. Especially the bacon covered tater tots. Just sayin'.



6. We had some company stay with us this weekend in preparation of our baby shower. It was so fun to catch up with a great friend (and her boys!). I am lucky to have such great people in my life (just wish some of those people lived closer!!!) (One of her boys is pictured here with Maddman & Dakota. They were way too busy for photo ops!



7. Saturday night was movie night. Thankfully, it ended up warming up for us! We're taking suggestions for the next movie night but we'll wait till spring for that one!



8. Dakota is WORN out after all the weekend activity and guests. His mama is too! He does love the attention from some of his favorite people though!



9. Colson turned four this week! Seems like he was still in his mama's belly at our wedding not that long ago. Happy Birthday, buddy!

10. My hubby is cute. That's all.

10 on Tuesday (life since 9/6)

1. Last Tuesday was date night. And, coincidentally, $.99 kids meal night at Fazoli's.


2. Wednesday morning I woke up with a wedding ring that no longer fits. Up until this day, I had been able to wear it in the mornings (as long as I took it off by 2 pm I was good).  It's officially being put away for awhile. R is not impressed with my 'replacement.' He's worried everyone will think he picked the ugly thing out. :)


3. Thursday we met Mo at a football game. We hadn't seen her in FOREVER and then lately have gotten to see quite a bit of her. She's at such a fun age and says the funniest things. The last time we were with her she was combing R's hair and says, "Uncle R has bangs." To which I said, "I think that's to cover up his bald spots." Mo says, "Well it's not covering up the bald spot on the back of his head!"
Everyone but R thought it was funny. ;)


4. R posed for a picture with me (that would be Mo's finger in the frame). This is one of about 2 we have of the two three of us together. We need to get better about that. I don't want Baby H thinking his daddy was never around (I mean it's not even basketball season!).


5. Friday we met up with some work people. Since we were in the 'big city,' we ran by Hy-Vee to grab some Mint Oreo Fudge Cremes only to find this. Sadness.

6. I went to the chiropractor last week. Have you ever been? I went for the first time in my life last winter. Denise is amazing and I highly recommend her! (Her husband actually went to school with R and they are two of the nicest people!)


7. Saturday was THE big game day. My sweet hubby not only skipped the game but also took me to the downtown farmers market to track down my breakfast. I was thinking with it being Iowa's Christmas that it wouldn't be so busy. I was wrong. But man was that smoothie (and breakfast burrito... and dutch letter..) worth it.

8. Have I mentioned ISU won Saturday!?!? It was a great weekend to be a Cyclone. (But as one friend pointed out- an even better weekend to be an American.)

9. We are still church hopping. We tried (another) new one Sunday. There were a lot of 'glory, Glory, GLORY!!!'s  R is about ready to go back to where we started but we still have a few left on the list.

10. Monday night date night this week. We had counseling/picnic night. And some great talk time. Then we went to Wal-Mart and got me an $8 wedding set. R joked he was going to get down on one knee in front of Wal-Mart to give it to me but just stuck it on my finger instead.  Do you remember when you first got engaged and looked at your ring all. the. time? I've been doing that but the thing isn't even cute. I'll be anxious to get my real one back. (And maybe I'll get it cleaned/dipped in the meantime so it'll be even better when it fits again!)

What have you been up to lately?

Do You Remember When.....

...navy was an Iowa State color?

I hope so because that's what I was going for on Saturday. :)

I know it doesn't look like much of a State outfit, but if you look real close you can see my vintage CY pin. And yes, those are Toms with a dress. They are the only shoes that fit (besides flip flops) and even these Toms are too small for me by the end of most days. Good thing mom sent me home with her burlap Toms last week (unless Holly is reading this, then I'm just kidding about the burlaps).

Anyway.... the point of this post was just to say, "Wooo Hooooooooo!" ISU beat Iowa 44-41 in triple overtime on Saturday!!!  (Again, I realize if you are not from Iowa- this is not a big deal to you. But trust me, it's just like Christmas!)

Everyone I've talked to has said it was thee best college football atmosphere ever. And we missed it.

It was my fault. R had planned to go but there was something about the crowd and bleachers that didn't sound fun to me so I didn't want to. The sweet guy opted to watch it on tv with his buddies with me instead (and I planted myself on their couch with my feet up all afternoon) and we missed it. But it was still a great win even just seeing it on tv!!!

Go Cyclones!!

10 Years

This week, I was taking pictures at Carver Hall on ISU campus. It's a beautiful old building with great stairs out front. (And the engaged couple I was photographing looked awesome in their red/gold up there.)

Right away, I remembered climbing up those stairs 10 years ago. I was on my way into Sociology 134 (I think that was the number?) with Sara Jo by my side. We were wondering what in the world was going on. We had just seen the news. We were kind of in shock. And judging by the eerie quietness on campus, everyone else was in shock as well. We went to our early morning class but as the day unfolded, many professors were canceling classes. We went back to the rooms and gathered around small tvs to try to make sense of what was going on. Today, we still cant make sense of it. It's a day that we'll always remember. A day that has forever changed us.

I wasn't planning on writing a post about 9/11 but climbing up those stairs so close to the anniversary brought me right back to that day. Are you remembering today?

I Was Just Thinking...

Happy Game Day! If you aren't from around here, it may not be a big deal to you.... but Iowa State takes on the Hawks today. It's kind of a big deal. I'm contemplating staying home for the day. Is that bad?

It's also 9-10-11 today. I like fun numbered dates like that. R is convinced we are having an October baby. We'll be 'full-term' (or is it near-term now?) on October 27th but I still want a November baby. The main reason? (Not the MAIN reason- little guy's health is obviously the main reason) I want a fun numbered birthday. His birthday would be 11-__-11. Our anniversary is 7-21-7. That's kind of fun. Right? 11-1-11. 11-11-11. 11-7-11. 11-21-11. All fun birth dates, right? :) There's a full moon on the 10th so maybe we'll end up around there somewhere.

Have you ever tried to photograph a full moon? It's a lot harder than it looks.

Pretty much every picture posted on my blog lately has been taken with the iPhone. I'm just too lazy to carry around a camera for this season. I do have plans to put my purse camera (which has actually been an 'in storage' camera lately) into the diaper bag though.

My diaper bag isn't really a diaper bag. It's the Kelly Moore boy bag. I bought it way back when for a photography bag (it's one of those 'needs' I convinced R of and it was paid with cbh money). My purse is the Kelly Moore hobo bag (another 'need' he feels like he got duped on). I've heard lots of people say they use the Kelly Moor hobo for a purse/diaper bag and with my current 2 empty slots, I think I can make that happen. The boy bag will likely be one I keep in the car because you know I can't leave home without everything I think I just might need.

I would be really good at that purse game they play on 'Let's Make a Deal.' (You do remember that show, right?)

Are you excited for the new seasons of tv shows to come back on? This is the first year in my life I've looked forward to it. The more couch sitting I do, the better watching tv sounds to me.

I haven't actually been very good at couch sitting. I wake up still swollen some mornings because I worked too hard the day before. R makes himself self-proclaimed boss of cbh on those days and forces me to take the day off. He's kind of a pushover as far as bosses go though. ;)

He's been pretty patient though. Everyone (well not everyone...) talks about how hard it is to be pregnant but people don't mention much about how hard it is to be married to a pregnant woman. I mean there are times I just start crying. I have no idea why so how should he? (Oh but in that moment of irrationality, I expect him to know why, darnit!) He puts up with the tears and the absent mindedness and the randomness well (enough).

Yes, definitely the randomness.

September Showers

I'm going to come right out and say it.

I hate showers.

I know that makes me sound like a terrible person. But it's kind of true. You would think someone like me would love sitting at the center of attention for something like that but I just don't. I felt so awkward opening gifts at my bridal showers. I don't know what it is about them and I may be the only person in the world that feels this way but I just don't like showers.

That being said,

I am SO excited about our upcoming baby shower!


I know. I don't understand the switcheroo in attitude about them either, but I'm really excited about it.

It could have something to do with the fact that I wont be opening gifts for myself (seriously, at our wedding showers, I kept making comments about how much R would love the gifts. I guess I felt like if I were opening them all for him it made me look better.).

It could also have to do with the fact a friend that I love dearly is driving all the way here to see me and even coming early so I can actually get to spend time with her!

Or that another best friend is even contemplating driving all the way here with her three little kiddos (oh, I already told her she's crazy, don't worry).

OR maybe it's the menu the girls have ready to go. Um. YUM.

Whatever the reason, I'm excited about it.

Except for one little thing... the invites. I always struggle with who to invite. I have this weird complex that if you invite a lot of people, they'll think you just want gifts (SO not true) but after our wedding showers, I found out if you don't invite enough people, those people get their feelings hurt. I posted something about this on facebook and got some great advice and decided to invite everyone I was even considering inviting. But... you know I chickened out. I have over 15 pretty invites sitting here that never got sent out. So please, PLEASE, know that if you want to come, I'd love to see you! (And your invite is sitting on my desk!) You are so welcome to come eat breakfast with us (and you seriously don't need to do the gift thing) and have a good time. Let me know and I'll get an invite to you asap so you can rsvp. We'd love to have you!


And in a related happy shower note... I never posted these pictures from my very first baby showers (clear back in May). (And I guess I'm not even posting the full picture now but I thought it best to crop the students out.)
At the end of the school year I had two different groups of students host showers for me and Baby H got two different showers out of the deal. It was about the sweetest thing ever. I got the absolute best, heartfelt cards from them and I still cry when I read them. (And do you see the cookie cake? YUM. And the duck themed shower? They put a lot of planning into these! Too fun!) Several of the girls from these groups have emailed wanting updates on baby. It just makes my day when someone asks how he is doing and to think that these young girls would think to ask just makes my heart smile.
Baby H is definitely loved by lots of people already!

How To: Be a Cheapskate

So the other night, R&I were working on (yet another) project in the garage.

It was date night actually. His turn to plan. He wanted to work on projects together so he treated me to $.99 kids meal night at Fazoli's and we came back to work on projects. That's not the point of this post but I thought you should know he's a cheapskate too. And that he's sneaky. That was his way of getting out of projects on Saturday- the day his beloved Cyclones take on the Hawks. Anyway....

So we are working on a project and as he's spray painting he looks at me and says I should host my own tv show about how to do things cheap. Some might be offended by that comment but those of you that have been to our home, know this is a compliment to me. Most of our furniture/decor were hand me downs, picked from someone's junk piles, or found on the curb. The few nice, new things we do have were gifts. (Or purchased with tax refund money- isn't that our citizenly duty to go spend that??)  :)

We both know he's joking about the tv show idea but we start kicking around episode ideas.

Here's the storyline of episode number one: Husbands, if you want your wife to be frugal, don't call her treasures that she brings home trash. I realize there are only two men that read my blog (I know- the number jumped up from just R. I found out this weekend one of our guy friends reads it too.) but I still think this is a key component to share.
It can take some trial and error to be thrifty. Sometimes I have an awesome idea that just doesn't pan out like I had planned. Sometimes I think I've really found a gem in the ditch, only to be setting it out on my own curb the next trash pick up day. It's not easy being gangster thrifty. But when your wife is working on a project that she's just sure is going to turn out really awesome, for pete's sake, don't tell her it's trash! (Especially if she's 7 months pregnant. She'll cry. And then she'll shoot your budget down the drain and go buy something new to replace your so called 'trash.' Or at least she'll think about it really hard.)

That episode brings me to the next one: Be Patient.
It might take time to get the look you're going for. Our entire home is one giant work in progress. One of R's buddies (a GUY) said I really needed to do something in our basement family room. (I wish I were joking.) But it's true. We do. And we will. Eventually.
To be thrifty, you have to be patient. You may have an idea in mind but it may take awhile to come across what you need to execute the plan.
Example 1: Our upstairs living room. It's one big pile of blah right now. With one giant wall that needs something. We're being patient with it.
Example 2: Our little guy's children's book collection. We have a nice little library for him (with lots more books not even pictured here). With the exception of the 3 books we've purchased new, our entire library cost less than $20. Garage sales are an awesome place to find gently used books and if you're picky, you can get books that look new (with no scribbles or rips) for $.50 or less. I always check out the children's books at garage sales. And I have little P trained to check them out for me as well. :) But it takes time. My first garage sale book buy was in 2002. A $.25 practically new copy of Dr. Suess' 'My Many Colored Days.' That was over 9 years ago, folks.

So be patient. You really can do things on the cheap if you are willing to live in the middle of projects for.... well.. pretty much ever. (And if you're willing to have 75% of your child's books to have an inscription to someone else on the inside of the front cover.)

(Some of little guy's books pictured above. You've probably seen the IKEA spice racks idea on pinterest. That's what those are, just painted. Another 'how to be a cheapskate' idea but I cant take credit for that one.)

Let's Talk About Budgets

Updated: You really need to read the comments below. And for those of you that had emailed me replies but I didn't save the email to post here, please leave those comments below too! (You can do it anonymously if you want.) There is some GREAT info in there for you. :)

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So, as we expected, R&I have had to change our spending habits this year with me on a leave of absence from work. We knew our budget would change but we've always had a 'budget' so I wasn't worried about it one bit.

But.

You see, our old idea of a budget was to say how much we were going to spend on certain things a month.... but.... if there was something I 'needed' (or could convince R that I needed), we would transfer money from savings to checking and we'd get it. This didn't happen a lot. But it did happen.
Most of the time we would do really (okay, relatively) well on not spending money. We don't buy expensive things. We don't buy too many wants. We aren't name brand snobs. We hardly ever (I mean, really) shop. And R is in charge of the groceries so we spend a lot less there than we used to.

So. When this year came around and we were going to get serious about the budget, I knew I could do it.

Until I needed something but really couldn't afford it this time. It was kind of a shock to me that we actually couldn't afford for me to get it. And that's when I realized this budget really is a budget. And I pulled an R and got just a little bit nervous about the money situation.



Okay.... This is where you come in. I need your help!


How much did your budget change after baby?

What do you think a reasonable baby budget is for a month?

What did the baby budget money go towards? (How much for diapers, etc. We hope we wont be buying formula, but just in case- give me those numbers too!)

What are some costs that you did not anticipate that ended up being added to the budget?

And because this is the biggest thing looming over us right now..... how much did you spend before baby even arrived? We just realized with 10 weeks (we hope!) to go that we may need to start getting serious about buying some things. Yikes!

Thanks, friends!

10 on Tuesday (8.31-9.6)

1. I went out to lunch with a friend from work (she retired last year). It was so fun to catch up with her! I snapped this photo before leaving because it was the best hair day I have had in a month. R had been telling me the last week I looked bigger (he quickly changes it to 'baby looks bigger') but  I didn't realize it until seeing this photo. Baby H does look bigger! (I know it's a repeat. Sorry.)

2. (One day last week... I cant remember when) I clipped some boxtops before running out the door to meet this guy for a quick lunch. We have big plans of doing lunch once a week but so far it's only worked for both of us once.

3. The links post had me going back to read about R&I's Creston days together and had me craving Cactus Bread. Guess who went and got me some?! :) YUM.

 4. I had a few Southern Iowa shoots this weekend so we headed south for a couple days. Miss Mo was around to hang out in between sessions and we had a good time. We finished off the last box of Girl Scout cookies that was in the freezer then went for a 'treasure hunt.' She found a snake she wanted to take back but settled for just the picture. Thank goodness. Yuck. (And yes, I'm aware we're about to bring a little boy into this world. But that doesn't mean I have to like snakes.)

 

 5. She thought it would be a good idea to see how many different things she could make out of sprinkles. She was proud of inventing shaving cream sprinkles until she realized the green dye was not coming off. She wanted to know why no one told her sprinkles would dye your skin if you put them on your face. "Someone should have told me that."

6. R bought some internet thing (real technical, I know) so he could watch the ISU game. He was pretty bummed I had photos and we couldn't go to the game but he was a good sport about watching it this way instead. Mo also got in on it. :)

 

7. When we got back, R started working on some nursery projects. Only a few tears were involved. ;)


8. We ate our Labor Day lunch with the P fam. Grandma P always makes the best veggie pizza. I LOVE it!



9. I took a quick siesta under a flagpole. It was beautiful weather!!



10. And for those of you that have been asking....... a nursery photo update. Impressive, huh? ;) Our goal is to get all of the power tools out of there in the near future. We're on the ball like that.