Closing in on one year

Jilly-bean is just 6 days away from turning ONE! I can honestly say this has been one of the longest years of my life.
I love how people always say, "Wow! A year already??" I laugh and play along but truthfully I am thinking, "Thank GOD! Now it should start getting easier.....right???"

Here are some of the things that I have come to love (and love to loathe) about our little girl over the last 12 months:

**She loves to bump up and down to music. That is how she dances! If being held, she looks like a marionnete puppet with legs kicking wildly.
**She cries herself to sleep many days. No amount of rocking, stroking or singing will help with that. Period.
**I have finally found a calming spot for her: behind her ear! When I stroke her there she will stop, at least temporarily.
**She prefers to stand nowadays.
**When she smiles a truly happy smile, her nose crinkles and it is melt your heart adorable!!!
**When she cries a truly angry attention getting cry, it pierces your eardrum and gets all the dogs in the hood barking. (well, maybe that is an exaggeration)
**Her style leans away from the girly fru-fru and more toward a boho hippie. Think long, flowy dresses and tye dye. Groovy, man.
**She uses her new teeth for protection. She bites her brother and my shoulder and also will poke you in the eye if you annoy her.
**She has fallen in love with baby dolls and likes to poke them in the eye, too.
**She saves her best smiles for her bruh-bruh.
**She likes to wave at the birds out of our kitchen window.
**When she is excited her legs and arms kick and splay like she has lost all muscle control!
**Her favorite game (and his, I suspect) is "Catch the brother".
**She dislikes any solid food thicker than the consistency of applesauce and will reject anything you try to give her after that.
**She still wakes at least once during the night to nurse.
**Her favorite word thus far is "Ma-ma-ma-ma".
**She has the most beautiful eyes. Like a little deer.
**She absolutely LOVES to look at photos of herself. They crack her up. I was a little afraid that she had a vain streak until I tested her with a baby faces book and got the same reaction. Apparantly she just likes baby faces!!

This year for her birthday party we are doing a Neopolitan Bakery theme. I'll post pics, of course, but I'm really hoping all the fuss will turn into a fun party. Afterall, it is just for a one year old who will have NO recollection of any of it!

My little scallywag is THREE!

I have had a three year old living in my house for 8 days now. Dominic had a Labor Day birthday this year and we had two parties for the lucky little guy.

His friend party was a pirate themed fiesta and he chose the guests: all the camp kids. Two of them couldn't make it so we only had 4 kids + Dominic made 5. A perfectly small group of kids. He wanted to invite his newest friend, M, but we had just invited them to J's baptism and didn't want to overload them with our family. Though he really did miss her!

We had a blast! Dominic dressed up to greet his guests and they all had their own pirate hat, eyepatch, sash and tattoo waiting for them to put on before joining the party.
Next we had lunch. PB&J or tortilla rolls for the littles and ham,cheese and pineapple sammy's for the adults. Caprese skewers, fruit and cheese tray. Plenty of beer, water and juice to go around.
We had two games to play. Walk the plank, cannonball toss and the treasure hunt! Everyone LOVED the treasure hunt!! The plank was a fun game, too. It seemed like only Dominic liked the cannonball toss. Oh well...
After the games it was time for cake and then opening presents!

The next morning I asked Dominic what he dreamed about and he replied, "Mine pirate party!!" I'd say he enjoyed himself!

As for Jillian, we've had to readjust her meds again. The doctor wanted us to begin weaning her down to once a day dosage and after 2 weeks I can't take it anymore. She is crying more often than not and it's really making me sad. I decided to go back to twice a day dosage for now. We can try weaning again in another month or so.

Dominic had his 3 year check-up yesterday. He's grown 2 inches and 3.5 pounds since last November. Still a little fry, but growing on his own curve so no need to worry. I just don't make big people. ;)

Helllllloooooooo out there!!!!!

It's only been a couple of weeks since my last post, but MAN has it been busy!!! We had Jillian baptized this past Sunday and I was preparing everything for that, Dominic began swim lessons, and hubby was out of town for most of one week. No time to rest, yet, Dominic's 3rd birthday is right around the corner and we're have TWO parties: one for friends and one for family.

For Jillian's baptism I made a new cake. It's an orange creamsicle cake. It was pretty good, but VERY sweet! Here's the finished product:

And here's the recipe:

Batter:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/3 buttermilk or sour milk (sour milk: 1tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar + enough milk to = 1 cup. Let stand 5 minutes.

1/2 cup shortening or butter
1 tsp. vanilla
4 egg whites

And the secret ingredient:
1 pkg. (0.15 oz) unsweetened orange Kool-aid

Pre-heat oven to 350*
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Add buttermilk, shortening (or butter) and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat on medium to high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Add egg whites and Kool-aid (dry) and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping bowl. Don't overbeat the batter. If the Kool-aid isn't thoroughly incorporated, use a spoon or spatula to gently mix in the Kool-aid. Do not overbeat!
Pour into greased and floured cake pans.
Bake for 18-23 minutes. (mine took exactly 18 minutes) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Vanilla Cream Filling:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 pinch salt
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make filling: In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening together until smooth. Blend in confectioners' sugar and pinch of salt. Gradually beat in 3 tablespoons milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

Orange Buttercream Frosting:
1/3 cup butter
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Orange zest from one large orange

In a bowl beat butter until fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well. Slowly beat in the 1/4 cup orange juice and vanilla.
Slowly beat in remaining sugar. Beat in additional orange juice if needed. If you're going to spread it, you might need to add more liquid to get it to the right consistency. Gently mix in grated orange zest.

Assembly: After cupcakes are completely cool, fill with cream filling using your preferred method. Frost as desired.

I also had candle favors for guests to take home. I found a nice scripture containing the word "light" and incorporated it into the candle idea. What do you think?

Cute, huh?

For Dominic's swim teacher I made her a little gift of thanks and appreciation for teaching him how to swim. Those who know me know how paranoid I was of him going underwater and she was so calm and awesome that he did it on the very first day! He cried, but he did it! Now we have a bona fide swimmer!! YAY!! Check him out:



Anyway, for the gift. I noticed that she always had a cool drink of some sort with her on the side of the pool since it's been record breaking heat this summer. I found a neat cool-keeping cup at Starbucks and filled it with Hershey Nuggets. What gal doesn't like chocolate, right? As expected, she loves chocolate and raved about the cup. Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of the completed gift. I had it wrapped up all pretty.

Here's the card that I made for her:

I took photos of them secretly and made a little photo booth looking slideshow on photoshop. Cute!

St.Dominic's Feast Day Celebration

St.Dominic was a passionate follower of Christ. He dedicated his life to God and not only lived as an example of Christ, but was a passionate speaker of Christ's love. So much so that an entire order of priests is dedicated to him.

St.Dominic's feast day was originally August 4th, but due to Vatican2 was moved to August 8th. This is good for us because we missed the 4th and were still able to "catch" it yesterday.

St.Dominic is rumored to have brought the first oranges to Rome and so he is often depicted with an orange in his hand. Also good for us! I made an orange cake for Dominic and we sang "Happy Saints Day to you!" before digging in. I rudimentally explained who St.Dominic was to Dominic. He smiled but I'm sure he had no idea what I was talking about. He just knows they have the same name- and that's enough for him. I mean, that's a great reason to have cake, right?

I found this quote from St.Dominic and thought it was perfect for my little pirate: "I kept on digging the hole deeper and deeper looking for the treasure chest until I finally lifted my head, looked up and realized that I had dug my own grave."


I also designed Jillian's baptism invitations. I am VERY proud of the outcome.

I must admit, I copied the idea from tinyprints. I hope I didn't just violate any copyrights by admitting that. I won't link to the exact one, but if you are curious feel free to check the baptism cards on their site and I know you'll recognize it! I think I'm okay since I'm not selling them. Had I ordered them online I wouldn't have gotten them in time to allow for anyone to rsvp!

My mommy friend, K, is having her son, A, baptized the same day at the same Mass as us. It'll be special to have both of our babes baptized together! We were going to have a dual reception following the Mass, but she had to change plans since she has many family members who will be flying out of town that afternoon. Bummer.

We are inviting a few of our church friends to attend the reception, too. I know of 2 who will definitely come and the other 2 are maybe's (in my assumption).

I plan on making a creamsicle cake. Sounds good, right? If it turns out good, I'll be sure and post the recipe.

Now, back to the birthday planning!!

It's no Blue Bell, but it'll do...

This past week we were BUSY!!

Since Dominic enjoyed camp so much, we decided to pony up and enroll him in another two week session, which started last Tuesday. This time around there were 12 kids in his group! I am assuming they have combined two groups since there are 2 counselors in there.

When we weren't at camp, we were at playgroups. Monday we hosted a playgroup at our house. Kids were invited to make homemade ice cream, which actually turned out to be quite delicious!

Fattening, but delicious! While we waited for the ice cream to freeze we moved out front and ran through the sprinkler!

Our new church friends joined us for this one. She is due with baby girl #3 anyday now. Note to self: I should check in on her since I didn't see them at church yesterday.

The next day we had AM and M over for some ice cream and playtime.

The next two days I was saddled down with creating the neighborhood playgroup's newsletter. Big doings!! This took approximately 3 days to get all together but the third day was simply copy-paste'ing.

Friday we had a full day all to ourselves. Until I remembered that I had to buy my hubby a birthday present! So it was off to the golf store to pick up a fashionable golfing outfit, complete with golfing belt. I never knew such a thing existed, but trust me it does.

Friday afternoon we were invited over to H and E's house for indoor play. It was just nice to get out of the house after the whole newsletter stress. I even managed to get a photo of myself with BOTH babies!! As I've said in previous posts, photos of me with the kids is rare as I'm usually the one taking the photo. I just love this one, too!!

Saturday Daddy turned "4-4" and Jillian turned 2 months old!

A Day in the Life: Jillian edition

I just put a call in to Jillian's pediatrician regarding her numerous reflux symptoms. We have been in a haze the last 3 weeks with her being in pain and us being helpless to help her. It's gotten pretty unbearable and has really stressed the family out. I tried changing my diet but it's apparant that we need medical intervention. I feel like Dominic has really gotten pushed aside and I really hate that.

That being said, I thought it would be interesting to document what a day in Jillian's life looks like, partly because I like to photograph her and partly because I know that this existence we are currently in will not stay etched in our minds forever. Believe it or not, we will forget how much she cried due to reflux, making those old man faces. We will forget trying so hard to figure out what will ease her pain. We will forget...eventually.

So here's an adapted version of Jillian's day yesterday.

Let's begin with a morning stimulating activity.

Ten minutes is about enough of that!

Time for a snack.

A quick snooze!

Wardrobe change! (due to spit up, NOT her diva attitude)

Some brotherly love.

Hanging with a good friend.

The bewitching hour (aka: cry time!)

That's about it for the day. I spared you having to see her cry at 3am. All in all, not a bad way to spend the day, eh? Minus the hurt and crying, that is.

I wish I could, but I just can't...

Today is National I Don't Give a Shit Day and I would normally LOVE to participate in this great day of observance, but I just can't bring myself to do it!

I've got so much going on in this house that I need to really give a good shit today and get this house back in order! Last week David was out of town on business all week. The first 2 nights were okay. Then it started to get harder. On Thursday we had to take a run to the ER with Jillian and thank God my parents were staying the night with us. I don't know what I would have done! Luckily, she's okay and we are coping with the idea that our little angel may have reflux. Yuk!

I am doing an elimination diet to rule out any sensitivities she may be having that would cause this reaction and man is it HARD! I thought giving up Cokes for Lent was bad. I can't have ANYTHING it seems!! The only way I can seriously cope is to look at little Jillian and know that this may make her feel better and keep her off meds, although I'm pretty sure prevacid is in our near future.

She is growing like a weed! Already up to 7 pounds!! My sister is supposed to come today and take photos of the little lady and I'll be sure and post some of her cuteness soon.

We've got some family coming in to visit (Hi, Aunt Suge!!) and we are really looking forward to that, as well. Dominic keeps talking about Aunt Suge's house. He seems to think that she lives right down the street because every time we pass a certain house he points and says, "Aunt Suge's house. Let's go!"

Other than all that, we have been pretty much home bodies, except for the occasional mall visit. Yesterday's trip was an epic FAIL so we tried again today and were able to redeem ourselves. Both kids are napping now so I'm going to get in some zzzz's while I can. Wish me luck!

Due Date!!

Today is my original EDD and Jillian is now 15 days old. We had our 2 week check-up yesterday morning and were shocked and thrilled to discover that she is now over 5 pounds! She has grown 2" and is doing great! I have designed her birth announcement and just need to print them out and get them in the mail. I would share one here, but it's got information that I don't want to post in a public place. You understand, I know...

Dominic has been warming up to his sister little by little. He loves to stroke her soft hair and hold her tiny hand. He repeats, "I think she likes me." It is really very sweet. Just look how proud he is:

We are starting to get into somewhat of a routine. The doctor recommended that we stay away from any playdates for another two weeks, but we are okay to have private playdates. This week we are meeting my friend, S and her daughter B, at the outlet mall to buy Little Miss some clothes. She only has 7 outfits that fit properly. Her NB clothing will probably start fitting better in a few more weeks if she continues growing like this.

I contacted a former LLL buddy via Yahoo Groups and we are planning to get the kids together next week sometime. She has a daughter who is a little older than D and she just had a son a few weeks before Jillian so we have two sets of kids close in age. Of course, Dominic has fallen in love with her oldest daughter, who talked with him at church one Sunday, thus earning a spot on his "cool list". Her "flashing" shoes helped her rise to the tippy top of the list.

Cabin Fever

Having two kids is slowly sinking in. Before Jillian was born I tried to prepare for just how to deal with two kiddos, but in reality there really is no way to know what to anticipate. For instance, we are totally sequestered this week. With us being homebound until Jillian gets her shots next week, we have all had a bit of cabin fever.

Tuesday we had AM and M come over to drop off dinner and they stayed for about an hour and a half so the kids could play. That was a wonderful distraction for both D and I. Jillian happily slept the entire visit!

Yesterday after Daddy got home from work and we'd eaten dinner, D and I headed outside to play hopscotch and to blow some bubbles. In the shade it wasn't too bad and we stayed out for about 30 minutes before his cheeks got all red.

This morning I had it all together enough to gather the two kiddos and head outside before the heat got brutal for some sprinkler jumping time! M and O spied us outside and headed over to join us. The boys had fun running after one another and seeing who could get closest to the water sprinkler before conceding defeat and fleeing to Mom. I'm proud to say I think D won that "contest".

Tomorrow we are planning on baking a little sweet goodness. What we'll bake is still up in the air, but we'll see how we feel tomorrow.

Only 4 more days and we are free to roam about the country (or at least the city).

And now a photo just because it's so cute:

Jillian is HOME!

I went in to have my routine u/s with the specialist on Monday and they found that the fluid level had dropped quite drastically. Jillian's projected weight was right at 6lbs and I was 38 weeks along so the doctor suggested an induction that day. I was caught off guard, as D was 4 days late and we waited him out, but decided it was safer to have her here early rather than wait and let complications arise.

So I told DH to come home from work and finish packing his bag. D, Jillian and I had been packed for weeks! He rushed home and we called the Grands to let them know to assemble. The troops met us at the hospital shortly after we arrived at 10am.

I was taken to triage to be monitored and checked. I still hadn't been checked since my dr and I agreed we would wait until 39 weeks to do so. Surprisingly to most everyone involved, I was already dilated to 4, 50% effaced and -3 station! All on my own!! And I was having contrax!

I was thrilled. That meant no cervadil, only pitocin. My dr knew I wanted to try med-free again so he said to watch me and see if hte contrax picked up on their own or if we should administer pit. I was also waiting for an L&D room to open up. Apparently the storm system convinced a lot of babies to be born that day

Four hours later we were given a room in L&D. They started pitocin at the lowest setting and the contrax picked up but were bearable. Pit was upped to 4 and they got stronger but still not close enough. They let me stay at 4 for a while so I could catch my breath before upping to a 6.

That really got things going. I hadn't been rechecked and was dying to know if I'd progressed at all. With the contrax one minute apart and as intense as they were I assumed I had. The nurse checked me at 6pm and said I was still at 4cm so I called for an epi. That's when the contrax really got bad!

The epi was in at 6:29pm and I waited for it to kick in. The shift change is at 7 so the new nurse came in and asked when I was last checked. My current nurse said just before the epi. She suggested we check again to check if I'd progressed at all. Surprisingly I was now complete! Only 45 minutes after being checked!! My bag of water was bulging and she could feel the head. They called my dr and he rushed in.

He snipped the bag with scissors (it was hanging out of me), I pushed twice and she was here! Tiny little thing so no tears or stitches needed. The NICU team was called since she is so tiny. After observing her for 30 minutes they determined that she was healthy enough to stay in the regular nursery.

We are home now and doing our best to adjust. Thank heavens for meal lists! We've already had one meal delivered and will get another one tonight. Yay!

Project 3 completed!

So, my little cheater book for Jillian has taken a bit longer than I had originally anticipated. I don't mind at all, though, I want her book to be as detailed as Dominic's. It's only fair, right?

First, I printed out my belly shot photos from each month. Then I went through my journal and wrote down all the important dates and details for the month (dr appt dates, HR's, etc.). I made each month a double spread and started to place the photos.

Since this was a pre-made book, some of the pages had lame stickers and I did my best to rip them out without tearing the paper underneath. For the most part I did okay. There are a couple of pages that are totally not my style, but they are done, right, and that's what matters!

Now I just need to continue contributing to May and June and we'll be all set! It's hard to believe I'll be 36 weeks along this Tuesday!

I took some photos of the completed book and then it hit me...you probably aren't interested in seeing my pages. So, I won't post any, but if you are REALLY jonesing to see them just let me know and I can make a montage photo of the pages to post.

Project 3 of SB week: playing the preggo card....AGAIN!

The above photo montage from Jillian's shower is my attempt to hold you over with some nice eye candy until tomorrow. Here's the story:

We didn't exactly get to the store for more ink, but I did get to Mike's to get some adhesive. Confused? Yeah, me too. What was I thinking buying adhesive? What did I expect to adhere? Oh well, I was able to use it for a few things today.

Well, I started to get some things done, scrapbook wise, and then the sleepies hit so I had to take a nap. I've got my book from yesterday just waiting for photos. I PROMISE I'll get ink tomorrow. If you are wondering, the title of yesterday's project is: Simple Pleasures.

Today's project is a lame excuse for a scrapbooker. I cheated and bought a pre-made book at Mike's on sale for $20!!! Poor Jillian isn't even here and she's already being treated with the second child syndrome! I just thought this way at least I have the backbone of a pregnancy scrapbook and all I have to add is photos (which is not doable right now) and the little extras.

So....tomorrow I will work on these two projects whole-heartedly. The Simple Pleasures won't take long at all and today's cheater book shouldn't be too bad, either.

Photos of both coming soon. Pinkie swear!

As we get closer to EDD...

As I get closer to my EDD I am reminded of everything that could go wrong in these last few weeks. I belong to an online community of ladies who are/have been trying to conceive. I joined in April 2006 when my husband and I first started trying to conceive a baby. Little did I know I would have to wait another 22 months before actually getting pregnant.

You can imagine my great joy, then, when we actually DID get pregnant. In true first time mom fashion, I never really gave a second thought to complications or miscarriages. I was naive in a most wonderful way. Don't they say ignorance is bliss?

You may have noticed my new blog button to the right. Read on to hear why the pre-e foundation is so important to me.

One of the ladies who was on the board with me was Heidi. She was from another state, but to an online community distance doesn't matter. She was with me through my TTC journey b/c she was also on her own. She got pregnant a few months after me and we were overjoyed to experience our pregnancies together. There were 5 of us who were due within 3 months of each other so much of our talk was related to the daily happenings of pregnancy and getting ready to become mothers together. We were a tight little group.

Heidi mentioned that she was not feeling well and went to the doctor, who put her on bedrest. Since her computer was downstairs and her bed is upstairs she mentioned that she would not be able to post like she had been. We all understood, but as her EDD drew near and we didn't hear from her we began to wonder. What was Heidi up to? Had the baby come already? Was she still waiting to deliver? Was everything okay?

No one had her last name or specific information to contact her and as the days went by we began to outright worry that something had happened to the baby. Our worst nightmare and no one wanted to mention it. We sent private messages and got no reply. Perhaps she just needed time to digest whatever had happened to her little girl?

Finally we got our answer. Heidi's husband was going through Heidi's emails one afternoon and came across the pm's. He sent one of the ladies an email asking her to contact him, which she did. Here is what she told us:

"Unfortunately I have some terrible news. And I write this with an extremely heavy heart barely being able to see through my tears while to the screen. I got an email from Heidi's husband, asking me to call him. I just got off the phone with him.
Their daughter Abigail was born on November 7th, she's beautiful and healthy. She is now 11 pounds.
The bad news is that due to the preeclampsia Heidi developed Hellp syndrome. she was helicoptered to another hospital after the baby was born.
Heidi's liver and kidney shut down. She was on dialysis as well as lifesupport. Heidi didn't make it. She passed away on December 7th. She was 34. I could hear Abigail crying in the background and Heidi's MIL has been staying with him helping with the baby. We talked for a while and he talked about Heidi with great love as well as his daughter. He had no idea about Heidi's life on our board.
I told him she was very loved and a huge supporter to many of us.
He did tell me Heidi did meet her daughter and got to kiss and hold her."

This was in 2008. Just re-reading this makes me teary-eyed. We were all in shock! We'd never heard of pre-e or HELLP syndrome and didn't realize how prevalent the condition truly is. That summer on Facebook I found that the pre-e foundation has a page. I "liked" them and that led me to find a local chapter in my city. You may remember that I walked in the pre-e walk last May. I did a post about it.

This year I will be 36 weeks pg for the walk. I am so sorry to have to miss the walk, but it's hard enough getting in and out of the car, let alone walking a mile these days!

If you would like to make a donation please check out the following website:
http://www.blueskycollaborative.com/pfpw/fundevent.asp?nnaffundid=16

And while you're there, check out who's on the first slide in the slideshow!!

With Mother's Day just around the corner I find myself thinking of Heidi more and more. I am sad that she never got to hear her sweet daughter call her "Mommy". It's truly heartbreaking.

Love to all my mommy friends!!

The rising cost of friendship (aka: birthday parties)

This month we had 3 birthday party invitations, 3 weekends in a row. One was the Sunday before we left for vacay and it was out of town, so we missed that one. The next one was the Saturday we returned from vacay so we missed that one due to being on the road and the next one is this coming Saturday. We have another invite the 7th of May as well.

So yesterday Dominic and I set out to the Toy Store to pick up all the gifts that we needed. Man, when I started this friendship odyssey the last thing on my mind was how much money these friendships would cost me, but let me tell you....it ain't cheap!

Scattered throughout the year it wouldn't be too bad, but we had 4 birthdays in January and now another little clump of birthdays. I always try to put great thought into the gifts I buy. I think of each child and their interest and/or something their mom has mentioned that they would like. It's fun, but can be exhausting.

So...$125 later we left the Toy Store with 4 birthday party gifts, cards for each and a roll of paper. And don't forget the 2 board games I had to get D, as well.

I am already thinking about having a little welcome party for Miss Jillian in June. My out of town family has been talking about having a shower for me but there's not many weekends left between now and D-day and I'm not really up for traveling. I am researching Sip and See ideas and will hopefully get an idea that inspires me. Any suggestions??

Oh, and tomorrow is my shower for ladybug! So exciting!!!

C'era Una Volta...

It's time for the big nursery reveal! Jillian Grace's room is 98% ready!!!!!!!

Here is a 360 degree tour of the room:


Looking in the door


Looking to the left about 45 degrees (notice the butterfly mobile I made????)


The butterfly mobile from underneath. Isn't it so dainty and delicious?


A close-up of the fingerpainting that D made for his sister's room.


Left at 90 degrees (the saying means, Once Upon a Time in Italian)
**please ignore the fan ball hanging down, it's a TALL ceiling!


Looking behind you at the door wall (this wall has some boxes and bed rails to be moved into storage)


A close-up of the vintage Italy map I framed that is to the right of the dresser/changing table.


Looking to the right as you walk in the room. This wall is mostly closet.


A close-up of the handmade canvases. Translation is: I wish you well or I love you.


That brings us back to looking straight on as you enter the room.


A close-up of the very first thing I bought for the nursery. Thank God for Children Inspire Design for knowing that nursery decor can be modern and fun!!


And lastly, the shelf from BRU with the latest buy, the vespa print from Target. Dominic picked out the cross. It is the exact match to his, only in pink!

So, there you have it! Jillian Grace's nursery, a room fit for a principessa!! Ci vediamo!

blink*blink*blink*

Not really sure where this post will take me, but haven't posted in almost a week, so here we are....

This week we had another ultrasound and got to see little Miss again. She has been a good girl and is no longer sitting breech, but is now head down!! YAY!
I took, and passed, my glucose test. YAY!!
Ladybug's room is coming right along. The closet is finished, girly clothes are hanging up, pictures are up on the wall...only a few more touches and the room is ready for it's official reveal. YAY!!

I will share the link to one of the items I made specifically for the room. I saw this cute little butterfly mobile:



over at PBK and swooned. Then I saw the price and swooned again, I mean it's just paper and string. I resolved to make my own. And so I did. I must say, I did a pretty good job. AND I got to customize mine to match the room!

D has been sleeping like a champ and eating like a horse lately. I KNEW he was getting longer so we measured him yesterday and he's grown an inch and a half since his birthday 6 months ago! He's pretty proud of himself.

We made a chocolate cake for L's birthday and delivered it to her this afternoon. A was just waking from his nap so the boys got an impromptu playdate while L and I chatted. She is expecting in May so our little ones will only be 3 weeks apart (depending on the EDD). It's so nice to have some friends going through the same stage in life at the same time.

Sunday we were invited over to K and G's house after Mass for a pancake breakfast. G picked at her pancakes while D snarfed down 2+!!!
D wasn't too impressed with G's little brother, A. He liked to look at him sleeping but didn't really pay too much attention to him once he was awake. Ah, well....

We met them on Tuesday morning for some toddler fun at the local arboretum. I didn't get too many pictures as D was all over the place! The kindermusik people were there and D had fun dancing around with the big kids. I did manage to snap a picture of D and G sitting in the little mermaid's enchanted chair. Cute!

***Photos will follow shortly, my camera battery is dead and I'm too lazy to deal with it right now. I'm all cuddled up in bed with one eye on the monitor. There was a loud truck that just drove by and startled D so I was expecting him to call for me, but he didn't. What a brave boy!

BTW, my Lenten "project" has been going very nicely. I realize as I'm reading the book that I haven't really been too bad about taking my hubby for granted. We still seem to have the newlywed thing going for us.

March Madness, already???

While I LOVE the month of March (first day of Spring, St.Paddy's Day parade, Spring Break) I am so not looking forward to March Madness at our house. I feel like we have limited time with DH as it is and this month I have a feeling it will only be worse. Think there's a chance he'll forget it's March?

Last week was a busy one for us. We had something pretty much every day! Here's a sampling of what we've been up to:


Oscars party at Nana's. Cheering for Toy Story 3!!


Enjoying some ice cream. After repeated requests to stop at the "Ice cream store" I finally relented and we swung through the drive through for a treat.



Sidewalk chalk at the park with our church's mom's group.



Finger painting a picture for sister. Look for this to pop up in a future post about sister's room!!


Tomorrow we are hosting a playdate for Dr.Seuss' birthday. I'll post pictures of our birthday cake tomorrow (and maybe some of the kiddo's enjoying it!)

Sugar and spice...

Looks like we'll be adding a bit of sugar and spice to our house this summer!!! We got a great look at her and Dominic even joined in the conversation saying, "Baby move around....So cute!"

I almost titled this post something else entirely, "Breaking up is hard to do", but wanted to keep the focus positive rather than negative. Basically, this week I have come to the realization that I need to "break-up" with one of my friends. What happened, you may be wondering???

Well...it goes like this:

I am a punctual person. You all already know that. When I have made plans with someone and can't make it, I always make sure to tell them with as much notice as possible. I also try to be on time anytime I am meeting someone out. This past Tuesday I made plans to meet a very new acquaintance and an old friend. I made the details and emailed them both with time and place instructions. I was the only one to show up!
I received a phone call from M asking me where I was, if everything was okay. I told her that I was at said place waiting. She proceeded to tell me that she and the other gal were at another location waiting on me! Did neither one of them read their email???? So D and I had to leave the original meeting place to go to the *wrong* location to meet them.

This is not the first time that M has flaked out on this kind of stuff. The day before this breakfast get together she emailed me to see if I wanted to go to Pump-it-Up with her that morning. I reminded her that we had plans with S. She admitted that she forgot about our plans. Then she asked me what time?

When I had the summer camp, she was a participant. The day of the camp she called to ask me when camp started, and I don't mean what time, she meant what day!! Then she asked what time and THEN she said they would be there everyday instead of the 3 times a week she had previously told me. So I had to drive out and get more supplies for them to attend all week!!!

It's this kind of air-headedness that drives me bananas. If you have plans with someone at least have the courtesy to write it down and the respect to remember it!

So this breakfast get-together was the straw that broke the camel's back. I have got to call this friendship quits before I say something tacky to her. How's this going to go? I have no idea!!!

Only 52 more sleeps...

until Christmas, according to Santa's Official Christmas Clock!!!

I feel bad for Thanksgiving. It gets smooshed in between two kids holidays and it really deserves it's own time to shine. We went to the bookstore today to look for our camping titles and the stores are already all dolled up for Christmas! What happened to Thanksgiving?

My husband's family has a BIG family Thanksgiving every year and I just love it! He has such a great family (and I'm not just saying that b/c my MIL reads this blog every once in a while). The first Thanksgiving that I was a part of their festivities they just welcomed me in and chatted me up as if they'd known me all along. I LOVE that Dominic gets to experience the family Thanksgiving. They've been doing it for YEARS!!

So....I am going to let November do it's own thing this year. No more rushing it to hurry by so that Santa can be on his merry way. Each day in November I will mentally take the time to be thankful for the blessings in my life-and I have many. Lucky me!!

When I taught school I would have my middle schoolers keep a daily journal for the month of November. Every night they would list 3 things that they were thankful for that day. Think it sounds easy? The twist: they couldn't list the same things more than twice in the journal. That really made them focus on the little mundane things in their life. Try it out...you may find it helps refocus you, too!

So, enough about that. You're really checking in to see pics of our Halloween, aren't you?? We don't have much, I'm afraid. The hubster was in charge of the pics and he's not as nostalgic as I am, so we'll have to make do with what we've got.

On Wednesday, the 27th we participated in a costume parade at a local senior center and boy, was it fun!!! The olds just loved seeing all the kiddo's dressed up for Halloween. Of course D strutted his stuff like a pro.






Thursday we had a 12pm ultrasound. Baby #2 is looking good!! Heartrate of 176 (which means girl, for those wondering) and measuring right on track! We are 9 weeks preggo today.

This past weekend we went out of town to visit Aunt Suge and her crazy bunch. D loved playing in the boy's room!! We had a wonderful visit and a few hours after pulling in the driveway here at home we were off to the neighborhood block party.

D got to trick-or-treat for the FIRST time Sunday night. Our street is pretty quiet so there were only 5 houses to go to but he had a ball blurting out, "trick or treat!"





Yesterday we invited L and A over for some afternoon sandbox play. We haven't seen them in a while so D was excited to get some A-time in. As usual, the boys had a great time together.

I was going to post about the camp coming up but I think I'll wait until next time. The little man is napping and mommy needs to try and get in some z's too, if possible.

We also have a recipe club tonight and David made his SCRUMPTIOUS spinach. We should definitely win tonight!!! I'll post the recipe in the next post and let you know if we won or not.