Finally Finished

I'm through with Kellie's room. For right now. I'm sure changes will be made. It's who I am. But this will be the final picture-post unless some major changes are made before Kellie is born.
Only eight more weeks to go!
Can you say "A-woohoo!"?

This is the matching nightstand for Kellie's dresser. Until she has use for a nightstand, it's my nursing station. I'll be keeping all the essentials required when breastfeeding. I hear you can get really thirsty...and really bored. Thus, the magazines and somewhere for me to set my water bottle. The teddy bear lamp is from Kellie's Deah. (Thank you Mom!)

This is a shot of Kellie's night light, light switch plate, and photo frame (Thank you Heather!). The photo is Kellie at eight weeks. That's back when we called her Little Chicken. The night light/switch plate combo is from Target.com. They're having a huge free shipping sale. I went a little crazy and bought a good portion of the matching room decor I'd registered for. Hey, you can't beat free shipping when you live in Alaska!

Kellie's Grandma and Grandpa Gent (I should ask them what they want to be called...) got her this pretty pink bouncer and her car seat/stroller combo. She's gonna look so cute bouncing in that chair! (Thank you Granddad Jim and Grandmom Carol!)

Kellie's growth chart, diaper stacker, and dust ruffle (Thank you Heather!). That CD player beneath the crib is for Kellie's lullaby CD's. Who knows if I'll actually use them. I might just use a fan. I'm still trying to come up with an ingenius way to hang her quilt on the wall. Any suggestions???

These hanging organizers were on my baby registry. (Thank you Heather and Kara!) I had so much fun hanging them and deciding what goes in them. The one on the left is a weekly clothing sorter. Monday on top to Sunday on the bottom. This idea is compliments of Meaghan. Her baby (Mara) is four months old. Meaghan saves time by picking out Mara's clothes on Sunday and laying them out. That way, there's no searching for a clean pair of socks or a matching onesie. The organizer on the left has seven shelves. I think it was destined to be a weekly clothing sorter. The one on the right holds the odds and ends right now. But later it'll be for blankets, coats, sweaters...things like that.

Isn't this the cutest hamper ever?? Yay for free shipping from Target.com!

I moved Kellie's name into her room. There's a big empty space where it used to be in our room. I'll have to come up with something to put there.

Brian and I both love to read. We have bookshelves FULL of books and our collection keeps growing. We spend so much time reading, I'm pretty sure Kellie will show an interest as well. I'm hoping, anyway. So this is the start of Kellie's library. It's not very big. But it'll get there. I love to buy books.

I'm a sucker for tiny coats and sweaters.

Deviled Egg

We're on our way out to brunch with Terra and Phil so I don't have time to post all the pictures I took of Kellie's finished room. However, I did have time to upload this one of the Halloween party last night. Pictured from left to right is Me, Meaghan, Diana, Sarah, and Melissa. We had a fun time last night and it felt good to get all prissified. I haven't glammed out in a while. I remember the good old Utah days of dolling up everyday. I gotta tell you, outside of Utah, that is not the norm. Go figure.

Trix Tastes Like Skittles

My nephew was born this morning! Around 3:30 a.m. Utah time. His name is Kacen Aaron and he is absolutely adorable. The cutest little face! I'm going to wait on posting pictures so his Mommy and Daddy get to be the first to post pictures.

On an unrelated topic, Trix tastes like Skittles.
I'm making a jedi robe for Brian's Halloween costume.
Zoe is still going to be princess Leia. (Every time we bring out her costume, she begs us to put it on her.)
I'm going to be a deviled egg (Thank you Emily!)
Kellie's room has, yet again, been neglected.

My weekends have never been this full!

Seriously?

Every Friday night for the past five weeks I have had a migraine that carries into Saturday and sometimes Sunday.

Are you kidding me???

I know why! It's because I thanked my lucky stars for having fewer migraines in pregnancy. As soon as I count myself lucky about a symptom, I am hit full-force with that symptom. Karma has a wicked sense of humor. I thought I was just having a bad month, but this is week five and...yep.

Yep.

It's a migraine.

Follow-up

Kellie's room is done. And the reason I haven't posted pictures? You'll laugh if you know me, and scratch your chin in wonderment if you don't.

I haven't decided where to put the furniture.

Yes, it's in her room. But the positioning doesn't feel quite right. I'm waiting until I know that this is how her room will be. That is, until I have a restless night and go old-school-Laura on it.

So, I will post pictures when I get the vibe that Kellie's room is revved and ready for her arrival. Hopefully that will be sometime this weekend. Haven't had the desire to make changes yet. My nesting bug must be in remission.

Temptation

I couldn't resist!! Zoe is going to be Princess Leia for Halloween! She's such a good sport.

Juice Tongs

I'm vertically challenged.

Anybody who has ever met me in person knows that. What they don't know is how I overcome my affliction.

As we were heading out the door, I asked Brian if he would like a juice box.

He replies "No, thank you. Unless you already have it down." Because he knows how difficult it is for me to reach things that are up high.

I say, "I don't have it down, but I have the juice tongs ready."

Silence follows.

Then, the curious-sounding footsteps (Yes! His footsteps sounded curious!) up the stairs and back into the kitchen. "Juice tongs?" His voice filled with incredulity.

"Yeah. See?" I show him my red-handled juice tongs. They are quite simply a set of tongs that were previously used for flipping chicken, until we got our countertop grill with it's own little spatula. At which point they were promoted to juice tongs. I reach up, grasp a juice box with my fancy red-handled tongs, and bring it down to my hand.

Brian is speechless. How does one process this information? His wife of two years and nine months has juice tongs. The woman he has been with for all of his adult life has juice tongs. What kind of person has juice tongs???

He asks if there are any other height-helpers I have. The only one I can think of is my cereal spoons. I use mixing spoons to scoot cereal boxes down from the cabinet. (I learned this little number from my Ruthie.)

For all you vertically challenged people out there; please, share with me your tales of accommodating your height.

Dreams

These are dreams that I've had within the past week. I'm sure they're "normal" but they are stressful nonetheless.

I'm a cyborg. I give birth with my entire body, down to my hips, in what I can only describe as a tunnel. Similar to an MRI machine? They (the doctors, I'm guessing) take Kellie away and raise her in a pod. I then become pregnant again and the cyborg-tunnel-pod cycle continues.

Kellie's hand is fused to her face.

I give birth...And I don't feed Kellie until she is four months old. I know I haven't fed her because I go to breastfeed and I have no idea what I'm doing. I keep poking her in the eye.

Zoe is a better mother than I am. Kellie only listens to Zoe. The fact that I'm dreaming about my dog speaking english and instructing my daughter... Well, that's a dream I have no chance of understanding.

I used to have dreams that Kellie was born without a face. Then I saw her beautiful face in the 3D ultrasound. I didn't dream that dream last night.

Kellie

To start with, I had one room with white/off-white walls. We emptied it of all non-baby items.

I got these stencils from JoAnn's and tested them on printer paper before going to the wall. Good thing I did! I went through three different prototypes before picking one I liked well enough to paint on my daughter's wall.

This is Kellie's growth chart. It came in her baby book. I put it up just to see what it would look like. Of course we'll have to take it off for the steam cleaning.

This is the pattern I maintained throughout the room.
Dragonfly. Butterfly. Ladybug. Flower. Repeat.

That beautiful blanket is from a nice lady at work. She quit to be a stay-at-home mom. But before she left she brought this in for Kellie. She made it! I love it and it matches our nursery.

In Kellie's 20-week ultrasound, I mentioned that I thought she had my nose. Many people said that I was seeing things. But look at this profile picture and tell me she doesn't have my nose. I'll say you are seeing things. Brian made me feel better, saying that he likes my nose. I like my nose. As posted previously, I have come to terms with and am at peace with my nose. But I was hoping that Kellie could have a life without the Chadwick nose. Kids are mean these days! They'll make fun of my baby girl.

Look closely. This is Kellie in my belly. She has her right hand on her face. She kept it there the whole time. Once you've distinguished her facial features...

Look at this!
This is me directly after a c-section birth. Does that face not look familiar? If it doesn't, scroll up and check out Kellie's face again. Now do you see it?

Delayed

Plan and plan as I do, I can not plan for the unexpected. Who knew carpet cleaning companies would be closed to observe Columbus Day?? Well, they are. Consequently, I'll have to adjust to the change in plans. Our carpet won't be cleaned until Tuesday. So we won't be buying the dresser until Wednesday. I'll probably still stencil the walls in Kellie's room this weekend. And play with ideas of how to arrange furniture.

The play-yard/bassinet we registered for has been sold-out for over two weeks. So when it was finally in-stock, I ordered it. I know, I know. I bought another thing on the registry. But it's the only pink play-yard/bassinet I've found anywhere. And Christmas is coming up. And a lot of our planning is pinned on having a bassinet.

So, I bought it.

In response to Heather's comment: I'm worried about Christmas because I'm afraid the bassinet we want will be sold-out again because people are buying it as a Christmas gift. Just because it's the only pink one I've found. Not because everyone and their dog wants a bassinet this Christmas. Make sense?

Payday Weekend

We went to McDonald's for dinner tonight. I usually get a kids meal. Zoe always gets my toy. This time it was a Little Mermaid tiara. After a few pictures, we took it off. While Brian held it in his hands, Zoe tried to push her head back into it! So he put it back on and she strutted around in her little princess get-up. Halloween is going to be a BLAST with Zoe! She loves to play dress-up!

I've been longing for a Gymini playmat by Tiny Love. We have two at the daycare center and the babies absolutely love them. Brand new, they run about fifty to one hundred dollars. So I knew it was a frivolous purchase that was quite unnecessary.
Frugal Mommy that I am, I've been keeping an eye out on eBay and Craig's List. I got this one for five dollars on Craig's List. The mat is a bit faded, but it is in otherwise excellent condition. I was supremely excited! Still am!

This is my -before- shot. I decided to have my hair colored since it has been six months and I was starting to feel drab. (Can you tell it's payday weekend??)

And this is my -after- picture! I'm having it cut tomorrow. There wasn't time for both tonight.
I also got the least-fulfilling pedicure of my life.
It was...awful. But I love my color!

After seeing Heather's belly, I realized I haven't posted a belly picture in a while. Here's Kellie at 28 weeks!
I'm starting to get stretch marks on my belly. Boohoo.

Can you say -tiny-?

I HEART yard sales!
Where else can you find teeny tiny shoes for a buck??