19/52 + 39 weeks

 1 - The girls have been mix and matching their swimsuits and playing in the backyard with the hose after school all week long. Lark doesn't seem to mind running around bare foot in our pokey weed-filled yard, but LM always makes sure to wear shoes. Just another small way they are total opposites that makes me smile.

2 - LM only has one more week of school and then she will be a Kindergarten graduate! I really can't believe how fast this school year went by, wasn't I just dropping her off for her first day? The timing is actually nice though since I will have a newborn soon and I won't have to worry about getting out of the house at certain times each day for school drop off and pick up. It will be nice to have her home to help me too. She is growing up and proving to be a big help to us around the house and with her sister. I have talked to her about how important her contribution is to our family and how much we appreciate what she can do. We also discussed how a newborn is going to take up a lot of my time and attention, especially at first, and how I will need her to lend an extra hand every now and then. I am certainly not going to overbear her with responsibility, but I am glad she will be there to grab me a burp cloth, or help her little sister put on her shoes. She has declared she will NOT change a poopy diaper, but she WILL put that stinky diaper into the diaper pail for me after I change it. Ha.

3 - Lark is still taking naps for me almost every afternoon but once her sister is home all day I predict they will slowly start to dwindle and I am actually okay with that - it will help with bedtime which she can drag out for a very long time. One of my favorite things she does right now is make up stories. She grabs a book and says she will read it to me and then makes up the funniest little stories with awesome dramatic voice inflections and facial expressions that crack me up. They usually involve a dragon, a princess, a castle made of cheese, some part of the book she is looking at, and a mixture of the Three Little Pigs or Peter Pan. It is truly entertaining, she is a ham and has a fun imagination. She has declared she will get the wipes when it comes to the poopy diaper changing.

4 - Tomorrow is my due date. I am feeling calm and ready. LM took this picture for me since I figured I needed to document my bump in this series for what will hopefully be the final time. Next week I hope to have a beautiful tiny face make his appearance here in place of my large and in charge belly.

Have a nice long weekend :)

living room tour

Here are some pictures of our living room that I snapped right after I cleaned it the other day. Usually the girls have their drawing supplies littered all over the coffee table, the pillows are on the floor, and various books and toys are scattered about the room and I like it that way too.

When it comes to decorating I am a slow one. I tend to take my time and let the decor of our home naturally evolve as I come across something I love here or there. Since we started out with practically nothing when we moved in it has taken some time to fill up the place. We've been living in our home for a year and five months now and I finally feel like our living room feels put together enough to share. I'm sure it will always be changing in little ways and I'm not sure that I'll ever feel like it is completely 'done,' but at least there are pictures hanging on the wall which is more than I can say about the rest of the house.

Since I don't have a large home decor fund at my disposal what you see here was almost all found at the thrift store or through our local classifieds. The chesterfield-style couch, West Elm rug, vintage Lane coffee table, and vintage bar stools were all found second hand for great prices. The little sewing cabinet under the gallery wall is an heirloom from my mother. I remember her sewing atop that cabinet my whole childhood and I am glad to have it in my home now. Most of the little finishing touches like the pillows, throw blanket, plant pots, and picture frames are from either Target or Ikea.

I'd like to add some hanging plants, keep working on the gallery wall, get a new floor lamp that makes more of a statement, and make or find some colorful pillows to add to the couch, but for now we are enjoying this space as it is just fine.

The girl's room is the next closest space to feeling finished, I'll share their corner of our home soon.

18/52 + 38 weeks

1 - LM has finally started showing interest in her dollhouse after pretty much neglecting it for the past couple of years. I thought she would love it when we first gave it to her, but she just wasn't interested even when I sat down to play with her. I am glad it is finally getting some much needed play time on record. I was about to claim it as my own and start decorating it for fun, ha. Now we can do that together.

2 - Lark came down with a fever so we have been taking it easy at home the last couple of days. Gratefully, I think she is on the mend after sleeping most of today.

3 - My next midwife appointment is the day before my due date and I really hope it is my last... fingers crossed. I feel ready to start this next chapter of our lives as a family of five. Both of the girls kept me waiting days past my due date though, so I imagine this dude will give me the opportunity to practice my patience too.

17/52 + 37 weeks

I wasn't very good at getting my camera out this week, as in I didn't get it out at all, so I am using this as an opportunity to go back in time a bit and post some iphone pictures from Easter this year...

1 - The girls wore the matching dresses I made them to church and then we drove up to my mom's little farm for a delicious family dinner and some festivities. It is the perfect setting for an egg hunt, don't you think? You can see our pictures from last year here (husband actually makes an appearance in them, this year we didn't even take a family picture, whoops).

2,3,4 - Scenes from the egg hunt. LM actually found a real Swallow egg in the middle of the field while on a walk with her cousins. She brought it home nestled in a little box and was so excited to show it to her class for show and tell that Friday. We put it up on a shelf to keep it safe, but she liked to get it down to look at often and one day she decided to keep it in her bike basket while riding around the driveway. Well, the bike tipped and I'm sure you can guess what happened. It was so sad. She ended up taking a picture of Swallow eggs in a nest instead.

5 - This week we got items like our baby bath tub and cloth diapers out of storage, and my awesome friends Danielle and Annie threw me a nice baby shower. So, I have a lot of washing and folding and organizing and counting my blessings to do now. I ended up cleaning out the dresser in my craft room to use in the nursery and we got a simple crib that is a keeper, so the main pieces in the room are starting to come together. It is turning out to be a quiet, peaceful little place that I like to slip away to and just sit and think and imagine while baby boy rolls about inside of me.  

16/52 + 36 weeks

1 - LM has been putting the roller skates she got for Christmas to good use all winter long around the house. Now that the weather is warming up and we've been venturing outside more she is getting lots of good practice on more uneven ground. Skating outside has been a lot more challenging for obvious reasons like hills, rocks, and sidewalk cracks, but she is getting the hang of it. Some days she wears her skates until bedtime.

2 - Lark is an early bird and always climbs into bed with us in the morning before we are ready to start the day ourselves. She is usually content to just rest quietly between us until daddy's alarm clock goes off, but some mornings end up looking like this if the game phone is charged and mama is extra tired. 

3 - Well, we made it to baby month! From now on my midwife appointments are weekly which is helping to make me realize how close we are to meeting this little guy - exciting! We did set up the new crib last week but unfortunately it didn't work out for us to use for the baby. We decided to go a different route which I think will be even better. So, now I am hoping this is the week we can at least put some piece of furniture in the nursery, ha.