Card Tree

I finally figured out why it was taking me so long to write... ; )  I don't want to complain.  I have plenty I could whine and moan about..but I’m still thankful.  Of course, I'm still pregnant..and doing well. : )  Resting a lot more and growing!

And of course, I’ve been busy. ; ) Baby Carter’s room is finished!  I covered a lamp shade with the light blue toile, made a boppy cover with the white minky dot and the toile, added some art and pictures I got in Branson from P. Graham Dunn (love them-all Christian themed art!), and made a decoupaged C for his wall out of handwritten paper.  Ches also finished writing Carter’s prayer on his picture mat, and it is framed and hung.  We also ordered a new Baby Bjorn carrier for the summer (white and mesh, so it’s cooler!).  I’m SO happy to have things finished, so I feel ready for him..I even packed his diaper bag! ; )  Here are some updated pictures:

same-same, I think!

And..I’ve been making more valentine’s mailboxes!  I made some for friends, and finished the kids’.  I also found little buckets at Wal-Mart that were red with a big white heart on the front, so I put their names on them, and have finished their Valentine’s treasure hunt!  We did a treasure hunt last year for their little gifts (more emphasis on hunt, less on chocolate!), and I thought the end could be the buckets.  I put a few chocolates inside, and some rolled up gift certificates with bows-for their booty.  They are also getting some new books, and Mary Claire is getting money in her “Mom Bank” (she has a deposit book with all the money she’s earned!) for the Kindle she is still saving for, and I made her a new pump pouch.  Ethan is dying to have an SD Card with music for his Nintendo DS like his brother and sister, so I’ve got to put some music on it for him!

I used a font that looks like handwriting, so you can't tell their names are even in vinyl!

coupons : )

she really needed a new pump pouch! ; )

Lastly…we are getting ready for Mary Claire’s teacher’s birthday in a couple weeks.  ..and I made her a Card Tree!  (don’t laugh-I went back and forth trying to decide if it was cute, or just CrAzY!)  It is just a decoupaged tin pail with ribbon on the handle, and a big branch from my yard poked into some foam in the bottom.  (I did have to weight it with rocks to make sure it wouldn’t tip!)  I tied tiny clothespins all over the branches with different colored ribbons to hang note cards or gift cards for the teacher!  I used all Me & My Big Ideas papers on the sides with sweet little kid faces-so cute!  It’s so happy-looking, I can’t look at it and not smile. : )

The branch is pretty big!  But..it had to hold at least 24 clothespins! ; )

This is the bucket covered in paper, and the handle is all tied with ribbons. : )  She can always pull out the branch and foam, and just use the bucket.  Not everyone needs a big tree, heehee.

I covered the foam with the white shredded paper.  ..You can't look at those happy kids and be grumpy! ; )

What will YOU personalize?

Ok, I told you about my Christmas break BFF, Food.  We had a great vacation together!

Now..I'm seriously crushing on this new toy Santa brought me.  It is a Silhouette Cameo machine.  A cross between a printer and a cutter.  You have software (totally free, try it out!), that you create things in, then send them out to the cutter to cut.  Kinda like a Cricut, but you can use all your own fonts (I have a million!), or you can buy designs on their website for 99 cents or under.  (instead of $50 for Cricut cartridges with only one font or four designs!)

You can cut cardstock (to make little boxes and gift card holders or scrapbook titles), fabric (to decoupage, make cards with, or sew around), regular paper or scrapbook paper (unlimited ideas!), or my personal favorite?  Vinyl!  You can get all colors of repositionable (knew spell check would catch that one!) vinyl for your walls or doors, to make a vinyl chalkboard for your pantry, etc.  You can also get the permanent outdoor vinyl to make signs for your windows, car, or even cups and bowls that can go through the dishwasher!  I haven't been brave enough to try the permanent..I have to practice before I can commit to permanent vinyl.  We're still dating, after all. ; )


So..want to see a picture to help visualize?  Here are some little mailboxes I got from Target for a dollar each (they have them before every Valentine's Day if you need one!):

And..I'm still s.l.o.w.l.y working on the baby's room.  I found new lamp shades for some lamps I already had, found a great mirror 50% off, and made a minky dot sheet to match the bedding I got online.  I'm also nearly finished with some birdhouses I am painting and decoupaging to hang on the 'branch'..that branch that will stand in for a mobile.  Totally unreachable by little hands..unless they try to climb.  Hmm..that would be bad.  Must add that to my list of things to worry about.
Here are some pix of the unfinished room:

I "updated" them by adding fancy new polka-dotted knobs.  Easy!

The lamp is going on an end table over by the chair...that's not in the room yet!  No, I won't let baby fall off the changing table. ; )  ..and I'm making a changing pad cover since I moved it to the dark changing table.  I am thinking pale turquoise and white plaid. ; )

The bedding!  And the sheet I made ; )

All the birdhouses lined up in a row..ready to be hung!

My first monogrammed thing for him-a real commitment to his name! ; )

How they ended up (and you can not force a birdhouse to turn the way you like, FYI)

This is a wrought iron thing I found in Missouri-kind of a memo board.  The kids painted and made him a welcome sign!

And we moved Ethan's furniture down (but we are still waiting on his new PB furniture to show up!!  They tell us Friday now..)

I saw my doctor again last Thursday for an appointment and my glucose tolerance test.  I even took one of Mary Claire's little pokey things, 33 gauge needles, and alcohol pads to poke myself, since they use those razor blade cutters to slice your finger.  But they didn't even check my fasting blood sugar, just drew blood an hour after the nauseating drink.  I was slightly disappointed I didn't get to wield my own weapon. : (  I haven't heard back, but I'm sure it's fine unless they call.  He also said I've made it to ViABiLiTy, so that is a huge milestone for us. : )  He said if I can make it another 10 weeks, there is no difference in the long term outcome of the child.  I can do 10 more weeks. ; )

I'm also having another ultrasound at my next appointment to check on that placenta that was covering my cervix.  I'm praying it's moved up! It was covering the spot where they cut for a c-section, so it's a little dicey.  I really want him to be able to cut in the same spot, you know since I'll be wearing a bikini this summer.  HA!!  Not.


I had a really strong contraction (ok, a HUGE pain a couple inches above my belly button and a hard tummy all over) yesterday, so I came home and pushed water and rested.  I was up a lot yesterday running errands, but I usually don't start to contract till 27 weeks.  I will say..it was scary.  I was grocery shopping with Ethan, and got a little panicky.  It kept hurting, but after rest, it was totally gone.  Little less movement last night (he's normally SO active from 4-5am!), but today seems totally normal.  So that slow stuff?  Yep, gonna keep going slow!  It is just too early.  Gotta get 10 more weeks in, minimum. ; )


Yes, I'll make you a sticky piece of vinyl to stick on something (on a picture frame? little tin pail? clipboard? door? your laptop? notebook? mirror?)!  I figure it's easier to mail the vinyl ready to stick than mail a mailbox or something to you!  I'm not a pro, so it'll be a little border and a simple word (like on the mailboxes), on vinyl transfer paper ready to stick on.  I only have black and silver vinyl so far.


So, here we go!  Limited to the first five people, unless I am squishy and feel that everyone deserves their name on something.  heehee ; )  Let me know what word/name you want, and black or silver.  Happy early Valentine's Day! or Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day!

ps-You can send me your mailing address at busymom3370@yahoo.com if I don't already have it. ; )

You stuck that branch where?

Two days in a row, peeps!  This is HUGE! ; )

I just had a busy, productive day, and had to share. : )

Big, older chair

We moved out the older chair and a half (that took up so much room!)-it now has a beautiful new home.  It was a great chair, and gave us great years-but I had to make room for my new BFF, my rocker-glider.  LoVe that thing!  : )  Oh, did you need a picture?  to make you fall in love too?  K, let me grab my camera...

New, smaller chair-with linen slipcover that rocks!  *Love*

Now you can share my love. haha! ; )  So, then we had to c-l-e-a-n the 50" x 40" dirty spot on the floor that it left behind!  Gosh, I think it's been at least a year or more.  There was a Nilla wafer, some beads, and some general dust. : )  Fun stuff I'm doing over here.  I can say the room smells super-clean (kinda like Pledge!) now.  I even added a wallflower to scent it nicely (non-Pledge).

And..wanna see my latest idea?  I decided I needed an au-naturale mobile.  I asked Ches to find me a huge branch (preferably birch or sycamore-beautiful bark!).  He found a couple-one was gorgeous-but WAY too big.  Then we got it just right.  Here is the branch:

And then..I decided to put the bed in the other corner (he loves this part of me ; )..and then we hung the branch with cup hooks (you know the ones that screw into the ceiling?), and used clear fishing line to hang the branch.  We (meaning I helped direct the paint brush where he should paint) then painted over the cup hooks to match the wall/ceiling color, and voila!  Hanging Branch.  ; )

Amazingly, this was the same location where it was growing-headed straight for the house.  (Kinda reminds me of the winter we DiD have a branch through our roof-after the ice storm!)

My plan (but I'm tired for today..) is to hang little cute things from the branches over the bed with more fishing line.  I am not sure what..but I'll get there.  I am thinking bird houses, silver crowns, birds, glittery stars..something.  I want it to be babyish, but boyish.  I'm finding it's a hard decision!  My theme so far is spa blue, chocolate/cocoa brown, white/ivory, toile, and kinda french.  Do you have any ideas for the mobile-hanging things?


And..to check in on that other baby, Diabetes..we've had to adjust things lately.  Today, I finally committed to upping (is that a word?) Mary Claire's basal rates-almost all day!  I also slightly changed her correction ratios-I was catching myself adding at least a .1 almost every time she was high.  I am horribly conservative in changing things permanently!  Worries me that she'll go low. : (  So we are back to record-keeping.  I printed new charts, and had to write every time we checked her and she put something in her mouth (and it reminded me how hungry she is all the time!).  I have to keep that girl busy, or she is obsessed with food!  Any food.  (well, not cheese so much.)


So, tonight we'll be up extra checking our girl, making sure she's okay.  Guess it gets us used to a baby?  Gosh, I really do love my sleep.  Almost as much as my chair. ; )
Hope you sleep well tonight!  Maybe you could gaze up at a branch growing from your wall? ; )

Furniture, Frosting, and a big FiVE!

Oh gosh-I'm so out of the habit of writing! : (  I have to get better.  So many things happen in a day!

My sweet boy is FiVE!

..and Jump Zone is the best for birthdays! ; )

We had Ethan's FiFtH birthday-he's growing so fast!  He chose Jump Zone, and requested shrimp..my boys are fishy-eaters.  ; )  He also still has an aversion to cake after throwing up this summer after my dad's birthday-he's just SURE it was the cake.  So..we got a big cookie! 

(all covered in frosting..so same thing!)

make a great wish! : )

He had two bites of the big green train frosting engine, and declared he was going to throw up.  He went out to the car, and held the trash can to his face all the way home.  (but..no throw up!)

And..I've finally been getting to work on the baby room!  We have partially cleaned out the room..and ta-da!  We put the baby bed together.  : )  When we had Clay we bought nice furniture, and we've used it for every child.  But now?  They don't sell the baby beds with the sides that come down anymore (..they are DaNgErOuS!).  I know they are dangerous, but I hate to buy a new one for the last baby..I mean our kids never got out (ok, well, not until they were old enough to crawl over the side and run down to see us!).  Is it worth a new bed?  I do like that they are lower to the ground, and easier for shorter moms to reach over the sides. ; )  But for now, I am happy with our bed.  (Counts, right?)

It's starting to feel like a real baby room-but we are still calling it the office.  I'm sure when it's all ready, we'll start to call it a baby room-just not yet.  We also had to order some new furniture for Ethan's room since we need the baby furniture he's still got!  : )  Since I've been stalking Pottery Barn's website, they've been sending me reminders about stuff I've looked at, and they sent a 15% off my entire web purchase!  (So..I had to order since the furniture was already marked down a little!) ; )  Can't wait to get furniture and get Ethan's traded out!

I also shopped a little..since my computer was all warmed up with all those after-Christmas sales. ; )  I only got some baby bedding (since I'm not feeling like I have time and energy to make baby bedding this time!) and I found bedding with the fabrics I was going to order anyway! (Central Park toile in Horizon)  Bonus! : )  I went and bought some coordinating fabrics today.  I'll need to make an extra blanket, a pad for the changing table..cover a lampshade, etc. ; )  Love extra fabric!

And...we think we might be close to a NaMe.  Yesterday, Ches asked if I was considering any other name (other than Carter), and I said not really. ; )  I feel like it's supposed to be his name.  He told me Merry Christmas, and said he could be Carter, heehee. :o)  Now he gets to pick the middle name (and he's torn between Nicholas, Maximilian, and Xavier), since I'm happy over just having Carter.  We'd decided together on John Carter, but there's a stupid movie coming out this spring (around his due date, no less!) by the name of JOHN CARTER!  Can you believe that?  We were all into the double boy names (love Jean Luc-say it with a French accent! but it doesn't fit us, and Jean Marc, and Ben Luca, and Finn Niclas, ahhh..they are all so lovely and romantic, but alas, not us.)  But, John Carter was different. (American, that is.)  And John Ryan (reminded me of Jake Ryan though!) (Bonus ten points if you can name the movie!!).

ps-We have this really cool Snoopy ap (Snoopy's Fair!), and you can click on the photo booth and take pictures (only Mary Claire can find the photo booth..I've yet to find it myself!), so here are a few of our fun shots:

Such fun..even for a little iPhone ap-turns dinner into a party! : )

Sweet little Ethan-we are so happy you are in our family.  You bring us joy, tons of laughs with your big personality, love with your bear hugs (and Angry Bird attacks!), and even your big mistakes are so forgiven with those precious "I'm sorry's" that come so easy now.  You are precious, and we are thankful for the gift of you!

and as Mary Claire likes to pray..we hope you have another 100 happy, healthy birthdays!  Love you, baby!