He's Here!!!!!

Blaine Alexander arrived on October 25 at 3:34 PM weighing in at 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long!!!  Here are just a few pictures that we took in the hospital.  Details and more pictures to come!

 

Having some trouble uploading photos on here.  It's only letting me do one at a time and it takes a while, so I apologize that there are only a few.  I'll try again in a few more days.

Family Time

Tim made it home on Sunday!!!!  He even made it in earlier than expected.  I was frantic for a bit.  I hadn't cleaned the car yet, I didn't do the dishes yet, I didn't make our bed before we left for church that morning, I wasn't wearing what I had planned on wearing when we would go pick him up at the airport, and I didn't have my camera with me.  But, in the big scheme of things, those things definitely aren't that important and Tim didn't seem to mind.  If I was completely honest I'd have to say I felt very relieved that he made it in earlier than expected and that I didn't have to finish my "chores".  Maybe next time around I won't stress about having everything so "perfect"...but I have a feeling that's a lesson I'll have to learn a few times.

Tim does such a great job at switching time zones that we were able to spend all of Sunday afternoon/evening hanging out with him.  The boys didn't take any time at all getting him to wrestle with them.  They certainly miss that.  Monday and Tuesday I really started stressing about having this baby.  Since Tim made it home, I felt quite relieved, but at the same time pressured to make sure I have Blaine ASAP.  Although, I'm not sure why.  I started praying about it though because I didn't want to spend the next week or so consumed with stress about when I would go into labor.  I'm sure this is a common stress for any pregnant woman at the end of her pregnancy, but since Tim is only home for a certain amount of time it seemed to magnify.  I think I've done better these last two days.  I know that Blaine will come in God's timing, and I know that God has our best interest in mind.  I want to make sure that I am enjoying all the moments before Blaine comes with Tim while he is here.  Don't get me wrong...I'm still a little nervous/anxious, but I'm trying to continually turn that over in prayer. 

I've also been really bad about pulling out the camera.  I'm going to leave it on my kitchen table for easy access these next few days.  For the most part we've just been hanging around the house.  We've run some errands and Tim has helped get a few of those last minute things ready for Blaine (like getting the car seat out of the attic).  It's nice to just be at home but at the same time we struggle with it.  We want to get out and go somewhere, but with me being 38 weeks pregnant, major swollen feet, and a history of quick labors..close to home seems to be where it's at.  I'd rather have that though than nothing at all. 

Fall Pumpkins

I have to say I'm VERY excited about this project!  Mainly because, as far as I know, it is my first "original" idea!!!  I'm very good at copying other projects, but this one I came up with on my own!  I do have to give inspirational credit to HL, Walmart, and this website.  (She did this AMAZING wall with Sharpies!)

Have you been to HL and seen those large monogrammed pumpkins?  I'm not huge on monogrammed pieces, but I was confident I could do something similar.  Here's my miniature version...

I picked up this mini pumpkin at my local Dollar Tree.  They also have some at Walmart as well for $1.00.  I then chose a font on Microsoft Word that I liked and printed out a few different sizes.  Once I decided on size, I used my hobby knife to cut out the letter.  I then used the letter like a stencil and traced it with a pencil onto the pumpkin.  Then I went back with my Sharpie and colored it in.  I also used a pencil to sketch on my thick circle, then went back and colored it in with my Sharpie.  I free-handed my thin circle and dots with the Sharpie.

Then I saw a pumpkin at Walmart for $5/$10 that had the words "Give Thanks" on them.  Again..I figured I could do this.  I did the same, as far as finding a font that I like on Word.  The only issue was cutting it out.  It was much too "scripty" to cut it out to use it as a stencil.  So by looking at what I printed, I free-handed it on in pencil first.  Any mistakes could be erased easily with a baby wipe.  Then I went back and filled it in with my Sharpie.  The big pumpkin I also found at the Dollar Tree.  I made a few different versions of these though to be used as gifts for some special ladies.  I did find though that you needed to either use the Super Fine Tip Sharpies on the smaller pumpkins, or just make sure you have a brand new Sharpie.  Otherwise you don't really get the look you want (at least with the font I chose.)

Finally, I wanted to try and imitate this other pumpkin I saw at HL.  The one at the store was a ceramic piece in B&W.  Lots of intricate floral work on it.  I figured since I could get a mini pumpkin for $1.00 if I messed it up it wouldn't be that detrimental.  It definitely didn't turn out quite like I wanted.  But the idea is there and maybe I'll try again next year.  For this pumpkin I bought a stencil set at HL and traced it on my pumpkin with a pencil.  I think it would look better if I would have gotten the stencils closer together; with less space in between each.  And if I do try this again next year I might actually try spray painting it white first to give it a more dramatic look.  Not my favorite outcome, but it will work for now.

This is the project I choose for our MOPS group to do in two weeks, so I think I bought out all available mini pumpkins at the Dollar Tree's and Walmarts in all three cities surrounding me.  I was trying to wait to post this till after our group did this project, but was thinking that if anyone else is interested in trying this it would be too late to find any pumpkins.  You could of course do this on real pumpkins too, of any size, but I like that I can have them again for next year.

$0.91 Burp Cloths

I didn't really keep a lot of baby clothes or basic things from my previous two boys.  I knew there would be a possibility of having more kids, but maybe there was a small part of me that was thinking, "There's no way I could have three boys in a row"!  Haha.  The things we convince ourselves of!  Plus, a lot of the stuff I did have had made it thru two boys, which meant lots of stains.  (I'm horrible at getting stains out of anything.)  In the past I've just used the plain white cloth diapers as burp cloths.  They definitely serve their purpose...they're just not so "cute".  I was debating for a while whether I should buy some more, but then I came across this pretty cheap material at Walmart that would suffice for the back side and I picked up some flannel at HL for the front.  There weren't too many patterns in flannel to choose from, but four was enough.  All in all, there were 4 yards of fabric which allowed me to make 16 burp cloths, averaging at $0.91 a burp cloth.  Not too shabby!.  Plus they have some character to them opposed to the plain white cloth diapers!

Potty Time!

Colin has shown signs of being ready to potty train off and on for the last six months or so.  I'm just not sure I'm ready!  Before Tim left we were doing a lot of traveling.  And soon there will be a change with a new baby, Tim coming home for a few weeks, then more traveling.  Still not convinced it's the best time, or right time, but he's still showing interest so we are all up for "pre-potty training".  He's stood at the toilet plenty of times, but we have yet to have a successful pee in the toilet.  He wanted to sit on the toilet the other night and about ten minutes later he pooped in the tub..so maybe he does know what's going on more than I think.  So I went out and bought him a little seat that goes on the toilet.  At first he choose to wear it on his head...

No worries though..we won't be letting him do that again.  And within minutes, he was taking the seat upstairs to the bathroom.  He gets so excited when he gets to sit on the toilet.  Now if we can just get him to actually pee in it.  But I'm not stressing over it.  After things settle back down after the New Year than we can really start to focus on it, but right now I just want to encourage his interest.