photos {croppin' with my sista}

This past Saturday, my sister and I were supposed to attend an all-day crop in Charlotte. Unfortunately, we arrived to find out it'd been cancelled (and we hadn't been notified). So, we improvised and spent the day at Sherry's dining room table instead.

photos {snow}

It wasn’t anything to write home about, but we did actually get some snow on Tuesday. I was disappointed to wake up and realize I could still see grass poking out from under the light layer of white flakes. The good news is that it didn’t mess up my day (I was still able to go to my doctor’s office). The bad news is that it wasn’t enough to really play in. I did enjoy watching the snow continue to fall throughout the morning while I worked from home at the kitchen table.

photos {matt's birthday}

Matt's long-lasting birthday was last week. It started Sunday at his parent's house. His actual birthday was Tuesday - he got gifts, dinner out with me and Spencer, mysterious decorations in the front yard. Thursday night we went out to dinner with another couple.

Matt & Spencer @ The White Horse

Matt is excited about his new kitchen knife set (weird, I know)

Opening cards at his parents' house

Us with Scott & Cameron @ Hickory Tavern

{35 weeks}

This was taken Tuesday @ 35 weeks...good gracious.

{365 kit}

This is the kit I got about a week and a half ago. I am very pleased with the value. Look how much you get for $40!!! Can't beat that with a stick.

In one of the boxes, I placed all the small journaling cards and added a pen. In the other box, I organized the other items by adding some tabbed dividers that I had on hand.
The kit included some 12x12 papers, larger journaling cards and a date stamp - none of which *fits* anywhere. I added a 12x12 page protector to the back of the album to hold these items and a black ink pad. I would like to replace this with something a bit sturdier that has a top closure.

{16 things}

I've recently seen others posting 16 things about themselves right now...so I thought I'd play along. I have no idea why *16* is the magic number...

1. I’m 35 weeks and 1 day today… I wonder when Coleman will join us?
2. I can’t keep up with all the reading I’m trying to do – pregnancy books (trying to finish so I can move on to baby books), baby/parenting magazines (the endless flow of free ones is crazy), books related to the Library of Memories class I’m taking, scrapbooking magazines, plus “for fun” books – currently a Stuart Woods novel. I don’t even try to read TV Guide or Southern Living anymore (the only 2 subscriptions we get, other than Creating Keepsakes).
3. I stayed up way too late last night downloading songs. Matt & Scott both have new iPods and have no clue what to do with them. I was building playlists for them and trying to download new songs as quickly as they could think of them. Finally I had to tell them I was done – it was after midnight and I had to get up at 5:00. I did enjoy having some new music this morning for my commute.
4. I shamefully admit that I did not watch the inauguration yesterday, and no more than a few minutes of news clips.
5. I’m tinkled pink that American Idol is back on and I can’t wait until it gets to *the good stuff*.
6. We’ve finished Coleman’s room – finito! I am pleased with it. I love, love, love the decal we just added.
7. I am incredibly excited about my shower this weekend!! The closer it gets, the more anxious I become. I feel so blessed to have friends and family that are excited about our growing family.
8. I’m disappointed in the snow yesterday. I was really hoping for something that I could play in (even if Spencer wasn’t there – I’m not afraid to look like an idiot).
9. Long sleeve maternity tees from Target make me happy. They are one of the few things that are comfortable right now.
10. Apparently my feet are more swollen than I realized. I tried on 2 pairs of black boots this morning, neither of which I could wear. I hope it’s temporary and that my feet haven’t stretched that much. I have a lot of shoes – shoes that I really like – shoes that I can’t afford to replace.
11. I love looking at creative, messy things…but still my style, my house ,my life always ends up being very straight and symmetrical.
12. I like McDonald’s coffee better than most places. I do not like Starbucks coffee at all (please don’t shoot me). I only get “froo froo” drinks there.
13. I’m blind as a bat. I am nearsighted…very much so. My glasses are probably one of the most expensive things I own outside of my home and cars (which technically the bank owns more than I do, so do they even count???). Our LCD TV is worth more…but that’s probably about it.
14. Organization makes me happy. Cute organization leaves me elated. Unfortunately, the lack of such leaves me as equally unhappy.
15. As I sat quietly in Matt’s recliner this morning, eating my cereal and telling the dogs they had to wait to go out…I wondered to myself how long it’d be before I could do something so peaceful and selfish after the baby’s born.
16. Today I learned that my dad’s three sisters are technically only his half-sisters. Not really a big deal – but odd that I haven’t known that for the last 30 years.

{35 weeks}

a little over a month, 5 weeks, 35 days...

baby coleman: probably won't be growing much more in length, but will continue to put on the pounds while he's in there (should be over 5 lbs by now).

baby's mama: had a few rough days with pretty horrendous chest pain. but it's not every day, so that's good. i went to the doctor today and the baby is head now - woohoo! he didn't have much input on the chest pain, but it is a sign of preclympsia (sp?), but since i don't have any other symptoms he's not too worried about it. he said it was good to document. i'm on weekly appointments from now on (fun). had the group b strep test done (guess i'll get the results next week). looked into a daycare center (as opposed to in-home daycare) yesterday and i'm still trying to grasp the cost. it was insane. very excited about the shower this weekend!!!

{34 weeks}

6 more weeks (42 days) to go...

Baby Coleman: Should be weighing in at close to 5 lbs and around 18 inches long! That's a for-real-baby in there!! Statistics show that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks tend to do just fine with little chance of long term complications. That makes me very happy :) Kidneys are fully developed. Liver is beginning to produce waste (gross). I felt him hiccup for the first time this week (I always get asked this question for some reason).

Baby's Mama: My updates tell me that he should be starting to drop some. I think this may be true, but maybe not too much yet. I say this because I think I actually slept much of last night on my side without excruciating pain - something I haven't done in a while. So, it's possible that his new, lower position might be relieving some of that. Doctor's appointment is next Tuesday. I'm actually looking forward to this one in the hopes that they can tell me how he's positioned or something! We bought some closet organizers for Coleman's room and also did some reorganizing (and purging) in the kitchen to make room for all of those baby things.

layout {coleman rhea}

tonight i put together this simple layout for my pregnancy layout. obviously, it has the baby's name on it :) and the journaling tucked into the pocket explains the whole process of how we came to name him.

{daily december album}

Based on Ali Edwards' project, I decided to do the Daily December Album this year (well, technically last year). I began in late November when we started decorating. The base of the album is an 8x8 Bind-It-All, but I added various sized items and pages within. I did not do a base album ahead of time, like Ali does. I wasn't able to keep up with it daily but I took photos, saved things and made notes along the way. I worked on it when I could and finished last week. Overall, not too shabby. It was a fun and liberating project! I don't think I'd do it every year but I love the concept and I'm so very glad I did it.



You can go here to see photos of the entire book and read the details.