Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Getting Close

9/28/10 (38 week pic to be posted later)

I am not sure what God is trying to do with me but it's something. I am 38 weeks pregnant now and am having good and bad days still. I am very thankful that I'm not working cause I don't know if I could make it! The other day I prayed a lot about going into labor...but it hasn't been answered yet (the good thing is it will be soon!). But each day I see as it possibly being "today". I am experiencing cramping last night and this morning with more Braxton Hicks...but we'll see when it turns into the real thing.

My struggle is the bad days. On Saturday I developed this rash on my belly. My stomach has been itching really bad and I don't like the rash cause it itches too. I felt kind of miserable that night. It hasn't gone away and was better yesterday. Then, I think it's the season changing, but I have been waking up at night and this last night I developed a stuffy nose and feeling drained. So now I have a cold along with this rash. I just didn't think I'd be getting all these ailments at the end of my pregnancy. It's hard cause I am not feeling well right now and I think about how I'll feel if I go into labor tonight.....ughhh.

But through it all I need to remember to praise my Lord and Savior. I have so much to be thankful for. I am having a baby girl soon, I have a wonderful husband and family, and I can stay home and rest right now. I remember the story of Job and how he lost everything and the Apostles being in prison and stoned for their passion for Christ and they still praised the Lord. How am I worthy of anything less? I have a comfy home and can talk about the Lord all I want without torture. My goal in this life isn't to be comfortable, it's to bring glory to my Savior and King. Soon this will be a memory and I just want to glorify God through this time because He deserves glory ALL the time. So that's my lesson in this blog and this day. The Lord is good all the time and always deserves praise.

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
2 Corinthians 12:9

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Scrap-booking Frenzy and Tips

9/25/10

So if you know me personally you know that I love to scrapbook. I have scrapbooks of Kyle and I's dating years, high school, engagement photos, wedding, honeymoon, first Christmas, 1st year, our house being built, and now our 3 year photos/pregnancy professional pics. Whew! I am also in the process of a scrapbook documenting my whole pregnancy and I've started a baby book for Abigail. I guess I do love scrap-booking!


Well I wanted to show some of my latest scrapbook in this blog. Maybe it'll give some of you hesitant scrap-bookers ideas to do your own! For this one I had found a scrapbook from a long time ago that had nothing really done to it so I made it our 3 year book. It's just a black leather one. If anyone has any ideas for the outside I would like to know cause it does seem kind of plain!




Here's a page I really like.


Love these...it's amazing what some ribbon can do!


I was 29 weeks pregnant. I love the woods...great nearby park.


I like these of just me and my soon-to-be baby girl inside :)


**Tips for new scrap-bookers!

- Pick a theme for your book (wedding, full year, k-12 for kids, etc). If you just mash a bunch of pictures together you'll get frustrated and it'll look strange if there's no theme to it.

- Buy half-off! Hobby Lobby especially has half-off their scrap-booking supplies about every-other week.

-Buy a scrap-booking kit. You can spend less money on a scrapbook that comes with paper, stickers, die-cuts, ribbon, etc. If you buy from Hobby Lobby at their half-off then you can get one for $15 or possibly less. That's a great deal and that'll help you have enough stuff and stay organized.

- Stock up. When you see clearance stickers or stamps buy them cause the more stuff you have in your collection the easier it is to whip something up and not go looking for it when it's time and spend full price.

Hope that helps!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Stay-at-home Wife and soon Mommy

9/20/10




So this is my first week EVER of being an official stay-at-home wife/mom. It's very exciting! I love being able to just do things around the house and not worry about keeping a schedule and such. But I am definitely not one to sit around and waste time. I keep just as busy being home because I don't like to feel lazy. Except sometimes I try to do too much (surprise, surprise) and today I started feeling bad and had to lay down. I talked to Kyle on the phone at lunch and he was like, "Steph, you don't have to run around the house all day long, you need to rest too!" Ha, ha. It's just hard!

I did get a lot accomplished today. One thing I'm doing is making freezer meals so that when I have Abigail I won't have to worry too much about what to prepare or taking too much time to prepare things at first. I don't want us to resort to eating out and I don't want that burden on Kyle cause he has enough work to do. He's not even home and has been working for 12 hours so far. Anyways, I bought homemade French Bread and made my garlic bread for 4 future meals and just wrapped them in foil. All I have to do is pull it out, let it defrost, and throw it in the oven. It's just like buying the boxes at the store except without preservatives and added fat! I also made lasagna, spaghetti sauce, and vegetable spaghetti sauce thing for lunches for me. I put those in individual freezer bags and will heat up noodles...it'll be like a frozen dinner. I have more things to make but that's what I did today.

I am so thankful to the Lord for allowing me to fulfill my dream of staying home to take care of my family. He has blessed me beyond comprehension. 6 years ago I had just met Kyle and had butterflies were in my stomach wondering what would happen with this cute guy. Now I'm his wife of over 3 years and pregnant with his daughter. I know it was all God and through prayer and His grace, He has made this all possible.

Delight yourself also in the LORD,And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Baby Progress

9/18/10

I'm 36 weeks and 4 days right now. About 3 days ago I started having Braxton Hicks contractions a lot! I'm still having them regularly and I went to the doctor yesterday. They said I am dilated about 1 cm and my cervix is softening!! I also got the strep B test, so not a big deal! Anyways, now I've started having a cramping feeling on and off. So we'll see what happens in the next week or so! I am pretty safe now to have her and the midwife said I could exercise again but no weights. So ball bouncing, walking outside, possibly elliptical here I come!

Here is a pic of me just over 36 weeks....oh boy am I big!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Fall Wreath

9/17/10

Ok, this is my first tutorial! Hope you enjoy it!

So I was inspired to make my own fall wreath because I have plenty of inside decor but nothing for the door! And I saw Mandy's tutorial on how to do one of these too. I just changed some stuff to make it my own (mandysyellowcorner.blogspot.com). Part of making my own things is to save MONEY also! Well I think I was successful on this one. I saw wreaths you could buy at Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabric, and Michaels but they were all like 20-50 dollars. YIKES! Well I was able to make my own for, guess....less than $3.00 dollars! Yipee!! I got the wreath from the dollar store and bought the felt from Hobby Lobby for 25 cents a sheet. Now that's a good deal.


Ok so I had felt sheets and I cut them into strips. For a small "ball" use one strip like this. Then use a hot glue gun to glue the end. Sorry I didn't do the best with taking pics of all the materials first!!


If you want a bigger one then use 2 strips of felt and roll them together. Even bigger, go with 3 strips.


This is how you roll them.


Here are the different sizes of the felt pieces. I ended up going and buying 3 more pieces of felt because I didn't have enough. So I used a total of 6 sheets. I got brown the second time instead of yellow. After I finished all of them, I glued them all over the wreath spacing out colors and sizes. Then my friend Tiree had bought these buttons that have fall things on them...like sunflowers, pumpkins, leaves, etc and I glued those onto some of these roll-up pieces of felt. So here is a picture of my final piece of work hung on our front door! I bought the hanging piece at the dollar store too!


Thursday, September 16, 2010

Creativity Coming Out!!

9/16/10

So I've decided to get more thrifty and creative with all these people inspiring me! Lisa Rohrer, Steph Ebright, and other bloggers that I don't know but have awesome tutorials! So I want to get a sewing machine and start my own projects! Once I do I will start posting things I do to this blog....Creative Mom here I come!!!

Here are some inspirations of things I want to do in the future!





Sunday, September 12, 2010

So I want to start sewing and make fun stuff for cheap! Lisa Rohrer is an inspiration to me with her dress making, blankets, and these pins that she's giving away! I would love to win them and here they are! Just click the link to enter the contest!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Abigail Louise's Room

9/8/10


Door plaque that Kyle had his cousin Angie make!


Dresser and fun stuff...there will be a picture frame with a poem of "Daddy" in it to the right of the butterfly on the wall but we need her to come out first to take a pic of her and Kyle together :)


Her butterfly crib! Don't worry the stuffed animals won't stay!


Verse I painted on the wall!


Nursing/rocking, reading nook...this is my favorite part of the room...I know we'll spend a lot of time here :)


Another pic with widened angle...


So I'm getting pretty pumped about Abigail coming. I told Kyle yesterday that I feel like I'm just waiting now...waiting for her to come and waiting to be a mommy. I am very excited and she is going to be a very loved little girl :)

Here are pics of her room...almost complete! Just a couple things needed and pics to go in frames!


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

False Alarm

9/1/10

Today I got worried cause I had a couple of things happen to me that seemed to be an onset of labor. I knew I wasn't actually in labor cause I wasn't having steady contractions. But since I'm only 34 weeks I was concerned about pre-term labor which I don't want! I ended up going to the midwife and getting checked out and everything is fine. So I am relieved. I am definitely needing to face some fears though about it all. I just hate pain and getting checked out "down there" so the combination coming is the worst scenario possible. haha. But I know it's all worth it and soon I will have my baby girl in my arms and it'll all be just a memory.