friday links

hello friday! how did you get here so quickly?

4 more days until my in-laws come for a visit! we're all really excited and our guest house {i know, right? we have a guest house. crazy.} is freshly painted and mostly done being cleaned.

i started picking up a few things for jude's birthday party {next sunday!} and making lists of things we'll need and eat. he's very adamant that he is having a monster truck birthday party so i'm going to do my best. the main thing is the cake, right? most three year olds aren't too concerned with games, i don't think, so mostly it'll just be friends and family and yummy food {i let him pick out some candy today; he picked "bananas in pajamas" and gummy worms} and probably some sort of monster truck play area set up with ramps and whatnot in our sandbox. good times!

right now i'm attempting to read my bible and spend time with Jesus and let him calm my heart and speak to my soul before jude's nap is over and noah's quiet time ends. 

but first, some links for your perusal:

i stumbled across this article and loved it. it's more than just making a bucket list. and i love making lists. now the question is, do i get a small notebook for each list? or have one notebook that contains all my lists? {i love notebooks!}

this is such a cute idea. i love that you can do this craft with bottle caps like we have here {from the glass bottles} or in the ones on the plastic bottles back in canada. my kids would love this!

yesterday the boys and i {okay, mainly just me, but the boys were there and started, i just helped them finish} coloured some flags and the olympic rings to get into the olympic spirit! i used this fantastic website to print off the country flags and some are up on our wall. some have yet to be coloured. i am thinking of also making some sort of cookie or cupcake olympic rings similar to this.

and speaking of sweet things, how amazing does this recipe look? rocky road. mmmm. the boys would love this. okay, i would too. but shhh.

and lastly, i spent a good hour or two last night researching car seats online last night. you see, back in canada, we have a kia spectra 5 that still belongs to us. we have no desire to upgrade to a bigger car just because we'll have three kids when we return {for various reasons}. so i've been trying to find the most narrow car seats on the market. it's kinda like one of those crazy brain-teaser puzzles. there's an answer {i think}, it just takes a bit to figure it out.
i think i have found my solution and will probably blog about it when we get back {as i can't really try anything out just yet or give pros & cons, it's all in theory.} but if you've fit three car seats {technically we will only need 1 car seat and 2 booster seats, and also i can only buy canadian car seats or ones approved to be used in canada, just FYI} in the back of a smaller car, i'd love to hear from you!

that's all for now, friends.
happy weekend!

a week and a half to go!!!

Well, it was a busy but really good weekend. Shereen and I got some baking/cooking/cleaning done and my deep freeze is nice and full of delicious foods for after the baby comes. :)
I did think to myself last night "Please don't come tonight, baby. I'm too tired!" and then I dreamt that I had the baby overnight (didn't dream about labour/birth) and we (even Noah!) were holding the baby in the morning and resting and then people were going to come over and visit but we were worried that people would come too soon and we wouldn't be ready (ie. things cleaned up from the birth, etc.).
Then I woke up and breathed a sigh of relief that I made it through the night without going into labour. :)
Oh and then I realized that my throat was sore and then I got mad that I caught the cold that Noah and Jamie have had. Oh well...I guess it was only a matter of time.
A week and a half to go until my due date! So hard to believe, but at one point I didn't think I'd make it this long - I totally thought baby was going to come early. I'm definitely glad he still stuck it out inside me for this long...for sure!
I also got some handmedowns this morning from my friend Jen and have plenty of onesies and sleepers now for the first few months. Phew!
I'm sad, though, because I've definitely misplaced two of my favourite onesies: the one that Erin gave to us for Noah and it was teeny tiny and blue and had a Toronto Maple Leaf on the front and another one that Shereen gave us for Noah that was camo patterened and says: You Can't See Me on it. :( I liked both of those.
I did find my "Got Milk?" onesies, though!
Okay, time to lay down for the last part of Noah's nap!

a wee update

Well I seem to have grown quite a bit in the last couple days.
I FEEL bigger, that's for sure. I've felt more kicks (or punches or head butts...not exactly sure what they are) to the cervix than I remember feeling with Noah, that's for sure. I just feel this baby so much lower than I did, although I'm definitely feeling tightness in my ribcage, that's for sure.
I will have to go for my gestational diabetes test in the next week or two and I'm hoping for the best, though my eating habits don't reflect that at all. Eep!
Not too much else is new in pregnancy-land.
We did some house hunting today and saw a bunch of houses for rent. We really liked a couple of them and will hopefully move forward with those. Somehow we always move when I'm extremely pregnant. It's my ticket to getting out of lifting heavy things. Haha...
It would be SO NICE to live in a house, have our own backyard and be able to do my own laundry in my own house...but for now I will just dream and imagine little Noah and his brother running around and causing a ruckus in our home-to-be. :)
It's also interesting to picture myself giving birth in any of these houses. I'm not so sure we'd tell the home owners that that is the plan...but that's definitely the plan! :) We're so sneaky.

my to do list

Today I rearranged the baby's room and tidied. I put the stroller in the front closet, took the padding off the car seat so I can wash it, put the growth chart giraffe guy up on the wall and put away all the newly washed clothes and blankets. Here are some things I realized I need:

• hangers - can you buy smaller ones for kid/baby clothes?
• the "J" dresser (ahem) sanded and primed to put extra clothes, diapers, blankets, etc. in which will probably stay in the closet
  
• the proper sized brackets for the Ikea shelf I bought
• a small valance rod for the window
• blinds/curtains for the window
• a glider chair :)
• a toy box or hamper or net or some place to put toys
• a night stand and lamp to put beside the glider chair for late night feedings (this is probably more of a "want" than a need)

So that's why I am in no hurry to have this baby ahead of time. I will need all the minutes, hours and days I can get. The window treatments are probably the most important to get up. I'll also need to put up the shelf, find another screw to finish putting on the light switch cover and put up the adorable Zanzibar hooks on the wall.