Five on Friday catch up :)

Soooo, my last post was December 20.  I guess I should catch up. ;)

1.  We loved staying put for Christmas.  This was our first Christmas in 9 years of married Christmases to wake up Christmas morning in our own house!  Don't get me wrong, we have been so blessed by our parents' hospitality each year we've traded off spending Christmas with one family or the other AND blessed with the means and time off to travel to our families. But there is something extra sweet, especially now that we have children, about waking up in your own bed and your own house and having family time just our little family before joining the larger group(s).  Anna Reaghan loves her Lady & Tramp stuffed animals just like we hoped she would. :)  And Asa loves his diesel engine and tanker truck just like we thought he would.  In general, we each (Matt, sibling(s), me) pick out a gift for the kids and then they might receive 1 or 2 other small things.  Matt chose a beginner's telescope to give Asa, and the look of amazement on Asa's face when he saw craters on the moon the other night was just priceless and has set off a renewed fascination with space for him. :)  We also gave them Jingle and Bell interactive story buddies from Hallmark, and they are quite enamored with them. They came with books and a cd audio book the dogs respond to, and Asa has almost all of his dog's story memorized already!  My parents gave the kids a movie the dogs respond to and a Christmas carol book they "sing" along with!  They are a HIT, and the kids have been very excited to have gifts that "go together," so to speak. :)

2.  We spent more time painting right around Christmas while Matt had a few days off.  He wins UBER patient husband of the year, because I changed my mind about the darker purple color after we painted it and took down all the tape.  Ooops!  It was just too bold and too much contrast for my preferences.  I would have been okay if we had left it, but it did not look the way I had envisioned.  I asked him to consider us repainting the darker stripes, and he agreed we could probably get the room closer to our vision.  I re-taped the dark stripes and baseboards, and we got back to work.  When we pulled the tape off *again* after painting the new color, I could not wipe the grin off my face.  I LOVE it!  It softened the room so much and it looks like the baby soft lavender room I had in mind.  Love love love!

Attempt number 1:  turned out just a bit too bold

Muuuuuch better.  I am not sure how much the difference comes across in photos, but the room really has a soft, airy lightness about it now. :)

3.  We switched out the girls' cribs so Lila's room has the crib that matches our changing table (it was in AR's room) now.  That afforded Asa and Anna Reaghan the opportunity to play "jump jump" on a crib mattress while we assembled the cribs themselves. :)

4.  And I finished Lila's bedding!!! I was starting to sweat this one--I am full term and her bedding was not done.  We have never waited this long to get a baby's room together!  EEEK!  But I completed the bumper--I am SOO pleased with how it turned out!  And I think buying a cheap bumper from a consignment store to deconstruct and recover was definitely the right way to go.  The batting is just the right stiffness, and I worked up the nerve to make and use cording for the first time.  I think the cording along the top of the bumper gives it a nice, polished look.  Next we found some cream "curtains" (cheat:  they are actually $5 twin flat sheets from Walmart!) onto which I sewed 2 strips of bedding fabric to embellish them and pull the designs together.  Lastly, I made the crib skirt--all in one day last Saturday!  Eventually I'd like to make Lila a quilt as a keepsake, but I probably won't even start that before she's born unless she does end up coming 2 weeks late and I'm out of things to do. ;)

5.  We have had a few "snow" days with the frigid cold air that traveled all the way down South.  They were only a dusting, but that is enough to DELIGHT this little boy!  The second day it dusted he wanted to go out in the snow (again) even though the windchill temperature was in single digits.  Brrrrrr!  But I layered us up with warm clothes and coats and took him out to wander around the yard a bit (AR is not a fan of the cold and was playing happily in bed, so I just postponed getting her out of bed until we came back inside :)).

6.  I have made a few shirts for Lila and her BIG siblings!  I planned these (after seeing my inspiration for them on Old Navy's website) for when Asa and Anna Reaghan meet Lila for the first time!

7.  And I made Lila's name letters.  After considering several possible decorating options, I settled on covering them with fabric.  After I complete the crib skirt, I saw that I definitely have enough fabric to make a quilt eventually and could spare a little more fabric for the letters.  Then I bought some ribbons and flower embellishments to dress up the letters just a little bit. :)

8.  On a local "trading" site through Facebook, I acquired a side table and cd alarm clock for $15 each! We actually traded Anna Reaghan's side table to Lila's room and AR got the new table. :)  The one that is in Lila's room now has a small drawer which is REALLY handy for keeping burp cloths nearby or mylicon gas drops on hand but out of sight of siblings who might be intrigued by them. ;)  The table itself has a shelf for the cd player and it's the perfect place to set a bottle of water for me to sip on while nursing or place my glasses if I nod off with Lila in the middle of the night. ;)


9.  We have had several rounds of playdates while friends have been visiting from out of town.  First we got to see Ashley and Samuel on Christmas Eve.  It was GREAT to see Ashley and fun to see how much Samuel has changed just since the summer!  He loved all of Asa's trucks. :)  Two days after Christmas I hosted round 1 of gathering with friends from my high school/college Bible studies.  It was fun to have a house full and meet some of the little ones I had not yet/again see how others have grown. :)  Not everyone was in town at the same time though, so yesterday morning I hosted round 2 of old Bible study friends.  It is a blessing to see them and their little ones and catch up!  I wish I had taken pictures EITHER time we were together (or more pictures at Christmas for that matter, but I am thankful for the time and it doesn't HAVE to be documented with pictures... even if I do love scrapbooking.  Ashley is a more consistent scrapbooker than I am, so I can count on her to take pics ;) ), but trust me that this play date was all girls (Asa was at school) and the dress ups came out! :)  Sooo sweet.  Then yesterday evening I met with a friend for pedicures to celebrate and be pampered pre-Lila. :)  I chose a purple color for my polish in honor of Lila. :)

10.  We are in a holding pattern with Lila, so to speak.  Much like with my other babies, she could come any day, or we know we could have weeks until she comes or is evicted.  I did have a little fun on Monday with about an hour of contractions 3 minutes apart, 45 seconds long.  They weren't anything I had to stop what I was doing for (although, "what I was doing" was "lounging on the couch during rest time") or really breathe through, but they were not Braxton Hicks either--they were uncomfortable for sure.  They were those "just for fun" false labor contractions.  I knew they weren't the real thing because they weren't getting "longer, stronger, and closer together," and in fact my prediction that they would stop when I got up off the couch was correct.  But I stayed on the couch as long as I could (until Asa and AR woke up and called for me) to just enjoy (yes, enjoy) that I was having contractions ON MY OWN.  That is the first time I have ever felt contractions that were not pitocin inducted.  I *can* do it!!  Now it's just a question of if I *will* do it on my own before 42 weeks... and when?!? :)


BONUS:  Did you know Pantone released their color of the year for 2014?  Does this color palette look familiar?  Imagine that, we have been ahead of the crowd with planning Lila's room all this time and didn't even know we were trendsetters. ;)

BONUS:  Asa's first day back at preschool was Thursday (no school Tuesday because of the weather).  On Wednesday night I was just getting ready to read him a bedtime story when he said, "No, Mommy.  I do not want a story. I  have school tomorrow.  I need to get straight into bed!"  I think he was a little excited. ;) <3  Praise the LORD for teachers who make school such a fun place that my little homebody was that excited to go back to school. :)