Funday Friday

Here are just some pics of Kenni Girl that I took today.  She's so funny and cute....

"Ok Mama, I'm looking for you, but I can't see you."  "Where are you?"

"Yes, I want my diaper changed!"

"I feel so much better in this new diaper"

"I'm Out!"  "I'll be up in about 45 minutes."

Project "Spring Clean"

It's not officially Spring, but I plan to clean our house from top to bottom in the month of March.  I cleaned up this weekend, but there are some things that have a tendency to get neglected throughout the year.  Below is my schedule of cleaning for the remainder of March:

Week of March 11th:  Clean all baseboards and ceiling fans in the house.  Dust all pictures, figurines, vases, and any other decorative stuff.

Week of March 18th:  Clean out all closets and bathroom and kitchen cabinets.  I am pretty sure we will 
have some donations for the Goodwill after this tasks

Week of March 25th:  Clean out the refrigerator, pantry, and all trashcans.  I will be using the "when in doubt, throw it out" philosophy...ha!

My plan is to keep our house clean despite having a new baby girl that makes it a little more difficult.  I see that it's so easy to let all the baby toys and stuff consume your house, but I plan to keep our house presentable on a daily basis.  It just makes it easier to maintain a clean house rather than having to clean the whole house at one time.  I hope my plan works!  Time will tell.

Terrific Tuesday-All About Kendall

"Hello, What's Shaking?"

"Yep, I'm just chilling!"

Full Name:  Kendall Grace

Nicknames:  Kenni, Kenni Girl, Pretty Girl, Gracie, Sweet Pea, Put, Put Put, Pooka, and the list goes on and on....

Age:  3 months

Weight: 7lbs 2oz

Diapers:  size Newborn

Clothes: Newborn....some newborn clothes are a little big on me, but I am filling them out as each day goes by.

Feedings:  eats every 3 or so hours.

Nap time:  I take a short morning nap after my first morning feeding and then a longer 2-3 hour nap after lunch.  This gives my mommy time to get my bottles together and to handle things done around the house. 

Sleeping through the Night:  Yes, for the most part.  I wake up for one feeding around 2am to 3am, then I'm out.

Pack n Play vs Crib:  I definitely like my crib better, but I sleep in my pack n play at night in my mommy and daddy's room

Likes:  Warm milk, my soothie pacifiers, stretching, taking naps during the day in my crib, being walked around, being held, lying on my stomach, and lying on my mommy and daddy's chest

Dislikes:  Getting changed into clothes, being hungry, waiting on my milk to get warm, lying on my back, and dropping my paci

Milestones:  Can turnover from my stomach to my back and trying to hold the bottle during feedings (so cute when she's really hungry)

Baby Must Haves.....

I originally thought this stuff was just a gimmick, but it does work sometimes.  I mean, I can't say it works every night, but it does relax Kendall at times.  Plus it smells so good!  We will definitely have to keep this in stock.

These bottles really helped Kendall when she was in the hospital and learning how to suck, swallow, and breathe while feeding.  The nipple imitates the breast, so babies take to them well.  Kendall just loves them and drinks all her milk for the most part with these bottles.  We wouldn't use anything else.

This is a soothie pacifier by Playtex.  Kendall started using these in the NICU.  The ones at the hospital smelled like vanilla, but they don't sell the scented ones in the stores.  Any who, Kendall still likes it without the vanilla scent.  This definitely comes in handy.

We recently got this boucer, and let's just say it wasn't Kendall's fave.  She has grown to tolerate it a little bit more.  Those times when I need to put her down to do something, she usually settles down and enjoys the bouncing motion.  A great find!!!!!!!!!!!

Something New

I just love this picture. I think it's just so cute.  This is the first time that I put a handband on Kenni.  As you can see, she doesn't exactly love it, but she got use to it. Oh yeah, baby girl is 3 months old today.  Look at God! 

Baby Shower

Our baby shower was January 7th.  It was hosted by my friends Yolanda, Brandi, Telischa, Tangela, and Devae.  It turned out so nice.  The food was delicious, and the decorations were awesome. I loved the color scheme of pink and grey. Scott and I were so appreciative of all the gifts and to those who came out to support us.  Here are some pictures from the shower:

This is a cake that my friend, Brandi, did.  The theme was "Simply Grace," and this cake went with the decor perfectly.  The cake was lemon with raspberry filling and chocolate with chocolate and raspberry filling.  It was oh so yummy.  If you are interested in a wonderful cake creation, you can see her work and contact her at www.facebook.com/sweetexposurecakes

Diaper cakes/decor for the tables

This is the food table.  The menu included sliced pork, chicken wings, pasta salad, crab salad, spinach dip, fruit, fruit salsa with cinnamon chips, vegetables with dip, rolls, crackers, tea, and punch

Scott, my mama, and me

Shatoria and Christina with Christina's 2 daughters

Jazmin and Teresa

Valencia and Frank

Visa and Damiah

Porsche and Kelvin

Ms. Lou

Robert and Baby Chelsea

Tevia and Cory

Watch Me Grow

One of the gifts that I got at the baby shower was a "Watch Me Grow" set of 12 onesies for the first year for Kendall.  Below are the January (1 month) and February (2 month) pictures.  As you can see, Kenni loves her paci..ha!  Stay tuned for future pics.

2 month pic...Happy Valentine's Day

1 month pic...(Kenni was still in the hospital in this picture)

Introducing Kendall Grace

Kendall has been home with us since February 8th.  I just love dressing her up like a little doll.  This is Kenni after her lunchtime feeding and during her nap.  Just so darn cute!!!!!!!! 

She is 6lbs 6oz now.  She wakes up at the max 2 times during the night, but here lately she wakes up only once.  She enjoys drinking milk, making noises while she sleeps, and stretching.  She doesn't enjoy getting baths, getting her diaper changed, or getting clothes put on her.  It is just a joy to be her mother.  She is just so amazing!

Be prepared to see more of Miss Kendall.  Sorry if you get overwhelmed with Kendall's presence on my blog.  I'm a proud Mommy!

Enjoy!

My Road to Motherhood Part 5-NICU

Kendall was born at 2lbs 10oz 15in.  She has a head full of hair and the sweetest little face. 

The NICU is divided into 3 parts.  The first step is where she went when she was first born.  This is the time when the baby is looked at as being in a more critical condition.  Kendall was in a giraffe bed, which is basically an incubator.  She had to be on a ventilator to assist in  her breathing.  We couldn't hold her all the time, but we did get to do what's called "Kangaroo Care."  This is when we hold Kendall's bare body to our bare chest.  The skin-to-skin contact has been proven to help babies progress better.  I got to hold her for the first time Thursday, December 1st.  It was the most amazing feeling having her lying on my chest.

As time progressed, she transitioned from a ventilator to a nasal cannula (basically the tubes that people wear in hospitals to push oxygen into their nasal passages).  We were able to check her temperature, change her diaper, put lotion on her, and dress her in cute onesies.  We especially looked forward to her bath nights. 

Once she was needing minimal oxygen in her nasal cannula, she was moved to the second step in the NICU.  She was very close to not needing the nasal cannula at all.  She greatly disliked that cannula, so we were glad to see it go.  She got weighed twice a week, and she was packing on the weight.  She wasn't at the second step long at all.

She is now at the 3rd step.  She is in an open crib because she can maintain her own temperature.  The nasal cannula is good.  She is currently trying to master bottle feeding.  For a baby born full-term, they have the natural ability to bottle feed.  With Kendall being born early, she has to learn how to suck, swallow, and breathe while eating.  She gets weighed daily and is currently 5lbs 11oz.  She is a big girl now.  We can hold her whenever we want and just have fun with her.  She is so cute!  She makes the cutest faces from smiling to poking out her little lip. 

She is currently 2 months.  We  hope to have her home really soon.  Get ready for all the pictures that will be consuming my blog......lol

My Road to Motherhood Part 4-The Birth Story

I wake up Sunday, November 27th.  I go to the restroom, brush my teeth, and wash my face.  I notice that I am having some really mild cramping.  I tell Scott, and then call the nurse.  She gets me hooked up to the monitor to check for contractions and to check the baby's heartrate.  Kendall's heartrate was fine, but I was having contractions.  The nurse calls the doctor, and the doctor tells the nurse to give me my medication early to stop contractions.  I take that, and we wait a little while to see if the contractions stop.  They don't.  We give it a little while longer, and the contractions continue.  The contractions don't get more intense or painful, but my body just isn't responding to the medication at all.  There is another medication that I could take, but my heartrate has to be under 120 bpm.  Unfortunately, my heartrate was too close to 120 to be able to take the second medication.

The doctor came in around lunch time to check how far I had dilated.  I was still at 5cm.  Since my contractions hadn't slacked up any, they transitioned us to a labor and delivery room.  The labor and delivery nurse was really nice.  She explained step by step how things would go.  I got situated in the bed, and Scott and I watched football games.  I wasn't in any pain.  I was just talking and laughing.  I eventually dilated to 7cm, and I still wasn't feeling any pain.  I went ahead and got my epidural just in case pain came during labor though. 

I was lying there watching football and talking with family when I felt my water break.  It was just a little trinkle.  The nurse confirmed that it had broke, and she called the doctor to get her in route to the hospital.  A little more time went by, and I finally dilated to 10cm. 

Scott and my mom were in the room with me.  The doctor and nurse told me that when I felt a contraction to push for 10 seconds 3 times in a row.  (FYI:  one push is really 3 pushes for 10 seconds each)  I did just that.  At first I didn't feel like I was doing anything, but the doctor reassured me that she was moving down.  I pushed 4 times and Kendall was here.  It was crazy that she was moving down, and I wasn't even pushing at times.  She was ready to get into this world.  We heard her do a little cry.  It was so cute!   The NICU nurses were in the room with us to immediately get Kendall prepped to go to the NICU.  Before they took her to the NICU, they let me see her.  She was all swaddled up and cute as could be.  Of course, the tears came next.  I remember thinking, I'M A MOM!!!!!  Our daughter was born Sunday, November 27, 2011 at 6:25pm. 

The neonatologist came in the room and talked to us and our family.  He said that Kendall will most likely be in the NICU for about 2 months give or take a couple of weeks, but he felt good that she would be just fine.  She basically couldn't come home until close to her original due date. After 10 days of hospital bedrest and delivering Kendall, we still had 2 or so months left until we could bring her home.  We were progressing down this journey, but we were not done yet. 

Stay tuned for the NICU experience!

My Road to Motherhood Part 3

I have to say that I had a pretty good pregnancy.  I didn't have morning sickness at all.  As long as I had something on my stomach, I didn't feel queasy.  I didn't gain a lot of weight.  I actually only gained 16 lbs.  All was going just peachy.  Until November 17, 2011.....

Scott and I ate dinner at Copeland's.  We came home afterwards, and he started packing up to go deer hunting the next day.  I was about to take a shower, so I went to the restroom first.  I noticed that I was bleeding.  My doctor had told me that if I ever saw bright, red blood to go to the hospital.  I told Scott, and we got ready and went to the hospital.  He took the bag that he had already packed to go deer hunting with us just in case.  On the way to the hospital, we both called and told our moms.  In our minds, we were thinking that all was fine and that it was really nothing.  I was thinking they would tell me to take it easy or something like that.  Boy was I wrong....

We get to the ER, and luckily, it wasn't busy at all.  They wheeled me up to the labor and delivery department.  I lay there in the bed to get examined by the nurse.  I wasn't feeling any pain or contractions, so I thought all was well.  The nurse checks my cervix, she looks at me, and whispers, "You're 5cm!"  It's like I had an outer body experience.  I was like, how in the world could that be.  I'm only 27 weeks, and I don't feel any contractions.  They hook me up to the monitors, and they tell me that I'm having contractions every 4 minutes.  I still can't believe it because I'm not in any pain.  The nurses prepare the room like I'm about to go into labor.  They then tell us that there isn't any medication to reverse dilation, and we would be at the hospital until our baby comes.  My doctor comes up to my room and tells me that she hopes I can make it 48 hours without delivering, so I can get these steroid shots that will help develop the baby's lungs.  She prays with us, which I thought was very nice.  You just don't get too many doctors who actually bring up God in times like these.  After that, they tilt the bed down so that my head is lower than my feet.  I must say that this is very uncomfortable, but it helped keep the baby from moving towards my cervix.  Scott and I hardly slept that night.  I mean, we were both in a state of shock. 

The next morning, a specialist comes in and does an ultrasound.  He tells me that I'm more like 3.5 cm.  That makes Scott and I feel better, but nonetheless, I'm dilated.  I start taking this medicine that helps calm the muscles of the uterus and reduces contractions.  I get moved from labor and delivery to antepartum.  The room isn't as big, but it's cool.  I try and let it settle in that this will be our home until Kendall comes into the world.  God blesses me to be able to get the two steroid shots to help develop Kendall's lungs.  We were so glad of that.

We tell our latest news to our friends and family.  The outpour of love that we got was unbelievable.  I don't think a day went by while I was on bedrest that we didn't have a visitor.  Friends brought us dinner and lunch, games to play, magazines to read, and candy and goodies.  Family brought thanksgiving to us and relieved Scott, so he could go home for a minute.  We just felt so blessed to have such a good support system.  God made us realize just how blessed we are to have such good friends and family in our corner.  I would like to give a shot out to everyone who supported us during this time.  Scott and I truly love you and appreciate you.

I pretty much laid around, sent texts, talked on the phone, watched tv, prayed and read my bible, surfed the net, and visited with vistors.  It wasn't that bad at all.

Twice a day I got monitored to see if I am contracting. Scott and I held our breath when this part of the day comes because of course we both hope I'm not. The medicine was holding off contractions.  That was until the morning of November 27th.  That was the day that our lives changed forever.

Stay tuned!

My Road to Motherhood Part 2

Scott and I told our family and close friends of the pregnancy right away.  The next thing I did was called my doctor and scheduled our first appointment.  We were so happy!  One day when I was about 4 weeks, I noticed that I was spotting.  This can be normal with it being so early in the pregnancy, but I decided to go to the doctor to get it checked out (just to be sure).  It was Monday of that week when I went to the doctor.  Everything looked ok, but the doctor wanted to do blood work to be sure that my hormone levels were increasing like they should. She also did an ultrasound.  It was too early to actually see the baby, but all looked good.  On Wednesday, I went back to get more blood work done.  My first set of blood work looked good, but they just wanted to be sure that all was well.  Friday, I was scheduled for another ultrasound to see if the baby had developed enough to see.  The doctor told me that the baby still wasn't showing up and that she didn't feel good about the pregnancy.  I was crushed.  My doctor wasn't in the office that day, so the doctor I saw said that she would like for my own doctor to confirm the status of the pregnancy.
Scott and I had to go the whole weekend with this on our hearts and minds.  We prayed and just tried to keep busy to keep our minds off of it.  It was the longest weekend ever.  My doctor called me Monday afternoon to schedule an appointment for the following Wednesday.  Ugh!  More waiting.  Well, Wednesday finally came.  My doctor did the ultrasound, and we saw a "flicker."  She tells us to go upstairs to the radiology department to get confirmation on what the flicker is.  So we do just that.  The radiologist squeezes the gel on my stomach, gets to moving the probe around, and VOILA!  To our surprise, we see our baby for the first time.  We are both in shock.  The flicker we were seeing was the baby's heartbeat.  It was beating strong.  We just couldn't believe it.  We were prepared to get bad news, but we got confirmation that our baby was growing and healthy.

We went back downstairs to the doctor's office with big Kool-Aid smiles on.  My doctor gives me a great big hug and congratulates us both.  We schedule our next appt and go home feeling overjoyed and blessed.

My Road to Motherhood Part 1

Well, let me start at the beginning.  Scott and I went to New York to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.  We had decided that when we got back that we would start trying for Baby Dismute.  After a few months of trying, nothing happened.  A few more months went by and still nothing.  We did a little research and found out that nothing could be done until we had been trying for an official year.  Well, a year came.  My doctor ordered some tests for both me and Scott to have done.  We both got good results, and was told that nothing was hindering conception.  At that point, my doctor prescribed a fertility drug for me to take for 3 months.  After 3 months, nothing. 

She then referred us to a fertility clinic.  We met with a fertility specialist, and he wanted to do some blood work to see if my hormone levels were accurate during different points in my cycle.  All of that checked out.  The next step was for me to have a laproscopy done.  This procedure checks to make sure that my fallopian tubes are open, and my uterus is healthy.  During pre-op before this procedure, it was found that I needed to have my umbilical hernia repaired.  I had both the laparoscopy and the umbilical hernia repair done all at the same time.  Nothing was found that would inhibit me from having kids.  The next step was for me to try fertility drugs again.

We decided to wait a few months to start the fertility drugs.  We were inching up on my 30th birthday, so we took a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate.  We had a blast.  Once we were back, it was time for us to start the fertility drugs.  The only thing was that my cycle never came.  After a few days of waiting on it, I took a pregnancy that I had from the dollar store.  After all that we had been through, we saw 2 lines.  We couldn't believe it.  Scott wanted me to be sure by taking a more expensive test, so I rushed down to USA Drug.  That test confirmed that we were definitely pregnant.  We couldn't believe it.  The first thing we did was hugged each other and got on our knees and thanked God.  We were finally PREGNANT!!!!!!

Stay tuned to more of this incredible story......

Just a Thought....

I am an avid pinterest.com addict.  They have some amazing stuff on there.  One of the things that they have on there are sayings like the one above.  I thought I could have a little segment on my blog where I can elaborate on these inspirational thoughts.  Here are my first thoughts:

So many times we look at others and wish we could be like others rather they be real or fictional.  The thing about us all is that we can be whomever we want to be.  There is no reason to look at others and be envious.  We are all different, and God made us the way we are for a reason.  For example, something about myself that I use to not like when I was younger was how easily I would cry.  I was always told that crying was looked at as a weakness.  Now that I am older and understand myself better, I don't believe that it's a weakness.  I like that I'm emotional.  It's good to cry with others or by yourself for that matter, and it feels better to get those tears of joy or tears of sorrow out rather than bottling up those feelings and letting them fester.  Maturity taught me to love myself for who I am because I am the way I am for a reason.  No sense in wanting to be some hard person that I'm not.  

Not too long ago, I gave my hair stylist a compliment.  I told her that I really admired how she raised her daughter to be independent and gave her constant instructions on how to be a lady.  She thanked me of course, then said "you just never know who is watching you."  She never knew that I admired her for doing something that she just saw as natural.  That's the thing, everybody is always watching you and you never know who might just be admiring you for being you.  My advice for everyone is to just Be Yourself and not wish to be like others.  You are probably inspiring someone else to be better, and you don't even know it.

Baby Bump Chronicles-26w 5d

Here's a picture of me after work today.  She's getting bigger and moving all around.  I just love it!!!!!!!!

Any Krispy Kreme lover knows that when you walk in, you are greeted with a complimentary glazed original donut.  Not anymore!  Effective November 1st, Krispy Kreme no longer offers all customers the complimentary donut.  Krispy Kreme is doing this instead of increasing the prices on their donuts.  I can't complain too much because who wants to pay more when you could pay the same.  I just thought I would let you all know in case you walk into your local Krispy Kreme expecting someone to hand you a complimentary donut. Ha!

Skee Wee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The following are some pictures from this past weekend when I was at UCA Homecoming.  We celebrated our sorority line birthday.  Yep, those pretty ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha had to represent.  Enjoy the pictures to follow!

My line sisters and I with another UCA alumni...None other than Scottie Pippen, former Chicago Bulls player and NBA champion

Kendall's mama still got it...just doing a little dance at the tailgate

Dancin' to the left

Dancin' to the right

Natasha, Niya, Raven, and Me

Natasha, Shana, TaRhee, Niya, Me, Jazmin, Raven, and Angel at Mike's Place in Conway after a long day at the tailgate.

Yummy Goodness!!!!!!!

This is a grape and strawberry platter that I made for my boss's birthday brunch at work tomorrow.  I did something a little different with the strawberries.  I got the idea from my favorite site pinterest.com.  It is as followed:

1.  Wash the strawberries and dry each strawberry with a napkin
2.   Cut off the stems
3.   Use a sharp knife to cut the center core out of the strawberry.  Discard of the core.
4.   Dip the strawberries in melted chocolate and place on a plate lined with wax paper.  Note:  I used Hershey milk chocolate chips.  I melted the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals stirring the chocolate each time.  Place the strawberries in the refrigerator, so the chocolate can harden some.
5.   Combine one softened 8oz Philadelphia cream cheese with 4 cups of powdered sugar with a hand mixer.  Put in the refrigerator for a few minutes to set.
6.   Put the 1M tip in a piping bag.  Put the cream cheese mixture in the piping bag.
7.   Inject one squirt of the cream cheese mixture into each strawberry.  Chill until ready to serve.

Hopefully, my co-workers will enjoy them.  I mean, who doesn't like strawberries, cream cheese, and chocolate?

Baby Bump Chronicles-24w 4d

Due Date: February 16th




Zodiac Sign: AQUARIUS-which has characteristics of being good communicators, being friendly, intelligent, and strong-willed.



Symptoms: Here lately I can feel Kendall really low in my abdomen.  I can say it's not the most comfortable feeling, but it's one of the parts of my pregnancy (I guess).  I am feeling her move more and more now.


How big is the Baby: She is a little over a pound now and almost a foot long.


Any Cravings: I love sweets.  My new thing is lemon coffee cake that I've been getting from the cafe downstairs at work.  It's sooooooooooooooo good!

What can't you stand to eat? I still can't stand Mayo or creamy stuff.



Any Anticipations? I am looking forward to finishing Kendall's room, and decorating for Christmas.  I just love decorating.


Maternity Clothes: I have some larger shirts that I have been wearing, and some cute maternity jeans.  They are all so comfy!!!!!


Exercise: Child Please!!!!!!! lol


Diet:  Lots of fruit and water.  I just love soul food, but I'm try and eat healthy with every meal.  Lots of green veggies.

Things I miss: Sleeping on my back and stomach, glasses of wine, and shopping at The Limited.  I also miss being able to bend down normally (I use my thighs and squat down).



Things I'm enjoying: Scott talking to my belly bump, my growing belly, and people actually being able to tell that I am pregnant. People actually can tell I'm pregnant, and I love it!!!!

Latest Cake

This is a cake that I did for my Sorority line's 10th birthday.  Our actual birthday is November 18th, but we celebrated it during Homecoming.  It was good to get together with my line sisters.  We said that we would make it a point to do it more often.  The cake is strawberry cake with cream cheese filling.  I don't plan to do too many cakes while pregnant, but I made a special exception for my girls.  Stay tuned for more pictures from this past weekend.

In the meantime, Skeeeeeeeee Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just have two words for you.....

Today marks 2 months until the big day.  I can't wait to decorate for Christmas this year.  So excited!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Bump Chronicles 23w1d

Here's my latest picture.  Little Miss Kendall is really growing, and so am I.  She is a little over a pound and the size of a large mango.  I feel her movements more and more now.  It's so amazing!!!!!!!

This is Kendall's first outfit.  One of our church members and friend, Annette, gave this to us for Kendall.  I just thought this was so sweet of her.  I can't wait to put my little girl in this outfit. 

Thank God for Snoogles

This is the latest addition to the family.  This is a snoogle pillow that my wonderful hubby got me.  I slept with it for the first time last night and loved it.  I had been sleeping with a body pillow and two other pillows, but this one pillow takes the cake.  I basically wrap it around my whole body and my back and belly bump are supported all night long.  Before, I was waking up to adjust my pillows and just trying to get comfortable.  My hips and back were suffering quite a bit.  Since I am to the stage where sleeping on my stomach and back are frowned upon (plus it's not good for Kendall), this pillow will definitely come in handy.  I highly recommend it!

Baby Bump Chronicles-22w

Here's me at 22 weeks.  I think I finally look pregant enough that people actually feel comfortable asking me, "Are you pregnant?"  I must say it feels good to finally be pregnant enough.  I had to think, I only have 18 more weeks left to go.  Scott and I are working on the nursery now, and everything is turning out cute so far.  I can't wait to get it all up and ready for Kendall. 

Until then later,

Tootles

DIY Project

This is my latest craft project.  Some friends of mine have done this, and I just thought it was so neat.  I got the instructions from pinterest.com and decided to try it.  I made these letters to go into a project called Project Nursery.  You will get more details on the nursery later on.  Until then, here's how I did the letters B and Q that you see above:
Instructions for Decorated Wooden Block Initial:

Step 1. Purchase a wooden alphabet block (letters can be purchased at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, Target, etc.)

Step 2. If letter is not already painted to your liking, paint the letter using paint and a foam brush.  I used white acrylic paint.  Once dry, sand edges of letter using sand paper, if desired (for a vintage look).

Step 3. Purchase scrapbook paper(s) of desired color and design (ideally mimic colors and theme of baby's nursery).
Step 4. Place wooden letter on top of paper you'd like to cover the face of the letter with. Using a pencil, trace around the letter onto the paper. Cut the letter out of the paper just a little bit to the inside of the traced lines (so the paper doesn't hang over the wooden letter edge). Then place the paper letter on the top of the wooden letter. Make any trimming adjustments to the paper if necessary.

Step 5. Use Mod Podge or craft glue to cover the back of the paper letter with a thin layer of adhesive. Apply paper to wooden block and smooth out the paper.

Step 6. You can Mod Podge the face of the letter to give it a sheen and to make the whole letter smooth - brush a layer of this on and let it dry completely

Baby Bump Chronicles 21w

Due Date: February 16th


Zodiac Sign: AQUARIUS-which has characteristics of being good communicators, being friendly, intelligent, and strong-willed.

Symptoms: My stomach has started itching, but I am not going to scratch it.  I've just been rubbing this cream on my stomach 2 sometimes 3 times a day that my friend, Mary, turned me onto.  It feels so good when I rub it on.  I do go to the bathroom a lot more.  Other than that, I'm pretty much the same ol' Christian.

How big is the Baby: She is 3/4 of a pound and the length of a carrot (10 1/2 inches).

Any Cravings: I love rice krispy treats for lunch.  I've been eating 2 a day with my lunch.  That's about it.  I'm sure I will wear out this whole rice krispy thing here in a few days.

What can't you stand to eat? I still can't stand Mayo or creamy stuff.

Any Anticipations? Scott and I went to our first Baby CPR class this past Tuesday.  We learned how to do cpr on an infant to a 1 year old, a 1 year old to an 8 year old, and an adult.  We also learned how to do the heimlich maneuver on infants, toddlers, and even on pregnant women like me.  Next week, we learn about child-proofing our house and choosing the right child seat.  Very informative stuff.  I am also looking forward to finishing up the baby room that we recently started working on.  I can't wait to see how it comes together.

Maternity Clothes: I've been wearing the bella band over my pants. If you are not familiar with a bella band, it's a elastic thinga-ma-jig that you put over your unbutton pants to hold them together and closed. It's really comfortable. I think I am too the point wear I am going to have to break down and get some maternity pants this week.  I have cute shirts, so I just need some pants.

Exercise: I still need to do something, but sorry to say, I still haven't started. (Sad Face)

Diet: I think I am eating pretty healthy and good.

Things I miss: Sleeping on my back and stomach, glasses of wine, and shopping at The Limited.

Things I'm enjoying: Scott talking to my belly bump, my growing belly, and people actually being able to tell that I am pregnant.

Just a Thought...

This is a saying that I came across on my favorite website Pinterest.  I think that this saying is so true.  So many times, we grow up with this plan for our lives.  I know I had planned to go to college, medical school, become a pediatrician, , be rich, get married, have all kids by the age of 30, and live happily ever after.  Let's just say that my plan and what really happened didn't exactly match up all the way through....lol  Any who, life has a way of changing here and there, so that we can go down the road that God wants us to go.  The thing about accepting the road that God has for us is that we can't burden ourselves with this "plan" that we compare ourselves to.  That plan wasn't for us, and we can't enjoy God's plan if we are always looking back.  I love my life, and the way things have turned out.  I just can't wait to see what else God has in store for me.  (Big Smile)