Remembering!

I have sat at my computer today and had two good cries. Earlier this morning I read the blog of kelly's friend katie who lost her beautiful baby girl Reese Catherine just a few days ago. I watched the beautiful video and cried like I haven't in a long time. Then this afternoon Kelly posted Angie Smith's video with her baby Audrey. I cannot help as I sat and watched and felt eliza move and wiggle be overcome with thankfulness, fear and remembrance. It wasn't so long along that Kevin and I were in the midst of our grief. I am so thankful that those intense seasons of grief do pass and the Lord once again brings joy and hope to lives. I cannot imagine going through a loss without the Lord in one's life.

Today I took ella to have her picture made. I figured it would be the last time I will probably ever take just one child to have their picture made. She did so great! So much better than she did in the spring. She acted so much more mature. She sat and said cheese...and I wasn't chasing her all over the studio. While I looked at the pictures she was content to play with the legos they had there! When I viewed the pictures I couldn't believe how much older she is looking. So much more like a little girl. When I got home I replaced her Christmas picture in our room with her new one (in which she is raising up one side of her dress and has both arms in the air!) It was too cute and totally captured my ella at this age. She still looked like a baby in her Christmas picture but not anymore. Time does go fast!

While we were there ella made friends with a little boy who was probably three or four. I sat there and watched them play and thought about what it would be like if Samuel were there with us. I know ella would love him like crazy and I am sure he would be a good big helper. I can hardly picture myself having a son that age. It is hard to understand the why things like this happen but I can say that God is good. Almost four years down the path and our lives are full, happy and restored. I know there will always be a missing place in our little family...a place that only a one precious little boy could fill...but we are thankful for the healing that has come to our hearts.

Eliza Anne's Room

My go, go, go mode finally caught up with me! I haven't been as tired as I was this past weekend in a long time. I remember when my younger sister jess got married about a year and a half ago, I was trying to keep up with all the wedding festivities, do the flowers, entertain, take care of a five month old...and I got so worn out that I kept telling my mom that something was wrong with my eyes! Seriously it felt like my eyelids were so heavy that I couldn't see right. Well, I once again reached that point on Sat. Saturday night we had a little class Sunday School Party at our house and at one point I felt delirious trying to carry on a conversation. I was trying to focus but had not a clue what the conversation was about...hopefully no one could tell! Needless to say I am slowing down and have been enjoying some down time.

Eliza's nursery is now done except for adding in a little rocking chair that kev is painting and a little pillow I am sewing. I am really happy with the final result! It is a bright and happy room that she can def. grow with! I tried to take good pics but the lighting is so dark in so many of them..so some of them are hard to see the coloring correctly.

The view from her door..the coloring looks most accurate in this one!

Crib and bedding!

Initials and crib

Frames 40% off at AC moore's, left over fabric, 1 sheet of poster board,

and left over paint from the room for the letters.

A sideways view of inside the crib!

Garage sale lamp spray painted and re-covered in coordinating fabric.

All the pink frames used to be old black ones we had around our house...they were

easily spray painted!

Target bookshelf!

My quilt! I am very happy with the final result!

Our Craigslist armoire re-painted! The frame on the left was a team effort.

Kev cut it out of wood and I painted it.

It is much lighter than this

My curtain!

Doesn't ever little girl need some bows???


Hope you enjoyed it!

Almost done!

I seriously have been going like a whirlwind. I am about to drive myself and my family crazy! I guess they call it nesting...seems like I've been nesting for a while now...I think it is more like losing your mind. For example...we have lived in this house for almost 4 years and the only curtain in the entire house was ella's. It never cost me a minute of sleep! After making eliza's I began to think about curtains! I scored some awesome Pottery barn panels at a garage sale a few weeks ago! I got six 84 inch panels that match my house for 25 dollars. This worked well for two windows but we didn't have enough for another room. SO what does Julie decide to do....make them! I have been sewing curtains like crazy! In fact every room in our house has curtains except our master bedroom. The kind lady at the fabric store told me that it would be 50%off just on Sat. so I of course decided to wait till Saturday! I found some fabric that I loved 7 yards total on the clearance table this week for $2.99 a yard! I used it to make 6 panels for our family room. I have also made curtains for our Frog (finished room over garage) and our spare bathroom!

I just want to add here that curtains are really really expensive! I decided to look at Target the other day just to price them because I am so ready to put my sewing machine away...but they were $29.00 per panel..which means $59.00 per window plus the cost of the rod! Several of our rooms have three windows each! Whew!!! Now I know why we haven't had curtains for the 6 years we've been married. I have found once again, that I can save a lot of money by making things myself. I also have found out why things cost so much...they take a lot of time and work! For example, I originally began making eliza's bedding to save money. After making it I told Kevin it I were selling it I'd sell if for twice as much because it was so much work!

I have gotten great deals on my curtain rods at Ross. I got most of them for $7.99 each which is by far the best price I have found. I also have used some upholstery tacks to hang a few curtains. You can do a lot with them (they just leave some holes in the wall...esp. if you have to re-adjust the curtain a few times...shhhh!) As always I am looking for the cheapest way of doing what I like and as always it has required lots of work.

The nursery is done! Praise the Lord! I have worked so hard! I will share the pics tom. and share the budget friendly ideas I used! Check back...and don't tell me if you hate it! :)

Pregnancy Q and A
How far along? 33 weeks tom.
Total weight gain/loss: Let's just say I've gained as much as I need to with several more weeks to go...Oh well!
Sleep:I have been having a hard time sleeping...although I am getting uncomfortable it is more because I feel all keyed up and can't relax and go to sleep until 1 or 2 am. I am sure I will get back to normal soon...and in a few weeks I'll be saying, "why in the world did I not sleep when I could have!"
Best moment this week: Completing eliza's bedding...and it looks good! I was so worried about sewing the quilt and doing the mitered angles but after watching an on-line tutorial about 50 times I figured it out. I will post pics this weeks when kev gets the pictures up! So glad to have it all done. It was a lot of work...much harder than buying bedding from the store...thankful for the $ it saved and I feel so much more invested in it...if that makes sense.
Movement: She is a wiggly one...My stomach moves all over the place. It is fun to watch. I constantly feel her feet jab me in the sides!
Cravings: Ice Cream, Cherries, and juices....(I am so tired of drinking water!)
Gender: Girl!
Labor Signs: I have tons of Braxton Hicks...I always do and really have them from about 20 or so weeks on...I have tons and tons of pressure...doc. says she is already very low!
What I miss: Tons of diet coke, diet drinks, subs and hotdogs! I have allowed myself to have a little more caffiene this pregnancy than I used to. I think I am relaxing a bit...which is good!
What I am looking forward to: Driving in my car and looking back in the mirror and seeing two girls in the back!
Weekly Wisdom: This will soon be over...enjoy this precious yet challenging time in a pregnancy.
Milestones: This week marks how far along I was when went into labor with Samuel. I am sure she is larger than he was...when makes her around 4lbs and around 19 or so inches. Can I just add how thankful we are that she is healthy so far. I never want to forget this great blessing!

Not Much New

I have been a lazy blogger this past week. Not much new going on right now at our house. We are just anxiously awaiting daddy being done with his class next week and ready to spend some time together as a family. We are STILL eating up items from our freezer and pantry. I think this is like week 4. I do plan to head to the grocery store today for a few items but we still have some things to finish before I am ready to do a big grocery shopping. This week we had: spaghetti and left-overs 2 nights,Bisquick waffles one night(don't know if we will ever eat up all our Bisquick) along with finishing a box of instant grits and vegetable and chicken stir fry with rice. We ate out last night which was nice. It always amazes me at how much food and money we are waisting in un-eaten groceries! I do think it makes me be more cautious about what I throw in the cart too!

I cannot believe it is August! This year is flying! That is good news because you know what next month is...September! I am so thankful for a healthy and easy pregnancy. Something to definitely be thankful for. I have to admit that I am ready to take a nice very long break on being pregnant. For almost 5 years straight I have either been pregnant, seriously trying to get pregnant, or breastfeeding! I think my body is ready and deserving of some rest! I am ready to wear regular clothes again, move comfortably, and just enjoy being content with my two girls.

Little Eliza is quite the mover! I am amazed at how much more active she is than Ella or Samuel. I continuously feel a little foot in my left side (Not sure what that means about her position at this point). I can totally feel her stretch it out and poke me. Kev and I are both getting anxious about seeing her and finding out what she looks like. I am also a little worried about ella's reaction. She is getting more and more jealous! She is excited about getting to ride in the new double stroller with eliza (we'll see how long it'll last!) She tells us it is mines and whiza's and shows us where they will sit. I know it is gonna rock her little world as she has been our little world for so long now.

So not much new....I will post pics of our nursery IF we ever get it done. It is going to be repainted thank goodness! The bumper that I ordered will be her this week. Maybe it will all begin to come together. :)

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I can truly say that "nesting" is in full swing! Whew! I might not live to see this child be born if I don't slow down a bit! It's like I have a million things in my head and on my list that I want to clean out, throw away, use up, make and create...and too few hours in each day. I am finding myself burning the candle at both ends and hoping that this burst of energy last a few more weeks. I have several projects that I put on Kev's to-do list but the poor guy is overloaded with school right now. Two more weeks and he'll have a short two week break before his fall semester begins. Hoping we can knock out a lot of stuff them.

My nesting seems to always throw me into a major crafty stage. I have tons of projects I am working on...from finishing eliza's bedding, to sewing curtains, a fall jumper for ella, scrap booking! Seriously, I think I will be glad to feel lazy and unmotivated again. I know it is coming!

Another thing we have been doing is eating up everything in our pantry and freezer (no not all at once!) This is something Kev and I started doing early in our marriage and we have always found it to be resourceful and good on the budget! It calls for some creative and maybe not our favorite meal choices...but this will be our third week with no grocery buying other than bread, milk and fruit. I think most families are like this but we are bad about buying foods and not eating them and just letting them sit. For example, we had breakfast for dinner on Wednesday night with a bag of frozen hash browns and bacon that had been taking up freezer room for way too long. I did have to be creative with my hash brown casserole because it called for cream of mushroom and cream of celery soups and I didn't have either...so I just used cream of chicken. I turned out really yummy! I made a blueberry cobbler last night to finish off our blueberries before they went bad, and we've been having lots of Bisquick biscuits and jello with our meals! We always seem to have tons of jello...but rarely eat it! We are also bad about buying snacks and not finishing them before I get tired of them and want something new. It feels good to get it all used up and start over with a fresh supply! One more week of "creative meals" and then we'll shop!

Ella has been so sweet and cute lately. She has started wanting to pray at times throughout the day other than meals and before bed. It is so sweet! She'll say, "Mommy, I pray!" She'll fold her little hands and bows her head (we really haven't taught her that) and say Je-sus, thank you...and I fill in words and she fills in the rest! Her prayers usually sound like this...Je-sus thank you for this day. Please help me to obey. I love you. Amen. Nothing makes me happier than to see her little heart being tender toward the Lord. We have been working on colors and shapes....and would you know that the only colors she knows is gray and black! Those are the only two she is interested in! She always wants to see the gray and black pictures cards. Too funny! Kids surely have a mind of their own!

have a great day!

Happy Birthday Joy!

Today is my sister Joy's Birthday! I feel very blessed to have been given two sweet sisters! I have been thinking a lot about the "sister" relationship as I am about to be the mother of two sisters just barely two years apart. I am already preparing for lots of drama, arguments over clothing and shoes, comparisons, but best of all two lifelong friends.

Joy and I are 2 1/2 years apart and yes that makes me still very young in comparison! Funny how I always wanted to be older like her until I got into my mid 20's and then I was glad to be a little younger! In my opinion the sister relationship is often a very complex and deep one! Joy and I spent a large portion of our lives sharing a room, bed, friends, and even clothes...which really caused quite a bit of drama back in the day! We look completely different (she got the dark skin, hair and eyes and I got the red hair, fair and freckled skin and blue eyes...so funny how those different combinations come out...and yes we have the same two parents!) Our personalities are also very different in many ways. Although we have our differences, I am thankful for the many memories and experiences we've shared throughout the years.

So as I await the arrival of ella's little sister....I am already praying for their relationship. I am praying that they will love each other. I am praying that they will celebrate their differences and unique qualities and learn to be who God made them to be. I pray that they will one day learn to share toys and clothes. I pray that they will grow to be two Godly young women who will care for each other, call each other and always be close friends. I pray for strength and help for me as I know a little about what this sisterhood relationship is all about....and all that is to come!

So...Happy Birthday Joy! Thanks for being a sweet and caring big sis and for helping me learn this sister thing!