24 weeks

somehow i'm already 24 weeks. it's starting to become more and more real as the days go by. i've been thinking more about the whole process of actually getting this little lady out of my belly...and sometimes i freak myself out. not gonna lie. but more than anything i'm so excited to meet her and snuggle her and put her in cute outfits and show her off to everyone :) 

life as a pregnant lady is getting more and more tricky. i move slower every day, i get tired doing the simplest things, my back is achy, sleeping isn't a very enjoyable thing anymore, acid reflux is getting worse, walking the dog feels like climbing a mountain.... all these little things add up and equal me having cry-fests because i feel frustrated and sorry for myself. and my poor husband has to deal with the crazy hormonal mess that i become. today was one of those days. i just have to remind myself that it's not about me anymore. my body isn't just mine. i'm a cozy little home to our sweet baby and she's more important than any of my issues. overall i have loved being pregnant, but i'm glad it will be over in 15ish weeks :)

little baby bib

 

isn't this so cute?!? i found a tutorial on pinterest and had to try it for a friend's shower this weekend. and i loved how it turned out! i will definitely be making more for our little peanut. 

sweet baby girl

that's right. this little squirming bundle inside me is a GIRL! and i'm so excited. she already has piles upon piles of clothes thanks to friends and family. and i of course can't resist buying things here and there. i made a deal with myself that i'm only allowed to buy clothes if they are ridiculously on sale. otherwise her room would be one giant closet.

i can't believe we are already more than halfway through this pregnancy. time has flown by! and now thanksgiving and christmas are right around the corner and we all know how fast these next two months go. soon enough it will be time to bring this baby into the world! we are hopefully going to start getting her room ready. right now it's a giant mess of things we didn't bother putting away when we moved in...not looking forward to going through all that. but i can't wait to get her crib and a dresser and decorate!

the baby bump

it has officially arrived. it's so fun to look in the mirror and see my belly grow. i used to stuff blankets under my shirt and pretend to be a little pregnant lady when i was little playing house, and now it's real! still so surreal. i'm so so excited for this week. my golden birthday is three days away and we decided to go get an ultrasound to find out if this little babe is a boy or a girl! i can't wait. then we get to celebrate with a weekend of camping!

pregnancy so far

 

well, here are my weekly pictures so far. they are kinda pathetic..i just take them myself with my phone when i remember at some point during the week. hopefully once i start looking less full of donuts and more full of baby we will take some better pictures with a real camera. 

up til the last two-ish weeks my one symptom was feeling nauseous on and off everyday, but nothing terrible. i just have to have snacks with me everywhere i go and constantly eat to keep my tummy semi-happy. these last two weeks have been slightly worse and have included some barfing. yuck. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that once i'm out of the first trimester i'll feel like eating something other than crackers and soup. 

i scheduled an ultrasound appointment this week for october 24th, and i'm pretty sure that's the big day we find out if this baby has a weenie or lady bits. i'm so excited for all the fun shopping and crafting that will come after that day!

it's a...

 

baby!

come march 16th (give or take) there will be another simpkins living in this apartment. boo yeah!

we are over the moon excited and cannot wait for all the new and exciting things to come. i'm almost 11 weeks and feeling ok. i've been nauseous on and off for the past 3-4 weeks. this week has been a yucky one for my tummy because i got a migraine monday night and barfed twice, so my stomach has been a little out of whack from that. but all in all i've only had mild symptoms and shouldn't complain too much. 

i've been taking weekly pictures and plan on posting them here. fingers crossed that actually happens :)

sun bathing

penny's favorite thing in our new place is to lay wherever the sun hits the carpet. it's pretty cute.

I'm back!

another month has gone by without any blog posts...

 

guess what? we moved! it's still kinda crazy how it all happened. within one week we went from casually talking about moving to finding an awesome apartment and renting out our condo. so now we are in our new place and slowly trying to unpack everything and get organized. good news is we now have two bedrooms! bad news is we now have two bedrooms so the second room has become a dumping ground. but it's going to get organized eventually. we LOVE our new place. there are windows everywhere, it's so bright and happy feeling, it's in an awesome neighborhood...what's not to love?!? once we get everything looking decent i will post pictures. for now enjoy my cute little succulents sitting in my kitchen.

this and that

my new favorite website is the plaid barn. you just give them your email address and every day there's a new deal on some sort of crafty find. a few weeks ago i bought a batch of cabochons, and while i have no idea what i'm going to do with them, they are so cute and pretty and they were cheap! i just bought today's deal- a handful of fun mustache stickers for a baby shower i'm helping with later this summer. go check them out!

i've been craving donuts. when am i not craving donuts?

i got a tetanus shot on tuesday and that crap sucks! my arm is still sore!

last week my parents were out of town so we stayed at their house to take care of all the pups. and let me tell you, i loved having a yard for a week. like, i didn't even want to come back to our place one bit. i really do love our cozy home but i'm feeling more and more anxious and ready to find a new place with some outside space...

in 18 days we will have been married for TWO YEARS. i honestly can't even believe it.

in 11 weeks we will be in MAUI. hallelujah!

i'm so excited summer is on it's way!

i still love draw something. look at my latest drawing of a cute little lorax :)

baby baby baby!

it's baby season! lots of friends are expecting, which means I get to make cute stuff :) I made three burp cloths and a swaddling blanket for friends of ours who are due any day now. they don't know what they are having so I tried to choose colors and prints that were fun for a spring baby but gender neutral. the burp cloths have a side of cotton print and a side of soft chenille to help absorb all the stuff that comes out of baby. and the swaddling blanket was my first go at dying fabric! i love the cute aden + anais swaddles but they are a bit pricey, so i decided to make my own! i got some white gauze at joann's and a box of orange dye, and it turned out so cute! i did a double line of zig zag stitching around the edges to give it a little character. i'm pretty much in love with it and can't wait to make more. these are such simple and easy gifts to make for friends with babies on the way. i love being able to give practical, needed gifts with personal touches.

 

let's get healthy

as i mentioned a few posts ago, we've been trying to live a more healthy lifestyle when it comes to what we put in our bodies. now, i'm the first to admit i'm no where near being a health nut. i love donuts more than anything. i have taco bell for lunch more often than i should. and honestly i don't think there's anything wrong with that. i think it all comes down to balance and moderation. with that being said, i'd like to introduce you to my new lunch friend.

 

we recently joined a csa (community supported agriculture) and receive a box full of local, fresh, organic produce. the majority of the box is full of a variety of greens, and it's been a challenge figuring what the heck they all are and how to use them. so i've been piling some along with fruit in a smoothie. it's so yummy and filling, and packed full of good stuff for you! this past week i've done frozen berries, an apple, half a banana and a big pile of spinach. splash a little water on top and let the blender to its' job. these smoothies definitely look like something you'd find in a diaper, but don't judge a smoothie by its' color! they are super tasty! my goal for this next week is to get a little more adventurous with my ingredients... i'll keep you posted :)

bloom into spring exchange!

about a month ago my bff lisha, who blogs at one house one couple, asked if i'd be interested in participating in a "spring exchange" that she and another blogger, meagan from local at last, would be hosting. i said of course!

i was partnered with another rachel who blogs at get neat and she sent me some pretty cute things!

 

 

she sent two small cups- one i used to put jelly beans but those were gone in a few days time so there's no documentation of that :). she also sent a bar of lavender scented soap that smells awesome, a cute little note pad, and a happy little spring chick!

thanks rachel for the spring goodies! and happy spring everyone!

my new best friends

our sink had been smelling pretty stinky. i would put lemon peel down it over and over, and the stink would still linger. so last night i decided to actually take out the little black rubber ring and look down in the garbage disposal. 

OMG IT WAS SO DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!

i'll spare the details, but i seriously almost barfed. i ran to the computer and googled how the heck to clean the crap i had just found. and thankfully the solution was pretty simple. fill up the disposal with ice, add a cup of coarse salt or vinegar, turn on cold water and run the disposal til the ice breaks up. tonight i coated the disposal with baking soda and poured vinegar all over it (i never get tired of watching that little science experiment), then did the ice and salt trick. and it's already looking a million times better. so to those of you out there with garbage disposals...make sure you check it every now and then!

happy weekend!

I'm starting the weekend off right with a little bowl of chocolate cheerios. seriously, the best thing ever invented. so thankful the weekend is here and looking forward to time with friends and family and each other.

this season of life

i feel like i'm, once again, at this sort of in-between season in this life i'm living. we've been married for almost two years (holy cow how did that happen??), we've settled into the routine of day-to-day living, we take our dog out and let each other know whether or not she poops and pees, we have jobs we both enjoy; life is good. and yet i feel like i'm searching for something more, like i'm ready to take the next step life is putting in front of us. i've been having more and more days of feeling like i can't live in our condo much longer, my baby fever is burning, and i'm just feeling plain old impatient. i find myself daydreaming about living in a cute house with a yard for penny to run in, a sweet baby in my arms, and my amazing husband by my side. i know all of these things will come in time, but somedays it feels like time cannot go by fast enough!

i opened my bible up tonight to this verse..

You are my portion, oh Lord; i have promised to obey your words. i have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. i have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes. i will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.

psalm 119:57-60

it's so easy to become wrapped up in our own thoughts and ideas and dreams, when really our destiny is already laid out for us. i'm trying to stay rooted in the promise that a plan has been made for me. the greatest desire of my heart should not be having more than one bedroom or buying cute baby clothes, it should be living my life in a way that reflects the love and grace of jesus. i'm challenging myself to be better at this. anyone with me?

craft night: round two

a few weeks ago my lovely friends and I had another fun craft night. this time we all came up with ideas using paint chips. I found an idea on pinterest (duh) and decided to make a few "prints" to put in frames over the couch. we had a bunch of colored frames up before so this is definitely a change in pace. much more simple and minimal. and i obviously still need to make one more :)

breakfast for dinner

over the past six-ish months andrew has become mr. crossfit. he's been working out like crazy and i'm so proud of him and how dedicated he has been to the program. along with working out he's eating paleo. while I don't agree with this diet 100% (no bread? no cheese? no thank you!) we have been eating at home a lot more and trying to be more conscious of what we buy and eat. i found this cool paleo website called health-bent and decided to try this recipe tonight for dinner.  it seemed quick and easy... it was easy but definitely not quick! despite taking a lot longer than it said, it was super delicious! next time i plan on letting just the bacon cook for a bit, then adding the eggs. the bacon didn't cook completely on the bottom so i had to put them in a frying pan for a few minutes to get it cooked. splashed a little tapatio on top and we had a tasty, light, healthy(ish) dinner!

i love my china cabinet!

soon after we got married we needed some sort of storage for all the dishes and cookware and other odds and ends we got as gifts. so we went down to our beloved ikea and got this shelving unit. and it worked. but in the past few months i started getting tired of it. it was so big and bulky and dark. and if you've been to our little castle you know we don't have much space, so bulky and dark don't do much for us. and it collected dust like no other! so i started looking on craigslist for a china cabinet. i'd seen lots on pinterest that looked so clean and crisp and that was exactly what i wanted. one day i finally found one that looked decent and had a good price tag, sent a few emails back and forth, and my awesome mama came over with the truck to help me pick it up and take it back to her children's storage space garage so i could paint!

here it is before i did anything to it:

and after the first coat of paint. my suggestion to anyone planning on painting furniture: PRIME IT. i don't know why i was so dumb and decided to just skip that step...

almost done!

 

and here it is completely finished! i originally was planning on painting the entire thing white, but decided to paint the inside this blue-green color my mom had used for her bathroom and i'm glad i did! it's pretty close to the color of this font :)

i absolutely love it. it makes our place look so much brighter and happier. i was afraid it wouldn't be able to hold everything we had on the shelf but it does, minus a big stack of books sitting on our table now. thank you craigslist for the awesome find and pinterest for the inspiration and my mom for letting me use her garage!

valentines craft night!

last Friday night I had some of my dearest friends over and we went to town making valentines. it was so much fun and we decided we are having craft nights at least once a month!

love is in the air

normally I don't care a whole lot about valentine's day but for some reason I'm really excited this year! I decided to add a little v-day spice to a few mason jars this morning and I'm pretty much in love with them.

sew cute

happy new year! i'm going to try to be a more regular blogger in 2012, but i've said that before so we'll see if it really happens...

for christmas i tried to think of ideas of things i could make to give as gifts rather than buying everything. and while i probably could have done a better job (guys are really hard to make things for!), i was really happy with what i came up with.

for my two nieces i made lots of doll clothes. once i started i kind of became obsessed. it was so fun making tiny little outfits! i found almost all the patterns i used on pinterest and mostly used fabric i already owned, so this is an inexpensive and easy yet personal idea for little girls- three things i love!

christmas outfit

my favorite shirt

i also made ipad cases for my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, husband, and a kindle case for my mom. these were much more tricky than the doll clothes... they came out a little more snug-fitting than i hoped but they are definitely cute :)

mom and sis-in-law's ipad cases

mom's kindle case

i don't have a picture of my husband's, but i put a little pocket on the back for his headphones at his request.

for the two boys i watch i made reusable snack bags with really cute superhero fabrics. i lined the inside with a plastic-like material so they can easily be wiped clean. they didn't care a whole lot about the bags- they were more excited about the legos and transformers i got them and the fruit snacks i put inside the bags- but their mom loved them :)

and lastly i made this necklace for one of my best friends. i planned on making more but time got away from me i kept making things for dolls, so she was the lucky recipient of the one necklace i made. i think i will make more of these this year for birthday presents.

and that's what i made this christmas! here's to a year of even more handmade gifts!