Goofiness

This weekend Mimi & Pop came over so that Pop could help Lance move a huge HEAVY tv out of our guest room - the final step to emptying what will soon be Grace's big girl room. Amidst the furniture moving, we took a time out to "play" one of Grace's new favorite games. This one has Lance written all over it, I tell ya!

So what is this game you ask? Well, let's see how to explain it...a picture is worth a 1000 words, right? But first, I must say I found out about this father-daughter Saturday morning ritual a couple of weeks ago when the sweetest fits of laughter were coming from Grace's playroom :) You're still wondering right? Well, you see that is Lance lifting Grace waaaaay up in the air to place plastic Easter egg halfs on the ceiling fan blades. On this day, Pop was there to help steady the fan blades and to help with the lifting after the "Again, again" requests from the little pumpkin. Even Mimi got in on the action You're still thinking, "what is so fun about that" right? Well, the fun part for a two year old comes when you TURN ON the fan and the plastic eggs go flying everywhere! Giggles guaranteed. Although I'm sure this should come with a hazard warning, a "do not try this at home" of some sort - at least make sure the fan is not going very fast...here's to the simple joys of childhood!

Noonie's Little Sidekick

Two weeks ago my mom had a birthday or a "Happy Noonie Day" Party as Grace called it. Grace wasted no time helping Noonie blow out her birthday candle, not once but twice!

Noonie's actual birthday (when you ask Grace to help blow out candles, she does the funniest bunny-teeth expression and then blows through her teeth) Check out the sly smile at the prospect of cake! And later on that weekend during her dinner party Here Noonie, have a little taste test Strawberry pie EVERYWHERE! Happy Birthday Mom/Noonie!!!! We love you!

Hudson's Nursery

S.O.S. HELP!!! 'Been looking for bedding for Hudson's nursery and I can't find any that make me go, "THAT ONE - that's the one". It doesn't usually take me long to decide what I like and once I pick something I usually just run with it, but no such luck on this one.

Here's an example: Grace's crib bedding was a discontinued, no-return Wendy Bellissimo set that I bought from a boutique in California BEFORE we knew she was going to be a girl - I just knew in my heart of hearts that she was a girl and luckily I was right, otherwise I don't think our son would have enjoyed the "Vintage Sophia Leopard" bedding as much as Grace has. So I need ideas from all you creative minds out there. Crib sets you've seen, color suggestions, good online sources, etc. Here's what I don't want: any type of strong theme like puppy dogs, sailboats, or anything like that - one exception, I do like to incorporate vintage elements and images, like vintage planes, football, etc. And although we are big LSU fans, I do not want a purple and gold nursery, though I'm certain we'll throw in some fun LSU items here and there :)

So far, this is what I've come across - I like certain things about each one, just not one that's the whole package.

Monkeys from Pottery Barn Kids - I like the modern colors, the crib skirt, and stripes on the wall (and I do have a little weakness for sock monkeys even with my theme aversion :) Asher Collection by Serena & Lily - this is probably what I like the most thus far, but they don't have this design/color scheme in a crib set . I really, really like that shaggy rug! All-American by Rosenberry Rooms - similar color scheme as the Asher set above but probably more red than I want Denim Patchwork crib and twin sets by Rosenberry Rooms Rex by Serena & Lily - simple, clean lines Skip Hop Mod Dot - color possibilities Alphabet by Dwell Studio for Target - colors and retro feel of the alphabet Pinwheels by MiGi Collection for Target - just because I like that old-fashioned pull toy dog! Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

Oh, no...Brother Sister sets here we come!

I've crossed to the dark side, yes "dark side" as in star wars. I'm not much of a star wars fan, but a very fitting analogy right about now. One of those things I said I would never do when I was in my 20's child free and care free. Funny how all those comments come back to haunt you, huh? Fast forward ten or so years and BAM! I've purchased boy-girl matching sets for Grace and Hudson. And here comes the kicker, NOT for this year, for NEXT Summer at that, when they're 3 and 1. Couldn't help myself, the force was too strong.

So what did I purchase, you ask? A little brown checked bloomer set for Grace and the coordinating jon jon for Hudson
big sis Grace














little bro Hudson

And as if matchy-matchy wasn't bad enough, they reverse to matching puppy dogs :O




Oh, well, they were on sale so I'm trying to tell myself that 4 outfits for $60 is a pretty good deal!








I have a feeling they'll be wearing them on the puppy side a lot more than the ice cream side since Lance will probably think the ice cream is too girly for Hudson, but maybe I can sneak a little picture of the two of them barefoot and enjoying some ice cream cones during those hot summer days in their matchy-matchy sets :)

Project Time

Every time I tell Grace we're going to do a project her little face lights up and she gets that same sweet grin from when she was itty bitty - I. LOVE. IT. She also runs to grab one of her aprons to wear - hmmm...one too many baking projects?? :)

Deciding where to put valentine heart stickers is serious business :)
The paper punch was definitely a hit. White glue (messiest of all) - her favorite. Little hands busy at work. Thank goodness for re-positionable stickers! Grace had definite ideas as to where she wanted them to go. A little more glue never hurt anything, right? Add a little love note... (and a couple of decorative marker strokes to her chin :) and voila! When I stuck it on the refrigerator Grace told me, "It's SO pretty, Mama" As part of our "love project", I asked Grace who she loved so I could capture it on a little memory sticker for years to come. Here are her five answers in the order she gave them to me:
1. Elmo's world
2. Cookie monster
3. Jaxon (our dog)
4. My family
5. Crayons
Later, to finish off our valentine decorating Grace had fun showing her Daddy exactly where to place the vinyl stick-ons :) ...and yes, she was still wearing her apron ;)

Valentine Party for the Pint Sized Set

Cute, cute, cute dress from HarmonyWear on Etsy!

Since I feel like I'm starting to get a little bit of my energy back (yeaaaaa!) I decided to plan a mini Valentine Party/Play Date for a few of Grace's little girly friends the week of Valentine's Day. Hmmmm...maybe it's just an excuse to set up a sweet table, make some yummy pink treats and come up with creative activities??? Excuse or not I'm excited as is Grace as she keeps telling me "pink hearts pretty"! All in all we'll have three little girls 5 and under, two of their little brothers who are both about 18 mo. and I figured could play together while the girls did girly stuff, and Grace - so 6 kiddos altogether. Now that I think about it, other than our 4th of July party this may be Grace's biggest playdate yet! Hopefully not too many tears or squabbles ***fingers crossed***.

So I think the whole idea started when my friend Michelle told me about these cute owl plates from Target. I love little owls so of course I had to go check them out and they were indeed too cute for words, as were the matching placemats and sparkly cups (Grace's favorite). Next came these little princess wand making kits I spotted on clearance at Michael's for $1.49!! And I also picked up some 99c foam hearts for the girls to decorate with stickers, glitter and what not. And of course we'll make some cute cupcakes and decorate them with not just sprinkle hearts, but "shiny sprinkle hearts" as Grace pointed out to me :) So far the table is looking pretty cute, I think! And yes, it is set even though Valentine's is still a month away (I had to do a trial run since I like to visualize the whole thing :) I got the turtle plates for the two little brothers and their sparkly cups have dinosaurs instead of girly owls and hearts, and I figured all the kiddos could take home their plates, cups, and mats as party favors so clean up should be a breeze! I'm thinking about getting the boys (or even making some) king crowns like these from StoriaHome on Etsy, but I'm not sure if they're too girly or not??? All this boy stuff is new to me, but so far it's pretty fun! So if you have little boys in your life tell me what you think, crowns or not?

And totally unrelated to the party, but I found this sweet little swimsuit the other day at one of our local shoppes and just had to get it for Grace (yes, totally broke my New Year's resolution of "less shopping" BUT I did resist the matching flip flops and terry cover-up :). I know it'll be a while until Summer, but maybe I'll even stick it in her valentine basket since it's pink and red and just so darn cute :) So have fun planning your own Valentine's Day (or hallmark holiday as Lance calls it), whether romantic for the grown-ups or just plain cute for the wee ones :)
XOXO,
Jessica

It's a...

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited! We found out today during my 15 week OB appointment. I've been having horrible migraines and I think the doc felt a little sorry for me so she gave me a little pick-me-up in the form of a little "sneak peek" ultrasound. Here's what we saw:

15w2d
15w2d
One VERY active little baby (HB = 155) wiggling all over the place and practicing soccer kicks. And yup, those are little boy parts according to the tech and then the doctor. I know one thing for sure, I never saw anything like that with Grace so I'm hoping they are right, otherwise we'll be in for a big surprise! I know they are pretty accurate these days, but you still hear of the occasional "we had everything set up in pink/blue and then BAM! our little he turned into a she and vice versa" YIKES!!!

Most importantly, about a week and a half ago I had the nuchal translucency ultrasound which measures the amount of fluid in the back of the baby's neck and other markers such as the nasal bone, etc. as a screening for Down's and other chromosomal abnormalities. The ultrasound combined with the bloodwork I had at 11 weeks is what I guess they call the "first trimester screening" (I don't know if this is a more popular elective screening now, or if it's due to being 30, but I don't remember having this with Grace). Anyhow, everything came out normal, and we're so excited that baby seems to be a perfectly healthy growing little bean!

At first, baby wasn't in the right position for the neck measurement so after walking around/drinking water/prodding the belly/learning more than I care to know about what a partial contraction of the uterus looks like on screen/asking baby to listen to his/her mama and TURN because it had been over an hour and Grace was growing restless, I decided we needed to switch gears and look at baby's other end :) Julie, the tech, humored me and we soon saw what looked to me like a little pyramid (he, he, he) - not quite the "turtle" that everyone kept telling me about for boys. Though she wouldn't commit to typing "BOY" on the ultrasound picture since it was so early, she said if she had to guess, she would say boy and printed this little picture for us:

14w1d
Excited but wanting to wait until we had confirmation that baby was indeed a boy, we figured we would have to wait until the "big ultrasound" at 19 weeks. But today, a little peek-a-boo surprise...So all this to say it looks like Hudson Rowe will be joining our family this June! Hudson because we like the name and Rowe in honor of Lance's grandpa Woodrow. Thank you God for the blessing of this little boy!