Create Space. Find Joy.

I'm not even sure how many of you still follow me here since I have long ago fallen off the "regular blogger" bandwagon and jumped on the mom of a toddler, 6 months pregnant, house on the market, feels like something is always happening wagon. While it seems crazy and it can be, I wouldn't change it. Not that I don't care to share with you, my readers, but because as my little boy starts talking more and more each day and my belly grows larger and larger, I am always reminded to spend as much time with him as I can. Much like Rachel at Finding Joy.

I came across Rachel's blog via one of her Dear Mom letters and was hooked. Even though I have one child and she has seven, her writing reminds me to step back and take it easy and many times I need someone more than my husband telling me so in order to do so. Why mention Rachel today? Well, our mornings were both filled with snuggles from our little boys this morning.

William slept until 8:20am yesterday, a Sunday!, which is unheard of. Today he was hollering for me at 6:30 which normally only means one thing: dirty diaper. So, after cleaning him up, I grabbed his blanket from the crib, sat in the chair with him, holding him like a baby, looking at his face. This position has once again become comfortable as my belly grows. I softly sang and rubbed his hair and tickled his face and back asleep he went…I soon followed.

After thirty minutes of chair sleeping, I put him in his crib and he slept until 8:10 a.m. I love holding him close and hope he lets me cuddle him for a long time to come. This morning even though I was awake and could have done other things, I wanted to snuggle William. Rachel's post reminds me to Create Space. Find Joy. I think I'm going to make a canvas of it and have it to look at all the time.

Choo! Merry Christmas

20 Weeks -- Already?!

Well, I am halfway through my pregnancy with our second blessing of a child. Actually, as of today I am 21 weeks, but who's counting?! A few days ago all three of us went to a radiologist for the 20w ultrasound and I wanted to share a few of the images that were given to us. 

sweet little face

see here for my post with a similar picture of William at 20w

The technician spent an hour taking measurements and looking at all of the bones and organs she could see. We saw the stomach since the baby is already swallowing and the kidneys. I was happy she pointed out things like that to us.

William was well behaved, but it is different having a toddler in the room. He was however excited to see "his baby." I was tempted to find out the gender, but, no, we are not finding out the gender again :)

Hi Momma, Daddy and big brother!

Running through my mind….

1. Is my sweet boy feeling sick? He fell asleep on my shoulder during bedtime songs and hasn't done that in at least 6 months. I hope it is just a sleep hangover from a night at Nana's…

2. When do I need to think about transitioning him to a bed?

3. When will our house sell? It has been on the market about 50 days and while we have had some twice-lookers, no offers (yet) but I am praying. Don't want to move William into a bed before we are in the new house (ideally).

4. How did I manage to get 52 hours "alone" from Saturday-Wednesday? Sweet boy gets overnights with both sets of grandparents thanks to black tie events Momma & Daddy are attending and today is MDO. So, in order to feel like I'm not wasting my time, I am going through boxes in the basement. Pulling out all the maternity clothes, sorting his baby clothes in case we have another springtime boy and making sell, trash, keep piles.

5. I am lucky because one of my closets friends is having a baby…any day…we hope…

6. I am also VERY lucky to have two of my closest local friends pregnant "with me," both due in June! I am very excited for both of them and cried when they told me :)

7. Proud to have some Christmas gifts done, but haven't started on others...

TWICE Blessed

This year I am most thankful for the two littlest people in my life:

Our second blessing of a baby, set to make his or her arrival at the end of April:

And for my dear first born son William with whom I spend my days. We spend our days playing, cooking, climbing, crafting, watching tractors and searching for animals and trucks outdoors. I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Sandy Stinks

We are at approximately hour 24 of rain from Hurricane Sandy. I am not writing from my own home because we have above ground power lines and we typically lose power pretty quickly. And the winds are supposed to be 65mph+ for more then twelve hours overnight. Doesn't sound fun does it?

So I hope if you are in the storm's path, you stay safe. We are inside, got some food at the grocery and I also picked up a pumpkin so William (I mean we) could carve it on the kitchen floor during the storm since we need something to do :)

We have some BIG NEWS so keep up!

Halloween Hat Cookies

Earlier this month I hosted a costume swap for our local MOMS Club. I decided to provide some Halloween treats, but did not go overboard since all of the attending children were toddlers or babies. Let's be serious, the cookies were for the Moms :)

All I had to buy for the cookies was a pack of fudge stripe cookies and a pack of Hershey's Kisses. You also need honey and "writing" frosting, but I had both of those.

As you can see, the stripe side of the cookie will be face down on your plate/tray. Put a small dollop (I like that word) of honey on the bottom of the Hershey Kiss and then push onto the cookie, covering the hole. I let them sit overnight to "stick" better.

The next morning I used a small tube of yellow writing frosting to make a ring around the edge, where the cookie joined the kiss.

Then I added little buckles to the witch's hats.

The cookies were yummy and people thought they were so cute! :)