How to Cook Pasta in a Frying Pan

The End in Sight...

39 weeks today

This pregnancy has been so incredibly different from my previous two.  from start to (near) finish, it has flipped everything I thought I understood about my body on its ear and completely surprised me.

With my first two I was ravenous.  All day. Every day.  I wanted to eat everything in sight, and I did.
This time, I couldn't stand to even think about food for basically the entire first trimester.  I could literally take a bite of something I thought I wanted to eat and instantly feel nauseated and gross.  I never actually upchucked, thank God, but I sure did feel close a few times.  I lost nearly 12 pounds in the first trimester!  like, what?!  that's definitely different from both times before.

The color run Atlanta 2014

Something else that I actively made different this time is that I was much more exercise-conscious.  Shoot, I did TWO 5K's during this pregnancy, and ran in the neighborhood in between, until my pitiful pelvis just wasn't having it anymore, and even then I started walking at least 3 times a week, often more than that.

I slowly but surely, once I was able to stomach, oh basically anything, put on the 12 pounds I had lost.  this is to be expected.  you can't go from not being able to eat to suddenly having a normal appetite without a little gain.

my beautiful and talented friend did my maternity pictures

Up to now, at 39 weeks, I have gained a total of 18 pounds from my starting weight.  Can we say miracle?!  Just as a reference point I gained 85 pounds with my first, and did only slightly better with my second gaining a whopping 65 pounds!

Given, I didn't start out at my ideal weight with this pregnancy.  I started off technically overweight according to BMI standards.  and they say that the more heavy you are before pregnancy the less you should gain.  According to nurses at my doctor's office I should have gained only 15 pounds being overweight to start.  oh well.  I feel fantastic at only 18 pounds.  Nobody can bring me down from this high.

Nobody of course except my own anxiety perhaps.

I have been surprisingly calm this pregnancy.  I haven't been especially miserable, and with my managed growth I have been able to stay comfortable and not have any complications.  My blood pressure has stayed nice and low (with my oldest I had pre-eclampsia, so that is always a looming fear) which is such a blessing.

I did discover this pregnancy that dairy does not agree with me and since then my heartburn has drastically decreased and my acid reflux at night has all but disappeared which makes life much more bearable, like, you have NO idea.

thankfully I can get Soy ice cream...

So, what's the problem you ask? I'll tell you.  Since I haven't been especially uncomfortable or swollen, and since all in all this pregnancy has been rather pleasant, I haven't reached that point where you are so miserable you're saying "somebody get this thing outta me!!" I'm content.  Which makes my scheduled induction in 2 days all the more anxiety-inducing.  I'm think to myself, oh crap...  Am I ready?

Yes, I know, I'm a veteran at this. I have 2 babies already, and for the most part, despite making poorer decisions with the 2 of them (diet and exercise wise) I had smooth deliveries.  I have taken this pregnancy head-on with a much more positive mantra and a much more healthy perspective.

So why am I so nervous?

I am anxious to meet my newest princess, Alice Aurora.  And I'm so excited to be able to go back to sleeping on my stomach, like woah. And I'm excited to be more maneuverable.  But I am so stinking nervous at the same time.

He's so precious

I feel like there is still so much to do.  There really aren't too many things that are especially pressing.  Most of it is all in my head as my precious husband is constantly reminding me.  But somethings are.  For instance, I am being induced in TWO DAYS and I still haven't packed my bag...  yep  procrastinate much?  Don't get me wrong, I have a list, and a bunch of things set aside to be put in said bag, but I'm not done.  I think (here I go "psychologizing" myself) a big part of that is that if I get that bag packed and ready I am admitting to myself that this is happening.  No going back.

Well, for now I think I will procrastinate some more and  go and sit in the tub and soak for a while.

Knotted Fabric Organic Treated Wood Teething Rings

I saw these on Etsy not too long ago and just fell in love with the idea, and decided to make some of my own.

Pregnancy brings out my inner "Craftinista" (heck yeah I just made up that word, believe it) and let me just say that my brain has been OVERFLOWING with crafty ideas lately. I'm talking pages and pages of sketches and doodles that to any other person would probably look incomprehensible.  Baby stuff specifically, which should come as no surprise since I'm all preggers and whatnot.

NESTING MODE COMMENCING!!

As you have probably noticed I just got back in the game of blogging a little here an there after a significant hiatus, so let me get to sharing what the blog has been missing out on and that is just about EVERYTHING I have been doing, including making these teething rings.

At the time of this post these are all available in my Etsy shop, along with more information about each, So go and check them out!

I have a lot more ideas in the works for our baby and for my etsy shop, so stay tuned for that!  Do you have any suggestions for me when embarking on this?  What do you wish you had? What do you love most?  What items for baby are the most meaningful when handmade?

Leave me a comment and let me know!  Help me keep my creative juices flowing!

Preggy Poo Update and Other Whatnots

Hello....

Is anyone still out there??

Wowzers, it has been a spell (as my grandmother would say) since I have been 'round here.  I hardly recognize the place.  sheesh.

So much has been going on, and I don't even know where to BEGIN explaining my prolonged absence.  All I hope is that y'all haven't broken up with me and my blog for leaving you hanging for so long.

(I like to believe in my own little world that y'all have been waiting around, checking your blog loving feeds and pouting pitifully wondering where I had wandered off to, however, I'm pretty sure most of you are more confused because you don't remember me anymore.  it's fine.... I understand)

Anywho.  Last I blogged I was telling y'all about being all pregnant and whatnot.  Well, things are going pretty great!  I'm feeling much better and that's a good thing and a bad thing.

GOOD: because I'm not feeling sick anymore, and I can actually eat!
BAD: because I can eat again... and it's hard to stop...

I had this issue with both of my other pregnancies, all will-power (when it comes to food) goes straight out the window, and that my friends is a dangerous dangerous game...

We found out we are having a girl, as you can see in my Gender Reveal post here.
And yes, we have a first name picked out, but not a middle name yet, so we are playing our cards close to the chest until we figure that out... sorry for the suspense.

Here's a little collage of where I am in pictures:

I always regret not having many pictures of me during my first two pregnancies, and so I am trying to resist the urge to hide from the camera and take one every week.  So if you follow me on instagram, you'll see a new pic of this ever-growing bump each Sunday morning.

I'm trying really hard to keep exercising and control my food intake as well.  Yep.  That's right.  I'm going to condition this baby to love exercise!

In fact we took this little baby for a run on her SECOND 5K in utero this weekend (no pics from that unfortunately).

The first 5K she tagged along for was the Color Run in Atlanta in April:

Baby's first 5K!

Anywho, That's about all for now.

I've got A LOT of catching up to do on here, for instance we painted and redecorated Bunny's room, and painted the living room and office, and we are working on some pretty cool big projects, not to mention all the ideas I've got for crafting and just wow, so many things.  

Stay tuned for all that madness....

Baby 3 Gender Reveal!

For no reason that we can articulate now, my husband and I were just plain SURE that this baby was going to be a boy.  We had no evidence, no proof, just a belief and a hope....

I did this same thing when I was pregnant with Grace, I was just sure, from the day I found out I was pregnant that this was going to be my girl.  So much so, that I was already adding girly things to my registry well before we ever found out for sure.  

Luckily, that time I was right, I mean, I had a 50/50 chance...

Anywho, the day we went to the doctor to find out baby gender we were ready to just finally be told we were having a boy so that I could start getting things together and making quilts like I did with my other two and so on and so forth.

I made these yummy cake balls with a secret colored center to reveal to the kids what the baby was going to be

literally I could eat white chocolate on just about anything...

So, this is how we told the kids....  

When the ultrasound technician spilled the beans that baby #3 was in fact a girl we were so confused.  We made her check another time and still another after that....

But alas, Baby Girl it is.  We weren't disappointed, we had already decided that we would be overjoyed no matter what we were having, but to say that we were shocked was an understatement.

We had to take a couple of days actually to recalibrate.  We had friends and family practically knocking down our door trying to find out what they told us at the doctor, but we couldn't utter it, strictly because we were still in disbelief of it.

After we got it together and got used to the idea and then excited about the idea we decided we would reveal it to our kids, and thusly everyone else through facebook.

We are Very pleased to be bringing another beautiful little girl in the world to love and pamper!

Have you been shocked by your baby's gender before too like we were?  I would LOVE to hear about it in the comments!

Ahem Ahem, Announcement Time

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook already know this, and have for about a week, but me and the Hubby are expecting Baby #3!!

We are just plain crazy excited!

Some of you might be thinking, "seriously guys?  A third baby?  Didn't we just get past the craziness of buying a new home?"  and then answers to those questions are yes, yes and yes.

We can't seem to go too long without throwing a wrench at life and making more chaos!  We thrive on chaos frankly...

Baby Kline # 3 is due September 21st, So I am just about 13 weeks along now.  I have been using the Baby Bump App on my phone and it is so cute and educational and just cool in General, you should definitely check it out, they have forums and even baby name polls posted by real women who are toting a bump just like me!  I spent an hour and a half the other night voting on other people's baby names, it was awesome, and completely addictive...

It has been such a relief to let the cat out of the bag.  This pregnancy has been quite different from the other two so far, as you may remember from my post about our Baby Dinosaur, When I got pregnant with Grace I could literally have eaten the whole house, my appetite was through the roof, it was so awful, but I couldn't control myself!  This time around I haven't been sick per se, but I haven't felt good and hungry either.  It got to a point where I could barely eat a bite of food, no matter what it was, and I would feel hugely bloated and nauseated, it was awful!  I have actually lost about 10 pounds since the beginning of this pregnancy, which is basically unheard of for me.  But I couldn't eat!  I was either starving or nauseated, no middle ground and that was for weeks!

I also ended up giving up coffee too.  It wasn't exactly a choice, I just got to where it disgusted me, the flavor the smell, all of it, I just couldn't stomach it anymore.  I have even taken the coffee maker off of the counter and put it away in a cabinet. Weird, since I normally can't get my day started without my yummy iced coffee, but right now the idea just gags me.

I have been chugging water like crazy and really can't bring myself to drink anything else, which is great, because I am staying super hydrated.  But also crazy tired!  between cold turkey on the coffee and just general 1st trimester sleepiness I have been utterly pooped all the time!  I can't wait for that energy blast that's just around the corner!

Another thing that is different this time around is that I was more active before this pregnancy than I ever was in the previous two, So I have been getting out and running and walking through the neighborhood and eating much healthier, more veggies and fruits.  I think this baby is going to be a health nut, no complaints there!

I am so excited to share this news with all of you!  I look forward to continuing to share my life with y'all!

If you haven't already please follow me on bloglovin', I lost all my followers when I rebranded my blog, and so I have a wee little following of a whopping two people through there right now!  Yikes!  Down from about 120-something!  Share me around and if you comment with your blog link I will gladly share the love right back!

"Snowpocalypse" Down South

By now, I'm sure all of you know of the Atlanta traffic debacle that we have been shamed for repeatedly.

Well, thankfully, we felt none of the pain from that incident and were lucky enough to be nowhere near it.

We did however get a little bit of snow.

oh yeah, and did I tell you we got a new house!  Our first home!

It's been magical and crazy for the past several months, hence my exorbitant absence, but I'm back with a in-progress-redesign and looking forward to sharing my life with y'all again.

So, without further ado, snowy house pictures!

Wise Words Wednesday # 13

This quote was submitted to me by one of my favorite bloggers and I believe my most avid reader, Mekenzie from Interiors By Kenz.  She is just beyond uber talented and I absolutely love her.  We met in Altanta in August when we was in town for the Haven Conference 

She's tall like me!!

When she told me this quote I knew I had to make a graphic for it!  What an awesome way of saying don't give up and keep striving for better!  

I am definitely keeping this one on my inspiration list.  

Be Like Kenz and submit a quote in the comments below

You could be featured on the next Wise Words Wednesday!

Wise Words Wednesday #15

This one is so good I'm posting two different versions of it!  I think sometimes we get so ahead of ourselves thinking about what's going to happen that we lose track of all that can happen in between yesterday and tomorrow.  Not taking in the present, can only lead to regret down the road.

Take some time and just breathe.  Be patient.  Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year... They will all be here before you know it.  Make sure you make something awesome to look back on in the meantime. Be Virtuous!

Want to Contribute to Wise Words Wednesday?

Suggest a Quote in the comments below!

Open Call for Testers for My Newest Creation

What Time is it?!

ADVENTURE TIME!

If you creep my instagram then you may know that I started and also finished (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!) a new crochet project this past week, despite having been swamped with schoolwork from my least favorite class I have taken these last almost two years, but that's for another post altogether, ugh...

Watching The Big Bang Theory really got me in the Geeky Mood to make Finn

Anywho, I don't know if you remember from my Halloween costume post last year, but we are big dorky fans of Adventure Time here at our house, and we thusly dressed the kids as Finn and Jake.

"Adventure in Ooo"  Adventure Time Halloween Costumes for Kids

Well I decided after considering it for quite some time that I was going to dive in and make my own Finn the Human.  Adventure Size.

Finn is taller thn Grace! and she's a tall 3 year-old!

This was SO. MUCH. FUN! I had such a blast designing this and writing the pattern and even though I will probably change just a couple things I am so proud of the job I did on this!  (Yes, I am indeed tooting my own horn)

The kids had so much fun playing with Finn.
Tristan started drassing him up in costumes and
Grace was wrestling him.

We took Finn to visit "Bandad" and they chilled out in the recliner together

Now the question I have for you is, who would be interested in this pattern for an oversized super awesome Finn? I'm considering having a couple people test the pattern and then maybe putting it on Ravelry, what do y'all think?

Who would like to be a tester?