Judah's room: beginning stages

   I've started buying things for Judah's room. I saw this lamp during my field trip yesterday on marked down to $24.99. It's currently at Babies R us for $45. Hopefully I'll be able to find some more pieces from this collection for cheaper than they have it at Babies R Us, if not I have a few gift cards I can use to get some of the matching accessories. 

   We didn't buy the furniture yet, but I think this is the set we're going with. MrC agreed with Serenity23 that changing tables are unnecessary, but I really want one! I can't imagine not having one. I promised him I'll turn it into something useful once all the kids are too big. Since we'll probably be onto our next child when Judah is ready to get his big boy room, we'll just use this furniture set again. It's sold altogether at a price cheaper than what I was looking at originally. 

 We did buy this bedding set yesterday. It was $50 at Burlington. The set I originally wanted was $180. I don't know what the heck I was smoking, but I must didn't see that price tag. I love Judah, but I don't love him enough to spend that on his bedding. I don't know if I love me enough for that. Anyway I don't like crib bumpers like that, I'm getting a mesh one in case Judah's face ever gets trapped next to it so he'll be able to breath. I'm going to cut up the bumper and get my mom to make another blanket, and I'm going to make some wall decals, and I'm going to decorate the hamper with the leftover pieces. 

I found some bamboo blinds that were really cute, but since I don't have the measurements for the windows yet, I can't get them. We're making house progress, so it won't be long now!

That's all we have decided on so far. Sunday we'll probably go to another store and look. I've been doing a good job of obeying my doctor's house arrest requests. We were in the store for about an hour and then I got uncomfortable, so we wrapped it up and went home. 

Let's all panic and act brand new!

Now that I'm hanging in the apartment all day every day (except for field trips), I'm getting better prepared for our upcoming move/baby. I'm slowly but surely getting design ideas together. I'll post some pictures once I get a complete room idea.

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Y'all my momma has been acting brand new. Lady, you have known me for 25 years and all of a sudden everything about me is new to her. When I was walking past her on Sunday she stopped me to look at a bruise by my knee and as I was telling her about it and she was feeling me up, she commented that I had really nice legs. 

Me: shut up!

Her: what? Do I tell you that all the time or something?

Me: Are you trying to make fun of me?

Her: *confused* no

Me: Last year you looked at my legs and started laughing and then talked about how fat my calves were and how I had no discernible muscle. 

Her: No I didn't!

Me: Yes you did! You talked about me and Corey and you kept laughing. Daddy had to stick up for me!

Her: Well your legs are nice, and they're not all tight and swollen. That's good.

Later on that day we were sitting on the couch and my legs were on her lap. We were all talking about spots on our body that were super light, or lacked pigment and I showed her one on my leg. Then she found what she used to tell me was my birth mark...

Her: OMG, what happened on your leg right here? 

Me: You said it was my birthmark when I was little (it's lighter than the rest of my skin and it looks like a little houndstooth pattern)

Her: I've never seen this before. You've always had this?

Me: Yeah, for as long as I can remember.

Her: wow, that's interesting. So you don't have hair on your legs? Like you don't shave them or anything?

Me: No, I just never grew hair on my legs

Her: I wonder why that is?

Me: Aunt Flo and Grandma didn't have hair on their legs either, I figured I got the trait from them

Her: Really? My sister doesn't have hair on her legs?

Aunt (not Flo): nope, neither her or momma

Me: Why don't you know these things mom?

This woman don't love me y'all. I'm going to leave out the part where she just realized I have a mole on my neck. A mole I've had my entire life. A mole I've talked to her about before. Judah, I promise I'll do better than this woman that claims to have birthed me.

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People are funny. Why do they always want you to be dying of something? I didn't tell too many people I was on "bed rest" because people just take stuff too far.  When I was checking myself into the hospital last Monday the nurse was asking me 20 million health questions and at the end she said "you're so boring, why are you even here? You don't have any of these problems!" Duhhh lady, I just need to chill out. I was trying to get myself some Italian Ice on Sunday...

Mom: What are you doing!?

Me: Scooping Italian Ice

Mom: What did the doctor say!?

Me: Thou shall eat ice?

Mom: Sit down and ask somebody to get it for you. You are supposed to be resting.

Me: I'm not an invalid, but fine, come get me some ice woman.

Aunt: Are you ok?

Me: Yeah, I'm just on a little "bed rest" not strict or anything, she just wants me to take it easy.

Aunt: Were you spotting? 

Me: No

Aunt: Having contractions? 

Me: No

Aunt: Your blood pressure was high? 

Me: NO! I'm fine, my body was working too hard, she wants me to chill out so it doesn't have so much to do.

Thankfully she realized I was not about to sit and play let's make up health conditions and we moved on and all had some yummy mango ice. 

************

Time for me to get ready for my appointment today. Judah passed his first test on Monday and then fell asleep during his second test. Shoot, we were there for 1.5 hours, I was tired too! He wasn't in any distress, he just wasn't going to play games with those silly doctors, so they still let me go right on home since sI passed my tests too. Hopefully we can both pass all the tests today. Praying for a normal doppler (me), an 8/8 on the test with the name I can't remember (Judah), and a passing score on the non stress test (Judah). But first, lunchtime!

A devotion on rest

I really enjoyed my devotional this morning, so I thought I'd share. It's from Girlfriends in God. I'm headed to a doctor's appointment in a few minutes. I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. I actually wore a dress and real shoes! I need to get my ma to send me the picture she took so I can have proof that at least once this year I left the house in something other than my new balance's.

April 25, 2011

Quiet Waters of Rest

Mary Southerland

Today's Truth
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul (Psalm 23:1-3, NIV).

Friend to Friend
For most of my adult life, I have wrongly equated being busy with being productive. I am guilty as charged when it comes to living each day in overdrive. My Day Timer has, at times, been my Bible. The result has always been exhaustion, burnout and watered down living. Everything looked great on the outside – but when I was alone, just God and me, we both knew that the façade I had so carefully erected was a spiritual monument to self-promotion and pride-filled goals. The house built upon the sand seemed like very familiar digs - and I was not alone.

We are all masters of rationalizing our way to approval. The problem is that the approval we gain comes from impotent and lifeless sources. I am convinced that if we are willing to surrender our lives to the tyranny of the urgent, the enemy will keep them coming – people who need you immediately, those who clamor for your attention above your family and personal relationship with God, the person who can talk to no one but you, and the list goes on. What ego strokes they offer - and what futility. 

I have always loved music and began taking piano lessons at the age of five. I will never forget that first piano lesson with Mrs. McKenzie, a very sweet, elderly woman who played the piano beautifully. Her hair was slightly blue, her house smelled like lemon drops and she had clocks that chimed and rang every fifteen minutes. I was so excited and so ready to play the piano like my sister who played for our church worship services. Betty was an amazing pianist and I was desperately hoping that same musical ability filtered down to me.   

"Let's get started," Mrs. McKenzie said. I climbed up on the piano bench, waiting for her brilliant instruction to begin. She placed a bright, red piano book in front of me and invited me to open it to the first page. I was disappointed to see only little, black pictures. Where was the music? Where were the songs? Mrs. McKenzie smiled as she patiently began to explain the musical symbols pictured in the book before me. I soon grew restless. "What's the matter?" she asked. "I want to play the piano, please," I sweetly responded. With a knowing smile, she said, "We'll get to that." I was not happy. On and on – for what seemed like hours, Mrs. McKenzie pointed to funny-shaped black symbols, named them and explained their meaning. I was not impressed. I just wanted to get my hands on that keyboard!

Sensing my impatience, Mrs. McKenzie pointed to one of the symbols on the page before me and said, "Mary, this small, black box is called a 'rest' and is one of the most important symbols in music." I simply did not care.  It did nothing but sit on a page in useless and unproductive silence. I wanted music. "Do you know why rests are so important in music?" she persisted. Obviously, I had no clue. She then said something I remember to this day, "The music that comes after the rest is the most beautiful music of all." At the time, I did not understand the deeper meaning of those words, but life and time have illustrated their importance and their truth. 

The best part of life comes after we rest in God. The most beautiful service follows time at His feet. Rest is a powerful part of our life song. Just as the rest in music prepares the listener for what comes next, time spent in rest is an invaluable time of preparation and restoration. Yet, we often buy the enemy's lie that to rest is a waste. The psalmist disagrees when he writes: He makes me to lie down in green pastures … He restores my soul… (Psalm 23:2-3).Now that word "makes" takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to God's work in and through us. Understand that if we refuse to rest, the Father will "make" us rest. The good news is that time spent in rest is the prelude of God's restoration power.   

For years, I filled every waking moment with activity. I lived by the principle that busy people are productive people. It was only after I crashed, spending two years in a deep, dark pit of burnout and depression that I learned the eternal value of rest and stillness. This pivotal life lesson is stated in the simple words of a shepherd: Psalm 23:2 He leads me beside quiet waters. The psalmist writes this soothing promise from the perspective of a shepherd tending his flock of sheep. A good shepherd understands the truth that sheep are never fully at ease around rushing water because every sheep innately knows that the weight of their wool – when wet – will drown them. A wise shepherd understands that he must lead his sheep beside still waters, to a place of rest. The sheep only has to follow.

Today, make the commitment to carve out a daily time to spend in rest.Sit at His feet. Allow Him to restore, replenish and refocus your heart and mind. Then rise to serve Him and lead others to the "quiet waters" of rest. 

Let's Pray
Father, forgive me for the arrogance that keeps me on the run, trying to prove my worth. Teach me how to rest in You, Lord. Help me learn how to say "no" to those things that keep me from sitting at Your feet. Give me a hunger and thirst for You that can only be satisfied by time alone with You. I love You, Lord.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Consider the following questions:

Why does it really mean to "be still before God"?
What "time thieves" do I need to eliminate from my schedule?
What long-term commitment do I need to make concerning rest?
What areas of my life seem to be out of control and need to be submitted to God?

Choose a time and place where you can rest. 

Read Psalm 23 every day and record the benefits of rest in your life in your journal.

Sit back and relax

I've had 4 doctor's appointments this week. Thank the good Lord for great health insurance. I've had over 25 appointments this pregnancy so far and I've paid maybe around $120 in copays. Judah and I are still fine, but they won't let me off home rest. I'm debating on going to church this Sunday. MrC said I'd just sit in the back and do not get up until it is time to go. That's so hard for me! 

So, let's talk about work. I'm a contracted employee but I never really have any interaction with the company that actually signs my paychecks. So at the beginning of the week I told the company I'm contracted to about the bed rest thing. Alice and Z are the people I report to on my team. They were both super understanding. Today my company called Alice about something else, and Alice told them that they needed to find coverage for my fairs next week because I'm working from home until the doctor tells me otherwise. I planned on calling my project manager today after I heard the latest news from my doctor. When she called me, she wanted to play 8 million and 5 questions. She wanted to know who was going to keep track of my hours, who was going to make sure I did my work, how am I working from home. Ma'am, nobody checks behind me while I'm in the office, so why do I need somebody now? I answered the questions to the best of my ability and she said she would call Alice to talk to her. I sent Alice a heads up email including what I told my company. Alice emailed back "why do they care what you do if I don't? If we're going to pay you, why do they have a problem with it? I said you can work from home, that should settle the issue." EXACTLY!!!! Alice called me and was basically letting me know that I don't need to worry, they weren't going to make me go out on disability this early and she's fine with me working from home until June if I need to. I told her if my company had an issue, I'd just come in the office on certain days so they can stop tripping. Alice is so great because she said "girl please. If we need to tell them you're in the office we will, but you are not leaving your apartment." 

My appointment today went well. The blood flow levels are still too elevated for the doctor to allow me to go drive around and be at work, but Judah was doing quite well. He passed the Biophysical profile test with an 8 out of 8. They tested to make sure he was moving, make sure he was using muscles (he kicked me, kneed me, and I'm pretty sure gave the doctor the finger), he was practice breathing, and that the amniotic fluid was at a good level. After all that moving during the BPP test Judah messed around and fell asleep during the non stress test. In order to pass the test his heart rate had to increase by 15 for at least 30 seconds. Yeah, that doesn't happen when you're sleep! Toward the end of the test, he woke up because he had the hiccups and then he started moving around. The nurse stayed in the room with me the whole time so she could hear all the movement even though the test wasn't responding the way the doctor wanted too. She thinks Judah is just too young to pass the test, but at 32 weeks (next week) he should be able to pass. Either way, nobody was alarmed and there was no more talk of steroid shots or delivering early. Next week I get a non stress test on Monday and Thursday. The nurses at Maternal Fetal Medicine (the folks I've been seeing for the last 15 weeks) are much better than the nurses at the hospital. They explain everything and actually monitor the test as it's occurring. My ma and I had a grand time talking to the nurse as I was hooked up to the machine for an hour. 

I've been taking one field trip per day on my home confinement. I think tomorrow I'll go get my nails done. Since I'll be seated the whole time, it counts as resting. Today I went to lunch with my ma and then to Hobby Lobby and she pushed me around in the wheelchair. I need to go to BJ's tomorrow to pick up my god daughter's birthday present (diapers) so I'll roll around the store so I can't be accused of violating my rest orders. It's time for my afternoon nap now, I'm really enjoying this home confinement thing!

Pregzilla!

I was going through my pictures looking for a cute photo to add to my thank you cards when I started laughing at being caught making faces at MrC. I hate it when my evil ways are captured on film. I swear I really do like MrC!

Oh the drama!

I had an appointment on Monday evening to check on Judah's growth. I had planned to just go by myself, but I ended up leaving my purse at my parent's house and my ma volunteered to bring it to me and said she would attend my appointment. MrC said he would come too since he decided to work from home that day. So we all headed into Maternal Fetal Medicine for my 4 p.m. ultrasound appointment. Judah's heartbeat was 144 when she first measured (not bad) and then he kept on moving so she couldn't get anymore good readings. His weight is 3.2 lbs which is right on track. But his abdominal growth was a little small so she came and checked the blood flow through the umbilical cord and went and showed the doctor. When Dr. Neale walked in I scowled. She knows I hate to see her because it shows on my face every single time. She told me that his abdominal growth is in the 8th percentile and they want it in the 10th and because of that my twice weekly appointments will start this week. Fine. Dr. Neale, ever the overachiever, decided to look at the blood flow herself. Some number is supposed to be at 4.1 and mine was at 4.7-4.9. That's when she started talking crazy talk. She told me I had to go to the hospital now so they can do a non stress test and that I had to get a steroid shot just in case we had to deliver Judah this week. Say what now? Lady, Judah's birthday is June 3. You better realize this. My ma was feeling bad because she felt she let me work too hard over the weekend. Then the doctor told me I was on bed rest. Not strict bed rest, but no more work. Lady, I want my paycheck, we need to come to a happy medium. 

I went over to Labor and Delivery and of course they weren't ready for me yet. So they got me a chair and we hung out in the hallway for an hour or so. They have a nourishment room with free water and fruit punch. I love fruit punch! Let me shorten this story. They hooked me up for the non stress test and after an hour they said Judah wasn't doing what they wanted and I needed to do the test again. You just realized that after an hour? So she got me a cup of punch and made me lie on my side for an hour and test. Then she finally came in and gave me my steroid shot at 8. First of all, it was in my butt. Which is probably better than my arm because there's so much more meat there but I didn't expect that. This nurse just wasn't the nurse for me though. She started off talking about how it was going to hurt because the liquid was thick. Keep that to yourself heffa. My ma and MrC were laughing because I was looking crazy. Then she was telling me when she was going to stick me. I had to finally say, don't tell me, just do it. That thing hurt like heck and seemed to last forever. My left cheek still hurts and the shots make my hips sore. The doctor finally came in to see me and she said she wanted me to stay over night because they couldn't pick up on his movements and heart fluctuations even though I could feel him moving the entire time. I was pissed. I rolled my eyes and just turned away from her. MrC was so disappointed in how I treated her. I plan to give her an apology not tomorrow, because I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on her. They moved me to a permanent room and MrC went to get us some real dinner and essentials. I had just been eating snacks because I was told it was a 30 minute test and didn't expect it to be after 9 when I finally got real information. My new nurse was awesomeness. She smelled like Jergens lotion and competence. She told me exactly what we were testing and showed me how to work the bed/tv and such. I finally got some real food around 11 something and she came in and readjusted the machine every time I moved into a position that affected the readings. My mom got to go home since MrC canceled his work trip for the next day so he could stay with me. A little before one Nurse Awesome came in and said that the readings looked great and she was going to campaign to get me out of there that night if I sat still for an hour so the reading would be continuous. She came back in during that hour and I jumped and said "I didn't move, I swear!" She laughed and said that Judah had moved, readjusted and left. Around 2 something the doctor came and said I was free to go, the tests were great. Thank the Lord. I was very happy.

So what did I learn? 1. Eat real food so Judah can party like a rockstar since that's obviously what they needed. 2. Make sure the nurse actually checks on me. 3. Steroid shots in the booty aren't fun. 4. Don't be mean to the doctor's/nurses. They're trying to help me.

I had to go get another steroid shot today at the maternal fetal medicine center. This nurse was so much better. I told her not to tell me when she was going to stick me. MrC handed me a magazine. She pointed over my shoulder at a picture and asked me what it was and I was explaining it she stuck the needle in and was done before the pain even started! MrC laughed because she distracted me like I was a toddler. I sang her praises and told her she was awesome. She was also nice enough to stick me at the top of my butt so I don't have to sit on the injection site. Hopefully this will be my last steroid shot.She said next week we'll be on better terms and no needles will be allowed. I agree! We're praying the doppler's read normal on Thursday since I'm working from home this week and staying in bed except for bathroom trips and stretches/yoga moves every few hours. MrC will be in New Hampshire on Thursday so my mom will be with me. I'm not allowed to go to any more appointments by myself because I threatened to streak down the hallway and demand my freedom multiple times. Apparently, that's not acceptable. 

(p.s. it is inhumane to have a person sit in a room without panties on for hours. I asked Nurse Awesome if I could please put my panties back on and my ma started cracking up. I felt violated sitting there all unprotected.)

Shower Crafts

I don't like games. I do love crafts so that was the best part of my shower. At the shower we only played 2 games. One was the left-right game. You sit in a circle (we had 2) and pass a token to the left or right according to the story being read. The other game was to guess the retail price of certain baby items. Nothing like hearing somebody say a can of formula is $5 or a hands free double breast pump is $25 ($379.99). Twas hilarious.

For the crafts we started with decorating holiday themed bibs, but that was practice for the big craft- quilt squares. People had such creative ideas and I can't wait until my ma finishes it. The last picture are the squares that will actually make the quilt, we had a few rejects. MrC's crazy friend wrote "don't believe the hype," cuz he is so anti everything. He knew I wasn't putting that on Judah's quilt. Another person wrote a scripture about death. No thanks. My mom's crazy friend decided to glue a wooden monkey to her square and write "we love you beary much." Think about that. She glued something non washable to a blanket and then wrote something that didn't even fit. When she held it up, the whole room looked at her like "wtf?"

I was blown away by some of the squares and the one that almost made me shed a thug tear read: Jesus Uniquely Designed A Home. I had a wonderful shower and I'm glad 60 people came out despite the tornado warnings!

Shower Outfit

When I walked upstairs at the beginning of the shower, my own momma didn't recognize me. Geez, I'm going to start working on actually looking cute more often. I had fun at the shower yesterday. It rained, so we had to be inside. I'm grateful people still came out even though we were under a tornado warning. 

Quickly Ramble

I haven't read any blogs this week. I've been so dang busy with work and this baby shower that I insist on helping with. Oh and goofing off after I finish my work.  I've had 2 trial runs with baking and frosting cookies. Today I'm going to the school of you tube to get my final technique down.  In my head I have a really cute outfit to wear for my shower. Let me find a picture because I'm sure this didn't come from my head...(this is taking a long time to find)...(no seriously.I'm looking for an image of a  gray sweatshirt shrug thingy. I got it at the gap outlet yesterday. It smells like feet in here. Back to google)...(I give up. I can't find it.) Anyway I guess I'll show y'all a picture next week of what I wore because I don't feel like looking for it any more. I'm going to go get some purple and silver accessories to go with it. And I'm wearing my hair in a fro hawk. (wait I found a picture sort of.)

 

 Well it's kind of like this. It's a long sleeve open sweatshirt thing. I got a long white tank top to go with it and black leggings. The sweatshirt thing hangs down and covers my butt so I won't feel like a floosy. 

 

It's time for me to go get my eyebrows done and drop in Forever 21 for some jewelry. And get some crazy bread from Little Ceasar's. And reschedule my dental appointment. And write a reminder to pick up my 2 gallon pail of Mango Italian Ice when I leave work. Ohhhh my coworker just brought me a chocolate covered strawberry! I feel the love.

Weekend Crafts

This weekend I had so much fun hanging at my parent's house forcing my mom and sister to let me help with my shower. I had a surprise bridal shower in 2008 so I didn't get to help with anything. This time, I just keep showing up when I know my mom is going to be working on the shower so I get to help. I also keep getting coupons for stuff I know they need to buy so my mom will let me go to the store with her too. If she asks me "why are you here?" one more time, I'm going to drop kick her though.

We went and got the paint yesterday since it was on sale, but we didn't get it colored yet. I had out all my color choices and we have it pretty narrowed down. Now I'll just wait to get everything for the room and see how the colors look against it. We got the Harmony zero VOC paint since I'll either still be pregnant or the baby will be here when we paint. We got enough to do Judah's room, the trim for the whole house, the bathrooms/laundry room, and one other room. 

The fence in my parent's backyard needed to be repaired and like a good son in law, MrC was the assistant. On Saturday and Sunday MrC and my dad were slaving away in the backyard for hours. My sister even went to help for about 30 minutes on Sunday. She came inside to blow her nose and never went back out, lol. 

I meant to take a picture with my niece, because people always think we're sisters (or that I'm her mother even though I would have had to have her when I was 12 and I certainly wasn't getting down like that at 12) because we look so much alike. She helped on Saturday with our crafting. She kept asking "why don't y'all just buy this stuff?" They definitely don't do crafts and stuff at her house, so she was side eyeing us when we handed her a case of diapers and said "get to rolling." My best friend came over to help on Saturday too. It's funny because she is always down for whatever I'm doing even though I haven't been able to return the favor for her yet. My mom worked her half to death on my wedding and shower and she's always just so happy and willing to help. One of my friends whose wedding I was in last year and whose shower I planned has yet to show up or respond to calls/texts or be the one to tell me she's not coming to my shower even though I already know. Can y'all tell I'm in my feelings about it? My ma thinks she's just having a hard first year of marriage so I should be patient with her. I really can't stand people that can't "rejoice with those who are rejoicing" So if this a habit of hers, I don't see us having a strong friendship. Even if you didn't want to help with the shower or anything, it's common courtesy to at least return a phone call.  When she got married last year, they bought a huge new house and got it custom built. We were also house shopping at the time but their budget was clearly larger than ours, lol. I was so excited about their house you would've thought I was getting a room there. We stopped by to see the progress of it almost as much as they did! They're our friends, they were happy about their new home and so were we even though we wanted to be where they were and weren't yet. I never let my feelings about my situation cause me to not be happy for hers. Random vent over. 

I added all the finishing touches to the diaper cakes. We made 3, a giraffe themed, a monkey themed, and a whole safari themed cake. I'll post those pictures this weekend. On Sunday I made 2 towel cakes that are zebra. 

We (and by we, I mean me) had this great idea to make candles in the shapes of animals and give them out as favors. I consulted with Martha and she had a simple way to make cookie cutter candles. o_O That crap was hard y'all! We had wax spilling everywhere, headless animals, broken tails- it was not a success! Thankfully, my mom had the glass candle jars left over from my wedding so we decided to make brown and green votive candles instead.  It was much easier, and much more successful! We colored them using crayons and my sister became an expert colorist and wax melter. She was jamming to Jennifer Hudson when I snapped her picture. We have to add the finishing touches to those on Friday. My friend is busy tying bows this week for us to glue on there. I'm so grateful for her help :)

A grand time was had by all this weekend (well there was a brief period Sunday afternoon where I considered becoming a murderer. But only twitter needs to know about that. I'll let y'all continue to think of me as goodness and light!) Tonight I'm going to try my hand at making and frosting cookies, so I'm sure I'll have pictures of that this weekend. I'm so glad I made them let me help. I need somebody else to get knocked up so I can help plan their shower! I think I'm going to go buy some cheap picture frames and put up some creepy ultrasound pictures at the shower!

Judah's Safari Nursery

Housing Update: We still haven't moved into the house yet. The bank ordered the BPO this week and they'll let us know what's going on next week so we can schedule our inspection. Since I'm 7 months now, I'm about to get everything together in case I'm not present when people are moving our stuff in.

 

This is the inspiration picture that started it all. The furniture in the nursery will be this same color. I like the colors in this picture, but the carpet in Judah's room is a dark gray/blueish color and we probably aren't going to be changing it any time soon. I think I really like that bamboo curtain rod. Can I use real bamboo or do I have to go find some overpriced rod? I'll look into that.

 

 

These are the bins I have registered for. The changing table is open, so these will be placed under the table to hold things.

 

These are the possible wall decorations. Once we get the nursery set up, I'm also going to order a painting with his name on it that reflects the color of the nursery.  I'll probably also get a scripture or a quote painting for his room too. I don't know if I'm sold on the tree. There's a small little wall by the door that it might look cute against, but I won't know until we actually get in the house and hold it against the paint.

  

 

We're buying the paint this weekend, since there's a sale at Sherwin Williams. I think we're going to paint the two side walls a tan color (those walls have the windows and the closet) and then the wall the crib will be against will be a light green.

 

Any of y'all have any ideas? I'm designing each room now just in case somebody has to paint the nursery for me while I'm delivering the baby! Next up is our bedroom :)

 

Hair Journal- Bentonite Clay Shampoo

This is more for me than y'all. I tried to write out a hair journal, but I lost it. If I post it here at least I'll know where it is.

 

Last Thursday was hair washing day. I'd been having some bad experiences with products, so I decided to strip down what I was using and start fresh figuring out what products were going to become my staple products. I know my hair loves Oyin Whipped Pudding and Oyin Burnt Sugar, so I kept those. I decided to make my own shampoo. I used this recipe from AGRLCANMAC. I didn't use a separate conditioner because I wanted to test out the shampoo. After shampooing I put one of MrC's tshirts on my head to semi dry my hair. I left it on for 45 minutes and then I put in my Hair Dew leave in and my whipped pudding. I'll definitely keep this step. Waiting until my hair wasn't sopping wet made it feel a lot better. When my sister was doing my hair that night she said it felt grainy so probably didn't rinse as well as I could have. By Tuesday, my hair started smelling like dirt and it doesn't look clean. I'm going to try this exact same procedure again tomorrow but I'm going to add in Giovanni Nutrafix Hair Reconstructer as my conditioning treatment. I don't think I'll stick with this shampoo, but I have enough left over for one more wash. Next week I think I'll make an African Black Soap shampoo.

Picture Day

We went and took pictures this weekend :) I learned a lot from our little photo shoot.

 

1. Even though my dad loves photography and has the expensive camera and stuff, he's not very good at it. It's just not his calling. We're going to go take some more in May with someody a little better at angles and lighting.

 

2. I'm a lot bigger than I feel. MrC's friend saw me yesterday for the first time in about a month and said "whoa." I looked at the pictures and said, "whoa." In my head I'm slim and sexy, but reality isn't really agreeing.

 

3. MrC is a hater. All this eyebrow drama started because of him. I've always loved my eyebrows, they're just not thick. Every time I say I'm going to get my eyebrows done MrC starts laughing and yells "you ain't got no brows man." I think he's just jealous because he has enough eyebrows for 3 people. Look at my picture, my eyebrows look just fine. I'm done with that loser.

 

4. MrC talks too much. In 1/4 of the pictures he is talking. In another 1/4 of the pictures I am reacting violently to all his dang chatter. There are pictures of me punching him, cutting my eyes telling him to shut up, and looking at him asking why the heck he keeps talking while my dad is trying to take the picture. His main question was "is he taking it yet?" Of course soon as he opened his mouth to ask, the picture was snapped. Shut up and smile. There is a series of pictures where I'm facing him and about to grab his face with both my hands and tell him to shut up. I'll have to post them once my dad gives me the cd- I look evil. MrC was glad my meanness was captured on film.

 

5. I don't understand abstract. America's Next Top Model I am not. We were supposed to be staring off into space and MrC looks awesome, but I look so confused. We're going to crop me out of those and just let MrC have those as proof of his handsomeness. Those were the best pictures of him all day and the worst of me. My bad.

 

6. One of us doesn't know how to fake smile. It looks like when you tell a 4 year old to cheese. I won't say who, but it sure ain't me.

 

7. People don't think they should ask to take your picture. MrC was on one knee, and I was sitting on the other under a cherry blossom tree and all of a sudden 3 random strangers exclaimed "how cute!" and started snapping away.

 

8. If I hold my pee for 2 hours, it gets very painful. And I hobble and pray I don't wet myself. And I yell pull over as soon as a see a port a potty. Thankfully, I carry a public restroom kit with disinfecting wipes and spray, hand cleaners, tissue, and toilet seat covers. It made the experience a lot more pleasant.

Not successful

Nerd Girl asked if I was able to get some eyebrows last week at MAC. Funny story about what happened...

Last Saturday MrC and I went to a children's consignment sale. It was pretty cool, we found some stuff at great prices that we were able to take off our registry. After leaving there we headed to Macy's to go talk to the MAC ladies. There were 2 working when I got there. One had on a super short and tight dress and I could see the control top portion of her tights. I decided she was not the person to help me because clearly she lacked good judgment. The lady I wanted to help me was helping somebody else, but she told me to sit down and she'd be with me in a minute. While I was waiting a third employee came in and she looked a straight fool with her makeup and I pleaded "please, Jesus, not her." She didn't see me and went to help somebody else and the lady I was waiting for asked if Miss2Tight2Short could help me because she was taking longer than she thought. I told her I wanted an everyday lip and eyebrow because I don't wear much makeup. She said alright, and went and got some stuff. She started on my eyebrow with a pencil and was explaining what to do. Y'all, when I looked at the finish product I looked a mother effing fool. First off, her technique was terrible, I had two distinctly different eyebrows and her fake nail poked me in the eye twice. I was looking at her wondering if she was even looking at me. I saw one of her coworkers look at me like "what the heck is happening????" But I didn't say anything because the last time I was at a MAC counter MrC ended up walking away because I embarrassed him (the dude was SO rude. So I told him so. This was back in November, I blame the new pregnancy hormones. I told my mom and sister that they weren't allowed to purchase anything and that we had to leave because his customer service was unacceptable. They went back without me a few hours later and said the dude was so polite and he was shaking as he started helping them. My bad dude, my angry voice is serious. I don't use it often. I didn't curse or anything I just said "you don't think you're being rude? Well you are. blah blah blah", no need for any more details, lol) So anyway, I didn't want this situation to turn into another embarrassing my husband episode and I knew if I started talking, I wouldn't be rational. She did give me a nice neutral lip, so I bought the lip gloss and left. By the time we got to the car I was sobbing. How ridiculous  she made me look, plus something MrC said, plus hormones (I'm shifting blame on everybody) sent me into a tail spin. MrC spent five minutes with a tissue making my brows look like they belonged on the same face and trying to calm me down. When I told my mom later what happened she said "you don't remember a few years ago when we went to that MAC and they did your sister's makeup? I thought we swore off that location, those girls are circus artists." Then I remembered the blue eye shadow fiasco. 

So no, Nerd Girl, I still don't have pretty brow fill in techniques. I have also sworn off any MAC counters in department stores. I've had lovely make up help in the stand alone stores and not one good time in a department store. Lesson learned.