8 Days To Go

Well friends, it looks as if little Miss B will be here a week from tomorrow!!! Yahoo!!! I had my weekly appointment yesterday, as well as an ultra sound to see approximately how big she is. Let's just say "I couldn't have been more surprised if I had woken up with my head sewn to the carpet!" The very sweet ultrasound tech could only come up with her weighing 7lbs, 4oz. I just KNEW she was going to easily say that she weighed 9lbs already!  Ultrasounds can be a pound off, either way. So, she could either weigh about 6lbs, 4oz, or 8lbs, 4oz. My gut tells me the latter! She's quite scrunched in there, so the picture we were given, um... we'll just say that I took her word on it that there IS a baby in there. A bit hard to make out to say the least. She measured her head and stomach and both were measuring exactly where I am, 38 weeks. She also looked for little fat rolls :) and couldn't find any, hehe! I didn't have an ultra sound done this late with Kenadie, remember her 9.1 little self was a bit of a surprise :) But, if they had done one, I am convinced that they would have thought she weighed 7lbs. 4oz. too without any fat rolls as well :) Nothing about Kenadie looked 9.1, so we shall see...  We CAN'T wait to meet our little Berkley.

A conversation Kenadie and I had yesterday...
Kenadie:  "Mommy, I want to play that game where you do nothing."
Me: "Hmmm... a game where you do nothing?  I don't know that game?"
Kenadie:  "You know Mommy, that game where you do nothing."
Me:  "I don't think I know how to play this game.  It doesn't really sound all that fun if you don't do anything.  Who taught you how to play this game?"
Kenadie:  "You did, Mommy."
*Light bulb moment for Mommy*... "Oh, you mean the quiet game :)"

A little explanation before you think I am a cruel mother... You should see by now that my child couldn't love to talk more!  When we were first starting dance back in the fall, we had a little problem with our love for talking during dance.  She just ALWAYS has something to say, some sort of idea...  So, for a couple of weeks, Kenadie and I would play the quiet game for about three minutes before we got to dance, to "practice" how to be quiet.  It worked greatly and now we know that our 30 minute dance class is just not the place we need to do all of our talking :)  And yes, three minutes is probably the longest she can go without talking, that is, unless she's asleep :)

Days 10-18 of 365

You'll notice in several of these pictures that someone in our house LOVES to dress-up! It's pretty safe to say that if we are at home, Kenadie either has on a tiara, a tutu or high heels :) Cute and fun memories of our three year old :)

(Left to Right) 10. Ice on Kenadie's slide, 11. Loves to play with Mommy's roller clips, 12. Death of a small lizard by the "Happily Ever After" book, side note: I am TERRIFIED of lizards! 13. Anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby girl, 14. Delicious chili on a cold night + Law Abiding Citizen = great night, 15. Best friends, 16. Bracelets make for perfect earrings, 17. We love HiHo Cherry-O, 18. Tuesdays are a favorite!  We go to dance, followed by a long lunch with great friends and then home for an extra long nap :)

Bringing Home Baby, Part 1

Well, in approximately 16 days, we will be meeting the newest precious angel of our family. We are so excited, and can't believe the time is finally here! With Kenadie, we were obviously beyond excited awaiting her arrival, but we just didn't exactly know how much JOY she would bring to our lives. I can't wait to see if Berkley favors Kenadie, will she have any hair, how big will she be... And speaking of "how big will she be", I have just recently started referring to Berkley as a toddler! For those of you who never knew or may not remember, Kenadie weighed 9.1, one week early!!! I have a hunch that this baby is going to be bigger than Kenadie. I am actually having an ultra sound this Wednesday to get a ballpark of how big she is. At my appointment this week, my doctor agreed with me in thinking that she was going to be big! Another side note about Kenadie... I felt like she was going to be big, and my doctor assured me she would only weigh between 6 & 7 lbs. I remember specifically asking "so not even 8lbs?" to which he said "no way!" Well, he was right about one thing, she didn't weigh 8 lbs... :) we totally skipped that number! I guess a mother's intuition can be right :)

I was wanting to post nursery pictures when it was completely finished, but seeings how I have been patiently waiting 2.5 months for a large frame to come in that I ordered/paid for at Mistletoe... I may be waiting a while longer apparently. The nice lady has contacted me twice, but yet I still have NO beautiful frame! Just last week, I started calling every other day/leaving messages to which have all been failed attempts :( Oh well, hopefully I will EVENTUALLY get my frame, and perhaps it will still be during the time Berkley's room is referred to as a nursery.

My gem of a mother actually made this bedding, and we used it for Kenadie. When we found out we were having another girl, I was ever so excited to get to use the bedding again, as was my mother, seeings how it was her summer project of '07! I'll just tell you this, I have hardly any sewing skills, but when it came time to hem the dust ruffle, my mom quickly invited me to join her bedding project :) I will never forget, we sat on her couch and in one day, we EQUALLY put in 12 hours on hemming that thing! That's a grand total of 24 hours! And yes, it DID have to be done by hand! So, here ya go folks, some nursery pics...

Kenadie's room had a lovely mural on 3 walls of her room, as well as a pink crystal chandelier that did make the move with us, however; the ceilings in this house are taller and Berkley's room is a little bigger than Kenadie's old room, so the chandelier that I had to "fight" to keep from the buyers of our previous home... yeah, well it's not being used here... oh well. That's a total post for another day... But, before you speculate, I DID ask our realtor if I should take it down to which she INSISTED I NOT do!!! It was supposed to be in the paperwork that it went with us, but didn't make it into the agreement. In the end, I still have my chandelier, that I MAY use one day... but until then, it has a lovely home in our attic :)

If you are looking for a good baby pink paint, the wall color is Benjamin Moore "Elephant Pink". We used it in Kenadie's room. It's just a good pink that doesn't pick up any lavenders, just a true "baby pink".

Here's the mobile, and yes, there is a reason they tell you to take it down when your baby starts to pull up... hence the stranded bunny on top who needs to be secured back in her original place with the other 4.

This next picture is of some random items that I either threw away or that needed to be replaced. Let me just tell you how strange it felt adding these things to my shopping cart! With Kenadie, someone gave us all these types of things and they were all tucked away neatly in her closet, MONTHS before her arrival. Second go round... I just threw these staples into my buggy like they were milk and bread. Kinda made me sad for some strange reason, but the important thing is, Berkley will have all the things she needs, regardless if they weren't on hand months before her arrival :) I'm determined not to fall into the "you won't do that for your second" trap :) I want to make things just as special and take just as many pictures of Berkley as I have Kenadie :)

So what's left to be done??? Not too terribly much. I need to pack our bags. Kenadie didn't come early, I was induced with her. Berkley seems to not be going anywhere anytime soon, so I really don't feel too much pressure just yet on getting our bags packed. All clothes/articles are clean and on a list of what needs to be packed, so I feel pretty good there. We need to put the car seat in at some time, pick up some formula and diapers, and I think we will be pretty much set :) Enjoy your weekend. I think I am about to go back to bed. I started this post about an hour ago at 4:00 a.m. when I was unable to sleep. So long for now :)

Days 1-9 of 365

Like several of my friends are doing, I too am taking one picture a day and featuring it as the "highlight" of our day. I've had very few days so far where I actually stuck to the one picture a day "rule". I've got a funny little girl with a BIG imagination, so alot goes on in this household :) Here are the highlights of our first 9 days of 2011.

(Left to Right) 1. Kenadie and her princess, bumble bee, ballerina dog currently named Addison 2. Sunday lunch after church at Firehouse Subs 3. She called this her "unicorn horn" 4. Met Papa for lunch at Pizza Inn 5. Relaxation 6. Aaron tickles Kenadie with the hairdryer 7. Indoor campout in Daddy & Mommy's room 8. Making smores 9. The Mitten, our new favorite book

Frame Mishap

If you happen to find yourself buying a beautiful frame that you understood from the seller to be a 16x20... And then, if you happen to come across a beautiful picture of your child that you think would look perfect in said "beautiful frame"... You then head over to your local frame shop to have the beautiful picture framed in the beautiful frame, only to find out that the frame is actually 16x21????? After the initial shock and disappointment, here's what you end up doing with the randomly sized frame...

It actually worked out really well. I can interchange the pictures at any time, when I'm ready for a change.

As for the beautiful picture of your child... Not to worry, your local frame shop will be happy to sell you on just the perfect frame so that you don't waste a perfectly good 16x20 canvas print :)

The picture of the picture doesn't quite do it justice.
Sidenote: If you have noticed that the look of my blog has changed daily for about the past week, well... I think I am finally pleased... for now, anyway :)

Christmas Breakfast

I received a request for the recipes from our Christmas morning breakfast. For as long as I can remember, my mom has made the following breakfast casserole. Pretty sure she has made it my entire life :) and it's something we ONLY have on Christmas. The sticky buns were added a few years ago when she was introduced to this recipe. Prior to the sticky buns, she always made Magic Marshmallow Crescent Rolls to go with our breakfast casserole. The sticky buns recipe has to be about one of the easiest AND tastiest recipes there is!

Brunch for a bunch
2 lbs. mild sausage
4 cans cheddar cheese soup
12 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 1/2 cups milk

Brown sausage, crumble and drain well. Mix soup and milk until thick. Pour a little soup mixture in bottom of casserole dish, then add sausage. Layer sliced eggs on top of sausage, then pour soup mixture on top of all. Bake @ 350 until bubbly. Serve over toasted English muffins. Can be made night before, refrigerated, then cooked. Does not freeze!

Sticky Buns
24 Rhodes frozen white dinner rolls
1 small butterscotch pudding mix (dry) cook & serve
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1 cup chopped pecans

Place frozen rolls in greased 13x9 dish. Sprinkle with dry pudding mix. Sprinkle brown sugar. Pour margarine over all. Sprinkle with nuts. Cover with saran wrap. Place in cold oven over night. In the morning, remove saran wrap. Bake on 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Do not preheat oven. Turn out onto serving dish immediately. *All the good stuff is on bottom*

And here is what all this yumminess will look like baking in your oven :)

LOL

So, this is my first post of the new year, thought I would start it off with some random funnies that Kenadie has recently said.

While Kenadie was laughing and looking at her shadow: "Daddy, I can't see my shadow laughing."

"Kay Kay, I'm not supposed to tell you that I got you a mug for Christmas."

"Tape is soooo sticky! It's not for mommies or daddies, it's just for me."

"Mommy, I'm going outside with Daddy. I'll be careful and watch out for foxes and grasshoppers."

Kenadie: "How many clouds are in the sky?"
Me: "I see four. Do you know who made the clouds?"
Kenadie: "God made the clouds, not Jesus, because he was just a baby."

Aaron: "Do you think Berkley will be as sweet as you?"
Kenadie: "Oh no Daddy, she'll be silly."

"She's name is___________" Love that we still have something grammatically incorrect :) They are few and far between these days.

Kenadie: "Mommy, do you know who said I love you?"
Me: "Who said I love you?"
Kenadie: "Pluto said I love you. Yeah, he said I love you by ruffing."

Everything is referred to as "last year."

When she bit her tongue... in a very panicked tone "I ate my tongue."

"Mommy, this is how you eat a chip, it's easy, not easy peasy, just easy."

Kenadie: "Mommy, my sticker is broken."
Me: "Oh no, your sticker is broken?"
Kenadie: "Yep, that's what I was thinking. I'll fix it with my tape."

Kenadie is eating Cheetos that Papa sent her and I say "Do you know who gave you these Cheetos? Papa did because he loves you and he was thinking about you." Kenadie: "Yeah, that's so sweet! Papa's my hero."