Six on Saturday

-Yesterday the weather was awesome.  It was so nice we even had the windows down in the car.  While we were on our way home from running some errands we were stopped at a red light and Miss Elise decides it would be a great idea to drop her sippy cup out the window!!!  I only notice this by looking in my side mirrors after she says, "uh oh".  In my mirror I also see a policeman get out of his car to get it!  I turn around on the next street and he drives up to find me and we exchange the cup in the middle of the street with both our windows down.  I said "Sorry, thanks!" and felt like an idiot.  He didn't say anything!  Felt like a pretty awesome mom then! Guess no more windows down for us!

-This week Elise has been calling me honey.  It's pretty cute/funny.  I'm not entirely sure where she got this from.  Zack and I do kinda call each other honey but it's been a long time that we used the whole word. Usually we just refer to each other as "hon".  Either way it's adorable.  Even as we were at the store and she was in the kids play area while I shopped I hear a "honey!" from all the way across the store. Not mom, honey.  So funny, I love that girl.

-At dinner last night Zack was talking with Elise and starting singing one of our little made up rhymes to her.  In this rhyme we repeat the phrase "baby 'lise" over and over.  She stops us all on her own and says "no no, I'm a big girl!".  It was heartbreaking and adorable all at the same time.  Soon enough she will be our big girl and not the baby. 

-As of yesterday I'd say the baby's room/nursery is 100% finished.  At least on my end.  My mom is still working on the quilt and will help us make curtains and a new ottoman cover for the rocking chair.  But all things in MY control are ready to go.  I finished putting the swing together yesterday and I even have my hospital bag packed.  Is there anything you swear by having in your hospital bag?  I have what I think will be good, but time will tell. The only things it is missing are things I still use daily like my kindle and phone charger, etc.

-Yesterday I woke up sick :(  Boo.  I've been really lucky to have not been sick this whole pregnancy until now!  I have a very stuffy or runny (it takes turns) nose and a sore throat.  It's the pits.  Especially since I'm pregnant because that means I can't really take much for it.  Anything you'd recommend? 

-An exciting thing from this week is that we got an ipad!  All the 3rd years at the medical school get either an itouch, ipad2 or ipad4 (which they pay a little more for).  We decided to go with the best and get the ipad4. It's been pretty fun to play with!  I was really excited to finally get Instagram!  I haven't used it myself but I have been able to see what all my friends post on there!  Instagram wouldn't let me sign up from just a laptop and my phone isn't "smart enough" for the app, so I've been banned since now!  If you'd like to "follow me" my username is ems.pugh27 and one day I might get around to putting up a picture myself! 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

PS- I'm thinking of making this tent to go in Elise's room as a little reading nook with some floor pillows.  What do you think?  Too hard?  Too much?  We'll see if I get around to it...

This n' That

The weather this week is finally starting to feel like spring!  Yesterday it was 65 degrees and sunny!  What better to do than take the kids to the zoo!  We headed out with friends Sarah and Jane and we had a blast!  I think the girls had more fun chasing each other around the exhibits than looking at what was inside!  That's ok, we have a pass so it doesn't matter to us!

 Elise and Jane on the Footsie Wootsie's!

 Elise trying her hardest to pet the goose. She was unsuccessful.

Elise was having fun throwing sticks into the pond.  Mom (in all her 35 week glory!) decided to show her how it's done.  Here is the belly picture for those of you asking!

I love this picture of my sweet girl!  My baby for just a little bit longer!

 

I am officially 35 weeks today!  I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone!  I only hope that the next few weeks will feel that way too!  I went to my doctor yesterday and everything is going well and measuring just as it should.  I had him check to see if baby was in the right position and sure enough, he is head down.  Good boy- now just stay that way!

 

With only 5 weeks left to prepare I also finished some art work to hang in the nursery!  I asked friends on facebook if I should do trucks, animals or sailboats on the canvases and the majority voted for sailboats so that is what I did!  I was really pleased with how they turned out and it was a lot of fun to make them too!  I saw similar nautical canvas art on etsy for about $80 so I felt really good that I only spend $15 to do this whole project!

 

 

I spent the morning hammering and getting them hung above the crib.  Looks like everything is ready for baby boy to be here.  I hope he stays in a few more weeks so we don't have to deal with any NICU time, but after 37 weeks we are happy to welcome him at any time!

 

We had a fun weekend and amazingly had things to do each night.  Friday we had our friend Courtney over for dinner. She and Zack are good study buddies and she invited me to be in her book club too!  She was so sweet and even brought some beautiful tulips over as a thank you!  I love seeing them bloom on my kitchen table.  They make spring feel like it's really here! We had copy cat Cafe Rio salads that were very yummy and watched Despicable Me with Elise until it was her bed time.

 

Saturday our friend/landlord had a "Juicy Lucy" party at his house.  A Juicy Lucy is a HUGE burger that has cheese inside the meat all melted and gooey when you bite it.  It's delicious!  It was fun to hang out with some of our other friends and neighbors and enjoy a yummy meal that I didn't have to prepare!  It was a fun weekend! 

Train ride to Chicago!

This weekend Zack's mom and sisters came out to visit him in Chicago!  He was able to spend Thursday-Sunday with them and Elise and I joined the fun for the day Saturday.  We decided that instead of paying for a whole tank of gas, paying tolls, parking for the day we would try out the Amtrak!  It was great, quick and easy :)  We were definitely fans!

Elise smiling for the ceiling with Grandma

 

We met up with them at Navy Pier and Elise has a BLAST running all over the place!  She chased every pigeon and tried to jump into Lake Michigan several times, unsuccessfully. Thank goodness.

Elise with Aunts Nina, Alicia and Sonia

 

We grabbed lunch at Navy Pier and also had some delicious Haagen Dazs ice cream there too.  That might have been one of Elise's favorite parts!

Zack and his family in the John Hancock lobby

 

We walked up and down the Magnificent Mile while the girls did some shopping.  Elise did really well considering that she skipped her nap that day.  She had a lot of fun playing with Grandma and all of her Aunts.  I'm glad she got to see them and put their names to their face. I want her to know her family even though we don't get to see them as often as we'd like!

Elise enjoying her set up on the train ride home!

 

I thought she'd for sure fall asleep on the train ride home but I was wrong!  She was still full of energy and loved standing on her seat and looking out the window!  I'm glad she would at least sit still and watch a show since my pregnant self was so exhausted from walking/standing up all day long!  My legs were really feeling it!  I'm just happy I didn't walk myself into labor ;)

 

She fell asleep on the car ride home!  I got her into her pajamas and laid her in bed and never heard another peep until the next morning!  Looks like that is what too much fun will do to you!

Transitions

Yesterday Elise took her last nap ever in her crib.  She had absolutely no idea what was coming.  It made me pretty sad for her.  I snuck in to take a picture of her in there for the last time.  Aren't sleeping kids the cutest thing?  I can't get enough of it.  And yes, she is a nap time hoarder.  She requires about 18 things in there with her before she will fall asleep but if getting them for her means a 2 hour nap, I will happily do it :)

 

After her nap I put on a show for her and took apart the crib and moved it into baby boy's room.  I also moved the rocking chair from her room to the nursery too.  When I finished she went to her room to see what I was up to and she started crying for her chair. I felt like such a mean mom! It reminded me of the movie Peter Pan when it is Wendy's last night in the nursery and she suddenly has to grow up.  I'm pretty sure Wendy was about 8 when she finally left the nursery, but you get what I'm saying.  Our baby won't be the baby soon anymore and even though I'm so excited to meet our little guy and have a new baby, I'm really sad that my time with just me and my girl will come to an end. 

 

She did GREAT sleeping in her toddler bed!  We read books on her bed and then I sung our bedtime songs and she was a bit resistant at first to stay in bed.  I brought her a few more things she requested and told her to stay in her bed.  After I left the room it was quiet for a minute or two then sure enough, she was up knocking at the door asking for mom.  It wasn't a terrified cry, or bawling, just asking for me to come get her.  It went on for about 15 minutes and it was over.  I went in to check on her before I went to bed and she was sleeping soundly in her bed.  It melted my heart.  I love her so much.  She woke up a little bit earlier than normal but nothing too bad.  So proud of her for staying in her big girl bed all night!  I just hope that nap time and the next few nights of transition will go just as well!

Baby Boy Nesting

According to the countdown on my blog, I only have 49 days left until our little man arrives!  Crazy, this has gone by so fast!!  Since time is running out, I've been doing some projects and prep work to get ready for his big arrival!

 

We are fortunate to have just about everything "baby" already but most of it is pink, so I've been making some things "blue" just for him :) 

I made this boppy cover first and was really pleased with how it turned out!  It was surprisingly easy and I was pretty proud of myself.  It even had a zipper (for some reason zippers still scare me!) and I think it turned out great.  The fabric is a little hard to see- it has giraffes, lions, elephants, bears and whales on it.  I thought it was really cute!  I used the tutorial found here.

 

Next up on the list was to make a car seat canopy.  Again, the one we had before was darling but was pink with polka dots and bright pink ric rak- I don't think Zack or our little guy would have liked to be carted around in that and be mistaken as a girl!

Here is what it looks like when it is closed. I used another online tutorial for this pattern as well.  You can find it here.  I have made a few car seat canopy's before but it's always nice to have someone tell you the exact dimensions again as a refresher!  Again, another simple and fun project!

And the other fabric, on the inside.  Elise now loves to put her baby dolls, binky's and elephant inside the carrier and try to carry this around the house.  It is a little heavy for her though!  Hopefully she won't try to carry it around when a real baby is inside!

 

My friends, Katie and Sarah, were kind enough to throw me a baby shower!!  Their theme was "little man" and mustaches- it was all very cute and fun! 

Here is the spread of food!  They even went to the extreme and made bow tie and mustache sugar cookies to go along with the theme.  Also (it's hard to see) we had fun paper straws with mustache's on them too!  I also got to bring home the cute printable on the table.  Now I just need to decide where to hang it in the nursery!

I was impressed with the adorable bags people brought.  I'm lucky to find any bag, let alone one that goes well with the party theme. Of course, I completely forgot to take pictures of my awesome hosts and friends at the shower!  Shame on me! 

Here's a picture of some of the cute things we got!  I was very spoiled :)  Can't wait to put our little one in all of these cute outfits!  I'm so lucky to have such great friends out here in Wisconsin! Thanks again everyone!

All Things Easter!

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year!  We were able to do a lot of fun things :)  On Saturday our little Chambers Court neighborhood put on an Easter egg hunt!  It was a lot of fun and just the perfect size.  About 10 kids and Elise was one of the oldest there so it was a good level for her. 

Discovering some Eggs in the bushes!

Getting pretty good at this egg hunt business!

I don't think she realized that there was candy in the eggs until the next day!  She just loved finding them all over the grass.  And what a miracle it was that you could even see grass!  Yes, it is dead but we couldn't be happier that all of the snow has finally melted!

After the egg hunt we all got together at the Croskrey's house and had a pot luck lunch with everyone.  It was fun to visit with everyone and eat all the yummy food and candy.

Later that day I let Elise play in the water with all of her eggs.  She had so much fun, she kept at this for about 40 whole minutes! 

She had been splashing around with all the eggs and got her clothes all wet!  She wanted her shirt and pants off because they were soaked so I helped her get them off.  I walked out of the room for a minute and next thing I know- here she is!  She climbed into the sink all on her own.  Silly girl!

Sunday we went to church and Elise got to wear her new Easter dress!  This little girl loves to wear dresses and was very excited that I had a new one just for her.  I need to get a better picture of it, but this is the best we have so far.  I love her expression in this picture- she is so sweet!

Here is what the Easter bunny brought!  She is the only child for just a little bit longer, so she can still be spoiled :)  In addition to her basket full of candy she also got some bubbles, water bottles, new outfit from Grandma Galbraith and a Noah's Ark toy!  She has had a lot of fun with these already!  Now we just need the weather to warm up so she can wear the cute shorts!

I cooked the traditional Easter meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls and a salad.  It was quite delicious if I do say so myself!  When I was making the potatoes Zack walked in and said "Oh you make these from scratch?!" I guess he was impressed!  I laughed at him and said of course.  He responded, "It's not that I thought you made them from a box, it's that I thought everyone made them from a box!" Ha ha.

It wouldn't be Easter without some Egg dying!  I was nervous to let Elise help since I thought she would get the dye everywhere but she did really well and was a great helper. She had a lot of fun making "rainbow eggs".

We only did 6 eggs but I think they turned out great :)  We had a wonderful Easter and even though all the new dresses and candy are so fun, we are most grateful for our Savior's resurrection and what the Gospel of Jesus Christ means to us.  Happy Easter everyone!