even steven

michael goes shooting with some guys from church this morning
leaving me with two naked (just bathed) kids
who have been sick all week
i cleaned our house while he was gone
including scrubbing our light (super stained) carpet on hands and knees
cared for our children
and tried not to have a grudge with him
michael comes home 4 hours (FOUR HOURS) later
and leaves a track of dirty foot prints the entire way from our front door to our bedroom
so...
he purchased us something we've definitely been needing and is using it for the first time right now

meet bissel proheat 2x
the newest addition to our household

a dress

made for my future

un-pregnant self

this summer

who will be using it as a swimsuit cover up/ sun dress

can't wait
ps: do you love the bird fabric as much as i do?
michael doesn't
pss: notice my awesome new dress form for Salvation Army for $10
it's adjustable
i was so excited they decided to sell it
psss: as much as i'm loving sewing while my kids are sick/sleeping
and michael's studying
i hope we all get better soon
we all have a super gross cough
and i'm so glad it's the weekend

happy friday!

help a husband out?

in michael's ethics class

he's working on a survey

concerning children and the internet

if you feel so inclined you're welcome to take it

just click on over

here

it will only take a minute

i just love this bum

it's hazel's

taken 2 days ago

after a bath in the sink

isn't it the sweetest?

another preggie shirt

i made this little number yesterday
while noah slept on the couch
and hazel napped in her crib

it makes me look kind of huge

but i'm pretty sure

i'll grow into it

i'm not sure about you

but sometimes i wake up and throw whatever is on the floor on

it could be the clothes i lounged in the previous evening

or michael's shirt from the day before

then i get on with my day

of course this means i'm not going anywhere 

other than maybe to take noah out to the bus for preschool

or to take the garbage out

and i let the day go on and on

until suddenly i realize michael should be home soon

and i still haven't brushed my teeth

or changed from my ridiculous first thing i see outfit

and this brings me a sudden burst of energy

to hurry and get ready

as if i had been dressed all day

and michael never knows....

ps..i'm only dressed at 3:22 because he'll be home in 10 minutes

shhhhh

it's our secret

perks

not that i'm glad noah's sick

i'm not

but it does have it's perks

he wants me to cuddle him a lot

he naps

and hazel's really enjoying the train track he built

before he fell asleep

again?

our poor boy is sick yet again

i think it's only been like two weeks since he was sick last

i hope he gets over it soon

it's so strange to see him sleep during the day

he hasn't been a napper for quite some time

and today instead of wanting to watch pbs

he asked me to sing to him

such a sweet boy

where's hazel?

has anyone seen hazel?

there she is!

yesterday we took a trip to spokane

that included the temple, target, and red robin

these pics were taken on our way home

when the kids were waaaaaay past tired

and maybe a little delirious 

vanity, vanity

a little while back we were looking around shopko

there's not much to do in pullman

and i spotted this vanity marked down from $200 to $30

not that i had ever needed a vanity..

but who doesn't want one, really?

it looked like it was red on the box

which i thought could be cool

but it was actually a dark mahogany when we got it home

and the bench had a super ugly cover

and a super bad knob

so first thing i did was reupholster the bench

(sorry for the way it completely clashes with our curtains

i almost can't stand the picture because of it)

and i liked the new cover

but the mahogany still did not go with our style

so....

this is how i transformed it

a little white paint 

actually a lot 

a silvery gray linen fabric to upholster the bench

a new pretty knob

and...

now i love it

it's in our bedroom for now
which is great

but it might end up in the nursery 

as a changing table

half way there

i'm finally accepting that my due date is not June 28th

but is in fact July 6th

i needed a second ultrasound to confirm it

before i really changed it in my mind

so i'm 20 weeks now

and this is what hazel's room looks like

nursery plans include:

painting the crib white
new bedding (as you can tell, hazel's doesn't really fit a stokke crib)
i will probably make the bedding or at least alter whatever we decide on
and some decor...but we haven't decided on that yet

she talks

hazel is really talking lately
she started with just a couple words
like mama, dada, gaga (noah), shoes
and then one day she said
i want out
a full sentence
she was in her car seat, wanting out
then noah told me he wanted a bite of something
and hazel repeated
i want bite
and now she says all kinds of things
we're really enjoying her new found talent
though it's not always pleasant
if she says go
or candy
or uh uh
it can be really hard to change her mind
but...that's hazel

happy valentines day

Love,

noah and hazel

i didn't use a pattern for hazel's dress or noah's pants

i got the tutorial for his bow tie here

valentines preparations

i'm super excited for valentines day this year

michael and i have never made a huge deal

but this year i'm excited

because i think noah and hazel will love it

and i think it's fun to make holidays special

so michael's gone picking up our last minute items

like pez dispensers for the kids (they really want them)

balloons

strawberry mix for milk so it will be pink and delicious

pink cereal or something equally delicious

a heart shaped pizza for lunch after church

and i made the most darling church outfits for the kiddies
oh and a movie for us to watch after the kids go to bed

can't wait!

a girl named..

we are so excited to have another girl

our first stop after the ultrasound 

was old navy

we got the new little miss this outfit

girl names i like: 

Eunice (michael hates)

Olive (michael likes)

Eleanor (michael really likes)

Flora (michael's not really into)

and the middle name will for sure be Mae
Mae is michael's mom's middle name
and his paternal grandmother's first name
plus it rhymes with faye (hazel's middle name)

i'm leaning toward Olive or Eleanor

we'll see.

it's a....

GIRL!!!

big spender

i'm so glad we've invested in some really nice baby gear
ergobaby baby carrier (twice...we lost the first one in seattle)
phil and teds double stroller (almost 2 years old and i still LOVE it)
bumgenius (cloth diapering is super easy with these)
and just last night we bought a stokke sleepi crib on craigslist for $125
which is an awesome deal
hazel will probably use it for now
as her crib is recalled
next on my list:
buy a good infant car seat (we sold our last one when hazel outgrew it)
buy a good high chair (we hate our strap on the chair one, plus it ruins our chairs)
decorate hazel's room for the baby (whether it's a boy or girl...hazel will manage)
acquire clothes for a baby (the resolution doesn't count for the baby--thanks for your advice)
and......then we'll wait
ps: noah only wants a baby sister
my whole life i've only been able to think of girl names i like
but off the bat we were kind of hoping for a boy
we'll see... tomorrow!!

sorry about the illusive title of our last post

we're just laying around

watching the clock 

waiting for thursday at 10 o'clock

then we will have some real news to announce

i am happy to announce

the re-appearance of miss hazel's pigtails

i won, i won

my bff jody just had a giveaway on her blog

and i won this awesome basket 

she makes them out of recycled coffee sacks

and sells them in her etsy shop

with cute designs on them

can't wait to have mine just in time for valentine's day!!

ps: i don't actually know jody in person but we're bffs because we both have 2 kids

we both use the phil and ted stroller

and bumgenius cloth diapers

and...she's pretty awesome

me: noah, did you pee?

noah: only a little bit

hilarious hazel

the other night hazel wanted undies on over her pajamas 

(thanks for the pjs, tawn!!)

so fine, i helped her

then i went in her room and saw she'd put a hat on, too

i thought it was so funny i had to take a picture

then she turned around 

and that was even better

today i am glad

-that i cut my bangs yesterday

-and the shirt i took all day yesterday sewing myself fits well

-hazel slept in until 8:30am

-although noah's home sick he is well enough to request pancakes

-the pancakes were really good

-and hazel enjoyed them, too

-i'm a stay at home mom

-the sun is shining brightly

-hazel is requesting her swimsuit on over the pants and jacket she picked out

-michael remembered to eat breakfast before he left

-we are all caught up on LOST...can't wait until next week

-i'm cloth diapering

-i found a really good black maternity cardigan at goodwill yesterday

-our house is clean

and new shirt

last night michael studied

and i sewed myself a new maternity shirt

mostly using the serger

and in the process i had to learn how to rethread it

it was super hard

but totally worth it

i love the serger

sorry! it's hard to take a picture of myself

but you get the gist of the shirt

and a picture of the baby belly

just for good measure

about my new years resolution..

i haven't purchased any new clothing or shoes

for our family in 2010

so i guess you can say it's going well

but it is hard

and just look at the cute sweater hazel is wearing today

i bought it while i was pregnant with her

on clearance at old navy for like $2.50

you can't beat that, even thrifting

so while i'm proud of myself for setting this goal

we find out what we're having next week

and i just don't think i'll make it past then

shopping the day i find out what i'm having is..

tradition

and who am i to break tradition?

trouble in paradise

there is trouble in our household

we have pleasant days together

schedules run smoothly throughout the day

and then in the evenings

we put the kids to bed

and enjoy some time together

before going to bed

sounds great right?

but then sometime in the night

one of our children wakes up

and that typically wakes the other up

and in the last 2 weeks or so

there has been an extra little body in our queen size bed

or sometimes two

of course one of them was sick

and now the other

so that makes it hard to not help them

we keep trying different things but the bottom line is

a) we need a king size bed

b) we need to lock noah in his room

c) i'm going to kill someone

last night to make matters worse michael put the baby gate up in front of our room

but since we discovered the night before that noah can climb it

michael raised it like 6 inches off the ground

and in the middle of the night i forgot it was there

even though it was open

and i kicked the bottom that was 6 inches off the ground

and yelled to michael that it was a stupid idea

and that i was going to kill him

see the trouble is, i don't actually want to kill anyone

but this pregnant body just isn't getting enough sleep

any advice?

how many slurpees does our family need?

the answer: 4

why share?

thank you spokane, wa for reminding me why

we drive 1.5 hours to see you

and for having so many 7elevens to choose from