creations for lil miss sunshine

love how these experiments turned out. 

i love the yellow with antique jewel 

& the black cage veil turned out pretty cute too.

 ok i thought they all turned out cute.

 super simple and easy. 

now i just have to figure out different styles 

of headbands to attach them to. 

more creations to come. i'm in a grove. 

..................................

xoxoxo

being pregnant at 22 weeks

this morning i was in the tub and i SAW my baby girl move for the first time. i could feel her moving so i decided to hold still to see if i could see her. bam! she did some kind of summer-sault. ripples in the water immediately spread from my belly. it was a reminder that she is getting so big. the strange thing is that this pregnancy i am not getting nearly as big as i did with steele. i was measuring 6 weeks ahead by the time i was 26 weeks. this round i was measuring 4 days behind at 20 weeks. i don't know how i feel about it. i gained weight like crazy the first 18 weeks but now i feel like i'm plateauing. some days i even feel a bit smaller than before. i thought i would hit a growth spurt by now but i haven't. everyone says on your second you show faster and get bigger than on your first but i'm not seeing that. i've been a little concerned about it and will ask the dr at my next appointment. 

i love this stage because i am FINALLY feeling better and don't need my daily dose of zofran anymore. i have more energy and it is much needed. about a month ago i started watching my friend trudi's two little kiddos, nixon (2 yrs) and taytum (10 weeks or so). they are both so sweet and nixon and steele have so much fun together. it is hard with 3 but it has been a lot of fun. it also has been so good for steele to see mommy holding another baby. he is so sweet with her and helps me burp her and feed her the bottle. he also will try to give her her binki and says "shhh baby"... in sweet way, not a "be quiet!" way. i am hoping this is a sign of how he'll be with his sister. a quick funny story; yesterday he kept saying to me "shhh mommy". i said "why do i need to be quiet?" he said in a soft voice "sister sleepin...." and rubbed my belly. it was the cutest thing ever. i'm getting more and more excited for the two to meet for the first time!!

now that the weather is starting to be tolerable i love taking steele out to the playground and letting him run free. last summer he was too small to really do much climbing. now he loves to explore the slides, latters and rock wall. we also have chickens and bunnies behind our garages. he gets so excited to go see them and watch tea go wild as she loves to pester the chickens.

ps i've gone a little nuts on the girl shopping. now that i have some extra cash from watching the kiddos i've been in girly heaven. of course everything is on sale and i've found some adorable outfit combos. i'll have to post some of my finds very soon.

much love

 "love" day was a fun one this year.
i made some scrumptious devil's food cupcakes with creamy cream cheese
frosting for my young women and for a few neighbors. it was hard giving them
up because they were seriously delish! {sorry lara for the cupcake pan fiasco!!}
steeley and i made a valentine for auntie fergie along with a plate of cupcakes.
we made a surprise appearance at her work because busy season has
already started for the accountants of the world. steele had so much
fun coloring the big pink card we made her with a tissue paper heart.
i wish i would have taken a picture.

above; steele is smelling the pretty rose daddy got for mommy.
he thought he was such a little stud walking around smelling "his"
rose.  it was funny because he would even close his eyes when he
would blow air out onto the rose from his nose. i don't think he
quite understands that smelling requires you to breath in.
such a sweet innocent age he is at.

brett and i enjoyed a date night all our own thanks to bill and lynn.
we dropped steele off after putting our name in at carrabbas. the two
hour wait was worth it. i loved seeing brett get so excited over his fillet. i
think he said "mmmmm" over a dozen times as he devoured the thing.
it really was a perfect night. thanks baby for a nice night, just us.

...................

nothing to really do with this post but....the pictures below were from
our little family trip to get ice cream tonight. we often hit up macey's for their
amazing soft serve. it's just down the road and steele can't get enough of it.
it is fun making family traditions like this. especially when it involves ice cream!

 {i really wish i had a better camera....you should have seen how much ice cream was on his face, nose and even forehead} 

my career as a mother

food for thought- i am one who has always said "i love being a mom!" i know it seems every mama out there says the same thing but if you could hear me actually say those words you would quickly know how much i mean them.

a common debate between man and wife seems to be the "which is harder, a career or being a stay at home mom?" this discussion has never come up in our relationship until the "poopy diaper" debate started. who would be the lucky one? on weekends when brett gets the chance to change steele we usually just do the "not it!" game and then do "i changed the last one..." after that. this past weekend i made the mistake of saying "i change diapers everyday...". we quickly had to get ourselves back on the same page of our chosen careers.

i love that we both feel the same way and don't ever belittle what the other does. in this case, we needed a little sit down with a heart to heart. i may change diapers all day but that is what being a mother in-tales. i'm not saying that father's don't have to do any dirty work because it's "not their job" because being a parent is so much more than a job description. motherhood has a lot of dirty work and hard work but in the same respect to what brett does; he works exhausting hours and has to rack his brain over tedious details. brett has always respected the role of a mother and says that being a mother is one of the most important roles we can achieve as women. i have always respected him in that i try to not bombard him with a list of "to-dos" when he walks through the door. we both try to relieve each other's stress by talking things out. we each know our roles and recognize the importance of each.

all too often i hear someone say "i would much rather go to work everyday that stay home" or a husband say "do you know how easy it would be to stay home all day". i don't know how that would make you feel but i would hate to feel like what i do is less than my spouse. i am passionate about my career. it is my "chosen" field of work. i worked pretty darn hard to become a mother and am grateful for every minuet i have with steele. i love being in his world all day long. it is a blessing and i know that my career as a mother is one of the most rewarding jobs i could ever have!  

ps those of you working mom's get a standing ovation because what you do has incredibly difficult!

first girlie purchase

here is the story....

i'm a tad stressed about having a girl and 

not being able to spend the money i want to 

making her that adorable little girlie. 

i really don't want to come across as snobby as i might

have in my last post about girl clothing.

for that i am sorry.

i know she'll be a doll to me no matter what and i really 

want her to grow up knowing she is a daughter of

God no matter how she looks or what she wears.

working with the young women in our ward 

has made me more aware of the image issues that 

the world teaches are of great importance. 

that being said, my goal is to help my daughter

know how to dress in a way that will let her divinity shine.

obviously most of these concerns will not be presented 

until she is much older. yet somehow it already weighs 

heavily on my mind. any one else feel this way about their daughter?

back to the real story. 

a few days after we found out a girl was 

kickin around in me, i wanted to buy 

something for her just because i could. you know

how that is. i was so excited. we were at the mall already

and i had $10 cash. i told brett i would find 

something for that $10. he laughed 

"there is NO way you are only going to be able to spend $10!" 

i was on a mission to prove him wrong.

i decide to go into babygap just to look around. 

in the back of my mind i was thinking "don't temp yourself". 

i went straight back to the sale section and started my search.

nothing stood out to me. then i found this adorable little 

cream ruffled skirt with attached tights with printed ballet 

shoes. i thought this is perfect 3 in 1! the question...

how much was it? $9.99!! 

i then found these bright fun monster booties

and just knew they'd be adorable with a pair of skinnies. 

and they were only $4.99! awwww

i had to stick to my promise and only spend the $10. 

i left them and went to the register. 

she then told me the best news! all sale items were an 

additional 30% off. i of course ran back and got 

the shoes just to see what my total would be. 

yes...only $10.48!!

after all that.... 

 i taught myself, and brett, to not underestimate my shopping skills.

{ps i am loving all the squirms my little girlie is making! all the time, day and night.

i love it! it makes me smile all day long.} 

family pictures fall 2010

today i realized i never posted some of my very favorites of our photo shoot back in the fall.

 if you need someone to take your family pictures PLEASE let me know and i'll get you in touch with mckenna. she really did an amazing job and i love how she worked with steele. 

i want to enlarge this one for our bedroom. it turned out very romantic. 

probably my favorite of just us.

happy love month