Christmas Cards

I love everything about Christmas Cards.... picking out the perfect family photo... looking back at cards from previous years... eagerly checking the mail each day in December... and most of all, picking out the perfect card.

This year, I thought about combining Nora's birth announcement with our family Christmas card. I ultimately decided to do two separate cards, but had I decided to combine them, I would have chosen one of these two cards from Tiny Prints.

Wintry Bliss Simple Border

The Christmas selection at Tiny Prints is really good this year. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Sweet Watercolor

Candy Cane

Joyful Script

I have not made my final selection, but if I end up picking one of these and you are on our card list - act surprised!

** This is a sponsored post. Tiny Prints is going to hook me up with some awesome holiday cards. **

Nora Ruth

Well, for all of those that guessed Baby M #2 would be a girl, give yourself a huge pat on the back.

Miss Nora Ruth was born on October 25 at 2:33 pm, weighing in at 10lbs 10 oz and 22 in long.

Her delivery was a little rough, but more on that later. Here is a picture of us in recovery - the first time I got to see or hold her. Instantly in love.

This past week and a half has been wonderful. I cannot remember what it was like to not have 2 happy, healthy and perfect little girls.

Boy or Girl

There are just a couple more weeks left until we meet this little bebe and it is time to start making some predictions.

When will he/she arrive? (My due date is 10/30)
How big will he/she be?
And lastly .... will it be a HE or a SHE?

Place your guesses! There are a variety of old wives tales when it comes to predicting the sex... I have done a couple of them, plus there are some myths that some people think can predict the sex.

One Chinese gender chart that I looked at said boy and another one said girl.

* If you carry low, it's a boy; high, it's a girl. - I think I am high
* If you carry in front, it's a boy; if you're wide at the middle, it's a girl. - I think it is in the front
* Hang your wedding ring from a strand of the father's hair over your belly. If the ring circles, it's girl; if it swings back and forth, it's a boy. - Goes in circles
* Is Baby's heart beat faster than 140 beats per minute (bpm)? It's a girl. Less than 130 bpm? It's a boy. - ranges from 145 - 170
* If morning sickness lingers all day, it's a girl. - I have not had any morning sickness at all

So... what will it be? Boy or Girl?

What Is On My Phone

Here is another installment of What Is On My Phone.....

Do you all watch Parenthood? If not, then you should. Anyway, last week they had a beautiful version of It Is Well with My Soul and I tweeted about the song, asking if anyone know who sang it. Jenn came to my rescue!

We were at storytime and Miss A volunteered to go up and touch an African Hissing Cockroach. Brave girl!

36 weeks - 10/2/11.

I think this lipgloss looks like a shade I would like - Loreal Le Gloss Peach Fuzz.

Do you ever take pictures of things on TV? I liked this dining room buffett setup.

This Old Navy top is added to my list of shirts I want to get after baby.

I think these fabrics would make a cute spring table runner.

Rice Krispie Treats made with Captain Crunch. Yum!

I was at a conference a couple of weeks ago and Amy Grant performed. She took a couple requests from the crowd and I was crossing my fingers that she would start singling 'Grown Up Christmas List' or 'Mary, Did You Know.' No luck.

Cafe Brazil - Holiday Menu

Yesterday, Miss A and I were invited by Hopsy to attend a lunch at Cafe Brazil to preview their holiday menu. I love all things pumpkin, so when I saw that the menu had pumpkin pancakes AND pumpkin cheesecake I could not wait to sample their new dishes.


We were all given sample size portions of their new holiday dishes - pumpkin pancakes, bananas foster french toast, creme brule french toast and s'mores latte or cocoa.


Miss A's favorite dish was the pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon butter.... and I have to say, I agree with her. They were delish.


Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Butter

Bananas Foster French Toast

S'mores Hot Cocoa

Pumpkin Cheesecake

So, if you are in the Dallas area and in the mood for some holiday type breakfast food, head on over to Cafe Brazil and try their new holiday menu!

Steal of the century

I think that decorating a house is an ongoing process.... well, at least it is for me. I am constantly finding new little treasures or some great fabric that I want to incorporate somehow into our home. I have mentioned before how I am kind of bi-polar when it comes to decor - part of me wants all white, cream and neutrals and then the other half craves color - orange, turquoise and green! The fun part is finding the right balance that works for your home.

The other day, I had The Nate Show on while I was doing some things around the house. I am not sure what the majority of the episode was about, but at the very end he was talking about the various ways paint and fabric can transform a simple chair into many different looks. This is the first look that he talked about.

Look familiar? This little turquoise chair was one of my first little furniture projects last year. Glad to know that Nate and I have similar taste.

And then today, I hit up the Wisteria Warehouse Sale with a friend. Kristen has wonderful taste and somehow received an invite to this wonderful sale. (Side note - check out her fab home. Love love love)

We were walking around, checking out the great deals and then all of a sudden I saw what appeared to be another Missoni-esq frenzy. Women were are trying to get their hands on these wonderful, European spindle chairs. I quickly got into line and was able to snag 2 of these incredible chairs. Not sure why they were selling at such a huge discount, but I did not waste any time by asking any questions.

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you - that tag is correct. A $600 chair for $10.

And now comes the fun part ..... picking out a fabric for the cushions!

I've had it.

At almost 35 weeks pregnant, I've heard all of the comments out there.

"You are HOW far along?"
"Oh wow...."
"Any day now - right?"
"You are only having 1? Are you sure?"
"How many are you having?"
"Maybe the second one is hiding."
"My boss is having twins and you are way bigger than she is"
... and many, many more....

And then this morning we were at story time and another pregnant mom and I were talking....
her - "You are due when?"
me - "October 30. About 5 more weeks"
her - "Oh, I am due November 30. But I am the opposite than you. I'm so small that most people still look at me and wonder is she or isn't she?"
(Not the case. She was obviously pregnant)

Here is the deal. Yes, I am fully aware of the fact that I am large. I am not blind and I do own a mirror. And I am a-ok with this. I was equally as large with my first pregnancy and I had a big, healthy baby - 9.3 lb / 21.5" long. Chances are, this baby is going to also be quite large. But, I don't understand why people feel the need to make awkward jokes at my expense. Most of the time I end up laughing it off, but when these comments are happening every single day, I get annoyed.

You are NOT the first person to laugh and say "maybe the second baby is just hiding!" That comment was not too funny the first time and it is definitely not funny the 100th time.

If you want to know how to talk to a pregnant lady, go read what Anne has to say about this subject. She was much more eloquent that I was.

September 21, 2011 - 34 weeks

Five for Fall

My friend AEOT just tagged me to do a post on my top 5 goals for this Fall. So, here we go....

1) Have a baby! What, that isn't also on your goal list?

2) Stay caught up on making photo books for the family. I am not good at getting pictures printed for albums - instead I prefer to make photo books. I just finished making our most recent book and now I am caught up! I know we will be taking hundreds of pictures in the coming weeks, so hopefully I will be able to keep all of these images printed and organized. Side note - I started making these about 2 years ago and so far I've made about 20 different books.

3) Make meals to freeze. I usually cook about 5 meals a week and we often have leftovers. Either I want to just make half recipes and freeze the other half OR specifically make meals to have on hand.

4) Finish Miss A's baby book. Actually, I should say start and finish her baby book. Back when I was pregnant with her, I had the hardest time finding a book that I even liked and then somehow I ended up with 3 or 4 books - all of which are sitting completely blank. Oops. So, not only is my goal to finish her book, but it is to stay on top of Baby #2's book.

5) Pick a baby name. Yeah, I know the majority of these goals pertain to the baby, but oh well. That is what happens when you are about 20 months pregnant. I have about 6 weeks to go, which means we have about 6 weeks and 30 hours to pick a name. For some reason, we have a much easier time agreeing on girl names vs boy names. Last time, we did not have a boy name picked out until I was at the hospital, in labor. And I have a feeling we are headed in the same direction this time.