Crafting ADD

I know others will identify, but I'm having major crafting ADD as of late. I stumbled across a fun project on YouTube from The DIY Dish ladies for a cute and simple handbag, which I promptly made for my sister (hope you love it, Jen!) and then another project from them for an adorable bird pin cushion. I've been eyeing pin cushions at the store every time I go but I just hate the thought of spending $3.99 for one. Ridiculous, I know, but I'm glad I held out because I then got the opportunity to make my own and with this same simple Joel Dewberry patter I'm thinking of making several more as holiday ornaments for a themed tree. :) Nice to know that occasionally there is a method to the madness.

So here are some pictures of my latest projects, as well as a couple of myself that I took in the mirror, just to get a few maternity pictures on record for this pregnancy (which I have none of until this point, shameful, I know).

This was my first attempt with this bag and I've learned for next time that I might want to add some cotton batting between the two layers to thicken the bag up some, and I'll shorten the strap length. For this bag I did add in three pockets, which isn't part of the tutorial. I like to have more than one place to put things in my purse and figured my sister would appreciate this too.


Joel Dewberry Pin Cushion Design

My mother-in-law gave me a bolt (yes, a whole bolt!) of this gorgeous toile upholstery fabric in green (pictured for this project) and in red. I wish the fabric was cotton because then I'd use it for a few clothing projects I have lined up.

Me and baby #2 at 32 weeks. :) And yes, I really don't want to know the sex until the baby's birth. I get asked this question all the time and it's really not that hard, at least for me, to wait until the birth. I will know sooner rather than later and I love the thought of learning all about my new baby, in all ways, in those first few moments after birth.

Apologies for the water spots on the mirror. This was left over from Wesley's version of cleaning the mirror, sweet boy. :)


And an almost complete project...

... from this to this, so far, with a little to go. :)

My pictures are pretty bad, I know, but that's because I take them all on my iPhone. Its really time to invest in a good camera, hopefully before this baby comes along.

Revival

There have been lots of things going on in the Stanglin household the past several months. My blog has fallen to the back burner but I am going to try and revive it. We'll see who cares to follow. :)

I think all of our friends and family know by now that we're expecting baby number 2 in mid-August. We're getting very excited and next week I'll be 30 weeks along, with approx. 10 weeks to go. Wow! Wesley has been in Mother's Day Out this semester and loved it so much!!!! MDO let out a week ago and we're not sure what we're going to do with all of this bottled up, little boy energy for a whole summer. Our first plan of action, in that regard, is to send Wesley to Gram and Poppy's house for a week. Yes, I said a week! Jeff and I are so excited at the prospect of having time alone, more than just the few hours in the evening we get right now, and we plan to take some of that time to catch up on missed dates, on movies, and to learn more about the city(s) around us, all things that are generally too difficult to do when you have a 3 year old and have to plan things around a still much needed nap time.

Beyond that, Jeff has been busy with work.; He's been well received at his new campuses and always gets such great student feedback. For the spring semester he taught seven classes!! He's currently in the middle of teaching a May-mester class and will be done at the end of this coming week. Thankfully, he has June off.

I have also been very busy. Five births attended so far this year, lots of postpartum work for several families and then about seven Hypnobabies classes so far. It's been fun but also tiring. Thankfully my pregnancy has been fairly uneventful. We did have a recent scare with the Gestational Diabetes screening. My midwife gave me the wretched glucose drink a couple of weeks before I was scheduled for the screening and in between that and the actual day, I forgot her instructions to only drink half of the solution. I drank the whole bottle... YUCK!!!! Thought I was going to throw up right away but managed to keep it down. We realized this a few days after the screening was completed and came back that I was over the level. Those few days before realizing my mistake were quite intense and emotion though.

The other recent activity that I've been doing is crafting up a storm. I'm including a few pictures of my recent creations. It's been a great stress reliever for me and I've been able to create some fun things for the baby.

Dickens on the Strand

When we were living in Dallas, one of our family holiday traditions was to drive to see the 12 Days of Christmas light display along a block of 12 houses in Lake Highlands.  It's something we always enjoyed and once we moved here we realized we'd have to replace that tradition with something new.  Our replacement tradition has been found!  

Last weekend we went to the annual Dickens on the Strand event in Galveston.  It was great.  So many people in period costumes, lots of great music, food, drink, little shops set up expescially for the event.  It was great!  Here are some pictures from our day there.

Day to day life...

Here's a picture diary of what we've been up to lately.

 

Fun at the park!

 

 Wesley holding Charlie, his doll.

The skies here are so beautiful when cloudy because we're so close to the coast

Couponing a week ago and Wesley found their Christmas section.  It was so cute to watch him play with the rocking horses. 

My latest crafts.  All are posted in my Etsy Shop (www.splendorinthetrees.etsy.com).

Happy Thanksgiving All!  Hope you have a comfy, safe, enjoyable, and relaxing holiday weekend.

News that only a parent can appreciate...

Wesley has take a great step toward potty training! He pooped in the potty for the first time today!!!!!! For whatever reason he's had an aversion to pooping in the potty for quite awhile now. He would go pee but had no interest in doing anything else there. I figured out that he likes his privacy, and who doesn't!

I'm so hopeful that this means we're really on the road to saying goodbye to diapers!! Cloth diapering has been fun and challenging, and we've done some disposable diapering, but I'm just ready to say goodbye to it all, for awhile at least. :)

Trip to Dallas Over Halloween Weekend

Wesley and I had a blast in Dallas over Halloween weekend, visiting friends and family. Unfortunately Jeff was sick and decided to stay home to recover. He missed a great trip!

Wesley was talking for weeks before our trip about playing football with his cousins, Garrett and Sydney. He had so much fun!!!




On Saturday morning we all went to Garrett's flag football game. His team did so well but they were literally about a foot short of scoring a goal to tie up the game.



Sydney looking so cute in her little cheerleader outfit!



On Saturday night Wesley and I went to a Halloween party at Vin's house. Here he is in his little Rodeo Cowboy outfit, looking so stinkin' cute!!


Wesley looks like such a big kid here! He's going form toddler to pre-schooler.


Max and Wesley were playing soccer and Henry, the dog, decided he wanted to join in. The poor soccer ball was all beaten up and slimmed after Henry got a hold of it. Yuck!


Zen going crazy on the horsey!





Catwoman Lisa and her Dalmatian Doggy, Austin! So cute!!


The church across the street from Vin's house was having a Halloween fair. We stopped in for a bit and the kids had a great time. We were able to get out of there with Wesley only consuming most of a Twizzler stick.



This is the result of Vin and Wesley's big kid hug. It usually results in them toppling each other over. :)



We had a great weekend and Wesley was chillin' on the way home...


...until he crashed!

The next day, Wesley was a Puppy Dog for Halloween.