June Crafts!

So I've been getting really crafty lately :) First I bought a Kifty Knitter to make the kids some beanies! Its sooo easy! I really want to get the other Knifty Knitter looms so I can make scarfs and blankets :) Nathan's newborn beanie! I made this the first night I bought the Knifty Knitter!

Addison's toddler size beanie!
Nate's long newborn beanie :)
The 2nd thing I really wanted to do is make the kids some name wall hangings! I got all the letters, paint & ribbon at Walmart!

I used white puff paint for the dots & lines :)

All done! I used a staple gun to staple the ribbon to the back of the letters then I used small nails to nail the ends to the wall.

Now for Nate's!

Drying..

You can't really tell but his ribbon is dark brown with while lines in the middle..

I bought these tiny piggy banks at the Dollar Tree & I used puff paint for the lettering. Which by the way, was sooo hard to write their names because you can't rest your hand on anything.. Both kids have those much bigger "baby's first" piggy banks but Loren & I liked having a smaller one in the kitchen. It makes it easier instead of just trowing our extra pocket change in the junk drawer..

I super glued the ribbon (the same ribbon from Addie's wall hanging) around the jar and using puff paint, wrote the "a". Which I know looks really sloppy.. but again, I couldn't rest my hand on anything..

I bought these wooden flowers at the Dollar Tree.. I'm actually planning on buying more of these and I'll do them in a bunch of other colors :) Anyways, these are for Addie's room! I can't wait for Loren to come home, we buy a house, and I can finally paint & decorate the kid's rooms!!

I found these wooden sports decals at the Dollar Tree too! They were already painted but I really like them! I was thinking abut putting the soccer ball and football at the end of the ribbon on Nathan's wall hanging.. :)

Unfinished projects:

I haven't started the butterfly yet & I need black paint & black puff paint for the bee :)

This I also bought at the Dollar Tree! I want to paint it and then write "Addie's Room" on the bottom and hang it on her bedroom door :) If you couldn't tell, I would like Addison's room to have a spring/garden/flower theme :)

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Dollar Tree is a GREAT place to find craft supplies!

Baseball Wristband

So I saw these on Familyfun.go.com (its a Disney site) under crafts! I really would like to make them someday. A lot of the guys on all my brother's baseball teams make these from real baseballs but I think theses ones look better and they seem easier to make..

Materials:
- White fabric paint

- Two 6 1/4 by 3/4-inch strips of leather
- Hole-punch template

- 1/8-inch hole punch

- Ruler and craft knife

- Red cotton cord

- Red 1/2-inch shank button

- Fabric glue

- Pencil

Instructions:

1. Paint one side of each strip of leather and let the paint dry. Lay the hole-punch template over the painted side of one strip and use a pencil to poke through the circles and two Xs on the paper, making marks on the leather.

2. Remove the template. Use a 1/8-inch hole punch to make holes at each of the 30 circle marks.

3. Using a ruler as a guide and a craft knife (a parent's job), cut a slit from X to X.

4. Thread the button onto a 30-inch length of red cord, positioning the button in the middle. Thread both ends of the cord from the top of the strip through an end hole. Then lace the leather, threading the cord ends up through the holes and back down through the slit. Once you've finished, bring both cord ends up through the other end hole. Knot the ends together about an inch from the hole, or to fit your child's wrist.

5. To finish, glue the other leather strip to the back of the bracelet.

18 Months Old!

Newborn 6 months:

1 Year:
1 year & 1/2:

Addison is now a year & 1/2! :) She had her 18 mo check up today and she weighs 26lbs and is 33ins tall! I can't believe how much she's changed just from a couple months ago! Everyday she learns a new word or does something new :) I wrote down all the words she says & knows at 18 months:

Words she says:
"Hi"
"Ny Ny" (Night Night)
"Dad Dad"
"Dit Dee" (Pixie)
"Kee" (Kitty)
"Mom"
"Ank You" (Thank You)
"One, Two, Eee, 'blank', 'blank', 'blank', Six!"
"More"
"Get!" (She sees us saying this to the dogs so now she does too..lol)
"Doggy"
"Nen / Nenny" (Jen / Jenny)
"Dance"
"Bah Bye"

Words she knows but doesn't usually say.. Or words that you can ask her to point out and she can correctly:

"Nose"
"Eyes"
"Belly"
"Diapie"
"Poopie" (She'll point to her diaper)
"Up"
"Down"
"Juice"
"Shake it" (She'll shake her booty lol)
"No"
"Gamp-pa"
"Gamp-ma"
"Gus"
"Baby" (her baby doll)

I think that's all of them.. I'm sure I'll remember more later :)

As for me, I'm 27 weeks pregnant today! Only one more week until I'm in my 3rd trimester! Yikes! I'm still tired all the time. I'm going to ask my Dr to test me for anemia again to double check. I just feel so exhausted all day and caffeine does NOTHING for me. I actually think it makes me more tired ;). I also feel huge! They say that you get bigger faster your 2nd/3rd pregnancy.. I just hope I don't continue at this rate ;) Other then being tired & uncomfortable, I'm doing good! Baby Nate is still moving a lot. I have my next apt July 2nd. Its just blood work and a simple check up but at least I'll get to hear his little heart beat :)

I think that's it for now! :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Loren!

This Father's Day wasn't that great.. Loren is still down in 29 Palms so we sent him a card and a finger painting from Addie. Because of the military, holidays seem to always get messed up.. I've never celebrated a Mother's Day with Loren, we didn't see each other for 3 out of the 4 Valentines Days in the military, but Thanksgivings & Christmas' are usually pretty good. Loren is going to find out this week if he can come up here for 4Th of July/our 3 year wedding anniversary! Hopefully he can!!

I can't wait for next year when we'll be able to celebrate every single holiday as a family!

Today's Projects

I have 3 things I want to do today:

1. Buy a knitting starter kit. I've been wanting to learn how to knit for a while now and I'd like to make some hats for Addie & Nate before the fall.. Which means I better get started now..lol

2. I want to make wall hangings that say "Addison" & "Nathan" :)

& 3. I need to get kid-safe paint so that Addie can make her daddy a Father's Day gift :)
Wish me luck! :)

Your Baby Can Read!

I've seen the commercials about this product before and I'm always amazed when I see the home videos of toddlers reading but I'm not sure how well it actually works.. I looked up some reviews and the only thing I've read so far from disappointed costumers is that their kids got bored with it.. And for those kids who didn't learn to read, they seemed to at least learn the meaning of more words and how to say them.

I'm thinking that if I buy 'Your Baby Can Read' on Ebay or Amazon, then it'll be a good deal. There's no way I'm paying over $200 for it off of the official website..

So if anyone out there has used or knows someone who's used this system before, please let me know how it worked. I'm going to talk to Loren about getting it pretty soon for Addie :)

24 Weeks

So I'm 24 weeks along now! Nathan is still moving all the time.. We had a little scare the other night.. kinda. I woke up around 2am feeling contractions. They weren't painful but they were happening almost every minute.. I called the on-call OB and she told me to go to the birth center to get checked out. So my mom slept in my room with Addie and my dad drove me to Rouge Valley BC. The Dr. there said that the contractions weren't strong enough to worry about and I wasn't dilating or anything. She sent me home and told me that if they didn't stop by morning to call my OB. Well when I fell asleep, I was still contracting but when I woke up, I wasn't anymore and haven't since. Thank goodness! It was just a bad case of Braxton Hicks.

Other then that, everythings been fine. I feel like I'm really big for being 24 weeks. I could tell people that I'm due in July and they'd probably believe me. Hopefully I don't get too big.. but what can you do.. Everyone says it's because I'm small.

Addison & I went for a walk around the block today :) It was really nice this afternoon! I just can't wait for it to get warm enough to get in the pool! Speaking of swimming, Addison starts her swim lessons at Rouge Scuba on Monday! It's a 3 week class twice a week. I'm not sure how they're going to teach babies/toddlers how to swim but at least she'll have fun in the water with mommy :)

Well, until next time!

More Clothes For Nate!

So I went to the mall yesterday and couldn't help but get a couple things for little Nate :)

I love these rompers!

This is actually from Kasha :) Thanks!
Cutest little shorts from Children's Place for $5!!!
That's it. I think we're going to have the baby shower at the end of July and I can't wait to get more little boy clothes! It's soo much fun to be able get girl & boy clothes!! :)