seven weeks

That's almost how long it's been since I last blogged.

The days seem to have been flying by. What have we been up to?

I've been sewing alot lately. Working on brand new ideas for my etsy shop. I'm hoping to relaunch it.. eventually.

Parker is potty trained!  After trying to get him to start using his potty months ago, and failing miserably, we decided to let him decide when he was ready. Well, about 2 months ago, he started bringing me his underwear. We talked to him about how he had to use the potty if he wanted to wear them, and he just started doing it. A month ago he was in his underwear about half the time, the rest of the time.. he asked for diapers. We just went with it, hoping we weren't totally screwing things up. It's been 2 weeks since he has had a diaper on. He does great when we are out. Actually, the few accidents he has had have been at home. He does wear a pull up at night for now.

Big Brother started! We look forward to this every summer. & yes, I know how lame that sounds.

Still poking my finger five times a day to test my blood glucose. I'm used to it now, and it's not as hard to put my meals together anymore. Gestational Diabetes is the biggest reason I'm ready for September. I miss sweets and pasta! I'm not a huge junk food person, but I went to a wedding last month and couldn't have cake. Sad. I have a list of meals/food to have after I have the baby. At the top of that list is lasagna, cake, cheesy chicken and rice. Yum. Oh, I also have a milky way packed in my hospital bag! :)

Ben's new classes start on Wednesday, and I'm a little terrified. I'm hoping I can adjust easily to having two kids instead of one. I don't want to depend on needing Ben's help when he already does so much. He doesn't like to tell me when he needs time to study/do homework, and I just don't want to ask too much of him.

Other than that, it's just the daily activities. Cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. We're kind of boring right now, because I can't stand to be out in the heat (even when I'm not pregnant), and I can't walk more than 50 feet without getting winded. We're trying to spend as much time together as we can while it's still just the three of us! Even if it's just going to a movie, or playing cars & blocks inside. Baby will be here in a month or less.. crazy!

the past few weeks..

i did my first TWIN photoshoot. to top it off, they are about Parker's age so it was interesting. such a great learning experience and I actually got some really great shots!

i've reopened the shop

i've been working on lots of new products to put in the shop

i've been chasing after a crazy {almost} 2 year old

i've been working on LOTS of dinosaur themed things

basically, life feels crazy. i have tons of posts coming up with pictures, recipes, and more iteresting things.. i promise! but for now, have a picture.

hello December.

How is it December?

How is it that I am supposed to be sending out the invitations for Parker's 2nd birthday party, today?!

I'm supposed to be sending them out today, but they aren't finished yet (oops!) so they will hopefully be going out Monday.

Speaking of Parker's birthday party..

All my ideas for it are really coming together! If you remember, I was kind of waffling on the colors of the party. I loved the sprinkles I had, but it just didn't feel right to put the whole party in those colors. So I've incorporated some tan, red, and leaf greens. The dinosaurs are still going to be in the bright colors. I decided to make mini lava cakes, which I am SUPER excited about! I'm also a little nervous, because it will only be my second time making cake from scratch. (No more box cakes for us since we switched to Real Foods, again I promise to post more on this at some point). My first cake ended in almost disaster. The middle didn't cook. I had planned on layering ice cream on top of it, but saved the cake my scooping the middle out and putting the ice cream in there. I still don't know what I did wrong, but I'm hoping since these will be cooked in cupcake pans, that it won't happen again.

Other than the ideas, I basically have nothing done. This just isn't like me. But with everything that has been going on, I haven't had time to do anything! So now I have 6 weeks to get EVERYTHING made and ready. I can do this.. I hope.

operation: dino birthday

Plans for Parker's second birthday party are already in full swing! Last year, I started planning when he was like five months old, so this year, I actually held off a bit longer. We don't do over the top, super expensive parties. I just like to make almost everything myself, and I like to have tons of little details to make the parties extra special. I like for people to come to the party, have fun, and remember it!

I sort of stumbled onto this year's theme, when a friend bought me these:

Dinosaur sprinkles! My first thought when I seen them was, "this is the second birthday theme." Since then, I've went back and forth on it. I was afraid it was too bright, or that the pink & purple were too girly. But after much thought, and reassurance from the husband, I've committed to this theme. We figure, the bright colors will be fun in gloomy January, and toddlers love all colors!

The first thing I did was make a trip to Hobby Lobby to find paper to match the sprinkle colors. I found the perfect colors and bought a few sheets of each. I already have a cricut cartridge that has the dino shapes, so I got to work cutting them out and seeing what color combos I liked.

Adorable, right?

I'm going to sew a bunch of these together (in a ton of different color combinations) and use them as streamers! I'm also thinking of making some cupcake toppers (still haven't decided if I want to do cupcakes or a sheet cake). I'm going to pick one T-Rex that I like the best to use on the invites (in a bigger size of course!), and also make the banner out of this paper as well.

For the goodie bags, I found these crayons, and I'm going to make some coloring sheets based on the cricut shapes. I'd love to find some sort of theme appropriate candy, and maybe get some of those dinosaurs that expand when you put them in water. Also, dinosaur stickers would be fun (Parker LOVES stickers!).

More fun things I'm considering:

Pin the tail on the dinosaur
Finding dinosaur themed music (land before time soundtracks?)

Dino themed menu
A hat like this for Parker

Dinosaur shaped cookies (I need to use up those sprinkles!)

That's all I have for now! I'm sure right now there are things I haven't even though about, but I have plenty of time! I would love to hear suggestions from everyone!

first haircut

I have had been putting off Parker's first haircut. Just thinking about chopping off those curls made me want to cry. I was looking at him the other day, with his hair in his eyes, and I just decided.. it's time. So the next time Ben went to get his haircut, we all went. Parker watched his Daddy get his haircut, he climbed around and we told him it would be his turn next.

We put him in the chair, and this happened

But, he played with Daddy's phone, and the old ashtray on the chair (don't worry, it was clean!)

but when those didn't work, the barber busted out the big guns

Yep, a sucker! His first! Once he had that, he was perfectly fine! I wish I could say the same for myself. Once we got home, I cried more than he did. His hair was just SO short! I just wanted it trimmed so he could see. But seriously, now that I've had a few days, I'm fine. His hair has practically grown back. So we'll be doing it all over again in a few weeks! :)

**Fun fact: Ben has been going to that barber shop since he was a little boy!