Still here

Just thought I'd let you all know that Eloise is still inside my belly. A lot of you have called or left messages, which we appreciate and unfortunately there is still no news. We went into the doctor on Wednesday (four days overdue) and talked about induction. I was still dilated to a one. My doctor said she would feel okay waiting until Monday at the latest to start a Pitocin drip. We considered doing it earlier, but I REALLY would like my body to start labor naturally and I recently developed a NASTY cough that I would love to have a few days to battle. So here we are. It's so funny to me that we've always wanted to go full term, but going OVERDUE can be so frustrating! The due date is just an estimation anyway, but it's still lodged in your brain and you think something's wrong if the baby isn't here on time. I'm starting to think she'll never really come out! That's silly. But I've cried in the shower about it a few times already. My brain is still pregnant too.

In the hypnobirthing world they say it's safe to go to 42 weeks, but my doctor printed out some recent studies for me to read about that say how risks go up after 41 weeks. I will be 41 weeks this Saturday, but she's out of town until Monday. I will be going in on Friday to have everything looked at and checked out to make sure Monday is still a safe and secure option. She only gains about an ounce every day, so I'm not too worried about size, but you never know. There are so many unknown factors! We originally decided to induce today but I came home SO STRESSED about it. After praying and thinking and talking about it A LOT, I decided I felt better to wait until Monday at the latest.

COME OUT BABY!

We'll keep you posted. Love you all!

Janelle

December 4th

Photo taken two days ago.

Yep, it's December 4th.
Due date.
It's officially here.
Ever since Hazel came along one month early,
we've always hoped to go full term.
And now we have.
And it's been awesome.
So you can come out now, baby Eloise.
We're ready.

Holy Full Term

So I am literally NINE months pregnant...this Saturday. My first two girls came early, so I made sure I had everything ready about two weeks ago. "To Go" bag? Check. Laundry under control? Check. Sheets washed? Toilets cleaned? Floors scrubbed and waxed? Check, check, check. If only I had this kind of ambition when I wasn't nine months pregnant. But now that my house is officially "in order" and my most pending projects are done, the challenge is keeping it that way. Why is it so hard? It literally takes my entire evening some days just to PICK UP. It's exhausting.

So, since I've always been that girl who cringes when someone pops in unexpectedly because my house is a mess...my questions is this: HOW IS IT HUMANLY POSSIBLE TO KEEP MY HOUSE CLEAN? I think the only way is to send my family to a rental and live alone. My husband and I literally stopped speaking to each other soon after I waxed my floors because I wouldn't get off his case about taking off his shoes when he came in from the snow (why is this an issue??). Whenever I have a deadline to get my house clean, I become a mommy monster. If you track in dirt from outside or spill your crayons all over the rug and smear your shredded cheddar cheese into the wood floor ONE MORE TIME, I will bite your head off. I don't want to be that way.

I guess there has to be a compromise. A friend of mine has a sign in her kitchen that says,
"My house is clean enough to be healthy, but dirty enough to be happy." I need to be OKAY with my house's "lived in" state. I can clean it up at night and enjoy it for that hour or so, but during the day, it's going to be lived in.

Besides, some messes are just worth it. We will often spread our entire collection of construction paper, stickers, pipe cleaners and glitter glue all over the front room, but it's worth it to sit with my two girls and watch them create something new. As much as I LOVE a clean bedroom and a made-up bed, I really love it when our girls jump all over it and get tickled to tears. It's such a feat to keep my kitchen floor clean, but I don't mind stepping on something sticky when I've just decorated an entire batch of ginger bread cookies with my favorite apprentices.

I really need to relax and just do my best--but that's more of a lifetime endeavor for me, not an overnight change. Something always creeps up on me and adds a few new things to my "to do" or "to do better" list. I was just showing off my big belly to my husband and he pointed out a brand new, shiny stretch mark. Bah! Haven't I rubbed enough oils and belly butters onto my skin these nine months to prevent this?? Somehow these little ones find a way to leave their mark, whether it's on your floors, your windows, your mirrors, or your body. But it really is worth it.

May your homes be comfy and welcoming and a little bit messy with happy kids who have daily activity time!

Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we decided to stay close to home...for obvious reasons! We were sad to miss our usual visit with my mom's side of the family, but enjoyed a nice relaxing "vacation" up in the valley at the Phipps. We had Papa Kevin and Gram all to ourselves, so we felt quite spoiled. We did have one visitor from India who was a friend of Vicki's from work.

In the midst of three full days of football, we squeezed in one awesome sledding trip:







Poor Charlotte was not a fan of the cold. It was FREEZING.


We did get to do a few fun Thanksgiving crafts, thus the red paint all over her.

Here's a few things I wrote in my journal on Thanksgiving
(it's fun to look back and see which blessings stand out to you at the time):

"I'm grateful for my husband--even if he's ornery and a wee bit lazy over the holidays"
(Note: We weren't on the best of terms after three days of football. I actually sneaked away and waxed my floors at home on day #2).

I'm grateful for pie (especially my caramel apple pie this year)

I'm grateful for the way my girls look and feel in fuzzy footed pajamas.

I'm grateful for Vicki's cooking. And her flexibility.
(Not literally--you know, she's easy to plan things with...)

I'm grateful for my body pillow.

I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon--how it clears out all of the junk in my head and empowers me.

I'm grateful for the sweet little girl with whom I get to share a body for nine months. We have one week left and I'm almost sad it's over. I can't wait to experience her birth and meet her and touch her , but it has been magical having her grow and move inside of me. I love this pregnancy.

I'm grateful that football season does have an end.

I'm grateful for a strong body that can vacuum out the car, armoral the interior, and wax my wood floors all in one day--nine months pregnant.
(Can you tell I was ON ONE?)

I'm grateful that we caught the mouse in our house before Ellie was born.

I'm grateful for our home.

I'm grateful for my mom.

I'm grateful for how often Charlotte says "thank you mom" without even being asked.

I'm grateful for how often Hazel tells me she loves me out of the blue.

I'm grateful for peanut butter and how it so easily compliments chocolate.

I'm grateful for those quick moments here and there when my husband still takes my breath away and makes me feel like the happiest, luckiest girl in the world.

I'm grateful for consistency and obedience and the sure calm feeling it gives you.

I'm grateful for true happiness.

Happy Thanksgiving.

38 1/2 weeks

This is a comparison of my prego belly at the same stage with Charlotte and Ellie (left and right, respectively). Pretty close huh? I feel like I'm a tiny bit bigger on the right, but maybe that's just because that's how I presently feel...bigger.


It's funny how I've been able to get more prepared with each baby so far. Hazel was WAY unexpected. We had just refinished our bedroom and finally moved in after sleeping in the front room for a couple of months. I had spent an entire day unpacking the last of the boxes in our front rooms, making a total mess. I got a terrible 24 hour bug the next day which kept me in bed, planning to clean like crazy the next day. Then, at 6 in the morning, my water broke and little Hazel came along.

With Charlotte (the picture on the left) I had just finished cleaning and unpacking everything since the move into our new house. I look so content because everything was actually clean and somewhat organized, except for my bedroom, which I was going to tackle the next day. Charlotte was born within eight hours of this picture!

And SO, with Eloise I have been determined to have everything ready. I keep thinking to myself, "If she's born tomorrow...will I feel ready?" It seems like there's always something; when the kitchen is spotless, the front room is messy or when I get the laundry done, someone pees on their sheets. But I have been able to clean the entire house and finish the "big" projects I needed to get done, so I'm just trying to maintain things. Our "to go" bags are packed and the new car seat has been installed in the car. I've been practicing my hypnobirthing techniques at night--I'm getting so excited! So come any time Eloise; we're ready! (well, after Thanksgiving would be quite nice...)

Before... and the glorious After

I have been so excited to write this before/after post about my house. I feel like I've been working on a million projects since the beginning of the year and then they just continue to multiply until I forget that I ever accomplished anything at all! So even though my project list is still pretty lengthy, I forced myself to clean up and take some pictures before the baby comes so I can feel good about the progress I have made.

It's amazing to me how MOTIVATED I feel to sand and paint and decorate when I'm eight months pregnant. You would think that I'd have that enthusiasm and energy when I don't have a huge belly to carry around. These past few weeks I've been "nesting" like a crazy woman. I have to give a LOT of credit to David and my mom for their patience and HELP with my endless projects and pickiness. It takes a good man to give up two entire Saturdays--football Saturdays--to paint a hallway with an OCD pregnant woman (and a fantastic mother-in-law to take the kids!). I'm amazed my mom still visits me with all the projects I've recruited her for. Luckily, she can be just as particular and thorough as me, so I feel like I have two of me working around the house when she comes--we are so productive together! So thank you, Mom.

Here's a peek on the progress we've made:

Two years ago, when we first moved in, my bedroom started out like this...

Before we moved in, we re-drywalled, painted, and installed new baseboards in this room. This is one of my favorite paint colors, called "Aegean Teal" from Benjamin Moore.

The dresser and nightstands belonged to my parents and came with very gaudy brass fixtures. I'm still working on aging/darkening the brass. I'll let you know how it goes once I try it out! The dying plant and random unused rug remnant are what stand out to me in this picture (and lack of pictures on the walls).

This is when I was getting ready to have Charlotte, so we had the pack-n-play and an old forest green lazy boy that I covered with a white sheet.

Then this part of the room changed slightly when my mom helped me sew Euro shams out of some beautiful pottery barn curtains I wasn't using (the yellow stripe). We also moved the TV out since we never used it (no cable) and brought in this horrible bookcase we bought when we first got married. It was $10 at DI and I was desperate for something to hold my books. Who knew we'd keep it for so long--bah!

AND NOW... (drumroll please)


Next project is that treasure chest at the end of my bed. My Grandpa made it for me ages ago, but we never sealed the stain and it's dulled quite a bit. I had the guy at Home Depot create a mix of Benjamin Moore's "Stuart Gold" and Martha Stewart's "Cornbread" that came out perfect! I plan on adding some decorative trim to the front of the chest like Jenny did in this post on her blog Little Green Notebook. (I LOVE her ideas.) Then I'll paint the entire thing in that yellow/gold. I think it will brighten things up in this part of the room.

I also ordered this dark brown and cream chevron rug from West Elm that will arrive in December! It will go under the end of the bed and the treasure chest. I can't wait!



I added some more pillows to the bed: standard size shams from Downeast home with a nice dark brown stitch and a chocolate brown velvet pillow from IKEA. (Don't worry, I'm not sparing ANY details. For some reason it's really fun to write it all out!)

I found the yellow panel in the clearance section at IKEA for $5. Cute white frame is also IKEA; also $5. Love good deals.

I really like the fabric I used to recover a chair, so I framed it and put it above my nightstand. I'd like to add some brown bias tape on the lamp shade and remove the beading around the bottom. Still need to darken those brass pulls...

I also plan to sew some brown trim (ribbon?) around the edges of my IKEA roman shades to add some color.

I bought these huge IKEA frames on KSL over a year ago--it feels so good to finally hang them! They were black so I painted them "Cassia" from...Lambert paint, I think. I couldn't afford some lovely paintings, so I tried out silhouettes of the girls. I took their pictures and then developed them at Kinko's on 11x14 paper (it's only like .40 cents if you use their cheapest paper and do it in black and white). Then I traced them onto fabric and glued them onto some muslin fabric I already had. David thinks Charlotte looks African, but I like them. I can't help that her hair was a bit crazy that day! (Of course the empty frame is waiting for a little Eloise silhouette.)
I also painted that decorative bowl (DI) the gold/yellow I told you about.

I really wanted a new glider/rocker for my room like this one from Fawn and Forest but they are crazy expensive!! So one day I randomly stopped in an antique shop here in Ogden and found this cream-colored rocker for $59. Sold!
The IKEA rug was my birthday present from my mom. LOVE. IT.


And this beautiful desk. What a project. I was in a bit of a slump during the summer and my mom mentioned turning this end of my bedroom into a craft area since I've had all my craft supplies stuffed into our guest room closet. She told me to find a craft table and have everything accessible so that I can work on projects and feel HUMAN when motherhood takes its toll.SO...I looked through some magazines and fell in love with this Queen Anne style desk, but they are also very expensive--even used on KSL. So I kept looking-- FOREVER --and finally found this one on KSL. The guy sold it to me for $30 because the veneer on top had bubbled all the way across the front. I figured I could find a solution, and bought it.
Here's the before:
I cut out the damaged veneer with a utility knife and filled it in with a heavy duty wood filler. I sanded it and primed the entire thing before I realized that my repair was very obvious. Reluctantly, I started over. I watered the wood filler down to make it smoother and spread it over the patch again. It still came out too textured, so I took regular wood filler, mixed it with more water and spread it over the entire top of the desk. That did the trick. More primer, couple layers of paint ("Cassia" again) and we were done. It was a LOT of work, but well worth it.
Here's the only "before" shot I have of the chair. I found it at an antique store for $30 and painted it the same color as the desk. I recovered the seat in some fabric I ordered at Joanne's.






I've had my eye on these boxy bookshelves for a while. I was going to try and make them and then I found them at IKEA for a decent price. Love em!
And lastly, this little dresser here was nothing short of a tender mercy for me. My budget was spent and that darn DI bookshelf was still sitting here in this part of the room. I found this dresser on KSL twice--the first time it had sold for cheap by time I found it. The second time, the seller was asking too much and it just didn't fit into our budget. I forced myself to stop stalking KSL classifieds. AND THEN, David's grandparents mentioned they had a dresser in their garage that we could use if we needed it. I finally gave in and decided that I could paint it--whatever it looked like-- and make it work. So David and his dad brought it over and what do you know? It was the exact dresser I had been obsessing over. It's the little things!I found that clock at DI and painted it the yellow/gold. It's my favorite.
So that's it for my room! It makes me happy just to walk in.
Here's a few more things we've done:
The girls' room is one of my favorite things to decorate. Here's how we started out in our last house when Hazel was little:We got this awesome solid wood crib and matching dresser that a friend of ours built himself. Before Charlotte was born, I painted both pieces "acadia white" from Benjamin Moore--another crazy difficult project, but rewarding. It made a big difference. These next few pics are from after our move into our current house.
Once Charlotte moved into Hazel's room, I found a used toddler bed and painted it to match. I also painted that rocking chair in the corner that used to be mine when I was little. We moved things around, added a rug and pink knobs to the furniture...

Sewed a pillow and added this little vintage bear to my rocking chair. It's Lottie's favorite.
I covered this beautiful Noah's Ark chest in some fabric (I do hope to convert it back if we ever get a little boy!)It's a little messed up now since the girls have jumped on it so much. It's also stuffed to the brim with dress-up dresses.I found both these frames at DI and I've only painted the one. I plan on doing some more silhouettes in them.
I found this idea for pelmet boxes which made the room so much more colorful! My friend Paige helped me make them and they were easy once we cut the fabric to the right size. I think they work out better than curtain panels in this room.
I painted some more frames and covered others in fabric to hang above Hazel's bed. The wall on the left will have a big alphabet collage one day... I even have the big button for my "O."

I love this elephant. It's a Heather Bailey pattern and I believe it was around the time I found this pattern that I saw the name "Eloise" on her blog. It was for a turtle pattern or something, but it stuck! The mirror was a DI find that I painted.

Since I rarely actually use the top of this dresser as a changing table, I added some decorations instead.
Oh yeah, and this is the hole that Hazel created during a difficult tantrum phase she went through in the early fall. Whenever they'd start, we'd have to run and grab this toy so she couldn't kick it against the wall. Glad that's over...for now.

This is our guest room/office---no changes here but soon we'll be converting this into Hazel's room. She already sleeps in this bed sometimes; I think she likes the privacy or maybe its just bigger and more comfy.


The family that lived here before us had a dog and he obviously liked to gnaw on the trim upstairs. There were bite marks all over the baseboards and the hallway walls were a pale off-white with patches everywhere. We finally painted the walls a nice khaki color (it was a lightened version of some Benjamin Moore tan...I forget!) and the trim a bright white. You probably can't tell much of a difference in the pics, but this was HUGE for me.

Before:


And after:



We prepped and sanded each stair and painted the front facing part white. Now we just have to paint the stairs dark brown, but I think that will wait until after the baby. I can't wait to see the difference.

While my mom was here, we painted our little entry way by the side/back door. It was the same yucky yellow that's in our kitchen and the baseboards weren't painted yet. Unfortunately, I don't have a before picture.





Whew! That's it for now. Sorry for SO MUCH information and pictures, but I enjoyed this post. I'm sure I'll slow down A LOT once the baby comes, but I hope I can stay on a roll and keep up with the projects in this house. The more we work on it, the more I enjoy being in it with my kids all day...every day!
Happy Thanksgiving week!

Love, love, love

Happy November.