Gettin' Crafty...

I don't want to leave tomorrow (!)...but I desperately miss the hubsters. And Nicholas!

Conundrum.

It's been so great to be out here in SoCal the past week. I've met up with friends, I've gone shopping everyday (sorry, Finn), my mom and I had all the obligatory mommy-daughter lunches (which is what I miss the most now she's out here...), and today I had a glorious hour and a half of time to run errands sans baby. I actually got to peruse through two stores without having to worry about any Finnanigans (Finn + shenanigans = Finnanigans. Enjoy that one).

But since I know that all good/great/fantastic things must come to an end I've got a whole slew of projects lined up for me in Utah. What kind of projects?

Craft-y projects...

...gasp!...

Seeing as I am the LEAST artistically-inclined person in the world, this is kind of a big leap for me. Thankfully, the majority of these crafts involve me buying fabric and materials to give to other people who can, you know, thread a needle and such.

(I've got the vision. Other people have the talent. I'm just keepin' the universe balanced, people)

So, I've bought fabric for a car seat cover...to have Luke's mom sew for me.

And I need to find the perfect frames for the prints...I paid to have someone paint.

And then I bought a bird cage as a decoration for baby girl's room...which I need to find and buy some birds to put in it.

And last but not least, I'm looking for fabric for some chairs that we inherited with our apartment...so that Luke can reupholster them.

For me, this whole 'craft' business is easy!

In any case, this is the fabric I bought for baby girl's car seat cover:

...you just died from cute-overload, didn't you? Don't worry, you'll be fine.

An Ice Cream Truck?

In the middle of February?? Yes, yes there was. Because we are in Southern California right now and that is just how we roll out here, yo.

(By 'we', I mean me and Finn...sorry, Luke. Thanks for doing that whole 'work' thing )

I think my mom convinces me to come out and visit her here because she knows that every time I'm out here I get closer and closer to just packing our stuff up and moving back out. Especially this time of year...yeah, I'd take 75 degrees and sunny over 35 degrees and blah any day.

Any. Day.

Finn is having his usual blast out here, too. We went shopping yesterday and it was so hot that we had to buy him some shorts and t-shirts.

Glorious.

And once he wasn't wearing his Utah winter wear he loved being outside so much that he didn't even mind that we were shopping (the most hated of errands). It helped that they had fountains to play with, dogs to pet and carousels. I felt (almost) guiltless as I shopped for his baby sister.

Confession #1: I wasn't looking forward to shopping for a little girl...I thought everything was just too girlie...I loved shopping for boy clothes (Shoot, I still do)...but I am definitely warming up to it. Thank goodness for polka-dots, stripes and chartreuse being in style. And BabyGap. Anything they make is good by me.

Anywho, today we went to the park where Finn made some friends and showed off his pasty whiteness.

Confession #2: I, too, donned shorts (yikes). I'm sure there was some Orange County-style snickering at my white, pasty, preggo legs. Not pretty, people. Not pretty.

In any case, I finally got my camera out:

Finn and his new friends...twin girls...because he's a stud like that.

Sand is a good thing to put in a diaper, right?

Something to Look Forward To...

As far as nurseries go, once you get the crib put together, you kind of have keep on decorating, right?

Which is why these hand-painted prints are on their way right now:

This one is my favorite ^

With some vintage-looking frames? Be still, my heart!

Conclusion: my first venture into Etsy...total success.

Phil?! Phil Connors?!

Sorry about the week-long break, I was just busy....yeah, busy....

Ok you got me, I wasn't busy, per-se, but I have been tending to this cutie:

Isn't he such a looker?

To be honest, lately my days have been so reminiscent of Groundhog Day that I'm often surprised I don't run into Ned over and over again. I even wake up to the same song every morning.

I, my dear friends, am the instigator and upholder of boring.

Sure, I could blame it on Finn and say things like, "How am I supposed to shake up my routine when I've got a toddler to look after?!" But I'm pretty sure if Finn could talk he'd say something like, "Hey mom, let's shake it up and go to the zoo or something. Let's blow this joint".

Oy vey. We need help, Finn and I.

To break out of our rut I started taking Finn to a morning aerobics/playgroup class. And while the class is surprisingly hard (I don't give the girls in our ward enough credit...that, and the uber-competitive side of me thinks I'm so good I can kick anyone's trash WHILE pregnant...not true), its giving Finn a chance to socialize with other kids which is nice.

So far, the only friends he's made there is with all of their germs, though. He's had a nasty bug for the past two days that has kept us home and pajama bound.

Finn being sick- bad. Finn being sick and falling asleep in our bed- good, because I got to watch him sleep which makes my heart all melty.

I'm shouldn't complain, though...we are leaving for Southern California on Tuesday(!) which will definitely be exciting in every aspect. Except the the flying on a small plane with a toddler on my ever-shrinking lap part. Finn likes to lean right on baby who leans right into bladder, you get the idea.

I'm going to guarantee myself an empty seat for Finn by explaining to the stewardess that if this kid sits on my lap any longer I'm gonna pee my pants.

Works like a charm.

I assume.

And totally unrelated, it's not a great picture but he loves his $1 step stool:

King of the living room!

We'll Both Be In Diapers Soon...

[Title explained at the end. Don't worry]

But first! Enough about baby girl! Let's hear about that cutie pie who runs this house!

Yeah, Finn...this guy:

This picture makes me happy. He loves him some snow days

That's who this (long) post is dedicated to.

Let me just say that while this child has a limitless amount of energy, it does sometimes work in my favor. For example, he is still taking two naps a day. Which means that I get to take two naps a day. Do you see the winning formula here?

In any case, he's apparently realizing that he's all grown up (for a 16 month old) and refuses to be fed his food anymore by anyone but himself. Mr. Independence, here.

Which means breakfast is HIS business now...

Do you hear that? That's the sound of Finn cuttin' the apron strings. Except for the cleanup...that apparently, is still my business. Thanks:

Who needs a spoon?!

But really, he must see me cleaning an awful lot because if I give him a paper towel, he gets down on his hands and knees, cinderella-style, and starts wiping away at the floor. I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed...

As far as talking goes, his 'words' are getting more consistent. It's still mostly gibberish all day, but he'll point at cars and all the pictures in his books and say the same word instead of just making up a new word every time. Same goes for his words for dogs and books and food and juice, etc.

It's progress. And at least I know what he's saying (but I'm gonna bet you $10 that YOU don't. Nothing personal, you just need to study your Finnish...very similar to the language they speak in Finland, but not quite).

And while I read books to him all day, I'm obviously not the best teacher, yet.

Let me elucidate; a recent conversation went as such: Luke and I are holding a marshmallow in front of him, like you would a dog when you're trying to get it to do a trick, and we told him "If you say 'please' you get the marshmallow...so say 'please'!"

Finn: "gudunchees!"

Us: Eh, close enough, here you go!

As you can see, as parents, we might not be as strict and encouraging in the speech department as we could be.

And finally, if I show him my burgeoning (great word, btw) belly he likes to poke my belly button incessantly. Cute? Yes. A little embarrassing? Also, yes. And also a little painful. I don't know if it's a pregnancy thing, but it hurts to press on my belly button...so that's something to think about.

As far as that belly goes (I can't leave baby out completely, right?) at 21 weeks baby girl is feet-down, as it were, so when she kicks she is always getting me in bladder, making me feel like I am about to pee myself sporadically.

And since I'm still working out at 6am everyday, whenever I start running/moving so does she, which makes me feel like I am going to pee myself in the the middle of the gym at 6am...which is where you want to be when that happens, right?

I'll end on that note...

Debut Take Two!

Sorry for the self-indulgence but I couldn't help myself. Anyway(!), back story: We went and got some more ultrasound pictures taken because, frankly, the first time around I was very much less than impressed with the lady who did it. Yes, I know she was looking around for medical issues and whatnot, but come on, this is the first time we're seeing our baby! Give us more than 5 minutes!

It was legendary. I won't post all of the pictures but, you know, you don't have to look at them if you don't want to, ok? Geez. Let's not get picky, here.

She's a cutie...and this picture is almost identical to Finn's ultrasound picture...same button nose and same lips. My little twinsies :)

Waving 'hi'! You can even see all five fingers :)

You might not be able to tell, but she's putting her foot in her mouth. Yeah, I died.

Making Her Debut...

Welp, here they are. Ultrasound pictures...if you can tell one thing from another let me know, 'cause I need some help. As I said before, she was being stubborn and/or camera shy so this is the best we got.

Despite the blurry, indecipherable-ness of it all, it does seem pretty amazing that there's a growing human inside me. Weird. But amazing.

Can't wait to meet sweet-cheeks here :)

Arm, ear and head

Lil' bum :)

A leg....

And apparently that's her face somewhere in there...I'm not convinced.