Party of 5

So I haven't posted in a while because I was busy giving birth to this beautiful girl and getting adjusted to life with 3 kids under 3.

Delivery went really well, but recovery has been kinda tough! It is going on 5 weeks now and I am still not totally healed:( I almost want to be done having kids so I don't have to go through surgery again. Either way, it has been totally worth it to get this sweet little addition into our family. I mean seriously...look how cute she is:

The kids have adjusted REALLY well to having a new baby in the house. Dixie is in love with her and Knox maybe glances her way once a week. (Daddy looks good with 3 kids on his lap).

The transition was tough at first. I was very blessed to have someone here to help me for 2 full weeks and dinners delivered to us almost every night for 3 weeks (I know that sounds spoiled). We have amazing family, friends, and church family. You have no idea how much this helped and was appreciated!

When we first brought Savannah home and started "reality" I cried a couple times. I felt so hormonal and even though this was my 3rd kid in 3 years, I felt like a first time mom when it came to some stuff (like getting her to stop crying or sleep). I have gone through that with every one of my kids, but praise God he sees you through those rough patches. Now here we are 5 weeks later and I can actually manage getting all the kids fed, dressed and taken care of by 8 am. I just have to figure out how to squeeze getting myself ready in there too. Most days I am still in my pajamas at 2 p.m. when they all go down for nap (sounds pathetic, I know...but you try it). It will come in time and already a month has flown by. The baby is now sleeping in her own room and crib and that certainly helps with sleep. Plus my amazing husband takes 1 feeding a night so I get some rest. I'm trying to enjoy this precious time frame with my baby girl that seems like forever while you are going through it, but goes by in a flash.

I still can't believe that I am a mom of 3 now. I look at these sweet babies that God has blessed me with and I wonder how I ever lived my life without knowing them. Will there be more kids in the future...I can't say for sure. Maybe, maybe not. Right now, I am content with these 3 precious little beings and most days overwhelmed with tending to all of their needs. I am humbled at the fact that God chose Evan and I to raise them up. I look forward to all that He has in store for each of their lives and our family as a whole. So for now, here's to my party of 5!

When you let a 13 month old feed themselves.....

This is the product:

Needless to say, bath time came right after dinner. 

I seriously wonder some times if he gets any food in his mouth. He is at the age where he wants to feed himself, but hasn't figured out how to use a spoon. Therefore, our meal ends like this, although it is usually accompanied by screaming crying and him rubbing the food in his eyes. 

Tomorrow night, Evan and I get our last date night before #3 arrives next week. While I am super excited to have alone time with my husband, I am also excited about having a peaceful dinner with no banging spoons, screaming children or chili rubbed eyes to clean. Granted, I wouldn't trade these times as they are "fun" in the midst of stressful and frustrating. I know that they will pass too soon, and before I know it they will be gone and I will wish for a highchair covered in cheerios and chili with a sweet little face for me to clean. This is the stage where God has us in life right now and even in the messiness of it all, I am so blessed and so grateful to be able to love and care for these precious babies. Looking forward to adding to our messiness next week.

From Formula to Headbands

I feel like I haven't been crafty in quite some time and I have been wanting to be. But to be honest at 9 months pregnant, I don't feel like doing much but getting this baby out. So, crafts have been put on the back burner and just maintaining everyday life with the 2 kids has been a task. Today I was excited to get a 3 minute craft in that actually will be used.

I have been saving formula cans for about 6 months just knowing that one day I would find something to do with them. Well today, I decided to actually put one to use. Miss Curly Q has a ton of headbands and bows and they are thrown in random baskets and pinned to a board all over the top of her dresser. So, I made her a headband & bow holder in literally under 3 minutes with a formula can, scrap fabric a glue gun and some paint pens. It's not the cutest thing, but it serves its purpose and I got to feel a little crafty today.

Basic formula can

Wrapped a piece of scrap fabric on it ( guess I was feeling all Valentinesy) and hot glued it down. I didn't worry about the raw edges at the bottom and top because no one will see them. I just glued them down.

The inside holds all of her clips and bows

The headbands fit around the can perfectly and they stay in place. You could really decorate the top and make it cute and customized. I wasn't that concerned about it so I just wrote something real fast.

I'm sure you could do the same with an oatmeal container and customize these for gifts, maybe even covering them with scrapbook paper instead of fabric so that you could could cover the lid too.

A dream come true

Words cannot describe how excited I am...and no, the baby is not here yet. In fact, found out today that the baby flipped breech, but that is another story. No, I am stoked because a lifelong dream of mine came true yesterday...are you ready for it???????? I own a mini van! Oh yes, i just said those words. I am totally not kidding. Since high school, a mini van has been my dream car. I always associated it with the whole soccer mom thing, which was my dream life.  Evan told me that I had to have 3 kids before we would resort to a mini van....well, #3 will arrive Feb 1st, so we are just making the cut.

We wanted to be really wise with our finances and were basically looking for something that #1 was cheap and we could pay cash for (no payments.....Dave Ramsey would be proud), #2 ran well, #3 had decent mileage and #4 fit us all. Everything else didn't really matter. We knew it would be older and we weren't concerned about curb appeal.

We found a great deal through a friend and couldn't pass it up. I didn't feel like taking the kids to go look at it and test drive it, so I trusted Evan with the decision. He obviously felt it was a wise one and I am glad he did. It is a little smaller than your typical mini van, but it fits us all and I don't feel like I am driving a bus. Now, we are ready for 3 car seats (and hey...we could fit a 4th if need be....just saying).

So, while you reading this may think I am the biggest dork in the world with my old school mini van, I think I am one step closer to super cool and just to prove it, here I am with my new pride and joy:)

Big momma in her van. 2 weeks left of that belly.

The kids were super excited to get in and refused to get out of the back seat. 

  

3 weeks and seriously counting!

With 3 weeks left to go I thought I would post an updated belly pic. I have been pretty bad about keeping up with those with this pregnancy (sorry baby). Here is #3 in all their big belly glory..well, I guess that would be my big belly glory:) I love being pregnant and I sure will miss the baby bump when it is gone, but I have to say that momma is getting quite uncomfortable these days and you can see why. Any guesses by the way I am carrying what this baby will be??? And yes, after seeing this picture, I realize just how badly I need to go into nesting mode and clean that mirror..yikes!
                                     

Update: Shared Room

We moved the kids into 1 room 3 nights ago. And I must say, it hasn't been as bad as I thought. They both screamed and cried the first night, then little man only the second, and last night, neither of them cried. I think they are finally used to it. I do believe that Knox wakes Dixie up every morning with his jabbering noises, but she just lays in bed quietly.

 Nap time is still a work in progress as I have to switch rooms for Knox so that they actually sleep. He was not thrilled with the idea and so to show his disdain, he decided to eat the side of his crib like a beaver on a log. For 2 days I would go get him and the crib would be gnawed down and his face was covered in paint chips (well that's healthy). I finally ordered side rail crib covers, but in the mean time I have rigged up a dish towel with some twine over it. It seems to have done the trick.

I have to say that it is eating me alive to not have their new shared room decorated appropriately. Everything is still cowboy and Knox's name is still written on the wall in rope. I have yet to decide what I want to do as far as decor goes, but it's making me insane in the process. I did get my silhouette machine in the mail yesterday, so I am thinking that I will make some vibrant and fun vinyl art work for the walls...just have to figure out how to use the silhouette first.

I have to say that I am glad that we combined the kids when we did and that there is a free room waiting for baby when I am ready to move them into a room. Once I get some decor going on their rooms, I will post some pics.

Sharing a Room

So, now that I am a few weeks away from having this baby, I realize that I probably should go ahead and move my 2 kiddos (2 and 1) into a shared room. We have a 3 bedroom house and since I am a big Baby wise mom, I know the benefit of having the new baby in their own room around 2 weeks of age (SLEEP). I have been so apprehensive about making this move especially since my kids go to bed at different times. Little Miss likes to sing and talk herself to sleep while my stud muffin just plays with his hair and kind of coos himself to sleep. I have tried to get them on the same night time schedule, but so far, it's not happening. I just envision them keeping each other up all night. I mean they have to sleep eventually right????

I wanted to wait until I felt that Little Man was old enough (he just turned1), but now I am thinking that with 3 weeks left before baby gets here, I should probably make the transition now to get them used to it before I throw another wrench in their lives with a new bambino here. I am incredibly nervous about how this will go. I am fretting over how I will make nap times work. It seems like night time would be a lot easier since it is dark, but with a little daylight streaming through the curtains, I know for a fact nap will not be happening. I am trying to work it all out in my head and as silly and petty as it sounds, I am stressing. I know it will work itself out as I have friends who have done it and say it works well, it's just scary when it's your turn to try it out.

On an even more silly note, I am sad that the kid's room decor will be ruined. I love their rooms and they are very specific for each one of them (especially since one is very girly and one is cowboyed out) When they share, I will have to come up with a whole new look (that means fun for me, not so much fun for my husband who is not going to like me spending more money), but I don't want to do that until December when I get them bunk beds and have the room established as their room (We will be moving rooms around again at the end of the year. For now it's fit them where we can fit them).

I have been looking up decor ideas and beds. I feel so out of the loop, but I had no idea that they made bunk beds with trundles. I thought this was the coolest invention ever when I saw it. We eventually plan on all three kids sharing one sleeping room and having a separate play room. So that type of bed would be perfect, I guess until we have more kids (yea, I have no clue if we are done or not).

So much to think about that my brain has been going crazy with ideas. I think we will try to combine the kids this week and see how they do. In the meantime, here are some pictures of ideas I have when I can actually decorate a shared room for the kids. Remember that it has to be gender neutral.

A bunk bed like this:

I love these vibrant colors and how basic and non fussy the bedspreads are.

I love the green and blue combo here. Throw in a little pink on the girl's bed and perfect!!!

We'll see how it goes. If anyone knows of places in the area that sell trundle bunk beds for a decent price, let me know as I want to start keeping an eye out for one. Also, if you have any ideas on decorating a boy/girl shared room, I would love to hear it.