Vivian's Room

We are pretty well done with getting Vivian's room ready, so I thought I would post some pictures of how it turned out. All of these pictures are diaper pictures, but lately that is her attire of choice in the evenings (and I can't say that I blame her). As you can see, Tibbs is also trying the room out (I have a feeling she will also want to move once the baby comes).

As a bit of background (and for those folks who have been to our house), Vivian's room is in half of the log part of the house. Two of her walls are exposed log and the other two walls are board. Rick had to build a wall to separate her room (the lady who had the house before us believed in a really open floorplan and tore out walls whether they were weight bearing or not - from what we know about the house, a wall used to be where this one is now).

One of the things Vivian seems to like is the pocket door in the wall. She cannot slide it herself yet, but she really likes having us open and close it for her. Vivian's room has a closet and 1/2 bath (unfortunately it is the half of the bath that she does not use yet, but eventually it will be handy).

We did not put a lot of furniture in her room primarily because the kid is a climber so less is really best. She has a dresser that her Grandma RaRu gave her (and painted for her to match her purple wall) and a bed that we ordered online from Little Colorado (a great kids furniture company). I got it unfinished and Mom stained it to match Vivian's toy box that she got for Christmas (eventually both pieces may be in the room together).

I made the curtains and the quilt. I had never made a quilt before so I taught myself as I went and I think it turned out okay. I made the quilt bigger than her toddler bed so that it would be more useful later so the picture only shows part of the whole thing. Making the quilt was an adventure and involved the following:

• Several trips to the fabric store. I went, I sent my Mom, and the last trip Rick was along and made fun of me most of the time - telling me at one point that we should look at the fabric on the front rack again because we had only seen it twice as opposed to four or five times with the other fabric. Just a note for anyone who may want to quilt - buy extra because the fabric place will not have more of a certain color/pattern when you need it.



• One trip to the doctor. Okay, I think I told some of you this, but if not here it goes - while piecing together the top of the quilt, I got my left thumb a bit too close to the needle (you have to keep the pieces even and you only have 1/4 of an inch allowance on each piece). I do not know how I got it in the space between the presser foot and to needle but I ended up running the needle through the top of my thumb nail where it thankfully bent, broke, and exited through the tip of my thumb. Luckily Vivian was in bed and Rick was working close to town because I was in some pain - not to mention that I do not do blood really well (especially mine). To make matters worse, I was pretty sure I was pregnant at the time so that meant that I could not take anything to make my thumb feel better (I was right, sometimes I hate being right). Trust me it was a long night of icepacks for me. When I went to the doctor, I had to explain how it happened so many times that the story was soon old. Good news was that it was a clean puncture and no infection. Just a note for anyone who would like to use a sewing machine - keep your fingers clear of the needle (glad I could help you on that one:)

All and all, I am very pleased with the outcome and glad I could make it for her. I think it is good to challenge yourself sometimes and hopefully I will have a better go of it when I make the next quilt. The curtains on the other hand wore me out. I really hate lining curtains but it was the only way to make it look right. I am just glad they are finished. I want to add some throw pillows and such for the bed but right now I have to move on to getting the baby's room ready (When did they move October so close to the middle of August? Time is running short in the getting ready department).

Anyway, all that is left to do to Vivian's room is hang some decorations and get her to start sleeping in it of a night (see, not much at all:) So far she has taken a couple of naps on her bed and seems to enjoy it. As soon as we get another baby monitor for her room we will try to get her to sleep there of a night.

Vivian, I hope you like your room. Mommy and Daddy worked hard to make it nice for you. A big thank you to Grandma and Pop for their help in getting things ready. Enjoy it little girl. Love you lots.

My Big Girl

Vivian is growing up so quick. Today it really hit me what a big girl she is becoming and it is exciting (and a little sad) to see. I am enjoying it though and we have had a pretty good summer even with all the craziness going on trying to get ready for the new baby.

Vivian has enjoyed running around in her diaper this summer - particularly outside in the sprinkler with Daddy.

And exploring all the plants outside.

This week Vivian got her first haircut. At first we thought it might be neat to let her bangs grow out with the rest of her hair. I gave up on this concept after several attempts at keeping a hair barrett in but Rick continued to hope that it would work. Finally I convinced him that she needed a cut so off to Loosewheel's we went. Vivian was not amused.

LaBreeska did a good job with Vivian's hair, particularly since she would not hold still. I knew it was going to be quite an adventure when Vivian fought LaBreeska's attempt to put a cape on her - I told her that we did not mind the hair and that with Vivo you pick your battles carefully. After several attempts and Daddy's quick thinking bringing in the DVD player from the car, our shaggy girl turned into ...

Our big girl. I think it is a better look than constantly having hair in her eyes and I think she approves too.

Today we tried out another new thing - Play Doh. She ate a little bit, but mostly had fun squishing it in her hands and watching us play with it.

And I guess months of pictures have led to smiling on demand. If I ask for a smile - she is now obliging. I do not know how long it will last, but it is pretty cool.

Now a quick update. I am 29 weeks along in this pregnancy and go back to the doctor on Friday. I have been feeling okay, but this kid kicks and punches very hard and that makes me really uncomfortable. We are working on getting Vivian's room ready and hope to do so soon because it is way overdue. There is some painting and sewing left to do before it is all done and I am starting to run out of steam. Hope to have pictures of the finished room project in the next post. Vivian is doing well with her speech therapy and is making progress. The other day we were talking about the baby and she pointed to my belly and said baby. It was really a cool moment - hope she likes the new one. Take care everyone and thanks for checking in with us.

An Update...

Wow, June is flying by. I have been taking more pictures, just not getting them on the blog. We have been pretty busy here the last couple of weeks.

We did my birthday which was pretty cool. Vivian helped me eat my birthday cake - actually, I did not get any of the first piece and had to get my own later.

Ashby came in to visit last weekend and we had a real good time. Miss that boy. He was a real trooper on my last minute Father's Day shopping trip.

Speaking of Father's Day, it wore me out. This year our church youth committee decided to do a mother's day breakfast and a father's day cookout for the entire church on the respective Sundays. The breakfast in May was really good, so the bar was set pretty high for the moms to put on a good cookout for the fathers. Rick coordinated the mother's day meal, so I coordinated the father's day meal and it was some work. We did hamburgers/hotdogs w/chili, beans, potato salad, cole slaw, veggies and dip, fresh fruit, and a cake (okay, I bought the cake but I am pretty sure the Lord did not mind). I have never before made 12-15 pounds of potato salad/a whole crockpot of baked beans/and chili to feed 60 plus, but it turned out really well and I had some great help from several of the other moms in the church. The youth did a good job serving the meal and helping out that day but the prep work was pretty crazy. Good thing I got a whole year to get myself psyched up for next year.

Vivian and Rick got to spend a lot of quality time together father's day weekend because I was busy in the kitchen. Sunday morning Rick took Vivian to meet his dad for breakfast and then they came back for church. It was too bad that Rick had to work the rest of father's day, but I think he enjoyed it. I had to add this picture even though it is not from father's day it is still a good one.

• On Wednesday I was 23 weeks into this pregnancy and this baby kicks HARD!!! Not much else to report other than my feet are swelling a bit more than last time. Vivian still has not held still long enough to feel the baby kick.

• I was a Vacation Bible School helper again this year. Last year it was tator tot preparation - this year it was teaching a lesson. I do not know what accounted for the promotion but it went fine. When I was asked to teach, I really did not think much of it, but then last week I asked who was teaching the other three nights - turns out this year's teachers were me, a Presbyterian minister, a Methodist minister, and a Catholic priest (hmm... sort of sounds like the start of a joke to me). I did inquire how I wound up in this crowd because a) hello, not a preacher; b) sort of intimidating teaching with those folks - particularly when they rotate around and listen to you teach; c) yeah, right, umm ... this is not funny and the tator tots were not that good. Anywho, I taught my lesson on Esther - basically the same topic three times with three different age groups - pre-K;K-1st; and 2nd-6th - it was a little difficult but I think it went okay.

• We are finally making some progress on our patio. My cousin Markus came out this week to lay the block wall and it is looking really good. I cannot wait to have it finished. I have been the gopher on the project and had to go to get more materials from the block store. Yesterday I came up the road with a very heavy load of top caps for the wall and some straw for our garden. Since the truck was really weighted down, my top speed was 40-45 the whole way up from Petersburg. Funny thing was though, the cars behind me could not see the load of block and probably wondered why I was driving so slow to haul five bales of straw.

20 Months

Vivian,

I do not know where 20 months have gone. I cannot believe what a big girl you are. Right now you are really into climbing on stuff - particularly our kitchen table. The other morning when I took you downstairs early, you climbed up on the table, grabbed my carkeys and started hitting the panic button at 5:00 am.

You are a real terror in the garden - I really hope the carrots survive after you ran through them the other evening. It was kindof hard to get too mad because you were having so much fun.

I am so happy that you are now eating with forks/spoons. I had to laugh the other evening when you were feeding me scrambled eggs with your fork - I could not keep up with how fast you were trying to feed me and you got pretty frustrated.

I really like this picture - you seem to enjoy picking the clover flowers now and make some pretty nice bouquets. I am really pleased with the progress you are making with your speech and we are having fun trying some different stuff.

You are totally awesome kid. Love you lots.

Another Wednesday Update - this time Ultrasound Pictures

I had a doctor's appointment today and all is well. The baby weighs 13 ounces (how crazy is that) and all the measurements were okay and now estimate a due date of October 24.

I have also gained some weight and am back to where I started at my first appointment so that is okay (I am chalking the gain up to the 13 ounces that the baby weighs rather than the two donuts per morning diet I have been on - I figured that was way better than drinking ensure which the doctor quasi-threatened me with at the last appointment. Don't ask me to do the math for you, we all know lack of math skills led me to be a lawyer in the first place).

Okay - here are the pictures.



This one is of the baby's foot (forgive the sidewaysness - blogger is being difficult this evening). This is very significant to me because I have been having some serious pain and stretching around my belly button. Turns out that the kid evidently likes to put both feet right behind my belly button and push outward - I saw it during the ultrasound and now it all makes sense. Just wish it would stop soon because it is not really comfortable.

Here is one of the baby's hands. I guess it was waiving or something.

Finally this one requires a bit of imagination. It is a picture of the baby looking towards you. To the right you can see a circle area that is the baby's eye. After that you can make out the nose and part of the mouth. The other half of the face is hiding behind the placenta. At the end of the ultrasound, the doctor gave us a printout of the pictures and was going back through labeling them and he got to the one posted above and goes "what is that" - so don't feel bad if you can't see it.

We hoped for better pictures, but the baby seemed to have its face planted firmly into the placenta throughout the ultrasound and was not very photogenic today. I am convinced that the baby was hiding its face today because it mistook the ultrasound for Vivian who has a bad habit of crawling on my belly while I am in bed. Since the doctor could not see a profile of the face and because Vivian was on the small side, he wants to repeat the ultrasound in about 7 or so weeks and hopefully the kid will cooperate better. During the ultrasound, the doctor did switch it over to 3D which would have been really cool had the baby turned the right way - we did get to see a hand in 3D and it was very clear and neat to see like that.

Sorry to disappoint kids - but we did not find out whether the baby is a boy or girl. We are content in knowing that it is healthy and we will find out the rest soon enough (sorry to ruin it for everyone else - just kidding Jenny :).

Week 21 is now underway. I will keep you posted.

What's Up Wednesday

I am 20 weeks pregnant today. Hard to believe that we will have another little one in October. I have been feeling okay. The baby moves a whole lot and I think some of that movement is making my stomach queasy again.

I have decided that it is harder the second time around when you have a toddler to chase around your house - there are no breaks.

My brother is moving again - this time to Point Pleasant. He is still in training as a Farm Service Agency Loan Officer. Poor boy - third move in a year. Hopefully he can get trained up and get somewhere for longer than a few months. I will be thinking about you while you are moving and getting settled in.

Vivian is starting speech therapy soon. About a month ago we went to her pediatrician because we were concerned that she had stopped using her words (she did not use many) and acted like she could not hear everything. After a month of waiting to get evaluations for hearing and speech, we finally found out that her hearing is fine - she is just delayed in her speech. She is going to have a therapist work with her once a week and I hope that will get her caught back up. Sometimes I think it is just a lack of interest because she obviously understands what we tell her. Needless to say, it has been a somewhat stressful process figuring it all out but I am anxious to get her started with therapy.

Last evening I was hanging out with Vivian while she played with her Little People. She was looking at the mom figure that came with the minivan (for some reason she does not allow the Little People to be in their vehicles) and picked out a farmer figure and put their faces together and made a kissing sound several times. That caught me by surprise and was pretty cute.

Vivian got me a new camera lens for mother's day and I finally got to try it out with her.

Here she is posing in front of the garden. She is working on her eye teeth and chews on everything she can find.

This is Vivo trying to get into the garden (and no, the electric fence is not on). I tried letting her in earlier in the day and the garden needs to grow a bit more before it is ready for Vivian because she just runs through it without paying any attention to what she is stomping on.

Finally she got to pick some buttercups (and eat them). The kid likes flowers.

Until I blog again - which hopefully will be sooner rather than later - take care everyone and enjoy your summer.

Dirty Girl

What a mess. Yesterday Vivian and I were working on the flower beds and Vivian really got into it - the dirt that is. She loves the stuff (see Katie, I told you that she did not mind being dirty). Luckily, Daddy got home in time to give the mud bath. I really hope the dirt eating passes, but I am glad that she enjoys being outdoors and does not mind getting her hands (and everything else) dirty.

Just a quick update: I got a good report at the OB this week and everything seems to be fine with the baby. The scales say I have lost some weight - I would like to know where from because I feel as big as a house. Vivian has a doctor's appointment this week and we hope for good news there too.

I hope all you Moms out there have a Happy Mother's Day - you have earned it:)