Dentist

We had Arden's second visit to the dentist this week.  I'm not sure what's going on with the goofy look on my face, but she did awesome!  She did super with the hygienist; she really didn't want to let the Dr. look in her mouth, but she went ahead and did it.  She's got all the teethe she's supposed to at 27 months, and only has the bottom molars to go.  One of those broke through earlier this week, so hopefully we're close!

As a special treat for being such a good girl, I took her for a gourmet cupcake.  Sort of a conflict of interest, but she really doesn't get much sugar aside from potty treats.  I let her pick her own "cuppycake" and she chose the lemon drop - a girl after my own heart!  Of course I couldn't let her eat alone, so I got one for myself as well.  Yummy!

Quilt Progress and The Bump

I have the top of the quilt mostly done - just need to add the borders and then we're on to quilting!  I really love how this turned out.  It's not real obvious in the photo, but the center square of each block is gathered.  It's such a little detail in a simple design, but I think it makes it so cute!  It was a fun departure from typical 2D quilting!  The design is called Pure Love by Sweetwater. 

Arden was being super cute after I had her hold up the quilt top, so I snapped a couple of photos of her that included an aerial view of my baby bump.  Here it is at 25 weeks, 3 days.  Yup, I get huge.  Nope, I can't see my feet anymore!

Father's Day and Some Photography

Arden helped me bake Daddy's favorite cookies for Father's Day - gingersnaps!  We didn't get to spend very much time together on Sunday since Dave was heading to the airport for a business trip, but we had breakfast at Tim Horton's on the way and I think he got a couple of cookies.  The rest are waiting for his return; luckily I don't really like gingersnaps that much or they'd surely be fodder for the pregnant lady cravings!!

I'm loving my new camera - I've been experiementing and am determined to stay off of auto as much as possible.  This was shot on the aperture priority setting at F4.5.  I can really see the difference in the photos - there's always one I really like in a setting, where before there might be one that turned out okay.

These were taken while we were on a playdate with one of her friends.  It was a pretty overcast day, and I can't remember what I had the camera set at, but I know my old point & shoot would not have done nearly this well.

Save $$ on Health & Wellness Products

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Even before having a child, I looked for ways to save money on health and wellness products, but since the birth of my daughter it's become even more important.  One easy way for us to do this is to purchase Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products.

Throat lozenges, cold remedies, and pain relievers/fever reducers are big hitters for us.  Not only are the Walgreens Brand health products an amazing value, they're Walgreens pharmacist recommended and most contain the same active ingredients as the name brand items.  Did you know they also come with a 100% guarantee?  Check it out and get more information here at Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products.

While you're there, check out the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™ to learn more about Walgreens program to provide free preventive health tests as well as other health and wellness services and education to local communities.

We have a couple of bags of these black cherry Walgreens Brand cough drops on hand at all times.  I really like the sugar free because they don't make your mouth feel coated at all.  I pretty much always get a dry cough when I've got a cold, so these are a lifesaver for me!

 

We also really like the Walgreens Brand children's pain reliever.  We use both the acetaminophen and the ibuprofen, as one is great for pain and the other best for fevers for us.  Arden really likes the taste and literally sucks the medicine out of the syringe when I give it to her.

Several bloggers are giving away some Walgreens Gift Cards!  Check it out at giveaways for a list of participating blogs.

 

 

Happy Jenn Day!

Today is my birthday - my daughter says "Happy Arden Day" instead of Happy Birthday, so I'm stealing it and calling it Happy Jenn Day to me!  I'm 37 today, and I've decided that I don't care if that number is larger than 29.  I'd rather hope people think I look young for my age at 37 than the inverse.

My first guest post is up over at My Mommy Can - go and check it out and say hello to Jennifer!



I've been making great progress on the crib quilt - just four more squares and I can start adding borders to the top.  I'm really loving how it's turning out - the colors just seem so bright and fresh together.

Fabric for Baby Quilt

I'm so excited about the fabrics I got for the crib quilt I'm making for daughter #2!  On top of that, I'm jazzed about the design I found.  I was all set with a design I drew myself and had figured the yardage, but I fell in love with a sample quilt at the lovely quilt shop and that was that!

I used quite a bit from the Henry Glass Summertime line, but pulled in lots of other pretties.  I'm especially drawn to the little black and white graphic birds on the top right - trees and birds are what I'm using as the overall theme in the room.  I love orange to begin with, but I really think the combination with Tiffany blue and the sort of acid green is fabulous!  Do you love it too?

Now, I just have to get my cutting table the dining room table and my sewing table cleared off so I can start!  We had a little mishap with the pantry in the corner of the dining room - it literally fell off the wall!  (We did not install it - looks like the previous owners had screwed directly into the lathe and not into anything solid, nor did they use lag screws.)  Luckily the only casualty was the lid of my crock pot which was on top of the cabinet.  I had swapped out the appliances for food storage during the 21 Day Organization Challenge I took earlier this year, so thankfully it wasn't full of blenders and panini presses.

So all the stuff that was in the cabinet is in boxes on the dining room table, and there's a bunch of other stuff on my sewing table from stashing things during my in-laws visit, plus some of Arden's clothes that need to be stored away for Baby #2.

**  What is going on with the comments on Blogger?  I couldn't even leave a comment on my own blog!!  Here's my response to Anonymous; she probably wasn't able to get the comments to recognize her profile either!

I went through the 1st trimester slump as well.  I'm doing a lot better now, though it looks like the 3rd trimester fatigue is beginning to creep back.  I went to a part-time work schedule since November - I usually work 3 days a week, so I get a nice long 4 day weekend.  I'm planning it to be crib size, though the pattern dimensions are 47" square - it will be easy to adjust it, and the leftover squares can be used in the valance, crib skirt, etc.  **

MIA

Sorry I've been MIA around here.  I've been busy entertaining my inlaws for the last week and a bit and dealing with erratic weather here in Michigan - 90's for three days in a row followed by three days of barely 60.  That's Michigan weather for ya'!  I mostly entertained Arden and prepared meals while they worked on a mile-long checklist of yard and house projects.  Things are looking a lot spiffier around here.

I've also been:

Watching the bluejay nest go from eggs to outstretched beaks to fuzzy chicks to fledgelings.  Today they all left the nest and I got to watch!  It's been a bit interesting as they were nesting underneath the awning of our side door - our main entry into the house.  As the chicks got bigger and the mother and father bluejay spent more time away from the nest, it got a little bit hazardous to linger at the backdoor - one of the adults would dive bomb whoever they thought was infringing on their territory. 

When they started leaving the nest today I thought I had scared one out of the nest out as I went through the door, so I was panicking and trying to think of something to scoop the chick up with to return it to the nest when I realized there was only one chick left in the nest.  Then I got to watch as the fledgelings would fly several yards and then one by one the adult bluejay would shepherd them into a different nest in the blue spruce in our backyard.  Looks like we're going from being fearful of an attack when we go through the door to being scolded in our backyard when we play fetch with the dogs - or Laser, rather; Sophie doesn't fetch for beans.

I've also been spending an inordinate amount of time pushing tiny person in the swing.  "Up high!" is a constant refrain from her.  She has to make sure to use both swings equally, so you have to remember that when you stop on one swing you're really only halfway done.

Today I painted her toenails - she sits remarkably well for this process for a two-year-old.  She helps me blow on them and would do so periodically for the rest of the day.

I just love how adult and yet childlike she seems with her hair in twisties and sunglasses on.

I've also been busy learning how to use my new DSLR camera that my wonderful husband got for me for an anniversary/birthday/etc./etc. present.  He's not particularly supportive of the blog, but he is very supportive of my bargain that if I got a DSLR I would forgo the professional photographs for baby #2.  (Sorry Mark - you're amazing, but it's a big dent in our budget!)  This puts a bit of pressure on me to figure out how to get shots good enough that I don't feel like I've compromised capturing memories of our second daughter.

I've named my sewing machine and serger (Jane and Nina) - do you think I should name the camera?  Any suggestions?

Winners: Mother to Be, Being, Been

 

This has been such a fun month hosting this competition!  I'm so pleased to announce the following winners of the Mother to Be, Being, Been:

Nursing:

I am completely in love with this top, which was designed by our nursing category winner.  The shoulder ties undo and then if that's not enough access, there are zippers at the top of the side seams to allow her to pull it further down.  The print is to die for as well!

Bre's Audrey Hepburn Nursing Top.  Bre will receive the following prizes from our amazing sponsors:

  Lisa at Lil Boppers Etsy shop has agreed to provide a set of nursing pads to our nursing category winner



Shauna from Shwin & Shwin has offered a pair of her absolutely adorable Pleated Mary Jane baby shoes to the winner of the Mother Being - Nursing category

Postpartum:

There weren't any entries in the postpartum photo pool (I thought this would be the largest category - go figure!), so the 2nd place winner gets the honor of this category - the prizes weren't specific to postpartum, and besides - I think the dress would work beautifully for postpartum as well!  This looks so comfy, and I love the stripes and the twisted band to help emphasize her cute baby bump!

Miriam with her Turn About the Room Dress.  Miriam will receive the following prizes from our fabulous sponsors:

  Angi from Sew Sweet Patterns Etsy shop responded that she could certainly provide a 3 pack of sewing patterns to our postpartum winner.

  Baby-A-Peel has offered the winner of our Mother to Be - Postpartum winner a coupon towards items in her shop!

Maternity - and Grand Prize Winner

I love how pretty and ladylike this dress is.  I don' know about all of you, but I bust out of the tops of lower-cut dresses due to the growth spurt the "girls" go through during pregnancy.  This looks like it would keep everything prettily under cover for any occasion!

Lauren's Red Maternity Dress.  Lauren will receive the following prizes from our magnificent prize sponsors:

Artsy Tina has agreed to make a custom name canvas which will go to our grand prize winner!

  Megan Nielsen of DIY Maternity has offered the winner of our Mother to Be - Maternity winner her recently released MN1006 Ruched Maternity T-shirt pattern.

  Karen from DMK Easy Wear Etsy shop responded that she would love to give out 3 patterns to her shop.

  Chic Mama Boutique has offered the winner of our Mother to Be - Maternity winner 25% off any item in their shop!

So let's give a great big round of applause to our winners and to all of the amazing entrants.  Please click over on the links to our sponsors provided above and show them your appreciation for their sponsorship!  Lauren, Miriam and Bre - please send me a comment or an e-mail with your contact information so we can exchange prize information.