It's a Girl!

Have you heard the news?!

Baby Girl Blachly will be the newest addition to the family! Josh and I had a feeling it was a boy but then they said "there's nothing there but hamburger"! Hmmm, haven't heard it put like that before, but ok! A girl it is!


There are 10 little fingers...


...and 10 little toes.


But whoa!! Where'd that alien come from?! Someone call the National Enquirer!


It took me quite a while to get used to the diagnosis, er, um...prognosis, wait, uh...or whatever, that it's a girl. Then little pink things slowly started appearing around the house. And visions of ruffles and gingham and damask and toile and flowers began dancing in my head.

So I did what any other pregnant mommy would do...took up cross stitch. I just had to see if I could make something cute and pink and preferably easy - so I am trying my hand at this little flower on a bib. It's looking better and better each day. And it's much more mindless than knitting so I can do it anywhere and especially while winding down watching tv in the evening.


There's Baby Girl at 28ish weeks. I made the ultimate mistake and didn't take ANY tummy pictures until now....so years from now she'll see how my pregnancy with Joseph progressed through pictures from every few weeks and she'll think I didn't love her as much. I can already hear it.


I am allowing myself the full experience of decorating a new room and making her bedding. So I can at least tell her that I loved her enough to do that if not take tummy pictures every few weeks.

*sigh*

Yep, WHAT have I gotten myself into? This was the most ridiculous idea ever.

I can say that if it turns out ok, it's going to be really cute and exactly what I have pictured in my head. The inside of the bumper will be that soft stripped minky pink, the outside of the bumper and skirt will be the blue with pink roses, and we'll have a little black and white gingham here and there as ruffles, ties and a border on the skirt.


I've got all the darn stuff washed, cut and ironed and am currently giving myself lessons on how to make a ruffle. I'm ruffling away over here. And among all the 'notes to self' being made right now...one of the top ones is: next time I try to attempt something like this again, remember that wrestling 11 yards of 45" fabric is way worse than taking care of Joseph on his worst day. All those price quotes I got for someone else to make it before I thought "I'll save the money and do it myself!" are sounding more and more reasonable.


We've narrowed down the paint colors. I was leaning toward the palest pink at first because I didn't want to over do the pink explosion. Then the slightly darker shade became more appealing so we're going with the pink on the left for the walls. I've been playing with some stencils and colors for that but still deciding on those. The idea as of now is to stencil the whole main wall, but it's looking like it's going to take an ambitious worker to get 'er done. I guess that'd be me.


And lastly, my one "had to have" item was a dollhouse bookcase. I've been hunting online and all around for the best one....which all turned out to be super duper expensive. Thank goodness Target ran a sale and theirs was a price I couldn't resist. Then, of course, since I can't leave well enough alone I stumbled upon all the doll house things at Hobby Lobby and have purchased some shutters for it. I really want to add shingles and some Victorian trim too but I have a couple of other things in the works that I need to finish first before I start building a stinkin' dollhouse!

I had my 30 weeks Dr's appt today and have started going every two weeks now. Just for long enough to say "well, I'm doing ok...just really pregnant" and Dr. Ryder says "ok, see you in two weeks", then I drive all the way back home. Baby is measuring right on target and only one day off from my due date. I am so curious as to if she is going to come early like Joseph did.

Wish me luck on this crazy bedding endeavor and I'll keep posting pictures as the room develops. Cause that's the real reason we girls want to have more babies right?! To decorate a new room. I know it as well as you do. Don't try to hide it. ;)

Around the House...

We've been up to everything and nothing, just like always. Let me break it down for ya.

I decided it was high time I march into the kitchen and make that sweet boy some sugar cookies to decorate. What kind of a mom am I....letting the holiday season come and go and without the opportunity to decorate some baked goods?!

So gosh darn it, I opened that bag of cookie dough (LOL!) and we cut cookies to our heart's content. And just to be sure we covered all our bases, we used Texas, train, fireman hat, and heart cookie cutters.


I went on a cleaning and organizing and purging rampage. Call it a fresh start to the new year or call it nesting. Whatever you call it, I called it necessary.

The moral of the story here is when you take the time to go through all your clothes (and actually get hubby to go through his too), pack up glass and housewares nicely, clean out books and toys and stuffed animals and linens and shoes and bags and all the miscellaneous....oh lord the miscellaneous...then load it all in the truck, then let time get away from you and before you know it Goodwill is closed for the day, then you say oh well we'll just take it tomorrow, and decide to leave it all in the truck bed overnight....

...it'll start to rain cats and dogs in the middle of the night.

I woke up at 6 in the morning and was beside myself. All that stuff that was perfectly good and could go to perfectly good new homes, and that took me perfectly good weeks to sort was soaked to the bone. I couldn't fall back asleep for almost an hour as I laid listening to the storm. It was simply one of those things that NEVER happens to me, but more importantly...now what?! Do I throw it all away or take more of my precious time to sort through it again.

I am apparently a glutton for misery. I laid out as much as I could in the sun (yes, the stinkin' sun) that day and started in doing laundry. I did several loads and started in refolding and repacking the crap.

In the mean time, I received a notice that some organization or another was going to be coming through the neighborhood and taking donations. Hallelujah! I started hauling these boxes out one by one and at the time of the picture taken above...wasn't even finished.

I know I don't have to tell you how good it felt to come home and have all that stuff GONE and a sweet little donation tax receipt waving in the wind in it's place.


But thank goodness for the little pleasures in life to remind me to not sweat the small stuff. Like Joseph's new little wooden dog friend that he loves to walk and feed and play with.


In my purging madness I came across a box of my old dolls! This Cabbage Patch doll is Antony Barry (as in Mark Antony), or as Joseph calls him - Anthony Raspberry. Joseph took to him like a perfect little daddy and hasn't let him out of his sight since.


Joseph has been snapping away with his new digital camera from Bobe Edie. Although I can't say much for the quality of the camera, I don't think it matters since the subject matter is questionable anyway. I could have showed you the tabletop, super duper up close bowl of pennies, sideways uber blurry rug, half of a hand from his viewpoint in the stroller, etc, etc...but this was the one of daddy reading is the one I thought you would like best.


Say cheese! Or not. (There's Antony up there in the back!)


Oh boy was this a fun one! This birdhouse has been in the making for months! We started it and put it aside to let it dry and I forgot about it. I sprayed it with clear coat and put it aside to let it dry and forgot about it. Et cetera.

We finally got out and collected a hand full of sticks to complete our project and glued the night away a couple of nights ago. I need to cut a door and fill it with birdseed and we'll be done....BUT....


....how on earth am I supposed to put this sweet purple hand print outside to weather the elements?! Seriously! Those turquoise and pink brushstrokes are too pretty to let some unknowing, unappreciative birds poop all over them! (That was his idea too...he is a hand print fiend. There is one on each side.)

I think this one may go in the china cabinet for a spell. Just until I feel ready to let it go to the birds.

HA!!

(Next up...Baby Girl stuff!)

Happy Snow Day 2011!

I was soooooooo hoping for a snow day or two this year. After the fun that was had last year, I knew Joseph would have a blast again. What a treat!

When I got word of the wintry blast, I was really hoping that Josh would get to stay home from work...but luckily the first day of snow fell on a Sunday so we all got to play together. Unfortunately, it was also the day we planned for a little dinner and cake over here for dad's 71st birthday - so that was postponed.


This was all the snowman Josh could manage this year. Ha! Teasing. I've never seen someone pack snow like this guy so I'm sure it was just a matter of time, or interest perhaps. He and Joseph went to town on snowballs though. That was really the favorite!


I know I don't have to say it, but everything looks so beautiful and magical covered in snow. Any ordinary ol' thing makes a great picture with a snowy background.


Plastic bag snow shoes. It's how we roll in the south. Buys a little more time before frostbite sets in.





Yes, I'm one of those people who pulls the stuff for the trash around to the side of the house cause it's not quite trash day and lets it sit there for so long the seasons change. I didn't mean to just leave it there. I had every intention of putting it out for pickup. And now as Josh said, "those are some cold lookin' punkins". Yes, yes they are.


One of my favorite parts of snowy weather by far is the crunch, crunch, crunch of footsteps in fresh snow. Although I had to listen really hard to hear over the plastic bags on our feet.


Snowball madness! I swear these two threw snowballs for an hour straight. I just took pictures and ducked occasionally.


I know we look like some fools all layered up and mismatched but I tell you what - when it comes to staying warm in the name of a good snow day, you do what you have to do!

And have hot cocoa when you're all done. That's probably the most important part!

And a Merry Christmas to All!

Christmas this year was kinda weird without Peter and Kacey. But with the new baby it was best for them to stay home in Eagle Pass. I can't wait to get down there and get my hands on him!

So even though it was only a couple of extra people, without Peter it's pretty low key. We had a great time gathering at mom's house Christmas Eve and just enjoying each others company and eating a fab meal.


I made a sweet potato casserole this year and it was a hit! It was so much a hit that at the end of the night when we all divvy up the leftovers for take home food, I kinda didn't share cause there was only a smidge left - and totally got called out on it. I guess I'm a sweet potato casserole hog in a family of sweet potato casserole lovers. Not a good spot to be in.


Everyone was crafting away too...there were pipe cleaner candy cane necklaces abounding, personalized beaded jingle bell bracelets ringing in the air, a few mini ornament earrings sparkling and freshly painted glass ornaments. Only one was lost to a fall on the tile floor. It was a sensitive subject and I'll have to drop it now. Moving on...


...Jessie and Lindsey! Our two beauties! And two of the best ornament artists around.


Tammy crocheted some of the coolest TCU purple hats and a scarf for the Johnson girls. Alas, our horned frog, David, couldn't be there because TCU was in the Rose Bowl in California and the team flew out a week early to practice and what not. Exciting times!! Congrats TCU and David on the Rose Bowl win!


Here is Connor modeling with his super cool kitten...and Shannon back there with one of the hot Tammy original's on her head!


Raise your hand if you think this would have been SUCH a super good picture until the clown in the back decided to scoot through the back ground. Yeah, me too.


Say what?! A DQ Blizzard maker?! SCORE! I'll take a small Hawaiian Blizzard please, and a small order of tots if you have some back there.


The adults usually partake in some form of a white elephant/gift exchange. It was pretty good this year....meaning not too much junk and more nifty, cool gifts. Although it was a favorite moment when Michael opened the Dale Earnhardt tapestry man-bag.

The laughter did not stop. Sometimes you can't quite explain WHY it's so funny, b/c I'm sure there are many many of you that would love a quality bag such as this, but on Christmas Eve...we were rolling. (I suppose most people would carry it in their hand...but at the point the picture was taken...the man-bag had turned into a Dale Earnhardt apron with holder for manly marinating steak. Good times.)

Then there was the time...hold on, let me get my composure back.

Then there was the time when the only Jewish man in the room opened the sweet Precious Moments Nativity scene. I still don't know who actually brought that for the exchange but let me tell you...Josh sat there trying to play it off, one person giggled - probably not quite sure if it was rude or ok or what - then someone else giggled. Josh is like "huh, thanks". Then we all lost it. You can imagine the scene from there.


Josh could appreciate Joseph's Buzz Lightyear a little more than the manger, I think.

Gigi and her adoring fans checking out some treasures.

Christmas eve ended with kicking and screaming and a brief tour of neighborhood Christmas lights. Just the way we like it.

Christmas day for the Blachly family was utterly relaxing and uneventful. Just the way we like it.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Happy Hanukkah! The Festival of Lights!

We had a wonderful Hanukkah this year! I am just now getting a hold on the toy explosion of 2010, and things are looking up.

I hate to be the party pooper here, but sometimes I wonder just how much stuff a three year old really needs. Or any child for that matter. I know, I know...party pooper. I can't help it. But truly, now that we are several weeks out he is playing with everything in a nice rotation and seems to really enjoy his new loot I feel much more at ease about it all!


This year Joseph learned a couple new words and actually surprised us when he used them on a regular basis!

*Shamash - The shamash candle is the taller candle in the very middle of the menorah, also called the leader candle, and is used to light the other candles each night. This was my favorite word to hear him use!

*Dreidel - the dreidel is marked with four symbols and is usually played like a gambling game with chocolate, but we haven't taught him how to play yet...he just likes spinning the different dreidels we've collected.


And this sweet shot is my new favorite picture! Or at least for now. Joseph loves to help light the candles. (And open his present after ward.) After the first few nights (he got one present each night) I started hiding them and we'd go on a present hunt.


While I love to see him open presents, my favorite part of hanukkah are the latkes or fried potato pancakes, very similar to hash browns except way better! This tradition relates to the significance of oil...which lasted for 8 nights at the re-dedication after the temple had been destroyed. And mmmmmm, thank you oil for making me such delicious latkes each hanukah.

Or rather, mmmmmm, thank you Bobe Edie for making me such delicious latkes each hanukah. (Now I've covered my basis in case she happens by this post.)

Boy was Adam Sandler right about one thing...this festival of lights is quite the eight crazy nights. Ha! ;)