Receiving Blankets.

Much to my surprise I got some pictures taken yesterday. Here are a few projects I've completed for Asa's nursery.

I had got some of this flannel a while back, just cause I thought it was cute. Now I'm glad I had it cause it is perfect for our little man.

 

This was my first time to do a "self-binding" blanket. There was some trial and error, but it turned out pretty good!  I enjoyed making a little scene for the front. I am into simple, but I think Bobby wanted me to cover the whole thing with felt. 

 This is the back. I think that it is so adorable!

 

Here is the other one I have finished. This is more of what I usually do, a monogrammed name. Again. It is very simple, but that's how I roll! I love the little animals on this flannel as well!

I have made a couple things to hang on his walls. I found the inspirations from Pinterest, but I thought that I could save money and just DIY it! I am pleased with how it turned out!

I will probably display them different, but Bobby made that bugle/powder horn for Asa's room as well! I love that he is getting into the nursery, as well! 

This was a poster that they have for sale on Pinterest. I had some canvasses laying around so I thought I would try my hand at a DIY project. It is definitely not as good as the one I could have purchased, but I'm pretty proud of it! I then framed it with some cedar scraps we had laying around the barn! {And please excuse the poor lighting, but you get the idea!}

Those are some of the successes I have done for the nursery. I am trying to get things marked off of my master list!
Slowly but surely!

Week 24.

Eek. Time is sure flying by. I'm sure most brand new mothers are way more on top of things than I am, but we are having to success with the nursery. I'm mainly waiting for my crib to be built. We gathered all the cedar we needed a couple weekends ago, and now it is sitting out there just waiting for someone to come build it! It is hard when life gets in the way. Hopefully this weekend we will have nice weather and Bobby and I can start tackling that large project!

I have got a lot of the decor for the room done or in the works. All the clothes from the garage sale are washed and in his dresser/changing table, closet cleaned out and diapers are piling up. Now all I need is a bed and I will be much more comfortable.

I have the changing table in the room now. It has some socks, clothes, diapers and a changing pad! It is good to have at least a little done!

These are just pics off my phone, so they are blurry, but you get the idea. There is Bobby's granddad's old long bow in the corner. It will eventually hang on the wall, hopefully with a quiver full of old arrows!

Another thing I have been working on lately is blankets for little Asa. I will take pics soon and post!

My mantel for Valentines! I don't do much decor, this is about it, but I think it's cute! Simple is what I'm liking these days!

Now to the bump up date!

How far along? 24 Weeks, 3 days

Total weight gain: too much. I need to stay off the carbs. Darn sourdough bread.
Maternity clothes? Bought me some pants yesterday!
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: Pretty good!
Best moment this week: Hearing him move in my tummy!
Miss Anything? Fitting into my clothes!
Movement: Kicking more pronounced! He moves all the time!
Food cravings: Chocolate!
Anything making you queasy or sick: No. 
Gender: Boy!!
Labor Signs: No.
Belly Button in or out? In!
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Having the nursery done!

Not much has changed on this update, but I think this will be fun to look back on someday {like when I'm preggo with baby #2!}.

Lots and lots of projects are in my head. Hopefully that doesn't overwhelm me and I can just get one thing done at a time. Lord grant me patience!

Have a great week!

Mandie

Week 22.

Still playing catch up and playing with this baby bump. It is still so strange to me. I've just now started to really show it off and I'm still learning how to dress around it. Still have not bought a pair of maternity jeans. I'm just wearing leggings or my be band. It's getting me by so far. Maybe I can find a pair of maternity jeans for cheap!

Trying to come up with some different ideas for my chalkboards. I don't want them to become boring. The only changes that we've really made this week are maybe a the bump is bit bigger. Asa is about the size of a spaghetti squash (according to baby center). That seems pretty big to me! I'm loving it! He is still pretty active and I can't get over how cool that is!

~

In other news. I have a new niece. Piper Grace McIlroy arrived on Wednesday, January 15, 2014. She was 6 weeks early, but she was already 4 lbs 10 ounces and is doing very well. She is still in the NICU, but our prayers are that she gains weight like crazy and can go home soon! Momma is doing really well! Praise the Lord He is watching over them!

 

This is right after she was born, before the hooked her up to all that stuff! She's teeny tiny!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

M

Week 21

Even though today is officially Week 22, I'm just now getting to putting up last weeks photo. 

How far along? 21 Weeks

Total weight gain: 15 maybe! I'm going to say most is in my cup size though!
Maternity clothes? A few shirts, but will need pants ASAP, though.
Stretch marks? none yet!
Sleep: Wonderfully! Not getting up in the middle of the night much yet!
Best moment this week: Bobby getting to feel him move!
Miss Anything? Laying on my tummy
Movement: Busy busy little boy!
Food cravings: Chocolate!
Anything making you queasy or sick: No. 
 Gender: Boy!!
Labor Signs: No.
Belly Button in or out? In!
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy & EXCITED to say the least!
Looking forward to: Having more time to work on nursery! Crib making will start next week!!!

The little Mr. is really starting to grow! I've noticed my body starting to change. It is amazing to think how God put this all together to make things work! I'm totally blown away! I've loved being pregnant! Looking forward to the weeks to come!

Happy Monday!

M 

The Year 2013

A blog friend updated her blog with a 2013 year in review. I think I did something similar last year, but I liked the way she did hers month by month. Here is our 2013!

January
Got an awful perm! Bad idea!

Febraury
Took a trip to Seattle.

March
Color Run in Lubbock.

April
Completed the Tough Mudder. All 11+ miles and 25 obstacles of it!

Before

After

May
My little sister graduated college. Western Heritage!

June
Opened an Etsy shop and began Texas Cotton Tales with my sister!


July
Went to Palo Duro Canyon for my birthday and saw the play on Texas!

August
Surfing on Lake Amistead.

September
Big News!

And went on the annual trip to Warrenton, celebrated nieces 1st birthday and dove hunting.

October
St. Lawrence Fall Festival and Petticoats on the Prairie. First two booths.

November
BIG FREEZE

December
Found out we're having a BOY!

2013 was a wonderful year! Looking forward to what 2014 holds in store for us! I know we will meet Asa's girl cousin in February and then we meet our SON in May!
Here's to 2014!!
Thank you Lord for your blessings!

It's a boy!

New Year's Eve was a wonderful day!!
My doctors appointment was at 9:00 AM, so there wasn't much waiting until we got to see the little squirt! We got to the doctor's office at about 15 till 9 and were in in no time! As we made our way back into the room I was just about ready to squeal. I had been pretty nervous, but when you get that close to knowing, you can't help but be excited. It didn't seem to take anytime and we were looking at that little baby on the screen. I was so cool! She started showing us what things were. We looked at the top of the skull and she measured the head. He was very active and rolling all around. {He had also been very active on the way to the doctor as well!} She finally got a good glimpse of him  and said, "Are you ready to find out?"
Heck yea!! So she said it's a boy! It was so cool! Bobby said he wasn't very surprised. He knew it was a boy all along. I was nervous cause I wanted a boy and thought I would have a girl since that seems to be what a lot of people are having these days. Don't get me wrong... I would have fallen in love with that little girl all the same, but when you have in your head that it is a boy, it's what you have pictured! At any rate we are as delighted as can be! God has blessed us tremendously!

This is the picture I shared with friends and family to announce what we were having. To me it seemed simple. His profile with him name in blue. It screams IT'S A BOY! to me. Apparently it was not that obvious to others. {Looking back I would have done something different, but it is what it is! I don't want to keep the name a secret, but maybe telling them in person instead of them seeing it written would be more clear.}
His name is Asa Barret. That is pronounced ace-uh bear-et. This was a hard concept for some of my co-workers. I got "ass-uh" and "bar-et" as one guess. Another guess was, "Is this English?" {HA HA} And several guesses that it was a girl. Guess this is not as clear as I thought it was! After explaining, everyone understands that it is a boy!

Now Bobby has liked the name Asa for as long as I've known him. I definitely love it now, especially now that I've called our son that so much! It did take a little for me to accept it.
With the middle name we couldn't decide on anything or even think of anything good. We liked a couple names, but if we ever have another boy wouldn't be able to use it again. So I started looking on line at baby names and meanings! I started with the B's since his first name starts with an A. It was about the 10th name I came across. I thought it was so cute, so I asked Bobby what he thought. To my surprise, he loved it! So Asa Barret it is. Also, he likes it because of William Barret Travis who was a commanding officer at the Alamo. Gotta love Texas History!! And Barret means- Bear brave! We're going to raise a tough and brave kid!

We are over joyed!

Happy New Year!!

Mandie

Week 19.

Well, the Christmas Holidays keep me busy for sure. I am sorry I haven't posted! I took my weekly picture a bit late, but you get the idea!

This was the week of Christmas! I love Christmas season and getting all our families together for the holidays, but I will tell you with what lied ahead the next week, I was way more excited for New Year's Eve!

Monday- December 23: We headed to my parents. We spent that night with them and had my families Christmas on Christmas Eve. It was so good to have my whole family there. Miss G opened her stocking and then was done with that. She sat in the middle of the floor playing with mega blocks shes had for months. That's all she needed I guess. So we just sent presents flying over her head and went about our business and she never skipped a beat. Blocks are soooo interesting!!
She is a doll!

Wednesday- December 25- Christmas Day: We got up at 5 in the morning and headed to Bobby's parents. It took us a little over an hour and a half. Not bad. We enjoyed visiting about all the things that had transpired the day before and enjoy a crisp Christmas morning with our seat heaters. We stopped about half way in a little town. This momma had to tee tee! I also got coffee for him and a little snack for me. They have  a light display set up at the park in this little town that is set to music. Since it was dark still I convinced Bobby to stop so we could drive through. It was one of those that you tune your radio station to and the lights dance to the music! It was not very long {Bobby was thankful!} but it was still great fun for  Christmas morning!
When we got to his parents house, they were still in bed! So we unloaded all the gifts and made more coffee and waited for everyone to get there!
After all his siblings arrived, we opened gifts. It is pretty much the Jaxson (4 1/2 yr old nephew) show. He would tear through one and then ask if he had any more. Gosh he is spoiled. It will be good to have 2 younger cousins next year!! We loaded up and went to Granny's (Bobby's paternal Grandmother) for lunch and Christmas with that side of the family! We finally made it home around 7 or 7:30. It was a long day!

Thursday we drove to Hempstead, TX to see some friends! It was about 3 1/2- 4 hour drive. It was beautiful though. We spent the night catching up and playing games. We returned to his parents the next day. We stopped by Washington on the Brazos State Park. It was the birth place of Texas. The museum was closed so we couldn't go see the come and take it canon, but we walked the grounds and reminisced about what it used to be like!
That evening was his mom's side of the families Christmas. It was at his parents house, so we just helped set up and enjoyed visiting! We had dinner and then after dark went for a hay ride. They put hay bales on a flat bed trailer, pulled by Rosalee our Red Willys Jeep, and sing Christmas carols! We made it back to the house and played Chinese Christmas! That is always a blast!

We finally made it home on Saturday! It was a long and fun week!

This was the Christmas Tree at my parents house. They always cut down a cedar tree off the place. It was decorated so cute this year and my dad even helped! He wanted us to find the ornaments with our name on them! It was a fun thing to do! My goal is to go cut down a tree when we have kids!! Maybe next year!!

This was our tree this year! I didn't do a theme like last year, just stuck all the ornaments I had on there. It is the start of our family tree!
I didn't take pictures of them, but I made an ornament last year and this year. I hope to keep making an ornament each year to put on the tree! And definitely one for each kid!

Hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas!!

M