A Summer Education

Remember how I was doing all these mommy school updates not too long ago? We were having so much fun jumping from letter to letter and crafting and coloring and repeating sounds. Well, we got to P in February - P was for penguin and pregnant. Emphasis on the pregnant part. It took a month to get through P and then I was so sick pretty much all the time that I lost my motivation to do anything but the basics (i.e. keep Ava alive). That's also when I kind of developed a TV addiction (and an aversion to meatballs).

So. Mommyschool, as it existed, stopped happening and I felt guilty about it for 5 seconds and then, guess what! I noticed that Ava was still learning, even though it wasn't structured and planned and crafty. She still wrote 5,000 Ps and we still read a bunch of books. She certainly didn't get dumber. So I stopped feeling guilty and we all survived winter in Michigan.

And then spring/summer finally hit and beach. Beach beach beach. And she learns lots of stuff at the beach: what a dead catfish looks like, what to do with the dead catfish, how to eat fruit snacks without eating sand, the proper sand-to-water ratio for building sand castles, etc. She's also learning just how big a belly with a baby in it can get. Although, she is still quite confused about what's in her belly. You see, since I have a baby in my belly that kicks that means she MUST have something in her belly that also kicks. Regard: the other night, she grabbed my hand and put it on her belly and said, "The Holy Ghost is kicking, mom! Can you feel it?" (We have gone over the Holy Ghost thing 5,000,000 times so I'm hoping she'll just grow out of that line of thinking.)

I will be vigilant about my child's beach education all summer and then preschool will start and I will have this baby and she will get all sorts of learned and educated. Heh heh. And she, in her usual Ava fashion, will wax philosophical about it all in the car.

A princess with secrets

So here is a picture of my kid's outfit today. One of her best, I think. I feel like you need to know that she would not hold still long enough for me to take a picture. But she did stop so that she could let one. And she thought it was funny. So yeah. Here's my farting princess bahahahaha.

I'm the nicest mom ever.

Some slight organization

So I have been needing a command center of sorts in my house for a long time. Right where this blank wall with a single picture hanger sat for months and months. 

So this is the before:

And this is what I have so far:

I made a magnetic chalkboard and a letter bin. Since I already had black latex paint and unsanded grout lying around, my only cost for the chalkboard was the $4.58 I spent at Lowe's for the piece of metal. I went to the plumbing section and got this piece by all the duct work (you can get bigger, heavier pieces for $15-$20 but Iiiiiiiiii'm cheap and this was the perfect size for my space). It had a little piece at the top that I bent to create a little ledge for holding the chalk.

 I roughed up the metal with some sand paper, primed it (spray paint primer is my favorite), and put 3 coats of homemade chalkboard paint on it. I rubbed it all over with chalk and erased it - to "cure" the chalkboard surface and attached it to my wall with 3M picture hanging strips (GENIUS, those strips are). 

For the letter bin, I used these plans from Ana White's website and some spray paint. My cost for this was $5 for the 1/4" plywood and $4.67 for some spray paint. 

So. For about $15, I have a little command center. Not too shabby. And, as with everything in my house, it is a work in progress so this corner will probably get more awesome later on.

This was the first of MANY organizational projects I am attempting to get done before this baby boy gets here. Wish me luck!

slugs and snails and puppy dog tails

So we found out last Monday that we are having a BOY! We are still in shock. We just figured we'd follow the precedent of Danny's older brother and his wife and have a gaggle of girls. But no. Regard:

It was extra fun finding out because Danny's older brother was in town (really, in Chicago but we kidnapped him for 24 hours) so he went to the ultrasound with us. Let's just say, the reaction was a loud one. 

Ava was not excited about it. At all. She said, "but we can change it to a sister." We kept asking her if she was excited afterward and she would either say that she didn't like brothers or that she didn't want to talk about it. I got the chance to talk to her about it, just the two of us, that afternoon and I discovered that she thought that having a brother meant that she couldn't keep her friends that were girls. I set the record straight, we talked about all the ways she'll be able to help me with the baby, and now she is alllllll about her brother. 

Crisis averted. 

Now, as I prepare to garage sale most of the ruffle-bummed onesies and all the pink! I've been hoarding I realize I need to get serious about my boy name list. Feel free to throw out any suggestions. And no, we will not be naming him Daniel.

Happiness in my hugeness

I think it's easy, as a pregnant woman, to get caught up in all the negative aspects of offering your body up as an incubator for nine months. I have had plenty of un-funness so far this pregnancy (I love that my computer didn't even try to tell me that un-funness isn't a word. So glad it's getting to know me.) but  I don't really care. Now, if I were puking the entire nine months, that might be a different story. As it is, I'm still in a state of awe at what my body is doing. I am making a human being.

So while the ever-swelling belly may get in the way a lot, I feel privileged that I get to experience such a thing. Too many women don't. And the joy from feeling all these little popcorn kicks overshadows the annoyances. By a lot. Plus maternity jeans are sooooooo comfy.

Baby Number Two

Remember how I had PPD after I had Ava? No? Well, you can read about it here.

Thankfully, Heavenly Father totally slipped some forgetfulness into my morning smoothie like I was hoping he would. We are having baby number two at the end of September and I am SO! EXCITED!

It feels good to be excited about another baby. It's feels right.
As far as PPD goes, I'm hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

Until then, I will spend the summer on the beach. Resembling a whale. I will be a beached whale. And it will be awesome.

Spring Break?

Welp.

It's spring break. That wouldn't normally mean anything to me since my husband is done with all schooling forever and my kid is not old enough for school but this year, spring break means I don't teach my music class this week (Let's Play Music!). For some reason that makes me feel like I have a ton of time on my hands.

Secondly, the continuous cloud cover that hangs over these here parts for most of November-March is finally dissipating. We've had sunshine like, five days in a row and it is miraculous. (The cloud cover reminds me a lot of Ghostbusters 2. It's like pink slime over the entire midwest.)

Thirdly, I am into my second trimester of pregnancy with baby number dos (yay for babies!!!!) and I am FINALLY feeling like eating and living again. I have energy!

So. Let's recap.

TONS of extra time + sunshine that motivates my soul and gives energy to all living things + second trimester =

We'll see how this goes.....