Balancing Bliss

another pink sneak peek...

okay...so the girls room has been a project in the making forever...honestly, there just has not been a huge accomplishment..it's piece by piece and piles of totes, mess, and craziness. my poor luci hasn't had her scrap table cleaned in a month....no art for her...she is taking over the piano bench with projects though. so when i TRULY accomplish more than bits and pieces in there i will post the WHOLE room... i hope to find luci's baby bedding this weekend, wash it, and post...

until then.....here is a peek..

this view makes my heart fill with joy when i turn the corner...i know we are getting closer to seeing a little someone IN that crib. it takes me back to having it all set up and ready when i was waiting for gaven over 11yrs ago...i would just sit at the side of that crib and dream of him... doing that all over again.

 

while out on our vintage bliss excursion, i mentioned to pam how much i would love an old goddy light fixture. it would make the fact that i live in a 70's ranch with 8ft popcorn ceilings disipate... minutes later we saw this....but it was gold and weird. i was so excited to paint it it pink i forgot to take a before picture. it wasn't until it was pink that i noticed the crown details...so sweet...it really helps change the room appeal. now i want to go vintaging for light fixtures for all the rooms!

i'm off to make a little girls room complete.... ! well...organized...it will be complete in another month when she arrives...

our vintage outing....

just so happens that last weekend was vintage bliss for our little town... it was sunny and worked out perfectly. my friend pam and i made plans a month ago and promised not to back out....so glad we made it happen. she is one of those people who just always beams with goodness and is genuinely kind... someone you want to go admire, ooooo and aaaahhhh with.

we went to the sage patch.(google it...i suck at links)...which will be open this coming weekend also...totally recommend it. great pricing too. amazing backyard with a little cottage shed.. 

that window frame is still calling my name... oh the possibilities i could do with that...the aqua rolling tray is something i have actually been looking for and it just was even in my kitchen color but it came with the mixer and everything on the cart which made it $$$....lots of stools, frames, plants, little things....just lovely and kind owners too...

then we stopped by the vintage market downtown albany...so many ideas swirling in my head when i walk out of places like that...if i only had $$$ and a bigger home...the furniture i would bring home... off to blackberry junction...that was a large sale...many vendors...too many people for me but lots to look at...

and our last stop which i really enjoyed was the vintage roost...

a little barn on the outside of town...eye candy everywhere... so want to make one of those bird baths... baked goods, yummy shortbread cookies...corn stalks...pumpkins...maybe a goddy light fixture that has now been spray painted pink and put in a girls room in the making...my big purchase...besides shortbread cookies...wink.

more on this lovely day later...

lovely day out with a lovely person ...admiring, oooing and aaahhhing at vintage markets... BLISS...

i must say...everytime i saw a leaf fall from the sky my heart fluttered... just blissful...

our preteen....

 did the word preteen sound strange? it is. it's in full force here too. so it's been a week of gaven for sure...

lets start with some pictures of our graduated cubscout..

... i LOATHE pack meetings. i actually told brian i would never go to one sober ever again...they are wild, disruptive, disrespectful, just complete chaos and out of control. it's not my scene. it takes me hours to unwind after...so i think i should go half stoned on anything to help me through (anyone who really knows me, knows i'm kidding...kind of...i just stay home). brian asked that i go to this though and so i did, 8+mo pregnant and sober...sigh... i'm glad i did. i, having never been a scout had no idea that this night would be such an honor. 

he graduated from cubscouts into boy scouts...he was given an arrow of light with loads of symbolic meanings and they painted his face for each. when they were asked to draw an arrow on his forehead someone in the audience yelled out "get a hair barrette"...of course much laughter followed....

now lets move on to the middle school experience... it's turning out to be more like the college experience! he met a girl....a 7th grade girl...at his locker one day because he was having a hard time with his lock and she helped... she invited him to sit with her and her 7 friends at lunch and so it began.... she is now at his locker after every class,saves him a spot at lunch, stays after school to watch him go to his activity or to my van, and is literally ALWAYS there....oh my. he seems a bit oblivious to the whole thing..

he also dove straight into drama club. he auditioned for the school play...when he was asked if he acted before he said "yes"...really? when? .... "mooom....2nd grade i was the silver salmon" ....right... silly me.. he landed the 2nd largest part in the play...oh my... so now he has practice 2x a week and i'm sure it's going to turn into a lot of work soon.... i'm happy with it if he is....the fact that he willingly auditioned in front of everyone is admirable....

onto other activities..if you have your homework done and grades are up, you get to use flex time for activities instead of study hall....gav signed up for salsa dancing... !!!.... he walks around saying "heeey" all cool like, "ya i know him, he's an 8th grader"... oh my.... he gets in the van and before he even buckles the kid has turned the radio station....he learned this week that we never ever eeever turn off tom petty for his pop rock crap.... when we get home he eats and goes to his room...where he turns on his 104.7 club music and blasts it with his window open singing....

and so the teen years are just breaths away....sigh

nesting begins....

a month or two ago i thought the nesting had begun when i started painting luci's room...that however was just a job to get out of the way... all the wants/needs lists are showing up around the house now, setting up 'stations', crib soon to be out for the first time in YEARS, plans plans plans.... i'm holding back from washing all the little clothes till the final weeks... but really...we are almost at the final weeks...baby on the brain always...

i saw my sister this week who handed down some things that started this wave of 'must get ready'... i unloaded the van of baby things and headed out for my last night of scrapbooking (for some time i'm sure) ...when i returned... little momma luci had gone through most of it and i found this;

 

a cabbage patch in a bouncy seat all wrapped up in a swaddling blanket... the next day we took a newborn diaper out (SO TINY) and had a diapering lesson... you sure can tell the difference in little momma luci and her brothers beavis and butthead who couldn't quit laughting at the baby's butt...sigh...

while in portland i found a little something to bring our little girl home in...

speaking of our little girl... we had an ultrasound yesterday..3 of them actually... it hasn't been the best pregnancy...i've only gained 1.5lbs...i hate the thought of dinner most nights...i feel old...i miss 'me' already.... BUT.... after seeing so many people go through so much in pregnancies or lack of pregnancies and tragedies afterwards...i feel blessed and know that all that matters is SHE is ok... it's the momma in me... so i'm going to buck up and try to quit whining... TRY being key word here...

it was our first 3D ultrasound and she is beautiful... she looks alot like luci did as a newborn... she already weighs 4.3lbs with 7wks to go...oh my... they also told me i'm almost another week ahead of what they thought...plus i have gone 1 week early everytime...so i might just get the october baby i always wanted.. might.... she is still breech...the placenta previa has yet to correct itself...not fully... so c-section is still a possibility but we have time... it doesn't really matter...i am just looking forward to holding this sweet girl...

i already have scrapped her first ultrasound and scrapped 'the dresser story' this weekend so i thought i was done but i just can't imagine not scrapping this... love her...

(those 6 butterflies all have the name of someone in my family who has used this dresser as a baby)

well lots to accomplish on the nesting to-do listS.... hope to wrap up their room this week..will post pics when i do...

our little zoo....

i grew up with pets...i brought home pets... i mothered pets...so of course i grew up and filled my house with pets... of all kinds..currently 3 cats and 2 pups...and i added 4 children to it!

(those are for you carla)

i took notice of our little zoo last night when i walked into the room and found this...

a sick boy, an old cat, a wild boy, 'the twins', and a little girl.... just an average evening in our living room that i all too well take for granted...childhood should be filled with lots of these moments... it is a lesson in nurturing and empathy... love them all... 

it's also why i had to create this wall of organization just to keep up on schedules; drama club days, boy scouts, cub scouts, whose library day it is, lunches, passwords...oh my the passwords and codes these kids need in school now. i feel better just looking at that wall when i pass it.. one large board for all the time scheduling and individualized ones for weekly stuff..that is what happens when you run a zoo...

seriously....

 spent my week catching up with momma after momma ....child free lunches....scrambling to complete my daily to-do's...nothing happened for real! nothing but goodness... hope next week will be more productive in the projects dept. ....

 until then....i am going to go spend my day in portland with the cutest man ever...

there will be a crafty post on sunday...i feel it ...

nothing....

nothing but quiet that is!

nothing but endless opportunities to get things done.

nothing but endless lists...the nesting list, the house to-do/organize list, the house decor/projects list, menu list, grocery shop list, daily to-do list, gotta do before baby comes list because i may spend the entire winter in my pajamas, sleep deprived and a wreck....or i may be pleasantly surprised like i was with our luci girl.

if i get anything other than the everyday accomplished i will break out the camera and take a blogging break.

it's here...

                   fall

so in love with this time of year. the cool foggy mornings...the sunny afternoons...bliss.

and it begins...

i would love to say i made the most of this day but honestly...i woke up at 2:20am and couldn't fall back asleep so i was a tad bit shaky-tired and didn't make the most of my time....but it was still a happy day. all 3 kids did well getting ready, adjusting, and came home with lots of smiles and stories...

our middle schooler...

he could have cared less that his schedule was lost...his only concern was that his green day tshirt was laid out...welcome the preteen years...oh my

our 3rd grader...

the 'real deal' eli blu...heelarious kid he is...i did not ask him to pose for one of those pics...he just does... i have a feeling it will be a good year for him

our 1st grader...

she just walked right in there...such a confident little thing...she grew a pumpkin for her teacher...her skirt ended up being too big and would fall down if she ran...luckily she was wearing leggings under it... such a difference in boys vs girls with the whole social scene...i'm happy she is just a 1st grader and not the one going into middle school...i will probably fall apart then...

no one fell apart...had to question myself of why not...and you know?...we made the most of our years at home together...we really really did....playdough, baking cookies, blanket forts, playdates, everything childhood should be so it wasn't sad...didn't hurt that in 9short weeks that there will be another baby in our home and another 7 years ahead of us doing the same...sigh... getting anxious to meet her...

today has been a much more productive day...sleeping through the night really helped that...back to schedules, dinner @ 5:30, scouts, bedtime stories by 8pm... and in just a couple short weeks tv show premieres just in time for this momma to sit down and relax...