"Mommy, you've got a big 'ole belly"

Lately, Jackson has been a bit obsessed with the "baby in Mommy's belly."  Understandably so, how could you not notice it?

He even reflects it in his artwork.  Its amazing what kinds of questions he comes up with and how much he really gets.

(This one shows the "umbrellica" cord attached to the rainbow-colored baby)

A Sewing Nook

As we've prepared for a 3rd child, I've been shuffling my sewing & crafting stuff around.  My former "sewing room" is now the office and our former entertainment armoire in our bedroom became the dumping ground for my crafts & sewing machine.  Needless to say, I haven't done any sewing or crafting in quite some time...when its not convenient, who wants to mess with it?  And I don't have the energy to lug it out and put it back up each time I want to do a project.  So no projects have been done recently.

However, on Monday night, I got a random idea to convert guest room closet into a sewing room.  I've seen some great closet/offices on Pinterest but never really thought it out until now.  I spent all night decluttering and headed to Lowes first thing Tuesday AM.  

And after an impressively long naptime on Tuesday, I had finished my project, complete with custom-made shelves, a newly hung closet rack and new florescent lighting.  The picture doesn't really do it justice but its perfect for what I needed!

And all of this transpired because I needed to make Colton his baby blanket before he arrived.  I have made each of the other two boys special blankets and have had this on my to-do list for months.  This adorable little kit has been staring at me, begging to be sewn up.

And after a couple hours of sewing, Baby Colton finally has his own made-by-Mommy blankie.

An only child

This week, Jackson has been at the beach with Poppy & Gigi.  While we have missed our sweet boy so much, we have really enjoyed having time to dote on little Weston.  We expected him to be asking for "Bubba" ("brother") but he hasn't really mentioned him much.  I think he is enjoying being the one and only.

And he's so easy.

I thought Weston was the hard one, being that he is in.to.everything.  And climbing...and whining instead of talking...and wanting to be carried.  But when there is no competition for our attention, he really is the less demanding of the two.  He has been the most laid back, self-occupied little guy this week, and man, I feel like I can do anything with just one kid.  One kid is so easy!

I've spent time this week moving Westie into Jackson's room.  They are going to share a room and Colton will get the nursery.  I'm not willing to give up our guest room/office in order for each boy to have their own room.  But I still don't want to give W free reign of the "big boy room" so he will be sleeping in the pack-n-play until he's ready for the bottom bunk.  So far, the transition has been seamless.  The true test will be when his roomie comes back this weekend...

I got a wild hair to convert the guest room closet into a sewing nook (more to come later) so we made a trip (or 2) to Lowes this week.

 And ate brownies...

And enjoyed being lawless by playing on the coffee table while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...

And went to Publix...

And our weekly trip to Costco...and even met Ben there for lunch!

And Dillard Farms opened for the season so we had our first ice cream cone of the Spring.



I am so thankful I got to spend an entire week with just Weston.  Being the second child, he's never gotten 100% of the attention and it was awesome to just engage on his level and focus on him.  I can already tell, however, that my time with only 1 child will make my transition to THREE seem a whole lot harder!

Scenes from Easter Weekend

We were in Hickory for the Easter holiday since Mawmaw was buried on Good Friday.

The Friday services were tasteful and more celebratory than mourning in nature. It was nice having the chance to fellowship with relatives that we hardly see and I've always had the best times hanging out with my aunts over the years. There is never a shortage of funny stories to tell or memories or bring up.

Saturday morning, the boys had breakfast & cartoons in bed with Poppy.

We then headed over to Mawmaw's to get some of our personal belongings out of our house, along with some other things of hers that we may like to have. I got a few cute christmas decorations, a few small lamps, some sewing notions and some costume jewelry. It felt funny rummaging through her drawers! Ben got some old tools and such from in the basement, and we managed to acquire a "new" trampoline from Dad & Linda, that they have been trying to unload on us for a year or so now. Sounds great in principle, but where do you put a trampoline in an already-cluttered back yard? Classy Classy!

Ben & the boys took a few laps around the yard on Dad's 4-wheeler which he's been keeping out there.



After leaving Mawmaw's, we headed to the always delish Claremont Cafe for some of the tastiest albeit greasiest food in town. It did not disappoint. That makes for two weekends in a row at this dive for me and the kids.
{If you are from around there, you know how bad/delicious this grub probably is for that baby in my tummy}



After lunch, the guys walked over to Claremont Wholesale where apparently they still sell baby chicks at Easter time. Thankfully, Ben wisely declined the offer to take a few home, although apparently you can legally raise chickens anywhere in SC. Add a chicken coop to my ghetto-fab backyard, please!
Love this picture of all my boys in parking lot post Cafe:



After naps on Saturday, we did an Easter egg hunt at Dads. I apparently did not hide the eggs hard enough because Weston had filled his basket in 30 seconds. Same goes for Jackson. I guess I need more than 18 eggs, too. And mom-of-the-year didn't bring candy to put in them so I had to resort to loose change, fruit snacks and some little trinkets that Jackson had picked up from MawMaws. I think I heard him say, "I already have one of these!" about 10 times. Not sure if he realized that I was recycling...









This is an example of what brotherly loves looks like at our house these days:



Sunday morning, after opening Easter baskets, we met Bebe & PopPaw at church.

After lunch, we kissed our big boy bye-bye and left him with Bebe for a slumber party before his beach trip.  Westie was eager to kiss him bye-bye too :)

And this one was all smiles as he realized he was the only child for the next week!

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Spring Break in GA

Jackson's been having a blast with Poppy & Gigi and cousin Parker at the beach this week.  They left on Monday AM and have been at their house in St. Simons all week.  J had congestion and low fever over the weekend and the first part of the week but that didn't seem to slow them down.  I don't think the weather was very "beachy" but they have been staying super busy between the parks, skate parks, fishing, biking, library and nature walks.

Thank goodness for iPhones so I can stay updated on all the fun!  7 days is a long time away to be away from my 3 year old!!

MawMaw Isaac

Last Wednesday, my very favorite grandmother, MawMaw, passed away. Her funeral was on Good Friday. When I posted about my fondness of Nutty Buddies and my sweet memories of MawMaw several weeks ago, that was before her turn for the worse. She also taught me to sew, made the best creamy rice and always had a way of making me laugh! Even in the past year or so, she'd chase the boys with her detested walker, scare them with intentionally mis-installed dentures and trick them by hiding their treats when they weren't looking.

She was 85 years old and had been struggling with dementia & declining health for several years. She was blessed with 6 children, 17 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren and had a long, fruitful life. She was also the first female in North Carolina to undergo open heart surgery - at the age of 40. What a testament to her strength, courage and faith!

The weekend before Easter, I was able to make a trip to Hickory with the boys and spend some time with her telling her good-bye. She was not visibly aware of her surroundings, but I am certain she knew I was there and how much she meant to me. It was such a blessing to have that time with family and with her, in the family home that my grandfather built 60 years ago and that my dad & of all of my aunts & uncles were raised in. The boys brought a joyful noise to the house, which is all that its known for the past 6 decades.

Oh, and the house is haunted. I've never experienced it myself but everyone else seems to have their own stories of creepy happenings, dating back to when my dad was a young boy and things would disappear & reappear days later, or lights would come on by themselves in the middle of the night. Rumor has it that when PawPaw built the house, it was on the former site of "Grandpa Huffman's" house and he had buried a sack of gold underneath his house. When PawPaw was building their house, he dug out a huge basement in search of the buried gold. The gold was never found, but the house ended up with an enormous basement and a restless spirit that haunts but not harms. And even as a teenager, when I'd spend the night at MawMaw's, I would sleep in the bed with her, just in case. And even in the recent years, MawMaw's caretakers would hear footsteps upstairs and doors slamming...and they did not know of the haunted history of the house when they shared their stories.

I sure will miss MawMaw, but I know she's smiling down on us. I hope that one day I can be blessed with grandchildren so I can be the kind of MawMaw that she was to me.




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Wallscaping

So back in November when my in-laws were here for Thanksgiving, my MIL Lill had some rearrangement suggestions for our living room. She has always had an eye for decorating so I was eager to follow her suggestions. We ended up a layout that we all agreed was much more open and flowed better, and just suited the room! However, we had a huge blank wall behind the couch (where a huge cabinet had been before). Not to mention that smack in the middle of that wall was our thermostat. Really?!? Who wired our house so that the thermostat would be in the middle of the most prominent wall in the living room?


I had 4 large (but not identical) framed portraits that I wanted to hang behind the couch but wasn't sure how to arrange them. Pinterest gave some suggestions as did several decorator-minded friends...however I couldn't envision a collage-type layout since the frames were so large and not identical. Not to mention that awful box smack dab in the middle of the wall. Nothing seemed right:



So I started out with this:


and this:




And ended up with this:



Finally, last week I hung the pictures (using 3M Command Strips so I wouldn't have to patch holes if/when I messed up) and so far, we are happy with the placement. We need to adjust the height of the 3rd one by about 1/4" but thats what command strips are for :)



The thermostat is still an eyesore but not quite as bad as the frame that still has the stock insert in it. I'm waiting on our family to be complete to update that portrait.

Just one more thing to check off my list!



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