Homemade Playdough

I made a batch of playdough for Patrick the other day. It took him a minute to figure out what on earth was in front of him and why, when he was sitting in his "eating" chair, he could not eat it.

But once he got warmed up, he really seemed to like it. Yay for creative entertainment!

Henny Penny and Six Chicks

Another fabulous pattern from Anna Maria Horner, found in her book, Handmade Beginnings. This will be Olivia's Christmas present this year. There's something so special about a handmade gift, and I hope she will love playing with this for years to come.


There's a strip of velcro underneath each of the mama hen's wings, and the little wings of the chicks are made with velcro as well...

...so, when these 'lil chicks get tired of playing...

...they can snuggle up nice 'n' warm in the safety of their mama's wing.

Is that not just the cutest thing you've ever seen!?

A Stocking for Olivia

After making Patrick's stocking last year, I of course had to carry on the tradition for our sweet Olivia.


So, I have been busy stitching lots of teeny tiny beads onto this felt stocking, which is ornamented with a holly wreath...

...a beaming angel...

...a sparkling ornament...

...and four shimmering snowflakes.

I am so excited to have one more little person gathered around the tree with us this year. Merry first Christmas, Olivia!

New Pajamas

It's been a kid-filled week for the blog. Here's Patrick, showing off his new PJ's from Nana.

We are SO excited! (Plus, Mommy got us all riled up playing peek-a-boo.)

Mmmmm... Ravioli!

All Smiles

Check out that dimple!

Ok, not so much of a smile here, but too cute not to post.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are celebrating Thanksgiving twice this year. Once with Luke's family on Thursday, and again with my family on Friday. So I made two tarts today: Chocolate banana for Turkey Day No. 1 and Chocolate Pear for Turkey Day No. 2. Both recipes came from Once Upon A Tart.

And what could be sweeter than a pair of chocolate tarts?

Only this precious little face.

Miss Olivia says, "Have a happy holiday, everyone!"

Newborn Photos - Two Weeks Old

Welcome Baby Olivia!

The newest member of our family was born this past Saturday night, a mere six hours after I had my first contraction. Skeptical at first, after experiencing four days of labor with our first child, I hesitated to admit that I was in full blown labor, but that only lasted a couple hours and then we were headed to the hospital. We spent about an hour in triage, where labor continued to progress at lightning speed and were finally admitted and moved into an actual room. I had gone into this labor fully intending to have a natural birth, but at about 7cm, began begging for an epidural. The nurse started to get an IV set up, but couldn't even get past inserting the needle, much less get an anesthesiologist into the room quick enough. I moved from 7 to 8.5 in about 10 minutes, and in about another 15 or so, little miss Olivia arrived after a couple pushes. My midwife didn't even make it there in time, and the on-call doctor barely made it through the door fast enough to catch her. I got my natural delivery after all, though I'm not sure I'll ever be doing that again if avoidance is at all possible. We'll see. Maybe that magical mommy amnesia will kick in and I'll work up the courage to go all natural once again. Highly doubtful.

The wonderful Alexandra Treat is coming by tomorrow to take some newborn photos for us, but it will probably be a few weeks before we have pictures to share, so this one will have to tide you all over for now.

We love you, sweet Olivia! Welcome to the family!

Waiting for Olivia... a few favorites!

We decided to do our family portrait/maternity photo session at a little antique store in downtown Phoenix called Cheap Thrills. This shop was full of fun stuff to play around with, and Alexandra Treat of Wildfern Photography (who did our maternity/newborn/shower photos with the last pregnancy as well) did a fantastic job turning these shots into art. Thanks, Lexi!

Spiced Lemon Cake

More nesting this week. I've moved on to baking.

Yum!

Musical Furniture

As many of you now know, plans fell through on the new house for reasons beyond our control. So we are making do for the moment with this one. My parents came over last weekend to help me rearrange some furniture to make a spot for Olivia. I found this sweet 1930's dresser at an antique store in north Phoenix, called Not Too Shabby. After Olivia is born, I plan on moving the changing pad out of Patrick's room and on top of this dresser for easy middle-of-the-night access.

The glass office desk that was in this corner is now in our bedroom. Perhaps I will post pictures of the new set-up in there when it is a bit more presentable. It looks a bit like an explosion went off in a clothing factory right now.

The crib that Patrick had been using is now in the studio as well, where the futon used to be. The futon is also now in our bedroom. I also rearranged the canvas collage to work in this adorable "Olivia" sign I found at TJ Maxx. And in case you're wondering, no there is not a mattress in the crib as of yet... it should be arriving sometime this week!


The room is now half nursery and half studio. I was a little nervous at first about trying to make it all fit together, but I am seriously in love with this room now. It all looks like it was meant to be together. I can't wait to bring the new baby home to this beautiful room (minus the mess... sorry 'bout that).

We also got Patrick's new bed assembled, and by "we" I mean my dad and my brother, as I am not much help at this point and Luke was busy working from home all day. Eventually, the side will come off and it will turn into a toddler bed, and then somewhere down the line, it can also be a full bed. And a side note... after a couple people mentioning it, I am now aware that perhaps the "i" is actually a "j". I always knew something didn't look quite right, but I couldn't figure out what. So in case anyone is wondering, no, I am not one of those weird people (no offense if you are one of those people) who chose to make life difficult for my child by spelling his name with a "j" instead of an "i"... I just couldn't tell the difference apparently between the two when shopping for cardboard letters for the wall. So, for the moment, if only in this room, Patrick's name will remain Patrjck... In case anyone was interested.

Walking away from the computer now and sparing anyone who has actually read this far from any further pain...

...It is sooooo time for me to have this baby now...