Maternity Clothes

So as most of you may know I am expecting baby number 2...A very exciting surprise for our family. Being pregnant again, has brought me back to a very frustrated place...maternity clothing...I mean really! I know that in recent years clothes for the mom to be have come a very long way but I just don't understand why designers insist on making clothes that are hideous. As if I don't have enough issues with my spreading hips and butt, growing chest (thank you under-wire for cutting off my circulation), and flourishing cellulite...now I have to worry about finding cute clothes!

Dear Motherhood Maternity,

I do not know how you are still in business with your high-water pants, stupid T-shirts (who wants to wear a shirt that says "embrace your bump" or "bumps rock"?), and bad patterned dresses. And to Heidi Klum (whom I normally love) your maternity line is no better (shirt on the very right) and I highly doubt you wore any of it when you were pregnant.

All of the cute (and I use that term loosely) maternity clothes are crazy expensive...Good luck finding a pair of jeans that don't look like mom jeans for under $185.00! What I have come to realize is maternity clothes are just as bad as bridesmaids dresses...I would never wear them unless I had to!

Forever 21 now has a maternity line, I am very interested to see it and try some of it on! The website doesn't have much to offer but there is a store close by that just started carrying it! Wish me luck, at least it will be cheap!

Dr. Seuss Baby Shower

As many of you know my sister is having triplets...Needless to say for the shower we had to go all out! I wanted to share some pictures from the day! Since she is having 2 girls and a boy we went with a gender neutral theme of Dr. Seuss! It was amazing!

My mom made the flower center pieces. So cute. We found the Dr. Seuss buttons at the Target dollar spot!

I saw these cupcakes on a few different blogs and just had to make them. (tip: wait until the very last minute possible to add the cotton candy because they melted on the icing after about an hour).

The amazing cake by Rama! She really is the best!

We made some cake pops and added some fun whimsical suckers as favors.

My sister Andrea and I made the diaper cake centerpieces. There we about 6 cakes and they each had a different character on them! This one was my favorite! We also had a different Dr. Seuss book on each table for guest to sign and leave a note to the babies.

Here is the whole table...We made the banner out of an old Dr. Seuss book! Overall the shower was a hit and so much fun to plan. The parents to be got some really great stuff and now I am just happy to relax on this gorgeous labor day!

Thanks for reading :)

Oops..

Okay so my below post features a picture of the awesome diaper cake my sister made but somehow I messed up the picture and cannot fix it...I am normally not this slow. So click on the picture to see the full view! Sorry about that my dear followers :)

Ob-la-di-ob-LA-diaper-cake???

My sister Andrea over at Ob-la-di-Ob-LA-blog makes the sweetest diaper cakes...You have to check it out. She has been making them and selling them to friends out in LA but I totally think she should start an Etsy shop...I have been telling her forever!!!!

She is so crafty and has so many good ideas...She is who got me hooked on Gina's weight watcher recipes which by the way, Thursday night I made the pepper steak. It was amazing. I double the sauce recipe and added zucchini and carrots.

A Gassy Weekend

Okay this was a hectic weekend. A lot of activity and a lot of cooking! I made 3 recipes from skinnytaste.com which were all amazing and I will definitely get to those later so stay tuned!

Friday night my sister and her husband came over along with one of my husbands best friends MJ...I got home from shopping at 6:00 and everyone came over at 6:15 so I was totally rushed to get dinner ready! It was a hot mess from start to finish. I made the barbacoa beef and cilantro lime rice from skinnytaste.com (it was similar to a chipotle meal but way lower calories) and then the guys wanted to barbecue so add steak, cheeseburgers, pasta salad, and fries to the menu. So random I know. At some point when we were cleaning up the hodge podge of food one of the flames on my gas stove top burnt out however the gas was still on low. We did not catch it until ohhhh 4:30 in the morning when our Carbon Monoxide alarm started screaming (thank you a million times to my husband for knowing me well enough to know that eventually I would get some use out of the $60 alarm I wasn't sure that we needed)! Anyways, we walked out of our room to be slapped in the face with an overwhelming smell of gas!

Thought # 1: Go and check on the baby!!!

Thought # 2: What the heck are we supposed to do now???

Thought # 3: Get that magnet with all of the city numbers on it off the fridge that I almost threw away last week for taking up too much space!

One phone call and the fire department was there in minutes...We had to evacuate the house for an hour while they tested each room for dangerous levels of CO2 and as if it wasn't enough that there was a fire truck blaring in our street at 4:45am...they had to turn on a huge industrial sized fan on in our drive way that sucked the air out of the house, this thing had its own gas motor and a pull string and could not have been any louder!

Luckily we were all just fine. The dangerous number they look for is 48 and the highest ours went to was 28! There is never a dull moment in our house! Moral of the story...Don't leave your stove on and go to sleep! Here are some safety tips!

Let's play catch up!

Okay so I recognize that to have a successful blog one has to blog frequently! The last few weeks have been hectic. Every down second I have had I have spent it sleeping! My whole family had the flu, I have had *Luciandme* orders left and right, and my daughter has not been sleeping well. Not to mention this weekend was packed with things to do...Speaking of which, I wanted to share with you the baby shower my friend Molly and I threw for Monica over at MEphotographypics.blogspot.com, it was owl and birdie themed and it turned out great!

My sister in law and I made all of the cupcakes, Molly and I both made the diaper cake center pieces, and I made the invitations. It came out super cute. My favorite item of the shower was the party favor. I made Owl Pops. For those of you who are not familiar with "pops" you need to visit www.bakerella.com! This woman is amazing! I used her recipe for the pops and just hand formed them to make owl heads and then decorated them with chocolate and sprinkles.

What the molded cake looked like before I stuck in the sticks and decorated them...

Finished product! I am so exited about how they turned out! The little tags say "hoot hoot hooray! Thanks for coming today".

All in all, I think Monica had a really great time and I am so glad we spent all of the time we did on all of the details!

That is all I have for the moment. My friend Katie at honeysweet-ness.blogspot.com moved to Washington DC today with her hubby and we threw a small gathering for them this weekend. I have some fun pics to share I am just not ready to blog about it yet...too sad :( I promise I will not go so long until my next blog entry though.

Nursery Pics

Okay Baby E's nursery took me 3 days to finish! Not bad! I am really proud of how it turned out and have already had some interest from another expecting mommy! Hope you all enjoy this pictures!

Baby E's nursery...Sneak Peak

I just started painting my friend Monica's baby nursery! She is expecting a baby girl in September and she picked out the Brooke bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. It is really cute! They painted the walls a bright teal and I am painting a few whimsical trees around the room! I am really excited to do this for them! Here is a sneak peak of what I have done so far! More pics to come soon!

Sorry the picture isn't very good! It was on my phone!

Time for a Meltdown

No! This is not my daughter but this is what she has looked like for the last few days hence my lack of blogging! No one ever warns you about the "15 month melt down" phase. You hear about the "terrible two's" and how bad it is when they are teething but what about the "15 month melt down's"

I would like to share my favorite melt down of the week. Luci and I were having a tea party a couple of mornings ago...All was going well, we were sipping our tea (water) with our pinky's up (no joke she puts her pinky up) and then all of the sudden she lost it. Full blown tantrum! Why you ask??? I still don't have that answer! She proceeded to take her chubby little arm and swipe everything off of the table onto the floor and if that was not theatrical enough she bent down and bit the side of the table as hard as she could.

What was even more comical was my reaction to her.... I stood up and yelled "great! now we can't have a tea party!" and put all of her cups and saucers away slamming the cabinet door... (Wonder where she gets it?) I love how all of the articles and "experts" tell you to remain calm and wait out the "storm" as if a sleep deprived mom who has been listening to their toddler scream for what seems like an hour for no apparent reason is going to do that!

Needless to say if I am a little behind on my blogging this is why!!!

Etsy Shop Update

Okay so I have been on Etsy since April of 2010. And until now I have only sold items to customers who I already know and love...until now! This weekend someone I do not know purchased something.

This was the something...I used Amy Butler fabric and really cute pom pon trim. Each case comes with Huggies wipes inside! Great for other uses as well. I keep one in my car for "on the go" needs. A package of wet ones, and snacks for my little one. They would also make a great travel case for a sewing/craft kit :)

cute right? I am totally obsessed with this color combo right now. My friend Monica over at mephotgraphics is getting ready to have her first baby and she got a yellow and grey diaper bag giving me an excuse to make another one of these.

For those of you who have not yet visited my etsy shop, you should! I make Travel diaper wipe cases, burp cloths, onesies, and custom nursery decor. I will be updating very soon!

The Festivities of the 4th

I was informed a few minutes ago (by my husband of course, when I was trying to change the TV channel) that it is like a 4th tradition to watch the hot dog eating contest. I am not going to lie, it was mildly entertaining for a second but to me the 4th of July is eating watermelon, anything blueberry, watching my sister (my older sister keep in mind) dance around in smoke bombs, my mom's strawberry yogurt pie ( I will post pics later and a recipe if she will let me but don't get your hopes up)....and now watching my daughter watch fireworks.

I was looking for a good Independence day quote to end with and I stumbled across this one that I thought was funny...

"Liberty is responsibility, that is why most men dread it" George Bernard

As promised here are some pics from my brinner extravaganza...

As you can see the ingredients for *from scratch* pancakes is a little more complex that *from the box* pancakes. (like the dish cloth? Is is a honeysweet product).

Not as easy as it looks...It took me a few try's to flip them without them falling apart! The best tip I got from smitten kitchen was to put the blueberries on the pancake after it was on the griddle.

Sweet success!!!

Add some eggs and you have Brinner for dinner :)

Brinner

What does someone do for dinner when their fridge is lacking the majority of ingredients for mostly any meal? The answer is simple....BRINNER! Breakfast for dinner! I am not sure about this but I am pretty sure my husband coined that term! Everyone has ingredients for breakfast of some sort! I just happened to have some left over buttermilk (because I made creme fraiche from scratch a few weeks ago) and blueberries as well. Hello Blueberry pancakes! I am not going to lie to all of my readers (anyone?) and say that I have EVER made pancakes from scratch. Which is weird because cooking is one of my passions and I rarely use a boxed mix...except for pancakes. I for some reason cannot resist good old Aunt Jemima's whole wheat pancakes! So for my very first attempt I went with a recipe I found over at Smitten Kitchen. Check out her tips when making pancakes...quite helpful!

Now saying that I was hesitant to try this recipe is an understatement. Not because of the difficulty level of the recipe...but because it was a....brace yourself...a Martha Stewart recipe. Ugh! I could hardly type that name without cringing (lets go with MS from now on)! I am sorry to all of the MS lovers out there but something about this woman truly drives me crazy! I am not sure if it is her monotone voice, horrible outfits (she clearly needs to read about some acceptable fashion options over at Kelsey Jane Grins) or how snotty she behave when her celebrity guests don't master a technique on the first try (you shouldn't have even had Snoop Dog on your show lady)! My dislike for MS is stronger than my dislike for Rachel Ray's voice, the word smize, and Jesse James (Sandra bullocks ex, not the american outlaw).

Now that I let that out....the pancakes were actually pretty awesome, I was prepared to order in Chinese and instead I was pleasantly surprised. Pics of my brinner extravaganza coming soon :)

Wiggin Out!

My pledge class and I went to see Eclipse tonight along with every other tween and 40 something mom in Kansas City. While I wish I could be one of the people who bash the vampire phenomenon like other people I know who shall remain nameless....I am obsessed! Obsessed with the books anyways! The movies (while I continue to see them opening night) are just not that good. Robert Pattison is the only thing about the movies that I can say I love!

With that being said here are a few things I need to get off of my chest...

A. Movie Bella...I can fully appreciate that Bella is supposed to be "homely" if you will, but ugly??? They make her look terrible...She is not a vampire just yet, so being terrifyingly pale is unacceptable. I highly doubt that 2 guys are going to fight over that...Hollywood, it just isn't believable!

B. Dear Taylor Lautner,
You should have stuck with the whole "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" gig. Enough said.

C. This may be the most important talking point that I have...Cullen Hair!

What is up with it? I feel that since the Twilight saga is this huge phenomenon and continues to break records at the summer box office, the costume designers should be able to get some better wigs, or better yet, hire people with the correct hair color!

Exhibit A: When I see this picture I think Randy Quaid in "Kingpin" not insanely strong and heartbreakingly beautiful vampire...

And then there is this...

As you can see in the picture on the right (from the first movie) Bella has a normal looking hairline...I mean obviously the mullet that K-Stew is rocking these days won't do, but did they have to give her Jacob's old wig???

With all of that bashing I just did...I still love my Twilight, and will be in line next year when "Breaking Dawn" comes out!

Here I am

Okay...I have tried this blogging thing before. I was not so good at it. I entered one post (which I then deleted) and never touched it again. I didn't know how I felt about the idea...I mean do people really want to hear what I have to say? Is that sort of narcissistic of me to assume that people cared what I was doing? These are the thoughts that consumed me as I tried to decide if I should start a blog but...Here I am! I am now a committed blogger! As you read this blog (anyone out there?) You will see what I am about! I am just a stay-at-home mom who loves to craft, plan parties, spend time with friends and family, obsess over pop culture (I love you Rob Pattinson), and the most important thing...Hang out with Luci (my 15 month old baby girl who has made my life so happy, blessed, exhausting, and meaningful!)
To Katie,Pitts, and Connie Jo...I completely recognize that grammar and punctuation may be of concern to you as you read this blog...Accept and move on :)