Home Improvement: Wall

There is this wall in our house that separates the kitchen from the living room. I hate it. It's like this huge, stupid...well...wall that makes you wish you had x-ray vision just so you could see through it. So anyway, over Christmas, while Papa Denny was here, he and Marshall cut a big rectangle in it. 

It took us a while to decide on what we were going to do with the space...fast forward to March. Quinn and I left town for a couple of days, which gave Marshall time to finish the project and he did a beautiful job! Kellie even helped a little :)

Yay for completed home improvement projects!

So close!

Baby 2's due date is coming up fast! On Wednesday I had yet another sonogram to measure the baby's growth. He's growing just as he should be - not too big, not too small, just right :) The ultrasound technicians love printing out pictures of his boy parts - I have 3 of them now and I'm pretty sure he's peeing in the latest one...if you are interested I'll email you the pic hahahaha 

Here's a picture of me now at 37 weeks. And there's the picture of me from 10 weeks ago. Clearly I need to get some better fitting shirts... 

I am a SEWING MACHINE: baby boy gift set

My friend Rosalee just had a baby boy! So, I made a few things for the new little guy. I haven't sent them yet, but I swear I'm going to try to do it tomorrow...

I sewed a little giraffe to a onesie.
I got the image for the giraffe from CraftSew.com.

Baby shoes. I had attempted to make shoes once before, but failed.
These turned out great though! I also made bigger shoes for Q. They turned out ok - I'll post those later.
Anyway, I got the pattern from here.

 Double sided bib. I used some iron on plastic stuff to make this bib wipeable. 

The other side is just regular fabric. I hope it washes well... I got the pattern out of my One-Yard Wonders book.

Here's the complete set minus some jean shorts I bought at Target :)

I am a SEWING MACHINE: Easter Dress

It's been a while since I've made anything for little Quinnie, so I made her an Easter dress. I got my inspiration from this top I found on Craftiness is Not Optional. I used my own pattern for the dress. I attempted to do the sleeves, but that was a total fail. Oh well...

 It's a little big, so I guess she'll be able to wear it for a while. 

Anyway, here are a couple more pictures from our Easter weekend.

Dying eggs with Dad

Rock Star Eggs

Quinn's treat for the Easter Bunny. She left this out Friday and on Saturday morning 

EB left her a teaser gift of Minnie Mouse bubbles. 

Saturday we went to the farmers market, rode the street car and then explored NW 23rd. 

Quinn was drawn to this store because of the pink walls and Hello Kitty guitar on the wall. 

What kind of day would it be without pink ice cream?

Christina and Alex enjoying a coffee from a cute place we came across where the 

barista's wear bow ties and vests.

At Washington Park enjoying the beautiful day.

Saturday night Kellie watched Quinn and Alex and Christina treated us to a delicious dinner out at the Screen Door. We had to wait an hour and a half to be seated, but it was worth it :)

Grits and Shrimp

Fried Chicken

Beef Brisket

Kellie's treat for watching Quinn - Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie.

Sunday we had brunch with Alex, Christina, Sydney and Marcos. Kellie had to go to school :( Then Quinn went on an Easter Egg hunt. 

 Eating a chocolate carrot from the Easter Bunny.

 Big Baby in her new carrier.

 Marcos and Sydney

 Marshall

 Enjoying the sunshine in her new bathing suit. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Heart Break, Fried Chicken & The Mickey Mouse Miracle

Heart Break
Today Quinn was telling me how she "love daddy." I said "I love Quinn. Does Quinn love mama?" And she said "Quinn love daddy. No like mama." I felt my heart break a little. Is this a sign of things to come? I know she's only 2 and probably (hopefully) doesn't understand everything she says, but it still kind of stings a little. Nowadays when Marshall gets home Quinn pretty much doesn't want anything to do with me. She told me to leave the room the other night hahaha It's kind of funny and cute and I understand. I want to get away from her most of the time sometimes once Marshall get's home.  I guess she's going through her "daddy's girl" phase right now and who can blame her? He's a pretty great guy :)

Fried Chicken
Since I've been pregnant and found out I have gestational diabetes, I've been pretty careful about what I eat. At least sweets wise (who am I kidding though - I still have a sweet in some form or another a couple times a day - everything in moderation right?). But I've kind of been eating a lot of bacon and sausage and eggs and cheese burgers with bacon and a variety of other fatty foods (I know these things aren't good for blood sugar either, but...). Anyway, today I made my first fried chicken. I even cut up a whole chicken. The poor thing was mutilated...Anyway, I used a recipe from Ina Garten's Family Style cookbook. It turned out fantastic! I soaked the chicken parts in buttermilk over night and then coated them in a mixture of flour, salt and pepper. I fried them in vegetable shortening and safflower oil for a while and then baked them in the oven. I just wish I could have had some mashed potatoes or waffles with it. Instead I had to settle for broccoli with cheese. Oh and I was just reminded of this video, good times...

There was more than this, but we ate it :)

Mickey Mouse Miracle
We've been working on "potty training" Quinn for a while now. We are not consistent, so that's probably all part of the problem. She also just seemed to really hate the potty. But I've discovered that if I bribe her with an episode of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse she'll go in the potty. We've only been really working on this since Saturday and it's been kind of a busy week, so we're still not being super consistent, but it seems to be working for now :)

26.5 weeks down, forever to go

Well, I just kind of realized that I haven't blogged at all about my pregnancy. I guess I haven't even really formally announced it (and by formally announce I mean posted it to my Facebook page hahahaha kidding). Anyway, I just had a Dr.'s appointment today and everything seems to be going well! I've gained about 13 pounds so far.

Here is a picture taken of me today.

Quinn was born at 36 weeks, so I've just been telling myself only 10 more weeks to go! Seems like forever - hopefully it will go fast :)

I am a SEWING MACHINE: baby things

 Besides watching Ally McBeal, I've been trying to craft...I lost my motivation for a while, but when friends are having babies I get that kick I need to get going again. This time my friend Brenna had a sweet baby boy, so I made him a little reversible bucket hat. 

I got the pattern from a book called Oliver + S.
It was my first try making this hat, so hopefully my little mistakes aren't too noticeable...

I also stenciled some onesies.

This one, unfortunately, was semi-destroyed by the sewing machine. I tried to sew some letters on it to spell "Ahoy," but the onesie got jammed in the sewing machine and I had to rip it out and now there is a hole in it :( I should just learn to let things be.

I also stenciled a couple baby girl onesies for my cousin Amy.

I found the stencils in a book called Stencil 201. It has 25 reusable stencils - some are really cute, others, not so much...

For my last baby project I made a nursing cover.

This was so easy! I don't remember where I found the tutorial, but they are all kind of the same. 

Anyway, that's it for now. In a couple months I'll have a few more baby projects to work on :)