Love This!!

So, I STILL haven't quite gotten into the world of Pinterest. I mean, I get it...it has a whole lot of ideas that you can easily pin to your pinboard but I get information overload every time I visit pinterest. My head starts to spin, I start to think of all the time a project would take me and I end up visiting this site instead. So, today when I tried ever so hard to get into pinterest yet again, I found this adorable idea instead through tipjunkie.com!! Love love LOVE!!! Every little boy needs a mud-run birthday party! Maybe I'll need to celebrate Tristen's half-birthday once in a while so we can do this!! Or, have a mud-run in the middle of winter?? Definitely! Even more "manly" :) Ha!

Our backyard is a lake right now! We didn't quite get the "4-6 inches of snow, huge winter storm!" that so many kept telling us we would get. Instead we got rain and plenty of it. Yuck! Please come, spring....I'm okay that we didn't get any snow this year but this freezing rain stuff is just plain terrible!!

Our yard! So sad!!

Aaron has spring break next week (yay!!) and I have been absolutely exhausted lately. Going to bed around 9-9:30 and taking a nap when Tristen takes his afternoon nap...this baby is taking every ounce of energy that I once had! It's going to be a long 17 weeks at the rate we're going but I'm not complaining.....every babe is a blessing.

 

Aaron's first clinical of this semester is done! On to Minneapolis!

Tristen is hilarious as always. He discovered how to make a whistling noise last week so we often hear whistling while he plays now. Too funny! He also LOVES trucks these days and makes a "Varoom" sound as he pushes them...love it! He's all boy :) 3 molars are breaking through this week...no WONDER he's been crying out in pain for no particular reason lately!

I'm trying to get his baby book done before Baby Girl gets here....I had a cheap, not-much-information one and decided after looking at my own baby book over Christmas to order a really nice, loaded-with-information book for him. Now is the process of going back and trying to remember! Thankfully I put some things on the blog so this has been my memory for the time being! Now I know with Baby Girl to stay on top of writing things down because you really do forget!

There's our "weekly" update (I guess it's been longer than a week!) Happy Leap Day!

Birthday Party, Valentine's Day Pics and Project Ideas!!

This morning as I was cleaning, I thought to myself, "I really REALLY like having a small house." Why? It takes me a little over an hour to wash almost every nook and cranny in my house in contrast to the couple hours it took me in our other house. Umm, yeah, lovin' the benefits of the small house right now!!

I've been thinking of projects to do around this small house though. One of them being decorating the nursery for Tristen and Baby Girl. They'll be sharing a room and I want them to have two separate spaces even though it's a small space.....so I've come up with the idea of making it a beach/tropical room. Tristen's side will have driftwood (anyone have any laying around??) and shells/ships....cool natural objects from the ocean. Baby Girl?? I'm thinking tropical flowers painted above the crib and more flowery/girlie things for her side :) Brown will be the primary color with blue and green on Tristen's side and pink and yellow on Baby Girl's side. We'll see how it actually turns out though!! Although I've had the idea for a while, I was dreaming of what it would look like realistically last night and then found some fun rooms online that will help me! So, I'm excited to get going on it! 

Last Friday, Tristen's little friend, Raina, had her first birthday party! I totally forgot to put up some adorable pics of the party.....here he is with the birthday girl!! (don't you LOVE that skirt!?!?)

Eating cupcakes! Yummy!

 Valentine's Day! What better way to practice with crayons than to make Daddy a card?!!

 Yay Valentine's Day!

  

Tristen looks less than thrilled about the below picture :) Haha....we'll have to think of something else for next Valentine's Day :)

My house is clean and projects are racing through my head.....I think this is going to be a good day :)

Valentine's Day of Past

Mmmm, I like Valentine's Day. To be perfectly honest, I liked Valentine's Day even when I didn't have a Valentine.....just a fun day to celebrate LOVE. The only time I didn't like it was in 5th grade when a boy in my class gave me a Valentine and I was terrified that it might say "I like you" in it since that was the rumor circulating. I saw his name on the outside, turned quite red, quickly put it in the very back of my desk and didn't open it. Sharing this story years later with my family, they laughed heartily when I told them that I finally opened it on the last day of school when we had to clean out our desks and it simply said,

"Erika, you're a good friend." 

HA! I didn't like all that lovey dovey stuff back then and this was the same boy who I had my only fight in school with (fight meaning I stabbed my mechanical pencil into his back because he teased me relentessly....I had to stay in for recess because of that one!)  Oh, those were the days.....these days I would probably get a suspension for something like that :)

Anywho, besides that year, I've always loved Valentine's Day :) While my high hopes of getting up and making heart pancakes for Tristen and I didn't quite happen, I know that we'll still have a good Valentine's Day today. Aaron is away at clinicals but will be home tonight :)

And, just because pictures are fun.....I was browsing through Valentine's Day of past:

2007: First year of marriage!! We went out to eat and saw a musical! 

2008: First year of living in Iowa (in our first home! I loved making a meal and dressing up!!)

Maybe that's why we love Valentine's Day.....it's an excuse to dress up! That, and we're both romantics at heart :)

Happy Valentine's Day from the Willey clan :) We hope you have a wonderful day!

Mommy Blogger

I can feel it happening (or it has happened). I'm totally a mommy blogger. I used to love to write about other things: house projects, crafting projects, people that I have met, stories of the past, etc.  This past week, since announcing that we are having a girl, ALL I can think about is decorating the nursery, finding cute, cheap clothes for her, and blogging about Tristen and HER.

While definitely not a bad thing, I remember being the one that didn't have a baby. The one not pregnant. I joyfully watched friends have kids and talk about all the movements of their babies while they were pregnant. The majority of the time, I was just plain excited for them. Occasionally, though, it was hard to not be one of them. I would be lying to say "I get it" for people who can't/don't have children since I now have children and haven't had to go through the journey that many of my friends have had to face....but, I do get it to a very small extent since we were the ones without children not so long ago..... which is why I try not to make my blog completely about my children.

On the flip side, I can see it from the other perspective now....as a mommy blogger. I get it. Watching your children grow, learn new things, and do things "for the first time" is so fun and so exciting. Unlike when we are older, our children have milestones every month it seems like and you WANT to tell the whole world what milestone your child has done. I get it now which is why I don't feel so bad about being a mommy blogger some of the time. I'm still trying to find the balance so if it feels like I talk about my kids constantly or talk about everything but my kids, just know that I'm still figuring out what's too much and what's not enough.

On that note, I do want to share a few things about our ultrasound.
Here is a pic of our little girl!!

She is quite the mover (evidence in the picture above! We weren't able to get a clear profile) and already I can feel CRAZY movements with her.....I thought Tristen moved a lot but he was nothing compared to this little one! It feels like she's constantly dropping in my stomach...maybe she'll be a runner or a gymnast?! In the ultrasound, she was doing everything from "waving" at us to pushing back at the technician and squirming away when she was taking measurements. She seems spunky and quite energetic (hmmm, I wonder where she gets THAT from!) Although we have three names that we like, I think just seeing her in the ultrasound has helped us nail down one and yes, it will be a secret until she's born. 

I couldn't help myself.....she already has a Christmas dress for next year :) Come on, they are SO cheap at the moment and happened to have one in the right size....and I just happen to have a few summer outfits for a girl that were supposed to be gifts for friends that ended up having boys so we have a few things for this little one!

Thanks for letting me think through my new role of being a mommy blogger....I'll try to think of something exciting to blog about next....maybe I need a new project to work on. Non-baby related that is :) Happy Monday all....and Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow :)

It's A......

Yay!! We found out and it's a GIRL!!!! :) So exciting!! Can't wait to hold my sweet baby girl this summer!!

Tuesday Ramblings

It IS Tuesday, right? Goodness, I don't have a clue anymore! :)

*This is a BIG week for us!! We find out what we're having.....soon. Not today but sometime this week. Can I take back my first guess that it's a girl?? I don't have a CLUE what we're having and I've heard so many opinions from people who think it's a boy or girl that it makes me even more confused. :) Last time, it was so easy. I "just knew" Tristen was a boy. This time, all my "inklings" are gone and this mother has no intuition to go off of. If I have any inkling at all, it's that we won't be able to find out and secretly, I think that would be fun :)

*We also have big birthday celebrations this week as Aaron's mom turns 60! Wahoo!

*And then another bday party on Friday for one of Tristen's little friends...followed by a work weekend for Aaron. Oh yes, and it's Valentine's Day next week...hmm...I suppose we should start thinking of that!

*Apart from our fun-filled week, lately I feel like I've had some revelations in life. Although I've been a stay-at-home mom for a year now, I feel like I'm finally "getting it". You know how they say it takes a full year in a job or a new house to adjust to it? I think it's true....even with something as wonderful as being a mom. It hasn't been the "mom" part that has been hard at times....especially since I came from teaching preschool. Having just one child to take care of was a breath of fresh air! It has been the other parts-the cooking, cleaning, keeping up the house and being a wife and caretaker of the house on top of being a mom that has been hard to accept at times. I'm an extrovert by nature but have found out how hard it is to tote children around and work around feeding and nap times. My life has slowed down and my priorities have changed. And, it's been such a good change. I've been praying that God would use me in my home since I believe that's where He wants me at this particular time in my life. And through those constant prayers, I finally have a joy (umm, most of the time!) :) as I do the routine things in my life now. I actually like laundry and ironing now....see, I have changed! :)

*I also have a renewed strength as we finish up the last 2 years of college for Aaron. Every year I tend to have a theme word that just keeps coming up in my head. Hope, Comfort, Trust, etc. Already this year's word has been "strength" and I've been amazed how many times it has shown up in my devotions and I feel so refreshed every time I am reminded that my strength comes from the Lord.

Anywho, I better wrap this up. All this to say, I've been so encouraged and strengthened lately by my time in the Word. So refreshing, so good. And, my little boy has been blessing my heart as he "folds" his hands to pray now. Oh.my.goodness. So precious....it has helped spur me to come to these revelations :)

Happy Tuesday!