Pillow making

I spent a little time last night and some of my afternoon today making some pillows for our master bed.  We have some great bedding, but it needed that extra something to be as great as the curtains in our room.  My mom came down one weekend and we spent the ENTIRE weekend producing THREE handmade, partially hand-sewn, fully lined, floor-to-ceiling curtains for the master bedroom in our house. 

The fabric is really what I fell in love with, and so I made sure to buy a little extra so I could make some coordinating pillows for the bed the next weekend.  [that was like 8 months ago.]  However, the BB [Before Baby] to-do-list is getting no shorter, but the time before Savannah makes her debut IS getting shorter. Therefore, I took this semi-free weekend to get this marked off the list.  I started with my sis Anna's help in cutting one pillow form in half.  I knew I wanted two long but narrow pillows but could not find a form to suit my needs.  So we made one.  It was difficult, to say the least, to get the pillow form close enough to the sewing machine needle without having to remove some of the stuffing. But we managed and when that was finished I cut the fabric to the right sizes for both pillows.

Today, I attached all of the fringe trim to one side, which again, was more difficult than anticipated becuase my sewing machine is not really made to have thick sewing projects to go under the needle.  But I got that finished, then sewed the back of the pillow onto the fringe/front pillow.  Turned it right-side out, and voila! Well not quite, but after Birc helped me put the pillow forms into the tiny hole I left in the top, I hand-stitched the opening closed. Then I did it all again for the second pillow! Here's the finished product!

Not amazing, but I'm satisfied completely.  My mom would probably die to see all of her sewing lessons and tutorials for me come to this, but I am just not as detail oriented as she is [or my sister, for that matter].  Hah!

Bed before pillows

New pillows! Love the addition :)

Now, if I can get my mama to help me sew Savannah's nursery curtains and such, I'll be finished sewing for a while! It is terrible for my preggo back pain!

Surprise! It's a baby!

So, I guess it's time I get caught up into 2011 again and stay here.  Birc and I have had a very eventful year and it will end with an extremely eventful addition to our little family.  We are so excited about Savannah Cate joining us and we talk about it all. the. time.  We've had some crazy moments since we found out we were expecting and it has been a blessing to have such a wonderful and fun husband to laugh through all of them with me.  Here's how it all went down:
In March, I noticed my monthly friend had not arrived so I mentioned this casually to Birc.  We weren't really concerned, however, so we waited another week or so [April 5th to be exact] before Birc decided to go to Walgreens to purchase one of these:

After the result you can see above, I sent him right back to get another couple ("and try a different brand!" I said!).  So we got these:

That's when my 3-week panic attack started. :) Birc was so excited and calm from the beginning, and thank goodness he was, because I needed him to be like that so I could be too.  At the end of the 6th week of the pregnancy, we went to the doctor and got the good news confirmed, and decided to tell Anna and Aaron that night.  [which I'll blog about later]  We told our parents and Birc's sister's family a couple days later on Easter Sunday.  [which I'll also blog about later] 

Here I am at week 7

Here I am at week 9

We waited until our next doctor's appointment to tell everyone else, which was week 12.  Birc and I decided to tell folks on facebook with this pic [but I included just one of the hilarous outtakes from the attempts to get a good one]

The next bunch are just a sampling of my 'belly' pictures.  [which is such a weird name for a photo anyway, but I'll just go with it I guess]

[17 weeks above]

 [18 weeks above, in case you can't read backwards]

this above is the morning of our big ultrasound, right after we returned home from the doc with the "It's a baby girl" news! Birc and I both coincidentally wore purple so we were not in a pink or blue outfit! hah! :)

This above is my most recent photo, taken last Friday.  By myself.  Note that the "27 weeks" is written BACKWARDS as I did not have my husband photographer around and wanted to be able to read the sign. 

It is crazy to see all of these pictures together and see how much my belly has grown. And I can't imagine how it can get bigger but I'm sure I'll look back on 27 weeks as feeling tiny, when I get to about 37 weeks.  Hah! It is coming down to the wire and Savannah will be here before we know it.  Pregnancy goes so fast!

Here are some of my goals for upcoming posts: 

story of telling our families and my sis

gender reveal party

nursery progress

     our "before baby" to do list

[don't worry the GHASTLY bathroom walls getting repainted is on this list!]

home and sewing projects

 freezer meals

starting a freezer swap [so excited about this!]

and I'm sure more are in my head but if I don't write them down I'll forget!

Help from friends please!

[sorry no pictures today!]
So, I am breaking in on the bio stuff [maybe never to return?] and need some help.  I've been on the lookout for a rug for Savannah's room and cannot find one I'm in love with.  I recently thought I found what I wanted after ordering a swatch, but it came in and I just shipped it back today because it was LIME green.  I am wanting a 5X8 rug, in a soft green color.  Color names have usually been something along the lines of leaf, sage, tarragon, and 'light green'.  I think I really want it to be a solid, but I am open to other suggestions.  I also don't want to break the bank on this one, since I'm sure the rug will get it's fair share of wear and tear and stains and just everything in the world on it.  I anticipate having to replace it with a new rug in a couple [or 5] years.  Happy shopping!

[here are a couple I've found that I kind of like]

Company Store Dot Rug in green

Land of Nod oval chenille rug in green





The next thing I need help with is for the moms: Birc and I are going to register this weekend.  What are your 2 or 3 MUST-HAVE items from being a first time mama?  That way I'll be sure to get it on the wish list.  Happy Tuesday!

Savannah's "big brothers"

Savannah will be coming into this world as our first baby, but we have some furry children that can't go unmentioned.  If you know me, you probably know I would totally be the cat lady if it had not been for Birc coming along.  [kind of kidding, but there is probably some truth to that] Hah! I love animals of all kinds and just happen to think that cats are the easiest to have and care for. So I have two of them.  I grew up with several kitties, and all my neighborhood friends had kitties as well.  I used to be scared of big dogs, as my friend Melissa will tell you.  Her golden retrievers were as tall as me [I was only in Kindergarten!] and I was sure they would eat me. Now, however, I LOVE dogs and would love to have one someday.  Maybe Savannah will ask Santa for a puppy when she gets older. :)

I think that all pets choose their owners, not the other way around.  Every cat I grew up with either came almost literally knocking at my parents' door, or was born on the bath mat in the bathroom.  It's the same with our two "boys".  I was a senior in college, living in the Caddo apartments on Ouachita's campus, and this white cat lived around the dumpster. Well, he was apparently fed by the previous tenants of our apartment, because he would come and meow at our door all. the. time.  My roomate Val and I, much to my dismay, started feeding him and decided we just 'needed' him to be ours [all the while, I knew I would get attached and not be able to leave him at the end of the school year] Since we lived in the Caddo apartments, we decided to call him Caddo.  He is such a good-looking kitty, as he is Siamese and is a 'flame point' with the orange/red markings and violet blue eyes.  He is also SUPER talkative.  I'm talking, he can carry on a conversation with you.  And then there's Cadence, the all-orange tabby who sweet as can but but is quickly becoming majorly overweight. Cadence also is a very skilled 'fetch-er' and will fetch any piece of trash for as long as you will throw it. And better than a dog would.  I bought Cadence after I moved to into my own condo because I felt so bad for Caddo to be alone for 10 hours a day while I was working.  I had been thinking that I wanted to find a kitten for Caddo to have a friend, and so I started looking at the shelters around, but apparently there is a kitten 'season' and we were not in it.  I happened to be in this antique mall looking for some plate hangers to hang some plates on my wall, when I see some shoppers carrying around kittens while they shopped.  I finally stopped someone to ask where the kittens were coming from, and I was introduced to a lady who fostered animals for a local shelter organization.  She was fostering a litter of 4 kittens and I immediately decided Cadence was meant to be mine because he wanted me to hold him most and was such a good purr-er.  Caddo and Cadence are now best buds and play and wrestle together all the time.  When we got married, Birc wasn't as thrilled about them being his as I was, but he quickly warmed up to them and now they love to have him play with them. And feed them his extra yogurt.  They use me for my lap and for treats. :)

Caddo in the 'caddo apartment' when my roomie and I first started feeding him.

 Caddo saying, "what in the world have your brought here and how long is he staying?" [just wait til they meet Savannah!]

 baby Cadence at about 9 weeks old! So tiny!

 Caddo in his favorite place in the winter.

Cadence looking precious

both of my boys saying hello :)

Here's to hoping they can tolerate and learn to love Savannah so they can all three play together!
 

OBU Blogabout

Even though I'm brand new with blogging, I'm excited to participate in an event my college is hosting! Ouachita is turning 125 years old today and they are asking all bloggers to blog about their favorite Ouachita memory.  I can't seem to choose one, so I am going to have two. :)

My first favorite memory is cheerleading in general.  I can't think of a specific game that I loved more than any other, but I was so excited to continue cheering in college.  I thought my last time to cheer would be in high school, but then when I arrived at OBU, I saw an announcement for open tryouts.  Apparently several members of the squad had dropped out and they were really needing to add some people back in a hurry!

My second favorite memory would have to be taking FIRST PLACE in the EEE Tiger Tunes show my Sophomore year.  [For those who don't know, Tiger Tunes is a fundraising show that is put on each fall during Homecoming week.  All social clubs (sororities and fraternities) that want to have a show can participate.  If your show does well your club wins money. It can be very serious and competitive, however, as the real prize is the bragging rights you have until the next year :)]  Our theme was Toys, and I was a G.I.Joe.  I was so lucky to be in that show and it was my first Tiger Tunes experience, so I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Overall, OBU was a wonderful experience for me that I wouldn't trade for the world.  I can't imagine having gone anywhere else, and am so thankful the Lord led me there.  :)

Anybody need a vacation?

[you may notice a slightly new look - as I learn about blogger and all it has to offer, I expect lots of changes ahead in the look of this blog.  Plus I love rearranging furniture in the house and changing things around pretty much everywhere I am involved, so I bet I'll be doing that here too.] 

Birc and I have been lucky enough to go on some awesome vacations since we've be together.  Our families like to visit a lot of the same places and we loved finding that out about each other when we were getting to know each other.  There's only one tiny setback we seem to encounter when we travel: Birc DESPISES flying! I think he experienced a bad flight about 8 or 9 years ago that has scarred him for life.  It is about all I can do to get him onto the plane. :) I've actually recently found myself a little more nervous than ever before, so his fears must be rubbing off on me.

Our first time to 'vacation' together took us to Naples, Florida for my cousin Stephie's wedding.  We had a fabulous short little trip and he got to meet all the fam on that side of the family.  He got to go golfing with all the boys, and I was treated to a spa day with the bride and the girls.  It was super nice and a pretty easy first travel experience together. [He hid his flying fear really well and I actually had no idea at this point-he was just sitting by me sweating bullets I later heard. Hah!]

For our next adventure, Birc's family decided to head out to Sedona and Phoenix for a big family trip.  I was thrilled to be invited, and it's on this trip I got to know his sister and her family more.  We spent a couple of nights in Sedona in a log cabin-type hotel, and explored the quaint town during the day. We then we drove to Phoenix and stayed in the Arizona Biltmore which was super nice.  Birc and I got to take a SEGWAY tour (!) and the whole crew went shopping and swimming, and ate ourselves into misery each night. 

Over a year later, Birc's parents thought a beach trip was the perfect way to start the summer and we agreed! We headed to Destin in late May and stayed for a week in a condo on the beach and pretty much laid on that beach the whole time. Which was wonderful!  We went shopping one night, and saw some movies in the evenings after yummy dinners, but we just relaxed on the beach reading for the most part.  Only bad part about this trip was I ended up with a pesky heat rash all over my neck and inner arms.  I discovered 5 days is about my beach limit. 

A year later, [and much to our happiness] Birc's family took a huge family vacation to DISNEY WORLD! Which, coincidentally, is both Birc's and my favorite vacation spot in the world.  His sister's family went, his parents, his granddad, and his uncle.  We had an absolute blast getting to finally go and do all the things we'd been talking about since we met! It turns out that Birc's family loves WDW almost as much as my family does, and we had so much fun getting to experience it together for the first time.  We had great food, stayed at the Beach Club onsite, and loved it all.  The only thing that was not completely great was the dreaded RAIN.  It rained poured EVERY DAY we were there for at least 5 hours per day.  Bummer, but it did not slow us down.  We just bought ponchos and dealt with it the best we could. 

Shortly after we returned from WDW was when Birc proposed, so we knew our next vacation would be our honeymoon!  We decided to go to the Bahamas and stay at the Atlantis Resort.  We had the best time finding our way around the expansive resort grounds, laying on the beach, and eating super yummy food every night.  We had great weather and even got to swim with the dolphins one day! We joke (although, seriously, it'd be nice to do) about going back with our kids for our 10 year anniversary.  We'll see about that. :)

Most recently, we've just returned from a wonderful trip back to WDW with my parents! My family had thrown around the idea of going on a big family vacay in October/November of this year, but when we got the news of our little bean on the way, we knew we couldn't travel that close to my due date.  So, we moved up the trip and planned the whole thing about 2 weeks before we arrived in sunny Orlando! [notice I did say sunny, and no it did not rain this time, except for those 30 minute afternoon showers that cool everything off] We had a super time exploring the parks with my parents from dawn to way past dusk every day and tried to pack in every single thing we could in the time we were there.  I'm pretty sure I'm still catching up on my sleep from that one [and my parents are too!] Going to WDW while prego was really different, as I couldn't ride any of my favorite rides this time.  I did, however, savor the yummy food and goodies a lot more than I had in the past.  I'm pretty sure Birc bought me a tub of popcorn every day we were there.  ;)

I can't wait to take Savannah on vacations with our families.  It is something Birc and I talk about all the time, and we're crossing our fingers that she doesn't have a fear of mascots or anything so she'll love WDW as much as her parents.  [I do have a child at my job who is extremely scared of mascots, and when we took her to Chuck-E-Cheese, she cried, started shaking, and almost broke out in hives when ChuckE came out to greet us.  Hopefully Savannah does not take on this fear.]  Who knows where we will be on our first vacation as a family of 3, or when in the world it will happen, but we are excited about it and can't wait to share all the places we love with our daughter. 

Amy and Birc

Sometimes Birc and I look at each other and think, how in the world did we find each other? It took a lot of little miracles and small situations to happen just perfectly for us to end up together.  And I can't imagine my life without him now, so I don't know how I managed for the first 24 years of my life :)
Anyhow, Birc grew up in LR and went to Hendrix for college and then came back to LR for Law School.  He is 4 years older than me, so I was just starting college at Ouachita when he was finishing up at Hendrix. After college, I moved to LR for my job and moved in with my gracious sister who had just bought her first house.  We were having tons of fun living together and planning her upcoming wedding, and as a bonus, she set me up on several dates with some of her (or Aaron's) friends from college.  Fast forward a year and I moved out, as Anna and Aaron got married (cause I'm sure they didn't want a roomate whilst newlyweds!) and bought my own condo near my work.  After living with Anna, I had gotten to know lots of her friends and ended up invited to a wedding that she was in.  Turns out Birc was in the wedding too, and I happened to notice him 'ushering' girls down the aisle.  I was thinking, "this is good, I'm going to get the hot guy to escort me!" and then I ended being escorted by some other dude who was not Birc (and was not comparable in looks, either).  Well the evening went on, Mandi and Michael were married, and the after-reception-party at Gusano's was full of almost everyone who had attended.  Except me.  I had come to the wedding with my parents, and not feeling particularly self-confident, decided to call it a night and go home.  Got in my PJs, then Anna called to tell me that Birc was asking her about me and where I was.  I definitely put my dress back on, went to Gusanos, and Birc asked me if I might like to go out sometime and could he have my phone number.  Of course  I was like, "yes!" and he walked me to my car and I went back home. The rest is history! [I did forget to mention that we also briefly chatted at the reception, as our dads met in the cake line waiting to get our moms a piece of cake.  Birc came over to ask my dad for tips on the Bar Exam he was about to take and then asked me if I'd like to go out on the terrace with him.  Well, I thought it was a 'pity ask' to rescue me from hanging out with my parents (who I like to hang out with and don't need to be 'rescued' from) so I said 'no thanks' and he left.]

One of the many baking projects I convinced Birc to participate in

 

  Hiking Pinnacle Mountain

At my best friend Valarie's wedding in Memphis

Fast forward 2 years and 1 month, and Birc proposed! He planned an awesome night at the Capital Hotel with our parents that involved a private wine cellar and an 8 course dinner. I was completely surprised and so happy!

Mandatory newly engaged pic with the ring hand on the chest :)

After under a year of planning, we got married on May 15, 2010 in Searcy and I think it was the best day ever! I loved everything about our wedding and wouldn't change a thing. 

At our rehearsal dinner

Wedding day!

Into the reception!

We've already made so many great memories, I can't wait to see what God has in store for our future.  We are so blessed and so happy we found each other :)