32 weeks!

Whew, we've been busy the last week or so and thus blogging hasn't happened as planned, but here's the rundown on the baby bump :)

It's just flying by this time around.  We're 32 weeks now and more and more ready everyday to meet our Nora.

Here's the latest belly shot...(still need to take a formal 32 week shot, but we got to spend some time with our friends the Mcclure's this week and so we nabbed a shot of our two preggo bellies :)

At the doc the other day Nora was head down, which is a praise!  We're just hoping and praying she decides to stay that way in the coming weeks.  She's measuring pretty right on track now, which is good, because the two week discrepancy seems to be narrowing.  Hopefully this means she'll come towards the beginning of April.  Supposedly I'm a bit anemic and need more iron in my blood because my count was quite low...so I may need to take some iron supplements...but we'll see.

I''m still feeling pretty well, but I am more often tired and I do now have regular backaches.  Sleeping isn't so easy at night and I'm still constantly hungry...haha!  I've already gained more this time than I did overall with Elise.  Let's just hope it doesn't decide to hang on.  

And I think that's pretty much it, just ready (and constantly prayerful) for the day we get to meet our girl!

This Girl...

I went to grab my real camera the other day to capture this chick eating yogurt all by herself, and lo and behold, the battery was dead...BUMMER.  But it's ok because this phone pic is one of my (current) all time favorites of the little...

This perfectly sums her up right now.  Toddler independence.  She's not down with letting anyone feed her at the moment...she's all about giving it a go herself, thus the mess.  That look...that look of "what, ma? this is totally how you do it and why are you taking my picture while I'm getting my grub on?!" And that hair...it's a rare moment when she leaves her hair tie in, so the fact that it is actually still in is amazing, even if it is almost halfway out ;)

I know I'm mentioned it here before, but she's teaching me so much.  So much about patience (toddlers are a unique form of human ;)  About learning to be a mama.  About trusting the Lord.  About realizing how imperfect I am as her mama.  About how we are created sinners.  And I love her.  Like whoa.

My Most Recent Obsession

...comes in the form of tape.

Yep, washi tape (originates from Japan, but there are many types on the market now...).  I have a thing for it.  I've always loved craft and school supplies, etc., so it just seemed natural that I would fall in love with all tapes that are colorful, bright and fun.

I just realized I was blogging about tape...haha.  Continue reading, if you so wish ;)

Anyway, I really love all these projects inspired by washi tape that you see around the 'net.  You can put it on almost anything to add some pizzaz, and I do love spicing things up...particularly around our all-white flat.

Here are a few projects that I've washi-fied lately (phone pics)...

For instance, my kitchen inspiration wall with lots of washi going on.

I added some polka dotted tape to this frame (which I plan to add a new family photo to once Nora arrives)...it was already cute without it, but the tape just took it up a notch :)

And I added some tape to the artwork I was putting together for the girls' room...more color because you know you can never have enough! :)

Finally here are a few more from around the 'net that I admire and am keeping in mind...

Washi spoons and forks...would be great for party decor.

This tape bunting could be used on/for so many things!

Washi-decorated candles.  I love this idea.

I would love to do this washi keyboard, but don't know if I'm brave enough...then again...

This washi covered notebook...I definitely foresee me doing this in the future.

Then there's this amazingly colorful and fun wall.  I'm in love with it.  Maybe I need to do this on one of the walls in the girls' room...we'll see!

So what do you think about this stuff?  Too trendy? Way fun? Do you have any fun projects inspired by washi tape?

Thirty Weeks!

...or thereabouts.

It's kinda craziness to me how quickly this pregnancy has gone compared to when I was preggo with E.  I guess that makes sense since she keeps us on our toes (toddlers do that sort of thing, ya know?).

Not too much has changed in the last weeks, other than adding in some minor heartburn, tiredness, a voracious appetite, being hot all the time, and sleeplessness.  All of that comes with pregnancy, I believe :)  I usually do feel pretty wiped out at the end of the day and I attribute that to ending the second trimester and welcoming the third.  I'm still so, so thankful that this pregnancy has been a good bit easier than with Elise.  It's been so helpful since this time around we've had a little one in tow.  We have a gracious God.

Here's da belly...as you can see, we're shaping up! ;)

In other news, Nora was breech time before last, but as of yesterday's appointment she's head down.  However, she is a mover and a shaker and is flipping around a lot.  We're just praying she will end up head down for her big debut in April.  You can join us in prayer for that, if you'd like :)

We also visited the hospital we'll deliver at and set up our 38 week appointment.  It's getting real! Wildness.

Finally, her due date is still kind of whack.  She's supposedly estimated to arrive around the 2nd of April, but she's measuring anywhere between a week "behind" and two weeks "behind" whenever we go...so we'll see what happens...thank goodness God already has it planned out and hopefully all we have to do is just watch, pray, and be attentive to body signs warning of a forthcoming baby ;)

Thanks for joining us in this journey!

Monthly Meal Planning

Confession:  I'm far from the world's greatest chef.  In fact, I don't have much of a passion for it...

But it had gotten so bad, a couple months ago I would just dread planning meals and figuring out what to make for dinner that I would wait until the very last minute, scrounge something up, and barely put together something to feed our little family (well, mainly just Jas and I).  Seriously, ya'll, it was ugly.

It definitely stressed me out and consequently stressed my poor hubby out.  So towards the end of last year I just knew I needed to do something about it.  I needed to figure out a way to be more efficient in the kitchen and in coming up with meals.

I researched meal plans, talked to my friend Steph about it (who's much better at cooking, food planning and prep in general, than I), and beefed up (haha, pun intended) my pinterest food board with high intentions of following through with a weekly meal planning strategy.

And I did.  I planned all my meals (using pinterest, cookbooks, and a list Steph sent me) every Friday for the upcoming week.  On Saturday we went shopping for all ingredients and I finished out the year happily cooking for my family.  I felt so much more confident and prepared in what I was planning and serving to the ones I love.  It. felt. good.

Then came the new year.  And I wanted to be sure I stuck to it.  I didn't want to drop the ball or fall off the "feeling prepared" wagon...ya know?  But this time I just decided to try something different.

So I decided I would meal plan for the whole month of January.  And I would like to tell you, I am in love.  So much so that I can't wait to start planning meals for the month of February, ha!  And all that coming from a girl who just months ago despised planning and figuring out dinner.

I faithfully planned all of my January meals one afternoon at the very beginning of January and have weekly just made a shopping list.  We still go on Saturday's to get all we need, but the whole process is SO MUCH LESS STRESS.  And I feel so good about planning ahead and knowing what I'm going to make.  And then I get to check it off of my nifty little monthly meal planner calendar that hangs proudly on the fridge.  Can you tell I feel so much better about it?

(Above is the meal planner print-off I use.  It can be found here.  And I guess I should make a note that I do believe in leniency and not sticking to it just to stick to it, ya know?  Having a plan helps me tremendously, but if we have a sudden change of plans, I'm ok with switching around meals, or dropping a meal here or there, and not feeling bad about it...)

So, that, in a nutshell, is how I'm taking my family's hunger into my own hands ;) Haha.

How do you do get dinner on the table?  Or are you like I was and don't plan?  Do tell!