Picture Perfecto!

So today I finished another project involving Ethan's nursery.  Elliott and I wanted some cute "jungly" pictures to hang on the wall in Ethan's nursery, but everything I found, I either didn't like or I just didn't want to pay for it.  So, a couple months ago I was throwing around the idea of painting pictures myself for the nursery.  I haven't really been painting for awhile now. Actually, the last thing, other than my yearly Christmas ornaments, that I've painted was a beach scene for my friend's wedding back in March 2007.  Plus, I liked the idea that Ethan would have something in his room that his mommy painted for him.  So, I decided that is what I was going to do.  So, one saturday afternoon, when I wasn't doing anything, I stopped by Michael's and picked up some supplies and that night I started painting.  I decided on three different pictures that I would paint and after I was done I would matte and frame them.  It took me a few weeks to finish the paintings and to get them exactly the way I wanted them, because you know, you're your own worst critic, and tonight I finally matted them.  Now, all I have to do is frame them! 

The Art of "Do it Yourself"

So, ever since Elliott and started thinking about having a baby, I started thinking about what his or her nursery would be like and I've always liked those letters that hang on the wall that spell out your baby's name.  Well, once we found out I was pregnant, I started looking around for the perfect letters.  I didn't want ones with the traditional Time New Roman font but I also didn't want too childish of letters either.  I found some really nice letters at this place called The Baby's Room, located in Clinton Township, when I went there to look at baby room furniture.  They were painted different colors and were a font that was really cute and unique.  Well, once I started to think more about the nursery, I decided to call The Baby's Room and inquire about the letters.  Well I spoke to someone working there and said I was interested in the wall letters that were behind the counter and asked how much they were.  Well, I was shocked at what the guy told me... He said the letters had to be special ordered and that they were 25 dollars a piece!!  Well for Ethan's name that would be 125 dollars!!  That's ridiculous, especially since I could technically do them myself!  Well, that's what I decided to do.  So I went to Michael's and bought wood letters for 1.00 dollar a piece and some gloss spray to spray them with after I was done painting them.  So, I ended up spending 5.00 dollars for the letters and 5.99 for the can of glossy spray... so a total of maybe 12.00 dollars including tax since I mixed my own paint and all ready had paint brushes.  And if I may say so myself,  I think they turned out perfectly fine without spending an extra 112.00 dollars on special ordered letters.

My Favorite Past Time

     So every year, Elliott and I set aside time every fall to participate in one of our favorite past times... apple picking, or better yet, just going to the apple orchard. We have been going to the apple orchard together since we started dating, which was back in 1999.  Now, for a couple years there, we missed out ... particularly 2004 and 2005 since we lived in Colorado at the time and they don't have apple picking there because the fall season is so different than it is here. In the beginning, we strictly picked apples but for the last couple of years we've added raspberry picking to our repertoire.  Last year, we had to forego raspberry picking since it was such a dry year and thus, no raspberries to pick.  But this year, I have to say, was an excellent year to pick raspberries. It seemed like there were raspberries everywhere!! We filled up our half pint container rather quickly, which was good since it was fairly sunny and hot outside. After raspberry picking, we sat in the car and cooled off before we ventured out again to pick apples.  It took us alittle longer to pick our half bushel worth of apples, but we did it eventually.  We ended up picking some Early Fugi, Early McIntosh, Molly Delicious, and Golden Russet apples. All together, we ended up picking our own 1/2 bushel of apples, 1/2 pint of raspberries, buying 1 dozen plain donuts, 1/2 gallon of apple cider, 2 waters, 2 tomatoes, spending a total of 40 dollars and an hour and a half to two hours doing so.

The Truth from a Hormonal Pregnant Woman

     I have to say that before I was pregnant, whenever I thought about Elliott and I having kids, I always thought I would have a really enjoyable pregnancy, that I would absolutely love being pregnant,  and that all the horror stories you heard about pregnancy were just that... stories. I was actually looking forward to being pregnant just as much as actually having a child.

     Well, then I actually became pregnant and everything started to change. Little things about your body that you wouldn't normally notice... all of a sudden, you notice.  Even the smallest things change and not all of them right away.  They take their sweet time, so when you think you're done with all the surprises....WWWHHHAAAAMMMM!!! You get hit with something new.  I get aches and pains that I naively thought I was too young to be feeling. Things start happening to you that you never had to worry about before like - heartburn, peeing 10 times a night, dry-heaving from the most normal smells, boobs that grow to 5 times their original size that get in the way of EVERYTHING (and the list goes on forever, but I think you get my point).  Even things that you would like to think you have control over seem to just happen without your knowledge or consent.... and no I am not talking about any gross bodily function... but I'm sure that comes into play later though ;o).  For example, your mood swings.  You'll be really happy one minute and the next, something sets you off and some random person gets their head bitten off. (Even though sometimes I think they deserve it, but that just might be my evil pregnant twin talking)  And granted, you don't tell everyone who asks you "how are you feeling?" about these things because they would run away as fast as they could thinking you were some crazed psycho woman who isn't grateful for the little miracle growing inside them. I'm convinced that when people ask that question, they're just asking to be nice and really don't want the truth because if they actually did want the truth, no one would be asking a pregnant woman that question again because of some old urban legend that would start about some guy that asked a pregnant woman for a truthful answer to that question and was never seen or heard from again.  Now obviously, not all the things that happen are as bad as they sound. Some of those things that change are really exciting because they cement that fact that you're pregnant and not just some rapidly growing fat woman whose pmsing all the time.  

     Now, don't get me wrong. Despite what I wrote previously, I actually enjoy being pregnant. First of all, each day of being pregnant gets me one day closer to holding Ethan, plus I feel him move all the time now, which is such an amazing feeling especially when you've never felt that before. And even though I have to make it through 40 weeks of pregnancy: that's 40 weeks of anticipation and planning that's unlike any other anticipation or planning that you've ever done before. The bottom line is, even if I had to go through the most horrific pregnancy the world has ever seen, I would do it in a heartbeat because it'll all be worth it just to have my Ethan.