L is for Laundry and Lint: You Capture/ Wordful Wednesday

I have so much to do before my baby daughter comes in three weeks that the time seems to be slipping away from me! I was going to participating in a blog carnival called Scavenger Hunt Sunday, but didn't even get one of the photos taken. Then I was going to post last night for Wordful Wednesday, but before I knew it the day was done and it was time to go to bed! Sheesh.

One of the things I have been doing to get ready for the baby is lots of laundry. I have washed and folded so many cute pink things that it makes me want to giggle with delight. What a change it will be to have a little girl at our house!

Aahh! Clean laundry.
The baby's dresser is full of the cutest little pink and white clothes! 

I also washed all the bedding for my new little daughter. I have all the sheets, blankets, and burp cloths washed and ready. Whew!

As a side effect of all this laundry I discovered something that I have never seen around here before. Did you know that washing a ton of girly stuff may make your dryer lint pink and purple?! I didn't know that!

Usually our dryer lint is blue or gray, so it made me laugh to see the pink and purple lint!

I am also linking up late with my regular Wordful/Wordish peeps.... 'cause they love me even if I'm late.


Looking for some fabulous blogs to link up with? Visit A Beautiful Mess, Seven Clown Circus, and Parenting by Dummies.

Due Date Discovery

As my due date creeps closer, I have been thinking about when my daughter will be born. Last week my blood pressure was a little high so the doctor wanted to send me to the hospital for a non-stress test. I know from experience that the doctor's office makes me anxious and raises my blood pressure (did you know this is called "white coat syndrome"?).

So I managed to talk the doctor out of sending me to the hospital since my blood pressure was just a teensy bit high, and we agreed that I would come back this week to make sure. Luckily this week my blood pressure was just fine. Phew!

If my blood pressure goes up, they will want to induce me two weeks early. This isn't a huge problem, except for the fact that I am due on March 22nd. That means my 38th week starts on March 8th.... and Eli's birthday is March 10th. It's not that having birthdays close is a huge problem, but I don't particularly want to be in the hospital on Eli's birthday, you know?

So as I was thinking about when my daughter would be born and about how I was induced early with both my boys I realized something. I had to go back and look at some older blog posts to confirm it, but there is was! Three years ago Eli was due to be born on March 22nd!

So my second son and my soon-to-be-born daughter share the same due date! How funny is that?

I wonder what else they will have in common?

p.s. Wasn't Eli a cutie?

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Under the Blankets and Under the Weather

I was going to do a post filled with hearts and Valentine's Day happenings, but we have had an eventful weekend at the Honey House and I didn't end up taking very many Valentine-sy pictures.

Friday morning I ended up at the doctor's office with little Eli and his 102 degree temperature. He had a cold and runny nose all week, but Thursday I noticed he seemed to be getting a bit too warm and lethargic.

So I spent a half our on the phone waiting to talk to a nurse so I could be sure I should bring him in. After all, you don't want to go to the doctor just to have them tell you that it's a virus and there's nothing they can do! But they told me that the fever likely meant an infection, so we went to the doctor's office... and waited some more.

Then we got the diagnosis: pneumonia. That about scared the pants off me. Luckily he was doing well and not having trouble breathing at all. So they sent us on our way with a prescription. Then we got to go to the pharmacy and wait some more. FINALLY we got the antibiotics he needed and he is doing much better now... and catching up on some much needed sleep.

After putting him down for a nap this afternoon, I found Eli fast asleep on the floor, covered with blankets. He was so cute that I had to get my camera and take his picture.

We are glad you are feeling better, buddy! Mommy definitely doesn't want you (or your brother) to be sick when your little sister shows up in a couple of weeks.


Looking for some fabulous blogs to link up with? Visit A Beautiful Mess, Supermom, Seven Clown Circus, and Parenting by Dummies.

Baby, It's Cold Outside! You Capture- Cold

The theme for You Capture this week is "Cold".

No problem, I thought. After all, we have been stuck in the teens and twenties here lately... except you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell that by looking out the window. At the end of last week we didn't have any snow, and we don't really get a lot of frost.

So it took me a minute to decide what I could take a picture of that showed just how cold it is here. Then I remembered Utah Lake.

This time of year the lake is mostly frozen over, and I think it looks quite lovely. So we drove by one day this week and took some pictures.

I thought I was done with taking "cold" pictures for the week, but Mother Nature decided to be even more obliging. Tuesday morning we had a couple of inches of snow on the ground!

My boys were excited to go outside and help Daddy shovel the driveway.

Good thing too, because at 8 months pregnant I am definitely not very helpful! My boys love the snow and I love that they want to be helpful to their Daddy.

After the snowstorm I thought Mount Timpanogos behind my house looked beautiful! I could actually see the vapors of cold air rising off the mountain. Talk about frosty!

Valentine's Mailboxes

I wish I had more time to make crafts. I love to sew, crochet, make cards and create fun home decor items. But with two boys, a baby on the way, and a part-time job, I often just can't seem find the time.

Luckily for me I have a crafty sister who comes up with great ideas and allows me to copy them. While she was visiting for my baby sprinkle, my sister found these cute mailboxes for a dollar at Target. What could be more perfect for Valentine's Day?

So I picked up enough for my family (including the baby) and my sister was kind enough to cut vinyl hearts and names so I could embellish the mailboxes. Aren't they cute?

For the past week my boys have been busy creating cards to fill everyone's mailboxes. Then they put up the flag and anxiously wait for the recipient to get the mail in their box. They have made cards for Mommy, Daddy, each other and  even for their new baby sister, which is so cute that my heart just melts.

Each day after his nap Eli checks his mailbox and comes to tell me of his disappointment if there is not a note or piece of candy in there. It makes me laugh.

I love this new Valentine's Day tradition! It is a great way for us to express our love for each other the entire month. What could be better than that?


Looking for some fabulous blogs to link up with? Visit A Beautiful Mess, Supermom, Seven Clown Circus, and Parenting by Dummies.

Bubble Baths Beat Winter Blahs

It is a good thing I let the boys play outside on Saturday because temperatures here have dropped to below freezing. When you look outside it is so deceiving because there is no snow and it is sunny and gorgeous. Then you look at the thermometer and it says the temperature is 13 degrees outside... and it's windy. Brrr!

Needless to say we have been finding other ways to amuse ourselves.

One evening when the boys were a little stir crazy I said, "I know, let's do something fun! How would you guys like a bubble bath?"

To which my four year old replied, "What's a bubble bath?"

Oh my goodness! I realized that I have never given the boys a bubble bath. I didn't even have a bottle of bubble bath in the house! Since our tub is not really big enough for ME to enjoy a bubble bath, it hasn't ever occurred to me to buy bubble bath for the boys!

So the very next day we went to the dollar store and got some bubble bath. Ever since then the boys have been in heaven! They love to play in the tub with the bubbles. Now they stay in the tub until they are all wrinkly and pruny, and the bubbles have started to dissipate.

So now bubble baths are a regular occurrence at the Honey House and I don't mind at all (o.k., maybe I am a little jealous). The boys don't complain about getting in the tub; actually sometimes they complain about getting out! Plus when they get out they are clean and smell like apples. Everybody wins!

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

How to be a Chill Mom

Thank goodness January is over!

January is always the hardest month for me. It is miserably cold outside and it seems if I am going to be sick, it will be in January. This year I caught a cold and got a stomach bug in the past month.  So much fun when you are pregnant, right? Besides the cold weather, January is the darkest month of the year, mommy is tired and cranky, and the kids are just tired of being inside. Frankly, I am tired of them being inside too!

So on Saturday I decided that the boys NEEDED to go play outside. Regardless of the weather. So I bundled them up and took them to a park.

Yep. I took my boys to play outside when it was not quite 40 degrees outside.  Am I crazy, or what?

We would have gone to a fast food joint with a playplace, but we actually already did that once this week and I didn't want to go there and not buy anything... so it was the park or nothing.

Crazy or not, the boys think I am awesome because they had a fantastic time!  When we got to the park I thought we might have to go home because some of the slides were wet and there was a bit of frost on the shady parts. But I was determined to make this work. So I got the shop towels out of the van and wiped the slides as best I could.

Then I gave each of the boys a couple of shop towels to put under their bums as they went down the twirly slide ('cause there was no way I was going to wipe down that whole slide 7 1/2 months pregnant!)

The boys thought that was the best idea ever! They didn't want to go home and they loved feeling like they were "sledding" down the slide on their towels. They went down over and over again, so I had to take some pics with my camera phone.

We stayed at the park for over an hour and I think the only one that was cold at all was me! Eli even came to me and said he was hot and wanted to take his hat off, to which I said "No Way!". I may have been freezing sitting out there on a bench, but the boys were on top of the world!

My boys ran around, climbed the slides, giggled and had a blast. So I guess my crazy idea wasn't so crazy after all. I may have been a bit cold, but my boys sure think I am a cool mom!


Looking for some fabulous blogs to link up with? Visit A Beautiful Mess, Seven Clown Circus, and Parenting by Dummies.