Checkin' In

Well, we're only 2.5 weeks away from baby Micah's expected arrival. This is by far the fastest, busiest and most pleasant pregnancy I've experienced. I am quite tired these days and the heat gets to me pretty quick, but we're almost there. I even think baby 'dropped' last night, though I'm second guessing that this morning. Anyway, let's get to it!

• Mother's Day! It was a great day. David took us out on family adventures to the Forks, which included a boat tour (the river air was sooooo refreshing!), a visit to the candy train and a visit with a horse. Then we picked up KFC on the way home that we ate in the yard (read: no dishes or kitchen to clean up). It was a delightful day! I didn't bring the camera... aw, nuts! I asked David to take a picture with the littles yesterday to make up for it. I love my bare topped littles!

• 37.5 weeks and I asked David to take some belly shots. I don't really have any for Micah's baby book. We took a couple with the intention of taking more later in the day, but never got to it, so here's what we've got for now. If baby surprises us early, then at least I have these. I'm squinting pretty good, but oh well. Ugh! I need a haircut!

• Oh, and those are my new glasses (click on picture to enlarge). I lost my glasses out of my bag last Saturday. I was wearing my new prescription sunglasses and the case must have fallen out...grrr! That was a rough day. David was so great about it and kept telling me to let it go, it's not the end of the world. Well, I ordered a new pair from Zenni Optical for $28.50 (included shipping) and they arrived at 1:00 pm on Tuesday! That's still crazy to me considering they come from China! I still haven't received my ring that I ordered a month ago from the states.

• We got a jump on our summer list yesterday (we haven't even made one for this year yet, but fly a kite was on last year's list and we never got to it). So, we got a kite and took it out. Abigail insisted we sing "Let's Go Fly A Kite" from Mary Poppins - her lyrics are very cute. I tried to take a video of her singing, but it was so windy that you can't really hear her. Best $3.50 spent.

• David freed me up to take the afternoon to myself yesterday. I went to the mall and bought Micah a sleeper to come home from the hospital in. Then I went for a half leg wax and a pedicure here. Two spa services that are extremely helpful when you can barely see your toes, let alone reach them. I am such a cheapskate though, and feel rather bad about how much it cost. I do love my pretty toes and I feel a little bit more ready for Micah to make his arrival.

• Got to go on a date last night - so great! I love date nights. We went to go see the Avengers (we get our movie tickets through airmiles - anyone else do that?). This is the second time we've seen the Avengers, but the first time, we were so close to the screen (read: full theatre) that we could barely see the action. Anyway, it was fun to go out with my David!
• Today is "Mt. Washmore" (aka laundry) day. I have at least 4 loads to do. I wash my linens every few weeks and this is the week.
• Crazy warm weather here in Winnipeg! 29 degrees for the last two days! It's been amazing and the best news... we're not cooking inside our house! We haven't even turned on the air conditioner yet!!! Such a huge thing after the last four summers in our old oven, I mean apartment.
• I made myself a packing list for the hospital. I'm a list girl, in case you didn't know. It really occurred to me how soon Micah could come and so now I'm in get ready mode. Feeling a bit better prepared (getting my laundry caught up will help, too).

 

A Birthday Check In

Well, once again I've been blown away by the generosity and love shown to me over my birthday. My goodness! I am a blessed woman! It started with early birthday gifts that I got to choose and order online. David bought me these great prescription sunglasses from Zenni Optical. They took a total of 4 days from the day I ordered them to delivery at our door... from CHINA! Crazy. I really like have sunglasses again.

(added grey sunglass tint)

Then I ordered two custom pieces of jewelry. Thanks to generous cash gifts from both sets of parents. First the next ring in my family ring stack. It happens to be David's birthstone (a 4mm square citrine) on the narrow twig band from Olive Bungalow. I love this website and I am so glad to be getting my next ring. I hope to order the mini stack ring with the three little's birthstones on one ring this fall. I don't expect to see the ring for another few weeks as last time it took about a month to get. I think it sits at the US/CANADA border for quite some time for whatever reason. It gives me something to look forward to.

(looks similar to the second ring from the top in this stack only the stone is a bit larger)

Next I ordered a custom bracelet with my children's names stamped on it from Etsy shop Three Little Pixies. Since we know we're having another boy and have chosen his name, I didn't mind ordering this one before Micah's arrival. The ring obviously needed to wait because I don't know which month he will be born in yet. I love supporting handcrafters and I love jewelry, so this was a win win. Again, I don't expect to see it for some time, but another thing to look forward to.

(obviously Abigail, Malachi and Micah are the names that will be on my bracelet)

David really wanted to throw me a party and we were excited to find out that the movie the Artist was supposed to be released on DVD the day before my birthday. We're kinda known for our movie themed parties and David had some great ideas to go with the movie. Well, they changed the release date until June (I think) and spoiled David's plans. He was so disapointed. I told him that I didn't really want to plan anything (March had been crazy) and why don't we just go out on a nice date. David called from work telling me that he arranged for friends of ours to babysit our littles so we could go out to dinner on my birthday. I got to choose where we were going, but we'd need to be home by 7:30, because our friends had an 8:00 appointment. Dinner sounded (and was) wonderful! We went to Mongo's. I chose that restaurant, because it's not a place I would bring my littles until they're older. I liked the idea of having a sitter and not needing to worry about a child friendly restaurant. David got off work early. Our friends came and sat down to eat their supper that they brought while my littles ate their KD. Off we went. It was great. I really enjoyed myself. We went window shopping for a little while and a small drive with some Tim Hortons.

We got home right at 7:30 (didn't want to make our friends late) and found a house full of my friends surprising me for my birthday. David managed to arrange a great surprise party for me. He did a great job!

(I didn't actually take any pictures, but a friend emailed this one to me. This isn't a whole group shot, just those who happened to be in the kitchen at the time)

David called up my friend Donna and wanted to order custom baking for my party. He wanted to hire her, but she insisted on making it my present... and a lovely talented gift it truly was. You can read all about the details on her blog Peek-A-Boo Window. I did "steal" her pics to show you here, though.

So many people in on the surprise! So many lovely gifts (it would take a week to "show" you them all), so many people showing me their love and support! It was lovely. I even had a few gifts and wishes given to me on the following Sunday from those who regretfully couldn't make it to my party. Part of the fun has just begun as I have some gift cards to spend, too. SPOILED! Yup, I sure am.

Not that this has anything to do with my birthday, but I did manage to sneak in some sewing last week (my Dorcus is back from her "spa" treatment). Here's a custom Mei Tai. I used a combination of this tutorial from Jan Andrea on the Web and an old pattern that is no longer online. It turned out pretty nice and is already in use by this cutie:

New Haircut and Glasses

Okay, so I am so blessed to have a hair stylist friend who says things like "I have my scissors home today, would you like me to give you a haircut?" Thanks, Julie!!! I am growing my hair out again, and it would be impossible without Julie's great style capabilities. I would not have lasted this long without her!

The glasses are somewhat new, I just haven't blogged about them. I thought that since I get a lot of questions about online ordering, I would give all the information again (I did post some of this on my old blog). First of all, I heard of the concept from a lovely crafty blog lady, Mrs Blair Peter of Wise Craft. From Wise Craft, I followed her link to the Glassy Eyes blog that goes into much more detail on the whole process. However, it is my experience, that people want to hear from someone they know if it's really as good as it sounds. Here's what I did...

1. I went to Optical 4 Less and used their virtual try-on program to see what colors, shapes and styles I liked
2. I then went to Goggles4U and searched for glasses that looked similar to what I liked when I did the virtual try-on
3. I had my eyes examined at WalMart (the cheapest place here in Winnipeg for eye exams)
4. My David measured my pupil distance as directed from the faq's on Goggle4U's site
5. My first order I placed was for 2 pairs of prescription eyeglasses (1 with sunglass tint) and paid the extra for expedited shipping...this still took 3 weeks to come as they do come all the way from Pakistan
6. My most recent order (shown above) I didn't bother paying extra for shipping and they came in 4 weeks (worth waiting for, in my opinion)
7. I am a happy online eyewear orderer!