Ready, Set, GO!

My baby is getting so big! She LOVES putting on socks. Sometimes she'll put up to 3 pairs on each foot.

"Where's Lucy?"

My LucyBear is getting HUGE! She just had her 18 month check up today. She is already 21 months, so we are a little behind. Poor girl got two shots, but got stuck three times because the needle came out accidentally when she flinched. I always try and schedule her appointments about an hour before nap time so that when she gets home, she can sleep it off.

I cannot wait for Aleena to get here. I'm am definitely more uncomfortable now than ever. My feet swell, I cannot sleep at night, and getting up from laying down or sitting is only done on an emergency basis. It really does help for me to get up and going though. The other day I played softball. YES, softball! It was so fun. We used a foam bat and ball so it didn't go too far. We played with some of Tommy's family, mostly the little kids and a couple adults. It was mainly for the kids. I had my cousin-in-law and my sister (YES! my sister is here visiting for a whole month!) run the bases for me, and then just sat on a lawn chair as "catcher" haha. Tommy and his cousin's handi-cap was to hold their toddlers while playing. It was sooo funny to see them try and run bases with a kid.

Ok, so I've really been on a DIY spree lately. I really don't even know what to call this one, but I thought it was really awesome. J <3 T. Obviously for Jen <3 Tom, but the cool thing about this is that the J has a map of SD on it (where I'm from), the T has a map of Dearborn (where Tommy is from), and the <3 has the city of Pensacola (where we met, started dating, and got engaged). I LOVE IT! I have not  yet framed it in a shadow box, but I already got the update from my Michael's App that shadow box frames are 40% off this week! I'm so excited! Just in case anyone is interested, here's my tutorial. 

Supplies:

- Wooden Letters (Michael's for $1.99 each)

- Wooden Heart (Michael's 99c)

- Sheet of Wax Paper

- Printed Maps (I used GoogleMaps, but you can use an old Atlas if you have one)

- Mod Podge

- Sponge Brush

- Scissors

- Pencil

Put the wax paper over your wooden letters and heart. Trace around the edge with your finger.

If you don't have wax paper, you can use regular printer paper and a pencil. I just used wax paper because I wanted to see through it in order to know what part of the map I was going to cut out later. 

Place your wax paper over your letter and see if you need to make any corrections.

Lucy is my personal helper =] It's a little hard to see, but I here I have both letters and the heart traced out in wax paper. 

Now get out your maps! Pick which part of the map that you want to trace out and trace it out with your pencil. After you trace it out, use your scissors to cut it out. 

MOD PODGE! Dip your sponge brush in some Mod podge and put a thin layer all over your wood letters and shapes. 

Carefully place your map cut-outs on one at a time. Make sure you let it dry, it shouldn't take too long. I waited about 10 minutes. 

Once dry, put another layer of mod podge on top of the paper and let this dry. It's okay if you see streaks of mod podge, it will dry clear. 

TADA! I thought about painting the letters first before I started, but I decided against it. I think i like that the wood grain shows a little bit. I can't wait to get this project framed!

3-Word Sentences

Pretty soon she's have to share Mama's lap. 

Cupcake tower and cake I made for Christy's bridal shower

Close up of the gum paste orchids 

DIY Polaroid coasters I made for Dave & Christy

Mother's Day gift for Mom

LUCY:

Just in the past 2 weeks, Lucy's vocabulary has exploded! We are on to 3-word sentences. Her first 3-word sentence, you ask? "I want doggy!" LOL! When Tommy and I heard this we stared at each other wide-eyed and mouths opened! It was so funny! Tommy was almost suckered into saying "yes" because of how she said it! It was adorable! I love this early toddler stage!  

ALEENA:

I just had my 36 weeks appt. with my OB and I'm proud to say that Aleena is head-down & settled! She's so active! She's not even here yet and she already wakes me up in the middle of the night with her kicks and jabs. 

Since Tommy got me a Cricut Expression 2 for Mother's Day this year, I have been using it almost every day! I LOVE the stupid machine!

Cupcake Tower - Michael's charges about $4 for an 18pack of cupcake wrappers. For the same price, I got a 50 sheets white cardstock and made 100 cupcake wrappers myself out of my Cricut! I also made the gumpaste flowers. I'm so proud of them! I wanted a new hobby and somehow gumpaste flowers came to mind! I made 3 orchids and a ton of little generic flowers with white sugar pearls in the middle. I have to say gumpaste is really a fun thing to get into! I made the cupcakes & cake out of Angel Food Cake! It's a really good type of cake to make from a box if you have to make A LOT of cupcakes on a budget because one box yields 32-36 cupcakes instead of the average 22-24. Many health-conscious people thanked me for making these cupcakes because you only add WATER! So it's naturally Fat Free. And it tastes DELICIOUS!!
Polaroid Coasters- I know this has been going around Pinterest forever, but I'm so glad I finally tried them myself! Dave (Tom's brother) is getting married in July, and although I split a vacuum with my Mother-in-Law for them, I really wanted to make them something personal. I have to say that this has been one of my favorite DIY's! The tiles are 13 CENTS from Home Depot! It's so inexpensive, yet memorable! I printed out a couple of the engagement pictures I took of them on cardstock and used a couple layers of Mod Podge to put them onto the tile. Then Tommy sprayed them for me with some Polyurethane spray to make it water proof. I have no idea whether or not this spray has a strong odor that's bad for pregnant women to inhale, so better safe than sorry! Tommy wants some credit for having part of it =] lol. And then just let it air dry. Super cute idea for real cheap!
Etched glass vase: I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of the back where I later etched "Love, Lucy & Aleena." I put contact paper (from the dollar store, a whole role of contact paper for $1!) through my cricut to cut out the letters. I put it on a glass vase, you can use any glass vase really, and then put some Armour Etch on it. I let it sit for about 15 minutes, and then washed it off with soap and running warm water.


Well, those are my DIY's so far this month! I'm currently working on a project for Father's Day, which I'm more stoked about than all of the above combined! That post will have to wait until I give it to my hubby cause I know he reads my blog. It's really hard to keep a secret. I'm really bad at keeping secrets, especially from my husband. >>Rabbit trail- When Tommy and I were still dating, I secretly bought plane tickets to come see him during summer break. His whole family knew and helped me plan getting there without him knowing, but I was so excited, I told him the same day! HAHA I can't help it! I just get so excited sometimes! <<

Anyways, this post is WAY long. One more day of work left then maternity leave! Pray for me that I don't get lazy and just call off. haha! No seriously though. =P