Stuffed

First of all, thank you for all your links to cute monkeys and mobiles. I can hardly sleep at night for thinking about all the things I have cooked up for that not-so-far-off baby room. Such fun! Hooray for nesting! I just thought I would share a few of my favorite finds after all my googling the last few days...

I can't help but love this little whale from craftpad.com. I love the blue eye on the red fabric

These fun stuffed animals come from mellyandme@blogspot.com and are so fun. I might just have to make a variation all my own using some of their fun stuffed ideas. My wheels are turning....

This is the original monkey (seen on ohdeedoh.com) I saw and wanted to recreate (although it's not handmade)... I think I've gathered (perhaps!) enough ideas to mix and match my own little guy.

And I love LONG loved this mobile from spool sewing. I finally found the pattern for the little bird. I don't know just how I will do mine... but I see birds flying above my little one's dreams


And finally... a few pictures stolen from Jackie's blog of the shower two weeks ago. I swear I'm bigger now too. I've been consistently measuring a week big... hopefully my belly button someday returns to its inward state! I wore this sweater to work yesterday and a coworker took one glance and said "you're huge!" I don't think these pictures do justice to just how fun my big ole belly has become!

If I post about it, will it come true?

Things I want to make for Baby bun:

• A set of ABC embroidered wall hangings to go above his crib (most of the drawing and drafting and scheming is done, I just need to start stitching)
• Some sort of garland with his name in it. I've been googling and planning, but have made no conclusive decisions of just how I want it to look
• A stuffed monkey. Anyone seen an internet tutorial out there for this? I really really want to make one. A red one.
• Or maybe (since it might be easier) a stuffed whale. I still want to make the monkey though
• A little white (with redwork) pillow to go in the corner of his crib. Next to the red monkey.
• A mobil to hang above his crib. Something not too obnoxious. Something sweet in red and baby blue and pale yellow. I'm not yet sure how to do this without hanging it from the ceiling... any thoughts?

Ok. That's all for now. Of course I hope to still do more bibs and burb cloths. Busy mamma! Wish me luck.

Baby Showers and Baseball

Whew! That is all I have to say about the last, oh, month and a half. Busy busy. The lastest two happenings were a baby shower for Cansas (my sister-in-law) and I, here in Cedar Ciy, and BYU baseball games.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures from the baby shower. It was thrown by the Christiansen clan and was just family. Just about all of them made it down for conference and the shower. It was so great to spend the weekend with everyone :). My first little boy outfits and board books had made their way to my baby stash. I tell you I am getting baby hungrier by the minute!

Then this last week/weekend was my spring break and a weekend of adventures in Provo for some BYU baseball. My mom and my sister, Paige, drove through on Thursday and picked me up, and Jeremy joined us on Friday (after his own little adventures with the ever favorite kidney stones. That deserves a post all it's own).

Can I just say that I really and truely love BYU? I do. I know it is sometimes controversial as there are plenty who don't, but I treasure the years I spent there. I love being on campus, going to the bookstore, visiting the library (oh how I miss that library!), and, of course, going to baseball games. This trip was no exception. I loved getting to be at all three games for the weekend (even the rainy game on Saturday), and mostly especially the Friday game when Blake pitched.

Usually when I watch my brother pitch, I am a nervous wreck. Seriously. But this time he was in control from the beginning and it never slacked. Somewhere around the 7th inning I realized it was still a shut out and that Blake on had two hits on him. Knock on wood. But he never flintched. He ended up pitching the whole game and was named pitcher of the week for the Mountain West conference. It was an awesome game. And I was there.

Now, I am back at home and back and work and maybe, just maybe, things will slow down for the next few weeks (until we move, of course, and the baby comes). I'm going to do my best not to throw myself into preterm labor or kill myself on too many more sewing projects (sorry, I realized I never took pictures of the quilts and bibs, dolls and bean bag frogs, chew toys and plush balls I've made... but I have had fun making all of it! Maybe I'll do more for my own little guy when I get some energy back).

All my lovin'

cj

Lost in the sewing room

I'm sorry my posts have been so few and far between! I am still alive... just seem to have been swallowed up in my sewing room. All sorts of projecting has been happening of late. Perhaps I will post pictures someday soon!

In the meantime, we had another great weekend with family for Miss Maggie's blessing. This time in Vegas. We also spent lots of time with Jon and Summer and their cute kids. Can I tell you how much I love five year olds playing tee-ball? I don't think I can. I can't wait to see them again this weekend!

The happy news in the Christiansen house these days is that we were approved for scholarship housing... which will make a huge finacial burden get much lighter starting May 16th! I'm not terribly excited to move three weeks before my due date... but it's better than three days, that's for sure. And it means we'll be able to be more settled once the wee one comes. Hooray for new adventures!

Just so you know

I am alive.

Spring is coming to Cedar City in the form of daffodils and sunshine.

I had the most marvelous weekend in California.

I am baby hungry after holding Maggie Lynn and Chase David for hours.

Today is Thursday. That means it's the last day of my work week.

The 8th part of speech is interjections. Weird.

There is something delectible about pretzel sticks and chocolate frosting.

I failed miserably at celebrating St. Patrick's day. Sigh.

I am no longer wearing a jacket to and from work in the afternoon.

And today I'm wearing capris. Doesn't get much better.

Today

I want to deep clean my house so I can relax all day tomorrow.

I want to enjoy the thick layers of snow falling outside my front window.

I want to sew up a few projects I have waiting for me.

I want to spend a whole quiet hour in the scriptures.

I want to watch Blake pitch for the BYU baseball game on BYU TV.

I want to eat fruits and vegtables and something warm and homemade.

I want to shower and get dressed and do my hair nice and curly even with no place to go.

I want to smile and be content all day long.

The curse of being an English teacher...

is that I am terrible at editing my work. The truth is I usually reread everything I print, turn in, or post at least twice. At least. But then I always (ALWAYS) find errors after the fact. And they drive me nuts. I put "to" instead of "too," or I left out an article, or I forgot to make a proper noun proper, or I accidentally put two periods instead of one. How do these things always happen? I try to be a good editor, but somehow the task evades me.

And then, here's the worst part, once it's posted and I've found an error, I don't always go back and fix it. I just let it bug me. I won't reread the post because I know it's there. In the third paragraph. Half way down. Glaring for all to see.

Sigh.

So I want to appologize to all you good literary folk for whom I have lost credibility over the course of this blog because of the many unedited errors that never got fixed. I'm sorry I didn't catch them before posting. And I'm even more sorry I never went back to change them.

I hope you'll forgive me. Even though I'm an English teacher and should know better.

Babies, Birthdays, and Frozen Bananas

First up: Sweet baby Maggie Lynn was born last night. 9 lbs, 7 oz, 20.5 inches long. Red hair and the cutest baby cheeks I ever saw; she couldn't be more precious. Congratulations to Sara! I love having a new niece.
Secondly: Today is Tasha Rae's Birthday... One year older and wiser too, happy birthday, to YOU!
Thirdly: just so you know, one of my all-time favorite treats is a frozen banana. Do take it out of its skin before bagging and freezing and eating. Love 'em.

The Feds.

They came. Those Feds. With their smiling faces and books of rules. A string of them--Federal, State, and District evaluators--parading into my little parenting and adult ed classroom today to make life scary. With their rules and regulations.

But I did not flinch. Or talk too fast. Or forget to smile.

I conducted class as usual.

And hopefully when my mid afternoon break is over and I go back for my second daily shift, they will be gone. And they will have found that while we are not perfect, we try hard. And that we really do care about our little flock of moms and kids who come to Even Start to learn. And that they really do care about being better moms and better kids. And that we deserve more money to keep our program next year.

My fingers are crossed.

The homemade creamcicle

This

plus this

equals heaven in a bowl.

I could honestly eat a whole family size pudding box by myself if I didn't have some serious self control. Sigh. I wish I could hear that ice cream maker going now...