It has been a while!

Time is flying by!  I am 30 weeks pregnant on Wednesday.  It is amazing how quickly this pregnancy is going by.  I supposed working full-time and having a two year old keeps me occupied.  Robby was great and painted the nursery this past weekend.  The room used to be bright orange and yellow (I forgot to take pictures) and it is now a calm cream on three walls with one dark brown wall.  We are going to be moving the crib and glider in this weekend after we get back from visiting family over Thanksgiving.  The only big furniture item needed is a dresser that will also double as a changing table.  Once we have it put together I will take a few pictures and post them.

28 Weeks

I am so excited to have a break from school.  Robby is already in Cheyenne for District music clinic and Natalie and I are leaving tomorrow when I get done with school.  Our first stop has to be Target to get a new ladybug pillow for Natalie.  We are getting her big bed this weekend and we were looking on the internet for new bedding.  I showed Natalie several different sets and she picked the ladybug set that has a large ladybug pillow.  She has been asking for the last week to go to Cheyenne to get her ladybug pillow.  I hope that her excitement over the ladybug pillow will make the transition to the big bed go smoothly. 

Natalie helping rake leaves!

Last month we got to travel to Savannah for Renee's and Don's wedding.  Natalie got to fly for the first time and loved it.  She had been excited about flying for months and was great the entire trip.  The weather wasn't ideal while we were there.  The kids only got to play in the ocean on Thursday when we first arrived and a little bit Friday afternoon.  Even then it was really windy and the waves were huge so they didn't play for too long!  By Saturday the weather turned worse and the waves were tearing up the beach.  We went to explore River Street in downtown Savannah on Saturday and had a good time even though it was kind of rushed to get back to have quiet/nap time and start getting dinner ready!  Sunday was the wedding and the rain didn't care!  Renee and Don ended up having to move the wedding from the beach to the tent at the Light House on Tybee Island so the ceremony and reception were in one place.  Despite the rain it was a beautiful wedding and I have a new brother-in-law.  I was so proud of Natalie being such a good girl and "going with the flow" of the weekend.  She even adjusted pretty well once we got back home.  I didn't do as well....the rest of the week at school was exhausting and I didn't really catch up on rest until the weekend!  I did a horrible job of taking pictures the whole trip.  I really need to work on it but I think I have some family members who took some pictures during the trip I just need to ask!  Here is a picture of Natalie on Thursday morning in DIA waiting for our flight!

She looks a little tired!!

Pictures!

Okay so I am not so good at uploading photos in a timely fashion.  This week has been really long.  We were out of town last weekend and I just felt behind all week.  I didn't sleep well due to being uncomfortable or not being able to go back to sleep after Natalie woke up.  I have been able to get some crocheting done but I put off the picture uploading!  Here are a few recent pictures!

20 Weeks

21 Weeks

It's a..........

We had an exciting afternoon today.  We went to Cheyenne for our 20 week anatomy ultrasound!  I cannot believe that I am 20 weeks already......halfway through.  For the last several weeks I was sure that this baby was a girl.  Natalie kept saying that she was having a sister.  My mom even said she felt it was a girl.  Robby wouldn't take a guess (I am sure you can all guess what he was hoping for though)!  Well we got to see some really neat images of our little baby BOY!!  As you can imagine Robby is pretty darn excited to have a little boy.  
We have had it pretty easy with Natalie and having so many girls cousins that could hand clothes down.  There are no baby boys any more (John is 6) so that means that we get to shop for new little boy clothes.  Hopefully I will get a 20 week picture taken tomorrow morning and get it uploaded to keep you all up-to-date!

First day of school!!

Oh my.......summer break is over and today is the first day of school.  I am not sure that I am ready even though we had a whole week of work days and inservices last week.  I am working full time this year for the first time since Natalie was born!  We took her to daycare a few mornings before we started back to work to try to transition to the new daycare.  Natalie did great the first two mornings.....me on the other hand did not do so great!  On the third morning she started with the "I don't want to go" and "Mommy, I want you"!  Things got better last week but I don't think she napped at all!  She was one tired little girl by the end of the week!!

Our daycare provider cannot take Natalie until 8:00 and I have to be at work at 7:30.  It is a good thing that I have a wonderful family in town that is willing to take Natalie to daycare for me.  So Natalie gets to go to Mama's this morning and play for a little while with John, who starts kindergarten today!  Once our daycare provider's son turns 16 later this fall we will be able to drop Natalie off at 7:30 but this will work for now!

John's first day of Kindergarten

After a summer of getting to sleep as late as I want and being somewhat lazy about getting going in the mornings......I am really struggling this morning.  I set my alarm for 5:20 and just about cried, okay not really but I really didn't like doing it!  I figured this way I would have time to sit and enjoy my coffee and not have to rush through getting ready (I probably will still have to rush since I am writing this blog post instead of getting ready)!

First day of school....I love Natalie's little dance here

I am also hit 18 weeks on Wednesday!!!  Only two more weeks until we find out whether we are having a boy or girl!  Everyone always asks which I want and I have to be honest it doesn't really matter to me.....we have tons of girl stuff so it would be easy to have a baby girl but a baby boy would be great too!  For whatever reason I feel like this baby is a girl but as I tell everyone I felt so sure that Natalie was a boy and we can all see that I was WRONG!!!  Hopefully this afternoon I will have some time to add some pictures to this post.

18 Weeks

2 years old and 12 weeks!

This week was pretty exciting! 

Natalie's second birthday was yesterday.  I cannot believe that she is two already.  We made cupcakes on Wednesday while Robby was gone.  

Natalie spent Thursday with Aunt Chelsie and John while Robby and I were in Cheyenne.  That afternoon they went to the circus in Rawlins.  She loved it and even got to ride an elephant, which is one of her favorite animals.  She also really liked the acrobats and kept telling us about the "guy way up there"!

Friday Natalie spent part of the morning at the playground with Robby while I made spaghetti sauce.  After nap time Natalie started complaining about her ear hurting and was running a slight fever.  I went ahead and took her to the doctor and she ended up with an ear infection.  She was quite pleasant though when family showed up for her birthday dinner and cupcakes.  She loved her presents and loved her cupcakes.  Robby and I got her a new Dora blanket and she loves it.  That night at bedtime I brought in the Dora blanket and her previous "lovies" (two small pink blankies)....she looked at them and told us to get them away and picked them up and threw them down the stairs.  I guess she has a new lovey!

Thursday was also a great day.  While Chelsie kept Natalie, Robby and I went to Cheyenne.  We were going to get to hear the baby's heartbeat but the doctor had some trouble finding it.  So she took us next door and did an ultrasound.  It was so exciting to see our little baby on the screen and hear the heartbeat.  I was happy to get the ultrasound otherwise I would have had to wait another 8 weeks for the big ultrasound! 

Big things happening at the Follum House!!!!

So many things to share.....where to begin??  For starters we are on summer break, which is great for many reasons!  We are using the time to organize closets.  Robby put shelves in two of the upstairs closets which forced us to go through many boxes that have been there since we bought the house in August 2007.  

Another big happening is that Natalie is pretty much potty trained and sleeping in a big girl bed!  We moved her to the big girl bed after a trip up to Sundance to visit Robby's parents.  She has done great....she can't open the door yet but she stays in the bed until we go get her anyway!

And the biggest thing of all.....

 If you can't read Natalie's shirt it says "BIG SISTER 2 BE"!  Yep Robby and I are pregnant and due Feb. 1, 2012.  So another big project is to get one of the extra bedrooms ready for a new baby!  I have also been happy to be at home through the sickness and tiredness of the first trimester.

So needless to say we are having a good summer and it is going to get even better with my sister, Renee, arriving tonight!  We haven't seen Renee since Christmas so it will be good to spend some time with her!

New Orleans

I had a great opportunity this month to go to the Plain Talk About Reading Institute in New Orleans.  It was a great trip.  I was able to learn more specifics about teaching reading and it really helped me feel more comfortable in my position as a Title 1 reading intervention teacher.  While in New Orleans we had some extra time and we were able to go on a swamp tour.  The best part was getting to see the alligators close up!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

And here is a video of the alligator that came up close for some food!

Happy Birthday!

Robby and I both had birthdays recently and Natalie has started singing happy birthday.  In this video she is singing to her daddy.  I hope you enjoy it as much as Robby and I do!

Counting

Natalie likes to count and I love listening to her because she is so sure of the numbers.  Her counting consists of "2.....5.....10".  I am not sure what happened to the other numbers but I love listening to her "count".  She was counting the number of items on the grocery list today - "2....5.....10".

Natalie and I went to visit Mama and Aunt Chelsie this afternoon.  After listening to her count her noodles they decided to help her out.  Mama held up her fingers and counted by ones, this is how the encounter went......

Mama: One

Natalie : One

Mama: two

Natalie: two

Mama: three

Natalie: four

Mama: No....three

Natalie:  FOUR

Cracked me up!

Easter!

What a great Easter weekend!  Aside from being sick with a cold, we have had a fabulous few days.  On Friday I made marshmallows to put in the kids Easter baskets.  Natalie was a huge helper and loved the marshmallows.  I found a super cute pattern for an Easter basket on the Lion Brand website.  I didn't have the yarn that it called for but I used two strands of a lighter weight yarn and I really like the way it came out.  Next time I want to make it bigger and make the handle sturdier so that it stands up more.

I didn't sleep well at all Friday night due to this darn cold but Saturday morning was quite productive.  I made a german chocolate cheesecake with homemade frosting and potato salad for Easter dinner at my mom's.  I then made a blueberry ripple cake for a fellowship dinner that night. 

Natalie spent about an hour and a half at my mom's with Aunt Chelsie and John.  It was great because I was able to finish up the baking and clean up the kitchen so that when I picked Natalie up all I had to do was feed her lunch and put her down for her nap.  Natalie is just about over her latest bout of strep throat and is finally napping and sleeping like her usual self so I was able to do a baby boy hat from start to finish for a photographer friend in Rawlins.  I finished the baby girl hat on Friday and I am excited to take some pictures of them and get them to her for her ok!

A few days ago I found a super cute pattern for a bear hat.  It was really easy to make and I was able to get it almost done after finished the baby boy hat.  I waited to attach the ears so that I could focus without interuptions because it was about the end of naptime. 

We had a fellowship dinner with some great people from church.  My mom kept all the grandkids to play with my cousins little girl and the great grandparents that were visiting for Easter. 

Our church help an Easter celebration service at the community center!  It was great.  We had about 150 people in attendance........that is just about double our average Sunday attendance.  It is great knowing that we have a Savior who loves us so much. Here are a couple of pictures from Easter.....The first is of Robby, Natalie and me.  The second is of Natalie and cousin John.

It was such a great weekend with family.  Now Robby is out of town for a music festival and it is just Natalie and me. 

Finally!!!

After almost a year and a half I am officially done with my masters program.  I am glad that I did while I was still working part-time and only had one kid.  It was a lot of work but definitely worth it!!!

Baby Love Crochet

Head on over to Baby Love Crochet to keep yourself updated on my crocheting adventures!  Follow me there too!

Dusk and Summer

Dashboard Confessional gets kind of a bad rap. Many people see Chris Carrabba (who pretty much is Dashboard Confessional) as a whiny, heartbroken wimp. These people, I would guess, have not heard "Dusk and Summer."

To be fair, the band's best-known album is "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most," which is absolutely heartbroken, quite whiny, and more than a little wimpy. The only sounds you hear on most songs are acoustic guitar and some very high, very sad male vocals. To continue being fair, Chris Carrabba wrote the songs on that album after his fiance cheated on him with his best friend. I think a little whining is warranted and possibly necessary in that situation.

In further defence, any heartbroken 18 year old would do well to own "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most." I have never encountered a better album for the post-dumping wallow. And I wallowed to it well, lo these many (coming up on 10) years ago. It's pretty much what would have happened if Job was from Florida and played guitar and sang with mean, mean head voice. He hits all the main points of heartbreak on pretty much every song. Plus, you can honestly say, "This guy's got it worse than me." Let's be honest; we all wallow, and when we do, this is the background music for it.

Now, back to the album at hand, "Dusk and Summer." For purposes of this blog, I will focus on my two favorite songs from the album. These two most clearly demonstrate the genius behind the album: comparing summer-time to love.

First up, "So Long, So Long." The thing about summer time is that it must end. In fact, I think of all the seasons, summer is most effected by this impending-doom feeling. Everyone knows it won't last forever.

"And I will leave under the cover of summer's kiss upon the sky

Like the stone face of your lover just before she says goodbye

I was certain that the season could be held between my arms

Well just as summer's hold is fleeting

I was here but now I'm gone..."

There are times when one looks at an ended relationship in hindsight and realizes it was doomed from the beginning. Logically, one might think this would help. After all, if it was doomed, why be sad it's over? The problem with that is that you wanted that relationship to work. You invested yourself. The fact that it was doomed means you were out of touch with reality and possibly an idiot. This does not make one feel better. You were so certain you could hold on, and now it's gone. By the way, when he sings that last line, on "now I'm gone" old Chris suddenly jumps up an octave, really driving those words deep into the frontal cortex. Quite effective.

The second song of special note is the title track "Dusk and Summer." This song is the best portrayal of teenage love I've ever seen. Of the thousands of songs written on the topic, this is, in my humble opinion, the best. Ever.

A brief aside: who cares about teenage love other than teenagers? Everybody should. Don't believe me? I've got reasons. Teenagers are a special lot, a perfect balance of absolute conviction and near-absolute ignorance. They know practically nothing about the real world, and yet are absolutely committed to their ideas about the very same real world. So when teenagers fall in love, they do it with no prior experience, no idea what's going on, and the absolute certainty that this is the greatest thing in the world. Total commitment with no reason behind it at all. Once we get older and more experienced we figure things out a little, but there's nothing like that crazed plunge into love that teenagers experience. I think we're missing out if we don't at least remember what that was like on occasion.

The song is again about a guy in a doomed relationship who just keeps holding on.

"You've already lost

when you only had barely enough to hang on"

The song is written in second person, by far the least-used of the persons. Usually it's reserved for hardcore ranting ("You wouldn't risk hurting your reputation to come and talk to me; so you run your mouth like you know what we're about" - from "Human Equality" by Overcome) or death metal horror-movie descriptions (too graphic to be included here). Chris Carrabba takes a gentler approach in telling you what happens to yourself: "She pulled you in, and she bit your lip, and she made you hers."

If you're like me, this makes you remember the beginning. Then when the chorus hits, it makes you remember the end. The overall effect is to transport you right back to 12th grade when you thought you had it all figured out and weren't going to let any lack of knowledge or experience stand in your way. Go listen to the song; I defy you not to be transported back.

Love her!

My mom was videoing Natalie this morning..............

Headbands

I found another pattern at an etsy shop (imagine that)!  I have seen the headbands and have loved them and finally found a pattern that I liked.  The headband was super quick and easy to make.....maybe ten minutes total including sewing the ends together and weaving the ends in.  The pattern included a flower and a bow and I tried both.  I decided I like the bow better right now.  Maybe a smaller flower would work but the flower was too heavy and the headband kept falling off Natalie's head.  The next day at daycare though Natalie stretched the headband out and it won't stay on at all now.  I bought some elastic cording and I am going to try to work that into the headband patter.......I will follow up if it works but I have other orders that I am working on!  Enjoy Natalie modeling the headband (I think she was getting exasperated in the last picture)!

New Words!

Natalie is constantly learning new words.  But my absolute favorite is "holda".  I know when she says it that she wants me to hold her but I couldn't figure out where she got "holda".  Yesterday I realized that it is Natalie's version of "hold ya". 

And just because I think she is pretty cute here is a recent picture!

A hat for John and Little Peanut Snuggle Sack

For a long time now I have been wanting to make a hat for my 5 year old nephew, John.  Most of them end up looking too girly.  But in my endless search for crochet patterns I came across a super cute hat.  It is called the brain waves beanie.  It turned out really cute and John loved it.

Last week I spent way too much time on Etsy looking at crochet patterns.  I came across one shop and found this pattern for a little peanut snuggle sack.


I thought it was a cute and bought the pattern and purchased some great cotton yarn in Cheyenne last weekend.  I think it turned out really cute and I am making a hat to match it.  This one is in country red and all you get is the picture of the sack without a baby (I think it will be super cute with a baby in it too)!



Don't forget to check out the crocheted by Reann page for more info on hats!

My Fashionista!

Natalie is a girly girl ~ she like to wear dresses and she wants to pick out her own clothes.  This outfit is Natalie's latest.  She woke up from her nap and I put her skirt back on her and all was good...........until she saw the princess nightgown.  I had to put that on top of what she was already wearing.  I was also working on finishing a hat for John (pictures coming later) and Natalie started asking for a "ha, ha".  So I got out this hat of hers and she wore it around for hours!  Her style that day cracked me up!!!

Hats times two

Yesterday I spent my free time working on two hat patterns that I have been wanting to try for a while now. I should have been cleaning up or sorting Natalie's toys (a project I have been putting off for too long)! Both patterns came from the same blog and came out really cute!

The first pattern was for a toddler beanie with earflaps.  Natalie didn't really want to model the hat for me this morning even though she was super excited about it yesterday when I finished it!

The second patter is a really cute hat that uses a double strand of yarn: quick fix.  I really like the way that the two different colors of yarn work in this hat. Because of the double strands of yarn this hat is thick and warm.  Natalie did an awesome job modeling this hat.

I want to try these hats in different sizes soon.  Don't forget to check out the crocheted by Reann page!

Tried something new!

I have been working on crocheting hats to have on hand.  I finished an off-white hat and I was planning on putting a red flower on the hat.  For quite a while now I have wondered how it would look if I used two colors for the flower.....well I decided that I would try it out.  I used the off-white for the foundation and then used the red yarn for the petals. 

I think it looks pretty neat and want to try it with some other color combos now!  Don't forget to check out the Crocheted by Reann page for more examples of hats!

My favorite helper

Natalie has become quite independent.  She wants to do everything herself even if she can't really do it.  We  have had several little "fights" the last couple of days because she didn't want my help.  She also really likes to help me with things though.
One episode today was over her shoes.  I was trying to put her shoes on so we could run errands and she didn't want my help and proceeded to through a royal fit.  After I got her shoes on though I told she could put my shoes on.  It was a good thing I was just wearing slip-ons and not tennis shoes!  She held the shoe while I slipped it on and she thought it was the greatest thing.
She has been a great helper all day.  She helped at the grocery store by carrying the pasta.  She then helped me make a cake for my dad's birthday tomorrow.  She loves to dump the ingredients in the bowl and "help" me stir.  I love watching her excitement in doing something so little.  Whenever I ask her for help she always answers with an enthusiastic "YEAH"!  I wish everyone could be so enthusiastic to help!!

Photo Workshop

On Friday I had the chance to attend a photography workshop hosted by Kate Williams of The Rancher's Wife's Photography.  Several gals showed up to learn how to use their cameras and how to shoot better photos.  It was nice to learn how to use my camera!  I learned how to change the settings on my camera to allow more light into the camera and how those settings will affect the pictures taken.


These first two photos show the how the shutter speed affects the photo.  The first one was a higher shutter speed (1/2500) and the second one was at a lower shutter speed (1/200).











These next photos are just a few (ok lots) of my favorites from the day. We had two adorable little boys to practice our skills on. (I was playing around with cropping so they are lots of different sizes).