My Macey Claire

My Macey Claire,

Today has been kind of hard on mom. You have been right there with me though! You have kicked and nudged my stomach constantly--reminding me that you are there.

I have felt a little nostalgic today thinking of you. Weeks ago I remember reading that you were the size of a blueberry. Even then you were a little bit of mom and a little bit of dad. Today I am 24 weeks and 1 day pregnant with you--over 6 months pregnant! I can harldy believe that this week you are the size of an ear of corn--longer than 12 inches! My little Macey is growing too quickly. We have been together for a while now! We'll be together a lot longer though. We have each other through eternity.

Your dad can hardly wait to meet you. He is going to be a great dad. He already loves you. Every night he kisses mom goodnight and tells her he loves her. Now he kisses you and wishes you good night too! I catch him in your room often; going through your pink clothes and rocking in the rocking chair. I would only trust your dad with you. I think only he loves you as much as I do.

I'm getting bigger by the day! You gained 4 oz. last week alone, and I can feel and see it. You make getting fat worth it (that's probably the only time you'll hear someone say that to you :) )!

My Macey, you are beautiful. I haven't even seen you and I know that. You are beautiful and you have such a beautiful future ahead of you. I pray that you will continue to be patient with your mom and dad--we aren't perfect! I promise you we will give up everything to make sure that your future is bright and beautiful. Go after your dreams. We will be right next to you the entire time. We will be your biggest cheerleaders.

Today has been hard. Life will be difficult some days. It's a part of living. But Macey, you are joy. To me, you are the what makes the hard days worth living. Success comes by being able to pull the good from the bad. In my life, love has been the driving force for my success. Love what you do, who you are, those around you--exert love in all you do, and you will be successful.

I love you, my Macey Claire. You are my greatest success.

Thank you for kicking me in the gut. Thank you for sticking with me through the hard days.

Thank you for agreeing to be ours.

Mine.

Love,
Mom

The Best Valentine's Day

I could tell this Valentine's Day was going to be big because Scott was SO excited for it. He has been working on presents since January. Scott made my Valentine's Day perfect.

Sunday night, February 13th, Scott wanted to make me a cake. He didn't ask for any help, and he was insistent that he did it all on his own. (How can you complain about not having to cook something? :) )

Scott made the cakes and measured everything out perfectly. He put them in the oven to bake. The timer went off and Scott wanted me to double check that they were really done. I did the toothpick trick, and they were ready! I told Scott I would pull them out of the oven. He told me he could get them, but I insisted. Bad Choice.

I pulled cake one out of the oven--perfect. I pulled cake two out of the oven. Then it happened. The pan slid off my oven mitt, and the second cake landed face down on the floor. The worst part was seeing Scott's face as this happened. Haha...it was horrible!

The cakes:

Crisis Management begins. I used 3 spatulas and together we helped to salvage the cake. Scott asked if I would help piece it together. Haha...it was rough. Scott was the master decorator though! With icing and Scott's mad skills, he made this cake look like a masterpiece. See?

Monday was Valentine's Day! I woke up early and made Scott breakfast before he had to leave for classes and I had to leave for work. We did the majority of our celebrating after we got home from school and work!

Scott was home when I got home from work that day. We talked about our days and then he quickly locked me in the bedroom. haha...I was only let out when he had everything ready. I walked out to find this:

Each note had a reason why he loved me on it. They trailed around the whole apartment. On the kitchen table I found this:
 

He got me 2 dozen red roses, a box of Florence chocolates (a local candy store), and 2 Zales boxes :). For Macey he got an Elder Uctdorf quote about her "Happily Ever After" (to read that GREAT talk, go here: http://lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/your-happily-ever-after?lang=eng&query=Happily+Ever+After) to hang on her wall.

It was amazing!! I'm still in awe of everything he did. I opened the Zales boxes to find the shock of my life: a pearl/diamond necklace with matching earrings. He got them because Pearl is June's birthstone (when Macey will be born) and the diamond is my birthstone (April). I was floored! I wasn't expecting any of it! This is just further proof of how good Scott is to me. I have worn it every day since. It's another reminder of our Macey and how much she means to both of us already.

The Jewelry:
 

Here is Scott and his Valentine's lute: Psych Season 4 (we LOVE this show), a bag of reeses hearts, and Eric Carle books to read to Macey)
 

Oh, and to top the night off: Scott made me dinner and we did some damage on that heart shaped cake. :)
 

I am positive that every Valentine's Day won't be like this--especially after Macey arrives, but I know that whatever Scott does for me in years to come will be wonderful too. It was just nice to have such a special day that I can remember for the rest of my life. This was truly the best Valentine's Day!

Oh, and here is one with me and baby Macey at 23 weeks :)

I [heart] Bountiful Baskets

It's official. I am sucked into the Boutiful Basket craze! I thought for sure that a person could only get Bountiful Baskets in Utah (because of Bountiful, Utah). Boy, was I wrong! You can get them if you live in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

My sister looked it up for me and told me I could get them in Idaho, and I signed up that day. What is Bountiful Baskets? It you want to know all the details go here: http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/.

If you want to just take my word for it... :) Every Saturday, at an area near you, you can pay $16.50, and you will get an assortment of fruits and vegetables. Sometimes you aren't sure what to do with the things that you get, but it's a great learning/cooking experience. You get way more than you pay for, and I have been able to eat healthy, on a budget, while pregnant!

This is what I got today:

3-orange bell peppers, 1-head of lettuce, 1-package of mushrooms, 1-head of broccoli, 1-bunch of spinach, 2-packages of large carrots, 1-package strawberries, 7-oranges, 6-apples, 6-lemons, 1-cantaloupe, and 10-bananas.

Be jealous. If you haven't already signed up, at least check out there website to see what it's all about!

Another Craft

Well, I finished another craft for the baby room! I actually finished it last weekend, but I have been trying to convince myself that I like it since then. I'll be honest, I'm pretty sure an eight year old girl could have done this better than I could have, but this is the new edition!

If you are interested in what it's really supposed to look like, or if you want to make this for yourself, go here: http://jonesdesigncompany.com/create/5-days-of-favorite-projects-day-2

Something a Mom Could Appreciate

This could be a boring or TMI or "who cares?" post, but eh... :)

I'm convinced that I now turn into an emotional mess when it comes to anything that deals with our little girl.

Yesterday I was getting ready to make dinner. I am not an expert cook, and after working all day, I have a hard time coming straight home, cooking a meal, and enjoying the process! Let's face it, I have never been the world's greatest cook. To this day, my family makes fun of the times I cooked as a kid. I was an emotional wreck! Generally, the food turned out less desirable, and I ended up on the kitchen floor feeling bad for myself. Pathetic, huh? Thankfully, I am not that bad these days...most days :)

Anyway, yesterday was stressful when we left work, and the last thing I wanted to do was cook a meal. Scott needed to work on homework. He asked if I wanted his help several times, and I turned him down because...he needed to work on homework. :) I fixed a big meal: crispy skinned chicken, oven fried potatoes, and asparagus (is it sad that my mouth is watering over that, and it's 9:45 in the morning? :) ).

Scott walked in the kitchen when dinner was ready, and he could tell I was stressed. (No family, I was not lying on the kitchen floor. :)) He hugged me and magically took away all my worries and stresses...he's good at that! We broke apart from the hug, but Scott kept his arm around me as we prayed over dinner.

I prayed over the meal. Toward the end of the prayer I prayed for Macey. I prayed that she would be healthy and strong, and I told our Heavenly Father how grateful we were to have Macey as part of our family. I told him that we loved her. Immediately, I got a HARD kick to the gut. I got this overwhelming feeling that she already loves us back.

I could barely finish the prayer. I started crying. Scott can't feel her kick yet, but when I told him what happened we were emotional together.

I know this a story that probably only me, as a mom, could appreciate, but the best decision Scott and I ever made was to agree to take care of this little girl! I couldn't thank Heavenly Father enough for the joy she has already brought into our lives and marriage. I know that I won't be saying that as freely when I am awake in the morning with a crying baby, but today I am especially grateful for Macey in our lives!

Baby's Room

This is the part of the house that I have been looking forward to decorating the most! How could it not be fun to decorate a little girl's room?!

I found a tutorial for these flower wall hangings, and I fell in love! I once again had frames from work, and I just spruced them up with some spray paint. The brown material I used for the background is from a dress I made in high school. The white material on these are actually from Scott's baptismal pants that he used in Peru...recycle and reuse! Anyway, here are a bunch of different shots of the new wall decor!

 

The Crafting Continues

Scott and I moved to Rexburg in July of 2010. Is it horrible for me to admit that I didn't do any decorating in our bedroom until now? It's only been 6 months, right? :)

This crafting post isn't very interesting or very crafty! It's just to assure you that I am on the ball now, and I have finally hung pictures on the walls, made curtains (thank you $2 fabric from Wal-Mart), and we have made our room feel homey! One bedroom down, one baby room to go! The baby room is the fun one though. I have a lot of craftiness stored up my sleeves for that one!I'm excited to show you what it will look like in the end :)

Welcome to our bedroom!

(Thank you again Em for the cute frame with all our pictures. I love it!)

On the baby side of things... :) I went around and looked at buying first aid kits everywhere. Maybe I didn't look in the right places, but I couldn't find a first aid kid that had everything I wanted in it. I decided to just buy everything seperately. I made this cute bag to put them in (haha...at least I think it's cute). Oh, and remember that bag of scraps I got for a dollar? This is one of the scraps!

(And sorry for the two picture thing again! I have no idea how to delete it!)

I know this isn't very craft oriented but stay tuned! We have more to come!