Chase Community Giving Campaign

Chase Bank is giving away $5 million dollars to various charities over the next few months and your votes decide where the money goes. SOS is in the running and needs your vote! Log in or join Facebook in order to cast your vote for SOS. The first round of voting goes through December 11th and the top 100 charities will each receive $25,000 grants. Please help SOS into the top 100 by clicking the link below and casting your vote. Thanks!

5 weeks left!

Only 5 weeks (or maybe less--eekkkk!) to do this stuff!

Celebrate Philip's 30th birthday (Nov. 20)

Celebrate my Mom's birthday (Nov. 25)

Celebrate Romey's Birthday (Nov. 26)

Christmas Gifts for family (most of which I am making and am super excited about!!)

Design and fulfill Christmas Card orders for a few friends

Design/mail our Christmas Cards

Finish designing/building website (for a business that I have done some design work for this year)

Decorate for Christmas

Wash and put away baby clothes

Buy a few final things for the new baby

Order cloth diaper inserts

Pack bags for hospital

Is there anything I am missing??

And, for those of you who only check in on us for new photos, here is a preview picture of our "photo shoot" with our friend LeeAnn from last weekend. We were difficult to shoot (me pregnant+crazy toddler= lots of awkward shots!) but LeeAnn was so patient and managed to get some great shots of the three (almost 4) of us!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures of our baby bird and in her nest. She wasn't feeling too photogenic this evening but she still looked pretty cute!

Pumpkin Patch

Last week we visited the Cedar Hill Farm and Pumpkin Patch. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had a great time. We took a hayride out to the field where the pumpkins grow, walked through part of the corn maze, watched the pig races, and visited all the animals in the petting zoo. Romey convinced us that she wanted to ride a pony so we waited in line for 30 minutes only to have her freak out when she was actually on the horse...kind of a lame way to end our day there but we still got some cute pictures of our little pumpkin!

Nap Mat is Finished!

After a couple of late nights, Romey's nap mat is done! I definitely made a lot of mistakes and had to tear out a lot of seams. I also wouldn't want you to look too close at the stitching but I am still pretty proud of how it turned out! There is Velcro down the left side so you can remove the foam and pillow for washing. There is also a strap for carrying it and two buttons that keep it all rolled up. I definitely gained a new appreciation for button holes--I had no idea how they were done until now! Here are some pictures...

(Special thanks to my handsome model!)

Philip got the swing set put together this afternoon! We also got a ton of cleaning, sorting, and organizing done yesterday. And, we moved our piano to the living room. Just a few steps closer to getting the nursery ready for baby boy...just under 8 weeks until he should be here!

What we are up to

Today has been a really relaxing one so far. I fell asleep at about 10:30 last night and have a very gracious husband who let me sleep until 9:30 this morning. I am feeling great--so refreshed!! We have a relaxing, fun weekend ahead of us including some college football, a wedding, church, and visit to the pumpkin patch. We are going to try to go to the Halloween event at the zoo next weekend so I need to get Romey's costume together in the next week. She is going to be a little bird in a nest : )

Romey is going on day 3 of 100% potty usage with no accidents (including overnight)! She has really been trying hard since our 3 day kickoff but these past few days have been a real turning point. We are relieved and excited she has gotten to this point.

I am now 31 weeks pregnant, which is really hard to believe. It has gone by much more quickly this time. Everything is fine with the baby and pregnancy but we do have a growing list of things we would like to do before he arrives. If anyone wants to volunteer to help with any of these, please feel free!

Clear out more stuff from the attic--give away or sell stuff on craigslist/ebay. (DONE)

Convert our office into a nursery. (DONE)

Build this play kitchen for Romey as a Birthday or Christmas gift. (IN PROGRESS)

Fix the grout in the master bathroom. (DONE)

Sand walls around shower/repaint. (DONE)

Assemble a swing set that we inherited when some friends moved. (DONE)

Move Romey to a twin sized bed. (DONE)

Finish this sewing project (by far my most ambitious solo sewing project). (DONE)

Work with my mom to sew crib bedding for baby boy. (IN PROGRESS)

Here is a sneak-peek at the fabric for the bumper:

The colors are lighter are actually lighter than shown in the picture (more of a sage green and ivory) but you get the idea.

So, that is a good update of what we have been doing! I will try to write again soon.

Potty Training: Days 2-3

Well, we officially made it through our 3-day potty training kickoff. WHEW! I know the work is far from over but Romey has definitely made huge progress. Yesterday was filled with tons of false alarms and lots of sitting on the potty with no results. But, since mid-day yesterday, she has done a great job of letting us know when she needs to pee on the potty. She has earned lots of sticker rewards, which she proudly wears around the house! Without going into too much detail, we still have a ways to go in the #2 on the potty department. The good news is that she is definitely bothered by being wet or dirty. She is also VERY proud of her "big girl" panties : )

After being cooped up here for several days, we are going to try to get out tomorrow. She also attends Parents Day Out one day a week so if anyone has tips for venturing out/child care with a novice potty user, PLEASE share!

In other news, here are a funny funny things that Romey has been saying and doing lately:

• She has started saying, "Hallelujah" because of some songs we have listened to. She goes around the house saying it over and over!
• When she talks on her play telephone she answers, "Hello? Yes, Dear." I don't think this is something Philip or I say regularly but she says it all the time.
• She knows every sound on the pages of Mr. Brown can Moo, Can You? and Moo, Baa, La La La. She practically reads these books to herself now.
• She asks for us to sing specific songs for her: Tinkle (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star), R E Seeping (Are you sleeping?), and Hush-e Baby (Hush Little Baby Don't Say A Word). She has also memorized the first line of each and tries really hard to sing along : )

She is such a sweet girl!