Weekend Creations

New projects to benefit daddy!!! I had a lot of crafty time this weekend and as much as I think Chris would have preferred me to clean up my craft space…which now includes my new desk AND the table I was using before :) I have promised that I will condense soon! Either way, I wanted to make a few new items to list in my etsy but a little more for the boys! I decided to make a few things for Chris and Sawyer that could double as an item to list. Here they are! Let me know what you think! Chris loves them. Camo and hunting isn’t my thing, but the mainstream baby colors aren’t exactly masculine enough for my man either!

Hunting Themed Burp Cloths

Camo monogrammed travel wipe case

Baby Silas is here

Welcome to the world baby Silas!! Stormi and James welcomed their new baby boy into the world Wednesday March 25 at 11:43 pm after a long day of waiting! We are all so happy he is here and everyone is doing great!!! He weighed in at 6lbs 7oz and is 18.5in long. Chris and I went to meet him yesterday. I forgot just how tiny they are!!! I can tell you my uterus was aching to hold my little man!

Even Chris got brave and held him. He looked so tiny against Chris.

Congrats to the Littlejohn family!

Weekend Recap

As always our weekends are busy and short! Saturday Chris worked and Karly and I ran a few errands. I tried my hand at homemade salsa and it turned out fab!!! (Thanks Dani for the recipe...it was a hit!) Karly even helped out and made french onion dip...her favorite. Saturday afternoon we had a birthday party for our little cousin Dustin. Bday party was followed by a BBQ...I wish I had a few pictures to share, but pregnancy brain is in full effect working against me and caused me to forget my camera! It was nice to see everyone it had been awhile since we got together with them.

Sundays are lazy/productive just depending on how lazy/productive I was during the week. Due to the purging of Karly's room this week (blog and pics and pleading for advice to come soon) I was unexpectedly extremely far behind on laundry so today was full of that. We had breakfast and did some cleaning so I could craft guilt free. Chris found his motivation this afternoon and hit the yard for the first of many mowings this summer.

Unfortunately our dogs have become extreme gopher hunters and have done some serious digging damage. Chris bought dirt and spent some time filling in holes prior to mowing. Needless to say he wasn't very pleasant during these few hours. No pictures of Karly today as she has sworn me to never taking pictures of her on doggy doody..I mean duty :) I shall stay true to my word and skip the poop picking up pictures.

Shane looking extremely innocent and adorable. He is the only one who likes his picture taken. Buddy and Penny hate the camera.

And what week would be complete without a self taken bathroom belly picture update?!?!

28 weeks...12 more to go!

PS: while we were all happy to have this lovely weather my sister Erica, her bf and his family jetted off to Tahoe for a weekend of skiing...they sent me these pics. Don't you love technology and how it keeps us all in touch in an instant?!?! Thanks E & B for sending pics...love you both!

Desk Unveiling!

For the last 2 weeks I have had not one, but two desks sitting on our back porch. I started with ambitions to redo a desk for Karly and bought the first one. Then at the yard sale I mentioned in this blog a few weeks back I picked up this desk for the perfect price of...FREE! I love FREE!!

The desk was nothing to look at, but it was very sturdy. Metal base with solid wood...not walmart wood as we like to call it. I just couldn't pass up free solid furniture just because I had purchased a walmart wood one for 30 bucks and still hadn't gotten to work on it :) I tried to talk myself out of it, but couldn't get this ugly desk off my mind. The next day I was so relieved that she still had it! I did have to wait a week to pick it up, well for Aunt Gay and Uncle Danny to pick it up for me...but I got it! After a week of here and there work this is what it looks like today! Not too bad huh!

Total investment less than 15 bucks! Things I learned along the way...

1) this should take 2 cans of spray paint if you know what you are doing...if you are me it will take every ounce of 3 cans due to sanding down the bubbly spots due to not properly "swooshing" each stroke. Spray painting is NOT as easy as it looks.

2) this should have taken a handful of hours tops but took a 7 month pregnant lady with a full time job a good week of here and there-ing it to complete.

3) when you can't figure out how to load the staple gun ask your 10 year old daughter...she will figure it out in less than a second after you spent 5 minutes trying.

Before

and After!

Did I mention Karly doesn't even want this one?!?! Sooo, we are still going to redo the other one for her room. Project to begin this week, hopefully I will have another unveiling next week!

This one is mine now! I am going to use it for my sewing and crafting! Can't wait! I have my machine on a buffet type table and am always nervous it will get knocked over! Hopefully this week I can get everything moved over and rearranged for maximum productivity and cuteness of course :)

Happy First Day of Spring!

I hope everyone is being blessed with the lovely weather we are having today!!! Spring is the best! I love when the grass and green comes back, flowers start to sprout and it feels like your body is just sucking up the sun! LOVE IT ALL!!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Giveaway...not here so head on over

If you haven't checked out my Etsy store yet...head that way!

I also wanted to encourage you to check out the new blog...I have a grand opening giveaway that ends Friday night!!! You know you love a free prize!!! Who doesn't?!?!

http://www.welcometosmoxcreations.blogspot.com/

Doctor Appointment Update

Hello world!! I had my 28 week appointment yesterday; all is well. He said my vitals are all good, my glucose test came back fine, and my weight is doing great… GREAT…his word not mine! I said really? He said yes, you are up 14 pounds and more than halfway done. He said he guessed I would be between 25-30 all said and done but he couldn’t promise :) He said he typically like his patients to stay under 30 but if I were to go over which he doubts that it wouldn’t be a cause for huge concern. I am overly worried about gaining a million pounds so it was nice to hear I am right on track! He did say I am retaining some water in my lower legs and feet and really the only “cure” will be delivery. Try to keep my legs up and drink that water…yuck. I asked him about my circumcision question and he says typically he does do them in the hospital and that is fairly common practice here, I think that is weird?!?! Any opinions? If I want to go with a pediatrician doing it a little later that is fine, but not many do them here so be sure I ask when choosing. Now I am kind of torn…I really didn’t want it done at birth for a handful of reasons. He was very kind and supportive in whatever choice I make about it. We talked about HepB vaccine at birth and the vitamin K shot…he was supportive of holding off on the HepB…he wasn’t thrilled with the vitamin K discussion. Of course I had a few other questions how big does he consider a big baby and how he would proceed. We also talked about how long he would let me go after my water broke and his views on pitocin. He seems very understanding and open minded if no one is showing signs of distress. I left feeling pretty good :)

Sawyer was very active. I am still measuring a little big, but have since the beginning so now worries. His heart rate was 149 and was flipping back and forth while the doctor was trying to measure my belly and find his heart beat. Already being a handful!

That's my baby update!

Love this post

I stumbled across this post this morning and truthfully couldn't have read something more inspiring and reaffirming. It was perfect timing…I must admit releasing my creations into the world does make me feel a bit exposed, this confirmed to me that feeling a little exposed for something you believe in can be a wonderful thing.

This was the quote that inspired this person’s post…I love it…go read it.

"you can dare to take that unspoken dream seriously"

http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/2009/03/pretending-until-were-not-pretending.html

SMOX CREATIONS

For as long as I can remember I have loved crafts and creating! I think I am the one child that inherited this from my momma! Many thanks to my mom for always supporting, encouraging, and funding my next hobby while growing up.

It has always been a dream to be able to stay home and still financially contribute to my family using my creativity. I am a realist and know that there are few people that can actually turn crafting into a business, but hey...a girl can dream and fight to get there right?!?!

After too long of saying I am going to, scheming to, planning to, wanting to, overcoming self doubt and fears, and procrastinating, I finally pulled my stuff together! I officially opened an Etsy store! For those of you that aren't familiar with Etsy...it is a website where people can open a "store" for their handmade items. It's a great little community.

SMOX CREATIONS

It's quite skeletal now, but I promise to keep it growing so check often!

If you are looking for something for the little love of your life or a great baby shower gift, check out my store! If you need something specific let me know and we can work on it!

I am inspired by boutique products, just not by the prices! Honestly that is how this journey truly started to take place. I was out window shopping for Sawyer stuff in a local (adorable but EXTREMELY overpriced) boutique... all of the sudden my light bulb came on...


Please share with your friends and family! I am a firm believer in word of mouth! If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment here. You can also shoot me an email at smoxcreations@yahoo.com

I have also set up a blog specifically for SMOX CREATIONS. I will post new items along with other great things I find online! Follow me!

http://www.welcometosmoxcreations.blogspot.com/

Hop on over and check it out.

Here are a few of my starting items...more to follow soon!

Boutique Travel Baby Wipe Cases

Baby Shoes

Burp cloths

My mind is swirling with other items and I am working on them as much as I can! If you have anything you would like to see let me know!

Now go check out my store and blog!

Sunday Night check in

Busy busy weekend as usual! Chris went to Louisiana to help a friend so it was just us girls. Friday night I laid down to take an hour nap at 6:30 and told Chris to wake me up in an hour...he did, and I said an hour more. We did this until 10:30 when he told me to get up and change into pj's. I got up, we had a bowl of cereal and headed back to bed. Sawyer was a wild man, probably from the Lucky Charm high :) Chris got to feel him a lot and really hard kicks...15 minutes later I was asleep...until 7:30 the next morning!!! 13 hours!!! Apparently I was pretty tired!

Saturday was Stormi's baby shower. This is the first event I have hosted and it really is a little more stressful than I realized! Overall it turned out really well! Ten more days and baby Silas should be on his way to meet us. Here are a few pics from the shower. I really sucked at getting pictures, my apologies!

NEW PIC: Photo of me 27 weeks, courtesy of Karly :)... Definitely pregnant looking! Enormous moat in the background courtesy of the dogs mole hunting. They may get murdered by Chris very soon.

I started my desk project today and am hoping to have it finished up by next weekend. The weekdays are a little tough to get much accomplished!

Stay tuned for my revealing blog set to post in the next hour! Hope everyone has a lovely week!

Friday Fun Day

Good Morning and Happy Friday the 13th!!! There are actually three Friday the 13th’s this year!?!? Yikes for all you superstitious people!

We all know I love Fridays!! Free time is so close I can taste it! I have a few things I am hoping to sew this weekend. I am releasing some BIG NEWS this weekend as well, (check back later this weekend for that post!) along with hosting a baby shower (pics of course to follow) and taking care of every day life somewhere in all of that ;) Oh yes, and I desperately need to make a pineapple upside down cake that I have been craving for about 2 weeks...thanks Nic for getting me going on that one!

I am always (obviously) adding something new to my craft wanna do list. I went to Canton a few weekends ago and saw a fabulous wall canvas that I ADORED!!! I simply didn’t adore the $100 price tag on it! I NEED TO MAKE ONE!!! I wish I had a picture of it to show you, but I promise if…I should say WHEN I make it I will post pictures. I was super tempted to buy the stuff to make it last night but one must practice some financial self control…or one must start making more money to supplement ones craft fund.

One of my favorite creative blogs to stalk is UCreate, she is always highlighting some fabulous plan. Today I get to work, have my morning coffee (mmmm) and escape to blog land only to find my next craft project (wink, wink…I know they are all my NEXT project! It’s just so hard to only have 2 hands). Go check this out…I love it! I am thinking a big huge family one for above my couch, friends and family ones for gifts….oooohhhh….Hobby Lobby here I come! Did I mention canvas was on sale when I was there yesterday?!?! I wonder if I worked there what the discount would be ;)

Go off my dear friends and CREATE something beautiful! It feels good…I promise!

Lovin Creativity

I love finding fabulous new and creative ideas online. Sometimes I will make the same thing, sometimes I will tweak it, I am always inspired to create though!

A few posts back I posted an idea for a desk I as going to do. I found a desk for $30 on Craigslist…got it and I don’t love it. I mean it will work but wasn’t what I had in mind. NOOOWWW, this morning I ran across THIS ONE (click on those words :) )! Randomly enough the lady across the street from me that had a yard sale last weekend had a free (my favorite price) desk that I think will fit this project perfectly! Are we in love?!?! Ummm yes! Now what to do with the desk I actually paid money for...or the husband who is probably ready to strangle me with all these "great ideas" I am coming up with :)

Also stumbled across this and thought it was too cute and festive to not pass along. Click here.

Hard days work

I am not sure if I have shared with you all how nice my boss is...I mean, he has his moments for sure (who doesn’t), but overall he is great. Karly is on spring break this week and bored out of her mind. I asked him if she could spend the afternoon at work with me yesterday. His answer, give her a hood and send her out back to learn to weld. Obviously that didn’t happen, but she was quite helpful! She sorted, filed, copied, even scanned and emailed pdf files. Her conclusion; college is a definite for her. She has decided that my job isn’t very exciting. In between her working she took plenty of breaks to play her Nintendo DS (thanks Nini) and draw pictures….and then send them via blackberry to her aunt Erica. Lovely day of work.

After her hard day of work we headed out for a haircut. Her hair was WAY too long (as is mine)! We are both meant to have short hair. We unfortunately are both scared of new hair people so we go far too long in between these days. Karly wanted hers cut that second and I couldn't get her in with a hair lady so she had to brave Supercuts...she survived! Her cut isn't anything that I asked for, but I guess when you have zero patience and pick a shop on the side of the road you get the $10 cut you pay for :) She still is beautiful...just not as trendy as she wanted!

Spring has Sprung!

For those of you not living in Texas...or actually for everyone that doesn't live in Arizona time change happened this weekend. Growing up in a state that doesn't ever change times I find time change the weirdest and most annoying thing ever! "Spring Forward" (move clocks up an hour) doesn't bother me as much as "Fall Back" (move clocks back an hour)...fall back makes it pitch black at 530 which is just depressing! Chris wasn't so thrilled at losing his hour of sleep this morning especially since he had to work. ANYWAYS.....it is starting to look like Spring around here. Now that I have lived here for a full year I think I can say that Spring is my favorite season! I love everything turning green again and starting to bloom! Now it just needs to warm up enough to swim and kayak in the lake! Snapped a few pics of the peach tree in the backyard and thought I would share. I adore how this tree just explodes with little pink blossoms overnight....the bees also enjoy it!

Weekend Recap

Why do the weekends fly by so quickly?!?! I swear I am off work Friday and before I know it I am making sure we have clean clothes to wear to work on Monday! I need a vacation!

Saturday Chris was off so we had a half day of errands planned in the afternoon. That morning Aunt Gay had invited me to a tile class. We essentially stamped tiles. I tried this a few months ago and made coasters. It's quite fun once you get an idea in your head! This is one that I made...cute right?!? Can't decide if I want to put it in a little plate holder thing or hang it with some ribbon.

Did I mention the lady that lives across the street was having a yard sale?!? I got a killer stash of fabric and all sorts of crafty odds and ends for 10 bucks! I ran across a very cute project for Karly the other day and went to Michaels to buy the wood beads for it, the line was forever long so I decided I would come back another time...well in my amazing find there were about 200 wood beads!!! It's like I was meant to have it :)

After class it was off to get Chris fitted for a tux for his friend TC's wedding next month and to REGISTER!! YAY...fun for everyone...or so one would think :) Aside from Chris and Karly bickering over who got to hold the gun thing it was good. The Babies R Us here is pretty small, between in store and online we managed to do some damage :) It was actually a little overwhelming to see just how much stuff babies need.

Saturday night and Sunday were filled with crafting! Pics to follow soon! Aside from a dead car battery...which in turn was something else as well (thank goodness for Chris & Uncle Danny) the weekend was pretty darn good!

25 weeks and 5 days

That is how far along I am...or considered anyways...I think the whole due date game is a little shady within a week or two time frame.

Soooo, some of you know that last summer I hit my all time fattiest weight ever! I knew I had gained fairly steadily over the previous few years but when I went to the doctor's office and stood on the scale I literally broke down in tears. How did I let myself get so fat?!?! Sadly the year or so leading up to that point I had felt fat, frumpy and insecure but never really did much about it. I talked and planned about it a lot though! After that doctors appointment I found some inner drive and motivation to actually take control from July to September I lost about 15 pounds....I just ate right and started exercising, nothing extreme but slowly my body was coming around. Even better than watching that scale go down was how much better I physically and emotionally felt.

NOW THAT YOU HAVE THE BACKGROUND....

I got on the scale this am and BAM I was exactly that horrific weight I was last June. I knew it was inevitable considering it was only 15 pounds and I knew I would gain more than that. It still sucked. I will admit I have put zero effort into eating healthy and exercising. I just can't seem to remember that even though the scale won't go down it's still the healthy and responsible thing to do for myself and Sawyer. I now remember what it felt like to weigh this much (not pregnant) and how gross and icky I felt. I truly don't feel too badly now probably because I am pregnant. I never, ever want to be this weight again though.
As of today I am back to making healthier choices.

Healthy weight gain and exercise will only make for an easier pregnancy and delivery!
Not to mention hopefully bouncing back a little easier!

Progress not perfection right?!?


and what pregnancy post would be complete without my quality photo skill filled self pics :)

could I carry a little higher?!?! seriously I have a baby growing in my ribs.

view from the top, no more feet :(

Tutu much fun :)

Almost Monday...boo for back to the real world! Karly and I were crafting queens this weekend. First up...a new tutu for Karly! The store bought ones are never fluffy enough or the colors she wants so we set out to make one ourselves! It is perfect! She is a happy girl! Wanted to share a few pics of my little princess in her new rock star tutu! Gotta love her sporting the black all stars with it...this child truly has her own funky little style. I love that she does her own thing, what an amazing little lady!

She is hoping to wear this to school...

guessing I will be getting a call to change her clothes that day!

Enjoy!