TIBS - Week 38

 Week 38

Project Life - Week 3

 This is SO much fun!  Project Life is BACK IN STOCK for anyone who's been thinking about trying it.  It can absolutely be anything you want it to be!  A first year married album, baby's first year (kind of what I'm doing...), old photos that just need to be organized, college days, special adventures - anything! And it also doesn't have to span any particular time period - fun travels over the years... so many possibilities!  It's taking EVERY ounce of control I have not to order the Amber kit to use for something else - and really, I have very little control, so that's saying a lot! ;)

I didn't really get too creative with this spread - it's more or less random photos that I wanted to include and I literally just threw it together - I like that I'm posting and participating in a weekly project post because it has totally kept me accountable to myself in making sure I'm printing my photos and using them in the album.  I know I wouldn't do it otherwise - or I'd wait a looong time and then forget what I wanted to journal on the cards... SO MUCH FUN!  

If anyone decides to order, I'd love to know what you plan to use it for - even if you don't post or have a blog... don't you secretly kind of wish that Project Life was your idea?  It's so brilliant!

Whoa belly!

 That's right - raw and uncensored.

Ready, ready, ready, ready, ready....

20 days until our due date, 11 days of work, 2 bags packed, 20 nurse boxes ready, 4 surprise goody bags assembled, and 1 kinda large belly containing a baby who continues to move more than any book says he should... Did I mention we're ready?

You're ripe my dear child, let's get this party started!

Voices of the Faithful

I had the opportunity to read Voices of the Faithful thanks to Thomas Nelson - and let me be the first to say that I don't do well with daily reading style books.  I just don't keep up the routine.  Even with Bible 365 - as often as I'd try, I would most times read several days at once, whether before it was 'due' or after to catch up. 

I really enjoyed this book - I've just about finished it so I've obviously not used it as a daily devotional -its intention, but the stories were short and it was a quick read - the perfect book to take to weekly doctor visits! :)

The neat thing about this book is that while it's 'by' Beth Moore (who doesn't just adore her?!), it's really just edited by her as the contributing authors are all missionaries.  The stories are from all over the world and share a depth that only someone 'in the field' could - some stories were easy to relate to and others not so much, but overall I liked most of the snippets.

This would be a great book to have around for those days when you don't really have time to sit and read for long periods of time, but you don't want a magazine either.  Perfect for keeping in the car waiting on children after school, in the bathroom (is that weird?!) - it would also be a great gift book as part of a basket of goodies!

TIBS - Week 37

Week 37

Project Life - Week 2

 Since this is my first year doing Project Life - and it's a BIG year for us... I've been all over the place deciding what to do with PL.  Last week I saw some really neat ideas and loved them and was thinking that I'd order another kit for the family and use this one for OP.  Now I'm thinking that I might just use this one for him and wait on doing two until next year when there's more going on... to be decided when the second go 'round of kits are available!

We don't have a lot going on right now and while I do take lots of pictures, there are other things I'd rather put in the album.  I decided to use January to document things that we've been up to, aptly titled 'A  week in our life...' mixed in with baby planning.  Last week I did that theme (and I've already changed it a little since deciding to go with that) and this week I decided to go with our 3D pictures, the nursery, and some vintage pics of me and Chan.  

In the very first few pages, I have my weekly belly pictures with a few spaces left for the remaining weeks.  I also picked up some large pocket 12x12 sleeves for doctor visit/insurance papers and other random tidbits of info.  I think this will be a really fun album for OP when he's older.  

Baby Bling - sort of...not really...

I've written about my love of Lisa Leonard before - and have known since the day I found out I was pregnant for months that I wanted a necklace with our sweet baby's name on it.  After we finalized his name, I had a hard time choosing which necklace.  There is a SUPER sweet one with a charm that has two little feet that was a top contender, and then I thought about the classic round because I love my first LL necklace so much... but I have two other round LL necklaces (one pictured in the first link above) and the heart strings one that Chandler gave me last Valentine's day.  I love them both - but decided that I wanted something a little different for OP.

I thought about the heart and this circle, but I ended up going with the dew drop.

I LOVE the way it turned out!  I knew we wouldn't be using his birthdate and wanted something special on the back so we decided to go with a Bible verse.  There were several that came to mind but after going through my Bible and looking through some that I'd underlined, I found the perfect one.

2 Corinthians 9:15 -->  Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 

We are so fortunate to have been blessed with the ability to have a baby.  I know what a gift that is in and of itself and we are so grateful to have had a healthy pregnancy and so far, healthy baby... as soon as I saw this verse and read it to Chan, we both agreed it was the one.  

There were several others that were similar, but we chose this one because in context, Paul is explaining the importance of giving to the people of Corinth.  There are so many Bible verses that are wonderful alone, but in context, don't seem as great - so I tend to read an entire chapter to pull out what's going on before I really love a verse on its own.  If OP learns nothing else, I want him to understand the importance of giving and kindness - and not just giving, but cheerful giving...giving from the heart.  The same giving that Paul references in chapter 9.  

TIBS - Week 36

 Week 36

Week 36

Double pics since I'm posting late... and a video of OP:

OP's Breakout Attempt from Ginger Hatcher on Vimeo.

I purposely waited a day to post this week's picture - hoping I'd have some updates on OP, but nada.  No dilation.  Boo.  We got three u/s pics that are nothing short of funny.  I should post them... one is a pretty circle (skull), another a few lines (his spine and belly/and heart) and finally one of an eye socket.  Exciting.  Our midwife thinks OP is coming on Valentine's day.  I'm holding out for Feb. 8th - only because our anniversary is May 8th.  Other stats, still great BP, no stretch marks, no itching, lost 2lbs (go figure!), and while my uterus is right on for measurement, I don't feel like I've gotten bigger since last week.  Our midwife says I have a pretty belly.  Um, thanks?  She followed with 'I see a lot of bellies.'  So that's fun.  An odd compliment, but a compliment nonetheless! :)

(Video note: most of the action starts around 1:03.)

Project Life - Week 1

Last week I shared that I'm doing Project Life this year... and while I can't promise to do this every week, I thought I'd link up with The Mom Creative to get some ideas from others who also do Project Life.  It seems weird to 'do' Project Life, but it seems to be the most fitting verb.  Hm.

I've glanced at others' Project Life and wow - so many great ideas!  I'm such a novice!  When I got my kit, I debated the best way to use it.  Would it be for OP's first year?  General family documentation?  Random photos with some notes here and there?  So many options... Since it's only January 11th - fairly early - I could still change my mind on what to do... the way I have it right now, I have my weekly pregnancy pictures in some of the extra pages at the front of the book and then the plan was to start on Jan 1 with some photos from the week.  After looking over some other blogs of some great Project Life ideas/layouts, I'm thinking that what's wrong with doing TWO Project Lifes?  It could be excessive, but it could also be a fantastic way to document both OP's life AND our family.  One book couldn't do both, not in the function I'd want for just OP's life.

So now I'm thinking that when the kits are available again (they are sold out right now but will be restocked in a couple of weeks) - I may order the Amber version.  It's girlier and very cute.  I could still continue to document our life in the current pages, and then just swap them into the new album (sans cards - good thing there are extras!).  I've not totally decided to do this yet, but it's what I'm thinking.  I absolutely LOVE pictures and have an undisclosed number of pictures of Luka, Finley, and Nola.  Heck, I even have lots of just Chandler.  So it definitely wouldn't be totally crazy to think that I could maintain both... and I LOVE that OP would have his life chronicled each day (or most days - I mean, let's face it, I will likely cheat and forget one day and use two pictures from one day for two days...).

I am loving Project Life.  Did anyone else decide to order?  Maybe I'm overly excited because I wanted to do it last year so bad and didn't get my order placed in time... I hope if my Chan is reading he's not flipping over my potential order coming up... (don't worry babe, I'll use my allowance ;))  Such a small price to pay for a LIFETIME of memories!  (Right mom?)

Baby Treats!

Due to a change in plans, the weekend was spent getting things ready for BABY TIME.  We picked up several travel items from Target and there was a considerable amount of chocolate in the mix.  Mmmm....

 Chocolate boxes for nurses and other hospital staff...

The only thing left to do is print the stickers.  The tags will have a note that says something to the effect of 'Thanks for taking care of me and my mom, xo'  

11 Step Program

A friend sent this earlier today... it was too good not to share!  Enjoy...

11 Step Program to Having Children

 

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the newspaper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their.
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breast feeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behaviour. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel.
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out.
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favourite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

 

Big Sister

loooooooooove her!

TIBS - Week 35

Week 35

Not sure why my belly looks so pointy... could be that someone has curled himself right in the middle of my belly, but that's just a guess.  Stats to date - still no stretch marks, no itchy belly, right at 30 lbs gained,  blood pressure still good, sleep = nonexistent... Did I miss anything?  

(I didn't actually wear a plum colored shirt with periwinkle pants - I did however, change out of jeans when I came home from work today... and yes, I wore jeans to work - I only have a few pair of pants I can still wear and I'm not going to buy new clothes for just a couple of weeks.)

Project Life

Have you heard of Project Life?  It's the neatest way to scrapbook!  I waited too long to order in 2010 and the kits sold out, so I jumped on it this year and my kit arrived today.  Soooo exciting!  I know with a new baby I'll have loads of pictures and new experiences so it was especially important to have this for 2011.  The greatest thing about this kit is that you can use it for virtually anything.  I debated waiting and starting it when baby was here and do an album for each year of his life, but I'm too excited to start so I'm just going to go traditional and use it for the entire year.  Did you watch the video?  AMAZING!

There were two kit options this year - I really liked the other one better, it was girlier, but with a baby boy joining the house and knowing that he would likely be the subject of the album, I decided it was best to stick to a more neutral color scheme and turquoise is great too.

It has even MORE that isn't pictured here - too difficult to get it all in the frame... if you're looking for a unique and easy way to scrapbook and capture memories - this is definitely the way to go.  And yes, I say that before even using it.  My faith in it is that strong.  ;)  WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR - order it already!  The idea of it is simple yet genius and you could totally mimic it but just buying similar materials to get the same concept going, but for the money I found this to be the best option for us.

40 Days and 40 Nights, Or....

Dear God,

Could I please have my baby in two weeks?

Pretty please?

Thanks for listening.

Love,

me

PS: Thanks for making him perfect - You are the master baby maker!

iMovie - Take 2

Snow 2010 from Ginger Hatcher on Vimeo.

Slightly boring - unless you adore her the way we do... ;)  Wanted to try using some video with stills - and try the tunage fade out at the end... not bad I don't think.  Didn't have a lot of video to work with, but thanks to my new Flip, we should have LOTS in about six weeks!

YouTube version.

iMovie - Take 1

                                             Baby Hatcher from Ginger Hatcher on Vimeo.

With only a few weeks until OP arrives, I'm trying to figure out as much as I can about Pebbles so I'll be somewhat proficient with what I want to do with baby pictures/videos, etc... This is my first attempt at using iMovie.  If anyone has good reference links, I'd love them.  I think Apple has some on their site, but I haven't checked them out yet - this was just me playing around last night.  I have another that's finalizing that has both stills and video - it took a while to figure out the music fading, but I think I did it... I may have to go back and read the help or find a tutorial depending on what it sounds like when it's done.  One thing is certain - iMovie is definitely better than MovieMaker!

YouTube version.

Word of the Year - 2011

This is not the word that first came to mind... nor was it the second.  But neither of the words I was thinking seemed to be 'it.'  I wanted my word to be one that wasn't just 'thought up,' but one that had meaning for me in this upcoming year.  In 2009, I chose 'dedication' because I recognized there were areas in my life that needed attention and I was ready to tackle each area head-on.  Last year, I chose 'contentment' and 'simplicity.'  2010 brought lots of change for me and included moving to a new state, combining two homes into one, and ajdusting to a 'new' life - both of these words seemed to sum up the goal of all of that.

Last night, for whatever reason, 'renew' kept coming to mind....which led to me remembering Psalm 51:10, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me.' Immediately I knew my word.  'Create.' It is a perfect word for 2011.  Chandler and I have been discussing traditions we want to start with OP, things that are important to us that we want to pass to him, things we want to do as a family... This year, we will create the cornerstone for our family.

At some point, I will post some of the things we hope to incorporate into this year and things we want to do with OP.  I'm really excited about them and look forward to sharing!

What's your word for 2011?