Yes, Yes, I should have shown a picture of the rug. :)

Thanks so much for all the compliments! It's fun to share when you are all so supportive!
This shot shows the rug I was talking about.

Design on a Dime Nursery Reveal!

I know everyone has been so excited! :) JK... I know I have. My husband thinks I'm a bit crazy and I'm sure I am, but, as promised, here it is, the new nursery 95% done.





I also promised in my earlier post that I would list how much I spent to make this room work for two boys.... so...
here's the scoop:

We already had:
Crib- a deal from an Amish builder in Kirksville
Armoir (big green thing- free from K-ville cleanup- thanks to Charyce)
Eirik painting and two tropical paintings (cheap since I made them)
beetle art- calendar pages framed in found bamboo- mounted on foam core and cardstock
diaper basket
changing pad
growth chart- gift
lamp- garage sale
Rug- splurge from West Elm -I believe you can't skimp on rugs. :)

New Items:
New toddler bed: $25 craig's list
New Ikea dresser: $45 Craig's list
New bookshelf: $24 Wood and paint from Home Depot
New Curtains: free with a fabulous gift certificate from 4 wonderful girls at my shower! Thanks Sydney, Selina, Ashlie, and Katie!!!
New shelves on walls $12.50 (.50 brackets from Ikea and wood from home depot)
Paint for walls $22

Total for new items: $128.50!!

Yet to buy: crib mattress and new comfy glider! (The glider is my Christmas wish. :)

Although the room is a bit cramped, it's so functional and I'm so glad to have a changing table this time!! It was so fun to get out all of the baby boy stuff and put it in the new dresser. Eirik and I love our new play area and although the nursery will look this clean and put together for about 30 seconds before it's a giant mess, as nurseries always become, it is fun to have a place for everything and have it finished.

Now, where am I going to hang the new Joren painting I am working on ???

Look at this darling quilt! Erin, Charyce, Anona and Christina went in on this for me for the shower. Erin picked fabrics that are perfect for the new nursery and they hand stitched it. It's gorgeous! I LOVE it! Thanks so much ladies!

A fabulous baby shower!

I was amazed at the turnout at my baby shower. I looked around at all of these great women who came to celebrate our new baby and felt so blessed. 95% of the women that came were med students wives. What a support group we have! Thanks everyone for coming! And especially thanks to Erin for hosting! You are amazing.






Erin went out of her way to make all of my favorite shower foods including my special request for fruit soup which she brought to a cooking club once and I have craved ever since. She posted some great photos of the food on her blog that you should check out.

New Friends

This post is about Eirik and his "best" friend Benjamin .
Since Erin and I love to hang out all the time, our boys get to be together all the time. This has been a great blessing for all of us, and yet lately it has become quite comical. As these boys' personalities are starting to come more into focus, their differences are too. Eirik is a very needy, social, interactive, impatient, no attention span type of boy. Benjamin, on the other hand is very independent, meticulous, detailed, scrutinizing, and reflective. These traits make them great friends since they learn a lot from each other (I fear Eirik learns more positive traits from Benjamin than vise versa) but it also creates some interesting dynamics. For example, Eirik always wants to play with what Ben has, so Ben has developed a helpful tactic. When he finds a toy he wants to play with, he gets it and runs and hides before Eirik can try to take it away or trade him for something else. Eirik will of course chase him and Benjamin will turn and push him to keep him away from his prized toy. Then Benjamin gets in trouble and has to say he's sorry and share. Poor Benjamin, he just wants to be left alone. Eirik loves to give hugs. In fact, he likes it so much that sometimes I think he hits Benjamin so that he can quickly say sorry and give him a hug. Ben hates hugs and runs away from Eirik leaving him crying and chasing him. This happened at church. Eirik was so happy to see Benjamin at church that he chased him out of sacrament on their way to nursery. Eirik was insisting that Benjamin hold his hand, but Benjamin would have nothing to do with it. He ran from a crying frustrated Eirik pleading "Bejamees, hand, hand!!" all the way down the hall. Eirik is always trying to play catch with Ben. He gives him the ball or the bat or the net or whatever and then Benjamin goes off to play with it by himself. Eirik gets so frustrated. It just cracks me up, and makes me sad because Ben just wants Eirik to LEAVE HIM ALONE, and Eirik just wants someone to play with him ALL THE TIME!
I just hope they stay "best buds". Eirik still squeals with delight when I say we are going to Benjamin's house. I just hope Benjamin doesn't start hating to have Eirik around. Erin and I just wouldn't be able to deal with that! :)

Old Friends

My fabulous friend and her family came to dinner on Sunday. We had a great time recounting some of the stories of our extensive history together and enjoying the joy that comes from having long time friendships.
In our relationship it seems like I often take the roll of the overconfident make it happen person, while she is the one with her head on her shoulders reminding me, ever so gently, of reason and realism. I've always appreciated this about her. This week I dug myself into a tasking frenzy (which seems to happen a lot with me) where I have this awesome to-do list that I'm so excited about and I go nuts trying to get everything done all at once. Of course most of the things on the list are creating some sort of art, and a very few things on the list include things that will make my son happy. Well, as she was leaving she said she often has to give herself a little "talk". Her talk goes something like this. (side note: she has two small kids)
"Do I want to look back on this time that I had as a mother of small children and remember how rushed and frustrated and overwhelmed I was? This is my life now. This is my chance and I need to enjoy it everyday. "
She said it much better, but I needed to hear it again in her sweet way since sometimes it's so much easier to find fulfillment in accomplishing tasks than it is in sitting down with the kids and some books.
I thought I would attach a few special pictures of the two of us. This first one is at this really cool arch on the far side of the island of Aruba. We were there for work, and had one day off. We rented a car for the day and drove around the island. This side of the island is mostly barren and in this cove the waves were incredibly strong and created this awesome rock formation. We loved it.


The second picture was from the same outing, later, while we were driving through a herd of wild donkeys. It was near Christmas time, and Mary was pregnant so I persuaded her (good friend that I am) to jump out of the car and go try to ride one of these donkeys so she could pretend she was the virgin Mary wrapped in a blue cloth. Darn those donkeys, they sure could get away fast!

Also, you have to check out her incredibly cool family photos she just had done.

www.amberlightsphotography.blogspot.com
Just scroll down a bit until you see Lauritzen.

PS someone should tell me how to include a link. I'm slllloooowwwwww and can't figure it out.
... on second thought, I will just upload the picture..

Design on a Dime- Nursery Edition

For some reason when it comes to decorating our house I get so giddy about getting new things that I feel absolutely guilty about how much they cost. I feel like I'm getting totally spoiled. (yeah, I'm still getting over the new draperies! Yikes, Paul talked me into getting the ones I wanted and they were not cheap.) So, when I gave in to the reality that we just need some new things to accommodate a second child, I finally got busy and planned a cute little nursery. For Eirik's first room, the only things we bought were the crib, a rug and some curtains. For this nursery, I decided we have to have a toddler bed, a new glider and I'm sick of changing diapers on the floor and we're totally out of storage space, so we needed a dresser. I searched and searched on Craig's list for deals on these items and finally decided on some pieces. I mapped out the rout to go pick them all up and was ready to go when I got cold feet about driving all over Detroit in places I had never been when I really didn't know how long it was going to take and I couldn't take Eirik since it wouldn't all fit and I didn't want to leave him too long. Anyway, I got Paul to pick it all up for me yesterday, and let me tell you; Paul hates traffic, and it was traffic for 5 hours. I am THRILLED with our super sweet deals and great furniture. Even with $25 in gas, it was totally worth it.... for me. :) For poor Paul, I think if I try to pull a stunt like this again, he will have nothing to do with it.
So, just for fun, I am going to add up all that I have spent on the nursery and post some pictures since I think I'm an excellent deal finder and do-it-yourselfer... and I'm pretty proud of it. :)
(I may be digging myself into a hole since I'm just hoping that it all turns out as cute as I imagine it, and it's not done yet. If you never see pictures, then you will know that all my efforts resulted in a hodgepodge of bad sacrifices in the name of a deal. I've been known to get succored in the name of a deal.)
Here's my little sketch: Hope it turns out...

20 Months Old

Well, Eirik is now officially in a toddler bed. I pulled off the side of his crib about 2 weeks ago and he fell out every night for the first 5 nights. I almost gave up, but he hasn't fallen out since. He loves it and so do I. He HATES to be in bed with Paul and I for some reason. He just won't do it, so we never have to worry about him coming to our bed. He just gets up and cries at the bottom of the stairs for me to come get him some milk and turn on his favorite animal show. (This is his favorite thing to do in the morning!)

Eirik and I went to this Mom 2 Mom sale last Saturday (one of my favorite things about Detroit) and Eirik spotted this cute little potty chair that sits on the floor. He got so excited and wanted to sit on it and drag it around the room. He grabbed my hand and said, "mommy, open diaper please?" How could I resist. I had to buy the chair. The next day, he pulled the chair to me from the bathroom and said, "open diaper please". Mind you, I am not ready to potty train a 20 month old boy with a new baby coming in a month, so I was not going to really encourage this, but when he sat down and actually went I was AMAZED! We, of course, profusely congratulated him, but he was as excited, if not more, than we were by his own accomplishment. I think if I were diligent I could get him totally potty trained soon, but I am not ready for that responsibility. For those of you experienced moms, do you have any advise for me based on the signs he is giving? If I don't move forward with his excitement am I going to make it harder later?

Recently Eirik and I have been doing a lot of puppet making, finger painting, peanut butter playdough, regular playdough, hide and seek, tons of throwing and catching the ball, Eirik helping mommy paint ie: he sorts the pencils by color and makes a giant mess while I paint, Storytime at the library (a lifesaver!) and the best way to cure day to day monotony has been getting together with Erin and Benjamin almost every day for something or other. I can't tell you how great it is to have at least one activity planned every day. That saves me!

Oh, and I'm sad to say but Eirik has a few TV shows he likes to watch every day and I let him. :) Zaboomafo, Backyardigans, and Wonder Pets. They are all such cute and informative shows and I love what Eirik learns from them.

Eirik is talking in sentences and knows how to ask for anything he wants. I finally discovered the power of discipline this week. I realized that I have been letting him walk all over me. He's been developing tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants right when he wants it. Well, I finally learned that when I get firm with him, he is glad for the boundaries and does respect them. We are starting on a whole new venture here. Now, mommy is definitely in charge.
In fact, today we did a whole lot of things that I wanted to do instead of mostly things that Eirik wanted to do and he had to fend for himself. I worked on three paintings and painted the nursery walls, and he learned to paint on paper with water and leave mom's paints alone and find things to play with. It was great! He was very well behaved and it felt like I had a little bit of synergy between us that will continue to develop into a relationship where we are helping each other and I'm not just the caregiver. Pretty fun!

He's absolutely delightful with his spontaneous thank yous and I'm sorrys and hugs. He loves to help in any way that he can. He loves to sit on the counter by while while I do make up or while I cook. He wants to do everything I do. He has learned though that make-up is just for girls and he likes to tell me all the time... "make-up for gilas" which sounds a lot like gorillas. (We're working hard on those r's still.) :)
Today we played hide and seek for the first time- his idea.
He told me he was hiding in the shower. I told him it was my turn and he had to come find me. I went to hide and then he said, "mom?" I said "yeah" and he goes, "yeah, ok" and tries to follow my voice. We went through this conversation about 4 times for each hide and that cute little "yeah, ok" had me rolling. So cute!

Eirik loves to lay on my belly and talk to Jorin and give him hugs. I hope they're good friends.
I hope the boys like their new nursery. :) (who am I kidding.. the new nursery is for me, not them. They could care less what the furniture looks like!)

Mom, remember how I could Ollie before I could jump!

This one is for my brother Dave who has been checking out my blog lately! Thanks!
So, Eirik and I watch Dave's my space video of him skateboarding all the time. Eirik loves it. Lately he stands on a book .. basically anything and says.. "Skateboard!" Well yesterday we had an empty diaper wipe box that Eirik was trying to balance on. He was having trouble so he came and grabbed my hand and said, "Mon, mommy, hep skateboard." He then balanced on the little box and kept trying to jump or ollie! I was so proud. He can't get air yet, but by the time you see him next Dave, you can teach him a thing or two. :)
PS. I just googled my brother's name and found this amazing pic of my bro on the main page of a skateboarding site!
We think you're super cool Dave!

Halloween

So I was planning to dress Eirik up in the same darling Lion costume that he wore last year for Halloween, but a few weeks before Halloween, Erin and I took the boys to a storytime at the library where the puppet show was given by a very loud and scary man who did a show about lions. Eirik was terrified by his loud scary voice and loud scary growling, so everytime a lion was mentioned Eirik would cry out "NO LION", or in his voice something more like, "NO LIORLIN!"
I tried to get him to try on the costume again many times and there was just no convincing him... so I decided to go with a costume I thought he could really get into. He LOVES horses. I mean, he LOVES them. He wants to watch horse videos on You Tube every day and there's a new Zaboomafoo show about horses. Yeah, you better believe he can't go a day without wanting to watch it. He carries his little horses around and he has to ride the horse at the grocery store every time! So I figured a cowboy would be a great costume. I found some cute costumes on Ebay, but mind you, at this point, I had no time to order anything, so I used them for ideas and made him his own vest and chaps. I was so surprised to find that I had all the materials in my sewing closet for this cute little getup, including the little brads on the stars. What good fortune. I had bought the hat at a garage sale a few weeks before for a quarter and we just had to find the boots at a second hand store to complete the outfit. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. The best part is that Eirik really likes his costume, (although keeping the hat on was absolutely impossible!) and he says cowboy like this: "cawbie" which is really cute.. to me at least. :)
Happy Halloween everyone!

As promised, Emily has supplied MUCH better pictures of the Red Barn Festival.
Thanks Emily. Your talent is truly a treasure!

Fall is here- well, at least it looks like it's here!

It's still gorgeous 70 degree weather with a tiny breeze. I would never guess it's almost Halloween. We have been going to all kinds of fun fall activities. These first photos are of a "fire safety class" that our complex held for the kids this morning. I invited Erin, Jed and Benjamin and I'm so glad they came. I think Erin had as much fun as the kids and Paul and Jed played with the airplanes that the firemen gave us more than any of the kids did too. It was fun for Eirik and Ben to climb into the fire truck and ambulance and hear the sirens and see all the equipment. They loved the cookies and free firemen hats too.





These pictures are of a really fun party that the hospital threw for all the students and their families at a place called Fun Acres. There were all kinds of games, animals for the kids to feed, a corn maze and pizza and cider in the barn. It was great to meet some of the people Paul has been getting to know and to see all of our friends. The kids loved it. And the light was gorgeous. The hay ride was the best. Eirik woke up talking about it in the morning.






Anona, Erin, Christine and I all went out to Apple Charlie's this week too. We let the boys pick apples off of the trees and we watched the ducks and geese and saw a whole slew of other animals in pens. The boys loved it, except Eirik was driving me nuts since I guess he was ready for a nap at 10:00 instead of his usual 12:30/1:00. He was so tired he kept falling down in the rotten apples and making me carry him everywhere (he says, "mommy, cavy, cavy" or "mommy, hold it" and then he whines and whines. We skipped the pumpkin patch on account of the whining and the fact that Eirik sat down right in the mud and became caked in mud. No big deal if I didn't have to carry him everywhere. :) In the end, it was for sure worth going, and what great women I get to hang out with!

I finally got my haircut last night, and Paul got dragged into giving me a pedicure. What a sweetheart! I feel spoiled and renewed. I also made Paul document my haircut since I have hated my hair for so long. It's better! I'm glad. I really always will be a short hair girl from now on. What was I thinking!!!


Thanks for everyone's nice comments on my last whiny post. I think we all have those days, but you are all so kind!

51 Days Left

This is one of those vent posts where I tell you my woes and we all laugh and hopefully it helps me stop whining.
51 days left of pregnancy seems like such a short time... if it's someone else! I have to say this pregnancy has been nothing to complain about. I have been surprisingly well and uninhibited by this little man growing inside me, until this week. It seems like my body was holding on until the Red Barn Festival and then I came home and crashed. I've been exhausted, panting going up the stairs, unable to roll over without pain in bed, not sleeping as well, stretching like homemade taffy on a jig and just sore. I know, I know, it's all to be expected and it's nothing really, but I guess I'm just feeling more emotional about it all. There it is.. it's the hormones or something that blew up this week, because the rest is different, but not that different. Anyway, I'm lucky because Erin and Anona insisted on watching Eirik this morning so I could sleep, and I can't say how grateful I am for friends that act like family here. Thanks girls!
We're all getting excited for this little one to get here. Eirik loves to give my tummy hugs and likes to cry out "Chorn (Joren) ugs... ugs.. (hugs)" over and over until I come over and let him wrap his little arms around my huge belly. It's really cute and I think he really understands now. I showed him a picture or two of a baby inside a tummy in an anatomy book and I think he got it then. We talk about babies all the time and he's pretty excited.

We're pretty set on this name, but no one order anything that says Joren Paul or anything crazy like that... we are bound to change our minds at the last minute. (I speak for my husband mostly.) So here's the first pictures of our little man. Just in time for Halloween. JK. He does look a little skelital, but you can tell he's going to be pretty cute I think. His nose isn't really missing, it's just shoved up against the side of my uterus so it's hard to photograph. I love my doctor who does these 3D ultrasounds with each visit!

Of all of us, of course I'm the most excited about Joren coming though because I'm not happy about all the weight I'm gaining and the way my hips are streeeetching and no one has to say anything about how cute my beach ball belly is... I'm not asking for that, it's just a lot more weight than I gained last time and I'm worried. I always gain extra weight starting in October so I have to remember and not let the hormones speak for me. I just look awful now though and am dreaming of the days when I looked like this.... Oh well. ha ha... Paul does look like he's about to cry, but I promise it's not that bad to be married to me. :)


I'm getting my hair cut finally on Friday and hopefully that will help my mood. I hate going to a new stylist. It always stresses me out. It seems like stylist don't understand what it is like to hate your hair and have it be a stress since they got into doing hair because they love their hair and can do anything with it and it will look good. They're often so unsympathetic! I hope my new stylist gets me and tries to help me out of the hair mess I'm in with dignity.

Speaking of dignity....
Katherine dared me to post some embarrassing photos of me when I was a child. I finally have them scanned and I am posting them just to show that I have no shame and I'm not afraid of a dare... And with this post, I extend a challenge and dare to all of my viewers to also offer up some, or at least one, of your most embarrassing childhood photos. It's only fair!

Red Barn Festival!

I had a lot of people give me the "you are crazy" look this weekend. I drove to Kirksville, MO - (supposedly a 10.5 hour drive- for some reason it took me 12!) to exhibit my paintings in a booth at the Red Barn Festival. I wanted to make this crazy trek at 7 months pregnant for a couple of reasons.
1st- I wanted to see my K-ville friends that I miss so much.
2nd- When I moved to Michigan I immediately realized that I needed something to keep me busy that would help me transition to living in a new place. Emotionally I always do better when I'm busy and creating. Red Barn was perfect because it was a close deadline, - lots of pressure- and it was almost a guaranteed success since I didn't need to invest very much money to make it happen.
3rd- I like a challenge. :)

I had a wonderful time seeing so many of my old buddies and giving/ getting lots of hugs, having lunch with old friends and renewing friendships. Going back really made it apparent to me just how wonderful it is to live in a small town and develop close friendships with so many people.
I shared the booth space with three other very talented artists who all showed great work. Debbie, Tasheena and Rachel are awesome and our work all really seemed to flow together well. The day went really well when I overlook the sopping wet setup and cold wet aftermath of the rain, and the $100 bill I lost somewhere during the day. The rest was great. I actually sold enough paintings and prints to pay for the costs of the gas and the prints and to make a tiny bit of money on the deal. I call it a success, even if I am not much richer for the experience.

A few of my pictures turned out really blury, but luckily for me, my awesome friend Emily drove up from St. Louis and photographed all of us and is sending the pics to me soon. Thank you Emily!!! You are awesome!
I'll update the pics as soon as I have them.
Thanks everyone who made this weekend so fun!

A Brother is coming!!!!

Paul and I have been trying to prepare Eirik for the coming of a little brother. He is in a stage right now where he is very, exasperatingly needy. He won't let me leave the room he is in without a tantrum. This concerns me since very soon some of his needs will have to be superseded by a new baby. We've been reading a bunch of books about new babies and little siblings and we have been talking about the baby at least once a day. I think this exacerbates the problem for Eirik because he now refers to himself as the baby and wants to be held and rocked and sung to like a baby more often than he used to. Still, Paul has really taught him to be excited by the word "brother." It's so cute how Paul gets Eirik to squeal with delight about it even though I'm not sure he knows what he's getting excited about. This video really cracks me up and sums up life in a sweet little microcosm.
(Obviously I didn't learn my lesson about filming sideways since last time!) sorry...


PS. What does everyone think of the name Joren for Eirik's little bro??? Any middle name suggestions? We are stumped..