Feeling Crafty!

SO, we were in Idaho Falls one day and decided to stop at D.I to see if they had any good furniture for the baby's room. (We didn't have ANYthing to put his clothes in except the closet that has no door.)

Lo and behold, they did have a little dresser for $15, hooray!

But the most exciting find, I think, was a glider! There was a stool that could go with it, but the two weren't part of a set. We got them both for about $20! No squeaking when it rocks, and I can put my feet up!

The wood was in great shape, but since the fabric was *cough*hideous*cough* and looked pretty used/dirty, I recovered the cushions! (You can't tell, but the chair was this pale once-pink plaid mixed with blue...ugh)

Here is the transformation:

(Forgive the shoddy camera work, these are from my phone.)

I found an entire bolt of that blue fabric at WalMart in their bargain stack for $5. Nice. I made the covers removable with velcro closures, so I can take them off and wash them. The most impressive part? I did it in an afternoon while Zach was at work, so he was wowed when he came home. =]

I LOVE rocking in this thing. It's going in the baby's room as soon as the storage junk is cleared out! (No space in our little living room for it, sadly)

"New" maternity skirt

I found a brilliant woman's blog tutorial on how to change an old too-small skirt into a maternity skirt, and guess what? I made it.

Ta-Dow!!!

The skirt was originally ankle-length, and had been shoved into a forgotten corner with a broken zipper, waiting for me to remember and fix it. It popped into my mind as soon as I saw the tutorial.

Here's the stretchy panel... the instructions called for an old Tshirt, and this is all I had:

Even though it's a little funky to have the panel all striped and whatnot, it works like a charm. And now that I have the know-how, I've got a feeling I'll be combing DI for some more skirts to transform!

In other news, my little boy has been such a wiggler! It's super cute to feel him poking/prodding/whatever-it-is-he-does-in-there. He's still teasing his daddy by holding super still as soon as Zach puts his hand on my tummy to feel him move. Lol.

I've been feeling really good lately, just easily winded and some back pain. And I'm seriously starting to outgrow the maternity clothes I have. So making the new skirt for free was exciting!

Anyway, happy weekend to everyone!!

Easy Peasy Lemon (poppy)Seedy!

I just found the most delicious-est pancake recipe ever. I tried it out today and fell in love.

AND since lemons are 3 for $1 right now at our grocery store, I decided to make it into a mix and share it with the girls I go visiting teaching to!

Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes - Gift Mix

To make the mix, put the following ingredients in a sandwich-sized ziploc bag:

1 cup flour

2 Tb sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp poppy seeds

Put the bag of mix and one lemon in a brown paper bag. Fold down and tie with a cute ribbon, and attach this label:

(Click on the picture to download the full size image. It should be able to print out at 4x6 size)

Nothing says summer like the smell of freshly cut lemons! I topped my pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream-- holy cow. Yum. Another lady online said she did blueberry syrup, and another said just put powdered sugar and whipped cream on top. The possibilities here are endless!

Let's get things movin!

Getting closer!

My baby is finally bumpin'! Which means people now assume I'm pregnant just by looking at me, and I'm long past my old jeans. (Becca, your maternity pants are saving my LIFE!)

It also means I'm pretttty sure I've felt the baby move a few times now, which is super exciting!!

Just 4 more days until our ultrasound! I gave Baby a pep-talk this morning about cooperating with the technician so Mommy can know whether she's having a boy or a girl; none of this hands-in-the-lap business I put my mother through.

I mean, the kid's got to learn to obey me sometime, right?

Hopefully we're at 5.5 inches from head to bum. Yay Baby!

2nd Trimester!

I'm 1/3 of the way done! Other than the occasional tummy ache, I have been feeling pretty good. Most of my nausea is leaving even though my nose is still pretty sensitive (Meaning I can tell Zach ate BBQ sauce for lunch, but I can hug him anyway without losing my own lunch).

I can feel my tummy getting firmer as it gets a little bigger, which is comforting, cause I know now it's more than just flab. This morning I leaned down into the washer to change the laundry, I'm pretty sure I felt the bubble where the baby is! Speaking of baby:

Zach and I got out a ruler today to see just how big 3.5 inches actually is. Pretty big! It's no wonder I'm starting to show! It's so fun now that it really feels like there's something there. I like talking about the baby and me collectively. I'll tell Zach, "Baby and I are going to take a nap" or "Baby says you should come hug us."

We are BEYOND excited for our next appointment in May, because we'll get to find out the baby's gender! We're taking votes, by the way, if anybody wants to guess. =]

Love you all!

Stacy & Baby

EDIT: There's a poll at the top of the blog now! Cast your vote for Baby Emmons, let's see how many guess it right! (Izzy, I added yours in for you :D )

It's official....

It's a baby!!!

Our early sonogram, taken at 8 weeks, 3 days.

(See the little head, and cute little bum? And no, we don't have a hunchback, that's the yolk sack... which I had never heard of until I saw it.)

We are now 12 weeks along and SO excited!! Zach already pushes his face into my tummy and talks to Baby. It's adorable. I've been feeling pretty darn good, except tummy-aches, frequent exhaustion, and the nose-sensitivity of a bloodhound. =] Other than that, morning sickness has been relatively gentle with me.

UPdatin'

Super Bowl Sunday
I saw these inflatable dinosaurs at the Dollar Store, and we decided our un-superbowl party (We're not much into football) should be dinosaur themed.

Tragically, we forgot the dinosaur chicken nuggets. So I made jello jigglers in my Jello-Bean mold and called them dinosaur eggs. =] We also had bean dip and ice cream and cake with candy bar mix-ins. Yum.


Valentine's Dance

Zach indulged my girly dreams this weekend, and we went to the school Valentines Dance. I told him a while ago that I had never been asked to a single dance in my life, and he's been determined to fix that. It was SOOOo much fun. It was easily the best dance either of us have ever been to. The dress was anywhere from sunday dress to semi-formal, and I had a heck of a time trying to find something to wear. Thankfully, Rexburg pulled through. It was really sweet, Zach took me to about five different stores in IF, where he watched me try on a few, and was extremely helpful. Better than taking a girlfriend, actually. The lady in the stall next to me in the dressing room complimented me on my sweet husband. =] But we came back empty-handed, so I went to a few more stores in Rexburg while he was in class and texted him pictures. It was unanimous, and I bought a [modest] little black dress (my first!).

Also, I really wanted to have fancy hair. It's kind of a must for formal dances. I found a tutorial on YouTube (sorry if that sounds pathetic) on how to do this updo, and it worked!

Behold:
My good side

The other side

Of course, this is after the dance, so it's kind of coming undone. But I loved it. Note the bling I got to dress up my new little black dress! And since it was Valentines, I got a pink ribbon to put around the waistline. (Zach even helped pick the ribbon!)

The music was great, the people there were super fun, and they had caramel brownies. We got our picture taken, and we should be getting it in a couple weeks. =] Best night ever!

Life Saver

My husband has got to be the world's sweetest anybody.

Today he wrote me a note saying, "You are my Life's Savor." He's adorable.

But also, that's another great idea for a Valentine!Love, Stacy

p.s. We're going to the Valentine's Dance tomorrow. *giddy*

Matisyahu!

This is the crazy-yet-cool stuff I've been addicted to lately. =]

You've probably heard of Matisyahu. Well, you gotta love Hassidic Reggae, so enjoy!

Upbeat


Uplifting

Valentines approaching!

I've been looking around online because I'm super stoked for Valentine's Day. I found a few cuties, and thought I'd share! (Click on the pictures to go to the site, a few of them have templates!)

Cell Phone valentines!


Snazzy Mailbox

Definitely want to be a bit more creative here, but I'm so making one.

Forget-me-not Elephants

(Candy is taped inside, and their ears are hearts with love notes written on them!)

And my personal fave....

Only change the words to say, "I'm e-kernel-y yours!" Totally doing that for Zach. =] My dad's popcorn recipe is one of his favorite things he gained from joining my family. =]

ALSO for Valentines Day, I am working on a small, quilted wall-hanging. It's on pause for now (school), but it won't take much longer! I found an adorable pattern from this awesome blog. I'm going to use her tutorial for a full-size polka dot quilt this summer, but in the meantime I've satisfying myself with this smaller project:

Sorry for the bad picture. I can't find my camera, so this is from my phone. =] It's gonna be 4 square blocks, probably. XOXO. I'm considering applique-ing hearts to the centers of the O's using the background fabric, so they look hollow... what do you think?

Hooray! Gear up for Love Day!

Ezra Pound and Me

I was looking up one of my very favorite poems, "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound:

"The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals, on a wet, black bough."

Then I found an incredible essay written by the poet himself! It explains so well the way I see the world! (See my last post for proof.)

Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

"Since the beginning of bad writing, writers have used images as ornaments. The point of Imagism is that it does not use images as ornaments. The image is itself the speech. The image is the word beyond formulated language."

"[Quoting a Japanese hokku:]

'The fallen blossom flies back to its branch:
A butterfly.' "

"The 'one image poem' is a form of super-position, that is to say, it is one idea set on top of another... In a poem of this sort one is trying to record the precise instant when a thing outward and objective transforms itself, or darts into a thing inward and subjective."