More M2M Bows for Megan

I had some free time on Easter weekend one evening when G was already in the bed. I decided that I needed to work on a few hair bows for M, seeing as to how right now she'll have to share a ton with G.

I pulled out a few of her outfits, and thought I'd do some custom bows that were made specifically for her. I received the outfit above at her baby shower. The polk a dot ribbon I already had matched perfectly, so I formed a figure 8 loop out of it to serve as the base. Then, I made a yellow boutique bow & another figure 8 loop on top. The sides of the yellow bow feature tiny light pink bows.

My mom purchased this gown for M, and I love how simple and sweet it is. I wanted to keep the bow simple and sweet as well, so I just made a basic purple boutique bow.

The onesie above was given to me through a onesie exchange on a message board. The front is adorable with the polk a dots, but on the back, it has strawberries on the booty! So, I made a strawberry boutique bow that is layered with red & white polk a dot, lime green, and light pink!

This outfit was given to me at a shower as well. I love the brown and white zebra & as soon as I opened the gift, I knew I had the perfect ribbon at home to make a matching bow! The pink and brown combination is adorable!

I can't wait for M to wear these custom hair bows that were made just for her!

Fabric Rosette Headbands

A few weeks ago I shared these new fabric rosette headbands with you! They're one of my new favorites to make, so I wanted to share the three new ones that I've made! The one above is made with a fabric that has hot pink, light pink, white, green, and gold prints. It can match so many outfits, and the gold in the fabric adds a sparkling touch!

This one is made of black and white fabric. It's more of a floral/damask print that is great for adults, tweens, and little one's!

I love this giraffe print headband, also has black and white prints. The fabric rosette has a 'bling' center and can coordinate with tons of outfits, and could be perfect for adults, tweens, and little one's!

Each of these headbands are lined with grosgrain ribbon on the inside to prevent fraying of the fabric and to act as a 'gripper' in your hair.

You can custom order a headband in your choice of fabric or colors by visiting my facebook page.

Spring Announcements on Shutterfly!

Shutterfly is my favorite website for uploading, storing, editing, and printing the pictures that I take. I love how easy their website is to navigate and manage.

I have been working on a few new projects this spring and wanted to share some of them with you, along with a few other things that Shutterfly has to offer!

Last spring, I made G a large picture frame that she could hang her art work on to display. But, I really don’t want to pack all of her lovely art work when we move, and since the house is on the market. I needed to remove the ‘clutter’ anyway. So I took almost all of her pictures down and took pictures of each one of them before tossing them in the trash can. Yes, call me a bad mom for not saving her artwork! But, I uploaded every picture to Shutterfly and placed them in a photo book! It’s not all the way full, because you can place tons of pictures on one page, and because I need to add photos of her recent spring artwork, but I can’t wait to order it and place it with the rest of our photo albums for her to look back at some of her earliest art! If you’re interested in doing this for your little honey, then just go here: http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

We only have about 4 weeks before M is scheduled to arrive, and you can guarantee that her birth announcements are coming from Shutterfly! There are so many prints to choose from and I love that I’ll be able to add my own wording, and share the details of her on each of the cards. We’ve ordered a lot of invitations and cards from Shutterfly in the past, so I know I’ll be very pleased with the results! If you’re interested in announcements then go here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birth-announcements

And, you all know that we’ll be moving a few weeks after M arrives! I also plan to order our moving announcements to our friends and families from Shutterfly! This will be a great way to inform our loved ones of our new phone numbers and address! If you need moving announcements then go here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/announcements/moving-announcements

And, if you have a blog, you can sign up for a chance at 50 free cards from Shutterfly.

Free & New Fluff!

I was so excited to check my mail last weekend and find two Itti Bitti diapers that I had won in their blog giveaway a few weeks ago! They are super soft and I can't wait to put them on M! The polk-a-dot diaper is a cover, so i'll be using a prefold inside of it, but I ordered it from Totsy several weeks ago and received it last week! I'm in love with the polk-a-dots on it!

I finally purchased plain blue Dawn a few weeks ago, so in the next week or two, i'm hoping to boil the prefolds and finally start prepping my stash. As of now, it's all stacked up in a basket just waiting on me.

I'm happy with our stash so far. We have about 6 covers to use with the prefolds, and I have around 16 all-in-one's (AIOs)! I'd like to get up to 24 AIOs, but i'm also wanting to wait a tiny bit longer, so i'll know which diapers are working out best for us! Although, the urge to purchase more fluff has been tempting and i'm doing my best to stay busy to avoid the online purchases!

I can't wait to use these and was so excited to share the picture of the free and new fluff with y'all!

35 weeks~ Only 4 to go!

I had my 35 week doctor appointment on Monday, and I finally felt 'cute' enough to snap a picture this morning before heading off to work. Sorry that it's blurry. I'm going to blame it on the closet, lights, mirror, phone, and me trying to balance the phone & hit the button at the same time- yes, I am not that coordinated!

At 35 weeks, I'm still feeling pretty well. I don't remember feeling this well when I was pregnant with Gretchen. I was very swollen with her, and i'm not near as swollen this time around. Granted, my shoes are tight and I'm wearing a fun ring in place of my wedding ring, but I can still see my ankles in the morning!

I have decided that I need to try to lay off the sweets in the evenings, but I get these huge cravings for them. Thankfully, the nurse practitioner didn't scold me about my 5 lb weight gain in 2 weeks. Yes, I said 5 pounds! I'm officially caught up to where I was with G.

According the nurse practitioner, M is head down (hope she stays there) and her heartrate is in the 140s. I'm also measuring right on track, and as long as I can make it through this week, she reported that they would not stop labor if I were to go into labor early.

According to my weekly pregnancy updates, M is getting bigger and having less room (which is pretty apparent when you look at me!). I can definitely feel her move & stretch, and she becomes more active just as I'm laying down for the night. She should also weigh about 5 1/2 (maybe I can blame the weight all on her!) and be around 18 inches long.

I guess some nesting finally kicked in last night, as I organized our newborn and size 1 diapers (although, i'll admit, I felt like I was cheating on my cloth diaper stash sitting in another basket!) And, I pulled out G's newborn and 3 month clothes and went through those. I hung what M could use, pulled out some cute little shoes, as well as onesies, socks, and sleepers. I also packed away some things we wouldn't use right away, such as our extra towels and washcloths for M, and some of her new blankets- I still have plenty of G's that i'll use for the first few weeks. I also took out a few bottles and those are stacked in the top of the dishwasher.

The carseat and pac-n-play are still in the attic, but i'll have my mom pull those out this weekend for me. Thankfully, she's coming in to town and bringing my grandma, who will stay with us for the entire month in case I do go into labor early.

So, here's to hoping that M stays put until daddy can get here!

Wipe Cases for LBP's

I'm so excited that one of my old high school friends & first college roommates is opening a consignment store in Jonesboro..... I asked her if I could do a feature on her shop and i'm hoping to have that accomplished in a few days or in the next week- she's busy getting ready for her grand opening on May 2nd!

And, i've been busy trying to finish up a order for her! If you're in the area of Jonesboro, then you're going to want to check out her shop & these fabulous (if I do say so myself) items from Honey Pie Accessories!

Last night, I finished up the wipe cases that I was working on for her & I wanted to give y'all a preview! I fell in love with this fabric from the moment I laid my eyes on it. Yes, I have that feeling for fabric! I finally decided to purchase a bit of it, not knowing exactly what I'd do, but still knowing that I had to have it! I decided to cover a wipe case in it and I added sparkling silver trim along the sides.

I think this wipe case is perfect for any mom-to-be.... even though it's zebra, if the mom's a stylish one then she'll want this even for her little boy! Plus, it can be used for any little Razorback fan- or at least, you can convince your husband that it's the Hogs colors!

I used this material for my sister-in-laws nursing cover (no, I didn't make it) but I loved the simplicity of the pink and brown and the straight lines. This wipe case is trimmed in brown.

The mod-dots fabric has been a best seller at HPA, so I used some of it for this wipe case... again, it's perfect for girls or boys and has a retro twist!

You can pick up any of these wipe cases at Little Bow Peep's in Jonesboro, or custom order one of your own on my facebook page.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie Recipe

I love smoothies, but up until now I've not been good at making one at home. My blender either screws up, it's not sweet enough, too foamy, or just gross.

I've been craving one, so I thought I would try again and this one was delish! Here's how I finally 'perfected' my smoothie:

I had frozen strawberries. I blended them alone on 'ice crush' in the blender. Once they were blended, we added a chopped up banana and apple juice. I also added 1 yo-plait strawberry banana yogurt, and finally blended all of that together.

Personally, I think the apple juice helped a ton and I didn't have to add any extra sugar.

We had some other fruits as well, but I wanted to try just the strawberries and bananas. I'm thinking since this finally turned out that later this week we'll add in blueberries, peaches, and even spinach- yup, spinach.

Make a Goal Monday

Today is Monday, and I haven't really had time to think about what I want to accomplish this week, but I guess it's time that I get my butt in gear and come up with some goals for the week!

1. I was successful with keeping the house picked up last week, so I think that should be another goal for the week.
2. I have laundry that needs to be put away.... this is really when I wish DJ were here. I despise putting up laundry!
3. I NEED to finish this wholesale order.... I found some shirts on sale this weekend, and decided to pick up a few wipe cases as well, so I actually added more work on to it! Although, I know it will be worth it!

Hmm.... I don't seem very motivated this week, but let's just hope that it's a successful one and not a come home get in pj's and be lazy in the evenings one.

Check back Friday to see how I did, and let me know what your goals are for the week!

Easter Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm so glad that I was able to spend this weekend with G.... we enjoyed Good Friday by staying home in our pj's all day, doing some art projects, and cleaning the house.

So, on Saturday, I wanted to get out and run some errands and attempt to take G to see the Easter bunny. She thought he was really cool while we were standing in line, and she had finally told me she was excited to see him, but as soon as it was her turn to see him and take her picture- she bailed. We bribed her, or at least tried to, and that didn't work either. So, while we did see the Easter bunny, I have no picture and I didn't have to waist $25.00 purchasing a picture.

I did take her that afternoon to a local farm store to visit the baby chicks: and to see real bunnies! She thought they were adorable and wanted to take one home with her. I explained that she would need to convince her grandpa to buy her some to keep at his house!

After dinner, we baked an Easter cake. G decided she wanted a strawberry cake, probably because it's pink, and green icing. We 'hid' egg candies on the top of the cake.

I was shocked at how well G went to bed on Saturday evening. Maybe it was because she skipped her nap, or maybe it was because the Easter bunny couldn't come until she was asleep. I told DJ that the Easter bunny should come every night!

G's basket was filled with books, bunny shaped chalk, carrot bubbles, orange jelly beans, Tangled movie, and a Rapunzzel doll. She also had a few eggs scattered about. Inside the smaller ones were nickles, dimes, and quarters, and a dollar bill, and in the two larger ones she had egg shaped whoppers.

I think she was most excited about getting Tangled!

We headed off to church, where G told me that she learned that God and Jesus died and died and died, and then arose, arose, arose, and then some bad girl came along~ at least she got some of the story right!

Once we got home, G kept saying that she died and arose, or that her Rapunzzel doll died and arose!

We had our own egg hunt after lunch. We didn't dye eggs this year because the weather was suppose to be rainy all weekend, and with selling the house, I didn't want to risk hiding dyed eggs in the house & not finding all of them!

Plus, the resurrection eggs allowed us to read the Resurrection story!

We spent the rest of the day watching movies and enjoying each other. This was our last weekend with just the two of us, and I'm glad we were able to enjoy it!

Easter Key: tutorial

We all know that Santa Claus comes in to our houses through the chimney? But, how does the Easter bunny get in? With a key of course!

G and I sat down and made a key especially for the Easter bunny to get into our house this Easter.... here's what we did: I drew a key and a bunny on paper and cut them out.

We purchased 3 sheets of felt from JoAnn's- all of this cost around $1.00 w/ a coupon I had.

G decided she wanted the ears to flop over, so I drew a new pattern. Place it on top of your felt and cut around the pattern. I used pins to keep it in place.

I did the same thing with the key.

We glued on the wiggly eyes with hot glue. I cut out a mouth and nose from the pink felt (this was suppose to go on the ears, but since they flopped I changed the plans). I drew whiskers on with a pen. Then, I punched a hole into the bunny and the end of they key and used Easter egg ribbon to tie them together. I wasn't in love with the bunny, so I quickly made a bow... the bow would be cute at the bottom, but since we're about to have two girls. We might as well have a girl Easter bunny!

We'll leave this 'key' by the front door so the Easter bunny can get in the house & leave a basket full of goodies for G!

Teaching Tots: Baby Chicks & Spring Lunch

I've been procrastinating with G's artwork & learning activities lately. I guess that happens when you're 8 months pregnant, working full time, and you're playing the role of single mom!

I was off work yesterday for Good Friday, so I decided that we would go ahead and do some fun things to celebrate spring and the Easter weekend. I let G choose her cookie cutter sandwich shape- she could choose from a chick, egg, bunny, or butterfly, and choose a butterfly. She helped me to cut two slices of bread into the butterfly shapes, and add pb & j.

That afternoon she colored this chick picture. I cut it out for her because she can only snip with scissors, but I let her glue the pieces together.

Sorry, it's sideways; but this was her finished product!

We're hoping to get a few more crafts in this weekend, so stay tuned for those!

Fessin' Up

This week went exceptionally well goal wise! I must say, i'm pretty proud of myself & I only have to survive for one more week before my grandmother comes to stay!

1. G did a great job helping me out picking up her toys before bedtime every night, and it was so nice to relax in the living room without looking at a mess of toys scattered about.
2. Elizabeth picked up her hair bow order today, and I shipped Randa's order earlier this week! I'm still working on the wholesale order, but i'm sending everything I have thus far by the end of the week. Little Bow Peep's has it's grand opening on May 2nd! So, I need to get the items there!
3. My student teacher's last day was Thursday. I will say that i'm going to miss her a ton! Mostly because now I have to see the kiddos again! But seriously, she was a big help! We ordered lunch and she brought in delishes cookies! I also bought her a few fun pieces of jewelry, because what girl doesn't like jewelry!
4. G's Easter basket is all planned out! However, we're headed out tomorrow to try to find her a pair of shoes... I'm pretty sure the ones that she has, she's outgrown- so wish us luck! Finding white shoes the day before Easter will be quite the task! And, she's still telling me that she does not want to see the Easter bunny, but we're going to at least go and see if she changes her mind.

So, it was a really productive week for me! How about yours? Did you get everything done that you wanted to?

Social Parade Friday!

It's Friday, and you know what that means! Time for more linking up with some blog hops! I'm really trying to reach my goal of 400 folllowers by June, so please help me out & stay a while!

You'll be glad that you did because I'm having 3 giveaways in June!

Today is Good Friday~ how are you celebrating?

If G cooperates, i'm taking her to see the Easter Bunny. She's told me that she didn't want to see him, so for her sake I'm leaving the choice up to her. If we do get out to see the Easter bunny we're also going to go to a local farm store & visit the baby chicks that should be there!

It's suppose to rain all weekend, so I'm thinking of saving the egg dyeing until next weekend when my mom & great-grandma are here to visit. I think they'll enjoy seeing her dye and hunt for the eggs!

I think we'll stick to hunting the Resurrection Eggs this weekend, making some Easter art, and baking an Easter cake!

Make sure you leave a comment, letting me know if you're a new follower (so I can return the favor) & let me know your plans for the weeekend!

I've Been Featured on Friendly Fridays!

I just checked my email & discovered that Honey Pie Accessories was chosen to be featured on Friendly Friday at Thanks Mail Carrier!!!!

I'm super excited about this opportunity and want to give Xenia a very big Thank YOU!

If you're stopping over here from Thanks Mail Carrier- I want to tell you 'thanks' as well! I hope that you'll stick around and follow HPA! My goal is to have 400 followers by June, because I'm doing three amazing giveaways!

You'll have a chance to win a Baby Bond Nursing Cover (use the code HPA to recieve 25% off yours now), an Undercover Mama Nursing Tank, and a GoGreen Pocket Diaper!

Leave me a comment to let me know that you're following, and i'll take some time to follow you back!

And, since it's Good Friday & Easter weekend- I hope you all enjoy the time with your families & your own little honey's!

Oh, and to celebrate that I was chosen, head on over to my facebook page & take a look around. If you feel inclined to place an order on anything, let me know you found me through Thanks Mail Carrier & you'll get 10% off an order!

Help~ Vote!

I don't usually enter these, and with the hecticness of the week, I actually forgot that I had entered, so we're way behind in votes!

If you could please take a moment and head on over to PolkaDots & PigTails on Facebook and 'like' Gretchen's photo <--------- in their girls photo contest, I would so appreciate it!

The contest ends tomorrow- yikes! And, we have about 5 votes so far! If you do this and leave me a comment on my facebook page, I'll give you $1.00 off your order (and if you refer some friends to vote, and let me know i'll give you an additional $1.00 off your order) OR i'll throw in a free set of clippies with your next order!

Thanks~ y'all are the best!!!!

34 weeks

So, here we are, only 5 weeks to go. I can finally countdown that in about a week my mom will be making her way here with my grandma and that I at least won't be alone with a 3 year old when I go into labor.

After this past weekend, I'm so thankful that I'm going to have help and company! I'm looking forward not getting G ready for daycare every day- I might actually even be on time to work! I'm also looking forward to eating something besides chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese for dinner- I'm kidding, we don't typically eat that, but I feel like we do sometimes! And, I'm looking forward to getting some things accomplished!

So, here I am on Sunday, 1 day shy of 34 weeks, headed off to church.... yes, we wear jeans to church and after getting dressed all week, I'm so relieved that I can throw on comfy jeans to worship God!

I think miss M finally went into a head down position last night. Now, I'm not an expert, but today feels a little different and I'm hating walking down the schools hallway even more! Especially, after I've been sitting in a chair for a few minutes, hours, etc. And, I'm guessing that she's pushing against my bladder again- I'm sure it's obvious as to why I think that.

So, what's happening with M? Well, let me google that for you, because Lord knows that I have no idea! She should be covered in a layer of 'cream cheese' right now (yum!) called vernix, which protects her from pruning up in all of that amniotic fluid. Her fur should be almost completly gone, which is a good thing, because I do not want to give birth to a bear cub! She should also weigh about 5 lbs, another good thing as I try to convince my doctor that I did not have too much ice cream over the past week!

I head off to the doctor next Monday, at week 35, so maybe this time I'll be sure to find out what her heartbeat is, and I can remember to ask if she is indeed in the head down position.

I still have a lot to do to 'get ready' for M to arrive. First, I still need to convince G that there is indeed only one baby in my belly and that there is NOT a baby in her belly! I also need to prep our cloth diaper stash, and figure out our wipe solution. I did get her clothes organized by month, but I did not get G's old clothes out of the bin in the closet.

G and I were able to run to Target on Sunday to pick up a few other necessities- pacifiers, playtex drop ins, milk storage bags, and even a bag of disposable diapers. I do at least have some of her things stored in baskets, so I know a bit better where things are.

But, I promise, I'm not anywhere prepared at this point, and if she were to arrive today, or even next week- I wouldn't be any closer to be ready.

Pray for me- that I can actually gather up some energy and motivation to finally cross a few items off of my 'to-do' list!

G-isms

G is at an age where she is absolutely hilarious. She says some of the most random things. One of my co-workers told me that I should write them all down, because I would forget them later. So, I thought I'd take some time to share them with you, and with DJ since he's not here to hear them!

Last week, G woke up around 2:00 am. She got out of bed, went to the window, pulled back the curtain, and cracked open the blinds. Then, she said, "I wish I may, I wish I might, first star I see tonight." I couldn't help but just laugh at her, and then tell her to get back in bed, so we could go back to sleep!

G and I were laying in bed, after I had tucked her in, and I asked her how she thought baby M would get out. She replied, 'your belly will get bigger and just pop.'

On the way to daycare last week, Gretchen informed me, "mommy, did you know princess' don't wear shoes..... they wear slippers." Then, she told me, "mommy, did you know princess' don't ride in cars.... they ride in carriages.... can I pretend the car is a carriage?"

Gretchen has apparently been pretending that she is a mommy, because she continuously asks if I'd like to be a grandma!

She calls her black dress shoes, her 'tap dancing shoes.'

She has a certain cup with a straw that she calls her 'workout cup.'

She tries to get me to let her have fruit snacks for breakfast in the mornings.

She obviously wanted a snack tonight, and grabbed an entire loaf of banana bread off the counter and preceeded to eat it.

I'll try to post these more often~ I do not want to forget this humorous time!

Thinking Summer!

Honey Pie Accessories is now accepting orders for 4th of July! This firework applique shirt is only $15.00, and is one of our many products we have to offer!

We also have custom 4th of July hair bows, pillowcase dresses, tutu's, or other applique' shirts!

Make sure you 'like' Honey Pie Accessories on Facebook, so you can have access to exclusive sales & deals!

Make a Goal Monday: Week Before Easter

I can't believe that Easter is on Sunday. Um, where did the last few weeks go? At the time the weeks drag by, but to realize that April is almost over- wow. My goals this week are hopefully fairly simple: 1. Make sure that the house is picked up every night- at least the toys. The amount of cleaning & re-organizing I had to do on Saturday morning was rediculous, and I do not want to plan this weekend doing the same thing! 2. Finish hair bows for Elizabeth. Sew Randa's strawberry shirt, & ship orders. I'd also love to finish up a wholesale order that I've been working on for a few weeks! 3. Figure out how to celebrate my student teacher's last day on Thursday. We're already ordering lunch in, but I'm thinking a bunch of desserts would be yummy too, and I'd love to get her a little 'thank you' because she seriously was my life-saver this past semester! 4. Purchase Easter basket goodies, shoes, and dress socks for G. And, take G to see the Easter bunny! What are your plans for the week? Do you have any last minute things that you have to get done before Sunday???

Pink Lemonade Tutu for Carrie H

One of my old friends emailed me this week requesting a baby shower gift for a client. After brainstorming a few ideas back and forth we came up with this darling tutu and headband! The yellow bling flower was placed on a lined alligator clip & comes with the pink interchangeable headband. I think the headbands make a great choice for a gift, because they can be worn with other bows, and since the flower comes off, it can be worn for many years!

The tutu is light pink, and features hints of hot pink and yellow. The yellow bling flower is sewn on and can be worn in the front, side, or back.

This tutu can be recreated for you for only $23.00! Whether it's for your own little honey or for a gift- you can go wrong with something so sweet!

Ruffled Ribbon Shirt & Ribbon Rosette

I'm loving the new spring color combination of grey and yellow. I've seen it in outfits everywhere! It had given me some inspiration, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. Gretchen wore a zebra ribbon shirt that GG had made her to church today, and I decided that is what I would try. After one failed attempt, my shirt came out like this: It has a yellow ruffled ribbon down the middle, and two grey ruffled ribbons down each side. I then made a grey ribbon rosette and sewed on, and sewed on a grey button in the center. I decided that this would be saved for M, and that I'd get a pair of grey leg warmers to go with it! I'm also going to sit down later on and make her a hair bow to match! I have two more onesies, that I'm going to work on tonight that are this style, and I plan on listing those for sale on my facebook page!

Isn't That Fancy: Baby Shower

I had a very fancy baby shower at work on Thursday~ a Fancy Nancy themed baby shower that is! First, you have to know that Fancy Nancy is one of my favorite books to read to Gretchen, second, you need to know that I work in an elementary school & teachers love books! So, if we can make anything book related; we will! The cake was half white and half chocolate with whipped icing- yum! It was adorned with a picture of Fancy Nancy and butterflies; i'm sure they're azure butterflies! It read, "Fancy That! It's a Girl!"

The tables were decorated with wands, sequined butterfly masks, and dress-up rings! We had to fancy up after a long day of teaching!

I was thrilled that Gretchen was able to be at the shower. I left a little early to pick her up and get back on time. We even had feather boas, gloves, crowns, and jewelry to wear.

Gretchen thought the butterfly masks were too cool!

Many of the teachers were so sweet to think of the big sister to be. One of them purchased her her very own Fancy Nancy book that came with the same crown that Nancy wears, and her own feather boa!

Another teacher purchased her a few books- she's taking a break from her coloring action to check out the gifts.

I must say, that I absolutely love the staff I work with and that i'm going to miss them terribly! Never before have I worked with such amazing teachers!

Gretchen did help open a few of the gifts.

We were very blessed with all that we received for M.

One of my favorite presents was the new activity center! I did not do a great job picking out G's, so I registered for a new one.

Thanks so much for the wonderful staff for putting on such a fancy shower for M!