getting ready

(here i am at 39 weeks)

still no baby yet, but we have been doing a lot around the peterson household to get ready. here are a few highlights:

*i FINALLY got my hair cut and colored from a crazy expensive salon in downtown anchorage called chez ritz. its insane how much salon's charge up here! but, i love the way it turned out and will most likely continue to go to this lady. i know i will have to wait months after having the baby, as i'm planning on breastfeeding, so i was happy to be able to get in the same week i called! my hair has gone to CRAP since moving up here as it's dry (i know! anchorage is dry?!) and being pregnant has made it randomly break and frizz out. i didn't plan on cutting much off as i'm trying to grow it out, but i had so many nasty split ends that we ended up cutting 4 inches off to make it look healthy. i'm now hooked on aveda products...i bought this conditioner that seriously saved my hair! hooray!

*got another baby swing. we had one with brynn, but the motor blew out as she used it so much! so, we decided to get another one as it saved us with brynn. lets hope little baby peterson likes it.

*gave mango a nice brushin' and ended up with another cat (see picture below). she was NOT happy but WE are as there isn't so much mango hair all over the carpets. thank goodness for our dyson vacuum as that bad boy is amazing at sucking up all her "mango babies" as brynn calls it.

*i've been finishing up all sorts of craft projects from past super saturday's, and other events and it feels great! our ward had an amazing super saturday a few weeks ago and i'm almost done with everything i signed up to make.

here are the pillows i made for christmas. they were fun to make and kept me busy while watching tv.

*organizing baby's room and buying warm gear so she doesn't freeze. we had brynn in july back in germany during an insane heat wave so i'm in much need of warm clothes. good thing i live in the north pole as it's been easy to find warm things. also just bought a "bundle me" from jj cole for the car seat in hopes that that will prevent her from turning into a popsicle.

*making TONS of bows, flowers, headbands, bibs, and burpcloths. recently, i've become obsessed with reading tutorials online on how to make things and i love it! i've got a pretty good stash of fabric (thank you joann's) and spend my evening's sewing while steve plays lame computer games. at least we are in the same room, right?
here are some of the bibs i figured out how to make. i still haven't quite figured out how to sew, but managed to do these and it made me smile :)

*detailed my car. yes, at 39 weeks HUGE i decided to clean my car... i'm in an insane nesting streak and got the idea that this was something that desperately needed to be done. i hate messy cars so it felt great to vacuum, sanitize, wash floor mats, dust, and declutter my ride. never mind the fact that it KILLED my back to try and bend, and twist to get every weird angle and spot clean. maybe i will go into labor soon?!

*cleaned out the garage with steve so one of our cars can fit in there now! i have no idea how we will fit both of our cars in there during the winter, so wish us luck...

can you say nesting?! yes, i think so...

i heart mall cops

i love joann fabrics. seriously, i do. i get all giddy when i get coupons in the mail and go at least once a week to get my 'crafty fix' on. i was deprived for 3 years in germany so i'm making up for lost time! brynn of course HATES this store and instantly gets angry at me when we approach it. definitely daddy's little girl! she also pronounces it "the crap store" which makes steve beam from ear to ear. they are both conspiring against me i swear...

anyways, the store i often go to is not in the best of neighborhoods in anchorage, so i'm often weary when i get out of my car. there are homeless people all over the parking lot and bus stop and they are all pretty shady looking (i'm really not trying to be stereotypical. they really are crazy looking in this area). across the parking lot is a trailer park court to give you a better picture...also, the worlds most ghetto mall is next to joann's, so you can imagine the type of people that it brings in. i am often asked if i have any spare change by people all the time the second i get into the parking lot while leaving the store so i'm always rushing out to my car to avoid these situations. i'm really not a mean person, and if you know me, you are aware of that. i love to help others, but i don't feel good about giving my $ to homeless people that reek of alcohol and are obviously not there. and in all honesty, if you are caught giving money to the homeless in anchorage you are fined! and i really don't need that at the moment. but, its really hard for me NOT to help all these people that are obviously struggling, as i hate seeing people suffer. its hard for me to see. c'mon, i have a hard time saying no to the ladies at costo who are giving away free samples trying to sell a product! i'm a push over!

SO, i had a little incident that scared the #$%& out of me as i was getting into the car with brynn this afternoon. as we were leaving joann's, i immediately had this awful feeling come over me. so i grabbed her hand, and struggled to tote my purse and 2 bags all in one trip to our car that wasn't parked too far away from the entrance. i threw my bags in the trunk of the car, then proceeded to buckle brynn in her carseat when in the corner of my eye i see some guy walking pretty fast towards me on the right carrying a gas tank. my heart started to race and for some reason this awful feeling that i was having a few minutes earlier was instantly overwhelming making me dizzy and crazy nervous. i chucked my purse further in the back of my car just in case this guy was trying to make a grab for it and was just about to shut brynn's door when he started up a random conversation with me:

guy: "hey, i see you're pregnant! we are about the same age, and my girlfriend had a baby not too long ago. babies are great huh?"

me: "oh, congrats. yes, yes they are great."

guy: "i'm a coach in wasilla (as he points to his windbreaker. whatever dude, you probably stole that or got it from a thrift store. plus, i doubt anyone would let you coach their kids) and need to get home."

me: "ya, nice area. i live in eagle river (WHY AM I TELLING THIS GUY THAT?!)."

guy: "we'll, you're probably wondering why i'm carring this gas tank? my car broke down over by costco and i'm been stranded here for 3 hours looking for some $ and a ride"

(which is odd bc costo is literally 1/2 a mile or more down the road and this guy is totally capable of walking there)

me: "oh, im sorry to hear that. i can't help you out though..." (i say this while not trying to make eye contact as he is really really intimidating me)

guy: "oh please, i'm about your age (i don't understand why this makes a difference...) and have really been down on my luck lately."

me: "man, i'm sorry. i really have to get home fast and don't feel comfortable driving you with just me and my daughter."

guy: "don't feel comfortable?! (laughs) it's not like i have a gun or anything" (he SAYS this while lifting up his shirt, exposing his baggy pants, boxers, and basically his MAN STUFF...blah)

i laugh nervously. this guys is not taking no for an answer and i'm freaking out.

guy: "well, if you aren't going to help me out with a ride, can i have ten bucks? i know you have a lot for your baby there (pointing to my stomach) and you can share."

me: "oh, i'm sorry. i don't have any cash on me."

guy: "really?"

this is where i started getting jumpy as no one else was in the parking lot and he was leaning a little closer to me. i seriously about peed my pants.

and i swear, JUST as this was happening i hear a loud voice coming from the side saying "HEY! MAN! i told you to stop begging for money! get out of here or else i'm going to call the cops for real!"

this guy looks me over PISSED, then walks away real fast. i just stood there speechless as a huge polynesian mall cop comes into my view motioning for the guy to get out of there. he asks if i'm ok, then proceeds to walk quickly towards the guy who is running towards the street by this time. first time in my life where i was so happy to see a mall cop! bless you mall cops! i take back all the things i ever said about you guys...you DO do more then drink orange julius's and ride around in your segways while flirting with underage girls.

thanks again. i think i'm going to contact the mall and thank the northway mall cops for doing their job. it's probably a good idea to start bringing pepper spray when i go out.

baby S's nursery

(we are still undecided between sage or savannah for the name, so in the meantime we refer to her as baby "S")

i had fun decorating this room, but it still isn't completely finished.

i based the elephant theme of the nursery off the crib bedding that we bought back when we had brynn. steve made me promise that i would find something gender neutral so we could use it for all our kiddo's. i really wanted to get different bedding this time around, but a promise is a promise...grrrr.

we bought this amy coe elephant bedding for brynn online thru target (*sigh, i love you target) back in germany, and its awesome! it's survived many MANY washes, chewing fits, and accidents and still looks great to this day! i tried to stick with brown, green and pink for the nursery colors, and am happy for how it turned out for the most part.

not the best pictures, sorry...i'm clueless how to use our cannon and plan to get better this next year.

entrance. all 3 bedrooms are upstairs (technically we have a bedroom downstairs, but we use it as an office) and this room is directly across from us. definitely beats the layout we had in germany! i HATED that brynn's room was upstairs as it was seriously dangerous for me to walk up and down stairs so sleep deprived. i'm happy to say that she is still alive after 3 years! go lindsay!

i made all the decor in this room as i have become overly ambitious lately thinking i can make anything...riiight. the elephant on the wall is 4 pieces of canvas, and a vinyl elephant cut into fourths (i did a similar project in brynn's room with a damask symbol). the framed elephant is actually taken off a gift bag!!! ya, i'm so ghetto. i wanted to buy cute framed elephant art for the room but everything i liked was WAY over priced and i rather have spent that $ on clothing for baby S. so, i came up with this clever idea (which sadly, is probably only clever in MY eyes) and it goes with the room.

something i am looking into doing, is finding 5 little stuffed elephants and revamping the mobile. i found a few elephant mobile's online, but again they are over $75 and steve would kill me if i bought them. the book case in the corner is a garage sale find and i plan on staining it so its darker like the crib and changing table. who knows when i will get around to doing that...and does anyone know how to stain furniture?! i've never done it.

the space above the crib SCREAMS "fill me", which i plan to do shortly. i want to get one of those rad vinyl monograms, but want to wait until we know for sure what we are naming this little girl. the elephant art on the right is again, something i made using the ghetto elephant gift bag idea as a template. i cut paper/fabric/felt out and pieced the elephants together while adding a running stitch all the way. i tell ya, i'm a crazed nesting fool! who does these types of things?! me, baby ME.

right when we found out we were having another girl, robeez was having a super clearance online. i'm a huge fan of these shoes (along with pediped's), so i jumped on that. normally these shoes range around $30, but i grabbed these three pairs for $12 EACH! it was a good day for lindsay when they arrived. i'm so excited to use these! a girl can never have too many shoes at any age! after 6 years of marriage, steve still does NOT share this fact with me. he just needs to stop fighting it!

and of course, brynn is soooo pumped to share room right next to baby S. she is set to help mommy out in many ways such as:

*petting the baby when she cries

*always making sure the binky is in her mouth 24-7

*making sure mango doesn't steal the crib (as we have caught her in there a lot lately building a nest with her hair)

*letting mommy know when baby poop's

*sharing the shopping cart with her

*reading her books

*singing to her when she is sad
&

*always making sure she is wearing the bows/clips that mommy made

now, all we need is a baby!!! i'm so DONE being as huge as a house and having people stare at me when i'm out.

preschool

i'm SO behind in blogging, hence the reason to so many posts in a few days...i've been doing a billion things around the house (i'm a nesting FOOL!) to get ready for baby as i know i will be a joke for the next 3 months.

brynn started preschool the week after labor day and loves it! her teacher is so great with the kids and has already taught them so much. brynn can almost count to 20, knows all of her colors, can recite a ton more songs by heart (she loves to sing! i need to post a video of her as it's just too dang cute), and is doing awesome in the potty training area!!! this makes me so dang happy you have no idea. she still has the occasional accident when she gets busy and doesn't want to walk all the way upstairs to use the bathroom, but luckily it's ONLY #1...she is all about going #2 in the potty as she gets special treats.

again, these pictures are a few weeks old as they were from the first day of school. brynn prefers to walk to and from school which is fine by me since it's just down the street from us. i just hope she doesn't get too upset when it's the dead of winter and i have to drive there to avoid frostbite. blah, i am NOT looking forward to the winter!

brynn's rag quilt

i'm ridiculous to have thought making TWO of these rag quilt's would be easy...it was a pain (especially since my sewing machine is a POC and kept giving me grief with the baby one) but luckily, a lady in my ward lend me her old kenmore sewing machine so making brynn's went a little smoother. i wanted to quit so many times as i was SICK of sewing and cutting (i have carpal tunnel now) all the edges. but, i'm proud to say that i finished and it looks darling at the foot of her bed matching the rest of her room decor. steve thinks i'm insane to have spent so many hours making something that will sit at the edge of brynn's bed, but i'm ok with being considered insane :).

i will never make another one of these in the near future.

palmer fall festival

i got an email from a friend in our ward about a children's fall festival a few weekends back and decided to check it out with brynn. steve had to work that saturday (end of year fiscal year for the finance/budget department in the air force) so we tagged along with our neighbors. it was such a beautiful day, so it was nice to not worry about bringing a butt load of warm jackets, gloves and other cold weather paraphernalia with us. brynn had a blast winning prizes at the little games they had spread out over the place so it was nice to not have to worry about entertaining her. of course i was EXHAUSTED and wish steve was there to help me, but we didn't stay too long so it worked out ok. here are a few of the little games she played:

picking the duck with an X so you could win...a rubber duck! you can never have enough rubber ducky's at bath time. steve enjoys this too when he takes his weekly bubble baths.

tossing a ball into the pigs mouth. brynn definitely has her mothers 'arm' and didn't actually get the ball in, but they were still nice and gave her a little farm animal finger puppet.

bowling...again, brynn decided the game was much more enjoyable if you just wacked the heck out of the pins while holding onto the ball the whole time. that's my girl!

digging for potatoes in a trough of dirt. she walked away from this little stand with a red potato and nasty soggy carrot and was not too impressed. of course i forgot to take these items out of my purse for a few days so you can imagine how EXCITED i was to discover them...nothing like looking like a freak at the grocery store digging for your wallet only to come out with a limp carrot and a "WTH" expression on your face.

posin' with our neighbor (her best friend, prince charming, and future husband if you ask her) thomas in the animal petting area. i didn't let her stay long as the area was filled with pig and sheep crap and i didn't want that stuff tracked in my car.

i promised her that she could pick out a pumpkin on our way out, and this is what she choose. i tried to convince her to find one a little larger (as it was the same price), but she was dead set on bringing this "baby green pumpkin" home. it sits in the middle of our table where she can admire it all she wants.

haven't had a picture in a while with brynn, so here ya go. trust me, its much MUCH better without the belly in it.


the leaves started to change colors the very end of august/early september around this area and i failed to take pictures of them when they looked amazing! so here, are a few pictures from the palmer area on our way home that are just ok...the colors were much more vibrant then below a week before, so maybe i can catch them next year.

i have to explain this next picture so you can fully appreciate it in all it's glory. on the drive into palmer, we passed this smoking uncle rico van off on the shoulder and i was immediately curious as to what was making it smoke! it seriously looked like a barbeque, but i wasn't sure as i was driving and had to be responsible and watch the road. so, i told myself i would stop and take a picture if it was there on my drive back. to my joy, it was so i pulled behind it pretending to look at a map in case someone saw me. just as i snapped a few pictures, a scraggly middle aged man emerged from the drivers side and spent the rest of the time i was there admiring his tires. i wanted to get a picture from the front too as it was just too odd! but since i was alone with brynn, i didn't think it was such a good idea. this guy obviously lives in this pimped out van complete with a bike on top, some sort of smoker/heat source next to the bike, with lots of tarps. definitely makes you appreciate what you have. i felt awful for finding this humorous at first.