High five for cheap crafts.

I love crafts (as you may know by now). I especially love crafts that don't cost a ton of money!

For Mother's Day this year, Mike, Caraline and I gave our moms and grandmas homemade handprint canvases to document our new family of three. This was a fairly easy project. The hardest part was getting our 3 month old to open her hand all the way to make a handprint successfully. As you'll see, not all were perfect. But I think that's what makes them more special.

The canvases came 3 in a pack for about $8 and the paints were $1.50 each. I got it all at Michael's. So for about $12.50 and some time we made some unique Mother's Day gifts.

We made an additional handprint for Caraline's babysitter for being such an awesome "second mommy" for her during the day.

In August of 2012, I became a mother. But on February 4, 2014, I became a mommy. I'm really treasuring every minute I have with Caraline. I don't take it lightly the honor it is to be a mother. I value the impression I will make on this little lady and know how important my role as a guide is in her life. I especially love watching Mike interact with her. We are both so in love and feel so honored to be parents.

Happy (belated) Mother's Day!

Three months.

I'm baaaaack!

You know that thing "they" say about babies changing everything? Well, I'll tell ya, "they" are right. For the most part, all the changes are awesome. We are so blessed.

One of the negative changes is how little free time I have now. Every second I am home with Caraline, I want to be looking at her and singing with her and cuddling with her. So, blogging isn't exactly high on the priority list. But this morning I am making a point of getting some writing in! Lucky you!

There have been a few projects I've documented the last couple months, so I'm hoping to get those into posts soon! One thing I'm very proud of that we've been doing is documenting Caraline's growth each month. I've seen many ideas online of how to do this, and I made a version of my own. Each month on the 4th, I will be photographing her in her monthly onesie in a basket with her friend Leaper. It'll be fun to see how she grows and eventually is bigger than Leaper, too! (hard to imagine now).

Here are the last three months.

I look forward to doing this each month. Next week we will already have a FOUR MONTH OLD! Time has gone so quickly. And we love her so much.

Happy Saturday!

Welcome, Caraline!

I'm approximately two and a half weeks late posting about the arrival of our beautiful baby girl. See, a thing "they" tell you that is so totally true is that a baby changes everything. And when I say everything, I mean it. Like, I took a shower today. That, in and of itself, is a WIN for me. I'm lucky to brush my teeth or eat at a normal time lately. I'm a zombie. But I love it. 

Another thing "they" tell you that is so totally true is that "normal" is no longer normal once a baby arrives.

I digress . . .

On Tuesday, February 4, 2014, my husband and I welcomed a gorgeous baby girl into this mad world at 10:24 p.m. She was 7 pounds and 11 ounces and measured 19 3/4" long.

We named her Caraline Grace Deak. 

The details of the labor process are not important now. She's healthy, seems rather happy when she's awake and takes up more space in my heart than I ever thought was possible. Even at 4 a.m. when she's crying because there's a spec of poo in her diaper, I love her.

A friend of mine, Stephanie, with Stephanie DeBolt Photography, took these amazing shots of her when she was 9 days old and I will treasure them forever.

Recognize that quilt? I blogged about its creation here. 

We are busy adjusting to Caraline's schedule, learning all the features of her cute little self and getting acquainted with this new family of three we have created.

Be sure to check out Stephanie if you live in the northern Indiana (or Michiana) area at www.stephaniedebolt.com or visit her on Facebook here. She was also one of the photographers who took our wedding photos. She's fantastic. And we love her.

Happy Saturday!

Wonderfully Chaotic Featured Friday.

I recently joined a group on Facebook for northern Indiana women bloggers. After introducing myself to the group, I found a fellow blogger named Shay who posted about her Featured Friday. She features other bloggers and showcases their blogs on her blog on Fridays.

I told her I was interested, so she sent me some questions . . .

Head over to her blog today to check out my answers to her questions! 

Her blog is titled Wonderfully Chaotic. Go show her some love!

Happy Friday!

Come on, baby!

Today is my due date. My EDD (estimated date of delivery). The day we've burnt into our brains for the last 9 or so months. Today, January, 28th.

Am I still pregnant?
Yep! 

Am I mad about it?
Nah. As long as she's healthy, I'll be happy. 

BUT . . .  am I anxious?
Uh,  you betcha! 

We have her room ready. Diapers stocked. Bags packed.

Our parents, grandparents and siblings are on alert. All in the name of waiting.

By the way, I'm not a patient person.

In the meantime, I find myself wandering into her room from time to time and sitting in the rocker. I think about how chaotic my life will be in a day, a week, whenever, and beyond. And I think about how blessed we are to be parents of this angel that we will so soon meet.

I'm so ready to introduce her to her room. Yea, I'm sure she won't care what color the walls are or which stuffed animals she has waiting for her to play with.

I know she doesn't care which bedsheets we picked out for her.

Or if those bedsheets match her curtains or not.

But I love knowing she will soon invade this room of hers. And our hearts. Our life.

I'm so ready to be a mom.

Happy due date!!

Friday 15: Looking forward to Baby! (Double whammy)

It's baaaaaaaack! Friday 15!

Not that most of you noticed, but I haven't posted a Friday 15 in like 15 Fridays (or some number less than that). If I'm being Frank, though my name is Angie, I will say it's because I forgot. Every week that passes is a blur because it's another week closer to meeting my daughter. Freaky to say that. My daughter. Our daughter.

Dudes, I'm going to have a child in a couple weeks.

Whoa.

And speaking of "our daughter" I thought it would be fun to make a list of 15 things I'm looking forward to when she gets here. This is going to be fun!

1. Seeing what she looks like. (I have imagined her features for months and I can't wait. Will she look like me, like Mike, like both of us a little, like NEITHER of us?! Oh, the suspense!)
2. Singing her to sleep.
3. Reading to her.
4. Being called mommy. 
5. Seeing Mike be a dad & calling him daddy.
6. Watching her sleep.
7. Learning all about her personality, what she likes and doesn't like.
8. Taking her on walks.
9. Breastfeeding her.
10. Loving her.
11. Fitting into normal pants again [even if they're not my pre-baby pants].
12. Saying good-bye to the heartburn, I hope!
13. Sleeping on my stomach.
14. Being able to touch my toes and comfortably put on shoes and socks again.
15. Finally sharing her name with everyone that is waiting in anticipation!

Annnnddd.... As I was making the above list, I thought I could also make a list of 15 things I'm *NOT* looking forward to. But, really, I couldn't think of 15. So, I had to stop at 10. And really these 10 are minor in comparison to how much I am looking forward to meeting her. 

(These are meant to be read sarcastically, with humor and all with love. I really can't wait to meet her, but truthfully there are things I am not looking forward to.)

1. Touching poop.
2. Being puked on.
3. Not getting more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. 
4. Labor recovery. Enough said. (well, for that matter, LABOR)
5. People wanting to touch my baby during cold/flu season.
6. The crying. Lord, the crying.
7. Losing the baby weight.
8. Time management. 
9. Doing laundry daily - cloth diapers for us!
10. Breastfeeding. (Yes, this is on both lists. I am looking forward to it, but also anxious about her latching, the pain, etc. I am thinking positive, though!)

There ya go! The good outweighs the bad, which I suppose is a good sign! I'm so excited for her to be outside of me instead of inside of me! 

For the record: I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging after she's born or if I'll even want to look at my computer for a while since I'll be staring at her all the time. I will try to stay active on here. If there is a lull, it won't be permanent. I like blogging too much to leave it alone forever! 

Happy Friday!

Hershey’s Spread the Possibilities.

I am a member of Crowdtap (http://crowdtap.com/) and periodically I get to sample products and tell my friends and my blog readers about them.

The most recent product my husband and I got to try was the Hershey's new Spreads. We were sent the chocolate with almonds.

It was so good!

We tried in on bread.

And then I tried it on graham crackers.

Then a friend suggested we try it with peanut butter on bread and make a peanut butter cup sandwich. That was so good that we both ended up doing it again the next morning with toast.

That was my favorite way to use it so far.

Mike liked it, too!

He said that it was good enough to try again, but he probably wouldn't buy it (mostly because we don't buy stuff like that).

I will add that it has a TON of sugar in it. For 2 tbsp. it has 20g of sugar. That's a lot, in my opinion.

Overall, though, I'm impressed with the spreads we got to try! It'll be good for a special treat from time to time.

Happy sampling!

Build a mantel (no fireplace needed).

I've always wanted a mantel.

I've not always wanted a fireplace, though I'd enjoy one if we had one.

But, I've never understood why I couldn't have a mantel even if we didn't have a fireplace. Why should the two be mutually exclusive?

Well, they're not.

When we moved into our new home a year ago, I had already planned a mantel project in my head. Within a few weeks of living here, I painted the wall blue on a whim. Seriously. On a random Tuesday night I got a burst of energy and just painted the wall.

Once that was done, I talked to my grandpa about helping me follow through with my mantel project plan and last summer through fall, we finally got it done!

The process from start to finish took a few months. Time and energy played a big part (I was working through my first trimester filled with wonderful fatigue and nausea).

But in the end, I'm so happy with it.

I'll spare you the initial steps, ya know, like measuring, shopping for the wood and all that. Basically, Grandpa had some spare wood in his shop for the end pieces and front beam.

By the way, this is how my Grandpa organizes his screws and such, using baby food jars. He's so smart.

Grandpa and I went together to purchase the wood planks from Menards for the top and the bottom. Shopping at Menards was fun with Grandpa!

After we had all the measurements and the wood cut to size, he and I built the mantel. Essentially, it's a big box. We sanded it and then I took it home.

(Don't mind the old mattress in our garage...)

I had a couple different stains to choose from, but I settled on the one I liked and got to work. For those concerned, yes I did wear a mask to protect babe and me from the fumes.

I ended up doing two coats, no top coat, though. I wanted it to look rustic.

Once I made the call to Grandpa that I was happy with the stain job, he came over so we could mount it on the wall. (This was when I got really excited. It was all really happening!)

We left the bottom off so we could secure the back to the wall into the studs.

Then Grandpa did a fine job of attaching the bottom beam.

Soon after the mantel was hung, my husband and my cousin got busy mounting the TV on the wall using a wall mounting kit. They did some kind of fancy cord hiding, hold drilling in our wall and such and POOF!  a floating TV.

I was so happy that it was done in plenty of time for Thanksgiving and especially . . . Christmas.

I couldn't wait to hang our stockings from it and marvel in our handy work!

I'm very happy with how our living room wall looks and especially the mantel. It means so much more that my grandpa and I were able to make it together. I told our realtor that if we ever move, I'm taking it off the wall and it's going with us.

I'm not kidding.

Happy woodworking!