Crafty Ideas for Baby Lilah Faith

I first want to say that I am secretly THRILLED that the Husband and I are having a little girl. Don't get me wrong, I would have been just as excited with a little boy, but being such a girly girl that I am - it was fate that I have a little princess.

I've always been a crafty person. I love painting and making things. It comes naturally to me and I love being creative! So it's probably no surprise to anyone who knows me that I've started a craft "to make" list :)

I've looked into purchasing all these things, but I always feel like "I can totally make that" and then I have to do it just to prove that I can. Here are some of the things currently on my list:

Baby Leg Warmers:

Okay I know Miss Priss is due in April, but I thought what a fashion statement for her to wear a little onesie with a pair of leg warmers. So cute! Obviously I'm not the only one with this idea ;)

I've "Googled" the how to on this and have started my search for socks that I can transform into baby leg warmers!

Tutu Onesie

I was given a newborn onesie that had little ruffles on the bum and I thought, why not take it a step further and just create a onesie with a sewn on tutu? Totally girly and adorable, especially for some pictures! Something along the lines of this:

Embellished Onesie

I don't want to go too crazy with Lilah's wardrobe so I thought a couple embellished onesies that are more of an everyday style that aren't too flashy. Looks easy enough, just sew a ribbon at the rib cage. I don't want too many monogrammed outfits so this would be minus the name or inital.

Personalized Burp Cloths

I've seen other girls get these at baby showers and have always thought they were super adorable. They are made from plain old cloth diapers. You just add your personalization to it and then you have an adorable burp cloth.

Cute "Diaper Panties", as I call them :)

This one will be a toughy. I might have to breakdown and buy these as I have no clue how or where to find these. The personalization part wouldn't be difficult, but sewing/making the "panties" is way beyond my crafting skill!

Now the hunting begins to find my fabric and ribbons. I might need a quick lesson in sewing too, as I typically use my glue gun for everything.....

Most Fabulous Birthday!!

I really don't care for my birthday. I never have. It's so close to Christmas and there really isn't anything fun you can do that you haven't already done before. It has nothing to do with my age, I just don't like a big fuss made over it. I would rather get a "happy birthday" and get the day over with.

This year was a different story. For some reason I wasn't dreading my birthday the way I usually do. I actually decided I wanted to celebrate and have a party. An ugly Christmas sweater party. I don't know why this thought hadn't occurred to me before, as I love themed parties! Patrick was a very good sport and actually wore one too. He was so excited about his sweater it was really surprising to me, and my friends that he would be so into this!  I was having so much fun with my friends that I totally forgot to even take pictures of all their amazing outfits, but here are mine and Patrick's!

I made these. Can you believe it? By the end of the party i had lots of cotton balls falling off, but it was totally worth it. I really wish Patrick's lights would have worked. We were most excited about them, but when i went to put the batteries in, they didn't work. FAIL!

Oh well. Now on to the presents. :)

Patrick is an amazing gift giver. He always puts a lot of thought into what he wants to get. He may look big and tough, but he really is a love bug on the inside. :) I love this about him.

Seeing as we are pregnant with our first baby, a little girl, he wanted to get me something that I could remember this special birthday by. So he got me some charms for my Pandora bracelet.

                       Our baby girls initials. Lilah Faith Rutherford. 

                                 And a baby shoe with a pink gem!

He did a very good job. I LOVE them! I nearly cried when I opened them. What a sweetheart he is!

The next gift is from my parents. I have wanted a vanity mirror forever and I finally got one. It's amazing. I love that one side is a standard mirror and that the other is a 10x zoom. I get stuck in the mirror for hours! It makes waxing my eyebrows SO easy!

My best friend Crystal got me some amazing gifts!! I just realized I forgot to take a picture of my favorite one!! Arg, I will have to post it later. As everyone is well aware I LOVE elephants. She found this beautiful ring holder that's in the shape of an elephant. My words will do no justice as to how cute this thing is. The long nose is pointed up, which is the part that holds your ring while you wash your hands, take a shower, etc. It's so amazing and I love it. She also got me a beautiful green scarf. I love scarves, and I love green :)

She also got me some new, what I call "hobo" gloves. I get so cold at work and like to wear them so that I can still type. Plus I'm very claustrophobic and cant wear regular gloves so these work perfect for me :) She knows me too well :)

I love my husband, my family, and my dear friends. You all always know how to make me feel special and loved. Thank you!



Thanks to all that came out for my birthday and made it the best birthday I've had in years! I love you all!

Where is the Holiday Spirit?

I'm hoping this Christmas will be an eye opener for some. I guess people tend to get their priorities out of place and can only see what's right in front of them. Or they forget that at the end of the day the little things that may aggravate us or the things we may not entirely agree with, don't really matter - or shouldn't. It really surprises me the things people choose to make an issue, especially around Christmas, when family is most important. They also forget that their actions and words hurt more than the people they are intended for.

I refuse to get my spirit down. I choose to surround myself with the people I love most and who accept me for who I truly am. I refuse to filter my words or change who I am to make someone else happy. I would never ask for anyone to be anything other than who they are.

I really hope you realize that all this is not worth the price that will end up being paid. Just because you have an opinion about something, doesn't mean its always necessary to voice it. I know you won't always agree and we won't all always get along, but family is family whether you like me or not.

Loooooooong Time :D

Okay so my life has been super crazy and I have PURPOSELY not updated on here for a while. Patrick and I got some surprising, yet exciting news that I have been dying to blab: We are PREGGERS!

We got pregnant as soon as I got back from Crystal's bachelorette trip (mid July). It was completely by surprise! I knew instantly I was pregnant as I immediately started in with morning sickness. I hadn't even missed "Aunt Flow's" visit but knew something wasn't right. Patrick convinced me to take a test and I did, which didn't immediately turn positive. I quickly just tossed it aside and summed it up to having a bug. Later that night when I went to get ready for bed, I glanced at the stick, which now read positive. I was in total shock and couldn't even speak so I just handed it to Patrick. (no clever story on how I told my hubs) He said "what do these lines mean", and I said "that means we are having a baby". I instantly got excited and he instantly started to panic! The test was faint so we decided it would be best to take another one just to be sure.

I woke up the next morning SO sick thinking I couldn't already be testing positive and having morning sickness ALREADY, could I? It just didn't seem possible. So on the way to work I stopped by Walgreens to get a stick to pee on. Patrick insisted on getting the EPT brand, because its ERROR proof - bah silly boy! Since I was so sick the only thing I could keep down was water, and I had drank a lot of it on the way in. I got settled in at work and took the test. I let it set for the allotted time and I saw what seemed to be yet another positive reading. This one was even more faint than the one before. I then starting thinking, okay maybe I'm just wanting to see the line and its really just not there, but I think I can see it. So I was back to square one, doubting my positive stick and still wondering if this was really happening. Luckily the package came with two!

So I decided to wait and use the last stick the next morning with fresh, just woke up pee! Let me tell you the third time really is the charm. I peed on that stick and it went BAM florescent positive. No mistaking this one!! I am def knocked up!

So here I am newly pregnant and wide eyed with excitement! I call my OB to make an appointment as I officially have no clue what I'm doing or need to do from here. I tell them my story and they try and argue with me about how far along I am and when my last period was. HELLO it's my vagina, I know when my last cycle was! After arguing with them for a couple minutes I said the heck with it, what do I know, and said okay fine whatever book my dang appointment. (they were telling me I was 8 weeks and not 4 - as my suspicion was theirs as well, being to early to test positive or have morning sickness) I go for my appointment they do an ultrasound and guess what I'm 4 weeks, as I told them :) 1- Candace 0-OB!

Everything has been pretty horrible so far. I think I've had every symptom in the book, nausea/vomiting, bloating, horrible constipation, irritability, complete exhaustion, migraines that feel like they are going to kill me, lower abdomen soreness, and horrible booby pain. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to be a mommy and to meet my little nugget, it's just been a rough start. Maybe me and pregnancy aren't going to be BFF"s. I'm okay with that as long as my baby is healthy!

Okay there it is in all it's glory. Everyone is now caught up to current day with my pregnancy. I'm just starting to feel better. nausea is almost completly gone and I have my headaches under control. My energy is slowly coming back and I find my self getting more excited everyday. I'll try and remember to post a picture of my most recent ultrasound at a later date!

Oh yea we are due April 24th 2011. I am currently 14 weeks 5 days!

Washington State

I would have to say Washington is my number 2 favorite place I have ever visited. It is absolutely beautiful, almost breathtaking! We went to Pike Place Market and did some shopping. We went to a glass blowing museum, and went up in the Space Needle. I got to meet my cousin's Tinker, Dave, Chrissy, Melissa, Jason, Paula, Emma, Olivia, and Jacob.

Washington Fact: Mt Rainer is actually an "inactive" volcano. You can see it from anywhere in Seattle, Tacoma, and Puyallap. It's massive and beautiful. 

Things I found interesting:
 1.  Lots of buildings had "Tornado Shelter" signs. I wasn't aware Washington got many tornado's..... this did not help my anxiety!
 2.  There were also lots of signs that read "volcano eruption evacuation route" just in case the Inactive became Active!
 3.  Their interstates have an exit not only on the right but on the left too, its very confusing.
 4.  Our GPS did not know its way around Seattle or Tacoma. It was really annoying.
 5.  They had lots of one way streets with this sign......bizarre!

Pike Place Market was fun. It had lots of individual vendors selling their crafty things, and of course a fish market.

I took this picture for Patrick. Alaskan King Crab, Deadliest Catch style :D



The Glass Blowing museum was pretty cool too. We wanted to blow glass ourselves but we werent allowed :(

I really enjoyed the space needle. I thought I would be scared since it was so high up, but I surprised myself and even stood right by the windows going up in the elevator.

Some random pictures:

Summer Trip Time!

I am getting so excited! I have two trips coming up and I've officially started a countdown!

First trip is to Washington State. We will board the plane bright and early July 8th. My sister Allison was born there and she has always wanted to see it (we didn't live there long, my dad was in the ARMY). So this was her birthday present from my mom. 22 days and counting :D

Second trip is the next week to PCB for my friend Crystal's bachelorette weekend. We board the plane July 15th. This will be a super fun weekend. I'm already making my lists of what to bring. I think we should plan a shopping weekend to get ready! 29 days and counting :D

It has been YEARS since I've been to the beach. I wanna say at least 4-5 years. So I'm really excited about this trip.

Fun Trip Purchases!

I have lots of trips planned this summer. Two of which require me to fly. So there are some things I decided that I should invest in. I WANT new luggage, especially the Jessica Simpson paisly orange printed one:

BUT i really need to focus on not spending unnecessary money. (Although when I flew to California last summer my wheel on my big case did break soooo.....)I do however need a tag to attach to my luggage which will display my name. I found the cutest name tag at Stein Mart yesterday while on my lunch. I really wanted a "C" for Candace, but had to settle for an "R" for Rutherford because it was too cute to pass up!

The next purchase I made was a jewelry roll. My sister Allie got a Coach roll up for Christmas and I really wanted that, but once again I need to be more realistic. I don't really need my jewelry totted around in a coach bag. So I found one that lookes EXACTLY like the Coach jewelry tote my sister has. The fabric feels the exact same too! Me likey!

Look how cute some of my jewelry looks in the roll! I love the ring holder

As you can tell I'm getting so excited for my trips. I have 5 weeks until  my Washington trip and 6 weeks until my Florida trip with the girls!  Its going to be a busy JULY!