DIY Day

I woke up this morning feeling unusually motivated and crafty. Maybe it's the start of my nesting urges kicking in, or just that I'm sick of sitting around on super hot days feeling huge and useless? Either way, I knew I wanted to make something out of this day, and accomplish more than just the simple task of doing the dishes and the laundry, like every other day. I wanted to find something that would keep Ky entertained for more than 5 minutes, and as of late, I've kind of been racking my brain for fun ideas that don't involve a lot of clean up, but will hold her attention.
I knew she wanted to play outside today. I also knew I was tired of sitting on the porch watching her ride her bike in circles for 5 minutes before she got bored and wanted me to chase her (something I can't do right now!) and then listening to the melt down that always occurred when I had to tell her I just couldn't run because my tummy is too huge, and it hurts when I try!
So, I hit up the internet for some ideas, and remembered I had seen a few recipes for home made sidewalk chalk paint a while back.
Several of them called for cornstarch, water and food coloring, of which I had none (plus the food coloring sounded like it could get REALLY messy and stain, and as I said earlier, I'm currently not a fan of lots of extra clean up.), but I stumbled across one that used actual sidewalk chalk.
We have an overabundance of sidewalk chalk at our house that just sits in the bottom of the toy box in the garage. Ky likes to play with it for all of 3 minutes before she gets bored and wants nothing to do with it, but I thought this might actually be a fun thing to make since she loves to paint!
So, we rounded up our supplies, and set to out to make our own chalk paint.

  

Colored chalk of your choice, plastic containers, cups, whatever you want to put your "paint" in, paint brushes, cut up sponges (these worked REALLY well to paint with!), large zip lock baggy, and a hammer or other object to break up chalk with

Now, place the chalk in the baggy and hammer away! 

Keep goin' until the chalk is broken down into dust. Empty the dust into one of your containers and repeat this process with the other colors.

Now, add water to each container and stir. The less you add. the more vibrant the colors will turn out.

And now you have paint!! It comes out looking a little watery at first, but as it dries, it  shows up =)

I love the "3D" effect  it sort of has while it dries! 

We painted this one with the sponges, and it turned out REALLY well! 

What it looked like dry

Then, we ran around with the sponges and made splatter paint!

Chalk on her face!

Guess what? This actually kept her entertained for over an hour! And the clean up? Mother nature took care of that one when it rained! Once the chalk dries on your skin, it rubs right off, and no stained clothes! Yay! Fun and easy! 

There's another recipe for ice chalk, where you make it the same way, but pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. Then, you pop them out and draw with them as they melt! Sounds like idea on a really hot day! 

Maybe we will try that one tomorrow =)

An overdue update and a VERY special announcement!

Well, helllooooo blog land! It's been quite sometime since I've written here, and that's no good!
I said things would be different with this blog, but it looks as though I lied (a little.)

The good news is, things are finally slowing down around here. Since we got back from vacation, things seem like they have been in fast-forward. The holidays came and went, and it was all a blurr. We battled sickness on and off from Thanksgiving day to a week after Christmas, and it made me sad that I had so many plans for fun things to do with my little one that never got done because we were sick with either the stomach flu or raging sinus infections. 
Luckily, it's all gone now (except for my sinuses are still bothering me, but I think it's more so due to the fluctuations in the weather and  caffeine withdraw, which I will explain in a minute...)

Jumping back to November....
Florida was GREAT! We spent most of our time relaxing by the pool and checking out all the good places to eat. The one day we spent at the Magic Kingdom was perfect! Both Ky and Brian's little sister had a blast meeting the Princesses and riding on countless kiddie rides. We ended the trip with a visit to Atlanta to see my other sister-in-law and her fiance. The whole trip was SUCH a nice break from the monotonous day to day here.

Ky, her aunt, and her Nana!

You'd never guess they were aunt and niece, really!

Let the magic begin.....

With daddy on the Teacup ride. This was her favorite, and it's a good thing, because there was no line!

Now, on to that caffeine thing....
Thanksgiving day, Ky woke me up at about 3:30am complaining about her stomach hurting. About 5 minutes later, she was in full blown vomit mode. This lasted all day and it was terrible! We cancelled our plans to go back to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving dinner and opted to make what we had here instead. The food turned out horrible! I kept thinking that this day couldn't get any stranger, but....it did.
I had been extra emotional and moody the past week, and that day it was in full swing. Crying fits for seemingly no reason, I was a few days "late" and was getting concerned, and things just weren't going well that day. 
And then.....
I took a pregnancy test that night and it came back POSITIVE!
I was in shock. Complete and total shock and denial. 
The news was first received with many tears from both of us, tears of fear and confusion. We were not planning on having more kids until we were home owners, and were worried about what this meant for Kyree. How would we be able to give her and this new baby all the things they deserved? 
We spent that night crying and worrying. It sounds awful to say that now, but we were genuinely concerned. Not to mention that I had had a miscarriage two years prior, so there was automatically that fear that I could possibly have to relive that nightmare all over again.
But, after sharing the news with my parents, we were reassured that everything was going to be fine, and we accepted this little (or rather, VERY BIG) surprise as a blessing.
It's very true what they say about how we make plans, and God laughs. This was His plan for us and this little one, and it is the right time, whether we were planning for it or not, and we are all three VERY excited for this new little baby to enter our world!
This pregnancy has been SOOOO different from my pregnancy with Kyree. 
I wish I could go back in time and slap the smug little smile off my past selves face when people would ask me, "How are you feeling?" and I'd happily reply "Oh, great! I haven't hardly had ANY nausea!"....
Since a few days after I found out, until very recently, I was in a constant state of "Am I going to puke? I think I might...." Morning, noon, and night, I felt nauseated. Nothing tasted good. Including my wonderful, amazing, life giving, coffee.
That's right. Coffee doesn't taste good. It doesn't make me want to vomit or anything, but it just doesn't do what it used to for me. So, I haven't been drinking it, unless it's decaf in a latte or some sort of fancy espresso drink. 
Hopefully, entering into my second trimester, I'll be able to regain my energy, AND my love of coffee (in moderation, though)

There is our little bunny at 12 weeks!