Random thoughts...

I love being a momma.

Even if that means getting up at 6am to give the baby a bottle and then getting spit up on.

Every. Where. I mean all down the front of me, it even got in my hair this morning. Not sure HOW that happened??:)

There are good days and there are bad days.

There are good nights and there are bad nights.

Yesterday was a good day.

Last night was a GREAT night! Evan slept from 10:15pm to 6:00am. WOOT WOOT!!

Even on the bad days... I still love being a momma and I LOVE my little man:)

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Things I've been thinking about lately...

How I need to truly enjoy EVERY. SINGLE. minute that I'm with my baby right now. It will pass far to quickly. And I want to remember it.

Not everything has to be perfectly in order in my house, my baby needs me more than the dusting needs done:) (Wow, an excuse not to do housework???)

Following what I just said... I need to mentally be able to let these things go (they'll still be there later, no worries!!) and enjoy him and care for him now. When he is sleeping or entertained then is when I can work on other things.

If you don't know me very well, then I'll just tell you that this is not easy for me!! Don't get the impression that my house is perfect though! OH MY. No it is so far from that. What I have a hard time doing is being able to let all that go from my mind while I am taking care of the baby and not thinking constantly, "oh, I NEED to do this, oh the dishes are SOO piled up". What I'm really trying to work on is being present in every minute, if the baby is fussy, I need to focus on what HE needs, not what I "should" be doing... *sigh*, if that makes any sense:)

I want to make his childhood as fun and as memorable and teach him as many things as I can...

I want to show him what a wonderful Heavenly Father we have and pray every day that he someday will have a personal relationship with Him.

I want to be a patient momma.

I want to take a breath and count to 5 before reacting badly.

I want ALL (hopefully there will be more:)) my children to think of home as a happy, warm, cozy, stable place.

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Thanks for listening to my ramblings if you made it this far:)

A tiny, quick update...

Daddy spending quality time with his son:)

At the baby shower my mom had for me. Thanks Mom!!:)

A little lovin' <3

Birth announcement pics...

Welcome to the world, Evan Luke!!!:)

Evan Luke Polcyn

Born Sat. Aug. 22, at 12:52 a.m.

7 lbs 12 oz, 20 inches long.

The proud daddy with his little man:) Just a post to fill you all in on what happened here over the weekend. Also to let you know that I'll be taking a break from blogging until my Mommy legs are established:) So far its been pretty sleepless, so besides feeding, diaper changing and trying to calm the baby, this Mommy's not doing much else:) I will return tho, just need a couple weeks to recooperate and adjust to this wonderful new way of life. I love, love, LOVE the 2 men in this picture above, they are my world:)

Here's what's been happening with me!

Wow... Ok so I've been away for a while! At least from this blog, I've been very much present otherwise! So very very busy! And loving every minute of it:)

It's been lot's of fun though. I've been working on lots of projects, mostly in anticipation of this wonderful little one on whom I am "trying" to wait patiently for!

First of all. Remember in my last post I said I was going out for the night with my gals??? Well, they are just the most amazing girls of all!:) They did this...

They completely surprised & shocked me with a wonderful baby shower!!

All the wonderful food...

Letting them take pics of the ever growing belly...

Trying to figure out the pack-n-play, yep we did get it!

And then the night just got funnier:) Such good laughs & good talks girls! Thanks again! To see more pics go here and here.

My mom & sisters were also there, such fun that night was!:) I just LOVE surprises & this one was an awesome one!

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This is a project that is totally completed now & I am so happy with it:)

Here is what it looked like in the beginning, just a blah ol' basket. But I liked the shape & weaving of it. Saw the potential & snatched it up at a garage sale for a whopping $1! Love them sales:)

So I set up shop on the front porch, got out the paint supplies & away I went. I've done this several times now & people passing by on the road kinda give me funny looks, but hey, I like my front porch "work shop":)

Here it is getting a coat of white satin spray paint.

The day was rather dreary but so calming, the rain was coming down so slowly & gently, I just had a take a pic to remember it:)

And here is the finished product!! I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. And the best part? Supplies & all, total cost was around $2. Not to shabby for a diaper holder for my changing table, don't ya think?:)

I found a new favorite as well... Chalk board paint. The "label" I guess we'll call it is a little die-cut that I bought from Pat Catan's, spray painted it white then drew the outline & filled it in with 2 coats of chalkboard paint. Such fun stuff!! You'll be seeing more of it in some up coming projects too:)

Oh, and credit must go to Jenny for the inspiration of this idea! Although, I still think her stuff looks better than mine!!

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And now a little preview of a couple more things that are still in the works. I must warn you this next one is SCARY!!

AAHH!! It looks like the entrance to a cave or something I think.

What is it? The landing at the top of our stairs going into our upstairs hallway.

Why is it so ugly? Well, when someone (previous owners, not us!) wallpapers & then decides to go for a different look and paints OVER TOP of the wallpaper with a shiny, glossy, stark white, OIL paint, what is a girl to do???

Strip the wallpaper of course... *sigh* So much work! So I beg all of you... NEVER paint over wallpaper! Please remove such wall covering BEFORE painting! And then of course, what was under the wallpaper was nothing short of daunting... First of all, the glue would not all come off of the wall so we were left no choice but to sand it off. Thanks to my hard-working mother who endured the dust so I wouldn't have to! Thanks Mom!

And.. plaster, OLD plaster, full of small holes & dents & knicks & whatever else you can think. So this creates work for the husband as well! He ever so diligently went about filling all the above mentioned holes in the walls and created a much smoother surface for me to paint.

In this picture you can also see the new doors that were being installed. Once again (previous owners, not us!) ruined the old doors by sawing of bits here and there to try to level them after the new basement was put in rather than re-installing the door frames. Oh & these were also painted with oil based paint & then painted over AGAIN with latex paint WITHOUT properly preparing the surface.

The result? Chopped up peeling painted up doors. So not a pretty thing. So what did we do? My handy husband worked mucho much & installed brand new doors. AH... So much better!!!

So as you can tell, there has been much progress since these pictures have been taken. The walls are now painted & the trim is currently being painted as I have time. It should be completely done this week and then I can't wait to show you the after pics! It is such a change!!:)


Here is another project that has been started & is awaiting completion... I was searching for just the right thing and I finally found it so now all I have to find is time to finish it up & show you all!:) This little crate cost 10 cents at a yard sale & I do believe it was well worth the dime spent:)

And here is a picture of Baby's crib... Just waiting to gaze upon a sleeping (we hope!) newborn in there!!:)

Paint...

My "project" life revolves around paint right now... preparing for paint, sanding, priming, ultimately paint paint paint!!!

Soooo happy it's getting done though. Huge thanks to my Mom who came yesterday and helped get ALOT done along those lines!

Today was more paint paint paint, and the next few days will have paint time snuck in wherever possible. So once I feel like I need a break from all that painting I have a completed project to show you & hopefully some fun nursery pictures & progress on our upstairs!!

Hope everyone is having a great week! I gotta run and get ready for a fun night with some awesome gals!!:) O. And make supper for my hubs:) Can't have him going hungry while I run off!:)

Sounds fun to me:)

Saturday night.

I'm home by myself, these are things on the agenda...

Curl up on top of the quilt on my bed surrounded with tons of pillows & read a good book. (The bed is more comfy than the couch for this:))

Watch a movie that I picked up at Redbox today.

Eat a dish of yummy homemade cornstarch pudding that I made earlier today and is now perfectly chilled... (you all know what I mean by cornstarch pudding, right?:) I don't know what else to call it, it's something Mom used to make when we were little, I never really liked it then, but I'm pregnant, I like it, enough said.:) Although I do like it cold rather than hot, she used to serve it warm most of the time...)

Maybe do some scrapbooking...

Sounds like a good Saturday evening to me!

But I will be even happier when my hubby comes home tomorrow!!:)

35 Weeks

Is this pregnancy really winding down and there's only 5 weeks until my due date??? Yes! But it is soo hard to believe! I'm definitely feeling like I am in late pregnancy:) Feeling very awkward and uncomfortable at times. I read somewhere a while back that pregnant women should really watch out for curbs or sidewalks where there could be a step and they might not see it since their belly is so big that they can't see their feet. Huh? Well, yeah, it happened to me twice now! I felt quite silly as I completely missed the step and went lunging forward like it was going to be the same level. Thankfully I didn't twist an ankle or anything, just felt a little foolish:)

I find myself planning things for this week, next week, the next, etc. and all of a sudden I realize, Wow! Pretty soon it'll be "next" week that this baby is supposed to come! So amazing, strange, extremely exciting, LIFE CHANGING... But oh I cannot wait!!


*P.S. These pics were actually taken LAST week, at 34 weeks & I think the belly is bigger now, just a week later!!

Friday I have an appt. with the midwife and then I think I will be going every week to see her until the baby comes. I think that'll only make the time go faster!

Right now I am really enjoying my time, I am no longer working at my job and am really enjoying my freedom:) I have time now to work on all these little projects that I've been wanting to do before Baby makes an appearance. I'll show you a couple of them soon when they're completed:) The best thing about it is they are garage sale finds & 1 cost a whole $1, and the other a whole $.10!! I'm gonna miss those garage sales come this winter!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Just Peachy

Saturday morning waffles... Topped with fresh peaches, so perfect & sweet no sugar is needed. Yum, what a great way to start a great Saturday:) It was a bit of a rainy blustery day & it felt so good to start in a slow relaxed way, enjoying a good breakfast & then heading out to run some errands.

After coming home, James worked on trim in the hallway & I was so impressed at all that he got accomplished! Now I have to paint...:) Hmm, I'm looking forward to that in my current awkward stage about as much as he was to working on the trim. But he did a super job, I'm so proud:)

As he was slaving away ripping boards & making it all fit just so, I washed all the baby clothes that I've been collecting from garage sales & thrifting, and put them away! Now that was fun!:) It's so fun so see it all come together & makes me feel like we're just a little bit more ready for this little one to arrive.

Peach pie that I made the other day. Turned out amazing if I do say so myself:) We only have a couple of slices left...


Pie crust is such a frustrating thing for me! I always use the same recipe and it usually turns out, but sometimes just sooo much better than other times. Usually when I want to make it for company is when it turns out just a little "off". Well this pie was made just for us, and of course this time it turned out absolutely perfect. Not to brag, but I do think it was the best pie crust I have ever made! And that was using the same pie crust recipe as always...

This was the Peaches-N-Cream pie from Taste of Home, I used the Martha Stewart recipe for the crust of course but for the filling I used the above recipe. I did use about a cup more peaches than it asked for, I would recommend that, otherwise a 9 inch pie pan would not be full enough (in my opinion anyway:), and the peaches were so sweet naturally that I only used about a 1/4 cup of sugar & I used generous TBLs of flour because I don't like runny fruit pies! It was a first time for this recipe and I do think I would make it again:)

I hope you all had a wonderful relaxing weekend!

A Good Tired...

It seems like this summer is just the busiest summer yet, strange how it seems to be that way every year:) Getting ready for baby has certainly added plenty to do to the list, throw in all the regular summer activities; cook-outs, camping, going to the lake, tending to flowers & this year my wonderful new garden that my wonderful man made for me:) Ah, but I love summer and wouldn't trade it for the world!

This past weekend we went on a very last minute camping trip with Rudy's. Hurried packing and getting ready, but it was well worth it! So much fun we had, relaxing, eating to much, playing games, *correction*, playing A game (Settlers), but it was fun!:) All 10 or so games that we played:)
And so for the good tired. Seems like tiredness is more and more a common thing these days... but it is oh sooo good, because that means Baby is growing and the day is getting closer!!:) Sitting here on the couch typing away feels very good right now, trying to put my feet up to avoid the swelling that can come!

Well, I don't have a whole lot to say right now, I'm gonna blame it on my exhausted mind right now and promise to post again soon!

I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures of James & I in the last year, just because I feel like it. Only 6 more weeks & there'll be 3 of us, a little family!:)

Also, thank-you to all who leave comments on my posts, it so makes my day!!:) And I will leave my response comment to you on the comment section of the post, I love to hear feedback from you!!

A Sense of Accomplishment... & CHOCOLATE!!

2 things I dislike:

1. Doing Laundry

2. Cleaning

2 things I like:

1. Clean Laundry

2. A Clean House

Hmm, what do we do about this??? Well, I've decided that the good part of them is the Sense of Accomplishment it gives me. Well... that is, after I finally decide I've procrastinated enough! So the other day I was tackling some disliked dirty laundry, and my laundry area is in the basement (which is another dislike because of the MANY spiders down there!!) and is not nicely set up for laundry, just a washer & a dryer beside each other and a laundry tub.

Someday I want to have a counter & some storage in my laundry area. Like this for example. Ah, I can dream can't I?

(photo from bhg.com)

So I had an ever growing pile of white linens and shirts and anything pure white (this pile has been growing for a while, I am ashamed to say) that needed to have a good Iron Out treatment. So feeling unusally laundry-like ambitious I decided today is the day, so I looked around for a tub large enough to soak them in. Well, I couldn't find anything, so I started looking at my sad, neglected laundry tub/sink... Which for the past many months has been used only as a cleaning hub for paintbrushes and rollers, so it was not looking pretty!!

Well, thank-you, Burst of Energy/Ambition, I decided I've had enough of a dirty laundry sink that didn't function beyond cleaning paint brushes, so I grabbed some rags, Greased Lightening & soap and boy did I scrub, all that combined with a good dose of elbow grease & 2 raw fingers I now have a sparkling clean laundry tub, and it was put to good use soaking those whites! And now I have a pile of fresh smelling linens & shirts & a pair of capris that badly needed a whitening treatment. Ah, a Sense of Accomplishment!!:) And the best thing was I tackled both disliked things, 2 birds with 1 stone! Yay!!

2 more things I LIKE:

1. Cooking
2. Baking


This particular item would be the baking...


Continuing on with the Zucchini & Squash Recipes I'm trying.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

1/2 C butter, softened

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 C flour

3 T baking cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 C grated, unpeeled zucchini

1/2 C choc. chips (I used 1 C mini choc. chips, because, well, hello, it's CHOCOLATE!!)

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter & sugar. Beat in eggs & vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda & cinnamon; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in the zucchini & choc. chips. Spoon into a greased 8x4x2 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 60-70 min. or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 min. before removing from pan to a wire rack.

P.S. I used a 9x5 bread pan, didn't have an 8x4.

Very good, chocolatey, moist, dense. MMMM... It's actually more like a brownie, how about a piece warmed up with a scoop of vanilla icecream & some rich homemade chocolate fudge sauce. Oh, now that would be great!:) Who knew something with a vegetable in it could taste so desserty?:)

Have a great weekend everyone! We're headed on a very last minute camping trip so I've got to get moving!!

An Afternoon Snack

At my last mid-wife visit she was asking what I tend to eat for a snack, I told her graham crackers & peanut butter is a fairly common snack for me and she told me, good, that's a healthy one! Yay, for me so I decided today to make it even healthier and slice some bananas on top. Yummy!! What's in the picture is gone already and I'm thinking of making another...;)

My mom always has an abundance of squash, so she shared some of her bounty with me. Nothing better than free produce!! So I went on a hunt for squash & zucchini recipes and came up with a nice collection that I can't wait to try! Mom, I might just take more off your hands soon:)

First on the list was Zucchini Pancakes. Last year I made some and this year when I went looking for the recipe it was nowhere to be found!:( So I went from memory and came up with this... pretty yummy I thought:) Since we eat it as a main dish for dinner I made it a bit more savory & added sausage to the pancakes because James likes to have SOME meat in most meals, me on the other hand could probably survive as a vegetarian:) So here's the recipe I came up with.

Zucchini Pancakes

1 1/2 C shredded zucchini
2 T finely minced onion
Dash of garlic salt
1/4 C grated parmesan
1 T minced fresh parsley
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 C sausage crumbles
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 - 3/4 C flour (depends on how wet your zucchini is)

Mix all ingredients together in order given. Pour by 1/3 cupfuls onto greased skillet on med. heat. Fry 4-5 min. on each side or until pancakes are golden brown & set. Makes 6 pancakes.

I served them with a dollop of applesauce on top of each one. Potato pancakes (which is where this idea came from) is not something I grew up eating. I actually don't think I ever had one until I met James, and after we were married it was something he requested. The applesauce part though... I grew up eating applesauce on EVERYTHING, at practically every meal! (Pretty sure that's a Holmes county or mennonite thing:) James thought that was a bit strange at first, but for some reason every time his mom served the family potato pancakes, they would always eat them with applesauce. So this one I guess combines both our childhoods, with a new twist of zucchini however:)

So what's next on the list to use up my squash & zucchini? Stay tuned, there are some yummy things I can't wait to try!!! Here's a hint, the next thing I'm going to make is chocolatey & decadent, mmmm... my pregnant belly is already anticipating it:)



My anniversary flowers from my hubby:)

A Bridal Shower

So I'm a little behind on posting this but here it is.

On Sunday we had a bridal shower for my wonderful friend Emily who's wedding is coming up so fast!! We had the PERFECT day for it, the weather was just amazing. Em, hope you enjoyed it, we enjoyed getting it together.

Here is the coolest sign that Amy made...

A shot of all of us with the bride to be! (And there I am in all my pregnant glory, feeling quite pregnant amidst all the skinny minis!!)

The gorgeous flowers that Jana cut from her flower beds. Finally had to tie them down, they just kept blowing over!!

The drink table.

Sarah arranging everything nicely & Em grabbing some shots of the decor.

The punch I made. I tried a new recipe & it was a success!

Yummy garden tea.

The plasticware that Sarah beautified:)

Yummy, yummy cupcakes! Brought by Jana.

Best fruit pizza ever... Em, I'm gonna have to bug your mom & aunts for that recipe:)

The whole spread...

The yummy salad.

Now a little reverse recap of our weekend... Last Tue. was James & I's 3rd anniversary! Can't believe its been that long already! Time flies when you're having fun I guess:) So sad that I don't have any pics from Sat. which is when we headed off to celebrate. I haven't got the die hard photographer thing down yet. I'm working on it!!:)

So we headed off for Cleveland on Sat. morning, taking smaller roads, hoping we would see garage sales on the way. Well, we stopped at one and I did find some very cute baby clothes but while we were browsing it started raining & boy, rain it did!! So no more garage sales for us:( So we stopped at a few stores, I was looking for some maternity shirts & a pair of capris since I seem to be outgrowing my other clothes. So far I've been able to wear looser fitting/longer shirts and they've been ok up to this point. It seems like such a shame to have to buy new clothes that I'm only going to wear for 7 more weeks, but a girl's gotta have SOMETHING to wear!!! So I hit the sale racks at Old Navy, Target & Motherhood Maternity & did find a couple things for a decent price. No capris though, *sigh*. The ones I have still fit but are simply worn out!!

Shopping is not one of James' favorite past times & I felt a bit guilty spending our anniversary celebration day doing just that! But he was a good sport and by the afternoon we made it up to Cleveland and went to the West Side Market. I'd never been there before & it was a very neat experience! I had my first taste of cannolis, yummy!! And we bought some very delicious plums & grapes. After the market we went to our hotel & checked in & then headed out to see if we could find a nice waterfront restaurant. No Luck. So we headed back to our hotel and walked from there to a mexican place downtown, on E 4th St. to be exact. Very good food, and we sat outside and it was so much fun to observe everyone passing by:)

Had a very fun day & of course spending an entire day with my hubby is wonderful:)