Our House in the Middle of Our Street

The last month or so Lukka and I have been really working through the day. I had a huge checklist of spring cleaning/organizing/ doing things I wanted to get done before the new baby arrives (31 more days until due date!). Here are some pictures of some of the FUN things we did (unlike bleaching the baseboards and cleaning the oven, these were actually enjoyable 'tasks' to do!) Two new more "girly" decorations to hang in the room--embroidered wall displays--still sticking to Lukka's nautical theme, they are a picture of a mermaid, and a few seahorses and my all time favorite--an anchor! I got the templates from Sublime Stitching ; they have SO many cool patterns to choose from, and are relatively cheap, too! (Oops, I'm not great at faces, this mermaid looks a little mad!) We also changed the room around-a lot! It feels more open now since we cleared out a lot of "stuff" that was being stored in his room. We also were having to put his crib in th...

I just started the Debbie Bliss "Hooded Baby Bag" and I can't wait to see how it turns out! Here are some pictures of people on Ravelry (knitting site) that have finished it!

Pausing to capture the shadows on the trail. Helping Lukka with the rubbings. A small picture between exploring pine trees and ice (in the small creek in the distance).

...and still going strong. Lots of contractions, but I've been training myself to relax during them as opposed to tensing up. I have high dreams of an unmedicated water birth for #2 and have been reading a lot about The Bradley Method . Here's to the last 6 weeks and my "To-Do-Before-Baby" list getting shorter and shorter!!

If you haven't signed up for Lincoln Safari 2009 before... DO IT NOW ! (I will wait patiently for you to return to my website, don't worry :) This is one of the coolest FREE programs that Lincoln has done in the past year (this is only it's second year), and we wanted to get an early start this year. You can get your new materials (map and booklet) at the library when you trade your old booklet in (or, like us, just tell them what your "name" was so they can highlight your family's number and give you a new booklet) or sign up and get the free materials (canvas tote, crayons, rubbing booklet, and map). The idea is to get families together and outside throughout the seasons and although, there are the most places to go in the spring and summer seasons, you don't have to stick by the rules! There are two corresponding pages for each park, giving you an idea for a nature craft at home and then the riddle/clue to find the post for the rubbing. I wish I had ...

One of my favorite things about our Lincoln City Libraries is the Interlibrary Loan Service . This program lets you request any book/magazine/article/etc. from any library in the country willing to send it to you. Most of the time, it's free, too! Why bother buying off Amazon at a discount, if you might not even like it? Just use ILL, and you can really narrow down your own collection. I have recently requested 3 books, and within two weeks, have got two of them, the other request is still floating around in the big "library database" whatever and where ever that may be! One of my favorite blogs from last year was this photo blog done by two women living 3191 miles apart--Portland, OR to Portland, MA. They wouldn't discuss their photos before they uploaded them, and they would just be pictures of 'the morning'. Such a cool concept, that they got a 2-book deal out of it! (Their second, A Year of Evenings, will come out in 2010, I believe). Check out their blog...

I never get to have pictures of Lukka and myself because I'm always behind the camera--I can't remember the last time someone took them of us! I have quite a few of these saved on my computer which is great--he is getting to be such a big boy! What a stinkin' sweetheart, huh?

Wow! 10 days since my last post? We have been revelling in Christmas and New Years' Breaks over here at the Mast house. This is our last long weekend, ending tomorrow with a lunch with my mom's side extended family! Other than there being less than 60 days "left" before baby comes (how how how is it already less than 8 weeks from now??), we have a lot of housework, baby prep (freezer meals to make, etc), and miscellaneous jobs to before February, so hopefully we'll stay busy through the cold Nebraska winters. My book list looks a little different this year, with 7 poetry books and 8 regular books. I had about 20 on my last last year (a lot of them being over 500 pages) and I just got really bored with sticking to the list (BUT I did read a total of 36 books last year...just not the ones I had originally thought). The poetry books are small, 5 of them under 100 pages, which I should be able to get down with in about 2-3 days. This will be a great list for a year ...