It's Official!

Baby is officially a girl. I couldn't be more happy that she's healthy and growing well, but having a girl is going to be beyond awesome. I'm thrilled! I love my little DA, but I've been a bit outnumbered around here. Time to even up the score.

Interior Design FAIL!!!

Not many people know, or at least remember, I have a BA in Interior Design. Yes, I do. And I didn't come by that dang degree easily. I worked my tail off to get it and practically wrecked my health and sanity in the process.

I had a fabulously awful experience trying to get a job in interior design later and ultimately failed, thus setting my life on a different (and I think better) course all of which I won't get into. But I have come to the conclusion that my degree (and thus all that work I put into getting it) is practically worthless compared to real life experience.

Case in point: I went to IKEA a few months back and came across a couple of lamps I absolutley fell in love with. Literally. I tried walking away without them at least three times because I wasn't there for lamps. I was there for curtains. I failed. In more than one way, but we're just going to discuss the lamps today. I really couldn't leave without them. They were simple, pretty, inexpensive, and I just knew they would be the perfect addition to the decor in my living room.

I got home, put in the luminaires they called for, set them up in their perfect places, turned them on, stepped back and...almost cried. And not in a good way. I'm mortifying myself in sharing this.

Problem #1: Scale. They were tiny compared to the rest of my living room furniture. They sat ten inches high. That's it. They didn't even peak over the arms of my sofa. That goes beyond the realm of "Akward," across the land of "what were you thinking?" and lands smack dab in the middle of the island of "Oh my heck! That looks ridiculous, kill me now!" Don't roll your eyes, there is such a place, and I've visited it on many, many occassions. Go ME!

Problem #2: Function. Ever had the experience of your best friend telling ghost stories in the dark with a flashlight uplighting their face? It isn't the best way to show off your features, especially in everyday conversation...in the living room. The lamps are globe lamps, meaning they don't have a stand or a shade. They're a spherical piece of glass that sits on whatever surface you put it on and the lightbulb is inside. That means their light, for the most part is directed up and out rather than down and out like a normal lamp. Not exactly functional when you want it to perform a normal lamp function. But it was something I really liked about them until I realized the unique cast it gave to features when light was directed in that way. When I got home. And tried to have a normal conversation in their light. Oh joy.

Problem #3: Function. Again. The only luminaires these lamps can use are pretty small. So small I had a hard time finding them the first time around. After searching for them among the lightbulbs for a good half hour, I asked a sales clerk where to look and he directed me to...the nightlights! This was after I had bought the lamps. Oh joy, again! The light they put off is slightly brighter than a nightlight, but only slightly. Go me, again!

The best part about this is that all of these problems deal with stuff you learn about in Design Basics, which is literally the FIRST interior design class I took in college. And even though I graduated with a great GPA and understood all the theories of interior design, I still fail in real life. It really is true that no amount of education can make up for lack of experience. Yay!!!

Thankfully, I have since been given several lamps that work wonderfully in scale and function in my living room. I want to re-do their shades eventually because the shade parts are old and ugly, but the lamps themselves are quite beautiful, and who can say no to free.

My two simple, pretty, inexpensive lamps I couldn't walk away from have found their way to more appropriate uses. As nightlights. And I still love them.


Aren't they so pretty? How could I say no?

Updates

It's been a while since I last posted, so here's the 411 on the Sullivan Fam.

I'm still pregnant. I am 25 weeks along, we think it's a girl. That theory should be confirmed or debunct tomorrow at another ultra-sound. I haven't been sick, which is a blessing, but the exhaustion is killing me. I've had a lot of restless nights lately and a lot of contractions which have been hard enough to wake me up and keep me awake for a while. Crossing my fingers I won't be put on bed rest due to pre-term labor being a real factor. Oh joy! But baby is healthy and growing well, so I'll count my blessings.

I've been spring cleaning and have found that throwing things out is incredibly liberating. Not that I'm a packrat, because I'm not even close, but throwing away items that just aren't used (like baby clothes DA never wore, they still had the tags on), worn out, or broken is a burden lifted I didn't even know was there. It makes me really wonder why people hold onto things, especially for years and years. Stuff that sits in a box without being touched for more than a couple of years just takes up valuable storage space and mental and emotional space you could be sharing freely. Can someone tell me what the point is in keeping it? Because I know how awesome it is to get rid of it.

Jake is finishing up this semester. Design Day was a lot of fun and his team's robotic arm recieved some good attention. He is headed into finals next week, working like a mad man, and generally comes home exhausted, but at least he's home. He was also called as the second counsellor in the Bishopric recently, so add lots of meetings to the already full agenda and he keeps busy. He loves it.

DA loves the sunshine when it's out, and drives me crazy when it's not, but that's half the fun of being four. He's growing like a weed and has jumped two sizes since Christmas. I took him into the Doctor for a child wellness check up just before his birthday. He was in the 90th percentile in height for his age, and he was below the chart for weight. He's a skinny bean pole. Doc says that's okay because those statistics are based on a nation of children that are becoming gradually more and more overweight and not to worry about my son. DA's generation is actually considered obese, so the fact that he doesn't have any fat on him to speak of, is a good thing. He's healthy, happy, energetic, and in front of the curve in learning, so weight isn't an issue at the moment. I'm not worried and I actually find it rather funny. Isn't skinny what this nation is obsessed with? Yet, apparently my kid being skinny could be seen as me not feeding him. I can hardly put enough food on the table to keep him satisfied. He eats like an elephant. The only difference between him and the majority of kids his age is he eats all the healthy stuff instead of a continual diet of junk. He loves fresh fruit and vegetables, rice, beans, potatoes, pasta and water, we don't use milk for the most part (I'm allergic and he could develop the allergy fairly easily), he doesn't like meat and eats it sparingly, he likes candy, but prefers real food when he's hungry. He knows what's good for him and what he feels good eating, so he isn't afraid to tell you he just doesn't want something. Now my rant is done.

DA got a new bed frame for Christmas (thank you Fred! We love it!), but we just got the matress for it this week, so he hadn't slept in it until a few days ago. He LOVES sleeping in a big boy bed. The bed has five drawers under it, which makes for some incredible storage space and it's tall enough that I can fit my food storage buckets under it with a couple inches to spare. That means it's also too tall for DA to get on it without the assistance of a step-stool. He feels like he's in a tower when he climbs up. Pretty awesome!

Recycling has come to our neck of the woods and I am thrilled. DA is the best at it and reminds us all the time that the stuff we're about to toss in the trash without a thought is recyclable. He keeps us on our toes.

That's all my brain is ready to spew forth at this time, so farewell for now!

My Little Alien...I Mean Baby

I think I've mentioned a time or two that I'm pregnant. Well, here's the little thing wiggling around in there. I think it's rather cute, but it still looks a bit alien-ish, especially from the frontal view. We got a lot more pictures than these and the tech was awesome because she printed out a set for DA to keep for himself as well. These were the best of them. Love this little thing already.

Frontal view. Can you see it's little hands tucked up under it's chin? It was squirming around and knocking it's hands about the whole time. I have another mover in there. It kicked it's legs a few times while we were watching and I actually felt it. Strange and unusual experience to see the movement and feel it at the same time.

Belly and legs. The tech said such a nice round belly means baby is getting enough nutrition, so apparently I'm doing okay in that deparment. I haven't really been sick this time around, so that's an added bonus.

Profile view. We couldn't get a really great profile view because of how much the little one was moving, but this one was decent. I'm so excited to have a healthy baby so far. The big ultra sound where we check all the vitals and make sure it doesn't have any major problems/is healthy as well as finding out the gender is scheduled for March 14th. Yay!

In other news, I haven't gained any weight with this baby yet, DA is in love with it and talks to it all the time, and Jake asks on a daily basis whether he'll be able to feel baby move yet. DA also likes to ask the baby when it's going to come out and play with him. I don't think he quite understands the concept of nine months and even then baby won't be able to play for a little while as it will be too young. Oh well! Thank goodness the weather has been warm enough we can go outside for a few hours each day and play with his friends. He would be driving me up a wall into crazy land if he didn't have an outlet for his energy. I think I may be going there anyway, but that's beside the point.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas this year was a ton of fun. DA is finely old enough to really appreciate gifts and spend hours playing with them. We spent Christmas Eve with Jake's family, starting off with a huge nummy breakfast, announcement, gifts, a long nap, xbox, a great lunch/dinner, and lots of fun. Christmas morning was spent at home with our little family tearing through gifts, making messes, and loving everything we were given. We feel so blessed! Christmas evening was spent with my Mom and Dad and that side of the family minus one of my sisters and her family (who we miss terribly). Christmas is always a wonderful time full of fun memories, games, delicious food, people we love, fun and beautiful music, and quiet moments spent reflecting on the Savior. Here's a sampling from our Christmas festivities.

The brothers in their Christmas finery. We got these shirts for them, and like us, they thought they were pretty awesome.

Me, not feeling well. We announced to the Sullivan Family that I was pregnant on Christmas Eve. I think I was a little too subtle in the note I wrote to Grandma though, because she was thoroughly confused with what we were trying to tell her. *SHRUG*

DA got this huge truck that holds all his other cars from Great Grandma.

Christmas morning at home was a blast and a half. Santa brought some cool things this year. Here's what DA got in his stocking and below is what Mom and Dad got.

Mom and Dad got DA this fantastic racetrack that he and Dad played with for hours on end. It was a good time.

DA had a lot of fun playing with the bubble wrap sent with the package from Uncle Josh and Aunt Veronica.

But he loved his Moose hat too. Although I don't have a picture of it, he also got a fantastic bathtime pirate set in this package that has been a huge hit. He plays with it for hours (literally) in the bath.

The nerf guns from Santa were also a big hit. We discovered two more in the closet a few days later that we had forgotten were there. Dad and DA have had some fun wars and even the neighbors have gotten in on the action. I forgot to bring the camera later to my Mom and Dad's house for Christmas dinner, but we had a lot of fun there too.

Don't Look at the Lights!!!

Just kidding, you really should look at the lights, especially if you're at Temple Square around Christmas time. We took a fantastic (and extremely cold) outing to look at the lights as a family for FHE just before Christmas and had a blast. Here's some of the pictures from the trip.

DA's favorite parts of the trip were anything that had to do with water. He seems to have a small obsession with fountains, waterfalls, pools, and streams.

It was a fun outing, one we'll do every year.

In Which I Come Back to Earth

The last few months have been busy, busy, busy. Right after my last post...in October of last year...We found out I was pregnant. Yay! Then malware attacked my registery so I had to pull out my old computer to stay connected with the world at large. I also got a vinyl cutter and sort of started a small business. Then the holidays came and we had stuff to do every single weekend. So I haven't done much blogging, because I would rather spend my free time sleeping. But the first trimester is over, life has slowed down a little bit, and I'm feeling much better, so I guess I can welcome myself back.

I should probably round out last year by sharing the holiday fun, but my camera is out of batteries and needs to charge before I can download any pictures. DA got a hold of it the other day and was playing with it when I came into the room. I couldn't get it to shut down for a couple of minutes after taking it from him, and I'm praying it's okay. It was an expensive camera.

Things on the docket that are rapidly approaching:

The first week of February I will be having an ultra-sound for dating because my midwife thinks I'm four weeks further along with #2 than I thought I was. We need to make sure. Hopefully I'll be able to post the ultra-sound video here when all is said and done. If I am four weeks further along *fingers crossed* we'll probably be able to find out the gender at this first ultra-sound.

The second week of February, I'm headed to Florida and the Bahamas with one of my sisters! I need a vacation. I just hope I don't get too sea sick since we'll be cruising.

Pictures will be forthcoming in the near future.