Just These Two

When I became pregnant with Syd, Taylor was just 18 months old. By the time he was born she was 25 months old and was the most delightful little toddler a mom could ask for.  I've said before that I felt an ache of sadness for her when Syd was born, that she was no longer our main focus of attention.  Within a few short weeks she and we adjusted as well as can be expected and really, she doesn't even remember a life without Syd.

It's different this time though.  They've been our everything for the past 5 years, and sure they are ridiculously excited for their new baby brother or sister, but I can't help feeling a bit sad again.  For surely they have no idea how crazy and upside down a house can be turned by a newborn.  At least I remember it being crazy.  Maybe this time since I'm a little older and wiser, I'll adjust better, we'll adjust better.  But this past weekend I couldn't help feel a bit weepy for them.  That pretty soon it won't be just these 2 anymore. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and I know we'll all love this little baby like it's always been a part of our family, but there's just something about the last few weeks of pregnancy that make you want to hold your guys a bit tighter.  Make sure they know how much you love them. 

So I did a lot of that on Saturday.  We spent about 4 hours in the pool and stayed up late watching the Olympics.  And on Sunday I rested my poor elephant feet while Art took the kids to the OC Fair all day.  I missed them but it was good for him to spend some one on one time with them.  Dad is their favorite for sure, made especially true by the fact they convinced him to win a goldfish.  That would have never happened with me.  I would have thrown the game on purpose.  

The countdown is on guys, and I'm nervous and excited.  I've told you about my biggest fear of all, and I'm just praying that it doesn't end up being as bad as before.  Either way I know we'll make it out on the other side just fine and this new life is going to complete this little family of ours.  As much as I'm scared, I also can't wait.

Calling August Sponsors!

I'd do a high kick if you joined me in August as a Sponsor for Four Flights of Fancy!  I'm looking for shops and blogs to promote and partner with.  Some deets on stats:

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Regular contributor at Making It Lovely

Writer at Disney Baby

Email me for special ad rates for the month of August - the month I'm due!  I limit ad space to no more than 10 per month and do a sponsor highlight round up each month and/or giveaway.  Let's work together and make fun things happen!

Introducing The Craft Cabinet

When you're passionate about something, especially if it involves anything somewhat businessy related, I've found it helps to have a partner in crime.  With each of the companies I've worked at before, I always had a person or two that I could go to and bounce ideas off of, share frustrations, share things I was happy and proud of.  Someone that just "got it" because they were in the same boat I was.  In blogging my partner in crime I've found is Jules.

We joke that I stalked her for a while before she agreed to meet with me.  She's a self-proclaimed hermit, and I'm the gal from Sales that wants to make friends with everyone I find interesting.  In fact just last week I invited two bloggers out to lunch that I'd never met before just because I think they would be fun to hang out with.  I asked Jules several times to meet me for lunch before she finally agreed.  I think I told her "This is the last time I'm going to ask you to lunch before I start to take it personally."

Anyhow, I promise there is a point to all this.  Over a year later, Jules and I have met countless times now for lunch, dinner, even my baby shower.  And we've shared a 400 square foot room at Camp Mighty.  We've gotten pretty close considering she originally didn't want to have anything to do with me ha!  A few weeks back I was at her house and while the kids were playing we were brainstorming about things we'd love to do with our blogs.  She had the idea to create this Pinterest type party where ladies would bring all the makings for a project they've pinned and we'd set aside time for them to create said project.  A type of creative, networking/mingling type of event where local bloggers could meet and be productive.  A few nights later at home I struck up a conversation on Twitter asking if anyone would be interested in joining us for such party.  There was some interest, so I emailed Jules and said "I'm bored.  Kids are in bed and Art's working, so I'm going to get this Pinterest party idea of yours going."

Two weeks later and here's the scoop:  We're doing it!

We have a date and time: Friday August 17th at 6:30 (that's 13 days before my due date in case anyone is keeping track)  

We have a venue: Salvage Life in Long Beach, California - a darling vintage boutique centrally located between Los Angeles and Orange County.

We have a purpose: Create a project you've pinned.  Bring along all the supplies you'll need to create a project (nothing too huge or food related please), and we'll set aside time to sit, chat and craft!  If you want to come and don't really have a project in mind that you want to create, or don't have time to get the supplies, no problem!  We'll have some supplies on hand to make some cute and easy DIY's.  Think Neon Gliter Notecards and maybe some type of bracelet?

What else have we got?: There will be food, drinks and merriment!  Duh.  Jules and I would never plan something without food and drinks!  We'll also have swag bags for those that come, and a big company having to do with one Tori Spelling, will be providing some door prizes.  You won't go home empty handed!

Cost: Well while we'd love to do this all for free, we are charging Twenty dollars to help cover the costs of food and fun.

Get yourself signed up!: You can do that right here.  Space is extremely limited so don't delay in getting yourself a spot!

Andrea, who created that lovely invitation?: Tristan from Besotted Brand created the whole thing from start to finish, including our logo.  Isn't it gorgeous?  She is one talented lady with more taste in her pinky finger than I have in my whole body.  

I hope to see you there.  I am somewhat of an extrovert so if I meet you for the first time, don't be surprised if I give you a big fat hug.  I sort of have trouble with knowing my personal space boundaries, so warn me ahead of time if you don't want a hug.  So please join us and spread the word, and bring a friend!

I'm BAACK!

We're back from an amazing, yet tiring, 5 day road trip up to June Lake.  It had been almost 15 years since I had visited the area and I forgot just how beautiful it was and how much there is to do there.  I'm sorting through the hundreds of pictures we took while there, and will do a proper post most likely next Monday, similar to the one we did after our Grand Canyon trip.  Here in Southern California I feel like June Lake is one of those hidden gems that not a lot of people know about, or know enough about to visit, so I thought I'd share what and why we love this area so much.  I'm glad we got rekindled with it after so many years.  We all had a great time and can't wait to go back.

Tomorrow I'll be posting a big, HUGE announcement I'm really excited about, involving Pinterest, crafts and mingling with other bloggers, so stay tuned for that.  And over at Oh Sweet Joy's blog, you can enter to win a Neon gift bundle, but only by becoming a Facebook page fan.  Go visit to get more details.  And lastly, if you'd like to see what the Big Belly Project is all about, follow me on Instagram @fourflights.  We'll be busy for the next 5 weeks!

B3 Update - 34 Weeks

How did I get to 34 weeks?  Holy crap guys, I'm officially starting to freak!  So much left to do, and so little time.  And I've officially hit a bit of wall and am tired, oh so tired.  I'm getting disappointed in myself for things like not responding to comments in the blog posts.  Jules is so good at it and I continue to struggle!  I don't know why!  I'm so sorry guys, but know that I read and appreciate them all.  Some day I hope to become better at it, but for now, please accept my apologies :-/

The kids only have a couple of weeks left of summer break so I have been taking them all over this week and showing them the time of their lives, which has not done much for allowing me to get a lot of rest.   We have gone to the Children's Museum, a bounce house place which was torture, ceramics class and swimming every day.  What I would do to relive my childhood as these kids.  They've got the friggin' life man.  You can follow along with all the rest of our summer adventures on Instagram @fourflights. 

On top of everything, I got really excited one night about an idea that Jules had to plan a Pinterest party for local Southern California bloggers, so I started sort of just planning it alongside her and what do you know?  We have a date and a venue picked out, oh just 13 days before my due date ha!  Stay tuned as an actual event invite with full details will be posted on our blogs next week, but for now save the date for Friday August 17th from 6:30-9 pm at an adorable vintage shop in Long Beach called Salvage Life.  I am ridiculously excited.  Basically you'll bring all the makings for a project that you've pinned and we'll give you the time and space to create it along side other craft creative women here in So Cal.  There will be food and treats and swag bags as well, so you will not want to miss it if you're local!  Mark your calendars ladies (and gents) :)

I'll be back in a few days as I really need to take some time off to rest and also try to catch up.  The house is still torn to pieces, I haven't bought a thing for the nursery, and I want to enjoy the kids as much as possible during these last days before Syd starts Kindergarten!  The baby is kicking me like crazy though every single day, especially at night, and I have definitely dropped and experiencing lots of small contractions.  Jules is freaked out I will deliver before our event on the 17th.  I told her no fear, I've got my Moby wrap and I'm not afraid to use it ;)

P.S. The winner of the maternity countdown tee which I'm wearing in these pictures is Jennifer Lenzen. Congrats Jennifer!

What's Keeping Me Up

(chamomile at 4 am to help me go back to sleep - so far not working)

Thoughts of inadequacies and failings often hit me late at night or in the middle of the night.  The time of night where I'm supposed to be in a solid slumber, resting up for the day ahead.  Something wakes me up, right now it's usually pregnancy hormones, and then I start thinking.  Sure I think about what I have to do and get accomplished, but I often turn to what I'm not doing and could be doing better.  Often in the middle of the night these thoughts of fear and failings seem much more scary and far reaching than they do in the light of the day.

So to give some light to these fears and make them seem less big, I thought I'd write them out here and share what currently has me up at 3 am, sipping a cup of chamomile until I can fall back asleep.

Bibles - the kids own Bibles that is.  For some reason it dawned on me right now that I should have already bought the kids their own Bible to take to church with them.  They each have their own story Bible, but neither of them have an actual Bible.  Any suggestions or thoughts?  Am I worrying too much about this too soon?

Prayer - Speaking of religion and kids, we don't pray nightly with the kids.  We say prayers together all the time and we pray for them, but we don't make it nightly ritual for some reason.  This really bothers me and we need to change that.  And I'm embarrassed by it.  I think it would help to get us on track if we had a specific prayer to say every night.  Is there a children's prayer you say with your child each night?

Thumb & Finger Sucking - Taylor has reverted back to sucking her fingers and Syd hasn't stopped sucking his thumb.  I told them both that we would get back to (and start with Syd) the yucky nail polish wearing in the summer, but summer for us is now officially half way over.  The kids start back in 3 weeks and do I really want to start now and potentially ruin the rest of our already short summer?  Advice?

Sight Words - I also told myself that I'd start sight words with Syd in preparation for Kindergarten.  I am not of the belief that kids have to be or should be reading when they start Kinder, but thought a little preparatory practice wouldn't hurt, on top of what we've already been doing with writing and math.  And again, 3 weeks away and no sight word practice.  Do I just let it go now or give it a casual go for the next couple of weeks?

Outdoor cushions - they really need to be cleaned but it seems to big of a job right now and so I refuse to add it to my to-do list, but it really should be, especially since they're nice and we invested in them and I hate not taking care of our nice things.  Makes me feel wasteful.  Is there someone I can pay to clean my outdoor cushions?

So this is what I'm mulling over when I should be sleeping and giving it up to God.  See, now that I write it out I look at this list and think "My goodness Andrea, you silly, silly woman!  There are much bigger problems and things you can be worrying about than these.  Count your blessings!  You all have your health and can feed your family and you have nice outdoor cushions to worry about cleaning!"  It's really a lesson in perspective too I guess.  What about you?  Maybe if you say what's on your mind and what's troubling you it won't seem so big and bad?

What's Going On Over There & There

Just a peek into my writing elsewhere. Looking at all this put together, I wrote a lot this week, which is probably why I'm so flipping tired! I swear I'm going to take it easy this week. I swear...

On Monday I kicked off my heels (literally) and sported some tennies with this Grecian maxi dress for a little post baby shower clean up ;)

 

On Tuesday I shared this easy and chic DIY for star hair clips

On Wednesday I continued with my barrette obsession and shared this easy DIY at Making It Lovely for colorful barrettes.

On Wednesday I previewed the first set of pictures from my maternity photo shoot.  This is obviously how I dress on a daily basis while pregnant caring for two young children ;)

On Friday I showed the more casual shots from the shoot.  I love how they all came out and am so grateful to Miranda for capturing this moment in our lives so perfectly.

On Friday I also shared at Disney Baby the real reason I didn't find out the gender of the baby.

And yesterday I wrapped up the week with some fun nursery mobile DIY ideas for baby #3's room, also at Disney Baby.

B3 Countdown - 33 Weeks

This week was about surviving.  I know that sounds dramatic and all, but seriously I felt like I was teetering on the edge for most of this week.  We managed to get the #1 most important thing checked off my list from last week, and that was start demo for the baby's room.  That alone has been an accomplishment since it required us moving everything out of 2 very, very full rooms the day after my baby shower, so they could start on Tuesday.

Between the baby shower, the maternity photo shoot, the moving and construction, I hit a wall.  Yesterday at my check up, my doctor walked in and asked how it's going and I just broke down and started bawling, saying "I'm so tired!"  To which she replied "Well yes, it appears so."  Her suggestion was to book myself in to a room at a four star resort.  Of if it were only that easy.

I don't mean to complain, I know we're blessed to be able to even do construction.  But it doesn't mean it's any less tiring or stressful.  For those interested, what we're doing is converting the office into the baby's room.  But because the office point of entry was off the dining room through a sliding pocket door, we are closing that opening off and making a new opening off a hallway.  Which means we had to knock out Syd's closet (yes, the one we just recently redid), move his closet, and tunnel our way through to extend the hallway and make a new point of entry off the hallway.  It's a lot of work for nothing exciting like added square footage or anything.  But it will end up making a lot more sense to enter the bedroom off a hallway than the dining room.  Here are some pictures of what the demo and construction looks like.  It's been a lot, even for me who usually thrives off of craziness.

Next week my goal is to just survive some more :)  No list making for next week my friends!  Take that incessant need to nest.  This momma needs rest more than anything!  Tonight the givewaway for the cute materntiy countdown t-shirt closes so don't forget to enter!  Have a great weekend everyone and please say a prayer for me.  My left foot is grossly swollen and I have to go in for an ultrasound Monday morning to make sure it's not a blood clot.  Thank you!!   

Love

More pictures from our shoot last weekend.  I'm glad Art and I got a few together, to show we still love each other and all ;)  Tomorrow, baby shower pictures!  Aren't you so excited to see even more pictures  all about me?  Ha!  Don't answer that!

Family & Maternity Photo Shoot

One of my biggest fears with getting pregnant again was starting all over, now that we were comfortably out of the infant and toddler stage with Taylor and Syd.  It took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that shortly after I had both kids in school full time, a new baby would be here.  Besides that though, I worried that the new baby would be an only child of sorts, with big brother and big sister so much older than him/her.  But after a few weeks of seeing the kids excitement over this pregnancy and having a new sister or brother, I let go of those worries.  Time nor age can get rid of the fact that a new family member is about to join us, and what better way to celebrate our family of 4, as well as show our excitement for our soon to be 5th member than with a family photo shoot?

Miranda first took pictures of the four of us, and after getting about 20 minutes of shots in with the kids,  I went and changed and the kids ran amuck at one of our favorite spots, Gum Grove Park in Seal Beach.  Here are a few of the shots from the day that I wanted to share with you all.  If you don't mind, I'll share a few more another day of Art and I and Art with the kids.  She captured some really sweet moments between Art and the kids.  She even caught a funny shot of Art pretending to throw my belly like a basketball, but I won't be sharing that one because it will show you just how weird we really are ;)

Thank you for all of your encouragement, funny and sweet comments, and overall support during this pregnancy.  I know it's been a little up and down here and posts have at times been sporadic, but I appreciate those of you that have stuck around, and the new readers that joined the fold in the last few months.  All of your love and support means the world to me and it's made this pregnancy so much more special having you all along side me :)  Have a great day everyone!  And if you want to see some of the individual shots Miranda got of me looking all glam, you can visit the style blog.

And thank you Miranda for capturing this special time in our family's life so beautifully.

B3 Countdown - 32 Weeks

I turned 32 weeks yesterday and now, the countdown is on.  I can't believe how fast it's going.  Someone said to me yesterday in response to how much farther I have to go, "Oh wow!  That's no time at all!"  I quickly replied back, "yes, it is!  I still have a ways to go."  Denial much??

As we near the home stretch, my latest pregnancy symptom has hit me: snoring.  I am not a snorer, never have been before anyhow.  But the last few days apparently I've been snoring so loud that I'm shaking the bead, according to Art.  He's slept out on the couch this whole week.  Other than that, my sleep has been crap, having odd wake and sleep times.  Last night for instance I feel asleep at 9 pm, then was up from 10:30-midnight, then up again at 5:45 am.  My body can't make heads or tails of what's going on and not getting a solid 6-7 hour stretch of sleep in a row has been hard, but I'm surviving.  Considering that others ahve it much worse all throughout pregnancy, I'll take what I have and tyr not to complain too much about it ;)

With 8 weeks to go I'm starting to try and get things in order because time really does fly, especially when the kids only have a short summer break (they go back August 8th), and 8 weeks could turn out to be 6 weeks.  I thought I'd post a weekly countdown for the remainder of my pregnancy, accompanied by my to-do list as a way to sort of freak me out and hold myself accountable.  Double indemnity is what they call that right?  So this next week, here's what I'd like to get accomplished as the B3 Countdown begins:

• Start construction on babies room (I really won't be doing this, the construction crews will, but you know, it takes a village)
• Meet with cabinet guy/finalize cabinet design
• Order baby quilt from Etsy, lamp, rocker and prints (see my choices here).  My sister told me the other day to stay away from the baby monkey print because it looked like a deranged monkey escaped from the lab, and she's kinda right.  Leave it to sisters to tell you the truth.
• Call doula to talk about placenta encapsulation (I'm going for it)
• Review baby registry list after my shower on Sunday and assess the holes and what needs to be purchased still
• Clean out kids rooms while they're away at camp

The list seems ambitious, but it's the only week I have both kids at a summer camp for 6 hours and I have to try to make the most of it.  Wish me luck that I get through at least half the list.

You may have noticed the cute countdown tee I'm wearing in this picture.  My friend Miranda sent it to me a few weeks after I announced my pregnancy and it is so comfortable and has helped my forgetful brain remember which week I'm in ;)  Today she's giving one away to one of you!  Save it for yourself or give it to a pregnant girlfriend.  Here's what Miranda says about the Project Countdown tee she created:

I created this maternity calendar when I was pregnant with my second little boy and took photos documenting the growing baby bump. I called the series Project Baby , and thus the shirt was born.

This grey and white striped American Apparel tunic is soft, comfy, and stretchy! Order your pre-pregnancy size (or one up if you're worried) and it will grow with you. See size chart here and Miranda's shop here.  The black numbers are hand screen-printed so there may be slight variations in ink and alignment.  The shirt also comes complete with a red fabric pen for crossing off those weeks as they fly by.

Miranda is giving away one Project Baby tee in any size to one reader.  To enter please leave a comment telling us your craziest/worst/weirdest pregnancy symptom you ever had.  Additional entries may be achieved by liking Miranda's Facebook page, and by liking the Four Flights of Fancy facebook page. 

Mod Podge Giveaway Winner

Hey there!  Anyone else comatose like me after the 4th of July festivities?  We're enjoying a mellow day at home and I almost forgot to post the winner of the Mod Podge giveaway!  I'm so excited to announce that the winner is...

Mandie you won all the Mod Podge goodness plus Amy's new book Mod Podge Rocks!  Congrats girl!  Send me your address and I can get the goodies out today!!

A Red White & Blue Day!

Happy Birthday America!  May you all have a fun, safe and blessed 4th of July!  I'll see you back tomorrow.  In the mean time, a few links for you... 

image via Camille Styles - click over to her site to get the playlist and listen right on your computer

a roundup of 20 crafts you can do with the kids today to keep them busy till the fireworks come!

 a year later and these 4th of July mason jar luminaries are still a hit.  Make them today with a couple of simple supplies you probably already have at home!

 if you have some patience and some time (or you just want an excuse to be inside with the air conditioning), make these patriotic pinwheel inspired cookies!