This is Leo's happy pose. Most of the time it is due to treats whether it be people food, dog treats, or chew sticks. It looks uncomfortable to me, but I think he likes this pose more than actually sitting to enjoy a treat. It's weird, but that's Leo; and we love him for it.
I don't really recall when decorating with initials became popular but you see it a lot in nurseries and kid's rooms. I think it's very fitting and brings some personality to a nursery, especially if the nursery is more modern than babyish. Jody was on board and even had a specific plan in mind when it came to what initials he wanted to get. He's already determined one of her nicknames will be 'MJ' so that's what he wanted to put on the wall.
Most stores only have the block letters and I really wanted to find script letters to make it more girly so I had to look for something online. I was able to find a company that offered not just script wooden letters, but had over 100 different fonts to choose from. They were also very reasonably priced. There were even different finishes and materials to choose from. We just stuck with unpainted wood so we could customize it to our liking.
We picked up a sample size of paint from Home Depot to match the furniture on Sunday morning and a couple hours later they were ready to be hung. They're really light weight and only required the double-sided foam tape to hang them on the wall. I think I would have rather had nail holes drilled in the back because sometimes the foam tape not only takes the paint off the wall when you remove it but also some of the drywall. But we used pretty small pieces so hopefully it won't be an issue.
I'm still on the hunt for some cute, unpainted wooden alphabet blocks to spell her name out that I'll put on a wall shelf with some pictures. I went looking at Michaels yesterday but they didn't have anything close to what I was looking for. Might have to just stick to getting those online as well. It seems to be that online ordering is the only way to get things now. I don't mind it when it's for items like this but I still would rather be able to see the product in person first.
For the past few weeks I've been craving a good hike so I decided early last week that we would do just that. I wanted to go somewhere we hadn't yet been and the Tahoe area has a ton of trails so I started my research there. I was able to find quite a few that sounded good, but they were pretty deep in Tahoe and I was hoping to maybe find one that wouldn't require us to go all the way up the grade. My co-worker Tomi is an outdoor guy so I asked him for some pointers. He directed me to Wrights Lake not too far from Kyburz off of Hwy 50. Pulled up some good information on the internet (what would we do without the internet!) and decided it would be the perfect spot for our hike.
Saturday morning we had every intention on leaving the house by 9am, but it somehow turned into 10am. It's not like we were in this huge hurry to be there at a specific time anyway so no big deal. We debated on taking Leo though I'm glad we didn't. When he's in the car for a long time he gets really anxious and won't sit still; it's quite annoying. I acted as navigator with our instructions in hand and off we went. Thank goodness I was paying attention because the road that we were supposed to take ended up being closed and we had to take the detour at Icehouse Road. Unfortunately that meant that it was going to take a little bit longer because Icehouse Road is super curvy. Thanks to the detour signs we finally got there because there were some points where we seriously thought we were lost.
The weather was perfect; a beautiful day for a hike. The news had forecasted thunder clouds but when we got there the sky was totally clear. We found the visitor's guide board, mapped out our path, and hit the trail. The first trail we took was Loop Trail that was directly along Wrights Lake. It was gorgeous; lots of people kayaking, swimming, and jet skiing. As we got further along the trail the scenery changed to huge marshes which was really cool looking but that's when we noticed the swarms of mosquitoes. They were everywhere and they were relentless. No matter how fast we moved or how much we swung at them, they wouldn't go away. Thankfully once we got to our next trail point, the terrain changed to rocks so the mosquitoes weren't overbearing. The new trail, Twin Lakes, took you out past the Desolation Wilderness boundary line so we had to fill out a permit to continue. Twin Lakes was also a lot harder for me and we had to stop a few times so I could catch my breath. As we got higher, the views looking back at Wrights Lake were beautiful. We found a flat spot on a huge boulder to have our lunch picnic and then continued our way up to Grouse Lake.
On our way back down the trail we ran into a couple who were expecting as well. She was only 18 weeks along but pregnant with twins. It was fun to share some stories with her of things she has to look forward to. They were both impressed with the fact that I was hiking at 30 weeks and said that it gave them hope that they wouldn't necessarily have to give it up either. Though I have to say that if I were 30 weeks pregnant with twins I might not be running and climbing over rocks like I am now. When we got back down to Wrights Lake we took the loop that went around the other side of the lake. It was also the side that all the summer homes and campground sites were. It made me think of my childhood when we would go camping at least once during the summer and I always remember having so much fun. Jody and I started talking about making those memories soon with our family, something I'm definitely looking forward to more and more now that Mallory's arrival isn't that far away.
Saturday's hike was perfect and we had a great time; minus the 20+ mosquito bites I came home with as souvenirs. Next time I'll remember to bring the bug spray!
One of the things that I love about the name we picked for our little girl is that it isn't a very common name. The Social Security Administration has Mallory ranked at 270 in popularity for the year 2009. While there are a lot of popular names out there that I also like, I admire the names that you don't hear very often. Mallory is a unique name but not so unique it's weird. The more I say her name the more I realize that we totally picked the perfect name; I love it!
Yesterday afternoon we received a package from my dad, Sue, and the girls. Inside was a gift card (that will be used to purchase our BOB stroller and ERGObaby carrier!), some adorable clothing sets, decor for the nursery, and the cutest stroller toy that is of significance other than just being a toy. It's a monkey and her name is Mallory! Of all the girl names that start with 'M' and they picked Mallory - what are the odds! Just another sign that our little monkey has the perfect name! Thank you Griffith family; we love and miss you!
Last Thursday I confirmed with JC Penney that Mallory's furniture had arrived at their store and was ready for pickup. I was so excited and couldn't wait for the weekend so Jody could start putting it together. Because we don't have a truck, we rented a truck from Lowe's on Friday evening and made our way over to Sunrise Mall. (Side note: renting a truck from Lowe's was much cheaper and easier than I thought it would be and highly recommend it for others in our truckless situation.) When we got there I stayed inside the air conditioned vehicle while Jody and the JC Penney employee hoisted the boxes up in the truck. I knew I wasn't going to be of any help so why stand in the 100 degree heat to watch them. The first test for me came once we got back to the house. I had to help Jody get the furniture off the truck and with both boxes weighing 100+ pounds each I was a little nervous. But we had a good system and were able to get them into the garage pretty easily. Mission number one accomplished.
Saturday my mom came into town so her and I could have some girl time and go shopping. We were leaving Jody behind with mission number two; get the crib and dresser assembled in Mallory's room. He was out in the garage unwrapping the dresser and came in before my mom and I left saying that the dresser was already completely assembled. What?! How easy was that! Half of mission two was accomplished in less than five minutes; except the fact that we would then need to figure out how we were going to get it up the stairs. The dresser was the heavier of the two items.
The crib was definitely an assembly required piece and we left him to his project. While I was having a great time shopping with my mom, I couldn't help but think about getting home to see the crib set up. When I called him to see how it was going, he had completed mission number two and was pleasantly surprised that the crib was somewhat easy to put together. It's always nice when things turn out easier than expected. The first thing I did when we got home from shopping was run upstairs. It was beautiful! Even though the mattress still hadn't arrived, I put the bedding in the crib just to see what it was going to look like.
Mission number three came Sunday afternoon when Jody and I decided that we were going to attempt to get the dresser upstairs. I know that I'm supposed to be careful when lifting heavy things, but I'm also the type of person that can't say no when I'm pretty sure I can do it. We decided that we would just go slow. Dragged the dresser in the house from the garage to the bottom of the stairs on a piece of cardboard and towel which worked great. Tried to remove the drawers to see if that would help take some of the weight off, but they weren't coming out easily and I didn't want to ruin anything. Again, we were happily surprised once we started lifting that it wasn't going to be that difficult and a few minutes later we had it sitting next to the crib.
Furniture is done, in place, and ready to be utilized. Thank you Jody for being such a good handy man this weekend!
One of the things that I love about living in Folsom: Lakeside Church. I was first introduced to Lakeside when I lived in Folsom in 2003. It was right across the street from my apartment complex so I decided to give it a try for the convenience of it. And though at that time in my life I didn't attend church regularly, I do remember liking it when I did go. So when we moved to Folsom in 2009, I knew that was where I wanted to start going again; this time on a regular basis.
Our pastor Brad Franklin is great. He's a down to earth guy who totally has the ability to make everyone feel comfortable. I enjoy the way that he delivers the message making it easy for us to understand how to apply it to every day life. The other leader at Lakeside that I admire is Gabe Wilson. He leads worship and is awesome at what he does. Sunday morning worship is truly like going to a concert and he is so good at getting the audience involved in worshiping. He reminds us that that's why we're there; to worship God and praise him. As soon as you walk in the doors and hear the band, it's hard not to start dancing for Jesus. I love the music at Lakeside.
The past month or so I've noticed that someone else loves the music at Lakeside; Mallory. Every single time we get there and she hears the music, she literally starts moving around like crazy. I've come to the conclusion that she is definitely dancing for Jesus because when I play loud music at home or in my car, she doesn't react like she does when we go to church. It totally brings a smile to my face and I can't wait to see her dance outside of my belly!
Today officially marks my third and final trimester. I am now in the homestretch to meeting our little girl and can't wait. I started off my third trimester with a perfect morning run that felt really good. As I was walking to cool down, I thanked Mallory for allowing me to continue to do an activity that I love. It's a good thing for the both of us and I'm pretty sure by now she's used to the bouncing around that she endures. While the process of getting her here was more difficult than I imagined it would be, I have been so blessed with a pregnancy that I am thoroughly enjoying.
Even though I know that I still have up to another 12 weeks to go, to me I'm definitely in the homestretch because the next 12 weeks are going to fly by just as quickly as the first 28 already have. We still have so much to do to prepare for Mallory's arrival and it's all going to be a lot of fun: finishing the nursery, the baby shower, a few classes at the hospital. And though I pray that she's not any later than my due date, I also hope that she's not too early. I know that we'll never be 100 percent prepared for her arrival, but I still would like the time to finish the important tasks. Cheers to my last trimester!
This past weekend I finally finished cleaning and organizing the guest bedroom and nursery closets. I put together an organizer shelf in Mallory's closet that has six cubbies, now I just need to get some of the fabric storage bin holders to put in them. I'm not completely done though as I still need to get baby hangers and other little closet organizers. But her closet is empty and ready for everything baby - minus my wedding dress because it's the only spot in the house that it will fit, but I'm sure she won't mind.
The guest bedroom closet already had a built-in shelf organizer that I didn't really care for at first but now I totally love it. It's so much easier than just a bunch of plastic storage bins stacked on top of one another. Especially when you need to pull something out of one of the bins, you don't have to completely redo the entire stack.
While I was cleaning and organizing things to put into the closet, I came across my dry erase calendar that I love oh so much. Unfortunately my calendar has been quite neglected since moving into our house because we never really established where our office was going to permanently exist. Now that we know it will remain downstairs I was able to figure out a place on the wall to display my calendar. After a quick adjustment to the desk location I found just the spot. Measured out where to put the nails, hammered away, hung the calendar up, and went to town on filling it out for the month of July. A good 15 minutes later I stood back with a big smile on my face. Yes, I know that I'm weird that I get excitement from a calendar. Having it there makes me feel so much better that I'll be able to actually remember things that are going on - pregnancy brain already makes me forget too much so I'm relying on my calendar to help me in that area. Now I just need to get more dry erase pens that actually work - it's been so long since I've used them black and green were the only ones that still had ink. Welcome back dry erase calendar!
I've always loved art. My mom said as a young kid she could give me some crayons and paper and I would be entertained for hours. As I've gotten older my love for art has only grown, though now I'm a little more creative then just a box of crayons and paper. One of my favorite things when I was younger were the paint by number kits because no matter what skill level you were, your art would always turn out perfect. Now if only the paint by number perfection could apply to picking out paint for rooms. Thank goodness for the sample sizes that you can get at Home Depot because Jody and I have already learned the hard way a couple of times.
When we first moved in we went crazy and painted the entire downstairs immediately. We picked out four colors from one of the BEHR design pamphlets without getting samples and just went to work painting away. The next day we came downstairs only to find that one of the colors we picked ended up having a hint of pink to it and it looked awful. Too bad for us, this was one of the main colors and was on four large walls that we had to completely redo. Then there was the downstairs bathroom. I found a green swatch that I liked in the store, bought a gallon, and threw it up on the walls. About half way through I knew it was the wrong color. But I felt like I couldn't turn back so I finished painting and thought maybe the color would grow on me over time. Not so much. It was so ugly that I was embarrassed to even let guests use that bathroom. Where were the paint by number kits then. Needless to say we've learned our lesson and now always, always get samples; even if we have to get eight of them like when we were choosing a color for our bedroom.
The bedding; not the crib though.
Last weekend we focused our efforts to starting on the nursery. Mallory's bedding came in while I was in San Francisco for work so I picked it up on my way home. It's exactly what I was expecting and I couldn't wait to get paint samples. Friday, I took the bedding with me and picked out three colors that were different shades of the teal. After putting the samples on the wall and picking out the lighter of the three, I then decided that I wanted to switch bedrooms for the nursery. No big deal except for the fact that now we had samples of teal paint on what would become the guest bedroom walls. Back to Home Depot we went to pick up some more paint samples for the guest bedroom now. But hey, it needed to be done.
My hired help, aka the husband.
So the rooms have both been painted and we're pleased with the results. Getting sample paints are similar to the paint by number kits and make things so much easier. Next up for the nursery is the furniture which has been ordered and is on it's way (thanks Ted and Kim!). While I'm waiting, I need to start getting ideas for the mobile that I want to make to hang from the ceiling. I love decorating and the fact that it's for our little girl makes it so much more fun!
Mallory's room.
Guest room.
We finally got a flag to fly outside our house. After going through Memorial Day and not having one I swore I would get one in time for the 4th of July. Even with my pregnancy forgetfulness, I remembered to pick one up while at Walmart the other day and had Jody help me set it up. The fact that more of our neighbors don't fly a flag around important American holidays is kind of sad to me. Maybe our actions will make them realize they need to step it up - I'll give them til Labor Day before I start knocking on their doors to question their patriotism.
Happy 4th of July and thank you to all of our men and women who have fought - and continue to fight - to keep freedom in America alive! A soldier's commitment and bravery to serve our country is one of the most unselfish things a person can choose to do. They are the true definition of a hero.
This morning was the Folsom Firecracker 5K Run that Jody and I participated in. Now that we live in Folsom, I like to compete in as many of the local runs as I can not only because the money goes towards things in our own community, but also because it means I don't have to wake up even earlier to drive there. When the run begins at 8am and you have to get there 30 minutes ahead of time just to find parking and stand in the mile-long port-a-potty line, any extra time that it would take to drive further means losing sleep. Needless to say I really like when the races are local.
Normally Jody doesn't participate in the actual run; he's usually cheering me on and taking pictures. But this time when I asked him if he wanted to run with me he surprisingly said yes without me having to sell the idea to him. However, this morning before he had his cup of coffee, he wasn't so thrilled about running at 8am anymore. I just smiled and kept my mouth shut because I knew once he had his coffee he would be fine. I love that I know my husband so well already!
The course was along the American River bike trail which is great for the scenery while running, but good grief are the hills killer. Not just rollings hills, steep grades that were pretty long at some parts. And as bad as I wanted to push myself to keep a fast pace the whole run, I was more focused on listening to my body now that I'm 27 weeks pregnant and just making sure I wasn't overdoing it. So I would just slow down during the steep parts and concentrate on my breathing. It worked well as I was able to run the whole thing without having to stop to walk and finished in 29:16 for a 9:25 average per mile. Surprisingly I did better this time than at Run with Nature in May. Jody also did better than he thought he would considering he estimated he'd be running along with me at my pace. But he surpassed me towards the beginning of the race and I didn't see him again until I crossed the finish line. I knew he would; it's hard not to succumb to the adrenaline you get when you're in a race to run faster than you normally would if you were running by yourself.
Folsom Firecracker 5K Run was successful and fun for both Jody and I, and I'm really glad we were able to participate in it together. If Mallory isn't born with a pair of running shoes on, I'd be shocked. With both parents as runners, she should at least become one when she's able to!
Jody and I decided to ride our bikes up there to meet Jamie and Kaylee since it's only a few miles from our house. It's been a little while since I've ridden my bike and it's definitely gotten more awkward now that my belly is bigger. Leaning over would cause my knees to bump into my belly a little yet when I would try and sit back further I could barely reach the handle bars. I guess this means I'll have to retire my extreme mountain biking skills until Mallory gets here. Though it was still warm when we left the house it was a nice ride into old town. The ride home was nice and cool - I enjoy summer nights.
It was a really nice way to spend some time outside with the family on a night that would have normally been just spent inside doing nothing terribly important. Good idea Jamie, and thanks Folsom for keeping the Thursday Night Street Market tradition alive in our community!
