An Early Christmas Present!

Sorry, no it's not the baby quite yet, although I do wish I could say otherwise. Contractions are consistently 10 min apart during the day (probably closer at night, but I'm not timing). Thankfully, with the tylenol I am able to get some sleep. (At least we are in the final week!) Thanks everyone for all the encouragement, prayers and thoughts. Even though I may not be able to respond personally to everyone, it does make a big difference to feel cared about when things are not exactly going as planned, at least in my book ;) and I appreciate each and every one of you who have taken the time to let me know.

Brad surprised me Thursday night by giving me an early Christmas present from him and my family (THANK YOU everyone!!!). He said being at the hospital made him realize we weren't ready to have the baby yet, because even though he had brought it with him he had an epiphany that we didn't even know how to use it, or if it even came with batteries and everything, LOL!

I LOVE it!!! I have been researching cameras for a loooong time now and narrowed it down to a couple that were reasonably priced, but maxed out on features with great reviews. He ended up getting me my favorite one, the Canon SX20 IS, which I have been having a lot of fun with over the last couple days :).

I would love to have a nice digital SLR someday, but the price tag is just too high for now, and so I found a few point and shoot cameras that seemed like a happy medium with all the awesome features they come with, as well as many adjustable settings that you get with an SLR. Plus, check out the ZOOM on this baby! It has a 20x zoom built in and comes with the lens hood!!!

I love the LCD flip screen that you can use in several different positions, and did I mention that it takes High-def video? Cool!

I also had some money saved up that I was planning on using toward buying a camera myself (because I was honestly not expecting to receive one as a gift!), so I had a fun little shopping spree on Etsy for some accessories that I cannot wait to get! I bought this funky, fun reversible padded camera strap that will be great for carrying it around with me. I do NOT want to be dropping this baby!


And I bought this gorgeous padded, waterproof camera bag! I can't wait to get it so I can stop carrying my camera around in the box :), plus it's so pretty!

So thank you to everyone who pitched in - I am already loving it and can't wait to take lots of great photos of my new sweet boy and his big brother and sister!

Beauty

Remember these cute pillowcase dresses I bought back in February for Naomi's birthday? Well, they finally fit her and I can't get enough of them! Last night, I put her hair in sponge rollers for the first time, so it was the perfect photo opportunity to model the dresses with her fancy, curly up-do!


I love this girl! She is my little sunshine!

Etsy Dresses

I have been a longtime fan of Etsy, but until today had always been a window shopper. . . or would it be a "screen" shopper? Anyways, if you aren't familiar with Etsy, it is an online marketplace for handmade items including everything from artwork to pottery to unique kids toys and vintage jewelry. It's a great place to find unique items and gifts and I love the idea of supporting small businesses and home artisans being one myself.

My favorite items to browse are the handmade bags (some girls are shoe girls...I am a bag girl). If I had a bunch of spare cash laying around to spend all on myself in my wildest dreams, I would probably splurge on a few different bags from there. The other shops I spend most of my time browsing are the ones selling the adorable children's clothing. I've been eyeing all the pretty little sundresses on there and decided to go ahead and purchase a couple for Naomi since her birthday is coming up. I bought these two from My Sweet Pea Shoppe.

I've been looking for something special for her to wear for her monkey birthday party we're going to have and this monkey dress will be perfect over a shirt and pants! I'd love to pull out my sewing machine this spring and make a few of these myself, so I figured it would be good to see what the finished product should look like. I can do a decent job at making pillows, curtains, and anything with a straight stitch, but have never tried clothing. These pillowcase dresses look so simple and I even found a great pattern for them already.

Do you have a favorite Etsy shop you like to browse, or even buy from? I'd love to check them out, so leave a comment and let us know which ones are your favorites!