Book Nook

We have a book problem. Or had a book problem. They were everywhere. All the time. Tons and tons and tons of books. Ingrid loves books. She listens to them, looks at them, stacks them, "reads them", lines them up, carries them around. This girl loves her books. But we had too many. They were everywhere. Seriously. So I weeded through some. Made sure all holiday books were together. Some paperback books were taken out for later. And we got our book collection down to semi-managable. Ingrid's first bookshelf was taken out long ago because she figured out quickly that it wasn't the most sturdy shelf in the world.

We had been using a toy bin to hold all the books, but it always ended in a big mess. I was going to make some fabric book slings to hang on the wall, but I knew they didn't hold too many books, and that worried me a bit. Then I found the best thing ever. A wire, wall, book rack at my school ready to be taken to the scrap yard! I saved that wonderful thing and Derek sprayed it white. We screwed it to the wall, filled it with books, and sat Ingrid's chair beside it for her very own book nook. She LOVES it. She spends a lot of time in her book nook and it keeps her books very organized. We had to work on putting the books back, but it only took a week. She can now get every book down and put every book back on her own. Yahoo!


Ingrid is really into reading books to us now. She has memorized key things we say on each page and says them as she "reads" to us. I love it.



This is her elephant impersonation.

And the monkey.

Halloween dogs. Ruff, ruff, ruff.

Elmo books always get lots of love.

I'm so happy with the book nook. Thanks to whichever teacher got rid of this awesome book rack!

Projects

It took me forever to pick out the fabric I wanted for the girls' room. I don't make decisions easily. Ever. And this was no exception. But when I finally picked it out, I was in LOVE. I loved everything about each fabric. My goals in sprucing up the "new" room were to steer away from some of the greens and oranges and pick up more of the turquoises and pinks. The valance fabric had every single color imaginable with a dark, black background! Everything in Ingrid's nursery was so light and bright, I loved the thought of bringing in some black to add a little contrast.

I made the biggest thing in the room out of this fabric--the valances!

This way I could keep my ruffled curtains from UO that I love to pieces, but also bring in another fabric with pattern and take my window treatments up to the ceiling. The ruffled curtains didn't come in a longer length and that always drove me a little bit crazy.

The other fabric I found, that might be my favorite, is the super girly floral I used for the crib sheets and changing pad cover. I think this has a vintage feel and has tons of color and pattern which is great for sheets and diaper changes that tend to get a little stained! I brought out the turquoise in this pattern with a solid bed skirt.

I really love how all the things I made turned out but I wanted to use more of the fabric. Especially since I had quite a bit left over. So I made pillows for the white bench in the girls' room!

I got to try out my new (8 months ago) embroidery machine and personalize the pillows. I also wanted to add animal appliques to the pillows to bring in some pink cutesy. I couldn't find anything online that wasn't copyrighted. Then I finally thought of my Cricut! I cut out a squirrel and a deer, traced them onto my Heat n Bond. Ironed that to my fabric. Cut it out and ironed and stitched them on! I think they are super cute and Ing likes them too.

For the small pillows I just free-handed some hearts and stitched them on. I made the pillows have an envelop back closure so I can wash the covers if need be (which I'm sure they will.) Our Wal-Mart finally got pillow inserts in and they are really cheap! I might just be on a pillow-making spree now!

Out and About

The weather is warm once again. Really warm. In the 80s. Fall never can make up its mind around here. We took a stroller ride yesterday. A very slow stroller ride--due to the heat and not wanting to overdo it. Some of the trees are really beautiful right now. It's definitely not our prettiest year in foliage, but there are some good ones. Like this beautiful yellow one in our front yard!

And these red ones across the street.

I'm so glad Derek and Ingrid are feeling better! Makes me so happy.

Mom and Dad dropped by on their way home from Ozark and brought Ingrid some goodies! Aunt Kathy crocheted she and Liv matching hats. Ingrid loved hers immediately.

They also brought a mattress for Liv's crib they picked up at Babies R Us! We are ready for her now. And the Halloween bags Alana painted for both girls. AND a set of vintage blocks they found at a flea market in Hardy on their way back from Tennessee! We now have enough to make Liv Riley's name up on her shelf. Can't wait to do a nursery tour for you. Yahoo! I've been doing projects galore. No time for sleep when you need to sew.

Rough Week

I'm not going to lie--last week was ROUGH. Extremely. It would have been rough no matter what, but at 8 months pregnant, it was more than rough. Ingrid was still sick. With tons of diarrhea. All week. Derek was down and out. Needing help up and down. With wounds to be cleaned and dressed. I played mom, wife, teacher, and nurse. And it was hard. I'm so glad that week is behind us. A huge thanks to my family for helping out. Mom and dad brought us taco soup one night. Meme and Pop brought round steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, and apple pie one night.

The fourth grade teachers at my school gave us a Neighbor's Mill gift card for dinner one night also. I am so grateful for the help at meal time. Derek is on the mend. He went in for his examination today and got his staples removed. He is healing really well. He still had a long way to go on one wound on his back. His eye is still black and the hole by his eyeball still hasn't healed up. But his muscles don't ache so badly and he can get up and down by himself. He was only released on a restricted work schedule, so we will work half days this week. He was off today because this was originally supposed to be our anniversary getaway weekend since I was off for Fall Break. Normally at this time of year we have jetted away on relaxing trip to recharge. I would be lying if I said I wasn't sad and disappointed we didn't get to do that. I was extremely bummed. But--some things can't be helped. We did get out and saw Moneyball and it was great!

One little piece of delight for the week were these pictures mom took while she watched Ingrid one day. She let Ingrid decorate her pumpkin, and Ingrid was all business. Which is fitting for a Henderson. We don't take our pumpkin decorating lightly. Mom let her choose which face she wanted to create and she boldly chose the vampire! I am cracking up that she chose to put the eyebrows on as ears and the location of the teeth! I love how her masterpiece turned out.







I mentioned that she was still sick all week. The flu sickness got better, but the diarrhea never did. I finally took her into the doctor on Friday. He thought we better do a stool sample to make sure she didn't have rotavirus or a c-diff infection. He thought more than likely she just had a stomach bug, but since she had been sick for ten days, we did the sample just to make sure. Have you ever tried to get a sample large enough "to fill up to the line" of someone with "watery diarrhea?" It's not easy. Or pleasant in any sense. But I did it and got enough by Sunday. Took it down to the hospital and they called me the same day to tell me Ingrid had indeed tested positive for c-diff. WHAT?? First of all, I didn't know what that was. Second of all, I still have no idea how she got it. But I do know I have an antibiotic to give her three times a day that "tastes absolutely terrible" according to the doctor. She proved that theory right tonight when she spit it everywhere. Poor girl. Ten days of that times 3 times a day equals 30 rounds of fits I'm afraid. I'm so thankful that c-diff isn't too serious and I'm praying that the antibiotics work to get rid of the infection. Ingrid is such a trooper. She has been sick with the flu, c-diff, and teething and most days she has acted just like this:


These two weeks have definitely turned her into a clingy mama girl though. I can't leave the room without tears and her sleep schedule flew out the window. In the midst of the good days, there were these days too.


I'm hoping we get it back on track before Liv comes. I'm determined that God is just preparing me for Liv by having all these nighttime distractions equalling zero sleep!

Through the mill

Isn't that a saying or a phrase? We've been "through the mill"? If not, let me pretend it is. :)
It started a week ago today with Ingrid getting her flu shot at her 15 month check-up. (Sidenote: Her stats were great! 21.2 lbs, 31 inches tall, above all her milestones :)) She hated her visit to the doctor like I knew she would. She's not apt to strangers touching her, looking at her, or even coming remotely close--like within six feet. So I knew it wouldn't be a picnic of a visit. But that was all fine and dandy compared with the aftermath of her flu shot. She got a deep cough Monday night while she was sleeping. It progressively got worse accompanied with a runny nose and weak little eyes. Then came the diarrhea. Bless her heart. I woke up Wednesday night hearing her mumbling around on the monitor. Walked into her room to be knocked out with the smell. She had it everywhere. I felt so sorry for her. She's continued to have diarrhea every day since. She's been on pedialite and popsicles and a bland diet. I'm so thankful she has loved her pedialite, so we haven't had to worry about dehydration. This upset stomach and all the diarrhea has caused her to get severe diaper rash. Rasied, red, blistered, and painful. Friday night was the worst. She cried every time she would even think about going to the bathroom. Screaming and crying for at least twenty minutes at a time. I felt so, so sorry for her. Saturday was supposed to be our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with the Halsteds but we didn't get to go since Ingrid was still feeling so bad. She had a great night on Saturday and woke up on Sunday seeming much better, so we headed up to the patch. We had a great day together but had to get back for Derek to shoot a video. He was supposed to shoot some footage for a cycling video to promote a benefit race in the area. He headed out with the guys around 5:00. Ingrid and were just settling down to supper when I got a call from him at 5:38. I struggled to get my phone out of my purse and for some reason it panicked me. I felt like I really needed to get this call. I saw it was Derek and he told me he was headed to the hospital because he'd had an accident. His voice was very calm--too calm--I could tell something was really wrong and I panicked. He couldn't tell me what was wrong with him, just that he was scared and loved me. I wanted to stay calm in front of Ingrid, but it was a struggle and I can't say I did a great job. Glenda came over so I could get down to the hospital. I had calmed myself down by then but when I saw him through the window in the triage I lost it again. His whole face was covered in blood and swollen on one side. He had on a neck brace and was being strapped down to a body board from head to toe. It was the scariest sight of my life. I had to sign him in and get the paperwork done before I could go see him. I learned that he was riding in the bed of the truck filming Chad over the top of the cab. His body was braced against the cab and his legs were spread touching the bed on both sides. But when the truck went around a corner a little too quickly, it threw him out of the truck. His body landed on the pavement with such force that it busted his head open in the back and gave him tremendous amounts of road rash on his face, arm, shoulders, and entire back. The guys who were with him were so shaken up that they could scarcely talk. We were all worried about severe damage. The doctor ordered several CT scans and he was taken back very quickly. I couldn't stay with him in the room since I'm pregnant and had to wait in the hallway while he was scanned. They lasted thirty minutes but it seemed like hours. I'm so thankful that we have family who live in the same town as us. I can't imagine if I would have had to have Ingrid there with me, or no one to come up to the hospital with us. Through the power of prayer and God's sheer grace, all the scans came back clear!!! No brain bleeds, no brain swelling, no skull fractures, no neck injuries---NOTHING. The doctors said it was miraculous and we know it truly was. We are so thankful to be surrounded with family, friends, and co-workers who are all believers and know that prayer is so powerful. Derek is very, very sore to say the least. He ended up with five staples in his head wound. The cut by his eye--which was really more of a deep hole--was too close for stitches, and they glued it closed. The rest of his body will just take time and neosporin to heal up. Once again, we are so thankful Derek is okay and appreciate all the prayers more than we could ever express. Yes, we've been through the mill this last week, but we are all going to be just fine!

Five Years!!!

Five years ago today was one of the best days of our lives! Derek and I had our wedding party. It was everything we hoped it would be and more. Our three months of whirlwind planning all came together to produce the perfect day for us. I fee like five years of marriage is a pretty big milestone. We have had so many wonderful adventures in the past five years. But even more in the 12 years we've been a couple. I pulled out some of my favorite photos of our wedding to look back on and reminisce. This is just another reason why I love this time of year so much.












Dear Derek Riley,

Happy 5 year anniversary! I'm so happy to spend every single day with you. I've loved our journey as a couple so much. From awkward teens with braces, to "we-think-we're-hip-college-students", to young adults with our first "real" jobs, to newly weds with our first apartment, to home owners renovating our brick house, to parents of a tiny newborn, to a married couple with 2 (almost) kids. I've loved every single stage of our relationship. But this is the best. It really keeps getting better and better. I love our friendship and I thank God for it every day.

Love you so much,

Steph

Little Sailor

I love, love, love buying vintage dresses for Ingrid, and now for Liv too! I've been on the hunt for the perfect little sailor dress forever and I finally found it, thanks to lishyloo! Derek made a sweet little video of us for Steph Sunday and we got a couple snaps too. These were taken after church and Ingrid was being a wild child running around like crazy. She was trying to get as much energy out at possible before I made her take her nap!

Meow!

It's no secret that Ingrid loves cats. She has some kind of cat obsession! Which is one of the reason's I couldn't wait to make her the Halloween cat skirt. Amelia passed down the perfect shirt to pair with the "meow meow" skirt. Ingrid was happy to model it Saturday, while acting super silly rolling on the floor.



Ingrid had this same cat shirt in the 0-3 month size last Halloween. Since we all love a good flashback (especially Heather), here is Ing exactly one year ago in the same cat shirt with a nice pair of homemade cat ears.

We ventured to Branson Saturday evening to find a frame for the tea towel Derek brought back from his trip. Michael's was having one of their usual frame sales so we found the perfect one for a great price. We also ate on the Landing. It was perfect weather for the patio and there was a band playing down by the water. Ingrid loved doing a little dance while she ate.


And since I'm on a flashback kick--I found this pic of Ingrid and I on the Landing almost 12 months ago to the day. So tiny!


*Did you notice Derek wearing his hat?? Hooray!
**Did you notice the bedding in the top pics?? Made by me as part of Nursery Restyle.