DIY Cake Stand!

You may remember a while back I did this post about crafty inspiration. Well, I wanted to attempt a few of those projects. I then posted here about having the materials to take on one. I did it, and it was easy! I've actually been meaning to show you all the pics for a few months. No, it did not turn out perfect. I went for the quick, less TLC approach, but I think it's cute for what it is.

If you've been reading a while, you know my love for cake stands, cake plates, cake pedestals, whatever you would like to call them :) I love them. I've not purchased one in quite some time probably a year or two. However, when I came across the DIY I blogged about, I thought they were so cute and wanted to give it a try.

The biggest things I didn't do, that I read about, was using screws. I used glue. With screws, if you make a lot of these, you can screw off the top and they will store easier, I suppose. I also didn't do any sanding, priming, etc., which once I was done realized I probably should have. You can just tell the wood is still a bit rough around the edges. Since this was the first time I made one, I did buy the miter box saw, yellow paint and wood pieces. So, my total was probably about $10. Next time, if I have the color I want to spray and now that I already have the glue & saw, my total would probably be more like $5. These are cheap! The most time consuming part was cutting the trim with the miter saw. I think next time, I'll probably just use one of my dad's smaller saws that will cut it in one second versus sawing each end for a few minutes.

These are the supplies I originally posted... you can see a change I made...

I used another glue that I already had that I thought would be better for wood. I took a picture of that glue and some of the price tags just to show how cheap :) Also, I didn't snap a good pic of the trim.

All of the wood except the trim came from Hobby Lobby. The trim & saw came from Michael's. I already had the glue, but it was from Hobby Lobby as well. Spray paint, you can get lots of places.

The finished results...

I thought it was pretty cute. I really like the trim...

When you are close, you can see a bit of the roughness, and when you are on a certain side, you can see where I didn't measure good at one end, haha...

Overall, if you needed to make a bunch for a party, I would highly recommend. You would save a LOT of money. Plus, you could have them matching colors or coordinating!

Heading to my diabetes class, blah!

Don't forget this weeks giveaway here!

Midweek Randoms

The middle of the week is here, yay!

• Happy Birthday to Molly Jane!! Her momma was the first of my best friends to have a baby and I was tickled I got to be there soon after. Time really does fly because that seems like it was yesterday. She is already two years old and getting so big! Unfortunately, I've been down and out and haven't got to celebrate either birthday with her, but hopefully that won't be the case next year :)

• Thank you all so much on the feedback yesterday regarding Cohen's donation project. I'm actually going to be talking on the phone with someone from Apple, Inc. this week :) I will let you know how it goes! I also didn't realize so many people would want to donate towards the project. You all are right though, even a dollar or two adds up. After my phone conversation, I will determine about going forth with setting up something for donations.

• I have a "class" tomorrow for gestational diabetes and I'm not very excited. I told the lady that called, I can't physically sit anyplace for two hours. My body is past that. She said I'd need to gather the important information and my monitor. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do the finger pricking : / Luckily, I go tot my OB a few hours after the class so I can hear what he has to say about it since I was told I barely failed. I've been eating less carbs and sugars and let me tell you, it's not easy when pregnant. I'm hungry a lot and I'm not a meat person. I wasn't eating a lot of junk either! Just the normal. I had fruit, veggies, pizza, whole grain pasta, etc. I haven't been eating much junk the past 30 weeks. I guess that's the hard part. They told me I didn't do anything to cause it so it's harder for me to know what to change. I'll update Friday in prego mego what I find out.

• Have I mentioned the bad thing about resting in bed so often is the ability to browse the internet? That has led to a little shopping, but not all too much. Thankfully, I have been saving up some Amazon gift cards. Last week, I ordered a few gifts I have been needing to gift as well as a few things for us. First off, I gave in and got the OPI Teenage Dream, haha. Random, I know. I like nail polish and I just thought it looked fun. So this one is more for me, I suppose....

• These items, I thought could be for both Brent and myself. A lot of people have told me about these books, so I ordered them. I got Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back & Ready or Not Here We Come!: The Real Experts' Guide to the First Year With Twins. I'll let you know what we think.

• In case you want to do any online shopping at Totsy, which I LOVE, you can get free shipping with the code July4 :) Expires on the 4th! 

• Jessica hosted a little frozen yogurt shower for me and the twins on Sunday afternoon. I was tickled when she told me about it. She had some of the local girls we've met through blogging. We've become good friends and I just love them all. It was so fun and the twins got some WONDERFUL things! I will post more pics tomorrow :)

• Instead of delicious Amy's bowls for lunch, I've been trying to do more salad. I don't think Amy's is bad for you at all. I'm just worried it may have more carbs than I will be allowed. Hopefully not, but I thought I would wait until I knew.

• A few weeks ago I started getting Cooking Light. Everything looks SO yummy! I miss cooking, but hopefully will have some time again....one day. Brent has started enjoying it a lot more, which is a good thing.

• My mom made my favorite summer tea yesterday. We made it with some alterations, though. We used decaf tea and stevia. The frozen lemonade the recipe calls for still has some sugar and we didn't change it out. Next batch, I think we may try lemon juice. I posted the recipe here. I'm not a big cold tea person, at all, but I love this one.

• Brent and my dad have been working on some projects around the house. Luckily, my dad is a VERY handy man. He has pretty much built or installed one of everything in his lifetime. We figured since we decided to stay in our current  house, we would have to really start utilizing the space as best as possible. Bringing two babies in, plus all their goodies, things are bound to get tight fast. For instance, the cabinets in our kitchen island were deep and dark. We keep pots, pans, strainers, etc., in them. Well it was a pain and they were always falling out. This past weekend, Brent and my dad got those metal pull out drawers and installed them. They help a TON! I'll do a post soon about some of the other nesting projects.

• Elton is completely out of our bed. It's kind of sad. We've been back and forth on this quite a bit. He is just so cute and cuddly. However, we know it makes for a much cleaner and safer environment if he stays off. Poor guy. I think he really is sad about it. 

• Do you all have any fun plans for the 4th? Doubt we will be doing much. That kind of comes with this double baking baby in the summer. I think we may go to dinner and watch fireworks on the river Saturday night. 

• Don't forget about this weeks giveaway here! 

• You have a little longer to take advantage of any specials my June Sponsors may be offering here :)

• If you would like to inquire about sponsoring, shoot me an email inthiswonderfullife{at]gmail{dot}com. 

Have a good day!

Cohen's Donation Project

While we were in the hospital with Cohen, we were fortunate enough to have access to a camera, phone, computer, video camera, internet & iPod for music. This was all found on one object, our iPhone. 

Once we got home, we thought about it and not every family owns an iPhone or the other things I just listed.

Our project is called "iPods from Cohen" :) We decided we wanted to donate 18 iPod Touches to the Children's Medical Cardiac Intense Care Unit. This would allow each room to have one, giving them access to most everything I mentioned.

This way, all patients/families in the room would have access to communication they may not normally have access to. I cannot imagine not having been able to take pictures & videos of Cohen; not to have been able to email/blog them; not to have been able to play music for him; not to have been able to research on the internet when we were given a term we were unsure of. The list goes on.

Brent and I decided we would start saving some for this, though we had to put other things first for the time being. We were hoping to have it finished up by Cohen's first birthday, but that didn't happen. We started having to save for Cohen's brother & sister :)

We have talked to Children's and they love the idea. They approved us to do the iPods and want us to let them know when we will be coming to bring them so they can let the staff & media department know.

We did have a company contact us in the fall about being interested in helping. After they got their budget for 2011, they decided it wasn't something they would be able to fit in. When they requested information, this is what we sent them......

We are hoping to start a project in memory of our son, Cohen. Cohen had a broken heart and was at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas TX, from June 7, 2010 and passed away at Children’s on June 18, 2010. We underwent a major heart surgery and several other surgeries and procedures. He was quite the fighter. While he was in the hospital, he loved listening to music on our iPod (which was located on our iPhone). Though the hospital did play standard background music, we felt it would be nice if Cohen could listen to the same music as his mommy and daddy, which he heard before he was ever born. We felt like he enjoyed it as well as responded to it. He had previously smiled for us when we turned on music during an ultrasound. With this project, we are hoping to raise money to purchase iPod Touches for each of the rooms in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Medical Center. This way, the children can listen to the music at any time. The older ones can also play games for entertainment. If the parents need to access the Internet, but don’t have a computer, they can do that also. Along with the music and Internet, the iPod Touch also offers “face time.” You can speak to someone on the phone and see them if they have a phone that offers this or an iPod touch. You could also Skype. We think this would be a great way for children to visit with their loved ones and be able to see them even if they can’t be there at the hospital. If the family does not have a camera of their own, the iPod Touch also takes pictures. They could then email the pictures from the touch to themselves or a loved on. We cherish each and every one of our pictures and videos we have of our little boy. We would be honored to make this donation in memory of him. We think having this technology available at Children’s would be a wonderful amenity and that every patient, family member and friend would be very grateful. We are hoping to be able to donate 18 iPod Touches and their cost is approximately $229. We appreciate you contacting us and feel any amount of help would be a blessing.

We hope to have the project complete my Cohen's second birthday. Christmas is our short-goal, but we will just have to see how things go!

I've never heard of Apple discounting for bulk purchases, but calling them about it has been on my to-do list for quite some time.

To read and see lots of details about the iPod Touch you can look here.

The first iPod image was designed by Diamond Doll Designs :)

Giveaway & discount Monday!

I hope that you all had a good weekend :)

Another giveaway this week!

One of my sponsors, Two Little Lovelies, wants to giveaway something :) Aren't people sweet?

These would be great for your little one or for a gift! 

These are a few of their items. Their Facebook page has tons of albums/pictures of items they have created. They do custom orders, too :)

They want to give one my readers a Big Initial & "My name is.." clippie SET!

To enter (required) - visit Two Little Lovelies website or Facebook and tell me what your favorite item is that they have designed.

For additional entries - Please leave a comment for each & leave your email address if you do not have an active blog!
- "Like" Two Little Lovelies on Facebook
- Follow their blog.
- Follow them on Twitter.
- Tweet about this giveaway and include this post link - http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com/2011/06/giveaway-discount-monday_27.html
- Facebook about this giveaway and include this post link -http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com/2011/06/giveaway-discount-monday_27.html
- Blog about this giveaway and include this post link -http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com/2011/06/giveaway-discount-monday_27.html

LOTS of chances to win! Winner will be picked randomly next Sunday evening!

A few other things!
- I have teamed up with BlogHer on. Read about Elton & his doggie food, Purina ProPlan Selects, here for a chance to win $100 Visa gift card!
- You can also win a $100 Best Buy gift card, courtesy of BlogHer, here!
- You have a little longer to take advantages of my June sponsors deals and discounts here!

winner & disocunt code

Thanks to everyone who entered the Sylvia Rose Design giveaway here!

A winner was picked randomly...

Natasha from Peace, Love and Dragonflies...

you are the winner!!! CONGRATS! Email me for details :)

Don't forget- Sylvia Rose Design is offering a 25% discount off future invitations (with a minimum of 25). Just shoot Allison an email and let her know if you are interested! sylviarosedesign@gmail.com

Another fun giveaway tomorrow :)

Texas to Us

As I previously blogged, we had planned to go to Dallas the weekend before Cohen's birthday. We wanted a little getaway before the twins arrival and it just kind of felt right to be where Cohen was born and lived around his birthday. We spent about a month there and we prepared to spend however long we needed to.

For record, I am a Texan :) I lived there until I was 18, and then I left for college.

Below, is our first picture in Dallas and our last. Pretty surreal. The first is a bit blurry because it was my mom's first attempt at an iphone picture. We were almost into Dallas and decided on dinner at Cracker Barrel. If you are new, in the last picture, that's Cohen's best stuffed friend, BT. He was with him 24/7. I first blogged about him here, from the hospital. Brent picked him out in the Children's gift shop and showed up to my hospital room with him before Cohen's first surgery (the BT shunt). In the last picture, BT is looking at Children's Medical Center as we are leaving the Dallas (it was across the street from the hotel we stayed in once we left the hospital). BT was sad to leave there without Cohen as well :(

Anyways, I was pretty excited to go to Dallas for Cohen's birthday. I knew I couldn't be on my feet much, but I knew something about being back there I looked forward to. Sure, I expected it to make me a bit sad at times, but that's expected.

Well, a few weeks before, our trip to the hospital determined I wouldn't be able to travel. I was bummed, but knew it was for the best.

A few days after Cohen's birthday a big box arrived at the door. This was inside....

A Texas goodie basket! Since we couldn't go for a Texas visit, a sweet family sent Texas to us!

Tiffany, my blog buddy, has been so sweet and thoughtful. She sent the twins these Arkansas bibs, which we LOVE.

Yes, I got big crocodile tears when I opened the basket and then read her card.

So nice of them!

The fun Texas tin was filled with all kinds of goodies!

Once I opened the plastic, everything was packed so perfectly, I couldn't get a picture of everything, so I arranged it two different ways to show all the stuff within two pics ;) OCD maybe.. 

I love all the little Texas trinkets. There were even bluebonnet sends in the package!

I've definitely enjoyed snacking on the goodies over the past few weeks. I think the pecans were my favorite and I LOVE jalapeno jelly on cream cheese.

You should have heard Brent when he saw this package. He sounded similar to when the bibs arrived. He kept saying "we have GOT to send them like a cool Oklahoma goodie basket." I was basically thinking, I have no idea what Oklahoma goodies I would get them, haha.

Thank you, sweet Blackwells :)

There is no telling when we will get back to Dallas. Maybe next spring we can take Knox and Sloane to see where Cohen lived :) I also have been meaning to blog about the donation we plan to do to Children's. I keep forgetting. I'll post a sticky note to do this next week. I'd love to have it done by Christmas, but just depends on finances since we have a few other little expenses arriving ;) Maybe by Cohen's second birthday.

Hope you all are having a good weekend!

Prego Mego - 29 weeks

Today, I'm 29 weeks pregnant with Knox & Sloane :)

YAY! One more week passed. I'm hoping and praying to keep passing weeks as it's pretty important to keep them in as long as possible.

It's kind of been a whirlwind of a week. I've blogged about this a bit already, but just so it's in the prego mego post, too...As I mentioned last Friday, I had my first glucose test. As my doctor expected, I failed. My nurse called Monday morning and said I would need to go ahead and come do the 3 hour test. I did that Tuesday morning. She said more than likely they'd call with results Monday morning. Well, they called the very next day and said I failed, barely. Out of four blood draws, I'm pretty sure she said I just failed the second one. She said a nutritionist would be calling me to set up an appointment next week. In the meantime, still eat wanted I wanted, but not to overdo it. 

I know my doctor said he expected me to fail, but once my nurse confirmed, I was bummed. I was trying to tell myself, maybe my doctor just meant the first test. She assured me that my doctor doesn't believe it's anything I've been eating or doing. The body is just in overload right now developing two babies and insulin got put on the back-burner. Luckily, I suppose it's pretty early in the game of gestational diabetes. I haven't gained any abnormal weight and, in fact, I'm still a bit away from the 40lbs my doctor recommends I gain with twins. So, I'm not sure how the rest works just yet until I talk to the nutritionist. My nurse said I would have to count calories, get 2200, as well as sugars, but I guess the nutritionist determines that. Oh joy. I will keep you all updated! At least it's only 9 more weeks.

I've done a little more research and this info and video helped.

I still don't get what I'm going to eat.. like instead of just now grabbing a handful of blueberries, I made myself grab a handful of cherry tomatoes. Ick. Not what I wanted at 9:45AM, ha.

Doctor also expected me to be anemic, but some good news, I wasn't! My numbers in that area looked great!

When I say 9 weeks, it doesn't really seem that far away. I would love to keep Knox and Sloane in until 38 weeks, but who knows!

Knox and Sloane kick and punch like crazy. More so Knox. His positioning allows for more movement. Sloane mostly sits back and chills.

I'm still trying to drink tons of water. The heat here can be unbearable. I try to get out in the mornings if I have something quick I need to do. Hour by hour gets a little more rough for me so mornings aren't too bad and they are typically still a little cool.

I'm SO forgetful. Pregnancy brain at it's best. Like for the past two or three weeks, I've needed to go the post office, but keep forgetting. I set an alarm to remind myself to go sometime this morning.

I've not developed the dark line down the center of my belly (linea nigra) so I'm not sure that I will. I didn't with Cohen, but I don't know if that changes from pregnancy to pregnancy. My freckles are darker when I'm pregnant (melasma), which also happened with Cohen. also feel like my hair and teeth get darker, too. Not like yellow, just darker. Weird. Hormones.

I think I have 3 or 4 stretch marks now. I can't imagine how many if I make it another 9 weeks, haha.

I've been having some cramping and Braxton Hicks, but nothing consistent or too painful, so that's good.

I still can't be up on my feet long at all without starting to hurt.

Knox is still ticklish. Last week I was guessing, but now I feel sure. I won't feel any movement and if I rub my fingers around my belly button, he just starts kicking or punching. It's pretty funny. Brent got to feel it too.

I can't remember if I ever posted about the little rock looking cyst I got above my lip last year. It started developing a LONG time ago and when I was pregnant with Cohen, it began to get a bit worse. Well, a few months postpartum, it was bad. So it September, I had it emptied, I guess you would call it. I went to my dermatologist the day we were leaving to go out of town. I suppose he could have removed, but he didn't want me to deal with that while going out of town. So we went out of town and I had a puffy lip. He said it would take as long to fill back up as it did the first time, which really was a few years. It just mostly happened when I Was pregnant and post. Well, it was fine and empty until I got pregnant again. Let's just say, now it's huge. I would do a super close up picture and show you, but who really wants to see. My OB said hold off on doing anything until the babies come. It's not that it's just ugly, I can feel it spreading and it feels like a hard ROCK right above my lip that could bust. He said it could get interesting depending on how much my face swells from now until delivery. Lovely.

Oh, and my lips and face have started to swell.

I don't believe the show "I didn't know I was pregnant". There is simply no way. I mean I can understand not knowing for a while. However, this past week the episode I watched, there was one pregnant with twins and didn't know until labor, and there was another pregnant with her 6th and didn't know until labor. In both of those instances, I just don't believe it!!! I know more than one girl who didn't know for many months because their body and cycle played tricks on them, but up until delivery? Brent says if I didn't know I was pregnant right now, he certainly would, haha. I guess that makes sense now that he is having to help me up, put my shoes on sometimes and roll me over in bed if I get stuck, haha.

A box arrived the other day and I was excited it was from one of my besties. We met in second grade :) She is also the designer of my giveaway this week! Anyways, there was a beautiful wrapped package in the box!

Inside I found....

an Elton backpack and card!!!! SO CUTE! I mean they look just like him! Allison figured the twins could use the backpack or we could use it as Elton's travel back. Either way, pretty much the cutest thing ever. We love Boston Terrier stuff, clearly :)

I caught Elton sleeping in the nursery a few days ago and we weren't even in there :)

The nursery is coming along. I talked to the seamstress who is making the bedding and the curtains this week and she said we should have it in the next few weeks! So excited! She also decided to make the kiddos quilts. She sent me a sneak peek and the one I saw is beautiful! She is awesome!

Remember this chest we got for the nursery. Here is some of it's new look....

We finished up registering this week. It was fun! I'm sure I'll be making some online adjustments as we still can't make up our mind on a few things! This picture actually did have Brent's body in it, but he turned his head as I snapped and it was a motion shot and looked way awkward.

Some friends who are moving dropped off our first Buy Buy Baby gift. So sweet of them. I'm sad to see them move!! It was a bit surreal seeing pink and blue on the package.

Sometimes I still can't believe we are having twins!

I like that Brent can feel them move so much. I know that won't happen as much the bigger they get...

Yes, I'm still trying to make dresses that are normally baggy when I'm not pregnant into shirts while I am. I just don't want to buy much only have 9 weeks left, though I still know I have a lot of growing left! I'm just not out enough to need other stuff and I still have plenty of large dresses when the others stop fitting.

I've tried to avoid Zulily lately. Most days they try to suck me in with the cute stuff. It's dangerous. I gave in and got this little beanie with embroidered baseballs on them for Knox :)

Here we are this week...

See, another reason I like to convert dresses. Shirts are just getting too short and this one is maternity!

When I was pregnant with Cohen at 29 weeks we were traveling to see his doctors. I didn't really get a belly shot that week, but here I was....

*Please say a prayer for this sweet family as their little boy went to Heaven this week. He was just a few months old and fought a hard disease.

Have a good Friday :)

Sweets

and randoms, of course...

Well, this morning started off with my computer power cord not working. I was bummed because I didn't want to spend $ on a new one and I knew I'd have to send someone to the Apple Store for me. A few hours later, I looked over and it was on. I'm not sure if it's on the verge of dying or what. VERY thankful!

I always said I'd never buy designer sunglasses. I just didn't trust myself not to sit on them or lose them. Well, in college my friend had a pair that were Chanel and I loved them. They have the mother of pearl C's on the sides. I think on our first or second anniversary Brent surprised me with them. I LOVE them. The only place I ever take them off is sometimes at my SIL's house when we are playing with our nieces and nephew. Brent was the same way about his glasses. Well, a month or so ago, there was no sign of my sunglasses. They weren't at my SIL or anyplace I could easily remember. I was SUPER bummed. I was proud I managed to hang on to them for so long, but beating myself up about it. I kept thinking I would not have taken them off any place. This morning I was about to hang up a reusable tote and there they were, in the bottom. YAY!

This video has popped up several times lately on my LinkWithin widget. I think it's one of the sweetest videos ever. I remember bawling when I watched it and received the pics via text, haha.  I posted it here with some VERY sweet pictures in October. It's our nieces praying and watching over a candle to remember Cohen on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.



Speaking of sweets, my nurse called yesterday to inform me I failed my 3 hour glucose test. I just barely failed it, but enough to maybe matter. A nutritionist is supposed to call next week to schedule me an appointment. She assured me it was nothing I had been eating, just the fact the pancreas couldn't produce enough insulin with two babies.

This month, my Scentsy sponsor is hosting a special for her niece. We know them all personally and her niece has congenital heart defects. They go to the same hospital and same doctor as Cohen did. They are how we found out where we wanted to visit. Little Lauren is getting ready to face another heart surgery this summer and for the month of June, 50% of her aunt's Scentsy proceeds will go towards Lauren's surgery. I wanted to contribute so I bought two plug in warmers. I thought these would be great for places I didn't want to sit one on a counter top. They can plug right into an outlet. Katie threw in her new favorite scent which smells awesome. You can shop Scentsy here.

I can't remember the name of these plants/flowers, but my mom brought over two of them yesterday. I love how big they are. She brought a light pink one and a dark pink one. I think they're very pretty!

As you can tell and see in pictures, Elton is the sweetest dog, ever. However, when the doorbell rings, he goes BONKERS. We have got to figure out how to stop this. We can put a "please knock" sign on the door, but he would still go a bit crazy, though not as bad. The sound of the bell I think hurts his ears. When the security system key pad beeps if the power goes out, he freaks. Like jumps more than half way up the wall and tries to make it stop. We tried the "Bark Off" thing of whatever and I'm really not sure if it worked or now. Now that I look at it, it's not on, so I don't know if the batteries are dead or what. Any advice?

I ordered some things for the nursery and this arrived in one of the packages. It's a sweet little cupcake pin! It can go on anything :) I'll show you the cute things the shop owner made for the nursery soon! Well, once it's all done, haha.

The cardigan I have on in yesterday's post is from Talbots..probably three years ago.

The drink decanter seen in this post is from Willow House.

Don't forget about this weeks giveaway here.

Happy Thursday!