happy 30th birthday lana!

my sister lana turned 30 on march 2nd and her hubby and i threw a little surprise party for her.
it was oh-so fancy with chips and dip and a little game with prizes. and some really good cake, too.

lana looks sooo happy to see her ginormous "lana poster" ha!
(you may recall a similar poster at a certain one-year old's party...)


in honor of of her 30th birthday, here's 30 fun facts about lana...just kidding, i won't do that to you.

but i will say that she is an amazing sister and friend. she always has time to talk with me, and gives good advice. she's a therapist for troubled teens and i shake my head sometimes and wonder how she accomplishes such a hard job. she is a loving mother of two adorable kids and an all-around beautiful lady! i'm so glad we live near each other, love you lana!

even more instagrams

sorry folks, instagrams are all this 8-month pregnant lady can manage at this point. i seriously have no brain lately, i can't remember the smallest things. so there's no way i can remember to bring my nice camera anywhere but...better than nothing, right?

penny playing on an old baby toy we found when going though storage for her baby clothes.

at the library. we're starting to go more often and penny LOVES it, she runs to the kids section and gets a pile of books and sits there for an hour or more going through them. i forgot how much i enjoy renting books, i just finished "austenland" by shannon hale and it was so good! and free!

just outside the salt lake temple by paul's work. all of my OB appts lately have been around lunch time and her office is in salt lake so it's fun to meet up with paul for lunch. it's funny, i thought i would have to get penny a sitter whenever i go to the OB, but it's actually easier to just take her with me and she plays with my phone or whatever. she's such a good girl.

kissy face! another funny pregnant thing...my eyesight is worse! i usually just wear glasses for driving, or at the movies, but i find myself wearing them all the time around the house lately.

two of her favorite things: playing with flashcards (thanks dollar section at target) + playing in her bed. she likes to take books, toys, you name it, in her bed and play.

LOVE this pic! we had just gotten ready to do some errands and i thought she looked so cute.

that's all folks!

p.s. if you do the instagram thing, my username is melanylarsen....yay.

some of penny's weekly activities...

at speech therapy with the lovely laura + saying hi to the monsters from monsters, inc. (no, we're not at disneyland, shriner's has them in the lobby. penny used to be a little wary of them, but now she cheerfully says "hi monsters!" every time we walk by on the way to therapy)
wearing fairy wings ALL DAY LONG + playing with my little ponies from grandma debbie

absolutely LOVING her valentine's prezzies that my mom mailed to her

this little lady sure does keep me busy. these are the last few weeks that it'll just be the two of us at home and it makes me a little sad. i'm trying to appreciate as much one-on-one time as possible with her. i even let her sleep in our bed the other night, which i NEVER do, because she was being extra clingy. needless to say i did not get much sleep, but it was fun for one night.

we've also been working on organizing our storage and we got out penny's old newborn clothes to get ready and washed for baby sister, and it just brought back sooo many memories. not that it was that long ago, only 3 years, but each item of clothing i pulled out reminded me of some memory of baby penny and it made me all weepy - in a good way. i just know penny will be a great big sister!

the girls' room

wow, that feels weird to type that - "the girls' room" - i'm gonna have two girls! eek!

since we are still in a 2-bedroom apartment - although a different one from last time - penny and baby girl will be sharing a room. space is a bit tight, and we can't do any drastic changes like painting the walls, but i still love this little room.

we got penny a toddler bed a month ago and she took to it right away. she knows it's HER bed and to everyone who comes over, she grabs their hand and says "come see my bed!" she still does this to paul every time he comes home from work, it's so funny. he's like "i've seen your bed, penny!" but she still pulls him in there.

i love her little garden bedding! we got the both the bedding and bed frame at ikea.

i felt like the wall over the crib and bed was just huge and blank, and then i saw this tutorial and went with one of my favorite LDS primary songs. i love the glittery gold look and it makes me happy to see this little reminder every time i walk into their room.


and here you can see is where things get a little "cozy" haha. we got the vintage dresser over a year ago off craigslist and it doubles as a dresser and changing table. i sewed the lemon changing pad cover, and the wall lamp and navy-white striped chair are from ikea.


i lovelovelove this print. we had one in the room i shared with my sister growing up and i've always wanted to put one up in penny's room, and i finally did a few weeks ago. i think it's the perfect print for a children's room.

and here's the handmade doll i bought for penny for her 3rd birthday. i got it at the salt lake farmer's market last summer and i think it looks just like miss penny. penny's really cute with her, and is always telling me we need to change dolly's diaper or is pushing her around in her toy stroller.

i love this white jenny lind crib, we bought it off of craigslist about a year ago once i decided i was sick of the cherry wood one we originally bought. just simple and pretty.

i love this little room!


with about 7 weeks to go there's still a few things that need to be done...washing the baby clothes that have been in storage (and the new ones that i couldn't help buying - sorry paul!), buying newborn diapers, and maybe a few crafty projects. so excited for her to arrive!

brian regan!

last night we went and saw our favorite comedian, brian regan! my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. baby girl must've been a little disconcerted by all my chortling, she kept jumping around like a jumping bean the whole time. such a fun date night!

(if you're not familiar with brian regan, you MUST watch his youtube videos. so funny.)

penny: warrior princess

i was in my room doing my makeup this morning and in strolls penny straight from her bed like this haha. i don't know how on earth she managed to twist her shirt up like this. she's talented my little pennygirl. and yes, that's mascara and a blush brush she's holding, my makeup is her new obsession these days.

other funny penny news:

yesterday i heard a splashing sound coming from the bathroom, and i was like "oh geez, she's playing in the toilet water." i run in there and she wasn't just playing in the toilet water, she was giving her minnie mouse doll a "bath" in said toilet. just dunking her over and over getting her nice and clean, haha GROSS. minnie got thrown in the washer and penny got a bath.

sorry the blog posts have been few and far between. that second trimester energy boost is long gone - i'll be 30 weeks tomorrow! - and i'm just trying to keep up with daily life 'round here. hope you're having a lovely january!

lately...

we hung out at my sister's house last night, here's some pics:

lana kissin' squishy elsa + me with my 28-week bump.

cousin max showing penny how boys play - with video games and swords of course!

love watching these two play together, so cute. me and lana were so excited when we found out they were going to be only 3 months apart and totally envisioned times just like this when they would play together. love it.

nothing much going on lately. baby girl is kicking like CRAZY, all day all the time, which is awesome. only 12 weeks left and i am getting soooo excited. i can't wait to hold her and kiss her little cheeks.

penny is doing so well with preschool and physical therapy. she's pretty much caught up with other kids her age and obviously we're still working on some things, but i consider it such a blessing that she's come this far before baby sister arrives. which, by the way, is what penny calls my tummy. i'll point to my belly and say "who's in here, penny?" and she smiles and says "baby sis-tuh!" so cute.

i'm excited for 2012...happy new year!

(p.s. did i mention paul got me my very own iphone for christmas??? LOVE IT.)