Today I'm 37 weeks which many obstetricians consider "full term". Basically all this means is that if I went into labor now, they wouldn't try to stop me. If I had a baby now, she would more than likely be fine. However, the longer she stays in the better it is for her lungs and the more chance she had to pack on some fat.
I'm still running, but my dear friend Alecia has taken over my spin class. It was getting a little hard to lean forward on the handle bars and perform the sprints. My classes were consisting mostly of hills at this point. Hee hee! Since it's been nicer outside, I've been getting to play, do yard work, and run. I've also been taking Lila on walks...which sometimes she loves and sometimes she hates.
Speaking of the big sister, she's about as ready as I am to have this baby. She asks all the time about Baby Sister and tells me what she's going to do to help. I'm hoping that her being here will still bring out the same feelings that Lila has for her now. :) She really is going to be a great big sister, I think.
So now...if anyone who is reading my blog has ANY tips on handling the first days/weeks of a newborn and toddler, please comment! I'd love to hear what worked or didn't work for you. We are so excited about the newest addition and very anxious for her arrival! Also, I guess at this point, you may as well put any name suggestions in the hat too! LOL Nothing too trendy or too weird. I like old-fashioned, classical names.
Have a wonderful day!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Baby Sister Stuff
Finally starting to get things done in Baby Sister's room. Hopefully she will be here soon, but not TOO soon. Just some updates.
- I'll be 36 weeks tomorrow.
- We have still not picked out a name.
- Lila is ready for her to be here. This pregnancy has been more uncomfortable than my first, but still not too bad. My only complaint is that I've had a stomach bug twice this time. Not fun at all.
- Neil is up to his ears in PINK! He knows now that even if we do try again and we get a boy, he's out-numbered.
- I've been much happier since the weather has gotten a little warmer and I can get outside and play with Lila or go for runs.
- I can still wear my wedding rings (which is a HUGE deal for me at this point).
Love these new outfits that she got. They are so cute!
Lila has a matching one! Awwww....
Thursday, March 21, 2013
33 weeks
I am 33 weeks along this week with Baby Sister or GoGo as Lila calls her. We are just about ready. The nursery could use a little more TLC, but I really need to come up with some wall decor. It's a little bare right now. :( I did get some quality time with my sewing machine last week to make some baby things for my sister-in-law's baby shower. She's due a week ahead of me and is also having a girl. There's going to be a lot of baby stuff this summer. On top of that, lots of PINK!
Speaking of pink, I've been purchasing a few items for the baby in the clothing department. Since Lila was born in September, the seasons are off just enough to where this baby won't get to use quite as much as we were hoping. I think once the fall and winter are here, we may be able to use some stuff, but this poor child is entitled to her share of "new" stuff too, right? :) Some of the cutest things I've found have NOT been pink and I'm thrilled! Seems like all things little girl are pink. I was even able to find matching (sorta, which is good because I'm not big on "matchy matchy" outfits) for Lila and baby.
Not really much else to talk about as of right now. Things have sorta died down a little around our house since basketball is over and Capel's basketball team brought home the STATE CHAMP trophy!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In case you can't tell, we're all pretty happy (and a little proud) of these boys! Great kids!
Here's the pics for those of you asking. I feel like I always look a lot more tired in every pic during this pregnanct. LOL I wonder why!!
Speaking of pink, I've been purchasing a few items for the baby in the clothing department. Since Lila was born in September, the seasons are off just enough to where this baby won't get to use quite as much as we were hoping. I think once the fall and winter are here, we may be able to use some stuff, but this poor child is entitled to her share of "new" stuff too, right? :) Some of the cutest things I've found have NOT been pink and I'm thrilled! Seems like all things little girl are pink. I was even able to find matching (sorta, which is good because I'm not big on "matchy matchy" outfits) for Lila and baby.
Not really much else to talk about as of right now. Things have sorta died down a little around our house since basketball is over and Capel's basketball team brought home the STATE CHAMP trophy!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In case you can't tell, we're all pretty happy (and a little proud) of these boys! Great kids!
Here's the pics for those of you asking. I feel like I always look a lot more tired in every pic during this pregnanct. LOL I wonder why!!
So this is me pregnant with baby now at 33 weeks
And this is 32 weeks with Lila
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
DIY Crib Bumpers
After making the crib skirt last week, I have been so anxious to get started on the bumpers. I have looked and looked for tips and tutorials and some I have liked a lot, but most of those had piping on them and I honestly didn't know if I was capable of making them with piping. It didn't look hard, but a couple of bloggers did say it was tedious. So I just kinda ended up doing my own thing. I did reference this blog though for certain answers to questions that arose.
I had two yards of the floral fabric I wanted to use, but didn't really have anything for the "backside" of the bumpers. Since we live a good 45 min away from the nearest open fabric store, I hopped in the car and went to Wal-Mart. It's not my favorite place, but it would have to do if I was going to get these bumpers done any time soon. Our Wal-Mart does have pre-cut fabric in two yard sections. I found a hot pink that went with the floral as best as any color that they had would. I didn't want to use hot pink, but now that they are done, I'm so glad I went with it. By the way, I got all of my fabric for the bedding at Hobby Lobby with the exception of the hot pink.
I'm going to try to explain how I did these the best I can, but I'm sure I'll leave something out. If anyone would have questions (and I don't know why you be asking me, honestly) you can email me and I'll answer!
I started by measuring the crib to see how long each side needed to be. I made 4 separate bumpers. Some tutorials you see has them in 6 sections and a lot of store bought bumpers, like the ones we had for Lila, are just one big bumper that goes all the way around. I liked the look best of the all the way around ones, BUT there was no way I as going to be able to make that look good, so the next best thing was 4 sections.
My crib measured 51" wide and 27" deep. So for the front and back I needed 52" including the 1/2" seam on both ends. For the sides I needed 28" including the 1/2 " seam on both ends. I also knew that I wanted my bumpers to be 10" tall, so I measured 11" to include the seam. Now, I will say that I kinda wish I would've gone with an extra inch on the width, but I'm not crying over it. They still look good.
Once I had stuffed it up, I re-pinned that side and stitched it up. I also read in the blog above that IF she ever made bumpers again, she would use ribbon to tie them on instead of making the ties out of the fabric that she used for the bumpers. After seeing that I was going to have to measure, cut, and stitch up 28 ties, I very quickly decided that I would just use the ribbon AND cut a few corners and just do 6 ties for each front and back and 4 for the sides. I stitched the ribbon to the appropriate places on the bumper and that was that! They were done!
I don't know where I saw this idea of flipping the back bumper the with the "back" facing forward, but I really liked and decided to do it and I'm glad I did. I really like how it looks.
I feel like the stuffing may be a little scant on the front right side, but I'm not sure that I will be cutting it open and stuffing more in. I think I'll just call it a lesson learned and see if I can tie it a little differently to make it look better. All in all, I'm VERY happy with how they turned out. This is the first time I've ever taken on a project like this and I'm quite proud of myself for not only finishing it, but finishing it successfully! To see how I made the crib skirt, check out this post!
I had two yards of the floral fabric I wanted to use, but didn't really have anything for the "backside" of the bumpers. Since we live a good 45 min away from the nearest open fabric store, I hopped in the car and went to Wal-Mart. It's not my favorite place, but it would have to do if I was going to get these bumpers done any time soon. Our Wal-Mart does have pre-cut fabric in two yard sections. I found a hot pink that went with the floral as best as any color that they had would. I didn't want to use hot pink, but now that they are done, I'm so glad I went with it. By the way, I got all of my fabric for the bedding at Hobby Lobby with the exception of the hot pink.
I'm going to try to explain how I did these the best I can, but I'm sure I'll leave something out. If anyone would have questions (and I don't know why you be asking me, honestly) you can email me and I'll answer!
I started by measuring the crib to see how long each side needed to be. I made 4 separate bumpers. Some tutorials you see has them in 6 sections and a lot of store bought bumpers, like the ones we had for Lila, are just one big bumper that goes all the way around. I liked the look best of the all the way around ones, BUT there was no way I as going to be able to make that look good, so the next best thing was 4 sections.
My crib measured 51" wide and 27" deep. So for the front and back I needed 52" including the 1/2" seam on both ends. For the sides I needed 28" including the 1/2 " seam on both ends. I also knew that I wanted my bumpers to be 10" tall, so I measured 11" to include the seam. Now, I will say that I kinda wish I would've gone with an extra inch on the width, but I'm not crying over it. They still look good.
So I made the cuts to 8 pieces of fabric, 4 floral and 4 hot pink, a front and back for each bumper. I ironed the fabric to make all of the nasty wrinkles, which were especially bad in the hot pink because it was wrapped so tight since it was pre-measured and put into packaging and then started pinning up the seams.
Now I'm going to tell you that I think I probably could've cut about two hours out of my project if I just wanted a regular seam with the two fabrics. A seam like a pillow case or the one you see in the tutorial I linked above, but of course I had to make things hard. I wanted a seam like you can see (kind of) below. So I had to (and I did learn a little bit more each time I made a section on how to make the next one a little easier. Essentially, I had to measure a 1/2" seam 8, I'll say it again, 8 times for each section. It got a little tiring.
Once I stitched up 3 of the four sides of the bumper, I then got out my quilt batting and eyeballed the measurements of that and then stuffed it in there. Quilt batting was the best thing I could find to do the stuffing. I found some memory foam type stuffing that actually looked like it could work, but it was more expensive and I just wasn't sure if it would work for me...being a first timer on this bumper stuff.
Once I had stuffed it up, I re-pinned that side and stitched it up. I also read in the blog above that IF she ever made bumpers again, she would use ribbon to tie them on instead of making the ties out of the fabric that she used for the bumpers. After seeing that I was going to have to measure, cut, and stitch up 28 ties, I very quickly decided that I would just use the ribbon AND cut a few corners and just do 6 ties for each front and back and 4 for the sides. I stitched the ribbon to the appropriate places on the bumper and that was that! They were done!
I don't know where I saw this idea of flipping the back bumper the with the "back" facing forward, but I really liked and decided to do it and I'm glad I did. I really like how it looks.
I feel like the stuffing may be a little scant on the front right side, but I'm not sure that I will be cutting it open and stuffing more in. I think I'll just call it a lesson learned and see if I can tie it a little differently to make it look better. All in all, I'm VERY happy with how they turned out. This is the first time I've ever taken on a project like this and I'm quite proud of myself for not only finishing it, but finishing it successfully! To see how I made the crib skirt, check out this post!
Friday, March 1, 2013
DIY Crib Skirt
I knew that I didn't want to spend a ton of money on the crib bedding this time (last time we got it as a gift from my girlfriends, but I remember how expensive it was) so I started looking into other options, i.e. making my own. I found a couple of tutorials on Pinterest and used a really easy one that I really thought was manageable. The title of this blog post really caught my eye and this is what I ended up going with. I looked at it and thought, yep...I can do this! I had three different patterns of material because originally I was going to do a ruffled crib skirt. I have made a ruffled Christmas Tree skirt, but that was so easy using hot glue! I knew I didn't want to use hot glue on this and I also knew that I didn't want to spend any extra money experimenting and have to go buy more material. I wasn't confident enough in making ruffles for this big of a project. The changing of the plan of what kind of skirt I was going to do kinda threw a wrench in my plan and I wasn't sure if the amount of material I got for each pattern was going to work. But I just started it and got as much done as I could.
These are the three patterns I chose. I was really excited once I finally picked them out! I decided on the chevron stripes and the polka dots for the skirt and the floral for the bumper.
I really liked this simple style of skirt so I attempted it. I liked the idea of a different pattern at the bottom and I did have three patterns. I think this bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids.
I had to write my plan all out to make sure I made the cuts right and you will see later that my pregnancy brain really set in with this. I ended up wasting some material, but that's all part of the experience, right?? :)
The top rectangle is the front of the crib and the one on the bottom is the sides of the crib. The piece of material that I had was just short of being long enough to span the entire 53" that I needed so I ended up making that into two separate pieces, which is kind of what the picture above looked like.
So I got the two front sides all measured and cut AND pinned, then I remembered that I was going to put the polka dot material on the bottom. (palm, meet forehead) DUH! So then I had to take off my shoes and use my toes for the math and recalculate everything. This is where my mom will tell you that I've never been great at general math.
I remeasured, re-cut and got everything pinned to be ready to sew. I wasted a little material trying to get chevron stripes to match up as best as possible (another lesson learned). Then came the easy part, the sewing!
I got so into the project that I forgot to take many pictures during the process, but most of the pictures on the blog that I got the tutorial from are pretty accurate to what I did, with the exception of the bottom piece of material with the different pattern.
I sewed up the seams on all four sides of the pieces and then got some ribbon that I had on hand and sewed those pieces of ribbon to the tops of the sections to tie them to the springs. I think that the binder clips in the tutorial will actually work much better for my crib because of the way the springs are under the mattress.
I got the front and one side finished that night. With the "mess-ups" that I had I think I'm going to have to go get another half yard to make the other side of the skirt, but I think it will go fairly quickly since I now know what I'm doing. My friend Sarah gave me several of her crib sheets from her girls and I went with one that was light pink and white stripes. Next I'm going to be tackling the bumpers with the floral material.
These are the three patterns I chose. I was really excited once I finally picked them out! I decided on the chevron stripes and the polka dots for the skirt and the floral for the bumper.
I really liked this simple style of skirt so I attempted it. I liked the idea of a different pattern at the bottom and I did have three patterns. I think this bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids.
I had to write my plan all out to make sure I made the cuts right and you will see later that my pregnancy brain really set in with this. I ended up wasting some material, but that's all part of the experience, right?? :)
So I got the two front sides all measured and cut AND pinned, then I remembered that I was going to put the polka dot material on the bottom. (palm, meet forehead) DUH! So then I had to take off my shoes and use my toes for the math and recalculate everything. This is where my mom will tell you that I've never been great at general math.
I got so into the project that I forgot to take many pictures during the process, but most of the pictures on the blog that I got the tutorial from are pretty accurate to what I did, with the exception of the bottom piece of material with the different pattern.
I sewed up the seams on all four sides of the pieces and then got some ribbon that I had on hand and sewed those pieces of ribbon to the tops of the sections to tie them to the springs. I think that the binder clips in the tutorial will actually work much better for my crib because of the way the springs are under the mattress.
I was getting pretty nervous about how it would all go together but I held it up last night and I think it will look amazing! I'm really excited about how the pinks, oranges, and yellows will pop and really "work" with the other colors I have. Stay tuned for the DIY Crib Bumper post to come soon! I would really like to get this finished pretty soon!
Friday, February 8, 2013
"You make me so happy"
Oh my. Lila has been a nut lately. "Cause" is her new word. She hardly ever uses it correctly in a sentence, but she gets her head moving and her attitude going and it's "cause" this and "cause" that. Anytime I ask her to do something, after a yes or no comes out of her mouth, it's followed by a "cause" and brief explanation as to why that was her answer. This explanation almost always has nothing to do with what we were talking about to begin with.
Now this morning we were in the car on the way to school and I was asking her what she thought she might do at school today. "Cause my friends not there, Momma". I told her that they would probably be there today and that they would have lots of fun playing. Then there were the words that just make you feel so special to be a mother! "Momma, you make so happy. Cause, I'm missing my pieces. My friends...cause my pieces at school not there." It could've just broken my heart that her "pieces" are missing. I mean, I guess I never really thought how good of friends you can have at that age. Turns out that her friend Ky'Lynn really wasn't at school yesterday. :( But it made me feel better that I make her so happy. I'm so hormonal, I'm quite shocked that I didn't start crying.
That's my little Lila bit for today.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
For my kids
Growing up, we listened to a lot of music. I have very few memories of when I was a little kid and I really don't know why that is, but most of what I remember is music related. Dancing to records that Dad had on old albums or belting out our favorite songs with Mom in the car when she would pick us up to go somewhere. Over the years, there have been several songs that have meant something to me. My mom has a habit of turning song lyrics into a sappy entry for a card on big occasions. i.e. confirmation, college graduation, you get the drift...
For my Confirmation, my mom included the lyrics from I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack. I still think about my mom every time I hear that song.
For my college graduation, it was Rascal Flatts', My Wish. Again, I always think of her, but now I cry when I hear it because I think, "wow, that's what I wish for Lila too".
So I've been watching the show Parenthood by suggestion of my good friend Sarah. I have seen the show before, but have not kept up. I decided that I would start watching it from the beginning a couple weeks ago and OMG! I love it. One thing I always look forward to every episode is the song selection that they choose. They always always always have awesome tunes. The theme song is Forever Young by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan is pretty amazing and seems like you can listen to most of his songs and get a good meaning out of them. Now every time I watch an episode, I immediately think of Lila and baby sister and them growing up and it makes me happy and sad.
So this post is for them (and any other kids we decide to have, LOL)!
For my Confirmation, my mom included the lyrics from I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack. I still think about my mom every time I hear that song.
For my college graduation, it was Rascal Flatts', My Wish. Again, I always think of her, but now I cry when I hear it because I think, "wow, that's what I wish for Lila too".
So I've been watching the show Parenthood by suggestion of my good friend Sarah. I have seen the show before, but have not kept up. I decided that I would start watching it from the beginning a couple weeks ago and OMG! I love it. One thing I always look forward to every episode is the song selection that they choose. They always always always have awesome tunes. The theme song is Forever Young by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan is pretty amazing and seems like you can listen to most of his songs and get a good meaning out of them. Now every time I watch an episode, I immediately think of Lila and baby sister and them growing up and it makes me happy and sad.
So this post is for them (and any other kids we decide to have, LOL)!
Forever Young by Bob Dylan
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
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