::Baby G:: Week 22

How far along? 22 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 11 lbs 

Maternity clothes? Yep! 

Stretch marks? None, I've really been loving Mama Bees by Burt Bees

Symptoms: Heartburn and lower back ache mostly. I have learned that Tums Smoothies in mint work the fastest :-)

Sleep: Typically going well but last night was horrible! Fitz was eating his dinner last night around 9 or so and started choking. When he chokes, he does this weird reverse sneeze where he sucks in a bunch of air. He did that weird sneeze thing one or two times more but I didn't really think much of it. Apparently the food didn't really dislodge from wherever it was stuck because he snored all.night.long! Finally around 2am I kicked him out of the bedroom and he must have been agitated enough to cough it up. I heard him hacking a little more and around 3am or so I let him back in----finally from there on I got a little bit of sleep but ugh! Poor Fitzy and poor mama (oh and daddy too! ;-)

Best moment this week: Hubs/Daddy finally felt the baby!! We were laying in bed Saturday and I was trying to get her to move around. Right when I gave up I saw my whole belly jump. I grabbed his hand and placed it on my belly. She kicked him three more times really hard! Loved seeing his reaction.

Have you told family and friends: Yep

Miss Anything?  Missing lunch meat. I know it's typically safe and not a big deal but after the listeria breakout at Trader Joe's I've been a little skeptical. I can go 4 more months without turkey, right?!

Movement: Yes! Feeling it inside and out :-) She moves the most after I eat, it's almost like she's out of room.

Food cravings: Nothing really but after this chalkboard I wouldn't mind some Oreos.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Have you started to show yet: Yes the other day I was walking through the house and I just felt massive, I actually was cracking up at how funny I felt. I can't really fathom growing for 18 more weeks.

Gender: Girl! 

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? It's getting so shallow! Yikes!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Exercise: None, I have been in major craft mode this week.

Looking forward to: Vacation! We are going to the Keys for a short vacay over Labor Day Weekend.

I have some more crafts to share with you guys and we got the crib today. The box was damaged and one of the railings has a huge chip in the paint so we will be returning it but it does look like it will be a great addition to the nursery.

Hope your week's going great. I just need to make it to Friday----vacation, vacation, vacation!

Later!

Mere :-)

::Craftie:: Homemade Cloth Wipes

Since we are under a hurricane warning thanks to Isaac, I thought today would be a great day for a craft. I've mentioned multiple times that we are planning to cloth diaper Baby G when she arrives but recently, I have decided to use cloth wipes as well. From what I have read, it's almost more of a pain to use disposable wipes when cloth diapering because you have to figure out a separate way to dispose of the wipe since the diaper gets thrown into the wash.

There are multiple brands (here, here, and here are just a few) that sell cloth wipes and we have registered for a few but I have also heard many bloggers and others mention how easy it is to make cloth wipes. I decided to go with flannel on one side of the wipe and terry cloth on the other. I picked a light purple color scheme, Jo-Ann's was pretty limited on their selection.

Fabric 

 Flannel: Light purple and white polka dots

Terry Cloth: Light purple solid

I cut the fabric into 8.5" squares, at least I tried to anyways, some ended up coming out various sizes----in the end it doesn't really matter so if yours are off from the 8.5", no biggie! I pinned the fabric with two pins on each side.

I started halfway down one side and sewed with a 0.25" to a 0.50" seam allowance all around, stopping short of where I started, leaving about 2-3" open. (Be sure to back-stitch the beginning and ending of your stitches so they do not unravel.) When turning the wipe for the corners, I made sure the needle was down in the fabric, lifting the foot and then rotating the fabric. This ensures you do not lose your spot when moving the fabric.

Starting point, be sure to back stitch

This is what it should look like with the 2-3" opening

After this part, I cut the corners of the fabric, this ensures a clean corner when turned inside out. It doesn't have to be perfect or neat as no one will ever see it.

Clipped corners

After you clip the corners, turn the wipe inside out being sure that you push the corners out as much as possible. When turned inside out, it will look like this. 

Tuck the opening in and iron the seam. At this point, you shouldn't be able to tell where the opening is without feeling for it along the edge.

After this, I top-stitched all around the wipe to close the opening and give the wipe a clean look. I sewed a 0.25" seam allowance, maybe a little less. You just need to make sure the opening is closed and the fabric is not sticking out of the seam.

Ta-da: Finished wipe!

I purchased a yard of each fabric and made 16 wipes. I probably could have made 2-4 more but decided 16 was plenty. Be sure to wash and dry the fabric prior to measuring and doing any cutting. The flannel shrunk up quite a bit.

Flannel and Terry Cloth Wipe

I'm really excited for these. We are planning to use these with a homemade solution of water, aloe vera gel, lavender essential oil, and tea tree oil. I am thinking that we will wet a few days worth of wipes in the solution and then store them damp in the Prince Lionheart Cloth Wipe Warmer. I know some people put the wipe solution in a squirt or spray bottle and apply it to the wipes as they get used so that is an option as well.

Anyone else planning on using cloth wipes? I'd love to see yours if you made any.

Onto Hurricane Craft #2!

Mere :-)

::Baby G:: Week 21!

How far along? 21 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 9.2 lbs 

Maternity clothes? Yep! 

Stretch marks? None been religiously using Mama Bees

Symptoms: Still having lower back pain but the Snoogle Pillow helps a ton

Sleep: Going really well---having some crazy dreams but those are more amusing than anything else.

Best moment this week: Registering for the baby was so fun. Looking at the list of items for Baby G makes me think of how real this is and how quick everything is coming together.

Have you told family and friends: Yep

Miss Anything?  I miss my runs with hubs. Last summer and fall was when he and I were beginning our long runs together and I miss that time together.

Movement: Yes! It's getting more and more frequent, although only on the inside.

Food cravings: Cocoa Pebbles Cereal --- the inner 5 year old in me.

Anything making you queasy or sick: No ma'am

Have you started to show yet: Yes I feel like I am getting pretty big.

Gender: Girl! 

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? It's getting so shallow! Yikes!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Exercise: Ran/walked again this week and I got the Prenatal Yoga video, hoping to try it soon.

Looking forward to: Baby G kicking Daddy and more crafts!

We have a "hitching post" at work where people can sell their personal items. Yesterday someone posted a BOB Revolution Running Stroller for $125. These are top of the line running strollers and usually retail for $300-400. I met up with her today to check it out and I loved it! We bought it, one thing to cross off of the list. So exciting!

Happy Hump Day!

Mere :-)

::Baby G:: DIY Blackout Curtains

Another project done! This past weekend we decided to conquer the curtain project to keep the sun from fading all of our new and exciting baby items! :-)

The nursery is the room of the house that gets the most sun as the sun sets on that side. While the sunset is gorgeous, it doesn't make for a room that will be conducive to midday napping. We knew we wanted blackout curtains but didn't want to pay the extreme prices that 108" curtains typically cost.

Last weekend I was doing a search and I came across curtains at amazon.com that were the perfect shade of purple in 58" x 108" for $18.99! Crazy cheap! I read some reviews and people commented that they were somewhat sheer. I knew I would be able to figure something out so I went ahead and bought them. 

They arrived on Friday and they are definitely sheer as in they should have been described as sheers not curtains. :-) The hubs and I turned them into blackouts and they are hung, all ready for the baby! Here is how we did it:

This is the window prior to curtains. These are 9' ceilings and the window is about 70" wide. (See here for the post about the canvases).

These are the curtains we purchased. After working with these curtains today, I have learned that there is a reason they were only $18.99, not the best quality but they definitely worked for what we needed.

We went to Jo-Ann's and purchased black-out material. They sell it in 54" rolls by the yard for $6.99 a yard (on sale today for 40% off). Since each panel of the curtain is 58" wide, the 54" width is perfect. We wanted the black-out material to be slightly more narrow than the curtains so the white didn't peak out when hung. The black-out material is vinyl on one side and feels more like a fabric on the other. We put the vinyl side facing out to the window, not sure it really matters which way it is hung.

The curtains had grommets at the top that were a bronzed metal. Originally I wasn't planning on changing anything with the grommets but when we purchased the curtain rod, we bought it in brushed nickel and it looks strange next to the bronze.

I cut the panel of grommets off from the rest of the curtain and ran a zigzag stitch to keep the material from fraying. I wasn't really careful or neat with this part since I knew it wouldn't show.

The hubs and I then laid the material on the floor flat and then laid the blackout material over the curtain. We cut the blackout material about an inch or two shorter than the length of the curtain and made sure to center it. I pinned a 2" hem at the top making sure to pin the curtain and the blackout material together. I then just ran a simple stitch along the top. (I didn't remember to take a picture of this part, oops)

The 2" hem wasn't wide enough for the curtain rod to go through without being too snug to move it. I ran to Jo-Ann's and bought rings with clips, in the end I think this is a much easier way to open and close the curtains so it ended up working out better than originally planned.

All that was left to do was mount the bracket and hang the curtain rod (all husband-ly duties).

We had a few hiccups during the process but overall this was a pretty simple project and much cheaper than purchasing two panels of 108" curtains.

Here is the finished project, a little hard to photograph since the sun was starting to set but as you can see, tons of light to cover.

With the curtains drawn, the blackouts are definitely doing their job! 

I hope this helps with many afternoon naps to come :-)

Hope you are having a great week! Happy Friday!

Mere :-)

::Baby G:: Project Chair Recover

Another project complete! The glider we got from a friend for free was totally great in every way except that it was blue! Since we obviously wouldn't be needing blue, I decided that I would attempt to recover it. Here is the before picture. I forgot to take a straight on before shot but here is a picture that shows most of the chair before.

Two weeks ago the hubs and I went to Jo-Ann's and looked at their upholstery fabrics. We were looking for something grey and hubs found one we liked pretty quickly. In certain lights, the fabric looks tan but in the room against the white glider, it looks more grey (yay). The fabric was $40 a yard and we needed four yards (yikes!) but luckily all of the fabric was 60% off that day plus we found two yards of the exact fabric in the remnants section at 70% off. That plus some coupons from the Jo-Ann's app and we ended up getting all of the fabric plus the thread for the price of one yard! Score!

I took some detailed photos of the cushions before so I knew what it looked like. I then used a seam ripper to remove the existing pieces and used those as a pattern. It worked really well since I knew the exact size of the fabric and could see how it was sewn before. The arm cushions were the most challenging part and took me the longest but overall it came out really well. Here are some pictures of the process.

Hubs taking apart the footstool

He used a staple gun for this part, I am not comfortable using that tool so he handled this part of the project. I definitely don't trust myself :-)

Putting it all back together.

This was the bottom cushion after I sewed the right sides together. I did this same process for the back as well.

All stuffed, I hand sewed the remaining edge that I left open in order to allow room for the cushion to go in.

The chair originally had velcro strips that attached the cushions to the chair. I didn't want to go this route so I picked up some satin ribbon and sewed it to the seams. I did this to the back and bottom cushions.

I didn't take any pictures during the arm process since I was frustrated most of the time. These pieces were originally attached to the chair using snaps. Since I don't have the tool for snaps, we unscrewed all of the snap bottoms that were affixed to the frame and used a decorative nail that looks similar to a snap. Hubs did this part too.

Hammering the snaps in

Fitz helping out as usual.

And finally...the finished project!

I surprised myself with this one! I love it and it matches the room so much better!!! I can't wait to move onto the other fabric projects in the room. I have a post going up soon for the curtains also! 

Anyone else out these getting a glider?? Any plans to spruce up an old one?? This project cost about $50 in total and was really worth it. It took probably a total of 10 hours max (I had some slip up and redo's because I'm not quite a pro on the sewing machine yet). Totally doable for a newbie like me!

Good News---It's Thursday! Have a great day!

Mere :-)

::Baby G:: Week 20 Halfway There!

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 7.5 lbs 

Maternity clothes? Yep! 

Stretch marks? None been religiously using Mama Bees

Symptoms: Heartburn here and there and lower back ache

Sleep: Pretty good---I am loving the Snoogle pillow

Best moment this week: We got to see the baby at the ultrasound and we know for 100% that it's a girl (third confirmation) and I felt her move for the first time. It was totally awesome!

Have you told family and friends: Yep

Miss Anything?  Hubs had sushi for lunch the other day and I was thinking how awesome some tuna sushi would have been.

Movement: Yes! It was awesome.

Food cravings: Nothing really

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really, smooth sailing this week

Have you started to show yet: Yes 

Gender: Girl! 

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In but it's getting a little shallow. Hubs this it's hilarious.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Exercise: (I'm adding this for motivation and accountability) Ran/Walked two miles today. Hoping to get a prenatal yoga video soon.

Looking forward to: Baby G kicking Daddy and registering.

I cannot believe that we are already halfway through this pregnancy. Time has really flown by. I am so excited to start feeling her move more often and being able to feel it from the outside. I have an anterior placenta which means the placenta is on top of the baby and therefore I probably won't be able to feel her from the outside as soon as I normally would.

We had our anatomy scan this week and the baby is measuring perfectly. I am so excited to meet her!

Happy Hump Day Bump Day!

Mere :-)

::Baby G:: Week 19 Mangos!

How far along? 19 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 5.8 lbs 

Maternity clothes? Yep! 

Stretch marks? None

Symptoms: This week has been ROUGH! Mostly because I have been working so much and have been totally exhausted but in addition to being swamped at work, I had two pretty bad days with dizziness. I called the doc and nothing to be concerned with but still worrisome. I've also been having stomach pains pretty bad but no one is probably interested in those ;-)

Sleep: Other than one bad night, sleep has been amazing. I was in bed at 9:30 last night (it was amazing)!

Best moment this week: End of the day Friday---finally having a moment to breathe and collect my thoughts

Have you told family and friends: Yep

Miss Anything?  Last night I missed alcohol for the first time. I had an overwhelming day at work and I came home and just cried----I could have really used a glass of wine to unwind.

Movement: Nope, still (not so) patiently waiting

Food cravings: I have been thinking about caprese salad all day today, I'll have to get some soon.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope :-)

Have you started to show yet: Yes 

Gender: Girl! 

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Moody

Weekly Wisdom: Take a breath! It's hard not to feel overwhelmed with work lately.

Looking forward to: Having the weekend to work on the nursery and my anatomy scan on Monday. I never tire of seeing her on the screen. We will also get confirmation once again it's a girl :-)

I finished my first DIY craft for the nursery. I found some prints that I really loved on etsy but the combination or colors weren't exactly what I wanted, plus DIY-ing saves money!! I bought three 10x10 canvases and painted the designs using acrylic paints.

I started reupholstering the glider this past weekend and have about half of it complete. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as it's finished. We got a light grey fabric that has a textured pattern on it. I love it so far, I'm hoping the arms covered aren't as difficult as I am imaging. 

Hope you have a great rest of the week!!

Mere :-)

::Baby G:: Week 18

How far along? 18 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 5.5 lbs 

Maternity clothes? Yep! 

Stretch marks? None

Symptoms: My back has been aching pretty bad and I've had heartburn at least a little on most days.

Sleep: Excellent. I got a Snoogle this week and it's made everything so much better. Part of my issue was Fitz in the bed leaning on me but with the Snoogle, there is a barrier between us---perfect!

Best moment this week: Starting the nursery! We painted and started some DIY crafts for the walls.

Have you told family and friends: Yep

Miss Anything?  Today I was missing a nice, icy Coke. I worked late tonight and we ordered pizza at work---nothing else goes better with pizza.

Movement: Nope, still patiently waiting

Food cravings: Just aforementioned Coke :-)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Teddy made tandoori one night when I went to a friends house and that smell is still no bueno!

Have you started to show yet: Yes I definitely think so, getting comments much more frequently now

Gender: Girl! 

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Weekly Wisdom: Appreciate your husband when you are pregnant---mine has been so perfect!

Looking forward to: Finishing up the DIY craft I started earlier this week and getting started on the bedding and curtains.

This week has been pretty rough at work, luckily it only comes around once a quarter. Next time we are this busy I will be 31 weeks----hopefully it goes smoothly! I'm looking forward to Friday!

Have a great rest of the week

:-) Mere