Best Week Ever!

Hi guys!

Did you watch this show on VH1?  I used to all the time!

Hint:  It's ME!   

I'm so excited that this week is Easter and I am having all of my family over to our new house on Sunday (as in, the family gathering will be there, which I have never hosted, because it's 20 people and we have never had the space before.  I'm so looking forward to it!) Plus the nursery is coming together and it will be looking amazing in time for all my family to see it!  Wheee!!!

As I already told you, we had it painted this week.  It looks amazing!  I can't wait to share pictures, once we get a few more things in place.  But hold on, that's not all.  I called the furniture store and they are going to deliver the nursery furniture and put it together for us today!  I'm so excited, I feel like a little kid on Christmas.  I'm planning on working on the window treatment tonight and seeing if I can knock that out, and maybe the crib skirt too if I have enough fabric.  I really want it to look good for when everyone comes over to visit.  

I will be sharing a tutorial or two of how I made everything too.  So, stay tuned for lots of pictures coming soon! 

Hump Day Bump Day

Here's me at 24 weeks (from late Sunday night when I tiredly told Art: "We never took my 24 week picture!"):

The reason I am wearing flip flops in the picture is because my feet were hurting so much from walking around BRU for 4 hours in cute but un-padded sandals that I refused to put them back on!  (This was before the cold snap that has mysteriously arrived this week, which I am not happy about).

Oh and holy moly!  Has my hair been growing fast lately!  I don't usually cut it that often, but I guess I am going to have to start making a habit of going every 6-8 weeks like the stylists always tell me to.  Add another thing to the never ending to-do list! ;)

25 Weeks! So much to say!

I'm excited to say that we are just chugging right along through the to-do list lately!  Here's an update on where we are:

Home Stuff
-Finish organizing my closet - whoops, I never really got back to this quite yet
-Finish unpacking/decorating the bedroom (since we just moved in December it's still a bit disheveled)
-Unpack/organize/decorate the guest room - to do this week!
-Install IKEA shelves in the office and unpack the rest of the office stuff
-Clean up the formal living/dining room area (currently being used as a storage/furniture building area)
-Organize the craft room
-Finish organizing the baby's bathroom Done!
-Install a utility sink in the laundry room and possibly a counter and shelves

Preparing for the Baby
-Create our baby registry Done!
-Order the crib and dresser Done!
-Order glider
-Get the nursery painted and decorated, with everything set up and organized - In progress!
-Sew crib bedding and window treatment
-Read 1-2 baby care books (Baby 411 and What to Expect: The First Year) - Baby 411 ordered, it will arrive tomorrow.
-Read 1-2 breastfeeding books
-Do 1-2 freezer cooking sessions so that we will have a month's worth of meals on hand and already prepared

Okay, so on this big list it doesn't look as impressive, but I have another handwritten list with smaller to-dos written out and that one is really rocking.  The big things that I am so excited about are that we finally registered at Babies-R-Us this weekend and we are getting the nursery painted this week!  Once the painting is all done I'm hoping that the furniture store will be able to deliver our nursery furniture pretty quickly.  I'm anxious to get the room all put together and start organizing all of our little girl's growing collection of stuff :)  And of course to start on the crib bedding and window treatment.

I'm very relieved to have the registry stuff out of the way.  After spending 4 hours in Babies-R-Us, I don't want to go near that store for a while!!!  I still have a few items that I need to research (like breast pumps) but overall we were able to make a lot of decisions and that feels good.  The biggest one that was probably the toughest was the stroller.  My dear hubby really wanted to get the BOB Revolution, which I secretly was dreading because of how big and heavy it is.  Luckily, I think he realized that we should compromise and we ended up picking out the Baby Jogger City Mini in Sand/Stone:

I'm really excited about it, it seems like a great stroller and it is really easy to fold and unfold.  And the giant sun shade will be indispensable what with living in the Sunshine state.

Moving on to my weekly update...

How far along?: 25 Weeks, only 105 days to go!

How big is baby?:   Your baby is the size of a cauliflower! She weighs about 1.8 lbs and and measures 13.5 inches.  She's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

Any appointments or updates this week?: No appointments, but I do have an update: last night I swear I felt her hiccuping!  It felt like little twitches that were very consistent for about a minute or two and then stopped. 

Body changes?:  The bump is still getting bigger, and I've officially outgrown my favorite bra.  Maybe one day it will fit again?

Maternity clothes?:  Ohhh yeah!

Best moment last week?: Getting our registry all set up.  As tiring as it was, it was a really special milestone and I'm so glad that we could do it together.

Food cravings?: A strawberry cream pie from McDonalds.  Someone was raving how good they were and I just *had* to try one.  Yep, they are delicious (although probably terrible for you).  Also, yogurt covered pretzels!

Symptoms?: Leg cramps at night and feeling extra sensitive/crying easily!

Exercise?: I definitely think that walking around BRU for 4 hours counts.  My legs and feet were sooo sore afterwards!

What I miss?:  Nothing.

What I'm looking forward to?: Seeing the nursery all put together...I can't wait!

What our little girl looks like this week:

Belated HDBD

I know it's not Hump Day so we can't do Hump Day Bump Day, but Thursday Bump Day just doesn't sound cool!

Anyway, here is my 23 weeks picture from over the weekend:

The green was of course to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!  It's one of the wonderful maternity pieces that my sweet sister-in-law sent me.  It's so nice having more things in my wardrobe now that all my regular stuff doesn't fit.

Have a great day, everyone!

Nursery Update!

So if you remember a while back I was asking for opinions about fabric to use in our nursery.  Well, I don't think I ever updated about this, but we made a decision!  

The winning fabric is...Madison Gate in Baby Pink!

The winner and also Art's favorite

We both loved the pink and green and the fact that it was a very pretty, traditional pattern that would go perfectly with the dark wood baby furniture we picked out.

So now that the fabric is picked, it's time for the fun part...picking out paint colors!  I happen to work for a paint company, so I am lucky to have access to a bunch of color tools like a big fan deck that shows every color that we have (so I don't have to stand in front of the color display in the store for an hour).  

So I went through all of the pinks and the greens, trying to see which ones fit best...

I ended up with these options.  I was using the paper clips to mark which colors I liked best.

The pink in the middle was more of a coral color almost, and the one on the right was a true baby pink.  I showed them all to Art and he broke the tie: baby pink it is!

I love that the paint color is called Sacred! 

Originally we were just planning on painting the room all one color, but I saw a picture that I just fell in love with:

Copyright: Mike and Ann Buoy Photography, http://www.mikebuoy.com

I think it would look adorable to do the baby's nursery like this, but with pink on top and pink and green on the bottom.  But...this is all a little more than we want to take on.  So step 2 is hiring someone to come put it all together!  That's what I'm working on at the moment.  I hope I can get it done before the nursery furniture is delivered.  

What do you think?

24 Weeks - V-Day!

I'm so excited to share another milestone!  Today is V-Day!  For those of you who might not be familiar with it, V-Day stands for Viability Day, because at 24 weeks pregnant the baby's chance of survival dramatically jumps if he or she were delivered early.  Of course, I am still praying that this baby stays put for the next 16 weeks but it is still wonderful to know that if for some reason I had to deliver early there is a good chance my baby would survive.

How far along?: 24 Weeks

How big is baby?:   Your baby is the size of a canteloupe!  Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long, she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Any appointments or updates this week?:  I had another appointment yesterday, just a standard pee-in-a-cup, get your blood pressure checked and check baby's heart rate check up.  I'm thankful that the doctor reviewed my anatomy scan results and couldn't find anything wrong.  I talked to him about my leg numbness and he said it just comes with the territory but his medical student suggested doing some stretches, so I am going to give those a try.  They also said not to sit for too long, because the numbness is coming from the nerves getting compressed. 

Body changes?:  Still getting a little bigger!  I've gained a little bit of weight but I think I'm wearing it pretty well :) 

Maternity clothes?:  Yep!  All day, every day!  I got some great deals over the weekend at Babies-R-Us, 2 shirts for $5 each and two pajama sets for $7.50 each!  (The pj's are nursing pj's.)

Best moment last week?: Getting to actually SEE the baby kicking me from the outside.  It was so surreal!  She hasn't done it much lately though.  

Food cravings?: Last Friday I had the biggest craving for a calzone!  So add that to the list.  Otherwise still just sweets. 

Symptoms?:  Pretty much just all of the usual. 

Exercise?: Art and I went for a walk last night and I went for another short walk today after work.  I'm going to try to walk every day so that I can be in shape for labor and delivery.  I used to think that walking was boring and not intense enough but now I know I just need to be doing something, anything.  I want to start swimming soon now that it's warming up too. 

What I miss?:  Not a thing!  

What I'm looking forward to?:  Decorating the nursery, get the furniture and finishing our baby registry.  

What our little girl looks like this week:

A Week of Firsts!

The past couple days have been so much fun, I just have to share what has been going on with me. 

Yesterday, I was sitting at my desk in the afternoon and I felt Sweet Pea kick me pretty hard.  I looked down and to my surprise I could see my belly moving!  It was the coolest thing, I couldn't believe that she is now big enough to be moving my outsides AND my insides around. 

Another not-so-cool first was discovered yesterday too:  I have cankles!  Maybe I just haven't noticed because I've been wearing pants a lot in this cooler weather but I was wearing a dress and it was all too apparent that my calves were merging right into my feet :(  I know this is a normal part of pregnancy but I was really hoping it wouldn't happen until at least the third trimester, especially with spring and summer coming up.

Luckily the first first greatly outweighed the second first and really made my day.  I don't really care what I look like right now; I'm having a baby!  And that is just such a blessing.

My last first, that I discovered today:  when I stand up straight and look down I can't see my feet any more!  Isn't that crazy? 

I hope everyone is having a great day! 

Hump Day Bump Day

Here is my picture from over the weekend at 22 weeks!  I found this super cute chambray shirt at Target.  I love it because it's so light and comfortable.

Excuse the tired eyes and worn off makeup, I made Art take this picture at the end of the day on Sunday.  We had a long busy weekend!

23 Weeks!

Yeah, yeah I know I still owe my 22 week picture.  But it was just taken on Sunday so can I have a little slack?  I will try to post it tomorrow.

How far along?: 23 Weeks

How big is baby?:   Your baby is the size of a grapefruit!  Baby is starting to fill out this week with extra fat deposits.  And with her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance.  Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world.  She can now open her eyes and ears, fingernails and finger prints are fully developed.

Any appointments or updates this week?:  The next appointment is coming up on Monday!  As far as updates, I think I might have had my first Braxton Hicks contraction.  It was a few inches to the right of my belly button and felt like a muscle cramp.  I tried to massage it a little bit but that didn't do much good.  It hurt some but it went away after an hour or two.

Body changes?:  Just getting a little bit bigger. 

Maternity clothes?:  Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law I have a bunch of new clothes to wear!  She sent me some really cute things and I am excited to wear them all :)

Best moment last week?: Feeling the baby kicking a lot.  She loves hearing her daddy's voice.

Food cravings?: Still sweets!  Chocolate and ice cream and candy, oh my!

Symptoms?: Leg cramps, thirsty, hungry, trouble sleeping.

Exercise?: I went for a walk around my neighborhood on Sunday.  The weather outside was gorgeous and it felt great to get outside. 

What I miss?:  Not much.

What I'm looking forward to?: Getting the nursery painted and crib and furniture delivered.

What our little girl looks like this week:

 

Fixing Up Baby's Bathroom

Yes, you read that right.  Our baby girl is so spoiled that she already has her own bathroom.  Technically it will be the "Kids bathroom" once we have more kids, but for now it is just hers.  The other bedroom next door is currently my craft room.

I've been waiting to decorate it because I knew I would want to do some cute kid decorating.  The other day when I was in Target I found the most adorable furnishings and they were pink and green so they will match her nursery!  I was in love.

So on Saturday while my husband was at work I got busy decorating:

Pink and green owl soap dispenser

Adorable shower curtain

And then I broke out my pink tool kit:

The beauty of pink tools: they are cute and your husband is guaranteed to never use (or misplace) them!

Now why would I need tools to decorate a bathroom?  Well because I had bought a towel ring long ago for this bathroom and Saturday seemed like the perfect time to go ahead and install it.

The instructions said to use a drill to make the holes in the drywall but I just did the old fashioned pilot hole with a nail trick and it worked great!  I'm not very confident with power tools yet.

The finished product:

Baby's beautiful and girly bathroom!

Hello my name is Erin and I'm a Shopaholic

Haha at least I feel like one these days!  Between maternity clothes, craft supplies and and baby stuff I am wearing that AMEX out!  Good thing I'm pregnant so I basically get a free pass from the hubby :)

I am SO excited to share my latest purchase, it is seriously my favorite piece of maternity clothing that I have bought so far.  It all started when I was looking at all the different boutiques on Zulily and I stumbled on the Rosie Pope boutique.  I immediately loved all of the preppy, adorable clothes!  They were way more stylish than most maternity stuff I've seen.  I especially loved the style of this shirt:

Rosie Pope Palm Beach Tee

Unfortunately it was completely sold out!  So I tried looking on the Rosie Pope website...oh sure, it was there but only in size Large and for $48!  

I may be a shopaholic but I am always in search of a deal and there is no way that I would ever pay $48 for a maternity shirt, no matter how cute.

Luckily, with some additional searching I found the exact same shirt on Amazon for $24!  This time it was only in size XS and there was only one left.  What to do?  I rarely fit into an XS but Amazon has free returns so I went for it!  

I got the shirt today...

It fits and I love it!  It is really comfortable and cute at the same time.  The only thing that was different from what I expected was that the color was definitely more of a hot pink than a coral, but I still think it will look great with dress pants at work or jeans on the weekends.  (PS it looks a little weird in the picture around my stomach because I am wearing leggings.  My regular maternity pants have a smoother band.)  

Yay for at least one piece of maternity clothing that actually looks stylish!  Now does anyone want to buy me more Rosie Pope clothes?  (The website is www.rosiepope.com ... you will see what I mean about the ridiculous prices, unfortunately!)  

Update: I just found this same shirt available in white on Gilt for $24!  It's there in size XS and M right now.  I'm sooo tempted to buy another one, that's how much I love this one!

Baby Burp Cloths: How To

If you have a sewing machine, you can make these fun and easy baby burp cloths.  They are perfect for a homemade gift for someone who is expecting or just had a baby, or for yourself. 

This style and shape of burp cloth is perfect for putting on your shoulder while you burp the baby, but of course they are also great rags for all the cleaning up that you will surely do with a little one.

What you need:
1 yard of flannel fabric, any cute pattern is great
coordinating color of thread
sewing machine
scissors
pins

Step 1: Fold your flannel fabric in half, so that the pattern is on the inside.  Pin the pattern to both pieces of fabric, so that you will be cutting out two pieces.

I used some already cut pieces as a new "pattern" because the flannel sticks together.

You can usually get 3-4 burp cloths out of 1 yard of fabric.

Step 2: Sew around the edge of the fabric, about 1/4" in from the edge.  Leave an opening 4-5" long on one side of the fabric.  *I like to put a pin in each side of the opening to remind myself to stop in the right spot where I am sewing.

You can see my pins in the top center of the fabric.  This is where the opening is.

Close up of this step

 Step 3: Flip the fabric inside out so that the right side is facing out. 

You can see the open side is on the bottom now.

 Step 4:  Turn under the raw edges of the open side and pin them together to close the opening.  Try to turn in as much fabric as possible, to make it easier to sew it together. 

Step 5: Sew the edge of the fabric, starting with the pinned opening.  Be sure to sew close to the edge to catch the fabric and close up the opening.  Then sew 1/4" around the rest of the burp cloth.

Sew close to the edge when you are closing the opening, so the fabric stays closed.

If you are using a more simple pattern or just want a fun look, you can try other stitches such as a zig zag on the top stitching part.

Zig zags make this polka dot pattern more fun

The finished product!  A simple, cute burp cloth.

You can really have fun with all the different prints and patterns available at the fabric store.  I recommend buying at least 2 different prints so that you can mix and match and give out a few of each. 

Tons of cute fabrics!

These are so easy and quick to make, I turned these all around in a few hours.

I typically give these away in a pack of three, along with a shower gift or cute baby outfit.  You can tie a ribbon around them to dress them up:

For a baby boy

For a girly girl

 If you want to try these, the pattern is available here along with basic instructions.  If you want to use the cute chevron gift tags, you can download a free printable here.  I recommend printing them on card stock.

22 Weeks!

One more week has flown by, can you believe it?

How far along?: 22 Weeks

How big is baby?:   Your baby is the size of a banana squash (what is that?) or a papaya.  At 11 inches  and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums.  Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment.  Her pancreas is developing steadily this week.

Any appointments or updates this week?:  No, the next one isn't until a week from Monday.

Body changes?:  Not much.

Maternity clothes?:  Oh yes!  They are way more comfortable and fit better than any of my regular clothes at this point.  Even most of my pre-pregnancy sweaters and camis just aren't long enough. 

Best moment last week?:  On Sunday we went to the furniture store and ordered the baby's crib, dresser and night stand.  It should be here in 3-4 weeks!

Food cravings?: Too many sweets.  I think I might have overdosed the other night!  I had Oreos, cake and ice cream all in one evening.  Oops...

Symptoms?: Still having some trouble sleeping comfortably all night.  Leg/foot cramps don't help.

Exercise?: I went to a yoga class on Saturday, but unfortunately the class was a little too intense, even though I did some modifications and took breaks.  I ended up with a lot of soreness later that day.  Luckily it went away by the next day but from now on I guess I have to take it easier. 

What I miss?:  Having a glass of red wine if I want one. 

What I'm looking forward to?: Working on the nursery and other craft projects!  

What our little girl looks like this week:

Belated Bump Pics!

I've been terrible about keeping up with my "official" weekly bump pictures!  I do have a reason though...Art recently set up my rebuilt computer (yes, he is a computer geek and whenever my computer dies he rebuilds it for me) and my photo processing software is all still on his computer.  So I have to remember to get on his computer to upload and edit my pictures.  But anyway, the main thing is that I finally have some to share!

Here is my very belated official 20 week pic:

I can't believe how big I am!  

And here is week 21, from tonight.  It has been a very chilly weekend (I won't say cold so I don't offend any Northerners!) and this was right after we went to a Magic basketball game.

I did some other fun stuff this weekend, like make 8 burp cloths (pictures and a tutorial coming later this week!) and we also went to the store and ordered our baby's bedroom set!  We are getting the crib, dresser and a nightstand to go next to the glider.  It should be arriving in 3-4 weeks, I can't wait!  So now the pressure's on to pick out paint colors so that we can get the room painted before the furniture gets here.  I can't believe things are actually coming together, it doesn't feel real.  Oh and I picked up some cute decorations for her bathroom too!  Pictures coming soon, I can't wait to get it all set up.  

Much love!

So Much To Do!

I'm 21 weeks and 3 days, only 130 days to go!  It might seem like a lot of time left but I know it's going to fly by.  I have so many things that I've been wanting to do before the baby comes; both fun things and things that will help us to be more organized when she arrives.  I know once she gets here we will be so busy there is no way we will get to a lot of this stuff. 

Here's my to-do list so far.  I completely realize that I will probably be lucky to get half of this stuff done.  Hopefully posting it here will help me get a handle on it and I can keep chipping away at it in the next 130 days.

Home Stuff
-Finish organizing my closet
-Finish unpacking/decorating the bedroom (since we just moved in December it's still a bit disheveled)
-Unpack/organize/decorate the guest room
-Install IKEA shelves in the office and unpack the rest of the office stuff
-Clean up the formal living/dining room area (currently being used as a storage/furniture building area)
-Organize the craft room
-Finish organizing the baby's bathroom
-Install a utility sink in the laundry room and possibly a counter and shelves

Preparing for the Baby
-Create our baby registry
-Order the crib and dresser
-Get the nursery painted and decorated, with everything set up and organized
-Sew crib bedding and window treatment
-Read 1-2 baby care books (Baby 411 and What to Expect: The First Year)
-Read 1-2 breastfeeding books
-Do 1-2 freezer cooking sessions so that we will have a month's worth of meals on hand and already prepared (I have done this before, so I know I am capable of it, as long as I don't get too tired of being on my feet)

That's all I can think of so far.  What else am I forgetting?

And, here's my weekly update:

How far along?: 21 Weeks

How big is baby?:   Your baby is the size of a butternut squash! Your baby now weighs about 15 ounces and is 11" long.  You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and her vagina has begun to form as well.

Any appointments or updates this week?:  No

Body changes?: The bump is still growing :)

Maternity clothes?:  Yep, it's pretty much all I wear now.  I love my new Gap maternity jeans!  I can still wear some pre-pregnancy sweaters but everything else isn't quite long enough for my belly. 

Best moment last week?:  Deciding on our crib and bedroom set

Food cravings?:  Ice cream, girl scout cookies and all kinds of chocolate candy!  Oh and fettucini alfredo...yummmm!

Symptoms?: I haven't had any acid reflux this week, thank goodness.  I've been avoiding spicy food and marinara sauce.  My leg cramps are still waking me up at night.  And the numbness in my left leg really bothers me sometimes.  All of a sudden it can feel like water is running down my leg or worse, a burning sensation.  Art googled it and we found out that this is something called meralgia paresthetica.  Apparently it is caused by compression of a nerve that supplies sensation to the skin surface of the thigh.   I have been trying to sleep on my right side to see if it helps shift the baby away from that side, but it's hard to sleep that way.  I've noticed it's been getting harder and harder to get comfortable at night.

Exercise?: I didn't get a chance to go to yoga this week but I did go for a walk.  I'm hoping to go to a yoga class this weekend.

What I miss?:  Sleeping all the way through the night - yep, still this from last time.

What I'm looking forward to?: Getting my fabric swatches in the mail and getting to start working on my craft/sewing projects!

Have a great weekend, everyone!