Crafting like Crazy

  Here's a new thing that I didn't get to have with Elyse, I finally have the feeling of nesting!

I am 34 weeks along and nesting is a brand new feeling. I always wondering if I would feel it or if it was a thing pregnant women blamed for stressing out just before the baby arrived. Well for me its a real thing. Recently I have just gotten this urgent feeling of "the baby could be here any day now and there's so much I wanted to get done before he gets here!"

Yea, that's a long quote. But that's exactly how I feel. Looking back and thinking of how much of a zombie I was after Elyse was born, and how guilty I felt for being so useless. So this time I want to get things done that I have been wanting to do for some time now(mostly from Pinterest) so I don't feel quite as bad for being a sleep deprived, useless, zombie :)

So here are a few things I have been working on!

Curtains I made for the baby's room:

 A little hard to tell in the picture, but the are rugby striped navy and white curtains! Doesn't look very hard, but its a lot of work for amature sewer! Hemming, sewing straight lines, cutting straight lines!! oh and I sewed a black out liner to the back too!Also made a crib skirt. But I think I am going to put this one in Elyse's room and add a ruffle and make a plain navy one for Alistair.

I have been crocheting a fair share lately too!!!

Heres a hat I made for Baylee:

And I tried to make a matching one for Elyse but... it turned out a tish small :(

But a little bit ago, I made this hat for Elyse:

And Last week I made these for Alistair!

So he is ready for Seahawks Season!!!

Also made him a little tag blanket:

I also saw this pin on pinterest 6 months ago:

and ive been telling myself I wanted to make this so much!!.. so I finally got around to getting everything I needed to make this and omg... its a lot of work!!! I thought it was going to be simple as gluing letters on canvas and spraying it once and Ta-Da!...no.. not at all... its making sure the lines are straight, and the letters are evenly spaced, and glued on securely, but make sure each letter is straight... then painting it.. I'm still on this process because painting around the sides of the letters has been a HUGE pain.. so this is where I am right now:

Clearly I am still trying to paint around the letters...

Lastly, I have been very minimally helping with yard work. VERY minimally.  But here is the sprout of a sunflower that I planted from the shower I threw a few months back. We gave out sunflower seed favors :)

I should probably move it to a bigger container now...

Then also recently planted this amazing Peony!!! I LOVE these. These and Dahlias are my absolute favorite flowers!!!

I left the care card so I can remember how to take care of them :) I have 2 dahila's waiting for me to put in cuter pots too!!

So for now thats what I have. Still on the list is scrapbooking Elyse up to 12 months, I am at 9 months at the moment...problem is scrapbooking is SO messy and takes a lot of work and organization. It's not for the unorganized kind of crafter or person. With all the cutting and gluing, it's hard to do with Elyse around, so I have to do it when she's sleeping. I am also not very creative when it comes to page layouts but I do think my scrapbooking has gotten much better. It went from a preschooler art project to 1st grader :)

Other things I want to do is finish decorating Elyse's room, and I am making Alistair's moblie. Finish putting up any artwork around the house and maybe get my child potty trained all before the baby arrives. Oh also, I am re painting a dresser to look distressed, we'll see how it actually turns out. 

So a lot on my list, but a lot is done too!!! :)

 

May 2013 Events

  It's been about a month since my last update. It's been a fairly busy month which is kind of nice! Most of my weekends have been pretty full and my weekdays are full with visits and cleaning. The cleaning is never ending of course. 

I have also come to realize that this pregnancy is almost over and I have a lot of things I want to get done before Alistair is born. I have gotten back into crafting and getting things done since I  know I will be completely unless for a little bit after he arrives. I am currently 34 weeks pregnant today!! woo hoo!! I have never been this pregnant before and this was the distance the Drs wanted Elyse to get to, but we obviously didn't get that far. Unfortunately, I am definitely huge and getting stretch marks :( Not exactly something to brag about but it is reality as well. I put on that stretch mark cream a lot but I know at the end of the day, its not helping. 

I also haven't gained a large amount of weight as I would have thought! Every time I go into the drs office I expect them to talk with me about my weight, but the last fwe times I was there, I only gained a pound or two. Which is great! But I have also heard you gain the most at the end, so since I am not there yet, I have nothing to celebrate. Plus, whatever I gain, I gain. At this point, I want to enjoy what I can of my last few weeks of pregnancy. I have 6 more weeks(although they want to do a c section at 39 weeks, so really I only have 5 more weeks) and I want to spend them enjoying a full night of sleep and eating what tastes good :)

Since my last post I have had visitors in town!!! First my cousin Jennie and her husband Mike came to visit for the weekend. Jennie is also pregnant and due a day after me and Mike and I were born on the exact same day on the exact same year. So we talked about how ironic it would be if we ended up having kids on the same day too!! That was a nice weekend. Since Jennie is pregnant too, we took it slow and made many many bathroom stops for the both of us :) We went to Salty's(sooo good), did a small walk on Bainbridge Island at the Bodel Reserve and did a tour of Safeco Field. 

Seattle from the Bainbridge Ferry

On the Ferry to Bainbridge

The walk on Blodel Reserve

Very Pregnant at Safeco

Jennie and Elyse in the dugout

One also very exciting thing that happened was our friends Tim and Amanda had their beautiful baby girl, Baylee Faith. SO adorable!!! She was born that sunday which was also Cinco de Mayo AND Amanda's birthday!

Baylee Faith McCarthy

The following weekend, Cole and Elyse went to California for Cole's brother's graduation from CMA. My friend, Courtney came up to visit that weekend! It was nice to see her and also not be all by myself! She is also pregnant so it wasn't a jammed packed weekend. She used to live up here so it was probably good for her to see how things have changed and the things that haven't. One thing that did change was that we all have babies now!

 I didn't manage to take any photos that weekend though :( We went and saw a lot of friends and had dinner and movie at Ipic and saw the great gatsby!!! so fun!!!

Thats all I will update for now. The next post will be about all the crafts I have been up to!

Diaper Bag Drama

    Ok, the title might be a little dramatic, but at this point, it's stressing me out!!

So, when I was pregnant with Elyse, I didn't know much about diaper bag. Cole and I were browsing at the mall and remembered that we needed a diaper bag. He wanted a unisex one that he can hold and not be totally embarassed by it. We were are nordstroms and looking the petunia pickle bottom bags and got the Evening in Innsbruck Boxyback Pack. We used it for a good year, and it is suppose to have a waterproof kind of liner where you can wipe the cloth inside clean. 

Well after a year of use and wear and tear, I managed to spill a whole bottom of formula in the bag :( I cleaned it and cleaned it, but it got a funny smell that I couldn't get out. So I emailed petunia pickle bottom about it and expressed my disappointment for such a highly praised(and NOT cheap) bag. They have amazing customer service and had me send the bag in to be fixed. Once it arrived, they said they were unable to fix it, but would replace the bag this one time. So they send me a brand new bag. It's teh same print and style as my old bag, but the old bag had this annoying velcro and the new bag had magnets which is great! Well, by the time I got this bag, I was in Philadelphia and was using a much smaller diaper bag. I no longer had the need for a big bag. So I never used it. 

Well now that I am in my third trimester with my second child, I remembered I need a diaper bag! Well, I don't want to use the PPB bag just because I want to change it up and I don't want to have the same issue I had before. So I am trying to sell the bag on craigslist. It is a BRAND new bag. Still in the bag from the factory, never been used and retails for $169. I am selling it locally for $130 which I don't think is unreasonable!!! But I am only getting offers for $90.... thats not happening since I need to buy a different bag with it. 

Anyways, if anyone knows anyone that would by it for $130 locally or $150 out of state(I'll ship it) then I would be happy to send it on its way!!! Let me know!!

Here are pictures:

28 weeks - Pregnancy Update

  

Last wednesday marked the begining of my third Trimester!!! YAY! We made it!

So we are now 28 weeks and 3 days today :) and I keep getting bigger and bigger. (oh and have i mentioned I am hungry pretty much all the time?)

Still having plenty of pelvic pressure and difficulty standing for long periods of time. (like more than 60 sec) But its doable. I will say, I really really disliked pregnancy my first go around. I think it had a lot to do with not having seen anyone else close to me go through it and no one else around be also going through it. So all the new expeirances were very new and there wasn't really anyone to relate. We were just in different places in our lives. At the time I didn't think about it that way. The only thing was not being able to drink when everyone else still was. 

But this time, plenty of other have been through it now or are going through it. Even though I have had more pains this time, I have enjoyed pregnancy more too. I also think it has to do with knowing more of what to expect than last time. I can honestly say, I like being pregnant. Last time, not at all....

BUT I am getting close to being ready to be done as well. I am huge and feel gross, but it's nice to have a reason to have a belly :)

Speaking of belly, our little boy is doing very well!! He rolls and kicks more! I had an ultrasound yesterday and they checked his growth. He is estimated 3lbs 1oz and in the 81%. This feels huge to me, being only 28weeks. I remember when Elyse's water broke at 29weeks 5 days she was barely a pound. Needless to say, if I make it full term, I am going to look like one of those moving houses.... He will be huge. Good thing he's not coming out of my woo-ha! Although, he is head down which would have been helpful if he was coming out that way. 

Here's a 3d shot of him. For those who are having a hard time seeing it(which I don't blame you), this is a shot of us looking kind of down on his face .

Here is a profile shot of him, this was REALLY hard to get because he was moving sooo much!

Maternity and Childrens Consignment Sale - Best Ever

  Last friday, my (also pregnant) friend Amanda brought me to this really nice consignment sale. It was hosted by Jack and Jill and the bump.com was also there!! I am usually not a huge fan of used things unless its from someone I know. But this sale was really clean and everything was nice and organized. We got there early with the "new mom to be" group since Amand is going to be a first time mom. So we definitely got a great pick of things!!! Here are the awesome things I got and great prices!!

Doll Car Seat - $5 ( Original Price $13)

Home Depot Work Bench with accessories - $15 (OP $50)

Doll Stroller - $12 (OP $30)

Leapfrog Reader - $5 (OP $30)

Brand New My Breast Friend - $15 (OP $40-$50)

Brand New(I used it already) Boppy Preagnancy Wedge - $5 (OP $15)

And not pictured, a changing pad for $10. So thats a total of $57!!! 

Most of it, I didn't need, but was SOOO thrilled to get at such a deal! The used items were only slightly used too!!

Elyse LOVED shopping :) She even carried some of her own stuff!! 

We also got this "leash" as a joke. Of course when we put it on her to see if she would respond to it, she did.... Then someone came up to us and asked "Where did you get that? Are there more?" HAHA

out of ALL the things we got, THAT was the thing someone asked about. Don't worry, we won't be using the leash... too often haha :)

California Baby Shower for baby #2

  Two weekends ago I went down to California for my baby shower! I am so lucky to have friends offer to throw me another shower and I loved it so much! I definitely will need all the gifts people gave me so having a shower is SOOO helpful!

The whole thing was really cute. It was "rain showers" themed and the host, my friend Jodi seemed to put a lot of work into it all. The invites were really cute and had an umbrella on it with rain drops.

The decor was clear umbrellas with felt rain drops, white poms as clouds, rain boots as utensil holders and there were cute food picks with umbrellas on them. Then of course there was a cute blue punch bowl with ducks in them!!

oh and the food was sooooooo good!!!

Seeing this picture makes me want those tarts again!!

I am really grateful for all the effort she put into it all. It turned out so cute! 

I was also happy because I went down to Roseville friday afternoon til sunday afternoon and spent the whole time with my friend Courtney. It was really nice since we don't ever get to spend large portions of time together anymore. Plus I didn't have Elyse or Cole with me. They stayed behind for this trip.

So we went shopping(since doing that with Elyse isn't very enjoyable) and ate out. It was nice to getaway for the weekend to. I also got to see my cousins in the Bay Area for some time and we went to see the movie The Host. I can't even stress how rare it is for me to see a movie as well so that was wonderful!!!

My cousin and I are due at the same time so we took a picture of our bumps together. Of course, I look twice the size. I like to tell people "it's because its my second" HAHA. OR it could be that I eat all the time and everything in sight. 

So this is us at 26 weeks. 

Pregnancy Update - 26 weeks

  So the last post about Elyse's hair styling, published today. But I wrote it 2 days ago and just noticed that it didn't go through....or did it?

Anyways, Im 26 weeks and 1 day today! The size of a cucumber :)

I had an ultrasound today and it went well. I have had really terrible pelvic pressure and its gotten a lot worse this week. Unfortunately, this is normal for a second pregnancy and there isn't much that can be done. It feels like someone kicked me down there and feels swollen.  My cousin Sharon let me borrow her maternity belt and it does help a little. Assuming I am using it properly :) 

The pain was really bad on tuesday, so on Wednesday I told my nurse and she recommended I let my Dr know. Since I knew I had a ultrasound today I decided to wait till today. When I went into my ultrasound, the nurse noticed I was walking funny so I let her know about how bad the pressure is. She said that they will need to keep an eye on it. 

Once the ultrasound tech came in and put that warm gel on my belly the first thing she said is "oh... you're having a contraction right now. Can you feel it?" 

I said "ooooooh.... I thought I was having a stomach ache!!" hahaha turns out I have likely been having braxton Hicks contractions this week and have been contributing to my pelvic pressure and likely making it worse! From what I was reading about them, BH contractions can be painless or painful. But they usually don't affect the cervix which is good news for me! Other than that my cervix looks nice and long(aren't you thrilled to know about my cervix?)

So I was cleared to travel to sacramento this weekend :)

If you see my getting up slowly with a pained expression, don't worry. It's totally normal. The beauty of pregnancy :)