Ethan's Dinosaur

A mom cannot sew a toy for one of her children without sewing one for the other too.  I mean, I'm not sure what I was thinking when I made Madeline that doll.  So when Ethan searched through the same book and found this dino, I kinda had to sew it for him.  He's pretty pudgy and cute, standing at about 9 inches tall.  I would have liked to have made him green with spots or something, but this is the fabric Ethan picked out and since I didn't actually have any green with spots anyway, I was glad he was happy with what he found in my drawers.  Easier and free that way.

 Both kids have their hearts set on more things in that book they want me to sew for them, but I told them I was done sewing toys for a time.

August's Ten Things

August is almost over people!  Do you realize what that means?!!?  It means I'm going to have a baby really really soon!  But I'm jumping ahead a little on that one because that is just one of my ten things to smile about this month!

1.  I'm STILL pregnant.  Under normal circumstances, a women as pregnant as me might not smile about that, but for me it means no preterm delivery.  No complications with a pregnancy that could have had lots!

 2.  I won't be pregnant for long.  Only two weeks left.  And in two days, I'll know for sure what day he is coming!!

3.  Ethan LOVES school.  He loves going.  He loves being there.  He loves homework.  And look at his latest spelling PREtest.  He writes them in pencil for the pretest and then the teachers spells the words for the class and they write them correctly in blue. . . yep, that's 100% on his pretest.

 4.  I finished all my baby projects this month and the nursery is ready.

5.  I even had time to do some projects for my kiddos, including the doll I made for Madeline and a dino in the works for Ethan.  I couldn't leave him out!

6.  We got to celebrate my Dad's birthday by enjoying his company at breakfast and dinner.

7.  Todd's brother Mike returned home from an honorable mission in Paraguay and we were able to meet him at the airport as well as enjoy a weekend with family.  It was so good to see him and so fun to see the three brothers together again.

 8.  Todd is on his LAST business trip.  He's only been home 19 of the last 44 days.  And the trips are almost over!

9.  I made a batch of strawberry jam, a batch of raspberry jam, two batches of peaches, and two batches of applesauce all while contracting!  It kinda made me laugh each contraction I had, but hey, I got it done!!!!

10.  I get to go to choir tonight!  I might be crazy, but I'm attempting to be in my beloved Christmas Choir again this year.  I know I'll have to take a few weeks off, and take the babe to rehearsals, but I'm hoping to make it work.  Singing in a huge group of people who can and love to sing always makes me smile.

Whew!  I'm tired!

Daisy

Thursday morning after Ethan left for school, Madeline turned to me and said, "Mommy, I want you to sew me a new dolly today.  Come on Mom, let's go look at the book and I'll pick the one I want, okay?"  I was laughing at this and figured that looking through my Wee Wonderfuls Doll book sounded more appealing than playing Strawberry Shortcake anyway, so down we went.  I was trying to convince her that I probably couldn't make a doll TODAY because I might not have the right fabric and such, but she was pretty set on it.  

We looked through the book, she picked her favorite doll, and then we started going through fabric.  Turns out I had all the fabrics to make it and so I had no excuse.  She sat with me and picked it all out, helped trace the pattern pieces, handed me pins, and helped stuff the doll.  And there you go, meet Daisy (also named by Madeline):

 I think she turned out pretty cute.  It's totally not my style to sew something so spur of the moment, especially when I have all these self-made plans of things I think I need to do before the baby comes.  But it was really fun, and it made Miss Madeline oh so happy.

Baby Update

I went to the doctor again yesterday.  Things are going really well.  I have one more ultrasound on Tuesday and using the results from that, I am going to schedule my inducement on Thursday.  It's looking more and more like 38 weeks.  Of course, it could always be sooner, but 38 weeks is most likely.  But I'll have it scheduled by Thursday and then I'll know for sure!!!  Either way, that's only 2 1/2 weeks away!

I'm measuring 2 weeks big, not surprised . . . I feel huge and have big babies.  It's causing me a lot of grief in the hips and lower back region and I feel like I can barely walk at times, but with the end in sight, I'm really okay with it.  And I'm already almost 3 cm dilated!  That's kind of a lot for 35 weeks.  My doctor said, "Hey, maybe you'll just go into labor and then we won't have to worry about when to schedule anything."  Very funny . . . unless it's when Todd is out of town for his last business trip next week.  :)

My Kids Crack Me Up

Apparently Ethan and his best friend have been getting chased by girls as recess.  This alone had me chuckling.  Ethan claims he doesn't like it, but I'm not entirely sure.  I told him that the girls are just chasing him and his friend because the girls like them.  Ethan responded by saying, "Oh Emery definitely likes Michael!"  He made no such guarantees about the girl who chases him.  But this he did say, "Mom, you'll never guess what her name is, the girl that chases me . . . it's RACHEL!  Rachel like you.  Well, now I know two Rachel's.  The one who chases me and the one that's my mom.  And the one that's my mom is WAY more better behaved!"

Madeline is excited for her Preschool Open House tonight.  She was so excited in fact, that she forgot what it was called and at breakfast this morning declared, "Ethan!!!  Tonight we get to go to my Preschool Out House!!!"

Following breakfast, Madeline started playing with ponies quietly on the floor.  Suddenly, she burst up and exclaimed in her loudest voice, "10-9-8-6-3-2-1 BLAST OFF!"  When she saw me looking at her, she got this deer in the headlights look, shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, the ponies ARE on a rocket."

While the Boys Work . . .

the girls play:

Bruno Bear

Meet Bruno Bear:

 I saw him on Pinterest (free pattern here), and thought it seemed like a really fun project.  I took a few liberties on the pattern, mostly because I'm new to crochet and the pattern wasn't as specific as a beginner could have used, but I was happy with how he turned out.  I've never crocheted a toy before and it was really fun.

I sewed the pillow too, but that was a long time ago.  It's been downstairs, but seemed to go nicely on the glider in the baby's room.

A Glider Makeover

When I decided I wanted to reshape and recover my glider rocker, I had no idea how BIG of a project it would be.  In the end, I've decided this is not the type of project for me.  I doubt I'll ever attempt something like this again.  I don't like sewing without a pattern, and I much prefer sewing cute dolls rather than giant confusing chair covers!  Having said that though, I'm SO GLAD it's done.  And I am happy with it.  A great shout out for my husband and my mom who helped me with this and made it possible.

Here is my original glider:

 Wrong colors and not very exciting.  Not to mention that I never liked the hard arm rests - quite uncomfortable when feeding a babe.

And here is the new and improved glider:

 I reshaped the back and arms using a sheet of thin board I bought from The Home Depot.  I first made pattern pieces out of poster board and then made Todd cut them all out on the board - a tricky procedure since my pieces were pretty random.  Thanks again honey!  Then I attached them to each other and the chair using a various assortment of supplies . . . followed by foam, batting, stuffing, and a lining made of white fabric.  Then came the part where my mom helped me by making a rough pattern with me out of scrap fabric.

By the time I was finishing the real cover, I was pretty tired of the project and I have to admit I let a few crooked seams slide.   :)  They're in the back anyway.

Now I have a super soft glider that matches my baby's room!  Whew!

Elephant Mobile

I saw this mobile right around the time I found out I was having a boy and really liked it.  It was, of course, out of my price range but that didn't stop me from making my own version!  I can see why the original was $115 now because it did take quite a bit of time, but in the end, I'm really happy with it and I think it was worth the effort.  It was fun to make the pattern, and change a few minor things to make it work just right for my nursery.  

 Cute little sleepy elephants . . .

 Right now, it's hanging off a hanger from the ceiling fan, but eventually it will go over the crib.

Nursing Apron

This nursing apron was really a simple project and something I didn't actually have to make because I have one from when Madeline was a baby.  But it was very pink and while I didn't want to have some baby boy print, I did want something that didn't scream girl.

 When I saw this fabric, I was in love.  I'm totally turning in my mom, falling in love with fabric.  I can now spend hours in fabric stores walking around holding bolts of fabric and wondering what I should make with it just so I can buy some.  Never mind the fact that this particular piece was the most expensive per yard in the store . . . that's probably why I loved it so much!

Even with the higher priced fabric, it still ended up being way less expensive than buying one of these. And it took less than an hour to make.  Totally worth it.

Pretty for me, blue for baby.

A Little from the Nursery

I thought it would be fun to post a few baby related things this week.  I only have five or so weeks left, maybe less!  I'm almost done with all the projects I wanted to do, and the nursery is basically ready.  I'm getting SO excited!  The other day, I saw this little brand new baby boy with loads of brown hair and I just felt like screaming . . . he was so tiny and darling.  I can't believe I'm almost in baby land again.

First off, I'd like to show you the crib.  I'm totally in love with this thing.  I seriously smile every time I walk past the nursery and see it! It wasn't the easiest thing to get my hands on.  Gray cribs have been back ordered and out of stock almost everywhere.  But it was worth the hunt.  And it goes nicely with the quilt I made: 

 The wall behind the crib is a nice soft blue:

 The other three walls are gray, a little lighter than the crib.  Next to the window hangs this darling piece of art:

It was inspired by some things I saw on pinterest, and I was lucky enough to get my favorite local artist to draw it for me (aka my DAD!!!).  It turned out exactly as I had hoped!  And if you haven't heard yet,  yes, we are naming our son Cooper!

Thanks again Dad!  I LOVE it.

The nursery has other white pieces of furniture and a gray rocker which I reshaped and covered.  I'll show those soon.  It has just turned out to be a really soft and nice-on-the-eyes space.  Mobiles, nursing aprons, and Bruno the bear to come!



And for those who are wondering, the latest ultrasounds show our little guy still doing well.  They are now requiring me to do non-stress tests once a week as well since the ultrasounds become less accurate the farther along I get.  I passed my first non-stress test with flying colors, and am still feeling really good about how he's doing and how it will turn out.

Family Maternity Photo Shoot!

My family humored me, and my awesome sister-in-law did too.  For my birthday, we did a family and maternity photo shoot and I just got back the pictures.  I could not be more happy.  Emily did such a beautiful job.  You can check out more of her work here.  In the meantime, here are some of my favorites from the session.