34 weeks

Here's the bump at 34 weeks.

I definitely feel like I've hit the last stage of pregnancy.  My body is awkward and swollen, my emotions are all over the place, and even a peanut butter sandwich gives me heartburn!  Some moments I'm overwhelmed with the thought of surviving the next 40 days...and the next I'll feel a tiny little extremity (hand? foot?) poking up an inch from the rest of my stomach and I'm struck with the amazing reality that an actual human being is inside of me!  I just think I'd like to fast forward a bit until she's here in my arms instead!

Random pregnancy trivia:
1. Multiple coworkers have complimented my "cute" waddle
2. I find myself needing to catch my breath after "simple" tasks...like getting into bed
3. I downloaded a contraction counter app for my phone
4. We start our birthing class tomorrow night

Less than six weeks until Emerson should be here!

Painting the Closet

Since the nursery is a very small room, there's not a lot of space for furniture.  So we have planned on using the closet for all of the baby's clothes storage.  Since we won't have a dresser, we want shelves and baskets to hold all her cute little baby things.  And for easy access we won't have any doors on the closet, so of course, I want it to be pretty!  Naturally, I turned to Pinterest for ideas!

Source: Uploaded by user via Bethany on Pinterest

Source: projectnursery.com via Bethany on Pinterest

As I found closets that I liked, I noticed that most of them had some kind of wall treatment to add a little interest and give the closet a finished look that really made it feel like part of the room.  So Scott and I went wallpaper shopping!  We found a darling green wallpaper with a nice gold print that was exactly the accent we wanted in the closet.  And then we found out the price.  It was going to cost $100 to order enough wallpaper to cover our tiny little closet.  And, my friends, that was just NOT in the budget.  So I moped for awhile, and then started looking for plan B.

I remembered this post by Centsational Girl where she showed how she painted a lovely trellis pattern in her master bedroom.  So I searched for "painted wallpaper" on Pinterest...

Source: jonesdesigncompany.com via Bethany on Pinterest

Enter this blog post from Jones Design Company.  (This is the same blogger that wrote Twirl.)  I printed off the free pattern she shared, cut it out of some stencil plastic from the craft store, and recruited the help of my best friend Krystle.  After Scott and his brother had removed the closet shelf and hanging rod and given it a fresh coat of white paint, Krystle began tracing the pattern...

Then when she had traced a big chunk of wall space, I would take over that spot and start painting...

It was a little scary at first...my brush strokes looked amateur and the spacing wasn't perfect...

But we persevered...and something lovely began to take shape!

(Side note: I had the most terrible time finding a shirt to paint in.  None of my grubby clothes fit over the bump, and my husband is so slender that even his biggest t-shirt barely worked.)

In the original tutorial, Emily offset her stencil to make a gorgeous double lined image.  Krys and I kept it simple.  And I'm glad we did.  Even with our simplified version, we worked from 11:15 to 3:30 with only very brief breaks to eat (or in my case to pee...thank you sweet baby that sits on my bladder...).

At the end of the day, we had spent $7 on the stencil plastic and a bottle of acrylic craft paint...and we took the little nursery closet from this:

To this:

This is the new view from the glider in the corner of the nursery.  I know that soon, much of our handiwork will be covered by shelves, baskets, and pretty little baby clothes.  But I think that this pattern showing through will make all the difference in making our closet feel like part of the room.  I love it!

Snowday! Or...Snow Week!

School has been out for an entire week due to a winter storm.  I've been going crazy cooped up in the house with six weeks until baby comes and no way to really prepare!  To ward off cabin fever I've been sewing....a lot.  Thank goodness I've built up a stash of fabric and notions!

First off, I made a sweet little flag garland for the nursery.  I'm not sure where it will go, but it will be darling hanging somewhere.  And, by the way, that's the crib it's hanging from at the moment...I'll post a full picture of that once the nursery furniture is in place (we're painting the closet right now...)

Then, it was a little gift making.  One of my cousins is having a little boy--due two days after Emerson!  And since the baby shower is coming up, I had some work to do!  Little guy will have a few cute jungle bibs...

And a handmade elephant softie!

Of course, Emerson needed one as well.  I love that my cousin and I both picked elephants for the nursery...It won't be super theme-y in ours, but this cute animal will be making an appearance:-)

I also tried my hand at garment sewing.  Not too bad for a first try!  This cute crossover pinafore and matching diaper cover will be perfect for this summer when we visit Nana and Papa in the Eastern Washington sunshine! (I need to find the right buttons for the straps...right now they're just pinned in place to show off the look!)

And finally, my favorite.  This is a tiny little newborn size dress that I made for my baby girl.  Since she'll be born in the winter, I need a long sleeve onesie and some baby tights to keep her cozy.

So now, I'm off to take a shower before I return to the sewing room.  Who knows what project I'll find this time!  And stay tuned because tomorrow we're attempting to paint a beautiful pattern on the closet walls.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Twirl

There's a new button on my sidebar...below the belly pic.  Click on it to read a blog post that I love.

It's always good to remember that as much as I love this tiny girl kicking my hip bones, her heavenly father loves her infinitely more.

32 weeks and My Little Gray Kitty

Here's the bump at 32 weeks.  I'm thinking "bump" doesn't describe it so well anymore...

And this is the newest member of our family.  My husband brought home this sweet little gray kitty on Sunday.  And before you condemn him for being insane...read on.  You would have done the very same thing!

To give some background...we recently relocated my beloved dog to live with Scott's parents.  The sweet pup is a little too neurotic (the best way to describe her) and needy for two people that work full time and are preparing for a brand new baby.  Plus the darn dog barks at anything under the age of 4.  Luckily, she's a whole different dog up at "the farm" and is not only more happy and relaxed, but she's loved as a part of the family.  The other dogs include her in the pack, the kitten shares a bed with her, and my in-laws treat her like a little doggie princess.

The only problem with the dog moving was that our cat, Gideon, became lonely.  He was getting a little grouchy.  Scott and I had discussed getting another cat so that the pair of them would be more self sufficient when the baby comes and takes up all our attention.  But we would always conclude that, no, it was probably better to stick with one pet.  Until...

On Sunday Scott went out to "pick up a pizza."  As the story goes, he swung by the pet store to look into a new cat litter we've been considering.  While in the pet store, he noticed a small gray cat all by herself in the cat cage.  The poor thing was less than a year old and had already mothered a batch of kittens.  All her kittens had been sold, she was lonely, and the pet store worker explained that people don't ever buy cats from the pet store because they want kittens.  She opened the cage to pull out the cat, but the little kitty ran away from her, over to the far corner of the cage.  Scott at this point walked over to that side of the cage, and the kitty reached her arm out through the bars to grab him by the pant leg.  When he knelt down and opened that side of the cage, she went right to him.  *Imagine Scott's wide-eyed explanation..."I just COULDN'T leave her there."*

So we are now the proud owners of a tiny, skinny, and otherwise healthy pretty little gray kitty.  She is already super comfortable with us, is super playful, chatty, and purrs all the time.  In short, I love her.  Officially, her name is Lydia Fancy.  But so far we call her Little Gray Kitty.

Don't worry, Gid, you'll always be my kitten-child.  Even if you're too huge to hold in my arms with this belly of mine...

Girly Goodness

Today's Girly Goodness brought to you by Aunt Bethany and Janie and Jack.

Update: The Nursery

Scott and Uncle Kyle spent some time over Christmas break finishing up the walls in the nursery...They look so much better!  And just in time since I finally ordered the crib and we'll be picking it up sometime in the next 10 days!

Diaper bag?

The above picture showcases two things. 

1. A bag my mom sneakily bought me for Christmas!  It's not officially a diaper bag...The Body Shop was selling it as a Black Friday deal full of lotion and stuff...but it's so big, roomy, and cute that I thought it would work for this mama when I need something fashionable to carry all the diapers, wipes, bibs, extra clothes, toys, pacifier, etc.

2. My version of this diaper wallet...made with fabric from my stash and an old hand towel.  It unfolds and acts as a changing pad too!

Now, I know that this "diaper bag" (even with the pretty diaper wallet) just won't do if my husband is on the go with the baby...or if I ever want him to carry it!  So I'm also on the lookout for a "real" diaper bag.  In fact, I've been scouring Target and Babies R Us websites trying to find something that is reasonably priced, gender neutral (AKA Daddy will carry it), and has good reviews from people that have used it for at least a few months.  So far I've come up empty handed.

(In case you're wondering, I chose those two websites because we have a baby registry at each store.  I thought it made sense to start my search somewhere we could...ahem...give someone else the opportunity to buy it for us!  But at this point I'm thinking that I won't register for one, and I'll wait to buy a bag until Emerson is born and we know exactly what we need.)

I need your help.  Am I over thinking this?  A diaper bag seems like a very important piece of baby gear to me!  I mean, it needs to hold everything we might need for the baby when we're not at home!  And they're not cheap, so I want something that will not fall apart the first time I stuff it with way more stuff than I actually need!  If you have experience, speak up!  What kind of diaper bag do/did you have?  How much thought did you put into it?  How much money did you spend on it?

Please, help a mama out!

Girly Goodness

Today's Girly Goodness is brought to you by Auntie Krystle and Koala Baby shoes.

Project Complete!

I mentioned the other day that I have been obsessed with organizing the top of my dresser.  Now that the whole world can see the before picture below, it might make more sense that I HAD to get this project done.  But, if I'm honest, my dresser looks like this more often than not, and I get along just fine.  It's this (terrible? wonderful?) nesting instinct that has me tuning into all the messes that I've gotten so good at ignoring.

I'm feeling like a real slob right about now.  Please tell me I'm not the only person with a mess like this...

We could play a game!  I spy a telephone, hubby's airsoft gun, my underwater camera from Hawaii, shampoo samples...

Anyway, something had to be done!  After seeing this project on Pinterest, I knew what I needed to do.

I already had some pretty fabric and an old sign that I bought at a yard sale for a quarter.  A stop at the local craft store got me some cheap cup hooks, Mod Podge, and a foam paintbrush.  After some work and drying time, I had a pretty necklace holder, ready to help me tackle the clutter!

Ahhh.  I feel so much better now.

Update: The Bump

This was the bump at 29 weeks.  I can't look at this picture without cracking up.

Sweater party + cheesy pictures = Christmas memories to last a lifetime

And here we are now.  31 weeks and counting. 

Only 9 weeks to go!