23 Weeks

The Park - Before the Heat

A Lively Friday

Nama came over this morning for some one-on-one time with Mallory while this momma got some time to focus on herself for a bit. I'm not gonna lie, I cherish 'alone time' more than ever before. Being at home with monster is a lot of fun, but man am I exhausted at the end of each day on a whole new level. I now totally understand the saying, "Silence is golden."

So while Mallory was being spoiled with extra love from Nama, I met up with a friend to try out a new workout; barre class at The Dailey Method. Leave it to me to try a new workout for the first time when I'm 5 1/2 months pregnant. And barre class is seriously no freakin' joke man, it was crazy hard! My muscles were being challenged so much that I was shaking like a leaf with every new position. Running and kickboxing are great workouts for me, but this barre class was a whole other level of difficulty. I really enjoyed it and I will continue to try and get better at it so I don't feel like the biggest rookie in the class.

Mallory has been fighting her nap time lately to the point where sometimes she sleeps for only 30 minutes, or even worse, not at all. Today was one of those 'not at all' days, and while it usually means that we'll be witnessing multiple meltdowns throughout the evening, she held herself together pretty well tonight. The only real attitude I received was right before bath time. I'm so not ready for her to be done with naps yet. And not just because I still really think she needs them, but also because I like that two hour break so I can use it to catch up on things. I was hoping that I could at least squeeze naps out of her until she was three years old, or until Nolan is born. Because then there's no such thing as quiet time for awhile anyway. I'm still gonna keep trying each day to put her down - bribery of some sort maybe...!

DIY: Crib Skirt

I want to give a HUGE "thank you" to my mother for helping me pull this DIY project off. She lent me her sewing machine to put together the crib skirt and finish completing the other sewing projects that I have. She also walked me through each step, since it's been at least a decade since the last time I have sewn anything. My mom and I used to sew stuff together all the time growing up, and I always remember having a blast. We had a great time doing it again yesterday morning, and I am very grateful for her assistance because the finished product turned out exactly as I had envisioned it in my mind.

I also want to give props to Pinterest for guiding me to find this incredible tutorial to create my own crib skirt for much, MUCH less than buying one. I used about two yards of fabric, costing me less than $10 - way cheaper than the $70 skirts online that I was eying. The tutorial was super easy to follow along and was a perfect re-introduction back into the world of sewing. The only hard part that we came across was trying to cut the fabric in a straight line - the pattern is deceiving as we thought we could use the ovals as our guide but quickly realized they weren't totally lined up with each other. The middle seam of the dining room table served as our path for the scissors to glide across when we had to make our cuts - I might have to rethink selling that thing.

Pressing the seams (with chocolate of course!) and the panels ready to be sewn

I forgot to get some pictures of me sewing in action, but once I got going I was in a groove to get the panels done so I could see the completed skirt on the crib. I am so, so pleased with how it turned out. And I'm also really proud of myself for how well I did. Some of my hems are a little wavy, but you'd have to get up really close to notice. Other than that I didn't make any mistakes causing me to have to start over on any panels. It didn't take me long to finish sewing everything and after tacking in the panels underneath the mattress, voila! I'll probably also make a small pillow to add on top of his mattress. I need to make the sheets still, but I'll definitely need help from my mom on that project. The fabric for the sheets will be different - a solid with the colors from the skirt. I'm hoping for the green color but we'll have to see if we can find something close enough to match. You'll also notice the blue shelf that I'm using as a nightstand and the cute lamp; those are some of my IKEA purchases that I'll explain later. Things are coming together nicely for baby Nolan!

TA-DA!!

22 Weeks and Nesting

Half way through week 22 with baby Nolan. I'm feeling really good - finally. I still have moments of puking first thing in the morning, but I would say maybe only 2-3 times a week. That's so much better than before. I wouldn't totally be surprised if my morning sickness never completely goes away with this pregnancy. But if it stays at the level I'm at right now, I can hang just fine. I was reading somewhere not that long ago that boys can sometimes mean morning sickness comes back towards the last month or two of pregnancy, but you know what they say about reading things...

My 'nesting mode' is in full effect ever since finding Nolan's bedding fabric. Jody put together the crib over the weekend and by Sunday night I had the configuration of the furniture in order. That gave me an idea of what pieces I still needed to get for his room, which led me to my IKEA catalog where I flagged the heck out of the thing with the items I'd be considering for my upcoming trip. My mom came down yesterday morning to bring the sewing machine - and to visit of course! - so we got started on our project to-do list right away. IKEA treated us nicely by having everything I wanted to see displayed, and everything that I wanted to buy in stock. This morning was 'sewing day' for the crib skirt. It turned out AWESOME and I can't wait to share it with you - it deserves its own post. I'm constantly thinking of what I can do to make his space as personalized as possible considering he has to share it with a huge queen bed. I'm sure he won't even notice its intrusiveness anyway - and it'll teach Mallory that she has to share her play space with her little brother!

The Great Outdoors

Mallory and I have been spending lots of time playing outside, especially lately with the weather being so nice and spring-like. Normally we hit up the parks that are closest to our house, but when we're out and about running errands I'll stop at the parks that we don't usually go to. Yes they pretty much all have the same playground equipment, but the change of scenery is always welcome. My latest bribe to monster is that we'll go to the park on our way home from my run. With the weather getting warmer it's easier if I run prior to noon and the loop that I typically run has a park that I pass on the way back; it's a win-win for the both of us. Now if only I could get her to want to play on something other than the swings all the time - though I can't totally blame her, I enjoy swinging too.

 

Earth Day @ STAR ECO Station

Watching cousin Kaylee on stage for the magic show

Balloon buddy

Games = prizes

Bounce house fun

Break time in the shade

Learning about turtles

She wouldn't touch it with a stick

Arts and crafts

Popsicle time

Silly mirrors

Creative bubble makers

Found It!

I finally found the fabric that will be my inspiration piece for Nolan's bedding, YAY! It took me a trip to Joann's, a trip to Beverly's in Rocklin, a trip to Hancock's along with another trip to Beverly's but in Citrus Heights, and then an impromptu trip back to Joann's because I felt like the first time I went I was overlooking something. And I was right because I don't remember seeing this fabric the first time and as soon as I saw it I knew it was the one. It's light blue, lime green, gray, and white. One of the things that I really like about these colors together is I can add just about any accent color to go along with it. It's bright yet soft for a baby, and I love that the pattern still feels masculine like the chevron print did for me. And to top it off, it's the cheapest fabric per yard than any other sample I contemplated, score.

I am beyond excited and can't wait to start putting the rest of his room ideas together. I picked up the crib yesterday and will have Jody put it together this weekend. My mom wasn't able to come like we had planned - either really bad allergies or she's sick, bummer big time. So now she'll come next week and we'll be able to get to sewing. You can't see me, but I'm dancing in my chair from elation!

21 Weeks

Biggest change this week for me is my sciatic nerve; it's already acting up and surprising me at random times with those shooting pains. It's not every day but often enough that it's getting annoying. And I'm just barely over the halfway point, geesh. I think I might have messed it up when I was still being a turbo-runner while pregnant with Mallory. I'm running with this pregnancy too but not as long of a distance. I did kickboxing the other morning and within a few hours later I was rubbing Icy Hot all over myself. I'm making sure to stretch a lot with focus to the nerve, but it's not going to solve my problem no matter how much I stretch. Time to try Acupuncture maybe - I've heard some good things about it.

I'm getting closer to making a decision on what fabric I'll be using for Nolan's room. I went over to Beverly's last weekend like I had wanted to and I was in heaven with all the beautiful fabrics to choose from. I left with a couple of samples and really like one of them (pictured below) but because I want to make sure I choose the one that I really love, I'm going to make one more trip back to the fabric store. This time with my mom so she can help me reign Mallory in while I actually take the time to select something. She's coming down tomorrow morning so that will be our focus for the day.

 

The fabric that I really like: navy, red, gray, and orange chevron print.

A Pampering Date, Baby Nolan, and Nursery Ideas

Nama was ever so gracious and offered to watch Miss Mallory while I got a break for a bit yesterday; how awesome of her, huh! Having grandparents close by is awesome. So for my alone time, I got to spend it with a good friend that I haven't had the opportunity to see in quite some time; and boy had I missed her dearly. We went for some much deserved pedis at our favorite spot in Sac where I got a neon coral color that I'm in love with, and then over to sushi for lunch. Yes, I remember that I am pregnant and I am unlucky in the fact that I am not able to truly enjoy sushi the way that it is meant to be enjoyed. However, I found a roll that was safe and satisfactory nonetheless - I asked them to torch it a little longer for me.

While at the salon getting our toes spoiled, I found myself noticing a moment that reminded me that I'm a mom. I've been going to the park so much with Mallory lately so they found a bunch of sand underneath my nails. Too bad I couldn't have blamed it on sand from Maui like in the picture below. Which then got me thinking of when Jody and I went to Maui last November and how awesome that vacation was. And that memory got me thinking that I never finished posting pictures from that beautiful vacation; I need to do that because they're worth sharing.

Maui sand in November

We got to see baby boy Thursday morning for our 20 week ultrasound. It's a long and at times uncomfortable appointment, especially when Nolan decides to be so chill that they had to flip me and poke me quite a bit just to get some of the shots they needed. But he looks good and is healthy as can be. He's measuring a week ahead of my due date...big boy on our hands? Maybe that explains why my belly is popping out so far. You'll remember that we took Mallory with us to this appointment and you'll be surprised to hear she didn't last long before she was bored and wanted to be somewhere more fun...oh wait, you're not surprised? Neither am I! But it was worth the try for her to see her baby brother; she's still too young to truly comprehend what she was witnessing.

I've compared Nolan's 20 week pictures to Mallory's and there really isn't a huge difference between them. Nolan's forehead appears to not be so prominent and his nose is more pointy; I think this little boy is going to look more like me. Now we'll just have to wait to see the color of his hair and eyes, but I'm betting on brown. He's currently sitting in a breach position but it doesn't matter because I'll be having another C-section. After the ordeal that I went through laboring Mallory it's going to be much easier to just go straight into a C-section this time. And knowing that I went well past my due date with Mal, I'm not worried this time that I'll be going into labor early so it makes the planner part of me content that I'll have a better idea of when to expect Nolan to arrive.

Our little boy

I still haven't fully started getting into 'nesting mode' when it comes to planning for Nolan and what I'll be doing for his nursery. Part of the reason is because we're still finishing up some house projects and one of them is in his room, so I can't really go in there and start on things until it's finished. Jody says he'll finish it this weekend and I'm going to hold him to it because his crib has been ordered and it's set to arrive next week. I'm doing things a little different than I originally thought when it comes to his room; because we have a three bedroom house I was going to create a shared space for Nolan and Mallory in one room so we could keep our guest bedroom. But the more I thought about it the more I didn't like the idea. So his room will be part of the guest bedroom. His crib is a mini-crib instead of a full-size crib, so we're able to still keep the bed that's in the room. This will make it much easier for me in the beginning when I'm having to check on him every couple of hours and I want somewhere close to lay down.

The only downside to dealing with a mini-crib versus a full-size crib is the bedding. I can't find mini-crib bedding that I like to save my life unless I want to pay crazy amounts of money, which I refuse to do. So thanks to ideas from Pinterest, I'll be making my own bedding for his crib. I picked out a fabric that I like but I'm not completely sold on it yet; there's a better fabric store in Rocklin that I want to go to before I make any final decisions. And with the crib's arrival next week, I'll be able to start sewing things together shortly. I'm really looking forward to this project and can't wait to see how it turns out.

Fabric in the running for a crib skirt

Evening Explorers

Mallory and I went for a walk after dinner this evening to take advantage of the light that stays around later now, the really nice weather, and to go see if there were any ducks at the pond down the street. We started out with three slices of bread but by the time we got there, monster had already eaten one. Good thing we bumped into others at the pond who gave us some of their leftover bread to share; of course she started eating that bread too though. Fortunately we only saw one goose and he didn't seem to be very interested in our bread anyway. So we left the pond and went to seek out other adventures along the trails nearby.