38 Weeks and Waiting...

I'm sorry if you're getting bored of pregnancy blog posts. I am too. I feel like I'm so ready to be done with this, even though it really hasn't been that bad. The weather is cooling off and I'm not even that big. I can still put on my socks, I definitely couldn't with Lucas at this point. Me and the baby are definitely running out of room in this belly, though. She seems to think it's okay to kick my ribs and crowd my lungs, two things Lucas never did. Oh well, she will be here soon enough and then I'll miss it. 

I'm really enjoying comparing my belly with Lucas to my belly this time around. Especially since I look so much better this time. I'm holding steady at 30 lbs of weight gain with this one. Pretty good compared to my 50 lbs with Lucas. Look at that face! I think I had an extra 20 lbs just in my face. Some of it was probably in my feet too, but I didn't take pictures of that.

Lucas has been really anxious about getting the baby out too. He asks me all the time if we can go to the doctor and get her out. I had an appointment yesterday and things are progressing, but nothing that suggests I'll go into labor at any moment. Oh well. We're just going to try to enjoy the long weekend and do something non baby related so I have something besides a belly picture or baby crafts to post on next week. Unless I have the baby of course. Lucas was born over Memorial Day weekend so I thought it would be really funny if this baby was born over Labor day weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Baby Crafts

I've made a few crafty things for the baby girl over the last few months but I was kinda saving them up to post about all of them at once.  But then I did the nursery post and half of the things I've made went into the nursery.  Oh well... here are the last few things I've made that I haven't gotten around to posting about yet.  The first one I did was just a quick Boppy cover.  I have one that I used with Lucas and it's gender neutral so I'll probably still use it, but it never hurts to have two.

I just took the old cover and traced it out onto new fabric.  I had to figure stuff out a little bit with the zipper in the back, but it turned out just fine.  It's a pillow case so it doesn't have to be too exact.  I used a 24 inch zipper, and they are surprisingly inexpensive at Joann's.  I think it was maybe 40 cents more than a 7 inch zipper.

The next project I did was to make a car seat cover.  I didn't have one with Lucas (I have no idea why) but they seem like such a genius idea and pretty much everyone has one so I figured I had to make one.  I used this tutorial, but made a couple changes.  I cut my fabric a little bigger because I wanted to make mine symmetric so that I didn't have to figure out which side was the top and which was the bottom when I was attaching it.  Also, I didn't eyeball my corners.  I made a compass with some string and a pen and I drew the curve on there.  My dad will be so proud!  Since I made it symmetric I only had to trace the curve once, and then trim all the edges at the same time.

And I don't have a serger so I just sewed mine with right sides together and then turned it inside out.  Here are the final dimensions just for reference in case you want to make one too.

Then I attached the straps right in the middle so it can be put on either way.  I did not add any embellishments to my straps.  I can't decide if I want them or not.  Sometimes I like things to be simple.

 Look at how cute that fabric is.  I love it!

 I had some left over fabric so I decided to whip up a little applique onesie...

with a ruffle bum!  How cute is that?  I think I will pair it with some tights or those leg warmer things.  I can't wait to play dress up with my baby.

I've been working on making lists of the stuff we need to pack in the hospital bag, a schedule for Lucas for my mom or whoever is lucky enough to get to be our middle of the night phone call, and a couple freezer meals for those first few weeks.  I think I'm pretty much ready; all that's missing is the baby.  You try to make sure you have everything ready early - just in case - but then what do you do for the next few weeks until the baby actually comes?

Baby Shower and 36 Weeks

Some friends in my ward threw me and another pregnant mom a baby shower last week.  Baby showers are so much fun - I love them!  Especially when I'm the one that gets to open the presents.  The decorations were so cute and the food was delicious.  They did such a good job  Here are a few pictures.

 And here's a cheesy picture of me and the other mom.

I got a few more cute outfits for this baby girl and a few packs of diapers.  Yay!  I've been doing laundry this week and getting everything ready for her to come.  I know I still have a ways to go, I just can't help but hope that I go early.  I've been having a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions lately, which apparently happens more and more with each baby, so I'm sure it means nothing.  But I'll keep my fingers crossed that I go into labor a couple weeks early so I don't have to be pregnant in this heat anymore.

Lucas seems to get more and more excited about his baby sister as the due date gets nearer.  He's been going to almost all my doctor appointments with me.  He's such an angel too, he just sits there and waits to hear her heart beat.  He LOVES that.  He comes up to put his ear against my belly all the time and says that he can hear her going "swish swish swish."  The other morning he came in and hugged my belly and said, "Good morning baby sister!"  Almost every day now he asks about her and when she's going to come out, and tells me things that he's going to do like push her in the swing at the park, splash her in the pool, or push her in the stroller at the train museum (not sure what made him think of that one).  We're all excited for this little one to come be a part of our family.

As my due date gets closer I am starting to get a little anxious and wonder how it's all going to work out.  Obviously people have second babies all the time so it can't be that bad, but I've been wondering if any of you have some genius advice that helped you through the first few months, or maybe something you wish you had done.  I was reading something the other day about how you should bring a movie to the hospital for the older child to watch when they come visit you and the baby.  Lucas is probably going to be bored after 10 minutes of staring at a sleeping baby, and I'd like to be able to spend some time and cuddle with him, so I thought this was a brilliant idea.  Anyone else have any advice for either at the hospital or at home?

Farm Stand

One of the things I love about where we live is that we have a farm stand literally down the road from us.  It's just this barren stretch of dirt on the side of the road, and they set up a little canopy and put out their produce to sell.  It is there almost every evening, and pretty much all day on the weekends.  It is so easy and convenient to just stop by and get some fresh strawberries or peaches depending on what's in season.  And their fruit is amazing.  It's like having a farmers market in your backyard all the time.  Their strawberries are so sweet, they taste like the kind that you pick from your own berry patch.  I love it!  Most recently we got some peaches and strawberries.

My favorite way to eat strawberries and peaches is cut up into chunks with milk poured over the top.  When I get strawberries from the store, I usually have to sprinkle some sugar over the top, but not with these.

 Lucas just likes to eat them plain.

He has had strawberries with every meal for the whole last week.  We just ran out this morning, though, so it looks like it's time to get some more.

Super Franks

Last week Lucas and I went to this amazing place called Super Franks.  We went to help celebrate Zac's birthday.  I'd heard about this place, but we had never been before.  Lucas was in heaven!  We will definitely be going back.  There's just a bunch of different rooms with toys to play with, cars to ride on, bouncy houses to jump in, and even a foam pit in one of the rooms.  The lighting in the rooms was terrible so I didn't get too many pictures, but here's a few so you can see how big the smiles were.

dressed up as firemen

the bouncy house was one of Lucas's favorites

They had a glow in the dark room with black lights everywhere that was Lucas's favorite place to play.  Here he is jumping into the foam pit.  It's a terrible picture, but you can see the glow in the dark pictures they had on the wall.

They piled all the toys into this little house and then climbed inside.  We had to watch to make sure Jane didn't get smushed.

Ryan and I are already planning on going back sometime soon.  Adults are free so we can just sit there and let Lucas run around all day.  They even have free wifi and comfy recliners for the adults to sit in.  Whoever came up with this idea is a genius!

The Nursery

I feel silly that it has taken me this long to do the nursery post.  I kept thinking I had a bunch of stuff left to do, but then I sat down this morning and realized that all I had to do was hang the pictures and gather some other stuff into the room.  So I did just that and then took pictures.  I've had this room 98% done for like two months now.  Oh well.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.   I wouldn't mind getting a cute rug to go in here eventually but we'll see. Almost all of the stuff in here I made myself.  My first project was this cute butterfly chandelier. 

I can post more details on that later.  It was pretty easy to make, although it did take quite a bit of time to cut out the butterfly shapes and glue everything together.  It was really inexpensive, though.

My next big project for the room was to make the curtains.

They are pretty simple, but I added a cute ruffle at the bottom to make them more girly.

I also made the quilt for the crib.  I did that quite a while ago but it's still one of my favorite parts of the room.

And now onto the room pictures.

Lucas wanted to help show off the room.

That picture doesn't actually say "Baby's Name".  I just wanted to illustrate what it will look like after she's born.  Right now it's just a boring empty frame.  Don't you love that cute little elephant?

And here is another one of my favorite parts of the room.

I'm so excited to finally have a fancy chair to rock the baby in.  Lucas had to make due with the crappy furniture we had as poor college students, but not this little girl.  I'm afraid she will be spoiled.

And of course the baby swing.  Lucas loves to come in and turn on the swing and the music.  He's really excited to put baby sister in there and then play around with it.

I still have to finish up a few things after she's born like put up her name, and maybe do a few pictures of her on some of the walls, but this is pretty much it for now.  I love to come in here and pull out her cute little newborn sized clothes and dream about how adorable and tiny she's going to be.  5 more weeks...