A Tote Bag

On a happier note, not having an infant means that I have tons of time to work on various projects.  Last week, I thought I was going to go out of my mind from boredom so I decided to get creative. I knew I wanted to make a present for a friend and immediately thought of a bag since they are super easy and can be used for so many thing.  I did some research on pinterest and found this simple tutorial.   It was fairly easy to use but I did feel as though the author skipped a simple step that can really stress you out if you don't realize it is missing.  If you decide you want to use it, let me know I'll explain to you the missing part.

It is not quite as uneven as it looks.  I promise.

Hard to see, but I did add one largish pocket.

You can't tell from the pictures, but it is quite large.  I'm actually tempted to make one for myself to use as a diaper bag.  The only problem is that I've already purchased a cute one off of Etsy.  I definitely plan on reusing this pattern as Christmas and birthdays roll around.  

41 + Weeks and Still Pregnant

In case your wondering, I'm still very much pregnant.  I'm not even showing any signs of going into labor in the near future.  I go to my prenatal appointments twice a week now just to be told that I haven't changed at all since my last one.  Talk about depressing.
Today, we are supposed to make a decision whether or not I should be induced this week and what day this week.  It is like having a shoulder angel and demon except, unlike the cartoons, it is not easy to tell which opinion is good and which one is evil.  It goes something like this:
A: You shouldn't go past 42 weeks.  We need to induce you.
B: It is best for your body to go in to labor when it is ready.  There is no need to induce you.  You've had all the tests and ultrasounds and they all show that you and the baby are both healthy.
A: I'm going out of town this weekend and if you want me to be there for your induction we need to go ahead and start on Wednesday night.
B: Why not just wait until she gets back in town before even considering inducing?
A:  We can take the pitocin very slowly and possibly even turn it off if you body looks like it will just naturally take over.
B: You should look up all the bad side affects of pitocin.  It can interfere with your ability to bond with your baby and I'd hate that for you.  Plus once you get the pitocin then an epidural is almost inevitable.
C: Look at how many women have been induced and had pitocin and have no trouble whatsoever bonding with their child.

Add to the mix the people who text, call, and message me constantly asking me if I've had the baby yet and why haven't I.  Oh, and don't forget the fact that every time I go out in public the only thing people want to talk about is me and my inability to give birth along with all their advice on how to induce labor.  W
hy yes, I have taken lots of long walks and I have spent time kneeling/squatting in my garden and no I'm still not having contractions.  And no, I'm not dilating or effacing but thanks for asking.  And yes, I am doing my best to stay hydrated.  I'm sure castor oil helped you go into labor but I'm not sure that I'm interested in actually trying some myself.

I've tried crying about it but hasn't seemed to help.  So I'm stuck.  I have a baby that absolutely refuses to even try to come out.  I have people trying to comfort and offer all their advice.  I have people pressuring me that I need to make a decision and soon and I have others telling me to wait.  What will I do?  For now I'm going to try going for another walk, drinking more raspberry leaf tea, praying some more and there will probably be more tears if I happen to catch a glimpse of blob-like self in the mirror.

3 Years

Yesterday was our 3 year anniversary.  Just in case you've been living in a whole in the ground, here is our history.  Year 0: We kissed for the first time.

Year 1: We made a long weekend of it and ate our way through Cincinnati and Louisville, visited with some butterflies, rode a broken elevator to the top of a large tower, etc.  I was nice and round.

Year 2: I was skinny again!  We stayed home to have lamb chops which Aaron devoured before heading out for an exciting round of putt-putt golf sans the baby.  

Year 3: We actually celebrated a week early.  We started off with my 38 week prenatal check-up, observed a cool old library, got Aaron fitted for a tux, inhaled amazing Thai food, made an Aldi cheap food run, and finished it with pint-sized containers of ice cream and sorbet (which we did not eat in one sitting).

He may be good at a lot of things, but posing for pictures isn't his expertise. 

I had to show Aaron how to pose.  

Girly cocktail.  Tasty stuff that I barely got to sip. 

Sure made him happy.  

On our actual anniversary, I woke up early and made him banana pancakes topped with whipped cream (his favorite), fresh peaches over homemade Greek yogurt and hot coffee.  He was totally surprised as I'm always asleep when he leaves in the morning.  He brought me home some roses after work and we ended the day by attending Prayer Meeting before I collapsed exhausted into bed.

After 3 years of marriage, I have learned that Pad Thai is that stuff that dreams are made of.  Seriously, the first time I had it was on our honeymoon.  I've made it several times and it is yummy but I can never make quite as well as all the Thai restaurants.  It totally made my day to be able to have some more on our anniversary date.  It is a good thing that we live nearly an hour away from the restaurant otherwise I would be begging Aaron to get me some on a daily basis.

The First Apron

Since I've had so much free time lately, I've been looking for lots of crafty projects to work on.  Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and make my baby her first apron.  She's still a little too young to really help in the kitchen but I decided that I have way more free time now than I'll probably ever have again so I might as well go ahead and get a head start on it.  I used this basic pattern/tutorial though as you can see, I made several changes.  It is a little big since it is more of a 2T/4T but that is just fine with me since I want it to last for several years.  Kira's favorite part is the butterfly.

Dressed and reporting for kitchen duty.

How did this child get such nice hair?  Definitely not from me.

Rainy Days and Homemade Bread

Today it is only 75 degrees out which is quite cool for mid June.  It is also a rainy day.  We're keeping ourselves busy by lighting candles and baking homemade healthy bread.  Hopefully, I'll be able to put 3-4 loaves of it right into the freezer which will keep us supplied with bread for 2-4 weeks.  I'm hoping that the baby will be born during that time and we'll be able to have yummy toast for breakfast.

Since the school year ended, we've had a significant decrease in our weekly obligations.  Sometimes this is nice.  Sometimes it is hard to be home all the time with nothing to do.  Other times we get super busy and I get 37 weeks tired and it is nice to be able to sit on the couch and read books all day.

Because I've had so much free time, I'm trying to work on being a more involved mom.  Kira is mostly happy to amuse herself.  When she does want me to amuse her, it is always the same couple of things over and over.  She wants me to read books, sing songs or chase her around the house.  Each day that I'm home with no big events going on, I decided that I needed to start trying to do a specific fun thing with her.  Nothing big or flashy, just something somewhat new or different.  So far I've been relying heavily on pinterest.  Today's activity was to put stickers on a piece of paper.  While cleaning out the office/baby's bedroom, I found a book of stickers that I purchased for $1 when tutoring.  About 3/4 of them were left which added up to several hundred.  I took a piece of construction paper and made little dots on it. I then handed my child a sticker at a time and encouraged her to put them on the stickers.  Most of them made on or near a dot.  At the end, I let her color the paper with her crayons.  I think she enjoyed it and I have enough stickers left to repeat this activity probably 5 more times.

In other news, we've been cleaning out our office/guest bedroom to make it a nursery.  

This is Aaron putting together the big girl toddler bunk bed while K-baby reads her books right in the middle of it all totally oblivious to the fact that she is probably in the way.  She loves to be with her daddy. We hope to have the room fully functional by early next week as I will be 38 weeks on Sunday.  Kira has adjusted well to her new bed.  As she is not a climber at all, she hasn't attempted to get out of her bed once though it would be fairly easy for her if she ever decided to try it.  Speaking of toddler beds, when are you supposed to give your child a pillow?  

I'm just going to leave you with a picture of this cutie-pie.  This is her in her jammies waving hello to the world.  She is going to be so excited to have a baby in the house.  We've already been practicing wrapping her bunnies in blankets and putting them to bed and such.  

21 Months and 36 Weeks

Baby #1
Wowzers!  She's almost two.  She is getting super smart and interactive.  I'm so glad that I have a toddler so that I can really enjoy the newborn stage again.  Here is a list of things that I want to remember about her.

• Loves to have us sing her songs.  She will often come up to me and say, "ABC?" or "Twinkle."  Unfortunately, she has a whole list of songs that she likes and when she finishes the list, she's starts at the beginning.  She also sings little bits and pieces here and there.  My favorite is when she loudly sings an "Amen" at church along with the rest of the congregation.  
• She knows 3 catechism questions and is working on a fourth.  The other day, we were asking her the questions and she answered one and then jumped ahead and asked and answered the next one as well. 
• She is working on speaking in sentences.  Such as "Where daddy go? Daddy bike."  And I've been hearing this one a lot lately, "Snack! Piece bread?" She also repeats just about everything we say.  She saw a motorcycle going down our street last night and she spent several minutes trying to say the word.  Aaron has also been trying to teach her the doxology so he will sing a couple of words and then she attempts to sing them after him.  
• She is walking and such pretty much like a normal kid (finally!).  She never tries to climb on things though.  She can't get up on the couch or any chairs by herself and she rarely even tries to stand up in her crib.  
• She knows about 5 different shapes. 
• She still loves to read books and color pictures.  She especially loves it when we read the books to her and color pictures for her viewing pleasure.  
• She loves, loves, loves her family including those members that she only sees every few months.  
• When tired, she is super duper emotional.  Everything is a matter for tears.  A lot of times I don't even know what she is upset about.  For instance, she started crying while eating corn on the cob last night. I still not sure what those tears were about. 
• She is the most snuggly she has ever been which isn't saying much.  Oftentimes throughout the day, she'll come up to me and say, "Hold you."
  

  

  This happens when I tell her to smile for the camera.

Baby #2

• I am happy to report that this has been a boring pregnancy.  It has been much easier than the first.  I think part of it is that my expectations are more in line with reality and part of it is that it just has been easier.  For instance, I had killer sciatic nerve pain for about a month with #1 and I've barely had any this time around. According to my midwife, everything is normal and I have no cause for concern. 
• I told Aaron that as soon as June starts, we are going to start actually preparing for this child.  As of right now, I have no newborn diapers.  I do have a doula hired and a cute diaper bag I bought off of etsy.  Surely that is enough.  I also try to garage sale on the weekends to find some of the remaining items on our list.  

The Blue Dress

A couple of weeks ago, I dressed my child and did her hair up all fancy-like for church.  I had this strange nagging in the back of my head.  It was like having deja vu or the feeling that I'd seen her outfit and hair-do before.  She had worn it once before and it was a hand-me-down from one of my sister. There was even a chance that I had worn the dress in my previous life as a young toddler.  Take a look and see if you can figure it out.

Any guesses?  It took me a few minutes but I finally figured it out.  

A little grainy but I think you get the idea.