Getting crafty, part 3

Having Sandi in town this weekend also gave me the chance to spend time in the nursery and to fixate on a couple of projects that needed to be done.

At my Florida shower I was generously gifted with several gift cards, two of which were promptly spent on the ruffle curtains from my registry.  I already had two basic sheer panels from Ikea a few weekends ago, and decided to sew the sheers to the curtain panel to allow for more light blockage.  I may someday opt for blackout shades, but for now I like the softness of layered sheers over wooden blinds.

The process was simple, just pinning the sheers to the back of the ruffled panels and sewing one straight seam across, under one of the ruffles to hide my often wonky lines.  The sheers were both longer and wider than the ruffled panel, but thanks to their lightness I was able to just fold the edges over without any perceptible differences from the front.  All in all in took me about an hour to pin, sew, remove errant stitches that messed with the ruffle, and hang.

Bad picture, but voila!

The other project was the crib skirt that I meant to do a couple of weeks ago.  I found the fabric at a craft warehouse in Durham (thanks, Nikki!) and thought it was the perfect combination of colors, pattern, and price ($4 for 2 yards, heck yes!)

Does it stand out to you like it did to me?

For the design I did my best to copy the one I originally had on my registry before I decided it was too $$, with a simple box pleat at the front.  I also scoured Pinterest for DIY tips, and of course found some great ideas.  I measured all the sides and the height needed, cut the fabric into strips, hemmed the sides, worked with Sandi to create the box pleat in the middle, and sewed the strips into one long piece to wrap around the crib mattress base.  I only sewed three sides since no one will see the back, and allowed enough length to at least cover all four corners.  I used Velcro strips to attach the skirt to the mattress, and boom!  All done!  The whole process took the rest of the weekend since I encountered some hiccups (measurements a little off, support beam in the way), but I think all things considered, it turned out pretty nicely.

The box pleat is not as neat as I would like it, so I may end up ironing it when I'm nesting

All in all, not too shabby!

One of the things that I love the most about this project is that the crib itself hides lots of little flaws, and its way far away from eye level, so perfection was not a must.  A true gift to this amateur seamstress!

Taking baby items for a test drive

This weekend I was lucky enough to play hostess to my friend, Sandi and her 3 month old son, Ethan.

Seen here plotting evil deeds

Besides the obvious benefit of getting to see one of my best friends and her absolutely adorable son for a couple of days, this visit also gave me an opportunity to try out some of our new baby gear and to see what life with such a young baby is like minute by minute.  Do things flow in our house the way I think they will?  What items are most useful?  What should I have within arm reach at all times?  How often can one realistically get out of the house with a baby?  How long does it take to get out of the door, and how long can you stay out?  The list goes on.

Also, will the Bun possibly be cuter than little Blue Steel?  

He models her white blanket and baby toys quite well, yes?

Well, I'm happy to say that things went very well.  Maybe Ethan is just an extraordinarily good baby, but no moment (during the day when we saw him) got too overwhelming or taxing.  I still remember how to soothe a baby and was reasonably good at getting him to sleep.  We had much of what we will end up needing in the first few months, and should always remember to keep a burp cloth close.  White noise is awesome, as are swaddles.  The swing will be very useful for actually putting a baby down on the first floor.  One needs to plan any outings at the beginning of the day to coincide with awake or nap periods, definitely not when a feeding will need to occur, and definitely not at the last minute.  Time out of the house should be limited to an hour or less without needing to pack major supplies and bring as much extra help as possible.  Nothing is precious, everything will be drooled on/burped on/peed on, so don't let unwashable things around the baby.  Even the smallest baby will actively seek the most dangerous object from a variety of items (seriously, he went for my boring old sewing scissors on an ottoman full of colorful yarn and baby toys, yikes!)  These are just some of the lessons I learned from just 48 hours with someone else's baby.  

I'm sure the Bun will teach me many more!

Call her Sasha Fierce

This little Bun is a little scrapper already!

Yesterday during a doctor's visit she did NOT want to be monitored.  The midwife called her "squirmy" and chased her around with the Doppler some, trying to get a steady read to no avail.  Eventually the Bun made her way to the left upper corner of my uterus and the midwife used her hand and the Doppler to sort of trap her there long enough to measure the heartrate.  It cracked me up that every so often the sound of her heartbeat was interrupted by a "pow, POW!" that was her kicking up at the device.  She did not like being stuck there, thankyouverymuch.

Too funny!

It's a thing!

Pregnancy brain, that is.  I hoped it was just an excuse for people to be a little absent-minded, or a product of sleepless nights, but even though I have been getting all of my rest, I'm seriously dotty right now!

I have been leaving things in random places, losing my phone a couple of times a day, calling clients by the wrong name, but worst of all, I have been subbing incorrect words into sentences.  Usually its a word that starts with the same letter, or at least has some relevance to the sentence, but sometimes I scare myself that I can't conjure the right word to save my life!  The sad thing is, I can't think of any specific examples at the moment because of the aforementioned pregnancy brain, but trust me, I've been sounding very foolish lately.  I'm so grateful that Jeremy can usually understand me based on the context of the sentence, but geez, this girl needs to cognitively get it together!

Although I hear pregnancy brain morphs into mommy brain, and thus my cognitive faculties will never be the same.

Sad thought.

Getting crafty, part 2

With Jeremy handling the assembly of the crib I was itching to contribute something to the Bun's nursery two weekends ago.  And when my fingers get itchy, my hands get crafty.  So after the crib was done I tackled two tasks that I have had the materials for for a while, covering a generic lampshade with cute fabric, and making 3D art to be hung over the changing table.

The lamp project was fairly straightforward.  I found a white lamp with a red plastic star pull in a thrift store in Delaware before we moved, sans lampshade.  Because it was only a lamp base, it was only $6, so I grabbed it and made plans to get a generic lampshade later.  On an unrelated World Market trip I found a  simple cream colored lamp shade that seemed to be the right size, and at $10 I decided to pick it up to save for later.  The final piece of the puzzle was the fabric, which I was thinking should be a black and white stripe to match the fox's shirt in the mural.  However, after seeing the fabric in person I decided to go for the uber-trendy chevron, which is more of a subtle echo than complete match, if only to introduce a little variety.

In covering the lampshade I was first considering just sewing it, but after some serious, honest insight I realized that I often struggle with sewing straight seams.  I accept this about myself.  So, thanks to Young House Love, I discovered no sew tape, which has the effect of sewing without the seams.  You just iron the pieces that you want to stick together, and voila!  So I started by hemming all the sides of a piece I cut to roughly be the right size. I then just glued it to the lampshade with hot glue, bing bang boom.  My measurements turned out to be a little too rough, so I had to stretch it a little, but other than a slight warping of the pattern, I don't think it was noticeable (here's hoping I don't fixate on the imperfection during long bouts of nursing next to this thing).

Yes, the shade is slightly askew due to a few millimeters difference in the size of the socket and the diameter of the lampshade base.  I will have to figure this out later.

The next project was a little more time consuming.  I've seen lots of Pinterest projects with embroidery hoops covered in fabric and love the look, so I figured out a way to install some in Bun's room.  I found lots of scraps of red fabrics in my fabric bin, and snagged a big piece of solid red fabric on a recent crafty expedition to an art warehouse in Raleigh.  I covered the set of embroidery hoops that I found at Goodwill for $4 as well as the ones left over from the Craft Night I hosted for work back in May and turned them into red balloons.

To do this I first stretched the fabric over the inner hoop, cut it to size, then glued the edges to the inside of the inner hoop.  I then separated the inner and outer hoops and covered the outer hoop in strips of the same fabric.  The final step was putting the two back together to make what appears to be one solid colored 3D circle.

 Close up shot of one of the hoops.  Note that you can only see wood at the top under the screw.

Eventually they will end up on the wall, but for now I was playing with the layout on the floor.  My hope is that the final product will look like a bunch of red balloons floating away with a little girl holding onto the strings at the end.  The little girl is a decal I customed ordered from www.ltlprints.com, made from a picture I took in Lark's nursery.  As soon as the decal arrives I will put it on the wall, but for a quick preview, here are the balloons on the floor, and the little girl I had printed:

Here's hoping that they come out the way I think they will!

Brie the Mommy

This past weekend I got to enjoy my Florida baby shower thrown by my wonderfully crafty and loving mom.  The theme was "Brie the Mommy", or more specifically "Pat the Bunny," one of my favorite children's books.  My mom has been planning this event since we shared the news, and boy did she have fun and get productive!  If anyone ever wonders where I get my creativity and initiative when it comes to party planning, it's definitely her.  There were lots of fun, personal touches and I truly felt showered with love!

I also really enjoyed this shower because it was the one that is more family heavy, with both of my aunts, two of my cousins, and my sweet second cousin/former flower girl in attendance, along with my lovely mother-in-law.  Everyone pitched in to make it a great day, and I think all the guests had fun!

All of the guests were also extremely generous, and there isn't anything we received that I wanted to return.  There were no duplicates, lots of gift cards, and most items were from the registry or hand crafted with love (can you believe it?!).  How lucky we and this little Bun are to have such amazing people in our lives!!

 The cake, made to look like the invitation, and made of red velvet, my favorite!!

 The cake table with tissue poms and coordinating fabrics

 All over the shower were large, handmade pages looking like pages from the book

 The prizes for all the games, and a picture of my late grandmother as a rememberance

A celebrity match game to match baby photos to famous people, including Big Bird :-)

 Another page from the book

 The favor bags, handmade and decorated with fabric flowers containing flower bulbs, a handmade bookmark, chocolate, and my favorite sugar cookies ever!

 A place where the guests could sign a page in the book to be assembled from all the pages at the shower

 Yet another page featuring one of my favorite pictures of Jeremy

 Peek a boo game with pictures of Jeremy and I as babies/kids

 The tasty spread!

 My cousin Jessica gifted me with this tiara and these mardi gras beads, just to make sure I looked fabulous!

 This is the only good shot of the flower in my hair, the same flower I wore to announce we were having a girl

 Holding up the pink Cubs shirt from my Chicago aunt, Gail, 

proving that Cubs fans aren't made, they're born!

 Official 25 week belly shot, she's growing so fast!!

 Holding the gift from Ashley, knit hat and cute church outfit!

Showing off the handmade gifts from my cousin, Nicole, including a reversible coat, 

plush geometric toy, and matching burp cloths

What a beautiful day it was, and big thanks to everyone that came!  Thank you notes will be in the mail soon!

You're about to pop!

People sure know how to put their feet in their collective mouth around pregnant people.  I thought I should take a minute to document the gloriously awkward things that people have said to me in particular, at the relatively early week of 25, when I think it shouldn't be too substantial yet.

"5 months, I thought you were farther than that?! You are going to be FAT"- cashier at the Body Shop
"Due any day, huh?" - mother of another therapist's client
"Naw, that's a boy in there, you're carrying way too big and way too high for a girl" - different  mother of another therapist's client
"That baby is going to come real soon, look at your belly!"- client
"Wow, you are looking...very...PREGNANT...today"- coworker

These statements, plus my aching back are making me feel pretty self conscious.  I know that my doctor said I'm in a good place, and many of these people don't know/remember where people are at at 5 months, but dang, be kind people.  Sensitive hormonal girl used to being much smaller over here.