26 Weeks

For some reason in the picture, my belly doesn't look as big as it really is. I assure you, it is getting bigger. But, it is also growing in the opposite direction. Instead of growing out and looking like a cute basketball like my sister, it is doing all the growing in the inside towards my back. Baby is camping out on my tailbone like it did last pregnancy (which is exactly why Kyler could not come out vaginally). I'm still definitely growing, more just all around, which is every pregnant woman's nightmare. But this whole carrying they baby in my back is not fun. It gets super painful and the nerve pain on my tailbone can be excruciating.

I feel like this pregnancy has completely slowed down. I've been in my 20's forever and I still have 4 more weeks to go. I am already so ready and eager to meet this little bean that causes mama so much back pain. I've definitely got the crafting urge so hopefully the nursery will be coming along quickly!

DIY Paint Chip Mobile

For me nesting is not so much a cleaning instinct, but a crafting instinct. I'm not very gifted when it comes to cleaning. I like a clean house, but it does not come naturally. So when my nesting urge comes around, I get to crafting and creating things for baby. Specifically the nursery. One of the things I made for Kyler was a bird mobile (which can be seen in this post), and for this one, I just wanted something colorful and bold. I'm all about giving baby something visually stimulating to look at. So after perusing Pinterest, I found some inspiration. Specifically this:

Source: thesweetestoccasion.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I liked the gradient aspect of the top one paired with the dimension of the bottom one since it makes it easier for the baby to see all the colors looking up at it. I'm not gonna sugar coat this people, this thing took forever! And it was not fun! Although I probably took the hardest route possible. I ended up spending ZERO dollars on this project! Paint chips are free, and everything else I had. I will try to give my best tutorial in case anyone is interested. Here is how she turned out:

Here is the how-to:

Supplies:

Paint Swatches

Glue

Scissors

Circle Stencil (pepper shaker for me)

String (I used clear elastic jewelry string)

Upholstery Needle

Hot Glue

Cross-stitch Hoop

1. Steal as many paint samples as you can from various home improvement stores. You will feel very shady and might consider turning yourself in, but stay strong. Those things will be wasted anyway on indecisive painters.

2. Glue paint samples back-to-back, making sure to line up correctly. The colors won't match, but that's okay, it just makes it even more colorful. After I glued each one, I placed them under very heavy hard-back books so they were as flat as possible. Otherwise the glue will bend and warp them.

3. Unless you have a fancy-shmancy circle punch, which I don't-and was too cheap to buy one, you will spend the next several days of your life tracing a small circle onto every single color swatch. I used the base of a pepper shaker. Then cut out each circle. Your hands will want to die, but press on. It will be worth it in the end.

4. Now it's time to thread. You'll need a heavy duty needle in order to punch through the thick papers. I used a long upholstery needle. Thread through your circles (in which ever order you want), tying knot at the bottom of each one. I secured each knot with a dab of hot glue. It does not have to be perfectly in the center, just eye-ball it. This is what gives the different angles and levels.

5. Tie all the strands to a cross-stitch hoop. Again, I secured all my knots with hot glue.

6. I'm not going to give you any advice on hanging. As you can see, mine hangs crooked. I'm not a perfectionist so it doesn't bother me too much, although I might play around with it to see if there is a better way. And even if you look at Kyler's bird mobile, that hangs crooked. What can I say? Crooked mobiles are my thang.

Kid tested, kid approved:

Though it is certainly not perfect, I really love it. The way it glides constantly is just so soothing. I am so excited about decorating with fun, bold colors in this nursery. The walls are staying grey so I have a great canvas. My little mobile is really getting my creative juices flowing now.

Pumpkins!

Don't even ask about the belly pictures because I have gotten so bad, I haven't even take one since the last one I posted! And I'm almost 26 weeks! Oops!

This fall has been soo much fun. Kyler and I have checked out as many pumpkin books as you can find at the library, been learning about them all month, and have gotten to visit many a pumpkin patch. These are some photos from one of our trips to the Arboretum. He is at this stage where he won't look at the camera and when we

try to pose him, he gets really mad. So picture taking was a real joy.

And can we please just take a minute to appreciate the best picture ever taken. This was one year ago. And does he not look like the most fat, mischievous little pumpkin ever?

I miss those rolls so much! The kid cannot keep any weight on these days, he is so darn active. Maybe I should start up breastfeeding again since that plumped him up in a matter of days! Now that would be awkward....

Flying By

Y'all! Somebody should fire me from my own blog. I'm so bad at this! Unfortunately, I've started forgetting to take belly pics every week. I guess it is the nature of the beast...I'm pregnant, so pregnant brain is to blame right? I'm 23 weeks now, but all I have to show for is 20 and 21 weeks, which is a shame because my belly is growing in full force these days. I'm talking bustin' through pants, catching all my spills, and preventing leg-shaving. Okay that last one might be a stretch, but I'll take it!

We had our big 20 week ultrasound and everything looked great. We didn't see any revealing body parts, so the gender is still a mystery. Yippee!

One of my BFs had a baby 2 weeks ago. I got to hang out in the hospital and see her do some amazing laboring. She was a champ, delivering that baby all natural for TWENTY ONE hours!! It made me wish (once again) I could deliver a baby the way god intended my body to. I try not to throw myself a pity party too often, but I just feel like I'm missing out. Although I'm so thankful that because of everything, Kyler and I are healthy.

I guess with being less than 4 months away from meeting this baby, and with the holidays, and with my sister having a BABY GIRL just 2 months before me, I should really make some progress on the nursery. Well, I better get to pinning...

Belly Pics

I am determined to keep up with this baby's growth! Here are my 17 and 18 week belly photos. And because I'm already 19 weeks pregnant (where is the time going?!), I'm due for another!

No, I didn't grow 4 inches in the second photo, we basically just run outside whenever we remember, and get a chance, and snap a photo at whatever part of the fence where the sun is not blinding me. Professional, huh? I prefer the angel glow anyway (see second photo).

I'm definitely feeling this little one move all around now. They say that you can feel the baby move sooner with the second pregnancy, but I felt it right at 17 weeks, just like the first one. Another thing I remember about the second trimester from the first time, the hunger has set it. I'm hungry all the time! Right when I finish dinner, I'm hungry again. I usually have to top it off with some taquitos or grilled cheese...and I add salt...I know, it's bad. My cravings have been intense lately! I've also been eating caprese salads like a mad woman. mmmmmm so good.

My big 20 week ultrasound is coming up. Since we aren't finding out the sex, we might have to look away at some points in the ultrasound. I still love seeing our little baby bounce around and wave to us. Can't wait to meet him/her!

The Birth of a Nursery

After much debating about where this little baby would live once outside of my womb, we have finally decided on the guest room. We desperately need to keep a guest room so our families will still come visit us (pleeeease), so we are basically working around a bed. When we have guests, we'll just have the baby sleep in our room and ask our guests please stuff the diapers sitting on the foot of the bed. I kid I kid, but let's face it, there will be lots of diaper stuffing with two babies in cloth. I digress.

To first give you an idea of what I'm thinking for our gender-neutral nursery, here are some things I have pinned that I love.

I know this is girl, but this is what gave me the idea for a retro rocking chair, which inspired my orange chair. I probably should have showed this early so everyone didn't think I was ridiculously crazy for wanting such a strange chair. Well, maybe I still am.

Source: None via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: charmhome.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I can't figure out how to make those look right. Anybody know how to embed pinterest files without them looking like that? Anyway...

I found my retro orange chair on Craigslist for $40! It's in great condition and it rocks AND swivels! It may not be the exact color of orange I dreamed of, but I figured it would be hard to find one the perfect color, that rocks, and is a good price. 

Isn't she a beaut? Shortly after that, we stumbled on another great Craigslist find. We scored the exact crib I was looking for, with a mattress, only in exchange for a few home decor items I was planning on selling in a garage sale anyway. Score!! It's a white Jenny Lind crib because I'm going for a vintage/eclectic style for this nursery. Quite different from Kyler's modern crib in his serene nature nursery. 

That there is what you call a nursery NOOK. It's a very tight squeeze, but somehow it works. You can't see the rest of the room because the desk that used to be where the crib is threw up all over the rest of the room. The guest bed is to the right (shoved all the way in the corner), and the changing table will go in my closet-office. Goodbye craft and productive work time. The walls are gray, which we are leaving. 

There are about a million other things to be done in this room, but hopefully it comes together in the next 4.5 months. Yes, I am about half-way there (belly pics to come). 

DIY Fall Wreath

Yes, you are reading a blog post that is not all about my belly. It's a miracle!

With all the adorable fall wreaths floating around on Pinterest (my new google), I knew I had to make one. Especially because at all times of the year, my door is adorned (hehe) by one of two wreaths, a spring-ish wreath or a Christmas wreath. Bor-ing! But I can't stand my door naked. So off to Hope Depot I went.

Why Home Depot you ask? I bought a 97 cent pipe foam that I then cut in half, formed in a circle, and duck taped into a wreath. That's two wreaths, people! And the amount of fun Kyler had carrying that thing through the store was worth 97 cents alone.

I also purchased a $7 drop cloth in hopes to use it for my Burlap rag wreath. The burlap at Home Depot was too lose and a trip to Joannes was not gonna happen if nap time was. Luckily, my girls I was crafting with had some extra burlap so they graciously let me use it. Don't worry I have big plans for that there drop cloth later. I'm thinking a table runner or pillow covers.

Thanks to my wonderful strip cutter Hope, and lots of no-bake cookies to get me through a few hours of knot tying, it didn't take long to get 'er done.

Because I had a hard time finding an actual tutorial for this kind of wreath, here is what I did:

1. Cut about a million strips of Burlap into 1" x 16" strips

2. Tie around wreath overlapping and all which ways. Can be double or single knots.

3. Fluff and adjust to fill out wreath. Burlap will fray, which adds to the look.

4. Admire a job well done with a little bit of carpel tunnel.

Shouldn't I write tutorials for a living? Gosh, I'm good.

I originally planned on just leaving it simple with just the burlap, and maybe adding a red bow for Christmas, because you know I don't like to actually have a variety of wreaths to use....

But when I stepped away it just needed a little something, so I added 4 strips of brown ribbon by tying them at the bottom. I then hot-glued little pine cones to the ribbon (important), so that when Christmas rolls around and I'm too lazy to make another wreath, I can just take off the ribbon and add that red bow.

16 Weeks

Not much to report this week. Feeling good. Still having sleeping difficulties. Definitely having weird cravings. My cart at Target last week consisted of tomatoes, salt & vinegar chips, watermelon, and strange salad dressings.

I do think I might have started feeling the baby move. It's been so slight, though, so I'm not sure. You would think having been through this before, I would surely know a kick when I feel one. But now that I know how similar those first kicks feel to other things, I keep psyching myself out thinking "oh no, probably just my tummy."

Kyler has been sick, so it's been kind of a rough week. The first night he got sick, we were up every hour. I ended up just letting him sleep on my chest at 3 am and 5 am. I just sat there on the couch, knowing I'd be right back there in 5 months with a little newborn. Can't wait!

15 Weeks

I woke up this morning and saw the first real sign of a baby bump. Not just the pudge in the lower abdomen, but the sight of a little baby taking over your belly.

Hopefully that will show up more in next week's photo. I'm kind of eager to start showing, and especially to feel the baby moving, so I can really start to bond with this baby. I think it might be a little harder to bond with not finding out the sex, so I'm ready to feel this baby!

For some reason I have had a hard time sleeping lately. I don't feel uncomfortable, but I'm tossing and turning all night. And waking up at 6:30 to the sound of "mama mama" on the monitor has been so sweet but so tiring. I'm going to try to start exercising more in hopes of better sleep.

Right now I'm on the look out for a retro orange rocking chair for the nursery. I'm going with a vintage, eclectic vibe that will helpfully be fitting for a boy or girl. Once I find the chair, I'm hoping I can get a better start. It's a little overwhelming knowing I have to set up a big boy room and then change Kyler's nursery into the new nursery. I feel like I should have started this 3 months ago!

via

Mr. Independent

Kyler is so independent these days, sometimes I think he doesn't even want me around. Although he still needs me to do things like change him, feed him (well prepare his food), and take care of him in general, he is definitely testing the limits of his independence. He often throws a fit when I insist on holding his hand, feeding him with a spoon, or forcing him to do just about anything. Poor little guy thinks he's the boss, though he is taking to discipline a little better. His fits are very short-lived, which I appreciate. Of course he is going to scream bloody murder when I take away the coolest new item he found to hold onto, but 2 seconds later he is fine and on to the next.

Now that he is older and is more aware (and compliant) of what he is allowed to do in the house, I find myself almost feeling board. I don't need to hover anymore. I don't need to entertain him. At the same time, I hate to do other tasks that completely take my attention away from him. It has been soooo hot lately, I haven't even wanted to leave this house. I have been going a little crazy! It has me dreaming of the days when I can sit and watch him play while nursing a newborn :)

Here are a few photos from my iPhone. They are all blurry because he is a constant blur of baby tornado. This kid is busy to the max! And I love every bit of him!

I love that he plays so hard but so sweetly gives in to sleep. That boy can't resist a comfy car seat, after all he did sleep in one for the first SIX months of his life!