1 down, 2 to go

my first trimester has been checked off the list... now I just gotta hold out for January and hope the 2nd trimester energy kicks in soon!  I feel a lot better than I did, but I feel like I skipped over the short feeling-good stage and jumped into hip and rib widening, and round ligament pains.  looking at how big I am already I'm not really surprised, but I was hoping for a bit of a break between stages of discomfort!

this is me at 14 & 20 weeks the first time, and me at 14 weeks this time!

I was expected to show quicker this time, and am fine with it since I've only gained the 5 pounds suggested for the first trimester, but am really not looking forward to the "any day now?" or "is it twins?" questions from people (I got enough of that the first time at 6 months).  why are people so rude at such a sensitive time??

at least Leo has learned to be nice to the baby and not hit momma's belly anymore this past month, and now when we ask where the baby is he rubs my belly... then his, and then daddy's if he's in the room!  Leo's becoming more and more interested in babies and other children so I'm hopeful he will be nice to the baby when he/she gets here!

names

when we were planning for Leo we picked out his name well before he was conceived.  we did the same this time, but it was a little easier since we already had our girl name.  we're keeping with Naomi Allison for a girl, and decided on Jack Curtis for a boy.

 

my doctor told me at my appointment Monday that she wasn't going to do another sonogram until September :(  I don't want to wait that long to find out which name we'll get to use this time!  I also don't want an unsure answer, so I guess we'll be patient...

I've been looking a lot online for new ideas for the nursery, so it'll be nice to know which direction I'll be going in before I get too tired to mess with it.  until we find out I'll just keep collecting ideas for both so I'm ready.  we'll be moving Leo to a new big boy room soon and using his nursery for the new baby, so I don't need to change a whole lot, but I'd like to update it a bit.  I'm excited about some of the things I wanna do to it and can't wait to get started!

sun shades

Leo spotted some cute sun shades as we were standing in line at the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago.  he was so cute about it!  he never was interested in wearing hats or glasses before and would pull them off and throw them, but he wore these from the store to the car and long enough for me to snap a picture in his car seat...

then before we were out of the parking lot he twisted the arm and snapped it off :(  I only paid a buck so it wasn't as devastating as if he'd done that to his $6 pair, but it was a little annoying.  I glued them back, and then he did the same thing again!!  this time I decided to remove both arms and attach elastic to the frames.

 

I sanded the hinges flush to the frames, drilled two holes on each side to be stitched through like a button, measured Leo's head, and stitched some slightly snug elastic to either side.  I suppose I could have made it adjustable with some kind of sewing notion for that sort of stuff, but they fit with little stretch right now and if we make it through the summer (which would surprise me!) with them I'm sure they'll stretch enough to accommodate his head.

 

crochet cuff

 

I don't remember what I was searching for, but I came across this pattern online and thought it'd be a good sitting-still project that I could do while not moving and keep my mind off of things.  the pattern does say that it's a fairly small bracelet (6 1/2"), and I think mine came out a little smaller, so if you need it longer maybe add an extra row to each end or something.  it works up fairly quick, but after two I was satisfied enough to stop!

I used regular 6-strand embroidery floss ('cause that's what I had on hand) and a 3.25mm hook, which I thought was gonna be a pain in the butt, but it's not so bad to work with. I stiffened it with hairspray so it'd hold its round shape in the middle, and added a button to the end.

the next one I did with 3 colors, sorta just played it by ear for the flower part, and paid more attention to my tension.  I didn't stiffen this one so that it stayed soft (the stiffness of the first one makes me feel sick - weird, I know).

 

I'll probably need to give it time before wearing them since thinking about putting on jewelry is an unsettling feeling at the moment, but I'm glad I tried them out and feel a little more confident about using a smaller hook on future projects.