April 20th, 2015

so this is what #3 looks like at 9 weeks :)  I've been so sick and haven't felt like doing anything, so this is coming really, super-de-duper late.  I'm 16 weeks now and am finally feeling better.  it's felt like ages, but I almost feel normal now.

Dollar Tree pregnancy test - got my money's worth.

I started feeling pregnant a couple of weeks before I got a positive on a home pregnancy test, so I wasn't surprised, but it was still exciting to see the line show up.  I left it out where I knew Matt would find it, and he was thrilled - it's all he can do to not tell everyone he comes in contact with as soon as he knows we're expecting, which I know was very difficult for him while a lot of his family were in town recently.

the last, big, disgusting thing I ate before morning sickness moved in and kept anything good from entering my stomach.

food became tricky by week 4.  nothing sounded good and anything I did manage to choke down didn't sit right.  salad was alright, but not filling or satisfying at all.  I tried to eat small amounts of different things, which worked okay for a few days, then I would start craving one thing and burn myself out on it.  I never felt like I craved much with my first two pregnancies, but this time I actually, really wanted those giant pickles, and ate pickle after pickle.  I just kept shoveling them away to the point that at the end of the jar I wanted to drink the juice - this has never been appealing to me.  ever.  I did stop myself because I could only think how dehydrated I would be after!  I also tried some pickle flavored Lays... I do not recommend these.  apples seem to be my only friend right now.

I think Jack senses his role as the baby coming to an end because I've been getting more cuddles and random kisses from him.  he also wants to lay on my stomach - I didn't like that one so much when I was feeling like I was about to toss my cookies (which was all the time), but I tried to stand it as long as I could because there won't be room for him there much longer, and by the time there is room again, he might not be interested in sitting in my lap :(

I was trying not to say too much to Leo about it early on since he has such a good memory and repeats everything he hears, but now I try to talk more with him about the new baby because he understands more of what's going on than Jack does, and I'd like him to be prepared for another sibling.

stuff-wise, we are set if this is a boy, but we are totally at odds on boy name choices so I'm really hoping it's a girl this time!  we just have to wait a few more weeks to see.  luckily we're at the end of the year when the weeks just fly.

16 weeks

crochet pacifier clip

a friend of ours had a baby girl recently and I wanted to make her something, so I searched to see what would be cute and quick to do.  I decided on a crochet pacifier clip like this one from BerryCuteBaby.

with doubled embroidery floss and a 3.25mm hook, I did a row of foundation double crochet until it looked about as long as I wanted, then did a row of double crochet down the other side and ended with a chain loop.  I fed the end through the end of a suspender clip and stitched it down real good, then stitched down a flower over that because to get it tight and secure on the clip it looked kinda... meh.  the flower made it cute and served its purpose to cover my sewing.

even if she ends up not liking pacifiers, this works good as a leash for teething toys.

such a big boy!

Jack is growing up so fast - faster than I remember Leo growing!  at 2 months Jack was in the 90th percentile for weight, 75th for height, wearing 6 month clothes, eating what feels like all the time during the day, and now he's sleeping all by himself in his own room!!

Leo 5 months

Jack 2 months

Jack has been a much different experience than Leo was.  Jack latches and eats really well and slept pretty good through the night to begin with.  he was staying in bed with us so I could feed him through the night without getting up since I didn't need to get up for a bottle, but he kept getting bigger and when he started fussing more in his sleep I looked into some white noise to hopefully keep him calm and still so Matt and I weren't falling off the sides of the bed!

 an article I read said babies who are 4 months old reach that "magic" weight of 11 lbs. and don't need to eat so much at night anymore... Jack was over that at one month old!  I have noticed in the last month he doesn't eat as much at night so I got a Soundspa Lullaby and tried putting him in his crib one night with the rain sound going.  he went down without a fight and slept so well! :)  I woke up missing him in the middle of the night (he'd been asleep for about 3 hours) and heard him fussing a little on the monitor.  he wasn't awake and would probably have put himself back to sleep, but I needed him to eat.  I fed him and he went right back to the crib for another good stretch.  he is even fine in his room for naps during the day.

we're at a week of sleeping in the crib now and so far it's going great - which I'm happy and sad about.  I'll just have to get used to waking up and seeing him through the monitor instead of looking right at his sweet little sleeping face next to me :(  sometimes, after Matt leaves for work and Jack wakes up hungry I go bring him back to our bed to nap for an hour or so until it's time to get up, which is gonna bite me in the butt later, I'm sure! 

baby Jack

he's finally here :)  Jack just couldn't wait for Monday to be induced, so I wasn't able to have my doctor there for the delivery, but it was alright.  I was glad for it to be done and over with and home before Monday!

1/11/13 3:40pm

8lbs. 15oz. 21in.

my posts will be put on hold until I come up with some time to do something other than feed, change, and sleep!

on his way

I was worried I wouldn't get Jack's room or other projects done in time, but I was able to accomplish the things I wanted to do after all!  now we're just waiting...

I finished up my basketweave blanket - something I really wanted to have in the hospital.  I love the color and texture.  it's a nice and simple pattern and I would definitely crochet another one.

we all got sick right after Christmas so I had time to work on it while laying around for days - what an awful time to be so sick :(  worst. holidays. ever.  at least I was kinda productive while I wasn't able to do anything?

I updated the old nursery walls with some contact paper stripes and jackalope cut outs, as well as some new frames for the wall above the crib with antler letters in them.

I cut wood grain contact paper down to 2' sections to make it easier to put up, and did dovetails to join them together with the grain going in opposite directions for contrast.  I really like that detail :)

I didn't sew any bedding this time and just bought new sheets, bumper, and blanket from Target.  I used the same crib skirt, and found the stuffed jackalope online.

I put up a floating shelf for when Jack's big enough to get into things and we need to keep stuff out of reach.  we got the shelf unit when it was Leo's room, but he regularly emptied the shelves and we lost a lot of books (or rather, pages of books) because of it.  it'll hold things like stuffed animals, blankets and burp cloths until he doesn't need it, then maybe I'll take it for myself  O:)

I really like the lamp I found (maybe I can have this too when Jack's done with it!) and added a "hidden" jackalope crest inside the shade.

I got a little pop gun to put on the wall above the changing table.  I think that was one of the hardest things to find!  World Market - who would have thought??

we're all so excited to meet Jack and I can't wait to bring him home to his new room!

baby newsboy hat

I had some yarn left over from the grey and red loafers I crocheted, so I thought I'd make a matching hat.  I google image searched and found this adorable hat :)  I didn't have the size hooks called for in the pattern, and my yarn is a little thicker, so I had to fudge it here and there.

I did the strap across the front the same as the strap for the loafers, I just made it longer.

it was an easy hat to make once I got the sizing right, and I might attempt another in the future, but for now I just like looking at this one and imagining it on Jack's little head :)

baby loafer pattern

I finally made another pair of crochet loafers and took down the pattern - yay!  these can be done all in one color, or change colors as you go.  the first pair just had the sole and edges in a different color, but for the 2nd pair I did the toe decrease in a different color as well.  you can change colors anywhere you want and make them look however you'd like.

I used a size 5.5mm hook and worsted weight yarn, which gave me a sole measuring about 3.5".  I used a slightly smaller weight yarn and the same hook and got 3", so once you've finished the first 2 rounds for the sole, measure it and see what you're at to get the right size before moving up to the sides in round 3.

1st round:

7 fhdc

4 hdc into last st

1 hdc into next 6 sts

4 hdc into last st

sl st to join

total of 22 sts

2nd round:

ch 1

2 hdc in the same st

1 hdc in ea of the next 6 sts

2 hdc in the next st

1 hdc in the next st

2 hdc in the next st

1 hdc in the next st

2 hdc in the next st

1 hdc in ea of the next 6 sts

2 hdc in the next st

1 hdc in the next st

2 hdc in the next st

1 hdc in the next st

sl st to join

total of 28 sts

3rd round:

ch 1

1 hdc in back loop of each st around

sl st to join

total of 28 sts

4th round:

ch 1

1 hdc in each st around

sl st to join, cut yarn and weave in end

total of 28 sts

5th round:

fold shoe in half and find middle of toe, count back 8 sts and attach yarn one st back with a sl st

(you'll have 16 sts around the toe, and 12 sts around the back of the loafer)

ch 1

1 hdc into same st as ch and into the next 11 sts around back of loafer

8 dc2tog into back loop of next 16 sts for the decrease of the toe

sl st to join

total of 20 sts

finishing toe:

ch 1, turn

4 dc2tog into next 8 sts

sl st to join to other side of loafer

1 sc in each st around back of loafer to finish edge

sl st to join at other side

weave in ends

toe strap:

6 fhdc

3 hdc into last st

1 hdc into next 5 sts

3 hdc into last st

sl st to join

total of 17 sts

finishing edge:

1 sc into same stitch as join and in the next 6 sts
2 sc into next 2 sts
1 sc into next 6 sts
2 sc into last 2 sts

sl st to join

weave in ends
total of 17 sts

place the strap across the toe of the loafer and sew in place through buttons on either side.

baby bump

it's hard to believe I'm in my last trimester already.  I'm tempted to say the time flew by, but when I look back at the earlier weeks I'm remembering how it seemed to drag on.  in comparison it's probably not as bad as the first time, but still no cake-walk.  the beginning seems to be the worst part for me since I tend to be sick for so long, so it's nice to be past that part and just doing the taking-it-easy and waiting part ;)

some things are a little different and some stuff is very familiar, but I'm suffering a little more this time from baby brain, and I think Matt is, too ;)  Matt actually seems to be sharing a lot of my symptoms this time around, and some that are typical of pregnancy but I'm not even having!  I had a dream he was the pregnant one - if only! ;)  11 weeks +/- to go :D

simple necklace

I found some bezels with sticky epoxy domes at Michael's - pack of two for $4 - and thought it'd work great for putting Jack's sonogram profile picture in :)

it came to me that I could use sticker paper and not have to mess with glue and worrying about it soaking through the back of the paper and mucking up the ink when I tried to put it into the bezel, so I pulled out my folder of crap that I save to see if I had any sticker paper.

I had a couple of packing slips from old diaper deliveries that had a mostly blank adhesive label on them, so I measured out where that spot was on the paper and how big it was, and sized two of my pictures of Jack in to that area and printed them out.

 

I pressed the epoxy sticker onto the sticker paper and cut around it.

 then all I had to do was peel the back off the sticker paper, press it into the bezel, and put it on a chain.

 

I love how it came out and I can't wait to see his little button nose in person :)

for a wee Scot

I made a kilt for my friend's baby, Jude.  I did one for her husband years ago when they got married, so I thought their son should have a cute matching one :)

I've made 4 in the past 8 years so I figured I'd just wing it... but after looking at photos of the first one I did it came back to me how much was involved and I decided to look for a little help online.  I basically needed a picture to see the inside and refresh me a little, so I scanned through this site to jog my memory.  I looked at a lot of pictures of baby kilts, too, to get an idea of length and inspire me.  I used one of Leo's little onesies and took some measurements and sorta just guessed at the size since not all babies come in the same size and shape!

 

I put velcro at the waist, so it should be adjustable for a little while.

I figured it'd be easy enough to find a white collared shirt onesie, but I feel like that was the hardest part of the outfit to acquire!  I finally found a little suit at Burlington Coat Factory that came with a regular dress shirt, so I just grabbed a white onesie from the sale rack at Kohl's and attached it to the bottom using this tutorial.

I found these cute shoes at Payless that I paired with some longer white socks from Carters - also another hard find!

 

I used some leather scraps and rabbit fur I had to make a tiny little sporran that I attached to small pieces of double sided velcro to sandwich in the waist overlap, which I think really finished it off nicely :) 

it's a...

I had my Dr. appointment today to find out what we're having.  when I went in two weeks ago I thought I was going to have to wait another month for the next sonogram since we weren't going to do it at that appointment.  I was kinda bummed, but during the visit my Dr. said I could come back sooner than 4 weeks to find out - I didn't have to nag about it, let alone even bring it up!

with Leo I knew what I had my heart set on so I sorta felt more like he was a boy, but with this one I had no idea.  I knew what I wanted (another boy!), but I felt like it could be either or.  I was relieved to find out we won't have to buy all new stuff with this one!  I can't wait to go through all of Leo's old clothes again :)  sorry Naomi, maybe next time.

more baby crochet

 

I made these for a friend of mine who had her little girl a few weeks too early.  I looked online for some crochet patterns and found this hat pattern, and this really quick and easy bootie video tutorial.

 

after hunting for the hat, I decided it was simpler to find regular baby patterns and adjust to make them fit the measurements I needed (which I got from here) than to find a preemie sized pattern.

 

I added an extra row of puff stitch and two rows of single crochet at the bottom on the hat instead of one like the pattern said to do so it was closer to the measurements I was looking for.

 

for the booties I used a smaller hook than what the lady in the video did, and I only made the toe 1.5" long, and 1.5" for the sides and back so it was the recommended 3".

they look so small to me, but I've been gauging her size from photos of her head and feet compared to peoples hands as well as going off the size chart for 4-5lb babies.  I'm still worried they won't fit, but they worked up so quick I can always whip up another set if I need to.