Catching Up on Projects

Last week, Joseph ended up spending the whole week in St. Louis, even though we were only planning on him being there through Monday or Tuesday. I took great advantage of having all the free time to catch up on a number of projects, including a few crafty ones.

Ashley and Mikael had asked me to make a few large swaddling baby blankets for them, along with more burp cloths. I found a fun tutorial online, and decided to make some for our baby as well. I ended up sewing 6 baby blankets, and realized just how easy they were after a few dumb mistakes.

My sewing machine has a few neat stitches, so I opted to try one of them on one of the more basic blankets. I think it turned out really cute!

6 more burp cloths for baby Mason. Ashley and Mikael picked the fabrics from my growing stash, and I did the rest. I'm looking forward to embellishing some of our old cloth diapers for baby girl in the coming weeks.

While looking for a great sale on Pull-Ups, I discovered a nearby Walmart had a bunch of fabric on clearance, including a full bolt of Thomas cotton for $2/yd! I seriously couldn't pass it up, but wasn't sure what I'd make. I decided Joseph would love a new set of sheets for his toddler bed, so I made a fitted/crib sheet, and partial flat/fitted sheet (the foot end of the bed has elastic casing so it staying on the bed much better than a flat sheet) and a matching pillowcase. He came home from his week at Mimi and Papa's and got pretty excited about his new "Thomas blankie!"

Jennifer had found an old kids rocking chair that was covered in Little Mermaid fabric, and it had seen better days. She had planned on using it in her classroom, but ran out of space. One day last fall she brought it up to KC, and I had great intentions of recovering it for Joseph. When I started to strip the fabric off the chair, however, I realized that it had actually been well-upholstered, and I didn't really have a clue what I was doing.

The chair sat for months, waiting for me to gather the energy, time and confidence to tackle the project - so last week was definitely the time to get it done! Joe helped me finish stripping the old fabric off the chair, so I could use the pieces for a basic pattern, and I went to town with the staple gun.

 It didn't end up as perfect as the original upholstery, but Joseph seems to like it, especially now that the rocker feet are back on the chair. I picked a heavy weight upholstery fabric, so I'm hopeful it will last for a while in the new play room!

I also managed to get our 2011 blog book printed, the house cleaned, basement organized and other miscellaneous projects crossed off the list. While we missed him, it was great to be able to get so much stuff done before baby sister's arrival!

Definitely Baby Sister!

Today I had a fun ultrasound with a friend of Ashley's who works at KU Med. Because they work with lots of students who are trying to gain ultrasound experience, when Ashley mentioned that we weren't 100% certain baby was a girl, Dilia offered to do an ultrasound if students could practice on me as well. I definitely didn't have a problem with being a test subject in exchange for a free ultrasound, so we set a date and today was it!

Of course, she decided not to cooperate for the first 20 minutes or so that the students were looking for clues about the gender - her legs were closed together, and when she'd move enough to get a look, the umbilical cord was positioned right between her legs. Sigh! They then tried to scan a few other body parts, including her head/face, but she was turned so she was basically looking at my back and as far as possible from the top of my belly as possible. So I guess she's shy, until you get to know her, since she finally decided to start moving and showing us a little more.

We definitely didn't see any boy parts, and pretty conclusive girl parts, so if she isn't a she in the delivery room, we'll be really surprised! No names yet, but here are some pictures of her today.

 Yes, besides being uncooperative, she's apparently also going to be a bit of a drama queen - see the hand resting dramatically on her forehead? No thumb sucking at all today during the scan, like her big brother was typically doing during his ultrasound.

The abdominal scan shows that she's measuring a few days ahead of where we think we are, between 30 weeks 1 day and 30 weeks 3 days (techincally I'm 29 weeks 5 days today) so looks like we're still right on schedule.

Now I guess it's safe to start working on the nursery, and I don't have to worry about keeping the receipts for all of the pink clothes hanging in the closet already!

Lightning Bugs

Once again, I've fallen behind in blogging, and these pictures were actually taken in late May. Since winter didn't happen this year, spring started earlier, along with the flowers blooming sooner, and things like lightning bugs arriving earlier than usual. One night, we decided to let Joseph stay up late to play with the bugs, since we knew he'd think they were really cool. 

He loved the experience, and because the bugs are so slow flying, it was easy for him to catch and play with them. Photographing him running around at dusk was much more difficult, and it's clear I have lots of work to do before my photography skills are good enough for dusk action photos!

But for memory's sake, here are some of the better shots:

Checking out a bug that was content to sit on my hand.

Trying to catch his own bugs with Molly's help. 

Looking for bugs that landed in the grass with Daddy.

I wish the bugs stuck around longer in the summer, as they've pretty much disappeared by now. At least next year Joseph will be a little older and better able to enjoy them!

Craigslist Score for Joseph's Play Space

The work in the backyard continued today, and I can honestly say we are almost finished! Well, as close as we're gonna get this year, at least. We still need to clear out the dead growth from the northeast corner of the yard and possibly plant a few evergreen trees in Joseph's corner, but beyond that, I'm satisfied with where things are now.

I've been watching craigslist for a big kid slide for Joseph for a few weeks now, and haven't seen anything positive show up. Until yesterday - I noticed a listing for a little tikes mountain climber and slide, that normally retails for over $400. The seller wanted $80 but was willing to negotiate, and by the time I contacted them, they just had a no show so it was still available. Joe and I both agreed that the various climbing aspects would be great for Joseph, as he's turned into a little monkey, climbing everything he can. Joe went to the seller's house after dinner, did a little negotiating, and brought the climber home last night! It was seriously filthy, so we brought out the hose and scrub brushes, and set to cleaning it up this morning.

Luckily it didn't take very long to assemble (and it was fully assembled when Joe picked it up, so he had a chance to see how it all went together) and we dragged it to Joseph's corner. The ground back there isn't very level, so Joe dug out a small trench to sink the edges into, both to make it level and keep it more stable when Joseph is climbing all over it.

It has a rope ladder, upright ladder and then an adjustable rock climbing wall that can be concave or convex, with different footholds it make it easier or more difficult for climbing. I also love that it's in the neutral colors and matches his playhouse, so we don't have super bright plastic scattered throughout the back yard!

After we moved it back into place, I decided it was time to take Joseph to Lowe's to buy the mulch to finish the ground cover. We had put some in place a couple months ago when we put his playhouse in the yard, but needed lots more. In the last few weeks I also planted 3 azalea plants and 5 hostas, and wanted to get mulch on those so they stood out against the dirt - Joseph and Molly had serious issues realizing that there were new plants back there that shouldn't be walked on.

Once we spread the mulch, it was time to play! Joseph had a blast climbing up and down, and the only thing he hasn't tried to climb is the rope section, which is fine by us as that is probably above his abilities for now.

Soon he realized he could also climb up the slide, and would climb up and then drop to his belly and slide back down.

Such a happy little guy! I'm so thankful we were able to find this climber and slide, and pay less than we would for a simple slide brand new. It has tons of life left in it, and it seems that Joseph (and future siblings) will be able to enjoy it for years to come.

Big Boy

When we returned from our trip to Florida, Joseph went back to sleeping in his crib just fine. We had been storing his toddler bed in his room too, which meant the room was getting rather crowded. One day, a few weeks ago, I was making a crib sheet for Ashley's baby shower, and needed to use Joseph's mattress as my test subject. When I threw all of his blankets and animals out of the crib, he immediately gathered them up and placed them on the toddler bed (sans mattress) and tried to "go nitey-nite." 

I asked him if he wanted to sleep in his big boy bed that night, to which he emphatically said "oh sure, yes!" (a very common phrase these days). So that night we set up his bed, tucked him in, put the child proof handle on his bedroom door, and he slept fine in his toddler bed. Since we knew he was ok with either, but the clock was already ticking on how much longer he could stay in the crib before we needed it upstairs, we opted just to take apart the crib and set up his room with the toddler bed. He's been great ever since, and although he'll spent a lot of time playing in bed and talking before he falls asleep, once he wakes up, he doesn't get out of his bed. I guess it's a throwback to our rules in Destin that he call out for someone to come get him, so every morning (and afternoon) he'll toss everything off his bed and call out, "hi mommy" or "hi daddy" until we come get him. Usually he's just sitting on his pillow, waiting patiently for us!

 He does seem to love the new bed, though, and by his own choice is usually hopping into it after one or two books, a drastic change from the extended reading he'd often ask for when it was time to sleep in his crib. Since we're going to be taking the glider, ottoman and side table out of his room soon too, I decided his books needed a new place to be stored, where he could hopefully see them better. Usually they end up in haphazard piles on the side table, where he can barely reach the top. I bought a double towel bar holder at IKEA during Thanksgiving, fully intending on completing this project months ago, but you know how that goes.

So Memorial Day weekend I set out to make the book sling, and it didn't take very long at all. I luckily managed to have enough duck canvas left over from the car caddies I made Joseph and Ethan at Christmas, and combined it with some additional scrap fabric for his letters. The hardest part was patiently sewing the letters on, so I could practice my applique skills.

He loves that he can see the books, and actually is getting better about putting them back in the sling when he's done. I've got a kid-sized upholstered rocking chair that is stripped down and waiting to be recovered that we'll put in his room for his reading corner, and hopefully it won't be too horrible of a transition losing the big glider chair to his baby sister's room!

Belly Picture and Updates

It's now a little dated, but here's my 25 week belly picture, taken on 5/17. I feel like I look puffier in the picture than I do in normal life, but still happy that the jeans I'm wearing are my pre-pregnancy capris I bought last year. No, they don't button, but at least I can still get them up around my hips!

I'm now 27 weeks pregnant, and happy to report that after a bout of sciatic nerve pain over the last week, most likely brought on by doing too much yardwork, it has calmed down so I can run again. I opted to take the week off and went swimming and walking for exercise instead. Friday morning I woke up and went for a 2.5 mile run/jog (my pace is now a slow 11:30 average) and felt great, so I signed up last minute for the Hospital Hill 5k, which was being held today, June 2nd. Joe had been training to run the half marathon, and I'd been quietly hoping that I could keep running and do the 5k, so I was really excited when I was able to register so late (the race usually sells out before the race weekend) and knew I could run.

We didn't sleep well at all last night, and even Joseph was awake at 5:50am, probably because he could hear us getting ready. Joe had prepped him that we were going to a running race, so although he was still really sleepy, he was excited when he remembered he was going to a race and hopped out of bed. He didn't even give us any trouble about going potty before getting in the car - potty training started this week, but that's a whole separate post, waiting to be written!

We made it to Crown Center by 6:30 and met up with Scotty and Tricia. All of the races started at 7am, with the runners in separate corrals this year. Joe's anticipated time qualified him for the A group, Scotty was in the B group, and I brought up the rear in the F group. Tricia was great and didn't mind watching Joseph for us while I ran my race, and luckily he was happy to sit in his stroller, watch all of the people and eat a donut.

Hospital Hill is known for being the 2nd oldest half marathon in the country, and for it's hilly course. All three races (5k, 10k and half marathon) start out on the same course for the first 2.25 miles, which is mainly uphill.  The 5k splits off, goes down a short hill, back up another hill, and then has a downhill finish back at Crown Center. While I've been consistently running 2-3 miles 3 times a week, I haven't focused on hills, and honestly have been trying to avoid them, so I didn't know how the race would go.

I ended up having a great race, only stopping to walk for one minute about 2/3 of the way up the biggest hill.  I managed to beat my estimated 35 minute time, and crossed the finish line in 34:35, putting me in 853rd place out of 1710 runners in the 5k, 441 out of 1083 women, and 56th in my age group of 160 women ages  30-34. Not bad for being 27 weeks pregnant!

Joe also did amazing, smashing his personal record and finishing the half marathon in 1 hour, 40 minutes and 16 seconds! Tricia also took a bunch of pictures, so once she sends them to me, I'll be sure to add them to the blog. 

Curtains!

I think I can say the kitchen is officially complete now, even though we remodeled it 3 years ago! We never replaced the goofy, painted shut window above the kitchen sink when we did the remodel, even though we knew it needed to happen. The whole outside was rotten and quite frankly, we were too scared to take on the project for fear of what we'd discover/uncover. So we left it alone, until this winter when we had our contractor come and do some minor repairs that needed to happen on the kitchen wall (water was getting in) and the bedroom wall. We just had him replace the window at the same time so that all of the windows in the house are new(er).

Because of that, I had been struggling with what to do for window treatments, knowing that the size of the window could change when we had it replaced. Once the new window was in, I found fabric I liked, way back in January, and taped sample swatches around the kitchen to be sure. Everyone agreed that it would look good. And there they sat, taped to the window trim, for 5 months.

Until Memorial Day weekend, when Jo Ann's finally ran a great sale on the fabric (60% off!), and I knew I had the time to devote to making the curtains myself. I opted to do a sort of modified faux roman shade, which at this point means I just made the whole thing up as I went, using tutorials from a variety of blogs.

It didn't take that long at all, a few hours, really, even considering I lined them and ended up having to hand stitch the folds onto the one for the window above the sink, because my original plan wasn't working. 

Overall, I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Because I tacked the one over the sink in place, the curtain is purely decorative and non functional. The larger curtain could still drop down and give us privacy, not that we'd ever really need it on that window as it just looks into our backyard. Hooray for one more project that's been on the to-do list getting crossed off!

Ice Cream Truck

Last week we were dog sitting for Jill and Gary while they were in the Outer Banks. One afternoon was particularly nice, so we decided to take all three dogs on a walk with Joseph. We headed down the street, realized we were going really slowly and it would be bedtime soon, and turned around. A few seconds later, we heard the faint ringing bells of an ice cream truck!

We managed to cross the school parking lot and get back to our street just before it passed, and with a sheepish look and a quick "should we or shouldn't we" debate, Joe flagged the truck down. We hadn't brought any money, so he quickly jogged down the street to our house, which was just 4 houses away, to grab some cash.

Joseph thought the truck stopping for us was his treat, and since he's not a big ice cream eater, I opted for the cheapest, most traditional ice cream truck treat I could find - a bomb pop. Joe ran back in time to order the Ninja Turtles pop, a pale green and orange popsicle complete with gumball eyes. We walked the three dogs back down to the house while Joe got Joseph started on the bomb pomp. Just as we suspected, Joseph was super excited and emphatically stuck his tongue out to just barely touch it, then let out a loud "yummm!" each time he got a lick. 

And then he discovered there were ants on the front step, and they were way more exciting than the popsicle.

 For a few minutes, at least. Joe managed to convince him to stop watching the ants and take a lick every now and then.

When Joe pulled the turtle out of the wrapper, Joseph was much more interested in checking it out. He helped Joe eat it, which was good because apparently green and orange sherbet from the ice cream truck doesn't taste so great to the adult palate!

Joseph was really intrigued by the gumball eyes. Joe got to them first so Joseph wouldn't eat one.

I took these photos and the following video on Joe's phone while we enjoyed the night. This video is more for our sake, capturing the experience and Joseph's talking, rather than a cute clip of him.