Meeting New People

When Nicolas was two weeks old, my mom brought my grandma up to see her new great-grandson. She was happy to meet him and see our house, and she made me laugh when she told me we were spoiling Nicolas by holding him. It was a nice visit and Nicolas slept through most of it, Grandma and Mom even played on the swings with Avalyn. I hope it can happen again,soon.

Just had to throw this in here, Nicolas had his first bath that day, too!

Getting lovin's from Grandma.

Avalyn was a wee bit jealous. She wanted Grandma's attention.

Looks like Nicolas is a hit with Grandma Betty!

Having fun on the swing set.

Mom and I went to Midland today so Nicolas could meet his great grandparents (on my dad's side) and great aunt. The trip went fine until we were a few miles East of Cadillac, then the crying started. I stopped at a church and fed him in the parking lot. Mom sat in the back (switching places with Keith), to try to keep Nicolas calm for the rest of the trip. That didn't work out so well either. I ended up having to pull over on US-10 (near Clare), and switch spots with mom. Who knew I was flexible enough to nurse Nicolas while mom chauffeured us the rest of the way to Midland? ^_~ Nicolas did very well while we were there. He needed to eat twice, and most slept the rest of the time. He actually napped on Aunt Mary for quite a while. He knows when he's in safe arms.

He's a hit with Grandma Ellie, too!

So, clearly we've had a lot of first in the past couple weeks! First bath, first trip, and first time meeting his great grandparents! Good times all around. Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer, too!

Newborn Photo-Shoot!

As the title says. This is Nicolas's photo shoot. The pictures are not professional quality, I know, but I tried! :)

EDIT: I also made his birth announcement and forgot to post it. Thank you Pinterest for the idea. :)

DIY Baby Wrap!

Woot woot! Pinterest Challenge time ya'll! Brought to you by the brilliant mind's Katie and Sherry.

For the summer addition of the Pinterest Challenge I decided to make a baby wrap. As seeing I have a new baby to wrap up in one! Nicolas is just a wee bit too small to fit in my other carrier (no infant insert), and I need to be able to be hands free and breastfeed on the go with a two year old running amok in my house. Was that a run on sentence? Probably. Not so good with the grammar right now. I can't blame pregnancy brain anymore. Can I blame having a two week old and two year old? I'll do that. ;)

Here's where I found my inspiration: Monkey Sew, Monkey Do! She had a great "how to" on a baby wrap. She used five yards of cotton gauze for hers. I went a different route. Two years ago I wanted to make a wrap but between school and having a newborn who cried whenever she wasn't being held, I was without time. Thank goodness Nicolas is such a happy baby! I have time to do things now. Whoa! Anyway, two years ago I bought six yards of cotton jersey fabric, so I used that for my wrap. I love using stuff that's just sitting around the house!

I cut the six yards of fabric in half length wise (I could make two if I wanted to!), and then I folded it in half (end to end) to find the center (so I know where to start when I wrap).

Lots of fabric!

From there I decided instead of marking it with a tag, I would to add a little something special. Enter the frog fabric I had left over from a different project. I cut it to size and pinned it to the wrap fabric and brought it downstairs to my serger.

I hooked up my serger with blue, orange, and yellow thread. I wanted to use green thread to match the frogs but I didn't have anything that really popped, so I went with yellow. Looking back now, I could have done red. Ah well! It still looks nice!

I put the orange thread on the front of the wrap, and yellow on the back. The orange looks great with the blue, and the frogs. I'm so excited! It took me about ten minutes to go around the whole six yards of fabric.

My results!

I hemmed the edge of the frog fabric, but didn't sew the sides onto the wrap. I'm going to sew them up halfway or three quarters of the way to create a pocket for my wallet or phone. I think that would be really neat.

Here's the finished product in use! Yep my baby boy loves it, and Mommy loves it, too! I can even nurse him in it. Yey! Please ignore my post baby flub. My belly is like jello right now. He was a big boy! Totally worth jello-belly.

 And I can give him lots of lovings and comfort while he's in it. Always a plus.

What did everyone else make? I'm so happy about this project. I can't wait to take it out on the town! And by out on the town, I mean the grocery store. I live an exciting life!

Birth Story Part One

Oh sweet Lord this post seems like it's been a loooooooooong time coming!

Let me start off by saying that I had been feeling like a giant for about four weeks. Seriously. I didn't think my body could stretch any more than it already had. Turns out it could. My stretch marks have stretch marks! I had also been having contractions on and off since 37 weeks. Those are a picnic.

On Thursday the 21st I had my last OB appointment - I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. I probably had been for a while because I had been feeling as if Nicolas would fall out at any given moment. My OB also told me my bag of waters was bulging. Of course the whole time I'm there I'm thinking: How is this kid not here already!? On Friday I was hanging out at the cottage with my parents and timing some really regular contractions. These puppies were 2-4 minutes apart and lasted 1-1.5 minutes. I thought this might be it.

I called L&D to see what they would recomend. They paged the on-call doctor who called me back and told me to come in and get monitored, especially since I was GBS positive. So, my parents, being awesome, took the kids for the night and Matt and I headed to the hospital. Well, they hooked me up and it turns out I had not made any progress, and my contractions weren't painful enough to keep me there. And we were sent home. :( I spent Saturday feeling contractions as well, but the on-call doctor had told me on Friday if they weren't painful enough to take my breath away or wake me up then I didn't need to come in.

Enter Sunday morning... 4:30AM strong contractions that wake me up. I waited though, and waited, and waited. I did not want to be sent home from L&D again! We went to the cottage that day to let the kids play, and Mom and Dad offered to take them home with them just in case I went into labor (since we don't have any babysitters on hand). We took them up on it and waved goodbye to our babies around 5:30PM. At around 8:30PM I told Matt bouncing on the exercise ball, and breathing through the contractions weren't working anymore and we needed to go in. I was in some serious pain at this point. I thought for sure it was the night. I was wrong. Again.

We got to the hospital and once again I hadn't progressed. I asked if there was anything we could do because I was in some serious pain (they kept saying I was uncomfortable... whatever triage nurses. I was in PAIN). They said take a Benadryl and some Tylenol and go to bed. Right... I told them that neither of those would mask the pain I was in enough for me to sleep. So, they gave me an Ambien. Great. I should also note, the on-call doc didn't want to induce me because she didn't want to deal with it "at this hour." And I should call the office tomorrow and talk with my doctor about my options.

So, I left crying. Not because I was upset but because every thirty seconds I doubled over from a contraction. It took us 15 minutes to get to the freaking car. It should have only taken five. Jerks. I was pretty mad about the whole thing, too, because I didn't want to have the little guy at home without antibiotics for the GBS. That, and Avalyn had her first bowel movement inside of me and I had an awful feeling Nicolas probably did, too, since he was overdue. Those were two things working against me. I just wanted to be admitted so my baby would be safe! I told Matt if I gave birth at home the hospital would be facing a huge lawsuit.

Needless to say even with the Ambien I couldn't sleep. Strong contractions that don't let up aren't stopped by a sleeping pill. Instead I was groggy and in pain. Great combination. The next morning I called my doctor's office right when they opened and left a message for the OB nurse. She called me back an hour later (meanwhile my contractions hurt more than ever), and told me to come in at 2:45PM. Ugh! Another six hour wait. Thankfully she called back and said there was an 11:30AM that opened up. I jumped on it. 11:30 could not come fast enough.

When I got in there, the doctor who saw me was the on-call doctor from Friday night. She was surprised to see me and to hear that my contractions were so painful. She did another cervical check (those are the most fun ever), and said, "Well, I've got to tell you something..." I was thinking, "Oh, no I still haven't progressed and I'm going home!" Turns out Matt was thinking the same thing. Thankfully she ended her sentence with, "You're four centimeters! I'll call the hospital and let them know you're on your way. You don't even need to check out, I'll do that for you."

Praise the Lord! By the time we got to the hospital (it's literally across the street from my OB's office), and got the car parked, it was a little after noon. We got all checked in and found our room. The nurse gave me some water to drink and a beautiful hospital gown to wear and I got into the bed and time flew while I was hooked up to a billion machines. My contractions were still killing me, but I was just happy to be in the hospital where I was going to get those amazing antibiotics for my beautiful baby!

Nicolas Ira Is Here!

Welcome to the world Nicolas Ira!

9 pounds, 24 inches long! Born on June 25, 2012 at 6:54 PM!

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was pretty nice this year. Usually I spend six hours in the car because we have to pick Keith up, but this year we were about fifteen minutes from home when Avalyn got sick. I had to turn the car around and get Avalyn home and cleaned up (as well as the car seat and her clothes), and Matt went on his own to pick up the boy.

He also picked up something else.

A new computer! Needless to say I was shocked. It's made for graphics and has a quad core so hopefully it will be able to keep up with me and photoshop! Yes, of course there are already finger prints on it. *Sigh*

I also got yoga pants (because I'm too big for the waistband of my other pants), and a nice little card. :)

I also packed Nicolas's hospital bag. There's some burp clothes, a receiving blanket that my mom made, a couple different outfits (who knows how big he'll be), a music box (mostly hiding it from Avalyn in there), a binky (also hiding from Avalyn), and his baby book.

Pretty sure this won't close.

It won't stay this neat.

Also, on Mother's Day, before we got in the car for that fateful, smelly, trip, I took pictures of the work Matt did outside. Finally right?

One tree gone. The tree in the upper right is next (it's dead).

Five more tree's gone. Seriously, I'm not thrilled with cutting down trees, but it had to be done.

Avalyn about thirty minutes before the vomit car incident. She loves Daddy's garden.

Matt removing another tree.

So, it was a good day (puking aside), and we got a lot done (I super-cleaned more of the house... definitely nesting!). Also, over the weekend my baby girl hit another milestone. She's 23 months old now! She'll be a full fledged two year old in less than a month. And soon after that (or before, who really knows?) she's going to be a big sister.

I got her floppy hat at Once Upon A Child for two dollars, and added the ribbon today to keep it on her head. And it keeps those pesky mosquitoes away (sort of - one got her on her right eyelid and it looks like she got in a fight. Poor girl!).

Anyone else have a nice Mother's Day? Or alter an article of clothing? Are mosquitoes this insane everywhere or is it just here? It's insane. Like walking into a big black cloud of biting and nastiness every time I go outside!

I must be nesting...

So, the past two days I have been holed up in my sewing/laundry room (slash utility room... ugh) working on a new canopy for Avalyn's jogging stroller... and while I was doing that I decided to organize and clean... excessively.

First, let's start with the stroller. Here's the before picture.

Notice how the canopy covers nothing? What's worse is when I walk with it the thing flips back all on its own. Very annoying!

I also added a five point harness. I did this a while ago (as in over a year ago) but I strengthened them quite a bit since my daughter is so much stronger now.

From the back. Totally adjustable. Like the lone sandle in the background, and messed up rugs. That would be Avalyn's doing.

So, I went to Joann's and bought a yard of laminated cotton ($17.99 per yard, not exactly cheap), and a quarter of a yard of clear vinyl ($2.39 per yard, much better!). I didn't need any bias tape since I'm using the leftover fabric of the old canopy to line the new canopy with.

First I marked where the old canopy was and added  about eight inches in the middle. Nice big canopy!

Next was actually cutting and sewing it all went well, no issues really. Until I tried to get the metal rod back into the original fabric. It was all kinds of sticky from whatever adhesive was used to keep that rod in there. So, I used the old canopy fabric to make a new place for the rod.

You wanted to see it. ;)

Here's the finished product. What do you think? I really like it!

View from the top - yep I added a little window!

 If you can't tell from the two pictures above, my laundry room/sewing room is a freaking mess. It doesn't help that I haven't done laundry in a week, so I have sorted piles of clothes all over the room. I'll give you a few before pictures.

             

The Staples box contains socks that don't have a match, the stuff on top of the dryer is random junk that came out of pockets... you know rocks, acorns, money, sorcerers wand, sunscreen, coke bottle (yeah, I wish those last three were jokes). Also, that's where the detergent, fabric softener, and stain remover are. There's really no good place for them. I need shelves, or better yet: cabinets!         

Here's the after. Not a lot better, but it's an improvement. I put the stain remover and fabric softener on the ledge behind the washer, the other stain remover is positioned (rather precariously) behind/on the dryer and ledge. I kept the detergent on the dryer for easy access. It's hard to reach the ledge for every load of laundry with a giant 34 week baby belly in the way! The curtain is a leftover from Avalyn's room. I actually like it down here. I was thinking of painting the room a really happy yellow and these would look nice with that.

Here's some inspiration for what I want it to be:

Happy yellow!

I like the idea of a bulliten board, or peg board on the wall the sewing machine is on. Love the open shelving, too... and the hanging lamps. Can I just love all of it? I don't have the original source of this one, but I found the image on Pinterest.

And I will certainly be making a curtain to go around the ugly that is the furnace. Check out the before and after of this laundry room on her blog. I found the image on Pinterest but the blog post has a lot more pictures!

Here's the layout right now, then what I want it to be...

In the second picture I replaced the hot water heater with a tank-less hot water heater that will mount on the wall, moved the central vac over by the furnace, and added shelves to the wall with the window. I doubt this will ever happen as seeing I want to put a bathroom downstairs eventually... guess we'll see.

                 

Okay, back to reality... Here's a picture of my messy sewing table. Totally not able to work there easily. And yes, I was "watching" Grey's Anatomy on Hulu when I was cleaning. Anyone watch the newest episode? I can't wait til Thursday!

Why hello, messy table. You are messy.

My thread cabinet - this is where thirty percent of my thread was.

This is where the other seventy percent was... nice huh?

This this the blank wall next to the furnace. I hung a poncho there... yeah, I don't have a clue as to what to put here. The switches make it sort of hard to work with.

Clean! I managed to fit all of my fabric in a tote, all the thread in the cabinet, and all of my odds and ends in the storage slots on my sewing table. The hamper and backpacks on the floor need a home, and that cord that's all rolled up needs to be put in the garage where Matt is going to put ends on it for the generator. It's too heavy for me to carry, so it's waiting patiently for him!

Here's a nice little summary of what's going on in here...

My many spools of thread. I have like a billion of each color (if a billion means three to nine spools of each).

So, am I nesting? Or is this something anyone would do if their room was this messy? I also scrubbed the floors and vacuumed... and scrubbed the washer and dryer... and the walls... It's not just me, right???

SWWACHL

This weekend was SWWACHL (swatch-el). I will be the first to admit that I did not help. Not that I didn't want to, but I can't exactly weild a chain saw, chop wood, shovel, or rake. When my mom comes back to clean the house, I will help with that. I can do dishes and vacuum. Sweeping is out. We all know what happens when I sweep...

Even though I couldn't help with the heavy lifting I did photograph the event.

The guys were having too much fun with the chainsaw on Saturday.

"Timber!"

Oh yeah, they're troublemakers for sure.

Avalyn was helping Grandpa and Great Uncle Jim plant a tree (clearly the area needs more of those).

Matt and Keith showed up later in the day (they were doing a spring clean up of their own at our house - more on that later). Look at how Daddy looks at his baby girl. If that's not love, I don't know what is!

Avalyn loves her Grandpa - it's really more of an obsession.

Keith helping out with the digging. Time to plant some shrubbery! Anyone else think of Monty Python when they hear that word? Just me? Okay.

Avalyn was trying to be like her big brother.

My mom also brought some goodies up for me! Well... for Nicolas, but he's not here yet so I'm going to be excited for him! Remember that trip I took downstate and I ended up in the hospital instead of in front of a sewing machine? My mom and I were going to re-cover a car seat. I had all the fabric and it was on my to-do list of fun and crafty projects, but my right kidney decided to be a jerkface so the project didn't get done. Not by me anyway... but look how amazing my mom is:

Isn't this the coolest ever??? The red cow fabric is under the canopy for Nic to look at with his developing baby eyes and brain. They say that black, white, and red are stimulating. Here's hoping those cows keep him happy. I still can't believe that fabric find. I went into Field's and told my mom I wanted red fabric with cows, and we both thought I was insane and would never find it. It was the first thing I saw! I know the green seat-belt doesn't match, but that's okay, it doesn't need to. I have the best mom ever, don't I? She did such an amazing job, and nice thing for me. 

That wasn't the only nice thing. When I was downstate on that fateful trip, another thing we found at Field's was nursery bedding fabric! I wasn't expecting my mom to be done with the quilt AND the car seat. She also made two crib sheets and a receiving blanket/bath towel/nursing cover. Yeah, she's a super hero.

The front of the quilt

Back of the quilt (my mom doesn't like to be photographed apparently).

Front of receiving blanket.

Back of receiving blanket.

The two sheets.

It was a pretty great and busy weekend. We got a lot done around the house, too. I cleaned out the garage... well the mudroomish (that's a word) portion, I'm not touching Matt's disaster area. That's all him. I'll post about that tomorrow... or the next day, or the next day. Don't take me at my word, I can't be trusted with deadlines. ;) With that note, I'll leave you with a picture of the look Avalyn gave Grandpa when he went outside without her. Poor Grandpa.

"Why would you leave me in here with my mother?"

(No, her eyes are not enhanced, this is the way they look when she's staring into light. Yikes!)

Did everyone else have a busy weekend?