A new place to call home

So, we finally got out of the apartments and the neighbors that park in our spot, stomp up and down the stairs, and whine (well, the little girl whines, and the mom whines back). We found a cute little house not too much further down the road, about 5 minutes. It's a older house, but it's been built onto recently. There's four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a front living room, a kitchen/dining room, and a den. A nice sized yard (yucky grass though), a garage and a back porch. All-in-all, it's a fairly nice house. We officially moved in this weekend...yesterday, to be specific.

Our first night in the house had some little bumps, like I can't find the cord to the griddle, so our pancakes were made on the stove-not too bad. Mark almost cut my finger off in the dishwasher, but it just bruised and became a little swollen, so not too-too bad. And Brendon wouldn't go to sleep, until about 9:30. That was pretty bad. He was so excited, plus the room was a little different, the bed was different, and the noise was gone. Seriously this house is soo quiet. It's like, we have no one else living here--Oh wait, there is no one else!

I've got pictures, but just on my phone, and I am way to lazy to post them from there. I'll put them on facebook, most of you that read this are my friend anyways, so just go check them out, once I put them up there.

Brendon's favorite part of the house is split between the carpet, standing on the couch to look out the window, the yard and the fact that he can run laps around the house! LOL He lays down on the carpet and rubs the back of his head back and forth and grins.


On the baby front: we're having a BOY! I'm about 5 1/2 months, 22 weeks, for those who know weeks. Morning sickness is a thing of the past-AMEN! My belly will not be hid anymore, and I have reached the point where I will wearing the same handful of clothes for the rest of the summer/fall.

Some times slacking has it's perks!

Because I've been a blog slacker, I missed the entire Blogger dysfunction. This morning, Brendon and I went strawberry picking! We had a ton of fun, at least, I did. Brendon seemed to enjoy himself. He at about half a dozen strawberries and had the face to prove it! Then this afternoon/evening we cooked. I made a banana pudding, and added strawberries, and then a strawberry cobbler. I mean, if one can make pumpkin cobbler, then strawberry cobbler shouldn't be a problem. They both turned out beautifully! You'll have to see my FB page for pictures because I'm a failure and lazy. But we're definitely going to go again this season!

Wow, you look GREAT!

Pregnancy is a difficult time for the pregnant person and her friends. I mean, whether the baby bump is big or little, you can't just say "you look so small" because theoretically if the pregnant person has been though a lot of morning sickness, other physical ailments, AND non of her pants fit, just saying something as innocent as "you barely look pregnant! wow!" can feel like a slap in the face. No, they may not have known all that I she has been through, the weeks of morning sickness, the migraines, the forgetfulness, the mornings of nothing-fits. And, I'm not about to come clean and say "let me tell you what I've been through" because it doesn't matter. But instead of saying "wow you look like you have nothing to show for all your work these past 16 weeks," how about "wow, you look GREAT!" And, it works the other way. When someone looks like they're about to deliver an elephant at 20 weeks along, you don't say "wow, you look so biig!" because believe me, she KNOWS how big she looks. You just say "you look GREAT" and leave it at that. Unless you are in the same boat-then you can compare abdomens. Just be careful to tread lightly as you would want her to tread.

I'm not bemoaning my "condition" or the word choices, just coming up with something to write about, something that has been mulling around in my head. Being at work and pregnant, I get that all the time. Once I was asked how I felt, and I said "fat" because I did. None of my pants fit (surprising because they're SCRUBS!), but it was true. I was laughed at. She said "You're not serious!" and I felt so embarrassed. Just because my pregnant belly isn't as big as some people's normal self, doesn't mean I don't have my fat-feeling days. If a bigger person can feel skinny in a size smaller as she's working out, then I can feel fatter as my unborn child pushes me out of my normal sizes.

Wow, you look GREAT!

Did i forget to tell you?

i think i did. please excuse the all lower case; i'm going one handed because my toddler is sleeping in that arm. why? because he woke up early from his nap and would only sleep on mama.
but, the newest news of all: drum roll please...no, seriously, i can't say it without a proper drum roll. oh, come on, everyone can do it! just bang your hands on your lap, it's not that hard! thank you!

so, mark and i are adding to our family again! yup, we're getting a puppy! a cute little--oh, not a puppy? but brendon wants one so bad! fine. we'll have a baby then. you can't tell me they're not allowed here! i'm due mid-late october :)

i've een super sick. i don't rwmember being this sick with brendon. i do remember being sick, throwing up in the morning and at night, but i don't remember the mid-day stuff. everything i read about morning sickness with number 2 was, "i didn't notice it as much" and "running around with little [other child] made it seem not as bad". not here. i've had to put brendon down suddenly and run to the bathroom before. once the bathrooms despirately needed a cleaning, so i threw up in the living room in a trash bag...brendon watched and when i was done, proceeded to show me what i looked like, leaning over the bag. he even added sound effects. i had to laugh, it was just so cute.

so there you have it. i'll probably be back next month... :)

ISO: amber teething necklaces STAT!

Does anyone make amber teething necklaces and want to help my poor teething, cranky toddler out? It's been awful! I know he can't help it, and it's part of life, but I think I'd rather have more than one tooth come through at once. We went though this a few weeks ago, and then all of the sudden *poof* there was one of his eye teeth. Now, I'm waiting and watching for another one.

The fever, the crying, the tears, the non-sleeping, the acetaminophen, the ibuprofen, the Orajel. Oh my word! I'm beginning to hate the smell of Orajel. And Brendon now fights the meds.

But we will get through this, and we will do it two more times! But I'm serious about the amber teething necklaces! I don't have any extra $$, but I'm willing to do a trade, for some sewing skills. Seriously, I can make a ton of things without patterns, and just about anything if there is a pattern.

He woke up from his nap, still cranky and snuggly. We sat on the couch and I rocked a little, and he fell back asleep! Was not expecting that, but he's been asleep for about another hour on the couch. Poor guy.

Butt Paste? Pass Boudreaux's! (review)

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

I only heard of Boudreaux's Butt Paste from a blog I was reading, this mom of 6 kids went shopping and her kid kept dropping random items in her cart. She did her best to deter this. One item was butt paste. She goes "Oh, {son} I didn't know you were out of butt paste!" HA!

Then, I got a tube as a baby shower present. Thankfully, Brendon never really had much problems with diaper rash. Once he was teething and had a bad rash when he pooped, Boudreaux's Butt Paste cleared it up! Seriously! It would be there, I'd change his diaper use the paste, and next diaper change, it was gone! And it protected his skin from any more rashes! {exclamation point!!} LOL

I'd only heard of other brands, white and pasty. Boudreaux's is more of a cream colored, and actually smells pretty nice. Boudreaux's Butt Paste® was specifically formulated by a pharmacist with direction from a respected pediatrician to provide effective diaper rash care. So you know that it's pediatrician recommended!

I like that Boudreaux's Butt Paste actually wipes off my fingers and on to Brendon's butt easily! and when it's time to change his diaper, it wipes off him with one wipe! You can get it lots of convenient sizes, 1oz, 2oz, 3oz and 4oz tubes, 16oz jar! Never be without! The tubes can be a small handy travel size, have a nice flip top cap.

The paste is made of 16% zinc oxide (so, no it's not safe for cloth diapers, but you can use a fleece liner!) and Peruvian Balsam, which helps it treat diaper rash and soothes irritated skin, and smell pleasent.

Not only do mom's love it, but TV loves it too. it's been featured on the Oprah Show, Tonight Show, Today Show, in People Magazine, ESPN, and Whil You Were Out (TLC)!

Did you know that you can visit their site for a free sample to test out for your self? They also have an "all natural" version.

How I make my covers

 When I make my covers, first, I cut out the fabric and PUL layers. Duh. Sometimes I do it together, sometimes separately. It just depends on the *mood* LOL Then I sew the soft touch tape to the tummy end, but only to the fabric, not the PUL layer too.

tummy touch tape sewed in place

Then, I place the two pieces together and trim if needed. If don't cut them together (or sometimes, even if I do!) I end up with extra wide curves or extra fabric, especially if I've cut out the pattern on a fold. I think the fold makes it wider, because it doesn't crease (you can see my pile over there <---). 

yah, yah, yah, i know it's looks funky. But it works!

 So I've matched up the layers and decide where the gather should go. I do have them marked on my pattern, but I just never remember to mark them when I'm cutting. Besides, they all end up in about the same areas. I know where I want them, so it all ends up good.

make sure you place the pins close to the edge, so you don't get extra holes

 Next comes the FOE, or fold-over elastic. This stuff is amazing. It's totally forgiving, and stretches as much or as little as you want. I don't actually start sewing at the end of the FOE. I give it a little tale, and pin until the corner. I always say I'm going to round my tabs, but each time, I never do. I just plow through. It's tedious, but I get a certain satisfaction when I see it finished. 

Hi Snoopy! I'm glad you look good in brown!

 Then, using a wide, short, three-step zig-zag, I sew around, stretching the FOE at the designated parts. I didn't take a picture of this, because I tend to focus to closely on it. Usually, I can get the FOE on with out stopping except to sew the FOE raw edges together, but I had to add a few inches, so I did have to stop and start a few times, but unless you look closely for it, it's not noticeable. 

need the right stitch!

 Then, the sticky touch tape. Someone reviewed a cover and said the tabs didn't stay closed that well, so I lengthened the sticky part, hopefully, they won't curl or come apart as easily. I really don't have a problem with it, but Brendon is always wearing pants. Our house is just too drafty/cold with out pants.

zigged around the touch tape to keep fraying enclosed

 I added an extra tab of soft touch tape, mainly because this is a medium, but the opening looked a bit big. It probably won't need it, but it doesn't hurt the function of the cover. Overlap! I couldn't remember what it was called! Overlapping touch tape. *sigh* I need more sleep.

overlapping touch tape, in case the bebe is skinny!

And I'm done. It took about an hour, but that's only if I'm alone (AKA Brendon is napping) LOL. He just loves to help. He loves pushing the reverse button.

it's finished! I loove admiring my handiwork. And see the green PUL! *love*

Here's the one I did the other day, compared to the one today. See how Snoopy is upside down on the crotch part of the one on the right? I forgot to add a seam to swap the direction of Snoopy. But it's just a small part.

Medium with brown FOE, small with Green FOE

The medium cover has an owner, but the small is up for grabs. Anyone going to have a 15lb-er around March? Anyone?

(PUL is PolyUrithane Laminate, waterproof on one side, and polyester-fabric on the other. Touch tape is generic "Velcro." Can't call it Velcro because I heard they sued for their name. FOE is fold-over elastic. It has a seam that makes it fold easily, perfect for binding!)