It's BAAACK!!

My creativity flew away for a long time, but it's back! I've got my sewing machine dusted off and my kitchen table has been repurposed again. I have an extra room for my craftiness, but there's currently a crib, a futon, a bazillion boxes and NO table in there. You only though they were all unpacked, but they really just went into the "office." 

So the kitchen table has been borrowed. I've got several baby due-dates coming up (besides mine!) and my plan is to make hospital gowns for the mommas. I don't think either of them read this blog, so I think I'm safe :) I had to make a prototype first, kinda like the first kid or the first batch of cookies. LOL

So, here's a few pictures of the prototype gown-disclaimers first: I can't find my camera, so my phone did a stand-in; it's not 100% done, I don't have bias tape for the raw edges; and my mirror was filthy! 

still kinda shapeless, but at least i know no one pooped on it!

 Not too keen on this print, but it was the cheap fabric for the rough draft. I might keep it for delivery, when all the "birth process" is most likely to get on it :P

i know now that contortionism is out in future careers

The back-note the three ties-less likely to get the draft and the unfortunate feeling that your bare bum is exposed!

ignore the belly in the corner, I tried to suck it in!

And I even did the shoulders with snaps to go around IV's, cords, lines, and whatever else is deemed medically necessary!

So, rough draft completed, on to the real one tomrrow. The fabric I have for her is totally adorable. If she wants to wear it during birth and get the "birth process" on it (see, I'm keeping this post gore-free!) that's fine, at least pictures will have her in a pretty gown. My hospital gown I wore when Brendon was being born kept gaping at the pocket and showing...too much. These--no pockets! Yay!

On the Richter scale, this day is HUGE!

Wow. If days had a scale, like the Richter Scale for earthquakes. The higher the number, the worse the event. So, I think today would be a 7 or 7.5. But, I think it has the potential for lots of other things to raise that number. So, what's gone on to make it so bad? Ha, glad you asked, because I'm about to tell you!

First, I woke up every 2 hours. See, I'm on-call today, for work. I kept having nightmares like, they called of staff that was in overtime (on a Monday!?) and called me in, instead. Nevermind the fact that overtime and on-call pay is the same hourly wage! I knew they would call at 5:15, and I kept telling myself that, and I would just expect to be awoken and told to come in. I told myself that, and I was OK with it. But my body didn't listen. I kept wondering what time it was, if they had called, where's my pillow, what's that noise, why is the A/C blowing. Gah!

Second, I spilled about a gallon of water on the bathroom floor and forgot to rinse the conditioner from my hair. The water leaked around the shower curtain, so who knows how much it really was, but it soaked up two towels, my PJ's and the rug. In my hurried state, I quickly jumped out of the shower to clean it up and never got back in. So, I forgot to rinse the conditioner from my hair. I thought it felt kinda different, but I thought I just had stuff on my hands, as I was putting it up. Now, it's crunchy and stiff. I'd rinse it in the sink, but I haven't done the dishes yet.

Third, Brendon threw his iPod in the tub (filled with water) because he didn't want to watch Toy Story, so he got a time out and could only read books. I went back to cleaning the tub. Well, he didn't want to read books, and he let me know it. He was trying to climb on my back and legs and I was bent over the tub and toilet trying to clean. This is the last week we have to clean and return the keys to the apartment office, so I was so thankful to not have to work, but number four kind of makes me wish I had.

Fourth, Brendon threw my phone in the toilet I was trying to clean. I know, I should have learned my lesson, and now I have. But he would not leave me alone and he would not stop whining. Hello, terrible twos. So I gave him my phone to play his little games on. Something happened, maybe a text to interupt it, and he came to me. I guess I didn't fix it quick enough because he got mad and threw it in the TOILET! It was in there maybe 2-3 seconds, but that was enough to shut it off. Now, it's buried in rice, along with the iPod.

Fifth (isn't that enough? no?) I called work to tell them my predicament, that I'm with out phone access and I fully expected them to say, "Oh, I doubt we'll need you, but ok, we'll email you." Instead, I get "We'll most likely need you, but I don't know when."

Pray, pray really hard that I'm not needed because I have a lot I need to do, mainly laundry and grocery shopping. The laundry is all the dirty stuff collected from the apartment that we just carried over here, yes, in trash bags. Most of it has been dealt with. There's one basket and a small pile, plus the winter stuff. Like I said, that'll probably be around for a while.

Ok, time to get lunch ready and get Brendon up from his morning nap-he REALLY needed it! I'll post more about my cloth wipes challenge, that I'm flunking, so far!

Wipes Challenge: June 22-July 22

I've taken the plunge. I'm joining up with April from Mama on a Green Mission. The reason-to save money and our trash! I felt a little disappointed that I couldn't participate in the last challenge, but it was just impractical. This I can do. The Challenge is to use only cloth wipes from June 22- July 22. Since BAM's sitter uses disposable diapers, I'm not going to make her use cloth wipes, and besides, it's not ME doing it...well, in a sense, it is, but I can't change that much. When Brendon is home (at least with me, I doubt MCM will be big on this...) I'll be using cloth wipes with his cloth diapers. 

my wipes solutions

I've made a few different wipes solutions to go with them. The left one is made with apple cider vinegar, very dilute-so it won't burn the butt. The middle is baby lotion and baby shampoo-both lavender. The left one is vitamin E and baby shampoo, regular. I used the vitamin E one today, and at first I sprayed the wipe, but that was silly, so I sprayed BAM's butt. He giggled and said "more?" Ha!

recognize the fabric? it's left over quilt stuff!

I made several styles of wipes, mostly because I got lazy and bored with how I was doing it. I have a few that are turned and top-stitched, several that are zig-zagged edges in flannel. Then today I whipped up a batch that are zig-zagged with a cotton side and a chamois side. Say it with me OOOH-AAAAH! They're super-soft. Can you imagine how luxurious it would feel? *ahem* Anyways. Then I got lazy and did a single tiny stitch around the edges. In the wash, they did fray, but I'll trim the long pieces and they should be ok.

smooth, like butter!

Oh, I just thought of something. Do I need to store the extra solution in the fridge? I think I read something like that somewhere. Eh, I don't think so. So, who's with me? Take the Challenge!!

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... :)