2 other colorways for nursery fabrics, thoughts?

Ok, so of course, I cannot make a decision.  What do you, my friends and family, think of these two options? (Clearly, I love the raspberry dandelion print - as it appears in all choices).  I think now I'm leaning towards this first choice....why must this be such a difficult decision for me?  I love the geometric prints for the crib skirt, but want to keep it soft enough that it's still feminine.

Crib Skirt:
 
 with this at the bottom:

 

Curtains:

 

with same bottom panel as skirt.

 

-OR-

 

Crib Skirt:

 plus

and curtains:

-OR- the one shown several posts below with the geometric print??

The wall color will remain some type of tan/sand/beige. My mom tends not to lean towards the cooler color palettes for paint, and since the room will be in her home it has to work.  That said, I think a neutral wall color can be the basis for any color scheme, and any of these would look nice against a pale sand. 

25 weeks (almost)

Just a quick update for a belly shot - today is actually 24W+5D but it's close enough! 

Dear God do my eyes look that baggy all the time?

At 25 weeks, our girl can reach her own toes and hold on to them! She can also make a fist (so that's what I've been feeling lately!).  If you listen from the outside, it's now possible to hear her heartbeat without a doppler or stethoscope - we'll have to try that to see if it's true, or if you only really hear my stomach deciding if dinner was a worthy choice or not... I'm feeling all kinds of movement lately which range from gentle bumps to some stronger pointy jabs. Matt felt a particularly swift kick the other day and was shocked at how strong it feels even from outside! He asked "what does that feel like from inside when it feels that crazy strong outside?"  It's hard to explain, but sometimes it feels like if you jammed a few irregularly shaped balls or objects and then rolled them over one another inside a sock or something.  Pretty cool :-) 

In other pregnancy related news, I've decided not to teach my winter session of Zumba after all.  With the increasing SPD (pelvic/pubic pain) I've been having, plus the possibility of complications from placenta previa, I just felt that it was important to listen to my body and take it a little easy (which many of you know is particularly hard for me to do sometimes).  I wanted to teach this winter for a few reasons, including staying in shape before delivery and also not letting my students down, but I know I have to do what's important for the pregnancy and that was that. I'll plan to go back to teaching in September, but a little break will probably be a good thing anyway.  The SPD is pretty obnoxious, and that literally feels like my pubic bone is separating when I move certain ways (rolling over in bed, pushing something with my feet or even taking off one shoe using the other foot, going up stairs etc).  The only thing that really helps that is to take it easy, and Zumba is not exactly that, unfortunately. I'm going to get a support band to wear around my hips to see if that helps, too, because it's getting challenging to stand for longer than 15 minutes at a time, and sometimes it is so achy it hurts to stand on one foot long enough to put my legs in my pants! 

Our next ultrasound is in 3 weeks, and they will re-check the placement of the placenta (and I am going to ask them to turn on the 3D for a minute to try and get a glimpse what our girl looks like...hoping they will!).  If it's still low-lying or completely covering the cervix, they will do a repeat u/s again at 32 weeks, and begin to make a delivery plan if we have to think about a c-section.  If it's all clear, then we can proceed with planning a normal delivery.  We're enrolled in a condensed childbirth prep series at the Center for the Childbearing Year which will be 2 Saturdays in the early spring regardless, and I think that will be good for us even if we think we're planning for a c-section just in case that option changes at the last minute.  I definitely feel like I need to start getting my head in the game if I'm going to have a natural delivery, which is the way I'd like to see this go.  More on "birth plans" in a future post, however. 

3 more weeks until the 3rd trimester begins...so hard to believe I'm nearly 2/3 of the way through this! 

Nursery Inspirations

Post Holidays, and a few days into the purging/organizing of the space at my Mom's that will be our little girl's first room, I'm starting to brainstorm decor ideas for the nursery.  I don't want to have a really specific theme (i.e Ladybugs! or Butterflies!), or have a migraine inducing throbbing pink explosion, but I want to have a space that feels relaxed, sophisticated, and put together.  After a reasonable amount of time weekend spent entirely searching for fabrics online, I thought I was totally settled on my choices, but then the bug bit a second time and I'm rethinking what I want.  I will be making the crib skirt and curtains at the very least, and most likely a few throw pillows and smaller accessories like possibly a diaper stacker (even though I want to use cloth diapers, I think it could come in handy for those or something else).  I'm planning to use this sewing pattern for the basics minus the bumper pad, which we aren't using for safety reasons:

For curtains, I don't think I'm going to need a pattern but I'm planning to do floor length panels (84") with a primary fabric and a contrasting band of fabric along the bottom for an accent.  I also plan to add a band of the contrast fabric along the bottom of the crib skirt to coordinate the two. 

Here are some of the fabrics I like at the moment:

For the main fabric in the crib skirt:

For the trim panel on the skirt and curtains:

 

 

 

For the main part of the curtains:

 

I'm also thinking of doing a very thin stripe of a pale lime between the primary and contrasting fabrics to tie them together, possibly something like this:

 

 

The walls will be painted in some shade of tan/sand/taupe/oyster/beige and the trim will be white.  I'm planning to paint the furniture white as well.  I really like Sherwin Williams Oyster bar for the walls:

 

 

 

So that is my current inspiration board :) I want to incorporate touches of "natural" elements like baby birdies/owls, a wall collage of vintage styled and modern prints (Matt got us some REALLY cute papers from Hollanders to play with), and a DIY fluttery mobile project similar to this:

Organizationally, we need a small bookshelf for all the books we already have (!) for this little girl, and something for the closet, and I'm thinking about one of these with color coordinating fabric bins:

Thoughts?

 

2011 - the year I will become a mama

My apologies for the missed posts - with the holidays bearing down on us and working all week, it was the best I could do to make sure all the major items were checked off my list, and the blog slipped to the back burner.  But, to recap, Christmas came and went and was just as lovely as it is every year. We did our annual Christmas Eve dinner with Matt's family, and let me tell you, I married into a great one there! Delicious food, family stories, and the excitement of the kids on Christmas Eve (although they are all getting SO grown up and I have to say it's amazing to see how they each get a little bit more reserved and less Santa'sComing!Santa'sComing!OMG every year).  And for those of you who wanted to see pics, I brought a peppermint meringue chocolate ganache cake for dessert, and it was SO delicious!

The cake, pre-slicing 

 The inside view

The 23 Week Belly at Christmas Eve

Our Christmas morning was actually pretty perfect, as it was the first time since we lived in our condo that we've actually had our own time together on Christmas day without anyone else. We opened our gifts in front of the fire with mugs of coffee and a few special treats, and just spent the day generally relaxed and jammied until my Mom got home from work and Allison came over.  Family dinner before 8 PM and opening our gifts at night by just the light of the tree was a little upside down for the way we usually do it, but it was really nice and a great way to end the day.  Of note, I received a video camera (well, apparently I made this wish recommendation quite clearly known and both Matt and Mom got one for me...oops!), so just get ready for an onslaught of adorable videos this spring! :)

Anyway, I have now hit the 24 week mark and the very brink of viability. Little girl's lungs should be developed enough to offer at least a chance of survival outside the womb (although I've been quite clear with her that she is to stay put for a while yet!).  She should weigh about 1.5 lbs and will begin putting on the weight now.  According to one of the many weekly email updates my inbox is regularly assaulted with, she is currently approximately the size of a papaya :)

:: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Reflecting on 2010, looking forward to 2011

2010 held much excitement and promise for us.  We continued to work very hard every month towards our goal of paying down debts and moving closer to being able to look into buying our own home.  We had hoped that this would happen by the end of this year, and although we're not quite there we've made tremendous progress, and I have to remind myself how much we have accomplished.  We have pushed ourselves to give things up or hold off on things that we wanted, we have learned the importance of patience and fortitude towards a shared goal, and we have continued to learn that supporting each other no matter how difficult the circumstances might seem at times is ultimately what will get us to that end.  And so, in 2011, we will continue to forge ahead and hopefully this year will be the year that we do in fact become homeowners. 

2010, as you all know from reading this blog, was also the year we decided to take the leap towards parenthood.  We were lucky enough to conceive without a struggle, and I feel so fortunate to have had a relatively normal pregnancy thus far.  Being slightly less than 16 weeks from our due date, I am looking forward to the remaining experiences that this journey will have in store, but more than that I am looking towards the most wondrous change our lives will probably ever see; becoming parents for the first time.  I think we both have the chops to handle it with relative grace, and the support we have from friends and family will see us through when we inevitably falter.   This role, Mama, is something I feel I have literally waited most of my life to experience, and I feel ready. I honestly hold very little anticipatory anxiety about those first early stages of motherhood, anyway...thinking about raising a teenage girl does pose its challenges, but we'll work up to that by the time we need to! I feel knowledgeable, prepared, and overwhelmingly excited to experience that which I have admired in others for so many years.  To have a little face look to me as one of the most important sources of love and knowledge and guidance, to nourish both a body and a developing soul, to raise an intelligent, present, caring member of our human race...I am truly honored to have the opportunity to try my hand at this.  

Aside from the obviously major changes that 2011 has in store for us, my other goals (albeit related to that in some way) are to simplify, de-clutter, and organize both my physical spaces and my inner self.  I want to feel that the spaces I surround myself with bring me peace, calm, and comfort, so that I can live as presently and simply as possible.  I want to experience my remaining pregnancy and maternity leave fully, not living in a whirlwind of clutter and physical mayhem (of course some of that comes with having a newborn around, but I at least want to start with a clean slate, both mentally and physically).   I am notoriously terrible at getting and staying organized, and I truly want this year to be a fresh start. With that in mind, the rest of this weekend is dedicated to clearing out spaces and finding what we cannot live without, and doing away with much of the excess. 

What are your goals/resolutions/hopes for 2011?

22 Weeks

22 Weeks! Baby is definitely getting noticeably bigger every week now as evidenced by the size of the belly, which is starting to look alarmingly rotund these days, and her movements are getting stronger (a little) day by day.  Matt got to feel a good thump last night, which was great! We were laying in bed looking at lists of names together, and she must have known we were talking about her! I think the name we were looking at when she popped Matt was Laqueesha (and why the HELL did that come up under a list of Gaelic origin, I ask you?), and I'm certain that was a "You two had better choose something a little better than that for me, I mean there are millions of names out there and you're looking at Laqueesha?".  She should weigh just over a pound by now, and we are now 2 weeks away from the brink of viability - I can't imagine that there is a human baby in there who albeit with MAJOR medical intervention, could survive outside the womb.  We will appreciate another 15-18 weeks inside, though, thank you very much little girl. 

Here she is in profile at 22 weeks :) 

We are having trouble with the sharpness of the photos of late. I have a great camera, a great lens, a fairly good understanding (at least I thought) of settings to use in various conditions, and most of these belly shots have been slightly out of focus or the white balance is off, or something.  In fact, I feel sorta disappointed in the Tamron lens I got for my camera this summer, but I'm 99.9% sure it's not really the lens but user error ;).  Need to work on that, and spend some time with the book I have on using this camera (2 years later, natch). Of course, for these shots, I'm also asking someone else to use my camera who doesn't spend much time with it.  Maybe I should pull out the Powershot A430 point and shoot, and we'd have better luck with these pics. Any of you photographer friends have any tips for sharper pics taken indoors after dark (my Thursday week turnover day lends us to taking these either before work or after work, in the dark with artificial light)?

With the Christmas holiday now 8 days away, I have been pushing myself to get things ready this week, and have spent late hours decorating, shopping, baking, and making projects for gifts.  I love to do this stuff this time of year, and although it feels hectic and last minute I do get satisfaction from knowing I did something creative and it turned out well enough to give someone! This week I baked approx 4 dozen molasses spice cookies for Matt's classroom holiday party (recipe originally from Cook's Illustrated, courtesy of www.simplyrecipes.com), power-shopped after work until 10 PM on Wednesday night, and made Lavender-Lime Sugar Scrub for gifts.  Consequently, my pregnant body has said ENOUGH and told me so when I tried to get out of bed today.  I literally could not stand long enough to even think of getting in the shower, so I am home, resting instead of at work today, and while I feel slightly guilty about that, I have to remind myself that my body is doing the work of two right now, and some days I will just have to rest.  (Holy Run On Sentence, or at least Overuse of Commas Batman). But, I wanted to share my scrub recipe and some photos for fun :) 

Sugar Scrub 

-Equal parts natural ("raw" or turbinado) sugar and oil - I used half Sweet Almond Oil and half Grapeseed Oil, but you can use any kind you like.  (One 24 oz bag of sugar filled 2 of these containers from Michaels)

-Essential oils for aromatherapy purposes - I used a combo of Lavender and Lime, and let me tell you it smells heavenly! Wish you had a scratch and sniff screen, cuz this is the bomb.  I know it's for skin, but I seriously wanted to taste it! 

Mix sugar, oils until all moistened and glistening, and then add essential oil - drop in a little at a time until you reach the desired potency of the scent - those babies can pack quite a punch and you don't want to inadvertently clear the sinuses of your gift recipients! Then, scoop into jars, add a square of spare fabric and tie with a ribbon. Perfect for gifting! 

So there you are, 22 weeks recapped.  6 weeks until the 3rd trimester, and also 6 weeks until they recheck the placenta previa.  Hopefully I'm not told to go on bedrest, but we'll figure that out as we need to! 

Happy last week before Christmas! 

21 Weeks

I can't quite believe another week has ticked by...December is quickly speeding past as it usually does, and along with it so are the weeks of this second trimester.  7 weeks left until the third trimester begins! This week my belly is really starting to feel like a pregnant belly.  I'm noticing sensations of internal and external stretching that are somewhat uncomfortable at times, as though I'm walking around with a post-Thanksgiving belly full of food all the time!  I don't believe I have as yet adopted the pregnant lady waddle, although there are times when I feel like it! Maybe I should ask someone to walk behind me and assess that...

Inspecting my un-clad self after a shower the other night (as I have developed the slightly disconcerting habit of doing), I discovered the appearance of several silvery white stretch marks on my sides.  I do believe these have been there since sometime in middle school (another period of awkwardly rapid growth, it seems), but now that my belly is starting to tug at the sides they are showing their sneaky little selves again.  I'm not sure if the fact that I had them earlier in my life means my skin is just prone to getting them and I can look forward to all kinds of new lovely, probably purple ones in the coming weeks, or if I still have the chance of escaping with a smooth skinned belly.  Of course, I have no choice but to wait and see, and although I know no amount of cocoa butter or belly oil will stave them off, I'm still doing my best to moisturize the heck out of my skin under the premise that it's winter and who wants dry, itchy skin on top of stretch marks?! Bring on the Burt's Bees Mama Bee belly balm!

21 Week Belly:

I really need to have these taken at the beginning of the day instead of at the end...

Tidbits:
Dinner last night - tostitos and salsa, chocolate ice cream (I guess this is probably why they have pregnant ladies take vitamins)

Pregnancy cleavage is obnoxious.

Pregnancy skin is still weird.

Pregnancy dreams are weirder. Like the one where the baby was born with all of her baby teeth? Yeah like that.

The room that will become the nursery at my Mom's is in a state of unbelievable possibly pre-hoarding stage disarray.  We have MAJOR work to do after the holidays.  See for yourself:

So anyway, there you have it.  Our life at 21 weeks, in a nutshell.  

20 Weeks - Halfway to a baby

While I hate to start a post with an apology, I do have to say I'm sorry for the delay in getting this updated this week...of all weeks! Big News! Last Thursday was the halfway point for me in the pregnancy, 20 weeks, and we had a midwife appointment that went well that day.  My blood pressure remains normal, baby's heart rate is hovering in the mid-150s, and my weight gain has been modest so far, which is all good news.  Not much else to add there, things just keep rolling along normally.

Then on Friday we had our much awaited ultrasound.  Baby is growing right on track and weight is estimated to be about 13 ounces right now.  Our sonographer spent plenty of time checking out each part of baby's development, head to toe.  Every major organ system is looking normal, all structures and bones are growing normally, all fingers and toes seem accounted for.  Femur, humerus, feet and hands are measuring right on track.  There seems to be no evidence of a cleft lip or palate.  Brain development appears normal so far.  The heart appears to be perfect from every angle they could get (which was a lot!).  Little one is stubborn and would.not.move for the longest time for them to get a good peek at the profile, so I was asked to get up and pee, and do a few jumping jacks to get it going! We asked the tech not to tell us the baby's sex, but write it down and we would open it together after the appointment.  After all the measurements were taken, a perinatologist looked them over and then met with us to discuss everything.  By and large, baby looks like a healthy, fabulous little 20 week fetus.  There was one particular measurement which was slightly "abnormal", but they discussed what this might mean, and also that it can be off in the spectrum of typical babies very often as well.  Without getting into too much detail, I will say that although it was a surprise to both of us that we didn't walk away with a "perfect" assessment, there seems to be no real need for concern regarding baby's health or development at this point.  On that note, here are some cute pictures of our little one!

Right Foot 

Left Foot 

I like to call this shot "skeletor" - front view of baby's skull, with a creepish looking hand curled up

Profile, with arm across the top

However, they did discover that I have a total placenta previa, grade 1.  Basically, a little bit of the placenta is implanted covering the cervix.  They felt that this would likely resolve over the next part of the pregnancy, but they want to repeat an ultrasound at 28 weeks to check it again.  If it hasn't moved, we will start discussing what this might mean for the remainder of pregnancy as far as restrictions (i.e bed rest! ugh!) and for delivery.  If it is still there at 32 weeks, they will most likely plan for a c-section.  Not much else to say about that at this point, but hopefully it resolves itself and we won't have to discuss it further!

So, for those of you who haven't already heard, we did find out the sex of the baby. DISCLAIMER - Mark if you are reading this, stop now!!! And for any of you who know Matt's father, please do not tell him! He doesn't want to know, and we will do our best to honor that wish for him.  Anyway, the tech was quite sure he saw what he needed to see (I'm pretty sure I saw it when he did too).  He wrote the sex down and we decided to go to the Michigan Theater and open the envelope on the landing where we got married.  It was really sweet, and totally Matt's idea.  It was a perfect way to find out that we are going to have a daughter! It's a girl :) Neither of us were surprised to see that word written on the paper, but it was so wonderful to know that we can now start calling baby "her" and thinking of names.  No, we don't have any front runners yet, and I think we might keep that little part a secret until the end when we do!


I know this post is getting super long, but I wanted to end with a belly pic from 20 weeks.  Halfway - think it's half as big as it's going to get? Haha, yeah right! I look like I could use a good nap here. Hope 21 weeks photographs better.  I'm wishing I was a bit more creative with my weekly shots, but I guess there's still some time left.