Getting Ready for Baby!

So I’ve been nesting all week and I now have the nursery about 95% functional now. Yes! (We don’t have crib sheets yet, but since baby will be rooming with us for the first couple months, I’m not torn up about it. Just ignore the fact that you can see the mattress in the pictures, mmmkay? Thanks)

I’ve mentioned before that the second bedroom is a nursery/office/crafting room, so we’re a little squished in there, but that’s alright. I’m pretty happy with our little setup and I think I’ve done a pretty good job for being on a tight budget.

Here’s what you see when you walk in (thankfully it’s not the office side – as that’s still a work in progress ;)

I made this wall art several weeks ago and I’ve been so excited to show you! Fun, huh?

**Before anyone decides to freak out on me about hanging things by the crib, these are artist canvases – much lighter than frames AND no glass – and are hung with command strips, so they are harder to simply pull off the wall than if they were hung on nails**

Above the crib is a mobile that I made (I found the idea and tutorial HERE). And it really didn’t take that long, even with attaching all the circles to the string. Gotta love my Silhouette machine and double sided tape! ;)

Turning in to the room you’ll see the hutch we are using as Nathan’s closet and the curtains I refashioned for the room to fit the window (and that happens to be the only window in the room, so I apologize for the bad lighting in the second photo when I’m trying to show you the curtains…)
These are curtains we’ve had since living in California and since they were red (part of my color scheme) and I didn’t want to buy new curtains, I used the 4 panels we had and added length to 2 of them (It’s a REALLY tall window!) by cutting off material from the other 2. (Did that make sense?) To cover the seam (and embellish) I added this fun ribbon – that we also used at my baby shower.

Here’s a quick look at the inside of Nathan’s “closet”. I had registered for the fabric bins at Target and got two at my baby shower (yay!) I bought another two to hold clothes and toys. And I really only managed to fit clothes up to the 3 Month-ish sizes in those 3 bins on the middle shelf. The rest of his (many, many) outfits are in bins underneath the crib and will be switched out as needed.
And Grandma Moffat also made these adorable fabric bins that work perfectly for hats, bibs, socks, and binkies!

And last, but certainly not least, what has become known as the “Diaper Tower” that has been hanging out on top of the hutch. I’ve been scoping out diaper and wipes deals since my second trimester and I’ve gotten some really good ones so far (Pampers and Huggies for $0.12-$0.14 per diaper!). Which results in a current surplus of diapers. But I’m not worried, we’ll go through them soon enough! ;)

Hope you enjoyed the quick tour! :) Among getting things organized in the nursery (I seriously did 3 huge loads of laundry washing all of the baby clothes, towels and blankets – whew!) I’ve also been trying to get those last trouble spots of the apartment all organized (John thinks that soon every item in the apartment will be labeled. Not true. Only most items) and there really isn’t any room left in the freezer – I’ve been experimenting with freezer meals. I have no idea if they’ll turn out, but I like to think that we’ll have food for when after my mom leaves and I’m supposed to figure out this being-a-mom thing on my own, and I’m too afraid to leave the apartment. ;) But the freezer is jam packed. Though that didn’t stop us from buying ice cream two nights ago. Hee hee.

38 Weeks!!!!!

We are getting SO CLOSE!
How far along? 38 Weeks! Yesterday was officially TWO weeks from my due date (oh please baby come on time!)
Weight Gain/Loss: I am now having dr.’s appointments every week (eek!) and as of Monday I was 138. Just one pound more. I’m kind of done gaining weight now…can we be done? ;)
Maternity clothes? Thankfully Maryland’s weather has been kind of all over the place, so while it’s probably driving everyone else crazy, I am so glad it got cooler again. Back to my long sleeves and not feeling so stinkin’ hot all the time.
Sleep: Still snoring (so embarrassed) and while everyone keeps telling me to sleep as much as I can until baby makes his grand entrance, my body doesn’t seem to want to let me sleep much. I will wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and then come back and be awake for another hour or two…and then I can’t seem to sleep much after 7am. Boo. TRYING to get lots of sleep. Not working out so well…
Best moment this week: Most definitely my baby showers. SO fun! And we are feeling so very blessed by all of the gifts we received to help us get ready for Baby Nathan’s arrival.
Miss Anything? Hm…reaching my toes. My last pedicure (which was probably back in September…I know) has grown out and I’m needing some cheerful red on my toes. But I can’t reach them. Though that might not stop me from trying to paint them. I’m stubborn like that…
Food cravings: Still nothing. Oh well.
Have you started to show yet: Yes! And being on the small side is finally starting to pay off. I get so many compliments on how well I’m carrying for being only 2 weeks away from my due date. It makes me feel better about the 30+ pounds I’ve gained (I know that’s a fairly normal range, but what woman likes to gain weight like that??)
Gender: My wild boy is still so wiggly! You’d think with the dwindling amount of space now available in utero he’d calm down a bit. Nope. Still acts like we’ve got all the space in the world. Which alternatively tickles or is super uncomfortable depending on what he’s doing. I’m interested to see how wiggly he’ll be on the outside!
Belly Button in or out? Still an outie!
Wedding Ring on or off? My hands have started to swell a little bit more (especially at night), so no wedding ring for me. :(
Labor Signs: At my appointment on Monday the midwife told me that she thinks baby has dropped!! (for those who don’t know, that means baby has moved into game day position in my pelvis – a good sign) I really hope that’s the case! I’ve been told that once they drop, it’s unlikely they will move out of that position, but given how crazy my baby is…I’m not so sure. ha! And I’ve had a few braxton hicks this week. I don’t think the ones I mentioned last time were the right thing. I’m quite sure this time. Nothing too crazy yet though.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I suppose I’m in what they call the ‘nesting’ phase. I’ve spent all week washing baby clothes, organizing the nursery and getting those last minute organizational projects done around the apartment so that everything (or as much as possible) is ready before baby arrives!
Looking forward to: I am SO excited to meet our little man! Though I’m trying not to think about it too much (and failing miserably) because the anticipation is just killing me these days! 

Because It’s His Baby Too!

So here is the Dad-To-Be Basket that I put together for John, as promised :)

I got the fun container and tissue paper from the dollar store (loving the dollar store these days), and it ended up being the perfect size for everything I wanted to stick in there – with the exception of the camcorder, but that was from John’s parents anyway.
Let’s take a look inside, shall we?

I think I had a good mix of fun and practical, and each item has a little tag to tell John what it was for ;) I had purchased some heat transfer vinyl to try out on my Silhouette and this was the perfect opportunity to make some fun personalized gifts. I had a blast! So on we go…

”For those unfortunate incidents”
“For Snacktime” (I found the bib idea through Pinterest and knew I had to make it. Love it!)“For Naptime” (Also found this idea on Pinterest…and I really just couldn’t help myself…)
“For when you need to call on your superpowers” (Because really, what Dad doesn’t have superpowers??)
And we can’t forget the back!
“For Bedtime with Baby”
“For us to learn and grow” This book was recommended to me, so here’s hoping it’s got some good schtuff in it ;)
And we can’t forget some treats!! Though to prevent him from eating it all right away I might have to tell John to save them for the hospital at the very latest ;)
“For those sleep deprived days at work”  “For when you need a pick-me-up”    “For your sanity”

And last, but certainly not least, I included a letter from me and then I asked both of our Dads to write John letters with advice or their feelings on fatherhood, and included that in the gift basket as well.

And that’s it! I’m thinking it was quite a success ;)

The Mustache Bash!!

After all the planning and prep, we had my mustache bash baby shower at my Mom’s house today. And oh, what a bash it was. I think I’m more tired from all the preparation than from the shower itself! ;) Because my mom and I have an arrangement (we do this for a lot of things): She pays for it, and I make it awesome. So with her “fund-age” and my creativity, we throw some pretty cool parties (If I do say so myself). Remember Jennifer’s Harry Potter party? Same arrangement. Same awesomeness. So yeah, I did actually style and put together and make all the treats for my own baby shower. Because that’s kind of how I roll…

But anyway, back to mustaches. I drew a lot of my inspiration from this baby shower – I found it through pinterest months ago and thought “If I have a boy, we are SO doing this”. So if you headed over to the link, you’ll see a lot of similarities. Using Photoshop, I designed a “Shave” the date that we sent out a few weeks before the invite went out:

Then we sent out the real invitation:

So fun, right?! So I came down yesterday afternoon and this morning was a little crazy getting everything ready. I had to stop at the house of the cute girl that does my hair down here and get my bangs trimmed really quick (FINALLY under control again!) and we had to run a couple of errands, like getting balloons and ice and whatnot. But we got going later than I anticipated and by the time we got back, we only had an hour and a half to set everything up! And I had a lot of things to set up! We were finishing as people started to arrive, but most of it came together pretty quickly. As with the Harry Potter party, the dessert table is my pride and joy – so…uh…be prepared for a lot of pictures of yummy food… ;)

Ta da!
My slightly sad looking oreo truffle pops…;)
And I used my fun mustache cookie cutters that I got for Christmas to make these sugar cookies – too fun :)
The full set up once again!
The table for eating and chatting
We did this at my circus themed shower, and I really liked the idea, so I had cards for people to write advice for me, the mom-to-be
I found this really fun blue punch recipe through pinterest and it matched the décor perfectly!
I used Photoshop to make the graphics for the party – loved being able to customize everything exactly the way I wanted it!

We had a few games, namely a guessing game (guess how many jellybeans in the jar), and a raffle, as well as a point game where you filled in a sheet of paper and based on colors you were wearing, how many kids you had, if you came on time, etc, you were to add or deduct points from your score.
Once we announced all the winners, we had presents! And I was so blown away and grateful for the generosity and kindness of our friends and family, We got so much fun and useful stuff for baby Nathan!

We also had a photo booth and some fun props, so before anyone left, we’d snag a picture and they’d get a chocolate mustache pop as their party favor
(So as not to overwhelm you with pictures, this isn’t everyone…)

Once the last of the guests had gone, the boys (who had gone missing the entire duration of the shower) came back and I had a little something special for John: A Dad-to-Be gift basket!

I’ll blog about the contents of the basket later, I put some pretty fun stuff in there. hee hee This came with another little surprise from his parents: a brand new camcorder! Because you know, it’s his job to make all the family home videos now ;)

And then it was time to clean up and consolidate all the gifts…because we somehow have to fit everything in the car for the trip back home tomorrow!

THANK YOU to everyone who game and contributed to the group gift (my new carseat and stroller frame!) and brought such wonderful things for my sweet baby. So grateful for you and your friendship, generosity and love!

The Rain in Spain…

…Falls mainly on the plain…

;)

So most of you know that my brother served a mission for our church in Spain. And that he got back in February. And it’s been super cool to have him back. Even though he’s usually down at my parent’s in VA and I’m still here in MD. I still get to see him from time to time.

Anyway, he really helped me out when I was coming back from Time Out for Women in Indiana. The route we took back brought us through Maryland, but since I’d driven down to Virginia to start the trip, my car was still at my parent’s house – which meant I would have had to sit out the rest of the drive to Virginia, then drive my car BACK to Maryland, adding another 2 hours to my total trip. Boo. But Jason saved me and drove my car from my parent’s house and he met up with us at the DC Temple, which reduced my travel time significantly! (If you’ll remember, the traveling was really hard on me that trip, so I was so ready to be out of the car and at home!) And it was kind of a last minute change in plans, so Jason really went out of his way to help me out. As a good brother does ;)

So as a thank you he requested cookies. And so I made him cookies. Spain inspired cookies.

Viva España! (Um…I think I spelled all that right…correct me if I’m wrong, Jason ;)

So my mom piggy backed on this endeavor and asked me to make a whole bunch of these for a missionary fireside that Jason would be giving to the youth this weekend, so the one dozen I was making for Jason turned into one dozen for Jason plus two dozen for the fireside. Thanks Mom… ;) In addition to the treats I’ve been making all week for the Mustache Bash (Can’t wait to show you!!). It worked out though, I ended up using up most of my royal icing and didn’t have to throw away too much leftover…

The fans were inspired by the beautiful fans that Jason brought me and my sister back from Spain.

“Spanish” Lace
I’m pretty proud of my (albeit loose) interpretation of  coat of arms on the Spanish flag. Not too shabby ;) My edible food writer pens were perfect for this!

The ones I gave to Jason were packaged up pretty…uhh… manly with toppers that said “Gracias Hombre!” Which essentially means “Thanks Man!”

So thanks man, you rock ;)