Nursery!

So after many months of work, the baby's nursery is just about ready!  Just missing a few things.  Clearly we need a baby, but we also are waiting on a piece of artwork one of my lovely co-worker's is painting for us.  It will go above the crib, and hopefully be something the baby can keep with him his whole life.  Very excited to see it finished and share it with everyone!

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the rest of the room!

Fun frame with old family pictures above the changing table.  I have so many great ones, I'll have to change these out frequently, or add some more frames to the wall.

Changing table under the frame!

Whole far wall!

Crib wall and little reading station!

Dresser on left wall, thank you Mike and Ellen!! Check out my adorable diaper bag on the ground too - thank you co-workers!!

Frames on top - check out Mr. Bowen in the onesie we gave Jason and Kristy to tell them we were pregnant.  Can't wait to have a picture of the two of them together!

Bags are packed and ready to go!!

Books and awesome quilt from Grandma Jeri!

So that's it for now - hopefully we'll have a baby to fill this room soon!

37 Weeks!

And here we are!  Another week in.  We have been to the doctor twice since my 36 week post, and both times have been told that the baby's head is super low, and the whole labor process is started, but that my due date of 7/27 is probably still pretty accurate.  So, 2.5 weeks to go.  Our next appointment is Friday, so we'll see if he's made any progress by then! 

Dave and I have succumbed to the fact that we both think this little guy will hang out until his due date.  We were hoping he would come early, but now we're not getting that feeling at ALL.  This little guy is probably just like us, i.e. very stubborn.  So, clearly he is already doing it his own way.

I'll try and post some nursery pics soon!  We're just waiting on one final piece of art to finish it off.

36 Weeks!

36 down.  4 to go.  We start weekly doctors appointments this week to see how everything is progressing.  The little guy is definitely running out of room, it's starting to feel like his feet are wrapped around almost to my back!

35 Weeks!

Does he look bigger yet?  Or lower?  Like he's about ready to come out?  I hope so!  The end of pregnancy is rough.  SORE hips, stretching, stinging muscles, exhaustion, and oh so many more fun things!  I'm down to about 4 outfits that fit, so I apologize in advance for the repeats you will see in these next few pictures!

The baby will be full term in about a week and a half, so technically could come at any point after that.  Let's hope it's sooner rather than later!

34 Weeks!

Yikes.  I clearly should have made Dave take this picture earlier in the day.  Not one of my better shots.  Oh well, you win some you lose some!  This little guy will be full term in just 3 weeks.  Hard to believe.

Dave and I have been trying to take advantage of our last few weeks of freedom with late night ice cream dates, movies, and anything else we can think of that will be harder to do with a little one.

I know, all you moms are saying "everything is going to be harder, you have no idea what you're getting into".  I'll find out soon enough, don't burst my bubble yet!

Hiccups!

The little man had hiccups this morning.  I know lots of people are able to feel their babies hiccup - but this was a first for me!  What a sweet little feeling.  It made me laugh thinking of a little person hiccuping in my stomach - and almost made him seem more real.  Feeling punches and kicks is one thing, but for some reason, to me, a little guy in there with hiccups makes him finally seem like an actual person.

We can't wait to meet him in just a few weeks!  We spent last night washing and folding most of our baby clothes, and putting away all the wonderful gifts we got at the shower my mom hosted this weekend.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful, generous family and friends in our lives to share this special time with!

33 Weeks

32 Weeks!

I wanted to make sure and actually take a picture every week for these last few weeks to see how big this little guy gets - and fast.  Apparently they gain half a pound a week at this stage until they are born.  Yikes!

Baby Yar Bump

I have received several requests for more baby pictures from my lovely friends and family members.  So get excited everyone, here's Baby Yar over the last 8 months!  You can also see how the nursery has changed from a guest room as well.

10 Weeks.

11 Weeks.

14 Weeks.

15 Weeks.

17 Weeks.

18 Weeks.

20 Weeks.

22 Weeks.

24 Weeks.

28 Weeks.

31 Weeks.  Dexter felt left out.

30 Weeks (and 5 days).

We’re getting there!  9.5 weeks at the MOST until Baby Yar’s BIG (literally I’m sure) debut.  I wanted to post a pregnancy update since I haven’t really written about any of it in a while.  I know, don’t judge me non-pregnant friends.

So a while ago now, probably around weeks 22 – 24 or so, I was in a self-defined pregnancy slump.  I was tired of being pregnant.  It seemed like it would never end; and my hormones were OUT of control.  I was maybe a little depressed, cried all the time, and was all around just whiny.  We had already found out the baby was a boy, we had no more chances to see him until he was born, and the list goes on.  Believe me, I am not kidding about how whiny I was, poor Dave.  The fact that I should be constantly grateful for my healthy baby and easy pregnancy was not easily remembered at that point.  

That was a large reason for no posts during that phase.  I didn’t want to appear to be ungrateful for this little guy, or to be that annoying person that is negative ALL the time.  You know you all know one of those people.  So, luckily for you, that time has passed.  However, I did buy a book that made me laugh about pregnancy during that time; called Sippy Cups are not for Chardonnay.  I highly recommend it if you need something to bring back your sense of humor while pregnant!

Then, around 27 weeks I went in for my routine 28 week labs and glucose test at my doctor’s office.  Talk about an eventful morning.  I chugged my red glucose drink and then had my appointment.  I started feeling super sugar high while I was waiting for the doctor to come in.  The appointment was fine, and as I left to pay I started feeling dizzy.  I sat down and still felt hot and dizzy and my vision started to blur. I decided I should probably see if I could lay down somewhere, so I went to the front desk and asked.  They ever so nicely were going to get a room ready for me, when, the next thing I know I’m laying on my back on the ground with 5 or 6 people standing over me trying to get me to wake up.  Oops.  Not the way you want to start your day.  So they had me lay down in the back in a dark room for half an hour or so, took my blood in there and made sure I was ok before I left.  Clearly, I was assuming I would have to take the 3 hour glucose test since obviously my body did NOT like all that sugar.  But, I passed with flying colors, so thank God!  No more sugar for me.

Since then, everything has gone back to being pretty much uneventful! However, at my last two appointments my blood pressure has been a little high (after being SUPER low the whole rest of the pregnancy) so they took some labs and are going to start seeing me every week just to watch it!  I’m sure it will be nothing, but they are watching for early signs of preeclampsia.  

Even so, the little guy is doing great.  Good strong heartbeat and he is VERY active.  He started really going crazy around 28 weeks or so, and in the past few days he has really picked it up even more.  The doctor said his head is down already, where it’s supposed to be to deliver.  But, incredibly, it still feels like I’m getting kicked all over the place.  I usually feel big kicks up by my ribs, and when I lay down tae-bo like punches on my side.  Also in the past two days or so, we have started to see and feel his whole body move back and forth across my stomach – weird.  

So that’s the big baby update for all of you.  More to come soon!  Including nursery pictures!

Tutorial: How to paint and seal a crib.

Sounds easy when you think about it right?  Just buy some paint, slap it on, and then boom, nice crib ready for a baby.  Nope.  Unfortunately, this is not the way it goes people.

Dave and I spent considerable time researching, talking to people and even checking with our doctor to make sure what was safe for this next baby room project.  There is NO good site that has all the information in one place, so hopefully thi s tutorial will help by compiling everything we learned.  Now, we are not experts so please don’t call me if someday something crazy happens with your baby in their crib that you redid.

When we bought the paint we used for all the furniture, we made sure, to the best of our knowledge, that it was the safest type of paint you could buy.  That means low odors, low VOC’s, AND long lasting to minimize chipping.  We ended up with Valspar Signature which is actually paint and primer in one.  It was like painting with chocolate pudding it was so thick.   At least that’s what I thought.  The people at Lowe’s told us that the Signature paints hold best and are less likely to flake off. 

 

So we checked with our doctor as well, who said that really any paints made now are going to be safe enough to use on a crib.  She said the only paint issues people really need to worry about are the lead paint issues in a really old home, or with really old furniture.  So we felt good about that.  Paint problem was solved.

Here's the crib so you can see it's original color!

Then it was on the sealer.  You cannot just paint a crib without some sort of finish to seal everything because as the baby gets older he or she could start chewing on the crib, causing the paint to flake and them to ingest it.  And, even though paint is relatively “safe”, we thought we should try to avoid that at all costs, and we also wanted to add some shine to the finish.

So we did a ton of research on wood and furniture sealers to find one that would be approved for this type of use.  There is not a lot out there people.  The first one we settled on was a product called PolySoy, which had had no toxins and was soy based.  When we ordered it, we got an email back from the manufacturer saying they had stopped making that product because it wasn’t actually sealing anything.  Awesome.  

So we found another natural based sealing product and emailed the manufacturer to ask if we could use their product on a crib.  They replied that it would work for that so we VERY excitedly ordered two test pints of it to use.  You can find it here.

Now, the little summary above simplifies the number of google searching hours we completed looking for these products.  First I started searching under crib sealers, safe lacquers etc.  What really seemed to work were the key terms “natural sealers” or “environmentally safe sealers”.  That is a niche market where we found all of these products.  Most of them are supposed to be used on a larger scale, to seal wood decks, floors etc., but the one we ended up with had furniture listed as a use as well.

To actually paint the crib, I would recommend painting it as assembled as possible.  Our little garage workshop was getting dusty, and since we have a lovely furry dog, we were finding as we painted each piece on the drop cloth, a lot of particles and fur were getting mixed in with the paint.  So, we assembled the crib for the second coat.  

 NOTE: make sure the crib can fit through any doors/openings you need to get it through.  We had to end up taking off the front panel to get it through the nursery door.  Which luckily was not too big of a deal, but if you had to take more than that apart it could be a problem.

Painting in process!

So we painted two or so coats on the crib with it assembled.  This means that yes, I had to sit inside the crib to get the inner bars.  That was fun.  Make sure you have something soft to sit on in there.  We let it dry for a week or so before we went to put the sealer on.  I also got new, varnish brushes to use for the sealer.

It had a very low odor, so Dave and I could both do it at the same time, which went much faster than just one of us doing it.  It also only takes 40 minutes to dry between coats, so we did both coats in one night.

When applying the sealer, we learned not to let it get it too thin.  Really sweep it on there.   When it got too thin, it would start to grab on and pull off the paint.  It looks white when it’s wet, but dries totally clear.  Just make sure there are no big pools of globs of sealer.  Those do NOT dry clear.  

Here you can see a bit of the shine the sealer adds.

So here is the crib, safe as can be in the room, and with bedding!  Hope at least the sealer product info is helpful!

Movement...FINALLY

So I just looked at the blog and realized I hadn't posted in a long time.  Sorry if any of you were holding your breath.

Throughout this pregnancy, I have read What to Expect When You're Expecting (the book) and their online weekly updates, as well as Baby Center's weekly "where your baby should be now" weekly posts.  And, until recently, they had always been pretty right on with how I was feeling and how things were progressing.  BUT, over the past few weeks, I was getting freaked out.  They all consistently said, "hey you should feel your baby move A LOT sometime between 16 and 22 weeks.  So there I was, all of 22 and a half weeks and nothing.  A few little flutter type bubble things, but no serious baby movement.  Yikes. 

I even went in for my last exam around the 22 week mark and the Doctor started with "oh, you must be feeling him all the time now, huh".  No.  But way to make me feel terrible lady.  So then, she checks out my chart and says "Oh, well your placenta is in the front, so that's why you can't feel too much, you probably won't feel him a lot for another few weeks."  Would have been nice to know when you found that out a MONTH ago at my ultrasound.  But, oh well.  Fun things you learn about your body when pregnant. 

So, this little guy is already doing his own thing.  Most babies implant on the back of the uterus, but some do on the front causing an anterior placenta (i.e. Baby Yar).  Can't wait to see how big of an independent streak that is foreshadowing!

But back to the point of this - he is moving around a LOT now.  Last week at about 23 and half weeks, was when he really started doing his thing.  He likes to move a lot when I'm sitting and typing at work in the afternoons.  Also right before bed, and if I randomly wake up in the middle of the night, then too.

Dave got to feel him for the first time on Sunday, so that was fun to see, and reassuring for both of us!  Now let me clarify, by feel, I mean the little guy finally managed to kick hard enough for a SLIGHT wave like feeling to make it to the surface.  Nothing quite like seeing feet kick me yet or anything.

So that's where the baby is at as of now!  Crib post coming soon!

Baby Yar is a BOY?!?!

We had our (approximately) 18 week appointment last Monday the 27th to check on the little one and FINALLY find out the sex.  I know 18 weeks is even early to find that out, but again, I'm impatient.

I was a little anxious for this appointment because in the last ultrasound we had (around 8.5 weeks) the baby just looked like a peanut.  A cute peanut, but just a peanut nonetheless.  So, we hadn't seen any arms or legs or fingers or toes yet.  I was a little worried it could be missing one of those, or God forbid, something worse.

However, the human body is amazing, and mine has done a great job growing this little one.  We went into the ultrasound room and Dave got to watch as the tech did the actual important part of that process, making sure all the organs were there and where they were supposed to be, and making sure that everything was measuring correctly.  Good news, nothing crazy going on there.

I didn't really get to see any of this, which kind of sucked, but Dave said he couldn't really tell what he was looking at anyways, so I'm sure I didn't miss too much.  After all of that was done, she turned the screen around and moved Dave to the other side of the room so we could both see at the same time.  She let us watch the baby flip around for a while, and pointed out all the important things like the head, spine, legs, arms, etc. which was super fun to see.  Even though I can't quite feel it yet, this little one is ACTIVE.

Then she kind of paused the ultrasound, and started typing on the screen "IT'S A" and then said, now please don't get any tattoos, or paint a nursery, or cut tags off of clothes, BUT and then added "BOY" to the end of her sentence.  Dave and I were SHOCKED.  Honestly, we both REALLY wanted to have a boy first (both of us always wanted to have big brothers growing up) but were pretty positive that it was a girl.  Why you ask?  Who knows.  We had both just thought that from the day we found out I was pregnant.

Whatever.  Mother's intuition is totally wrong and I am NOT mad about it.  Clearly, we would have loved to have a healthy little girl as well - but we are completely THRILLED that it's a boy.  We were both SO excited, and asked her if she was sure probably 6 or 7 times.  Which is probably why we got 6 or 7 ultrasound pictures including that part of his anatomy.

So yes, we have some names we like.  No, we haven't picked one.  And no, I'm not allowed to tell even if we do.  We'll probably pick a few of our faves, and then wait until he's born to see which one strikes us as best for him.  Though the planner in me wants to pick one and paint letters for the nursery wall, I like the idea of waiting to meet him first.

So there you have it.  The latest Baby Yar update.  We could not be more excited to meet our little boy in July!

Baby On A Budget Part II: Re-Cover

So like I've mentioned, we've been so lucky in getting hand me down and/or very low cost furniture for the baby's room.  However, not lucky enough that everything matches.  Over the last couple of weeks I tackled the project(s) that I was totally dreading.  Painting and re-covering a glider and ottoman that my mom gave us. 

So check out where these guys started:

And what we got to fix them up:

First of all, they started in our garage, so they were clearly nice and dusty. We wiped them down and painted the wood on both to match the changing table Dave's work friend so nicely handed down to us.  The paint was awesome, and only took one coat.  However if you'll check out all the nice slats and poles and other small areas to paint on the glider, I had to touch up several times.  I hated every second of painting that, I won't lie, but I do LOVE how it looked when it was done.

After the paint had dried on both for about 24 hours, we used a spray lacquer to cover both of them to protect the paint and add some shine.  This is not the same stuff we'll use to finish the crib, but that's a whole other story.

Once they were dried and set, we moved them up to the baby's room to work on recovering them.  I decided to tackle the ottoman first, since I could do that without monopolizing my mom's sewing machine.

I had purchased some batting at JoAnne's to fill in where the ottoman was sagging a bit in the middle.  I folded about 3 layers over and placed them on top.  Looks great, I know.

Then after playing around with different options for covering this for a good half an hour, I had Dave come in for a consultation.  Clearly his engineer brain had a better idea than mine in like 4 minutes.  I won't even bore you with the options I tried out, but we ended up cutting a big piece of batting (enough to cover the top and sides over the red) and tacked it down in the inside.  We just used small wood tacks and a hammer.  I would recommend a thicker tack than we used, because ours bent really easily.

 So, when the batting was all tacked in, it looked like this:

The hardest part for me was the corners.  I couldn't figure out how I wanted to secure them, but I ended up kind of folding them under and tacking them on the bottom, kind of like wrapping a present.  I then did the same step with the fabric I bought to cover them.  I found a BOLT, a whole BOLT of navy fabric for $5 at WalMart.  Awesome.  Even if I messed it up totally, not a huge financial loss there.

You can see the corners a bit more on the finished product:

Ta Da.  Now don't get me wrong, I fought with that stupid batting for a good hour or so.  I wanted to kill someone. These 3 pictures make it look much easier than it was, but also just goes to show, anyone can do it.

About a week later, when I recovered from the ottoman stress, I decided to get it over with and recover the glider cushions.  I used the same fabric so the two pieces would match, but I cannot take credit for literally any of the process beyond that.  I simply pinned the fabric (inside out) around the current cushions and cut the fabric out around the pins, leaving an inch or so for error.  Those bad boys I took to my mom's for her to work her magic on.  She sewed around the cushions, we turned the covers right side out, put them back on and stitched them up.  Again, sounds a BIT easier than it was.

BUT check it out now, much better:

And the both of them together:

And a wider shot of the only finished corner of the baby's room (you don't want to see the other side):

Def making progress!  Don't worry - that small table will get the dark brown treatment shortly.  As soon as I can think about painting anything else, now that we're mid-crib painting.  Again - a whole other story, that one.  It's a beast.

So it definitely took some time and elbow grease - but probably only about $40 for the both of them including paint, fabric and spray finish.  So, in other words, totally worth it.  I'm obviously just saying that now that I'm done.

Baby Yar better appreciate it's matching room.  I know.  Clearly babies think about that kind of thing.

More fun stuff coming soon!

Goldfish?

So today makes 18 weeks for Baby Yar.  Time just keeps flying!  We find out Monday if it’s a he or she Yar, and are very excited about that.  Clearly.

Baby Yar is starting to really move around in there.  I can’t feel any distinct punches or kicks yet but it does very much feel like there is a goldfish swimming around in my stomach at times.  Lots of random wavy feelings.  I started feeling those the day Bowen (our sweet little nephew) was born.  Clearly Baby Yar is excited to meet him!

He or she can hear, and see (light that is) – its eyes are still closed.  Today it’s about five and a half inches long (not including its legs, which will inevitably be super long) and weighs about 5 ounces.  Not quite fully baked yet!

We’ve made more progress on nursery furniture updating, and bought a car seat last weekend.  Yikes!  Very weird to see it sitting in our living room.  I’m very excited to start buying massive amounts of cute, tiny clothes once we find out the sex of the baby.  I’m sure our checking account is not as excited.

Stay tuned for the big gender reveal and some furniture updates coming soon!

How To: Put a duvet cover on without crawling inside of it.

This was a big problem for me back in the day.  I had a down comforter, with a duvet, that had a VERY small hole.  In order to get a non-clumpy finished product, you were supposed to stuff the comforter through the hole, crawl in, grab a corner and scoot towards the back end of the duvet, all while holding the comforter and not schrunching up both layers up all over the floor and/or bed. 

There HAS to be a better way, right?  There totally is.  I learned this when we got an awesome hand me down comforter from two of our good friends.  The first time I went to wash the duvet, I found these little clips on all four edges. 

I was very confused for a hot minute, but then I realized my friend Julie is the smartest person in the world.  She clearly used those clips to avoid the crawl and scootch moves I was using to put my duvet on.

Since we just got a new duvet cover for our bedroom, I figured I’d show you all this little trick.  To clarify, the new duvet cover was necessary due to the fact that we bought a black comforter before we bought our tan, crazily shedding dog.  In addition, I was over the dry cleaner people making fun of me when I dropped off the comforter, so I figured being able to simply wash a cover in the privacy of my own home would be much better.

So, I just lined up the comforter and duvet on the edge of the bed.  Duvet needs to be inside out!

Then clipped the overlapping edges with these lovely little clip guys and made sure it was pulled tight across and both the comforter and duvet cover were even.  

Then you simply pull the cover up around the comforter to the top.  Since this is the first duvet cover I have bought in like 10 years, they have gotten a little more technologically advanced.  The bottom has this lovely little pocket to place the edge in, so I really only needed two of the clips.

Then you just close up the cover, shake it out a few times while holding on to the clipped ends and you have a lovely, non-bunched up comforter.  

And also you’re not sweaty and frustrated from crawling around in a large cloth cotton death trap.

Win win for everyone!  Except Dexter.  I'm fairly certain he's mad that he will no longer be able to see his fur everywhere.

Baby on a Budget – Part 1. Work with what you’ve got and DIY.

We’re having a baby on a budget.

Not sure if you all have noticed, but having a baby can be incredibly expensive.  There are so many options out there when it comes to cribs, strollers, bedding, changing tables, bottle warmers, etc.  I could go on for days, but you get the idea.  Some of these big ticket items in particular are not very nice to one’s budget.  And, personally, I would rather drop a grand on some sort of tropical vacation with fruity drinks than on a stroller and car seat (no offense intended Baby Yar). 

This, my friends, is why my husband and I have been trying to come up with any and all ideas to get this baby here for a reasonable price.  And, because I love to share (and over share), I will pass what we come up with along to all of you, just in case there is anyone else out there attempting to still have a balance in their savings account after the birth of their child.

We started by thinking about the nursery, clearly an easy place to start.  Luckily, our extra bedroom is currently painted a very light brown, which is the color it will stay for multiple reasons.  One, to save money and time on repainting.  Two, we will probably put our house on the market within the next few years and didn’t want to create a unique nursery specific color palette and/or design that we would have to re-paint eventually for resale value.  Three, we may have more than one kid in that room at some point and brown is nice neutral color that goes easily with any other color.  Which conveniently leads me to my next point, go gender neutral.

Now, I never thought I would be a gender neutral person (pink or blue all the way!), but thanks to my loving, rational husband, I realized the actual genius behind this idea.  Now, I clearly am not the first or the only person to realize this, since there is currently a great market for gender neutral baby products.  But, for our situation it makes SO much sense, budget and space wise. 

So, because I felt the need to start working on the room immediately, I made a pin board of nurseries that I liked and shared them with Dave.  We both were leaning towards nurseries that used blues and greens, with some yellow and/or orange accents (what boy OR girl wouldn’t love those colors?).  So, then I made a trip to JoAnne Fabric (they will cut you an inch of fabric for free!) to grab a few samples of colors/patterns that I liked to run by Dave for male approval.

We narrowed down our color scheme and then I started browsing online to find other patterns that may work for curtains (my initial DIY project).  Curtains can be crazy expensive, and it can be hard to find exactly what you want.  So I thought hey, those can’t be too tough to throw together, let’s do that.  Luckily I was right. 

In my online browsing, I found several very cool fabric websites (Fabric Worm and Contemporary Cloth were two of my faves) both of which had great patterns at fairly reasonable prices.  But, in the end, I found the fabric we went with a good old JoAnne’s.  They were having a 40% off sale on all of their cotton fabrics, yay, and I found a great green/blue/yellow paisley pattern that I LOVED.  And hoped Dave would also.  So, I bought six yards (two separate 3 yard panels) for $19.50 total.  Awesome.

So this past Sunday, I spent 5 or so hours at my mom’s (who generously donated her ironing board, sewing machine, thread AND sewing expertise to help with the cause) making curtains.  It really was a fairly simple process.  I found a great tutorial here that I referenced before I went over, just so I had some idea of what I was doing.  We followed it pretty closely, but let me know if you have any questions!

We used the same curtain rod we had already up in the room - so when we finished I just had to hang them!    I think they look pretty good!

Stayed tuned for more DIY projects.  Painting baby furniture is next on the list!