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!