Belly Cast

Today is my due date : )

We did a belly cast last night. (talk about waiting till the last minute) I really like how it turned out! Next I'll sand and reinforce it then decorate it. Maybe paint it or do a mosaic. We'll see. It was a lot of work but I'm so glad we did it. We used four rolls of gauze and a whole thing of plaster of paris. It took about 40 minutes. Major props to hubby for doing it for me and my mom made a great assistant!

I'm feeling good. Huge but good. I'm totally ready to have this baby and am in no rush! Can't wait to snuggle a squishy newborn. Dreaming of crazy baby bliss! So thankful to have my mom and sister here, what a blessing!

Baby booties

Just wanted to show my parents that the fancy sewing machine they gave me isn't going to waste ; )

These are so cute and super fun to make! I just used fabric I had laying around!






Here is the pattern if your interested : )

http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/blog/cloth_shoe.pdf

37 weeks!

Guess its time for a pregnancy update. I can't believe I'm 37 weeks already! This baby has been my most active yet. She does summer salts that take my breath away. She'll stick her foot out as hard as she can right below my belly button and leave it there for a few second. Its the strangest thing I have ever felt, Really cool but strange! My mom and my sister Summer are coming to visit on the 11th of June! A week before I'm due. I can't wait. I'm sure the thought of helping your wife birth a baby alone is a daunting thought so I know Joe will sleep easier when they get here. Hopefully this little monkey doesn't decide to emerge here before then.

My cloth diaper stash is coming along nicely! I have a few more diapes to sew up and I want to make some wet bags for traveling and some flannel cloth wipes. Its been really fun sewing different things and I am so glad to have found this hobby. My sewing machine and I have become good friends (we had some small fights at first due to my lack of knowledge) But I'm learning and as I'm getting better at sewing I'm really enjoying it!

Here are pics from the last few weeks! Can you tell I love my belly!?!

33 weeks

34 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks

Daddy and Nolan

I am so terrible about getting pictures of Nolan with the two of us. Last Sunday daddy had just done his visiting teaching, he was looking devilishly handsome so I had him sit and take some cute shots with Nolan. They turned out really good.....

My friend the beetle

So i guess Nolan inherited my fascination with bugs. I'm over it now but when I was little my mom and other various relatives tell me that I loved bugs and other small animals. I was sitting on the grass reading the other day and Nolan walked up and stuck this beetle right in my face!!! It really caught me off guard! My book went flying and I let out sort of a shriek. I don't know where he found this beetle but they were immediately bosom friends!! I was so impressed at how fearless he was, letting it crawl all over him. He played with this little beetle for quite a while then let it crawl away. He missed his beetle though and asks about him every time we go outside

32 weeks!!! And my newest cloth diaper!

Wow time fly's!! i cannot believe I am already 32 weeks along in this pregnancy. I know I still have eight weeks left but it feels like just around the corner. I am feeling very prepared for our unassisted home birth. Joe still needs a few "baby catching" lessons and I need to order cord clamps but other than that our birth kit is complete and I am feeling very confident and ready to give birth to this baby. (We plan on using braided embroidery thread for the cord so the clamps are just for an emergency) Here are my latest round of preggie shots : )

30 weeks

32 weeks
I was really trying to look ecstatic to be preggie here lol

I have also been hard at work sewing "practice" diapers. After sewing several of those I finally decided that I was ready to attempt to make a "real" diaper using my special fabrics and snap fasteners. I'm hoping to get about 15 diapers out of the fabric I bought so one down 14 to go! Here is my finished product...

This is an All In One (AIO) One size fits "most" Pocket diaper. There is a pocket in the back where the absorbent insert is placed. I used the Snap Sprout diaper pattern...

http://www.doddlebee.com/SproutSnap.pdf

This is the inside of the dipe that will be touching the baby's skin. Its suedcloth. I wanted to use organic bamboo velour but at almost 20 bucks a yard I just couldn't justify it

This is the outside. The white you see is Poly Urithane Laminate (PUL) Its completely waterproof! So cool

front view on the smallest setting. The material on the wings is minky (so cute) I happened to have some minky scraps from a blanky I had sewn a friend while she was preggie. This diaper still looks huge for a newborn so we will probably use prefolds for the first few months.

side view on smallest setting

Back view

Medium setting

And here is the large setting

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for my steller sewing machine!!!! We have become very good friends and without it I could not have been able to sew these awesome diapers!

Frosty the snow man

It snowed a few weeks ago so we took the opportunity to make a snow man. (and it turned out pretty cute in my opinion) This was Nolans first "real" encounter with snow. We put his little mittens on and plastic bags on his feet to keep his shoes dry. He LOVED it. Joe and I were hard at work building frosty when I look around to see where Nolan had run off too, he was sitting in the snow at the top of the slide. It was so cute. He really loved the snow man we made. He kept pointing to him and saying "Frosty!!" We sang the "frosty the snow man" song a few times and also "once there was a snow man". It was great fun. Frosty only lasted a few days. It amazes me how fast that much snow can melt!! Here are some pictures. Now the weather is gorgeous. Spring is quite a sight to see here in Utah. I'm still not used to it. We are loving life here!

Our little singing star

Mr. Nolan is such a ham! He absolutely LOVES singing his favorite songs..... Give said the little stream, The itsy bitsy spider, Twinkle twinkle little star and various others. Last Monday after family home evening Nolan decided to serenade us for quite some time. He would loudly announce the name of the song he intended to sing then he would sing the song just like a little performer. It was so cute. Here is a video....

(for those of you getting the emails you will have to go to the blog to see the video just click on the link at the bottom of the page ; )

Adventures in sewing

For those of you who don't know, I have decided to use cloth diapers with our next little monkey. After long grueling hours of bidding on ebay and looking at dozens of different styles and types of diapers I have decided to sew my own. (I had no idea how many styles and how pricey they could be!!!) So this was my first attempt at a fitted pocket diaper Also known as an AIO (all in one). It has a fleece inner, a waterproof middle and a soft flannel outer. You stuff the pocket with an absorbent insert and you have no need for a cover because its waterproof! I also plan on using snap fasteners to secure the diaper, just haven't gotten around to ordering them or the tool yet ;) Most people cringe and run in fear at the mention of cloth diapers but I can assure you these are not your mamas diapers!! They are almost as easy as disposables just a little more laundry! for those interested I'll put links at the bottom ; )

Here is a shot of the diaper folded. This is how it will look on the baby

See that flap in the back? That is where the absorbent insert is placed Not bad huh???!!!!??? I just got this amazing sewing machine and am pretty impressed that my first project turned out so good! I have sewn a bit in the past but am still definitely a beginner!

Here is another project. Its a pouch sling!! I made it using a video tutorial on Youtube! It goes around the body like a pageant banner. The baby rests in the soft fleece layers and is snug and secure against mommys body. I'm super proud at how cute it turned out ; )

This one I crocheted so we'll see how it works

I'll keep you updated on my crafty adventures!


One size Diaper pattern
http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2010/03/homemade-one-size-cloth-diaper-pattern-and-wipes-recipe.html

Pouch sling tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW9m_8w_btc

Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP)

What is this you ask? Its a rash that a small amount of women (and myself) get while pregnant. I had no idea what this was when I had it with my first pregnancy. I thought it was due to receiving my lovely stretch marks but when it didn't clear up for a few months after the pregnancy was over I thought it was something else. My doctor tried giving me a steroid cream but since I was nursing I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten foot pole! My dad finally gave me a natural (but smelly) salve and it cleared up quickly.

For some reason this dreaded rash skipped my last pregnancy. I have been doing some reading and according to research a biopsy of the rash has shown that male fetel DNA can be found. And that 70% of women with PUPP's give birth to boys. They believe that the male fetel DNA acts as a skin irritant (Which is just another reason I'm still convinced were having a boy!) I also read that usually you don't get this lovely rash with subsequent pregnancy's.... Guess I'm just lucky. Perhaps the surrogacy was skipped because I was having a girl??

So Yesterday my belly was itching like mad! I though I had just gotten a little too much sun and put some aloe vera on it. When I looked in the mirror my belly didn't look sun burnt so I just tried to ignore it. That night I turned on the bathroom light and really tried to get a good look at the underside of my belly ( something I cannot see on my own any longer) and sure enough, there was the rash! NOOOOO! I called Joe in and asked if he could see it (He had to put up with my itching and whining all day I just wanted to show him I wasn't faking lol)

I guess I'll venture to the health food store and see if they have any smelly salve that may help. There are some drugs you can take but since this rash can't hurt me or the baby (its just really annoying) I'll live with it if it cannot be treated naturally. Pregnancy is hard enough without having a super itchy belly to accompany it! Pray for me that I don't loose my mind before this baby is born