Overdue

Do you know what one of the few things in life you don't get fined for if it is overdue?? A baby!! Our baby as due on March 28th, but I still know exactly where he/she is...in my belly moving all around. I feel very blessed that I was able to carry our first baby to 40 weeks considering some said I might have a hard time since I am 5'5 and a bit under 120 pounds (normally, def. not now), but I did it.

No complications, no bed rest, high blood pressure, edema, etc. I am VERY grateful. How I am VERY ANXIOUS. We haven't seen our baby via ultrasound since week 20 since all has been just fine, but time is up little one, we are ready to meet you!

I am hearing all sorts of suggestions from everyone on how to get things moving. From the traditional: walking, housework, yard work, spicy foods, the activity that put us in this position to begin with, bumpy roads...to the ones that I think have developed more recently: labor cookies, dancing, lifting, stairs, etc. Well my friends, I am proof that baby will come when baby is ready and although these may help encourage the onset of labor, they don't magically cause it to happen, or I wouldn't be writing this post right now.

So for the time being, my husband and I are doing things around the house together and doing some sort of activity everyday to keep us distracted. I am of course looking at the clock everytime I feel a new movement. I have completed some new projects and am working on drafting log posts for them so I can maintain this once the little one arrives (although I know it won't be as regularly for a bit). I will let you know when baby arrives!! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Kitchen Update

What is the least expensive way to update a large space? Paint!! We moved into our home in November 2009, but haven't made painting a priority for a few reasons: (1) We have 1.5 acres of land that needs to be maintained, beautified, landscaped, etc (2) My husband prefers to do all the painting which is great since we don't have to pay anyone and he does a perfect job (honestly), but he also has a full-time job that had more than full-time hours (3) I hesitate when choosing colors.

The rooms we have painted are our master bedroom (January 2010), master bathroom (June 2010), nursery (November 2010) and now our kitchen/dining room (March 2011). I had three color blocks painted on the wall in our kitchen that I looked at for many weeks. I am very pleased that I went with the middle option and my husband surprised me by painting the kitchen while I was out one afternoon and finished it into the dining room until the gallon of paint ran out.

This is a before picture of our kitchen from Thanksgiving 2009 when my family was in town. All of the walls in our house came standard in this "bisque" color:

After:

Of course, once the kitchen was painted, we decided that we really do need a piece of furniture where the cat's bowls once were. We have a two-seater bar where we frequently eat and also our informal dining room so we haven't purchased a small kitchen table since I am picky about what I want. Well, our large kitchen seemed to get cluttered with mail, keys, etc. and we finally found a buffet-style unit that we liked for the kitchen so we bought it!

I purchased a small bamboo tray to collect our mail and also my husband's black leather valet for him to charge his cell phone, drop his wallet, etc. So far so good (and organized!).

Since our kitchen and dining room share one large wall, we carried the same color into the dining room.

Before:

After:

I love it and it feels so good to see color on the walls downstairs! And to think it all got done before our baby arrives and additional visitors. Next project for this area are curtains for the double windows in the dining room and panels for the sliding glass door.

P.S.: The color is more green than gray in person...sad it looks gray here!

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Spring has Sprung

As my family and friends in Connecticut experience a fluke end-of-March snowfall, I can't resist sharing photos of our spring blooms at our home in Maryland. I know it doesn't look like much now, but considering most of the plants were rescued from choking vines in our woods and "split off" from a friend, I am very happy to see everything coming back strong since this is the first year we have seen them come up on their own. Maybe I am better with flowers than I thought :).

I am still waiting on our trees: cherry blossom, peach, apple and walnut, but here's a glimpse of the signs of spring so far.

Daffodils

Hydrangeas

Lilies

Sedum

tree (don't know the kind)

another tree

We planted our vegetable seeds a few weeks ago indoors in a Burpee container that was successful last year. This way, our veggies have already started growing by the time we put them outside in early May (depending on the weather). We start everything from seeds except for our Butter Boy tomatoes. This also makes it practically free. We also planted carrots, onions and lettuce into the vegetable garden already as seeds since they are more hardy.

Crazed Fan Weekend Hop

Taggie Toy for Baby

This is a project I meant to complete months ago, but then I got distracted, which is par for the course. If you are a mom, or even if you aren't, you may have heard about "Taggies." Apparently children like tags on stuffed animals and other toys. Funny how this reminds me of cats and dogs liking empty grocery bags more than their toys, but I will withold judgement.

I bought 1/4 yard of this bright color striped fabric on clearance and then purchased 1 yard of three different coordinating ribbons. The total cost for material was less than $5.

I went with a raw size of 13x15 inches for the fabric portion of the Taggie which is because I liked that size, it wasn't too big or too small. I didn't use batting or any other filler, just the two pieces of fabric sewn together. But, before I sewed the pieces together I cut several pieces of 4-5 inch ribbon from each of my three colors: orange grosgrain, red satin, and lime green with blue dots grosgrain.

I folded the ribbons in half and pinned them around the right side of one of the pieces of fabric and then stitched them in place. Then, I added the second piece of fabric and stitched the two together. At this point, I couldn't see the ribbon anymore because the loops were "inside" the fabric.

When I turned the fabric right side out, I went around the edge with a tight straight stitch and wa-la, project is done! I have some extra fabric and ribbon so I will probably make another one because, well, why not?!

Making the World Cuter, Take a Look Tuesday, Get Your Craft On, Tip Me Tuesday

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Table Runners for Spring

I have managed to be crafty while waiting for baby and last weekend I made two table runners: one that was a bridal shower gift and one for myself. The bride-to-be and her husband-to-be are cousins and recently purchased a large "old" home so I figured they would need some accessories besides all of the wonderful kitchen and bathroom goodies you get at a bridal shower.

I headed to Jo-Ann's and selected a main fabric (the beige with the birds) and two complimenting fabrics (the green geometric and blue geometric). I decided to make theirs 96 inches long which would leave excess if used on a 6 foot table or fit end to end on an 8 foot table. For the width, I decided to go with the width of a placemat since that looked good when I laid it out before pinning. I also decided to make both sides different so they essentially have two runners in one. The first side has the beige bird fabric in the center and one end has the blue geometric while the other has the green, and the back side is all beige bird.

For once I took the time to trace with a disappearing ink pen, the size of my blocks so I could make sure I wouldn't have to go back to the fabric store or have unsightly seams running down the center.

Sewing a table runner is very much like sewing a baby blanket except in my case, I was working with extra seams since I used a few pieces of fabric. I added an extra inch onto each measurement since I pressed a 1/2 inch seam on all edges to sew the blocks together.

Then, I laid out the fabric end to end so I could measure again and make sure I was happy with the placement. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

The runner I made for our dining room (which acts as an everyday table) was sewn to 120 inches since we have an 8 foot barn-wood table and I wanted room for the runner to hang off the ends. I used the same blue and green geometric fabric because the "main" fabric I selected for my own runner was a green paisley and also a blue/beige floral. I wanted something that would look good in the Spring and also through the Summer since I'm not quite sure how much time I will have to make another one when baby R. arrives.

For the top side of mine I knew I wanted a specific pattern and specific size blocks which I measured out. The back side ended up being a free for all based on the amount of fabric I had left, but the blocks are larger and still the same fabric.

In our dining room I set out my go-to set of glass pillars with a bowl for candles at the top and two additional pillar candles. These are the same glass pillars I used for Valentine's Day and although I intended to fill them with pastel Easter candy, I decided against it since I am trying not too indulge in too many sweets.

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Closet Do Over

The baby's closet is complete! Or at least until we decide we need more shelving once baby comes :).

We took a trip to The Container Store to buy additional wire shelving for the nursery closet. The closet is a little bit more narrow than we thought and although it is long, the door size is standard which means you run the risk of alot of dead space if you don't make the most of it.

Did you know my husband is an engineer? Well, the wheels in his mind were spinning and we decided to install two adjustable wire shelves on the left side of the closet so I wouldn't just have these big stacks of stuff that would topple over. Before that he also removed the existing shelving, spackled and painted the closet. He is so wonderful :).

We may install an additional short shelf in the closet near the right side, forward facing, but we didn't want to do that yet.

Right now the closet is a little more empty than you may be used to seeing in a nursery, but that is because we don't know the gender of our baby! The baby does have more clothes than what is in the closet, the dresser is pretty full actually, but since this is also our first child, we are going to learn as we go with some things.

I love being organized!!

Fashionable Burps

Baby spit-up can be gross. Baby spit-up can be messy. But who's to say that parents can't make it a little less distracting with an embellished burp cloth?

Although our baby isn't here yet, I am already a fan of the Gerber 6-ply cloth diapers as burp cloths. Readers of this blog also know I love to sew as one of my hobbies so I found some real cute unisex fabric and started my project.

For the burp cloths shown in this tutorial, I actually used outdoor fabric which has a great canvas-like texture, beautiful patterns, and wonderful colors. I also found it to be more obviously unisex since it isn't meant to be gender-specific like nursery and children's fabric. Jo-Ann's Fabrics had this fabric on sale 50% off so it was very reasonable and I only bought 1/4 yard of each (enough for two burp cloths or extra for another project).

Like all sewing projects, I pre-washed the burp cloths and fabric. When I was at Jo-Ann's, I made sure to buy fabric that could be machine washable and safe to iron so everything was ironed after it came out of the dryer.

I looked at a few different options and decided that I liked the way a piece of fabric 6.5 inch wide looked best. I cut all my fabric to a size of 7.5 x19 inches to allow for a 1/2" hem on all sides. I pinned a hem and pressed the fabric to make machine stitching easier.

Once pressed, I pinned the fabric to the burp cloth and used a zigzag stitch on all four sides.  I LOVE making these and wouldn't be surprised if my baby has a large stash of them. Also, don't be surprised if we are friends in real life and you get some as a gift for your new baby. I am looking into selling them at a few community events in my town. What do you think?

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March is Here - Finally!

March is an important month for us, especially this year because that means we will be meeting our baby THIS month! I cannot believe it! Okay, so I am due March 28th so I guess technically we could have an April baby, but with the way I have been feeling, we're going for March.

This past weekend the baby grew, or settled comfortably, onto my sciatic nerve so now I limp since it effects my left leg. Talk about impairing movement?! I guess it is good that I am comfortable when I sit down since I am still working, but I am riding to work with my husband instead of taking the train.

Yes my bag is packed and so is the baby's, but my husband's is not...although I have made a packing list for him to keep myself sane. Each night we talk about our excitement and potential names (no, we have not totally decided yet) and how we feel like now we are just waiting for Squirt to decide that he/she is ready to come out into the world.