Royal Observations...

Congrats to William and Kate on their Baby George. A few observations...

1) she left the hospital ONE DAY after giving birth. Wow.
2) Walking. Down steps. In wedges. (We all expected the looking good part.) Carrying the baby. Didn't trip. Classy!
3) she did not sell "first release" pictures of the baby to the highest paying paparazzi magazine.

I'm impressed. Anyone else?

What's the Haps: 36 Weeks Today!

I'm 36 weeks today, but all these pictures are a week old. Oops.

While in Nebraska, being a dutiful Husker great-great alumni, we got a little 3 mo romper for the little guy.  I also got a 12mo t-shirt for next summer. Go Huskers!

We've got our car seat and Zach has installed it (just to uninstall it and correct some stuff) and we ran some practice rounds with Mickey.  The button to release the seat belt is a bit stiff and also I could barely properly get the carseat out of the car...probably need to practice that a bit more before there is a real (and heavy) baby in there!  (Side Note: Mickey has also been the recipient of Moby Wrap practice AND diaper changing demonstrations!)

Here'st he 35 week shot. Complete with toothbrush.

 And lastly...guilty purchase - shoes for a child that won't even walk in them. Still, this is 6-12 month size so he will be cruising at that age and I've heard a lot of good things about these shoes. And, hey, they are stinking cute because they look like sneakers. And they are red. And I love them. The end!

An Ugly Sun

Remember how I just can't seem to NOT make hideous homemade toys for my child, like my sock fish? I had to try one more idea, courtesy of who knows what idea source...probably a little bit of "homemade baby ideas" and a little bit of the cutest toy on amazon here. Anyhow, I was going for a look with lots of colors and textures.  I saw a tutorial somewhere for sun-shaped object like this and made my own pattern. Shown first is my first Ugly Sun. Yes, I'd prefer to find a different name, but so far, it just looks like an ugly sun.  I used a couple upholstery fabric scraps (silky and interestingly textured), towel, felt, sock, and regular fabric. I added "taggies" to a few of the triangles. I sewed them all together in the closest thing I could get to a round shape and ended up with the hideousness below, which I *conveniently* left at my cousin's house (Sorry Liz!) when "testing" it out on her 6 month old.

However, one was not enough. I still wanted to make another one, or at least a better one. Because the mix of fabrics vary a lot in thickness, the second time around I make each triangle out of a mix of fabrics (depending on which side and how thick) for some extra variety. I also had more than 6 fabrics I wanted included on my sun, so I had to spread them all out!  I managed to ruin both red polka dot triangles with shoddy sewing (on one I didn't get the taggie all the way in, and on the other I sewed the taggie into the other side...so those look a little bad and are going onto our baby version, not a "gift" version of this toy!

Anyhow, I made all sorts of triangles, something like 20 with my mix of fabrics - sock, flannel, minky fabric, leftover silk ties, more towel material, etc and tried to mix up the colors.  In my mind, this toy will be used to help teach our son colors - "can you find the blue triangle?" etc.

Here's my end result, one side, flaws with the taggies and all.

And here is the other side - not all the triangles are different, but some are. I stuffed the middle with leftover fish stuffing. (Just kidding...its like poly fill or something.) I would have liked to add a squeaker, but I didn't have one and wasn't patient enough to wait. Oh, I also added crackly cereal bag to the inside of a few of the triangles as well. Its not super crackly, but...I tried.

I have enough triangles to make 2 more of these, but I'm just not sure there is a market out there for Ugly Sun (seriously, please suggest a new name) toys, even if they could be passed off as "developmental." Plus, I really don't want to call it the "Ugly Sun" in front of my kid because he doesn't need to learn what ugly means at a young age.  "Color Star" perhaps?

Beat the Heat

What...still no baby bump picture? I guess I haven't liked what I was wearing lately. Soon, I promise!
It has been plenty hot here in SoCal lately. Phew! When we moved last August it was hot - but at night we at least opened the windows and let the cool air in.  There were several nights in a row where we even ran the AC at night because it was so hot.  Yuck.

Even swimming at the pool is like doing laps in bath water. NOT refreshing!

Our car seat is kicking our bums. I mean, the base is. Zach got it in...and he's so muscular and all, that it is so tight (and we need to adjust it) that we can't remove it. Fun times.  We are trying again tomorrow (or maybe in a few days.) Luckily we should have a couple more weeks to figure it out.

Ok...well, I am still alive, with many burning blog topics always on my mind, just not when I'm sitting here available at the computer.

Hello Nebraska!

Last week we went to Seward, Nebraska for a family reunion. Seward is Nebraska's "4th of July Town" or something like that, meaning they do a HUGE 4th of July (their 17k population is inundated with 40k tourists.) It was a special time to visit and since we had family in the area, they took good care of us and clued us into all the special spots.

We had a small family baby shower - my cousin crocheted me this blanket. I freaking LOVE IT!!! Who wouldn't? Its awesome. I want it for myself.

One of many obligatory "family" pics. This is all of us from my Gram's side. (Mental note to preggos: Do not pose seated for pictures past the 6th month.)

Here are the original siblings/spouses, minus our beloved Uncle Lee.

This "band" was called the Clefs and they performed in the Civic Center on the 4th.  I love the man playing the tuba. He also sang. They were adorable. We ate delicious pie while listening to them.

Seward is a really special place to spend the 4th. We enjoyed the market, pie eating contest, fireworks, air show, and general small town feel.  I also got to enjoy the maternity section of clothes at one of the thrift/consignment stores! Its really tough to find maternity clothes inexpensively, so that was pretty cool.  If you ever want to go somewhere for the 4th, I recommend Seward!

The time where things get uncomfortable

Dear Son,
8 weeks until we get to meet you (ish) as of 6/29. You are around 4 pounds and will probably double in weight by the time you are born. When you turn around and wiggle, it is now quite disturbing at times. But, you are pretty responsive to stimuli (thanks for waking up and reminding me you are alive when Dad gives you a raspberry). I can't imagine what my belly will look like when you double in size. Also, the heartburn, quit giving me that. Thanks.
Mom.

So seriously! I feel like my belly has exploded in size overnight. The last belly shot didn't do much justice so I'll try to post a better one soon.  My mom visited for a couple days last week and we "finished" the first run at the nursery. Meaning - once we set up the pack-n-play (aka bassinet) then we have enough of a baby room to last for a while, with plenty of room in the same baby room for the air mattress and guests. This whole not-having-a-crib-yet thing saves a lot of space!

Here is our changing table. My great-cousin, a carpenter, made it for my cousins so its kind of a family hand-me-down/heirloom type thing. Mickey is hanging out there because he was used for a diapering demonstration for Zach. The big black tub holds baby blankets - mostly hand me downs so far and a homemade one from a friend! And diapers, of course. We might switch to cloth, but not right at first, and thats an entirely separate post.

Here's our temporary "closet."  We were not planning to buy a dresser, but WHEN WE GOT A GORGEOUS ONE FOR FREE FROM OUR FRIENDS!!!!!!!!  we have been able to reset our (my) expectations for the nursery.  These two $5 closet organizers from IKEA seem to hold enough for now, I'm thinking the first 6 months or so when clothing is still very small. After that, we'll use the dresser (around the same time we get our crib.) In the meantime,  we've got pockets for onesies, shirts, rompers, bottoms, PJ's, swaddle sacks, socks, burp cloths, receiving blankets, hats...and lots of spaces left for other items.  (Barely seen on left of closet - baby Patriot's jersey and football pants...a must-have for Daddy.)

 And, just in case you think the room is too perfect - plenty of other piles of stuff that need to find a home. Just keepin' it real!

No progress so far on the rest of the linen closet.

PS: Sorry for the recent barrage of typos. I've been blogging a bit from the ipad, and sometimes it doesn't let me "scroll down" to fix mistakes I notice later. Typos and misspellings (like "scrape" instead of scrap, etc) on paid blogger sites KILL me but since I don't advertise...I don't feel as bad! But still - sorry.

One and Done

Amazon. Stretchy recliner covers for La-Z-Boy recliners. No sewing. No measuring. No cutting. SO SOFT. One less thing to do before baby!

See the before picture here. So glad we have that over with.