stenciling galore

To start, let me just say my little girl better LOVE her room. A lot.

So I got the idea to stencil my wall from a nestie, Myst33. You can see her powder room tone on tone stenciling project here (scroll all the way to the bottom). She has some great instructions posted as to how she did the stenciling, so I'll let you read those, and let my visual directions do the talking.

First hubby measured out a 20 x 20 inch grid on the wall. I'll admit it was really fun to see a grid on my wall, because way back when I was in graphics 1 making posters on the grid was my favorite project. The grid was something I could handle well.

I practiced making my stencil shape on computer paper. Then I moved to tracing paper to make the larger shape. I cut my stencil out of illustration board.

While painting I first centered the stencil in the square. Then after all 24 squares had been stenciled (and dried) I centered the shape over the cross hairs of the grid. Thanks for the help Katelynn!! :o)

For the edges I had to cut my stencil up. I had actually made two stencils, because my first one warped so much through the first set of painting. Surprisingly, today the stencil worked pretty darn good because it had dried flat, and the paint then acted as a barrier between the stencil and the new paint, so I didn't experience any warping. If you can find a sturdy plastic material to cut your stencil out of that would be the way to go.

Although the wall needs some serious touch-ups (paint seeped behind my warped stencil) I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results. I think it adds a little fun, texture and whimsy to the nursery. I seriously can not wait until I get everything in here. Two weeks until the furniture arrives!!

bump check: 30 weeks

30 weeks. Thats right, I am 30 weeks pregnant. As in my baby is coming (hopefully) in 10 weeks or less. Ask Chris what went through his head when I said we could possibly have a little one in our house in 8 weeks. :o)

For a little comparison, we have where I started, 20 weeks, and today at 30 weeks. Please excuse the horrible color on the 30 week pic. The white balance on my camera wasn't set correctly, and I am too lazy to change it and take another picture.

If my belly grows as much in the next ten weeks, as it did in the last ten, I'm pretty sure I'm going to tip over. That is a lot of belly!!

Baby is now around 15.7 inches long, and weighs almost 3 pounds. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision - which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

Thanks to my episodes of seeing sparkles, I got to visit the doctors office yet again this week. They wanted to make sure my blood pressure isn't too high. Thankfully it was only 136/90, a little high, but nothing to be too concerned about. Because it was slightly elevated they did some blood work, but everything came back normal. So please keep your fingers crossed that I don't come up with a reason for my doc to make me come in over the next two weeks. I still get the sparkle vision every now and then, but we'll just ignore that for now :o).

How far along: 30 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +15 pounds
Maternity clothes: what else could I fit in to?
Stretch marks?: still none!
Sleep: I had a couple good nights this week...
Best moment this week: working on the nursery
Movement: She was going nuts last night! Chris actually felt bad for me :o)
Food cravings: sherbert
Gender: girl
What I miss: the ability to get off the couch without serious effort
Milestones: making it to the 30's!

check back tomorrow for a nursery update!!

he said what?

I can't quite remember why I did, but I asked one of the toddlers in my classroom what he thought my baby was doing in there (my belly). His response?

"She's eatin' pizza." Oh really? Is that what she is doing in there? I honestly can't remember the last time I had pizza, but if that is what she is doing I hope she is enjoying it :o).

Later he told me "she wants a cupcake." HA HA. Luck would have it his mom was bringing cupcakes for his 2nd birthday to school today. My baby girl got her cupcake.

maternity photos :o)

At first I wasn't sure if I wanted maternity photos taken or not. I mean really, its not like I need a big print of myself with a giant belly somewhere in the house. But I knew the amazingly talented Adrienne Maples (Adrienne photographed my wedding, she was amazing!) would take some great pictures, and I'm really glad that we had them done.

In reality, these pictures will probably mean more to my baby girl in the long run anyway. Also I'm glad that I have some beautiful images to capture this time in my life. The pictures were taken on Sunday, so I was 29 weeks and 1 day.



Max of course had to get in on the action. Being the punk that he is, he (well and Sophia too) refused to actually sit with me for any pictures. He preferred observing from random spots.




Didn't Adrienne do an amazing job? I just love working with her. You can also check us out on her blog. Thank you so much Adrienne!!!

grocery shopping gone bad :o)

Want to know what happens when you let a pregnant chick and her husband go grocery shopping without a list or any recipes in mind? You come home with the following:

apples (not so bad)
hot dogs
hot dog buns
fruit snacks
gushers
life cereal
fruit loops
fudge cookies
2 lean cuisines
peanut butter and chocolate ritz bits
sherbert
kumquats
trash bags

Hmmm... that is just a tad bit embarrassing. Maybe next time we will make a list...

But I'm pretty excited about our purchases!!!

more fun with Nutella

First of all, I apologize for the slightly blurry picture. I didn't realize it was blurry until I uploaded the photo to my computer, and by then there were no more snacks to take a picture of :o).

This little snack also comes from the Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine. It was in the kid's snack section.


All you need are some graham crackers, bananas and a little bit of Nutella. Spread the Nutella on the graham crackers, put a few banana slices on one side, top with another Nutella covered graham cracker, and you have yourself a nice little treat.

Chris and I both agreed that these may not be the best kid's snack, unless you make your child eat it outside or over the sink, or maybe a bib would do the trick. These little guys are messy! But I love me some Nutella, and I enjoy finding new uses for it, other than just on toast. Maybe I'll compile a recipe book with all things Nutella :o).

Enjoy!

bump check: 29 weeks

Just for a little comparison, the picture on the left was taken at 21 weeks. I wore the same shirt today at 29 weeks. Looks a bit different :o) Seriously, I thought I was huge at 21 weeks, and that it was obvious I was pregnant. Oh how wrong I was.

This week our precious little girl is weighing about 2.5 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain. She has increasing nutritional demands, meaning I'll need to be getting more protein, vitamin c, folic acid and iron. Also, I'll need some more calcium considering that in the third trimester about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited into the baby's hardening skeleton each day.

I had another doctors appointment this week, but because I've seen my doc three times in three weeks, and everything has been looking good, she isn't making me come back for another four weeks. At the appointment I received my rhogam shot. I was really nervous about getting it, because I had heard that it was a HUGE needle that went into your bum. Thankfully, it was not huge, and it went pretty much in my hip. So for everyone who tried to freak me out about it, :oP. I survived!

The past couple of days I have started having a slightly disturbing 'symptom'. At least I'm assuming it is pregnancy related. About five times over the past three days I have all of the sudden seen 'sparkles'. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is the only way I know how to describe it. Little dots of light start moving in from the outside of my view. It usually last 30 seconds to a minute. My first thought would be oh I probably stood up to fast or something, but it has happened while I was just sitting on the couch. Some internet reading suggests it could be a blood pressure issue, but my blood pressure has never been bad throughout the pregnancy. I guess if it keeps happening throughout the weekend I'll give the doc a call on Monday. So much for not seeing her for four weeks...

How far along: 29 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +13 pounds
Maternity clothes: it sucks when your maternity clothes start getting too small...
Stretch marks?: none yet!
Sleep: crappy, unfortunately :o(
Best moment this week: scheduling a maternity massage
Movement: mostly hiccups
Food cravings: surprisingly, nothing
Gender: girl
What I miss: comfortably touching my toes
Milestones: ? just another week down I suppose!

Shrimp Lo Mein

This fine evening my amazing husband cooked me a delicious dinner! (That was a lot of adjectives :o) The recipe for shrimp lo mein came from the Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine that I received in the mail. I have Chris's grandma, Ladonna, to thank for the subscription!!


This dish was very tasty and I highly recommend it. And come on, if Chris can make it, it can't be too hard right? :o) Just kidding hubbs!!

Ingredients:
1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 ounces uncooked whole wheat linguine
4 tsp cornstarch
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp sherry
2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 celery rib, sliced
1 medium carrot, chopped
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup fresh broccoli florets
2 tbsp chopped cashews
1 can (8 ounces) unsweetened pineapple chunks, drained

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine the shrimp and garlic; set aside. Cook linguine according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, water, ketchup, soy sauce, sherry, honey, ginger and red pepper flakes until blended. Set aside.
3. In a large nonstick skillet or wok, stir-fry shrimp in 1 tbsp oil for 2-3 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove with slotted spoon and keep warm.
4. Stir-fry celery and carrots in remaining oil for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, broccoli and cashews; stir-fry 4-6 minutes longer or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
5. Stir cornstarch mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Drain linguine; stir into skillet. Add shirmp and pineapple; heat through.

Enjoy!

UK trip anyone?

So after seeing the adorable rocking elephant in the last picture of my previous post, I have become interested in finding my own adorable rocking animal. My amazing husband came across this one on the net:


The only problem? It is sold by a store in the UK, and as far as I can tell they only ship throughout the UK. Boo! So... if any of you plan to head to the UK any time soon, would you like to pick me up one of these?

Or, if anyone happens to know where I can find something very similar, or know of anyone who makes custom plush rocking horses (or elephants for that matter :o) please enlighten me! It would most definitely make my day.

inspiration: nurseries

I've decided that every other week or so I'm going to post some inspiration photos. This week I've settled on, surprise, nurseries. :o) All things baby are basically all that invades my brain lately, so you're stuck with it. Sorry! Onto the goodies:

Click the credit link below each photo to view more photos of that nursery!

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I'm pretty sure I saw this on Rate My Space...

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There are so many other great nursery inspiration photos to be seen here, but I couldn't figure out how to save any of the pictures to put directly onto my blog. Lame I know.

I truly love nurseries that don't scream baby. Obviously, with the crib, the rocker, etc. you know the room is for a baby, but they aren't completely pastel covered with characters like Winne the Pooh.

bump check: 28 weeks

Well I thought for my 100th blog post and my 28 week bump check I would be getting to share some awesome 3D ultrasound pictures of our little girl. Unfortunately she has an attitude and refused to cooperate today! She currently has her head lodged in my right hip bone, with her face towards my spine, and she was not going to budge an inch. We rescheduled for a few weeks from now, so hopefully with a little talking to, and maybe a little caffeine :o) she will decide to be good for the camera.


Our lovely little girl should be weighing about 2.25 pounds, and measuring 14.8 inches from head to heel. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. Her eyesight is developing, which means she might be able to see light that filters into the womb. She is also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

My back has been feeling a little bit better over the last few days. I think the heating pad and stretching is really helping out. But now I'm paranoid about every little thing. I analyze ever little pain I have, and worry when she isn't bouncing around all the time. (Which can be explained by the fact that she is facing my spine I suppose) To tell you the truth even though we aren't really ready for our little one to make her entrance, I'm ready to be done being pregnant. It is fun and enjoyable sometimes, but I think I'm going to like having a baby to hold so much better. Hopefully I'm down to 12 weeks or less left...

How far along: 28 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +13 pounds
Maternity clothes: I feel like this line isn't relevant anymore
Stretch marks?: nope
Sleep: sucks
Best moment this week: getting a delivery date for the furniture
Movement: at about 4 am! this kid needs to learn day vs. night
Food cravings: fruit
Gender: girl
What I miss: a glass (ok a bottle) of wine would be great right now
Milestones: another week down

Can you tell this was a slightly bitter/crabby week for me? :o)

my labor and delivery adventure

I will preface the post with this: I hope the next time that I spend any number of hours hooked up to monitors on the labor and delivery floor of the hospital, 1. doesn't come for several more weeks (like 10 or more!) and 2. I get to come home with a baby. And sorry, this is another long one.

Lets rewind to Sunday morning. I woke up feeling rather chipper. I had slept until 7:30am (which most people who know me really well know that I struggle to stay asleep until 6:15am most of the time) and was feeling incredibly rested. The nesting instinct has really been kicking in and I couldn't wait to get up and do a little cleaning and organizing. I merrily waddled my way into the bathroom and did my business. However when I wiped I caught a glimpse of bright red blood on the toilet paper. Not a ton, but enough to make me take a couple more swipes and come up with a few more bright red streaks.

Now spotting in pregnancy can be perfectly normal. Lots of things can cause it. But its not supposed to be bright red. So then I was a little bit on edge. I debated waking Chris up and even telling him, but ended up doing it. Of course it freaked him out and the two of us spent the next 20 minutes on google seeing what all it said about spotting during the third trimester.

Ultimately I decided I would just take it easy that day (which means, park it on the couch!) and if I didn't have any more I would just call in the morning. I quickly learned that I would be horrible at bed rest :o). It hadn't even been two hours before I was getting incredibly antsy about sitting around, and really wanted to get up and do something. Somehow I managed to make myself stay on the couch for the majority of the day, and luckily I didn't seem to be having any more issues. I thought we were in the clear.

Around 9pm I decided I wanted to go into the bedroom to watch TV and fall asleep. As I was walking towards the bedroom my lower back slowly but surely started becoming incredibly painful. By the time I reached the bed I could barely breath my back hurt so bad. I tried to lay down and get comfortable, but that wasn't working. I tried to walk it off. No such luck. Around 9:45 I took some tylenol and made myself lay still hoping the pain would just go away. I fell asleep for a couple of hours, and when I woke up my back was still in extreme pain.

I was pretty convinced that I wasn't having any contractions and didn't really think I was going into preterm labor, but Chris was worried that I possibly might have a kidney infection, or something might be going on with the baby. So he made the decision that we should head to the ER around midnight. The drive to the hospital SUCKED. Being cold and shivering made me 1000x more uncomfortable and I was starting to get really freaked out about what was going on in my body.

When we arrived at the ER we didn't really know where we were supposed to go or what we were supposed to do. Everyone staff person would ask are you hear to have your baby? Um, I hope not! Finally I was wheeled up to labor and delivery and hooked up a couple of monitors. Baby's heart rate was good, and I wasn't having any contractions of significance. But I was still in pain! After some more tests it was determined that I didn't have any infections, and was most likely just suffering from the pain of having a small human being growing inside my body. I suppose that is good news, but it made me feel pathetic, like I couldn't handle being pregnant.

I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor today, and based on everything they did at the ER, combined with my great blood pressure and what not today she agrees that there isn't really anything going on that shouldn't be. Most likely our baby girl just had a big growth spurt, and that combined with my smaller torso = my muscles and ligaments are literally being stretched beyond their limits. Doctors orders? 20 minutes in the morning and at night with a heating pad on my back, stretching after that, followed by a back massage. I may be uncomfortable, but at least my doctor is prescribing that my husband give me a massage. I think I can handle that :o).

Hopefully with some stretching and massaging I will start to feel a little bit better. If not, I guess it is just going to be a long 12+ weeks!

do you fondue?

As one of our wedding presents Chris's mom gave us a fondue pot. I am embarrassed to say that until a couple of weeks ago we hadn't even taken it out of the box. But for Christmas this year I received two fondue cookbooks. So a couple of weekends ago we had a few friends over for some fondue. Lets just say it was a major success!


We made a cheese and a chocolate fondue, with both recipes coming from The Fondue Bible. Enjoy!

Quick Cheese Fondue
6 oz aged Cheddar cheese, grated
2 oz sharp processed Cheddar cheese, grated
1 clove garlic, halved
1/2 cup unsweetened apple cider
1 (10 oz) can condensed cheese soup
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. In a bowl, combine old Cheddar and sharp Cheddar cheese. Set aside.
2. Rub the inside of a large saucepan with cut sides of garlic. Discard garlic. Add cider and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in cheese soup; mix until thoroughly blended.
3. Without reducing heat, add cheese mixture by handfuls to saucepan, stirring constantly after each addition until cheese is melted and smooth. Stir in Worcestershire. Season to taste with pepper. Transfer to fondue pot and serve immediately.

Black and White Chocolate Fondue
3/4 cup whipping cream
8 oz white chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp Amaretto or Kahlua
4 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1. In the top of a double boiler over hot (not boiling) water, heat cream until warm. Add white chocolate, stirring constantly until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in vanilla and Kahlua. Transfer immediately to dessert fondue pot. Stir in chocolate chips with a butter knife to create a swirl effect.

beautiful burpies

Thanks to my wonderful mother I am now the proud owner of this gorgeous stack of burp cloths. Now my little one can spit up in style! :o)



A few of the burpies even got the royal treatment with a little bit of embellishing...


Although I didn't actually make them, I can give you an idea as to how it was done. My mom and I went to the fabric store together and picked up some of the 'fat quarters' they had. That was entirely too much fun in itself, so many little squares of bright adorable fabric! For the back side of the cloths she used white chenille.

My mom washed all the fabric first, and then cut them into approximately 9 x 16 rectangles. She sewed the wrong sides of the fabric together (machine sewing three sides), turned them right side out and then finished the remaining edge. Lastly she put a decorative stitch about a quarter of an inch in all the way around to finish them off.


I think they turned out wonderfully and I can't wait to use them!

bump check: 27 weeks

Hello third trimester! You heard me, two down, only one to go. This week I am gracing you with my typical headless shot, as well as one that actually includes my face. I know you're excited. And I apologize in advance for the slightly longish post.



Our baby girl is nearing two pounds and is around 14.5 inches from head to heel. She is sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, her brain is very active. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning - with a lot of medical help - if she were born now. And any rhythmic movements that I might feel could possibly be the baby getting the hiccups. Hopefully she doesn't get them as bad as I do.

This week at my doctors appointment I got to have the lovely glucose tolerance test. Good news? I passed, yahoo! Bad news? I almost passed out after she drew my blood. It was all going fine and dandy, I was just holding the gauze on where she stuck me, and all the sudden I felt really dizzy. The nurse turned around and by the tone in her voice I obviously didn't look good. So they had to lay me down and put a cold cloth on my head yadda yadda yadda. Way to go me.

The rest of the doctors appointment went well. Baby J's heart rate is in the 130s, and both of us are doing fine. The doctor did say my belly was measuring a little bit big... she didn't say by how much, but that we would just keep an eye on it. Hopefully that means we will get to meet our little girl just a bit earlier than planned. Not too early though!

Here I am with my lovely orange glucose drink. The first few sips weren't so bad, but the drink definitely wasn't tasty. I had to chug the last of it in like a minute because it took me the whole five they allow you to get it down.


Because I'm measuring a little bit big and because I need my rhogam shot at 28 weeks, my appointments will now be every two weeks instead of every four. I feel like that will make the rest of the pregnancy go by quickly.

And random tidbit? I'm blaming my 2+ pound weight gain this week on my assistant, who so lovingly stocked our 'teacher cabinet' at work with chocolate, jelly beans and chips. Thanks Kenzie!! (You know I am enjoying every bit of that chocolate :o)

How far along: 27 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +12.5 pounds
Maternity clothes: some of my maternity work pants are getting tight...
Stretch marks?: still none
Sleep: if only I could sleep on my stomach...
Best moment this week: passing the glucose test
Movement: she is definitely getting stronger and stronger
Food cravings: fruit
Gender: girl
What I miss: good skin
Milestones: making it to the third trimester!

a tasty meal

Well you know that on New Years Eve Chris and I decided against leaving the house. However we did make a lovely dinner.


Ok it may not look like the most amazing meal you've ever had, but it was rather delicious. We had maple balsamic glazed pork tenderloin, garlic herb mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli with Italian dressing. The pork was amazingly tender. It was a little complicated to make, in regards to the fact that there were several steps, but I wouldn't say it was hard. I think these two recipes are the only online recipes that I have followed exactly.

Enjoy!

we have ruffles

Chris hung the curtains up in the nursery for me last week :o). When they first went up I thought they were a bit much, but they are definitely growing on me. Plus I think once we get furniture and everything else in there, the curtains won't appear so bold.


What do you think?

Nutella Fudge

Got a case of the Mondays? If so, I think you should take 10 minutes out of your day and make this delicious fudge. It is so easy!!!

The recipe is courtesy of nestie Laurentian. Saturday when Chris woke up I told him someone had posted a recipe for Nutella fudge, and his only response was "yes please!" So here is the simple and delicious recipe...


Ingredients
1 (12 ounce) bag of milk chocolate chips
1/2 (13 ounce) jar Nutella
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)

Directions
1. Butter a nine inch square pan.
2. Optional step: Spread walnuts out on a sheet of foil and pop into 350 degree oven for 5-8 minutes, until nuts are golden and fragrant. Coarsely chop nuts and set aside.
3. In a 1 quart glass bowl, combine the chocolate chips, Nutella, sweetened condensed milk and salt.
4. Microwave mixture for three minutes, taking it out halfway through and stirring well. Return to microwave for the remaining time.
5. Remove bowl from microwave and stir in vanilla and nuts.
6. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Chill for two hours.

We actually used semisweet chocolate chips on accident, and didn't include the walnuts, but it was still delicious! Definitely something you should try.

our pet door

Here is a quick look at the installation of our pet door:






Right now we have the flap off of the pet door because we are having a hard time getting Sophia to go through it. She'll push on it with her paws, but won't use enough force to actually shove it open. Max on the other hand body slams the thing. I'm pretty sure it freaks him out to go through it, so he just wants to do it as fast as possible.

It is pretty funny, because they often scare each other going in and out. The past couple of days we will see one of them walking around the family room with their tail all fluffed up. You know that they either just tried to go to the basement, or came back up.

So far so good. We have moved their cat box just inside the door in the pictures, and their food is downstairs in the basement. No accidents yet! Keep your fingers crossed for us :o).

bump check: 26 weeks

So my belly has gotten big enough that I can't sleep in my own t-shirts (they are either really tight, or end up rolled up over my belly), and it no longer fits in the box I had previously used for cropping. Next week I might have to actually do my hair and put on some make-up so my head can be in the picture.

Oh and just so we are all aware, I'm down to double digits until my due date. 98 days to be precise. (My ticker on the blog is a day off, I'm not sure why.) April is coming faster than I can handle!


Our baby girl should weigh over a pound and a half, and measure 14 inches from head to heel. No wonder she can kick me in my bladder while headbutting me in the ribs... Her ears are continuing to develop and become more sensitive. So much so that she can probably hear conversations that Chris and I are having. She is inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of her lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when she's born and takes that first gulp of air.

How far along: 26 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +10 pounds
Maternity clothes: of course
Stretch marks?: still none
Sleep: I can usually get a good five hours, beyond that it is touch and go
Best moment this week: eating some delicious fondue :o)
Movement: some days I call her the wiggle monster
Food cravings: fruit
Gender: girl
What I miss: my good skin
Milestones: double digits till my due date!

bring on 2010

So the past two years of my life have been rather eventful. In 2008 I graduated from college, got married moved to Kansas City, started teaching at a preschool and launched my invitation design business. In 2009 we purchased our first home and have spent a good chunk of time renovating it, and of course found out I was pregnant.

2010 is promising to be just as eventful. I'm not sure what it has in store, but for now I know we are expecting our first little one and that in itself will make it a year to remember.

And because only the cool kids celebrate the new year at home in their sweats watching bad TV, here are a few shots of Chris and I hanging out last night...




May 2010 be filled with joy and excitement for everyone!