Well Hello There

Here's what we saw on our FUN and EXCITING outing yesterday:

Baby girl was snuggled up to my placenta so in most of her pictures, her face was all smushed, but we were still able to see her smiling face.

Kinda jealous of those lips! :) 

She was a bit camera shy...or maybe we were interrupting her nap. Either way, she cooperated for the first five minutes or so then she started moving away from the camera and closer to the placenta. Gross, kid. Unfortunately it made taking still shots a bit more difficult. Definitely a girl on our hands. We got a DVD and a ton of pictures that we can look at until she finally gets here though so that was cool. Can't wait to meet you baby girl! We ♥ you already...

Family Night

My parents are coming up from San Diego and we're heading here for some good 'ol family fun!

Tomorrow we have something FUN and EXCITING planned that I'll share with you later. Enjoy your weekend!

DIY Wall Art

It's finally done.

I'm still on the everlasting quest to get our home decorated. Perhaps some day we will be finished. Until then, here is the latest project I did to bring in some life to our entry way wall. Now the wall is VERY tall, umm somewhere around 30 feet...just kidding...it's more like 15 feet tall and 12 feet wide. I wanted a bold statement on the wall since it's the first thing you see when you walk in the house, plus the wall would just look so bare with nothing on it. Bri suggested a mural of himself playing baseball...umm, thanks, but no thanks. I looked in to big pieces of canvas art but they were just too darn expensive so I figured it was time to get creative.

(big wall)

I did more "research" for ways to make inexpensive wall art and finally stumbled across this project at All Things Thrifty. Aren't they so cute? Her whole site is full of great ideas...just wish I had more time to try them all. Her wall art consisted of three panels of wood that her husband cut the design out of then she backed with fabric. A bit ambitious for us rookie tool users so I went in a slightly different direction.

First I had my dad make us these frames (they measure 3x5 feet each) and I bought some heavy fabric (similar to canvas) at Joann's...40% off baby...sa-weet!

Then Bri and I stripped our fingerprints off stretched the fabric and covered the frames. Note to self: DON'T wash the fabric before hand as it might shrink and cause minor major frustration when covering a frame that is now too big. A lot of sweat and tears later, we figured it out and ended up with these:

Next step was to trace the pattern on to the frames. I used the template I found here and borrowed a projector from school to make the image large enough for the canvases. Once the print was traced, I painted the picture with black paint and let it dry. Now our bare wall has a little bit of life with these bad boys:

(paint may still be slightly wet...what can I say, I have no patience)

Pretty cool eh? Total cost for this project was about $65 which is still kinda pricey, but definitely less than what I would have paid to buy three pictures of that size. Here's another look.

Before (from the landing on the stairs):

After (from the landing on the stairs):

These pictures don't really do justice to the actual size of these suckers. To put it into perspective, each piece is almost as tall as me! Yeah, yeah, I'm not that tall but whatever. They are life-size. Love it though! :)

I know I was supposed to show you the progress on the laundry room but I may have gotten a bit distracted by this project. Oops. More on the laundry room another day...

Baby Girl's Treasures

Yes, I know I'm supposed to be showing you my "surprise" project but the last two days have been too hectic to even think about finalizing it. It's just gonna have to wait until tomorrow, sorry!

In better news, I was totally blessed today with a small baby shower at work. It was really sweet and thoughtful and everyone was so generous. I told B that baby girl is getting spoiled already...and she's not even here yet! :) His reaction when he opened the back of my car to unload: "Whoa." Man of many words, that one.

A few of the gift bags we unpacked:

A glimpse into her closet...I think I'm in trouble, girl clothes really are soooo cute! And no I did NOT pay $17 for that dress!!

Thank you to everyone who was a part of our shower today. We are very grateful for all the generous gifts and acts of love and kindness. I guess it's time to get a dresser to start putting her clothes in huh? Hmmm, maybe we should start with a crib? Yeah, furniture might be a good place to start...

Busy, Busy, Busy

What is it about weekends that makes me feel like I need to do something? I swear I do more Friday-Sunday than I do the rest of the week, and come Sunday night, I'm exhausted. I've been working on an exciting (well for me at least) project that I really can't wait to show you. In fact, I already have the post written, I just need to insert the pictures! Problem is it's a very detailed project and I spent ALL day Saturday working on it but I'm still not finished. I was hoping to finish today but I went fabric shopping with E, visited another friend, then went to a baby shower. Needless to say, I didn't have time...or energy...to finish it today. Hopefully tomorrow because I reeeealllly want to be done with it and put it up in the house! Oh, and show you, of course :) Ok, ok, here's a sneak peek for those of you who just can't wait!

Any idea what it is?? :)

Anyway, here's the last piece of that baby shower gift I was working on. 

Think I may have gone too far with the ruffles, but I can't help it, they are just too fun! Hopefully I'll post the project tomorrow...

Do Something Productive

Feeling kinda lazy today. I went and did my glucose screening this morning and perhaps it was the lack of food (because you have to fast before the test) but I have been feeling rather sluggish ever since. Yes, I have eaten since then but I just feel blah. I don't really feel like working on the projects I have lined up but I suppose I should do something. Fine, you don't have to yell at me. Yes, I'm getting off the couch now. Maybe I'll finish sewing some pillows and that baby shower present...

(hours later...)

Here's what you strong-armed convinced me to finish today:

Happy now? I guess I wasn't completely lazy today.

Best Laid Plans

We were supposed to go to a baseball game tonight. B's friend (who plays for the Oakland A's) is doing a rehabilitation assignment with its minor league team and he's in town playing at the Storm stadium. Anyway, we totally made plans last night and we were all set to go. Game time was 6:05pm. Around 4:45pm, I decided I would play around on my sewing machine until it was time to go. I wanted to try something new that I had been "researching" on various blogs. Probably not the best time to tackle a new feat because if you know me at all, you know that I don't like to fail at things I attempt. I got so obsessed focused on what I was doing and determined to get it right that I stayed home. Shocker.

So instead of being here:

I finished this:

(my first ruffle butt) ♥ it!

(front of the ruffle butt onesie)

Sorry, honey! I'm sure he still had a good time. Hey, it's baseball. Win-win for both of us. I'm so excited that I finally figured out how to do a gather stitch and make a stinkin' ruffle. It's actually not hard once you do it, I was just intimidated I guess. Anyway, this blog has the best tutorial I found while "researching." She has a bunch of other cute tutorials too...hmmm, more projects? Hehe. One at a time, people, one at a time. I made this as part of a baby shower gift...now I can't wait to finish the rest! No, they won't all be ruffle butts but think of the possibilities of just using ruffles in general! :)

A Little Story

The last few days have been emotionally draining for me. It started Sunday while at B's baseball game. I usually feel baby girl right around the same time everyday. She's usually predictable and somewhat active. Well by Sunday afternoon I hadn't felt her move, which was weird. So I did all the things they say to do: drank something cold or sweet, laid on my side, walked for 5 minutes then laid on my side, did cartwheels and drank a liter of coke (just kidding!) then laid on my side, etc... Still nothing. Well by this point it's Sunday evening and I'm starting to get cranky. I can tell because I'm being short with B and getting emotional over some random tv show. Anyway, we had dinner then I (yup, you guessed it) laid on my side. I thought I might have felt some movement in there but by this point I'm so paranoid that I'm second guessing everything. Well we head to bed and pray over her like we do every night and I felt a little better. Well, I tossed and turned all night because I couldn't sleep...

The next morning I get up and head to work, still don't feel her, so I call my dr. He tells me to come in for an ultrasound so we can check things out. At this point I'm past paranoid, I'm so emotional I can't sit at my desk without crying. Geez, get a grip lady. I pull myself together and head for the hospital where they proceed to make me repeat four. different. times. who I am, whether or not I have any paperwork, and why I am there. So not efficient. What if something is horribly wrong with my baby and you're wasting my time asking me inane questions?!?! No, I didn't yell that, but believe me, I really wanted to. After all that, I'm asked to wait in the waiting room. As I sit and anticipate all kinds of non-helpful scenarios, who decides to make herself known? Of course. Baby girl starts kicking as I sit there trying not to cry. Ultrasound tech chooses that moment to call my name and sees me holding back tears. Man, they probably thought they had a basket case on their hands! I go through with the ultrasound because hey, I'm already there, and hey, I wanna make sure her heart is beating normally and there's nothing else to be worried about.

As soon as I hear her heartbeat I start crying all over again. (I probably scared the ultrasound dude forever) Her heartbeat is normal and she's fine. Whew! Relief. I start to relax and enjoy seeing her squirm around during the rest of the ultrasound. She's a character, that one. I felt kinda silly afterward, but hey, I'd rather be safe than sorry. So, you ask, Why was she so lazy calm? Who knows?! But I gave her a talking to and told her she needed to let me know at least once a day that she's ok in there. I think she understood me because she has been kicking non-stop all day today. Thanks, baby girl. I'm glad you're having fun in there! 

And because a blog post is not a blog post without a picture, here's a pic of B giving his girl a kiss:

Welcome to parenthood, right? I'm sure it's just the beginning...

Who Says That?!

Someone said to me today, "look at that cute little waddle." Huh?! Seriously? Have I gotten to that point where I no longer walk like every other normal non-pregnant person?! And even if I have, who says that?! Way to make me feel like a cow, er, a duck! I'm thinking it was due to the fact that I was walking up a hill slight incline with my purse that weighs a ton and trying to keep my balance at the same time that I may have looked like I was waddling. Yeah, that's it. Face it preggo, the waddle may have already started. Minus 100 points for sure. 

Anyway, here's a glimpse of the next project that will hopefully be finished this weekend...unless of course I get distracted by something else along the way! :)

I'm gonna waddle off to bed now...

Pillow Factory

After all the sewing I did today, I feel like I work in a pillow factory! With the new sofa just begging for some fun pillows, I knew I couldn't ignore its cries. I made my way down to Joann's (yes, I took a number right away this time) to find some fabric. Low and behold, all the home decor fabric was 30-40% off;  however, the selection left something to be desired. Perhaps that's why it was on sale, eh? Anyway, I spent forever about a half hour just deciding what I wanted to get. Finally, I made my way to the cutting table. On the way there, I spotted these on sale...40% off...nice!

Sometimes I buy pillow forms, sometimes I just stuff, depending on what I have or what's cheaper. I grabbed at least five a few and hightailed it out of there. I had me some sewin' to get to!!

Here's the fabric I started with...

And after a few hours...ok, more like 4 hours...here's most of what I finished:

I have a few more to make for B's "man cave" and a few that need a bit of extra embellishment, but I think I'll work on those another day. I'm beat. Total cost for this project was about $45. Not too bad for nine pillows. I definitely would have paid waaay more than that had I bought them all. 

And here's what they look like on the new sofa (minus a couple that are still in the works)

 

Slowly it's starting to come together :)

 

Special Delivery

Today was THE day. Now if you remember correctly, I told you we have been in our house for a year now. You also know that we moved into a large house that needed LOTS of furniture. Well, in the last year, we have tried to furnish as much of the house as possible but obviously we couldn't do it all at once. There were certain things that were priorities (fridge, washer/dryer, lawnmower, etc). We knew we needed a large sofa for the family room area but couldn't find one we really liked. I lie. We found one we really liked and actually went to look at it at least three times, but something always came up that was a higher priority. I mean, it's not like we were totally sofa-less. We just spent time in the upstairs den rather than the family room.

Well, I finally broke down and spent the money on the sectional for the downstairs family room. It was a good deal and I got to customize it by choosing my fabric and size. I also figured that we needed to get it before baby gets here because after she arrives all our money is going to her new wardrobe baby supplies. Well today was delivery day. I was having nightmares about the fabric and what color it would actually be once it was on a piece of furniture so large, but it turned out exactly like I pictured it.

(Poor quality photos, I know, I know. The color is actually much darker and not as gray.)

 

Now we have a place for people to sit when they come over, without having to trek up to the den. It's also motivation for us to finish the media center and time to start sewing some fun pillows!

Hey Neighbor

*Disclaimer: I thought I had posted this yesterday, but apparently I clicked on the save button not the publish button...my bad. ANYWAY, for my dear friend who thinks I'm slacking on my blogging (dude, I missed two days, hardly a crisis!) this is for you :)

Yesterday my old college friend and roommate was in town and came over with her two daughters. It was really good to see her and catch up and just hang out. Made me realize that I don't have very many good friends where we now live, and that's kind of sad. I miss being able to just call someone and say hey let's go to lunch or wanna come over and watch a movie? I do have a couple of friends close by that I can do that with but sometimes I feel like they get tired of seeing us all the time! :) I wish we were close to our neighbors or had family close by. It's one of the things I wish I could change. Perhaps I can convince my parents to move closer- ha, fat chance!

Anyway, since I don't have any neighbors or friends to bug, I'll spend time with my sewing machine. It has been feeling a little neglected because I've been spending so much time on projects and the new tools. Don't worry, buddy, I haven't abandoned you. Here's something I'm working on for one rambunctious little boy! Hope he likes it!

I'll show you the finished product tomorrow. 

Week 26: Feeling Good

It's been a while since I posted a pregnancy update. I've been so busy with projects around the house that I keep forgetting to take update pictures. B nagged reminded me to take a picture tonight so you have him to thank. Yeah, because I know you have all just been waiting impatiently to see what the belly looks like these days! Ha! I've been feeling pretty good (hence the projects around the house) and don't really have any complaints. Hopefully this lasts for a bit longer while I finish start baby girl's room. Guess what?! I finally picked a fabric!! More on that later though. Time for bed. Here's the latest pic B took:

Don't mind the stain on the belly...apparently baby girl was trying to get a taste of whatever I was eating! ;)

♥ Happy Mother's Day ♥

DIY Framed Mirror

Yesterday I promised to show you the project I worked on and am so so excited about...

Well, when we moved into our house we were lucky enough to not only have big bathrooms, but big mirrors in those bathrooms. You know the kind. They are the builder grade mirrors that take up the whole wall above the sink. You know, that kind. Nothing fancy, but large and in charge.

This is the smallest of the 3 mirrors in the downstairs bathroom. You get the idea though...

Well we were lucky enough to have 3 of them in our house. I contemplated taking them off the walls and putting up framed mirrors but figured that would be such a tedious project. Besides, those framed mirrors don't come cheap! Well after some blog searching, discussion with creative neighbors, and scheming, I decided to just work with what I had and build my own frame.

So, I did. I based my "plan" on these two tutorials I found here and here. I trekked over to our local home improvement store and found the molding/trim combo that I liked best, picked up some liquid nails for mirrors, and headed home.

Here's the molding/trim before I cut it:

This is after they are cut and primed, just waiting to get painted:

Painted and ready to go!

Liquid Nails...not too close to the edge or else you will be able to see it in the reflection of the mirror:

It wasn't a difficult project, it just took some time to wait for the paint to dry. Here are the specs:

• molding: $15
• liquid nails: $6
• paint and primer: I already had at home but it's about $3 per can
• time: about 2 hours from start to finish

And the results? Ta Daa!:

I think it's FAN.TAS.TIC.!! It gives it that "extra" touch that it was missing and I think it looks so much better than just a mirror glued to the wall. Definitely more of a custom look than before. Whaddya think? And I made it all my myself! Now I just need to get B excited to help me do the upstairs mirrors. Those bad boys are too long for me to do by myself.

Linking to:

Before and After: Garage Sale Dresser

So I finally finished re-doing the dresser! Well technically it's been finished for a while but as I mentioned here, I had a slight issue with the knobs. Anywhoo, it's now complete (and looking much better I might add).

Remember the "before"? How could you forget this lovely thing?!:

And here's the "after"

She's gorgeous isn't she?! You can't really see the crystal knobs but they are so pretty! I love how simple the dresser is but with a hint of class...what a gal! Now I need to find a room that she can call home.

I can't wait to show you what I worked on today!! I'm so excited. I'll post it tomorrow after the paint is dry and the glue is set...

I Forgot...Again

Pregnancy brain attacked again! Remember this post when it first attacked? Well, I was supposed to make a few onesies for a friend who is going to a baby shower this weekend. She ordered them last Friday and I said, sure no problem, that gives me plenty of time! If the onesies are already dyed it usually only takes an hour or so to finish (depending on the design). If I need to dye the onesies, I give myself a day, just in case. Well, as it turns out, pregnancy brain is a tricky thing. I remembered on Sunday that I needed to work on them. I even went as far as to take the onesies out and set them next to my sewing machine, telling myself I'd remember better if they were out where I could see them. Guess who forgot? Yup, that's right. I walked by them a million I don't know how many times and it didn't even dawn on me that I had to finish them! Well, today at work I realized oh shoot, I totally forgot to make those onesies (they should have been in the mail by this point) and now I don't have time to mail them! Ugh. I hate when I forget things! Ok, I'm off early today so I'll just do them when I get home. Good plan. So what did I do when I got home? Did I start (and finish) the order? Of course not...I decided I wanted to bake some cookies instead. Priorities people.

Here they are, finally finished.

A Little Too Much

Sorry I've been MIA for the last few days. We have been pretty busy around here doing projects and just getting prepared for baby. I am exhausted and I think I may have pushed myself a little too hard these last few days. I've been painting, building, baking, cooking, sewing, and organizing...oh and finishing my school project (that I mentioned here). Whew! I'm exhausted just typing that! It's hard to "take it slow" when I feel fine. I know, I know, I can't do it all. I think after this weekend I understand that a little more. So here's a glimpse of what we've been up to the last few days:

The tools that dad let me borrow to do my projects...SWEET!!

 Fettuccine Alfredo...I know, not the healthiest meal on the block, but oh.so.good.

Painting the guest room...

A little bit of sewing...

And some yard work...

Man, I'm tired. Is it time for bed yet? Yup, do believe it is. More house and sewing projects coming soon!