Inspiration board

The other day Pinterest led to me to an awesome blog, full of sewing tutorials and fashion ideas.

I'm inspired!  Now I just need to buy a ton of jersey knit so I can get started.

Here are a few of Merrick's sewing projects I'm going to try out.  PS- it helps that she's also sporting a baby bump and has some cute maternity DIY ideas.  Thanks for all the great tutorials-- sorry if I didn't credit your photos properly, no harm intended.

Links to the tutorials are in the photo captions.

Maxi Dress Tutorial

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I want to fashion mine out of solid knit and wear like this :)

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Pencil Skirt Tutorial

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Side Tulip Hemline Tunic Tutorial
I'm most excited about this one

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24 Week Update

How far along: 24 Weeks 

Gender: Girl 

Total weight gain: 7 lbs

Maternity clothes: I've been sporting full-on maternity wear for the last couple of weeks.  It's like my belly doubled in size in a matter of days. My favorite  item-- the skinny belt!  It's so fun to wrap a little belt above my bump and it helps make some of those boxy maternity shirts look a little more fitted.   I found some great steals from Ann Taylor Loft Maternity but they were all way too big when they came in. Booo!  No worries- I just whipped out the sewing machine and took them in a bit.  And I'm so excited because my bestie is sending me some of her basic maternity staples to borrow (a few maxi dresses, tunics and jeans). I think I'll be good to go for the rest of my pregnancy!  

Stretch marks: Nope-- but now is the time to stock up on the Vitamin E lotion like I did last time.

Sleep: Great!  Thanks to my awesome maternity body pillow, I'm super comfy. Best $70 I ever spent.  I accidentally left it at a hotel when I was pregnant with Aubrey and paid nearly $40 for them to FedEx it to me.  Totes worth it. 

Miss Anything: Sushi.  It sounds so delicious and refreshing to me right now.  

Movement: This baby is ON. THE. MOVE.  Weston was able to feel her kick for the first time just about a week ago.  She normally likes to boogie after I've had lunch/dinner and when I'm sitting very still.  She also likes to wiggle around when it's time for bed.  It makes falling asleep a little difficult at times.

Cravings: Any kind of sweet, juicy fruit- like plums or peaches.  Also, I could eat a cup of frozen yogurt every single day. I don't.... but I could.   Occasionally all I want is a burger and fries from Sonic or Whataburger.  YUM.

Symptoms: Heartburn.  I guess it will be hanging around for the next 3 1/2 months.  BLEH. 

Belly Button in or out: In

Mood: Energetic! I feel great and relatively comfortable right now.

Looking forward to:  Making the trip to West Texas to visit my parents.  They haven't seen my baby bump yet!

Exercise:  I just started walking this past week.  I figure I better take advantage of the beautiful weather while I can.  My goal is to do a 30 minute walk- 3 times a week.  I've knocked out two walks so far this week and feel great.

Nutrition:  Weston and I are eating pretty healthy.  I want something starchy with every meal and he doesn't, so sometimes I make a little rice or a sweet potato.  We eat at home at least 4-5 nights a week which helps us keep it relatively healthy.  I haven't been counting calories or anything crazy-- I'm just trying to be reasonable and avoid anything that will trigger that nasty heartburn.

Sewing Mania

I have been sewing like a crazy person lately.  It has been so nice to put Aubrey to bed and then sew while Weston and I watch the Olympics.

I had a terrible sewing day where I basically botched almost everything I tried. After a little sewing break, and maybe a few tears, I have been able to successfully complete a few projects!  My confidence is back!  Sometimes you have to step away from the sewing machine and repeat several times this saying, "My seam ripper is my friend.  My seam ripper is my friend."

Here's what I've been able to accomplish over the past 2 weeks.

Skinny leg maternity jeans
I took a frumpy, old pair of jeans I never wore and converted them to skinny leg maternity jeans. I followed this skinny jean tutorial to make the legs "skinny" and then followed this maternity jean tutorial to make room for my ever-growing belly.  Great success!

New dress and headband for Aubrey

I absolutely LOVE this fabric- a remnant fabric find at JoAnn's! I originally used this fabric to make this sweet sunsuit  friend's little girl.  With the little bit I had left over, I was able to make this sweet dress and matching headband for Aubrey. 

Pajama pants

Aubrey desperately needed some bigger pj pants and this tutorial seemed easy enough to follow.  I think I bought this fabric to make throw pillows for Aubrey's room, but the cotton is really soft and it made perfect pj pants.  I plan to make more of these using some old tshirts!

NOTE:  If you want to give this a try, make sure you measure how long the crotch seam needs to be to accommodate a sweet diapered bottom. I had to make two different pj pants before I got my pattern right.  I should have just measured in the beginning, and then added 1 1/2 - 2 inches for the elastic casing.  


Window Valances

Inspired by this no sew tutorial and a $9 clearance shower curtain from Dillards I was able to make some valances for our naked guest room windows.  I'm not a huge fan of window valances, but they'll do for now. I went ahead and used my sewing machine to hem the fabric and make the rod pocket.

New Throw Pillow

I used a grey duck cloth and left over fabric from my valances to make this cute little throw pillow!  I learned how to do the ladder stitch to close my pillows!

Crock Pot Mania

After seeing about a zillion things on Pinterest about how easy and inexpensive it can be to feed your family on crock pot meals-- I decided to give it a try.

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I prepared a total of 7 crock pot freezer meals in about 1 hour. You basically do your shopping, prepare each recipe in a gallon sized freezer bag, freeze and when you're ready- toss it in the crock pot for dinner.

So far we've had three crock pot meals and, although they're a far cry from Weston's normal gourmet cooking, they were easy, healthy and pretty tasty.

Here's what I made: (sources and recipes linked below)
Chicken Curry (x2)
Beef Burritos
Garlic Honey Chicken
Teriyaki Pork Chops
Hawaiian Chicken
Chicken Fajitas


Chicken curry recipe found here.
All other 5 recipes found here.

Pros:
1. It truly was inexpensive and easy to prepare everything.  1 shopping trip, 1 hour to prepare, 7 meals.
2. I love knowing exactly what is in each dish.  Meat, veggies, seasoning.  That's about it.
3. Aubrey is able to eat everything prepared.
4. Almost every recipe we have tried so far has provided enough for dinner and lunch the next day.

Cons:
1. Eating your dinner out of a crock pot every night can be pretty boring.  We got tired of it and ended up making yummy granola banana pancakes one night, even though we had a meal all heated up and ready to go.
2. Too mushy.  Since I only prepared recipes that included meat and veggies-- everything pretty much has had the same, mushy consistency.  All of the chicken or beef is supposed to be shredded before eaten, so it just feels like you're having the same thing every night.
3. Forgetting to put your meal on to cook can leave you in a bind.  If you forget to put your meal on before work- then you're forced to go hungry or put it on at lunch and cook on high heat, which I just isn't nearly as good.
4.  Hubby is a really good cook and he can normally whip up something spectacular in about 30 minutes.  I'm blessed because crock potting is not always necessary at our house :)

**notes-
Teriyaki Pork Chops- we bought at least 1 inch thick pork chops and they still turned out pretty dry.  To prevent them from drying out I recommend either 1) buying bone-in pork chops, 2) SLOW cook them-- don't cook on the "high" 4 hour setting like I did, or 3) make this recipe with chicken or beef.
Chicken Fajitas- yummy!  They were delicious.  The recipe calls for 1 tsp of salt, which I recommend leaving out.  Our dish was a little on the salty side.
Hawaiian Chicken-  Yum!

Babysitter Vacation

Last week our babysitter was on vacation- which meant that Weston and I worked out a way to keep Aubrey at home for the week AND go to work!

Spending time at home with Aubrey was simply amazing.  She is almost 21 months and is a bundle of energy and sweetness. Weston and I ended up splitting the days in half- Weston would work in the mornings while I stayed home with Aubrey and then we would switch at lunch time.  This allowed each of us to get a full 4-5 hours of work in at the office, plus a little work at home time.

Here's some of what we did:

Played outside (Aubrey's favorite thing to do!)

Aubrey spent some time looking at the trees

We drank out of a big glass

Spent more time outside with Chloe

Played pasta in the kitchen

Went to the park with Dad

and Aubrey spent quite a bit of time in her PJs- which I made for her of course :)

It was so neat to get to spend that time with her-- she is absolutely hilarious.  We've been practicing saying "Yes Maam" and "Yes Sir."  We have also been talking quite a bit about obeying mom and dad.  I try to get Aubrey to say "Yes Maam, I will obey."  We're not all the way there yet.

If anyone has advice on how to encourage independent play for toddlers, bring it on!

20 Weeks and Growing

I haven't posted in quite a while-- the past few weeks have been CRAZY busy.

I'm 20 weeks pregnant- which means I'm halfway there!! Tiny baby is growing big.  The doctor estimated her weight between 10-11 ounces and her length to be as long as a large banana.  My tummy is beginning to grow and I think I may have spent my very last day in my most favorite pre-pregnancy jeans. Dresses and elastic waist pants here I come!

20 weeks 

We went for the anatomy ultrasound last week and were able to check in on all the important baby parts. Tiny baby moved all around and did what seemed like a full somersault during the ultrasound. Maybe she was inspired by the Olympic gymnasts.

The ultrasound confirmed that little sister has:
2 arms
2 legs
A healthy looking brain
Nose, eyes, lips and chin
A strong heart with 4 chambers
2 kidneys
Stomach
Spine
Girl parts
You know... all the really important things.

It's such a blessing to be able to watch her grow from both the outside (my belly) and the inside (ultrasound).    Weston and I are amazed at God's creation, just growing right inside of me.  We're thankful for a comfortable and easy pregnancy so far and for tiny baby's development.  We continue to pray for her to grow as perfectly and healthy as God intends.

Aubrey is starting to get used to all the baby talk.  She can say "baby" and she knows the baby is in mommy's tummy.  Although, sometimes she gets confused and she thinks the baby is in her tummy too.

:)