Tiny Baby Has a Name

We've finally settled on a name for tiny baby- aka little sister. Her name is....

Her full name will be Mary Elizabeth and we will call her Emmy.  Some might consider it strange to name your child one thing with intentions of having them go by a completely different name.  It's certainly not traditional- but I'm not sure anyone would classify either Weston or me as being overly concerned with the "traditional."

The name we chose is special.

Mary is my mother's name and Elizabeth is the middle name she will share with her sister, her mama, her Cookie (Weston's mom), and many of her cousins and aunts. Her initials are "M.E.B"

I can't wait to meet her and call her by her sweet little name!

Pregnant Meltdown

I had a significant pregnant meltdown yesterday.  There were tears, lots of tears. Honestly, no sane person would have reacted the way I did to the events of the day, so I have to blame this one 100% on hormones.

Preggo belly- 27 weeks and a few days

Here's what happened:
I cried about my food
I cried because Aubrey threw food on the floor
I cried about my ruined bath

The food:
My sweet sweet husband cooked up some delicious looking chicken fried steak for dinner.  He had literally been standing over the stove for at least 30-40 minutes before I made it home.  The house smelled of friend, delicious goodness.  As we went to fix our plates, I began to prepare a plate of food for Aubrey and noticed that the steak was a little more pink than I felt comfortable feeding my 22 month old and myself, with unborn child in tow. Weston swore up and down that it was fine, and I'm sure it was, but I just couldn't get over the level of pink in the steak. I found something else for Aubrey to eat and tried to eat my food.  But I just cried with every bite until I finally got myself something else to eat. That's no way to react over food, and I hurt Weston's feelings. He was hurt because he had spent the last hour cooking dinner and because I was basically accusing him of trying to poison us all.  By the way, everyone is fine and I missed out on what I'm sure was a delicious dinner.

Food on the floor:
Then Aubrey kept throwing her green beans on the floor.  I told her to stop throwing her food on the floor- several times. Each green bean that hit the floor summoned more and more tears.  Finally Aubrey was sent to her room for time out and we both cried it out for a bit (Aubrey in her room and me at the dinner table).

Ruined bath:
And to top it all off-- all I wanted to do was take a nice bath before bed.  I settle into the tub and am startled by a weird scratching noise.  Is it coming from the attic?  From under the house?  From my closet?  Is Aubrey scratching on the wall in her room?  I call Weston into the bathroom to listen and he determines it's just something up under the house.  It is directly under the bathroom to be exact.  Why is this stupid varmit trying to ruin my bath?!?!  All I wanted was a nice bath and now it's ruined because there's a weird nocturnal animal directly underneath me.  More tears.

All in all- my extreme sadness over seemingly unimportant things was remedied by a good night's sleep.  Almost 10 hours of sleep, to be exact!

10 Things

Today I was thinking about some of the strange things pregnancy causes.  Here's my Top 10 List:

Pregnancy will....

1. Cause you to deviate from your original plan to head to the bedroom for sleep at 10pm and instead begin cleaning the bathroom, folding clothes, vacuuming, mopping or doing some activity of that variety. Seriously, it's 10pm, you head towards the bedroom and notice something along the way. Next thing you know it's midnight and you're on the step ladder in the laundry room hunting for the liquid nails.

2. Make tears flow from your eyes at the drop of a hat for no apparent reason.

 

3. Inspire some very strange food combinations.  "Yes- I WOULD like some Siracha sauce on my Fettuccine Alfredo!"

4. Make you pee when you sneeze.  'nuff said.

5. Cause you to eat like a 300 pound truck driver.  "Did I really just go through the KFC drive-thru so I could get a biscuit, mashed potatoes, and some macaroni and cheese?"

6. Allow you to grow closer to your husband than you ever imagined you could.  Just talking about how your family is growing and changing will change your marriage.  Watching your husband nest in his own way is about the sweetest thing you'll see- next to watching him be a daddy to your children.

7. Bring out the perfectionist in you-- even if you didn't know one existed.  All of the sudden everything has to be perfect and it's like a ticking time bomb will go off if you don't fix it all before the baby comes.  That weird spot on the wall that needs touched up-- you have an overwhelming urge to fix it.  You'll rearrange the furniture, get up in the attic for god knows what, paint a room or two, and create a million "To Do" lists.  And you'll probably do it around 11pm as I mentioned before. 

8. Make doing laundry fun again.  All of the sudden it becomes so sweet to wash and fold tiny clothes.  You will "Ooooo and Ahhh" over tiny shirts, pants and gowns and breathe in the sweet smell of Dreft as you fold the clothes.  Laundry will be sweet and special again.

9. Summon the heart-burn demons from deep within.   Who knew an innocent glass of OJ or some tomato bisque soup could be so disruptive to one's sleep??  

10. Cause you to be acutely aware of time and want to document EVERYTHING.  I can't remember the last time I counted each and every passing week... much less the weeks and the days.  If someone asks me how far along I am, I can proudly tell them 27 weeks and 6 days.  And I've either journaled, blogged,  photographed, or documented in the baby book how each and every one of the past 28 weeks has passed by.  My fears, my progress, my excitement, etc..

It's easy to get caught up in a bunch of silly things when you're preparing for another human to join your family, but I think it's natural.  It's natural to want to welcome your new baby into a clean and tidy home.  It's natural for your body to change and require different things during the 40 weeks it takes to grow a baby.  It's natural to go a little crazy and then snap back to normal and realize all of the tremendous ways you've been blessed.  Being pregnant is weird- but it's amazing.

Finished Bedskirt

Remember this post about progress on our shared girls room?  Doesn't the crib look sad without a bedskirt?

Well- this past weekend I finally finished the bedskirt AND a couple of pillow shams!

Finished bedskirt

Pillow shams for the big girl bed

To make the bedskirt project super easy I just made a single front panel (which is all you really need for our type of crib).  Because of how the turquoise fabric was printed on the bolt, it was only 44 inches wide.  So I needed to combine two 44'' x 10'' of turquoise with one 44'' x 10'' strip of pink.  I stitched them together to form one long strip, hemmed the bottom, and then gathered it to my desired length, which was about 52.5''.  I originally wanted to do layers of ruffles, but as I looked at how the length of the bedskirt would need to change over time as the crib is lowered I decided to do one long ruffle instead.

The bedskirt is tacked onto the mattress frame with binder clips :)  I'm hoping this will make it easy to adjust the length of the skirt as the mattress is lowered over time.

I used this tutorial for the pillow shams.  The measurements from this tutorial would have left me with a HUGE pillow sham!  Luckily I laid a pillow on top of my fabric to check it out for size before I began sewing.  I just trimmed the fabric down to an appropriate size before stitching everything together.

Getting Ready for Two

I"m finally making some progress on Aubrey and little sister's bedroom!!

Our goal is for them to share a room once little sister is sleeping through the night and we've dropped the 10-11pm feeding.  In preparation, we purchased a big girl bed for Aubrey a few weeks ago and transitioned her to her new bed this past week.  I was REALLY nervous about moving her to her big girl bed, but she has done so well with it!

Read about how we transitioned to the big girl bed here.

Ready for the first night in her big bed!

Now that Aubrey is in her big bed I've been able to finish up some things for the room and work on the crib.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money getting the room ready-- so I repurposed as much as I could and left it pretty simple.  I want the room to be fun and welcoming for them, a great place to play and catch some zzz's.    It doesn't need to wow anybody besides my two little girls :)

Here's an update on progress:
I have organized the closet and dresser to accommodate baby clothes and big girl clothes.  All of the newborn-3mo clothes are washed and ready.  I have all other clothes stored away for easy access in bags labeled 6 mo, 9 mo, 12 mo, etc..

I made a sweet hair bow holder using an ugly gold frame I picked up at a yard sale for $1 almost a year ago.

I finished up the bumper pads for the crib and am really pleased with how they turned out!  Big thanks to my mom for helping me get all the fabric!

I repurposed the bumper pad forms from Aubrey's old bumper to make the new ones.  I ripped the fabric off (because it was a dark, bold print I was afraid might show through the new fabric) and just stuffed the forms into the new bumper sleeves.  I saved the other fabric- you never know when it will come in handy!

If I had it to do over again, I would take the extra time and sew piping along the edges of each pad.   It would give them an extra touch and make them look more professional.  These were really easy to make-- the longest part was measuring and cutting the fabric.

I raised the mattress on the crib so it's ready for tiny baby!  I still need to sew a couple of crib sheets and a crib skirt.

I'm thinking I'll do the crib skirt with the pink polka dot fabric (or maybe a combo of pink and turquoise) and use the lime green to make fitted crib sheets. 

A bigger look at the room- big girl bed and the crib.

Right now Aubrey's bed just has a fitted sheet and a fleece blanket.  I'll do a bedskirt for Aubrey's bed out of the lime green and make pillow shams using mostly the turquoise fabric (with a lime green or pink ruffle). 

My plan is to make a duvet for the big bed using the matching flat sheet (pink polka dot) but probably won't do that until she gets a bit bigger or until it gets colder. She doesn't sleep under the covers and always ends up with her head at the foot of the bed.

Most of the inspiration, fabric and tutorials I used are on my Shared Room pinterest board. 

Aside from the bedskirts, pillow shams and a couple of decorative pillows-- I think I just need to hang a few prints I got on Etsy, make a place for all of Aubrey's books, and we're ready to go!

Big Girl Bed

In preparation for new baby, we purchased a big girl bed for Aubrey a few weeks ago and transitioned her to her new bed this past week.  I was REALLY nervous about moving her to her big girl bed, but she has done so well with it!

Bedtime Stories

Ready for the first night's sleep in her big bed!

First night in the big bed

This is how we did it:


1. We moved the bed into her room and re-arranged the furniture a couple of weeks before we tried to get her to sleep in the new bed.  She continued to sleep in her crib with the big bed in the room.
2. We talked a LOT about Aubrey's big girl bed and how it was for 'night night.'  Aubrey would crawl up in the bed and say night night and practice laying down.
3. We didn't allow her to play or jump in the big girl bed-- I tried to set the boundary that it was for sleep and reading books.
4. We  borrowed a bedrail from a friend and showed her how to get in and out of the bed with the bedrail on.  She has to use a little step to get in and out-- it's super cute.
5.  We just went for it!  She got to have her normal sleep things (like the blanket from her crib and her lamb) in the big bed with her.  We read stories, covered her up, and said night night.  Then we watched her on the monitor for the next two hours.  She explored the space a little, then eventually just laid down to rest with her little head on the pillow!

So far she has slept all night 4 nights in a row in her new bed and has even taken several successful naps in the big bed.  She waits for us to come get her  out of bed, even though she knows how to get out.  According to Toddlerwise, this is a good thing!

Success!

West Texas Trip

We made our semi-annual pilgrimage to West Texas this past weekend.  We don't get to see my parents as much as I'd like so we took advantage of Aubrey's last few months as a lap child (meaning she flies for free) and hopped on a plane headed West.

We had a terrific time and although the weekend was short, we got to squeeze in lots of time with family and friends.  We went to the MOJO football game and my niece's soccer game, swam in the pool, watched football, shopped a little, grilled hamburgers and entertained company, and managed to capture a few family pics.  All in all a busy and fun weekend!

Week 26 Update

How far along: 26 Weeks 

Growing belly- 26 weeks. 

Gender: Girl 

Total weight gain: 10.5 lbs

Maternity clothes: I'm loving the cooler weather!  Can't wait to get these jeans to carry me through the fall!

Source- Motherhood.com

Stretch marks: None. 

Sleep: Great!  I still only have to get up once in the night and I"m able to sleep pretty comfortably. 

Miss Anything:  The past few weeks I've been missing caffeine.  I allow myself 1 cup of coffee in the morning and that's usually about it.  Lately I have been wanting a mid-afternoon cup of coffee or a soda, but I try as much as possible not to indulge.

Movement:  Tiny baby is still moving around for what seems like all day every day.  I have to remind myself to be thankful for all of her sweet movements, as they're a reminder that she's doing just fine inside my belly.

Cravings: SWEETS!

Symptoms: Still more heartburn, from morning till night.  My newest pregnancy symptom-- the oh-so-graceful pregnant waddle.  

Belly Button in or out: In

Mood: Anticipation. Now that I can consistently feel the baby move, I've been thinking alot about what she'll be like when she's here.  I can't wait to meet her and see what life is like as a family of 4.

Looking forward to:  I'm making all of the bedding for the girls room and I can't wait to  begin sewing.  Thanks to Gran (aka- my mom) I have all the fabric I need to make the crib bumper pad, bed skirts, pillow shams and throw pillows.  The fabric is washed and ready to go-- time to measure, cut, and get started!

Exercise: Not much exercise since my last update. My primary form of exercise involves lifting a 22 month old over and over again. But I have been able to take a good 15 minute walk the last few days.  I should probably do more.

My feet are slowly disappearing

Nutrition:  I fell off the nutrition wagon last week and ate way too many sweets, pasta and hamburgers.  They're just so yummy....

Mommy Revelation

There is a little copycat living in my house.  

This sweet, curly-haired, blue eyed, almost 2 year old girl follows me around and copies my every move.  

She watches when I put on my make up and wants to put some on too.  

When she sees me brush my teeth, she wants her teeth brushed.  

If I'm drinking water, she wants to drink water.  

If I sit on the floor she wants to sit on the floor too.  

She's right behind me (right under my heels to be exact) with every move I make.

I say things like "Let's see..." and so when we're at the grocery store it's likely you can hear Aubrey from 2-3 aisles over shouting "Let's see..." up and down every row.

It's funny.  It's sweet.  And sometimes it can even be a little bit annoying.

But just the other day I had a stark realization as to what exactly was happening. When she mimics me, it is more than just sweet.  It is more than funny.  It is so much more.  

Here's what happened-

I was standing in the kitchen and dropped something breakable.  I said, "Shoot!!" really loudly. I know-- who says 'Shoot' anymore? I'll tell you who- moms of toddlers.  

Aubrey came into the kitchen and started saying, "shoot, shoot, shoot" over and over again. At that moment, I became acutely aware of the fact that Aubrey is going to copy me-- good and bad.  At this impressionable age, I realize that my every move will mold her into the person she will soon become. She will do the things she sees me do.  She will treat people the way she sees me treat people. She will speak the way she hears me speak.  She will pray the way she sees me pray.  She will one day love her husband the way she sees me love her daddy. 

Wow-- that is some heavy stuff.

I always remember my mom telling me that you should only say sweet, kind things to your babies because they will become what you tell them they are.  That has always stuck with me.  I always try to tell Aubrey things like- You are a sweet girl.  You are very special.  God loves you.  You are so much fun.

I just hope she REALLY grows to believe those thing about herself and that I can truly be mindful of the responsibility I've been given to help mold her into person God wants her to be.