My 2nd Crafty Adventure

And I'm thrilled with the result!  I'm not really being overly creative on my own just yet... trying to learn some basic ideas before I start trying to go all out, but I saw these awesomely cute little bows on a blog a friend had posted on her facebook, and I had to give them a try! 

Go check it out here:  Homemade Ginger
(You can expect a lot more ideas taken from her blog too.... stuff is soooo cute!)

So how cute are those little felt flowers?!  So - I tried my hand at one today.  Literally took me 15 minutes.

I cut the circle.  Cut around, and started rolling.  Hot glued the back down and even hot glued a little clip on so it will clip easily on a little head band, or later on, in her hair.  Here's the finished project:  (clipped onto her new bow board by the way ;)

I love these and think they look very vintage!  I'll be making a lot of these in my future.  I did white this time just because it was an 'experimental' one and the only colors of felt they had at walmart were white, green, red, and black... so white seemed like the best option at the time.  I'll be heading to hobby Lobby later :)

-a

My First Crafty Adventure - Bow Hanger

Okay - so this may not be considered to be 'crafty', but it was a good step in the right direction.  I have another project in mind for today that may be more 'crafty,' but a friend of mine said since I used a hot glue gun it totally counts as 'crafty,' so I'm going with that :)

Okay, I'm trying to get all of this 'I'm having a girl' stuff down, which makes me think of how different it's going to be to dress her and get her ready than it is with Bryton.  That made me think of bows, and then I immediately thought to myself, "Where in the world am I going to put all of her bows?"  So - that's what I decided to make my first project.  I've found a lot of cute ones and actually had an idea to make a little dress to hang the bows on ribbons on her skirt, but I found some wrapping paper that I'm hopefully going to use for another project and decided to use that to kill two birds with one stone.  Yes.  Wrapping paper.  So, here's how it all worked out:

I bought the wrapping paper (for the other project, hope to post that later on), some foam board, and two spools of ribbon that matched my wrapping paper.  I then cut my foam board into two equal sized rectangles.  

I then wrapped each rectangles with the wrapping paper.  I actually used double faced tape and regular scotch tape to give the wrapping paper (which was very thick) extra security.  Each rectangle looked like this:

I then cut my ribbon to be just longer than the width of my foam board.  I chose how many ribbons I wanted for each board and laid them out how I wanted them spaced.  I then glued each ribbon down with my (new) hot glue gun! (Pictured on left ;))

I then pulled the ribbon around the front of the board and secured each end to the back side, allowing the ribbon to be just loose enough to clip hairbows on :)

Here is the finished project (well, one of two).  The picture came out a little 'yellow' because of the lighting in our kitchen.  My goal is to get these hung on her wall so you can see them in 'functional order.'  

So not too bad for my first attempt, I believe it was a success.  We'll see how the next one turns out :)

-A

Almost 31 Weeks

So tomorrow I'll be 31 weeks pregnant, and I have to ask myself, where has the time gone?  She's growing up right before our eyes and she's not even here yet! 

Before getting pregnant with her I told myself, knowing that I may have never had the opportunity to be pregnant again, and probably never will, that I was going to enjoy every second of my pregnancy.  Bryton's pregnancy was pretty breezy until the last 6 weeks or so, and I naively thought I'd handle every other pregnancy the same way.  Naive. 

My whole first trimester I spent sick... not throwing up constantly sick, but constantly nauseous and pukey feeling.  Needless to say, I was praying away those first weeks... afterall, they aren't the 'fun ones' anyway. 

Luckily, 2nd trimester was pretty good to me.  I felt good, got around well, the headaches from first trimester also stopped, and I had a good amount of energy, but at almost exactly the 29 week turn, I could sense the miserableness that was nearing around the corner.  I, now, am remembering how I really felt with Bryton towards the end, and I'm not there yet. 

I'm still kind of fighting her, as she's brutally active, and I don't use that word lightly.  Aaron and I talked the other day about how much I enjoyed Bryton moving and watching Bryton move around in my belly.  Well, Ansley, she's a powerhouse, and I'm guessing will be very stubborn.  If there's somewhere that she wants to be and I have organs or ribs in the way, she kicks harder.  More than once she's knocked the wind out of me, and it's nothing for me to feel pain as a result of her movement.  Crazy.

I'm trying to do a good job at keeping my feet up at least once during the day for about an hour, to prevent the swelling that inevitably came (and would not go away) with Bryton.  The very bad swelling didn't come until about 34 or 35 weeks, so I still have some time, and I'm trying to do what I can to prevent it all together.  I can already see some swelling in my face this time.  (Knowing this time what I'm looking for... I didn't even think my face had swelled any with B until after I had him and the swelling went down.  I then realized how awful I'd looked.) 

Besides those few things, I'm tired, it's getting harder to get around, especially with Bryton, and if I'm on my feet for two long, or laying in a position to sleep for any period of time, or sitting in a recliner too long, I hurt.  Legs, back, you name it.  I'm remembering how much I hate maternity clothes, and look forward to the day I can wear my normal clothes again.  (I hope it happens as quickly as it did with Bryton, but I'm not getting my hopes up.)

So, though I can say I'm not miserable yet, I will not be so naive this time to think it's not coming... it is coming.  As it comes, I'm now thinking about labor and delivery again, and it's all coming back to me.  Especially as my belly gets bigger I think, "this thing has to come out some how," and I remember how that 'somehow' is.  I honestly hadn't thought about it much until now, because it seemed so far away... now it's not all that far.  If Ansley decides to be anything like her brother, she could be here in about 6 weeks, which blows my mind. 

Hmmm - seems this 'update' has turned into complaining... and I'm really not complaining, all of this is said just basically to show where I'm at in pregnancy.  Any woman who has been pregnant knows that it ultimately comes to this.  Pregnancy is a gift, in fact the greatest gift I believe God has given us women.  It's amazing to allow God to grow a child inside of you.

So with that update... here's the 30 week picture.  I didn't put it up on facebook because after I took it I decided I'd take the rest of the pictures with a tight shirt on and no 'real belly' shot.  So, here she is... and I feel huge... how can I possibly have 6-9 weeks left???

The Children's Place Monster Sale

If you have kiddos you are trying to clothe, I'll tell you one of my secrets to buying kids clothes is by trying to never buy clothes in season (when they are most expensive.)  Right now is a great time to be buying winter clothes as stores are trying to stock their shelves with springtime items already. 

That being said, you really have to head over to The Children's Place and check out their monster sale!  They currently have a 50% off sale going, and you can score an extra 15% off by using the coupon code RETAILMENOT1C at check out. 

I just scored 13 items for the kids for around $50 shipped.  Be fast because in the amount of time I was checking out, two of the items I'd put in my cart went out of stock!  But definitely stock up because shipping is $5 if you buy one item or 20!  

True that in a few weeks all of the items will be marked down even further, but sizes and styles may be very slim at that time! 

Let me know about your deals!

Alicia