Carrot!

Week 21 and baby O is the size of a carrot. 10.5 inches and weighs three-quarters of a pound. Hopefully he’s getting used to the sound of my voice and not getting sick of it! We have an important ultrasound tomorrow – the anatomical survey. I’m excited to get a peek at the baby and reassure myself (it feels like it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen him or heard his heartbeat!). I’m also excited to get a really detailed ultrasound and probably (hopefully) lots of great pictures! More to follow…

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What Koal did

Koal pretty much had the best weekend ever. πŸ™‚

First of all, my mom picked him up during the day on Friday, which I’m sure was an unexpected delight for him! He is so used to our schedules.

He got to spend the night with her (and she lets him sleep on her bed). Then another car ride and we were home, but not before he sampled all the best air OC had to offer.

Can you see his tongue hanging out?!
There was a lot more attention in store for him the rest of this blissful weekend!
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What J did

While I was enjoying my girl time, J was on a mountain bike trip with my dad, his dad, and a couple of friends in Brian’s Head, Utah.

He sent me these two great pictures.

This second one is just the cutest. I talked to him on the phone to ask how the trip was, and he said “it’s great and they have really big dandelions here. I’ll take a picture.” 
Well I wasn’t expecting this cute picture! πŸ™‚

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A trip down the coast

On Friday night I met up with my mom and some favorite girls for a blissful girls’ night out. I left straight from work and decided to take the scenic route, from my office to Newport Coast drive to PCH. It was just what I needed.

Not seagulls, just a very dirty window?

I guess when this is so close I could…you know…come here more often?

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Nursery Inspiration Board

Well here we are… the long-awaited inspiration board (is it really? I don’t know!)

I haven’t made a name for this room quite yet, so I’ve been calling it “Storybook – Castles and Dragons” which I think is confusing for a lot of people. It will involve:

  • Primary colors: mostly blue and green with hints of red
  • Artwork from Etsy in the children’s book illustration style; also the style of Arthurian book illustrations
  • Playful (not scary) images of knights and dragons
  • Rustic, rough-hewn walnut shelves made by J
  • The beautiful Stickley crib lent to us by my aunt and uncle
Let’s take a look:
(click to enlarge)

The three fabric swatches in the top left are the main fabric elements of the theme (I want to use the blue one). I would like to make a cushion for the rocking chair and maybe also a crib dust ruffle with it.
I am not planning on registering for a bedding set, and I’ll explain why: the bedding set usually has a fitted sheet, bumper, quilt and dust ruffle. The quilt and bumper (most expensive parts) can’t actually be used in the crib [definitely not at first; possibly later on, but both are a danger for suffocation and/or SIDS] so I don’t see the point in registering for a set only to use two pieces. Also, I like the idea of having a unique room theme and I’m not totally sold on any I’ve seen. They are all sports, bears, cars, or jungle themed and they want you to buy all the little matching pieces – I really think I can do just as well with various shades of blue and green! That way I’m not locked in to any set or store price. Fitted crib sheets are very inexpensive, come in tons of colors, and my aunt has already given me 3 white ones! I do plan on registering for a breathable bumper upon the suggestion of my friend Katie, so that I don’t have to rush in there and pick up any small item he decides to drop through the rails, or rescue little hands stuck between them. 
The big scary part is making the crib skirt…I think I’m going to attempt to make it with box pleats, but I don’t know if I want to look at that much castle fabric…I have even considered buying a white or blue box-pleated skirt and adding castle fabric to the box pleat reveals… ANYWAY, I digress. I didn’t think I needed one until we realized we’d need the space under the crib for storage.
I would love to have the time and know-how to make a quilt, and I think I will attempt it, at least a simple one, so that it’s done by the time baby can use a quilt…(I have a lot of time). I don’t know how the through-sewing is done on quilts! But I can read a book on it. πŸ™‚ I’d like to make a regular-sized quilt (like a single bed size) so that it can grace his bed later on, and if not, well that’s okay too.
I had this great idea of having J make these little wooden leaves (they were making some for a job) and staining them different colors for a beautiful mobile, but I suppose that’s not visually stimulating, so I guess I won’t have him waste time on that.
We won’t have curtains, and I don’t really want a lot of stuffed animals around as they are big allergen-catchers, and with my allergies I don’t want to start this little one off with dust mites. 
I am still worried about “stuff” accumulating, but I’ll have to worry about that when it happens. πŸ™‚
I’m sure this will not be the last time I post on this, but I think it’s enough for today. Have a great weekend, everyone!
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Banana or cantaloupe?

Welcome to the HALFWAY POINT, folks!

20 weeks!

Baby O is the size of a banana (or a cantaloupe, keep reading to find out why), and is now started to be measured differently, so expect the size to seem to shoot up. Before he was being measured from head to rump, and this week marks the turning point where his whole body is measured. So he is a banana (according to babycenter.com) when measured from crown to rump at 6.5 inches, or 10 inches from head to heel. I don’t know what kind of crazy bananas those people at babycenter are buying, but I don’t usually find monster bananas that are 10 inches long! According to thebump.com baby O is a cantaloupe, which makes more sense at 10 inches!

We have an appointment on August 2nd for the anatomical survey so I should have some good pictures from that!

In the meantime, baby O is beginning to sense tastes from his tastebuds, and apparently what I eat now will be some of his fundamental first tastes, so that is a lot of pressure on me! No wonder EVERYONE on earth likes dessert! πŸ™‚

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Nursery Inspiration Board Unveiling! Friday!

Stay tuned, because I plan on unveiling the nursery inspiration board on Friday, after a new final tweaks and additions!

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The Nursery

Well, geez is this hard.

In an effort to create a nursery that is functional and not overwhelming, we’re stuck debating how much furniture to put in this small room. I vote for more furniture (I think the way to prevent clutter is to create spaces for things to go) and J votes for less (he thinks the room will look cave-like). We’re at an impasse, I’m afraid. Either that, or I just give up and decide we should try it with less furniture and see what happens.

Please ignore the bag o’ crap next to the crib – we’re a work in progress!

Now we have moved the crib to the right wall, next to the dresser/changing table, leaving the left wall with the rocking chair, small side table, and floor lamp.

 So the question becomes: how much storage do we need? I’m afraid we will need a lot. My ideas were a free-standing tall bookshelf or a bench under the window that houses three cloth boxes that can store toys and books in a pinch. I thought I could make cushions for it and sit a couple of stuffed animals on it…but now I’m just looking at what we have in the room right now, plus a wall shelf above the changing table and one above the rocking chair.

Advice?

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The confusing numbers game

This week I decided that the numbers are very confusing in pregnancy. They say “you’re really pregnant for 10 months” – but you aren’t. Not really. Maybe 42 since they advance you by two weeks in order to calculate how far along you are. But here is the problem: as I approach the “halfway point” of 20 weeks, which is 5 months for all intents and purposes, what do I tell people? I can’t say 5 months, when I have 5 left. Should I say 4 and a half and hope I don’t confuse them? What the heck happened to this system?

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A quote for today

β€œTo be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.”
― Albert Camus
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