29 weeks along!

How Far Along?  29 weeks

Size of Baby: size of a butternut squash

Gender: Little baby GIRL 

Weight Gain: 23 lbs - and this number is starting to terrify me.  You can tell because I've started pinning pregnancy work out videos that I will likely never do again.

Maternity Clothes: Yes.  I actually got some GREAT (and cheap) maternity leggings this last week and I couldn't be happier.  I might go back and get more!

Nursery: Making some progress on my sewing projects!  Have a table cloth, one crib sheet and half of the crib skirts done.  The wooden cornice is built and covered and my aunt is bringing the curtains when she comes back to KC in a few weeks!

Movement: Still moving lots - hoping she eventually does a 180 flip because the doctor predicted she was in the breech position at my appointment last Friday and that was confirmed in our 3D sonogram.  Move baby move! 

Symptoms: Still having not so pleasant heartburn and just lots of pressure.  She's breech, so that explains why her sweet little legs are kicking my bladder and I'm going to the bathroom more!

Sleep:  Doing better with this - the peeing doesn't help!

Cravings: I just like to eat.  All the time.  Let's say that.

What I Miss: I remember a time when it was easy to put on underwear and pants - not I feel like I'm going to topple over trying to get my legs in holes and balancing on one foot.

Best Moment This Week: Seeing our sweet baby girl up close and personal during the 3D sonogram.  I had all these visions in my mind of Charlie being so interested and not being able to take his eyes off the screen.  Nope, that didn't happen.  But such is life right.  The rest of us soaked up every minute of her!

Panic Moment This Week: Feels like I'm SO unorganized right now with our budget, grocery shopping, food, etc.  I'm trying to make sure we get a good handle on it all before her arrival but that's proving to just overwhelm me right now.

Looking Forward To:  Finishing the crib skirt and not having to ruffle!  I like the results but the ruffling is time consuming.  Also, to find the final nursery pieces for the wall and build some bookshelves.  Charlie is going to have to share some of his books because as child #2, she won't be so lucky to get all the fun books from family and friends that Charlie did!!

Preschool Prom

I know - what in the heck, right?  Preschool prom?  I said the same thing.

But oh my goodness - I'm so happy that (a) his school has something like this and (b) that we went.  It was hilarious and amazing and overwhelming all at the same time.   P.S. He's not in "preschool" yet, but they are pretty adamant about calling themselves a school at all ages, so we go with that language, just in case you are confused!  He's not even 2 yet! 

The theme was "disney" and believe it or not - this kid has nothing Disney to wear.  Like not even a simple Mickey shirt or anything.  We are way more into Sesame Street, Elmo and Frozen (which yes I understand is Disney, however, I didn't think a boy Frozen shirt was ok at this point - but I do let him belt it out!).  I wanted to go all out on a costume.  We debated Gaston from Beauty and the Beast because Jimmy has a sweet brown mullet wig.  Throw on a red shirt, black pants, boots and a belt and call it a day.  Yeah - except for the fact that kid wouldn't keep the wig on.  Too bad.

So a stop at Kohl's and finding a 50% off Disney 2T shirt from Planes made our day.  Talk about last minute.  Our last resort was going to be the Disney store at the mall - and for our budget's sake, I was happy we found this!

And he pretty much loved it and told everyone he had airplanes on his shirt and made a VRROOM noise and waved his arms like an airplane. So it all worked out.

When we got there, which the location was at a nearby elementary's school gym, this was the first thing we saw.  So of course, to try to sugar him up to get his dance moves going and booty moving, we gave him a cookie.

However, after we walked to the dance floor and pretty much saw the cutest thing ever...Charlie of course wanted NOTHING to do with dancing.  At all.  I was very sad he didn't want to show off the

 moves he's been showing us all week.

He was quite content in my arms eating a cookie.

Cute, but talk about a let down.  Even his teachers were bummed because he'd been dancing all week in class!!

So instead, we tried to get him used to all the people that were there and headed to the photo booth.  

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw one of the 3 pictures.  Let's just say that Charlie doesn't quite understand the "1, 2, 3 - SMILE" that goes along with photo booths yet.  You would think after 2 weekends in a row he would, but nope.  Evidenced below.

However, it was hilarious and left us a great memory again!

We made our way around the gym...here is a glimpse of the dance floor set up.  Pretty cute!!

There was also a professional photo thing set up.  They had the same thing at the Halloween party, so I am guessing to actually take home a picture was like $5.  Which isn't bad if you can get a cute picture of your kid.  If you notice below, the attempt at that failed - yep, we didn't even get one picture.  Which was fine.  We took professional family pictures that night, so I was hoping he would save his smiles and "poses" for then.

We had been there awhile and figured, he would now be just dying to dance.  So Jimmy started busting moves on the dance floor with Charlie.  And he wouldn't let go and wasn't quite having it.

But I mean - look at all those other cute kids.  They looked like they were having a good time, right?  

So give it a year and he will too?  #thatswhatwetellourselves

 And then the Cha-Cha slide started - and the owner and teachers made their way to the front of the dance floor (the owner was Cruela DaVille and some of the teachers were dalmatians - pretty cute!)

We tried to get him on the floor for at least a little bit...

But as you can see in the picture below - that went well.

But then he found a balloon and life was good.  

The remainder of the time, he chased a balloon.  Then some older kid took it from him and he came back to me like "WTF?" and I told him to suck it up and find a new one, because yes, I'm the meanest mom ever. Then he went to the ones taped on the display and started trying to pull them off - so I went on the hunt for one that wasn't attached.  When I found one.  Life was good.

The last fun thing?  They did the limbo.  Which was pretty stinkin cute. 

It made me excited for next year's prom as I have wishful thinking that Charlie and his friends will be center stage dancing the day away.  And baby girl will be rocking it in the baby carrier.

It was overwhelming because oh my goodness, there were so many kids in one place having so much fun.  And I cannot imagine what these teachers do everyday and am so thankful for them and their patience!!  His friend, Lucy, was there and she was looking cute in her Snow White costume...but I think next year more of his friends will be there and maybe he'll have a date?  Haha, jk.  I'm happy to be his date for as long as he wants.  

But like I told my friend Ali via her Instagram comment, he might have an issue getting a date if he is such a party pooper next year (and years to come!)

Overall - we had a freaking blast and feel so lucky to have found this school and his wonderful teachers!  He has been so happy there and so have we.  While it can be a little pricey (like all daycare, especially when you have 2), we are excited for baby girl to join there in October as well!!

First glimpse of her face!!

Well, we had another busy weekend at the Carter house - and even though I feel like Jimmy and I are so pooped (Charlie too) at the end of the day, it's worth every second of the fun we had.  We actually had so much fun with 2 big events - that it really deserves two posts.

On Saturday morning we got to see our baby girl up close and personal through the 3D/4D sonogram we did at Belly Image again.  We did the same thing with Charlie, just a tad bit earlier so it was almost exactly 2 years ago that we saw him on the big screen like this for the first time.  Literally the detail you can see in these things was what blew me away the first time - and the second.  I forget how you are literally growing a PERSON inside you and they move and sleep and pee and eat all while I'm going about my day and feeling them move now and then.  

It is truly a miracle.  Every sweet baby that is conceived, no matter how old the are, they are a person in my mind and being pregnant now twice reaffirms it every time.  

It truly is a miracle; one that I believe only God could make.

So when it got to be that time again and Jimmy and I were discussing if we would shell over the $100 to see baby girl on the big screen again (and yes, this is during our strict budgeting...more on that later!), we decided it was totally worth it.  And again, it was.

This time, Jimmy's mom was in town and got to come see her, along with my sister, my parents and of course, Charlie and Jimmy.  Luckily we had others tag along because the vision I had in my mind of Charlie being enamored by the big screen and shots of his baby sister and what was in mommy's tummy lasted about 3 minutes.  Then outside became way more appealing.  So thank you family for appeasing him while I sat down and watched my baby girl.

Just like our last visit, it wouldn't be complete with a quick summary of some funny sound bytes that emerged from the room:

"She has your nose!"...yes we heard that again, believe it or not, my little button nose, must be a pretty powerful gene - which Jimmy is very happy about!

"She has got some LONG fingers - and is that hair??"...we are not sure about the hair comment, she said it could have been just shadows - but it sure did look like she had some long fingers.

"She's looking quite content cuddled up against your placenta"...which I'm hoping doesn't mean she will want to stay in there until 42 weeks!!

And the best comment was from my dad...we did ask the sonogram tech to confirm again that it was a girl (just in case, right?).  She was having some trouble getting to the position where she could see her crotch.  She was saying that it looks like her legs are closed and she has a foot nestled up by that area, so it was hard to see...and my dad came in with...

"Let's just hope that is how her legs stay...closed"  Oh my.  So many years away from that, but so funny and terrifying all at the same time.  Needless to say, he had the room laughing and Jimmy nodding his head VERY hard and Sue said that for sure comes from a dad with 2 girls! (but she did say she got a glimpse and it's still a girl)

She was sleeping the whole time and just moving around a little (despite the pop I had before and some orange juice mid-session), but she seemed to be just find nestled against the wall of my uterus with my placenta in front of her.  She is breech (which is what my doctor guessed on Friday), so that explains why I'm not feeling any kicking in the ribs like I did with Charlie and only on my bladder/pelvis.  But my doctor said not to get too concerned until 36 weeks if she's not turned, so I'm not going to worry about it for 6 or so more weeks - too many other things to worry about, right?  She'll make her way into the right position hopefully!!

As always, it was nice to see that she looks healthy and things are in the right places as well - never too many times you can see or hear that as a parent, right?  And, from these pictures, she kind of looks like what her brother did when he was this age.  I have always said Charlie would make a cute girl - and we even had a few pictures of him in a bow (and the tutu from last week) that proves that - so that would be kind of fun, right?  No matter what, she's beautiful to us and it made me SO excited to meet her.  I was terrified earlier this week at how fast time is flying and all the things that need to get done before her arrival, but this really made me realize that in all honesty - none of that matters and as long as she is healthy, I cannot wait to hold her in my arms and in traduce her to her silly brother and dad!!

Onto the pictures (again, I'll spare you on the 30 minute DVD!).

Again a few black and white profile pictures of her!

Then the up close pictures.  Look at that nose.  Does that look familiar?  Just look at me and my son!

Like I said, she was nestled up right next to my uterus wall sound asleep (she did open her eyes up one time)

But look at those lips!!!  She's already got the pursing of her lips down.

A better glimpse of her arms/hands.

She was pretty flexible and quite nestled up with a view of her foot, arms and then she said at one point her other knee was up there too!  

And of course, we need a side by side of little lady at 29 weeks and her brother in utero at around 30.

So if technology is correct (which you never know), looks like the world better be ready for a girl Charlie.  I know we are anxiously awaiting her arrival!  I didn't think I could feel this kind of love second time around...but oh it's there.  We are getting so so excited to welcome her into this world - just 11 more weeks!

Five on Friday - Sewing for baby

And all of a sudden it's Friday again.  I feel like the weeks are just flying by.  SLOW DOWN.  Before we know it, it will be July and this baby will be here soon!

Sorry to be boring again with nursery stuff.  But that's all I have been thinking about and working on after little man Charlie goes to bed.  Cutting, measuring, sewing, repeat.  Project after project.

It's quite amusing to me that I stood in Target at the beginning of this "design girl nursery" project and said - I'm going to be super easy on myself this time and just buy everything off the shelf.  No need to make stuff like I did for Charlie's room.  She'll never know.  Simple and sweet.

Of course it's turned into the complete opposite and Jimmy likes to remind me of that every night when I ask him to come upstairs and help me cut something.  But oh well - I'm excited to see how it turns out!!

 

Join the link up too with Darci, April, Natasha and Christina.

{ONE}

First sewing project that was completed tonight?  Crib sheet.  I used this great tutorial to make it from a large coral sheet from target.  The hardest part?  Stringing the elastic.

But check out how it turned out.

Check check.  And I think I'll make a few more since it was quite simple!!

{TWO}

Cover the ottoman.  Ok - so really this is a box that my dad built for models to stand on at my sister's work event - but by adding 4 inches of thick foam from JoAnn's, with some batting and covering, it shall be baby girls ottoman.  I mentioned two weeks ago I was going to find some burlap fabric - I ordered online and it came in yesterday.  And it doesn't match at all.  So I think I'm going with these sheets my mom got on super sale at Ross that match.  This is what I'm going to try to make as a slip cover, but still have the ability to take off and wash - as it's in a child's room and shall likely get dirty.

Source

Also, I'm all about ruffles these days.

{THREE}

Crib skirt - which is now ruffled.  Oh yes, I was planning on doing a plain skirt, like I did for Charlie's, and while I was cutting the fabric - just thought I'd look up ruffled crib skirts.  TO make the room a bit more feminine.  And oh my.  I fell in love.  So simple goes to much more complicated, but after many hours on Pinterest, I think I have come up with a stellar plan that I'm super excited about.  A little bit from each of the wonderful blog posts on my research.

Here's the inspiration that I finally landed on.

Source

{FOUR}

Table cloth. Yep, instead of going on the hunt for a cute table, thought I'd be a little more thrifty and use the round table that we already have as an extra.  We have one in Charlie's room and it's works just fine - so I'm going with it and making a matching table cloth.  Going with the coral fabric and probably going to add some fun little fringe things to the bottom.

Source

{FIVE}

Other non-sewing projects to add to the list:
Changing pad cover?  I already got a Carter's bumper that is super soft that we won't use until later.
What about wall hangings?
Bookshelves?


Ok - that's all the list I have for now.  I did finish the wooden balance that is covered with coral now and will have long panels of the fun graphic print that ties it all together (my aunt is making the panels), so that's good!  But I need to finish all this up ASAP because it's MUCH harder to get on the ground and measure/cut things and I have to study for my Series 7 test.  Asap.  All to-dos before her arrival.

In other news - Charlie is quite the dancer these days.  It's hysterical.  He does it at home, at school, in the street (ok, not really).  But apparently he also enjoys putting on the tutu at school and running around.  Who knew?  sounds like it's a really good thing we'll be adding a little girl to our family.

Jimmy thinks it's embarrassing - but I think he's a kid and he has lots of girls in his class that he wants to impress - so why not wear a tutu and dance around?  Ha!

Happy Friday and happy sewing!

Weeks 26 - 28

Somehow April got busy.  Wait - I knew it would be busy, but now just like that it's almost over and I've missed 3 full weeks of baby updates.  Don't you worry, I've got the corresponding pictures for weeks 26, 27 and 28 - but won't take the time to fill out an update on all three because let's get real, I'd just be making it all up at this point anyways, because early April already feels like forever ago and this baby is a growing!!  So here are the pictures and a 28 week update (which I was 28 weeks on Saturday - but apparently thought I was 29 because that was what I told all these people - oops!)

Some comments about these pictures:
Horrible lighting on week 26.  I did not adjust the white balance at all.  Shoot.
Week 27 and 28 I have already worn this shirt in these pictures.  Oops.
I have NO color in my wardrobe.  I have issues.  And I wear the same thing (as mentioned).
Finally in week 28 - WHOA hair.  I think I just teased it.
Ok that's all the self-criticism I have for now.

How Far Along?  28 weeks

Size of Baby: size of a head of lettuce already

Gender: Little baby GIRL 

Weight Gain: Up 22 now.  I don't think 2 delicious Easter lunches did either of us any favors.  But now that it's nice we are getting some walks in!!  We are all loving this seater!!

Maternity Clothes: Yes and yes.  I'm running out of shirts.  And I'm not happy about it.  And as much as I love dresses, I think my legs are too fat now!!

Nursery: Well I would like to tell you "it's done!".  But it's not.  I don't want to go back to see when I actually finished Charlie's nursery in the course of my pregnancy, but I feel like I am taking forever.  Ha.  My Pinterest issue from baby #1 (in which my mom finally had to tell me to stop looking and just DO) has creeped into an issue with baby #2.  The other night I was all set to make her crib skirt just like I made Charlie's, which was just a flat panel of fabric and then I thought "wow, it would be SO cute if it had ruffles on it".  And then proceeded to spend the entire evening on Pinterest figuring out how I could sew ruffles.  (I'm actually quite pleased with what I found and pieced together and came up with!).  But I did finish the window cornice and it's ready to be hung over the arched window and my aunt is doing the panels.  I'm still struggling with what fabric to cover the ottoman with since I cannot find a perfect match to the chair...but I did order some orange burlap to see how that looks and how the color matches this CUTE orange burlap lamp shade I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  So we shall see when that comes in.  The vision is getting more and more clear.  And it didn't help that I wanted everything in this display at Hobby Lobby!

Movement: Lots.  I love it.  But then I feel like she's quiet for a while and start to worry.  Hate that part of pregnancy; worry, worry, worry.

Symptoms: Heartburn and pressure.

Sleep:  Better this week - probably because I'm so tired!

Cravings: Watermelon - and it's FINALLY time for cheap seedless watermelon at the grocery store!

What I Miss: Being able to play a lot and chase Charlie around - it's exhausting!!!

Best Moment This Week: Spending lots of time with our families this weekend and Charlie is hilarious.  Making me more and more excited to welcome another little peanut into our family.

Panic Moment This Week: Hmmm - just want to finish the nursery projects that I have to sew!!  Then I have to study for a test for work!

Looking Forward To:  Seeing the nursery come together and of course - her 3D sonogram that we are doing on Saturday.  We went back and forth, but decided we liked it so much last time, it was worth it to get another peek at her!  And of course, preschool PROM of Charlie on Saturday.  #cutenessoverload

Holy weekend

Oh man - this title "holy weekend" has dual meanings as I look back on all the fun we had.  And let me tell you - driving home on Sunday night from the Carter fun...I looked to Jimmy and told him I was actually excited to go back to work today...mainly because I would have a chance to actually sit down.  Because after all the fun we had this weekend and the lack of sitting I did, this pregnant mama was ready to SIT!  I give props to those pregnant mom's with toddlers to chase around 24/7 because man - it's not only exhausting but it hurts!  My body needed a break!

So enough of that - onto the weekend in pictures!

Well - Charlie and I started our weekend early and both had Friday off.  Charlie for "spring break" and me because the markets were closed on Good Friday.  So we were up early and ran a bunch of errands in the morning - car registration, Hy-Vee, Price Chopper, then the Great Mall for some indoor fun on a somewhat chilly morning and some Easter/family picture clothes shopping.

This kid did not want to leave the play area at the mall (pretty much the only cool thing there besides Carter's) at all.  He was quite content on this structure (evidenced by the fact that we had a complete meltdown in Carter's and got no shopping accomplished).

After nap, Charlie went to hang with Nana while I ran some solo errands shopping for baby girl's nursery and getting a few last minute things for this guy's 30th birthday party.  Really Abby, Dave's girlfriend that I was co-hosting the party with, did most of the work with the awesome balloons and reserving the space.  But it was a GREAT night celebrating 30 years of Jimmy and Dave.  Do you like his "vintage 1984" shirt I got him (and Dave)?  

PS this was the only picture I took of the night - I'm not sure why, but I realized I had ZERO pictures of all the awesome friends and family that came by at about 10:30PM.  By that point I had finally stuck my pregnant butt to a bar stool and table and was being the sober judgy person in the bar (I'll admit it, but it's hard not to when you've pretty much been that permanent sober person for 2.5 years...).  At 11:30 when Dave was taken out by his parents (he had a GOOD time) and Jimmy said it was his last beer - I couldn't be more excited to get in the car and go home.  And stop at Taco Bell on the way.  Duh.

And this is what we did in the morning (sans child) to help cure his hangover.  Which was even worse because he gave up alcohol for lent and had not had a single drink in 38 days.  For once, I was a little sympathetic to his hangover!  Just this once though - you only turn 30 once!

After we all took a nap (yeah!), we headed to our church for some Easter fun.  They had tons of activities and while some were geared towards a little older kids, Charlie sure did enjoy the ones that he could do.  He didn't quite get the Easter egg hunt at first or like the Easter bunny.  But then we couldn't pull him away from the guy later on.  He LOVED the bubble machine so much and liked the baby chicks (they were so cute!).  However, we need to work on our family photo booth skills.  Well - Charlie needs to perfect his poses!!

After a wonderful Easter service and sermon to remind us Christians of what this holiday is really about and how Jesus died and rose again, we headed home and straight to bed.  But the day couldn't have been more fun and beautiful weather!

Then the next day came and it might have been even better if that is possible!  Since we went to church on Saturday night, we didn't have to rush around that morning.  However, Charlie was NOT in the best mood and seriously just cried for 15 minutes straight for no reason.  So eventually, the Easter bunny debuted his small basket he brought Charlie.

And Charlie loved it!  He immediately loved the Elmo snack container - but 

thought the golf ball was to shoot in the basket.  Eventually he just started swinging the clubs all over to hit things - sometimes the golf balls.  Watch out little sister.

 

Then I made my contribution to the Stephens' family Easter lunch - which was this cheese ball shaped like a carrot.  I made one for the Carter family too and it was a hit!

After a seriously delicious lunch with my mom's side of the family (oh my gosh, turkey, smoked ham, cheesey potatoes, green bean casserole, pea salad, apricot jello and pie...heaven), Charlie took a nap and I sat and chatted with my grandmother and mom and the boys all napped on the couch.  Typical!

Then it was off to Easter number two at the Carter family house!  And it was a full house!!  Minus a couple of cute girls that weren't able to make it and Bobby and Hillary that were out of town - everyone else was there plus Jimmy's cousin, wife and two kids I had never met.  

As usual, it was an afternoon full of family fun enjoying the beautiful weather and stuffing ourselves. An Easter egg hunt, coloring with chalk, playing baseball and dancing outside.  Yep, all in a day's work as a Carter cousin!

Here was Charlie eating away with two of his older boy cousins.

And the Easter egg hunt chaos - Charlie didn't quite understand at first and wanted to pick up everyone else's eggs!

Then just went for the basketball.

After cousin Kenlie volunteered to help, it was a little easier!

Everyone emptying their eggs to find the candy!

Then we ended the egg hunt with tons of dessert and Charlie finally got to use one of the big kid water bottles that he was crying out earlier (he stole Norah's since she wasn't there!).  Cousin Will, Kenlie and Uncle Mike also enjoyed the dessert!

And then weekend ended with confetti in our hair, a sweaty little boy and quite the sugar high swagger going on.  Yep, he had a great weekend celebrating this joyous occasion with his family!

As exhausting as it was and the fact that Jimmy and I hopped into bed after we put Charlie down, we wouldn't have changed one thing.  We were happy to finally have our normal kid back and see signs of his week long sickness and week long recovery go away!!  What a fun holiday and a beautiful weekend in Kansas City.

April is a good month for the Carter family and next weekend will kick off with even more fun when we get to see baby girl up close and personal in 3D!!  Can't wait!

Hope you and yours had a very happy Easter as well!