Baby sewing project

I was given a hand-me-down bobby pillow from my brother and sister in law, among many more things, but I needed a cover for it. I looked online, but in the color I wanted, they were made on etsy (aka expensive) or somewhere so I made made my own. I bought 1/2 yard of minky fabric for about $6 (coupon!) and a 22" zipper for less than $2. I used another cover as a pattern, sewed the zipper in first, put it on the pillow and then fixed my pattern a bit. Now it fits perfect! It's not the best zipper I've done, but the soft fabric was a little tough to sew. I should have started with a larger hem. Oh well, it will do the job!

You can see how wonky my zipper is in the last picture, but like I said, it works! I think this was the last of my to-do baby items. I even put the sewing machine back in its box. It hasn't been in the box since I started my curtain making extravaganza almost a year ago. Not sure I'll have too much time for sewing after next week.

Hillary!

Glenn and I made the trip to IKEA last month to get the last few things for the nursery and while we were nearish to DC we had lunch with Hillary!

She took the metro as far south as she could and we drove a few miles past IKEA to meet her and Tessa. We picked them up at the metro and found a Thai restaurant close by.

It was great to see her and she promises to come visit while I'm on maternity leave. Can't wait!

The Upstairs Nursery

Since the master bedroom is upstairs and the nursery is downstairs, the baby will be in our room for awhile. We've got the pack n play and swing set up in our bedroom for when we get home from the hospital. Thanks for the swing Dave and Jen!

I'm hoping this set up works, otherwise, we might just sleep in the guest room for awhile.

Our bags are packed, the car seat is installed and now we wait! We can't wait to meet our little guy!

New Years cards!

I love getting New Years cards from Japan! Thanks Yuki!

The Nursery

Many of you have asked for pictures of the completed nursery- well here it is! We finished hanging pictures and putting together the bookcase last weekend. I love how it turned out!

The bookcase is our old billy bookcase from IKEA. It was light brown and I painted it white. We had intentions of putting wood along the back, but with all the stuff that is on there, it seemed like a lot of work for little gain. We also attached a bracket along the top to attach it to the wall which keeps it pretty sturdy so a back wasn't too neccessary.

The little yellow rocking chair was mine when I was little. It was from my grandparents. I scrubbed it down and gave it a few coats of spray paint and it looks as good as new. I'm glad my parents held on to it for all these years.

The white chair is from IKEA as well. We found it in the As-Is section for 30% off! Glenn took the legs off and he installed a swivel rocker (just like this). Unfortunately, I was at work, so I don't have any pictures of that process.

We bought the dresser off of Craigslist for $50. I scrubbed it as well and then modge-podged the inside of the drawers with some wrapping paper (a few drawers had oil stains) and we attached the changing pad to the back of the dresser with the straps and a screw.

The drawers are all full of tiny socks and clothes! I can't wait!

And diapers! We have both disposable and several cloth diapers, but from what I've heard, the cloth don't fit well until he gets a bit chunkier so we'll be using disposables for awhile (and when we travel).

The crib is in the corner opposite the door and between the two windows. I finally finished sewing the crib skirt last week. It was my first attempt at sewing box pleats but I think it turned out pretty cute. The pleats have a blue and white polka dot material. I just safety pinned the skirt to the bed frame since it will have to be adjusted when we lower the mattress.

I chose Whale Grey for the wall color. And Caribbean Blue for the ceiling. They are both Benjamin Moore colors, but I used HD Behr paint. Oh and we have something hanging on the wall above the crib, but it has to do with the baby's name so you'll just have to wait til he gets here to see that corner.

Glenn get's home from the boat on Sunday (fingers crossed) so this baby can come any day after that! 11 more days til my due date! Although, I don't have high hopes that he will come when scheduled (if that could even be a thing). I've been thinking the 28th for the last couple months and I have no idea why. We'll see if my baby brain is just making things up or not. :)

New Years Party

We went to our friends', Dave & Cara, house for New Year's this year. It was low key and casual and so much fun! We drank, played games and counted down the New Year together.

I'm slightly terrified about giving birth to this bucket head's son.  He broke the hat to get it to fit on his giant head!

Thanks for hosting Oeshsleins!

Dave, Steve, Ben, Glenn and Alex

 



One of my new favorite party/group games- Left, Right, Center. I need to get this game and play with my family next time we are together- even my nephew could play. Plus winning a little money is always a good time!

Happy 2013, love. It's going to be a crazy, wild and exciting year.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was full of presents, breakfast and chatting with family. It was nice and relaxed! We got a 4th stocking this year and Glenn's sister, Blair, decided to label it Deuce since she doesn't know the name of the baby. We'll see if the nickname sticks around!

All of our family members were so generous. Even for this kiddo who hasn't been born yet! He got more clothes than Glenn and I did.

Stella is a big fan of opening presents- I think it comes from all the packages we received in Japan. Many of which, contained a surprise for her as well. She didn't let go of her toy all day and I found her sleeping on it several times!

Christmas family photo! A tradition.



A surprise photo on my camera from Blair and Mike. Thanks. :) Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas as well.

Bellyography

We put up the Christmas tree at 33 weeks.

We're in to the home stretch. It still baffles me how quickly this pregnancy has gone. People keep asking me, "are you ready?"  My answer is always, "can you be ready?" The baby may be ready to meet us, but I'm not sure we can ever really be ready! We've got a lot of things for this baby and still need to get a few more!

The squadron Christmas party was at the Marriott hotel, right next to Shula'a 347 steak house.

Only a few more weeks to go! Our doctor has said that she won't let me go past 41 weeks so if (once?) I pass my due date, we'll start deciding on an induction date. I've had a few braxton hicks contractions, but that's about it. At my 37 week appointment, she told me that he's not coming for awhile, I haven't made any progress yet.

I haven't gotten the last few weeks off of my camera yet so I'll post the last month all together very soon!

Go Vikes!

When Glenn's family was here over Christmas, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game (since if the Cowboys or Redskins are playing, our wonderful midwest teams don't get any air time). Everyone wass decked out in purple for the game so we had to take a picture!

Now I have my very own Smith #22 jersey (thanks Mom and Dad!) to wear for tomorrow's game although it is a little tight this season. I think it will fit better next season. :)

Also, I just noticed that Stella photobombed this picture. :)

Happy New Year!

Hopefully most of you who read this, received our Christmas card this year. If not, please send me your mailing address! 

Part of me thought I should just wait until February and send out Christmas cards/baby announcements, but I just love the tradition of Christmas cards too much. I've taken down all my Christmas decorations except the Christmas cards that line the wall. I like hearing from all my friends and family and seeing their picture hanging on my wall.

I hope you are having a wonderful 2013 so far!