36 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 36 weeks (only 4-ish to go!)
Size of baby: About 6 lbs and 18.5 inches long (the size of a head of romaine lettuce)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 32 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Yes. And some of them are getting a little snug, oh my goodness. I really don't remember feeling this big with the first two.

Gender: We're having a GIRL! Harper Kate :)

Movement: Baby girl moves a LOT. And now she's getting big, so it's actually painful. She also gets the most active at night, so falling asleep is interesting to say the least.

Sleep: I sleep okay (as in I can go all night without getting up to go to the bathroom), but finally falling asleep is half the battle.

What I miss: Not needing to pee every thirty minutes. Really, it's getting out of hand.

Cravings: Other than discovering the perfect combination of potato chips and frozen grapes, I'm not really craving much these days, and my appetite is starting to go away completely.

Symptoms: A big ol' belly. Lots of Braxton Hicks. Occasional shooting pains in my legs. Lower back pain. Other fun stuff that I probably shouldn't mention on the blog.

Best Moment this week: It's a tie this week! 

1) Finishing Harper's car seat! 

2) An amazing visit to my fantastic chiropractor. My adjustment made an immediate difference in my cramping, AND the massage therapist was there and worked on my legs and hip flexors during my heat therapy. I seriously felt like a new person when I left the office.

Avery's 4th Birthday: Hello Kitty

Avery turned four last week and we had a blast celebrating our precious girl!

Per her request, we threw her a Hello Kitty party and invited her little girl friends from church. (Side note: Avery decides months in advance what her next party theme will be and never wavers.  She’s already planning a Minnie Mouse party for next year.)

When the girls arrived they played in Avery’s room until everyone got there. Then they each got to paint their own Hello Kitty magnet. I had no idea we could fit so many little girls at our kitchen table!

Then they played Pin the Bow on the Kitty, which I was totally going to make but ran out of time and cheated by getting it at the store. Sometimes the time/money tradeoff is totally worth it. Avery won, but I’m pretty sure she could see under the mask because she was the first one and I don’t think I checked it that well, haha. It was her birthday party, so I guess it’s okay that I essentially helped her cheat.

After the game the girls devoured some cupcakes, frozen grapes, sausage balls. and pink popcorn.  Matt is the cake guru around here, and he used the same recipe that he used for Landon's party last month because they are the absolute best cupcakes in the world. 

Then Avery opened her gifts and was clearly overwhelmed by the process. Coupled with the fact that I planned a party during the time she normally naps, I don't really blame her for zoning out at this point. Shoot, gift time at kid parties stresses ME out, too (even when it's not our party)!

And even though it was a zillion degrees outside, the girls all wanted to play in the backyard for the rest of the party. Avery got out of her funk and declared the party lots of fun (despite appearances for some of it!), which allows me to declare it a success.

(Although next year I've already decided the kids are doing a combined party at Pump it Up.)

DETAILS

Invitations: Me (using good ol' Microsoft Word and printing on pink card stock)

Ceramic magnet paint sets: Party City

Pin the Bow on the Kitty game: Party City

Cupcake toppers: Joann

Cupcakes: Matt, my rock star of a husband

Hello Kitty shirt: Target

Tutu: Me (using my go-to tutorial)

Paper goods: Target

Custom plate: Rosie Posie Designs

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And then on her ACTUAL birthday, we celebrated some more! What birthday is complete without a sugar high for breakfast?

Then we finally got to see Monsters University, which both kids loved (as did Grandma, Aunt Allison, Matt, and I).

Avery got to choose our lunch location, and she surprisingly passed up Chick-fil-a for Chipotle!

We went home for naps, and Matt fixed Avery's birthday dinner request (biscuits, bacon, eggs, and fruit) before we went to my parents' to watch the Ranger game and eat ice cream.

We love our sweet four year old and had so much fun celebrating her special day! 

Car Seat Recovery

Sometimes I get awesome ideas of projects I want to take on. Case in point:

This ugly car seat. 

In its defense, it's been through three kids (my two plus my niece), and its ugly poop color was a direct result of my persistence that we get something gender neutral when Avery was born because we didn't know if we'd have a boy in the future (okay fine, that turned out to be a good call).

But Harper will probably be our last (biological) baby, so bring on the pink! 

And bring on the impossible project!

Seriously, this project was super hard for me. Usually when I sew I'm making stuff I've made a million times because it’s for my Etsy shop. And while I'm good at what I make because I'm a perfectionist, I’m not super well-rounded in my sewing abilities.

A couple years ago I completed a project that has since been dubbed “The Nap Mat Fiasco.” It was a nightmare. My friend Rachel was making one from the same tutorial at the same time, and I’m pretty sure our texts back and forth were the only reason I kept any semblance of sanity while trying to feed inches of thick batting through my basic, non-industrial machine. 

This was much of the same.

I bought this PDF tutorial because I wasn’t loving the free ones I kept finding online. It was a great tutorial, although it is most definitely not a project for beginners.

Lessons learned: 1) How time-consuming it is to rip every seam out of a car seat; 2) How to attach elastic without a casing (thanks, Mom!); and 3) How to use the appropriate presser foot for a project.

I will admit that I am SO proud of myself for how this turned out.  There’s just something about taking on a challenge and successfully accomplishing it. I love how the fabrics coordinate and how tailored it looks (compared to just making/buying a universal slipcover). I love that it only cost me $30 for materials (which could’ve been even less if I hadn’t used designer fabrics) as opposed to paying someone else $100.

And if anyone asked me to make one for them, I would laugh. Really hard. In their face. 

Unless maybe it’s been over a year and I’ve forgotten how much I hated myself the past three days. And it’s a sister or BFF doing the asking. Or someone offers me a lot of money.

So now Harper has something pretty to come home from the hospital in. And I can cross one more thing off the pre-baby To Sew list.

Next up on said list: wet bags (both diaper bag and diaper pail sizes) and two nap mats (I learned my lesson from the first one, so these will be covers for KinderMats). Wish me luck!