Batman Pajama Pants!

I actually finished these a couple of weeks ago, but I kept forgetting to get pictures of my goofy awesome husband wearing them, so without further ado...

Ta-da!

If you're wondering why I made Batman pants for a 28-year old man, you kinda just have to know Matt. :) I brought home a bunch of flannel to make burp cloths when JoAnn had all of their flannel on sale for $2/yd (score!), and one of the prints was a cartoon-ish one with Bam! and Pow! speech bubbles all over it. Matt joked that he wanted pajama pants made out of it, and since his birthday was coming up, I schemed to make some for him. 

Only I was too late getting back to the store to get the fabric because they were sold out of it by the time I made it back. They did have their licensed prints on sale too (although unfortunately not for $2/yd), so I decided on the Batman. Okay fine, it was mostly out of selfish motives because Batman is really the only superhero I like. Anyway.

As with most of my sewing projects, I hit a couple of snags (pun only kind of intended). First, I realized when I took a closer look at the pattern that it was only women's sizing. Oops. I solved the problem by using the largest cut and then altering it a little by comparing it to some pj pants that Matt had in his closet that I knew fit him well. My second obstacle was that I chose the one week Matt was home with us (spring break) to make the surprise pants, so it took a little bit of creativity to find times that he was either gone or working outside or something so I could sneak to my sewing machine and put them together.

I finished the pants just in time for his birthday, and I'm SO pleased with how they turned out. BTW, this was the first time I'd actually pre-washed fabric (I know, I know), and I loved not freaking out about whether they would shrink in the wash. 

I wasn't crazy about the pattern instructions because 1) they were confusing, and 2) the online tutorial pics were made using a printed fabric and made it impossible to tell what was going on. I did like that it made a very sturdy final product, and it was relatively easy to tweek for my purposes (ahem, men's pants). I also love the trim. Oh, and I didn't do the button fly that it called for (that was the most poorly worded section of the instructions). And I figured for men's pjs it would work without buttoning it down. If I use the pattern again, I'll just omit a fly all together to make it easier on myself. I'm kinda lazy like that.

Final verdict on the pattern: worth using if you find it on sale (like my mom did) and you're patient enough to read and re-read the instructions. 

Final verdict on the pants: Holy Awesomeness, Batman!

Weekend Update

{FRIDAY}

After sleeping in and enjoying a lazy morning, Avery and I went and met an old friend's mom to pick up some baby boy clothes that they weren't going to be using (thanks again, Tami!). 

Then we came home to play for awhile before meeting up with my friend Kari and her daughter, Emma, at a local outdoor mall. Avery and I tried to enjoy our little picnic lunch by the fountains, but she freaked out every time the wind blew and we got sprinkled by the water. Haha! Either we need to work on her not being afraid to get wet before summer comes, or she was just cranky because it was naptime.

Even though she was beyond tired, Avery got her second wind before we left. She followed Emma everywhere. It was precious.

We did make it home in time for her to take a nap, but she was still sleeping by the time Matt got home from work! I totally didn't feel like cooking at that point, and we remembered we had a gift card for the same mall that Avery and I had just gone to, so we went back to the mall with Matt and enjoyed a completely relaxed evening complete with take-out hot dogs from a cool little place and Paciugo gelato. Avery even ventured closer to the fountains with Daddy's help.

{SATURDAY} 

We had an entire Saturday with no plans. That rarely happens, especially on a gorgeous day! After Avery and I made a quick run to Walmart (the one in our town is the only one I'll go to; it's super nice), we spent the majority of our day outside while Matt worked on assembling Avery's fort (which he quickly discovered is not a one-man job). We did take a break to walk down to the model home in our neighborhood since they were giving away free bbq sandwiches, chips, and sodas as part of their grand opening. Yum! And after Avery's nap we attempted some water fun in the backyard, although the munchkin wouldn't even get in the water (not the I blame her; the water was freezing!). So she played with bubbles and her sand/water table instead. :)

{SUNDAY}

About once a month we have a Sunday that is pretty much a whirlwind. This was that Sunday. We had church from 9-12, I held a children's ministry teacher training/lunch meeting from 12-2 (since Matt teaches Sunday School, Avery went to my parents' to eat lunch and take a nap), I went to choir practice from 3-4 while Matt stayed at my parents' until Avery woke up, I ran home to feed Nutmeg before going back to my parents' to meet Matt and Avery and eat our leftover pizza, and then we all went back to church for the prayer gathering. We finally got to go home at 7:30, just in time to get Avery down for bed. Whew. 

And now it's Monday, a cold front has blown through, and we have a million errands to run today. But all Avery wants to do is go outside and "play in the water, too!", and I just want a nap. Have a great week!

31 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

 

How Far Along: 31 weeks! Only 9ish to go!

Size of baby: Over 16 inches long and about 3.3 pounds (the size of 4 navel oranges)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 17 lbs. (give or take a lot; I don't own a scale, so I'm going by my last appointment, which was like five weeks ago)

Maternity Clothes: I'm in mostly maternity clothes because I don't want to stretch out my "real" clothes, but I still wear some regular tops.

Gender: We're having a boy! Landon Matthew. :)

Movement: This baby is very active. All the time.

Sleep: What's that? I told Matt to not let me go to bed without getting out the body pillow tonight. I haven't slept well in about a week.

What I miss: Being skinny :) Okay, so that's a little vain. Sorry. I also miss being able to bend over like a normal person. Everyday activities are getting a little awkward. Hey, I can still see my toes though.

Cravings: Pretty much anything sweet

Symptoms: I have to pee like all the time. TMI, but annoyingly true.

Best Moment this week: Um, it was a good week? I can't think of any pregnancy-related highlights to add today, but I am excited to (finally) go back to the doctor tomorrow. I somehow got off on my every-four-week schedule, so five weeks feels like forever between appointments.

I did decide though that I need to wear my navy long sleeved maternity shirt every single day. I got stopped at church a kajillion times yesterday by people who told me I looked too small to be as far along as I am. They are obviously mistaken; I blame the shirt.

And I'm guessing that now that I'm getting closer to the end, I need to brace myself for all kinds of comments. That was my least favorite part of pregnancy the first time around. Why is it that people feel the need to eliminate their filter when speaking to a pregnant chick? Sigh, that's another post for another day.

Friday Five

1. I have been totally slacking on the 52 Week Organizing Challenge. While I like to think that I'm Superwoman and can accomplish my entire to-do list in a day, I'm beginning to realize that I just can't do everything. I know, it's taken me awhile to come to this conclusion, but these days I'm working my big ol' booty off just to keep our house in functioning order, take care of a very active toddler, keep up with all the children's ministry stuff I'm responsible for, and not lose my mind over all the things I still need to get done before Landon gets here. That said, big organizing projects have fallen by the wayside. I'll still post updates when I get to them, but don't hold your breath too long in the waiting.

2. Avery got her very first Sonic slush yesterday! Keep in mind that this is the girl who only drinks milk and water. (We don't give her juice because 1) we're cheap, 2) I'm paranoid about her teeth getting too coated with sugar, and 3) we figure if she doesn't know what she's missing, she won't be begging for it all the time, haha.)

Anyway, she had a great day yesterday, and I had a $1.17 in change just calling Sonic's name after I picked up the munchkin from Mother's Day Out. Plus it was Happy Hour. Score! So I got a small Coke and Avery got a blue coconut slush, and we enjoyed our treats on the back porch when we got home.

What mom in her right mind gives her not-yet-two-year-old a dark blue beverage?!? Seeing as how my financial limitations required colored slushes (as opposed to the real fruit lime ones that are clear) and she was wearing a blue shirt, I just went with it.

Let's just say that Avery likes "slushy!!"

3. I had my first big sewing fail this week. It was bound to happen, especially since I was moving on from burp cloths and straight lines. My mom already had the cute pattern and fabric for it, so I decided to make some adorable Bermuda shorts for Avery. Fail #1: I started these shorts a few weeks ago but stopped in the middle of making them because I needed to make Matt's Batman birthday pajama pants (post on those coming soon, btw). Well, when I returned to the project this week, I completely forgot that I was using white thread and inadvertently switched to chocolate brown. By the time I realized my error, I was way too far into it to bring myself to take it all apart and switch back to white. Argh. Fail #2: The second fail was actually not really my fail per se. I blame the stupid pattern. Because when I went to try the (still uncompleted but close) shorts on my little model, they didn't even cover half of her bottom. I'm not a huge fan of toddler super-low rise pants. So now it's back to the drawing board sewing machine. I refuse to throw the shorts away because I did a stinking good job on the pockets and the bottom, non-waist section, so I will find a solution.

4. We are LOVING this weather! It's been in the 70s and 80s all week, and we've been spending tons of time outside. We went to the park with friends on Wednesday, have been going on exploratory walks in the yard (and playing in the sand) at home, and today we're going to meet Kari and Emma for a picnic at an outside shopping center that has a good play area.

5. This weekend is another free one (this is so unusual for us, but we'll take it!), so we're probably gonna spend it just working (and playing) around the house. We're such homebodies these days. :)

Happy Friday!

Wordless Wednesday: A Day at the Park

And the Award Goes To...

...ME!

Haha, thanks to my awesome neighbor Brooke for dubbing me a "Stylish Blogger." This might be the first time in my entire life that the word stylish has ever been used to describe me, so I'll soak it up while I can. :)

The fine print:

1. Link back and thank the person who gave you the award.2. Share 7 things about yourself.3. Award 5 recently discovered blogs.4. Contact them and tell them about their award. 

7 Random Awesome Things About Heather:

1. I bought 11 boxes of Annie's mac and cheese when I was grocery shopping today. I would've bought 12, but they only had 11 left. (Don't judge, they were $0.49 each!)
2. I'm going through a little bit of a Bachelor withdrawal tonight. Monday was my only must-watch TV night, so now I suppose Matt and I will spend our evening watching...
3. ...Parking Wars. Seriously, have you seen this show? Our friends told us about it, and I was admittedly pretty skeptical of a show that revolves completely around ticketing, booting, towing, and impounding cars in Philadelphia, but it's strangely fascinating and now we're hooked. Now if only they'd add more seasons of Airline to Netflix, I'd be a happy girl.
4. Pregnant or not, I could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I guess it's a good thing that I have two other people to feed in this house, otherwise I probably would.
5. I don't miss teaching. I thought I would, but the decision for me to stay at home with my sweet little girl was one of the best that Matt and I have ever made.
6. I love lists and pretty fonts. So now most of my lists are typed out with pretty headers and categories. It's ridiculous. 
7. If you follow this blog at all, you already know that I've become obsessed with gotten into sewing. My mom used to sew all sorts of stuff for us when we were kids, and I had absolutely no interest in learning back then, but I'm so glad that she taught me after my recent interest in the craft. I'm also seriously considering opening an Etsy shop and attempting to make a little extra cash. If I wasn't so much of a perfectionist, I would've already started it, but I can't bring myself to make it official until I have everything just so. 

Tag, You're It!

The following five blogs on my must-reads list have now been given the Stylish Blogger Award. Check them out!

Allison @ Allison Jean Photo

April @ Pieces of April

Corrianna @ Southern Mother

Kati @ Living Well

Sarah @ Casa del Arnold

30 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 30 weeks! It sounds so much closer to 40, but 10 weeks is a long time. Sigh.

Size of baby: Almost 16 inches long and three pounds (the size of a head of cabbage)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 17 lbs. (give or take a few; I don't own a scale, so I'm going by my last appointment)

Maternity Clothes: I'm in mostly maternity clothes because I don't want to stretch out my "real" clothes, but I still wear some regular tops.

Gender: We're having a boy! Landon Matthew. :)

Movement: This baby is very active. All the time.

Sleep: I'm sleeping okay for now once I actually get to sleep. I really need to bust out the body pillow.

What I miss: Being skinny :) Okay, so that's a little vain. Sorry. I also miss being able to bend over like a normal person. Everyday activities are getting a little awkward. Hey, I can still see my toes though.

Cravings: Pretty much anything sweet

Symptoms: I have to pee like all the time. TMI, but annoyingly true.

Best Moment this week: Getting Landon's room painted! Matt finished last week during his spring break, and it looks SO great! We painted one wall red and the other three are a caramel color. The furniture is all in its proper place now, so all I need to do for the room is figure out wall decor, buy and paint his name letters, empty out his closet (currently where all sorts of random junk is stored), and encourage my mom to finish the bedding (haha, just kidding; I am incredibly excited that she's making it though, and I can't wait to see it!).

I feel like this last week a ton of people I know had babies! Seriously, it's been like 10 people this month, and even more are due in the very near future. Babies everywhere! And every week I keep hearing of more of my friends who are pregnant, so it's fun that Landon will apparently have tons of built-in friends. :)