week 23

How Far Along? 23 weeks

Size of Baby: Mango (just over a pound and more than 11 inches long!)

Gender: Sweet baby girl :)

Weight Gain: 12 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: Still haven't made a trip to the mall to try on maternity jeans. I've been wearing dresses, skirts and leggings 100% of the time. My running shorts are all still comfortable too, and I wear them to the gym still very comfortably. Since I don't have a job to wear more professional clothes to, I'm not too worried about buying maternity clothes. I'd rather spend the money on little outfits for baby and for Riggs!

Nursery: Check out my idea board on Pinterest here. Hoping to post my shared-nursery inspiration by the end of next week. I probably won't start on anything for another month or two. The biggest item to check off the list is painting the room and I'd prefer to wait until it's a bit warmer so we can have the window wide open while we paint. Also I've been agonizing over the exact paint color and I'm sure it will take me at least a month to finally make a decision!

Movement: So many kicks! This baby is so much more active than Riggs was. He was more of a rolling movements kind of guy, and baby girl is all about the jabs and kicks. I feel like she's just going non-stop! She's also very responsive to touch and will almost always 'respond' when we poke her :)

Symptoms: Extra active bladder, more out of breath than usual, tired in the evenings, unable to eat as large of meals at one sitting. I'll feel so hungry and then be full after only a few bites!

Sleep: I'm sleeping great, although I have been waking up a little bit more stiff in the mornings than usual. Laying on my left side is the only way I can sleep comfortably, for some reason laying on my right side just doesn't work. 

Cravings: Sweets! Like cookies and chocolate. Trying not to give in too badly, or at least to counteract my sweet tooth with lots of veggies and protein during the day.

What I Miss: Being able to sleep/lay on my stomach. 

Best Moment This Week: Steve has been playing music to her in the evenings when we lay in bed. It's so sweet to feel her respond so excitedly to the music! And I love that Steve gets to experience her movements now too :)

Worst Moment This Week (I made this one up haha): Now that I'm what I consider to be "obviously pregnant" the comments have begun. I was in the locker room at the gym when another very very pregnant woman walked up to stand next to me in front of the mirror. 
"Oh are you pregnant?" She asked.
"Yes." I said with a smile.
"You must be three or four months?"
"Actually I'm nearly six months!" I said.
"Oh my gosh you are so tiny! It must be your first pregnancy?" She said knowingly.
Getting annoyed, "Nope, it's actually my second." 
"Oh my goodness, you are so so tiny! I was that big at 12 weeks and this is my first!!" 

I mumbled something and headed out to work out. I know she was just being friendly but I get comments a lot about how tiny my belly is. I feel like it's pretty normal, but I realize everyone is different. I just wouldn't go up to someone and say "Your belly is so huge, oh my goodness!" and I think it goes both ways. Do you think it's rude to comment on the size of a complete strangers baby bump? Am I being too sensitive? I'm sure I am a little bit, because I'm so happy to finally be really showing! :)

Looking Forward To: My sister-in-law having her baby girl! She's due next week and I'm on pins and needles waiting to head down to Homer at any moment! 

Quick & Easy Reversible Toddler Apron

Riggs has needed an apron for the longest time now. I knew it would be easy to sew one for him, but I just kept putting it off. Then we were making muffins together last week, and I just decided I was going to sew him one that afternoon during naptime.

I picked out some fabric from my very meager stash that was loosely coordinating since I wanted to make his apron reversible. Then I used an apron I had for 'inspiration' and traced a smaller version onto a piece of tissue paper. I held it up to Riggs to get an idea for size and then cut out what I had to make a few final adjustments. Pretty scientific, eh? haha

Next I folded the fabric I was planning on using in half to cut out the shape of the main body of the apron. I wanted more coverage and a more 'boyish' apron style for Riggs, so I did a square bottom. If I was making an apron for a girl, I'd use a curved hem along the bottom.

I also cut out an extra square of each fabric selection to make a pocket for each side. I ironed the edges under so that I could sew it on to each 'side' of fabric before I sewed them together. Since I was just eyeballing it, the pockets aren't in exactly the same spot on each side, but they're close enough so that you can't tell the difference. I was just sort of making things up as I went, so bear with me.

When I was all done with the pockets I lined the two sides of the apron up right side together and pinned them. Then I sewed them together, leaving about a two inch opening to turn the apron right side out.

Next, I ironed the rough edges of the opening in so it would be easy to sew all a top stitch around the entire outline of the apron.

I didn't have any premade bias tape, so I just made some from the contrasting fabric I had. Here's a great tutorial on how to do that (it's really easy! just an extra bit of cutting and ironing...oh & I actually don't have a 'bias tape maker' I just fold it and iron it as I go).

Once the bias tape was cut, sewn together and folded, it was ready to pin on to the apron. I decided not to use bias tape all the way around the entire hem of the apron, so I just used one long strip. I made the neck portion of the apron pretty long so that it would fit over Riggs' big head for quite a while. I realized the extra length made the front of the apron sag down a bit lower on his chest than I wanted, so I added a snap (pictures further down in the post). My mom also (later) suggested adding a little piece of elastic to the neck.

As soon as the bias tape was sewn on it was all done! Yay! I just zig-zag stitched the ends of the tape to for a quick finish. Riggs was more interested in looking out the window at the bunnies in the front yard than in posing for a picture, but you can still see how generous the coverage is, which is what I was hoping for. I'm really happy with how it turned out for something I just made up as I went!

^--- Here you can see how loose the neck strap is once it's over his huge head. So I pulled out my little snap press and added a snap to hold it in place better when it's being worn:

So anyway, there's my notes on making a quick and easy reversible toddler apron. What do you think? If you make one and post about it be sure to add a link in the comment section of this post so I can head over and check it out! I can't wait to make a more girly version for little sister :)

weekeding

[riggs in his new apron. post coming soon with instructions on how to make one like it!]

I ran out of butter this weekend, which actually turned out to be a very good thing, because I had a crazy craving for chocolate chip cookies and had to find a recipe that used coconut oil (which I literally have tubs of) instead. These cookies are so so good it's not even right. My parents came over for dinner Saturday and I made them as bar cookies, which worked great too. You need to try this recipe!

We have been spending more and more time outside as a result of the return of the sun. I know spring is truly on the way when it's five below when I feed the chickens at 8am and by 3 in the afternoon the snow on the roof is melting in the sun in a constant drip. I just love it!

The chickens do too, and I put a treat out for them in the sunniest part of their yard to encourage them to soak up the sun even more than they already have been. We have been getting 4-6 eggs a day and it's been just wonderful. We seriously can't get enough of their eggs.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Riggs has become so much more independent during our time outside, and it makes it so much more enjoyable to go out with him. Call me lazy but I love being able to sit in my lawn chair in the sun for an hour while he plays happily by himself in the yard.

Another very fun thing for him to do is to 'help' Steve in the garage. He could spend all day in there with him, I swear! And anything that has to do with "daddies 'eep" is like the ultimate in excitement for Riggs. Every time he sees it he points is out (multiple times) and so of course he was thrilled when Steve climbed in with him to play for a bit on Sunday afternoon. They sat together for five or ten minutes and then Riggs stayed in and went from seat to seat for another fifteen minutes after that. He's going to love summer this year and taking evening drives with daddy in the "eep".

Steve's back to work for at least a few days this week and we already miss him. But luckily his work still isn't too busy so we should still be able to have long weekends during the month of March. Can you believe it's already going to be March in just a few days? 2014 is just flying by!

22 weeks

How Far Along: 22 weeks

Size of Baby: Spaghetti Squash  (11 inches, nearly a pound!).

Gender: Sweet baby girl! See some of the things I've been pinning for her, here.

Weight Gain: Still right at about 10 pounds. I guess I didn't gain anything this week! It's weird too because I feel like my belly grows noticeably everyday! And I'm definitely to the point where I think I'm 99% obviously pregnant. It's so nice to be out of that awkward stage! 

Nursery: Check out my idea board on Pinterest here. Still working on a separate post all about what I'd like to do in their combined room. For now you should definitely check out my friend Hannah's post on a shared nursery, love all of her ideas!

Movement: Lots and lots. I love it! And she makes herself known from the outside too, which is fun for family and friends.

Symptoms: Peeing a lot. Eating a lot. Sleeping a lot. 

Sleep: I'm sleeping great! I usually wake up about once every night to pee, but haven't had any problems getting back to sleep.

Best Moment This Week: Riggs getting to feel his little sister kick! Such a precious moment!

Looking Forward To: Getting some of the newborn and size one Honest diapers I ordered for baby girl when they were $3 off on Zulily! Their girls prints are soooo cute!

let's catch up

Steve has been off from work for a week or two and we are loving it! He's been getting to spend so much more time with Riggs than ever before and I know they are both soaking it up.

Steve has been working on projects in the garage for a few hours each day, and Riggs loves to go out and join him. Aren't they too cute in their matching bibs? I just love them!

Also as I mentioned a while ago, our chickens weren't laying during the winter (since about late November) because the sun went behind the mountain and there just wasn't enough daylight. We wanted to give them a break and didn't light their coop (or heat it, they are hardy girls!). I checked every week or so to make sure there wasn't an egg in the nesting boxes, and for months, there was nothing. I checked last week on Monday or Tuesday and there was still nothing. Then a few days later I decided to check again and I found 10 frozen, cracked eggs all piled up in the nesting box. I'm pretty sure the chickens thought I was crazy when I cried out in surprise and excitement. I gathered them up and brought them in to show Steve.

I was sad to waste them but they were pretty gnarly, so we had to toss them. But since then we've been getting three to four each a day and you can bet we've (very happily) been eating lots of eggs since then. I am so excited to not buy eggs for the rest of the summer!

Riggs has been keeping busy with lunch dates (slurping up his miso soup through a straw is his new favorite thing to do), play dates and even managed to get his hair cut last week. I just love his little personality and his facial expressions during his hair cut were killing me. He was really good about sitting still and following Sarah's directions as she snipped away, but you could tell he was very skeptical about the whole process. So funny!

It's been snowing little bits here and there and so when the sun was out and shining warmly Monday we decided to take advantage of it! Steve and I spent half the day outside, and Riggs just went inside for a nap.

Riggs is able to play outside for longer and longer without needing direction from Steve or I, it's been so fun to have him tag along while we work on projects that before would have been hard to do with putting him in the stroller (and even then he'd often get bored quick). He skied for a bit, then drove his car around the driveway and then just lounged in it while watching the flames at the burn pile. So fun!

We love where we live so much but the winter months can seem long and especially dark for us since the sun stays hidden behind the mountain for the darkest three months of winter. February is always an exciting time for us as the sun comes back for longer and longer throughout the day. It only disappeared for a few minutes behind the tallest peak so I know it will be here to stay on sunny days by next week. Yay for more daylight hours!

I've been baking and cooking more which has been keeping me busy in the kitchen - both while I'm cooking and for clean up. Our dishwasher is leaking and we would rather just buy a new one than fix the old one (again - Steve already fixed the leak once). BUT we have pretty hard water and so we'd prefer to install a water softener of some sort before investing in a new appliance, so for now I'm hand washing all our dishes. I don't really mind too much since I didn't have a dishwasher for the seven years before we moved into this house (or even running water for nearly two years of that!). It just takes a little more time, especially if I let them pile up after a meal or two. I try to wash them after each meal, but sometimes they have to wait until the end of the day.

Riggs has been helping me in the kitchen but he hasn't had an apron all this time, so I finally got around to making him one last week. It turned out so cute (and easy too) and I'll be sharing a simple tutorial a little later for how I made it.

We've also been hit with Olympic fever and have been watching them as much as they're aired on NBC primetime. We only have bunny ear antenna for our TV and I'm completely fine with that - until the Olympics rolls around. Then I wish we had all the NBC channels so I could watch more events, and a DVR recorder so we could record it when we're not home or busy and fast forward through the commercials.

Anyway, this has been the longest post ever and if you're still reading congratulations, you've finally come to the end. Thanks for hanging in there and catching up with me :)

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

I guess I'm still in the Valentines day mood because I just can't get enough of making (and eating yum yum) chocolate dipped strawberries. Not only are they easy, but they look beautiful and taste amazing. AND they're somewhat healthy (at least that's what I tell myself as I grab my fifth or sixth ha).

I thought you had to have dipping chocolate to make them, but then I found a great recipe for making them with plain old chocolate chips, yay. I don't have a double boiler, so I just used two saucepans to melt the chocolate chips...fancy eh?

Before I melted the chocolate I had the strawberries all rinsed and ready to be dipped. I didn't have any white chocolate so I found some white sprinkles to make them 'prettier'. Once the chocolate was melted I just transferred it to a small but deep dish and started dipping!

I covered as much of the strawberry as I could in the chocolate and then sort of twisted them as I pulled them out to catch the drips. You have to work somewhat quickly since the chocolate thickens quickly and makes it harder to coat the strawberries. 

It took them about an hour or maybe a little more to harden enough to transfer to a different plate. They probably would have hardened quicker in the fridge but I hate cold strawberries so I just waited patiently while they hardened on the counter. It was worth the wait too, they were so so good!