Baby Deux - Weeks 23, 24, and 25

Oh hey, remember me?  The worst blogger ever?

I actually have a pretty valid excuse for disappearing for almost two weeks; although my back is feeling amazing compared to how it felt a month ago it still isn't perfect and when I sit upright for extended periods of time it hurts like hell.  Like I'm sitting right now in order to type this on my desktop computer...

But any-hoo...viability!!!  That one is pretty exciting!  Basically all it means is if BabyDeux tried to take an express pass through his gestation and high tail it out of my uterus there's a chance he would survive.  He definitely needs to cook a bunch more, but if it happened it wouldn't necessarily end in tragedy.

The heartburn has started.  Sometimes it comes if I haven't eaten in a while.  Sometimes it comes right after I eat.  Sometimes it comes when I'm sitting down.  Sometimes it comes when I'm standing up.  Sometimes it comes when I'm laying down.  It is completely unpredictable and completely shitty.  So I have to make sure I have Tums on me at all times.

I've been having weird insomnia when I fall asleep fine in the evening but then I wake up at like 1 and can't fall back asleep until like 5.  It flipping sucks.Which may be contributing to the fact that I get exhausted super easy.  Yesterday The Sailor and I tidied up the entire house (which was a hot mess from me being hurt for so long) in preparation of a cleaning lady coming today to actually deep clean and I was exhausted by the end of the day.  And it wasn't like I was doing anything intense, I was just puttering around putting things where they're supposed to be!

I actually feel kinda cute right now.  It probably helps that I definitely no longer just look fat and I got some cute maternity clothes, but we'll see how long it lasts.  I'm always jealous of the women who feel gorgeous and feminine throughout pregnancy...I just feel like I'm going through puberty all over again and getting fat at the same time.

Little dude is super active.  He's actually kicked me in the cervix a few times and it's really not cool.  It feels like someone is violently checking to see if you're dilated only from the inside.  Even The Sailor has been able to feel kicks from the outside, but he's not that interested in it.  It actually makes me pretty upset that he really has no interest in my belly; when I bring it up he generally says he'll be excited when he gets to meet him in January...which is great.  But I'd like to have someone actually be excited about this pregnancy with me.  My Dad would much rather talk about W and my Mom was completely disinterested in my pregnancy with W, too so I wasn't expecting much excitement from them.  But I figured since The Sailor would actually be home this time around he would show more interest in it.  On top of that, despite having significantly more local friends for this pregnancy (in case you don't remember I moved from the East to West coast when I was like 5 weeks pregnant with W) no one really seems all that excited.  Maybe I'm just imagining it, but it's almost kinda lonely.

In happier news we started actually putting furniture in the new nursery!!!

Crib - craigslist - $100
Changing Table - Yardsale - $60
Rocker/recliner - Yard sale - $20 then $55 on reupholstering supplies.

The banner and a few other wall decorations I got from Joann's in the teacher section, I got a few things from the Target cheapie section that I'll be using for different projects, and the only big thing left to purchase is a ceiling fan and about a bajillion projects left to do, haha.

The chair is blocking part of the closet, but it's no big deal because I can still easily access one side of it which is all I'll need on a regular basis. There won't be a dresser, I'll organize his clothes in the closet in hanging shoe organizers just like I did (and still do 18 months later) with W. And obviously the random stuff on the windows won't be staying there!

And some "symptoms" that didn't make it onto the collage - apparently BabyDeux is comfortably resting on my bladder because sometimes when he kicks or I sneeze (or laugh, or bend over...) my bladder leaks.  Super fun Not!

But what is super fun is nesting.  I'm not usually a super clean freak.  If the house is a bit messy I'm really not bothered by it.  But we got a carpet cleaner yesterday and I was pee-my-pants-excited (hardy-har-har) watching The Sailor clean our couch.  Then we had a cleaning lady come today to deep clean the house and I've been absolutely giddy about it.I loooooooooove how clean my house is right now.

And  think that's all for right now!  I didn't take a 25 week picture, we were too busy cleaning up the house yesterday...

Baby Deux - Weeks 21 and 22

I think I'm in denial about how quickly this pregnancy is going by compared to my last pregnancy.  I mean, how the hell is he the size of a spaghetti squash already!?

Since I last checked in my back has gotten significantly better.  It is nowhere near "healed" but it's tolerable.  Having The Sailor take the week off to let me rest has done wonders.  Fingers crossed it doesn't go to hell again once The Sailor goes back to work on Monday.

I'm tired a lot of the time still (I'm blaming the back pain though - being in pain is exhausting) and I get nauseous after I eat anything like 99% of the time, but for some reason I've suddenly started getting excited.  Maybe because we're well past the halfway point, maybe because we're making more concrete plans for the nursery and everything, or maybe because I feel the little guy moving all.the.time.  Whatever the reason, I've really started getting excited despite having another miserable pregnancy!  And when I see stuff like this and realize I'm already 6 months pregnant I get even more excited!

Source

Since I last checked in I had an appointment with the OB office on base.  BabyDeux is doing awesome; moving like crazy and his heart rate is great and he's measuring right on track.  I, on the other hand, ended up having an EKG because my heart rate was through the roof (over 200 bpm) but my blood pressure was super low.  EKG came back normal so they're attributing it to the stress on my body from the constant back pain.  Hopefully as my back gets better my heart will, too.

The other day I felt the little guy change positions (not just move, but like full on roll over) for the first time.  I, personally, hate that shit.  It makes me feel like an alien host.  I wish I had gotten a picture though because he was distinctly pushing my stomach out momentarily ::shudder::

And, oh yeah, I admit it...I effing love yoga pants.  Yoga pants or a long shirt with leggings are my go to these days.  I really just don't like maternity jeans, they continuously fall down so I'm constantly pulling them up which isn't attractive.  And with fold over yoga pants I can just not fold them over and it's like wearing full panel pants!  Which, since my belly exploded over night, is awesome!

22weeks5days

^^totally regretted wearing Wes later that day.  He was having a meltdown and The Sailor had ran out and he kept grabbing his wraps and signing please so I couldn't help but put him up there...but it killed my back and I ended up in bed at like 6:30 that night.

That's all for now...I've been scoping out cribs and once we get that we'll start really putting the nursery together so that will be a lot of fun posts.  Until then you'll just have to deal with my super boring pregnancy updates!

Reupholstering Tips and Tricks - AKA First big nursery project!!

Yeah...check that shit out^^  Coolest Dr. Seuss nursery chair everrrrr, right?!?

So, I wish I could give you a step by step guide detailing exactly how to reupholster a chair - but I can't.  The fact of the matter is every chair is different and that makes the process of stripping it down and reupholstering it different.  The general idea of it is simple - carefully pull off all the fabric, use that fabric as a template to cut out the new fabric, then put the new fabric on just like you took the old fabric off.  Easy peasy, right?

Well here are a few tips and tricks for you...

• Give yourself plenty of time.  I spent hours just pulling out staples.  This is not a process that is going to be completed in a day.  Maybe if you have a few people and a lot of patience you could finish it in a weekend, but I recommend spreading it out over a bunch of days so you don't give yourself carpal tunnel.
• I used a flat head screw driver and needle-nose pliers to pull out all the staples, it worked quite well.
• Save everything you pull off!!  Seriously!  Every scrap of cardboard, random spikey thing, and piece of fabric.  Saving everything will make it a million times easier to reassemble it.
• Label everything.  Where it goes on the chair, what order you pulled it off in, which part of it pulled up first, etc.  I just used a sharpie and wrote right on the panels where they went and all the details that would help me successfully replace it with new fabric.
• Don't expect perfection.  Seriously, this is true of all my projects.  If I wanted or needed it to be perfect there's probably someone out there I can pay hundreds of dollars to do it for me and there's a reason why they charge so much - this shit is time consuming!  There are some snags in my fabric from me stapling wrong and the back of it is a little wonky (I didn't have quite enough fabric but whatever...who's going to be looking at the back??)

So here's what you need - 

• A cheap piece of old furniture that hopefully was built well but just needs a facelift (you don't want the frame of the chair to be falling apart, just the fabric!)
• Flat head screwdriver and needle-nose pliers (to remove staples)
• Upholstery fabric - no not waste your time and get fabric that isn't heavy enough to be considered upholstery fabric...it will fall apart and then you will have wasted hours of your life for nothing.  I did, however, decide I could use a non-upholstery fabric on the parts that won't get much wear and tear and I think it was a safe decision (the blue Lorax tree print is just normal cotton, not upholstery weight fabric).  I calculated how much I would need after I ripped off all the fabric.
• A staple gun.  I have a fancy one my Dad got me for my birthday (after I reupholstered my kitchen chairs with just a hammer and upholstery tacks he decided I needed a staple gun) but you could use one of those old school plain ones (like this) - it would just take longer.
• A seam ripper to disassemble the cushions 
• And if you're like me...a hot glue gun.  Yes, I hot glued some parts, but I'll never tell you which ones (muahahahahaha) <--not sure why I'm evil laughing about that

I got the chair used from someone on base and it actually reclined (the foot part doesn't pop out, it just reclines) but not very well.  The Sailor actually re-did all the mechanical bits so now it reclines smoothly.  It cost $20.  Then I spent about $50 on fabrics (from onlinefabricstore.net and fabric.com).  

There is some sewing involved to make the covers for the cushions (just like the rest of the chair you pull the cushion apart - with a seam ripper - and use the pieces as a pattern for the new cover).  For this chair I was able to save the zipper on the bottom cushion but the back cushion was originally attached to the chair itself.  I decided it would be easiest for me to make it another cover so I had to get a long zipper for that which also cost me a few bucks. 

I would say I spent between 25 and 30 hours on the chair in all spread out over a bunch of days over two weeks.  But, I'm absolutely in love with it and it cost us less than $75 in all!

After I finished reupholstering it instead of putting back on the feet The Sailor turned it into a rocking chair!  He used scrap wood and the screws that were originally holding on the feet so again, no cost to us.  It took two tries to get the curve right for a rocking chair but still didn't take him much time at all.

So now it reclines and rocks and is gorgeous.  It will be the perfect visual centerpiece for BabyDeux's Dr. Seuss nursery and it will be mighty comfy for all those middle of the night nursing sessions in my future!

Baby Deux - Weeks 18, 19, and 20

I really do suck as a pregnancy blogger, haha.  Especially since as I'm typing this I'm 21w3d.  Oops, it's my blog I'll do what I want to.

So yeah, two Thursdays ago I did something to my back.  At this point the doctors think I ruptured a disc in my lower spine but we can't do any imaging to properly diagnose it since I'm pregnant.

I'm in so.much.pain. I've spent the better part of the last 11 days in tears or on the verge of tears. I can't be upright (sitting or standing) for more than about a half hour before the pressure/pain in my lower back actually makes me start seeing stars and eventually start to black out.

I'm angry at my body for failing me.
I'm angry at my insurance for not covering chiropractic care. It was the only thing that made me feel any better last week but we don't have the money for me to keep going.
I'm angry at the bored house wives who were supposed to be my friends who have been talking behind my back accusing me of faking the injury for attention.
I'm angry at my husband's squadron for giving him crap about asking to take leave because apparently the jets he works on need him more than I do.
And most of all I'm angry at myself for not being able to take care of my toddler the way he deserves. Yesterday morning I was laying on the floor trying to play with him and he kept handing me toys and signing please, but I could barely move. I can barely pick him up. I might have to put him back in diapers even though he's doing so well potty training because he only likes to go on the big potty and I'm struggling to lift him up onto it as often as he needs to go.
Not to mention I hate the fact that I can't go a full day without taking any pain killers despite the fact that I know they aren't great for my unborn baby. I try so desperately to just suck it up, but there's only so much pain I can handle.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest I can talk about some of the more fun things that have been going on the past 3 weeks!

We have started clearing out our third bedroom!  We sold the large pieces of furniture and I've started figuring out where everything else (all my crafting stuff) will end up.  And we sold our old stroller (the Baby Jogger City Mini - which I loved, but only works for one kid) and bought a used Britax B-Ready which we can get a second seat for so W and BabyDeux can both ride in it.  The only problem with it was the previous kid had taken a bite out of the foam on the bar, so I sewed a "sleeve" for it out of The Sailor's uniform material and embroidered our last name on it.  I actually really like it, so I'm kinda glad the last kid chomped on it!

I also picked up some cute Dr. Seuss stuff from the cheapie section at Target to be used in the Nursery.  I'll probably cut out and frame the bags ($0.50 each) and use the plates as part of a DIY mobile ($2 each - they're holographic).

We had our anatomy scan and everything looks perfect.  BabyDeux is super active!!!

I got a men's shirt from Goodwill for $2.99 that I grad-dyed and am slightly obsessed with...

I sold one of my wraps to buy a wrap specifically for BabyDeux!  I've mentioned before that bamboo blends are super soft and great for newborns, so I bought Oscha Starry Night Midnight which is 70/30 cotton/bamboo.  I plan on grad dyeing it before he gets here, probably a deep blue.

And I finished my first big project for the nursery!  I plan on doing a post specifically for it, but here's a teaser for what it is with some pictures we took to celebrate hitting the halfway point with this pregnancy...

Me with my cane - yes, my back is so bad I need a cane to get around by the end of the day

Say hi to your baby brother, W!

Not much else to report...fingers crossed for me that my back starts getting better soon, ok?

Baby Deux - Weeks 16 and 17

In my excitement to announce that we found out Baby Deux is a boy, I completely forgot to do a weekly update!

Obviously we had another ultrasound last week since we found out we're having another little dude...

Pensive baby (he's holding a hand up to his chin/mouth)

 Look at that, there's a penis inside me...(I'm so mature, I know)

Yay for a strong beating heart!

So yeah, in case you couldn't tell by my little collage, I'm still not a fan of pregnancy!  Pregnancy acne has hit me full force, although it's a little different than with W.  With W I had a bunch of deep, cystic pimples that actually hurt my face.  This time they aren't as deep, but there's more of them.  A friend's husband sweetly said, "aww...you're glowing."  And I was like, "sorry dude, that's just acne."  ::whompwhomp::

My hair growing faster is awesome since I'm actually trying to grow it out (I chopped it off completely to a short pixie in October and got super bored with that in like February).  What isn't awesome is my hair has become so coarse that shaving my legs is physically painful.  At first I thought I just needed a new razor, but changing it didn't help at all.  I have to exfoliate my legs, shave with shaving cream (which I don't usually use), exfoliate again, and shave again just to have remotely smooth legs.  It's insane!  

And to top it off I have at least one intense headache a day lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours.  I also joke that this baby is mean because I get stabbing cramps that feel like he's stabbing me.  The OB I saw said that (along with the cervical pressure I was experiencing) is normal because I didn't give my uterus time to completely heal after having W...I think she's a crackhead because I've never heard that before!  Either way, it isn't pleasant.

The only thing I'm enjoying about being pregnant this time around is planning the nursery.  It's going to be a-maz-ing!!!  That and super sweet moments with W like when he's nursing in bed in the morning and he just starts rubbing my little baby bump, which he never did before...

Here's to hoping I catch some of that second trimester energy soon!!!

In all three of these pictures I'm wearing the pregnancy jeans I made..

BabyDeux is a...

That's right...BabyDeux is a BOY!  W is going to have a little brother!!

Fun fact about that banner...I had all the supplies needed for it on hand!  One of the benefits of being a craft hoarder! lol

I made W a t-shirt for the shoot, but you can barely tell what it says ("I'm getting a Baby Bro")

This is my "I'm pregnant so I should stand like this" pose...

The Sailor and I laughing...

This one would be really good if The Sailor's head wasn't completely blown out...

And this is my, "Oh shit, I'm gonna be the mom of two boys" face...