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?

You know you had a bad night...

...when you wake up with a nursing pad stuck to your face.

Person Paint Creation

Yup...that was me Thursday morning.  The Seamonkey was basically in my armpit with his arms out of his swaddle but his lower half still in it.  Gabby was taking up the majority of the bed forcing me to sleep diagonally (The Sailor was at training in San Diego).  Lola was basically sitting on my head since Gabby was stealing the rest of the bed.  One of my boobs was still pulled out of my sleep nursing bra, and my nursing pad was stuck to my face.

More often than not The Seamonkey is a great sleeper!  We get in jam-jams around 7:30 and he falls asleep either on The Sailor's chest or in his swing until we decide to go to bed (around 9:30).  Before I go to bed I bring him upstairs, put him into his triple-stuffed night diaper (yeah...he's a heavy wetter), nurse him, swaddle him, rock in the chair for a bit with him, and then he sleeps in his bassinet right next to me.  Then he'll usually wake up around 3 am to be nursed again, and back in the bassinet he goes.  Then he wakes up again around 6 which is when I just pull him into bed with me (The Sailor is already gone for work), nurse him a bit laying down, and we snuggle until around 730 when we get up and start our day.

But not Wednesday night...oh no.  Little Man did not want to sleep.  I don't know if it was gas, a growth spurt, or general fussiness, but that boy refused to sleep in his bassinet.  So, instead of driving myself crazy I just pulled him into bed with me, especially since The Sailor wasn't there.  I spent the better part of midnight to 7 am nursing him in bed, and that's why I woke up in such a disheveled state.

But, I can't stay angry at that boy for too long...

::Yawn:: I'm sleepy since I kept Mommy up all night!

Especially since, without fail, when I bring him into the nursery to change his diaper in the morning he stares up at the lanterns and starts smiling giggling like crazy (his favorite spot in the house is on his changing table)...

You can kinda tell he's smiling in this picture

And luckily the past two nights have been back to business as usual!

When you have a fussy baby do you pull him into bed with you?  If not, how do you get any sleep on a bad night?  More importantly...have you ever woken up with a nursing pad stuck to your face? haha

Until next time...

Worst.Blogger.Ever.

Seriously.  It has been 2 weeks since I last posted.  A lot has happened in those two weeks.  Sorry I suck; I'm pregnant and at this point I'm just counting down the minutes until The Sailor gets home from deployment...

Here's everything you've missed...

I printed/framed/hung up the pet silhouettes for the nursery!  I absolutely love them.  I think I'm going to put a quote (in vinyl) above or beneath them...

You can also see that I did some stenciling on the lamp shade!  Another project that I absolutely adore.

My Mom got us our carseat, stroller, and the conversion kit so that the carseat can go in the stroller.  We decided to go with the Graco Snugride 25 and the Baby Jogger City Mini.  At this point I couldn't be happier with these products, but I'll have to actually review them once The Seamonkey gets here!

Gabby loves to steal the spotlight

I climbed my pregnant ass up on a chair and hung the lanterns above the changing table.  Yet another project that turned out even better than I thought it would.  And I used my leftover pinwheels from my DIY mobile by attaching them to the underside of the lanterns!

You can also see the hanging basket on the wall that will be used to hold diapering accessories!

I sewed some diaper covers!!!  My sewing machine finally got here from Pittsburgh and I dove into my first project.  They are far from perfect (the seams are a little wonky) but I love them!  I used all Babyville Boutique products - PUL, elastic, velcro, and even the pattern - which can be found at Joann Fabrics.  The dinosaur one (on the left) is newborn size and the monster one (on the right) is size small.

Lola got spayed!  And while she was all drugged up post-op she totally looked like Doby the House Elf from Harry Potter, hahahaha.

And finally, I prepped (aka washed a million times) all my cloth diapers and supplies and organized and put them away in the dresser.  I even stuffed all the pockets and origami folded the flats!  And I 100% accept the fact that this stuff will never be this organized again...

And I know I still owe you all initial reviews on the diapers I bought.  I promise I'll get around to that.  I think I might vlog them, but I'm not sure yet...thoughts?

So, that's what I failed to post about the past two weeks.  Again, I apologize.  If there is anything I mentioned here that you are dying to read more about (aka have me write a post dedicated to it) just let me know and I'd be more than happy to!

Until next time...

Nursery Organization - Phase 1

Oh.my.goodness.  What a pain in the ass that was!  Yesterday I spent the day organizing, washing, and putting away everything I had crammed in the closet in the nursery.  But, I feel so, so, so much better now!  In case you forgot, this is what the closet looked like:

It may not look like that much, but once I pulled it all out and started organizing it (by size for clothes, and just by what it is for everything else) you could see how much there really was in there.  (FYI - I had already put all the newborn clothes in the laundry, so some is actually missing from this picture)

Yeah...that's a lot of stuff.  The whole floor was covered so I resorted to hanging stuff of boxes and covering the chair in stuff.  Tom enjoyed it quite a bit...

 And again:

And can I just complain for a second?  Why the hell do they feel the need to package baby clothes so intensely???  It took me forever to remove all the hangers, tags, boxes, etc. from the new clothes I had, and only like 1/4 of the clothes I had were new! (The rest were used so they obviously didn't have tags on them anymore)  When there was a hanger with like 5 onesies each freaking onesie was attached to all the others in like five freaking places!  And you have to make sure you get all those horrible plastic pieces out, because I'm pretty sure babies wouldn't appreciate being stabbed by tag holders every time you get them dressed.

Since our utilities are included in our rent I wasn't worried about doing a million loads of laundry, but if we did pay our utilities I would have definitely washed everything first and then organized by size.  (I didn't even think about it until after I had organized it all, in all honesty.)  But yeah, after a day of organizing, washing, and putting away clothes, hats, bibs, blankets, baby legs, socks (baby socks are the devil, by the way), and even my Moby Wrap (which I had gotten directly from the Moby Wrap site for 25% off after Christmas) I turned that big hot mess into this:

And look, you can see the floor again:

So, a little more info on the method behind my organization madness.  The fancy schmancy organizer in the middle is from Target (this one - cost $25) and the organizers on either side are technically for shoes and I got them from Marshall's (for $5 a piece - so $10 in all).  The top left slot has newborn sized clothes and they're broken down by onesies, jammies, bottoms, and rompers.  Below that is 0-3 month size and going down the sizes get bigger and they continue on the top right.  As the Seamonkey grows out of the smaller clothes I pull them from the organizers and there will be more room for bigger clothes (as I get bigger clothes).

In the middle organizer there is a bunch of random stuff: shoes, swaddles, receiving blankets, binkies, hats, etc. and the bin at the bottom is all socks (did I mention baby socks are the devil?).  I figure once the Little Man is here I'll probably move that stuff around to wherever makes sense.  And, the whole left side of the closet is still empty, so I've got plenty of room for more stuff!

Now you may be wondering what the hell I'm going to be putting in my lovely dresser...diapers, obviously! (So that may not be that obvious, but cloth diapering supplies require a good amount of space!)  And, that'll be "nursery organization phase 2."  I just have to prep all the diapers, line the drawers of the dresser, and put it all away!

Did I mention this is my week 30 update?  I really don't feel any different from week to week, I just feel bigger (and I feel the Little Man move around more) so if I were to continue doing weekly update posts they'd be pretty damn boring.  I will say, I recently invested in a 2 inch memory foam mattress pad and my back and my ability to sleep have improved tenfold.  I 110% recommend getting a nice mattress pad to any pregnant ladies who are struggling to find a comfortable way to sleep!

Until next time...

As always, you can see the whole progression of belly photos on the Pregnancy tab of my blog!

**All images used in the post are personal photos**

Nursery Updates!!!

Since January is coming to a close, I figured I'd give you some nursery updates!!!  Here's my original to-do list (from earlier this month):


Things I need to buy:

• Crib mattress - I got this from Target ($60)
• Shelves (I want floating shelves for the wall, not like a book case)
• Crib bedding set - I got this from Target ($100 - on sale when I purchased it)

• Paper lanterns - I got a variety of sizes from The Paper Lantern Store ($30).  I still need to hang these though
• Hooks and baskets - I got these  from Target ($20)

And here are the DIY projects I have lined up:

• Final touches to my crib 
• Refinish my dresser/changing table combo
• Mobile for over the crib
• Print, mat, and frame the pet silhouettes - coming soon!!!

On top of that, a few random things:

• Make the final decision on my rocker/glider.  My Dad is going to be buying this for us/the baby, but I need to decide what I actually want!

I went with this glider from Babies R Us.  The blanket and pillow on the chair came with the bedding set.  The lamp is from Home Goods ($40), the side table was kinda a splurge from Overstock ($57), the circles above the chair are mirror wall decals I got from Totsy ($7 - Totsy is a flash sale site; if you  don't have an account already you should make one here!!!), and the stuffed puppy I got at Marshall's on clearance because it was dirty but once through the wash and it's fine ($7)!

 And again (with the shades closed and the light on):

And a close-up of the mirror wall decals:

• Prep the diapers I've purchased already.  When you use cloth diapers you have to wash them a few times before you use them in order to maximize their absorbency.
• Wash all the clothes I've gotten.  There's the stuff I've bought (or other people have bought) and on top of that I just bought a bunch of used baby stuff and it came with a bunch of clothes, but more on that on my weekly update this week!
• Put away/organize all the diapers, baby cloths, etc.
• Figure out what I forgot to put on this list and do that too, lol. - This is going to be ongoing, lol

New Additions to the List:

• Do some stenciling on the lampshade
• Create labels for the closet organizers I purchased
• Frame/hang an animal/alphabet print I got off Zulily (another Flash Sale site; if you don't have an account with them you should totally make one here!)
• Cut out a quote (which quote is still under debate) in vinyl using my Cricut (once it gets here from Pittsburgh - yes, I'm still waiting to get some of my stuff from Pittsburgh) to stick on the wall.

And here's what the rest of the nursery currently looks like at this point.  It's shameful; but I know once I start hanging things and organizing the clothes/diapers it'll all come together...

 I promise I'll be posting about all the cloth diapers I've purchased soon!!!


I forget how much I spent on the night light, but it was next to nothing; I got it from Marshall's.  I also still have to figure out what to do with all my extra pinwheels; some of them will be hung up with the lanterns (above the changing table) but I'm not sure about the rest.

 This wall has become a place for me to place random crap.  AKA this wall is a hot mess.

 Here's a close-up of my favorite books from when I was little, I stole these from my Mom while I was home for Christmas, haha.  The top one is In the Night Kitchen and the other four are the Good Dog Carl books that are about the shenanigans that a baby and her pet rottweiler get into when the Mom let's the rottweiler babysit the baby, hahahaha.

 The organizers are already hanging in the closet, I just need to wash all the clothes (on the floor and on the top shelf in the closet) and put them away!  And yes, the door is currently off it's hinges; I had to remove it to get the rocking chair in the room and I'm having trouble putting it back up.  The Sailor can do it when he gets home.  And hanging on the door is the Vera Bradley Diaper Bag my Dad got me for Christmas!

So there you have it!  Despite all the progress I've made this month, the nursery is currently in shambles, hahaha.  Next time you see it will probably be once everything is done, but I will obviously share pictures of the DIY projects I complete between now and then!

Did your nursery look like a hot mess for a while before it all came together or were you super organized from the start?

Until next time...

**All images are personal photos**