Well, no baby yet.  They actually asked me if I wanted to be induced at my last visit, but I felt that I could let him stay in there a little longer.  If he doesn’t want to come out and he’s still doing okay, I won’t evict him yet.  They won’t let him stay in there much longer anyway.  But last time I promised you an entry about something non-baby related!  So here is something I made this week that has nothing to do with babies!

Several years ago I bought this awesome giant old desk off Craigslist.  I stripped it and refinished it in a chestnut color and put it in the office.  I really am happy with how it came out.  Its super neat too because we can fit a printer inside it hidden in its side cabinet with a super study pull out shelf.  I’m not exactly sure what the side cabinet was for – I’m guessing it was for a typewriter, but we are unable to get the shelf to lift up to desk height anymore, even though I’m positive the massive mechanical contraption holding it up should be capable of that.  But it still makes a great printer drawer!

Anyway, while cleaning out the closet in the baby’s room to make room for baby stuff, one of the closets I had to clean out was the closet in the study.  This lead me to move around a bunch of reams of paper that we kept in the closet.  Unfortunately I moved some of the reams under the printer in the cabinet I described above, which caused the very thin shelf underneath the printer (clearly not meant to be a shelf) to collapse.  We added a new shelf earlier this week that is much sturdier but probably still cannot hold 8 reams of paper.  So instead I decided to find one of those paper organizers to fit under the printer.  I plan to store a few types of paper in the cabinet, and return the majority of the paper to the closet again.

Well of course, none of the paper organizers I could find would fit in the space under the printer.  So I was “forced” to make my own.  On the bright side it cost me practically nothing because I used cardboard boxes I had lying around, hot glue, and some stick on wallpaper I had bought for another project.  I made the entire organizer 4 shelves, but in the end there was a metal structure way in the back under the printer shelf that I didn’t account for when measuring, so I had to rip the fourth shelf off.  Now it fits perfectly and still allows the printer to slide out.

DIY Paper Organizer

• 2 yards of sturdy scrap corrugated cardboard
• ~ 2 yards of peel and stick wallpaper (optional for aesthetic purposes only)
• hot glue

1. Using a right angle and the diagram above as a guide, draw 4 copies on your cardboard.
   

   Draw four copies of diagram using a right angle ruler. Note the diagram is not to scale.

2. Cut out 4 copies using an X-acto knife.
3. Cut out a 11.5″x9″ rectangle of cardboard for the top of the assembly.
   

   Cut out an 11.5″x9″ cardboard rectangle for top.

4. Score the cardboard with a blunt object at the dotted fold lines in the diagram.  Fold up cardboard along those lines.
   

   Fold the cardboard up at dotted lines in picture.

5. Cut a 14.5″x10″ piece of wallpaper and stick it to the top of the cardboard in the spaces marked on the diagram.  1″ should overhang the front edge of the cardboard lip – fold this under to hide the unfinished cardboard edge.
   

   Place wallpaper over designated area in picture and fold excess under front lip.

6. Fold the left tab marked A under the flap marked A on the right.  Apply glue and press together.
7. Repeat for tabs marked B.
   

   Glue flap marked B under tab marked B.

8. Fold the side tab marked C over the back tab marked C and glue in place.
9. Repeat for tabs marked D. At this point you should have one level of the box completed.
   

   Fold back flap marked D over side flap marked D. Glue in place.

10. Repeat construction for other 3 levels (steps 4-10).
11. When all 4 boxes have been built, glue them together by placing glue along the top lip of the box and placing another box on top.
    

    Glue boxes together by placing glue along the upper lip and stacking. I found it easier to line them up by lining up their side edges.

12. Cut an 11.5″x2″ piece of wallpaper and stick it over the front of the top cardboard assembly.
13. When you reach the top level, place glue along the top lip and glue the top cardboard assembly (wallpaper side out) to the top.
    

    Glue the top cardboard flap to the last layer.

14. Cut a rectangle of wallpaper large enough to cover the back of the box.  Affix to back of box.
15. Cut a rectangle of wallpaper large enough to cover the top and sides of the box, that will slightly overhang the depth of the back of the box.  Wrap around the box and fold the excess wallpaper over the back edge of the box.
    

    Finished paper holder!

    

    Paper holder under my printer – note it is down to only 3 levels now!

Well, the baby’s due date was Saturday and that day came and went.  Will and I went for long hikes in the woods with Dany all weekend, but to no avail so far!  Dany seemed to enjoy them at least.  I’ve been on leave for two weeks now (and good thing too, because I’m getting those more obscure end of pregnancy symptoms now such as carpal tunnel).  I was very productive the first week and I think everything I can do pre-baby to set up the baby’s room (ie. no painting) has officially been done.  What I’m trying to say is, we’re ready for you baby, let’s go!

My co-workers have started texting me regularly to ask if I’ve had the baby yet.  So I guess its not just Will & I who are getting anxious to meet this baby.  I know our family is also anxious because we’ve been getting periodic texts and calls from them as well.  Today I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize (which I usually don’t pick up) and it was my mom calling from the hospital.  For perspective, I don’t think my mom has EVER called anyone from the hospital.  She was calling to jokingly let me know that it was a good day to have a baby since there were a lot of beds available.  Hopefully the little guy heard that and gets a move on!

Since I’ve found myself with some free time on my hands I’ve started tackling some non-baby related projects around the house.  You’ll be able to read about those in future posts.   But for now, here’s another baby related project I completed!  The baby’s crib skirt now matches his curtains (but I’m sure if he’s anything like his father he will not even notice).

DIY Crib Skirt

What you’ll need:

• 2 yards of 44″ fabric for the ruffle
• 2 yards of fabric for under crib mattress

1. Cut your under crib fabric to a width of XxY.  Cut out 4 right triangles that are 4″ long on the legs from the same material.
   

   Cut out right triangles for crib skirt reinforcement.

2. Fold under the hypotenuse of each triangle by 1/2″ and stitch.  These triangles will reinforce the crib corners.
3. Cut out 2 44″x12″ strips of fabric, 2 34″x12″ strips of fabric and 2 40″x12″ strips of fabric for the ruffle.
4. Take one 44″ and one 34″ strips and stitch together with 1/2″ seam allowance to form one 77″x12″ piece.  Repeat for other two strips.
   

   Stitch 44″ piece and 34″ piece together.

5. Press each rectangle along the sides and bottom to form a 1/4″ rolled hem.  Pin.  At the corners, form a mitered corner (this post describes how to do that).
   

   Press 1/4″ rolled seam around sides and bottom of each panel.

6. Stitch.
   

   Stitch 1/4″ seam

7. Stitch a long basting stitch 1/2″ from the unfinished top of each rectangle to use for gathering the skirt.
   

   Stitch long basting stitch for gathering skirt in top of each panel.

8. At each corner of your crib fabric rectangle place a triangle from step 2 right side up.
   

   Pin triangle right side up to crib lining. Note I am showing one of the panels pinned here as well.

9. Pin a 77″ rectangle along one of the long ends of the crib fabric, by matching up side seams with the sides of the crib rectangle.  Make sure they are right sides together.
10. Pull up the gathers to fit.  Pin and stitch.
    

    Pin long side of crib cover to 77″ swag on each end. Pull up basting to fit. Pin & stitch.

11. Pin a 44″ rectangle along the short end of the crib fabric, overlapping the 77″ rectangle.
12. Pull up the gathers to fit.  Pin and stitch.  Repeat for other two sides.
    

    Final crib skirt after hanging up to dry.

    

    Place crib skirt below mattress.

    

    Final crib skirt shown with our new crib!

Will and I cleaned the entire house this weekend!!  I know that a bunch of people are going to comment that cleaning your house is a sign of nesting… but that just isn’t true for me.  I really don’t believe nesting exists or if it does exist I don’t believe I have gotten it.  I have a perfectly logical reason for cleaning our house – it was REALLY messy.  All the lovely gifts that everyone shipped to us took up a lot of space so they’ve been occupying our living room, the babies room and the upstairs landing.  Really creating quite a trip hazard.  Last week, when my leave from work started, I washed everything – diapers, baby clothes, blankets, etc.  (And that was also not because of nesting, just because at some point I needed to wash everything, and since the baby could arrive at any moment sooner was better than later.  Plus without any washed baby clothes I couldn’t fully pack my maternity bag and at 38 weeks everyone tells you you are crazy if your bag isn’t packed yet.)

After I did all the washing I was left with piles of packaging and boxes that needed to be sorted appropriately into recycling and trash.  I also quickly realized I had no where to put the baby’s clothes except the closet which at the time was holding all our spare linens.  In order to create space for the baby’s clothes in the closet I had to move the billion comforters and sheets and sleeping bags into other locations around the house, which meant slightly reorganizing two other closets.  (There is perfect logic to this – I didn’t just decide – ‘this random closet is messy, let me clean it’!  I was forced to reorganize to make room for all this new gear we got for the baby!)  Anyway.  After that was done I was left with more piles of things – things to donate.  All these piles of recycling and donations and gifts means poor Roomba hasn’t been able to properly run for weeks.  And have I ever mentioned that corgis are notorious shedders?   Hence in the last few weeks our house became dirty and filled with piles of crap!  Are you starting to believe I just needed to clean?  I hope so.

Anyway – Will helped me break down all the boxes, and then took a ton of the boxes to our recycling center because we literally ran out of room in our garage.  Then we moved all the donation stuff to the back of my car (I’ll need to make a trip to Savers at some point soon).  And I somehow managed to get all the gifts put away after reorganizing the closets.  Finally we dusted and vacuumed and now the house looks glorious!  See?  Perfectly logical, non-hormonal reasons for cleaning the house.

On top of cleaning and decluttering the house, I was able to actually finish the curtains for the nursery!  I finally found some fabric I liked!  I ordered way too much so I have been working on several projects that will use the print.    The curtains I made are basic relaxed roman shades.  They have a single swag, so they were pretty simple to make.  Since cords are not child-friendly I decided to make them faux-roman shades.  They are simply tied permanently in their current position (well semi-permanently, I could eventually convert to real shades if I wanted).  All total they took me about 2 days to make and one of those days was 90% measuring and cutting!

Relaxed roman shades

DIY Relaxed Roman Shades

What you’ll need:

• Fabric and lining fabric – this will depend on your total measurements from step 1 and 2 and the width of your fabric.  I required 5 yards of 44″ fabric.
• 1/4″ dowel – mine needed to be 36 5/8″ wide
• 10-12 1/2″ plastic rings
• string or ribbon
• scrap wood in your window width
• 3 “L” mounting brackets
• staple gun

1. Using a fabric measuring tape measure the droop of the swag.  For me my window width was 36 5/8″ and my swag with droop looked best at 39″.  Next measure the total drop of your shade – if you want a functional shade this should be the entire length of the window from where you are going to hang it to the sill.  Non-functional shades can be less.  Also choose what size wood you will use for mounting.  I used scrap wood from my friend that was 2″x2″.
2. To find the width of your shade add the depth of the mount (2″ for me), the droop of the swag, and 3″ for seam allowance.  Add 3″ seam allowance to the total drop of your shade for the length.
3. Cut out a length of fabric for your shade that is the width and length you found in step 2.  Note: if your fabric width is less than the width you need for your shade, you will need to attach two pieces of fabric together.  Make the seamline on the corners of the fabric (where the corner of the mount will hit) and add 1/2″ to each piece of fabric so you can stitch it together.
4. Cut out a length of fabric for your lining that is the width – 3″  x length – 3″ in step 2.  (This should be the width and length minus seam allowance).
   

   Cut out lining fabric for curtains – omit seam allowance.

5. Fold and press the length of the fabric under 1/2″ on either end.  Fold and press under another inch.
   

   Press under 1/2″ and 1″ along length. (Shown here pressing the final 1″)

6. Slip the lining inside your fabric so the edges of the lining touch the folds you made in step 5.  Make sure the place the lining so it sits 1.5″ from the top and bottom of the main fabric.
7. Pin the main fabric to the lining along the 1/2″ fold line, right sides together.  (The edge of the fabric should be 1/2″ from the edge of the lining.)  Stitch along the fold line, stopping 1″ from the lining on top and bottom, then repeat for the second edge.
   

   Pin lining along first foldline.

8. For the bottom and top hem, fold under 1/2″ and press, then 1″ and press.  Form a mitered corner.  I explain mitered corners in this post.  (Note the picture shows a thinner top hem, but it is easier if you keep all the same hems the same width like I specify in the instructions here. )
   

   Hem top and bottom of curtain as in step above, and add a mitered corner.

9. Hand stitch the top and bottom hem using the flat catch stitch.  At this point you should insert a dowel into the center of the bottom hem.  Width should be the width of your window.
   

   Flat catch stitch the top and bottom hems.

10. Next press your excess drop length into a pleat down from the the corner of the mount.  For me I had about 1 1/8″ of excess on each end, and I have a 2″ deep mount.  So I marked the 2″ line and folded under slightly more than 1/2″ of fabric to meet this line and pressed.
    

    Press excess drop width

11. Repeat on the other side.
12. Starting at the bottom hem, mark in 1 foot increments up the shade, along the mount depth line (for me this was 2″ in).  This is the positioning for your rings.
    

    Mark down the fabric in1 foot increments from the mount corner . This will be your ring positioning.

13. Hand sew rings up the shade at the positions you marked.
    

    Hand stitch rings along the markings you made.

14. Prepare your shade mount by cutting it to the width of the window.
    

    Cut your shade mount to the width of the window.

15. Cover the mount in cheap scrap fabric using a staple gun.
    

    Cover the mount in scrap fabric.

16. Staple the top of the shade to the top of your mount, lining up the edges of the shade with where the mount will hit the wall, and the pleats with the front corner of the mount.
    

    Staple top of shade to top of mount, use care to keep pleats intact.

17. Mount your shade to the wall by screwing “L” brackets to the bottom of your mounting board.  Screw the “L” brackets into your wall above the window.
    

    Screw “L” brackets to bottom side of mounting board.

18. Finally thread some string or ribbon through the rings on each side of the fabric and tie together at your desired height.
    

    Finished curtains tied at highest height.

    

    Curtain and crib.

A lot of people have been commenting on Dany and the baby’s arrival.  We’ve gotten questions about what we’re doing to acclimate her, what we’re going to do with her when we leave for the hospital and comments that she’s going to become second string soon.  The last one is the most heartbreaking!  My poor only dog-child!  But as a first born child, I know that you can survive splitting your parent’s affection…  (Even if it splitting the affection between a human and a dog.)  Will and I just hope Dany is going to like the new baby!

We of course have plans for Dany when we head to the hospital.  I’m not going to leave my fur baby all alone for long!  My original plan was to head to my parents house to drop her off when I started having contractions, but my dad has volunteered to go up and get her instead.  I also have several friends and neighbors who have volunteered to take care of her while we’re out if for some reason that doesn’t work out!

And as far as acclimating her… I’m positive she has an idea something is going on, but isn’t really sure what.  I don’t think I mentioned how Dany refused to look at me or go near me for the entire first trimester.  She was completely afraid of me.  I think she could smell the hormone changes and didn’t know it was me anymore.  The funny thing is she started acting funny slightly before we found out I was pregnant so I thought I had done something to her – like accidentally stepped on her or something!  Part way into the second trimester she warmed back up to me, so I must have started smelling like myself again.  Now its as if nothing ever happened.  She wants to be pet and snuggled like usual.  I think she is a bit annoyed my belly is so big because she can’t snuggle right up to my chest anymore while I’m petting her.

At the infant care class we took they gave some suggestions for acclimating pets before the baby comes including letting them sniff around the baby’s room and keeping the car seat around the house.  The car seat proposed a new problem since Dany used to be our only back seat passenger.  In the past we had a hammock like this one but it spans the entire back of the car.  Last week I decided to make a smaller version that spans only two seats, and has a short wall next to the car seat.  We’ve taken Dany in it a few times and she seems to be okay with it.  And most importantly she hasn’t jumped onto the car seat!  I used some material from an old tent we had (saved it from the landfill!), and instead of using the plastic buckles that they use for most dog hammocks I bought some cheap metal carabiners.  Will said that this feature alone makes the hammock better than the ones you buy, and he has asked me to upgrade his with carabiners for starters.

Dany is testing out the hammock, pre sewing.

Dog Hammock for use with a Car Seat

What you’ll need

• 8 yards of rip stop nylon or other thick waterproof material.
• 4 2″ carabiners
• 3 yards of nylon
• 8 5/8″ heavy duty snaps and snap tool

1. Cut your fabric into 2 pieces with the dimensions in the picture.
   

   Cut 2 pieces following pattern here.

2. Pin both pieces of fabric together and serge together.
   

   Pin and serge fabric together

3. Apply 2 snap tops 2″ from the side and end of the right most flap following package directions.
   

   Attach snaps 2″ from either end of the right most flap.

4. Apply 2 snap bottoms 22″ from the side of the center flap and 2″ from the top and bottom of the center flap.
   

   Apply snaps on center flap 22″ from edge of flap.

5. Add 2 more snap bottoms 2″ from the end of the center flap.  Snap the right most flap onto the center flap then add 2 more snap tops on the right most flap, lining up with the snap bottoms you just inserted on the center flap.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 for the left most flap, but the left most flap should be placed UNDER the center flap.  This means use snap bottoms on the left most flap and snap tops on the center flap.
7. Cut 4 strips of nylon strap 21 inches long.  Cut 2 strips 9 inches long.
8. Gently melt the edges over a flame to keep it from unraveling.
   

   Melt edges of nylon strap to prevent unraveling.

9. Fold one end each of 2 of the 21 inch nylon straps to form a loop.  Length should be 18 inches when finished.
10. Fold one end each of the other 2 21 inch nylon straps to form a loop.  Length should be 16″ when finished.
11. Fold 9 inch long strips in half.
12. Stitch all six loops from steps 9-11 in place.  I formed a decorative 2 inch long rectangle with an ‘x’ in it for my stitching.
    

    Cut strips of nylon strap and form loops on the ends.

13. Take straps from step 9 and pin each one 9″ from the corner of the fabric.  (See diagram above)  Overlap the strap with the fabric by 2″.  Stitch in place.
14. Take loops from step 11 and pin each one 18″ from the corner of the fabric.  Overlap the strap with the fabric by 2″.  Stitch in place.
    

    Stitch straps to fabric as shown in diagram. Overlap fabric with strap by 2″.

15. Take straps from step 10 and pin 27″ from the corner of the fabric.  Overlap the strap with the fabric by 2″.  Stitch in place.
16. Attach carabiners to 4 21″ straps.

Hang by looping the first strap around the headset closest to the door and affixing to the small loop.  Hang the second carabiner by attaching directly to the opposite headrest.  Note, your strap lengths may need to vary slightly based on your car setup.  For reference I have a RAV4.

Finished hammock.

Dany test driving her new hammock.

Did I tell you Will finished painting the baby’s room?!  It is awesome and I love how it came out!  I am going to hold off on posting a picture of it today because I’ll do a reveal once we get everything set up.  (Not to mention all the lovely gifts everyone gave us are still strewn about the room in disarray!)  Speaking of lovely gifts – did I mention that on top of a bunch of lovely gifts we got TONS of hand me down clothes, car seats, changing table, a swing, pack and play, bassinet etc from my co-workers?  It is amazing how nice everyone has been to give us all these things!

Will and I finally went to get some of the few things we didn’t get from friends and family – a crib and a glider – last week while they were both on sale.  I’ve heard we won’t need the crib for a while anyways (since we’ll use the bassinet) but we wanted to order it in advance.  The bassinet that my manager gave me is pretty neat.  It has wheels, is very light, and flips over into a changing table.  Apparently it also has some vibration/rocking feature that we haven’t tried yet.    The bad reviews for it seem to be about the mattress requiring special covers, that Graco doesn’t sell.  I decided to make my own since it was rather easy!

Bassinet Mattress Cover

You’ll need:

• 2 yards of 1″ velcro (I couldn’t find 1″ so I used 1.5″)
• 1 yard of 45″ fabric

1. Trace your mattress cover onto your fabric (or use my pattern folded in two).
   

   Trace mattress cover onto fabric.

2. Fold the mattress cover in half (or use my pattern) and trace, adding 1″ of length at the flat end.  Repeat.
   

   Trace half of mattress cover or pattern + 1″ onto fabric.

3. Cut out all pieces using 1/2″ seam allowance.
4. Fold under 1/4″ of fabric on the flat end of both mattress cover halves.  Stitch.
   

   Fold and pin 1/4″ on edge of half mattress cover.

5. Lie mattress cover halves on top of the full mattress cover oval right side up, lining up the perimeter.  The halves should overlap slightly.
   

   Place mattress cover halves on top of full oval mattress cover, overlapping slightly.

6. Using the mattress cover as your guide (or my pattern) mark the location of the velcro pieces onto your mattress cover halves.  Note that all the velcro will be the loop side, with the exception of hook side on one of the overlapping edges of your mattress halves.
   

   Mark where velcro should go and stitch on.

7. Stitch velcro in place to right sides of fabric (with the exception of the overlapping edge of one of the halves which will be on the wrong side).
8. With right sides together, place the mattress cover halves on top of the mattress cover oval as in step 5. Stitch all around the perimeter.
   

   Stitch all around edges of mattress cover, right sides together.

9. Turn inside out!
   

   Finished mattress cover, back view.

   

   Finished mattress cover in the bassinet! Now all I need is to make some more toys to hang from the canopy!

These last two weeks have been filled with showers!  I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends, family and co-workers to celebrate with!  The first shower was a complete surprise.  I had known my friends Amy and Roger were planning to hold an event at work with cake to celebrate.  They had told me several weeks ago because they wanted to make sure I’d be at work that Friday because apparently the invite list had grown to greater than 50 people!  So when Roger and Amy suggested we go out to lunch the Friday beforehand, I didn’t think anything of it.  I mean, I was a bit confused when Roger told me he would be heading to Vermont on vacation that day but was coming all the way to our work just to have lunch with us first.  I was thrown off by the fact that he said he HAD to tell us some news this week, and didn’t want to talk about it on the work campus.  That lead me to jump to the conclusion that he was going to quit, and planning to give his two weeks notice on Monday.

When Amy and I got to the restaurant and I saw my retired co-worker’s car at the restaurant I thought it was a crazy coincidence.  Then I was confused when Amy walked right past the hostess, until I saw the ladies from my old team at a table with blue “It’s a boy” balloons and tablecloths.  What a complete surprise!  It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with all the women I don’t get to see on a regular basis anymore!

When I left the shower they had me take the “It’s a boy” balloons back with me, so I decided rather than bring them home that I would put them in my cubicle.  I hadn’t told most of my co-workers the gender yet, so I thought it would start some conversations.  Well, boy did it start some conversations!  Many people didn’t notice the balloons until Monday – and I happened to have a doctor’s appointment that morning, so I got to the office late.  This prompted a large group of people to believe that I had already had the baby!  Imagine their surprise when I came into the office later that morning…

After all the shenanigans from the first shower, I wasn’t positive the second one was real at all, or just a decoy.  But the second shower was massive!  Amy and Roger invited over 50 people to eat cake to celebrate!  The people who hadn’t seen the “It’s a boy” balloons received the news via the decorated cakes, and giant blue diaper cake that my manager made for me.  It was a great time, and so sweet of them to throw me another party!

The final shower was this past Saturday and my sister flew in from Colorado to host the party with my mom.  It was both friends and family and I really hope everyone had a good time!  They played a game where you had to make a baby out of play doh, and I got to vote for my favorites.  The entries were hilarious.  Among the sculpted babies were a donut (food baby), Dany (fur baby) and a starfish (I’m not really sure it was even a baby).  It cracked me up.

Well thanks to all my thoughtful friends, family and co-workers I have LOTS of thank you notes to send!  I decided to whip up a bunch of cards using the baby’s ultrasound photos to make things a bit more personalized.

Ultrasound Thank You note

Ultrasound Thank You Cards

What you’ll need (for 36 cards):

• Ultrasound photo and a scanner
• 18 sheets of 110 lb card stock in ivory
• 7 sheets of 65 lb blue paper
• 6 sheets of white 110 lb card stock
• 36 4 3/8″ x 5 3/4″ ivory envelopes
• 1 “Thank You” stamp
• Blue stamp pad
• Glue tape – I used the staples brand
• Paper cutter (or a ruler and a very steady hand)

1. Scan ultrasound photo and then crop in paint.net.  I cropped the text out of the ultrasound and cut the size to 4″x2 5/8″.  This allowed me to fit 6 photos on one sheet. Print out 6 copies of the photos on white 110 lb card stock.
2. Cut out ultrasound photos using a paper cutter.  Size should be 4″x2 5/8″.
   

   Cut out ultrasound photos.

3. Cut each sheet of blue into 5 4 3/4″ x 3 3/8″ rectangles.
   

   Cut blue rectangles.

4. Cut each sheet of ivory paper in half vertically to form 36 8 1/2″ x 5.5″ strips.
   

   Cut ivory paper in half.

5. Fold each sheet of ivory paper in half to form a card.
   

   Fold ivory paper halves in half again.

6. Using the scrap white paper left over from the ultrasound photo borders, cut out 36 1 3/4″ x 1″ rectangles.
7. Ink the “Thank You” stamp, center over one of the small rectangles of white paper and press down to form “Thank You” note.  Repeat for other 35 pieces of paper.
   

   Stamp “Thank You” onto small rectangles.

8. Use the glue tape to form a line of glue all around the border of a blue rectangle.
   

   Use glue tape to glue edges of blue paper and carefully center on top of ivory paper.

9. Center the rectangle on the ivory card and press down firmly.
10. Use the glue tape to form a line of glue all around the border on the back of one of the ultrasound print outs.
11. Center the ultrasound photo on the blue rectangle and press down firmly.
    

    Repeat gluing for ultrasound photo, center and press on top of blue rectangle.

12. Use the glue tape to form a line of glue all around the border on the back of one of the “Thank You” notes.
13. Tilt the “Thank You” note over one corner of the photo and press down firmly.
    

    Paste “Thank You” notes at an angle on corner of cards.

14. Repeat steps 8-13 for the other 35 cards.

Finished Thank You Notes

And I just wanted to shout out to my dear friends Maren and Matt and their new bundle of joy!!

So, I don’t want to be whiny, but sleeping while pregnant is hard.  I’m a back sleeper, but when you’ve got a baby filled uterus they recommend you sleep on your left side to prevent compression of the inferior vena cava.  (The major vein that returns blood from your lower extremities to the heart.)  It took me many months to get used to the position so that I could sleep more than a few hours before becoming uncomfortable.  Of course right when that happened, I started having to get up every few hours to pee so it was irrelevant.  Now I wake up every two hours for no apparent reason – maybe the baby is kicking me, maybe my back hurts, maybe I’ve gotten a headache again, maybe I have to pee.  Usually I have no idea why I’ve awoken, but it is very hard to get back to sleep after this happens.

In many cases I wake poor Will up while I try to get comfortable again.  Today I told Will that I’d only woken up 3 times last night and Will remarked that he actually had a restful night.  My response was that I knew I hadn’t woken him up because he was snoring every time I woke up.  He chuckled and said that multiple times he had considered recording a snapchat of me snoring, but thought better of it.  My dad is a legendary snorer and apparently in my current state I’m nearly able to compete with him.  Discouraging.

While we’re on the subject of annoying Will while he sleeps, I have to tell you about my pillows.  When I had to switch to side sleeping, every forum I looked at recommended this pillow the size of a man – the snoogle.   It is a c-shaped pillow that you are supposed to lean either your back or your belly on.  For me, my back is the thing that hurts most while sleeping on my side, so I use it to lean my back against while I sleep in a little nest.  It’s like having a third person in the bed. Plus when I have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I have to disentangle myself from the pillow so not to kill myself.  Both reasons add to me inevitably waking Will up at night.

In recent days, even the giant third man in the bed has been unable to solve my current problem – belly support.  My mom gave me an old memory foam pillow to counteract the belly issue, but the pillow itself has a groove in it.  I guess the point of the groove is to keep your neck cradled while your head lies in the valley.  Normally I sleep with my belly in the center of the groove with the walls of the valley cradling my stomach.  Unfortunately this means the long side of the pillow protrudes 18 inches out from my belly, directly into Will’s ribs.  He didn’t complain about the pillow for several weeks, but one day I felt so bad that I cut the pillow in half.  This solved the problem completely and Will is almost able to have 1/3 of the bed to himself again!

Unfortunately after I cut my belly pillow in half a normal pillow case would no longer work, so I had to make my own.  Follow the instructions below with your pillow’s measurements to make your own button-up pillow case.  It worked great even for my odd shaped pillow.

Button-up Pillow Case

You will need:

• 3 3/4″ buttons
• 1-1.5 yards of cotton

Seam allowance is 1/2″ unless indicated.

1. Measure the length and width wise circumference of your pillow.  Divide measurements in half and add 3 inches to the lengthwise measurement and 1.5 inch to the widthwise measurement.  For me, the pillow’s widthwise circumference was 29″ and the lengthwise circumference was 34″.  I divided both in half and added the measurements above to get 20″x16″
2. With the shorter edge on the fold, cut out a double thickness rectangle of the size above.  Skip to step 4.  If you don’t have enough fabric to do this, add another 1/2″ to the lengthwise measurement, cut out two rectangles of this size and go on to step 3.
   

   Cut out rectangles of fabric, along the fold if possible.

3. With right sides together, stitch along one short end.
4. Press under 1″ of material at either short end of the pillowcase.  (Wrong sides together.)
   

   Press the short sides of pillowcase under by 1″.

5. Stitch close to the unfinished edge.
6. Mark out 3 equally spaced dots on one of the finished edges you created above.
   

   Mark location of 3 buttonholes.

7. Using a machine buttonhole stitch, or by stitching by hand, stitch a 3/4″ buttonhole over every marking in step 6.
   

   Stitch 3 3/4″ buttonholes.

8. With right sides together, fold the pillowcase so the two finished edges are lined up.  Stitch along the long sides of the pillowcase.
   

   Stitch along long unfinished edges of pillowcase.

9. Open pillowcase out. Stitch 3 buttons on the folded fabric below your buttonholes.
   

   Line up buttonholes and stitch a button on the opposite seam.

Insert your pillow and enjoy your new pillowcase!

Finished pillowcase!

My friend’s family threw her a baby shower this past weekend with an adorable zoo theme.  She and her husband opted not to find out the gender of the baby, so it was completely gender neutral.  For that reason I was afraid to buy baby clothes, because even though I am trying to limit my gender stereotyping, I somehow can’t pass up tiny dresses or little tuxedos (just look at my registry).  So instead I decided to buy some sleep themed items off their registry.  Since their registry was fairly small (they are lucky enough to have hand me downs from their siblings’ children) there weren’t many items on it.  So in addition to a couple small sleep related items I bought them a crib mattress.

I don’t know why I didn’t realize how large crib mattresses were, but because of this I had it shipped to my house and immediately regretted it.  Not only was the box so huge that I wouldn’t be able to carry it by myself but she was going to have to fit it in her car to lug it home from the shower.  Perhaps worst of all is that I was going to have to figure out how to wrap it.  I scoured the internet and decided on a genius idea!  I would wrap it in tablecloths from the dollar store!  I spent 7 dollars wrapping the darn thing (including all the bows), but that is a lot less than it would have cost me in wrapping paper and bows.  In the end it looked fairly presentable and matched the wrapping paper I used for the smaller gifts (which happened to coincidentally be zoo themed).  For one final flourish I added a little lion on top made from baby washcloths.  I couldn’t find instructions online, so my instructions are below.

Lion adorning package.

Baby Washcloth Lion

What you’ll need:

• one yellow baby washcloth
• one orange baby washcloth
• yellow thread
• orange thread
• 2 tiny self stick googly eyes

1. Take yellow washcloth and roll two sides to meet in the middle.  This will be the lion’s body.
   

   Roll both sides of yellow washcloth to center

2. Twist the legs as shown.
   

   Twist legs.

3. Using yellow thread, tie around the center twist, leaving 1/3 of the cloth for each pair of legs.
   

   Tie head of lion using yellow thread.

4. Unroll the center twist to form the head of the lion.
   

   Unroll twist to form head.

5. Pull a small clump of fabric from one side of the head to form an ear.  Tie with yellow thread.
   

   Pinch fabric on one side of head and tie ear.

6. Repeat for other side.
   

   Tie second ear

7. Roll the orange washcloth on the diagonal to form the mane.
   

   Roll orange washcloth on the diagonal.

8. Place rolled mane around the lion’s head so it fits snuggly.  Using the orange thread, tie the mane at the bottom.
   

   Tie mane snuggly to head.

9. Tuck the bottom part of the mane under so you can’t see it.
   

   View of mane tied and tucked under.

10. Tie the orange thread around the lion’s neck, holding it in place.
    

    Tie mane to back of head.

11. Stick googly eyes onto the lion.
    

    Add googly eyes

Voila!

Matching packages.

I had a curious realization yesterday.  As I was chugging a glass of ice water and laying on my left side hoping the baby would start kicking, I pictured myself 8 weeks from now holding my baby in my arms, and feeling content that I could finally stop worrying about him.  Then I panicked and realized that I would probably never stop worrying.  You see, if you’re like me you worry a lot when you’re pregnant – that you’re eating the right food, that you’re gaining the right amount of weight, that your baby is kicking often enough, that <insert weird thing here> that just happened is normal during pregnancy.  If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll manage to get through the work day without googling symptoms.  The realization that I’d worry about this tiny being even after he was outside my body was something I had not considered.

Will weirdly came to the same conclusion as well.  Late yesterday I was talking to him about something (probably the baby kicking) and remarked that I couldn’t wait until I could stop worrying.  That was when he said wisely, ‘I doubt that will happen for a long time’.   I’ll just have to start meditating more.  Or hiking.

Much like meditation I find hiking particularly freeing.  Will and I take Dany on hikes in the woods every weekend.  On vacations we always find excuses to go hiking.  I like remote hiking trails where if you’re lucky you won’t pass another traveler.  One of my favorite hiking stories took place when Will and I were vacationing on Hawaii for our honeymoon.  We drove to Volcano National Park and found ourselves on a moderate hike called something like “crater trail”.  We didn’t pass another soul on the trail and we were amazed at the distinct changes in landscape around the volcano.  Then suddenly the woods ended and we were standing inside the crater of the volcano staring up the steep hardened lava walls.  We were nearly convinced we must have taken a wrong turn and weren’t supposed to be there until we saw a sign that said “danger, end of trail”.  It was the coolest hike I think I’ve ever been on!

My favorite hiking accessory is my Camelbak backpack, especially now that I’m pregnant.  I used to drink an above average amount of water before, but now that I’m pregnant I’m constantly thirsty.  My first pack got me through ski season and the Grand Canyon!  I finally got Will a hydration backpack for his birthday this year, which to my delight he loved!  (He kept telling me he didn’t ‘need’ one, but apparently that really meant he ‘wanted’ one.)  My one issue with the Camelbak packs is that after you empty the bladder bags they become flat and don’t dry properly.  My sister told me her secret solution to this – she removes her roll of paper towels from the counter top holder and plops the bag on top.  Genius!  Since I actually use my paper towel holder for towels, I decided to make a quick contraption that I can store away in the closet when I’m done with it.  Also it can hold two Camelbaks since I’m almost always hiking with Will.

Fold Up Camelbak Bag Rack

What You’ll Need:

• 6″x12″ piece of scrap wood
• 7/8″x48″ wooden dowel
• two 1″ narrow utility hinges
• two 1 1/2″ round wood knobs (in cabinet pull section)
• two 1/4″ x1 1/2″ dowel screws

1. Cut two 14″ pieces of dowel
2. Mark 2″ diagonally in from the corner at two diagonal corners.  You’ll place one screw of your hinge on this mark.
   

   Mark screw hole for hinge, 2″ diagonally from the corner. The flat line in my pencil drawing is parallel to the short edge of the base.

3. Screw one side of hinge into board at the point you marked.  You want the hinge to open along the long side of the wood base.
   

   Screw hinge where you marked. Note it should open up into the base.

4. Drill a 7/32″ pilot hole in the top of each piece of dowel on one side.
   

   Drill pilot hole in dowel.

5. Using pliers, clamp each dowel screw around the middle and screw into the base of each wood knob.
   

   Clamp dowel screw with pliers and screw knob onto it.

6. When you’ve sunk the screw 1/2″ into the knob, then take the wood knob with the screw and twist into the pilot hole you made in the dowel, forming a cap on the end of each dowel.
   

   Twist knob and screw into pilot hole on dowel.

7. Open your hinge at a 90 degree angle, lay the dowel horizontally on the base and place the unfinished end of the dowel flush against the hinge.  Center the dowel over the screw hole closest to the edge of the base.
   

   Lay dowel along base with end of dowel flush with hinge.

8. Screw the dowel to the hinge.  Repeat steps 7 and 8 for other dowel.
   

   Screw hinge to dowel.

When you want to use the drying rack, simply close the hinges and stand up each dowel.  Place your Camelbak over dowel.  To store, open the hinges up, lowering the dowel to be flush with the base of the board.

Finished rack for Camelbaks

To use, stand up dowels and place Camelbak bladders over dowels.

To store, lower dowels flat.