Baby Blankets

Cotton gauze yardage (perfect weight for summer) that I cut and roll-hemmed on serger. Originally planned to use natural food dyes, but couldn't resist possibility of vibrant bold colors using Rit.

20 Weeks

Overdue Introduction

Meet M2, who came into this world exactly one week early on 30 August at 10:36A, weighing a quarter of an ounce shy of 7lbs (~3 kgs). Sad but true: our hospital no longer gives newborns those cute little hats because they're a SIDS risk – due to overheating?

Look at the beautiful flowers Drew sent me, they're even prettier in person. The friends that recommended this florist, the wife told me, wistfully, "Oh, flowers from Licata's! You'll know when you get flowers from Licata's."

In the two full days that we've been home, M2 has been a most excellent baby: a reliable and strong nurser, has slept through just about everything the older girls can dish out, and has never been fully awake for more than 10 minutes at a time, much to the disappointment of G and BB who are anxious to "play with the new baby".

36 Weeks

Haven't had a proper picture with this baby yet (as photographed by BB):

Black and Black

Camp still in session until the end of the month, so a lot of back and forth from the community college. Been sewing too.

Found this fabric, in the form of a single pillowcase, at the thrift store across the street from where we attended the didgeridoo performance. Also got a fitted bed sheet, which I'm still working on, for more napkins; as it is, I'm having to wash them every third day.

Altered a couple of maternity skirts. For some reason, I have several black maxi skirts, of the kind that aren't exactly flow-y. So I lopped them both off at the knee: one I flared (per these instructions), the other I derived inspiration from here.

Proper Placement

I have a thing for ruffles (and lace), but I'm not sure it always agree with me.

Bought this shirt because it had ruffles (on the shoulders) and it was on clearance. Didn't agree with me: it make me look like an overweight football player.

Painstakingly removed the ruffles (they were sewn into the shoulder seam) and voila! the refashion.

Coming to a Blog Near You

06 September 2012 – or thereabouts – Baby Girl #5. Name TBD.

Happy Mother's Day.

Elasti-size, Part 1?

I've been in a sewing funk since we've been at the new house, I can't say why, however, yesterday I managed to set the ol' machine to work, even for a little while. I had hoped to accomplish much more than what you see below – I'm no tutorial-ist, so I give you 'before' and 'after' –, but first there were problems with the elastic thread (for another project) and then both Z and M woke up from their naps.

Do you see what I have to work with here?

So months ago, someone blogged about ruching (this year's style?) a big shirt for maternity wear, and I've been on the hunt for a suitable shirt since. Enter the JCP maternity clearance rack.

Since I'm no longer pregnant (thanks be!) and baggy clothes are terribly unflattering, I elected not to model my results: I decided to use a 6" piece of leftover elastic (and cut another to match, though in hindsight I should have used something longer) that I found in my sewing box. It took me two tries each to get the sides tolerably passable, but mercifully, zig-zag stitch is easy to rip out. That makes doing it a possible third time not seem like such a horrible prospect.

Shirring this skirt for the girls, along with this shirt skirt for me, were my follow up projects. I may run out of elastic thread this weekend, if I can ever get it going.

A Bit of Baby Nostalgia

I was searching through my computer files when I happened upon some pictures (from someone else's camera) taken at G's baby shower. It was held at the Monroe Street house, where one of Drew's classmates lived.

In the same (computer) folder was a small collection of G's very early phrases:

• "yo ho-kay? kay." Translation: "Are you okay? Okay." For those instances when someone bumped their head or stubbed their toe, and G overheard their exclamation, "Ow!"
• shigo bite. Translation: mosquito bite. 
• "I yow hwan da-boo." Translation: "I want a diaper change." Amazingly, the made-up word "da-boo" has remained to this day.

I Can See Clearly Now... Sort Of

The girls took these pictures (G, top; BB, above) of me minutes before our departure for the hospital on Saturday. Even though it was nearly noon, the sky had darkened into a heavy downpour. I wrote the below post Friday afternoon – unfortunately, the eye part is still true.

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Nearly three weeks after first experiencing symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as episcleritis, I still can't see clearly out of my right eye (like glaucoma?), even though the redness (and pain) is finally completely gone. The worst of it was Memorial Day weekend, one week in, when I thought for sure I must be inadvertently closing my eye to the pain and watering – in reality, my eye was so blurred I was practically blind. And last Saturday, at two weeks, I had a horrible flare up (even though it'd been improving considerably in the preceding days) that sent me to bed early. I hesitate yet to make a trip to the eye doc until after the baby to see if it won't really clear up then.

Meanwhile, today I'm 39 weeks and 3 days – and no sign of baby. If I make it to Tuesday's appt (at 40 weeks), my OB will want to schedule an induction. But my money's on Sunday.

And before the deluge of new baby pictures, here are the albums from April and May.

Ow, My Eye!

Saturday evening my right eye started to show a bit of redness and by Sunday it was hurting as well. Fortunately, the symptoms didn't point to pink eye, but Monday morning, I knew I had to see a doc. The short of it is, I have episcleritis, possibly associated with this pregnancy. The doc prescribed eye drops, which have improved the pain somewhat if not the general look of my eye, although I have to put up with some blurry vision as a side effect of the drops. I can't wait until this clears up.

Two Wheels, Not Two Barrels

Though Drew talked big about getting me a shotgun for Mother's Day – yes, we're those kind of people –, I got a beautiful 3-speed instead. I would have taken it for a spin, but 1) the seat was too high and we had other places to be (peach cobbler and ice cream at Elizabeth's); and 2) the guy at the bike shop was adamant about not letting me ride until after I'd had the baby. So it'll just have to be pretty in the garage for a little while longer. (Roughly four to five weeks left to go, but who's keeping track?)

For fun, and because it's been a bit chilly in the evenings, we lit a fire in the hearth room, only to find that some of the branches of one of our oak trees are hanging over the chimney!

So we lit a fire in the living room instead. And I'm modeling the (farmer's) market bag that Elizabeth and her family got me for Mother's Day. The strap is an old car seat belt (covered in fabric), and the lining has green bell peppers on it: darling! Judy Poh-Poh has one that's blue with blueberries on the lining, and Elizabeth's is red with peaches. (There's also a yellow bag, but I can't remember what's on the lining fabric.) But even the floral fabric on the outside is different for each because, like the seat belt, it's also reclaimed from somewhere.

They're Back

I awoke early this morning for a stretch – and got a horrid Charley horse. (Remember those?) They've been threatening for a couple weeks now, i.e. I've always managed to stretch them out on my own, but after trying unsuccessfully to walk/limp this one off, I had to wake Drew to massage it for me. On the way back to bed, Drew confided, with a noticeable gleam of pride in his eye, "I got a picture of the raccoon!" And wouldn't you know it, right as he said it, there *they* were! Two of them, one of them busily sucking our feeder dry, while the other prowled nearby.

Completely undeterred, between the two of them, they made at least five or six visits during the night and early morning hours, so that we even woke G and BB to see them on one occasion. It's funny that while I held BB and she was staring intently at the raccoon, she talked of everything but the raccoon: our sand table, the plant on the table, the umbrella over the table, the bird feeder itself, but no mention of the visitor. It was only after I put her back into bed that she stated matter-of-factly, "There's a raccoon stealing from our bird feeder."

Pregnant Women Don't Tread Softly

Some nights ago, when I should have been saving the intellectual property world one patent at a time, I was instead prepping these craft stick bunnies and chicks (which we didn't even use because the weather was perfect for being outdoors) for dinner at Elizabeth's and while waiting for the paint to dry, I was at the computer blogging. Because most of the lights were on, everyone else sound asleep, it took me a few moments to realize that a sound I was hearing out the back porch was in fact our visitor harassing the bird feeder. I grabbed the camera sitting in front of me on the desk, and walked not-so-quietly to the porch door only to find that the visitor had already made a run for it, feeder swinging wildly in his wake. Maybe he saw me coming. Maybe he heard me first.

Later that night, Drew had another go at trying to get a picture of the visitor. Can you tell it's a raccoon? LOL!

28 Weeks and a (Borderline) Failure

I blame the (small) dessert the night before my routine glucose test two weeks ago for missing the mark by two points. (And maybe I shouldn't have had that extra squidge of honey in my morning tea.) Now I'm scheduled to do the wretched 3-hour glucose exam, my first, this morning, the morning after Easter dinner (below, at ~30 weeks). Drew's going to get nearly four days' holiday out of the deal – he took Good Friday off –, since I'm going to need someone to watch the kids while I languish in the doc's office. And I suppose it's just as well: the realtor-appointed cleaning lady is coming by, the realtor herself will also be here to stage the place, take pictures and put up the lawn sign, and by noon we should be open for business as it were.

There's no such thing as flattering picture when you've been on your feet all day cleaning – how does the living room look? – and there's no one but the self-timer to take a picture for you.

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Happy Birthday, AhPoh.

I Was Inspired

by the spring-like weather – full sun and almost temperate temperatures, although I hear we're in for some unpleasantness within the next week – to "make" this maternity jeans skirt. (I think the toddler rather improves the picture, don't you?)

After swishing about in the skirt for a bit, I've decided I'm going to add some panels to the side (above, without said panels). :sigh: I wish that belly button meant that I was *done*.

It's been awhile since I felt like sewing, uncovering the ol' machine, but this weekend, while perusing my blog reader, I felt the inspiration breeze brush my cheek. First, with this origami drawstring bag and this car seat book holder, and then remembering how I've always wanted one of those refashioned jeans skirts. So I butchered this pair of hand-me-down maternity jeans that never fit: too tight in the butt and thighs or too loose in the waist, depending on the trimester, for practice. My one regret, which shall be remedied with my next skirt (non-maternity), is that I cut the leg pieces on the wrong side so that I have a visible third seam on the front and back of my skirt. Next on the chopping block (after the drawstring bag): Drew's almost-Salvation-Army t-shirts, which I'm going to size down for my own benefit. Unfortunately, it'll be some months before I can actually wear them.

[Update: Because I was short on fabric, I did side panels half the length of the front and back, and although they improve the overall shape of the skirt, I kind of wish I had tried for 3/4 length panels instead.]

I've Got Stripes Wrapped Around My Shoulders

If horizontal stripes make a person look wider, and are therefore not as flattering to a figure, why is it I find so many maternity tops have horizontal stripes on them?

A Different Color

I don't know what it means, and it might not be anything, but I want to go on record now as more recently having a stronger inclination towards the color blue, i.e. a boy color. I've always liked the deeper shades of blue (but not dark like "navy") – you should see my dishes – but never for my childrens' clothing – you can't miss us, we're a riot of pink here –, unless of course it's hand-me-down.

Before having Z, I decided to try pouch slings for the first time, and bought a beautiful blue/periwinkle one off a lady via Etsy. Maybe by then I was already too far gone with the pregnancy, what with water retention and all, that I felt the medium was too small and exchanged for a red one (in size large). I absolutely love the red one and so did Z, but it got too big as I started to slim down: not suitable for petite Z (or an infant). Since I've always kind of regretted the blue one, I recently wrote to the lady to see if she might have some more of that same periwinkle fabric – I love her pattern selections. Unfortunately, she did not, and though she had some pretty red fabrics on hand, I felt a blue was calling to me.

Long story short, I chose the above stretch corduroy, which is more brown/maroon, still very much a boy color in my opinion, than the red that you see. (Red is just a darker shade of pink, you know.) It arrived earlier this week and I can't wait to put a new baby in it!

Black and Whites

Interestingly, I've found that the one sonographer (of four) that wasn't married and didn't have kids took the best keepsake-quality images (of Z). The above images are of the latest baby, whom I'm guessing with my untrained eye is a girl – Drew's glimpses tell him it's a boy (wishful thinking?).

The Art of Looking Pregnant

This is roughly my 20th week – our sonogram is scheduled for Friday afternoon – and I'm feeling pretty darned good this time around: probably not my healthiest pregnancy, but definitely keeping those aches and pains in check, thanks to a near-daily prenatal Pilates routine.