Getting Ready for Christmas....Christmas Cards

Last year all I had was a point and shoot camera so I was super excited to see what this year's would turn out.  I took more time with these and adjusting my settings.  Connor was not a fan of the wrapping paper so this made this difficult.  I had bought a cute Santa hat for him to wear....yeah that wasn't happening.

I'm going to have to try the ones with the ornaments again.  The color was way off since I didn't take the time to figure out the setting.  Nap time was getting too close.

"Mom why do you do this to me?"

How To Make A Fitted Carseat Cover

For some reason all the tutorials I could find online were for more of a carseat canopy.  Since that's not practical for an Ohio winter, I decided to wing it.  I must say it didn't turn out too bad.  Since every carseat is different I'm not giving measurements though.  What I did was lay my fabric face down and place the carseat face down on top of that.

From there I cut my fabric making sure I had enough to reach where I wanted the elastic to sit.  I then flipped the carseat right side up and busted out the pins.  I started with the top and bottom, then sides and curves.  In my opinion the more you pin the easier this will be.

I sewed around the pins leaving about 1 cm seam to slide the elastic through.  I left about an inch gap where I could place the elastic.  Now I've used paper clips in the past where you tie the elastic to that and then work it through.  I find it easier to tie the elastic to a crochet hook and work that through.  I then placed the cover on the carseat and pulled the elastic tight to where I wanted it and trimmed.  I used a zig zag stitch to sew the two ends of elastic together and then finished closing that last inch gap.

Now for the window.  I eyeballed it then placed my pins.  Then I measured them and adjusted as needed.  After measuring a few times to be sure, I made my cut.

I wanted the window to look nice when open so I chose a matching pink minky that I sewed on the other side of the flap. 

I am doing velcro closures, but buttons are another fancier option.  For the velcro I'm doing one at the center of the flap when open.  And two at the bottom for when closed.  The finished product! 

A Different Option For Your Little One's Name in the Nursery

For Connor's room, I went the easy route and bought a decal of his name off Etsy.  Since I've learned a lot in the last almost two years, I've been toying back and for with what to do for Cora's nursery.  Since we did such a fancy accent wall with the stencil (I will show you that in a later post when its completely done :) ) I didn't want it to seem too busy.  I settled on making a C on fabric and sewing different colored turquoise buttons inside it then framing it.  My mom threw a wrench in the plan when she told me about these wooden letters our Joann's had started to carry.  They only cost 4 bucks a piece so I figured what the heck I'll give it a try. 

This is what I used.  Scrapbook paper, mod podge, wooden letters, and glue gun.  Not pictured is ribbon, because this child is sucking my brain cells by the second.

Step #1 place your chosen piece of scrap book paper face down and then place your wooden letter face down on top of that.  Trace around the letter making sure you're tight with it.  For the special people who need pictures like myself, here ya go.

Step #2 cut out your letter very carefully so everything lines up.  I chose to leave my letters white, but if that doesn't fit in your color palette you can paint the letters so the sides match what you're working with.  Paint a coat of mod podge on your letter (now facing up of course) and then carefully line up your piece of cut paper and smooth down.  Do another coat of mod podge on top of the paper and let dry 10-15 min.

Step #3 is when the glue gun comes into play.  Now I haven't used one since the incident at the schizophrenic center of 2005, but I'm happy to say no one was injured and I didn't glue anything I wasn't supposed to.  OK I might have burnt my finger, but nothing too bad ;) (Basically I accidentally hot glued the art project I was teaching in group during psych clinicals and was comforted by my patients...)  Tie your ribbon and place on your letter how you see fit.  I chose to use a bow to hang my letters, but you could also use command strips or double sided tape if you don't want the ribbon look.  Use your trust hot glue gun to attach your ribbon to the back of your wooden letter and let dry.  Trim your excess ribbon and voila!  A cheap and easy way to bring your little one's name into the decorations of their room!

Pinterest Makes Me A Better Mom

I think since I was in the hospital over the weekend, Connor really was missing his mama.  My usually independent child has been glued to my side since I got home.  Well unless Mike is home of course.  And don't worry.  Cora is doing fine and staying put.  My uterus just doesn't like to be pregnant I guess.  With it getting colder out, I'm starting to get desperate for finding things for us to do during the day.  Puzzles have become my enemy.  Connor will try for 0.2 seconds to get the piece in then throw it at me and shout "Mama!" disgustedly.  Someone has my temper....

Thank God for Pinterest.  I am probably the least crafty person alive, but I've found such cute ideas.  Here are the art projects we did today.

We also went to the Hayes house and played in the leaves a bit.  Connor really was freaked out about wearing gloves.  But then they started mowing the grounds and he was in heaven.  A boy and his lawn mower....



Cora's Room: Wallpaper and Glue Removal

       I may have done a little happy dance when we started this project.  Goodbye hunting room!  As my husband took down the deer heads and moved the gun cabinet I realized some very sad news.  My husband loves borders.  The small strip of wallpaper basically was taunting me.  After some advice from some very smart bumpies, I attacked this first project of Cora's nursery.  If you have a border or wallpaper that needs removed, this is what worked very nicely for us.

What you'll need:  spray bottle, plain Dawn dish soap, white vinegar, a scraper, a sponge, and HOT water

Here's a before shot so you understand what was living down the hall from me.

First, we used Dawn and hot water in a spray bottle.  Spray small sections of the border then wipe with a rag.  Before it dries, use the scraper.  Once you get a good piece started, start pulling.  Repeat till done.  This room took my husband about 2 hours. 

Once he was done there was still areas of glue on the wall.  This time I used hot water and vinegar in the spray bottle.  Instead of spraying it on the wall, I just used a few sprays on a sponge.  A little elbow grease and the glue came right off.  Any normal human this would probably take about 30 minutes.  This anemic pregnant woman it took about an hour.

As a whole, it was a whole heck of a lot easier than I expected.  The end result:

Operation Keep Connor Busy

The past week or so, Connor has officially been acting like a toddler.  I spent the night researching on Pinterest, trying to find activities that would keep him occupied and lessen the whining.  This is what we did today.  I might add that all of this was done with a children's iheart station playing for dance party breaks.

#1 Pipe Cleaners and Colander

What a huge success!   He did this for 30 minutes straight.  It took him a little bit to figure out how to actually get them in the holes, but filling up the strainer was just as fun.

#2 fabric balls and cupcake pan
This one he liked to, just not as much as the first.  He "counted" as he placed each ball.  We practiced numbers and colors.  This kept him occupied for about 20 minutes.

#3 Play Doh
He actually liked playing with the cups more than the play doh.  Every time he would touch the play doh he'd look at me with this "ew" face.  I bought a set that had a truck which is a favorite of his right now so this was a solid 30 min plus of play.

#4 Stringing beads with play-doh and pipe cleaner
Big.  Fat.  Fail.  I saw this using fruit loops instead of beads as well, but he isn't quite there yet.  I ended up just stringing the beads myself and them letting him take them off and put them away.  This only gave me maybe 10 minutes.

I totally stole this idea

One of the moms on my birth month board does this on her blog and I'm totally stealing it. 

Pregnancy: 13 weeks

Weight Gain: 6 lbs  :(  but I gained that in the first week.

Gender:  The tech at my NT scan wouldn't even make a guess.  So for now my anatomy scan is scheduled for September 5th unless I can convince Mike to get an elective one earlier.  I promised I wouldn't ruin it this time by finding out myself at work.

Names:  I haven't really found any that I LOVE.  So far ones we've tossed around are Claire, Cora, Clayton, and I like Cole, but I'm not sure if his parents having a dog named Cole will let that fly.

Feeling:  Pretty cruddy.  I've had this dang cough since Connor and I went to visit Erin.  Its really getting old.  Now its back with a vengeance and I'm running a fever again.  I hate calling off work.  I think I've had more days off since this pregnancy then combined my 3 years there.

Movement:  There's been a few times that I thought I felt the baby, but I'm not sure.  Even during the NT scan baby was super active and I felt nothing so.....

Belly:

Next Appointment: I see the midwife at my new OB's tomorrow afternoon.  I'm hoping to talk to Dr Greenbaum though.