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.



Telling the world

Well its finally facebook official.  I made this pic my profile picture.  Its crazy how nervous I was.

 

And my weekly pic

 

 

At 12 weeks 5 days I had my NT scan.  The MFM said baby looked great, but he wouldn't comment on the bleeds which pissed me off.  I really didn't think much of him and will probably request to see someone else if I have to go back.  He said starting Lovenox was up to me.  Um OK?  So I plan on talking to my OB at my next appointment.

 



A Trip to Minnesota

We rounded out the end of week 10 into week 11 with a visit to Minnesota to visit Angie, Dustin, and the kids.  I love going there because its so relaxing for me.  We kept pretty busy the entire time we were there, but I loved every minute of it.  I got to see the boys play frizbee golf for the first time.  A few hills about killed me, but it was really nice to get out.  We went to the beach and the race track and just hung out as a family.  Here are a couple pics from the trip as well as week 11 belly pic.