Hand-Me-Downs

I love them! I am so thankful for a sister who is finished having children and is willing to pass on almost all of their baby items.

While we will be getting her crib, that will have to wait until my nephew is a little older. We will probably get it around the time baby Stybs is born, or soon after. Which is fine for me since baby will probably be in the pack-n-play for a while anyway.
We will be getting her glider soon. It is currently at her in-law's house right around the corner, so we are just waiting for a day when they are available to get it to us.

What we have received so far is a TON of blankets/swaddlers/towels/bibs; a baby bath; breast pump; doorway jumper; playmat; and a small and large boppy.

Everything is in the closet of the nursery for now. We haven't moved out the bed or large dresser yet, but we are still trying to keep Grover out as much as possible.

He can't figure out why the door is shut. He crouches and peeks under the door and pounces on the corner trying to get in. Poor little guy. maybe he'll give up on the nursery and go back into the office once the bed is moved in there.

While we still have some furniture re-arranging to do, it's nice to know that so much is taken care of already. My hope for the nursery was to have white furniture- to contrast with the grey walls and go with the dresser we already have. But how can I turn down free (expensive) furniture. It is dark wood stain, and I am a little hesitant about how it is going to work, but I think it'll be fine. And the baby isn't going to care either way.

Here's what we're working with so far:

It'll all come together in the end. And I can't say enough how thankful I am to my sister for passing down everything. It is so helpful.

18 Weeks

Baby Stybs has been on the move! For the past 2 weeks I have felt little flutters that have become increasingly frequent and stronger. It is so exciting to actually feel the baby move and know that things are going well in there.

Friday's doctor's visit was the one I have been looking forward to for the past 2 months. I finally got another ultrasound. We aren't planning to find out the sex of baby Stybs and funny enough, baby didn't show the goods.

I have to go back in about 2 weeks for another ultrasound (to get a better view of the heart and face). I'm excited because I get to see baby again!

This month's updates:

Cravings: Salt. I have re-discovered Triscuits and man are they salty and good!
Aversions: Still no coffee or ice cream for me (But I did cave to a decaf peppermint mocha- didn't taste like coffee at all, this is a good sign that I will one day like coffee again).  I'm better with veggies, but NO tomatoes (or sauce or soups). I have had salads a couple times and have felt no side effects, but there is so much acid in tomatoes that I get severe pain in my upper stomach- some would call this heartburn.
Weight: +2 lbs (+4 overall) The weight is creeping up and my pants do not button anymore.
Morning Sickness: still good :) and no heartburn (I haven't needed Tums since I stopped eating tomatoes)
Energy: Has been good, but I think I've caught a cold from my students so I've fallen asleep before 8 the past couple nights.

The bump is officially here. I can no longer button the pants that used to fit, and pants that were too big fit nicely around my belly. I wonder how long it will be until my students start to notice?

Nursery Art Finds a Home

Remember the prints I framed for the nursery?

I finally hung them in baby Stybs' room.

I actually don't mind that they are all looking in the same direction now that they are up on the wall.

I'm excited that I'm actually making progress on the nursery!

This One Too?

Yet another curtain has fallen down because the screws came out of the wall.

I am blaming this one on Grover. He loves this room and if those little scratches under the window tell me anything it's that he tries to get up into the window to stare/ chirp at birds and squirrels.

Well I needed to shorten those curtains anyway (floor length curtains and baby that will eventually crawl and inevitably grab those curtains is not safe). So after fixing the rod (by trying 2 sets of longer screws, anchors, and finally moving the bracket about a 1/2 inch to the right) I started working on hemming the curtains. I don't have a sewing machine, and I'm not that great at sewing anyway, so I got out the hemming tape that has been sitting in my closet for a while.

But before the hemming process started, I flipped the curtains upside-down, so they will no longer be tab-top curtains. I just opened up the seams from the hem at the bottom to create the new pocket for the rod to slide into.

I don't have a seam ripper in my little sewing kit, but an exacto-knife works well too!

Once they were hanging the correct way, I pinned where I wanted the bottom of the curtain to be.

Making sure they were even, I took the first set down. I followed the directions on the package for the hemming tape, and it's really easy to use. As long as you make sure you hem the correct side.
I forgot to check which part of the curtain I was cutting off, and of course, cut the wrong side! Ugh. One curtain ruined. Luckily one of the windows is narrow so it's not a huge deal, but I felt like an idiot!

On the correct panels, I started by ironing the bottom to get a good crease in the fabric. Then I cut about 3 inches from crease, folded that to make a hem, and ironed again. Once the fabric had nice crease lines, I knew where to put the hemming tape and just ironed away.

much safer for baby stybs

Again, it's very easy to use, as long as you are hemming the right side of the fabric!