Graditude: pregnancy & becoming a Mother

On Day two & three of the Gratitude challenge, ( I can see there are going to be times I'll have to bundle my gratitude as I missed yesterday's post.)  I give thanks for pregnancy, one of the most beautiful times in my life. Especially all the wonder, excitement & terror of that first pregnancy. 

I also give thanks for the privilege of seeing my eldest, Michael, grow and transition into the beautiful little boy he is.  From babyhood 

to losing his baby teeth and on to the next phase in his development.  I'm so in awe of this amazing job called parenthood.  Being my first little babe, becoming his Mother profoundly changed me.  Things that seemed so important before him,  no longer seemed so very important after his arrival into our lives.  Finding the strength to give birth made me know my own strength.  God bestowed strength that is, because I've never prayed so desperately in my life as both times I've given birth. 

And you know my next Gratitude post will have to be becoming a Mommy for the second time!

Until next time...

Gramma

It was so nice to have my Mom here all the way from New York. She came a few days before my due date to be sure to make it to Owen's birth. Owen came 3 days past due but mom still had a week with us after he was born. We had a great time and she was such a help but it wasn't nearly long enough.

We all love to bake. Mom bought this great cupcake book called "Hello, Cupcake!" and made bug cupcakes with Michael. Bugs are the theme of the season with Michael. He's been keeping a bug jar of beetles and he spends hours looking at them.

They started by making the cupcakes. Banana cake, yum! Mom even made the cake gluten free for me.

Then she made the bugs using chocolate and candy. She put a piece of wax paper over the bug page and traced them in chocolate.


Michael helped by sorting the candy by color (I think he ate more than he sorted) & placing the candy on the chocolate bugs.


They used peanuts, almonds, M& Ms, Skittles, Tic-tacs, Sugar Babies, & Junior mints.

Then Gramma placed the bugs in the fridge to harden and carefully took them off the wax paper to place on the cupcakes.

Aren't they just lovely in a creepy kind of way! Michael loved the entire project. He must of told Gramma he loved her twenty times! We know the key to my boys heart! We miss you Gram!

Homemade Cloth Wipes & Wipe Solution

I plan on using cloth diapers with this little one, who by the way is due today! Owen, you can come on out now.

Anyway, when Michael was a baby, I didn't have a washing machine and decided against cloth. With this one I plan on making a go of it. A friend of mine is lending me her newborn diapers! Woo-hoo! And I plan on purchasing the next size up.

So, I decided to make some cloth wipes out of old receiving blankets and some solid color flannel fabric I had lying around. I hope 30 will be enough!

I'm going to be making my own wipe solution using this recipe.

Aloe Vera Wipe Solution
1/4 c. aloe vera gel
2 drops tea tree oil
2 c. hot water

stir or shake until this recipe is well mixed. Spritz on wipes using a spray bottle. I found this recipe here, along with many others.

So Owen, we're ready for you! Come on out now!

Showered

In late May we had a beautiful baby shower hosted by my good friends Mara and Monica.

Monica made these beautiful flower arrangements for the tables.


Me at almost 9 months pregnant


We painted bibs and onesies for little Owen. Here are Mike and Monica picking on one another as usual.


Ainslie, their Mama Renee, Grady and I


Look how beautiful they came out! I cherish them all. The first onesie here painted by Fionna. The bib by Michael's friend and favorite babysitter Rebeca. Mike painted a minature of his large paintings. I painted the toadstool. Paper plate art made for me by 4 yr old Sophie. And upsidedown, Owen doll by Monica.

My toadstool capped doll bib and Carey's owl. We painted the afternoon away.


Mara made sure Michael and all the kids felt included. They had sidewalk chalk, a slip and slide, a pool and a little play kitchen. Many of them painted bibs and onesies too. They all had a blast!
Here's Sophie, Ainslie, Rebeca and Morgan.

Lachlan on the slip and slide.


Morgan and Michael in the pool.

Friend Mike, my Mike & Luke holding Liam

Monica made this adorable cake. On top is a little baby Owen with a toadstool cap and blanket made with fruit roll ups. A yummy orange, coconut cake was brought by friends Carey and Mike as well.

The whole spread was gluten, dairy and soy free. Hearty menudo, vegetables and hummus, fruit salad and peanut butter, lemon & sugar cookies. It was all delicious!

All the gifts we received were items I really wanted. A cute woodland themed bouncy chair, diaper changing pad, nursing tank and lanisoh, and Burt's Bees bath products. Also, my good friend Carey made me a beautiful wooden beaded necklace with an elephant pendant. And Monica gave be some henna I'd been wanting. As big brother, Michael was gifted a model car, movie and bathtime headband to match Owen's.

Mike and I, feeling showered.


What a blessing to have such loving friends. Here's Mara and I

and Monica and I.

Thank you so much to all our friends who hosted, came & painted, played, brought gifts, food & love. It was a beautiful day!

Unexpected Gifts

So my husband came home with these a few days ago from a friend at work. Aren't they beautiful! The monkey is for Michael and the giraffe for Owen. I was so amazed by these! They are beautifully made and the person who made them has no idea how much we LOVE handmade toys around here. Thank you Mindy!

So, we are 38 weeks today! Our little boy should make his way here any day now! I had a prenatal this past week and they said he's dropped and engaged (head so low they couldn't feel it). I have been reading up on hypnobirth and doing some visualizations and breathing exercises. I feel relaxed and ready, even excited for the birth! I can't wait! Michael has been prepared well. We've read books, watched videos, talked, he knows the drill. He has said the placenta is "yucky". The rest of it he's fine with. Almost every day he says "I can't wait until Owen comes out!"

Me too, Michael!

Nesting; Crafty Style (Freezer Paper Stencils)

So, another project off my never ending list. I wanted to try freezer paper stenciling. I found instructions in one of my favorite books, Amanda Soule's "The Creative Family". (I've also seen many instructions online.) It's super easy! All it requires is Freezer or Butcher paper, fabric paint, exacto blades and some T-shirts. I love the idea of using thrifted or old T-shorts to give them new life, but I didn't have any. I bought these T's for 2.99 each at the craft store and already had some onesies from our shower, which I'll blog about soon.

Michael and I made these together. He chose the colors and added the paint over the stencil that I cut out.

A toadstool onesie for Owen.


An owl for Michael. I added the dots over the top of the stencil after it dried and the stencil was peeled off.

I stenciled a few tote bags. I re drew these birds from another stencil on Flickr. All these pics came out a little green. This bag is cream colored.


Then I used the pieces that had been cut out and did a reverse stencil. Painting around the birds in dry brush.

This I also re drew from a great bag I saw on Flickr. I still want to add some sewn birds to the top of the tree.

This one was too much. I used a stencil that I traced from a book, called "Rosie's Walk" by Pat Hutchins. This is one of my favorite books because of the clever story, few words and beautiful, retro illustrations. So I stenciled the large image of the fox and painted in the details. It was too much work, more like painting a T-shirt instead of stenciling it. But I like the way it came out and my "sly fox" loves it too!

Fun, fun project and a great way to add personality to your clothing.

Nesting; Crafty Style (continued)

So, a couple of projects to tick off my list!

The infant hats are so easy! I re purposed some t-shirts for the occasion. I also had a tiny bit of brown fabric left over from my pants material. I love the gnome inspired infant hats with the long tails. We had one with Michael and I loved it so much and was so sad when it didn't fit him anymore. So, I used that same infant hat for inspiration. I made a variety of sizes and all a bit bigger than newborn. That way when it's getting chilly here, he'll still have cute hats to wear.

My friends Liam and Monica helped me model another style hat. I have to make more of this style! He looks like a little jester!

I saw a few adorable bibs that I really wanted to buy in an expensive catalog. They were on sale for more then $10 a bib. They are so very cute! Sewn, felt carrot, corn and cherries. But really, more than $10 a bib!? Just to be stained with said "carrot, corn and cherries"! So I found a couple of terry cloth bibs at the hobby store at $3.99 a piece and stitched my own. Voila! Same look and much less expensive!

This owl was left over from my mobile and wall hanging.

I'm having fun and prioritizing my list. At 37 weeks I don't have much crafting time left!

Absurdity & Nesting; Crafty style

I have a million projects I want to do before Owen is born and my energy is waning. I remember this same phase when I was pregnant with Michael. There is the thought that I will never again be able to get anything done and so I have to do it all before baby comes!

When I was pregnant with Michael I can honestly say that I felt great all the way through. Sleeping at night was a little uncomfortable at the end but other than that I felt energetic and strong. I finally felt truly uncomfortable the day before I went into labor. This time, at almost 36 weeks I am tired, slow and uncomfortable, with four more weeks to go! My legs and hips have become so sore and numb at night that I have trouble sleeping. But, I'm not complaining, really!

I'm slowly realizing that some of my projects will have to wait and I will get to them eventually. It might be 5 minutes here and 15 minutes there, after Owen's born, but that's ok. As a beginning sewer I've had a few personal triumphs as of late. One are the pajama bottoms that I've been making for Michael & Owen. All you mature sewers are probably saying big deal! But I can't tell you how exciting it was to finish my first pattern projects.


Another sewing triumph, a pair of pants I made for myself. I used a favorite pair of old pants that I love the style of as my inspiration. So, without a pattern I made them longer and wider legged and out of a better quality fabric. They should take me through the rest of my pregnancy in comfort and then because they're yoga pant style, should be perfect for postpartum and after. I''m loving how they turned out and after a few times seam ripping I'm amazed they are finished in tact. Here they are, in chocolate brown of course.


This allows me to get a few belly shots in for posterity too!


Belly flap up, which by the way, is so comfortable at this stage of pregnancy.


Belly flap down.

Most of my craft projects (see mobile & wall hanging & elephant) have been a beautiful way to create the kind of babyhood I envision for Owen and also meditate on the fact of another little being joining our family. These are wonderful, productive reasons to nest, crafty style. But, recently I realized it's also been a beautiful and absurd way of avoiding some lingering fears about birth. I've kept myself so busy that I haven't had time to think and be present with those fears. As I've shared in earlier posts, I was very fearful of birth throughout Michael's pregnancy. This time I'm not nearly as afraid but still of course there are fears, fear of the inevitable laboring process and pain.

So here's my absurd list of projects. The funny thing is since I realized I was avoiding my fear with this list I don't feel quite the urgency to finish it immediately.

~newborn flannel pjs for Owen
~pants repurposed from a gauzy red shirt for Owen
~finish bird mobile, see instructions here, (almost done)
~make burlap storage containers to organize our art/craft area
~make freezer paper stenciled T-s for Owen & Michael, to match pj bottoms
~make infant hats for Owen- gnome style! (how cute will these be!)
~Buy wool felt and make Halloween mushroom caps for Michael and Owen
~make wool felt gnome play hats
~make wool felt baby blocks from "The Creative Family" by Amanda Soule
~Sew wool felt owl and toadstools on terry cloth bibs
~make Michael & Owen cloth dolls
~birthday bunting from "The Creative Family", & a mini one for around Owens changing table
~birthday crown for Michael, from "The Creative Family"
~make pillows for my rocking chair
~make myself a summertime bag from Amy Karol's "bend-the-rules Sewing"

~I'm sure I'm forgetting some. LOL. Better get cracking!

Nesting & Crafting

I've been inspired to make our little Owen a mobile ever since I made one for my friend Monica. When I saw this bouncy chair I knew my theme! Woodland animals! I also love Lisa's felt designs at 5 Orange potatoes. Check out her and her daughters adorable creations. I love this post on sewing with children. This is where I fell in love with her owls. I love the way it came out! Thanks for the inspiration Lisa!

So, I wish I could say the beautiful beads and bells were the plan all along. I realized as I put the mobile together that I had thought about aesthetics but not balance. The mobile was completely lopsided! So, luckily I had some beautiful beads and bells stocked away. I added them to create the right weight and I love how they add to the magic of the theme.


After I made the mobile I wanted a wall hanging to match. So I made this using a similar tree design, a couple of toadstools and an owl. I sewed vintage & not so vintage buttons on the tree. I plan to buy more gold bells to hang from the bottom.

I've made a little baby corner in our bedroom where these things will live. There's a changing table and a rocking chair. Contrast that with the crib (that I never used), bassinet (that I never used), changing table, rocking chair, etc. that I had with Michael. It's nice to simplify.

Now I have to figure out how to hang my mobile from a 10+ foot ceiling with no ladder. I'll post a picture when I have it all together.

A Dream...

Last night I had an awe inspiring dream about our baby Owen.

Michael is forever kissing my belly, 7 1/2 months

I was looking at myself in the mirror. I noticed my belly was unusually wide and that Owen was lying horizontally inside. I could feel him cradled and was surprised when I could feel his little head and bum easily through my skin and could visualize exactly how he was laying.

Michael's hand

Then I moved slightly and this bright, golden light hit my belly just right. I was shocked! I could see him through my skin which had turned translucent.

Our hands together

He was beautiful! Bathed in warm light and through my belly I could see details of his whole cuddly, baby body snuggled up inside. He had those puffy newborn eyes. They were closed and he was sleeping peacefully. He was chubby and had dark hair and his features looked very much like Michael's.

Michael kissing my belly

But he was also very much, his own little baby.

What an amazing gift! I feel like I really got a glimpse of him.