Daddy's Growing Girl

Hope everyone had a great Father's Day.  I think I helped to make Eric's first a good one.  He woke up to breakfast in bed... cinnamon rolls, peppercorn bacon, scrambled eggs, and coffee.  Here was his gift:

4 Braves game tickets for this Tuesday (2 for us and 2 for our friends), a new Braves t-shirt, and Aubrey's first Braves outfit to be worn at her first game next season.  Hopefully he had a good day.


I think I mentioned that I wanted to make a growth chart for Aubrey.  Well, it's FINISHED and I love it.  I started by getting ideas from Etsy.  Here was my inspiration:

I liked that the canvas one would be easier to transport and store and I liked the simple design of the wooden one.  So I came up with my own compromise.


My Materials:
1 5/8 yards of canvas material
5-6 1/2 yard squares of printed fabric for cutouts
clipart prints for cutout patterns
measuring tape
4 flower buttons
4 beady black buttons (for bird eyes)
1 spool (2 yards) of pom pom edging
paint (brown and white), stencil brush or sponge, small paint brush, and branch stencil
plastic bags
needle, thread, Fray Check, and scissors
ribbon, dowel, and screw (for hanging)
pencil
small wooden fence cutout


To start, I printed my cutouts and traced them onto my printed fabric.  My cutouts for this project were little birds, the wings for the birds, the letter A (for Aubrey's monogram), and numbers 2-5.  I decided not to stick to the colors currently in her nursery so that the growth chart can match her room in the future as well.  It is important to seal the cutouts with Fray Check so that they stay together after you cut them out.

 
Next I measured and cut out the chart itself.  I wanted my finished product to be 12 inches wide, so I cut my fabric 13 inches wide to allow for a 1/2 inch seam.  Since my project is for a little girl (and the women in my family are not really known for their height), I made my chart 4 feet long.  It starts at 1 1/2 feet and goes to 5 1/2 feet.  The plan is to measure Aubrey's height each year.  More later on how I plan to mark her height.

Then I marked the chart in inches with a pencil and went back over my pencil marks with brown paint.  After I had all of the inches marked, I attached numbers 2-5 with contrasting pink thread for the feet markers.

I left room at the top and bottom for a boarder and placed my bird cutouts where I wanted them.  Once I knew how I wanted everything spaced, it was a matter of sewing on the cutouts, decorations, and stenciling on the branches.  It is important to remember to place something underneath the canvas when you paint it, because it is not a tight knit fabric.  I suggest recycled grocery bags.  Once the chart is finised, attach a dowel and decorative ribbon to the top.  Be sure that you hang it so that all of your measurements are still accurate.  :-)  Here is how mine turned out:

Once little Aubrey is here, we can mark her height.  Instead of just writing or painting her height on the chart each year, I think I am going to make little tags and pin them to it.  A friend of mine suggested making the tags from her favorite outfits as she outgrows them.  We will see...


Here is my weekly update:

• How far along? 22 weeks


• Total weight gain:  11 lbs.  At least I know this little one is growing.


• Maternity clothes? For all shorts and some tops, but still some regular dresses. 


• Stretch marks? No, just veiny.


• Sleep:  Body pillow = friend


• Best moment this week: On Thursday I went to the gym, and as I was walking around the track for my cool down, an older gentleman approached me and asked me if this was my first baby.  We went on to have a half hour conversation about family, education, literature (To Kill a Mockingbird specifically), his heart condition, and technology.  It was so comforting to meet a kind stranger.  It gives me hope for the world we are bringing this little girl into.  I also got to see What to Expect When You're Expecting with my cousin and best friend.  I definitely recommend it.  Though I will warn you, it had its tear-jerking moments.

• Miss Anything? Feeling like I look decent in my clothes.  I know I am supposed to have a belly right now, but it is really killing my self-confidence.  I have resorted to 50 Shades of Grey to restore my libido.  I swear reading that book is like watching a train wreck...it's so shocking.  Before you know it, its 10 o'clock in the morning and you still haven't showered or left the house (because who wants to be seen reading that in public...especially when you're pregnant).  Although it has helped to set the mood, we are sticking to the "vanilla" approach.  If you don't know what I mean, you will just have to read to find out.  ;-)


• Movement: Still squirming around a lot.


• Food cravings: Ice Cream


• Food aversions: Still Mexican food.  Eric and I think we may have found a compromise...Taco Mac.  He still gets his chips and dip and I can eat something that won't keep me glued to the toilet for 3 days. 


• Gender: Girl!


• Labor Signs: No.


• Symptoms: Back pain and leg cramps.  My gym class is partially to blame for the cramps.


• Belly Button in or out? In.  I am beginning to think my bellybutton may not "pop."  I know there are a lot of people who have innies throughout their pregnancy.  Any of you experience that?


• Wedding rings on or off? On.


• Looking forward to: The Braves game with Eric and friends on Tuesday.  Gooo Braves!

Ooohhh...We're Halfway There...

I can hardly believe I am now over halfway through this pregnancy!  In the past couple of weeks, Aubrey's nursery has come a long way.  Here are some pictures of the room so far:

In my last post, I shared with you all the bedding I was dying to get for the nursery.  My only objection to it was its price tag.  I happened across this beautiful patchwork and lace bedding set on Craigslist (believe it or not) and got an amazing deal on it.  Only $100 for the quilt, bumper, crib skirt, valence, 2 sheers, 2 pillows, diaper stacker, and lampshade!  I love the detail and how feminine the material is.  Here are some close-ups:

The letters above her crib are from Hobby Lobby.  I got them for 50% off!  All I did was paint them and attach ribbon to dress them up.  On the right-hand side of the first picture, there is an oval-shaped pink mirror.  Below the mirror will be Aubrey's dresser/changing table.  We will be giving Eric's dresser/changing table a face lift by staining it darker to match the rest of the furniture and attaching white porcelain rose knobs that I also found at Hobby Lobby.

Here is the glider that matches Aubrey's crib and the new nursery drapery.  The diaper stacker will be moved to the changing table once it is finished.

I think this may be my favorite part of her room so far.  I picked up this little shabby chic window frame at Home Goods and bought a basket to fill with little flowers below it so it looks like a window basket.  The lamp is close to the glider so that I will have plenty light for bedtime stories.  This little storage unit will be for holding books and toys.

Once I have had a baby shower, I will be able to organize her closet.  I still also would like to make a little growth chart for the room.  I love the idea of tracking her growth on something we could take with us if we ever moved.

Here is my update:

• How far along? 21 weeks
• Total weight gain:  9 lbs. Ahh!!  I can't believe I have put on 4 lbs. in 2 weeks.  My body is really making up for not putting much on to begin with.
• Maternity clothes?  For all shorts and some tops, but still some regular dresses.  Good news... I found a bathing suit that I feel comfortable in at Old Navy.  Now that I have purchased it, it has also gone one sale (lucky me).  Here it is if you are also a mommy in the market:

• Stretch marks? No, but I am certainly veiny.
• Sleep:  I am relying on my body pillow to make sleep more comfortable now, and boy are my dreams odd and vivid.
• Best moment this week:  Finding such a great deal on Aubrey's crib bedding!  I am so happy with it and I saved a ton of money.  AND hearing the wonderful news yesterday that my good friend safely delivered her second child.  After a 4 hour all natural delivery, she now has a beautiful 7 lb. 3 oz., 20 3/4 in. baby BOY.  I have been considering switching to the practice she used so that I could have a water birth.  I will definitely be talking to her about her experience more soon.
• Miss Anything? Being able to sleep on my back.
• Movement: LOTS!  :-)  My little one is a frequent mover.  Even daddy gets to feel a kick occasionally.
• Food cravings: Vanilla ice cream (especially from Chik-fil-a) with a little chocolate.  Yum!  Guess that's where those 4 lbs. came from.  I've had to really increase my protein intake because my sugar has been crashing and I've come close to passing out a few times.  That feeling is definitely scary since I have never experienced it before.
• Food aversions: Still Mexican food. 
• Gender: Girl!
• Labor Signs: No.
• Symptoms: Back pain and itchy boobs (they must be growing like the rest of me).
• Belly Button in or out? In.
• Wedding rings on or off? On.
• Looking forward to: Eric's first Father's Day this Sunday!

Gender Reveal

From the beginning of this pregnancy I have been saying that I think I'm carrying a little boy.  Now I know for sure.  Here's how we told our parents and my best friend:

We went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Tuscany.  Everyone knew that I had my ultrasound earlier that day.  I convinced everyone that the reveal moment would be coming during desert.  We arrived early and slipped our waiter a "Specials" insert for the menus that looked like this:

 

When everyone went to open their menus, they were completely surprised.

To be fair, I was pretty surprised when I found out too.  Here is a clip of our ultrasound when they told me it was a GIRL.

Now I am ready to start decorating the nursery!  Our little girl's name will be Aubrey Leeann.  The middle name is both of our mother's middle names put together.  Here is the bedding that I love:

The only thing that I do not love about it is its price tag.  I may be learning to make my own baby bedding soon.


In other news, my best friend got married this weekend!  The weather was perfect for her garden ceremony and we all had a great time at the reception.  Hopefully, I will have some pictures of that to post soon.


Here's my update:

• How far along?  19 weeks 
• Total weight gain:  5 lbs. 
• Maternity clothes?  Yes for shorts.  Still in my regular tops and dresses for the most part.  I have started trying to find a swim suit that I feel more comfortable in and that is proving really difficult.  I feel like so many of the maternity swimsuits look very old and matronly but normal swimsuits just don't quite fit right.
• Stretch marks? No  
• Sleep: Still tossing and turning, but I am starting to enjoy having my body pillow. 
• Best moment this week: Dancing with my hubby at my best friend's wedding while he held my belly.  I can't believe we have been married for almost 2 and a half years.  I am so glad to bring a baby into a home with so much love.  Seeing my little girl and hearing the ultrsound technition describe her as "perfect" was also amazing.
• Miss Anything? It would have been nice to have a real toast of champagne at the wedding instead of drinking the non-alcoholic stuff.
• Movement: YES!!!  FINALLY I can feel her move.  This past Sunday, Eric and I were volunteering in our church's nursery.  As I was rocking a little girl to sleep, Aubrey started kicking me.  She must have been jealous.
• Food cravings: Bagles and Cream Cheese
• Food aversions: Mexican food just doesn't do it for me right now.
• Gender: Girl!
• Labor Signs: No
• Symptoms: My stomach has been especially gassy.
• Belly Button in or out? In
• Wedding rings on or off? On
• Looking forward to: Starting to decorate the nursery!