Wesley's Birth Story Part 3: Happy Labor Day

(Continued from Part 1, and Part 2. Disclaimer: this is the labor and delivery part of the story, and while I have attempted to edit out the most gruesome details-- it's still a birth story. And childbirth is not pretty. So while I don't feel like this includes explicit details inappropriate for the public or even those with weak stomachs.. read at your own risk. Thanks!)

So here I was sitting in the hospital bed. They had hooked me up to the monitors. Baby was great, heart rate great, nice strong contractions coming about 3 minutes apart. They were not at all pleasant, but I was dealing. Concentration. Deep breaths. Focus on the end, Valerie. This is what you wanted.
This IS what I wanted. My husband looked at me like I was growing a third hand out of my forehead when I tried to explain it to him-- but even though I wasn't looking forward to the pain, and no one enjoys the pain, I wanted to experience the pain of labor. I wanted to experience my body doing labor on it's own-- because I didn't get to last time. And it was! It was doing labor splendidly on it's own!
As soon as the nurse saw contractions were that close together, she went ahead and checked my cervix. She told me an 8 or a 9 and 100% effaced. We were close.
An 8? or a 9? Last night I was crying because I was a three and not budging. Everything was going so quickly! She told me I was doing splendidly. She even complimented my calm as I slowly talked through contractions giving her all the info she needed to officially check me into the hospital. She went to put my IV in, and I asked her to wait until the contraction had passed, and she just kind of chuckled because she wouldn't have known I was having a contraction if I hadn't stopped her.
Don't get me wrong-- I wasn't breezing through those suckers. They hurt. They hurt like crap. They hurt like bad words I was screaming in my head that wouldn't be prudent to share on this family friendly blog. But I was in the zone. I was focused and feeling every second of this labor and feeling very in control of the situation-- which is funny because labor is pretty explicitly involuntary-- nonetheless. I was doing it. I was there.
Shortly after we got settled in Z asked do you want them to get your epidural? And I said-- no. I want to do this for a while. And the nurse kind of made a face-- "I don't think you have a while to do this. You are pretty much at your decision time, hun. Epidural now or not at all."
"I-- I want to do this for a while. I don't want the epidural right now, I'll tell you later when I am ready for it." And then I was in the zone for another contraction, and Zachary reluctantly repeated to the nurse who was shaking her head, "I guess she'll let you know when she is ready for it."
Now here's where things started getting fun.
If you read Sam's Birth Story you remember that I got all pukey when the pain got too intense at the end. I thought that was just a fluke and a reaction to the pitocin, but nope. Apparently, I'm a puker. You know what I hate? Puking. You know whats even worse? Puking with an audience.
All of a sudden the pain got intense and I yelled at Z, "I'm gonna puke! I need a thing!"
And he looked around for a 'thing' but came up with nothing, and grabbed a trashcan off the floor at the last possible moment before I started puking up that oatmeal. Mmmmm... oatmeal.
And then there were contractions, and puking, and more contractions and more puking and I was no longer in control of anything and I was crying and apologizing for crying and puking on everyone and the nurse came back in the room... oh boy.
She got me a clean gown and some clean sheets. Checked me again, 9 and 100% but my water had not broken, so I could still have an epidural, but once that water broke it was go-time.
"I'll let you know."
I got up to go to the bathroom, and a contraction hit and I couldn't stand or sit and I remember wanting to cry and wanting to scream and knowing that I was in so much pain neither was possible. I walked out of the bathroom and leaned on the bed, and said, "Okay, get me the epidural. I have felt all that I need to." And she said, okay, and hooked up my IV.
It was about 11:30. They finally got the epidural and I was trying to find a comfortable position when the back labor hit and I started puking again and contractions right on top of one another and why wasn't the epidural working for goodness sake??? Then a little alarm went off on the IV drip... and I was all, "Oh my gosh I'm dying! That's the heart rate saying I'm flatlining, my heart has stopped I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead." I was perhaps a little foggy and dramatic from the pain at this point, and the nurse came in and assured me I was in fact not dead at all, and my heart was fine, and that the epidural line was pinched in the case. She freed it and...
AHHHHHHHH! It was like choirs of baby angels singing to me as the instant, warm, tingling relief rushed down my legs. Then she got me some anti-puking meds, and more angels. Then I sat back in my bed and smiled. "Look how great this is going!" I giggled to my husband, who just rocked in his chair and shook his head at me.
About noon the Doctor came in and checked me. She said I was like a 9.5... there was just a little ledge up under the bulging bag that wasn't quite ready. She decided to break my water, then would come back in about a half hour and we would start pushing. Yay! Then she left.
"Wait-- wasn't she going to break my water?" I asked
"SHE DID" Z said. And the nurse laughed at me because I was completely unaware I was sitting on a soaked bed. Oh, HAY Epidural! Thanks for your services. My water breaking was the single most disturbing part of Sam's delivery. Didn't even know it had happened this go around.

Big brother Sam and Grandpa killing time in the waiting room.

We waited the half hour and the doctor did not come back. After 45 mins the nurse checked me. Still not there. I needed to labor down for a while. Okay. I listened to some christmas music. I chatted with my husband. (I think he answered about 15 texts from my mom-- is he here yet? is he here yet? is he here yet?) I looked around facebook for a while. I was getting bored and anxious. I knew we were close, I was ready for my baby!

A little after 2:00 the nurse came in and checked me one last time. It's a 10!!! Time to push!
We did a few 'practice pushes', and she was all, oh yeah, this kid is going to get here soon. Rest a few contractions. Don't mind if I do, thanks.
And then the room started filling up, the L&D nurse, the doctor's assistant, the intern that popped in for the show, the nursery nurses.
"Hey it's a party!" I said. And they all looked at me like I was a loon. "A birthday party? Because my son is about to be born?" (crickets...) Tough crowd. Anyway...
The nurses from the nursery did take that moment to come over and view how ginormous my belly was, and make bets about the size of the kid inside. Oh, I see, you are comfortable gambling in my delivery room, but not laughing at the laboring woman's jokes.
And then we were pushing and pushing and everything is going great, and there's the head, it's halfway here, "Oh, crap, stop pushing, the Doctor is not here yet."
Cruelest thing ever. Do they do that to every woman or just me? Because it's happened twice now. And we were waiting waiting waiting for the doctor. She's on her way...
TELL. HER. TO. RUN.
I think it was about 3 minutes but it felt like at least an hour laying there wanting to push waiting for the doctor. I'm not really a screamer in delivery, not even a crier. But sitting there waiting for the doctor at the very most intense part of the delivery process was everything I could do to keep it together. I looked at my husband and said-- "This is not fun anymore." But my voice broke--betraying my attempt at light heartedness, and he just squeezed my hand, tried to be encouraging. I don't remember if he said anything in response, but I remember being overwhelmingly grateful he was there. My amazing husband. My strong, calm, patient, ROCK.
When the doctor slipped into the room, she barely got her gloves on and I was back in business one good push and BAM. There was his head. And push for the body and...
Baby cries!

Beautiful beautiful baby sounds. And my sweet, rolly, baby boy was laying on my chest and everyone gathered around us oohing and ahhing. Someone grabbed my camera and snapped this picture of Z cutting the cord.

Z cuts the cord
(See he's still in his work uniform? Classy!)

Then they wiped him off, and he snuggled down into my chest. His little cries ceased, and he snuggled into his mama whimpering like a little puppy dog. It was a beautiful and joyous moment. Pure perfection. A rush of adrenaline, joy, satisfaction, completeness.

It was 2:35. Just 7 hours after I woke with the first contraction that morning.

(Stay tuned for more details and pictures from Wesley's Birthday in part 4!)

Wesley's Birth Story, Part 2: Get me to the Church-- er, Hospital on time!

(continued from Part 1, This is a little text heavy, and maybe not all that exciting recount of the day's events... Just so you know. I warned you in advance, you are not going into this blind.)

I woke up Wednesday morning with a sharp pain in my abdomen. I shifted position, and glanced at the clock 7:20. Sam wasn't awake yet, I could probably sleep a little longer. I wasn't too excited yet, because I'd been having contractions for weeks, but these were kinda intense. I couldn't find a comfortable position to lay in anymore so I got up to take a shower. Might as well. But before I did I grabbed my stopwatch. A little under 10 mins apart. I felt like this could be it, so I went ahead and sent my husband a text, just as a heads up, I figured it'd be a few hours before we knew anything for sure.

I went and hopped in the shower. The contractions were really uncomfortable, but the hot shower felt good. I just stood there in the shower, letting it run over me. It relaxed me. I don't know how long I was in the shower, but when I got out, I grabbed my stopwatch again, because I was certain they were coming regularly now. 7 mins apart. This was moving too fast, so I must be wrong. I kept my watch with me and shook my head because each contraction came faster than the last. This can't be right. I've got hours to labor still.
I went and got Sam up. Usually we eat breakfast in our jammies but I went ahead and got him dressed. Contractions were making me really grumpy, but I knew I still had hours to labor before I should call anyone. I decided when I could no longer take care of Sam I would call my mom to come watch him while I labored at home. I was not going to call my husband and have everyone rush to the hospital just to spend all day waiting, or worse-- be sent home. I took him downstairs and started to make us oatmeal. Felt like I should carb up, and oatmeal was that perfect combination of bland and filling that made me think I wouldn't puke it up when things got serious. (spoiler alert: I was wrong.)
Two bowls of oatmeal in the microwave and me trying to push the kitchen counter through the wall with every contraction.  5 mins apart. Sam was patting my leg and saying, "It's okay mama." "Mama you hurt?" He was so sweet and concerned and I was gritting my teeth and clenching my fists trying not to smack his little hands away as he patted my leg. "Honey, go wait for your oatmeal on the couch."
It was 9:00. I couldn't deal with Sam anymore. I picked up the phone, and dialed my mom's school.
"Middle school office!" The chipper secretary answered.
"Hello, This is Valerie Pogemiller, I need to talk to my mother Judy S immediately."
"Okay... Oh! Okay! Oh my goodness, I'll patch you right through!" You could hear the excitement in her voice as she realized what this call was about. My mom had everyone in the school on high alert for weeks, just for this very call.
The phone rang in my mom's classroom, but the other teacher in the room answered, "Hello?" and I was thrown off.
"Um-- uh, hello."
(awkward silence)
"Is this Valerie?"
"Uh huh"
"OH MY GOSH! Is IT time?"
(And... another contraction hits)
"I think so..."
"Ohmygosh I'm so excited!"
"...I'm glad one of us is."
"Oh I'll go get your mom! Yay!" And I hear her all sing-songy in the background, "Juuuuudy! It's your daauuuughter!" and a few seconds later my mother's voice, "Hellloo?" (With that inflection you use when you answer the phone anticipating good news)
"Mama, I think I need you now!"
"I'm leaving now!"
And she was gone. She told me later that I had called during an all girls class, and she bounded out of the room to many cheers and squeals at a pitch only middle school girls can achieve.
Contraction having passed, I put down my phone, and decided I was going to go up and curl my hair. If I was going to feel terrible today I certainly wasnt going to look terrible. I left Sam watching a movie and munching some dry cereal (I forgot about the oatmeal I had made.)
I pulled some clean yoga pants out of the dryer and turned on my curling iron. Breathed through another contraction (Has it already been 5 mins???) And started curling my hair.
My mom must have sped all the way to my house, she burst through the door, "I'm here! Are you ready to go?"
Go? No, we've got plenty of time. I haven't even put on earrings yet. I can't find socks. I havn't eaten my oatmeal. My oatmeal! I forgot to eat breakfast. I need to sit down and eat some breakfast, then I'll get my bag packed and we'll head out in a little while--
CRAP another contraction.
My mom is watching me concerned as I lean my head against the wall and aggressively tap my foot untill it passes. "How far apart are they?"
"like... 7? or, um, 5 mins?" (lies. They were 4.5 mins apart) "I don't know, I am trying to keep my mind off of it." I think I was trying to fold some laundry or something at this point.
"Is Z on his way to the hospital?"
"No, I haven't called him yet."
"I think it's time to call him." She said firmly. And she was right, I was just putting it off because I wanted to make sure this was the real deal.
I remember standing at the top of the stairs dialing my husband when another contraction hit and I was crying because I was in pain, and excited that this was it, and scared that I had waited too long, and trying to remain calm because I didn't want anyone to panic or know I was panicking because then I would just NOT. Be Able. To Deal.
I don't remember much of the conversation with Z, surprisingly. Probably because it was all through the cloud of another contraction. I think he asked if he should come home and I told him to meet us at the hospital, and he told me it was perfect timing because he was just leaving the station... a few minutes later and it would have been a mess to get to him. I hung up the phone, resolved that it was time to leave for the hospital. My mom was a little frantic and had crammed Sam in his coat and they were waiting by the front door and bless her heart I think she probably wanted to smack me but we were finally loading into the car, a little after 10:00. And heading to the hospital.

This is when I went... maybe I should take pictures today? This is the only one I have.
Precious memories.

I had grabbed my oatmeal off the counter and was sitting cross legged in the passenger seat of her car timing contractions (4 mins or less), eating oatmeal, and chugging bottles of water. I was kind of manic nervous-laughing. She was shockingly calm, and alternately concerned mother and elated anxious grandma.
Z beat us to the hospital. He was waiting at the emergency room entrance when we got there. They took me to registration, and the lady asked if I was in labor. I nodded through a contraction. She asked how far apart, and I told her 5. (Lies, 3.5 mins) She told me to have a seat, and I told her I was more comfortable standing as contractions were easier to deal with that way. She started typing some things in her computer and watched me skeptically as another contraction hit, then called up to L&D, and sent Z to get a wheel chair to get me up there.
When we got up to the 6th floor and into a room, they had me change and hooked me up to a monitor. it was about 10:30.
"Oh, yes! You are definitely in labor." The nurse said. (3 mins apart)
YOU DON'T SAY?!

Part 3 coming soon!

Wesley's Birth Story Part 1: Now We Wait

On Tuesday night I was sitting on the couch crying and exhausted.
I was 40.5 weeks pregnant, but the doctor had led me to believe that my child would have arrived weeks ago. Though I am generally on the petite side, and I had gained only a reasonable and healthy amount of weight this pregnancy all I had heard for the past month from strangers and friends was how monstrously huge I was... how far past due I must be... and was I sure I wasn't having twins? I'd been 'ready to pop' for months, and miserable my entire third trimester. As soon as we reached 36 weeks, I started walking.

33 weeks pregnant

Literally, walking MILES every day trying to get that kid out. I bounced on an excercise ball for hours. I ate two whole pineapples, but only succeeded at burning my tongue from the acid. I started involved projects that needed to be finished in a timely manner hoping to tempt fate into not letting me finish. Nothing, nothing, and nothing. I would have BH contractions every night. They'd start around 7:00 and taper off around midnight, and I would punch my pillow in frustration. I was dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced. At 38 weeks, it was 3 and 70%. At 39 weeks, 3+ and 80. So I was making progress... but baby could still be weeks away. And despite my Doctor's prediction that this kid was large and ready to go at any time (at 36 weeks!) my due date came and went without any indication that he was planning to budge.

37 weeks pregnant

At the doctor past my due date the doctor asked if I wanted to set an induction or if I just wanted to wait it out. I told him, well, I wanted to let this kid do it on his own-- but I DO NOT want to be 49 weeks pregnant. He laughed at me and assured me he would not let that happen, but I was discouraged and exhausted from all the running around like a crazy lady and miles I'd been logging trying to make a kid move. He went ahead scheduled an induction for the following thursday-- I'd be 41 weeks pregnant. And I went home to continue my labor-inducing olympics.

Sam and his 'hosta-pital' bag.

So Tuesday night found me sitting on my couch crying to my husband. I had just gotten back from the doctor-- oh don't be excited for me, it wasn't because I was experiencing any signs of labor. I had  UTI. Could the world be any more cruel to this over-sized over-due pregnant woman? While I was there the doctor checked me and still 3 and 80. No progress for almost 2 weeks now. I was angry and exhausted. I had given up hope. I told my husband that I was just done. I didn't want to be induced, but that seemed to be the way this was going down. I told him the following day-- wednesday-- I was going to do nothing. Just relax to prepare for labor on Thursday. I was so disappointed. Z tried to console me, but I just wanted to wallow. I went to bed early. I slept through the night. This was pretty monumental because at this point I was so huge and uncomfortable I was barely sleeping at all... in between the 5 or 24 times a night I got up to pee. I woke up briefly when Z left for work. I rolled over and kept sleeping.

39 weeks, and way too pregnant to be photographed.

I got nervous every day that my husband went to work. We'd been running through everything for weeks... every possible scenario how it might go down. Z works for FedEx as a courier so he is out on the road all day. He told me that when 'it was time' I needed to give him plenty of advance warning because he would have to come in off the road and he could reasonably be an hour or more away. This stressed me out, because who knows if I would have an hour? Who knows if i called him to the hospital and had hours and hours that everyone had to wait. I didn't know. I was worried.
I also had my mother on call. She works at a school just accross town and would be the caretaker for Sam when this baby thing went down. She had alerted all the secretaries and various people at her school to patch my call through no matter what... but I was just nervous about that. What if it happened in the middle of the day when my mom was at work and zachary was at work and I couldn't get ahold of everyone? Or what if I called everyone for a false alarm? Or what if... I didn't know when to call? Every day when Z left for work I felt a little stressed, and I breathed a sigh of relief every day when he got home. Immediate access to my husband-- my cool, calm, and collected ROCK-- was comforting. I couldn't imagine being in labor and going through some or all of it without him. Could. Not. Do it.

40 weeks pregnant

So even though for several weeks I woke up to worry for a bit when my husband left early in the morning for work... this Wednesday I kept right on sleeping.

In the 'nursery'.
Everything all ready, now all there is to do is wait.

(Part II coming soon!)

Sam's 1st room-- TOUR!

We moved, and I know you all are anxious to see pics of the new house and all that... but there was something important I needed to do before we left the town home behind. Something I promised you years ago and never followed through on.
Sam's room was my favorite room in that house. I put a ton of effort and thought into making that room special, and before we left it for good, I really want to document it and share it with you-- in it's complete form.
Before I packed a single thing in that room, we gave it a good clean and pick-up and then took pictures so we would always have documentation and something to remember Sam's first room. The room we brought him home from the hospital to. The room where we spent countless hours rocking, feeding, playing, reading, and growing up. It was the only thing about the old house that I had a bittersweet pang leaving. But here it is, for you-- but mostly for me-- to enjoy and for posterity.

This is the view looking in the door. The chair is a rocking overstuffed chair we purchased at Babies 'R' Us. (Talked about our purchase here). The curtains were made by me. Bobble throw on the chair was made and given to us by my good friend Amy Lee. The P pillow a gift from another friend. White shag rug from target. Trunk has been mine for years. And the bureau is part of the furniture I refinished for the room. The awesome bear painting on top of the bureau was a gift painted by my Aunt. (It is SO COOL.) The letters spelling his name came from HomeGoods.

The crib was purchase at Nebraska Furniture Mart. Bed sheet (white with green polka dots) and the crib skirt were made by me. The chevron quilt I made for him is over the side of the crib. The three small canvases above the bed were taken by Kim Joyce Photography, and the canvases purchased from ArtsCow.com. The corner shelves are from Target. We have an AngelCare monitor (on the right) that we LOVE. Blocks that spell Samuel (corner shelf on the left) are from Little Sapling Toys. The leaf mobile above the crib was made by myself and my friend, of etsy inspiration. To the right of the crib is Sam's hamper, and in the top middle of the photo you can see a little 'sweet pea' ornament that my mom gave us, we hung it from the fan pull, and it became part of Sam's goodnight ritual, touching the sweetpea before bed every night.

This dresser was another piece that I refinished for the room. The changing pad was purchased from Babies 'R' Us, and the changing pad cover I made. The elephant lamp on the right was purchased at HomeGoods, and Amy Lee and I recovered the lampshade. Peeking around the corner (on the floor on the left) you can see the bag holder I made, and also the wet bags for Sam's cloth diapers hang there. Above the dresser is the tiled round miror I purchase at HomeGoods, as well as pictures of Z and I, the puppies, sam's sonogram and framed hospital bracelet. Above the changing pad as pinwheels from the Baby P shower my friend Erin threw. Sam loved those hanging pinwheels!

The view from the other side of the room... My favorite part! Sam had a regular old boring closet that was dingy and had broken sliding doors on it. We removed the doors and painted it this happy bright green color. My dad built the shelf going up the middle, and I painted that and all the other shelving (going up the sides of the closet you can't see) a bright shiny white. We installed the wooden clothing rods. The green tubs along the top shelf and the green kids hangers came from Target. We added a ton of storage, and made the room feel more open bright with out closet remodel. I was so happy. The large ruler to the left of the closet I made as a growth chart for Sam's first birthday. (Meant to put that project on the blog, but... oops.)

 And I think that's about it. If you saw anything in there I didn't mention that you are curious about, please ask, I will answer to the best of my ability! I was so proud of this room, and felt so happy in this space.

Goodbye, Happy Room! We will miss you, but we gotta move on to bigger and better things!

It's a little weird to go back through all those older posts as we were preparing this room for Little Sam... especially since we now have a Baby P II we are preparing for. Oh, we have Big plans for his first little room! I can't wait to get started and share with you along the way. :)

Baby P II

(Warning, oversharing about to happen.)

Hiya!
So yesterday I made the big announcement about our bun in the oven, but glossed over the details to share with you about the house. You didn't actually think I wasn't going to come back and over share about baby stuff, though, right?
Right after the first of the year I started talking to Z about Babies! I was getting the baby fever. We said we'd talk about it when Sam was a year old, so I brought it up-- even though I knew what the answer was for both of us. Not now. We had barely started the serious search for a house but it felt hopeless. Z was still working long long hours and his schedule was all over the place-- we both knew this was not great timing. We knew we both wanted more kiddos, but decided we would talk about it again this summer-- hopefully we would have a house or be closer to having a house by then and could make a smart and informed decision about whether the timing was 'right' then.
Plus also... we wanted to avoid getting pregnant in the spring again, if at all possible so as not to have another 'holiday baby'. Not that we don't love Sam and everything about him, but babies and birthdays close to the holidays can be chaotic, especially in my husband's line of work.
(Yes, read this, and laugh at us 'planning' because if you know anything about life and children, which we obviously don't, you know they don't like to conform to our preconceived schedules) (Ew, unintentional bad pun there with the preconceived thing.)
Fast forward a month or two to Easter Sunday. I was just sitting around that evening, and similar to two years earlier, I suddenly just had this feeling-- this knowledge I can't explain why-- I was pregnant and I knew it. But this was practically impossible, because... well it just was. The timing and the logistics didn't make any sense. I said nothing to anyone, but the next morning after Z left for work I took a test.

Oh man-- surely that is a false positive.
So I said nothing to anyone and took three more tests on three consecutive days. Positive, positive, positive. So there you have it.
I kept my mouth shut for an entire week. On Wednesday, I asked my husband out on a date. Dates are kinda a rare occurrence for us, so he excitedly agreed. I got a baby sitter and reservations, and nearly died trying to keep my mouth shut for three more days. If you know me, and how much I love secrets and surprises but how horrible I am at keeping them, you can be impressed!
Date night finally came, and I got dressed up and we went out and I kept my mouth shut all the way until we got to the restaurant. We ordered drinks and I finally said... Well... I actually had a specific reason I asked you on a date tonight, I have a little surprise for you, do you want it now or later?
Of course Z is used to me offering up 'surprises' but he stil doesn't like it. haha
He laughed nervously, and siad I guess now? So I handed him an envelope. Inside was a card with the following picture and caption:

The first picture of the FOUR of us

He knew immediately what it meant-- and got really excited. He even kissed me in public (BIG DEAL!). He was completely surprised, though, just as I had been... and we smiled, and talked baby, and mused at how exciting this was and how silly we are for trying to 'plan' when to have a baby. Those little buggers have a mind of their own, now don't they?
When Sam was born we waited til 9 or 10 weeks to tell our parents... made a big deal of it on mother's day. This time we opted to spill the beans right away, just because we were so darn excited. We were going to see my parents the next day for our weekly family date night, so we decided that was the time. But we were also trying to be creative, and wanted to get Sam in on the fun.
So the next day I ran to the store and grabbed a plain white shirt, then used my silhouette to make a freezer paper stencil out of the 'big brother' logo I designed...

And the next night he wore his new shirt over to Poppy and Meema's house. He ran around for about a half hour before my mom finally noticed, hey what do you have on your shirt, Sam? Then with big eyes at us WHAT DOES HE HAVE ON HIS SHIRT!?!?! And we smiled and she squealed with excitement, and my dad was all, what's going on, and my mom showed him the shirt and he was all-- um, okay? But once we explained it to him-- he was pretty excited too. :)
We also told Z's parents and my sister that night... The shirt was a big hit!
We were just guessing at a due date until we got to the doctor a few weeks later. He confirmed that, yes, there was a baby coming... and this one is due Dec 6.

Here is the very first picture of Baby P (the second!). This was taken at 9 weeks. Baby P is laying on it's back with head on the left here. Already so cute and loveable, don't you think? :)
So we were super surprised but are super excited. Yes, We will find out if it's a boy or a girl (but not for a month or two still) and yes we will tell you when we know. Yes, I will be taking weekly 'bump' pictures again... but not yet, there's not much to see yet. No, we are not going to tell you Baby P's name until he/she is born. Just like last time.
I've been pretty nasty sick the past couple months, but we are entering the second trimester now, and it seems to be letting up some. Thank goodness! We've got a lot to get done this month with a move, and a show-- no time for laying and bed and hugging the toilet, I tell you what!
I can't wait to meet this little peanut. I am so very very excited to be a mama x2! Thanks for all your love and support and interest in our lives...
And if you made it through that long, wordy, oversharing post... well a bonus 10 points for you. You're awesome! <3 br="">

Family of Four in a New House

That would be my family of four.
In front of our new house.
Yes, this is an annoucement.
Two, actually.

I am sure you guessed from my absence on the blog that I was either dead, lazy, or pregnant. If you guessed the last, you were right!
10 points.
If you guessed the second... well... you are mostly right too.
Oh who am I kidding, all those who voted lazy get 10 points too.
If you follow me on pinterest (which you totally should because I pin awesome stuff) you may have even guessed that we bought a house... or at least that we were in the market for it. And you would be right too.
So 10 points for you.
And you know what? Just... 10 points to anyone who cared enough to spend their time wondering why I blog so infrequently. Because sometimes there is a reason, but usually that reason is I am a little neurotic and spastic. But nevertheless I appreciate that you wasted your time pondering my whereabouts.

Anyway.
I AM pregnant!
We DID buy a house!
I've been sick like whoa and overwhelmed with this whirlwind real estate thing and preparing to move.
But the house is incredible and the timing, though chaotic, is pretty great as well. There are so many moving parts that just seem to be falling into place and we feel blessed and elated and so RIGHT about this whole thing.

The house is like 6 years old, but never been lived in. It's really bright and spacious and in a nice, young neighborhood in the town I grew up in. (Which just makes the whole thing so much cozier!) We've got friends around the block, and family just a mile away. A great yard, and lots of space to grow into as our kiddos (and family!) get bigger!

The kitchen is great and look at that dining room... all the windows and pretty warm wood tones make me happy.

We are most pleased that this little guy loves the new house too. Here he is looking out his second story window. There are 'doggies' and other 'babies' in the neighborhood that he is so excited about. The first time we saw the house, Sam laid down on the carpet right in the middle of the living room, put his hands behind his head and sighed contentedly. I am not even kidding. It was hilarious and awesome, and just confirmed that, yes, we all felt right in this house.

The rooms are all spacious and lovely, the closets generous. The laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms, and check this out:

That's a jacuzzi tub in my master bath. (it's okay if you want to sigh, I do whenever I look at it.)
I am SO EXCITED about this awesome new dream house we will be moving into very very soon. (Can ya tell???) Of course I'll share updates as we move and get settled, and I have great plans for some exciting new decor on the cheap and some DIY stuff thats going to make our dream home even more awesome. I can't wait to show you.
But patience.
(That was for me, not you. But you can be patient too.)
I should go work on a little packing. Goodbye for now, pretty house. We'll be moving in soon!

 

Goodbye for now, sweet friends and readers. Be back to update you soon!

Baby J Quilt

So a couple weeks ago I threw up this pic just to tease you and let you know I hadn't dropped off the face of the planet:

Lovely pretty fabrics to be made into a warm, soft quilt to welcome my best friend's snuggly little girl into the world! Oh, is she sweet! :) Baby J was born just a week ago, and we got to go visit the fresh little one and her parents last week! 

April is my oldest friend... we've been friends literally since birth, sooooo... what are we at, 27.5 ish years of friendship? That's intense. It's weird that we have kids now. It's so much fun to see our kids playing together, as we sit off the the side and talk and giggle. I don't know when we grew up-- it seems like we should still be the little kids playing on the floor. 

Anyway, this is April's second baby girl, and carrying on a Sass family tradition, every new baby in the family (and April is pretty much family to me) gets a quilt. (You may recall I made this quilt when her first baby girl was born).

 For this quilt I pieced 10x10 blocks or ivory and chocolate dot minky. The backing was  a sweet bicycle flannel print in ivory, chocolate, turquoise, orange, and pink. I loved the print because it was sweet and girly, without being over the top or sickeningly 'baby'. (April and I agree-- we are not a huge fan of 'babyish baby stuff'.)

I 'embroidered' a j in the corner of the backing to personalize it with some chunky pink yarn. I used the same yarn to tie the blanket-- even though I went ahead and 'quilted' it stitch-in-the-ditch style around those big minky blocks.

I used a double layer of extra-loft organic cotton batting so it is extra pillow-y and soft.

The quilt is bound with a turquoise satin binding-- with those mitered corners that always give me fits!

I really liked the way it turned out! I think it is cute and fun, and extra soft. Perfect for a cute, fun, soft new baby J! I think (hope?) April liked it too... she saw it and said-- oh I saw the fabric on your blog the other day and I was hoping it was for us! I'm glad we have a similar asthetic.

Here is my friend (looking fab just a few days after giving birth!) and me holding sweet baby girl. (Don't you think I look good holding a baby draped in pink? We should try for a pink one next time...) Love you and your sweet family, April! Congrats on another beautiful baby girl! Welcome to the world, baby J!

Swingin'

 

Sam needed a swing.
He's almost seven months, he's sitting up like a pro, and he needed some backyard entertainment for Grandpa and Grandma's big backyard. Besides that, kids love swings. What kid doesn't love a swing? It was time.
But let me tell you what I hate... plastic stuff. Especially plastic stuff that stays outside and gets faded and dirty and gross. UGH. So I researched baby swings and decided I did not want plastic. A stroll through pinterest found several pretty wooden ones, but they just didn't look so comfy for my sweet little rollie baby. Then I found a picture of this canvas/hamock style swing, and I was all, YES! Then I saw that it was $135 plus shipping from Australia... and I was like... um, NO. (But if you have $135 to burn... you can check out Swingz and Thingz they've got some super cool stuff!)

Source: swingz.com.au via Valerie on Pinterest

But upon closer inspection, I uttered those dangerous words...

I could make that.

Right?

 So I gathered up my supplies:
1 inch oak dowels
25 ft nylon/poly blend braided 5/16" rope
Steel rings
steel carabiner
rope crimps
about 1 yard of outdoor canvas
Some tools: sewing machine, hammer, pliers, saw, drill press
Sturdy tree branch (still attached to the tree, thank you.)

I started by making the seat. I found this beautiful striped canvas at a fabric outlet, and I love it! I think I will start sewing exclusively with stripes, it's super easy to measure stuff... just FYI.

I cut the large piece 36"x14", the top piece is 14"x11", and the bottom leg piece is 6"x11". (I cut all my pieces from the same long strip that started 60"x14") The way they are laid out in this picture is the shape we are creating for the seat part of the swing.
The first step was to hem the sides of the two vertical pieces. You will be hemming the 11" sides. Here's how I did the hem for this project:

1. Iron over a 1/4 inch to wrong side.
2. Iron over another 1/2 inch to wrong side.
3. Sew two straight seams 1/8 inch from each side of the hem. You have a lovely finished edge, the double seam isn't necessary, but I think it looks really nice.

Next you are going to attach those two pieces to the long horizontal piece. Here's how I attached them and double enforced the seams so they would be extra safe for my little boy...

 1. I ironed over 1/4 inch then another 1/2 inch just like i did in the first two steps above. Then I measured and centered the vertical pieces and pinned them, wrong sides together, just underneath that ironed down hem.
2. Sew two seams, just as you did in part 3 above.
3. Now flip the vertical piece up over the hem you just created, and iron it flat.
4. Top stitch over the two seams you created previously, securing the vertical piece in that position and reinforcing your seams.

The next step is to fold over 3 and sew down 3 inches on all 4 sides (which I unfortunately did not take a picture of...) This creates the casing that your dowel will go through for the frame of the swing. This is the last step of the sewing portion, and your completed seat looks like this:

(note: for smaller children you may want to also sew a cushion or pillow to go behind their back. I made a 12x12" square pillow out of coordinating outdoor canvas to go behind Sam, it was the perfect size.)

Next you create the frame and ropes to hang the swing.
I used 1 inch oak dowels, and cut them to 16". My dad took them to his fancy shop and used fancy tools to put beautiful radius on each end, but that is not structurally important. You can just cut and sand the ends really well so no one gets splinters.

Next you will put a 3/8" hole 1" from  both ends of each dowel. You will want you use a drill press to get the holes exactly straight. You can stain your dowels at this point, if you so desire.

Okay, time for the ropework! I cut 2 lengths of rope (I used a braided nylon/poly blend that was 5/16") 10 feet. You need to use a lighter to melt the ends of the rope so it doesn't fray. Then find the center of the two ropes and thread them through your steel ring and pull it to the center. (When you purchase your ring, make sure it is weight bearing. Though it will never need to hold that much, ALL the materials I used for this project were rated to hold up to 200 lbs. Safety first!)

Then I used a metal rope clamp to bind the four ropes together. You can see an unused one sitting above the ropes, and I have only hammered two of the four prongs onto the rope. (just wanted you to see how this works.)

The completed clamped rope looks like this.The rope clamp is another important safety feature in this swing, without it, the ropes could slide freely through the ring and topple the swing and the little one inside. So be sure to include that!

Now it's time for the fun part... assembly! I was literally dancing about the house by the time it got to assembly. I was SO EXCITED to complete this project and get it up in a tree and a baby in it! So here's how you do it...
Thread your dowels through all four casings in the fabric seat. The front and back dowels will be below the side dowels.

Thread the rope through the holes of two crossed dowels, and create a stopper knot leaving a 2 inch tail of rope. (A simple overhand knot would likely be sufficient, but the stopper knot is a little more sturdy, and I didn't want ANY chance of those knots slipping out when holding my precious and breakable baby) (By the way... I did a ton of research before doing this project and learned a lot about knots and what kinds are appropriate for securing or bearing what kinds of loads... Anyway, I kinda feel like I earned my boyscout badge in knots. Is there even such a thing?)

Oh my gosh! You have a swing! Now you need a safe place to hang it from.  Pick a sturdy branch or beam. This little picture is from the original website where I copied my swing design from... an excellent and informative graphic so I will save my breath... (fingers?)

Again, make sure your carabiner is a weight bearing one. ours was purchased from the hardware store and rated to hold 200 lbs. Check the rating on any hardware you use--for your child's safety!

My dad also decided that Sam might like to swing on their fancy shady porch where we all like to hang out, so he got and eye bolt and hung that in their pergola. (this bolt, when properly installed was rated to hold up to 300 lbs. I know I sound like a broken record here... but when suspending your child double and triple check that all your hardware and rope is rated to hold weight and is installed correctly and safely.)

Okay, are you wiggling so much you can't stand it??? Because I definitely was at this point... my dad was tying knots to the tree and literally could not hold still from swing excitement! Check it out!

Okay, and now, brace yourself for gratuitous photos of cute baby swinging...

Favorite!

Sam loved it! He spent his entire afternoon just swinging and swinging. Then after dinner my dad moved his swing up to the porch... where he fell asleep, still in his swing.

Okay, take a few moments to recover from your cuteness coma, because I am certain you want to know about the price breakdown. Did we swing it for under $135?

2 - 1" oak dowels each 3 ft long : $10
50 ft nylon/poly blend braided 5/16" rope: $12
Package of 2 Steel rings: $2
steel carabiner: $3
Package of 2 rope crimps: $2
1 yard of outdoor canvas + 1/3 yard contrasting: $11
Total cost: $40

However... you'll note that I had to buy 50 ft of rope, but only used 25... And several things I had to buy packages of 2... and I had enough fabric left that I could make a second seat... so if I purchased more dowels and another carabiner, that would total $53... 

Making the approximate cost PER SWING about $26.50

I'd say that's a heck of a lot better than $135+shipping from Australia. Yes? SCORE.

This may be the favorite project I have EVER made. I know that's a pretty dramatic use of absolute qualifiers there, but I love this little swing so much... and I love it even more watching my little Sam swing and squeal with delight. Happy Swingin'!

(I also linked this too the Summer Pinterest Challenge at YHL if you wanna check out some other cool projects...) 

 UPDATED 3/1/13: Check out OSH Revisited: Swingin' for more pics and updates on the swing, and also for an explanation on how to add pics of your swing to the flickr pool! If you have created a swing for your kiddo, I would LOVE to see it! Would you please please share pics with all of us??? Please?