26 Weeks 6 Days

Class last night was good. It consisted mostly of birthing videos and more breathing exercises. Next week is the last week! Sad, but I've learned a lot, so I feel way better and ready for the birth of this baby :-)

I've also started to notice patterns in baby kicks. Certain times of the day he/she kicks more and also certain foods! It's adorable...I LOVE it!

Here is this week's belly picture! Getting rounder and cuter!!! :D Making me get more excited!!!

Getting Ready

I've been doing a lot more things to get ready for baby :-) Minor things, since I have 90% of the major things done already! :-) I even have my hospital bag pretty much ready to go!!!

I have boy/girl outfits, blankets, hats, mittens, burp rags, cloth diapers; all my bathroom stuff and nursing night gown outfit, breast pads, chap stick, relaxing "pillow spray" from Bath & Body Works, and I have swimming trunks for Alex for getting in the tub with me or supporting me in the shower. :-)

I am definitely getting more excited for baby to be here!!!

25 Weeks 6 Days

The third class last night was great :-) More informative stuff on procedures and medications you can have during labor. Even after all of the dangers were pointed out about epidurals and being induced, I'm still the only one in the class wanting to do everything natural.... We got to tour the labor and delivery wing of the hospital as well. I had already seen it because of having to go in because baby wasn't moving. But it was awesome to learn about the safety measures the hospital has to make sure your baby cannot go missing!!! They just finished building this new wing last year, so everything is "state of the art" and it's a 'locked-down' facility; meaning the doors are locked and have to be opened by a nurse who is sitting on the other side. It makes me feel safer and makes me love that hospital even more!! :-) They were explaining how the arm bands work and how they also clip a special chip onto the baby's umbilical cord stump that if someone tried to take the baby beyond a certain point, an internal alarm would sound and the whole wing goes on lock down until the baby is accounted for. Also, they were talking how they used to check babies and bath them right away, and now they don't; they allow bonding time and wait until the baby has had at least two good breast feedings. That is awesome! I am just blown away with how they are starting to incorporate more natural techniques in, but can still be so high-tech with everything else if women want it. You order your dinner from the TV! And set up a time for your free postpartum massage on the TV as well (That's right! They give all new moms a free massage! SCORE!!). Anyways, I digress....
Here is this week's belly picture!!

I think my belly is going the wrong way (back in!)!!! LOL! But I am definitely carrying high!!

Baby Things!

I love baby clothes!! And when I see something adorable, I can't help but buy them!! Here are my newest finds!

Plus I found an awesome company to buy Baltic amber teething/healing necklaces from :-) I bought one for me and one for baby ♥

How to Turn Skinny Jeans into Fabulous Flares (That You'll Want to Wear!)

I bought this pair of maternity jeans by Oh Baby from Kohls on clearance for $10 (down from $65). I HATE skinny jeans with a passion, but I figured I could modify them to my liking for that price! So I went to Joann's and bought some super cute fabric for a steal of a price as well!

Total Cost: $16

Here is how I did it! I started out with these:

I started by having the pants on and marking how far up the leg I wanted to have the fabric. Basically where I felt comfortable since the legs were so restricted. I just marked it with a pin on one side, measured, and marked it on the other pant leg the same measurement.

Now, I have NEVER used a seam riper in my life, but once I figured it out, it was super easy!! I just opened up the legs up to the point where I had marked.

Once done with that, I decided how big I wanted the leg hole at the bottom to be. I decided to use 6" on fabric at the bottom, so I cut it to measurement, pinned it at the bottom of the pant leg, flattened it out, and pinned it at the top where I had cut the pant leg open to.

I decided to use stitch witchery to adhere the cute fabric to the jeans. I measured and cut, and pinned it in place as the iron heated up.

Once the iron was ready, I followed the instructions and had a damp cloth on top of where I was ironing, and then pressed for ten seconds on each spot that needed heat. I then removed the pins and repeated the process.

After both legs were "glued" together, I trimmed the excess fabric and decided I wanted to add extra "security" by sewing the jeans a fabric together as well.

As you can see, I did the sewing by hand, and quickly, for a cute flirty look, and so it didn't have a mechanical finish. Now if you are making it, you could finish it however you wanted, either by machine or by hand :-)

And wearing the finished product (with my fur baby Harvey photo bombing. Haha!)!!!

24 Weeks 6 Days

Week two of birthing class last night was great! :-) It was awkward at first with my mom, but after the class got going a little bit, it was better. We practiced our breathing techniques and learned more on the stages of labor. My mom did a fantastic job being a coach and I'm hoping that even though Alex doesn't want her in the room while I am in labor, I will at least be able to have her at the hospital in case I need her if he can't comfort me.

The instructor also was talking about how if you were curious to how long you'd be in labor, you could get an idea from how long your mom was in labor. My mom looks at me and says, "You're lucky! We have good genes!" Apparently my grandma was in labor with her first for eight hours, and it was cut in half for each child she had; so by the time she had my mom, the doctor told her to not be a half hour away from a hospital at all times when she was close to term. My mom labored with my brother for eight hours (even though he was two and a half weeks overdue before she was induced!) and was only in labor with me for four and a half hours (she was induced the day after I was due). I'm hoping I get the awesome fast labor genes too!!!! Hahaha!!

Today I had a fun day out with Laura shopping :-) We of course HAD to look at baby clothes!! I found several outfits I loved, both of girl a boy, so she made a deal with me, I buy one and she will buy the other, so we have one of each gender (since she knows!!!!!)! She also wanted a picture of me with both outfits. So here ya go:

Plus we can't forget this week's belly picture!!!!

Loyalty, Love, Trust

There is nothing more touching than someone who is completely devoted to their pet.  This image has touched myself, and now soooo many others as it has gone viral. I am so excited and happy for my friend Hannah (who captured the image), but also for this man and his dog; as complete strangers pour out their hearts and want to help this pair  ♥

"This is 19 year old Shep being cradled in his father's arms last Tuesday night in Lake Superior. Shep falls asleep every night when he is carried into the lake. The buoyancy of the water soothes his arthritic bones. Lake Superior is very warm right now, so the temp of the water is perfect. John rescued Shep as an eight month old puppy, and they've been inseparable ever since."

She will be posting more images, and is in the process of setting up a fund and a way to buy the image if you so desire (all proceeds go to benefit Shep and towards his vet bills). Please follow her on her Facebook page to keep up to date on John and Shep! :-)

http://www.facebook.com/WisconsinWeddingPhotography

EDIT: Here are a couple articles with more information :-)

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/239104/

http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2012/08/schoeps-laser-treatment/

http://www.twincities.com/ci_21254327/photo-man-and-his-dog-lake-superior-goes

http://www.kare11.com/news/article/986299/391/Meet-the-Bayfield-man-and-dog-behind-viral-photo

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/man-dog-lake-superior-photo-_n_1755609.html?1344437899

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/books/stay_sit_beg_heel_speak_love_CO8gMWdCq3xoEKhEkWdkoI

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7417754n&tag=mg;mostpopvideo

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2012/08/13/dnt-wi-man-and-dog-floating.wcco

http://animaltracks.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/08/10/13201367-in-loving-arms-man-floats-his-sick-dog-to-sleep-becomes-internet-sensation