7 Things About Team Green

As you know, we're not finding out the gender of this babe.  I've always wanted to be surprised, and Nic never does.  Now that we have a boy and a girl, I was able to sway him.  Here are 7 things about being 'team green' that I didn't know.

1. People love to say, "Well, I like to be prepared".  I understand this sentiment, I really do.  Preparing for a baby whose gender is a surprise is different than preparing for a baby whose gender you know.  However, that doesn't mean that we're NOT preparing.  In our case, we have boy clothes and girl clothes, so I'm washing both in the itty-bitty sizes.  I made some burp cloths that work for boy or girl.  I'm making a gray and white quilt for the baby.  I'm preparing a place in our room for the baby to sleep {which is where baby will sleep no matter what gender}.  I'm prepared.
2. It drives people crazy.  Oh man!  I had no idea people cared about this.  So many of our friends and family members are pretty perturbed that we don't know boy or girl.  It amuses me that people care that much, but maybe I should be flattered?
3. People love to say, "that's the way it should be".  I don't know why this drives me crazy, but it does.  There isn't a way it 'should' be.  People can do whatever they want!  If they want to find out the gender beforehand, great.  If not, great.  I've been surprised at how opinionated people are about this.
4. It's hard.  Maybe this is because we've found out beforehand with Ella and Henry, but it has been harder than I anticipated.  About 2 days after the 20-week ultrasound, I was seriously bummed.  I would hope and hope and hope at each appointment that I'd get another ultrasound.  But now, at 34 weeks, I'm so happy that we're still 'Team Green'.  I think I just needed to get used to the idea.
5. It's fun.  I've enjoyed thinking about whether this will be a boy or a girl.  I definitely don't have any 'feelings' at all either way, and I'm carrying completely different from either one of my other pregnancies.  I'll go a few weeks thinking it's a boy, and then a few weeks thinking it's a girl.  Another thing that has been fun is being able to sort through and wash boy clothes and girl clothes.  We'll be taking some of both to the hospital {and have some of both ready at home}, so it adds to the fun and anticipation.
6. Bonding has nothing to do with knowing the gender.  This is probably one of the top 'concerns' people have.  They assume that since we're Team Green, we can't 'bond' with the baby or that we don't care.  We do care, and whether or not you know the gender, there is still a little life inside of you.  
7. It makes us REALLY excited for labor!  I'm anticipating giving birth more than ever.  I just can't wait!

Our 'going home' outfits.  Girl is from Ralph Lauren {thrifted}, boy is from Petunia Pickle Bottom {outlet and Henry's going home outfit}.

My Baby

So both Ella and Henry have their special blankets that they sleep with each night.  Ella's is made from minky fabric and came with her crib bedding set, and is named 'cozy'.  I made Henry's when he was about 6 months old and I felt bad for him because he didn't have a super soft, thick blanket.  I used flannel and some minky-ish fabric.  His is name 'wankie'.

So, of course, No. 3 needed a special blanket.  Awhile ago, I'd pinned a beautiful herringbone quilt that seemed easy enough to make; just triangles pieced together.  I had a garage sale a few months back and used that time of just sitting in the garage and watching my ankles swell {sitting is what does it for me} to get started.  I used white flannel, and then was mad because I couldn't find gray flannel.  I was scared to order it online because I'm crazy picky about gray.  So I just used some Kona cotton.

I used 8x8 squares {cut into triangles}, and then after I had the front completely done, I decided to start over.  I know it seems crazy to start over after all that work, but two things:  1. I found some gray flannel locally, and really wanted the whole front to be flannel, and 2. I really wanted the pattern to be smaller.  I know myself well enough to know that if I didn't *love* it, I'd spend the next 10+ years staring at my kid snuggling with it, wishing I'd just started over.

So I did, using 5x5 squares, and flannel for both the white and gray.  Soooo much better.  For the back, I just used some minky fabric, and I didn't use a filling or batting of any kind.  I don't love baby blankets with batting since they aren't as flexible.

I used a zig-zag pattern to quilt it {just following the pattern of the front}, and it was pretty easy.  I'd read some things online that discouraged any type of 'patterns' on a regular machine, but I had my heart set on it.  I just pinned it *really* well, and took my time.  I think it looks great, and much better than a square quilting would have looked with the herringbone pattern.

The binding is a perfect yellow flannel that I found at Joann's.  I obsessed over this binding.  I'd known from the beginning I wanted the gray and white herringbone, but couldn't picture the binding.  I thought  seriously about a gray and white stripe {and actually bought the fabric}, but then decided it should be a solid color.  I bought a deep teal and this yellow, and decided to go with the yellow.  I know it's super trendy right now, but I just love yellow so much.

It was so fun to spend the time making this quilt.  Since we don't know the gender + we already have tons of clothes for boys and girls, this was one of my 'big' projects.  I'm so happy to have such a beautiful blanket to snuggle this babe in!

30 Weeks

Eh, 31.5, but at least I remembered to take a photo...

Ella is 5!

Like every mother everywhere, I go back and forth between thinking that it's impossible that she's been here for 5 years, and thinking that there's no way it's only been 5 years.  Sweet girl.  If there's one thing we can do around here, it's celebrate a birthday.  Here's how it all went down.

Over the weekend, cousins came to grandma's and we celebrated the August and September birthdays.

Oh, and there's this boy.  The one who had a birthday party at grandma's a few months ago, but still thinks that every birthday is HIS birthday.  I guess it's not a bad attitude to have.

We love to perpetuate the myth by just buying him presents.  Actually, this one was from Uncle Jeff.  See?  Not spoiled at all.

Then today {her actual birthday}, we opened presents {new TOMS, dance clothes,

 and some little Disney princess babies?  I don't get it but she went crazy over them last week at the store.}.

Then we headed to Starbucks for breakfast, per our birthday tradition.

Cake for breakfast.

We played at the park, took naps, and went out to eat at Logan's {ella's request; she loves the peanuts}. Then we had cake at home.

We had a great day celebrating our sweet girl.

She's great.

And, yes, this boy thought it was his birthday, too.

Babymooning

Over the weekend, I did something I've never done before.  I kissed my husband and kids goodbye on Saturday morning, and headed to Columbus, Ohio, to hand with my college bestie.

We're both 30 weeks pregnant, and wanted to get together before these babes make their debut.  We'd considered meeting at the zoo with our husbands + kids, but then thought that maybe a weekend sans responsibility would be fun.

Boy were we right!  I've never done a 'girls weekend', and it was fantastic!  We stayed at a really nice hotel at Easton, an outdoor mall.  We pretty much just walked around and talked and ate.  We did leave the hotel/mall area to find a ghetto fabric shop and to search for nursing bras.  We're that exciting.

On Sunday we slept in all the way until 8:30 {obviously we're both moms}.  Mostly, we just enjoyed people watching and listening to people marvel at the sight of two largely pregnant women walking around together.

I'm so glad we just did it.  It was kind of hard to find a weekend that worked, but we did and it was so so fun.

Excuse my fat face in this picture, but there is a new American Girl store at Easton.  Just about every little girl was toting around a new doll.  I'm a big AG fan, so we stopped and I {naturally} found the cutest little swaddle blanket to take back to Ella and her bitty baby.  The doll I'm next to is Molly, whom I've had for well over 20 years.  Ella loves playing with her now!

Today it's back to the reality of insanely crabby toddlers {I have one who has been screaming for 4 hours straight...good thing I'm not taking it personally}, paying bills, and cleaning the house in its state of being mom-less for two days.

Belt It, Baby: How to Make a Belly Belt

I wrote this post wayyyyyy back at 8 weeks pregnant, but never did post it.  Not sure why.  But it's a good and useful one!  Behold:

So my body just loooooooves being pregnant.  By week 8, the bump is out and proud.  I've actually not gained any weight yet {shocking...I have yet to gain less than 100 pounds per pregnancy}, but my body has re-arranged every little cell to produce a lovely little lady lump.  With this being #3, and pregnancy #5, my body was on it.  There's no hiding this one.

I really can't complain, though.  I guess I'd rather look preggo in the first trimester than look awkwardly chubby for awhile.  Don't worry....I cover awkwardly chubby later on in the pregnancy.

But I hate maternity pants.  H.  A.  T.  E.  I love the comfort factor, but hate the way they make me look.  They just make my thighs look terrible.  I mean, there's no way my thighs could be the problem.  It must be the pants.  Ya.  The pants.

So in looking for a reasonable solution {tried the 'Be Band' with Henry's pregnancy...um no}, I came across the 'Belly Belt'.  Love the concept.  I was one click away from ordering, when I got real with myself.  $20?  I bet I can make this thing with the junk I have hoarded in my craft closet.

You'll just need 3 buttons, some knit fabric, and a small bit of wide elastic.  I used navy blue knit since I had it on hand and I thought it would best 'match' my jeans.  Blue or black elastic would obviously have been better, but I had white on hand.

So first you need to cut the fabric and elastic to the length you need.  I cut mine way too long at first, but it was really easy to cut it down later.

The knit should be pretty close to a square shape, since it will eventually be used to cover the zipper area.  Next, just make a casing for the elastic.  I have a knit stitch on my machine, but didn't even use it.  A regular straight stitch worked just fine for this.

Set the knit aside; we'll work on the piece of elastic.  Make a buttonhole close to one end.  My machine has an automatic buttonholer, but it didn't like the elastic much.  I just did this manually, and it worked great.  You'll also want to do a quick zig-zag on the edge, too.

Now you'll need to add three buttons.  I used my machine to put them on, which was super fast.  Use this tutorial.  Also finish off the end of the elastic with a zig-zag stitch, which isn't shown here.

And that's pretty much it!  Just slip the elastic into the casing and you're all set!  I made my elastic a little long, so I just snipped off the last button, and moved it to the other side.

Here's the size of mine when I finished.

To use the belly belt, just put the button of your pants through the buttonhole, and then loop the buttonhole of the pants through one of the buttons on the elastic.  Then as your belly grows, you can move on to the other buttons.  The knit drapes down {tuck it into your pants} to cover the area that would normally be zipped.

Here's an awkward selfie of my crotch to illustrate:

White elastic was clearly not the best option, but my shirts cover it up, anyway.  I'm just happy that my thighs and rear-end still look normal and I get to enjoy all of the benefits of elastic-waist pants.

I'm happy to report that I'm still using this at 30 weeks.  I definitely am wearing some maternity pants, too, but I have a few pair of non-maternity pants that I'm still rocking with this contraption.

Summatime

This poor blog.  I haven't felt much like blogging, but I'm sick of looking at my pregnant self in a swimming suit right up top there.  So here's a photo dump of some of our summer.

Miss Ella had her first dance recital.  She did great.  And will not take off the costume.

Nothing like an appropriately-sized pool for two kids.

When it rains, we terrorize the library.

When it doesn't rain, we head to the lake!

We were the awesome parents that busted out sparklers at 7pm on the 4th of July.

Henry's first s'more.  He was a fan.  And a mess.

We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.  Doesn't seem possible!

More time at the lake.

And our first tubing adventure!  At 9am, no less.

A quick zoo trip this morning.  Too bad we couldn't actually hang with the friends we went with...crabby toddlers are the best.

Hope you're enjoying your summer, too!