Baby's Curtains

Yesterday Lydia and I had a sewing day! We had so much fun! I wanted to add some more of the owl fabric that the bedding was in so that the blanket wasn't the only thing owls in the room. So, I ordered a yard of the fabric not really knowing what I'd do with it yet. The 1 yard of fabric was $21.00 so I just knew I wanted to make it last! I had the idea of doing valances at first, but in order for them to gather, I would need another yard. Then I decided since that room is so bright (it has a window facing the east) we needed some dark curtains to make that baby sleep, haha! So, I decided to buy some brown curtains and then add some owls to the bottom. It worked great because I washed and dried the 100% cotton curtains like a dummy! So, since they shrunk adding a few inches to the bottom worked out great!
Here is what we did:

First we had to cut the fabric into 2 long stips, one for each curtain. Then we pinned the fabric so it was upside down... we did this is that we could sew and flip it over to create a hem.

After it was sewn, we flipped it and ironed the seam.

Then we flipped it to the back side and pinned the sides and bottom to hem!

 All finished!!! They look so cute! :)

You have no idea how much darker the room is now!

(Dis-reguard the random hunting/checkerd/illini bed in the room right now)

Oh and the awesome curtain rods are going. I bought new just haven't put them up yet.

I am so glad we decided to do this to the curtains! We still have a lot of the fabric left!! Going to make a pillow and diaper stacker next, so stay tuned!

Baby Bedding!!!

FINALLY! The baby bedding has arrived! I ordered it back in December and I don't know why I thought it would be here within a week or so since it was hand sewn... but anyways I'm glad its here! I was just thinking today that I wanted to start ordering some of the furniture in case it took awhile too.
Now that the bedding is here we can go pick out paint! I can't wait to start... only 5 more months till this baby is here. I know that seems like awhile, but not when you're my husband! haha, It takes us forever to get any projects done because we're so busy and usually have some kinda plans on the weekend or he wants to "relax" he says. We have to paint, lay carpetm and put furniture together... which for us could take the whole 5 months. I would like to have it all complete by my shower so that I can just go add everything I get into place... I am wanting to have my shower in April since May is such a busy month for people. (I know thats why a lot of people couldn't come to our wedding is because it was in May, and they had graduations to go to.) If not April then maybe the first week of May wouldn't be so bad... just might have to have it on a Sunday since college grads are on Saturdays.

ANYWAYS... here is a pic of the bedding. It looks more boy-ish than I thought.... but I think I'll be able to do yellow and brown accents if its a girl and then blue or green accents if its a boy.

Bed skirt pattern close up

Close up picture of the crib blanket

here is the crib blanket and skirt together. So cute! Love the owls :)

I am wanting to get a big brown tree decal for the walls. Then I'll use my cricut to cut vinal owls out once baby is here so I know what colors to choose! I'm also going to add the baby's name above the crib... once again after baby is born. Since the owls have patterns on them I thought it would be cute to find scrap book paper and modge podge different patterns to the letters of his/her name. Thats only going to happen if I can find cute paper that matches though. So if you see any that looks like the patterns on the owls, grab me a piece or let me know where to find it!

17 Weeks

At 17 weeks baby is having a growth spurt! The average size of a baby at 17 weeks is 5.1 inches long from head to butt! The baby weighs about 5.9 ounces. I feel baby move more and more each day. It is so neat! I can't wait for Jared to start feeling the baby move. I hope its soon! This week the baby is starting to grow fingernails and toenails.

Cravings: none! I really haven't had any since the last ones and those are pretty much gone. I still don't want anything sweet though.

Weight: I think I'm finally back at my original weight. So I'm sure the pounds will start adding now, boo! Water doesn't sound as good anymore, although I try! I just cant cut the soda completely :(

Maternity clothes: I am still in all my regular jeans. Its weird because I feel like I'm carrying low so far, but I don't think I've widened yet since all my pants fit normally still. I'm not complaining though! Those maternity pants don't look comfortable! I do have one pair of dress pants that I've been wearin the belly band with becasue they are higher waisted and have always been rather tight. I can't button those anymore, but the belly band seems to work great!

This week the baby is as big as an...

16 weeks

Baby sure is growing... or maybe its just me. Thats what I feel like anyways!

The baby is now 4.5 inches long and weighs approx. 3.5 ounces.

The baby is as big as an...

Hooded Towel

I made my first hooded towel for a friend. My sister helped me with the tutorial because it looked so confusing when it came to the folding... I ended up using a different one because i found a video tutorial that looked 10 times easier! You will need a hand towel, a bath towel, and a sewing machine! To spice it up you will want some patterned fabric or ribbon. Here is what I did!

1. Cut your hand towel in half.

2. Choose one of the pieces. Fold the top half down to meet the bottom half. Take a plate and match the sides up with the top of the towel. You will then draw around the curve and sew the top seam shut along the curve and down the raw side you have just cut.

3. Sewing

4. Here is a picture of the finished hood. Wasn't that easy! I jsut turned it right side out after I sewed it!

5. To sew the fabric of your choice on, make sure you flip the hood back inside out so you are sewing the fabric on the back side of the hood. Cut your fabric however thick you want and pin it to the hood. Sew together.

7. You can't see the fabric, because its on the back of the hood. But it's complete and now you just have to pin the hood to the center of the towel and sew. Make sure you sew on the inside, not the back. Also, to get your hood at the half-way point in your towel, fold the towel in half and put a pin there, then match up the center of the hood to the pin.

Here is the finished product! Super cute for any baby/kid! And much warmer than those dinky baby hooded towels! I think I'll make all my pregnant friends one, and hey one for me too!

Name Meanings

Ellie Grace Yager
I can't help but hope for a girl, one reason is just because I LOVE the name. I wanted a name that sounded like my maiden name since my dad had all girls and Nuelle won't be continued after him! When I heard Ellie I thought it was just the cutest name. I never really looked up the meanings of our names cause it's not a huge deal to me, but I have to say this is a pretty sweet name meaning for a baby girl!
Ellie- Exaulted, shining light - derived from Elaine. Ellie is ranked number 104 among top girl names
Grace- Grace of God- Grace is ranked number 17 among top girl names


Hunter Wayne Yager
Part of me also wants a sweet boy to love on! I had always wanted my first kid to be a boy because I always wanted a big brother to look out for me when I was little. So, either way we'll be happy! Jared picked every part of this name as you can tell! He loves to hunt, fish, frog gig... anything outside! Wayne is his middle name and his dad's middle name.
Hunter- One who hunts. Hunter is ranked number 56 overall in boy's names.
Wayne- Wagon maker/wagon driver. Wayne is ranked number 759 in top boy's names, haha!

Yager actually means "to hunt" in German. So if we have a boy- his name will be all about hunting! We of course just want a healthy baby! It sure is fun to guess though! I think only 2 people so far have guessed I'm having a girl..everyone else says boy! I go back and forth. At first I thought boy, then I thought girl, and now after hearing the heart beat I'm wondering again if its a boy. I know that the heart rate is just an old wive's tale though, so who knows!

15-16 week appointment

Today we had our 2nd appointment with Dr. Haller. We had to wait about 35 minutes to see her and she wasn't even in the room for 10 minutes with us! It was a very short visit. My blood preasure was 110/56 (I have no idea if that is normal.. sometimes I wish they'd say.) Dr. Haller then checked the baby's heart rate. I was kind of nervous when she put it on there and I didn't hear anything but then suddenly I got a big smile on my face as I heard whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh very fast! Baby's heart rate has dropped a lot- it was 162 last time and this time she said it was in the 140's. I told Jared that it was a "boy" heart rate and he said stop tryin to guess, haha. But I just can't help it! Dr. Haller asked if I had gotten sick because I lost some weight from the last appointment. I told her how I was just trying to be healthier and drink water more often. She was pleased! She said I should be gaining a pound a week from now on though, so lets see if I can catch up a bit. I feel like there will be plenty of catching up  in the weeks to come though! Today I was down 3 lbs. since the last time I went in. I think my scale must be a bit off from theirs since mine showed -5.

Our next appointment is February 8th. We will get a sonogram and I'll be 20 weeks at this appointment! :) I hope I start to feel baby move on a more regular basis!

Baby Lately

Tomorrow we have another appointment for baby Y. I'm 15 wks and 3 days pregnant. I'm sure tomorrow's appointment won't be anything too exciting since we don't get a sonogram or anything, but I bet we will get to hear the heart beat and that always makes me smile! I don't know why but going 4-5 weeks without hearing it makes me kinda nervous! I think its because I hadn't felt baby move or anything yet....until TODAY! Before today and I wasn't sure if I had felt the baby move yet, people said it feels like butterflies, and sometimes indegestion. Well today I was teaching and my lower stomach felt funny! It didn't feel like what I thought I was feeling a week or so ago. It felt totally different and I'm 99% sure it was the baby! I kinda stopped teaching and just looked at my stomach while touching it. My kids looked at me like whats going on! I said I think the baby just moved and they all giggled :) I only felt it twice today. I'm not sure how often I'll be feeling it, if thats normal or not, but I was excited! I signed up for daily emails from parents.com right when I found out I was pregnant and they send me updates on my what my baby is developing each day. I usually can't wait to check my email just to see what is new! A few days ago the newsletter said I might be able to feel baby move ...between now and 18 weeks for the first time is average. Yay!

                                                       Weight Gain

As far as weight gain the newsletter and other sights I've seen have said 5lb weight gain is expected for being at 15 weeks. So far, I'm down 6 pounds from when I got pregnant! I was excited about that! I am hoping for no more than a 40 pound weight gain overall. So far, I think I'm doing good. I think the main reason I've lost weight isn't because I've been eating super healthy, its because I've been trying to drink LOTS of water. I'm not a water drinker and I'm makin myself fill my 24oz cup up 3 times at work. I've done it for a week and a half now!

Cravings

In the very beginning I wanted nothing more than taco salads from Puerto Villarta! I had Jared get me a few and bring them home, and even had his mom get me one one night.... little did she know why I wanted one so bad! The taco salads went away and I craved milk a lot, baked potatoes (NOT a good thing to crave..usually =weight gain!), and I also wanted pizza rolls quite frequently. Jared made fun of me because we went through 2 bags of 40 pizza rolls in no time, so I then bought the box of 120! Some of those cravings are still hangin around and come every now and then but for some reason today all I could think about was tomatoes with ranch, haha. I think if you put a veggie tray in front of me, I would eat the whole thing! I've gone through a whole bag and a half of lettuce in 24 hours! Some people say when you crave salty/healty food it means you are having a boy... who knows! I just hope the healthy cravings stick around because they are much better than pizza rolls and baked potatoes.

This week, the baby is as big as an

Sewing

I got a sewing machine for Christmas and I love it! I had been wanting one for awhile.. since I found out I was pregnant actually. I knew I wanted to make some burp cloths, bibs and blankets and such. My sister got into sewing baby stuff when she had Noah and it seemed pretty easy! So as soon as I got it I went and bought some fabric and started sewing! My sister showed me how to thread my bobbin and machine and she gave me a few pieces of fabric to get me started as well. So far I've made 4 burp cloths and 2 bibs. I would like to make more bibs but bigger ones. The ones I made were normal size until I sewed them. Then as soon as I sewed them, they of course got smaller. So I'll have to try again. Here are some pictures...

Here is the first one I made. I meant for the yellow to be on the back and the owl to be on the front.. but it got switched- oops! Oh well the terry cloth will be the most absorbant anyways.

So here it is finished, the back

Here is the front. I didn't do the velcro part yet on this one.

Here is the second one I made. I like the way this one closes on the side. I traced another bib for this pattern. I like this one, but again its smaller than I think I'll want. The back of this one is just gray flannel. I need to get some more fabric so all my stuff isn't the same!

Here are the burp cloths I did so far. The 2 on the end are the ones jen gave me to make. The gray dot one is some fabric I found at Angie's 9-Patch and the green one too. I like the green one the best because it's flannel on both sides and it just feels SO much softer! I want to make some recieving blankets out of the flannel too. There just aren't as many cute flannel designs as there are in cotton fabric.

Well thats all I've made so far! I need to perfect my straight lines some more. I think the gray one is my worst and the green my best, haha! I don't think baby will care though :)

February Getaway...ahhhh

I booked a trip to Panama City Beach, Florida! I'm excited for a relaxing few days in Florida to go to a spa, do a little shopping, and sit on the beach even if its in shorts or jeans and a t-shirt it will be better then February weather in Illinois!! You might wonder why such a random trip in a little over a month!? Well last August Jared and his dad's family went to Texas to see his brother graduate. I bought a ticket for $321 and then got my teaching job which meant I couldn't go. Well, since the ticket was with Southwest, they are the only airline that lets you keep the money on the account to use another time! YAY! So, Linda had said she wanted to go to New York and we thought perfect, I already have a ticket! We had it all planned to go in June... good thing we didn't have all the arrangements made yet because not long after our New York thought I found out I was pregnant. I mentioned to my doctor that I was supposed to go, and she said no not happenin, haha. So, if I wanted to fly anywhere I'd have to do it before I enter my 3rd trimester. I looked at my school calendar and saw 2 long weekends, one in February and one in April. Well April won't work cause I'll be in my 3rd trimester already. So, looks like it was February or nothin for this girl! I told Linda my delima and she said okay lets go in February then! Only, who wants to walk around New York in the middle of Winter, not  me! So, I started lookin at my hotel deals that I get from the Hilton and found a sweet hotel only a mile from the beach for $29 a night! Woo Hoo for cheap vacation for me! So, we booked it last night. Even though it wasn't our intentions at all to go this early or even to go to Florida, I think it'll be a fun little get-away! We fly out Thursday evening and come back
Monday afternoon. It'll be a short trip, but fun!

I'll be sure to post pictures of the beach! (but don't count on any beach swimming pic's.. cause I will not be wearing a swim suit!)

2011 re-cap

This time last year I was gearing up for student teaching. Its really hard to believe that was only a year ago! So much has changed since then and it just seems like more than 1 year ago I was just starting my last semester of college. I miss my t-town co-workers and students a lot though! That was a great school and maybe someday I'll be employed there? Who knows!

Well student teaching ended quickly and I graduated from Eastern on May 7, 2011. After graduation, literally the week after, Jared and I got married! We had an amazing wedding and headed to Cancun right after! It was such a nice relaxing vacation afer a long, busy semester of teaching and planning a wedding. It was much needed! I enjoyed my summer off and began looking hard for teaching jobs. I told myself I'd be willing to drive up to an hour for a job... boy am I glad I don't have that far to drive though! I don't think I would have liked driving any more and I am now. I got my teaching job the first week of August. I was supposed to be going to Texas with Jared's dad's family to see his brother graduate from basic training... but since I got the job they left without me and had a great time anyway! I was glad Jared was still able to go, he had fun and really enjoyed the base in Texas! I started my first day of teaching on August 18, 2011. Shortly after, my second nephew Carson was born! Jen had Carson on August 29th, 2011. This is a picture of him at Christmas this year. He is such a cute little man!

I thought that was going to be it for our year of change but nope, God had another plan in mind when we found out we were going to have a baby! I still can't believe in 6 short months we'll be holding our little one! 2011 has truly been a year of blessings. God has blessed us in more ways that we could have imagined. I can't wait to see what else he has in store for our little family! Here's to hopes that 2012 is just as awesome as 2011 has been! So excited for yet another year with family, friends, and the one we love most, God!