31 Weeks...

I haven't really been talking too much about the baby...More about the things that I've been creating...though one would say that the baby is something that we've created, and I'm still creating...

So I'm 31 weeks along (in my 32nd week) and everything is still going well. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking the glucose screening test (the one that tests whether you have gestational diabetes), where you drink a drink that tastes like the McDonald's orange drink that we used to get when we had hamburger days at school, which contains 50g of glucose, and then give blood an hour later and they test it. When the doctor got the results of the test, they were abnormal, so I got to endure the 2.5 hour glucose tolerance test, which consisted of peeing in a cup (you're welcome), giving a vial of blood, drinking the same drink that contains 75g of glucose, and then sitting for an hour, giving blood, sitting for another hour, and giving blood again. I did that on a Monday, and was waiting to hear back from the doctor all week...I heard nothing all week, so I didn't know if that was a good thing, or if she was just going to wait until my doctor's appointment Monday morning to inform me of the results. I figured that if it came back abnormal again, she would have called. She confirmed this at my appointment by telling me that all of my tests came back normal. I was excited about this information. I'm a worrier (as if some of you didn't already know that) so I was worried the whole time I didn't hear from the doctor. Worried enough that every hour I was calling our house phone and checking the messages from work (I don't know why any office, be it a doctor's office or a dentist's office, ask you for your work number, and then always call the house number) to see if she called or not.

But everything is good. I realize now that I can't walk as fast as I did before...Yesterday I walked from work (at 185 Smith Street) to the Shoppers Drug Mart at Sherbrook and Notre Dame and got halfway there and thought "what the H did I get myself into?". Being the stubborn woman that I am, I didn't let myself talk myself into turning around, and just kept on trucking. On the way back, I was quite a bit slower than on the way there. I'll just have to learn to pace myself, or not walk as far...

Chip & Pepper T-Shirt Quilt

That's right. Chip & Pepper T-Shirts. Ryan had 6 of them, and I wanted to make a quilt out of them, because (and rightfully so) he wasn't wearing them anymore. He said that I was "destroying his childhood" by cutting up the t-shirts (he did say it, but he didn't mean it) and told me that I couldn't cut up one of them. It happened to be the only one of the 6 that wasn't pink...I'm not sure what kind of phase he went through when he was younger, but it involved a lot of pink and purple...

Anywho...I started cutting the squares out of the t-shirts and finally got them all done last week and by Friday afternoon, I had figured out the pattern that I wanted to put the squares in. I started sewing the squares together on the weekend and finished everything last night. At first, I thought I had made a huge mistake...The cotton from the t-shirts was SOOOO soft that I didn't think that it would sew together properly. After I sewed two rows together, I found that it came together better than I thought it would. It ended up turning out better than I had hoped. I have to figure out how to put a backing on it, and decide what backing I want to use. I'm guessing that something flourescent will be the best match though.

It went from this:


To this:

Angel Ornaments...An Idea Stolen From A Craft Sale

Last year, Evelyn, Amanda and I went to a couple of craft sales/shows and I had found an angel ornament that I bought for Ryan's mom for Christmas. Looking at it, I figured that it was something that I could possibly replicate quite easily...apparently Ryan's mom thought that too, because she figured that she could make some for this Christmas and give them out as small gifts to her friends.

We bought a lot of the ribbon last year after Christmas and got it on sale, and this past weekend we decided to start working on them.

I had made a few last year, but hadn't quite perfected the look of them. Ryan's mom made a few changes to the "pattern" that I had given to her, and we both started to work on them.

I have made 6 so far, and, although I'm not sure how many I'm planning on making, I'm going to make more this weekend. I'm managing to use up older items that I have around the house - beads that I used to make Christmas ornaments a few years ago, ribbon that I used for the flowers for Geoff & Rachel's wedding - for the embelishments on the angels. They're not going to be as fancy as the original, or as the ones that Ryan's mom is making, but I like them just fine.

Here are a few pictures of the finished product:

I went from this:


To these:

74 More Days...

...until the baby's due date. Where, seriously, has the time gone??

We went to the States on Halloween weekend to pick up the crib, mattress, and playard that we ordered from csnbaby.com. We figured that since we had to go to the States to pick up Mom and Dad from the airport in Grand Forks, why not make a weekend of it and save on the shipping to Canada. We had our parcels delivered to Pembina Parcel Service in Pembina, North Dakota. I would highly recommend using her services. It was $5 per package, so for $15, we didn't have to pay duty or shipping charges on the packages, which would have been $50+. And since we were heading down there anyway, it wasn't like we had to drive down there specially just to pick up the packages.

We picked up a few other things while we were down there too...I went thrifty and we hit a bunch of thrift stores, and at one, women's clothes were 25 cents each, no matter what you bought. I was in HEAVEN! I bought 13 shirts. Now I just need to find pants!

We got home at about 10:00 on Sunday night (Halloween night) and for some reason, I couldn't convince Ryan to put the crib together...We had to wait until Monday to do it.

Ryan worked on the crib and I put the playard together. Everything went together quite easily, and Ryan was impressed with how well the pieces of the crib fit together. Now we just have to find sheets for it...I'm pretty sure that the flannel double sheet that we have on it right now isn't going to work so well once the baby comes...

Here are a few pictures of the crib and playard, once they were put together and put into the room (the playard is in the room for storage right now...we figure that if we leave it out, the cat will claim it as his own...we also need to find some sort of net or something to go overtop of it when it's in our room so that the cat doesn't jump into it while the baby is in it.

The pink bear that is in the crib was mine from when I was born...

Tonight Ryan and Dad are loading up the dresser from Mom & Dad's place that they refinished for us and the dog house that we built on the weekend and bringing it over. We've taken Friday off so that we have a really long weekend, so maybe I can get the baby's room all set up (or at least cleaned up a bit). I'll post pictures of the dresser and of the monstrous dog house that we built for Maeby. All Ryan said was "She'd better use it, or I'm going to staple her in it!".

Recycling...sort of...

We went to the beach one day when we were out in Kelowna in the summer for my cousin Amie's wedding, and my other cousin Jen brought out a blanket that her mother-in-law made for her and the kids. It was a quilt made out of old blue jeans, and I fell in love with it, and decided to make my own. I had quite a few pairs of jeans that I wasn't wearing anymore and figured that I could recycle them into this quilt/blanket.

I started it a couple of weeks ago, and it's finally finished - to the extent that I am finishing it. I'm not putting a backing on it, because I plan to use it outside on the grass or at the beach and decided that if it's just going to get grass-stained and dirty, what's the point of putting any type of backing on it? The frayed-jean look works for me!

I still have quite a few pairs of jeans left, so I'm going to make one more for sure, but a smaller one that does have a backing on it so that I can put it on the floor inside and put the baby on it. Small so that I can carry it with me wherever we go. Hopefully it won't be too awkward to lug around.

Two broken jean needles later (one of which broke as I was working on the last inch of the hem), here are some pictures of the finished product:

My next project is a quilt made out of old Chip & Pepper t-shirts...They're pretty ugly as shirts, and nobody wears them anymore (though I bet Ryan does when I'm not at home...) and it would be a shame to throw them out (who doesn't love flourescent tie-dye??), so I figured that I could make another type of quilt/blanket. Wish me luck! I hope my mom doesn't want her sewing machine back anytime soon...

Oh, and I'm planning on making my own cloth baby wipes too...I can't wait!

Saturday, In The Park - I Think It Was September 18th

In keeping with tradition, this year, we went for our annual walk in the park at BHP. And again, we took pictures of ourselves, and of this kid I know, Jose.

Here are a few of the pictures:

This picture was taken to prove that we
actually DID go for a walk (above).

Moe said that we looked like we were trying to
sell sweaters or something for Sears (above).

Showing off "our" pregnant bellies...and unless someone
is keeping a good secret, I'm the only one that's pregnant:

Kristy told us to look mad in these pictures (below). I didn't succeed until the third picture, where apparently Jose is giving Kristy the finger.

We thought we'd be able to crop Kristy's "mad" picture (below) and
photoshop it into the one above, but then we realized that she'd look like a giant!

No, Kristy isn't giving Jose the finger...I think she was giving it to us three (not pictured).

I think Kristy (below - hiding her hands) realized that
three kids - standing just a bit beyond Evelyn, Amanda, and I -
thought she was giving THEM the finger...

Not sure...clueless?:

Moe captioned this one as "Opportunity Knocks":

I captioned this one "Knocked Up" (me at 22 weeks):

Just some kid I know...

Just some door I know:

Kristy sneaking into the "creapy house":