Being a new mommy

One of the things that you learn quickly once you become pregnant is that everyone has an opinion....about your pregnancy, about your body, breast or bottle, cloth or disposable...All advice can be taken or left.  You don't need to explain your decisions as a parent and lets be honest, most people who are already parents or have a few years of experience should remember what it was like to have unsolicited advice shoved at them every 5 minutes....but that is neither here nor there.

A friend of mine (who's advice I take 99.9% of the time) sent me a great article on things your crying baby wants you to know.  It's a good read and worth the time. I can guarantee you won't spoil a new baby by picking them up when they cry, or by loving on them!

To feed or not to feed....

Holiday season is upon us! Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.  Time to start planning the menus from the food you want to serve to deciding between coctails, or mocktails.

Photo from www.myvmc.com/

I'm perfect the way I am

One of the things that happens when you're public on social media is that you get contacted by all sorts of people. Since having my daughter I've had a lot of people reach out to me offering it-works wraps, shakes, 21-day fix programs, free coaching. I know is is their job to reach out to people and offer their product. But come on I just had a baby, okay four months ago I had a baby, but it's still a
very delicate time in a woman's life and it doesn't help when people keep asking if I want to lose weight or join their team.

I don't need a quick fix or wraps. I don't want to join your team. I'm perfect the way I am. Asking if I need a personal coach feels like you are saying I'm fat and don't know how to fix it.  I'm perfect the way I am. This body carried my daughter for almost 42 weeks, it is still sustaining her by making milk. I'm perfect the way I am.

And if I don't think I'm perfect, that is for me to decide when to do something about it. Not for some stranger to make me question the way I look.  For the record, no I don't like the weight I am right now, I don't like that I still can't fit into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes.  It took 9 months to put the weight on, it will probably take just as long.  Society makes us feel like we have to get back to "perfect" the moment we pop our baby out.  We need to change the image of "perfection" and take care of our kiddos.

UPDATE: After posting this I was stunned that it was re-posted by a Take Back Postpartum.  I am so blown away by the responses I have received and the positive messages.  I am also stunned that some people are so oblivious...After I said no this is the DM I was getting on Instagram.

There are no words for how pushy these people are.  Just STOP!

Life after baby

Wow, time has flown by!  It seems like yesterday that I was posting about being pregnant, and then she was here!  It's hard to believe my little baby is almost 2 months old already!

My Sleeping Beauty

Looking back I can see how much my life has changed...for the better...or worse!

Team no sleep...

It's no joke when a new mom refers to herself as a "Mombie"...after the first three and a half weeks of mom-life my little Baby Fish has started having a witching hour, or two or three...it starts around 4:30 or 5:00 pm.  She fights sleep, and does not want to be put down, and there are very few things that will calm her. The boob always helps, but after our exorcist moment the other evening I am hesitant to offer it to her for comfort.  Another of the things that may help is "the hold" although that doesn't always work...

Introducing...

She's here!  Our darling daughter made her appearance on April 18 at 2:19pm!  She is 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 inches long.  Both mama and baby are doing great! We will let everyone know when we are ready for visitors!

Just walk it out!

There is a time during pregnancy when time seems to creep by soooo slowly.  When it seems like you are trapped in the movie "Groundhog Day" and the day will just never end.

But it is my circus! And it's my monkey!

With Baby Fish's debut about a month away I just wanted to take a moment and blog about something that has been on my mind for most of my pregnancy.  My due date...and everything that comes after.

Breasts...there I said it

Breastfeeding has become a "hot topic" as of late and we live in a society where breasts are used as marketing ploys...hello Carl's Jr, Hardee's, Victoria Secret, etc...and let's face it, sex sells.  And until that changes we can expect to see images like these plastered all over TV, and the internet.  And on the flip side we will have mom's shamed for breastfeeding in public.

DIY heaven!

Pinterest is full of DIY clothes and other cute things for little girls.  So I decided to drag out my fabric stash and try one!  I will link to the sites where the tutorials or instructions are, so I'm just going to post the finished garment!  Let's have some fun!!

11 Weeks!

This week if you could see my wee one. They would look a bit like this...

Milestones this week include irises developing and the teeny tiny nails on his hands and feet growing as well.  You can feel the top of the uterus if you know where to press, carefully of course.  And although I'm not showing per-say, I'm definitely using hair bands to hook my pants, or just wearing some of the maternity garb I was lucky enough to get already!

One of my favorite movies is "What To Expect When You're Expecting" when I first watched it I related to Holly, because I had been told IVF was it, and we couldn't do that, so I thought well we can adopt.  Most recently I relate to Wendy.  The woman who has dreamed of becoming a mom, does everything including charting, swearing off alcohol and relations on a schedule.  Throughout the movie she plasters a smile on her face and swears everything is great when in fact it was far from it.  This early on I was naive enough to think that once I got pregnant it would be sunshine and rainbows and unicorns....yeah not so much.  I have been sick, sore, tired, and my face looks like a throwback from middle school teenage years...don't get me wrong, I am still ECSTATIC that I'm pregnant.  And I can't wait to find out what we are having, and to get the nursery done, and to finally hold my precious miracle, but man it would have been awesome to just feel great from day 1.  Or as they say in the movie, I want my glow.  If you haven't watched this flick yet, I suggest you do.

What is so special about the 10th week?

This week Baby Fish will completely lose his/her tail, and they will look like a little tiny human instead of a sea monkey!  The inner ear is ready, and the outer ear will be developing although it will be a while before he can hear anyone talking to him through mama's belly.

At the end of this week the placenta will be developed and the baby will be getting all of it's blood supply and food from mama, all the more reason to watch what I eat!  Gone are the days of eating for two.  I just need to add a few more calories to my daily intake, but make sure they are protein and vitamin packed ones.  There is a chance that this week I will get more morning sickness because my HcG levels will be at their highest this week!

I did get to hear the heartbeat this past week.  I should have posted it, but I am gonna post it now!  Just listen to the little Chug-chug sound, like a mini train.  That is Baby Fish!

Lists

I was cleaning out my purse so I could switch to a smaller one that is cross body...and I came across the list that I wrote last Sunday.

At that point I was three days late, and I thought, well if I haven't started by morning then I'll take a test just to see...Little did I know what was in store for us!

Trying something new

Every week I have several groups I attend, two knitting and crochet groups, and a quilting group.  For many years I have admired hand made quilts, never thought I could do it, but finally talked myself into joining the church quilting group.  And I think, with their help of course, I CAN make a quilt!  I just needed to find a pattern that was easy enough, with large pieces, that I loved...

Last week I was helping my neighbor pick out paint for her living room, and while we were at the store getting the paint I noticed a lady with a scrap of fabric, and they were MY colors...blue, brown, cream and green.  I had to go talk to her to find out where she got that awesome fabric.  JoAnn's of course!  On closer inspection there are little bits of metallic gold between the stripes of color. I was instantly in love with the fabric...I knew that I had to put it in my quilt.

I have been pinning quilts to my Pinterest board for over a year now.  Most of what I like are the more intricate quilts, artsy...elaborate, not beginner....at all...so I went on a search, and found one that I really did like, and it's fairly easy...if you call 13 different fabrics easy....it even needed a striped fabric...

Yes it is a baby quilt, and I do hope I need to have one of these on hand in the distant future...and there is nothing stopping me from making this, with "gender neutral" colors of course, and putting it in the closet and wait for the day that I will need this for my own little one.  This awesome quilt is a freebie that can be found at patternpile,com.  The pattern calls for flannel, but I asked, and was told that I could use cotton instead, thankfully....

Today my mom and I went to JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store.  They were having a sale on quilting fabrics, and we had a coupon for 20% off total purchase.  Made sense that we should take advantage of the sale to get started...our first task was finding the coveted striped fabric...and we did find it!!!  I did a little happy dance in the isle which got my mom laughing.  Next we started pulling fabrics that we thought would go with the stripes, matching the blues, browns and creams.  There were two fabrics that had the metallic gold accents...and of course I had to get those!!  SPARKLY!!! When we narrowed our choices to 12 fabrics we then pulled out the pattern to decide which fabric we chose would go where in the pattern.  I then decided to use the stripes in the quilt, and as the binding.  And the backing material would also be seen in the front of the quilt. 

I do love the colors and materials I chose, it is going to be a contemporary and neutral quilt.  And if need be I can always add some lace to the decor to make it a bit more feminine. Or add some more rustic things to the room to make it more masculine. Either way I will have a quilt that I made, and that makes it perfect.

Update on projects past

Well it's been a busy week.  I started on the new project as posted yesterday.  It has taken off, and it crocheting up nicely!

I am down to only two rows of the Do it your way Afghan to connect then I can start connecting the rows

I can't wait to get this afghan done, I'm definately going to finish this one before starting on the ripple afghan I have planned for my living room.  For today I'm going to take a small break and go have fun with my mom.  I may do some more tonight when I get home!

My CADD strikes again!

© Lion Brand Yarn

I am a day or so away from completing my second Ami-gurumi project (post on first Ami-gurumi to follow soon), and here I am starting a baby afghan for my new niece, she is due in October.  I chose what I thought was a simple baby ripple pattern.  (click here, or on the picture)



It really is simple, and once you get the pattern down it goes quickly.  The part that I found to be super hard is the foundation row...after you make the ump-teen chains...I also used a different yarn that what is called for in the pattern.  I used Baby Bee Little Britches, in the colorway Charming.  I highly recommend using a site like Ravelry to "stash" your yarn collection, and to keep record of the projects you want to do, and the projects you have in progress.  Great for any yarn project!

I started with my 131 chain stitches

Then had to kick my dog off of my directions

And then spent considerable time growling, grumbling and crying trying to get my 2nd row done, after a while I got the hang of it, and it came out right!!!  No need to undo most of the row to start over, or heaven forbid the entire thing and re-chain to start over! And they say that crochet and knitting is supposed to be calming!  Well it is, once you get past the first row.

The blanket should crochet up quickly after this point...unless I get distracted by another project that is!