Making a crib skirt

So the fabric that I ordered for our nursery came today, and being the eager person that I am I had to get to work on one of the projects that I had planned for the nursery.  Here is a picture of the fabric that I got.  

I am going to use the giraffe print for the crib skirt, the chevron print for the curtains and the elephant as a cover for an ottoman that I have.  

Creating the crib skirt was the easiest of the projects so I started with that one.  First I measured out three pieces of fabric and hemmed them using hem tape.

 After that I attached them to the mattress frame with velcro and we get this nice sleek look.  To finish the crib we just need to get some white or gray or blue sheets to coordinate with the room.

Changing Table/ Dresser

My original plan for the changing table was to find a decent sized dresser for really cheap from either the DI, Yard sale, or off of craigslist or KSL.  Most of the dressers that I found on KSL or Craigslist were hours away and we would have to make a specific trip just to get one... and I could never find one that I felt was worth the trip.... so for the past month or so I would go yard sale hopping in Price hoping to find what I was looking for.  A lot of the time I would just drive up to the yard sale and see if they even had anything remotely close to what I was looking for.  Even the Price DI wasn't giving me any luck.  I would go there once a week on Mondays (because thats when all the best stuff shows up).  Every once in a while I would find something that "would work" but I would have to put a lot of work into making it actually nice.  Then by chance I was driving home to have lunch and there was a yard sale along the way.  Just as I was driving by I saw it.  A beautiful solid wood changing table.  I checked it out and told myself that if it was still here after I got off work then I would buy it.  Sure enough.. 4 hours later as I drove home it was still there.

If you view my pinterest account and look at my nursery pins you will notice several Yellow dressers.  I was planning on painting whatever I found for a changing table a bright yellow because I assumed there was no way I could find something that matched my crib and rocking chair and be in my price range.  However, when I started looking at this changing table I noticed how beautiful the solid wood piece was and I thought it would be a shame to cover all that up with paint.

So I convinced myself to refinish it to match.

Here is the original piece.

 Matt is starting to strip the old finish off with 40 grit sand paper.  Luckily it was really soft wood and it came off very easily.

 Matt kinda looks like he has gray hair in this picture with all the sawdust in his hair.

 Finished sanding the top surface

 Matt got all the easy areas with our sander while I went and sanded by hand all of the tiny little spaces that he couldn't get.

 Drawers are all finished and sanded.  After seeing how pretty the original wood was I almost just wanted to put a finish on that instead of staining it, but the original idea was to get the changing table to match everything else.

 Final brush down with 150 grit sandpaper to get a smoother surface.

 Finished sanding!  It took forever but now we have a clean slate for staining.

 The stain sitting on the surface before being wiped down.  We went with a mahogany and it turned out to match really well the with the crib and rocker.

The Finished Product!!!  I painted on several layers of polyurethane (which is why its so glossy) this sealed the finish and makes it a lot easier for clean up (which is important on something you are going to be changing a lot of dirty diapers on).

Oh and don't worry... I made sure the place was well ventilated and I wore a mask during the whole process.

What do you think?  Did you like the other color better?  Preferred the unstained version?  I am love with our finished product and it really pulls all of our furniture together.  So excited to start changing dirty diapers on this thing!  

Obsessing a Little

I am guessing that this is a completely normal part of Pregnancy and a really good animal instinct that is kicking in.... but I've started to obsess over everything baby.  I want to learn everything and anything to do with my baby... what way I feel is best... what way others feel is best.  What is safe, what isn't safe, how warm to keep my baby room at night, what kind of diaper system to use, the list goes on and on.  Most recently I've decided to research the whole diaper situation.  I hadn't really given any thought to the whole thing until this weekend when my dad asked Matt and I if we were doing disposables or cloth diapers.  I immediately answered with disposables as I pictured the wrapped rags with safety pins when I thought of cloth diapers.  Well... Luckily as I was reading one of my favorite blogs younghouselove.com I came across their cloth diapering post found here.  It opened my eyes a little.

Before you know it I was all over the web looking up anything and everything about cloth diapers.  I even had to learn a few things along the way.  I heard all sorts of new acronyms and terminology.  Who knew that diapers could be so complicated?
AIO
Prefolds
Pockets
Fitted
Doublers
Soakers
OS
All of this is new to me... but that just made it more fun (and easier to obsess about).

Part of me is like "this is awesome" and the other part is "how am I going to get Matt to go along with this?"  and a even BIGGER part of me is thinking "Can I find a day care place willing to do these?"

I am SOLD on cloth diapers after a lot of research into them.  I am only hesitating because I haven't chosen a day care provider for my little boy yet (and probably won't for a while).  I feel like it is too soon to look into that... almost 4 months till the baby is due... plus 3 months of maternity leave... is more than half a year away from actually needing a daycare.  I had to research it anyways (I did say I was obsessing wasn't I?)  and I looked up the Utah regulations for cloth diapering in day care.  According to that regulation cloth diapers are FINE in day care as long as they are not "sprayed out" at the day care facility and are put into a "Wetbag" to go home with the baby.  whew!  At least I know they can't say its against state regulations when I ask, and as far as I can tell.. with the way the state regulations make it... its really no different than disposables anyway (If I buy the AIO's).

So... its been decided... though I'll probably wait a little longer before actually investing in them... I think Matt and I are going to be cloth diapering parents.  I personally don't think it will be that bad... its really just one extra step (putting the bowel movements in the toilet).  After all my research, though, I have decided to go the most expensive route with them.  I plan on buying some All in one- One size diapers and some Pocket- One size diapers.  These diapers range from 17 bucks per diaper to 25 bucks per diaper... a baby goes through around 6-8 diapers a day... which means I'm going to forking out a big up front investment with these guys.  However, I've found that these are the only ones that most day care places will be willing to use because they are the closest to disposables in ease of use.

In addition to the diapers I plan on getting some wetbags for dirty diaper storage for both at home and at daycare.  Along with that I am going to get a diaper sprayer that attaches to the toilet plumbing and makes it easier to spray out the fecal matter into the toilet.

I will be using disposables.  I have no clue how big my little boy is going to be when he is born and most of these "One size" diapers start at the 8-10 pound mark.  Which means... until my baby is 8 pounds at least (which could be at birth... or could be much later) we will be using disposables.  They do make infant size cloth diapers.... but thats another investment of at least 12 bucks a pop for diapers that we may or may not need... plus the Meconium will be a lot harder to spray off... so it will be best to wait anyways.

Now that I have bored you with my la-di-da about something you probably didn't care to read.  I am glad that I at least said something about my cloth diaper obsession.

Working on the Nursery

Matt and I have started to accumulate some baby items which have kinda ended up in the unfinished baby room.  When I brought home an awesome zebra rug for the baby room I quickly realized that we have to get the walls painted before we put anything else in there.

If you look at my pinterest account you will see that most of my "nursery" pins are Yellow/Gray with Safari Animals.  I was dead set on gray gray walls until we found out that we were having a boy... in which case I wanted more of a blueish-gray... but still mostly gray.  I picked out several paint swatches and taped them on the wall for a few days before deciding on this one.

Misty Travels... now it looks more blue than gray in the picture... and it looks more gray than blue in real life.. well.. the paint swatch does.  and I should have figured that it would turn out more blue than gray when it was actually painted on.  While painting, however, I had to convince myself that it was more gray than blue.. until it dried.  

It is pretty close to the original paint swatch.. but it is definitely more blue.  I thought I would be a little disappointed in the overall blueness of the walls... but very fortunately I am very satisfied and Love the color.  The blue adds that splash of color and calmness that I was looking for and well.. it says "Its a boy!" all over... which I was a little scared the room wouldn't have said if I had stuck with just Yellow and Gray.   

As you can see (with some of our random baby items arranged in the room).  The blue is a really calming color and kinda adds a bit more interest.  Oh and I just love how awesome that zebra rug looks with it.  Featured in this picture is our awesome rocking chair that Matt's Grandparents gifted to us (thanks again!)  I plan on reupholstering the little cushion in the middle with a Yellow fabric of some sort and adding a bit more cushioning.   

Before painting the walls blue-gray though I spent a weekend painting the closet a crisp white color.  Its still a work in progress.  We plan on putting another clothing rod next to the shelving insert that Matt built into it.  Oh and also featured in this picture is this awesome baby swing that we snagged at a garage sale a few weekends ago. 

Last but not least... the crib (still minus a mattress).  This was the first baby item Matt let me buy... and it satisfied my urge to get things for a while.  Its been sitting assembled for a few months now just waiting for our little squish to arrive.  

There is still a ton to get done (such as the changing table/dresser) and other assortment of decor to add to the "animal safari" theme.  

Baby Boy!

So we had our 20 week ultrasound last week and we found out that we are having a little baby boy!  Everyone that I asked to guess on the gender predicted a girl... mainly because my older sister is having a boy and she was barely even sick, while I was super sick for my first trimester.

I am so happy to be having a little baby boy!

I would post some of the ultrasound pictures that we got but... our cockatiel decided to chew his way through our printer/scanner cord (I'm surprised he is still alive) and I have no way to scan them in at the moment.  So... you get a blank post with no fun pictures.

Now its time to focus on the nursery.  We have almost all the big furniture items already... just need to find us a new dresser for our room since we are going to refinish our existing one for the baby as a dresser/changing table in yellow.  Matt and I almost bought a dresser at Ikea that was perfect... but when we got down to the warehouse area it was sold out and we hadn't written down any of the other dresser locations because there were a few others that were our 2nd and 3rd choices.... so we left dresser-less.  Sounds like this dresser is going to turn out to be a Christmas gift from Santa to both of us instead.

Starting on the nursery

This weekend I spent some time downsizing my wardrobe so I can fit all my clothes and my husbands clothes in our closet in our bedroom instead of in two separate closets... mine being the existing nursery's closet.  I gave DI 3 garbage bags of clothes and a box of old shoes.  This nesting business really has me in the mood to throw things away and get everything organized.

This weekend was tackling mine and the husbands closet so make room for the baby's closet.  Next week I am going to get the laundry room and downstairs pantry all figured out and organized.  Then I might organize the kitchen cabinets and kitchen pantry.  I've got a lot to get done before the baby comes.  I keep thinking of more things I need to get done and thats just around the house... it has nothing to do with the list of things I need to get done for the nursery.

After getting everything cleaned out of the baby's closet my wonderful husband built me some shelves to go inside.  We'll add another clothing rod and paint everything in there white.  I'm hoping to get an efficient baby clothes/item system inside that closet.

Closet before the shelving. 

Matt cutting the shelving

Matt screwing the shelving in.  :)

Nursery Ideas

So lately my pregnancy has been kind of uneventful.  The morning sickness has finally subsided... and besides my sciatic nerve acting up for a couple of days.  Its been a ton better.

One of the best moments of the past few weeks my older sister made the drive down to Price to see our house and hang in good ol Price town.  (I was a little nervous I wouldn't be able to keep her entertained).  We went out to eat, toured the house, went to the Helper arts and music festival, and went swimming at the wave pool.

The wave pool was hilarious.  We were the only adults in the swimming pool and we were trying to support a big tube.  Several times the tube was tipped over and I'm sure both of us looked ridiculous and the adults sitting by the pool were probably laughing as they watched two pregnant women struggle to avoid the waves.

Meanwhile, I've been thinking about the nursery.  Even though we don't know the gender yet I've got the itch to get something going.  So I've started filling in all of the holes and cracks with mud to make sure the walls are perfect before adding color.  Here are a few pictures of nurseries that are giving me some inspiration.  Colors will probably be a silver/gray with yellow and depending on if its a girl or a boy we'll add a bit of blue or pink into the mix... maybe...

2nd Trimester...

So today I am officially 14 weeks Pregnant!  Yay.... which also means I am in the 2nd trimester officially. A lot of internet sites had differing opinions as to when the 2nd trimester really started... 13th week or 14th week.  So now that I am 14 weeks along there is no debating.  

Unfortunately, I feel just as sick if not sicker than I was during the 1st trimester.  Yesterday was the first day that I puked twice in a day.. and then I was sick with a migraine and pukes for the rest of the day.  This morning I woke up and my husband told me that he wasn't going to let me go to work.  He said I was too sick and that I needed a day to just rest and get my fluids back up.  

Apart from still being sick.. my back has started to hurt and I've become really really dizzy and lightheaded.  Yesterday while working I was walking and I suddenly felt like I was going to faint.  I had to sit down for a good 15 minutes or so before I could continue working.  

I would post a 14 week belly picture... but I just don't feel all that great right now... maybe I'll do it later. I have a "bump" but unless you knew I was pregnant you wouldn't know I was expecting.  I kinda just look fat to strangers.  Anyways... just another complaining post about the miseries of my pregnancy.  :)

3rd Doctors Appointment

So today I went for my 3rd appointment.  It was kind of a weird appointment.  I wasn't sure what to expect because not much had changed and I wasn't sure what else we would be going over.  The doctor popped his head in and asked "how are you feeling today?"  I said "feeling great"  "Great! lets go have another ultrasound just for fun!"

So that was my appointment.  I went into the ultrasound room and I got a glimpse of my baby (again).  Its come a long way in the past 4 weeks.  Last time it was just a little blob with a heartbeat.  Today it was sleeping for most of the ultrasound but you could see all the little tiny fingers and the little profile.  He doctor woke it up by pressing on my belly.  The baby was not happy at that.  It kinda looked around confused for a moment.  Kicked its tiny legs and turned over to fall back asleep.  The doctor tried to get it to move more and it waved a little hand at us.  So cute!  Awe I just love this cute little 2 inch baby!

Heart was beating at 166 bpm and the baby measured at 11 weeks 6 days.... so we are back on the old due date of February 1st.  So... I will be 12 weeks tomorrow!  Which means I am closer to the end of my 1st trimester than I thought.

How Awesome is That?!

So... Yesterday I took a big dive and walked into my boss's boss's office.  Mainly to discuss one thing in particular... and the rest just came out along the way.  He approved my pay raise (yay! more money) and then we started talking about other things... and he mentioned that he knew that I was expecting (word travels fast though work I guess).  Well... that lead to the Maternity Leave questions.  Personally, If I had to go back to work at the office I would have taken the 6 weeks of sick leave... and then used probably two weeks of my annual leave.  Thats a lot of hours that I've been trying to build up.

But he gave me another option.  Telecommuting.  (!!!!)  Ok, so I know that not every woman would love this, but I think this is awesome!  I can take a few weeks off to adjust to the baby and from then on I can start doing my work out of my own home from a work supplied computer (and still get to be with my baby).  It probably won't last forever (6 months?)  and  then I'll only be able  telecommute for a few days out of the week (which still isn't bad).

It gets even better, after all that talk he told me that I need to order myself a better chair for work so I can be more comfortable as my belly expands.  So, I now have a big stack of office supply catalogs sitting on my desk at work for me to mull over.  I can't believe how expensive some of these chairs are.

I came home yesterday pretty happy with my situation.  This baby is definitely a big blessing and I sure do love it more than anything.

Baby Names

So... as most expecting mothers I've been thinking about the names that I would consider naming my baby.  I LOVE traditional names.  My middle name was Elizabeth before I got married but decided to drop it legally and have Bytheway be my middle name.  In exchange I wanted to name my first daughter Elizabeth.
Overall here are some of the names my husband and I have been thinking about:
Girl:
Elizabeth Pam Musil
Elizabeth Cindy Musil
Elizabeth Rose Musil

I love the name Elizabeth because we can call her many nick names: Liz, Lizzy, Beth, Betty

Some other girl names:
Isabel
Victoria
Chelsea
Natasha

With boy names I don't have a chosen "favorite" so I am playing around with most of them.  I like having Matthew's name in as the middle name because I like having a part of family member's names passed on and who better than the baby's father?

Alexander Matthew Musil
Aiden Matthew Musil
Carson Matthew Musil
Ashton Matthew Musil

Since I think that this baby inside of me is a boy i am thinking that i should get thinking more intently over these boy names.  Tell me what you think what you like, what you don't.

I want to curl up in a ball and cry

Ok, so this is just going to be a complaining post but I know most women that have been pregnant understand how I feel right now.  It is so hard to go to work in the morning with this raging nauseated stomach and then try and ignore it so I can get some work done.  When I come home I am exhausted and feel worse than I did when I went to work that morning.

I took the medicine that the doctor prescribed me for the nausea and it didn't even work today... ugh... please tell me this will end soon.  I am counting down the days till trimester 2.

Ultrasound Pictures

Blogger wasn't letting me Upload pictures when I first posted about the Ultrasound... so I finally figured out a roundabout way to get them posted.  Doesn't look like a baby... yet.  Just a little blob but we could definitely see the heart beat beating away.  Awe I love it!

First Ultrasound

Today was my 2nd doctors visit and first ultrasound of the baby.  The baby measures at 1.21cm and is about 7 weeks and 2 days gestational age according to the ultrasound.  So my due date has been pushed back a few days to February 4th 2012.  Matt and I were so happy to see our little baby that is making mommy really sick lately.

Today was definitely one of the best days so far of my pregnancy.  I am elated and so happy to know that my baby is doing really well.  Its heart was going at 152 bpm and it sounded like a whooshing sound.  The ultra sound showed the little heart beat just racing away.  I love this little baby and so does Matt.  A few hours after seeing the baby in the ultrasound he texted me "I have a baby!"

All Stuffed Up

The other night I woke up to Matt asking me if I was alright as I struggled to breath through my extremely stuffy nose.  I had a small sore throat from breathing through my mouth and my loving husband ran to the kitchen to get me a glass of water.  At first I thought I had a really bad cold... but it hasn't gone away.  I made my husband buy us a humidifier so I can sleep at night (its the only way to ease my stuffy nose and let me breath).

After doing a little bit of research I have determined (and will ask the doctor as well) that I have rhinitis of pregnancy, and most of the websites say that for most people it will go away at about 2 weeks after giving birth.  Which means I have stuck with cold like symptoms for the next 7 months.

Ugh... I feel trapped in my body... at times I can't breath and sleeping it difficult if I don't keep my head really elevated.  I am not looking forward to being this stuffed up for the next half a year.  I guess this is all an experience and with my first pregnancy... I have to take it all in and just be happy that I am able to create a little piece of life inside of me.

Food Is Not My Friend

This past weekend I hit the "morning sickness" phase.  I've been continually nauseated until I threw up on my way to work this morning.  I literally had to pull off the road as fast as I could and threw up in the first container I could find in my car (a plastic grocery sac).  It felt good to throw up and my stomach was at ease for the next couple of hours after that... but now... its dinner time... and my husband is on his way home.  I was supposed to be making dinner... but my stomach does not want to enter the kitchen.  I am starving, but so nauseated I can't even think about food.  Does that even make sense?

Let the Sickness begin

Today has perhaps been the sickest day of my pregnancy to date.  I've been nauseous since I woke up this morning.  I literally gagged down a dry piece of toast this morning while heading to work.  To make matters worse today I had scheduled to do a land survey of a project I am working on that is in a remote canyon that could only be accessed by a very long, winding, and bumpy road in a 4 wheel drive truck.  The whole ride was not fun for my already nauseous stomach...  luckily there was no throwing up.  Being outdoors in this beautiful weather is amazing... but my already tired pregnant body got even tired after having the sun beat down on me all day long.  When I got home I nearly fell asleep talking to my husband who is away for a work training.  I'm hoping this is the worst of the nausea.

First Doctor's Visit

Dr. Neilson wasn't as bad as everyone made him out to be.  I thought he was very nice and very informative and being a board certified OB/GYN I am glad I decided to go with him, especially since he is so close to home.  He confirmed my pregnancy and we went through the typical 1st prenatal exam questions about family history for both Matt and I and asked me if I had any questions myself.  He gave me a lab document and first thing tomorrow morning I have to swing by the hospital and get my lab work done to check for certain things.  He says right now I am low risk and very healthy.  He also confirmed my estimated due date of February 1st 2012.. and said that we will be able to get a better estimate when I come back in two weeks to hear the heart beat.  I want Matt to come with me this time so I scheduled it in the morning instead of the afternoon.  I am so excited to hear/see that little flutter.

The Search for a Doctor

Decisions Decisions... When choosing a doctor the biggest question I came across was to go over the mountain or to stay in town.  Here in Price we do have a hospital and ONE Obgyn to choose from.  When talking to people at work the response from most was "Its worth the trip over the Mountain."  When it came down to it about half the people at work had their kids up in Provo/Payson and half had them down here in Price.  Those that did see the doctor down here in Price said they didn't like him very much.

So I looked through a big list of all of the doctor choices from Price to Provo.  There was one choice in Price.. Dr. Neilson, and more than a hand full up north.  Most of the people in my office used Dr. Ludlow and his office (comprised of 3 ObGyn's).  Then I had also heard that Dr. Nance in Springville was really good... and according to my health insurance website he was accepting new patients (even though I had heard the opposite).  I had pretty much narrowed it down to those options.

I liked Dr. Ludlow because of the good reviews and the options that his office offered with having 3 doctors and one nurse practitioner there to help with questions in case one was unavailable.  I had heard REALLY good reviews with Dr. Nance... but wasn't sure if he was accepting patients.  And the convenience of having Dr. Neilson and the hospital only 5 minutes away.

Just as I was about to call Dr. Ludlow's office, a thought crossed my mind and I texted my husband and asked how he felt.  He said he would prefer to use a Dr. down here.  I agreed with the convenience and then I realized... I'm due in the middle of WINTER.  If I did go into labor and had to travel over the mountain at the end of January and there was a big snow storm... I don't want to be laboring while almost sliding off the road near Soldier Summit... Plus with the appointments more frequent during that time I would not be looking forward to traveling through that snow once a week.

So... using my husbands advice and my gut feeling about it all... I went with Dr. Neilson even though his reviews were not so great.  However, I am going to have a positive view and hopefully he will prove everyone wrong.  If anything... If I don't like him at least he will be familiar with me if I do decide to go over the mountain after all... just in case.

Expecting!

My heart jumped a little when I saw the pregnancy test that I took  on Thursday May 26th turn Positive.  Matthew and I are so excited to be parents and a little nervous at the same time.  This blog will be everything baby.  Right now I have only been pregnant for about 2 weeks even though I am in my 4th week... so no real symptoms yet... besides peeing a little more often than normal and an elevated BBT.. oh and of course the positive test.  :)