DIY halloween costumes

Well folks.... I have to say I usually hate halloween. This year is the exception.... I was actually looking forward to it. Maybe because Halloween falls on a non-work day for me, maybe because I have a party to go to pregnant?! Not sure.

I found this fun picture on pinterest, as probably many of you have. I loved it. A little morbid, but cute. I heard one slant on it- instead of a pregnant skeleton- maybe it's an XRAY of a pregnant lady....however that should never happen...so I guess that's morbid also. I also loved the costume idea for Matt. Matt has a bit of a belly too, so we thought it would be fun to be matching. However what is in his belly?! Homebrew beer of course.

The halloween party we went to was a gnome party- where everyone had to be in gnome attire. So we made some big gnome hats and a few tiny gnome hats. Then we made the skeleton tops ourselves. We chose to wear grey pants...not to mess with the femurs and such. It just made things a little simpler. Oh, did I mention that almost everyone at this party is from my work.... ie. healthcare professionals?! So the pressure was on to make our skeletons anatomically correct. They turned out to be a few ribs short and a few mix-matched bones, but that's ok.

[supplies]

What you need:
-freezer paper
-white fabric paint (I considered glow in the dark paint for awhile too- grown-up party....might have been cool)
-foam brush
-black long sleeve shirts
-iron

Gnome hat:
-red felt

I bought these items at Michael's and Joann's with 40% off coupons. And the shirts I bought at Old Navy- men's long sleeve thermals. Pretty cheap costume, all together $25!

 [the stencils- freezer paper sketches]

[matt's beer belly shirt]

[matt cutting out little xray-spud in the freezer paper]

[didn't he do a fantastic job?!]

[matt painting on the stencil]

This was my first time using the always blogged about freezer paper as a stencil. It worked great! I made two sizes for the both of us. The freezer paper was perfect to draw on until we liked the shape then cut it out. Simple!

Us as "XRAY Gnomes"

Matt trying to give our little spud-gnome some IPA at the party

 [my friend stephanie a boise-state-gnome] 

[oh yes, spud-gnome with more bad influences, however chelsie is excitedly singing to spud]

The project did take a little forethought and time, but it was a blast! Now do we wear the costumes to answer the door to trick or treaters?! (p.s. we didn't)

rubberband trick.

This little trick has saved me from buying new maternity jeans (for now). Oh, simple rubber band...such comfort. You just loop it around your button through the button hole and back around the button. For those of you who have not learned of this novelty. I think I may be using this trick for many years to come, to be honest.

[week 15]

[FYI... it's really hard taking "natural" photos...without sucking in my belly or letting it go. Matt likes to make fun of me, he thinks it's hilarious.]

So this week...was great. Overwhelming amount of school work piling up- it's just that mid-point of the semester and work is busy...people get sicker when the cold weather hits, it seems. However, I feel just comfortable with being pregnant. I am not worried about any of my symptoms....what the little spud is up to with his/her rapid growing. I just feel content. I feel like everthing is going as it should, stress-free. I wasn't sure if this calm would hit me... but it has, and I am thankful for it.

crib indecision.

I double checked to see if indecision was in fact a word that I am feeling... definition: wavering between two or more possible courses of action. Yup! It's indecision alright. A nasty case of crib indecision.

[adorable jenny lind crib... makes me want to throw it in a closet for a crib-nook]

First course of action:
So we bought a crib way back when we were planning on getting pregnant within a month of "trying"...I know, it was a lofty idea. Anyways, being the super planner I am, I bought an old jenny lind crib that happens to be dark wood. I love it. It was $15. I know its unsafe to use a "used" crib... but I think that's silly talk. Or maybe it's the overriding aesthetic appeal and cost savings that won me over. I have grand plans of lightly sanding and painting the crib, overall a very cheap project with a modest amount of work. Oh yeah, and fixing the crib sides so they don't move...thats a piece of cake (for matt).

It's now fall...and I don't know how many of you have tried to paint in winter/fall... it's tough. Even in super dry Idaho...paint drying in cold weather is tricky! I didn't get to this project over the summer like I had hoped would miraculously happen...so now...I am not sure I want to do it. Plus I know I'm not "supposed" to paint while prego.

[ oh geez, this ikea crib, simple baby life just won me over...not too babyfied, just beautiful]

Second course of action:
Ikea has recently had their cribs back on sale! Yay! They are about $99.... pretty affordable for our budget. And they are white and minimal- which I like clean lines, they make me happy. I was thinking we could scrap the jenny lind crib effort and rather spend the money for a crib that's new and done. We are going to Colorado this winter, so we could stop in at Ikea and bring it on home before spud arrives.

The only con is that I keep on picturing our sweet little spud room with those knobby old fashioned crib rungs in the jenny lind crib. But as you can see from the two pictures above... there really is no losing in this indecision. Pretty darn cute.

california weekend...

[where we anchored for the night next to angel island, fleet week in SF, and my parent's boat]

We spent a wonderful weekend in California with my parents, my sister, and her new boyfriend, Kyle...about two weeks ago. It was a weekend full of sailing, spending time at the beach, lots of laughing, and wonderful conversation. It was a blast to be there with my family...now a bit expanded with Matt and Kyle. It's how I always dreamed it would be with my sister and I all grown up....being adults who love to hang out with their parents with their significant others. And to top it off Kyle is awesome. This was the first time we all met Kyle. Matt was very sympathetic to Kyle's nerves for he was in that same position about 3.5 years ago... talk about nerve wrecking meeting the parents and sister on the same visit.

[kyle meeting my mom... can you see the excitement in my sister? so cute]

[all of us sailing in SF, really a blast]

My mom is doing so much better it made me and my sister almost cry with happiness to see her almost fully recovered from her knee infection. Back when we visited (here) we were bummed to see her in pain and with a long haul ahead of herself. So we planned this october sailing weekend with the family as a goal to look forward to- to be healthy, happy, and enjoy life. Well here we are. And now we will be enjoying life, not taking it for granted.

[Super cute beer bottle...I happened to have picked it out for everyone to drink. They told me it didn't taste so good, but perhaps they were just being kind to me]

[alot of this was going on during the weekend....so I had virgin pina coladas...]

Oh, and remember when I was worried a few weeks back (here) that I would be sick with sailing and flying out?! I wasn't! I was armed with zofran just in case, but I didn't even have to use it. I was hoping I would have a little bump to show my family to prove to them that I was really pregnant. It didn't really happen, but it was a blast to be able to be excited with them in real life not just on the phone.

oh, iphone.

[instagram version of us and the iphones...at home depot]

There is big news in our household. We are finally in the 21st century. Took us awhile...no, we don't have a TV, a microwave, nor a dishwasher....but we do have iphones! Oh my, these devices are fancy. We love them already. I thought they were silly, that we would be just fine chugging along with our simple phones that just...well...call people. It's very hard to actually find just cellphones these days, so we decided to join a family plan with my parents and sister...and we upgraded to iphones with a data plan. Apps are wonderfully fun. I never knew what instagram was, but now I certainly do. Do you know there is even a where's waldo app?! I feel like a kid again waiting for a doctor's appointment reading through the where's waldo books- however these images come to life, like I always dreamed they would in my books. Then we found facetime. Our first facetime adventure was calling one of Matt's good friends and their new baby, Townes. It was 8am, we just woke up and here we were able to see this smiling sweet little 6 month old baby on our phone. He happens to live in Colorado, but here in 2011 we are able to see people face to face on a phone while talking, no delays?! Amazing. This all of a sudden makes living in different states from the "grandparents" easier. Anyways, you would not believe how happy Matt and I were to be seeing a smiling little babe first thing in the morning. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to have our own spud to wake us up each morning. What a glorious way to start your day.

Do you have any apps you think I just can't live without?! I'd love to know...

[week 14]

[Emma thinking she was getting a treat out of this strange situation]

Week 14! Officially the start of the second trimester. Oh my gosh, I feel amazing. What a relief to be through the first trimester uncertainty and nausea/fatigue/crappy feeling. I sleep a normal amount of hours, I crave all sorts of food all the time, and I hardly feel nauseated. I still have the mood swings which Matt is unbelievably understanding of. I would usually get a bit...shall we say... "cranky" when I didn't have enough food in my system...but now it's just exaggerated by about a million. When I need food.... I need food, otherwise we all suffer. He just kindly reminds me... you're pregnant!...Oh yup, I sure am.

At my work I have about a handful of other pregnant women to talk to about pregnancy symptoms, excitement of our lives changing, and what not. It's a blast. A very pregnant nurse (who looks like she's happily about to burst) mentioned that our children will be in the same school year. I just about had a coronary. My little bump with a heartbeat is going to be a child in school?! What?! That's crazy. I seem years apart from these women who are about to have babies...I only wish I was in their place...able to meet their babes for the first time, but in reality we aren't that far apart from each other. I just feel like each week of this pregnancy is eons long, which I love savoring every part. But seriously, we're having a kid too, not just a baby? Mind blowing.

halloween...

[two of the cutest kid costumes....I want one of each lobster babe & homeless kid found on pinterest, of course]

Is dressing up "homeless" setting a bad example for kiddos?! Regardless, it's adorable. I love the mismatched shoes...you could just have your kid dress himself and give him a sign to hold. And the lobster babe, oh my. I think this could work next halloween when our spud will be around 6 months. Maybe a little bit of a squirmy lobster.

So now we are planning our halloween costumes...it's exciting! I will be posting pictures once we tackle this DIY costume. This year we have a party to go to and hopefully trick or treaters to hand candy out to. I'd have to say halloween is a holiday that I strongly dislike ....but this year I am loving it, I think things are changing for me and this holiday. What are you dressing up as?!

2nd OB appointment

[here]

Today Matt and I went to our second OB appointment. It was fantastic... not because of the bill we received...but rather the amazing heartbeat we heard again. Oh, I love the sound of spud's heart beating. I also had some routine OB blood work, thyroid levels checked....and any questions we had answered. So simple, it was great. I think I would go in weekly if I could just hear that sweet heart beat.

I am just utterly bummed to see how little my insurance pays for childbirth...a healthy vaginal child birth that is. I wonder what an epidural may cost....or even a NICU stay, perhaps we will never know. It's hard loving my job so much...loving healthcare and the work I do, but seriously our system has some flaws. I will just dream of birthing a child in Canada like my blogger friends classic whimsy and aux petits oiseaux...oh yeah, and I'll vote this 2012 too, that may help.

[week 13]

Oh... hello week 13. My last week of the first trimester. So hard to believe, it's amazing.

We just got back from an exquisite trip to California...which I will post more about this week once I collect some photos from the family. 

For now, it's a wonderfully rainy day. I think I just might make some pumpkin spice cake and catch up on your beautiful blogs...

one world birth...a revolution.

A lovely blogger, Aux Petits Oiseaux, that I recently found shared this fascinating site... One World Birth. It's a wealth of information from all of the greats in obstetrics and the natural child birthing movement to bring about a revolution. A revolution where women believe they are powerful enough to have a natural childbirth. To believe in yourself. It's a wonderful clip...very moving, I will be checking back to learn more as they continue on.

I think its a great source of information, just like Business of Being Born or Pregnant in America. Aux Petits Oiseaux kind of eluded to this as well, that while natural childbirth is wonderful not all women are able to. And most strive for natural and when they can't they feel like a failure. This is one of my fears. I want to have a natural childbirth but quite frankly I have no idea if I will be able to hack it... I've never done it before. I don't know what it will really be like. I don't want to come down on myself either if I can't. If I need an epidural or a c-section I want to be able to focus on my beautiful healthy child....not that I sucked at childbirth. But will this doubt in myself make it so that I don't feel like I am strong enough? For hypnobirthing do I have to believe in my abilities 100%?! My views are still evolving obviously. So I guess I will try to prepare myself for....anything and everything that could happen. And stay positive throughout it all. Easy right?!

let the nightmares begin...

Has anyone had unbelievably real-feeling nightmares about being a parent?! a new mom?! the responsibilities?! Oh my gosh the nightmares. They range anywhere from being an unfit mother...to getting totally hammered drunk and forgetting I was pregnant...to being pregnant one second and the next having a baby that I don't recall giving birth to- the whole labor just gone...to forgetting that I have a baby...to having disabled and deformed children. And I'm sure it doesn't help that I've actually seen extremely neglected and dead babies at work...so that makes it even more of a reality. Perhaps I need a massage! Or maybe a body pillow for restful sleep?

etsy shop!

[organic gray poppy onesie on my etsy shop]

In honor of my birthday (today) I chose to do a little something fun for myself. Well besides the mani/pedi...I re-opened by etsy shop! I am actually really excited to have the energy to even contemplate it. I love doing little crafty things. So in the shop I only posted my favorites, the items that I actually want to make over and over again. I will be expanding on it here and there, but for now it makes me feel alive.

[week 12]

Seriously week 12?! Spud is now the size of a plum?! I can hardly believe it. And this is when you're "supposed" to tell people you're pregnant...or so my books say. Ha. That would be absolutely impossible for me. I don't really believe in holding back information, it may be a flaw of mine.

Anyways... 12 weeks! I feel good. Yup. Just tired, which I am getting accustomed to my routines of sleep now. Oh yeah and I need to buy new scrub tops. I feel like I just can't breathe in my current ones. I'm not a fan of figure-hugging scrubs. And I also bought my first white maternity t-shirt. It fits much better. Pretty big deal. Maternity pants still horrify the heck out of me, but I will probably be singing a different tune later on. I hardly fit in normal pants with a normal body (being 5'11 is tough), so that will be a delima for further down the road.

This week I turn 28, which is another crazy hurdle for me in my mind. I feel so old, I love it. But this year I'm pregnant. I can't say that for any other birthday I wanted or wished to be pregnant- so it feels good to want this baby with every cell in my body and so far everything is going great.

Usually for birthdays- seeing how both Matt and I have October birthdays- we go out to dinner on "our" night and usually give each other a small gift. But it's our choice for dinner...a date night. My choice is always sushi. And this year is no different. However, I have the veggie and cooked fish "sushi" dishes all planned out and I will not be getting a Sapporo. This should also be a nice portion of protein for spud. Yay! I can't wait!