Beanies

I made four beanies so far. I really love them and crocheting really helped out when I was trying to stay in bed more and keep my blood pressure down but needed something to do other than watch endless tv with the kids.

The preemie hat
that is the link to the pattern if any of you crochet!  
This one might fit the first day he is born but he might have become too big. If it is too big I will take it to the NICU and give it to whatever baby boy is born small the day our little man is born.

The Bear Hat
Again above is the pattern link
I think this one should fit just fine and is simple and will do with everything. However once I made this little guy I thought I needed a challenge and so I bought a pattern kit and made two really fun ones.

This is a bear hat that I bought the pattern to and Layla's doll is my model. I think it is so cute but my favorite is this next one!

This is my favorite hat modeled by Isa's doll. I love it so much and can't wait until my little man can wear it.

Quilts

These patterns are just made up so there are no tutorials but we like them. We did one for our little missionary, a chiefs quilt for football season, and a nice cozy baby boy print one just for fun. I also have a cars/train quilt that does have a pattern to follow but it isn't finished since I am making him a bit thicker and wanted to put batting in that one. I usually use soft fabrics such as minky, fannel, or felt for most of the quilts so I do not have to use batting and can just sew the top together and then put a solid soft fabric for the back and it is just thick enough to wrap up the little ones with. I also make a few thick quilts for floor quilts to put the baby on in public when I don't want them to touch any part of the floor. These are the thinner ones and my mom is making the thicker ones for me this time around since they are her specialty.

Nursing Cover

I made this for my best friend Kristi as my trial and she said she used it all the time so I pulled out my scraps and bought the black fabric to match and whipped it up and I love it too. I think it is just girly enough for me but manly enough that it should help people guess there is a boy underneath. And I like that it cost me a total of $4.oo to make instead of buying one for $35-$50.

Make it and Love it Tutorial

There are a bunch of tutorials out there but this one has always been my favorite and it really isn't too hard at all and isn't so boring!

Emergency kit

I think this one is going to be a life saver for me. I didn't want to simply use a pot holder for mine for I made a slightly larger pot holder from scratch with material I had that match my diaper bag stuff pretty good. Plus it matches the girls travel kits for the car so I know how to recognize it and find it if I take it out of my diaper bag. I put everything you can think into it.

Emergency Clutch Kit

In mine I have the following:

• feminine pads
• lotion
• chap stick
• hair rubber bands
• bobby pins
• tiny girls hair bands
• Clorox wipes
• Kleenex
• hand sanitizer
• band aids
• eye drops
• Imodium
• Tylenol
• Ibuprofen
• cough drops
• gauze patches
• alcohol wipes
• q-tips
• tweezers

I think that should help out in all sorts of emergencies. I just have to get some benadryl and a small cortisone bottle and I am set. 

Burp Cloths

I love to have a bunch of cute burp clothes for all the spit up my little ones provide me. So I made two different kinds this time. I made the usual ones that use a cloth diaper because my mom had a package and they are so quick. And and tried to make a few from scratch with some left over fabric I had laying around. I like them both and am so glad I have a good stack of about 22 to keep on hand since I am going to need them  more than I remember I am sure.

This is the tutorial I used for the one above that I used scrap material for, it is from

HOW DOES SHE Tutorial

These I make on my own but I have a link to a tutorial that does them the same way I do so you can have a guide if you haven't made them before. I always use scraps from all the quilts I make to make burp cloths so they match. I know so cute right!

Burp Cloth Tutorial

The Carseat Cover

So we are trying to be really thrifty with this baby and keep our budget small since we are poor students still with a lot of debt piling up with medical school and two kids in elementary! So we are using a carset my brother had for his daughter that my mom purchased. However it was PINK and when I say pink I mean it was FLAMING PINK and that just won't do for my boy who needs to feel manly as much as he can since he lives with a house full of girls and glitter. I made a carset cover for my friend once and it turned out pretty good. I decided to take it a bit further and try to redo the whole thing from scratch using the backing of the old carseat as my guide and padding. it turned out just as I hoped and I love it. Here it is and the tutorial!

MAKE IT AND LOVE IT CARSEAT COVER TUTORIAL

I love her tutorials I use a lot of them for my projects. She uses enough pictures that I never get lost and can easy follow a long without getting too frustrated! I think the carseat came out perfect for what I wanted. I was going for manly. We just have to get him a head rest/body rest to keep him snug and he is good to go!

Baby Projects

To keep me sane during these last few months of waiting to see if I am going to have problems I have been making all sorts of things for our guy. I will take photos of all my projects and then give you the links to the tutorials that I used. I am making just about everything I can think of for him so that I keep busy and he has his own stuff since the girls have kind of ruled the house the last 3/4 of a decade!

Anytime now baby anytime

I have officially hit my goal week of 36 weeks today. And you know it is only by a miracle that I did. We have definitely seen the Lord's hand in our lives. The more we work at doing as he would have us do and take care of our little family and those around us that have needed us the more blessings we have seen in our lives. I am so thankful for this wonderful blessing we have been given to experience the birth of a child on time, we will get to hold him moments after he is born. We will not have to wait and wonder his chances of survival. That is a blessing that we have waited over 7 years for and it is finally just around the corner.

Little man is not so little anymore. He is at least 7 pounds now and technically I still have another 25 days until I am scheduled for my c-section. Thankfully I need a c-section because he is so large they don't think I would be able to give birth naturally. I know that is an amazing blessing and experience but you know just getting to hold him on his first day of life is miracle enough for us.

We are now in the waiting boat to see if I go into labor naturally. It is so anxiety driven for me because I feel so unprepared. I really didn't even think about it ever over my whole pregnant/married life. I was caught off guard with Layla and after that thought it would never happen to me. Now that I am here just waiting for these painful contractions to actually become regular is making me a bit crazy. However it is a fun experience for our family. Brian goes back to school on Monday which should be fun. He is going into one of the most intense sections for the year so that should be fun to have a baby in the middle of. Oh and not to mention that our doctor is out of town the one week the girls are off school and brian is less busy and is a week before our scheduled c-section. that is sure to be when little man comes when mom is stressed to have some surgeon she does not know slice her open and sew her up. My doctor is aparently amazing and you heal fantastic, that is why I picked him. That and he is so fun and makes me really feel looked after. He has been up to date on my case every week and when I see him around he always knows who I am and checks up on you. It is kind of like being in Reburg again where you do to church with you OB.

So now we wait! Anytime I go into labor now I am good to go into the surgery no time to wait, brian will have about a half hour or so to get to the hopsital once I get there so he is going to be ON CALL every second and ready to drop the world to meet me 25 minutes away. Thankfully our doctor is also an alumni and is super great so he will wait as long as we need for him to get there. And I do feel a bit better that the doctors that are covering for my doc when he is gone are also guest lecturers for brian's school.They take good care of their own and they tell everything to you straight which we love. So we will keep you posted on what our man in doing but it all clear skys from here on out!

I am so proud of my Baby!

I am sitting here at the computer edema free (for the most part that is) with a lovely blood pressure of 114/70 which is high for me but really healthy for the world I suppose. And thankfully I can say I have no spilling protein and thus no bed rest. My visit to the doctor today was wonderful and he is very proud of me and little man. He said I am really making him look good. Nothing is nicer than having him walk in all smiles and say "what is this normal blood pressure thing you have at 33 weeks?" I really am proud that I can say that today is the first night of uncharted territory. My little Isa made it so much farther in development then her sister and only stayed in the NICU for 10 days without ever being on oxygen and that big day marker in pregnancy was this morning. Now our little guy is beating his sisters and doing so wonderful.

I am also very happy to know that his baby doesn't have to stay in forever since he is HUGE and making me understand why women cry out to get the baby out and get it out now toward the end of pregnancy. The braxton hicks contractions people speak of that apparently don't hurt are make me want to curl into a ball and sob for about 1 minutes until I think my uterus might just make it without pushing the low riding man out. Thankfully if I drink 10 gallons of water they don't come around much. That just means a million trips to the restroom in which the last 100 have me waddling and near tears because my guy has taken up residence beating up my pelvic bone with his head and fists. It's fun this pregnancy thing I tell you fun.

However in the quiet hours when I get a bit stressed and worry about how in the world I am going to manage three kids or if this little guy is going to be healthy, he gets the hiccups and then brushed my belly with his foot and reassures me that everything is going to be alright. And I go to bed with a nice massage from the best husband in the world and get ready to start another day.

Sleep is something of a dream that only comes in short bursts and means a lot of moaning as I take 5 minutes to roll from side to side all while hubby half awake asks if he can help and then falls asleep before I even catch my breath to answer. But alas every time I roll over he wakes up to ask and that is just about as sweet as he can be with the 4 to 5 hours of sleep he is running on while preparing and taking finals.

Good news for the day is that in less than three weeks when I hit the 36 weeks mark little man is free to arrive. Since he is developing so well and larger than average the pediatrician and my doctor are sure he will do perfectly well from that point on. So if I go into labor which is something i never thought possible or I start to get high blood pressure or spill protein then our little guy will come via c-section as planned. If he holds out until he is scheduled then we will be headed to the hospital early in the morning on March 20th.

Either way I am really thankful and know this is our little miracle sent to let us know that we are blessed for taking a huge risk and trusting the Lord to bring the child we knew was waiting into our family. All I can say is I am very thankful for the temple and the opportunity we have to create eternal families.

P.S. I am also very thankful that our temple is almost done and we will be helping out and taking friends through in just 2 short months. Who knew I would finally have a temple here in what is my good old Kansas City Home!