Bedtime Books with the Belly and Brin

Okay, so what? 

I like to sit on the couch with my belly hanging out. No, this wasn't staged. 

What I didn't know is that this is quite possibly the cutest and my most favorite moment of my day with Brinley. More times than not, I am exhausted from making dinner, cleaning up, and just from the day, that Daddy takes over bedtime duties for the night. I lounge on the couch like a big slug and tune into some news or Wheel of Fortune. 

I seriously laugh the entire time Brinley is in the bath because I can hear their entire conversation and she says the funniest stuff from the day. She makes up a few details along the way, but for the most part, she just stumbles over her words because she is just so dang excited to talk to her Daddy. After the water drains, she runs out to the front room where I am. She is stark naked and just wiggling and running towards me. It is seriously the funniest thing ever. 

After she gets dressed with help from Daddy, she brings me books for us to read together. We read 2-3 books, then walk to her bedroom. We say prayers. And most nights, depending on who we talked about most before bed, those people are talked about in her prayer. It's pretty cute. Most nights, it is Sophie and Penny (my parents mini schnauzers). But the other night it was her crazy Uncle David and her bff Greta.

The Foot Book is a favorite we snagged from the Library last week. It is on my list to purchase! She loves it. 

I love moments like this with Brinley. I know it is going to be even more fun watching her bring books to her squishy newborn baby sister in just a couple months.

*I spy a new library book bag from the same material as my Beach Bag......Post coming on that! :-)

Gymnastics Time!

dancing on the way to class

please, mom, no pictures.

The Scoot

The Tunnel

Foam Pit Obstacle Course

Forward Roll

Next week is our 8th and final week. It has been such a great experience for Brinley. The class is only 30 minutes long, one day a week, but she has learned SO much. I wish I had the video camera today to video her in the "warm-up." They do some cute warm-up exercises like touching toes, pointing toes, flexing toes, butterfly, splits, jumping around, etc. Today, Brinley was a champ and did almost everything perfectly. It has taken weeeeeks to get to this point, but I was just so proud of her watching her do it herself instead of me forcing her body to move in those specific positions like I had to do in the beginning weeks.

Her coach was fantastic. Her enthusiasm was perfect for little toddlers. Not OVER THE TOP or too shy, but Brinley acted like she could trust her even from the first class when she asked for a volunteer to demonstrate a certain rotation. I really do think it is impressive seeing young girls (she's probably 17-18 yrs old) be so friendly and easy going around kids.

Usually, there were about 6-8 different rotation spots in each class so that we were free to move about how we wanted and Brinley could pick and choose her favorites. When we first started the gym class, I thought parents were just on the side lines, but no, we are right there to spot our kids in everything they do. My back usually hurts for the rest of the day but it is so worth it to interact with Brinley.

I have also learned that Brinley can be pretty reluctant to certain things too. She never touched the trampoline. She rarely climbed the ladder. She maybe did the hang bar twice. But, she was easily one of the best kids in the class on the balance beam. And her technique with the forward roll (a fancy somersault) was the best out of everyone and I rarely had to spot her or show her how to do it. And she took directions from me very well. Since mama couldn't bend down every time to show her how to do certain things, I had to really break my directions down to the simplest form for her to understand.

The best thing about Brinley that I've learned with her doing this class is her enthusiasm for everything. Not that I didn't recognize her enthusiasm before, it was just really pronounced during this class when other kids were around. She definitely gets that enthusiasm from Ryan because he was the kid that was excited and pumped about everything. Brinley always volunteered if Coach Britney asked for help, and she always listened to her, and she never threw a fit if she couldn't get something the first time.

Now, I am debating on putting her in the Fall 12-week session that starts the second week of September. I really don't see a problem even with the baby being born in October. Brinley is really doing well and I don't want her to miss our just because our schedule and life is getting a bit busy. The class for 12 weeks (still only 30 minutes one day a week) is only $35. So even if we go half the time, I think it will still be worth it. There is a wider variety of classes available (after 5pm and on Saturday's), so I think we can do it. Am I crazy!? I really don't want Brinley's activities to stop just because we're having another baby. I gotta learn how to juggle 2 kids eventually right? Might as well jump right into it.

28-29 Weeks

Hello, third trimester!!!

I am starting to get really annoyed. I feel like I have been stuck in the 20-something-weeks stage FOOOREVVVER. I get very anxious thinking about how many weeks I still have left and it honestly freaks me out. 3 months, 3 MORE MONTHS!!!

With starting the third trimester, I have welcomed a serious onset of fatigue. I feel tired all. the. time. You would think I would be able to fall asleep easily and stay asleep throughout the night. NO WAY! I haven't slept well for weeks now and it is just getting worse. I love putting Brinley to bed and having the rest of the night to myself and just lounge. But then I dread going to bed because I am tired. I am SO so so tired. But getting comfortable is near impossible and Ryan* seems to make the "honey, can you stop moving" comment about every other night. Ryan falls asleep almost immediately after closing his eyes, and some nights I just want to wake him up just so that he's at least awake with me!! Guys have it so easy during pregnancy :-)

*don't worry, we are buying a twin bed for Brinley's room for Ryan to sleep on when he needs a good nights sleep once the baby comes. Aren't I the best wife ever? My mom actually mentioned it to me, and I would have to agree, that if Ryan needs a good nights sleep with the stress of his work load during the fall semester, I am totally okay with him sleeping in Brinley's room. Our couch is nooot comfortable at all. And it will also be Brinley's bed too once we transition her.*


A few other expected annoyances:
back pain
heat rashes under my bust line
round ligament pain
stronger baby kicks that make me jump or say ouch! out loud
Shortness of breath, which is only going to get worse
weight gain that has come on quickly, but has tapered off thankfully
Lack of clothing to wear, hence my Hanes V-neck tees and leggings have come into my daily wardrobe. Nothing fits!
Increase of heart burn problems at night
not getting ANY sleep at night
peeing at least 3 times a night
certain parts of my body already thinking I delivered the baby and now able to feed her
lots of off and on contractions, painful Braxton-Hicks

Speaking of contractions, they seem to hit me at random times during the day, but some nights they get very painful. About 2 weeks ago, I was feeling really crummy. I was busy making dinner, and I honestly had to bend over to catch my breath during a contraction. It wasn't like sharp shooting pains, but my lower belly would just get super tight and painful. I felt pretty miserable. The contractions didn't taper off for an hour or so and it really freaked me out! Now I know that the hospital doesn't offer advice over the phone and that if you are calling for anything, they want you to come in. Um, no thanks. So I phoned my favorite nurse friend Sadie and vented to her about my problems. She's a L&D nurse and told me to take a nice warm bath, drink lots of water, and rest. I did all those things and felt immediately better. She is the best!

At my last doctors appointment, I mentioned to my doctor about that incidence and he really wanted to check to see if I was dilated!? WHAT ON EARTH!? I was like, ummmm honestly? You'd have to pay me to check me!!! That is my LEAST favorite part about having a baby. It is so super painful and I was not in the mood to be checked. But at the same time, I am also curious if I will dilate faster this time around. I was 40w1d when my water broke with Brinley and I was still only dilated to 1cm. It would be nice to have a faster delivery this time around!

Saturday, I had my glucose test. That test is awful! I decided to go in by myself Saturday morning (they do the test at a diagnostic center and not at the dr office) because I did not want to deal with Brinley while not feeling too hot. The drink, thankfully, was cold! I felt like I was just sipping back on an Orange soda. A really sugary Orange soda. After waiting an hour, I got my blood drawn. The nurse kept talking about my amazing veins and I had to tell her with a smile on my face, I get them from my mama. With how many times I have been poked in the past year and a half, I am sooo grateful for my genetic boney hands and big veins :-) All 5 vials were filled within 30 seconds. It was pretty amazing.

during..........

after..........

Yesterday, I got my RhoGAM shot. Since I have O Negative blood, they give me the RhoGAM shot at 28 weeks and after I deliver the baby to insure that if I deliver a + blood type baby, my body will not have a reaction the next time I try and get pregnant. Brinley is O Positive blood so if I hadn't had the RhoGAM shot, my body would continually have miscarriages as I would try to get pregnant! It is a pretty amazing modern day miracle and I am so grateful for it! They estimated that before the RhoGAM shot came around, 10,000 babies were lost each year just because of the mother being rh negative.

Besides the expected discomfort that the third trimester brings, we are getting more and more anxious for little baby girl to come! I have gotten these feelings a few times when we've been just hanging out together as a family in Brinley's room, that someone is missing. When I get those feelings, I can't help but imagine a little baby laying on a floor blanket just kicking around and watching us as we play with Brinley's toys. We are very excited/anxious about her arrival. Thankfully, we do have ONE name we are thinking about. We like a few, but this one name just feels good.

and no, we aren't sharing it with the public :-) Only a few chosen friends and family.

Canvas Beach Bag

Ever since I found Leanne Barlow's Elle Apparel blog, I have been itching to do one of her sewing tutorials. Sewing clothes isn't a strength for me, especially the extensive tutorials she has, but the Canvas Beach Bag caught my eye immediately. I can sew that! It is hard finding good looking canvas fabric without the added price tag, so the last time my Mom was at Ikea in Charlotte (our closet Ikea is in Orlando...4 hours away!!! It really is a crime!), she called me and asked if I needed anything. Um, a bookshelf or two, maybe some picture ledges, some frames, possibly some art work? Just kidding, but the thing that popped in my head immediately was their stripped Canvas fabric.

My Mom suggested putting in a waterproof liner in the bag since the tutorial didn't call for one. It doesn't totally make sense to have a beach/pool bag and it not be waterproof. Or is that just me?! Right as we were discussing it, she found the perfect table cloth type waterproof fabric that would coordinate perfectly with the red stripe canvas that she bought. I think each were $7.99 a yard and she got a yard and a half of each. I easily only used a yard, but it was nice having the extra fabric just in case I made an error somewhere. So for possibly $20-$25, I sewed a gorgeous big beach/pool bag that is unique and stylish! Woo!

Isn't she the BEST? She popped it in the mail immediately and it has only been sitting by my sewing machine for a week or so. I was afraid to start a project like this using such awesome fabric because I thought I would screw up the entire thing!!

The tutorial was SO easy to follow, and making the inner liner was just as easy. To make the liner, I sewed another bag with the same measurements and everything but left it inside out. I sewed in pockets on both sides that would fit sunscreen, snacks, a water bottle, and my sunglasses. Bags without pockets suck. I knew I would utilize these pockets completely and I am SO happy I added them.

For the straps, I just made 2 tubes of fabric about 25ish inches long and sewed them in. 

Why I can't figure out how to SEW the liner inside the bag without having to pin it almost completely and do a trial run flip, is beyond me. It was complicated and I was stressed, but thankfully, I got it right the first time!

*my notes for next time: liner, wrong side out and put the outer bag right side out inside the liner, and sew :-) Leave room to pull out and sew along the top to close the opening and give a finished edge*

The bag is ginormous and I LOVE IT. I couldn't believe I sewed it when it was finished. If you have an Ikea close by, I would seriously sew you a bag too. It was one of my funnest projects to date! 

We headed off to the pool right after I finished, and I felt preeeeetty cool walking to our designated table. hahaha I was able to fit comfortably inside:

2 towels

pair of arm floaties-inflated!

Brinley's lifejacket

2 sunscreen bottles

water bottle

tupperware of frozen fruit for the pool

snacks

Brinley's after pool cover-up

I can easily add one or two more big towels and definitely more snacks. With the inside pockets, everything has a place and it is so organized. I can't wait to take it on trips. Or just walk outside with it. And show off my creation. Can you tell I am just a little bit proud of my work?? 

you can really see the size standing up against Brinley

I need to add a decorative button to the outside pocket just for style

Inside liner

another view of the front

side shot

look at all that stuff!

3, 5'' pockets on one side

one 10'' pocket on the other side

ew I look weird in this picture, but cute bag right?

showing off the inside

working it :-)