Silly Silly Boy

Case cracks me up!  I LOVE his sense of humor already and he's only 16 months old.  I LOVE that he will start laughing when he sees people around him laughing.  I LOVE that he makes himself laugh so much too!  I just LOVE this little boy!!!

This is a glimpse at his one of his latest "tricks".  Before you ask... no I didn't slip anything in his milk... this is an all natural Case High.  He's so funny!!!

What's Case Been Up To?

Aunt Kay Kay (my mom's sister) and I took Case to the Children's Museum on 2/18/11.  We had so much fun!  I love watching him interact with other kids and have the freedom to run and play with so much space!  There was a brief moment of "overprotective momma" that tried to come out for a minute after a little boy ran into Case accidentally knocking him into a little girl, who turned around in a VERY mean voice and yelled stop at Case.  She was probably even school age.  Although I wanted to knock the attitude out of her, I decided it might be more prudent, and probably end with less jail time, if I just calmly explained to her that he didn't mean to.  I think this was my first glimpse of the whole "mama bear" mentality. 

Meeting Diego for the first time...
he has no idea who this is!

Case and Aunt Kay Kay on the Carousel

I finally decided it was only fair for Case to have his very own cabinet to play in.  I moved all the glass out and let him go to town.  It has now become one of those cabinets where you "toss and slam".  You know the ones... well at least I hope you do... everything is going to fall out so you have to open, toss in whatever needs to be put away, and shut it as quickly as possible before the entire contents end up on your kitchen floor.

Wayne, Uncle Ben (my brother), and I took Case to the Boat, Sport, & Travel Show at the fairgrounds on 2/19/11.  This is something my brother and I grew up going to with our parents.  I LOVED it.  I always came home with a bag full of brochures and pamphlets (is there a difference?) to play with.  I also have great memories of playing on the big yachts they had set up, well all except the one time where I got stuck in one of the bathrooms.  I guess it's a sign of how the economy has changed but they don't have those big boats anymore so Case had to just settle for a big pontoon boat to play on.  He did have fun checking out all the campers though!

Someone tell me who this kid is... he's getting his haircut and NOT screaming!  Let's just say his second haircut went MUCH smoother than his first.  I was shocked at how well he did this time!  His hair still stands straight up out of the back of his head and she said it will until it gets thicker.  She also got a kick out of the 4 cowlicks he has.  Two in the front and two right on top.  I think his hair is just going to have to either be REALLY long or REALLY short!

I think he was leaning forward to pick up speed :)

After such a successful haircut we thought ice cream was in order!  We went next door to Cold Stone Creamery (DELICIOUS) and shared some ice cream.  He was a fan!!!

I think this might be the only thing he has successfully fed
himself.  

Grandma and Grandpa had been on a Caribbean cruise for 11 days and Case was very excited to pick them up on 2/20/11.  I think he was also a fan of staying up late to go to the airport!

Checking out the baggage claim

He loved having so much space to run!

Riding up...

And down the escalator with Daddy.

Holding his sign for Grandma and Grandpa

Watching for Grandma on the escalator

SEEING Grandma on the escalator... SO SWEET!!!!

He was thrilled that they were home!

36 Weeks

This is my weekly pregnancy update. For details on the story behind these updates you can visit my first one here.

Pregnancy Play-by-play

I think I might have officially outgrown this shirt!

Sorry this post is so late.  It's been one of those weeks!!!

How Far Along: 36 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Ty is supposed to be the size of a honeydew melon in the 8th month but he has made it clear that those are only averages and he is NOT sticking with them.  If I go with him gaining about 1/2 pound each week then I'm going to say he is nearing the 7.5 pound mark.  I have no idea if this is accurate but it has to be closer than the averages I was using.  

Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 16.5

Maternity Clothes: The suit and all maternity clothes, with the exception of a few shirts that still fit (at least I think they do... if you see me out and my shirt is looking more like a leotard than a shirt please be a true friend and tell me so that I can pack it away until the belly allows).

Gender: BOY!!! Ty Athen!   

Movement:   Ty's movement just depends on the day and the time of day.  Definitely evenings are his more active time.  I still sit in awe and watch my belly move when he is at his most active.  I could watch for hours!

Sleep:  Sleep is fine.  I wouldn't call it great but it's fine.  I do pretty good most nights.  I am DEFINITELY more tired in the mornings now and have trouble getting going but once I've eaten I usually feel better.     

Cravings: ICE!!!!!

Symptoms: I find that I have to recover more from busy days now.  The beginning of this week was crazy and a nap was definitely in order yesterday.  Today I'd like to nap but instead am trying to get stuff caught up and some work done.  

Best moment this week:  I had an appointment on Tuesday.  It was another good one!  I love hearing the doctor say what an uneventful pregnancy this has been!  I think the funniest moment this week was the reminder call I got about my c-section.  Really?  A reminder call?  Does a c-section slip someone's mind???  I thought that was too funny!  I'm sure it was more of a reminder to be there 2 hours early and not to eat after midnight but it was masked as a reminder of the appointment call.

Oh boy... I just saw the ticker below.  I'm a little freaked out!

Pregnancy Tickers

The Nursery... Done!

The nursery is finally done with only a few little details left to take care of.  For the most part I like it but there are a few things I wish we had done differently.  I wish that we had painted the light blue wall green but Wayne almost fell over when I suggested repainting it so I think I'll stick with the light blue :-)  I also should have left the light switch covers to him because he has some artistic ability and I don't.  There's no way to make the room bigger so I have to let that one go too.  Beyond that I'm  happy with it.  So here is the next installment of nursery pictures.  

We got a pretty good deal on a crib and changing table at Target.  I'm pretty happy with both although you can definitely tell a difference between the quality of Case's crib and Ty's crib (let's hope they can't).  Wayne said as we left Target with our impressive savings, "Do you think it is bad that we just bought a crib and changing table for Ty for less than Case's crib alone cost?"  Poor "second kid" syndrome started before he was even here!

Daddy couldn't have put it together without
his trusty sidekick!

I love this picture!

"Here Daddy, I'll hold it in place for you!"

almost done with the crib

I'm thinking about trying to see if there is a
way to cover those cubes for this shelf
so that they actually match.  We'll see.

We don't have room for a dresser so we decided to go this
route.  We'll see how it goes.

 

I'm glad to be mostly done with the nursery.  It makes me feel a little bit more prepared.  There are a few more decorations I'd like to get for the wall still but we are pretty close!  I guess now we just wait for Ty to arrive so that we can figure out what else we're missing.  

Sewing

My parents gave me a sewing machine for my 30th birthday.  I was VERY excited because it replaced an old built in sewing machine that completed more frustrations than stitches.  No to the old machines defense I was DEFINTELY not a well-trained seamstress, in fact my only experience was that of my 8th grade home economics class where I made a pillow and at that I'm pretty sure it was more of a circle shape than the square it was supposed to be.  I had A LOT to learn.  My mom and sister-in-law and I took a sewing class at Jo-Ann Fabric but you can only learn so much in one session.  Of course it all made perfect sense there but when I got home threading the machine and the bobbin seemed more like rocket science than crafting.  At that point the machine sat... I was too scared of it to use it.

Then I met Sarah P.  One of my Baby Jam friends.  She is a sewing genius in my book!  She is my sewing mentor!  She helped me get my machine out and actually use it.  My first project, which I couldn't have done without a lengthy tutoring session between her, me, and my machine on her dining room table one afternoon, was replacing the Velcro (or hook and loop as us professionals call it LOL) on Case's bumGenius cloth diapers.

before... notice the velcro rolling this makes for one long string of diapers out of the washer

after... no more rolling velcro!

Next I took on a pair of Case's Addidas pants.  Grandma had gotten him this whole outfit for Christmas but it turned out to be mismatched with 18M jacket and shirt and 2T pants.  The 2T pants are great around his waist with his cloth diapers but they were long.  I hemmed them and they didn't look terrible!  It was quite an accomplishment after having looked at those pants sitting on my sewing table for 2 months being scared to touch them.

I found a great deal on half off valances that matched Ty's nursery theme so I bought three of them.  Two of them were used to make a bedskirt and one to make the curtains.  The curtains were the fun part.  I started with some old curtains we used to have in our bedroom.  They looked like this...

The original curtain

The original valance

Then I cut them up and added the valance to the top (again with lots of instruction from Sarah) and ended up with these...

These probably need to be ironed but
taking them down and turning the
iron on seems like SO much work!

My mom made these tie backs but we decided we needed
something more substantial than the regular little loops
that hold curtains back so we used these holders and just
put the tie backs around it.  

They aren't perfect but I like them.  It will be nice to have more than a valance too because Ty's room get the evening sun so the navy blue curtains will hopefully help him sleep, especially since with our time change now the sun doesn't set until like 10pm during the summer.

I started the bed skirt, which just consisted of sewing together two valances and adding velcro to the bed and the valance, but my mom finished them.  I still get pretty frustrated when my machine doesn't cooperate and she came by when it was on the fritz; however it worked perfectly for her so I guess from that I should deduce that I was the problem and not the machine.  I prefer to blame the machine!

The bed skirt

The only other craft I've attempted is a blanket.  Sarah makes and sells the cutest blankets and lovies on her Etsy store, Aspire to Be, and I thought I'd give one a shot.  Turns out they aren't easy.  I'm not good with the zig zag stitch or straight lines but it is soft and it has his name on it.  I tried to add a satin edge because he loves the satin edge blanket he sleeps with every night but that didn't go well.  I got impatient and just put it on when I should have maybe done some youtube searches for directions because it looked ridiculous when I got done with it.  I took it off and left the blanket alone.  It hasn't replaced Case's favorite blanket to sleep with but I had fun making it, well all but the satin edge!

Pretty sure there is no threat of putting Sarah out of business
but now I know why she loves making stuff!

Thanks for all your help and direction Sarah!  I don't know what I'm going to do when you move away!  We might have to start Skyping!