Olivia does that too

This is in response to one of the comments on a previous post about Olivia and her telling me where to go when I drive. She is also very picky about the music. Most of the time she tells us to turn off the radio. She also tells us when to close the window and when to roll it down. She has actually become very very bossy.

She has also become super super independent i.e. she has to do it herself or her way. I figure that is the 3's rolling around a little early. But on the bright side yesterday she ran into the bathroom, took her pants off, took her diaper off and moved her step stool to the toilet and went to the bathroom. She remembered to wipe and flush and wash her hands without any reminders. I was thoroughly impressed so I let her wear panties and she made it until early afternoon before she had an accident. I told her that morning that if she peed in her panties she would have to wear a diaper. So after she had her accident she took her panties off and got a diaper and took it to Mike. Maybe if we are lucky she will potty train herself. That would be great but it is okay if it doesn't happen though.

Yes, yes and yes

I had my 32 week appointment on Monday and YES I gained 10lbs in the last month. I guess that makes up for the 2 months I didn't gain anything. I know I am pregnant and all but it is pretty embarrassing to realize I gained that much weight. I didn't think my diet had changed that much. We did make a trip to Utah and we ate more fast food than usual and that is when the weight started to pack on. Oh well.

And YES, the baby is head down. The midwife is pretty sure the baby won't be turning anymore because there is no room left. Basically my tummy is growing outward. I am pretty happy about that. I have been visiting the chiropractor regularly since February and I am happy to report that the chiropractor has been able to relieve a slew of pregnancy discomforts. I have been during pelvic tilts and what not. I'll admit I was pretty paranoid between 18-28 weeks about having a breech baby.

And YES, I have been having a pregnancy pity party for myself lately so basically this whole paragraph is a long vent or list of complaints. I am starting to run out of clothing options and it isn't so fun to try to do laundry every few days. Most of the time I feel like a big parachute. Getting ready for work is exhausting but I feel so unattractive if I don't blow dry my hair and straighten it and wear makeup. I pull my hair up into a pony tail most of the time but the days I am swelling in the face I just can't bare to look in the mirror. If I stand up too long, I get a backache because gravity just pulls on my tummy. My muscles are getting so tight and I try to stretch but it isn't enjoyable. Exercise - I rarely do that. Walking back and forth on campus is exercise enough. I have been a big forgetful spree. I lost my office keys but Mike found those in the laundry. I lost the remote so we had to buy a new universal remote on Monday. I misplaced my work laptop charger. Hopefully one day everything will turn up.

Go that way

We already have a back seat driver on our hands. I knew it would eventually happened but not at this age. Whenever we are in the car/van she is always trying to tell us "Go that way" with her finger pointing in that direction. Usually she is trying to direct us to the park.

Random pics of Olivia

Olivia with her new bike from my mom last weekend. She is freezing but refuses to put her jacket back on.



Olivia on moving day last fall. She found all this stuff and decided to dress herself. I think it is funny how her hat makes it look like she is wearing pasties.



Olivia being silly last spring.

Getting ready for the baby

I know that most books suggest getting ready for the baby later in pregnancy but I am realistic that I am probably going to be too big and miserable to do much of anything by the time I am 36 weeks. So I have a running list of things to do from now until the baby comes i.e. wash the baby's clothes, make freezer meals, do one last deep cleaning, pack the birth center bag, get the pack-n-play and cloth diapers out. Hopefully I will be ready to roll by 38 weeks.

Last night I brought out the baby's clothes to wash and Olivia was so so excited. Olivia was a tiny baby so newborn clothes were way too big so I am expecting that this baby will be on the small side (6 lbs). I have a decent selection of preemie clothes but whenever I pull them out Olivia thinks they are clothes for her dolls. I guess I can't blame her since they do fit her dolls perfectly.

Then I pulled out the summer newborn and 0-3 month clothes and Olivia seem to think they were her clothes to wear right now. Instead of stopping her I let her try on one of the sleepers. I figured that it would be too small and uncomfortable and she would want to take it off. She was pretty excited wearing the sleeper and the bib but 10 minutes later it was off. I didn't get any pictures of her backside but since she wears a cloth diaper and the sleeper was skin tight it made her look like she had a bubble butt. :)

BTW - Olivia's favorite color is pink. The hotter the pink the better. Grandma bought a new fleece blanket for baby #2 which happen to be pink with hot pink trim but Olivia found in the pile of clothes to be washed and she has decided it is her blanket now. Oh well.

Olivia

Olivia helping me make pancakes this morning. She was suppose to be mixing the batter only but she decided the griddle was ready. I must admit she has become very helpful with loading the dishwasher with silverware and putting the silverware away in the drawer.

She is also sporting a cloth diaper. I think she looks adorable in cloth diapers even though they make her booty look huge.



Olivia helping me pick up toys right before bedtime. She is quite a character. That is the bowl that goes in her potty training toilet that never gets used. She prefers sitting on the big toilet



I guess this is what happens when toddlers skip their naps. They fall asleep on the carpet while they are whining right before dinnertime.

Pregnancy and such

I am 31 weeks today. We finished our last hypnobabies class and it is basically maintenance of my hypnoscripts until the baby comes. I have been really packing on the pounds lately and I saw a picture that Mike took of me and I was shocked how fat/swollen I looked already. I know it comes with the territory. Yes I would love the baby to come after her guess date because it is best but let's face it pregnancy can get really uncomfortable towards the end. Thankfully the chiropractor has been able to help alleviate a lot of discomfort but I still have to deal with the gigantic huge belly, not being able to bend over and just the limited mobility.

The countdown continues to my 30th birthday, springtime and 40 weeks.

Owl project

I found this cute owl tutorial and I thought it might be fun to make for Olivia and the baby. It was on my long long list of things to do but I actually got to it a lot sooner than I expected. We took a trip to Utah last weekend and my MIL has a great stash of fabric and since I only needed small pieces of fabric I was able to find almost everything I needed. I was slightly worried about making the owl because I thought it might be a little advanced for my sewing skills but I was able to sew majority of the owls in one day. I can't find the blog I got the pattern from but if anyone wants it I can send you the pattern.

Here is a picture of the owls. They are still missing the beaks and one owl is missing the eyeballs.

Boppy Pillow cover

Since my nesting thing is sewing projects I decided to make a boppy pillow cover. So I searched the internet for a free pattern and I actually found one that was quite easy. I was slightly worried because it has been a very long time since I did a zipper by myself. Anyway it was quite easy and I ended up making two boppy pillow covers. If you can find material that is on sale you can actually save a ton of money. Here is the tutorial that I followed: http://aloadofcraft.blogspot.com/2010/07/tutorial-how-to-make-boppy-slip-cover.html

Pillowcase

The pillowcase I made for Olivia's memory foam pillow. My MIL's sewing machine does embroidery so I actually put Olivia's name around the edge of the pillowcase. I know it is overkill but I thought Olivia might appreciate it when she is older.

Cheeky the horse

This is the rocking horse Olivia got for Christmas. We named him Cheeky. Earlier this week she was kneeling next to Cheeky and I overheard her talking to him. She said "You take me to Grandma's house?" I thought it was adorable.

My awesome husband

Being in Boise has resulted in no regular footzones. I guess Mike had been monitoring my feet especially my lymph system and offered to give me a foot rub which actually resulted in him giving me a couple of footzones with a lot of direction. It felt pretty good. I can't complain because at this point I will take what I can get.

Another awesome thing Mike did was bake bread and it turned out great. He didn't have to measure everything because I keep batches of the dry ingredients in the freezer he did take the initiative to proof the yeast, mix everything in the bosch, roll the dough into the pan and bake it. So one day when this baby gets here I won't be the only person responsible for making bread.

I probably don't tell him enough in multiple ways but I love and appreciate everything Mike does for me and our family.

29 weeks pregnant

I am so excited to finally be reaching the 30 week point this Saturday. I'll be elated when it is finally 38 weeks but that feels like too far away. Overall I think I look pretty good but I could be packing on some major pounds the last few weeks. But honestly my eating habits are a lot better this time with a lot of education of what I have to eat. With Olivia my weight gain was crazy the last few weeks but that could have been due too the summer heat and I was eating way to much sugar. My belly is huge and sometimes Mike can't believe how big it is and how fast it can grow.

While I am thankful it is still cool in Boise, I am really looking forward to spring and some sunshine. The gloomy, cloudy weather can get really depressing after awhile. I am starting to get uncomfortably hot at night when I sleep. My sleep is decent for being pregnant. I have to use my body pillow. I feel like I am starving all the time but after a few bites I feel absolutely full. I can't wait for the baby to drop down so my stomach can get some room. I am honestly tired all the time like I can't get enough sleep. I visit the chiropractor twice a week for now to help get my hips into alignment and help with lower back pain, indigestion, stress carried in the neck and hemorrhoids. I am nesting like a maniac and can't wait for my sewing machine to get here. I am pretty sure I trimmed and painted my toes by myself for the last time this week. Dried figs and dark truffle chocolates are some of my favorite snacks.

I experienced my first charlie horse two weeks ago and it was as an pleasant as I remember. I haven't been taking my prenatals regularly. They made me super constipated but I also realize what I am not supplementing back into my body the baby is going to take from my body anyways so I need to do it for myself. In addition to the prenatal, I am taking additional calcium and eating bananas regularly and I haven't had one in a long time.

Olivia is growing so fast. I just can't believe that I had her 2.5 years ago. Sometimes I wish I could just bottle her up and stop her from growing. This age has it ups and downs and I can't imagine what the threes will be like but she is definitely an independent girl. She loves to pick her own clothes which are usually pink, frilly or a dress. She only likes to have shoes she can put on herself. She prefers to have her hair down instead of pull back into any type of style. She loves nursery. She will and tries to climb everything. The best way of teaching her is to model that behavior and being consistent. Thankfully she sleeps in her own bed. Unfortunately it is hit and miss on the naps. Our bedtime routine consists of pj change, brushing teeth, family prayer, picking up her room, reading books and singing songs. Making her help me pick up her room has resulted in her not dumping her toys every single day which I am thankful for. She loves breakfast and her favorite is eggs. And she loves to eat most fruits.

One of my favorite things is how she imitates Mike and I. It is crazy how much she picks up from observations. Every parents does the best they can but I can't help but feel a little guilty that I am not doing enough or teaching her enough.

A new present to myself

Sometimes I hoard my money from birthdays and Christmas and doing side jobs. I have a huge wish list of things I would love to buy but I usually don't until just recently. I am glad that Jenny suggested that I was nesting because I didn't know what has gotten into me lately. So I am just going with the flow so I can get as much done as possible before I loose all my energy.

My mother in law has the nicest sewing machine I have ever used. It is electronic and I have never had problems with tension and it is so easy to set up and clean up and runs like a dream. I usually save all my sewing projects to complete at her house. I have a huge list of sewing projects to do and I was thinking to myself, I would love to get a new sewing machine but I wonder how much it would be. I have a mechanical one but I think the last time I used it I just couldn't get the tension right.

Wow! Bernina sewing machines are expensive but I know that they are worth every penny but that was out of my budget. I googled around for reviews on sewing machines. Then I read reviews for a brothers electronic sewing machine and I found it at overstock for an amazing price plus it got amazing reviews. So I took the plunge and bought it and hopefully it will be here really soon.

Not the prettiest machine but if it runs like all the reviews say it does I should have some projects complete before the baby comes. My hope is this sewing bug doesn't fade after the baby comes because I really do love to sew.

To quilt or not to quilt

So I have been bouncing back and forth about making Olivia a quilt. Making quilts now a days isn't cheaper than buying one from a store. Actually it is quite expensive after purchasing the materials and all the time spent putting it together. But I thought it would be nice to make something for Olivia. After talking to Mike about it he encouraged me to make one for her.

I took a couple of sewing classes in high school and have made two quilts. I am a decent sewer but I would love to learn how to make more things. I have been following a few sewing blogs and I am very intrigued with repurposing clothes, alternating and making kids clothes.

I went out and invested in quilting/sewing supplies which can be quite pricey but most of the items were 40% off at JoAnn's. Mike couldn't believe how much some of that stuff sells for. I would have loved to get the biggest and best but I didn't have the budget for it so hopefully I bought everything I needed.



This is the material I picked out for Olivia's quilt. I love love love that flower material. I made Olivia a pillow case a couple of weeks ago out of the same material. I've prewashed and ironed everything. My next task will be to cut out all the pieces and sew it all together. I'll be happy if I can get that done by Christmas this year.

Crafty projects

I made folder activities for Olivia to play with during church. I am thankful the website I used gave me the option to print color so all I had to do is laminate and cut and a lot of cutting I did. I bought an awesome home laminator from Amazon for $20 and it worked great. I also bought a book from Desseret book that has a Book of Mormon folder games and activities that have similar items.



I also made lacing cards which might be a little advanced for Olivia but I figured it would be a good challenge and activity to work on her fine motor skills.

Babybook finished