Pregnancy Update

I'm in the midst of organizing the nursery and the rest of the house in preparation for Baby's arrival, but I wanted to stop by quickly and give you an update on how we're doing!

I am 34 weeks pregnant as of this past Saturday (so, 34 weeks and 2 days today)! The last few weeks have seemed to drag on and on.... but I've been trying to keep myself occupied with projects so that time goes by a little faster!

Overall, I have been so blessed this pregnancy - no morning sickness, and no stretch marks or swelling (so far)! I have had my share of pain and discomfort, though, due to an old pelvis injury, but chiropractic care and regular stretching (and back massages from hubby) have helped. I've had a little bit of rib pain the last few weeks as Baby is in the breech position currently. Mostly this is just in the "uncomfortable" range of pain, but every now and then it's worse haha.

Here's a "sort of" bump picture from a baby shower on Saturday that was hosted by the sweet ladies at my church. I'll be doing a re-cap of all the baby showers soon! 

We have 5 more weeks until we get to meet our son and I simply cannot wait! He is constantly in my thoughts and dreams. For now I'm just trying to savor each moment. I know life will be changing drastically when he comes, but I have a feeling it will be lovely.

-Heather

Linen Closet Makeover

I am SO excited to share this  project with you today! I'm slowly entering the "nesting" phase of this pregnancy and wanted to get a few projects off my to-do list before the baby comes, most of them having to do with getting organized!

There is very limited {functional} storage in our cottage, and the coat closet in our hallway was a prime example of this.

It housed coats and our vacuum cleaner and occasionally a towel or two and any other random items that didn't have a place to go.

Yikes!

We decided to transition our wannabe coat closet into something that was much more functional for our family - a linen closet.

Pregnant at Christmas

Being pregnant at Christmas has given me new found perspective on this special season...

I feel "great with child" at 31 weeks... I can't imagine 8 or 9 more weeks of continued growth - where is he even going to fit?

The weariness, the day to day discomfort, the pain... All things felt by Mary in her pregnancy and on her journey to Bethlehem.

Am I eating the right thing? Am I reading the right books? Will I be a good mother?

The thoughts and fears that I have about being a new mother were probably in Mary's heart, too.

And when I feel my son move... I know how Elizabeth must have felt when John lept for joy inside her womb at the sound of Mary's voice.

How precious a gift... that I am carrying life within me and can reflect on its wonder this Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our lovely family to yours!

-Heather

DIY Pillow Cover

I love a good craft project. I think of myself as a creative person, however there are some things I am just not good at.

Sewing, for instance. I couldn't sew a straight line if my life depended on it. Replacing buttons are about as good as it gets for me.

So when I wanted to make a pillow for the nursery, I decided I would purchase an already made pillow cover and use fabric paint for the design.

I love all of the cute arrow printed pillow options out there right now! Definitely a popular choice, but I felt like I could recreate the look for much less. Here are some of my inspirations

via Scoutmob

via Zazzle, $38

via Urban Outfitters

I headed to Hobby Lobby and grabbed a plain 12 x 20 canvas pillow cover, a two-pack of black fabric markers, and also a pillow insert. While I was at the store, I came upon an arrow stencil that I was this close to grabbing, but ultimately decided against it. I felt confident that I could better get the look I wanted by hand drawing it rather than stenciling.

Nursery Inspiration

I hit 29 weeks on Saturday and my brain has been in full nursery inspiration mode.

I'm sure I'm not the only first-time mom out there who upon find out she was pregnant immediately started searching Pinterest for nursery ideas. I've had boards and pins saved for months. However, now that I'm in the third trimester, I figured it was about time for me to narrow down exactly what I wanted for this room and get some DIY projects under my belt.

We've done a few things in the nursery so far.

This room served as our guest room/office/storage/junk room since we moved in a year and a half ago. It didn't see much love during that time, so we painted the walls a light neutral gray (a welcome change from the LAVENDER the previous owner thought was pretty), hung some curtains I got in the "as is" section of Ikea, and moved in the nursery furniture.

That's it.

And it's been sitting like that for several months now (and regaining the clutter that we had previously moved out of there... where does all the clutter come from???)

But Christmas break starts soon for us teachers and my project list for our vacation is getting longer and longer, most having to do with the nursery!