More DIY…. ADORABLE RUFFLE LAMP!

So because I have nothing to do with my spare time but craft now (YAY) I started a DIY project to spruce up the baby's lamp in her nursery.

We have been working with this "bird" theme in her nursery and I found an adorable avant garde bird lamp. However… the shade only came in BLUE! Which of course does NOT match her adorable coral and yellow nursery in the slightest! With some Pinterest searching and some creative thinking I managed to come up with a plan for an adorable ruffle lamp using the leftover fabric from her ombre ruffle bed skirt.

It is 3 shades of yellow cotton, cut into 2 inch circles and then hot glued onto the lampshade. It took a lot of hours to put together but honestly I LOVE IT! So much more authentic than buying something. Here is the journey to making her lamp:

The start… so not the colour I was looking for!

Ombre cotton fabric

Cutting circles (over 300 of them in fact)

Gluing them on and ruffling them!

Three colours on…. trying to space them was DIFFICULT!

3 rows of each colour means 98 circles in each colour!

The end result!

The lampshade on the bird lamp in her room! ADORABLE!

38 Weeks

38 Weeks! We are in the home stretch people! So this week Baby P is the size of a pumpkin…. well being the middle of July there is no way I am finding a pumpkin so you are just going to have to imagine this one! Sorry! Next week is watermelon and of course we will be able to carry that one through, but this week we are out of luck!

Week 38 has been VERY interesting! Lots of events happening. We kicked off the first day of our 38th week with contractions steady from 11pm - 3am coming every 3-4 mins apart. Then they just stopped and haven't resumed since. Curtis has just gotten home but since we didn't have family here yet to assist us with Hayden, my mom and dad flew out to be here. Well of course everything stopped and I had no more contractions that were measurable. However, I had some leaking. I had this with Hayden and it was what ultimately decided to send me to the hospital and put me in labour.

We went to my Dr appt on Thursday and the Dr advised us to head to Labour and Delivery since she wasn't able to test for my water breaking. However, Baby still looked good and was head down. I was measuring right on track and her heartbeat was 143bpm. That afternoon we made the trip to Labour and Delivery and I looked so stylish in my blue triage gown. They did a speculum test and decided that there was no amniotic fluid leaking, and sent me home. However, she recommended an ultrasound to see about fluid levels. While we were there they measured my contractions and checked me…. a whole 2cm! We are on the right path just not there yet!

After an eventful afternoon in Labour and Delivery we returned home to Nana and Papa finally arriving at our house. They are going to stay with us until after our little princess arrives. On Friday Hayden and Nana surprised me with a "birthday" party for Baby P and a small shower for before she arrives. Hayden picked out balloons, a tiara, and a red velvet cake to celebrate. Then we were showered with baby gifts and TONS of cute little girl clothes. It was very fun!

On Friday we also went to have our ultrasound to make sure the amniotic levels were okay. Thankfully they are and it is just a waiting game now. Mom and Dad went with me because they hadn't been to an ultrasound for Baby P yet and we got to see lots. Baby's heart rate was 139bpm and we got to see her face, head, spine, feet, umbilical cord, arms and legs. They measured the femur (6cm) and tibula (7cm) and head. We got a shot of her face (below) and the ultrasound tech was guessing her weight somewhere between 6 and 7lbs.

At this point it is just a waiting game. She is quite content to stay in there for now, so we will accommodate her and let her be. Feeling tons of pressure and mild sporadic contractions, but nothing measurable now. Hopefully we can meet her soon! Thanks for checking and leave us a comment! xo

FULL TERM

Happy Canada Day and happy 37th week to Baby P! We are now full term! Hopefully she will stay in there a little while longer, but anytime now she could make her appearance! Can't wait to meet you little girl! xo

Getting Ready

We are getting very close to being ready for our little princess to arrive. Last weekend I washed and organized all of her clothes that we have received from other people as hand me downs or gifts. Since her dresser wasn't painted yet I stacked them all over her room!

We bought some newborn diapers and new creams and things so we are ready for when she gets here!

All receiving blankets are organized, clean, and put away just waiting to be cleaned again once she arrives!

Hospital bag is packed! Picked up some last minute essentials and it is ready to go!

Made and froze some lactation cookies! They are delicious cookies that are supposed to help increase milk supply with oats, brewers yeast and flax seed meal.

Hayden made a card and gift for his baby sister that he will bring with him to the hospital to meet him!

And finally since Curtis was home again this week, we finally got Baby P's dresser painted. It went from chocolate brown to glossy black to match the crib and change table!

All that is left is putting her clothes away, bringing up the bassinet, and waiting for Grandma to bring her bedding and chair cushions when she comes for Baby P's big arrival. Getting so close!!!

Baby Shower

I am so blessed to have such great friends! I began my maternity leave on a high note yesterday with an adorable baby shower hosted by my friend Erin and with good friends in attendance! We got SPOILED as usual! Take a look and see:

One of the activities was a hair bow making station so we left with very colourful headbands for Baby P! 

An adorable outfit, toy and tethers from Erin L and her family.

Super cute outfits from Erin and Matt!

Diaper cake!

Hair clip and bow organizer and Sophie teething ring from Erin K.

Basket Full of goodies including clothes, wipes, feeding bowl, books, lotion and lots more from Lisa, Kim, Bonnie and Jodi!

Monthly onesie stickers from Steph.

Science Centre memberships for Hayden and I from Erin, Laura, Lindsay, Kelly and Steph. And a Science Centre gift card from Jodi, Kim, Lisa and Bonnie.

Adorable favours we took home. The top said Thank You and the inside was a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting! They were DELICIOUS!

After helping to open all the presents Hayden especially enjoyed the tutu and pink hair bow! How adorable is that!?

Thanks so much to Erin for hosting and my amazing friends for all of the gifts for our princess. We are so blessed to have all of you in our lives! xo

36 Weeks

36 Weeks! We have reached the 9 month mark! And by next Tuesday we will be full term!

Baby P is now the weight of a honeydew melon. She is somewhere between 4.5 - 6 lbs and around 17.5 to 19 inches long. This is where it gets different for each baby. No predictability anymore!

Dr appt today went well. I had to get my Group B strep swab done today and will find out next week if it is positive or negative. No big deal either way, just tells me whether I go to the hospital straight away for antibiotics or if I can labour at home for a little while. Baby P's heart rate was 142bpm and she kicked her way through the appt. Measuring right on track, blood pressure is good, and she is still head down. However, Dr discovered that she has dropped already. And as she mentioned babies are usually born within a few weeks of dropping….. GAH! I am not sure if this is exciting or nerve wracking news! While I am excited to meet her and introduce her to you all… I need some time after school is over to get ready! It's not up to me anymore, so we will see how this all goes!

Thankfully tomorrow is the last day of school with kids and then only 1 teacher day afterwards. It has been hard working this long and I am starting to get sore during the day. I am happy to finish out the year with my students and see who they have become, but I am ready to be done!

In nursery news, we had a major nesting weekend last weekend and bought all the stuff we needed to bring Baby P home. We now have newborn diapers, wipes, baby lotion, diaper cream etc. We washed and sterilized all the bottles we have, packed the hospital bag and so much more! It feels like so much left to do but I think we are mostly ready.

I am still feeling good. I can definitely feel the difference now that she has dropped. My ribs are getting a break from kicks, but I have to pee more and I have been having shooting pains in the lower region of my pelvis. No nausea so far, and no other physical ailments. Can't really complain!

Thanks for checking out the blog and hopefully we will have exciting baby news soon! Looking forward to my baby shower this weekend (thanks to Erin L for putting this on) and celebrating our little princess!

Check back soon and leave us a comment! xo

Maternity Photos

So we went on June 11 to Big Hill Springs Park to have our maternity and family photos taken! It was a beautiful day, overcast with peaks of sun, not a ton of bugs and almost nobody in the park! We worked with local photographers Artistry By Design. They were so great and captured us perfectly! If want to see all the photos click on the link below, but here are some you can look through:

http://www.artistrybydesign.net  -> Family Photography --> all the way to the bottom for Holly