crafty

Here is what I've been doing on my 'study breaks' from my computer class-teaching work:
Acorn onesie for baby:
back of onesie:

Owl onesie:

stuffed animals for mobile, etc(used bamboo fiber to stuff)


hat:

Nesting

The nesting bug has hit!

Our baby room is pretty small, and is a converted kitchen. We've been using it as a storage area for the past few years, it has 3 bookshelves and a clothes rack. We started working on it a week ago, but haven't done anything since then. But, I want to!

I want to clear it out and paint it, especially the cabinets, they are a boring glossy wood color. One cool thing about the room having been converted from a kitchen(when our house was 2 apartments, in the 80's) is that there is a sink in the room. That is one reason we chose it as the nursery! Also, there is a counter, so we don't need a changing table, just a pad.

I think the nesting instinct kicked in when a friend said, "We have a crib for you, do you need one?" and I realized that yes, we do need one, but have nowhere to put it!

We are lucky to be in a very communal community, so people are offering us many hand-me-downs, and we plan to take advantage! But, that means we need to take things when people are ready to give them, not at a normal shower-time.

It may help that I am now feeling little nudges every day, the very real presence of our baby.

I got a few design books at the library the other night, it is fun to look at the colors people choose, the themes. There are some crazy fancy nurseries out there! I am thinking of doing a mural of some sort, as I love to paint. Probably some tree or vine thing. I do like star stuff too, though. Having a child, being pregnant, it feels so magical. I want to create a magical room.

18 weeks!

Hurrah, we are at 18 weeks. It is a lovely thing.
I haven't felt any "I know that is the baby" movements yet, but have felt many "I think that is the baby" movements. One of my friends sent me an email saying one of her favorite things was doing the 20 week ultrasound and seeing what she was feeling, that sounds wonderful. Our u/s is in 2 weeks.

This baby is starting to be more of a reality in my brain. Mr. S and I are revisiting the dusty "name conversation", one we shelved a couple of years ago, due to disappointment, etc.

I can remember us sitting at a bank, after we were engaged, opening our joint banking account for our wedding costs, and talking about names, and writing them out, so hopefully. That couple seems so innocent and naive. But, I know we have strengthened as a unit, through all we've been through these past 3+ years.

There is a baby at our pool who was born around when our baby(the one we lost) would've been born. It has been hard for me to see her, but I am feeling more OK, lately, and even held her yesterday, and saw her for herself, not some ghost of what almost was.

My friend gave me a lovely book called "A Room Lit by Roses" about a writer's pregnancy and it is beautiful and eloquent. She said something that stuck with me.
Her partner wants to buy baby booties, "but I say we must wait, not yet. As if one could stave off heartbeat by the refusal of baby booties."

Maybe that thought has loosened me a bit. I've started crocheting hats, from yarn my grandmother had in a craft box. Pink, blue, orange-yellow. We have 5 friends due before us and 3(as of now) due after us. Most will learn the gender of their baby before birth, we don't plan to. I'll hold onto a couple for our baby and for the babies to come after ours, and pass these hats out as the months go by. I love the action of the yarn going from straight, to a knotted circle, to a tiny hat for a tiny new person.