This has felt like the longest winter of my life. I'm sure everyone that lives in the centre of this entire continent has felt the same way. I was hoping to spend these last couple months of pregnancy enjoying brisk walks outdoors, but now that the snow and ice is fi.nal.ly abating, I am in too much pain to put much effort into walking. Spring has arrived, though, and for that I can be thankful.

Yesterday we spent some time in our back yard. Two tiny strips of grass have appeared like islands in an ocean of white. It is enough to let the boys loose on, so I'm not complaining! 

While I sat there watching them stomp the new spring grass, thousands of geese flew overhead. Wave after wave filled our skies with their victorious honking. It is a beautiful thing to witness their return. A less victorious (but equally awesome) sight was a kettle of turkey vultures circling overhead. It took us a long time to figure out what they were - they just looked too majestic to be vultures. Google Images confirmed their species to us.

We also saw two very large red-tailed hawks with them. The partnership seemed so strange that we were unwilling to identify them as such at first. Again, thanks Google.

The boys were SO HAPPY to be outside. Benjamin was proud of his sweater pocket skills. As you can see, his father is doing his part to introduce him to excellent style at a young age. 

I foresee many, many hours in this back yard in the warm months.

the haps

I am enjoying the silence of the early afternoon nap time. Judah's slowly becoming less and less dependant on a nap to get him through the day. Today, however, he was happy to let the afternoon drowsies carry him away. 

Joey has had very little work over the last two weeks. When he first started this job, that would have given me much concern (no work = no pay). This month, however, God has provided for us so unexpectedly and so well. The first two weeks of April were full of many, many shifts - enough so that we should not be vexed financially for the rest of the month. I am also apt to believe that God has given Joey this time to be at home in lieu of my parents being on holiday for this week and the last. As much as I would like to deny it, I am physically worn out by this pregnancy. Being alone with both boys for these last two weeks would probably have been extremely difficult. 

Although Spring is officially here, our weather seems to be in complete denial of the fact. We still have snowbanks in our yard that are taller than our children. I spied the first visible strip of grass in our back yard today - hurrah! In our inability to get out and puddle jump as we would like, Joey and I have started to tackle warm-weather projects. He tuned up and sold one of his bikes so he could buy parts to fix up his other one. I have been trying to collect mismatched, solid wood chairs to refinish for our dining room. My plan is to paint them all one colour to unify them & paint the table in a contrasting colour... that, or build a new table. I have already purchased four quality chairs thanks to our city's garage sale page on Facebook. Two more to go!

My prenatal appointments are happening every week now! Baby time is close at hand! I'm finding it hard not to get anxious. I'm still hopeful that the due date I calculated based on my cycles is the actual due date, which would make me 37 weeks today. The due date given me at my 17 week ultrasound puts me at 35 weeks, 4 days. Whatever the case is, I can expect this little lady to make her exodus in roughly a month's time. I really, sincerely hope that her arrival coincides with ACTUAL Spring. What bliss it will be to go out for sunny walks around the neighbourhood! We only had time to take two such walks before winter descended on us right after we moved here. I'm quite ready to take full advantage of small city living.

On Nesting: Sewing Edition

A few weeks after Judah was born, I received a sewing machine for my 21st birthday. Even though I had pretty much begged Joey to buy it for me, it sat in it's pristine packaging for at least a year and a half before I decided to try it out. I had never taken home-ec in school, and any projects I completed as a child were with a good ol' fashioned needle & thread. When it came to using the thing, I almost abandoned it after the first frustrating evening of trying to sew straight lines. It jammed and I didn't understand why it did the things it did. I was convinced it had it out for me. Somehow or other, though, after no small amount of patience on my part, I learned how it worked and the whole sewing process became less of a grievous task.

Now that I feel I have a good handle on some of the basics of machine sewing, I'm finding it hard to stop trying out new patterns and madly browsing Pinterest for free patterns. It is entirely possible that my "nesting" is coming in the form of sewing little baby things this time around. Whatever the case is, I have decided to use this here blog to document my progress as an amateur seamstress, and maybe you'll find a pattern or two that you want to use in the process.

And so, I present to you... All of the Baby Thingz I have Conquered This Pregnancy


Basic Carseat Cover

This was the simplest of patterns! I loosely followed a free pattern available here. Mostly it was just to get the concept down pat. Our carseat is kind of small, so some length adjustments had to be made. I also left the edges raw, simply stitching around the edge so it will (hopefully) form a natural fringe.

Baby Bibs

Knowing that we're having a girl, I just couldn't help but splurge on some feminine fabrics and make some stylish drool bibs! I was planning on using this pattern, but I ended up just tracing a bib that we owned and drafting my own pattern. It's pretty simple stuff, y'all. 

Taggy Blanket

Have you seen these before? They are the bees knees for little muffins. Benjamin had one that he loved so very much, but somehow or other we misplaced it. I have no pattern for you on this one, but it is incredibly simple and I'm sure you can figured out. It may look like I tried to be fancy by using an extra fabric for the top, but it was actually because I cut the inside fabric too small. My mistake paid off in the long run, I do believe. 

Robeez-Style Cloth Baby Shoes

This style of shoe is one of my favourites! They are difficult to get off and have no frills about them. I scoured the internets to find this free pattern. These will be my go-to baby gift from now on!

TOMS-Style Newborn Shoes

I died of cute when I found this free pattern! They turned out to be a bit finicky to make, and are definitely newborn sized, but I love them anyways! I loved them so much that I actually went and bought the toddler-sized pattern. How very... un-Mennonite of me.

Baby-Sized Quilt

I am not sure I would have felt all too confident taking on this project if I had not already dabbled in quilt-making. It took me hours to decide on fabrics & their placement. I made sure to do my homework for this one, instead of winging it like usual, because the last thing I want is for my baby's blanket to fall apart! 

In the end, I decided it would be in my best interest to machine quilt it. Hand sewing is one of those things that I have next to NO patience for. Thankfully, the patterns I had chosen and how I cut the fabric lent itself to a very simple, effective, and attractive geometric pattern - perfect for machine quilting.

The only tutorial I can give you for this one is a binding tutorial by Heather Bailey. My dear sister-in-law was so good as to let me know of it's existence. It was easy to follow, and I am extremely pleased with the results.

Sewing! I lurve it so much!

tick tock goes the clock

It's sinking in. In less than two months we will be a family of five. Every waking moment my thoughts are consumed with this reality. I feel as though I'm only now becoming sensible to how, once again, my relationship with Judah is going to change. He will be expected to grow up again. Sometimes I wonder if it is really fair, but at the same time know that these things will all serve to build his character. I'm nervous about how my relationship with Benjamin will change as well. Right now he is the sweetest little cuddle bug and my constant shadow. I am excited for where this next phase will take him, but still so afraid of coming home from the hospital and finding a boy, not the baby I left behind.

The signs of the Big Change knocking on our door are all around us.

I am feeling stretched, physically and emotionally. It's all good, of course, but I would be lying if I said I found this easy! I am 34 weeks today, according to my ultrasound due date. I have consistently been measuring 1.5 weeks further along than that, though, which doesn't surprise me. That would put me back at my original due date of May 14. Baby may still come closer to the new date, but at least I probably won't have to worry about induction.

Since this will be our third child in roughly three years, we have most of what we need for this new little one. There were still some items to purchase, like this Ergo baby carrier. Ben & Daddy decided it needed a test drive.

We're trying our best to make use of these last days together. On this particular day, Daddy was out picking up new bunk beds during the boys' nap times. Judah's bed had been moved into Benjamin's room, so he got to nap in our bed. It was such a treat to be able to lay alongside him and remember the days when he was itty-bitty-brand-new and we would do the same.

Benjamin, my little 20-month-old, now sleeps in a big bed. It's quite comical when you realize that he only uses about a third of the space. He has completely adjusted to this new set up, even though he still has all of his toys in his room. We are so proud of him! He seems ready to grow up. (I am not ready for him to grow up.)

Look how grown up my little man is! At first he was very upset about getting a new bed, but when he saw how cool his new one was, he quickly changed his mind. It is tortuous to him not to be allowed on the top bunk. One step at a time, bud! I'd like a few years with you before you become a teenager! 

March missed the memo

I have seen it and I can confirm: there is actually pavement on our streets. So far, all Spring has brought has been a few blizzards, sub-zero temperatures, a lot of fog (and hoar frost), and dirty snowbanks. Maaaybe a puddle or two. Apparently March missed the memo - you know, the one about it being SPRING and therefore making MELTING necessary and things. The sunrises we witnessed on our way to MB were something, though.

Another friend-couple had their baby. I am oh-so-happy for them, but it also makes me ever so much more impatient to meet our own little one. I'm still hoping that my new due date is wrong and this baby will come earlier than any ultrasound technician could predict.

Come on, baby! We are so anxious to meet you!