Rag Quilt

I found a tutorial for a rag quilt.
http://jenyu.net/make/ragquilt.php
It is VERY easy. It is made out of flannel and goes together really quickly. I just don't have the time now to make something very difficult so I decided to make this quilt. I also liked it because it will be warm for the Chicago winter. Here are my pictures of the finished product as well as a picture of what my belly looked like after. I had just finished "ragging" the quilt and I had quilt pieces all over me. We still have to wash the quilt to make it "rag" more but we have time to do that.

24 weeks 4 days

Quilt after I finished it
Materials after I finished cutting everything

24 Weeks

Baby's now the size of a papaya!
Baby's skin is becoming more opaque as the fat starts to pack on. And, thanks to the formation of small capillaries, her newly thick skin is taking on a fresh pink glow.

Thrift Stores

I had a little bit of a breakdown Saturday morning because we haven't done much in the babies room to get it ready. If you came to our house you would not even know we were expecting a baby because it looks like two adults live here, which is true but we need to start doing things to make a baby room. I was SO tired during my first trimester and I feel SO good during my second trimester that I'm really anxious to get most things done because I don't know what the third trimester will bring.
Anyway, John and I decided to go to Thrift/Consignment stores in the city. We went to 4 on Saturday. We ended up finding a dresser and a huge Armour for the babies room. I really wanted to find two things that were of similar wood, but we just weren't able to. I'm sure Austin will never know, but still I wanted everything to match perfectly. Oh well, we are on a budget so we went with what we could find.
The problem is we only have one car (Honda Civic) and thrift stores don't deliver. We asked our friends Ashley and Anthony if we could borrow Anthony (and his truck) after church on Sunday and he was able to help John. We live on the 4th floor, with no elevator and our stairwell is steep and narrow. John and Anthony were able to move both pieces of furniture, but before we could do that we spent Saturday night and Sunday before church moving the HUGE wardrobe we had in the babies room out. It is from IKEA and did not make the move from our downtown apartment very well. We knew it would not make another move, even into another room in our house, but we were able to salvage half of it, which we put in our room. We don't have a door for it so I'm going to sew a curtain or something similar that we can use. The other half John took apart and took to the trash.
We had to go through our stuff again and get rid of things and find new places for some of our things. The only thing left in the babies room will be blankets, all our clothes, towels, pictures, etc that were in his room have now been moved to another part of the house. I'm so surprised by how little you can actually live with. In the last 2 years John and I have downsized so much that you would think we wouldn't even be able to live, but for the most part we don't even miss the things we have gotten rid of.
The last thing I HAVE to do is the Armour has a musty smell and it is making my allergies crazy. I am going to the store today to see if I can find something so it won't stink our entire house up. I do not want to put our blankets in it until it stops stinking or else all our blankets will stink. I found something online that said to use Murphy's Oil Soap to clean it and then put lemon or orange oil on it and it won't stink anymore. John doesn't think it stinks, but it is bad and I just can't see keeping it in the babies room if it is going to smell like that. Wish me luck!

Knitting Projects for Austin

I have finished my first three knitting projects for the baby. I did a blanket and 2 hats. I will be starting a sweater soon. I'm pretty impressed with myself. I think everything looks really good, this is because I had a great teacher! My friend Molly has been the best teacher and if she isn't able to help me I have found a couple tips on you-tube. Here are pictures of what I have completed.

We finished Registering

I decided that we could register for 3 places in one day (BuyBuy Baby, Babies R Us, and Target). Since we live in the city we had to drive to one of the suburbs that had all 3 stores near each other. We left a little later than I wanted to on Saturday morning, but I NEVER guessed it would take so long to make a decision. I haven't made that many important decisions at one time before. I am so glad that a lot of my friends have been through this and they gave me great tips. I don't think I would have survived if they hadn't.
We got to BuyBuy Baby at 10:30 am and we didn't leave until 2 pm. I was shaking I was SO hungry. Our friend's had asked us a month ago if we would go to a play with them in the city, so we knew we had to leave Schaumburg (the suburb we were in) by 5 pm. I started to panick a little because we still wanted to go to Babies R Us and Target (Schaumburg has a Super Target). I made the decision that we would eat Wendy's for lunch and then go to Babies R Us because although there isn't a super Target in the city we do have a Target.
We got to Babies R Us about 2:15 pm and by 3 we were still in the front of the store. We are standing in the safety isle and I started to have a panic attack. I couldn't breathe and started to cry a little. John was like What is going on??? I told him I'm so concerned that we won't make it to Target and we have to be finished registering because the invitations are going out. We decided to finish at Babies R Us by 5 and go back to the city so we could make the play and then we would do Target on Sunday. I felt better, but was still a little flustered.
Yesterday we went to a Target in the South Loop. It was pretty small, but it made things easier since they didn't have a huge selection. I was so tired of making decisions I think I scanned every blue and neutral thing in the store!!
Anyone who is going to be having a baby, I recommend registering at Buy Buy Baby. I had never heard of this store and didn't know anything about them. I looked them up online and there is one in Addison, Plano, and Austin. They were SO helpful. Some of the store we went to I felt like the people in the stroller isle didn't know anymore than I did about the stroller. Well at Buy Buy Baby they have a "personal" shopper in each department who doesn't work on commission. Their job is to answer any questions you have. The poor guy in the stroller department had to put up with John and I for about 2 hours but we came away with a decision on a stroller that I LOVE!! It is a little pricey but we should be able to use it for at least the next 3 years and when we have another kid we can use it too. It holds two kids and each kid can weigh up to 45 lbs. We got it in black with a red bassinet attachment because then it is VERY neutral.
The other thing I love about Buy Buy Baby is when one of your friend's or family goes to the store and prints off your registry, about 98% of the items have a picture next to them. That is SO helpful. Target and Babies R Us only do that if the item is online. I'm hoping that the Chicago stores sell the same things as the Dallas stores, but they may not.
Anyway, our whirlwind weekend of registering is completed and I feel much more prepared for Austin, even though we didn't buy anything. At least I have made all the decisions so when we do it will be very easy!!

Pregnancy Eating

I'm starting to wonder if my eating habits will ever go back to "normal". During my first trimester there were lots of things I wouldn't eat because they made me nauseous or they smelled bad. Some examples are beef, bananas, salad, chocolate,... I have now incorporated most of these back into my diet, but every once in a while I will have a day like today.
I woke up this morning and put a turkey breast in the oven. It cooked for 2 hours and smelled AMAZING. I was looking forward to eating it. Then it comes out of the oven and I started cutting it off the bone. I don't know what happened but all the sudden I was like there is no way I will be able to eat this. The same thing happened last week when I made this casserole with corn tortillas.
Its frustrating because there is NO warning. Just all the sudden I will have the entire meal done and John will have to eat the entire thing or we will freeze it because I can't eat it. I don't even know how to explain it except that if I do put a bite in my mouth I'm like a little kid trying to eat her vegetables, I can't force my self to swallow the food! Its so frustrating because then I have to find something else to eat and John gets frustrated because we are wasting food. Hes been pretty good about eating the entire casserole without complaining, or whatever it happens to be that day :).

22 Weeks

Weeks 22-24 (Month 5): Papaya

Average size: 10.5-11.8 inches, 12.7-20.8 oz.

Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.