DIY: Boppy Cover

Alright.. you guys know I am horrible at explaining things.. so if someone stumbles across this and actually uses my tutorial, I get my comments to my email and I can respond and clarify if necessary. This thing gave me such a headache, but I think I could reproduce it in a quarter of the time if I made another :P

Supplies:
Fabric washed, dried, and ironed (ALWAYS!) (you have a few options here.. I didn't measure the pattern out before buying fabric. I figured 1/2 a yard of two different kinds of fabric would work. WRONG! The pattern is roughly 20in tall and 1/2 a yard is 18in (plus, I bought fleece bc it's super soft and it shrinks a good deal). I made it work with 1/2 yard of each - which I will show you in pics - but you need slightly over that)
24in Zipper
Pins
Scissors
Thread
Sewing Machine
Seam Ripper
Patience (if this is your first attempt at a zipper)
Pattern

Step one: You need to print the pattern. You can go ahead and ignore the weird part about top zipper and bottom zipper portions (I didn't so I will have more pieces than you will, but I will explain later on). You only want pieces 1-6 ONCE and you do not need the pieces for 1&2 that have arrows on them.
Step two: Connect all of the pieces so that there is no gray area showing (like the picture below). You do NOT need to bother putting together the small piece and the piece with the flat top for this tutorial. I went about the zipper part a little differently.

Now.. pretend you don't see the gray area on here.. I didn't trim it off bc I got lazy

Step three: Trace the patterns onto your fabric. If you are not making a Boppy cover that is half and half like I did (because of the fabric mishap-picture below), then fold your fabric in half and trace the piece of the pattern so that, when you unfold your cut fabric, you will have one piece of fabric the shape of the Boppy pillow or double the length of the pattern. I had to trace my pattern 4 times (twice on each different fabric) to make it work.

 

Step four: Cut out the pieces! (For pattern of above Boppy- cut about a half inch to an inch further out on the straight edges where the pattern says "cut at the fold")

Step five (skip if you have two large pieces of fabric already cut out - this is only to connect the 4 pieces of fabric to make 2):  Pin your two different fabrics for each side together with the good sides facing in towards each other. You want the actual pattern lines you traced to match up. Sew together on the lines of the actual pattern so when you pull the fabric pieces apart, you have two halves to the Boppy pillow (one front and one back - each with both fabrics) and then you can flatten down the seams with your iron

 

Step six: Measure along the top where the zipper will start and finish and mark. Pin together the two pieces of fabric inside out from start to finish of where you marked and then sew with a loose/long plain old stitch about 1/2in from the edge (JUST THE PIECE OF THE FABRIC WHERE THE ZIPPER WILL GO)

Step seven: Iron the seams back like in the picture below. Since the shape is round, it is easier to do one side at a time and go slowly since it won't iron as flat and pretty as something that is straight

Don't judge.. this is my TV tray since for some reason we do not own an ironing board (I steam my clothes so I don't go wrinkly)

Step eight: Pin the zipper face down to the seams you just ironed so that the middle piece of the zipper lines up with the part where the fabric splits

 

 

Step nine: Sew! I chose to pin one side and then sew the zipper on with a strong stitch and then pin the other side and sew the other side

 

Step ten: Pull your two pieces of fabric apart and use your seam ripper to rip open that loose stitch you sewed earlier that lines up with the middle of the zipper

Step eleven: Put your fabric back together and pin all the way around with the good sides of the fabric facing each other (so inside out again- you just want to make sure you open those seams by the zipper so you can easily turn your fabric right side out again when we're done. I also opened my zipper a little so it'd be easier). Sew with a decently strong stitch with about 1/4 of an inch seam allowance. Trim the excess fabric around the stitch. Then turn the fabric right side out and stuff your pillow into it!

31w0d

9-11 weeks left! Time is slowing down slightly. Keith is gone and the excitement over the holidays is gone. Now I feel like I'm more in countdown mode until my shower, Keith is done with being underway, Jillian is due, my sister gets here, we move, etc. and it is making things seems so far off and the days are dragging. I'm also alone so I struggle trying to entertain myself for days and days in the house.

I went shopping with Cram again today (: I had a good time and I was glad to get out of the house. I came home and napped and had a tough time physically getting out of the bed though. I guess the extra weight from Jill is really putting some wear on my lady area. I feel like I did an intense work out!

I felt some hiccups before my nap today pretty low. I am hoping that and the kicks I was feeling right in the middle near my ribs mean that Jillian has flipped head down finally. My midwife says she still has plenty of room and not to worry about her position, but she seems to loooooove having her head on my right side and legs/feet on my left. I'm not worried, but I think I'd feel better if she was head down because I've heard at this point, they tend to stay that way once they switch.

Speaking of my midwife, I had my first appointment this past Monday. The office was pretty laid back (which I was ready for from reading reviews online). I weighed myself and brought my own urine sample to the lab lol. They're lucky I remembered the weight after I went back and sat in the waiting room to wait for the nurse! By the way, I weighed 138.8 on Monday.. today I weighed 135.0. I really hope I didn't lose. I know it isn't the scale, because I weighed the same on my home scale after my appointment Monday (I double checked because I was surprised that it was so high after the holidays). Anyways, my appointment went well. My fundal height is 2 weeks behind. This is the first time anyone has ever told me the measurement. She quickly followed it up by saying they like to see it within 2 weeks of where I really am. I'm hoping that is okay. I have a feeling Jillian is a tad small. Anyways, everything else looked great at my appt and I got to sit down and ask my midwife questions without feeling rushed or like I'm annoying her. She seems to have similar views on interventions as I do which made me feel great about the care I will hopefully receive when I go into labor. Next appt is Tuesday. I can't believe my appointments are so close together now!

Wish I had something more interesting to write about, but I had a huge post Thursday :P

How far along? 31w0d!
Total weight gain/loss? 138.8 at my last appt, but 135 today. Up 15-18lb in the last 11 weeks so pretty average weight gain since things have turned around
Stretch marks? No change this week
Sleep? Sleep is still giving me problems. Busting my pillow out has helped some. I have less crotch pain on the couch even though I get more broken sleep.. I can't win :P
Best moment last week? It honestly wasn't a great week. I think I have some winter blues. My appointment went well and I had fun shopping today!
Movement? I have felt hiccups 3 times in the last 2 days. I thought I was weird bc other March Mamas have been feeling hiccups for weeks and weeks and I hadn't felt them yet until now
Food cravings? I've been wanting wings lately
Belly button in/out? The top maybe 1/4 of it is out, the rest is just getting flatter, but is still in (so same)
Braxton Hicks/contractions? I had some tightening in my lower belly today after walking around for a while
What I miss: A good night's sleep
What I am looking forward to: my baby shower!!!
Milestones: Next up is 35 weeks with 35 days to go! (still about a month away though..)

Today at 31w exactly

WTF

Yeah.. so that cool little ticker to the right.. it says 65 days left.

no idea whose baby this is btw.. thanks google images!

I am beginning to make preparations for labor as if Keith will be out to sea (it is a very real possibility it seems the closer and closer we get to March). I am not going to lie.. it is freaking me out quite a bit. How did I just now realize that I can't just leave the dog at home to fend for himself for days? I probably won't want to drive myself to the hospital either if I am contracting.. I have some shit to take care of apparently :P Thank goodness I don't have a kid already bc I'm sure I would have forgotten to make arrangements for him/her if Keith wasn't going out to sea :P

I've been in a funk lately. I hope I can shake it soon! I am hoping it has just been the weather and the dark and the fact that I am home by myself 80% of the time.

Last Saturday, I ended up going to get that 3d/4d ultrasound. I teared up after I left because I'm a brat and I was really disappointed. I pictured something like this:

In reality, what I have is the most stubborn daughter on the planet. Baby Jillian did not want to cooperate (like at her other two 3d ultrasounds..). She was sleeping and facing my back. She had her face covered in placenta and she wouldn't budge with any amount of prodding or me changing positions. I got 6 pictures and they all look exactly the same..

Obviously my child's nose isn't cut off and points upward bc it looked perfectly normal at my a/s

I could tell the guy felt awful for me and he printed me a bunch of pictures (like the same 3 in color and in black and white as well as gave me the CD which I don't think was included in my package). He told me I could call and come back this week for another try. He WAS able to get a perfect and clear shot of her girly bits (the first time the cord was b/w her legs and the second time her legs were crossed so I had a small doubt in the back of my mind that there would be a surprise penis that we couldn't see before). He said she had a textbook labia (odd..) lol

This time I thought I was prepared. I knew Jill was still in the same position bc I've been feeling her in the same spots for weeks (she is transverse with her head under my right side of my ribs which explains the pokes and arms I keep feeling on my right side when trying to bend over). I had an iced coffee on the drive to my new appointment. This time she was awake at least so I got to see her move. But this time she had not only placenta in her face, but she kept trying to suck on her arm and the cord was in her face. I got to see her smile and move her mouth open and close. We got some better pictures, but not great ones. She was facing a little more towards my front, but with all the crap in the way, he couldn't get a good picture of her whole face so I have a bunch of shots of different parts of her face as he moved the wand around and zoomed in and out past placenta..

My sweet girl has a cute little nose, her head seems really small and round, and she's got adorable little cheeks! Her chin is so tiny too! Thankfully she isn't sporting the mustache-looking upper lip now that she has a bit of chunk on her face. In the 2d, he said he could see that she had hair! He didn't point out what he was looking at though (I think he was trying not to waste any time getting the good shots since she wasn't cooperating)

This is what I'm talking about with the huge upper lip and tiny chin. This is from the anatomy scan at 19w5d

Overall, I wouldn't do it again because I didn't have a fantastic experience either time I went this week. I wish I had a less stubborn child in there that didn't love her placenta so much! I loved the experience we had at my sister's ultrasound at 29 weeks with my nephew. It was so cool to see him. He didn't have as much fat on his cheeks as Jillian does though. Jackie told me she wished she'd done it a few weeks later. I have heard you should do it b/w 27-32 weeks because baby is close to what he/she will look like and after 32 weeks things start getting squished in there. Jill had a lot of fluid according to the tech.. she just really loves her security blanket! Maybe this means she'll love having her taggie blanket I made her!

I got a few things today at the consignment shops (I visited two I hadn't been to before today.. one was meh and one had awesome stuff, but I wasn't willing to pay their prices.. like 25 bucks for a bouncer. Maybe it was a pricier bouncer, but if I'm shopping at consignment stores, I'm not going to pay 25 bucks for a used bouncer when I know I can get a new one on amazon for 30 even if it isn't the same bouncer). I didn't get anything terribly exciting. I got a Boppy, a head support thingy (this is for her stroller, swing, and bouncer.. NOT her car seat. You shouldn't put anything between baby and car seat unless it came manufactured with the car seat. I am only pointing this out because I had NO clue and I had registered for all the cute little headrests and seat belt covers and I had pinned patterns to make covers for car seats until I read a blog on car safety for babies and toddlers), a cute outfit that says "daddy loves me" (the dad stuff melts me), and a lamaze toy that I had on my registry that still has tags on it. In the pictures, I also have my target buys from a few days back because they were still on the table downstairs. I got her an outfit with a onesie that says "everybody loves me" with ruffle butt pants and a little pink sweater. I also got her a sleeper with an owl on it that comes with an owl bib and an owl hat! (I loooove baby hats if you can't tell). I also got her some sunglasses that match a pair of shoes she has and a bow (all of the target stuff was on clearance).

Welp, I guess my weekly update on Sunday will be short lol. I shared everything today.

Yesterday's bump 30w4d

I probably should have picked a day at the beginning of pregnancy to do bump pics.. but most of my earlier ones are on Wednesdays so I keep doing Wednesdays (hump day bump day on my fb groups) and Saturdays (my ticker change day) so I will have comparisons. It doesn't change much from day to day so I don't know why I keep doing both every week.. :P


BTW, I am super excited bc my lovely friend is making me a special necklace to wear for my shower with this:

excuse the vacuum cord and puppy's blanket/bed area behind me

She and her sister make hand-dyed jewelry that is non-toxic and safe for baby to chew on! I plan to order a few for looking cute and giving baby something to play with while nursing or baby wearing! They also do pacifier clips that are absolutely gorgeous! Jill is most definitely getting a pink one to go with all of her adorable clothes that I've spent all of my husband's money on! haha
Boubeads

30w0d

We were out of town last weekend and I didn't feel like doing a post, so this will have my 29w update as well I guess. Honestly, not much has changed in the last week so it doesn't hurt to smush the two together.

Well, Jillian and I have made it through 3/4 of this pregnancy! I cannot believe I only have 10-11 weeks until I am holding my little girl in my arms! I am beyond excited!!

I don't really have plans for this post so it probably won't flow well :P

Here's a random picture of Jill's headbands/bows:

This is her bow collection!

The day before we left to visit the IL's in Chicago, BRU was having a sale on the Snap N Go Stroller frames. If you remember, I bought that hunking jogging stroller second hand for beach and park trips when we move to SC. I didn't want a huge travel system for the infant car seat and the sale was half off any stroller frame with the purchase of the infant car seat. I looked on the website and the car seat we originally wanted was on sale. I don't typically like the character gear because it can get pretty cheesy, but Keith and I loooove the Minnie Mouse line at BRU. It is all purple and it isn't covered in pictures of Disney characters or anything. I ended up trying to be practical and took all of it off of the registry. The same products without the Minnie Mouse name on them were much much cheaper. The car seat we wanted was the Graco Snugride 30 which retails for roughly around 130 when it isn't on sale. The Minnie Mouse goes for 160 (and the same goes for the high chair, pack n play, and swing in the Minnie Mouse collection). WELL, for some reason the Minnie car seat was on sale online for 130 last week on the same day they announced the half off frame sale! I rushed into the store because I knew I wouldn't be home if it was shipped to us bc of our vacation. I get there at like 7pm and the car seat is still 160 and the stroller frame was 10 bucks more than online too! Thankfully, BRU was also doing a promotion for free site-to-store pickup so I sat my butt in there and ordered the car seat and stroller online to have it picked up in the store. I had to kill an hour or so in the store for them to receive and get my order ready, but it was worth it! I saved 40 bucks just ordering it online instead of buying it in the store, plus I got the frame for half off! (BTW, I picked the baby trend brand frame since it runs about 20-30 bucks cheaper than the one specific for Graco and it fits the car seat perfectly!).

I am so in love with our little girl's car seat! I just think it is absolutely adorable! The stroller is freaking amazing too! It weighs pretty much nothing and folds up incredibly small which is going to be perfect and easy for quick trips to the mall or store and maybe if we fly out to Chicago. We'll make the decision on stroller or carrier once she gets here. I honestly hope to wear her as much as possible, but Keith hasn't shown much interest so far in babywearing. I'm hoping he will change his mind. I purchased a gray soft carrier (ergo), and I registered for a black moby (so very gender neutral in the hopes that he will try them out bc they're not girly).

I gave my snoogle a little make over before we left as well. With my first pregnancy, I bought the Leachco Snoogle Loop. I love the pillow bc I switch sides several times throughout the night and I didn't want to have to worry about carrying a pillow with me. With this one, I can just roll over inside of it. The issue is.. it comes with this ugly white pillow case and you cannot purchase others (except more white ones). That does not work for me bc we have a black dog. He doesn't shed much, but it is enough to be annoying. Also, this pillow case fits VERY tightly and it digs into your shoulder if you lay a certain way on it. I went to Jo-Ann's and bought some of their snuggle fleece fabric and made this case for it! It is SO freaking soft and cute!

I also bought Jillian a Rock N Play from a resale group on facebook for my area. It is so adorable and really light and easy to fold up. I will likely keep her bassinet in my room by the bed since it is higher and more on level with our bed and she will nap in the RnP downstairs.

Another little random.. I made Keith this hat! I am pretty proud of myself and I think he likes it! He has been begging me to make him a hat with ear flaps and I finally did! I need to get a pic of him with it on since it looks awkward when I'm just holding it flat.

Anyways, my first appointment with my new doctor and midwife is next week. I'm excited and nervous. I'm hoping Keith will be off so he can come with me. I never minded that Keith didn't make any appointments until I read that a lot of people have their husbands/SOs go with them. Keith has only been to my first ultrasound. He couldn't even come to the anatomy scan.

Speaking of anatomy scan. I might be totally crazy, but I think I'm going to schedule an elective u/s ASAP. I am dying to see Jillian again. Keith is on a snowboarding trip and he has duty days on both ends of the trip, so I'm essentially home alone for 4 days straight. I'm gonna try to get in tomorrow (as in Saturday.. I am writing this at like 2am on Saturday).

Our trip to IL/IN was pretty good. It was great seeing all of Keith's family. It is the first time I got to see most of them in over a year and we haven't seen Keith's immediate family since the wedding (except his mom and one sister when they visited back in May).

And speaking of weddings.. we celebrated our 1 year anniversary the other night! We didn't exchange gifts since we had the expensive trip and we actually spent most of the day driving home from IL and then napping since we drove overnight. We went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse and went all out :P It wasn't anything fancy, but we ate a crapton of food! Our anniversary tier got ruined during a storm or something (it was in VA at my grandparents) so we just had cake there. It was a great and laid back day. I loved it!

This whole post is jumpy and random.. oh well :P I need to get some sleep!

How far along? 30w0d!
Total weight gain/loss? I think I'm floating somewhere around 134lb according to my scale at home. That puts me at only 6lb down from pre-pregnancy weight! I guess I over-indulged over the holidays lol
Stretch marks? Some of the ones on my left side are expanding. They are turning pink again and appear a little longer even though my right side ones are purple and the same..
Sleep? Sleep is still giving me problems. Busting my pillow out has helped some.
Best moment last week? Visiting family in Chicago! I also am in love with Jill's new car seat and stroller. I keep pushing it around upstairs!
Movement? My lovely daughter has something wedged in the right side of my ribcage and it makes it awkward and uncomfortable to be in some positions or lean forward unless I turn to the left and lean. She had a very slow day while we were away and I did kick counts for the first time. She got her 10 movements in like 20 minutes, but it was pretty slow for her. Usually she's a maniac in there! I wonder how many times she actually kicks in an hour or two when I'm laying down. I have never counted and I was surprised she made it to 10 so quickly when she was being very calm. We seriously must have a wild child in there
Food cravings? any kind of sweets really
Belly button in/out? The top maybe 1/4 of it is out, the rest is just getting flatter, but is still in
Braxton Hicks/contractions? I may have had one the other day when my belly felt really hard, but I honestly wasn't sure. It wasn't super obvious and I only noticed bc I was rubbing my belly. I thought I'd know for sure if I was having a BH, but what do I know?
What I miss: A good night's sleep
What I am looking forward to: my baby shower!!!
Milestones: I'm officially 3/4 baked! Yay me and Jillian!

29w0d

My bump at 20w and 30w

DIY: Burp Cloth Embellishing

Alright, this one was super easy and super frustrating. I would definitely use different materials if I were making these as gifts.

Supplies:
I bought the Gerber cloth diapers 10-pack. Everyone always tells me they're the best for cheap spit up rags
Ribbon
Thread
Scissors
Pins
Sewing Machine


Steps:
Wash and dry the diapers. They will quilt up after the first wash and dry, so I'm assuming it'd distort the ribbon if you waited until after it was sewn together

 

Cut your ribbon to just a tad longer than the diaper long-ways. You want two strips of coordinating ribbon for each diaper

 Pin the ribbon. I chose to try and cover the seams that are in the diaper.

 Sew each edge of the ribbon down.

 Viola!

 Since the diapers quilt up and get all stretchy, it was a headache trying to sew straight lines while attaching the ribbons. If I used a less stretchy fabric (or was maybe a better sewer), they would have turned out a lot prettier. These were cheap and quick though! I'm sure Jill won't mind when I'm cleaning up her throw up and milk mouth with them!

28w0d

Another week has gone by and I struggle to remember where the time went!

Today, I am a tiny bit grumpy and a lot bit tired. I guess the lovely aches and pains (mainly crotch pain and pain from laying on my back) have been waking me up constantly at night. Last night, Keith snored so loud that I finally gave up trying to sleep at 12:30am and I've been up ever since. 5pm feels MUCH later than it is today..

I've been crafting a little bit and should have at least one DIY post up before we leave for vacation Thursday. I have been working on embellishing burp cloths. I also have fabric in the wash right now for making a slip cover for my pregnancy pillow, but I'm making this one up as I go and I've never sewn something so big or sewn a zipper before so IDK if I will finish it before we leave. I also plan to make some reusable breast pads pretty soon out of my flannel scrap fabric.

Sorry, not a fun update today. I did that huge post the other day and haven't really been up to much since then. I did pick up a rock n play today for Jillian. Another thing marked off of the list!

I made her this adorable bear hat today!

Not bad for my first attempt! I like the half double crochet hat much better than the single crochet hat (the yellow hat I made Jill). I popped two of these out in like 3 hours this morning (the first one looked absolutely terrible so that's why I made two)

How far along? 28w0d!
Total weight gain/loss? As of this morning, I am 130. Down 10lb total for the pregnancy, but up 10lb since the loss stopped
Stretch marks? No new ones
Sleep? Oh sleep.. I am finding it hard to get comfortable, fall asleep, stay asleep, etc. I'm tired pretty much all of the time. I looked it up and I should be taking double the iron I have been taking, so hopefully that'll help with the fatigue I've been feeling this past week.
Best moment last week? All of my awesome buys! I am so excited to have Jill's stuff in the house. It makes it feel more real
Movement? Pretty standard this week. She's finally in my ribs and sometimes it makes me jump or I can't bend in that direction bc there's a little foot or hand stuck right under them. It's pretty bizarre having a little person kick you from the inside
Food cravings? s'mores
Belly button in/out? Still in. No change from last week
Braxton Hicks/contractions? None so far.
What I miss: A good night's sleep
What I am looking forward to: visiting family over Christmas
Milestones: I'll be 3/4 done in two weeks. Other than that, no major milestones coming up soon.

Don't worry.. I wouldn't wear this odd-fitting shirt in public. I put it on when I got home today! 28w0d with Puppy backside!

EDIT: In case anyone wanted the pattern for the hat, http://www.crochetgeek.com/2011/12/crochet-cap-with-bear-ears-small-infant.html    Crochet Geek is the easiest so far for me to follow. She has youtube videos of her crocheting the patterns and it is terribly helpful for when I am stuck or confused. I am getting better at reading patterns from cross-checking her videos with the patterns too.

Baby Gear

Okay. Baby gear is overwhelming. Don't let anyone tell you that it isn't. I mean they write books about it (and they aren't short books either..)! If you want to be sane, buy the Baby Bargains book. I thought to myself, "why on earth would I SPEND MONEY on a book to save me money?!" Trust me, just do it. They cover pretty much everything. They tell you what is and isn't okay to buy used. They rate brands for certain items and give you their best picks for each baby gear category. There are one million different car seats/strollers/cribs/bottles/clothes/etc in all price ranges and it is really hard to narrow it all down.

My method for making a registry was to first read the BB book. I then took their recommendations and went online to read reviews (and instead of reading reviews for 30 car seats, I picked out the top rated ones from BB). Then, I slowly added things to it in the beginning of my pregnancy, but kept my registry private and unsearchable (I wasn't ready to let anyone buy things yet and I still had a very rough registry). Sometime between my elective u/s, when we found out Jill had a vagine, and my anatomy scan, I opened up the registry to the public and I dragged Keith to BabysRUs and let him scan things. I wanted to see a lot of the gear in person. Then, I went home and deleted all of the frivolous things Keith insisted on scanning :P (seriously.. a baby doesn't need a $60 jet tub! and, no, I am not kidding.. Keith scanned it and insisted she have one). I looked for the same or similar things on Amazon and added them to that registry. I chose to do two places because I knew some people would want to shop in the store (BRU.. even though BRU sucks and their prices are jacked up) and I knew Amazon had more of a selection and better prices (plus, I don't have to worry about shit being unavailable in the store). Now, I am constantly going on my registries and changing things.

I am in a few pregnancy groups so I hear different opinions on what is "necessary," "really nice to have," "a life-saver," "a waste," etc from experienced moms. That's why I feel like my registry is ever changing. It scares me that one day we'll actually have to make real decisions on what Jillian needs lol.

Something that makes me so happy is saving money. I love to shop, but I hate to pay full-price for things. I have been stalking my local resale facebook groups and craigslist for baby gear lately. I am SO excited about my finds. I scored a swing for $25 (retail for $80-120), a bouncer for $10 (I can't find the same bouncer.. but they range from $25-60), a jogging stroller for $50 (retail for $120-180), an activity mat for $7 (retails for $35), a breast pump for $40 (retails for $130-220), and a few toys (I paid $3.50 for two and I know one of them is a $15 toy).

My second-hand finds (breast pump not pictured.. I'm sure no one wants to see that :P)

 So, my favorite score so far is actually the breast pump. I got the Ameda Purely Yours. It gets rave reviews like the Medela Pump In Style Advance, but is about 50-75 bucks cheaper. The Medela comes in a handy little travel case and is supposedly more portable. I had the Medela on my registry. The problem with the Medela is that some of the milk apparently gets pumped back into the machine part (from what I've read) and it cannot be cleaned out. This pump is NOT shareable. Some people do, but it really skeeves me out even thinking about old milk being mixed in with my milk and then feeding it to Jillian.. especially a stranger's milk. The Ameda is a closed system, which means the milk does not back up into the pump parts. You can boil to sterilize or buy new tubing and flanges and whatever else for it and it is like using your own pump! Hell! I'll pay $40 for a used pump and then $20 for new parts over paying $250 for a brand new one that I can't re-sell any day! I am SO glad I came across this deal. The lady even had the accessory kit for it.

My dad has bought a few things off of the registry for my Christmas present this year! I was SO excited to get some things in for Jill (this was before my finds mentioned above). He got us a new changing pad (I have one that was gifted to me, but it is pretty old and now we can have one for her room and one for the floor downstairs), the pack n play (we went with the basic one because I didn't think the fancy attachments were worth how much more they cost (plus they have low weight limits)), a small diaper pail, a pail liner, a swaddle blanket/sack, a crib sheet, a water-proof mattress pad, and a lovelace freetime! I finally have a lovelace in OS!

I FINALLY got some new fluff mail today.. those Glow Bugs that I ordered, ohhh..., two months ago! I think I ordered them before Oct 5th (I wanna say that's when the order closed). I seriously have some great things to say about doing co-ops! Essentially, co-ops are huge groups on facebook that do group buys from loads of companies for wholesale (or better) prices. Usually, when you order HUGE amounts of items, companies will give you a crazy discount. The co-ops usually charge a fee per order depending on how many items (usually 2-3 bucks) and then you pay the shipping fees. The co-op fee is for the host (the lady that places the order). Everything is shipped from the company to her and then she takes her time to sort and pack and ship everything to the mamas that ordered the goodies! Usually the prices are well worth the co-op and shipping fees.

Glow bugs in kitten, retro, and dahlias

I also picked up that sweet basket (^) today to put a mini stash of Jillian's diapers and wipes for changes downstairs (because her main stash will be in her bedroom and I am NOT climbing the stairs every time she pees her pants)

Here's Jill's closet now. You can't even see all of the clothes shoved in there!

Jill's closet is stuffed as much as I can stuff it! Her baskets up top have pants, towels/washcloths/bath toys, swaddle blankets, hats/headbands (there are 4 total and I got the set WITH the laundry basket at walmart for 25-30 bucks). Then there are two scentsy buddies. On the left is her laundry basket, diaper pail, the old changing pad, a gifted activity mat, the pack n play, and that tub with plain onesies, shirts, shoes, books, sheets, mattress pads, blankets, the crib skirt, and other misc things. The right has her play gym, the pink basket full of newborn diapers, and the huge tub full of OS diapers, prefolds (NB size), and wipes. Next to that is her other changing pad (you can't see it in the picture).

I promise I am ALMOST done boring you! Keith gave me my Christmas present yesterday. I asked him for a sewing kit to put my threads and scissors in. I have been packing away my sewing machine in the box and then putting all of my random things like fabric scraps and needles in plastic grocery bags.. very fancy! So he went and got me the most awesome sewing table EVER! It has cabinet storage and folds up to look like a regular cabinet. I have pictures (DUH!) to show you what I mean!

Yeah, he wins for awesome/thoughtful gift of the year! I am so in love with it! I don't have a TON of sewing stuff yet, so I have room for all of my crafting stuff (yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, scrapbook paper, etc.) I absolutely love it!

I highly doubt he reads my blog, so I'll gush.. I got him sweet Harley-Davidson motorcycle boots! He really needs some riding boots and these are awesome and, from what I've read, comfortable!

Today, I went to my dear friend's house to hang out with her and her mom. I had so much fun and it was so relaxing to get out of the house, but still just hang around on the couch watching tv with someone other than my dog. She has offered to host my baby shower and I couldn't be more excited! It is incredibly sweet of her and I'm SO thankful! It will be January 26th, if I leave anything left on my registry :P

I will leave you with a bump picture, and a promise that hopefully early next week or this weekend I will do at least one DIY post. I am still debating on what.. I'm thinking of heading to Jo Ann's tomorrow (I have a few coupons) and getting fabric for a case for my pregnancy pillow and/or burp cloths. I also plan to make some sweet bandana-shaped bibs (so freaking cute) in the near future!

Me looking a hot mess today at 27w5d. I still feel teeny-tiny.