36 Week Update

I have only three and a half weeks till my due date, but so much to do yet. I just finished my last writing assignment for my Legal Writing class (woohoo!), and now I have two and a half weeks to review for my finals exams in my other two classes (Criminal Procedure and Evidence). CJ still has play practice three nights a week for three hours each, plus all day Saturdays. In addition, he has two afternoon karate classes, and baseball games. We've been working hard on memorizing all of his lines, songs, and dances. On top of that, I have three art projects I'm doing for the Mary Poppins play that CJ is in (carving the parrot head for Mary Poppins umbrella handle, getting a shadow box painting done, and painting 10 vases!). This baby better stay put so I can get everything done! Thankfully my track record shows that I still  have about 5 weeks left, so we're good.

36 WEEKS:

MORNING SICKNESS: Just about none left. I get waves here and there, especially after eating dessert (so it's my fault), but it's subtle.

CRAVINGS: None. Nothing really tastes good anyway. I don't know why I eat so much.

BABY'S MOVEMENT: Consistent and very uncomfortable.

HEARTBURN: Here and there. When I do get it, it is pretty severe, but it is gone by the next morning, so I can handle that.

PAINS AND ACHES: This is the worst part. Lots of Braxton Hicks, lots of lower back pain and plenty pelvis pain. The Braxton Hicks aren't always painful, but they take my breath away and I have a hard time dealing with them when they're rhythmic for longer than a couple of hours.

EXERCISE: I've been doing a lot better with walking. I get about 2.5 miles in at least three times a week. It's not as much as I like, but it's something. I find that it helps calm my nerves and also helps with the lower back pain.

WEIGHT GAIN: I'm right on track with the last two pregnancies as far as weight gain. Swelling is the same as my last pregnancy which has been pretty normal. I do not have "cankles"and my shoes still fit - I'm just puffy all over and I finally took my wedding rings off a couple of weeks ago.

FATIGUE/SLEEP: I've had a cold since the end of April that over Memorial Day weekend turned into a nasty sinus infection. I had migraine type headaches for four days that made one side of my face down my neck and the back of my head feel like it was being hammered with nails. I started amoxicillin right away and the headache turned into a regular sinus headache and now I'm just congested even though I'm done with the antibiotics. The antibiotics have made my stomach a lot more sensitive than normal, too. Trying to pump myself with probiotics now, but I'm still sleeping restlessly from the congestion (not to mention the discomfort of my size).

MOOD: My emotions are definitely better! I haven't been depressed, and my tears are only sentimental or happy tears. Nevertheless, I'm very irritable with the heat (we still haven't put in our window units) and irritable with the stress of all I need to get done.

Thanks for following along! I look forward to blogging about regular life here soon. I always have plenty I want to say, as my husband would fondly attest to.

Vintage Refashion

My fabulous sister-in-law is just as addicted to thrift shopping and vintage finds as I am. I've been striking out with the vintage finds lately, but she came to my rescue by gifting me with this beauty.

All I did was cut off the peplum waist (the chiffon is so thin you don't even notice that I cut it), tacked the sleeves under to make the dress sleeveless, and then hemmed the dress to knee-length.

The hem job came out so bad I had to do it twice, and it still looks horrible (you can't tell in the pictures). I don't have a "rolled hem" foot, which is really what was needed for this, but I'm pretty sure even if I had that particular sewing foot, I still would have done a bad job. I just don't have the patience for meticulous sewing - especially when it comes to fussy fabrics like chiffon!

I ended up following this tutorial for the chiffon hem.

I plan to wear this dress to our Christmas Eve church service with black tights and a little black sweater. But unfortunately, some of my kids have been down with a virus this entire past week, and then my baby and hubby came down with something hard core Friday night. I've kept a good attitude until yesterday. I had high hopes for doing some really fun things as dictated by the advent calendar we made. I wanted to make this season really special for the kids. Our plans to ice skate, sled, go out and see the lights, and all sorts of other things were not possible. Cassi and I still have not caught this bug, so we could be sick yet another week (please no!) and then I won't get to wear this dress. Boo.

In the meantime, I need to work on my attitude of gratefulness. Here are my list of pros for the week to get my mindset back on track:

1. We've had time to relax and take a true vacation since we were confined to the couch;
2. We've avoided all sugars, which is always good for our bodies, and if we weren't sick, we would probably be eating too many sweets right now;
3. We've saved money by staying home and not being able to eat as much has kept us from having to get more groceries;
4. I've gotten a lot of extra snuggles in;
5. We've gotten to watch several Christmas movies; and
6. I've not had to cook much.

Ah. Now I feel better. Here's to a better week with more time with my family to get excited for the Birthday of Jesus!

Casual Date Night and Whole 30

Chris and I got to go out on a fun date night Friday. We did the whole shebang, too--we walked down to the river, chatted, had dinner, walked through all the shops, relaxed at Starbucks and then caught a late movie. We tend to stay up late most nights, but it's for practical purposes. Friday we were actually out till 1 and it wasn't because of work. That felt good. I was just a girl and he was just a boy.

The river was peaceful and the sunset beautiful. We dreamed and talked, and dreamed some more. I guess we're already grown up, but we still talk about what we'll do when we grow up.

We planned to have a real casual dinner, so I kept the look low key. If you notice, I purposely wore something that you can't easily nurse in to celebrate the fact I was baby-less for the night.

The restaurant we chose was a mediterranean place that boasted gluten free plus organic options. This was important to us because recently I chose to start the popular Whole 30 diet for the sole purpose of losing the last five to seven pounds of baby weight I had left. I had some friends and family members who lost a lot of weight on it, and I thought it would be the safest (because I'm nursing), fastest and healthiest way to lose it. My goal was to only be on it a week or two until I got the pounds off, and then add back in a few natural sugars like honey and a few gluten free grains. 

After only one week and two pounds lost, I was ready to quit, but Chris was ready to start. I've reluctantly agreed to continue the diet with him and now we're striving for the whole 30 days. The idea of taking everything enjoyable that you eat out of your diet is pretty depressing for me, but my husband is already reaping many health benefits and since I've dropped one more pound, I'll stick it out. 

Thankfully the diet didn't hinder either of us from wanting to go out to eat and we found that with a few small tweaks, mediterranean food had some great options for us!

Dress - Target (thrifted) - $5

Booties - Gap - $7

Bag - Antonio Melani - $62

Jacket - Old Navy (thrifted) - $5

Girls in White Dresses...

When I saw my sister on Saturday she passed on to me some clothes. This white dress was among the pieces she gave to me. So of course Cassi and I had to wear our white dresses together for a photoshoot.

I'm wearing my sister's hand-me-down dress that was gifted to her by our grandpa from a local boutique. I'm also wearing Nine West Espadrilles that were gifted.

Cassi's dress is from Goodwill for $2 and her sandals were gifted from Wal-Mart.

Birthdays, Summer Fun, and National Ice Cream Day

This past weekend was as magical and wonderful as summer weekends get for me.

Friday, Capri turned 9 months old! We took her to the wooden train at a local park to celebrate.

Saturday started out with a Color Splash Run. 

Color Splash Run photos courtesy of Vicki Hesterman

After the race we met with friends for lunch and then my mom arrived for a quick visit before our trip out to Cleveland to watch my sister perform Haydn's Creation at Severance Hall.

The performance was magnificent. The Soloists were incredible. The company was so sweet, I wish the drive to Cleveland and back took much longer than it did!

Sunday after church we joined Chris's family for lunch. Fresh blueberry and raspberry pies were served after our sandwiches. Fruit pies are probably one of my top favorite things about summer. The raspberry pie was especially good.

Then after our ritual Sunday nap, I slipped out of the house in a coral dress with blue embroidery to join a friend for a concert on the river.

Such a beautiful day to be outside!

After the concert we took a walk out to the dam.

We found a restaurant in town by the river and enjoyed our savory sandwiches while we chatted the time away.

But the fun didn't stop there. It's National Ice Cream Day after all! We had to go get ice cream, too!

The back of the restaurant where we got our ice cream had the cutest little fairy gardens!

We admired the sunset as we walked through the gardens finishing our ice cream.

In case you were wondering, Capri did not get any ice cream and she was very upset about this. 

Coral dress is a Target clearance find ($8). Espadrilles are also Target clearance ($8), and calf hair flip flops are Gap clearance for ($6).

Happy Summer, Friends!