WOW!!!! Thank you EVERYONE for your advice! Holy smokes, I am SO set!!! I feel kind of like I just had a girly sleepover where ladies tell all their secrets and dish the latest scopp about...baby stuff :) THANKS!

A few more questions today...

Nursing bras....what's the best?

Also, I LOVE wearing dresses, especially now that I'm huge, and they are so comfortable...how do you nurse when you're wearing a dress, like a long dress...or do you?

I'm swollen, I put my feet up every day at lunch in the teachers lounge, they hurt so bad when the school day is over...I know avoid salty foods, any other tricks?

And, to leave you with a laugh...kids are so funny:

Maggie: (looking at me with her head cocked to one side, contemplative... standing in the lunch line staring at me) "mrs. Lance, your baby gives you a lot of baby fat huh?"

Me: (looking down at my big belly) "Yes Maggie, he does..."

Maggie: "Yeah...like a lot of baby fat huh?

Me: "um, yeah :)"

Then in Reading class, we are de-coding words...

"okay we just decoded the word enormous, how many syllables does enormous have, lets clap it out together, okay e (clap) nor (clap) mous (clap) three, that's right it had three syllables, who can use the word enormous in a sentence?

Jenny: (ALWAYS uses the requested words in a sentence that is a question because one time I praised her for using a question...) "Are you enormous?"

Me: (looking down at my belly) "Yes. I am."

Today in the morning, kids are filing into the classroom, taking attendance, beginning their seat work, and Diane says "Wow Mrs. lance, you just keep on getting bigger and bigger...........like every day, just bigger and bigger! :)"

This weekend, with my niece Kaci:

Me: "Kaci, lets put these chips away, you're going to eat the entire bag honey! :)"

Kaci: "Good idea, let's put them away, if I keep eating them I'll be big and fat like you!"

Me: "KACI! I did NOT get fat like this from eating too many potato chips!!! I have a BABY inside me (thankyouverymuch!)"

Kids are so...honest :)

Don't worry though, for every kid that tells me I'm huge in a sweet and innocent way, there are like two dozen people who tell me that I look cute, so don't pity me, I just wanted to share my humorous life :) I don't have a fat complex or anything :)

Have a great week!

I'm off to do more homework (my Oral Defense for my Masters is Friday at 1, I could use your prayers!) and right after that, I am leaving for 11 days to the WARMTH of California!!! YEAH!

Advice

So...I've been trying to do some homework about some baby stuff, but when it comes down to it, all the research and reviews are full of it, how do I know who I can trust??? SO, I'm asking you... those of you with a wealth of knowledge, please tell me...

What diapers do you prefer? I hear Pampers swaddlers are good for newborns, but not good for older, I hear huggies are good, I hear lots of things, but do you get what you pay for? Are huggies the ultimate poop soaking dry bum keepers, or does it matter? What about Costco's Kirkland brand? And what about store brands like Target and Walmart? Any bad experiences? Exceptionally good ones??? I'm super thrifty as you know, and I don't want to spend money on something I don't need, but I also don't want to waste money buying junk that I get frustrated with...so tell me, what are your preferred diaper brands?

Same for Wipes...one's to stay away from? Are they all created equal???

What about bottles and nipples? My SIL loves and swears by hers- the kind you insert the plastic baggie thing into because you don't have to clean out the bottle-just the nipple, you can squeeze out the air bubbles, and the baby doesn't have to tip the thing totally upside down to get milk. (BTW, I am going to Nurse, but you know later on when bottles are needed or if I need to pump etc...) BUT my other SIL swears by hers that are "Advent" I think... What do YOU swear by?

Next: swaddlers and burpies...how many should you have? I mean how many burp cloths do you go through, how often do you do laundry? What about bibs?

Do your babies wear socks?

Shoes?

Do you have an awesome monitor? Is the expensive one worth it?

Same with the car seat, do you prefer one kind of handle to another?

Do you do the sling, the baby Bjorn, the mobi wrap or what???

What kind of diaper bag do you use? Is it a "diaper bag" or a snazzy bag you keep diapers in? How big is it?

What do you keep in your diaper bag, I mean beside the obvious, what might I forget to put in that I would be real glad I had???

What did you think you NEEDED before your baby came, but turns out you didn't?

What do you wish you had from day one, but didn't?

What ELSE??? I am counting on you, let me glean your very best advice on these things! I know I'll have more questions, but this is all I can think of right now...DON't LET ME DOWN!!! :)

Thanks guys!

i love my new machine!!!

Okay, project one: Knit dress...knit is a pain in the bum to sew with...I love the dress though, so it turned out okay :) The sleeves were hard, but I'm expanding my sawEEt skills :) Also, I got this fabric a long time ago from Walmart, for .50 cents a yard...so this dress costed like 1.25 in fabric :) I also have a plain grey one I am working on...it's the MOST comfortable thing to wear...and it's expandable...er the knit is very giving :)23 week belly

I gotta say, this is not my favorite angle, straight on...BUT I had to show the whole dress...A close up of the gathered ruffly sleeve...cute!



Okay, NEXT projects : applique...
I love this old man looking tie...I wanna make some dark tan corduroys to go with...

Sweet little sailboat...

Okay so I had previously mentioned getting some AMAZING deals at Macy's, well they more mostly carters stuff, cudlly onesies and such...now I think this is moderately cute..."I wanna be a fireman" okay, cut-ish, but not really my style, SO I transformed a bunch of mediochre outfits into VERY. CUTE. one-of a kind beauties! :)
This fireman one became a Pirate one...cute no?
Now I won't bore you with pictures of all of these outfits before I bedazzled them, just know they are a million times cuter now!


Stole this alligator idea from Gymboree...I had to have that little alligator, but theirs was so expensive, so I copied it :)

And this one is my favorite...a little charlie brownish if you ask me...I hand embroidered the brown stitching...SO cute, I love it!


A little bit of bum detail...
So it will be awhile before the little man can wear any of these outfits, but that's okay with me...I'll probably be grateful that I have them done already :)


Project Three: The Quilt...or the top at least :) The stripes beside the white are a pale grey and the backing will be a grey minky (it comes on Tuesday :))
Okay, this is not a project but a great story....
John has been talking about buying drums for FOREVER, he talks about it to me at least 10 times a day, he really wants to have drums...a completely unrelated note, I want a lazy-boy recliner rocker chair that I can snuggle the baby in while I am nursing...John thought we should get a nice wooden rocker...I am not opposed to the wooden rocker, but I choose comfort...we disagree.

Okay, so one day this week I come home from school, I call out to John...no answer...I hear rustling coming from the office/baby room...I go to open the door. locked...hmmm...
Me: honey? Are you in there?
John: Uhhh...yeah, don't come in!
Me: Why? (thinking) Oh my gosh babe did you get drums????
John: Yeah, I'm setting them up, don't come in!
Me: Awesome! Tell me about them, are they the ones from Guitar center???
John: Yeah! I called the guy blah blah blah
Me: let me in, I wanna see them!
John: Just wait a sec, I want you to get the full effect!

Then John comes out of the office but still won't let me in to see the drums...he grabs the camera and goes back into the office, fighting me off and not letting me in

John: Wait till I count to three then open the door
Me: Honey, why do you have the camera, I do NOT want you to take a picture of me looking at your drums, I think you'll be dissapppointed at my reaction, just let me in...
John: Okay, come in!
Me: Gasp. Shock. Tears....

It was not drums...it was this chair...be still my heart, I married a good man :)

SHOCK...
Chair..not drums lol :)
Tears...couldn't help it...

Anyway, I know this post is long, and all of my posts have TONS of pictures...and usually cover more than one event...but thanks for reading :) Have a great week!

Valentine's Day, Birthday fun, and Preggers update

This is my sweet class, I love them so much. For Valentine's Day I always teach my students etiquette and manners and how to behave like ladies and gentlemen and it's SO fun, then the culminating activity is a dance. (nothing serious, we're talking the electric slide, the chicken dance macarena etc...) I told my teaching team about it and they wanted to be in on the FUN, so this year's V-day celebration was huge!


John came, my prince, for some reason my students think it's SO exciting when John comes to school, I guess I do too :) He was the photographer for the event :) You can see the parents decorated the gym...cute :)
This is such a perfect shot. We did a dance called the "Party Train", a boy and a girl shuffle down the "train" (a row of girls and a row of boys), then at the end, they bow and curtsy...keepikng eye contact and smiling, all part of their training, so SO cute!

My team and I leading the electric slide from the stage, we had practiced for a couple weeks during PE time, so the kids knew it really well
I love this shot, this is at the beginning when we are waiting for the fun to begin, notice the whispering girls in the back row, and the girl telling a sweet secret to a boy middle and center...tender :)
Walking the class down to the dance, John was escorting me too, but he jumped out of line for a sec to grab this shot
So, I teach the boys to escort the girls, they ask politely, offer their arm and off we go, ABOVE is a gem of a kid, Yes he is wearing a white tuxedo with a purple ruffle tux shirt and a top hat, sadly he had been wearing a green bow tie, but it was too tight or something....some of the fellas got the privilege of escorting 2 girls due to the uneven girl to boy ratio


okay, here's the latest and greatest...21 weeks
Same dress as my 11 weeks photo, so you can see the growth clearly :)

I felt him MOVE for the first time yesterday, it was SOOOOO cool!

Other joys I am experiencing being pregnant:
-Have to eat small portions at a time, otherwise I am so uncomfortable...it's hard to sit down to dinner to eat a small portion of food, when you know in an hour it will time for another small portion...sometimes I just eat a normal amount, but then I regret it, too full to even bend over!
-Peeing all the time
-Armpit stink....I feel very fortunate because I don't have to wear deodorant. I don't smell when I sweat and I only put on deodorant if I am going to work out. This week however I discovered that I will be needing to include the pit stick into my daily routine, as I have started to smell ripe if I don't...gross.
-And lastly, I have reached the point where if I sneeze I have to cross my legs, otherwise I piddle my pants a little bit LOL!!!! Found that out from a sneak attack sneeze, didn't see it coming, I was sitting in a chair, yes, my pants were a smidge wet...this is new.


Valentine's Day weekend was spent helping Nate and Amy move, so on Sunday when they left, we had a pity party, we all cried a lot, decorated cookies to make us feel better...
Ben and Kristen
LOL, sorry I had to include this shot sist, but it was too good to pass up!

The night before they left, we had cake and ice cream for my birthday, it was DELISH!!!

I had a great birthday, I got spoiled by everyone, especially John, he gave me a new SEWING MACHINE!!!! I am so so so excited about it!

PS, birthdays at school as a teacher are pretty priceless, I got many "sweet treasures"
"mrs. lance, my mom was going to throw this away, but I asked if I could give it to you for your birthday"
"My mom said I could pick out anything i wanted from the dollar store to give you!"
"My grandma said I could pick something from the junk drawer for you"
LOL...kids are the sweetest!

Thanks everyone for the gifts and well-wishes for my next trip around the sun :)

crafts, progress, sad and happy

Had a rough weekend, brother and beloved SIL PLUS their three perfect wonderful children moved to Arizona this weekend. This would be the brother and Sister in law who I have lived with many times over the last seven years, whose children I love like my own, and who I look up to and adore more than I can say. I visit them any chance I get, love them SO much...anyway, you get the idea...anxiety on my part about living 12 hours away from them instead of 45 minutes...a LOT of tears...really depressing for me (And the rest of us still here in Utah)

BUT I have to say, they left for a really exciting job for said brother, and it's kind of like a dream come true for him, and he would be crazy not to take it. So it's bitter sweet really...and we'll be planning some trips to the warm south soon!

On the up side, I went shopping! I hit the motherload jackpot at Macy's...baby clearance GALORE, PLUS an additional 40% off...I went crazy! I'm talking cheaper than DI prices here folks! I had so much fun! Spent a pretty penny, but I have A LOT to show for it! Some of the outfits need a little sprucing up with some original flare, so stay tuned for that! :)

Let's see, another up-side, I submitted my masters thesis for approval! It will come back with revisions etc a few times, but this is the beginning of the end! YEAH!!!

For the Disney Give a Day Get a Day, I made these two quilts for project Linus (They take quilt donations for kids and give them to sick kids in hospitals, and for police officers to have in their cars to give kids when they have to take them out of their homes in bad situations) Now before you go thinking I am so charitable, I did it to get 2 free Disneyland tickets :) I'm shameless, but hey, everybody wins :)

I used all fabric I had, only had to buy badding, so it's like getting 2 Disneyland tickets for like 4 dollars. Awesome.


This one is my favorite :)


Baby boy fabric I have picked out so far...I'm working on a quilt with these fabrics, more to come...someday!

I have actually had these decorations up since before the beginning of February! Huge accomplishment for me :) BUT haven't been motivated to post them till now... I used some felt hearts from the dollar section and hit glued them onto some ribbon, the big heart is a placemat...love it. Used the same tree as I used for Halloween, and made the extra hearts into ornaments, and I printed some vintage valentine's off to frame...I do love those vintage cards! ANYWAY, it was fun to put together, Valentine's is one of my fav holidays :)