24 weeks

24 weeks, wow! Time is going by so fast. Here are the latest belly pics and a bonus one of Jimi being a goofball. That is him sticking his belly out. Funny guy. It's funny, I keep thinking I'm not very big. Then I look at these pictures and realize I am plenty big. lol

My recent craftiness

I have been rather crafty lately. I got a new wrap skirt pattern that is super cute, so I made myself a skirt. I made a simple skirt for Eleanor from the same fabric, we'll be matching! The skirt was made for some maternity pictures with Amy but we ended up rescheduling for next month. 3rd trimester here I come!





Next I have a trade worked out with someone on Hyena Cart. I made her new baby boy a quilt and she is knitting 2 pairs of longies with some wool I sent her. I hope she loves it. I really like working on baby quilts. Maybe I should start making one for my own little one? :)





A good friend gifted me with a bunch of onesies from when her son was a baby. I decided to add some little bits of fabric to spruce them up a little. I may cut the bottoms off too, because we didn't really use onesies with Eleanor. We'll see.

















And I will leave you with a picture of my wall of fabric. I still have totes and totes of other fabrics, but these are my wovens, flannels, fleece, wool, etc.

Eleanor's 4th Birthday!

"She laid on my chest and her breathing filled me to almost beyond what I could hold."
-Story People quote

Today was Eleanor's 4th birthday. I wrapped her gifts up for her the night before, and set them out in the living room for her to find. Jimi hung up the banner of colored paper flags that I made, spelling out "Happy Birthday Eleanor!" We were all so excited for her special day to arrive. She couldn't wait to see what treasures she would find that day. Surely there would be some big changes that day, she thought. Perhaps she would grow overnight, or her voice would change? This magical age of 4. :)

I woke up early, beside myself with excitement. I decided to get up and wait patiently for Eleanor and Jimi to wake up. An hour passed and I couldn't wait anymore. Crawling next to her sweet, sleeping body I whispered, "Happy Birthday my sweet girl". (I have called her Sweet Girl since she was first born. My father in law used to tell me that I wouldn't always think she was such a sweet girl. Boy, was he ever wrong!) She opened her eyes, and told me it was so hard to be patient. She wished she could open her gifts. I told her all she had to do was wake up and she could open them! She was wide awake then!

She opened her gifts smallest to biggest. New lip gloss, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie, a new swimsuit. Then the bigger gifts. A bike helmet, a magic set, and a guitar just like Daddy's! It came with picks and a strap that was "just her size". She loved it! She was so excited and thankful for each thing. She has been saying that she wants a ring like Mama and Daddy so that "we can all be married". So I found some adjustable toe rings that would fit her little fingers, and she was so happy to have a ring of her own. She wore one all day.





Eleanor and Jimi played guitar together, we did some magic tricks, then we headed off for Florence for the afternoon. We stopped for lunch when we got there, but she was too excited to eat anything. We went to the dunes and set up our blanket. She was off to find treasures and roll down the sand hills, squealing. She played her sandwich maker game and made some sand castles with Daddy. Then she played tag with the waves. After a few hours, we set off for home. She passed out and slept with mouth agape the whole ride home. :)











I made her cake when we got home, and Jimi's parents came over. Grandma and Grandpa got her a fishing pole! She went outside and practiced fishing with Grandpa. I don't know which one of them had more fun out there! We visited for awhile, then had cake. We all sang her Happy Birthday and she made her wish. (Mama hopes all of your wishes come true my sweet, sweet girl!) She assured me that there would be no fighting at bedtime tonight. I asked if that was because she was 4 now, and she said yes. What a sweet treat for me! I had no clue this was a perk of having a 4 year old. LOL The grandparents left and we started getting ready for bed. I could hear her struggling through the wall and chuckled at her earlier assurance of the "easy bedtime". Jimi knocked on the wall for me to come in. She was crying that she wanted to "lay with mama tonight, because I love her so much". Who could say no to that? I gladly put my arm around my sweet girl and she whispered in the dark about her day to me. She told me she loved me, and then drifted off to sleep.

She is a dream realized. I had absolutely so idea how much I would love her and what that meant 4 years ago when she came into this world. I am still in awe of her. She is so sweet and yet so full of fire sometimes. She takes from my cup everyday, yet it runneth over by the end of the day. There are times I feel as though I couldn't adore her anymore, and then a new day comes and I find my heart has grown for her. I wonder who she will become as she grows up, how she will love, what will excite her. She remembers a few of our losses and is beyond thrilled to have a new baby sister on the way. I am so, so thankful for the gift of Eleanor and for the gift that is this new baby. I know that once again I will feel as though my heart couldn't be any fuller, and then I will find that it has doubled and tripled.

Happy Birthday Eleanor, my sweet girl. Thank you for 4 years of delightful days!

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

22 weeks pic

Here I am at 22 weeks 1 day. I went to the thrift store this day looking for some newborn clothes. The checker asked if I had a little one at home too. I said my belly and said, "I have a little one still cooking right here." I thought for sure I was clearly showing! But I guess one has to be careful when assuming someone is pregnant, right?

Yay for new patterns!

I went to Joann's for some patterns that were on sale this weekend. I got a few shirt patterns for me, a dress pattern for E, a Wizard of Oz pattern set for E, and a maternity skirt/shirt/dress pattern. I am really needing some cute shirts, but I'm having zero luck finding anything in the stores. And I can't spend $20 on a shirt when I'm not pregnant. No chance on doing that now. I just can't when there are such deals to be had at thrift stores. Anyways, the shirt patterns are just too much detail for me. I'm a simple girl when it comes to sewing. Shirts have 18 different pieces to them. I don't have patience for that. So, I'm going to make some skirts (much easier) and just buy a bunch of solid tanks and tees to go with them. I might try to make a few dresses, but we'll see. :)

These are the patterns for the skirts and the dress:

Hip Skirts pattern by Favorite Things.

Dress pattern from Kwik Sew #3486:



Wrap skirt pattern from Make It Perfect:



Maternity pattern from Simplicity #4704: (I will likely just use the knit skirt pattern from this.)



And then I'll get a bunch of solid tees and tanks from American Apparel. Hopefully it works okay. :) I have a wholesale account with them, so I get a huge discount. I just can't pay full price!

21 weeks and way too many names

Now that we know we are having a girl, I guess it's time to think about names. For some reason I'm having a hard time narrowing down the list. Maybe because it's because I have already named a child and know how huge that is? I feel like this new child's name is going to be such a big part of her identity and I just keep adding names to the list. Seriously, I have 28 names on the list. It's a little out of hand. My plan is to whittle them down to maybe 5 names with Jimi, and post them on the refrigerator. Hopefully one will stick with us in the next 15-20 weeks. :) I'll list our top choices when we get around to agreeing on them. This could take awhile.

I am now 21 weeks pregnant. I am definitely feeling pregnant now. I still think I just look pudgy to most people. By nighttime, my belly feels bigger and firmer. But it was like that pre-pregnancy too. LOL I'm not super sure where I am with weight gain. Anywhere from 14-16 pounds, which isn't too bad at all. I'm not that concerned. Eleanor got to feel the baby for the first time today! She was pretty excited about it, but asked why the baby kicked her. :) She hasn't been patient enough to wait for a kick, but this morning she caught one. So that was cool. Jimi hasn't really felt it yet. In the morning, he is already at work when I wake up. Or at night, he is already asleep. Soon, soon.

My friend Amy wants to take some maternity pics for her portfolio in a few weeks. I am excited, but a little nervous, because she would like to do them semi-nude. Hopefully my belly is bigger by then. Right now I feel like I'm more boobs than belly! But she does beautiful work, so I know the photos will be awesome.

Look at my sweet girl loving on her daddy. :) My how she has grown! She will be 4 in 10 days. I have never posted letters to her, but I think I may do one this year. She is just so amazing, I adore her.

My new skirt!

Not too bad for a skirt made in 1 day! I used Heather Bailey Pop Garden fabric and the Hip Skirts pattern. I have a ton of fabric, but not much in enough yardage in a skirt for me. I usually buy in 1-2 yard increments for my eleanor bean cloth bags or for something for Eleanor. So, it's a little more bright than what I would normally pick out. But it's pretty and comfortable and not jeans. lol It's not a maternity pattern, just an elastic waistband skirt. Now I must make more!! :)

Sweet video I made for Jimi 2 years ago

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