Pregnancy Style: Thirty-Six Weeks

(white moon, white moon...)

36 weeks!

It's crazy that he could basically come anytime after next week, although I'm really hoping he'll cook until much closer to my due date. I've been putting off buying real maternity clothes (other than leggings-- I'm still a BIG FAN of maternity leggings and recommend that anyone who wants leggings for around-the-house should buy them and have no shame, pregnant or not) until the last possible minute because I didn't want to waste money if they weren't totally necessary. I'm at the point right now where only a few of my elastic waist dresses fit or look right on me, so I caved recently and bought a couple of maternity tops-- it feels so nice to have a top long enough to cover everything! Wearing pants with my belly band is challenging at this stage because I can't zip them at all and it seems like the band is always riding up, but whatever, it's nice to be able to change it up from constant dress-wearing.

This month is going to be so uncomfortable. I can say with certainty now that my pregnancy has definitely been awesome, and thankfully all the discomfort has saved itself for these last few weeks, but OH. SUCH DISCOMFORT. Most of it is because he still hasn't dropped yet (false alarm last time.. he went a little lower and then climbed back up!) so his feet are still tucked up under my ribs, making it impossible to sit comfortably on anything other than my exercise ball. I still love every second of it though, even if rolling over in bed has become an Epic Effort and I pee twice a night and if I drop something on the floor it's gone forever because bending over is way too hard-- it's been the best-and-strangest adventure ever.

F21 pants
Maternity tee from Motherhood
ye olde H&M flats
Bag knit by me

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The Nursery!

The (finally finished) nursery! 

I'm not a fan of all-blue-and-boyish or all-pink-and-girly nurseries (or nurseries that look too babyish, since the room is technically for the parents for a while!), but I actually surprised myself by being afraid that I would accidentally make this room too girlish somehow. After all, I'm a girl and these are all things that I like, and I suppose there's some sort of strange expectation to make a room look kind of "tough" when it's for a little boy-- even on Apartment Therapy I saw lots of examples of nurseries that had a distinct masculine vibe, and I was definitely veering in another direction. It's a silly thing to have worried about because I ended up creating a gender neutral space that's just plain happy, with a mix of yes-kind-of-girly-colors contrasted with the strong chevron rug and horse/airplane/robots/Wild Things poster. 

It's a room that makes us seriously happy to step into, and I'm looking forward to playing in there in a few months and reading to him at night in the comfy chair..

The rug is from Urban Outfitters (loooove).

I made the curtains, and the wooden crate is from a thrift shop (originally from Red Schoolhouse Records in Raleigh). The bookshelf is (obviously!) from Ikea and the storage bins are 3 Sprouts. I love those things! They fit the Expedit perfectly and hold tons of stuff.

Elefante made by me, handmade wooden dinosaur from the City Market in Charleston, the blocks are XYZ (AND THEY ARE AWESOME). I still need to get a more traditional set (because I'm kind of obsessed with wooden blocks) but these are just fantastic.

Elephants knit by me, random toys and Aden + Anais blankies.

Vintage storybooks and old thrifted toys-- the giraffe, day of the dead dog, and bunny are from a shop in Santa Fe, NM (the dog and bunny were from a local artist). The music box used to live in Jeremy's grandma's house, and the nesting shelves were $2 at a yard sale.

The Wonder Pony! Found at an antique shop earlier this spring.

We, um, accidentally collected a lot of clothes (for the first six months, anyway). I'm pretty excited by my storage/organization system-- empty baskets at the bottom for outgrown clothes, and random bins and baskets at the top for hats/socks, bibs, nursing and feeding supplies, etc.

I made size dividers out of cardboard and scrapbook paper-- it was a really quick and easy way for me to feel less OVERWHELMED by the clothes and their ridiculous, arbitrary sizes (baby clothes really need to have standardized sizing, what the hell?)

The crib with my DIY robot sheets! Superhero Bird and Alphabet prints are from Etsy. The Bird print actually has his name on top, but since we're being all silly and secretive I 'shopped it out for now.  Block quilt made by me.

The Alphabet print is held up by an old wooden pants hanger, but will obviously be moved to a safer location once he can actually stand up and grab at things!

I still need to make lots more toys for crib-friends! The Exploding TARDIS poster is probably one of my favorite things in the entire house because it's gorgeous and the frame is perfect and I had to have something in there representing the Doctor.

The vintage (I think?) lion lamp was from a consignment sale, side table from a vintage shop, and the glider was a lucky craigslist find. The magazine rack by the chair is going to hold current favorite books. OpArt blankie knit by me!

We're cloth diapering, so the trash can with washable pail liner is going to serve as our diaper pail. The dresser was definitely the biggest project in the room (and of course I forgot to get a "before" picture), but it was originally a very beat up '20s dresser with a round mirror that we used at our old apartment. Jeremy sanded, primed, and painted it a gorgeous coral color. Yay!

Wall stuff! Owl print from Etsy, creepy weirdo vintage lion found at an antique shop (I love him). The smurf puzzle was put together by my dad and used to live in my room as a kid. The stenciled DIY lyrics were a surprisingly quick project (the chorus of Bowie's "Kooks").

A dog bed is necessary when your dogs insist on following you to every room of the house. (Although I need to find a larger one for this room, because of course they refuse to share small beds these days.)

And finally, the Ikea repurposed shelves with lots of pretty books.

So phew, yes. That's it! Now I just need a baby to go there (and I'll have one in a MONTH, whaaaat!)

Recent Knitting

I've been knitting up a storm lately. I still need to make the baby a Christmas stocking (from this pattern because I love it so much) and I want to make a few more toys and hats, so all of that is definitely going to keep me busy during these last few weeks.

First, a pumpkin hat! He's going to be here at some point in October so it's obligatory. I'm making another one right now for a friend who's also due around the same time as me (aw!).  I used this sock hat pattern to get the correct gauge for fingering yarn (using some leftover Knit Picks Palette, and I think the green is Shine Sport) and finished off the top with the baby berry hat pattern.

Elefante is something I've been wanting to make forever but never got around to it-- it turned out to be super quick and easy, and this yarn is a dream. Knit Picks Felici Sport is honestly my new favorite thing! I only wish it came in more colors. I want to make socks and hats and toys and everything with it.

These Legwarmies were also made with Felici Sport (they're so soft and self-striping yarn is the best thing EVER). I love babies in onesies and legwarmers. I just hope the weather and his size correspond this winter so he can actually wear them!

Modeled by Mr. Other Elephant: 

I'm going to stop slacking and post nursery photos soon, promise! 

Pregnancy Style: Thirty-Three Weeks

Well, this is kind of a lack of pregnancy style this week, ick! Please excuse my sad looking hair that needs a trim and fresh dye.

I've been so lazy lately-- the combination of the weather (hot, humid, constantly raining) and the third trimester has knocked me on my ass and made me completely unmotivated to do anything. I've just been constantly knitting and reading and sleeping (three awesome things) which is probably good because I'll have zero time to any of those after October!

I'm going to start being diligent about photo-taking these last few weeks, though, because everything is just going to get bigger and more dramatic and I want to have a good record of it. I had (or rather, he had) another growth spurt recently and it feels like I suddenly woke up with this GIANT BELLY that wasn't quite there a week or so ago, and I'm pretty sure he's moved down a bit because things just feel.. different. I don't know if he technically "dropped" yet, but his head is unmistakably lower.

I've had crazy heartburn off and on for weeks now (sometimes heartburn tea knocks it out, sometimes it doesn't) and you've probably heard the old wives tale about the baby having hair if the mom has heartburn, right? I looked it up last night (fully expecting it to be nonsense) and apparently Johns Hopkins did a study and ended up confirming that heartburn does indeed up your chances of having a baby with hair, how interesting! Jeremy and I were both baldies so we're still not really expecting it, but it would be cool because I love newborns with hair. (Of course the heartburn could just be from my fish oil supplements, so.)

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