Love: A Gift for the New Dad



I would like to say that I have done my fair share of reading on things about pregnancy, labor and delivery, and bringing a new baby home. It is obviously a huge change to your marriage, which makes me nervous. My husband and I work opposite schedules, and sometimes it seems like we go days without a real conversation. With that being said, bringing a newborn home, it is said the husband can often be neglected not given as much attention. One article I read suggested making him a hospital survival kit. I finally decided I would do it.

Trying to be resourceful, I used a gift bag I already had, I mean I was buying enough junk for him. Literally junk food. This is completely against everything I believe. The only one of these things you may find in my house is the Chex Mix. I do not buy snack food, junk food, or soda to keep at the house. Why? Simple, it will get eaten. However, if he had the chance to buy junk food these are a few things he would buy.  

 Mt. Dew (I opted for diet)

Beef Jerky

Oreos

Chex Mix

Doritos

Reese's

Salty and Sweet snack mix (with peanut M&Ms)

 

They will at least be good things for him to munch on in the hospital.

 

Now, had I been really good I would have taken it to the next level. However, after mush deliberation about what else I could include I couldn't come up with anything cute. Why? We received them as gifts.  

So here are somethings I would include for the new dad to be, if we didn't already have them:

1. a new shirt to wear at the hospital (honestly I could still find one for him if I had anywhere good to shop, I thought a Life is Good shirt would be very fitting)

2. a new book or 2 for daddy to read to baby (I picked out Little Critters "Just Me and My Dad" and a "Police Critter" board book since my husband is a Trooper)

3. the greatest bib ever to give a guy "these fools put my cape on backwards"

4. pee pee teepee's

5. a onesie or two that fit the dad's personality (I have a motorcycle themed one, football, and Boston Red Sox)

 

 

Now for a sweet little card:

 

 Simple yet sweet, bugs me that it doesn't match the bag, but I literally had no baby blue scrapbook paper. So, this is what I found instead. I drew out the onesie, carefully wrote "just like my daddy" and hung it on a make shift clothes line. I don't feel like it is my best inside, but the verse was cute so I had to include a picture.

Love: 38 Weeks

How far along? 38 Weeks

Weight Gain: 28 pounds, ready for this to slow down…

Morning Sickness: None.

Maternity Clothes: All the time, and even 2 pairs of my maternity pants are starting to get a little uncomfortable. I am trying to wear my more comfortable stuff.

Stretch Marks: None. I have used Palmer’s Cocoa Butter lotion religiously throughout my pregnancy. Think what you want, and it may just be moisture or genetics, but I consider myself pretty lucky.

Sleep: I am exhausted when I get home from work, and ready for bed quite early. Throughout the night I generally wake up about once, sometime around when my husband is getting into bed. I will normally go to the bathroom when I am awake. I am also generally thirsty at this point. I drink about 8 ounces of water a night.

Baby Movement: He is still moving very often. The movements have gotten a little more painful, he jabs out on my right side especially, little knees I think, also something by my ribs that bugs me.

Food Cravings:

Labor Signs: No contractions or anything, but at I doctor’s appointment this week I found out I am 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced.

Belly Button In or Out? I still consider it to be pretty flat, but I have had more people the last week tell me it has popped out. I still think it’s the top edge of it.

Wedding Rings On or Off? On.

Thoughts and Feelings: There are a few things that I think people are crazy for saying.

1.      The baby is an internal heater- I have not experienced this. One of the ladies I work with said she didn’t even need a coat in the dead of winter. This is definitely not the case for me. There are times that I am still cold. At night I get warm, but when our bedroom door is closed its gets warm very fast. It’s not a burning up warm either.
2.      Nesting… I keep hoping this will come, but so far nothing. I need to clean my house badly. Not that it is dirty, but it does need a good cleaning. I am trying to go for one room at a time, and just clean it. This works fine in the rooms we don’t use, the others not so much.

A few things I have been working on:

1.      Prepping meals, with the help of my dad. I have cooked and frozen 8 pounds of hamburger meat to make dinners easier. My dad has also been cooking me different meals and freezing them, so thankful for this. I have tried to stock up on some different can goods we generally use a lot of, tomato sauce, vegetables, cream of chicken, and mushroom. I have also tried to have a grocery list of possible things we will need when we get home if someone else is going to the grocery for us, like my dad.
2.      Filling out his baby book. I was way late on buying a baby book to begin with. It only came in about a week ago. I was thinking I would make it at first, and then I just wasn’t happy with the outcome of some pages. Not to mention it was a bit overwhelming. I was able to find a sports themed baby book on Amazon, and then also ordered 2 matching photo albums.
3.   Designing his birth announcement. I found a birth announcement I loved and knew I could make it myself. I started it in Publisher, have a sample picture plugged in for size, name, fake information. This gave me a pretty good idea about spacing so that when he arrives I just have to change some numbers and send it to print. A lot easier than trying to sit down and design it after he is born. I also contacted my photographer to make sure I could get one of his newborn pictures quickly to use on the announcement. I have a pretty good list of who we will be sending announcements too, and just need to go by the post office to get stamps. I have the envelopes set out, and will print labels in advance too.

Live: Burlap Wreath

I also made this wreath for a Christmas present.

I tied pieces of burlap onto a wire wreath form, and then hot glued wooden stars to the blue burlap to complete the Americana look.


I followed this tutorial:
http://inbetweenlaundry.blogspot.com/2010/09/tutorial-c-u-t-e-and-easy-autumn-wreath.html

Live: Burlap Door Hangers

     I haven't been able to post this because the Burlap Door Hangers I made were Christmas Presents. So finally I get to post them, and I am pretty excited.

Materials:
Burlap (I used pre-colored burlap for the footballs and basketballs. It made it so much easier.)
Acrylic Paint (your paint colors will depend on what your team colors are of course. You will for sure need white for the football stripes and stitches, and black for the basketball stripes.)
Foam Paint Brushes (Regular and Round)
Paint Brush
Puffy Paint (optional)
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Wire
Ribbon
Glass Beads (optional)




I made templates for the shape, stitches and the stripes on the side because I was making several. I free handed these templates.
I also made templetes for my letters (partially because I'm a perfectionist.) I used my Cricut for these templates.


Directions:
1. To make my burlap a little stiffer I sprayed starch on it and ironed it before cutting.
2. I used my football and basketball stencil to trace the outline shape on the burlap then cut out the burlap for one side. (I don't like to cut the front and back in the beginning because they don't end up the same in the end.)

Football:
3. Used the white paint and my stencils to paint the stripes on each side and the stitches in the middle. It took 2 coats. Let dry.
4. Paint the logo and phrase in the middle. I had a stencil for this, 1 piece of paper. Because its paper I had to go around the edges and hold it while I was painting. I put one coat of paint on then pulled up the stencil. I did the second coat without a stencil. Let dry.
5. I put the stencils back on the stripes on the sides of the football to paint the polka dots. Using a round foam brush. The stencil keeps the extra part of the polka dot from getting on the brown burlap. Let dry.
6. When all is dry I outlined the stripes, polka dots, and logo in puffy paint. This will take at least 4 hours to dry.

Basketball:
3. Paint the logo and phrase in the middle. I had a stencil for this, 1 piece of paper. Because its paper I had to go around the edges and hold it while I was painting. I put one coat of paint on then pulled up the stencil. I did the second coat without a stencil. Let dry.
4. Basketball Lines- this is the hard part because it is truely eyeballing it and there are no second chances. I kept an image up on the computer to reference while I was drawing it, and I did it a fine point Sharpie first. After I had the lines predrawn I used a regular paint brush to paint the lines. Let Dry.
5. Using the little round foam brushes and a paint brush add the polka dots around the logo. Let dry.
6. When all is dry outline the logo in puffy paint. This will take at least 4 hours to dry.

7. Ready to Hot Glue! I hot glue mine to a solid piece of burlap, then cut it out. I think this makes a better pair and you get cleaner lines.
8. I used a gluestick to wrap my wire around for the part on the front of the burlap. Then poke through the burlap and wrap around the glue stick again to help it stay in place. (If you are using beads put them on before you twist but so that they are not infront of the burlap. The beads should be above the second twist. I also twist the wire after the beads to help them stay in place.) Repeat for the other side)
9. Tie your ribbon onto the wire behind the burlap, I normally do it right about the twist, it also helps to raise the ribbon a little to make it more visible. (Don't forget to burn the edges of your ribbon.)

Love: 36 Weeks

How far along? 36 Weeks

Weight Gain: 25 pounds

Morning Sickness:  None.

Maternity Clothes:  All the time. This week was warm so I did get to wear some capris that are non-maternity but knit and very comfy. I have always worn a small adult t-shirt, and even some of my mediums are getting tight.

Stretch Marks:  None!

Sleep: Sleep had been fine, but the past week or so has been a different story. I had several nights in a row that I would wake up and then lay awake for 2 or 3 hours. I could connect it to 2 things, my husband getting in bed when he gets home from work and sleeping with a pillow between my legs which was awkward to roll over with. The past few nights I have tried sleeping without the pillow. Although I did wake up I did not stay awake. Who knows.   

Baby Movement: Connor moves all the time. Due to how he is positioned in my belly I do not necessarily feel or see feet kicking, more of his butt and back moving across, which can make my belly look pretty strange at times. A knee or something occasionally comes out on my right side. He doesn’t tend to be on the left side very often. 

Food Cravings:  None, can you believe it?! I think it was something my husband was anticipating, but I haven’t had anything that is an oh my goodness I have to have that right now.

Labor Signs: None. My husband thinks he is going to come about a week early. I am just waiting. Not anxious yet which helps.

Belly Button In or Out? You can definitely see the top of my belly button, but it’s not poking out.

Wedding Rings On or Off? On.

Thoughts and Feelings:  The nursery is ready, the car seat base is in my car, our bags are packed, however, this momma is not quite ready. I am still feeling extremely nervous about bringing him home. I’m not even that worried about labor at this point like I should be, I’m terrified about getting an epidural, but the idea of labor has not made me nervous yet. My husband is excited for him to get here, and I am thankful that he will be off for a couple of weeks after Connor is born.

Love: 34 Weeks

(A few days late, but better late than never.)

How far along? 34 Weeks

Weight Gain: 20-22 pounds, depends on when I weigh myself.

Morning Sickness: No morning sickness per say, but I was prescribed an iron pill, and if I take it without a good breakfast, and mean meat and carbs, then in about an hour I am ready to pass out if I don’t eat again.

Maternity Clothes: All the time, and yoga pants from Old Navy.

Stretch Marks: So far so good!

Sleep: I slept really good last week at my parents’ house for the holidays, but at home I tend to wake up more, sometimes when my husband gets home from work and other times when he gets in bed. Regardless I am for the most part sleeping fine related to the pregnancy, although occasionally Mr. Connor has an opinion about what side I sleep on. I am also getting tired earlier in the day.

Baby Movement: Connor is still moving a lot, but because of the way he is positioned it is not feet or hands sticking out, it is his butt moving across my stomach. He is getting up by my ribs more. Most of the time I can push him down, but sometimes he won’t budge which makes it uncomfortable to sit.

Food Cravings: None.

Labor Signs:  None.

Belly Button In or Out? Not quite the right question, although you can see the top of my belly button, it is not in or out, it is more flat.

Wedding Rings On or Off? On.

Thoughts and Feelings: Just in the past week or so I have gotten to where I am more uncomfortable. It’s not all the time, but if I am doing any one thing sitting or standing for an extended period of time. It was a busy week last week with Christmas and it wore me out. I felt exhausted every day early in the evening. I also tried to do some shopping with my mom and I definitely couldn’t go for as long as I could before.

            I have a few more days before I go back to school and the plan is to install the car seat in my car and to pack the hospital bags the best we can before I go back to school. I am also planning on trying to double some recipes to freeze and pre-cook some hamburger meat to make meals a little easier when he arrives.