baby | going home outfit

Here's a little preview of our going home outfit.  It's kinda cute now, but wait till you see it on our baby. ; )

Leggings and jacket by Carter's
Shoes and hair bow are homemade

In case you missed it, yesterday I posted about the ruffle baby shoes.

I found the best baby bow tutorial EVER here. These bows are pretty tiny and lightweight but the trick is keeping them stuck in fine, wispy baby hair. You can make whatever style bow you like but the real winner is her method for no-slip grip on the clips. I can clip one of these onto three strands of my own hair and it sticks like glue (seriously!). Of course it's possible our baby won't have any hair at all so the bow also slides onto a matching headband. :)

sew | ruffle baby shoes

I made two pairs of these adorable little shoes this weekend. They are SO easy and a very quick project! I do recommend trying a test shoe with some scraps so you can figure out sizing, construction, and ruffle placement. It's not difficult but getting the ruffles to look just right and sewing through all the layers takes a bit of practice. I did not do a test shoe and the first pair came out only so-so while the second pair looked a heck of a lot better! You can do contrasting fabric for the inside of the shoe (which I did for the first pair), but since the inside doesn't show when it's on a little baby foot I went the easy route with this pair and used all one fabric.

You can find the free pattern and tutorial here.

The basic pattern is fantastic and there are so many ways you could change the look. I've made a couple felt flowers for headbands, and I think my next pair of shoes will feature flowers on the toes instead of ruffles. And of course baby J will need a pretty little pair in cream to match her dress for Aunt Meghan's wedding! Considering how expensive baby shoes are, it's wonderful being able to make these for free (if using scraps from other projects) or around $1.00/pair if buying new fabric.

life | the last dates we'll ever have without paying for a babysitter

Well maybe not the absolute last, but the last we'll have for a looooong time.  So we made a "before the baby bucket list".  To be clear, I am not equating having a baby with dying.  Socially or otherwise.  Seriously, we are SUPER excited for our baby to get here!  Realistically though life is about to be really different, and we figure we might as well enjoy our last couple weeks as just the two of us.  Not that we can't or won't ever go out with the baby, but it'll likely be at least a little while before we are sufficiently recovered, comfortable, and capable. Plus, with all the fun we've been having the time is flying by!  At least I'm not sitting at home twiddling my thumbs and waiting for my water to break.  Because that sounds so fun.

One of the things near the top of our list was to go out dancing.  Back in college Isaac and I took a ballroom dance class and occasionally visited the campus swing club.  We really enjoy dancing together, but hadn't danced in well over a year.  So we decided to find a place to go dancing.  There's no time like to present to get back into it, even if you are hugely pregnant, right?  So you're probably wondering, just what does it look like when a full-term prego lady dances?  Well do I have a treat for you...

Do I look a tad ridiculous?  Yeah.  It's ok though because I look a tad ridiculous doing almost anything at this point in the pregnancy.  And more importantly, we had a great time!  I have a feeling we'll be going back to the once-a-month dance events even if we have to pay for a babysitter.

Full term - 37 weeks!

baby | getting ready

I'm a chronic list maker.  So is my dad, so I think we can safely blame this tendency on him.  However, my list making has gotten a little out of control with the expected arrival of our baby in about three weeks.   So, at least in my mind, it's reasonable that my list of things to do before the baby arrives is about a bazillion miles long.

Thankfully I have a husband who humors me and willingly does things from my list so that I feel we are appropriately moving towards welcoming our baby home.  Some of the things on my list are practical like installing the carseat (thanks for checking that one off the list this weekend, darlin'!), packing the hospital bags, and washing all the baby bedding/towels/outfits/etc.  Some things on my list definitely fall into the ridiculous category though like "trim all the loose threads and fuzzies off of the bathroom rug".  You're probably wondering what this has to do with our baby's arrival.   Well of course the obvious connection is that people would judge us if they came to our home to see our new baby and decided to use the bathroom and caught sight of our RUG FUZZIES!  I seriously hope this is what they call nesting because I was not even aware that our rug needed to be "trimmed" until a few days ago at which time it became overwhelmingly apparent.   And it obviously needed to be taken care of immediately because what if I went into labor right this second and we had to leave and go to the hospital before I had a chance to trim the rug fuzzies?!?  So last night I sat on the bathroom floor and trimmed rug fuzzies with manicure scissors for a half hour like an insane person.  However, while I trimmed rug fuzzies, my first ever load of baby things was being washed so at least now our baby has a fresh, clean place to sleep, and clothes to wear home from the hospital.

Also, in honor of being full term at the end of this week, I've decided to go ahead and start packing the hospital bags just in case baby J decides to make an early arrival.  Better safe than sorry, right?  Speaking of packing the hospital bags (and I say bags because I figure one for me/baby and one for Isaac because he might want clean underwear and snacks too), I've been reading up on what to take and what is better left at home.  Turns out just about everybody has a different opinion on this and rightly so - what matters to one person may not matter in the slightest to someone else.  There are some basics that just about everyone requires though, and here are a few links to blog posts/articles I have found helpful and/or entertaining:

This one is funny and informative. Also, Wendy makes lots of lists too so I don't feel so odd.

Standard list from BabyCenter. Good reminders though.

A list of things she took to the hospital that she did NOT need. Also funny.

Maybe once I actually get our bags packed I'll post my own list of what I decided to include and leave out.  We all know how much I love to make lists...