Blocks and Bibs

Wow. Another post about babies. Unfortunately, this little streak is not going to end soon. I'm sorry. Eventually, I'll get beyond it and onto something else I promise. But, bear with me for the time being. It won't last forever.

A wonderful friend of mine just had her little baby boy - on April 8th to be exact. Of course, he needed some handmade gifts from yours truly (because how else does an aunt like me so far away send her love?), so about a month ago I sent a set of blocks. Not quite as extensive as the set I made for my niece, but a cute little set nonetheless. I used the Amy Butler pattern from her Little Stitches book - remedying it a little by adding bells to the inside and tags on some. Hopefully, little Lucas will enjoy them.

The striped fabric actually came from a set of dishtowels that I had on hand. My mother-in-law bought the set for me a long time ago, but unfortunately they weren't super absorbent, which rendered them kind of useless in the kitchen. I kept them in my fabric stash, though, knowing that they would be perfect for a project. Turns out they make really cute blocks AND bibs.

I also sent along this bib . . .

It will only be humorous to a few readers of this blog. Funny, no?

Oooh . . . I should point out that I have been having a lot of fun with the twin needle function of my sewing machine. You can click on the bib pictures to see a close up of the stitching. It's so easy and I think it gives some pieces a nice polished look. I'm kind of obsessed with it right now. Watch out.

While I was at it I made a block set for my little guy too. You can't tell that I'm loving polka dots right now, can you? Oh . . . it's that obvious?

Of course, I couldn't stop there. So, he got some bibs too.

And, one last one to finish it off.

I think Jesse deemed this last one "cliche", but I'm ignoring him. I like it.

Just Another Update

The picture above shows 35 weeks. See, you know you're approaching your 9th month when you can actually hold your belly from below rather than just rest your hands on top of it. This week I'm actually at 36 weeks, but I'm lazy about posting anything in real time. Plus, nobody really cares about that little technicality except myself. So, there you go.

I would have to say that the belly is now taking on a basketball shape. I feel like it's protruding forward more and more everyday. Which, I have to say, I prefer to it protruding wider more and more everyday - ever-widening would be worse, I think. Thankfully I'm still fairly comfortable - still sleeping through the night, etc. I'm very grateful for that.

I've been having trouble getting up out of the couch, though. Jesse usually has to give me a nice nudge from behind to get me up and on my feet again. Getting out of bed in the morning is a similar experience. Feels like a work out right when I get up in the morning. Roll over, scootch to the side of the bed, focus really hard before lurching the legs off the side then heave the midsection to an upright position and finally step off onto the ground. Whew. Seriously, I hate mornings, and this little routine is not helping.

I'm also craving foods more so now than I was in the first trimester. I didn't think that was normal (it probably isn't). But, I've been eating LOTS of bagels with creamcheese, yogurt with fruit and granola, oatmeal squares cereal and ice cream. Mmmm. Gotta love all the dairy and carbohydrates I'm consuming. Poor baby.

This is sort of random, but I had to document it somewhere. We got golf ball-sized hail last week! Look at that. Do you see the golf ball in the picture above? I threw it in there just to give you something to compare it to. We had some damage to the house roof, siding and even two storm windows broken. It was insane! I've never seen anything like it.

And, last, but not least I sewed my first onesie for the little guy. I used the nightgown pattern that I had used before and then traced the bottom half from some onesies that I had on hand. Unfortunately I didn't have any small snaps, so I ended up with velcro instead. I'm not sure if that will hold, but we'll see. I picked up the shirt at goodwill, and it turns out this is his first UNI outfit. His dad was proud.

Hopefully I'll have time and energy to continue experimenting with these. They're fun to sew and I can imagine all sorts of possibilities.