52 Days to Go!

It’s Easter…and I’m still pregnant! I will be 33 weeks this Wednesday and will have that baby in my arms before I know it! I really hate complaining about pregnancy, because I know I’m so lucky, but I’m so ready to be done! I will be taking maternity leave from work starting on June 1st and plan to go back around August 1st, so I only have about 5 weeks left of work.  Hard.to.believe.

So I know my belly is going to continue to grow, but REALLY?

Oh, and I guess I should mention that we are having a BOY! You can’t always trust a “mother’s instinct”, because I would have put money on us having a girl. We are absolutely thrilled it’s a boy though and can’t wait to meet our little Reed David!

We are almost done with the little man’s room too! Initially, I really wanted to make his bedding/curtains/etc. but I was so sick for the first 18 weeks, so I decided to buy his bedding and use the curtains we already had in the room. I’m kind of bummed I wasn’t able to create his room with my own projects. I have to say, though, I absolutely love how it’s turned out! I found a bedding set from Target (DwellStudio) and became increasingly obsessed with etsy. There are a few more little touches to add, but I’d say it’s pretty much ready for baby!

I know there are many people anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little man, so the countdown is on!

Oh, hi!

Looks like it’s been a few months since I’ve posted anything.  Have I ever mentioned that I’m REALLY bad at this?  If not…hey, I’m really pretty awful at this whole blogging thing and now that you know, I’m sure that makes you really want to keep coming back, but…

In other news…I am still pregnant. 18 weeks and 3 days to be exact.  Believe it or not, I’m just now starting to feel like a human again.  The puking has seemed to go away for now (fingers crossed it stays away!) and while I still would do anything for a little afternoon nap on most days, I can feel my energy level improving.  The first 17 weeks of this gestation thing totally kicked my ass, but on the bright side…I’M ALMOST HALF WAY DONE!!

Here the 18 week 2 day belly shot…which makes me think there might be another baby growing in my FACE! (Holy BLOAT!)

I would just like to say that I’m a little disappointed no one told me how great maternity pants are.  Seriously, these things would have come in very handy after large meals pre-pregnancy.  STRETCHY WAIST, YA’LL.  Stretchy waist!  Genius.

So far, the only baby purchase we have made is a travel system stroller/car seat thingy.  I’ve been waiting very impatiently to buy anything else until we know if this thing is a boy or girl.  The big ultrasound is scheduled for February 2nd, and, while I just hope the baby is healthy, I really do hope he or she cooperates and shows us his or her goods.  And I really hope it’s not a kitten, which is what I dreamed it was the other night.  I even nursed the kitten in my dream, so now I get a little uncomfortable when our cats look at me, because I SWEAR (Oh EM GEE) they’re looking right at my boobs!

I have thought a lot about nursery decorating though, and I think I’ve decided on colors.  I think I’m going to go with gray and yellow and then throw in some accent colors too.  Pink, blue, green…maybe even AQUA if I’m feeling crazy.  I’m hoping the room doesn’t feel too crowded as it’s also going to serve as a guest room with a full size bed in it. (For all our GUESTS! Ha! We’ve had zero over-nighters since we moved, but HEY you never know!)

We (mostly Chad) will be started a little home improvement project this weekend too.  We are putting wood flooring  in the upstairs bedroom, which will become OUR bedroom in the near future.  Chad will be installing it himself with the help of his dad, and I hope everything goes smoothly.  Once they get that done, I will be in charge of painting the room since I don’t trust anyone else to do it…control issues.  I will try and get some before and after photos posted sometime this year so stay tuned!

Other projects I hope to get finished before this baby makes his/her appearance:

SEW curtains, crib sheets (lots of them!), crib skirt, changing pad cover…but first…dust off my sewing machine.

My excuse…and it’s a good one!

I haven’t really felt up to churning out a bunch of blog posts lately…and I FINALLY have a good excuse!!

I’M KNOCKED UP!  Baby is due in June and we got to hear that sweet heartbeat yesterday!  We are already totally smitten!

I’m not complaining (okay, maybe I am a little bit) but I have not been feeling great.  Morning All-day sickness is not fun at all.  I keep telling myself that it is a GOOD sign that there is something goin’ on in there, but I will keep my fingers crossed that this is something that goes away in the next few weeks.

I’m going to try and update here throughout the pregnancy so we have something to look back on.  Right now, I’m predicting GIRL.  Chad thinks I’m going to have a litter of kittens…

Still alive.

I am not dead.  A lot has been going on around the Sutton household lately.  We dusted off the GPS and took a little weekend trip to Indianapolis for UFC 119 (Ultimate Fighting Championship) at the end of September and stayed at a lovely hotel.  We don’t actually travel much (or like…at all) so it was nice to get out of town with my husband!!

I’m at work now, but I will write more about our weekend getaway in the very near future!!

In the meantime, check out this photo of a kitten playing in some fall leaves.  If that doesn’t make you smile, then you are dead inside.

WeHeartIt

Some projects…

I’ve been busy with my Home Ec sewing projects the past week.  I am seriously loving my new hobby.  It’s such a great feeling of accomplishment to finish a project and actually be happy with the outcome!  I’ve always felt like I am a creative person but struggled the past few years trying to find an outlet.  Also, sewing is a lot more fun than plopping (what a terrible word!) in front of the television and becoming a reality tv zombie…although that’s pretty fun sometimes too.

Last weekend I made a few zippered pouches.  It was my first time working with zippers and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Then I tackled some pillow covers, which I was in desperate need of as the pillows on our couch were starting to look a little rough.  The covers were made with piping around the edges and I love the look.  I loved it enough to make 3 of them!

I guess I was feeling a little extra ambitious this weekend, because as soon as I was done with my third pillow cover, I started another project, a valance for the window over our kitchen sink.  I’ve been looking for months for valances to buy for this window, so when I signed up for this Home Ec class and saw they were teaching curtains, I knew I was going to run with it and take care of all our naked windows!  I decided to start with the window above our sink because there is a large wire running above our window frame that I desperately want to hide.  It was there when we moved in and we have no idea what the wire is for.  The only thing we can think of is there may have been a light above the window at some time.  And instead of taking the time to remove said wire, WHY NOT JUST COVER IT UP?  Ha!  Seems like an okay solution for the time being.  I really love how it turned out!  I’m going to make a matching one for our other kitchen window.

I guess I should have tidied up the kitchen a bit before taking this photo, but here is proof that my house is not always orderly.

I’m sure I’ll have some more to show you this week.  I’ve had some extra time to myself to get a lot of sewing done because Chad has taken up golf.  He’s been going golfing with his dad about 3 times a week.  We are SO old.

Girls Day Out

I got in the car early this morning and made the trip to Lafayette to spend the day with my sister and mom.  And to disappoint you right from the start, I will let you know that I carried my camera around with me all day and didn’t take one photo.  I’m pretty good at this picture taking thing lately. Ha!

We started off at the farmer’s market and it was bustling with shoppers by the time we got there.  My sister picked up some flowers and my mom got some goodies too…I admired all the doggies that were out at the market this morning.  Honestly, sometimes I would pick being stuck in a room full of dogs rather than a room full of people…I guess that’s why I’m posting here on the internet on a Saturday night and chatting on gmail with my husband…who is right in the other room.  Oh.

We spent the rest of the day walking around downtown and going into the little shops we never got around to visiting before.  I spent the first 23 years of my life in Lafayette, Indiana and can’t say that I spent any time at all in the downtown area.  There are quite a few little antique and specialty shops that are totally cute and perfect.  I’m sure I’ll make the trip back soon when I’m in the money-spending mood.

We ate lunch at the Red Seven and I had to admire their beautiful decor.  Oh, and the food was awesome!

Today was a great day with the girls!  We need to make time in our schedules to get together more often, that’s for sure.  Moms and sisters are the best!

Home Ec Update:

My sister requested a pink apron and a pink apron is what she got!

Sorry for the poor-quality photos.  I always sew at night and the lighting is never ideal, so I’ve just been grabbing the point&shoot camera!

Look how cute she looks in it!  And nothing like a nice glass of wine while working in the kitchen!

Obsession.

Just learned how to make super cute bibs from Home Ec class…

And as you can see…I’ve become a little obsessed.  I’ve actually made three more in boy coordinating colors that I am going to send to my step-sister who just had a baby boy in August.  The three above are going to my sister-in-law for Miss Makenna.

Next, I’m going to attempt the apron tutorial for class.  You will probably never catch me wearing an apron, but I think they are totally cute hanging in a kitchen and that’s just what I’m going to do!

In other news, I’m super excited that Chad and I have some extra cash flow to play around with this month and we’ll be paying off my car loan!!  No, as much as I would like to, I am not going to be trading my car in for a new one.  We are going to enjoy one less monthly expense for now…until we need to upgrade…eventually…to a minivan or something…*wink*

This tote was made for tote-in’.

I made that!  Pretty cute, huh?  Again, I’m pretty dang proud of myself with this whole sewing thing.  I think I’m getting the hang of it!  The fabric is from Joann’s and it was actually a “nursery” fabric…so it’s not being used in a baby’s nursery, but I think it makes a pretty fabulous bag anyway.  I haven’t actually used it yet.  Right now it’s just hanging in my house so I can stare at it  every time I walk past it and say to Chad, “I made that!”.  Yeah he’s getting pretty annoyed by it, like I’m sure you are (GAWD LADY!  Shut up!  We get it.  You made it.).  Eventually however, I would enjoy carrying things in it.

I’m way behind on the sewing projects taught in my Home Ec class, but that’s okay since it’s a go at your own pace kind of class.  One of the reasons I’m behind though is because Chad finally caved and agreed that the sewing room (slash guest room slash music room) should be painted!  I didn’t think it was going to take me that long, but I ran into some troubles when I opened the paint and saw that my color had been mixed improperly and I came home with a VERY dark greenish, blueish gray instead of a light/medium gray.  I thought it was way off when I opened the can but decided that maybe I was crazy and once it was up on the walls and dry, it would magically be the color I chose.  So I painted an entire wall with it.  It was not the color I chose.  By the time I was done with all that, the paint store was closed so I had to wait until Sunday to go back and get the correct color.  Bummer.  Plus, I’m painting all the trim and closet white, and that takes FOREVAAAR!  But it will all be worth it in the end when I’m finished.  I’ll be sure to take a bunch of after pictures.  It will be a work in progress though, because there are a bunch of prints I’ve found on etsy that I would love to frame and hang in that room once it’s painted, but my budget is telling me to be less spontaneous and to stop putting things on credit cards (credit card debt is bad!), so I will have to just buy a little at a time until I’m satisfied with how the room has turned out.

Plus, I’ve already spent a pretty penny on some fabrics that are currently being shipped to me (hurry please!)…

I got more of the above fabric that I used to make my tote, plus a few others…

Aren’t they lovely?  I also got a simple green fabric and brown fabric because I have decided that it’s time to tackle curtains for my kitchen that has been curtain-less for going on 2 years now.

I think there needs to be more hours in the day…or less time at the day job!

I’m totally repainting this room.

Chad and I are having a little disagreement on what’s going to happen to the upstairs room that has recently gone from the guest room/music/skateboard room into the guest room/music/skateboard/MY SEWING ROOM.  It’s really a lovely room.  It’s the first room you walk into as you are going up our stairs.  They say our house is 1 and 1/2 stories…which basically means that the attic was finished to make more living space and the ceiling is tall in the center and then angles downward towards the outside walls.  Here are some pictures to give you an idea of how we have it set up right now. (sorry for the darkish photos…how do people take such lovely photos of rooms in their home?  It’s really hard!  I’m thinking I’m going to have to splurge at some point and get a decent flash.)

The stairway going up to “the room”

Here’s my sewing table (messy!) and the bed…which now is covered in prepubescent boy bedding.  It was cute for a second since this is also our music room, but now it just looks a little weird.

The other side of the room is where we stash the guitar/bass/keyboard/various amps…and it’s also a place where all of our pets like to hang out apparently.

Here’s another view of the music side of the room.  As you can see, we have a couple skateboard decks (Slayer boards! and signed Dennis Busenitz board!) that are desperately wanting to be hung on the wall.

Chad does not want me to repaint this room.  I’m going to repaint this room.  The red was cool, but it’s been up a couple years and I’m needing a change.  I admit that the red does look good with the instruments and skateboards, but I think I can make it look nice with a different color…a lighter color.  I’m thinking gray.  I would be painting the railing around the staircase white along with the window frame.

See that awesome yellow lamp on my sewing table?  I kind of bought that with the intention of repainting the room gray, because I am loving the gray/yellow color combo right now.  I bought the lamp before mentioning to Chad that I was intending to repaint the room gray.  Does this make me a bad wife that I’m going against the wishes of my husband and redecorating a room to my liking?  Don’t answer that, because I’m going to do it anyway.

To update you on my progress in my online Home Ec class, I LOVE IT!  I’m not great and still feel pretty awkward in front of a sewing machine, but I think I’m doing pretty good.  Here is what I have made so far…

Pin Cushion!  Isn’t it adorable?

Cloth Napkin!  I love this fabric.

Drawstring Gift Bag!  I made a little mistake on this…totally didn’t mean for the name of the fabric store to be on this bag, but it’s still cute, so let’s just pretend that was intentional! 🙂

Later in the class, we are learning to make duvet covers and you better believe that bed up in the sewing room is going to get a little make-over.  And Chad’s going to LOVE it.  Or else.

Home Ec

I’ve wanted to learn to sew for a very long time, but I knew this wouldn’t be something that I could teach myself.  I never bought a sewing machine, because I just knew it would sit in the box for years until someone came along to teach me.  My grandma would sew things for us growing up…mostly patching up holes in the knees of our pants, but I was never really interested in having her teach me how to use her sewing machine.  It’s definitely something I regret now.

The other day, I was catching up on one of my favorite blogs and saw she had posted about a “home ec” sewing class that three of her friends are teaching.  It’s an online class for beginners (ME!) and they say it’s great even for people with NO SEWING EXPERIENCE (ME!). Also, it’s a “go at your own pace” kind of class, which is really helpful since I don’t have a lot of free time Monday-Friday because of work.  It was too perfect to pass up, so I signed myself up.  Only problem…I don’t have a sewing machine.

I read review after review of different machines online and finally settled on a Brother XL2600i, because all the reviews were good and the price wasn’t bad either.  I didn’t want to go all out and spend a fortune on a top of the line machine when I haven’t touched a sewing machine since 7th grade home ec class, so I got a machine that I think will be great for my skill level.

I ordered it online and I should get it before the class starts, and I could not be more excited!  There are so many things I want to create for our home, and it will be so much more rewarding knowing that I made these things rather than going out and buying them.  And I think my windows will thank me as they have been naked since November of 2008.

Chad has already given me a sewing project to work on too!  There is a gaping hole in the crotch of his pajama pants now which must have occurred while he was showing his mom how high he could kick happened due to his bulging muscles.  Ahh, boys…

If you are interested in signing up for the Home Ec class, just click the link above or the Home Ec widget on the top right hand side of the screen!   Class starts on August 10th!