31 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 31 Weeks. 

Size of Baby: The baby weighs 3.3 pounds now (about the weight of 4 naval oranges) and is about 16 inches long from head to heal.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained around 27 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes!! His movements seem bigger now, like he's actually rolling around in there rather than just a jab or kick.

Food Cravings: Pasta and sweets, not much different from my non pregnancy cravings. :-)

What I miss: Being able to walk from my car to my office without getting winded.

Sleep: Still not sleeping great. Just can't seem to get comfortable.

Symptoms: Feeling really tired lately. I literally feel like I could sleep all day.

Best Moment this week: Getting things ready for my sister's baby shower on Saturday.

What I am looking forward to: Our first "Prepared Childbirth Class" tonight and my sister's baby shower on Saturday!! All the details for her shower are coming together, and its going to be so cute and fun! I can't wait!

Pom Poms and Pillows

I added a couple new things to the nursery in the last couple days. As I said in my previous post I wanted to try making some of the tissue paper pom poms for over the glider in Jackson's room. They are easier than I thought they would be. Here is a tutorial to follow if you ever want to try it. We are going to make some for my sister's baby shower on Saturday too!! :-)

I also thought it would be cool if we could use the valance that came with the bedding set, to make a pillow or two out of. Since I decided to go with different valances for his room that my sister was able to make for much cheaper, we didn't end up using the valance that came with the set. So my sister was able to get two small pillows out of the fabric and they turned out super cute. One I'm using in the glider, the other I'll probably put in his crib. Here are some pictures of the pillows.

This little pillow will sit in the glider.

Here's a picture of it in the glider.

And this is the little pillow I'll probably put in the crib. The valance was tabbed at the top, so she just used the tabs to go around the pillow! So cute!



30 Weeks and Nursery Update

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 30 Weeks. Can't believe its been 30 weeks already!!

Size of Baby: The baby weighs 3 pounds now (like a head of cabbage) and is about 15.7 inches from head to heal.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: As of this past Monday I had gained 21 lbs. total.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes!! His movements seem bigger now, like he's actually rolling around in there rather than just a jab or kick.

Food Cravings: Pasta and sweets, not much different from my non pregnancy cravings. :-)

What I miss: Not really anything.

Sleep: Still not sleeping great. Just can't seem to get comfortable.

Symptoms: Not really having any symptoms right now, other than my ever expanding belly.

Best Moment this week: Getting some decorations for Jackson's room.

What I am looking forward to: My sister's baby shower next Saturday!! All the details are coming together and its going to be so cute and fun!

*Some updated pictures of Jackson's Nursery:

I bought the letters above his crib at Hobby Lobby while they were 50% off!! They were just painted white. I used scrapbook paper and mod podge to cover them, then cut the excess paper off using an exacto knife. I then used ribbon, scrapbook paper and my cricut to decorate each letter. I'm really happy with the way they turned out!

Here's a close up of his name above his crib.

These are the canvas' that are a part of his bedding set. I hung them over his dresser.

I also bought the decals that go with his bedding set and an inexpensive clock from Walmart. I took the clock apart and decorated it using scrapbook paper and my cricut! I think it turned out so cute!

This is a close-up picture of the clock I decorated for his room.

There are 2 windows in this room and the bedding set only came with one (short) valance. So to do the windows right, I would need to buy 3 more valances, at $19.99 each. I wasn't in love with the valance in the first place so I decided to see if I could find some fabric to match the room and have my sister sew some valances for me to save a little money. I actually was able to find a panel in the perfect shade of green that my sister was able to cut and sew into 2 valances, all for only $12.99!! A much better deal than $59.97, which is what the bedding set valances would have ended up costing me to buy 3 more. Plus I really like these better. The two frames on either side of the window are just white frames from Michaels and I used scrapbook paper in them and a couple of the decals that match his bedding set.

I still want to buy the lamp that goes with the bedding set, to set on the little table next to the glider. I also want to get the mobile, rug, blanket, hamper and stuffed turtle that matches the set. I'm also thinking of making a few matching "tissue paper" pom poms, (as seen here) to go over the glider, in which case I may move around the wall decals some and add some other wall hangings. So these are still just progress pictures. But I really like the way the nursery is turning out so far! Its going to be so cute when its all done. :-)

Jackson's Nursery: Phase 2 - Furniture

Last night my parents came over to help put together Jackson's crib/changing table and dresser!! I'm so excited to have a majority of the furniture all set up! The only other piece of furniture I'm waiting on is a side table to go next to the glider/rocker. I had ordered one previously and it was delivered last week, but it just didn't match up right with the rest of the furniture. So I took it back and re-ordered a different table, which is supposed to be delivered tomorrow! Here are some pictures of the nursery now with the crib/changer and dresser all put together and in their place. I still need to get a mattress for the crib and a different changing table pad and cover since the one that came with the changing table is really flat and not very cushioned at all. I put a little blanket over the one that came with it, just for the sake of making it look nice for the pictures. ☺
I can't wait to get it all decorated now!!

The crib/changing table still has a few stickers on it, from the manufacturer, that I need to get off, but it was midnight when we finally finished getting everything put together so I figured I'd wait on that project til later this week/weekend. They're those really sticky kind of stickers that I'll probably have to use a hair dryer to get them off. :-(

The blanket hanging over the front of the crib was a gift from my Aunt Lisa. It didn't have his name on it but another Aunt of mine does her own embroidering, so my mom took a couple blankets out to her to have her put Jackson's name on them. They turned out sooo cute! ☺

The dresser and rocker/glider!! 

29 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 29 Weeks.

Size of Baby: The baby weighs 2 1/2 pounds now (like a butternut squash) and is about 15 inches from head to heal.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: For the last few months I've gained 6 lbs. a month, July was no different. So now I'm up to 24 lbs. of weight gain since the beginning. I'm hoping the next couple months don't follow that trend.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes!! His movements seem bigger now, like he's actually rolling around in there rather than just a jab or kick.

Food Cravings: Pasta and sweets.

What I miss: Sleeping well.

Sleep: Still not sleeping very well these days. Just can't seem to get comfortable. I've also been getting a lot of leg cramps in my calves. I talked to my Dr. about it and she suggested eating a banana before bed every night. So I've been doing that for the last week or so. It seems to be helping some. 

Symptoms: I'm still having this pain under my right ribs, but thankfully that seems to be feeling a little better. I've also been really tired lately and don't really feel like doing much of anything. I'm thinking this extreme heat might be playing a roll in feeling so tired too. 

Best Moment this week: Getting Jackson's room painted.

What I am looking forward to: Putting together Jackson's dresser and crib tonight. My parents are coming over to help!

Jackson's Nursery: Phase 1 - Painting the Walls

As I mentioned in my post on Thursday, My mom and dad planned to come over this past Saturday and help paint Jackson's room. My dad does home remodeling and electrical work for a living, so needless to say, he's an excellent painter. Which is why I asked if he could come over and help paint Jackson's room. Of course, being the great Paw paw that he is, he didn't mind helping (painting the room) at all. ☺

As I've shown you all before, we're doing a sea turtle theme in Jackson's room. Here is a link to the room I'm modeling Jackson's nursery after and here is the before, during and after pictures of painting his room over the weekend. I only have the rocker/glider assembled as thats the only full piece of furniture I've recieved so far. The dresser is available for pick-up today and I have box 1 of the crib delivered. I'm still waiting on the second box (which is a whole other blog post).

Here's what the room looked like before, while it was our spare bedroom.



Painting the white over the orange. Thankfully it only took 2 coats. ☺

I matched the blue paint color to the valance I have that came with the bedding set. The paint color is called Glistening Sea by Glidden.

 My dad, painting the blue waves on the wall.

The newly painted nursery with the glider put together! I love the way it turned out and can't wait to get it all furnished and decorated!

A close-up of the glider.

Today is my FRIDAY!!!

I'm so excited that today is my Friday!!! I work 9 hour days to have one day, every other week, off. Tomorrow is my every other Friday off!!



Unfortunately, I will be spending most of my day tomorrow, in the Dr. office or at the Hospital. Not exactly how I'd like to spend my Friday off, but its all for baby Jackson. ☺ I have my 28 week baby appt. tomorrow at 11:15. I don't mind these appts. because they are usually pretty quick and I get to hear Jackson's heartbeat, which I love. ♥

Then I have to go have the glucose test done at the hospital, which involves drinking some kind of orange, sugar drink and then waiting an hour to have your blood drawn. Fun right?

Then, if that wasn't bad enough, I have to wait another 3 hours after that to get my Rhogam Shot (because I have a negative blood type). Thankfully, I don't have to stay at the hospital those 3 long hours. I can leave and come back.

My mom has generously offered to go with me tomorrow, so during the 3 hour wait before my Rhogam Shot, we'll probably try to squeeze some shopping in, which is what we ususally do on my Friday's off.

Then Saturday, my parents are coming over to help paint Jackson's room and set up whatever furniture has arrived by then. I can't wait to get started on it!! Its going to be so cute when we get it all done!

Sunday is church in the morning, then probably lunch with the family and then I don't think we really have any plans after that. Hopefully just a relaxing afternoon/evening before we start the workweek back up on Monday.

So what are your fun plans for this upcoming weekend?