Giveaways are awesome

An awesome blog, Simply Atomic, is doing a giveaway featuring one of my favorite WAHMs, Jessica over at Playin' Footsie!  She's giving away two custom hats; one boy and one girl, how exciting!  Here is the giveaway if you're interested in entering.
You may remember C's amazingly adorable owl hat that I got from Jessica last year.  She took a break for a while, and I'm so happy to see her back at the crochet hook!!

My Changing Views on Birth

Just a warning, this is going to get long :)
When I got pregnant with C I had just celebrated my one year wedding anniversary and my husband had just completed the police academy.  We were young and trying to get the hang of things and still starting our life together.  I had been in the room for the birth of my sister's second baby, but beyond that I had almost no knowledge of childbirth, interventions, risks, etc.  I blame myself for not taking the initiative to research everything, but I wasn't worried because nowadays you go to the hospital, you get some drugs so nothing hurts, the baby comes out, and you're good to go!  Right?  Well, that was my thinking, anyways.  I didn't ask too many questions or challenge my doctor because he was the doctor and knew what was best.  Right?  And there was no reason not to get an epidural (I mean, that's what they're there for!), it didn't have any negative side effects because if it did they wouldn't be handing them out like candy to women in labor, Right? (oh wait, women in labor don't get candy.  only ice chips.)

Hemming Jeans

My older brother isn't a tall guy, but he also likes a deal.  He shops thrift stores and other places to get pants, and more often than not they're too long for him.  I've hemmed some jeans for him before, but I didn't like the home-stitched look that they had.  So I started brainstorming how I could keep the factory hem and shorten the pants.  My results look like this:

Hemmed on the left, unhemmed on the right.

I'm going to show you how I did it!

Big Announcement!!

The other day we went to get an ultrasound at this great place in town called Miracles in Progress.  They do 2D, 3D, and 4D ultrasounds, can tell you the sex of the baby, and give you pictures and video of your little one.  I was anxious to find out what we were having, so we went ahead and made an appointment, and let me tell you, I think we might end up going back later in the pregnancy.  It was such an amazing experience, they were so nice, the room was spacious and comfortable, the screen was huge, and it was so relaxing!  I didn't feel rushed like I do when I'm getting an ultrasound at a doctor's office.
Our news is, Firecracker is a GIRL!!!  I am absolutely over the moon excited and can't wait to meet her :)  I already have about 50 projects running through my mind of things that I want to sew for her, lol.  It was so amazing to see her moving, kicking, she even got hiccups and it was hilarious to watch her bounce around for a few minutes!  Want to see a picture?  Oh, ok:

Her body is on the left, head on the right (looking up), and she has her hand in front of her face <3

4th of July

We had a blast on 4th of July!  We went out to visit my grandma, had some lunch, spend some time hanging out at her house, and then we headed over with blankets and food to a golf course for a picnic and fireworks show!  C really liked the fireworks, but he LOVED the people, the activity, and the food.  Here are some fun pictures:

Watermelon is his favorite!!

There was a really bright flash, lol

A little alteration and refashioning :)

I'm tall (5' 10" or so) with a long torso, and it's really hard to find maternity clothes that fit.  If they fit on top, my belly is showing out the bottom halfway through my pregnancy.  If they're long enough, they're way too loose.  No matter what, long sleeves are never long enough for my monkey arms.  So, here's a shirt from last pregnancy so you can see what I mean:

 

As you can see, it's baggy, doesn't fit at the armpit, and the sleeves don't even hit my wrists.  Wanna see how I went from that to this?

You've just gotta read some more!

I love Pinterest.

Have you discovered Pinterest?  Because it's amazing.  It's like a bookmark menu for your internet, but using pictures and categories, and you can see what your friends are pinning and share your pins with them!  My pin board for sewing projects has so many links to patterns and tutorials I want to try, and there are a ton of great recipe ideas out there!
If you want to follow me, here's my profile page :)  Warning: you will get sucked in!!!