Life Update

So, I'm 29 weeks today, and am officially on my way in my third trimester!  Yay!  Time is going and going and going and I feel like I still have so much to do before she gets here--it's crazy!  Anyway, just thought I'd give a quick update on how things are right this instant (because you care, I'm sure).

Things I'm loving:

• My baby belly :)  I've never been extremely fond of my body shape, but I honestly love my baby bump!  It feels good to actually be able to love and accept my belly, lol!

• Feeling baby move :)  I have to admit that I'm having a terrible time concentrating in class, on homework, on housework, on anything!  Every time she moves I just want to stop the world and savor every minute.  I don't want to miss even a second of it because I know time is running out to be with my little one like this!  Lol, I feel like I have my own imaginary friend; I'm always talking to someone that no one else can see.  She is my constant companion!

• Feeling laid back and even tempered :)  I know this really isn't the case for most pregnant women out there, but since I've been pregnant, I just feel so much more in control emotionally!  Sure I still get weepy over stupid things, but I'm a lot less stressed, grumpy, and anxiety ridden as I usually am.  No idea why, but I'm grateful for it!

Things I'm not loving quite so much:

• Pain :(  I can't sit for any amount of time with out getting terrible cramping/pain in my back and ribs (makes sitting through long classes a literal pain!).  My hips and pelvis have also been hurting a ton lately, which makes walking and moving uncomfortable.

• Stretch marks :(  Evie-cakes has been growing in leaps and bounds lately, and my tummy is not taking the punishment so well!  I guess I should be grateful, it's not too bad (yet), but I really can't say that I like this part of growing a baby!

• Not being able to eat :(  I'm trying to feed a baby going through growth spurts here, and I'm having a terrible time eating!  Between the very little space my big baby is leaving my stomach and the heartburn and indigestion, I'm struggling to keep us both fed!

• School :(  I really don't want to be in school, I just want to spend time with the alien in my tummy and work on getting ready for her arrival in the world!

Anywho... That's just a glimpse into how things are going at the moment, this is definitely subject to change!

Bleach Shirts

Creeper face!!!

All right, I was hoping to have some better pics before I posted this, buuuuut it doesn't look like that will happen for awhile... So I guess we'll just go with what we've got and possibly update the pictures later :)


Anyway... Karl and I worked on these really cool bleach shirts the other night, and I really wanted to share the instructions, so here they are!

Supplies:

• Black Cotton T-shirt
• Bleach
• Water
• Clean Spray Bottle
• Freezer Paper (if you need some, come to my house, we have WAY too much)
• Scissors or X-acto Knife
• Iron (you know, the one you use to get wrinkles out of your clothes)
• Plastic Grocery Bags 

1. First things first, choose the design you want!  Once you have that, you can either draw or print it onto the freezer paper (hint: cut out a piece of freezer paper to as close to A4 size as possible if you want to use a printer, and make sure it prints on the papery side!).

2. Once you have the design on the papery side of the freezer paper, use either the scissors or the x-acto knife (depending on how fancy and detailed your pattern is) to cut out your pattern.  Keep in mind that you can either cut out pieces of a solid paper like a stencil (this is how we did the "baby loading" shirt) and the cut outs will be orange, or cut out blocky pieces that will look like black floating in a mist of orange (like the creeper face at the top of the page).  That doesn't really make much sense, so hopefully you're smart and can figure these things out, lol!

3. Now that you have your pattern, position it where you want it, waxy side down, on the t-shirt (another hint, make sure the t-shirt is as wrinkle free as possible).  Use the iron on a low heat setting to stick the pattern to your shirt.

Yay! Your shirt is ready for the fun part!  

4. For this step, make sure you're not wearing any clothes you like!  Make a solution of 1 part bleach to 1 part water and fill the spray bottle with it.

5. Carefully place your shirt on a "safe" surface (one that can handle being bleached--outside is a good option, but we used the kitchen floor) and CAREFULLY (if you move the shirt around too much the pattern can get detached!) line the inside of the shirt with the plastic grocery bags.  This will keep the bleach from bleeding through to the back of the shirt.

6. Now for the fun part!  Spray your shirt with the bleach solution!  You might have to experiment a little to decide what you like.  You can spray a fine mist or let big drops fall on the shirt.  You can also spray just a little for a lighter look, or saturate things a little more for a more solid look.  After you've sprayed the shirt, watch it start to change colors!

7. When your shirt looks like it's about the color you want, rinse it immediately.  Some people say you should stick the shirts in the washer as soon as you rinse them, but we just hung them up to dry.  As soon as they are dry (whether you decide to wash them or just rinse them) they are ready to go, and you have a unique, one of a kind shirt to make all your friends jealous! lol!
 

Here are the shirts while they were drying, they look a lot cooler dry

Yeah, I know, you've all seen this shirt, but I needed a better example pic! lol

Here's the template I made for the baby loading shirt :) I can email the actual document if anyone wants it

For Halloween I want to make one with a jack-o-lantern face on my belly!  We'll see if I ever get around to that though, haha.  Anyway, I hope someone else gets as big a kick out of this as we did :)

Baby Loading...

Karl made a superly cute "maternity" shirt for me, so I thought I'd show off :)  PLUS I have to show off how incredibly big this child has gotten in the last couple weeks (I'm starting to have a really hard time rolling myself out of bed!!).  I'll have to post the how-to for the shirt and some pics of the other awesome shirts we made, but this will have to do for now :)

27 and a half weeks! 88ish days to go!!!

Mistakes

 

Everyone makes mistakes... Right?  It's just a part of life, a part of our learning and growing experience here on earth.  Sometimes though, I really wish there was a way that we could learn just as well from other people's mistakes and not have to make them all over again for ourselves.  Those who have "been there and done that" can only do so much for us, it seems.  Maybe it's just me, but I'm very much a "have to touch the oven to understand it'll burn" kind of person (ok, I'm more of a "keep touching the oven to make sure it's still hot" kind of a person).  I might not seem to be that rebellious, but I definitely have to make my own mistakes before I really understand.  Because of this, I've made a lot of mistakes.

 Now that I'm on the other side of those mistakes (the wisdom side, as I like to call it), it's so hard to see people making the same choices and know that I can't do anything about it!  I know that my parents (both earthly and heavenly) have probably felt exactly this way about me my whole life as they've watched me tumble into one problem after another, and I feel stupid that I didn't listen more.

 I just want to protect the people I love from the hurt that I know comes from mistakes of all shapes and sizes, but I can't.  I can offer advice, give my cautionary tales, lend support, but in the end they get to make the choices.  And honestly, as hard as it is for me now, I know it's just going to get harder.  I can't imagine how hard it's going to be being the parent!  I never thought about this aspect of parenting until now, and I know I'm not going to like it! 

I'm really rambling tonight (too much in my head!), but I guess, in the end, we're all going to make mistakes-some big and some little-because none of us are perfect.  And, whether or not we think we deserve it, there is always someone there who can help us pick up the pieces (or to heal our burns, as the case may be.)  I can't keep anyone else from getting burned and I try as I might, I can't take away the pain once they've been hurt, but there is someone who can.  I am so grateful that I have a Savior who was willing to feel all that pain so that my stupid mistakes don't have to hurt so much.