Bumpdate - 13 Weeks

Man o man was it difficult to do my shoot this week. I just did NOT want to do it! I have had a really bad cold all week and it has run me down! But. despite all my whining.....I did it! For the baby, and his or her baby book.

What's baby up to this week? He/she is the size of a pea pod, almost three inches long and weighs nearly an ounce. Fingerprints have formed on his/her fingertips and veins/organs are clearly visible under the still thin skin. The body is starting to catch up to the over sized head with makes up about a third of his/her body.

What's been going on with mom? Like I said above I caught my hubby's cold. Man was that a pain in the butt! I am not a big pill popper, but that cough had me up all night long and all I wanted was to take something so I could sleep. My doctor's website was down for a while and once it came back online I learned I can take Robitussin and Cepocal for the cough and cold symptoms. Good to know for next time! Still don't think I am showing, but I poke and prod my abdomen just to feel that hardening underneath the skin. I have made a habit into feeling the hardness, then lying down and feeling it go soft, then standing again to feel the hardness again. Weird I know, but it makes me feel better.

Symptoms: Can't really determine what was cold related and what was pregnancy related this week. I was nauseous, tired, and irritable....plus the coughing, runny nose, and headaches......all things that you get with both pregnancy and a cold. So we'll call it a wash this week. One thing I can asses is a preggo symptom.....lovely constipation has reared its head. Damn iron in those pre-natals!

Yummy/Icky: I think, based on my stocking contents, the hubby has singled out what my main craving has been this week. Cheese. He put a box of Mac and Cheese and a bag of Goldfish crackers in there and I laughed and laughed. If you know my hubby he HATES cheese with a passion so he's such a great guy to enable my cravings. I sliced off some chunks of cheddar and I am happy. The sweet tooth is also coming back as I requested Rocky Road ice cream.....it was worth it! Yum!! Nothing really sounds gross to me, I'm still avoiding red sauce for a while....but honestly its figuring out what actually sounds good is the problem. Picky preggo eater!!!

Clothing: Still haven't bought maternity clothes, but thanks to Santa and gifts from family I have gift cards to go shopping when the time arises!!!! Bra's are SUPER uncomfortable! The girls have gotten HUGE! Not that the hubby is complaining....oh no. But I think that is going to be my first new purchase. We were walking around the complex to get our bump shots and I looked down and one was almost completely out of her home! Not cool! So I need to take inventory of what will take me through and what will be my first purchases!

Movement: Ok....I might be a little nuts for thinking this, or overly aware of my body, but I swear I felt something the other day! I talked to my mom and she said she felt me relatively early.....around 14 weeks, so I asked her what it felt like. Everyone says butterfly wings. Here's what happened to me, I was lying in bed relaxing, and I felt something really down low. How I can describe it was a faint feeling like when your stomach is growling, a rumbly in my tumbly. This went on for about an hour, every 10 minutes or so. I was gassy at the time, so it might have just been gas. Who knows. I guess only time will tell!

I figured I would give you a big shot of my chalkboard this week also. I need to get better and my little cartoons, but the hubby suggested a firework in honor of New Years eve!

DIY Sled Ornament

Before I was born my grandmother made all her "grandkids" a sled ornament out of popsicle sticks. My mom gave it to me a while back and it has been displayed on my tree every year since. This year I wanted to create the same thing to include as part of our Christmas gifts to our parents. I went online to see if I could purchase pre-made sled ornaments and while I was scouring, the hubby plucked it off the tree and stated "Diane this is popsicle sticks. You can make this!" Well duh! Why didn't I think of that?!? I blame pregnancy brain! So that's what I did! And I am here to share with you how I did it! It's super easy, just in case I didn't mention that yet!

What You'll Need:
(7) Plain Popsicle Sticks (you can get them at any craft store)
Xacto knife
Paint and brushes
Super Glue
Modge Podge

Directions:

1. Before I painted the sticks, I made my cuts. I suggest using a brand new blade on your Xacto knife. Our was dull and VERY hard to work with! Please be careful with your blade, its very sharp!! First I took four popsicle sticks and drew an arch on them and cut out the arch. Here are the sizes you will need:

Leave the 2 middle arched sticks as is; just cut with a arch
The 2 outside arch sticks will be 3.25"W to the longest point with a 45 degree angle
(1) 3"W with 45 degree angles on each end
(1) 1.5W for back
(2) Full size popsicle sticks

2. Paint your popsicle sticks in your desired color. I chose red....obviously.  I wanted it to look like the other one as closely as possible. I painted two coats on all sides and let dry overnight.

3. Arrange your four arched pieces appropriately. Take your super glue and glue onto the entire length of the short piece and place onto the back of your piece. Press and hold for 30 seconds or until the glue has cured. Repeat with the other short piece.

4. Put superglue on the top of your two middle pieces on the opposite side as the short pieces and then place your angled piece on the top. Flip over and press for 30 seconds until glue has cured.

5. Take a small portion of glue on the very edges of the small back pieces and place one of your full length sticks perpendicular and centered evenly. The stick should be flush (or as flush as possible) with the edge of the piece. Repeat with other full length stick.

6. I didn't take photo's of the next steps, but you can see in the finished photo above what it looks like. Next I took my paint pen and wrote "Baby Kimball 2013" on the top. That took two light coats to make it nice and even.

7. Once everything is completely dry I put one coat of modge podge as a sealer. I used the glitter kind on accident. I would recommend just the clear matte or gloss. The hubs didn't care for the glitter, but I think it work for the application.

8. You can add a hangar if you like. We just rest our on a branch so no hangar is needed for us!

See! You too can make your own sled ornament out of popsicle sticks!

2013 Year in Review

Hi my lovelies. I am so sorry that I haven't been on to wish you all a Happy Holiday! The plague hit my home, and if any of you know how much it SUCKS to be sick and pregnant, well then I guess I don't have to explain myself! I haven't been getting out of bed except for the holiday family-time. We had a wonderful Christmas, despite the sickness, and we spent lots of quality time with our families. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families as well. I really don't have any photos with the exceptions of a cookie shot, and our disaster of a living room when the hubs decided to put together our new tv. If you follow my Instagram (dianekimball07) then you already saw them!

We did many things as a couple in 2013, I crafted A LOT, and well you know the most recent things! Since this year was filled with lots of fun and great memories, I thought that I would re-live some of them with all of you!

January: I crafted A LOT! It was really cold here (50's for SoCal) so I spent a lot of indoor time doing what I love: Creating. I made a quilt for my dear friends 30th birthday!

I also tried my hand at crochet by making scarves and headbands, as well as started a lot of baby projects to keep on hand.

February: My parents gave us a trip to Catalina for Christmas and we went and had a grand ole time. I even went zip-lining! It terrified me, but I did it!!

Some of my other favorite posts were celebrating my God-Daughter's 2nd birthday and a love letter that I wrote for my hubby on V-day.

March: We went to visit my step-mom in Florida for a week. It was a grand and redneck time! We did so much that it took me forever to edit the photos and post it on the blog!

Other favorites included checking off a bucket list item by riding the mechanical bull at Universal City Walk and celebrating our 11 year anniversary.

April: Was another big craft month. Sometimes I just need to be my cancerish self and crawl into my shell. But that's when you get things like the crochet pillow cover.

In April I also got my first tattoo in honor of my father, and I also posted our new and favorite wing recipe....another favorite in honor of my dad!

May: We went camping with our neighbors to Lake Piru....it had been a while for camping as a couple and sleeping on the rock hard ground was a memory to say the least!

I also helped shower a good friend for her bridal shower and the hubby wrote about the reasons why he loves me! Awe! I forgot about this one!!

June: I turned 30 this month, and while I wasn't too keen on it I had a great day with my mom and hubby at the Getty Center.

We also had a trip into Fresno to visit family, and I did a guest post over a Jo My Gosh where I created this really cute sign!!

July: The hubby celebrated his 30th birthday and we also had a joint surprise birthday given by my in-law with tons of family and friends!

We also went to a wedding at a vineyard, which was awesome! I also talked about my first trip ever out of the states, when I went to Europe!

August: We went paint-balling for my brother-in-laws birthday and it was such a blast....even though I had welts and bruises for weeks!

I also coordinated a wedding for another dear friends sister, who I have know for over a decade! I also created another baby craft, which was such fun, the taggie blanket!

September: We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary in Lake Tahoe. We spent loads of time with D's grandparents and mom and visited lots of sites!

I also reminisced about many things and opened my soul up about our previous loss. I also made a banana bread recipe that went viral (to me) on Pinterest!

October: Was spent indoors crafting for a good friends baby shower! We did go out and enjoy Halloween with some friends, and we also found out we were expecting this month!!!! YAY

I also did a favorite photos from the last year of Instagram!

November: We showered a friend for her baby shower and I finally got to post some crafts that I did for her! I still have many to write also!

We also celebrated a wonderful Thankgiving and I posted a couple of baby gift tutorials! (here and here)

December: We finally spilled the baby news!!!

I also shared about how we announced to the family and I also started my bumpdates!!!

Wow! I can't believe all the things that we accomplished this last year! I can say without a doubt that 2013 was a fantastic year!! I cannot wait for 2014 and all the things to look forward to! I hope you had a wonderful year as well! Stay tuned for more fun things to come!

Bumpdate - 12 Weeks

I'm going to start off this bumpdate with a huge thank you to my hubby. He has been down for the count all weekend, but he drug his sick butt out of bed to take my photos for this week! What a great guy!!!! I love you! Feel better for Christmas!

What's baby up to this week? He/she is the size of a lime, just over 2 inches long from crown to rump. The eyes have moved from the side of the head to the front, right where they belong. Reflexes are beginning to form and soon will be able to open and close their fingers. Toes will curl and eye muscles will clench. Nerve cells are multiplying rapidly and synapses in the brain are forming. Intestines will move into the abdominal cavity and the kidneys will begin excreting urine into baby's bladder.

What's been going on with mom? I still haven't weighed myself, partly because my scale isn't that accurate and partly because I don't know if I want to know! As a former heavy gal, I have a hard time wrapping my head around gaining weight. I know it's healthy and I need to gain for the baby, I just definitely don't want to gain too much! Pregnancy anxiety reared it's ugly head last weekend and I got so worked up that it made me sick! I took a day to rest and relax so that I don't continue to make myself sick. Also I woke this weekend with a sore throat. I went to my family and friends on Facebook to see if there was anything I could do to prevent it.....however as I feared I can't take anything. I need to write down to ask my doctor for the next cold coming in what is safe to take.

Symptoms: Morning sickness returned for a couple of days, but I think it was because I worked myself up so much over last weekend. It seems to have passed. Still having insomnia....but now it's coupled with going to the bathroom so it's gone to once or twice a night, and I can usually fall right back to sleep. I was also SUPER irritable all week. I seemed to have a short fuse all week. Trying to control that! :-/

Yummy/Icky: Really still want a spicy Italian sub sandwich. Salami just sounds amazing.....also D bought cookie dough and it took everything in my power to NOT scoop out a chunk and scarf. Need to make some eggless dough for snacking. I have just made sure to eat comfort foods still to keep the cravings at bay.....mac and cheese is still big on the list, as is anything with ground beef! I have been completely avoiding tomato sauce for a while just because I do not want to get sick. Plain chicken still sounds no bueno.

Clothing: Pant's are starting to feel tight.....even though there isn't really a bump. I'm getting a little "thick" through the middle. I can see things working and pushing out a little, but to others it's not really noticeable. All the maternity sites are having sales and I really want to take advantage of them, but I also know that I don't need anything yet.

Well that's all I have for you this week. I realized after looking at the shot that my chalkboard looks like I drew a bat below....it's holly and berries! Lol, so I posted a closeup of the chalkboard for your reference as well as some out-takes from the shoot!

Boys Behind the Blog - Christmastime!

Were stepping away from baby stuff....well sort of...today to bring you another round of the Boys Behind the Blog. I wish I could schedule these, but it seems like the hubby loves to make me wait until the very last second to get me the answers. Sheesh! As always my comments are in purple, but the answers weren't very wordy this time around....oh well.

1. What is your favorite cereal? My favorite cereal at the moment would have to be Raisin Bran Crunch. Yea, he never touched Raisin Bran until he started living with me. Can I tell you what the sheer awesomeness that Raisin Bran is? The crunch kind however, I will leave. It doesn't taste good to me. We still always have at least two types of cereal in our pantry.

2. Pancakes or waffles? I prefer waffles. Agreed. Pancakes are boring, waffles have their own very special tool to make them function. Thanks to a Christmas gift from a friend years back we use our waffle iron a minimum of once a month, and it's almost ALWAYS at dinnertime.

3. What is your favorite holiday tradition? It would have to be decorating the tree, putting up Xmas lights outside, and watching both the Home Alone movies. It's our tradition and it will carry on FOREVER! 

4. Finish the sentence: All I want for Christmas is... My two front teeth. No just kidding. All I want for Xmas is not something I will get in December, not even January, not even in June but July 5 to be exact. All I want for Xmas is our baby to be born healthy. I can't wait to hold our baby in my arms and know that I am a Dad. Awe! He's a proud papa already. What if the baby comes earlier or later than July 5th?!? 

5. What was your best moment of 2013? Best moment of 2013 is when I found out that Diane is pregnant and when we saw the little heartbeat for the first time at our ultrasound! I am the first one to say I'm a weirdo, but like in the movie "Hook," becoming a Dad is my happy thought! <3<3<3

Well that's all folks, the last post of 2013 from my wonderful hubby. There are plenty more to come from where this came from, as well as TONS more to talk about next year too!

Telling the Family & DIY Announcement Cards

Who wants to hear about how we announced to our family?! Well here's the story. I was searching Pinterest (where else?) for anything that I could use for an announcement. I found this really great idea for a surprise birthday party and thought that I could convert it into a pregnancy announcement for our family. It involved putting all the privy info onto a balloon that would have to be blown up to read. After researching how much custom balloons cost, I nixed that idea and morphed it into my own. I found a couple of other ideas for the actual card and went to town in Photoshop and scrapbook paper to create the look.

Now we were going to mail these to immediate family, because who doesn't love getting fun mail. However, things changed and we didn't end up sending them out. We made phone calls to our immediate family. First I called my mom, who was playing nursemaid to my grandma who had rotator-cuff surgery. I asked if she was alone and she said yes so I then Facetimed her. We chatted a bit and then I turned the camera to the front to show her our three positive pregnancy tests. She started bawling and asked if she could tell my grandmother. We tortured our families and told them they had to keep it secret. We talked a while and she cried, cried, cried, and we cried, cried, cried. After that we called my dad, and asked him if he was ready to be a papa. He was floored and so happy that he kept saying "I'm going to be the best grandfather!" Well duh. The hubs called his mom and said to her "I have some bad news for you, your going to be a grandmother." She was at her cousin's home in San Jose and proceeded to spill her wine all over our cousin's homework and burst into tears. She made sure to tell him to keep me calm....again HA! She was told also to keep it a secret, but the cousins knew because....well she had to tell them why she was crying and spilling wine! Next was D's dad, who was also very happy. D's brother said "It's about time!" and we said "Your telling us!" and we sent the positive tests to his sister via text, since we knew she was busy studying, and we got an excited phone call. My stepmom reacted the same way and started crying. Everyone was so happy.

Now your probably wondering why we still made the cards since we announced via the telephone. Well I thought it would be a cute way announce the news on Thanksgiving to our families. Have the great grandparents open them and then pass them around. Well, as you know we had a scare the day before so we decided that we weren't going to tell the whole family on Thanksgiving but let the GG's know the night before. I called my mom and had her put me on speakerphone to tell my papa. He was in the hospital having a heart procedure so I thought the news would cheer him up. Next up, once my mom got back to her house, was my grandmother. We facetimed again and my mom had her open the announcement card. One look at the balloon and she was jumping up and down and crying. She also said "I have to call my sisters!" Off camera I guess my mom was shaking her head and the look on my grandmothers face was heartbreaking..."No? I can't call my sisters?" I explained to her the situation and she understood and said she would keep it in until she got the ok. Lastly, we drove over to D's parents to tell his grandparents. They were in town for TG and it was perfect. We explained to his parents why we were there and then proceeded to give the announcement for opening. His grandmother cried and was just overjoyed once she read the balloon and then proceeded to pass around the card to everyone to see. All of them were such special moments and I will never forget them!

Ok so how did we make the cards? I went a bought some balloons from Party City. Then printed my premade text onto cardstock and I cut it to fit into a 4"x6" envelope. Next I took coordinating scrapbook paper and glued it to the cardstock. I poked holed large enough to put some ribbon through and tied the balloon to the front.

Next I created a pocket on the back with coordinating scrapbook paper to hold the announcement card in. You do this by scoring three sides of the paper, folding them in and gluing them to down.

Next was the announcement card. I created my text in Photoshop and then printed it on regular paper. I had to do a little trimming to create my arches. I cut a piece of cardstock to 4" x 6" and scrapbook paper to 1.5" x 6" and glued the scrapbook paper to one edge of the cardstock. Then glued my graphic onto of the top of everything. This then slid into the pocket that we made, along with the announcement photos we took and a copy of our first ultrasound.

No card would be complete without a fun envelope. I used some confetti that I had on hand and some stamps to make the envelopes special.

Always celebrate the good things!

There you have it! I know it was a little wordy but I hope I made it worth it by giving you a mini tutorial on the announcement cards. I am so happy to be able to share all of this with my readers and now the baby spam should tone down, maybe/hopefully, to weekly or twice weekly since I have caught everything up. Thanks for all the love and support that we have received over the last week. It means the world to us!

Bumpdate - 11 Weeks

Since I won't start doing bump progression photo's until next week I will share an ultrasound photo from our last doctor's appointment. I am blessed to have gotten so many and will be disappointed next appointment to not see peanut, but we will hear the heartbeat so that will make up for it. I am still a little weary on starting progress photos because as of right now I still just look bloated....no sign of a bump. My mom said that she didn't show with me until 4 months.....so the photo's might be boring for a while! Also, I don't know if I will be doing a traditional recap, but it might come to that if the pregnancy brain gets any worse! Hehe.

Ok lets start off this update. We had our appointment last Tuesday and let me tell you that I was totally anxious! I have been reading too much internet and I think its making me fear the worse....so I might need to take a break from forums, videos and all that until January. We went in, with my mom in tow who has never seen an ultrasound before. She was military with me and they didn't offer it, so this was her first glimpse. Of course it had to be during the first abdomen u/s and there was hardly a shape at all. He pushed so hard on my full bladder that I almost cried! It was worth it though because we were able to see the heartbeat and our doctor said that everything looked great! Whew. Actually he said, "I'm confident enough to see you in a month." Which basically means....don't stress! Ha....that's a funny thing to say to a person who is an over-analyzer! After the appointment, my mom was bawling and so happy. We ended up going to a book store for a fund raiser for my cousin's school and she ended up buying us a name book, and two baby books to hold onto for my shower. Seriously! The spoiling has already begun! Lol

As far as symptoms go, it's been a pretty easy week. No real cravings, just being hungry a LOT. The girls have grown a little more and my bra's are starting to get uncomfortable. The hubs is loving this, as all husbands do. The insomnia continues. I manage to get 4 hour spurts but then I wake and lie there for 30 minutes before dozing back off. Most days I am just up at 6AM, scrolling my phone until its time to get up. I should probably be productive with that time and maybe do little workouts, but then I manage to doze in and out. Cravings are not really there. My sweet tooth seems to be returning a little, but not nearly where it was. I still just want comfort foods. Yum. Tomato sauce is still on the no go list. We had pizza and it made my stomach do all sorts of tossing! The last thing, that I don't really think is pregnancy related, is I had a terrible shoulder and neck ache on Wednesday. So bad that it hurt to check my blindspots driving home causing shooting pains up my neck and a horrible migraine. Knowing that I couldn't take anything, I got straight into the tub and then lied on my rice pads for two hours. The hubs was able to rub most of it out but I was still pretty sore the next day. Glad that has passed!

There you have it! Uneventful, but everything is looking great. Can't wait to pop so I can start showing off the belly!