Wednesday, April 22, 2015

23 Weeks and Counting

         23 weeks pregnant and only 19 more to go! Time has gone by fast but it also feels like an eternity since December. Baby is growing fast and so is my tummy, as Roxas loves to point out. He or she is more than 11 inches long and probably around a pound or so in weight. I feel more and more kicks every day and I love it. Having the anterior placenta this time really, really, sucked. I was looking forward to feeling those kicks and flutters sooner but at least I'm not dealing with placenta previa so I should count my lucky stars there. I spend as much time as the kids and this busy life will allow watching my belly jump and pop with each kick and punch.
          I'm really wishing I could have gotten that "honeymoon" trimester feeling but it seems this time around I don't get the luxury. I'm perpetually tired but I also want to nest. It's a vicious cycle. My ankles are all but gone, my wedding ring is making an indent in my finger and every bone in my hips feels as if it's being strained. I'm just going to be a joy in my third trimester. I also can't seem to remember my own name at times but thankfully I haven't forgotten anything super important...like the kids.
           I saw the neurologist for my odd little migraine headaches I've been having and he diagnosed them as basilar artery migraines and unfortunately there really isn't anything he can do. Oxygen may help a little but really there is no treatment safe for me and baby right now. I'm hoping once the baby is born they will stop and it's all down to hormones or something.
           I'm getting very nesty. I've started pulling a few items out of storage and next week I plan on getting all the clothing out and sorting that which is a huge undertaking. I'm still not quite sure where exactly this baby's stuff is all going to go but I have a few ideas. We've also decided to do a small get together baby "sprinkle" party instead of a huge shower because honestly we don't need much for this baby and I just want to spend time with my friends and family before I become a recluse for three months. More info on that to come. I can't believe Lucy will be 2 in just another three months and then the next month will be our due date month.
            I fully anticipate going overdue with this baby though so I'm planning more for the very tail end of August or even September. You never know!

       Overall this pregnancy has for sure been my most difficult, most interesting and most frustrating but I can't wait to meet this little alien baby of mine and finally know which name I'm going to be calling them. Now that we are past the 20 weeks scan I'm kind of ok with the whole surprise thing but oh man it's killing me not being able to go nuts on Disney Baby and buy up all the cute little girl or boy stuff. I scheduled our 30 week 3D scan already and I'm pretty excited for that. It's always my favorite scan because I can really start wrapping my head around the tiny face in my tummy.
       The kids are still a little bit clueless I think. I can't wait to see what their reactions are to a new baby. I'm hoping they will be positive but I expect a certain level of chaos with them figuring out what life means with a newborn baby in the house.

We've still got a ways to go but it's starting to sink in a little bit more that we really will have three kids. Then I start panicking a little bit but it's all going to be ok...I think.

 Small benefit to being pregnant in summer: who cares about a beach ready body!

Monday, April 13, 2015

I Made a Zoo!

I've been trying to somewhat organize and clean up the kids rooms and one of the biggest space occupying problems was all the kids stuffed animals. I probed the vast creative collective of Pinterst for ideas on ways to defy physics and stuff a lot of kids stuff into a small space. That's when I saw the stuffed animal zoo. I thought it was a great idea and looked easy enough that I could make it myself. After all it's just a giant square...I can handle a square right?

So, off to Lowe's I went and got all the stuff I'd need and had them cut the wood and panel board to all the right sizes. I did have to order the bungee cord from Amazon though.

Supplies:
I used 2x4 boards because I thought it would be a bit more sturdy but other plans use smaller/thinner pieces of wood. Use your judgement, but be sure to adjust the other parts of the project to fit.

(4) 6ft long 2x4s
(12) 2ft long 2x4s
(1) Panel board 72"x 31"
100ft of 1/4" bungee/shock cord from amazon
Wood screws
Metal washers
Primer/paint in your choice of color
If you want to add the little decorations I got the animals and sign from Hobby Lobby

So after I got all my pieces home I began assembling the frame for the box. I probably did it all kinds of wrong and my dad would probably be banging his head against the wall watching me but hey, it worked!

 You'll use the 6ft pieces as the four corners of your box and then the 2ft pieces go at the top, middle and bottom.
Then, screw your panel board on the back of your box using the screws and washers to keep it from pulling through the board. Mine was brown because I'm cheap and didn't want to pay more for the white board when I'm going to paint the whole thing anyways. You can get white and save yourself a step though if you'd like.

 Once your box is all set with it's back you can prime/paint it. I went ahead and used primer and then a semi gloss paint on mine.
 I was waiting on my shock cord to arrive still so I started in on the decorations. You may want to wait, or not. It didn't cause any issues putting the "bars" on.
Once the cord arrived I could start putting the "bars" on the zoo. This was probably the most frustrating and time consuming part. I've heard of people using staples to secure them but that just seemed entirely too weak to me and all I picture is one of the kids getting snapped as they attempt to take an animal out. So, I used metal wood screws and metal washers. Those things are going absolutely nowhere. The bars on mine are about every 4 inches but you can measure your board and figure out what spacing is the most appealing to you. Mine aren't perfect and I'm ok with that because working with bungee cord is really difficult to keep it nice and even. I can't even begin to count the number of times one of those snapped back in my face while I was trying to screw it to the board.

So, there you have it: my zoo! Side note, be sure to measure your doors and make sure the whole zoo will fit through it. I ended up getting very lucky and it JUST barely fit through ours. There was a lot of shoving involved in getting it into the actual room but it made it. Also, it is pretty heavy to be moving around so try to limit how much you move it to save yourself some work. Overall it was pretty simple but it just took much more that I thought, like most DIY projects of mine. The cost was about $80 for absolutely everything, and a lot of hard work.  Once you get it in place just fill it up and enjoy having those stuffed animals corralled in a cute but efficient manner!