21 Week Update

This has been another week that just took its sweet time getting by. Unlike last week, where so much happened, nothing at all happened this week.

Jacob started his second job, so I only get to see him for about 30 minutes in the morning. His best friend is back from Alaska and staying with us, and could possibly be moving into our lock out bedroom, which is weird to get used to, but ultimately okay, I suppose.

My phone fried my sim card, and rather than signing a contract for another two years and paying out the butt for a new phone with at&t, we cancelled my plan and I got a pay as you go phone that sucks. Good news is I can still use the old phone on wifi, like a mini tablet/iPod.

How far along? 21 weeks

Total weight gain: I honestly do not know at this point. I'll be weighed at the doctor's office on Thursday, so we'll see then.
Maternity clothes? The only new additions to the collection this week were two shirts I turned into maternity shirts: one uniform and one flannel.
Have you started to show yet: Definitely. The picture up top is from the start of week 21, but my work shirts don't show the bump off very well, so here's a picture from week 20.5, as well.

Stretch marks? None that I didn't have already.
Sleep: Still lots of discomfort and nightmares
Best moment this week: There's really not a moment this week that stands out to me.
Miss Anything? I miss going a day without a backache or headache
Movement: There is a TON of movement. I swear, the kid never sleeps
Food cravings: Thin mints. Oh my gosh, thin mints.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Prenatals, still
Gender: Unfortunately, we still don't know, and won't know until week 22.
Labor Signs: Definitely not.
Symptoms: HEADACHES, general discomfort, vivid dreams, backaches
Belly Button in or out? Still very much in. I don't think it will come out
Wedding rings on or off? It's on a necklace around my neck.It still fits just fine, but the fact that my hands and feet have been swelling and then going back to normal and then swelling again was making the ring rub my finger raw.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Weepy to the max.
Looking forward to: The gender reveal!

Bad Luck Comes in Threes

I figured this was a very fitting time to write this post, seeing as it is Friday the Thirteenth.

My whole life I've heard people say that bad luck comes in threes. I'd  like to think that it was just a self-fulfilling prophecy, that by looking for that one last bad thing to happen the individual causes it to come about. I'm not going to lie, I've caught myself bringing up that old superstition several times in the last few months.

"Oh, we'll be okay now. That was bad luck number three."

The good Lord had a sense of humor, because every time I think I've seen the third (and last) bad luck for a while, another rears its head. It seems to be one major financial woe, and one major stress inducer per week. Last week was my car, and realizing that I won't get to see my husband enough over the next few months. This week our washing machine broke, and I was told once and for all by my insurance company that I am 100% not eligible for short-term disability when the baby comes, which means I can officially only afford to take a two week maternity leave.

Oh, and my company changed its insurance policy and my maximum out of pocket and copay have almost doubled.

I've reached the point where all I can do is sit back, say, "All right, God. You've got this one, because I have no flipping idea what to do." 

Habakkuk 3:17-19 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,  yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places
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How to Turn Regular Jeans into Maternity Jeans

Since I've been pregnant, my life has been a perfect example of the saying "when it rains, it pours". Most specifically in the financial department. I was hit with the realization that my job does not provide paid maternity leave, and I'll only have three weeks of paid time off. My car is currently at the shop with an unknown problem that will cost an unknown amount. We purchased a new home and our monthly bills have gone up. So when I started looking at maternity clothes and saw just how much more expensive than normal clothes they are, I about died.

The majority of my maternity clothes are borrowed from my sister-in-law. My Mama recently purchased me a lot of maternity shirts off of ebay, but that leaves me with just two pair of maternity pants: my work pants, and a pair of jeans that has the nasty elastic that sits below your bump, which I hate. 

Being broke, I couldn't afford to drop $35 or more on one pair of maternity jeans which I'll only wear for a few months. I decided that since I could buy my normal jeans for anywhere from $7-$10, I would turn a pair of non-maternity jeans into maternity jeans.

What you'll need:

1. A pair of regular jeans in your pre-pregnancy size, or whatever size is fitting your butt best now.
2. Two tank tops a size or two smaller than you normally wear
3. A sewing machine, or lots of patience
4. Thread
5. Needles
6. Scissors

1. Cut the waistband of the jeans out, staying right against the hem around the back, and dipping the front to accommodate the growing belly. I cut one half of the front, and then folded the jeans over and traced that cut to ensure the dip for my belly was even. I would recommend using a higher waisted pant than I did. If you have a weak pair of scissors, you might wants to cut the zipper out prior to this step. While cutting, bear in mind whether or not you will be upset if you lose pocket function. After cutting you will be left with something like this:

2. Sew the flap that once was your zipper shut.

3. Take your tank top(s) and lay them out flat. Decide how high you would like your comfort top to ride, and then cut straight across the tank top. You could hem the raw edge if you would like, however you'll be sewing the raw edge to the jeans, so it is wholly unnecessary. For best results, use a thick tank top a few sizes smaller than your pre-pregnancy size. I bought a $4 tank top in size small from WalMart. If your tank top is thin, then it is best to sew two tank tops together. Of course, you can use a belly band if you have an extra/can afford it. I couldn't afford a pair of maternity jeans, so buying an extra belly band and a pair of jeans was out of the question, as they would cost the same amount. I spent a whopping $8 on the jeans and tank top to make this. You will end up with a tube, like thus:

4. Flip your tube inside out, and slide it over the top of your jeans so that the right sides are facing each other. I did a poor job of explaining in the video, but what I did was literally just slide the tube over the jeans, and then mark with pins where the bottom of the curve was. In the video it seems like I say to sew the band to the jeans straight across at the pockets, but I just meant to pin the tank top straight across below where you're sewing, to ensure that it doesn't move as you sew, and to ensure that it doesn't bunch and cause an uneven finish.

5. Pin along the the curve you cut into the pants to make a guideline for where to sew. 

6. Sew all the way around, using a zigzag stitch. Be sure to leave the pockets open if you were trying to save their usability. I sewed around again with a straight stitch, to perfect the seam and add durability.

7. Try them on to be sure they fit like you want, and alter as needed!

20 Week Update (Halfway There!)

This week has practically dragged itself by. I feel like it has taken forever to get to the point I'm writing a new blog. A lot happened this week, and they were all things that have one of those nasty two-sided effects: it sucks in the short term, but in the long term you have to do it or the consequences will be disastrous. 

My car broke down on Tuesday in the most delightful way.I was at a stoplight when the engine suddenly started making the sound of a train whistle and it started overheating like crazy. It's had a slow leak since I got it, and I suppose it reached the point where it couldn't take it anymore. I made it to work, and while I was working flights 1141 and 1133, my parents apparently drove out and put water in it, and called to make an appointment.

The darned thing took $1250 of repairs. For one part. Like I said, it sucks in the short term, but long term it had to be done.

Jacob also got a second job this week. We've known for a while that we need another source of income, and I can't really find one, as most places don't want to hire someone who can only work Thursdays and Fridays and will be leaving in January. The thing that sucks so much about it is that I will literally only see him for half an hour in the mornings, and on weekends before and after work. He'll be working Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, on top of school and his other job, and he has night classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 9, and I can't stay up that long.

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain: Dude not even kidding, I'm up another 3 pounds this week, putting me at 4 above my starting weight.
Maternity clothes? Like I mentioned a couple weeks ago, my Mama bought me some maternity shirts. I've since turned a pair of jeans and a pair of work pants into maternity pants (tutorial on Wednesday!) and will be making some old nasty shirts into maternity shirts.
Have you started to show yet: Undoubtedly. I look like I'm due in a month, not four and a half. The amount I've grown in the last week is mind boggling. For comparison purposes:

Stretch marks? None that I didn't have already.
Sleep: I've been having lots of nightmares, still. Sleep is uncomfortable and restless.
Best moment this week: Jacob got a second job. I feel very conflicted about it, but I know that we have to have it in order to survive financially once Little Booger gets here
Miss Anything? I miss going a day without a backache or headache
Movement: There is a TON of movement. I swear, the kid never sleeps
Food cravings: Not really anything this week,
Anything making you queasy or sick: My new prenatal vitamins make me quite nauseous, still
Gender: Unfortunately, we still don't know, and won't know until week 22.
Labor Signs: Definitely not.
Symptoms: HEADACHES, general discomfort, vivid dreams, backaches
Belly Button in or out? Still very much in. I don't think it will come out
Wedding rings on or off? Still on, but there is swelling on hot days.
Happy or Moody most of the time: I would say I've been fairly normal this week.
Looking forward to: The gender reveal, and reassurance it isn't twins.

Circle Skirt Tutorial

Shopping for maternity clothing has been one of the most depressing and difficult things I have ever had to do. Everything is very blah, and I can't seem to find anything affordable that is even remotely my style. I own several skater dresses and circle skirts that still fit (kind of) and I decided that rather than searching and searching for cute maternity dresses/skirts, I would bust out the elastic and make myself a few skirts.

Circle skirts are arguably the easiest starter sewing project out there, and are flattering on practically everyone, including pregnant ladies. I made mine with an elastic waist, to accommodate my growing belly.

What you'll need

1. Measuring tape longer at least 36 inches long
2. Scissors
3. Fabric pencil
4. Straight pins
5. At least 1 1/2 yards of lightweight fabric
6. Elastic for the waistband
7. Sewing Machine or lots of patience and a thread and needle

Step 1) Take your fabric and fold it in half lengthwise, and then fold it in half width wise, i.e. hot dog and hamburger. You should have one edge that's the main fold, one edge that has two folds, and two edges that are not folded at all, and have four pieces of fabric.

Step 2) Refer to the following list and pick your size. These are based on American sizes, and I used the Asos size chart to do the math, so you might refer to it here if you have any questions about your size.

• Size 2 - 3 4/5 in
• Size 4 - 4 in
• Size 6 - 4 2/5 in
• Size 8 - 4 3/5 in
• Size 10 - 5 in
• Size 12 - 5 1/4 in
• Size 14- 5 3/4 in
• Size 16 - 6 1/5 in
• Size 18 - 6 1/2 in
• Size 20 - 7 in
• Size 22 - 7 1/3 in

Step 3) Using the number after your size, take your tape measure and poke a hole through the 0 inch mark, and whatever inch is following your size. For example, I poked the hole through 5 1/2, since I'm a size 12, but I wanted a little pregnancy space. Place your straight pin through the hole at the 0 inch mark, and your fabric pencil through the second hole.

Step 4) Place the straight pin through the corner of your fabric where the two folded edges meet. Holding the pencil with one hand and the straight pin with the other, move the pencil as if it were a giant compass. This mark will be the waist of your skirt.

Step 5) Decide how long you want your skirt to be. I personally made mine 22 inches, due to my height and the pregnancy. Since my waistline was a 5 1/2 radius, I simply added 22 plus 5 1/2, giving me 27 1/2 inches. Add a seam allowance, and voila.Poke another hole in your tape measure at this number, and move the pencil to that hole. Repeat the same process you used for marking the waistline, and voila. You have your pattern drawn out.

Step 6) Cut it out! You should end up with a donut shaped piece of fabric. Yay, fewer seams.

Step 7) Wrap elastic around your waist, pulling it until it fits as you would like it to. This is typically about a half inch shorter than your waist. At this point you'll be sewing the elastic onto the waistband in any way you choose.  Rather than trying (and probably failing) to explain how to attach an elastic waist band, I will reference you to this tutorial. It is great if you've never sewn an elastic band before, or even if you have. The important thing to remember is to be very accurate when marking the center marks on both the elastic and the skirt.

Step 8) Hem the bottom of the skirt.

Voila! You have your very own circle skirt.

Life Lessons From My Car

I bought a "new" car a year ago. It's a 2004 Saturn L300 that had 105,000 miles on it when I got it. It has about 118,000 on it now, and the problems it has that were little, easy to fix, and cheap a year ago have now made themselves known as big, expensive, groan inducing problems.

From the first day I owned it, Digger had a slow coolant leak. It was really more of an annoyance than anything, resulting in me adding coolant to it every month or so. We eventually took it to a shop to figure out where the leak was coming from, exactly, and instead they found about $1200 worth of leaks that I couldn't afford to fix. We had them fix the most vital leaks, and continued on our way. I figured that as long as it was running, the leaks couldn't be that big of a deal.

There was a week in which Digger was hit three separate times in parking lots: once scratching the bumper, once knocking the bumper off, and once knocking the passenger side mirror off, and leaving a huge scratch down the side of the car. I fixed the scratches with black nail polish, popped the bumper back on, and I still don't have a passenger side mirror, thanks to the estimate we had saying we'd be out $300.

All of the problems that we had were just annoyances that I could shake off.

Until today.

Last night we drove to my grandparents house and back, a total of about 160 miles. That was apparently all Digger could handle, because this morning he gave up. I was about halfway to work, idling at a stoplight, when all of the sudden my engine started to make a sound like a train whistle, the check engine light popped on and started beeping, and the temperature gauge jumped dangerously close to overheated.

I quickly did the only trick I knew to do: turn the heater on.

The rest of my drive to work was a terror and stress-filled drive through the hills of Branson, praying every time the gauge got close to the horrible red line. It finally hit the red line as I was pulling into the parking lot at work. I called my husband and asked him if he would bring me coolant. He said that he couldn't, and that I should see if the airport had some I could borrow. My response was to then call my Mama and ask her what she would do.

In typical motherly fashion, she and my father drove the hour and a half to the airport to look at my car. I never saw my parents, but I know they were there, and that they added coolant to my car, and made an appointment at a mechanic's for Wednesday.

My car made it home, the whole drive a repeat of the way to work. We think the diagnosis will either be a cracked radiator, or the water pump.

The life lessons Digger taught me today are simple. One, don't let a little problem become a very big problem just because it's inconvenient to fix at the time -- it will only be more inconvenient later. Two, if you have a problem, make sure you make it known how large/small it is, otherwise people will think it's nothing until you explode. Three, Mama will fix everything, and as scary as it is, I will have at least one little booger calling me Mama in four and a half months.

Gulp.

19 Week Update

This week has gone by very quickly, and overall has been good. 

One of the ladies I work with (who claims that she has never been wrong about a gender prediction) asked to feel my bump on Wednesday. She rubbed and smiled for a few moments, and I couldn't help but think she looked like a gypsy looking into her crystal ball the whole time, then happily announced, "There's at least one boy in there!" I'm sure I looked like she just told me about the current events in Syria, but that's just too many people making twin hints that haven't been proven wrong.

We had our 18.5 week doctor's appointment on Thursday, and despite how much we hoped she would do the ultrasound, she didn't. While she was using the doppler to hear the heartbeat, Little Booger reared back and kicked the doppler. Dr Allison and I both got a kick out of it, pun intended. L.B kicked it a few times, and at the end she said, "The old wives would say it's a boy, and a playful one, at that!" 

She gave us the choice of going ahead and doing the ultrasound, or waiting until our next appointment so the scan would be easier, and so she could be sure to see the gender, even if Little Booger was being shy. Jacob was immensely disappointed, but I think it's for the best! 

The only thing about it that has made me EXTREMELY nervous, was one of the last things she said to us. She was listing the reasons it better to wait, and she ended with, "Plus, it'll give you more time to prepare for the thought of two babies before we confirm there's only one." I'm seriously hoping that everyone knows how terrified I am of having twins, and that's why literally everyone keeps saying it'll be twins, but it is absolutely freaking me out.

My coworkers have not helped one bit. In specific I have a coworker who has four daughters, who when she listened to the heartbeat smiled and said, "I hear two." The lady I work with who has never been wrong about a gender prediction told another of my coworkers last week after making her prediction that she thought she felt two babes, but that she didn't want to say anything to me in case I didn't know yet. And then I had a passenger -- a woman who didn't know me from Eve-- come up to me and say, "I'm a psychic, and  just thought you should know that your little boy and girl are doing great in there, and will go far with their lives."

How far along? 19 weeks

Total weight gain: I'm up to 186 this week. It blows my mind to think that I gained four pounds that quickly, but I suppose that's just my body getting used to not throwing up every day and actually having an appetite.
Maternity clothes? I still haven't purchased any more, however I should be very soon. I definitely need to buy some more. Wearing the same few outfits over and over gets very old.
Have you started to show yet: I did it! I popped! The bump is unmistakably a baby now, and not just extra flab that I don't need.
Stretch marks? None that I didn't have already.
Sleep: I'm still having a hard time getting comfortable, and I've been having really weird dreams, so sleep is still fitful.
Best moment this week: We had our doctor's appointment this week, and while Dr. Allison was using the sonar to find the heartbeat, Little Booger kicked the doppler. It made me very happy.
Miss Anything? I'm still missing not looking so fat, or at least looking more pregnant. I miss thinking I look ok.
Movement: So very much. Any time anything puts pressure on my tummy, Little Booger kicks it.
Food cravings: Pretzel M&Ms
Anything making you queasy or sick: My new prenatal vitamins make me quite nauseous.
Gender: Unfortunately, we still don't know, and won't know until week 22.
Labor Signs: Definitely not.
Symptoms: HEADACHES, general discomfort, vivid dreams
Belly Button in or out? Still very much in.
Wedding rings on or off? On, but some days I feel like it should be off. The swelling is hit or miss.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Weepy is the best word for it.
Looking forward to: The gender reveal, and reassurance it isn't twins.