Things That Happen When I Can't Sleep: Photoshop Edition

As I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy, I'm finding it harder and harder to sleep. Between being generally uncomfortable thanks to a huge belly and a kicky baby and the numbness in my arms from carpal tunnel, sleep has become a bit of a challenge. So last night, as Cecilia went to bed at 8:00pm, I decided to go to sleep early since I was exhausted. It worked great... I was out by 9:00!

But then I was up by 4:00... nice. So with nothing better to do and tingly arms, I started messing around in photoshop elements to see if I could learn something new. This is how I learn to do anything... I just mess around with it until I figure it out myself or I find some lovely online tutorial a smart person put together. Three cheers for smart people on the internet!

One thing I've been trying to figure out is how to make repeating patterns that don't look so repetitious so I can order custom fabrics. I found this great tutorial on YouTube by Bari Ackerman. It was really easy to follow and in the last hour, I made my own "half drop repeating pattern" using a random doodle I did a few days ago and then I made a few color variations. Here's the scan of the original drawing...

And here are the patterns. They're not perfect, but it was my first time and they came out decent enough. I don't think I'd use them for fabric (at all, lol) but they could make a cute little laptop wallpaper or something.

So that was pretty easy and a lot less intimidating than I thought it would be! I can't wait to put some things together with actual plans instead of just a random drawing. And feel free to right click and use these for personal stuff if you'd like. 

Until next time!

Kim

A Few Random Things

Time for a pregnancy update! I promise, it's a lot less exciting than it sounds... I'm still pregnant as ever and we have about two and half weeks until Miss Josephine's due date. The husband and I went to the doctor on Monday and I had an ultrasound done since my belly is measuring big. They were worried she might be getting to big but luckily she's in the 63rd percentile so we're just a smidge above average. No big deal at all. Other than that, I'm pretty exhausted thanks to chasing Cece and her wild self and then I'm just really uncomfortable. I didn't gain weight with Cece but I have this time and it's so different. Even my butt has gotten huge... I've never had a butt and it's weird.

Also, I want to give a shout out to Patterns for Pirates... my leggings are made from their Peg Legs pattern and they are pregnant lady love since I can't wear real pants anymore, lol. I've made a couple of pairs of the leggings and a dress using their Boundless pattern. They're super easy to print out and they have great instructions! Definitely a 10/10... would recommend. The dress is not maternity so it looks funny at the moment but it has pockets you guys... glorious, glorious pockets. I think this is going to my post partum kick-around dress!

In preparation for L&D, I've been trying to keep active to work on my stamina but man, it is getting hard! Cece is precocious as she can be and needs A LOT of stimulation to wear her out so we've been going on play dates almost daily with our local SAHM group... except for this week. I've been so tired, we've stayed home mostly and have only been out on one solo adventure to the science center. We have a play date tomorrow so she'll get some good play time in. Which she needs because she never sits down... see...

Speaking of my SAHM group, they are holding a silent auction for a local family with a baby boy named Lathyn. He was diagnosed with an extremely rare illness called Dyskeratosis Congenita which only affects 1 in a million people and has no cure. To help, I donated a gift set that I made that includes wet bags, a tote, suck pads, and a taggie toy and so far it only has one bid but the auction runs until the 12th so hopefully it will get more bids. If anyone wants to help with monetary donations, they have a fundraising page set up on YouCaring. Their family is has been through so much and his medical care has been so costly... they need and deserve all the help they can get.

I think that's all for the moment. We're on baby watch so the next time I update, it might be a birth announcement... I can only hope, lol.

Until next time!

Kim

Cecilia's Grrrr-riffic First Birthday!

My first born just turned one and I still can't believe it's been an entire year! In that time she has developed quite the personality and she lets me know what she does and doesn't like. And one thing that she definitely likes loves is Daniel Tiger! I like him a lot too and he isn't annoying like some other kids' shows... I'm looking at you, Caillou. Plus, the little songs about handling emotions and problems are already proving helpful in combating toddler craziness.

So in honor of her love for Daniel, Katarina, and the gang, we had a Daniel Tiger themed birthday party. I started off thinking I was just going to pop into my local Party City and buy some DT plates and whatnot. I was so wrong! There's basically nothing out there pre-made for Daniel Tiger which was such a bummer. So, enter Mommy and her Pinterest addiction to the rescue.

I started with a birthday invitation I whipped up on Photoshop Elements using images I downloaded from PBS. The polka dot pattern at the top and bottom are part of a scrapbooking set from Shabby Princess called Sweet Sprinkles. The color scheme was born from there.

I decided to make cupcakes for our guests since they're less mess and easy to hand out. Plus, Betty Crocker brought Rainbow Chip frosting back so that just had to happen. To decorate them, I whipped up some toppers by making and printing off images that I cut out with my Cuttlebug... yeah, I still have one of those, lol. I taped the fronts and backs together and hot glued them on lollipop sticks. Easy peasy!

For the goody bags, I made tags that said "Thank you for coming!" using the same method and tied them onto the bags with bakers twine. Since most of our kid friends are 3 and under, I gave them little mini board books and bubbles. I didn't want my tween niece and nephews to feel left out so I made them their own bags and gave them nail polish and water squirters, respectively.

I did manage to get an actual personalized Daniel Tiger banner from Zulily so that was pretty cool.

And PBS has some neat DIY tutorials and printables which is where the idea for the trolly came from. I forgot to put the yellow box on top and I didn't realize it until we were already setting up at the park. Oh well... no one knew but me, lol.

And, of course, I had to do the first birthday chalkboard. I already had the board and I bought the chalk markers at Wal-Mart.

For our party supplies, I hit up Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, and Five Below where I stocked up on green, pink, and orange plates, napkins, cutlery, table cloths, bowls, etc.

Then, there was the awesome smash cake. I thought about buying a bakery made cake but they're ridiculously expensive and it was going to be destroyed anyway so I opted to make it myself. I used Cecilia's Daniel Tiger figurines and just used some green frosting to make grass on a plain white cake with vanilla frosting. For some color, I added a few flower shaped sprinkles where I meticulously picked out the pink, orange, and white ones. The Happy Birthday banner was made in Photoshop and I just printed it off and tied it to straws.

And last but not least... my favorite thing I made. Her birthday outfit! I'm so mad at myself for not getting good pictures of her in it but I was so busy being hostess, I didn't even think to get my camera out. (Shout out to my sis-in-law for getting most of the pictures in this post!) I used the colors from Shabby Princess's scrapbook set and made a fun bubble pattern. Then I ordered custom fabrics from Spoonflower. The dress and the bloomers are made from patterns from Mama Can Do It and I just love them! I also made matching necklaces for the two of us and a little pennant banner for her high chair using the leftover scraps. During the cake smash, I took her dress off and we put a t-shirt on her with an iron-on from Hobby Lobby that read "I am 1" and it just happened to be pink and orange! On a side note, I'm planning on doing a little photo shoot of her in her dress this weekend as long as her cold clears up... the poor kid is a snotty little mess right now.

I planned on doing a simple cookout for the food and when my dad got word, he volunteered to do all of the cooking. He did an awesome job and there was a ton of food! Burgers, hot dogs, chips and dips, potato salad, beans, fruit and veggies, chili, slaw, all the fixins! It was delicious and no one left hungry! (Dad is the big guy in the blue shirt... that's my bro-in-law that he's talking to.)

So, there you go... Cecilia's first birthday! I couldn't have pulled it all off without my family and friends. They were adamant in helping with everything at the party and reminding me of how pregnant I am, lol. They're pretty awesome. Looking back on getting everything ready beforehand, it does seem like a ton of work but I really enjoy making things and if I wasn't working on this stuff, I'd be making something else during nap times anyway.

Until next time! Ugga mugga!
Kim

Pattern Storage Perfection

I don't know about you guys but I absolutely love printable patterns! They make sewing projects so simple especially when there are detailed tutorials included. I'd much rather spend $5 or $6 on an etsy designer's work than picking up a discounted Simplicity or McCall's pattern for $1.99. Not to mention, a number of amazing bloggers offer up their patterns for free. (I also think that this is a great way for beginners to experiment a little bit before investing in more complicated patterns.)

That being said, I have downloaded A LOT of patterns and I print them on card stock so I can use them over and over again. Sounds great in theory but then I realized I had an organization problem the other day while I was trying to determine which bodice went with which dress bottom. It was a mess! I eventually figured it out but I spent a good 30 minutes getting all my patterns in order. Then I had an idea... I decided to make a binder for all my printed patterns including the info on where they came from so I can always get back to the tutorials if I need to. Genius! Why hadn't I thought of this before instead of just piling them in my desk all willy-nilly?!

So, I picked up a pretty new binder and matching subject dividers on one of my many trips to Target. (Does anyone else still get really excited about about back to school gear even though they've graduated many years ago?) I almost bought the plain cheap'o stuff but then remembered I'm a grown up and I'll probably have this binder for YEARS sitting on my shelf in my little sewing corner... might as well get something that's pleasing to the eyes!

Ooooh, pretty flowers!

I already had a ton of page protectors from Staples at home that I used to tuck each of my patterns into. Then, using Photoscape, I made little cover pages to slide down into the bottom of each sleeve so I'll know exactly what's in each one. I included a picture of a finished project, where it came from, and wrote what size the pattern is cut to since I have multiple sizes in some things. You could do full pages but I opted to cut them into thirds to save on paper.

A Cecilia + Jo original... it was drawn instead of printed but you get the idea.

Once I got that completed, I slipped everything in the binder and I realized I had yet another problem. The page protectors were just as wide as the dividers so I couldn't see the tabs. Grrr! That irked me soooo bad!

Which led me to a little mini project involving card stock, double sided tape, a hole puncher, and my paper cutter. Yes, I really am that obsessive about things! The above picture of the inside of the binder was after I fixed it but here's what I did to make it work. 

Tools of the trade.

To make my tabs fit, I just cut regular 8.5x11 card stock in half long ways, folded it, and slid the dividers inside just enough to cover the existing holes and held them together with the double sided tape. Then, I trimmed the edge to get the desired width and punched holes using another divider as a guide. And last but not least, I put my label maker to work to whip up some adorable little category tags... they have flowers. :)

I think it came out perfectly and it only took about 15 minutes total. Now all my patterns are at my finger tips and ready to be used on a whim!

Until next time,

Kim

Scrapbooking Without the Mess

I love to make scrapbook pages and before Cecilia came along, I'd make them with actual paper, stickers, die-cutters, a Cricut... the whole nine. Post baby, I don't have the time to dig through all my tools and supplies to make pages the way I used to. Not to mention, clean up is a hassle.

So, I started fiddling around with Photoshop and made some cute and simple digital scrapbooking goodies. It's been about 8 or 9 years since I made anything like that so there was a bit of a learning curve before I got my groove back... once I did though, I was zooming along and made a ton of stuff.

With my new little collection, I started making some pages for Cecilia's first year book. I'm no where near finished but I wanted to share some of our "month by month" pages so far. I plan on making many more with details of her first holidays, family gatherings, play dates, and so on.

I can't wait to add the rest of the pages to complete our album. Instead of doing the standard 12x12 size, I'm printing them off myself on high quality photo paper with the size adjusted to 8x8 and I bought an adorable little turquoise-blue photo album from Hobby Lobby. Some of the pages are divided into four 4x4 squares. I instagram a bunch so I plan on channeling my posts for a lot of our day to day memories I want to add.

I just really love how easy and customizable doing scrapbooking digitally is, not to mention how much cheaper. (I cringe when I think about how much I spent on scrapping stuff over the years!) There's also the added bonus of being able to start over if something doesn't look quite right without wasting paper and embellishments. And then, there's the ability to walk away if Cecilia needs me without worrying about locking away scissors and other random sharp and pointy objects. Anything baby/toddler safe gets extra cool points from me any day!

On a side note, I'm not super tech savvy in some areas but once I can figure how to add some of the elements and blank pages I made to the blog so they can be downloaded for you guys to use, I will definitely do that. I'm going google some fancy-shmancy YouTube tutorials... they save lives, lol.

Until next time!

Has It Really Been NINE MONTHS?!

Yeesh! Well, this is awkward...

Please forgive my absence! I know I haven't updated in forever but me oh my... how things have changed in the past nine months! The last time I put up a post was when I shared Cecilia's birth story back in September. That little baby is no longer a squishy little newborn but a full on TODDLER. I kid you not! She's 10 and half months old, walking, chattering, and being a downright little stinker. Check her out... I feel like I just had her!

As for me, well... I've been exhausted. Not just your run of the mill "I have a baby" kind of tired but pregnant lady tired. Yep. You read that right. I'm pregnant again (!) and I'm actually pretty far along. I'm coming up on 28 weeks and this little bundle is due to arrive in September when Cece will be all of 13 months old. We were surprised as you are! So much belly...

So, about that new baby on the way... we're being blessed with another girl! Her name is going to be Josephine (we like those old-timey names!) and we've been calling her Josie for short. She's not as punchy as Cece was but I definitely feel her moving around in my tummy pretty regularly. Maybe she'll be a little more relaxed than her big sis. (I can only hope! lol)

So far, this pregnancy has been pretty uneventful which is good. It's been so much different this time around since my situation is completely different. With Cecilia's pregnancy, I was working in an office so I was sitting for 8 and 9 hours a day and Pete wouldn't let me carry or lift anything... not even a solitary grocery bag. This go round, I'm chasing and carrying a 25 pound kid all day, every day and Pete's relaxed a lot more. I even get to do wild things like take out trash and carry laundry baskets up and down the stairs. Cece and I also go on lots of adventures... swimming, the science center, the park, play dates with our friends we've made through our Mommy and Me group. We stay busy! (Which is probably why I'm so tired!)

But with all of that said, I've finally gotten into a good flow (for now) so I've decided to start working from home making and selling some of my arts and crafts. I'll be able to make a little pocket money and if I get too overwhelmed or need a break, I can do my own thing and not worry about answering to a J-O-B so that'll be nice and manageable. (Look for "Cecilia Jo" coming to an Etsy shop soon!)

I guess the only other things to mention are my husband and our dog. Pete's doing great and he's been the best Dad to Cecilia... she's a Daddy's Girl through and through. He helps me around the house a lot which I know is a blessing! I mean, a man that does laundry AND irons? *~Rawr!~*

And we still have little old Roo... for now. I'm kidding! She's such a pain in the butt but we love her and she isn't going anywhere. She just has a bad habit of barking at the littlest sound and is constantly waking Cece up from naps. (ugh!) The baby gets her revenge though... the dog is terrified of her and will run the other direction if she comes anywhere near her. The only time those two get together is if Cece is strapped into the high chair and throwing bananas overboard... then they're best buds because food.

So that's it... to summarize: Cece is growing like a weed, Josie is due in September, husband and dog are doing great, and I'll be selling some homespun goodies. Life's pretty good... what can I say?

Until next time,

- Kim

Cecilia's Birth Story

I established my birth plan pretty early on in my pregnancy. I wanted an unmedicated labor and delivery and I made every effort during pregnancy to make sure that happened. I visited a chiropractor that specialized in prenatal care twice a week, I  had prenatal massages, I hired a pair of doulas, and I attended all the birthing classes I could manage. I was ready to have this baby!

It was August 6th and I was 5 days overdue when my water finally broke. I had just ate lunch and I had been feeling funny all day. I was pretty sure I was starting to have contractions but they didn’t hurt at all so I wasn't sure if I was going to labor or not. Around 2:45, I decided to call my ObGyn to see if I could come in to the office since I would rather pay for a doctor visit than for an ER visit after hours for a false labor. As soon as I hung up, it happened. I felt a sudden gush and it wouldn't stop. I sprinted into the bathroom. Amniotic fluid kept coming and coming but it was a dark olive green color which was no good. In my birth classes, this was stressed to be a worse case scenario. The green color means the baby had a bowel movement in the womb and per the nurses who taught our classes, that meant they can swallow or inhale their poop which can lead to a serious infection or even death. I panicked!

I called my husband and he rushed home from work. We immediately headed to the hospital and I was in tears the entire way. I was terrified that I might lose my little girl. It was a little after 3:30 when we got to the hospital admissions and I was so worried. I told the receptionists what was happening but they had absolutely no sense of urgency and assured us the baby was fine. One of the women I spoke to said that this happens all the time and it’s not a big deal and I shouldn't be so worried. I felt somewhat relieved but why did they make such a big deal of it in class?

Anyway, I got checked in through the triage and was sent to a delivery room. The nurses put me in the hospital bed right away, strapped me up to fetal monitors, and made me get an IV that I did not want. I protested some but I was still so worried about the baby that I just went with it.

My contractions started picking up speed and intensity and one of my biggest fears happened… back labor! It's the worst! Back labor is when the baby is coming down face up and the position forces the baby’s head to pass through your pelvis in a horrible, spine grinding manner. It hurt so bad… I mean I was doing that tear filled silent scream at the peak of each contraction and they were still a good 5 minutes apart. I wasn’t going to make it. I finally caved after a couple of hours and let the nurse give me a pain reliever called Stadol through my IV. I don’t take pain medications in general so this stuff really messed me up… I was high as a kite but I was able to go on for 16 hours in back labor with no epidural. It still hurt so bad but the medicine made it so I didn’t really care and it was almost as if I witnessing my labor instead of experiencing it. I’m not quite sure how to explain it but it was all surreal.

So 16 hours later, I  had dilated to 9 and 3/4 centimeters and then it just stopped. We tried everything… walking, sitting on the toilet, leaning over on all fours. The nurse even went in and tried to manually move my cervix out of the way but it kept popping back. Nothing could get this kid to come down.

My contractions were so intense by then that they were less than a minute apart and some weren’t even completed before the next began. By this time, the doctor on call had changed and after the new guy assessed the situation, he offered an epidural and picotin so I could rest and we could get that last little bit of cervix out of the way and finally get this baby out.

The sun was coming out and I was exhausted and in so much pain. My husband looked like hell and my amazing doula had massaged my back through the entire night just to get me through. I knew she was exhausted too. We were all done. So I accepted the doctor's offer and I got the epidural. It kicked in almost immediately and I was able to sleep for about an hour and a half before the nurse woke me up… it was time to push.

I pushed every 1 to 2 minutes for another couple of hours but still no baby. This kid was stubborn! The doctor came in to check on us and he was concerned about my baby’s ability to recover from all the pushing and contractions… her little heart rate wasn’t recovering quickly enough and they were concerned she was going into distress. He declared he wanted her out in the next 15 minutes or they might need to take emergency action.

I didn’t realize what happened next until my husband told me the next day… the doctor checked the baby’s station (how far down she is) and he tried to manually rotate her head a little to help her pass through. In my mind and with the epidural, I just felt a lot of really uncomfortable pressure… my husband said the doctor literally had his entire hand inside of me wiggling around. No wonder it hurt! Luckily for us, the doctor said it was good news… she was low enough that he could assist in getting her out with forceps or a vacuum and I could avoid having a C-section. Since they’re better for the baby, I opted for the forceps which look like giant metal salad tongs. My heart dropped when I saw them in person!

The next 10 minutes were surreal. Everyone got into position and the nurses put my legs up in these giant blue stirrups that ran from the back of my knees to my ankles. (You can see them under the hospital bed in the above picture). The doctor was down between my legs getting the forceps ready… all I could see was a wisp of his fluffy gray hair. He told me to get ready to push harder than I ever had before and he started positioning the forceps which didn’t hurt to my surprise. I assume it was because everything was so sore and stretched out already by Cecilia's big head.

My contraction started to come on so it was go time. There was a collective “PUSH!” yelled by everyone in the room and I pushed like hell. It was the weirdest sensation! As she came out, I felt this overwhelming sense of relief yet I felt so hollow inside. The sounds are forever etched in my memory, more so than anything else I experienced during labor. I can still hear my growling scream followed by a gooey cracking sound as the doctor pulled her out, the gush and splatter of liquid of everything being released behind the baby, my husband's sacred voice urging the doctor to make sure I was okay, the sucking sound as they cleaned out little Cecilia’s mouth, and then, her first little cry. That was it. That moment… the moment I heard her. There was no pain and everything was okay. There was a hum of activity in the room as everyone started cleaning and the doctor was stitching me up. One of the nurses immediately brought Cecilia up to my chest and I cried as I held her for the first time. She made her official debut into the world at 12:01 in the afternoon on August 7th. She weighed in at a healthy 7 pounds 9 ounces and measured 19 3/4 inches long, all ten fingers and ten toes are present and accounted for.

As far as my birth plan was concerned, I was a little disappointed that I didn't have the all natural unmedicated labor I had wanted. Thankfully, I was realistic about childbirth and my main rule was that I would do whatever was needed for the health of my baby and myself. The most important thing to me was for Cecilia to arrive healthy and unharmed which she did. 

It was a long 21 hour labor and I was wore out but no worse for wear so I honestly can't complain. Especially when the reward for all that hard work is this beautiful little baby girl!