A is for Apron

I finally used a gift card the other day. I bought a book of apron patterns, and a exercise video for pregnancy. I will not show you pictures of me exercising. That is embarrassing.

However, I will show you pictures of my first apron. I currently own two pieces of fabric and therefore practice all of my designs using this fabric. I will upgrade to better fabric once I feel a little better about my sewing skills. For now, I am feeling pretty good about how this apron turned out.


It will be nice when I have other colors besides purple and pink.

Confession

Hi, I'm Kirstin and I still have my baby blanket.

But today I realized that the tattered mess of a blanket needed either to be thrown away or renovated. In fact I have decided now is the time to turn this blanket over to the next of kin, Mini Coop. Of course she isn't arriving for another couple months, but to mentally prepared myself for this parting, I fixed it up, just a tad (and by tad, I mean a TON!). Probably not as professionally as I would have liked, but it was a much needed improvement.


I am pretty sure this used to be a very large blanket, but now it is probably 2' x 2' blanket, with a purple border (which was part of the upgrade).


Dear old blanket, you have served me well. It seems only right that I pass you on to my own daughter who will hopefully enjoy your warmth and comfort for years to come!

Funny things

There are just a few things these last few days that have made me inwardly chuckle.

First, look at this weather.


Would you cancel school on a day like this? Probably not. I have started being able to predict when they are going to cancel school. If the weather predicts more than an inch, and there is a possibility of a rain/snow mix sure fire cancellation. Today it has made me chuckle. I have one night class, but at least with this night class I have a little flexibility. For the record it is raining a little bit right now. Hooray for being able to sit at home most of the day.

Second, if I am going to sit around a home, my favorite room is our bedroom, and not because it has the bed and I want to sleep in it all day. It is because A) it can be warmed quite thoroughly and B) it actually has a little natural light. Our living room is in the corner of our apartment and if I am stuck inside, gets to be a little depressing. Today I did pilates, watched a show or two on hulu, and even finished off the leftover eggplant lasagna in our bedroom. I am now typing this post, in our bedroom.

Third, the little space heater we bought is good practice for having a child. It goes with me everywhere. It is my favorite little buddy and I am often trying to sit so close that it is almost like hugging it. Jimmy even tried to bring it to bed last night. We might have a slightly unhealthy obsession with this little heater. Until this obsession transfers over to Mini Coop, I think I am quite happy being warm.

So today I am inwardly chuckling at myself and the world around me.

The bag

My sewing skills are not exactly the most extensive but I really do enjoy making a little craft or two. As I discussed before, one of my 2011 goals was to use my sewing machine. One of my great friends got me a very spiffy model and it totally deserves my attention. I want to try a few new projects: baby clothes, aprons, maybe if I am feeling really ambitious a skirt or dress.

For now I have resorted to my younger years by making a bag. Nothing fancy, nothing super beautiful, but it works.


Hopefully in a week or two I will have something new and exciting to show the world. For now, I will go with what I know. The important thing is I am using my sewing machine and it works fabulously!

B-b-b-belly!

Some people like these types of pictures. I don't really like it, but it is proof that all my hoot and hollering about being pregnant is not a lie. I am 22 weeks pregnant. Enough pregnant to show, not quite enough for my back to tell me so. We will see how that changes in the next week or so.

reactivating my physical and cooking activity

I have determine from our daughters recent activities, that she is going to be one active little girl. Let's hope that this activity translate to athletics and not mischief. One can only hope...

Maybe she has is retailiating. I have decided to get back into my physical activity groove. Holidays do such an impressive job at making me immobile. I have started doing pilates and walking everyday. It makes me feel a whole lot better. I think maybe our little Mini Coop has decided that if mommy can move more, so can she. Guess I deserve it. And honestly I would rather feel her move...it reminds me that she is there!

In other news, I made chicken parm. tonight. I was quite proud of myself. I even decided to stuff it with spinach. I feel that since more food network shows have shown up on hulu, that my cooking creativity has blossomed, or rather re-focused. It is refreshing to have the gumption to try new recipes and actually make them work.

Just thought I would share...

Female Mini Coop

I think my favorite quote today was when Jimmy told me he wanted to come home to spend time with his "two favorite girls!" It made me all giddy to think that in just a few short months I will be holding a newborn that is my own.

We did indeed find out that we are going to be having a girl. I went to the doctor's this morning, not assuming a gender. I really did want to think that I would be let down if it wasn't what I thought it was. So I let everyone else guess, but me, I just let it be exciting no matter what. And it was, and it is, and it will be!

Do you know just how fascinating it is to see an image of a little baby moving around in your stomach? I could hardly believe that all of the legs and arm movement that our little girl was doing, was happening inside of me. Jimmy couldn't go, but I got a DVD of the entire ultrasound. I have now watched it 2.5 times. I am sure even 20 times won't be enough times for me to believe the miracle that is pregnancy.


So now onto the next phase of pregnancy, the preparation period. I promise I am starting to show now, however I am little bashful about the idea of posting a picture of my belly. Perhaps when I am a little bigger and look more pregnant than overweight.

I have now told all of my classes. I figured it was appropriate, seeing as how I will be growing quite steadily this entire semester. I didn't want rumors to accumulate, and force some poor soul the responsibility of asking me if I am pregnant later on. No one wants to ask that question. It is awkward. Thank goodness, if it did ever come to that, I could say "yes, student with great courage, I am pregnant. This is not a donut gut you see, it is 100% err....80% baby." It would be a lie to say that I haven't been overeating a little bit (i.e. 3 week Christmas-New Years-eat whatever I want binge!)

Cross-legged chica!

Goals 2011

I have been looking at several blogs, and I notice a theme: GOALS. I am not a stranger to these motivating ideas that we as people so naturally concoct, especially at the beginning of the year. In college I spent at least 15 minutes at the end of the each night making a to-do list for the next day. And when I was bored in class, I would make lists of the things I needed to finish within the week/month/semester, what have you. It was a little bit of an OCD tendency, but it worked for me.

Lately however, I have not been in the goal oriented mindset. I mean, it is not like I didn't get anything done last year. I did finish my thesis, and that did require several lists, and goalish type things. Jimmy and I successfully moved to VA and have established ourselves in a new community. I have worked hard to help Jimmy in Law school by being supportive emotionally and financially. I am very grateful for all of these things, so believe you me, I am not complaining.

However in all of that I didn't really do anything personally satisfying, like running some races, or making more efforts spiritually. I want to make some goals that will make me more efficient, healthy (emotionally, spiritually, and mentally), productive, and self-sufficient.

So this year I am going to write some of my goals down here, publicly encouraging you to comment on and question my progress. I really want to make some personal strides in the right direction.

Here goes:
Establish a daily routine (before and after the baby is born)
Maintain a healthy diet (Multi-colored meals)
Attend the Temple at least once a month
Study the scriptures daily (with a topic in mind-choose a topic for the week)
Run a half marathon (this should force me to get back in shape after the baby is born)
Recreate a family budget and stick to it (Manageable and easy to maintain--only spend within our means)
Use my sewing machine (clothes, blankets, etc...)
Try at least 30 new recipes (keep them organized)
Write in my journal/blog at least 2 times a week

Oh gosh, I could keep going, but that could get a little overwhelming. I will stop here. There is no obligation to my readers to become my personal motivators, I am just asking for any advice/ideas on how I can motivate myself to do all of these things.

Happy 2011 and happy goal-setting!