16 weeks, 6 days

I started crying when...

(Photo of my Mary Blair print, totally unrelated to this post)

1. ...Toy Story 3 was airing on ABC Family and J kept talking through the super sad ending. I just wanted to watch it and cry but he was making comments and being funny and ruining my moment. I didn't have, what I called at the time, "a good cry", and so after the movie ended, I cried because I couldn't cry.

2. ...I thought about J getting hurt on an upcoming hiking trip. I was on the bus at this time.

3. ...we had this playground training session at work. We were learning how to play this new version of tag, and I shouldn't have participated, but I didn't want to look like I wasn't trying to participate. I was trying to be super careful, but I was fucking scared! Then someone bumped into me and I started crying. They weren't even big bumps, or bumps to my belly, but I cried anyway.

4. ...J and I were hanging out and I just "felt sad". For no reason.

5. ...I was trying to tell people the story about being bumped.

6. ...we were at the second session of that playground training, but this time, I sat out during the games. Everyone was just playing the games and the trainer was telling us different variations of it, I thought I was paying attention, not that there was much to pay attention to at the time. Then,  a friend of mine, who was also sitting out because of a bad knee, pulled out her cell phone to show me a school-realted email directed to the both of us. Then my boss walks over and told us to put the phone away because we've checked out and need to participate and pay attention. I felt like I had just gotten scolded like a child and then couldn't stop crying for thirty minutes straight.

7. I slipped and fell on a blob of hand sanitizer at school...in front of my students... I held it together for as long as I could and the moment I was able to step out, I cried in a coworker's classroom.

Oh, hormones.

16 weeks, 2 days

Some pregnancy thoughts...

1. My nostrils have been super dry. It is ridiculous. I don't remember what it feels like to have normal nostrils.

2. Squeezey baby food packets like Happy Baby, were my best friends during the first trimester. They still kind of are, although now I've graduated to Trader Joe's Crushers.

3. My back has been hurting. Boo hoo.

4. My Prenatal Ones are getting harder and harder to swallow by the day. I want to try gummy PNVs but they look so weird and unnatural.

5. I went to a bar this past weekend! I had a virgin cocktail and got "drunk" (I was woozy from being tired).

6. Target's version of the Bella Band, the BeBand, is amazing. I love walking around with my pants secretly unbuttoned and unzipped.

7. There is such a HUGE range of opinions and ideas surrounding everything that has to do with pregnancy, labor, and babies. This varies from what you can or can't eat, to natural birth vs. drugs, to baby names. Now that I'm in the fourth month, I've learned to just smile, nod, and keep quiet about my personal thoughts, beliefs, and plans.

8. People always ask me if I get cravings. The answer is yes: McDonald's, Wendy's, and Jack in the Box.

16 weeks

Some (but not all) of my favorite children's books from my library.

I started building my library about four years ago when I decided to teach in Taipei. I was afraid that they wouldn't have some of my favorite books, so I started hunting for bargain books at thrift stores like a crazy person. Turns out, the schools I taught at had all the books I needed, and I ended up hauling my collection back to the states. After starting at my current school, I didn't think to add to my personal library since we pretty much had ALL the books in class...and then some. 

During the last week of school this past June, I found out I was four weeks pregnant. We just happened to be cleaning out our classroom library and getting rid of a ton of books, so I decided to add to my collection once again and now it is HUGE! The baby doesn't have a nursery yet, but he or she will have a bunch of books, which I am so excited about! 

I'm really looking forward to reading our baby the books that I enjoyed as a child, along with the books that I've read to my students, and can't wait to get a nice bookshelf for his or her little library. 

16 weeks

Work started this past week and I've been busy setting up the classroom.

This is what it looked like when I got back on the first day.

Boxes everywhere! Furniture in all the wrong places! 

This is probably one of the most stressful things about coming back after summer. They wax the floors so they move all your furniture around, and everything is packed up into boxes in case they need the room for summer school.

But after lots of moving, organizing, and unpacking, things are now back to normal.

First day of school books are on the shelf and our first morning message is written on the message board.

The listening center has a new bookshelf to accommodate our growing listening library!

The leveled library:

View from the library:

My favorite spot in the whole entire classroom: my desk! I didn't have my own desk during my first year so I especially appreciate having a work space of my own.

School starts tomorrow! I think I'm ready now!

15 weeks

DIY muslin swaddles, three ways.

The internet taught me that muslin swaddle blankets are not made of muslin, but of gauze. I bought two and a half yards at Joann's, one white, one cream, then customized them three ways.

1. Cut, hemmed, and dyed.

After cutting and hemming the edges of the first one, I soaked it in a dye-bath for thirty minutes. I didn't use as much as the bottle called for so that I could get a lighter shade of green.

2. Cut, hemmed, and stamped.

For this one, I hand-carved a stamp...

...then, stamped the blanket with fabric paint using the bathroom tile as a guide.

3. Just plain cut and hemmed.

This one is just plain white. I want to stamp it but can't decide on what stamp to make next. Also, this was my least favorite part of the project. I think I pinned and hemmed around forty-five feet of fabric total. I'm kind of glad this is over!

14 weeks, 5 days

Today is the last Friday of Summer break and that makes me sad. It was so wonderful being able to spend my first trimester at home and not at work. In fear that I'll be too tired once school starts, I decided to be extra crafty today.

My first project of the day: Stamping side-snap tees!

I learned this really cool trick on the internet, and that's to put a piece of felt over fabric paint to create an ink pad! It worked really well.

 I didn't realize until later that I should've put a book in between the layers of fabric to prevent the smudging-effect that you see below.

This last one was made with a triangle stamp that I carved out of an eraser. 

It reminds me of jack-o-lantern eyes and teeth.

14 weeks, 1 day

The other night, my brother and sister in-law made their gender reveal announcement!

Our baby's going to have a girl cousin! And we're going to have another niece! Congrats, guys! 

Since the babies will only be roughly a month apart in age, the in-laws were talking about getting a double stroller. They'll practically be twins! I almost teared up. The thought of that is just too precious! 

13 weeks, 6 days

While we were in Paris, we went on a bike tour of Versailles through Fat Tire Bike Tours, which we HIGHLY recommend. They took us to the Versailles open market where we got cheese, meats, pate, fresh fruit, baguettes, and a half bottle of wine. After biking around the grounds of Versailles, we settled at the far end of the Grand Canal and had the most amazing picnic ever.



It doesn't look like much, but it was actually the greatest food experience I've ever had in my life. Everything was beyond delicious and I've been dreaming about it a lot lately...

...So much, that I've updated my labor foods list:

Combination Pork Banh Mi from Irving Deli (spicy)

#11 Special Combo Banh Mi from Lee's Sandwiches

Fresh Mango Green Tea with Lychee Jelly from Purple Kow

Al Bundy Sandwich from Ike's Place
*new* Cheese, pate, and charcuterie plate
*new* Really good red wine

13 weeks, 4 days

I crocheted more baby toys!

I put rattles in them that have different sounds. The smallest one has mini-bells, the biggest one has one big bell, and the medium-sized one has rice! 

13 weeks, 3 days

Happy proposal anniversary to my husband! This photo was taken just moments after he asked me to marry him one year ago today.

We were on a beautiful vacation in Paris, and this was also the day we ate 18 macarons!

13 weeks, 3 days

I am on a baby-toy-making spree! 

This was taken from a tutorial that I found on Pinterest. It was a lot of fun to make, plus, I finally got to use some of that Japanese fabric that I had been hoarding.

13 weeks, 3 days

Most of my day was spent sewing and crocheting these rattles for the baby. Maybe tomorrow, I'll go out and get better yarn. Today, I just used whatever I had around the house. They look a little deformed because the plastic container I used inside for the rattle was slightly too big. 

In case you can't really tell, it's a dinosaur and a bear.

13 weeks, 2 days

So far, our baby is the lucky owner of four items. Yup, only four items in his/her possession. 

1. Show Your Work fitted crib sheet from Land of Nod:

Our baby will be a mathematician.

2. Bum Genius 4.0 cloth diapers:

We've decided to cloth diaper our baby, and after much research, these seem to get the highest ratings. I am, however, a bit scared about the size. They look huge!

3. Hello Kitty Fur Coat from my good friend, Rach, who works at Sanrio:

According to Rach and Jenny, he/she'll be coming out of the womb screaming, "Bring me my mink!".

Travel: Palm Springs, 13 weeks, 1 day

This past weekend, some good friends and I took a much needed girls trip to Palm Springs. I'd been looking forward to this trip for so long because Palm Springs is one of my favorite cities in the world. I love the hot hot weather and the super-nice people, but most of all, I love that they've maintained, and continue to embrace, the midcentury modern aesthetic! My favorite! 

We took a self-guided architectural tour of some of the most famous midcentury modern buildings in the city. Here we are in front of one of the many Alexanders in the Twin Palms Estates.

Elvis' honeymoon hideaway: looks like a space ship.

This is my favorite building in the city. It used to be a gas station in 1965 but is now the visitor's center. It greets you as you drive into Palm Springs on the 111, and is not surrounded by much except for the beautiful desert landscape.

This is the amazing frontal view of the same building.

Tiff in front of a Wexler Steel House.

Here is the city hall building built in 1952.

Aside from our tour, we mostly just relaxed around the hotel, eating snacks and taking naps.

This is the diner in front of the Ace Hotel. So cute.

And finally, our last stop before heading home: my favorite road-side attraction, ever, dinosaurs!

If you find yourself in Palm Springs and would like to go on the tour, you can find it here. Enjoy!

12 weeks, 4 days

I'm in Southern California spending some time with this one. She is already so sweet and aware of the baby in my tummy. She asks to make sure that the baby is allowed to go outside or in the garage whenever we go out to play. It is the cutest thing ever!

We asked her if the baby is a boy or a girl. At first she said boy, but now she keeps saying that her new baby cousin will be a girl. I wonder if she's right?!