Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like planning for parenthood. Julie and I have attended a few classes over the past few weeks that were suggested by our doctor. We spent almost a full Saturday (as opposed to several nights) at the hospital, learning everything from where to go when it’s show time and how to clean a newborn. We even watched some....detailed videos that helped us get a better idea of what the delivery will be like. We also attended a hands-free CPR class and learned what to do when infants and adults stop breathing or show signs of choking. I did not reassure Julie about my capabilities when the head came off of my CPR baby. The Branches attended both of these classes with us - having good friends go through this with us is so much fun and makes the classes much more tolerable! Here are some photos:











This week, I love Catching Hell. I’m a Chicago Cubs fan. We don’t have much to celebrate, but that’s part of the deal. When the future starts to look bright, a dark cloud always manages to loom over Wrigley Field. There’s no better example of this than the Steve Bartman incident. In the 2003 National League Championship Series, the Cubs were just a few outs away from winning game 6 and advancing to the World Series. All looked well until a fan named Steve Bartman made an attempt to catch a foul ball and interrupted a Cubs’ outfielder from making the final out of the inning. As fate would have it, the Cubs blew their lead, lost Game 6, lost Game 7 and the Cubbies still haven’t won the World Series since 1908. Steve Bartman has never appeared publically to discuss the play and receives all the blame for the Cubs’ collapse to this day. Catching Hell is a great documentary that not only examines the Steve Bartman incident but also the Bill Buckner incident from 1986, in which the Boston Red Sox first baseman made a crucial fielding error in Game 6 of the World Series. Just like the Bartman incident, the Red Sox lost Game 6, lost Game 7 and Buckner received all of the blame for the Red Sox’s collapse. The film explores why we make Bartman and Buckner the scapegoat despite plenty of evidence of other factors that led to those losses.



This week, I don’t like football players wearing pink. I love women so much that I married one. I understand that breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the United States. But I just don’t get the NFL’s breast cancer awareness tactic during the month of October. The NFL’s website explains it all but I just don’t know that this makes any sense. Breast cancer awareness is clearly the winner here: the NFL is a great vehicle for getting your message out there. But who is getting this message? I know there are lots of female NFL fans but wouldn’t the league do the majority of its viewers a much bigger favor by putting this effort behind prostate cancer awareness? You have to believe that the NFL would save many more lives of men by touting prostate cancer awareness than the number of women it is reaching with its current campaign. Ugh, everything is PINK – that’s the real issue I have. There is no franchise in the league that can mix pink into their color scheme without the result looking like something that came from the 90’s.

Skirted Table

Amongst all of the baby/nursery preparations we have been doing some other rearranging to make room.  Now that our guest room is the nursery we had to move our guest room downstairs into what used to be the office/sewing room. 

When it was the office we had a desk that we used for the computer, files, and any other junk we could come up with.  There is nothing special about the desk...it is just your typical computer desk, but recently I have noticed people making box pleat skirts for various tables and desks.  We were needing a TV stand in this room and rather than go buy another piece of furniture I decided to try and make a skirt for the desk.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about these are a few examples of skirts I was looking to mimic.

Great idea right???  I read on one blog that recommended lining the skirt with blackout lining to give it some weight and to help it hang properly.  So I took all the measurements, cut out the fabric (just a plain linen from Joann's), cut out my lining and started putting all 22 pieces together.  I know 22 pieces!  It was somewhat difficult to get on the sewing machine due to the size and weight but in the end it was well worth the effort.

This is how it turned out.

Before

After

I was so excited when my sister-in-law (she is an interior designer) came over and said that she really liked it!  I am always unsure of my decorating ability so when I have her approval I feel like I have done something right!!!

Come on Down! You're the next contestant on the.....

No I didn't get on the Price Is Right though I have always thought that would be so much fun.  Do any of you remember Supermarket Sweep?  Yeah I am the dork who really wanted to be on that show too!

Probably wont be getting on any game shows anytime soon, and I never really win anything.  My brother won a free cruise once, and Nick recently won a "closest to the pin contest" at a golf tournament and won a free round of golf in a contest he entered.  Well folks this past Saturday was my day!

It was a simple little giveaway on a blog and the prize was about a $12.00 value...but I WON!  Our cousin Katie Wilder recently told me about this blog which is written by a lady who writes a lot of sewing patterns that I use.  Last week she posted a question to her readers, "When do you find time to sew?"  She said that if you responded she would choose a person on Saturday and they would get their choice of any of her patterns.

I thought....why not.  This was my response to her question:

"I work full time so I sew the most in the evenings and on the weekends. But we are expecting our first baby so I have kicked the sewing into high gear and try to do as much as I can whenever I can!!!"

Much to my surprise when I woke up on Sunday morning I saw that I had been chosen as a winner out of 123 people who commented! 

I already own several of Michie's patterns, but I have had my eye on this one for a while so I should be receiving it in the mail this week!

Now I have even more reasons to keep the sewing machine humming!  It is so much fun to finally have a reason to sew!

Making of a Nursery - Part 2

Click here for Part 1.

We have been busy working away on the nursery and making other preparations for this little ones arrival.  In this post I am going to update you on the crib and crib bedding. 

There are so many beautiful cribs out there that it is difficult to choose, but in the end I decided to go with the classic white Jenny Lind.  This is the same style crib that both Nick and I had when we were babies, and I still love the timeless spindles and simplicity of it. Obviously there are a lot of other people who like this crib as well....it was out of stock most everywhere I tried.  But we did manage to find one
(what would we do without the internet), and it came in a few weeks ago.

Nick jumped right on it and began putting it together.

Not really.  Nick studied the directions while pregnant wife held together all 5 pieces.  He thought he was pretty funny snapping pictures of me like this.



But now that the sides don't raise and lower...cribs are pretty simple to put together as long as you have someone to hold everything together!

Crib Skirt

Next on the agenda was the crib skirt.  A while back I stumbled on this post at Urban Grace Interiors Blog.  Erika (the owner) was documenting her nursery transformation and mentioned how she prefers to make crib skirts.  I won't go into detail because you can read her post if you are interested, but the gist is that each panel is separate and adjustable so that the skirt will always hit the floor regardless of the mattress being raised or lowered. Love that!

So off I went and made the skirt panels.  



Bumper Pads

Before everyone starts emailing me and telling me that bumper pads are no longer being used or are considered unsafe...just know that I am aware of the concerns and we may end up removing them at some point, but for now we have them!  Again I went very simple on the bumper pads...white with blue cording and ties.  Don't worry I will be mixing in some fun colors with pillows, art, rocker, and basket liners!  I started off by ordering the bumper pad inserts from here.  I am really pleased with the quality and the height of these as opposed to the ones that you can purchase at Buy Buy Baby or fabric stores.  The kits comes with the inserts, zipper, elastic to make a crib sheet and instructions on how to put them all together.  Here is how they turned out.

I do realize that we are missing a key component...the mattress.  That is on the list and hopefully we will be getting one soon, but for now you get the idea.  I am still not settled on the ties either.  I made them long so that I would have the option of doing bows, but the knots seem to be more appropriate for a boy.  Who knows I may change my mind.

There are several other pieces of the nursery that are coming together, and I hope to be able to post about those soon.