Baby

Almost 37 weeks and getting anxious to meet little miss AJ. We thought last Friday we were going to get to meet her sooner than expected. Thursday night I was having more contractions than usual, and by Friday night I had lost count of how many times my app I use to keep track of contractions told me to go to the hospital. I finally gave in and decided to go get checked out since it is baby number two and who knows how quickly things will change, especially being an hour from the hospital! We got down to the hospital around 9:30 and around midnight the contractions just stopped. My girls loveeee putting me into false labor apparently. And AJ has great timing since I was supposed to photograph a wedding on Saturday. Thank the Lord for my amazing second shooter and having good friends in the industry to step in for me last minute. Community over competition is a must! So now I will just be taking it easy and hoping she stays in just a little bit longer and keeps getting stronger – even though my ribs think she’s strong enough judging by her kicks.

I absolutely love AJ’s nursery. Ever since we found out we were having another girl and I wrapped my head around it, I had a feeling she’s going to be my little girly-girl. So I went all out girly for her room. Simple, but girly. Light pinks, white, gray, and gold accents is the color palette I went with. My goal was also to keep her nursery as low cost as possible! So pretty much everything is from Ikea, Amazon, Hobby Lobby, and Target.

Furniture

Rocker– We were lucky enough for AJ’s room that my sister-in-law and step brother gave us their rocker now that their youngest has outgrown it. But, it just so happens it is the exact same rocker I have in SJ’s room!

Dresser, Crib, and Side Table– We got all of these from IKEA. If you can get past the crazy assembly (it took almost 3 nights to put her dresser together), the quality and aesthetics of their pieces are great for amazing prices. You can also find tons of IKEA furniture hacks on Pinterest. I kept it simple for these pieces and only had DJ spray paint the drawer knobs gold.

Changing Top– SJ’s changing pad slides all around her dresser and it drives me nuts! So I splurged a bit and found this changing top that screws into the back of the dresser on Amazon for $30.

Pouf Ottoman– It is so hard to find an affordable ottoman! I finally found this one from Target after the first one I found from Target sold out before I could buy it. I have a much bigger one in SJ’s room and it is just too much, so I wanted something smaller. Having something to put your feet up on makes it much easier to rock and more comfortable to nurse.

Decor

Pillows– I have a slight obsession with pillows…I just love how something so little can completely change the aesthetics of a room. I got all of her pillows from Target including the cute little unicorn throw pillow I plan on using for her weekly photos.

This is the one on the rocker which is perfect to help support during nursing sessions. This is the gray one with gold accents in her crib, and unfortunately I don’t believe they sell the gold and white bow one in her crib anymore.

Bins– There are so many little things that go along with babies – burp rags, nursing pads, diapering essentials, bows – you need little bins for everything. I got all of the ones in her room from Target, even the ones I took out of SJ’s room. Her hamper is also just a round bin from Target that matches the others.

“we should probably snuggle” sign– I actually got to make this! One of my good friends had a sign painting party at a local craft shop and this was one of the options. I figured it was the perfect personal touch to be able to put in her room.

Initials, Flowers, Mobile, and canvases above her dresser- All from Hobby Lobby. If you time it right and make a couple trips, they rotate when things are 50% off and you can get everything decently cheap! I got one of each different size of the foam flowers. The gold frame above her dresser is from Target, though, and eventually will have one of our maternity photos in it. Or probably one of her newborn photos by the time I actually get around to printing them.

1 John 4:19 Canvas

Gray and Metallic Abstract Canvas

Rug– I had the hardest time finding a rug that I liked! I found this one a few different places, but Overstock.com was the cheapest place I found it!

Curtains– I like to do black out curtains in the kids rooms. SJ sleeps so much better with her black out curtains closed! I found these on Amazon, and they aren’t the best black out curtains, but they will work just fine for the price! And it was really hard finding the color I wanted, so I had to get what I could.

Letter Board– I love this letter board because it is reversible! One side is pink, and the other side is gray. It also came with a set of black letters and a set of white letters. It was difficult finding a letter board that wasn’t outrageously priced, so I was very excited when I found this one on Amazon.

Changing Pad Cover– I love this design! This is a Copper Pearl cover that I actually got on Amazon. You’ll notice it is the same design as SJ’s dress from our maternity photos that I got from Bailey’s Blossoms, and is the same as AJ’s swaddle and hat that is from Copper Pearl.

Cloth Diapers

Yup, you read that right. We cloth diaper and I love it! First because they are so cute, and two because it ends up saving us a lot of money! For the newborn size we use Blueberry Newborn Capri Covers and Flip Stay Dry Newborn Inserts. Once she gets bigger I have a mix of Flip and Blueberry One Size Covers as well as the Flip Stay-Dry One-Size Inserts.

Our system is really easy, keep the diapers right there, cloth wipes soaked in a solution in a wipe warmer to keep them from drying out too fast, and a garbage can with a reusable liner. Then we wash them every 2-3 days.

Maybe I’ll do a blog post all about our cloth diapers here soon!

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It’s a …GIRL! To say I was completely shocked is an understatement. I was 100% convinced it was a boy. This pregnancy has been pretty different (so far) than my first with SJ. With her, all I wanted was sweets and orange juice. I couldn’t even look at pizza or any type of pasta. This time, I want burgers, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, chicken parmesan – all of it. I can’t stand sweets, even though I’m generally a sweets lover. It’s been very emotionally tolling to not even want to look at a Reese’s pumpkin.

I’ve also been carrying different, and I’ve had about 3 or 4 dreams that it was a boy. DJ’s family has all boys, and SJ was the first girl. My family has all girls, so I guessed we would have the first boy on that side. Seriously, everything pointed to a boy!

But, we are over the moon excited that SJ will have a forever best friend.

I cannot wait to watch my girls grow up together. Of course DJ is fine with it because like he says, he’ll still take the girls hunting and work on cars with them. If we had a boy that wouldn’t mean that he would want to go hunting or do any of that anyway. And I know he will forever be wrapped around his little girls’ fingers. And I am pretty excited I get to use #girlmom for all my posts now (it’s the little things)!

My family was convinced it was a boy just like I was. Which made their reactions priceless! They thought I wanted to get photos of their reactions because it was a boy, the fact that it was a girl made their reactions even better! My mother-in-law was the only one who was right by guessing it was a girl! And the best part of everyone’s reaction, was the look that SJ did to mimic their surprise!

The costume

Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted SJ’s Halloween costume to be our gender reveal. I was a little worried, because my doctor’s office does the peek-a-boo sonogram at 16 weeks for those impatient people like my husband and I. And I turned 16 weeks on Saturday, the 28th. Of course they wouldn’t do it one day early, so I had the weekend to get everything together! I had no idea how I was going to do it. I figured I would have to have it completely planned out, or have two completely different costumes ready to go.

So, I went where every mom goes to get ideas for their kids, Pinterest! I couldn’t believe it. There was NOTHING for a gender reveal costume. I could not find a single thing no matter what I searched, “Gender Reveal Costume,” “Gender Reveal Halloween Costume,” “Older Sibling Gender Reveal,” and so many more. I couldn’t find a thing. Which is when I decided to go literal with it, gender reveal balloon box!

I started putting together my plan to make it. I looked up circle punch cut outs to make the job a little easier, to get a couple different sizes it was going to cost me around $60, and yeah, that was not going to work for me. I didn’t know if I would be able to pull off being able to cut out all those circles, because one, I have no patience, and two, I have arthritis in my right wrist thanks to a lovely snowboarding accident when I was in high school.

Then, during one of my Zulily window shopping moments, I found shirts that said “Will Trade Sister for Candy” and “Will Trade Brother for Candy” which were too cute not to get. I decided to scrap the gender reveal box idea, find another costume for her, and just use the shirts to tell our family.

Well… then I decided to go back to the gender reveal box. Can you tell I’m very indecisive?

And after a trip to Hobby Lobby that cost way more than I was planning, I got everything I needed to make the box. I definitely should have taken more photos while I was doing this, but give me a chance, I’ll get better at these DIY tutorials.

DIY materials

3-4 pieces of blue 12×12 scrapbook paper
3-4 pieces of pink 12×12 scrapbook paper
3 different size glass cups
Marker
Large letter stencils (about 4” tall)
X-Acto Knife and/or scissors
Cutting Mat
High-temp hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks
Wide ribbon (without wire)
20” Balloon sticks
Decorative Tape
Pink or Blue Balloons
A small box or 4 pieces of cardboard (making sure they are all the same size or 2 and 2 are the same)
Extra-Fine Glitter (Optional)
Spray Adhesive (If you use glitter)
Spray Glitter Blast Sealer (If you use glitter)
Paper plate (If you use glitter)
Some type of mask or something to cover your face while using the spray adhesive and sealer

The first thing I did was cut out the letters that said “It’s A…” using the stencils. I made sure I traced them on the back of the paper on the side that wasn’t textured, and that I traced them backwards. This way there were no marker spots on the front of the letter. I used a swivel knife for this, but I wish I would have had my X-Acto knife from my art school days. It definitely would have worked better simply because it’s easier to grip and the blades are stronger.

Next, I went on to cutting the circles. Pain. In. The. Butt. I used 3 different size glasses, a regular drinking glass, a smaller juice glass, and a shot glass (the most action that shot glass has ever seen). I used glass cups because the blades will go right through a plastic cup. In the beginning, I started by just putting the glass cups on the paper and cutting around them. I broke about 3 blades doing this. I finally ended up using a marker and tracing the cups, then cutting them out with scissors. The circles looked a million times better and went a heck of a lot faster! Unfortunately, neither option was great for my arthritis.

Next, I started glittering the cardboard! Who doesn’t love glitter?! It definitely gave the box a little more pop.

I had 4 pieces of cardboard that the printing lab I go through uses to send photos with. Luckily, I had two longer pieces for the front and back and two shorter pieces for the sides. But it would be just as easy to use a small box and cut the top and bottom pieces off, or go to an office supply or craft store and find pre cut pieces of cardboard.

I used a scrap piece of cardboard and laid it outside to spray on, then put an old sheet on the floor inside, as well as another piece of scrap cardboard on top of the sheet. I did each piece individually because the spray adhesive dries pretty fast and it absorbs into the cardboard quickly.

If you are pregnant, please use a mask or something else to cover your nose and mouth with while spraying the spray adhesive and sealant, or have someone else do it for you.

Once I sprayed the cardboard with the adhesive, I brought it inside and sprinkled the glitter across it, then tipped the cardboard all ways to make sure it was covered and then poured the extra off onto a paper plate to use to get any spots I missed, or for the next piece. I repeated this for each piece of cardboard. After they had dried, I took each piece back outside and sprayed them with the sealant, so maybe it would help keep the glitter under control just a little bit.

Make sure the pieces are completely dry before you start gluing the letters and dots on or they will not stick. I used my low-temp hot glue gun for these, and I wish I would have had a high-temp glue gun for this part. On Halloween, a lot of the circles ended up falling off. First, I attached the letters, and then I started I putting the dots on. Get creative with this part, mix and match different sizes, don’t be afraid to put the same colors together, keep it random. I did different groups of 1, 2, and 3 dots.

After those dried, I started gluing the cardboard pieces together. My low-temp hot glue gun definitely did not cut it, so I borrowed my husband’s aunt’s high-temp hot glue gun. I guess I should probably invest in one of my own. I put the glue on the edge of the smaller piece and then held it to the back of the bigger piece until it set up. Then, I put a thin line on the outside, and put a thicker line on the inside and let it set. I repeated it with all 4 corners.

While the hot-glue set up, I started wrapping the balloon sticks with the decorative tape. I only had enough tape to cover 17 out of the 20 sticks, and I only put 11 on the box. I originally planned on taping them in a spiral form, but that ended up messing up the design on the tape and would have taken more tape than I had. Instead I cut a piece to the length of the stick, then laid the stick on the edge and rolled it onto the tape. Definitely make sure you press the tape and seal it good, it seemed as if every time I picked one up, it was coming undone.

After the cardboard was all set up, I attached the ribbon straps. I definitely suggest using your little one to help measure so it fits well. I had to take a guess because SJ was asleep, and I didn’t want to wait (remember, I have no patience). I decided to use more of a suspenders design so that it was less likely for the straps to fall off.

Then I used the ribbon to create little pockets in the back corners, and the middle for a place to put the balloon sticks. And that was it! I had it all finished the week before Halloween, and then the day of Halloween I added the balloons since we found out the day before.

After actually dealing with the costume on Halloween, it was a little difficult. SJ couldn’t actually walk the whole time with the costume on. So she rode in the stroller and we had to carry the balloons and the box separate-which was a complete pain. My sister-in-law got the idea that I should have turned the stroller into the box and attached the balloons, I wish I would have thought of that! Or, I at least should have had a second costume simply for trick-or-treating.

Did you do a gender reveal? Tell me all about it!