My version of the no-sew teepee

For Roo's birthday I wanted to make him something awesome. 
I had seen quite a few fancy teepee ideas floating around the blogosphere, and then my mom sent me a link to a DIY tutorial of one that I loved!!
Unfortunately I didn't get my butt in gear quick enough to get it done for his birthday...but we finished it shortly after. 

supplies:
-a LOT of glue sticks (I got these HUGE ones that are about 3 normal sticks in one...which is awesome, because then you don't have to change them out as quickly)
-glue gun
-a ton of fabric (I actually ended up with too much fabric, which I was surprised about...I got some donated from friends, bought some random sheets and curtains from Value Village, and scraps from Joann's in the States, when my mom went down)
-6 1x3x8's or something similar (The project I copied used 1x2x8's, but we couldn't find any that size). 
-Some sorta drill thingy for the holes (I don't know what it's called, my hubby did that part, LOL) and some thicker twine or string or something to hold it together. 

how to:
-I didn't cut any of the fabric until I was ready for each piece. (That way I knew how long I wanted each peice to be, and could decide which pattern worked best in sucession) 
-My hubby drilled a hole 1 foot down from the top of each piece of wood. 
-He then placed them all together and kind-of piece by peice added the twine and twisted it around.
(if you look here at the DIY we used, it goes into better detail about that part)

(FYI: this is not my hubby...ha ha...photo credit: thehandmadehome.net...I forgot to take pictures of the step-by-step process, so I just stole theirs)

(photo credit: thehandmadehome.net)

-Next we started wrapping the fabric, just cutting pieces of whatever pattern we wanted. We wrapped the first 2 or 3 small pieces around a few times before glue-gunning down...it kind of covered up a bit of the twine. The wood was also really small up top, so it would have been hard to do it any other way. 

(photo credit: thehandmadehome.net)

-Once we finished the top, we did it a bit differently than the tutorial. We just couldn't figure out exactly how she had wrapped and glued hers. We just took a piece, wrapped it around approx. 2-3 peices of the wood, then glued it down to the wood, and cut the fabric. 
-We did this for another 2-3 strips (making the strips different lengths)...until we got to the spot we wanted the opening to be. 
-For the opening we cut a slit up the one piece of fabric and glued it back behind itself. 

(this one is actually ours..you can see how the opening is cut, we dangled ribbon afterwards, so we can add some cute feathers to the end)

-From this part down we left an opening between the fabric, so the kids could go in and out without a door...you could always make a door too...we just didn't like that look as much. 
-We continued to wrap different lengths of pieces, gluing and cutting as we went. Sometimes it got uneven, so we'd add a small strip in between 2 bigger pre-existing ones, so you couldn't tell as much. 

(after the opening, we always left that space between the 2 front poles...I think it'll be harder for the kiddos to knock it down on accident)

-We also added a hanging lamp that we hang inside the top before we started gluing. I want it to be a "reading tipi", so I thought a lamp would add to that. 

-I plan on adding a rug inside it, a cute milk crate full of books and some brightly colored pillows. If you look at the link, you'll see how hers looks in the end. That's the look I'm going for. 

Ta-da!!

27 weeks...

I'm officially into the 3rd trimester...and I think my body figured it out before my mind did. 

I've been a lot less comfortable this past week or so...just stretchy and squishy and bigger and sleepless etc.

The first 20 weeks I only gained 5 lbs-ish...but over the last month I'vegained 14 so far....so much for not gaining too much this pregnancy! I still have 3 months to go! ha ha...

I started on the nursery, which is fun. Usually I don't do a whole lot this early, but little Roo came almost a month early and I was entirely unprepared. 

I plan on being completely ready before the month of May. That way the baby can come anytime within the month of May, and I won't be so unprepared. 

I'm SUPER excited about my baby nursery ideas!!
Here are some of them:

-I LOVE this picture...I'm thinking in a white frame maybe

-This fabric from Joann's...I already have a little bit, maybe for a pillow on the glider chair--a crib sheet would be nice also. (I'd love white, grey and a pop of orange for the bedding-but I'm not sure if I'm up to sewing all that)

-I love this fabric from Joann's too, I'm thinking maybe as a duvet cover, if the orange color matches everything else

(it'd be nice to have a few swatches of fabric framed hanging above the dresser too)

-This is the crib that I want. It's really small and subtle, which will match the soft tones already painted

-I've made this idea for a baby shower before and absolutely loved how it turned out. I think I'll drape it over or behind the crib

That's pretty much it!! Not too much new to report...here's the stats:

-total weight gain: 20 lbs (ish)

-the baby was 2.2 lbs at my ultrasound last week

-Baby boy moves around ALL the time

-Everything's been really healthy and normal

-Still have bad heartburn, ligament and joint pain, back pain, insomnia, crazy hunger etc...ha ha...gotta love it!!

January

It has been a LONG month...back and forth to E-town constantly...field trips, swimming lessons, home reading, teaching Sunday school, joy-school, babysitting etc...it seems like we've been crazy busy over here. 
With all that though, there is the added benefit of my pregnancy going by so quickly. At least, it seems that way. I'm exactly 23 1/2 weeks today...crazy!
Have I said that I think May is the perfect month to have a baby? All these hot flashes happening in the winter is awesome, the summer, not so awesome. Plus..by the time little bean makes his appearance, the weather will be nice and warm, but not too hot. I won't have to worry about all the extra blankies or bundling up...it'll be great:)
I'm finally going to see my actual baby-doctor, the one who will (fingers crossed) be delivering our sweet boy. I haven't seen him since right after roo was born, so it's been a while. I'm anxious to see what he thinks about me doing a VBAC, and to finally be able to come up with a birthplan. This whole time I've just been hoping that things will go well, but I really have no idea if I'll be having another planned c-section, or be able to try a VBAC this time. 
And again...I haven't uploaded photos:( Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures today, because I did my hair and everything! :)

Week 21/22

I took 22 week pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet....so here's week 21...

(there's probably not much of a difference anyways)

I feel really blessed this pregnancy...usually my pregnancies are WAY worse...it makes me want to have more kids sooner than later. It will help however if I have an easy delivery, easy baby (no colick this time? fingers crossed) and a baby that sleeps and eats....so far the other 2 boys have not been so good in any of these areas.

Sometimes...just for a bit, I forget I'm even pregnant, because I feel SO good...it's crazy, I don't think I've ever felt that way before. Just ask my friends, who witnessed my crazy panic attacks of thinking something was very wrong with my baby because I felt way too good...ha ha...I'm a crazy person, I know.

Well...so far I've gained less than 10 lbs (I think only around 5-6, but haven't weighed in this past week or so). 

My only complaints are incessant eating (can't I feel full for even like an hour?), constant heartburn (no fun, but I figured it would happen), indigestion...which goes with the last one (so much so that I sometimes can't keep keep my food down, it's weird) and insomnia (usually I don't sleep at all, but on a good night I fall asleep for 3 or 4 hours, this only started 2 weeks ago or so). 

I'm used to no sleep, with having gone through 2 sleep-less boys already, so I do pretty well with it. I haven't been (overly) grumpy, and I can hold it together pretty well, even without my hubby being around much lately. 

That's pretty much it....although I'm still surprised I'm having a boy (because of my serious lack of weight gain, small stomach and general feeling-good-ness)...so different than before, weird. 

I'm getting really excited to meet the little peanut!! But seriously anxious about what I have to go through in order to make that happen...VBAC or c-section, they both won't be awesome, that's for sure. I meet with my "real" doc soon, so hopefully I'll know what is in the future for our delivery plans...but fingers crossed that things go well this time around:)

This is my year...2013

I first have to say how excited I am that it's 2013...13 has been both mine and my hubby's fave number for as long as we both can remember (probably pre-teen age...who knows).
He thinks that it was his number first and that I had a such a major crush on him (which I DID) that I made that my fave number too...not true:) I'm sure I had it before he did!
The moral of the story is that it's bound to be a FANTASTIC year:)

Things I'm excited for:
-Daydreaming about the house we'll have someday...and hopefully coming closer to that goal throughout the year
-Having our little peanut come to us this year...and making a wicked nursery for him!
-Organizing the house much better...making the kids a great toy room
-Saving a lot of money throughout the year (fingers crossed)...that will go towards a new house (or student loans, depending on if you ask me or my hubby;)
-Having my hubby finish "training" at his work, and actually start working. It'll still be a while...but we're excited for that step!
-Having a TON of fun with my family and friends AND hopefully becoming a better person while I'm at it:)

I made a pretty lengthy list of goals (that I'm super stoked about)...I don't like to call them New Years resolutions because I like to come up with goals all-year round, and constantly be re-vamping them and getting rid of bad-habits...so these are mostly just my "next" goals.

Here they are:
-Saving a lot more money this year(through having cheaper dates, scrimping more on my miscellaneous and food budgets and planning cheaper outings and activities with the kiddos)
-Increasing Temple attendance. Our Stake has specifically asked us to do this. I think it'll be great for us, as we can just use this as our date nights 2x month. This works awesome with our free live-in sitter, as she's busy with work, we can work out a schedule that works for all of us.
-Increasing scripture study. This is a long one...
I'm totally re-vamping the way that I study everyday. I'll continue reading a few pages from the Book of Mormon everyday. I'll underline anything to do with The Holy Ghost, so I can learn more about that specifically.That way of marking scripture came from Elder Bednar (who I adore), and I'm previously done it while marking about prayers, and answers to them.
 I will also be going along the themed outlines of the new Sunday School curriculum (of which I teach), and studying on my own daily about that months theme. This month is The Godhead, and I've already learnt a lot this last week, and can't wait to delve deeper in the next 3 weeks to come.
-Spending less time on electronics. This includes not checking all of my social media sites a bazillion times a day. Also, limiting TV-watching to 2-3 nights a week, after the kids are sleeping.
-During the day, before I do anything on "electronics" I'll be spending quality time with each of the kids, getting my daily to-do lists done, and keeping the house clean.
-Go to bed earlier, and try and wake up earlier--so we can spend time as a family in the morning.
-One last one I just thought of in the last week or so is increasing my relationship with my hubby. We get a long really great, but I think it would be nice to add more "high-school romance". Things I thought of were holding hands more, cuddling more while were sitting next to each other anyways, writing love notes, daydreaming(I read that online and think it's  such a cute idea...I always used to daydream about him while dating-check out the link to read more about that) and going on fun and romanc-y date-nights/spending quality time together (also super cute ideas online).

I think that's everything...and it's going well so far:)

20 weeks and halfway:)

Well, I'm halfway! So I figured it'd be a good time to actually post all if my "drafts" that I've been saving for the last 17 weeks or so. 
We're up in Edmonton for the hubby's work and having a great time. The boys say they never want to  go back home...but I'm pretty sure the hotel room will get old eventually:)
Our Christmas was awesome, I loved having everyone over at my place...but one thing I noticed (besides that there is NO point in making plans when it comes to my family, because it usually ends up happening completely differently, lol) is that I need a NEW house....a much bigger one. 
My house just isn't made to entertain 20 plus people....so my goal is to start scrimping and saving, so sometime in the next year or two we can build the house that's currently in my head. 
I've had a lot of time to think while driving over the Holidays, and I've come up with some new goals for the year that I'm excited about. 
Update:
-yes we know the gender now...I'm think of outting it on Facebook soon, so people stop wondering if I'm just getting fat:)
-I can feel the baby move all the time now, if I sit down long enough to think about it
-I'm feeling pretty good, the indigestion/heartburn hasn't been too bad lately 
-Roo constantly hugs, kisses and rubs my belly...usually talks to it too. I think he's the most excited one out of ALL of us...it's pretty stinking cute. 
-I haven't been sleeping well lately...hopefully it's jus the hotel room, and not permanently staying this way. 
-I got some really cute maternity clothes, and pants that are super comfy. I may always wear them:)

When I'm not stuck blogging on my iPad, I'll actually post some new pictures. My belly us slightly bigger, not too much though. I think it's noticeable now! Ha ha

Week 18...

Well, I'm "officially" 18 weeks...because I had my actual scheduled ultrasound, and she officially changed my dates, just as my ultra-sound tech friend had said.
My new due date is now May 23rd. My hubby has always said he thinks the baby will come on May 24th.
I'm feeling pretty good, minus the indigestion/heartburn.
Un-related to pregnancy I have been sick with an awful cold for the last 2 weeks, that has had me mostly bed-ridden...it's been awesome, not. I feel like I'm finaly on the mend, I just get tired really easily.
Roo loves to give the baby kisses, and we mostly call the baby "jellygopher" which is a name A came up with when we were pregnant with roo.
We don't have too many baby names picked out...so we'll have to start working on that list sometime soon.
We're pretty excited to start the Christmas festivities that will ensue this weekend, as everyone in my immediate family is celebrating Christmas over at our house! :)