stitches and tulips

three owls

I made these for Henry before he was born.  They still make me smile!  They also make me laugh because I went for such subtle blues and browns.  Obviously my house hadn't exploded in primary colors yet.  I was still in that pre-parenting "I will not let my world become a clown-like mess" phase. Heh heh.

When I posted about my most recent owl softie the other day it made me remember that I never blogged about these cuties. And that made me realize I've never blogged about most of the things I've made for Henry.  Damn pre-term birth and NICU stay!  Got in the way of blogging.

More to come from Henry's world soon.

belly pics

I generally try to keep it craft-related here, but I'm throwing in the towel on that one.  I've noticed I visit and post here less when life gets messy and, really, what's the point of having this outlet if I can't use it to deal with life's craziness?  So, with that said, I'm mixing my worlds and doing my first completely craft-free post.  Prego pics! 

As expected, even after longing to have a healthy pregnancy for so long, not every part of pregnancy has been fun.  But.  The belly IS fun. I love, love, love my growing belly.  At only 5'3" though I'm wondering where in the heck this baby is going to go in the next four months?

Here's the progression, with a few weeks missing between 15 and 18.  Those were the scary spotting, bed rest, WTF weeks.  I guess I don't take many pics when life gets messy either.  I'll have to change that too.

15 Weeks

 

18 Weeks

 

20 Weeks

 

21 Weeks

 

22 Weeks

Also, we named him on New Year's Eve.  Hooray!  Each step closer to having him here makes me unbelievably happy.  
 

 
 
 

watch out. too cute.

The last few weeks have been filled with highs (I'm having a boy!) and lows (I've been put on bed rest with some ugly and scary, but resolvable, symptoms).  Bed rest plus going into a state of obsession over this pregnancy for a few weeks has meant very little crafting. Although, my mom, my sister and I did get crazy crafty over Thanksgiving weekend (pics soon).

Things are starting to look much better. To prepare for being "released" from bed rest (fingers crossed) I bought an unholy amount of fabric for Christmas gift making.  And, of course, some for the littlest mister. 

Here's a quick look at a few of the fabrics for the little guy.  I'm warning you - it's too cute to stand.

 

 

Mini mushrooms and hedgehogs?  What!?  I almost passed out when I first saw this. 

Etsy fabric sellers (especially those who sell Japanese fabric) are my favorite.

  
   

the numbers

two point seven five: number of years since we started trying to have a baby

five: number of miscarriages

three: number of doctors in DC

100+: number of doctor appointments in DC

one: number of doctors in Chicago

five: number of doctor appointments in Chicago

one: number of clinical trials on recurrent miscarriage we're a part of

two: number of studies on the psychological impact of recurrent miscarriage I'm a part of (sadly, they aren't studying this in men right now)

thirty-four: number of vials of blood taken in Chicago (this number is impossible to calculate in DC)

two: number of amazing therapists who continue to help me deal

many, many: number of amazing friends and family who've helped us deal

one: number of puppies we adopted and fell in love with during all this

four: number of adoption agency orientations we've gone to

one: number of adoption home studies we've completed

two: number of endometrial biopsies performed in Chicago

one: number of mad scientists at Yale that we shipped those biopsies to

zero: number of doctors in DC that could help us

one: number of doctors in Chicago that could help us

two: number of prescriptions I need in in order to regulate my body to sustain a pregnancy

seven: number of times my doctor in Chicago has told me to go forth and multiply with confidence (it took a little convincing)

five: number of silver linings we found in all of this (we had fun counting these)

thirteen: number of weeks I am pregnant with a verified, healthy, adorable, waving-at-us-during-the-ultrasound, little baby

seven: number of weeks until we find out if it's a girl or boy

twenty-seven: number of weeks until we meet our son or daughter

 

There you have it.  Home study on hold for now.  Baby in-utero.  If you had told me a year ago I would have this many options for bringing children into our family today, I would not have believed you.

And, just to keep it real over here, since this is not technically a fertility, adoption, pregnancy, miscarriage, parenting blog (but there's bound to be much more talk of all that here now) - here's some fabric love for you.  

p.s. - can't wait to start in on the baby crafts.