18 weeks ~ baby wiggles and flowers

Well, 18 weeks 3 days! Almost to the halfway point though I know she will likely be a week or two late

We had an early ultrasound at 16 weeks and found out we are expecting a little girl! To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I honestly never expected to have a girl but had always liked the idea. J started giggling saying I told you! which he had... he apparently has all the mother's intuition this time around! ;)

We go for our anatomy scan in a couple weeks to check everything is where and how it should be. I am nervous to have them double check she hasn't grown any boy bits! I have got far too much pink going on already for that to happen... it's already too to hot to spend a day in the car returning it all!

My morning sickness is long gone, my energy is slowly returning but the awful heartburn lingers. It's very odd actually because I never had heartburn with P, not even at a week overdue!

I started feeling the odd baby wiggle a few weeks ago but now at 18 weeks I feel her moving daily and just yesterday morning (18w2d) J felt her kick too. FOUR times in a row! We were both pretty excited! The next time she is having a good time in there like that I am going to call P over to see if he can feel anything. He will get a huge kick out of that! He picked up a mini bottle for a doll today at the store and told me we should get this for our baby sister, she needs one <3 after telling him that that was very sweet I had to explain to him how we feed babies LOL

I had my first meeting with a midwife a couple weeks ago and will see her again next week. We're hoping for a homebirth this time around and so far everything looks good in that department. Fingers crossed!

Homemade Lamingtons

I can finally cross something off my food challenge list! Morning sickness put a damper on my appetite!

I had high hopes for these and while I wasn't totally disappointed they just weren't like home. The icing was too different. Somebody without preconceived ideas about what a lamington should taste like would probably like them just fine but not me. Not sure I will try again, they're pretty labor intensive!

They are pretty though

Made by Mama: Newborn Fitted Diapers

I cut these out on Sunday night and put them all together Monday morning. I am pretty proud of how fast I can work if I do everything assembly line style. I really loved how these little pink diapers turned out! Have you made any cloth diapers lately?

The top three were made using the Very Baby Cloth Diaper Pattern which allows you to choose where you want the snaps without changing the pattern at all. I went with side snapping diapers this time around because I never seem to be able to get front snaps positioned right. I will be adding an umbilical snap down to the front of these

The bottom row were made using the Mosaic Moon Newborn Fitted Diaper Pattern that came with the One-size pattern I purchased. They are wider and have a slightly taller rise than the Very Baby fitteds. The rise is adjusted by folding down the front as needed and you close the diaper up with a snappi or pins.

These are the only newborn fitteds I will be making as they only fit for a couple weeks and we also have a stash of XS pockets and prefolds. I will be making some newborn woolies though! So stay tuned for the small and one-size fitteds I will be making next! Though I may wait to make those until our 20 week ultrasound, just to make sure she hasn't become a he ;)

Linking up with It's Overflowing

Made by Mama: Baby Gown

We found out last Friday what we are having. Can you guess? :D

Using this tutorial/pattern from This Mama Makes Stuff I made this adorable gown for the little one on the way. I need to track down some fun t-shirts to upcycle; we loved gowns when P was itty bitty, so easy for nighttime diaper changes!

Complete with little bitty hand covers to keep those flappy little bitty hands under control

Homemade Mama Cloth

Mama cloth can save you a lot of money, time and hassle over disposable pads or tampons and are so much comfier and cuter than paper options too! Making your own can save you even more especially if you already have fabric like flannel, old t-shirts, toweling or diaper making fabrics around like I did!

Today I finished up my first batch of homemade mama cloth using a pattern I bought off Etsy. I started with free patterns found online but found them to not be quite what I was looking for and I couldn't be bothered wasting my time on trying to make them better. So I just paid the $6.50 for the Love My Lady Cloth pattern and I'm really happy I did!

Using the pattern I made 3 wool backed regular pads and 4 liners for general use. They are flannel with zorb and bamboo inner. I love that the pattern allows you to use scraps for the wings, especially since I lost the wings to that middle one there and had to whip up a couple more from some small bits of flannel I had leftover

I also made 4 PUL backed organic bamboo velour pads for postpartum use. 2 have them have pockets on top for adding more absorbency or icepacks! The core is 2 layers of zorb sandwiched between a couple layers of bamboo fleece (which is so incredibly soft by the way!!)

If I can work up the courage to work with the PUL again I will make a few more postpartum pads, though I may just make some with wool backing for more breathability anyway. I definitely plan on making a handful more regulars and probably some regular/heavies too. I am out of cute flannel though and am trying not to buy any more fabric! Trying...

Linked up with The Way Grandma Does It and It's Overflowing

The Great Family Roadtrip!

We got back this past Saturday from our drive around the east United States. My husband had a healthcare conference to attend in Washington D.C so in a moment of complete insanity we decided to drive.

Yeah... it ended up being pretty insane but we saw lots of fun things along the way and spent a little extra time in Philadelphia and New York City too. And because of that we have decided that we could NEVER live in NYC. Oh my goodness. I think we were both on the verge of an anxiety attack by the time we got out of there after 3 days! We did totally own the subway though....

We all enjoyed spotting the beads in New Orleans

Stopped off at the U.S Rocket and Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama

Driving through Kentucky we saw a sign for Dinosaur World and HAD to stop! It was just off the highway, perfect!

Enjoyed some good food and learned all about the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia! 

 And saw everything New York City had to offer!

The time we spent in Central Park was probably the highlight of our trip. We got so lucky with the weather and I even got sunburnt! Oops...

Central Park has some of the funnest playgrounds!

By the time we made it to D.C we were all exhausted and didn't do much besides hit the museum and meet a friend and her little guy at the zoo. We were all getting over a cold and we also spent an evening at the ER after P had an allergic reaction to peanuts

 And of course along the way we did lots of movie watching, drawing and cupcake testing

 And mama got to hit a few Goodwill stores on the way back and hunt for wool sweaters. We were pretty successful! My husband is a pretty good sweater hunter!

And now we're home and I am never driving anywhere ever again!