Jennifer's 365 Project

So the maternity insert I made for my button jacket is now being used as an extra warm blanket layer for car rides. Yesterday it was bitter cold when we brought him home and today we have to go out and get some lab work done. So we bundled him back up and tucked the insert around to keep him extra toasty on the way to and from the car.

I'm glad that little quilted rectangle is still useful.
In the afternoon we used FaceTime so Chris's mom could see the baby. I'm glad everything got set up last week so that we were able to FaceTime with his mom in the hospital and at home so she can see her grandson.

Today we got to take Quinn home. We arrived back home mid-afternoon. Leki was curious for about five seconds, then ran off and has been avoiding anything even remotely smelling like baby.

Now a days they typically keep you 2 nights for non-complicated deliveries. Chris has been awesome enough to stay up and keep the little one calm while I try to get some shut eye. It's great that he can stay with me the entire time while I'm in the hospital and we're able to do all the things with Quinn together.

Work surprised me today with a low-key baby shower lunch. My one co-worker bought these two adorable onesies that I'm excited to put the little one in. They're so awesome!

We're in the middle of a weather advisory and supposed to get up to 12 inches of snow by tomorrow morning. So that means we're pretty much staying home all day where it's warm.
It's also a perfect opportunity to create some replacement felt toys for the bouncy chair we have for the little one. Chris really didn't like the elephant it came with, so we thought we'd make a few of our own that we could swap out periodically.
I decided to go with some basic shapes that were also video game themed. Using what felt we did have in the house, I cut out the cloud from Mario and a Super Star. The Pac-Man ghost will have to wait for a later date when I pick up more felt.

The eyes were pretty easy to sew on.
 And after looking how to do a blanket stitch, I got to work getting the two halves together.
 I stuffed each toy with some poly-fill and used some elastic to hang them with.
We'll be able to adjust them so they're out of reach, although I've stitched everything tight enough that if he does gnaw on anything the worst that will happen is that they toys get wet.

I wanted to do something more intense, like put some lights inside with some of conductive thread and lights I have, but I just cant think of a safe way to incorporate electronics in a baby toy where I  could make the toy safe.

As he gets older I look forward to sewing on blinking lights, speakers, and other arduino parts onto costumes and what not. Adafruit has a fantastic selection of wearables that I'm itching to try but I just can't come up with any projects for me. And as much as I'd love to do a GPS collar for the cat, he never leaves the house so...

So a small little package arrived in the mail today. And in it was a whole lot of awesome! My friend Kati made the most adorable things for the little one arriving soon.

• Tiny Chuck Taylor All-Stars (that have freaking laces and tongues!).
• An adorable button hoodie. And he's going to be born in the winter so this is definitely going to get some use to keep him warm. Adorable!
• And a Jayne hat, which is a pretty iconic hat that one of the Firefly characters (Jayne) wears. 

I met my friend Lori for breakfast this morning and she had some more things she wanted to give us. She's the one who gave us all the baby clothes a few months ago, which was already a super nice gesture in and of itself.

This time she presented me with a big box of books and dvds, a diaper caddie and more. So in addition to being set on clothes, we're pretty well stocked up on books and dvds now!

I met an old co-worker and friend Deanne for lunch downtown this afternoon. We worked together for a few years before she left last year to find something closer to home (she lives in Lansing). Since she was in town for the day it was great to catch up and have lunch with her.

Plus she surprised me with baby stuff. She'd already given me a baby book last year and now a cute onesie, a baby chair, and a nice mug to keep my tea warm (I'm told you'll forget your drink all over the place once the baby is born so this is cut down on the need to microwave constantly).

We still have a ways to go, but we wanted to get everything prepared ahead of time in case something happens and I'm bed ridden or go into labor early. So I packed a hospital bag, we washed a bunch of baby clothes and organized it, and cleaned up the baby room. Progress!

Today was a longer than usual checkup. Well, the doctor was actually out for a last minute emergency, so I only met with the nurse. But lots of being stabbed with needles and drinking a sugary drink for gestational diabetes testing. Since I have Rh negative blood I was treated to an extra shot so my body doesn't potentially go after the baby if he has positive blood. But really, that shot wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I played a bunch of the extra content in Dragon Age Awakening this morning. A lot. And as much as I'd like to play video games all day, I do have to get off my butt and walk around and do stuff. It's way too easy to stay locked indoors with snow outside, but it's only going to get worse so...
We went out shopping to a few different places. We ordered some hardware to replace the handles on the furniture we're going to use in the baby room. Since it's my old furniture from when I was a kid, the handles look a little older so we thought it would be nice to update them. No one actually had enough in stock for us to change everything on a dresser, chest of drawers, and a nightstand so we had to order the handles online.

We also picked up a changing pad while we were out. For some reason it comes with a seat belt. Kids rolling off of stuff is a thing, I guess? I don't know. Since we're not buying a changing table and using the existing table we have in the room, we thought a pad would work fine.

I also picked up Dragon Age II while we were out. That way if I finish up what I'm playing now, I can move right into the next game. All for the low price of $15. I guess that's what happens when you wait three years to buy a game. This is also why I'm very against going all digital. I still want all of my games on a disc. That way I'm not dependent on a server being up, my internet connection, and I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for a three year old video game because you can't buy used copies of digital files.

Ideally I'd like to do cloth diapers when the baby is born. So a few Bumgenius pocket ones I ordered arrived today. I figure I'll try a few different kinds and see what I like.

They're one size, so you use the snaps to make it smaller or larger depending on the baby's size.

Now to invest in a wet bag, which is what you store the dirty cloth diapers in and then dump them all (including the bag) into the washer when it's time to do laundry.

These diapers with snaps and velcro are so not my grandmother's diapers with pins. Although I do oddly see those in every baby section for some reason and the more popular cloth types (pocket diapers, liners, all-in-one) are actually really hard to find in the store.

The curtains we bought for in the closet in the baby room are a little long. For those that don't know, we are using these curtains instead of the traditional closet doors. We have closet doors in the basement from the previous owners, but when they put in new carpet they didn't cut a place for the door track to lay and, honestly, the curtain seems to work just fine.

Now they hang better! I wasn't really keen on doing the hemming. The curtains didn't really bother me, but now that it's done, it does look nicer. When it comes to aesthetics, Chris is usually right.

I met an old co-worker and friend for breakfast this morning (Lori), as we often do. This time she mentioned she was going to bring some baby clothes.

Well, she brought a huge tub of 0-12 month clothes, plus another pile of never worn stuff on hangers. We are now officially set on clothing for the next year!

We have awhile yet (I'm not due until February) but it never hurts to start in on the little things. So Chris spent part of the afternoon clearing some things out of the room for the baby and getting some curtains up.

He's not pictured, but the cat enjoyed all of the activity.