21 weeks and getting crafty

Well, she turned 21 weeks yesterday and wants to tell me all about it. She is moving around a lot more but it still feels like fluttering. I was told my placenta is anterior so I am guessing that is why I can't feel more defined movement yet. I also tried listening to her heartbeat with my stethoscope. After 20 min of searching I heard nothing but my own bowel sounds, sad. I am blaming that on my placenta too. I am back to having a totally normal appetite at last! I made stew last night and was able to eat it, which I deemed an accomplishment. My sweet tooth has been out of control lately. I usually crave candy, sugar, Sheridan's frozen custard....you know the norm, but with my appetite back it is like I am constantly seeking sweets. I have been trying to eat healthier now that I don't have to be picky d/t nausea but I can't say that plan is going so well. I eat healthier meals but man I binge at snack time. I bought some healthier options at the store yesterday but surprisingly those didn't sound as great as that hidden sleeve of thin mints and a box of mike and ikes when midnight snack time rolled around....shocking! I have concluded I will just have to eat all the candy/sweets in my house before I can pick better options, great self control huh :) I have started to try and work out again. I was in decent shape when I got pregnant but then went into sedentary mode for the first 14 weeks of pregnancy because I felt too awful and tired to even think of exercising. My friend Katie gave me her prenatal yoga DVD a few weeks ago and I have really enjoyed it. Our plan is to have an active birth and I feel like all the stretching and positions I am learning will really benefit that. I have been working in squats/lunges other leg exercises to help prepare as well. It is definitely not the intensity of work outs I was used to but I feel like I am exercising for a purpose right now. Just like one would train for a marathon by doing certain types of exercises or running certain intervals, I too am training...but for birth. So things I used to do won't be as important as others. I never cared about stretching before, now I that is a huge focus. I always did tons of ab exercises, now it is more legs. So it has been interesting trying new things and refocusing my efforts. And I have to say, giving Jillian Michaels a little time on the shelf has been quite nice :) Here we are with our weekly picture....

This week I have started working on projects for her room. I made my first crib sheet....YAY, bought fabric for her bed skirt and window box and started playing with fabric buttons and headbands for her. The crib sheet took way to long to make first time around. I was being very exact in my measuring and cutting, which I now realize was a big waste of time. Then my sewing machine had a glitch and I had to disassemble it and put everything back to figure out where the problem was coming from. And lastly I couldn't find a safety pin to thread my elastic through the bottom, so I tied it on a paper clip....which proceeded to fall off half way through the ordeal and I lost my elastic end. I had to pull it out and start over. Frustrating. But now that I know what I am doing, I am hopeful the next few won't be such a process. In the end it turned out so cute and fit perfectly that I couldn't be upset it took me awhile.

The next pictures are of two more fabrics I bought this week to match her room. The blue one is my front runner for her window box and the green for her bed skirt. I also found this link for making fabric buttons, who knew they came in a kit and it was soooo easy?! Bought the kit, took some left over scraps and in 3 min I had some cute buttons. These things sell for a fortune on etsy for name badge pulls, what a rip off. I am now making my own. I also am going to make clipies for her hair with them.

What I have not spent in clothes for this kid I have spent in craft supplies. I need to reign it in a little :)

And now because it is Valentine's Day I will leave you with my favorite version of 1 Corin 13 taken from The Message. Love can be shared and celebrated with anyone today. So many people look to be shown love today, but what if your focus was not receiving love but giving it. To not compare your display of roses or texts or chocolates but to step outside of yourself and love someone else. Take time to tell others you love them and give thanks for those who love you well.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I have gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies.

So Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is Love.