Monday - Pinning Wins

All I do is pin. All day. Errday. Here are my top pins from the week.

 Number One

This seemed like a nifty little doodle project for me. So what did I do? I turned it into an obsession.

I did one sharpie picture. I added the polka dots since I don't have any colored pencils. I did another one on scrapbook paper to put into the scrapbook, obviously. Lastly, I thought I'd steal the pattern and get started on making my thank you cards for the baby shower / misc. presents.

I'm pretty proud of the fact that I actually made thank you cards. I started to make some for my wedding, and never ever finished.

Number Two

Coconut oil is my new LOVE. I knew it was wonderful and lovely but I never had any need to buy it until recently. I tried my hand homemade chapstick. It ended in a greasy, melty mess. Anyhow, I found myself left with 3/4 of a can of this wonderful oil. Believe me, I will have an entire separate post on how much I love this stuff. This pin led me to a number of different uses for it.

Number Three

This is amazing. I cannot wait to get started. I hope to turn this list into a portfolio. 

Number Four

"If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you."
I'm massively motivated to get into superb shape after the baby. I say this as I sit on the couch, eating cookies and milk. But really... pinning things like this will make me do it... right?

Number Five

Lastly. I love a good Fight Club reference. If there is anyone reading this, and you haven't seen this movie, go.. find it.. now. Also, shame on you.

Miss Lana

I have been on a bit of a Florence + the Machine kick lately. To say it has grown into an obsession would not be an understatement. I enjoy her voice. I love the deep, dark nature of her sound.

I was cleaning house, listening to Florence + the Machine Pandora radio the other day when I heard something that caught my attention. I was hoping to post a youtube video of the song that made me fall in love, but there seems to be some sort of copyright war going on with it. It's disappointing.

Anyhow, Lana Del Rey. Absolute love. Her voice is similar to Amy Winehouse or Adele in that it's reminiscent of the voices of the 60s. She differs in the way that there is the slightest hip-hop essence in her music.

I'm always skeptical when I immediately fall head over heels with a song. This is one of the rare cases where I have downloaded the album and been impressed and satisfied with the entire thing. I cannot stop listening to it. Born to Die is sixteen tracks of beautiful 'indie pop' as iTunes categorizes it.

In the end, highly recommended.

Especially when taking coconut oil infused baths.

Nightly.

Lucky Me

I am a very lucky girl. This was dropped by my house yesterday afternoon by one of my coworkers:

The bag holds:
A bag of Easter candy
The newest issue of Parenting magazine
Worst Case Scenario: Parenting
An adorable baby rattle / toy
A giant stack of movies and tv series dvds

Such wonderful bosses and coworkers I have.


I can't wait to dive in!

Homemade Face Wipes

I adore DIY. Let me rephrase that; I adore thinking I'm crafty and therefore I love trying to do and make things myself.

For this reason, bed rest could be potentially wonderful.

I can say honestly that I do not miss the days of googling a vague idea or concept for a project, weeding through hundreds of pages of results that give me absolutely nothing to work with. Enter Pintrest.

And the housewives, stay at home moms, and every other woman with an internet connection and love of getting lost in other people's ideas rejoice!

I can't thank the internet gods enough for this site. The fact that I can hit the DIY tab and scroll through so many wonderful tutorials and ideas and examples, leaves my mind spinning with ecstatic possibilities.

My Bedrest Board on Pintrest

A great little board for me, and a few crafty / interesting women who want to help keep me entertained, to organize ideas. Check it out, let me know if you want to be a contributor!

This is my first bed rest project. I'm all about saving money, and with little lady on the way, homemade wipes sound like a beautiful thing. Also, I'd always rather use products with simple ingredients that I can actually pronounce. 

I have (hopefully) at least six weeks until our bundle is here, so I didn't want to make baby wipes just yet. I altered the recipe just a bit to make them gentle, face friendly makeup remover wipes.

Here is my tutorial.

What you will need:
1 roll of paper towels (I'm told Bounty select a size work the best, but I just used the cheapo ones I have at home since they aren't for baby)
1 large, straight edge knife (serrated will leave too many fuzzies)
1 pump of gentle baby wash if making baby wipes, face wash if making makeup remover
1 spoonful of coconut oil
1 medium sized tupperware with secure lid

I used:

and

-Use the knife to cut your roll of paper towels in half.
-Combine coconut oil and wash together in two cups of warm water. I use warm water to help my coconut oil melt down.
-Transfer the warm mixture into your tupperwear.
-Place your half roll of paper towels, cut side down, into the mixture.
-Squish down the paper towels until you can fit the lid on. I know it seems impossible, but it will work!
-Place the lid on tight and turn upside down.
-Leave for at least five minute.
-Flip upright, carefully remove the cardboard roll, and pull one wipe up from the center.

Voila! Homemade wipes. It seriously took me minutes to complete this project.

I know that my tutorial skills are less than wonderful. Check out the original link for a better one.

First bed rest project, success!
They are moist, and greatly moisturizing. I only wanted to make one set so I'm saving my second half of the paper towel roll for another time.

When baby girl comes, I'll replace the Alba with an organic baby wash.

Things like this are going to keep me from ripping my eyes out. (:

Bedrest defined.

What is bed rest?
Technically, bed rest is: confinement to bed continuously (as in the case of some sick or injured persons).

For me (and many others stuck with this prescription) bed rest is: confinement to your couch / bed continuously (as in the case of pregnant women with high risk of preterm labor). Being forced to ignore the fact that you're house is an absolute pigsty. Mindlessly surfing the internet for at least three hours a day. Becoming BFFs with your streaming Netflix. Starting book after book after book. Promising to yourself that you'll complete all of those little projects you started when you first found out you were pregnant. And, most importantly, sitting, all day long, in an all too quiet house, alone, with almost nothing to distract your brain from going to the not so friendly place where all that exists is the simple fact that soon, very soon, you will be responsible for another tiny, screaming, pooping human being. Whether your greatest fear is the actual labor itself, or the imminent responsibility of ACTUALLY BEING IN CHARGE OF ANOTHER LIFE, your brain will find all of the worst case scenarios and dance them in front of you.

Hello, and welcome to my sad attempt at keeping myself sane while doing something that makes me feel semi productive.

My name is Shelby. As I type, I am 30 weeks and 5 days pregnant. For you who aren't as familiar with gestation as those of us living it day to day, that puts me in my third trimester. That means that I've made it through the agony of first trimester nausea, the incredible lie of second trimester "honeymoon phase", and have crossed into increasingly uncomfortable final phase.

Horray! Congrats! Almost there! I should be chugging through, getting maternity photos done, washing and folding tiny onesies, cleaning and recleaning every thing I see, glowing and bouncing around, prepping for our little newbie to arrive. Don't get my wrong; my husband, Casey, and I are incredibly excited for what's to come. We can't wait for our little trial and error child to get here. So why am I here, starting a blog, instead of finishing every list I can find?

About two weeks ago, when I had just entered my 28th week, the baby dropped. This means that the baby transistioned from floating around, high and everywhere, to being lower; preparing to enter the birth canal. Of course, I called my doctor when I started feeling the pressure of her little head on my pelvic area. Fast forward two weeks and the pressure to a level that I knew couldn't be right. Pair that with cramping and fact that I found what I thought to be a piece of my mucus plug (the nifty thing that keeps baby from coming out, and whatever from coming in), and doctor wanted to see me pronto.

80% effaced. At 30 weeks. Baby's head super low. Basically what this means is that my body had already completed a good majority of the work necessary for birth. My cervix was almost completely thinned out, and baby had already made her way low into my pelvis. All that was left was for me to dialate. Bedrest.

Luckily, after a day of rest and an overnight observation in the hopital, my cervix is back to only 50% effaced. My cramping has settled down, and I don't seem to be contracting regularly or progressing in any other matter. So there's that.

My next doctor's appointment is next Tuesday, and I am on orders for strick bedrest until then, at least. I can get up to use the rest room and make myself food. That is all. Even after this week, I have high doubts that I'll be allowed to return to work full time, if at all.

So here I am. Typing, sitting, watching the terrible mess that is Hoarding: Burried Alive on Netflix. Waiting.

My goal for this blog is to channel my energy. Get some of my emotions out. Mark my progress through strange crafts, books, movies, and television shows. Maybe find some others stuck in the same predicament? At least pass some time.

I think that that is all for now. Thanks for lending me your eyes and brains.