dreaming of all BOYS.

my heart is a funny thing. or place. or whatever.

I have always been the girl who wanted girls. You've read all about it by now :) After Lily I felt a huge relief knowing at least I had one girl. If the rest were ALL boys, that would be OK. But then when I found out Oli was a boy, it was hard for the first few moments because I did want that ALL girls family that I grew up in and loved.

But God had different plans, and I'm so glad. I adore being a mom of a little boy. Adore it hard. And recently I've been thinking about how wonderful it would be if baby #3 PLUS any future kiddos we might adopt some day were ALL BOYS. I love the idea of wrestling around with them. I love the idea of teaching them to be men who respect women. I love the idea that the boys I raise will one day lead families. There's something special about boys.

Don't get me wrong, I love being the mom of a daughter. I'm not writing this to say I'd prefer boys or that one is better than the other. I'm just writing this because for so so so long, my heart has been so stuck on mothering GIRLS. And now it's changing and I love that it is. I just love being a mama, which isn't easy to say after a day like we had over here, but it's still true.

We'll find out April 30th, either way :)

prego stats - week 7

How far along: 7 weeks

Total weight gain: 0lbs? Maybe loss at this point, since I've been so sick?

How big is baby: Blueberry.

Maternity Clothes: Just ordered some from Old Navy and The Gap (read here) and am soooo excited!

Sleep: Going to bed earlier but waking often to pee, and when I wake the nausea begins making 

falling asleep again hard. Napping daily when the kids do. Thankful for kiddies who nap together! 

 

Best moment this week: Tuesday! It was mild, Lily was at daycare, and I was feeling much better after being sick in the morning, so Oli and I went thrift shopping and had a lovely time.

Movement: too early

Food cravings: bland things, salty things, starchy things, and occasionally pad thai

 

Food aversions: yes! basically everything, especially meat.

Gender: too early. I thought I wanted a girl but today I cried at the thought of a 2nd boy (in a good way) so who the heck knows.

 

Labor signs: too early

Belly button in or out: In, but I'm sure not for long!

What I miss: food and not being nauseous.

What I'm not loving: nausea. duh.

What I’m looking forward to: hearing the heartbeat in 4 weeks!

What I'm loving: being pregnant!! It's been hard but I am so thankful and rejoicing in this third babe daily.

Milestone(s): nothing yet worth noting.

on why we're not choosing the gender...

As long as I can remember, I've wanted to be the mother of girls.

I was from a family of all girls and I'm a girls girl to the core. 

My husband, on the other hand is the exact opposite. 

The eldest of three boys, no sisters. Guys guy, wanted boys. 

So weren't we a happy pair of expectant parents? 

Conflicted, yes. But thankful that God would ultimately decide and his decision would be good.

So I wanted a girl, but throughout my whole pregnancy people said I looked like I was carrying a boy. Like, all people. I was never told, even once, that I looked like I was carrying a girl. 

And you know what? The idea grew on me a heck of a lot. 

I started hanging around my friends then 4 year-old son and getting attached. 

The mama who always wanted a daughter was starting to REALLY want a son. 

I was certain, like everyone else that my first would be a boy, and my heart caught up to the idea and I even wanted my first to be a boy.

Then at my 20 week ultrasound,
we heard the three beautiful words: 

it's a girl!

It took my heart and head a second to register that my first would not be Oli (the name we'd chosen if it were a boy) but Lily instead! Immediately the ideas and excitement about a son disappeared and I was thrilled to be on the pink team. 

I thought I knew what I was having and what I wanted, and I was wrong.

Fast forward to my second pregnancy. Our first few months with Lily had been glorious. We absolutely LOVED having a daughter. Both Brad and I were secretly hoping our second would also be a girl. Since we're frugal, it meant we'd have everything already! And since our experience with Lily had been bliss, it meant more of the same (a pregnant mom can hope, right?)! 

I was convinced that I was having another daughter. 

I pictured Lily with a sister, I pictured them being best friends like me and my sister Lisa were (and are!). 

Then at my 20 week ultrasound,
we heard the three beautiful words:

it's a boy!

I was in shock. Slightly disappointed, I'm embarrassed to admit. 

But then a few minuted later (and much more as the days and weeks passed), my heart rejoiced. A son. A boy. The Lord has entrusted me with another child and now we have our Oli! 

I thought I knew what I was having and what I wanted, and I was wrong.

Now I have two lovely children, both of whom I thought I wanted to be the opposite gender they are, and both of whom I'm thrilled are exactly who they are. 

And we're adopting...

With the dangerous (for us) ability to pick the gender of our next children.

If I had of chosen for Lily I would have chosen BOY

If I had of chosen for Oli I would have chosen GIRL

I'm so glad I didn't get to pick, and that God's will was done so beautifully in our family.

So with the option to choose the gender for the child(ren)we're adopting, I just don't trust myself. 

I don't know God's will for us, and I have learned from two experiences that what I wanted was not what he wanted, and what he wanted was best.

I'll be honest, the idea of 1 girl and 3 boys seems slightly overwhelming to me, but if God has two boys who need a Mommy & Daddy (and a brother & sister!) and decides they're for us, we'll happily welcome them. So we'll see. It's not in our hands. We're choosing to have no preference with gender, but to prefer wholly, God's plans for us, that we do not yet see.

knit booties for my fall/winter boy

AH! these booties are THE sweetest!

I so wish I could knit, or really knew anyone who could knit something this high caliber and had endless time on their hands to stock my children's closets... because, hey, knit things...in winter...on babies... oh gosh.

check out this Etsy shop I just saw and immediatly fell in love: 

Pleasantly Plump Knits

drooling over all of these little creations today as I bundle up Lily for church...

craft ideas for the baby boy!

I'm no expert seamstress, but a lot of these cute crafts/DIYs for baby boys have caught my eye and look quite easy! I plan to sttempt them all as soon as I'm back in Montreal, reunited with my machine.

All you'd need is scrap fabric and some onsies.

especially love the hand-dyed onsie, what a bold blue!! and dye like that is available at fabric land and other craft stores for less than $5. Oh and some flannel for the handkerchief bib!

ps - I can totally picture LG looking like that baby in the blue mustache onsie! If he takes after his sister and rocks the blonde hair :)

pps - all pics are Etsy-inspired



22 week ponderings

My friend Taylor is pregnant with twin boys and I've been following along with her pregnancy blog. Her and Jay struggled to become pregnant and have two babies in Heaven, so this pregnancy is especially sweet and we are just over the moon thrilled for them. Check out their blog here if you're interested. Taylor has been filling out a weekly survey and I thought I'd copy her since I looked at my pregnancy ticker today and realized I'm 22 weeks today! Here we go...

Weight gain/loss:
not really sure. I havent been weighing myself, and I've only been to the doctor once since I've been here in Louisville. PLUS I still had 5-8 pre-pregnancy pounds from my pregnancy with Lily hanging on when I became pregnant with LG, so it's hard to say. I'd say around 10lbs?

Maternity clothes? Sporting three bottoms exclusively right now - faded/distressed bermuda jean shorts from Old Navy that I got last pregnancy, a dark denim knee-length skirt also from Old Navy, and Loni's goold old grey Thyma Maternity shorts. She wore them for her pregnancies and I have so far worn them for all of mine. Definitely a good purchase on her part :)

Stretch marks? Just all the ones from my last pregnancy. Annoyingly right above my belly button. Good thing I was already leaning towards ditching my two-piece bathingsuits!

Sleep? A friend said a while back "I can't wait to be pregnant so I can get more sleep!" and I wanted to scream. It may seem like pregnant women are forever napping or sleeping, but the reality is a) you need WAY more sleep (I'm a walking zombie after 7-8 hours, I just need more now) and b) it's hard to get a full night sleep with constant peeing, baby kicking, and basic discomfort. The longest I sleep in a row is about 5 hours, if I'm lucky. Thankfully I've been able to nap when Lily does....so thankful I'm pregnant while I have a baby who still naps twice a day!

Best moment this week? last week was finding out that the baby is a BOY! this week it was all the garage sale scores we got for him. We now have his entire wardrobe 0-18m (give or take) and most of it is Baby Gap and Ralph Lauren and nothing was more than $2. Crazy what people sell and for what price!!

Food cravings: ice cream (this week I had a ball of coconut and a ball of bourbon and thought I was in HEAVEN!) and Nancy's flavoured cream cheese in Veggie (this amazing bagel place here in Louisville).

Gender: BOY!

Belly button in or out? was an innie pre-babies. Became an outie about 2/3 way through my pregnancy with Lily and very slowly returned after she was born. But with this pregnancy, it was an outie basically from day one... hoping it returns like it did last time!!

What I miss? ice cold beers on summer days, beach volley ball, energy, sleeping well, spicy salmon sushi, and laying in the sun for as long as I want (now I either don't at all because I'm too hot, or for a very short time because I don't want to boil LG!)

What I am looking forward to? Buying an apartment (hoping we find one before LG is born) and setting up the co-ed nursery.

Weekly wisdom: walk as slow as you want crossing the street. that man honking, who can clearly see you're pregnant, is evil.

Milestones: next week is technical viability, but kicking was also a big milestone a few weeks back.

Fruit/Veggie: as long as a spaghetti squash or the size of a papaya (depending on the website)

buddies

So elated!

I just heard yesterday that our friends and neighbours, the Berniers, are having a baby boy just 4 days after LG is due!! LG will have a little buddy in school just exact age, and from a similar background - which will be hard to find in the downtown Montreal school system :)

Dwight and Jess have a little guy already who is about 18 months, so I think a few people were rooting for team pink (as people tend to do when you already have one child of the opposite sex), but not me! I was totally praying and hoping they'd get a second mister to be a great playmate to Nehemiah, their son, and our little guy. So excited!!!

James and my BFF Jamie are due to have their baby, ironically, on Lily's due date of August 28th and they don't yet know the sex. Guess what team I'm rooting for? You guessed it... BLUE.

Jess, Nehemiah, Lily, and I a few months ago.
Soon it'll be us Moms, three boys, and Lily!!



25 things to do:

To-do lists are my favourite thing.

Crossing them off is therapeutic and making them makes me feel so much less overwhelmed, no matter how long the list is. I just saw the one I'd made for Lily's nursery this time last summer and smiled. It always gets done, even though it sometimes seems like it won't :)

This time around, we'll be in the process of finding and buying an apartment, so I can't do anything to the actual nursery/bedroom until we're settled in the new nest (and no one knows exactly when that will be... August? September? October? God-forbid November?). But there's lots of other things I can do to prepare for the boy's arrival and the room Lily will now be sharing...

1. buy fabric for his quilt

2. buy fabric for his blanket

3. sew his blanket

4. 0-3m clothes (fall/winter)

5. 3-6m clothes (winter)

6. 6-9m clothes (spring)

7. 9-12m clothes (summer)

8. 12+m clothes (next fall)

9. wash + organize by month LG's clothes

10. crib bumper in green

11. IKEAwooden train set

12. wooden toys - blocks, etc

13. find/buy dresser for Lily (LG gets her old one)

14. paint/refurbish dresser for Lily

15. find/buy bed for Lily

16. paint bed for Lily

17. find/buy mattress for Lily

18. find/buy bookshelf

19. paint bookshelf

20. find/buy adorable children's rocking chair

(thanks mom!)

21. find/buy some boy's burp clothes

(they're ALL pink)

22. buy spice racks from IKEA for book shelf DIY

23. paint spice racks from IKEA

24. make fun mobile for kid's room

from http://www.annaleahart.com/

25. find/buy/make LG a sock monkey

(if it's less than $10 or $15 I'm just buying it)

So mostly it's a LOT of painting and up-cycling of furniture.

Plus some sewing and a couple of purchases that aren't urgent.

Wonder if my dad will be up for painting some beds this summer?

baby boy quilt 2

Yesterday you saw my inspiration for LG (Little Gentleman)'s quilt. Today, I went to work to find out where I could buy the fabric I needed to make it happen. Oh, being in the USA! Where capitalism reigns and everyone can get a good deal (hey, why not help their economy, right?). I found www.fabric.com which had amazing deals on some of my favourite fabrics. We're talking $7/yard for Amy Butler fabrics! Those exact same prints run you about $15/metre (basically a yard) in every shop I've been to in Canada. I wish I had more cash to just stock up to my hearts content, but I settled with 1.5 yards of two fabrics I enjoyed and will match well in the kid's room.

I may make accent pillows or a valance or fixed roman shade. I really don't know yet. I've decided to make the kid's bedding (once they're out of cribs, that is) since I can't seem to find anything I like in my price range. Making a duvet cover is basically one of the simplist sewing projects known to man woman humanity, same goes for pillow cases, so it shouldn't be too hard. Plus if I can find some Queen or King sheets that are the colours I want, it would probably be less money than using fabric - and already hemmed! These fabrics would make a nice trim accent though. They'll be put to use somehow :)

It's also where I found my brown gingham for the backing of LG's quilt.

I like how this gingham is on the vertical. Wasn't initially my choice, and there was a smaller gingham for only $4/yard, but this was larger, and more bold - which is what I'm going for - so it was worth the roughly $8/yard. Still amazing compared to fabric prices in Canada.

And as always, the shipping (domestic in the USA only) was free. Golden.

baby boy's quilt

I mentioned before, my fabulous sister is making baby No. 2 a quilt just as she did Lily. COMPLETELY not necessary (we chose gender neutral colours for Lily's so they could share), but that's Lisa for you. She lives to go above and beyond. Anyone who knows her, knows that.

Anyway, we've been brainstorming and we still want to do the same colour scheme of Lily's - green and orange - since they'll be sharing a room and all. But we want his to be a bit more masculine and bold. Lily's has very small patch work (incredibly intricate!) and many of the non green and orange pieces were lighter fabrics/colours/patterns. With the boy's quilt, we're going the opposite - large pieces, bold colours and fabrics, and adding darker accent colours.

My inspiration:



The large back piece will probably be a brown and white gingham as you see in the bold patchwork above. I love the brown with the green and orange, plus it adds that boy-ish look we're going for, while keeping the quilts the same since their living space is shared.

We still have a lot of leftover fabric from Lily's quilt and the DIY onsies I made and the fabric hoops (a little fabric goes a long way...never throw out scraps!) plus I picked up some sweet fat quarters from a local quilt shop when I was home for the worlds-shortest-visit for Lisa's bridal shower last week. I'm heading to Joann's to get the gingham - I'm sure they'll have some, it's a basic print and pretty universal - and I'm so excited!

I love quilts! I love my sister! I love this little gentleman!

Lily's Getting A...

brother!

we couldn't be more excited!!!

a little boy is comin' our way!!!