This blog was sent to me on Facebook, and as a new parent it is so inspiring to see how our words can help encourage of our children. It’s a must read!
Apr19
Feb17
Of all of the random things that cross my mind in preparing for labor.. Pooping during labor comes up quite often. True Story. This, my friends, made me smile a bit and put my mind at ease! Enjoy!
On February 8th, 2009 I wrote a post entitled Top Ten Things Women Say/Do During Labor (And trust me… they are totally normal!). This piece has been the most popular post on my blog yet, which is pretty exciting! When I originally thought of the piece, I figured that most women would stumble upon it by searching for something like “Things to do in labor” or “Things women say in labor”. However, upon reviewing the top searches of February/March for this blog, I was surprised to find that they didn’t include those phrases at all! Instead they all had one simple thing in common: POOP. That is right… poop!
Here are the top 7 searches for NursingBirth in the last two months: (Note: The wording is not altered at all…these phrases were actually typed into a search box and…
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Jan22
DIY Ribbon Fringe Mirror
By far the biggest project that we did for our nursery, this one is also my favorite!
I wanted to add some texture and color with a unique wall hanging but wasn’t sure that to do. So I turned to Pinterest for inspiration of course! This wreath gave me the idea to turn a boring oval mirror into a cute nursery addition.
So, we dug out an old mirror out of storage {you can also find them at second hand stores and somethimes at the Habitiat For Humanity Restore} and got to work.
First, Hubby made a plywood backing for the mirror for me by tracing the shape of the mirror onto the wood and then leaving a three inch border around it. Then, I painted the edges of the plywood using a colorful paint that I wouldn’t mind showing through the ribbon garland that I was going to add. Next, we mounted the mirror to the plywood using Liquid Nails. It is a super strong adhesive that you can find at Lowe’s, Home Depot and probably Walmart too. Unfortunately, the pictures from this portion of the project have been inadvertently lost in the shuffle… Once I find them, I will post them!
After that, I got busy making my ribbon garland. I used TONS of ribbon. I highly recommend buying online to get bigger spools for this project, as the ones at the craft stores generally only have 10-20 yards on them. My main color spools of Green, Yellow and Turquoise were 50 yards a piece. I also used accent ribbon that I did get from the craft store including orange rick rack, polka dot grosgrain, and some wispy ribbon options. I think it is super important that you use a variety of fabric and texture options.
This is just a sampling of the ribbons used.. orange is a strong color so I didn't use it every time I repeated the pattern.
Cutting the ribbon into 6″ pieces was a project in itself, which I showed on my post here. After they were all cut, I started tying them to floral wire. I used wire instead of string because I didn’t want it flopping around while I was working, and knew it would make shaping it around an oval mirror later on easier. I tied the ribbons in the same order each time so it was a pattern. You could probably do it randomly, but I wanted to make sure that the colors and textures were spaced out.
I filled an entire bowl of ribbon.. If I were to do it again, I would use small containers for each color/texture so I wouldn't have to dig through the bowl to find what I needed next.
I used a paper towel holder to wrap the garland up as I worked, and once the ribbons are all together it looks so fun!
Once I made an extremely long garland, I tested it out by wrapping it around the mirror a few times to make sure that I had enough rows of ribbon to cover all of the plywood. I don’t know how long it ended up being.. but it was super long. Then I started from the inside to the outside and used a staple gun to secure the ribbon garland to the plywood every 8-12 inches or so.
I ended up having three rows of ribbon around the entire mirror, spaced about a 1/2" apart. It covered the plywood just fine, especially since it is painted a light blue color.
Then, Hubby used a picture hanging kit to add a picture wire to the back. We used one for a 50 pound picture. Make sure you use a heavy enough wire, this mirror itself was heavy, and add in the plywood and it was super heavy. {don’t want it falling down!}
We made sure not to hang it over the crib *just in case*... please do not hang heavy things above your crib!
Viola! We were done!
Nov22
How to cut ribbon fast!
I have been working on a project that required a LOT of ribbon to be cut. 7 rolls of 50 yards each to be exact. Yikes!
So, after the first roll, and thinking that I might die from ribbon cutting induced carpel tunnel.. I got creative!
Here’s what you need:
- Medium sized bowl
- Wooden spoon
- large rubberband
- masking tape
- toothpick
So, I put the ribbon on the wooden spoon and strapped it to the bowl using the large rubber band.
Then, I used masking tape to secure the toothpick to my cutting mat to help guide the ribbon to where I wanted to cut it. Next, I marked off the length that I wanted each section to be using masking tape.
Viola! You just pull and cut!
This was SOOO much easier than doing one roll at a time! I even did four at a time at one point!
Nov22
Belly Updates: 22 Weeks!
How Far Along: 22 Weeks, 2 days
Size of Baby: Papaya (8 in, 1.2 lbs)
Symptoms: Definitely no denying the roundness of the belly now! And with it has come a little bit of discomfort, just not feelin’ comfy lately. And had some heartburn, but nothing too terrible.
Movement: I love being able to feel the baby moving around! It’s most active after I have a meal and when I’m laying down. During the ultrasound last week you could see it’s little hands and feet poking around!
Cravings: Nothing really stands out to me… maybe Root Beer. There are so few decaffeinated drink options though, this is probably just a preference and not a true craving.
Milestones: We had our mid-pregnancy ultra sound in the past week! It was so amazing! The baby is so beautiful! I loved getting to see it moving around and seeing the measurements and what not. We’re waiting to find out the gender until the birth day, and the sonographer was so sweet about it! Just had us look away while she made sure everything looked good down there!
Also been working hard on getting the nursery finished up. We finally have all the furniture! We have been so blessed to have such good friends that have given us everything that we have needed! So far we have only spent $10 on furniture! I’ve also been working on some crafty things for the room including a mirror frame made of ribbons. Stay tuned for a post about it!
Delight in Your Life! 