Baby Holguin - 37 Weeks

Phew!! Week 37 starts today and I finally feel REALLY pregnant. Obviously I've been pregnant the whole time but my "symptoms" have been very mild. In fact I would say I haven't had any serious symptoms besides a growing belly and minor aches and stretching here and there. I still sleep great with the exception of two restless nights; I still decline seat offers in public; I book it to the bus stop everyday; I don't pig out on every meal, (but I'll admit I can smash a fat hamburger); I don't use my pregnancy as an excuse for anything except a foot rub here and there and I still manage to squeeze into a few pre-pregnancy clothes. Not to brag, but I've had a picture perfect pregnancy - until now.
I gained SIX pounds in two weeks. My feet barely fit in my Toms. My wedding ring sits on my desk all day instead of my sausage finger. My hips ache every time I stand. Braxton-Hicks hits me more often and for longer periods of time. Hot flashes. Constant bathroom trips. Extreme thirst. Baby legs in my ribs. Baby head on my bladder. And I can barely put on my underwear without running out of breath. God help me.

On a positive note, my friend Kristina Hearn (her blog here) captured some amazing maternity photos at 34 weeks:

On an even greater note, I see the midwife every week now and each weeks keeps getting better. At week 35, I was 70% effaced but not dilated at all. Baby has been head down for a while but has slowly started to drop. Yesterday, at the end of my 36th week, I was nearly 100% effaced, a "fingertip" dilated and baby was a little further down!! Woo hoo! And all that in one week. The midwife said my body is ready and now its up to him to make his appearance. I still have 3 weeks until his due date but he is now full term so he is welcome to come at any time! Pin It

Overnight Oatmeal

This stuff is yummy. Overnight oatmeal is the easiest breakfast food I've ever had to prepare and it's packed full of healthy fiber, whole grains, calcium and protein. It's served and eaten cold but you can warm it up if you like and the topping options are endless. Once prepared, refrigerate it overnight and by morning time you will have a delicious and nutritious breakfast that you can grab on the go.
The following recipe is basic and makes 1-2 servings. You can prepare the overnight oatmeal base in larger quantities and then separate it into pint size mason jars or like below, prepare it all in a quart size mason jar.

What you need:
1 quart size mason jar with lid and rim
Uncooked Rolled Oats
Milk
Plain or Vanilla Yogurt
Toppings - I will be using almonds, cranberries and honey

What to do:
For the base, pour 1 cup oats, 3/4 cup yogurt, 1 1/4 cup milk into the quart size mason jar. Put the lid on and shake well. Basically its 2:1, dairy to oats. The more yogurt, the thicker the base. The less yogurt, the thinner the base.

Now add your toppings of choice. I added a handful of almonds, a handful of cranberries and a tablespoon of honey. Cap it and shake it again! I've also used frozen berries which sweetened it considerably so no added honey necessary. Another delicious version is chopped up green apples and lots of cinnamon. If you double the base, then divide it into pint size mason jars, you could create lots of different flavors. The only hard part is deciding which flavor you want in the morning! Hope you enjoy.

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DIY Burlap Nursery Banner

I wanted to make something special for my little guy and what better than a burlap banner?! There are lots of cute banners on Pinterest and Google so after lots of searching, I pieced together what I think is the best way to make one - it's easy, quick, cheap and super cute.
You can make the banner pieces any size you would like and depending on what you want the banner to say, keep in mind how big/small it will be once hung. I knew that I wanted my banner to hang across a wide wall and that it would contain nine letters so when I made my template, I made sure to size the triangles accordingly at 6" wide and 7.5" long. I think the total cost of this project was under $5 because I already had a lot of things around the house like the heavy paper, ruler and permanent markers. The burlap was less than $2 at Jo-Anns, the yarn less than $3 and the clothespins are from the Dollar Tree.

What  you need: 

1 yd burlap

1 piece heavy paper

Ruler

Permanent marker

Scissors

Cotton yarn or twine

Clothespins

Sewing machine + thread

Computer + printer

What to do: 

Create a triangle template with your heavy paper. I drew a horizontal 6" line and put a dot at the 3" mark. From the 3" mark, I drew a vertical 7.5" line. I then drew out the triangle by connecting the tip of the vertical line with the edges of the horizontal line.

With a permanent marker, trace your banner pieces with the template onto the burlap. In my case, I traced 9 triangles then cut them out. Since burlap is woven, it can come apart easily so I cut outside the lines in case parts came unwoven and I needed to trim. If your burlap is wrinkled, iron it straight.

With a sewing machine, sew along the edges of the triangles as close as possible to prevent the burlap from coming apart. 

Find a font for your banner. There are a few websites where you can download fonts for free and I used "Typewriterhand" from dafont.com in size 350. You may have to play around with font sizes because at this point, you have a specific space on your triangles where the font can fit and you don't want the font to be too large or too small. Once you have your letters typed up, print them out and you can start your letter tracing. Place your  burlap over the paper and with a permanent marker, trace the edges of the letter onto the burlap triangles. Fill in the letters a couple times over and voila! Repeat for each letter you need. 

Next, cut your yarn or twine to the length you want for hanging. Arrange your letters and hook onto the yarn with the clothespins. Hang where you like and you are done! You should know have a beautiful DIY burlap banner.

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