25 Weeks Pregnant

Baby has open nostrils now (they had coverings!) and can hear very well. I feel finger movements! Baby can control his or her reflexes better and better as the days go by.
We have done baby-related things everyday this week so far and it's getting more real that we'll have a baby soon... and sometimes I even believe that the baby is inside me now. I still have lots of denial, but it's fading. I mean, it's hard not to acknowlege an increasingly heavy and jabby-elbowed mass laying on your guts all night while you are sleeping. If you have cats you know exactly what I mean.

In the last week I have gone from the bizarre pregnancy sleep patterns which once plagued me to sleeping from 10:30ish PM to 5:30 or 6:30 AM. I usually only get up once to pee, maybe twice. I feel a lot more rested on the days I get to sleep until 6:30 or later than I have for a long time.
I am STILL puking.
Seriously.
Yesterday and today sucked for it, too. But it usually doesn't happen again for the rest of the day. Usually.
So I've had morning sickness this entire time and only now, when it "should be" gone, is it the intensity and frequency it should have been when we were back having fun with Zofran. Weeeeird.
I also finished yet another crochet hoodie for the baby.

Shawn and I are changing in lots of ways. We think about the baby a lot, and discuss how easy it is getting to give the bird to the nay-sayers we encounter when we are questioned about our choices. We're getting called stupid, receiving eye rolls and being laughed at when we are asked about cloth diapering, unmedicated birth and not finding out the sex of the baby quite often now. The only thing I can think of is that we're gaining a thick skin with which to defend our baby with before s/he is here and that it will be in place once s/he is born. Then we will be ready to stand up against anything for him or her.

Green Crochet Zip Baby Hoodie by HiLLjO

I'm at it again.

This is the first zipper I've ever installed and it looks and works fabulously. I'm very proud!
The design came to me in one of my dreams where baby was a chunky-cheeked little blonde baby girl. I held her up and she smiled big at me (later I realized the baby looks like me when I smile big) with big, green eyes and she was wearing this hoodie. I doubted I'd ever find this hoodie so I made it.
FREE BLOCKED PATTERN IS HERE!!!
See all the crochet baby projects here!

19-20 Week Update

It's been a week and a half since I've posted... I just can't think of what to post sometimes. I'm going through a high-stress period. I don't want to be negative or share anyone else's life-happenings even if they affect mine. Someone very close to us lost their baby right before the due-date just after Christmas and last week was about trying to relax and stay calm while supporting them as well.

We really got whammied the 10 days after Christmas: Christmas dinner at our house; the bad news I just shared above; New Year's; my 120th day of Pregnancy; and the funeral closed the week.
We had massages last Wednesday to try to prepare and relax so I'd be in a space that was good for the baby's soul on Thursday but I wasn't able to get comfortable and I just worried the whole time about being face down (even with the hole in the table), being too hot, etc. I also endured getting kicked  for an hour while the curious baby inside me attempted to find out what the massage table was exactly. I actually hurt more now (especially my hips) from tensing up constantly and trying to hold myself in a position that didn't hurt... which hurt more. I'm kind of mad about it; not at the massage place but just at the experience. If Shawn hadn't enjoyed his massage I'd consider all that money wasted.

I think I'm just really overwhelmed; we don't have anything for the baby and my plans for a homebirth kind of just went down the drain yesterday--the midwife won't come to this state for quite a while--and I don't blame her. So it's like I'm halway done cooking this baby (pray for no preterm labor, which is my current obsession-fear) and just starting out preparing for it. I'm stressed.

The bright side: I (finally) successfully made booties...

AND 

my friend & due-date partner Kim at Party Frosting! is having a little boy!!! YAY!

Rawr! Gender Neutral Crochet Baby Liot set

I can't wait to see the sugar-booger in this get-up! I made this over the course of a couple days before Christmas for the baby. I saw the multicolor yarn at the store and had to have it even though I didn't know what to make with it at the time... the idea quickly came to me after seeing a baby lion hat on etsy. I melted and had to have one for our baby. I made the hat first and decided it needed a diaper cover complete with a tail to make it a set. The hat is SO FLUFFEH.

I love it; it's bright, gender neutral and homemade just for our baby. Plus s/he can wear it right away because I made it newborn sized! And of course, the diaper cover has a tail!

The buttons are from my own collection of buttons once owned by many of our family and friends so they are extra special.

Of course if you need a set yourself or you know a lucky mommy or baby-to-be that could use some crochet love, email me or hit me up on etsy! I even have the pattern for sale now!!!

Crochet Sleepy Owl Baby Cocoon and Hat by HiLLjO

Before we got pregnant I used to make a lot of things for other people with babies or for those waiting for their babies to be born but only made one thing for our own child that I wasn't even sure would fit. Luckily, I now know it will fit in the late winter after baby is born.
I ordered more yarn with each negative test, dreaming of the day I'd be able to pick up my hook and skeins armed with a due date, and thus a timeline of ages/sizes, with which to make our baby enough items to be draped in mommy-made crochet almost daily.
With the first trimester over in a mere 2 days, I have now only made one thing for our baby since getting pregnant. It's cute, I'll give you that, but it's ONE THING. I need to get busy...
If you would like the pattern for this cocoon/hat let me know, or you can just order one here!!!

Crochet Baby Hoodie by HiLLjO

Last week I started (and finished) a crochet baby hoodie for our future firstborn. I was trying to hold out until I was actually pregnant to make it, but I could no longer resist that yarn!!!

The pocket opens in the top to stash a bottle, face wipe, or biter biscuit.

Yes, yes I did buy an entire hank of additional yarn to make just this pocket...

If you LOVE this hoodie, it is based off my FREE crochet baby hoodie pattern!If you would like one made for a friend, family member, or even yourself email me!

I even make them in grownup-people sizes!

 :o)