A Sneak Peak at the Homeschool Cupboard I Built

I've spent the last two weeks trying to finish various projects before the little guy decided to make his appearance. Friday evening I finally got to the point where I said I was done. 

Not that the projects are all finished or anything, but I've progressed far enough that the major stuff is all done. I'm done with the table saw, the mitre saw, and the circular saw. I really didn't want to be cutting wood and putting furniture together around nap times and nursing, and I won't be. Yay me!

I've been crazy busy, but I'm very happy with how everything has turned out. Above is the homeschool cupboard I mentioned in my monthly goal recaps. I'll be writing a post about it (and the other projects as well) soon, but can I tell you that all the fiddly details were worth it? As annoying as some of it was, and it's not quite finished still, I'm really proud of this piece of furniture :)

Sunday Funny

c'mon, Daddy, smile!

In June LMS and I took the trailer in for its annual inspection- about an hour and a half drive each way.

I don't mind towing the trailer, but the narrow, twisting roads here make me nervous. It was raining part of the time on our way there, which added to my nervousness.

By the time we headed home, the roads were dry and I was feeling more confident, but I still wanted some quiet so I could concentrate on driving.

LMS started asking me some questions, which I answered and then asked her to stop talking for awhile so I could concentrate on driving.

Instead, she kept talking- the entire drive home!

I didn't catch it all, but here's what I can remember:

First, she talked about making a robot daddy to go to work so daddy could stay home. A year or so ago she came up with the idea to make a cardboard daddy to go to work for daddy so daddy could stay home with us. The cardboard daddy would do his job and nobody would know the difference :) I asked her what happened to that idea- she felt a robot daddy would be better than a cardboard daddy.

As she talked her ideas got more and more grandiose. Not just a robot daddy, but a robot mommy and a robot LMS. They would do all the work and we could just worry about doing fun stuff together. Then there would be a robot Nanny for each of us, though I don't remember the reasoning on that one. Maybe so we wouldn't have to worry about running out of snuggles? I think there were a few more robots as well, but it really did get a bit ridiculous :)

And then for some reason she started talking about starting a campground in our backyard and all the things we could do for people who came to camp. Again, lots of grandiose ideas.

It's quite interesting to hear what she thinks (the things that are important to her) and to hear her elaborate on those ideas. I wish I had her creativity.

Fall Nature Class

Yesterday morning I dropped the Little Miss off for the first day of an all-day nature class (different than the one she did in the spring). It meets once a week for 8 weeks, and the kids spend the day out in the woods. Since I'm allergic to so many things here, I don't set a great example for LMS and we don't spend very much time out in the woods (unfortunately).  When I found out about this class, I thought it would be a great opportunity for LMS to learn more about nature and have fun while doing it.

The class meets in a wooded area between a river and a housing development. A bit unconventional, but it's easy to get to, so I wasn't complaining.

They started playing a game while waiting for everyone to arrive. Thankfully we had dressed LMS in layers, since the morning started out cool and foggy.

After dropping LMS off, we (my MIL and I) went back home and I made good progress on some of my woodworking projects. They're not all done yet, but I'm getting closer! Pictures will be coming once I have a bit more time to write the posts to go with them.

When we went to pick up LMS, the first glimpse I caught was of her walking down the path, holding a stick. I don't think she's capable of going for a walk or a hike without a stick :)

I asked if she'd had fun, and she said "Yes!" with a great big grin. When I looked closer at her face, I saw that dirt was smeared all over her face. 

What better way to show that she had a good time in the woods than a happy, dirty face?

Theseus and the Labyrinth

History Club started up again last week and the topic was Theseus and the Labyrinth. What better way to explore the topic than to take a trip to a local corn maze? 

Before entering the actual maze the kids explored the corn stalk tunnel (LMS is pretending she's a bunny rabbit).

There was a small straw bale maze where we had the kids act out the story of Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth. The yarn to guide them back got a bit tangled in the straw, but I think they got the idea.

Lining up to head over to the entrance of the corn maze.

Venturing into the maze.

(I stole this pic from C (thanks!), because for some reason I completely forgot to take pictures once we got started.)

This corn maze provided a map to help you find your way through, which really made the whole thing faster and easier, as long as you could keep track of where you really were. We didn't do too badly (we knew where we were most of the time), and had a great time.

Sunday Funny

Allowing LMS to read Calvin and Hobbes books was possibly not the best idea, despite the similarities between them and her and Nanny. In one of the books, Calvin wants to vote on everything- meals, bedtimes, and so on.

Now LMS thinks we should vote on things like when bedtime should be. She also thinks that Nanny should get her own vote, which would allow LMS to out-vote me if Mr M wasn't home.

Nice try, but it's not happening :)

My Sister's Totally Cute New Place

I mentioned last week that we gave the love seat that used to be in the library to my sister. This summer she finished her residency and got a real job! Yay!  Her new job took her south of us, so instead of being about 7 1/2 hours north of us, she now lives about 5 hours south of us. Closer, but still a drive.

So rather than putting off the trip, which I knew wouldn't get anymore comfortable as the pregnancy progressed, the Saturday after we got home from our road trip (ie, we'd been home for all of 4 days) we took a trip to my sister's new place to bring the love seat and a bookshelf to her. It was a long day, since we drove there and back, and my body did not appreciate it, but it was a fun visit.

She lives in a totally cute little house in a cute little town. I grabbed a couple pictures of some of my favorite details.

outside- isn't it picturesque?

it's been remodeled inside, but they kept some of the neat old touches, like this old doorknob

the upstairs bathroom has some fun details like bead board and slanting ceilings

and the piece de resistance: a claw foot tub!

Doesn't she live in a cute little house?

Quick and Easy Coasters

Since I've built four tables and I haven't finished the wood yet, I'm a little paranoid about protecting the wood from water damage. We don't drink juice or soda that often, and only in the kitchen, but we do carry water bottles around the house with us, and those tend to sweat if they've spent time in the frig.

I've seen plenty of others post similar ideas, so I won't go into a lot of detail or anything. I bought a box of 4" square tumbled marble tiles and some little felt pads from Lowes. Both items together cost less than $7.

Once home, I put a felt pad in each corner of the underside of the tile, and voila! A coaster!

There was nine tiles in the box, so each one cost less than $.75, and works admirably. Possibly I'll decorate them in the future, but I think they look fine as-is.

in the library

in the living room

Console Table

When I shared the library side table I built, I mentioned that I'd come up with another spot to store our library books. I built this little console table a year or so ago, but never got around to sharing it. I adapted the plan for the Simple, Cheap, and Easy Console Table on ana-white.com (of course!).

It sits next to our front door in our little entryway and we've been using it to hold our cd/tape player/radio (perfect for listening to audiobooks), a few miscellaneous items in the baskets, with random seasonal decorations on top (when I remember).

As I thought about where to keep our library books, I realized I could move the baskets, add a few extra pieces of wood, and the bottom shelf would be a perfect spot for our library books. 

After cutting the pieces to size, I used the Kreg jig to drill pocket holes, then attached them to the frame of the table. When I get around to finishing all the furniture I've built I'll paint the pieces I added to match the rest of the table. While I'm not convinced I like the way it looks now, it's not terrible, and in the meantime it does a great job of keeping the books in place.  I love a quick and easy fix to a problem!

Sunday Funny

a few of Little Miss Sunshine's ten zillion stuffed animals

LMS has recently started trying to bribe me to do things.

"If you do (whatever it is she wants me to do) I'll let you snuggle with one of my stuffed animals."

It's funny, because while that wouldn't be an inducement for me to do something, it's totally something that would work on her.

New Ultrasound Pictures

Not too long ago we heard that the local community college has a class that teaches students to do ultrasounds, and they were looking for pregnant women to volunteer to come in so the students could practice on them.

I turned down an extra ultrasound earlier in the pregnancy, but decided to take advantage of this one for two reasons: it was free, and Mr M could attend. He missed the other ultrasounds, so it was nice for him  to still see one.

Since I'm so close to my due date the little guy was a little cramped, but we were able to see some pretty cool stuff. Like we could actually see the vernix floating in the amniotic fluid and the fuzz that is his hair.

At the end the instructor did a few 3-d ultrasounds, and we got a couple good pics.

standard ultrasound, profile of head with hand up to face. 

he may have been sucking his thumb, we weren't sure.

3-d ultrasound, head with hands curled up by his face. 

look at those chubby cheeks and tiny fingers!

One of them is just a bit creep/disturbing, though. She caught one picture that shows his eye open, and it looks like he's looking straight at us. Just a bit unsettling. The instructor actually kept a copy of this one because she'd never caught an ultrasound with an eye open before.

3-d ultrasound, hands at face again, one eye open and looking at us.

What do you think? Creepy or not?

I Built a Coffee Table, AKA a Lego Habitat

LMS's previous LEGO habitat. they also took over the top of that cabinet and the piano bench

The Little Miss has made a habit of spreading her LEGOs across various surfaces in the library. It hasn't been a huge deal, but with the rapidly approaching arrival of a Little Mister, I decided to build something that would keep her LEGOs off the floor and safely away from curious little hands.

When I mentioned the idea to LMS, she called it a LEGO habitat :) Works for me- as long as the LEGOs stay in their native habitat and don't wander off....

I used the plans for Mom's Train Table, found at ana-white.com.  We don't necessarily need a train table (yet), though we do have a wood train set, but the size is good for our living room and will give LMS plenty of room for her LEGOs and other little toys that she likes to play with upstairs (instead of downstairs with the rest of the toys).

I really like using the plans on ana-white.com- the projects come together so quickly. After buying the wood, I was able to cut the pieces and put it together in about 4 hours, except for the top insert. It got too dark for me to keep going, so I had to finish the next day. But that was just a matter of sanding the edges so they fit in the space nicely, and then cutting the piece in half and drilling a finger hold in the middle.

bottom of the box that is the top portion of the table

legs on the box and lower shelf being secured in place

close-up view of the undersides

all finished, except for the lid

it's a good size table- almost 4 1/2 feet long and almost 3 1/2 feet wide

LMS couldn't wait for me to finish the lid, and immediately moved her LEGOs in

lid finished- fitted, sanded, cut, and drilled

ignore the tools and other pieces of wood in the background- I'm still working on other projects and won't get everything put away till I'm done

we put half the lid on so LMS has a surface to play on, and the box holds all the pieces

As with the other pieces of furniture I've built recently, I'm holding off finishing it for now. I did spend a bit more for the nicer pine boards (legs, trim, etc) and oak plywood (larger flat pieces), so if I'm feeling really ambitious, I could stain it and have it look nice.

We need to order a/some LEGO plate(s) (something like this), which I'll attach to the underside of one side of the top so it can be flipped and used for LEGO creations.

Once I finished the table, Mr M commented that it would be a great game table too- there's a perfect amount of space for Settler's of Catan or Level 11. Gotta love multi-purpose items. It's a coffee table, a LEGO habitat, a dolly refuge, a game table.... I'm happy with how it turned out!

Pregnancy and GAPS Updates

LMS in purple, caught her just after she kicked the ball

Pregnancy Update
I'm about 2 1/2 weeks from my due date. We had a false alarm last week: contractions 2 minutes apart (edited to add: Mr M says the contractions were 1 minute apart at the hospital. I'd stopped timing them once we got there, so I didn't realize they'd gotten that close together), but only dilated to a 1. We went to the hospital and 5 hours later I was still at a 1 and the contractions had stopped. Blech. It did give us the extra push to finish getting together our hospital bag and a bag for LMS (clothes, food, etc) should she need it.

Despite being almost 7 1/2 years older, I really feel like this pregnancy has been a lot easier than when I was pregnant with LMS. As counter-intuitive as that may be, I credit two main factors: being so much healthier (gluten free, GAPS, etc) and staying active (being in pretty good shape before I got pregnant, and keeping active while pregnant). It's really made a huge difference.

Not that it's all been sunshine and roses. I have to be careful to not do too much. If I overdo it, I end up with no energy for at least the next day or so. And my hips give me problems if I don't wear my support belt or do too much bending and twisting. Since building furniture involves lots of bending and twisting, my hips are frequently unhappy with me these days. Thank goodness for foam rollers!

Other thoughts:
1.   I did the four mile race a week and a half ago, but haven't spent any time on the treadmill since. I've been busy building furniture and running LMS around to all her activities (they all started last week), and just haven't had the time or energy to hop on the treadmill. I think my activity level is still pretty good, though, so I'm not too worried, especially this close to the end. I'm more concerned about not exhausting myself.

2.   I've made it this far without any swelling. I remember when I was pregnant with LMS I couldn't get my rings off my fingers for a good chunk of the pregnancy. Not the case this time around! And my feet haven't swelled up either. I totally credit my activity level, which is way higher than when I was pregnant with LMS.

3.   In spite of all the food issues I've had during this pregnancy and eating things that don't completely agree with me, I haven't put on a lot of weight. So far I've only gained about 15 pounds, which I attribute to my higher activity level. With LMS it was around 25 or 30, I think.

4.   I also don't feel as uncomfortable as I did with LMS. Despite only having a couple weeks till my due date I haven't really reached the point of "get this kid out of me because I can't stand it a minute longer". Not sure if this means he's smaller than LMS was, or my body is just handling it better this time around, which would probably be due to being a lot healthier now than I was then.

5. I've had Braxton Hicks contractions for the last couple months, and they've been picking up in frequency. With LMS we had one false alarm that never progressed far enough to send us to the hospital. Other than that, the only time I remember contractions is when I was walking, trying to start labor. I could get some contractions going while I walked, but as soon as I stopped walking, the contractions stopped. I'm pretty sure that contributed to my having to be induced when LMS was a week and a half late. I'm hoping all the contractions I've had this time around mean that he'll be on time and not have to be induced (I really don't want to go through that again).

6.   I have a head cold and I blame our trip to the hospital. We went at 12:30 am and returned around 5:30 am, which meant neither of us got much sleep that night. I've been exhausted since. We're hoping the little guy stays put for at least another week so we can get caught up on our sleep.

7.   I've made great progress on my furniture projects, but would like to get even further before the little guy's born. The head cold is making that a little difficult though.


GAPS Update
This isn't about me so much as it is LMS. I've mentioned before that I've noticed a difference in LMS since doing GAPS- she's able to handle foods a lot better and has actually started growing. This last point was reinforced last week when she put her soccer shoes on (that we just bought for spring soccer) and they were too tight. A couple years ago we bought soccer shoes and they lasted through spring, fall, and another spring season of soccer before she outgrew them. I always buy shoes a little big for her, but it wasn't enough this time around. It's quite different to actually have to replace clothing/shoes on a more regular basis than what we did in the past. In the past she grew so slowly that she wore the same coat for 3 years.

Despite the complaining about having to buy clothes more often, I'm glad that she's finally growing- it means she's getting the nutrients she needs and her body is responding appropriately. Yay!

We are planning on going back on GAPS and look forward to further improvement. LMS has even asked when we're going to start up again. She's not excited about going back on a restricted diet, but has enjoyed the effects of the last round and wants to further expand the number of foods she can eat.

Film Canister First Aid Kit Neckerchief Slide

Two of the things we talked about recently in Cub Scouts was first aid for wounds and first aid kits. As we planned things out before that, I remembered the film canister first aid kit my older brother made in Cub Scouts and realized it would go along great with the other first aid stuff.

I googled around and found some examples, but didn't bookmark them- they were pretty much exactly what I remembered.

Back in the day, empty film canisters were everywhere and you could get them from stores that developed photos for nothing. These days, it's impossible to find them at stores (I checked), so I ended up buying some on ebay, though I also found some on etsy. They weren't super expensive, but I did have to make sure I ordered them in time for them to arrive before we wanted to use them.

I drilled two small holes in each canister, cut a red cross out of cardstock with my Silhouette, cut a pipe cleaner in thirds, and put it all together. If I'd had red vinyl, the red cross would have been even easier to do, but since I didn't, I stuck the paper cross on with clear packing tape. Then I threaded the pipe cleaner through the holes, made a loop, and wrapped the ends around the loop to hold them in place.

I had a bunch of first aid supplies sitting around, not being used (LMS prefers Princess or Tinker Bell band aids), so I went through my stash and assembled little kits for the boys to put in their first aid kits. 

2 larger bandaids

3 smaller bandaids

1 butterfly bandage

2 alcohol pads

packet of ointment

piece of card stock 

We folded everything up and it all fit quite nicely. I remember my brother having a dime(!) for a phone call in his kit, but since it's so hard to even find a pay phone these days, I went with a piece of card stock that the boys could write important phone numbers on.

I don't think the boys realized just how cool these are, but all the adults were reminiscing about them :)