Pattern Testing: Women's Leggings

This past week I was selected to be a pattern tester for one of my favorite pattern designers, Jocole.  Her patterns are modest and adorable for kids and adults alike.  Fabulous!

The pattern is for women's leggings.  Perfectly awesome considering I'm pregnant and wearing nothing but leggings from here on out.  She emailed the pattern out and I got to make some leggings and email her back some photos and my review.  Let me just tell you this pattern is AWESOME!

There's an option in there for either an elastic or foldover waistband.  I tried both out and I'm love the elastic.  It's super easy to put in there and there's no casings to fight and fiddle with.

The fit is fantastic and the pattern includes sizes XS-XXXL.  So there's for sure a size for everyone in here.  You can also choose full length, capri length, or shorts.  I'd highly recommend this pattern for you ladies out there who love leggings like I do!

Just the right accessory for my 26 week baby bump.  A pair of mustache leggings :)

Dieter the (almost) Dwarf

Today marks 22 weeks pregnant.  Wahoo!!!  That means we're just that much closer to meeting this tiny little man.  I had an ultrasound and a checkup today so the kids and I all made the trip to see the midwife.  Turns out the midwife had to make a quick exit for a delivery, but I was able to see a different doctor while we were there.

There's our little man hanging out.  The ultrasound tech commented on how much he moves.  No kidding.  He's a mover alright, just like my other two babies were.  Never a dull moment down there in the womb.  It's like a party in there.

The old belly is measuring at 24 weeks and the doc said, "Hey, you might get a baby that hits the 7 pound mark."  Haha.  My babies are tiny.  They were born at just over 6 pounds each, and they're still tiny.  Tiny kids.  Tiny tiny.  If this baby hits 7 pounds I'll be thoroughly surprised.

All the measurements were great during the ultrasound and little man has hit the 1 pound mark himself while his mom has gained a few more than just 1 pound.  Actually though, I was told I should be gaining more weight, and I need to "eat more snacks."  You know it's a good day when someone tells you to eat more and get fatter.  Yes ma'am.

The best news of all is that this baby has 10 fingers and 10 toes.  At our ultrasound last month, the tech and midwife diagnosed the baby as being polydactyl.  Which is a fancy word that meant that our little boy had one extra finger on each hand.  After doing a bunch of research and finding out that this was a genetic disease that ran in families, I called a bunch of family members and asked if anyone had that in our family.  Everyone said no, so I was a little confused and suspicious, but really not nervous or wary at all.  I prayed about it a few times and really felt a peace about the whole situation.  (Thanks God!) So, at this follow up ultrasound I was not surprised when we were all able to count 5 fingers on each hand and no extras showing up anywhere.  God is so good to us.

Wanna hear something else weird?  Dieter was supposed to be a dwarf (their words, not mine so don't write me letters about being politcally correct please).  We had an ultrasound with him and they told us his arms and legs were too short in comparison to his body and that he was most likely going to be born a dwarf.  After spending a month researching and sweating that one out, we were told at a follow up scan that nothing was wrong and he was completely normal.  What is it with people giving us fake baby scares?  Anyway, I'm happy to report Dieter is not a dwarf and our 3rd baby has 10 fingers.

So, here I am today at 22 weeks after our yucky drive in sleet and rain.  Still truckin' along.  :)  Happy Tuesday friends!

Valentine's Day Recap and a Belly Pic

Did you have a great Valentine's Day yesterday?  We sure did!  I missed my precious husband of course, but he still made us all feel so loved from afar, and we filled our day with fun stuff too.

First, the kids got up in the morning and found their goodies from mommy and daddy, some new shoes, some candy, a Wonder Woman and a Buzz Lightyear juice bottle, and new crown and princess jewelry and a helium balloon.

Then, we went to the kitchen to eat some breakfast and we found even more surprises from Mamaw and Papaw (one of the perks of living with your grandparents)!  A new Lalaloopsy purse, a monster truck, some more candy, a Valentine's card, some new Scooby cereal, and some fruit snacks.

Then we spent our day playing with our new goodies and eating far too much candy until we heard a knock at the door with a giant flower bouquet for mommy!

I can't wait until these 18 little pink and white rose buds bloom.  They already smell awesome and Rylea was beside herself with excitement thinking about how her daddy sent some roses to her mommy, she was so impressed.

Then a little later, there was another knock at the door. It was that little tower next to the flowers in the first picture.  A little tower of all things chocolate.  Does my husband know me perfectly or what?  All varieties of dark chocolates: covered pretzels, covered graham crackers, truffles, and even some chocolate chip cookies.  The PERFECT gift for a pregnant me on Valentine's Day when the hubs and I couldn't be together.  He just loves me so well, I'm so grateful for the man God created just for me!

A little later in the day when it was time for dinner, Cali and her little babies came over to visit us and we exchanged some more Valentine goodies and had a movie night.  Here's all the kiddos all camped out on the floor with some popcorn watching Peter Pan:

Super cute little lounging cousins!  Ayden in his awesome John Deere hat, Rylea next to him, Jaelynn lounging with Simba, and Dieter rocking his Batman jammies.

Oh and Valentine's day marked week 19 of pregnancy for me, and since the hubs asked to see some belly pictures so he can be a part of the progress still, here's a little bump action to tide everyone over.  Oh, and my new camera in there too.

I hope you all were as blessed by Valentine's Day as we were near and afar.  Lets not forget the reason we all love each other, "We love because he first loved us." -1 John 4:19