growing every day...

Well, here I am in all my big bellied glory. I'm definitely getting bigger, because I've been keeping track of my weight gain and the number on the scale is slowly rising. In fact, it's a little shocking to see a number on there I've never seen before! But it's all good! I'm feeling pretty good too. Into the 3rd trimester and I've begun my childbirth education classes, which are quite interesting and I'm learning tons. The more I learn about natural childbirth, the more it makes so much sense to me, if a pregnancy is not complicated. Which, thank God, mine seems not to be complicated. I'm so looking forward to doing this thing drug free and fully aware of the 'sensations' my body is going to go through. It will definitely be a test of my pain tolerance! Things are just ticking along and Yann arrives here in 13 days!! Yes, I will be one happy girl when I see him pull into the driveway to give me a big hug. That is if he recognizes me!




I made my diaper bag finally. The sewing pattern was crazy complicated for me, so I was invited into my local sewing shop, that I LOVE, and they helped me out, like they always do. It's amazing how much they will help you for free; well, after you purchase a big, expensive Baby Lock machine! I am going to take another bag class pretty soon and we are going to make an Amy Butler pattern. So, here is my diaper bag below, and a close up of the fabric. I wanted something not too loud or 'pink'.






Here are some more market bags I've made recently. I found a great web site that sells adorable patterns of oilcloth fabric for reasonable prices. I though these would be more sturdy than the fabric market totes, and if they get wet from a grocery spill, I can just wipe them off. I got these really cool prints in orange and red and then below I have the other print, vintage strawberries!






Also, I'm excited that I have a new little project going on. When I arrived in Marseille, France, I knew no one besides my hubby and his few guy friends. I had to reach out to make new friends and through the magic of the internet I found an awesome ex-pat/English speaking group of people on the web site Meetup.com. I went to my first Meetup within the first week of being in France and the people I connected with in that group remained my very close friends while I was in France. I still keep in touch with them and I consider a couple of them to be lifelong friends.

So, when I moved back here to my hometown, I had friends and family here, but I didn't have any friends that had young babies or children. So, I looked on Meetup.com and joined a group called Hip Mamas. I hadn't even attended any of their playgroups yet, because it may be weird to show up pregnant and childless! But anyway, last week I got an email from the group organizer who said she was moving and this group needed a new organizer to set up Meetups. So, I decided to take over the group, or else it would have shut down. I'm really excited about it and there are 40 moms in the group, with children from infant to 5 years old. I have already set up some meetups for the rest of August, including story time at the public library and a classical lullaby concert, where a narrator reads story, while a quartet of musicians plays along to the story line in the background. How cool does that sound? So, I am really excited about meeting new young moms, like I will be in jut a few months. It feels really good to reach out to this whole new group of people, who are potential great friends. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. ok, then, for now bye!