I’m still adding finishing touches to baby girl’s nursery, but I thought I’d share a sneak peek of one of the projects I’ve already completed, if you’d like to see…

In my first trimester when I was so sick, I found that rocking back and forth in the glider at my midwife’s office was very soothing.  I decided that I wanted to get one for the house and I started scouring Craigslist for good deals.

I came across this simple rocking chair and thought it would do the trick, so we snatched it up with the goal of re-covering the cushions.  Here’s a before photo:

The color was a tired mint that was yellowing with age.  I didn’t know the condition of the cushions underneath, so I decided to keep the mint covers and sew right over them.  I chose this grey and white polka dot fabric knowing that we could use it down the line if baby #2 is a boy.

The glider didn’t come with an ottoman, so I searched around for something creative to use.  I found this knitted pouf on sale at Target for $30— score!

Now, to find the perfect throw pillow and I think this project will be complete!

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I’m realizing that I should have made this week’s chalkboard Easter themed, but the fact that Easter is in March this year has completely thrown me off!  I keep forgetting about it… so much so that I planned a trip to Portland for this weekend without realizing that it’s a holiday— oops!  It worked out, though.  It’s supposed to be raining in the Bay Area this weekend and somehow magically the weather in Portland is in the 60’s and 70’s, making it a perfect getaway.

How far along? 23 Weeks
Baby is the size of: A papaya
Total weight gain: 6.5 pounds
Gender: It’s a girl!
Name: We have a name, but we’re not monogramming anything or making it totally official until we meet her.
Maternity Clothes: Pretty much all I’m wearing now.  I’m also planning to invest in or sew a few maxi skirts for myself now that the weather is getting warmer.
Stretch marks? I think a have a little one above my belly button, but it’s not too bad.
Sleep: It’s definitely becoming harder and harder to sleep.  Baby girl likes to kick me all night long, which makes for not-so-restful night.  And since I’m no longer supposed to use my abs to sit up or move around, I feel a bit like a beached whale every time I get into bed.
Movement: She’s still as active as ever!  (See above.)  This week, we’ve been able to really feel her individual limbs when she kicks.  It’s so crazy to feel an elbow or knee graze across my stomach!
Best moment this week: Portland definitely takes the cake, even though we’re currently on vacation :)  I swear, I’d drag Travis up here and buy a house in a heartbeat if our families didn’t all live in the Bay Area.
Miss Anything: I’m starting to miss having a really good night’s sleep.  I’d also LOVE to take a bath.
Belly button in or out? In, but definitely getting wider and flatter.
Food cravings: Strawberries are still my number one favorite thing.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Labor Signs: just the occasional Braxton Hicks
Symptoms: I’d say the worst thing this week is the heartburn.  I’ve had it since before I got the + on my pregnancy test, but this week it has become pretty much unbearable, even with a bunch of different heartburn meds :(
Wedding ring on or off? On!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: I’m starting to look forward to my baby shower, even though it’s not til May.  My mom ordered the invitations this week, which makes it all feel more real!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and that the Easter Bunny brings you something awesome :)  I’ll be back next week with the before and after photos of my rocking chair upholstery project!

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Sorry this post is coming to you a bit late… I’m actually 23 weeks pregnant as of tomorrow.  The past week or so has been busy, busy getting our house baby-ready.  After emptying the contents of our entire second bedroom (not an easy feat, since it was mainly used for storage), we finally made headway on the nursery.  My parents spent all of Saturday helping us paint the room, assemble and paint furniture, and my dad even installed our brand new washer and dryer!!  Let me tell you, Travis and I have lived together for nearly five years and we’ve NEVER had laundry.  We could not be more pumped.

I promise to give you a nursery tour soon, but I have to put the finishing touches on everything first :)

How far along? 22 Weeks
Baby is the size of: A spaghetti squash
Total weight gain: 5.5 pounds… glad last week’s weight gain didn’t repeat itself!!
Gender: It’s a girl!
Name: We have a name, but we’re not monogramming anything or making it totally official until we meet her.
Maternity Clothes: Pretty much all I’m wearing now.
Stretch marks? None… so far the coconut oil has been good to me :)
Sleep: Sleep is getting a bit harder, but overall I’m still sleeping well.  Still waiting for my body pillow to arrive via Amazon… I’m hoping it will help!
Movement: She’s still as active as ever!  My mom finally got to feel her over the weekend, which was really special.
Best moment this week: Getting the big pieces of the nursery finished feels AMAZING and makes it all sink in.  I can’t believe we actually have a bedroom for our daughter!  (Not that she’ll be using it anytime soon, haha.)
Miss Anything: I’ve actually been missing alcohol a bit this week.  So weird for me since I’ve never been much of a drinker.  We went out for Mexican food on Thursday and I was pretty jealous of Trav’s margarita :)
Belly button in or out? In, but definitely getting wider and flatter.  My mom’s belly button never popped out with her pregnancies, but I’m thinking mine just might.
Food cravings: Strawberries are still my number one favorite thing.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Labor Signs: just the occasional Braxton Hicks
Symptoms: My lower back is getting achier each week.  We bought an exercise ball, so I roll my hips around on that puppy, which really helps.
Wedding ring on or off? On!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, happy, happy this week :)
Looking forward to: We’re headed to Portland this Thursday for a long weekend getaway with friends.  If you remember this post, you may know that I totally adore Portland and would move there in a heartbeat if our families didn’t live in the Bay Area.  I can’t wait!!

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Happy first day of spring, lovely readers!  The weather in the Bay Area has been feeling very spring-like the past week or so, but of course today it’s raining… isn’t that the way it always goes?  I can’t possibly be bothered by that, though, because our house is filled with delicious, fresh-baked bread.  *swoon*

Travis has been in a bread-making frenzy lately, scoping out recipes and setting aside time for baking.  We’ve made yummy table bread a number of times, but over the weekend he decided he wanted to tackle wheat bread.

He found this easy-to-follow recipe and the result was a deliciously sweet, slightly dense, perfect-for-grilled-cheese loaf.  Wanna see pictures?

Even the raw dough was beautiful!

Fresh out of the oven…

My scrumptious grilled cheese :)

Have you tackled bread making before?  Got any awesome bread recipes to share?

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I hope you all had a lovely St. Patrick’s Day!  Since bar hopping wasn’t really in the cards for me this year, I celebrated in a completely different way and took a baking class with two of my girlfriends.  The intimate class was held in a little studio and taught by Richard, the fabulous owner of Baking Arts.  (If you’re in the Bay Area, I highly recommend taking a class from him… it was so much fun and way less intimidating than I expected.)

The class was all about French Macaroons and after getting a demo of the recipe (it’s very scientific… everything is measured perfectly in grams), we got a chance to try making the ourselves.

I snapped a few photos, if you’d like to see…

My friend Jen was the only one of the three of us who was brave enough to pour boiling sugar into our egg whites for the merengue!

Of course, we had to dye our macaroons pretty colors… Jen stuck with a St. Patty’s Day theme.

Our cookies, fresh out of the oven.

The finished product!

I was so excited when my cookies came out of the oven without cracks!  I was sure I’d botch the whole thing the first time around, but I was really happy with the results.  Plus, they were unbearably delicious… Travis was thrilled to be a taste tester :)

Have you ever made french macaroons?  Got any other fun or difficult dessert recipes you’re dying to try?

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