Maternity Monday-39 Weeks!

     Haha! Jokes on me, I never thought I would actually make it to 39 weeks. I know so naïve of me. However, I do continue to get little false alarms here and there, so I do have some reason to believe this one will come early.
     Nothing too exciting has been going on at the McKenna house these days, we are just plodding along waiting for this little one. I have already made it through way more of my "to do before baby" list than I thought I would, so I am quickly running out of distractions. Luckily Caleb's antics keep me pretty busy.

Anyways, here I am at 39 weeks (minus a day). Sorry about the picture quality.

 

 

Shirt-Motherhood maternity
Vest-Upcycled from a rabbit fur stole we had in our dress-up from when I was growing up. I thieved it from my parents house last Christmas and finally finished making it into a vest.
Pants-Old Navy. Not crazy about the ankle zippers, but they were $8!
Shoes-ShoeMint.com.
Necklace-Homemade

Oh and I made this fall wreath for my mantel last week. Caleb thought it was a great toy, while I was sitting on the floor trying to put it together.

 

 

Have a good week! I will keep you updated if the little one decides to make an appearance!

Maternity Monday-38 Weeks and an episode of false labor

     The weeks are not passing quickly enough for me at this point, but I know that I just have to be patient. Its not like this little one can stay in forever right?

     False labor is the worst, especially when it happens to be in the middle of the night. Losing sleep for nothing makes me so mad! Mine started last Friday night at around 10:30 pm. I laid in bed for a long time checking my phone here and there and noting how close the contractions were, but not really thinking about it much. Sometime around midnight I decided to get up because they were getting pretty painful. I watched some Netflix while using an online contraction timer. Around 1:00am they got to be about 5 minutes apart lasting 1 minute, and I started to think it was the real think. I went back into our room gently woke Ryan and said " I think I might be in labor." He rolled over said " no you aren't" and went back to sleep. Boy was I mad a few hours later when it turned out he was right. Anyway, sometime around 2am the contractions died back down to every 7-10 minutes and lasted that way for another few hours. I think I finally fell asleep on the couch at around 4am. Luckily Ryan got up with Caleb (the only thing that could have saved him from my wrath regarding his callous reaction to my declaration of labor)  and let me sleep in, but I was so mad the next day that I had gone through all of that for nothing!

Here I am on Saturday after my not so great night.

Starting to get some prego face going, but my ankles have remained their normal size this time around (probably due to my daily 3 mile tramp through Concord)

 

 

 

Tank: Can't remember. Its a non-maternity I have had for a few years, I think it is actually meant to be a tunic, therefore why it still can sort of fit over my belly.

Sweater: Gap

Pants: Motherhood Maternity. After realizing last time around that I wear maternity pants long after the child exits my womb, I decided to get some new pants a few weeks ago even though I am at the end of my pregnancy. Hey and now Mariana can borrow them!

Shoes: TJ Maxx I think. Ryan likes to tease me about them because they are Coach.

 

Have a good week! I will let you know if there is anymore action from the little surprise!



 

Maternity Monday-37 Weeks!

     I have reached 37 weeks which means I can have this baby anytime and its ok!!!!! I keep telling Ryan that I know its best for the baby if it bakes all warm and cozy inside for as long as possible, but that I really really really want it to just come out now (what I mean when I say "I keep telling Ryan," is really that I just say that several times a day whether or not he is actually listening). This time around I hit the "just get this baby out of me" stage much more quickly than with Caleb. I think its a combination of really wanting to meet this little guy or gal, and discomfort.

     I am feeling pretty ready. My go to the midwife's bag is packed, the baby's bag is packed. I have a freezer packed full of pre-made meals. I have organized every cupboard, drawer, and closet in the apartment. Caleb's fall and winter clothes are purchased and organized, and this week's goal is to clean the fridge, stove, and microwave...I know, I know you are all thinking "she crazzzzzzy." And you are right. But I have to keep myself as busy as possible so the next few weeks go by as quickly as possible.

     And now for some pictures. In looking back at my old Maternity Mondays, I realized I have primarily posted pictures of me in dresses or skirts. So I decided this week to show you what I am stretching over my rather large bump for casual wear. We are in summer to fall transition here NH, which means its a tiny bit cold for shorts and a tiny bit hot for pants (at least for this pregnant lady) so I often find myself doing the long sleeve shirt with shorts trick to try to find a good balance.

 

Looking oh so enthused!

 

 

And the little man snazzed up for mass

 

Big boy swing at Grammy and Papa's cottage

 

 

Me

Sweater: Thrifted-non maternity

Shorts: Thrifted-altered by me

Shoes: Marshalls

Sunglasses-My trusty Ray Bans, best birthday present I have ever gotten (thank you Ryan)

 

 

Caleb

Shirt: Gap Outlet

Tie: Target

Pants: Old Navy

Shoes: Gap

 

Sweatshirt: Hand me down

Jeans: Gap Outlet

Shoes: Zara (I got them in Spain, because I couldn't resist them)

 

Please keep Ryan in your prayers this week, he as several interview this week for summer associate positions for next summer. These positions are typically lead ins for a permanent position after graduation.

 

Have a great week!

Maternity Monday-Nesting Edition

     I am 36 weeks! Only four more weeks to go (hopefully)! I have been nesting for a while, but the past few days I went from Humming Bird sized nesting to full on Golden Eagle sized nesting. There isn't a nook or cranny of this house I don't want to reorganize and clean.

     On my to do list was a dining room update. So out came the sewing machine. I haven't sewn since Caleb started walking, and discovered that sewing while he is awake is a desperate fight to keep both of us alive and unscarred. He wants to touch the hot iron, he wants to pull the hot iron down on himself, he wants the scissors and the pins and to push the backward button when I am trying to go forward. He also discovered the correlation between the foot pedal and the speed of the needle (complete with shrieks of glee). But I prevailed.

      The goal of my dining room makeover was to use things I already had around the house and to create a nice Fall centerpiece for the table. As I put it so eloquently to my husband, "don't worry I wont use too many monies we don't have."

 

Before

Please note hideous dining room table I like to keep hidden at all times

 

After

 

Temporary centerpiece

 

Runner and pillow I made with fabric I already had

 

     The only item I didn't have was the wheat, which I need to get more of, and I am keeping my eye out for some little white pumpkins to add to the centerpiece. Ryan is also going to build me a long box out of scrap wood, so I can make my centerpiece look like this:

 

 

 Have a good week! Happy September!



Maternity Monday

Remember how in my last post I mentioned that I have recently joined the whale species? Well, I am here to prove that I really have, please refer to exhibits 1 and 2 below.

Exhibit 1: Me, 34 weeks pregnant.

Shirt: TJ Maxx, non-maternity
Skirt: Homemade
Shoes: Thrifted, usually not a fan of second hand shoes (kinda grosses me out), but these were    barely worn Steve Maddens that were $5!
Bracelet: Vintage, wore it for my wedding

Exhibit 2: Whale on a swing

Shirt: Old Navy Maternity
Shorts: TJ Maxx, non-maternity altered by me to be maternity
Shoes: Target years ago
Child too young to be on a real swing: Caleb

Exhibit 3 & 4: Me, about 30 weeks pregnant, at the beginning of my whale-hood.

 

Had to show the frontal view because it shows the fact that this skirt has pockets!

Shirt: Target Maternity

Skirt: Thrifted, altered by me

Shoes: Can't remember

Necklace: Homemade

Really terrible face I should have cropped out of photo: Homemade



Be thankful I spared you (actually mainly myself) the swimsuit pictures, which do exist despite my best efforts. All in all though I don't make a terrible looking whale right?

In other news, after 50 minutes of labor (yes you read that right, 50 minutes) my sister-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby boy today. That is boy number 4 for my brother and sister-in-law, and
grandson number 5 for my parents. Will my little mystery baby break the boy streak? Can't wait to find out!

Have a good week!

Water baby

Caleb LOVES water! River, sink, ocean, bathtub or toilet water, he loves it all! He is quite fearless, and seems immune to cold water. We know where we will be spending many days this summer, luckily there is both a great river beach and a nice (free) pool right here in Concord.

Here he is on his first adventure to the river this summer (we dragged him there last summer when he was a week old), he went with Ryan and his buddies to fly fish. I handed him, dressed in this stylin get up, to Ryan and said "as a result of your being Irish, you have to take this dorky kid to the beach." We won't discuss who actually brought the white white white skin to this gene pool (me), or the fact that Ryan's supposedly Irish skin gets instantly tan upon contact with the sun's rays (unfair, and also suspicious).

 

Here he is in Kinsale, Virginia (more on that later). The water was freezing, but he sat right down to splash anyways, resulting in a 15 pound diaper. I didn't think we would actually be venturing into that Arctic water. 



Maternity Monday

Once again I didn't get it together to photograph any of my outfits this week, Ryan was gone a bunch and I haven't really figured out a good set up for self portraits. I promise I did get dressed in something other than frumpy house clothes on several occasions this week. I had some time this weekend and decided to tackle my huge pile of repairs, alterations, and unfinished sewing projects. After repairing several things I have been promising Ryan for months that I would fix, I finished a skirt I started months ago and altered a tank top I got while pregnant with Caleb.

I was excited to find this stretchy lace at the fabric store many many months ago because it a allowed me to make a stretchy, comfortable maternity skirt that was not just plain ole jersey knit (ask my sisters how much I hate jersey maternity clothes).

This tank top I got at the tail end of my pregnancy with Caleb, when it was hot and I was huge. Its an XL Banana Republic I picked up in desperation at Goodwill. Needless to say, it had armholes that would have fit the Hulk. I previously always wore a cardigan to cover the Hulk holes, but decided that I didn't want to do that anymore. I took in the armpits and sides and added a little gather at the top of the tummy to help accommodate the growing belly. I should have taken a before and after picture of me wearing it, but please refer to the excuse mentioned above.

 

I hope every one's week is off to a good start!



Maternity Monday

We have had a very busy past couple of weeks (we went down to VA last weekend, blog post on that someday soon) and I haven't been organized enough to actually take any pictures recently. So instead I will just post a few items from my maternity wardrobe wish list.

Gap

 

MotherHood

 

Asos ( I want everything on their website)

 

 

 

On a completely unrelated topic, Ryan just started a security job at the law school a few evenings a week. Its great because its part time, and always after 5pm so it doesn't interfere with his internship at the Attorney Generals office and allows him to do the other from home part time jobs he has while he is already working. Its a tad annoying for me because it means he is gone until 10 or 11pm 3-4 nights a week. He can take a quick break for dinner though, so the last few nights Caleb and I have packed up some dinner and met Ryan at the park across the street from the school for a picnic dinner. We have decided that this is going to become our little summer tradition, so if anyone has yummy healthy summer salad recipes that are easy to take on the go, send them my way.

 

 

On another unrelated topic, both Ryan and I have found ourselves commenting on what a major change Caleb has gone through recently. It seems like in the span of two weeks he went from baby to toddler. We both will waste what feels like hours of time just watching his little personality come out more and more every day.  It is just small little things, but they often make me stop and catch my breath at how wonderful and precious he is. He loves to smother me with his "kisses" which are just wet slobbery licks, I catch him carefully watching everything I do, and when he sees that I see him watching he gives me this wise, knowing, adoring look. He has a little sense of humor, and has started to fake laugh when Ryan and I laugh, and gets shy and embarrassed when strangers talk too much about how cute he is. When Ryan comes home and Caleb hears Ryan's voice he quite literally yells and beeline crawls for him. I love watching the awesome and mutually adoring friendship developing between the two of them. Though Caleb has always been a very alert and curious little guy, he suddenly seems so much more aware of his surroundings and cannot get enough of watching, touching,  and exploring everything around him and sharing it with us. His favorite days are the ones where all three of us spend the whole day together, and there is a visible difference in his behavior when he senses that Ryan and I are relaxed and focused on each other and him. When Ryan and I kiss or hug in front of him he gets the biggest grin on his face and immediately crawls over to join in on the lovin. Best of all for me is that he will now snuggle without nursing! I can't get enough of that little head laying on my shoulder, or little hands stroking my face or hair. I am so glad that I get to majorly reduce my hours (from 30-40 down to 10-15) and focus on this special time with Caleb before number two appears on the scene and demands his or her share of the lovin too! 

 

Anywho speaking of those last four weeks of work, I got to get back to the grind!

 

I hope everyone has a blessed week.

 



Maternity Monday-DIY Maternity Shorts

And pants too! I tried on several pairs of maternity shorts recently knowing that hot humid New England summer is quickly approaching. I couldn't find a pair that looked good enough on me (think poofy diaper) to make me want to spend $35-$50. So I realized I needed to explore other options. A few months ago, inspired by this tutorial, I converted a pair of regular pink skinny jeans I got for a few bucks into maternity jeans. It worked great, but the way I did the belly band is a little bunchy and I figured I could make a few improvements to the concept. I personally like the full belly panel, as it is smoother and doesn't allow for flashes of pregnant belly. I decided to keep my eye out at the thrift store for some shorts and try my hand at it again, this time with my added improvements.

I found these shorts for $2.50 at Goodwill:

 

I bought a hideous pair of maternity cords for $5 (forgot to take before pictures) and cut the belly band off:

 

I then removed the waist band from the shorts:

 

working in quarter sections (making sure there was a little more of the material in the front than the back) I pinned and sewed the belly band to the shorts:

 

I used a zigzag stitch so that the thread would stretch with the fabric since I wasn't using elastic thread:

 

I left the zipper in and just sewed the top part shut. That way the shorts have a "real" shorts look.

 

Here is the finished product:

 

So there you have it, a pair of non-diaperesque maternity shorts for $7.50. Not bad!

 

*Using shorts or pants that have a little stretch to them works best, so that the shorts themselves also stretch a little with the belly band and create a smoother look.  

 

 

I also made a pair of white skinny jeans, from a pair of jeans I found in the juniors section at Marshall's for $15.

 

Before

 

After

 

Close up

 













My next project is to convert a pair of navy blue capris from Goodwill into shorts too.

I hope your week is swell!

Maternity Monday

I am actually posting on Monday this week! The shirt is slightly outrageous, but its so fun to wear.

This week is Ryan's last week of classes and finals, and I CANNOT wait for this weekend when it will all be over and we have a couple months to breathe!

Me:
Shirt-Thrift store (Wouldn't have had the guts to buy it if it weren't for my crazy sister Hannah)
Belt-Thrift store (Sorry you can's see it, its one of my favorite belts)
Skirt-Motherhood Maternity
Bracelet-Good Ole Target
Shoes-Can't remember for the life of me! I have had them for a couple years now.

Caleb:
Shirt-Hand me down
Pants-Old Navy
Shoes-Gap
Fat cheeks and wrist rolls-Mom's milk, avocados, sweet potatoes, and chicken.

Have a great week!

Maternity Monday

     Yes I know it is not even close to being Monday. This week was crazy and each day just kept slipping by without me getting a chance to post. Ryan had law school finals last week and has MBA finals this coming week so we are just trying to get through as best we can.

     So it is wedding season!!! We have been invited to four weddings this spring and summer and went to the first one last Saturday here in New Hampshire. It was a beautiful day and I was excited to wear a sleeveless dress and open toed shoes.

     My bump doesn't show very well in these pictures, but I feel like it is huge already! As usual, trying to get a picture where both Caleb and I actually look normal was a little hard.

 

 

Me:

Dress-The Limited (Non-maternity! And the dress I wore to my Erasmus graduation. I was quite proud that I actually fit into it...barely)

Shoes-Macy's (Cant remember the brand. These were my wedding shoes and are so comfortable)
Earrings-Target
Bracelet-Banana Republic-Actually a necklace

Caleb:
Shirt-Gap
Tie-Target
Pants-Old Navy
Shoes-Gap

Maternity Monday

Welcome to Maternity Monday where I will show off my two B's: my Bump and my Boy, as well as chronicle my attempts to cover my growing belly in stylish rags. There, my lazy self has killed not two, but three birds with one stone!

This particular post also serves as a "What We Wore to Visit Mariana and Luisa" post. Minus my shoes, I changed to something more comfortable. Caleb and I spent Saturday in Rhode Island with Mariana and Luisa and had a wonderful time walking, playing, eating and talking. (Pictures to follow sometime if I can get them off my stubborn Droid). We missed all our other TMC and Erasmus friends!

Ok here we are at 18 weeks prego and almost 10 months old. My photographer was highly skeptical of this whole process and did not really get the point, so please pardon the pictures, hopefully he will improve with practice :). We were also running late and Caleb needed a nap.



Close-up of the bump, which I am exaggerating by sticking out accidentally

 

 

The whole outfit

 

Me:
Blazer-J. Crew
T shirt-Old Navy Maternity
Pants-Motherhood Maternity
Shoes-Sperry

Caleb:
Hat-Janie and Jack (from his doting Aunt Claire)
Shirt-Thrift Store (Old Navy I think)
Pants-Old Navy
Shoes-Sperry (also from his doting Aunt Claire, notice a pattern?)

Hope you enjoyed!!

                   Emily