El Segundo

This is short and sweet but I wanted to post some pictures of our new apartment.  I finally feel moved in after a week, but I still have to put the art on the walls.  My beautiful pottery barn shelf is not going up however because it left huge holes in the walls of our last apartment.  Oops!  Not looking forward to that bill.

Definitely time for an actual dining table.

We had to buy our own refrigerator and microwave.  Weird.

 Upstairs landing.  Thinking of getting a sleeper sofa for guests.

Upstairs has its own entryway.  This used to be a 1-bedroom apartment.  I think the landing was the kitchen and the 2nd bedroom was living space.  Our downstairs area was maybe storage before?  Not sure, but we are the first to live here since the remodel.

This little cutie is currently down for a nap.  He is still spending his nights in our room.  Last night he only woke to eat once at 2:30am!  Hopefully this is a new pattern.

 Outside the 2nd floor entry.  There's a small pool and pond in the courtyard.  Sometimes I sit outside to put Levi to sleep because the waterfall noise knocks him right out.

Views from our windows.  Getting used to the airplane noise.  It's fun to watch them though!

Nursery Reveal

     The nursery is just about complete!  I have ordered a few more sets of crib sheets, a white and beige polka dot and one with cute animals in the nursery colors.  I also still need to get a diaper bag but I do have my eye on a few.

     I thought it would be cute to put our baby pictures up.  It might be fun to see who the baby looks like.  I organized the drawers of the dresser.  We have a ton of blankets (thanks Mom!) but not a lot of clothes.  I would rather wait until we know the gender.  Girl clothes are so girly that it makes gender neutral look boyish.  If we have a girl, I don't want anyone mistaking her for a boy! lol

     We also set up the swing in our living room.  After we put it up, we decided it's sheer torture.  You can shut the nursery door and not have baby on the brain all day, but that swing has a way of staring you down when you walk past it and reminding us how anxious we are to meet this little one!

Minimalist Christmas

I meant to post this over the holidays.  This was the extent of my holiday decorating but I think it turned out kind of cute. :)

Grinding to a halt

     There is some serious irony in the fact that my last post was on October 27th.  This long-term sub job that I am in began October 28th.  I was hoping to make it until March 7th with this job but it has been sucking away every ounce of my energy and time so my last day will be this Friday February 7th.
     I hope this week goes well.  Last week didn't end on the brightest note.  I woke up Wednesday with a sore throat.  I went to work, but by 2nd period, I was feeling queasy, achy, tired, and the sore throat was turning into a deep cough.  By the end of the day, I was really dragging, so I called the sub desk and asked them to send a sub for me for Thursday.  I got sub plans ready and went home.  That night I kept getting worse, and eventually was vomiting and feeling feverish.  On Thursday, I called and changed my appt. to see my OB that day.  She prescribed a cough syrup that would help me sleep and was safe for pregnancy and told me to take tylenol for the fever.  I am new to my insurance so I just had the dr. send the prescription to the Target pharmacy.  When I got to Target to pick it up, they told me they didn't accept my insurance.  (I have Kaiser so I didn't know I can only go to the Kaiser pharmacy).
     I tried calling my dr. office all afternoon to change the pharmacy location but they never picked up.  I never got the prescription, but I thought I would be fine.  Thursday night I woke up several times with coughing fits and vomiting.  Yet...I still went to work on Friday.  In my mind, it was easier just to go instead of having to coordinate with 4 different people to get my class covered and plans made (life of a long-term sub..ugh).
     Work was a mistake.  The kids seemed like hellions, probably due to the fact that they saw I was feeling down and were ready to pounce.  By third period, after having to call in the principal to remove some kids from my room, I knew I had to go home.  I called the office and they arranged for my last two periods to be covered.  I went immediately to the Target pharmacy, thinking I would just pay whatever the cough medicine costs without insurance.  The pharmacist told me they had destroyed my prescription.  I started tearing up right there.
     This is kind of a long story...sorry.  All I'm trying to say is that being pregnant and sick is miserable. There is no energy reserve to pick yourself up when everything is going to the baby first.  Daniel was so sweet and came home early from work to take care of me.  We finally got the cough medicine from the right pharmacy and some tylenol so I was able to sleep.
     I need to have better organization if I think I'm going to handle being a mom and a teacher.  The biggest obstacle right now is that I am flying by the seat of my pants planning-wise.  When I have my own class, I hope to be better prepared for sick days.

Almost Halfway!

     Tomorrow we will be 19 weeks pregnant and on Tuesday we had an ultrasound.  It was so exciting!  At first the baby was really active and the ultrasound tech (I don't know the real title of this person but what a cool job!) had to chase it around to get the measurements.  Everything looked normal.  There were so many measurements that I couldn't keep track but I remember her saying that the baby weighs about 1/2 lb. at this point.  We got a good glimpse of 2 baby feet (10 toes!), saw the baby chewing and clenching a fist.  When she went to measure the legs, she turned the screen away from us so we wouldn't see the sex.  She said she could tell the gender but that she would be the only one to know.  She didn't write it down, or tell our doctor so that no one would slip up and say it.  After she had taken all the measurements, she was trying to get a good profile shot for us, but the baby decided to cuddle up with its chin to its chest and made it hard to get a good picture.

     Here is a shot with the baby facing us.  It's hard to see, but hopefully you can make it out.  You can see the eyes (the u/s really just picks up eyesockets) and a little hand up above.

     This one I think is sort of a profile shot?  Like I said, this baby got really shy at this point in the process. When I look at it, I think the lit up part is the head.  Baby sure has come a long way since being a gummi bear!

     In other news, I have been asked to cover a teacher's maternity leave at the school I was at for 3 months last school year.  This time it is 8th grade English.  I have subbed one day at that class a few weeks ago and it's going to be so much easier this time around.  This teacher has all the plans laid out so I won't be doing any lesson-planning and I have 2 Honors classes so the kids are better behaved.  Right now the job is scheduled to end January 8th, but my supervisor said that I should expect that to get extended through February.  I am planning on working up until March 10th so I am so grateful to get out of the sub pool for now.

Origami Friends

     I just wanted to share a few recent projects for the nursery.  Today, the origami fox got some friends.  The color is a little off in the picture (the yellow is not that bright), but I didn't finish the owl until tonight so I didn't have the benefit of natural sunlight for the photo.  They look a little stale in the photo, but I love how the origami jumps off the canvas and looks different from different angles.  The frames are leftover from my scissor and saw projects.  The rabbit is hard to decipher in the picture but it is obvious what it is in person.

     I had a tin that my mom got for me that I used to put my embroidery in.  I've kept it all these years!!  I moved my embroidery (yes, I still have all my hoops, needle and thread!) to another box and painted the tin orange.  I also had a random box that I think I got as a teenager?  It was green with pink flowers so I painted it blue.  The texture is rough because I used acrylic paint, but there more for decoration anyway.  I'm sure they'll come in handy to store something.  I'm planning on putting them on the dresser with the origami hanging above.

     Daniel and I bought the board book "Fox in Socks" when we were out and about the other day.  It was our first real purchase for the baby.  I've seen a trend floating around pinterest of displaying books on ikea spice racks on the wall, so I'm going to give it a try. 

     I don't think I've posted this yet on here.  The paper lanterns came in the mail a few weeks ago.  Right now they're sitting on the floor collecting dust, but having them really sets the color tone for the room.  My mom got us this adorable fox blanket.  I'm either going to hang it on the edge of the crib or get a small decorative ladder to hang baby quilts on.  It depends on how much room we have once the furniture goes in.  And...this is my four-month bump!  It's not very big but it cracks me up when kids at school ask me if I'm pregnant.  They always preface it with, "I don't mean to be rude or inappropriate Mrs. Kahn, but..."

     I'm having a lot of fun planning this nursery!  It's fun to do a little at a time and watch it come together.  I hope you're enjoying seeing it. :)

What we've been up to...

     First off, I found a bunch of honeymoon pics on my camera that we forgot to import on iphoto.  These are two of my favorites...views from the condo in Cayucos.  We're planning on spending next July 4th there.  It is so incredibly beautiful!

     For the most part, things are pretty day-to-day here.  The temperature has leveled off to a high of 90 degrees and the mornings have been nice and cool.  Daniel is still enjoying his job and I have found some familiarity in my job as I have been returning to classes I've subbed before.  I get to sub at a 4th grade class over Halloween and I'm super stoked about that.  

     Over my birthday weekend, we went to a wedding in Malibu.  Malibu was not at all what I expected.  It was very hilly, spotted with ranch houses.  I guess I just always thought of it as a suburb of L.A.  On my actual birthday, the day after the wedding, we drove through the Malibu hills to get to the beach.  Then we drove alongside the ocean to go to Santa Monica.  We explored the pier there, walked along the water, then had lunch.  It was an amazing birthday!  Daniel and I are such good travelers together.  We're both more inclined to take the day as it comes, seeing what we stumble upon.

     In baby news, we have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday.  We are 18 weeks along on Monday.  My body definitely tells me if I do too much in a day.  I start to get aches and cramps.  I'm still waiting to feel the first kick!  I'm pretty excited about that, but by the looks of my stomach this is a pretty tiny baby, so it might be a few more weeks before I feel anything.

     I have decided to go ahead with my last semester for my teaching credential.  The timing is good.  The semester ends around the time the baby is due, but I'll finish well before that.  The more time I spend in the classroom, the more I am convinced I have found my life's work...I think it's best to be prepared before the baby comes.

Weekend Projects

     I have been back at work now for 3 weeks and things are going better every day.  The more I sub, the less anxiety I feel about it.  I am finding that I like elementary much more than middle school or high school.  I'll continue to do all grades because a job is a job, but I have much better days at elementary.  They are sweet, eager to participate, and they don't have cellphones!
     This weekend I worked on a few projects for the nursery.  It might seem like I'm getting the room ready too early, but Daniel works weekends and I need to entertain myself somehow.  So I'm putting the nursery together a little at a time.
     The first project I did was a paper pennant banner to go above the crib.  Just this morning we felt an earthquake so there's no way anything heavier than paper is going above that crib!  I got some scrapbook paper, cut it into triangles and strung it along.  It was super easy and I think it turned out cute.  I added a little teal to the color scheme, which I think works these days as a gender neutral color.

     The second project I copied almost exactly from a watercolor I saw on Pinterest.  I just fell in love with it and knew I could duplicate it.  Here's the inspiration:

     Here is my process:

     And here is the finished product!

     I'm more than a little proud of it.  I think it turned out awesome!  Since I already had the frame, canvas, string and tools, both of these projects cost me a total of $2.98 at Michael's.  So far this nursery is far from breaking the bank.

     Tonight we are starting our two night stay at Daniel's work.  They are celebrating the opening of a new building and pool at the resort and letting the managers' families check it out first.  Stay tune for pictures! :)

Origami Obsession

     My sub job ended abruptly this week when the teacher who was on jury duty walked into class yesterday afternoon.  There's nothing more unpredictable than a jury duty assignment.  Today I was unable to pick up a job but I have two elementary jobs later this week.  I have only taught elementary once and it can be kind of a tough position to sub for so I know I need some bribes up my sleeve.  I've found a few games and some easy origami activities that I can reward them with at the end of the day if they behave.
     I was practicing the origami this morning and the dog, cat, and fish are really easy for kids to do.  Here's the website if anyone feels a little origami-ish. :)

First Week Down and an Origami Fox

     I made it through the first week of school and I'm ready to start week 2.  I'm in the same classroom again this week because the teacher has jury duty.  I LOVE long-term assignments.  I am a creature of habit most of the time and I like to know what I'm getting into each day.  This week I have had the pleasure of teaching some great 9th graders including a bunch that I taught for three months last year in middle school.
     This is the first "start" (if you can call it that) to the nursery.  The chest has blankets in it.  I want to cover it with something soft like the faux sheepskin rug from Ikea, and put stuffed animals on it.  This bear has been mine so long that I don't remember when I got it.  I carried it onto the plane from SLC to Portland to make sure I wouldn't lose track of it.  It's going to belong to this lucky baby now.  Don't you just love that plaid bowtie?!

And this....is the first piece of diy artwork.  I stumbled across this origami fox on pinterest and decided it needed to be folded and framed.  It's the first of many nods to the adorable fox in this space.

     If you want to make an origami fox (and you should), the instructions are here.

Ticking Time Bomb

     Tomorrow I am going back to work and I am feeling a little nervous.  Lately I have been only throwing up before bed but I still can't shake the feeling that I'm a vomit-ticking-time-bomb.  I am teaching HS English this week and I'm taking with me an arsenal of crackers, plenty of food since its unpredictable what will sound good, and a just-in-case plastic bag.  Haha, I'm sure I'll be fine!  I've just been so spoiled to spend most of the first trimester at home that going out into the real world is a little daunting.
     Today we are 11 weeks pregnant so I should come out of this morning sickness thing this month.  I can't wait to be done with it!!

Nursery Ideas

These are some of my favorite inspirations from Pinterest.  If you can't tell, I'm obsessed with a fox theme.  I'm also drawn to geometric prints and I have to incorporate a little Wes Anderson where I can!  I've decided to do the nursery in a soft orange, beige and white and then add pink or navy blue details when the baby arrives.  The hardest part will be trying to stay gender neutral when gender-specific baby stuff is so darn cute!

There is a lot of opportunity for some DIY projects and I'm very excited about that. It will give me something to work on while Daniel is at work on the weekends.  My first project is to get all the stuff that's in the nursery packed up and down in storage.  Considering my wedding was 13 months of preparation, I'm going to need all of the next 7 months to pull off this project!