Taking Back Lunches One Can of Soup at a Time

Hey there! I'm still getting used to blogging and haven't been diligent at all with posting. (oops..) Hopefully we can turn that around. I'm looking forward to the holiday season and all the fun crafts that come along with it!

Last week we scheduled our ultrasound and I can't wait to find out if we're having a boy or girl and see their cute little faces since we get to have one of those nifty 4D ultrasounds! Now that I've gotten a little further into the 2nd trimester and am feeling a little more human again, I thought I'd share some of the things that have saved me thus far in this pregnancy.

• Sweatpants! -- My mom bought me a couple pairs of cute calf-length sweatpants that I could wear into public without being totally embarrassed. They've been a lifesaver on those days when the maternity jeans just aren't going to cut it.
• Bagels and Yogurt -- I know you're thinking "yup she's pregnant..." but I don't mean together or necessarily at the same time. My typical list of breakfast foods, sausage, eggs, cereal, etc, have been on the "no-no" list for quite some time and I was always at a loss for what to eat for breakfast. Then I realized yogurt didn't make me sick if I bought the Key Lime flavored stuff. Then a little bit after that I was craving a bagel and once again realized I could eat those all day with a little cream cheese! Life savers! And of course, on the menu almost daily :)
• Campbell's Chunky Soup -- The baked potato kind to be exact. Similarly to the breakfast dilemma, I suddenly found myself unable to eat typical lunch items. While I don't exactly want to eat soup every day, we have started keeping it around for days when I'm just not feeling like making anything complicated.
• Netflix -- It's kind of silly that this has been such a big thing for me lately, but being able to set my 3 year old down to watch a show while I lay down to regain some energy has been amazing. Let me say it again, a 3 year old calmly sitting and completely occupied for a minimum of 30 minutes. Need I say more?
• Crafting for other people -- I have this crafting bug, more specifically a sewing bug, and it drives me crazy not knowing if we're having a boy or girl because I don't know what to make! Being able to do projects for other people has kept me busy and happy without making 2 of every thing in a boy and girl theme.

What kinds of foods, clothing, activities, etc. helped you through the rougher times of pregnancy? Or through the whole thing?
  

Crayola Art

Many of you have probably seen the Crayola Art canvases all over blog world, and after seeing it as a suggestion to recycle crayons, I had to do it! Although, I didn't really have any crayons to recycle so I started from scratch. 

My mom had a huuuuge canvas that she bought at Goodwill for a few dollars that she'd ended up not using and donated that for the cause. To cover it I used a 96 box of crayons (minus the blacks, browns, grays, whites, and goofy "gel" crayons) and part of 2 boxes of 24 crayons to fill in the gaps and beef up some of the colors. I sorted them by color and then randomly placed them by color group across the canvas.

Isn't she pretty? I started off with reds and pinks and ended with the more purple-reds to complete the blending. Then on the the blow dryer!

This was such a big canvas it was hard to cover the areas around it, so we moved to the back porch where it didn't matter so much!

Xavier wasn't really sure about it at first but thought it was pretty cool we were destroying something and pretty soon he would fight anyone who had the blow dryer. 

We did this as a family activity and it was REALLY fun! Most people recommended turning the blow dryer to low once the crayons started to melt, but we liked the splatter effect we got on high and it would have taken forever to cover this whole thing on low!

Here's how it turned out. Pretty cool, huh? I don't suggest anyone do a canvas this big unless you can get it as cheap as I did (FREE!), or for a few bucks like my mom. It took about an hour to get all the crayons to melt and spread but it what well worth the effort. Now I just need to find a place to hang it!