From Mini-Blind to Roman Shade

A very long time ago when the world was a little younger, I pinned Jenny’s (from Little Green Notebook) genius idea of making a roman shade out of mini-blinds.  (Since then she’s revised the process and so I’ve updated my pin to lead me to the new tutorial.)  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I finally got around to executing it for our front door.

I followed her instructions by the book blog all the way until the last step and so if you’re hankering to make one for yourself (which you totally should be), you can get all the details from her.  There were a few parts that I was a little confused on and since I’m the tutorial nerd I am, here’s the very detailed way I made our newest roman shade.

First of all, the supplies.  You’ll need a mini-blind (I got mine at Target), fabric of your choice, either a sewing machine or some iron-on tape for a no-sew version, a needle and thread, craft glue, and some plastic rings.

Measure the window or door or whatever it is you’re covering with your shade before you start.  That way you’ll know what size mini-blind to purchase and how much fabric to buy.  I used one of these Room Essentials curtain panels for my shade:

It was originally from Target but I found it at a local discount store, Dirt Cheap, for $3.

I cut and hemmed it according to Jenny’s instructions.  If you’re doing a no-sew version of this shade, you’ll only have to fold the edges once as you iron on your tape so you’ll really only need to cut your fabric to be two inches longer and two inches wider than the size you want your finished shade to be (here’s a great tutorial on how to use iron-on tape for hemming).  That way you’ll have a one-inch hem on all four sides of the fabric rectangle that will soon be your finished shade.

After you’ve hemmed your fabric to size, lay out your mini blind.  (P.S. You won’t need the tilt wand that you turn to open and close the blind.  Toss it or use it to stir your grande latte…whatever makes your boat float people.)       

Completely cut off the bottomrail by snipping through all the strings attaching it.

Then cut all the strings holding the slats on but don’t cut the string that controls the raising and lowering of the blind, aka the lift cords.  In other words, cut the vertical strings that run down the front and back of the slats and all of the horizontal, ladder-like strings, but don’t cut the vertical strings that run down the middle/through the holes in each slat. 

On the mini-blind I bought, the strings holding the slats on were thinner than the thick ones that controlled the blind.

To completely remove the slat strings you can cut them off where they loop around the inside top of the headrail.

Next, pull off all the slats.

Give a couple of slats to your kids to buy a few extra minutes of time to work on this project uninhibited.  Don’t worry, they’re too flimsy to do any real damage.  :)

So, the slats are all off and you’re left with the headrail, the lift cords, and the bottomrail (not pictured but keep it!)  Side note:  Depending on the width of your blind, you may have three lift cords vs. two like mine.  Make sure you don’t cut any of them off!

Now grab your hemmed fabric and line it up along the headrail (where it’ll soon be permanently glued).  I lined mine up so that I had about 1/4 of an inch of fabric above the very top of the headrail.  Next, pull the lift cords down so they’re nice and straight and parallel to the sides of the fabric and, starting from the bottom of the fabric, measure up eight inches along each string and make a small pencil mark.  This is where the bottom set of rings will go.  After that, continue to measure up each cord, placing marks every 10 inches.  (You can make the spaces between rings shorter or longer depending on whatever you think looks best.  I followed Jenny’s recommended measurements.)

Here’s a pixlr’d image showing where I placed my marks:
(I realized after I was finished with the entire shade that I didn’t need the two topmost marks/rings.  If there’s less than four inches between where your topmost marks are and the headrail, you probably don’t need to place rings at those top marks.)  Note the little feet…somebody wouldn’t nap while both her sis and bro were so an audience she became.  :)

After you’ve marked where all of your rings will go, measure the distance between where the cord comes out of the headrail and the end of your shade on each side.
Then, using that measurement, double check to make sure all of your marks are that distance in from the edge of your fabric all the way down.  If you laid your cords out nice and straight before you started marking, you should be spot on if not pretty close but I did this just to double check.

Next, grab your plastic rings (I used the ones in the photo below), a needle, and coordinating thread.  Jenny used clear thread and I would recommend that as well only I didn’t have any and you know this mom ain’t running out “quick” for clear thread.  I’ll settle for white in exchange for less stress, thankyouverymuch.  

Now simply sew a ring onto your shade at each mark you made, except for the very bottom set of marks.  The bottomrail of the mini-blind will go there.

After you’ve attached all of the plastic rings, grab your craft glue and glue your fabric along the headrail.  Hot glue would probably work too though it might be more ‘bumpy’ under your fabric.

Once I had the fabric glued on straight, I made sure it was flat along the headrail and then I propped some books on top of it to hold it down while it dried.  I left it this way for 24 hours, giving the glue lots of time to dry completely. 

While the glue is drying, grab the bottomrail of the mini-blind.  In her tutorial, Jenny used a thin slat of wood and eye screws as the bottom part of her shade, but once again, I didn’t have either of these things.  So, I improvised.  First, I cut about six inches of string off the bottom of each of my lift cords.  Using the existing workings of the bottomrail of the mini-blind, I popped off the small round plug that holds in the all the string, threaded my six inch piece through the hole, strung a plastic ring onto the string, tied a knot, stuffed the string into the rail, and stuck the plastic plug back on.  Get all that?  In case you didn’t…

Now the only thing left to do is to glue that bottomrail along where you made the bottommost (Word?  Not a word?) marks.

Just make sure when you glue it down that your rings are at the top of the rail/closest to the top of the shade.

Once all the glue is dry, the last step is to thread the lift cords down through each plastic ring and tie each onto the bottom rings that are attached to the bottomrail like so:

And that’s it!  Hang your completed shade with the hardware that came with the mini-blind and you’re done! 

Here’s what ours looks like down:

[Excuse the toddler litter.]
Anthony’s not a fan because he thinks it looks like there’s a painting on our front door but I love it.  It’s a far cry from boring and that’s exactly what this previously hum-drum space needed.  (Speaking of painting though, as I was mid-project I couldn’t help but think how cool this curtain panel would’ve looked stretched over a wood frame and mounted as artwork.  So cool, no?)  Hopefully once I get the new lighting up and add some other details, Anthony’s mind will be forever changed…or at least until I decide to redecorate.

The only negative part about this shade idea is that, because the fabric I used is more silky than stiff, I have to adjust its layers after I raise it.  The ends fall and it looks like this: 
I could change that by somehow placing some long dowels horizontally along each set of rings but the few seconds it takes me to straighten things out isn’t a big deal so I’ll probably just take it as a lesson learned and use a thicker, stiffer fabric next time.

Cost?  Well, let’s see:
Mini-blind:  $3 (Target)
Fabric:  $3 (Target curtain panel via Dirt Cheap)
Plastic rings:  $1.50 (JoAnn Fabrics with a 50% off coupon)
Thread and craft glue:  $0 (already had but both but they’re from JoAnn Fabrics and Michaels, respectively)
Project total:  $7.50

As long as mini-blinds are being manufactured and I have windows and doors to cover with roman shades, I’ll be going this route again and again because, not only it is a lot cheaper and less difficult than making ‘real’ roman shades, but they also look almost if not exactly the same.

So, is there any shade-making in your future?  I know it seems like it might be a tedious task but really it was pretty easy and if I’d had an hour to devote to making it, it would’ve taken me just that hour plus drying time to finish it vs. the weeks I had it laying around half-finished because my life be like kids, kids, kids.  Either way, I love our new shade and I’m so very grateful for those kids, kids, kids.

Happy Hump Day!  :) 

Shut the Front Door…

…and let’s focus on the entry way, shall we?  After I finished the gallery walls in our hallway a few weeks ago and then gave the light in there a little pick-me-up with some paint, I felt so great to gaze down it and see the cohesiveness that “completing” the space gave (even though no space is ever really “complete”, right?)  To a visitor, it looks finished and put together.  None of the rooms in our house feel/look like that except the hallway now.  Why?  It’s because I jump around from project to project, room to room, never staying in one space long enough to complete the 48 projects I have in store for it. 

Well, it’s 2014 and while I’m not one for New Years’ resolutions, I am making a resolution to work on one room at a time.  You see, what happens when you’re like me and you’re constantly jumping from one room to the next is that you have supplies for a few projects for this room squirreled away while you work on the project in this other room over here.  Eventually there are supplies stored everywhere.  You check one project off your list and keep moving to the next.  Meanwhile, you’ve found an amazing deal on something for another project and have had some awesome luck thrifting so you get all excited and work on something new and things get back-burnered and then clutter arrives at your house and settles in.  You get the gist, right? 

So, no more scattered projects.  One space at a time for me.  After the hallway, the next space I’m putting my energy into is the entry way.  I’ve had plans and materials for projects in here for a long time.  Here’s what it looked like shortly after we moved in:

This is after I replaced the mini-blinds that were there when we purchased with a rattan roman shade I found on clearance at Target that I later deemed too narrow (not to mention too long at almost six feet).  It’s also after we painted all the off-white trim and the door a crisp white and the walls with Valspar’s Hopsack.

Last January we installed a hook system by the door and since then, nada.  It’s not been touched.  Until now.  I just finished making a roman shade (tutorial tomorrow!) to replace the boring brown shade and have plans for a new rug, a new light fixture (a chandelier!!), a mirror, and some other things.  Stay tuned. 

While I’m (slowly) plugging away at the entry way, I’ll still be doing some little projects here and there – alterations and such – so those will be sprinkled in the mix of posts along with a few love stories.  I’m not a fool to think I can pound out one space/project every week like I once could (read ‘like before I had kids’), so I have to keep you entertained and coming back somehow, right?  ;)

.           .           .

So, tell me.  Am I the only one that creates to the tune of House of Pain’s “Jump Around” or is there a support group to be had?  Maybe you’re a Mission {insert a room} person and you have some words of wisdom to give?  I’ll take any and all!

Sebastian: Two Months

The kid has gained two pounds and one ounce since month one and is a half inch longer…growing, growing, gone to college.  That’s how quick it’s going.  When I think over the last two months everything’s a blur but mostly because of my constant movement (thank you climbing twins) and not because of the fast pace of time.

Other than his physique, not much else has changed.  My hands are still full, my heart even more so, and I’m continuing to take it crazyday by crazyday.  We did get out of the house once (and in “we”, I mean me + three kids – daddy) to run an errand/brave the public and I swore up and down I’d never do it again.  And I haven’t because I’d like to think I learned my lesson.  (Friends houses and the doctor don’t count because at those places there are extra arms so less chaos.)

Anthony took a bunch of seniors (as in the high school variety) to Nashville last weekend for a three day excursion, leaving me and our tots/baby to fend for ourselves and it went surprisingly well.  Yes there were a few meltdowns and times when I contemplated learning to use my feet for everyday tasks, but we’re alive and everybody’s still sane…I think.

Anyway, I digress.  I have a two month old whose cooing and smiles are making every struggle so very worth it…or that’s what I hear.  ;)  

Made by Heather

Stripes.  I love them.  That’s why when Heather emailed me and told me she’d painted stripes in her little girl’s room I was ecstatic and with enthusiastic fingers, emailed her back asking for pictures.  Check out her toddler’s sweet little (big!) room:

The room was already tan so all she did was put up the white stripes.  She said taping and painting the stripes was tough because of the odd shape of her little girl’s room, which I can imagine, but after a little trial and error, she had a friend help her and all was well.  Doesn’t it look awesome?

And speaking of awesome, the curtains!  They were Heather’s first sewing project (umm, can we say natural talent?) and they turned out great (I’m pretty sure my first sewing project went straight to the garbage)!  The chevron pattern and the bold pink add so much to the room!  She also painted most of the canvases and artwork on the walls and she painted the corner shelf.  There’s so much she did in here for her sweet baby girl and that kind of love can’t be bought.  Ya know? :) 

Thank you for sharing Heather!

.           .           .

Need more stripes?  Check out our twins nursery (& the how-to), this painted rug, these pillow covers and their matching faux roman shade, this sweater-to-cardigan refashion, these DIY baby legwarmers, and this Instapic.  Do I have a stripe addiction?  #yes

In Other News…

The blog here is going through a serious case of neglect.  I blame it on the three piglets in the house, fat with my attention.  I do have some projects and a few stories on the assembly line though stamped with a big “TBD”.  I’ll probably be posting some sneak peeks on Instagram and Facebook though, so you can start heading down those routes if you want to stay in the loop.  :)

Until I get all my ducks in a row and napping in sync, check these out:

I’ve been eyeing this swimsuit since last summer and I just can’t shake it out of my mind.  It’s a little on the expensive side for me but I wear swimsuits for at least three years so I’m thinking maybe it’ll be worth it (and I have birthday money burning a hole in my sweatpants pocket).   

For those of you on the ‘gram, you should chase after Shalice’s Instagram feed.  I recently stumbled upon her and her incredible sense of style.  I rarely have closet envy but she’s colored me green with it.  The fact that a ton (and I mean a ton) of the stuff she wears/styles is thrifted makes me heart her and her closet that much more.  And I thought I had closet full of thrift scores… 

Let’s talk eyebrows.  Do you fill yours in?  I don’t and never have but Maskcara’s tutorial makes me want to try.  I mean, look at the difference between her filled and unfilled brows!  Amazing!

Easy recipes are my favorite since I don’t exactly enjoy cooking (but baking?  That’s another story).  So, this brown sugar and garlic baked chicken caught my scrolling finger on Pinterest and we’ve made it twice in two weeks because it’s easy AND good.  I usually don’t like chicken recipes that don’t involve marinade because I’m not a fan of that pure chicken taste but this one is a thaw-the-chicken-and-throw-it-in-the-oven recipe and it tastes mighty good.  A few alterations I made:  I baked it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and sprinkled white cheddar cheese (Cabot sharp cheddar) over the top when there was 10 minutes left on the clock.  Scrumptious.

And bonus, I set Sebastian on Seraphia (I can’t really say I let her “hold” him because he’s literally almost the size of her) and she loved it.  Aside from being binki-stuffed, I’d say he liked it to…maybe.  Watch:

S and S from Sheena Tobin on Vimeo.

Blue Light

I’m notorious for jumping around rooms, doing projects as I go but something’s gotten into me and after the new gallery wall in the hallway was finished, I moved to the boring light fixture.  I’m sure it’s been here since the house was built (1980’s) and it’s not in the budget to completely scrap it for a brand new one.  So, I painted it (and forgot to take a ‘before’ picture before I did…oops).  It’s a simple little light – just a brushed silver base with a globe underneath.  After scheming, I came up with lots of ideas on ways to rework it by replacing the globe with a homemade capiz chandelier or a small lamp shade…but, eventually I settled on just painting the base.  I’ll be on the hunt the next time I’m thrifting (Lord knows when that’ll be but I’ve put in a request with Anthony to have a thrifting day for my birthday next week) for an old brassy I can jazz up to replace it with but until then, at least it’s lookin’ a little better.

All I did was take off the glass globe and then used a foam brush to prime the metal base (Zinnisser water-based primer in white).  I also made sure to prime the screws that hold in the globe since they’re visible.

Then I grabbed the leftover test pot of paint (Valspar’s Secluded Garden) I used to stamp our kitchen rug and painted the base with the same (cleaned and dried) foam brush, using a small paintbrush around where the base meets the ceiling.

I won’t be devastated if the paint doesn’t hold up but I don’t foresee too many problems since the light isn’t touched minus swapping out bulbs.

It’s a little more fun, no?

Either way, our hallway has traveled a small journey since we first moved in.

Next up is painting the cream colored door bell on the left wall.  I’d also love to add a fun geometric runner to cover up the ugly carpet but that’s number 430 on the priority list…however, I’m not sure how that would handle the girls wheeling their toys down the hall.  Anyone have a rug over carpet plus kids that stays put?  Fill me in.

.           .           .

If you have a moment, please, please, please say a prayer or two for the two year-old daughter of our friends.  In the past month they’ve discovered a very large, cancerous tumor in her brain and she’s undergone multiple surgeries with more to come.  Her name is Madison and she’s so beautiful and so sweet.  I can’t imagine the difficulty it is to see your baby suffer at such a young age and my heart is broken for them.  But, they are very faithful and strong and know that God has a plan and it is always the best plan.

Blessed Francis Seelos, pray for us.

Galleria de Tobin

Naked walls are a thing around here.  If you’ve checked out our House Tour pages, you’ve probably noticed.  There are always plans to hang stuff but then babies, time, other projects, and indecision get in the way.  Not anymore (she says after experiencing the satisfaction and motivation that filling a couple of walls brings…we’ll see how long that lasts, won’t we?  Sebastian cackles in the background.)

Enter our boring hallway.

When planning gallery walls and collages and all that shebang, the hallway definitely wasn’t on the top of the list to fill as it’s probably the most inconspicuous spot in the house.  Guests walk down it to get to their home away from home but that’s about it.  I travel it’s short road only to grab something craft-related for a project or some fabric I have stashed in the guestroom.  Well, now it’s a walk down memory lane as well.  (Cue the oldies.)

A long time ago when I was perusing this thing they called “Pinterest”, this pin popped up in my feed:

(originally via Martha Stewart)

I loved the way the frames were all separated by a wide line and lined up along that line, top and bottom.  I had to have it and it had to be in the hallway.  That was the long-term plan, apparently. 

Well, since I had 20 frames to work with after our big Dirt Cheap haul, this pin was finally going to come to life.

It was seriously one of the easiest projects because all it took was a little measuring and hammering.  No collage working and re-working, no puzzling frames together in a big blob, none of that.  Just me and a few straight lines.  Here’s how I did it and how you can hang one of your very own.

First of all, this is a great project if you have a bunch of different sized, different types of frames (hit up your local thrift stores).  Like in the inspiration picture, you can layer frames on top of each other or you can have a couple of single rows like I do.  Either way the focus goes toward the vertical line down the middlestraight lines where the tops and bottoms line up.  (I know Walmart usually has an end cap full of frames of the same style for $3 each.)  Grab a bunch of different sizes or grab a bunch of the same size and alternate which way you hang them. 

Next, figure out a simple layout.  I laid all my frames out on the floor just as they’d hang on the wall to make sure my alternating pattern was going to look okay.  (Hint:  It does, so really you can skip this step if a’alternating you go.)  Then, to figure out at what height I wanted the frames, I took out the paper inserts in each frame and taped them to the walls (measurements below).
     

Once all that was squared away, I grabbed our level and (lightly) penciled in two lines along which I’d hang the frames.

Then I grabbed my handy dandy picture hanger – a piece of wood with a nail through the end:

(side view)

Then I hung the frame to be hung on it, held it exactly where I wanted it on the wall…

and pressed, making an imprint in the wall where the nail would go.  (If you don’t want to make one, this picture hanging tool would be a great investment!) 

See?

Pound a nail in, hang a frame, move on.  (Oh and don’t forget to erase/wipe off your pencil lines!)

Here are the measurements I used:

And that’s it.  Bada bing, Bada gallery wall.

As for the pictures in the frames, I just grabbed a few of our favorites off of Instagram, resized and edited them by adding the ‘Bob’ filter to each in pixlr.com (the pixlr-o-matic version), and got them printed (and delivered cause you know this mom ain’t braving the public alone quite yet), and inserted.

Since all of the frames were all stuffed in a shopping cart in close quarters, they’re all a little scuffed up here and there but it’s nothing that a little paint can’t fix.  I’m not doing it tomorrow but I’ve been dreaming of repainting our living room and hallway a bright white to lighten things up.  If that happens, how pretty would it be to spray paint these frames a pale gold?  Someday…

So, do you have any secrets/tips to easy gallery wall-ing?  Do share.  I’ve only got 50-some more walls to go!  :)

Sebastian: One Month Young

 
[He gets his gangsta from his pops.]

We’re all alive.  I can’t say it’s been a cake walk because then my nose might extend 10 feet out but, it’s been…mmm, interesting and crazy and hard and crazy and crazy.  I smiled and responded to those “You’re gonna have your hands full” people telling me, the pregnant lady pushing the twins in the double-wide, with “It’ll be crazy but we love it”, but I really didn’t know it’d be this crazy.  Camille took the words right out of my brain in her post this morning. 

But anyway, let’s turn the lights on the little man.  He’s charging up the growth scale, weighing 9 lbs. 11 oz. today (50th percentile) and stretching out at 22.75 inches (90th percentile).  He’s still a champ at eating but sleeping?  Eh…okay.  He’ll let me have one four hour stint every night and then it’s all two or three hours between feedings.  (But let me tell you – I am not complaining!  Feeding ONE vs. TWO in the wee hours of the morning is the only cake walk I’m treading right now!)  He’s still in his sleepy newborn phase but isn’t a fan of being put down so mama plays kangaroo with the moby wrap for most of the day.  Blah, blah, blah, I know lots of you know what a newborn is like and for those of you that don’t, I won’t detail his simple life and bore you to death.  The important thing is that he is dang cute and I have my handsome hubs to thank for that.  : )

Happy One Month little Sebastian!  We love you so!

Framework

A couple of days before Sebastian arrived, Anthony and I left the twins with his parents and got out of the house to run some errands.  On our way home we made a quick stop at my favorite discount store here, Dirt Cheap.  If you’ve been reading for long you’ve probably heard me mention it a few hundred times.  It’s a wreck of a store (literally, stuff is piled on shelves and racks with no organization whatsoever) but a treasure trove if you have a little bit of time and patience.  They carry overstock, customer returns, and unsold clearance items from a bunch of stores including Kohl’s, Old Navy, and Target, just to name a few.  Anyway, every once in awhile I’ll be in right after they’ve cleared a section of shelves of old inventory to make room for new.  What they do is stuff as much unsold/old stuff into a shopping cart as they can, wrap it up with lots of plastic wrap, and sell all of the contents for $10.  You can’t remove the plastic wrap or swap things from other carts; what you see is what you get.  I’ve seen it happen only a handful of times and when I have it’s just been a ton of stationary, Halloween costumes, or school supplies.  This day though, it was Target – picture frames, lamp shades, jewelry, curtain rods, iPad cases, towel bars, plates, and a bunch of other random things.  I almost fainted and I was positive that if I didn’t buy one the minute we walked in it would be stolen from me by the ten people looking over my shoulder.  There were about six carts just whispering my name but after scanning them all as carefully and quickly as I could, we snatched up the two we thought had the most stuff we could use, shelled out $20 for ‘em, and unloaded it all into the back of the van.  Observe:

(Get this – talking the full price of everything we got in our two carts, we paid $20 for roughly $700 worth of merchandise!!!!!)

What I was most excited about were a plethora of gallery wall frames.  I wasn’t positive where they’d all go but as it happens I’m notorious for leaving walls blank for far too long so I thought maybe they’d light that fire…and they did.

Here, my friends, is what our hallway looked like yesterday morning:
Blah-zayyy.

With the entire city of Mobile (and the entire south) on ice lock-down, Anthony had Tuesday (yesterday and today too!) off, so I got a little time to be productive.  I shared a glimpse Tuesday on Instagram of some changes that were going on in said hallway with our plundered frames:

As I type, all the frames are hung and pictures are ordered and should be here next week, when I’ll share the how’s and what’s, where’s and why’s. 

Stay tuned…or should I say, sorry to keep you ‘hanging’.  Har, har, har…   

Happy Birthday Sebastian

I wish I had some crazy story to go along with the entrance of our first son into this world but alas, I don’t.  He was late and scheduled.  As nice as it would’ve been to have him in my arms rather than be 37, 38, 39, and 40 weeks pregnant, we were actually hoping for a late arrival – anytime after January 1st of this year – for insurance reasons.  (In a nutshell, after the twins were born we added them to my individual insurance plan while Anthony kept his own because we weren’t allowed to switch to a family plan until the election period.  That period came and we switched but our fam plan wouldn’t become active until January 1, 2013.  Great, good, grand, and wonderful, right?  Wrong.  Then we got pregnant with Mr. S in April and found out at our first doc appointment that we had at 365 day waiting period in which NO maternity care would be covered.  Mind you, we endured the same waiting period when we had first signed up for this insurance three years prior.  I mean, we were part of the same insurance company so why the waiting period when all we did was switch plans?  Might I also mention that I have been covered under this insurance (*cough*BlueCrossBlueShield*cough*) since I was a wee tot?  Is that an infuriating idea to anyone else?  “Get to the point Sheena!”  Right.  So, Sebastian was due Dec. 30th but his delivery wouldn’t be covered unless he was born in 2014.  A couple of days was literally the difference between us paying thousands of dollars or only paying a small deductible.  Nail-biting.  Well, the kid arrived Jan. 3rd and we still have an open savings account, thank God.  And, needless to say, we switched insurance companies for the above hassle and frustration PLUS the fact that due to Obamacare, our new BCBS plan was going to cost us $300 more per month (!!!!) starting in 2014 and loaded us with a deductible that was $5000 more than what our current had been.  What a joke and a whole ‘nother story.)

So, 2014 was here.  Anthony’s parents were here to help us out while we were at the hospital but they were only here until the 7th of January.  So, because we really needed their help while and after our hospital stay, we planned an induction for January 3rd.  Back up to the night of January 2nd, when this story starts…

You might remember I was induced with the twins.  I went in the morning of their birth because I was (and had been for three weeks) three centimeters dilated.  Seven hours later, they arrived.  With the boy (he didn’t have a name until a few hours after birth), I had been barely one centimeter for weeks so I was told to come in the night before the actual induction for a “kick-start”.  So, we put the girls to bed along the usual routine and then packed up and shipped out to arrive at the hospital around 10 pm.  We walked through the barren lobby, rose up the empty elevator, and waddled (just me, not Ant) down the quiet hallways of the labor and delivery ward where we were given our room assignment and me the super-stylin’, backless gown.  When we were settled and signed in, a nurse came in and checked my dilation (if I was three cm or more, I’d get to go home…I was hoping that was the case).  One freakin’ centimeter still at 40.5 weeks!  All-nighter at the hosptial ‘twas.  They gave me that little white pill they put up by the cervix to soften it, one at midnight and one at 4 am.  Exciting, no?  After the second one, I started feeling stronger contractions (strong as in still pretty weak but hefty compared to the boring Braxton-Hicks).  I was missing my girls, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was pregnant and delivery was imminent, battling whether I should get the epidural or not, scared at the thought of labor pains, dot dot dot.  For short, my mind was racing so sleep hid from me.  I faded in and out all night to whatever was on the mounted television or my phone until 6:30 rolled around and my doc came in to break the boy’s water.  Buuut, break it did not.  The kid really didn’t want to come out and he meant it.  After trying a few times, the doctor said he’d come try again later if it didn’t break on it’s own.  At this point I was a little scared I’d made the wrong decision to induce seeing as some little someone was hell bent on staying inside… 

But, the party kept on going.  Pitocin was added to my drip…oh wait, let me back up.  Right after my doctor left, a nurse came in to check me again (one cm, mayyyyybe two) and stick me with the IV.  Stick me she did and with no results.  I’ve had a few too many IV sticks in my life and have never given a nurse a problem poking me.  Then this one came along.  She was sweet as could be but she had to call in another nurse to get my IV in.  What’s worse than one giant needle poke?  Two, in my book.  Once nurse numero dos got my IV in, the pitocin came and with it, contractions.  Stronger and stronger, you might know how it goes.  Along with the contractions came water.  Apparently the sac had been punctured because with each contraction came a small tidal wave.  Check that one off the list and keep on laboring. 

By the time 9:45 am rolled around, I had had my fair share of contractions and requested the doctor with the numbing meds to come along to me “pretty, pretty please”.  My nurse said he had a few other rounds to make and that he’d probably be 15-20 minutes.  Okay.  Fifteen minutes passed.  Twenty minutes passed.  Thirty minutes passed.  Did you know that once your water breaks, contractions become 2847593 worse?  Forty minutes passed.  Welling tears.  Fifty minutes passed.  “Offer it up, offer it up, offer it up…AHHHH!”  An hour passed.  “Curse the anesthesiologist!/Somebody kill me!/We are DONE having kids!  An hour and fifteen minutes pass and guess who waltzes in.  Yep.  He who supposedly would have/should have been here an hour ago!  (Side note:  Never let your frustration towards a doctor wielding a very large needle show to said doctor.)  I know he wasn’t frolicking down the halls with a lollipop in hand or that he stopped and hit up all those post-Christmas deals on the way to my room so I tried not to be too perturbed at him but just happy all the pain was about to cease.  I tried my hardest to “bend over as far as you can” during” one of those wonderful post-water-break contractions and to keep my wincing to a minimum but damn, that hurt! 

One, two, skip a few because after the epidural kicked in with all it’s fuzzy warmth, uneventful was the name of the game.  The time was 11 am.  The nurse continued to come in and check my dilation (I had hit 5-6 cm sans epidural) and declared around 11:35ish that “we’re gonna start pushing.”  Part of me was excited it was finally time to meet this kid but the other part wasn’t.  The few minutes of shut-eye I had gotten the night before were obviously not going to hold up against the energy it took to push a baby out.  On top of that, my legs felt like they were on the fluffiest clouds you could pluck from the sky and I was warm and toasty and…….zzzzzz.  That’s what I wanted.  I wanted everyone to just leave me alone so I could sleep.  I didn’t want to push.  I was even okay with waiting a few hours to meet our son just so I could take a round trip flight to dreamland.  But, back to reality.  It’s time to push.  Legs up.  Here’s a contraction.  Push like you mean it only you can’t exactly feel where or how to push because you can’t feel anything under your lower back so you sorta just wing it and hope the kid is sliding out?  Yes and yes.

So with every contraction it’s three, 10-second sessions of pushing, over and over and I’m the most tired I’ve ever felt in my entire life when all of a sudden Anthony lets go of my hand and says “Babe, I’m sorry. I think I’m going to pass out.”

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!!!Suspense!!!

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!!!Suspense!!!

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I looked over at him and he was white as could be.  The nurse looked at him like “Great, he’ll pass out and then it’ll be me and two basket cases vs. the one I already have” and then she told him he’d better sit down.  And that’s as exciting as got.  Anthony put his rear in the nearest seat for a few minutes and took a few deep breaths and all was back to normal in a few minutes.  More pushing from me until finally the seas calmed and the wind died down as my wonderful doctor walked through the door.  (Seriously, I have theee best doctor.)  After what felt like an eternity (but in reality was about 30 minutes) of pushing with the nurse, it seemed we weren’t really getting anywhere.  Why?  Because the boy was transverse somehow – head down but crooked!!!  Like I said, hell bent on staying put.  Doc told me I could’ve pushed forever and never moved him because of his positioning.  I had one word to describe my son so far – “stubborn”.  Let’s hope he left it at the cervix.

Five minutes and a little help from the doctor later and our 7 lb. 7 oz. baby boy was born.  The time was 12:23 pm.

 

At this point I was so tired all I wanted to do was take a look at the miracle kid and take a nap.  Maybe sad but true.  I looked in awe at him on my belly and then handed the care-taking baton to Anthony.  The next few minutes and hours are a blur.  I vaguely remember nausea, feeding Sebastian (still unnamed) for the first time and being amazed at the power-nurser he was right from the get-go, drinking the two apple juices they gave me like they were my last meal (I hate apple juice but I was starving!), and the opening and closing of the door as nurses came and went.

Later, the recovery party started (always fun) as the epidural wore off and allll the glorious effects of giving birth came in full swing.  Don’t worry, I won’t go into details but I did “joke” over Instagram that I’d wish the pains of labor and it’s recovery on the next person that ticked me off…only I wasn’t joking.  Look out. 

Somewhere during that time we also settled on the name Sebastian Richard – Sebastian inspired by St. Sebastian, patron of soldiers and athletes and Richard, after my father who passed away in 2004 – vs. Solomon, Felix, or Isaiah or any other names I came up with that Anthony shook a stick at.  (Sebastian’s been Anthony’s dream name for a son ever since picking names for an upcoming kid has been an issue in our lives.  It also happens to be my sister’s favorite name and a strong contender for her first son.  That son was born last July and lucky for us, her husband wasn’t a huge fan of Sebastian so Augustin became him.  Crisis averted.)

That night my in-laws dropped by with the twins, who were a little weirded out.  At first they just stared at me and weren’t interested in giving me any attention much less climb in bed with me but after a few minutes they warmed up, checked out the tiny human in the room, and took to their norm of checking out the place and attempting an overhaul.  Can’t you tell how overjoyed they are via this gem?

       
I think it’s a framer, whadya think?  I know, let’s talk about how the only two people in utter comfort here are the men…

So, there ya go.  The first chapter in the story of our third addition.  There’s not much more I can say about it except that I’m glad it’s over and that it’s a real good thing you forget the pain (wait, do you really because I’m pretty sure the memory still makes me wince…) because we’d all be only-children, am I right?

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Hungry for more labor pains?  Grace has a monster link-up with lots and lots of birth stories.  Go over and get your fill of other people’s pain…in the most miraculous and exciting way of course.  ;)

Cropped Minties

Oh life.  This past week was a doozy.  Last Thursday night Anthony and I were perched on the couch watching our favorite show, White Collar, when all of a sudden our furnace suddenly just shut off and our nostrils caught a whiff of burning something.  I freaked out a little thinking something was going to blow and Anthony remained calm and checked out the situation.  A few phone and house calls later and we found out the not-so-wonderful news that our furnace had breathed it’s last.  After all, it had a good 30 years under it’s blowing belt.  Even though we knew that at its age it was coming, it’s timing with a newborn around and the unseasonably cold weather here down south was nothing less than impeccable.  A few days of playing musical space heaters and a few thousand dollars later, we’ve got a shiny new furnace and a/c to put on this house’s resume.  Great.  Going along with the impeccable timing, Anthony had to leave in the middle of our outage to head up to D.C. with four bus loads of teens to stand up for the unborn in the March for Life.  It was bittersweet to see him go but a great sacrifice all the same.  Lucky for me, my younger sister flew over here from Dallas to help a mother hen and her three chicks out.  Thank God for her.  So, with all that hustle and bustle, the french door Anthony and I were planning on making and installing in the kitchen didn’t happen…yet.

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Oh parenthood.  I’m a go-getter.  Sitting all day just doesn’t do it for me.  And TV, I sat watched enough in the hospital before and after Sebastian was born to last me a year.  With that said, the new kid on the block is only satisfied if he’s nestled in the arms of ma or pa.  No swings, no soft surfaces, no co-sleeper…  So, as much as I love holding the kid alllllthedaylong, nothing ever gets done – no cooking, no cleaning, and especially no DIY.  It’s bittersweet and leaves me longing for the day when he’s old enough to just relax in his bumbo and watch his sisters scrap the place while I do something productive…not that holding him isn’t productive because it is and I love it, but I’m just in need of some activity/movement/excitement in my life (which is why Anthony is holding down the fort this afternoon so I can go out into the world sans children for just a teeny bit.) 

Anyway, what do you care, right?  I know.  It’s probably rambling and there are tons of people out there with weeks more trying than mine but the point is, I’m sorry if it’s a little slow around here in the next few months.  I’m going to try as hard as I can to blog because I really love and miss it and I hope you’ll keep following along!  And while you’re waiting for Sebastian’s birth story (if you even are), here’s a little something to keep you occupied until I’m awake enough to remember type out all those details.

Around the eight month of carrying around Sebastian in utero, I found these Liz Lange (Target) maternity pants at Dirt Cheap for $6.  Maternity pants from Target have never quite fit me right in the hip area but these were just asking for an alteration and since they were so cheap (and that color!!), I couldn’t help myself.  Home they came. 

 

I took them in using the same technique (technique probably isn’t the right word…hack job is probably more like it) I used with these white Gap maternity pants last year.  Here they be now…err, previous to the boy’s arrival: 

And that’s that.  I’d stay and write more (because you know my life be like crazy and lots of words could be poured out on it’s behalf…I only wish) but Anthony just suggested we go for a nice little family walk ‘round the block and guess who’s jumping at that chance…yep, this mom.

Have yourself a good weekend!

Oh and P.S. Some sweet somebody nominated us for a Sheenazing Award (inspired by the incredible Venerable Fulton Sheen…only a bit ironic that my name happens included in the title…) for having the best-looking blog over at A Knotted Life!  I’m truly honored and humbled!  I guess all my googling HTML and CSS code and pretending to be a blog designer has paid off!  Head over to check out all the award nominees and to vote for your faves!

Battle of the Bellies

Until I get the gumption to write up Sebastian’s birth story for y’all (crossing my phalanges for later this week), I thought it’d make sense to back it up a bit and post the bump comparison pictures I took during this singleton pregnancy.  I posted them on Instagram but never blogged ‘em so for those of you who aren’t ‘grammers, take a look.  It was obvious that my twin pregnancy would laden me with a king size belly but I thought it’d be fun to see how much bigger exactly.  Check it:

 

Crazy, huh?  I mean, the first half of Seb’s oven time wasn’t that much different than the girls’ but the second half?  Whoa.  And believe it or not, my singleton pregnancy was overall more difficult.  I was sore, my hips and back ached, I had some crazy nerve pain,  I was tired (because of chasing the twins around no doubt), and I had minor morning sickness up until week 15 (with the twins I had zero).  However, the weight difference was incredible.  Sebastian felt as light as a feather compared to the truckload I carried with the twins – 13 lbs. of baby compared to 7.5 lbs of baby.

Towards the end of this pregnancy I whipped up this comparison pic as well:
A 10 week difference in belly sizes!  So I wonder if that means that at 37 weeks with the twins I was actually measuring at 47 weeks…  Crazy thought.

One Week In

Greetings from Cirque de Tobin!  Let's talk about the past week, shall we?  It's been wild and tame and everything in between.

First, the obvious.  Baby Sebastian - one week young and in the business of making our family of four a family of five complete with three kids under TWO. 

It's as crazy and intimidating as it sounds.  However, I will tell you that taking care of one baby vs. two is a cake walk!  Where with the twins I spent the majority of my days during their first months nursing them, I spend about 10 minutes every two hours nursing this boy.  He came out of the womb knowing how to eat (I expect he gets that from his Pops) and gets his fill in no more than 10 minutes each feeding.  It took S and C at least 20 minutes to fill their bellies, making that 40 minutes plus to get them both fed when I wasn't feeding them at the same time.  It probably helps that I've got a little nursing experience under my belt now plus maybe men are just better and quicker at inhaling their food but the point is, it's crazy how much time I don't spend nursing these days.

A little more on Seb - he sleeps like a champ.  Those of you who have kids know you're supposed to wake your newborns up every two hours during the day and every 3-4 hours at night to eat.  Sebastian's pretty good at hinting he's ready to eat every two hours during the day but at night he'd go four plus hours without eating if I let him...which I have.  The nurse (just out of nursing school) who told us in a straight-from-her-nursing-textbook that we couldn't do that after he slept five hours straight in the hospital one night can sue me.  During the day he's in typical newborn-sleep-mode and while he's not sleeping is content with just peeking at his surroundings, which usually includes two over-interested twins getting all up in his biznaz.

They're absolutely smitten with him...a little too much sometimes.  C gives soft kisses (and licks) to his fuzzy head but then gets really excited and goes in for the ear grab or the binki snatch or the sock steal with full force.  S is always gentle with him and her fave place to be is nose-to-nose watching him bat his eyes or contort his face the way newborns do.  And then they're always pointing out his "nose" and stabbing him in the eyes to point those out.  It's cute and overkill all wrapped up in one big package stamped "sibling love".  

I have yet to type up a widdle birth story but let me tell you a little about the recovery...ouch, ouch, ouch.  I don't remember being as sore and in pain after the twins (whose labor was actually EASIER!)  Then again, I think a week after I had had them I was still constrained to a flat surface whereas a week after this one I feel 90%.  It's a real good thing you forget the pains that bearing a child brings because if you didn't, well, overpopulation wouldn't even be a word.  Am I right moms or amIright?

Anyway, the girls are still asleep and Sebastian is neatly tucked into the moby wrap strapped to my person so what else can I tell you?  Oh yeah, I FINALLY ordered a new laptop!  We actually ordered an HP a few weeks ago but sent it back because it had some major issues in the screen coloring department that couldn't be resolved after a frustrating call to HP and me repeating "I'm sorry, could you say that again" to the foreign man on the other line with the accent I just couldn't untangle.  Here's to hoping this one (which is supposed to come this week) won't disappoint and I'll be back and blogging per the usual because I SO miss it.

Oh and guess what?  I found my nesting bug!  Turns out it was waiting for me on the other side of pregnancy!  :)  I have all this new-found motivation to sew and create and paint and build and...and then I forget that I have a newborn.  So maybe it'll all happen a little slower than usual but there will be projects.  Actually, this week we're working on making a french door complete with inset glass out of a solid wood door to replace the hollow-core door between the kitchen and laundry room.  Also, we built that co-sleeper out of a thrifted changing table for Sebastian and so I'll get a post up all about that.  Here's a peek:

(There's been a little confusion with how it works based on the picture I took.  I snapped this after picture quick while it was not in it's usual spot of right next to the bed.  The short side at the top butts right up against our mattress and is the same height as our mattress, creating an extension of sorts.  The post will explain it better.)

Well, before I ramble some more I should probably scoot.  There's no time like nap time to do fun things like laundry, am I right?

#wrong

Evicted at 40.5 Weeks...

From my uncomfortable perch in the bed de hospitale, I don't have the brain power to write up a birth story quite yet (sorry Dwija, I hope this suffices for now!!) but be relieved that it's really not that interesting.  We checked into the hospital at 10 pm on January 2nd to start the labor process going and get going it did.  Not much sleep and way too many contractions before the anesthesiologist finally got around to me to deliver relief, lots of pushing and feeling like I was going to either pass out from exhaustion or just plain fall asleep during the process and Sebastian arrived, perfect and healthy in every way.  :)

More later!  Thank you all so very much for your thoughts and prayers!  

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P.S.  The blog and I have been battling insane amounts of spam so I had to cap the comment box with an ID login...so sorry!