20 weeks - best & worst things about being pregnant

20 weeks! I'm a bit late on this week's post, but I'm happy that I'm at the half way point of my pregnancy. It went so quick, and I feel as though the second half will go quicker. I can't believe I will be holding a baby in less than 5 months!

This week I received a package from my father-in-law in the States, a package full of baby goods:) Blankets, clothes, "I love grandpa" bib..etc. It was so sweet! I can't wait to decorate the nursery with them. I felt bad though, because the shipping fee was very expensive ($50!).

I've been feeling the baby's kicks every day this week. This has been the best part of my pregnancy so far! I love feeling the baby move. When I first started feeling the move, it felt as though I was keeping a small gold fish in my belly. Now that the baby got bigger, if feels more like I have an eel in my belly..I know, it's not a lovely image, but I feel that way!

Before I started to feel the move, I often worried whether I was really pregnant. I had no morning sickness, and things really didn't change much for the first couple of months in my pregnancy, so I sometimes forgot that I was pregnant. I like that the baby reminds me that I'm pregnant now by his kicks!

I don't want to be completely negative here, but I will be honest, the worst part of my pregnancy is the changing body image. I didn't expect to receive so many comments from people about how I look once I got pregnant, and I wasn't ready for it. Just so you know, I'm not talking about comments left on my blog, rather, comments from people in real life. I don't mind people telling me my belly has grown. But I've also received some comments about my thighs and butts getting bigger, I'm too big for 5 months, or too small for 5 months. And I try not to worry or care about it much, but it's hard not too. I just wonder why people can't keep their comments to themselves...

Not only some people around me, but also some nurses at the hospital I go to like to bust my balls. I love and hate going to the hospital at the same time. I love because I get to see the baby with ultrasound, but I hate it because nurse comes around to check and comment on how I'm doing with weight gain. According to her, I'm only allowed to gain 8kg through out the pregnancy, because if I gain more than 8kg, the baby will hard time coming out because of the fat or something. And last time, she nagged me for gaining too much already. Well, I gained 2 kg at 4 months point, which I didn't think it was terrible. But the weight they measured at the hospital weighted 1-2 kg heavier because of clothes and I just had a lunch. I tried to explain that to her, but she told me to measure my weight correctly (I guess with clothes on?!) and I should not gain any more until the next visit. I felt very sad, because regardless of what I actually weighted, she made me feel big, fat and ugly... I also felt terrible because I felt as though I'm more concerned about myself than the baby's well-being.

I know everyone experiences different pregnancy, and my experience is vastly different from my friend's, who had a baby 6 months ago. Also, I wanted to make sure to write that this might be uniquely Japanese experience, and I think I would have experienced the pregnancy in much different way if I were still in the U.S.
It seems to me that the weight gain is stricter here, and I've read in some website that pregnant women going on a severe diet because the doctors tell them not to gain much weight.

Anyway, if you are pregnant now or if you had experienced pregnancy in the past, what is/was the best/worst part?

Love crocheting

Beige crochet fingerless mitts

I might have written in the past that I'm not a big knitter. Knitting and Crocheting takes so much longer than sewing, or it may seems to me, and I am rather an impatient person. However, for some reasons, I'm loving crocheting right now. I love sitting on my couch with hot milk and home baked cookies, crocheting while I watch Dexter at night (I'm watching Dexter season 2 right now...love the show!).

I got the idea for these fingerless mitts from this blog post. The pattern is super simple. I made 40 chains in the beginning, and then did the single crochet until the height reached to the point I wanted. Then I sewed the sides together, leaving a hole for a thumb. I also added a belt and a lovely button to add some feminine touch to the mitts.

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19 weeks

19 weeks! For some reasons, I think I look less pregnant this week than when I took a photo of 17 weeks. I'm not sure why.

This week, I started to notice that some of my pre-pregnancy clothes no longer fit me. I have a couple of dresses that the back zipper did not go up. Also when I went to H&M last week, I tried on the size 4 dresses like I usually do, and again, the zipper got stuck in the middle. Very sad, but a part of life I guess!
I'm wearing Banana republic sweater dress Kaitlyn gave me, and it's very comfortable.

Today I wanted to share this website that has a full of baby clothes patterns! for free! yay:) The website is called "Handmade no kokoro" (heart for handmade) and it's all in Japanese. If you don't read Japanese, you can still hit the green download button to download pdf patterns. The website has patterns for bibs, baby dresses, pants, bloomers with ruffles, rompers, diaper covers, baby kimono, baby mitts and hats... so many! I don't know where to start, but everything looks pretty simple to make.
I used their pattern last year to make baby clothes and bibs for my baby shower.

Marie skirt variation

Hi! This is a project I worked on before I took a trip to the States. It's a variation on Marie skirt from BurdaStyle. I really like the Marie skirt pattern, with it's high waist band, pleats in the front and back, and the cocoon shape. I used it previously to make these dresses.

This time, I changed the waist band to scalloped edges. Here is an useful tutorial on how to make a scalloped edge. I used the case of my finishing powder to draft the scallops, but basically you can use any circle objects, like a can, or a mug. I also shorten the length of the skirt.

The fabric used is a dark green corduroy I bought at Tomato in Nippori.

Scalloped Waist Green Corduroy Cocoon Skirt

Three things

I came back from vacation last night. I was in NY & Philly for little over a week. It is always so hard to be back from vacation, but some lovely people made it easier for me with these precious gifts:)

Flower from my husband

Gift from my mom, silicon pot and a cook book

Souvenir from Thailand from a friend - fabric, soap and mint balm.

18 weeks

yay 18 weeks! and right now, I'm in Philly. I flew in to NY last week, spent a couple of days with family in North Jersey, then came down to Philadelphia on Friday night.

To be honest, the plane ride this time was pretty tough on me. I got sick, with terrible runny nose and rash on my entire body from the dry air of the plane. I feel much better now, but my eyes are still red from exhaustion. I had a bad jet-lag, which I still haven't overcome.. you see, I used to force-fix the jet-lag with NyQuil and wine, but obviously, I couldn't use my secret tactic this time. (sigh).

I had a chance to go back to my favorite vintage & thrift shops and fabric shop in German town with Naoko. There, I found this adorable baby sweater and hat set and I just had to take them home with me. I love the white elephant on the sweater, and I think this baby blue works for both boy and girl. As I mentioned before, I'm not very good at knitting and crocheting, but I hope to be able to make some cute knitted goods for the baby this winter.


When I met with the family, they gave me some goodies for the baby - lovely handmade afghan, baby blanket etc. Along with those goodies, they also gave me this book "making children mind without loosing yours" by Kevin Leman. The book was given to my mother-in-law from my grandparents-in-law, and she graciously passed the book down to me.
Also, thank you for the recommendations for pregnancy blogs! I added them to the "Favorite Links" on the right hand side bar, under "pregnancy". I love Hana's blog, she is 23 weeks pregnant now. It's so fun to see the process of someone who is in the same stage of pregnancy!

17 weeks

17 weeks now. My belly started to show a bit, and some of my clothes no longer fit comfortably. I can't wear my regular jeans any more, although I've never been a big jeans person, so thank God that I don't miss those much. I'm glad I look like I have a baby bump now, instead of looking like a girl who ate too much lunch:)

I went to get my ultrasound done last Friday, and the baby is doing very well. He moves around a lot, showing us different poses..even the nurse was surprised how much he moved!
One great thing about Japanese doctor is that they do ultrasound once a month at the visit, even more when you get closer to the due date. My friend who lives in the U.S. envied me since she only got hers done a couple of times. The doctor I go to even video tape it for you with a DVD, so I can show my family later.

By the way, I keep referring my baby "he", but I haven't found out the sex yet. I though I would, last Friday, but the doctor told me to wait another month. I call the baby he because I think I'll have a baby boy. My husband's mom had 4 boys and his grandmother had 3 boys, so I feel like I'm destined to have boys also. But you never know! It might be a girl, and I would be happy with either.

I have some pet names for the baby, and one of them is "Ringo chan". Ringo means apple in Japanese. According to some pregnancy websites, the baby is now a size of an apple. So I call him ringo chan.

Today I wanted to share the pregnancy related blogs that I follow - I think many of them already gave birth, and it's also great to see the baby's photos and what they make for the baby.

♥ adored austin: Indiana had a baby boy in October 2010. Her post about "what not to wear: pregnancy edition" was just awesome!
♥ Dear Baby: Melissa had a baby girl, and the blog has wonderful photos.
♥ Bleubird Vintage: She had a baby girl, Gemma, about 3 months ago. I love her vintage pregnancy style, and her blog was the one that got me motivated to record my pregnancy as well. Also love her "What we wore" posts.
♥ Pacing the Panic Room: I really enjoyed reading her "walk to 40 weeks" series.
♥ mairuru: I just found out about this blog through one reader's comment (Thanks SH!). Mai is a wonderful crafter and she has an adorable etsy shop, called "siesta". She made all kinds of baby items for her daughter.

Do you have any other recommendations? Please let me know so I can add to my reading list!

JJ shirt dress and bumble bee hat

Hi! Weekend is here! We've had a wonderful sunny weather this weekend. My husband, I and our friends took a day trip to a place called Miyagase-ko, which is close to Atsugi in Kanagawa prefecture. It was a fun spot with some street vendors, hiking course and beautiful lake. We went there to "hike", but ended up climbing a mountain called "Takatori-yama", that is 700 meters high. When we started the hiking course, we did not realize that we would be climbing a mountain!
It was beautiful, and also hell of a workout. I don't remember climbing a mountain since my high school school trip, but this might going to be my new hobby. It was really fun.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

top: stripe stand up collar shirt dress

bottom: bumble bee reversible hat

Here are some sewing projects that I worked on over last week.
The one on the top is a shirt dress I made based on JJ pattern from BurdaStyle. I like to use the same pattern several times and make different variations.. You can see my other JJ variations here and here.
This time, I simply lengthen the shirt pattern to turn it into a dress. I also lengthen the sleeves too, to make them 3/4 cropped sleeves.
It came out rather too simple for my liking, and I wish I added some accents to it, maybe front ruffles.. oh well maybe next time. It is great for laying though!

The bottom is another hat. I love making hats! So simple and fun, and I love playing with different fabrics. It's reversible, and the combination of stripes and mustard yellow reminds me of a bumble bee:)

SHOW studio free patterns!

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