pregnancy series

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.

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 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!