Impending Pepe (plus a newborn hoodie makeover and then some)

Holy cannoli...I'm having a baby SO soon!!! We're T-minus 6.5 weeks and counting. Whoa.
...That, and an over-analysis of every minute physical symptom that could possibly be related to early labor, is what consumes most of my thoughts right now.

So I just graduated from grad school this past May, and this is basically the first fall of my entire life (well, since I was 4 and not counting the fall I got married) that I haven't been in school. My sense of life-rhythm is still extremely wrapped up in the school schedule. So it was a little crazy the other day when it occurred to me that my due date, December 15th, is also the same time that a fall semester typically ends. I thought about how I usually feel at this point in the semester, a few weeks before Thanksgiving. It's the over-halfway point, when you've gotten through midterms, are anticipating a few last papers to finish up over Thanksgiving break, and after that it's pretty much smooth sailing until finals. Basically, this is the point in the year when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel (as well as feel the panic of everything left to be done in a seemingly-too-short amount of time). You start to feel like it's almost over - there's more semester behind you than in front of you, and it's sort of like the sprint to the finish. Those of you still in school (or recently in school) know what I'm talking about. And it struck me as crazy that the way all of you students are thinking and feeling about how close the end of the semester is, is exactly how I'm feeling about a new BABY coming into my life.  I have the same amount of time to get ready for his arrival as you have before you make it to Christmas break. This may be lost on all you non-students, and maybe I'm not articulating the feeling as clearly as I'm feeling it, but it feels like it's all coming crazy-fast.

In other baby news, my doctor has informed me that her practice's policy is not to let me go beyond one week past my due date. I won't get into my long-winded feelings about this topic (the short version of which is that I think it's stupid and frustrating), but the net result of this fact is that the very latest Pepe can debut is December 22nd. Well, technically, that's the latest I can go into labor, so theoretically he could be born on the 23rd, I guess - which would be funny if it happened, because then he would share a birthday with my Grandpa Elkjer, my sister-in-law Nicole, and his cousin Nitzana. Not to mention the whole Christmas-birthday thing. That's a lot of birthday sharing! But the good news about the one-week-overdue limit (since I'm trying to look at it that way) is that I will DEFINITELY have a baby before Christmas! And if all goes well in terms of a normal (aka non-Caesarean) delivery, I should even be home for Christmas (or at least ON Christmas day). This is the bright side of a stupid and antiquated policy. 

(FYI, I am working really hard right now to restrain myself from starting on my various soapboxes about labor and birth here, and I'm sure the same reaction is being triggered in many of you who are close to these issues. But, I don't want this blog to be about my soapboxes, so I'm going to continue resisting the urge. I also have explored all my prenatal options and unfortunately this is the best it's going to get for a VBAC delivery.)

ANYWAYS. Speaking of little Pepe, I've finally gotten the momentum up to work on my long list of projects for him. Here's one of my first finished products (besides all those awesome onesies Lisa and I made together):

I picked up this cute newborn-sized orange hoodie on the Target clearance rack for $2.50. (I'm a major sucker for baby hoodies. We won't talk about the size of Pepe's growing collection.) It's thinner material, much more lightweight than a typical sweatshirt, and I got it with intentions to line the hood and add the front pouches. The cuffs were an afterthought. I thought it would be pretty simple to do and it totally was. And I think it turned out great, at least by baby-clothes standards (meaning: it's far from perfect if you look too closely, but it doesn't matter because its only job is to make its wearer look adorable). I love it! -- Almost as much as I love that my crafting space no longer looks like that insane mess in the "Before" picture. (It makes for a nice contrast with the white of the "After" background, though, eh?)

So one of those far-from-perfect details is that these front pouches, while awesome, are not actually functional. It was a [minor] oversight that didn't occur to me until I had already sewed the first one shut. Oops. I didn't bother to fix it, though, because let's be honest: a newborn has no use for these anyway. They're strictly for looks. (Remember the baby-clothes standard.) I also love that the jersey knit nightgown that the stripey fabric came from had all these lovely serged edges, which I re-used. Oh, to actually own a serger. Someday.

Lining the hood was somehow easier, faster, and simpler than making those front pouches. Go figure. It's probably because I wasn't a perfectionist about it (AT ALL). I cut off the bottom of this picture so you can't see yet another far-from-perfect detail, which is the unfortunate reality that the lining is too short. There's like an inch between the neck seam and where the lining starts. But again, it's a newborn wearing it, and let's be honest, that part's not even going to show, right? ...Anyways, I love how this turned out. It feels great to be adding homemade (or at least home-embellished) contributions to his growing clothing collection.

Today I also finished my first-ever quilty thing! Okay, so it's definitely more of a blanket, BUT I actually "quilted" it and successfully sewed on my first quilt binding (by machine, not hand - I am not that ambitious), plus I did my first official applique, so it totally counts as quilty. However, I'm only posting an itty bitty sneak peak of this project, because I appliqued Pepe's [real] name onto it, and we're not letting that secret out until the little man himself comes out. At least, that's the plan for now. But here's your glimpse:

A peek at the applique! (If any of you sleuths out there have name guesses based on this tiny peek, keep them to yourselves please. I'm scared you might guess correctly, and I have a horrible poker face, even over the internet.)

Check out that rounded corner. I was pretty excited. (See, I told you I'm a rookie sewer!)

 So yeah, that's all you get. I'm really happy about how it turned out considering my total lack of experience in quilty blanket making. This was the one and only baby project I allowed myself to spend money on for supplies, since we're on major spending lockdown around here. (I spent a total of $15 or so - I think it was sooo worth it.)

And anyways, something about putting his name on a tangible object made this whole thing (made HIM) so much more real to me. Seriously, there is a little one cooking in there who is going to be on the outside SO SUPER SOON. Crazy. I can't wait to meet him!