Rainy Day Project

Yesterday started out and ended sunny, but there were a few hours in the afternoon when it looked like this:

The thunder was almost deafening. There was no way I was going to drive to the grocery store in that weather, so I thought I'd work on something I've been meaning to make: a crib mobile. Now I haven't scrapbooked in a while, due to work and also the discomfort of carpal tunnel. But I kept thinking to myself, "If you make it, she will come." Wishful thinking. I know she'll come eventually, crib mobile or not. But it made for a nice project. Humor me as I walk you through my creative process...

You may or may not have heard that babies can focus easiest on bold, geometric shapes, or shapes that have symmetry to them - which is also why they like to gaze at people's faces. I found some geometric shapes online, as well as in my foam stamp collection. I printed them on cardstock and cut them out.

After a little creative cropping, adhesive and a corner rounder, I hung the designs up using a photo mobile with little alligator clips. Here's the side view:

And baby's view from below:

Neat, huh? Everything is non-toxic, just in case her little hands start reaching, grabbing and chewing them. As she grows and her eyes develop, I can change up the designs and add colors (if I find the time to). The mattress height lowers with growth, so I can still keep it out of her reach for a while. Yeah, I know I could have just bought a fancy-schmancy Baby Einstein mobile, but I like knowing that I made this for her with my own two (achy) hands.

I finally came to the decision not to keep working for the rest of my pregnancy. I felt bad when I told my manager, but she assured me that it was okay and that everybody was surprised I had worked this long in the first place. My friend made a good point that even though working could possibly stir up some contractions, it would also make me overly exhausted and cranky should it actually throw me into labor. I don't want to be the cranky patient, especially since I'm the manager's wife! It's not like I'm putting myself on bedrest, quite the contrary. I'm still planning on taking a little walk today, as well as tidy up the house before Mom comes.

Thanks for checking in. Suse, -and everybody else, for that matter- quit holding your breath. Leave that up to me :)