I made Wy a nap mat for his MDO program this fall. I saw some in stores but didn't really like any of them. The ones I did like were on Etsy for twice the price I wanted to pay. So, I made it. I found two tutorials online and picked from the parts I liked and created one. Here are the links I used:

Jenny Garland

Prudent Baby

What I liked about J.G.: The look overall. The tabs to close it, the strap, pretty much everything

What I didn't like about J.G.: The price of the insert, the washability of the insert, the blanket.

What I likd about P.B.: The ease of washing, the blanket, the width

What I didn't like about P.B.: It looked frumpy, bias tape is a pain to sew, the straps and tabs

What I did: I bought batting from JoAnns in a double bed size, made a velcro opening for the pillow insert to be removed to be washed seperately.

What I wish I did differently: I was I had made the fabric just a bit wider. I followed the J.G. tutorial when cutting the fabric. I wish I had gone with 30 inches wide instead of 22.

How I sewed mine: I wanted to be able to toss this puppy into the washer. Afterall, potty training boy = pee everywhere! So I thought about just doing the J.G. one and adding a layer of vinyl fabric between the fabric and foam. But that would not breathe well, would be crunchy, and well, just didn't sound comfy. So, I took the batting, and my front and back fabric (green and dinosaurs) and layered it all together.

First, make the blanket. I used double sided minky. You could also use fleece or one sided minky. If you use one sided minky, you will need to follow the J.G. tutorial. (And if you have never sewn with minky, it sheds like no other on the cut edges, so be prepared for tiny minky pieces everywhere). I made my own bias tape out of the green fabric. I cut 3" strips and used this tutorial. Once the tape is ready, you will sew it on 3 sides of the blanket, the two shorter ends and one long end.

Fold the batting to the right size to fit the edges of the fabric all the way around. The way I did it, the batting was about 4 inches too short for the width I folded. So I just left it that way, sewed the short end to the batting so it won't get messed up and move around in the wash.

Take the dino fabric and put the velcro for the tabs on it. I measured 28 inches from the bottom and sewed it on. You may want to roll the fabric and batting up like you would when it is finished and have the tabs pinned on to check and see where the tabs will lay comfortably. Then put the velcro there. (that is actually what I did.) Then sew the velcro on the right side of the dino fabric and the tabs.

Then I put the dino fabric on the batting face up Pin the strap in place according to the J.G. tutorial, 10 inches from the bottom. Then pin the tabs on the bottom of the dino fabric. (I measured to the middle of the dino fabric, then measured half of that on both sides and then put the middle of the tabs onto the middle of those spots). Then pin the blanket onto the right edge of the dino fabric (so that when it is finished the blanket will fold over from the left side, not that it really matters, this is just what I did.)

Once all that is pinned, I lay the green fabric face down onto the dino fabric and batting and pin it all the way around. You want to leave about 13-15 inches from the top for the pillow. Once all pinned, sew all the way around the sides and bottom of where the batting is. Then I flipped the whole thing to make it where the batting was inside and the green and dino fabric were facing out (like you would when you sew a pillow cover). Then sew the three layers of fabric/batting together at the top. Next put a strip of velcro on the left side of where the pillow will lay. Then I sewed the edges on the top and right side of the pillow insert. You could probably use bias tape to make it look nicer, but I HATE bias tape lol. Then you are done.

I don't think I missed any steps. If I did let me know where you get stuck and I will go through and figure what I missed.

Why I sewed it the way I did: I wanted to just toss the mat into the washer and dryer. With the batting edges sewed all the way around I shouldn't have to sew the middle area of it. I wanted the pillow to be removeable to wash. If you don't care about that, then when sewing around the batting, don't stop at the top of the batting, sew the entire length of the sides and just leave the top of the mat open to flip it. You will still need to sew the top of the batting edge to keep it in place and keep the pillow from falling into that area. Then you will just have to sew that edge and then fold the edges on the top of the mat down and close it.

Here is a picture of our finished project: It is upside down and the pillow area is flipped over to show some detail.

Wow, sorry its been like 3 months since my last post, we have had a super long summer.

We started it off by spending a week in NC visiting Travis' uncles. Then a week in KY for T's job. Then I spent a week in Tulsa visiting family. July we spent a week in Milwaukee looking for a new house. Oh yeah, we are moving to Milwaukee. Oh boy, super busy summer. Good news, we found a house, just waiting for the appraisal to be done before closing at the end of September. August I went to Nebraska for a 3 day trip and family reunion and then spent a week in Tulsa for my friend Sarah's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and she made a drop dead gorgeous bride! MidAugust, T and I celebrated 3 wonderful years of marriage while up in Milwaukee again to find the house and put an offer in on it.

So that was our summer. We close on our house on Tuesday. It is going to be bittersweet. I will be glad we are moving on, but I am going to be super sad that we will have only lived in our first home less than a year. Then we are going to spend a day with my grandparents, a day with T's parents, then head north. We plan on stopping either in St. Louis or Springfield. Then by Sept 4 we will be in our new for for the following 3 weeks. A hotel with a kitchenette. That is going to be super duper fun! T, me, Wy, and our 90 lb puppy dog.

And in thyroid news, I have been on Methimazole for like 5 weeks now. My TSH is up to .54 now, major increase from where it was. However, I don't feel any better, if anything I feel worse! I have been having heart palpitations and have been much more moody. (Read pissy!) And my right thyroid area has been swelling on and off.

I have an appt with a new DR up north the week we get up there. Hopefully he can help figure what is going on with me!

So earlier this week I went in for an ultrasound on my thyroid Tuesday. That evening the the nurse practioner called and told me that the "nodule" on my thyroid was both solid and cystic. Which means I now have to go in next Monday & Tuesday for a RadioActive Iodine Uptake and Scan. Which means I have to go take a RADIOACTIVE pill Monday morning. Then Tuesday I have to go in and they will do a scan and see how the iodine and radiation are reacting in the nodule.

There are two different reactions. It will either be hot or cold. If its hot the NP said depending on my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) they will probably just monitor the nodule and my TSH. If its cold, they have to biopsy it and see if it is cancer. Yeah, thats right Cancer. UGH!

I don't want to wait and see if it is hot. I am losing hair drastically. I used to be able to put my hair into a hair tie 2 times and it was tight. Now its 3 bordering on 4 times. The NP said oh well, thats probably not related to your thyroid, its probably due to vitamin deficiancy. Well, i am taking 2000iu of Vitamin D/day and I am still losing lots of hair. Depending on the results of the RAIUS I plan on going to a new doctor for a second opinion. Online there are sites that talk of DRs who treat the SYMPTOMS not the blood test. I just want to get better. I want to stop losing hair and having super dry skin and being tired all.the.time, and gaining weight/not being able to lose weight. I have all these symptoms that scream HYPOthyroid but this office is saying HYPERthyroid because of my TSH levels. I hate this. (Elle if your reading this tell your husband to listen to his patients when they are having issues not just order blood tests and ignore the symptoms the patient is having.)

Now onto the other part of my oh so crappy week. I have fire ants in the house. But these were just itty bitty tiny guys. So Monday I called our bug guys and they came out and put out bait. It is getting close to the 30 day re-spray. Well, while they were putting bait out they checked out where I said the ants may be coming from. What did they find? Ants yes. Oh but also TERMITES. MOTHER F#%&##. It just gets worse and worse. So today the Terminex guys come (they are contracted through our home warranty, so instead of 1k, it only cost us $200). At least that was one up for this week. However the guy called this morning at 8:30 to tell me they'd be here this afternoon. About 30 minutes later, while making breakfast for Wy, and me in my pajamas still (read shorts and tshirt only), the doorbell rings. Yup its the exterminator. So I have to go get the dog in lock him in the kitchen with baby gates, and then try to go upstairs and get dressed. However while getting dressed I look out the window and the dude is waiting outside the front door. So now I have to run back downstairs and see what he wants. I need to move the fence from our garden so he can treat there. So I again go to get dressed, succeed, but then have to leave the kid in the kitchen with the dog to move the fence. It just went on and on.

Thank goodness T comes home Saturday night. But then my Grandma is flying in Sunday afternoon so that she can watch Wyatt during my Dr appts as well as the following three days because I can't hold Wyatt too close because well, I will be radioflippinactive. I have to sleep in a separate bed, flush the toilet two-three times after using it and wash my hands extremely througholy.

So Wyatt is in need of some new shoes. He is in a size 7 or 7 1/2 depending on the shoe. Sadly, he is about to outgrow his current pair of Robeez. I love these shoes. They are sooo comfy because they don't have hard soles. They are easy for him to run in and go anywhere. Also sadly, he wore them to his grandparents house, so the bottoms are covered in dog pee because apparently they think its ok not to clean up after their overgrown rats. So they aren't allowed to be worn inside anymore.

Well, there is a this wonderful lady who is a mother of twins that is giving away a pair of Robeez. So I am really hoping I win! She gives you like 7 ways to enter. I am doing all but the twitter one since I don't have a twitter account. Here is hoping I win!!

So on Kelly's Korner Blog every week she does a Show Us Your Life McLinky party. This week she is doing baby names. Baby names are something everyone thinks of eventually. Whether you are trying for a baby now or in the future. you may hear a name and think oh my, they named their child Cadillac? I would never name my child after a car! For me, I love baby names. When we were choosing names for Wyatt, we had such a list going. Granted, most of the names on that list were girl names. For boys we had 2 names. Connor and Wyatt.

T LOVED the name Connor. But I just couldn't get the image of Lacy Peterson and that sad little empty bedroom out of my mind. So we choose Wyatt. Now because I "picked" the first name, T thought he should get to pick the middle name. Fair enough. However, I didn't expect him to pick Dennis. I have never been a fan of Wyatt's middle name, BUT the meaning behind it is what really matters.

Dennis was T's favorite cousin. Back in 2005, Dennis died of a heart attack. He was only in his 40s. Dennis also had a sister who died from a diabetic coma when she was only in her 20s. So we thought by naming Wyatt Dennis, we could honor Dennis' memory and show tribute to his aunt and uncle who had lost so much.

Girl names I am addicted to. I love love love the name Cecelia. Unless things change dramatically before we have a baby girl, her name will be Cecelia. T loves the name Kairi (Ky-ree). Its cute, but not my style. So if we have a baby girl # 2, this will be here name. Other names I like are Kailen (Kay-lynn), Isabel (but sadly it has become much too popular for my taste), Charlotte (if we ever had twins I would kinda sorda need to name them Cecelia and Charlotte), Amelia, Olivia (again too popular), Penelope (Penny), oh the list goes ON!

Boy names I have expanded my list since Wyatt. I like the name Oliver, Wesley, Beau, Noah, Warner, Hudson, and Tristan.

So any future children will most likely be:

Wesley Travis --Travis is husband's name and my great grandpa's last name
Oliver Bruce --Bruce is my favorite uncle's name
Cecelia Violet --Violet is my grandmother's name
Kairi Anne --Anne is part of my middle name, T's mother's middle name, and a version of my greatgrandma's middle name (Anna).

We plan on having 2 more children. Whether we are able to have them naturally, with a little help, or through adoption we don't know. But we do know our family will not be complete without 2 more children.

AKA Out of Town. Which is what my husband will be on Sunday. Yes. Mother's day. URGH! He is going to Canada on Sunday. He had to go to China over Easter. I swear its like his work think ok, we have holiday coming up, we gotta send T somewhere!
I told him if he had to go somewhere on 4th of July, heads were gonna roll.

Also, we have been trying to get his work to commit to send T to KY during the 2nd week of June. This way they will give him mileage to go out there and we can not only tag along but make a quick trip to NC the week before and use the $ that his company gives him for mileage to pay for the trip. So with this Canada trip, I am hoping they will give in. Hope Hope Hope!! We have the money to go to NC without the KY trip, but we can always use that money toward's Wy's big boy room!!

Speaking of Big Boy room, I will be posting later all the stuff we plan on doing for his room soon!

Go here and let me know what you think. I plan on printing out the pictures in 5x7 and putting them in a 3 picture matted frame. I know Father's Day is still like 1 1/2 months away, but hey, at least I am not waiting until the last minute haha!

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