Photo magnets: How to

These photo magnets are perfect for any time of the year, but I especially love to give them around Christmas time! They're perfect for any member of the family, and you can use any kind of pictures you want, even generic decorative photos just for fun! I personally use photos of my children, so I can give them to relatives.

The materials you're going to need can all be picked up at Michael's, I don't know exact prices but I know it's less than $20 for sure! I was able to make 5 batches of magnets!

Clear Adhesive (Amazing E-6000)
Clear flat sided marbles
.5" circular magnets
8.5X11 Photo paper
Gift card tin

The first step is to choose your photos. The key is to pick a picture where the subject is centered and further back in the photo so that it will fit underneath the marble. You can practice by choosing a few photos, printing them on plain paper, and then placing a stone on top to get a clue as to how they'll look.

I picked out as many photos as I needed and added them all to a folder called 'Magnets'. I selected all of the pictures in the folder, right click, and print. When you get to the print screen make sure you have photo paper selected, and the size 8.5 by 11. You should be able to choose how big you want the photo to be, such as 8X10 or 5X7, you need to choose the option called 'Contact Sheet' which can print up to 35 very small pictures.

Once the page has printed I placed a marble on top of the photo, centered it to how I wanted it to look as a magnet and then used a pen and made a rough tracing. You don't have to make it exact, or beautiful, as you'll be cutting well within the lines.

Once each photo is traced take a pair of scissors and cut within the lines. Place the marble over the cut picture and trim the sides as needed. They don't have to be perfect circles, the marbles aren't perfectly round, and are also pretty forgiving.

Once you have them all cut out it's easiest to divide them into a couple of groups to glue. Add a small dab of glue to the center of each photo, then press a marble flat side down onto each picture. Press firmly until you see the glue spread underneath completely.

Once each marble is placed you don't need to wait for them to dry. Lay your magnets out and add a small dab of glue to the center of each one just like you did with the pictures.

Take the marble/pictures and firmly press them on top of the magnet. Once that was complete I placed them all into the gift card tin to dry. It is best to let them dry and air out for a few days before you put the lid on the tin, because the glue can be strong smelling.


And that's all there is to it! An easy DIY project that takes little time, and little money!

38 Week Update

I just realized that this is probably my last weekly update post! It doesn't necessarily have to be my last post, because I can always post next Tuesday night to wrap up my feelings on this pregnancy (no promises though, we have company arriving this weekend and I'll be beside myself getting things done and worrying about my girls the night before), but I will try!

I'm also writing this post about as prematurely as I ever have because I'm loaded up on two cups of coffee and I have no idea what to do with myself! I don't have all the energy in the world, but my head is buzzing and I need to keep myself occupied! Although, I have been feeling that way for the past 3-4 days now, so I can't say it's all attributable to this newest caffeine intake. How much more caffeine is in coffee as compared to Mt Dew? I usually drink a can during the day (no judging!)

I'm looking forward to having the cleaning lady come tomorrow. I picked up and cleaned everything this past week so that she can do the deep cleaning of the important rooms like the bathrooms and the kitchen, although it's been difficult not to clean some of it with all of this nesting going on! I really do hate cleaning bathrooms though, gross.

I'm packing my hospital bag today! I set that goal for when I turn 38 weeks and here I am! I probably won't be able to put everything into it (toiletries and such) until the night/morning before but all of the clothes and other personal effects on my list are getting packed today! I will probably go and do that soon in fact. I'm also finishing my other to do list item today and taking the girls to their WIC appointment this afternoon, unless I'm passed out from a coffee crash ha

I received quite the surprise last Thursday at my second to last BPP, and my final growth scan ultrasound. I was hoping he'd be over 6lbs at least, and I think I estimated him at 6lbs 3oz in my last post. Much to my surprise, he measured about 6lbs 14oz! That's 2oz shy of 7lbs! I'm thinking we're going to have an 8lb baby boy on our hands next Wednesday! I'm very pleased that he's growing so well! And as for myself, as of yesterday my total weight gain for this pregnancy has been 15lbs! I'm very proud of that!

Friday I have my very last BPP ultrasound, and then on Monday I have my very last NST and Dr appointment, Wednesday is the big day! I'm nervous, excited, scared, excited, and sad and worried about leaving my baby girls alone for that many days. They've never been without mama like that :( I hope I'm more distraught than they are! It would kill me to have them get upset and screw up their days and schedules because I'm gone, absolute guilt!

Symptoms - Back pain, acne, lightning crotch from him pressing his head down, heartburn, really sore and puffy gums, and a lot of pressure!
Food cravings - I perhaps have had enough Jimmy John's, nothing else comes to mind!
Size of baby - I'm going to guess his birth weight to be 8lbs give or take 2oz!

37 Week Update

This is it! The final stretch! On Sunday I officially crossed my last milestone, you could say my very final milestone is to meet Bitty! 14 more days!

I'm excited, but I'm also uncomfortable and counting down the days. I can't say I'm anywhere near being as in pain and uncomfortable as I was with the girls' pregnancy, but pregnancy itself is difficult! I'm not one of those lucky women who doesn't have any problem and sails right through, I'm a complainer lol

My back hurts, the braxton hicks are frequent and annoying, sometimes a little too uncomfortable, and when Bitty moves certain ways it's very painful. His movement has slowed down quite a bit the past week or so, he still moves don't get me wrong, but I think his butt is just a little too big in there ha

Tomorrow I have my second to last BPP ultrasound and he'll finally get measured. I thought he was going to get measured for size last week but they said they do it every 3 weeks otherwise it's not as accurate. I'm looking forward to seeing how much they think he weighs! On Monday I had my NST which he passed again, without any caffeinated assistance I might add, and my Dr appointment. I didn't have any questions about my impending surgery, even though when I start to think about it I get really nervous, doesn't matter that I've done it before, I think knowing what's going to happen might just be worse on the nerves! The spinal block wasn't that bad I keep telling myself, but it's still so scary! And I'm worried about recovery as well. I can't wait to see this little boy, and hear his first cries, and announce his name to everyone.

I did some final shopping this past week for the newborn shoot, which the girls are going to participate in as well. I bought Bitty the cutest crocheted puppy hat and diaper cover set and I can't wait to see it in person! I have some cute outfits for the girls, but they needed a new matching headband for it so I found one last night, very excited about that as well! I sent an email to the photographer asking a few last questions before I book the date (hopefully the 19th when he's a week old) so I hope that's all taken care of!

I made a list of what I'm packing in my bag, basically the same as I did last time along with a few things I wish I had packed the first time around (my own socks, the hospital ones slide around on my feet and drive me absolutely nuts, some slippers for walking around, snacks are also on my list this time instead of having to eat a bunch of graham crackers in the middle of the night because that's all that is available, and chapstick for sure, hospitals are dry!!) I'm planning on actually packing when I'm 38 weeks, gives me a little goal to look forward to, but in case something happens this week I have the list all made out anyway!

Justin is having a cleaning lady from work come in next Thursday to deep clean the bathrooms, kitchen, and do some mopping and dusting. I hate cleaning bathrooms even when I'm not 38 weeks pregnant! I'm looking forward to that! We also need to take the dogs to the groomer to be bathed and so Carrie can be shaved and groomed in preparation for baby. We probably won't clean and arrange the van until the day before I go to the hospital because I still drive around with the girls and won't be able to lug my belly into the very back seat to buckle them into the new configuration, especially since Nessy will be rear facing still. She isn't 20lbs yet so we can't turn her around, Allison is just barely over which I don't like, but we don't have a choice. She'll probably love forward facing though. And finally on my to do list is to make a WIC appointment for next week to have the girls' weights taken and get 3 more months of checks. I'm curious to see if these past two months of pediasure have helped the girls to gain any weight, or if it was a waste of time, even though they really enjoy drinking it and it's definitely not hurting anything!

Symptoms - Back pain, acne, lightning crotch from him pressing his head down, heartburn.
Food cravings - Jimmy John's, I could eat it every day!
Size of baby - I'm going to guess that he weighs 6lbs 3oz!

36 Week Update

According to my ticker there are 21 days until he is born! That doesn't seem like that long, but in pregnant time things tend to seem a lot slower! Sunday will mark me at 36 weeks 4 days, which is how far along I was when I had the girls, so on Monday I will be the most pregnant I've ever been! Obviously no worries about preterm labor over here!

I didn't make a 35 week update, oops! I was planning to do it on Thursday after my ultrasound again but I forgot, then I kept forgetting, and I also was not using my desktop computer to get online for almost a week. Every time I sat down to the computer my back was screaming at me, I could not even sit here for 5 minutes, so I was just using my kindle to check facebook and that was it!

Updates this week - On Sunday I had some momentary energy and decided to get all the laundry and a bunch of dishes done. I started noticing a pretty drastic increase in watery discharge lacking any distinct smell (it didn't smell like pee basically lol) and it lasted all day long. Luckily I had an appt right away on Monday morning so I mentioned it to my doctor since they were checking my cervix for dilation anyway so they checked and said there wasn't anything leaking as far as they could tell. I requested an ultrasound just to verify fluid levels and everything was perfect there too! I still have the increase in discharge, but at least now I know it's pretty much a normal 3rd trimester thing and not amniotic fluid! Apparently amniotic fluid will have a very distinct sickeningly sweet smell so hopefully if anything does happen I will have some type of clue.

Last Thursdays ultrasound was really cute, he was sucking on his hand when we went to get a picture of his face! He even yawned and opened his mouth up real big! On Monday he was really really sucking on his hand, you could see his little mouth just sucking and sucking away! I swear it was probably the cutest thing I have seen so far, and he's been adorable the whole time! He must have been sucking pretty good cause he had the hiccups from it! I think we might have another pacifier baby on our hands, since my other two are STILL fighting me tooth and nail not to get rid of theirs at 19 months. Oh well at this point!

The girls are still doing swimming lessons on Saturdays, due to technical difficulties with the pool and then the instructor getting sick we've only had 3 classes, but it's like night and day difference the way they act in the pool now! Allison is a kicking/swimming machine, and Vanessa doesn't kick the whole time but she's getting much much better at it! Allison has absolutely no problem going underwater, in fact you have to watch her cause she'll do it regardless if you are asking her to or paying attention or not! It's a good thing and a bad thing, bad that you HAVE to pay attention to her every second (not that you wouldn't obviously), but good that she's not afraid of the water. Vanessa has her moments, she doesn't exactly mind going underwater and will do it willingly enough but once she's done she's done! But that's her personality, she's my more reserved baby, much less high demand than her sister!

Looking forward to having the baby get here, I'm getting more and more uncomfortable especially since he dropped right after my 35 week mark. I have to pee even more, which I never even thought possible and walking around for extended periods is uncomfortable because it feels like there's something heavy about to fall out lol I don't think I have much to do to prepare, his bed is all set up and there's the bassinet already in the living room. I have a couple of packs of diapers, and so so many clothes! Might need to buy some new pacifiers sine the ones the girls used are discontinued, but that's about all I can think of!

Symptoms - Back pain, acne, lightning crotch from him pressing his head down, heartburn.
Food cravings - Jimmy John's, I could eat it every day!
Size of baby - He gets measured again tomorrow, I'm going to guess that he weighs about 5lbs 12ish ounces.

34 Week Update

I meant to update on Thursday evening instead of Wednesday so that I could include the results of my BPP with his growth scan all in one post, but then I forgot/didn't feel up to it. Yesterday I hit a mini wall when I woke up too early and felt sick all day, towards the evening I started getting a headache and a lot of pressure in my head so I borrowed my dad's blood pressure machine, but everything was perfect. It was just a bad day! I'm trying not to literally hit one of those pregnancy walls because I still have 5ish weeks to go and that's a long time when you feel really bad every day! Especially with two toddlers that don't care one way or the other!

I also don't really look forward to getting on my desktop computer lately because the moment I sit down in this stupid chair my back screams at me and it hurts a considerable amount. I'm dealing with it as I type this right now, but I'm not staying on the computer much longer. I usually check my FB and look stuff up on my awesome Kindle Fire, which I can lay around and use anywhere! I also read books on it! I'm so glad Justin let me buy it (even though I had to sell my other kindle first) even though we're in a money slump right now. Can't wait for the weather to cool down and the snowbirds to return and start buying cars again!

Anyway, Justin and I went to my ultrasound on Thursday morning. Bitty was awake and kicking, breathing and moving and being his normal adorable self. He wiggled his toes and smiled at us again, I just love that he does something different each week! He weighs about 4lbs 14oz which is really good growth in just over 2 weeks. The ultrasound tech said that they gain at least a 1/2lb every week after 36 weeks so if she guestimates correctly he'll probably weigh about 7-7.5lbs when born. I'm leaning towards the 7.5 mark, he's growing really well! I can also handle 7.5lbs, I only carried 9lbs of baby last time ;) and that wasn't even full term! There were also more arms and legs to deal me blows, but this little guy has rivaled that and more. He is everywhere!!

Last night he was being strange, but kind of awesome at the same time. I was propped up on a pillow reading my kindle when I noticed my belly was heaving rather rhythmically. I started watching it and pushing on his little butt that he sticks up way out of my stomach, and realized that I could literally see and feel him practicing his breathing! He was breathing pretty quickly in there, and you could see all of it! I made Justin come and look and feel, but I don't think he understood what I meant. He did it for at least 10 minutes, it was pretty cool!

Symptoms - Back pain is the worst symptom right now, not entirely sure that's going to get any better though!
Food cravings - Nothing, still don't feel like eating much, and the heatwave we've been having isn't helping either.
Size of baby - 4lbs 14oz, and I have a feeling he's going to be a long one too (20-21 inches)

33 Week Update

6 weeks left! So close, yet so far away!

Remember when I was complaining a few weeks ago that my acne was so bad I wanted to jump off a bridge, or shower in benzoyl peroxide for the rest of my pregnancy? The acne gods must have been listening because my skin has been so much better! I'm not saying it's perfect, but I'm hardly as embarrassed as I was and my face is as close to perfect as it's going to get being pregnant! I use the first two steps of my proactiv every night, with a new washcloth (white ones, that stuff bleaches colored ones yikes!), followed with my clean & clear salicylic acid moisturizer since I'm allergic to the proactiv one. I had been using my salicylic acid body wash from proactiv but it was a tiny trial bottle so I found a large bottle of Neutrogena Acne Body Wash with the same ingredient for 5.50 at Walmart. That stuff is amazing! Within two days I kid you not my skin was at least 50% or more cleared up on my chest and arms! And it's even better now! So thank you acne gods, thank you very much!

In other pregnancy news I get more uncomfortable as time goes on, although I'm still able to do what needs to be done. I've been getting some pretty intense braxton hicks contractions lately, sometimes they come and go for a few hours which starts to get a little wearisome. I know I drink enough fluids, otherwise I wouldn't constantly be going to the bathroom literally once every hour if not more. It probably doesn't help that his cute not so little head is sitting right there on my bladder, and he throws a few punches in from time to time to help things along as well. He's also in the habit of punching and/or kicking my right hip bone which has gotten inreasingly sore. The right side of my ribs also endures kicking attacks, I just try to push him out of there when I can. He's a painful little guy, and he's only getting bigger!

Monday we failed our NST, despite my large mcdonalds orange juice and a glass of really cold water, oh and the buzzer which scared the crap out of him, I seriously saw his whole body jump out of my stomach lol so we had another BPP ultrasound, which he passed right away, although pretty sleepy the whole time, she had to shake him a little to get him to move the required amount of times. I'm thinking mornings just aren't his thing. You and me both little man. Another BPP tomorrow, Justin gets to come along so he can see his fat little cheeks and maybe catch a smile in there, can't remember the last time he got to see an ultrasound.

In cute little twin news - the girls started swimming lessons last weekend. Saturdays at 9:30 we take them to one of the community pools in my parents' subdivision where a girl gives private lessons. We sang songs, swam them around, and dunked them under water for the first time. I thought I would have a huge problem with that part, but amazingly they did so well that I wasn't scared afterwards! And amazingly, after just one session they are doing remarkably better in the pool! We practiced with them today and I'm pretty sure Allison thinks she can swim by herself! Vanessa is a little more reserved, especially about going underwater, but they both do great and are having so much fun! They are growing up so fast, and doing so many amazing things all the time now, I just love those little girls like nothing else. They have brought an immense amount of joy into our world! I don't know what I thought about life before them!

Symptoms - My stomach is stretched and uncomfortable, but otherwise I'm not doing half bad! Heartburn, acne, and even my back pain has been really good this past week, and my feet aren't even swollen!
Food cravings - I guess you can say I need to drink milk. I am a milk drinking machine when I'm pregnant, and I'm almost at a gallon a day, if not definitely every other day. Strong bones for me and kiddo! I think it has a lot to do with it being soothing for my stomach, helping with the heartburn whereas everything else I drink gives me heartburn. Plus I like it!
Size of baby - Doctor said my belly is measuring 34 weeks, so if he's growing that well then he's probably at least 4.5lbs and 17ish inches long.

32 Week Update

Another milestone bites the dust! I'm running out of them! I feel like perhaps I've been making them too easy, but then when you think about it it's been at least 4 weeks since I made the 32 week milestone so it wasn't that easy! I think my 2nd to final milestone will be to achieve 36 weeks 5 days, which is the day after when I had the girls making me the most pregnant I've ever been. Sounds reasonable enough! My final milestone will be 39 weeks when I finally have him! 7 weeks away!

Monday I went in for my first NST, not really know what to expect! They set me up in a regular exam room with the machine and put two monitors on my stomach. One was to monitor his movement and my uterus and the other his heartbeat. He was really easy to find and stayed on the whole time (only kicked off once but it came right back). I also had a little clicker that I was to click every time I felt him move. It was kind of hard because the monitors put pressure on my stomach which is basically what it feels like when he moves, but I was able to do it. He was pretty sleepy though and was moving at a regular once every few minute pace. After ten minutes they came in with the buzzer and she buzzed my stomach a few times. His heart rate jumped from 148ish to about 165! I think it scared the poor guy! He started moving more, but it wasn't enough. At the end of the 20 or so minutes they came in and said the Dr was going to send me over to ultrasound for a BPP, because he didn't pass the NST.

What I learned about the NST is that they look for accelerations in his heart rate when he's moving well. When he moves his heart rate should change between 5-15 beats and they should see some movement of his heart rate within that 20 minute monitoring window. Bitty stayed the same the whole time, so that's why he failed.

I was pretty worried at this point, but excited that I got an unplanned ultrasound! She put the probe on and  you could immediately see his little butt up by my ribs, still head down! He was practicing his breathing really well the whole time, and wriggling around. It was weird that some of his moving I didn't even feel, so that didn't help the NST either. She also measured him and he's weighing 4lbs and measuring exactly 32 weeks! If he gains weight at a normal pace like he has been he could weigh anywhere from 6-8lbs when born. I think it's strange enough that he weighs what Vanessa did when she was born past 36 weeks, she was such a peanut! Still is, actually.

So tomorrow we have another BPP, I'm going to drink some orange juice before hand and wake him up a little but I think we'll be in and out of there in no time if he behaves like he did on Monday! I got some really cute pictures of his face in 3D this time as well. He has the cutest chunky cheeks, and he even smiled at us! It really made me excited to meet him and see what he looks like in person, but I can already tell he looks just like his daddy and sisters. He's going to be perfectly adorable!

Symptoms - Starting to experience some weird pica like cravings, so am taking iron supplements. Back pain has gotten really bad, acne is getting better though!
Food cravings - Nada! Although Jimmy John's isn't unappealing, I don't exactly crave it.
Size of baby - He's 4lbs! Growing perfectly!