Before This Week is Gone

I figured I had better get this pic posted before the week is gone! That seems to be one of the things with pregnancy... and I'm finding even more with pregnancy after losses... that time not only crawls at a snails pace but it also flies by. No matter how much you try to ignore time or try to really count down the days, whichever makes you feel better... there's no denying it: there will be an end to this short leg of the journey.

I have to say I feel like she and I - we - have grown a ton over the last week. Her movements are starting to hurt at times, especially when she gets a foot up by my ribs and pushes out until my skin won't stretch any more. It's reassuring though, even if I am saying "owie!" On a really bright side, I'm still sleeping really well most nights. I don't know if it's from working so hard during the day or if I'm just lucky/blessed to be able to fall asleep and sleep through the night most nights. While I do love it and enjoy it now, I'm also ready to be awoken every two hours or so before too long. :)


I am really thankful that I got started on all the house projects a couple weeks ago. We were working on our bedroom last night and I think both Jim and I realized how ungraceful I've become and how things that would normally be so simple for me... well, they're more difficult now and I sound like an old man half the time as well. Grunting and groaning when I move, yah, pregnancy is hot! It's good though. We're almost finished with our big projects like the whole room flip-flop and decorating. Some of our other projects are going to have to wait until it dries out outside. It's been SO mild this last month or so but it's still been too wet (and frankly too soon before spring/summer) to accomplish some of the outside projects that I would like to get done before little miss gets here.

Wow, that was kind of a rather boring re-cap! Hopefully I'll have something a bit more exciting to talk about in the near future. Or not. Boring can be very, very good! :)

Technically Speaking

I'm feeling like a techno-challenged chick...

Firefox users - I just realized that my header is not center justified for you. Sorry about that, it looks yucky. How pathetic that I didn't check it, oh... a YEAR ago when I re-did everything.

Yes, when I re-did everything by just hacking at the code until I liked the way the layout looked just the way I wanted it at the time. Cool right? Sure. Until you go back and want to change things up again. That makes it ROUGH! So... there will be a new (hopefully cleaner and simpler) blog look it just might not be today or tomorrow or anytime too soon. It may be a great project for when I've slowed down a bit more and have a few more of the physically demanding things checked off of my to-do-before-spring list.

My Lilypie ticker has apparently decided that it wants to stall out and not automatically count down, like it's supposed to. I didn't generate that code so I can't blame it on myself. In fact yesterday when I was messing around with it I changed some dates around and the ticker was getting all messed up. It's not terribly uncommon for Lilypie but it's annoying for me and anyone else who needs no help feeling like they're losing their mind. "Hey, I thought she was 28 weeks, 3 days ago..." Yah. Hopefully they get that worked out soon!

Perhaps I should just stick to the actual, tangible, things right now and not all this "magic" technical stuff. I'm having a little better luck with using my hands. Yesterday I took some (way too much) time and made the mobile for above the crib. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I had a thought in mind for what I wanted, set out to look for it and did find what I was looking for... to the tune of more than $50. So, thinking that was a bit excessive for what turned out to be around 64 cents in craft card stock, 59 cents for a dowel and 2 dollars for some pink glass beads, I set out (with the help of a few items that I already had at home) to make my own.

It was a time consuming project but it's fun to know that I was the one who put the work in. I even added some sparkly clear glass beads that were from a broken necklace that must have been my great-grandma's. And all you safety minded people, the mobile is out of the reach of any little hands and can be moved closer to the ceiling when necessary to keep it that way. It has such a relaxing movement so I'm really happy that it wasn't a total disaster!

Today will be spent trying to scratch a few more things off of our list and probably a lazy movie day for the kiddos who are still really trying to fight off a nasty chest cold. It's tough when I love the cuddle time but also really want to try to remain healthy myself. Lots of hand washing, lots of reminders to "cover your cough!" and "please use a tissue and not your sleeve!"

I Like Fridays

Well, I do.

Not that weekends or week days really mean that much when you're a stay-at-home-mom whose husband usually works on Saturday but still, I like them. Friday is when I get to tick off another week completed in this pregnancy (by the most conservative date I've been given). I feel accomplished on Friday and usually have a burst of house cleaning / project completing energy. Anyway, I guess that's just to say that I'm in a pretty good mood today.

Jim was out of town, overnight, for work yesterday and both kids have pretty nasty coughs. In fact Rylan stayed home from preschool yesterday and again today. So, it was very quiet in the house last night after about 7 pm. I decided that would be a great time to work on a painting that I've been thinking about for the girls' room. I wonder when I'm going to get used to saying that? I have really liked the tress/branches/birds that people are using in their decorating lately but I didn't really want to go the stick on vinyl route. We used some "removable" decorating stickers shortly after Karleigh turned two and 6 months later when she changed her mind about wanting to stare at Dora characters every day, we removed them. Some of them left sticky residue behind, some took paint with them and some came off nice and clean just like they were supposed to. I didn't feel like risking that again. The other option was to just paint it directly onto the wall but with the super smooth surface of our walls, when it came time to paint over it, I'm sure I would have to have sanded to get the brush strokes and texture off the wall before painting over it. Also not the best idea in my book. So? I compromised and moved to something that I was more comfortable with. Stretched canvas.

Last night I got the whole thing painted, pretty close to what I had imagined in my head, and got the set hung up this morning. They hang next to Karleigh's bed between the wall and the window. She used to have letters that spelled DREAM in that spot in her old room but, believe it or not, they did not fit in the new space. So, three 12x12 canvases it is!

I had my 28 week appointment on Wednesday where we did all the regular stuff - I've added almost 20 pounds already. Yikes! I only gained 19 with Rylan but 40 with Karleigh so I guess I'll end up somewhere in the middle. 25 to 30 was what I should have been aiming for so we'll see. I haven't been making any effort about it one way or another. Along with the regular OB appointment stuff I also had my glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. At the time of the blood draw they also drew iron levels. I got the call back yesterday and my glucose levels were well within normal limits. Woohoo! The iron on the other hand? Not so much woohoo. Apparently I'm anemic enough that my doc doesn't think I'll get my numbers up with foods alone so now I'm on an iron supplement. No biggie though. I'd rather know now and get it straightened out before delivery. I'll be interested to see how my energy levels are in about a week or so. I'd been feeling more tired - needing to take more breaks - than I remembered having to before. We'll see!

All in all, it's been a pretty good week even with sick kiddos. Jim's birthday was Tuesday. We're getting things crossed off our to-do list... you like how I said "our"? ;) And we're one week closer. Closer to what exactly, I'm not sure I know. Believe it or not, I haven't thought about how our lives are going to change. It's just been very matter-of-fact, if/when she comes home we'll do x,y,z to make things work. There's been physical planning but, at least for me, not a whole lot of emotional planning. I'm having a hard time going to that place.

Oh! But on a super duper happy note: our hospital has lifted their H1N1 ban. Karleigh was beyond mad that she was not going to be allowed to visit her sister in the hospital after she was born and that she was going to have to wait until we brought the baby home. I'm pretty happy about it too. So, now we just need to come up with a couple of kid care plans for D day. Of course my mom would like to be here and do the grandma thing but frankly, Rylan's labor and birth was so fast (4 hours) compared to Karleigh's labor and birth (38 hours!!!) that she didn't even make it to the hospital before we were both all cleaned up and just hanging out. Anyway. Another thought for another time!

Life and Third Trimester

Life!
Last night we all attended Karleigh's first Daisy Scout Court of Awards ceremony where the girls received the 3 petals they have earned so far this year. Her leader did a great job making it special by obtaining use of the stage at the school and having refreshments afterwards. It was a very short ceremony and at 7 pm, with a group of nine 5 and 6 year olds... that is a very good thing! The girls did great and Karleigh had a blast being the main "speaker" while leading the ceremony.

Such a funny group of girls. Nine girls, about 20 cameras, poor things! This was about as good as the group shot got. :) It's so much fun to watch them develop friendships with each other. During refreshment with their families, the girls all sat at the same table with each other instead of hanging out with the families. It was hilarious to listen to them chatter away.

And can I say, I thought the way that her leader attached the petals to the foam flowers was brilliant and so cute! Of course we'll give them back so she can use them again but I thought it was such a great idea. I'm a sucker for stuff like that!
Also, this gaggle of girls, it's hilarious to try to keep everyone straight: Karleigh, Kayla, Kelly, Laney, Chloe, Kenzie, Trista, Kailey and Juliann. We do a lot of "hey"-ing at the meetings. :) Anyway, it's fun to watch the girls experience life and the friendships that go along with it.

Third Trimester!
I also realized (because I've been trying to take things day by day) that I'm happily there! I promised myself that I was going to take more belly pics this time. I have a few from Karleigh and Rylan, one from Collin and I was so upset that sadly, I deleted all of my belly pics from when I was pregnant with Eli. Dumb. I wish I could change it but I can't so I'm making sure that I have them this time. I don't think I really look much different this week but she feels bigger and spends a lot of time with her feet in my ribs so I can tell she's growing and stretching!

While I was taking these pics, Rylan (the poor soon to be middle child) wandered in. He asked what I was doing and I told him that I was taking pictures of my tummy. So, he said he wanted to too. Who am I to argue? I got one good one from him and then he remembered the beeps for the timer on my camera and it went downhill from there with lots of last second ninja moves, but this one is a keeper :) Just him being his sweet self without his fake, cheese, smile.

This was one sneak attack that actually turned out pretty cute too. It was his favorite so I decided to work with it for him.


I always feel bad when I do a post without pictures. So hopefully this makes up a little bit for my last post!

Thursday Thoughts...

Once upon a time, I just sat down and spewed some random thoughts - things that I probably could have done an entire entry for. It seems that I have been doing a lot of "baby talk" here but that's what helps keep me looking forward. The reality is, once again I have a whole knot of thoughts that I really haven't been able to untangle so here is a little insight into some of them:

~ I'm still uncomfortable talking about or even acknowledging this pregnancy, to people in real life. The Daisy moms and I were sitting around during Karleigh's birthday party and of course, the pregnancy/labor discussion came up while the girls were playing. One of the others mentioned that she was put on bed rest at 24 weeks (which I was at the time) with her daughter because she was dilated to 2 "...and you know, at that age, they're so small they can practically fall out when you're at a 2." Ugh. Of course I didn't say anything but in my experience, you have to dilate to about 6 to deliver at 16 weeks but who's counting? At the point of this conversation, there was, perhaps, speculation about a pregnancy but none of them has outright asked me. But, I also haven't said "hey guess what?!"

~ I'm going nutty being pregnant, wanting everything perfect, and having a dog that's still a puppy. Seriously, some days I feel like I'm losing my mind with him. He probably needs a buddy but that would make me even more crazy and we've got enough of that around here as it is. I'm hoping that when the kids are home this summer, things get better. I could just be fooling myself though. We'll see.

~ The sun is shining and I'm torn between going outside and doing some yard work or finishing up a project in the house... or blogging ;) You see which is winning.

~ Diapers, no I didn't sew them, Hillary. I wish I had the patience for that right now. My friend "S" helped to enable that stash when she sent me two boxes full of of various diapering items. Right now, there are 36 infant prefolds, 14 covers, 27 various fitteds (some one size, some sized, some with snaps and some snappiables - you don't have to use diaper pins if you don't want to!) I have one system that switches out with a snap in liner, reusable outer shell and cloth inserts. I also ordered a starter set of Gro Baby today that includes the cloth inserts and then picked up a bunch of their disposable inserts on a mega seconds sale today. Seconds because the boxes have issues, no biggie to me!

~ This has been an really interesting time for us. One of my really close friends told me that her months of pregnancy after loss were some of the worst, emotionally, for her. It certainly is easy to have down days. I love the fact that I'm pregnant with a seemingly healthy pregnancy but in the last 2 years I've grown so close to women who were also thrilled to have healthy pregnancies who went on to experience loss. I feel like I'm going through the motions of getting ready, the room is pretty well set, things have been ordered, lists have been made but at the same time, I'm having a hard time picturing the end result where it doesn't involve sad tears and a memory box. I'm actually kind of glad that I had to wait this long to get to a, likely, happy outcome because I'm not wishing that I could have Eli or Collin or any of the others back. I'm just trying to have faith that this will be our happy ending.

~ Bedroom situation, since you asked Jamie! We have the three bedrooms upstairs so we moved out of the larger of the three and moved into one of the smaller rooms and then moved Karleigh and her twin bed, along with the crib, into that larger room. Every square inch of that room has been repainted (except for the glass in the windows!) Luckily, we already had the closet re-done for two kids when we moved Karleigh and Rylan together in that room in anticipation of getting the nursery set up for Eli. Our room is a very tight squeeze but since we're not the type to hang out in our bedroom for anything other than sleeping or maybe watching the news or a movie, we'll be fine.

~ I was expecting to have a few more "deep thoughts" but I guess they're gone! I've been pretty tired this week after a marathon 3-day weekend with Jim home and us trying to get everything cleaned out and set up upstairs before I get even more uncomfortable. (again Jamie, I need to get your Chiro's info!) Which makes me think of my friend Kaylee who is a month closer to meeting her number three kiddo but is also in the midst of a move from PA to AZ! If you could keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers (finding a home...) I would really appreciate it!

~ I think it might be time for a blog update. What do you think? This one seems slightly... depressing. I'm changing, maybe it's time for my layout to change too.

I guess that's it for now. Sorry none of that really went anywhere but I hope you're having a great Thursday!

One Word Wednesday...

WOW...

Still Growing!

I've noticed the last couple of weeks that I feel huge. My pelvic girdle pain has really been acting up and there's not much at all that I can do about it except just deal with it. So that's what I'll do!

I had an OB appointment today and everything is looking good. And I'm measuring a fair bit ahead. That explains the feeling huge part! I didn't ask HOW far ahead since I don't want to read anything more into it than, yup, you're getting big. And really, it's not like we grow small babies anyway. So, it is what it is.
She's growing.
She's kicking and punching.
A lot.

It's hard to believe but my appointments are now going to be every 2 weeks and my next one will be the fun, fun glucose test. I'm hoping that goes well. It hasn't been an issue at all in the past for me but the measuring big part has me going "hummmm..." in the back of my mind.

When I got home I decided that since I was wearing "real" clothes - read: not painting clothes or pj's - I would snap a quick picture since it's been 5 weeks since my last one.



The realization that we may actually be bringing a live baby home again is starting to get my nesting need in high gear. And really, who wants to be painting and rearranging furniture (or more accurately, directing the furniture moving) at the very last minute? I'm not a last minute person if I don't have to be and circumstances are within my control. So, I'm hoping that we can get a lot done during Jim's upcoming 3 day weekend. I've started the painting process by painting the "big" room ceiling and started on the walls. We'll be painting the varnished trim and doors white to lighten it all up and that'll take a fair bit of prep time so I'm trying to get a jump-start. Then we'll paint Karleigh's current room and we'll just trade her places. I'm annoyed with myself that I forgot to take "before" pics of our current room but oh well!

So, things are cranking around here and I'm so ready for spring to arrive. The warmish, wet weather isn't helping calm me down any and the flowers already poking their tiny green tips of new life through the soggy ground around here really, really isn't helping!