Wow, I can't believe it's been almost 3 months since my last post. No point in trying to catch up on everything that's happened since then - I'll just jump in where we are now.
Nathan is of course growing like a weed! He is a completely unmotivated baby when it comes to rolling over - he's only done it once or twice. I asked the doctor about it and he said not to worry. He can sit for a few seconds at a time on his own. We are definitely getting excited about his first Christmas and the million photos that will surely be taken ;)
Speaking of pictures, I uploaded some new ones on flickr, finally.
My Christmas preparations are coming along well. I'm so much less stressed this year because I'm home. I wish I could stay home forever!
Well, time to go ... Nathan's waking up!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
New haircut and a Finish!!
Well, it's been an exciting couple of days around here. Let's start with yesterday. Yesterday I finally finished my longest-running WIP - Village Skaters! I was so happy to finally be able to get that piece off my mind. So, without further ado ...
Last night I reorganized my rotation. I'll now be working on: Amethyst Snowflake (Just Nan), God Has Prepared (magazine pattern - 2/3 done), Celtic Christmas, Celtic Summer (fabric and threads on order), Mini Mandala 1 (Chatelaine), and Dance of the Roses. I'm so excited!
This morning was Nathan's 4 month check-up. Everything went well. He weighed 13 lbs, 3 oz and was 25.5" long. He got two needles today which he didn't like at the time but he seemed to be ok the rest of the day. Here he is a few days ago in the diaper shirt Peter brought back from his trip to California.
Then, this afternoon I finally got in to get my hair cut and highlighted. She put chocolate brown and blonde in. Last time I was there she talked about trying to scrunch my hair so it would curl, but she had just put in some straightening balm so we had to wait until this appointment. I can't believe how much she got it to curl just by using a product and the diffuser on the blow dryer!!
We just finished installing our closet doors in our bedroom and Peter got trim on the rest of the doors in our room. What a difference!
Last night I reorganized my rotation. I'll now be working on: Amethyst Snowflake (Just Nan), God Has Prepared (magazine pattern - 2/3 done), Celtic Christmas, Celtic Summer (fabric and threads on order), Mini Mandala 1 (Chatelaine), and Dance of the Roses. I'm so excited!
This morning was Nathan's 4 month check-up. Everything went well. He weighed 13 lbs, 3 oz and was 25.5" long. He got two needles today which he didn't like at the time but he seemed to be ok the rest of the day. Here he is a few days ago in the diaper shirt Peter brought back from his trip to California.
Then, this afternoon I finally got in to get my hair cut and highlighted. She put chocolate brown and blonde in. Last time I was there she talked about trying to scrunch my hair so it would curl, but she had just put in some straightening balm so we had to wait until this appointment. I can't believe how much she got it to curl just by using a product and the diffuser on the blow dryer!!
We just finished installing our closet doors in our bedroom and Peter got trim on the rest of the doors in our room. What a difference!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Framing Success
A few years ago I got the idea into my head that I could frame my own cross-stitch pieces. It costs so much to frame the large pictures that they end up sitting unframed for years. So, I gathered some information and Peter bought me the tools I needed to frame my own pieces for Christmas. I have finally put those tools to use and here is the result so far. I still need to put some finish on the frame, buy the glass, and actually fasten everything into the frame, but I am very impressed with how it's turning out:
Sunday, August 12, 2007
More relaxation ...
What an awesome summer we've been having! The past two summers we've spent lots of time working on the house. Perhaps we should still be doing that, but we've been spending almost every weekend at friends' and families' cottages. The weather has been so wonderful this summer. This past weekend we were at a friend's cottage for Saturday and Sunday with our worship team friends. Nathan did really well while we were away. He slept through with our 11 o'clock feed until after 7 in the morning. I really hope this routine sticks for a while.
On Saturday we played in the water and went both tubing and skiing. So much fun! My poor muscles aren't used to being used this much. It's very good for me, though. Today our worship team played at the church near the lake we were at. The pastor there was my pastor growing up, so it was neat to see him again. We headed back to the cottage for the afternoon, did some more swimming and chatting, then headed home after supper. My washer and dryer are humming away (I can't wait for a clothesline!) getting cleaned up from the weekend.
This week looks pretty busy for us. Peter has a couple of meetings at the church and our anniversary is coming up so we'll be celebrating that.
Village Skaters is coming along nicely. I see no reason why it won't be completed and on my wall for this winter season. I already have two projects finished that need to be framed, so this will make it three unless I hurry up and start framing!
Well, I should stop typing and start stitching, since it seems like the little man is going to stay asleep.
On Saturday we played in the water and went both tubing and skiing. So much fun! My poor muscles aren't used to being used this much. It's very good for me, though. Today our worship team played at the church near the lake we were at. The pastor there was my pastor growing up, so it was neat to see him again. We headed back to the cottage for the afternoon, did some more swimming and chatting, then headed home after supper. My washer and dryer are humming away (I can't wait for a clothesline!) getting cleaned up from the weekend.
This week looks pretty busy for us. Peter has a couple of meetings at the church and our anniversary is coming up so we'll be celebrating that.
Village Skaters is coming along nicely. I see no reason why it won't be completed and on my wall for this winter season. I already have two projects finished that need to be framed, so this will make it three unless I hurry up and start framing!
Well, I should stop typing and start stitching, since it seems like the little man is going to stay asleep.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
What to do ...
Wow ... I can't believe it. For the first time since Nathan's been born, he's still napping and I have nothing pressing to get done! He's been really tired today (probably because we were doing errands yesterday) and so far today I've .... cleaned the bathroom, done 3 loads of laundry, swept the entire house top to bottom, changed the sheets on our bed, emptied all the trash cans, cleaned out the litter box, and baked some incredibly yummy muffins .... ooo .... I'll type out the recipe in case anyone wants to make them. They are so delicious it's not even funny. Here it is ...
Raspberry Sour Cream Muffins with Streusel Topping
Topping:
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp butter, melted
Muffins:
2 eggs, room temperature (mine weren't room temperature - they were out of the fridge for about an hour)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sour cream, room temperature (same as above ;) )
3 oz cream cheese, cut into 16 pieces
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, divided
To Make the topping:
Combine pecans, brown sugar, flour, and butter with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
To make muffins:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease or line 16 muffin cups.
Beat eggs; gradually add sugar. While mixer is running, pour in oil and almond extract. Mix until smooth.
In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, alternating with the sour cream. Beat until smooth.
Pat each cream cheese piece into a disk the size of a quarter.
Put one heaping tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup. Using half the raspberries, put a few in each tin on top of the batter. Then place a piece of cream cheese in each tin. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups. On top of that, divide the remaining raspberries among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the streusel topping on top.
Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes in tins, then remove to cooling racks. Best served warm .... yummm!!!
These muffins are so light and the sweetness of the streusel topping against the tartness of the berries is very good. Mom made them about a month ago when I was home and I just had to get the recipe.
Hope everyone enjoys!
There ... that took up some of my time ;)
Raspberry Sour Cream Muffins with Streusel Topping
Topping:
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp butter, melted
Muffins:
2 eggs, room temperature (mine weren't room temperature - they were out of the fridge for about an hour)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sour cream, room temperature (same as above ;) )
3 oz cream cheese, cut into 16 pieces
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, divided
To Make the topping:
Combine pecans, brown sugar, flour, and butter with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
To make muffins:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease or line 16 muffin cups.
Beat eggs; gradually add sugar. While mixer is running, pour in oil and almond extract. Mix until smooth.
In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, alternating with the sour cream. Beat until smooth.
Pat each cream cheese piece into a disk the size of a quarter.
Put one heaping tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup. Using half the raspberries, put a few in each tin on top of the batter. Then place a piece of cream cheese in each tin. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups. On top of that, divide the remaining raspberries among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the streusel topping on top.
Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes in tins, then remove to cooling racks. Best served warm .... yummm!!!
These muffins are so light and the sweetness of the streusel topping against the tartness of the berries is very good. Mom made them about a month ago when I was home and I just had to get the recipe.
Hope everyone enjoys!
There ... that took up some of my time ;)
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Ahhh .... vacation
Peter was on vacation last week and we headed off to my grandparent's cottage for some much-needed R&R. It was the first 'real' vacation Peter has had in a long time because of the house-building project.
We headed to the lake on Tuesday morning (with Nathan of course). The weather was absolutely beautiful. The water in the lake was 78 degrees Fahrenheit, which is really warm. So, we decided Nathan should have his first real swim. We dipped him in the weekend before, but this time he stayed in for much longer. Here are Nathan and Peter enjoying the water:
Nathan also had the customary bath in the sink at the cottage ... I think there are pictures of each of my siblings in this position ;)
Nathan just woke up ... gotta run!
We headed to the lake on Tuesday morning (with Nathan of course). The weather was absolutely beautiful. The water in the lake was 78 degrees Fahrenheit, which is really warm. So, we decided Nathan should have his first real swim. We dipped him in the weekend before, but this time he stayed in for much longer. Here are Nathan and Peter enjoying the water:
Nathan also had the customary bath in the sink at the cottage ... I think there are pictures of each of my siblings in this position ;)
Nathan just woke up ... gotta run!
Friday, July 20, 2007
2 Months Old!
Hard to believe 2 months has gone by since Nathan joined our family. He's interacting more every day and we love trying to make him smile! We took some pictures to mark the 2-month age this morning and they turned out wonderfully. My friend Susan made the sweater he's wearing - I think the colour works well with the colour of his hair :) In a few of the photos you can see that his hair is really getting some red in it!
In stitching news, I've been plugging away at Village Skaters. I really want to get that one finished. I just have some snow and ice in the bottom right-hand corner of the piece and I'll be done. Nathan's been doing really well sleeping this week (8 or 9 hours every night) so I'm actually getting about an hour at night to stitch after he goes to bed. Yay! Now if we can only keep him on this schedule! I've cut caffeine out of my diet and it seems to be making a dramatic difference in his attitude and sleep schedule.
We don't have too many big plans for the weekend. We are celebrating my grandfather's birthday at the cottage on Sunday afternoon, but tomorrow plans to be a relaxing day. Yippee!
More photos are on flickr, as usual. I added pictures of Nathan's crib in the "Woodworking Projects" collection and lots more photos of Nathan in the "Family" collection as well as a set of pictures from my other grandfather's birthday party a few weeks ago.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
What we've been up to ...
I thought this outfit was too cute when I put it on Nathan this morning, so I just had to take a picture!
Anyway, so what have we been up to over the last week ... The weekend before last was Peter's Mom's annual family reunion, so we headed to that on Saturday. There were about 40 of Peter's aunts and uncles and cousins there (yes, a very big family - that's only on his Mom's side!) so we had a good time passing Nathan around. Sunday and Monday of the long weekend we spent at my grandparent's cottage about an hour away from home. The weather was lovely, but it wasn't quite beach weather. We got a few nice walks in, though. That Sunday night also marked the first time Nathan slept through the night! He slept from 11:30 until 7. It was amazing. He's continued doing that somewhat regularly over the past week and a half. Now my goal will be to move the bedtime back a bit each night so that he's going to sleep earlier and still sleeping until at least 6.
I've continued with my running / walking over the past week and fit into another outfit yesterday. I'm almost completely out of maternity clothes now, and I'm guessing I have about 5 to 7 pounds left to get back to my prepregnancy weight and then another 15 to get to my goal weight. The weight is definitely distributed differently than it was before pregnancy, though!
I'm very curious to know how much Nathan weighs. Everyone keeps asking and I have no clue. I'm guessing just over 10 lbs, but we will find out in another week when he has his 2 month appointment. Hard to believe it's been almost 2 months!
One of my best friends from when I was a kid is coming home from Toronto next week and I'm so excited to see her and meet her hubby! We had lost touch for several years, but recently reconnected through facebook. I'm also heading to my hometown for a day next week and Peter's work party is then as well, so it should be a fun week!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
On the road again ...
Wow, long time! Nathan's awake more during the day than during his first month, so getting time to type with both hands has been tough. I don't mind typing with just one, but I'm very slow, and we have an overly sensitive touch pad on our laptop that makes it very frustrating at times.
Last week my sister was up to visit and help out. She was a huge help in taking care of Nathan and in helping me keep the house in order. She took some pictures of Nathan on our bed on Friday morning before she left. They turned out really well ...
I had my 6-week postnatal appointment yesterday and got the go-ahead to start exercising again, so I started a 12 week plan that will have me jogging for 40 minutes straight by the end of it. I haven't done much of anything in the way of exercising since I found out I was pregnant, so I'm easing into it slowly.
And now the best news of all ... Nathan has started sleeping through the night sporadically. He did it on Sunday night and again last night. Last night was the best as he went to sleep in his crib and stayed there all night from 11 until 6. I woke him at 6 to feed him before I went for my run, then put him back in his crib and he slept until after 9 this morning. Talk about refreshing! I'm taking hold of these moments of wonderful routine while they last.
Well, I should got play with Nathan for awhile as he's awake and relatively happy :)
Last week my sister was up to visit and help out. She was a huge help in taking care of Nathan and in helping me keep the house in order. She took some pictures of Nathan on our bed on Friday morning before she left. They turned out really well ...
I had my 6-week postnatal appointment yesterday and got the go-ahead to start exercising again, so I started a 12 week plan that will have me jogging for 40 minutes straight by the end of it. I haven't done much of anything in the way of exercising since I found out I was pregnant, so I'm easing into it slowly.
And now the best news of all ... Nathan has started sleeping through the night sporadically. He did it on Sunday night and again last night. Last night was the best as he went to sleep in his crib and stayed there all night from 11 until 6. I woke him at 6 to feed him before I went for my run, then put him back in his crib and he slept until after 9 this morning. Talk about refreshing! I'm taking hold of these moments of wonderful routine while they last.
Well, I should got play with Nathan for awhile as he's awake and relatively happy :)
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Odds & Ends
I finally got around to taking some progress pictures of my cross-stitch. As a reminder, here are the last pictures I took. Now that Nathan is here, I'm feeling less inclined to try and finish Carousel - it's really too girly for a little boy's room ;) So, I think I'll change around my 'rotation' ... again. Admittedly I have fewer hours for stitching now, so I haven't figured out the details, but I'll post them when I do. Anyway, on to the pictures ...
This is a picture I stitched for Nathan's nursery before he was even a twinkle in my eye ;) I started it when I was 18. I washed it this week and will hopefully get it framed and on the wall in the very near future
Today is Peter's first Father's Day, so we tried to make it special for him. I continued a tradition we always had growing up by cooking him breakfast in bed (with help from Nathan of course ;) ). We had also arranged to have Nathan's baby dedication at church today. He looked very handsome in his green outfit - it fit much better than it did when he was only a week old!
Peter and I both worked on the crib yesterday, although Peter did more work than I did. He finished sanding it and we worked together to get the first coat of finish on. It is so beautiful! I can't wait to set it up in the nursery.
This is a picture I stitched for Nathan's nursery before he was even a twinkle in my eye ;) I started it when I was 18. I washed it this week and will hopefully get it framed and on the wall in the very near future
Today is Peter's first Father's Day, so we tried to make it special for him. I continued a tradition we always had growing up by cooking him breakfast in bed (with help from Nathan of course ;) ). We had also arranged to have Nathan's baby dedication at church today. He looked very handsome in his green outfit - it fit much better than it did when he was only a week old!
Peter and I both worked on the crib yesterday, although Peter did more work than I did. He finished sanding it and we worked together to get the first coat of finish on. It is so beautiful! I can't wait to set it up in the nursery.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
More eye candy ;)
Some pictures of Nathan at 3 weeks old :)Peter and I went to see Spiderman 3 last night. As some of you know, my brother has been living with us since Nathan was born as he completes a work term for school. He offered to babysit for use last night so we could go out. I had a great time ... for the first hour or so ;) Then my worry started to kick in and I wanted to know how Nathan was making out. Not surprisingly he was fine. He even had his first bottle and took it like a champ (or at least he drank it all). I'm proud of myself for going. I'm sure it will get easier with time :)
Peter took this picture last night at supper time.
I managed to get my stitching out once last week and got two strands stitched. Not much, but at least it was out.
I'm going to start trying to get back into flylady, starting with daily routines and a weekly plan. Peter's been great and between the two of us we've kept the main areas of the house tidy, but it would be nice to get some deep cleaning done, and to not feel like I always need to be doing housework when Nathan's sleeping. Maybe getting into routines will lead to more stitching time!
I'm going to try and take some progress pics tonight. Not that there's been progress lately, but there has been quite a bit since the last set of pictures.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Two weeks old
Wow, how time flies! Today was Peter's first day back to work since Nathan's been born. It was so nice being home as a family for the past couple of weeks and this was our first taste of getting back to the 'real world.' It went well, but it was nice to see Peter after work.I don't really have much to report. Nathan's growing before our eyes and I'm trying hard to savour every moment. Here are a few more pictures, since I know that's what everyone really wants to see ;)
Oh yeah, this picture was taken during Nathan's first week.
When we went back to the hospital for his 3-day checkup he was more jaundiced than they like to see, so he had to sleep in this special bed at home for a few days.
Dressed for his first Sunday at church ;)
For all my stitching friends - I haven't even had mine out in the last two weeks. I've been too busy admiring my sweet little boy!
There are lots more pictures on my flickr account (link on the right-hand side).
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Welcome, Nathan!
What an exciting long weekend! On Sunday morning at 1:21 (gotta be exact according to when Peter looked at the clock) my water broke and there was no mistaking that it was time to head to the hospital. Thankfully I went into labour on my own, with contractions starting around 2 a.m. on the way there. Before leaving I hopped in the shower and threw the last few items in our hospital bags. I had packed a whole bag for labour and delivery ... I used nothing from it. lol.
When we got to the hospital they checked to make sure my water broke but didn't check to see how dilated I was to reduce the risk of infection. They kept me hooked up to the monitors for about an hour (until 3:30?) to make sure the baby was doing ok and to ensure that I was going into labour on my own. Since I had made it to 37 weeks, 1 day, the doctor assured me my labour was considered full term and low risk. She also said since I was a first-time mom I should expect to have the baby sometime Sunday evening. At that point we decided we could wait a few hours to call our parents, since sitting around in a waiting room all day didn't sound like much fun.
After the monitoring was done they gave me a sleeping pill and set Peter and I up in a small room in L&D to get a few hours of sleep. Unfortunately the contractions kept getting stronger. About 30 minutes later (4:00 a.m.) I called for the nurse and she gave me a shot of morphine. She held the needle up before injecting me, looked at the amount, and said, "Oh yes, this should make you feel better." Well ... unfortunately I just kept feeling more and more pain through the contractions. They were getting unbearable and I thought I was the biggest wimp on the planet. I told Peter there was no way I could handle another 12 hours of this. After an hour with the morphine (5:00 a.m.) Peter went to find the nurse and told her it hadn't helped with the pain at all. She decided we would head back to the main L&D room and check the monitors and my cervix (for the first time). She was very surprised when she told me that I was almost 6 cm! I was so glad to hear that, since it meant I was over halfway there! I was progressing much faster than they had expected and Peter asked when we should call our families. She said now would be a good time so he made the phone calls.
At that point I asked for some pain medications and they made the executive decision to give me IV narcotics (fentanyl) and I didn't have the energy to push for an epidural even though I had mentioned I would want one when I first arrived. In the end, though, I'm glad I had the fentanyl. The hours from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. went by in a blur once I got the IV. I remember contractions, but they weren't bad and I was able to breathe through them easily. At 8 they checked me again and I was almost to 10. They had me lay on my left side to finish and gave me some nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to help me not push. hehe. I didn't find the laughing gas helped at all, and in fact it made it more difficult to breathe normally. By 8:30 a.m. it was time to push. I didn't really like this part ;) The first half was fairly easy, although it was very tiring. The fentanyl didn't really help much at this point. I was ready to give up by about 9, but Peter and the nurse convinced me that wasn't an option!
Nathan James was born at 9:25 a.m. on Sunday, May 20th. He weighed 7 lbs, 15 oz at 37 weeks, 1 day, so I'm glad we didn't go to 40 weeks! He's 21.5" long and in our opinion he's pretty cute :)
Here's Peter and Nathan our first morning at home.
Monday, April 30, 2007
MIA
Well, I guess I'd better update those of you who I haven't checked in with yet about the past couple of weeks. Sorry - this will likely be long!
So, after the shower on Saturday (two weeks ago) the week progressed pretty normally until early afternoon Wednesday (32 weeks, 4 days). Sitting at my desk I noticed that I was having all kinds of nearly-painless contractions. I'd been having Braxton-Hicks for weeks, but these seemed to be quite often, so I decided to time them (using this nifty tool). I did that for half an hour and noticed they were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting around 45 seconds. I didn't want to go to the hospital, but I wasn't sure if this warranted concern, so I called Labour & Delivery.
They told me I should come in to get checked out, so I called Peter at work and he picked me up. At the time I really thought this was a waste of time.
We got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors (for M's heartrate, movements, and my contractions). I had figured as soon as they got the monitors on the contractions would stop, but amazingly they didn't. The next few hours were kind of crazy. I had one doctor come in and said I was dilating, which meant the contractions were real. It was very strange because they didn't hurt. My OB came in around supper time and laid out what they were going to do. They did a test for a certain protein that predicts whether I would go into labour in the next two weeks. It said I wouldn't, but because my cervix was changing he decided to play it safe, since the test isn't 100%. They started me on an IV for fluids and an antibiotic in case an infection had caused the labour. They then gave me the first of two steroid shots to help mature M's
lungs. The doctor said our short-term goal was to stall labour for 48 hours so the steroids had time to work. The second shot would come 24 hours after the first if all was going well at that point. Then they started me on some blood pressure medication (Adalat). I got 4 (maybe only 3?) doses 20 minutes apart and then they went to every 4 hours. Apparently Adalat relaxes the smooth muscles so they use it to relax the uterus.
Well, after my first mega-doses, the contractions kept getting worse. I still wasn't feeling the contractions in my abdomen, but they were getting stronger and my back was killing me. Peter's back massages were the only thing that would help. Eventually a different OB came in and asked if I wanted some pain meds. The one she suggested was Demerol, and I wasn't sure I was ready to take that. I asked what she thought was best, and she said she thought having the meds might relax me enough to halt the labour, so I figured that was reason enough. Anyway,
they gave me that along with some Gravol (since a side effect of Demerol is nausea). Ummm .. yeah, I don't think the Gravol worked. Thankfully the Demerol did and the contractions eased up and didn't really come back at that intensity again. In the morning they did another check and my cervix hadn't dilated anymore. They sent me for an ultrasound to see how the baby was doing - it was so neat to see! The technician showed me the baby's face (M was rubbing his / her eyes with a fist - too cute!), the heart and the blood flow in the heart and in the umbilical cord, the stomach, kidneys, brain, etc ... It was so cool. Anyway, they said M looked perfect and was measuring a week ahead as far as weight is concerned, which would have been good if I had had him / her that early. Thursday night I had my second steroid shot. I was still having bouts
of back pain off and on but we finally figured out (Friday night) that it was M laying on something on the right side of my back.
Friday morning my OB came into the room and said that he was away for the weekend, but
depending on how I was doing the OB on call for the weekend would discharge me either Saturday or Sunday. I was still on the Adalat. They kept spacing out the doses. He also told me I would be on modified bedrest when I was released, so no more work for me (I'll admit, that part was kind of nice). Saturday morning the OB on call (I had seen her the first night I came in) said she didn't want to release me while still on the meds, so I had to stay until Sunday. Thankfully I got to come home Sunday morning.
Since then my life has been pretty boring! Most days I don't leave the house. I had an OB appointment last Wednesday and things still look good. He said he would lift the bedrest restrictions at 36 weeks, so I have two weeks to go. Thankfully I'm not on full bedrest and am allowed to be up and around as long as I'm not having many contractions. I still get a few every day, but nothing regular.
So ... that's been my two weeks! I'll try to keep everyone more up-to-date from now on!
So, after the shower on Saturday (two weeks ago) the week progressed pretty normally until early afternoon Wednesday (32 weeks, 4 days). Sitting at my desk I noticed that I was having all kinds of nearly-painless contractions. I'd been having Braxton-Hicks for weeks, but these seemed to be quite often, so I decided to time them (using this nifty tool). I did that for half an hour and noticed they were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting around 45 seconds. I didn't want to go to the hospital, but I wasn't sure if this warranted concern, so I called Labour & Delivery.
They told me I should come in to get checked out, so I called Peter at work and he picked me up. At the time I really thought this was a waste of time.
We got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors (for M's heartrate, movements, and my contractions). I had figured as soon as they got the monitors on the contractions would stop, but amazingly they didn't. The next few hours were kind of crazy. I had one doctor come in and said I was dilating, which meant the contractions were real. It was very strange because they didn't hurt. My OB came in around supper time and laid out what they were going to do. They did a test for a certain protein that predicts whether I would go into labour in the next two weeks. It said I wouldn't, but because my cervix was changing he decided to play it safe, since the test isn't 100%. They started me on an IV for fluids and an antibiotic in case an infection had caused the labour. They then gave me the first of two steroid shots to help mature M's
lungs. The doctor said our short-term goal was to stall labour for 48 hours so the steroids had time to work. The second shot would come 24 hours after the first if all was going well at that point. Then they started me on some blood pressure medication (Adalat). I got 4 (maybe only 3?) doses 20 minutes apart and then they went to every 4 hours. Apparently Adalat relaxes the smooth muscles so they use it to relax the uterus.
Well, after my first mega-doses, the contractions kept getting worse. I still wasn't feeling the contractions in my abdomen, but they were getting stronger and my back was killing me. Peter's back massages were the only thing that would help. Eventually a different OB came in and asked if I wanted some pain meds. The one she suggested was Demerol, and I wasn't sure I was ready to take that. I asked what she thought was best, and she said she thought having the meds might relax me enough to halt the labour, so I figured that was reason enough. Anyway,
they gave me that along with some Gravol (since a side effect of Demerol is nausea). Ummm .. yeah, I don't think the Gravol worked. Thankfully the Demerol did and the contractions eased up and didn't really come back at that intensity again. In the morning they did another check and my cervix hadn't dilated anymore. They sent me for an ultrasound to see how the baby was doing - it was so neat to see! The technician showed me the baby's face (M was rubbing his / her eyes with a fist - too cute!), the heart and the blood flow in the heart and in the umbilical cord, the stomach, kidneys, brain, etc ... It was so cool. Anyway, they said M looked perfect and was measuring a week ahead as far as weight is concerned, which would have been good if I had had him / her that early. Thursday night I had my second steroid shot. I was still having bouts
of back pain off and on but we finally figured out (Friday night) that it was M laying on something on the right side of my back.
Friday morning my OB came into the room and said that he was away for the weekend, but
depending on how I was doing the OB on call for the weekend would discharge me either Saturday or Sunday. I was still on the Adalat. They kept spacing out the doses. He also told me I would be on modified bedrest when I was released, so no more work for me (I'll admit, that part was kind of nice). Saturday morning the OB on call (I had seen her the first night I came in) said she didn't want to release me while still on the meds, so I had to stay until Sunday. Thankfully I got to come home Sunday morning.
Since then my life has been pretty boring! Most days I don't leave the house. I had an OB appointment last Wednesday and things still look good. He said he would lift the bedrest restrictions at 36 weeks, so I have two weeks to go. Thankfully I'm not on full bedrest and am allowed to be up and around as long as I'm not having many contractions. I still get a few every day, but nothing regular.
So ... that's been my two weeks! I'll try to keep everyone more up-to-date from now on!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
So generous ...
Today a few of Mom's friends threw Baby M a shower in my hometown. Several family members and lots of people I knew growing up showed up to celebrate the impending birth of Baby M. It was so much fun to see everyone and get to visit (briefly!) with lots of people.
My mentor growing up gave a short devotional on parenting. Two things she pointed out that I want to remember so I'll record them here:
And here's a picture where you can see my belly better!
Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!
My mentor growing up gave a short devotional on parenting. Two things she pointed out that I want to remember so I'll record them here:
- Remember to keep my marriage strong after the baby gets here. I'm sure this will be reinforced at the marriage conference (http://www.familylifecanada.com/) that we're heading to in the next couple of months. We've gone 4 or 5 times now and would highly recommend it to any couple.
- God has a plan for Baby M and I need to prepare myself for it. I've actually spent some time in the past few weeks reading about Hannah in 1 Samuel, which is a great example of a mother dedicating her child to the Lord.
And here's a picture where you can see my belly better!
Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
31 Weeks, 5 Days and a Haircut
Here are a few pics for posterity ;) Sorry they're so dark. Peter and I were both very tired when taking them. I should get some better ones at the baby shower on Saturday :)
Too tired to stitch?
I know, hard to believe, but that's been me the past few days. I have been so tired by the time I sit down at night that I don't even want to think about taking out my stitching. Thankfully I have gotten some things ready for Baby M at home as well as getting some miscellaneous tasks done that I want to have done before M arrives.
I've been doing well on my routines, although I forgot about them until I was on my way to bed on Monday night (we were away Sunday and Monday) . I did both morning and evening routines Tuesday and Wednesday, and did my morning one today already. To get my 5 in before Sunday I can't miss any this week because of being away two days, so I'm working hard to make sure I don't have to buy two cheeseburger meals next week ;)
Tuesday night I sat down and finally got the rest of the house-building receipts entered into a spreadsheet that we need to get a tax rebate for building a new house. That was a big job as each receipt had to be separated into what the supplies were used for (i.e. framing, drywalling, light fixtures, etc ...).
Last weekend I caulked all the trim in the baby's room, and last night I got half the baseboards painted. They look so nice! Next Sunday is my deadline to have the nursery ready to move stuff in, so I have to keep working on it.
I'm going to get my hair cut tonight and I'm going to splurge and get some highlights put in, too. I am so excited! I am going to try and convince Peter to take a picture when he gets home later tonight, so there should be a belly pic up by tomorrow (just for you Roxanne! ) ).
I've been doing well on my routines, although I forgot about them until I was on my way to bed on Monday night (we were away Sunday and Monday) . I did both morning and evening routines Tuesday and Wednesday, and did my morning one today already. To get my 5 in before Sunday I can't miss any this week because of being away two days, so I'm working hard to make sure I don't have to buy two cheeseburger meals next week ;)
Tuesday night I sat down and finally got the rest of the house-building receipts entered into a spreadsheet that we need to get a tax rebate for building a new house. That was a big job as each receipt had to be separated into what the supplies were used for (i.e. framing, drywalling, light fixtures, etc ...).
Last weekend I caulked all the trim in the baby's room, and last night I got half the baseboards painted. They look so nice! Next Sunday is my deadline to have the nursery ready to move stuff in, so I have to keep working on it.
I'm going to get my hair cut tonight and I'm going to splurge and get some highlights put in, too. I am so excited! I am going to try and convince Peter to take a picture when he gets home later tonight, so there should be a belly pic up by tomorrow (just for you Roxanne! ) ).
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Beginner's Guide to Talking to a Pregnant Woman
So ... this post has been on my mind for awhile and hopefully it comes off as I want it to - a humourous commentary on people's lack of tact when chatting with a pregnant acquaintance. I hope it does not come off as a bitter rant ;) lol
Maybe I'm odd, but I thought talking to a pregnant woman would be much the same as talking to any other woman. However, my experiences in the last several months have convinced me that this is simply not the case. Surprisingly, men in general have not made any weird or untactful (is that a word?) comments ... just the women!
The following questions and comments are always welcome (at least by me):
Stick to those and you will not risk the wrath of the pregnant lady ;)
Here are some of the gems I've received in the last several months:
These are the ones that stick out in my head as being the most common - and I've received variations of the above so many times I wouldn't care to count. I think it's hilarious that people think these are actually acceptable questions / comments! Would I ever say to anyone that they look like they've gained a lot of weight in the past little while? Or ... *gasp* .. ask their weight??
So, if you're tempted to use one of the above phrases around one of your pregnant friends, please refrain ;) They're probably not thrilled already with gaining weight, and having you point it out is really unnecessary ... trust me, they know the size of their belly! lol.
Ok ... back to the Mini Eggs ;)
Maybe I'm odd, but I thought talking to a pregnant woman would be much the same as talking to any other woman. However, my experiences in the last several months have convinced me that this is simply not the case. Surprisingly, men in general have not made any weird or untactful (is that a word?) comments ... just the women!
The following questions and comments are always welcome (at least by me):
- When are you due? (**special note - this should only be followed by one of the next few phrases!)
- How is the nursery coming?
- Oh, you're glowing!
- You must be so excited!
- You look wonderful :)
Stick to those and you will not risk the wrath of the pregnant lady ;)
Here are some of the gems I've received in the last several months:
- I can't believe you're only X number of months along! You're so big!
- How much weight have you gained? (sheesh!)
- You're going to be *huge* by June! (with big saucer eyes for the proper effect ;) )
- You're awfully big for this being your first child.
- Are you *sure* it's not twins?
These are the ones that stick out in my head as being the most common - and I've received variations of the above so many times I wouldn't care to count. I think it's hilarious that people think these are actually acceptable questions / comments! Would I ever say to anyone that they look like they've gained a lot of weight in the past little while? Or ... *gasp* .. ask their weight??
So, if you're tempted to use one of the above phrases around one of your pregnant friends, please refrain ;) They're probably not thrilled already with gaining weight, and having you point it out is really unnecessary ... trust me, they know the size of their belly! lol.
Ok ... back to the Mini Eggs ;)
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Baby, Baby ...
Wow - every day this week it seems we have some baby-related appointment or meeting. It's so neat!
As I mentioned, last night we had our tour of the maternity ward at the local hospital. I actually learned some really neat stuff (I was a little concerned it would be a waste of time other than seeing the facilities). Let's see if I can summarize.
The first thing I learned is that if we get a private room (or a semi-private one with the permission of the other mom) Peter will be able to stay all night with me after Baby M is born! The original literature from the hospital states that visiting hours for fathers are 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., which I wasn't happy with. I have never spent the night in the hospital, and I'm a little nervous to do so by myself for the first time with a newborn baby to take care of.
The second thing ... and you ladies who stitch will appreciate this. When we got to the birthing rooms, the nurse mentioned that anything we like to do to relax we should bring with us to labour. So, she named off some examples, "Music, books to read, knitting, cross-stitch ..." I thought it was so funny she included cross-stitching! As much as I love my hobby, I don't think I'll be bringing it to the hospital ;)
We also found out that the hospital will try and get you to nurse within the first hour or two after the baby is born. I have my heart set on breastfeeding, so I was very happy to hear this, since I've heard it's important to get the baby latched on quickly after birth.
I had my regular doctor's appointment this morning. Everything looks good and Baby M is head-down right now. Hopefully s/he stays that way for the next several weeks :) Heart rate was around ... you guessed it ... 160! lol. It's been very consistent each appointment. However, my doctor's doppler doesn't have a readout of the rate, so he just counts with the wall clock, so it could be a bit higher or lower than that.
Because of the hospital tour we didn't get home until after 9 last night. I fell asleep on the couch before 10, so that didn't leave much time for anything else. I have been tired the last few nights. Other than that, though, these past few weeks I've felt the best I have the whole pregnancy. I don't know if it's because I am getting really anxious to hold Baby M in my arms or what.
Early this week I ordered the newborn package of cloth diapers from here. I can't wait for them to come in so I can get them all ready for when Baby M arrives!
Peter and I have a 4 day weekend because of Easter. I am really looking forward to the time off. Hopefully I can motivated to accomplish some baby preparations in addition to cleaning up the house. It's not too bad to start with, so I may get to some deeper cleaning - yay!
Enjoy the long weekend for anyone who has one!
As I mentioned, last night we had our tour of the maternity ward at the local hospital. I actually learned some really neat stuff (I was a little concerned it would be a waste of time other than seeing the facilities). Let's see if I can summarize.
The first thing I learned is that if we get a private room (or a semi-private one with the permission of the other mom) Peter will be able to stay all night with me after Baby M is born! The original literature from the hospital states that visiting hours for fathers are 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., which I wasn't happy with. I have never spent the night in the hospital, and I'm a little nervous to do so by myself for the first time with a newborn baby to take care of.
The second thing ... and you ladies who stitch will appreciate this. When we got to the birthing rooms, the nurse mentioned that anything we like to do to relax we should bring with us to labour. So, she named off some examples, "Music, books to read, knitting, cross-stitch ..." I thought it was so funny she included cross-stitching! As much as I love my hobby, I don't think I'll be bringing it to the hospital ;)
We also found out that the hospital will try and get you to nurse within the first hour or two after the baby is born. I have my heart set on breastfeeding, so I was very happy to hear this, since I've heard it's important to get the baby latched on quickly after birth.
I had my regular doctor's appointment this morning. Everything looks good and Baby M is head-down right now. Hopefully s/he stays that way for the next several weeks :) Heart rate was around ... you guessed it ... 160! lol. It's been very consistent each appointment. However, my doctor's doppler doesn't have a readout of the rate, so he just counts with the wall clock, so it could be a bit higher or lower than that.
Because of the hospital tour we didn't get home until after 9 last night. I fell asleep on the couch before 10, so that didn't leave much time for anything else. I have been tired the last few nights. Other than that, though, these past few weeks I've felt the best I have the whole pregnancy. I don't know if it's because I am getting really anxious to hold Baby M in my arms or what.
Early this week I ordered the newborn package of cloth diapers from here. I can't wait for them to come in so I can get them all ready for when Baby M arrives!
Peter and I have a 4 day weekend because of Easter. I am really looking forward to the time off. Hopefully I can motivated to accomplish some baby preparations in addition to cleaning up the house. It's not too bad to start with, so I may get to some deeper cleaning - yay!
Enjoy the long weekend for anyone who has one!
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Want a hyper baby??
Drink orange juice!
I don't normally drink much juice. Usually I stick to milk, water, and diet coke (my biggest vice!). However, since I've been trying to cut back on diet coke while pregnant, and since we were out of milk at home yesterday, I mixed up some orange juice to have. Well ... let me tell you that orange juice makes Baby M go ballistic. I tried to keep stitching, I really did, but M was way too distracting. My stomach was sore all over by the time M was finished with the gymnastics (i.e. the sugar wore off). I had no idea that the juice would have that sort of effect. Now I know what to do if I'm worried about not feeling much movement!
I did a trial run of the routines last night and this morning. I think they are reasonable, although I didn't get everything done on them the first time through. That was mostly because I fell asleep on the couch.
Tonight is our tour at the hospital, which I am very excited about. I think we register and do all the paperwork that is needed so I don't have to do that while I'm in labour :) I found out last night from some nursing students that our hospital has a jacuzzi tub and birthing balls, etc ... for while you're in labour. I had heard about those types of things before, but for some reason figured our hospital wouldn't be "progressive" enough to have them. So ... now I have more to think about when contemplating how I'd like to handle labour. My Mom is a huge advocate for epidurals - she did all three common routes (natural, narcotics, and epidural) and says there is no comparison. Anyone else want to throw their $0.02 into the ring on what they think about pain management? I want to have a discussion with my OB about this at my next visit, but that's not until May 9th. I'd like to be well-informed about the options before discussing it with him.
I don't normally drink much juice. Usually I stick to milk, water, and diet coke (my biggest vice!). However, since I've been trying to cut back on diet coke while pregnant, and since we were out of milk at home yesterday, I mixed up some orange juice to have. Well ... let me tell you that orange juice makes Baby M go ballistic. I tried to keep stitching, I really did, but M was way too distracting. My stomach was sore all over by the time M was finished with the gymnastics (i.e. the sugar wore off). I had no idea that the juice would have that sort of effect. Now I know what to do if I'm worried about not feeling much movement!
I did a trial run of the routines last night and this morning. I think they are reasonable, although I didn't get everything done on them the first time through. That was mostly because I fell asleep on the couch.
Tonight is our tour at the hospital, which I am very excited about. I think we register and do all the paperwork that is needed so I don't have to do that while I'm in labour :) I found out last night from some nursing students that our hospital has a jacuzzi tub and birthing balls, etc ... for while you're in labour. I had heard about those types of things before, but for some reason figured our hospital wouldn't be "progressive" enough to have them. So ... now I have more to think about when contemplating how I'd like to handle labour. My Mom is a huge advocate for epidurals - she did all three common routes (natural, narcotics, and epidural) and says there is no comparison. Anyone else want to throw their $0.02 into the ring on what they think about pain management? I want to have a discussion with my OB about this at my next visit, but that's not until May 9th. I'd like to be well-informed about the options before discussing it with him.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
So close!
I got to stitch last night - yay! Peter is going to try taking my progress pics for last month since I can never seem to get the colour right. That's what I get for buying him a fancy camera - I have no clue how to use it! So ... hopefully those will be forthcoming in the next few days.
Anyway, I worked on Chestnut last night and got about two hours in. I am sooooo close to finishing it. I worked on backstitching all last night and probably have one more night to go. There is absolutely no way I'm going to finish all 6 (this is number 2) in the next 10 weeks, nor will I be finishing Carousel, but they'll get done eventually ;)
I could have possibly finished Chestnut last night, but I decided to be nice to Peter and make him a treat - chocolate chip cookies. They are his absolute favourite (followed closely by peanut butter squares) and I rarely make them. I don't know why - they're not exactly time or labour-intensive.
Eleni and I have decided we each need a proverbial kick in the pants to establish some basic routines à la Flylady. So ... similar to her bet with her DH about the treadmill, we have decided to keep each other accountable for doing our basic morning and evening routines. The wager? Whoever doesn't do their routines at least 5 days per week has to buy the other a double cheeseburger meal at McDonalds. We usually end up there almost once a week for lunch anyway, so we figured that was a good setup.
So ... here are my new morning and evening routines!
Morning:
To me those look reasonable but also challenging. I'm planning to start tonight, although it doesn't *count* until Sunday.
Anyway, I worked on Chestnut last night and got about two hours in. I am sooooo close to finishing it. I worked on backstitching all last night and probably have one more night to go. There is absolutely no way I'm going to finish all 6 (this is number 2) in the next 10 weeks, nor will I be finishing Carousel, but they'll get done eventually ;)
I could have possibly finished Chestnut last night, but I decided to be nice to Peter and make him a treat - chocolate chip cookies. They are his absolute favourite (followed closely by peanut butter squares) and I rarely make them. I don't know why - they're not exactly time or labour-intensive.
Eleni and I have decided we each need a proverbial kick in the pants to establish some basic routines à la Flylady. So ... similar to her bet with her DH about the treadmill, we have decided to keep each other accountable for doing our basic morning and evening routines. The wager? Whoever doesn't do their routines at least 5 days per week has to buy the other a double cheeseburger meal at McDonalds. We usually end up there almost once a week for lunch anyway, so we figured that was a good setup.
So ... here are my new morning and evening routines!
Morning:
- Get up, showered, dressed to shoes
- Make bed
- Start load of laundry
- Eat or pack breakfast
- Empty dishwasher
- Devotions
- Wash dishes & put away
- Shine sink
- Run dishwasher
- Fold any laundry in dryer
- Lay out clothes for next day
- Wash face (something I've gotten out of the habit of doing ... eeks!)
To me those look reasonable but also challenging. I'm planning to start tonight, although it doesn't *count* until Sunday.
Monday, April 2, 2007
The Big 3-0!
Nope, not my age ... I am now officially 30 weeks pregnant! Hard to believe I'm into single-digit weeks already. The time has definitely flown by. Also, having only 10 weeks until my estimated due date means I only have 8 weeks of work left before maternity leave starts!
So ... in case you haven't noticed, I've been a bit absent the past few weeks. I've had good reason, though. Peter and I are part of the youth leadership team at our church and we have had two of our major events the past two weekends. A week ago the youth put on a fundraising lunch for the church after the service on Sunday. The planning involved in that took up some time. Then, this past weekend we organized a retreat for the youth at our local summer camp. That took a huge amount of time to plan and get ready for. Thankfully, all the planning paid off and I think the youth had a good time and also were challenged in their walk with the Lord. Overall, it was a blessing once we got to the camp, just the work to get there was a bit overwhelming at times!
So ... I actually feel this week like I've started 'phase 1' of maternity leave, since we don't have any more major events that we're responsible for planning.
Other notable stuff happening over the past few weeks ...
On Thursday night one of my friends surprised me by showing up at my door with a few other friends for a lovely time of visiting, dessert, and they brought a gift certificate to use at any store in the main mall around here. What a loving and generous group of ladies - thank you!
The Thursday before last was another regular doctor's appointment. I am still measuring big for dates (about 3 weeks ahead) but the doctor didn't seem concerned at all. M's heart rate was still consistently around 160, where it has been for almost the whole pregnancy. When I went to leave, the doctor said to schedule the rest of my appointments with him. I only have 3 left, and they're spaced at 2-week intervals now. Eeks! I also called the obstetrician, who I'll switch to at 36 weeks, and booked my weekly appointments with him until the end of May.
We haven't accomplished anything more on the nursery in the past couple of weeks. However, my goal is to finish caulking all the trim by the end of the weekend. If I can do that all I'll have to do is paint the trim and doors and the room will be all set to decorate.
To avoid writing too much of a novel I'll stop here and try to write more consistently in the coming days!
So ... in case you haven't noticed, I've been a bit absent the past few weeks. I've had good reason, though. Peter and I are part of the youth leadership team at our church and we have had two of our major events the past two weekends. A week ago the youth put on a fundraising lunch for the church after the service on Sunday. The planning involved in that took up some time. Then, this past weekend we organized a retreat for the youth at our local summer camp. That took a huge amount of time to plan and get ready for. Thankfully, all the planning paid off and I think the youth had a good time and also were challenged in their walk with the Lord. Overall, it was a blessing once we got to the camp, just the work to get there was a bit overwhelming at times!
So ... I actually feel this week like I've started 'phase 1' of maternity leave, since we don't have any more major events that we're responsible for planning.
Other notable stuff happening over the past few weeks ...
On Thursday night one of my friends surprised me by showing up at my door with a few other friends for a lovely time of visiting, dessert, and they brought a gift certificate to use at any store in the main mall around here. What a loving and generous group of ladies - thank you!
The Thursday before last was another regular doctor's appointment. I am still measuring big for dates (about 3 weeks ahead) but the doctor didn't seem concerned at all. M's heart rate was still consistently around 160, where it has been for almost the whole pregnancy. When I went to leave, the doctor said to schedule the rest of my appointments with him. I only have 3 left, and they're spaced at 2-week intervals now. Eeks! I also called the obstetrician, who I'll switch to at 36 weeks, and booked my weekly appointments with him until the end of May.
We haven't accomplished anything more on the nursery in the past couple of weeks. However, my goal is to finish caulking all the trim by the end of the weekend. If I can do that all I'll have to do is paint the trim and doors and the room will be all set to decorate.
To avoid writing too much of a novel I'll stop here and try to write more consistently in the coming days!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Overwhelmed ...
Wow ... talk about being overwhelmed. The ladies' group at our church had a baby shower for us on Saturday and I'm still in shock from the number of ladies that came and their generosity in helping us get set up to welcome Baby M. Until Saturday I was feeling very unprepared in the baby department - I feel much better now! For anyone reading this who was there - thank you so much!
Here's a picture of me and my little sister at the shower ... the camera doesn't lie - I can't believe how much weight I've gained in my face and arms!
We got lots of little outfits - most were gender neutral (lots of yellow duckies ;) ) but one friend went out on a limb with her prediction and bought us the cutest pair of pink Pooh overalls and t-shirt. I'll be very disappointed if we don't have a girl now - that outfit is so precious! We got a variety of sizes in clothes, too, which is nice. We received a few packages of diapers and lots of wipes - including this beautiful diaper cake that must have taken forever to put together!
We received a musical bouncy chair, a baby bathtub, and a Snugli - three things that were on our "must have" list :) We had two special friends make beautiful baby quilts for M - I'll have to post some pictures of them once I get home. We received two knit sweater sets and a crocheted baby blanket - absolutely adorable.
Amazingly enough - we didn't really get any duplicates (except on stuff we'll need lots of, like bath stuff and face cloths, etc ...). My little sister gave us a musical toy that you attach to the side of the crib and it projects a picture onto the nursery ceiling - we'll have to try it out! Mom gave us a lamp with carousel horses to match TW's Carousel that I'm cross-stitching! I was so out of it that I didn't realize that the lamp was going to match the picture until much later Saturday night. lol. Peter's Mom gave us a beautiful baby memory book. I looked through it and it has lots of neat stuff to fill in with space for many pictures. Now to remember to keep it up-to-date!
All the gifts are currently sitting in our living room as the chop saw is still set up in the nursery. That will change tonight, however, as we get back to finishing up that room. Not long now until we will actually need it! Hopefully by tomorrow night we'll have the shelves and closet rods up in the nursery closet so I can start getting organized :)
Here's a picture of me and my little sister at the shower ... the camera doesn't lie - I can't believe how much weight I've gained in my face and arms!
We got lots of little outfits - most were gender neutral (lots of yellow duckies ;) ) but one friend went out on a limb with her prediction and bought us the cutest pair of pink Pooh overalls and t-shirt. I'll be very disappointed if we don't have a girl now - that outfit is so precious! We got a variety of sizes in clothes, too, which is nice. We received a few packages of diapers and lots of wipes - including this beautiful diaper cake that must have taken forever to put together!
We received a musical bouncy chair, a baby bathtub, and a Snugli - three things that were on our "must have" list :) We had two special friends make beautiful baby quilts for M - I'll have to post some pictures of them once I get home. We received two knit sweater sets and a crocheted baby blanket - absolutely adorable.
Amazingly enough - we didn't really get any duplicates (except on stuff we'll need lots of, like bath stuff and face cloths, etc ...). My little sister gave us a musical toy that you attach to the side of the crib and it projects a picture onto the nursery ceiling - we'll have to try it out! Mom gave us a lamp with carousel horses to match TW's Carousel that I'm cross-stitching! I was so out of it that I didn't realize that the lamp was going to match the picture until much later Saturday night. lol. Peter's Mom gave us a beautiful baby memory book. I looked through it and it has lots of neat stuff to fill in with space for many pictures. Now to remember to keep it up-to-date!
All the gifts are currently sitting in our living room as the chop saw is still set up in the nursery. That will change tonight, however, as we get back to finishing up that room. Not long now until we will actually need it! Hopefully by tomorrow night we'll have the shelves and closet rods up in the nursery closet so I can start getting organized :)
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
I Passed!!
Yay - I found out yesterday afternoon that I passed my gestational diabetes screening test. I really expected to fail, so this was a very pleasant surprise. It also appears that I'm not measuring abnormally large anymore, so everything's back on track :)
Last night we had our first home visit from a couple of nursing students. For a course they're taking they have to do 4 in-home educational sessions with expectant parents. I'm looking at it like free 1-on-1 prenatal classes! Last night they just went over the possible topics, and we picked "Safety of the home," "Breastfeeding," "Nutrition" (this one was required), and "Exercise Postpartum." They're coming back next Tuesday night to do the first session. For the nutrition session I have to track what I eat for 5 days - could be interesting. Peter says to just eat normally, but is that even possible when you know someone's going to be scrutinizing and analyzing everything you put in your mouth? I get the tracking forms at the next session so I can still splurge a bit this week ;)
I've been able to stitch both Monday and Tuesday night this week - yay! Hopefully I can keep up my streak tonight. I should be working on Chestnut if I get stitching time tonight. I am very close to being finished this one - likely by the end of the month.
I've finally started to plan stuff and mark it on the calendar for after Baby M arrives. For the longest time it felt like our whole lives were going to stop at my due date. I'm finally past that and realize that although having M will be a huge life change, our lives will continue on afterwards, just with an extra little person to take into consideration :) So, we have a couple of visits with friends and families scheduled for some weekends in the summer. I'm trying to be reasonable so that we're not tenting with a 3-week-old ;)
Only 48 days left of work!
Last night we had our first home visit from a couple of nursing students. For a course they're taking they have to do 4 in-home educational sessions with expectant parents. I'm looking at it like free 1-on-1 prenatal classes! Last night they just went over the possible topics, and we picked "Safety of the home," "Breastfeeding," "Nutrition" (this one was required), and "Exercise Postpartum." They're coming back next Tuesday night to do the first session. For the nutrition session I have to track what I eat for 5 days - could be interesting. Peter says to just eat normally, but is that even possible when you know someone's going to be scrutinizing and analyzing everything you put in your mouth? I get the tracking forms at the next session so I can still splurge a bit this week ;)
I've been able to stitch both Monday and Tuesday night this week - yay! Hopefully I can keep up my streak tonight. I should be working on Chestnut if I get stitching time tonight. I am very close to being finished this one - likely by the end of the month.
I've finally started to plan stuff and mark it on the calendar for after Baby M arrives. For the longest time it felt like our whole lives were going to stop at my due date. I'm finally past that and realize that although having M will be a huge life change, our lives will continue on afterwards, just with an extra little person to take into consideration :) So, we have a couple of visits with friends and families scheduled for some weekends in the summer. I'm trying to be reasonable so that we're not tenting with a 3-week-old ;)
Only 48 days left of work!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Back to "Normal"
Peter and I took a short trip to our home city this weekend. My cousin was getting married and some friend of ours had tickets to a local hockey game. We got back on Saturday night and Sunday was nuts. Last night I finally felt like life was settling back into a somewhat 'normal' routine.
As an aside - I think Baby M is trying to escape right now - I've had a little bum (or something) pushing against my right side for the past 45 minutes. It's cute, but gets a bit uncomfortable after a while!
Anyway ... (warning - boring house cleaning paragraph) ... a few weeks ago I made a list of all the cleaning tasks I'm usually scurrying around trying to get finished up when we have company coming. I then decided whether I thought each task needed to be done daily, twice a week, weekly, or monthly. For the things that were twice a week or weekly I made up two "Home Blessing" times as a beginning of a weekly schedule. So, Monday nights are my mini-Home Blessing. It takes 30 minutes and includes: sweep master bedroom / bathroom, hallway, stairs, entryways, and kitchen; swish & swipe half bath; clean out fridge. Last night when I got home I actually did this and it felt so good to sit down at 7:30 to stitch knowing that the house was presentable! Hopefully when Thursday comes I can muster up the energy for my regular Home Blessing hour. I can't remember what I have to do during that. I know it includes the same stuff from Monday as well as cleaning the master bathroom. Maybe mopping the kitchen and entryways, too? Anyway, I figure if I can at least incorporate this stuff into my week I won't have to clean like a madwoman to have people over!
On the baby front - I feel (and look) huge! I can't believe I have another almost 3 months to go. I was measuring ahead at my last doctor's appointment - we'll see what he has to say next week when I go back. On the weekend I picked up several shirts at Value Village and a couple pairs of pants at a maternity store. Now I just have to hem the pants before the baby gets here. I'm notoriously bad at procrastinating about that!
We settled on childcare for when I come back to work next year. Another thing off the list!
As you can see, life has been pretty boring as of late. I'm sure that will change as baby preparations take over.
As an aside - I think Baby M is trying to escape right now - I've had a little bum (or something) pushing against my right side for the past 45 minutes. It's cute, but gets a bit uncomfortable after a while!
Anyway ... (warning - boring house cleaning paragraph) ... a few weeks ago I made a list of all the cleaning tasks I'm usually scurrying around trying to get finished up when we have company coming. I then decided whether I thought each task needed to be done daily, twice a week, weekly, or monthly. For the things that were twice a week or weekly I made up two "Home Blessing" times as a beginning of a weekly schedule. So, Monday nights are my mini-Home Blessing. It takes 30 minutes and includes: sweep master bedroom / bathroom, hallway, stairs, entryways, and kitchen; swish & swipe half bath; clean out fridge. Last night when I got home I actually did this and it felt so good to sit down at 7:30 to stitch knowing that the house was presentable! Hopefully when Thursday comes I can muster up the energy for my regular Home Blessing hour. I can't remember what I have to do during that. I know it includes the same stuff from Monday as well as cleaning the master bathroom. Maybe mopping the kitchen and entryways, too? Anyway, I figure if I can at least incorporate this stuff into my week I won't have to clean like a madwoman to have people over!
On the baby front - I feel (and look) huge! I can't believe I have another almost 3 months to go. I was measuring ahead at my last doctor's appointment - we'll see what he has to say next week when I go back. On the weekend I picked up several shirts at Value Village and a couple pairs of pants at a maternity store. Now I just have to hem the pants before the baby gets here. I'm notoriously bad at procrastinating about that!
We settled on childcare for when I come back to work next year. Another thing off the list!
As you can see, life has been pretty boring as of late. I'm sure that will change as baby preparations take over.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Double Digits and Month 7
Well, if you take a look at the ticker at the top of the page you'll see that I'm well into double-digits left until my (estimated) due date! And ... this morning it jumped another month to say I'm officially in month 7 (6 months pregnant, just to confuse people ;) ).
I must say I think the exhaustion has come back with a vengeance. This whole week has gone by in somewhat of a fog - I really can't think what I've been doing in the evenings, but nothing seems to be getting accomplished and my house is getting messier by the day! I really should shape up since the big day is approaching so quickly!
Baby M squirms around and kicks all the time now! It is such an amazing thing. S/he seems to settle down when I go to bed, contrary to most babies' schedules in utero. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it means M will sleep at night after birth.
Now for my pregnancy gripe ... why, oh why is it so impossible (seemingly) to make maternity pants that don't fall down when you walk??? If I had a million dollars, I think I'd commission someone to take on this project - I'm sure I'd make back my million in a day from all the thankful pregnant women. And don't even get me started on pantyhose ;) I'm wearing them today for the first time and probably the last (except possibly Easter Sunday). I feel like a little kid wearing tights that are too big for her.
Since that's the biggest thing I can complain about, I figure it could be worse ;)
I had my glucose test yesterday morning. It definitely did not agree with my stomach, but I managed to hold it together until they did the blood draw. I felt much better after that. The nurse was very good and found my vein on the first try (I've had bad experiences in the past). She said the results should be at the doctor's in about a week, so I'll call at the end of next week to see what's going on. Due to pre-existing blood sugar issues (nothing diagnosed, but I've always struggled to keep them on an even keel) I am not hopeful that I passed. Let's just say I will be very surprised if I don't have to go back for the 3-hour test. Yuck!
My next official doctor's appointment is 2 weeks from today. I believe after that I'll be going every 2 weeks until I switch to the OB at 36 weeks. Time is flying!
We signed up for our prenatal classes this week. They're toward the end of April. We also have the hospital tour in April and I have a breastfeeding class. At our first visit to the OB we signed up to have a nursing student come and do some one-on-one birth and childcare sessions at our house. They start next Tuesday. I'm pretty excited about that. Apparently the first session she'll show us the available topics for the next 4 sessions and we can pick what we'd like to cover. Should be fun!
Anyway, I should get to work. Peter and I have a wedding to go to tonight so we're leaving work early. We both took tomorrow as a vacation day, too, so yay! for a long weekend.
I must say I think the exhaustion has come back with a vengeance. This whole week has gone by in somewhat of a fog - I really can't think what I've been doing in the evenings, but nothing seems to be getting accomplished and my house is getting messier by the day! I really should shape up since the big day is approaching so quickly!
Baby M squirms around and kicks all the time now! It is such an amazing thing. S/he seems to settle down when I go to bed, contrary to most babies' schedules in utero. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it means M will sleep at night after birth.
Now for my pregnancy gripe ... why, oh why is it so impossible (seemingly) to make maternity pants that don't fall down when you walk??? If I had a million dollars, I think I'd commission someone to take on this project - I'm sure I'd make back my million in a day from all the thankful pregnant women. And don't even get me started on pantyhose ;) I'm wearing them today for the first time and probably the last (except possibly Easter Sunday). I feel like a little kid wearing tights that are too big for her.
Since that's the biggest thing I can complain about, I figure it could be worse ;)
I had my glucose test yesterday morning. It definitely did not agree with my stomach, but I managed to hold it together until they did the blood draw. I felt much better after that. The nurse was very good and found my vein on the first try (I've had bad experiences in the past). She said the results should be at the doctor's in about a week, so I'll call at the end of next week to see what's going on. Due to pre-existing blood sugar issues (nothing diagnosed, but I've always struggled to keep them on an even keel) I am not hopeful that I passed. Let's just say I will be very surprised if I don't have to go back for the 3-hour test. Yuck!
My next official doctor's appointment is 2 weeks from today. I believe after that I'll be going every 2 weeks until I switch to the OB at 36 weeks. Time is flying!
We signed up for our prenatal classes this week. They're toward the end of April. We also have the hospital tour in April and I have a breastfeeding class. At our first visit to the OB we signed up to have a nursing student come and do some one-on-one birth and childcare sessions at our house. They start next Tuesday. I'm pretty excited about that. Apparently the first session she'll show us the available topics for the next 4 sessions and we can pick what we'd like to cover. Should be fun!
Anyway, I should get to work. Peter and I have a wedding to go to tonight so we're leaving work early. We both took tomorrow as a vacation day, too, so yay! for a long weekend.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Progress Pics
It's that time of the month again - time for some updated progress pics! I took these last night and I was talking on the phone at the time, so if they aren't the best pictures I apologize.
Carousel is really coming along this month. This represents 34.5 hours of work since I started. I think another month will take me to the left-hand side of the tent. The tent will be the most challenging part of the picture, I think, so I'm trying to finish that up before moving on to the 'fun' stuff.
Village Skaters continues to progress slowly. This picture has an extra 10 hours since last month. There's another girl skater to go beside the man in the brown coat and then I think I'm mostly down to finishing up the ice and snow in the bottom right corner. Still lots of work to do, but at least I'm seeing progress.
Chestnut is really coming along, and if I get a decent amount of stitching time this month I imagine I'll be able to finish it. This picture represents 22 hours of work so far.
And ... my new start of the month (Dance of the Roses) :) I am not pleased with how this progress pic turned out - it doesn't do the picture or the amount that's finished justice at all. The colours are much more vibrant in person. I have 7 hours into this one so far.
Carousel is really coming along this month. This represents 34.5 hours of work since I started. I think another month will take me to the left-hand side of the tent. The tent will be the most challenging part of the picture, I think, so I'm trying to finish that up before moving on to the 'fun' stuff.Village Skaters continues to progress slowly. This picture has an extra 10 hours since last month. There's another girl skater to go beside the man in the brown coat and then I think I'm mostly down to finishing up the ice and snow in the bottom right corner. Still lots of work to do, but at least I'm seeing progress.Chestnut is really coming along, and if I get a decent amount of stitching time this month I imagine I'll be able to finish it. This picture represents 22 hours of work so far.And ... my new start of the month (Dance of the Roses) :) I am not pleased with how this progress pic turned out - it doesn't do the picture or the amount that's finished justice at all. The colours are much more vibrant in person. I have 7 hours into this one so far.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Thank you Sheri!
When we told Peter's sister, Sheri, that we were pregnant, she offered to buy us our stroller as a gift - very generous :) She's coming home in April (lives 1700 km away) and wanted to make sure she had it by then since she won't be home after that until right after the baby's born.
So ... for the last month or so we've been emailing ideas back and forth. About a week ago we settled on the Bumbleride 2006 Flyer. She quickly ordered it and had it sent directly to our house and we received it on Thursday. It is so beautiful! The colour didn't turn out well in the pictures, the blue is really more of an aqua. We have the optional foot muff attached. Where the 'bumper' bar is can be swapped out for the included car seat adapter, and the infant seat we're borrowing should be able to attach directly to that. We will find that out on Monday hopefully. Anyway, here are the pictures :) Many thanks again to Sheri!
So ... for the last month or so we've been emailing ideas back and forth. About a week ago we settled on the Bumbleride 2006 Flyer. She quickly ordered it and had it sent directly to our house and we received it on Thursday. It is so beautiful! The colour didn't turn out well in the pictures, the blue is really more of an aqua. We have the optional foot muff attached. Where the 'bumper' bar is can be swapped out for the included car seat adapter, and the infant seat we're borrowing should be able to attach directly to that. We will find that out on Monday hopefully. Anyway, here are the pictures :) Many thanks again to Sheri!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Crazy week
I'm having one of those weeks where I feel exhausted just thinking about keeping up with everything. Ever have one of those? If so, please excuse the lack of posting in the last while :) If not, I'm jealous ;)
Hmmm ... I really enjoyed my day at home last Wednesday. We did end up canceling our plans for dinner on Valentine's Day and just enjoyed a nice dinner and evening at home. Thursday the storm continued. School was canceled, which meant our church commitments for the evening were canceled. We enjoyed another evening at home. Friday night Peter went skiing with some of the youth from the church and I spent the whole evening stitching - yay!
Saturday we spent working on the house and Saturday night we drove to my sister's house for her birthday party. It was nice to connect with everyone for the evening.
Sunday we had church in the morning and then in the evening we had our youth Bible study. In the afternoon I stitched while Peter slept - he was so exhausted.
Monday night we met with the lady who is probably going to keep Baby M when I go back to work (hopefully only part-time - yay!). Things look pretty good on that front, although I should probably confirm with her.
Tuesday night I had a practice at the church and last night Peter taught a guitar lesson at the house. We spent the rest of the evening cleaning up - the house looks so good! I've been doing well sticking to my flylady routines this week, too, so hopefully I can keep it all tidied up.
There's a quick summary of our week ;) As far as Baby M goes, s/he had a quiet couple of days early in the week but made up for it this morning. I'm so enjoying feeling the little movements frequently. My next doctor's appointment is on the 1st and I have my gestational diabetes test the week after that. Hopefully I pass! Dad was recently diagnosed with diabetes, which apparently increases my risk.
I'm starting to get a little anxious about having things ready for the baby ... I can't believe it's only a little over 15 weeks away. I do have a list and am going to try and check 1 thing off a night. The list only has about 25 things on it, so that should give me lots of time.
I'm starting to outgrow some maternity clothes. I think I'm good with what I do have for at least another 6 weeks or so. After that it's probably going to be slim pickings especially for tops. Oh well, it's only another 2 months so I can make it. Thanks to the generosity of friends lending me theirs I haven't had to buy many maternity clothes at all.
Oh yeah - we found out that some good friends of ours (who happen to live within walking distance) are expecting their first baby in September! It will be so cool to have babies so close in age as they grow up.
Hmmm ... I really enjoyed my day at home last Wednesday. We did end up canceling our plans for dinner on Valentine's Day and just enjoyed a nice dinner and evening at home. Thursday the storm continued. School was canceled, which meant our church commitments for the evening were canceled. We enjoyed another evening at home. Friday night Peter went skiing with some of the youth from the church and I spent the whole evening stitching - yay!
Saturday we spent working on the house and Saturday night we drove to my sister's house for her birthday party. It was nice to connect with everyone for the evening.
Sunday we had church in the morning and then in the evening we had our youth Bible study. In the afternoon I stitched while Peter slept - he was so exhausted.
Monday night we met with the lady who is probably going to keep Baby M when I go back to work (hopefully only part-time - yay!). Things look pretty good on that front, although I should probably confirm with her.
Tuesday night I had a practice at the church and last night Peter taught a guitar lesson at the house. We spent the rest of the evening cleaning up - the house looks so good! I've been doing well sticking to my flylady routines this week, too, so hopefully I can keep it all tidied up.
There's a quick summary of our week ;) As far as Baby M goes, s/he had a quiet couple of days early in the week but made up for it this morning. I'm so enjoying feeling the little movements frequently. My next doctor's appointment is on the 1st and I have my gestational diabetes test the week after that. Hopefully I pass! Dad was recently diagnosed with diabetes, which apparently increases my risk.
I'm starting to get a little anxious about having things ready for the baby ... I can't believe it's only a little over 15 weeks away. I do have a list and am going to try and check 1 thing off a night. The list only has about 25 things on it, so that should give me lots of time.
I'm starting to outgrow some maternity clothes. I think I'm good with what I do have for at least another 6 weeks or so. After that it's probably going to be slim pickings especially for tops. Oh well, it's only another 2 months so I can make it. Thanks to the generosity of friends lending me theirs I haven't had to buy many maternity clothes at all.
Oh yeah - we found out that some good friends of ours (who happen to live within walking distance) are expecting their first baby in September! It will be so cool to have babies so close in age as they grow up.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
A new start!
I had picked up the pattern for L&L's Dance of the Roses last fall, and at the time our somewhat LNS (90 minutes away) said the fabric I wanted would be in in a week .... Well, I finally got a call last week that the fabric was in! Thankfully, Eleni was heading that way last weekend and picked it up for me. So ... I made a deal with myself last night. If I cleaned up the main part of the house and was sitting down by 8 I could start DOTR ... I cheated a bit (left the kitchen, since Peter's chop saw is still set up to finish up the baseboards tonight) but was sitting by 6:30! I decided to be a bit productive and started the paperwork to get our HST rebate on an owner-built house, but by 8:00 I had the floss pulled and was ready to start.
Let me say - when compared to the Teresa Wentzler and Stoney Creek projects I've been mired down in this is a walk in the park! I can't believe how much I accomplished in 3 hours! I am going to really enjoy this as a break from the more intense projects. Now I just have to make sure I stick to a rotation and don't spend all my time on DOTR! To make room for DOTR I removed Amethyst Snowflake for the time being. So, my new rotation is:
On another note - because my maternity leave starts at the end of May, I was entitled to 5 vacation days this year. I usually take my vacation through the summer and save some for Christmas, so this winter / spring I'm faced with 5 "free" days to use as I please. I made the decision last week that tomorrow I'm going to have a vacation day - Happy Valentine's to me ;) I am so excited! I should do some work on the house, but being home all day I should definitely be able to fit in some quality stitching time.
Peter and I have plans to drive to a favourite restaurant about 90 minutes away for supper tomorrow night, but with the winter storm watch in effect we may end up home for the evening ... which I wouldn't be too distraught about - I'm such a homebody. As long as I don't have to cook I'm good with whatever tomorrow night.
Not too much has been happening here this week except for working on the house (see our other blog).
Let me say - when compared to the Teresa Wentzler and Stoney Creek projects I've been mired down in this is a walk in the park! I can't believe how much I accomplished in 3 hours! I am going to really enjoy this as a break from the more intense projects. Now I just have to make sure I stick to a rotation and don't spend all my time on DOTR! To make room for DOTR I removed Amethyst Snowflake for the time being. So, my new rotation is:
- Carousel
- DOTR
- Chestnut (Rocking Horse)
- Village Skaters
On another note - because my maternity leave starts at the end of May, I was entitled to 5 vacation days this year. I usually take my vacation through the summer and save some for Christmas, so this winter / spring I'm faced with 5 "free" days to use as I please. I made the decision last week that tomorrow I'm going to have a vacation day - Happy Valentine's to me ;) I am so excited! I should do some work on the house, but being home all day I should definitely be able to fit in some quality stitching time.
Peter and I have plans to drive to a favourite restaurant about 90 minutes away for supper tomorrow night, but with the winter storm watch in effect we may end up home for the evening ... which I wouldn't be too distraught about - I'm such a homebody. As long as I don't have to cook I'm good with whatever tomorrow night.
Not too much has been happening here this week except for working on the house (see our other blog).
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Time's a flyin'
Wow - I can't believe it's only 4 months until Baby M arrives! Some days it feels so far away and other times I wonder how we'll get everything ready in that amount of time.
M's kicks have been getting much stronger lately - Peter even got to feel one late last week - finally!
We got the bill from the moving truck - not as bad as it could have been. They charged about $200 for the tow and the repair. I'm ok with that, and it's nice to not have that hanging over our heads.
We had our first appointment with the obstetrician last week. Actually, we had a resident do most of the visit and then just met the ob at the very end. The resident was very nice and let us listen to the heartbeat for a long time. He said I was measuring right on schedule - so far every date (from 2 ultrasounds and all measurements) have agreed within a day or two, so hopefully I'll deliver close to my estimated due date.
This weekend was very busy, but productive. Friday night Peter and I worked on the house. Saturday morning Peter continued working on the house while I ran some errands. I hadn't gotten a big grocery order since before Christmas, so Friday night I made up a menu for the week and got everything Saturday morning. It's so nice to not be scrambling at suppertime every day! I got home around noon on Saturday, had lunch, then we continued work on the house.
Saturday night Peter had some friends in for a poker game, so a few of the wives got together to scrapbook. I can't remember the last time I had my scrapbooking stuff out! I've been working on our "construction" book and I am very slow! Oh well, it will get done someday.
Sunday was church in the morning, then out for lunch. We came home and Peter cleaned up the house while I baked. We hosted the youth Bible study Sunday night, then Peter headed over to a Superbowl party while I sat home and finally got some stitching in. I have a feeling my stitching hours for February will not be as plentiful as the last few months. Oh well, we're making good progress on the house instead!
Last night was our monthly youth leader's meeting, which we also hosted. We had supper then met until around 9:30. After that there was just time to make up some new morning and evening routines before watching 24! I'm really pleased with the new routines - I think they will keep the house in decent shape if I can make them automatic. My mornings are so much more pleasant when I've done a bit of preparation the night before *and* when I get up on time!
M's kicks have been getting much stronger lately - Peter even got to feel one late last week - finally!
We got the bill from the moving truck - not as bad as it could have been. They charged about $200 for the tow and the repair. I'm ok with that, and it's nice to not have that hanging over our heads.
We had our first appointment with the obstetrician last week. Actually, we had a resident do most of the visit and then just met the ob at the very end. The resident was very nice and let us listen to the heartbeat for a long time. He said I was measuring right on schedule - so far every date (from 2 ultrasounds and all measurements) have agreed within a day or two, so hopefully I'll deliver close to my estimated due date.
This weekend was very busy, but productive. Friday night Peter and I worked on the house. Saturday morning Peter continued working on the house while I ran some errands. I hadn't gotten a big grocery order since before Christmas, so Friday night I made up a menu for the week and got everything Saturday morning. It's so nice to not be scrambling at suppertime every day! I got home around noon on Saturday, had lunch, then we continued work on the house.
Saturday night Peter had some friends in for a poker game, so a few of the wives got together to scrapbook. I can't remember the last time I had my scrapbooking stuff out! I've been working on our "construction" book and I am very slow! Oh well, it will get done someday.
Sunday was church in the morning, then out for lunch. We came home and Peter cleaned up the house while I baked. We hosted the youth Bible study Sunday night, then Peter headed over to a Superbowl party while I sat home and finally got some stitching in. I have a feeling my stitching hours for February will not be as plentiful as the last few months. Oh well, we're making good progress on the house instead!
Last night was our monthly youth leader's meeting, which we also hosted. We had supper then met until around 9:30. After that there was just time to make up some new morning and evening routines before watching 24! I'm really pleased with the new routines - I think they will keep the house in decent shape if I can make them automatic. My mornings are so much more pleasant when I've done a bit of preparation the night before *and* when I get up on time!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Progress Pics!!
I've decided that once a month is a good frequency at which to take progress pictures. I'm a day or so early, but since we're out tomorrow night, I don't figure much will change between now and February 1st. I think I got about 32 hours in this month - still not bad! For more information on these WIPs, see this post or my flickr site.
Now to finish watching American Idol and House :)
Now to finish watching American Idol and House :)
Monday, January 29, 2007
Lazy-itis
Is this going around? I seem to have caught a bad case of it lately. It's all I can do most nights to get home, cook supper, and clean up. Work on the house (by me) has slowed to less than a crawl. Although, I seem to be getting a bit of motivation to actually caulk a window tonight ... better finish this post quickly and take advantage!
I know, I said I would get these pictures up within 24 hours of my last post ... sorry! Without further ado ... here's my first official belly shot as well as a few pictures of our piano.
(20 weeks - halfway there!)
We found out that our piano was built between 1893 and 1900. I think it looks pretty good for its age!
Alright ... gotta go change and get caulking!
I know, I said I would get these pictures up within 24 hours of my last post ... sorry! Without further ado ... here's my first official belly shot as well as a few pictures of our piano.
(20 weeks - halfway there!)
We found out that our piano was built between 1893 and 1900. I think it looks pretty good for its age!
Alright ... gotta go change and get caulking!
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