good ol' bragger update

I am so happy for thanksgiving break!  Although it might feel a little hard with Jeremy losing 4 days of work, I am excited to have him home and to get to rest, relax, and work on a few projects before the holidays hit. We have been watching movies, eating way too much popcorn, playing Wii, and staying up much too late. But, these are the things we love about time off.

Lately I feel like our regular day-to-day routines have been off a little.  We haven't been taking our morning walks (mostly because it is cold and for some reason I have not wanted to leave our cozy house), and I haven't had as much preschool activities for the kids to do during the day.  I took some time to write out a plan and am hoping to get back into it once Jeremy is back at work again.

I haven't been doing a ton of work on my shop lately.  This is partly because I am waiting for some materials to arrive in the mail, and also because the office is freezing cold, because it isn't insulated at all, and we leave the door closed during the day so the rest of the house heats up.  So, when I go into sew, I put on like three sweaters and some fingerless gloves, ha ha.  I keep  meaning to bring the space heater in from the garage, but haven't gotten to it yet.  I'm hoping to get back to some projects and into the swing of things before I have to give my mom her sewing machine back.  The sewing machine I want is on sale on amazon right now for $100 (normally $289), but it is hard to justify quite yet.  I would really like to make a few more sales before I buy it.  Thankfully, my mom hasn't asked for it back yet.

Anyway.

Tomorrow we are having Thanksgiving dinner with some of Jeremy's family.  It will just be his parents, his sister Hanna's family, and his grandma and uncle.  I am making a few allergen free foods (hanna and her kids are on a pretty restricted diet due to allergies), but otherwise, it should be pretty low key.  Shea is SUPER excited about waking up and watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade with me in the morning, too.  I used to love it when I was little, but haven't watched it in years.  Hurray for kids and getting to be nostalgic with them.

Earlier this week, I started getting antsy to get things cleaned up for Christmas.  Jeremy and I have been planning out advent calendar/activities to do for the month, and I have spent a few evenings painting peg buddies for Shea (I'll have to post pictures, soon!  I can't wait to give them to him!).  I finally purged like a mad-woman to de-clutter the office this week, also.  I hate it when there is stuff on the floors and stuffed places and forever classified as needing to be fixed or given to someone or whatever.  Once we got older, one of my childhood friends told me that my idea of cleaning when we used to spend time together was always to stuff things where you couldn't see them, but you always still could.  I am so not that way anymore.

So I didn't take any before pictures, but here is my nice and clean office (half of it, anyway).  Ah.  Now, wouldn't you feel more like walking in and beginning to create in a space clean and airy like this?  Yes.  Before I always would look at my table, move around a few things, and then not want to do anything more or not have time, because I spent it all cleaning.  Now I can walk in when I have time, sit down and get a few things done without worrying about prepping my workspace so much (or finding things).

I also re-arranged the playroom.  I created more of a reading space for me and the kids and moved over the shelf (also to partly block the toy closet so they would stop climbing in there and knocking over everything).

Here is just a view from the hallway, because I feel like I haven't shown that much of our living space.

And I have to leave you with some bath tub shots.  Can you believe how long Hailey's hair is getting?  When it is wet and I comb it down it goes halfway down her back and her bangs are down past her nose now.  Although Shea still has his bouts of "I don't like SISTERS", they are playing more and more together these days, and I LOVE it.  She wants to do everything her big brother does.

And these are the blankets I made as a custom order for one of my friends.  I don't think I shared a picture of them.  They make me happy :)

Today I cleaned out the storage room at the church where I keep all of my preschool supplies and did a huge deposit for the church (there were SOOOO many checks to enter), because the treasurer is out of town.  We took the kids to a park, got some cocoa and coffee at the local coffee shop, and then we had dinner and watched Monsters University together as a family.  So fun to cuddle up with the kids these days!  Although, Hailey doesn't care very much about movies and just goofs off the entire time and tries to steal everyone's popcorn.  She loved pointing at the screen and saying "EYE!" when she saw Mike Wazowski.

I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving!!  I hope we can get together in December at some point!

35 weeks on Thanksgiving Day.

I have felt the energy drained out of my body this week. I have had more nausea, heartburn, exhaustion, and shortness of breath in one week than in the whole pregnancy, I have done a lot of sleeping.  I even called in to work for the first time this pregnancy on Monday because I was soooo exhausted Sunday night but was up till after 1am and couldn't sleep a wink.  The combination of nausea, peeing 100x, shortness of breath had me laying in bed frusterated, but at the same time thanking the Lord for how blessed I have been this entire pregnancy, up till now it has been a piece of cake, and it truly still is an amazingly easy pregnancy, I just have to slow down and decide that all the extra stuff I want to do doesn't matter, growing a baby is much more important.  And growing is definitely what the baby did.  My fundal height two weeks ago was 32 (I was 33 weeks) and today it was 35 and  little more I think, so apparently baby went through a huge growth spurt which took a toll on my body.  I knew my belly felt bigger, my ribs felt more squished, and little one rotated to the other side of my belly, but it was nice to see in number that baby had grown.  It's nice that my symptoms meant something productive was happening inside. 

I am not usually a fan of heart shapes on the belly but for some reason displaying all my rings and knowing there is a little life under there makes me LOVE this picture. :) Oh and my belly button is flat, not popped out, just stretched totally flat, so weird! 

As tired as I have been I managed to make 23 frozen burritos the other night.  I usually only make about 10-12 at a time because that is the amount of ingredients I usually prep, this time I decided to make a little more of everything so that I could build a stock of them in the freezer before the baby came.  Pinto beans made in the crock pot (an unmeasured amount), 2 lbs of ground turkey, 3/4 lb shredded cheese, two onions and two green peppers diced and sauteed all put together in a bunch of tortillas. So glad to have good food readily available in the freezer! 

Now this is not all that impressive of a picture, in fact I really don't like how blah the baby's closet it, but I am loving that the baby's closet is now actually "baby's closet".  No more Christmas presents, no more random furniture, it has all been cleared out for baby.  I want to do baby's closet like this  but I want to make sure it will be in a home baby is going to be in for a while, meaning we need to know if we are moving for Paul's job or not before we reno a closet. :) 

Ok I wasn't going to post these pictures before thanksgiving, and I had no intention of decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving, but I actually had energy on Saturday, and knew it was my last 2 days in a row off that would happen before December.  Since I want to take down all the decorations the day after Christmas and I really wanted them to be up for a whole month, I decided to decorate.  I even got Paul's permission to which he said yes, as long as I don't take pictures.  Well I am sure what he meant was as long as I don't put pictures on facebook because then everyone would know he had a crazy wife, so girls, here are my pictures. :)  It took me probably 3 hours to do everything which is way longer than I originally expected, but I move a little slower these days. I love seeing the tree and all the presents every time I walk downstairs, and a huge wave of relief that I am all ready for Christmas washes over me every time I see everything. 

Simple decorations this year, I didn't make anything new, just used what we had. 

Belly, Belly and more belly. This shows I got dressed not once but twice this last week, kinda impressive if I do say so myself, haha. 

On Sunday after church I did a few errands before crashing at home.  I dropped a pile of stuff off at goodwill, ran to target to buy a wipes case (I got a package of wipes at my shower but I had never bought a case to put them in and this one was only 2.39 and it was adorable...and full of wipes) and our first box of diapers.  We are definitely going to be doing cloth but I wanted the first few weeks to be disposable and then to have some just in case I wanted a break from the cloth. :)  

I can still see my tippy toes and I like that, though I am pretty sure baby is making more room for itself under my ribs, so I definitely am not feeling "small" even though there are still toes to be seen. 

Baby is lopsided all day every day. 

Steve and Kathy got back from their week long hawaii vacation this last Friday and they brought us some awesome presents. Paul got a shirt, I got a lava pot holder, and baby got this amazingly soft American Apparel and decorated onesie, I know little one will love it because I love it! :) And baby wont be old enough to care about what baby wears when this fits, so excited! 

On Monday (the day I called into work) I laid in bed ALL DAY basically. Paul was off too so we watched an embarrassing amount of netflix and fiddled on our phones, I knew it was what my body needed though.  We did install the carseat though in our 15 minutes of productivity and I love looking back there and seeing it.  You wouldn't thing installing a carseat would be hard, and it's not if you know what you are doing, but we finally got it right after one youtube video, the car manual and the carseat manual.  It just wasn't tight enough at first but now it hardly budges a centimeter. 

Tomorrow marks 35 weeks.  I think Eric knows his days of being the baby are dwindling.  Every morning when he knows I am awake (I must move differently because I wake up without an alarm on my days off grab my phone and he is there in seconds cuddling and asleep). I love our morning snuggle sessions. 

I now have weekly visits with my midwife which is insane and awesome! I can't believe I am to the "weekly visit" part that seemed so far away at first! 

I work on Thanksgiving but am hoping for a cut. Then I have Friday off, then I work Saturday-Monday and then Paul and I are going to Leavenworth for Tuesday, Wednesday, and have a baby appt Wednesday at 5pm that we will swing into on our way home. I am so excited to go to Leavenworth in the winter with all their awesome holiday decorations. I hope I remember to take my good camera and not just my phone. 

Love to all! 

denial?

serious post!

I'm trying to figure out why the diagnosis hasn't really "hit me" like I've expected.  If I'm in denial, it's not intentional.  When I say "I have MS" I feel like I shouldn't say that.

Maybe it's because I have the ideal situation: only my legs are affected, and I have plenty of help and usually not too much pain.

But even the other day when I had an absolutely miserable day of testing, I'm still waiting to be hit with the reality of it.  Isn't that supposed to happen?

It still seems like something new and interesting.  everyone else is feeling bad for me so I don't have to.  It's like it's not happening to me.  Everything that happens, even if it's unpleasant, is new.  It inspires thought.  so I'm always wondering "Is this paranoia?  Is it the MS?  Is it stress exacerbating the MS?" but all these thoughts are without emotion.  I'm trying to have emotion but I can't.

I have an old friend from cottage group cleaning now...oh she is so perfect, just down to business, and her cute four year old daughter is here too.  I had her clean the bathrooms, scoop cat litter, clean the kitchen sink, and make us all lunch!  and Joe has the dishwasher and the washing machine running.

Oh can I just complain about the horrid day of testing I had on Thursday?  We were at the hospital in Seattle from 9 am to 4 pm.  Most of the tests are to establish a baseline for the high risk medication I'm starting December 6.  So if I have problems with it, they will know for sure whether it's the fault of the medication.  It can affect heart, eyes, skin, and lungs.

So first was a test for eye health.  I expected it to go pretty easily because I go to the eye doctor every year.  It was pretty miserable.  The numbing stuff was uncomfortable because I couldn't move my eyelids.  Of course they dilated my eyes which is never fun anyway, and they used a kind of MRI to take pictures of the inside of my eye and used this strobe light that was insanely bright.  And then the stuff they put in my eyes started coming out my nose and my MOUTH and made me gag so I ended up retching into a garbage can.  Also my eyes were stinging because they teared up from the numbing stuff and the stuff came out from the tears.

Then a blood test.  You all know I suck with needles but I always lay down, plus I had my friend Jenn who is my blood test partner, very soothing, plus she's a phlebotomist.  Well the technician sucked.  Blood tests don't hurt that much (it's really just the fact that there's a needle in me, even if I am not looking at it.)  But it HURT this time the whole time and I cried (embarrassing).  Jenn watched his technique and said he wasn't very skilled with the needle, which is why it hurt.

Next up was an EKG.  The technician kept apologizing for putting cold electrodes on me.  I was like "Um, this is the most pleasant thing that has happened to me today."

Then a lung test.  This guy was like "I'm your coach and I just want you to do the best you can" so I had to blow into this thing and blow in, blow out, hold my breath...and he was yelling at me the whole time saying that I wasn't blowing out all the air, or drawing in all the air I could, saying I could do better.  They could hear me in the waiting room, Jenn said!  And I was getting heady and dizzy from all the deep breathing.  Basically I failed the test, and he wouldn't believe that was the best I could do, so we had to reschedule because I had to get to the next appointment.

Then the spinal tap which I wasn't afraid of at all, because I told them when I made the appointment, that if they didn't sedate me I wouldn't be able to hold still.  I did nearly faint when they put the IV in...Seriously, I didn't watch them put it in, I didn't look at it at all, and I was fine until about five minutes later when the nurse was asking me some questions, then suddenly I felt all the blood drain!  The nurses were really concerned since they thought that if I was going to faint it would have been right after they put the IV in.  but Joe assured them this delayed response happens quite often.  I did get a nice "fall risk" bracelet and bright yellow booties.

I am SO glad I was sedated.  On my stomach, getting cold sterile solution painted onto my back, and everyone donning surgical masks = scary.  I was annoyed that I felt the numbing shots but they weren't bad.  I had to have a blood draw afterward but they got the lab to come down while I was still semi-conscious so I didn't really care.  The sedation was so light that I didn't say anything weird waking up, much to the disappointment of Joe and Jenn.

Now I have back pain from the needle and also a headache anytime I stand up.  I'm loaded up on tons of tylenol.  Even though I'm in pain, I'm so thankful for Joe and Michelle and her daughter Alyssa who is playing "hide and seek" with me while I lay on the couch, by "hiding" and asking if I can see her.  All I have to do is yell "no." 

Anyway thanks for letting me tell all the sordid details. 

43 days till show time.

So I know I keep counting down the days till the due date, but in all reality I know it is a "due month" two weeks before and two weeks after the actual date is much more what delivery time looks like. It is just fun to have a number and weeks and days to count and look at!  

So with all that said here are my 34 week pictures. Still loving maxi skirts and wanting more, they are like comfy pajamas. Baby is between 4.2 and 5.8 pounds and between 17.2 and 18.7 inches long, growing like a weed. From what little one feels like as it moves around inside of me I think my kid is going to be all legs!  Seriously two feet of legs.  This one is a kicker and a squirmer. 

I keep adding little details here and there to the nursery, I just can't stop.  The actual crib mattress is finally in the crib and I put the elephant crib sheet on.  Seeing everything together makes me so happy.  The teddy bear was Pauls, Teddy two shoes on the right was mine and the kitty in the middle is for baby.  

Last thursday I went label crazy and labeled a ton of stuff, makes me so happy! Now Paul will know where everything is in baby's room.  Next up will be baby's closet which is a nightmare right now with all the Christmas presents stuffed into it.  But the tree is going up the day after Thanksgiving which means I will be able to tackle closet organization in just a few weeks! Oh and I spelled Hoisin wrong, whoops, at least more phonetically correct the way I spelled it. :) Maybe I will get around to fixing it some day. 

Paul's parents are on a wonderful Hawaiian get away and we are watching their fish, cat, and bunny :)  Well we are splitting it with Joe. Amber and I were originally going to watch the house and pets but Amber can't get around quite as well and I am not allowed to scoop cat boxes. So the responsibility is being shared by all :). 

I watercolored for the first time in months when Gabe came over yesterday and it was so much fun!  We also went to the Supermall, which is now called The Outlet Collection, because she wanted some new scarves and I got baby the warmest most cuddly zip up at Old Navy.  First off I didn't know they had an old navy at the supermall, second, I wouldn't have gone in there if Gabe didn't want to look for cute cheap dresses. So glad she was there and wanted to go! I also got the sports bra I am going to wear while laboring in the water.  I love the splash of hot pink, and it fits great, it is also padded in front and was on sale! All in all an awesome find. :) 

Paul got me a "new momma" ring and I LOVE IT.  So now I wear my purity ring, engagement ring, wedding ring, and momma ring.  I feel like one lucky and spoiled girl. :) 

On another note this growing a baby business makes me so tired these days!  I know this is going to be my only pregnancy where I don't have another little one to take care of while preggo so I am enjoying sleeping as much as I want.  I have slept 9,9,11, 9.5, and 9 hours consecutively the last five nights and it has been wonderful! 

busy but relaxing week

UPDATE ON THE JOB:

Lloyd emailed us back late last night.  He apologized for things taking so long and said that things have come up postponing them coming to a final decision.  He also stated that we are "definitely and seriously being considered for the position still" and they hope to have something "more definitive" in two weeks.  How is that for a non-answer? haha.  I have a strange feeling that what is holding them up is less about the person they are choosing and more about some sort of internal agreement about the church plant in general.  Not sure, just a feeling we have from the interview process and how long it is taking.  So, I"ll let you know if we find out something "more definitive" by...December, hopefully?


Hi ladies!

I have been busy working on my shop lately.  I fulfilled my second order this past weekend - I did a custom baby quilt for a friend.  I'm not sure if I'll will offer this item in the future on my shop, but I am definitely wanting to do some more custom orders.  It was interesting though, because I gave my mom her sewing machine back last week.  I thought I would finally buy my own after a few orders, not thinking I would need one in the mean time.  Turned out I had to drive out and borrow it again.  I am looking now for a good option now that I have made a couple of sales.

One thing I am working on (inspired by Amber :) ) and would like your opinion of is a gift item called "heart warmers"(one name idea, anyway).  It will be a handmade gift box which includes a square or rectangle shaped organic rice warmer and a few bags of a custom tea blend.  Perhaps with a nice inspirational quote or something.  It will be customized as far as essentials oils, sizing, and tea blend, personal note (if wanted) and perhaps a few fabric options.  I'm excited about it!  I was just thinking about something small to give when you have a friend going through a hard time (like being diagnosed with MS, for instance!).  What do you think Amber (and everyone else)?  Would you WANT to receive a small gift like that from a friend?  Would others?  Would you want to give one?  Especially with the option of it being delivered directly by the recipient in a pretty package?  Is there anything you would add to it?  The price would probably be around $12 or $15 depending on sizing and materials.

anyway, enough of that.

No news about the job yet.  We just emailed Lloyd today.  He said "a couple more weeks" ALMOST FOUR WEEKS AGO!!!  We are going crazy.  So we sent a "just checking in" email.  Hopefully we get some info.  I'll update if I find out anything!

Last Tuesday we picked up our first winter CSA box from one of our favorite local farms.  It is so fun to have a box of produce picked fresh for us!  I love coming up with things to make, because it has some produce I wouldn't normally buy.

I'm trying to think about what else has been going on lately.  This weekend was so relaxing.  Yesterday after church we went out to buy some acrylic paints, because I'm finally using those wooden peg people amber gave me for christmas last year and making some characters for the kids for christmas.  I was going to do all the Toy Story people, but I think I'm just going to do a couple of pairs of Shea's favorite characters from different shows.  And for Hailey, I'm going to make some babies because she is obsessed.  We went back to Jeremy's parents house and put Hailey down for a nap and watched football while I worked on my shop and blog.

Anyway, Jeremy just got home from work super early and he brought home some soup from central market for lunch.  yum!  Hope your Monday's are going well!!

mr. attitude.

took from the Indianola dock one foggy morning

Hailey had mystery hives for about a week.  So glad they are gone now - still can't figure out why she got them, though!

Our CSA box!  Full of yummy stuff!

getting fresh herbs was like a receiving bouquet of flowers to me. 

Shea at preschool this week.  Did this alphabet puzzle almost all on his own.  Can't believe how much he has learned in the past year!

This girl is so silly.  all. the. time.

33 weeks. 49 days left till show time.

33 weeks.  I just vacuumed the house today and it felt like a cardio workout. Lung space has been severely compromised and I can't bend very well to do the stairs, but I am bound and determined to vacuum the house till the very end. 

I keep adding little details to the nursery, I just can't help myself.  All of baby's favorite blankets (because I said they will be baby's fav ;) ) are hanging on the back of the crib.  The mattress is supposed to arrive today and I have  three awesome crib sheets waiting to go on the crib.  Becca, the cloud pillow you made is amazing, I love how it looks hanging in the nursery! You know me so well. :) 

Maxi skirts are my best friend. I thought they were amazing at the beginning of the pregnancy but now, now they are heavenly!  The picture on the bottom left was one of the first presents we received in the mail.  I washed all the blankets right away and they are folded and ready to swaddle little one in, I am am so excited.  They are so large and will be so easy to swaddle little love in!  My parents bought us the carseat and I got the "snuzzler" at the babyshower to keep baby all cozy and snuggled in close.  The grey blanket is a brand that was my very favorite of the girls I nannied. I can't wait for baby to sink into it. 

I always forget to sign Paul and I up for the taproot theatre shows that go on at church, so many people like to go and there is limited seating that you need to sign up in advance.  I was so proud of myself for registering this year.  I work the day it is on as well as the next 3 after it, but it's only 50 minutes long so I am pretty excited.  

Baby is a little basketball, turning bigger basketball as the days go on, I think it looks so crazy and will often just stare at my belly. :)   

I had been seeing thing a few times on pinterest about getting engineering prints printed from staples for large cheap art.  I tried to do it here in kent and they said it would take too much toner and break their machine.  My mom said to try Moses Lake, I did and success!  I love my new hall art! 

And I also love our new diaper bag!  I let Paul pick it out so that he wouldn't be embarrassed to carry it.  It is actually a bail out bag, you know, to put your ammo and stuff in for a zombie apocolypse or something. Haha, oh well, it is perfectly sized and has so many good pockets.  

Before our midwife appt yesterday we went to a sweet little coffee shop in North Bend and enjoyed a berry fritter and coffees, such a fun mini date.  Oh and my belly is officially a shelf. Cat's prop on it, water balances on it, if it's  going to be there might as well make good use of it.  

I have been wanting a cake pop from Safeway for some time now, they are only a dollar but I always felt like it was an unnecessary indulgence.  After our midwife appt we stopped to get some stuff for Paul to make dinner and I got one, a red velvet one. Um hello new favorite indulgence! 

On Sunday we went out to dinner to celebrate my FIL's 61'st birthday. We went to Black Angus and it was amazing!  I had eaten a late lunch because I did quite a few errands after church with my parents and we didn't get home till 2pm.  Paul didn't mind that I wasn't very hungry tho, he got to enjoy some of my awesome filet minon. So good! 

The crib sheets, amazon and target for the win!  All the cloth diapers (I only have 18 right now( are washed and folded waiting to be used.  We plan to use disposable for the first two weeks at least but after that game on! 

Today was supposed to be a "me day" with some chores thrown in. Somehow it is nearly 4pm and I haven't laid down and watched a single show on netflix.  I organized baby's dresser drawers, made lots of labels on my silhouette, vacuumed the house (which is a cardio workout seriously), prepped a bunch of food and cleaned out the fridge since I work the next 4 days, and um, I am sure I did more.  I still need to pick out insurance for Paul, but I think I will do that while laying in bed this evening when Paul is snuggled up next to me with the fire on, this day has flown by!  Boo, I hate it when the day before my 4 day work weekend seems to go faster than any other day., 

should definitely be in bed.

It's offical!  My Etsy store....ITS UP!!!

I'm sure you saw on Facebook, but I am so excited, I feel like a little girl.  I was so nervous to post it all too...because its like putting yourself out there for everyone to like or hate haha but I guess I need to get over that and just be who I am.

Oh and we still haven't heard back about the job.

At least I have this to preoccupy myself.

I have so much more I would love to post about, but I think I really need to finish up what I'm doing and jump in bed.

Goodnight!!

32 weeks. Squash baby.

Well technically 32 weeks happens tomorrow, on Thursday, but I work so I definitely won't be in the mood for pictures. Plus, it gets dark at 4:30 now so pictures have to be done mid day! 

Oh, and I can't be serious in these pictures. And I have run out of poses. So glad I have taken pics every week though, I love looking back on them. 

This is next. Credit here. 

That's all folks.

no words

I need to go to bed.  So much more to share another time.  goodnight!