we had a gloriously productive weekend - i love it when that happens. saturday morning, we finally buckled down and finished clearing out matson's room-to-be of non-baby-related paraphernalia. since i'd already gone through it once, this mostly just meant scott carrying stuff into the basement for me. the white paint from when we moved into the house two and a half years ago was looking pretty gloopy, so we went to lowe's for a fresh can ... and picked up some closet doors while we were there! we got the shelves and wall brackets all painted up with our lovely semi-gloss bright white, and the closet doors are mostly done - two coats on the front and one on the back (which you really won't see anyway since we got bifold doors), which just leaves the sides and top/bottom of the doors to do.
hmm, when i write it out, it really doesn't sound like we got all that much done. keep in mind that we had to wait for paint to dry before we could apply more coats, so a fair bit of that was just waiting time ... and we interspersed all of that with things like running four loads of laundry, going to a one-year old's birthday party, doing mounds of dishes, and hosting small group last night (for which i made baked ziti, garlic butter crescent rolls, salad, and a blueberry apple coffee cake). oh, and that scott worked for four hours yesterday.
once we get the shelves and closet doors up and the crib assembled (still need to buy a crib mattress - maybe that'll be next weekend's task), i think we'll be pretty well set as far as the nursery goes! i guess things still on my to-do list include finishing the glider's ottoman cover (which was my plan for this weekend until that got sidelined by the closet doors) and figuring out some wall decor. curtains are also on my list, but i'm not letting myself think about that until the glider's done - scott's been making fun of my ability to follow through on projects that i start, so i feel a need to show him that i really can finish things. really, though, with just a few hours of work this weekend, i feel way better about our level of preparedness already.
speaking of preparation, we're also slowly working our way through our labor book and hoping to be finished reading it by about 36 weeks ... which gives us five weeks! we started reading it on our way to phoenix for christmas three and a half weeks ago (is that really all?? christmas seems forever ago!), and are just shy of halfway through the book. hmm, although in retrospect we skipped some substantial portions of the beginning of the book about things like choosing a doctor and a hospital and why pain relieving drugs are evil. we may need to pick up the pace a bit.
why you should always upgrade to metal hardware
quite the eventful week we've had!
on the pregnancy front, last tuesday, i had to do my 1-hour glucose screening (which tests for gestational diabetes), and at the same time they do a few other blood draws to test for things like iron and antibodies, the latter having something to do with the fact that i'm rh-negative*. turned out that i have low iron and failed the glucose test. bummer. i wasn't entirely surprised by the iron thing and am now faithfully taking my iron supplement. i was a little more bummed about the glucose thing because i really didn't want to have gestational diabetes. (according to my internet research, in addition to having higher risk of type 2 diabetes later in life for both mom and baby, there's also a correlation with higher rates of adhd for babies of gestational diabetes moms?!) i went in for the followup 3-hour glucose test on monday morning, though, and evidently passed that one with flying colors - hooray!
unrelated to pregnancy, we went into the laundry room on saturday morning and i thought it smelled really musty. since we live in denver where there's super low humidity (it's standard here to actually have a whole-house humidifier on your furnace to keep things a little moist), musty is not a normal basement smell and thus indicated a water leak. and, alright, confession, i'd actually thought it smelled a little musty when i was doing laundry after our christmas trip and just didn't feel like dealing with it at the time. so when i smelled it again, and stronger, i knew we should look into it.
i noticed some dark (ie, fresh) looking water stains on the drywall above the washer and dryer - directly under our master bathroom. no bueno. although i hated it when we moved in, i am incredibly thankful now that we have removable ceiling tiles in the laundry room - scott got the ladder out and was able to look into the ceiling to try to figure out what the problem was. nothing conclusive, but he guessed it was probably our toilet or sink. some of the water had built up on the shelves above our dryer and then a bit had rolled out onto the dryer and accumulated under a detergent bottle i had sitting out. as i was cleaning it up later in the day, i noticed that it had a rather distinctive smell ... indicating that it was, in fact, our toilet leaking. right. gross!
this was a toilet we'd installed ourselves last summer, so we figured we must have done the installation wrong. we just had the plumber out this morning, and 30 minutes and $107 later, found that the problem was not, in fact, our installation. care to take a guess what it was? the plastic washers that came with the toilet. even though the floor in there is tiled, it's not exactly even, and that combined with the fact that i hadn't gotten around to caulking around the base evidently put extra strain on the washers, causing them to finally crack, causing our toilet to leak into the basement. lessons learned: always take the extra time to go to home depot and upgrade to metal hardware, and caulking is worth the time and effort. as a matter of fact, i will be doing some caulking this weekend! and some intense lysol-ing of our laundry room.
on to the fun side of pregnancy - despite the slightly overwhelming nature of getting ever closer to our due date (less than 10 weeks out, now!), getting closer also means that i get baby showers! my primary shower with all of our denver friends will be at the end of this month, and i'm so used to going to other friends' baby showers that i was honestly just looking forward to how fun it would be to see everyone together and hang out. then it occurred to me yesterday that i'll probably get some presents, too, and that makes it extra fun. plus, i found out last night that my parents are looking at coming in for the weekend - awesome! (although dad, be warned that i've already started brainstorming nursery projects that you and scott can work on while mom and i are at the shower, like installing closet doors in there, and setting up the crib. :)) and then my work baby shower was just scheduled at the end of february ... two weeks before i'm tentatively planning to start my maternity leave!
* - quick sidenote: rh-negative ladies, just a heads up that if your doctor operates like mine, you have to get a shot of rhogam during pregnancy, and potentially another after birth if your baby is rh-positive. they give it to you in your tush, and it stings hardcore and at least for me left a bruise for approximately a week. you also get to give an extra vial of blood when they do your blood tests to make sure your body's not rejecting your baby. all in all, not a big deal, but they do not seem to tell you these things up front and i'm all about expectations, so i kind of like to know going in that there are things like extra shots and blood draws in my future. also, all pregnant ladies: get your flu shot! flu season runs through april, and getting the flu can potentially lead to pre-term labor and bad things like that, so it's worth doing. i'd been putting it off and finally asked the doctor yesterday if i should still get one - she said yes emphatically, sent in a nurse with the shot, and i was all done in approximately 2 minutes.
on the pregnancy front, last tuesday, i had to do my 1-hour glucose screening (which tests for gestational diabetes), and at the same time they do a few other blood draws to test for things like iron and antibodies, the latter having something to do with the fact that i'm rh-negative*. turned out that i have low iron and failed the glucose test. bummer. i wasn't entirely surprised by the iron thing and am now faithfully taking my iron supplement. i was a little more bummed about the glucose thing because i really didn't want to have gestational diabetes. (according to my internet research, in addition to having higher risk of type 2 diabetes later in life for both mom and baby, there's also a correlation with higher rates of adhd for babies of gestational diabetes moms?!) i went in for the followup 3-hour glucose test on monday morning, though, and evidently passed that one with flying colors - hooray!
unrelated to pregnancy, we went into the laundry room on saturday morning and i thought it smelled really musty. since we live in denver where there's super low humidity (it's standard here to actually have a whole-house humidifier on your furnace to keep things a little moist), musty is not a normal basement smell and thus indicated a water leak. and, alright, confession, i'd actually thought it smelled a little musty when i was doing laundry after our christmas trip and just didn't feel like dealing with it at the time. so when i smelled it again, and stronger, i knew we should look into it.
i noticed some dark (ie, fresh) looking water stains on the drywall above the washer and dryer - directly under our master bathroom. no bueno. although i hated it when we moved in, i am incredibly thankful now that we have removable ceiling tiles in the laundry room - scott got the ladder out and was able to look into the ceiling to try to figure out what the problem was. nothing conclusive, but he guessed it was probably our toilet or sink. some of the water had built up on the shelves above our dryer and then a bit had rolled out onto the dryer and accumulated under a detergent bottle i had sitting out. as i was cleaning it up later in the day, i noticed that it had a rather distinctive smell ... indicating that it was, in fact, our toilet leaking. right. gross!
this was a toilet we'd installed ourselves last summer, so we figured we must have done the installation wrong. we just had the plumber out this morning, and 30 minutes and $107 later, found that the problem was not, in fact, our installation. care to take a guess what it was? the plastic washers that came with the toilet. even though the floor in there is tiled, it's not exactly even, and that combined with the fact that i hadn't gotten around to caulking around the base evidently put extra strain on the washers, causing them to finally crack, causing our toilet to leak into the basement. lessons learned: always take the extra time to go to home depot and upgrade to metal hardware, and caulking is worth the time and effort. as a matter of fact, i will be doing some caulking this weekend! and some intense lysol-ing of our laundry room.
on to the fun side of pregnancy - despite the slightly overwhelming nature of getting ever closer to our due date (less than 10 weeks out, now!), getting closer also means that i get baby showers! my primary shower with all of our denver friends will be at the end of this month, and i'm so used to going to other friends' baby showers that i was honestly just looking forward to how fun it would be to see everyone together and hang out. then it occurred to me yesterday that i'll probably get some presents, too, and that makes it extra fun. plus, i found out last night that my parents are looking at coming in for the weekend - awesome! (although dad, be warned that i've already started brainstorming nursery projects that you and scott can work on while mom and i are at the shower, like installing closet doors in there, and setting up the crib. :)) and then my work baby shower was just scheduled at the end of february ... two weeks before i'm tentatively planning to start my maternity leave!
* - quick sidenote: rh-negative ladies, just a heads up that if your doctor operates like mine, you have to get a shot of rhogam during pregnancy, and potentially another after birth if your baby is rh-positive. they give it to you in your tush, and it stings hardcore and at least for me left a bruise for approximately a week. you also get to give an extra vial of blood when they do your blood tests to make sure your body's not rejecting your baby. all in all, not a big deal, but they do not seem to tell you these things up front and i'm all about expectations, so i kind of like to know going in that there are things like extra shots and blood draws in my future. also, all pregnant ladies: get your flu shot! flu season runs through april, and getting the flu can potentially lead to pre-term labor and bad things like that, so it's worth doing. i'd been putting it off and finally asked the doctor yesterday if i should still get one - she said yes emphatically, sent in a nurse with the shot, and i was all done in approximately 2 minutes.
11 weeks to go
i can't believe it's 2011 already! the change in year is really making this whole pregnancy/impending parenthood thing more real. it's no longer, "next year when we have matson", it's "in 11 weeks when we have matson." yikes!
as i was surfing babycenter.com this morning, i saw that a woman who's actually due about a week after me posted a picture of her almost complete nursery ... umm, wow. we have a bookcase (actually my first nursery purchase for mats, via craigslist - literacy and frugality are both important!), a changing table, a cute city play mat from ikea, a stroller, and after checking out ikea while in phoenix and dismissing their cribs, we finally ordered a crib last week which should arrive today. (no crib mattress yet, though.) none of it's actually put into place, though. not to mention, i did a bit of organizing/cleaning out of matson's room back at thanksgiving, but when we hosted our sunday school class's christmas party a few weeks ago, everything got put back in there - whoops! so we're back to square one with nursery organization. and haven't done any of the touch up painting or working on obtaining closet doors. now that college football season is over, though, i'm a little bit more optimistic about being able to talk scott into setting aside a full saturday for us to work together on getting the room in order.
also on babycenter, i've been seeing postings by women who already have their hospital bags ready. on the one hand, i think that's utterly absurd since we still have almost 3 months til that'll be an issue - if you go into labor at 29 weeks, i think you'll have more on your mind than, "did i bring my extra chapstick and my comfy slippers?" on the other had ... the planner in me really feels like i should at least have a list going of what i will be packing. maybe that'll be one of my goals for the week?
funny story of the weekend: scott has a myriad of ever-changing nicknames for me - his latest standard is "potamus". yes, as in short for "hippopotamus", but i think completely unrelated to my expanding girth and more related to the flight of the conchords song "hiphopopotamus vs rhymenoceros" and my personal favorite lyric, "i am the hiphopopotamus, my lyrics are bottomless" (followed by an awkward pause). anyway, we've been reading the book "natural childbirth the bradley way" in preparation for labor, and the author has lots of tips and exercises for the "coach" (husband) and mom-to-be. last night, we were reading a section about early labor and how the woman in labor should be careful to not lie on her back, but may need gentle reminding by her husband ... to which my own dear husband responded, "roll over, potamus!" it was hilarious, and almost made me roll off the bed with laughing so hard.
and, unrelated to pregnancy, we played the game carcassonne this weekend (on new year's eve, actually) and i am obsessed! you pull tiles at random, and each one has a bit of map on it - you place it on the existing map/gameboard wherever it's strategic for you, matching up city, pasture, or road, and get points by making claims on any of those three items as the map grows. we have played settlers of catan a fair bit, and the two games are similar in style, but i think what clicks with me about carcassonne that doesn't about settlers is that with carcassonne, you get to watch and be a part of the map growing, rather than having a pre-set map on top of which you put roads and buildings. i thought it was super fun. scott didn't love it quite as much as i did off hand, but i think if he figures out more of the strategy part of it, i can get him hooked.
as i was surfing babycenter.com this morning, i saw that a woman who's actually due about a week after me posted a picture of her almost complete nursery ... umm, wow. we have a bookcase (actually my first nursery purchase for mats, via craigslist - literacy and frugality are both important!), a changing table, a cute city play mat from ikea, a stroller, and after checking out ikea while in phoenix and dismissing their cribs, we finally ordered a crib last week which should arrive today. (no crib mattress yet, though.) none of it's actually put into place, though. not to mention, i did a bit of organizing/cleaning out of matson's room back at thanksgiving, but when we hosted our sunday school class's christmas party a few weeks ago, everything got put back in there - whoops! so we're back to square one with nursery organization. and haven't done any of the touch up painting or working on obtaining closet doors. now that college football season is over, though, i'm a little bit more optimistic about being able to talk scott into setting aside a full saturday for us to work together on getting the room in order.
also on babycenter, i've been seeing postings by women who already have their hospital bags ready. on the one hand, i think that's utterly absurd since we still have almost 3 months til that'll be an issue - if you go into labor at 29 weeks, i think you'll have more on your mind than, "did i bring my extra chapstick and my comfy slippers?" on the other had ... the planner in me really feels like i should at least have a list going of what i will be packing. maybe that'll be one of my goals for the week?
funny story of the weekend: scott has a myriad of ever-changing nicknames for me - his latest standard is "potamus". yes, as in short for "hippopotamus", but i think completely unrelated to my expanding girth and more related to the flight of the conchords song "hiphopopotamus vs rhymenoceros" and my personal favorite lyric, "i am the hiphopopotamus, my lyrics are bottomless" (followed by an awkward pause). anyway, we've been reading the book "natural childbirth the bradley way" in preparation for labor, and the author has lots of tips and exercises for the "coach" (husband) and mom-to-be. last night, we were reading a section about early labor and how the woman in labor should be careful to not lie on her back, but may need gentle reminding by her husband ... to which my own dear husband responded, "roll over, potamus!" it was hilarious, and almost made me roll off the bed with laughing so hard.
and, unrelated to pregnancy, we played the game carcassonne this weekend (on new year's eve, actually) and i am obsessed! you pull tiles at random, and each one has a bit of map on it - you place it on the existing map/gameboard wherever it's strategic for you, matching up city, pasture, or road, and get points by making claims on any of those three items as the map grows. we have played settlers of catan a fair bit, and the two games are similar in style, but i think what clicks with me about carcassonne that doesn't about settlers is that with carcassonne, you get to watch and be a part of the map growing, rather than having a pre-set map on top of which you put roads and buildings. i thought it was super fun. scott didn't love it quite as much as i did off hand, but i think if he figures out more of the strategy part of it, i can get him hooked.
i love being pregnant
at about 8-9 weeks, i thoroughly despised pregnancy. i was tired, so nauseous (thankfully i never actually threw up), and simultaneously needed food in order to be less nauseous yet the smell of cooking food, particularly cooking meat inspired nausea ... blech. vicious circle. i told scott at one point that i was quite content never being pregnant again - and honestly, having friends who have lost a first pregnancy in the first trimester, i have absolutely no idea how they decided to try again, because if we had been put in that situation, i probably would have said that's it, we're done, we're adopting. (which we'd like to do at some point anyway.)
anyway, now that i'm at 25 weeks, though? love it! everything about it. nausea died down by around 11 weeks, tiny belly bump started to appear around 15 weeks, energy started coming back around 17 weeks, started feeling baby boy move around 18ish weeks - i've heard the 2nd trimester referred to as the "golden age of pregnancy", and i fully believe it. i love having a distinguishably pregnant belly, yet not looking like a whale; i love feeling matson thump around in there and trying to figure out what he's doing (summersaults? kickboxing?) and what limb i'm feeling; getting to plan and anticipate the delivery and the nursery and what he's going to be like without feeling like it's right on top of me. it's awesome.
____
unrelated to pregnancy is my my love for the christmas season. i've been listening to christmas music off and on since the day before thanksgiving, and was thrilled when we got to put up our tree last weekend. i even bought garland to decorate the banister between our main level living room and the upstairs bedroom hallway (along with a set of icicle lights i bought a few years ago in an after christmas sale to use outside, but forgot about the following year when we went to decorate, so we bought big colorful bulb lights instead) - it's cute. our plans for the weekend include a date night tonight of going to goodwill to look for tacky christmas sweaters and stopping at a giant christmas superstore in town to look at ornaments (along with going out for burgers), and on sunday night hosting an ugly-sweater christmas party for our sunday school class!
anyway, now that i'm at 25 weeks, though? love it! everything about it. nausea died down by around 11 weeks, tiny belly bump started to appear around 15 weeks, energy started coming back around 17 weeks, started feeling baby boy move around 18ish weeks - i've heard the 2nd trimester referred to as the "golden age of pregnancy", and i fully believe it. i love having a distinguishably pregnant belly, yet not looking like a whale; i love feeling matson thump around in there and trying to figure out what he's doing (summersaults? kickboxing?) and what limb i'm feeling; getting to plan and anticipate the delivery and the nursery and what he's going to be like without feeling like it's right on top of me. it's awesome.
____
unrelated to pregnancy is my my love for the christmas season. i've been listening to christmas music off and on since the day before thanksgiving, and was thrilled when we got to put up our tree last weekend. i even bought garland to decorate the banister between our main level living room and the upstairs bedroom hallway (along with a set of icicle lights i bought a few years ago in an after christmas sale to use outside, but forgot about the following year when we went to decorate, so we bought big colorful bulb lights instead) - it's cute. our plans for the weekend include a date night tonight of going to goodwill to look for tacky christmas sweaters and stopping at a giant christmas superstore in town to look at ornaments (along with going out for burgers), and on sunday night hosting an ugly-sweater christmas party for our sunday school class!
why i'm glad i live now
|
labels:
opinion
being the optimist that i am, i've always found it really easy to idealize earlier decades and, growing up, wish i lived in them: the hard work and loyalty of the 30's and 40's, the idyllic 50's, energy of the 60's. even the adventurism of the pioneers settling the west in the 1800s! (all wars aside, of course.) then i realized a few years ago that you don't get to pick a decade and stay there - my grandparents were married in the 40's, had my parents in the 50's, and then had to live also through the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. right-o.
anyway, i'm very glad that i live now, in this time. why?
1. modern conveniences. washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, cars with power steering, thanksgiving turkeys that come by the hundred, pre-cleaned and wrapped in plastic at my local grocery store, strawberries anytime of year i want them, leafblowers/mulchers, etc.
2. technology. laptop, ipod, tivo, cell phones, etc. sure, they probably help in productivity to a certain extent, but they also make life really fun. (oh, and scott doesn't have to do his financial reports at work with the use of a slide rule and a typewriter.)
3. feminism. yes, you heard me. i pretty adamantly consider myself not a feminist, but i really appreciate early feminists who worked hard so that i can do things like vote, go to college, and have a job if i want one ... in short, be considered a person on equal footing with guys. theologically, i consider myself a complementarian, which means that i believe god created men and women on an equal plane, but with different (complementary!) strengths and giftings, each with our own role to fill within life, marriage, etc. but i don't think that means i need to spend my life barefoot and pregnant, chained to the stove, or that scott should never have to help clean or cook. i'm grateful that i live in a time where i can have a career if i want one or can stay home with kids if i want to and each is a totally viable option.
4. ease of travel. i'm very grateful that i live in a time when scott and i can get married and decide we want to pick a new city to move to, literally 1000 miles away from any family, but that we can still see our families regularly. i'll be glad when my parents eventually move out here and live 1.5 hours away rather than 15, but in the meantime, it's really nice being independent but not cut off. (rather than the 1800s when you moved west and probably never saw your family again.) oh, factor into this #2's technology, so that i can do things like talk (long distance for free!) to friends and family who don't live here regularly via e-mail and phone, not, you know, pony express.
5. recreation. probably attributable to #s 1 and 2, we have plenty of free time to do fun things that we want to do, like hang out with friends, watch football, read books, and hike - i don't have to spend hours cranking my laundry through a wringer or hanging it out on a line and baking all my bread from scratch.
6. hygiene. everyone has running water, toothbrushes, aisles of shampoo, body wash/soap, and facial cleanser options, and even my gym has anti-bacterial hand gel in every room. showering and brushing your teeth daily is not only an option, it's a cultural norm (as is shaving, 1960's!).
i'm sure my list is much more extensive, but those are a few reasons that come to mind. thank you for having me, 2010.
anyway, i'm very glad that i live now, in this time. why?
1. modern conveniences. washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, cars with power steering, thanksgiving turkeys that come by the hundred, pre-cleaned and wrapped in plastic at my local grocery store, strawberries anytime of year i want them, leafblowers/mulchers, etc.
2. technology. laptop, ipod, tivo, cell phones, etc. sure, they probably help in productivity to a certain extent, but they also make life really fun. (oh, and scott doesn't have to do his financial reports at work with the use of a slide rule and a typewriter.)
3. feminism. yes, you heard me. i pretty adamantly consider myself not a feminist, but i really appreciate early feminists who worked hard so that i can do things like vote, go to college, and have a job if i want one ... in short, be considered a person on equal footing with guys. theologically, i consider myself a complementarian, which means that i believe god created men and women on an equal plane, but with different (complementary!) strengths and giftings, each with our own role to fill within life, marriage, etc. but i don't think that means i need to spend my life barefoot and pregnant, chained to the stove, or that scott should never have to help clean or cook. i'm grateful that i live in a time where i can have a career if i want one or can stay home with kids if i want to and each is a totally viable option.
4. ease of travel. i'm very grateful that i live in a time when scott and i can get married and decide we want to pick a new city to move to, literally 1000 miles away from any family, but that we can still see our families regularly. i'll be glad when my parents eventually move out here and live 1.5 hours away rather than 15, but in the meantime, it's really nice being independent but not cut off. (rather than the 1800s when you moved west and probably never saw your family again.) oh, factor into this #2's technology, so that i can do things like talk (long distance for free!) to friends and family who don't live here regularly via e-mail and phone, not, you know, pony express.
5. recreation. probably attributable to #s 1 and 2, we have plenty of free time to do fun things that we want to do, like hang out with friends, watch football, read books, and hike - i don't have to spend hours cranking my laundry through a wringer or hanging it out on a line and baking all my bread from scratch.
6. hygiene. everyone has running water, toothbrushes, aisles of shampoo, body wash/soap, and facial cleanser options, and even my gym has anti-bacterial hand gel in every room. showering and brushing your teeth daily is not only an option, it's a cultural norm (as is shaving, 1960's!).
i'm sure my list is much more extensive, but those are a few reasons that come to mind. thank you for having me, 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
