16 weeks

I had my first check up with the midwives today. Since we are going to a group, we don't see one specific midwife. There are 5 in all that we will see over the course of the pregnancy. After we have seen them all once, we can choose to see one more than the others if you feel more of a bond with them. However, you don't know who you will get when you deliver. It just depends who is on call that day/night. So far, our first midwife is nice. I assume (hope) they all are. We will see the same one next time we go in, and then we will start rotating through the others.

WM was able to go with me, since he had the day off. We got to listen to the heartbeat, which is always thrilling. The fetus' ticker is clocking in around 150, which is pretty much the same as when we heard it a few weeks ago.

The real exciting thing is that our next appointment will be week 20, which means.... we get to find out the sex! We have our second ultrasound (the first was at 8.5 weeks) and as long as the fetus is game, we get to see it's junk! Then it will no longer be and it, but a he or a she. Very exciting stuff. I can't imagine having the patience not to find out. I so want to know. There is no way I could wait until it pops out to find out if it is a boy or a girl.

Here I am, all pregnant and whatnot. And, in full on maternity clothes. I have gotta say, full panel pants are the most comfortable thing ever. However, this is my only pair. I actually also have a pair of jeans, but I'm giving them to a friend who is also preggo. They are just way too long for me and just not quite right. These cords. though, are awesome. I plan on getting a few more pairs in different colors. They will be perfect for work. I hope to knock out the last of my maternity clothes needs this week. I plan on hitting up a Motherhood Matenity and Old Navy outlet. The Tacoma Old Navy doesn't freaking have a maternity section. How lame is that? Neither does the Gap. However, Tacoma does have a Motherhood and an H&M with a maternity section. So that is nice. I also wanna hit up Target and get some of the Bellabands- one black and one white.

I wasn't sure about them, but my friend who is preggo (the one getting the jeans) says they are comfy and magically hold up prepregnancy pants. So, I'm game.

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone out there is having a pleasant holiday season and is able to spend it with loved ones.
Here is an example of two of the ones we love. They also love each other. Adorbs.

We travel down to see the fams for the holidays, but we still put up our own little tree. It is fake and small and I love it. We have had it a few years now and it is just right for us. Some of my friends are on my case about my fake little tree, but whatevs. I think it is cute. And after our initial investment (of less than $20- hello, after christmas sale!) we never have to pay. I cannot believe how spendy christmas trees are. And now that we live in the city, it is just not the same as when I was a kid and went to the tree farm just up the road. Some of the magic is lost when you buy your tree out of a parking lot.

A nice thing living in the city during the holidays is putting lights up on the house. Growing up we lived in the woods... pretty pointless to put light up out there. About half of my block put up some lights. This year we added oversize ornaments to our decorations. I got them them on the cheap last year after Christmas.

I didn't think I would actually get around to it this year, what with the being pregnant and the barfing and the zero energy... but luckily the second trimester kicked in just in time. I was too slow to order photo cards featuring our cute pets in ridiculous outfits/poses, but was able to whip up some embossed cards. They are pretty basic, but got the job done. Bonus, I had everything I needed already around the house. The only thing I needed to get were stamps... and addresses. I now have my address book on google docs, which is super convenient... But I realized a lot of my contacts were out of date. A lot of people moved (or I thought they maybe moved). So my cards went out pretty last second. I actually still have 3 or 4 to send out (once I get those new addresses, that is). I send the majority of the cards out on the Tuesday before Christmas, and was amazed that many arrived on Christmas eve. Well done, US postal service!

Decisions, Decisions

Last week, I was all, "Ooooh, aqua and yellow, how fabu!" But, now, I am not so sure. Don't get me wrong, I love me some aqua. I really do. But do I really want it on the walls or do I just want it in the accessories? And, the yellow? That I am not really sold on. I just kinda figured it would be a safe bet, since the walls are already yellow.

This week, I think I just might be leaning toward gray or brown walls. But, the problem is, I'm just not sure! Accent colors would still be cream and blue (be it aqua or turquoise or...).

Even last week during my full on love in with aqua and yellow, I still posted images of nurseries I love that are gray and brown!

Exhibit A: Modg's nursery.

Exhibit B: a nursery from ohdeedoh.

And, here are some more pretty gray nurseries from Project Nursery.

And:

I think one thing is for certain. I will needs to be getting some of birch tree decals. Because, apparently, I love them. So shall my fetus. They are available from this dude. Now, I have tried to use decals before with little success. They just wouldn't stick on our walls. I was able to get them to stick on our doors, due to the lack of texture. It worries me that perhaps these awesome tree decals wouldn't stick as well. But.... I see them in so many nursery photos that I think these must be a some super decals- THAT ACTUALLY STICK TO WALLS. One of my girlfriends who is pregnant is also planning on getting some. She is farther along than me and will be ordering them sometime in the near future. So, I plan on getting her full report before buying my own.

But look of how cute! (These images are all from his etsy shop)

I think my favorite is the top one... which happens to be the exact same one that Modg used, and pretty damn similar to the ones from project nursery.

The real dilemma is not the decals... the real dilemma is what colors to paint the walls, ceiling, trim, closet.... Aaaaaahhhhhhh!

Midwife Win!

I am happy to report that I have found a midwife... well, actually, a group of midwives. They are located right above the Birthing Inn. I had called them earlier in the week to see if they could take me, but the receptionists said they were already fully booked for June. Too bad, so sad.

I had been emailing with the manager at the Birthing Inn. I was asking if there were any other midwives not listed online that could use the facility, because I was rapidly running out of options. I had exhausted all the local Tacoma midwives on the list, and was moving on to ones whose clinics were located in other cities. Which would mean I would have to drive to the other city for my monthly, and then weekly appointments. Something I was not super psyched about. But, I was getting desperate. I really wanted to deliver at the Birthing Inn and not as some freaking hospital. If we couldn't get into the Birthing Inn, then I was willing to give home-birthing a shot. I wasn't super keen on the idea, since I don't keep the cleanest of houses and two dogs and two cats don't really fit into my picture of delivery. Plus, I am planning on working as long as possible up to my due date, which doesn't leave a lot time to get the house birth ready.

Anywho, back to the manager. She asks if I had checked with the group of midwives located upstairs. She was under the impression they still had some openings for June and to let them know I wanted to deliver at the Inn. So... I called them again. I got a new receptionists this time. And, I made sure to say right off the bat that I wanted to deliver at the Birthing Inn. Lo and behold, new receptionist tells me they have openings! Yay! Happy, glorious day! I have no idea why I didn't get this result when I called earlier in the week. The two options I have come up with are: A. receptionist numero 1 was off her game and misread the schedule or B. they reserve a certain number of spots for the Birthing Inn, but you have to MAKE SURE you let them know you want to deliver there. Whatever the explanation, the important part is that I am in! I have my first appointment with them next week and then we will go from there.

My next step? Finding the perfect doula.

Also, I finally got my hair did today. It had been way too long since my last salon trip. I held off getting it done during the first trimester just to be super safe and all... but now I am second trimester and my hair is thanking me. Ahhh.

Midwife Woes

This week, Bill and I toured two local birthing centers. One was at a hospital and it just felt like a hospital. I was excited because the website said that they have water-births, but it turned out only 2 of the rooms had tubs (out of around 20). It just felt all clinical and sterile and blecccch.

The other birthing center we toured was The Birthing Inn, which is Tacoma's only freestanding center. It is not attached to a hospital. It is only for midwives to use. And we loved it. It felt nice and homey, kind of like a B&B. Check out the coziness:

Now that is where I wanna give birth! It feels very comfortable and intimate. I want! I want! I want!

So, easy right? We have made our decision. Therefore, we are set. Right? Riiiiiight? Wrong.

There is a limited number of midwives who are able to deliver at the Birthing Inn. We thought we were relatively timely in getting all this figured out, after all, I am only 14 weeks pregnant. But, nooooo. Apparently I am late to the game. I have been going through the list of midwives on their website and so far everyone is either on vacation or all booked up for June. Keep your fingers crossed, there are still a couple of midwives that I am waiting to here back from. I so want to deliver there. So, so, so much. I so do not want to go to a hospital. I also so do not like my OBGYN. We share nothing in common when it comes to birthing philosophies. Plus, I had to wait over 2 hours this week to see her. The front desk girls said, "They are running a little late." A little? Ha! 2 hours is not little, this I guarantee you. 

I really hope I will be able to update you all soon that I have found a midwife and all my birthing dreams are coming true. I really, really, really hope...

Images, as promised... of nurseries!

Perusing the interwebs I have discovered some amazingly beautimous nurseries out there. I have also seen some barf ugly hideous ones, but we won't really talk about those, mmm'kay?

We are turning the spare bedroom closest to our own into the nursery. It currently has yellow walls, horrible blotched brown trim, a white ceiling, and who-knows-how-old stained gray carpet. We are thinking we will paint the trim white, the ceiling a light aqua, and rip up that horrible carpet (here's hoping there is some pretty hardwood underneath, but if not there is always flor!). There is a lot of work to be done in there, and we have a 6 month deadline.

Anyway, on with the pretties!

This awwwwesome nursery is from http://www.modgblog.com. Love the aqua, love the wall decal (of the trees), love the paper crane mobile. And, oh, that glider. Finder a glider is harder than one might suspect.  There are a lot of ug-oh gliders out there. But, this one, oh-this one, loves. However, totally out of my price range.

This pretty nursery is from http://www.younghouselove.com. This nursery inspired my dream of a blue ceiling. I also plan on stealing their floating DIY  mobile, and perhaps their curtained closet. But, I might just keep our nice old wood door to the closet. I will steal their painting the inside of the closet the same color as the ceiling...

Here are more cute nurseries from http://www.ohdeedoh.com, which is the kid section of http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/. 

I actually think this crib is pretty similar to the one we are inheriting from my brother and sis-in-law. What I really love here is the poofs and paper lanterns.  And, of course, the color scheme- yellow and aqua. 

More aqua and yellow (no pink and red for my future baby's room though...).

Oh, look at that, more aqua and yellow. In our nursery the scheme will be switched though, since the walls will be yellow and the accessories and textiles will be blue. PS love the glider. Sigh.

Last of the blue and yellow nurseries (for now anyway)...

Here are some more nurseries (with different color schemes):

And example of using flor tiles in a nursery. I might even get away with reusing the ones that are currently in our hallway.

I like the overall cozy feel of this room.

Love the wall decals, and the use of paper lanterns...

Okay, enough nurseries. I'm hungry (like all the time now) and I'm gonna go watch How I Met Your Mother with the hubs.

The times they are a changin'

So, I still haven't posted squat. I fail. I know this. I accept it and have come to peace with it. Hopefully you have too. Perhaps you have even given up on me. I can accept this as well.

I realize I said I was going to blog about this and that which was accomplished over summer. And I haven't. Oh well, live with the knowledge that we did those things, but that you may never see pictures.

Instead, we are forging ahead into new and uncharted territory.

My weekends at home are no longer spent in home improvement (well, I still fantasize a lot, but little to nothing has been getting done). Lately my weekends are spent sleeping (or, inversely, battling insomnia) or trying not to harf. The good news is that the harfing has been drastically scaled back. I thought it was done for good, but I was proved wrong last night. Sigh. 

As you have probably guessed (or already knew since you know real-life me) I am for shiz up the spout. I am somewhere around 12 and half weeks. It is a bit blurred since I totally do not track when my period starts, but I have a general idea. My due date is June 18th. Bill and I are thrilled (of course). 

Right now I am operating off of precious few hours of sleep (insomnia reared it's nasty lil head last night). I fear this post might be somewhat less than coherent, oh well, whatevs.  

Suffice it to say we are very excited and the blog might just take a turn toward all things baby (but with a bit of house thrown in for good measure). Or, maybe it won't. I hope that by lifting my house only related post restriction I might just blog a bit more. Or, maybe I won't.

Here is a cute little ticker showing how big the fetus is relative to fruit! Yay!

How boring, I didn't post any pictures! Shiiit, I best rectify that asap. I will, I promise. But I warn you, they will be baby related pictures. hehehe

Things I have been doing while not writing on this blog…

So I realize I promised to return to the blogosphere in August. I didn’t.

It is now October (How the hell did that happen?). And, guess what? I’m back!

While I was away I was doing things, like:

1. Finishing up my second summer of Montessori training.

2. Going to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding.

4. Going to Wisconsin for another friend’s wedding. 5. Getting an exchange student from the Netherlands that will be with us through January.

6. Getting a puppy. Gertrude Ehrenroe.7. Going back to school. Sigh. 

Things I have been doing that I will create blog posts about:

1. Bill rebuilt our back stairs! Yay! Safety for all.

2. Revamping out guest room to make into our exchange student’s room.

3. Making a new guest room.

Ummm, that might be it for now. I feel like I am missing some things, but whatever. Good enough.

Summer Hiatus

Well, as you may have noticed I haven't posted for almost a month now. It has been a pretty busy month. Any teachers out there know what I'm talking about... So, yeah, no posts.
The no post trend will be continuing until August. I now have the second summer of my Montessori training and it is time and energy intensive. So, no posts.
Check back in August.
I promise I will do things (and blog about them) in August!!

Theme: Things I Think are Pretty (like flowers)

Not a lot is getting done around our casa. Bill continues to chip away on our backdoor stairs. He is planning to finish it up within the next week or two. I look forward to posting picts (because that would mean the stairs would be complete!!!!).

I have not been up to much house wise. I hope to plant some veggie starts and seeds in our community garden tomorrow, but we’ll see. I’ve been meaning to get this done for well over a month now, but here’s hoping tomorrow is the day!

Unfortunately, the next month or two will probably not yield a lot of home projects. You see, even though school with the kiddos is almost out (15 school day and counting!). I only have like 4 days off before I go to grown up school, that is my second summer of  training for my Montessori credentials.  It is super time consuming and a freaking hour plus commute each way. So, yeah, house projects will be on hold during that time. Hopefully I will still be cognizant enough to water my garden so I can occasionally post photos of my glorious flowers (fingers crossed!).

Anywho, here are some pretty pictures that shall inspire future projects. After all, I will have almost a whole month post- Montessori training and pre- kiddos. My head is already reeling with all the possible projects for August.

I would love to create flower boxes, maybe for the second the floor front windows. That would mean I would need to remove the screens from those windows in order to keep them watered, so I’m not sure if that is really the best idea. What about you all… do any of you have window boxes? I love florals! I know, this must be shocking since I have already repeatedly professed my love of  flowers… but, yes, it is true, I also love floral prints.    Okay, that is probably enough floral prints for today. Of course, I have many many more tucked away on my hard drive, but those will have to wait.

Have a great weekend! Hope you all are more productive than I am.

I can’t hear anything and other news

I am now strep throat free! Wah-hoo! The antibiotics did their thang and as of Thursday my throat was no longer planning my slow painful death. However, my each ache is still alive and kicking. I went to the doctor on Friday to see what could be done, and the verdict is not a whole heck of a lot. The antibiotics for the strep will wipe out the infection for my ear as well, but it will take over a month for all the fluid to drain and my hearing to go back to normal. Sigh. At least it is just in one ear and not both…

Anyway, on Saturday Bill and I hung out with some friends of ours who had been stationed in Alabama for the last 2 years, but have now been transferred to Fort Lewis. Yay! We also got to meet their adorable baby girl, who I believe is 7 months old today. She is super cute… but, I didn’t bring my camera so no towhead baby photos for you.

Today we worked out in the yard for a bit. We started by planting two new (free!) rhododendrons in the back yard. My classroom assistant’s daughter just bought a house  these had recently been put in her front yard (I’m thinking the previous owners were trying to boost curb appeal.). Anyway, she was not a fan of these two rhododendrons, so they made their way to our house. If I was buying them myself I probably would have gone with another color, but free is free and I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. You see, they are a deep red, which I think is very pretty, but I have been sorta-kinda planning on making my garden colors be purples, pinks, and yellows. That being said, I already have a bunch of red in the front garden with the anemones, tulips, and what not. Who knows if I will be able to stick to a color scheme in the garden or not. I’m assuming that they won’t really bloom a ton this year since they were transplanted in the middle of flowering. We planted them underneath a bunch of low hanging crisscrossing power lines. Ah, the joys of having a transformer behind your house. We want to eventually landscape the back yard and add some trees and more perennial flowering bushes, but we will have to plan according to the wires. We figured the rhododendrons would work well under the lower lines since with time they can get pretty large, but never tall enough that they would cause issues with the power lines.

I also planted the rest of the seed packs I had laying around the house. Some of them were expired by a year (or more!), so it is even more of a crap shoot than usual as to if anything will actually grow. I put some petunia seeds (not expired) along with some lobelia seeds (expired) into containers to give some color to the back yard this year. Of course at the moment they are just look like pots filled with dirt, but keep your fingers crossed that they will be bursting with pink and purple petunias before too long!

We also put in 2 ferns and 2 hosta bulbs in the back yard. Both are shade loving plants, and we really don’t have much shade (what with the lack of trees and all), but we put them underneath our already established (possibly original to the house?)rhododendrons, so hopefully it will be shady enough for them to thrive. I also sprinkled some seeds around them so who knows what will happen.

The rest of my (expired) seed packs were strewn about the front yard, in the new-ish planting strip and in the old flower patch. The planting strips are a thing of mystery. One side is has a gazillion starts in it and I am very perplexed as to what they all are. Some are obviously the seeds and bulbs I put there, but the majority of them are all the same mystery plant and I am dumbfounded as to what that might be...  We decided to let them be and see what happens. I might be that in the not so distant future I will have a ton of weeding to do, but hopefully not and they turn out to be some gorgeous flower.

The other side looks more like what we were expecting. Some things are making their way up, but mostly it still just looks like a dirt strip. I’m fairly confident that it will look pretty and colorful this summer. I added a few more packs of seeds though, just for good measure.I was happy to see that our Spanish lavender which we planted last year has come back. It is looking full and healthy and the bees are buzzing with delight. Our (formerly) mysterious irises are also in bloom. Last year there was a few leaves, but no flowers. For some reason the majority of the irises were covered with a big old rock when we moved in. Of course, we moved that bad boy out of there last year, but of course by then it was too late for the irises to shoot up any buds. So, I have been waiting and waiting to see that color our irises would turn out to be. I was really hoping they wouldn’t turn out to be a hideous brown color (that my mom had in our yard when I was growing up. Seriously, mom, what was up with that?). Well, as luck would have it they are not hideous at all! In fact they are a very pretty light blue-violet. And they smell delightful.

The last of the planting of the day was some cute pink petunias I picked up while grocery shopping. I know the containers are not very exciting. And, I know, you can see dirt smudges on them. But, my plan  is the petunias will get so big that you won’t even be able to see the pots at all! Good plan, huh?