Re start.. again...

I am trying to start this up. Again. I'm hoping since life has somewhat reached a calm state that I'll be able to do this on a regular basis.

Lots of things have changed since July. Namely, I had the baby :) We named her Evelyn (recently nicknamed "Buck"). And by "we" and I mean that I picked it. Because 12 hours of "labour" followed by a c-section entitles a woman to that right. (but more on the birth story later...)

Another change - I have embraced my inner hippie! We are now a baby-wearing, cloth diapering, family cloth using (only ask if you really want to know), room sharing family. And have lots of plans for Buck's future - baby led weaning, extended breast feeding, extended rear-facing, and much much more. Since having the baby, my inner activist has reared her ugly head, and I have started advocating for things such as keeping our baby boys intact.

One final change, I've gone back to church. The LDS church, if you were curious.

So there we go. You're all caught up.

So close!

I'm just as bad at updating this as I am at updating my written journal. Somehow, I figured I'd have more time to write once I was on maternity leave. But I've noticed a trend with me - when life is busy and crazy I don't journal. End of story.

35 weeks and 1 day along today. I feel big and ready. Ready me, ready house, ready room. But not a ready baby. Which is fine. I think one person in a family with medical concerns is enough. Especially if the next likely is an infant.

But anyways. Her pink room is ready. I have all her clothes washed and put away. All organized and sorted by age/size. And all her bedding is washed and either on the bed, or put away for later use. I did not buy bumpers. I don't think they're safe. But that is my opinion. We won't be using blankets either. Sleep sacks and bags all the way, yo!

I feel like there are still things that need to be done. I'm sitting here, staring around my living room and not seeing anything. Except the car seat. But I can't put that in until the car is here, and not at work with Tim.

35 weeks.... Crazy.

Walkin' in the rain!

I went out for a walk today with the Nanaimo Mom's walking group... and there were 3 of us! I, of course, do not have a baby outside of me yet. But it was nice to chat with other moms and get out of the house... I tend to stay inside and by myself a lot. So it was good.

Tim took my belly picture today - 27 weeks and 1 day - and I look so much bigger than I used to! I can't believe how big I've gotten. Although the scale does not lie in that area.

I have been have the most bizzare feelings lately. It felt like she was having a seizure inside of me! Turns out that those are hiccups! Thank goodness, because it was a bit freaky.

All that walking has tired me out. I am off to nap.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my first anniversary! But, since Tim works 1-10 today, we decided to celebrate officially tomorrow. So today all we did was get some coffee/hot chocolate and walk down by the waterfront. Plus I also gave Tim his gift - a book about racing cars (as per the first anniversary traditional gift of paper!).

Tomorrow we're going to drive up island somewhere and have a nice dinner out, just the two and half of us! Hopefully Miss.Feets is well behaved, and I can enjoy it all.

Today, I have been cleaning! I got everything on my list finished by 4pm, so I've moved onto the things which were not on my list. I'm prepping the baby's room so that we can put up a first coat of primer tomorrow morning. I've been on Tim to get the room all painted so that I can start my setting up/decorating part of the job.

I am noticing that house cleaning is much more difficult when you are pregnant! I get a sore back quickly, and out of breath, not to mention HUNGRY!

I think that I might have hamburger helper for dinner tonight! And some veggies. And if I didn't have gestational diabetes, I would also make up the cupcakes and cream cheese icing that are sitting in my cupboard. But since I do, I won't. Otherwise I would be very tempted to eat one. Or seven.

5 months down, 4 to go!

Sometimes it's hard to believe that I am over halfway done being pregnant, and sometimes it's easy to remember (like when I look down at my tummy, or a calendar!). I think that I dislike being pregnant. Not the "I have a baby growing in me" part of it. I like that part of it! But the part where my body is the safe haven for this baby.

I realized again how much I dislike that part when I went into the hospital on Tuesday morning with what turned out to be kidney stones. Kidney stones! as if I didn't have enough to worry about? We spent a total of 8 hours in emergency split between two trips. But thankfully I am feeling just fine now.

Tim was worried that it was something wrong with the baby. So it was nice to find out that it was a relatively harmless thing (as painful as it happened to be).

Baby names and baby book

Since we found out that we are having a girl we've been trying to figure out names and such. (Well, that's a lie. I've been picking out names since I was 13). We set up several rules for ourselves based on our mutual experiences in school, work, and life.

Rule #1
The name must be gender specific.
That means no Erin, Ashley, Jordan, or Toni/Tony.

Rule #2
The name must be one that is only spelled traditionally.
That means no Sarah/Sara/Cera, Ashley/Ashleigh/Ashlie, or any name in which you could put a "y" or an "ie" in the place of normal vowels.

Rule #3
The name must be one which when read is obvious of how to pronounce, and which when heard is obvious of how to spell.
This rule does get a bit redundant with the other rules, but it pretty much means if we DID choose Sarah, that is how we would spell it.

Rule #4
The name must be a traditional name.
This one means that we won't choose a trendy name, or a name with an ethnic base other than roughly our own. For example, Tiffany was a trendy name 20 years ago. Now it is not.

and finally...

Rule #5
The name must pass the "waiting room test."
This is a simple test you can do yourself! When you are sitting in a waiting room for something, doctor, dentist, etc, listen to the name that they call out, and see if it would fit for anyone in the room. What it comes down to for us is does the name work for any age? While "Honey" is a cute name for a baby/child, it does not work for a 45 year old woman. While "Agatha" works well with a 65 year old woman, it does not work for anyone much younger.


I know we seem a bit ridiculous, but after all the name choices, and vetoes (I vetoed Emily, he vetoed Lucy - for breaking rule #5) we have come down to our choice....

Evelyn.

"Medical" leave

As of last week I am finished with work. I am on what is considerd medical leave. This encompasses several different things. But we'll be leaving it vague for now.

I haven't been at work since last Wednesday. Which is really only 3 shifts that I've missed. But I miss it. I miss the kids so much. I was in the toy store today shopping for Ben's birthday present (how he managed to sneak by and be five I'll never know) when I saw a toy that I knew one of our little boys would have loved. I miss all the different personalities, and the sweet and pure caring that they gave. I miss the gentle swarm of hands asking to "pet the baby" a.k.a. rub my pregnant tummy.

As for pregnancy? Maybe it's the stress of leaving work suddenly, but I haven't been feeling great this week. Achy, sore, uncomfortable. I keep telling myself that this HAS to be the biggest I'll get. That there isn't any more ROOM for me to grow more. But deep down I know it's a lie.