So I forgot to tell you in my last post, that we switched out our bathroom sink faucet.
The sink in our main bathroom upstairs, with the bathtub.
I forgot to write about it because I didn’t have to do any of this work. Blake was the force behind this one. He did a great job. And I am in LOVE with the difference it makes in the room.
I knew it would have impact, but I’m surprised at how big it is.
I wanted to show it off. So here’s some before and afters.
To flash back to it’s full transformation so far, here is some Before-Befores of how we bought the house.
Then I got the walls skim coated and painted. And we switched out the light fixture and the hardware on the vanity. And the room was looking MUCH better.
So here are the just plain-before the new faucet pics.
The faucet is one of those real cheapies (like $18) with no personalities. And it’s faucet is very low, making it hard to fill up water cups for bedtime.
(Yes the outlet cover will be replaced. **Almond….shudder!** But we need to cut the white one to size…olden day outlets seem to always be too close to the countertop to fit a whole cover plate. Why did they always do that? And WHY would you put almond there, next to the white tile? WHAT was that whole almond thing?….I am determined to figure that out someday. The mystery haunts me.)
I bought this faucet at Lowes after much pondering over style. This one won out mostly due to style. I really liked the white handles and the higher arc spout.
But what was also great was… this baby only runs $49. The other contenders where around $100.
Now I will tell you that for our downstairs bathroom I got a Moen faucet and there is a clear difference in the quality. You can just feel more weight and smoother, more fluid movement when turning on the sink down there vs. this new faucet. So I do suspect that our upstairs bathroom faucet won’t last as well as our downstairs one. But I’m ok with that.
Our downstairs bathroom gets the most use, being on the main floor. And I think that bathroom is gonna stay the way it is for pretty much ever. (I really need to blog that makeover for you!)
I wonder sometimes if this upstairs bathroom will need a major overhaul down the line, since the tub and tile is so old. I’m not really routing for that. But bathrooms, ya know, sometimes they go south. So that said, I don’t mind that I didn’t quite go with Moen’s tagline “Buy it for looks, buy it for life” for our upstairs bathroom.
Anyway. Just being my overly honest self. I am still very much in love with the faucet, even with that disclaimer. I’d say it’s very, very worth the $49. I think it’s making the room right now.
It’s got a cool, press-down drain stopper. I didn’t know what I thought about that before it was installed. But since it’s been in I think it’s amazing.
We haven’t told the girls, because I’m nervous the water will wind up outside the sink…but the faucet swivels to either side, so it makes for easy cleaning.
At first I wasn’t totally sure about the chrome finish vs. a satin nickel. (This faucet only comes in chrome.) But since I was keeping the vintage sink with the silver rim, I thought the chrome went well with that. (Not that satin nickel would clash terribly.) Ultimately I decided the finish wasn’t a big deal to me either way. Both finishes clean up great with a microfiber cloth. And I’ve read that you can use Rain-X on chrome if you have a hard time keeping it shinny.
It updates and upscales the bathroom in such a major way.
And it makes the sink a lot easier to use for cups and water access.
So that’s that.
The future bathroom plans still include:
Adding a wooden frame around the mirror.
Updating the flooring.
Adding some shelves over the toilet.
(In this nook)
And painting out the vanity. I don’t mind the wood tone. It always photographs nicely. But in person it’s not as high of quality wood as it looks in pictures. It’s a refaced veneer that’s taken some abuse. The side of the vanity is all warped from water damage. So I want to reface that and kinda add some moulding for a more finished look. And then paint it all. I’m leaning towards white. But might go bold? I’ll figure that out later.
But the bathroom has come a LONG, LONG way since it’s yellow days.
This week I’m actually feeling a lot better. I still get nauseous. And still, my least favorite thing in the world to do is feed the girls because it requires me to handle foods I don’t want to see when I don’t want to see food. And... occasionally I still can’t think of any foods I want to eat myself. BUT after 8 months of dealing with nausea, I think I’m just getting used to it and taking it in stride. It’s kinda like Steve Urkel. I’m used to him, I definitely enjoy my time when he’s gone, but I can handle it when he asks me out for the 1,000th time... he’s just to be expected.
But the nausea is much improved, much of the time, though. (Just not gone.)
This week I’ve started to crave hamburgers, and I’m taking that as a major victory. It’s meat. And I crave it! It’s kind of mind-blowing. It’s giving me hope for eating a bit more healthily by the end of this journey. Not that hamburgers are a staple of health -- but I feel pretty pumped about it.
I will say, one good thing I’ve started to arrive at through this pregnancy’s hardness is a deeper, real-er peace with being me. I was writing a friend about how before I got married I felt pretty much oblivious to what other’s thought about my choices, and I felt very confident in doing what worked for me. But after getting married, and then even worse after having kids, I felt this crazy infiltration into my brain of what others thought and how they thought I should be doing things. And I let that make me feel guilty whenever I did anything because I was sure I was failing. I HATE failing. So this brings me a lot of stress, basically nonstop.
Having to be pressed up against this wall of “I can’t do it any better than I’m doing it” by this pregnancy, has made me stop and look at this habit and kinda deal with it.
I’m not fixed. It’s still super tempting to try and compare myself to others and feel concern for if I’m doing it right. But I’m coming to a better peace on "just do(ing) it” without apology.
Last week, writing out what I’ve been eating this through this pregnancy made me feel very much like I needed to defend myself. (Defend myself against my own ideals, against the many different food school of thoughts, against healthy people in general…) But after having it written out and exposed it gave me a chance to think. And that thinking has made me feel a lot more confident going forward in life just doing my best and what works for me/us without apologizing because there isn’t a right or wrong on this stuff. (I’m pretty sure you get what I’m saying, but since this is written and it’s the internet -- to clarify: I’m not saying I want to be unhealthy. I am saying in the case of food: there are different views on what is the right way to eat, and you can’t adhere to all of them or you’d outlaw every food on earth and die. (You can’t go Paleo, and be a vegan, and do Atkins all at once. And that’s just SOME of the food schools out there.) And sometimes your body literally won’t do what you want it to do -- like eat much of anything. Or say, run a marathon when your leg is broken. So in general, you have to go with what works for you at the current moment. And if there isn’t anything truly wrong with your choices, other than it not being perfect (and nothing is perfect), or it not being someone else’s ideal, there isn’t a need to apologize. And I’m starting to feel less bad/not guilty about that.)
I’ve had all these thoughts before. But this pregnancy is kinda forcing them into being real. This week I’ve really started to embrace them and really actually started to feel that way. It’s just like a calmness instead of stress. I’m not sure how to keep it in place forever -- especially when spending time around anyone who has very strong feelings about random stuff and how it’s “right.” But I think I’m just starting to feel ok with brushing that off and not doing anything more than being ok with me. (I hope to do this without pressing on other’s sense of self. Some of that’s not in my hands, but for the part that is, I hope I can do it well. I think if it comes from a peaceful place, it will flow out peacefully.)
And I have this hard pregnancy to thank for that. It pushed me into that spot and held me down until I said “uncle.” And now that I’m here I can’t say that I mind. It’s gonna be good for me to have that sensation in place as I go through the rest of this motherhood journey, as well as just being a person.
I think this not apologizing for being me, is applying to my body image as well.
You know how sometimes you have thoughts that are just going, that you aren’t really thinking? I had one the other day, I must have seen a beach on a commercial or something. And I thought something like, “That will be fun once I feel better in a swim suit.” But I didn’t feel like I thought it -- it was a sound in my head. And when I heard it I though, “Well that’s just silly. When I finally get my butt to the beach I’m having fun no matter what I look like." If I didn’t have this motion sickness going on I’m sure me, and the girls, and Granana would have been to the beach a few times by now (probably not swimming -- Lake Michigan is still freezing I’m sure.) So once my body gives a green light to live again, I’m living! And that’s that. I don’t care if I’m toned, I’m feeling good and that’s good. I’m really ready to celebrate just the general simplicities of life without the fear that I’m not doing it well enough.
I don’t know if that mentality is playing into this next thought or not. But I’ve been shocked that so far in this pregnancy, not a single person has said to me something about “being ready to pop” yet. The last two times, as soon as I hit 7 months strangers started asking stuff like “Are you due now?", and would look shocked when I said how long I have left.
I’m prone to say I’ve avoided it so far this time, due to the fact I rarely leave the house during this pregnancy. But I have been trying to make it to stores alone in the evening , maybe once a week ,or every other week, just to get out for a while now. So I have been seen, and have made conversation about my belly -- yet no one seems shocked when I say “June or July.” And actually the other night I got some nice compliments from random ladies.
I came home and told Blake (because I was confused on why no one is doing the norm of “wow you are huge” comments.) And he said I don’t look that big this time.
I don’t understand this. I’ve been comparing the pictures and I think I look about the same. And I know I weigh more now than in that picture last time. It’s a mystery to me. So maybe it is that I’m carrying myself less self consciously. Maybe I’ve mastered dressing for pregnancy better than before. Maybe I’m rockin the third time around confidence -- not giving off the “Holy Cow I’m so pregnant!” vibe because I know what “so pregnant” is. Or maybe it really just is that I don’t leave the house enough anymore. I don’t know. It’s just something I’ve noticed.
(Watch I’ll have jinxed it now, the next time I leave the house 15 people will insist I’m pregnant with triples, due yesterday.) (But I’ll still have that 7th month without it this time. It’s just sometime to take note of.)
All that said, I haven’t hit a zen place or anything like it, this pregnancy. This week I still cried and got stressed out. I let one too many things get to me at the same time and felt like the world was crashing (for the millionth time.) But the nice part is I haven’t lived this week in that spot.
One thing that stressed me out was baby was feeling breech to me again. I was getting lots of bladder kicks -- not finger wiggles. And while I was logically ok with it -- emotionally it was just getting me to that spot where nothing feels right until that’s fixed -- kinda like “hangry”emotions. It was messing with the way I processed anything.
This week it took more than just a 30 second inversion to fix it (like last time.) I did a few inversions a day, for a few days, and still didn’t think I fixed it. So then one night Blake ran to get us Chinese food, and while he was gone I stuck our ironing board on the couch, stopped it up against a heavy chair, and crazily climbed on it and laid upside down on my back. (You can google “Ironing Board Breech” and find pics if you don’t know what I’m talking about.) This was pretty stupid to do when alone -- it’s not so easy to accomplish, and even harder to get out of. Our chinese place is like 5 mins away, so I knew Blake would be right back. But I was pretty stuck. (I was also nervous I was gonna misshapen our ironing board with my hefty self, but it proved stronger than I thought it was.) When he came in he was like “Woah! What are you doing!?” (Being a guy’s not privy the the crazy newsletters us women seem to get in the mail on subjects like laying on ironing boards. He had no clue why I was doing that.) And after he helped me up he was sad he didn’t take a picture to show off the crazy stuff he comes home to. :) Then I continued to prove myself crazy by eating much of my meal on my hands and knees.
But I’m pretty positive it all paid off since I feel kicks by my ribs once more.
(Ok baby, it’s time to let mommy have a sanity break -- stay put!)
(I still have time before it matters, 36 weeks is when it’s kinda a "to-do" -- but you know…I’d like to avoid ironing boards from here on out.)
Anyway,
I don’t feel like I’ve done anything this week in general.
I’ve definitely hit the sleepy part of pregnancy.
I get to the afternoon and my eyes just start rolling back in my head. The sleep is unfightable. Thankfully the girls are good about letting me catch a cat nap on the couch.
I’ve been stalking IKEAs website trying to make sure I know exactly what I’m buying when we make it up there. I’m doing my classic over-thinking-process.
And I guess what I have gotten done this week is that bathroom light. Well Blake did much of that work too.
That was kinda a crazy adventure.
If you feel like reading, here it is:
I had bought a cheap thrift store light and gave it a makeover.
I figured it would be ok. But once it was up I just couldn’t handle a bit of it’s nuances. So I took back the glass shades I bought for it. Then I found 3 other ones for $0.80 at the thrift -- with plans to sell the thing on craigslist. I’ve spent $9 on it total. So I figure I can make at least that much on it to just wash the whole event off my hands. (If not, well it’s just $9, I guess.)
So then I had to set out to find a new light I liked.
This (since it’s me we are talking about) was really hard. I felt like all vanity lights looked pretty much the same. And it felt dumb to pay a lot more for something that looked very, very similar to what I already had. And Pinterest-glory bathrooms don’t even use the over-the-mirror lights -- they are all about the side sconces. And I don’t have room on the sides of my mirror. So pinterest wasn’t helping me.
Actually, here’s the other thing about the bathroom. I had wanted to switch out the mirror to this pretty octagon mirror (craigslist find.) But the mirror in there is tiled around. And at first I thought I was willing to work with the tile and fix it all for the sake of a mirror. But eventually reality set in, and I decided I’m not. It’s old tile, I won’t find an exact match. It’s an old mirror. I have no clue what the wall under it looks like. It just seems too much. So I conceded to stick a frame on it and call it a day.
That added a layer of confusion to the whole process. I had to find the trim I wanted for the frame, and then see how that would fit around the mirror, so we knew where to place the new light.
For the mirror frame, I wound up finding some very pretty, thick, maple boards at an architectural salvage store here. (If you have anything like that or a ReStore by Habitat for Humanity -- always check there -- you can find WAY cooler wood for a much better price than big box stores.) I got more feet than I needed for $20. One piece of trim at Menards was running about that much, and it wasn’t anywhere near as thick or pretty.
I thought I knew which vanity light I wanted after online shopping. But when I got to the store, right next to it was a different one that caught my eye. After much debate. (And getting side tracked by a third. Which I love but doesn’t fit the right vibe.) I pulled the trigger and got this one.
I think it’s perfect.
I think it actually looks different than most vanity lights. It’s got a more individual shape. So that made me feel like it was worth it. But more importantly -- all along I had been hoping for something that was kinda glamourous without feeling gaudy or too “try hard.” Part of me had really been hoping to find something chandelier-crystal-ish. But most were too intense for what I really wanted. (And crazy expensive.) This is our only bathtub-bathroom. And I told ya how I love to take baths, so I wanted something kinda spa, kinda pretty-princess... but something that doesn’t reek of that. I had basically given up on that dream -- I didn’t know how that could be achieved.
But this light (link to it) hits it out of the park for me. Those clear beads are just enough glamour to get me that mild chandelier vibe. And the arm shape is just enough princess. But I don’t think it reeks of it.
And once I get the frame on the mirror I think it’s all gonna come together in a blaze of glory.
Anyway. Before we got the light installed…poor Blake….I told him the electrical box he worked so hard on (and put in the spot I approved) wasn’t in the right place now -- for this light and the mirror frame. So he had to move it again. This of course left two holes in the drywall to be fixed. So after he got the electrical done and some drywall in place. I did the mudding, sanding and painting.
Essentially it took us two weeks to get this silly light switched out. And that was really annoying because we had a floor lamp in the room and drywall dust on stuff, and the girls had to brush their teeth in our bathroom (which was also dark because it’s on the same breaker switch.) But it was so worth it to me! This morning Blake had the light wired back up and I cleaned up the bathroom. And let me tell you, every time we get a room close to done I can feel my brain and soul clear up and breathe. I love the feeling.
The only things left in this bathroom are to get some new flooring down. (I think we are going with this.)
And I’d like to install shelves over the toilet. And then the bathroom is gonna be awesome. Oh and I’d like a new faucet on the sink.(Thinking this one.)
Someday I do wanna paint the vanity. I’m thinking white. But might wind up going with something fun like turquoise. And I’d like to paint the closet’s insides white (it’s strangely yellowish off-white now.) And I might wanna do a design on the walls. But those are all perks.
I HOPE we get the floors and shelves before baby comes. I think my parents are gonna come help next month and help us get some of these projects checked off the list for my Nesty McNesterson self. I’m very excited about that!
So as you saw (in last week’s post) that this week started with me getting the flu. My mom was already in town because I essentially begged her to come, since last week I basically had a mental breakdown due to being sick for 7 months straight. I didn’t feel like I could take care of the girls anymore that week. I asked her to come be with us for a little while.
Being sick due to this pregnancy…. I don’t know if anything has ever stolen so much of my essence before….physically feeling awful for that long. I feel like I’ve faced some hard to deal with stuff since becoming a mom, stuff that has made me question who I am, and how I deal with life. But being sick, for more than half a year, does more than make you question who you are -- it just takes away who you are. It just turns you into nothing. It starts to just eat away your brain and your heart and hope, until you are despondent. I’ve been sad before. I’ve been depressed at times. But despondent is a new thing. I don’t recommend it. Loss of hope -- like whole hearted, full loss of hope -- that’s about the scariest place I’ve been. I was to a place where I was bouncing between despondent, and just unfathomably sad and lonely, back to despondent….
That’s why my mom was in town. Right before she came I had cried for two days straight till I almost couldn’t open my eyes.
On Tuesday, when she got here, I tried to go out with Blake that night because his birthday was on Thursday and we were taking advantage of a babysitter being around. The date was so pathetic on my end. We went to the only restaurant that served food I could imagine getting past my lips. This resturant make really good calzones, and calzones were all I could eat that week. (Weird -- but the way I eat makes no sense anymore.) But I’d never eaten in the place -- it’s really small and not ideal, and well it was hard to breath in there because it seemed like they had burned something recently and the air was thick. I was having a really hard time eating at all.
We left, thought about going to a movie, but I couldn’t imagine sitting through one.
I had driven because that’s the only way I’ve been able to go anywhere in a car this pregnancy. But I was REALLY feeling queasy. I had to get into the car. Sit back, close my eyes, deep breath and mentally pep-talk myself to be ok to drive.
Instead of a movie -- we went back to Blake’s office to watch Netflix on his work computer. We figured well at least it’s out of the house. I sat with a garbage can next to me the whole time just thinking I’d be puking in it.
Walking to and from his office was making me feel horrible. I was literally afraid I was getting motion sickness from walking. I was pretty sure this would be the end of my brain. I didn’t see how I was gonna live until July this way.
Once I was in bed that night is when I figured out I have the flu. Chills, bathroom trips where you hold a garage can while using the toilet.
I freaked out a bit when it was coming on, because I was pretty sure my body wasn’t going to survive any more than the level I’ve been maintaing at. I just didn’t see how I was gonna do this.
But after a couple middle of the night sessions of this, I was able to sleep.
In the morning I asked my mom to stay longer (she had to call off work for me) and I slept most that next day.
At that point I was actually really happy I had the flu because that meant I wasn’t getting WORSE in my pregnancy sickness levels (like getting motion sickness from walking.) (Because that was just about more than I could imagine -- but was not gonna put it past this pregnancy to do to me. I just didn’t see how I could manage any more if that was happening. So you can see how I was glad it wasn’t -- the flu was good news.)
My mom wound up taking the girls home with her, on Thursday night, for the weekend, to give me a break. I totally cried. It was kinda a hectic goodbye. Jasmine had been kinda wheezy the days before, so I was nervous about her and we had to figure out what meds to pack. And we tried to pack some food -- with food allergies you always send SOME food with. (But food is impossible to think about while sick.) Ruby had stubbed her toe REALLY bad earlier and was refusing to walk on her foot. (Quite recently we’d taken each girl to the ER/Convenient Care over the past couple weeks so my brain was primed for hospital trips and bad news. I was worried her foot was broke….It wasn’t, but add hormones, and my own sickness, and well I was crying when she was crying.) But I was crying too because I felt like a bad mom after having been sick for so long, getting despondent, having a TERRIBLE time feeding my kids because I can’t stand food. (Add in you can’t do boxed/easy foods because they are full of allergens. AND I have a picky eater, who also is getting over a recent flu, making her even picker... Food is freaking hard in this house.) I was barely able to sit through Blake’s birthday dinner that night because everything was turing my stomach -- but I wanted him to have a nice family bday dinner with us. (My mom cooked most of it, Blake grilled the food. But I just wanted to be present. I sort of was, but I was no fun. And had to bail early to go lay down.) I wasn’t able to help pack. I was worried. I was sick. And I was feeling like a major mom-failure and my kid was crying. I totally just cried on the couch while my mom and Blake were getting the girls ready to go. And after they left I just cried for a while longer.
But once I calmed down it was so nice to have a break. My body was just done. My brain was gone.
Friday I slept till noon. And then I got dressed. I thought I could go to the store. After I got dressed I had to lay down. I cried. I was just done again. I freaking wanted to function.
I waited a while on the bed. And then I said I’m going to the store. I needed new sheets. Our bedsheets got a hole in them and I couldn’t stand it anymore (having been laying in that bed for so long.) And I needed a couple other things. Like a new toilet flushing handle (ours broke and I was tired of having to stick my hand into the tank to pull the flushing plug up.) I was just determined to find normal, or some level of normal for one second. I needed to go to the store.
Once I was out of the house I felt pretty decent. I wasn’t queasy. I didn’t feel like the flu.
Only problem was, my intestines didn’t agree with this idea. They still seemed to think they had the flu. And the would notify me of this, at the drop of the hat, in a very urgent message.
I was very glad of my large belly in this moment. Because the urgent message included the clause “You must waddle, awkwardly, to bathroom to save yourself from a very terrible, terrible disaster. Because one wrong step on your part will signal to us (the intestines) we are free to assume we are in the bathroom now, and do our thing, no questions asked.” A large belly, made this very pitiful, very fast, strange waddle towards the bathroom look pretty normal. I was glad no one could hear my thoughts in that moment. They would have revealed the terror I was in, for me, my pants and my dignity.
Somehow I was able to make it to the bathroom on time.
This same scene played out over and over all afternoon. I would feel fine. Think, “Ok now time to go buy this….” I would get to the next store, get near to the item, and my intestines would relay yet another urgent matter.
I bought some weird stuff that day. Nothing really went right, because when your intestines are running the show, they don’t care what you buy.
I wound up brining home cheap, polyester, navy blue sheets.
Between the trips to the bathroom, my line of thought was something like this (when not thinking “gah, must run to the bathroom”) I don’t want to spend a lot on sheets right now. I don’t know if my water is gonna break on them or perhaps pregnancy-birthy-baby-feeding-diaper-grossness could encounter them. Dark will hide gross. I’m going to throw these away soon. I don’t know. Why spend money.
The problem here is. I seriously can’t sleep on anything but cotton sheets. Especially when pregnant. I have to have cotton (not flannel) sheets and they way they breath. Everything else will just ruin my sleeping life. And sleep is really the only thing that’s going good during this pregnancy.
The other problem is -- navy blue sheets look gross in my room.
I’d spent like $28, I think, at Kolhs.
I took them back the next day. (Along with some other crazy buys -- intestines you are not allowed to run shopping trips anymore -- you don’t know what you are doing!)
But those sheets were the best deal I could find. Sheets are expensive! Cotton especially. (And remember I’m worried I’m about to ruin them with the state of my life.)
I went around town losing my mind. Starting to question if my addiction to cotton could be tamed.
Then I went to TJMaxx.
Ladies, if you need sheets -- start here. I’m starting here for sheets from now on.
They had a ton nice of options. And it was all the best deal I’ve seen anywhere. (All but one crazy brand that was $224.00! Which I got to witness an old couple shopping near to them and making hilarious old people comments about how the sheets better pat you to sleep for that price. But I mean, yeah, they kinda should. But other than that -- good prices!)
I wound up getting 100% cotton, 400 thread count, pretty color -- very light slivery grey (I had white last time and they didn’t stand up well, wanted to try something different, that wasn’t navy) Calvin Klein sheet set (fitted, flat and pillow cases) for $40. I mean -- that’s pretty fantastic. (I’d love a cheaper deal -- but so far this is a wow price in my world for cotton sheets that feel nice.)
Anyway. Enough about sheets.
Once I got home on Saturday, I was feeling really good.
And so I started to clean out our linen closet.
Before
After
I kept feeling good.
So I started to work on mudding the hallway upstairs.
And I kept feeling good.
So I started mudding the bathroom upstairs.
I kept feeling good.
So I stayed up till 2am finishing the hallway and bathroom mudding!
These walls were BAD from once-upon-a-time wallpaper. It took a LOT of mud to get them back to nice. At one point my hand cramped into an un-movable claw, that I had to run under hot water to get to release!
Blake had been working on insulating the sunroom. And we had no kids. So we were full steam ahead. (This was the first time I had felt good in 7 months -- I wasn’t gonna risk missing my chance to get this done.)
Sunday we of course wound up sleeping in past church. Opps. So we went back to work. My body was crazy sore. Like worse than the first time I’d tried 30 day shred while out of shape in general and postpartum. But I loved it. I was so happy to feel my muscles again. I almost couldn’t move but I said, hey body -- stop feeling the pain, we have work to do. And since I wasn’t sick, we moved until I stopped feeling sore.
I sanded the hallway and the bathroom. (We developed the technique where we used an orbital sander hooked up to our shop vac -- this makes it go way faster, and totally cuts down on terrible dry wall dust everywhere -- we highly recommend this technique.) It was really loud and I was a little worried for baby. But after the days of sickness baby is used to living inside a belly that literally makes dinosaur sounds 24/7, so baby didn’t flinch from all the sounds of power tools (what do power tools wield over dinosaurs? nothing.)
Then somehow I managed to quick-prime the walls, hallways and bathroom. (Just because I had used SO much mud -- I figured it would be good to throw some of our new drywall primer on there to get even paint coverage without three coats.)
Then then somehow I managed to paint the bathroom ceiling and walls!
(It’s hard to tell, but the ceiling is swiss coffee white, and the walls are dogwood blossom (essentially white.) (I tried out a couple whites before I started. It was pretty imporant to not use certain ones. One of them made the tile look really old and gross. This one made the tile look really fresh and good.)
I was an unstoppable machine.
And I was ME.
I felt like me.
I could think.
I could accomplish.
I was SO HAPPY.
I didn’t know if I was going to get ANYTHING done before this baby showed up. And I know how hard it is to get anything done after a baby shows up. I was starting to give up hope on finishing this house.
But getting SO MUCH DONE this weekend has just brightened my life dramatically after so much laying on the couch.
(Besides what I got done, Blake fixed some of our doors,
We had 3 doors that wouldn’t close. They do now!
installed our doorbell,
Life is so nice with a door bell
instead of a bare wire and a note on the door saying doorbell broke.
It’s the little things ya know.
hung some shelves,
put up some hooks in the bathroom,
Aren’t these hooks pretty? Hobby Lobby.
and insulated the sunroom.
After all that, I don’t know if I’m gonna keep feeling this ok or not. (I hope so! I pray so!) (But I’ve had a break before and went back to nausea. So I’m not jinxing anything and saying it’s gone. I’m just saying I had a good weekend.)
But this break was awesome.
Monday I had a prenatal appointment.
I discussed what I could do if the nausea comes back. (Basically everything I’ve been doing. AKA there is nothing that fixes it.) (So hopefully it does not come back. Pray for me!)
Checked on baby. Baby is good. Baby seemed head down. That’s nice. But I wasn’t worried.
That’s one thing is pregnancy has going for it. I am not scared at ALL to get baby out. I don’t worry. I know I can handle any kind of delivery. I’m very at peace with the getting baby out process. I wasn’t worried about if baby was ready to get head down yet -- I’m all go with the flow on that.
When you feel like you are deathly ill for 7 months, baby head down or not is like... who cares.
But its still nice to hear. It’s also always nice to get some clarity on right where baby is -- so the wiggles become more identifiable. Like feel something and think “aww that’s your sweet little hands” or “hey little foot.”
Anyway,
So in summary, the week started out horrible. And ended fantastic.
I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to get out of the despondent hole that I was starting to worry would disintegrate me. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to feel like Lydia again -- even for just a couple days.
AND
I can’t tell you how PHENOMENAL white bathrooms are.
Mindblowingly gorgeous, in my book.
I can barely stop walking up there to stare at it.
(The bathroom still has some work to get to my full vision. (New mirror, new light, shelves over the toilet. I think the walls are gonna get a faux wallpaper look, like this. Paint the vanity. And new flooring.) But it's not yellow!!!! Fresh, clean white -- feels like spa now.)
Can’t wait to get this hallway whipped into shape next!
Anyway,
Yes lots of good news.
But if you’ ve been praying for me, please don’t stop.
Tuesday was very emotionally challenging me. It’s my first day back as full time mom. And the first two days back, after I take a mom-break, always beat me up emotionally. I don’t know how to take anything in stride. I think about way too much. I panic thinking about today until the rest of our lives. I feel majorly under-qualified. So there’s always that.
But add in I was feeling a bit queasy. And it was throwing me hard because I am super worried it’s gonna come back. And after my talk with my midwife I know there isn’t a cure. If it comes back, I go back to my hole. I don’t wanna go back.
With all that playing in my mind, it’s really hard to feed the girls. One is very picky, and I don’t know how to think up anything she will eat while I feel sick. It makes for a horrible merry-go-round of emotions for both of us.
I’m fighting some big stuff today.
Ok now I am adding photos on Wednesday…and I woke up with what feels like a very sprained ankle. Only I didn’t sprain it. It was sore after doing all that work this weekend, but all of me was sore -- not particularly my ankle. Then my ankle felt more sore yesterday (while I did nothing.) And then this morning I couldn’t put weight on it. The only thing I can figure is that I sprained it really bad in college, and relaxin is messing with my now-less-than-great ligament.
Hopping/hobbling around while in your third trimester is ridiculous, ridiculously hard. So you may have guessed I am back to crabby. (Kids don’t let you put your feet up. I’m trying to limit my walking, but…)
So that’s what’s with the wrap on my ankle.
I’m looking so pinterestingly pregnant this pregnancy.
lol I thought this pregnancy was gonna be my cute one. Nope. It’s my sick and lame one. Sorry I don’t think I’ll ever be your pregnancy fashion blogger. At least there are others out there fulfilling the role.
I’m honestly not going for the pretty pony leg pose -- this is the only way I can stand.
I wanted to do a side by side in this dress this time. (Would have been better last week -- but I was sick in bed.)
I guess I look pretty similar at this point. Despite the fact that I weigh close to 15 pounds more at this point in this pregnancy compared to last. This pregnancy hates me.
Someone tell me something happy about weight falling off. I so am not looking forward to doing this postpartum weight loss journey a third time! Me and food are so over eachother.
So I figure this baby must be so smart, that he or she knows that in order to get even more smart they needs to make me fat, to add to the smartness. Genius little booger! I’m not sure I like this plan. You seem plenty smart as is.
But I guess I’m about 10 pounds lighter than I was in this photo below.
So I guess maybe this can be like an average middle for me now?
Can I just say that to make myself feel less frustrated?
28 Weeks with #2
And for kicks, what I’m wearing today. And what I might be wearing LOTS for a long time. My new dress from Old Navy. Blake really likes it. That makes me happy. Even if I look like a total werido limping SUPER bad in it today.
Sorry for the long, emotionally penduluming post. I guess it makes up for last week’s short only sad one.
