Random Updates

Me at 29 weeks and some change. Now I think I'm 30 weeks.

Random updates tonight! Thanks to friends like SIL Brittney and Alicia for reminding me to blog! I need you guys to keep the encouragement coming or it will never happen. 

Health
I wasn't able to update after my doctor's appointment last Thursday! Baby seems to be doing great, based on the measurements and her heartbeat. Just a very quick appointment. My weight gain for this pregnancy is 12 pounds (a gain of four pounds since my previous appointment in November), which is SO much less than it was with Ford at this point, but somehow I still feel bigger. And slower. I think Baby Girl must be lying funny inside. At church tonight, whatever she was doing was HURTING me! My legs are really killing me these days too. Well, most days, anyway. Besides the big spider vein on my right calf, I now have what I think are the beginnings of a tiny varicose vein on the back of my left knee. BOOOO. Ugly and painful. And this is despite wearing compression stockings every single day.

I hope I don't sound too negative! I'm grateful to be in very good health, and especially grateful that baby seems to be growing well. There's just some weird circulation things going on, with ugly and painful results that will keep me out of skirts and dresses for longer than I want. But in the scheme of things, if that's what it takes to grow a healthy girl, then so be it! 

Nursery
When we found out we were expecting, the nursery thing all seemed so simple. We'd transition Ford to a bed, use his crib for new baby, then have new baby and Ford share a room. Then it became abundantly clear that Ford's crib is as much a necessary cage as it is a place to sleep. Homeboy would never sleep if we didn't have a crib. He literally piles all of his blankets and lovies into a corner of his crib and tries to MacGuyver his way out. And I just can't handle him getting out of bed 10 times a night when we have a newborn. Plus, 19 months (the age he will be when baby is due) is on the young side for sleeping in a "big boy bed," although it has certainly been done!

So then I thought, "Okay, two cribs in one nursery. That will actually be really cute." Then Brad reminded me of how Ford was up literally every hour for the first couple of months of his life, then every two or three hours, and finally sleep trained by seven months. And despite the occasional night terrors, Ford is actually a pretty amazing night sleeper now. We don't really want to rock the boat by making him share a room with a screaming newbie. Soooo... I'm converting our guest room/office/craft room into a nursery. While I hate to lose such a multipurpose space, there are only so many rooms in our house, and she will need her own space -- at least for a while.

I'm approaching this so much differently than I did with Ford -- for whom I did moodboards, went furniture shopping, tested paint colors, brought home fabric swatches -- I want it to be a nice room for her, and something I can love and be proud of, but I don't want to spend much money or time (refinishing furniture, etc.) on a space that may be an office/craft room again in six to 12 months. So I'm not painting (although I think a large-scale wallpapered or stenciled wall would be amazeballs), and I'm not even really changing around the stuff on the walls. I am changing out the curtain, moving the desk out (we have a built-in in the living room that will work for a laptop desk), moving the printer, scanner, router, etc. into the closet, and adding a crib with some cute/sweet linens. But that's more or less all I'm going to do. I'm even leaving our futon in there, since I figure it may actually come in handy for me. She and Ford will have to share a closet (since the current office closet is full of necessary office supplies and linens), but fortunately the closets in this house are HUGE, so I'm not tooooo worried about it (famous last words??).

Weirdly lit picture of Baby Girl's curtain, a jury-rigged IKEA Emmie roll shade with coral ribbon trim added and new ties.

Full disclosure, our house is actually on the market now -- since mid-November -- but our listing only goes until January 31 (exactly 2.5 months). We have had a TON of showings, and 100% of the feedback we are getting is enormously positive and along the lines of, "Buyers loved the home!" "This is currently our #1 choice," and "Clients are very interested," yet we haven't had a single offer. My guess is that we're just priced out of the neighborhood. It's easily the most updated home in our neighborhood, so most people have the option of buying our updated, move-in-ready home, or spending $30k less and buying one that has 1960s shag carpet and wallpaper, then updating it as they choose (if they wish). Brad and I are completely at peace with the house NOT selling, if it goes that way. We've just been praying that God will give us confidence in whatever happens. There are a ton of reasons to love staying here, and this house has been a tremendous blessing to us!

Nesting
I don't want to go on and on about how superwomany I feel right now, but I am on a "creating" bender right now. Sewing, cooking, cleaning, baking... Pregnancy turns me CRAZY when it comes to Martha Stewart-esque enterprises. In just the last week I have made a large pouf from scratch, a baby girl headband, hemmed and patched clothes that have been waiting for hems and patches for a good year, made homemade yogurt and granola, made coconut cream pie "Lara balls," made freezer meals and paleo/primal-friendly meals almost every night, made a curtain for baby girl's room, cooked homemade play dough, cleaned and organized closets, boxed up more toys and books for our toy rotation, cleaned the house every single day (part of that has to do with the house being on the market), taken Ford on lots of fun outings... and that's not even all of it. And I'm still working part-time, albeit not a ton. When I'm in my third trimester, I'm basically the person I WANT to be every single day of my life, productivity-wise.

Pouf in Baby Girl's nursery colors, gray and coral

Milestones
I put on my first maternity jeans of this pregnancy yesterday! I just reached a point where I was getting tired of all my low-rise jeans and thought I was starting to look dumpy. I was getting ready and realized, "You know what? You will look more put-together in your maternity jeans." And so I put them on and there was much rejoicing. But the belly band thing keeps rolling down and causing my pants to drop, so that's an unfortunate look. I just have to keep hiking them up. I will say this: American Apparel leggings have become my best friend.

After my next doctor's appointment, I will start going every other week! It's hard to believe. Everything is flying by so fast. And there's a lot to look forward to between now and then, including the wedding of my best friend, visits to Dallas by dear family, a half marathon (BRAD, not me!), Valentine's Day... and then so much to anticipate around Baby Girl's "birthday" too, including my brother Brett's birthday (March 23), my grandmother's birthday (March 26), our "meet-iversary" (March 21) and our "engage-iversary" (March 24).

That's it for tonight! Thanks for hanging on with such a random bunch of updates!

Poor baby Ford unknowingly trying on his sister's homemade headband, which he called "hat."