32 weeks pregnant

It is rather embarrassing to see that the last post was from July 7. I think about writing most days but haven’t had the time or energy to do it. Don’t worry, all is well here and I can finally tell you about some of the craziness that has kept me busy. So once again, sorry if this post is a bit lengthy.

Ken was gone for about 2 weeks at the end of July. He took some of our high school students to Scotland to work with a local church there. I figured I’d have lots of time to do some writing then but at the end of each day was pretty exhausted from having the kids all to myself. I tried to keep us busy by taking them to SeaWorld and swimming etc.  SeaWorld actually went really well.  The hardest part was the heat and pushing the double stroller.  I did get some work done for the shop though which I’ll talk about in a minute and thankfully had the olympics to keep me company.

Ken got back and was here for a week before going on another trip. Thankfully this one was only 4 days but the kids and I were pretty tired of each other by this point so it was a very good thing when he finally got home.

Another week went by and he had one last overnight youth retreat to go on. He had mentioned possibly the kids and I going along and at first I didn’t want to since it is just easier to take care of them at home but then I figured I might try so that the kids could still be around him even if I had to keep them busy during bible studies etc. Then out of the blue, our very wonderful and generous friend, Angie, who has 3 girls of her own offered to watch my kids so I could go without them. I was going to say no just because I didn’t want to make her watch 5 kids all by herself but after talking to her and thinking it over I knew this may be my only chance for a long time to go on a trip sans kids. I believe I haven’t been on a church trip (or really any trip) without children since we went to Ecuador when Josiah was about 9 months old…so that is 4 years ago. And with baby coming it’ll be awhile before I can leave that child overnight. So, I took Angie up on it and had a great time. It was nice to get away and the kids didn’t miss us one bit. I didn’t think they would.

So here we are now with Ken finally back to work on all the projects we have to do before baby comes like refinishing the two twin beds we have and the dining table I found on Craigslist. Did I ever mention that we found another twin iron bed that is almost the same as the first?! We have also needed a new dining table to accommodate our new member of the family coming. Our kitchen eating area is small and has a door to the outside right by the table so we have always had a small square table with no leaf that we got from my parents. It has worked great for the 4 of us although not so great when we have guests. The new table is a good sized round pedestal table with a leaf. Since there are no outside legs we can scoot the 5 of us around the table when it is just us and then when others come we can add a leaf and squish in some more people. The kids and I drove to San Antonio ourselves to pick it up while Ken was in Scotland. Thankfully we weren’t kidnapped or anything and the man we bought it from was able to carry it all into the van for us.  I also bugged my very helpful neighbor to help me get it out of the van once we got home.  The top was in bad shape but Ken started sanding it last night and we are going to stain and seal it. The whole thing was painted black. To keep the project as easy as possible we are keeping the rest of it black. It will require a little touch up paint in parts but that should be quick.

I finished making the fox light that I posted about forever ago. I’m thinking because of the color that it’ll go in baby’s room. I’ll take pictures and show you. The final steps of it have been a little bit tougher than I had hoped but I’ll share about that when I show you the final product. I still think it looks really cute though. Now that Ken is back I finally have our camera back. It is good to have access to it again.

For some wall art in the big kids’ room I embroidered some different random pictures and will hang them in the embroidery hoops. I am also going to pick out some pretty fabric to hang in hoops with them as well. I made the pictures not go with a theme because I don’t want the room to have a specific theme. I chose things that I think both kids will like. I even spent part of one nap time with Josiah sewing his own hoop. I love how it turned out. He did such a great job. I did use the same colors for all the pictures though so that they would still look like they go together.

The kids and I did a lot of thrifting while Ken was away and we found some real treasures. Well, they don’t look like it yet but they will once they get a good cleaning and some spray paint. I had been waiting to work on them so I could show you a before pick with the after…remember I’ve had no camera. So, now I can get going on those. Now, to just decide on colors.

One cool thing that the kids and I did while Ken was gone was to meet up with my blogging friend, Shannon. We met at Landa Park in New Braunfels and had a great time. She has 4 kids who are all just adorable and wonderful. Her mom was also with them and the whole family was so fun and helpful. They really helped keep an eye on my kids (who were the youngest). After the park when we were all sizzling we ate lunch at Chick-fil-a before they headed on to their next leg of vacation. I have never met anyone in person before that I only knew online. I’d say as long as you know the person is who they say they are you should go for it. It’s lots of fun.

So that this isn’t a photo-less post, here are pictures I wanted to share over a month ago of the baby blanket I made for baby if she’s a girl. It felt great to get it finished. It is the first thing I’ve ever quilted. It was pretty time consuming to make the chevron over and over but not too difficult. Now, I just need to make one for a boy. I think I finally found some fabric that I like, I just need to order it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I haven’t added anything to the shop in ages because of all the busy-ness here but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been making things for it. The personalized baby’s first Christmas ornaments I made the last two years have been such a success that I decided that they would be my focus this year for the holidays. I ran out of socks last year for the bunnies and haven’t found a substitute so this year I am using fleece. This has opened up a new world because I am no longer restricted to the size of the sock. I have made a bunch of white rabbits that’ll look like the ones before and I have also made a bunch of gray elephants that will have embroidered ears that are pink or blue and am finally finishing a bunch of tan owls that will have a pink or blue beak. I am very close to being finished and will share pictures once I mock up some of each to look like a finished product. The great thing for me about the ornaments is that most of the work is finished beforehand so once baby gets here I can still have something in my shop but it won’t take a lot of time/work to get them mailed out.

As far as a baby update I am now in the middle of week 34 and couldn’t be happier because it means there is a light at the end of the tunnel with this baby coming soon and it also means that we in theory have some time left to get everything finished without me stressing too much. At my last appointment at 32 weeks everything looked great and baby was said to be about 4 lbs 7 oz which was in the 55 percentile. So, I’m guessing baby is now a pound heavier by this point. This will probably mean another 8 1/2 pound baby but that isn’t bad. I’ve been feeling well except for all the normal annoying pregnancy symptoms. Ha, almost forgot what I titled this post…good thing I actually remembered to mention pregnancy stuff or people would be very confused. Of course some people might not have made it this far in the post. My feet and ankles are a bit swollen and look to meet like someone else’s feet. It probably isn’t noticeable to anyone else but I know what my feet/ankles look like and this is not them. I also discovered on Sunday that what I thought were going to be comfortable flats to wear to church became instruments of pain because of my big feet. I’ve also noticed some chloasma starting on my face above my eyebrows and on my forehead. Thank goodness for makeup. I have had it before but it usually just makes me look like a racoon with darkness around my eyes. I told baby that he/she better be cute because I am going through all this for them. I did pass my glucose test…or at least I’m assuming I did since when the nurse called to tell me the blood work said I was anaemic she didn’t mention anything else. Apparently they aren’t too worried about the anaemia since they just said we’d do another blood test to figure out the cause of it when I go in next time.  I wondered why I have had an obsession with chewing ice…I’ve heard that sometimes if you are low in iron it’ll make you crave it.  I also have self diagnosed myself with a light case of symphysis pubis dysfunction.  I’ve had it with each pregnancy.  It started last time when I fell on our slippery ramp to our shed and this time it had already been noticeable but got a bit worse when I slipped on a wet floor at the youth retreat.  It makes turning over in bed excrutiating.  Thankfully it has gotten a lot better than it was right after I slipped I am guessing because I was able to swim and relax/stretch the muscles.  Ok, enough about all that.  Really over all I can’t complain about any of it because it is normal and I’ve never had to deal with any of the really hard/scary things that some others have to deal with.

Hopefully I’ll be able to start sharing pictures soon of all the things that I’ve been making around here!