Playing Catch-up

Apparently I have sort of forgotten I have a blog. Life has been busy and full lately, in a good way, so I'm fine with skipping around every so often.

This afternoon I will go to my parents' house to visit and help my mom get the house back to order after being gone for 6 weeks. They're also expecting company tomorrow evening, so there's actually a deadline to get things accomplished and presentable. They have been in California since mid-January working to empty my grandma's house to get it ready for a renter. It has taken literally all 5 weeks they were not on the road, and it's still not completely done. I am kind of looking forward to hearing all the gory details of their adventures in Grandma's basement. I've seen some pictures that have been posted on my brother's Facebook, but there will be much more to see.

We had birthdays last week. In my family "birthdays" means 3/5ths of the family had birthdays within a 3-day spread. I'm now officially only 2 years from 30, which doesn't actually bother me. Maybe it's the fact that I'm starting the parenting thing now, so at least one kid may be out of the house before I'm 50. My dad is 2 years from being 60. My next younger brother is 25. We threw him a birthday party of sorts, and that was a lot of fun. We invited pretty much everyone in our age bracket from church (at least those who are his friends) and had 21 adults and 5 children in our house at one point. It was so much fun, and I know it blessed him that we did something for him, especially while my parents were out of town. It also blessed us to have so many friends in our home. And to have a clean house, which we are still reaping the benefits of this week. It is sliding a little bit, but at least we had a good starting point.

The weather last weekend was pretty crazy; we had snow. We hadn't had snow at all this winter, except some of those big, lame flakes that you can't really tell whether they're snow or big rain drops.

And now I'm wearing shorts and we have the windows open because it is so beautiful outside. If time permits, I may just plant those annuals that I'd had stolen out of my front yard and returned a few weeks ago.

Sunday night we started the "new and improved" version of the Beth Moore Bible study, "A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place", which is a study of the Tabernacle. The women had done this study about 10 or 11 years ago, but I had not done it with them, so I am excited to get to go through it with them. In fact, when I couldn't sleep this morning between 4-6, I got up and did my homework for the day. I hope that I can get out of it what I need to, and that I don't just "do the homework" and at the end have nothing to show for it in my heart. I suppose that since I want to grow through it, God will be able to do whatever work He needs to.
Interestingly it is a 10 week study, which works out to 12 weeks total (including intro and conclusion meetings), and I have only 12 weeks now left of my pregnancy!

In mid-April our church is having a women's retreat, and I'm heading up the registration part of it. The theme is "Love Remains" and the theme verse is 1 John 4:16. I'm looking forward to being involved and just being a participant. Our last retreat, I was playing for worship each session (except for one), and also had one of the primary speaking slots. It was wonderful to be so involved last time, and I learned so much about God's faithfulness and I'm so grateful that He gave me something to share, but I'm glad there is not that much responsibility in my hands this time, aside from some behind the scenes stuff that is mostly preparation beforehand.
Interestingly, I will be 8-1/2 months pregnant at that point, so hopefully everything will be going smoothly still and I won't have any trouble being there for that weekend.

Yesterday I splurged on buying $61 worth of maternity (and large non-maternity) clothes for myself at Old Navy. They were mostly on sale and mostly clearance, so I actually walked out of there with 6 things! I'm pretty excited about having some more options, and having some options that weren't already worn by one of my friends (though thank God for having friends who are about the same size and willing to share their clothes!).

Since it's getting close to noon, and I haven't really done much of anything, I think it's about time to get up from the computer and get moving. I think I'll eat again and go for a walk when Sam comes home, then go from there....

Registering

Today (if we get around to it), we will finally go to Babies 'R' Us and do our in-store baby registry. We have been researching all the big things, and have them pretty well nailed down (stroller, car seat, high chair, bedding, etc.), but for all the little stuff, we are going to wander the store like a couple of deer in headlights with one of those little guns. I'm sure we'll have a blast - as long as I have lunch first.

I've been feeling a tad bit under the weather the last few days, with a runny or stuffy nose, but at least it's nothing worse. I can deal with it.

Anyways, that's the update for the day; check out the 2 posts below, because they're kind of more fun than this one.

Oh, yeah, while we're visiting, I want to ask you ... those of you who are moms, what do you remember having for your babies that were, in your opinion, the greatest thing since sliced bread?

the progression

5-week intervals:

week 10
(regular clothes, sleeping dog)



















week 15
(bigger regular clothes, sleeping dog hidden by pregnant woman)



















week 20
(regular shirt, maternity pants)

week 25

(maternity shirt, maternity pants, sleeping dog)

Nesting

It's hit.

Prior to the last few weeks, I had no idea the amount of work a prego can get done when the inspiration strikes. I have a feeling the house is going to be cleaner than it has ever been within three months. And my guess is that it will probably never be as clean again.

Within the month of February, other than the general maintenance of the house and laundry, etc., I have accomplished the following projects:

* Cleaning and organizing the wet bar, which had been a catch-all (sort of a very large scale junk drawer) since the day we got a key to the place. Now it has potential to be used as storage (in the cupboards below) and a wet bar - or at least as an attractive part of the house, instead of pretending it's not there. I have visions of some shelves on the back wall, on which artwork or photos can be displayed.

* Cleaning the walls of what we have affectionately dubbed "earshot". Our orange cat had an ear infection which lasted for months, and part of the fun of said infection was that when he would shake his head, often there would be stuff flung in every direction. It landed on walls, furniture, doors, you name it. It was pretty nasty, but a losing battle until the infection was cleared up.

* Setting up and beginning to fill a "Costco overstock shelf" in the garage. We go to Costco and buy large amounts of things which somehow must find a home. Finally they have a shelf on which they should belong. Of course, to make room for the shelf, I had to find homes for other things that were haphazardly put there.

* Cleaning the washer and dryer. Well, they were running while I wiped them down with cleaner, but they have been cleansed of 2 years of dust and dripped laundry soap. I also moved some of the random things that landed there into places that make more sense. Not much more, but a little more.

* Reorganizing the small bookshelf between the kitchen/dining and living rooms. It has contained 2 baskets that serve 2 purposes: one is to help hold up the books from flopping over, and the other is to hold the things that land on the table and don't have a more permanent place to live. So years later, the baskets are the permanent places (think junk drawer again). I finally went through them to make sense of the junk. One now holds scratch paper and pens and tape, the other holds ... well, junk. But at least I know what the junk in it is.

* Rearranged the living room furniture to make it easier to watch TV (really important, right?), as well as making some space for another chair and/or a bookshelf.

There are other things, little things that I can't remember right now, that have been huge in the moment that I've completed them, and that have given me those little feelings of accomplishment. One of the most significant things that has helped me be able to move on to these little projects is the creation of my chore list. It's changed the way I view the routine necessities; when I know the things "to do" I can focus on them and check them off. If I miss it one day, or one week, I know I can pick it up again the next time it rolls around on the schedule. Because I can see when I crossed it out, I know how long it's been since I have, say, swept the floor or cleaned the bathroom. And I'm such a geek, I made out whole month-long lists, through the end of the year. Needless to say, in a few months I will need to revamp the schedule, but for now, it is working for me.

Now it's time to get back to reality and get the sheets out of the dryer, and find something to eat.

[insert title here]

I've been browsing other blogs, rather than writing my own. Such a social butterfly....
Well, since Sam is going to be at CLC's men's retreat this weekend, we did our Valentine's Day yesterday, impromptu. I'd been cleaning the kitchen, and still had the stove taken apart at about 7 PM, so Sam volunteered to take me out to dinner. We went to TGI Friday's, and both of us so completely enjoyed our meals that there was not a crumb left on our plates. That was after going to get burgers at Five Guy's for lunch. It was indeed a special day - eating out twice in the same day! One joy of being pregnant I've discovered is that food tastes exponentially delicious.
Tomorrow night, since the majority of the men in our church will be out, a bunch of us are going to play games, have pizza, and hang out and giggle, as only girls can.
Otherwise, this weekend I think I will just enjoy myself, doing odd projects and pretty much goofing off.

Girl's Night In

Tonight I should be figuring out what to do for food, since I'm hungry already and have no plan, and picking up a little bit. But I'm not at the moment, obviously.
Fortunately, the housekeeping schedule that I made up a couple of weeks ago has pretty much transformed my domestic life! I have a printed out Excel sheet with a list of everything to be done in a given day, broken down over the whole month. So far the house is cleaner than it has ever been, I believe! There are some things that are consistently skipped over, like sweeping, and putting away clothes, but even those will one day be crossed off.
The greatest comfort of this list is that if I skip something one day, I can either go back and tackle it the next, or just wait for the next time it comes around on the rotation and not sweat it.

Because the house has been in better shape than usual, it's been easy for me to invite a friend to come over and watch a girl movie while Sam will be out this evening. Yay!

The Beginnings of the Nursery

Since we have finally gotten the crib situation straightened out, I now feel free to share what we're doing with the baby room.

The room had until recently been "the farthest room," also known as "the guest room," in which were stored many, many boxes and odds and ends that had no home. Last weekend I went on a cleaning streak and found places for most of the homeless items, to clear out a corner in which we could assemble a crib if we managed to find and buy one.

Through the amazing community of craigslist.org, we found a crib and dresser set that is quite lovely, in very good shape, and really sturdy. Another bonus is that from all the research I did before buying any furniture, this crib hasn't been involved in any recalls. They're not technically a set, but close enough that we're happy with them. The drama associated with them was that we thought the couple was selling both pieces for a certain price, but they thought they were clear in saying they were each being sold for that certain price. It was truly a simple misunderstanding, and with some negotiation, we split the difference. Anyways, thanks be to God, we were able to get both these pieces, plus a barely-used mattress for $195!

The trick in decorating this room is that it is still going to be a guest room, so it can't be overrun with girly, pink baby colors and decor. I've found the bedding that I believe I want, called Cherry Blossom, and it's not ridiculously babyish. I like that it is red, pink, and white, with chocolate, rather than pink, pink, and more pink.

The room is now coming together with some order, and will be rearranged a bit more pretty soon. The white desk that is in the corner is covered with craft materials (not that I do anything with them, but I have plenty in case I ever want to), and soda and water bottles, because they have had a tendency to burst if we keep them in the garage lately. Eventually we will move the desk into the office where it belongs, freeing up a little more space.

I had one organizational epiphany last week, and after making a long and arduous trip to Ikea on Saturday, was able to execute it. Because a friend's daughter gave us a huge bag of baby girl clothes that had either never been worn or grown out of already, I realized that I needed to come up with a way to keep some semblance of order to this baby's paraphernalia, even before she comes on the scene, or I might just lose what remains of my mind.

The solution was to buy boxes to store clothes based on size, and have them easy to access and label. Ikea had these media (CD/DVD) cubes with zipper closures and pockets for labels for only $8 each so I picked up 5 of them. These are about a square foot in size, so they'll hold a fair amount of baby clothing. I like how sturdy they seem to be, and the zippers work well. They're labeled "0-3 months", "3-6 months" and so on. One box is not labeled and has blankets, bibs, etc., in it.

I figure that whatever size she's wearing at the time will go into the dresser/changing table drawers, until she outgrows it. Once we move on to the next size, the clothes that are too small get put into a bin with the right label (and/or gets passed on to Goodwill or the next baby in line), and the next one goes into the drawers. I figure this may be the way to organize kid clothes as time goes on.

This weekend we will have a friend's 14-year-old daughter staying with us, and she will stay in the room, so we have to make it guest-friendly this week. But with all the progress we've been making, it's not too far off!