Busy, busy, busy

I have been a sewing fool this week. I bought my daughter a bunk bed at Overstock for her American Girl dolls over the summer and put it away for Christmas. Last week I found it buried deep in the garage and decided I should probably not wait until Christmas week to put it together. After I got it assembled I realized there was no way I could give it to her with the hideous bedding it came with so I set off to Joanne's to find some super cute fabric and embellishments. Now I should tell you that I really don't sew. I have a machine and I have somehow produced cornice boards for my family room, kitchen and daughter's playroom but I am really not quite sure how it actually happened. I can't read the patterns so I don't even bother with them anymore. I just basically eye it up and then try to recreate it. So, anyhow I returned home with my fabulous fabrics thinking the whole way home that I should have just bought her another bed from American Girl and then I wouldn't be worrying about all of this right now. For what I paid for the fabric and the bunk beds I could have. Once I got the fabric home I had a momentary panic that I had really gotten in over my head this time but I am proud to say that I have stuck to it and I am almost done. Once I got into it I also realized the bed set came with a little closet. So far I have made curtains and a back wall for the closet, two mattresses, and both comforters. All I have left to do is the pillows. I think I am going to make one big one for each bed and then two smaller throw pillows so there will be six to make total. I should have done them tonight but I am a little fried. I will definitely put up a picture when it is done. Also a picture of the dinosaur is coming as soon as my daughter brings it home from school as I forgot to take his picture before sending him off with her.
I have my wrapping all done except a few packages that arrived today. I may have to run out for something else for my husband and I need stocking stuffers but the rest of the shopping is done. I have made four types of cookies - still have a long way to go with my baking. I still need to do all my grocery shopping though and think that will be done maybe Monday - Friday if I get to it but I doubt it. I have most of my Christmas cards done and mailed. Of course somehow I didn't order enough cards this year and I am about 30 cards short. It's too late now to order more so I went through our list with a fine tooth comb and made some major cuts. Brought me back to wedding planning days when husband and I had to fine tune our guest list. Anyway, the cards have started to pour in and wouldn't you know it just about every card we've received so far is from someone I cut from our list. Now what! I think I am going to suck it up and go to the store to buy cards and send out to the people we cut from the list. I thought once I had a child I graduated to the photo card and no longer had to write anything but this year I guess will be different. So, the cards are done - mostly. I skimped on decorations this year. I didn't put everything up and one of the main things that got axed is my Nana's Christmas village. It is a major undertaking and in this house I don't have a great location for it - there are soooo many houses - so I put some of it on top of my china cabinet and the rest on top of a book shelf in my family room. Both require being up and down on the ladder and that was just not going to happen this year. I have some boughs for the banister that I may still put up and I will probably decorate my daughter's room but mostly the house is decorated. I may sound like everything is all together but the truth is that something has to give and lately that has been house cleanliness. To the naked eye my house is clean but I know it's not. Right now it is a mess and just about every room needs to be cleaned. The laundry is piled so high on the spare room bed that my daughter was using it as a mountain for her dolls to sled down. It's all clean just not folded or put away. I gave up my cleaning lady right after Christmas last year. I was done with my last surgery and having her come clean my house made me feel like I still wasn't able. So in my effort to get my life back to some semblance of normal I let her go and believe me there have been lots of times especially recently that I think someone should have stopped me. Clearly I wasn't in my right mind and had no business making such drastic decisions. So, that's some of what I have been up to. I have a couple other big things (major really) that have been in the works and taking up some time but I'll tell you about them the next time. So I hope you are all getting all of your prep done and are able to take a few minutes to sit and enjoy some of it all. I'm trying to!

Modge Podge

I just about modge podged my entire kitchen this evening. My daughter was given a research assignment on dinosaurs before Thanksgiving. She did the research before break and then she needed to make a model of the dinosaur she chose. So she made one out of model magic when we were at my mother's. She didn't bring it in on Monday because some of the pieces came apart during the flight home and need to be glued. I thought the model looked appropriate for something that a first grader would do. Well, apparently there must be some very talented first graders in her class because she came home on Monday and announced that she can not bring in her model because it is no where near as good as what the rest of her class is turning in. As she tells it, the other kids have turned in dinosaurs made out of legos almost as big as she is and other similarly fabulous creations. So, I agreed to help her make something else that she would feel more comfortable turning in. Her only request is that it be able to stand. So Monday I couldn't get her to work on it - she was just fried from the first day back. Last night she had art after school and by the time we got home she had enough time to choke down dinner and rush to Daisy scouts. So, tonight was the night. We came up with the idea to take a soda bottle and modge podge it with construction paper and then she wanted to use egg carton for feet. We're not sure what we're going to use for a tail yet. So tonight we modge podged and if you have ever used that stuff you know it is completely messy. So about half way through I decided that it probably wasn't such a good idea to use it directly on my granite counter tops so I started to clean up the area so we could put some wax paper down. Well, I'm not entirely sure how it got knocked off the counter because I really didn't think I bumped it but the entirely full container of modge podge went sailing off the counter top onto the floor and just basically exploded when it hit the ground. I had modge podge EVERYWHERE! It reminded me of the great chili explosion of 1999 in the all white kitchen of our apartment. Anyway after much clean up I think I have it all wiped up and I had to declare that we'd had enough modge podging for one night. Why can't parents just let their kids do their own projects. If they had than my daughter could have turned in her perfectly fine model magic dinosaur and we'd be done and my tree would have gotten decorated tonight. Oh well! I am such a hypocrite though because I'm certain that I am going to work on the project tomorrow while she is at school so all we have left to do after she gets home is slap that puppy together.

We're back!

We've actually been back since Sunday afternoon. I'm still not in the swing of things. I just can't seem to get going. It's got to be the pregnancy but I really don't remember feeling this way when I was pregnant with my daughter. I could literally just lie around all day. I just don't want to do anything and unfortunately I've got lots that needs to be done! I do have both Christmas trees up but neither have decorations on them yet and that's about the extent of what I have done for Christmas. My shopping is in a dire situation. Usually by now I have a major dent in my list and concrete ideas for what I want to get everyone. That is not the case this year. The doctor has deemed the mall off limits (although I am considering renting a wheel chair to go one day). I wasn't able to do any Black Friday shopping either and I usually make a big dent that day. I also usually kick off my shopping the first weekend in November at the Junior League Holiday Market but this year I was on bed rest and missed it. I don't like internet shopping but I did some yesterday. We'll see what I actually end up with. I find it hard to keep track of what I've bought that way and I just don't like it. It took me all day to make a purchase at American Girl and even then I couldn't get everything I wanted. I would put it in my cart and when I went to check out it wouldn't be there. Ugh!! I don't know what I'm going to do. I've got to get this shopping done but I'm thinking most of it will end up being done last minute.

Thankful

Disney was fun. Not as magical as last year but still fun. I'm not sure what it was that made it less than last year. Could be that nothing can top the first time. Could be that I am usually the one driving the bus so to speak and that wasn't really happening with me in the wheelchair. I felt like more of a spectator than a participant most of the night. Could be that Disney has had some budget cuts and things were really not up to their normal standards and it was noticeable. I think if you don't go much you might not notice the differences but we certainly thought that the quality of just about everything was not up to their usual standards - sad. Nonetheless, we still had fun and my daughter had a blast which is all that really matters.

We are off to New York tomorrow for Thanksgiving and I am really excited. I am looking forward to seeing my mom, watching the parade, eating the Thanksgiving meal -all of it. I am thankful that some family members will not be in attendance this year so there will be no holiday drama for a change. Wish we could take Madison into the city to see the parade but that will have to wait for another year. I am lucky the doctor agreed to let me go at all and I was not about to push my luck. I'm really not up for that anyway and I don't see a wheelchair working out too well for me at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I think it would be like at Disney where I really ended up watching the behinds of all the people standing in front of me - not pretty!! I am hoping to see some friends from high school while I am home and my aunt, uncle and cousins on the weekend. Good times. So thankful for all of them. Thankful for another year of good health. Thankful for this pregnancy. Lots and lots to be thankful for and I'm glad that this time of year makes me stop and count my blessings. I think I am focused more on Thanksgiving than usual. Generally I am busy plotting how I am going to fit in all the decking of the halls, and the shopping and the baking and all things Christmas. This year I'm just not that into Christmas yet. Gasp! If you knew me you would know that this has never happened. I still wake up at about 4am on Christmas morning and can barely contain my excitement. I just want to get everyone up and tear into the presents and just savor every last minute of the day. I love, love, love Christmas but this year not so much - at least not yet. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.

Off to Disney

We're off to Disney World today. We are only about an hour away and it really is one of the big benefits of living in Florida. We have come to love it there - even my husband. He was converted last Christmas when we went to Micky's Merry Christmas Party. It was just such a great night. That's what we are doing tonight. I'm hoping it is as wonderful as last year. The three of us just had so much fun. This year I will be traveling in a wheelchair. It was either agree to the wheelchair or stay home so I agreed. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that they actually will have one available. Apparently they are rented on a first come, first served basis and since this is a night event I am a little worried that we may not get one. Not sure what I'll do at that point. I guess just sit at the rental counter and hope that someone returns one. Now as much as I enjoy Disney World, I have not resorted to wearing character clothing. I just don't get that fashion statement. A few of our neighbors in Charlotte were disney wearing women and I always found it odd. I thought maybe it was because they had children (at the time we did not) and the urge might hit once I did too. Thankfully that was not the case. No offense if you do sport disney apparel, it's just not for me.

It's All Good

Yesterday's appointment went well. The baby's heartbeat is strong and the measurements were good. The baby was measuring a little big (9 weeks 1 day instead of 8 weeks 3 days) but the doctor said he is not concerned about that. We were using the older machine which apparently has a bigger margin for error. I'm still on modified bed rest with no lifting, no exercise & no nookie. I'm a little concerned about not exercising (I think my husband is a little concerned about the no nookie!). I just lost all that weight (30 pounds) and although I obviously know I will be gaining it all back with the pregnancy, I would like to be able to stay somewhat fit. I gained 70+ pounds when I had my daughter and it was not pretty at all. For now I am just trying to eat as healthy as I can and trying to embrace the baby belly that is already beginning to emerge. My daughter nearly peed her pants the other day laughing at my belly - lovely! My daughter, by the way, is NOT happy about this baby business. She has come to the point where she likes being an only child and does not want that to change. I am hoping she comes around by the time the baby arrives but I guess she'll get used to it soon enough. I actually feel relaxed about this pregnancy for the first time since we found out about a month ago. So of course now I am concerned with all the other non important details that are suddenly more important - like the fact that I have nothing to wear. I lost the weight and I bought a couple things but I was still losing weight so I didn't want to buy much. Well, now I don't have anything that fits. I only have a few things in the new size and they fit but are getting a little snug in the waist. I thought maybe I could just wear my old clothes that are in the bigger sizes but that are all way too big still so for now I am in a bind. I don't really think I need to start wearing maternity clothes yet but I don't want to go buy more clothes in the new size because I am rapidly outgrowing them. What to do, what to do..... I also don't even know where to go for maternity clothes now. I know there are lots of stores that carry maternity now - unfortunately the doctor declared the mall strictly off limits - too much walking. So I guess it's internet shopping for me but I much prefer to buy clothes that I can see and touch.

Waiting

Waiting is going to be the death of me. Maybe that's too dramatic. Waiting is not going to literally kill me but I think it may take away the last shred of sanity I have left. I have not been posting anything as I am waiting on something very important to me and I have not wanted to jinx it. I think that may be ridiculous thinking so I am going to put it out there and hope that it will be a way to embrace it. I am pregnant - eight weeks. While I am absolutely thrilled, I am also terrified. I have had three miscarriages and an ectopic twin loss in the last three years so pregnancy does not really bring me only joy anymore. Already in this pregnancy I have had tons of blood work done to rule out a whole host of problems - all coming up normal thankfully. I have also been on bed rest and am now on modified bed rest because I am having what they called a threatened miscarriage - some bleeding and cramping for the last two and a half weeks. Thankfully my doctor has been seeing me every week and doing ultrasounds every week to ensure that the baby still has a heartbeat and is measuring correctly. These visits have been sanity savers - although the days leading up to the visits become increasingly anxiety provoking as I worry that this might be the week when it all goes south for us. This week is really the hardest so far I think because I am starting to allow myself to be happy and to be hopeful. This is also the longest between visits as I usually go in on Mondays but this week could not get an appointment until Wednesday. This is also the latest I have had a miscarriage. My first was between 8 and 9 weeks after we had already seen a heartbeat and everything seemed to be progressing normally. That baby had a rare chromosome disorder. For some reason I feel like if I can make it through this next appointment with everything in order that maybe I will breathe a little easier. I know that I will still not be out of the woods but I will be further along than I have been so that makes me hopeful that this time will be different. So I sit and I wait until Wednesday's appointment to get reassurance that all of these weird twinges and cramps and bleeding really mean nothing and that the baby is healthy and growing as it should be. Unfortunately this modified bed rest means that I really do mostly just sit and wait. I am not a patient person and I am absolutely not a person who usually does a lot of sitting around so that alone is driving me nuts! I usually don't comply. I was an awful patient when I had my breast cancer surgeries. I was up the day after I got home from my mastectomies riding to school to pick up my daughter - not driving though as I was compliant with taking my pain pills :) I tore my chest muscle after my reconstructive surgery because I just had to put together and set up my very heavy new patio furniture before company came for the fourth of July. I just don't really like being told that I can't do things. This time I am complying as best I can because the stakes are too high. I can't risk the guilt if it doesn't go well. So here I am waiting. Until Wednesday....