I’m not any kind of designer, but I like Meredith’s room and I feel very happy when I spend time there with her. I didn’t have a plan going in, but as it turned out the colors are mostly pink, green, and brown with an earthy kind of element. We were definitely on a budget, and there are a few more things I’d like to add, but overall it’s pretty much done. For now.

Here we have the rocking chair that belonged to my father from when he was a bachelor. It’s maybe not the prettiest piece of furniture, but it is well-made and comfortable. Hung over it is a blanket made by my husband’s grandmother, who we call Gigi (great-grandmother).

The curtains are these from Target. Also from Target are the lamp/lampshade and the little clock.

I made these fabric circles myself and it was really easy. Just pick out some fabric, cut it, tighten it into an embroidery hoop, then glue the edges down. I used Sobo craft & fabric glue.

I cross stitched this little guy for Meredith while I was pregnant WITH carpal tunnel syndrome, so I’m kinda proud of it. I bought the pattern from the Etsy seller Sewingseed and customized the lettering myself.

The bookshelf is the Expedit from IKEA. The baskets are from Crate & Barrel. The picture frame was a gift, and that’s an iHome that glows different colors.

I don’t know why this picture turned out so terrible! But there’s Meredith’s teddy bear that Gigi also made for her and who appears in her monthly pictures. With him are also the sum total of all the children’s books we own. (This must be remedied, which is why I’ve created a massive wish list for her for Christmas and birthdays!) In the basket on the right is where extra toiletries and baby medication is kept for now.

In the bottom basket are accessories like hats and bows. I need to figure out a better way to store these. On the right are my pregnancy & parenting books. The little box stores a super adorable height tracker that I still need to hang up, given to me by one of my best friends.

Her crib is the Gulliver from IKEA. We didn’t go with any crib bedding, and I love the simplicity of it. (Also, she hasn’t used her crib yet.) The blanket hung over the side is made by my best friend Becca, and it kind of served as the inspiration for the whole nursery.

Marlena made the mobile, which I was so happy about! I had almost given up on getting a mobile at all, because I didn’t like the ones you can find in stores and the handmade ones were too expensive. I wasn’t about to make one myself, and then Marlena came over one day with this to give to me, and it even has fabric to match the blanket!

This is Gyffy. My youngest brother brought him to the hospital as a birthday gift for Meredith. He actually thought she’d be able to play with him a little bit right away, but we had to explain that she won’t be interested for a little while. :) But my nephews love him and bring him out every time they come over! I think he’s adorable, so he’s got himself a permanent spot in the nursery.

These are three prints of Charleston, SC that we bought when we were visiting my aunt and uncle when I was seven months pregnant. Good memories.

We replaced the doors to the closet with curtains for easy access. I just put up a tension rod and some simple white curtains from Target. They are a little bit long but hemming them is so not a priority. On the back of the door I hung two Command hooks for Meredith’s hooded towels.

The closet already had these built-in shelves when we moved in. Usually we leave the curtains open, so this is what that corner looks like most of the time.

To the left of the shelves in the closet there is a bar for hanging (tiny, adorable) clothes.

On the very top shelf I put things we don’t need, aren’t using, or need to return. Next comes all her stuffed animals that she’s not interested in yet.

Here we have her memory box and some extra wipes for daycare. Underneath that is clothes that she’s already outgrown (sob) and a basket and bag of toys.

The bottom shelf of the closet has extra bottles and tote bags. That’s her hamper to the left. (Please ignore the rip in the carpet. Tearing it up is something our crazy dog does when she gets anxious.)

Here is her dresser, the Hemnes again from IKEA. I love it; it feels very substantial, comes with cute drawer liners, and has tons of space. It’s also the perfect height to serve as a changing table, which is what that pink pad is for. The bag hanging off one of the knobs contains the most commonly used extra items like diaper cream, baby hair brush, and fingernail clippers. Overall this is the one area that doesn’t quite seem “finished” to me. The wall overhead needs more on it, I think.

To the right of the dresser you can see our hanging wet bag, which is where the dirty diapers go.

But I do love what we have on the wall, this beautiful “M” made with handsewn buttons onto a silky pink fabric. I bought it from Etsy seller Letter Perfect Designs. The frame is one I found at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. :)

Here is our wipes station. I know a wipes warmer is one of those things everyone says you don’t need, but we had one given to us and we use it as a dispenser for disposable wipes and I really, really like it. Even though we have been using cloth wipes (those in the basket) for the past few weeks and are going to stick to that, we still have the warmer out filled with natural wipes for when we have to use a diaper cream + liner. The green bottle is the solution we spray on the cloth wipes, and the clear bottle is hand sanitizer.

I figured I might as well go all out and show you every detail of the nursery, so here’s what’s inside the dresser drawers! These are the small cloth diapers we’re using right now (Fuzzibunz perfect size) .

Some more diapers and supplies, plus the mediums that she doesn’t fit in yet. The right top drawer has bibs and socks, plus some baking soda that I sprinkle in the hanging wet bag every so often to keep the smell down.

The middle left drawer has diaper inserts and sleep sacks (she hasn’t used those yet).

Middle right drawer contains onesies, pajamas, and a few outfits.

Bottom left drawer is full of blankets and burp cloths (people like to give you those).

And the bottom right drawer has Boppy covers, changing pad covers, crib sheets, and miscellaneous baby slings and carriers.

That’s all of it! Other than the carpet really needing to be replaced, I’m very happy with it. At some point I’ll probably add some more things to the wall above the dresser, too. Anyway, let me know if you have any questions or comments!

]]> http://kapachino.info/2011/10/merediths-nursery/feed/ 9 http://kapachino.info/2011/09/cloth-diapers-nursery-progress-other-domestic-updates/ http://kapachino.info/2011/09/cloth-diapers-nursery-progress-other-domestic-updates/#comments Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:35:41 +0000 kapachino http://kapachino.info/?p=4842 Contrary to the way my I have portrayed myself, I don’t actually sit around watching TV day in and day out. The arrival of a baby to this house has actually awoken my hibernating nesting instinct! So here are some domestic updates for you, aka boring things that I’m now excited about.

Meredith is wearing cloth diapers now!

At a little over ten pounds, she finally fits into her small Fuzzibunz. She’s been wearing them for about a week now and I love it SO much. I was worried about the transition, but it has been extremely easy! Honestly, I would choose cloth diapers just because of how much fun it is for me, to say nothing about the money-and-planet-saving aspect of it, and how good it is for the baby’s skin. I’ll do a post about this once we get a little more experience. But seriously, LOVE. So much so that I’m now addicted to entering all the giveaways I can find for cloth diapers. Did y’all know that there’s, like, an entire black hole of blogs dedicated solely to cloth diapers and giveaways? It’s amazing and dangerous.

I made a recipe binder!

I completed the binder I linked to in my cooking post, and I’m pretty happy with it. First, I’m happy about completing a project, and second, I think this will help me a lot! I always thought that I would compile my recipes online somehow, but I think I do better with having something printed out for me to look through. I think I will eventually look for new recipes online, and then once I have tried them and know we love them, I’ll print it out and add it to the binder. My next goal in this area (other than continuing to cook several dinners a week, which, so far so good) is to figure out a good system for meal planning and grocery shopping, and I also want to reorganize my pantry and kitchen cabinets to make everything easier on myself.

The nursery is almost finished!

I’m especially excited about this one because this will be the first room that I can say I’m completely happy with in our house since we moved in almost three years ago. All I need to do is frame and hang a piece I just received from Etsy, and when that’s finished I can do a complete nursery tour. I just love spending time there, it makes me so happy.

In other news:

>I’m still plugging through Infinite Jest and will for sure be finished by the time I go back to work, but if I can finish this week that would be ideal. I appreciate the mastery of the writing and really enjoy some parts, especially as it gets near the end, but I have to say that I almost lost it with the animal abuse (if you’ve read it you KNOW what part I’m talking about). Anyway, I am looking forward to having it behind me and moving on to other books, like The Help which is our next book club book, but I think I’ll actually miss it once I’m finished.

>Our small church recently disbanded (long, sad story) so now we have begun the process of visiting new churches every week. It’s kind of fun and exciting, but overwhelming too, especially with a new baby! We went to one over the weekend that I really loved, so things look promising.

>My brother is getting married next month! Check out the cool wedding website he designed.

Hi friends! I am loving this long weekend, how about you? If you have to work today, I am sincerely sorry. I understand though; I used to have to work every other weekend and most holidays. I love my new schedule! Anyway, here are a few things buzzing around in my head today.

***

The Bachelorette Recap & Review

My brother is one of the main contributors to the blog ApeDonkey (I have no idea why it’s called that), which features mostly TV reviews. Since it’s only guys writing the blog they tend to feature masculine shows. I asked him jokingly if he was going to recap The Bachelorette this season, and he in all seriousness suggested that I do so. And because I don’t have anything else going on in my life right now, I said yes. I’m not ashamed to admit that I quite enjoy this show despite its ridiculousness and cheese factor. Anyway, I watched the season premiere late so my first recap is just now up. Read it and comment please! It was my first attempt at writing a TV show review, so hopefully I’ll improve throughout the season. :)

Reading Challenge

Here’s yet another thing that I’m taking on this summer: Ashley’s Infinite Jest in a summer challenge! I love read-a-longs and book challenges, and after reading the summary and reviews of Infinite Jest (apparently it’s kind of a modern classic) I decided that it’s something I’m definitely interested in. Although the book is 1000+ pages long, we’re reading it all summer which boils down to about 15 pages a day. I think I can do that! I’ve purchased it for my Sony Reader so I don’t have to lug around such a fat volume, and we start reading June 1st. Visit Ashley’s blog if you want to participate!

Nursery Progress

This weekend we finished painting the nursery, installed new blinds, and put all the furniture together. It’s starting to actually look like a baby’s room now! There is still a lot of work to be done: put up curtains, repaint an old rocking chair, obtain crib bedding, put up wall decorations, and organize. But still, it’s exciting.

Call For Blog Ideas

I feel like I’ve been neglecting this blog a little bit, and although I’ve sort of done it on purpose because it can’t be my priority right now, I’ve been brainstorming ways to put some fresh life into it and keep it fun. One thing I love in other blogs are recurring features or series of posts. I’ve got a few ideas in mind, but I was wondering, what are your favorites? My goal is to use my weekend downtime to get 2-3 posts scheduled for each week, and if I have some features planned it’ll be easier to meet that.

***

Thanks y’all! Enjoy the rest of your holiday, and I hope your week goes by fast!

Not a free day until the end of the month!

There’s so much still that I want to get done before that time, but one of my best friends recently reminded me that getting ready for a baby isn’t like planning a wedding. If you don’t finish everything in time, you can get to it afterward. I’m trying to remember that, because my life is kind of booked right now. In addition to 11-12 hours of being gone for work every day, I have Bible study on Tuesdays, childbirth classes on Wednesdays, and youth group on Thursdays – every week. I have monthly book club and craft club meetings, church commitments, and family gatherings. I’m trying not to abandon the things I love like blogging and keeping up with friends, reading, and a few select TV shows. All of this, except for the childbirth classes, doesn’t include any sort of baby preparation at all.

Saturdays have recently turned into work days around the house. With the help of our parents and siblings, we’ve made a big dent in the painting. My dad helped change out a couple more light fixtures, and I’m even working on hanging some mirrors and art on the walls. A vision for the nursery is slowly starting to form in my mind. In two weeks we’re having company for a few days, so the guest room and bathroom are going to get whipped into shape.

The breakfast nook. I like it.

This weekend I also managed to repaint my toenails, have dinner and game night with some couples from church, visit my dog Cleo at my parents’ house (and came away with a few original paintings by my grandfather), wrangle our mentally disturbed dog Eddie who will not let us sleep OMG, do a little shopping for the guest room, and watch some of the Master’s while catching up on blogs.

When I look at my calendar and I think about my to-do list, I have no idea how I’m going to make it. One day at a time, I suppose!

I’m checking in to give you a general update on my life, since it doesn’t seem that I’ve done that for awhile. Some things have been happening and I’d love your feedback.

Pregnancy & Health

Since my hospital visit a couple weeks ago, I’ve had a bit of a rough time. It took me a week and a half to recover from my cold, and during that time I had absolutely no energy. I just barely started feeling good again this week, and now for two days I’ve had a sore throat that won’t go away. I’m really hoping it doesn’t develop into something more, or my immune system and I are going to have words.

On top of that, I’ve had some pretty killer back pain. For awhile I had a pulled muscle near one of my shoulder blades, and that was just miserable. But thanks to Epsom salt baths, a massage, Icy Hot, and patience, that has healed up. What I have now is constant pain around my ribs on the left back side that wraps around to the front. Usually it is a dull ache but occasionally it becomes quite sharp. No idea what’s causing this, but as uncomfortable as it is, it is better than the pulled muscle.

I can feel Meredith moving lots now, and she’s strong enough at times that my husband and family have been able to feel her too. This is really special, because I feel like she’s my little buddy, keeping me company throughout the day.

More detailed pregnancy updates to come next week after I see my doctor again!

My view looking down

Dogs

Oliver has been so good for over a month now that we really don’t want to give him away. Cleo has been doing fine at my parents’ house, but we are contemplating bringing her home for a visit to see how she and Oliver interact because we miss her a lot (even though I do visit frequently).

Strangely, Eddie has been the problem child lately. She is ten years old and has been extremely attached to David since she was a puppy. She’s always been prone to anxiety, but it usually comes out during thunderstorms or when the dishwasher is running. Nowadays she’s the only one out and about in the house during the day since Cleo is gone and we keep Oliver in his crate.

For the past couple of weeks we have noticed things being disturbed in the house, until finally Eddie became downright destructive. She went in David’s closet and completely tore up all the carpet including the foam underneath, spreading it all across our room. We took her to the vet, who said she appears very healthy (bloodwork was normal too) and he believes she is suffering separation anxiety because she senses changes in the family. I don’t know if it’s because she’s lonely during the day without Cleo, if she senses I’m pregnant and is worried, or what. We have her on anti-anxiety medication now, but she is still very needy and driving us just a little bit crazy.

This is what a crybaby looks like

Home Improvement

We finally started working on the house again! Last weekend a bunch of my family came over to help paint. There are several rooms plus a hallway including all the trim, doors, and ceilings to do, so it’s quite a project. So far we’ve completely done the front entryway and the guest room minus the trim and door. We also installed a new light fixture in the entryway. Eventually I’ll get around to hanging art, getting a console table, and retiling, but painting is job #1 for now.

The current state of the entryway

Things are up and down around here, but we’re making it!

So I got to thinking that it might help me to write down an overview of things I need to do in the next 4-5 months. I don’t want to get into specifics yet, but I also don’t want to forget anything. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

Sooner…

>Find a home for Oliver. This is the biggest cloud hanging over my head right now. We’ve decided not to keep our dog Oliver because he just doesn’t get along with other dogs. He has fought with 5 different dogs, in different places, and he has fought with our dog Cleo several times, the last time producing quite a deep wound. On his own, he’s a sweet, loving pet. We shipped our other dogs off to our parents’ house for a week and we found that out. We wish we had the time and resources to train him, but in our current situation it’s too overwhelming for us, and too scary to keep him around our other dogs with a baby in the house.

>Finish painting the house. Originally I wanted to furnish and decorate the rest of the house as well, but I know that’s not going to happen. Painting, though, is a hassle that I want to complete. I have plenty of help from my family and friends, it’s just finding time to actually do it that is the problem. There are several rooms, a hallway, plus all the trim and doors to do.

>Start childbirth classes and formulate a birth plan. Since I’ve decided to do my best to have a natural childbirth, I know I need a lot of preparation. We settled on the Bradley Method classes, and I found an instructor in my area and signed up. The classes are 8 weeks long covering 12 weeks’ worth of material, and they start March 30. From what I hear, they cover everything from natural childbirth to breastfeeding to infant care.

>Start attending La Leche League meetings. I really want breastfeeding to work out, and I’m at least going to give it the best possible chance, so I need to be informed. I have a friend who’s really involved with La Leche League, and I want to start attending meetings with her soon.

>Meet with my doula. I’m lucky to have a friend who is completing her doula training and she’ll have her certification by the time my due date rolls around. I want to get together with her soon to get advice, recommendations, and to discuss my situation and desires in more detail.

At some point…

>Get our carpet replaced. This is an expense I’d rather skip, but the future nursery used to be the dogs’ room of choice to have all of their “accidents.” We’ve since kept that room closed off, but not only are there stains galore but it smells. The rest of the carpet is stained too, as well as chewed and eaten in some places.

>Create a nursery. This is obvious, but it still has to get done. I see so many nurseries that I love, but I need to figure out what kind of style will flow best with the rest of our house.

>Register, have showers, & stock up on supplies. I’m a little bit terrified of this whole process, but kind of excited, too.

>Choose a name. Right now we have several boy names that we like, because we just cannot fathom having a girl. Even after we find out (next week!) what we’re having, though, I don’t know if I’ll be able to commit to a name until the last minute. It’s so much pressure!

>Read up on childbirth and parenting. So far on my list: Creating Your Birth Plan by Marsden Wagner, Nurtureshock by Po Bronson, The Birth Book and The Baby Book both by Dr. William Sears. Any others along the same lines that I’m missing?

>Make a post-baby budget. I’m dreading this and will probably continue to put it off until I can’t anymore.

>Take a short vacation or two. I can’t go crazy with my days off since I’m trying to save them up for maternity leave, but one of my best friends & her family are coming to stay with us in April for a long weekend and I’m looking forward to a couple extra days off to be with them. My husband and I are also planning on taking a long weekend trip this spring to visit my uncle & aunt in South Carolina.

>Figure out maternity leave. This is really just a matter of talking to my manager. It shouldn’t be a big deal because she’s very supportive and just had a baby last year herself. I think I get six weeks plus whatever PTO I’ve managed to save up, but I’m not sure of the details and at what rate I’ll get paid.

>Hammer out childcare details. I’m SO lucky that my mom has decided to retire and stay home to take care of our baby once I go back to work. We’ll be paying her, but it won’t be near as expensive as daycare and I hope it’ll be a little easier leaving the babe with her.

Later…

>Book photographer (maternity & birth). My friend Cio has agreed to be our birth photographer. I know it might be hard to coordinate since she lives a couple hours away and births don’t always happen at convenient times, but I really hope it works out!

>Prepare birth details: phone tree, hospital bag, plans for dogs, birthday cake. Not gonna worry about this for awhile, shouldn’t be too difficult.

>Pick out and prepare birth announcements. It’d be nice to get as much of this done as possible ahead of time, anyway.

>Last minute stuff: go to the spa, have the house cleaned, stock up frozen meals. All very important things, am I right?

So tell me, is there anything else I should add to the list? (Please don’t tell me I’m missing something major. Well, DO, but I just hope that I’m not.) Anything on the list that isn’t really necessary? Help me!

As I mentioned in my resolutions post, one of the things I’m doing this year is reading Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project and creating my own based on her method. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, there is a chapter for each month of the year and each month is about a different area of life. Then you  make resolutions for the month based on that area, and it is all supposed to work toward a happier life.

January’s focus is vitality, or boosting energy. To summarize Gretchen, when you have energy everything is better and easier so it makes sense to start with this. I realize that I should have read the chapter before January 1st so I could start on my resolutions right away, but that didn’t happen. So I’m a little behind this month, but that’s okay. It’s a work in progress.

My January resolutions:

1. Walk at least one of our dogs twice a week (more if possible)
2. Start exercising (yoga or swimming) at least once a week
3. Seriously purge and declutter
4. Create a command central binder
5. Accomplish three nagging tasks

As you can see, my resolutions relate to physical and mental energy. Everyone’s needs are different; notice that I didn’t include anything about getting more sleep, because I already get a lot and that’s something that I’m really good at. I’m especially excited about the organizing & decluttering, but I better get working!

I’m so excited about this project. Have any of you read the book or created happiness projects of your own?

I wish I still had the pictures of the full room when we moved in, hideous window treatments & all, but here’s something to remind you that it was BRIGHT RED.

Here is the bookshelf wall now:

I chose a calm, neutral color for the walls (Glidden’s water chestnut) which I plan to carry through most of the house. We also had to paint the trim crisp white (it was cream-ish) and the bookshelves too. I’m still in the process of organizing the books and setting up the shelves – they’re still cluttered and messy right now.

For the space in between the shelves, I found this desk at my parents’ house that they weren’t using.

It needed to be painted, and I am obviously not finished. In fact, it just has a coat of primer on it right now, and I put the whole project on hold when I realized I had no idea how to reach into the depths of those little holes. What do you think: spray paint? Long-handled foam brushes? Anyway, once the desk is fully painted I’m excited to set it up as a little writing station. I also need something for the wall, and this chair is one that I’ve had since I was a kid. I’d love to redo it and use it here.

Here is the beautiful piano that was my grandmother’s. I wish I knew how to play it, but I can only punch out a few chords. The corner behind the piano needs something, but I’m not sure what yet. One difficulty of this room is that there is no light in it. There is a switch, but it doesn’t control anything. I’m wondering if I can figure out how to hook it up to a lamp.

The curtains are from IKEA. I had a hard time at first figuring out what to do about the windows since there are two right next to each other with curved arches, but now I realize that I just need to get a prettier curtain rod and it’ll be fine. But should I look for a white one, or a deep brown to go with the piano?

Here’s a close-up of the babushka dolls I’m displaying on the piano. I brought them back with me when I visited Russia, and I love them.

Don’t you just love those window sills? Yeah, my dog has basically eaten them away, and I have no idea how to fix it other than hiring someone. Also, here you can see that the curtains are way too long, but instead of hemming them I kind of pooled them at the bottom. I actually like the look, and I’m thinking of leaving them this way.

This is the last corner and the one I’ve been working on the most. Remember that I am working on a minuscule budget here. I’ve been dreaming of turning this into a reading corner, but that required a place to sit. I couldn’t afford to buy a new chair, so I turned to Craigslist. I found one there that I liked, but after looking on Google satellite and seeing that we’d have to pick it up in a very scary part of town, we backed out. Then when I was at my parents’ house picking up the desk my mom pointed out this chair that she had.

At first I thought that I’d like to reupholster it, but that costs as much as buying a new one, and now that it’s in place I’m kind of digging it. I think it works, and it’s comfortable, too. The greatest thing about this chair is its sentimental value. When my mom was 29 she sat on her mother’s lap in this chair and they reconciled after years of differences. When I took it she told me that every time I sit in it I should know that she is hugging me. (I’m tearing up just thinking about it!)

The art collage is a work in progress, as you can see by the fact that two frames are empty and there is a lot of wall space still to fill. I bought all these frames at a resale shop for about $5 total and spray painted them white. Two of them are filled with pages from magazines, one is a postcard, one is a printed picture of me on the beach in Hawaii, and the last is the one I got most creative with.

I’ve had an Australian pen pal for almost 15 years. I went back through some of the letters from when we were kids, peeled off the stamps, and arranged them on white scrapbook paper. I love it because it’s simple, the stamps are interesting and colorful, and best of all it has a personal story.

Well, that’s basically the whole room as it stands today! Obviously I still have a lot to do before it’s “finished”, but I think it’s coming along nicely. I didn’t think it would be possible for me to have a nice looking room without spending hardly any money, but all it takes is a little creativity.

Now please, please, please, give me your opinions, ideas, and advice! I know there’s still a lot to do, and I could use some encouragement and inspiration. Decorating is not my strong suit, but I’m learning!

I got a nice surprise on Friday when I was supposed to work until 7 p.m. and they let me off at 3. I was able to beat the traffic and convinced David to go on a mini-date. We went to Potbelly Subs & Sandwiches for dinner and then went back home to pick up the dogs. This part took a lot more convincing, because handling all three dogs at once is no easy task. But I recently bought these adorable tags for them, and now we could legitimately take Oliver to the dog park.

Cute, right?

It was Oliver’s first time there, so we were nervous. He’s still not neutered (I know, I know) so he has a tendency to act fairly alpha. He comes up to my waist and weighs around 100 pounds, but there was a dog much bigger than him there and Oliver had that dog’s tail between its legs just by sniffing. Overall he was very good, but he made other dogs nervous and we felt like we had to hover around him the entire time. I don’t think we’ll be going back until we get him fixed.

On Saturday I was up bright & early to visit the local farmer’s market that I’ve been meaning to go to for ages. My sister-in-law and friend were supposed to come too, but neither of them could make it due to their respective babies so I was on my own. I found it easily and my first impression was that it’s small, but very cute.

Our little farmer's market

I walked around without buying anything once to see what was there, and I was happy to see that there was a big variety of food and other local, organic products. I had my eye on some tomatoes and peaches, but then I realized I had forgotten to bring a bag to carry them in. I ended up only buying some honey because I was too self-conscious. (Side note: has anyone ever tried honey in their coffee instead of sugar?)

I must have really been in a food-buying mood though, because I ended up stopping at a larger organic store which was farther away. I was in the area since I had to get some blood drawn at a specific lab. The book I’m reading is completely changing my perspective on the foods I buy. David doesn’t know what he’s in for. :)

For the rest of the day I had originally intended to drag David with me to the Art Car Parade, but when he told me he’d help me paint instead I couldn’t pass that up. My parents and father-in-law came too, and we were able to get the second coat on the front two rooms, paint the ceiling, and start on the trim. The trim and touch-ups are all we have left there, but it’s such a tedious chore. I can’t wait to finish and actually start decorating!

The dining room so far

Sunday morning found us at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Los Cucos, for breakfast with my family. I’d never had breakfast at a Mexican place, but I have to say the eggs were the best I’ve ever tasted. I was really excited to give my mom her gift, because it was so unique. You may not know this, but my mom was a hippie in her day, and I think the gene is genetic. For Mother’s Day I signed us (along with my mother-in-law) up for a class teaching us how to make soft cheese and other dairy products at home. I can’t wait!

Church was a fluster of activity because my brother and I were leading the music and we were not quite prepared. It ended up going smoothly, but only because we grew up doing music together and know exactly what the other will do. On the way home from church David and I stopped by a local bookstore for an amazing sale. Here are all the books we got, all for $5.95!

Three of these are mine. Can you guess which ones? :)

By the time we got home I had developed quite a toothache that extended into my sinuses and down my neck. I took a Vicodin, read a few pages, and fell into a nap that lasted until my mother-in-law called me to ask me a question. It’s a good thing she did, because we were supposed to meet David’s family for dinner and I would have slept right through it. Dinner was delicious and the company was lovely, and to top the weekend off I took my mother-in-law to the play Harvey at the Alley Theatre, which we both loved.

Only eleven more days until my next weekend off!

Bear with me as I share a little bit about this whole thing.

After I miscarried, part of me wanted to start trying again right away. It took me weeks to internalize the fact that I wasn’t pregnant anymore. But at the same time, I knew I had to let my body recover. I went through a lot that month, so I tried my best to rest and relax. During that time I went through more psychological states than I have ever experienced in my life. I went from seriously considering seeing a psychiatrist to complete elation and everything in between. For someone who stays relatively calm and even for 90% of my life, this was a difficult turn of events. Stupid hormones.

Lately I’ve been feeling much more like myself in all areas of life. My moods have regulated, I started working out again (which means I feel strong), I am generally enjoying life, and I’m hoping & planning for the future. I still feel sorry for myself probably too often, certain things are still quite hard for me, and my heart does ache. The farther out I get from my miscarriage, however, the better perspective I have. I never would have been able to see the silver lining before, but now I am realizing how ignorant I was of my own body, health, and pregnancy. Instead of viewing this as something taken away from me, I’m trying to see it as a gift of time.

Infertility issues don’t get solved overnight, I’ve come to see. I had to wait two months for a new cycle to begin just so I could have some blood tests done, only to find that as of now the lab has no record of them. In the meantime, my husband is dealing with his own health issues that are kind of putting any treatment on hold for awhile. I’m being forced into patience, so I might as well make the best of it.

I look forward to eventually getting (and staying) pregnant again, but there are some things I would like to do first. For starters, I want to get truly healthy. To that end, I’m having my wisdom teeth removed (something I’ve been putting off for close to ten years), finding and getting a physical from a primary care doctor, and seeing a chiropractor/nutritionist. I’m starting up my exercise routine and working on a better diet.

I also want to make our house a home. Our house looked great when we bought it, but it wasn’t our style. There is a lot of work to be done to make it into a place where we can walk through every room and sigh with happiness. We need to paint, buy furniture for, and decorate every room except the living room and kitchen.

Although there are so many other aspects of my life that are a work in progress, those are the two that, in an ideal world, I want to happen before I have a child. Of course, if I got pregnant tomorrow I wouldn’t complain. :)