Baby Sister

It's been quiet around here, I know.  I've given you a few reasons, like I don't want to spend our tight budget on crafts and I'm in a creative funk but the biggest reason I have yet to share and it's definitely time.

This little lady has stolen all of my energy.  That's right, I said lady, we're having another girl and I couldn't be more excited.  Come August 13th ish Catie will be a big sister.  We figure there will be no in between, she's either going to be the best big sister who loves this baby more than anything or she's going to be so jealous she can't stand to look at her.  I'm obviously hoping for the first option.

You know there are those pregnant ladies that just continue on with life as if nothing has changed?  You hardly even notice they're pregnant because they're just like normal?  I'm not one of those ladies.  I feel tired and lazy and have little desire to do much so don't expect too much from me around here in the next little bit.

Also, we're having a difficult time coming up with a name for this lady so if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know.  There's just one stipulation, since we already have a Catherine who goes by Catie I want this baby to go by her full name, not a shortened nick name.  Any great ideas?

Becoming a Mother (long and rambly)

I've been a mother for 8 months now and I've been loving it but on Saturday I did something that turned me into a true Mother.  I drove all the way to Great Falls to go shopping for fabric.  I had a list of projects I wanted to complete but they were going to take a large amount of fabric and they were going to be too expensive so Mom and I drove down.

We had the greatest time and I loved spending time with her.  We shopped for fabric, clothes, shoes, clothes for Catie, smelly lotion and more fabric.  I spent far too much, she spent just enough and it was an awesome day.

I've been especially grateful for such an amazing Mom lately, specifically she has made it possible for the sewing to continue.  As I mentioned in the bouncy chair post my sewing machine decided it was finished and would not work properly unless I had some work done on it.  The machine was free as it was a hand me down and is old.  Paying to have it serviced wasn't really an option so I considered buying a new, second hand machine.  I even found one that looked okay when Mom came up with an even better solution.

She found my Grandma's sewing machine in her basement and gave it a whirl.  It sounds amazing, it's in great condition as Grandma had it serviced every year she owned it.  I should have been thrilled but I took a look and this machine is seriously old.  It's one that's screwed into a table which I don't have room for and it was really old.  It was a free solution though so I was prepared to take it home and let it grow on me, I'm sure I would have loved it eventually but I was having a hard time being excited.  Once again Mom came up with the solution, she instead will keep Grandma's machine since she hardly ever sews and she sent me home with hers.  As an added bonus she's lent me her serger indefinitely.  This is a plan that I could get on board with and I'm thrilled with the new machine.

One draw back... my first question was, "Does it use metal bobbins?"  Sadly it does not so the 48 I have are now completely useless to me.  This temporarily took me back to having only one bobbin but I fixed that problem by picking up 12 new ones today.

I look forward to tackling my long list of projects and I'm so grateful for a Mother who would do anything to make me happy and so freely gives of anything she has if she thinks someone could use it.  She's my best friend and I'm so glad I'm close enough to see her often.  I love that Catie knows her well and look forward to the fist time she calls her Granny Cathy (what we call her behind her back :)


A happy end note, I was able to find a happy home for my old machine and bobbin, I handed it down to someone willing to fix my beloved Hobby 303.  I wish Amber happy sewing.

Hair Loss

I've heard other women talk about my current problem that comes after pregnancy but I didn't ever understand the extent of it.

In the last month or so I've noticed an increasing amount of hair loss.  After each shower I carefully comb out as much loose hair as possible to minimize the effects during the day but each time I'm still surprised by the handful that ends up in the garbage.  I clean out my hairbrush daily and I pull hair off my clothes constantly.

I find hair in our food, in Catie's hands, in the car and I've already had to clean out our shower drain once.
I'm hoping this is a temporary problem that doesn't last much longer or I may have to take drastic actions with a very short haircut.
L

The Disabled List

This last (very quiet week) may be foreshadowing as to what will happen when I'm no longer chained to my desk and working; this is something I've been expecting as I only seem to blog from work. It's highly likely that when I stop working to go on mat leave (only 46 more work days!) then the blog will cease to exist. I'll try to do a little better and I think a proper office in our new place will be helpful with that goal. It's hard to focus while you're lying on the couch with a laptop balanced so carefully, a game of Settlers underway.

So why haven't I been at work you ask?

As I've mentioned before Brad and I formed a softball team again this year and we've been having such a great time, we have a fun team and besides one crummy week we've loved every game. On more than one occasion when I mention that I'm playing softball and I'm nearly 6 months pregnant the general reaction is surprise. My philosophy has been, when it hurts I'll stop. When I start to develop unusual muscle pain then I'll quit but until then you'd better believe I'm playing, this only comes around once a year after all.

The one thing that I did not count on was that the pain wouldn't be gradual, that it would smack me like a ton of bricks and leave me motionless on the couch for two days. I stood up from the bench to head out to the field and thought, "Oh WOW! That does not feel good!" Apparently my baby, and my muscles were ANGRY and they were going to make sure I knew it.

So your pelvis muscles, you know what you use them for (I'm real clear on it now)? You use them for everything! Lifting your leg to walk, lifting it higher yet to put on pants (lets not talk about the unfortunate time I put them on backwards and had to do the whole thing over), rolling over in bed, getting up off the couch, slightly re-adjusting to get more comfortable and possibly worst of all, getting into the car… all of them were painful in a way I've never felt before.

Thursday consisted of a tearful, emotional phone call to the Mom (why do you always cry more when you talk to your mom?), Brad waiting on me hand and foot and as little movement as possible.

Even now on Monday, 5 days later I'm still in pain.

So I'm officially benched. I just became the official score keeper / umpire. I refuse to give up entirely and will still bat, I'll just have a pinch runner. At least I made it through 3 1/2 games out of 9.
L

Celebrate

It's my favorite day of the year… it's Middle Name Pride Day!

The baby exhaustion means that there will be no celebration to mark the occasion, you'll have to celebrate in your own homes tonight.

Enjoy the day!
L

Awkward

How do you tell someone something so life changing?

I've found I'm surprisingly awkward about it. I thought when March 1st came I'd be quick to spread the news, but that just hasn't been the case.

Some people have opened the conversation so I can smoothly fit it in but for most I've awkwardly and suddenly blurted it out.

So blog friends, I blurt… I'm pregnant!

I'm due September 17th so I'm just shy of 2 months along. To quote a friend of mine, "Now you start talking in weeks and none of us understand you anymore." So I'm' going to try to refer to my time in months.

We're so excited for this new phase of life and can't wait to see the changes that come.

It may be wrong but one of my first thoughts was, "What does this mean for my blog?" I don't want to suddenly shift to a Mommy blog since I think I'll lose half my readers. As a solution I've started a second blog that is dedicated to Baby Wiebe. This site will include all of my baby related thoughts while my current blog will remain as is. Feel free to visit both sites if you're interested, it's okay if you're not.

I can't guarantee I'll keep both blogs, one day they'll probably combine but for now I think it's a good plan.

So blog friends and strangers, celebrate with us and head over to Baby Wiebe.
L

A Post on Pregnancy Tests

I tend to be really cheap about some things. Like women's dress socks, they're so expensive that I wear mine until they are threadbare. And Pineapples, love them but they don't fit into the budget regularly.

There is a very large range in the price of pregnancy tests, at Walmart you can get them anywhere from $10 to $40. Here is where my penny pinching kicked in… I'm not willing to spend lots of money on a stick I'm going to pee on, especially if I'm going to be jumping the gun and testing early. So what's my solution? The dollar store. I know what you're thinking, "You can't get pregnancy tests from the dollar store!" To this I say, you bet you can, and they're only a buck so you can test anytime you want.

Mom is convinced it would take 4 dollar store tests put together to equal one regular (expensive) one or that I'd need to be halfway through my pregnancy but I'm determined to prove her wrong, they did after all both say negative and that was true.

So here's to a future dollar store test that will bring the news we're waiting for.
L

Funny Lady

Conversations with my Mom lately have revolved mainly around pregnancy and she keeps giving me these handy tips. Last nights was my favorite and Brad and I are still chuckling about it.

"Ultrasounds are great for finding Submarines, that's what they were designed for"

She read an article by a doctor who doesn't thing ultrasounds are awesome for the baby, regular ones are fine but forget the unnecessary 3-D ones, which I hadn't been planning on getting anyway.

She's a funny lady.
L

Can't Wait

I was driving home earlier this week and I got so excited! I couldn't wait until I could go to work and tell my co-worker: "guess what happens on such and such a day?! I'm gonna be a daddy!"

That will be a good day.

BW

You know that feeling you get after you've had a nap for just a little too long? You feel a little stuck between asleep and awake, that's the way I've been feeling lately.

I'd done a pretty good job of not letting myself get too excited about the idea of being pregnant until this started.

So I took a pregnancy test, and it was negative and I was disappointed. Not convinced, I took another the next morning, and again it was negative. Even more disappointed.

So now we wait a couple days until things sort themselves out and then we'll see.

Hoping to not be disappointed a third time.
L