32 Weeks: Just a short 8 weeks to go! and a Vent

 

I have 8 more weeks to go!  Whenever I was teaching and it would get close to a break like Christmas, Spring, or Summer break I would tell myself: "You can do anything for ____weeks!" Repeating that on a daily basis helped the weeks go by in a flash.  So far, I'm feeling okay.  I've had to make a few adjustments to my lifestyle, but it'll be okay.  Everything in moderation, so I'm trying to stay as positive as I can about this change. 

Now that I've given an update, I need to vent a bit about some of the things people have said to me, that make me want to throat punch them:

For some reason, being pregnant means that people can say what they want to you about your size, your desire to have the baby already because you must be so miserable, how you're going to have your hands full, and etc, etc, etc! 

First off,  during this pregnancy I've been known to tell people to shut up (complete strangers even) and I give the death stare/glare quite a bit.  People that I know and don't know like to comment about the size of my belly.  I get asked if I'm having twins or if the baby is measuring big.  When asked about due date and I say I have 8 more weeks to go, they act like "HOLY CRAP!  you are HUUUUGE! and you still have 2 months!"

Enough already.  I'm 5'2.  I have a short torso.  The baby can only go out and honestly, I'm measuring right on track and secondly, I could run freakin' circles around you 8 months pregnant, I hold my full pregnant body weight in a perfect, straight arm plank for 2 minutes in the Texas heat after doing 100 biceps curls, and can probably out push-up your butt. My physicality is so beyond you and I'm 8 months pregnant.  So bam!

Next issue:  quit assuming my feelings of being miserable and wanting to have this baby already.  Not once have I complained about the state of my pregnancy woes or expressed any desire to have this baby early.  Seriously people, I'm not some selfish whiner that would rather risk my baby's health just so stop the "pain" of pregnancy.  Baby's need to develop for 40 weeks.  Is pregnancy easy? NOPE. Can I complain if I want to? ABSOLUTELY! I'm allowed to feel any way I want to feel, YOU are not allowed to assume my feelings and make them truth.

Lastly, the hands full comment.  Some of those comments have been made in all sincerity (I don't take offense to it) and others have been made in a "Ha ha look at you, your kids are running around Target like wild boars and you're pregnant with another one!!" Shut up. 

Being pregnant reminds me of the saying:  If you don't have anything nice to say, DON'T SAY IT!  I do get compliments though.  I've had people tell me how beautiful I look or how I'm all belly or you should be on the cover of a Pregnancy magazine(that was my favorite compliment).  Those I welcome, say those things to me because being pregnant is hard, giving up your body to create life is hard, being in a constant state of unmedicated hormonal imbalance is hard.  Be nice to us pregnant  (and post pregnant) ladies! Please. Or you'll likely get throat punched.

Sew Much To Do

 I am a self-taught quilter and amateur sewer.  Occasionally, I have bursts of creativity and ability.    These bursts can never be replicated or mass produced.  Honestly, I forget how to do it almost immediately after completing a project.  It's kind of frustrating because I want to learn from mistakes and modify here and there or create multiples for fun, but I can't.  I guess it's my brain's way of saying, "Hold on there little missy, you only have so much time and money!" 

 

I always, always make my babies a quilt.  It started with a simple strip quilt for Piper, Brynn's quilt took more effort and involved piecing fabric to create a pattern and I hand sewed the binding (which was a first for me), and  Lil' Bean's quilt is completely ambitious.

 

 Lil' Bean's Shades of Blue Zig-Zag quilt

 

 

 

 I wanted a quilt that didn't scream "BABY!" and I love the pattern.  I used shades of blue in men's shirting fabric, a white and navy flannel, and the backing is the devil's creation: minky (oh if it wasn't so soft and snuggly). 

 

I'm not even going to lie and say, "Oh this was so easy once I got the hang of it" or "It went together in minutes."  Lies, all lies!  I bought the fabric back  in May and I just finished the quilt top. I cut and pieced every single triangle/square to create the effect.  I am no genius when it comes to tessellations and had to draw out how to sew each square together so I would get zig-zags and not diamonds.  I still have to sandwich the layers, quilt them, and then bind the quilt.  Honestly, I should pay someone to finish it for me. I did the hard part.  But that's the fantastic thing about doing hard things: you get to marvel at how AWESOME! you are. 

 

 

My next sewing project (finished before the quilt top), was a car seat cover.  Not only do I have bouts of creativity, but I also moments where I see something that someone else has and I think, "I can so make that!" So, so make it I did. 

 

Lil' Bean has to represent so I used the Alabama and houndstooth fabric from a nursing cover I no longer planned on using and backed it with a puckered, gray minky (seriously, I love minky.  Pain to sew, mess to cut, but so soft).  I love it.  If I wanted I could make a BYU one, but...like I said my creativity comes in bursts and I've forgotten how to make another one already. Oh well...guess he'll be sportin' Alabama.  My mom sent me more Alabama fabric to embellish diaper rags and make them cute.  This project will happen after the quilt is done. 

 

I have a laundry list of projects to complete.  This nesting thing is hard to ignore.  I suddenly feel strong urges to do everything at the same time.  Lil' Bean's nursery is 95% finished. It looks good, not gonna lie, I'm pretty impressed with it. 

 

The house suddenly needs to be decorated too, so I'm trying to finish up all the accessories.  I told Bob that I feel like I get 2 of the 3 layers (paint, furniture, accessories) of decorating done and always end up with half-finished rooms.  So now it must be finished!

 

Busy, busy momma with only  8 more weeks to go!

The Cat Has a Birthday!

 

I know what you are thinking: "I thought this was going to be about a cat?"  Well, this is our cat.  We've determined that Brynn is a cat.  She picks and chooses when she'll love you or give you snuggles.  Once she picks snuggles, she quickly wants to leave.  She doesn't listen, EVER. Basically, she chooses to ignore us.  We know this because she looks at us and just walks away as if we weren't speaking at all.  She is a cat.  And this cat turned 2 last week. 

 

For her birthday (which was extremely low key as she was a total grump.  Surprise, surprise), I took her bowling with a few friends.  For some reason, Brynn always wins at bowling.  She enjoys bowling for about 5 frames and then decides that everything else not bowling related is far more interesting- namely licking the ground, sticking her hands in the ball return, or going up to random people and just staring at them. The next day went to the movies and watched Monsters University.  For a cat, she does really well in movie theatres.

 

 

We've been going to the pool A LOT this summer and Piper wanted swim goggles.  Brynn decided that wearing swim goggles around the house was pretty cool.  She also likes to wear Piper's bike helmet when she gets in the car, sometimes she wears the helmet with the goggles.  I wish I had a picture because the description doesn't do her silliness justice. 

 

 

At 2 Brynn is:

*not talking as much as I had hoped.  I know she has something to say and she chooses not to say it.  Piper had a sleepover 2 weeks ago so we took Brynn to Costco.  On the way there, she was jabbering our ears off.  We couldn't understand everything she was saying, but it was the most vocal she's ever been especially in the car.  We determined that Brynn doesn't talk much because she has a chatterbox for a sister.  I'm still worried about her overall speech, but she understands a lot...now whether or not she chooses to listen or convey that she understands is another question.  Her favorite phrases are:  "whoa buddy!" she says this a lot while I'm driving and "what happened?"  she says this anytime something doesn't go the way it should.

 

*still has a good appetite.  She eats pretty well...sort of.  Loves bananas, fruit snacks, and spaghetti. 

 

*is always, always moving unless she's watching a movie.  She never stops.  It's exhausting for this pregnant mommy.  She loves to swim and do pretty much whatever big sister does.

 

*doesn't have a special bond with stuffed animals, but she loves her blankets.  She has multiple blankets and recognizes them by sight and feel.  I tried to stick another blanket in there and she threw it out and screamed until I brought in her real blanket.  She needs a blanket to snuggle and a blanket to sleep on at all times. 

 

*isn't potty trained and we won't be potty training her until she's almost 3 so don't even suggest I need to train her because I already tried potty training as a pregnant mommy to a headstrong 2 year old and it resulted in a very angry pregnant mommy.  When said child was nearly 3, she trained in 2 weeks.  I can wait. She does, however, let us know when she is poopy and/or pee pee.

 

*will do pretty much anything for a laugh.  She loves getting a good chuckle out of you.  She's a jokester and she's so funny.  She has these faces that she'll make on command, it's hilarious.  Her faces are: "no banana face"- this is a sad face, "zombie face"- this is her glassy stare when she's tired, and "pleased as pie face" or Cheshire grin- this is her " I've done something very naughty or I'm thinking about doing something naughty" face.

 

*is still a momma's girl.  There is no one else in her tiny little world that she loves more than her mommy.  Awww...

 

I was looking at pictures from when I was in the hospital giving birth to her and I can't believe how fast it went by.  Poof, my little tiny baby is now 2.  It's amazing.  You think you'll remember all the little things, but you don't and in a blink it's passed.  Slow down, time.  Slow down.