<<Shush...>> Be very very quiet....

Okay so after a few weeks of good regular posts I've been slacking I know. It really isn't that I've been incredibly busy but that I just haven't been up for sharing. The past week I've been mired in very depressive thoughts. Not the type I am going to entertain but putting them out there for the entire world. I love you guys, my regular visitors, maybe one day. I've gotten many of them worked out in the past day or so and I've laid most of the rest to bed. Hopefully now I can resume with my regularly scheduled programming.

Today was his 2nd trip out with Hubby to the Daddy group he found. They went to this place called Gator Fred's where I met them up for some pizza over lunch. It's a place full of bouncy houses, slides, etc. along with little areas with just toys. Seems Lil 'R was in love with the play kitchens. With us having a little girl on the way an investment in a play kitchen as a bigger unisex toy may not be such a bad idea come the holiday season. Though as to the place, not really sure if it's some place we'll be visiting again anytime soon. I really wasn't that impressed with it. Hubby seems to be really enjoying the Daddy group though which is good news. His best friend is also involved which makes it even better. Now once he he's juggling 2 little ones I hope he'll still be able to manage making it out. I keep hearing from friends that the first year is very tough when they're this close together (2 yrs). I'll just hope for the best.

Updates: Decided not to change the schedule back, that was in itself part of the above mentioned depression. Everything is fine though I have ended up seeing Lil 'R a few days in the mornings because he awoke incredibly early. He's also fighting this never ending cold that has turned his nose into a faucet. He went and visited the Dr. yesterday and it's nothing worse than a common cold. The Dr. said we could give him benedryll to help with the runny nose. That along with the humidifier should alleviate his cough too. We did that last night and though still there I think he's a bit better.

Crafting goes well though has slowed down after a great start. I'm almost done with everything for the glider. All the main slipcovers are done but I'm making armrest paded covers for it. They're all cut out, just need to finish sewing all the little ties and put it together. The knitted blanket is coming along great. I'm over a third of the way done. If I keep to schedule it will be done before she arrives but I expect the need to make other gifts for my sister-in-law may delay it some. I worry if I don't finish it before she's here it won't end up done.

Tata for now

Schedule Woes

I thought things had been going well with the schedule change. I was loving the calmer pace it was encouraging both in the morning and at night. At night especially. I am no longer feeling like I need to walk in the door, give a quick hello and immediately beeline to the kitchen where I'll be in a frazzle to attempt to pull off a decent dinner in 30 minutes.

In the morning, yes it's much quieter because everyone is still asleep but I was able to take my time getting ready. And some days even just sit and watch the news for 5 minutes before I leave. The majority of that time is spent just taking more time to get dressed and put on make up. I'd also begun leaving the house 5+ minutes earlier so I could miss running into the school buses.

By comments though it seems this aspect of the new routine is having a negative impact on the rest of my family. Part of me feels like I'm being incredibly selfish and then another part feels that it's okay for me to have a time at home to just me. Looking back at what I just typed though, that comment is selfish in itself.

From writing this I've talked myself into switching the schedule back to how it was. Things being easier on me isn't worth it if it is having a negative impact on everyone else.

Day 3 of Morning Change

Part of me didn't think the new morning routine would stick. I almost expected that by today Lil' R would be back to sleep around 7pm and I'd be up again with him in the morning. Well so far I'm wrong on that and Hubby seems quite happy with the new routine. He gets to sleep a bit more now too which is another perk. The thing I'm enjoying is I have more time to get ready so my make up is more than just eyeliner and pressed powder. That makes me Feel better knowing that I look more put together. Also, I've been getting into the office a few earlier so I don't feel rushed to immediately jump into work. I can take a few minutes, read a few articles and then jump in.

On Another note, Lil "R's big boy room is ready for the impending switch over. We've decided to wait until this weekend to try it out for the first time. I guess Friday night is the big night. I'm so nervous about the switch. Not only is it a new bed but a whole new room too! I so hope it goes well.

A third note is I found someone who put up a pattern for Boo Boo Bunnies, or Wash Cloth Bunnies. Just make the bunny and add an ice cube in the loop created in the back to put on any boo boo. When my schedule clears up a bit on the creating front these are sure to be on it.

Clock Changes = Schedule Change

With the clock changes we've decided to use it as a way to make a big schedule shift in our household. It's a shift I've sorta wanted for awhile now  but I'm still a bit sad. We didn't try to get Lil' R to go to bed earlier but instead let him stay on his own internal schedule, so now he will be going to bed around 8:30pm and waking up later in the day. Today he slept until 9:30am. In the past he woke up with me or just after me at 7:30ish and I spent the morning getting him breakfast, etc. Sometimes this created a lot of chaos for me but seeing that sleepy face first thing in the morning, who loves to play peek-a-boo with his sheets was wonderful. Now I'll be saying goodbye to his sleeping form and Hubby will be doing all of those things.

The Huge plus though is I'll be having more time in the evening to get dinner on the table. I won't have to walk in the door and rush to immediately starting food. Often still being able to get it on the table before someone gets fussy. It's led to what I see as our quality of food decreasing and my anxiety over cooking increasing 10-fold. Hopefully with my preparation window increasing by approximately an hour I can do more with that time and ease my stress some.

We'll see how tonight goes.

Hat #1 Finished

As planned I finished my first infant baby hat last night, Yippy!! It's a simple one and I may make a more complicated one if time permits. There is this really cute one that looks like a berry. Depending on the gender of my brother and SILs baby, (they're due 6 weeks after me) I may make it for them first as a gift.

Anyway here is a picture of the little hat, and it being modeled on Lil' R's Spiderman toy. He was very gracious to let me use it.

 

 

 

 

 

That means last night I began the baby blanket!! Yippy! I'm so happy to get started on that one, knowing I probably won't have it finished by the time the baby is here. It's going to be my evening project, meaning the one I work on while Hubby and I watch TV and chill at night. I always leave bigger sewing projects for the weekends because I can't do those in our "quite time".

On a different note I had a horrible dream last night. I dreamt that we lost the baby. I even dreamed of seeing her and holding her and she barely fit in my hand. I never had dreams like this with Lil' R but I'm sure it was brought on by the fact that a woman I know through CafeMom recently lost her 2 twins who were born at 22 weeks. I haven't felt her move much today either so I'm trying to stay calm and just work.

Another Great Find!

So through Craigslist I found something else we've been wanting at a great price second hand for exactly what I wanted, a Glider. Found glider with a ottaman (the latter was a must) for only $50.

With Lil' R we didn't get the glider, we didn't have the room at first as we lived in apartments while he was nursing. Hubby has an incredibly comfortable recliner that I used instead. This time around we thought it'd be very inconvenient to have to take the baby downstairs to the recliner again. Thus, I started keeping an eye out for a glider.

It matches the nursery furniture we already have, which is has all been gotten second hand but you'd swear we bought it all together. It's incredibly comfortable, which is a huge plus too.

Gliders new are insanely expensive in my opinion. At Babys 'r Us you generally won't find one for under $200. Many are around $400 and I didn't want to spend more than $50. Luckily for us many people are just trying to get some extra cash in and willing to take a huge cut in the cost to do so. I still feel guilty for getting it though. Oh I love it and am so happy we got it. It's going to get plenty of use and will surely be worth the money. $50 really isn't that much to spend on a splurge either BUT, we're trying to get out of debt right now and to buy it I had to pull money from savings. To buy many of the things we have, I've had to pull from savings recently. The balance is definitely being affected, especially with paying the health insurance deductible for the new baby too.

That raise I just got is keeping us afloat with paying larger amounts on our debt but it isn't enough to change things around quickly. I'm waiting anxiously for our tax return to arrive because besides being enough to buy a 'new' 2nd car for Hubby and the kids, there should be enough left to reduce our credit card debt by a third. We have 2 cards at the moment, it could pay off one of them in full, which is what I plan to do and then attack the other much harder.

I want to say we're done with the 'Extras' but we're not. Before summer comes we need to have ceiling fans installed, including the electrical work, for the 2 children's bedrooms, and put in a fan in our bedroom. I'm slating to have this done in April right now, which is when it'll start getting really warm again. Doing that though is an investment I think because it keeps us from having an insane electric bill because we'll be able to manage with the thermostat set to a higher temperature.

But ugh, does it ever end? At least, does it ever slow down?

The Hunt Has Begun

With having a little girl there are many things we can't reuse such as clothes and decorations. Luckily, most of the infant toys and things like that are pretty gender neutral. We generally have always chosen primary colors over blue dominated for our son.

Last night though we got our first bit of girl clothes from a listing on our local Freecycle group. We ended up with an assortment of sizes of girls clothes from 0-3m to 5T. Even a bunch of Dr. Brown's bottles. We'll definitely be needing more clothes but it's a good start. In all it was a very full tall kitchen garbage bag. We know 2 other people with little girls who are around 2 that may have stuff for us but neither lives too close. 1 is 45 minutes and the other is over an hour and a half away.

See there is the inherit problem in our social life. We Know people with kids it's just that none live very close. 30 + minute drives get old really quick. Also, because of the distance none have become close friends. A guess acquaintances are better than nothing.

The Bunny Lovey is Here!

Over the weekend I finished the Bunny lovey, it came out a lot bigger than I expected so she may not be really using it for quite awhile! Overall the entire thing is probably around a foot long. I do plan to make another one that will be a mix of crochet and fabric. I want it to be similar to the one Lil' R currently has that he loves so much. I haven't started the one yet because I'm currently knitting a simple yellow baby hat for her. I hope to have that done by the end of the week and to beginning working on either the other lovey or on the baby blanket.

FYI: the pattern for this bunny lovey came from the lionbrand website.

In other news we actually got to spend time with other adults on Saturday!! Yes, it's true. We met another couple with a toddler at a 3rd friends place, where they have 2 children, 3 and 1. All the kids got to play together, we had a nice pot luck dinner and once we got the kids asleep (which did take a bit) we watch a very very campy movie, The Live. Oh gosh it was bad, but so funny at the same time. Probably all the more funny because of comments from the peanut gallery. Definitely need to do a repeat of. Real adults, with similar aged children. They exist!! Or should I say, They Live!!

Craftyness Unleashed

Now that we know the gender of the baby it's time to start full tilt on the To Make list. Due to our desired theme and color scheme of the room their are many things I will need to make because I can't find them for reasonable prices in store or online.

Here is the list of what to create and hopefully I'll be posting pictures shortly as I finish each.

1. Wooby (a crocheted lovey toy, it's a bunny head on a blanket)
2. Knit hat
3. Knit blanket
4. Crib skirt
5. Crib bumpers
6. Curtains

The theme of the room is purple and yellow based from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It's pretty hard to find licensed things from that movie specifically anymore, outside of the Disney Princesses items so I'm going to need to be creative.

The wooby I started last night and I ordered the yarn for the blanket too. That should be here next week.

On another note we found Lil' R a sandbox and picnic table in the paper last night at a steal of a price. Now to just get play sand!

Sonogram Pictures

The scanner was acting up yesterday and after almost an hour I got it to finally be recognized on both computers properly again. So here are some of the sonogram photos from yesterday of our little girl. She's only 20 weeks. :)

Here she in profile with her mouth open.

They even did a few quick 3-D shots for us. Something they didn't do with Lil 'R.

Next time we get more pictures probably won't be until she is born. My Dr. doesn't do extra ultrasounds unless they are needed.

Pink and Purple all the Way!

We learned today that it's a girl! The grandmother's are ecstatic about the news and we're pleased also.  Best yet she looks very healthy, no abnormalities that could be seen on the ultrasound. Unfortunately the scanner was giving Hubby issues so no pictures from the sonogram just yet. They even did a few 3-D ones at the office which surprised me. They didn't do that with Lil 'R.

We already decided on a name also. It only took a few hours! With Lil 'R he was born almost with out one. She's to be named after my maternal grandmother and her middle name will be one Hubby holds very dear. Yippy!!

Anniversaries, Work, Travel, and little Mischief

I've been up to a lot recently and unfortunately the blog has taken a toll because of it. Earlier in the weekend I presented a poster at a conference for the first time in Gainesville, and was away from home overnight, another first. It went really well and I'm very proud of myself, my company and my Hubby for how he held down the fort while I was away. It seems dinner consisted of chicken nuggets, frozen veggies and probably tater tots for him and Lil' R both but I've served the same thing myself before. It was hot so he did a great job. Household work still got done too. Really when I got home it was just like any other evening. No major catastrophes. The only thing crazy was our dog who seems almost had panic attacks with me being gone.

Yesterday was also Hubby and I's 2 year anniversary, or sorta. We were married on the leap year but normally we celebrate it on the 28th. We decided to head out to the local Renaissance Fair. He'd never been and it'd been a few years for me. The weather was wonderful and we had a great time. Lil' R got to ride on his first pony and seemed to enjoy it; until, he got bored. He also fell asleep in his stroller!! So, we got to spend longer than we expected.

So much happened it seems over the weekend, there is so much to share and tomorrow is the "big" sonogram where we learn the gender of the baby. :)