24 Week Update

24 Weeks down. 13 to go.

I don't remember what it is like to not be pregnant or trying to become pregnant. When Peanut is born it will be 22 straight months of either having a pregnancy or pre-pregnancy mindset/body. Claire obviously feels that way too. The other day she said. "Mama, your Peanut is getting bigger, is Peanut going to come out? Like Miss Nicole's baby at church? I want to hold my brother like the babies at church." and my best answer is. "I hope so."

Claire thinks it's a boy all the time because we made a big deal about how Will was a boy. I, on the other hand, am 90% sure it's a girl. Josh is leaning more toward boy.

I was wrong about the heparin not bruising on my legs. Oh well. Josh has been doing the injections for me on the back of my arm whenever he is home at the right time and I love it. He can do it really well and most of the time I can't even feel it.

So far, the pregnancy has been pretty uneventful - which is good of course!

Some Sewing

I sewed today. I have not touched my sewing machine or serger for at least 5 months so to me, it was a big deal. I finally decided to get back to it after the past few weeks of being unable to find tops for Claire at thrift stores and then going to Old Navy and being disappointed in either their selection or prices. I knew that I had quite a few knit tops that have been just waiting to be refashioned.

I took my favorite Old Navy shirt of Claire's (she is wearing it in the main blog picture above - that was last year on her birthday) and used it as a pattern. I didn't have to cut it up luckily, just looked at it and layed it out to cut around.It still fits her but is getting a tad short. It is a really simple design but in order to pull it off, I need to learn how to do a rolled hem on my serger. I was super mad at myself when I found that I had everything I needed and it only took about 30 minutes to read through the manual and learn to set the machine for the rolled hem. Why did I not do it sooner!

I practiced on this weird, I don't know, puffin? knit fabric that I got from somewhere. That way I wouldn't waste my good fabric if it didn't turn out. It came out beautifully - just a tad short and once it was on her I decided the print wasn't too bad so I am keeping it.

Next, I tried it on my good fabric. A friend at church dug this aeropostale shirt out of the clothing mounds at the church rummage sale and knew I would like it for sewing (thanks Anita!)Well, that's what is left of it. I basically just cut off the bottom section. I made my pattern a little longer than the first time and voila! a new shirt for Claire. I must admit I am pretty proud of this one.
Not wanting to have too many shirts in the exact same pattern I went to the Old Navy website to see what other styles are out there right now and found this one. I then knew that this shirt had a new future. I bought it about 2 years ago for $1.I reused the ties for the shoulder straps and just used the fabric from the bottom portion like I did with the green striped shirt. I am very happy with this one too!

I still have a few more knits to transform. Shirt crisis averted!

Fun with Cats

Our cat, Jonas puts up with a lot. Everyday he jumps up in our computer chair and just sits there until Claire comes and pushes him in circles. She gets him going pretty fast and sometimes rides with him. As you can see he is only slightly annoyed. Eventually Claire will get bored and leave him alone. But seriously, I think he likes it.

Tea - My Excuse for Not Blogging

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much lately. Well, I finally have the chance to show you why!

Three months ago, I started planning for our church's, Ladies' Spring Tea. I was so excited! When I was about 10 years old my family went to a very small church and a lady there (Renee) would give teas each spring. My mom and I would help out at them and I absolutely loved it. They were a lot of work with so much attention to detail. Everything was so special and carefully planned. I remember that Renee treated me as one of the ladies, I felt privileged and helpful. Ever since then, I knew that I wanted to give teas someday and here was my chance! I couldn't believe it. These pictures are from 1998 .....and 2000.

Wow, that's all I can say to those pictures.

My mom and I (and Josh too!) faithfully looked for items I would need for the tea and I am pretty sure that between the three of us, we have traveled to every Goodwill in the valley. (several times a week). I needed so much stuff though. We were planning on 120 ladies, and 15 tables. That meant I needed 15 serving teapots, 15 centerpiece teapots,
15 tablecloths,
(each was a vintage sheet from Goodwill, cut square, hemmed and ironed.)15 creamers, 15 sugar bowls,

15 glass bowls for lemon curd

15 for clotted cream
15 platters or tiered servers120 china plates, (not shown)
and 120 of these 1950's "hospitality sets". They were remarkably easy to find at thrift stores I never spent more than $1 on a plate and most of the cups were .69. I found just under 100 so I borrowed the rest from a friend. (Thank you Mrs. Lumpkin!)
Not to mention, cloth napkins, flowers, and table # signs for each table. I felt like all I did for a week was wash dishes from the thrift stores. After that week, I had a strict 'wash it as soon as it comes in the house' policy.

I also had the menu planned out. Since the baking would be done by 19 different ladies who graciously accepted when I asked them to make 120 tiny foods, I needed to have recipes that showed pictures of how the food should look when it was done - just so there were no surprises and we were all on the same page.







That was a huge undertaking, baking everything, taking pictures of each step, and noting how many items each recipe would make. Here is the menu.

1^st course served:
Orange Cranberry Scones with Lemon curd
Sweet Rose Bread with Clotted Cream
Chocolate Banana Muffins

2^nd Course Served:
Chicken Salad Croissants
Raspberry Ribbon Sandwiches
Cucumber Sandwiches
Quiche
Fruit Cups

3^rd Course Served:
Blueberry Pound Cake
Lemon Rose Madeleines
Fudge Truffle Cheesecake
Butter Cookies

This is how the tables were set. Each table had a hostess who was responsible for getting the food, beverages, and plates for the ladies. This cut back on traffic and makes it more enjoyable to be served. I am so thankful for every person who had to work to make this tea possible!

I was so excited for the day of the tea, (May 7th) but I also was dreading it as not only did I have all these preparations to worry about but I also was the speaker. I did not want to speak, any one who knows me can testify to that, but I knew that God wanted me to. The theme of the tea was Joy, so I knew that I had to talk about having joy even in life's trials. I had hoped my talk/testimony would be about 10 minutes and it was just over that. I didn't cry nearly as much as I did when I practiced at home either so that was a relief. I guess I was too nervous:) Over all, the tea went off without any major hitches and I think it was a great success. I had every intention of taking pictures of the actual event but we were all so busy that I never had the chance. I was in the kitchen with Josh and 3 other brave helpers from our church. What a huge job it was to wash all those dishes and prepare the trays for each table hostess!

I am so sad that it is over! I still haven't put everything away - mostly because I have no idea where to store it. What a great husband I have to not complain about the boxes and boxes of china and tea pots to store in the garage, (or how much money that was spent on them - which I refuse to add up the receipts to find out). I know we acquired everything at the lowest cost possible and they will be used and appreciated for years and years to come. What a blessing planning the tea had been for me. It kept me recklessly busy for at least 2 months, keeping my mind off the pregnancy and making the time fly by. I can't wait until next time! (and yes, I have already started planning for it.... a little.)

20 Weeks!

20 weeks down....

17 to go.....
The heparin was going well until 2 days ago when I injected it and for some reason ended up with a swollen lump the size of an egg under my skin. I then had no place left on my stomach to do the shots that was not swollen and extremely painful or bruised so I became very discouraged. I called my doctor and and got permission to do it on the tops of my thighs to mix things up. So far that has been going great. It doesn't bruise on my legs and doesn't seem to be as sore after either. Hurray!

Thankful!

Yesterday, I had to clean at Big D. (My place of work for the past 5 1/2 years) I dread my once a month cleaning. I really am thankful for the opportunity and the extra money makes it well worth it, but it it just a terrible task. I would go off about urinals but I will spare you. But seriously, why do men like and use them when they obviously have trouble hitting the target? Can't they just stand a little closer? I was feeling overwhelmed with all that I had to do there, knowing that once I got home I had a messy house to clean, baking and preparing to do for Easter and the church tea which is rapidly approaching. On top of it all, my allergies were the worst they had ever been and thanks to Peanut, there are not a lot of options as far as medicine goes.

Anyway, I got home from work to find the house picked up, vacuumed, the dishwasher empty, floor swept, and laundry done(and put away)! Josh and Claire were not home so I texted Josh to find out where they were. He had taken her to Home Depot to get some flowers to replace the ones that had died during the winter and while there, he took Claire to the Kiddie workshop/Easter egg hunt. How cute is that!

Claire had a blast and was supposedly a good helper with the house. I just love the little apron she got! So, long story short, because my wonderful husband is so willing to help out, I got everything done that I needed to and even have time to blog about it:)

Semi-excellent News!

About 2 weeks ago I was sent by a perinatalogist to have 15 vials of blood drawn to check for any chromosomal problems or blood clotting issues that might have possibly contributed to Will's death. I was hoping something would come up so that 1. We would know what happened, and 2. We could do something about it to keep it from happening again.

Well, I finally got the results back! Lo and behold, I have 3 blood clotting abnormalities! I was so excited! The doctor who was talking to me and telling me the "news" must have thought I was a psycho because I kept saying "That's great!" "Awesome!" "Thank you soooo much!" The excellent part is that now we know and we can help prevent it from happening again. The doctor wanted me to make an appointment asap (because practically any second this baby could die from it as well) to learn how to give myself heparin injections.....bummer...(That's the semi-part.) I fretted that night that the baby would die while I was sleeping (as is what happened with Will) but was able to get an appointment the next day early in the afternoon. Josh came with me to learn how to give the shots too as we weren't sure how it all worked and of course for moral support.

The OB who taught us was very nice and knowledgeable although I disagree that my stomach has enough fat on it to not go too deep. Why can't I do it on my thigh or side chunk? There is plenty of fat there. I have to give myself the injection 2 times a day, (every 12 hours) in the stomach.

I had actually talked myself into thinking it wouldn't really hurt but was surprised at how much it did and how sore the "injection site" is. She told me to think of my stomach as a clock, do the first injection at 12, and the next one at 1 and so on, so it will be 6 days before hitting the same spot. I am sure I will get used to it quickly. I'd better! I have to do this for the rest of the pregnancy AND for every other pregnancy from here on out.

I wonder why they don't test for these abnormalities in every pregnant woman. I wasn't tested with Claire or Will. Do you really have to wait and see if your baby dies before doing a simple blood test? I am going to find out the logic behind NOT doing it. Maybe it is extremely rare. .... but still. Will would most likely be here today if they tested for it. I also don't know how Claire managed to survive a 41 and a half week pregnancy. Scary!

So there we have it. Heparin injections twice daily, oh and a baby aspirin daily. The doctors can't say for sure that it will work but it seems to, in most cases, do the trick.

Right after the injection class, we had our 20 week ultrasound! It was a level 2 ultrasound which was awesome. It is not a 3-d ultrasound. Just a more informative, in-depth ultrasound. At one point the doctor was mapping the blood flow directions of the heart with different colors, kind of like a weather radar map. Everything checked out great with Peanut. We were very careful to not find out whether Peanut is a boy or girl. The doctor said she didn't write it down or note it anywhere so that a different doctor doesn't spill the beans by accident. She said though that whatever parts he/she has are normal so that is good. The baby was moving quite a bit and arching its back with it's arms up by its head stretching. It was so cute. (s/he) liked to have an arm by its head and at one point it looked like it was trying to suck on both hands at the same time.
In other pregnancy news.... my varicose veins and leg swelling have been terrible! I figured that since it is this bad, this early on, I had better bite the bullet and get some compression hose. I ordered them online to get more supportive and "stylish" ones than what Walgreens sells. The ones I chose are thigh-high and open toe so I can wear them with sandals if I want. Although, they are about 20 shades darker than my normal skin tone so it looks pretty weird. They came in the mail last week. I was reluctant to wear them out in public but I have the last few days and wow! I feel great! Before, I could feel my varicose veins bulging and throbbing but with these leggings on, I don't feel them aching or feeling like they are pulsing at all. The down side to them is that my legs look artificially "sand" colored and weirdly smooth.(the flash makes them looks really light here.)

Attractive no? Plus, they are HOT- as in temperature. What can you do?

I think I should just rename this post "My Angry Body"

Full on belly photos coming soon!