March Madness

March has been such a crazy month! Combined with the heat wave we have had here in Illinois, BOY, I am pooped. Here are some projects I did this month.

I also made a baby quilt that I'm not very happy with. (failed projects do not get photographs taken, which could be used as blackmail in the future when I become famous). But please, do know that not all my projects are noteworthy or photoworthy.

I also discovered that masking tape on hardwood floors can make excellent toy truck mazes without having to worry about picking them up so I don't trip when I make any one of my 3 nightly bathroom visits in the dark.

I've purchased some clothes from thrift stores to repurpose into maternity clothes. Have I started those projects??? MMM....nope not yet. But I will! And as soon as I finish them I will post the pictures here.

Pinterest is partly to blame, my addiction to fabric is also a part of the blame too. EEK! I have so many projects. And heaven help us if we have a little girl, because then the projects will really add up! So many cute frilly and fluffy pink things! Thank goodness that the prospect of moving is in my brain so that will keep me under control and not make or redo too many things that we'll end up having to move them.

As for how the pregnancy is going.... everything is going smoothly. My 16 week appointment went well. Hubs and I waited to see the doctor for about an hour, and she was with us for less than 5 minutes. I can't imagine how much she is making per minute! The heartbeat was good, in the 150's and I'm measuring on track. I have my own doppler at home (a sonoline B) which I love and use about every other day. Today, (at almost 18 weeks) I got the heartbeat in the 140's. I have felt some flutters from the baby but nothing that I can distinguish really as specific movements. Connor is so cute with the doppler. He knows that we use it to "listen to the baby" and I ask him where the baby is and he says "in tummy". Who's tummy? "Mommy's tummy". He's so cute.
I've started scanning one of our baby name books for names that I like, but not pinpointing anything specific. JD and I will probably go with the same policy we had with the first pregnancy.... we'll pic 2-3 names (and keep them to ourselves) then when he/she is born we'll pick one that fits him/her best. I know, I know, its not very nice to keep secrets, but I've heard of way too many parents and family members whose "nose gets out of joint" when a name is scoffed at or an opinion is not taken by the parents. So we'll keep one last thing to ourselves before sharing our baby with the rest of the world.

UGH this is tough!

I've had to keep this pregnancy (and blog) a secret for tooo long! I'm 15.5 weeks today!

For those of you who I kept this from for so long. Here's why I couldn't spill the beans!

My job as a teacher could be put at risk if my school district knows I am pregnant BEFORE they rehire me for next year. That rehiring should happen at the end of March. Because they cannot know, there are many other issues. There are students that go to my school that are Hub's youth group. So, Hubs cannot tell the youth group, and we cannot tell our church family. Also because we are such a social media driven society, I cannot spill the beans via facebook (and neither could Hubs). So if you were one of the many people who has been out of the loop, I am sorry.

Here is a photo for 15.5 weeks!!

I am really "between a rock and a hard place" with this pregnancy, because we may be moving again this summer. Nothing for sure yet, but it may be happening. The main reason is because this baby really does not have a great spot in this house. We have tandum bedrooms to the bathroom with our master bedroom at the back of the house. If baby 2 gets a tandum room, and Connor is on the other side, adults (Hubs and I) have no way of getting to our only bathroom when the kiddos are asleep. That and the well water, no garage, no air conditioning, no dishwasher issue. We can make due if we have to stay here, but I am not excited about that idea. SO.... if we are moving it will be when I am 8 months pregnant.

YIKES!

So, for sake of not having more bins of stuff to move, I really cannot buy anything for this baby, and I cannot decorate a nursery until we move. So this really stinks. To get it out of my system, I've been making maternity clothes. The above maternity wrap shirt is my first maternity item. I really like it because its adjustable! I just wrap and wrap and wrap the fabric around me like i'm a mummy and it always fits like a glove (which if you have worn maternity clothing lately, you know most of it feels like you are wearing a tent). It is funny watching me put it on because the straps on each side are about 3 yards or longer! But once its on... its cute. I may make another one!

10 weeks, 2 to go until news gets out!

Went to the doctor at the beginning of January and she pushed my date back to August 21st. So my prevous post at 7 weeks, I was really 6 weeks. Thank you incredibly long cycle which messes with everything! Anyway, the checkup went FANTASTIC. Got to see the "bean" and saw a little flicker which was the heartbeat, which was a HUGE relief to see!

I'm gonna keep calling the baby a bean until it actually looks like something else. The baby is the grayish thing inside the black blob. Bean is 7 weeks and 3 days in the picture so that is exactly what we are supposed to see. So far I love my doctor! She is part of a practice of 4 women (smaller than my previous practice which had 6!) so hopefully I'll get to know each doctor well enough so if any of them are on duty for delivery I'm comfortable.

With Bitty Boy, I ended up having to get a c-section cause he just wasn't wanting to come out the traditional way. My new doc is all for v-bacs so i'm excited she's going to let me have a "trial of labor". But boy doesn't it sound stressful?? A TRIAL of labor?? Am I going to be put on the stand? Is the prosecution going to bring up all my deep dark secrets? EEK! No, I kid.

But anyway, morning sickness is still not morning sickness around here. I wake up and feel great! As the day goes on I get sicker and sicker. By dinner time rolls around, I can't muster up the courage to eat anything, or do anything cause I feel sooooo bad. BTW, to the family I have been ditching over the past few weekends, its been because of how sick I am all the time. Being in the car for long periods of time and eating anything other than crackers when I feel sick, will pretty much guarantee I'll throw up. Let alone chasing around a 2 year old while socializing with family and friends. So, I'm sorry for being a bad sister/daughter.... but I really did have a good reason!!!

Seriously though, 2 weeks before the cat is out of the bag! AHH! It is soooo hard not saying anything. Especially because on Facebook, 4 of my friends are pregnant too! They are due much earlier than me, but it is sooooo hard not to say anything! Its really hard not to tell my family either, especially my MIL. I see her every week (sometimes twice) cause she watches Bitty Boy for me sometimes while I go to work/run errands. I've felt so crummy and out of steam. Whenever I go over there she's does all the crawling around on the floor, chasing after him, etc. I feel so bad. It would be sooo much easier if she knew.

Plus, she watches him for doctor's appointments (which she doesn't know). She watches Bitty Boy while we go on "dates". Technically they are dates because Hubs and I go out to lunch afterward. We are very careful to make sure that we fall under these technicalities! We actually chose our doctor for 2 reasons: 1- its an awesome practice that is connected with a great hospital (our previous hospital was a mess), and 2- its incredibly close to MIL's. Having a 2 year old running around a doctor's office while messing with "stuff" down there doesn't sound like a good idea to me. So off to Nana's house he goes (as long as after reading this she still wants to).

This morning sickness is really kicking my butt though. I'm so grateful to be pregnant, though, don't get me wrong. But, I never forget I'm pregnant because of how gross I feel. The best way to describe it is this: imagine you go to the movie theater on an empty stomach and down a large coke and a bag of buttery popcorn all by your onsies. That gross, nasty, over full feeling, yeah you know what I'm talking about. Well its like that, but never goes away! Luckily I work in the morning so my student's haven't had to see me rush off to hurl. (well one time I did, but to no relief).

Speaking of school, I am excited that my due date did get moved back later. School next year will start on the 9th, so if I do get rehired, I will have a week or 2 to work before Due Date! I really hope they rehire me. Working part time has been awesome and even if I only take a few weeks off, going back part time so early is really not a huge deal (as long as I can get my doc to sign off on it). Plus, looking for a job again over the summer when I'm huge is going to be very difficult. Who wants to hire a big preggo when she's going to ditch you for a few weeks of maternity leave? I have about 3 weeks of sick days saved up now, and if I do get hired next year, I will have 5 weeks. Thinking I'll just take off 3 or 4 then go back as long as its only the 1 class I will teach. Hopefully I'll know if I'm being hired back or not BEFORE I let them know I am pregnant. I also have to look at my teaching contract and make sure I have some kind of job protection since I am only going to be using my sick days (where my sub is paid out of my benefits), I still get paid cause I saved them and didn't use them last year or this year, and I'm not taking unpaid days leave.

So anyway, sorry this post is so long. I know you all are catching up because I haven't published this until I am 12 weeks along. But I really only have Hubs to talk to about this stuff, and you know as much as Hubs tries to understand, he's a guy, he really doesn't get it.