the hub woke up grumpy & when one thing goes wrong in that mood- everything starts to go wrong. he has some anger issues in that he can't communicate well when angry & either needs to be left alone completely to scream & yell at whatever inanimate object is on his bad side, or he needs to get snapped out of it before it gets to that point. unfortunately- when we are rushing around trying to get to my aunt's for noon which means leaving the house by 11, snapping him out of it means starting a fight... so i walked away & continued to get myself ready. he kept up the yelling at inanimate objects thing for a while- at one point i thought he was actually hurt as i could hear him 2 floors up! nope- just a cranky bastard! thankfully- he pulled himself together, finally apologized to me, and we were off with friend in tow. an hour later than i wanted to be...
but my aunt's house at thanksgiving is one of those magical places that has actually retained the rosy glowed hue from childhood. it's changed as the cast of characters has all grown up & new ones have joined, our elders have all left. but the warmth & love hits you as soon as you walk in the door. my parents & sister were there. my cousin (who might as well be a sister) came with her family. all the cousins were there- including some from wisconsin- flying in to spend the weekend. there were two cute little dogs and lots of wonderful food. we had 23 at the table and even though my friend had never met half the people there- i ended up losing track of her at one point as she was enveloped by my family. new traditions that were started in previous years were kept up- playing rock band after dinner instead of watching football. just so you know i am an ace lead guitar player! and the hub ~stinks~ at the drums. despite the fact that he plays them for real! but he never picked up the video game concept of it.
my goddaughter was there- she is now 14 & so grown up it's scary. i don't get to see her & her little brother enough so they are always so different every time i do. her little brother is now 4 & the hub was in heaven playing with him. he got to use his patented 'wet willy' technique that he is perfecting to use on caiden. only once she can understand what it is of course. which is pretty evil of a dad to plan years in advance! but he was having a blast- i know he will be a great dad, but it's nice to see little reassurances in his interactions with kids.
there was a ton of fantastic wine & great microbrewed beer. i looked on with big sad puppy eyes & a few sniffs here & there to smell what i was missing. not that wine or beer ever really smelled good before- but it sure does now! i am debating what my 'special occasion' small glass will be now. the entire family wouldn't let me have a sip anyway- so that knocked thanksgiving out. the hub is ever vigilant about even a sip of caffeine or soda, so no christmas since it's just us for that holiday. maybe new years or our anniversary. i'll be 27-28 weeks. officially into the third trimester at that point. (or just about in) i think i'll be good then...
even if i skip it this entire pregnancy, i'm fine with that. i really don't miss drinking all that much (do i sound like a lush or what?!) sure- i liked my wine a lot when ttc & i hit the red end of a cycle. i do enjoy really good beers- we are close enough to a six pack store where you can make your own variety six pack out of any of their loose microbrews that my beer snobbery has increased tenfold. in fact- that's what i want to celebrate our daughter's birth. no champagne for me- i want a good dark belgian beer. and if i wait until after giving birth to have it- i am okay with that. i don't think it's bad to have one drink your entire pregnancy. celebrations happen, occasions get marked, a beverage gets raised in toast. but every chance i get i hold back. i don't know why- i just keep thinking- well, i don't need it for this particular occasion. i can wait for the next one. maybe it's my small sliver of if coming out. i still don't want to jinx this.
i keep thinking that someday soon this will all truly seem real. all during the day yesterday i got the pregnant girl treatment. it was my first dose of really intense, hours of attention & focus, belly rubbing & baby talk that i have had yet. of course- it's far more comfortable for me because it's all family. and i have to admit- i really fucking loved it! but it still felt surreal. like i was an actor in a play, not really the pregnant woman getting fawned over. my cousin was holding my belly & swears she felt caiden moving. i say she was way too high & it was just food in intestines. (mmmm- yummy!) so my sister took a nose dive towards us & elbowed the cousin out of the way so she could feel. i still say that 22 weeks is way to early to feel any outside movement, but it of course sparked my sister & my mom to have to hold the belly for a good ten minutes each to see if they could feel something too! and all the time i was thinking that i barely feel her consistently. and even though it makes me smile in wonder each time i do- it still doesn't quite feel real. i talk to her, i have her room started, i tell her all my plans & hopes & dreams for her. her daddy kisses her good morning through my belly. and it still doesn't feel real.
i have brief intense moments when it finally hits me. i am usually in that weird place between awake & asleep & i suddenly lose my breath completely as i truly realize that we are going to be parents. that i have our child in my belly. that in 4 short months we will be a very tired & very happy family. that despite how much we have left to do in this house & our life- we are having a daughter. the realization is so strong that i literally am left gasping for air. and then it goes again & my life continues as before. in this strange dream-state of knowing i am indeed pregnant. i am indeed feeling a new life inside me, but it's still not quite real. as real as i want it to be anyway. and that might be a very good thing if realization is still that strong & powerful for me to experience.
anyway- it's actually been a very productive week off. i got my inordinately expensive paint for the nursery. i overbought by a lot when estimating how much i would need for stripes on one wall. i should have done the color samples, but got full pints instead. idiot! so i will have tons of leftover paint. if anyone wants any- let me know. it's low voc too. i got the no-voc paint for the main color, but it didn't come in pints so i had to make do. (although it meets the requirements for a leed certified project for the paint credit- so that works for me!) my sister & brother-in-law came over on wednesday & were my fantastic work crew. i still have to do second (& some third!) coats on the walls as this is only the second coat of paint to ever go on them- there was 1930's wallcovering under the 1960's fake wood paneling we tore down & our house is from the 30's...
but here are some progress shots for you. now- my sister said she was reserving judgment until the room was all complete. but keep in mind that the crazy wall does get the changing table & two shelves on it. there will be artwork & photos on the walls & a rug is to be installed in the next couple of weeks, as well as trim & then crown moulding. so it will look less circus like...
the beginning of the day
the end of the day:
the black shelf on the wall will have a mate & both be painted white. when the tape comes off it will be white stripes between the colors. it also looks much darker in the photo. but it is a very different take on a nursery. i get that. i am a designer though & my house has been my drawing board. i wanted something modern, funky & bright. the bedding i chose is predominately white with little dots of color... here if you are interested. i think with all the white accents i want to put in- the bright colors will be welcome. and if we (or she) grows to hate it- it's only paint! easy to fix!
7 comments:
The stripes are very cool. Can't wait to see t finished!
Oh, we have too much in common. Namely... husband's who yell at inanimate objects and a love of dark beer. Although I am pretty exclusive to guiness:)
I have been sipping wine for the last two weeks and am in heaven. Stupid to do though b/c alcohol is good for stopping contractions. Whatever.
Glad you had such a magical thanksgiving!
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Glad you had a great Thanksgiving! And it's awesome that you're getting your nursery together. Mine is still a mess!
22 weeks is ~not~ too early to feel something from the outside. Tom felt all three of our babies from the outside by that time. But there are the people who feel breathing or just a twitch in their own hands and they think that's the baby. I ~know~ when they really do feel it, as I feel the kick simultaneously.
So no one in your family will let you take a sip? heh. That's funny. My mother in law poured me a glass of wine to drink with thanksgiving. I guess I just have different rules than you. You will allow yourself "one special occasion drink" while I will allow "one drink on special occasions". So I get to partake multiple times, but only one drink on those occasions! Did you read that study I had on my blog awhile ago that studied 40,000 women and concluded NOT ONE case of fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol symptoms (the lesser of the two) for women who drank less than 8 drinks per week? Isn't that insane? 8 drinks per week!!! I would never EVER do that, but it was really the women who drank 1 glass of wine (or beer) every night with dinner and once a week had 2 drinks. This is actually recommended in some countries due to the antioxident and blood thinning/circulation benefits of wine. So the study totally backed up how one drink a day will not harm a baby.
Of course, I'm not FOR pregnant women drinking. I think it's better to ~not~ drink, but IF there is an occasion where I wanted a drink, I certainly don't worry about it at all.
In regards to caffeine, what does your OB say? Mine says 350mgs caffeine is fine. In a regular 8 oz cup of coffee, there are 176 mg of caffeine. So I could have up to 16 ozs of regular coffee per day. I don't drink coffee, instead I have a grande (16 oz) nonfat black/white mocha from starbucks and it only had 175mg of caffeine. Exactly as much as one 8 oz cup of coffee!
Goodness, I am commenting way too much right now.
About you not yet feeling REAL, just you wait until your belly is so large you have to waddle and can't easily get up from a laying down position. It'll be real before you know it!
The painting in the room is really cute. Quite bold colors - you'll definitely get your little girl's attention!
I'm glad you had a good Thanksgiving, even with the rocky start.
I *love* the stripes in the nursery!
22 weeks is about when Jeramy could start feeling kicks from the outside, and I'm by no means skinny.
I absolutely adore the paint colors and stripes. I'm sure your nursery will be gorgeous!
and jenn - the 175mg is just the amount in any starbucks "grande" made w/ espresso.
Heya - I just wanted to tell you how fucking cool I think you are. We get along on the phone just fantabulously. We need to meet some day, okay?
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