bits and pieces

At thirty-five weeks pregnant, I can expected to have at least one tirade or mental breakdown a day, and I'm assured that's normal. (See? Now anyone reading this blog wondering if it is can have reassurance.) Today I had one of each: a breakdown in the early morning hours due to the fact that I woke up (for probably the fiftieth time that night) with every muscle in my body aching and a raw throat. I've been stuffed up for weeks, but last night it decided to start draining into my throat for some reason. That, combined with the dry air I had to breathe in through my mouth, made me miserable. I got up early and went to the recliner, trying to sleep in a sitting position. This was slightly better and I got to spend time with my cat--a rare occurrence since the puppy chases her every time she comes out--until my husband let the dog out and immediately started getting frustrated with her for all of the puppy love (nipping, jumping, etc.) that she was giving him. So much for resting. My tirade was at the end of the evening and involved strangers at the door asking for money; Al letting them in while I was hiding behind the door (I hate answering the door to strangers, and at the time I wasn't wearing a bra, which is always quite obvious with me); a very embarrassing, messy house; and Al giving away money we really can't afford for some cause that may or may not be legit. Enough said.

Al and I both had high hopes for getting the flooring and more done in the baby's room today, but it just didn't work out. After our eye doctor's appointments (they lasted an hour and a half!), we tried heading to the Secretary of State to get Al's driver's license and tabs renewed. Their computers were down. In every SOS in the state. Beautiful. Next, we headed to city hall to pay our taxes (for some reason, my husband has an aversion to both renewing his license/tabs by mail and paying the taxes by mail). When we finally got home, we had about an hour before we needed to head out again to puppy training. Mya did very good, got very tired, and wouldn't listen to us the minute we walked out the door, of course. We came home again and Al went online, found out that the SOS was up and running again, and went out again. I started sewing and finished the crib bumper I've been making (I also registered for a spare; we have a kind-of interchangeable theme going on for the room). I'll show you pics of that when I can actually put it in the crib, which is still in a box in the living room. Al, in the meantime, went between coming home, running out (nails!), coming home, laying two of the four remaining rows of hardwood, blowing the power, giving away our money, and leaving to play floor hockey.

After I finished the crib bumper, it was becoming quite obvious that Al wasn't going to get the floor done today as I had hoped. I really, really want to start putting the baby's room together and have my moments of Oh my gosh, I'm freaking out, there's so much to do and I can't control any of it and what if the baby comes before it's done because I'm not a normal mom that wants her baby by her side at all times and plan on using the crib right away, because who would want a dog in a crate, a cat, a husband, and a baby in her bed? every once in a while again. So even though I couldn't put the crib together or start hauling stuff from our living room (where I'm afraid it is doomed to remain forever) to the kid's room, I kept working on what I could do even before getting that room back: making cushions for the kid's rocking chair. That's what you see pictured here. The chair was a gift to me when I was a child (from my grandparents, I believe, but I can't be certain; mom didn't write it down in my baby book) and now it's being passed to my own child. The original cushions were long gone and the ones my mom tried to replace them with were icky--crumbling and covered with pillowcases that were pinned on. So I bought new cushions and made the red cushion covers. I'm quite proud of myself since I even sewed zippers into the covers (I've never done that before) and did it all without a pattern. My goal for tomorrow is to start working on matching cushions for the adult rocking chair we bought off of craigslist so that I can be comfy, too.

I've been putting off the bad news until the end. My new nephew, Noah, is back in the hospital all alone tonight getting a blood transfusion. Erik and Meaghan took him to the pediatrician they didn't like yesterday, and she discovered that his bilirubin levels were very low (at least, that's what my dad said; from what I read, they might have been very high). She sent them to the hospital where he spent some time in the NICU under the lights. Since there was only a small, uncomfortable waiting room for parents, Erik and Meaghan decided to come home and get some well-needed rest before heading back after breakfast tomorrow morning. They won't be able to take him home until tomorrow evening at the earliest, but they seem reassured that he should be okay. All we can do is keep praying! I'm proud of my brother and sister-in-law for handling it all so calmly. I think I might be freaking out a bit, even though this is fairly common in newborns.

That's all the bits and pieces for today. But stay tuned...I'll keep you posted!