Wonderful Weekends

Weekends are wonderful things.  And I seem to enjoy them even more now that I'm pregnant.  On the weekends, I get to sleep in as late as I want, I get to spend whole days with my husband, and recently I have a bunch of energy.

During the week I work and have other commitments and so I'm usually worn out in the evenings and do not want to do housework or anything else that needs to be done.  Needless to say, recently the housework has gotten away from me--big time.  During the weekend though, I'm on my own schedule and that gives me a surge of energy.  I can finally get things done!

So far this weekend Adam and I have:
-done all the dishes
-cleaned the kitchen and bathroom
-de-cluttered and straightened the whole house
-finally have some clean laundry
-watched a movie together
-finished Arrow season 2 together
-put our bed on risers, which allowed for the purchase and filling of 3 under the bed containers
-cleaned and organized the nursery
-wrote thank you notes for the baby gifts we have received so far
-enjoyed a refreshing Sunday morning at church

This afternoon I plan to complete the first step on a project for the nursery.  And then going to volunteer at the youth group party.

Sounds like a great weekend to me!  And even though I have done a lot and am a little tired from it, getting things done on the weekend energizes me.  So I may have gone to bed sore last night, but I was happy about it because I had worked for it.

What about you?  Are weekends when you get things done, or when you rest from everything you did during the week?

Counting down the Days

I’m starting to get more and more excited.  The baby is kicking and moving around a lot, there is a baby shower in the works, I’ve been organizing the nursery, a lot of my pre-pregnancy clothes don’t fit anymore, I’ve been stocking up on diapers and buying some clothes, and we got our first gift in the mail.

With all of these exciting things happening I can’t help but count the days until Baby Tomlinson will show up.  As of today, I have roughly 120 days left.  Is it too soon to start counting down the days?

I think not, so I made this countdown chain and hung it in the nursery.  I am a very visual person, so this way, if I am particularly stressed and feeling like there is no time left, then I can go look in the nursery and visual just how many days are left.  So here’s today.  (And of course this is all assuming the baby will come somewhere around the due date).

And since we’re talking about today, one thing that I have been particularly stressed about recently is the state of the nursery.  Here is its current state.

Yeah, I know it needs work, but now I can look at the wall and take a deep breath and realize that I have lots of time.  Lots of time to clean and organize.

So the next time you start to feel stressed, take a deep breath and do something to help you visualize how much time you have left.  Buy some candy and put that number of days worth of candy in a jar and each day you get a candy, then you can see how much is left, or find some other fun way for you to keep track.  Or just sit back, relax, and enjoy the adventure.

Dreaming

Things I think and dream about that I can’t wait to find out about our child:

Is it a boy or a girl?

Will they have red hair?

Who will they look like?

What is their personality like?

What will they like to do?

Will they be athletic? Musical?

Will they be calm or energetic?

What will be their favorite food?

 

I want to know all these things and more!  I cannot wait to get to know our child over their years growing up.  I dream about a different version of our child almost every night, which one will be the closest?  Maybe I’m not even close with any of my dreams, but it’s still fun to think about.

Preparing for Parenthood

If you asked me how I'm preparing to be a parent, I would tell you that I'm doing several things.  I’m reading.  I’m asking questions.  I’m fellowshipping with other mom’s and parents.  But that actually sounds like I'm making progress.

I’m not going to be able to learn everything, or even close to that, about parenting before the baby comes.  I know that a lot of it will be trial and error for our family to find out what works, and that’s a little scary.  Sure, there are general things that when talking with people we can plan to do, but it’s largely going to be about our family and our baby.  So there’s not a lot I can do right now to prepare, and that’s scary.  But I’m filling my head with as much information as I can, and I’m hoping that will pay off in the end.

What is the best parenting advice you have ever gotten?

What's that smell?

I have always heard that pregnant women can be bothered by certain smells, but I never expected this to affect me like it has.  It’s like I have a bionic nose and can smell everything, especially everything that bothers me. 

Adam has used the same shampoo ever since we were dating, and now I can’t stand it.  Now, it is way too strong and I just hate the smell.  If he puts is head on my shoulder, I have to turn my nose away from his hair because I just can’t take the smell.

I can’t stand the smell of garbage bags.  It’s like the worst smell in the world.  It could even be a clean, unfilled garbage bag, I still cannot stand it.

I can’t stand anything that smells old or like it has gone bad.  I want to throw up just thinking about those smells. 

Anything with a strong scent overwhelms me. 

Will my sense of smell get less sensitive after pregnancy?  Or is it here to stay?  If it is, I’ll have to buy Adam some new shampoo.

The two sides

To find out, or not to find out, that is the question, and the argument.  Adam and I both had differing views on finding out or not.  I wanted to find out because I wanted to be able to plan the nursery and register for gender specific clothes and things.  Adam didn’t want to find out because he wanted it to be a surprise. 

 

Many people told us that not finding out just makes everything more exciting, but in my mind it makes everything more stressful!  But I caved, we are not finding out.  We registered for gender neutral things, and we’re just going to wait and see.  I’m already growing antsy with anticipation!  I can see the logic to both sides, but that doesn’t make it any easier.  I wish I knew what to call my baby, besides baby. 

 

The funniest advice on this topic came from my midwife.  She said that when people decide to be surprised it gives them the extra incentive to push when you just don’t want to anymore.  You keep pushing because you want to find out if it’s a boy or girl.  If you already know, then you don’t have as much incentive to push.  So, there you have it, on the day I give birth to our baby, I’ll have the extra incentive of finding out if I have a son or daughter, even though I think the pain will be incentive enough.

I'm Losing Control

I realized this morning that pregnancy is preparing me to be a parent.  I am the kind of person who likes to be in control.  I like to have a plan and stick as close to that plan as possible.  I can be flexible and change my plan, even though it frustrates me, but I like to be the one in control of that.

With pregnancy, I have no control.  I have no control over how I feel day to day, I have no control over what foods I’m actually going to want to eat.  I have no control over how tired I am.  I have no control over growing my child, at this point.  Sure I can eat well and exercise, but in general I have no control over what my body is doing. 

For example, I plan to sleep 9 hours so I can get a lot of work done the next day.  I end up waking up twice to go to the bathroom and a countless number of times to get comfortable, and then I wake up with a migraine that lasts the rest of the day.  See?  No control.

I think this is one way that pregnancy is preparing me to be a parent.  When this baby is born, I will have no control.  I will literally have no control over when my water breaks and I go into labor.  I will have no control over when the baby starts crying.  I will have no control over when the baby wants to eat. 

 

Pregnancy is preparing me for a very long season of not being in control.  It will be an adventure, that I am sure of, so I guess my plan will have to be “go with the flow because it’s out of your control”.