I'm Still Here!

Just not keeping up with . . . life very well LOL. While I was very doubtful that I'd magically get my energy back when I hit 12 weeks, I DO think it's slowly returning. Monday I think I totally overdid it. We were at my parents' this weekend and came home Monday. So I got up on Monday, loaded kids & stuff into the car, went w/ my grandparents to get a bushel of apples from the orchard they go to (yum! My kids are loving that pretty much anytime they ask, I tell them to go on down to the basement & grab an apple, hee hee). Then we went to a friend's house, hung out & chatted while kids played, then she offered me some garden stuff if I picked it (she's 30+ weeks pregnant so not doing so much gardening herself at this point and her dh hasn't been able to keep up with the garden thanks to his work schedule), so I picked some tomatoes and such. Met my parents for lunch, then drove home. Got home still feeling pretty good, figured I'd unload the stuff that had to be unloaded (read fresh produce LOL), then sit down for awhile and check my e-mail & such, and then do some of the unpacking, kitchen cleaning, etc. that I needed to do. BUT my computer wouldn't connect to the internet so I figured I'd go ahead & do the kitchen cleaning & stuff right away so I could spend my evening (after dh fixed the internet) online. Apparently that was pushing my energy level abit to far (especially combined w/ the can that had had veggie hotdogs in it & I thought was empty & wasn't and stunk, and I've not done smells well this whole pregnancy). I threw up for only the 2nd time this pregnancy, and then just felt kind of "shakey" the rest of the day, alternately shivering and sweating, etc. Needless to say after cleaning up the bare minimum I DID sit down and rest, and just got up in small spurts the rest of the afternoon to get stuff done.

Yesterday & today I've had more energy, still trying to catch up from being gone, but definitely feeling more energetic than I have for the last several weeks. Today I even made tomato soup from scratch (YUMMY stuff!) which included running downstairs to stir it several times while we were doing school, and taking the scrap STRAIGHT to the compost since we've been battling fruit flies around here (because taking things up the hill to the compost has been one of those things I've not had energy to do as often as I should).

So . . . we have progress. I've promised the girls we'll go apple picking this fall, and I think that will be feasible by the time we've used up most of the apples we have. Now to see if the energy will hold for the thorough housecleaning that really needs to happen tomorrow!

I think I've got a sufficient maternity wardrobe now (once sewing is done). I already had plenty of shirts, a winter dressy dress, a s-sleeve (which I can wear year round, w/ a sweater if needed) knit casual dress, and a knit jumper. I ordered a dress & a jumper from a site I found that made clothes at reasonable prices, and they came a week or 2 ago. When I got them, I realized I needed a slip under them (which actually further increases my wardrobe because I have 2 drawstring skirts that I'd written off as not working during pregnancy since they require a slip & I didn't have a maternity slip. Doubt I'll wear them much since it's a winter pregnancy & they're summer skirts, but they'll be nice for FL next month which was my biggest concern since I really don't want to have to do laundry while we're there & wasn't sure how I'd manage 12 days w/o it LOL), so Mom's spoiling me and making me a slip. AND mom's b-day present to me was the promise to make a maternity dress or skirt, and I opted for a skirt since I have lots of shirts & nothing to wear them with. We went shopping this weekend and found a pattern & material, so mom's making me a black cordory skirt (which means I can wear it w/ casual stuff AND w/ a couple dressy blouses that I got from a friend, so I have more church options too). And she also agreed to turn a pair of maternity jeans into a skirt. We were going to use a 2nd pair of jeans for the extra material (pattern uses 1 pair of jeans plus the legs from a 2nd pair to make the kind of skirt I want) but while shopping for the other sewing stuff, found some fabric that will work well for that, so now that's all planned out as well. So . . . by the time my regular skirts stop fitting, I should have a denim skirt, black skirt, 2 jumpers & 2 dresses. Woo-hoo!!

The other thing I thought of to extend my FL trip wardrobe is to wear sweatpants on the days that we're just driving all day anyway, sweatpants are comfortable, but I don't like how I look in them (pregnant or not), but a day when pretty much my family and a handful of random strangers at rest area bathrooms are all that will see me, it's an option.

And finally, my birth pool (otherwise known as a wading pool LOL) came!! Woo-hoo!! Dad suggested that it would be faster to fill the pool using buckets in the tub (fill a bucket, set a 2nd bucket under the faucet to fill while you dump the first one . . . repeat ad nauseum) and would save having to buy (& figure out how to hook up) the sink thing & hosing. But I need to pin dh down on whether he's willing to do it since I COULD hook up the sink thing/hosing and set it to filling on my own, I'm thinking I probably won't feel like carrying around buckets of water while I'm in labor. . . so we need to figure that out sometime in the next 4 or 5 months LOL.