Pregnancy Week 36 update

Due date: September 27

How far along: 36 Weeks

Next appointment: Sept 3...which will be a birthing 'class' / check-up

Total weight gain/loss: 20 kilos..eek (I put it in kilos so it looks like less ;)

Exercise: Still walking the dog daily and the elliptical , one or two times a week.

Stretch marks: Yes, they finally made their appearance. They look like a tiger clawed me

Swelling: Only when on long road trips.  We went to Austria last week with my brother and sister-in-law.  3 days of more than 4 hours of driving- it was a lot of time in the car, and lots bathroom stops!  We have no more trips scheduled at this point thankfully!

Maternity clothes: Yes, though I have found a few non-maternity items of clothing that can work with the bell.  A long skirt with an elastic waist, a sleeveless sweater that isn't supposed to be buttoned..

Belly button: It is still in, though it is strange looking

Sleep: It is very difficult to get comfortable and between the trips to the bathroom and extreme midnight movement, I now begin the night on the couch and come to bed around 4-5 a.m.  I feel like I am giving Ed a good few hours of uninterrupted sleep since sleep is pretty important when flying a fast plane. 

Food cravings/aversions: None

Movement: Starting at week 34, the baby reached my ribs.  I find it odd that there are not more women complaining about rib pain on the internet because of all things I have experienced in the last 8 months, this is the most painful and annoying thing.  The only thing that seems to help is standing and walking.  Sitting at a table or the computer for long periods of time almost becomes unbearable!  

Labor signs: I am having more BH contractions than ever. 

What I miss: Not grunting every time I sit down and especially when I stand up.  If I am lying on the couch and get up, I look like a turtle on my back for a few moments!

What I'm loving: The answer to this question will always be feeling the baby move.  Which is part of the reason I don't sleep well at night, but maybe because I like to lie there and just feel what he is doing in there!  Even when he is in my ribs, I will gently push where his butt or feet are and if it is his feet, he will often times kick back! 

What I'm looking forward to: Seeing the face that I have only ever seen in slightly distorted black and white images...and getting my body 'back'.  It will be nice to not have a huge, hard stomach blocking the path between me and my feet. 

 Milestones: While the baby is not yet full term until next week, one of my friends who writes a blog and recently had a baby described week 36 is a big week because 'you have 2 to 6 weeks left'.  The possibility of seeing the baby starting in 2 weeks is exciting.

Goals: To order the rest of the baby things from our registry.

Weekly thoughts/wisdom:  While I have no wisdom to impart, I have read a few books about natural birth that have given me something to think about.  My birth 'plan' includes a natural birth...so I have been trying to mentally prepare myself for that.  It seems like most women's birth plans rarely go as hoped so I don't really have any expectations.  Obviously this will be me first time to give birth but I am trying to think positively about the pain.  It's temporary with great reward at the end.  Also, every person on earth has a mom that gave birth to them so I am not the first person to go through this!

Thoughts and feelings from Significant Other: He is impatient and ready for this show to get on the road.  I made him a paper chain to see the number of days until the due date!

A new kind of Spring

I am experiencing Spring in Denmark for the first time.  I don't know if this is a 'normal' spring but whatever it is, I like it.  Having spent most of my adult life (and even childhood) in southern states, spring meant cool evenings and mornings and days that start out reaching highs in the 70's but then the 80's creep in and by May (or sooner) highs are in the 90s and summer is definitely knocking on the door.

 I honestly couldn't tell you what the temperatures have been here recently but the evenings and morning are quite cool. By the middle of the day temperatures recently have been so nice.  Nice enough to wear shorts around the yard (though if you go out and see the Danes in public, they still have jeans, coats, and scarves on..why? I don't know)  Anyway, this is what I always envisioned spring being like--a slowly arriving season that says it is actually spring, not the introduction to summer. (I'm sorry but if it is in the 80's in February, it may be nice at the moment, but it only means summer will be miserable!)  

So, I've been loving the spring here so far.  Flowers are popping up all around the neighborhood and in our yard even so I thought I'd show you a few flowers that I have collected on walks with Scout (fyi, these were in no ones yard--I wasn't picking flowers out of anyone's garden I promise!)

When I picked the purple flowers, they looked like a tiny tulip but by the time I arrived home, they were all open like this

I don't know what any of these flowers are called but the white ones remind me of lanterns.

To give you perspective on their size--(and the size of the tiny ball jars!)  A lego baker standing next to them.

 The rest of the pictures are from around the house.  Have I mentioned I love Spring, and Easter too :) 

Tealights on the dresser-turned-china-holding-side-table.

Bottle Brush chicks from Pottery Barn last year.  When I lived in DC, I stalked the sale stuff after Easter making sure I could buy these originally $20 dollar chicks for much, much cheaper. The colored stone eggs came from a store here called Søstrene Grene.  I can't think of what store in the U.S. it could be compared.  

Stacked basket in a bowl.  I used glass tealight holders to raise the basket above the edge of the bowl. I thought it was a pretty clever way to store them, since I was about to stuff them in a drawer.

Ball Jar candle holders

From the other direction

 The eggs in the jars are just plastic easter eggs.  I taped around the opening and then covered them with Mod Podge and scrapbook paper.  I've made about 10 each year for the past 2 years and now have quite a collection of them. 

Birds in my favorite branch

I bought 2 fabric birds and made the rest out of scrapbook paper. 

Mantle.  The bowl and the print were purchased in Germany on our way to Austria in February.

A picture where the print is in-focus.  It is of Rottenburg, Germany. (just south of Stuttgart) We haven't been there but this building can still be seen.

White bunny, another after-Easter Pottery Barn find.  His original purpose was to be a place card holder but I think he serves a better purpose guarding this massive egg.

I suppose I will leave my Easter/ Spring decorations up until it actually feels like summer...I forgot to mention this but, the days are getting much longer now.  Between the time change this past weekend and the shifting of the earth, the sun comes up around 7 and sets a little before 8.  The days will be getting longer until the end of June! I'm loving it now but will be thankful for my black out shades  when the sun is rising before 5 and setting after 10 :)

Congratulations!

To my cousin Becca and her new husband Josh on their wedding today.  I wish I could be there...

my first real cross stitch project

A Family Project

When I was young, one of my aunts compiled a family cookbook.  She printed, assembled and gave a copy to all her siblings.  So, I grew up seeing my mom cook out of it as well as using it myself to make my favorite gingersnap cookie recipe.  Now that all of my cousins and I are adults, I thought that it was time to have a 2nd edition printed for the new generation. 

This is not THE family cookbook, but one that my mom one of my grandmas fill out for me.

I know that there are now websites where you can put all the recipes into a form and then the company formats the book and prints it up.  I, however, loved the homemade feel of the recipe book.  I plan on making all the books myself.  This is a work-in-progress...I am still collecting a few new recipes from my cousins(and taking out some old ones that were maybe space fillers in the first edition..exotic celery anyone?) and have not yet attempted to make the hard back book (though I have read about it extensively).  It is impossible to not be inspired to get in the kitchen when reading recipes so I decided to do some good old-fashioned baking recently.  I did start with my favorite gingersnap cookies but decided to branch out to something new, never done before by me: A pumpkin roll. It turned out amazingly, shockingly well. The batter went into a jelly roll pan (which is bigger than a regular cake pan), baked, dumped out of pan, rolled up with a dish towel in the middle while still warm, allowed to cool, unrolled, frosted, re-rolled and put in the fridge for a few hours.  Easy :)   No really, it was very simple. 

Adding the cream cheese frosting

Rolling the rolled cake back up, but with the filling

Hopefully, over the next couple months, I will be able to put together the new recipe books...and if not, I guess there is always the internet option!

A favorite recipe written by my grandma herself

Why I Love Etsy

Have you met Etsy? Etsy.com?   If not, you should.  Don't read any further, just go to Etsy.  But back to my reasons for loving Etsy.  

-It is the arts or crafts festival of my dreams.  Rather than just seeing things from your local area..or even your state or country, you can find unique, fun things from artists and crafters from around the world.  Much of it is reasonably priced as well.  

-Whether you can sew, make jewelry, paint..whatever you do, you can be sure to find inspiration in your area of interest.  

-If you can't do it yourself, you can buy it! I have yet to see a vendor with a genius idea and zero sales.  

-If you are searching for something very specific, you can probably find it--I believe their search function has magical powers :)

There are surely a million other reasons why it's awesome but I will get on with my post. 

I was searching for art prints to buy so I could do something like this (see below) in our next house

to read the owners blow, see here

And then I came upon a print that I could easily make something similar for myself...and so I did.  But then I thought, "Why stop there when I could take care of a few more upcoming birthdays"  

So unfortunately I cannot show you what I have been working on today, but I can show you another Etsy buy and inspired craft.

These were my bridesmaids gifts--I bought them from a shop called "Steampunk cellar".
They appear to have closed down their shop so I cannot put up a link.

Then, for Christmas of 2009, I made a lot of pillows based on an owl pillow from here. 

But for my sister Holly, I made a special bat pillow since it was the year she was bitten by a bat and then had to go through the series of rabies vaccinations. 

Holly, looking thrilled on Christmas Eve. 

I am certain she will always think of that incident whenever she sees this lovely creature.  Do you Holly?  

Oh wait!  I can ask her in person tomorrow!  Holly is finally coming to visit Ed and I in DC.  Maybe she's been avoiding it because the last time she was here, she was hobbling across the finish line at the Marine Corp Marathon...but I could be wrong.  Anywhy...moving right along.  I think tomorrow I will post a recipe of Mac and Not Cheese here unless something more exciting happens :)  Until then...have a nice evening :)