Archive for December, 2009

Adam is out running his first ever solo pregnancy errand. He’s getting my a heating pad for my lower back pain. Apparently carrying Hannah and her house on my front is causing Sciatica, and it’ll go away when she stops living on my front. I’m grateful I’m done with work after Friday since I’ve got a pretty good limp going now and would like to be able to lay down and take a break when needed.

We just got home from our last child birthing/raising education class, so everything else we need to learn Hannah is going to have to teach us. =)

Adam has started giggling, and I can tell it’s because of my hugeness, though he’s very careful not to actually say it. He did point out though that I only have a few inches left between the belly and the steering wheel. Good thing Friday is my last day at work, so if my belly gets so big I’m stranded at home it won’t matter. Adam is kindly letting my wear his clothes (those are his fleece pants), take up half the bed with my fortress of body pillows and stop mid errand to get slushies.

We had our 36 week check-up and things went very well. We got a copy of my file that we’re supposed to carry with us always so when I go into labor we can take it with us to the hospital. It’s fun to look over the notes and see how things have progressed. I figured Hannah would be late, but my doctor doesn’t think so. Though if she does decide to hold out, she can only stay cooking till January 13th, then she gets forced out. Now we see the doctor every week to make sure things are still going well.

Things are good at the Becker house. Dogs are still enjoying day care very much. Yoshi gets enough alone time during the day that she actually acknowledges us in the evening. The chair project is getting closer and closer, with only a coat of paint needed, now if only I could find an hour of daylight to do it in. Adam braved the ice and biked to work today. I’m pretty excited about only having 4 days of work left. I keep thinking of projects I want to do, so I’m ready to have time to do them. Right now though, I need to make my 500th visit to the lo for the evening and respond to the dilly bar that’s calling my name from the freezer. =)

Today marks 36 weeks for Hannah which means she is officially allowed to be born. Had she tried to come yesterday they would have pumped me full of drugs, put me on bed rest, etc, but from today forward she’s welcome anytime. We’re going to celebrate by putting the car seat in the car and packing a bag to take to the hospital. Then we’ll spend the next month waiting, hehe.

After a lot of processing, we decided that I would try staying home with Hannah full time. It’ll stretch our budget to just have one income, but neither of us could handle leave her in daycare full time, especially when my salary would barely cover the cost of daycare. My hope is to eventually provide some supplement to our income, maybe by watching some of our friends kids part time, or doing some other part time work.

I knew that I wouldn’t qualify for FMLA leave (12 weeks off unpaid, but they keep your job for you and let you keep paying for benefits through them) when I told my supervisor that I was pregnant, but she said not to worry about it because I had been at the other agency for 2 months, and would be here 4 months, so that would add up to 6, which is what you need for leave. When I went in Thursday to tell my supervisor that I wouldn’t be returning I was told that was a good thing, since the director had decided I wouldn’t be getting leave. Yikes. I’m thankful that we came to the conclusion that I should leave before I was told that I could either come back immediately after having Hannah or lose my job. Still pretty funny. My last day is next Friday the 18th. I’m excited to have some time to clean and organize before Hannah gets here. Recently I’ve been sewing which is really fun, especially since I found lots of online patterns to make baby related things.

Adam has threatened to install a tv in the bedroom and a lock on the outside of the door so he can lock me in with the tv while he goes to work. I think this idea was spurred by my statement about wishing we owned a ladder so I could repack all the stuff we need to store and put it up in the rafters in the garage. Hopefully I can strike a good balance of getting rest so I’m ready for Hannah, and satisfying my urge to nest.

If anyone wants to come keep me company I’d love it. =)

I made this. Alright, I painted and recovered this, some actual carpenter dealt with the 12 reticulation points and building, but I’m guessing that took way less time than this epic repainting project. I have finished recovering the cushions for the actual rocker, and Adam finished the first coat of primer. So one more primer coat, then paint, and then the “rocker glider chair repainting project 2009″ will finally come to a close. It started in June when I bought the glider rocker at a garage sale for $2 thinking I was being a super saver, and it almost ended yesterday when Adam was so irritated after 15 minutes of attempting to apply primer to the underside of the rocker (keep in mind I had already put in 3+ hours of paint time on the footstool and chair) that he threatened to throw it away and go buy me a new one. Lorna got me this footstool used about a month ago, it was brown wood and had a blue fabric top. Now it’ll match the chair. Once we finish painting it, provided the fact that it’s been constantly frozen and de-thawed on our back patio doesn’t cause it to break. =)

I have been very excited for December because now I can say I’m due next month, which is fun.

Currently I’m sitting at home waiting for the AAA tow truck to come. Last night when I got the dogs from doggie day car I noticed the front left tire was hissing. I’ve gotten a number of flats in my life, but I’ve always been able to get to les schwab before they actually go flat. I knew I needed to get the dogs home, so we headed back. Once I got in the driveway and got the dogs inside and looked at the tire I knew I couldn’t drive on it or I’d ruin the rim. I figured Adam could put on the spare and we could take it to be fixed, but the stupid spare was flat. Poor Adam got stuck trying to find the stupid tire paperwork, which we never did find, boo moving.

So, thanks to an annual christmas gift of a AAA membership from my parents, I’m using my free tow to get to les schwab. Now I just need them to get here.

It was a very fun thanksgiving for us. We had dinner at my parents and Adam’s mom and our family friends Roz and Mackie joined us. We ate, I protested their football watching, and we played cards. Then back here for more quality time and sleep.

Friday Adam made us a delicious breakfast of brown sugar bacon and cheesy eggs, Marlene, Roz and Mackie were very impressed, fun for him to get to show off his skills. Then we packed for the coast because my parents invited us to see their new coast house at some point during the weekend. We went to costco to get some sheets that were on sale for black friday, and the Bluray DVD player adam wanted for Christmas was on super sale, so we got that too. Then we headed to walmart to get some cheap baby stuff (crib sheets, waterproof pads for the crib and bassinet -apparently babies pee constantly-, and some bottles).

Sometime around then Henry (Annette and Max’s fetus, now tiny human) realized it was his due date and proceeded to make his way towards the exit. It was so fun to get the twitter updates and very exciting to think we’ll be doing the same thing in a few weeks.

Adam and I decided to use our 10% off registry completion coupon at Target to get a few more baby things so we could call ourselves ready. We got on the internet and found the best baby monitor, bottle warmer, etc, so we could use our gift cards and coupon well. We had fun looking for cheap bluray movies, Adam got V for Vendetta in Bluray so he could enjoy the super duper HD quality. Then we took advantage of a couple of black friday deals that weren’t sold out (an electric griddle, Pancakes!!!!, and a little vacuum for our laminate- $9!!!) Then we went and hung out in baby land and had a blast filling our cart. The best thing is that we got everything for just 60 cents after our gift cards, even the non-baby stuff. There are a few more things that I’d like and am asking for for christmas (a sling, jog stroller) and Adam and I think we’ll get a pump from an online place that has way better deals than target (who am I kidding, the pump is for me, I don’t think Adam will get a whole ton of use out of it, though he will actually be able to feed Hannah without me present, so maybe it is partly for him). We found a digital thermometer and an aspirator (maybe from an ear cleaning kit I bought a few years ago?) in our stash so we’re pretty much set. I just have to finish my epic rocker glider project. I have put 2 coats of primer on the stool and primed half the chair.

Next wednesday I’ll be 36 weeks, so at that point if Hannah tried to make her exit into the world no one will stand in her way. we’re planning to pack a hospital bag and put the car seat in the car then. For now I just stand in the nursery and smile knowing that we’re ready.