My Complaining, Let Me Show You It.

Blogged on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Complaint, Emo, pregnant!.

Hey, what’s better than a list of resolutions for next year? A LIST OF THINGS I AM WHINGING ABOUT! Because we’re all about the grumpy here at the house of contradictions. Meh.

As you all know, I have been pregnant this year. And! I am still pregnant. I know you are all waiting, like me, for the new wee one to appear - and I have to confess that I am getting increasingly angsty about it even though I meant NOT to do that this time around. (Because, trust me, I have been angsty everysingletime I get to this point in pregnancy.)

However, what my evil pregnant body is doing to me is NOT nice and, in fact, makes me wish I could stab at it without actually hurting myself or the baby. And I am taking it personally. Which is why all the whining and so on.

List of things that are making me bummed out and/or grumpy:

1. False labor! OMG I HATE YOU FALSE LABOR. I have already had FAR MORE Braxton-Hicks contractions than in any other pregnancy, which I chalk up to having a more sensitive uterus. Or a whinier constitution perhaps? Now that I am this far along and have a larger uterus (obviously) at this point, these lovely ‘practice’ contractions are driving me up the effing wall. They hurt, they keep me from being able to get my own damn breakfast in the morning, and they sometimes feel enough like REAL ones that I time them. And then I have to bash myself in the face with my notebook because they are never, ever regular.
2. Pelvic pain! My darling wee baby has been head-down for weeks, and quite frankly, this makes everything hurty, all the time. Sleeping is uncomfortable because there is a baby head plus little baby hands and shoulders in my hip space. Walking is uncomfortable because, well, there is A BABY stuck down there in the ready-to-go position. Getting up from a sitting position makes me cry occasionally because OW DAMMIT - when I need to move myself, I move my pelvic bones, which makes everything shift and sometimes grind and OW DAMMIT. I’m just grateful it doesn’t hurt the baby, because then along with feeling sorry for myself I would have guilt. Heh.
3. Exhaustion! Sometimes, all I do is eat breakfast, without even leaving the bed (because my husband is awesome and is taking care of me in a superb way), and I’m exhausted and need a nap. Walking down the stairs is akin to taking a sleeping pill, and I’m lucky if taking a shower does not make me nearly comatose. When I do nap, I don’t usually wake rested, but hey - at least I got a short break from feeling so uncomfortable, right?

Holy crap, you know what, all this whining makes me feel … upset with myself. Time for a list of things that are NOT making me complain like a brat!

1. Troy is the best husband EVER! He has done the dishes and made the meals and toted laundry up and down the stairs every day for… I’m not sure exactly. All I know is that the moment I start to even LOOK like I feel bad, he makes me sit down and stop doing stuff - AND THEN HE DOES IT FOR ME. In the first place, it’s difficult to make me do anything that I don’t want to, and in the process of getting me to give up trying to do something and just SIT ALREADY, I usually end up having some tiny little crying fit and also need consoling. Then there is the fact that plenty of people will tell you to stop and take a break, but not many will get whatever it is you were doing DONE for you so that you have no reason at all to get up until you feel better. I have no good words to describe how completely wonderful he is, or how well he manages me when I am not behaving like myself (read: ACTING LIKE I AM PREGNANT).
2. My kids rock! This isn’t necessarily an easy transition - from mom who does stuff to mom who is basically useless, to mom with new baby (in the future) - and the kids are really doing the best they can. Actually, I think they’re lucking out in a way, because they’re learning how to do things I already was doing at their age, and that’s only because I am so do-it-all that I normally forget they should be doing various things for themselves, or at least having the opportunity to do them. Like washing a few dishes, vacuuming the floor, sweeping, wiping off the table, and being able to start the washing machine and put their load of laundry in by themselves. There’s no reason for 7 and 9 year olds not to have those kinds of basic household skills, especially when they both get angsty when they have ‘nothing to do’. The bonus for me is that more things get done, and the bonus for them is that they feel good about themselves for helping mom out. (EDIT: I totally forgot to add that Ian cleans up his spot at the table and can get his own napkin when it’s time to eat. AND HE IS POTTY TRAINED! Let’s hear it for things you can accomplish when you are three!)
3. The baby bag is packed! Until last week on Friday, all we had for Serenity was a lone package of onesies, some burp cloths, blankets, a car seat, diapers, wipes, and a sling. Since it’s kind of unacceptable to bring your newborn home improperly clothed IN THE WINTER, this was not good. Through the kindness of several family members, we now have enough for the wee one to wear for several months, unless she decides to be 13 pounds when she’s born or something ridiculous like that. And I can tell she’s not that big. I see her back and feet through my stomach far too often not to have a basic idea of how big she is. ;)

I had four or five contractions during the writing of this post, ate a bowl of cereal, and drank half a glass of water. Now I have to go and pee, so leave me some love, okay?

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Blogged on Saturday, December 20th, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Design and Hosting, Linking, Randomness.

…right?

I know I’ve been gone a lot, but that doesn’t mean I’m not HERE.  In fact, I’ve been busy designing and freaking out about the frick-ton of snow that got dumped on us today.  Whee!

And actually, if you are lonely for me, you can always check my new design blog.  It’s part of my slowly-realized plan to redesign my business site, and just a little while ago I spotlighted one of my favorite clients, Shelly from That Girl Blogs.

Go ahead - click over there and look at the pretty screenshots!  :)

P.S. Yes, I am still pregnant. Complainingly so.

Early Christmas Gift?

Blogged on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Contradictory, Family, Randomness.

You guys! Something has happened that I never even thought was POSSIBLE! You’re never going to believe this!

…we got A NICE CASEWORKER!

No, I know - I can wait while you pick your jaw up off the floor. Seriously. I can hardly take it in either!

If you’ve ever been ‘in the system’ in any way, you KNOW that most caseworkers, while I am sure they were once kind, cheerful, and happy people (maybe), become horribly grouchy, pissed-off, excuse-mongering SOBs when they are at work. You know, to help people.

Why go into social work if you don’t have the personal skills necessary to connect with people? WTF.

At any rate - we moved, you see, and we got ourselves a new caseworker.  She is nice, friendly, and sweet on the phone - and she COMPLIMENTED me on how thoroughly I had put together the last batch of paperwork they asked us for. I was rather floored. Our last caseworker’s favorite thing to do (it seems) was to call and leave us pissy messages about how she still needed something I had already given her TWICE before.

I think this must be my Christmas present this year. It’s definitely awesome enough to be.

Yucky

Blogged on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Complaint, Design and Hosting, Family, Health, pregnant!.

I am tired and… well, pregnant.  I have been having a lot of false labor lately and my body is just EXHAUSTED.

I’m keeping myself occupied with some web work, and I even opened an Etsy shop and put a few brand new headers up for sale (in the sidebar, see?).  But all I really want to do is take another nap.

There’s been no homeschooling this week, and I haven’t done much of anything.  However, this doesn’t mean the house is trashed, because my AWESOME husband has been doing lots of cleaning and cooking and convincing me to take naps.  Oh, and holding me while I’m crying over not being able to wash the dishes.

NOT BEING ABLE TO WASH DISHES.  Is making me sad.  Am I insane?!

I’m betting that two or three months from now, I’ll be smacking myself upside my own head for how silly I am.

He even rearranged the living room so that my favoritest comfiest chair, the one I can sit in all day without my rear end becoming excessively uncomfortable, is close to the fireplace - so that he can make me a fire when he’s home and keep my feet toasty warm.  It also happens to be right in front of the television AND right by an outlet, where my laptop is plugged in.  So I can sit there and pretend to be productive when I’m having a tired/weepy/exhausted sort of day, like I have been lately.

My midwife tells me that my ultrasound actually gave a date of January 16th.  For those of you playing along at home, that’s a whole week before my estimated date of January 23rd (or 22nd, or 24th, or whatever - it seems to exist in triplicate for some reason).  So right now, I could be either 33 weeks + 4 days, or 34 weeks + 4 days.  Or fifty weeks, like it FEELS like I am.

Who wants to place bets on how long it’ll take Serenity to show up?

(Previous details: I had Lissie six days before her due date; Joey was five days after his due date; Ian was four days before his due date.)

Photos of Beautiful People

Blogged on Friday, November 28th, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Family, Holidays, Nablo, Photos.

I have nothing much to say today, because I am so darn tired from all that eating yesterday. :D Trust me, it’s a good kind of tired.

Today I have my nephew over for a while so my sister can be crazy and shop Black Friday sales (I am NEVER caught dead trying to negotiate traffic, whether on the roads or in the stores, on Black Friday), and I took the opportunity to get some really nice shots of all four kiddos in this fabulously bright snowy-day light we have here.

Enjoy… and feel free to click over to Flickr and leave comments on each photo, if you like.

You Need This!

Blogged on Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Design and Hosting, Linking, Nablo, Videos.

One of my clients that I completely adore has just launched a new Christmas CD.  It’s full of his original piano arrangements of a lot of the Christmas music that most of us already love.  And the awesome part?  He’s FIFTEEN.

I am telling you this so you’ll thank me later - Alex is going places.  I’ve already asked him to save me tickets for his big debut on stage.  He composes his own music as well as doing covers of others’ music; he plays weddings (LADIES, YOU CAN HIRE HIM!), he plays for groups of seniors (the elders, not the teenagers), who all have adorable crushes on him; he plays for church groups.

Enjoy this video of him playing one of his Christmas arrangements.  Trust me, he’s kind of addictive!

Here’s his website (which I designed): The Music Is Key, and here is the direct link to the CD page, where you can purchase one for yourself, and a few for stocking stuffers: Christmas Keyz.