The Belly Cast & Other Crafts

I just wanted to share the belly cast with everyone! B did a great job on the plaster (and made NO lewd remarks while we did this), I'm really impressed with his handy work on this!

First up is the "pre-decorated" shot:



And while I like the clean look of it, here's the shot of it after I put all the fabric leaves on it and the metal leaf. The parts that look a little "dingy" are where the spray adhesive is a little too thick, this will clear up and look shiny and bright once I do the finish coat. So here it is with decorating mostly complete, but the finish coat has not been applied:



Check back in a couple of days and I should have the completed project added to this post. I need to let the leaves finish setting up before applying the finish coat, and lord knows how long that will take me!

Over all, this was a crafty weekend. I finished up the letters, and put the finish coat on them, now they are hanging over Aiden's crib:



And here's a close up of the letters:



We also finished our three panel puzzle for B's room and I sealed that with Mod Podge over the weekend. Next step is to mount it or frame it and hang it on the wall. The Mod Podge is GREAT for puzzle saving, holds all the pieces together and gives it a nice finish! I'll post pictures of that when we get around to finishing it. :)

For the record, I still managed to do some laundry this weekend. And we went to Cosco (never again will I do that on a Sunday...), got all our purchases arranged, B cleaned his bathroom, and I cleaned up our mess from the belly cast. Not our most productive weekend, but it was relaxing and enjoyable, and the house is still clean. It snowed today, which bites...I like snow later in the year, it's fun, but at this time of year it's psychologically damaging for me.

Signing off,
Craft Master Funk

37 Weeks! Happy Term Day!

I sang a little tune to Aiden this morning... "Happy term day to you, happy term day to you, happy term day baby Aiden...HAPPY TERM DAY TO YOU!" Today he is officially a full term baby. That's right folks, we've moved into the "he could come any day" stage of this pregnancy. I can imagine that this is when the waiting starts to feel like an eternity.

I'm still feeling good for the most part. My walk has slowed down now that he seems to have dropped, but I'm still walking to stay active...just slower, and not as far! Much as I would like to welcome him sooner rather than later, I would prefer he waits until at least the middle of next week...I have a lot more training to do for my contractor at work. Although I'm still doing lots of things like walking every day...and...well...you know...to help things out so when it's time, things are "ready." I'm having quite a lot of braxton hicks contractions, especially for an hour or more after my walks. More of them are feeling crampy and uncomfortable, and I'm told these are the ones that are really "changing" things. So at this point, that's good news. My body is getting ready.

I don't have much to report right now, I'll post if there is anything interesting to share after my appointment tomorrow.

Maybe we should start a pool for baby stats? I think all the money should come to B and me...regardless of who wins!

LOL!

I'm a little peeved

So just a quick vent, tomorrow or Thursday I'll post the latest news on baby Aiden.

I am in the midst of training a contractor. I'm glad my boss had the foresight to give her 3 solid weeks of training instead of just one or two. That's beside the point though.

This morning she asks me "do you know what lice look like?" I'm trying not to panic...right? Cuz who in their right mind would come to work less than 2 feet from a pregnant woman if they thought their kid could have lice?

"Um, no. Did you get this e mail from...blah blah" I mean, I don't want to get into it.

"hm, do you know what mites look like?"

again "um...no."

"I keep finding these bugs (EEEEK!) on my kid's head, and I don't know what they are."

Later in the day she looks it up, thinks it's lice, and leaves early to take her 3 year old in to the doctor. A few hours later I get an e mail from her temp agency saying that she will not be in for a few days because "her daughter has contracted something communicable and she needs to take care of it."

I know it's lice...and even if it isn't, it's something she could have passed to me. This is the second time in a week I've questioned her logic. On Monday she comes in and tells me her daughter spent the entire day with a houseful of people who have strep. Meaning she spent an entire weekend with a little girl who very well could have picked up strep, then came into work, and sat less than 2 feet from me. All day. She could have at least had the courtesy to work from her own desk just in case. I'm 9 months pregnant. So in the last two days I've possibly been exposed to strep AND head lice?! I would be more annoyed if she had either of these conditions herself and came to work, that's my pet peeve. But I'm a little irked that less than 2 weeks from being done with work and just 3 weeks before my due date, the universe is throwing all these damn pathogens at me by way of my mildly spacy contractor. I just want to note that I've been extremely careful during my pregnancy about taking vitamins, washing hands, keeping my work area disinfected, and avoiding sickly people. I have not been sick at all since before I got pregnant. Now is just not the time.

Lice. For chrissake.

Not much to report!

Well, it's just about week 35, last week's appointment went well, and next week is the first of my weekly appointments. Joy joy! Aiden is still growing like a weed, and sadly he's running out of room. I'm surprisingly comfortable most of the time though, so I kind of feel bad for the little guy, I think he just wants to get out for a little stretch you know?

Right now the more exciting thing coming up is the last day at work...which is only about 24 days away. I'm TOTALLY stoked. I'm so glad I don't have to work to my due date, I'm pretty sure the anxiety would keep me from going into labor! My contractor starts on Monday and she's getting 3 solid weeks of training...I didn't get any solid training when I started almost 3 years ago. I went to the trouble to write a manual that includes how to do everything I do! Spoiled youth of corporate America...tsk tsk.

My primary goal between my last day at work and the birth is to get freezer meals done and portioned. I've been trying to come up with a bunch of good ideas, and admittedly I forget them as soon as I think them, but I did retain a few. For breakfasts I am going to make a bunch of breakfast burritos to freeze (tested this and it worked like a CHARM!!!) and I'll be portioning out a bunch of grain and nut pancakes...I don't have a recipe yet...I want them to be whole wheat, and we want some nuts in there...any good recipes? I'm also going to make some sweet potatoe pancakes for the mix...because Ceil said they are AWESOME...i bet they would be good with almonds or something in them! I'm going to cook up a few pounds of ground beef so it will be easy to toss in with something like taco seasoning or turn into homemade hamburger helper, etc. I have a friend who's going to make us some lasagna to freeze. I'm going to make some turkish meat dishes like okra and spinach to serve over brown rice or noodles. I'm still thinking up ideas, and any suggestions are welcome...the better for us, the more we want it! In addition to the freezer meals, I'm going to get that house perfectly cleaned and organized so it's just right when it's time to bring baby home and I don't have to worry about it for a few weeks. I've got a friendly helper for all that...which is good, cuz our pantry is a MESS! I also need to sort through the freezer, theres a lot of frozen fruit in there, and I know a lot of it must be freezer burned by now, can't make nummy smoothies with ruined fruit my friends!

There is no progress on Aiden's nursery just yet, but it is spotless and perfectly organized, so there really isn't any work to be done in there for now. We're waiting for the bedding to come, hopefully in the next week or so it will be here, not sure how long it takes Babies R Us to ship products. It won't truly be done until the end of January when we are able to put the dresser and rocker in there in place of the futon, but I will share pictures once we have the bedding in there! We're on the hunt for a decent but inexpensive glider rocker, which will go in our room until January. But we aren't in a big hurry for that. Aiden's diaper stash is rounding out nicely, different dipes for different needs and stages...I love them all, they're so darn cute. :-)

OH! And a shout out to my hubby, who is worse than my mother about managing his paperwork problem. I finally begged him to sort it. I told him if he sorted out the current mess that I would take over mail so we wouldn't have this problem anymore. I ended up helping, I think he gets overwhelmed...there was stuff in that pile (read: mountain) from middle and late 2007!!! BUT, it is finally completely sorted, filed, shredded, and/or recycled. So now I'm in charge of mail! He did a great job, and his man room is looking great. We have to work on it bit by bit in order to get it ready for the big transformation to MAN CAVE 2009!! Saddest thing is that we have to break down his drums, there isn't any space for them in the new plan, though I could have forced it to work if there were a reason, he doesn't have the time to play anymore because he's uncomfortable playing in the evenings since we're in a townhome. Fair enough, so they get packed untill we move up and out of that house in a few years. In the mean time he needs a super cave, and that's what I'm doing! Big ol' TV, a new computer, and manly comfortable seating! He's a champ, he deserves the best man cave of all. :-D Hopefully once it's been transformed he'll use the room the way he always wanted to, a place to study, work from home when he needs to, play computer games, and watch TV. He and Aiden can do much bonding in the cave I think!

I've included a photo of Cheddar, because he's cute, and his wallerin' ways just make me smile...he pretty much always sleeps this way...although usually in his daddy's armpit...A little pathetic, but A LOT cute!



In other shoutouts, a big congratulations to Elaina who is finally out of the children's hospital after 143 days! Her blog is linked on the right, send some love to her and her mamma, this is such a big day, and SUCH a miracle!

Equally exciting is that Eshell Knapp, a woman I did my doula training with (and someone who's strength and inner wisdom still has me in awe), is expecting again! I also have her blog linked to the right! Last year Eshell suffered a devastating loss of her 7th child, this past year has brought her much healing, and now another miracle to add to the Knapp clan! Please wish her the best and send your prayers to her and her family! What a troop they are!