Weekly chat for the New Year! December 27th - January 2nd, 2009! - Page 7

[Queen of my Castle]

ok, So I thought I would locate the baby clothes boxes to go through later, in the next month or so.
I went into my closet and came out in Narnia.
Nightmare! I have a big, walk-in closet where I've shoved clothes as the kids outgrew them, hanging on for subsequent children. I pulled out boxes and boxes...and when I thought I was done I found 3 more and just about passed out. So I spent the afternoon sorting by sex and years, put them in totes and stored them again. Just to give you an idea, I got rid of 4 garbage bags of clothes, and still have 3 totes for girl, 1-3 years(not including size 2 she's wearing) and 4 totes boy 1-4 years (including 2 double size ones). Guess how many baby totes I have, under 1 year?? 4!!!! I have yet to sort baby according to size, and gender, but I feel absolutely insane. I recieve a ton of second hand clothes, and then I buy second hand, and then the new stuff given to me from showers and gifts...it all just ends up way more than if I had to buy myself, or buy new, or not get hand-me-downs. My gosh.

Originally Posted by starling&diesel

I'll be 34 weeks tomorrow and all had been going swimmingly until I acquired a wicked UTI, a debilitating cold, and vulvar variscocity all in one day. I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck. I can't breath, my yoni hurts, and I'm trying to do the don't-get-a-yeast-infection dance with my antibiotics and probiotics.
.

Ohhh, you poor girl. That really sucks.
Just to commiserate, I noticed (after you mentioned to me last time) that I do actually have vulvar varicosities too- unless they're just bigger, blueish veins because of the pregnancy. I wouldn't have noticed unless I went looking, but oddly enouch I haven't been sore since I found them!

I'm starting to get frusterated with my clothes again too- I was at a happy place for awhile but it seems I'm getting bigger.

[starling&diesel]

Here's hoping they stay nice and dormant, Queen.
I'm thinking that my vulvar variscocity is worse and more painful right now because of all my coughing ... every time I hack up a lung, I can feel pressure down there.

Hey, nighten...belly feeling any better?

[Larissa]

It's so hard to make room for a baby in a 2 bedroom apartment when 1 of those rooms is being taken over by her

We have a 2 bedroom flat too, but there are about to be 6 of us!
We have all 3 boys sharing one of the bedrooms, and the baby will be in our bedroom with us. As each baby has joined us, we have discovered that we need far less for a baby. Just a few warm sleepers/gowns, and a little space next to momma . . . and we are good to go!

[nighten]

Originally Posted by starling&diesel

Hey, nighten...belly feeling any better?

Actually yes, it is -- I think I pulled a muscle or something, is all. Which is a relief. Thanks.

[justKate]

I've had some time off work and my internet has been spotty, so I haven't posted much, but I've been reading....

nighten & S&D, hope you guys are feeling a little better. I'm trying to remember that we don't have that much longer to be uncomfortable, but it does suck.

LTB & monkaha, I feel you on the maternity clothes. I really don't want to spend more money on clothes before baby gets here, but I'm probably going to need at least another pair of pants. : A few of the things I got to wear earlier are too tight now. Live and learn I guess.

Vegan Princess, you're my role model! I wish I had things together more than I do. I'm actually washing baby stuff for the first time today. Well I've washed the diapers a few times, but they need more because they aren't as absorbent yet as I think they should be. Another major hurdle is the bedroom--since I'm planning to sidecar the crib, I don't really want to move it into place until baby's arriving, but at the same time there's no where else to put it. And I can't organize the rest of the stuff until I have the crib moved to make space.... I guess this isn't really a serious problem in the grand scheme of things, but it is annoying at the moment.

The other issue I'm having is with Huz--I told him my best friend is coming out from CO at the begining of April for a few days, which got us on the topic of my leave, and when I'll stop working. For now I'm planning to work for as long as possible, because I don't have any paid maternity leave and want to save what I have for Baby. I'm doing fine at work--its primarily a desk job--and he was just really unsupportive. Like, "who do you know that's worked right up until the baby was born?" Well I don't know. It's not something I think about regularly. But I'm really going to try...I was just hoping for a little support from him. Which I explained, so he at least knows to shut up about it. Bleh. Whatever.

[Vegan Princess]

Justkate: Does DH not want you to work until the end? I'm planning on it. And I think most women in my office have done so as well. I don't want to waste a few weeks of my leave at home with no baby when I just sit all day. I do plan on working from home once we hit February or so though bc I doubt I'll be all that comfortable or wanting to dress up every day. My midwife would really prefer i take some time but she can't force me and I I don't get too taxed working and I think I might need the distraction at that point. We can always change our mind if it isn't working out!

Larissa: Wow. I don't know how you manage with so little space! I guess you're right - we probably over bought since it is our first. But mostly I think DH is still trying to adjust from living in his own bachelor pad with lots of space to sharing an apartment and having to get rid of a lot of things to make room. It's our stuff that is the problem! The good thing is, there is no more room for more stuff so hopefully we are done spending money on it!

Ugh - 6+ hours shopping was not a good idea. My pubic bone area and hips were soooo sore all night. I'm going to a prenatal yoga class with a friend soon - it's a more vigorous one (bikram) - not sure if it is going to help or be too much. Guess I'll just do what i can.

Cindy

[Larissa]

Well, there are pros and cons. The pros . . . that it's impossible to allow junk to accumulate, so we are in a constant state of purging. If a toy doesn't get played with . . . it's time to say goodbye. I have to stay super organized, so that the small space we do have doesn't get overcome by stacks of things. The hardest part for me is having such a small kitchen. I make all of our food from scratch, including all of our whole grain bread. And because I make all of our flour . . . I have about -7- 6 gallon grain buckets that have to be accessible. We have learned that the less stuff that we have, the happier our living space is. We had a 2000 sq ft house when we only had 1 baby. But we moved to the school where Dh got his PhD, and we are still here right now. We are going to have to move mid year this year, and are hoping for 1 extra bedroom and a little more kitchen space.
Oh . . . and the less sq footage a house has, the easier it is to keep it clean . . . and CLEAN is very important to me! LOL

Okay, so I am trying to fill my days with stuff to keep me from thinking about having this baby. It has been like a switch for me. I went from being entirely patient to not being able to stand another minute being pregnant!

I am homeschooling, which takes up my mornings, but hte afternoons can be slow. I do have to finish up sewing the diapers, but I am waiting on getting my aplix . . . which I should have on Tuesday. That will keep me busy for a couple days. Seeing pictures of my friend's newborn has really, really gotten me in the mood to go have a baby!

[dooney]

Hey everyone, I don't usually participate in these threads because I get lost, lol! I'm reading them though. It's good to hear where everyone is.

My toddler really messed up my back/hip today. I was holding him kind of weirdly - my arms were crossed and I had him in front of me, up higher sort of so his butt was on my arms. I wasn't holding onto him, except by my arms.

Well, he wanted a pretzel and he had just asked for a banana so I told him he needed to finish his banana and he THREW himself backward, all 30+ pounds and it was all I could do to keep him from falling. I had to squeeze my arms together to hold his knees and run across the kitchen to get to the carpeted living room because I wasn't in a position to grab onto him at all. I felt a sharp pain in that little dent in my lower back (back dimple?) where my hip connects and when I set him down I could barely stand back up. Walking hurts, carrying him really hurts, and then I took a nap with him on the couch, which didn't help at all. I have a chiro appointment coming up, not until a few more weeks though, and we can't afford me going as a walk-in right now.

Paul's been off work for almost 2 weeks, mostly unpaid, because the factory's workload is way low so they just shut down for Christmas and New Year. He hasn't had any overtime in months. We're cutting costs in any way possible, which means only the basics for groceries. We're using up things in creative ways, making new recipes and new memories, haha. Some of them have been pretty good, actually. I feel a little guilty because we were sent a gift card for Wal-Mart "for anything Kalten might need right now" -- well, he needs to eat, right? There's our grocery money!

On the plus side, all his time off has meant that the laundry, dishes, etc. have been getting caught up.

[nighten]

Oh dooney, that sucks! Bless your heart. You've had a crappy couple of days.