Category Archives: pregnancy

Jun10

Some weeks just stink…

Posted on by
Some weeks just stink…

And this week is one stinky week.

It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about my depression and anxiety issues, but it really has been a daily battle this year. I made some very specific decisions about not staying on medication. That started around the 2010-2011 school year. Things were going well in life and I felt like I had reached a place where I didn’t need it. I was still enjoying teaching, and I knew Jared and I were wanting to start a family, too.

Unfortunately, by April 2011, things were unraveling with teaching due to the potential budget cuts from the state, and soon the work place morale was extremely low. Starting the 2011-2012 school year was miserable for several reasons, many you know of from previous posts, and many that I couldn’t talk about on a blog. It would have been a perfect time for me to restart medication, but Jared and I didn’t want to postpone our family any longer, and I remained off them. Once we did find out that we had been successful in starting our family, it was that much more important to me to make sure that I was as healthy and un-medicated as possible for my unborn child. Naturally, pregnancy hormones and symptoms didn’t exactly help with a stable frame of mind.

With all that being said, there have been several days and weeks this year that have threatened to crush me, and I try not to focus too much on them. But this week has definitely made a run for the stinkiest.

1. I left a job that I thought I would be doing for several more years. Yes, it was my choice to leave, and several people there wanted me to stay, but I know it was the right choice for me at the time. However, knowing that it’s the right choice doesn’t make it any easier walking away. I suspect I will have more twinges of sadness near the end of August when I know everyone’s heading back to school, and I won’t be there.

2. My energy level is terrible… All I want to do is sleep or sit on the couch!

3. Baby Boothe preparations are not going as well as I hoped. I wanted her room to be ready by now; painted, crib set up, clothing arranged. And we still have many essentials that we need to get in order. (Shout out to my mom for some of the “big” purchases that you’ve done to help us out!) But I think that “nesting” urge is kicking in and I desperately want things to be perfect for when Baby gets here. I told Jared that if the room’s not painted by this weekend, we aren’t going to worry about it.

4. My house is a mess. Boxes from school things I had to move home over the last weekend have taken over our living room, and they’re too heavy for me to lift (especially according to Jared). Our dining room has baby stuff all up in there. It’s just so messy! That “nesting” instinct must be kicking in…

5. Stevie’s Wednesday accident. ‘Nuff said about that trauma.

6. Stevie’s stitches started coming apart Friday (DESPITE his cone-of-shame wearing). Our regular vet wouldn’t look at them, so we had to go back to the EC vet. Fortunately, they fixed him up for free since the stitches shouldn’t be coming undone yet. Unfortunately, some of them had to be completely taken out and staples put in (making him look like Dog of Frankenstein even more!). They also had to put glue on the remaining stitches to help them hold… and got glue on what’s left of his fur, too.

(Despite the hodge-podge of stitches and staples, the wound does look less inflamed! It helps when he wears his cone of shame…)

Those are just some of the bigger things that are going on right now. There’s been several little things that have just overwhelmed me this week, too, but it would sound too whiny. Plus, it’s not good to focus on all the negative. I just needed to blow off some steam from the stinky week, and purge this all from my system to move on to next week.

So, here’s to next week, and hoping that it will be much, much better than this past one!

Jun5

Activity Swap Report

Posted on by
Activity Swap Report

After mentioning the texture cards a few posts ago, I had a few people ask me about how the activity swap went.

Last Thursday I met up with some other ladies, mostly ones that I go to church with, though there were a few other lovely people there that I hadn’t met before, and did the activity swap. It took a little bit of time to get things sorted out, but before long, we all had a good handful of various activities.

As you can probably see, there’s various levels of difficulty and effort that was put into the different projects. Some of them I won’t be able to use for quite some time too, since they have little itty-bitty pieces. The blocks could be fun though; they have clear tubes that you can use to stick the pieces together. I’m thinking about painting them some bright, fun colors to add to their interest level.

All these felt games were really cute. I can imagine it was a pain to make several of those fish for the fishing game!

The last few activities, including a set of my texture cards (somebody dropped out at the last minute, but I had already made the majority of each set, so I figured I’d finish them all anyways). The top left activity is a puzzle (barnyard animals on Popsicle sticks–pretty clever). The blue bag is kind of a putty that kids can put on a flat surface (it stays in the bag) and write/”draw” with their fingers or cu tips.

So overall, I am really happy I participated. I stressed myself out a little too much over the cards, but I think it was fun to get involved with this sort of activity and some of these activities will be great to have once Baby Boothe goes mobile. 🙂

Jun5

Perspective

Posted on by
Perspective

It’s funny how many people are surprised that I’m due in a month. Generally, the comments are that I look too small and that maybe we got the due dates wrong.

First, as I have started to swell up like a ginormous pufferfish, telling me those things are not really comforting. I promise, I know that I’ve been pregnant this whole time, so the date better not be that wrong.

It’s almost been as bad as BEFORE I was pregnant and people would ask me, “Oh, are you expecting?” and I would have to respond, “Nope, just fat.” (Yes, that happened on more than one occasion.)

Second, it’s time to put it all in perspective.

This is the Baby Boothe bump on St. Patrick’s day.

This was the Baby Boothe bump as of yesterday. I can’t even twist as well anymore so it doesn’t look as big as it really is!

But as you can see, definitely some major growth. The poor baby still has a month in these cramped quarters and she’s still likely to grow another pound or two.

So, before you tell the pregnant lady she looks like a whale or looks too small, remember: the pregnant lady has feelings too, and is probably already stressed enough about all things baby.

And along the same lines, if you have to ask if somebody might be pregnant, then you shouldn’t ask. Just don’t do it. It’s better that way, especially when somebody isn’t pregnant.

May30

Texture Cards

Posted on by
Texture Cards

May has been an insane month, y’all.

There’s been so many great things that have happened this month, mixed with bittersweet ending of my last time teaching 7th grade (that I know of!). I have had some wonderful days off, Jared’s birthday, two baby showers, my mom visiting, and even a Memorial Day BBQ with good friends from church. Once summer comes, I think I’ll take some time and go back and report more on those (and definitely post more about my awesome baby shower last week, once I get some pictures from it!).

One of the neat things about expecting Baby Boothe is the new friends I am starting to make at church. Oftentimes, I just didn’t cross paths with them. They had kids to take care of, and I was working full time. There just wasn’t a lot of opportunities to seek those people out. But now Baby Boothe is in the picture, and I won’t be working full time, it’s opening up those opportunities to meet some different people and take part in different activities.

Some of these ladies decided to get together to do an activity swap. Essentially the idea is that we all make a bunch of the same kind of busy bag (or quiet activity) for our kids and then get together to swap them, and all the activities are geared for younger ages, like 3 and under. Then we meet up at somebody’s house and swap the activities, so you end up with a whole bunch of different things to do with your kids.

I made 17 sets of “Texture Cards”, a sensory activity for small children.

It was a lot of work, but I pretty much had all the supplies on hand (things from my classroom, like buttons and foam stickers, or things from the house like sponges and fabric.)

I chose brightly colored cardstock, pinks, blue, green, and yellow, and then laminated them and cut them into eighths. I originally started to alternate the colors of the sets (like you see in the picture above), but being the semi-perfectionist I am, I quickly started to get stressed about the logistics of that and matching up coloration (HEAVEN FORBID that you end up with pink button on a pink card!), so I ended up sticking with just one color of card per set after my practice round.

Foam sea animal themed cards… I really liked how they turned out!

Textures I tried:

1. String (difficult, not my favorite)

2. Foam sea animal stickers (easy, fun, and cute!)

3. Puff balls (I was going to use cotton balls, but saw these brightly colored ones in the grocery store and thought they would be even better!)

4. Sponges (They hadn’t been used yet, don’t worry)

5. Heavy brocade (rougher fabric)

6. Satin (They used to be a old pair of pajamas that had an unfortunate, large rip… I promise I washed them before I put them in the scrap pile. Do you really think I’d be passing dirty laundry on to other people’s kids?!)

7. Buttons (The buttons may just be my favorite part. You can find “granny grab bags” from a store like Michaels that have all sorts of random, fun buttons in them for a couple of dollars. I used these buttons for a reading/writing activity I did at the beginning of the school year with my seventh graders. If you’ve ever read “The Memory String”, it makes more sense. If you haven’t read it, you probably should.)

I was going to do rice for a “rough” texture as well, but between the laminated cards, the Elmer’s glue, and the hot glue gun, none of the combinations were coming out in a friendly-to-the-Pregnant-Elisabeth sort of way, so after a few meltdowns, Jared convinced me that with everything else going on, 7 texture cards per set would be just fine and dandy.

But think: The texture possibilities are limitless. It would be so easy to add on to these with fun ideas like netting, other sorts of stickers, foam, duct tape flaps…. etc!

Anyways, the swap is tomorrow night. I really hope that my cards are well accepted… And I am keeping my fingers crossed that the hours of work I put into making these sets will be worth all the hard work!

Apr22

Baby bump and preparations…

Posted on by
Baby bump and preparations…

We still have just under eleven weeks to go until Baby Boothe Arrival Day. Already, this baby is already creating her own gravitational pull. Even though I was never the most graceful person in the world, I find myself tripping and bumping into things more than ever.

High heels have been retired; flat shoes, sneakers, and tennis shoes only need apply.

(Please excuse the poor photography. I was working with the mirror, my cell phone camera, and myself in a small space.)

AND you can see it from the front now!

Oh! Let’s cut to semi-relevant movie quotes from a classic, “So I Married an Axe Murderer”:

Stuart Mackenzie: Look at the size of that boy’s heed.
Tony Giardino: Shhh!
Stuart Mackenzie: I’m not kidding, it’s like an orange on a toothpick.
Tony Giardino: Shhh, you’re going to give the boy a complex.
Stuart Mackenzie: Well, that’s a huge noggin. That’s a virtual planetoid.
Tony Giardino: Shh!
Stuart Mackenzie: Has it’s own weather system.
Tony Giardino: Sh, sh, shh.
Stuart Mackenzie: HEAD! MOVE!

What? Can’t that be relevant to the growing size of my stomach? No? Okay. Hopefully somebody other than me found that reference funny.

Most of the time, eleven weeks feels so far away. Consider: the big belly, just getting bigger (eek!). Or the fun pregnancy symptoms, like body ache, swollen hands/feet, endless fatigue and attempts to get comfortable… Or just with trying to finish the school year as well as I possibly can with the many limitations placed in front of me.

BUT- we are starting to get down to the wire. Things to get, rooms to clean, plans to make.

We even went to a childbirth class offered through the hospital yesterday. It was a beautiful day, perfect temperature, and we were stuck inside from 8:30 am – 5:00 pm practicing breathing exercises, learning to swaddle, watching videos about various birthing situations, medicine/surgery options, and breastfeeding. Woohoo. I think the highlight of the day was the end when we got to tour the maternity wing of the hospital.

By the way, if you can choose between having an eight hour class in one day, or having it split two hours over four days, CHOOSE THE FOUR DAYS! You just can’t absorb it all in one sitting. It’s too much and too long.  I’ve read multiple books about pregnancy, delivery, and infant care in the last several months, and I was still overwhelmed, tired, and muddled by the end of the day. (For Jared, it was a complete crash course of what to expect, other than what I’ve regurgitated to him from my books that he only halfheartedly was listening to anyways…)

As the deadline approaches, there’s just more and more to do before we can welcome this little one into our family. Really, we are more excited than ever. (Except for those moments that we go, “What the heck were/are we thinking?! We are going to be in charge of an actual living, breathing baby in less than three months!?”)

Let’s hope we get it all done before she gets here.