Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sorry! I've been busy

Sorry for not posting, readers.  From that head cold, to a week out of town, to being completely swamped once I got back from my business trip, I've just been too busy to post. 

I promise an update soon.  All I can say is that as far as I know everything is going along just fine.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

14w1d & Decor Shopping

I'm still amazed that I'm pregnant, let alone just into my 14th week.  How did this happen?  Okay, I know how 'this' happened.  I just don't know how I could be this far along and still not feel pregnant.  I feel round ligament pain more frequently now but it feels more like I just pulled a muscle instead of a stretching ligament meant to support my growing uterus.  I'm still shocked that (a) I'm pregnant and (b) I'm in the 2nd trimester already.  This just feels so surreal.

The head cold is slowly getting better.  During the day it isn't too bad.  At night it is a different story.  As bedtime approaches I start to get some type of chest or throat issue and I cough an awful lot.  I don't understand because I know that I don't have any kind of infection in there.  I just want this cold to go away. 

I was feeling good enough to get some shopping done and I'm happier than my bank account is.  ;-)  I hate using credit unless I've got the cash sitting in the bank so I usually find myself finding things I like when shopping but waiting to buy them.  Sometimes I wait so long that the stores stop carrying what I wanted.  Much frustration has ensued because of this.  You would think there is some commercial conspiracy to get us to buy things quickly on credit just to keep the economy and banks going.  But I digress.

Umbra's Dotty in Pistachio
I almost ran into this problem with wallpaper this week.  I have this little powder room off the front entrance and was inspired to do something a little fun or funky with the walls after seeing a show home powder room painted in funky colours.  I thought wallpaper might be a good option since my body doesn't always like paint.  I found this at Ho.me De.pot last year and thought it would be a perfect fresh green.  The silver details go great with my fixtures which came with the home.  I would never choose a shiny nickel myself but it was way too much money to change them with the builder.  The wallpaper does the trick.  When 'back home' last week we did a little window shopping and they still had the wallpaper.  But what did I discover when I go to HD here this week?  They didn't have it!  About 75% of their in store selections were beige, beige and beige.  (I suspect people in this town have a problem with decor colour.)  I had to run to another store and luckily they had what I was looking for and the number of rolls I need but I could tell from the tag this stuff has been in the store for almost a year and I think they're getting ready to make way for other stuff ... likely more beige. 

Leksvik crib ends
Then I went to Ik.ea.  I cannot tell you how excited I am that we're getting the country's largest store set to open some time next year.  Yippee!  I needed to get some book shelves to set out all my books but I ended up getting only half of what I wanted because the rest wasn't in stock.  Ugh!  But it gives me a chance to think over whether I want the 3rd one to be short or whether it should be just as tall as the others creating a bank of book shelves on that wall.  I did, however, score a crib.  I was intending on looking at options this weekend while 'back home' but I noticed this one was 50% off.  It is the best looking of the bunch even if it isn't my style or colour.  It is real wood and wood + wood looks good even if there are different colours in the room.  I couldn't say no to a crib for $69.99!  The challenge was to fit everything in my car.  It isn't small or large but I can't spend much on my trips to Ik.ea with a vehicle that size.  (Maybe that is a good thing?)  I discovered that my front passenger seat does not recline back like they used to.  Grrr!  I ended up having to take the one bookcase out of its packaging to fit everything in.

I have to say that it is really frustrating shopping by yourself at a place like Ik.ea and getting no help.  Only after I got the 2 bookcases loaded onto the cart did a staff member ask if I needed help.  And on the way out of the store I had one of my little side tables slide off the cart onto the pavement.  It was a lovely grandma much older than my mom who asked if I needed help.  Very nice of her but what about the younger people?  I did have a man ask if I needed help getting the last bookcase into the car.  Thank you for offering to help!  It wouldn't slide all the way in so I told him I'd take it apart to get the shelves out of the packaging. There was more than enough room for the uprights.  He seemed skeptical but I did it and it fit.  I love shopping at Ik.ea but I hate the loading of larger items because it is so difficult to do by myself.  If I have to do that again I think I'll be getting them to deliver it from the store.

c/o Sooner Plant Farm
Prairie Blue Eyes
I then went to Cos.tco for a few things I needed and walked out with some extra ... isn't that always the case?  I couldn't resist picking up a couple HUGE pots of daylilies.  I hadn't intended on planting anything this year but these were huge and not far from needing to be divided, say in a couple years, so for $9.99 a pot I couldn't say no.  I picked up a Ste.lla d'o.ro which grows well almost everywhere and a Prai.rie Bl.ue Ey.es which is a taller plant with ruffled mauve blossoms.  They'll be sitting on my front porch in the shade to acclimatize to the heat while I'm away.  I'll plant them in the backyard when I'm back.

Blogger hates me today

I'm having so much trouble adding photos to a post ... this is ridiculous.  I've done the troubleshooting as asked and I'm still having difficulty.  Why can't they design a more user friendly photo uploader and adder?  I never had this difficulty when I used a different blog site.  I was even able to place a photo in the middle of a paragraph, not just at the beginning or the end of one.  Grrrrrr ...

Friday, July 8, 2011

Head Cold

I've been out of commission this week with a summer head cold.  Certainly not the worst cold I've had, thankfully, since I've been surviving on staying home and Tyl.enol for the sinus pain.  I feel better today but I'm feeling dizzier today than I have with this cold so I'm glad that I stayed home again today.  I should be feeling much better by Monday when I definitely need to return to work.  I'm on the road again on Wednesday afternoon and get to spend the weekend 'at home' and will take advantage of that to raid my sister's maternity wardrobe and start looking at baby things. 

I had my regularly scheduled pre-natal appointment with my nurse practitioner this morning.  I'm definitely feeling the effects of the cold because I wasn't able to produce much of a urine sample.  But what I did produce was normal.  Oh, and the remainder is getting sent on to the lab for a culture because the lab lost my first one!  Anyway, I've been drinking more water today to try to up my fluids.

Good news is that everything is normal.  She found the baby's heartbeat with the doppler.  It took quite a while to find it and not mine but as soon as we found the baby's heartbeat it was distinctively faster than mine at 155 bpm.  My blood pressure is still good at 102/70.  I'm normally a little on the lower side of normal and this is a little lower than normal but it definitely explains the challenge I experience going up 2 flights of stairs then down 2 flights of stairs while doing laundry.  My throat is a little red consistent with a cold which is reassuring because I woke up last night with a burning mouth. 

Next up: IPS blood work round 2 next week, then my anatomy scan in August.  And getting rid of this cold!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Back home

After a week out of town on business, I'm back home ... or should I confuse the matter by saying I was 'back home' on business and now I'm back in my house?  I don't know.  I always cause confusion for people when I say things like that.  I don't think I'm ever going to truly adopt this city and province as 'home'.  'Back home' will always be home.  But I digress.

I had a long week of frustrating days.  I had only 3 hearings but each was long and very heavily detail oriented.  I was also relegated to the couch again.  Long story short, my one aunt came out to help my mom and another aunt move my grandma to her nursing home.  Big family problems ensued including my aunt who traveled to help ditching my crazy aunt in an effort to sort of hide out until she heads back home next week.  So I got one night in the spare bedroom before being stuck on the couch in my parents' room.  The couch is way more comfortable than the spare bed but being woken up early because my dad has to be up early to get to work is no fun. 

Then add to that my missing eye mask.  My niece has a 'collecting' problem.  My mom and aunt caught her playing with it and they swore she tossed it on the floor.  I looked everywhere including under the bed, under the couch and through all the bedding and couldn't find it.  Then Friday afternoon my BIL says "I think this is yours" and pulls the eye mask out from the diaper bag.  Somehow my niece snuck back into the bedroom, found the thing, took it and stuffed it into the diaper bag to take home.  She loves to collect things but this has to stop.  I got even crappier sleep ... which is normal for me in summer thanks to more hours of daylight.

Then add to that an extra early start to the morning on Tuesday to get the new kitty to the vet for her spaying appointment before my hearing.  Not so much fun.  But the good news is that the little lost kitty my parents saved was already spayed at some point so she didn't have to go through the surgery.  She's an extremely happy and cuddly kitty who loves to lick everyone.

The big reveal went well.  I was a bit nervous but finally found my in when my niece showed me her family tree.  I commented on the fact she had no cousins and whether she'd like some.  So I told her that she'd get one come January.  She then proclaimed "mommy, auntie's getting a baby!"  LOL!  That confused my sister for a while.  I could see her trying to figure out how I was 'getting' a baby and she put it together.  Since she knew about the plan I think it helped.  She offered me all the hand me downs I wanted and since she has both boy and girl stuff (mostly girl stuff being recycled for the nephew) it doesn't matter if I have a girl or boy.  She also offered me her maternity clothes.  They just moved back into their reno'd house so I told her I'd be back in 2 weeks over a weekend and would have time to come over then.  I suspect I can fit into the bottoms especially since the waist doesn't matter in pregnancy.  But I think the shirts will be a no go.  She's a size smaller than me on top so I think that will be a bust.  But I'll be glad for anything I can get that I don't have to buy. 

I'm dealing with exhaustion these days and headaches that pop up now and then.  I've been dealing with a headache most of today and am looking forward to hitting the sheets tonight.